Category Archives: Foodie Gifts

January Foodie Penpal

January 31, 2012 – 1:28 pm

I am so excited to again share with you this awesome penpal system that Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean has been hosting for the past several months. I told you about it in this post, but to refresh your memory it is simply an exchange where you get paired with a fellow foodie and you have a spending limit of $15 to send someone a package full of some of your favorite treats and finds and you get a package in return! Pretty great idea, right?

This month my Foodie Penpal was Matt from Fave Diets and he hooked me up with some great goodies!

He fed my cookbook addiction with these 2 fabulous books that I cannot wait to try and review!

He also knew that I love to bake so he sent me some Stevia sweeteners to try. I have been using the Lemon Drop one in water to help me drink more!

I sent a package to Alexandria at Eat Well Run Well so head on over to see what I sent her!

And best of all, if you would like to participate in next month’s Foodie Penpal exchange here is what you need to know:

-On the 5th of the month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you can choose to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.

**The BIG news this month is that we’re going to do a trial run in Canada. I’m still not exactly sure how it will work with shipping costs and stuff since I’m not sure you guys up North have flat rate shipping boxes, but if you’re willing to give it a try for a month and provide me with some feedback, that would be awesome!

Sound like fun? If you’re interested in participating for February, please send an email to Lindsay at theleangreenbean@gmail.com and include the following information:
-Your full name
-Your email address
-Your blog name/address
-Your twitter handle (if applicable)
-WHETHER YOU ARE A US RESIDENT OR CANADIAN RESIDENT. – this is SUPER important so I can get you on the right list!

Have a great week and I hope you will consider participating!

Did you like this? Share it:

Comments (9)

Homemade Ginger Chews and Ginger Simple Syrup

January 17, 2012 – 9:55 am

Are you obsessed with ginger chews like I am? I love to buy them at Trader Joe’s! They are such a satisfying little treat with their perfect chewiness and burst of fresh ginger flavor. I really love ginger in just about anything because it gives such warm spice to whatever you add it to.

When I saw this recipe for Candied Ginger from America’s Test Kitchen I had a feeling that the resulting sweet would be very similar to my much-loved store-bought chews. This homemade version punches you with even more of a spicy ginger kick. Also, as a bonus, if you save the syrup that you get after boiling the ginger, it is the perfect addition to cocktails, oatmeal, whipped cream or anything else you can think of that could use a sweet ginger jolt.

Ginger Chews and Ginger Simple Syrup

by Mercedes Porter

Keywords: snack healthy ginger candy

Ingredients

2 cups water
2 1/4 cup sugar
ginger (as much as you would like to slice and make)

Instructions

Peel ginger and slice into nickel-sized pieces.

In a small saucepan, combine the water and 2 cups of sugar and simmer over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved.

Place ginger into syrup and simmer for 30 minutes.

Strain ginger into a colander over a bowl to reserve the ginger simple syrup for later use.

Place ginger pieces onto waxed paper in a single layer and allow to dry about 5 hours or until just tacky when you touch it.

Toss ginger in remaining sugar to coat.

Store in airtight container.

peel and slice ginger

combine water and 2 cups of sugar in a small sauce pan and simmer until sugar is dissolved, then add ginger and simmer for 30 minutes

strain ginger in colander over bowl to reserve syrup

lay ginger in a single layer on piece of wax paper and allow to dry

once dry, toss in remaining sugar

What would you do with ginger simply syrup?

Did you like this? Share it:

Tags ginger | Comments (5)

Top 11 of 2011

January 3, 2012 – 2:44 pm

When Satisfy My Sweet Tooth came into existence this past summer, I had no idea where this adventure would take me. What I started as something to share recipes with friends and family and hone my photography skills has slowly developed into a full-time obsession that I just can’t get enough of! Experimenting, writing, taking photos and sharing all of it with you has been such a pleasure and I thank you sincerely for following along with my on my culinary adventures!

I thought I would sum up my first 6 months of blogging with some highlight of my favorite recipes and yours.

1. Possibly my most popular recipe are these Coffee-Spiked Chocolate Caramel Bars. Rich and buttery graham cracker crust topped with homemade caramel, chocolate ganache and sea salt. Need I say more?

On another note, did you know that “espresso” is one of the most commonly mispronounced words? I read a list of words in the newspaper this week. People usually stick a “c” in there to make it “ek-spress-oh”. Just thought you would want to know.

2. I was surprised how gaga you all went for these sweet and salty beauties. I mean don’t get me wrong, I drool over these Peanut Butter, Pretzel and Chocolate Chip Cookies, but I am so happy at how many of you lovelies have let me know that you have made and enjoyed these as well.

3. Next are these Coconut, M&M Cookie Bars. These bars combine two of my favorite ingredients: chocolate and coconut. The flavor of these cookies is almost like the Samoas Girl Scout cookies and they are just so chewy and addicting.

4. One of my favorite savory recipes that I have shared with you is this pasta with Red and Green Pesto. I can’t believe I have only made it once and I also just realized that this would be a very festive Christmas recipe! I really should start making a list for next year’s holiday season already…..

5. And of course, my all-time favorite pasta, Grandma Suzy’s Fettucini Freddi. This sauce is so clean and simple, yet every time I eat it, I cannot stop oohing and aahing over it. And especially now that I received the pasta maker attachment for my mixer, I cannot wait to make homemade noodles with this silky, delectable sauce!

6. I was so thrilled when I stumbled upon this Crock Pot Apple Butter this fall! Talk about an easy food gift to share with others. This will be a staple that I make every fall when friends and family give me apples from their fall harvests.

7. Nothing really satisfied my craving for crunch like these Heath and Macadamia Nut Blondies. Chocolate, toffee and nuts are such a rich combination and all of the textures together makes these bars particularly drool-worthy.

8. I took my first cooking class in 2011 with Emily. The recipe that I have made the most often from that evening of learning is these Fresh Spring Rolls. I love how diverse they are because of all of the possible fillings and the sauce is so perfect that I do not even want to order them out at restaurants anymore! And they are a perfect healthy recipe to start off 2012 right.

9. I never realized how starting my own blog would lead to an obsession with other blogs! There is just so much inspiration to be found by browsing through other people’s creative ideas. No ingredient was more prominent in the blog world during the fall than pumpkin. I have a few pumpkin classics that I make each year and possibly my favorite is this Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake. It is so moist and incredible.

10. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars. These bars are a perfect example of how i see a recipe and then brainstorm about how I can change it to fit my preferences. These are chewy, nutty, filling and healthy. A breakfast treat or snack that you can really feel good about.

11. And finally, one of my favorite combinations, chocolate and peanut butter combined in these soft and chewy Chocolate Cookies with Peanut Butter Cups and Sea Salt. Cookies are my absolute favorite dessert! I’ll take a perfect cookie over a rich chocolate tart or cake any day. They are also very dangerous though because I can never eat just one! This is a cookie that you could easily put your own spin on with several different ingredients. Let your creativity shine!

I am not big on resolutions, but a new year does make me think about what improvements I would like to make in my life. As always, I know that I want and need to exercise more. I actually feel excited about it after lounging non-stop and eating way too many holiday delights.

I have an email folder, Pinterest board and cookbooks full of recipes that I cannot wait to try this year. I hope that you will continue to join me on my adventures in the kitchen. I do so appreciate your readership and support. I always love hearing from you and please let me know if there is anything special you would like me to share with you in 2012. Happy New Year sweet teeth!

Did you like this? Share it:

Tags Apples, caramel, Chocolate, Cookies, Frosting, Fruit, Garlic, Italian, Nuts, peanut butter, Shrimp | Comments (13)

4th Day of Christmas: Pecan Caramels

December 23, 2011 – 8:00 am

On the 4th Day of Christmas my sweet tooth gave to me Pecan Caramels.

Is there anything more fabulous and frustrating at the same time than candy-making? I have almost been brought to tears many times over a flopped batch of fudge or caramels that were rock hard. I think the only thing that can make it any easier is practicing.

I have finally gotten the art of caramels down (at least this year ) and I really think the key to success is a good thermometer. The one that I have is this one that I purchased at Williams Sonoma for not too bad of a price.

(source: Williams Sonoma)

The thing about a candy thermometer is it is very boring to watch until about 10 degrees before your goal temperature and then things really take off. You must watch it oh so closely and remove your pan immediately when you see your target number. If you do that and remember to butter your pan well before pouring the molten mixture into it, it should be smooth sailing.

Pecan Caramels

by Mercedes Porter

Keywords: dessert caramel nuts Christmas candy

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

Liberally butter a 9X13 glass pan.

In a heavy medium-sized pot with a candy thermometer attached, melt the butter over low heat.

Once the butter is melted add sweetened condensed milk, brown sugar, corn syrup and nuts.

Turn heat up to medium-high and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook without stirring until the thermometer reaches 240 degrees. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and pour into prepared pan.

Cool completely. Cut and wrap caramels in wax paper.

What candy have you had trouble making but then mastered with practice?

melt butter in a medium saucepan

add sweetened condensed milk, brown sugar, nuts and corn syrup and attach candy thermometer to pan

bring mixture to a boil and heat until thermometer reads 240 degrees

add vanilla and pour into well-buttered pan

cool completely then cut caramels and wrap in wax paper

Did you like this? Share it:

Tags caramel, Nuts | Comments (2)

5th Day of Christmas: Cut-out Sugar Cookies and a review of Royal Icing

December 22, 2011 – 10:04 am

On the 5th Day of Christmas my sweet tooth gave to me Classic Cut-out Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing.

Christmas really cannot be complete without decorating cut-out cookies with icing and sprinkles if you ask me. I have been marveling and gawking over the cookie artistry by Sweet Sugar Belle for some time now and although I knew my cookies would look nothing like hers, I had to try using royal icing to see if there was something magical about it. All royal icing is is powdered sugar, meringue powder, water and extract.

Let’s just say my first attempt did not go so well.

I had some frosting left after this batch of cookies and so I thought I would make another batch of cut-outs and modify my frosting a bit. Well naturally, I ran out of frosting and then made another entire batch of frosting!! I was exhausted but I decided to stick with it and power through. The recipe for Royal Icing that I have included here is from Sweet Sugar Belle and it is really simple to follow. That is not the problem. The difficult part comes in knowing how much to thin that original batch of icing to make it the correct consistency for either piping around the edges or “flooding” the inside of your piping. What finally helped me with that is this video from Sweetopia. In the video, she teaches you about the “10-second rule and the 5-second rule” and basically all that means is that for piping consistency, when you drag a knife through your frosting, you want the groove that the knife made to fill itself in in 10 seconds and 5 seconds for the flood icing. Just watch the video, it shows and tells you all you need to know.

My review of royal icing:

When the icing dries, it dries very hard and becomes crunchy which makes the cookies very easy to store and transport without fear of the icing getting smudged.
You need to make a time commitment if you plan to try decorating with royal icing for the first time. Just making the frosting itself again, is not difficult or too time consuming. The time consuming part comes in when you divide your icing in two and then thin each of those to piping and flood consistency. Then from there you have 2 bowls of white icing. So then you need to assemble piping bags with appropriately sized tips of different colors and each color you make you will likely need 1 bag of the piping and 1 bag of the flood consistency icing. YOU DO THE MATH of how long this takes. I would figure about an hour just to get your frosting ready.
It is recommended that you bake your cookies a day ahead and then frost so that the oil from the cookies does not leach into the frosting. You can guess if I listened to that rule or not .
Once you have the icing made, it really is lovely to work with. What I did was pipe around certain areas that I wanted to outline and then wait maybe 10 minutes for the piping to set up and then come back and flood those areas to fill in between my piping lines.
All that I really have to compare royal icing to is my typical powdered sugar icing that I simply make with powdered sugar, some extract and milk.

If you have been curious about royal icing, I definitely think it is worth a try. Just make sure you have lots of time and patience and just let yourself get lost in it and if you are like me, you will enjoy the creative outlet.

Royal Icing

by Sweet Sugar Belle

Keywords: bake dessert Christmas cookie

Ingredients

2 pounds powdered sugar
1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp meringue powder
3/4 cup water
2 Tbsp extract

Instructions

Place powdered sugar and meringue powder into a large bowl with an electric mixer and using the whisk attachment, combine them.

Add water and extract slowly and whisk on slow speed until incorporated. Then, increase speed to medium and whisk for 5-6 minutes. Turn speed to high and whisk another 3-4 minutes until icing is thick and fluffy.

Cut out Sugar Cookies

by Mercedes Porter

Keywords: bake dessert Christmas cookie

Crispy on the edges, chewy in the middle and perfect for decorating!

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla or almond extract
2 3/4 cup flour

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl and with an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and extract.

Add dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Turn dough out onto a floured work surface (or a sheet of parchment paper) and roll with rolling pin until 1/4 inch thick. Cut dough into desired shapes and bake cookies for 7 minutes.

Did you like this? Share it: