Big Soft Ginger Cookies

Oh. my. christmas in a cookie!! So delicious... I'm not going to post the recipe here, because it's not mine, but please make these... next time, I'm going to make a double batch!!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Big-Soft-Ginger-Cookies/Detail.aspx

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Creamy Baked Fennel

my deliciousness! If you have never had fennel, you should definitely try it. My grandmother introduced it to me a few years ago, and I have looked forward to buying it from the farmer's market each summer. It's mostly known as a spice, "fennel seeds", and has a licorice taste to it. You can also eat the bulb, or use the stalks like celery, and garnish with the fronds.

I found this recipe in a Rachael Ray magazine, and the first words out of Mac's mouth were, "This is a keeper!"

Salt and Pepper

2 large fennel bulbs, cored and cut into strips, plus 2 T. coarsely chopped fennel fronds

1 c. heavy cream

1 t. fennel seeds

1 t. grated lemon peel

1 c. grated parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. In a large nonstick skillet, bring 3/4 c. water to a boil with 3/4 t. salt and 1/4 t. pepper. Add the fennel bulb strips, cover and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Uncover and cook, stirring frequently, until the water has evaporated, about 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, bring the cream to a boil over medium-high heat; cook until reduced to about 2/3 cup, about 3 minutes. Add the fennel seeds and lemon peel, cover and let steep for 3 minutes; strain into a shallow 2-quart baking dish. Stir in the cooked fennel bulb strips and 1/4 c. parmesan. Sprinkle with the remaining 3/4 c. parmesan and bake until browned and bubbly, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with the fennel fronds.

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Classic Pound Cake

From America's Test Kitchen.

1 1/2 c. cake flour (if you don't have cake flour, you can replace 1 c. cake flour with 7/8 c. flour + 2 T. cornstarch)

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

1 1/4 c. sugar

4 large eggs, at room temp

1 1/2 t. vanilla extract

2 sticks unsalted butter, melted and hot

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a 9 x 5" loaf pan with vegetable oil spray, then line the bottom with parchment paper. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.

Process the sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a food processor until combined, about 10 seconds. With the machine running, pour the melted butter through the feed tube in a steady stream, about 30 seconds. Pour the mixture into a large bowl.

Sift one-third of the flour mixture over the egg mixture and whisk in (a few streaks of flour should remain). Repeat twice more with the remaining flour mixture and continue to whisk the batter gently until most lumps are gone (do not overmix).

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Wipe any drops of batter off the sides of the pan. Bake until a wooden skewer inverted into the center of the cake comes out with a few crumbs attached, 50-60 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.

Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then flip out onto a wire rack. Turn the cake right-side up, remove the parchment, and let cool to room temp, about 3 hours.

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Chocolate & Vanilla Pudding

This is from America's Test Kitchen.
I will never buy "instant" pudding boxes again... This recipe is just as fast, and I actually know all the ingredients that I am eating without added preservatives. It's very rich, so you don't need to eat a large serving of it.

Vanilla Pudding:

3/4 c. sugar

2 T. cornstarch

1/4 t. salt

3 1/2 c. half-and-half

3 large egg yolks

1 T. unsalted butter

1 T. vanilla extract

Combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium saucepan. Slowly whisk in the half-and-half and then the yolks.

Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat, whisking gently but constantly and scraping the bottom and sides of the pot. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until the pudding is thick and coast the back of a spoon, 1 to 2 minutes.

Strain the pudding through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl, scraping the inside of the strainer with a rubber spatula to pass the pudding through. Stir the butter and vanilla into the pudding until the butter is melted. Press plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming and refrigerate until set, about 3 hours.

For Double-Chocolate Pudding:

Reduce the cornstarch to 4 teaspoons. Add 2 tablespoons cocoa powder with the cornstarch in the first step. Add 6 oz. melted semisweet or bittersweet chocolate to the mixture following the yolks in the first step and reduce the vanilla to 2 teaspoons. (The chocolate may form clumps, but they will smooth out during cooking).

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Trifle Bar

This is a super fun and easy dessert when you have a casual get together. We had a great time looking at each person's creation and enjoying the various choices. You can include whatever you want for your trifle bar, but this is what we had:

- Vanilla & Chocolate Pudding (Recipes to follow)

- Pound Cake (Recipe to follow in a later post)

- Brownies

- Strawberries

- Bananas

- Walnuts

- Chocolate Chips

- Whipped Cream

Just have each person take a goblet and layer their choices, putting pudding in between each layer. Have fun!

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