Iced Spiced Hermits

I have never had, nor heard of hermits…apparently they are a New England treat dating back to the 1800’s. Where have I been? Well, for one I date back a few generations of native Californians haha so maybe that is how I have missed out on these treats…and treat they were!

Most common review from my tasters…
“These taste like Christmas!”

Hermits are described as soft and chewy, more dense like cake, than crisp like a cookie, spicy and usually include some dried fruit. I think they look and bake like biscotti, but are not the same texture.

These were very easy to make…mixing up the batter and letting it chill, and then molding it into logs to bake. This particular version of iced hermits had cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, black pepper, molasses…and I chose cranberries for the dried fruit instead of raisins, figs, currents or candied ginger.

After they bake, and rest, they are drizzled with icing and then sliced crosswise into 1 inch pieces. It says they are good keepers but I wouldn’t know…they were gone!

These were a tremendous hit with just about everyone. They reminded us of an iced ginger cookie I make at Christmastime, but more chewy and had a little tang from the cranberries. They were just delicious. I have already decided to make them again for a dessert platter later this month.

This one is a keeper and I believe will continue to be part of our Christmastime cookie list! 🎅🏻

Christiane’s Dinner-Party Terrine

For those of you, like me, who don’t know what a terrine is…it is a meat, fish, or vegetable mixture cooked, usually in a rectangular container, that is prepared in advance and then sliced to serve. A lot of times people think of a chunky pâté, but it made me think of meatloaf which I am not a fan of haha.

This one is different. It is an egg and vegetable dish likened to a crustless quiche. There were a few different varieties given in the recipe…I went with a more traditional version using leeks, asparagus, mushrooms, thyme, bacon, and a little bit of mozzarella.

It is a pretty straightforward recipe…first sautéing the veggies, which after cooling get mixed in with the whisked eggs and cream. (9 eggs!) I should note the recipe calls for heavy cream which I subbed using skim milk like I usually do when making egg dishes. It definitely made this a lighter version than the decadent one it would have been but we are good with that.

This is all poured into a parchment lined loaf pan which is put in a roaster filled with hot water to come half way up on the terrine. It gets baked at 350 for 90 min…tenting after 45 if necessary. The terrine will rise a little and may crack.

After removing from the oven, it should sit for 15 min before unmolding…I didn’t see this step and took min out right away. I think it would have been a little more solid had I waited. After cooling a bit, it is sliced and served.

We had this with sourdough toast for dinner and really enjoyed it. To us, it seemed like a really light and fluffy frittata or scrambled egg dish. Seemed very fresh cooked this way. The veggie combo was spot on…if I was to make this again, I would do it the same way.

The thing is, although it wasn’t hard to make, it did take an hour and half to cook it. I feel like that is a long time when you could make a very similar thing much quicker. I guess you would get the nice slices, but even a frittata you have sliced. 🤷‍♀️

Very good and very tasty…and if I had the need, I would definitely make again.

This one is a keeper!

Savory Bread Pudding

This recipe made the house smell wonderful!

The base of this bread pudding is slowly caramelized onions…2 pounds of them. We are told not to rush the process and that it will take about 40 minutes…and it did. The onions, while caramelizing in the butter, have thyme, garlic, sugar, salt, pepper, and pancetta added.

While that cools, the custard base is whipped up with whole eggs, egg yolks, milk, and cream. This is mixed with the staled, cubed baguette…and then finally combined with the caramelized onions. Before putting it in the baking pan, some cheddar cheese is mixed in, and then some on top after prepared for baking.

This cooks at 350 for an hour in a water bath until golden brown and puffed all the way to center.

We had this alongside some chicken for dinner…and surprisingly for us, not a hit. As my husband put it…it smelled like stuffing, looked like stuffing, but left him disappointed and wanting stuffing hahaha. I don’t think we are bread pudding people. Even the stuffing I make at thanksgiving is a crisper, more shallow baked dish so it isn’t as moist.

Thank goodness for my tasting crew because I sent some off to my friends for her family to try since she said it sounded so good. She sent me back a text saying how great it was and tasted like a holiday breakfast…so there you go! Great recipe and it turned out…we are just weird…and not bread pudding people hahahaha.

So although we didn’t care for this, I would say this is a keeper because my tasters loved it!

Mulled-Butter Apple Pie

To “mull” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is to heat, sweeten, and flavor with spices…often with cinnamon, clove, allspice, anise, and nutmeg. This is usually done with red wine.

In our case, we are going to heat up our butter…actually brown our butter while it simmers and then also steeps with whole spices: cinnamon stick, cardamom pod, black peppercorn, star anise and then also a slice of fresh ginger and orange zest. After this sits, everything is strained out and we are left with browned butter with lovely scents and flavors. This is the base for our apple pie.

We start with our All-Butter Pie Dough which is everyone’s favorite and honestly, pretty easy to make. Half is fitted to the pie pan, the other rolled out and reserved for the top.

Apples are skinned, cored, and sliced and then mixed with some sugar, flour, salt, and vanilla. I used Granny Smith, but you can use any variety.

The browned butter is mixed in and then the apple mixture is scooped into the pie crust…top layer is placed on top and fluted or crimped as you desire. The whole thing is brushed with milk, topped with sanding sugar and vented for baking.

The pie cooks for an hour, checking to tent the crust if need be, which I did to be safe.

The pie is really a beautiful one and the sanding sugar adds a very elegant and delicious touch. I felt like the apples cooked down a bit softer than usual when I bake an apple pie but no one seemed to mind. The pie was devoured and loved by all. I am not sure the “mulled brown butter” was detected by anyone, but everyone would agree, delicious. They all thought it tasted like classic apple pie. 🤷‍♀️

For me, I think this was great to try out but the mulling process didn’t actually seem necessary, just the usual way of sugaring the apples and adding spices works just fine. I am not sure our palate is refined enough to tell a difference haha.

Great pie, but probably would stick to more classic version moving forward.

Herb-Butter Chicken

My picture is not good, and the chicken does not look that appealing. The herbs glopped all together and then burned. 🤦‍♀️. As I was making this I was thinking, I just don’t think I am a fan of making whole chicken this way….

but

…you know what? It didn’t matter what the chicken looked like or if I even enjoyed the process of making it…the bottom line was this chicken was delicious! It was so tender and moist and flavorful so I guess I did something right hahahaha!

The chicken isn’t really that hard, I just don’t particularly like pulling the skin away from the bird and smooshing butter all over inside without tearing the pulled away skin. Just seems gross. I also actually did the wrong side at first, not realizing I wasn’t doing the breast side..so both sides got an inner layer of butter. 🤦‍♀️

I guess I should start at the beginning. I made the herb butter with rosemary, thyme, lemon zest, and green onions. We are told buttering the chicken can be tricky and that was the truth…the pulling of the skin, the smooshing, the trying to get it to stick on the outside. I mean all of it is difficult…but that is why I still shared my ugly picture…it didn’t matter! The end product was still amazing! That gives me hope for a next time and to not be too in my head that it has to be so perfect…it will be ok! 😂

The chicken is prepared, covered in herbed butter as best as you can and placed in a pot. We were suppose to put some stale bread under the chicken but I didn’t do that..I can’t even give a good reason why other than I didn’t have good bread and didn’t see why it was necessary. Just wait…everyone is going to say that was the best part haha. I did add the onions and the white wine.

The whole thing is left uncovered and cooked at 450 degrees for an hour. The chicken is then left to rest and then carved up as you like.

That night we had the chicken with the pan juices and onions and it was superb. Wildly surprising me.

The next night we used some leftover chicken in a salad, and it was equally tasty and tender. We even had some left to freeze for another day.

All in all, just making light of a not so great bake that went better than I expected. Surprisingly, I would make this again and I didn’t think I would say that as I was preparing it. I am not sure I would add the bread next time, but I would add lots more onions because those were delicious alongside the chicken.

Butter smooshed chicken for the win 🏅

This one is a keeper!

Pecan-Cranberry Loaf

Dorie tells us not to underestimate this cake…that it is plain, but appealing in every way. That it bakes up nutshell brown and crowns with a rugged crack..that it’s beautiful. She says it is a good keeper, a good packer, a good traveler, and a good go-along with your favorite jam or marmalade.

Even with all that intro…I did underestimate this loaf cake and I was completely wrong.

It was delicious!

The cake is easy and unassuming. One bowl, easy to find ingredients, bakes up beautiful and smells delicious too.

The batter consists of the usuals: flour, powder, eggs, both sugars and oil but the flavor is in the details…the coriander, orange zest, buttermilk, pecans, and cranberries. The pecans are chopped finely so they speckle the loaf wonderfully. I had trouble finding fresh or frozen cranberries so I subbed dried, and you know what…it was delicious and since those are found all year long, that is what I will continue to use.

I was thinking the cake was dry and looked plain. That is could use a good dose of icing…but you know what?! I was wrong again. This cake was delicious on its own and surprisingly had a sort of sugary crust on the outside. I noticed it, and my husband also commented later that he loved the sugary crust and how did I do that haha. No idea!

My husbands other thoughts were that this seemed similar to banana bread which he really enjoys, but that this was better in every way 😳🥰.

Wow!

What a review.

Truly everyone who tried this, loved it. I feel like everyone was wowed partly because they didn’t expect it.

Unassuming and delicious!

This one is a keeper!