Chewy Ginger Cookies

I love ginger cookies.  The older I get the more I lean towards lovely ginger cookies instead of chocolate peppermint cookies for the holidays.  (I still love a chocolate peppermint cookie... make no mistake about it)

These are not ginger snaps.  These are soft and chewy... and delicious.

Chewy Ginger Cookies:
(King Arthur Flour)

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 large eggs
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Sugar for coating: I used regular granulated sugar but sparkling white sugar would be pretty

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until they're light and fluffy.

Add the molasses, baking soda, salt, and spices.  Mix well.  Add the eggs, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated.

Add the flour and scrape down the sides again.

Scoop the soft dough into 1 ½" balls and roll them sugar.

Space the cookies on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 ½" between them.

Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes. The centers will look soft and puffy.  Remove the cookies from the oven, and cool them on the pan for 10 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

Honey Ginger Chex Mix

It's the time for holiday parties.  I always make a large batch of traditional Chex Mix every year but this year when I was shopping for the ingredients I noticed this recipe printed on the side of the box.  It sounded really good so I picked up everything and tried it.

This is a really good mix.  I gave it out with Christmas gifts this year and everyone thought it was delicious.  It is also gluten-free so you don't have to worry about making something different for those with gluten allergies.

Honey Ginger Chex Mix:
(adapted from Chex)

Ingredients:

6 cups Rice Chex and/or Honey Nut Chex cereal

1 cup dried banana chips

1 cup unblanched whole almonds

¼ cup butter or margarine

¼ cup packed brown sugar

¼ cup honey

1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger

½ teaspoon apple pie spice

1 cup flaked coconut

½ cup sweetened dried cranberries

½ cup dried pineapple

Directions:

In large microwavable bowl, mix cereal, banana chips and almonds.

In 2-cup microwavable measuring cup, microwave butter, brown sugar, honey and ginger uncovered on high for about 2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute, until mixture is boiling; stir.

Pour over cereal mixture, stirring until evenly coated. Microwave uncovered on High 4 minutes, stirring and scraping bowl every minute. Stir in coconut and cranberries; microwave uncovered on high about 3 minutes or until cereal just begins to brown.

Spread on waxed paper or foil to cool. Store in airtight container.

Bourbon Baked Ham

We don't usually make a ham for holiday meals but this Thanksgiving we ended up having more people than turkey so I decided a ham would be the easiest way to fix the problem.

I already had a bottle of bourbon opened from the Derby Pie I made and thought I should find some more ways to use it.  Bourbon Ham was the answer!  This recipe is adapted from my late grandma's ham recipe.  She covered the ham in mustard and brown sugar and let it cook until everything melted together.  I added some bourbon and juice to the mustard and ham mixture and was really happy about how it turned out.

Bourbon Baked Ham:
(adapted from my Grandma's recipe box)

1 ham- precooked, whole or spiral cut
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
4 + 2 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons bourbon
1 cup orange juice
salt and pepper to taste
Whole cloves- depending on how many scores you make in your ham

Preheat the oven to 350.

Take your ham and slice a diamond pattern on the top and put a whole clove at the point of each diamond.  If you have a spiral sliced ham you don't have to do anything here!!






















Spread the yellow mustard all over the ham.  If your ham is larger then use more mustard.  This is not exact science.  Spread 4 tablespoons (more or less) of the brown sugar on top of the mustard ham.

In a bowl mix together the rest of the brown sugar, bourbon, orange juice, and salt and pepper together.  Pour a quarter of the mixture over the ham and place in the oven.  Continue to pour the mixture over the ham and cook until everything is warmed through.

Another option is to take the remaining 3/4 orange bourbon mixture and reduce over medium-low heat until nice and thick.  This can be poured over the sliced ham as needed.

Chipotle Kale Chips

I got some beautiful curly kale at the farmers' market this weekend and decided to make some kale chips.

I really love kale chips.  Part of the reason is that they are super simple to make. It takes longer to wash the greens then it does to prepare the chips.  One of the other reasons I love these chips is because of all of the different types of flavors you can choose to pair with them.

I decided to use chipotle pepper with this batch of kale chips and was pretty happy with how they turned out.

Chipotle Kale Chips:

1 bunch of kale, cleaned and removed from the stalk
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Rip the kale leaves into pieces and put them in a bowl with the olive oil, chipotle powder, and salt.  Toss the kale to make sure that all of the leaves are covered with the oil and the spices.

Place the kale leaves on a baking sheet, making sure they don't overlap and bake for 20 minutes of until the leaves are crispy.

Jalapeno Pickles

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a fan of pickles.  They are crazy gross to me and are the quickest way to get rid of my appetite.

However... my husband loves pickled jalapenos on just about everything.  I was on a canning spree and decided to try my hand at making some jalapeno pickles.  I really enjoyed making this batch of pickles.  They were easy to make and will last about a year in the pantry which gives me plenty of time to use them up on pizzas, chili's, and plenty of other things.

Jalapeno Pickles:
(adapted slightly from Food in Jars)

1 pound of jalapeno peppers, cut into slices
2 cups white vinegar
2 cups filtered water
2 tablespoons pickling salt
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

Pack clean, hot jars with peppers and the red pepper flakes. Pour hot brine over top. Bubble your jars thoroughly by tapping them firmly on the countertop and using a wooden chopstick to release any stubborn bubbles. Wipe rims, apply lids and bands.

Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes. Store in cool, dark place for up to a year.

Dairy Free Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts

You made it through Thanksgiving!!  Congrats!  Before you jump into the mountain of leftovers in the refrigerator you'll want something for breakfast. 

My suggestion... PUMPKIN DOUGHNUTS! These are easy to make, delicious, and believe it or not much lighter than having a piece of pie for breakfast (not that you would).

I made two trays of and froze the rest of the batter for future doughnuts.

Dairy Free Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts:
(adapted from King Arthur Flour)

1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin
3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
 
Coating Options:
3 tablespoons cinnamon-sugar
Coconut


Directions:


Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two standard doughnut pans. If you don't have doughnut pans, use a standard muffin tin; they just won't be doughnuts.

Beat together the oil, eggs, sugar, pumpkin, spices, salt, and baking powder until smooth.

Add the flour, stirring just until smooth.

Fill the the doughnut pans about 3/4 full.  I use about 2 1/2 scoops per doughnut.

Bake the doughnuts for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean.

Remove the doughnuts from the oven, and after about 5 minutes, loosen their edges, and transfer them to a rack to cool.

I made my doughnuts two different ways.  One batch I tossed in cinnamon sugar. 

The other batch I used coconut.  Believe it or not, it was delicious.  All I did for the coconut doughnuts was put some coconut flakes on top of the doughnut batter once it was in the pan.  I stirred it around a little bit to make sure the coconut flakes would stick to the doughnuts.

Pumpkin Walnut Crisp

The pumpkin bug has bit me again!  I found this recipe on Pinterest and since it was super easy to make I decided to give it a shot.

I made this for Mr. T's work potluck last week and forgot to take an after picture.  I wanted to make sure I got the recipe out there before Thanksgiving was upon us.  I'll be making this again on Thanksgiving and i'll try to get a better picture then.

Pumpkin Walnut Crisp:
(Adapted from Rachel Schultz)

15 ounce can pumpkin
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 package yellow cake mix
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup butter, melted


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the pumpkin, evaporated milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin pie spice.

Pour the batter into a 9×13 baking dish and sprinkle the cake mix over the pumpkin mixture.  Arrange walnuts on top of the cake mix.

Pour the butter evenly over pecans, making sure all of the cake mix is moistened.

Bake for 70-80 minutes, or until golden brown and allow to fully cool before serving.