Chocolate covered pretzels

Over the past few years it's become a Christmas tradition for all of the family to head up to my sister's house and, with some of my sister and brother in law's friends watch the Carols on TV together. It's always a great way to start the Christmas celebrations off - although I'm sure having to hear me sing (or attempt to) slightly ruins it for everyone else ;)
To make it easier on my sister we always bring a dish along each, whether it's sweet or savoury. This year I decided to make some chocolate covered pretzels. I've made these milk and white covered pretzel sticks in the past and they were a hit - but after seeing these beautiful rounder pretzels on Sweet Verbena I had to give them a try. It's a very simple treat to make, although a little time consuming but if you have a movie or something playing in the background time tends to go much quicker. The pretzels would also make a really nice gift, just fill up a jar, tie a nice ribbon around the lid and add a label or gift tag.

I dipped my pretzels in both white and milk chocolate and also added some sprinkles to some.
All you have to do is melt your chocolate over the stove with a spoonful of crisco. Once it's melted dip your pretzel into the chocolate, pick up with a fork and tap on the side of the bowl to remove any excess and then sit the pretzel on a baking tray covered with baking paper, or on a wire cooling rack until the chocolate is set. If you want to add sprinkles make sure you do it as the chocolate is drying.

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Jamie Oliver's Shortbread

Shortbread is one of those foods that I always think about whenever I think of Christmas. My mum always makes at least one batch for us to (gobble down) eat in the weeks before Christmas and it's always so soft and lovely. This year I decided to make a batch myself, and found this recipe of Jamie Oliver's to try. Apparently he called it the best Shortbread in the world, so I just had to test it out myself. And I must say it's definitely one of the best shortbreads I've had! The recipe turns out a light, buttery and really lovely batch of shortbread.

Ingredients:
1 cup plus 2 tbsp unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp icing sugar
2 scant cups plain flour, sifted, plus extra for dusting
1 scant cup corn flour
Note: For 'scant cups' just use slightly less than a full cup.

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 150C. Butter a 9 inch square pan. Cream the butter and icing sugar together until pale, light and fluffy.

2. Add the flour and corn flour. Mix very lightly with a wooden spoon and then with your hands until you have a smooth dough.

3. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and roll it out until its an even 1 inch thick all over. Press the rolled out dough into your pan, poking it into the corners with your fingers. Don't worry about it looking perfect - I couldn't pick up all my dough in one lot so I just pressed it into the pan.

4. Prick the dough all over with a fork and then bake in the oven until slightly golden - about 50 minutes. While still warm sprinkle with a dusting of icing sugar. Allow the shortbread to cool slightly, then cut into chunky pieces.

Recipe Source:
Jamie Oliver's best shortbread in the world
Recipe found on East Village Kitchen

Jamie Oliver's Shortbread Ingredients: 1 cup plus 2 tbsp unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp icing sugar 2 scant cups plain flour, sifted, plus extra for dusting 1 scant cup corn flour Note: For 'scant cups' just use slightly less than a full cup. Method: 1. Preheat the oven to 150C. Butter a 9 inch square pan. Cream the butter and icing sugar together until pale, light and fluffy. 2. Add the flour and corn flour. Mix very lightly with a wooden spoon and then with your hands until you have a smooth dough. 3. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and roll it out until its an even 1 inch thick all over. Press the rolled out dough into your pan, poking it into the corners with your fingers. Don't worry about it looking perfect - I couldn't pick up all my dough in one lot so I just pressed it into the pan. 4. Prick the dough all over with a fork and then bake in the oven until slightly golden - about 50 minutes. While still warm sprinkle with a dusting of icing sugar. Allow the shortbread to cool slightly, then cut into chunky pieces.

Edible Gifts - Cowgirl Cookie Jar Mix

Can you believe there's only a week to go til Christmas?! It's really snuck up on me this year and I feel so disorganised. I only put the Christmas tree up last week, my cards were posted on Friday and I've barely started my Christmas shopping. My family does KK each year so we each get something big that we really want. That means that my sisters and I don't give each other presents (unless we've drawn each other for KK) but this year I decided to surprise them with a little gift each. This jarred cookie mix, that I found on Bakerella, was perfect, it was an affordable gift, but still very effective with the layers of dry ingredients in the jar. Plus home made gifts are always that little bit more meaningful. (BTW, please forgive the date stamp on the photos - I was using someone else's camera and didn't realise that setting was on).

I found these M&Ms that have been released for Christmas so I thought these would be perfect for my jars. My sisters all absolutely love white chocolate too, so I thought I'd add a few of those along with the milk choc chips.

Bakerella even created some printable labels that I used. On the back there's another label with the directions (US temperatures and measurements). I had a little trouble with these, I'm not sure if it was the round labels or the curve of the jars but I just couldn't get them to stick without having at least one crease in the label. Plus, as you can see I decided against having fabric over the lid. I had wanted to put some red or green fabric there but it didn't really go with the pink label, plus with the jars I got the lid was a bit awkwardly shaped.

This is my beautiful nephew Lenny - do you think he was impressed? :)
Ingredients (makes one 1 litre jar)
Layer your ingredients in your jars in the following order (and make sure you pack the ingredients in really tight - otherwise they won't all fit):
1 1/3 cup plain flour, spooned into measuring cup & leveled
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup M&Ms
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup chopped pecans

Method:
1. Empty your jar of dry ingredients into a bowl and mix together.
2. Add 1 slightly beaten egg, 1/2 cup butter (melted slightly in the microwave) and 1 tsp vanilla and mix together - you might have to get your hands dirty for this (don't put them in your mixer like I did before I'd read the instructions properly - this apparently breaks up the M&Ms which makes the colour bleed a little - duh!)

3. Roll your dough into balls and place on a baking paper covered baking tray for about 10 minutes in a 180 C oven. 

These cookies are great because you can make them specific to whichever holiday you are celebrating at the time. Bakerella added pink M&Ms in hers, so you can really add whichever colours you like. 

Recipe Source:

Bakerella's 

Cowgirl Cookie Jar Mix

Cowgirl Cookie Jar Mix In a 1 litre jar layer the dry ingredients in the following order: First - flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt Second - oats Third: M&Ms Fourth - chocolate chips Fifth - brown sugar Sixth - white sugar Seventh - chopped pecans Make sure that you pack each level down very tightly. This is important as you may not fit in all the ingredients otherwise. So push down really well! Wet ingredients: 1 egg, lightly beaten 1/2 cup butter (almost melted in the microwave) 1 tsp vanilla To make the cookies: 1. Empty your jar of ingredients out into a bowl and mix together. 2. Using a wooden spoon (or your hands if need be) mix in the wet ingredients. 3. Roll your dough into balls and place on a baking tray which has been covered with baking paper 4. Bake for about 10 minutes in a 180C oven. 5. Remove from tray and cool on a wire rack.

Christmas Shopping List

I really do admire people who manage to be organised. One of my sister's is like this, she's the organised one of us - always keeping in regular contact with family and friends, always the one to remember (in advance) when someone's birthday or some sort of event is coming up. She has two beautiful young boys, works part time, and yet still manages to find the energy to get everything done - mostly making it look effortless!

But, if you're anything like me around this time of year you'll have countless pieces of paper lying around the house with lists, lists and more lists! Lists of people you need to send cards to, lists of people you need to give presents to, lists of christmas parties and events, lists of things you need to bake for the big day - the list just goes on and on (pun intended). I've recently been introduced to the blog of a shop that I love (thanks to my sister, A) - the shop is called Lark, and it's blog is The Lark Blog. While scrolling back and reading through their entries I came across this fantastic free printable. It combines all of your lists onto one very cute page. I'm planning on printing a couple out for myself to put up on the fridge - no more endless pieces of paper for me!

What about you lovelies? Do you have anything special or cooking related on your wishlist this year? Are you organised with your plans for Christmas?

Roast Turkey with Brown Sugar and Mustard glaze

I'd have to say that the Turkey was the part of my Christmas cooking I was most nervous about. I had never cooked a Turkey before in my life, and I think I've only cooked a couple of roast chickens before. That's the extent of my roasting abilities! I was fine with getting the stuffing ready, and the glaze and all that, but I was worried that I wouldn't get the timing right and that I'd either over or under cook the turkey. I posted on twitter the night before saying that I was nervous about the Turkey and got some lovely responses that made me feel a lot better about it. I can't say that it completely took my nerves away though!

So this is the Turkey I used. It was a 4.8kg one that I'd just bought from the supermarket. I'd had to thaw it for about three days by this time. It was a little overwhelming at first, the idea of touching all this raw meat kind of freaked me out a little, but I found once I got going I got more comfortable. I'd decided to try the turkey from the Martha Stewart website with Brown Sugar and Mustard glaze.

Ingredients:

1 whole turkey, thawed if frozen, rinsed and patted dry

course salt and ground pepper

4 cups Pecan Cornbread Dressing

2 tbsp butter, room temperature

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup spicy brown mustard

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C with rack in lowest position. Place turkey on roasting rack set in a large roasting pan. Season inside of turkey with salt and pepper. Loosely fill neck and large cavity with dressing; fold skin over, and secure with skewers or trussing needles, if necessary. Bend wing tips forward, and tuck under neck cavity. Using kitchen twine, the legs together securely. Rub turkey all over with butter, season with salt and pepper.

2. Add neck, giblets, and 3 cups water to roasting pan. Cover turkey loosely with aluminium foil. Roast 1 hour, and then baste with pan juices every 30 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted in thickest part of a thigh (avoiding bone) registers 52 degrees C (125 degrees F), 1 to 2 hours more.

3. Remove foil; increase heat to 205 degrees C (400 F). In a small bowl, stir together sugar and mustard; brush turkey with glaze. Rotate pan, and continue to roast turkey, brushing with glaze 2 to 3 more times, until thermometer registers 165 degrees, 45 minutes to 1 hour more.

4. Transfer turkey to a platter; reserve pan with drippings for gravy. Cover turkey loosely with foil, and let rest at least 30 minutes (or up to 1 hour). Before serving, remove dressing, and carve.

Finally the turkey was done. I was so nervous when we took it out of the oven and later went to carve it. I was so crushed when we took the legs off and found they weren't completely cooked. But then my Dad carved into the breast and it was cooked perfectly. I found out later that this had happened to a friend of mine who had decided to cook a turkey this year too. I'm so glad that I went with the brown sugar and mustard glaze, it was very sweet and added such a lovely taste to the turkey. The Pecan Cornbread stuffing was really nice too, it had a very nice subtle flavour to it which I really liked and it had contrasting textures of soft bread and crunchy pecans. 

I also found a Turkey Gravy from the Martha Stewart website which I decided to use. The only problem was that in all my worries about the Turkey, I'd actually forgotten to make sure there was enough water in the bottom of the pan so once I went to make the gravy there was hardly any juices left in the pan. I ended up deciding to use whatever I had left there, which I'm not sure was the greatest idea but it didn't seem to effect the gravy in a bad way. I did find though that this recipe didn't make enough gravy for all the people we had attending our Christmas lunch so I had to mix up more or the flour/chicken brother mix and added a little gravy powder in for a little bit of extra flavour. In the end I was really happy with how the gravy worked out, it had a nice flavour and there was plenty to go around for everyone.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup plain flour

3 to 4 cups chicken broth

Pan drippings from 1 roast turkey

1. In a jar with a lid, shake the flour together with 1 cup of the broth. Place the pan with drippings over medium heat until it begins to bubble. Whisk in the flour mixture. Cook to thicken, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the remaining broth and simmer to reach desired thickness. Strain through a cheesecloth-lined sieve. Serve with roasted turkey.

Pecan Cornbread Stuffing

Step two of the Turkey making process for Christmas was the stuffing. I was able to put most of this together the day before Christmas and then added the liquid ingredients Christmas day so it wasn't too soggy beforehand. This was the stuffing recommended to go with the brown sugar and mustard glazed turkey that I was cooking. I have a love for American foods, especially those like red velvet cakes, pecan pies etc. and this stuffing recipe just sounded so American and therefore very fascinating to me.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

4 tbsp butter, plus more for baking dish

1 large onion, finely chopped

3 celery stalks, finely chopped

salt and pepper

1/2 cup dry white wine

16 cups cubed store-bought cornbread or 1 recipe buttermilk cornbread

3 tbsp finely chopped fresh sage

3 large eggs, beaten

2 cups reduced salt chicken stock, heated

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Spread pecans on a large baking sheet, and toast until fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes; set aside. In a large frying pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and celery, season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 8 to 10 minutes. Add wine, and cook until evaporated 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl; let cool slightly.

2. To bowl, add cornbread, sage, eggs and pecans. Season with 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and pepper. Pour 1/2 cup hot stock over cornbread mixture. Toss gently. If necessary, add up to 1/2 cup more brother so stuffing is moist but not soggy.

3. If stuffing turkey, set aside 4 cups of stuffing. Spoon remaining dressing into a buttered baking dish. Pour up to 1 cup remaining broth over top to moisten. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes; uncover and bake until browned, about 15 minutes more. 

Buttermilk Cornbread

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year eveyone! I hope you all had a great holiday season and ate way too much delicious food like I did! I'm finally getting a chance to post about all the cooking I did over Christmas and in the past week for both my nephew and brother in law's birthdays.

My family usually gets together about a month before Christmas so we can work out the Christmas menu and who will be cooking what. My list this year included 2 desserts, Turkey and rolls. We usually go for the turkey breast roll for Christmas, just because it's easy and always turns out really well. It's very moist and yummy. This year, however, I decided to do something different and buy and cook a turkey for the first time in my life! I was a little nervous about it, especially about getting the cooking times right but in the end I was really happy with how it turned out. I chose a Martha Stewart recipe for my Turkey, which had a brown sugar and mustard glaze and a pecan cornbread dressing (or stuffing).

A few days before Christmas I decided to cook the Buttermilk Cornbread mainly so it was one less thing I had to cook on Christmas day. I live in Australia where ready made cornbread isn't accessible, so I had to cook my own.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted, plus more for baking pan

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1 cup plain flour

1/4 cup caster sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 205 degrees Celsius. Grease a square baking pan. In a bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking power, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, butter and eggs. Add to flour mixture and stir just until combined. Transfer to baking pan and smooth top.

2. Bake until a toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean, from 20 to 25 minutes. Let bread cool on a wire rack before serving.

This bread was a lot easier to make than I had imagined. I actually snuck a taste of it and I thought it tasted really nice on it's own too. It was a relief to get something out of the way before Christmas and step one of the Turkey making out of the way.