Yeah! It's December and that means lots of holiday treats! My kitchen is in full swing this month, ok, every month, but I feel especially inspired to bake this time of year. I think it's all the seasonal flavors I get excited about.
Similar to the Rum Balls I blogged about last year, these No-Bake Gingersnap Balls are a little more kid-friendly. And they're addictive. And easy! Even the most inept baker will be able to put these together. Sorry, did that offend you? I just meant, if you suck at baking, don't worry, you'll do fine! :-P
No-Bake Gingersnap Balls Recipe from Santa's Favorite Cookies December 2004 issue Makes 2 dozen cookies
20 gingersnap cookies (about 5 ounces) 3 tablespoons dark corn syrup 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter 1/3 cup powdered sugar
1. Place cookies in large resealable plastic food storage bag; crush finely with rolling pin or meat mallet.
2. Combine corn syrup and peanut butter in medium bowl. Add crushed gingersnaps; mix well. (Mixture should hold together without being sticky. If mixture is too dry, stir in additional 1 tablespoon corn syrup.
3. Shape mixture into 24 (1-inch) balls; roll in powdered sugar.
Cook's note: Some gingersnaps are crisper than others, so you might need to add an extra tablespoonful or two of corn syrup to the crumb mixture to hold it together.
Step-by-Step in Pictures
Combine corn syrup and peanut butter in a bowl... Add the crushed gingersnaps and mix well... Shape the mixture into balls... Then roll the balls in powdered sugar. That's it!
Today is Thanksgiving and I thought I'd take a moment to share a few things I'm thankful for this year. It's certainly not a comprehensive list. It's simply a little look into the past year and some of the things that have put the Happy in Happy Go Marni.
I'm thankful for my family. My mom Joyce and I talk every day and are as close as a mother and a daughter could be. She is my baking inspiration, an accomplished physical therapist, and the strongest woman I know. My dad Mark is brilliant and artistic and creative and fun. I call him for advice or to run ideas by him and he always has great feedback. My sister Beth is an amazing pediatric physical therapist, adventurous and curious, and always happy to try new restaurants or see shows with me, not to mention share precious sister-talk. My brother Zachary is a walking, talking dictionary. He just finished his masters degree at the London School of Economics and I'm so happy he moved back to the states. He can pretty much spout off any historical info on demand and shares my passion for social media.
I'm thankful for my LA community. I surround myself with supportive, fun-loving friends and together we explore the city, take turns hosting dinner parties, share or exchange clothes, and listen when someone needs an ear. It is a truly wonderful network of friends and I am so lucky!
I'm thankful for my KitchenAid standmixer. I didn't get this machine in 2009, but it's the gift that keeps on giving. I get so much pleasure from this machine that it's just about the biggest ROI purchase I've ever made. Baking in the Happy Go Marni kitchen would not be complete without my KitchenAid.
I'm thankful for my DVR. I watch a lot of TV series. But I'm also a busy girl, who works hard, commutes 2 hours a day, still manages to go out, see friends, play piano, frequent the sushi bars, bake, and fit in sleep. I don't let my TV shows dictate my life. The DVR allows me to watch shows in between the rest of my activities. My guilty pleasures of Glee, 90210, Melrose Place, Parks and Recreation, Private Practice, Big Bang Theory, The Middle, How I Met Your Mother, Iron Chef, Ugly Betty, Family Guy, and others can all wait!
I'm thankful for my cookbook collection. This collection grows every year. I have a disease called Must Buy More Cookbooks. It's a bad disease. It has infested my living room. There are two giant bookshelves near the couches and the only things in them are cookbooks. That's how many I have! Even when I'm not in the mood to bake, I'll still pull a cookbook off the shelf just to read it, study the recipes, the forward, the index, the photos, whatever. It makes a great night cap to an evening, just before bed. I mark the pages of these books with post-its, each one indicating a recipe I plan to try one day. At this point, with probably hundreds upon hundreds of post-its used, it's not realistic I'll get to them all and that makes me really sad and frustrated. There aren't enough hours in the day!
I'm thankful for my job. I am fortunate to have such a wonderful job with great coworkers, a supportive and involved boss, and work that constantly challenges me both intellectually and creatively.
I'm thankful for running. It was just over a year ago that I discovered running. At the time, October 2008, I started in order to train for a half-marathon in honor of my friend Rachel who was diagnosed with lymphoma. But even after the half-marathon ended, I ran in two more races and have kept up my running ever since. It's an incredible full body workout, a great stress reliever, and it allows me to catch up on whatever music I've just downloaded to my iPod.
And finally...
I'm thankful for my blog readers. I have a great time baking and writing up these blog posts and it's doubly fun to know that others are enjoying reading them. Hearing that someone made a recipe off my blog and it was a success is very rewarding. Hearing that my step-by-step photos are helpful is also really rewarding. I've met a lot of wonderful bloggers and non-bloggers through this blog. It's surprising and awesome how much fun this blog has brought me. So thank you to you, dear blog readers!
I know there was reportedly a pumpkin shortage this holiday season, but in my house, you wouldn't have known it! When I decided to make these bars, I didn't need to go to the store to buy pumpkin. I had 3 cans sitting in my pantry. I'm that way about a lot of things. I don't let my ingredients get depleted. It's the girl scout at heart in me, despite never actually having done Girl Scouts. Nothing is worse than being mid-recipe and running out of something, or being in the mood to bake, but having to go to the store because you don't already have the ingredients in stock. Even as my flour bin is half full, I already have another unopened bag ready to go. Same with sugar. Same with peanut butter. Same with pumpkin. I used up part of one can on this recipe, which means I've still got at least two more baked goods to make before the holidays are over. That won't be difficult.
These bars are a moist cake, not too tall, though I suppose if you baked them in a smaller pan for a little longer, you could have taller bars. The cream cheese frosting is a nice addition. I don't normally make cream cheese frosting because it's fattening, but it was such a thin layer spread on the bars that I was willing, and it really did make a difference. I served these at a potluck dinner, and then brought the leftovers to work. They were a hit with everyone!
1 cup canned pumpkin 1 large egg 1 cup sugar 1/4 cup canola oil 1/2 cup nonfat sour cream 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Cream Cheese Frosting 4 ounces fat-free cream cheese, at room temperature 1 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a 13 x 9 inch pan with nonstick spray. Line the bottom with wax paper or parchment paper and spray again.
In a large bowl, stir together the pumpkin, egg, sugar, oil, and sour cream. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and mix until well blended. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly touched. Place the pan on a wire rack to cool.
In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese and add the confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. When the bars are cooled, spread with the frosting. Cut into bars to serve.
Makes 24 bars.
Step-by-Step in Pictures
Combine pumpkin, egg, sugar, oil, and sour cream... Stir until well blended... Combine the dry ingredients together in a bowl... Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture... Pour into a greased 9x13-inch pan and bake in a 350 degree F oven for 25-30 minutes... Prepare the frosting by mixing together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla... Spread the frosting over the completely cooled pumpkin bars using an offset spatula... This is what I'm talking about!
Friday night, I took my friend Maya, the awesome blogger personality behind Shop Eat Sleep, and her boyfriend Rory, to "All Cake, No File," a show in Culver City with an unlikely match-up. It was part live cooking show and part Johnny Cash tribute band. Jewell Rae Jeffers, in a blond, 1950s wig, and thick Southern accent, led the cooking portion by demonstrating her Coke Cake on stage. It was a cake mix, some Coca-Cola, eggs, pecans, and a few more things, plus frosting with marshmallows. She offered up social commentary on the prison system while she baked and made funny mentions about all the products she was using in her cake that the show was not endorsing. The show was silly, but what do you expect from something that's part of the WTF?! Festival?
L-->R: Me, Jewell Rae, Maya
I have to tell you, walking into the theater before the show started and seeing a KitchenAid on the stage was a huge thrill. It almost didn't matter what the show was like because I just loved that it involved a KitchenAid. But the show did turn out to be fun and funny. Jewell Rae interacted with the audience throughout the show, and in between baking, an amazing Johnny Cash tribute band called With a Bible and a Gun performed some classic Johnny Cash songs. They were such a talented band! And they are actually doing a prison tour, performing for inmates all over the U.S.! They don't pretend to be Johnny Cash or his bandmates, other than wearing black and playing his music, so it's not a tribute band in the full sense of the word. Wayne Kramer of the MC5 also made an appearance and performed a few songs.
Standing with Corby Gallegos, the leader singer of With a Bible and a Gun, who sounds just like Johnny Cash!
When the show ended, everyone was invited to the patio to have a slice of the cake and schmooze with the performers. Yes, the night ended with cake! Isn't that how all shows should end? Next Friday, November 27, is your last chance to see this show and Jewell Rae will be baking a different cake!
This was my first time at the Ivy Substation and at any Actors' Gang event. There really is not a bad seat in the house and the back courtyard area is a neat touch with heatlamps and a bar. I would absolutely go back to this venue, with or without a KitchenAid on stage.
Ok, when I read this next bit of news, I couldn't help but laugh a little. Not because it's a ridiculous idea (in fact, it might be a really, really smart one), but because it seems as though chefs are entering every kind of business now! There's Rachael Ray and Mario Batali and tons of others who each have their own line of cookware and bakeware. Obviously chefs have restaurants, often times cookbooks, and sometimes teach classes or host speaking engagements. They have cooking shows and compete on reality shows. There's Guy Fieri who is even going on tour for a rock and roll cooking show/concert, which you can read all about in the Wall Street Journal. Yes, chef-turned-rockstar.
And now, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, the Naked Chef, is launching a dating site. The tag line for the site is "Where food lovers meet." I guess if you want to be able to share your love of food with your partner, this could be a great place to find that special someone. In fact, Serious Eatscoincidentally posted a really funny forum question a few days ago: "Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?" For a lot of people, it is a dealbreaker. So maybe Jamie Oliver's got something here! He's partnered with Match.com for a 2 year deal of food-love matchmaking. According to Marketing Magazine, new members to the site will even have a chance to win a meal for two at Jamie's Italian. The site has sections such as Dinner Date Tips, Food to Make You Fall in Love, and Making the First Meal for your Partner. The URL of the site is pretty easy to remember, too. http://www.JamieOliver.com/dating.
Now I've seen it all! No, I guess when a chef starts selling lawn mowers I'll have seen it all.
A few nights ago I attended a Coca-Cola blogger tasting event at a bar called High on the rooftop of Hotel Erwin in Venice, CA. There were amazing views of the city from up there, and fortunately also heat lamps! I brought along two of my closest friends David and Tzviah and we met up with friend/blogger AJ of Confessions of a Fat Girl and friend Jess. In the elevator on our way up to the roof, I ran into Christina of Hot Pink Manolos and what's funny about that is, we were already friends on Twitter, but I had never met Christina in person until that elevator ride. Ah, the virtual-come-real world! It was also neat to see David and Tzviah wearing name tags with HappyGoMarni.com written beneath their names. As if they were working for me or representing me. Well I suppose that's possible...they are lawyer-folk, after all.
The entrance to the bar when you step off the elevator onto the rooftop
Tzviah and David. Notice their nametags! They must work for me. :-)
But besides hanging out with friends at a cool venue in Venice, the primary reason I was there was to check out the new limited availability 8.5-ounce Coca-Cola Aluminum Contour Bottles. They are really neat! They keep the drink cold much longer than the normal cans, and they are sleek and classic like the old glass bottles of decades ago. Plus, unlike glass, they don't break if you drop them. Of course that doesn't make them spill-proof so don't drop them on your white carpet. I should really heed my own advice on that. They're also much heavier containers than the thin aluminum cans we are currently so used to and they're resealable.
At this event, the bartender was mixing cocktails that featured Coke, Diet Coke, and Coke Zero, and then funneling them into the new bottles to serve. I ordered the Coca-Libre, a drink that combined Coke, rum, grenadine, and red sugar. Another drink option was the Lemon Chilled made from Diet Coke, vodka, and lemonade. And a third drink option was the Zero Gravity with Coke Zero, Tequila Herradura, and fresh lime juice. Even some of the passed hors d'oeuvres contained Coke in the recipe. For sure the meatballs with their spicy, tangy Coke sauce. Yum!
Beef meatballs with a sauce made from Coke
At least for now, the new bottles are hard to find. Not sold in supermarkets and only in a few bars. I happen to live not-so-far from one of those bars: the SLS Hotel bar in Beverly Hills. Hopefully you'll have a chance to try a bottle soon. You could toss it in the recycle bin when you're done, or it makes a great bud vase!
Lou Pappas is one of those authors who only makes good stuff. She's so consistently good that I never doubt a recipe. And not only that, when I glance at the latest Williams-Sonoma brand cookbook, I know to flip open the cover and see who wrote the recipes for the book. The recipes are often by Lou Pappas, which makes it very difficult not to buy the book!
This Milk Chocolate-Walnut Coffee Cake is simple to make and has classic, uncontroversial flavors in it. I made it for a presentation I was giving to staff at work. It was a great way to kick off the meeting. I just hope I didn't set a precedent that every time I lead a meeting or give a presentation, baked goods are expected. If you're listening, coworkers, the answer is NO!
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature 1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus 3 tablespoons 1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup buttermilk or low-fat plain yogurt 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 6 ounces milk chocolate, finely chopped, or milk chocolate wafers 1 cup (4 ounces) chopped walnuts or pecans, toasted
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars (reserve the 3 tablespoons granulated sugar) together with a wooden spoon or an electric mixer and beat in the eggs and vanilla until smooth. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and stir to blend. Stir the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with the buttermilk or yogurt in 2 increments and beat until the batter is smooth.
Stir together the 3 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Spread half the batter in the prepared pan and sprinkle with half the cinnamon sugar and half the chopped chocolate or wafers. Spread the remaining batter evenly over the top and sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar and chocolate and the nuts.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Remove the sides of the pan. Serve the cake warm or at room temperature, cut into wedges.
Makes one 9-inch cake; serves 12.
Step-by-Step in Pictures
Cream the butter and sugars... Add eggs and vanilla... Combine dry ingredients and add to the batter alternately with the buttermilk or yogurt... Your batter will be thick and smooth... Combine sugar and cinnamon... Grease and flour the springform pan... Spread half the batter into the bottom of the pan... Sprinkle half the cinnamon sugar over the batter... Sprinkle half the chocolate over the cinnamon sugar... Spread the remaining batter on top... Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar on top, then the remaining chocolate chips and the nuts... Bake at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes... Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove the sides... Notice the streaks of cinnamon sugar in the cross-section... Yum!
I’ve always loved baking. I come from a family of amazing bakers going back many generations. And I have two large bookcases in my living room, both of them filled only with my 1000 cookbooks. I even considered it as a career and almost attended pastry school in San Francisco after college. But I went the route of digital marketing and got a Masters in Communication Management from the Annenberg School for Communication at USC. So baking is just a hobby. But I take hobbies seriously! And getting to moonlight as a baker is a great thing. I’m very happy.
