Dark Chocolate Mini Jam Tarts

We have all of these delicious jams given to us as a gift. The holidays are the perfect time to make a cookie that highlights their flavors.

I have a shortbread recipe I have made before with jam, but I wanted something different this year. Since one of the flavors of jam we had on hand was a sweet cherry, chocolate seemed like it should pair well.

The part I wasn't prepared for was how much jam I would need. I used up a considerable amount of my stash making these. The tarts are very intensely chocolate, with a nice bite of jam in the middle. Experiment with different combinations ! I chose the cherry, strawberry and blueberry for this batch. All were tasty, but the cherry was definitely the star.

Dark Chocolate Mini Jam Tarts

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup dark chocolate powder
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups cherry jam (or any flavor you prefer)
Preheat oven to 350. Spray mini muffin tins with non-stick spray and set aside. In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugars and vanilla. Sift together dry ingredients,  then slowly mix into creamed ingredients. Form into one inch balls and press into mini muffin tins. Spoon 1/2 teaspoon jam into each of the cups. Bake 10-12 minutes until cookies are firm. Let cool 5 minutes before removing from pan. Top with additional jam, if desired.

Crockpot Chicken Stew

I know I go on and on about never using things that are pre-packaged, and I am breaking one of my rules here. But trust me on this one, you will love this dish! 

I have been making this for years, and it is one of my all-time favorite crockpot dishes because it is so easy. It reminds me of the filling for a pot pie. Ray doesn't like pot pie (honestly, sometimes I don't know what't wrong with that man), because he doesn't like the crust. This is a perfect compromise. I made biscuits to serve with it, and it was just what we needed to keep us warm on a sub-zero day. 

Crockpot Chicken Stew 

1 large onion, diced 

3 medium Yukon gold potatoes, diced into 1/4 inch pieces 

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces 

1 tablespoon poultry seasoning 

1 teaspoon salt 

1 teaspoon pepper 

1 small bag frozen mixed vegetables 

2 cans cream of chicken soup 

In a medium crockpot, start by layering onions, then potatoes. Toss chicken in poultry seasoning, salt and pepper, and place on top of potatoes. Put frozen vegetables on top of chicken, then pour soup over the top of the vegetables. Add one can full of water. Heat over low 8-10 hours. Stir together, and serve over hot biscuits. 

Mulled Wine with Honey

This time of year, who doesn't want something warm, sweet and alcoholic to chase away the chill of winter ? When I was creating a feast for our Game of Thrones Thanksgiving, there was a recipe in the cookbook I used as a reference for mulled wine. Of course, I had made mulled wine before, but I haven't for many years. Why ? I am not really sure, because I have very fond memories of it.

And, we have a LOT of wine at our house. We make it ! Mead actually, although for this recipe any red, not too sweet wine will work. And it's so easy, you can experiment with whatever spice blend you prefer. This recipe might seem like it made an enormous batch of beverages, but trust me on this, you will drink it all !

Mulled Wine with Honey

3 bottles dry red wine

3 cups apple cider

1 cup honey

2 oranges, cut in half

1 lemon, cut in half

3 cinnamon sticks

6 whole cloves

3 whole allspice berries

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 cardamom pod

1/2 teaspoon whole peppercorns

Pour wine, cider and honey into a large pot. Squeeze oranges and lemon juice into the liquids, being careful to remove any seeds. Place orange and lemon rinds in the liquid mixture. Toss the cinnamon sticks into the pot, and make a small cheesecloth pouch with the remaining spices. Heat over low heat for 30-40 minutes until warm and fragrant. Pour into mugs and garnish with an orange slice.

"Games of Thrones" Themed Dinner

Both my husband and I are big fans of all of the "Game of Thrones" books, and the HBO series as well. It was fairly obvious early on as I read the novels, there is quite an emphasis on the descriptions of food and feasting throughout all five books. Since we love food, and cooking, I really wanted to see if there was a way to incorporate some of these ideas into a party or dinner. As I was researching, I found there had already been a cookbook created for just such an event !

We set about creating a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner for some friends designed around several of the recipes in the book. Most of the dishes have the option of a "traditional" and a "modern" preparation, and in each case we could, I opted for the traditional, we wanted the experience to be as authentic as possible.

Here is the problem...apparently the recipes weren't very well researched in terms of proportions and process. I am an experienced cook, and I could tell by just by looking at some of these were not going to work. The mistake I made was assuming the authors had done their research, tested these out and that the photographs actually represented the finished product. Silly, silly me. I ended up doing a lot of tweaking to their recipes, and had one that was a total fail, completely unsaveable.

Here is the menu I designed for the event:

We have the added benefit of having all our own meads and ales, so that was fun, but every other dish was made from or inspired by the cookbook A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Game of Thrones Companion Cookbook.

The one dish we most wanted to include in our feast was lemon cakes, because they are Sansa's favorites, and were mentioned several times throughout the books. They were a complete disaster, the original recipes proportions were off so much, the dough came out like sand. I tried adding extra lemon juice to form it into something of a cake or cookie, but they were burnt on the outside and raw in the middle. And, I knew it wasn't going to work when I looked at the recipe, but I somehow trusted that a published recipe had to have been tested, right ?

The other really big fail for us was the pease porridge. There simply wasn't enough liquid to make it porridge-like at all. I would probably re-make it, because the flavor was nice, but again, proportions were way off.

The one big score of the day was the Blueberries in Bastard Crèam. I think we would have been happy just drinking the cream, it was delicious. My husband thinks that recipe was worth the price of the cookbook ! And, I recalled my love of mulled wine, which we indulged in all throughout the day, and well into the evening. I will share that recipe, and possibly repost some of the others after I have refined them.

All in all, not the most successful dinner party I have ever hosted, but I learned I should always trust my instincts when attempting a new recipe. Just because someone has published a cookbook that has beautiful photos does not mean they have all the answers !

 



Crockpot Beef Pho

I have to admit, mine isn't as beautiful as the dish that inspired this, from the lovely and talented Dorothy Stainbrook at Heath Glen Farms, linked here: 

http://www.farmtojar.com/recipes/slow-cooker-vietnamese-beef-pho-vietnamese-beef-noodle-soup/

But, I was very excited at the change to finally convince my husband that he would like this dish. I love pho, and we have tried it a few times, but he just never liked it. Well, in his defense, the first time he had it, I brought it home from a restaurant, and I didn't give him proper instructions on how to eat it. He took ALL of the garnishes, dumped them into the soup and attempted to eat it. It wasn't good. He isn't a big fan of soy sauce, and there was way too much basil and too many hot peppers, so it didn't go over well. We have had some bad versions as well. So, he was convinced he didn't live it. 

I was determined I could make a version he would like, and then I saw Dorothy's crock pot style pho. I knew I could slightly change the mix of ingredients to make it something he could like. And, he did ! The best thing about this is how easy it is to modify to your tastes. Thank you so much, Dorothy, for inspiring this lovely soup ! 

Crockpot Beef Pho 

1 pound oxtail, short ribs or beef shank 

2 tablespoons fish sauce 

2 tablespoons soy sauce 

2 tablespoons olive oil

6 cloves garlic 

2 large onions, diced 

4 ounces ginger, diced 

8 cups beef stock 

1 cinnamon stick 

1 teaspoon anise seed 

1 teaspoon fennel seed 

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes 

2 tablespoons honey 

For garnishes: 

Lime, cut in wedges 

Bean sprouts 

Sauteed cabbage

Thin rice noodles 

1 pound sirloin steak, thinly sliced 

Jalapeno pepper, thinly sliced 

Fresh herbs: basil, mint, cilantro 

Place oxtail, ribs or shank in a zip lock bag, along with the fish sauce and soy sauce, and place in the refrigerator. Let marinate overnight. In the morning, heat olive oil in a large, non-stick skillet. Place meat in skillet and sear well on all sides. Place meat in a crockpot. Add onions, garlic and ginger to the same skillet and saute until all are carmelized, about 10 minutes. Add these to the crockpot, and then pour in beef stock. Place a small saute pan over high heat, and place dry spices in pan. Heat spices until they become aromatic, let them cool, and place in a small cheesecloth pouch. Add these to the crockpot as well. Heat on low for 8-10 hours. Strain broth through a sieve to remove all the bits, and simmer. Plunge the noodles into the broth just until soft, then place in a bowl. Gently lay strips of steak over the top of the noodles, and our hot broth over the top. Garnish as desired. 

Third Place Pumpkin Chili

Am I bitter ? Absolutely not. It was a calculated risk to make a non-traditional chili for my Scandinavian Lutheran coworkers. Even more risky to make it spicy, with some Indian inspired flavors.

I contemplated making the previously award winning white chicken chili,  but with nine other entries,  I thought I had some room for something more adventurous.  Would it win? Probably not, but I was really happy with the flavor, and the foodie folk at work appreciated the unusual combination of flavors.

Third Place Pumpkin Chili

1 pound smoky bacon, diced
2 medium  onions diced
One yellow and one red pepper, diced
2 pounds spicy turkey sausage
8 cups turkey stock
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can tomatoes with green chilies (mine were homemade,  so extra spicy)
2 cans pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling, although, that might be interesting, too)
1 small sugar pumpkin,  cooked slightly, then diced into half inch cubes
2 tablespoons cumin
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 teaspoon Saigon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 bottles good quality beer (I used some Three Floyds Pride and Joy, but feel free to add any beer you like)
Greek yogurt and chopped cilantro,  for garnish
In a large stockpot, fry bacon until crisp. Remove bacon,  then add onions, peppers and garlic.  Saute until soft, then crumble in turkey sausage.  Brown sausage, then add stock, beans, tomatoes, puree and pumpkin cubes. Bring to a boil, then add spices and beer. Simmer until pumpkin cubes are tender. Serve with yogurt and cilantro for garnish.

Oatmeal Bars with Sour Cherry Jam

I have a friend, Soraya, who loves to make jam. And the jams are, quite frankly, phenomenal. She is always kind enough to share them with us, and we love them. But, we don't eat a lot of jam. I use it more in recipes than just eating on toast or bread. 

I have a handful of recipes that call for jam (thumbprint cookies, trifle), but I wanted something that would complement this really unusual sour cherry jam she made us this year. I like the fact that it isn't overly sweet, and it made these almost taste like a filled granola bar. I think the beauty of this recipe is that I could substitute any jam for the filling, but the mixture of the sour cherries and garam masala was perfection.

Oatmeal Bars with Sour Cherry Jam

2 sticks butter, softened (1 cup)

1 3/4 cup oatmeal

1 3/4 cup flour

2/3 cup dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon garam masala

12 ounces sour cherry jam (or whatever kind you prefer)

Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, mix together the butter and the dry ingredients. Press half of this mixture into a 9 by 13 pan, to form a crust. Evenly spread the jam over the top of the crust. Gently sprinkle the remaining dry mixture evenly over the jam, and press down lightly to set. Bake 35-45 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting into squares.