Dennys Food and Recipes: Turkey Cooking Tips: How Good Is Your Holiday Roast Turkey?

Dennys Food and Recipes: Turkey Cooking Tips: How Good Is Your Holiday Roast Turkey?:
From Denny:  Roasted my Thanksgiving turkey a day early.  Sure beats stressing on the Big Day.  Also, my husband, affectionately known as "Satan" misses out on trying to micro-manage the cooking, driving me absolutely crazy.  He never did learn to cook but thinks he knows how to tell you all about how to do it anyway.  Getting the Big Bird done a day early is a win-win for everyone as he was less stressed just as much as me!

Though he did try only twice this season to be ever so irritating:  once, when taste testing the fabulous gravy he made The Yuck! Face but could not keep his composure for long, laughed, and then raved about it as one of the best yet.  Later he decided he just had to tell me how to cut the French bread for sandwiches his way rather than the normal slices I was doing for hot garlic bread, his favorite.  Since I'm basically The Spatial Engineer in this house (just ask me to pack a car for travel and I am The Expert on finding every nook and cranny to fill) I explained to him how his way made no sense but cut a few slices for him anyway.  He was so disappointed to realize I was right after all.  "Satan" lost that round.  Never a dull moment at our house, that's for sure!

Hey, we should all be challenging the White House chef to a Roast Turkey Cook Off.  Bet mine is one of  The Best!  We love spices at our house and every year I create something different.  This year's wet rub spices were swimming in clarified butter:  sea salt, black pepper, garlic powder, smokey paprika, cumin, curry powder, marjoram leaves, lite sodium soy sauce, Moscato wine and Remy Martin cognac...

Santa Jingle Kid's All Over Print T-Shirt

Make some merry this holiday season! Jingle Jingle!

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Holiday Cake: Chocolate Chip Gingerbread

From Denny:  Would this make a beautiful holiday food gift or what?  Who doesn't like chocolate or gingerbread during the holiday season?  The winter white vanilla glaze gives a strong visual contrast for presentation.  We do eat with our eyes...

This beautiful cake would be great for those holiday gatherings to beautify the dessert table.  Come on; if you are able to slightly warm the servings, melting the chocolate chips, then one whiff of that gingerbread and chocolate and this cake will go fast!

Santa Jingle Picture Ornament

Make some merry this holiday season! Jingle Jingle! This design also available in teapots, cocktail platters, serving trays, lots of bedding, area rugs, blankets, pajamas, pillows, clocks and so much more; come see!

Chocolate Chip Gingerbread

Servings:  Makes 16 servings

From:  McCormick spices

Preparation Time:  15 minutes

Cook Time:  40 minutes

Chocolate chips and cocoa added richness to traditional gingerbread. For an elegant touch, bake the cake in a Bundt pan instead of the typical square.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp McCormick® Ginger, Ground

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp McCormick® Cinnamon, Ground

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup molasses

1 egg

1 cup boiling water

1 cup chocolate chips

Vanilla Butter Glaze (recipe follows)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 10-cup Bundt pan with no stick cooking spray with flour. Mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, ginger, baking soda and cinnamon in medium bowl.  Set aside.

Beat butter, sugar and molasses in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Beat in egg. Add flour mixture alternately with water, stirring just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Prepare Vanilla Butter Glaze. Spoon over cooled cake. Let stand until glaze is set.

Vanilla Butter Glaze: Mix 3 tablespoons butter, melted, 2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar, 3 tablespoons water and 1 1/2 teaspoons McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract in medium bowl until well blended and smooth. Let stand 5 minutes.


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Christmas Confetti Round Ornament

Check out the riot of holiday color to brighten your tree!  This design also available in teapots, cocktail platters, serving trays, lots of bedding, area rugs, blankets, pajamas, pillows, clocks and so much more; come see!

And here is a site for:  Easy DIY Thanksgiving Crafts Kids Can Make

* * *  Please support Warriors Pearl Foundation - contributing to fund efforts to help homeless female military veterans come home.  Visit Denny Lyon Gifts  @ CafePress.com  -  see what's new!  Thank you for supporting this cause.  You rock!

Subscribe in a reader to Romancing The Chocolate

* Check out Dennys News Politics Comedy Science Arts & Food - a place where all my other 20 blogs link so you can choose from among the latest posts all in one place.  A free to read online newspaper from independent journalist blogger Denny Lyon. * 

* * * Be sure to check out the Romancing The Chocolate Amazon book store for cookbooks on chocolate!

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Holiday Cookie: Chocolate Bon-Bon Drops

From Denny:  These are simple chocolate cookies that your kids could help you make.  You roll the dough into small balls before placing on the cookie sheet.  Little hands love to do fun projects like rolling cookie dough.  The trick is to keep them from stuffing the raw dough into their mouths! :)

These easy cookies are deep-chocolate rich, topped off with a very sweet vanilla glaze.  For the holidays you could top them with a Hershey's chocolate kiss or a bright red cherry or other holiday decoration to dress up the cookie tray.  Better yet, give them away as a holiday food gift and become the favorite friend and relative for life!

Included are reviews of bakers who tried this recipe.  Since I enjoy reading them I thought you might too.

Celebrate Dark Chocolate Queen Duvet

Chocolate Bon-Bon Drops

From:  King Arthur Flour, ingredients list available in ounces and grams as well as volume.  "Tender, deep-chocolate cookies with a rich, sweet vanilla glaze, these bite-sized beauties are perfect for a holiday cookie tray or hostess gift. Topped with a chocolate pearl, or bright red cherry, each cookie is a jewel to the eyes and a gem for the tastebuds."

Hands-on time:  8 mins. to 10 mins.

Baking time:  7 mins. to 10 mins.

Total time:  15 mins. to 20 mins.

Yield:  approx. 2 dozen cookies, depending on size

Tips from our bakers

• When making the glaze, heavy cream will give the richest, most creamy results. The creaminess of the glaze is a perfect counterpoint to the crisp, shortbread-like consistency of the cookie.
• While you can choose to skip the chilling step for these cookies, they'll bake up flatter, and not as nicely domed as when chilled.
• For festive chocolate-peppermint bon-bon drops, replace the vanilla bean paste in the glaze with 3 drops of peppermint oil, and garnish each cookie with a sprinkling of peppermint crunch or crushed candy canes.

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cookies

• 12 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/4 cup Double-Dutch Dark Cocoa or Dutch-process (European-style) cocoa
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Vanilla Glaze

• 2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 1/4 cup heavy cream OR half and half OR milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

Directions:

1) Place all the cookie dough ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer. Beat on medium speed until a soft, smooth dough is formed. Remove from the bowl, and shape into a 3/4" thick disc. Wrap well in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes, or as long as overnight.

2) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Shape the dough into small balls, about the size of a large gumball (a teaspoon cookie scoop is a huge help here). Space evenly on the cookie sheet, leaving about 2" between cookies. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes. Watch the cookies carefully to avoid scorching the bottoms.

3) Remove the cookies from the oven and allow to cool slightly on the pans while you prepare the glaze. For the glaze:  blend the sifted confectioners' sugar with the heavy cream and vanilla bean paste. This glaze will be thick, almost icing consistency. If you use half and half (or milk) and vanilla extract, the glaze will be much thinner and not as rich.

4) Using a teaspoon, portion the glaze over the barely warm cookies. You can pipe the glaze from a piping bag or zip-top bag with a corner cut off as well. Top with chocolate pearls, slivers of maraschino cherry, or chocolate sprinkles. Store any leftovers at room temperature for up to a week.

Celebrate Chocolate Silver Square Necklace

Reviews

• 2darnhot2 from KAF Community

• Jen 

• Erin from Boston

• Amanda from Vancouver, BC, Canada

• Jennifer from Dallas, TX

• Mitchell Geller from Watertown MA

• Sofia from Phoenix, AZ

* * *  Please support Warriors Pearl Foundation - contributing to fund efforts to help homeless female military veterans come home.  Visit Denny Lyon Gifts  @ CafePress.com  -  see what's new!  Thank you for supporting this cause.  You rock!

Subscribe in a reader to Romancing The Chocolate

* Check out Dennys News Politics Comedy Science Arts & Food - a place where all my other 20 blogs link so you can choose from among the latest posts all in one place.  A free to read online newspaper from independent journalist blogger Denny Lyon. * 

* * * Be sure to check out the Romancing The Chocolate Amazon book store for cookbooks on chocolate!

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Holiday Recipe: Frozen Grasshopper Pie

From Denny:  This retro recipe is a blast from the past - with updates!  The decade of the 1950's sported the food trend of frozen desserts, especially for entertaining and the holidays.

Historically, it was in the 1950's when freezers were first mass manufactured as separate from refrigerators.  This new appliance trend created some serious creativity in the cooking arena with frozen desserts offered.

This Christmas holiday favorite has survived the test of time, in this decade with a couple of tweaks as options for ingredient substitutions - like frozen yogurt or reduced-fat ice cream for the original full fat ice cream in the filling.  Using canola oil reduces the saturated fat in the original crust that used butter - later in the 1960's and 1970's it was worse, using solid shortening like Crisco for the crust.

Basically, this is a type of frozen mint ice cream pie with a delicious chocolate cookie wafer or chocolate graham cracker crust.  It's a very easy recipe to make which also makes it a big hit.  This recipe is an easy one for beginners.

Celebrate Chocolate Queen Duvet

Celebrate Chocolate every day as a holiday!

Frozen Grasshopper Pie

Yield: 8 servings

Serving size: 1 slice

From:  CanolaInfo

Ingredients:

• canola oil cooking spray
• 1¼ cup finely crushed chocolate wafer cookies or chocolate graham cracker crumbs (310 mL)
• 3 Tbsp canola oil (45 mL)
• 4 cups mint chip reduced-fat ice cream or frozen yogurt, softened* (1 L)
• 1/3 cup chocolate shavings (1 oz (30 g) chocolate)* (60 mL) 

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray 9-inch (22-cm) pie dish with canola oil cooking spray.
2. In medium bowl, combine cookie crumbs and canola oil and mix until combined, then press mixture into prepared pie dish. Bake until fragrant, 6 to 8 minutes. Allow to cool completely.
3. In large bowl, place softened ice cream and mix well until uniform texture forms, similar to soft-serve ice cream. Fill cooled pie crust with ice cream, smoothing out top. Garnish with chocolate shavings, cover with plastic wrap and put back in freezer until solidly frozen, at least 4 hours. 
4. When ready to serve, heat knife under hot water and use it to cut pie into slices. 

* Notes: An ice cream or frozen yogurt without green food coloring is recommended. To make chocolate shavings, use a vegetable peeler to peel strips from a thick block of chocolate. If the chocolate crumbles as you make the shavings, put it in the microwave at 10-second intervals to soften it slightly.

	Per Serving Calories 290 Total Fat 14 g Saturated Fat 5 g Cholesterol 15 mg Sodium 190 mg Carbohydrates 36 g Fibre 1 g Protein 5 g Celebrate Chocolate Earring Circle Charm

Celebrate Chocolate Necklace Circle Charm

* * *  Please support Warriors Pearl Foundation - contributing to fund efforts to help homeless female military veterans come home.  Visit Denny Lyon Gifts  @ CafePress.com  -  see what's new!  Thank you for supporting this cause.  You rock!

Subscribe in a reader to Romancing The Chocolate

* Check out Dennys News Politics Comedy Science Arts & Food - a place where all my other 20 blogs link so you can choose from among the latest posts all in one place.  A free to read online newspaper from independent journalist blogger Denny Lyon. * 

* * * Be sure to check out the Romancing The Chocolate Amazon book store for cookbooks on chocolate!

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Holiday Recipe: Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

From Denny:  Do you love gingerbread?  Here's a chance to make a smaller version in cookie form to delight your friends, family and guests at holiday gatherings.  The beauty of this cookie recipe is that it's a wonderful surprise of gingerbread combined with chocolate! 

If your local store doesn't carry the Swedish pearl sugar then just dust with regular refined sugar or some sprinkles.  This recipe is a fun twist on the holiday favorite of gingerbread from King Arthur Flour.  Also, left in their links to various ingredients and products they sell on the site for you to check out if you wish.  What I enjoyed most was reading the many reviews which I thought you would find useful too.

Santa Jingle Clutch Bag

Make some merry this holiday season! Jingle Jingle!

Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

King Arthur Flour:  "These gingerbread cookies have all the chew of your favorite molasses cookie and, for an added bonus, surprise you with bursts of melted chocolate. We like them served warm from the oven, but they'll stay soft and chewy for several days when stored in an airtight container."

From:  King Arthur Flour - ingredients list available in ounces or grams as well as volume

Hands-on time:  10 mins. to 15 mins.

Baking time:  10 mins. to 12 mins.

Total time:  25 mins. to 32 mins.

Yield:  30 to 32 cookies

Tips from our bakers

• Don't have mini chips? Try pulsing the same quantity of chunks or chips in a food processor. The uneven pieces of chocolate will make each bite a different chocolate experience.

Yield:  30 to 32 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon King Arthur All-Purpose Baking Cocoa, or Dutch-process cocoa
• 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate mini chips
• 5 tablespoons Swedish pearl sugar
• 
  

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, or grease lightly.

2) Combine the flour, baking soda, spices, salt, and cocoa.

3) In a separate bowl, beat the butter with the sugar until light and creamy.

4) Add the molasses and beat until combined.

5) Beat in the dry ingredients, then stir in the chips.

6) Scoop the dough a tablespoon at a time; a tablespoon cookie scoop works well here. Roll the top portion of each dough ball in pearl sugar.

7) Place the unbaked cookies 1-1/2" apart, sugar side up, onto the prepared baking sheets.

8) Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, until their surface begins to crack. Remove from the oven, cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a rack to cool completely.

Santa Jingle Queen Duvet

Reviews from King Arthur Flour site:

• LC from NJ
• Delicious! When fresh out of the oven, the cookies are an amazing confluence of textures. The cookies themselves are pillowy soft, interspersed with gooey nips of chocolate, and the sugar crystal topping adds a wonderful crunch. The taste as well is quite delicious, almost overwhelmingly rich and very complex in tone.

• Pamela H from Ford City, PA

• Rolling_In_Dough from KAF Community

• bob from KC

• Lisa from Greensboro, NC

• Rebecca from Illinois

• Karen from Boston

• Jenifer from Pittsford, NY
• This recipe is easy to prepare with fabulous results! The texture of the cookies is perfect - crunchy on the outside and gooey chocolate on the inside. The spices, molasses, & chocolate make for a wonderful, complex taste. This recipe easily doubles.

Santa Jingle Woven Throw Pillow

* * *  Please support Warriors Pearl Foundation - contributing to fund efforts to help homeless female military veterans come home.  Visit Denny Lyon Gifts  @ CafePress.com  -  see what's new!  Thank you for supporting this cause.  You rock!

Subscribe in a reader to Romancing The Chocolate

* Check out Dennys News Politics Comedy Science Arts & Food - a place where all my other 20 blogs link so you can choose from among the latest posts all in one place.  A free to read online newspaper from independent journalist blogger Denny Lyon. * 

* * * Be sure to check out the Romancing The Chocolate Amazon book store for cookbooks on chocolate!

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