Monday, September 26, 2011

Pumpkin Mudslide

It's finally fall! My favorite season! Hmmm... maybe my favorite season is winter... I'm not sure, I just know that I love fall! Gone are the hot humid sweaty sticky days of summer and they're replaced with cool days, cooler nights, leaves changing color and the smell of fireplaces burning in the evening.

It just makes me want to inhale deeply, close my eyes and say "ahhhhhhh".

My sister, Jeannie has a cocktail for every occasion. She made Pumpkin Mudslides this weekend... what sounds more perfect for fall than a Pumpkin Mudslide?

Pumpkin Mudslide
Equal parts
Pumpkin Spice Schnapps or Fulton's Harvest Pumpkin Pie Cream Liqueur
Kaluha
Vanilla Vodka
Splash of milk (however much or little as you like)

Shake with ice and enjoy!!

The first one I tried had Pumpkin Spice Schnapps.

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The second one had Fulton's Harvest Pumpkin Pie Cream Liqueur.

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These are both wicked good!! But if you make it with Fulton's Harvest Pumpkin Pie Cream Liqueur, it really does taste just like pumpkin pie!

I highly recommend you give this a try in the very near future!!

Happy Fall!!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Root Beer Cookies

Hey look who it is! I'm back twice in one week!

I bookmarked this recipe about a year ago. It's been just sitting in my favorites, patiently waiting for me to finally decide it was time to make them.

I'm not sure how I happened to browse to it. But I found it on a Betty Crocker blog, who noted it was from the Minneapolis Star Tribune Food Section.

My son Bobby LOVES root beer. He drinks gallons of the stuff. So when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to make them.

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Root Beer Cookies slightly adapted
Cookies
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup flat root beer
2 large eggs
2 teaspoon root beer extract or concentrate
1 teaspoon vanilla

Icing
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons flat root beer
2 teaspoon butter, softened
1 teaspoon root beer extract or concentrate

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Cream together, butter and sugars. Add eggs and mix. Add root beer, root beer concentrate and vanilla. Beat in flour mixture, until just combined.

Drop by rounded spoonfuls, about 2 inches apart, onto parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake at 375F for 9 - 11 minutes. Cool on rack.

For icing, whisk together all ingredients and spread over completely cooled cookies.

Enjoy!

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Ok, first what you wanna do is make the root beer flat.
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I poured it into a glass and just stirred until most of the bubbles were gone.
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Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
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Cream butter & sugars, add eggs, then rootbeer, rootbeer concentrate & vanilla.
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Mix in flour until just combined.
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Drop by spoonfuls onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets.
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Bake for 9 - 11 minutes at 375F.
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Cool on racks.
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To make icing whisk together all icing ingredients and spread over cookies. I think next time I might leave out the butter. I think the icing would look a little smoother without it.

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These cookies were really good! I wasn't sure what to expect from a root beer flavored cookie. I've only had root beer or root beer flavored candy; but never a baked good.

For the concentrate... since I was having a hard time finding it, I was going to just cook down some root beer until it was a thick sticky syrup, but since I had never seen the concentrate, I wasn't sure if that would work. Now I think it would have been totally fine. So if you're having trouble finding the concentrate, you could try to just cook it down from root beer.

Before icing the cookies, I tasted one. I wanted to see how much root beer flavor was in the cookie itself, because I was thinking they might be better with a vanilla glaze to make them root beer float cookies. The cookie itself had a mild root beer flavor, so you do definitely want to use the root beer icing. I was a little nervous about the icing too. I tasted that on its own and it was really strong. I was afraid it would ruin the cookies, but it was really perfect! They totally taste like root beer cookies!

If you wanted to try to make a rootbeer float cookie, I think maybe you could swirl the root beer icing with a vanilla icing. I'll have to experiment with that the next time.

But everyone really liked these. At first I was thinking.... "yeah, they're good, but I probably won't make them again." It was mostly the novelty of them. But they really are good! And they're really different. They're be great for a cookie exchange. Something than the same old sugar/chocolate chip/butter cookie.

If you like root beer, I highly recommend you try these!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Hotdogs & Beans aka Saturday Night Supper

Hiya! I know last time I was here, I said I'd be around more, then I promptly fell off the face of the Earth! As it turned out I had an unexpectedly, unbelievably hectic summer and did almost no cooking at all. Just ask my family... they'll totally back me up on the no cooking thing!

Anyway, I'm back! I think. I kinda hesitate to say that again. But well, here I am!

Soooo.... I was out on Saturday at Market District in Robinson to see FoodTV's Aarón Sanchez do a cooking demo and get him to autograph his new cookbook. He's totally my favorite Chopped judge.

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That was a fun time. Aarón commented on how well stocked the grocery store was. While I was in line waiting for an autograph, I noticed they do have a very well stocked meat department.

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I wasn't looking for Python... but if it hadn't been $30 a pound, I definitely would have tried some!

But after the demo, I figured in this extremely well stocked grocery store, it would be easy for me to find Root-beer Concentrate and Malted Milk Powder. I needed them for a couple of new recipes I wanted to try over the weekend. Those aren't really unusual ingredients. But do you think they had either of them? No. They didn't.

But on my way out of the store, I noticed they had B&M Brown Bread!
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That instantly made me think of Saturday night suppers growing up. I say suppers, because back then, that's what we called it. I don't think I really use that word anymore, now it's always dinner.

Anyway, growing up just outside of Boston, hotdogs and beans was a very common Saturday night supper in our house. I don't really remember actually having Brown Bread... but definitely remember the hot dogs & beans. Mum always boiled the hotdogs. I know many of you are totally cool with that... but I don't ever want to eat a boiled hot dog again. Fried, grilled, baked, microwaved, just not boiled. I really have no reason for this, other than boiling meat just seems wrong.

But not being able to actually recall consuming the Brown Bread prompted me to give Mum a call this morning to ask if we had it. She said that she never made it, but that my sister and I probably had it at Grammy's house. When we were little, Saturday night was date night for my parents, so we spent most Saturday nights with Grammy & Grampy. I only remember steamed clams (drool), HeeHaw, Lawrence Welk and All in the Family... so I emailed Jeannie to see if she remembered the Brown Bread. She didn't either. But Jeannie's not a big bread eater to start with. So I have no idea why Saturday Night Suppers popped into my mind at the first glimpse of B&M Brown Bread, but it did!

I snatched the can off of the top shelf and headed over to the baked bean section. Of course I had to have some B&M Baked Beans to go with the Brown Bread. Do you think they had any B&M Baked Beans? Nope! Not a single can! So I grabbed a can of Giant Eagle brand and headed for the checkout.

I opted to fry the hotdogs in butter. Definitely no boiling of hotdogs in my house!
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Then browned the buns in butter too.
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Meanwhile, I heated up some of that B&M Brown Bread in the toaster oven.
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Serve it with a bowlful of baked beans and a nice warm slice of brown bread and it's dinner supper time!
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Yum...
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Beans on brown bread! My favorite part of dinner supper!
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So it was a nice nostalgic Saturday Supper, followed by a movie night.

I had leftover beans & brown bread for breakfast on Sunday too!

Are you from New England? Did you have Saturday Suppers of Hotdogs & Beans & Brown Bread?