Giant Mozzarella Wraps From the Boat House

Close your eyes and imagine the perfect mozzarella wrap.
Now open your eyes.
I hope the wraps you pictured looked like these because the Boat house on Fox Lake makes the best mozzarella wraps. There has to be at least three gooey mozzarella sticks wrapped inside each wonton wrapper.  Mmmm...just thinking about them is making me hungry for more!

Chocolate Orange Scones

My Husband is fishing and the little one went to grandma's house for the day. So I'm snuggled up on the couch sipping English breakfast tea, eating yummy scones, and enjoying the peace and quiet.

Around Christmastime we received a large box of citrus fruits. Now, nearly a month later, I am so sick of eating oranges. Yet they are still overflowing out of my refrigerator. Since baking the perfect scones was one of my New Year's Resolutions, I decided to kill two birds with one 'scone' by making chocolate orange scones.
I scoured Pinterest for the perfect recipe, but none of them were quite what I was looking for. Most  of them used too many warm spices, or contained ingredients (like buttermilk) that I just didn't have on hand. I wanted to keep these scones simple. So I combined several recipes. They are some of the best things that I have ever baked. There's hints of orange and chocolate chips in every bite. Don't let the orange flavor scare you away from trying them. It's really really light. I promise that even if you don't like orange, you will like these scones.
Before you bake, you will want to plan ahead. One stick of butter needs to be frozen. Also, make sure you have all the ingredients. Just in case you used something up for holiday baking, and forgot to buy a replacement. Which happened to me. I ran out of baking powder and had to postpone scone baking  until after I could dash to the store (Major Bummer!).

Here's the Recipe,

Scone ingredients:

2 cups of all purpose flour
1/3 cup of sugar
1 frozen stick of unsalted butter
1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 medium oranges zested
4 oz sour cream
1/2 tsp salt

Glaze ingredients

1 Cup of powdered sugar
3 tbs melted butter
2 Tbs fresh orange juice (juice the zested oranges)
1/2 tsp Vanilla

Move oven rack to center
Preheat 400F


First combine the four, Sugar, chocolate chips, baking powder, soda, and salt in a large bowl. Zest the oranges over the top and mix it all evenly. After that comes the fun part, grate the frozen butter onto your dry ingredients. It might be a little hard so be careful!

Work in the butter with your hands. Then whisk the sour cream and egg together in a small bowl before adding it to the scone batter. Dig in and form the dough into one large ball. At first I was concerned that it didn't seem to be coming together like I predicted. After expressing my worry to Mike, he rolled up his sleeves to help. It turns out that the frozen butter just doesn't bind as quickly as thawed would. So squeezing it a little rougher doesn't hurt. Stop as soon as it's all combined and not sticky. Set the ball onto a large sheet of parchment paper, and flatten until 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Then slice it, like a pie, into eight equal triangles.

Transfer your triangle scones onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Remember to space them out.

Finally pop them in the preheated oven for about fifteen minutes.

Meanwhile, combine your melted butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and orange juice. 

When your scones are done in the oven, let them cool (and probably taste test one) before glazing.

Enjoy! 

Goals for 2016

Hello!
How are your New Year's resolutions going? Did you make any? I made two.

1) Go outside more.
This one is pretty self explanatory. I'm going to try to get outside every day. Weather permitting, of course.

2) Significantly improve my cooking and baking skills. I hope to master a lot of basic techniques this year. As well as several of my favorite restaurant and bakery foods like;

__ Dumplings

I fell in love with Jao Zi during my trip to China but have never made a succesful batch at home. I'm determined to change that in 2016.

__ Glazed Scones

I could have just said scones, but let's face it, all the best scones are glazed so they don't get too dry. Besides, does anyone actually mind an extra layer of sugar?

__ Croissants

Way more elegant than plain ole bread. When I bake croissants in 2016, you are going to envy all my future breakfasts and sandwiches. I guarantee it.

__ Pita Bread

Deceptively simple, Pitas are something I've already failed at once, years ago. This year, with the help of my flat griddle, I will succeed.

__Crepes

Savory crepes are my fave! What fillings do you like?

__Macarons
Yummy! Unless someone flies me to France so I can experience the world's best macarons, I will have to settle for making the best in Dodge County.

Those all are my most important goals in 2016. Progress is going well, so far. I've made time to go outside with the family every day. As well as baking a classic apple pie using a cookbook I got for Christmas.  The picture is below. Doesn't it look delicious? Hope all of your goals are going just as well!

 

Oconomowoc German Christmas Market

Hello everyone! Did you have a good Thanksgiving? I sure did. Mike and I spent most of our thanksgiving week participating in Wisconsin's gun deer season. We did alright, and now have a little more meat in our freezer.  Waking up early just to sit in the cold wind was a little rough for me but getting some exersize ( a.k.a burning off all the extra slices of Thanksgiving pie) and spending time with my husband made was worth it.
Saturday night, I took a break from hunting to visit the German Christmas Market In Oconomowoc with my sister, Rachelle. The annual, open air market has joyous atmosphere and an European feel. Upon arrival we were immediately greeted by the sweet scent of roasting nuts and the sound of cheerful Hoffbrauhaus polkas. Strands of twinkling white lights intertwined the rows of local food and craft vendors.
The first things to catch our eye were the adorable baby lederhosen and dirndls made by Ada's Accessories. My mini me is, sadly, already too big to wear most of the cute outfits she was selling but they would be awesome Christmas gifts for your own little ones. The festive clothes can be found at https://www.etsy.com/shop/adasaccessories4me .
The second item to grab our attention was a sparkly knit winter headband. I can't my recall the shop name but similar ones can be found on etsy. Rachelle bought a dark blue one for herself and a pink one for me (Sorry the photo is blurry, the market was very busy and we didn't want to pause long to take a picture).
Our third stop was to buy some Gluhwein (German mulled red wine). It was a cold night so we both took a moment to warm up and sip our wine out of styrofoam cups next to the bon fire. Confession: I actually preferred my wine more after it had cooled. Maybe hot wine is an acquired taste, or maybe I'm just not a wine lover to begin with. What I do love, however, is good German food. So our next destination was the food vendors. I was excited to see they were selling a couple varieties of schnitzel but was disappointed that they were actually sold out of them all. We split a giant pretzel and obatzer cheese dip instead. The obatzer was wonderful. It was slightly garlicky and thick. The regular processed pretzel "cheese" doesn't compare at all.
The German Christmas Market is officially going to be an annual destination for us. We could easily find gifts for everyone there. There was no shortage of beer, food, sweets, and even dog treats. My favorites, besides what I already mentioned, were some soft alpaca gloves, and dilly lemongrass goat's milk soap from Swiss Frau Farms. Rachelle is obsessed with their lavender hand balm as well. The alpaca gloves were a little too pricey for me to buy at the time but all the Swiss Frau products were more reasonable. They can be found at Swissfraufarmproductsllc.com.
If you went to the market, I'd love to hear about it. Otherwise, be sure to make time on your calander to visit the Christmas market next holiday season!

Almond shortbread cookie update

Today I made Almond shortbread cookies using regular wheat flour instead of almond flour. I halved my original recipe and made a smaller batch. Resulting in cookies that  weren't gluten free, but were slightly more delicious. I also skipped the dough log/ refrigerator slice method and chose to press the dough into the pan instead. It took way less time and didn't create a mess. The  cookies turned out perfectly!  Don't they look delicious?

Here's the recipe:

1 stick room temperature butter
1 cup wheat flour
1/4 cup chopped almonds
1/2 tsp vanilla extract  (or almond if you have it)
1/4 cup sugar

First I preheated the oven to 350F. Then I mixed the sugar, butter, and vanilla. Next I added in the nuts. Followed by the flour. It didn't take long to mix. Don't worry if the dough seems crumbly. The cookies stay together nicely after the dough is pressed into a pan and baked. Take them out of the oven at the first hint of golden edges. Shortbread is supposed to look light colored, not golden brown. Enjoy!

Almond Shortbread Cookies

I'm currently obsessed with shortbead cookies. Since trying them for the first time (read my last post), I have spent hours at work dreaming up possible shortbread combinations. The first I made was a gluten free, almond shortbread. I'd be lying if I said they turned out well. But that's the my failt not the recipe's. They didn't turn out as planned for three reasons.

1) I added a whole cup of sugar, not half (I would like to use the distracted mom excuse.

2) I don't think I chilled my dough as long as I should have (Once again, I was distracted.)

3) My chocolate didn't harden. (I probably  added a smidge too much oil.)

But practice makes perfect, Right? I hope it does. I love baking so much, but it ends badley more often than not. That's partly why I started this blog. To motivate me to practice and to share a laugh when things don't  turn out.

Here's the correct recipe I created (Don't be like me and add too much sugar or rush the chilling.)

2 sticks room temperature butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups almond flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped almonds.

Mix sugar, butter, and vanilla together. Then add in the flour and chopped nuts. Form the cookie dough into a cylinder shape and wrap it in plastic wrap. Then place it in the refrigerator to cool for thirty minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F. After the dough is done chilling, take off the plastic wrap and cut it into 1/2 in. slices. Place the slices on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes. You can melt chocolate and dip  them for decoration or eat them plain.

P.s. I might try a regular, wheat flour version soon. I will post an update if I do.

Book Club and Scottish Shortbread Cookies

Layla will be two in December and we had the bad habit of laying her down to sleep with a bottle. Then, last week, we stopped cold turkey. She has been a little irritable ever since. Bedtime isn't a struggle but nap time is not going so well. The first few days she didn't nap at all. Now she whines for nearly an hour before briefly falling asleep.  The loss of nap time and my concurrent hour of peace and quiet are the main reasons new blog posts are overdue. It's too hard to focus with a stubborn toddler yelling in the backround. Even now I can hear her calling. "Bye, bye" she says, "see ya," "night, night."
I've been meaning to tell all of you about the book club I started. It's call "Books with a Side of Bacon" a book club for ladies who brunch. You can check out the Facebook page if you're interested in joining. Our October book was "Outlander " by Diana Gabaldon. A time travel romance set in the Scottish highlands. It inspired my sister and I to bake our own Scottish treats. Scottland isn't exactly known for their cuisine so we settled for  simple, three ingredient, Scottish shortbread cookies.
They were so easy to make and I couldn't stop eating them. I must have gobbled atleast five throughout the day. I am so infatuated with shortbead that I'm going to make more simple ones to eat, with coffee, for breakfast and definitely baking a couple of chocolatey, nutty versions for the upcoming holidays. Stay tuned for more updates on other shortbread variations.