Beer Advent for My Husband

It's a Christmas Beeracle!

Beer Advent. Yeah, not exactly orthodox but huge points on the 'love one another' scale :-)

To make this, I went to a local taproom that sold individual bottles and cans of beer. I picked out 25 (Yes, the 25th is Christmas, but I thought he'd like a beer that day too.) The beers are all different and they run the gamut from pale German lagers to thick, rich stouts. Yum!

For decorating, I wrapped each one up in kraft paper, used washi tape for color and stamped the numbers on each one.

Tip: If you don't want to micromanage your beer choices, wrap first and then number. It was a huge bonus to me not to speculate on if porter is a Thursday kind of beverage. 

You can simplify this by buying four favorite six packs or even two cases. 

I bought some very fancy beers and the whole thing came to $64. Had I gone with six packs it would have been half that - about $32. 

Things to Make with Cream: Panna Cotta

There's a marvelous cocoa recipe we've been indulging in way too often lately (I'll post about it tomorrow) and so when I saw little boxes of heavy cream on sale for five for a dollar - that's TWENTY CENTS EACH, people!!! I overbought. Because, you  know, you can never have too much heavy cream... (I think that's the slogan of cardiologists the world over)

It was on sale because the best before date was fast approaching and while I hear you can freeze heavy cream, cooking with it is so much better. But I needed to make something easy as the meds-pain-health woes are at an all time high and babying pots of cream in their water bath is WAY beyond my skill set right now.

Last time we were at a favorite tapas restaurant of ours we had Five Spice Panna Cotta and I thought it would be fun to recreate the dish at home. What was nice about the dessert we enjoyed was that it was subtly flavored and silky smooth. So many flavored panna cottas are over-flavored. They don't let the rich ingredients shine. When eating panna cotta the last thing I want is a mouth full of cinnamon. Ew.

So I borrowed a little from this recipe, a little from that, consulted my cookbooks, made educated guesses and worried myself sick that I'd end up with a rubbery horror. I mean let's face it, we're making cream jello. That isn't a pretty thought.

But nope, it was positively perfect. Most recipes serve this with a coulis, puree or sauce of some sort but we just ate them straight up and I think they were the better for it.

Panna cotta is a simple, fast to make, crowd pleasure. I'll be adding it to the rotation for entertaining or special celebrations.

Spice Panna cotta

4 cups heavy cream or half-and-half. I used 3 (shy) cups of heavy cream, 1/2 cup of fat free half and half and about a 1/2 cup non-fat milk to equal 4 cups - it was what we had on hand

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, or 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise mine are so dried out and old I used 3 beans

1/4 tsp of Five Spice Powder - more to taste.  I use 1/4 tsp, most recipes I saw called for 1 1/2 tsps - which I think is an insanely large amount. And I like five spice powder. So taste it and see if you have enough, if not, add more. 

You could also replace the five spice powder with nutmeg or cardamon. Yum!

2 packets powdered gelatin (about 4 1/2 teaspoons)

6 tablespoons cold water

1. Heat the heavy cream and sugar in a saucepan or microwave. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.

(If using a vanilla bean, scrape the seeds from the bean into the cream and add the bean pod. Cover, and let infuse for 30 minutes. Remove the bean then rewarm the mixture before continuing.)

If you are adding spices, add them here. 

2. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a medium-sized bowl and let stand 5 to 10 minutes.

3. Lightly oil eight custard cups with a neutral-tasting oil. *

4. Pour the very warm Panna Cotta mixture over the gelatin and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved. How does a person know if the gelatin is completely dissolved? Please leave me a comment as I have no idea. I just stirred, a lot.

5. Divide the Panna Cotta mixture into the prepared cups, chill until firm. At least 2 hours, 4 is better. Overnight is great too.

* Or, if you want to serve your panna cotta without inverting them (and subsequently avoiding unfolding disasters) skip this step and pour the cream mixture directly into custard cups, dessert dishes, shot glasses or wine goblets.

6. Run a sharp knife around the edge of each Panna Cotta and unmold each onto a serving plate, and garnish as desired.

We didn't do advent last night *gasp* we're normal people, with busy schedules and every single one of us wanted to watch Work of Art more then we wanted to play a game. So we did. Slavish adherence to things make them not fun.

Christmas Card Set & Advent

This is another card set I made using my CupCards {to go) Holiday Kit. When you know you'll be hand delivering a christmas card it's fun  to make the envelope extra-special too.

And for advent last night we unwrapped our well-loved Yahtzee game and played a few rounds. I always feel like opening up our Yahtzee case is a lot like an archaeological dig. We never throw out the papers if there are unfilled columns left so you'll see notations like, 'Nana, Christmas '05' and such wonderful little reminders of people we love. It's neat to sift through them and find one of your own that has been used on and off for years. Brayden and I always decorate the borders or write notes on the backs. 

Cake #40: Gingerbread Cake and St.Nicholas Day

Can you believe I've been too banged up to bake a cake since Halloween - shameful! It also means that 52 Cakes is going to likely extend into the new year a bit. I'm fine with that.

This cake was made entirely by my youngest son, Brayden. He knows this project is important to me and didn't want me to get behind. What a sweetheart.

He also knows I LOVE gingerbread. It's awesome in it's harsh, dominant, unapologetic flavor. All that molasses and spice just thrills me! I remember a lot of kids would pick the candy and frosting off their gingerbread cookies and toss the cookie - not me. I adore gingerbread and think it should be a year round flavor. Sadly, most of the year I have to make do with it's milder, more accommodating cousin, spice cake.

But today we bake good old fashioned gingerbread in all it's glory!

Gingerbread Cake

Ingredients:

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup shortening

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup molasses

3/4 cup hot water

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

Butterscotch Sauce, if desired

Directions:

Heat oven to 325ºF. Grease and flour bottom and sides of square pan, 9x9x2 inches.

Beat all ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on medium speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.

Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Serve warm or cool.

Butterscotch Sauce (found at Kitchen Confidante, thank you!)

Makes about 3/4 cup.

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 cup packed dark or light brown sugar

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract, plus more to taste

Melt the butter in a heavy gauge small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar, evaporated milk and salt, whisking well. Bring the sauce to a boil, and let it bubble for about 5 minutes whisking periodically. Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla extract. Taking care not to burn yourself, taste and adjust seasoning with salt and vanilla to your preference. This sauce thickens as it cools and can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. I like to reheat it in the microwave before use.

FWIW: We could have used twice as much sauce... but we like our sauces.

Sorry I don't have a pic of the kid with the cake but as I said, I've been feeling rather unwell and he took this on himself. He's such a good boy.

~~~

Did you know it's St. Nicholas Day today? We've always celebrated by the boys putting their shoes by the fire on the night of the 5th and they wake up to a shoe full of treasures (usually lego back in the day). I used to put out carrots and then scatter oatmeal mixed with glitter as St. Nicholas's horse, "made a terrible mess" but last night was a very rough night for me so we just filled their shoes with treats and coupons. The kids loved it. I'm posting my printable in case you can use it next year.

Here's the boys with their shoes... I took this at close to 11:00 PM trying out the whole shutter speed thing for the first time. Turns out you can actually see them and if I had a tripod it would have been a decent pic. This is exciting as I feel like my camera just got a lot more useful.

But if you're not steady you get this:

(which is pretty neat too)

And here's what they woke up to:

Yesterday's ADVENT GAME, Blokus,  is an absolute favorite of ours. We were all relieved to have it unwrapped so we can play as often as we like again. 

Trenton gleefully won all four games.