Happy New Year to You!

In the New Year,

may your right hand

always be stretched out in friendship

but never in want.

Here’s wishing you

a

Happy New Year!

 

Prime Rib Roast, My Favorite!

We splurge here for our Christmas Eve dinner with a big beefy prime grade of beef for our rib roast, roasted to mouthwatering perfection for the occasion.
  

My favorite carver slicing it up

This would be great for any special day ~ succulent prime rib.  This is, hands down, my favorite meat, the rarer, the better. 

I followed the advice from a butcher at Orchard Prime Meats, our superb butcher shop, starting the roast in a very hot oven to sear the outer surface for a crusty exterior, and finishing at a lower temperature.  An accurate meat thermometer is a necessity. 

It’s easy to cook, easier than roasting a turkey, and turns out as good as any 5-star steak restaurant could do it!

Prime Rib Roast

Ingredients:

3 ribs, 7 to 8 pounds, “prime” rib roast
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper

Method:

Allow meat to come to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Pat roast dry with a paper towel.
Make a rub of remaining ingredients and rub seasonings all over roast.
Place in roasting pan, fat side up.
Cook roast for 15 minutes to sear outer surface.
Turn oven down to 325 degrees.
Continue roasting for about 1¼ to 1½ hours, until meat thermometer registers 120 to 125 degrees for rare (the center will be red with it turning pink toward the outer edge.)
Let rest 20 minutes.
Slice meat away from ribs, cutting along the bones.
Slice meat crosswise to desired thickness
Serve

ENJOY!

For You This Christmas...

“I have always thought of Christmas as a good time;

a kind, forgiving, generous, 
pleasant time;

a time when men and women seem to open their hearts freely

and so I say,

God bless Christmas!

Charles Dickens

Here's wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Keep Calm

and 

Eat another Cookie!

Cocoa Snickerdoodles

You remember those cookies, from way back when, Snickerdoodles?  Well, here’s the chocolate version for all you chocoholic cookie lovers!

These simple little cookies go overboard with good flavors ~ cinnamon and chocolate.  They’re a dark little chewy cookie with a sparkle.

They start out with butter and sugar, like the traditional snickerdoodle, with a little cream of tartar for the soft perfect texture.  I slightly adapted this Food Network Magazine recipe, by using Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa for the best ever-chocolate taste, and Saigon Cinnamon for its sweet, especially rich, cinnamon flavor. 

Don’t over-mix the ingredients; combine them just well enough to produce the classic snickerdoodle chewiness.  Roll in cinnamon sugar to finish them off. 

This is a scrumptious twist on the traditional recipe.  They’re chocolaty without being overly sweet; they have a sugary crunchy crust, and an almost cake-like center ~ with a sparkle to boot.

Try them, they’ll melt in your mouth!

Cocoa Snickerdoodles 
Adapted

Ingredients:

1¼ cups flour
¼ cup Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa powder
1½ teaspoons cream of tartar
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
¾ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup white sanding sugar
1¾ teaspoons Saigon Cinnamon

Method:

Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Whisk flour, cocoa powder, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.
Beat butter granulated sugar and brown sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes.
Increase the speed to medium high and beat until fluffy, about 2 more minutes.
Beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the flour mixture until just combined.
Combine the sanding sugar and cinnamon in a small shallow bowl.
Form heaping teaspoonfuls of dough into balls with damp hands.
Toss in in the cinnamon sugar to coat.
Arrange about 2-inches apart on 2 baking sheets.
Bake until cookies are set around the edge, 8 to 9 minutes.
Let cool 2 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Makes about 2½ dozens cookies

ENJOY!

Caramel-Coconut Cookies

Many of you ~ like my family ~ go bananas for anything chocolate.  Not me ~ I go bananas for caramel and coconut!

These rich cookies are crunchy on the outside and creamy, maybe a little chewy toward the center, a perfect combination to me.  The recipe belongs to Better Homes and Gardens, and I liked it so much, I doubled it:  all the more to share.  They’re easy cookies to make and good for the season.

Ummm, caramel!

N’uff said:  If you like the two, you’ll be addicted to these!  Just make them, and you’ll see…

Caramel-Coconut Cookies

Ingredients:

½ cup shortening
½ cup butter, softened

½ granulated sugar

½ packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1 egg

2 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1¾ cups four

36 vanilla caramels, unwrapped*

¼ cup milk

¼ cup shredded coconut, toasted

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, beat shortening and butter with electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds.

Add both sugars, baking powder, salt and baking soda.

Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.

Beat in egg, the 2 tablespoons of milk, and vanilla until combined.

Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. And stir in any remaining flour.

Drop dough by level measuring tablespoons 2-inches apart onto prepared cookie sheet.

Bake for 9 minutes, until edges are slightly browned.

Transfer to a wire rack.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, microwave caramels and the ¼ cup milk on high until melted and smooth, stirring every 30 seconds.

Spoon caramel mixture onto cookies.

Sprinkle with toasted coconut.

Transfer to a rack and cool.

Makes 40 cookies

*I use Werther’s Baking Caramels, they’re wrapped in wax paper and easy to use for baking!

ENJOY!

Pineapple Thumbprints

When I bite into one of these little gems, it’s like capturing the essence of Hawaii, my favorite destination!

It’s a buttery sugary treat with a creamy filling nesting in the thumbprint.  It’s a cookie that is filled with the delicious flavor of pineapple.  This recipe, from Food Network Magazine, can easily be doubled.

Making "thumbprints"

Filling the "thumbprints"

To mellow the sweetness, the filling is blended with cream cheese. Then the cookie is finished with a few bits of dried pineapple clustered in the cream cheese filling.

Maybe a little toasted coconut scattered over the cookie would be the icing on the cake...

Pineapple Thumbprints  
Adapted
Ingredients: 

2 cups flour

½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
½ cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
½ cup dried pineapple chunks, finely chopped, plus more for topping
1/3 cup canned crushed pineapple in juice
1½ ounces cream cheese
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
Milk, for brushing

Method:

 

Whisk flour baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
Beat butter, brown sugar and 1/3 cup granulated sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Beat in the egg, then the lemon juice.

Reduce mixer speed to medium low; mix in dried pineapple, the the flour mixture until combined. 
Cover and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine crushed pineapple, cream cheese, the remaining 2 teaspoons granulated sugar, vanilla and lemon zest in a bowl with a rubber spatula, breaking up any large pineapple pieces. 
Refrigerate until slightly firm, at least 30 minutes.

To bake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll dough into 1-inch balls; arrange 2” apart on baking sheets.

Indent each with the back of a floured ¼ teaspoon measuring spoon.

Brush with milk.

Bake until cookies are slightly puffed, 10-12 minutes.

Remove from oven and re-indent.

Spoon in the filling.

Return to oven until lightly browned, 6-8 more minutes.

Let cool 5 minutes on baking sheets; transfer to racks to cool completely.

Top with dried pineapple.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

ENJOY!

Rich and Creamy Buckeye Candy ~ OHIO!

After we moved to Louisville, when I was a teenager, Dad gave me several Buckeye nuts for good luck ~ I still have them to this day, with one being in my purse all the time.  They always remind me of him…

  

I’m a Buckeye at heart ~ was born in Ohio, lived there through my early years; my extended family still lives there.  It’s almost a shame ~ I’ve never made Buckeye Candy until now. 

There are about a zillion recipes over the Internet for this delicious confection; this one belongs to Jif.  It’s not a candy that is made often in this neck of the woods, so that makes it even more of a treat with it’s taste similar to Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

The buckeyes are dipped in chocolate in a manner to duplicate the nut from the Buckeye tree, the state tree of Ohio.  They have a smooth peanut butter filling that is coated with rich semi-sweet chocolate.  It’s an easy recipe, which you will probably want to double like I do. 

Maybe these sweet little candies will bring a person good luck, just like the real Buckeyes do!

Buckeyes

Adapted

Ingredients:

1½ cups creamy peanut butter (I use Jif)

½ cup butter, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt

3-4 cups powdered sugar (I used almost 3½)

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons shortening

Method:

Combine peanut butter, butter, vanilla and salt in large bowl.

Beat with an electric mixer on LOW until blended.

Add 2 cups powdered sugar, beating until blended.

Beat in additional powdered sugar until mixture, when shaped into a ball, will stay on a toothpick.

Shape into 1-inch balls.

Refrigerate 1 hour.

Place chocolate chips and shortening in microwave-safe bowl.

Microwave on medium for 30 seconds, stir.

Repeat until mixture is smooth.

Reheat as needed while coating peanut butter balls.

Insert toothpick in peanut butter ball.

Dip ¾ of ball into chocolate, leaving top uncovered to resemble a buckeye; remove excess.

Place on wax paper-lined try.

Remove toothpick and smooth over holes.

Refrigerate until firm.

Makes about 4-5 dozen

Pam’s note:  The chocolate adheres well when the peanut butter balls are VERY COLD and the chocolate is VERY HOT.  Dip them immediately; don’t let them sweat, as the chocolate won’t stick.  They’re easy to make, and sooo good!

ENJOY!