Hot Toddy

Something magical happened to me recently. I started liking whisk(e)y. Mostly bourbon, actually, but also other whisk(e)ys. Anyway, this means that some drinks are even more wonderful. It used to be that hot toddies were the only way I could stomach whiskey. Now I love them just that much more and even though it stopped being ridiculously cold out here in Portland, I had to have one this past weekend. I am fortunate enough to have fantastic friends and one of them came up for Thanksgiving and left a bottle of Maker’s Mark. And that’s how I got my hot toddy, which is doubled from the original recipe I found here.

Hot Toddy from drinkstreet.com:

Makes one fantastic beverage

3 oz. whiskey
2 oz. honey
2/3 oz. lemon juice
6 oz. hot water (or tea, if you feel like it)



Stir honey and lemon juice into hot water, allow it to cool slightly, and add the whiskey. Garnish with a cinnamon stick. Enjoy and be warm.

Potato Onion Broccoli Pie

For starters I will say that this is definitely a work in progress, but it will be something great in the future.

I got the idea to make a pie because I really wanted to make pastry dough now that I have a food processor. The recipe I have, first seen here, is designed for a food processor and having now done it, I can see why you’d want to use one. It’s so much faster. I’ll be posting the food processor directions for it because they are different than the by hand ones from last year. Still very tasty though.

I wanted to do a savory pie, for whatever reason, and was inspired by some of the pies in The New Moosewood Cookbook, like this one and this one. And because I have a food processor now (let me know if I’m getting too annoying with all my talk about it. I am in love though, what can I say?), slicing potatoes is a cinch. I love it.

Also, remember how just after I got my fancy new machine, Aaron and I pureed an onion? That inspired this too. Again, work in progress. There is too much onion in this pie by far. Anyway, this is what I did.

Potato Onion Broccoli Pie:

Serves 4-6, depending on if served as entrée or appetizer

1½ c, flour
¼ tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. baking powder
8 Tb. unsalted butter, cut in ½" pieces and kept well chilled
2 Tb. vegetable shortening , well chilled
2- 4 Tb. ice water
One large potato
Three heads of broccoli
Puree of one onion
1-2 c. grated white cheddar cheese
½ c. grated Parmesan
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped

Make the pastry dough first. Insert the metal blade. Process the flour, salt, and baking powder to sift, 10 seconds. Add the well chilled butter and vegetable shortening. Use short rapid pulses (15-20) until the mixture resembles coarse corn meal and no pieces of butter are larger than a pea remain visible. Sprinkle half the maximum ice water on the flour and butter mixture, then pulse 5-6 times. The dough will be crumbly, but should begin to hold together when a small amount is picked up and pressed together. Sprinkle on more water, a teaspoon at a time, with 2-3 quick pulses after each addition, adding enough water for the dough to hold together easily when pressed into a ball. Add the liquid sparingly so the dough is not sticky. Do not overprocess or the pastry will be tough, not tender and flaky.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Press together into a ball, then flatten into a disc about 6 inches in diameter. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour before continuing to allow the gluten in the flour to rest. Thaw at room temperature for an hour before using.



While waiting for your dough to thaw, slice a potato super thin (go food processor!) and dice up three heads of broccoli. Make them into as small of pieces as possible. Guess what I used.







Heat oven to 350. This is what I did, not what I should have done. Roll out your dough and press into a pie pan. Spread half of the onion puree on the bottom. Place the potato slices into a pretty pattern or just layer them until they cover the bottom of the crust. Add about half of the broccoli and then sprinkle with a bunch of cheese. I mixed my cheeses together, but it got a little clumpy, so I wouldn’t do that in the future. Repeat pattern. Top pie with remaining potato slices, chopped garlic, and a bit more cheese.

Bake for 40 minutes at 350. I then took it out and it was not done yet. So I turned the oven up to 375 and baked it for about 5-7 minutes more. It was much better.





Let it cool a bit before serving. Add more parmesan if desired.

This was a pretty good idea and didn’t taste terrible, but it had way, way, way too much onion. I also think, surprise, surprise, not enough cheese was involved. Next time I would still mix in some cheese, but also cover the top to give it a crispy, cheesy crust. And yeah, less onion. It was overpowering. And more garlic.

This pie has a lot of potential in it. I’ll be updating when I make the next version.

Curried Pumpkin Seeds

I have one final bit of baking extravaganza. This isn’t a cookie/baking recipe, but rather part of the snack we had in the middle of sugar time. I had made it prior to bake day after doing all that pumpkin business for Thanksgiving. It’s not much of a change on pan roasting pumpkin seeds, but it’s tasty nonetheless.

Curried Pumpkin Seeds:

Clean, dried pumpkin seeds
Olive oil
Sea salt to taste
Ground pepper to taste
Curry powder





In a medium skillet, heat a bit of olive oil over medium to medium-high heat. Add pumpkin seeds, ground pepper, and sea salt. Roast in pan, stirring constantly, until pumpkin seeds begin to puff up and brown. Allow to cool. Transfer to a container; add a bit more ground pepper and sea salt. Add the curry powder to taste. Stir to coat.

I love pumpkin seeds and I really like the curry-pumpkin flavor combo. This is a fantastic little snack.

Food Processor!

Aaron is the best! I now own a regular size food processor as a Chanukah gift. We had fun earlier grating and slicing cheese and pureeing onion. This is going to make pastry dough so much easier!

As you might be able to tell, I am very excited.

Ginger Crinkles

This was the very last thing made for the baking extravaganza super awesome holiday plates. I have to say that the whole day was quite the success. Baking with Corey was definitely fun and I think we will have to do it again.

These ginger cookies are phenomenal! Seriously, so good. Yes, it’s The Fiddlehead Cookbook again! These cookies were recommended to me by my friend’s mom after she tried my Mexican cookies. I am so glad to have gotten that recommendation because of how delicious these are.

Ginger Crinkles from The Fiddlehead Cookbook:

Makes about 36 cookies

½ lb. butter
1¾ c. granulated sugar
1 egg
1/3 c. molasses
2¾ c. unbleached white flour
1¼ tsp. baking soda
1¾ tsp. cinnamon
1¾ tsp. powdered ginger
½ tsp. salt
1/3 c. granulated sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees and arrange racks so they are evenly spaced.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and 1¾ cups sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and molasses.

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, spices, and salt. Carefully stir flour mixture into butter mixture.

Form dough into walnut-size balls, dip in the 1/3 cup sugar (there will be leftover sugar) and place on an ungreased cookie sheet, sugar side up. Bake for 12 to 13 minutes. If you like these cookies soft in the center (which I do and so do most of the people I have discussed this with. Yes, I have cookie discussions.), remove from oven when cookie is puffed, very light golden brown, and cracked on top. If you prefer crisp ginger cookies (which I suppose is your prerogative, even if it’s crazy), bake 2 to 3 minutes more, until puffed cookie has fallen and is golden brown.



Remove from oven and allow cookies to rest for 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheet. Cool on racks.

So good! I had a hard time not eating all of them before they hit the plates. I made most of them on the chewier (read: better) side and some on the crunchier side because I am nice like that and will help those weird, crunchy cookie lovers. Anyway, I recommend these cookies up and down. You should make them!

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting

All I really want to say about this one is heck yes, pumpkin cupcakes! Also, I am in love with this frosting forever and ever and ever. I used the cinnamon amount from the original recipe and even though cream cheese frosting is pretty fantastic, I just had to use this one.

Okay, one more thing. I think we probably should have called baking extravaganza powdered sugar extravaganza. Seriously, so much powdered sugar was used. It was kind of ridiculous.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting modified from A Pookie Pantry:

Makes 12 cupcakes

¼ c. firmly packed brown sugar
¼ c. granulated sugar
4 Tb. unsalted butter, room temperature
2 Tb. molasses
1 egg
½ c. pumpkin puree
1 c. all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
Pinch of allspice
Scant ½ tsp. kosher salt
½ c. buttermilk
The best frosting in the world plus 1½ tsp. ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with 12 liners. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine brown and white sugars. Using a mixer on low speed, mix together to remove any lumps. Add butter and beat until fluffy (one to one and a half minutes). Add the molasses and egg and mix to combine. Add pumpkin puree and mix to incorporate fully.

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture in three batches, alternating with buttermilk (start and end with flour). I was a little uneven here, but it worked out well. Mix well after each addition, but don't overbeat.

Fill the cupcake liners. Tap pans against counter to level out the batter. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes and remove to cool completely on wire racks before frosting.



Make the super rad frosting, mix in the cinnamon. Frost the cupcakes and possibly decorate with leftover dyed raw sugar. Regular raw sugar would also be very good on these. They are super moist and super delicious.

Holiday Cookies

Sugar cookies are the greatest things in the whole world, but dang if they aren’t a time intensive project. While Corey was making muddy buddies and working on the peppermint bark, I was working on holiday cookies. Yes, the whole time. It’s not like the dough takes the much work, it’s just rolling it out, cutting out the shapes, re-rolling the leftover bits of dough. And then baking, baking, baking. And then decorating. It’s worth it though.

I got this recipe from The Fiddlehead Cookbook (previously seen here, here, and here). It makes for a deliciously crunchy and buttery cookie. The frosting is a modified version of the one seen here.

Holiday Cookies from The Fiddlehead Cookbook and Frosting modified from howtoeatacupcake.net:

Makes so very many cookies

For the cookies:
¾ lb. butter
2 c. powdered sugar
2½ c. unbleached white flour
1 egg white, which can be 2 egg yolks for a very delicate cookie. I did the egg white.
1½ tsp. vanilla extract

For the frosting:
½ c. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1¾ c. powdered sugar
A pinch of salt
1/3 c. half-and-half
½ tsp. vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter in a large mixing bowl until fluffy. Add the sugar and continue to beat until light. Add flour and stir until almost completely combined. Add egg white and vanilla and mix until smooth, but do not overbeat.

Roll out on a lightly floured surface and cut into fancy shapes with a cookie cutter. Like different animals using your IKEA cookie cutters. Also, make moose and squirrel jokes. Maybe make too many moose and squirrel jokes. When I bought the set, I thought the snail was a whale (and, as you might be able to see, Corey thought it was too, so that works) and I thought the hedgehog was a porcupine. I still say it’s a porcupine.

Bake cookies on ungreased cookie sheets for 5 to 10 minutes (I was closer to 10 on most of these) depending on shape and thickness of dough, until lightly browned around the edges. Remove from oven and transfer to racks to cool. Wait until completely cool to frost/decorate.







To make the frosting, follow directions from these cupcakes, subbing in the half-and-half for the heavy whipping cream. It thins it out enough to make it the perfect consistency for cookies. Corey then separated the frosting into several bowls and added a few drops of food coloring to each. We had the regular white, as well as blue, green, and red. We also added some yellow food coloring to raw sugar for sprinkling on the cookies. Decorate as you see fit.



They are delicious cookies and they are festive and your friends will enjoy them. Promise!