Tag Archives: Comfort Food

Ginger Pound Cake

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Happy New Year everyone!

I hope you all had a great holiday season that was filled with great food, relaxation and time spent with loved ones. It’s crazy that we’ve already left 2018 behind. I have a lot of optimism that 2019 will be a good year with lots of much needed change. After I finished the 12 Days of Christmas, I needed a wee break to recoup from all that baking. I’ve got my rest and I’m ready to get back into the swing of things. So, let’s start this year’s recipes off the right way, shall we?

I’ve spoken before on here about my love for ginger. You can search the Recipe Index for the various recipes I’ve used it in in; it’s a great ingredient. There are a lot of uses to be found for it and lately, I’ve always seemed to have a stalk or 2 of it in my fridge. Ground ginger often finds its way into desserts like gingerbread, but my favorite way to use and eat it is when it’s been candied/crystallized.

The only downside to candied and crystallized ginger is that most of the time, it doesn’t run cheap in the stores. In my opinion at least, it’s often overpriced. Not to worry though. There’s an easy way around that. You can always just make your own.

It’s easy. It’s MUCH more inexpensive. It’s worth it. (Check out my instagram now for the step by step instructions) And when you’ve finished looking that over (and after you’ve made some crystallized ginger for yourself), come back here and check out today’s recipe. Trust me, we’re going to put it to good use.

A pound cake is the perfect dessert/blank canvas to test out a wide variety of flavors. It’s already plenty delicious on its own–any added flavor you give to the batter will serve to just amplify the finished cake. I’ve done quite a bit of it here on the blog already, and now I’m pleased to share this new addition to the Pound Cake Pantheon of Awesomeness (I totally came up with that on the spot, can’t you tell?)

The recipe uses ginger in two ways: ground ginger that gets sifted in with the other dry ingredients, and crystallized ginger that gets steeped in milk for a few minutes. Both the ginger and the ginger flavored milk are then mixed into the batter.With six eggs in it, this is going to be one very tall cake. If you’re not sure if your bundt pan can fit up to 16 cups, then I’d recommend splitting it between two loaf pans, just to be on the safe side.

The texture of this cake is sublime. It’s rich, buttery and moist enough to where you could eat it plain and still be totally satisified–or go the extra mile and throw on the ginger flavored icing. Combined with the richness of the cake itself, the ginger here adds a spicy sweet flavor that’s got great bite, but still isn’t overpowering. I really enjoyed this cake and I think you will too.

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Ginger Pound Cake

Recipe Courtesy of The Southern Cake Book

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 3 ounces of crystallized ginger, finely minced
  • 2 cups butter, softened
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 6 large eggs
  • 4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For Icing

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • A few tablespoons of milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour a 16 cup (10 inch) Bundt or tube pan.

Simmer milk and ginger together in a small saucepan over medium heat for 5-7 minutes, until thoroughly heated. (Don’t let it boil.) Remove from the heat and let it stand for 10-15 minutes. Add the vanilla extract to the milk.

Stir together the flour with the ground ginger in a bowl with a fork, and set aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer (or using a handheld one) beat the butter at medium speed until creamy. Gradually add the sugar, about 1 cup at a time, beating 5-7 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until the yellow disappears. (Make sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as you’re doing this to ensure even mixing.)

Add the flour to the butter mixer alternatively with the milk (begin and end with the flour). Beat at a low speed, just until combined after each addition.

Pour the batter into the cake pan. Lift and tap it down on the counter a few times (this will prevent air bubbles from forming). Place the cake pan on a sheet pan, then bake on the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour and 25 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean and cake reaches an inner temp of 205-210 degrees Fahrenheit.

Stir together the ingredients for the icing together in a bowl. It shouldn’t be too runny, just loose enough to drizzle. Use the tines of a fork to drizzle the icing over the cake in a decorative design. Allow to to sit for about 30 minutes, just until icing has set. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

Sharing at Fiesta Friday #257, co-hosted this week by Suzanne @apuginthekitchen and Kat @ Kat’s 9 Lives.

Gingerbread Cut Outs

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In the very first post for this year’s 12 Days of Christmas I talked about how my love for this time of year is hugely inspired by all the baking that my mom and grandma did during the holiday season. They made lots of delicious things, but one of the most memorable of the treats was the gingerbread cookies. They shaped them into both gingerbread men and gingerbread teddy bears that we decorated with chocolate chips. They were so good.

For the most part I do try to introduce new, fresh recipes to the 12 Days of Christmas. I do it to give y’all some interesting options, challenge myself, and to find new holiday baking favorites for our house. Sometimes though, the classics are best. After all, what kind of Christmas would it be without a good, old-fashioned classic gingerbread cookie recipe to put to good use?

The gingerbread cookies that my mom and grandma made when I was a kid were thick, slightly soft, slightly chewy and full of strong, spicy flavor. I’ve made quite a few gingerbread cookies of my own, but most of them failed to tick off all of the above boxes at the same time. It’s difficult for one recipe to do that, I admit. But if any of y’all have been looking for a perfect gingerbread cookie recipe that’s good for cut outs, decorating, gift giving, Christmas tress decoration–anything really–then you can stop looking. Cause it’s right here.

What puts these gingerbread cookies above all the others I’ve had boils down to about three things: Spice, Texture, and Durability. Because the dough is generously seasoned, they’re slightly spicy–they have a ‘bite’ that lingers on your tongue, as it should. The texture is soft, but it does have a pleasant chew, especially towards the edges. These are also plenty durable enough to decorate (rather heavily if you like), ship in the mail, or even make them into Christmas tree ornaments (just pierce holes into the tops).

This recipe makes quite a bit of dough, so don’t be afraid to go big with the cookie cutters if you don’t want a whole bunch of leftovers sitting around your house, tempting you (and they WILL tempt you) . They hold their shape extremely well after baking, so don’t worry about designs getting lost in indiscernible blobs. That won’t happen.

Eight days into the 12 Days of Christmas now–don’t forget to check out the other recipes from the previous days below!

(Btw, aren’t these cookies 100xs better than 8 maids a milking?)

DAY 1: VANILLA RED PINWHEELS

DAY 2: CHRISTMAS ELF BITES

DAY 3: THREE FRENCH HEN PIES

DAY 4: CRANBERRY BUCKLE

DAY 5: GINGERBREAD MARSHMALLOWS

DAY 6: HOLIDAY SPICE S’MORES

DAY 7: CRANBERRY ORANGE ROLLS

DAY 8: GINGERBREAD CUT OUTS

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Gingerbread Cut Outs

Recipe Courtesy of The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (2 sticks, 8ounces) unsalted butter
  • 1 cup (8 ounces) packed brown sugar (light or dark, doesn’t matter)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons allspice
  • 2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 cup (8 ounces) molasses
  • 1 large egg
  • 5 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda dissolved in 1/2 cup water

Directions

In the bowl of a standing mixer (or using a handheld one) cream together the butter, sugar, salt and spices together until light and creamy.

Add the molasses and the egg, stirring just until combined. Use a spatula to intermittently scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing.

Add half of the flour with the baking soda that’s been dissolved in the water on low speed. Stir in the remaining flour, mixing just until combined.

Scrape the dough into one large mound, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Sprinkle a clean work surface with powdered sugar. Divide the dough into quarters, keeping the other 3 in the fridge while you work with the 1. Using a rolling pin to roll out the quarter of dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Use whatever cookie cutters you like to cut out the shapes, then transfer to baking sheets that you’ve lined with parchment paper. Leave about 1/2 inch space between the cookies.

Refrigerate the cut out cookies for about 10 minutes, then bake on the middle rack for 8-10 minutes. Let them rest on the baking sheet for about 65 seconds before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Sharing at this week’s Fiesta Friday #254, co-hosted this week by Antonia @ Zoale.com and Kat @ Kat’s 9 Lives.

Cranberry Orange Rolls

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Tell me some of the traditions you or your family had when you grew up. How about some of the traditions that you have now?

I think that my love for Christmas started because of all the traditions that we had while I was growing up. I enjoyed those traditions and the way that they made me feel, and it created this huge nostalgia for the holidays that lasts to this day.

In elementary school, I remember the traditions that happened on the last day before our Winter Break. Classes ended early and for the latter half of the day, the school would turn into a ‘holiday carnival’ of sorts. Each classroom would turn into a fun activity for us to do until was time to go home. One room had games, one room had holiday movies playing on a television, one room was for making Christmas ornaments, another was for decorating Christmas cookies, and so on.

My mom and my sisters and I had a tradition of driving around the neighborhood on Christmas Eve night and looking at other house’s lights and decorations that they put up.

Now that I’m grown I have several holiday traditions of my own. We try to put up our Christmas tree within the first couple of weeks of November, which is also when I dust off my holiday playlist. There is a list of holiday movies that we watch all throughout the month of December. And of course, I do the 12 Days of Christmas here on the blog.

I’ve heard about a lot of families that have a tradition of eating cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. We don’t, but it’s a holiday tradition that I can definitely get behind.

My sister doesn’t like cinnamon rolls (insert eyeroll emoji), so whenever I get the craving for breakfast rolls, I have to get a bit creative and make something that she’ll like. These Honey Sausage Rolls were a hit. These Orange Rolls were a HUGE hit.

And then came today’s rolls.

I don’t know who it was who first came up with the flavor combination of cranberry and citrus, but whoever they are, they were a genius who truly gave us a Christmas miracle. It has truly never, EVER let me down. These were so delicious. Where do I even begin?

The dough itself is flavored with vanilla, orange zest and juice. The powdered milk and instant potato flakes are there to improve the overall texture of the finished product–it gives the rolls a chewy, but light richness.

The filling is both tart and slightly sweet thanks to the combination of cranberry and orange juice. I think it gives a great, fresh balance of flavor to the icing that gets slathered on top of the rolls while they’re still warm.

As you can see, this recipe makes a modest sized bunch. If you’re baking for a crowd, you may want to consider doubling it. You may want to consider doubling it even if you’re not baking for a crowd. I wish that I had.

We’re over halfway through the 12 Days of Christmas already! Check out the other posted recipes if you haven’t already:

DAY 1: VANILLA RED PINWHEELS

DAY 2: CHRISTMAS ELF BITES

DAY 3: THREE FRENCH HEN PIES

DAY 4: CRANBERRY BUCKLE

DAY 5: GINGERBREAD MARSHMALLOWS

DAY 6: HOLIDAY SPICE S’MORES

DAY 7: CRANBERRY ORANGE ROLLS

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Cranberry Orange Rolls

Recipe Adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup warm water
  • 1 tablespoon fresh orange zest
  • 1/4 cup orange juice
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) softened unsalted butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup dry powdered milk
  • 1/4 cup potato flour, or dry instant mashed potato flakes
  • 1 egg, beaten

For Filling

  • 1/4 cup orange juice
  • 1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tablespoon melted butter

*A heaping 3/4 cup of leftover cranberry sauce will work in lieu of the filling as well. This is my go-to favorite recipe.

For Icing

  • About 1 1/2 cups powdered
  • A few tablespoons orange juice

Directions

Lightly spray an 8 or 9 inch square baking dish or cake pan with non-stick cooking spray; set aside.

In a small bowl, pour the water, sprinkle the yeast on top. Sprinkle the sugar on top of that. Allow to sit for ten minutes, until proofed and frothy. In a medium size bowl combine the flour with the dry milk and potato flour and stir with a fork. Set aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, pour the proofed yeast, the orange zest and juice, the butter, vanilla extract and salt. Use the paddle attachment to stir together. Switch to the dough hook and add the dry ingredients in increments. When the dough starts to gather around the hook, remove from the bowl, turn out onto a clean work surface, and use your hands to knead the dough for about 10 minutes, adding more flour if need be until a smooth dough is formed. (The dough should spring back when you press your finger into it.)

Grease the inside of the mixing bowl, place the dough inside. Cover with plastic wrap, then a damp kitchen towel and allow to rise until doubled in a warm place, about 65 minutes.

To make the filling: Combine all of the filling ingredients except the melted butter in a small, heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened. Remove from the heat, and stir in the melted butter. Set aside to cool.

Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface that you’ve sprinkled with flour and gently deflate. Roll/pat it into a 16 x 12 rectangle.

Spread the filling out onto the dough. Roll up into a log tightly, pinching the seams closed to seal. Cut the log into 9 slices. and place the slices into your prepared baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and your damp kitchen cloth. Allow to proof for an additional 45 minutes until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Brush the proofed rolls with the beaten egg. Bake until golden brown in the center (an instant read thermometer should read 195-200F), 35-40 minutes. Cover with foil if they’re browning too quickly.

To make the icing, combine the powdered sugar with just enough OJ to make a smooth glaze. After the rolls have cooled for about 7-8 minutes, Spread the icing over the rolls while they are still warm so that the icing can seep into the crevices of the rolls. Keep any leftovers in a sealed plastic container in the fridge.

I’ll be sharing these at this week’s Fiesta Friday #254, co-hosted this week by Antonia @ Zoale.com and Kat @ Kat’s 9 Lives.

Holiday Spice S’mores

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Are s’mores just for summertime? I think not.

If y’all have been following this blog for a while you know that I’m a ‘s’mores all the year round’ kind of girl. Let the record speak for itself:

S’mores Cake. S’mores Sandwich Cookies. S’mores Brownies.

Pretty soon, I’m going to run out of S’mores flavored things to bake. But not today. Today, I’ve got one more.

I’ve known that I wanted to make homemade s’mores for a while. As much as I love all the flavors of s’mores, I don’t like eating them with store-bought graham crackers. It’s a texture thing. I was pretty sure I could do better with a cracker that I made by myself, with a more pleasant texture. While I was planning out all I would make for the 12 Days of Christmas series, I thought of them again. I tried to think of how I could make them ‘Christmasey’. This is what I came out with.

Basically, I’ve taken a standard graham cracker recipe and added some spices to the dough that remind me of the holidays: cinnamon, ginger cloves and nutmeg. I cut them into squares just to give them the traditional s’mores look, but you can cut them into whatever shapes you like. (Gingerbread man shaped s’mores would be really cute). These aren’t as crunchy as store-bought graham crackers, but personally I prefer them that way.

When they have a tiny bit of chew, biting into the s’more doesn’t make it ooze all over the place, which can get messy with melted chocolate and marshmallow. It’s also a really, really tasty spice cookie all by itself. We’re just going to enhance that by adding the other 2 components.

Here’s the thing. I said in my last post that I understood why going to the trouble of making marshmallows from scratch may SEEM unnecessary and extra. I also said that I had found another use for them besides adding them to hot chocolate. I am not exaggerating when I say that that second use was a revelation.

A gingerbread spiced graham cracker sandwiching melted chocolate AND a melted, gooey gingerbread spiced marshmallow?

Y’all. I wasn’t prepared. I really wasn’t. That first bite was all of the things. Every single one of them. I’m pretty sure my eyes rolled back in my head. This is one of the best ideas I’ve ever had and I’m so pumped to share it here at the holidays. Making marshmallows from scratch is worth it, if for no other reason than this: Holiday Spiced S’mores.

DAY 1: VANILLA RED PINWHEELS

DAY 2: CHRISTMAS ELF BITES

DAY 3: THREE FRENCH HEN PIES

DAY 4: CRANBERRY BUCKLE

DAY 5: GINGERBREAD MARSHMALLOWS

DAY 6: HOLIDAY SPICE S’MORES

Holiday Spice S'mores

Recipe Adapted from Bake From Scratch

Ingredients

For Graham Crackers

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 tablespoon molasses
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • Cinnamon sugar, for sprinkling
  • Your choice of chocolate (For assembly)

(For Marshmallows: See recipe Here, or purchase seasonal gingerbread flavored marshmallows from store)

 

Directions

In the bowl of a standing mixer or using a handheld one, beat together the butter and sugar until creamy and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract.

In a small bowl combine the flour with the spices, salt and baking soda, stirring together with a fork. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in 1 cup increments, mixing just until combined.

Shape dough into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least one hour, preferably overnight.

Sprinkle a clean work surface with powdered sugar. Divide dough into quarters, keeping 3 in the fridge while you work with one. Roll dough to ⅛-inch thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut into roughly 2 inch squares. Use a chopstick to punch a hole through the center of the squares, then remove to a baking sheet you’ve lined with parchment paper.

 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Refrigerate the cut out cookie dough for 10 minutes. Sprinkle tops with cinnamon sugar.

Bake in the oven on the middle rack until just golden brown, about 9-10 minutes. Allow to set on sheets for about 60 seconds before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

To assemble the s’mores, place a square of chocolate and a marshmallow on one of the crackers. Microwave for about 5-10 seconds, until they just begin to melt. Press another graham cracker on top.

(Note: no one oven is the same, & different baking sheets bake cookies differently. Keeping this in mind, I will ALWAYS test bake one cookie before baking entire sheets of the whole batch, just to get a good idea of how long they should be in the oven and if I need to adjust the way I’ve cut, rolled them out, etc. I highly recommend that you do the same.)

Three French ‘Hen’ Pies

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I just realized that in the five years I’ve been doing this series, I’ve never addressed just how silly the song the 12 Days of Christmas really is.

I guess now’s a good time as any for me to do so: The 12 Days of Christmas is silly.

12 Days of gifts sounds great in theory. But when you actually stop and think about the so called ‘gifts’ that somebody’s true love picked out…meh.

I mean, five gold rings are fine I guess, but…what exactly am I supposed to do with seven swans ‘a-swimming’ or four calling birds?

A twelve person drumline may be cute, but…does that partridge happen to be sitting in a pear money tree? Cause if not…keep it.

Come to think of it, most of the gifts given during the 12 Days of Christmas were birds. And since I am a cook, and we are all just here for the food anyway, let’s just think of it as a bunch of poultry. I’ve got no use for a bunch of live birds. But dead, butchered poultry? That’s something I can definitely use.

So let’s pretend that on the third day of Christmas, your true love didn’t send you three French hens. Instead, they sent you three (or more) of these pies. (Hen is, after all, chicken so it’s not too big of a leap.)

I like to try to throw a savory recipe into the baking series, just to mix things up. Last year was this tourtiere pie. I wanted to do it again, and from very early on, I had what I thought was a pretty good idea of a place to start. A few years back I did a post where I made a chicken pot pie filling that I paired with biscuits. For these pies, I took that chicken pot pie filling and stuffed it into a delicious, flaky pie crust that I had made before last year for some Jamaican beef patties. (How’s that for recipe recycling?)

There are a lot of corners you can cut in making these to make the process go faster: you absolutely can make the filling for these with either rotisserie chicken or leftover turkey. I did. You absolutely can use a bag of frozen vegetables. I did. You can also make the filling and pie crust ahead of time, leave it in the fridge overnight, then come back the next day, assemble and bake so that the actual dinner prep takes less than an hour. I did.

It’s the 3rd Day of Christmas, so why not swap out 3 French Hens for these French Chicken–I mean HEN Pies?

DAY 1: VANILLA RED PINWHEELS

DAY 2: CHRISTMAS ELF BITES

DAY 3: THREE FRENCH HEN PIES

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Three French 'Hen' Pies

Recipe Adapted from Ina Garten

Ingredients

For Pie Crust

  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, frozen
  • 1/2 cup butter flavored vegetable shortening, frozen
  • 3/4 cup, plus 1 tablespoon cold water, plus more if needed
  • 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten

For Filling

  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
  • 1 large sweet onion, diced
  • 1 16 oz. bag of frozen mixed vegetables
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Onion Powder
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 4 cups chicken stock
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 4 sprigs rosemary
  • 4 sprigs thyme
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 tbsp-1 tbsp. honey mustard (depending on taste preference)
  • 4 cups chopped, cooked chicken (from 1 large rotisserie chicken) OR leftover turkey
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch (if needed)

For Assembly

  • 1 large egg, beaten with 2 tablespoons of water

Directions

For Pie Crust: In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt and pepper with a fork. Use the large holes on a box grater to grate butter directly into dry ingredients. Slice the shortening into small chunks and sprinkle into the flour. Mix together with a fork or a rubber spatula. (Mixture should resemble coarse bread crumbs, with chunks of butter/shortening throughout) Make a well in the center of the bowl and pour in the water, beaten egg and vinegar. Mix together until just combined, then turn out onto a cutting board or pastry mat dusted with flour. Working quickly, pat and press with your hands until you have a mass of dough that holds together. Shape into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at LEAST one hour, but preferably overnight.

In a large pot, heat 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add the onions and sweat until the onions are translucent, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the bag of frozen veggies, cook for further 5-6 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, 1 minute more. Remove the vegetables and garlic from the pot.

Heat the remaining 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Once melted, whisk in the flour. Cook until the mixture is just starting to turn golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Gradually whisk in the chicken broth. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Add the vegetables back to the pot, along with the bay leaf, rosemary, and thyme. Season with salt, black pepper, onion powder and the honey mustard. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Stir in the cream, and chicken and return to a simmer. Simmer for 4 to 5 minutes more. Remove the mixture from the heat.

(If you need to thicken the mixture up, dissolve the cornstarch in about 1/2 cup of cold water with a fork, then stir this into the chicken mixture, allowing it to cook uncovered for about 5 minutes more until it reaches the desired consistency)

Refrigerate the filling overnight to allow the flavors to develop.

Preheat oven to 375°. Remove the dough from the fridge and divide into quarters. Keep the other 3 in the fridge while you work with one. Sprinkle a clean surface with flour. Roll dough out with floured rolling pin to about 1/8 inch thick. Cut into 4-5 inch circles and place two heaping tablespoons of filling on each. (Don’t overfill, it will mess up your finish) Use your fingers to rub the bottom edge with water or egg wash, then pull the top edge over the filling and press down to fuse the two edges together. You may crimp the outer edges afterwards with a fork if you like. Repeat until you’ve used all of the dough, keeping unused rounds AND filled pies in the fridge as you work to keep the dough cold as possible.

Once finished, line a sheet pan with parchment paper or foil, and lightly spray with cooking spray. Place pies on pan. Brush the tops with the beaten egg, then bake on the middle rack until dough is cooked through & golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. Let stand about 5 minutes before serving.

Linking up to this week’s Fiesta Friday #253, co-hosted this week by Liz @ Spades, Spatulas, and Spoons and Mila @ Milkandbun.

Braised Beef and Basil Chimichurri

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I would like to send out prayers, thoughts, and good vibes to everyone out here on the West coast that’s being affected by all of these terrible wildfires. We’re not exactly close to where the actual fires are occurring, but the smoke has been traveling down to where we are, and the air quality has suffered terribly from it.

It’s a terrible situation–one that I hope will pass soon, and that the rebuilding efforts for all of those affected can proceed as best as they can.

How do you guys like to eat your steak?

I’ll go first, and be honest: my go to is a medium tri-tip with A1 on the side. Even if the steak is fantastic enough to eat completely on its own, I still like that primo steak sauce. I’ve only had one steak, ever (at an Emeril Lagasse restaurant) where the steak was delicious enough to where I turned down the A1 completely. Y’all can judge me if you want, but that’s just the way I like it.

I mention my general steak preferences because with this recipe, I kinda stepped outside of my comfort zone and tried something that I had never even eaten before, let alone cooked for myself. I braise beef all the time, but chimmichurri was uncharted territory. I knew that it was green and that it was eaten with food like tacos. But I had no idea what it was supposed to taste like, or if I would even like it myself.

Having now made it, I can now report back to all of you that I now know several things about making & eating chimmichurri, namely that I DO like it, very much. I’ve seen several variations with various herbs used here and there, but I decided to keep things simple for my first time. I use a base of fresh basil and oregano–two herbs that I think play really well against each other. I also put in a very generous amount of garlic, because I love it and because I can. But what REALLY brings all the flavors of the chimmichurri together is the balsamic vinegar that gets added at the very end–the acidity cuts through the sharpness of that garlic and makes the freshness of the herbs that much more fresher.

I kept the seasoning on the braised beef really traditional, on purpose. I’m glad that I did that. It’s a perfectly delicious pot of meat all on its own by the time it’s done, but once you add the basil chimmichurri to the savory beef, the beef moves away from being something you’d typically associate with stick to your ribs food for the autumn, and kinda reminded me of something I’d like to eat in the summertime on a porch deck. So I guess it’s kind of a best of both worlds thing.

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Braised Beef & Basil Chimichurri

Recipe Adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients

  • 4-5 lbs of beef sirloin, (you can also use top blade steak, chuck roast or tri tip that you cut into large chunks)
  • A few dashes of low sodium soy sauce
  • 8 garlic cloves, finely minced
  • 1/4 cup whole grain mustard
  • 2 heaping tablespoons of your favorite steak seasoning; I used The Gourmet Collection’s Pepper Steak Spice Blend. You can find it at TJ Maxx/HomeGoods)
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar (light or dark, doesn’t matter)
  • 2 teaspoons black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves, chopped
  • 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
  • 1/2 cup oil (olive, vegetable or canola will all work), plus more for searing
  • 1 large onion
  • 2-3 cups low sodium chicken broth (the meat is going to release more liquid in the oven, this is just to make sure it’s submerged enough to braise)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Onion powder, Garlic Powder

For Chimichurri Sauce

  • 8 oz fresh basil, chopped
  • 4 oz fresh oregano, chopped
  • 8-10 cloves of garlic, finely minced
  • 1/2 cup (olive, vegetable or canola will all work)
  • salt, pepper to taste
  • 1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Directions

In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, garlic, mustard, brown sugar, pepper, oregano leaves, smoked paprika and oil. Stir together until it forms a paste. Set aside

Rub the meat with the steak seasoning on both sides, then place it inside 2 resealable gallon size bags. Evenly divide and pour the seasoning paste over the meat. Reseal the bags, then turn/toss the bags around, massaging the paste into the meat so that it’s evenly seasoned. Refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Heat a few tablespoons of oil in the bottom of a Dutch oven or other heavy pot, bring it to a high heat, just before it smokes. Sear the meat on both sides until browned (in batches if need be), then remove to a plate.

Saute the onions in the leftover drippings for about 5 minutes until they’re softened/translucent. Add the bay leaf and chicken broth and stir, allowing it to come up to a simmer. Taste and adjust for seasoning (I added plenty of onion powder, garlic powder and pepper).

Place the meat back in the pot, (or you can remove it to a 13 x 9 baking dish) cover tightly with either a lid or foil, then place in the oven. Allow to braise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until the meat is tender and can be pulled easily with a fork.

Meanwhile, make the chimichurri sauce: place the basil, oregano and garlic together in a food processor or a blender. Pulse a few times, then blend on high until they’re finely minced/combined. Remove to a medium bowl, then slowly drizzle in the oil, whisking together with a whisk or fork. Add salt & pepper, then 1 tablespoon of the vinegar. Taste it and if desired, add the second tablespoon. Serve on top of the braised beef.

I’m very pleased to be co-hosting this week’s Fiesta Friday # 250 along with Jenny @ Apply To Face Blog., Jhuls @ The Not So Creative Cook and Judi @ cookingwithauntjuju.com. Please join us!

Breakfast Slab Pie

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Filed under Breakfast

I seriously cannot believe that we are making our way through November already. 2018 is almost over. We’ve already started getting ingredients for Thanksgiving, which I’m always excited for, but it definitely doesn’t feel like it’s going to be happening in a matter of weeks. From there, things REALLY get busy round here, what with the 12 Days of Christmas baking series–I started making my list of this year’s recipes earlier today and I’m already excited to get started on that, so stay tuned.

We still have brinner at least once a week in our house, but it’s been a while since I posted a new recipe for breakfast on the blog. I wanted to change that and so this past week, I decided to go ahead and make something new for our brinner.

Slab pie is one of those things that I really enjoy baking–more so than a lot of other things that I like. It makes a whole lot of pie for a crowd, with a comparatively low amount of labor. Up until now, I’ve only made sweet fruit dessert slab pies and although they’ve been fabulous I have been curious about what it would look like if I took it to the savory side.

The method for making the pie crust is my normal method of grating frozen butter into the dry ingredients. It might seem ‘extra’ to go to the effort of buying a box grater if you don’t already have one, but I will say it again and again until I’m blue in the face: frozen butter & a box grater will change your pie crust making life. It will also transform the way you make biscuits and scones. If you don’t know, now you know.

I think one of the best things about this recipe is how versatile the filling can be. I’ve provided a recipe below of what I used for our slab pie, but with breakfast foods in general, the possibilities are endless. It’s no different here. If you don’t like sausage as a protein, use ham. Or mushrooms. Or chorizo. If you don’t like green bell peppers, use red or yellow. If you don’t like spinach, use potatoes. Do what you heart (or tastebuds) tell you to do.

Be careful when you pour the beaten eggs on top; make sure it’s mixed into the filling well so that it doesn’t spill over too much into the crust. Use your fingers to try and make sure the crust is pinched together tight at the corners of the pie especially. Also, bake the slab pie on the lower rack of the oven to make sure you get the golden brown, flakey crust results that you see in the pictures–the closer it is to the heat, the faster it will cook on the bottom.

Have a good weekend, guys!

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Breakfast Slab Pie

Adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

Crust

  • 4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 24 tablespoons (1 1/2 cups) cold unsalted butter, frozen
  • 3/4 cup cold water, plus more if needed

For Filling

  • 2 lbs of roll breakfast sausage (pork or turkey, doesn’t matter), browned and drained
  • 8 oz frozen spinach, thawed and drained thoroughly
  • 2 green bell peppers, diced
  • 1 large sweet onion, diced
  • 12 eggs, (plus one for the egg wash)
  • salt and pepper

Directions

For Crust: In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour with the salt and pepper. Use the large holes on a box grater to grate the cold butter directly into the dry ingredients. Stir together with a fork. Make a well in the center, then pour in the water. Stir together with a fork and spatula until it forms a craggy mass. Turn it out onto a floured surface and knead it two to three times, just until it comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 17 x 11 baking sheet and set aside.

Place the crumbled, browned sausage in a large bowl. In a large skillet, saute the onions, then the bell peppers until they are softened and translucent, about 7-10 minutes each. When finished, add to the bowl of sausage. Mix in the drained spinach. Stir together until evenly combined.

Divide the pie crust in two, making one portion slightly bigger than the other. On a floured surface, roll out the larger portion into a 17 x 11 rectangle. Use your rolling pin to help transfer it to the greased baking sheet, using your knuckles to press the crust into the corners; try to make sure there’s some overhang over the sides of the pan.

Spoon the sausage filling into the crust, smoothing over the top with a spatula. (You may have some leftover; place it in an egg scramble at a later use) Place in the refrigerator. Meanwhile, beat 12 the eggs together, then season generously with salt and pepper. Remove the filled pie from the refrigerator. Carefully pour the beaten egg mixture over the filling, using a fork to help it seep in evenly. Roll out the second piece of pie crust into a rectangle. Drape it over the filling, and crimp the edges to seal the pie.

Use a sharp knife to create 2 steam vents in the center (not too big though, or the eggs may leak out). Beat the remaining egg in a small bowl with some water, then use a pastry brush to brush it over the top crust.

Bake the pie on the lower rack of the oven until the crust is golden and the filling is set, 55-60 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool about 10 minutes before slicing into squares serve.

Sharing at the Fiesta Friday #249, co-hosted this week by Diann @ Of Goats and Greens and Jenny @ Apply To Face Blog.