Nutella Balls

Christmas is coming and I love to bake all sorts of goodies to enjoy over the holidays. I've been meaning to try these for a while and I'm glad I did, they're really good. This is basically just peanut butter balls but using Nutella instead of PB.

Nutella Balls

1 cup nutella

1/2 jar marshmallow creme

1/2 cup coconut

1/2 cup chopped peanuts (or other nuts)

1 1/2 cups Rice Krispies cereal

Gently mix all of the ingredients together. Roll into balls and freeze for about an hour. They are a little stubborn when trying to shape them into balls but it does work. I find freezing them makes it easier to cover in the chocolate. Melt milk chocolate for dipping. I add shortening to make the chocolate thin enough for dipping.

There are two ways you can cool the nutella balls after you've dipped them in the chocolate. The easiest method (but not the prettiest) is to simply set them on wax paper to cool, but you get the pool of chocolate which isn't a huge deal but again, not as attractive.

The second method is to poke a toothpick or a lollopop stick into the ball, after you've dipped the ball in the chocolate you want poke the the other end in florists foam or styro foam. This allows the chocolate to dry without sitting on anything thus leaving you with a perfectly shaped Nutella ball. And if you use the lollipop sticks you have a really pretty way of presenting them!

I looked over a few recipes and basically just took a little from all of them to come up with this, so feel free to change things as you see fit.

Enjoy!

Tina

Broiled Butter Chicken

This is a recipe that sounds too simple to be good but it really is! This recipe is for the chicken but you really need to serve it with boiled potatoes so you can drizzle the sauce over top of them. This recipe is made slightly different by almost any mennonite that makes this, some do more butter, some do less. Others don't add raisins, some do. As long as you have some butter and salt, you should have a great flavor that you can adjust to your families likings.


Broiled Butter Chicken
1 chicken, cut into pieces
1/4 - 1/2 cup butter
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper or to taste
1 cup raisins
1 cup water

Add this to a larger pot and bring to a gentle boil. Let the chicken simmer for about an hour keeping an eye on the broth. You might have to add more water towards the end but you really don't want too much in there. When the chicken is done you should have just enough broth to use as your "gravy" for the potatoes. If cooked correctly the butter and water will have slightly thickened giving you a finger licking good meal! I always serve this with cooked carrots and Party Pickles.


Now some of you might be thinking that this recipe doesn't look very appetizing, try it, you might be pleasantly surprised.


Thanks for stopping by!
Tina

Macarons

This recipe is definitely a simple one when it comes to ingredients. Only four things go into it to make such a delicate cookie. Egg whites, sugar, icing sugar and almond flour.

Macarons

You can find many recipes online when it comes to the macaron. Since eggs can vary in size I liked just using a ratio of weight according to however many egg whites I'm using:

1 : 2 : .5 : 1.10

Egg whites : Icing Sugar : Granulated Sugar : Almond meal/flour

( So if I had 50g of egg white it would be two times that for the icing sugar at 100g and 25g for the granulated sugar and 55g for the almond flour. Hope that makes sense) If you don't have a kitchen scale you should get one, it makes things so much easier. I tell my husband all the time how much I love mine.

For the almond flour I used whole almonds that I ground up in my magic bullet. This can lead to moist flour so do it ahead of time so they can dry a little bit. I put mine in the oven at the lowest temperature setting and let it dry for awhile. Since this recipe is very temperamental when it comes to moisture content.

The egg whites should be aged for a few days to allow for some of the moisture to evaporate. You can leave them in the fridge for a few days or if it doesn't bother you on the counter loosely covered for a day or two. Some would argue that this step is unnecessary. You could try both ways and see what works for you.

1. Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl.

If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.

2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks.

Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.

*This is very important that it be very stiff. You have to be able to turn the bowl upside down without the meringue falling out.

3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t over fold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.

* I put about half in and then added the rest. I read a few people say at first you want to fold quite vigorously to incorporate it fast. Some people found it helpful to count how many times they fold so that they were more in control. I think I did it around 30 times. The look you're going for is a magma consistency. Not too runny but not too stiff. I just guessed.

4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip . You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.

5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).

* I used parchment paper that I had drawn circles on one side and then turned it over so that I had a guide to make uniform sizes.

* It is also recommended that you bang the pan on the counter to let any air bubbles out and so the any bits of almond meal settle more to the bottom so you can get that smooth top.

* It is best to leave them on the counter for at least half an hour to two hours so that the shell can form a little bit on top.

6. I baked mine at 300F for twenty minutes.

* A good tip is to double up on the baking sheet to get better temperature control.

* My first pan I piped too many on and they didn't bake as well as the second pan. They stuck to the pan probably because they weren't quit as done yet. I just sprayed a light mist of water under the parchment paper after to remove them easily.

7. Cool on a rack before filling.

I used a ganache to fill them using a 2-1 ratio of chocolate to cream. Boil the cream and pour over the chocolate. Let stand for a few minutes then stir until the chocolate is melted. Put it in the fridge to set. If it gets to hard warm it just for a few seconds in the microwave.

Pipe a nice size on half of cookies and sandwich together. They are best if you leave them in the fridge for a few days before consuming. Just let them come to room temperature first. I of course sampled some everyday.

Now it may look way more complicated than it really is. Once you have everything in order it really is very simple.

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Strawberry Jelly Roll

This recipe is so simple, it literally took me minutes from start to finish! This is not one of those superb recipes that you would find in a bakery, but rather a quick easy jelly roll that my kids gobble up in one sitting, lol. And those are the recipes that I find I always fall back on when I'm in need of something quick.

Strawberry Jelly Roll

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

Strawberry Glaze prepared according to pkg directions.

Preheat oven to 400F. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. Add eggs and vanilla, beat well. Pour into a well greased jelly roll pan and bake for about 5-10 minutes until golden (I use wax paper to line the bottom of my pan, it makes removal a lot easier!). Immediately turn onto a damp tea towel and roll up jelly roll style. Allow time to cool, then unroll and spread with the strawberry jelly already prepared. Now roll it up again without the tea towel. Give it some time to cool and enjoy!

Tina

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

I'm not normally a fan of peanut butter but I knew my kids (and husband, lol) would love these so I thought I'd give them a try. I was impressed with their taste. For those peanut butter lovers out there they have a really nice nutty flavor. I think next time I might consider using only half the peanut butter, I think it would give a milder cupcake. I love foods with the perfect hint of something special.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

1/3 cup butter

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350F. Beat together the butter, peanut butter and sugar. Beat in egg and add vanilla. In a seperate bowl combine the dry ingredients and add alternately with the milk. Spoon into medium cupcake liners and bake for about 15 minutes or until done.

I like to use medium liners just because I think it's the perfect ammount for the kids, not enough to spoil supper and I love the smaller size for myself as well. This recipe makes 24 medium cupcakes at 133 calories each, frosting adds about 20-30calories.

Frosting:

1 envelope Dream Whip topping mix

1 1/2 cups cold milk

1 Box of butter pecan instant pudding (4 serving)

1 tsp vanilla

Mix together and beat until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes. I love this frosting for how light and low calorie it is. I find cakes can easily become too sweet so I like to use frostings that have a lighter taste to them.

Enjoy!

Tina

Party Pickles

My Mother-in-law gave me this recipe a few years back and it's still a great recipe for canning pickles. We use this as a side dish (instead of a salad) to a broiled chicken recipe that I'll post one of these days. This recipe has a lot of resting time in it, so while it make take you all day to make, it's not hands on the entire time.

Party Pickles

6 litres sliced fresh pickling cucumbers

6 medium onions, sliced

1 medium cauliflower, chopped into bite size pieces

Sliced carrots ( I would do about 2 or 3 but you can adjust to your family's liking)

1-2 red bell peppers, sliced

3 garlic cloves

3 trays ice cubes

Mix and let stand for 3 hours, drain in a colander for 2 1/2 =3 hours

Pickling Juice

5 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp turmic

2 tbsp mustard seed

1 1/2 tsp celery seed

3 cups vinegar

Boil together for a few minutes then add to pickles. Bring this to a boil. Ladel into sterilized jars and seal in a water bath.

Enjoy!

Tina

Sweet & Sour Sausage

This is a recipe that I found years ago in a church cookbook. It's actually very easy throw together and different then always beef or chicken. The original recipe says to bake this for 30 minutes after you add all the ingredients but I find it works just as well and it's quicker to leave it in my cast iron pot and let it simmer for 15 minutes.

Sweet & Sour Sausage

1-2 lbs smoked mennonite sausages

14 oz canned sliced peaches

1/2 sugar

1 tsp curry (I didn't have any and it still tasted really good)

1/2 cup chili sauce

1/2 pasta sauce

1/2 cup ketchup

1 envelope onion soup mix

Cut sausage into bite size pieces and brown sausage . Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes. Serve over rice.

*You can also place in a casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes covered, removed lid and bake another 15 minutes. The original recipes says to add 1 cup in total of either chili sauce, tomato paste or pasta sauce. I like to do 1/2 cup chili sauce and 1/2 cup pasta sauce but if you don't have both you really could get away with one or the other.

**Edit: For those of you that have tried my enchilada sauce recipe, I recently realized that I forgot to list one ingredient, chili powder! So if you thought they were really bland, try them again but only this time add 2 tbsp chili powder. Sorry about that!

Thanks for stopping by.

Tina

Refried Bean Pockets

These little pockets are so easy to make, at least if you happen to have the ingredients in your pantry. I make my own pinto beans almost on a weekly basis and so it's super easy for me to turn them into refried beans, and I almost always have corn flour on hand. The dough is made using corn flour which you can find it in any Mexican import store. I forgot to check the bag before I threw it out as to how much water to add to the dough so you will have to eye it until you get a nice pliable dough.

Tortilla dough:

2 cups corn flour (Maseca)

2 tbsp white flour

1 tsp salt

about 3/4-1 cup water

Mix together and keep adding water until you have a dough similar to play dough, maybe a little softer. You can size these to your personal preference but I like my pockets to be a smaller size. I make the dough into about 1 1/2" balls and flatten them with a tortilla press. If you don't own one of these handy little things, you could also just use a plate to flatten them between two sheets of plastic. (I simply cut the sides of a medium ziplock bag and press inbetween) After you've flattened a ball of the dough, add about a heaping tbsp of bean filling and gently press the sides together, being careful not to get the bean dip coming out the sides. Once you have them sealed you want to deep fry them until golden brown in colour.

You really could fill them with whatever filling you want, but my husband grew up with the bean dip variety and so that's what I make. I usually get about 20 pockets out of this recipe

Enjoy!

Tina