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So, Valentine’s Day doesn’t exactly conjure up images of Cupid and a plate of wings, but since when have I done anything the traditional way?
Plus, my valentine appreciates these kinds of foods way more than heart shaped sugar cookies. Probably because I never make this kind of food. Like, ever.
My husband made these wings for a super bowl party, based on this recipe and the adaptations of said recipe by a good friend. After these wings though, I think he became a “great” friend.
I was sent to the store for celery and blue cheese dressing during part of the magic making, but Nick was kind enough to take photos for me. I guess you could say that this is his unofficial wing post.
He started with plain chicken wings:
Which were then steamed (crazy!):
Once the wings were done in the sauna, they received a nice towel service:
Next, they were placed on cookie racks and allowed to cool off in the refrigerator for about an hour:
Once the wings were nice and relaxed, they were baked in the oven:
Up until this point, these wings were prepared in a “Jo approved” manner. Here’s where things changed a little:
Dude, that’s a lot of butter. Just saying.
Garlic and hot sauce were added to the melted butter, and then everything was tossed together in a bowl:
These were spicy! My tolerance for spicy foods has greatly improved over the last few years, but I could only eat about 3 of these suckers before my lips were burning and my nose was running out the door. You can modify the spice level based on the hot sauce you use, but in our humble opinion, wings should have some kick. It kind of makes up for the absurd amount of butter, because you definitely can’t gorge yourself on something so spicy. Checks and balances are a good thing in the world of wings.
Make these for someone you love. Just be sure to wipe your face before kissing. Happy Valentine’s!
The title pretty much says it all. While staying with family over the Christmas weekend, I spent one morning in the kitchen making cookie after cookie. There have been a few iterations of style, but the basic concept of sugar cookie + Nutella + candy canes = get in my mouth! stayed pretty constant. I had a lot of fun, and these cookies made great gifts. They’ll also make nice New Year’s Eve treats. Although candy canes are seasonal, peppermints are not, so if you need these cookies in July, it shouldn’t be too hard to pull off.
I started with basic sugar cookie dough:
I rolled out the dough and then used my very fancy cookie cutter:
If your cookie cutter isn’t this fancy and complex, don’t feel bad. Just use what you have 
Have you ever tried to find cookie cutters right before Christmas?
Mashing candy canes in a bag with a rolling pin is really fun. I’d seriously recommend it if you have any aggression you need to work through.
Since I was using cookie sheets, I lined them with parchment paper and preheated the oven to 400F. I sprinkled crunched candy canes on half the cookies, and left the other half plane, since those will end up as the bottom of the sandwich.
Depending on your oven, how thinly you roll the dough and the baking vessel, it will take anywhere between 10-15 minutes for the cookies to bake through. I hate it when the bottoms turn brown, and I actually like really soft, doughy cookies, so I usually pull them out a little early. Since I was giving these as a gift though, I figured I should put safety first and bake them all the way through. (Now you know how much I love the people who eat my cookies)
When the cookies were cool enough to handle, I broke out the big guns:
And then made magic:
These travel well due to the sandwich set-up, and they taste pretty darn fantastic, if I do say so myself!
But I didn’t stop there, my friends.
Then I rolled little dough balls,
dipped them in the candy cane,
and put them in the oven. The candy canes start to melt,
and when they cool, they have a candy coating:
So they end up soft and moist on the inside, but crunchy and minty on the outside.
You’re welcome.
The balls had to bake quite a bit longer, due to the thickness of each cookie. I think I left them in around 20 minutes, but you can test them periodically to make sure they aren’t burning on the bottom or raw in the center.
Like I said, so much fun with dough! I hope you try these sometime, but if you don’t have time to bake, maybe we could be friends, and you’ll get some for Christmas. In July.
I hope you had a Merry ChristmaHanuKwanzaa! I have lots to share, but I thought I’d start with something I excel at.
Cookies.
That’s right. Miss Health Nut (or Mrs, I suppose) loves making, eating, and giving away cookies. I break all my nutrition and moderation “rules” when it comes to cookies. I can pass up cake, pie, crisp…but cookies? They have to be some pretty nasty looking cookies for me to say no thanks. That’s why I don’t typically bake as much as I used to. (You know, back in the day)
Sadly, there are certain types of cookies that traditionally only appear on my counter during very specific times of year. Sugar cookies are high on of my list of favorites, but I only make them around Christmas and Valentine’s Day. (I always wondered why they aren’t called “flour cookies” since there is a LOT more flour than sugar, but flour isn’t nearly as appetizing I guess.) The great thing about sugar cookies is that they are essentially a blank canvas. You can create endless shapes, flavors, colors, etc. with the basic recipe. I like to make a big batch and do several different styles of cookie.
The ingredient list is short, but the method has to be pretty precise.
2/3 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups flour (plus more for dusting work surface, although powdered sugar works really well for that)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
5 tbsp milk
Preheat oven to 400F while the dough is chilling, and either get your stoneware pans ready or line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Put your room temperature butter in a bowl. The temperature of your butter is the most important part, and often the hardest part to plan for. It has to be soft, but not runny. Firm, but not cold. You have to take it out of the refrigerator and start the exact moment that it reaches room temperature. Any longer than that, and it will be too soft. Sheesh!
Add the sugar to the bowl.
Mix until course and sandy. This is super easy with a stand mixer, but my mother in law’s egg beaters worked great.
Add the eggs and vanilla and mix. But not too much! It should look something like this:
Nick found this flour on sale, and it was really nice. Light and fluffy, not too dense.
Add the flour, 2 cups at a time. You don’t want the bowl too full of flour when you’re trying to get everything incorporated.
With the last two cups of flour, add the baking soda and salt. If I use salted butter, I only add 1/4 tsp of salt.
Mix just a little bit, and then you need to wash your hands.
Add 5 tbsp of milk (I used skim. My small attempt to make these cookies a little less calorie dense. If you’re a rebel though, don’t worry about it 
)
You’ll have to do the rest of the mixing by hand. It’s going to take awhile, so if you lifted weights earlier in the day, you might want to ask someone else to do it. My arms were juuuuuust about dead by the end, but trust me, there’s no other way. And you’ll make up the calories you burn by eating dough. (Just be warned that this dough does have raw eggs.)
You’ll be tempted to add more milk. Don’t!! It’s a bad idea. Really! I could never figure out why I sucked at rolling this dough out and had to add so much extra flour. It’s because I got impatient for the dough to combine and added more milk. I always ended up with a sticky, frustrating mess. If you just keep kneading and smooshing with your hands, it will come together and eventually look like this:
Isn’t that pretty? You can’t even see where I stole a taste. Perks of combining the dough by hand. You’re the only one who knows how much you started with
It’s best to refrigerate the dough before you go any further. Just wrap it in plastic wrap and hide it in the fridge (dough never lasted long in our house). This would be a fine time to preheat the oven to 400F.
I separated the dough into two batches so that I could do different flavor combinations (you’ll see), and it also helps to work with small amounts of dough and keep the rest refrigerated.
When you’re ready, lightly flour (or powdered sugar) a work surface.
I find that it helps to also put a little flour on the rolling pin. Roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into whatever shape you’d like, then top with sprinkles or bake plane for about 10-15 minutes. You’ll know when they’re done because they’ll smell like Christmas and be just a tiny bit darker where the cookie meets the pan.
And there’s your canvas! I’ll share a few of my ideas and let you know how they worked out (spoiler: deliciously!! some even involved Nutella) I’ll see you again before New Year’s, but happy baking until then.
