So here is what we snacked on Christmas morning while opening presents. This is also a great way to use up the odd piece of puff pastry you may have in your freezer after the holidays. Or, just go buy some puff pastry for the sole purpose of making these. That would certainly work too!

The original recipe is based on one by Ina Garten but I cut the butter way down. Seriously, I think the original recipe’s rolls would have been swimming in butter. I adjusted it to only 4 tablespoons total (about half of what was originally called for).

I also omitted the raisins and added the pecans to the filling, as many reviews mentioned that the pecans burned while on the bottom of the muffin tin.

Note: I put these together the night before up to getting them in the muffin cups. Then I wrapped them up tightly with plastic wrap and kept in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning I baked them. Worked really well!

Puff Pastry Cinnamon Rolls
Recipe adapted from the Barefoot Contessa
3 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tbsp brown sugar, packed
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, defrosted

For the filling:
1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped pecans (mine were lightly salted and toasted)
1/2 tsp orange zest
1/4 tsp anise seeds

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Locate a jumbo 6 cup muffin tin. Combine the 3 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons brown sugar. Divide this mixture between the bottom of the six muffin cups.

In a bowl, mix the brown sugar, cinnamon, pecans, orange zest and anise seeds.

Lightly flour a wooden board or stone surface. Unfold your sheet of puff pastry. Brush the whole sheet with the melted butter. Leaving a 1-inch border on the puff pastry, sprinkle the sheet with the brown sugar/pecan mixture.

Starting with the end nearest you, roll the pastry up snugly like a jelly roll around the filling, finishing the roll with the seam side down.

Slice the roll in 6 equal pieces. Place each piece, spiral side up, in a muffin cup.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the sticky buns are golden on top and firm to the touch. Be careful - they’re hot!

Allow to cool for 5 minutes only, invert the buns (you may have to do this one at a time, not just by flipping the muffin tin over) onto onto a plate. Use a spoon to spread any brown sugar/butter that stays in the cup, on top of the roll.

These are delightful eaten warm, but still delicious eaten at room temperature!

Oh my god, where has December gone? I can’t believe it’s almost over and this is only my third post of the month. But seriously, it’s not all my fault. I had a weekend getaway (Leavenworth, WA, so fun!), I had jury duty (depressing case, don’t ask), and then it was Christmas. But now, finally, here is Peanut Brittle! I also had to wait and post this because I sent some to my mom and aunt for Christmas and I didn’t want to spoil the surprise.

This was seriously easy. I was afraid it was going to be tricky what with having to reach a certain temperature and not having the sugar crystalize and what not but it was no problem at all. Just pop it all in a pot, melt, stir, darken in color, pour, roll and cut. Well, perhaps that is a bit of a simplification but not by much.

If you have a candy thermometer, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to be aware of the temperature while making the brittle. I did not use one and I was blissfully unaware of the actual temperature at all times. I am living on the edge of peanut brittle making!

Yeah, there’s corn syrup in this recipe. But there’s also more than a stick of butter so seriously, you’re concerned about the corn syrup??!

Peanut Brittle
(Recipe adapted from Jacques Torres)
Non-stick spray
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/4 cups unsalted toasted peanuts
1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp corn syrup
1 scant cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, cubed
1/4 cup honey
2 tsp salt

Line two flat baking sheets with parchment paper. Give them a quick coating with non-stick spray.

Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and place over high heat.

Cook to a caramel color while continuously stirring with a wooden spoon.

This will take about 10+ minutes. The color will turn really quick. I stirred and stirred and stirred for about 8 minutes and then I stirred and it was a darker color. It also got thicker. Pull it off heat as soon as it darkens!

Immediately pour the peanut mixture onto the parchment paper lined baking sheets. Place another piece of parchment paper over the hot brittle (I sprayed mine with the non-stick spay first).

Use a rolling pin to roll the peanut brittle into a 3/8-inch thick flat layer.

Use a sharp chef’s knife to partially cut the brittle while it is still warm.

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Related peanut brittle content on the Website Foodista:

The idea for this meal came from here — a recipe from Bon Appétit magazine in which a turkey is slathered (under & out!) with the butter mix of the title. It has been decided — this will also be our Thanksgiving turkey this year. So, of course we had to try (well, of course we did!) the butter mix on a chicken to make sure it was good.

The verdict: yes, it’s good. If you can’t wait for Thanksgiving, do yourself a favor and make a half recipe and apply it to a chicken.

Pancetta Sage Roast Chicken
1 3.5 - 4.5 whole chicken
olive oil
1 sprig rosemary + a few sage leaves
1/2 a lemon
Assorted root vegetables (we used potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes and about 30 minutes before the chicken was done, I threw in some garlic cloves and a handful of walnuts)
Optional: your favorite brine recipe (mine is 1 gallon water + 1 cup kosher salt, with a few garlic cloves, a sprig of rosemary and a few peppercorns thrown in) if not bringing, salt & pepper

Pancetta, Parmesan, Sage Butter
double this if you are using on a turkey!
3 garlic cloves, peeled
2 ounces thinly sliced pancetta (Italian bacon), chopped
2 tbsp finely grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small minced shallot
1/2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 tbspn chopped fresh sage
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

If you are brining, do that for about 4-6 hours.

Make Pancetta Butter: With machine running, drop garlic down feed tube of processor and chop. Add pancetta.

Pulse to chop finely. Add all remaining ingredients. Pulse blending to coarse paste. Transfer to small bowl. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before using.

Roast the Chicken: Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

If you brined, rinse the chicken, pat it dry and hoist it up on an oiled v-rack.

I used an upside-down bowl to keep my chicken under the brine while in the refrigerator.

If you did not brine, salt & pepper your chicken liberally. Scatter your root vegetables around the bottom of the pan.

Spread with a little pancetta-sage butter inside the chicken cavity. Then, starting at neck end, slide hand between skin and meat of breast, thighs, and upper drumsticks to loosen skin. Spread remaining butter over thighs, drumsticks, and breast meat under skin. Fill main cavity with herb sprigs and the lemon half. Drizzle with a little olive oil.

Turn chicken on its side and roast for 15 minutes. Turn chicken on other side and roast for 15 more minutes. Turn oven up to 425 degrees F and turn chicken breast-side up and drizzle with some olive oil. Add garlic cloves and walnuts to the vegetable area of the roasting pan. Continue to roast in this position until golden and temperature of the breast meat is 160 - 165 degrees, about 20 - 30 more minutes. This will depend on the size of your chicken.

I made a quick gravy by sauteing half an onion in 2 tablespoons of butter (over low heat) until brown and caramelized. Then I added 2 tablespoons of flour, cooked for a minute or two and added 1/2 cup of white wine and 3/4 cup chicken broth. I brought it to a boil and then turned off the heta and let it hang out until the chicken was done.

Remove chicken to a cutting board and tent with foil. Let rest 15-20 minutes. Transfer veggies, garlic and walnuts to a bowl and cover with foil to keep warm. If you’ve got gravy going, rewarm it and add some chopped herbs to it (I used rosemary, parsley, sage & thyme) and any non-oily pan drippings you can find. Before you carve the chicken, add any accumulated juices from the resting chicken, to the gravy. taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Eat the Chicken: Do you really need instructions for this part?

Thanksgiving! Okay, so while we’re on the subject of Thanksgiving — I think I have this year’s menu! It’s an Italian theme.

Appetizers & Snacks:
Rosemary cashews
Marinated mozzarella balls/olives/cherry tomatoes on skewers
Pumpkin seed pesto & veggies

Meal:
Pancetta-Sage Turkey with herb-wine gravy
Artichoke, Sausage, and Parmesan Cheese dressing
Roasted root veggies (shallots, fennel, carrots, red potatoes, and parsnips)
Delicata squash polenta w/ rosemary & goat cheese
Pan-Roasted Baby Brussels Sprouts with Buttered Pecans
Cranberry & fig sauce w/ port

Dessert:
Pumpkin Tart with Anise-Seed Crust, whipped cream

I saw this last week on Serious Eats. Brilliant!

It’s pretty self-explanatory.

Yeah, I made high-end s’meeps with the fancy-pants chocolate…so what?

Get graham crackers, chocolate & marshmallow peeps. Assemble.

Toast. I did mine for 4 minutes in the toaster oven.

Remove from oven.

Put top layer (un-toasted) of graham cracker on. Smoosh down.

Eat.

Grumpy-cat is not amused by s’meeps.

Completely unrelated, I played around with some possible new house colors today. We’ve never been happy with the grey/no contrast exterior of the house. Nothing pops. It’s kind of dreary.

Hopefully, this Summer we will re-side and paint. And do something like this (excuse the kind of crappy photoshop):

Dark orange door and accents. Green siding/paint. Bright ivory (with a hint of yellow) trim and columns. It would look so nice…

Holy crap! Look at the pillow I just made. I can’t believe it mostly turned out. I even finished it early in class tonight. I only messed up one little part of my satin stitch — it got a little puckery. But just in one small spot. The rest looks nice.

It was pieced together with ten pieces on the front and two pieces on the back. It even has a zipper back there. Hooray!

If that wasn’t enough excitement for one night, I also finished making the cupcakes to bring into a work party tomorrow. They are Strawberry Marscapone Cupcakes. I was very skeptical of using a box of mix in this recipe, but it really works. I was kind of a cake snob (okay, fine, I still am) but I cannot recommend this recipe enough if you need a bunch of tasty cupcakes relatively quickly. I was really impressed with the end result — so was jwa and he’s even more cake snobby than I am!

This makes around 20-ish cupcakes and they are very soft, delicate and delicious.

Sorry! No pictures of the making. Just the finished product…

Strawberry Marscapone Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from Giada De Laurentiis
8 ounces mascarpone cheese (about 1 cup), softened
2 egg whites
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 box white cake mix (I used Duncan Hines)
juice of 1 orange + water to make 1 cup
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp orange zest, finely grated
1/3 cup frozen strawberries, thawed and drained
2 tbsp strawberry jam
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Optional: 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the tins with paper liners.

In a large bowl combine the mascarpone cheese, egg whites, vanilla, orange zest, and vegetable oil. Using a hand or stand mixer, beat the ingredients until combined and creamy. Add the cake mix and orange juice + water and mix until smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Fill the cupcake cups to just below the rim and bake until puffed and golden, about 18 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool slightly in the tin then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack.

Meanwhile, puree the strawberries in a blender or small food processor. Place the powdered sugar in a medium bowl. Pour in the strawberry puree and jam and whisk until smooth. You may want to do this with a mixer — it’s easier. Top the cooled cupcakes with the strawberry glaze. Let the cupcakes sit for a few minutes for the glaze to firm up, then serve.

If you want to make little chocolate toppers, melt the chocolate in the microwave (using 30 second hits) and then throw in a few more chocolate chips (6-8) and stir to melt to temper. Drizzle the chocolate out into shapes on parchment paper that is on a cookie sheet. Let firm up for a few minutes in the freezer. Peel the hardened chocolate off the paper and press down, standing up, onto the cupcakes.

The nice thing about the chocolate pieces is that it keeps plastic wrap from sticking to the frosting. It firms up a bit, but it’s still not a good idea to stick wrapping right down on the frosting.