Cooking Big This Week

The blog English Kitchen is very interesting and she posts often, so it is not boring at all. These cinnamon nut crispies are so enticing. I hope you make these tasty treats.


 I am cooking big this week which is the fault of the insurance company. We are having the guest apartment re roofed, the slate roof checked and missing slates reinserted and all the roofs power washed (while we are at it.) Remember, don't use your homeowners insurance willy nilly or you will find yourself without insurance, while having to dance to their tune in order to get some kind of coverage. AHHhhhhhgggg.


Whenever we have workers here I cook lunch for them.  Monday they had pasta with spicy chicken meatballs and homemade cornbread. They are having chili with toasted cornbread crumbles the next time they come. I figure they will be here all week so I will have to think ahead.  We are lucky to have nice weather this week, except for today, Tuesday, but they are here nonetheless cleaning up and getting ready for a nice day tomorrow. The entire winter has been a bad weather no show which is a good thing.

Cinnamon Nut Crispies *Cinnamon Nut Crispies* Makes about 2 dozen These smell heavenly when baking. Impressive to look at, they will have people thinking you have slaved over them for hours, but in reality they are very simple and quick to make. Do allow them to cool completely before you dig in. They crisp up wonderfully as they cool and are moreishly scrumptious! 4 ounces (1/2 cup) superfine sugar 10 ounces (2 cups) plain flour, plus extra for dusting 4 ounces (8 TBS) vegetable shortening about 2 TBS water To finish: 3 TBS softened butter 2 TBS sugar 1 tsp ground cinnamon 4 TBS finely chopped pecan nuts 2 TBS Demerara sugar For the Glaze: 1 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted the juice of half a lemon a bit of milk as needed Pre-heat the oven to 190*C/375*F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Sift the flour and sugar into a bowl. Whisk together. Add the vegetable fat and rub it in with your fingertips until you have a fairly chunky mixture, with some pieces of fat about pea sized remaining. Add the water a little bit at a time, only adding enough to make a soft dough. Knead the dough briefly and then roll it out on a lightly floured board to a rectangle about 16 by 10 1/2 inches in size. Spread the softened butter evenly over top of the dough. Mix the sugar, cinnamon and nuts together and then sprinkle this evenly over top of the butter. Starting at one long side, roll the dough up tightly. Seal the edge with a little water dabbed over the edge and pressing it together. Using a sharp knife cut the roll into 1/4 inch slices. Place the slices on the lined baking sheets, leaving a space between them for spreading. Sprinkle some demerara sugar over top of each. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven and transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. To make the glaze whisk the lemon juice and icing sugar and milk together, only adding enough milk to make a drizzable glaze. Drizzle this over the cooled biscuits in a decorative manner. Allow to set before storing in an airtight container. Beth and I had a day out on Saturday.  Mike had given me a Mother's Day gift (a year ago) of a spa day at Woodhouse in Dublin. I didn't want to spend an entire day so I shared the gift with Beth and we each had a massage. The Woodhouse is beautiful and the people there are wonderful.  We then went to lunch at a tea room in Dublin called Biddy's, followed by a  manicure and a pedicure at Glamour Nails. Lastly we saw The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo movie. I had read the trilogy and really liked the books. The American remake of the Swedish film was  well done and I hope the lead actress gets an award.  She was so good in this violent film. (She should get an award for just wearing the stuff that 'made' her character.  What a fright.) I am re reading the second book and just ordered the original films on DVD. We'll have a Sunday afternoon movie time soon. From why didn't I think of this is a recipe from Judy in the Mennonite's Can Cook blog. Ham and Egg Cups Ingredients: 12 slices of deli ham 12 eggs grated cheese seasoning chopped basil Directions: Spray muffin tins with Pam. Line each cup with a slice of deli ham (I asked that they not be sliced too thin...and had rather hefty slices this time). Break an egg gently into each ham cup. Season with salt and pepper...sprinkle with chopped basil (or chives or your herb of choice). Bake at 350' F for about 15 minutes. Remove from oven...and top each egg with grated cheese (cheddar or Parmesan)...and bake for 5 minutes longer. Remove from pan and serve immediately. Here is another that I am going to try this week also from Mennonite's Can Cook Casserole for a Cold Night (Aunt Betty's)         1  1/2 pounds ground chuck 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt 1 teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon salt 6 green onion stems chopped 1/2 teaspoon pepper 2 cans tomato soup 4 ounces cream cheese 1 cup sour cream grated cheese for the topping noodles of your choice. . .8 ounces In a large skillet, fry the ground beef, breaking it up and browning it. Add the garlic salt, salt, sugar, chopped green onions, and pepper. Simmer a few minutes. Add the two cans of tomato soup and simmer a few minutes. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and the sour cream. Cook the noodles until just tender. In a 9 X 13 pan, layer the meat sauce, noodles, and cream cheese/sour cream sauce. Repeat and then top with grated cheese. Bake at 350 for one hour. Comments _displayNameOrEmail_ - _time_ - Remove _text_