Are you burnt out on gingerbread flavored foods this holiday season? Hopefully not as I have a wonderful “gingerbread” bread recipe to share today. I first made these gingerbread pancakes a few years ago and fell in love with them. For pancakes, they are a little on the dense side but it seems appropriate considering the punch of flavor that these offer. I know you are probably already saying to yourself that you’ve had enough “gingerbread” to last you until next Christmas (and we’re still a week away from the big day!) but I would suggest that you give these a try. I don’t think you will be disappointed.

While these are fantastic served with butter and maple syrup, like in the pictures above and below, an even better bet is to serve them with a lemon sauce (lemon is a traditional accompaniment to gingerbread). To make a simple, yet tasty lemon sauce, in a saucepan combine 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and 1/4 tsp. of salt. To that add 1 cup of cool water and stir to combine. Bring to a boil and cook until thick and clear. Remove from heat and add 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel and 2 tablespoons of butter. Stir until well mixed and the butter has fully melted.

Gingerbread Pancakes
makes 12 medium sized pancakes (enough for 2-4 people depending on their appetite)

1 1/4 cups All-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon Ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg, freshly ground
1/4 teaspoon Ground clove
3 large Eggs
1/4 cup Dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
1/2 cup Buttermilk
1/2 cup Water
1/4 cup Coffee
6 tablespoons Unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 170°F. Whisk together dry ingredients. In another bowl, whisk together eggs and brown sugar until smooth. Add buttermilk, water, molasses and coffee, then add the flour mixture. Finally stir in melted butter. Cook on a preheated griddle and keep warm in oven until all are finished.

The Christmas season is in full swing, and at our house one of the things that means is the drinking of copious amounts of hot, spiced cider. For as long as I can remember the holidays, both Christmas and Thanksgiving…and many of the days inbetween, were accompanied by the the sweet, heady smells of a pot of spiced cider warming away on the stove top. To this day, it just doesn’t seem like the Christmas season without having brewed up a gallon or two of one of my favorite drinks.

While we’re on the subject of cider, I want to rant just a little (and I think I’ve voiced this rant before so I’ll make it short). It drives me nuts, walking through the grocery store and seeing bottles of clear, amber liquid that companies are passing off as cider. Sorry, but it looks and tastes like ordinary apple juice and has about as much in common with real cider as does Grape juice. Cider should be brown and cloudy with a body and mouth feel that apple juice can only wish it could attain to. I even have a problem with “pastuerized” cider, but I understand that some people are concerned about food borne illnesses. But please, if you have never tasted fresh, unpastuerized cider before, check it out. You’re in for a treat. The real stuff, when made properly has a complexity that is totally lost in the pastuerization process.

It’s the holidays so enough ranting and more holiday cheer! You’ll notice, in the picture, that there is a distinctive red hue to that mug of cider. Don’t adjust your computer monitors, it’s supposed to be that way. I often like to add “Red Hots” candies (you know, those little, red, firery, cinnamon candies). They add a nice festive hue to the cider and help bump up the cinnamon in the drink. If you don’t want to use the candies, and sometimes I don’t, just up the number of cinnamon sticks you add to the cider to compensate for the lack of cinnamon flavoring.

Once made, you can ladel it into mugs and serve as is, for the children and teetotallers in your group or you can do as most of the members of my family do and spice with a shot of bourbon or dark rum. A few of those and I guarentee that you’ll get a party started!

This recipe uses a gallon of cider as I find that it can go pretty quickly, but you can easily adjust to make the amount you need. Also I just toss in all the spices. If you’d rather not fish around trying not to ladel up allspice berries and cloves you can tie them up in a coffee filter and just remove the whole thing after about 30-60 minutes.

Hot Spiced Cider
makes just over 1 gallon

1 gallon Cider
4 each Cinnamon sticks
1 Tbl. Whole Cloves
2 Tbl. Whole Allspice Berries
1 (12oz.) can Orange Juice Concentrate
3-4 oz. Red Hots candies (the little red cinnamon candies)

Place all ingredients in a nonreactive pot and simmer, without boiling for, at least, 30 minutes. Ladel into mugs and serve. Feel free to add a shot of bourbon or rum for a more adult beverage, or experiment with any of the various flavored alcohols out there. If you come across a really great combination let me know. If so desired, garnish the mugs with an orange wheel and a cinnamon stick for stirring.

Tonight we picked up our last box, of the season, from our CSA. Well, technically the last regular season box was delivered a few weeks ago, but we had also opted for the late season storage share. I can’t wait to eat my way through all the killer produce that was delivered. But, before I go on, I really should thank Nicole and Joe, and family, of Good Earth Farm. Through their hard work and tremendous efforts my family was supplied with a bounty of produce all summer and fall long. It was truly a pleasure to get to meet some of the people that supply us with our food. It’s heartwarming to see and meet people with such a passion about the food they raise and their impact on the environment. I look forward to next season and seeing what Good Earth Farm has in store.

Back to the cauliflower; in this box we received both the standard white variety and a beautiful orange variety. Knowing that I was hungry for caramelized cauliflower I decided to skip the orange variety for now as I wasn’t sure how it would look once caramelized. But hey, that leaves me with some cauliflower for another day, not a bad thing in my book.

The spicing I use in this recipe is quite subtle, almost to the point of not realizing its there, but I selected these spices to help play up the earthy quality of the cauliflower while the cinnamon helps to elevate the inherent sweetness of the vegetable. Feel free to leave them out if you choose, but I think they really help to make this dish.

If you aren’t a fan of cauliflower this dish won’t change your mind, but if you’re kind of on the fence out this vegetable, try it this way, it might just make a fan out of you yet.

Caramelized Cauliflower
serves 4

1 large head cauliflower
3 Tbl. butter, melted, divided
12 each Ritz crackers
1 pinch nutmeg, freshly ground
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground cumin
1/8 tsp. ground coriander
salt
pepper

Preheat the oven to 475°F. Crush the Ritz crackers and add 1 Tbl. of the melted butter. Stir until well mixed. Cut the cauliflower in half, cut out the core and split into 1-2 bite florets. Mix the cinnamon, cumin and coriander with the remaining butter and drizzle over cauliflower to evenly coat all pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Place in an oven proof skillet and put into the oven. Bake for 12 minutes, stir and cook for 8 minutes longer. Stir again and sprinkle the crushed crackers over top. Return to the oven and cook another 4-5 minutes or until the topping is golden brown. Serve immediately.

Confession time. I love Stumbleupon!!! It has become my favorite internet time waster ever!!! Late at night I can literally waste hours upon hours surfing the web, using the Stumbleupon toolbar, discovering all sorts of cool, and mindless diversions; from cool, new ways to make music, to sophomoric videos, to beautiful photographs, and, of course, great recipes and food sites.

If you have never heard of Stumbleupon before, heed my warning and stay away!! Stumbleupon is an insidious invention that will consume your time and turn you into an unproductive, sleepless zombie, albeit a rather well informed one, depending on what categories you choose as your interests. If you are an ex Stumbleupon addict and have broken your addiction, please share with me how you did it and what withdrawal symptons you had, and how long they lasted.

During one of my late night, Stumbling sessions I came across a recipe for Cinnamon Roll Pancakes from Recipegirl.com. Now I have come across recipes for these tasty, sugar packed pancakes before, but seeing Lori’s post and beautiful pictures reminded me that I had wanted to try them for myself. After checking out Lori’s recipe I did a web search and found page after page full of links to similar recipes. And why not? It’s a brilliant idea and I would personally like to thank the person who first came up with this idea. I’m ashamed that I didn’t think of it myself.

One word of warning though. These pancakes are sugar bombs so if you are planning on feeding them to your kids make sure it is a nice day and that they can go out to play afterwards as they are going to be hopped up on sugar for the next few hours!

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes
adapted from www.recipegirl.com

 
makes 6-8 large pancakes (serves 3-4 people)

Pancakes
2 cups flour, all purpose
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 cups milk
2 Tbl. vegetable oil
2 eggs

Filling
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbl. ground cinnamon
1 Tbl. flour, all purpose
1/2 cup butter melted

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
3 Tbl. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Make the cinnamon filling by combining the sugar, cinnamon, flour and butter together and mixing until well combined. Place into a squeeze bottle. You can use a zip lock bag with the corner cut off, but this can be messy and its much easier to use a squeeze bottle. Besides I find uses for squeeze bottles all the time so do yourself a favor and pick up one or 2. Set aside.

Make the glaze by combining the milk powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Add more sugar or more milk if necessary to make a thick but pourable glaze. Cover well so that it doesn’t dry out and set aside.

To make the pancakes combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside. In another bowl, beat the eggs and add the milk and oil. It helps to have a helper like I did.

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir just until mixed. A few small lumps are ok. You don’t want to overwork the batter or your pancakes will be tough. Heat a griddle over medium high heat. Lightly grease your griddle. I do this even when using a nonstick griddle as I find I get better browning with just a bit of fat on the griddle. Pour about 1/2 cup of batter onto the griddle, per pancake. Next drizzle with the cinnamon filling, making a swirl pattern to give it the look of a cinnamon roll.

Allow to cook until bubbles start for form and pop on top and the edge has just started to dry out. Flip and allow to cook another 2 minutes. Remove to a plate, flipping the pancakes over so that the swirl pattern is facing up. Wipe down the griddle well to remove any burnt sugar and repeat the process until you have made all the pancakes. I usually serve them as they come off of the griddle but if you want everyone to eat at the same time, place the pancakes in a warm oven (150°F) to stay warm.

Drizzle with the glaze and serve.

I know I’ve said it before, on this blog, but I’ll say it again, “My wife rocks!!!!” I woke up this morning to the smell of cinnamon rolls baking, and there is no better smell in the world! I love the fact that my wife can cook so well, which, in this day and age, is saying something. I am constantly amazed by the number of people I meet that “can’t cook.” I know I’ve said it here before, but it never ceases to amaze me. Luckily, I think we are starting to see that trend change. Just look at all the good food blogs out there today. It seems that people have finally awakened and have come to realize that cooking doesn’t have to be a chore, but something that we do out of love and passion. It is sad that so many of my generation have to learn this lesson later in life, but I am glad that they are learning it.

So this morning, my wife woke up really early and couldn’t get back to sleep so she decided to make cinnamon rolls (I’ve already established how much I think this rocks!). Being overwhelmed by my ever expanding cookbook collection she headed to the internet in search of a good recipe. Like me, she just can’t leave well enough alone. She found Paula Deen’s Cinnamon Roll, like the dough recipe, found the icing recipe from Todd Wilbur’s “More Top Secret Recipes,” and kind of just winged it with the filling. Whatever she did, they came out great. Try them out and surprise someone you love with a little cinnamon love in the morning!!!

Cinnamon Rolls
makes 12

1/4 oz package yeast
1/2 cup water, warm
1/2 cup milk, warm
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
3 1/2 – 4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 Tbsp. cinnamon, ground
1/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup raisins

8 Tbsp. butter, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup cream cheese, room temp.
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. salt

In a bowl dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Let sit 5 minutes to activate. Add the milk, sugar, butter, salt and egg. Mix well and add 2 cups of flour. Mix and add another 1 1/2 cups flour. Mix and add the remaining flour only if needed. Knead for 7-10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise until double, about 1-1 1/2 hours. Punch down dough and roll out, on a lightly floured surface, to a rectangle approximately 9″x15″. Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins, mixing well. Gently spread the softened butter over the dough then sprinkle with the cinnamon mixture, using it all. Starting on the long side, roll the dough up, pinwheel style, pinching the seam together. Cut into 12 slices. Coat the bottom and sides of a 9×13 baking pan generously with butter then add the cinnamon rolls. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise until double, about 45 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake for approximately 30 minutes. While the rolls are baking prepare the icing by combining the butter and cream cheese. Add the sugar, vanilla and salt and beat until light and fluffy. When cinnamon rolls are done, remove from oven, allow to rest for 10 minutes then generously ice the tops. Serve warm!

I remember that this time of year was always a busy time when I was a kid. Of course, school was starting, which was always exciting and busy, as my parents hauled my brother and me all over to buy school supplies, new school clothes and new school shoes. Growing up in a small town in Vermont, this usually proved to be quite a production with a big family trip down to Burlington, an hour away, and the closest mall in the area. In addition, there was plenty to do in the garden with harvesting all the late summer produce and watching after the vegetables that would be harvested later in the fall. On top of all this there was lots of canning and freezing going on. Corn needed to be removed from the cob before freezing and green beans needed to have the strings removed before they could be processed for canning. While I am sure that there were a number of items my parents canned, I can only vividly remember three of them: tomatoes, green beans and peaches. What I remember most about the green beans is the boring job of having to snap off the ends and pull the strings. After canning I can remember listening for the “pops” as the jars cooled and the lids were pulled tight by the vacuum created.

The tomatoes were the worst, from what I remember. While Mom and Dad may have canned whole and diced tomatoes, what I remember most was the tomato juice they canned. I loved the tomato juice, but I remember just hating the way the house smelled as my parents cooked, peeled, pureed, and processed those tomatoes. If I was lucky, it was nice outside and I could escape the odoriferous confines of the house. If luck wasn’t on my side it rained on the days my parents canned and my brother and I were stuck, having to bear the assault on our olfactory nerves all day long. (continue reading…)