Saturday, December 17, 2011

Gingerbread Waffles with Caramel Syrup

These are so fun and Christmasy not to mention YUMMY!!! I love finding recipes to liven things up here!

Gingerbread Waffles
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup molasses
6 TB melted butter
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp soda
2 tsp ginger
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Mix by hand brown sugar and egg yolks until well blended. Stir in buttermilk, molasses, and butter. In separate bowl combine all dry ingredients. Mix in with wet. Beat egg whites and fold into batter. Do no over mix!

Caramel Syrup
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 TB corn syrup
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla

In a large pot combine butter, buttermilk, syrup, sugar, and soda. Stir and bring to a boil. Boil for 7 minutes constantly. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Keep stirring until it turns into a dark Carmel colored syrup. **Note, Use a Large pot because the soda makes the syrup boil up high**

I whipped up some homemade whip cream with a hint of cinnamon in it...Really good. (made sure I ran today too)

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Mint Brownie Recipe

Yummy Mint Brownies

For the Brownies:
1 cup melted butter ( i cut this down by a 1/4 cup)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 cups sugar ( i cut this down a little too)
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups flour

Whisk together melted butter and cocoa. Then add sugar, beaten eggs, vanilla, and salt. Mix Well. Then add sifted flour. Stir by hand and don't over mix.

Bake at 350 in a greased 9X13 for 25-28 minutes (mine always take closer to 28 minutes)

Cool completely (or stick in freezer for a little bit).

Frosting:
1/2 cups butter ( I only use a 1/4 cup)
2TB Milk
2 cups Powered sugar
1 tsp Peppermint Extract
green food coloring.
(This is just a basic butter cream frosting that all of you probably already make. I don't follow the recipe I wrote it down just in case. I like a little more than this recipe calls for so I use more milk and more P. sugar. This is the only minty part of the brownie so I use a good teaspoon plus a little extra. Don't use the mint or spearmint extract...they are nasty. Make sure is says Peppermint. Watkins is my fav!)

Ganache Topping:
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet ch.chip.
Melt it together and stir really good. Drizzle it all over the brownies and frosting.
I cut down the butter and add a little cream instead.

Don't say I didn't warn you!!! They are sooo addicting. Happy Christmas Cooking!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

My 11 Year Old

Mallory's birthday was the day after we blessed little Hallie. My parents stuck around one more day to celebrate. We picked the girls up at lunch time, and went to a yummy sandwich place. Then Papa watched the rest of the kids while my mom and I took Mallory shopping. She got lots of real earrings, this scarf and hat too. She loves to be stylish! After we shopped we came back and had a little party at home. Was pretty low key, but that is all I could do after the crazy week that we had. Oh yes, she did get Wonderstruck so she was thrilled!!!



I made the sweetest looking cake ever (NOT...but she like it. It was actually yummy. It was white cake with homemade raspberry filling).







My mom made her this super cute owl blanket! She learned a new crochet edge.


Then there is LOGAN....he gets soo silly when anyone has a birthday. He always thinks it is for him!

This is his mean dragon face!


Cute Boy!


...and silly