chocolate-dipped almond crescent cookies

One of my favourite things about the Christmas season is baking family recipes.  No surprise there. Ha!  I know a lot of "Christmas-y" baking is often finicky and/or expensive, which is why it's such a special treat.  Now these cookies aren't particularly hard to make, but they do take quite a while.  There's dough chilling involved (oh the horror!), rolling out tiny pieces of dough, baking, and then dipping.  Did I mention that this recipe makes a million cookies?  You might be so sick of rolling and dipping by the end that you'll have to console yourself by eating all of the cookies!

But these are totally worth it, I promise!  The way they melt in your mouth is just divine, and the cinnamon sugar adds the most wonderful texture too. 

This recipe is one of my Grandma's, which means it's extra special when we make it.  She still has it on her baking trays, my mom and my aunt both bake it too, and I know that it'll be a recipe tradition that I'll carry on as well.  So, without further ado, here is the recipe for Almond Crescent cookies!

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Chocolate-Dipped Almond Crescent Cookies

recipe: Grandma Holloway
yields: approx. 50 cookies (depending on the size)

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix together the butter, sugar, and ground almonds thoroughly.

In a small bowl, sift together the flour and salt.  Then, add to butter mixture, mixing until combined.

Cover dough with plastic wrap, and chill for about an hour.  This is to make the dough easier to roll out!

Roll dough into tiny logs about the length of your index finger, and the same diameter as a pencil, so pretty small!  (You can make them larger if you wish, although you may need to adjust the baking time accordingly.)  We used the method of rolling the dough into small balls to get the dough to come together nicely, and then rolled them into little logs. (See pictures below.)

In a small bowl, combine cinnamon and sugar.  Roll the logs around in the cinnamon and sugar mixture until well coated.  Gently bend each of the logs into a crescent shape, and place on a pan lined with parchment or a silicone baking mat.  

Bake at 325 degrees for 14-16 minutes.

If you want to dip your cookies, warm up your chocolate, and either dip each ends of each cookie into the chocolate and place onto parchment to set.  Or, place the chocolate into a ziplock bag, cut a very small hole out of the corner of the bag, and drizzle the cookies with chocolate.

Serve!

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup ground almonds

1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

[Optional]
Chocolate - for dipping

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Happy Christmas baking!

-Kelsey

Christmas Sugar Cookies with Classic Butter Cream Icing

Oh Christmas cookies!  Why are you so delicious and abundant in our house?  Seriously....I need to work on my self-control ASAP!  We've already made several of our classic Christmas recipes in the last week, and have been popping them in the freezer until we need them.  I love that my family is big on giving food as presents, and we always make up delicious Christmas plates with an assortment of baking on them to give away this time of year.  

I do love giving (and receiving..hehe) gifts, don't get me wrong.  But I feel like Christmas often becomes all about the gifts, and there's so much stress surrounding it!  Often we don't even need most of the gifts we receive, and sometimes they end up just being clutter in our house.  Wow...I sound like the Grinch!  Haha.  But honestly, my favourite gifts are those that people have made me...whether it a craft, art, a bookshelf/hope chest/bed/desk (shoutout to my woodworking grandpa!), or food!  I love how special it is when someone gifts me their time and skills, as that's something I couldn't buy at any store.  My whole family is actually on board with this sort of thinking, and we decided to do a "no presents" Christmas, and instead we're heading to Vancouver Island for some good food, game playing, and adventures together!

Anyways....back to the point!  These sugar cookies are easy peasy, and are great to make with your family, friends, or to give away as presents.

Also, you'll notice that I've chosen to decorate them with good old-fashioned butter cream icing and sprinkles.  No fancy nonsense involved.  This is mostly due to the fact that I was feeling lazy, and the idea of using royal icing on a million cookies made my head spin.  These are simple, delicious, and fairly quick to make and decorate.  All important things in my book!

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Christmas Sugar Cookies

recipe: Maxine Wright from Favorite Family Recipes

Directions:

1) Cream butter - add sugar, vanilla, egg and milk; beat hard.

2) Add flour and baking powder to the cream mixture and beat again. 

3) Roll onto flour board, about 1/2 inch thick, and cut into shapes. *The trick to soft, chewy sugar cookies is to make them nice and thick!
Carefully transfer the shapes onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment or a silicone baking mat (silpat is what my family uses, and is our favourite!).

4) Bake at 375 degrees F for 5-7 minutes (this will vary slightly with the size and thickness of your cookies).  You'll know when they're done when the bottom is just barely turning a little bit brown.

5)  Let the cookies cool completely, and then decorate them to your heart's content!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Butter

3/4 cup Sugar

2 tsp Vanilla

1 Egg

1 tbsp milk (or creamo)

2 cup Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

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Classic Butter Cream Icing

Directions:

1)  In a medium bowl, beat together your butter, icing sugar, and vanilla.

2)  Add in 2 tablespoons of cream to start, and slowly add more if necessary.  I like my icing fairly soft for icing cookies so that the sprinkles stick!

*You can always split up the icing into a few different bowls and add a bit of food colouring to each one for different colours.  

*Sometimes the icing will start to harden a bit if you're decorating a lot of cookies, so just give it a good stir every once in a while!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

3 cups icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2-3 tablespoons of cream (milk will also work here)

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Happy Christmas baking!

Please let me know if you make any of my Christmas recipes, and you can always tag me in your creations on instagram and use the hashtag #tfdonme!

-Kels

homemade (dark) hot chocolate

How in the world is it December today?  Seriously, time is just flying by!  I already hate how it gets dark so early, and can't wait for the days to start getting longer again soon.  As a blogger who uses natural light 99% of the time, Winter really makes it harder to get your stuff done!  

Anyway, enough complaining!  Now, for those of you who have been following me for a while will probably be aware of the fact that I'm not a huge coffee drinker.  At all.  So whenever I go out for "coffee" with someone, I'm totally not getting coffee.  But what would a person drink on a dark and chilly night you might ask?  Hot chocolate of course!  It's often my drink of choice in the cold months, and making your own is oh so good.

I used dark chocolate for this recipe since it's the best...I mean, my favourite. Haha.  But you can totally switch it out for the chocolate of your choosing.  Also, salting your whipped cream is the secret to making this drink a homerun.  Seriously!  I know it seems weird, but the salt, whipped cream, and the richness from the chocolate just come together in a beautiful melty delicious masterpiece. I find that the salt really brings out the flavour of the chocolate, and also cuts the sweetness just a tad.  So, don't be scared!  Just do it.

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homemade dark hot chocolate

recipe: Jordyn & Kelsey Siemens
yields: 2 very large mugs of hot chocolate

Directions:

1)  In a medium saucepan, combine the chocolate and whipping cream at a low heat, stirring constantly.

2)  Once the chocolate and whipping cream are melted together, add your milk and water.

3)  Heat until it reaches your desired temperature, and pour into your mugs.

4)  Pile the whipped cream high!  Sprinkle a bit of salt and chocolate shavings on top, and serve.

Ingredients:

10 oz dark chocolate, chopped

2 tablespoons whipping cream

2 cups milk

1/2 cup water

whipped cream

coarse salt

chocolate shavings

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So there you have it!  I love melting down chocolate instead of just using cocoa powder and sugar, and you can go pretty crazy and use different flavoured chocolate bars too!

Happy December!

-Kels

classic pumpkin pie

Now it's been over a month since us Canadians have celebrated Thanksgiving, but that doesn't mean that we can't still eat pumpkin pie...right?

If you're new around here, you'll know that I'm not the biggest fan of pie (I know, I know!  I'm a weirdo...haha), but I do love making it for people.  I had never tried making a pumpkin pie from scratch, because let's get real, when you can get a huge one from Costco for cheaper than buying the ingredients, why bother making one homemade? ha!  Anyway, I decided to try my hand at a classic pumpkin pie, and here it is!

Also, it's time for some real talk.  After meticulously slicing and removing the first piece of pie in order to be plated for the final photos....I dropped it.  Pumpkin pie all over the floor.  It's not the first time I've dropped food all over the floor, and my family wasn't surprised...although they were entertained.  Thankfully the second piece I cut fared much better! 

So here it is!  A classic pumpkin pie. 

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Classic Pumpkin Pie

recipe slightly adapted from: Eagle Brand - allrecipes
yields: one 9-inch pie (about 8 servings)

Directions:

1)  First you'll want to bake and puree your pumpkin if you're making your own.  You'll also want to make your pie crust if you're making your own as well.  Bonus points if you do!

2) Optional:  If you'd like to make some leaf decorations for your cake, roll out some extra pastry dough about 1/4 inch thick and cut out leaves.  Bake at 350 degrees until the tops get slightly brown.  Remove and set aside.

3)  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

4)  Mix together the pureed pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices, and salt in a medium bowl until nice and smooth.

5)  Pour the pumpkin mixture into your pie crust.

6)  Bake your pie at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.  After the initial 15 minutes, turn your oven down to 350 degrees and bake for another 35-40 minutes.  Your pie will be done when a knife inserted a few inches from the crust comes out clean.  *If you're not sure, just keep cooking it.  It's better to slightly overcook a pumpkin pie than to have it be gooey!

**Tip: Place some tinfoil or a pie crust shield around the edges of our pie so that the crust doesn't burn!  I did that about halfway through the baking time.

7)  Chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours for the pie to properly set.  Or even make it the night before you'd like to serve it.  We found ours even better the day after it was made!

Ingredients:

1  9-inch pie crust (pre-made, or make your own!)

2 cups pureed pumpkin (or one 15oz can)

1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk (14oz)

2 large eggs

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

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Happy Baking!

-Kels