Ok, remember when I said you should make these gingerbread cookies for your Christmas parties? You still should, but you should also make this toffee. It’s so simple (only 4 ingredients) and so yummy. AND you don’t even need a candy thermometer.

I started making my 4th or 5th batch this morning (in the last week), and realized I knew the recipe without looking at it. That’s when I decided that I needed to share, not only the toffee I had made, but also the recipe. I can’t take credit for this recipe though. It’s actually from Shauna Niequist’s latest book, Bread & Wine. I can’t recommend this book enough. I can’t recommend this toffee enough either. Seriously. Buy the book. Make the toffee.

salted dark chocolate toffee

1 cup (2 sticks) Salted Butter
2 cups Granulated Sugar
1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a medium saucepan, combine butter & sugar over medium heat. Stir often, to prevent burning, especially as the butter is melting.

3. Continue to cook & stir over medium heat. It will be this light champagne color for awhile.

4. As soon as it turns this amber color, take it off of the heat.

5. Pour the hot butter & sugar mixture onto your parchment lined baking sheet. I like to spread mine out a bit, otherwise it can be a little too thick in the very center.

6. Allow to cool on the counter for a few minutes on the counter, and then stick in the fridge until it’s cool to touch.

7. Melt your chocolate chips, spread the melted chocolate evenly across the cooled toffee, sprinkle with salt, and stick back in the fridge to set up.

8. Once your toffee is completely cooled and the chocolate has hardened, break into uneven pieces and try not to eat it all in one sitting. I don’t think that’s dentist approved.

This is a perfect treat for delivering to neighbors, for melting in your morning coffee, or for eating while your kids are napping. I think you need a batch, or 4.

love and butter,
amy

Ok people, thanksgiving is only 4 days away. If you don’t know what you’re taking to your family thanksgiving shin-dig, it’s crunch time. You do NOT want to be that person wandering the grocery store at 8pm on Wednesday night.

Trust me, I’ve done it.

It’s terrible.

So, I’m here to help. I haven’t created any new any creative thanksgiving day recipes myself yet, BUT I have cooked several dishes that I would be happy to recommend. There are also a few new things I’m thinking about trying this year.

tried and true

• These creamy mashed potatoes from the Pioneer Woman are decadent. Don’t tell anyone how much butter & cream cheese is in them. You might not be invited back., but they are worth it.
• As much as I love dessert like sweet potatoes with a pecan-butter-sugar goodness on top, I adore a savory sweet potato dish and these domino roasted sweet potatoes with garlic and thyme are superb. You could do a lot of prep ahead of time for these too.
• This pear, prosciutto, and hazelnut stuffing? yum.
• Here is a great, simple roasted brussels sprouts recipe.
• There’s no reason to buy cranberry sauce in a can (unless of course you really like that odd jelly stuff with the can lines in it). Here’s a super easy recipe for cranberry sauce with only 4 ingredients.
• One of my go-to bread recipes, for anytime of the year, is this rosemary focaccia bread. There’s just something about making bread that makes me feel extra domestically accomplished.
• I know for some people it’s all about the pumpkin pie, and believe me, I LOVE me some pumpkin, but honestly, the pie is not usually my favorite. For a classic dessert I do like, this pecan pie recipe has been great every time I’ve made it.

something new

• In keeping with a not sickeningly-sweet sweet potato dish, I think I’m going to make these chipotle smashed sweet potatoes from Alton Brown, this year.
• I do have to admit that this recipe for whipped bourbon bacon sweet potatoes has been haunting me and tempting me since I first laid eyes on it.
• Have you ever had pretzel bread? It’s a weakness of mine. Trader Joe’s has these personal sized mini loaves of it. It would be better for my waistline if I didn’t know they existed. Anywho, they would be perfect to try out this pretzel bread quinoa stuffing with garlic butter mushrooms. I don’t even like mushrooms all that much, but I’d be willing to set that to the side for this one.
• I LOVE roasting brussels sprouts, and I think I might try out something like this maple-mustard glazed version this week.
• And some sage butter biscuits? Enough said.
• For dessert this year, I’m considering this maple buttermilk custard pie to switch things up a bit.

what are your favorite turkey day recipes? any new dishes you’re thinking of making this year?

love and butter,
amy

.

It’s been too long since I’ve had a chance to bake something up in my kitchen and share it with all of you. Last week this recipe came through my blog reader, and it immediately went to the top of my “must make” list. All I needed was a reason, make that a chance (because who needs a reason for cookies?) to try them out.

Earlier this week, I got just that chance when a few friends were getting together for a little class about essential oils (more about that another time). My dear friend, Laura, offered to host us at her house, and since she doesn’t eat anything with gluten, I knew these were the PERFECT cookies to bring along.

Before we get to the recipe, a couple notes…

Oat flour is the backbone of this cookie recipe. You can certainly purchase oat flour, but I keep rolled oats on hand, for making granola and overnight oats. So, I just threw some oats into my Vitamix (best blender ever, by the way) and, in less than a minute, I had oat flour. You could also use a food processor to make oat flour, although you might not be able to get it quite as fine as if you were using a high speed blender.

Bridget calls for a teaspoon of potato flour to add to the tenderness of the cookies. After discovering that a bag of potato flour was $6 at my local market, and doing a little bit of internet research, I decided that she might have meant potato starch and that cornstarch was a similar ingredient. So, I went with cornstarch.

There are several yummy spices in this recipe. One is allspice, which I happened to be out of. So, these cookies didn’t get any allspice. Adding that to my grocery list now to make sure I’m restocked for the next fall baking that’s guaranteed to happen soon. The other spice I want to mention is the freshly grated nutmeg. If you’ve ever grated nutmeg for a dish, you’ll know what a difference it makes. It’s so much more fragrant, and so easy to do. All you need is a grater and some whole nutmeg. The other great thing is that this allows you to grate just what you need for the recipe you’re making, and the whole nutmeg stores and lasts much longer than grated nutmeg.

The original recipe calls for 2 sticks of salted butter. If you know anything about me, you know I’m not afraid of butter. That being said, I was curious to see if I could sub out some of the butter for something a little lighter. Really, I just wanted to be able to eat more cookies without feeling quite as guilty about it. I did a little more internet research and decided to try greek yogurt, because I had a bunch in my fridge already. I’m sure the original recipe with the full amount of butter is even more decadent, but these did NOT taste like they were missing anything.

Finally, I wanted to use some brown sugar in addition to the white sugar, just to add a little more depth. So that’s what I did.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from this recipe
makes approx 40 cookies

2 cups Oat Flour
1 teaspoon Corn Starch
1 & 1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon Ground Ginger
1/2 teaspoon Freshly Grated Nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon Ground Cloves
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
3/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) Salted Butter at room temperature
4.75 oz Brown Sugar
4 oz Granulated White Sugar
1 Egg at room temperature
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 cup Canned Pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
2/3 cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prep your cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, corn starch, spices, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the butter, greek yogurt, and both sugars. Because of the greek yogurt, it doesn’t get super fluffy, but make sure to let it mix together well.

4. Turn off the mixer, add the egg & vanilla extract, and beat to combine.

5. Turn off the mixer, add the pumpkin, and beat to combine. I noticed here that the texture definitely didn’t look like normal cookie dough. It almost looked a little curdled? I hate to even use that word, and I was nervous, trust me. I’m blaming it on the greek yogurt, but don’t worry, it gets better.

6. Turn the mixer off, add the flour mixture, and mix on low until thoroughly combined.

7. Turn the mixer off, add in chocolate chips, and incorporate with a spatula.

See, much better?

8. For evenly sized cookies, use a scoop to measure dough onto your parchment-lined cookie sheets. My scoop made about 40 cookies, and I put 12 on each tray to give them enough space to spread a little when they baked.

9. Bake for 8-12 minutes. Because of the color of these cookies, it can be a little bit difficult to know if they’re done. You can tap the top of one to make sure its not super squishy still.

10. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet. Then move to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for a few days, if they last that long!

I tell you what, these cookies do NOT taste like they’re gluten free and they do NOT taste like they’re missing any butter. They’re soft, almost a little cakey, and they really do melt in your mouth. I will definitely be making these again before fall is over. I love having a super yummy gluten free cookie in my arsenal too. They aren’t always easy to come by. If you love all things pumpkin like I do, I hope you’ll give these cookies a try.

love and butter,
amy

When we got married, over 6 years ago now, one thing my husband insisted that we register for was a camping tent. We registered for one, we got one, and then it got put away into a closet. I hate to admit that we still hadn’t used that tent, until last week, that is.

That’s right, we went camping, with a 2 1/2 year old and an almost 8 month old…

in our backyard.

Don’t worry, I haven’t gone totally batty, yet. I am so not crazy brave enough to try real camping, in a tent, with our boys yet. Give me a year or two and I’ll be all over it.

Or give me an rv and we can go next week.

Oh and did I mention that Mason and I slept in the house? Yeah, there was no way all 4 of us would have gotten any decent sleep in that tent. This was definitely a Daddy and Liam sleeping adventure, which actually went much better than any of us expected.

So, yes. We put up our tent in the yard, built a charcoal fire in a little bitty bbq, and roasted hotdogs for dinner & marshmallows for s’mores. After this little backyard camping adventure, I’m even more certain that I’ll hold off on the real deal for awhile. I loved being able to take a carrot covered Mason straight into the bathtub after dinner. Oh and forget to bring something outside? Don’t worry, just walk back inside to get it. This was perfect for some out of the ordinary and not super difficult memory making fun for Liam. A couple of days later, when we were outside, “Where is my tent?!?!” I guess we’ll be pulling it out for another camp out soon.

Now, all my life, I’ve used store bought marshmallows for s’mores and never had any complaints. A couple of years ago, I saw an episode of Good Eats, with Alton Brown, that was all about making your own marshmallows. Before the episode was finished, I knew I was going to have to make some. I’ve never even been a huge marshmallow fan, but it was just something I had to try. I’m all about trying recipes for things that are normally store bought (I’ve also made goldfish & oreos). They might not always taste exactly like the original, but I’ll know exactly what’s in them and what’s definitely not in them. I had made these marshmallows several times before but never used them for s’mores before. I thought this was a perfect chance to try them out, and I’m thrilled to report they were a total success.

Now this is a pretty simple recipe, not many ingredients, but there are a few specific steps that have to be followed precisely. You’ll need to have a candy thermometer and I wouldn’t attempt this recipe if you don’t have a stand mixer. This recipe is also a great blank canvas just waiting to be customized. You can add any number of extracts or flavorings (instant coffee is one of my favorites), I’ve mixed in chocolate chips at the last minute (they melt and swirl into the marshmallows), or you can dip them in chocolate/candy melts and then in sprinkles or nuts. The options are endless!

Since I follow this recipe almost exactly as it’s written from Alton, I thought about just giving you the link and leaving it at that. But then what would I do with the step-by-step photos I took for you??? So here goes.

Homemade Marshmallows

7. While the marshmallows are whipping into their fluffy goodness, you’ll want to get your pan prepped. Really, you can use just about any shape/size dish to mold your marshmallows into, but I always use a 9×13 metal baking pan. Mine has square bottom edges which I like for making square marshmallows. Someday, I’ll get a pan that has all square corners, so all my marshmallows can be square.

8. Mix together the cornstarch and powdered sugar. Alton’s recipe says 1/4 cup of each, but I always end up using more, especially once I have the marshmallows cut. You’ll want them to be thoroughly coated so that they don’t stick together. So, start with whatever amounts that you want, since you can always make more, but just equal parts of each.

9. Spray the pan lightly, but evenly with nonstick spray or your oil of choice. Then sprinkle the cornstarch/sugar mixture evenly and shake around (over a bowl to catch the extra for use later) to make sure that ALL SIDES ARE COATED. Trust me, this marshmallow goo will stuck to anything that’s not coated in this stuff.

10. In the last minute of whipping, add the vanilla or any other extracts or flavorings you want to use. If adding something like chocolate chips, once the whipping is finished, turn the mixer to the lowest setting and add the chips, mixing as little as possible.

Some people know all the right things to say. That’s not me.

Some people are great at making things happen. That’s not really me, either.

When times are tough and things are sad, all I know is food. I feed people. I might not even have the opportunity to cook at home, but I’m always thinking about making sure people have something to eat. I don’t know about you, but when I’ve had a long day, making a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies is a great way for me to unwind. Is it a good idea to eat your feelings? No, probably not, but that doesn’t change the fact that food is comforting.

This past week, my grandpa passed away. He had been fighting a hard battle for the past several months. On Tuesday night they brought him home to keep him comfortable, and he passed away very early on Friday morning. We spent most of the week at my grandparents’ house, talking to grandpa, sharing memories about grandpa, and just being together. It was one of those times when it just felt better to be with family, even if we couldn’t do anything to help.

On Thursday morning, Liam and I made cookies to take over to share with everyone. What I really wanted was chocolate chip cookies, but the weather hasn’t been oven friendly, especially in our no a/c house. We ended up making a batch of no-bake chocolate, peanut butter, oat cookies. I know it’s not a new recipe, or a fancy recipe, but it’s actually a recipe that I learned from my grandma. It seemed like a good fit.

Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies

2 cups Granulated Sugar
1/2 cup Butter (I always use salted)
3 tbspn Cocoa Powder (I have typically used the natural kind, but had dutch process in my pantry and tried that. It made a darker, richer cookie)
1/2 cup Milk (I used whole)
1/2 cup Peanut Butter (I’ve made them with natural, peanut-only kind & the kind with added oils, sugars, etc)
3 cups Rolled Oats
1 tbspn Vanilla Extract

• Before starting these cookies, be sure to measure all of your ingredients out and line a couple of cookie sheets with waxed paper. There are a couple of time sensitive steps and you’ll want to be prepared.
• In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, butter, cocoa powder, and milk.

• Over medium heat, bring to a boil and allow to boil for 1 minute. If you allow them to over cook, they will set up too dry and crumbly later.

• As soon as the minute is up, remove from heat and allow to cool for 1 minute.
• Add the peanut butter, rolled oats, and vanilla to the pan, and mix to combine.

• Scoop the mixture out onto your waxed paper lined cookie sheets. You can use a teaspoon, a tablespoon, a cookie scoop, or whatever size cookies you want to make.

• Allow the cookies to cool and setup for at least an hour.
• Store in an airtight container for a few days.

A couple of variations that you could make on this recipe…other kinds of nut butters (maybe even nutella), adding a couple of tablespoons of instant coffee, adding chopped nuts, etc.

So, next time someone is having a rough day (even if it’s you), maybe you can make them some of these cookies. Or if you don’t have time to make them cookies, you can always buy them ice cream. On Friday, we took some pistachio ice cream to great grandma, because it’s her favorite.

love and butter,
amy

I have some good friends, Grant & Lindsay Morgan, that are in the middle of a journey that will take them to the other side of the world soon. They’ve both grown up with a heart for the world, and in the last couple years, an opportunity has developed for them to move to Stockholm, Sweden, to serve at New Life Church, for the next 2 years. As hard as it will be to see them move away, I am so proud to call them my friends, and I know that God has big plans for them.

Besides learning Swedish, one part of the culture that Grant & Lindsay have already started incorporating into their lives is Fika. Lindsay explains what Fika is on their blog, here, but in a nutshell, it means having coffee & something sweet to nibble on with good company & conversation. Ikea (one of my favorite stores ever) has even created a great cookbook with recipes for many different sweets that would be perfect for some Fika with friends. Even better than the recipes, I just LOVE the pictures in this book! It’s the kind of cookbook that would be great to set out on a coffee table for just browsing through.

So, the other evening, a group of friends hosted an evening of Fika so that Grant & Lindsay could share about themselves, their passion for Stockholm, and how we could help support them in the coming years. As my little way of helping out, I followed a recipe from the Fika cookbook and made Semlor Buns. I’ll be honest, as much as I have loved thumbing through this cookbook and looking at the pictures, this wasn’t the simplest recipe to follow. The ingredients weren’t all as straightforward as something like chocolate chip cookies, including the need to google “strong flour” & “fresh yeast,” and the directions were lacking some of the specifics that are helpful when baking. I like to know what speed the mixer is, or that I need to put something in the freezer prior to starting the recipe, etc. It was a good education. All that being said, this is still a fun cookbook, and not very pricey, so a fun addition to any collection. And these buns were super yummy. I wouldn’t make them all the time, because they were definitely a lot of work, but worth every bit for my dear friends.

“Semlor” Lenten Buns

Adapted from Fika
Makes about 40 buns

Dough
6-6 ½ cups Strong Flour (I used 900 grams for the dough and a little extra to dust my board when I did a little kneading) (Turns out this means Bread Flour, which is higher in protein than all purpose flour)
2/3 cup Superfine Sugar (This is sold is most big supermarkets, but I never buy it. I usually just pulse my granulated sugar in my bullet for a little bit, but not too much! You don’t want powdered sugar. HOWEVER, I was in a rush this time and just used granulated sugar, straight up, and I think they turned out just fine.)
4 ½ oz Butter, room temperature (9 tbspn) (I always use salted butter)
1 ¾ oz Fresh Yeast (This is a type of yeast that’s only used in professional kitchens, at least around these parts. So, after some research, I landed on using 3 packets of Active Dry Yeast which came to 21 grams.)
2 tspn Crushed Cardamom (I HIGHLY recommend buying whole cardamom seeds and grinding them fresh with a coffee grinder or bullet. You’ll get much more flavor from that. Otherwise, use double the amount if you buy pre-ground.)
1 Large Egg, room temperature
2 cups Milk (I used whole)

Glaze
2 Large Egg Yolks
2 tbsp Milk (I used whole)

Filling
100 grams Blanched, Slivered Almonds
Crumbs from inside the buns
¼ cup Milk (I used whole)
9 oz Marzipan (The marzipan I was able to find at Whole Foods came in a 7oz package, so that’s what I used. If you’re unable to find it in a store near you, or you just feel extra ambitious, you can find recipes for making your own. It’s mostly almonds and powdered sugar)

Garnish
2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
Powdered Sugar

• Before you get started, put your marzipan in the freezer. It needs to be grated later, and that’s easiest if it’s frozen.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer(I started with my beater blade attachment like this) add flour, sugar, butter (broken into pieces), yeast, cardamom, and yeast.
• Mix together on low until combined, less than a minute.
• Heat the 2 cups of milk on the stove to lukewarm (100° F) and pour it into the mixture in the stand mixer.
• Switch to the dough hook attachment on the mixer and mix for about 7 minutes on a low-med/low setting. The dough should be completely pulled away from the sides of the bowl and smooth, almost shiny. I had to turn the mixer off once or twice to pull the dough back down as it was coming up and over the attachment.

• Let rise in a relatively warm place, under a kitchen towel, for 30-40 minutes. Don’t worry too much about the warm thing, you don’t need to turn on the heat or anything, but you don’t want it to be cold and drafty right where you’re trying to let them rise.

• Place the dough onto a floured baking board and knead gently a few times.
• Divide the dough into 40 even pieces. I actually weighed the dough on my kitchen scale and then used a dough scraper to cut it into pieces. Once I knew how much the entire amount of dough weighed, I just divided by 40 and tried to get them all as close as I could. I split the whole thing in half again and again until I got down to what I needed. I ended up keeping all of mine between 40-45 grams each. The more alike they all are, the more evenly they will bake.
• Roll the pieces of dough into smooth buns and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I got 20 onto one of my favorite baking sheets. Cover each sheet with a kitchen towel and allow to rise for another 30-40 minutes. Again, I was in a major hurry and made it about 30 minutes before moving on.

pre-rising

• While they rise, preheat the oven to 350° F.
• Once done rising, spread the buns out onto a couple additional trays. I baked mine 10 per sheet pan, all parchment paper lined.
• Whisk together the 2 egg yolks & 2 tbsp of milk, and brush over the tops of the buns. This will help make them golden brown & shiny. I’ll be more thorough next time because it’s obvious where I missed on mine.

ready to bake

• Bake in the oven for 7-10 minutes, or until golden brown. Mine took about 8 minutes. I baked 2 sheets at a time and should have switched the trays and rotated them halfway through baking, because they weren’t all as even as they should have been.

• When done, let cool on a cooling rack. Everything up until this point can be done ahead, also. I baked all of my buns the day before I filled them. I just wrapped them with some press & seal to keep them from drying out.
• For the filling, lightly toast the almonds in a small skillet, over med-low heat. It won’t take very long, just a few minutes. They done once they’re starting to brown and you can smell them. They can burn easily so don’t rush this step. Once toasted, let cool for a few minutes and then roughly chop and set aside.
• Cut off the top of the buns, scoop out some of the crumbs from the center, and replace the top so it doesn’t get mixed up. Pulse the bun innards in a food processor (I used my bullet in a couple batches) until nice and crumbled like bread crumbs. Place the crumbs in a medium bowl.
• Now for the lovely task of grating the marzipan. I used my microplane, because it didn’t specify what type of grater, and I assumed it needed to be a small enough grate to incorporate well in the filling. Grate it directly into the bowl that has the crumbs in it. I recommend leaving most of the marzipan in the freezer and cutting off a chunk at a time to work on. It gets soft really quickly in the warmth of your hand and it was easiest to grate when it was hard.
• Add the ¼ cup of milk to the crumbs and marzipan and mix until you have a smooth paste. Fold the almonds into the filling.
• Pipe the filling into the buns. For something like this, I put the filling into a sturdy ziploc bag (this is not the time for thin, store-brand bags, unless you want a mess) cut the tip off of one of the bottom corners and voila, piping bag! You should have enough to fill all of your buns, as long as you don’t overfill the first ones that you’re working on.

• Whip the heavy cream with a hand mixer or I like to use my immersion blender with the whisk attachment. Pipe enough cream to just cover the open bun and replace the tops. Dust with powdered sugar using a fancy shaker like this or a small wire mesh strainer like I use.

• Serve immediately. Whipped cream isn’t something that hangs very well, especially at room temp. These are best when eaten soon. Stash in the fridge for a bit if you need to make them much ahead of time.

Whew. That was a lengthy one, but they are quite yummy, especially if you don’t like a super sickeningly sweet dessert. If you want to learn more about Grant & Lindsay and what they’re up to, check out their blog at www.grantandlindsay.com. And be sure to enjoy some fika with friends soon!

love and butter,

amy