2-Headed Gingerbread Man

Got the cookie cutter when we visited the Mutter Museum.  

The Best Advice for Cooking

I've been wanting to get this out there for a few weeks now because it's one of those things nagging me with, "If I only knew about this YEARS ago!"

I'm old.

I've seen fads come and go.  Use butter.  Don't use any oils.  Use vegetable oils.  Don't use vegetable oils.  Use butter.  My conclusion in regards to cooking and eating is--if it tastes good, eat that but don't be a gourmand.  Can you stand steamed vegs?  I can't.  For 30 years, I flat out never cooked a vegetable, never ate them if I could help it.  Disgusting!  Sure, I read about blanching, but isn't that an ugly picture.  You want to eat something blanched?  And it's common knowledge that you never boil a vegetable because that cooks out all the vitamins.

But it's better than not eating vegs at all, isn't it.

Besides, blanching isn't boiling vegs to mush.  Matter of fact, it really makes the colors of the vegs pop!  So blanch your vegs, they become delicious and you will WANT to eat them.  You want to know more?  Buy Julia Child's book.

I don't even know if I would have listened and read that cookbook back when I had my first apartment at 18.  Maybe.  But it would sure make a great wedding gift along with my most favorite tool in the kitchen.  It's not my Cuisinart nor my Kitchenaid (with all the attachments), both powerhouses that I can't live without and use several times a week.

You know what my most useful kitchen tool is?  My Dutch Oven.  Why?  You can buy the cheapest cut of meats, and who can afford the price of food these days?  Sheesh!  Small dried out steaks for as much as I pay at a restaurant.  Chicken breasts worth their weight in gold.  Nope, I can buy those big cheap dark meat chicken thighs that no one wants.  I heat butter in the Dutch Oven and sear the chicken, then I add tomatoes and vegs and a little wine or even water, put that heavy lid on (it seals all the steam inside) and pop it right in the oven to cook.  It's big enough that I can make a lot to freeze for later.  Back when we had teenagers in the house, it was big enough to feed a family.  There isn't any meat too tough or too stringy for a Dutch Oven.  It will save you money every week.

My second go-to tools of the kitchen?  My cast-iron frying pans.  I threw away all my non-stick frying pans after I got these.  Why?

• My cast-iron pans are better at non-stick than my non-stick pans.  Fried eggs do not stick to a properly seasoned cast iron pan.  What happens when you fry eggs in a non-stick pan?  It makes a glued on mess, is what happens.  You have to soak the pan for days.  Then ever so carefully scrub it lightly.  Which leads me to my next point.
  
• Cleaning cast-iron is a snap.  On it's worst day, I fill it with water and let it sit a few minutes, then I can use a metal SOS pad to scrub the holy hell out of it (it's never really needed that much of a scrubbing though).  It won't scratch.  Better yet, if you can find an old one somewhere, filled with years of build up, you can even clean it by throwing it in your self-cleaning oven.  That's my next point.
• Cast-iron lasts forever.  You buy a pan when you're young, you're done.  Never have to worry about the heat of use rounding the bottom of your pans so they eventually cook unevenly.  It is what it is forever.  Hand then down to your kids.  Your grandkids.  Your great grandkids. 
• Don't be afraid of seasoning.  It's dead easy.  You use your pan.  You can either wipe it out with a paper towel or rinse it or, if you want, use soap and water and scrub down to the metal.  I rarely use soap.  Afterward, most especially if you've used soap on it, wipe it down with oil.  Vegetable oil is crap and makes it sticky.  Coconut oil or bacon grease are splendid!  At that point, you can be done OR you can heat it on low heat and melt the oil or whatever makes you feel good or you can put it in your oven and the next time you preheat it, the pan will heat up too.  Take it out before you put in whatever you were going to bake.  You barely need any oil.  You don't need to get a 2 inch thick coating of build up on your pan.  It's just not that difficult.  Honestly, I usually have a frying pan on the stove top everyday, all day because I cook.  

Speaking of stove tops, my stove is dying.  Guess what the new stoves are now?  Induction ranges.  You can only use magnetic pans on these stove tops.  There ya go!  Cast iron and Dutch Ovens are perfect.

Regardless of the stove, 1 more thing I would suggest is a solid steel saucepan, not a non-stick saucepan.  How else are you going to make Hollandaise Sauce for your vegs?  A saucepan you can whisk in while heating is imperative!  So many things are made this way.  Lemon curd for your scones, for instance.  

So if you need a smart gift for a wedding shower, a baby shower, or a gift for a Millennial with their own kitchen, I would get them a good sized Dutch Oven or cast-iron pans AND Julia Child's cookbook.  These are thoughtful, meaningful gifts that will last a lifetime. 

If anyone has any questions about how to use these pans or needs ideas about how to get started cooking with them, go ahead and ask me.  I've been using these kitchen time-savers for years.  Too bad I didn't start when I was 20 something! 

Visions of Sugar Plums...

For about 2 years, I've been trying to work a recipe I made up, trying to guess ratios and ingredients.  I was thinking it could take the place of a sugar treat, I could do this as a snack or dessert. It wouldn't be low calorie but it would be healthier for me (sugar and chocolate, sadly, make me swell up, triggers my IBS).

So I was thinking of grinding up nuts, (I have a lot of almonds) with raisins and maybe some orange blossom honey (my favorite honey flavor) in the Cuisinart.  Would it hold together?  Would I need eggs and have bake them to make them hold together?

After 2 years of not wanting to waste ingredients, I decided to look online by ingredients.  Someone must have thought of this already, right?

Sigh.

Yeah.  They're called sugarplums.  Ever heard of those before?  Yeah.  Sugarplums.

almonds and raisins

 So basically, I've had freakin' visions of sugarplums dancing in my head for 2 years.  Seriously.

Recipe 1

Recipe 2

So basically it's:

1 cups of nuts (half a cup of walnuts, half a cup of pecans or 1 cup of almonds)

2 cups dried fruit.  Break it up any way you want. All raisins?  Half dates and half coconut?  Apricots?  Whatever.

3 tablespoons honey

pinch of cardamom

pinch of allspice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp Grand Marnier (or use brandy and add grated orange peel to the mix or just go with brandy.  Or rum.  Whatever) to stick it all together into a ball.  

I did add candied ginger to the first batch (because I had some that I made a while ago) but I can't taste it at all so I didn't bother in the second.  Besides, candied ginger means cooked in a sugar syrup until dried, so no great loss.   

pecan, walnut, coconut, and dates

These are better than I anticipated!  So delicious!  So easy!  I can make these all the time, all year, not just for Christmas.  These are very rich so you don't have to eat a lot to be satiated.   

I didn't roll these in anything but I could use shredded coconut maybe roll them lightly in dark chocolate powder. I think sugar would ruin the whole thing for me.  Sure, they would look sparkly but they would also not be healthy for me and the whole point was for me to have a snack.  You could roll yours in colored sugars if you want a more festive look.

Single Serving Cake

Hungry for only a small serving of cake? Looking for a romantic dessert for two? Low on ingredients? Birthday cake just for you? THIS is the cake recipe you were looking for!

In my house, cake goes bad before we can eat it, besides, who wants all the calories of a whole entire cake? But sometimes you just want a little something after dinner for your sweet tooth. If you've tried that yucky cake recipe in a mug--this is not it. This single serving cake recipe is actually GOOD!

Tin Can Cakes, The Ultimate In Tin Can Baking

Cake For Two The Easy Way

You'll need two 14-15 oz tin cans to serve as your baking pans. Wash them and remove the paper label. You can either do it the hard way (I haven't done this since the 70s) and rub the inside with butter then tap in flour or simply spray with Baker's Joy. Poof! That's it! Welcome to the 20th century, kids. You won't believe how easy this two serving cake recipe is to make!

Cake For Two So Many Ways

Decorate Like Crazy!

Cake Recipe

A Basic Yellow Cake Can Become Anything

I know chocolate is a big favorite, but because these cakes are so tiny, a little flavor goes a long way. A yellow cake can be decorated with shaved chocolate curls, frosted with mocha frosting, sprinkled with mini chocolate chips, or dusted with cocoa powder. This cake is a fine blank canvas to run wild with all your secret cake decorating ideas.

If you MUST have chocolate, add 2 tbls unsweetened cocoa powder to mix. Voila--chocolate cake!

Tin cans should be washed, label removed, and sprayed with Baker's Joy

• Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 2 tin cans
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 tbl buttermilk
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• egg yolk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbl butter
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Mix everything together BUT not by hand. If you do not use a mixer, either a stand mixer or a stick mixer, the cake will be a nice sweetened biscuit. It can be cut in half, filled, and frosted, but the texture will not be cake, it will be a biscuit. You must get air into the batter.
2. Half the batter into each tin can and to avoid tipping, place the cans on a cookie sheet to bake. 30 minutes.
3. When they're done, the trick to turning a cake out of the pan is to place the pans on a cooling rack for 5 minutes. Then, turn upside down and the cake will drop out without a problem. If you wait too long, the oils will harden and the cakes will not pop out cleanly. Wait 5 minutes, then flip them out.
4. In case you were wondering- 432 Calories per cake.

Without a Mixer 

With a Mixer! 
Light and Fluffy

                                   

Dessert Recipe Mixers

A Must-Have

 

Dessert For Two

Make It Pretty! 

Frosting? Remember, these little cakes are sweet and small so a lot of frosting will cause you to fall into a diabetic coma!  Go light and airy and be creative!

• Whipped cream frosting--1/2 cup cream with a touch of sugar, whipped to stiff peaks will frost both cakes.
• Decorate with a smooth topping of sweetened cream cheese and mandarin orange slices arranged in a wheel over top
• Cut them in half and fill with jam mixed with cream cheese.
• Fill and drizzle with blueberry sauce-1 tsp grated lemon peel, juice of 2 lemons, 1 1/3 cup blueberries (frozen or fresh), 1/2 cup sugar. Heat and cook into a thick chunky sauce.
• Mix Key Lime juice and powdered sugar to make a glaze to pour over top.
• Just sprinkle the cakes with powdered sugar.
• Serve with a dollop of ice cream!
• Serve with a spoonful of candied kumquats!
• Nutella as cake filling!
• Apple Butter filling!

Get the recipe on a magnet!

Yellow Cake Recipe For Two Fridge Magnet by cinnamonbite

Single Serving Cake! 

Filling is apricot jam with cream cheese and a dash of almond extract 

Lime juice with powdered sugar glaze over top. Pineapple, cherry, and orange marmalade mixed with cream cheese as the filling inside.

Cake Recipe, Cuban Style

A Single Serving Of The Tropics!

Guava jelly as filling, cream cheese frosting, toasted coconut sprinkled on top!
"Delicioso!"

Cream Cheese Frosting For Single Serving Size Cakes

You will have leftovers. Try it the next night on a new cake!

  

Ingredients

• 4 oz cream cheese
• 2 tbls butter
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• dash of vanilla

Instructions

Whip it up in your mixer. Use while room temperature. Top with toasted coconut!

Toasted Coconut Topping

Toasting coconut is too simple! Put the amount of shredded bagged coconut you want in a frying pan. Heat it until golden! That's it!

Single Serving Cake and Buttermilk

Did You Know...?

Do you have buttermilk just sitting around the kitchen, waiting for you to cook something? Well, actually, you could.

If you're a member of Amazon Prime, you can have groceries delivered to your door in two days, for no shipping and handling! Skip all the holiday crowds, the traffic, and the bad weather! Non-Prime customers can get their order up to $25 shipped for free as well!

 

Want more ideas?

Stay tuned for my Christmas Cakes for 2 coming soon