12 Days of Christmas - Day 3

So, you've made a pie but have extra unbaked pie crust dough left over. "What to do?," you wonder. Well, take a little page out of my helpful tips and make Pie Crust Crisps.

Pie Crust Crisps (Something my mom made up as far as I can tell....she probably stole it from her mom.)

Leftover unbaked pie crust

Cinnamon and Sugar

Turn the oven to 375 degrees F. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin and use some flour to make sure the dough doesn't stick to the pin.

Once it is rather thin, cut strips of dough and place them on a cookie sheet. Add cinnamon and sugar and bake for about 15 minutes or until crisps are slightly golden brown. Enjoy.

Now if I can only figure out how to not get my hand all covered in flour......

Bake well and prosper!

12 Days of Christmas -Day 2

Did you realize that the 12 days of Christmas start ON Christmas, not before? I think I discovered this about 3 years ago. What a great idea!!! Why not prolong Christmas for as long as possible! This means more of a reason to make delicious desserts! Woohoo! (Obviously I've already had my fair share of sugar this season with all the !'s I just used in the past 4 sentences.)

Well, I have TWO special treats for you. 1. I am going to post an entry for the next 12 days and 2. My mother was guest baker for this entry!!!!!!!

She called me about 2 weeks before Christmas to ask what type of pie I wanted her to bake. Well, I prefer chocolate pies and my mom hardly makes that type. So, I requested that she make Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie. She's never made this before. I've never made it before (but to let you in a little secret.....I've NEVER made a pie before. I KNOW! Such a shock.)

Anyway, my mom was kind enough to try her hand at it AND she took pictures of the process!

Eggs plus sugar followed by mixing in the chocolate followed by the pie pre-heat.

But even better yet.....she took a picture of her mess! Awwww!

I know. Her mess is a lot more contained than mine, but hey! It's the thought that counts.

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie (from cooks.com)

1 9-inch unbaked pie shell

1 Cup Sugar

3 Tbsp. Cornstarch

3 eggs

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

2 Tbsp. bourbon

6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted

4 Tbsp. butter, melted

1 1/2 Cup pecans (Erika's Mom's Extra: She used only 1 C of pecans.)

Mix together sugar and cornstarch in large bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, mix. Add sweetened condensed milk, bourbon, chocolate, and butter. Mix well.

Pour into pie shell. Add the pecans in a circular design on top of pie. Bake for 45 minutes in 375 degree F oven. Serve with whipped cream if desired.

Bake well and propser!

Merry Christmas!

Once again, I decided to make some cake pops. I took the reindeer idea from bakerella's site and then made my snowmen with my own imagination. Awwwww!!!

But don't you worry. Even though it is Christmas, I still wasn't any less messy. In fact, here's a play by play of my messiness.

I didn't have any plastic gloves, so I had to shape the balls with my hands.

Oh my! Look at these messy hands. What shall I do?!

Well, lick it off of course! I don't want to be wasteful. ;)

Merry Christmas!

(See Who you calling turkey? post for recipe to cake pops.)

Bake well and prosper!

Orange you glad I posted this recipe?

I love how I decided the title of this post earlier today and then I was talking to my 5 year old nephew on the phone in the evening and he just discovered knock-knock jokes. And yep! He knew the banana, banana, banana, orange one. (And the impatient cow one - my fav! - which I was very proud of.)

Well, I will have some super glad co-workers now that they have access to this Orange Drop Cookie recipe (after the huge success at their debut at my office.)

But first! Let's discuss the whole "making it work in a small NYC apt" subtitle. There's not much space in a studio. And the extra space I DID have I definitely put to work as counter space. Last week for our office admins' holiday party, I volunteered to make some desserts for the occasion. (I know....so unlike me making desserts and all....ha!) So, I made Supernatural Brownies, Orange Drop Cookies, and Ritz Bark Cookies and in that order. Please see the counter space almost completely used after the second dessert was made: (WARNING – What you see may be frightening.)

Yes. I used the CLEAN lid of the trash can to prop my cook book up. And those brownies are on the dresser in my room…right by my make up. Yes. Totally lovely. This isn’t that bad actually. I didn’t even need to use my desk and there was still some room on the blue counter. I’ll start being scared when I have to use my bed (I’m thinking fondant might demand that.)

But don’t y’all worry. I made it work. Now it’s your turn.

Orange Drop Cookies (from my Mom’s Best Recipes Cookbook)
2/3 C butter
¾ C sugar
1 egg
½ C orange juice
2 T grated orange rind
2 C flour
½ t baking powder
½ t soda
½ t salt

Mix; drop on cookie sheet. Bake 375° about 8-10 minutes. Cool partially, then frost:
2 T soft butter
1 T grated orange rind
2 T orange juice
2 C powdered sugar

Blend and spread on cookies when they are mostly cooled.

Erika’s Extra’s: Buy 3 oranges just to be safe. Make sure the cookies are almost completely cooled so the frosting won’t run off them.

Bake well and prosper!

First Celebrity Blogger Sighting!

Ok...so a couple of months ago the lovely people that run www.cakewrecks.com (my fav!) were doing a book signing tour and a cupcake wreck contest along with it. I was SOOOOO excited to buy the book, get it signed, meet Jen (and hubby), and present my cupcake cakewreck wrecklica when disaster struck their tour and they had to reschedule it. They rescheduled it to the EXACT time that I had tickets to see South Pacific with my mom. Well, sorry cakewrecks, I love ya....but I love me some musicals and my mommy more. *tear*

Alright....moving ahead a couple of weeks and through the sappiness..... I was Christmas gift shopping in Borders at Columbus Circle yesterday and they announced that Ree Drummond would be doing a book signing. Ree's blog is lovely! http://thepioneerwoman.com/ Lots of people love her pictures and recipes. But me? I loved her Black Heels to Tractor Wheels part. About 45 chapters on how she met, fell in love with, and married a cowboy. Man....that helped me spend some downtown in a great quality way. You know....the romantic comedy quality kind of way.

Unfortunately, I couldn't stay for her whole talk since my company had their holdiay party the night before. (Which equals me not getting enough sleep and being super duper tired.)

But, I snagged a quick picture with my blackberry before I left. :) First famous blogger sighting! Woohoo!

PS I also spotted Ted Danson this week on the street. I don't know who I was more excited to have seen.

Bake well and prosper!