Jessica Merchant's Blog, page 424

2015 Recipe Disasters.

And now for one of my favorite traditions! aka, I don’t know how my kitchen didn’t blow up this year.

Yes, I say it every year in my way-too-dramatic fashion, but THIS year was the worst.

I swear. And here’s why: a kid!

Adding a baby to the mix threw my balance way off as expected – and I’m still trying to regain it. In the early days, I would plan to test a fantastic recipe or two only to have a Max moment that needed my full attention and lasted three hours longer than expected. I was super rushing to make things in a fraction of the time that I used to have and this meant: massive kitchen fails.

It was funny. Not at the time, I may have melted into a puddle of tears on occasion. But now! It’s fun to look back on. Also, this is, like, 1/48th of the disasters that occurred this year – the ones that I was lucky enough to remember to capture. Ohhh good.

Also, for years of previous embarrassing disasters, you can see

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

Or not.

And now, let’s talk about my frenemy. PIE.

 

To make a good one, I’ve decided that you really need three things: time, patience and desire, of which I have none. I want to be all cool and hipstery and make an instagram-worthy pie (um, hello, why ELSE would you make one?) but I cannot.

I seriously think this looks like a scary halloween mask, like a Jason mask or something, something like leatherface with holes in it. It’s 100% awful, and the filling didn’t exactly turn out either.

Scratch that, it didn’t turn out at all. I’m pretty sure it still had chunks of flour in it. Which I tasted. Of course.

Back in early winter, I made this triple citrus relish that I saw in an issue of… not sure. Maybe food and wine? Maybe bon appetit? It sounded pretty fabulous but my execution was terrible, right down to the part where I decided to serve it with… wait for it… CHICKEN.

Fried chicken actually. Coconut oil fried chicken. Where to begin?

The relish had rind in it, it turned out terribly, I don’t know what I was thinking with the herbs and then I added way too many onions. The chicken was soggy-fried, absolutely horrible but I tried to save it by roasting it AFTER frying it and then roasting the lemon wedges too.

I tasted it and was all well this isn’t too bad, let me take a pic and I’ll test it once or twice more before sharing.

And then I looked at the pic and was like, what? This is horrifying. It really was.

I mean, do you want to eat a bowl of oranges and onions on soggy fried chicken? Sounds delish.

No words for this hideous mess of a soup.  I made a bacon and lentil soup (why? lack of sleep in the newborn stage?!) then topped it with parmesan cheese crisps and BASIL. Why why why.

Again, it was so gross. Too many flavors, such a literal hot mess. My brain was fried.

I’m pretty sure that bacon cheeseburger quesadillas have made the recipe disaster list before – yet I keep on making them because apparently I’ve had a lobotomy.

As gross as it may seem, it tastes pretty darn close to a cheeseburger and therefore, is pretty darn delicious, but photo wise? The worst. Just no.

Never ever.

One of my saddest fails of the year was pickled brussels sprouts. I did a million things wrong, from not “canning” the thing properly because I was lazy, to making up my own mixture, to using too large of sprouts and then letting the mess sit in my fridge for over a week.

I had gorgeous high hopes for bloody marias and cheese plates but just ended up with hard-as-a-rock vinegar balls. Depressing. And very gross.

Ooooh ooh ooh the time that I thought chocolate coffee cake could be a thing?

It could not. It was so BLAH.

For Thanksgiving, I really wanted to make you french onion soup rolls! I made my own rolls with onions that had caramelized for three hours and an entire block of grated gruyere. But my recipe brain fell off there when I didn’t know just HOW to cover the rolls with a delicious soupy cheese blanket and still have them be, well… ROLLS. And not a gigantic slop pile in a baking dish.

Hurts the heart hard.

THE MACARONS.

Oh the macarons. How many batches did I make? Maybe 40? Definitely 20 in the months of November and December. It was out of control and while I’ve heard that chocolate macs are especially difficult, I had multiple other flavors fail too.

The obscenties running through my mind after batch 15 failed and I had let them sit, then didn’t let them sit, overmixed then didn’t overmix, made them on a low humidity day, banged the pan against my kitchen table… it went on and on. Just decided to bang my head on the table instead.

Finally, I tried to be all cool and trendy here and make some “truffles” out of dried figs and reeeealllly dark chocolate (like 90%) instead of using dates like all the cool kids do. These were absolutely pitiful. And tasted so, so wrong.

There were so many more in 2015, but there are the biggest and best that stuck out like sore thumbs. And of course, just last week I dropped an entire gallon of homemade amaretto on my kitchen floor less than 24 hours after making it, so major fails happen every single day. More like multiple times a day right now, since I’m still trying to maximize my time.

Tell me, tell me! What was your biggest of 2015?

Merry Merry.

wishing you all tons of love this holiday season! so many hearts for you.

December Favorites: Food + Fun.

I skipped my November favorites in lieu of a big old holiday favorites this month! These are the things I’m absolutely loving, and some may be on major sale come Saturday. Share your faves below please please??

Nest Birchwood Pine Candle. I’ve mentioned it ten million times already, but by FAR my favorite candle of the year. Signature scent, I’m thinking until March.

Sam and Libby black boots. I’ve been on a search the past few months for shoes and boots that aren’t as high as I’m used to wearing now that I’m carrying a baby or pushing a stroller most of the time. I wore these all over NYC last month and they were super comfortable. Sleek too.

Williams Sonoma Peppermint Bark Chocolate Cookies. I know. I’ve rambled about these the ENTIRE month. They are just so insanely wonderful. I’m eating one right now! And they are on sale!

Winter Stroll. This was a favorite a few months back, but I REALLY wanted something Christmasy to read and ended up rereading Winter Street and Winter Stroll. I love my Elin! And now I’m craving a Nantucket trip. 

Lululemon high waisted wunder unders. I desperately needed a new pair of long black wunder unders – it has been a few years and mine are just beat. The girl asked if I wanted the high-waisted ones and I’m like… sure. Um, obsessed. I absolutely love them. And even though there are many pairs of leggings that I love from Athleta and I found some that I like at Old Navy too, I just can’t find an exact comparison for the wunder unders. I also don’t have any problems with them being sheer like some have mentioned.

My Leuchtturm notebook. I got super into the bullet journal this month and have found it to be extremely effective (I’m a huge pen and paper person) – and I really like the dots in this notebook. So much more than I expected. I think I even like this notebook better than my moleskines which is huuuuuge.

On that same note, this Staedtler fineliner pen set. These pens are my dream come true. I’ve used le pen pens for years now but it’s probably been close to two years since I bought any and most are running out. These are so fabulous, write exactly how I want them to and… just look at the colors! I’m a convert.

As usual, ALL of the Target wrapping supplies. Pure gold.

Nespresso Swiss Chocolate pods. I freaking LOVE my nespresso and almost died when they had limited edition chocolate pods. Just as delicious as you’d imagine.

This Shawl Cardigan in the color wine tasting. I really like all of the pieces I’ve bought by CALIA and this is no exception. Perfect with leggings and boots!

Pentatonix Christmas album. Max and I have been listening and singing to this NONSTOP. It is in my head all day and night. I love and hate it. So good.

Gap Red Faux Fur Puffer Vest. I’m pretty sure I swore I wouldn’t live in vests this year, but our weather is absolutely calling for it at the moment. It’s way too warm for a coat! And this one… I’m having a moment with red right now. Super love it.

Holiday pillows. I splurged on a few of these around black Friday from Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn and what I love is that some of them are just pillow covers, so I don’t have a ridiculous overabundance of pillows. Or storage come spring. So fun and make our family room festive.

Snapseed. I’ve revisited this app a lot lately and love it for some photo editing. Mostly because my usual favorite, Afterlight, seems to be on the fritz and keeps shutting down unexpectedly. Snapseed is my new but old go-to.

Victoria’s Secret Fair Isle socks. Wow. These are SO thick but also stretchy and just wonderful. Even though I’ve only been able to enjoy them for two days thanks to above average temperatures, I adore them. They aren’t available online anymore but may be in a store!

The Chandon holiday bottles. I can’t help it. Adorable.

White Christmas Margarita Punch.

No need to dream of your white Christmas today.

I’ve got it in a glass!

With tequila.

Merry Christmas you filthy animal.

I’m being forced to create our own white Christmas.

Because it’s crazy warm here, as in yesterday it felt like it was 70 degrees. And all I want is snow. Because I don’t want to be knee deep in ice come April! I’m selfish and want snow now, and no snow come January 1. Universe… are you listening?

These margaritas are certainly deceiving – while there are a few floating cranberries and some rosemary for decoration, they are actually… COCONUT cream margaritas. So you can be transported to the islands for Christmas!

No but really, I didn’t want to do a white chocolate margarita or a sugar cookie margarita or something like that. It kind of made my stomach turn. I have used this coconut margarita recipe in the past, and knew it would fit the perfect white Christmas bill. It’s what I used for my red, white and blue margaritas on the 4th of July and it’s a total hit!

The thing is though, you gotta watch your décor.

Like I wouldn’t stir the margarita with the rosemary sprig or anything. In fact, I wouldn’t even drop it in. It’s purely decoration which is unlike something I’d usually do, but it’s so, so pretty and so fun for the holiday season. I couldn’t NOT do it.

So you should totally do it! You’ll totally be in the spirit and if not… just add another drink.

White Christmas Margaritas

Yield: serves about 6

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

10 ounces silver tequila

8 ounces grand marnier

8 ounces lime juice

8 ounces coconut water

8 ounces canned coconut milk

6 ounces coconut cream

6 ounces coconut rum

6 ounces simple syrup

1 teaspoon coconut extract, if desired

for garnish: sprigs of rosemary and fresh cranberries

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together well - I find that for a large scale drink like this with something creamy (the coconut), it works best to make it in a large measuring glass or bowl and whisk it all together as opposed to shaking it. If desired, you can add 1 to 2 teaspoons of coconut extract for more islandy coconut flavor! Taste and add more syrup if you'd like more sweetness.

Note: to make the simple syrup, combined equal parts sugar and water (like 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water) in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk constantly until the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a boil, then remove from heat and let cool completely.

Merry merry!

Tuesday Things.

1. Oh hi. A freaking champagne and doughnut NYE party! Best idea ever. In the history of ever.

2. I was always legit PETRIFIED of Santa growing up. And we are talking until I was at least 10 or 11 or even older – like my brothers had to sleep in my room because I was so scared. Clearly Max got that gene.

3. 100% get chills from the Fuller House trailer. Eeeeeep.

4. Yesterday I dropped a gallon of homemade amaretto on my kitchen floor. MERRY CHRISTMAS.

5. Eddie came home from work the other day and told me this story about how he was driving and realized that there was a stinkbug that crawled up his pant leg. I am seriously still having nightmares. No really.

6. We’ve been blasting my holiday playlist but as usual, I get bored. So I am loving Megan’s playlist too!

7. HOLY CRAP The Affair!! OMG omg there is no show like this. It is so good. Just when you think there is no redeeming of Noah. Wowza. Can’t say too much without giving it away but I thought the finale was one of the best I’ve ever seen. Some of those scenes (Noah/Helen on beach, Noah/Allison dancing at the end) were incredible. And Homeland! I’m sure you know that words cannot even describe how pissed I am if that ending really happens. But it has to, right? And Otto During? Like what the what?

8. These food puns may be one of the best things I’ve seen in all of 2015.

9. My grandma always had such cool “signature” ideas for entertaining, gifts, holidays and things like that. I’ve decided one of mine is going to be topping my wrapped gifts with a package of peppermint bark. Now what happens when I move on to a new obsession… ? Don’t ask.

Salted Peanut Butter Shortbread.

Dipped in the richest chocolate ever.

I’ve never liked shortbread! Never ever ever. Lots of evers here. I always thought it was dry and boring and lacked flavor and was very much a grandma cookie.

But.

Since I’ve started doing elderly things anyway, like eating desserts with nuts and enjoying pecan pie and craving lemon cookies, I figured, why not? Let’s try some shortbread.

And by “try some shortbread,” I mean let’s trash up regular short bread almost as much as possible.

Almost.

I almost added bacon!

But I didn’t. Whomp whomp.

But you should!

I think peanut butter and chocolate is just enough. The salted peanut butter cookie is dreamy and crunchy but buttery and almost melts in your mouth. If you’re an absolute peanut butter freak, these are calling your name right now.

Hurry hurry. Few days before Christmas. Go for it!

If you’re like me and need a touch of chocolate with your peanut butter (or let’s be a real, a touch of peanut butter with your chocolate), a corner dip is just right. And then, the salty sweet… well that’s all anyone needs.

I realize I’m going a little heavy on the exclamation points today, but these cookies are worth.it. As much as I turned my nose up at every and any lorna doone my entire life, I’m slightly regretting that decision.

Or wondering why they didn’t put peanut butter in their dough.

I almost… a very close almost… made shortbread with fresh herbs. You know, something like lemon thyme or lavender rosemary or vanilla basil and all that jazz.

It sounds pretty darn good, right?

But, that is just not me. At 10:07 on a Sunday night I am not sneaking into the kitchen to grab a lavender rosemary cookie. I am grabbing a big honking spoon of peanut butter covered in chocolate chips or a chunk of perfect chocolate dropped in the PB jar or even a scoop of chocolate peanut butter ice cream.

I wish it was different and that I LOVED those lighter, more sophisticated desserts, buuuuuut.

I’d rather constantly faceplant into a peanut butter cup stuffed chocolate cookie or something. 130% of the time. Real life: my palate is comparable to a seven year old’s.

Now I just know that you have room and time left to make ONE more cookie right? They are so super simple, require just a few ingredients that I’m almost positive you have on hand and don’t take very long at all. They are sort of like slice and bake cookies too, without the imprinted green christmas tree in the center. But sooo much better.

And we can totally bond over our adoration for chocolate peanut butter. There is no comparison, ever.

Salted Peanut Butter Shortbread

Yield: makes about 20 cookies

Total Time: 1.5 hours

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup loosely packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

sea salt for sprinkling

6 ounces dark chocolate, chopped

1 tablespoon coconut oil

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the butter and peanut butter until creamy and combined. Beat in the sugars on medium speed until fluffy. Add in the vanilla extract. Beat in the flour on low speed until just combined. Scoop out the dough (it will be crumbly) and form it into two tubes with your hands. They should be about 2 inches in diamter and about 6 to 7 inches long. Wrap them in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 to 60 minutes.

Remove the dough from the fridge and cut 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices off the tube. Place on the parchment. Sprinkle each with salt. Bake for 20 minutes, or until just slightly golden. Let the cookies cool completely before dipping them in chocolate.

To melt the chocolate for dipping, microwave it (or heat over double boiler) for 30 seconds at a time on 50% power. Stir after each time until it just melts. Once melted, stir in the coconut oil. Dip an edge of each piece of shortbread and if desired, sprinkle with more salt.

[shortbread slightly adapted from ina]

Thissss is a short stack.

Fontina, Roasted Garlic and Goat Cheese Arancini.

I’m giving you a big arancini kiss right now.

In the form of melted cheese surrounded by rice, roasted garlic, most m cheese (because always) and a crispy crunchy coating of breadcrumbs. So we can now declare this the best holiday season ever?

SO.

The first time we ever had arancini was at Sal’s in Wildwood, on the way home from a long day at the beach and we were all STARVING. This was yearssss ago and my uncle ended up ordering a lot more than just pizza, so we snacked our way through the restaurant. It was late. I think it was rainy? We were probably all in a wonderful mood after spending 14 straight hours in the hot sun. Not cranky at ALL.

My cousin Lacy became obsessed with the rice balls and ever since, is always on a search for the best. Everywhere we go! Must order rice balls.

And then.

Vallozzi’s has TO DIE FOR! arancini and we order it as an appetizer every time we are there. It’s a recent discovery but I’d say we’ve been ordering them for about a year. And wanting to order another plate because they are that good. And we are gluttonous.

It’s what actually what inspired me to make them for the holiday season. And it’s contributing to getting me more into tomato sauce. howwhatwherewhy?!

I added roasted garlic because sometimes I can’t stop adding roasted garlic to things. Occasionally on a Sunday I will roast four or five bulbs of garlic and then everyone better watch out! You’re getting roasted garlic bombed all week.

I want to get roasted garlic wasted.

And we couldn’t JUST have fontina in here, which you may realize now is my go-to cheese for practically, well… everything. I threw in some goat cheese to lighten up the ball, and if you think I sound crazy, you gotta try it. It brings a creamy yet tangy yet fresh and sort of light taste to the whole mess of gooey rice.

Not that I ever make sense.

You can totally add other things in there too, like broccoli or kale or carrots or leeks, and it might come as a shock that I’m going to make a version of these with kale over the holidays

Probably to go with my kale salad, kale smoothie, kale omelet and kale brownies.

No no. Not that last one. I think.

Why does it take me 37 years to get into trends? Like wasn’t kale so super 2012?

I know you’re probably dying to ask if these can be baked (no, no? just me?) and not fried. The answer is yes, but they won’t be exactly the same. The exterior won’t be as crisp, which is one of the best parts. You take a bite and it crunches just a teeny but, right down into a love filled hug of warm risotto and a center of melty cheese.

Why yes, it is basically where I want to live for the next two months.

I really like it for a holiday appetizer or snack, but honestly frying something like this for a party kind of stresses me out and I don’t want to have my entire house smelling of fried oil and pine scented candles mixed together. So! I deem it an excellent meal/snack to eat over the holidays with your friends and family, when there is no worry of being all fancy and frilly and you’re not hosting an event that calls for washing down your baseboards. You know?

There you have it.

If you’ve never tried arancini, please come over immedaitely so we can make a batch and drink a bottle of red. You must be introduced into this lovely crunch ball o’ fun.

And if you are familiar with the cheesy snack, throw some filling ideas my way. Oh and you can also come over. For more red. I have about ten pounds of Christmas cookies for dessert and I kind of love you and will share. Wink wink.

Fontina, Roasted Garlic and Goat Cheese Arancini

Yield: makes about 20 arancini

Total Time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

2 cups cooled risotto

1 head garlic

1 large egg, lightly beaten

8 ounces fontina cheese, cut into cubes

4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

2 tablespoons finely grated parmesan cheese

a pinch of salt and pepper

2 cups seasoned bread crumbs

vegetable oil for frying

marinara sauce for serving

Directions:

Note: to cool the risotto quickly, you can make a batch then spread it out on a baking sheet to cool and slightly dry. I've done it both ways (the other being to store it overnight in the fridge) and they both work great.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. To roast the garlic, slice the top of the head off to expose the cloves. Rub your fingers back and forth on the outside of the bulb to remove the excess paper. Drizzle the top with olive oil and wrap the garlic in foil. Roast for 45 to 60 minutes, until the cloves are caramely and golden. You can do this ahead of time if you wish. Squeeze out the cloves and mash them well with a fork.

In a large bowl, stir together the cooled rice, roasted garlic, egg, goat cheese, parmesan, salt, pepper and about 1/2 cup of the breadcrumbs. Using your hands, form the mixture into 1-inch round balls. Gently push a cube or two of fontina cheese in the center of each ball, make sure to seal it all around. Roll each ball in the remaining bread crumbs and place it on a baking sheet. Once finished, place the baking sheet in the freezer for 30 minutes.

While the rice balls are freezing, heat about 1-2 inches of oil in a large pot. You want it to be between 325 and 350 degrees F. Add about 2 to 3 rice balls to the oil at one time, frying until golden on all sides, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to remove excess grease. Repeat.

Serve immediately with grated parmesan and marinara.

[slightly adapted from food network]

Oh the cheese.

Currently Crushing On.

{via}

HI.

It’s finally cold and sort of snowy! Ew, I know, so cliche and what a snoozefest to talk about the weather but we all secretly kind of hope for a white Christmas, right?! Whomp whomp, not going to happen here because it’s going back up to 60. I hate it.

What are you up to?! Are you ridiculously excited for next week? Done with shopping? I am going to do a bunch of wrapping today. And a bunch of shopping. And maybe a bunch of drinking. Oh and yesterday I made about 10 different cookie doughs and need to bake them off. As an update to my list, I made LEMON CRINKLE COOKIES. I’d like to faceplant into a batch of them. Be sure to follow along on instagram and snapchat for weekend behind the scenes.

Um, also! Cheesy Pull Apart Garlic Bread. I’m showing you how to do it in a video on facebook!

Over on the baby page, I shared Max’s one year update and our current baby favorites, in case you need some gift ideas.

loves:

my face is melting over these chicken and waffle sliders. i don’t know if i’ve ever wanted anything more.

gingersnap chocolate bark?! this is too gorgeous.

this recipe covers nearly everything that i love: mustard devil eggs with crispy chicken skin. crying.

this creamy white bean tomato soup is exactly what i’ll be craving after christmas cookies.

holy adorable: ampersandwich cookies. and the flavor is awesome too.

i die at drake on cake.

coconut oil gingerbread men! i kid you not.

i very much wish that i had enough patience to make this DIY wooden bead garland.

a tie dye yule log cake. why is she always in my brain?

while i reeeeally just want to drink a bottle of red wine, i don’t mind braising my short ribs in it.

things i don’t hate: pretzel crust brownie pie. please oh please.

100% making some freaking pomegranate manhattans! omg.

hot buttered rum poundcake exists. thank you universe.

Pink Peppermint Bark Macarons.

This is a huge day!

Because I successfully made macarons without

1. having a myocardial infarction

2. getting divorced

3. throwing my out the window

and, better yet, they are fantastic.

Okay, so the reason I had to go with peppermint bark is because I am downright obsessed with these peppermint bark covered cookies. I have tried the cheaper dupes and NOTHING is as good as these ones. And I desperately want to make them, but I’m afraid they still won’t be as good.

Also, I should add, that this is all Max’s fault.

My little snuggabubs the the BEST SHOPPER. Seriously. My mom and I can have marathon shopping days (think six or eight hours) and Max has been coming along since he was born. These days, he is so much more active that he just wants to get out of the stroller and run, and even though we take a bunch of play breaks, by the seventh hour a few weeks ago he wanted to be a wild man. We were in Williams Sonoma and he grabbed a tube of these cookies from in the stroller and proceeded to chew on the can.

I mean.

I couldn’t NOT buy the cookies after my one year old chewed the can for twenty minutes.

So I coughed up the $25 (eeeeek) and opened them on the spot because we were starving.

Serious love at first bite. I like mint with my chocolate, but it wasn’t until this bite that I become obsessed with all things pepperminy barky.

It wasn’t that moment that made me try out these macs. I had been planning a peppermint brownie macaron of some sort for the season and started… let’s call it “practicing”… in OCTOBER. That’s one heck of a recipe.

I’ve never made macarons before. It only took me about 436 tries to get a recipe to work too. Stay tuned for 2015 recipe disasters, the macaron version.

Fortunately, I’ve eaten TONS of macarons. I don’t care how trendy they may be. Not only do they taste wonderful, but if you’re a texture freak like me then you straight up lose it over the soft yet slightly crunchy outside and fluffy filling inside.

Dreams dreams dreams.

Sidenote: Eddie didn’t think he liked macarons. Who knows why? Probably because he confused them with macarOOns, and since he can’t take the texture of coconut, figured I was trying to trick him.

Um, whyyyyyy would I ever do that.

Anyhoo, when we were in NYC a few months ago he went to Bouchon and said “just give me two of every flavor of macaron that you have.”

Is this man serious?

He had no choice but to get hooked (or waste all the macarons). It would be fitting though that the first macarons I successfully made were ones he wouldn’t touch, since he swears that eating minty chocolate is like having toothpaste for dessert.

Oh well! More for us.

Pink Peppermint Bark Macarons

Yield: makes about 30 macarons

Total Time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups powdered sugar

1 cup finely ground almond meal

3 large egg whites, at room temperature

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

pinch of salt

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

a drop of pink food coloring, if you wish

for the ganache(s):

1/3 cup heavy cream

6 ounces high-quality dark chocolate, chopped

1/4 cup heavy cream

6 ounces high-quality white chocolate, chopped (I find that Lindt works best for white)

peppermints or candy canes, crushed

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees using the convection setting. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats.

Whisk the powdered sugar and almond meal together in a bowl. Sift it thoroughly into another large bowl - you may have a few tablespoons of coarse almond meal left which is fine - discard it. This will take a few minutes! Set the bowl aside.

Add the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt to the bowl of your electric mixer and beat on low speed until frothy. Add in the sugar gradually, very slowly, while increasing the speed to medium high. Continue to beat the egg whites for a few minutes until they are shiny and stiff. Beat in the vanilla and peppermint extracts, along with the pink food coloring.

Transfer the egg whites into the bowl with the sifted sugar and almond flour. Fold the dry ingredients into the egg whites, dragging the spatula through the center and folding the bottom of the batter over. You don't want to overmix! Mix until just combined. Scoop the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a round tip - mine was 1/2 inch wide.

Take the pastry bag and pipe 1 inch (or so) circles, leaving about 2 inches between each. Once you've filled up the baking sheets, tap them against the counter to release any air bubbles. Let sit for at least 15 minutes (or longer, if more humid) until the tops are no longer sticky. Place another baking sheet underneath the one with the macarons (this prevents the macs from getting too much heat) and stick the sheets in the oven. Bake one sheet at a time, for 18 to 20 minutes, until the tops are set and you can see the "feet" underneath. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

To fill, take two macaron shells and top one with chocolate ganache and the other with white chocolate. Sprinkle crushed peppermints over top of both, then stick the shells together to create your cookie.

for the ganache(s):

To make the ganache, add each chopped chocolate to a separate bowl. Heat the heavy cream over medium heat until it's just hot and the edges are bubbling, then pour 1/3 cup over the dark chocolate and 1/4 cup over the white. (I find that white needs less liquid, feel free to add more after stirring if necessary.) Let sit for 1 minute, then stir continuously until the chocolate melts and you have a smooch ganache.

[macaron base from food network]

Oh oh! And pink. Because why not?

Croque Monsieur Crostini.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, the way to my heart is through a block of cheese.

It’s like, newsflash!

Oh wait, except it totally isn’t. Because cheese is ALL I TALK ABOUT.

I get it. The cheese struggle is real but it’s so dang good and I love it so much and no no no don’t make me stop.

We can eat burnt, bubbly cheesy bread together instead of fighting about it.

This may not look like much, in fact it kind of looks like a tray of blobby golden bread or something. BUT. It’s golden bread plus crispy ham and a huge smothering of gruyere cheese sauce.

Oh oh! And mustard. Oh my gosh, the mustard. The grainier the better.

I might have a mustard collection. It’s embarrassingly horrifying and quite possibly takes condiments in excess to the highest levels.

Which reminds me, have you seen the Trader Joe’s mustard gift set this year? What in the actual heck, it is delicious. Of course, I had to buy it for myself because I’m a jerk. It has truffle mustard. And beet mustard. And two more that I can’t remember at the moment but I reeeeeeally obviously need that mustard to go with my collection.

And every single day I’m moments away from eating a little bit with a spoon. Because I live for mustard.

See you on mustard Hoarders, brb.

And that’s why I fell so completely hard into this recipe years ago when I first tried it: the mustard. I mean yes, obviously: the cheese.

You know that is where our invisible internet friendship began. All the cheese. All the time.

But the cheese is pretty much a given. You can put cheese sauce on anything these days and it’s no bigs. But the mustard in the recipe is what drew the flavor monster out of me. It MAKES it.

Oh god, just ignore me. Every ingredient makes it because they are all top notch delicious and half way terrible for you.

Remember back in the day when I made a croque madame? It’s this, but with an egg.

Cue my brain explosion right now. As if I could get any more obnoxious with the things I always ramble about.

Even though we sort of discussed cheese at length on Monday (or when don’t we?), I couldn’t help but share this with you rightthisminute in case you need a fabulous holiday appetizer. Because it’s my absolute favorite sandwich/lunch/late night love and now it’s made into bite size form!

Which means…

You know it…

You can eat more. Mini things = eating more of the things. We been over this quite a few times.

It also can mostly be prepped ahead of time, but I would do the cheese sauce at the last possible moment. You can always assemble an entire tray and then take it to a friends house to bake. Or you can quickly reheat your sauce on low, pile it on, and pop these in the oven.

That cheesy mess! I adore it.

Croque Monsieur Crostini

Yield: makes 15 to 20 pieces

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

cheese sauce

1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/2 tablespoon flour

2/3 cup half and half

1 cup freshly grated gruyere cheese

pinch of salt, pepper + nutmeg

croque monsieur

6 ounces deli ham

1 large baguette, sliced (you want 15 to 20 pieces)

1/2 cup grainy dijon mustard

1/2 cup freshly grated gruyere cheese

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

fresh herbs for sprinkling (parsley, basil, sage)

Directions:

Note: I love to use crispy ham in this recipe, but you don't have to.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add ham in batches, turning with kitchen tongs and cooking until crispy on all sides. Remove and place on a plate. Once cool, tear into pieces since the crostini is smaller.

Heat a small saucepan over medium heat and add the butter. Once sizzling, whisk in the flour and cook until golden, about 1 to 2 minutes, to create a roux. Add milk and stir constantly until slightly thickened, then reduce heat to low and add in gruyere. Stir until melted, then season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

In a bowl, mix together the grated gruyere and parmesan.

Take each slice of baguette and spread it with the grainy mustard. Add a sprinkling of cheese, then top that with a piece of crispy ham. Cover the top with a heaping spoonful of cheese sauce. Add another sprinkling of grated cheese. Repeat with all the bread slices.

Bake the crostini for 15 minutes, until golden and bubbly on top. If desired, you can broil at the end for a moment to make the cheese even more bubbly and golden.

Serve immediately.

Guess who ate all the cheese off the baking sheet? #ihavenoidea