Cookies and Milk "Grown Up" style....

In my baking frenzy I made more sugar cookies, the recipe is available in a post from November, and with the cold weather and my love of all things white, snowy and glittery for Christmas I made glistening snowflakes. I also pulled out a recipe for some "grown up" milk that might find Santa sticking around on Christmas Eve...

I have been making this martini for many years, and although I usually refer to it as the "Jack Frost Martini" I thought it looked like a glass of milk, perfect for a holiday party.

Jack Frost Martini

2 oz. Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur

1 oz. Vanilla Vodka

1/2 oz. Peppermint Schnapps

Combine in a cocktail shaker with ice and pour into a martini glass. Garnish with a candy cane if desired.

Let the baking begin....

This week went by so fast. I came back from Illinois on Monday morning and worked here in Colorado this week. Only one more week until I'm off to New York City and I can't wait!!! I started doing some baking last night when I got home. I stayed up until midnight making Povitica. Povitica, also known as Potica is a yeast raised dough that has various fillings rolled up inside. The name comes from the Slovenian word poviti, which means "to wrap in." (The temperature here in Denver has dipped to single digits, so I think I may "poviti" myself in a blanket!!!) There are all sorts of fillings that you can use inside your povitica, but mine is a combination of walnuts, pecans, butter, cocoa and cinnamon. The dough has to raise three times total, so it's not something you can whip together quickly. Here's the recipe I used:

Povitica

For the dough:

1 1/2 cups warm milk

3/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons salt

2 eggs

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 packages active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

7-8 cups flour

Dissolve yeast in water. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer combine milk, sugar, salt, butter and beaten eggs. Add the yeast mixture. Add about half of the flour and mix until smooth. Gradually add more flour until dough is no longer sticky and easy to handle. Switch to dough hook and knead until smooth. Put the dough in a greased bowl and let rise until doubled. Punch down the dough and let rise until doubled again. Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces and roll out on a floured surface to a very, very thin rectangle. Spread the filling over dough and roll up. Povitica can be shaped into a loaf or twist into a cinnamon roll shape. Place on greased baking sheet or in greased 9inch round pan. Let rise . Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

For the filling:

1 - 12oz. can evaporated milk

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 sticks butter

3/4 pound pecans, ground fine

3/4 pound walnuts, ground fine

4 eggs, beaten

2 teaspoons cocoa powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

In a heavy pan, combine sugar, evaporated milk and butter. Heat until butter has melted and sugar is dissolved. Add the nuts, then the eggs and mix well. Boil for about one minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the cocoa, cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Let the filling cool slightly.

Taste, Taste, Taste

On my way home from Arizona this week I finished reading "The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry" by Kathleen Flinn. In a nutshell, it's about an American woman who gets "downsized", empties her savings, moves to Paris and enrolls in Le Cordon Bleu. It is a great story of not letting anything get in the way of following your passion. I have started realizing over the past couple months that the kitchen is really where I find my bliss. I can't wait for Friday to roll around every week so that I can try something new in the kitchen. I had a great opportunity this weekend to cater Dan's sister, Lisa's birthday party ( I am a gentleman so I will not reveal which birthday it was, although I'm sure she wouldn't mind...)I couldn't wait to get up and start cooking, to chop and roast, knead dough, mix and taste. It's not work to me, it actually is relaxing.(The menu consisted of sweet potato rolls, pulled pork, summer squash & zucchini tartlets, artichoke bruschetta and scallion tarts). The party was great, the food was a hit, and the pomegranate martinis were delicious (courtesy of Dan the mixologist...) You might think that after spending all that time preparing all that food, I would have been done for the weekend. Well it snowed 7 inches in Denver on Saturday night, so Sunday seemed like the perfect day for soup. Sunday morning I started in again...dill pickle soup, chicken nachos and tapioca pudding. ( Knowing how busy the coming weeks are going to be, I even got the house decorated for Christmas). I hate for Monday to come. If you get a chance to read the book, I would definitely recommend it, one of the last paragraphs in the book draws a great parallel between cooking and life...

"As in cooking, living requires that you taste, taste, taste as you go along-you can't wait until the dish of life is done. In my career, I always looked ahead to the place I wanted to go, the next rung on the ladder. It reminds me of "The Station" by Robert Hastings...the message is that while on a journey, we are sure the answer lies at the destination. But in reality, there is no station, no "place to arrive at once and for all. The joy of life is the trip, and the station is the dream that constantly outdistances us." - Kathleen Flinn, The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry.

Halloween is over...stock up on the candy corn

My friend Tara told me about a Candy Corn Martini that she had heard about on the radio. Always curious about finding new cocktails, I did a little research. I made the recipe the way I found it, then made it MY way, which I have to say is much better. It was great for an impromptu Halloween dinner last weekend.

Candy Corn Martini (original recipe)

from Food Network Magazine

1/2 cup candy corn

1 1/2 cups vodka

2 oz. orange liqueur

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 large egg white

Begin by combining the candy corn and the vodka in an airtight container. Allow to sit at least 3 hours. The candy corn will dissolve in the vodka.

For the drink, combine 4 oz. of the vodka, 2 oz. orange liqueur, the lemon juice and egg white. Fill cocktail shaker with ice and shake until combined (about 30 seconds). Pour into 2 martini glasses, garnish with candy corn.

MY Candy Corn Martini

Use the same method for infusing the vodka with the candy corn.

Combine 4 oz. infused vodka, 1 oz. vanilla vodka, 2 oz. orange liqueur, juice of 1 orange, 1 tablespoon simple syrup and 1 1/2 oz. cream. Fill cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Makes 2 martinis.

Here Turkey, Turkey...

Thanksgiving is hurling toward us a million miles an hour! In about 3 weeks we'll be sitting down to the big dinner, stuffing and gorging ourselves until we are miserable. Ah, traditions. I've been eating turkey a lot lately. I eat a lot of turkey sandwiches when I'm traveling because it's easy and I know I feel better when I eat better. I have never (up until recently) been a huge fan of ground turkey, using it to replace ground beef, was never something I thought gave me the same result or flavor that I wanted. I stumbled across a recipe for Cumin Turkey Burgers a month or two ago and have made them several times since. Tonight I had some of the meat already mixed up and in the freezer so I browned it up and made some delicious nachos. Of course you can make them into patties and eat them with all your favorite toppings. You won't miss the beef in these burgers, trust me.

Cumin Turkey Burgers

1 1/2 pounds ground turkey

1 egg

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon mustard powder

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup dried bread crumbs

Mix the egg, jalapeno and garlic in a large mixing bowl until the egg is well blended. Add the soy sauce, Worcestershire, cumin, mustard, paprika, chili powder, salt, bread crumbs and turkey; mix well and form into 6 patties.

Grill the burgers, or cook on stove top.

I add a chopped chipotle pepper to some mayonnaise and caramelize onions to top the burgers.

Six miles to eat cake...

Yesterday was a sunny day here in Denver. The wind was a little crisp, but it was a good day to go for a walk. I did all my errands early on in the day and met Dan around 4 o'clock for our 6 mile walk. I know it may sound counterproductive to walk 6 miles then come home and eat cake and drink martinis, but I know that I will never in my life not want cake so 6 miles it is...it's all about balance. By the time we finished up around 5:45 or so it was getting cooler so we headed back to my house where I made Cumin Turkey Burger sliders (I have recently become infatuated with these cumin turkey burgers), some oven roasted potatoes, along with the pumpkin cake I made for dessert. To drink we tried out a Pumpkin Martini, as well as a Carmel Apple Martini. Both very strong, both very good. I am cherishing these last few days at home, my travel schedule gets back into full swing next week and with the holidays coming full force it's going to be a very busy time. Hope everyone is enjoying the fall. We had a pretty good winter preview this week and my 1 hour 45 minute commute to Colorado Springs had me realizing I am not ready for winter...let's pray for a mild one.

Pumpkin Bundt Cake

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

3 large eggs

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/8 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 - 15oz. can pumpkin

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup butterscotch chips

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour bundt pan. Set aside

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together pumpkin, buttermilk and vanilla.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat for another minute. Alternately add the flour and pumpkin mixtures, beginning and ending with the flour and mix just until combined.

Fold in butterscotch chips, cranberries and walnuts. Spoon batter into prepared bundt pan and smooth the top. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes. Invert cake onto serving platter and allow to cool completely.

For the icing:

1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

1 tablespoon pumpkin butter

2 tablespoons buttermilk

Whisk in small bowl and pour over cooled cake.

For the Pumpkin Martini:

2 oz. pumpkin butter ( I used Maple Pumpkin Butter from Stonewall Kitchen)

2 oz. pear vodka

1 1/2 oz. simple syrup

1 oz. triple sec

Fill the cocktail shaker with ice and all ingredients. Shake vigorously until blended. Strain into martini glass.

The Cookies Finally worked...

I have to admit that I do love cookies. Ever since I moved to Denver, I have always had trouble getting cookies to turn out. Last Christmas I tried making snowflake sugar cookies and when they came out of the oven they looked more like a daisy. Today I wavered back and forth between making something with apples or baking cookies. My determination to beat the altitude and whatever else was causing my cookie curse won out and I found a recipe that claimed to be "no fail." We will see about that. But alas, they really didn't fail, they turned out delicious and beautiful!!!

No Fail Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract ( I use vanilla bean paste)

3 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Mix dry ingredients together and add slowly to butter mixture. Mix until the flour is completely incorporated. Chill for at least 1 hour. Roll out chilled dough on parchment or lightly floured surface. Cut in desired shape. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Decorating Icing

1 pound confectioners sugar

5 tablespoons meringue powder

scant 1/2 cup water

Whisk together. Icing will be stiff. Tint desired color. Outline each cookie with icing, then thin remaining icing and "flood" the center of each cookie with thinned icing. Let set.