Beer Bread

My Mom used to make this for us, and as kids, it always seemed so cool to be eating something with alcohol in it.  Even though all of the alcohol evaporates during the cooking process.  It's the single easiest recipe I own, and goes well with wintry, hearty meals.  Roasts, stews, holiday feasts.  Or alone fresh out of the oven with butter melted onto it.  Mmmm...  We recently had a few slices of beer bread at a Portland restaurant and, oh ICK!  This version is so much better.  You can use any kind of beer, but the darker kinds have a lot more flavor.  Porters are the best.  IPAs turn out good results too.  I usually use the darkest homebrew that we have on tap.  And then pour a pint for myself to drink while it's baking.

Ingredients

12oz beer

2c self-rising flour (the "self-rising" kind of flour is very important)

3T sugar

Directions

- Mix the flour and sugar in a bowl.

-Pour the beer in slowly so that it doesn't foam up all over the place.

- Stir only until the flour is wet.  Don't over mix.  It should be lumpy and gooey.

- Pour into a greased bread pan.  Bake at 375° for about 45 minutes.  Enjoy!

The Anti Christmas Cookies Part 2 - Peanut Brittle

For reasons why I don't make Christmas cookies, and for instructions on making candied citrus slices, read here.  This year's addition to the holiday food giving tradition also included peanut brittle.  I have never made peanut brittle.  But it seemed simple enough.  And it really was!

 

Peanut Brittle

There are tons of easy recipes online, so I just went with the first one that turned up.  It's from allrecipes.com and uses real butter in the final step, creating a smooth (and somewhat greasy) final product.  The only modification I made was to use slightly less peanuts.  I think next time I will use a recipe that includes brown sugar and maybe eliminates or decreases the amount of butter.

Ingredients:

1c white sugar

1/2 c light corn syrup

1/4 t salt

1/4 c water

1 c peanuts (I used maybe 3/4 c)

2 T butter, softened

1 t baking soda

Materials:

2 quart saucepan

candy thermometer

cookie sheet

Directions:

1. Grease a large cookie sheet.  Set aside.

2. In a heavy 2 quart saucepan, over medium heat, bring to a boil sugar, corn syrup, salt, and water.  Stir in peanuts.  Put in candy thermometer and keep stirring until it reaches 300 degrees (about 10min maybe?). 

3. Remove from heat and immediately stir in butter and baking soda.  Pour immediately onto cookie sheet.  Use a spatula or a fork or something to gently spread and lift and pull the mixture in a rectangle about 14x12 inches.

4.  Let cool and then snap into pieces.

The Anti Christmas Cookies Part 1 - Candied Oranges

I was not blessed with cookie making skillz.  My last attempt was about 6 years ago and it ended at 3am with the counter tops covered in a brick-like material pretending to be cookie dough, runny frosting dripping down the cabinets, and me in a heap of tears on the kitchen floor thinking "but Mom made it look so easy".  Never again.

Enter holiday food gifts that I am capable of creating without injuring myself or others.  Pickles!  Jam!  Apple butter!  And new to the rotation this year, candied oranges and peanut brittle.

Candied Oranges

I coated half of each slice with melted chocolate and sprinkled with sparkling sugar.  But for a summertime batch I would probably just dust with the sugar, or simply leave the slices alone.  You could also combine in jars with candied grapefruit and lime slices.  Or use as garnishes for some sort of citrus martini.

Ingredients:
6-10 navel oranges (Or however many you wish to make.  I can only fit 2-3 per batch.)
4-5 cups white sugar
2 cups water
optional - melting chocolate
optional - sparkling sugar

Materials:
food dehydrator
wax paper

Directions:
- Cut the ends of the orange off, slice down the middle, and then cut each half into slices about 1/4-inch thick.
- Heat up the sugar and water until all of the sugar is dissolved.  Bring to a boil.
- Plunk in the oranges.  Boil for about 15 minutes.  Flip the slices over (gently) and boil for another 15 minutes.
- Reduce heat until everything is nicely simmering and cook for another 30 minutes.  Flip the slices over occasionally to make sure everything is evenly cooked and softened.

- Carefully remove the slices with tongs.  They will be very delicate and pull apart easily.
- Place on a rack to dry out a bit.  Don't place on paper towels.  You will have a papery sticky mess all over the oranges.  I ended up using a clean lint-free dishtowel with good results.
- Put onto food dehydrator trays and let the machine do it's magic at 130°F for 4-6 hours, depending on how wet the slices are when you put them in.

Optional (chocolate covering):
- Melt chocolate on the stove with a double boiler (or two pots stacked on top of each other with boiling water in the bottom one, and the chocolate in the top one).
- Dip each slice half way into the chocolate.  Place on wax paper.  Dust with sugar.
- Let the chocolate harden.