Piping Bag Tip!

I found this tip on another blog recently and it has changed the way I handle icing! There is no longer a need to clean piping bags! All you need is cling wrap!

Start off by tearing off a square of cling wrap and laying it out on a clean surface. Then place the icing you plan to use in the middle of the square. 

Fold the cling wrap diagonally in half. (Corner to corner)

Next, roll the cling wrap around the icing in the middle (like a piece of candy). 

Then twist the ends until tight. 

Then slide one end of the cling wrap through the coupler in a piping bag. 

Cut off the plastic wrap poking out of the coupler. 

Then put on your tip, the other half of the coupler, and start piping! 

Once you are done and all of the icing is gone, simply remove the top part of the coupler and the piping tip. Then pull the cling wrap with the residual icing out of the bigger end of the piping bag! You will most likely have to clean the bottom part of the coupler, but that is so much better than having to clean out the piping bag as well!!

I found this genius tip on the following blog: http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com/2011/03/coloring-and-preparing-royal-icing/

Roasted Garlic

Roasted garlic is good to put in mashed potatoes, in soup, on chicken, on bread with some butter, or in pretty much anything that you would normally put garlic in. It is extremely easy to do and will make your whole house (or apartment in my case) smell like garlic. When its done it is as soft as butter!

All you need is:

• at least one HEAD OF GARLIC
• SALT
• PEPPER
• OLIVE OIL

Start off by preheating your oven to 375 degrees F. Then chop off the bottom of the garlic exposing the cloves.

Drizzle with olive, sprinkle on some salt and pepper and then cover the dish with aluminum foil. Bake for 45 minutes! When it's done it should look like the picture below!

You can then squeeze the garlic out of the skins and onto whatever you like!

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Roasted Garlic

Ingredients:

• at least one HEAD OF GARLIC
• SALT
• PEPPER
• OLIVE OIL

Directions:

1. Start off by preheating your oven to 375 degrees F. Then chop off the bottom of the garlic exposing the cloves. 
2. Drizzle with olive, sprinkle on some salt and pepper and then cover the dish with aluminum foil.
3. Bake for 45 minutes! When it's done it should look like the picture below!
4. You can then squeeze the garlic out of the skins and onto whatever you like!

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I got the baking temperature and time from the Pioneer Woman:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/roasted-garlic-recipe/index.html

Ham & Beans

This year for Thanksgiving we decided to make a ham rather than turkey. And in true Thanksgiving fashion we had lots of leftovers! Along with making ham sandwiches, we decided to make ham and beans to get through all of the ham. It turned out to be pretty tasty and very easy!

To make this dish you only need:

• 1 & 1/2 cup HAM, cubed
• 8 oz. DRY PINTO BEANS, make sure to look through the bag and make sure there aren't any rocks!
• WATER
• SALT
• PEPPER
• GARLIC POWDER 

The only hard part of making this is remembering to soak the beans you are going to use overnight in water to soften them. I used about 8 oz. of beans. Below on the left is a picture of the beans after just going into the water. Below on the right is a picture of the beans after about 12 hours soaking. Look how much they plumped up!

Once you are ready to start cooking, bring a large pot of water to a boil and then throw the beans in! Boil the beans for about an hour to an hour and a half until they are tender.

While the beans are boiling, cut the ham into bite sized pieces. I cubed about a cup and a half of left over ham.

Once the beans are tender, drain most of the water and add the ham! Continue heating the pot in order to heat the ham. Mix in the spices and then you are done! Dig in!

We also made corn muffins to have on the side!

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Ham & Beans

Ingredients:

• 1 & 1/2 cup HAM, cubed
• 8 oz. DRY PINTO BEANS, make sure to look through the bag and make sure there aren't any rocks!
• WATER
• SALT
• PEPPER
• GARLIC POWDER 

Directions:

1. The only hard part of making this is remembering to soak the beans overnight in water to soften them. 
2. Once you are ready to start cooking, bring a large pot of water to a boil and then throw the beans in! Boil the beans for about an hour to an hour and a half until they are tender. 
3. While the beans are boiling, cut the ham into bite sized pieces. I cubed about a cup and a half of left over ham.
4. Once the beans are tender, drain most of the water and add the ham! Continue heating the pot in order to heat the ham. Mix in the spices and then you are done! Dig in!

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Christmas Sugar Cookies

I just opened a shop on Etsy and these beautiful Christmas cookies are for sale!!

These scrumptious sugar cookies are perfect for holiday parties, gifts, or just to create a little extra holiday cheer! Each cookie is hand decorated with vanilla royal icing and range in height from 3.25'' to 3.75''. For more information go to: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheHungryHood

Please message me if you have any questions about the cookies, or special requests!

Scroll down for some close up shots of the cookies!

Snowman:

Christmas Stocking #1:

Christmas Stocking #2:

Christmas Tree:

Candy Cane:

Stars:

Another shot of all the cookies!

Buche de Noel

I went to my first Meetup on Sunday and of all things it was a baking Meetup! Unfortunately it started to snow about an hour before the event so I ended up being the only person (out of 15) that showed up! It really worked out in my favor though because I ended up getting several hours of one-on-one time with the hostess who is an experienced baker! I was able to ask her all kinds of questions and benefit from her experience. As you can see in the pictures we made a buche de Noel! 

We used a vanilla sponge cake, filled it with a rum pastry cream, and topped it with a chocolate ganache! Then we used marzipan to make mushrooms and holly leaves for decoration!

With some coaching, I think it turned out pretty darn well!

Close up!

One more, just because I'm proud of it!

Soft Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies

So, basically chocolate chip cookies are delicious. I think that's really all the explanation I need. You should make chocolate chip cookies. End of story. But I will go on... I think chocolate chip cookies are especially delicious when they are fresh out of the oven because they are warm and soft! This recipe for chocolate chip cookies is great because the cookies don't get hard the day after baking them. They stay soft for several days and after popping them in the microwave for a few seconds they taste like they are fresh out of the oven!

To make about 3 dozen cookies you will need:

• 3/4 cup BUTTER, unsalted
• 3/4 cup BROWN SUGAR, lightly packed
• 1/2 cup SUGAR
• 1 large EGG & 1 large EGG YOLK
• 2 tsp VANILLA
• 2 & 1/4 cup FLOUR
• 1 tsp BAKING SODA
• 1 & 1/2 tsp CORNSTARCH
• 1/2 tsp SALT
• 1 & 1/2 cup CHOCOLATE CHIPS

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F. Then cream together the butter, brown sugar, and sugar until the mixture is fluffy and light. 

Next, mix in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. Once that has been combined, add the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt.

Lastly, mix in the chocolate chips!

Form balls of dough about the size of a walnut and space them about 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Try to not eat all of the dough first ;)

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or until they are slightly brown around the edges and golden brown on top!

Since my husband and I don't need to eat 3 dozen cookies at once and I like cookies fresh out of the oven, I only bake up a few cookie at a time and wrap the rest of the dough in cling wrap which I store in the fridge. This also allows me to eat some of the dough when I make the next batch... ;)

Yummm... cookies... :)

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Soft Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup BUTTER, unsalted
• 3/4 cup BROWN SUGAR, lightly packed
• 1/2 cup SUGAR
• 1 large EGG & 1 large EGG YOLK
• 2 tsp VANILLA
• 2 & 1/4 cup FLOUR
• 1 tsp BAKING SODA
• 1 & 1/2 tsp CORNSTARCH
• 1/2 tsp SALT
• 1 & 1/2 cup CHOCOLATE CHIPS

Directions:

1. Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F. Then cream together the butter, brown sugar, and sugar until the mixture is fluffy and light. 
2. Next, mix in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. Once that has been combined, add the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt.
3. Lastly, mix in the chocolate chips!
4. Form balls of dough about the size of a walnut and space them about 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. 
5. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or until they are slightly brown around the edges and golden brown on top!

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I based this recipe on one that I found on the following blog:
http://lingonberryjam.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/soft-baked-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Famous Dave's Corn Muffins

My family loves to go to Famous Dave's and get some good BBQ. Along with having great BBQ Famous Dave's also has delicious corn muffins! They are sweet, fluffy, and cakey! I made a few small changes to a recipe that I found on a blog (the blog's website is posted at the bottom of this post) and they turned out very close to the muffins Famous Dave's makes!

To make about 16 corn muffins you will need:

• 1 & 3/4 cup CORNMEAL
• 1 & 1/2 cup FLOUR
• 2 tsp BAKING POWDER
• 1/4 tsp BAKING SODA
• 3/4 tsp SALT
• 2 EGGS
• 3/4 cup SUGAR
• 1/4 cup VEGETABLE SHORTENING
• 1/2 tsp VANILLA EXTRACT
• 1 cup MILK (I used 1%)
• 1/4 tsp LEMON JUICE
• 1/3 cup VEGETABLE OIL
• 4 Tbs HONEY
• BUTTER, to spread on the muffins after baking

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Then in a medium sized bowl whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In another bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the eggs, sugar, vegetable shortening, and vanilla. Once the ingredients are well combined add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and continue to mix. It should have a course meal texture and look like the picture below.

Then mix in the milk, lemon juice, oil, and honey. This should make it more like a batter.

Line your muffin pan with paper liners and fill the liners about 3/4 the way full with batter. I didn't have any liners on hand when I made them so I skipped that part. I recommend using the liners though, my corn muffins got dark around the outside edges when I baked them.

Bake the corn muffins for 13-16 minutes. After the muffins have baked and are still hot, rub some butter over the top of the muffins! Then eat them!

Yum!

I know the edges are dark, but they still tasted good. Only the very outside of the muffin was slightly overcooked. Use paper liners to prevent the outside of the muffin overcooking!

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Famous Dave's Corn Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 & 3/4 cup CORNMEAL
• 1 & 1/2 cup FLOUR
• 2 tsp BAKING POWDER
• 1/4 tsp BAKING SODA
• 3/4 tsp SALT
• 2 EGGS
• 3/4 cup SUGAR
• 1/4 cup VEGETABLE SHORTENING
• 1/2 tsp VANILLA EXTRACT
• 1 cup MILK (I used 1%)
• 1/4 tsp LEMON JUICE
• 1/3 cup VEGETABLE OIL
• 4 Tbs HONEY
• BUTTER, to spread on the muffins after baking

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Then in a medium sized bowl whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. In another bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the eggs, sugar, vegetable shortening, and vanilla. Once the ingredients are well combined add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and continue to mix. It should have a course meal texture.
3. Then mix in the milk, lemon juice, oil, and honey. 
4. Line your muffin pan with paper liners and fill the liners to about 3/4 the way full with batter. 
5. Bake the corn muffins for 13-16 minutes. After the muffins have baked and are still hot, rub some butter over the top of the muffin! Then eat them!

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I found this recipe from the following website: http://www.eatcakefordinner.net/2011/11/famous-daves-cornbread-muffins-copycat.html