Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates the occasion.
I was on my own and threw together a pork roast with fiddleheads, hash brown patties and onion rings for supper. Cream puffs filled with whipping cream for dessert and a glass of Pinot Grigio to wash it down. The latter was a Christmas gift from my nephew.
Hoping this new year is a great one for everyone.
Sadly, I don’t have a fireplace to hang my stocking on … yes I DO have a Christmas stocking … so I taped it up on my bookcase.
It keeps falling cause the ribbon slips through the tape so I keep rehanging it.
Oh well.
I tried.
I can’t remember the last time I made these but I was reminded of them recently, when I visited a local European grocery store. They were charging $2.99 per piece for the large size. I was horrified, and since I had just restocked my supply of rum, I made a quick half batch today. The recipe was shared with me by my BFF, Ann, more than 50 years ago, from her family recipes.
I didn’t have much in the way of items to roll the rum balls in so I made do with scraps from my baking supplies. I had less than a tablespoon of two different kinds of candy shot so I rolled the rest of the balls in finely chopped walnuts and icing sugar.
Ann’s Rum Balls – makes 7 dozen 1″ balls**
2 x 7 oz (200 gm) pkgs chocolate wafers (1 box of Oreo baking crumbs)
1 cup walnuts or pecans, finely chopped
1 cup sifted icing sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/4 cup cocoa, sifted
1/2 cup rum, light or dark
Additional icing sugar for rolling.
Crush wafers to equal 4 1/2 cups. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Let stand at room temperature for 10 min. Coat hands in icing sugar and roll the mixture into small (~1″ diameter) balls.
Decorate balls by rolling in icing sugar or chocolate shot. Best if aged for a week before eating them so they become truffle like and the rum flavour mellows a bit.
May be frozen but also keep well in an air tight container in a cool place.
** Half batch made 16 balls. I used a 1 inch melon baller.
Have a great Christmas …
and a Happy New Year.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.
I went easy on the Thanksgiving spread this year. (Okay, I was lazy and couldn’t be bothered doing much except the bare necessities.)
Although, I DID make some giblet gravy to serve over the mashed potatoes. The coleslaw was from a bagged mix and dessert ended up being an apple instead of the apple pie and vanilla ice cream I had planned on.
Filling and delicious with lots of leftovers ahead.
As close as I can get to an Irish meal to celebrate the occasion.
Corned beef brisket, colcannon and carrots.
I forgot to buy any beer but a nice pint glass of an Irish beer (is Harp beer good?) would be a nice accompaniment, I think. Dessert will be a slice of cran-apple pie though a piece of Irish “Brick” cake with some custard sauce might be more appropriate.
PS: I have some creamy potato-leek soup in the fridge but just wasn’t hungry enough to serve it.
Cran-apple Pie for Pi Day
Yesterday, my SIL gave me a head’s up that my brother was stopping over with a treat today. I kind of forgot that tomorrow (Feb 16) is Paczki Day. Paczki are glorified filled donuts for those who are not in the know.
So, when I got up to snow, with more snow predicted through the day AND into tomorrow, well, I couldn’t be TOO cranky.
I’ve sent an email to the gentleman who shovels my snow to book a visit after it’s all done. I haven’t heard from him yet but he’s got three weeks off so I’m hoping for timely shovelling.
In the meantime, I’ve got coffee and donuts to make my day.
I’ll post a picture … whenever.
I ended up with six apple filled paczki.
Cooking is Fun ... Really!! 