Tday over and out........

Well the day is over....rather early I think. But people were leaving and my bf wanted to go too.I think it was all the little kids running amok that was getting to him. Honestly they were starting to get on my nerves too. Damn when did we get so old?

I went yesterday to my SIL to drop off the coffee pot and tablecloths, pickles and cranberry sauce and asst. stuff on my list. This way they could set up the garage early. I came back home and baked my Pumpkin Cheesecake and screwed it up. I'm supposed to mix the spices, pumpkin and sugar and eggs then mix the cream cheese and other ingredients, then put both mixes together. I didn't....I just made dinner and was doing stuff all day so I was tired and just put it all in the mixer. Sigh. The cream cheese refused to totally break down so I had a polka dot cheese cake.

I mixed it in the kitchen aid at high speed....didn't help.
I mixed it with my immersion blender......didn't help much.
I mixed it on high with my hand held mixer and didn't help much. I got most mixed but there were still small dots of cheese. When it baked and cooled it looked like oatmeal on top. :( Now I know the batter tasted good so I figure the cheesecake will too. ( too full to have any yet) But I covered that all up with whipped cream :)

I was going to make a cream cheese spread topped with my Della Robbia Jam.......and topped with Cowboy Candy. YUCK. Somehow that jam just didn't work. A week or so ago I tried to make cranberry sauce to can and it didn't jell it was a sauce. I canned it anyway and used it in my yogurt. So this time I decided to try the cran/blackberry sauce over the cream cheese which I spiced with a bit of the syrup from the Cowboy Candy. I made two layers...and topped each with the sauce and Cowboy Candy and served it with crackers..........now THAT  was good!

And finally I made these rolls. These are tradition in my family. Me and the kids love these. They are made with cornmeal and are tasty even the next day. I always have some the day after Tday with my morning coffee, spread with a little butter. YUM! The picture you see is all I have left, I brought the rest home. I forgot to take pics of the process lol  but here's the recipe. 

Stone Ground Corn Rolls Makes 32-36

2c. milk
3/4 c. stone ground cornmeal
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. solid shortening (I normally use butter but I will use margarine if I have it around)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 pkg. dry yeast dissolved in 1/4 c. warm water
6 c. unbleached all purpose flour (more or less depending on the weather)

Grease baking sheets, 3 round cake pans or even a big cake pan, whatever will hold the amt. I have a quarter sheet cake pan which works perfect but I have made these in 3 9in. cake pans too.

Combine milk and cornmeal in a lg. saucepan and cook over low heat stirring often till really thick. Add sugar, shortening and salt and stir well.  Put in a lg. bowl and let cool to lukewarm.

Blend in eggs and yeast. Slowly mix in about 3-4 c. of flour till it begins to form a dough. It will be quite sticky. I put the last two cups of flour on the surface your going to be kneading on. Then dump the doughy mess from the bowl onto the flour. Slowly work as much of the flour in as you can till the dough is no longer sticky. Depending on the weather you may end up using it all or not. When it seems like a nice smooth dough that doesn't stick much, its ready to be shaped. (about 12 min.)

Pinch off 1 1/2-2 in. pieces and form into balls. Arrange on your prepared pans. Let rise in a warm draft free place till doubled in size about 1 1/2-2 hrs.

Meanwhile preheat over to 375 degrees. Bake rolls 15min or till golden brown. Serve while warm.

Honey Butter Glazed Cornbread

The family had a BBQ this past weekend and I was asked to bring my baked beans. I wanted to make something else to bring too and thought cornbread would be nice. My bf loves bread with every meal. Now I have pkg. mixes on hand for when I'm in a hurry. And Ive tried other cornbread recipes but was never really happy with the results. They were either too dry or bland.

Now I know there are cultural differences when it comes to cornbread here in the USA. But I personally like a moist bread that's a bit sweet. This bread is that. I looked for recipes online and printed out a few. This one however kept calling me and I'm glad I listened to that. I also saw online some folks drizzle honey on the bread before baking. And I talked to a few friends and one of them told me about making a glaze with honey butter. That sounded totally yummy. And because there were going to be alot of kids I didn't want a bread that I had to have extra butter for . Kids would make a mess.

So I doubled this recipe and baked it in a 13 x 9 pan. I have a convection oven and so in mine it baked for about 25min. I tested it and it was done and a nice golden brown. Then I topped it with the honey and butter and baked it a few min. more. I decided to cut the bread into squares here so there would be less to do there. This way I knew everyone would get a piece too. The bread was a hit and everyone had several pieces. This one is a keeper for me. The only thing Ill do different is perhaps use just a bit less sugar because with the honey glaze its sweet.......not too sweet but sweeter than I thought it would be. But it doesn't need anything more, just cut and serve.
 
Honey Butter Glazed Cornbread

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs  
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cornmeal (I used Bobs Red Mill)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt  
Honey to drizzle  and extra butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). You can make in an 8 inch   square pan or cook in a cast iron or other oven proof skillet. 
2. In a medium sized bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, salt and baking soda Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large skillet. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar. Quickly add the eggs and whisk until well blended.  Whisk in the  buttermilk. Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt in 3 portions until well blended and few lumps remain. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

I use buttermilk powder that you reconstitute. I get it at the health food store but I think some grocery stores carry it too. I doubled this recipe since I made it for a big BBQ. I only had 1c. of real buttermilk in my refrigerator so I made up the second cup with the powder buttermilk and milk. They say to use water but I wanted milk in it.

When the cornbread was almost done, I put several pats of butter on the top of it and drizzled it with honey, then returned to the oven for about 5min. of so to glaze the bread.