Last weekend was my S.O.'s extended Christmas gathering. It was a great night with great music, food and company.
Everyone in the family chipped in with the buffet. There were cabbage rolls, garden salad, home-made rolls (courtesy of moi!), maple ham, scalloped potatoes, pie, fudgy/bread-pudding like cake, chocolate cornflakes and wine! Everyone was stuffed and needed an hour or two of just lounging around to digest the good food.
As one of the party-goers said: "Rockin' Rick always throws the most amazing parties!"
Keeping with the season of home-cooked meals, S.O. and I are currently on a tight budget and so we haven't had the chance of buying a lot of pre-made food. I have been cooking and baking so that we needn't spend money on take-out or junk food.
Today, I have made shortbread cookies, insta-cookies (dr. oetker) and chocolate doughnut holes ala TimBits! ^_^
I have made the shortbread cookies and has been a hit with S.O. and this is a huge thing as he doesn't really like sweet or sugary stuff. . .
SHORT BREAD COOKIES
1 cup All-Purpose Flour
1 stick (1/4 cup) cold butter, diced (I used salted butter)
6 Tbsp Powdered Sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. Sift flour and powdered sugar.
3. Mix butter with dry ingredients using a pastry blender, two knives or your fingertips until cornmeal like texture. Make sure not to overwork dough.
4. Pat dough into an 8-in diameter circle on an ungreased cookie sheet. Pierce the dough in different places to allow even cooking.
5. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes or until light brown.
6. Cut into 8 triangles. Let cool for 10 minutes in pan then transfer to wire rack.
I have been craving timbits for quite a bit these past couple of weeks and since money is tight I just thought of making my own home-made timbits!
I got this recipe from smittenkitchen quite awhile ago. Since I have been home quite a bit these past couple of weeks (Left my job. . . long story!), I have time to cook and bake and so I made this and they are quite scrumptious!
CHOCOLATE DOUGHNUT HOLES
Yield: 2 dozen
1 cup + 6 Tbsp All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup Cocoa
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 T + 2 tsp sour cream
2 large eggs
1 1/2 Tbsp butter, melted and slightly cooled
1. Sift all dry ingredients together.
2. Beat eggs. Add sour cream and melted butter.
3. Add dry ingredients in three parts.
4. Chill dough for an hour up to 3 hours.
5. Generously flour work surface, pat dough and roll into 1/2 inch thickness. With a 1 1/2 in diameter cutter (I used a shot glass) dipped in flour, cut-out dough. If dough begins to get sticky or hard to work with, transfer to a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and pop in the freezer for a couple of minutes.
6. Heat deep-fryer to 375F/190C. Deep fry doughnuts for a minute on each side. I was able to fit 9 doughnuts in one batch. Make sure that you bring the temperature back up to 375F for each batch.
7. Drain using paper towels and cool.
Sugar Glaze *Optional*
4 ounces powdered sugar
2 Tbsp water
couple of drops of vanilla extract.
1. Mix powdered sugar, water and vanilla extract until smooth. Add a drop of water or two to thin out glaze. Roll cooled doughnut holes into the glaze. Transfer to wire rack to set.
Since I'm home for quite a bit, until I find another job, I'll be posting more recipes since I've been cooking a lot. Unfortunately, I sometimes forget to take pictures but if ever I do I'll post them with the appropriate captions! ^_^
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| Glazed Chocolate Doughnut Holes |
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| Unglazed Chocolate Doughnut Holes |
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