My Mom's Gingerbread Men Cookies

Today is the Friday before Christmas, and I am finishing up all my last minute baking, shopping, and wrapping of gifts. It is the perfect time to finally share one of my favorite holiday traditions...my mom's gingerbread men cookies.

These cookies have been part of my family's holidays for my entire life. My mom started baking them with my Great-Aunt Lena when my mom was a small child. When I was growing up, mom made them three times a year...a huge batch at Halloween for the neighborhood children in addition to candy for trick-or-treating, another huge batch for Christmas, and the third batch for Valentine's Day. Each student in my class and the classes of both of my sisters received a cookie with our handwritten valentines. I loved them for each of these holidays, but my favorite was eating gingerbread men at Christmas. One of these soft, cake-like cookies with a hot cup of tea just screams Christmas morning to me.

Now, my mom, has a hard time getting around without a walker and our "new" tradition is for my mom and me to make the cookies together. I prepare the dough, she cuts out as many gingerbread men as she can before she gets tired, I finish, bake, and then, together, we decorate. We make about 125 cookies at a time, and then my mom divides them up among family and friends who eagerly await the gingerbread men delivery.

These are not fancy cookies. The old gingerbread man cutter has been used by my mom for over 70 years. We decorate them the same way every year...no exceptions. Red hot candies for the eyes? Check. A dab of buttercream frosting on the head to make a jaunty hat? Check? Another blob of frosting for the tummy to make a winter sweater? Check. Red hot or raisins dotted down the front for buttons? Check. More frosting on the hands and feet to replicate mittens and stockings? Check. No changes...ever! My family would revolt.

Maybe these cookies can become part of your family tradition. That would make my mom very, very happy. Happiest of Holidays to you and yours. See you in 2018!

My Mom's Gingerbread Men Cookies
(Yield depends on the size of cutter. My mom's makes 14 cookies per batch)

1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
3 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp white vinegar
1 jar red hot candies
Buttercream frosting (recipe follows)


In the bowl of a mixer, cream shortening until light and fluffy. (about 3 minutes) Gradually add brown sugar and beat until thoroughly incorporated. Add molasses and beat until incorporated.

In a small bowl, sift together 1 1/4 cups flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger. Gradually add dry ingredients to molasses bowl with mixer running at low speed until just mixed.

Add vinegar to mixing bowl and, with mixer running at slow speed, add remaining 2 1/2 cups flour (1/4 cup at a time) alternating with buttermilk until just mixed. Pat dough into a disk, cover with plastic wrap and chill dough for a minimum of 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 2 cookie sheets with cooking spray and set aside.

Cut dough in half and roll one of the halves 1/4  inch thick on a lightly floured board. Dip cutter in flour and press into dough making as many cookies as you can. Reroll scraps and repeat. Repeat with second dough half. Place cookies on to cookie sheets, add two red-hots per cookie to represent eyes and bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes depending on how soft you want your cookies to be. 
Check after 10 minutes. The cookies should be lightly browned on the bottom but still soft. They will firm up as they cool. Transfer to racks and allow to cool completely before decorating.

Classic Buttercream Frosting

3 3/4 cups Confectioners Sugar (1 lb. box)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

pinch salt
3 to 4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

food grade dye in holiday colors. We use red, green, and white

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer at low speed, combine sugar, butter, salt, milk, and vanilla. Beat at medium speed 1 to 2 minutes, until creamy. If desired, add more milk until frosting is spreading consistency.

Decorate the cookies any way you like.

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So, you still have time to whip up a batch or two (or eight like in my family) If not, there is always Valentine's Day!

With my Mom and sisters at a holiday tea this year. I am the one in white

best,

1. diane
   napa farmhouse 1885
   

   red or green? 

   California Girl in Taos
   

   MoseyLove
   
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Peach & Blackberry Cake with Brown Butter Glaze

I'm back....and I brought cake!

It has been over a year since my last post. I really missed you guys. The past year has been crazy. I spent nine months as the Acting Executive Director of our local animal shelter and worked 70 hour work weeks during that time. It was supposed to be a two-three month assignment but went three times as long. Then, just as the new director was hired, I fell in love with a very shy, scared, formally abused dog that I just had to adopt. (Of course, I fell in love with every dog and cat in the shelter, but this one ripped my heart out.)

The boys watching me get ready. Jax is one the right.

So I have spent most of the summer working to develop a bond with our newest dog (Jax.) It has been a long and sometimes painful process. He is terrified of men, and I am working with the shelter's trainer to establish trust between Jax and my husband. Very slow going, so please keep this sweet boy in your thoughts. The best thing for all of us is to live our lives as normally as possible so he gets used to being part of a family...I am blogging today while both dogs sleep at my side...and my husband watches football. Pure happiness.

Yesterday was Saturday, and there was a hint of Fall's crispness in the air. Our local farmers' market carried beautiful peaches and the sweetest blackberries I have ever tasted. Nothing to do but bake a cake, right? I am always happy when cooking or baking so having the time to hang out in the kitchen for the day was a gift. Cake, homemade pasta, homemade pesto sauce, salad from ingredients grown in our garden...perfect day.

I have baked all of my life but, after moving to Taos, New Mexico with our 7000 ft elevation, I was lost. I didn't know how to make my tried and true recipes work with our higher altitude and needed help from numerous online sources and cookbooks. This cake is an adaptation from one of my favorite bloggers, Mountain Mama Cooks. Her recipes are tailored for cooking in the mountains. I tend to pick something from her blog as a starting point and either make it exactly as is...or try some slight tweaking. I used her Apple-Spice Bundt Cake with Brown Butter Frosting and substituted peaches and blackberries for some of the apple. Delicious. *** BTW, this one is not a high-altitude recipe so it should work for anyone at sea level. AND, I did not need to make any adjustments so higher elevation friends...you are in luck too. Enjoy!

Peach & Blackberry Cake with Brown Butter Glaze
(adapted from the Mountain Mama Cooks blog)

Ingredients:

2 cups white, unbleached flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups diced fresh peaches

1 pint blackberries

1 Granny Smith apple1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 eggs
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees. Grease a 12-cup bundt pan. Set aside

In a medium size bowl, sift together unbleached flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves; set aside. 

In a small bowl toss peaches, blackberries, apple, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar; set aside.

In a large bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat together both sugars and oil. Add one egg at a time incorporating each one thoroughly. Mix in vanilla extract and apple cider. Slowly stir in flour mixture into wet batter stirring just to combine. Fold in fruit and any juices that have accumulated. 

Pour batter into the prepared bundt pan. Bake in preheated oven on the middle rack for 55-60 minutes or until cake is done. (Mine took exactly 55 minutes.) Test using a cakes tester or thin chopstick. Cake is done when tester comes out clean.  Remove from oven and let cool in pan on a baking rack for 10 minutes before turning out of pan. While cake cools, prepare glaze.

For the Glaze:

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3-4 tablespoons milk

In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat until light brown in color, 8-10 minutes. (It took me 7 minutes. Maybe my heat was higher?) Remove pan from heat and pour butter into a bowl. Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and 3 tablespoons milk; stir until smooth. If the icing is too thick, add the remaining tablespoon milk, a little at a time, until consistency is spreadable. Let cool 5 minutes. Then use immediately and pour over warm cake. Frosting will harden as cake cools.

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Additional peach recipes you may enjoy:

• fresh peach cookies
• fresh peach and coconut cake
• healthy peach crisp smoothie
• kale and rainbow chard salad with peaches, blackberries & pine nuts

best,

diane

napa farmhouse 1885

red or green? 

California Girl in Taos

MoseyLove

napa farmhouse 1885

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Three Cake Recipes To Get You Through Till Spring

Ahh..it is March 15th today, only five days till spring! So, of course, we need cake to get us through. Here are three of my favorite recipes. Perfect for these last chilly days with a cup of tea...wonderful in summer with fresh fruit topping. Which one is your favorite?

Meyer Lemon Marmalade Cake (just happens to be vegan)

(with Strawberry/Balsamic Sauce)

For the cake:

3 2/3 cups organic unbleached flour

2 cups sugar (organic will really make a difference)

1 tsp salt

2 tsp alum free baking powder

2 cups cold water

1/2 cup plus 2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp pure vanilla extract (I use Tahitian vanilla)

Meyer lemon marmalade syrup

2 cups organic sugar
zest from 1 Meyer lemon, plus 3/4 cup fresh Meyer lemon juice
2 cups water

2 tbsp Meyer lemon marmalade

Combine sugar, zest, and 2 cups water in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar has completely dissolved. Bring to a boil. Turn off heat and allow syrup to come to room temperature (keep in the saucepan). When completely cool, pour through a strainer into a small bowl (throw away strainer contents). Stir in Meyer lemon juice and marmalade.

Strawberry/Balsamic sauce

2 1/2 cups fresh strawberries

1 1/2 tbsp organic brown sugar

One tsp orange zest

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

a handful of fresh mint for garnish, rough chop

(I use this sauce all summer on cakes, pancakes, waffles, ice cream, fresh fruit. .etc. feel free to substitute other berries..whatever you like)

Wash, stem and puree 2 cups of the strawberries in a blender or food processor. Add the brown sugar, orange zest, pepper and balsamic vinegar and puree until almost smooth. Pour into serving bowl. Slice the remaining 1/2 cup berries and add to bowl. Taste and add a bit more sugar if needed...total amount will depend on how sweet your berries are.

step 1...make cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil and flour a bundt pan and set aside. Combine the water, e.v.o.o., vinegar and vanilla in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients...do not skip the sifting, you want all the small lumps removed... add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir with a wooden spoon until combined. (do not over-mix). Bake in preheated oven approx. 45 min-1 hour. Start checking at 45 minutes...when a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean...the cake is finished. Remove from oven and place on rack. Let cool for 10 minutes.

step 2

Turn out the cake from bundt pan onto a serving plate. Using a toothpick, poke a number of holes in cake top. Using a large spoon, drizzle Meyer lemon marmalade syrup onto cake top, about 1 to 1 1/2 cups in total. Cake should look really moist...not soggy. Allow to cool completely. garnish cake with large pieces of lemon peel from the marmalade (I just use a fork to strain out from the syrup mixture)

step 3

To serve, slice cake and plate...either spoon strawberry/balsamic sauce around cake...or serve plain and pass the sauce separately. Top serving with a sprinkle of mint...as my friend Richard says.."the mint is key...it wakes up the entire mouth."

Vegan Chocolate Cake with Balsamic & Olive Oil

I am resharing one of my go-to recipes, Vegan Chocolate Cake.  This recipe was inspired from the Moosewood Restaurant Book*Desserts. I substituted balsamic vinegar and olive oil, doubled the ingredients and turned it into a bundt cake. Regular readers know how often I use in-season fresh figs in my recipes, but this cake is very adaptable. If figs are out of season, or you do not like them..leave them out or use dried dates. This is one of those *just happens to be vegan* recipes. I did not start out with that as a goal but hey! Don't tell your non-vegan friends. They will never know!

3 cups unbleached flour (organic if possible)

2/3 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (best quality)

1 tsp salt

2 cups organic sugar 

2 tsp baking soda

1 3/4 cups cold water

1/4 cup cold coffee (just use your leftovers from breakfast)

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp plus 1 tsp balsamic vinegar of Modena 

1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup fresh figs, stems removed..figs finely chopped (or use dates when figs are out of season)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease (use olive oil) a bundt pan and set aside. Sift flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda together in a bowl. In a large mixing bowl combine the remaining ingredients (except figs) and mix well. You can use a mixer..but I just use a wooden spoon and do this by hand. Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and stir until just combined..do not over-mix. Add the figs and stir again until incorporated into the batter. Pour into prepared bundt pan and bake approximately one hour until a cake tester inserted into the center of cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool until just slightly warm. Remove from pan and allow to cool completely.

You can drizzle your favorite chocolate glaze over cooled cake or sprinkle with powdered sugar...this recipe also make delicious cupcakes.

One more favorite recipe:

• pumpkin & chocolate chip cake

It is Cake week at Food Network's Comfort Food Feast roundup. Do you have a favorite cake recipe to share? Please list (or link) in the comments below. And be sure to check out the other delicious sounding recipes from my blogger friends and Food Network. 

Homemade Delish: No-Bake Mascarpone Cheesecake in a Cup
Creative Culinary: St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake
Napa Farmhouse 1885: Three Cake Recipes To Get You Through Till Spring
Red or Green: Spiced Gingerbread Cake
Healthy Eats: 5 Cupcakes That Are Secretly Lighter
In Jennie's Kitchen: Dark Chocolate Brownies
The Mom 100: Raspberry Streusel Coffee Cake with Sweet Vanilla Drizzle
FN Dish: 5 Stunning Cakes with Sky-High Fan Reviews

best,

diane

napa farmhouse 1885

red or green? 

California Girl in Taos

MoseyLove

napa farmhouse 1885

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I have started sharing my newest blog "California Girl in Taos."  Please visit and let me know what you think.

Easy 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Balls

I like to have easy, delicious and healthy snacks available to grab whenever I am hungry but too busy to make a proper meal. These peanut butter balls perfectly fit the bill. Three ingredients; peanut butter, coconut, and dark chocolate, (a pinch of salt is optional) provide a guilt free and satisfying treat that keeps me full for hours.

These easy-breezy balls require no more work than mixing peanut butter and coconut together, forming the balls, chilling and dipping into melted chocolate chips. Allow to chill and they are ready to pop in your mouth. I often make a double batch and keep in the fridge for up to a week. Mid morning snack? Yes. A couple for lunch? Of course.  Afternoon treat? OK. Dessert? Absolutely. Enjoy!

Easy 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Balls
(makes 12)

2 cups freshly ground peanut butter, room temperature (I grind my peanut butter fresh using the machines at the market)
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
10 oz best quality dark chocolate chips (I like the Chocolove dark chocolate chips brand)
1/2 tsp salt (optional and makes this a 4 ingredient dish!)

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Place peanut butter and coconut in a medium bowl and mix together. Taste and add salt if desired. Using an ice cream scoop, melon baller or 2 spoons, create 12 balls. Add balls to prepared baking sheet and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Melt chocolate in the top pan of a double boiler. Dip ball with a fork into melted chocolate. Let excess drip off and add back to baking sheet.  Refrigerate balls until firm (a minimum of 2 hours).
Serve. Will keep for one week covered and refrigerated.

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Other peanut butter recipes you may enjoy:

• my gran's peanut butter cookies
• pb&j cookies
• whole wheat pasta with spicy spinach & peanut butter pesto
• thai red curry & peanut vegetable stew

It is Peanut Butter week at Food Network's Comfort Food Feast roundup. Do you have a favorite peanut butter recipe to share? Please list (or link) in the comments below. And be sure to check out the other delicious sounding recipes from my blogger friends and Food Network. 

The Lemon Bowl: Peanut Butter Magic Shell
Feed Me Phoebe: Healthy Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Bars
Big Girls, Small Kitchen: Peanut Butter Crispy Bars
The Mom 100: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Napa Farmhouse 1885: Easy 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Balls
The Wimpy Vegetarian: Winter Kale, Apple and Mint Salad with Thai Peanut Dressing
Healthy Eats: 5 Healthier Ways to Enjoy Peanut Butter for Dessert
FN Dish: 6 Foods That Belong with Peanut Butter

best,

diane

napa farmhouse 1885

red or green? 

California Girl in Taos

MoseyLove

napa farmhouse 1885

Promote Your Page Too

I have started sharing my newest blog "California Girl in Taos."  Please visit and let me know what you think.