Recipes | Bead Happily Ever After

Friday Favorites – Signs of Spring!

Posted on March 6, 2009 by crystal

When hot cross buns appear on the shelves of bakeries and grocery stores, it’s a sure sign of spring! I prefer that they be light on the candied citron and heavy on the raisins. Too much of the candied fruit can ruin a good thing! 😉

It occurred to me that I’ve never actually baked hot cross buns myself. Out of curiosity I searched for a recipe and here’s one that sounds pretty good!

Seeing hot cross buns reminds me of the nursery rhyme of the same name. Originally a street vendor’s cry, it was eventually set to music. When my youngest daughter was learning to play the recorder, it was one of the early tunes she played. We’d often have quite a giggle during her practice sessions when, on the spur of the moment, we’d break into a very animated duet and belt out those lyrics, Ethel Merman-style! 😀

Hot Cross Buns

Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns!
One a penny two a penny,
Hot cross buns.
If you have no daughters,
Give them to your sons!
One a penny two a penny,
Hot cross buns.

See you Monday with new questions and next week’s giveaway! Don’t forget to change your clocks!

Still soup weather!

Posted on March 4, 2009 by crystal

For many of us, it’s still cold and snowy – the perfect weather for soup. But even if you live in an area that’s experiencing milder temperatures, here’s a recipe that I think you’ll enjoy!

I first made “French Dip Soup” over a year ago and it was an immediate hit at our house! I’ll include my notes with a few hints and minor changes I’ve made to the original recipe by Rachael Ray.

So tasty and definitely a meal all by itself!

(If you’re reading this, Sir Beads-A-Lot, yes we can have it this weekend! 🙂 )

French Dip Soup
Rachael Ray, makes 4 servings

Ingredients
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (I used salted).
6 large onions, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 sprigs thyme
1 fresh or dried bay leaf (I skipped this.)
1/2 cup white wine
6 cups beef stock
1/2 loaf crusty bread, torn into bite-size pieces and toasted (Get the bread ready first so you won’t have to stop and do it once the soup is finished.)
1 pound deli-style roast beef, shredded (Be sure to shred into bite-sized pieces!)
Grated parmesan cheese, optional (I used a “shredded” Parmesan so it wouldn’t melt/disappear immediately….. we love cheese!!)

Heat a deep pot over medium to medium-high heat. (A very large pot is needed as the 6 onions take a lot of space before they cook down a bit.) Add EVOO, about one turn of the pan, and butter to the pot. Add the onions to the pot as you slice them and the chopped garlic. Season with salt and pepper then add thyme sprigs and a bay leaf. Cook the onions for 20-25 minutes, stirring frequently, until tender, sweet and deep caramel-colored. (I found it took longer than 25 minutes – more like 35 – for the onions to get some color.) If the onions are burning in spots before browning all over, add a splash of water and stir every now and then, scraping the bottom of the pot.
Once the onions are tender and brown, add the white wine and scrape up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the beef stock and cover the pot to bring the soup up to a quick boil.
Place a few chunks of the toasted bread into each of four deep soup bowls or crocks and top the toast with a handful of the shredded roast beef. Once the soup reaches a boil, remove the bay leaf and thyme sprigs, and ladle into bowls to cover the roast beef. If you like, top it off with a handful of grated parmesan cheese. (Again, I use a generous amount of shredded Parmesan as the grated cheese melts too quickly!)

Now I’m hungry!!! 😉

Cookie Lady

Posted on February 24, 2009 by crystal

Have you ever known a cookie lady?

I’m talking about someone who not only loves to bake cookies, but also loves to share them with others!

Maybe you had an aunt or grandmother who always had a plate of cookies waiting when you went to visit, or a neighbor who would make cookies for holiday gifts every year. Perhaps it’s your best friend . . . or could it be you, yourself, who likes to keep the cookie jar filled with delicious homemade cookies?

“Cookie Ladies” are especially precious these days because there aren’t so many of them around anymore. Life is so hectic now; most people don’t have the time.

I believe that cookie ladies are actually born that way. You either are, or you are not, a cookie lady! It takes a special kind of personality to have the patience for making cookies. It’s so different than baking a cake. A cookie lady joyfully takes on the time-consuming tasks of mixing, shaping, rolling, and often decorating large amounts of cookie dough, and then she needs even more patience to stay near the oven to literally “babysit” trays and trays of cookies. It’s an art and a science, but mostly it’s a labor of love. The world is a better place for having cookie ladies!!!

In my life, the Cookie Lady was my husband’s Mom. I met her shortly after I began dating her son, and on that first visit, she presented me with a little tin of two kinds of her homemade cookies – applesauce raisin and chocolate chip. I was so touched by her thoughtfulness. They were absolutely the most delicious cookies I’d ever had. As the years went by, she always had cookies waiting for my husband and me, and eventually for our daughters – her grandchildren! She had about 6-7 different kinds that she liked to make and none of us could ever choose a favorite. They were all “the best!” She’s gone now but the love she served with those cookies remains in our hearts.

I hope you have known a cookie lady, or will know one in the future. They are the warmest of people.

I thought you might like the recipe for those Applesauce Raisin Cookies. I’ll include it here and also put it in the Bead Happily Ever After Recipe Box. 🙂

Edited to add: You’ve got to see my P.S. at the end of this recipe!!!

Ida’s Applesauce Raisin Cookies

1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup sugar
½ cup butter
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 cup of chopped or whole raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cloves
¼ tsp salt

Sift flour with baking powder, soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.
Combine butter with sugar until creamy, then add the egg.
Next add flour mixture and applesauce alternately.
Add raisins and nuts.
Drop from a teaspoon onto a greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 375º for 8-10 minutes.

P.S. Now here’s the incredible part of this post . . .

I’ve had the idea that I would write about this topic for several weeks now. I keep a little list of things that I’d eventually like to use for blog posts. Why I chose today to talk about “cookie ladies” and my sweet mother-in law, I’ll never really know.

I just looked at my list and grabbed one of the topics. I could have written about it weeks ago, or I could have chosen any other topic from that list for today.

The irony is that as soon as I finished this post and told you about our family’s cookie lady and her recipe – it hit me!

Today is her birthday! She’s been gone for 12 years, but she would have been 100 years old today! I hadn’t remembered that until this very second!!!

It seems so appropriate and also an amazing coincidence that I would write about her today! I think she must have somehow “wanted” me to share her recipe! 😉

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Swedish Cinnamon Cookies Recipe

Posted on January 12, 2009 by crystal

Monday greetings!

My sister, Nancy, has sent in another of her favorite recipes. This one is for easy-to-make cinnamon cookies.

Her photo has me wishing I had a couple of them right now – with a nice hot cup of tea . . .

Swedish Cinnamon Cookies

1 cup margarine or butter
1 cup sugar
1 TBSP molasses
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg yolk
2 cups flour
1 TBSP cinnamon
Sugar to coat cookies b4 baking

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the molasses and mix well.

In a small bowl, dissolve the baking soda in the egg yolk, and stir into creamed mixture.

Add the flour and cinnamon and mix well.

Roll the dough into small balls and drop (5 or 6 of them at a time) into a bowl of sugar.

Shake them around to coat and place on a cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

Thanks again, Sis 🙂

Friday Favorites

Posted on December 26, 2008 by crystal

For this week’s Friday Favorites, my sweet sister Nancy sent in her recipe for Cranberry Nut Bread – along with a mouth-watering photo of a loaf she had just baked! It’s festive enough for the holidays, but so delicious you’ll want to make it often! Nancy says that either fresh or frozen cranberries work well, and the frozen do not have to be thawed before using! For more info on cranberries, see the note at the end of this post.*

Doesn’t it look wonderful?

Cranberry Orange Nut Bread

2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tblsp grated orange peel
3/4 cup orange juice
1 egg
1 cup cranberries, chopped (I just cut in half and I do not defrost before cutting)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Heat oven to 350 and grease bottom of a 9x5x3 loaf pan.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda; stir in butter until mixture is crumbly.

Stir in orange peel, orange juice and egg until moistened; stir in cranberries and nuts.

Spread in pan and bake for 55 to 65 minutes; until a toothpick comes out clean.

Thanks Sis! 🙂

*Using/freezing cranberries:

From the University of Illinois Extension:
To freeze cranberries, place the original bag inside of a zip-closure freezer bag and freeze up to 9 months. Wash the berries just before using to prevent tough skins. To prepare cranberries for cooking, sort them and rinse in cold water. Use while still frozen.