Once Upon a Plate: Foodie Friday

Witches Brooms ~ Foodie Friday Mysterious Ingredient Club

This is my second entry for Foodie Friday's second Mysterious Ingredient Club sponsored by Rattlebridge Farm.

Michael Lee West, owner of Rattlebridge Farm generously supplied each participant with these spooky Halloween sprinkles by Wilton to do with as we might ~

I decided upon these 'Witches Brooms' cookies as my additional entry this week.

If you would like to make them you'll need:
Pretzel Rods, cut to about 4-1/2 inches Cookie dough (I made Maple sugar cookie dough) Peanut butter cookie dough, or any other smooth dough would work. Probably you could use store bought, too. Chocolate Morsels Butterscotch or Peanut Butter Morsels A little solid shortening

To assemble: Form the dough into approximately 1-1/2-inch balls. Press each ball into the cut end of the pretzel rod. Flatten slightly, then press fork tines into dough, to represent broom straws. Bake according to cookie recipe directions. Remove cookies from pan and place on a rack to cool.
When completely cool, melt chocolate chips with shortening (2/3 cup chocolate chip to 2 teaspoons shortening is enough for 20 cookies*) Spoon chocolate over lower part of broom handle and top part of broom bristles, leaving bottom of bristles uncovered. Allow to cool and firm up.

Melt butterscotch chips with shortening. (1/3 cup butterscotch chips to 1/2 teaspoon shortening*) Drizzle over chocolate. Allow to stand until firm before storing in airtight container.
*You may need to add a little more melted shortening to make the melted chocolate and butterscotch chips the right consistency for drizzling.
EDIT: Back to post the cookie recipe for those who want it ~
Makes 20 cookies (I must have made my broom parts too large because the recipe only produced 14 when I made them.)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened 2 Tablespoons water 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/8 teaspoon salt 10 pretzel rods (about 8-1/2" long), cut in half cross-wise (I noticed the pretzel rods I bought were only about 7-inches long, you want the cut rods for the broom handle to be between 4 and 4-1/2 inches long.)
Heat oven to 350ºF. In a medium bowl, beat brown sugar, butter, water and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until blended. Stir in flour and salt. Shape dough into 20 (1-1/4" balls).
Then just proceed with the directions above.
Happy baking!!

Please come on over to our host Michael Lee West's blog Rattlebridge Farm see what's going on for this Foodie Friday!

Thank you for stopping by friends!
Blessings, ~ mari

Foodie Friday ~ Mystery Ingredient Club!

Happy Foodie Friday featuring our Mystery Ingredient hosted by Michael Lee West at Rattlebridge Farm.
Michael generously sent each of the Mystery Ingredient Club participants Wilton's Creepy Sprinkle Lab:

4 vials filled with assorted sprinkles in a lab stand!
Oh, the possibilities are endless~ I decided upon Bark Candy with a Halloween theme.

I built the bark layers upon cinnamon graham crackers, then spread melted white chocolate over the crackers and sprinkled with peanut butter-filled pretzels, Marcona salted almonds, mini-dark chocolate morsels, M & M candies, and the Wilton Sprinkles.

If you assemble the layers in a shallow sheet pan, it's easy to move it to the refrigerator in order to hasten the chocolate firming up. As soon as it's set up remove from the fridge and break into large chunks then random smaller chunks.

The topping possibilities are seemingly infinite ~ (you can use dark chocolate as the base if you prefer) sprinkle broken-up: leftover Halloween candy cookies candy bars mini marshmallows any kind of nuts sweetened breakfast cereal mini crackers (such as goldfish or small cheese crackers) popcorn, etc.

Have fun with it and enjoy!

I'm sending a big thank you to Michael Lee West for her hospitality and generosity ~
Please come visit Foodie Friday to see what's cooking this week.

Thank you for stopping by today!
~mari

The Novel Bakers ~ Gathering in the Garden, Finale

Once again I'm pulling something from the archives in order to participate
in the Novel Bakers party, celebrating
"Gathering in the Garden"
by Shelley Snow and Elizabeth Husband.

This was a romantic dinner for two from a couple of years ago . . .

The two dishes I chose to make from the book
are not really suitable for a romantic occasion,
as you'll see . . .

~ but they seemed appealing to me.

Please browse through the garden/table pictures if
you'd like and I'll meet you down at the

bottom of the post with the FOOD! :D

"City of London" roses, easy to grow with lots of small blooms.

Thanks for taking the tour!

Alrighty then ~

I drew from 3 different chapters
in the book for the finale.

The first dish is from Chapter Two entitled "The Indoor-Outdoor Picnic"~ (All of the food in this particular chapter can be made ahead.)

I made the Foggy San Francisco Roll-Ups, but varied the ingredients just a bit.

I used extra large spinach wraps,
spread with herbed creamed cheese, thinly sliced
deli-turkey, roasted red peppers, chopped fresh
spinach and finely grated cheese, rolled the tortilla up,
wrapped in cling film and refrigerated until firm,
then sliced and sprinkled with chopped chives.

Easy peasy.

~*~*~*~*~

This next one is especially not romantic ~ I don't
believe there is any way to eat corn on the cob in
a demure manner.

But ~

since corn is in season right now I chose

the recipe from Chapter Five ~

(Covered Dish Country Supper)

"Roasted Corn on the Cob with
Cayenne Lime Butter".

The corn is roasted in it's own husk ~
the husk is peeled back, silk removed and then
the cobs are soaked in water to cover for at least
an hour. Remove the corn cobs from water and brush the kernels
with melted butter seasoned with lime juice and zest , cayenne
pepper and salt.

Smooth the husks back up over the cob to envelop the
corn kernels. Tie with twine and grill, turning often
for about 20 minutes.

When done remove twine and husks.

I slightly overcooked these ~ gah!

I pulled the husks back, trimmed and tied them
and voila ~ a handy holder, (at least at one end of
the cob.)

Serve with additional seasoned butter if desired.
I made butter curls and simply sprinkled with a little
cayenne pepper and grated lime zest.

I recommend the cayenne-lime butter even
if you steam the corn ~ it's an interesting
change from the usual.

And for a dessert that probably would go nicely
with the romantic setting ~ I chose from
Chapter Twelve; "Top of the Hill Birthday".

The suggestion is to take it easy and buy a
cake and decorate it with flowers ~ I like that idea!

Except I didn't see a suitable cake at the bakery, but
a couple of other items caught my attention ~

The bakery calls them 'Victorian Cups'

A two-flavor chocolate shell filled with a
very light chocolate mousse and decorated
with glazed fresh fruit and a rolled chocolate straw.

*sigh*

And then this little cutie caught my eye ~

A dark chocolate teacup filled with
mocha mousse, garnished with whipped
cream and three expresso beans.

All fun ~ but very, very rich!

~ A sweet, and easy ending to a cute book.

~*~*~*~*~

And this week, the Hydrangeas are just about finished
blooming and I wanted to share.

Please check out the other Novel Bakers,
I'm sure you'll love what they have in store
for you!

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