For the third year running, we hosted a dinner party with Eileen and Carlos to ring in the New Year.

I love ringing in the new year with a dinner party. We have great food (yes we have to make it ourselves, but it’s way better than we would get out somewhere), great company, and a fantastic view of the Inner Harbor fireworks to ring in the New Year.

This year we had some extra special food items. Tony recreated one of our favorites from the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, escargot on toasts. And Carlos made fantastic welcome cocktails–French 75s from this recipe. Both delicious. And dangerous!

Noel and Carlos played Executive Chefs in the kitchen all night. We were joking that they were trying to found the Noel Schively Restaurant Group…maybe not a terrible idea?

And most importantly, for dessert, Eileen and I decided to go cute over fancy, with a whole bunch of NYE Ball Drop cupcakes! Because nothing is more festive than a mini NYE ball dropping into a bed of beautiful buttercream!

I feel so blessed to spend another wonderful holiday with this group. A great way to celebrate the new year! I hope you had a wonderful start to 2012 and that you’ll keep following along with my adventures in 2012!

So maybe I’m on a chocolate mint kick this year.

Okay, who am I kidding, I’ve been on a chocolate mint kick my entire life. I blame it on my dad. When I was a kid, we used to get a peppermint patty every time we went to the gas station. We drove around A LOT, so that’s a lot of patties. Oh delicious.

So is it any surprise that when one of my coworkers brought these cookies in, it was love at first bite? And they were immediately at the top of my cookie list for this year? No, I don’t think so. I will note that these could have been mintier for me, so if I make them again, I’ll add more peppermint. Because can you have too much peppermint?

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Mint Cookies
From Taste of Home Holidays

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

In a microwave or heavy saucepan, melt butter and chocolate; stir until smooth. In a bowl, beat sugars and egg; add buttermilk and peppermint extract. Beat in chocolate mixture.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradually add to sugar mixture. Let stand for 15 minutes or until dough becomes firmer.

Drop by tablespoonfuls 3 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until edges are firm. Cool for 2 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

This weekend was the seventh edition of the Ratskellar Holiday Party, our big annual celebration of the holidays, good cheer, and friends.

It’s hard to believe that we’ve lived in this house long enough to have SEVEN holiday parties here. How did that happen? It feels like yesterday that we–committed uptown Baltimore people–moved to Southeast. There are lots of jokes in Baltimore about people who live in Southeast–we don’t like to go north of Orleans or East of President, we would rather DIE than go to Federal Hill, and we think Southeast is the best place to live in the city. The longer we here, the more true these things are. No denying.

But back to the party. The really important thing for you all to know about the Ratskellar party (other than its awesome) is that it’s the impetus for my annual cookie baking bonanza. And this year was no different! There were many, many tasty cookies, many of which I want to share with you. But I want to start off with one so simple, you should really make a batch tonight and share it with your coworkers tomorrow, and they’ll think you’re some kind of candy making genius!

All for about 10 minutes worth of work! Really! Try it please!

Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Bark

Ingredients:
2 bags good semisweet chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli)
1/2 package Famous Chocolate Wafers, crushed
4 crushed candy canes
4 oz white chocolate, melted

Directions:

Place chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Using the microwave melt the chips, stopping every 30 seconds to stir the chips. The chips should take about 2 minutes. Once they are mostly melted, stir until smooth. Spread the melted chocolate on a baking sheet lined with foil. Sprinkle the crushed chocolate wafers and candy canes evenly over the chocolate. Place melted white chocolate in a zip top bag, close the bag and snip off one corner. Pipe the white chocolate over the spread chocolate mix.

Refrigerate for one hour, or until chocolate is set. Break apart. Store in an airtight container until you’re ready to serve.

This is the story of our perfect Fourth of July dessert.

Or rather, it’s almost a non-story. Shockingly, I didn’t put a ton of time or energy into planning every single meal for the Fourth weekend beforehand. Yeah, I’m usually sort of a planner. But since we had 11 house guests at the beach this past weekend (plus the normal 6 of us!) and everyone was instructed to bring what they wanted to eat, every meal was sort of an ad-hoc experiment. Meat was seasoned and put on the grill, followed by an assortment of veggies. It was wonderful, delicious, and relaxing. I brought a few dessert-like things to the beach for munching, including a tray of whole wheat brownies and a (coming soon) batch of chocolate chip cookies. Along with smores, these were just enough dessert for the first half of the weekend.

The only two things we knew we were absolutely cooking this weekend were a ridiculously huge pork loin and cupcakes. We bought the pork loin at BJs the weekend before, and the cupcakes…well, I fell in love with some ridiculously cute festive liners in the King Arthur catalogue back in May, so I HAD TO make cupcakes.

We had also taken our often neglected ice cream maker to the beach, mostly in the hope that it would see a bit more love down there than it saw at home. Add these two ingredients together–cupcakes + ice cream, and throw in some fresh berries (straw and blue) for some extra fun, and you’ve got a perfect summertime dessert! The cupcakes were vanilla pound cake with red, white and blue sprinkles, and the ice cream was one of our new favorites, a creamy Philadelphia Style. Perfection.

And in case you’re wondering about all those house guests, no, the Broadkill Beach Club is not a mansion. We had some portable bedrooms, aka tents, that folks slept in!

Philadelphia Style Vanilla Ice Cream
Adapted from David Lebovitz’s Perfect Scoop

I cannot lie, I made the cupcakes, Noel made the ice cream. And since he wasn’t really fond of the idea of standing over a hot stove to make a custard on an already hot day, he went Philadelphia Style. We may never go back!

Ingredients
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk or half-and-half
¾ cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
¾ tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Pour 1 cup of the cream into a medium saucepan and add the sugar. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod into the saucepan and add the pod to the pot. Warm over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved.
Remove from heat and add the remaining cream, the half-and-half, and the vanilla extract.

Chill mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, for at least eight hours or overnight.

When ready to churn, remove the vanilla pod (reserve the bean for another use), then freeze in your ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Hello Summer!

Here on the east coast, it seems that someone turned on the blast furnace just in time for labor day weekend. And forgot to turn it off again. Not even the shore was immune, as I found out during my very hot 5 Miler!

Three 95+ degree days in a row does not leave me excited at the prospect of baking. I think I’m breaking into a sweat just at the idea of turning my oven on. But there are some summertime treats so cool and refreshing, that the end result is worth the initial heat investment.

Take these Margarita Bars. I made them for a lovely clam bake we attended on the beautiful Indian River Bay this past weekend. I had to turn on the oven in our already hot beach house kitchen to make them. But the cool satisfaction of biting into a lemon bar’s hipper adult cousin while trying to beat the summer heat–makes summer living easy.

Margarita Bars
Adapted from Sugarcrafter

I knew I HAD to make these as soon as they popped up in my feed over the weekend. And the recipe to conversion time was shockingly fast–I think we were eating these less than 10 hours after I saw the recipe! I did make a few alterations–I doubled the recipe (the recipe below will fit in a 13 x 9 pan) and I used margarita mix instead of tequila and triple sec because that’s what we had. And when you need dessert NOW, you have to work with what you have! Next time I will make these will the full strength alcohol. Also, we found these had a stronger taste after an overnight in the fridge, so I would recommend baking the day before you plan to serve.

Ingredients:

For the crust:
2 cups flour
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, melted

For the filling:
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups granulated sugar
4 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
4 Tbsp tequila
2 Tbsp triple sec
4 Tbsp fresh lime juice
4 tsp lime zest
1 drop green food coloring (optional)
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease an 13 x 9 baking dish. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, powdered sugar, and salt. Stir in the melted butter. Press the dough into the baking dish (try to get it even) and then bake 15-20 minutes or until the edges of the crust turn light brown.

Reduce the heat to 300 degrees. In another medium bowl, mix together the eggs, sugar, flour, salt, tequila, triple sec, and lime juice and zest, and food coloring. Pour the filling mixture over the warm crust and bake another 25-30 minutes, or until center is set.

After removing the dish from the oven, lightly dust with powdered sugar. Let cool, refrigerate and then cut into squares. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Will you forgive me for sharing 2 brownie recipes in a year that is barely 2 months old? Well, I guess you’ll have to, or you’ll have to click away.

I stumbled on this recipe completely by accident. Last fall–I think it was actually after the Veterans Day 10K–I was in the mood for something sweet and I made a whole wheat brownie recipe from Everyday Food. When two weeks ago I needed something quick to take to our open house weekend at the beach that recipe popped into my head, so I decided to go to Google to look for it.

But when I typed the recipe into Google, I found something totally unexpected–a King Arthur Whole Wheat Brownie recipe! That looked even easier than the Everyday Food version. I practically leaped into the kitchen to start baking, and my relationship with our new favorite brownie recipe was born.

We really enjoyed these. They’re thick and fudgy–all the best parts of a brownie–plus chocolate chips! And not one single person–from the guests at the open house–to the usual suspects who chowed down on these all night long–complained about the whole wheat!

Whole Wheat Brownies
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

The secret to these brownies is my all time favorite flour–white whole wheat. A whole wheat flour so mild, you can use it as a substitute for all purpose in almost anything. Seriously, if there isn’t a bag in your pantry, go get one now!

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups light brown sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder, optional but recommended
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 bag semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9″ x 13″ pan with cooking spray.

In a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the microwave for another 30 seconds. If it separates, stir it briefly to recombine a bit.

Transfer the mixture to a larger bowl, and stir in the cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla. Add the eggs, stirring till smooth.
Then add the flour and chips, again stirring till smooth. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake the brownies for 30 minutes, until a cake tester or sharp knife poked into the center reveals wet crumbs. Remove them from the oven, and cool completely on a rack. Cover and let sit overnight before cutting and serving; This allows the whole wheat flour to disappear into the brownies!

Twas the week before Christmas and all through the house…

Pandora was playing Christmas music–it must be cookie baking time!

This year, thanks to our weekend in Florida, my annual cookiepalooza in preparation for the Ratskellar Christmas Party was seriously condensed. To one day. Yikes! Somehow I survived, and at the end of the day I had four types of cookies, candy, and some of the most amazing brownies ever (but you’ll have to wait until next week to hear about the brownies).

My favorite of this year’s cookies? Snickerdoodles–which are a cookie I always love, but never seem to find time to make in between satisfying everyone else’s annual cookie requests. But this year, I decided to make room for my favorite. Maybe because I’m still punishing training my body for the half marathon . Or maybe just because I wanted to!

Snickerdoodes
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cookies

I like this recipe for snickerdoodles because unlike a lot of recipes, it doesn’t call for cream of tartar, which is something that I typically don’t have. Good thing, because I might need snickerdoodles more than just at Christmas time!

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1 cups (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Put butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture.

Stir together cinnamon and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl. Shape dough into 20 (1 3/4-inch) balls; roll in cinnamon sugar. Space 3 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

After a week and a half on the road I was so happy to be home this weekend. A weekend of Christmas decorating and cooking was definitely in order!

Noel was nice enough to come out and visit me one night while I was in West Virginia, so I wanted to do something nice for him this weekend. His choice for Saturday night: A night of drinking beer, making peanut butter cookies and decorating the tree. He let me listen to Christmas carols while we did it, so I was pretty happy too.

Noel has a serious thing for peanut butter, so I was certain I was going to make him peanut butter cookies to kick off my holiday baking. But I was surprised when questioning him about what type of cookie he wanted to discover that soft peanut butter cookies were his favorite. I guess you can learn something new about someone you’ve known forever!

At first I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to fulfill Noel’s request, since soft cookies typically need shortening, and I just don’t do shortening. But I was happy to find a recipe that promised soft cookies with just a bit of shortening, so I decided to give it a try with all butter. The end result was so soft and chewy we were amazed! A sweet taste of honey was an added bonus!

Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
Adapted from Annie’s Eats

Noel–a die hard peanut butter lover–LOVED these cookies. In fact, he said they may steal the number one cookie spot in his heart from my chocolate chip cookies. Now that’s a major development! Bake these for the peanut butter lover in your life this holiday season!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup honey
2 large eggs

Directions:

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flours, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt; whisk together and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the shortening, butter, peanut butter and honey. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients to the peanut butter mixture and beat just until incorporated.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use a small cookie scoop (I used a 1 teaspoon scoop) to scoop the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until slightly puffed and golden. Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

This is going to be quick because it’s late. Way too late to start a blog post but I have a good excuse! I’ve been stranded hanging out in a tiny town in West Virginia this week and I just wrapped up a busy night of running, eating, researching and packing! phew!

But this recipe is a good way to use that leftover can of pumpkin you have lurking in your pantry. You know it’s in there–if you’re like me you freaked out after last year’s pumpkin shortage and you overbought this year. You don’t really want it to take up pantry space until NEXT year, so pull it out and make these!

I made these for Noel’s work Thanksgiving two weeks ago, and they were a huge hit. And who doesn’t love chocolate + cheesecake? I certainly love it enough to eat some more pumpkin.

Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake
Adapted from Everyday Food

I love the technique used to make these bars–no making two batters–just make the pumpkin batter, then stir in melted chocolate chips. The end result is a nice blend of pumpkin and chocolate, a combination that works wonderfully in cheesecake form!

Ingredients:

FOR THE CRUST

20 chocolate wafer cookies
2 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

FOR THE FILLING

2 8oz packages cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 can solid-pack pumpkin puree
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, blend cookies with sugar until finely ground (you should have about 1 cup crumbs); add butter, and pulse until moistened. Transfer crumb mixture to a buttered pan, and press gently into bottom. Bake until fragrant and slightly firm, 12 to 15 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Place cream cheese in bowl of a stand mixer; blend until smooth. Add sugar, pumpkin puree, eggs, flour, pumpkin-pie spice, and salt; mix until combined. Set aside.

Place chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl; microwave in 30-second increments, stirring between each, until melted. Add 1 cup pumpkin mixture; stir to combine. Set aside.

Pour remaining pumpkin mixture into prepared pan. Drop dollops of chocolate mixture onto pumpkin mixture; swirl. Bake until cheesecake is set but jiggles slightly when gently shaken, 40 to 50 minutes.

Cool in pan. Cover; chill until firm, at least 2 hours (and up to 2 days).

Well another fantastic Thanksgiving has come and gone. This one was extra special, since it was our first one (and first holiday!) at the shore!

On Wednesday morning I packed up the turkey and seemingly half of my kitchen and headed to the shore. I had to make a not so brief stop off at the doctor for a running related issue, but eventually I made it to the beach!

I started cooking almost immediately, mostly because I knew I needed to get the star of our meal, a beautiful, free range 20 pound turkey into our brining solution as soon as possible. What a comedy of errors that was! First I foolishly cut the brining bag (don’t ask), then the bottom of the bag ripped out. After a frantic search at the grocery store, we ended up using this recipe and brining in a Hefty bag. Actually two Heftys.

This was one seriously fantastic turkey. Moist, golden, perfect. We barely had enough leftovers for the turkey pot pie I made later in the weekend!

But let me share credit where it’s due–everything at our potluck style meal for 18 was fantastic. We had a ton of food and everyone loved it all. Some of our old favorites–like dinner rolls and pumpkin cheesecake were there–but we also had some fantastic newbies, like a great apple sausage stuffing.

But the great food didn’t stop there! On Friday we did some black friday shopping tasting at Dogfish Head, where they were sampling dark beers to celebrate!

And then on Saturday, there was Christmas decorating! And turkey pot pie! Because nothing says bring on the next holiday like all time comfort food. I used this recipe to use up our leftover turkey–delicious!

And now, a word about the tree and Christmas decorating. In our family, we’re pretty serious about Christmas decorating. So after an exhaustive search, we settled on a 9 1/2 foot tree with 1,000 lights! It’s beautiful and fits the space great! But our decorations don’t stop with the tree…

And no, that’s not all of it!

Kori and I even decorated ourselves in matching pjs!

And finally, Sunday morning, because we weren’t ALL stuffed to the gills, I made applee cider doughnuts. Because who doesn’t love doughnuts?

All in all, a holiday weekend for the record books!