‘Burgler Day!

Remember him? The Hamburgler from McDonald’s?

Yeah, this guy.
Source:
https://mcdonalds.fandom.com/wiki/Hamburglar

Sorry if that makes anyone feel old. I’m right there with you.

Anyways, today was burgler, I mean, burger grinding day. We take all the waste/excess/tiny pieces of meat from butchering the deer, bear, and other critters my husband shoots in hunting season and run it through a meat grinder to make hamburger. The process involves the whole family. The Teen helps with grinding, I pack and wrap, Hubby assists and supervises, and the littles do little jobs like opening doors and fetching things. Since the meat is very lean on its own, we mix in a certain percentage of pork sausage to add some fat and flavor. Unlike beef fat, venison and bear fat do NOT add good flavor to the meat. Trust me on this, putting in the extra effort to trim off all the excess fat is vital to turning out a tasty product.

After grinding and mixing we portion the burger into roughly 1lb packages and seal with our vacuum sealer. Then it goes into the freezer and we all sit back to relax with the pride in a job well done….but only after we scrub everything down and clean the grinder.

Our goal every year is to hunt enough to provide meat for an entire year. This year we churned out roughly 67lbs of ground venison in addition to all the steaks, roasts, hocks, haunches, and other cuts. No Bear or Elk were harvested this year in spite of Hubby and Teen’s best efforts so our burger is straight venison.

How do we use venison burger? The same way we would use ground beef. Tacos, spaghetti sauce, meatballs, soups and stews, meatloaf, etc. The best part, in my not-so-humble-opinion, is that venison is so lean and the percentage of added pork sausage is so low that there is never any excess fat to drain. Unlike ground beef where you lose upwards of 25% of the meat through draining off the fat, we get to eat 100% of our venison burger. Venison is also grass-fed, organic, and antibiotic free. So yeah, when Hubby complains about how expensive it is to hunt (tag prices and hunting license fees drive him nuts) I remind him that pound for pound it’s no more expensive (and may actually be slightly cheaper) than buying the same quality meat from the store.

So is it worth it? I think so. It’s good food and a quality family activity. Is it a lot of work? Definitely. Would we have it any other way? Nope.

Cake Mix Cookies

I’m not a fan of having cake in the house. Mostly because there’s only my husband and I to eat it and he doesn’t have a huge sweet tooth. Therefore when we have a cake, it falls to me to eat most of it.

That being said, we had a cake mix sitting in the pantry that needed to be made into something that we will both eat. Preferably something that will stay moist and tasty longer than an actual cake. I had seen “Cake Mix Cookies” mentioned on Pinterest, but never tried to make them. After a little research (okay, it was a 30-second Google session), I found a recipe on BettyCrocker.com. Seeing as the cake mix I have is a Betty Crocker mix, I decided to give it a try.

They taste awesome! Really, they do!

I have to say they turned out pretty tasty! And it was the fastest batch of cookies I’ve ever baked. The cookies are fluffy and soft, and chock full of flavor! The batch isn’t big, I got roughly 30 cookies total, but if you needed cookies fast for, say a holiday potluck at work, this would be the way to go.

The original recipe called for chilling the dough and rolling it into 1″ balls before baking. Baby Girl wasn’t going to sit still for that so I used the “Two Spoon Method”: scoop dough into one spoon and scrape it off onto the baking sheet with another spoon. Hence the rough look of the cookies.

Fluffy, soft, tasty goodness

Cake Mix Cookies:

Ingredients:

• Betty Crocker Super Moist cake mix in the flavor of your choice (Mine was Butter Pecan)
• 1/3 Cup oil (I used coconut oil as it’s what I have on hand)
• 2 Eggs
• 1 tsp Vanilla

Mix everything together. Chill the dough for about 30 minutes if you plan on rolling it into balls before baking. I just scooped some into a spoon and scraped it off onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 9-11 minutes until the cookies are set. Cool for a minute on the pan, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.

Chasing the Gingerbread Man

Cookies galore!

It’s almost Christmas and cookie baking is in full swing at my house. This means breaking out the Betty Crocker cookbook and my recipe box, gathering ingredients, and turning on the oven.

My favorite cookie to make this time of year is the Gingerbread cookie of my childhood. They always turn out tasty and the recipe is simple. Mom found it in a children’s magazine when I was a baby and it is the only gingerbread cookie recipe we have ever used. I’m fairly certain we even used this recipe to build a gingerbread house one year.

These cookies are flavorful, delicious, freeze well, ship well (Mom sends them overseas to my brother in the Army), and the flavor gets even better after a couple of days in the cookie tin. Or a couple weeks in the freezer.

Pretty and tasty snowflakes!

The best part of the cookies is the dough because here are no eggs. So if you’re making it with the kids and Junior decides he wants to taste the dough you don’t have to panic about him eating raw eggs. The dough also stays soft in spite of all the rolling and cutting out of cookies. It doesn’t get tough and unworkable so little hands can have all the fun they want squishing, rolling, folding, and molding the dough.

Gingerbread Cookies

Tools:

• Mixing bowls
• Measuring spoons and cups
• Spoon for mixing
• Cookie sheets
• Spatula
• Cookie cutters
• Rolling pin

Ingredients:

• 1/4 Cup Butter, softened
• 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar (if you don’t have brown sugar, just add an extra 1/2 tsp of molasses. After all, brown sugar is just white sugar rolled in molasses)
• 1/2 Cup Molasses (I like dark molasses)
• 3 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 tsp Ginger
• 1/3 Cup Water, room temperature
  

  Ready to roll out and cut!

  

  Ready for the oven!

  

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F and lightly grease your cookie sheets.
2. In a big bowl thoroughly mix wet ingredients: Butter, Brown Sugar, and Molasses.
3. In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients: Flour, Baking Soda, Cinnamon, and Ginger.
4. Add dry ingredients to the wet in three parts, alternating with the Water.
5. Flour your work surface. Roll out the dough to roughly 1/8″ thick and have fun cutting out cookies! You can also decorate them with sprinkles, colored sugar, chocolate chips, cinnamon red hots, whatever you desire.
6. Bake for 8 minutes then test for doneness by poking a cookie lightly with your finger. If it springs back (and the spring will be noticeable!), then the cookies are done.
7. Cool on a wire rack.

Bonus: After cooling, decorate the cookies with your choice of frosting, sprinkles, etc.

 

There’s Always Room for Pie!

Source: Pinterest

I like this time of year. With Thanksgiving, the Feast of St. Nicholas, Sankta Lucia Day, and, of course, Christmas, I have all the excuses I need to bake stuff. At the moment there are no fewer than 5 kinds of cookies on the premises, pie, and biscuits, and I plan to make more. Especially pie. Apple, pumpkin, mincemeat, sour-cream apple…I know Thanksgiving is the big holiday for pie, but I like eating it all year round and there is no rule that says we can’t have pumpkin pie for Christmas too.

With its creamy, custardy filling of sweetened and spiced pumpkin and flaky crust baked to a beautiful golden brown, it’s about the best way ever invented to eat squash. However, getting that golden crust to turn out flaky is difficult for some. My mother taught me to make pie crust when I was eight and barely tall enough to see over the top of the kitchen counter. She hoisted me onto a step stool and we got down to it. She taught me so well that I more or less baked all the pies from then on. I don’t think Mom has made more than half a dozen pies since! Today I want to pass this knowledge on to you.

Please note: This recipe makes enough dough for TWO pie crusts (two bottom crusts if making pumpkin or “open” pies, or a top and bottom crust for apple or “closed” pies). If only making one crust, just halve the ingredients. You can also store the second crust in the fridge, or make “Crispies” which I discuss at the end of the recipe. This crust can also be used for tarts, quiche, and anything else that requires a flaky pastry dough.

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Cold Butter, salted or unsalted whichever you prefer (the coldness is key so leave it in the fridge until you need it)
• 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour plus extra for rolling out the dough
• 1 tsp Salt
• Ice-water (I put 1 Cup or so of water in a bowl or glass and add ice to it)

Tools:

• Rolling Pin
• Mixing Bowl
• Pastry Cutter/Blender
• dinner fork
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Pie Tins/Pans (I highly recommend metal pie tins. The crust browns and crisps better in a metal pan than it does in glass pie pans. The choice is yours, but if you are new to pastry baking, I highly recommend metal tins. Also, color is important. I have found that the crust doesn’t brown as well when baked in tins with really dark, non-stick coating.)

Steps:

1. Measure 2 Cups of All-Purpose Flour into a large mixing bowl
2. Add Salt to flour and stir slightly to incorporate
3. Cut cold butter into cubes, then cut into flour/salt mixture until the butter pieces are about the size of peas. Do NOT mix butter in completely. The chunks of butter are what create the flakiness of the pie crust during baking. If you are used to baking cookies or bread and leaving chunks of butter seems crazy, just bear with me and I promise it will turn out right.

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4. Once the butter is cut into the flour, add 4 or 5 Tablespoons of ice water and stir with fork. The dough will start to form. Add more ice water as needed until the dough is sticky-ish. This is tricky to describe, but I have learned over the last 20-odd years of baking pies that a slightly wetter dough is better. It should clean the sides of the bowl as you stir it. If it leaves a little residue on your hands when you handle it, then it’s ready to roll out.
   

   Mostly mixed, still a bit dry

   

   Just right!
5. Dust work surface with flour and divide dough in half (if making two crust recipe). Roll out dough to about 1/8th or 3/16th thickness. I don’t actually measure the thickness, I just go by what feels right. By running your hand lightly over the dough you will be able to feel whether the thickness is even or not. If you find the dough is sticking at all, gently lift one side, fold it back (it shouldn’t stick to itself), sprinkle a little flour on your work surface and unfold the dough.

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6. Measure your crust to see if it will fit into your pie tins. I just hold a pie tin upside down over the crust to make sure it’s big enough.
7. Fold the dough in half, then in half again (so that it looks like a slice of pie!), center it in the pie tin with the point of the dough triangle in the center of the tin. Unfold the crust and work it down into the corners of the pan where the rim meets the base. The key to pie crust is firm gentleness. Don’t be afraid to pick it up, just don’t slap it around like bread dough. Lift the edge of the crust while easing it down into the corners then lay the edge back down on the rim of the pan. This is the easiest way to line the pan and helps prevent tearing.

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8. Roll the edges of the dough under a little and crimp to create a ridge. I pinch the dough using thumb and two fingers to make it a stand up and look a little pretty. If you need to, you can trim any excess crust from the edge before you roll it under. If you have any crust that’s too short (doesn’t reach the top of the pie-tin wall) you can extend it by patching on a little excess (use some of your ice-water to help it stick). If you look close, you can see a spot at about 11 o’clock where I had to patch my crust.

   Creating this high ridge is especially helpful for custard pies like pumpkin pie as it helps keep the filling from overflowing the crust. I always have a touch more filling than will fit into the pie so the ridge keeps it from spilling over and wasting any of the pumpkinny goodness. (Not sure if pumpkinny is a word, but I’m going with it.)

9. Pour your filling into the crust and bake per instructions. If you plan on making the crust first, put it in the fridge while you make the filling. It’s important to keep the butter in the crust cold or it will melt into the flour and the crust won’t be flaky. 
10. And that’s it! Sorry, I don’t have any pictures of the final baked pie. Baby Girl decided Mommy had done quite enough picture-taking and baking that day and demanded my undivided attention.

At the beginning I mentioned this crust recipe makes enough for two pie crusts. If you don’t want to store the second crust in the fridge or freezer and use later, you can make Crispies!

Bonus recipe: Crispies!

Roll out the pie dough as though making a pie, spread it with a thin layer of soft butter, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, slice into strips or squares or shapes, put on a cookie sheet and bake at 425°F until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!