Warm holiday sipping...

Wassail, wassail all over the town...

What better than to warm your spirits on a chilly December evening than a hot cup of Wassail with its wonderful smell wafting through the air?

I made a lovely pot of wassail this weekend. Feel free to scale the recipe (mine was suitable for a party of 16).

1 gallon apple cider
1 quart orange juice
1 quart pineapple juice
1 quart cranberry juice
1 orange (cut in half, squeezed over the pot, studded with cloves, tossed into the pot)
1 lemon (cut in half, squeezed over the pot, studded with cloves, tossed into the pot)
3 cinnamon sticks
all spice berries (I didn't measure these... maybe a tablespoon or two?)
a sprinkle of ground cinnamon
a sprinkle of ground cloves
a sprinkle of ground all spice
a sprinkle of ground nutmeg

bring to a boil and simmer for an hour
transfer to a crockpot or serve directly from the pot

optional alcohol:
cream sherry and brandy (you can add whatever amount you wish... )

mmm... the left overs taste great too!!!

No Dairy Cranberry Apple Cake...

Here at the den I have ventured into a new realm of cooking... the ultimate goal is to produce a god-daughter friendly baked good that I can take when I visit (... I've been promising a visit for much too long). My adorable god-daughter "BF" just turned 5 years old! BF has a few allergies which, I'm pretty sure, include milk and eggs. Cranberry apple cake for a 5 year old?! you say? Well, no, I'm really not expecting a 5 year old to be ecstatic about cranberry apple cake, but I had to start somewhere and seeing as Thanksgiving is quickly approaching, I thought I'd start with something seasonal. Plus, I'm not really sure what all I need to avoid other than dairy in making a BF friendly item.

It looks quite lovely... the raw batter certainly tasted good! Since I'm going to JB's extended family thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, I'm going to refrain from eating it just yet so that it will still look pretty when we take it. I stole a little piece that baked over the edge of the pan and it seemed to be pretty tasty... here's hoping! (Shh, don't tell them that they're the guinea pigs ;-) ) More to come on the taste review...

In case it is as tasty as it seemed, here's the recipe: (I forgot to add the vanilla... oops... next time)

1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt (I used kosher salt)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. all spice
1 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp egg replacer, 3 tbsp warm water mixed
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup applesauce
3/4 cup rice milk with 1/2 tsp. cider vinegar
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients to form batter...
Fold in fruit

2 1/2 cups chopped green apple (reserve some for topping)
1 cup cranberries (halved) (reserve some for topping)

Pour into 9" greased & floured pan (mine almost overflowed the pan but I may have used too much fruit).
Top with reserved apples and cranberries, sprinkle with raw sugar.
Bake at 350°F for 50-70 minutes or until set in the middle (check with toothpick).

Double cookie baking extravaganza!

If you haven't seen my kitchen (or lack thereof) before, suffice it to say that baking two different kinds of cookies in one night after a full day of work really pushes the kitchen to its limits. Oh, to have a real kitchen with full size appliances... alas, I'm too cheap to pay for that kind of apartment.

Type I: Meringue Kisses (recipe courtesy of Aunt Louie)

Type II: Thumbprints (recipe courtesy of Aunt Mary Ann (NJ))

The aftermath: not too bad if I may say so myself (I'd already cleaned up and put away the mixer when I took this picture... believe it or not the mixer was on that little piece of visible countertop)

Well, I'm thinkin' I might call it a night (w/o making coconut macaroons (recipe courtesy of Aunt Louise)... yes, it appears I'm collecting recipes for my favorite cookies made by my aunts ;-)
Aunt Mary Ann (PA) still hold corner on the market for nut tosses (I don't think I'm there yet!)

I better go wash the rest of the dishes since I certainly don't have space for a dishwasher in that kitchen!

More kitchen time... sans fire extinguisher ;-)

Well, here they are... and all in neat little rows! Who knew it would take so long to make 103 individually wrapped cordial cherries? This turned out to be the product of two nights work (rather than just one night as I had anticipated). In case you were wondering, red wrappers have milk chocolate, gold wrappers have dark chocolate, and holly wrappers have white chocolate... OCD much?


These little beauties are a product of night 3 in the kitchen. These are chocolate thumbprint cookies with raspberry filling and almonds. These took MUCH longer than the 40 minutes claimed by the recipe (found here). My initial assessment is that they are not chocolaty enough. However, I tend to enjoy cookies more after they sit for a few days... I'll have to get back to you on these.

Tomorrow's kitchen goal includes meringue kiss cookies... although I may switch it up for some Aunt Mary Ann thumbprints instead. Note to self: must go to grocery for thumbprint filling!

A box of chocolates... and a fire extinguisher

My first attempt at candy making (if you haven't guessed already) nearly ended in disaster! Please explain to me what would cause a wooden stirring stick in chocolate to spark?! There was smoke coming out of my chocolate... OY! I didn't actually have to employ the fire extinguisher, but I might have if I hadn't been standing in front of the microwave peering at the melting chocolate.

While I'd love to show you a picture of my box of cordial cherries, the batteries in my camera are not charged and I don't know where I put the transfer cable when I cleaned my room (it certainly didn't go back to it's usual home). So for now, you'll have to imagine my foil wrapped cherries covered in dark chocolate, white chocolate, and milk chocolate.

I've made myself hungry... hmmmmm...