Yesterday our big project was making our annual Christmas gingerbread house!  We have a cutter kit like this one, which works well for cutting out the basic pieces… but you could let your imagination run wild and build one without a kit!  You can also download a template to use for your pieces here.

Here are the recipes we use – I find that they work very well.

FYI… We also use this recipe to make gingerbread ornaments:

5 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3 tsp ginger
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1 cup shortening (I used butter this time because I was out of shortening… worked fine!)
1 cup molasses (I have also used 1/2 cup of light corn syrup and 1/2 cup molasses when I was low on molasses)

Melt shortening in saucepan. Add sugar and molasses and mix well. Cook until sugar is fully dissolved. Transfer into bowl of a stand mixer. [Obviously this is hot and not a job for kids!!]

Sift flour, baking soda, nutmeg, salt, and ginger in mixing bowl.  Gradually stir dry ingredients into the shortening mixture.

Divide into three equal parts and place on three different ungreased baking sheets.  Roll into 1/4″ thick rectangles.  [This dough is almost like a candy because you cook the sugar/shortening mixture.  If you find that it has cooled and gotten too thick and hard to roll, just put it in your oven on "warm" and it will soften again.]

2 front/back pieces
2 ends
2 roof pieces
4 chimney pieces
Any trees/ gingerbread boys, etc that you want to use for decoration.

Peel away the excess dough and leave the cut pieces where they were on your baking sheet.

Bake at 375 for 13-15 minutes until they are lightly browned.  In the meantime, your kids can play with the extra dough which is the consistency of playdough.  Unfortunately, it will look like this on your kitchen counter:

Wow, does that look gross.

After you remove the pieces from the oven, it’s a good idea to take a ruler or other straightedge and trim up the bottoms and sides of your pieces to make sure they are square.  If they get misshapen at all it will make assembling your house a bit frustrating, to say the least!!

I usually end up making four separate batches of this icing. It gets hard rather quickly, so if you’re not using it right away put some plastic wrap right against the surface of the icing in your bowl.

1 large egg white
1 2/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Beat the egg white until foamy.  Gradually add in sugar and cream of tartar until smooth and stiff.  You want this icing to be very thick.

I usually put the icing in a quart size freezer bag and snip the corner to pipe.

For more Christmas inspiration, visit Simply Vintagegirl’s Homemade Christmas!

I’m learning to face the facts: I am a bit of a picky eater. I mean well… I try very hard to make sure my family is eating lots of produce, whole grains, lean meats. We really do fairly well, in spite of the fact that both NP and I can be a little picky about tastes and textures. The trick, I have found, is finding ways to prepare foods we don’t like to make them more appealing to us.

Sweet potatoes are one of those foods for me. I don’t even like the casserole with the marshmallows on top. Blech. I’m not sure why… I think it’s just the weird mushy texture of it all.

Crunchy and salty are more my thing.

Thus: sweet potato chips are perfect!

The prep is grueling – prepare yourself.

Peel the sweet potatoes.
Slice them very thin (I used a mandolin and it went super fast)
Toss them with a little olive oil.
Lay them in a single layer on a baking sheet.
Sprinkle with a bit of coarse salt, if desired.
Bake at 400 until starting to brown.

That’s it! I gave one to my cracker-addicted LB and he announced, “cracker!” and was begging for more. That is a beautiful thing. :)

For more yummy recipes, visit Tasty Tuesday!

Know what Works for Me?

It’s beautiful to have ingredients on hand that you can quickly turn into an easy and delicious dessert anytime you want. I’m constantly remembering at the last minute that I need a dessert for small group, or we call someone on short notice to come over for dinner. It’s so nice to know you have cupboard/fridge staples to fall back on and make a dessert that doesn’t look like you forgot to plan for dessert!! :) My sister-in-law whipped this dessert up for us once when we were at their house – and I knew I needed the recipe!

That reminds me that I need to restock and make this soon… [warning: it may be quick and tasty, but it is not healthy!!]

Apple (or peach) Biscuit Pie

1 jumbo can butter flavored biscuits, cut into 6 pieces each
Sugar/cinnamon mix
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 can apple or peach pie filling
2 cups powdered sugar
4oz cream cheese
1-2 Tbsp milk

Shake biscuits in a large zip-top bag of sugar and cinnamon. Spread pieces in a 9×13″ pan.
Mix brown sugar and butter; drizzle over biscuits.
Spread pie filling over biscuits.

Bake at 400° for 30 minutes or until browned. Let cool.
Mix powdered sugar with cream cheese and thin with milk. Drizzle over pie.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

For more apple recipes, click over to Lisa @ Stop n’ Smell the Chocolates’ fall fruits festival!

For more “works for me” tips, stop by WFMW at WeareTHATfamily!

Image from wikipedia

I’m not a big pumpkin pie person. I do, however, love this dessert – this recipe is from NP’s grandma, and it is easy and yummy! [I recommend you serve it with hot cider... although coffee is always an excellent companion!] :)

Crust:
Crumble together-
1 1/2 cups flour [I used fresh milled wheat and it worked great!]
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Press the crust mixture into a 9×13″ pan and bake for 15 minutes at 400°. Stir after baking. Remove 3/4 cup of the mixture and set it aside – pat the remaining amount back into the pan.

Filling:
Prepare 2 packages instant vanilla pudding with 1 1/3 cup milk.

Add:
2 cups pumpkin*
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Fold a small container of cool whip into the pudding/pumpkin mixture.

Spread filling over cooled crust, and top with reserved crumbs.
Refrigerate until serving.

*I like to bake my own pumpkin for this. If you’ve never done this, it’s easy and tastes so good!! Cut a small pie pumpkin in half and scrape out the seeds. Lay cut side down on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake at 350° until it is soft – I press a spoon on the back of the pumpkin halves and see if they are easy to “smoosh.” :) Let them cool, scrape out the pumpkin from the skin, and mash with a potato masher, puree in a food processor, or run through a food mill.

Lisa over at Stop and Smell the Chocolates is hosting a “fall fruits festival” this week with lots of recipes linked up for some of our favorite fall fruits… and she has included chocolate! Hooray! :) Click over today for more great pumpkin recipes.

This is also linked to Tasty Tuesday over at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam – even more yummy recipes are linked up over there! :)

Happy cooking!