Pudding

So last night I tried making pudding for the first time ever. It's really much easier than I had ever expected. The warming is tricky though; my recipie said to heat it on low for 15 minutes, until it starts to thicken. Well, with my electric stovetop, it was NEVER going to thicken on "low" so I heated it to just under boiling (about 4 1/2 on the little dial) and reduced the heat slightly when it did start to thicken up.

What suprised me was how molded it got in the fridge. I made this before dinner so that we could have it about when dinner was over. Instead of serving it in custard cups, I was able to flip it out onto a desert plate and add a cookie garnish and a bit of fresh whipped cream. Nice.

I started with a basic recipie, intending to make banana pudding, only to discover we were all out of bananas. So it became chocolate pudding. I'd imagine you could do jsut about any type of flavor with this same basic recipie. You'd better believe I will be trying my idea for a Bananas Foster pudding soon enough!

1/8 cup sugar
1/8 cup Splenda
1 1/2 tablespoons corn starch
pinch salt
1 cup milk
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 squares of dark chocolate, grated

Mix together sugar, Splenda, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan. Add a little milk and mix until smooth, then mix in the rest of the milk and the egg yolk. Cook on low heat, stirring frequently until it starts to thicken. Then stir it continually until it's at a nice thick consistency.

Remove from heat and immediately add the chocolate and vanilla extract, stir until smooth. Pour into molds and chill about an hour. Serve with a dalop of whipped cream.

Based loosely on a recipie from Real Simple.

Peppermint Kisses

So, here I am on this weight loss journey, and honestly, Holday Cookies are, for the most part, just plain out. But I really enjoy meringue cookies, and Alton Brown gave me some tips, so I perfected my special holiday peppermint kiss recipie last night.

The Hardware

• One large, very clean bowl
  
• Two smaller bowls
  
• A slotted spoon
  
• Electric egg beaters (handheld really does work better)
  
• A pastry bag fitted with a star tip
  
• A small paintbrush
  
• Baking sheets lined with foil
  
• A spoon, a fork, and measuring cup and a measuring spoon
  

The Software

• 3 eggs (whites only)
  
• 3/4 cup sugar (150g)
  
• 1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar
  
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
  
• 1/2 tsp Peppermint Extract
  
• Red paste foodcolor
  

1. Separate the Eggs Balance the slotted spoon over one of the small bowls and break an egg into it. Shake the spoon gently and the white will slide into the bowl leaving the yolk behind. Set the yolk aside, inspect the white carefully for any sign of yolk or shell in it. If it's clean, put the white in the large bowl and proceed with the next white. It is VERY important that there not be ANY yolk in the whites! Let the whites warm up to room temperature.

2. Flavor the Sugar
   While the eggs are getting up to temperature, add the cream of tartar to the sugar and sprinkle both extracts over it. Mix thouroughly with a fork.

3. Make the Meringue
   Beat the eggs until you have soft peaks. (How to tell? When you think you are there, turn off and remove your beaters and flip them beater side up. Check for peaks. Tap the side of the beaters. If the peaks fall, you have soft peaks.) Beat in the sugar a little at a time until it is all mixed in. Continue beating until the mixture is glossy and you have stiff peaks. (These WON'T fall when you tap the beaters.) Take a small amount of the mixture and rub it between your fingers. If it feels grainy, continue beating. When it no longer feels grainy, it's ready to go.

4. Piping the Kisses
   If you want to go simple you can jsut plop spoon sized dalops of meringue out at this point, but if you want to make them really pretty, you can pipe them out. Using the red paste coloring, paint a stripe on either side of the inside of your pastry bag, and then load it with the meringue mixture. Pipe out small mounds, about 1.5 inches at the base. They shouldn't "grow" in the oven, so you can crowd them a bit on your baking sheets. You'll make about 4 dozen from this recipie.

5. Bake and Dry
   "Bake" the kisses at 175 for about 3 hours, then turn the oven off but leave the kisses in the oven overnight to cool. They will continue to dry as the oven cools. If they are still gooey in the morning "bake" them for another hour and turn off the oven again. Gently peel off the foil and store in an airtight container.

Yield: 48 kisses
WW: 1pt for 3 pieces! Amazing!

Harvest Goodies

Take a handful of currants, a handful of sultanas, and a handful of walnuts. Mix 'em up in a bowl with some fresh grounmd cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Add some sweetened condensed milk...Just enough to make it a little gooey.

Now takes some apples (2 if you just did one handful each). Cut off the top. dig out all of the core but the bottom 1/2 inch. Load em up with the stuff in the bowl (mound it up a bit on top), and put them in a baking dish. Bake on 375 for about 40 minutes, or until the top is crusted over and caramel colored.

YUMMY at your Harvest Feast!

Sugar Cookies

Let's face it: when it comes to entertaining, Martha Stewart knows a thing or two. These cookies are relatively easy to make, and fun to decorate, and mmm mmm good!

Sift together flour, baking soda and salt in one bowl and mix the vanilla with the milk in another. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy, then add the eggs and beat well. Now alternate between adding the dry and liquid ingredients a little at a time, blending well with each addition. When everything is combined, wrap up the dough and chill in the fridge for an hour or so.

Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Roll one piece at a time to 1/4 inch thickness on a floured board and cut with cookie cutters. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 375°F oven for 8 minutes. Don't let them get brown. Decorate with royal icing.

Makes 6 dozen 2" cookies

Cheesecake

This recipe is slightly modified from Montana's Mom's Dynamite Cheesecake in the Moosewood Cookbook. You can buy the Moosewood Cookbook from Foxydot's Bookshelf.

CRUST:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 stick butter

I toss the graham crackers into my food processor with the chopping blade on and whirl 'em until i have decent crumbs. Then i throw in the butter in little hunks and whirl it some more. after a while, the crumbs start to stick together and to the sides of the food processor bowl. Time to pour them out and form the crust in a 7" springform pan. I crust the bottom and along the sides.

FILLING:

Turn the oven on to 375°F. Meanwhile, beat together all filling ingredients. I usually do this in my food processor and just let it mix for about 10 minutes, so i know it will be nice and smooth. Then pour the filling into the crust. Bake for about 35 minutes, but keep an eye on it, cos everyone's oven is different. When it is 'set' take it out of the oven and let it cool to room temperature. When I'm in a hurry, i sometimes stick it in the fridge to cool, but this often causes cracking. The topping will cover up cracks, but it does look smoother when you just let it cool slowly.

TOPPING:

Reheat oven to 375° F. Blend all these ingredients and pour over the cooled cake. Bake until set (about 10 minutes) then remove from oven and allow it to cool again. once it is cooled, cover it and stick it in the fridge over night. Top with easy strawberry topping (below).

Easy Strawberry Topping

1 pint fresh strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cornstarch

Core and slice the strawberries thin. Put them in a bowl and layer with sugar: a few berries, a little sugar, a few berries, a little sugar. Cover and put in the fridge for a couple of hours. (While you wait for the cheesecake to cool?)

Pour the mixture into a small saucepan and heat gently, stirring well. Add a few drops of cold water to the cornstarch and mix gently with a fork until all the lumps are gone. Blend this well into the strawberry sauce, remove from heat, and put it in the fridge to cool. The cornstarch just thickens it up a little, you can use it without the cornstarch, but it will be really runny.

Welsh Cookies

These are not of my own design, but were passed on to me through the 'net.

Sift dry ingredients together into bowl. Cut in shortening until mixture is mealy. Beat egg; add milk and blend.

Add egg mixture and raisins to flour mixture. Stir until all the ingredients are moistened and dough holds together. Roll on lightly floured board to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with 2-inch round cutter.

Heat griddle until a few drops of water dance on it. (Do not overheat griddle.) Oil griddle lightly and place cookies on it. As the bottoms brown, the tops becomes puffy. Then turn and brown on other side. Serve warm.

Makes 4 dozen.