Pistachio Balls

Easy, quick dessert that is great for those holiday parties and can be a little on the “rich” side of desserty sweetness.

I had this recipe written down somewhere on a piece of paper which now is nowhere to be found. Usually I am great about keeping up with those tiny pieces of paper – I have a box of mementos and things like movie ticket stubs. It could be in a journal or small notebook that is filled with other random things like my thoughts, budget/account balances, and old work schedules when I worked in retail.

I thought about renaming the pistachio balls to Grinch Balls because they end up a light green in color but the implications and my inner censorship board nixed that idea. Maybe it is a little 4^th grade juvenile humor but I try to stay away from wording that creates an unwanted double entendre.

Lesson learned: keep all recipes in a binder or index card box.

A short list of ingredients usually indicates the level of simplicity. If you have one that contradicts my theory, please let me know.

You will need:

1 – 16 oz. box of confectioner sugar/powdered sugar

1 – small box of pistachio pudding

1/3 cup of light cream (or just cream – I used light whipping cream and it turned out ok)

¼ cup of margarine (or butter – unsalted – I used softened butter. It was what I had in the fridge)

*Powder sugar, colored sugar, nuts, or sprinkles for decoration*

 

Combine the sugar and pudding into a medium to large bowl

Add the cream and butter

Knead/mix until the ingredients are thoroughly mixed.

Shape into 1” balls and roll in chopped nuts, sprinkles, or colored sugar as desired

 

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Makes about 2 ½ dozen depending on the size of your “1 inch”.

Roasted Garlic and Rosemary Bread

I wanted to try roasting garlic as well as make some bread so I went on an internet recipe hunt. I found two different blogs that were entertaining and easy to follow recipes for both.

For the roasted garlic, check out my previous post that includes a link to the site where I found the recipe.

This is the blog post I found for an easy rosemary garlic bread recipe to rival that of Macaroni Grill.

Rosemary Bread recipe link to My Man's Belly

I did a few things differently – possibly on accident…

For starters, I wanted to cut the recipe in half. After all, this is my first time making it and I didn’t want to “waste” the extra yeast, flour, rosemary and garlic if it turned out horrible.

I had “rapid rise” yeast packets on hand. One packet equals 2 ¼ tsps.

How did I figure this out? 1) the packet said it equaled about 2 ¼ tsps. and I know 3 tsp. equal one TBSP.

1 TBSP = 3 tsp

½ TBSP = 1 ½ tsp

So the recipe called for 1 ½ TBSP of yeast as well as salt – which equals 4 ½ tsps. Cutting that in half, I get 2 ¼ tsps.

It also calls for 3 TBSPS of fresh rosemary, halved equals 4 ½ tsps. or 1 TBSP and 1 ½ tsp.

Does your brain hurt from that entire section of fraction math we just completed? Do you have a child that struggles with fractions? Get them in the kitchen. Seriously. They are learning at the same time they are making food to eat so it will not occur to them that they are doing “Math”…but it may cause an “a-ha” moment on their next test! (Off the mini soap box)

I did not read the instructions correctly and added the salt in with the flour and rosemary instead of adding the salt in with the water and yeast. It did not seem to make a difference and this could be because my yeast was “rapid rise” and not regular yeast.

As I was trying to rough chop the roasted garlic I noticed the bits were all sticking together. So I put a small amount of the flour mixture in a small, ½ cup dish or measuring cup. As I chopped the garlic, I put the pieces into the small dish to coat them with flour so they would not all stick together. I wanted to make sure they would be dispersed throughout the bread and not end up in one large clump.

One thing I do with all my dry ingredients – regardless of what I am baking – is to stir them together and get the baking powder, salt, flour, whatever – evenly distributed. This is something I’ve always done. I don’t know if it’s all that important and I often do not see chefs on TV take this step. Maybe that’s part of the reason why many people say their baking never turns out the same as so-and-so’s…just a thought.

This bread is a “no knead” bread and does not require that you have a KitchenAid Mixer with a dough hook…though that is something on my ultimate kitchen wish list…

Sometimes your utensils make a difference. I use glass bowls to mix in and I have bamboo “spatulas” that I use because I do not have a wooden spoon to stir with (another item on the wish list).

I live in Southern California and the weather is often so nice, I never close the windows. To have a space warm enough for the dough to rise properly, I microwaved a damp sponge for about 10 seconds and then put my covered dough in and let rise for 2 hours. I did not microwave the dough – just the sponge to create a little bit of a warm and humid environment so the dough would rise.

After I baked the bread, I brushed extra virgin olive oil on the tops and lightly sprinkled with sea salt.  I had to taste one after it cooled for a bit. I mixed together a little bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper to dip the bread in. I seriously almost stood there in the kitchen and ate the whole loaf. Well, the loaves are not very large any way. I made two loaves and put one in the freezer.

I tried making this bread again but froze the dough before I baked it to see which worked better: freezing uncooked dough or freezing the bread after it baked. Well, this is one bread dough you are better off baking first before freezing. I found the freezing and then baking affected the height or rise of the bread during baking.

 

 

 

 

Ok.  I am seriously considering renaming my blog or something.  It seems my more recent (and frequent) posts have been about food.  I like food and I love to cook.  I have an index card box and 3-ring binder full of untried recipes that I long to weed through.  Then there are those pins I've pinned on Pintrest to try and other blogs I find when I'm looking for recipes that work with the ingredients and tools that I already have in the kitchen...and those recipe books too.

Which brings me to roasted garlic. GARLIC. That wonderful aroma and pretty good for your health food/spice/whatever.

It is soooo easy to roast garlic.  I do not know how I have lived this long and NOT tried it sooner!!

Let me just say this – if you love garlic and have never roasted your own – what in the world are you waiting for????  It is so easy to do but does take some time. Note the definition of easy and quick are completely different. These are not quick, as in speedy; expedient; or rapid. They are easy as in not overly complicated, requiring little to no knowledge or skill.

Roasted garlic – You will want to use a pie pan or shallow cake pan or an old muffin/cupcake pan that you do not plan on using for any further baking (cakes, pies, cupcakes, etc.). I used the only cake pan I have and after washing a couple times, it STILL smells like roasted garlic. I’m not really complaining – it’s a wonderful smell – but I didn’t realize this until after I roasted the garlic.

You want to go for the larger heads of garlic and look for ones with a relatively “flat” bottom because these will have to sit upright in the pan to the best of their ability. If you use the cupcake tin, you might be able to get away with some unevenness.

I found an old blog posting from the Pioneer Woman online. She has lots of photos! The link below will take you there and open up in a new window.

Pioneer Woman roasts garlic

Preheat oven to 375*F

Cut the tops off the garlic, trying to expose all of the cloves.

In your pan, you want to coat the bottom liberally with olive oil.

Put your topless garlic in the pan and drizzle the tops with olive oil, sprinkle with a little bit of sea salt and black pepper.

Cover your pan with aluminum foil and roast on the middle rack for 40-45 minutes.

Let the pan and garlic cool completely before you start removing the cloves. Some of the cloves you may need a small knife to get out. The cloves are soft, some may break open, but most should easily pop out whole. I have mine stored in a small container I keep in the refrigerator.

Now you have roasted garlic for a myriad of uses – add it to hummus, smear on toasted bread, throw some roughly chopped cloves on pizza, in a salad, marinades, sauces, etc.