Neapolitan Cookies

I was drawn to these cookies because they looked cute, and who doesn't want three flavors in one cookie?

Notes:

• You can buy dried powdered strawberry and I highly recommend saving yourself the hassle of powdering your own. I decided to try making my own because I wasn't sure I wanted an entire bag of strawberry powder for the amount I needed, so I bought freeze dried strawberries and ground them in my food processor. I was successful, but it made a huge mess.
• The different doughs don't really like to stick together. They'll bake together in the oven but smashing them together while keeping the nice 1/3 sections was a bit challenging.
  

Verdict: These tasted nice but holy hell were they a lot of work for just 15 cookies. I wish the strawberry flavor was a little more pronounced -- maybe a bit of lemon juice would turn up the tartness a little. They're on the large side for a cookie (mine ended up being about 4 inches in diameter). I'm probably not going to make them again, but I'm glad I tried them!

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RECIPE: Neapolitan Cookies (Hummingbird High)

Oatmeal Soda Bread Scones

I made this bread a couple of times a long time ago and had a craving for it recently, so I trotted out the blender and made it again. This time I made it into scone like shapes instead of one big loaf and I think I like it better that way. It's easier to portion and store.

Notes:

• I bake mine on ungreased parchment paper.
  
• Instead of buying buttermilk specially for this, I usually make my own (put 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice or a neutral tasting vinegar into the bottom of your measuring cup, pour milk into it to measure 1 1/2 cups, then let stand for about 10 minutes), or dilute some yogurt.
  
• If you make them into scones like I did, shape the dough into two equal sized rounds about 3/4 inch thick, then cut them into 6 wedges each. Bake for about 12-15 minutes at 450 F. (I tried one large round cut into 8 wedges, but I thought the finished product was rather large for a single serving.)
  
• These are best the day they're made, but will keep a couple of days at room temperature in an airtight container. They also freeze well after being baked.
  

Verdict: I love this and have made it four times now. I love the heft and heartiness that the oats impart. Eat with liberal amounts of soft butter and any kind of jam you like -- strawberry and cherry jam are my favorites with this bread!

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RECIPE: Oatmeal Soda Bread (Simply Recipes)

Tea Toddy

Winter in a cold place during the pandemic hasn't been easy with regard to socializing, but thankfully we have a few sets of friends who don't mind bundling up to sit around a fire and talk in the back yard (including our neighbors across the street, which is pretty convenient since we don't have to drive). While at our neighbors' house one evening for a fire, they made hot toddies with bourbon, lemon, and spices. It was so cozy and went a long way to help stay warm. They told me how to make one, and also told me you can make them with tea, which really excited me. I had to try this for myself.

I've heard of lots of people making toddies with either tea OR alcohol, but I have found I like mine with both at the same time!

Notes:

• The alcohol is optional, but if you are making it with alcohol, make sure the tea flavor and alcohol flavor will complement each other. I usually make mine with bourbon for the liquor, and for tea, I like chamomile, a lemon-forward herbal tea, or decaffeinated black tea (Ahmad Evening Tea is great if you can find it) because I often end up drinking them at night and don't want the caffeine to keep me awake. Ginger tea, plain green tea, or a fruit flavored black tea might also be tasty.
  

Verdict: Despite how I came to know of them, these are likely to hold a cozy memory of friends whenever I drink them. They're great for soothing your throat and when you want something to warm you up. If you like warm drinks (tea especially), I highly recommend it.

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RECIPE: Chamomile-Honey Hot Toddy (Garrett McCord, Simply Recipes)

Divinity

With the pandemic dashing all hopes of having a Bakeathon at my house with Caroline and Sarah this year, I decided to use the opportunity to try some treats I had been curious about for a long time but were too complicated to work into a day when we were making 7-10 different things, or that the others were not interested in. Divinity is a popular treat in the southern US for Christmas. Being from the upper Midwest I had not ever had any but knew about it, and plenty of stories about attempts that didn't go quite right, because apparently candy is hard to make or something. My very good friend recently mentioned that an acquaintance shared some divinity with her once and she loved it. I figured I'd been mostly successful with attempts at candies, and I only had myself to please (but also wanted to surprise my friend with some), so this was finally the time to try!

I shared my divinity with another friend who grew up in the South (he is from Tennessee) and he said it was even better than his grandma's. And here I was worried about whether it would taste like it was supposed to. I don't think I could get a better endorsement than that!

cooking the sugar syrup

whipped egg whites

three different kinds

Notes:

• The recipe says it makes 20 pieces. It is a dirty liar, unless you make your pieces of divinity HUGE. I used a ~3 tbsp volume cookie dough scoop (which I felt were kind of big given how rich and sugary this candy is) and got approximately 60 pieces.
  
• The recipe says you can leave it plain, press whole pecans on top, or mixed crushed pecans in. I tried all three, and I vastly preferred it with nuts for some fat and salt to cut the super sugary sweetness. I slightly prefer the version with crushed nuts because it was more evenly distributed. The ones with the whole nut on top are the prettiest, but after the candy mixture cools too much it won't be smooth and the pecans won't stick to the top, so you have to work fast or have someone else help you if you want them all to look smooth. The cloudy look is kind of cute too, though.

Verdict: It tastes like eating a big ball of buttercream frosting, in the best way possible. I was a little shocked at how sugary this is, but in a way it's good because I physically cannot eat more than 2 of them before I don't want any more. I would absolutely make these again, but maybe in a smaller quantity unless I planned on sharing a lot of them.

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RECIPE: Old-Fashioned Divinity Candy (Number 2 Pencil)

Sweet Potato and Corn Chowder

I tried this recipe because I wanted something warming and I was looking for ways to use up ingredients in my pantry (I sent my partner to the store for Thanksgiving dinner ingredients, and the only size of heavy cream at the store was an entire QUART, lol) and this checked all the boxes.

Verdict: This tasted OK. The soup itself was not particularly interesting flavor-wise. The crispy bacon on the top was probably my favorite part. I do like how colorful it is. I wouldn't go out of my way to make it again, but I would eat it again and I'm glad I tried it.

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RECIPE: Sweet Potato and Corn Chowder (Geoffrey Zakarian, Food Network)

Scalloped Potatoes with Ham

Made because we had leftover ham still kicking around from Thanksgiving and a bunch of potatoes to use up. My mom sometimes made this dish when I was a kid, but I did not like hers because there was cream of mushroom soup in it. I went looking for one that was more my style and found one with a homemade white sauce and Cheddar cheese.

Verdict: This tasted fine, but it took a pretty long time to make. I don't think I'd go out of my way to make it again unless someone really wanted me to, but it was good to use things up.

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RECIPE: Scalloped Potatoes with Ham (Food Network)

Roasted Squash and Tofu with Ginger

This recipe drew my attention because I had all the ingredients already, and one of my favorite Thai dishes combines squash and tofu, so I really wanted to give this a try. We served it with rice.

Notes:

• I used dried powdered ginger (about 1/2 tsp) instead of fresh, and black sesame seeds instead of white, because it's what I had.
• Next time I want to make this with buttercup/kabocha squash (my favorite winter squash).
  

Verdict: The sauce burned a little (honey always seems to do this) and was a little difficult to clean up because it ran off my foil, but this tasted really good! I would definitely make this again.

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RECIPE: Roasted Squash and Tofu with Ginger (Smitten Kitchen)