Salted Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

The combination of dark chocolate and the sprinkle of coarse sea salt on top of these shortbread cookies kept me coming back again and again (and maybe again) for another cookie.  I don't know if it was the healthiest choice for an afternoon snack, but it sure was delicious.  Tonight after my little ones have gone to bed, I'm going to sit myself down on the couch with one (probably two) cookies and a cup of my favorite hot chocolate.  I feel pretty happy about it!

Salted Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

1 cup butter, room temperature

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt, plus more for sprinkling

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup dark chocolate chips

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine butter, powdered sugar, and salt and mix until smooth.  Add flour and mix until just combined.  Mix in chocolate chips.  Form dough in an 8-inch square log; wrap tightly in plastic wrap and freeze until firm, 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cut dough into 1/4-inch thick slices and place on parchment-lined baking sheets.  Sprinkle with coarse sea salt.  Bake until cookies are golden brown around edges, 15-18 minutes.  Let cookies cool 5 minutes on sheets.  Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

*My favorite salt for sprinkling is Fleur de Sel or Maldon.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Holiday Shortbread recipe

Caramelized Onion, Gruyere, and Bacon Spread

What could be bad about caramelized onions, bacon and gruyere cheese....nothing, nothing at all!  ‘Tis the season to eat cheesy, bacon goodness smeared on crusty bread. 

Caramelized Onion, Gruyere, and Bacon Spread

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 1/2 cups chopped onion

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

2 ounces Gruyere cheese, shredded and divided

2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, divided

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup sour cream

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

6 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Heat butter and olive oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat.  Add onions and salt to the pan and sauté 5 min, stirring frequently.  Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes or until the onions are a deep golden brown.  Cool slightly.

Reserve 2 tablespoons cheese.  Combine cheese, caramelized onions, 1 tablespoon chives, and the remaining ingredients in a medium bowl.  Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.  Transfer the mixture to a 1 quart glass or ceramic baking dish (I used and 8-inch cast-iron skillet) coated lightly with cooking spray.  Sprinkle with reserved 2 tablespoons cheese.  Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.  Sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon chives.

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light (I made it not so light) :)

Brown Butter Ginger Cookies

It was snowing outside and I felt like making something that tasted Christmassy (is that a word?) and this brown butter ginger cookie recipe had been sitting on the top of my "to try" recipe stack.  I've tried a few ginger cookie recipes and these are my favorite.  (My boys and I ate them warm, dunked in ice cold milk.)

Brown Butter Ginger Cookies

3/4 cup butter, browned

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup molasses

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Additional salt for rolling

Brown your butter: Melt butter in a small/medium saucepan over medium-low heat.  It will melt, then foam, then turn clear golden and finally start to turn brown and smell nutty.  Stir frequently, scraping up any bits form the bottom as you do.  Keep your eyes on it; it burns very quickly after it browns.  Once butter is browned, place in a small bowl.  Allow the butter to cool for a few minutes.

Combine the just warm browned butter with the sugar in a large bowl.  Stir to combine.  Add the egg and molasses and mix well.  

Whisk together the remaining ingredients in another bowl then add to the butter and sugar mixture.  Stir until just combined.

Scoop tablespoon size balls of dough and roll the dough in your hands to form a ball.  Roll the ball in sugar and place on a baking sheet.  Slightly flatten cookies with the bottom of a glass cup.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes until puffed and set. 

Recipe from Not Without Salt

My Great Grandma Snow's Carrot Pudding

This time of year isn't complete without my Great Grandma Snow's carrot pudding with lemon sauce.  I remember she would make it every year for Thanksgiving and it would be in a big coffee can with foil tightly covering the opening of the can.  Last Thanksgiving was the first year I didn't have carrot pudding and it felt like something was missing.  This year I decided to try and make it myself and while I was grating, measuring and stirring, I was remembering my Grandma Snow.  I remembered going to her house when I was little and she would give me fig newtons.  She would show me how you could break them apart and then put them back together (I thought it was amazing).  I remembered having sleepovers and she would let me wear one of her nightgowns and she had an electric blanket in her bedroom.  I remembered her playing the piano and dancing around while she played.  I remembered her cuckoo clock hanging on the wall in her front room.  I remembered she loved to golf.  I remembered her white hair that had big soft curls.  I remembered her standing in the kitchen doing dishes after a Sunday dinner of roast beef, mashed potatoes, carrots, Jell-O and chocolate cake.  I remembered kneeling by her side as she sat in a chair at my Grandma Dixie's house telling her how much I loved her necklace and the next thing I knew she was putting it in my hand.  It was a nostalgic kind of day as I made the carrot pudding that she made for so many years and that I love so much!

This picture was taken when Noah was blessed and I wanted a picture of five generations (My Great Grandma Snow, my Grandma Dixie, my Mom, me and my Noah).  Pretty amazing!  

The bottom picture is of my Mom, me (I'm on the far right), my five sisters and two sisters-in-law.  In the picture I'm wearing my Grandma Snow's necklace that she gave too me. 

 

Grandma Snow's Carrot Pudding

2 cups brown sugar

2 cups shortening

4 eggs beaten with 4 tablespoons of water

1 teaspoon lemon extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups grated carrots

2 cups raisins

1 cup chopped walnuts

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon nutmeg

4 1/2 cups flour

5 quart canning jars

In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and beat until combined.  Add lemon extract and vanilla.  Stir in grated carrots, raisins, chopped walnuts, salt, baking powder, nutmeg and salt.  Mix to combine.  Add flour and mix until combined.

Spoon mixture into quart canning jars, filling no more than 2/3 of the way full.  Cover the tops of the jars tightly with foil and steam for two hours.  Serve with lemon sauce.

Lemon Sauce

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 tablespoons flour

3 cups of water

A pinch of salt

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4-1/2 teaspoon rum extract

Dash of nutmeg

Combine sugar, flour and salt in a saucepan and stir to combine.  Add water to pan and bring to a boil.  Boil over medium high heat for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and add lemon juice, butter, vanilla, nutmeg and rum extract.  Stir to combine. 

*I was a bit freaked out when I saw that the recipe called for 2 cups of shortening.  I called my mom and she said there was no other way.

*I used a steam canner to steam my pudding, but I read a few recipes that placed the jars in a soup pot with a lid and then filled the pot with two or three inches of water, brought the water to a simmer and covered it with a lid too let steam.