Southern Hearted
  • Home
  • Bumbling Thoughts
  • My Kitchen
  • Waste Not
  • Contact

My Kitchen

A place I go for some sanity and to be inspired.

Fairy Drops

11/30/2015

 
Picture

   Ever have a sugar cookie that you just have to have at least two or ten of? This is it! I get dozens of orders for these sweet little gems every year. They are rich, buttery and surprising light. They are of course full of ingredients that make the holidays worth baking for. The beautiful basics such as my favorite butter and real sugar. Now, I am no sugar cookie pro. I have all of the same struggles as anyone else would have but these things are very easy to make and they will knock the socks off of the friends and family who get the pleasure of enjoying them. If you try one recipe this year, this should be it. I'd love to hear you're feedback once you've made them. Enjoy!

The Cookie Ingredients


4 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter (butter not margarine)
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup cooking oil (vegetable oil)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons almond extract (must use almond for taste)

In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium-low speed till smooth. Add powdered sugar and 1 cup of granulated sugar; beat on medium-high speed till fluffy. Add oil, eggs, and almond extract; beat just till combined. Gradually add dry ingredients, beating on medium speed just until combined. Cover; chill for 30 minutes or till needed.

To shape cookies, roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls. (The dough will be soft.) Arrange balls on ungreased cookie sheets. With the bottom of a glass or a cookie stamp flatten the ball to about ¼ inch thick. I prefer a flat bottom glass dipped in sugar; it makes it easier and more uniformed.
Bake in 350 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes or till the edges are just lightly browning. Cool on a wire rack; cool completely before attempting to frost. Makes 55 to 60 cookies from what I have written down from past batches.

The Scrumptious Almond Frosting
In a small mixing bowl beat ½ butter (again only real unsalted butter) with an electric mixer on medium speed till fluffy. Beat in ½ teaspoon of almond extract and ½ teaspoon of vanilla. Alternately add 2 ½ to 3 ½ cups sifted powdered sugar and 3 tablespoons of light cream or milk, beating until smooth and of spreading consistency. You can tint with a bit of food coloring.

NOTES AND SUGGESTIONS: I get rave reviews on these cookies and I also adjust them for different occasions. I do the basic recipe for Christmas and break two candy canes in a Ziploc bag into small pieces and sprinkle it on each cookie. You can also poke a hole through the top of the cookie with a straw to create a ribbon hole to hang them from the Christmas tree. I change the frosting extract to lemon with a bit of zest for summer. If you need a shaped cookie just roll it out in small batches and dust your surface with powdered sugar instead of flour on a surface such as a Silpat. Once you make these, you will be hooked. You almost can’t mess them up! You can use royal icing to decorate but the frosting recipe listed is amazing. Oh, and the cute shimmer you see on mine? Disco dust! You can order it online or if you live in Fresno head over to the amazing Creative Cakes and More Shop.

Cherry Peach Crostata

7/17/2012

0 Comments

 
    What is a crostata you ask? It's nothing fancy, just a pie without a pan and it's delicious! I make these when I have extra fruit around or vegetables with a little change to a couple of ingredients in the dough. You can make several batches of the dough and freeze them. This makes it easy to whip one up any time you want. I'll add a picture below of a little variation using a jar rather than the traditional way.

The Crust

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup granulated or superfine sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced
  • 1/4 pound lard, diced(1 stick of butter will do if you like)
  • 8 tablespoons ice water

Directions

  1. Place flour, sugar and salt in a food processor or bowl and mix a bit to combine.
  2. Add butter and lard a bit at a time and pulse to mix until it becomes pea size in the mix.
  3. Add ice water a bit at a time until it forms a dough.
  4. Cut in half, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for about 2 hours. Freeze what you don't want to use for the next time.







The Filling

Ingredients

  1. 5 peaches
  2. 1/2 cup of cherries
  3. 1/3 cup of light brown sugar
  4. 1/4 cup of flour
  5. 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
  6. A dash of nutmeg
Directions



  1. Heat over to 400 degrees.
  2. Peel and slice peaches. Quick way to peel these is to place in boiling water to 30 seconds, dip in ice water and rub the skin of with a paper towel. Works like a charm!
  3. Pit cherries and leave in half slices.
  4. Place fruit in a large bowl and mix all other filling ingredients in.
  5. Roll our a dough half in a well floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick.
  6. Place rolled dough on a parchment or nonstick surface on a baking sheet.
  7. Fill with a layer of fruit filling leave a 2 inch border to fold up around the fruit.
  8. Fold the remaining dough border up around the fruit.
  9. Repeat with the second half of dough.
  10. Bake in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Do not over bake! Trust me, when the crust is brown, the fruit is softened.
  11. Let cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a plate.



Enjoy!

0 Comments

Old Fashioned Banana Pudding

6/25/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
    This is a very simple recipe that my mom Carla used to make for our family growing up and so did many other moms. We would just stand over the kitchen waiting for it to be done only to be told every time that it had to cool off. We'd sulk off or mumble about how we didn't see why it made any darn difference since. I don't ever remember ever having leftovers in the house! I have also been making this since I became a wife and mom on days when I want to show my family some love. They love this dish, mostly rushing through dinner making sure to save room for their banana pudding. This is easy to make, only takes about twenty minutes or so to make and will be a staple in your recipe book the first time you make it. Don't let that meringue make you nervous, it's so easy.

Banana Pudding

Ingredients

  •  2 Large boxes of cook and serve Jello banana pudding. The instant stuff just doesn't taste the same!
  • 5 Bananas. Make sure they are not under or overripe.
  • 1 Box of vanilla wafers
  • 6 Cups of milk
Directions

  1. Make banana pudding according to directions for making pudding.
  2. Line a large casserole dish with vanilla wafers
  3. Slice bananas and place a layer over the vanilla wafers
  4. Pour half of the pudding over the bananas and repeat the vanilla wafer and banana step. Finish this by pouring the remaining pudding over the top.
  5. Now slip vanilla wafers in a ring around the edge of the casserole dish. I'll post a picture below for this part.


The Meringue

Ingredients

  • 6 Eggs Whites
  • 2 dashes Cream of tartar
  • 1 teaspoon of Vanilla
Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Separate the eggs and whip them a bit, add those dashed of cream of tartar and then add sugar slowly about 30 seconds after you start to whip. Whip until firm peaks for. To check this simply make sure that when you pull the beater up that it looks like a little mountain peak. Picture below. You did it!
  3. Spread your beautiful meringue over the pudding and pop it in the oven until it turns light brown.
  4. Take it out, fight off the family fiends with their spoons and lock it in the fridge for a couple of hours. Enjoy and make sure you get some!



Picture
Picture

Enjoy!

0 Comments

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Bailey's Buttercream

6/20/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
    Chocolate, stout, baileys and sprinkles. What's not to love? This recipe was the hit of our St. Patrick's Day celebration this year. Yes, the guys loved the idea of a booze cupcake but they were also delicious and devoured quickly. I adapted my cupcake recipe from here, one of the best sites I know of if you are a cake addict. She got the recipe from here. The recipes are all about a large community of baker's who have a passion for food and recipes that we have found to work and we share it with gusto! We have some of our own originals but we also know what works and give credit where it's due. Now onto this recipe!
Picture
I start with a good chocolate stout instead of Guinness, this one is outstanding for recipes and as an ice cold sippy.

The Cupcake

Ingredients:

  • ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa (plus more for dusting finished cupcakes if so desired)
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • Pinch fine salt
  • 1 bottle stout beer (recommended: Guinness)
  • 1 stick butter, melted
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 3 large eggs
  • ¾ cup sour cream

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt.
  3. In another medium mixing bowl, combine the stout, melted butter, and vanilla. Beat in eggs, 1 at time. Mix in sour cream until thoroughly combined and smooth. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet mixture.
  4. Lightly grease 24 muffin tins. Divide the batter equally between muffin tins, filling each ¾ full. Bake for about 12 minutes and then rotate the pans. Bake another 12 to 13 minutes until risen, nicely domed, and set in the middle but still soft and tender. Cool before turning out.


The Buttercream

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 7 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 5 tablespoons Bailey’s Irish Cream
  • 3 tablespoon heavy cream      

Directions

  1. Whip that butter into submission and light in color.
  2. Add Half of the powdered sugar and whip until it's fully mixed in.
  3. Add the Bailey's Irish Cream and half of the heavy cream. Mix a few seconds until it is mixed in.
  4. Add the other half of the powdered sugar and the remaining cream. Whip it until it is mixed and fluffed into a beautiful buttercream.



Frost, decorate, devour!

0 Comments

    Categories

    All
    Chili
    Comfort Food
    Cupcakes
    Dessert
    Pudding
    Soup

  • Home
  • Bumbling Thoughts
  • My Kitchen
  • Waste Not
  • Contact