RWood

It’s a bummer they closed. When I lived near there, I would drive over to pick up my order. They had a big facility, I’m sure there was a lot of money involved in that building. I thought it looked like a lot of space for that kind of production. Can hope they might reopen in the future.

Still freezing here, so soup mode. Made a quick corn chowder.

Tried King Arthur's recipe of the year focaccia. Really nice, and quick. I like that it made a 9 inch pan, and not a half sheet like most of my other recipes. I'm going to experiment with add in's, but it was good dipping in some garlic balsamic and lemon olive oil.

Made pecan pralines for my mom’s sister. Her birthday is this week.

Well, this is closer to me, and I’ve been trying to make a trip to Austin for a few different things. El Rey Chocolate is about 1 1/2 hour drive from there. Maybe I can make it this year 🤞🏻

The first recipe is the one I used for my last Christmas cookies. It worked pretty well, it’s more of a soft bite type cookie. The second one is what I’ve used for years, but I did reduce the baking powder from 1 TBS. They kept their shape, but I felt it didn’t need that much rise. I change the flavorings around depending on the occasion, but I usually do almond and vanilla.

Thanks, but I now live in a small town where people won’t pay what I would have to charge.

Had a few cookies left in the freezer. Figured I should get them baked and decorated or they would be there till next year 😑.

Amazon

I should probably edit my post, mine was actually a cream (I'll add a photo). I had a jar of sweetened pistachio paste, it wasn't as smooth, and I think it's better added to buttercream than as the base for the bar. I've read some places people have made a gianduju for it, but that doesn't look like the texture I see in photos. Usually they look runny, and I haven't seen a recipe that includes chocolate. The ones I've seen are pistachio cream, tahini, butter and kataifi.

I think in my case, it helped tone down the sweetness. I used a 7oz jar of Italian pistachio paste that was the best of the three types I had. But, it was sweet, and after I stirred in 2 TBS of tahini, it was better. I can't say I really tasted tahini, but it seemed to help balance it. I had an open jar of Trader Joe's tahini.

Last thing I’m making. Lasagne is in the oven, and got the bûche decorated. Decided on tiramisu this time.

Thanks! It’s all Royal icing. I piped the little Holly leaves with a paper cone.

A couple of decorated Christmas cookies

Just bad tasting, wasn’t deodorized. I’ll be getting some from Cocoa Barry for the next round. I think I got this from Olive Nation.

It’s been a busy month, but I got a few chocolates done. Late to the party, I finally made the Dubai bar and a few smaller. Pretty good, I think when I added a little tahini I liked it better. Flavors: peppermint patty, s’mores, raspberry caramel, pecan, Aperol, Dubai. I finally experimented on my toasted marshmallow, and I like how it came out. But the crust is still in progress. I tried @Rajala crust, but my cocoa butter was awful. Tasted terrible, so I made one with just browned butter. I made the Aperol for my step sister. She had the Aperol Spritz for her wedding cocktail. I could not find a blood orange within 20 miles of me (couldn’t get to Atlanta) so I made a Cara Cara gelee layer, and white chocolate Aperol ganache. Better than I thought, kinda marmalade-y.

Had my mom’s cousins over last night since we won’t see them for Christmas. Made a charcuterie board, marinated olives, potato and Gruyère tart and mini mushroom tartlets.

Yes it is 😋. My mother gets violent if you say add sugar to cornbread 🤣. I sneak in about a tablespoon or so just to balance it. I don’t like it sweet either, and most Southerners cringe at the mention of adding sugar.

Pizza, pizza. Pepperoni, castelvetrano olives, Vidalia onion and a Margherita.

Kenji’s Chile Verde, Trader Joe’s Spanish rice and slaw. I had made the base from my Hatch Chiles and froze it, along with a pork butt, So it was a much faster process than from scratch. Tasty as usual.

Yeah. I never knew of them until we moved to California. The house we lived in had three trees. Both my mom and her cousin planted them when they bought houses. I was on a mission to get a couple of trees when we got back to Georgia. I’ve been surprised they have done well. They will be put back in the garage once it gets colder.

Pizza-Pepperoni, Vidalia onion and castlevetrano olives, and Mortadella (on half), red onion, Parm, fontina, pistachios and garlic. I used Ooni's poolish dough this time. It was surprisingly easy to work with even though it said it was 100% hydration. Nice and chewy too.

My meyer lemon trees did pretty good this year. Looks like we'll have a dozen or so lemons from both of them. It's been warm so far with only one cold spell. I think they should be ripe before the next one.

Found some Lion’s Mane mushrooms at Dekalb Farmer’s Market. Seared with a pan sauce, sous vide polenta and broccolini. Looked like pork loin when I was slicing them.

Vegetarian "crab" cakes. Used shredded hearts of palm. Good sub for crab, they were tasty. Hard to get dungeness in Georgia, and not a big fan of other types. Served with a lemony aioli.