So here goes! Here are the National Food Holidays for the first week of January:
January 1st: Apple Gifting Day
Apples
are not just for giving to teachers.
They are a great gift to anyone.
So let's start the new year off by making a classic caramel apple.
To
make six caramel apples, take a 14-ouce package of caramels and 2 tablespoons
of milk, heat over a double boiler or two to three minutes in a microwave-safe
bowl in the micro wave. Prepare the
apples ahead of time by washing, removing the stem, and pressing a craft stick
in the top through the core but not all the way to the bottom. When the caramels have melted, roll the
apples in the melted caramel and place on a piece of wax paper. If desired, roll the apples in crushed
candies or nuts. Be creative.
Consider
making enough to give to your co-workers when you return to work the day after
New Year's Day. Wrap each caramel apple
in wax paper (a 6x6 square will do the trick!) and then carefully place in a
cellophane food gift bag and tie shut.
Refrigerate the apples to keep them from getting sticky.
And
if you're looking for a way to chase away that New Year's Eve hang-over, how
about trying an Caramel Apple Martini -- 2 ounces of caramel infused vodka, 1
ounce of Sour Apple Schnapps, and 1/2 and ounce of sweet and sour mix. Shake with ice, strain, and garnish with a
slice of Granny Smith or McIntosh apple.
January 2nd: National Cream Puff Day
Mmmm-Mmmm-Mmmm! I love cream puffs! So let's make a basic choux or cream puff
pastry. This pastry is the basis for so
many different pastries -- éclairs, croquembouches, profiteroles, crullers,
beignets...to name a few.
Ingredients:
1/2
cup of butter
1
cup of water
1/2
teaspoon of salt
1
cup of all-purpose flour
4
eggs
1. Preheat oven to 425° Fahrenheit. In a large pot, bring butter & water to
a rolling boil. Stir in flour & salt
until the mixture forms a ball.
2. Remove from pot and place in a mixing
bowl. With either a wooden spoon or a
stand mixer, beat in eggs, one egg at a time making sure to mix thoroughly
before adding another.
3. Drop pastry mixture by tablespoonfuls onto
ungreased baking sheet.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden
brown. The centers should be dry. When pastry is cool, split and fill with your
favorite pudding or custard.
January 3rd: Chocolate Covered Cherry Day
As
if you haven't had enough chocolate covered cherries during the holidays, here
comes a special day just for them! I
must admit that I love chocolate covered cherries. And one of my favorite cookie recipes is a
chocolate covered cherry cookie. This
cookie is a basic chocolate butter thumbprint cookie with a twist -- in the
"thumbprint" you place a maraschino cherry. After you bake the cookies & they cool,
you ice them with chocolate frosting with a little bit of maraschino cherry
juice for flavoring. Tastes just like a
chocolate covered cherry when you bit into them.
Ingredients:
1
1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2
cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2
cup of butter or margarine, softened
1
cup of sugar
1/4
teaspoon of salt
1/4
teaspoon of baking powder
1/4
teaspoon of baking soda
1
egg
1/2
teaspoons of vanilla extract
10
ounce jar of maraschino cherries without stems -- about 48
6
ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2
cup of sweetened condensed milk
reserved
maraschino cherry juice
Directions: Preheat oven to 350° F. In a small mixing bowl combine the flour,
cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter or
margarine and sugar together until well combined. Add the egg and vanilla. Beat well.
Gradually beat in the flour mixture.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls; place on an ungreased baking sheet. Press down the center of each ball with your
thumb. Drain maraschino cherries,
reserving juice. Place a cherry in the
center of each cookie. Bake in 350° F
oven about 10 minutes or until done.
Remove to wire rack & cool.
In a small saucepan, combine the chocolate pieces & sweetened
condenses milk; heat until the chocolate is melted. Stir in 4 teaspoons of the reserved cherry
juice. Frost each cookie. Makes 48 cookies.
Enjoy!
January 4th: National Spaghetti Day
I
am going to defer to my husband for this National Spaghetti Day offering. He makes the best spaghetti sauce. The big joke in our family is that when our
children come home for a visit they ask their father to cook their favorite
meal -- not me! I guess I'm the
baker! One of my first memories of my
husband's cooking was a ragu that he cooked.
It was a hardy sauce with meat that he served with egg noodles. It was one of his "go to" meals
when he was in graduate school -- cheap & filling! Here's one of his recipes for fresh tomato
sauce that can be the base for your own spaghetti sauce.
Step 1: Two pounds of Roma
tomatoes, half of a sweet onion (chopped), a couple cloves of garlic, fresh
basil, fresh Greek oregano, salt, pepper and a little water. Simmer on low for about 30 minutes until all
of the vegetables are cooked and soft.
Step 2: Cool the cooked sauce and blend in food
processor.
Step 3: Store in canning jars in refrigerator and use
as needed. If not used within a week,
freeze in air-tight containers.
January 5th: National Whipped Cream Day
Wow! What an interesting day! Now there's a garnish that you don't talk
about very much -- whipped cream. So to
start off with, let's talk about the basic recipe for homemade whipped
cream. It's really not that hard to make
and it's a lot better than the canned or frozen version! Plus you can flavor it however you want! The key to good whipped cream is a chilled
bowl and beaters. Whip 1 cup of heavy
cream, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1 to 2 tablespoon of confectioners' or
granulated sugar, and a pinch of salt until soft peaks form. You can adjust the sweetness of the whipped
cream by reducing the amount of sugar used.
Flavored
whipped cream works well with different types of desserts. For example, use a bourbon flavored whipped
cream for chocolate, coffee, nut, pumpkin, and vanilla desserts. To make bourbon flavored whipped cream,
substitute brown sugar for the sugar, reduce the vanilla by a 1/2 teaspoon,
delete the pinch of salt, and add 1 tablespoon of bourbon. Consider using a Chinese Five-Spice flavored
whipped cream for chocolate, coffee, pumpkin, sweet potato and vanilla
desserts. Omit the vanilla extract and
pinch of salt and add a 1/4 of a teaspoon of Chinese Five-Spice. For a holiday whipped cream that you can use
on pumpkin or sweet potato pies or as a topping for holiday coffee or hot
chocolate, make a holiday spice whipped cream by omitting the vanilla extract
and pinch of salt and adding 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and a 1/2 of a teaspoon of
ground nutmeg. For a light addition to
your Spring desserts such as pound cakes and fresh fruit, consider making a
lavender flavored whipped cream by omitting the vanilla & pinch of salt and
adding 3 tablespoons of dried culinary lavender. Consider garnishing the whipped cream with
dried or fresh lavender. And finally,
for a luxurious sweet & salty whipped cream that goes great with pecan pie
or on top of a caramel sundae, make a salty caramel whipped cream. Omit the vanilla, increase the salt to 1/2 of
a teaspoon, and add 1 tablespoon of caramel sauce after you have whipped the
cream continuing to whip the cream until stiff but creamy.
January 6th: National Shortbread Day
How
decadent and prim and proper is a beautifully simple shortbread! When we think of shortbread, we think of high
tea & Downton Abbey. So get your
"English" on, make a basic shortbread cookie and enjoy them with some
tea at high noon! Here's a basic
shortbread recipe to get you started:
Ingredients:
2
cups of all-purpose flour
1/2
teaspoon of salt
3/4
of a cup of confectioners' sugar
1
teaspoon of vanilla extract
1
cup (2 sticks) of butter (not margarine), at room temperature
Directions: In a food processor, pulse together the
flour, salt, sugar, vanilla & butter just until a dough is formed. Place dough on a sheet of plastic wrap and
roll into a log about 2 1/2-inches in diameter.
Tightly twist each end of the wrap and chill for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375° F. Slice the log into 1/3-inch thick disks. Place on parchment paper or silpat lined
baking sheets two inches apart. Bake
until the edges are just brown, about 12 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes and then
transfer to wire racks to cool.
For
a fun twist, make tea shortbread that matches the tea you plan to drink with
your shortbread cookies. For example, if
you like Earl Grey tea, add 2 tablespoons of loose Earl Grey tea leaves to the
flour and salt and pulse until the tea is finely ground and incorporated into
the flour before you add the sugar, vanilla & butter. This works with any kind of tea that you like
to drink.
January 7th: National Tempura Day
I
have found some interesting information about tempura. Of course, we associate tempura with Chinese
food. However, the technique of tempura
originated with the Portuguese who landed in China in the sixteenth century. Their cooking technique influenced Chinese
cooking. Also, tempura comes from the
Latin word meaning "Ember days" which referred to the days that
Catholics had to eat fish or vegetables and could not eat meat. A basic tempura batter is 2 egg yolks, 1 cup
of cold water, and 1 cup of flour. You
start by breaking the eggs and separating the yolks & the whites. Place the yolks in a bowl and slowly add the
cold water beating with a fork. Then
slowly add the flour, again beating with a fork. The batter should be slightly lumpy. Dip your favorite cut-up or sliced vegetables
or shrimp into the tempura batter and deep fry until golden brown. A cup of molasses, a cup of ketchup, a 1/2
cup of orange juice, a teaspoon of ground ginger, and 2 tablespoons of chopped
green onions combined together makes a great sauce to dip your tempura in.
I hope you'll enjoy at least one of the recipes during this first week of the New Year!
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