Holiday gifts and treats

I love to give homemade gifts and treats this time of year and now that I am no longer eating wheat, I find myself making even more treats and bringing them with me to parties so I can indulge a little too. One of my favorite treats is peppermint bark. I found a great recipe for layered bark at epicurious.com and have been making it for the last couple of years.

It has the traditional white chocolate and peppermint candies, but then in the middle is this decadent layer of dark chocolate peppermint truffle. It truly makes the candy spectacular.


This year, after making the peppermint bark twice, I decided to mix things up a little with the third batch and make a fruit and nut bar to go along with it.

WARNING! Extremely rich and delicious.

Recipe:
20 oz good quality white chocolate or white chocolate chips
10 oz good quality dark, bittersweet, or semisweet chocolate
5 Tbs half and half
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup (or to taste) toasted pecans, or the nuts of your choice, roughly chopped
1 cup (or to taste) dried fruit, apricots, craisins, blueberries, peaches, etc

prepare a cookie sheet by covering it with foil.
melt 10oz of the white chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave. Be careful, the white chocolate can seize easily if it comes into contact with moisture.

Spread the melted chocolate in an even layer on the cookie sheet. Don't expect for it to fill the entire sheet. Sprinkle the white chocolate with half of the nuts and fruit, pressing down lightly to adhere. Place the sheet in the fridge for at least 15 mins.

Meanwhile, melt the dark chocolate with the half and half, stirring to combine. Once melted and mixed together, remove from the heat and add the vanilla. Allow to cool for 5 mins.








Remove the white chocolate from the fridge and distribute the chocolate mixture over the top. I usually put big dollops all over it and then use and offset spatula to spread it evenly. Put back in the fridge for 25 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, melt the last of the white chocolate, allow to cool slightly and then apply to the bark in the same manner described above. Sprinkle with the remaining nuts and fruit, press to adhere, and put back in the fridge for another 20 minutes or so.






Remove from the fridge and cut into small wedges using a pizza cutter or a sharp knife. If it has sat in the fridge for longer than 20 minutes, return to room temp before attempting to cut into it. Put the wedges into a bag or tin and store in the fridge, or on the porch (if you love up north)



Enjoy!! (and if you get it as a gift from me, pretend you have no idea how easy it is to make!)

We have windows!!

Yes, about 70% of our windows have been installed and in preparation for heading north for the holidays I have changed my title picture to one taken last year at home. It is the view of my parent's back yard looking down on the Fox river.

A good time was had by all!

A good time was had by all
Originally uploaded by frannylue

Yes, yet again this year our friends MB and D felt us worthy enough to be invited to their Christmas extravaganza. You know the party is going to be good when MB takes two days off to cook for it.

While, her turkey was phenomenal, the friends truly made the party. As illustrated by, this video where W attempts to take mine and Stella's picture with my phone. How we winded up with a video, I'm not sure. but, I am glad that no phones were harmed in the process.

Thanks again to MB and D!

BTW... the video was taken vertical, unfortunately I can't figure out how to rotate the video, so just enjoy the increased ambiance.

Wrapping underway!!

Yes, this means that framing is officially done!! Check out my flickr for more pics. And A's page for the M &W working hard on sealing up the place.

Crazy busy

Tons of things to blog about, but too busy to do it.
So, when I have a chance I'll put new pics of the house up, it is getting wrapped this week!
I'll write about our fabulous Thanksgiving. (Thanks again to our South GA friends, who really are family, by choice!)
And coming home, where it is freezing cold. Yup, I think it was 1 deg F when I got up this morning, with a windchill of -13. Ahh... a lovely WI winter.

House update

Forgot to tell you, I took about a million pictures of the house today. Check out my flickr site for all the action. We are almost done framing!!

Pumpkin Spice Cake

M and I met with some friends this evening for a potluck dinner AKA covered dish dinner. Per usual, I had decided to bring a dessert.

I spent the last few days discussing with M what I should make for dessert. This consists mainly of me asking M "what should I make?", he giving me a suggestion, me agreeing with it, and then a few hours later determining that his suggestion won't work. Thus, I end up mulling over ideas until something hits me.

You would think that M would figure my pattern out and start suggesting things he doesn't like. Unfortunately for him, he hasn't but, every once in a while I do end up making one of his suggestions.

This morning during our normal Sunday breakfast at Ria's, I finally got an idea. Ria had two awesome specials this morning, an omelet with mushrooms and gouda, too die for, and pumpkin pancakes with crystallized ginger whip cream.

Totally ripping that idea off, I present you with:

Pumpkin Spice Cake with Crystallized Ginger

Prep a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and set oven to 350 deg F

Sift together: or dump in a bowl and stir around with a whisk for a while
2 1/2 C flour
I used a modified "nearly normal flour" with an additional 1/4 tsp xanthan gum, any gluten free flour with xanthan gum should work. For you wheat eaters out there, use all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves

In a stand mixer, cream together until nice and fluffy:
1/2 C butter
2 C sugar

Add and beat thoroughly:
1 large egg
1 1/2 C pumpkin puree canned or homemade

Stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture alternating with 1/3 C water

Fold in:
1/2 C finely chopped crystallized ginger

Bake at 350 deg F for 45 - 50 minutes

Cool and frost with your favorite frosting, cream cheese or buttercream would work well

Easy Vanilla Buttercream from Cook's Illustrated, March & April 2005

cream together:
10 tbs Butter softened
1 1/4 C powdered sugar

Add:
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tbs cream I use half and half

beat slowly until combined, then beat on high speed until double in volume