S'mores in the Kitchen

 

I used to think I needed a campfire in order to make s'mores.... but not anymore!!  Recently, the clever girl came home from pre-school and told me that she had made s'mores at school.  "Have you ever had a s'more?" she asked.  "Oh, yes", I responded.  It turns out they didn't use a campfire at school, either (thank goodness)!  They used chocolate covered graham crackers and marshmallow creme.  While I am sure that the kids thought that was fantastic, this is not exactly what I think of when I think of a s'more. 

So, the clever girl asked if I could make s'mores for dessert one night.  Hmmm.  I did not have a desire to start a fire in my backyard, nor to thread my mini-marshmallows on a skewer and stand over my gas stove with my 4 1/2 year old.  Surely I could figure something out.

And I did.  Folks, if you are a s'mores fan, here you go! First, line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  This is for easy cleanup!

TWD: Baking with Julia - French Apple Tart

First of all, let me apologize for being silent the past 2 weeks.  This broken fingertip thing is a real issue when it comes to typing!  I only have 2 fingers and a thumb on my right hand (yes, my dominant hand - my broken finger is buddy taped to my pinky finger) and I am used to having all digits available to type.  So, I find typing a bit frustrating right now but I shall do my best!  I must break the silence of my blog!

Our challenge this week for Tuesdays with Dorie was French Apple Tart.  The recipe can be found on pages 379-381 of the book, Baking with Julia, or you can find it on our hostess Gaye's blog, Laws of the Kitchen.

TWD: Baking with Julia - Pizza with Onion Confit

This week's recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie was Pizza with Onion Confit.  Honestly, this almost became a recipe that didn't happen for me.  Besides the fact that I sort of forgot about it until Monday morning, the day before this post was due, it also happened that I broke my fingertip the night before and was not quite sure I could cook.

Now, you may think, "broken fingertip, no big deal".  And the reality is that in the scheme of things, it really is no big deal.  It could have been an entire finger or my entire hand or really much much worse than it is.  However, I am pregnant.  So when I finally decided that I probably needed medical attention (at 11pm) and went to an emergency clinic, I realized how difficult being pregnant made this situation.  No x-ray --- potential harm to the baby.  So though I don"t know for sure that it is broken, the doc seemed pretty certain.  Oh, and pain meds?  Not so much.  Again, potential harm to the baby.  Just Tylenol, sorry,  WITH A BROKEN BONE?!?  Ugh.  Happily, my obstetrician approved something a bit stronger today so maybe I can sleep tonight!  Oh, are you wondering how this happened in the first place?  It was in the process of constructing a "big girl" bed for my daughter, which will be fodder for another post.  A part of the bed started falling over, Mr. Clever Mom jumped over me to catch it, and in the process he landed ON and then pushed OFF of my finger with his foot, crushing it into our concrete garage floor.  Trust me, he feels awful.   

Rugalach Cookies

Another of my family's Christmas traditions is Rugalach cookies.  If you know anything about Rugalach, this probably sounds bizarre to you, as Rugalach are a Jewish cookies.  My dad was raised Jewish, and our Rugalach recipe comes from his mother.  We have made them every Christmas for as long as I can remember, and so have my cousins (my dad's brother's children) so I guess we have practiced religious syncretism with regards to this cookie (special thanks to my father-in-law for the correct term here).  For those like me, who had never heard that term before, religious syncretism is the reconciliation or fusion of differing systems of belief.

I made another recipe of rugalach back in May, for one of my Tuesday's with Dorie challenges.  I discussed more of the history of the rugalach in that post, if you are interested.  These rugalach have the traditional shape, which is like a crescent roll.  The recipe makes 5 dozen cookies, which seems like it might be a lot but take it from me, these cookies disappear VERY quickly and you'll wish you had more.  Every year my sister makes the Christmas rugalach, but this year we were unable to celebrate Christmas together so I undertook the challenge.  We simply cannot have Christmas without rugalach!

Gingerbread Cookies

The clever girl and I made gingerbread cookies!  We actually made them before Christmas, but it has taken me a bit to get them onto the blog.  Christmas-time is busy!  Anyway, this is an activity that the clever girl really enjoys - both the baking part AND the decorating part.

She helped cut out the cookies with our multitudes of cookie cutters.  Seriously, I must have some sort of compulsion when it comes to cookie cutters.  I really have quite a few.  I finally had to separate them into categories - Christmas, baby, underwater creatures, woodland animals, misc. holiday, etc.  Maybe I can keep them organized this way.  You might notice that the top photograph has a gingerbread nativity.  Indeed, my sister has the same compulsion as I, and sent me a nativity cookie cutter set.  The clever girl and I made Mary, Joseph, Jesus, the three wise men, a shepherd, a sheep, a camel, and a star.  I think there is a donkey in that set as well but maybe we had eaten him by the time I took this photo!  I added the angel on top from a different cookie cutter set. 

Cinderella Topsy-Turvy Doll

I knitted a Cinderella Topsy-Turvy doll for the clever girl for Christmas!  The clever girl is about as girly as they come right now (does this change eventually??) and I knew she would enjoy a Cinderella doll.  The pattern is from Jean Greenhowe's Christmas Special knitting patterns.  Jean Greenhowe designs these amazing intricate patterns using a DK or worsted weight yarn and size 2 needles, so the knitting is super tight.  She has it all figured out down to the smallest details.  Note the tiny roses on happy Cinderella's dress and hair, complete with tiny green leaves that come out from each side of each rose.  Or note the tiny patches on the sad Cinderella's dress, and the little plaits in her hair with bows on the end.  Phew.  It was a labor of love.  Every time I thought I'd be finished with one part of the doll, I'd look closer and realize I had missed something!

If you aren't sure what a topsy-turvy doll is, here is another photo that might help:

Cinderella does not have legs.  Underneath the dress of one side is the head and dress of the other.  She does stand up, she just stands on the head and arms of the inside doll instead of legs!  She is about 12 inches tall from the bottom of her skirt to the top of happy Cinderella's bun.

Christmas Sticky Buns

As you might remember from a Tuesday's with Dorie post back in May on Pecan Sticky Buns, my family makes sticky buns every year for Christmas morning.  I am the baker of these buns and have tweaked recipes to my preference over time.   We started with a recipe my mom found, and used this recipe until maybe 3-4 years ago, when I found another recipe that looked like it might be worth trying.  If I am going to try out a new sticky bun recipe, I have to do so NOT on Christmas day, to make sure it is Christmas-sticky-bun worthy!  The new recipe was from Cooks Illustrated, and while there were parts that I liked, there were parts I didn't.  So I have combined the two recipes to make our new "official" Christmas sticky bun recipe. 

This recipe takes a bit of time, although it's nothing compared to many of the bread recipes I have recently tried, with multiple rest periods and rising periods.  This recipe rises twice - once on the counter, once overnight in the refrigerator.  So really, the only important (thus time consuming one that you actually WAIT for) is the one on the counter.  Not so bad for a yeast bread, really.