Christmas Eve Profiteroles

Step 1:

Cream Puffs

1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs

In a medium saucepan combine water, butter, and salt. Bring to boiling. Add flour all at once, stirring vigorously. Cook and stir until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat. Cool for 10 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well with a wooden spoon after each addition.

Drop dough by 12 heaping tablespoons onto a greased baking sheet. Bake at 400 degree for 30-35 minutes or till golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Step 2:

Fill Cream puffs with Farr Better Peppermint Stick Ice Cream

Step 3:
Drizzle with Hot Fudge Sauce. Recipe follows.

Hot Fudge Sauce

1 cup butter
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3 cups sugar
1 can evaporated milk

Bring the above ingredients to a boil and continue to boil for 7-8 minutes. Then remove from heat and add

1 tsp vanilla

Serve warm to hot.

ENJOY!

Blueberry Buckle

Oh my goodness! This is my new favorite blueberry recipe!! Aidan saw it on Alton Brown's "Kinda Blue" Episode, which I missed for the most part. He begged me to make it because it looked so good. Good job, Aidan! I placed it in my memory if we ever had blueberries. Well, as you may know, we went to 2 blueberry U-pick farms on our recent adventure to Oregon (One in Banks, Oregon and one in Mt. Hood, Oregon) We came home with 2 gallons of blueberries and of course we all enjoyed them very much on the way home (dare I say Cora enjoyed them the most? And that is saying something, because we all loved them!)

So, I watched the demonstration of the Blueberry Buckle on Hulu today and brought out some frozen Oregon blueberries! YUMMY!

I followed the directions exactly, except that I believe if a little fruit is good, a lot of fruit is better so I used probably 1/2 cup more blueberries than Alton.

Ingredients

For the cake:

Nonstick cooking spray
9 ounces cake flour, approximately 2 cups
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
5 1/4 ounces sugar, approximately 3/4 cup
1 large egg
1/2 cup whole milk
15 ounces fresh whole blueberries, approximately 3 cups

For the topping:

3 1/2 ounces sugar, approximately 1/2 cup
1 1/2 ounces cake flour, approximately 1/3 cup
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 ounces unsalted butter, chilled and cubed

Directions

For the cake:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Spray a 9 by 9-inch glass baking dish with nonstick spray and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and ground ginger. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, approximately 1 minute. Add the egg and beat until well incorporated, approximately 30 seconds. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat on low speed just until incorporated and then add 1/3 of the milk and beat until incorporated. Repeat, alternating flour and milk until everything has combined. Gently stir in the blueberries and pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.

For the topping:

In a small bowl combine the sugar, flour and nutmeg. Add the butter and work into the dry ingredients using a fork to combine. Continue until the mixture has a crumb-like texture. Sprinkle the mixture on top of the cake. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 35 minutes or until golden in color. Cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Smoked Paprika Freezer Peaches

I got this recipe from watching Alton Brown. This is a huge keeper and trust me the smoked Paprika always comes as a big surprise to people, but you will never see more magnificient color or enjoy a more lovely taste than in these freezer peaches! They are so easy to prepare and there is relatively little clean-up. What's not to like???



Ingredients
4 ounces granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground children's Vitamin C
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 pound peeled and pitted fresh peaches, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices

Directions
Place the sugar, Vitamin C and paprika into a 1-gallon zip-top bag, seal and shake to combine. Add the peaches and toss to coat well. Lay the bag flat on a counter and using a straw, suck out any remaining air in the bag. Return to the freezer.

Blackberry-Plum Cobbler

This recipe was an attempt to make a cobbler as good as Roseanna's in Oceanside, Oregon! I have always loved the marionberry cobbler there. I love how they serve it individually and I love how the fruit filling is so abundant! I love theirs so much that I refuse to buy marionberry cobbler anywhere else as I have always been disappointed. We do not grow marionberries, however, and we have a good harvest of plums and blackberries. Verdict on this cobbler?? My son says repeatedly that this cobbler "is better than Roseanna's". Today he even suggested they might be hiring someone to work at Roseanna's and I could get hired. Then he listed all the days that he wanted me off work so they we could go have fun on the beach! :)



BISCUIT
2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks cold butter
1/2 cup boiling water

FILLING
4 cups blackberries
4 cups plums
2 cups sugar
2 T lemon juice
4 T cornstarch
1/2 c cold water

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

For Biscuit: In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 1/4 cup boiling water just until mixture is evenly moist.

For Filling: in a separate bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in cold water. Mix sugar, lemon juice, blackberries, and plums a big pot on stove. Add the cornstarch mixture and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

Pour the filling into individual custard dishes or into a baking dish. Drop biscuit dough from a cookie scoop (1 scoop in each custard dish, scoops as you desire in baking dish. I like to limit them to really enjoy the fruit filling)

Place the custard dishes or the baking dish on the foil lined baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes until dough is golden brown.

Individual Chicken Pot Pie

8 Tablespoons (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp chopped fresh thyme (I simmer the mixture with 3 sprigs and then remove)
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup chopped yellow onions
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup peeled and chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped potatoes
1 cup chopped cooked chicken
1/2 cup cooked fresh/frozen peas
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Pepperidge Farm puff pastry squares
1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture smells fragrant and nutty, 1 to 2 minutes. Slowly add broth, whisking until smooth and bring to a boil. Add thyme, bay leaf, onions, celery, carrots, potatoes, chicken, peas, salt, and pepper and cook until potatoes and carrots are tender. We like to let it simmer about 30-45 minutes. Remove from heat an dlet cool for 5 minutes. Discard the bay leaf and thyme sprigs.
Divide filling among ovenproof bowls and place on a baking sheet. Brush puff pastry squares with egg mixture. Brush rims of bowls with water. Place 1 pastry square on top of each bowl, pressing lightly on edges. Bake until pastry is puffed and golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.