Christmas Day Yummies!

Okay, so I think I may have gone a little overboard on chocolate during our family Christmas Day party. Actually, my entire family went overboard on food period, but it was a great time. In this picture, you can see some of the sweet treats I served up that day. In addition to chocolate fondue, complete with pretzels, marshmallows and angel food cake, I served up some delicious brownies and some truffles. I also whipped up a pulled pork recipe that I borrowed from one of my fellow bloggers. These were only a few things featured on that day's menu. We had everything from Beef Bourguignone and traditional Filipino food to various side dishes and casseroles. I'm still feeling the tightness in my jeans from that day! So scroll on down, and I'll you'll find recipes for the desserts/dishes that I made.

Up first are these Ooey Gooey Bars, compliments of my TWD Elfster Secret Santa, Melissa, of Love at First Bite. As I've mentioned before, Melissa and I go way back to our high school days and she got me started with blogging. She has an awesome blog, which I reference quite frequently. With her Christmas card, she enclosed two of her favorite family dessert recipes. One of which, were these Ooey Gooey Bars, which were very rich and completely delightful!

The only problem is that I'm a dud and the card with the recipe on it was packed this morning with the rest of my cookbooks and kitchen items. So I'll have to post the complete recipe later on in a few weeks. I will be in sunny El Paso, Texas by then. So sorry Melissa, this post doesn't really do you or the Ooey Gooey Bars any justice, but I want you to much how much I appreciate you sharing your family recipes with me!

So you know how those 8 oz. packages of Philadelphia Cream Cheese boxes have neat recipes inside them? Well, I found this particular recipe in one of those boxes and turned out some lovely looking chocolate truffles--my first batch ever. They make a lovely presentation, but were very rich. I still have some leftover, probably because they were overshadowed by Melissa's brownies and the chocolate fondue. They're extremely easy to make and perfect if you have a little helper that loves to be in the kitchen with you.

Simply Sensational Truffles

(from 8 oz. package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese)

2-1/2 pkg. (20 squares) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, divided
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
decorations: chopped PLANTERS COCKTAIL Peanuts, multi-colored sprinkles

1. Melt 8 chocolate squares. Beat cream cheese with mixer until creamy. Blend in melted chocolate. Refrigerate until firm.

2. Shape into 36 balls. Place on waxed paper-covered baking sheet.

3. Melt remaining chocolate. Use fork to dip truffles; return to baking sheet. Decorate, then refrigerate 1 hour.

Finally, months back I saw this recipe on Pamela's (one of my favorite foodies!) blog--Cookies With Boys. Who would have known that root beer would make the perfect marinade/sauce for pulled pork? Not I, but I do love the drink as do a couple other members of my family. So it was an instant hit and received rave reviews. Thanks Pamela for featuring this on your blog! As I am typing this, my mouth is watering. But since all my stuff is being packed as we speak, it'll be a little bit before my crock pot will be available for me to make this again.

Pulled Pork with Root Beer Sauce

(from Better Homes & Gardens)

1 2-1/2- to 3-pound pork sirloin roast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon cooking oil
2 medium onions, cut into thin wedges
1 cup root beer*
6 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups root beer (two 12-ounce cans or bottles)*
1 cup bottled chili sauce(used a whole 12 oz. bottle)
1/4 teaspoon root beer concentrate (optional)

Several dashes bottled hot pepper sauce (optional)
8 to 10 hamburger buns, split (and toasted, if desired)
Lettuce leaves (optional)
Tomato slices (optional)

1. Trim fat from meat. If necessary, cut roast to fit into a 3-1/2- to 5-quart crockery cooker. Sprinkle meat with the salt and pepper. In a large skillet brown meat on all sides in hot oil. Drain off fat. Transfer meat to cooker. Add onions, the 1 cup root beer, and garlic.

2. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 8 to 10 hours or on high-heat setting for 4 to 5 hours.

3. Meanwhile, for sauce, in a medium saucepan combine the 3 cups of root beer and the chili sauce. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Boil gently, uncovered, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes or until mixture is reduced to 2 cups. Add root beer concentrate and bottled hot pepper sauce, if desired.

4. Transfer roast to a cutting board or serving platter. Using a slotted spoon, remove onions from cooking juices and place on serving platter. Discard juices. Using 2 forks, pull meat apart into shreds. To serve, line buns with lettuce leaves and tomato slices, if desired. Add meat and onions; spoon on sauce. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

*Note: Do not substitute with diet root beer

TWD Break

Hello fellow TWD-ers! I'm going to have to bow out of the group for a short time. I'm in the middle of a military move to Fort Bliss, Texas (in El Paso) and will not have any materials or equipment to do any baking! I'm going to miss Rosie (my Kitchenaid) immensely! So if you want to see what my TWD friends are baking in the meantime, head on over to the TWD blog! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone!

Operation Baking Gals: Round 5 & Elfster Secret Santa

I sent out my packages just in the nick of time. Better late than never, right? These last two weeks saw tons of Operation Baking Gals putting together their packages for Round 5! Along with Team Sweet Dumpling, hosted by Ellen of Sweet Dumpling, I baked a few cookies and and sent them with a bunch of other goodies to our Marine--Lance Corporal Steven Forrester, a 21-year-old infantryman on his second deployment. I don't know much about Steven other than what was expressed to us by his mother, but he sounds like a terrific guy and I am so glad that we could brighten up his holiday overseas this way. As I mentioned in previous posts, my brother-in-law is a Marine, so I'm automatically one of Steven's biggest fans. Here are some of the things I sent: trail mix, gum, a sack full of candies to hand out to the locals (since he's always out on patrols), and a holiday jar full of chocolate chip cookies! Yummy! I hope he likes them.

I also sent out my Elfster Secret Santa stuff for my Tuesdays with Dorie Secret Santa. I didn't think to take pictures of what I sent, but it would have been a dead give-away for my secret santa (if she follows my blog!). I hope she likes it too. Ahhh, the spirit of giving! My favorite thing about the holidays!

TWD: Buttery Jam Cookies

Good thing Heather of Randomosity and Girl picked another cookie for this week's recipe challenge. I needed more cookies to fill my Christmas jars. I have a meeting with my realtor tomorrow morning and it'll be the perfect gift to send her home with! These cookies were so simple to make and they were delicious! Since there was no picture in the book for them, I thought they were those cookies with jam thumbprinted in the centers. I had no idea we'd actually be mixing the jam in! The only jam I had in stock was strawberry,which explains the slightly pink tint to my cookies.

They were soft, moist and the hint of ginger made them simply wonderful. I woke up late today, so I'm having them for breakfast with some tea. Yummy! Thanks Heather for making this Tuesday easy and delicious. Skip on over to her blog for the full recipe!

TWD: Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar Cookies

This week's recipe was chosen by Ulrike of Kuchenlatein. The full recipe can be found on her blog. On Black Friday, I purchased these cute Christmas cookie jars and thought that these cookies would be perfect to go in them and give to my neighbors. I was right! Isn't Santa just cute? I am sure my neighbors are going to love these cookies. I tasted about three cookies and made myself stop, otherwise those jars would have been half full! They are really delicious!

The recipe is so simple, although I ended up with a pretty dry dough even though Dorie said that it should be soft and creamy. Oh well, they still came out great. I put some orange zest in mine and then sprinkled them with my Pampered Chef Cinnamon Sugar Sprinkles. Yummy! I think I'll be getting more jars and filling them up with these again. Next week, we've got more cookies on the menu. I'm happy about that. They make such perfect gifts for the holidays!

Thanksgiving with Dorie: Thanksgiving Twofer Pie

Wow! It's been forever since I've made a post. With school being busy just before Thanksgiving break, working for my mom this entire week and having hordes of family members come in from all over the U.S. (and having them stay over at my place), I just haven't had the time. Until now! And I'm happy to be back. This week, we were given an extension for this week's recipe challenge since everyone would be busy preparing their Turkey Day feasts. This week's recipe--a pumpkin and pecan pie combo (hence, the "twofer" nickname) chosen by Vibi of La Casserole Caree --was the perfect dessert for my family's meal last night. The recipe is featured on her blog and received pretty good reviews from my family, even though it shared counter space with my more-favored Macadamia Nut Pie (which I'll post about later).

I know a lot of people can't stand pumpkin, but I love, love, love it...especially at this time of the year. I thought it would make a sensational accompaniment to the traditional pecan pie. This is what the pie looked like after filling the partially-baked pie shell with the pumpkin filling and then topping it with the chopped pecans.

Here, the pecans are soaking in a bath of the pecan filling, which consisted of dark corn syrup, eggs, brown sugar and some other yummy goodness!

As rude as it was, I insisted on having the first slice. I have a HUGE family and I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to take a test test so I could make a proper review. Now even though this pie was outdone by the aforementioned macadamia pie, it was delicious in it's own right. Others agreed. The pecan crust as well as the pie crust were so nicely crisped and the pumpkin neutralized the sweetness of the pecan filling. Perfecto! I'll definitely be making this one again!

Please stay tuned for more thanksgiving recipes. I've been doing so much cooking and baking lately that I'll be making posts for the next few days!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Arborio Rice Pudding

I am a huge fan of the Kozy Shack brand of vanilla rice pudding, so when I found out we'd be making it this month I was stoked, especially since it's my first time making it! In all honesty, it took me two tries to make it. I should have read the P&Qs first because I discovered that everyone simmered their rice for longer than the 30 minutes prescribed in the recipe. So the first try, I got rice soup. Late last night after cleaning up a nice mess my dog made for me while out at school (and instead of working on a very important homework assignment) I took another stab at it. After almost an hour of simmering, I got just what the recipe said I was supposed to get--thick, milky white goodness!

I chilled the pudding overnight and this morning, my mom and I each enjoyed a martini glass full of this creamy, delicious concoction! I topped it with some of The Pampered Chef's Sweet Cinnamon Sprinkles.....yum! Not sure when I'm going to make it again, but I'm so glad I had a chance to tackle it. Thanks to Isabelle of Les gourmandises d'Isa for selecting this week's recipe challenge. Run over to her blog for the complete recipe!

Operation Baking Gals: Round 4

First of all, since I just returned from a trip to Texas, I wasn't able to make this week's TWD recipe, Kugelhopf. I'd try to pronounce it the way my friend, Anna (who is German), says it, but I'd still mess it up. It sounds like "google-oopf" and she laughs when I try to say it. The recipe was chosen by Yolanda of The All-Purpose Girl. She has a beautiful blog, so check it out as well as the other TWD-ers who have turned out some beautiful Kugelhopf cakes! At any rate, this is my second round of Operation Baking Gals and I was honored to be a part of Team Angry Asian, hosted by Lan, whose blog, The Angry Asian, is just fantastic! Her blog features details of our soldier, PFC Amie McMillan. To sum up, Amie is a Public Affairs Specialist within a Military Police unit overseas. I am a huge fan, on the basis of her being in the ARMY, since both my husband and I are as well. I was so happy to bake her some Chocolate Chunk Pecan Cookies--a recipe featured on the Joy of Cooking website. Click here for the deliciously simple recipe. My cookies didn't come out as big and chewy as those on the website, but they were scrumptious!

Of course, the package would not have been complete without all other essentials, as seen below. I love putting these together! Shopping for the items is so much fun!

I don't know when the next round is, but I'm anxious to get people baking for Malu and his teammates! I've already told him to be prepared to received tons of packages!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Rugelach

So I was able to make the Rugelach after all. Not only did I feel bad about skipping this week, but my friend Heidi (who is visiting from North Carolina) asked this morning if I was going to be baking anything. And I was like, well, I'm supposed to be baking something for Tuesdays with Dorie, but didn't think I had the time. Well, I found time and I'm glad that I did. Yet, I still can't pronounce the name of this yummy treat! Maybe Grace, of Piggy's Cooking Journal, can help you out with that. Her blog is spectacular and it has the entire recipe for your perusal. So go check it out!

At any rate, these little things look like they're so easy to make...on other people's blogs. I had a horrible time with the dough. I don't have a food processor, so I'm thinking that may have been the source of my problem. I used my KitchenAid mixer instead and even though I refrigerated the dough for over two hours, I found that after a few minutes (while I rolled it out), it became too soft and almost like a paste. So when trying to roll the Rugelach, the dough fell apart, or just wouldn't roll! It was a nightmare! When all was said and done, I only had about 12 Rugelach. And some of them came out funny looking because I couldn't roll them properly.




I decided that Rugelach is just okay. I don't think that I'll be making them again anytime soon, but I'm just glad that I was able to try something new. Heidi tried them and said that they were okay, but she would've preferred other fillings. She suggested apple. She was a good sport, though, and I'm glad that she was here to try them. So if you're wondering what Rugelach is all about, just head on over to Grace's blog! As I said in my previous post, I am going to be out of town until next Tuesday, so I don't think I'll be making next week's recipe, Gugelhopf. Actually, I think I'll make it later next week because I actually went out and bought myself a German Gugelhopf pan. So just stay tuned!

P.S. In case anyone is wondering, I used bittersweet chocolate pieces, dried cherries, raspberry preserves and pecans for the filling.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Pumpkin Muffins

I love fall! This recipe was the perfect recipe to ring in the fall season. There's nothing like the sweet aroma of pumpkin, allspice, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg all mixed together in one concotion that made up Dorie's Pumpkin Muffins--a recipe chosen by Kelly of Sounding My Barbaric Gulp. If you share my love for all things pumpkin--pies, muffins, rolls--head on over to her blog for the recipe! The recipe called for sunflower seeds and golden raisins, neither of which were in my pantry. I did have red raisins though and if I had done a little bit more thinking, I would have done what most TWD'ers did and added the chocolate chips I had on hand. Next time! When Rosie (my Kitchenaid) mixed up the batter, it was quite thick. Not surprising since I piled on the raisins and chopped pecans.

I used my cookie scoop to distribute the batter evenly (and with minimal mess!) into my muffin cups. I really packed the batter in. The recipe calls for about 20 minutes baking time and it's a good thing I thought to check in on the muffins a little early. Around 17 or 18 minutes, they had reached a very golden brown. I immediately pulled them out!

And this is what I got. I immediately took a taste test...well, both Lucy (my dog) and I did and we agreed that these muffins truly rock! They were warm, moist and so flavorful!

Since I didn't want to get stuck with a butt-load of muffins for the next week, I bundled the muffins up and took them to my Auntie's house for her potluck. I guess they were a hit because I didn't have any left over. I am definitely going to make these again...probably on Halloween because I plan on having some company over and the goal for that evening is to pig out on a smorgasbord of junk food! I can't wait!

By now, you should be dying to try these muffins! Then get on over to Kelly's blog for the recipe. And Kelly, you are to be commended for choosing it!

TWD on Friday: Lenox Almond Biscotti

I finally made the biscotti! After a week of emotional turmoil, caused both by midterms and my husband's departure, I finally made some time (and mustered the energy) to make these yummy treats! When I was in Iraq, my mom sent me economy-sized containers of biscotti. Most were chocolate-dipped, which my roommate and I practically had to battle for. Since then, my love for biscotti has only deepened. Can you imagine how excited I was to find that it would become this week's recipe challenge? And I have Gretchen of Canela & Comino to thank for it. She chose the recipe and if you want it, you're going to have to run over to her blog. And by the way, her blog is totally smokin'! She's got great pictures on there and so much more!

I was actually pretty nervous when I started out. I've had a few baking mishaps the last few weeks and I really didn't want to jack this one up! So after reading the directions a thousand times, I got to it! Since I had neither almonds nor almond extract in the house, I substituted the almonds with a mixture of Ghiradelli white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts and the almond extract with vanilla extract. I also found it a little strange that the recipe called for so much corn meal. Anyway, I was so nervous for the part with the logs, but I made sure I had them rolled/laid out to a tee at 12 inches long and 1.5 inches wide, as you can see above. I'd read on others' blogs that the batter spread, but I found that mine didn't as much, about 4 to 5 inches, as you can see here.

I was so anxious to get them going, I didn't wait the full 30 minutes for them to cool, which ended up being okay. I was able to actually lift the entire logs with my hands and onto my cutting board where I was able to arrange my "marching band" of cookies and send them back into the oven.

And the result? The most delicious homemade biscotti. I actually gave myself a pat on the back for not messing it up. Once they were cooled, they were so crunchy and the white chocolate and macadamia nut combo--classic! I love these. They were so simple to make. I'm definitely going to make them again, perhaps chocolate-dipped next time...or even to hand them out as Christmas gifts in December! Too cool! And just a note, I don't think I'll be using as much cornmeal next time. They may have been a little too grainy for my liking, but hey...my whole family didn't even notice, so whatever!

Once again, scoot on over to Gretchen's blog and check out the recipe! And thanks for the great pick for the week!

Postponing TWD to Tomorrow

Sorry guys! I didn't have a chance to make the biscotti this weekend and fully intended to tonight after class, but as it turns out, there's no butter in the fridge and I don't feel like making a run to Wal-Mart this late. I seem to be making a pattern of Tuesdays with Dorie on a different day, but I just don't want to miss out on the weekly assignments! So please bear with me! I plan on making them tomorrow!

Weekend TWD: Caramel Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake

I postponed making the cake until Friday so that my husband could have a taste of it while he was visiting for the weekend. Well, the whole thing had DISASTER written all over it. You well-seasoned cooks and bakers out there probably took one look at the picture and could immediately spot what went wrong. Yes, it was the caramel! I got the cake done with no problems, but when I got to the caramel, everything went downhill. I had worried that the caramel hadn't turned amber in 5-10 minutes. So, not knowing any better, I hiked up the heat a little bit more. It turned amber so quickly and by the time I got it off the heat, it was a dark brown. Still not knowing what happens when you cook caramel for too long, I poured the mixture all over the top of the cake. It wasn't until I decided to take a taste of the caramel off my rubber spatula that I noticed how BITTER it was. I was mortified! Not only did it taste disgusting (except for the cake part), I had guests coming in a few minutes and had to prepare a backup dessert at the last minute.

It's too bad...the cake actually looked beautiful. And being the good sport that my husband is, he said, "it's still good babe," and proceeded to cut the entire caramel-peanut part off the cake, folded what was left in half and chomped on it like a hamburger. See picture below:

Leave it to Malu to be so encouraging! I love you baby! But yeah, I'm 0-1 at making this dessert and I will conquer it one day.....after I master the art of caramel-making! Thanks to Tammy of Wee Treats by Tammy for picking this week's recipe, which you can find on her blog!

Sitting this one out just for today

Hey there, fellow TWD members! As you will notice, I don't have this week's challenge posted today. I've got to much to do for the next day or so. It's finals week and my husband will be home for the four-day weekend (amidst a deployment mobilization), so you can imagine how crazy things are right now.

We will be having a get-together at my house on Friday night and I'll be making the chocolate peanut cake then. So come back and check me out in a few days!

Tuesdays With Dorie: Creme Brulee

Well you guys, it wasn't a total disaster! Looking at these photos you wouldn't know that what happened actually happened. The picture above is what the cremes looked like as I set them out too cool. But let me start at the beginning. Mari of Mevrouw Cupcake picked this week's recipe challenge and let me tell you, I was nervous. It's one of my favorite dessert picks at Italian restaurants, but I never imagined myself making it, especially since it called for using a blow torch. I was able to find a Chef's Torch at Ross for about $13.00. The package came with 4 rammekins too, so it was a steal (although I didn't use the rammekins this time around). I could have used the broiler method to carmelize the sugar, but I wanted the challenge.

The cremes were so easy to prepare. There were only 5 or 6 ingredients and the only substitution I made was the 2% milk for whole milk, which is where I suspect I went wrong. Anyway, I baked the cremes for 60 minutes at 200 degrees and when I removed them from the oven, the centers didn't seem to be completely set. Then again, I didn't know what I was really looking for as far as a "set center", so I cooled them to room temperature (picture below) and then put them in the refrigerator overnight thinking they'd firm a little bit into the texture I'm so familiar with.

And I thought they had. Until I did the carmelizing today. The Chef's Torch was actually real easy to use despite my fears. It was really fun too. So I heated the sugar until I got some really nice color on the cremes. And then I got my spoon out and tapped through the crunchy sugar crust.......

And creme soup everywhere! I wasn't too disappointed though. The creme tasted delicious. Now I have 5 more servings that I don't want to serve to anyone. Oh well, more for me! I'll be able to get more practice with the torch! So, if you're reading this and have any ideas for how I can do this next time (which I will), feel free to comment and clue me in! And thanks, Mari, for helping me to get over my creme brulee-making fears! If you want the recipe, then hop on over to her beautifully colored blog!

Funny, it's almost as if I was prepared to fumble this week's challenge. Over the weekend, I had some extremely ripe bananas that I had to get rid of. So I pulled out Dorie's cookbook and pulled out a recipe for a banana cake. I'll be posting it later on, so stay tuned!

Tuesdays With Dorie: Dimply Plum Cake (for real this time)

I'm technically not late...when I removed the cake from the oven, it was 11:50 p.m. In any case, most of you saw my previous Dimply Plum Cake post where I featured the Peach/Basil version of this week's recipe challenge. I didn't want anyone to think I was copping out on the original recipe. I just had a huge test to prepare for. I took the test today and it totally knocked the wind out of me that I almost have no business baking a cake this late. What happens when it's late and you're tired? Yeah, silly things. Like accidentally dropping half an egg shell into the batter. Sure did. I did my best to get it all out, but if someone happens to feel a little crunch (or two, or three...) well.....my bad! I just didn't want all those ingredients to go to waste, you know? Looking at this picture, you wouldn't know anything had been dropped into the batter.

Anyway, I also had to bake the cake tonight because the plums I bought over the weekend were about to go bad. Now I've never used cardamom in any recipe before, but it smelled so good! When I took the cake out of the oven, the scent of the cardamom permeated the kitchen and my mouth was watering! This is what it looked like when I set it out to cool. You'll notice that I still didn't need as much fruit as the recipe recommended and the plums give the cake a nicer color.

I don't exactly know what happened during the transfer process. By the time the cake reached the plate, it had cracked around the edges, but you would never notice. I took the effort to make sure no one would notice by taking a semi-aerial photo of the cake. How did I do?

After slicing a small portion of the cake for myself, I decided that plum beats peaches, hands down.

The plums are tart, but subtly so. I think the cardamom does a great job of evening that out. The breaded part of this cake was so much more moist than the peach version too. Maybe that's just a baker error! So this wraps up yet another TWD week. Again, this recipe is featured on Michelle's blog--Bake-en! Enjoy!

Tuesdays With Dorie: Dimply Plum Cake

This week's TWD recipe challenge was chosen by Michelle of Bake-en. Her blog features this one-of-a-kind recipe that you'll find family members and friends begging you for more! I actually did the peach/lemon zest/basil variation on the original recipe (as recommended by Dorie Greenspan herself!) only because I got stuck with about 2 dozen peaches that my mom brought over from a friend's house. Since they were so ripe, I had to get rid of them...and fast!

This cake was so easy to make and had a unique flavor. The combination of lemon zest, basil and peaches made me nervous, but it ended up being more delicious than I thought--not to mention, the cake was just about the cutest thing I've seen! This is what the cake looked like before I slipped it into the oven. Even then, it looked really good!

Because the peaches I used were fairly large, I only had to use 4 and a 1/2 of them. This is what it looked like after I removed it from the oven and cooled it completely. I was ready to eat it right then and there, but remembered that I had to wait on company to arrive. Good thing I'm a caring and considerate person :)

The picture at the start of this post shows some plums that I fully intend to make the original recipe with. I intended to bake it tonight, but I got home from class a lot later than anticipated and am too tired to do it. What's worse is that I should be studying for a finance exam, but whatever, I'd take food blogging over that any day! I'll post the pictures of the actual plum cake soon though!

At any rate, the guests (particularly my mom) loved the cake and I've received requests (also from mom) to make more. Ask and she will receive!

So if you're interested in making this beauty of a cake, take a sneek peek at Michelle's blog. You won't regret it! Next week's recipe? Creme Brulee! I'm so nervous about it. I've never done it before, but that's the whole purpose of joining this group--to expand my baking horizons. Now I have to get my hands on a mini blow torch. Hmmmmm......Michelle + chef's torch can't possibly amount to anything good. Wish me luck!