Two sweet, cheap indulgences.

Today I am going to talk about two sweet, cheap indulgences. Things that are a rare treat.

Indulgence #1 I am trying to learn how to make myself: doughnuts

For a very long time I have been eying the beautifully crafted doughnuts in the King Arthur Catalog. My goodness I love that catalog. I pretty much read it (yes read! all the little product descriptions) cover to cover every time I get one in the mail.

This Christmas my inlaws gave me a mini doughnut pan and some other fun things from King Arthur itself! It was very exciting. We made doughnuts that very day! And then a week later I made them again.


Then when we arrived babysitting, upon learning that I loved to bake the 12-year-old excitedly asked me, "Can we make doughnuts?!!! I've always wanted to make doughnuts!"

Why! Yes we can!

They are so cute. And even though they are smothered in cinnamon sugar and chocolate glaze, they are baked not fried, and mini. So, you know, they're better for you too.

The overall consensus was: the chocolate frosted are cutest, but cinnamon sugar are yummiest. Dashing Boy said the frosted needed a better ratio of chocolate to doughnut so I fully submerged a few in the chocolate and then those became his favorite!

(I used this doughnut recipe, only I used 2 T melted butter instead of the shortening. For the cinnamon sugar doughnuts I melted butter and basted a bit on the doughnut then dropped it in a bowl of cinnamon sugar and covered it! and for the chocolate I used this recipe. I liked both recipes but would love to try others- Does anybody have any good ones?)


After being so healthy :) and enjoying all these doughnuts, I bring you to indulgence #2. My most favorite guilty pleasure. This one I did not, nor would I ever attempt to do on my own, it just wouldn't be the same.

that is: Cheese On A Stick from Hot Dog On A Stick.


Oh boy do I love this place. The hats. The freshly, funny-pumped lemonade. The gooey american cheese (which grosses me out, except strangely at this one place).

As children Juju and I followed my mom around on long shopping mall trips with minimal (right mom?) complaints with the promise that we could each get a cheese on a stick at the end. Then mom would get a large lemonade and we would all split it-ohhhhhhhh so good! Even now, still, when Juju and I go shopping together we treat ourselves to this.

So upon learning that the (hot dog loving) children we were watching had never tried cheese on a stick I decided I should share the magic of such a place with them.

Only I think I enjoyed it most of all!

What are you sweet, cheap indulgences?

The Best Vanilla Caramels You've Ever Tasted.

A How-To: Vanilla Bean Caramels.
Why: Because they are delicious.
For: Friends and loved ones.
To: Celebrate the season and be a good neighbor/friend/relative/person. (because certainly these caramels will make me one).

I make these little treats every Christmas. Ok, lets face it. I make these little treats all year long...but this time of year is when they make their main appearance.

When I first started making candy a few years ago I was determined (however a bit daunted) to learn such a skill. So I chose my candy (marzipan) and jumped right in. My first attempt resulted in a pot of hard, crystallized sugar. What? You mean I can't just melt it back? It's called crystallization? Huh?

Anyway, I pushed on, learned from my failed attempts and today most of the candy I make turns out- and really it's quite easy. You can do it too! I just needed to learn a few tips.

So today I share them with you as we make delicious vanilla bean caramels.

enjoy.

This recipe from the Exploratorium is the best I have found. I double it so I can pour it onto a silpat lined baking sheet.

First, get all your ingredients together:

Ingredients:
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter
2 vanilla beans (Costco has the best and most affordable)

Before you begin baking get everything ready that you will need. Candy-making is a delicate, exact task-- you don't want to ruin a batch because you forgot to butter the sides of your pan.

Pre-baking Steps:
First: Get your sheet pan out and place a silicone baking mat on the bottom. DO NOT USE WAX PAPER! The caramel will stick to it. Butter sides of pan.

Second: Unwrap stick of butter and set next to stove so you can easily add it to the candy mixture at the right moment.

Third: Prepare your vanilla beans. Cut bean lengthwise and with the back of a knife scrape out all of the seeds. Put the seeds in a small bowl and set next to the butter.

Fourth: Prepare your work surface.
*Get one small bowl and fill with hot water. Set a basting brush inside this bowl.
*Get one large bowl and fill with cold water.
*Set both bowls next to stove.
*Get your thermometer ready. I use a digital probe thermometer. I like this thermometer way better than a candy thermometer because the probe reaches the very bottom of the pan (unlike candy thermometers where there is a space), you never have to hold the thermometer in place, and you can easily see what temperature your mixture is.

This is what my workspace looks like: (how handy that the thermometer sticks to the fan so nicely!)

Ok, now you are ready to begin making the caramels!

STEP 1:
Place all the ingredients except the butter and vanilla beans into sauce pan.

STEP 2:
*Stir the mixture over medium heat with a wooden spoon until the sugar dissolves.
*Scrape down sides of pot with the wet basting brush so that no sugar crystals are stuck on the sides of the pot.

STEP 3:
Add the stick of butter and the vanilla beans and stir until the butter melts and is well- incorporated and the mixture begins to boil.

STEP 4
*Place thermometer into pot.
*Cook mixture without stirring until the syrup is above 230° F.

Now it is time to do the cold water test:
With the wooden spoon drop some of the syrup into the large bowl of cold water. Feel the caramel with your hands. Taste it. The consistency of the caramel after is has been in the cold water for a second it the consistency the caramel would be if you were to take it off the heat and pour it in your sheet pan right then.

Keep doing this test until it is the desired consistency. Watch your thermometer as you do it. The recipe says to take the caramel off the heat at 248°F . THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN TOO LONG and the caramel comes out too hard. Usually the temperature I take the caramel out on is between 238° F and 244° F. I know that's a big gap but at this point the caramel gets hotter and hotter FAST! Plus it depends on how soft you like your caramel to be. The most important factor in determining the softness of your caramel will be the cold water test.

STEP 5:
Once the caramel is the desired consistency quickly pour into your pan

Let cool.

STEP 6:
Cut caramel into rectangular pieces and wrap in wax paper. I use kiss paper found at a local baking supply store. I think it goes by the name "twisting wax paper" online- it is made especially for candy-making. The first year I made this though, I just used regular wax paper that I cut up.

Make sure you twist both ends in the same direction. That way when you want to eat the caramel you can pull both ends of the candy and the paper will t w i s t open! (an important nuance says my candy-lover dad).

Now enjoy enjoy enjoy. The fruits of your labors.

Pumpkin Spice Popcorn

First:

pop the popcorn.


Next, make the spice.
2 T. sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/8- 1/4 t. nutmeg
dash of allspice
pinch of salt


Now, add a little butter to popcorn and mix in desired amount of spice.


Gather your family. Get some cozy blankets, a good movie, maybe some hot cocoa or cider... and enjoy!

Pumpkin Soup: a recipe.

Three years ago, Dashing Boy and I made our first television debut together on the wildly popular cooking segment Aggie Kitchen for Utah State's campus broadcast station.

We were making pumpkin soup- an impressive dish that my father-in-law used to prepare in his award-winning restaurant. It was very exciting. Two cameras were set-up in the kitchen- strategically placed for optimal shot variety. Ingredients were pre-measured for effortless work while the cameras were rolling. And a script was created so that we could be sure to do a super-fancy job as cooking hosts.

It took us about 30 minutes to write 4 lines.

"How about this..." "How about that..." Dashing Boy would say as I scribbled things down. "I don't know if that works," I'd say, concerned with the flow and whether we'd be able to fit everything into the allotted 3 minutes for the segment.

But there were 2 lines I just couldn't turn down as I stared into Dashing Boy's sweet, eager, serious eyes. First:

"As temperatures begin to drop in Logan, Utah State students are on the lookout for two things: some one to cuddle-up with and a hot meal."

and my favorite:

"Now the most amazing thing about this soup is that it reminds us that pumpkins are not just for jack-o-lanterns. They are an excellent source of food and it's so amazing because it's so cheap and students who are looking for cost effective meals could have meal after meal out of just one pumpkin!"

Oh, he's so cute!

This last week I received 2 requests for this lovely, delicious soup and so I present it to you here. Dazzle your family, amaze your friends, and give your wallet a break as you experience the economic power of the pumpkin.


Pumpkin Soup
1 (6 to 8-pound) pumpkin
3 cups toasted croutons
8 ounces grated Swiss cheese
4-6 cups chicken or vegetable broth (depending on how large your pumpkin is!)
salt and pepper to taste
nutmeg to taste
1-2 cups cream
shrimp if you wish

• preheat oven to 425°
• Cut top off pumpkin as if you were making a jack-o-lantern (make sure to cut on a slant so the lid can go back on without falling inside!) Clean pumpkin out, removing all seeds. Set top aside.
• In a saucepan bring vegetable broth to a boil
• In alternate layers add croutons and swiss cheese to inside of pumpkin (the pumpkin should look pretty full when all is added!)
  
• Pour hot broth into pumpkin (fill pumpkin about 2/3 full with the broth)
  
• add a little salt, pepper, and nutmeg (you can be modest at this point if you wish, as you can add more to taste later)
• Put the lid on the pumpkin, place pumpkin in baking dish or large pan and bake in the oven at 425° for 40min-1 hour.
• Check the pumpkin periodically to see how soft the inside of the pumpkin is getting by removing the lid and poking it with a knife(this usually takes around an hour as stated above.) However- it varies- so check! You want it to be softening up just like squash but not too soft (IF YOU LET IT GET TOO SOFT THE ENTIRE PUMPKIN COULD COLLAPSE!)
  
• After about 40min-1 hr add the cream. Put lid back on pumpkin and let cook 10 minutes more or less until the pumpkin flesh is tender.
  
• Take pumpkin out of oven and present to your loved ones
• Scoop out the pumpkin flesh with the soup into bowls and enjoy!

Butternut squash ravioli on a Sunday afternoon.

First we prepared the dough. (We used the recipe on the back of Bob's Red Mill Semolina Flour.)


Next, we prepared the squash.


Then we rolled the dough through the handy dandy pasta machine.


and molded the ravioli


Nell was quite the cook.

The fruits of our labors. Later frozen and placed in the freezer for future yummy meals!

For the sauce we made a brown butter/olive oil garlic sage sauce (use equal parts butter and olive oil- first brown the butter and garlic then add olive oil and sage, saute for 1 minute.)

and topped it off with shaved dark chocolate.


yum.