Hello ~ ~ It’s been way too long since I’ve posted on Saucy Girls Kitchen. Since opening our cafe (www.TheCuriousKitchen.net), my blog/website has taken a back seat. I’ve felt sad neglecting it! So, I’m back with a delicious cookie recipe just in time for the holidays. I wanted to bake something that wasn’t chocolate, or lemon…. 2 of my favs…. but I wanted something different. And now I have a new favorite!!

Cranberry Pistachio Shortbread Cookies

INGREDIENTS
2 sticks salted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups AP flour
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup pistachios, chopped

Turbinado sugar, to sprinkle on top before baking (optional)

METHOD
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together butter and sugar until light and creamy, about 3 minutes.
Add egg yolks and vanilla, combine completely.
Add in the flour.
Once the flour is totally incorporated, add in the cranberries and pistachios, mixing until totally combined.
Using your cookie scooper (I used the 2.25oz size), scoop the cookie dough and form it into a disk shape, about 3″ wide and 1/2″ tall.
The cookies won’t rise or spread, so the way you shape them is the way they will bake.
Place cookie on a silpat or parchment covered baking sheet.
Once you’ve filled your cookie sheet, top each cookie with a sprinkle of turbinado sugar.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until edges are lightly golden.
Remove from oven and place on cooling rack.
Enjoy!

You will be amazed how easy these are to make and they only take about 12 minutes to bake… but in that little bit of time they will also fill the house with the scent of cinnamon. Hope you give this recipe a try. They’re delicious!!

Makes about 10-12 rolls

INGREDIENTS
For Dough:
2 packages Dry Yeast
¼ cup warm Water
1½ cups Buttermilk
3 Tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
¼ tsp Soda
½ cup Vegetable Oil
4½ cups All-Purpose Flour

Filling:
½ cup Butter, melted
1¼ cups Brown Sugar, packed
1½ tsp Cinnamon
1/2 cup Raisins, optional

For Icing:
1 cup Powdered Sugar
2 Tbsp Milk
1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

METHOD
To prepare dough:
In the bowl of your electric mixer, dissolve yeast in warm water.
Heat buttermilk until warm.
Add buttermilk, sugar, salt, soda, oil, flour and yeast and mix together using the paddle attachment.
Cover and let rise 15 minutes.
Place dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 10 x 18 inches.

In a medium bowl, combine ingredients for filling and spread on dough.
Roll up rectangle; cut into 1½-2 inch pieces, and place cut side up in a buttered 9 or 10 inch round cake pan, leaving center empty.
Let rise 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Bake rolls for 10 to 15 minutes, until lightly browned.

While the cinnamon rolls are baking, you can make the icing by mixing sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth.
Ice the cinnamon rolls once they have cooled down.
Enjoy!

It’s the season of the pumpkin. Everywhere I look I see pumpkins and fall decorations.

Fortunately, I love pumpkin — pumpkin soup, pumpkin ravioli, pumpkin cookies and, best of all, this pumpkin bread. It’s super moist and flavorful.

I used a fresh pumpkin that I roasted. All you do is cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out all the seeds. Place the pumpkin, cut side down, on a baking dish and bake for about an hour in a 350 degree oven, or until it’s fork tender. When it’s done, allow it to cool, and you can easily remove the skin. Mash it up with a potato masher and you’ve got incredible tasting pumpkin puree that you can use in all kinds of recipes.

This recipe makes two loaves and that’s a good thing. We ate the first loaf in one day!

The Best Pumpkin Bread

INGREDIENTS
3 1/2 cups all-purpose Flour
2 cups Brown Sugar, packed
2/3 cup Cane Sugar
2 cups Pumpkin Puree (fresh is best!)
1 cup Butter, melted
1/3 cup Milk
2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Nutmeg, ground
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon, ground
1 cup Walnuts, toasted and chopped

METHOD
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter and sugar two 8 x 4 inch loaf pans.
In a large bowl combine the flour, brown sugar, white sugar, pumpkin puree, butter, milk, baking soda, salt, ground nutmeg and ground cinnamon.
Mix until all of the flour is gone.
Fold in the nuts.
Pour batter into the prepared pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove from oven and cover loaves with foil tightly.
Allow to steam for 10 minutes.
Remove foil and turn out onto a cooling rack.
Allow to cool completely.
Enjoy!

I’m a cheesecake lover. My husband doesn’t love it as much as I do… until now. This cheesecake was so delicious I happily gave half of it to our neighbors (or else we would have eaten it all). The neighbors really loved it. Here’s proof, in this picture of their little boy licking his plate.  haha

INGREDIENTS

For Crust:
1 stick Butter, melted
2 cups Graham Cracker crumbs
3 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon

For Filling:
3 (8-ounce) packages Cream Cheese, at room temperature
1 ½ cups Pumpkin Puree (fresh is best)
3 Whole Eggs, plus 1 Egg Yolk
1/4 cup Sour Cream
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Nutmeg (fresh ground is best)
1/8 tsp Ground Cloves
2 Tbsp Flour
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

METHOD
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For crust:
Melt butter and set aside.
In the food processor, process the graham crackers into crumbs.
Add in the brown sugar and cinnamon and pulse.
Add the melted butter and pulse until combined.
Press crumb mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan and up the side about an inch.
Set aside.

For filling:
Beat the cream cheese until smooth.
Add in the pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and spices.
Beat until smooth again.
Add flour and vanilla and continue to mix until well combined.
Pour filling evenly into pie crust.
Bake for an hour to an hour and 15 minutes, or until the center is somewhat solid. Remove from the oven and let come to room temperature.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
Serve with fresh whipped cream.
Enjoy!

I made this as a side dish the other night and my husband and I, both agreed we would have been happy just eating the Green Bean Casserole as our entire dinner!  

INGREDIENTS
1 lb. fresh Green Beans

3 Tbsp Butter or Olive Oil (or a little of each)
6 to 8 Mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Flour
1/3 to 1/2 cup Cream, Half & Half, or Milk (or “milk” of your choice)
A couple grinds of Fresh Black Pepper

Crumb Topping:
2 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1  to 2 tsp Onion Powder (not onion salt!)
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Panko

METHOD
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Boil or steam green beans until tender.
Set aside.
Add butter or olive oil to a heavy saucepan.
Add the mushrooms and salt.
Saute the mushrooms over medium heat until soft, about 7 minutes.
Turn heat to low.
Sprinkle the flour over the mushrooms and stir to combine.
Slowly add in the milk, stirring constantly to avoid lumps.
Stir in the black pepper.
Stir in the green beans.
Place mixture into a casserole dish.
Set aside.

Prepare Crumb Topping:
Heat butter and olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium high heat.
Stir in the onion powder and salt.
Add the panko and stir until it is coated with the butter mixture.
Continue to stir until the panko is lightly toasted.
Sprinkle crumb topping evenly over the top of the green beans.
Bake for about 12 to 15 minutes, until heated through and bubbly.
Enjoy!

Every year I dye eggs. However, this is the first year that I’ve tried dying the eggs naturally.

I experimented around with what I already had on hand and in the pantry. I think the eggs turned out nicely. Although, there is no bright red or pink, there are subtle shades that I achieved from different items; red wine, beets, and pomegranate juice.

I think my favorite result was using the Turmeric. The yellow was so vibrant.

I love coloring the eggs every year, but this year I enjoyed it even more. It was fun trying different things, and not knowing exactly how the eggs were going to turn out.

All in all, I think it was a pretty good first run. Next year it will be even better!!

These are the items I used for my eggs:  100% Blueberry Juice, 100% Grape Juice, 5 cups Boiled Spinach (then processed and strained), Turmeric, Beet Juice, Saffron, Red Wine, Paprika (that made the light orange eggs… which I should have turned more because laying in the paprika on the bottom gave the egg a circular mark).

Here are some items you can use to color your eggs naturally.

Blue: 100% Blueberry Juice, Canned Blueberries, Boiled Red Cabbage Leaves

Yellow: Turmeric, Saffron

Green: Spinach Leaves (boiled and strained)

Purple: 100% Grape Juice

Pink: Beets

Red: 100% Cherry Juice, Beets, Pomegranate Juice, Red Onion skins (boiled),

Orange: Paprika, Chili Powder

Not sure why I have been craving Pavlovas… which is just like a meringue, but I like the name better. Not only did I make the Pavlova pictured above, but 2 days later, I made a bunch of mini Rose flavored Pavlovas. They’re super simple to make, and I think they’re really fun to make, as well! Whipping up the egg whites & sugar until they become super stiff and then baking them to sweet perfection. They are wonderful on their own, but I wanted to add a little pastry cream. When I made the mini Rose Pavlovas, I left some rounded (as pictured below) and others I made with a small indent (made with a spoon) to accomodate the rose pastry cream.

To make different flavors of Pavlovas, just change up the extract. To make the rose pavlovas and rose pastry cream I used Rose Water. They were delicious, with a delicate rose flavor that I absolutely love. I also use Rose Water when making Baklava. It imparts an incredible flavor.

Pavlovas are perfect for Easter. I like to make little bird nests with them, filled with pastry cream and pastel candied Jordan Almonds. They look so cute. Or you could just bake the pavlova shells and then put a little shredded coconut in the center, topped with some colorful jelly beans.

INGREDIENTS
For Pavlovas:
4 Egg Whites, room temperature
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
½ tsp Cream of Tartar
1 ¼ cup Superfine Sugar*
Drop of Food Coloring of choice (if desired)

For Pastry Cream Filling:
4 large Egg Yolks
1/4 cup Cornstarch
1/2 cup Sugar
2 cups Milk
2 Tbsp Pure Vanilla Extract
Pinch of Salt
2 Tbsp Butter, unsalted

Raspberries, for garnish
(or other fruit of choice)

METHOD
For Pavlovas:
Preheat oven to 150 degrees, or the lowest possible temperature.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Add the egg whites, vanilla extract and cream of tartar into the bowl of your electric mixer.
Mix on medium speed with the whisk attachment for about 1 minute, or until the egg whites until soft peaks form.
Add in the sugar, a little at a time, while continuing to beat the egg whites.
Turn mixer on high and beat until stiff peaks form.
Add the food coloring and beat until combined.
Using a pastry bag, pipe a 3-inch circle, starting from the center and working your way outwards, followed by a double outer ring (to make a nest shape).
Continue until you have piped all the meringue, spacing them 2 inches apart.
Bake in the oven until crisp, but not brown, about an hour.
Turn off oven and leave nests inside until oven has cooled, then remove nests from oven.
They should easily lift from the parchment.
For Vanilla Pastry Cream Filling:
In a medium saucepan add the egg yolks.
Whisk in the cornstarch and sugar, with just a little bit of the milk.
Whisk until there are no lumps.
Gradually whisk in the rest of the milk and turn the heat on medium.
Continue whisking until the mixture comes to a boil.
Turn heat to low and continue to whisk, as mixture starts to thicken.
Once it gets very thick, remove from heat.
Whisk in the vanilla extract, salt and butter.
Continue mixing until the butter has completely melted.
Place in a bowl and allow to come to room temperature.
Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it against the top, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before using.
Assembly:
Spoon the pastry cream into the well of each Pavlova.
Top with raspberries, or the fruit of your choice.
Enjoy right away!

Notes:
*The “superfine” sugar is known as castor sugar. It’s simply granulated sugar that is really fine and dissolves easily into the egg whites. No need to go buy it, you can use regular sugar and process it in your food processor until it is super fine.

Rather than using the pastry bag to pipe the Pavlova shape, you can use a spoon and make a round shape with an indent in the center.

The pastry cream will keep in the refrigerator for 4 days. So, if you’re not going to eat the Pavlovas right away, it’s best to store them unfilled, and fill them right before serving.

Experiment around with other flavors. My favorite, so far… is Rose Pavlovas with Rose Cream Filling.