Gift Idea: BeaterBlade!

There are tons of things that make my life easier in the kitchen. And I just got a new and very lovely one for Christmas...I saw the BeaterBlade first in a magazine and left the page open (for weeks, maybe?) until Jeremy got the hint. He did well. He got me the one with the red silicone blades. It Is Awesome.

"Why?" you ask. Well, I'll tell you. You know how you have to scrape down the mixing bowl every so often while you're in the middle of mixing cookie dough or smashing potatoes? Well, this thing does it for you. And afterwards you can detach it and use it as a spatula to scrape out the bowl. Less dishes to wash! Excellent. Don't you wish you'd thought of this idea first?? I certainly do. No kidding.

I have a KitchenAid mixer and my BeaterBlade is specifically designed to fit it. The BeaterBlades are not made by KitchenAid, though, so if you have another brand of stand mixer, check their website to see your options. And if it's cheaper on Amazon, well, there you go. That's where mine came from.

Really, it's a perfect gift to give the cooks and/or bakers in your life. Valentine's Day is coming up and doesn't it kind of even look like a heart?

What? Not even a little?

Oh. Huh.

Just use your imagination, O.K.? Bakers will heart BeaterBlade. Of this you can be certain. And if you need to leave this blog post open for your significant other to discover, I'm here for you. =)

Poppyseed Bread

Moist poppyseed bread, along with a side of sausage balls, will always remind me of Christmas morning breakfast. For years my mother has made this recipe given to us by our friend Rosemary and we think it is exceptional. If you need a Christmas breakfast idea that you can prepare ahead of time - or a last-minute gift for some friends, this is the way to go!

This time I didn't have quite enough poppyseeds, but since they don't provide a taste of their own, really, it all turned just fine. =)

Poppyseed Bread
Printer-friendly version

3 eggs
2 ½ c. sugar
1 ½ c. milk (I did half skim milk; half heavy cream)
1 ¼ c. canola oil
1 Tbsp. poppyseeds
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp. vanilla (or vanilla bean paste)
1 ½ tsp. almond flavoring
3 c. all-purpose flour

Glaze:
¾ c. sugar
¼ c. orange juice
½ tsp. vanilla (or vanilla bean paste)
½ tsp. almond flavoring
2 Tbsp. butter

Cream eggs and sugar. Add milk and remaining ingredients for bread. The batter will be somewhat thin. Grease and flour loaf pans. Bake at 325 degrees for about 1 hour 10 minutes for 2 large loaves; 50 minutes for 4 medium loaves; or 35 minutes for 6 small loaves. Watch closely, though – don’t let the outside edges get too brown. Administer the toothpick test to check doneness. Better to err on the side of "almost done."

Glaze:

Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Make LOTS of holes with toothpick while bread is still warm. You want to give the glaze plenty of places to seep in. Pour warm glaze over warm bread. Cool completely before storing.

P.S. Before I go, I have a few more songs to make your Christmas merry! I just love Mindy Smith's Christmas album, but these are probably my three favorites. I'm pretty sure that all three are original to her - and I'm crossing my fingers that she releases another Christmas album sometime. She's just GOOD at it.

Chocolate Fudge Pomegranate Cookies

When I first happened upon this recipe, I was alternately afraid of the bizarre-sounding coupling and also very intrigued. Curiosity won out, though, as I really couldn't get the recipe out of my mind. And, as luck would have it, I had recently popped a pomegranate into my grocery basket in hopes of finding just the right way to use it.

Jeremy was very, very concerned about the inclusion of pomegranate seeds (called "arils" - and I like that so much better, don't you?) INTO a COOKIE. He knew for a fact that I was about to ruin that chocolately cookie dough by adding in something so...strange. But I knew for a fact (or O.K., I very, very strongly suspected) that this would be one of those recipes that would make a believer out of him.

And it DID. Our friends Jen, Sasha, and Jared all loved them, too. The little pop of tartness every so often kept us entertained. It will make a believer out of you, too. But you've gotta get past your fear of the unknown...

First of all, don't be scared of pomegranates. Yes, they can be messy and yes, it might take a while to release the arils from their pithy prison...BUT. Here's an easy (and less messy!) way to do it. After washing the fruit, slice off the pomegranate's "crown." (I'm not going to lie - I got some satisfaction out of noting that it does, indeed, resemble a crown.) Next you realize that you might need to put an apron on and move some things out of the way that might get splashed with the ruby red spurts of juice. Gently cut the fruit into quarters and then drop them into a bowl of water. I would recommend lukewarm water so that your fingers won't get too cold during the next step. Again, gently (which is the key word here) start separating the arils from the inside casing. This will take a few minutes, but really, is quite relaxing if you're not in a hurry. This is also a good time to ponder God's creativity in designing such an interesting fruit. =)

Now it's time for the actual cookie recipe. I found it on How Sweet It Is, another favorite food blog that I completely enjoy. She absolutely cracks me up. Hilarious! And I've tried quite a few of her recipes, all ending up being filed under "Would Definitely Make Again."

Chocolate Fudge Pomegranate Cookies
Makes about 30 cookies
Print-friendly version

1 c. butter, room temperature
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. pomegranate juice (or pomegranate/blueberry juice, which was all I could find. Delicious, but EXPENSIVE)
1 c. milk chocolate chips
1/2 c. pomegranate arils

Cream butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until fluffy. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt - combine dry mixture and wet mixture. Add pomegranate juice and mix once more. Fold in chocolate chips; fold in pomegranate arils last. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours - but the longer, the better.

When dough is ready to be baked, gently scoop dough out and onto a greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Some arils will burst in the process, but it all ends up O.K. =) Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Cool a bit before eating.

These cookies are best eaten right after baking. After about a day, the pomegranate arils start to shrink and aren't juicy anymore.

The Tea Party Report - Part I: The Food

Yes, yes, it's been over a week and I am JUST NOW blogging about the tea party. You just don't realize how much wrapping up there is to do after the tea party's over, I'll tell you that. But it's still been fun stuff and yes, indeedy, the wrapping-up part is still going on, and now I'm back in town after a nice weekend away in Chattanooga with Jeremy's fam. And NOW, I've got pictures! =) And I must blog. I've already realized just how long one blog post could be, so it will be broken up into several sections. This is Part One and it will deal with...

The FOOD.

Photo by Jud Davis

It was delightful. And delectable. And any other "d" words that mean the same thing - oh, like delicious. Yes, delicious. How did I forget that one??

We'll start with the Savory Cucumber sandwiches, for a tea party is not a tea party without them. We've tried various recipes for cucumber sandwiches, (all being quite delicious, delectable, and delightful to my palate) but I do think that this recipe was one of the most positive experiences, comment-wise, that we've  ever, um...experienced.

Photo by Jud Davis

You can see the cucumber sandwiches in the bottom right corner of the picture. (This was taken in the staging area before the plates were taken to their homes on our pretty three-tiered plate stands.) Also on those sandwich plates are the next item...

The Spicy Cheddar Pimento sandwiches, which we also got many nice compliments about. A little cayenne pepper makes all the difference. And they were very cute, what with the filling dolloped on triangles of party rye bread.

The Scones, with a capital "S." Sadly, there may not be a picture of them! Oh, no! =( Sad. This year we served White Chocolate Cherry Scones with Chocolate Cream and Cherry Butter for the spreads. Sigh! The tartness of the dried cherries perfectly contrasted with the creamy sweetness of the white chocolate chips. Big, BIG hit.

Chocolate Raspberry Tassies. Rich, brownie-esque cups filled with chocolately, raspberry goodness. And decorated with a fancy topping of chocolate buttercream. What??! I know. I know.

Photo by Jud Davis

Playing off the chocolate flavors were the Mini Spongecakes with Jasmine Tea Buttercream. This was a combination of two different recipes. I had found the Jasmine Tea Buttercream recipe in a recent Tea Time magazine (note: if you love tea or tea time, the arrival of this magazine in your mailbox every other month is so, SO happy) but it topped a vanilla cupcake. Now...please don't get me wrong, that sounds quite marvelous. But it made, like, 10 cupcakes. Oh, my. And the crazy thing is, the icing made sooo much more than for that amount of cupcakes. I know they really piled it on, but anyway...

Photo by Jud Davis

The mini spongecakes were adapted from a Pioneer Woman recipe. Her actual recipe I took it from was for a Strawberry Shortcake Cake, which I have made and it was completely wonderful. I had also been making just the spongecake part into cupcakes for Valentine's Day and what have you and just loved the taste and texture. So...the little cakes found their way onto the menu for our tea party - and they were mighty perfect with the jasmine tea buttercream, which was dyed pink, by the way. =)

One of the items that I loved with the fiery passion of a thousand suns were the Rosemary Parmesan Hearts. Oh. The crunchiness, the light rosemary flavor...I will be making these myself someday soon. That's a promise. See, it's so deliciously distracting that you forget that someone is trying to photograph you...

Photo by Jud Davis

Our lemon turnovers were very popular, too. A tad time intensive to prepare, as turnovers usually are - but quite, quite fabulous-tasting, as turnovers usually are.

Photo by Jud Davis

And I already told you all about the chosen teas in the last post. All of this goodness was punctuated with offerings of fresh fruit...yummy strawberries and grapes. I am not going to lie. It was FABULOUS. We had many, many compliments on the food. And guests, as always, got to take home their souvenir programs which held the secrets of the tea party fare...in other words, the recipes. =)

If you are interested in snagging a program, let me know. I can probably make it happen. ;)

I will leave you with two recipes. Let me know if you desire more!

Savory Cucumber Sandwiches
Makes about 32 bite-sized sandwiches

1 large cucumber, cleaned and deseeded, but not peeled
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 small (or 2 large) green onions, chopped, including most of the green part
1/4 c. mayonnaise
1 tsp. celery salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
white sandwich bread

Shred the cucumber and allow to drain until most of the liquid is gone. Mix the cream cheese and mayonnaise until smooth and spreadable. Stir in the chopped onions and add the celery salt and garlic powder. Add drained cucumber and stir. Spread between slices of white sandwich bread and trim crusts off. Cut each sandwich into quarters.

aaand....


Rosemary Parmesan Hearts
Makes approximately 11 dozen small hearts

2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter
3/4 c. Parmesan cheese, finely grated (not powdered)
2 egg yolks

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the flour and baking powder together and cut in the butter until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add the Parmesan, rosemary, and egg yolks. Continue working the dough until it forms a ball. This can all be done in the food processor.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness and cut out with a small heart cookie cutter. Reroll remaining dough and continue cutting out hearts until the dough has all been used. Place the hearts onto baking stones, if possible, or baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake approximately 10 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire racks and store in airtight container.

Notes on a Fancy Italian Dessert

Many years of my life were spent without knowing the awesomeness of tiramisu. Actually, many years were spent disliking the way coffee tasted, even though I loved the way it smelled. So it would follow that once I discovered that I actually could, indeed, enjoy coffee (thank you, Starbucks, for adding sugar and cream and flavorings)...I discovered the fabulousity of  tiramisu. By the way, I tend to make up words. I get it from my mom. Embrace it. It extends one's vocabulary exceedingly well!

So, tiramisu. It's delightful. And difficult to make, I'm just gonna be very honest here. But Jeremy and I love it. I have wonderful memories tied to this dessert...when Jeremy proposed to me (about two years ago exactly) he cooked a wonderful dinner of chicken spaghetti with tossed salad. And for dessert we had tiramisu that he had picked up from the Carriage House Antique Mall Cafe' in Jackson. We'd eaten it there several times and enjoyed it immensely. (By the way, I taught Jeremy how to enjoy coffee. Many, many times he had turned down his parents' offers of coffee over the years - it's their favorite beverage. But they drink it black. And we cannot. Oh, we cannot.)

Tiramisu is fancy - it's perfectly special. It reminds me of getting proposed to, which is always a nice memory. =) Jeremy's birthday was a couple of weeks ago and we had a family birthday party for him at our house a few days later. I am HUGE fan of The Pioneer Woman and had previously filed away her recipe for tiramisu in hopes of making it for a special occasion. Her recipe title is Tiramisu - You Can Do It. Yes, You Can. YES, YOU CAN. Jeremy's birthday proved to be the perfect special occasion to try it. =) Wait, "Do or do not; there is no try." I think Yoda and The Pioneer Woman would get along.

Now, since we live in small town of six thousand-something, a couple of the ingredients were a tad trying to track down. First: mascarpone cheese...a wonderful Italian cheese, sort of like our cream cheese, but not enough like it to be interchanged. (I have since looked at the Kroger in neighboring Jackson, but no mascarpone cheese there either.) I did find it at the Publix in Chattanooga. I had high hopes for also finding the ladyfinger cookies there, too, but no such luck!

So I made the ladyfingers. Well, let me rephrase that. I made some ladyfingers from allrecipes.com: Ladyfingers. I wasn't crazy about them. They were kinda fun to make - I used a gallon-sized ziplock bag with a snipped-off corner to pipe them on the parchment covered cookie sheet.

But something didn't seem right. If I made them again I would add a pinch of salt and some vanilla, I think. They were bland. And so I waffled back and forth about actually using them in my tiramisu. After all, here's how much the mascarpone cheese cost me...and I had to buy TWO of them.

In my infinite wisdom (or fear of ruining an expensive and time-consuming dessert) I decided to have another try. I absolutely loved The Pioneer Woman's Strawberry Shortcake Cake and have made the spongecake recipe itself several different times since - in regular and miniature cupcakes, not just cake. It has a fabulous flavor. And not bland at all! So I decided to try piping it in ladyfinger shapes. I was pretty proud of myself for thinking of this, I gotta say.

But here's what happened once they were cooked...

I had to laugh when I turned the oven light on. Oh, well, it's a layered dessert. Who is gonna know, right??

You see them making fun of the true ladyfingers in the background? They totally were taunting them.

Next I had to make the custardy stuff, which had to chill and then be mixed with the mascarpone cheese and sweetened whipped cream. I do not own a double boiler, so I made do with a makeshift one, as was suggested by the Pioneer Woman herself.

The recipe calls for Marsala wine, which I did not include in my version. I think I actually cooked the custard stuff too long or on too high a temp maybe. It didn't exactly look like hers, especially after it was chilled. But it all ended up alright. She warns her readers not to whip the concoction to death...that a few lumps were normal. But for mine to be incorporated into the mascarpone cheese and the whipped cream (which I kind of ruined the integrity of) I had to whip it. Oh, well, it tasted super fabulous. I made some very strong coffee to drizzle over the ladyfinger layer and added a little almond extract along with the vanilla extract - in substitution for more Marsala wine.

As I layered the dessert, I got distracted. Don't get distracted. This is what happens when you get distracted...

I forgot to drizzle coffee on the second layer and had to scrape up the creamy layer to correct my mistake. Yeesh.

I was nervous about how it would turn out...and tired. When I set the dish in the fridge that afternoon, I thought to myself, "This may be a once-in-a-lifetime recipe." I waited to see how the overall taste was - and feedback from the fam - before I decided this for sure.

The verdict? It was a winner. Everyone loooved it. Even our two-year-old friend! She wanted seconds. =)

And my mom, who doesn't like coffee. I have to say, I didn't pour too much coffee over the layers because I didn't want it to be too terribly strong. Next time, I would do a little more. That's right...I said "next time." I would make this again. Now that I have my notes and know how things should go. =) I think the first ladyfinger recipe would be satisfactory, with my additions of salt and vanilla. Just gotta find some mascarpone cheese...preferably on sale.