baking

Sausage Cheddar Balls

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? A Cut Above: Sausage Cheddar Balls! Finger foods make the best snacks and appetizers. I could tell you I’ve made this recipe for over 40 years, but then I’d sound like one of those old lady-friends your grandma used to talk about. Granted, over the years, I have tweaked the recipe by adding the herbs and seasonings. The original recipe only required the first three ingredients. Personally, I choose to add a little spice to my life. You decide which way you prefer. They do seem to disappear in a flash……kinda like Time Travel…..one minute you’re here, the next you’re not. 

SAUSAGE CHEDDAR BALLS

Ingredients: 

1 pound ground pork sausage

2 cups biscuit baking mix

1 pound extra-sharp cheddar cheese, finely shredded

1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

1/2 teaspoon garlic herb seasoning

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon fennel seed

Ranch dressing, for dipping

Green onion snips, for garnish

Instructions: 

Preheat oven to 350°. Set aside a nonstick baking sheet. In a large bowl, combine bulk sausage and biscuit mix. Blend together with your hands until the two form a good dough. Add finely shredded cheddar cheese. Mix until fully incorporated. Add seasoned salt, garlic herb seasoning, red pepper flakes, and fennel seed. Mix well. Scoop the dough into tablespoons, roll, and form 30-36 walnut-size balls. Arrange them on the baking sheet. Bake 20-25 minutes or until the sausage is cooked and the sausage cheddar balls are golden brown. Offer ranch dressing, for dipping. Garnish with green onion snips. Serve warm. 

Eating My Way Through the Alphabet

What’s cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? Stay tuned and you’re about to find out. It’s as simple as A-B-C. One of my passions is being at home in my own country kitchen. I love to cook, and my husband loves that I do it often. Now more than ever, since I am retired, I relish the thought of creating something delicious from scratch. I adore time-honored traditions using tried-and-true recipes. Yet, I often never think twice about tweaking old favorites or modifying others to suit the inner craving of the moment. Most of the recipes serve 2-4 people, but can be altered in any direction. The leftovers are golden morsels to be eaten again later or shared with others. And I love to share. To me, seeing a smile in gratitude is thanks enough. The recipes you will find here in the next several weeks can be prepared very easily. Feel free to contact me with questions. Now take a deep breath, inhale the aromas, and join me on a tasteful journey entitled, “EATING MY WAY THROUGH THE ALPHABET”.

A Symphony of Flavors

Our taste buds can actually embody the most unusual combinations of food. By paying attention to our sense of taste we can embark on a daily adventure of the palate. Feeling energetic? Incorporate tangy foods with slightly sweet ingredients. Or perhaps you may be in the mood for an earthy partner with a rich, honeycomb nectar. Just as music triggers past experiences and emotions, food has the ability to transport us places we’ve been years ago. I often cook while listening to music, don’t you? It might be a lively song that matches the rhythm of stirring cake batter and icing. (After all, wooden spoons make great microphones!) Then again, sashaying from one end of the kitchen to another for various ingredients and utensils can feel like dancing. Who knew? Whatever your style, embrace each challenge like a symphony conductor. Some of my posts continue to be favored by Ina Garten’s The Barefoot Contessa, on Instagram (@gail _dorna). You can even find me on Pinterest @Gail Dorna. It’s very easy to search for recipes there on the board entitled “Gail’s Kitchen Recipes”. I’d love to connect with you there as well. Experience different flavors and textures as you eat with your eyes. Catch a glimpse of “Eating My Way Through the Alphabet: A Symphony of Flavors”. This remarkable journey of the palate is unique because it gives me a few moments with you. Thanks very much to all of my guests and followers on http://snapshotsincursive.com for the uplifting support, award nominations, and daily words of encouragement.

Quick Cherry Nut Bread

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? Time To Eat: Quick Cherry Nut Bread! The nice thing about “quick breads” is they require no extra time needed for allowing yeast to rise. The secret ingredients become the baking powder and eggs, which act as leavening agents. No kneading required. By adding fruit and nuts, the quick bread transforms itself into a breakfast delight along with muffins, scones, and biscuits. Keep the texture light by barely mixing the ingredients before baking. Small lumps are completely acceptable. As long as the oven temperature remains constant, the quick bread will rise just fine.

QUICK CHERRY NUT BREAD

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup almonds, chopped

1 cup chopped maraschino cherries

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325°. Grease and flour two loaf pans. Set aside. Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla extract. Mix flour and baking powder. Alternate adding flour mixture and milk with the butter mixture until all ingredients are added. Do not over beat. Fold in chopped almonds and maraschino cherries. Spoon batter into prepared loaf pans. Bake for one hour or until done. Cool 10 minutes before slicing.

Here Come the Holidays!

Ready or Not, the pages of the calendar click and turn by so quickly. Can it be, as we age, life jumps in with a vengeance to remind us of those hopes, dreams, and goals that seemed in the distant future have already been realized? If so, perhaps it might be time for unusual experiences and brand-new sensations. For me, it feels as though I have been cooking forever. Yet, when I take a different approach to preparing something to eat, I feel revitalized, gratified, and even serendipitous. Celebrity chefs appear to know all about trying new things, don’t they? Some of my posts have been favored by the “Food Network” on Twitter (Snapshotsincursive @DornaGail) as well as Ina Garten’s The Barefoot Contessa, on Instagram (gail _dorna). You can even find me on Facebook or Pinterest at Gail Dorna. I’d love to connect with you there as well. Experience different flavors and textures as you eat with your eyes. Catch a glimpse of “Eating My Way Through the Alphabet: Here Come the Holidays!” This remarkable journey of the palate is unique because it gives me a few moments with you. Thanks very much to all of my guests and followers on http://snapshotsincursive.com for the uplifting support, award nominations, and daily words of encouragement.

No Yeast Beer Bread

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? Talking Points: No Yeast Beer Bread! Never in my wildest dream did I ever realize there would be a shortage of all-purpose flour and yeast. Yet, the grocery store shelves were bare. I don’t know if it had anything to do with panic-buying during the coronavirus quarantine or if people were baking up a storm in isolation. Homemade bread is a comfort food, after all. Kneading dough can be a distraction from stay-at-home kids and social media rants. Plus the incredible aroma of bakery bread is soothing and rewarding. So, the obvious answer was to go to the fridge and open a can of beer. Beer acts as a leavening agent, as long as baking powder is included in the recipe. For those who wonder, the alcohol does burn out and evaporate. Now the results are a more dense and heavy bread with a thicker crust, just so you know. Personally, I like the crunchiness of toast better that way. Then again, it could be the result of “bathing” it in butter before baking. Let’s jam with beer bread!

NO YEAST BEER BREAD

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

3 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon sea salt

12-ounces beer, room temperature

1/4 cup butter, melted

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375°. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and sea salt. Stir until mixed. Add the beer, stirring until the dough forms. Set aside. Warm the butter in the microwave for 20-30 seconds. Brush the parchment paper on bottom and sides of the loaf pan. Spoon the dough into the buttered loaf pan. The dough will have a rustic appearance. Brush the remaining butter evenly over the top of the dough. Bake for 50 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. The bread will be a golden brown. Remove pan from the oven and cool for 10 minutes. Invert pan to remove the beer bread. Slice and serve.

Quite Tasty Peanut Butter Cookies

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? Waste Not, Want Not: Quite Tasty Peanut Butter Cookies! One of the benefits of touching base with friends in the blogosphere is sharing blessings and paying it forward. Today’s recipe gives a “shout out” to Linda, The Dutch Baker*. She featured a fabulous peanut butter cookie recipe that absolutely made my mouth drool. So much so, I ran to my kitchen to insure I had all the necessary ingredients to whip up a batch. That’s one of the advantages of social distancing, in my opinion. Some even refer it as “stress baking” or “anxiety baking”. Quarantine cooking has even become a thing. It releases tension, challenges our skills, and satisfies the craving for a reward. Whatever way you choose to look at it, we’re all in this together.

QUITE TASTY PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

Ingredients:

1 cup + 2 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter

1 egg, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

White sugar for rolling (optional)

Instructions:

In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt. Set aside. In a food processor, cream softened butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add crunchy peanut butter. Pulse to blend. Add egg and vanilla extract. Mix well. Slowly add flour mixture only until slightly combined. Do not over mix. Transfer cookie dough to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight. The following day, remove bowl from refrigerator and allow it to sit at room temperature for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. By the teaspoonful, form the dough into balls. Roll in white sugar. Arrange on baking sheet. Bake 11 minutes. Remove pan and allow cookies to cool 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Cool peanut butter cookies completely before storing in an airtight container.

*Linda, The Dutch Baker, featured this recipe first. You may visit her at

http://thedutchbaker.wordpress.com/2020/03/18

Traditional Plum Pudding

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? The Food Whisperer: Traditional Plum Pudding! Everyone remembers Little Jack Horner’s fame from a childhood nursery rhyme: “He stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plum.” It’s hard to resist that urge while eating these sweet, fruity, luscious plums. To pull this off, do like my Gramma used to say, “Honey, just dump everything in the pan, stir a little bit, and bake.” Sometimes we try to make things too difficult.

TRADITIONAL PLUM PUDDING

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1/2 cup milk

4 cups ripe plums, pits removed, skin on, and sliced

1 cup natural honey

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 2-quart ovenproof baking dish with nonstick oil. Combine flour, sugar, sea salt, and baking powder in the prepared dish. Whisk together. Add melted butter and milk. Stir well. Spread evenly across the bottom of the baking dish. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the sliced plums and honey. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and carefully pour over the pudding batter. Do not stir. Bake for 35-40 minutes until pudding is bubbly and golden brown. Remove from oven and serve warm with whipped cream.

Pretzel Nuggets

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? Equal Measures: Pretzel Nuggets! Anyone who has been to an outlet mall, movie theater complex, or shopping center may have been seduced by the tantalizing aroma of freshly baked pretzels. How about those wonderful travel cups of soft buttery nuggets speared with a wooden pick? Who can resist? Especially with a side of gooey molten cheese? Here’s a shortcut to making a batch at home in your own kitchen. It’s all about portion control to keep it real. The next time you’re at the grocery, pick up a tube of refrigerated biscuit dough. You can thank me later.

PRETZEL NUGGETS

Ingredients:

1 tube refrigerated biscuit dough, 8-count

1/4 cup baking soda

1 egg, beaten

1-2 teaspoons Everything But Bagel Seasoning*

1 tablespoon coarse sea salt

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 425°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut each biscuit slice into quarters. Roll each quarter into a ball. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a 2 1/2 quart pan. Slowly stir in baking soda. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Drop the biscuit dough rounds into the water. Avoid overcrowding by working in batches. Cook dough for one minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Brush with beaten egg to assist browning. Sprinkle with Everything But Bagel seasoning. Finish with coarse sea salt. Bake 15-20 minutes until pretzel nuggets are golden brown. Repeat with remaining dough. Cool pretzel nuggets on a wire rack. Serve with cheese dip.

*To make your own Everything But Bagel Seasoning, click the link below.

https://snapshotsincursive.com/2018/07/17