Cheddar Cream Soup with Soft Pretzels

This recipe is a new one for us at our home this winter but we really love it!  If you're apprehensive about making a cheese soup, don't be.  This soup is not your typical thick, cheese fondue kind of soup, not that that's a bad thing!  You know how we like our fondue around here.  The addition of a 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper gives it a little heat, perfect for these last cold winter days.

I had never attempted to make pretzels before, but using Alton Brown's recipe was simple and easy to follow.  This winter I've also come to love making my own fresh bread, rolls, and buns.  I used to be intimidated by yeast, but no more of that nonsense!  Now I can bake bread like I'm Ma Ingalls or something.  You know, this lady.

Image found via http://www.edelweisspatterns.com/blog

Did anyone else watch this show religiously or was it just me and my sisters?

Here is the recipe for the soup.  I hope you try it!  Please let me know if you do!

Cheddar Cream Soup*

serves: 6  total time:  40 minutes

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1/4 cup flour

4 1/2 cups chicken stock

1 1/2 cups half and half (or whole milk, if you so choose)

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 cup dry white wine

12 ounces sharp Cheddar Cheese (you may use yellow or white)

Salt, to taste

Optional:  green onions or chives, to garnish

Heat butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat.  When hot, add the onion and saute' until softened.  Add the garlic and saute' for one minute more.  Sprinkle flour on top of the onion, butter mixture and stir for two minutes.  Whisk in the chicken stock and half and half and bring the mixture to a simmer.

Add the cayenne pepper and wine until well incorporated.  A little at a time, add the cheese into the soup and after each addition, stir until smooth.  Taste soup and season with salt, if needed.  The cheese may make it salty enough.  

Serve hot and garnish with green onions or chives.

*This recipe was adapted from Sunday Soup by Betty Rosbottom

Valentine's Day Cookies

This cookie recipe comes from my Mom, as do most of the other cookie recipes I use and have blogged about.  I use this recipe for every season and love it because I always seem to have the five ingredients on hand. They come together quickly and easily and aren't a fussy cookie.

Here is the recipe.

Traditional Rolled Butter Cookies

1/2 pound butter (2 sticks/1 cup)

1 cup confectioners sugar

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream the butter.  Add the sugar and mix until light and fluffy.  Add the flour in small amounts, mixing well after each addition.  Add the milk and vanilla last.  Turn out onto a board and kneed for about a half a minute.  Roll out to 1/4 inch thick.  Cut out with cookie cutters.  Bake at 325 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Watch them closely.  They should be almost white when ready to remove from the oven.  {I almost always double this recipe}.

I typically use a butter frosting to decorate these cookies but for some reason I used a cream cheese frosting this time.  My boys loved the change, so I'll share it with you!

Cream Cheese Frosting

6 ounces softened cream cheese

1/2 cup softened butter

2 teaspoons vanilla or almond extract

4 1/2 to 4 3/4 cups confectioners sugar

Beat together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Add the sugar one cup at a time and beat well after each addition.  {This was more than enough frosting to cover the doubled cookie recipe}.

I divided the frosting in half and added a couple of drops of red food coloring to make a lovely shade of pink.  The other half I left white.  Decorate the cookies however you wish!

And so, since we're in the month of love now, I would like to thank all of my lovely readers for reading this little blog and for your sweet emails and questions.  Keep them coming!  I didn't know if I would stick with this blog thing but have found such enjoyment in it and appreciate the friends I have made.  You're all pretty terrific!

Happy February to you all!

Also, thanks Mom for baking such wonderful things for us as kids!

I'm linking up to:

Decor Chick

Some Cinnamon Rolls for Your Valentine's Day

Folks, I didn't come up with this idea.  I pinned it on Pinterest from the blog Poppies at Play and wanted to try it out for my three Valentines.  Turns out, making your cinnamon rolls look all lovey-dovey and cute is easy.  Here's what I did to make my cinnamon rolls look like hearts.

Roll out your dough and cover with your cinnamon sugar mixture.

Roll up the dough along the length until it meets in the middle.  You can roll as tight or as loose as you please.

Slice the cinnamon rolls up and place into your pan.

Bake according to your recipe.

Frost and share with the ones you love.

Well hello there, little Valentine rolls!

Have a happy weekend!

And thank you to Poppies at Play for the really cute idea!

Bloody Finger Cookies

Happy Halloween!

These bloody fingers have become a tradition in our home for Halloween.  I saw the idea in a magazine a couple of years ago and decided to make them with Henry when he was first interested in helping in the kitchen.  We love this shortbread recipe for our Christmas cookies, so I decided to use our own recipe instead of the one from the magazine.  I had two little monsters help me this year.

For this recipe you will need:

1/2 lb. butter (2 sticks) room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

To decorate the cookies you will need:

Red icing or gel

1/2 cup sliced almonds

Cream together the butter and sugar.

Add the flour in small amounts.  Add the milk and vanilla last.  Mix well.  The dough may be a little crumbly at first.  Be patient!  The dough should look like this when you are finished.

Turn out onto a well floured surface and knead about 1 minute.

Pinch off about a tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball.  Shape the balls into "fingers."  To make an indentation for each fingernail, use the flat end of a table knife.  Using the same knife, make slashes on the finger for knuckles.

The boys were very excited to use their own knives for this!  Oh, and sorry about the blurry pictures and wonky colors.  One doesn't have time to play with the settings on your camera when one is baking with impatient boys!

Here are the boys' fingers.

Bake in a 325 degree oven for 13-15 minutes, watching closely.  The cookies should almost be white when ready to remove from the oven.  Allow the cookies to cool completely before decorating.

To make the fingers appear "bloody" add some red icing to the end of each nail bed.  Press a sliced almond over the icing for a fingernail. 

Creepy and delicious!

Oh, and a happy Reformation to all my Lutheran friends out there!  ;)



Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

Hello and happy Monday!

Our van is now at home in our garage, thank goodness!  We didn't have too much damage done to the bank account, thanks to some hard work done by my husband.  He was calling back and forth between garages and insurance companies all week long and his persistence paid off.  We are thankful to say the least.

Today I want to share one of my favorite fall recipes.  I found it in one of my Taste of Home Magazines a couple of years ago.  We make it a couple of times every fall season and really enjoy it!  You can find the recipe here.

 The recipe tells you to combine the wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls, but I just dump it all in together.  Call me crazy but it works.  This bread is super easy and delicious.

What is your favorite fall recipe?



Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

I found this recipe on Pinterest the other day and just have to share.

It tastes even more amazing than it looks.  It was also very easy to make!

You have to check out this blog and make this bread.  Go.

 Visit Joy the Baker to see the recipe and see how lovely her bread is comparison to mine.

It's okay though.  I'm not jealous.

Well, maybe just a little.



Honey Cream Scones

Hello All!

Here's a tasty recipe for you today.  We love scones around our home.  They make a delicious breakfast and they always come together so easily!  These scones are no exception.  The recipe for these Honey Cream Scones can be found here from the June 2011 edition of Midwest Living.

The scones start out with two of my favorite things:  lemon and thyme.  I can't get enough.  Those two ingredients were what drew me to this recipe.

I love the smell of lemon zest!

All of the dry ingredients are mixed into a big bowl.

After you add the butter and the wet ingredients, you stir until it is moistened.  The dough will be sticky, so have a pastry scraper handy (or a knife in my case because my pastry scraper was in the depths of my drawer and couldn't be reached with my messy hands).  Here is my dough after kneaded and rolled into a 12 inch circle.

The recipe calls for brushing some extra whipping cream on top before baking.

As I read through the recipe, I had the feeling that the scones wouldn't be sweet enough for my sugar-loving boys.  I solved the "problem" by mixing a 1/4 cup of sugar with some extra lemon zest.

I sprinkled the sugar/zest mixture on top of the scones.

Here are the beauties after baking.

So pretty and so scrumptious!

I hope you all give them a try!  Is there a favorite scone recipe in your home that you would care to share?  I love getting new recipes!

Have a great day!

Oh, and here's the recipe again, just for good measure!  Honey Cream Scones