Martha Stewart Coconut Balls

Another Martha Stewart recipe :) These were super good although a bit messy to make!

Martha Stewart Coconut Balls

Ingredients

Makes 36.

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar, plus more for dusting
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups sweetened flaked coconut

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter with 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar until fluffy. Mix in flour and salt until they're just combined. Stir in coconut.
2.Roll dough into 1-inch balls; place 2 inches apart on a baking sheet. Bake until just starting to brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Roll the warm cookies in confectioners' sugar; let cool completely.

These are the adjustments I made:

1. I thought 1 inch balls were too big so I made them about 1/2 inch. The recipe made about 60 cookies instead of the suggested 36.
2. I only baked them for 15 minutes.
3. I let them cool for 5 minutes then rolled them in powdered sugar. I let them rest another 5-10 then rolled them again. If you just "dust" them the sugar gets moist and doesn't look all nice and pretty! I ended up using at least 1 cup of powdered sugar for the outside.

Icebox Shortbread Cookies

I used some candied orange for half the cookies and dark chocolate chunks for the other half. I also made my cookie roll a little smaller and ended up with about 50 cookies. The smaller seize cookies only took about 14-15 minutes to bake. This is a good basic recipe and the possibilities are endless. The next time I make them I want to try rolling the cookie logs in colored sugar before slicing them so they are a bit more festive.

Martha Stewart Icebox Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients Makes 36

• FOR THE SHORTBREAD
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for rolling

• FLAVOR VARIATIONS (OPTIONAL MIX-INS AND COATINGS)
• Mix in grated zest of 2 oranges and 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• Mix in grated zest of 2 lemons; coat with 1/4 cup poppy seeds
• Mix in grated zest of 2 limes; coat with 1/4 cup cornmeal
• Mix in 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots; coat with 1/2 cup finely chopped pistachios
• Mix in 1/2 cup mini chocolate or peanut-butter chips
• Mix in 1/4 cup finely chopped candied ginger; coat with 1/4 cup sesame seeds

Directions

1. With an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt until smooth. With mixer on low speed, add flour, mixing just until a dough forms. Stir in desired mix-ins.
2. Divide dough in half; place each half on a piece of floured waxed or parchment paper. With floured hands, gently roll each into a 1 1/2-inch-diameter log. Dividing evenly, sprinkle logs with desired coating if using, rolling log (to help coating adhere) and pressing in gently. Wrap logs tightly in the paper, and refrigerate until firm, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. (To store longer, wrap log and paper tightly with plastic wrap.)
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap logs; with a serrated knife, slice dough 3/8 inch thick (if dough crumbles, leave at room temperature 5 to 10 minutes). Arrange slices, about 1 inch apart, on baking sheets.
4. Bake until lightly golden around the edges, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on baking sheets 1 to 2 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Christmas Cookies

Since I moved to DK, I started making cookies for the holidays to give to our family, friends and neighbors. Last year Mark was a huge help and this year I plan to get Mr. Twig involved in decorating some sugar cookies. A lot of the recipes are going to come from Martha Stewart this year. Don't laugh! Her kitchen peeps have some damn good recipes they come up with! I will try and share some of my favorites (and a few pics too!) and hopefully this will happen in a more timely manner than my Turkey Day recipes!

Sweet Potato Casserole

Taken from Eating Well. I loved it! Not too sweet and the orange gave it a yummy twist. I think for every day eats we will stick to plain old sweet potatoes but definitely worth adding to the holiday dinner table or for another special occasion.

• 2 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, (3 medium), peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 cup low-fat milk
• 2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping

• 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 4 teaspoons frozen orange juice concentrate (I subbed the juice from the orange I used for zesting)
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• pecan halves to add to the top (not part of the original recipe but I thought it really added a nice look and texture)

Preparation

1. Place sweet potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook over medium heat until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain well and return to the pan. Mash with a potato masher. Measure out 3 cups. (Reserve any extra for another use.)
2. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat an 8-inch-square (or similar 2-quart) baking dish with cooking spray.
3. Whisk eggs, oil and honey in a medium bowl. Add mashed sweet potato and mix well. Stir in milk, orange zest, vanilla and salt. Spread the mixture in the prepared baking dish.
4. To prepare topping: Mix flour, brown sugar, orange juice concentrate, oil and butter in a small bowl. Blend with a fork or your fingertips until crumbly. Stir in pecans. Sprinkle over the casserole.
5. Bake the casserole until heated through and the top is lightly browned, 35 to 45 minutes.

Turkey Day Menu

Today I am making Thanksgiving dinner to share with my Danish family. I am trying out a bunch of new recipes and if they turn out half as good as I think they will I promise to share. Amazingly I have not had to import anything to make dinner. Not even the pumpkin or pecans! Maybe the store imported them....hey but I just had to go down the street.

Grilled Turkey. This will be the 3rd year we have done it this way. Our oven is way too small for a turkey plus everything else and a bowl grill works perfect as an outdoor oven. Oh and I considered myself lucky to find a "large" 10 pounder this year. I usually brine it in a salt and citrus bath overnight and then put white wine, onions and apples inside when she goes on the grill.
Sweet Potato Casserole. This year I am doing a healthier version with pecans instead of marshmallows.
Creamed Corn. I have never made this successfully without using fresh corn. However finding fresh corn in Denmark in November is like asking to win the lottery.
Bread Dressing. I collect odds and ends of bread and put them in the freezer to make this. I make it often throughout the year so it is a tried and true family fav.
Southern Macaroni Pie. Custard style mac and cheese. I have tried to recreate my grandma's but since she does it without measuring I have been winging it and not with the best results. I found a recipe in the Augusta, GA, newspaper I am going to use this year. Forget trying to find this on any of the major recipe sites. They all do the cheese sauce version.
Broccoli Casserole. Try making this without Campbell's Condensed Cream of Mushroom soup. I dare you! I found what I think will be a winner of a recipe that doesn't call for anything remotely similar. I can't wait to try it.
Pumpkin Cheesecake. I have never made a REAL cheesecake from scratch before. I made it last night and it looks beautiful. Hopefully it will taste even better. It even has fresh pumpkin since there is no such thing as canned pumpkin here.