Gluten Free Peanut Butter Stars

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Well, the wizards of WordPress have some major serious glitches to resolve.
My lovely daughter was making these from the recipe on this website and we realized there were a couple of confusing points. So I went in to edit -and BLAMMO….POOF, IT WAS ALL GONE!

(Here is my daughter following my recipe, which needed modifications)

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Oh heck, I’ll add another shameless plug for my cutie pie!

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After many, MANY moments of not so happiness, here I am reposting my recipe.

BTW, these are AWESOME cookies. We make them every single Christmas.
Every.
Single.
One.
The recipe is plentiful, so if you are looking for a cookie for a cookie exchange, this is your ‘go to’. They hold up well, you can make them well in advance. They are fun to play with. The traditional is made with a Hershey’s Kiss, but this year we used Rolo’s and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (the little ones).

I’m sure my original post had all kinds of wonderful, lovely sentimental reminiscing, but tonight? I just want to get this up so that my readers can also have access to this amazing recipe!

Preheat the Oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare a Sheetpan with a silpat, or parchment paper.
Have cookie cooling racks ready.

Peanut Butter ‘Stars’

1.5 C Creamy Peanut Butter
1 stick Butter Flavor Crisco Shortening (1 cup)
2.5 C Brown Sugar (dark or light. we prefer dark)
6 Tbsp Buttermilk (nut milk is an ok substitute)
2 Tbsp Vanilla (yes, that much!)
2 Eggs
3.5 C All-purpose Gluten Free Flour (My favorite is Pamela’s Artisan Flour)
1.5 tsp salt
1.5 tsp Baking Soda
Hersheys Kisses and/or Rolos, Reeses bits.
Sugar in a pan to roll the dough in.
*I like to add sparkling sugar to the white cane sugar for extra sparkle.

Makes: A lot.

Cream together the Peanut Butter, Crisco, and Sugar together. Add the Eggs, Vanilla and Eggs, then the Buttermilk.
Combine and blend together the dry ingredients.
Slowly add the dry to the wet ingredients.
This is gluten free flour so no worries about toughness. Make sure it is well blended.

(This photo is in the near-end part of the process…when I realized my website deleted my post! But it gives you the idea of the texture)

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From the dough, take about 1 generous tablespoon of the dough (approx 1+ inch), roll it into a ball. (this part is flexible, mine run between 1-2 tbsp in size) Then dredge in a pan filled with sugar.

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Place on a sheet pan, lined with a silpat, and bake for about 10-12 minutes. They will begin to crack, but will still be moist inside.

While they are still warm, sink a Hershey’s Kiss in the middle.

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Allow to cool for a few minutes on the sheet pan, then transfer to a cooling rack.
These store amazingly in an airtight container for over a week. Just be sure the chocolate is well set before packing away.

Done.
Please do me a favor.
If there is something that doesn’t make sense, comment below. This was a fly by the pants recipe. I wanted to get it up because Gluten Free is tough and this is DELISH.
But to make my recipes better, I need feedback!
Enjoy!

 

Stacy’s Dip

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As we race in to the Christmas season, I begin to look ahead to my families annual Christmas Day Open House. Since my husband and I were first married, we’ve never really had family living near us, so we have been free to celebrate as we wish. Many, many years ago, (too many to disclose!) we started the tradition of having other ‘orphans’ over for Thanksgiving dinner. This has now extended to our christmas morning Open House. For a few hours in between the flurry of package opening and Christmas dinner, we open our home to those who would like to stop by for one of my husbands famous Bloody Marys, and a snack or two.

I put out various homemade cocktail nuts, a veggie tray, some sweet treats and an absolute must is Stacys Dip.

Stacy was a gal who lived across the street from us when we first moved here to the iceberg they call Minnesota. She and her family were from Georgia (and subsequently moved back there) and had brought with her that warm, generous and welcoming southern hospitality. (something i think the natives here could learn a thing or two from) I am reminded of the afternoon our children were playing together outside, I had stopped in for a chat and she presented me with a glass of wine and in mere moments pulled together this dip. It warmed my heart to have someone so willing to stop what they were doing to spend time just sipping, noshing and chatting. It is a reminder to me, and I hope for others, that sometimes we need to stop the clock for a moment and take the time to smell the roses before speeding off again.

I think that is why it is the perfect appetizer to put out on Christmas afternoon, right smack in between presents and prime rib roast. It’s reminiscent of that ‘bus stop’ in time that was given as a gift to me from a wonderful woman across the street.

Stacy Dip

1 package of Jimmy Dean sausage, cooked, crumbled and drained (**GF see note at end of post)

1 package of cream cheese

1 can of Rotels tomatoes

After draining the sausage, add the brick of cream cheese and melt over a low heat. Add the canned tomatoes and continue to stir until it is melted and combined.

*I serve this with tortilla chips (gluten free), but it can be served with sliced baguettes or crackers also.

*I use the ‘hot’ jimmy dean sausage (see updated note below). In a pinch, you could use any seasoned breakfast sausage, but for it to be ‘authentic’ jimmy deans is the brand to use.

*You can substitute any market brand of tomatoes that are like rotels. The sizes of the generic brands vary, some being a little bigger. It just makes the dip a little looser, but will be just as good. I prefer the spicier version of rotels, because we like it spicy.

*Keep the dip warm in a little mini warmer of some sort. Mini-fondue pots, mini-crock pots or those little dip warmers that are set above a tea light will do nicely.

****(2014 note! Jimmy Dean Sausage is NOT certified Gluten Free. Substitute your favorite gluten free breakfast sausage for a GF option)

 

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Easy Winter Salad

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Easy Winter Salad

Hubby decided to work from home and forgo the traffic jams that were sure to be on the highways following the 18 inches of snow we got in 24 hours. (Good call, the commute was 3x’s as long as usual this morning)
So, when he took a break for lunch, I had prepared a lovely (and tasty) hearty salad.
I cook a lot from my pantry, and all these items were either in my fridge or in the very well stocked pantry I keep.
Make a simple vinaigrette: blueberry vinegar (mine is home canned) , smidge of honey mustard, honey, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Toss fresh baby greens in the vinaigrette and top with:
Hard boiled eggs
Quartered pickled baby beets (home canned)
Leftover chicken breast
Slices of blueberry/vanilla artisan goat cheese (any goat cheese would do, but I had this on hand and it paired perfectly with the dressing)

Our family does not care for nuts, but for those who do like them a candied walnut would be nice. I think if I had to do again, I’d add shallots to the dressing.

The key is to keep a decently stocked pantry. The culinary world is open to you if you have more than canned tuna and peanut butter on hand. I think a well stocked pantry discussion is a great future post.