Bulldogs - Cinnamon Bun Cookies

First let me apologize for the lack of the pictures for this post, the Bulldogs had a game on December 27th at 7am, and in my hurry to get cookies made, bags unpacked and find places for all the stuff that made its way back, the picture somehow got overlooked. I knew I wouldn't have a lot of time to bake anything as I was at my Parent's house for the holidays. I decided to try a slice and bake cookie - from the freezer. I made up the dough for these for these a couple weeks ago and had them sitting in my freezer. Then the night of the 26th I took them out, let them soften for about 10 minutes then sliced the log into cookies and baked.

The recipe came from The Recipe Girl, and only made some minor changes.

Freeze and Slice Cinnamon Bun Cookies (made about 3 dozen cookies)

Ingredients:
½ cup powdered sugar
¾ cup unsalted butter
1½ tsp vanilla extract
1½ cups all-purpose flour

1 large egg white
¼ cup packed brown sugar
1½ tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:
1. Prepare the dough by creaming together the sugar, butter and vanilla. Stir in the flour and chill the dough.
2. Once the dough is chilled, roll it out on a surface lightly dusted with powdered sugar to about 9x12 inches (no more than 1/4 inch thick).
3. Lightly whip the egg white with a fork until foamy. Brush it onto the rolled out dough (I didn't use all of the egg white).
4. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together then sprinkle and spread on the cookie dough. Roll the dough like you would a cinnamon bun or jelly roll.
5. Wrap the log in the saran wrap and freeze.

When ready to bake:
1. Take the dough out of the freezer and let warm for a couple of minutes (makes cutting the slices easier).
2. Slice the dough into about 1/4 inch slices.
3. Place slices on a cookie sheet and bake at 350F for about 12 minutes until middle is set.
4. Cool on a wire rack.

Reviews:
These were a delicious cookie, and everyone enjoyed them. It was nice the have them so easy to make the night before, and I am tempted to keep a roll or two at all times for surprise company. I didn't make the icing for it and I really don't think the cookies need it.

The Bulldogs:
They won their game, even with a backup of the backup goalie! I can't say more than that, as I stayed at home that morning for some much needed sleep after the holidays!


Read more: http://www.recipegirl.com/2008/12/11/cinnamon-bun-cookies/#ixzz0bClOOjH9

Christmas Presents make for a Busy New Year!

I guess word has made it around to my entire family that I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and it showed this year with my presents. I can't wait to start using them, and they should keep me busy for the next few week at least!

First is the pasta roller and cutter set for my kitchen aid:




I have already tried this one out (who could wait) and the pasta turned out fantastic. It was so much easier than trying to hand roll and cut the pasta. However the pasta was a little thin for my taste, and I will be trying the thicker noodles soon, then on to making ravioli!

I also recieved a BeaterBlade for my Kitchen Aid, which I have heard great things about.



A cookbook that is going to result in lots of new cookies for the bulldogs.



Pie Weights! I now need to think of an excuse for needing cooked pie shells.


There were also some cake pans and cookie scoops in the pile:



This one looks exciting, and I doubt I will be able to hold out until Valentines to give it a try.



I hope to have some posts coming up on them soon. I will be making some lemon cookies for the bulldogs this weekend from the new cookbook.

Shepard's Pie

I am never a fan of mashed potatoes the next day, they seem to lose something with the storage, so instead of trying to eat my way through another plate of turkey dinner, after the holidays, I like to make something warm and comforting. I love shepard's pie in the winter, there is just something comforting about curling up with a plate when it is cold outside.

This is also great as it gets rid of extra gravy, mashed potatoes and vegetables from turkey dinner (which saves a lot of prep time).

My Shepard's pie

1 lb lean ground beef
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 onion chopped
1 cup frozen corn (if desired)
1-2 cup leftover carrots (or frozen mixed veggies)
Leftover gravy (or make some with a clubhouse mix)

Directions:
1. Brown the meat and then add the celery and onion until the meat is cooked. Add the vegetables and gravy, mix and pour into a 3 quart casserole dish.
2. Top with the mashed potatoes (you will want at least an inch or so on top of the meat mixture). Using a fork draw lines in the potatoes (this will allow them to crisp up while baking).
3. Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Reviews:
This turned out really well, and even using the clubhouse gravy (made with water) it wasn't too salty. It was also a great change after all the turkey!

Quick Turkey Pot Pie

Owen loves these, and insists on having them when we have turkey leftovers. I usually make a couple and store some in the freezer for later (when I am not so tired of turkey). This is the quick and simple way to make them, and it doesn't take long the through them together, but everyone seems to really like them! Owen took one to his work potluck and everyone enjoyed it.

Note that this recipe works well all year if you use chicken meat instead of turkey. You can cook a couple chicken breasts (and dice) are use leftovers from a roast chicken.

Turkey Pot Pie (makes 1 pie)
Ingredients:
Pie shell (for a double crust pie)
1 can cream soup (I usually use mushroom, but broccoli and chicken also work well)
Diced cooked turkey
Frozen veggie mix (or leftover veggies from turkey dinner)
Diced, cooked potatoes (optional)
shredded cheese (optional)

Directions:
1. In a bowl mix the cream soup, turkey, veggie mix, potatoes and cheese.
2. Roll out pie shell and line the pie plate. Pour in the filling and top with the top crust.
3. Pinch the edges together, and cut vents in the top of the pie ( I do 4 slits).
4. Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes until the crust is cooked. (if you would like a golden pie top, brush with some oil or egg whites before baking).

Reviews:
Owen loves these and they get made with both turkey and chicken leftovers! It only takes a few minutes to pull together, which is great.

Fattigman

My Grandparents have made these cookies every Christmas for as long as I can remember. They are nice addition to all the sweets, as they aren't a really sweet cookie, and I love the Cardamom flavor!

One key to getting a fantastic cookie is using whole fresh Cardamom, ground just before using. Cardamom is a spice that tastes best when fresh, you can tell the differences in the cookies from those that are made with the ground stuff in the store and the fresh stuff. (the ground is good as well, the fresh just takes it over the top!)

Below is the recipe my grandparents gave me, I have added a few pictures just to make a few steps a little more clear.

Fattigman
12 egg yolks OR eight yolks +2 eggs
1 cup whipping cream
*1/2 tsp. salt
*2/3 to 3/4 cup sugar (3/4s is better)
*approximately 4 cups flour
(* sift together)
2 tsps ground cardamom

METHOD:
Beat eggs till thick.
Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with the cream.
Roll out fairly thin (like sugar cookies)
Cut dough in long strips, then in diamond shapes. (a pizza cutter works well)
Put a little cut in the centre of each cookie. To shape cookie (if you want) pull one corner through the cut in the centre.


Deep fry until golden colour.

Enjoy!

Leftovers!

So after cooking/ helping to cook 2 full turkey dinners this year, and eating more at friends house, I had to come up with some ideas for leftovers! We have been eating Turkey and turkey dinner leftovers all month, so we have come up with a list of our favorite ways to use up those leftovers.

Most of you are probably done with your leftovers, but I thought I would share (and I need a list somewhere I can find it next year). Hopefully I will get recipes up (I am busy typing them and the couple cookie recipes up now that I am home)

Dinner leftovers:
Shepard's pie (uses gravy, mashed potatoes and leftover veggies)

Turkey:
Turkey pot pie (the quick way)
Turkey stock
Turkey and dumplings

This week we are trying the last on my list - turkey chili!

Gingerbread - The Verdict!

Alright, I made 3 gingerbread recipes this year, made Owen eat and critique each one (tough job isn't it?).

The verdict is now in, and he prefers the flavors of Gingergread #2 from My Kitchen Cafe! While he thought the last batch was the perfect consistency and texture, they were just too mild.

Merry Christmas!

I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (before the holidays are over!).

I have been keeping myself busy the past week picking up last minute things, baking and getting ready to go to my parent's place for the holidays. I was put in charge of Christmas morning breakfast this year, and I have a feeling I went a little overboard. I swear there is enough food packed up to feed everyone for 2 days! I couldn't help taking a couple of special baking items. Hopefully I will get pictures and recipes up soon.

This year's holiday list:
Peppermint Candy Cane cookies (my new creation, will post soon!)
Gingerbread men
Fattigman (My Dad's favorite cookie)
Millionaire's Shortbread
Marshmallows
Flourless chocolate cake (for the celiacs)
Marshmallows
( I added some vanilla bean to these, soo yummy)
Breakfast
Extra gooey cinnamon buns (the extra gooey part is extra butter and sugar), served with cinnamon cream cheese icing.
Cheddar bacon scones (I subbed bacon for the sausage)
Cheddar bacon frittata (I am sure I will alter the recipe a bit, and will post a final version when I am done.)
Banana muffins
Bread and assorted Jams (the jams are the ones I made this summer, and whatever bread my Dad has at the house)
Turkey sausage patties (M&M)
Cloudy apple juice (We bought this, we didn't want to give up everything we had left from making juice this fall)

Christmas Bags 2

I needed a couple more bags this year, as apparently we went a tiny bit crazy with the presents this year (oops). I still didn't want to go out and get any fabric, so I checked through my fabric and found some blue scraps big enough for the bags, and some white fabric to decorate. I had Iron on adhesive left over from making my halloween costume.

How to:

1. Iron on the adhesive (cut into the shape desired) to the back of the "decoration" fabric (the white in this case).
2. Cut out the fabric around the iron on patch. Place this shape on the right side of the fabric for the bag. Iron it to secure (make sure you like were it is, as you can't redo it after it is attached).
3. Turn bag fabric inside out and sew into a bag, fold the top over to make a loop for the drawstring and sew.

Note:
For the snow man, I hand sewed the eyes, mouth, buttons and scarf.

Gingerbread Take Two – Bulldogs

I am still on the hunt for a go to gingerbread recipe, so when I saw this recipe come up on My Kitchen Café, I decided it would be the next one to try. The bulldogs had a game coming up and I wanted to do something fun for them for the last game before Christmas, so I decided to dress up the cookies with the team colours.

I followed the directions for the recipe exactly, and encountered a couple of problems. It is a little difficult to tell when the cookies are actually done, and I ended up overcooking the first batch.

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
¾ cup brown sugar
¾ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1tbsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp salt
¾ cup butter (cut into 12 pieces)
¾ cup molasses
2 tbsp milk

How To:
1.Combine the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt and sugar in a bowl of a mixer. Add the pieces of butter and mix until the mixture becomes “sandy” in texture.
2.Add in the molasses and milk and mix until well combined.
3.Place ½ the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper and rollout to be 1/4” inch thick. Place in the freezer until firm (15 min).
4.Cut out the cookies.
5.Bake at 350F for 8-9 minutes ( no longer than 10 minutes, even if you don’t think they are done) until they are set in the center and barely retains an imprint when touched.
6.Let cool and decorate.


I used a royal icing recipe (1 egg white, 1/8tsp corn starch, 1 ½ cup powdered sugar) to decorate these cookies and wrote on the hard icing with Wilton Food Writers.


The cookie man is wearing a replica of the Bulldog's jersey. I am sorry I couldn't find a picture of anyone wearing their yellow jersey, but it is the same as these black ones, only yellow.



Reviews: These cookies were enjoyed (the ones that were soft and not overcooked) by everyone who tried them, although I am not sure if it was due to the cookie flavour or the more likely culprit of the decorating.

Bulldogs:
The boys loved the jerseys on the cookies ( I have seen a couple pics pop up on facebook already)!

They won their game this morning 5-4! Hopefully they can finish the year with a winning streak. The next game is Dec. 27th at 7 am, which may be a little rough after the indulging of Christmas!

Quick Gift Bag

We use a lot of cloth gift bags for the holidays in our house. They are great as you can reuse them from year to year, they get packed away with the decoration and fold up nice and small, and last, Christmas fabric is so much fun.

Well this year we were a little short on bags, I don't know why (most likely the fact that more get sent out some years than come back from family depending on which side we are mailing gifts to and which ones we are visiting or it may be the fact that we have a few extra people coming for Christmas this year). Whatever the reason, Owen couldn't find a bag to wrap my present in and didn't want to use any of the paper bags we had around the house. I didn't want to go and get fabric to make new bags until it went on sale and he wanted something fun.

I can not take credit for the solution - Owen came up with the idea, all I did was a little sewing. He found a cute stocking for cheap while he was picking up something else and thought it would make a cute bag - well he was right! I love this back, and am thinking of making more like it!




Need:
1 stocking (this can be bought or made)
Ribbon
Thread

How To:
1. Fold the top of stocking down to create a place for the ribbon to thread through and act as a drawstring. Pin in place.
2. Optional - put the ribbon in it's place, making sure that it will not go were you are stitching. I like doing it this way, as I hate threading drawstrings.
3. Stitch around the stocking at the bottom of the folded area (not along the fold).

Your done (unless you need the thread the ribbon through) and can now fill it with the presents of your choice!

Black Forest Cookies (Bulldogs)

Black Forest Cookies,

I made Black Forest preserves this summer and have been wanting to try using some in some baking, so this week the Bulldogs got Black Forest Cookies using the preserves.

All I knew I wanted for these cookies was rich chocolate cookie, somehow incorporate the preserves and topped with something creamy and light. Basically, I wanted the deliciousness of a Blackforest cake in cookie form.

When I saw these cookies on My Kitchen Café, I thought they looked great as the base for my cookie. I decided on a thumbprint cookie to try the flavor combinations.

Cookie: (makes about 3 to 4 doz)
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
¾ cup butter (soft)
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
¾ cup chocolate chips

Black Cherry Preserve (or cherry filling of your choice)

Vanilla Buttercream – I used Billy’s Buttercream from Martha Steward and added a little extra sugar to make it stiffer (recipe below)


Directions:
1.Mix the dry ingredients together and set aside.
2.Cream the butter and the sugar until light. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until well mixed.
3.Add 1/3 of the flour to the butter mixture, followed by ½ the sour cream. Repeat until all the ingredients are incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips.
4.Drop the cookies onto a baking sheet with teaspoons and bake at 350F for 12-13 minutes, until set.
5.When the cookies come out and are still warm press a whole in the middle of the cookie. Let cookies cool on a wire rack.
6.When cookies are cool, spoon the black cherry preserves or cherries or jerry jam into the middle of the cookie. Top the cookie with vanilla buttercream to cover the cherry filling.


Vanilla Buttercream
1.In a bowl beat ½ cup of butter until it is soft and creamy. Add 1 cup of powdered sugar, followed by ¼ cup of milk and 1 tsp of vanilla. Beat until smooth.
2.Add another 2 cups of powdered sugar and mix. Add up to another cup of powdered sugar, ¼ cup at a time until it is a thick pipe-able consistency.
3.Put in a piping bag, fitted with a wide tip (or a ziplock with the corner cut out) and pipe onto the cookies.

Reviews:
Everyone loved these cookies, and despite fears that they would be too sweet they turned out fine.
The cookies are great on their own as well if you looking for a good chocolate cookie.

The Bulldogs:
Sadly the losing streak is now at 2, as they lost on Saturday morning. The cookies have been unabe to make up for the cold weather and early mornings.

Gingerbread 09 - Take 1

I love gingerbread men during the holidays, but have yet to find a “go to” gingerbread recipe. I have tried a couple in the past and have started my holiday baking with a couple new recipes. This one is a modified version from the King Arthur Flour recipe bank. I haven’t tried a recipe from them I didn’t like yet, so I thought I would give it a go. (I did change amounts to make the batch a little smaller and it is really dry were I live).

Gingerbread Cookies (makes about 3-4 doz, depending on cookie size)

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup molasses
1 1/3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/3 teaspoons ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon allspice or cloves
1 large egg
1 tbsp milk
2/3 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Directions

1. In a saucepan set over low heat, or in the microwave, melt butter, then stir in the brown sugar, molasses, salt, and spices.

2. Transfer the mixture to a medium-sized mixing bowl, let it cool to lukewarm, and mix in the egg.

3. Add the dry ingredients into the molasses mixture.

4. Wrap the dough and refrigerate for 1 hour or longer.

5. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) several baking sheets.

6. Remove the dough from fridge and place on a lightly floured surface. Press flat and roll out – I did them between ¼ and ½ inch thick and liked it, the thicker cookies will be soft and thin cookies will be a little crispy.

7. Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter, cutting them as close to one another as possible to minimize waste.

8. Transfer the cookies to ungreased cookie sheets (or, if you've rolled right onto the parchment, remove the dough scraps between the cookies). Bake the cookies 8 to 12 minutes, or until they feel firm. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for several minutes, or until they're set. Transfer them to a rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough.

To decorate I used a package of Old Fashion Candy Buttons I found at the candy store down the street, they worked really well.

Reviews:
I love these cookies, they are soft, chewy and flavorful. Delicious. However these weren’t O’s favorite gingerbread, he said there was a little too much molasses flavor in them. So if you like molasses this is the gingerbread for you, if you want more ginger flavor, I will be posting a new recipe in the coming days as I try more.

Baby Blanket

Isn't is cute? All packaged up so pretty. The bow matches the underside of the blanket.


The pattern is a light green with cute monkeys and the underside is a pale yellow with faint white dots on it. Sorry about the poor pictures, but getting decent lighting round here is next to impossible.

Alright, so first off, this blanket is not for me. I am not having a baby any time soon.

Now that we have that straight, this blanket is for my cousin who is having a baby, in little over a month. She will be at the family gathering this christmas, so i will give it to her then.

When I found out about her having a kid, I knew I wanted to give her something but didn't know what. I have been wanting to sew something for a while and this gave me a perfect excuse, especially with flannel being boy one m get one m free this week at fabricland!

I followed the instructions from abmatic, and ended up with a super cute little blanket. I loved making it, it was easy and quick. Now I might move onto a more complicated blanket or I may go stock up on flannel and make a stock pile of these for anytime I have friends having kids. I would love to play around with different color combinations.

Bulldogs Week 4

FALL BROWNIE PIZZA

The bulldogs played on the weekend ( I know really late update, sorry guys), O was in attendance and that means cookies! I needed a “novembery monster cookie” the included carmel and marshmallow (I made a second cookie with the cornflakes). Well when I think fall I usually think chocolate, nuts and warm comfort food. I had some hazelnuts my Mother in law had sent me that were waiting to be used and thought they would go great with this cookie.

Owen said it looked a lot like a treatsa pizza from Dairy Queen, so that is were the name comes from.

Not a “treatsa-pizza” (makes 1 regular sized pizza cookie)

Ingredients:
½ cup margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup flour
¼ tsp baking soda
1/3 cup cocoa powder

½ cup hazelnuts roasted and crushed
2 tbsp caramel sauce
¼ cup mini marshmallows
1/8 cup powdered sugar

Directions
1.Melt the butter in a sauce pan, then add the sugar followed by the egg and vanilla (make sure the butter/sugar is not too hot before adding the egg, or you will cook the egg).
2.Mix in the dry ingredients and spread on a pizza pan to about 1 inch from the edge (the cookie expands as it cooks). I lined my pan with parchment paper and had no problems with sticking.
3.Bake the cookie at 350F for about 15 minutes until set in the middle. Set on a wire rack to cool.
4.Sprinkle chopped hazelnuts on the cookie. Warm the carmel sauce so that it runs easily and drizzle on top of the cookie and nuts.
5.In a microwave safe bowl heat the mini marshmallows for 10 – 20 seconds until melted. Add the powdered sugar to cut the stickyness and then pull and stick to the cookie in strings.
6.Let the toppings set, then cut into the pizza wedges and enjoy!


The second cookie was a little less sugary and sweet and incorporated the cornflakes. I just used a recipe I had found on recipe zaar for what I wanted to make. I boiled the sugar a little too much and cookies got really hard. Other than that though, they were great.

Bulldogs:
Sadly the bulldogs lost 6-5 this week. They played a great game considering they had a 9 person turn out and a couple of injuries during the game. I blame the horrible road conditions and early morning for the low turn out.

Reviews:
Everyone loved and raved about the Pizza cookie, it was a big hit. Sadly the cornflake cookies were not only hard from being a little overcooked, but also from being cold and were difficult eat. Lesson learned.

Ravioli Soup

I saw a recipe for this in Once a Month Cooking and decided to try it. The recipe seemed alright, but didn’t have enough veggies in it for my liking, so I added a few things as I went along and omitted others.

I made a large batch of soup, and before it was done froze half for another night. It didn’t involve any extra work as I was making it already which was great. You could also just make it and freeze all of it as it is quick to pull together.

Ravioli Soup (Makes 1 supper, + leftovers, and 1 meal for the freezer)

Ingredients
1 lb lean hamburger
1 medium onion
½ green pepper
½ red pepper
1 lg. carrot
1 cup shredded zucchini ( I used frozen)
2 tsp minced garlic
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic salt
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp basil
1 tbsp oregano
pinch of sugar
1 family pack ravioli
Parmesan cheese

Directions
1.In a pan, brown the hamburger (I do this in my dutch oven so I don’t have to switch pots). When the meat is brown, add the onions, peppers, carrots and garlic, and sauté until the veggies are starting to soften and onions are translucent.
2.Add the zucchini, tomatoes, chicken stock, spices, and sugar to the pot. Allow to simmer together for 10 minutes. (At this point I always taste it and see if I want to add more seasoning, as it sometimes depends on the tomatoes used). At this point I remove ½ the pot into a freezer container and it goes into the freezer. When you want to have it for supper, thaw the soup and pick up the directions at step 3.
3.Allow to cook and simmer for 30 minutes. During the last 10 minutes of cooking, cook the ravioli according to the package directions. Once they are cooked add them to the soup. (if the soup is too thick you can add water or chicken stock to thin it.)
4.Ladle soup into bowls and top with Parmesan cheese.

Reviews:
This is a great soup, with lots of veggies. If you use the low sodium tomatoes, it is a great meal. To make it a vegetarian meal simple don’t add the ground beef to the soup and use a cheese ravioli.

Owen and I both loved this soup and I can’t wait to take the rest out of the freezer next week.

Its begining to look like Christmas

So it snowed today, and it has continued to snow all day. It is still snowing. Three hours after out sidewalk was shoveled you would never have known anyone had touched it with a shovel. The snow was at my ankle this afternoon and I can't imagine how high it is now.

Well I went for a walk this afternoon, all the way to the Butterdome craft sale. I am pretty sure this is the largest craft sale in the city.


Anyways, I go every year, it is a great way to celebrate the end of classes and treat yourself to something nice. Oh and get some of that christmas shopping out of the way. I picked up a couple of beer bread mixes (Ultimate Gourmet) and Saskatoon Cider (Homestyle beverages) like I do every year. This year I treated myself to a package of delicious Hot Chocolate, picked up some whole cardamom for baking christmas cookies, and an almond butter crunch bar for O's gift exchange. I will be going back with a friend on mine and I will be lucky to resist the peppermint patties a second time! I also need to find a way to justify another apron, as these are ones are just to cute!

If you have some time this weekend in Edmonton and some Christmas shopping to get done, I highly suggest checking it out.

Roast Rice Milanese

I got this recipe out of the Companies Coming Rookie Cookbook. It is delicious, and I have played a little with it to make it a little more versatile. This recipe is great and it is what I always plan for the day after having roast for supper.

I have made this and had it turn out great with both beef and venison. Also instead of using roast leftovers, I have finely chopped stew chunks and fried the small chunks.

Ingredients
1 cup uncooked long grain white rice
1 small onion (finely chopped)
¼ cup margarine (Don’t use butter, it will brown too fast)
1 cup meat, coarsely chopped (beef, venison, moose roast or fried stew meat)
2 ½ cups water
1 tbsp beef bullion
¼ tsp pepper (Owen likes a little more, go with what you like)
1 tbsp Parsley flakes
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
*. If using stew chunks or other uncooked meat, fry them until cooked in a fry pan on medium high heat. You can either remove them when cooked or leave them to cook a little with the rice and onion.
1. Combine the rice, onion and margarine in a fry pan over medium high heat and sauté until the rice and onion have a golden colour.
2. Add the meat, water, beef bullion, pepper and parsley. Bring to boil and reduce heat to medium low. Cover and let simmer until the rice is tender (about 15 minutes).
3. Stir in the parmesan cheese and serve.

Reviews:
I like this as a quick meal and it is one of Owen’s favorite. When I first started making this dish, he asked for it at least once a week and I had to double the recipe when I made it.

I like to put some roast leftovers chopped and measured into the freezer, then I can thaw it as I brown the rice and supper is done in 20 minutes!

Pasta at Home

Homemade Pasta
I love puttering in the kitchen once in a while. One day it was cool outside and I wanted a yummy meal and felt like spending a little time working on it. I was going through blogs and stopped when I came to Pastor Ryan’s Bolognese sauce on Pioneer Women. This looked deliscious, and part of that was the homemade pasta. I knew this is what I wanted.
Now making pasta really isn’t very hard, especially with only 2 ingredients. However, it can take a little time and patience to roll it out thin if you don’t have a pasta roller/cutter (which I do not).
Ingredients (per person)
1 egg
½ cup flour

How too:
1. Make a well in the center of the flour and drop the eggs into the well.
2. Mix by hand until the dough comes together, then knead on a floured surface until you get a smooth elastic dough.
3. Shape the dough into a ball and let rest for about 30 min. (or store well wrapped in the fridge for a day or two).
4. Roll the dough as thin as possible. I often will hang it over the back of a chair, or the side of the counter and let it stretch itself thing as well.
Cut into thin strips, keeping the strips separated so they do not stick and form a clump.
5. To cook, drop the noodles into boiling heavily salted water. They will only take 1 -2 min to cook (generally when they are all floating, they are done).
I sprinkle mine with a little bit of italiano seasoning after taking them out of the pot.

Reviews:
I love homemade pasta, O thought they were great and so did our friend. I was snacking on them even without the sauce (recipe to come later).

Slow cooker Venison Roast

Friends of ours were coming over for dinner and while looking through my freezer for the pheasants (my original meal plan) I accidently tore the wrapping on a roast. I didn’t want it to freezer burn or anything so the plan changed – I was cooking roast. I was not upset by the change as the roast is a lot less work and I already had a great plan for the leftovers.
I let the roast thaw overnight and the next day I threw it into the slowcooker with a few ingredients. All that was left before supper was to make mashed potatoes and cook the beans, which gave both my husband I more time to visit with our friends.
Slow Cooker Venison (slightly adapted from Allrecipes)
Ingredients:
1 2-4 lb roast
1 onion sliced
1 tbsp soy sauce
½ tbsp worcestershire sauce
½ tbsp garlic salt
½ tsp ground black pepper
1 pkg onion soup mix (like lipton)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 tbsp flour
¼ cup water

Directions:
Place the roast in the slow cooker and cover it with onions, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce garlic salt and pepper.
In a bowl mix together the onion soup mix and the mushroom soup. Pour it over the roast.
Let the roast cook on low for 6-7 hours, until the internal temp is 140F to 170F. A lot of this will depend on the size of your roast and how well you like it done
Remove the roast and slice on a cutting board. While it is resting(before cutting) strain the onions (if you wish) from the liquid. Mix the water and flour to form a slurry, and pour into the liquid to make a gravy. This will be a thin gravy but thickens a little as it cools. However, it is delicious.

Reviews:
This was a great supper, it really didn’t take much effort at all and the meal was enjoyed by everyone – even our friend who doesn’t eat much (if any) red meat (Don’t worry I cooked a tuna steak for her – recipe to come later).

“Red” Chocolate Cookies

The bulldogs played last night, and that means cookies. I took suggestions this week, as I wasn’t really sure what to do. What I got from the boys on the team was “chocolate something”. When Owen saw this, he suggested trying beet cookies – remembering the beet cake I had made a couple months back.

For this I wanted something with a lot of chocolate flavour, and more of a brownie feel. I found a beet brownie recipe, mixed it up and cooked ½ as brownies to see what they came out like. Then I got down to some modifying of the cookies until I ended up with something I thought I could feed to people.

“Red” Chocolate Cookies – makes 2-3 doz cookies.
Ingredients
¼ cup butter
2 oz chocolate (70 to 80% cocoa)
2 eggs
1 ½ cup brown sugar
½ cup applesauce
½ cup beets
2 ½ cups flour
¼ cup coco powder
¼ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp baking powder

Optional Additions
Mini marshmallows
White chocolate chips

Directions:
1.On the stove melt the butter and chocolate together. Let it cool a little while you beat the eggs until they are light and foamy.
2.Add the sugar and vanilla to the eggs, beating before adding the chocolate mixture, applesauce and beets. Beat until well mixed
3.Stir in the flour, spices, baking powder and cocoa powder.
4.Fold in the mini marshmallows and chocolate chips if you so choose.
5.Drop by full teaspoons onto a baking sheet (I lined mine with parchment paper and had no problem with sticking).
6.Bake at 350F for about 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Reviews:
Both versions of the cookies got great reviews (with the marshmallow and chips, and without), and surprisingly the hockey team seemed to go for the plain ones. Apparently they were a little unsure of the puffed up and cratered marshmallows.

I will say this, there is still a little bit of a beet taste to the cookies. Most people didn’t notice until they were really thinking about it trying to guess what the “secret” ingredient was. However if you are not a fan of beets (like me) and you know it is there, these may not be your favorite cookie.

Bulldogs:
They won the game 9-7, and have a 4 game winning streak! Apparently the cookies are working (riiiiiight).

This week, I asked the boys what cookies they would like next week and got the following instructions:
Novembery
Frosted Flakes
Caramel
Marshallow
“monster” cookies (he didn’t know that this was actually a cookie)

If any of you can come up with a cookie idea that combines those instructions, I would very grateful.

Stuffed Manacotti

When I have some odds and ends in the fridge I feel like using I generally tend to make manacotti. I don’t follow the traditional recipe, or any recipe for that matter and it turns out a little different each time. I love experimenting with the different flavors and the tasty combinations that come out of it. I am going to share with you some of the most common mixes that I use, to which I will usually add whatever odds and ends of veggies and cheeses I have in the fridge.

The reason I am sharing this? I am slowing becoming obsessed with freezer meals. These make a fantastic freezer meal, just stuff the shells and freeze. Then when you want to eat them you can pull as many out as you would like, put them in a dish, top with some sauce and cook. You could freeze them as a ready to go in the oven dish as well, but I find freezing individually gives me more flexibility.

I am sorry for the lack of amounts for these recipes, but I just toss things into a bowl and then stuff as many shells as I can with what I have. Make the mixture look right to you and your family’s preferences.

Chicken Alfredo Manacotti
Ingredients:
Cooked chicken (this can be breasts that have been cubed or shredded, or ground chicken, or even turkey)
Ricotta cheese (you can substitute cottage cheese if you want)
Veggies, finely chopped (I love using greens with this, green pepper, broccoli, spinach)
1 box manacotti noodles
Alfredo sauce*
Cheese for topping (cheddar, mozza, swiss, Parmesan)*

Spinach Manacotti:
Ingredients:
Ricotta (or cottage) cheese
Chopped baby spinach (or frozen chopped spinach)
Manacotti noodles
Pasta sauce (I use a can of tomato sauce, with Italian seasoning added to it)*
Cheese to top (cheddar, mozza, parmasan ect).*

Sausage Stuffed Manacotti
Ingredients:
Cooked chopped sausage (or ground sausage filling cooked, ground beef cooked)
Ricotta cheese (or cottage cheese if you prefer)
Veggies finely chopped (shredded carrot, zucchini, peppers, onion, spinach ect)
Manacotti noodles
Pasta sauce (or tomato sauce with seasonings of your choice)*
Cheese to top*

* if you are freezing individually, you will not need these ingredients until you are ready to cook the dish.

Preparation
1.In a bowl mix together the ricotta cheese, veggies and meat. If it looks a little dry you can add a tbsp or two of the sauce.
2.In a large pot cook the manacotti to eldante, if you overcook them they will split and be a little harder to work with. We will be baking this, so they will soften up more.
3.Using a small spoon (teaspoon) spoon the filling into each of the cooked noodles. Place the noodles in a casserole dish if you wish to cook them for supper (or freeze as a put together dish), or on a cookie sheet to freeze.

To cook:
1.Take the stuffed pasta out of the freezer and let thaw a little, in a casserole dish.
2.Pour the sauce over the stuffed pasta, and sprinkle cheese on the top.
3.Bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes (if they went in frozen you may have to cook them a little longer. If they look like they are getting a little dry, cover them). The cheese on top should be bubbly and the manacotti should be hot through.

Shanghi Casserole

This recipe came from my mother in law (I have changed it a little, as I am not feeding 3 growing boys), and was requested by Owen. I have come to love the flavored rice and the crunch of the “noodles” on top. It is made at least once a month in our house (that is about as often as anything is made around here with the exception of spaghetti).

About the name, I am really not sure why it is called Shanghi Casserole, but that is what O always calls it, and that is what it says on the top of the recipe his mom sent me.

Shanghi Casserole
Ingredients:
½ lb ground beef
2 stalks celery
½ med onion
1 can cream of mushroom soup
¼ cup milk
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 ½ cup uncooked rice
2-3 cups Chow mein noodles (the dry crunchy ones)

Directions:
1.Put the rice on to cook (I have a rice cooker for this, but go with however you normally cook rice). While the rice is cooking brown the meat and sauté with the onion and celery until the vegetables are soft.
2.Combine the milk, soup and soy sauce in a separate bowl
3.When everything is ready drain the fat off the meat and combine the meat, rice and soup mixture in a 3 quart casserole dish.
4.Bake at 350F for 20 mintues. Remove the casserole and top with the noodles, pressing them into the rice mixture a little. Bake for another 10 minutes.
5.Enjoy.

Freezer Meal:
I will most often cook up twice the amount of meat and veggies I need for this and freeze ½ of it. Then all I have to do when I come home is throw some rice in the rice cooker and mix everything together and bake (providing I remembered to take the meat mixture out of the freezer that morning to thaw). I am sure it would also work if you froze everything mixed, just undercooked the rice a little ( I will halve to try this soon).
Reviews:
This is a standby in our house and it starting to become comfort food to me. I don’t know what is about mushroom soup flavoured rice, but I love it. O has eaten this since he was young and still loves it.

Berry White Chocolate Cookies

I had a potluck to go to and wanted something new to take. While out for breakfast with a friend I saw that the day’s muffin was a white chocolate blueberry. Naturally while eating breakfast I started mulling, something was tickling my brain. Later that afternoon it clicked that it would be a great cookie flavour, and upon some more thinking I reasoned almost any berry would go well in a white chocolate chip cookie.

The recipe search began, and I didn’t find one I liked. They all used to many flavors (I am sure they were delicious but I wanted something simple and quick) and dried fruit. So I got to work modifying a chocolate chip cookie recipe (I wanted a nice light chewy cookie base). The outcome has received great reviews, however I can not get a consensus on which fruit was better.

Berry White Chocolate Cookies (makes about 2 doz)

Ingredients:

½ cup butter (soft)
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 cup flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ cup white chocolate chips
Fresh berries (I used raspberries and frozen blueberries)

Directions:

1. Cream the butter and sugars together until fluffy. Add in the vanilla and egg, beating until well mixed.
2. Slowly add in the flour and baking powder until mixed
3. Fold in the chocolate chips.
4. Spoon cookies onto a baking pan using teaspoons. Once they are on the pan poke berries into the top of the cookie – as many as you want. For larger berries (raspberry, blackberry ect) you will want to ½ or ¼ the berry first.
5. Bake at 375F for 10-12 minutes, until the middle is set and the edges are turning a nice brown.
6. Cool on a wire rack.

Variations:
If you would like a fluffier cookie use 2 eggs and 1 1/4 cup of flour. This variation has also gotten rave reviews.

Use any berries you would like with any combination of chips that you think would be good. Raspberry with a dark chocolate may also be good. Use you imagination.

Reviews:

These cookies were a real hit, everyone seems to have liked them so far. They won’t keep long with fresh berries, but they aren’t many in the batch so them disappearing should be no problem.People just can't seem to leave them sit on a a table too long.

I am looking forward to trying out other berries in them and dried or frozen berries during the winter! (I have a feeling these cookies are going to be made a few times).

Chewy Apple "crisp" Cookies - Bulldogs Week 2

The bulldogs played on Friday night, and for this week I decided to try my hand at making a recipe of my own without modifying other recipes. I knew I had a bunch of apples that I needed to get rid of and decided to try making a cookie that would be reminiscent of apple crisp. I started tossing things into my mixer and looking for the right consistency. Once I thought I might have it, I would bake up a cookie, test it and then add more as needed. I think we ended up with 4 or 5 versions of this cookie in various stages before I was done.

Apple “Crsip” Cookies – makes about 2 doz depending on cookie size

Ingredients:
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup butter
¼ cup + ½ cup applesauce
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup all purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
¼ tsp baking powder
2-3 tsp cinnamon (depending on how much you like cinnamon)
½ tsp nutmeg
1 sm to med apple chopped
1 sm to med apple grated (just use a cheese grater)
1 ½ cup large flake oats

Directions:
1. Beat the sugar and butter together until fluffly. Add in ¼ cup of apple sauce, egg and vanilla.
2. Add in the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and baking powder and mix until just mixed.
3. Fold in the Apples, oats and the last ½ cup apple sauce.
4. Spoon with teaspoons onto a baking sheet (I cover mine with parchment paper and they didn’t stick at all), and sprinkle the tops with a touch of brown sugar (1/4tsp ish).
5. Bake at 350 For 12-14 minutes, the cookies with be a bit spongy when done, but will hold their shape when touched.

Reviews:
Oh wow did this ever make the house smell like apples! They smell was great and the cookies packed a great deal of apple flavour into them. Owen did say they tasted a bit like an apple crisp (which is what I was going for, so woo hoo for me). The cookies are super moist and don’t need to be stored in an airtight container which is nice – you can leave them sit out for quite a while.

The boys apparently really enjoyed the cookies and I didn’t end up with any leftovers.

"Those apple pie cookies (worth at least a few goals) were good" Team Captain


Game Score:
The Bulldogs won 6-1 for their game, way to go boys!

Mars Bar Brownies

I admit it, my favorite part of Halloween is the cheap minature candy for the days after Oct. 31. This year I hit the stores and came home with a large box of mini mars bars. Why didn’t I get a box that had a few kinds in it? I don’t really know, but that large box of mars bars called to me, it wanted me to bring it home.

So now, rather than just chew my way through the box of 70 chocolate bars in the weekend, I decided maybe I should try and do something with them. The natural and most obvious choice was Brownies.

Mars Bar Brownies:

Ingredients:
½ cup margerine (1 square)
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup cocoa powder
½ cup all purpose flour
about 12 mini mars bars

How to:
1. In a saucepan melt the margerine., remove from heat.
2. Add the brown sugar and stir until smooth. Check to make sure that the mixture is now cool enough that it won’t cook the egg, if it is too warm let it sit for a minute.
3. Add in the egg and vanilla, mixing until smooth.
4. Add the flour and cocoa powder, mixing until just mixed.
5. At this point you could cut up the mars bars and add them in, but I decided to go a more interesting route. I poured just enough batter to cover the bottom of my 8x8 pan, then set the bard in lines in my pan.

I then marked the edges of the bars, and covered them with the remaining batter.


6. Bake at 350F for 20 mintues, they will still be very gooey when removed from the oven, don’t worry about it. Let cool in the pan for 5 -8 mintues them remove to a wire rack (I like the parchment paper for this as you can just grab the sides and pick the brownies out of the pan.).
7. Once the brownies are cool, but at the marked lines. Hopefully the bars didn’t shift and the brownies will look like a fudgy brownie along the cut lines. Then when you bite into the middle, you get a caramel and nugout surprise!

Reviews:
I love these brownies, I hate easily ½ the pan of these in a single sitting. I could not stop myself from picking up a new one everytime I went near the kitchen. O said they were allright, but a little too rich for him as he wasn’t able to sit down and eat a bunch of them all at once.

Thank You Edible Arrangements!

Edible Arrangements is a fun company that make boquets out of fruit. I have been drooling over these arrangements for a while now, but haven't had an excuse to actually order one other than I want to try it. However, after a recent promotion, I managed to get a coupon for a free small box of fruit! Sweet, I can try it now, in a small form - I don't have to get a big arrangement that I might not finish.

Owen was nice enough to pick up my box last week on his way home. I ended up with 2 chocolate dipped apple slices, 2 chocolate dipped orange slices and 2 chocolate dipped strawberries.


The rulings: I love these. I polished off all the fruit quite quickly and the only way that Owen was able to get his hands on any was to sneak it from me as I was doing something else (I don't share fruit well..). I will be ordering from them in the future (even if I just eat it all myself).

Thank you to Edible Arrangements for my free fruit, and if you haven't hear of them you should check it out.

www.ediblearrangements.com

Chocolate Cookies with a Twist - Bulldogs Cookies

Alright, I know these sounds gross and weird. Right now many of you are probably wondering were I left my brain before trying this, but seriously they are great. Trust me, I know my chocolate!

Anyways, over the summer, one of the guys on the Bulldogs had mentioned Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake to me after eating one of my other baked goods with veggies in them (chocolate zucchini loaf and chocolate beet cake). I didn’t think much of it until I was reading Cream Puff Murder by Joanne Fluke, and she had a recipe for “Don’t ask, Don’t tell Cookies”. Upon seeing this, I knew what the bulldogs would be getting for cookies. Off course I made some changes (I really didn’t need 8 dozen cookies).

Chocolate Sauerkraut Cookies

¼ cup soft butter
1 ½ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup cocoa powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ cup soured milk (take regular milk and add ~1tsp lemon juice, leave for a minute)
2 ½ cups flour
1 cup drained sauerkraut

Directions:
1. Place the sauerkraut in a colander and rinse, rinse it very well! You should only have a faint smell if any of the brine left when you are done rinsing. Transfer to a cutting board or food processor and finely chop ( you want this to be a very fine chop or you will find large chunks in your cookies).
2. In a bowl beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the eggs, one a time until well mixed.
3. Mix in the vanilla, cocoa powder and baking soda until well combined.
4. Add ¼ cup of milk and 1 ¼ cups of flour. Allow to mix and add the remaining flour and milk.
5. Measure a packed ½ cup of chopped sauerkraut form step 1 (this should be pretty much all of it) and pat dry with a paper towl (don’t worry about it getting it perfectly dry, you just want to remove some of the water). Add to the chocolate batter and stir.
6. Drop the cookies using teaspoons onto a cookie sheet. (this is a fairly “runny” dough, as far as cookie dough goes). Bake at 350 for about 10-11 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet for 1 minute before moving to a wire rack.

These cookies taste pretty much like a cake, and have the same “fluffy” consistency of a cake. O figured they needed a little more flavour, so I added the frosting as suggested by Joanne Fluke (with some modifications).

Mocha Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients:
½ cup chocolate chips
1 cup icing (powdered) sugar
1/6 cup margerine
4 tsp strong coffee

Directions:
1. In a microwave safe bowl melt the chocolate chips with 2 tsp of coffee. (Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, microwave 20 seconds stir, repeat until all chips are melted).
2. Add in the margerine and stir until it is all melted and combined.
3. Add in the icing sugar and stir. This will make a very thick mixture and you may have to add the additional 2 tsp of coffee to thin it out so you can spread it (and it adds a it more of the yummy coffee flavor).
4. Spread on cookies while warm.

This icing is a very fudgy icing, and the way I made it, it hardened on top kind of like a royal icing which allowed me to easily stack the cookies without worrying much about the icing.

Reviews:
The combination of the chocolate cake like cookies and the mild coffee in the icing was great. No one guessed there was sauerkraut in the cookies, and some people didn’t believe it when told. All in all they were a big hit.

The Game Score:
Now for the important bit – they Bulldogs won the game 4-2! (O even managed to score a goal) Way to go Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs next game is November 13th (yes, that is Friday the 13th folks). So look for an update next weekend.

Bulldogs and Cookies

Owen loves hockey - he watches hockey and he plays hockey, on two teams. There is a lot of hockey in our house. One of the teams he plays on is the Bulldogs. This team has somehow gotten it into their heads that they need cookies before the game to win (really I think this is a big excuse to eat cookies). I figured I would get it out of their heads and sent cookies during a losing streak, well they won and have continued to win as I continue to send cookies - this is just a coincidence right?

Well, as I am now sending cookies almost weekly, they have graciously become my guinea pigs for new recipes. This actually works out well, as now I don't have to try and find something to do with a bunch of cookies so I can bake something new, after sending them to hockey I usually only have about a dozen left in the house for the week - perfect.

The reason I am telling all of you this? I am going to start a weekly (or there abouts) update on the cookies I make for the dogs and how they are doing. Should be an interesting season for us all!

I hope you enjoy at least some of the recipes - the guys really are good sports about what I send.

Upcoming Bulldogs update: Chocolate surprise cookies.

Slow Cooker Chili

My husband loves beans, and he is a fan of a good chili on a cold day. I love doing it in the slow cooker, It doesn’t require a lot of work on my part, and the flavors have lots of time to mix together and become something delicious. This is approximations, as when I cook chili there is a lot of tossing in random vegetables out of the fridge, tasting and adding spices depending on my mood that day.

Ingredients:
1 onion
2 stalks celery
1 lb ground meat (I used ½ lb beef and ½ lb venison as they were the first things I grabbed)
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
2-3 cans beans (I used all kidney this time, but sometimes I add navy beans as well)
peppers (doesn’t really matter what kind, use what you like best)
2-3 small hot peppers
grated carrots
1 can corn nibblets
2 tbsp chili pepper
2tbsp cup cumin
1 tbsp Italiano seasoning
garlic, salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Brown meat with the celery and onions. Rinse off the beans.
2. Combine everything in the crockpot and cook on low for 8-10 hours. I always taste it when I get home and add any extra spices I think may help (more cumin, more chill powder, more tomato sauce ect) and then let it finish cooking – this works well as I get home around the 8.5 hour mark.

This is also fantastic as a vegetarian meal – just don’t add the meat. It has gone of really well with both meat eaters and vegetarians alike. Owens favorite serving method is in a bread bowl (well he likes most things in a bread bowl). The bread bowls here are from the Italian bread bowls My Kitchen Café.

Halloween 09

Well, Halloween has over for another year, all that is left is some finger cookies and the disassembled pieces of our costumes. I let Owen pick the costumes this year, and he decided to go with a couples costume. He found a picture and we got to work making them. It only took 1 black sheet, 1 pillow case, a cardboard box, shelf paper, duct tape and some iron on hemming.


The costume was a hit at the party we went through, and it was one of my favorite costumes to wear of all time! It was so very comfortable!

I did end up doing doing a small pumpkin for my apartment in my window, and the kids playing on the lawn loved it! They were all coming up to the window to check it out. I did this one freehand, so it isn't as fancy as the dog I did at my parent's.

In the window:


Up Close:


Hope you all had a great Halloween!

Peanut Butter Fingers

I love cookies that look like fingers for halloween, however O isn't a big fan of vanilla cookies. I decided to try them with peanut butter cookies instead, with the added bonus that pb cookies are close the skin colored if you use the right recipe.

The first time I tried, I used the same recipe as the Jack-o-lanterns. They looked fantastic before they went in the oven, but when they game out, the had flattened and ruined my pretty fingers.

I went searching and found a recipe for this purpose, Count Dracula Fingers! As I already had 3 batches of cookies in the house, and I didn't know if it would work I did a smaller batch and ended up with about 20 cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/3 teaspoon(s) baking powder
1/6 teaspoon(s) baking soda
dash salt
1/4 cup(s) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup(s) creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup(s) + 2 tbsp confectioners' sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
Egg white from 1 large egg, for brushing
Whole Almonds

Directions:
1. Cream together the butter and peanut butter. Once it is smooth and the sugar, vanilla and the egg, beating until well mixed.
2. In another bowl mix together the dry ingredients and slowly add to the butter and sugar mixture until well mixed.
3. Wrap the dough in cling wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
4. Take 1 tbsp of dough and roll into a 5 inch rope. Place on the cookie sheet and press an almond on the end for the nail. Using a knife press lines for the knuckles. Repeat until the cookie sheet is full. Brush the cookies with the egg white.
5. Bake at 325F for 18 minutes, let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes.
Enjoy.

Reviews:
This cookie recipe isn't as tasty as the jack-o-lantern recipe (there isn't as much peanut butter in it), however the cookies look good and creepy! I love the way they turned out. The only caution is that the nails tend to fall off if they are jolted to hard, so I am planning on "glueing' them with a little icing or melted chocolate.

This is what happens if you use the jack-o-lantern recipe to make the fingers: