Dough Gods

Years ago, when Amy was staying at Auntie Dodo's in the summer, Dodo taught her the art of making Dough Gods, simply, fried bread dough. Such a wonderful thing to teach a young girl, and even better when you teach that girls mom, ME!!!! Now, finding an easy bread dough recipe can be hard, but ever since I got my Kitchen Aide stand mixer about 14 years ago, I have had it easy. I simply let my mixer do all the work, the mixing and the kneading, as I simply stand by and watch. And the recipe??? its the basic white bread recipe from the little recipe book that came with the mixer. Now, don't get me wrong, making bread is a time consuming ordeal, as is the dough gods, so this is a special occasion treat, always on Christmas morning, and Easter morning, and sometimes, depending on when your birthday falls, like on a weekend or day off, you may just get them then. It is so much a part of our lives, our traditions, that I couldn't imagine what it was like before they were apart of our lives.

Letting the mixer do all the work, just stand around and
wait for the dough to be ready to transfer into another bowl.

Add the dough to a well greased bowl, butter only, and
once the bottom is greased, flip over the dough, cover with
a tea towel and keep in a warm spot. 

In about an hour or so, the dough should have at least
doubled in size, and is ready to be punched down and
cut into good sized chucks to start the frying process.

Once the oil has heated to a good frying temperature,
no I don't use a thermometer, I just eye ball it, and
know that I can't increase the heat on the stove
to over about med high, and no lower then med.
As they fry, I flip them over a few times, not letting
them brown, but just start to look golden, before
taking them out, and putting them in the oven
to keep warm on a paper towelled cookie sheet.

Sometimes, I will get a small tear in my dough as I am
stretching it, simply just roll it back into a ball and
start the stretching process all over again, Once stretched
carefully place into the oil, I don't like to crowd the
pan as it will cool down the oil too much.

I keep them warm in the oven, usually at about 170 degrees,
so that we can all sit down to eat at the same time.
It is important to only fry them until they just start to
turn golden, any longer and they will become
crispy instead of soft and chewy.

Butter and cinnamon sugar is best on these, as it melts
on the warm dough and is super yummy. My hubby doesn't
like cinnamon sugar, so enjoys them with butter and jam,

Depending on how many dough gods I make, I usually make
4 per person, there is usually enough dough to form into
a loaf, and after another rising in a greased loaf pan,
I bake it off later in the day to have with dinner.

Who doesn't like a warm slice of fresh bread right out
of the oven. Never mind the wonderful smell
that permeates the house while it bakes.

The recipes is as follows......

1/2 cup of milk

3 tablespoons of granulated sugar

2 teaspoons of salt

3 tablespoons of butter or margarine

2 packages of active dry yeast ( I use the quick rise one)

1 1/2 cups warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)

5 to 6 cups of flour

Combine milk, sugar,salt and butter in small saucepan. Heat over

low heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Cool to lukewarm.

Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed bowl. Add lukewarm

milk mixture and 4 1/2 cups of flour. Attach bowl and dough hook,

turn to speed 2 and mix 1 minute. Continuing on speed 2, add 1/2 a

cup of flour at a time, until the dough clings to hook and cleans the side

of the bowl. Knead on Speed 2 for 2 more minutes, dough will be 

slightly sticky to the touch. Turn into grease bowl and let rise.

December Days - Day 19

Today I hosted my 2nd cookie swap in as many years. And it was with the same girls as last year, and with just as much fun, talking, tea drinking and cookie eating as last time. Nice when you can catch up so easily with friends you haven't seen is such a long time, reconnect and share a fun evening with laughs, warmth and love.

Getting to the cookie swap was pretty easy for me this year, especially since last year my oven was on the fritz and I had a heck of a time not burning cookies, and spent a good portion of prep day in tears...thankfully this year was a lot smoother, and my cookies turned out perfect, and that's with trying new recipe as well. Yay me!!!

I also had found pretty boxes and cellophane bags a few weeks ago when Amy and I had gone to Essential Packaging for a looksie, and both ended up leaving with exactly what we needed, and without overspending.

Loving the snowflake theme and satin ribbon.

Making cookies, I love that i have my silt pats and that it makes baking a breeze and not sticking cookies. This year, I once again made my White Chocolate Chip and Cranberry Cookies, which are always a hit, and tried a new recipe, thanks to finding the Andes Creme de Menthe chips when we visited the states last week.

Here is the links to both cookie recipes if you are interested in trying either of them:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/white-chocolate-and-cranberry-cookies/detail.aspx

Currently, the site for the Andes Creme de Menthe cookies is down, I will upload the link when it is back and running. For now, you can get the recipe by searching the above wording.


They cookies both baked up really nicely, and I doubled the Cranberry batch to get over 4 dozen, and the Andes recipe allowed for more the 4 dozen as well, perfect for a cookie swap or gift giving during the holiday.

White Chocolate and Cranberry cookies.

Andes Creme de Menthe Cookies.

After the cookies cooled, I bagged the cookies, by the dozen into the cellophane bags, tied with the ribbon, then put on of each kind of cookies into the gift boxes, which I then tied with ribbon and added my homemade gift tags. Ready for swapping.

I hand stamped the snowflakes onto the front of the tags, and then,
with my own handwriting, shock there, since I hate it, I added greetings
and names to the tags for each girl.

Just before the ladies arrived, I put out the gift boxed on the table, put out a platter for the sampling cookies, and got the tea out and ready for sipping. Lite some candles, and then waited somewhat patiently for the evening to begin.

My dear friend Erika, and her selection of cookies to bring home. Love all the
packaging that we had this year.

Alyssa is Erika's best friend, and someone I've had the pleasure of getting to
know over the years through her Stampin up clubs and with Erika.

I've known Alison just as long as Alyssa, and they are actually sister
in laws, but friends as well, and I'm thankful that we at least have once
a year to gather and stay connected. 

Me and all my wonderful cookies from my friends.

I am so thankful for this small, but good group of ladies, and their awesome homemade cookies and for
their company for one evening during the holidays. Once again, I think our evening was a great success.

Jordyn's birthday cake

Using the Iphone app called Instaframe, I made a collage

of the stages of making Jordyn's birthday cake for her

19th birthday. I love decorating cakes.

And here's my little secret, I love the decorating process,

I love making something so simple look so elegant, but

I don't like baking cakes from scratch, nor do I have any

success when trying to make icing either. That is why 

Betty Crocker invented easy cake mixes, and then

icing in a jar....see for me, it's the final cake, the

wow factor that makes me happy, and makes the

person receiving it happy as well. It's the making

it as individual as the person its made for, to add

details that will bring a smile to their face that is

well worth the effort of the decorating process.

And well it started the night before with me making

the cake mix (rainbow sprinkle is her favorite) and

dividing it into two round cake tins to bake.

The next day, I spread Smucker's wildberry jam on the

top of the bottom round, then topped with the french

vanilla icing and then smeared it all together, before topping

it with the other round. I then did a layer of icing, but it was

so warm in the house that it was falling off as quickly as I 

was putting it on, and I was getting super frustrated, so into

the fridge it went for 30 minutes for cool down.

In that time, I took all the roses (purchased two 

silk bouquets from the dollar store) and then once

I had seperated the flowers and leaves from the

stems, I took a wet cloth and washed each and

every piece that would be going on the cake, yes

it is an important thing to remember when using non

edible things on a cake, make sure they are clean.

Once the icing had cooled down, I finished spreading it, then

a simple technique I used to dimple it is to just use a butter 

knife and tap up and down, pulling some icing up as you go.

For someone like me with limited cake decorating skills, I find

it less stressful then trying to get that perfect smooth icing finish.

I then just added leaves, and alternating rose colors until I liked

how the cake looked, and since I know roses are one of her

favorite flowers, I knew she would love her cake, and she did.

Happy 19th birthday to my baby girl.

Love you lots xoxo

Gingerbread cookies

Jordyn has been asking to make these cookies for

about a week now, so today we picked up some cookie

cutters, the ingredients we didn't have at home and

off to the land of baking she went. She found a easy

recipe on the internet and in now time had the batter

ready for cutting out and baking. Instead of the normal

decorating she has done in the past, she went with

chocolate instead, always a good thing in my books.

Just the feet or bottoms for them, all dipped and

drying on the sheets of wax paper, then it was off

to eyes and buttons for the little boys and girls.

A pipping bag of melted chocolate and a carefree

hand and attitude, each little cookie became a

gingerbread boy or girl. And yes, they taste

as yummy as the look.

My Food adventures

My attempt at making stuffed burgers. I fried up

bacon and added shredded cheese on top of flattened

beef patties (homemade) and then added a top portion.

And even though the burgers were quite flat when I

put them in the oven, they still ended up being plump,

and were a bit dry and the filling kinda just disappeared.

Not sure I'm a fan of making these burgers. But I did

try something new. :)

What do you get when you buy an Angel food cake,

a big package of strawberries and some whipping

creme? A yummy dessert. I took the over ripe

strawberries, some Vanilla syrup and some sugar

and simmered them to make a thick syrup. I then

added the same Vanilla syrup to the whipping cream

as I whipped it up in my mixer. Cut up berries and cake

and voila, a great summery dessert.

Cinco De Mayo!!!!! I couldn't resist taking a picture

of our dinner that night, how mexican can you get?

Nachos!!!!!!! lol!!!!

Weekly routine

Since moving to our new place in October, I've found that I am once again loving to bake. This new kitchen is bright and roomy and so I find I am more willing to spend quality time in it. Usually I try to bake cookies, and banana loaf, but sometimes I will make some brownies, and lots of weeks it's a must for Rice Krispie Square...what ever it is, the house always smells good and the warm treats always taste best with a cold glass of milk.

This week I saw a banana loaf picture on my friend Alyssa's blog and had to try it, and boy is it yummy. She also introduced me to a blog called Joy the Baker, and wow, does that blog have lots of good stuff and recipes.

Here are the links to both recipes...they are definetly worth adding to your "best ofs"

joythebaker.com (she also has a fb link)

blisstree.com/eat/white-chocolate-chip-cranberry-cookies/

Now I think I will go enjoy a slice of banana bread :)