Ugly Christmas Shirt and Spumoni/ Fruitcake Cookies…

I had read two cookie recipes  … I just had to make…

These will be for us to have at home and any company that comes by…

(if we don’t eat all of them)…

Terry http://terry1954.wordpress.com/

a fellow blogger mentioned Spumoni Cookies… and I love Spumoni Ice Cream  … so I had to try them!

and then I had forgotten about Fruitcake Cookies…

YES!…

I’m one of those that love Fruit Cake… full of candied fruit… nuts… spices…

Says Christmas to my taste buds…

Before starting to bake…

I finished Bobby’s UGLY shirt for our Christmas Eve Party at my son and daughter-in-law’s…

Actually I think it’s quite cute!… I said, “I don’t or can’t make ugly… it’s just not in me!”…

I found this T-Shirt at the thrift store…

Red… Christmas color!…

It just said “Sugar Daddy”… like the candy…

My mind starting clicking… Santa could be a “Sugar Daddy”…

I added words…”I’m your…” pointing to Sugar Daddy…

 that was already embroidered on shirt…

Santa “Sugar Daddy” with arms full of candy was added…

 

Added stockings with hot glue like rest of additions…

filled with candy… Plus Gold Candy Coins…

Mine is in the making…

I’m stopping here to continue cookie baking…

Be back…

I have a few more batches to bake… then I’ll show you some yummy cookies that you could make for yourself…

I’m back! … cookies are finished and cooling…

Spumoni… A flavor of pistachio, chocolate and cherries…

Ingredients: 2 cups self rising flour, 1/1/2 cups butter (I used Butter Crisco Sticks),1 cup light brown sugar,1 large egg + 1 egg yolk,1 teaspoon almond extract,1 teaspoon vanilla extract…

Mix these ingredients together well…

then (fold in) …

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, 1/2 cup chopped pistachios, 1/2 cup cherries… either dried, candied… I used maraschino cherries in jar (drained well on paper towels and chopped)

Chopped Cherries, Semi-Sweet Chocolate, Pistachios…

added to other ingredients…

Cover cookie sheet with parchment

Drop by spoonfuls on pan

350 degree oven for 13-15 minutes (when light golden brown)…

Remove and cool…

Fruitcake Cookies… ( I put in small baking cups like miniature fruitcakes)… or you may bake as a cookie

Ingredients: 2 sticks butter ( I used Butter Crisco Sticks), 1 cup brown sugar, 3 eggs, 1/2 cup milk, 3 cups  self-rising flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon…

Mix these ingredients together well…

then fold in…

18-24 oz. mixed candied fruit, 3/4 cup raisins (golden or regular), 4 cups chopped nuts (either pecan or walnut) …

Chopped Candied Fruit, Raisins, Walnuts…

added to batter…

Drop by spoonfuls onto parchment covered cookie sheets or put into small paper baking cups like I did…

I also topped with more of the candied fruit before baking…

350 degree oven for 13-15 minutes… little longer for “small cakes”… light golden brown

My husband couldn’t resist these … Not overly sweet…

Great with a hot cup of coffee or tea!

Pretzel Making Time!

I try to do some kind of activity with my Grandkids when they come over…

Fall break had started… and I was lucky enough to get them for a day and night…

They are quite busy… with football practice, basketball practice, school… and friends…

We had planned on making these once before but, ran out of time…

So tonight we decided we would make the pretzels from a kit I had bought…

Everything included… Loved that!..,

Yeast- Flour-Baking Soda- Cinnamon Sugar- Coarse Salt

Just a little mixing…

Carson taking a turn at mixing…

Kennedy’s turn…

kneading… rising of the dough…

I got the kneading part!

and then cutting into strips to make the pretzels… Instructions included…

You start with a U shape…

Twist at the top… then fold down… making the shape of a heart almost!

They caught on fast of course!

A pan ready for oven…

You dip the pretzels in baking soda water before baking…

 

First Batch ready!

 

Second Batch ready with Carson’s special one!

They wanted just the course salt sprinkled on them…

Carson got that job!… and as you can tell…

They did good! 

We all agreed they were delicious!

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Mom’s Nutmeg Cake…

Holidays bring thoughts of my Momma…

I thought she was a wonderful cook … She had cooked since she was a little girl… right along side of her Mother … They baked and cooked every day for her brothers and Dad who worked on the farm where she was raised…

Of course everything was made from scratch… baking consisted of fresh eggs laid by their chickens … flour ground at a mill … butter churned from the milk of their cows… Sugar and spices were usually bought at the country grocery store on the main road…

So when Mom made her “nutmeg” cake it was just so delicious!… She could whip it up with the greatest of ease…

I’ve been thinking of making this wonderful smelling cake since I bought some fresh nutmeg a few weeks ago… fresh… meaning the seeds …

I love grating it on my cappuccino … makes it “just right”…

I found a recipe that sounded like the one my Mom  used… and have put it together today… I will share with my sister… since it was one of her favorites too…

Mom tried to fool her once we she had gotten quite old… by using a white cake mix and mixing in some nutmeg spice … My sister knew right away it was not the same… We still laugh about that day …

The recipe I used was on “allrecipes.com”…

Ingredients:

3 eggs, room temp

1/2 cup butter, softened

1-1/2 cups white sugar

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground nutmeg ( Like I said, I prefer grating the nutmeg seed )

1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Pre-heat Oven to 350 degrees F .

2. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy

3. Add eggs one at a time… blending

4. Add vanilla

5. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and salt

4. Add 1/2 of flour mixture to butter/sugar and 1/2 of buttermilk…beating with mixer

5. Add remaining flour mixture and milk… beating again

6. Spread batter into two 8″ round cake pans that have been lightly greased

Bake 30 minutes… Let cakes cool before adding your favorite frosting…

Mom always used a fluffy white frosting… The recipe calls for a caramel frosting… some say cream cheese frosting… and some say just sprinkle with powdered sugar…

That would be my preference… because I like plain cake… no frosting… Weird I now!

Photo of Nutmeg Cake …

My Nutmeg Cake… plain as you see… the way I like it…

I’ve decided to make my sisters with frosting… She will like it better that way…

Maybe you will try this old recipe… It is such a wonderful Fall smell with that Nutmeg Spice…

…………………….

A tidbit about the Spice, Nutmeg…

Description of Nutmeg :

STRONG Nutmeg is one of the more popular spices in use today. The term nutmeg applies to both the spice itself and the tree from which it is derived.

Though it is not a commonly known fact, the nutmeg tree  actually gives forth two slightly different spices. Obviously one of them is nutmeg. Nutmeg (the spice) is actually the inner part of the seed, the kernel. The other one is mace , which is derived from the inner covering of the seed .

The Nutmeg tree is from the Evergreen  family.

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Homemade Persimmon Pudding… An Autumn Delight!

Oh, my it’s smelling so good… Just like Autumn …

You did know…  “Autumn” has a smell all it’s own…

It smells of burning leaves…

It smells of ripened fruit…

It smells of steaming soups…

It smells of Pumpkin Pie…

It smells of warm fires…

It smells of apple cider…

But, actually I’m thinking more on the lines of a Spicy Homemade Persimmon Pudding…

My grandkids had collected the persimmons last Saturday at the park… We had eaten dinner under this tree… when I noticed all of the persimmons  lying on the ground… I looked up and saw the branches just covered in this Autumn fruit …

My mind races backward in time to the Persimmon Tree in our yard where I grew up…

Yes, I had experienced that awful bitter taste of the unripe fruit… but, also the sweetness of it after ripening to it’s softness… I remember how we watched where the persimmons had fallen… having squished a few between my toes…

My next thought was that wonderful taste of Persimmon Pudding… I had eaten it at a craft bazaar called “Autumn On The River”  … They have it every October… in Bethlehem, Indiana… My brother and his wife lived there for many years…

I had to try it… It was rich in color… browned from baking… resembled a wet… moist cake… but, it was a pudding… I recall the Christmas Pudding in the story… “A Christmas Carol”… Bet it was similar!…

As I said… “It’s smelling good!”  …

The smell entices my nose with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves … True Autumn scents…

I’m baking my version of Persimmon Pudding by combining different recipes off of the internet… Some of these recipes go back a hundred years… and some are from Indiana …where I first tasted it!…

I was on my own with this one… No one I knew had made it… So remembering my Mom and how she did things … I began…

I cleaned the persimmons by washing them gently under cold water … removing the top little cap each piece of fruit wears… It resembles an acorn… Also the little tip of a stem on the other end…

Now, this fruit  has many seeds inside… and is fairly slimy… for lack of any better word to describe…

I decided to cook them a little… Maybe about 8 minutes stirring them to dislodge the seeds from the pulp…

I then strained this mixture through my Mom’s old metal colander… Thinking of her as I did

… Hoping she might somehow guide me through this process…

I was able to press out out about 1-1/2 cups of pulp… It was looking good…

I stirred the following ingredients into the pulp…

2-1/2-cups plain flour

1-1/2 -teaspoons baking soda

2- 1/2- eggs

1 -1/2 cups sugar

1-teaspoon vanilla

1-teaspoon grated nutmeg

1- teaspoon cinnamon

1-teaspoon of powdered cloves

I stirred with a whisk until thoroughly blended…

It was light in color and a fairly thin batter…

Dotted with margarine/butter…

I greased two ceramic/glass baking dishes to bake it in… 350 degrees… 1 -1/4 hours… 

It will not jiggle when done… and does turn that rich dark brown color…

A smaller one to use for taste testing…

And the bigger one to share if it turned out alright…

Well, it’s out of the oven… warm… sweet with spices and the persimmon… a yummy saucy bottom…

and……..

Yes!… it is so good!… If I do say so myself… Worth all of the trouble???…. Definitely!  

and I have to thank my Momma…

I know she was watching over my shoulder the whole time…

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“Corn Cakes” With a Little Syrup!…Yum! Yum!

Memory…

I cooked something I really like this afternoon… well evening… it being sunnier later… after springing my clocks forward to “Daylight Saving’s Time” … it seems earlier!… I get hungry for these little cakes every now and then… Of course as usual… my Mom showed me how to make them… but, I’ve pretty much got my own technique now… These little cakes are a little sweet… but, they are not cakes with frosting… They are a fried cake… I call them “Corn Cakes”…some might call them “corn fritters“… The ingredients are simple…

1- can creamed corn

2-eggs

I don’t measure the flour…about 3/4 cup…

and this time I used “Complete Pancake Mix” and they turned out terrific!

Mix these 3 ingredients together…

Get oil hot in skillet… enough to cover bottom of frying pan…

Place about 3 tablespoons of batter into skillet per cake and just watch as they start to sizzle …

Turn with a spatula after they begin to dry around the edges… like a pancake…

They should be a dark golden brown … Try to only turn them once… but, you can turn again if they don’t seem quite done…

Remove from skillet and place on plate…

I love the smell of fried corn… and the taste is even better!… I’ve known people… myself included… to even eat them with a little syrup … SO GOOD!… Why not try whipping up a batch… You’ll like them! 

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