Plastic Bag Holder

Okay, this is one of those no-brainer projects that I am not sure why I didn't accomplish AGES ago.  How do you store your random plastic bags?  You know, the ones you get from the grocery stores, Target, from your newspapers, etc.  While I bring my own bags to the grocery store, the bags from places seem to multiply at our house.  Especially the newspaper bags.  We only get one newspaper per day, thus one bag per day.  But somehow we have about 3 zillion newspaper bags.  They used to be all shoved into another plastic bag (a Target bag to be precise) and stored underneath the bottom shelf in my pantry.  But the bags are not happy to be kept there.  They kept jumping out and having little bag babies all over the floor, thus the aforementioned 3 zillion bags. 

Enter, Martha Stewart.  She has this brilliant tutorial for making a bag holder out of a kitchen towel!  An ah-ha moment!  I did not photograph the steps in making this thing because Martha (or rather someone on her staff) already did so and the tutorial is quite simple.  Go HERE to see for yourself.

Here is what I did differently:  On the bottom where you put the elastic, Martha suggests cutting a slit in the seam allowance of the towel, threading the elastic through the seam allowance, and then tying the elastic in a knot.  Instead, I ripped out a tiny piece of the stitching for the seam allowance on each end, threaded the elastic through, and then zigzagged over the elastic at each end.  No knot tying.  As it is, there is a bunch of fabric right there from when I sewed the seam making the towel into a tube, so I didn't figure I needed to bulk things up more and tie a knot.   Either way works.

What are you waiting for?  You likely have all of the supplies you need to accomplish this super-helpful project sitting around at home, and it truly takes all of about 15 minutes to accomplish.  Martha used the following supplies:  towel, elastic, twill tape, safety pin.  I used the same, but if you don't have twill tape, you could always use ribbon or a long piece of some other fabric.  It is simply used as the loop for hanging this amazing contraption in a handy location! 

I actually made two of these:  One for newspaper bags (we use them when we walk the dogs) and one for other plastic bags. 

Get on it.  Show those plastic bags who is the boss!!  My entire pantry has breathed a sigh of relief.

TWD: Baking with Julia - Gingersnaps

This is the Baking with Julia version of Gingersnaps.  

WARNING:  This blog post will break one of my rules about reviewing recipes - don't critique a recipe if you have changed it up and don't like it.  You didn't actually try the recipe so you shouldn't critique it.  This is one of my rules and I am breaking it right now for this recipe.  There are reasons that I tried to jazz up this recipe!  I checked out the comments on the TWD blog from people who had already baked the cookies, and the overall consensus was that there was not enough ginger, that the cookie dough was way too sticky, and that the cookies did not "snap".  So, here is my thoughts on this cookie for whatever it is worth!

Personally, I don't recommend this recipe.  Sorry.  I just have this idea that gingersnaps should have two basic components:

(1) they should contain ginger

(2) they should snap after baking, as in crunch

Ginger and Snap.  Shouldn't be that unusual of a requirement, right?

Christmas Card Wreath

For years, I have struggled with how to display the Christmas cards we receive.  This year I happened upon the Craftiness is not Optional blog and found the perfect solution!  A clothespin wreath!  Brilliant.  Not only is it useful, it is also attractive!!  And simple to make.  Let's do it!

TWD: Baking with Julia - Challah

 

Our recipe this week for Tuesdays with Dorie was Challah.  Yes, I know, it is Wednesday, but I promise I had this bread baked on time, I just didn't get to the blog on time!  Apologies!  I made the Challah bread for Thanksgiving dinner, as did many of my TWD cohorts.  The recipe makes 2 loaves, so we ate one with dinner and the other I froze so I can make French toast this weekend.

There is something amazingly therapeutic about braiding bread.  I love it.  Feeling the long soft strands and weaving them together to make a beautiful loaf is really rewarding to me.  Why don't I make this more often??  

Cranberry Turtle Bars

These are likely to become a holiday tradition - Cranberry Turtle Bars.  Of course they are delicious any time, but the cranberries and pecans make me think of Thanksgiving and Christmas, so that is when I am probably most likely to make them. 

Cranberry Turtle Bars
adapted a bit from Gourmet magazine

Ingredients:
Base
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Topping
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, whole
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups pecans, tasted and cooled, then coarsely chopped

Decoration
2 oz. fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F with a rack in the middle.  Line a 9x13-inch pan with foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang on the 2 shorts sides.  Butter all 4 sides but not the bottom.

Blend flour, brown sugar and salt in a food processor, then add butter and pulse until the mixture begins to form small lumps (pea-sized).  Sprinkle the lumps into the prepared pan, then press down firmly all over with a metal spatula and/or your hands to form an even layer.  Bake 15-17 minutes, until golden and firm to the touch.  Cool in the pan on a cooling rack.

Melt butter in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over medium-low heat and stir in sugar, corn syrup and salt.  Boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until caramel registers 245F on a candy thermometer.  This will take about 8 minutes.  Carefully stir in cranberries, and boil until caramel again reaches 245F.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.  Stir in pecans until well coated.  Working quickly, spread caramel topping over base, using a fork to distribute nuts and cranberries evenly.  Cool completely.

Lift bars in foil from pan and transfer to a cutting board.  Cut into 36 bars, or however many you choose.  Melt half of the chocolate on the top of a double boiler or a metal bowl placed over a saucepan with barely simmering water, stirring until smooth.  Remove the bowl from the heat and mix in in the remaining chocolate, stirring until smooth.  With a spoon, drizzle the melted chocolate in a thin drip decoratively over the bars.  OR put the melted chocolate in a small heavy-duty zip-lock bag, snip off a tiny piece of one corner, and pipe the chocolate over bars.  Let the bars stand at room temperature until the chocolate sets, about one hour.

Store in an airtight container, with waxed or parchment paper between layers, for about 1 week, or refrigerate/freeze.
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I confess that when I made this recipe I used way more chocolate than the recipe suggested, and honestly, it was too much.  I know, that sounds like crazy-talk, but that much chocolate actually detracted from the cranberry/pecan flavors, instead of enhancing it.  So the 2 ounce amount is better. 

Serve these at a holiday function.  Or wrap them in a pretty container and give them as a gift!  Or hide them away and don't tell anyone you have them so you can eat them all yourself - a very tempting idea...

Pumpkin-Swirl Brownies

Since we were dealing with lots of chocolate earlier this week, I thought I'd continue that theme today with some Pumpkin-Swirl Brownies.  You might be wondering what the heck pumpkin is doing in a brownie.  And that might actually be a good question.  When I read the reviews of this recipe, there were definitely a few folks that thought the pumpkin did not belong.  Since I tend to love all things pumpkin, I thought I'd give them a try to see what I thought.  And I liked them a lot!  They are cakier than my favorite brownie, but that is okay with me.  They are supposed to be different!  It's a different recipe!

So yes, they fall into the "cakey" category of brownies, not the "fudgey" category of brownies.  But they are still very tasty.  There is a tiny hit of cayenne in the batter, which gives these brownies the littlest kick at the end.  I actually used less cayenne than the recipe suggested, and I found the amount to be perfect.  Again, something you didn't actually notice until the end and then got a nice kick.  Perfect.  Another bonus to these is that they stayed moist for several days!  And aren't they pretty? 


Pumpkin-Swirl Brownies
adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients:
8 TB (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (original recipe called for 1/4 teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar  
4 large eggs
1 TB vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups solid-pack pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped pecans or other nuts

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350F.  Butter a 9x13-inch baking dish.  Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and butter the parchment.

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a double boiler, sitting over but not touching simmering water.  Stir occasionally until smooth.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cayenne and salt in a large bowl and set aside.  Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until the mixture is fluffy and well combined.  This will take 3-5 minutes.  Mix in the flour mixture.

Divide the batter into two medium bowls, that fit about 2 cups per bowl.  Stir the chocolate mixture into one bowl.  Stir the pumpkin, oil, cinnamon and nutmeg into the batter in the other bowl.  Transfer half of the chocolate batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a rubber spatula.  Top with half of the pumpkin batter.  Repeat to make one more chocolate layer and one more pumpkin layer.  With a small spatula or table knife, gently swirl the two batters to create a marbled look.  Sprinkle the top with pecans or nuts of your choice.

Bake until set,40-45 minutes.  Cool in the pan on a wire rack.  Remove the brownies from the pan by lifting out the parchment lining.  Cut the brownies into squares.
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I suggest giving these a try.  Spice things up a bit in your brownie world!  It's worth it!

TWD - Baking with Julia: Double Chocolate Cookies

This week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe is Double Chocolate Cookies.  It is sort of a test of the question, "can you ever have too much of a good thing?"  Can you?  We'll see what you think at the end here...

Just as a preview, the double chocolate comes from both unsweetened chocolate and bittersweet chocolate.  Really.  No milk chocolate or white chocolate here to screw change things up.  We are talking about dark, chocolatey chocolate, and then more of that. 

Before we get carried away, lets start with the more basic part:

Indeed, there is flour, baking powder and salt in this recipe.  They are whisked together and put aside for later.  Do you see the tiny amount in the bowl?  That is all the flour in this recipe.  Not much.  The chocolate totally takes center stage here!

Onto the chocolate!  Now, I cheated, or rather changed things a bit here.  While I said above that this recipe was all about bittersweet chocolate and unsweetened chocolate, that was actually true as to what the recipe said.  However when I began making these cookies I realized I was low on unsweetened chocolate.  Instead of having 4 ounces, I had only two.  No, I was not going to jump into my car and go to the grocery store for 2 ounces of unsweetened chocolate.  Not when there is an easy substitute to be found!  For every ounce of unsweetened chocolate, mix 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder with 1 tablespoon of some sort of fat (butter/shortening/oil).  I used butter.  Since it just so happens that the Costco by me recently started carrying the most awesome cocoa powder ever (in my humble opinion) in GINORMOUS containers for the same price as the tiny container at the grocery store, and I bought two of those ginormous containers in a "what if they don't carry this forever" frenzy, I have plenty of cocoa powder to spare in such a substitute!  Yes!  So maybe my cookies should technically be called TRIPLE chocolate cookies??  What do you think?  Oh, and in case you are wondering, my most favorite cocoa powder is Rodelles.  Yum. 

Anyway, melt half of the bittersweet chocolate with some butter, the unsweetened chocolate, and the cocoa powder substitute (in my case) on a double boiler.

While the chocolatey chocolate is melting away, get to some serious whipping of eggs, sugar, instant coffee powder (decaf in my case) and vanilla.  Serious whipping, as in it goes for at least 10 minutes, until it is nice and frothy and thick.

Mix the melty chocolatey goodness in, and then add that tiny amount of dry ingredients and some MORE bittersweet chocolate.  This time the chocolate is in chunks (or chips in my case).  Refrigerate overnight.  That is the hardest part about this recipe.  Patience...

The next day, plop the batter down on parchment covered cookie sheets by the tablespoonful.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Now, the recipe says to err on the side of pulling the cookies out early if you are not sure.  The cookies should puff, sink, crinkle and wrinkle.  Hmmm.  Personally, I think the cookies were better when I erred on the side of baking them a little longer.  They weren't as gushy on the insides and were easier to get off of the cookie sheets (even after letting them sit a bit).  They were still nice and chewy and melty, but this way they also had a bit of a crunch around the edges, a bit more structure.  Just my opinion!

Now, on to the big question... can you have too much of a good thing?  Well, I have to admit that I found these to be a bit TOO much.  Did I actually say/type that??  Here is what I think:  While I do think that coffee enhances chocolate flavor (see my favorite chocolate cake recipe!) I think there was too much in this recipe, as the coffee flavor lingered.  I also think this recipe could have been helped by a hit of cinnamon or even cayenne pepper.  A little kick to cut the sweetness a bit.  Or maybe just reduce the amount of sugar??  Or both!  Now, do these petty critiques stop me from eating these cookies?  NO WAY.  Nope, they sure don't.

I mean, really, don't you want to just take a bite right now?  Trust me, a nearby glass of milk is necessary!

This recipe can be found on pages 329-330 in Baking with Julia.  I could not find a good source for the recipe online, so here you go! 

Double Chocolate Cookies
adapted from Baking with Julia
makes 24 big cookies (I made closer to 36, still pretty big!)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut into larger-than-chip-size chunks
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 TB  instant coffee powder
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Instructions:
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside. 

Place the butter, half of the bittersweet chocolate and the unsweetened chocolate on the top of a double boiler over (not touching) simmering water.  Heat the mixture, stirring occasionally, until everything is melted and smooth.  Remove from heat.

Using the whisk attachment for an electric mixer, whip the eggs, sugar, coffee powder and vanilla until very thick, about 10 minutes.  The mixture should form a ribbon when the whisk is lifted, and the ribbon should slowly drizzle back into the bowl. 

On low speed, gradually add the warm chocolate/butter mixture.  Scrape down the sides of the mixer bowl and continue to mix just until the chocolate is incorporated.  Add the dry ingredients and the rest of the bittersweet chocolate pieces and mix thoroughly.  The mixture will look like a thick cake batter.

Cover the bowl with plastic and chill for several hours or overnight.  This dough can be made and chilled for up to 4 days before baking. 

Preheat the oven to 350F and position the oven racks so the oven is divided into thirds.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Drop the dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto the parchment paper, spacing the cookies approximately 2 inches apart.  Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating the pans front to back and top to bottom mid-way through the baking period.  The cookies will puff and then sink, crinkle and wrinkle on the edges.  The cookies should not appear to be dry and they will not be crispy.  Use a wide metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a cooling rack, where they should cool to room temperature. 

The cookies can be wrapped in plastic and kept at room temperature for 2 days or frozen for a month.  Thaw (wrapped) at room temperature.
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