Eggnog Coffee

Here is an idea.  Instead of using cream in your morning coffee, try some eggnog. It gives a subtle flavour not overpowering like some of the flavoured creamers out there.
Maybe for Christmas morning, or today ; )

Jamie Oliver's Milk Chicken Variation

Originally done with a whole chicken, I thought I'd give it a try using legs. And these were pretty well still frozen when I started. If you are using thawed chicken, reduce the cooking time.

4 chicken legs, frozen
2 tbsps olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Milk, enough to come a quarter way up the chicken
2 cinnamon sticks
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp ground sage
1 tsp lemon pepper
8-10 (a handful) unpeeled garlic

Heat olive oil in a heavy skillet. Salt and pepper the chicken then gently brown in the oil. Add the remaining ingredients, even the unpeeled garlic,

and bake in a 350 F oven for 1  1/2 - 2 hours, basting occasionally. Remove the cinnamon sticks, bay leaf and garlic peels.

Not pretty, but seriously tasty!

Easy Chocolate Mendiants

Actually this is a cheater's way of making mendiants. But at this time of year you need to save time whenever you can.

Buy some melting chocolate disks. DON'T melt them. Well only a few, like the broken ones. Now spread a layer of melted chocolate on the disks. But not too thin, you want it to hold your toppings. Looking back on it, I should have spread the chocolate right to the edge of the disks. Next time.

Garnish with your chosen toppings. I chose dried cranberries, almonds, cashews, walnuts, a few butternuts and pretzel fish.

Boom! Done!

To be honest, the only thing you have to be careful of is the melting of the chocolate. It has to be done properly or your chocolate will cloud. I thought I was smart and melted it in a little metal creamer in a pot of water on the stove.  First off, I shouldn't have used metal....no heat conducting container! Next, it shouldn't have been right in the water.  Double boiler would have been the way to go.  Or microwave the chocolate 10-15 seconds at a time.  When there are soft lumps left, just stir them up.  

So they looked beautiful when first done but then dried with a few cloudy spots on them.  Still ok to eat but doesn't look very nice. 

So I got some white chocolate, melted it VERY slowly in the microwave, and drizzled it over the tops.
Problem solved! 

Baked Buffalo Fries

Baked not fried.....serve with sour cream. Yum!

5 potatoes, skin on
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
2-3 tbsps  your favourite BBQ sauce
squirt of sriracha sauce
splash of lemon juice
cayenne pepper
paprika
salt

Cut the potatoes in wedges and place in a plastic bag or a saved wax cereal bag. 

Mix together the vinegar, BBQ sauce, sriracha and lemon juice and toss with the potato wedges. I used President's Choice Beer and Chiptle BBQ sauce.You can toss in the seasons too or wait until you have the potatoes on the baking sheet to sprinkle them on.

Give them an extra squirt of sriracha and bake at 450F for 20 minutes.

Quinn's Farm Pumpkin Loaf and Muffins

Way back when the kids were in elementary school they went on field trips to Quinn's Farm for both apple and pumpkin picking. They would always have a snack...apple juice and a pumpkin muffin.

On the first trip there in 1996 the farm was kind enough to hand out some pumpkin recipes and I've been using this one for pumpkin loaf and muffins ever since. And I always try to keep some pumpkin purée in the freezer.

4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups white sugar
2 cups puréed pumpkin
3  1/2 cups flour
2 tsps baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
pinch cloves
3/4 cup raisins (dried cranberries or chocolate chips)

Cream the first 4 ingredients together.  Combine the dry ingredients and add all together. Fold in the raisins (we usually go for the chocolate chips)
Pour into 2 prepared loaf pans or 30 medium muffins tins lined with papers.

Bake at 350 F for 1 hour for loaves, 25-30 minutes for muffins.

Thanks Quinn's

Butter Tart Squares

I just found out recently that butter tarts are a Canadian dessert. Wikipedia says that the first recipe for butter tarts was published in the province of Ontario dating back to 1900! It also appeared in the Women's Auxiliary of the Royal Victoria Hospital Montreal Cookbook from the same era.

It's about time I made some!
But I thought I'd try them in a square.


1 lb pie dough

4 eggs, beaten
2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsps vanilla
2 cups raisins

Roll out the dough, and let it rest 5 minutes, then check for size. You want it to be a 10 X 13" rectangle for an 8 X 11" baking dish.  Place it in the dish, press up the sides and flute the edges.

Put it in the fridge for 10 - 15 minutes.
Prick it with a fork several times and bake in a 350F oven for 10 minutes.  
I forgot to put mine in the fridge so the sides shrunk a bit : (

For the filling simply combine all the ingredients and pour into the pre-baked shell.
Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes. Cool completely before cutting.

Look at that crispy top and all that gooey sweetness inside!
Because my dough had shrunk I had filling leftover so I did end up making a few mini tarts too. Bake them 15-20 minutes.

Almond Spritz Cookies

I should make these during the year but seem to only make them at Christmas.

1 cup softened, unsalted butter
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 scant cups flour
1/4 tsp salt (none if using salted butter)
1/2 cup ground almonds
125 g semi sweet or milk chocolate squares

In a large mixer bowl beat butter, then add the sugar, vanilla and almond extracts. On low speed add about 2/3 of the flour along with the salt. Add the ground almonds blending well and slowly add the remaining flour.

Fill a pastry bag with some of the cookie dough and cover the rest.

Use a large star tip and pipe dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, about 1" apart.

Bake at 350 F for 8-10 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool.

Meanwhile melt the chocolate in a bowl over hot water making sure no water splashes into the chocolate.

Dip one end of cooled cookies into chocolate, add sprinkles if you like, and place in the fridge to set.

This is only a few of the 81 almond spritz cookies this recipe made.