Pan-Fried Onion Dip

Alright so I know the photo is not that great and the dip may not look that awesome but believe me when I tell you your life is not complete without it! Especially if you let the onions caramelize longer than the recipe suggests. It's extremely addictively good. While I was making this, I had deja vu. So I went to one of the Best of Bridge cookbooks and looked up the recipe for "Caramelized Onion Dip". That's odd - it's exactly the same, except the Barefoot Contessa recipe uses 2 onions (which admittedly does make it better). But I was just really surprised to see that it's literally the same, including cooking method and times.

Anyway, delicious. Make it! We ate it with baby carrots, celery, and toasted whole wheat pita cut up into little triangles. It's a heavy dip (with the mayo, cream cheese and sour cream) so I think vegetables are the perfect thing to eat it with.

Pan-Fried Onion Dip
Adapted from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Yield: 2 cups

2 large yellow onions (about 3 cups)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise

Cut the onions in half and then slice them into 1/8-inch thick half-rounds. Heat the butter and oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the onions, cayenne, salt, and pepper and saute for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 more minutes until the onions are browned and caramelized. Allow the onions to cool.

Put the cream cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until smooth. Add the onions and mix well. Serve at room temperature.

Gingerbread Cookies

There are two main purposes of this post, though one of the intended ones is not to give you a delicious gingerbread cookie recipe. I'd love it if someone did like the recipe. And I promise this is the last Christmas cookie post!

1. To make you feel good about your cookie decorating skills. I used the "Scribblers" icing pen things and they were not so easy to work with but still.

2. To give you a very molasses-y gingerbread recipe to compare against other gingerbread recipes before deciding whether it's one you want to make or not. If it has as much molasses as this one and you're not a molasses fan, then you'll know to look elsewhere.

I went to an old Betty Crocker cookbook thinking that I might find the perfect gingerbread recipe but no. I tried to cut the molasses flavour by dipping the top part of the cookie in white chocolate. It definitely helped but wasn't quite enough. For the past couple of years I've given out gingerbread cookies as part of the cookie package, but this will definitely be the last year. Gingerbread is one of those unloved cookies but I vow to find a delicious recipe! I know it's out there.

I love the soft chewy ginger molasses cookies (especially the Starbucks ones). I love storebought gingersnaps. But I just need to find good ginger cookie recipes to make at home. I'd like to find one good soft chewy ginger cookie (this one at Baking Bites being a possible contender) and a nice crisp but kind of mild cookie that's gingerbread-meets-sugar-cookie.

Since I don't think that this gingerbread recipe is awesome (but I think you molasses lovers will!), here are some links to delicious treats I've seen at other blogs recently and want to make!
-Cinnamon Apple Scones at Bake or Break
-Peppermint Cookies n' Cream Brownies at Baking Bites
-Lemony Meyer Lemon Curd at Figs with Bri
-Gooey Caramel Bars at Taste and Tell
-Half Whole Wheat Baked Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts at Gigi Cakes (originally from 101 Cookbooks)

Gingerbread Cookies
Adapted from Betty Crocker's Cookbook (1976)

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup water
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon allspice

Cream butter and sugar. Blend in molasses, water, flour, salt, baking soda, ginger, nutmeg and allspice. Cover; chill 2 to 3 hours.

Heat oven to 375F. Roll dough 1/4 inch thick on lightly floured surface. Cut with cookie cutter; place on ungreased baking sheet.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Immediately remove from baking sheet. Cool.

Chocolate Candy Cane Bark Cookies

These were my favourite goodie I baked this Christmas. Inspired by Heidi at 101 Cookbooks, I took the most delicious Neiman Marcus cookie recipe, made my own candy cane bark, broke it up and added that to the dough instead of chocolate chips. (And on a sidenote, I really want to try out Heidi's chocolate chip cookie recipe that uses only whole wheat pastry flour - same link!) I was really paranoid about giving out this cookie to friends because I knew it wasn't the kind of cookie that was made to last for a week before eating. I couldn't hold back from telling some of my friends to make sure they ate that one first!

When I first tried the Neiman Marcus cookie recipe, I wasn't sure if it was everything I was looking for in a chocolate chip cookie. But I keep going back to it and trying different add ins, and I love the cookies every time so something must be good! One of the friends I gave this cookie to said she really liked it, partly because the candy cane pieces on the bottom of the cookie caramelized. I wasn't sure how I would like candy pieces in a cookie (I thought they'd annoyingly get stuck in my teeth while I was enjoying the cookie) but I crushed the candy cane up fairly fine and there were on mishaps.

The bark was really easy to make and addictive, especially since I used Callebaut chocolate. Yum yum. This is a very loose and easy to modify recipe for chocolate candy cane bark. Just do equal amounts of milk chocolate and white chocolate, and sprinkle however many candy cane pieces that you think looks good on top.

I think that actually sums up my Christmas baking posts. I made eggnog bars and strawberry shortbread cookie bark for just general eating at home. To give away, I made these chocolate candy cane bark cookies, peanut butter fudge, earl grey shortbread, snickerdoodles (which held up surprisingly well and didn't dry out too much), and gingerbread. I was really happy with how everything turned out, except for the gingerbread. Why I keep inflicting super molasses-y gingerbread on people at Christmas, I don't know. I'll probably be posting about that cookie soon.

Candy Cane Bark

Makes about 2 cups of candy cane bark pieces, or just a bunch of bark to eat.

1/2 lb milk chocolate
1/2 lb white chocolate
10 mini candy canes, crushed

Melt milk chocolate in a double boiler. Spread evenly on a parchment paper lined baking sheet (about 0.5 cm thick - you could make it thinner or thicker based on your preference though.) Allow to cool completely. Melt white chocolate in a double boiler. Spread evenly on the milk chocolate layer (try to work quickly as the hot white chocolate will start to melt the milk chocolate - this could probably be minimized by freezing the milk chocolate first?) Immediately after you finish the white chocolate layer, evenly sprinkle on the candy cane pieces. Put the baking sheet in the freezer until very firm. Break into whatever size pieces you want, or chop it up.

Peanut Butter Fudge

I saw this recipe on Lynn's blog during the time I was deciding what cookies to make for Christmas. She said how insanely addictive it was and with the name "killer crack peanut butter fudge" how could I not try it? I wasn't sure I'd like it but I had to make it.

My boyfriend was excited to hear that I was making fudge, and then he saw the ingredients as they were going into the pot. But once you taste it, your brain just forgets about that because it's so good. And it's really easy to make. If only all fudge could have this smooth and melty texture (instead of being grainy or like something between a brownie and fudge).

While I, my family members and a couple of friends were big fans of this fudge (even one person who said he didn't like fudge then tried it and really liked it), it was still too sweet for others. That's to be expected with fudge though - you do have to love sweet stuff. And yes this fudge is very peanut butter-y in the most perfect way. I'll make this fudge again and now I want to try making different types of fudge. Oreo cookie fudge? Ohh what about dulce de leche fudge, if that would even be possible.

Killer Crack Peanut Butter Fudge
Adapted from Cookie Baker Lynn

3 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter
2/3 cup (160 mL) evaporated milk
1 cup peanut butter
1- 7 oz (198g) jar marshmallow creme
1 tsp vanilla

Combine sugar, butter, and evaporated milk in a pot. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Continue boiling over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Remove from heat. Add the peanut butter, stirring until melted.. Add marshmallow creme and vanilla; beat until well blended.

Spread in a buttered 9 x 13 pan. Cool at room temperature, then refrigerate. Cut into squares when firm.**

**I cut them when they weren't completely cooled, which was about an hour or two after I finished making them. I'd leave them ideally overnight before cutting them. I think that's why my fudge doesn't look very smooth on the sides.

Happy new year!

I hope you all had a good new year's eve and are excited to start 2008! I love seeing other food bloggers' lists of food they want to make in the next year, and their favourite food they've made in the past year so I wanted to do a post like that too.

Looking over the food that I've made since I started my food blog last June, I'm reminded of the many yummy food discoveries I've made. But also that there's so many recipes out there that I still have to try! I want to make more cakes (maybe figure out what a genoise and chiffon cake are supposed to be like) and fancy desserts. And I really want to find at least 15 delicious and healthy meals that I can make on a weeknight (not sure if that's too much to ask!) The things that are on the top of my list (though really it is a neverending list of recipes) to try are:
-soft pretzels
-apple butter
-homemade pasta (with my new pasta maker!)
-perogies
-gougères/profiteroles
-pumpkin butterscotch cake
-chocolate truffles

Favourite Recipes of 2007

Asian Beet & Tofu Salad


Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies


Snickerdoodles


Chocolate Cinnamon Cake


Pan Fried Lemon Ricotta Gnocchi


French Barley Salad


Hummus


Apricot Orange Scones


Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins


Matthew's Delicious Tofu