Aunt Dolores' Rum Balls

These are some of my earliest Christmas memories…  Aunt Dolores made these every year, and we’ve taken over the tradition. I think she added a *bit* more rum in them than the recipe calls. They’re great made with Meyer’s Rum or Jack Daniel’s.

You can also use different cookies other than vanilla wafers.  We’ve used ginger snaps, chocolate cookies, graham crackers… It’s pretty limitless, and each one creates its own special flavor!

We’ve also taken to chocolate dipping them!

Another secret is to process the nuts almost to a nut butter consistency. They come out like a rum truffle – and are just too good!!!

  • 1 cup ground vanilla wafers
  • 1 cup sifted powdered sugar
  • 1 cup chopped nuts – pecans or walnuts
  • 2 tbsp cocoa
  • 1 1/2 tbsp white corn syrup
  • 1/4 cup rum or bourbon

Mix all ingredients. Mix syrup with bourbon.  Mix with fork. Roll into ball – then roll in powdered sugar. Store in tight container. Put wax paper in between layers.

 

 

by Tim Dineen

Apricot Macadamia Nut Fruitcake

  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 eggs, separated
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 2 tablespoons apricot brandy
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 1 3/4 cups flour, sifted twice
  • 1 cup dried apricots, chopped
  • 1 cup golden raisins
  • 1 cup macadamia nuts, lightly chopped
  • 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 275°F. Grease and flour a 6 cup Bundt pan or 8″ round cake pan and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat yolks in small bowl and add to butter mixture. Mix well.

Combine milk, brandy and vanilla and add alternately with flour in 4 batches, mixing well after each addition. Stir in apricots, raisins and macadamia nuts.

Whip egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar and continue beating until stiff but not dry. Gently fold into batter. Spoon into prepared pan and bake until tester inserted in center comes out clean (about 2 1/4 hours). Cool completely in pan.

Sprinkle a bit of apricot brandy on top and serve. Cakes can also be made in advance, wrapped in apricot brandy-soaked cheesecloth, wrapped in plastic and aged. YUM!!

by Tim Dineen

Amaretti

From Baking with Julia. This may be one of the easiest – and most tasty – cookies ever made!  Use canned almond paste, if possible – it’s less sweet than the tube variety!

  • 8 oz Almond Paste
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 large egg whites
  • Pine nuts (optional, but I always use them…)

Preheat oven to 325°.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Mix almond paste with 1/2 the sugar and mix until almond paste is broken up and crumbly.  Add the rest of the sugar and continue mixing until it’s a very fine crumb.  Add the egg whites in 3 or 4 additions, mixing well.  Don’t mix too fast, ‘cuz you don’t want a lot of air mixed into the batter.

Fill a pastry bag with a 3/4″ plain tip and pipe a cookie about 1 1/2″ in diameter and about 1/2″ high.

Just before baking, take a damp cotton kitchen towel and blot the tops of the cookies to smooth the tops.  press pine nuts gently into top, if using.

Bake 15-20 minutes until they are well risen, lightly colored, and covered with fine cracks.  Transfer cookies on paper to racks and cool completely.

Gently peel cookie off the parchment.  If they stick, lift the paper and brush the bottom of the paper with hot water.  Wait a minute then peel off.

by Tim Dineen

Artichoke and Spinach Dip

  • 2 cans  Artichoke Hearts, coarsely chopped*
  • 1 bag  frozen Spinach, thawed and drained
  • ½ cup  Shredded Parmesan cheese
  • 2/3 cup  Mayonnaise
  • ½ tsp T Garlic Powder
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix ingredients well and transfer to shallow baking dish.  Broil until bubbly and browned.  Serve with crackers, chips, or veggies of your choice.
For an extra special dip, add canned crab to the above ingredients and follow the same preparation!
*Frozen artichoke hearts work, too.  Substitute 1 bag for 1 can.

by Tim Dineen

Pfeffernusse

We started making these a few years ago and oh boy!  Are they a far cry from the store-boughts!

  • 4 1/2 cups flour
  • 4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 tsp ground cardamom
  • 1 tsp ground cloves
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1 cup finely chopped almonds
  • 1 cup finely chopped candied orange peel
  • 2 tbsp lemon zest
  • 3/4 cup dark molasses
  • 3/4 cup brandy

Powdered sugar for dusting

Mix the flour, baking powder and soda, and spices and set aside. In a separate bowl, beat the sugars into the butter. Add the egg yolks and mix. Add the almonds, orange peel, lemon zest and mix some more. Stir one third of the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Add the molasses and brandy. Then add the the rest of the flour mixture. When fully blended, cover and refrigerate overnight.

The following day… heat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll spoonfuls of dough nto small balls and place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet about 2″ apart.  (I use parchment paper – it’s worth it!!!)

Bake for about 12 – 14 minutes.  Roll in powdered sugar while still warm.  Roll once again when fully cooled, before serving.

by Tim Dineen

Christmas Cookies

Cookies and Candy

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by Tim Dineen

Pumpkin and White Bean Soup

Tim Dineen

  • 2 boneless pork chops, diced
  • 1 jalapeno pepper with seeds, minced
  • 1 cup celery, diced
  • 4 carrots, diced
  • 2 leeks, cut into rings
  • 2 cans pumpkin
  • 1 qt chicken broth
  • 1 can coconut milk
  • 2 cans white beans
  • 1/2 cup brown rice
  • 1/2 cup barley
  • 1 tbsp lime juice
  • 1 tsp jerk paste
  • a few splashes Tabasco
  • Salt and pepper

Pre-cook the rice and barley. Brown the vegetables and pork in a bit of oil. Add broth, pumpkin, and coconut milk and simmer until vegetables are tender. Add beans, rice, barley and a few splashes of Tabasco, salt and pepper.
Heat through. Enjoy.

by Tim Dineen

In Your Easter Bonnet

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Let's see...  I think there were 19 of us today.  We even got everyone around the same table.  We're good.  It was an interesting mix of extended families.  A lot of fun.

Getting everything ready this  morning was fun.  We have a fair amount of furniture rearranging to do in order to set up a table for 20 people.  It's utterly amazing what one can find lurking behind things that don't often get moved.  And then I looked up and saw the fan.  How that fan could have gotten so filthy overnight is beyond me.  I mean...  I'm in that room every single day and I know it couldn't have been that dirty yesterday!  Amazing.

And then we had two matching tablecloths that were too short for the table.  We worked around it and no one was the wiser.  When you're good, you're good... :)

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And we ate.  And ate.  And ate some more.  We sat down at 3pm and finally got up at 5:45pm.

The menu:

Appetizers

  • Beef Tenderloin with Horseradish Sauce
  • Uncle Rudy's Easter Pie
  • Salami
  • Pepperoni
  • Stuffed Hot Peppers
  • Mozzarella and Prosciutto
  • Baguettes

Dinner

  • Baked Ham with a Pomegranate Mustard Glaze
  • Grilled Rack of Lamb Chops
  • Baked Perline Pasta
  • Chunked Scalloped Potatoes
  • Maple Glazed Carrots
  • Pineapple Bread Dressing
  • Portuguese Easter Bread (made into rolls) with Irish Butter

Dessert

  • Strawberry Cheesecake
  • Flourless Chocolate Cake
  • Carrot cake
  • Cannoli
  • Asst Homemade Candies

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The desserts really rocked.  The cheesecake was definitely one of my better ones!

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There was such a variety.  Leah made the Carrot Cake.

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The flourless chocolate cake was almost too rich after so much food. We definitely overindulged, but everything was just so good, it was hard to stop.

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Joann made the cannoli.  Both traditional fruit-filled and chocolate chips.  She even makes her own cannoli shells.  She also brought the homemade candies.

It's 8:30pm right now.  The dishes are done, the furniture is all moved abck to where it belongs, and everything is back in its place.

I'm ready for bed.

by Tim Dineen

Annual Easter Egg Coloring and Pizza Party

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Somehow we ended up with more eggs than ever before.  And we didn't buy ANY egg coloring stuff - and we had a whole shopping bag full.  This was our 8th Annual Egg Coloring and Pizza party.  It seems we've been collecting things over the years...

While we have hosted the party in the past, this year we passed the baton (or egg basket) to Leah and Ross - and a fine job they did!

LOTS of food, LOTS of eggs, LOTS of fun!

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We had Uncle Rudy's Easter Pie, along with lots of pizza, salads, and cookies.

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The pizza was from some place in South Philly where they know how to make pizza.  Leah and Elizabeth made the cookies.

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We started out neat and clean...

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But it didn't take long to get the mess into high gear...

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We are professionals, after all...

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A good time was had by all, and I can't wait to ake some chipotle deviled eggs tomorrow!

It's gonna be a fun day!

by Tim Dineen

Beef Wellington and Christmas Pudding

 

One of the fun things about working in a (relatively small) grocery store is seeing all of the food come in every morning.  The cheeses, the breads, the meats... all of it gets my creative gastronomic juices flowing.  As I'm stocking the different products, any number of fantastic dishes and menus are formulated.

Most of it is fantasy - I don't follow through with most of the extravagant things my over-active mind comes up with - but every now and again something clicks and sticks.  Tonight's dinner is a perfect case in point.

I was stocking the fresh meat yesterday when I spied two absolutely perfect filet mignons.  That in itself is not unusual - our steaks are pretty good. What was unusual is that I immediately grabbed them and put them aside for myself.  My immediate thought was individual beef wellingtons.  I haven't had or made beef wellington since I made it for Linda and David almost one year ago to the day!  That dish was Julia Child's classic.  This one was a bit of Julia and a bit of Tim.

Beef Wellington

  • 8oz mushrooms
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 2 shallots
  • 2 slices cooked bacon
  • 1/4 cup brandy
  • 1/2 cup red wine.

Finely dice the mushrooms, shallots, and bacon.  (I used my trusty food processor.)  Saute the mushrooms and shallot in butter until dry.  Add the brandy and cook until dry.  Add the red wine and - you guessed it - cook until dry.  Add a sprinkling of salt and pepper.  Set aside in refrigerator to chill.

Salt and pepper filets and place them in a HOT skillet and sear both sides.  Seconds, only.  Into the refrigerator to chill.  You want everything cold when you put it together.

I used half of a puff pastry sheet per filet, rolling it a bit thinner to be able to wrap completely around the steak.

In the center of the pastry, I spread half of the duxelle and then topped that with some duck liver pate our friends Nancy and Leigh-Ann gave to us a while back.  (Our kitchen cabinets are a fascinating story unto themselves...)

I wrapped the steaks and placed them on a parchment-lined sheet pan and brushed them with a bit of egg yolk and water.  Into the 'fridge to chill.

Then I started the:

Duchesse Potatoes

  • 1 large russet potato
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 egg yolk
  • salt and pepper

Peel and boil the potato in salted water until done.  Drain.  Add a tbsp of butter and a sprinkling of salt and pepper.  Mash really good.  (I used a hand mixer.)  Add the egg yolk and whip it all together.

Place in pastry bag with a big star tip.  Pipe mounds onto a parchment-lined pan.

The Sauce

Julia Child starts her sauce from the marinade.  I didn't marinate the steaks, so I took the basic ingredients and boiled them all together:

  • splash olive oil
  • 2 shallots
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 1 celery stalk, chopped
  • pinch thyme
  • pinch sage
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 3 allspice berries
  • 6 peppercorns
  • pinch salt and pepper
  • 1 cup dry vermouth
  • 1/3 cup brandy
  • 2 cups red wine
  • 2 cups beef broth

I reduced it all to half, and then strained through a very fine strainer.  Back into a clean pot and then thickened with about 2 tbsp softened butter blended with 2 tbsp flour and whisked into the pot.

The wellington went into a 425° oven for 30 minutes.  After 10 minutes, I put in the potatoes.  Simple math: The potatoes cooked for 20 minutes.

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It was downright delicious!

And we have a Traditional English Christmas Pudding for dessert!

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This was absolutely delicious!  An English couple who shops at the store brought this in for me!  We've chatted about puddings and fruitcakes and the like for quite a while and they brought this in, handmade by a ladies group in Kent, England!

I steamed it and then served it with a sauce made of butter, powdered sugar, heavy cream, brandy, and an egg yolk.

It was heavenly!

THANK YOU!

by Tim Dineen

Merry Christmas

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Merry Christmas to one and all!  We're in North Jersey having fun with the family...  Perfect weather, tons of food, lots of presents, and lots of fun and good cheer.

by Tim Dineen

Stollen Still Eludes Me

The taste is fantastic, but it's still not quite right. I'm fighting the recipe or something.  I dunno.

The first batch of dough I made this morning was the same greasy nightmare dough I first made last year.   I knew before finishing it that it was wrong.  Into the garbage it went.  I have a reasonably good idea of what the dough should feel like, but it's not coming together for me.   One of the issues is I'm not used to dealing with adding flour to a liquid that has so much fat in it.  I'm more used to adding the fat after the flour and liquid have come together.  And somewhere along the line, I'm just not hitting that magic moment when everything just comes together.

I know that I added a bit too much flour to this batch, and that had dire consequencse when I did the final roll and form.  The 1/3 fold-over started coming apart while it was going through its final proofing, and it completely came apart in the oven, making a flat bread instead of the taller and narrower bread it's supposed to be.

But it sure does taste good, and in the grand scheme of things, I'd rather have tastes good but doesn't look perfect rather than looks perfect but doesn't taste good.  (Actually, I'd rather have looks and tastes perfect, but I'm not losing any sleep over this... )

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I'm also finishing up the Peppermint Patties.   These have to dry before getting dipped in chocolate.  They're the best (and easiest!) Peppermint Patty you'll ever have!

by Tim Dineen