Christmas Countdown: Salemme Pepper-Infused Onyx Moonshine Balls

We are somewhat famous for our rum balls. People request that we bring them to parties every year, and this year we even had someone admit they had been dreaming about them. So of course, yes, we made them again this year - here's the recipe, and here's a photo.

But in the interest of changing things up a bit, we thought we might used a different liquor to make a second batch. At first we considered Grand Marnier, since orange and chocolate go well together. Then Amy thought she might try Creme Violette, but decided it could be too flowery for some. Bourbon? Boring. Then Chris had it! Why not try our own Salemme Pepper-Infused Onyx Moonshine? 

Onyx makes a "111" version that is higher proof than their regular product, and is perfect for infusing. We infused it with Salemme Pepper, a special dried red pepper that is Connecticut-grown and cultivated. Basically, we added a tablespoon of the pepper flakes into the bottle of moonshine and let it infuse for the past few months. Then we used our infusion to make chocolate balls that have all the kick of a spiced hot chocolate, with a little booze in there as a bonus. Made in CT with CT products, these Christmas balls are a uniquely local experience!

Salemme Pepper-Infused Onyx Moonshine Balls


Makes about 70

Ingredients:

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

3/4 cup hot pepper-infused Onyx moonshine

2 1/2 cup vanilla wafer crumbs

cinnamon for dusting (optional)

In a heavy saucepan, melt chocolate chips over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in sugar and corn syrup. Stir in moonshine, then add vanilla wafer crumbs and mix well. Cover and cool in refrigerator until mixture is hard enough to roll into balls. Line a baking sheet with wax paper, and using your hands, roll into 1/2-inch balls and place onto wax paper. Store in an airtight container between sheets of waxed paper for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Dust with cinnamon when serving. 

Christmas Countdown Wordless Version: Buckeyes

Christmas Countdown: Pecan Sea-Salt Drops

We are heading to New Orleans for a few days after Christmas and while we're there, we always pick up some freshly made pralines from Southern Candymakers in the French Quarter. But we wanted a praline-style candy to include in our gift packages this year, and settled on another Martha Stewart recipe, Pecan Sea-Salt Drops. 

A praline without the cream and butter, these drops consist of chopped pecans in a crunchy caramel sprinkled with sea salt. Martha suggests using a mini-muffin tin, and we tried them first in one, but then we tried a regular sized muffin tin and liked the look much better. What's great about these candy drops is not only the salty sweetness but also the pretty elegance.  

Pecan Sea-Salt Drops

(from MarthaStewart.com, makes 12-16 candies)

Ingredients:

cooking spray

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans

flake sea salt

Coat the cups of a muffin tin with cooking spray. Bring sugar and corn syrup to a boil in a medium saucepan. Cook, swirling occasionally, until mixture becomes golden around the edges. Stir in pecans and cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture is pale and amber-colored, about 8 minutes. Spoon mixture into muffin cups, about 1 tablespoon each, and immediately sprinkle with sea salt. Let cool completely, then remove from tins. Store in an airtight container.

Christmas Countdown: Honeycomb Brittle

It's the weekend before the big holiday, and A Couple in the Kitchen has been busy making sweets and treats for sharing with friends, neighbors and loved ones. We're still quite busy with school and life and all that, like everyone, so we started with something very easy - a candy recipe from the queen of all things homemade, Martha Stewart - Honeycomb Brittle. Making candy seems scary to some, but we find it much easier than baking. And less time-consuming! We used orange blossom honey to get a hint of orange essence in each crispy, crunchy, airy bite. And that great honeycomb-like texture comes from whisking in some baking soda at the very end.

Honeycomb Brittle

(from MarthaStewart.com, makes 1 sheet, about 9"x11")

Ingredients:

cooking spray

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup water

1 tablespoon baking soda

Spray a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside. Bring sugar, honey and water to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium-high. Cook without stirring until mixture reaches 300 degrees on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat and whisk in baking soda until combined and bubbly. Gently pour onto prepared baking sheet, tilting to spread, and allow to cool. When cool, break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap Recipe Roundup

Getting ready for Christmas? Need some tried-and-true cookie recipe ideas? Look no further, for where else can you find 555 cookie recipes, including photos, than The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap Recipe Roundup?

PART ONE located here.

PART TWO located here.

Let the drooling begin!

Toasted Sesame Crisps for the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap

How is it December 11th? We're not sure how, exactly, but we are most definitely behind in getting everything ready for the holidays - grading papers, cleaning/decorating the house, cooking, and, of course, shopping. Still, we did manage to get our Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap cookies out in time, and right now, that seems like an accomplishment. 

About the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap: This is our second year participating in the Swap. Each participant (all food bloggers), signs up by giving a nominal fee that goes directly toward Cookies for Kids' Cancer. Then each participant receives the addresses of three other food bloggers, makes and sends each of them a dozen cookies, and receives three dozen in return. We all post our recipes on the same day (that would be today), and salivate as we browse through them all! We even received a couple of shiny new spatulas from OXO as part of the deal. Very special thanks to Love & Olive Oil and The Little Kitchen for all their hard work in organizing this great event for a worthy cause. In fact, over $13,000 was raised between bloggers and sponsoring partners! 

We tried a new recipe from Stacy Adimando's fantastic book, The Cookiepedia, which had been sent to us to preview by the publisher, Quirk Books (we actually did a review of it in September of 2011). It really is a great resource for all things cookie. We've had a lot of luck with a few of her recipes, but part of the Swap is to try something new, so we did. 

We took Adimando's recipe for "Sesame Crisps with Toasted Seeds," added a couple of quirks (no pun intended) of our own, and were really very pleased with the result - a cookie that didn't see-saw into either the too-sweet or the too-savory, and went nicely with both coffee and tea. They had a wonderfully crisp texture and a nutty-caramel flavor. Oh, and they only take about 15 minutes to make, including baking time! We sure hope our sendees, Beth of Beth's Blue Plate Special, Veronica of My Catholic Kitchen, and Micky from What Micky Eats, loved them as much as we did. We will definitely be making them again.

We received some really fabulous cookies as well, as you can see below. Thank you so much to Melanie of Aesthetic Eats, Tal of Ba-Li Cravings, and Caroline of Chocolate & Carrots.

Check out our post on last year's Swap here. And for more great holiday (and year-round) cookie ideas, be sure to browse through The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap recipe roundup!

Toasted Sesame Crisps

adapted from The Cookiepedia by Stacy Adimando

Very Important Note: Sesame seeds at our local supermarket were outrageously priced at $86.24 a pound ($5.39 for a 1-ounce spice jar). But Chris, ever the problem-solver, had in mind to stop at the Indian market where he found...drumroll please...a 28-ounce bag for $4.99. Yup. Those numbers are correct.

Ingredients:

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

1 cup sesame seeds

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter

1/4 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375. Toast the sesame seeds in an even layer in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, stirring often for 6-8 minutes or until fragrant. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl. Add flour, baking soda and salt and set aside. Melt the butter together with the sesame oil. In a separate bowl, combine the melted butter/sesame mixture, brown sugar, egg and vanilla and stir until fully combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto lined cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 6-8 minutes, or until browned around the edges, rotating the sheets halfway through baking. Let cool on the sheet for two minutes then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.

Scallop Crostini with Blueberry-Rosemary Sauce

This tasty hors d'oeuvre was inspired by a bright and beautiful nibble we had a few summers ago in Maine and we've decided to enter it into the "Blueberries Meet Their Match" recipe contest. The contest ends tonight, so we're cutting it close, but we've been working on the recipe for a few days and we think we finally have it down.

The contest, sponsored by the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council, which refers to blueberries as "Little Blue Dynamos," required us to use blueberries along with one other intriguing ingredient - coconut, balsamic, bananas, or rosemary. We chose the latter, and used scallops as our protein. Interested? Read on.

We started by making a sauce with frozen blueberries, shallots, chopped rosemary, champagne vinegar, and a little water. While it cooked down, we skewered our scallops with additional rosemary and seared them in a hot pan with a touch of olive oil. After brushing some baguette slices with oil and browning them, we placed a perfect scallop on each and topped it with the delicious sauce that had notes of tart and sweet that only blueberries could impart.

Scallop Crostini with Blueberry-Rosemary Sauce

(makes 5)

Ingredients:

5 sea scallops

1 cup frozen blueberries

1 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon champagne (or white wine) vinegar

1/2 shallot, chopped finely

2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped finely

pinch of kosher salt

pinch of black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

5 small sprigs fresh rosemary

5 slices baguette

Pat dry the scallops and place aside. Place blueberries, water, vinegar, shallots, and 2 teaspoons chopped rosemary in a small saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until reduced. Season with salt and pepper. Place one tablespoon olive oil in a non-stick skillet and heat. Skewer each scallop with a sprig of rosemary and sear on both sides until nicely browned. Drizzle baguette slices with oil and broil until brown. Assemble by placing one scallop on each baguette slice and top with blueberry sauce.

Stuffing Waffles Topped with Turkey and Gravy

When you don't host Thanksgiving, there are a lot of variables to consider, particularly regarding the availability of leftovers. Will there be any/enough? Will the host be willing to share? Will I get a little of everything, or a lot of one thing, or (horror!) nothing at all? In order to assuage our anxiety, we took advantage of the wonderful chefs and students in the culinary department at Chris's school who were selling both stuffing and gravy available for pickup the day before Thanksgiving. This way, leftovers were a sure thing. 

We didn't need to worry so much because, as always, Amy's mom was very generous with her leftover-giving (thanks, Mom!). She cooked at 20-something pound turkey and gave us the carcass to make homemade stock, which will do later this weekend. We nabbed some turkey meat as well, but the stuffing and gravy were scarce, so we were glad we planned ahead. Inspired by the chicken and waffles we enjoyed at The Hidden Still, we planned to make stuffing waffles and top them with shredded turkey and gravy. 

Holy amaze-balls! The cornbread stuffing was delicious on its own - moist, well seasoned, and perfectly savory. But when cooked in the waffle iron, it was incredible, for our favorite parts of the stuffing are the bits from the crunchy, crispy edge - you know, the super browned parts, and in the waffle iron, that happened with every delicious bite. Topped with shredded turkey and hot, thick gravy, this took plain leftover turkey sandwiches to new heights.

It was so easy, we can't really write a recipe. Here are the steps:

1. Spray and heat the waffle iron.

2. Form leftover stuffing into a medium-sized ball.

3. Place one ball on each part of the waffle iron.

4. Close waffle iron and allow to cook until nicely browned and crispy (about 10 minutes).

5. While stuffing waffles are cooking, shred turkey and heat gravy.

6. Remove waffles from waffle iron, assemble and enjoy.