Eggnog Ice Cream

Made eggnog and froze it. Very good!

Strawberry Jam

As it turns out, you DO need to use lemon or lime juice when making strawberry jam because it helps hold the jam together if you are not using pectin. It's a good thing I keep an ice cube tray full of lemon juice in my freezer. (Hey when lemons go on sale, they reaaaaaaly go on sale)

2 lbs strawberries
4 C. sugar (2 lbs)
1 lemon juiced

Yield 3 small jars jam.

Hidden Candycane Kiss Cookies

Makes about 30 cookies

10 Tbs. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 a large egg (whisk one egg in a small bowl, then divide equally in half and only use one half)
3/4 C. icing sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 C. finely chopped Candy Cane Hershey's Kisses (about 10 Kisses)
~2 Tbs. granulated sugar
About 30 additional, unwrapped Candy Cane Kisses

*Note that you should only need to buy one 200g bag of Candy Cane Kisses for this recipe, as a bag contains about 45 Kisses and you need about 40 for this recipe.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine icing sugar, butter, vanilla, and egg. Beat at medium speed, scraping the bowl often, until creamy (about 2-3 minutes). In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the electric mixture in two additions, mixing well after each addition, until well blended. Stir in chopped Kisses. Scoop about 1 tablespoon of dough and press a Candy Cane Kiss into the middle of the ball of dough, molding the dough around the Kiss so that it’s completely covered by the dough. Try to smooth out any lumps; if the cookie looks lumpy before baking, it will look lumpy after being baked! Repeat with remaining dough; you should end up with about 30 cookies. Pour granulated sugar into a shallow bowl and gently roll each cookie in the sugar to coat. Place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes, then cool on a wire rack. To make things go quicker, work in batches.

Stamped Cookies

These taste just like a sugar cookie, but contain red food color.

City Chicken

The origins of the dish are from Germany the word "Huhnstadt" or translated "City Chicken" dates back to the early 1700s when raising chickens within city limits became illegal due to over crowding and health issues. Inexpensive cuts of pork served on skewers became a substitute for chicken as a meal. The first references to city chicken appeared in newspapers and cookbooks just prior to and during the Depression Era in cities such as Pittsburgh. Today, cooks use better cuts of meat (usually pork loin, beef, or veal) than they had in the past. Despite the name of the dish, city chicken almost never contains pigeon. The dish is popular in cities throughout the eastern Great Lakes region of Ohio and Michigan as well as the northeastern Appalachian regions of Pennsylvania and Upstate New York. City chicken is commonly found in the metropolitan areas of Binghamton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Erie, Pittsburgh and Scranton, hence, the dish's 'urban' title.

Sweet Corn Cake

Chi-Chi style corn cake recipe made without masa harina or a box of Jiffy corn mix.

1 1/4 C yellow corn meal
3/4 C flour
2 1/3 tsp. baking powder
3 Tbs. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1 (15 ounce) can creamed corn
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter

Mix until ingredients are combined. Pour mixture into a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until liquid has been absorbed. Use an ice cream scoop to serve sweet corn cake as a side dish or for dessert.