Soft Gingerbread Cookies

I have never been fond of gingerbread cookies until now.   I love these.  They are so soft and tasty.

 Ingredients:

• ½ c butter flavor shortening
• ½ c butter
• 1c granulated sugar
• 1 ¼c unsulphered molasses
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. flavoring extract such as vanilla or orange
• 5-5 ½c all-purpose flour {sometimes even six}
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 3 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 ½ tsp ground cloves
•  2 tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼- ½ tsp ground white pepper {optional}

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream together shortening butter and granulated sugar. Add the molasses and eggs and whip until light and fluffy. Sift all of your dry ingredients into a large bowl then use a measuring cup to add the dry ingredients about a cup at a time. Seperate the dough into three equal piecesthen wrap in plastic wrap and chill for an hour or two. Roll out on floured parchment paper to about 1/4 an inch thick and cut into desired shapes. Place the cut out cookies into the freezer for ten minutes or so before baking. Bake at 375° for 6-8 minutes for small cookies, 8-10 minutes for medium, and 10-15 minutes for large. Let cool, then decorate with vanilla royal icing.

Notes

Cookies can be decorated with royal icing or glaze. 

Ovens vary and gingerbread has to be watched. This year, my baby cookies took about 8 minutes and medium-ish ones ten. I really watch them. It’s kind of hard to tell when gingerbread is done because you cannot see browning. If you wait until you do, you have gone too far and will have hockey pucks rather than cookies. So, watch those baking times, stay near the oven until you figure out what it’s going to do.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup (Reams Classic)

 Kindra made this for us and it is amazing. She served it with Chew Bread. Creamy deliciousness.

Ingredients

• 12 cups chicken broth
• 1 package (24 ounce) Reames® Homestyle Egg Noodles
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme, dried
• 2 cups onion, chopped
• 2 cups carrots, shredded
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 cups heavy cream or half and half
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons parsley, dried
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 cups celery, chopped
• 8 tablespoons butter
• 1 pound chicken, precooked, boneless and skinless
   Substituted for celery and carrots, Kindra used 1 bag frozen green beans and 1 bag of frozen carrots and peas.
  Directions:Bring chicken to a boil with Bay leaves.  Or pan fry. Add  frozen noodles and cook for 20 minutes.  Stir often.
  Add parsley, thyme, black pepper, onions, celery, carrots.( or substitute  frozen vege bags.)Simmer 10 minutes until done.
  Melt butter in skillet, Add flour and cook 1-2 minutes.  
  Add cream to soup and bring to a simmer then add flour/butter mixture.
  Discard Bay leaf and add  cooked chicken.
  Heat through and serve.

McKenzies Perfect Caramels

 Dad got this receipe from McKenzie and have had great success.  

Ingredient Checklist

• 1 cup butter or margarine 
• 1 pound light brown sugar 
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk 
• 1 cup light corn syrup 
• 1 pinch salt 
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

• Step 1

  In a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, brown sugar, sweetened condensed milk, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Heat to between 236 and 244 degrees F  Kerry takes them to 244 so we can wrap and dip in chocolate, or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms a soft ball that flattens when removed from the water and placed on a flat surface. Cook for 2 minutes at that temperature. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla.

• Step 2

  Meanwhile, butter a 9x13 inch baking pan. When the caramel is ready, pour into the buttered pan. Allow to cool completely at room temperature. Remove from the pan and cut into squares using scissors. Wrap individual pieces in waxed paper or cellophane.

Chocolate Orange Jelly Sticks

 One of our favorite traditions at Christmas is our Candy Table, inspired by Elsie Jean "Gale" Thackeray. We love orange sticks.  Lately for us in the midwest we have a hard time finding these Orange Sticks and Red Vines rope licorice.  Dad has mastered the Jellied Orange Stick.  So good.

HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE ORANGE STICKS  

• 3 Tbsp unflavored gelatin (I used 4 of the little packets)
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 2 Tbsp frozen orange juice concentrate
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp lemon extract
• 1 tsp orange extract
• 5-6 drops orange food coloring
• 12 oz milk chocolate 

1. Soften the gelatin in cold water and set aside.
2. Combine sugar and hot water, stir until dissolved.  Bring to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add the gelatin mixture and slowly boil on medium-low heat for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and add the remaining ingredients.
3. Pour into well-greased 9X13
4. Let stand over night  cut into narrow rectangles and then dip into melted chocolate.   

Wassail Hot Apple Cider

Blake remembered the first time he had tasted Wassail at Sharon Lyons home(Brittany's Mother-In-Law)

He said it was the best.  So we copied her recipe and added to our Blog.  

Ingredients

1 c sugar

4 c water

10 whole cloves

8 allspice berries

2 cinnamon sticks

1 piece of ginger root

4 c orange juice

2 c lemon juice

2 quarts of apple cider(8 cups)

Combine sugar and water, boil 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and add spices(I put mine in a cheese cloth bag  tied with a string) Cover and allow to stand for  1 hour.  Add juices and cider and bring quickly to a boil and serve.

Marshmallows

Dad has become quite the expert at making homemade marshmallows.  Plain, crushed peppermint, and dipped in chocolate to eat or melt inside 2 graham crackers to have a yummy S'more. Try dropping one of these fluffy mallows into a cup of hot chocolate...amazing goodness.

INGREDIENTS

•  Neutral flavored oil, for greasing the baking dish
• 3 envelopes unflavored gelatin
•            1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• ¼ teaspoon  salt
• 1 tablespoon  vanilla extract
•          1/4 c powdered sugar mixed with 1/4 c. cornstarch 

PREPARATION

1. Lightly oil an 8-by-8-inch baking dish. Combine gelatin with 1/2 cup cold water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Set aside while you prepare the syrup.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine the granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt and 1/2 cup cold water. Stir the mixture just enough to combine the ingredients then cook over medium-high heat, swirling the pan occasionally, until the mixture reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 10 minutes.
3. With the mixer on low speed, carefully pour hot syrup into gelatin mixture and mix until gelatin is dissolved. Add the vanilla  extract.
4. Turn the mixer to high and whip the batter until it is very thick, stiff and opaque, about 10 minutes. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and spread it with a knife.
5. Let sit uncovered until firm, about 4 hours at room temperature or 2 hours in the fridge.
6. Sift a generous amount of confectioners’ sugarwith cornstarch onto a work surface, use a knife to cut around the edges of the pan and unmold marshmallow onto the sugar. You will have to pull it out of the pan with your fingertips; it will be very sticky but will pull out in one piece. Dust the top of the marshmallow with confectioners' sugar and use a long, sharp knife to cut the marshmallow into roughly 1 1/2-inch cubes. Clean and dry your knife periodically throughout this process when it gets too sticky. 
7. Toss the cubes in the confectioners’ sugarmixed with cornstarch to make sure they are coated on all sides and store them in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Tip

• Variations: Add 1 teaspoons of peppermint extract for peppermint marshmallows. Leave out vanilla extract for a pure peppermint flavor. At this time if you want add crushed peppermint. Dip in melted milk chocolate and let dry for chocolate covered marshmallows.

Clotted Cream British Topping

 

When Dad and I were in England we found a new love for crumpets(alot like an English Muffin) with jam and a dollop of clotted cream on top.  

Ingredients

• 2 c heavy cream (not ultra-pasteurized)

Instructions

Day 1

• Preheat your oven to 170-180F.
• Pour the cream into a shallow casserole dish or glass baking dish. (The cream should only come up the sides about 1-2 inches. The key here is to have a lot of surface area.)
• Place the cream in the oven for 12 hours, uncovered. (This works great overnight.**)

Day 2

• After heating for 12 hours, the cream will develop a skin. Carefully remove the dish from the oven and let it cool to room temperature. Once cool, cover the dish and refrigerate it for 8 hours (or overnight again).

Day 3

• After chilled, gently skim the thick layer of clotted cream from the surface, leaving the thinner liquid behind. (It will feel like you’re pulling a layer of slightly softened ice cream from the top of a layer of milk*. The skin in fine, it will soften as it is mixed into the cream.)
• Gently stir the skimmed clotted cream to create a smooth texture. (If your cream is too thick for your liking, you can always stir a little bit of the thin liquid back into your cream, until it reaches your desired consistency.)
• Store the clotted cream in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to two weeeks. (Clotted cream can also be frozen and thawed in the refrigerator, if desired.)