Fourth Annual Westhaven Cookie Exchange

On Sunday, I participated in our neighborhood's Fourth Annual Cookie Exchange. Although we had a smaller crowd this year, it was a wonderful opportunity to build community by visiting friends, old and new.

This year, we had 11 participants who each brought at least 6 dozen cookies of one kind. Some are ones that I secretly hope are repeats each year.  Others are brand new varieties to the group, which make it fun to add to your own recipe collection. They're all delicious and come with sweet stories.

I made red velvet cookies - my "go-to" recipe for a cookie exchange. They're a tried and true favorite in my house.

Red Velvet Cookies - KK Moore

Here are the other wonderful varieties (in no particular order).

Heavenly Cranberry Bars (A Starbucks Copy Cat Recipe) - Jessica Schneller

Creme Brûlée Sugar Cookies - Suzy Mills

Amish Sugar Cookies - Ann Biron

Grinch Cookies - Lara Travis

Chocolate Chip Craisin Cookies - Sadira Ebert

Cut-Out Sugar Cookies - Karen Scott

Apricot Cream Cheese Thumbprints - Heather Brousseau

Peanut Butter Sensations - Shari Lacy

Almond Joy Cookies - Michelle Hanzely

Peppermint Oreo Truffles - Barbara Wetzell

Why do we keep going to a cookie swap each year? Jessica's reasons pretty much sum up what I believe most of us are thinking:

1. Cookies
2. I'm the only person in my house without a nut allergy, so I don't even have to share!
3. I love baking and especially baking for others.
4. I love hearing everyone's stories.
5. I love tradition and hosted a cookie exchange in our last city, so this helps build community in our new (though not so new anymore) home.
6. Because it can't be said enough: Cookies!

Continued thanks to Sadira Ebert for spearheading this event!

Hayden couldn't wait! LOL

My Favorite Things Party 2017

I always look forward to Margaret Ann and Nancy's My Favorite Things party each year. If you're looking for a different party theme than the traditional "Secret Santa" or "White Elephant," check out last year's post to get more details on how this works.

I was especially glad that Keely joined me this year. Check out her beautiful and delicious Nutella braided wreath . . . only two ingredients! (Recipe adapted from Fit Mitten Kitchen.) I made traditional red velvet cookies to share.

Keely's Nutella braided wreath

Now, back to the party. The rule is that your favorite thing must not cost more than $11. Here is what I brought to past parties that still remain as some of my favorites:

• Flylady's rubba scrubba
• A collection of spices from The Savory Spice Shop, one of my favorite stores in downtown Franklin
• A jar of pickled okra, Bloody Mary mix, and a small bottle of vodka

One of my favorite things in general is a simple tea towel. I started collecting them years ago as travel souvenirs. I'd much rather have something I can use instead of a dust-collecting trinket of some kind. It doesn't bother me a bit that my tea towels with Rome, London, Wimbledon, Eiffel Tower, etc. may have a stain or two on them. Each tea towel is well loved, and the memories each bring are well loved. So, my favorite thing that I brought to this year's party is a Christmas tea towel I bought at Sanctuary South (one of my favorite gift shops) at the end of last season for 50% off. Keely still teases me that I'm thinking about what to bring a year in advance. But hey, this time the planning paid off!

As in previous years, I'm not able to capture everything. But here are at least some of the other favorite things from last night (in no particular order):

• Rapid egg cooker (won prize for "best overall")
• Stainless steel drinking straws for a Yeti tumbler
• Lancome mascara
• Glitter clutch from Old Navy
• Beauty Counter's Plumping + Jasmine facial oil
• Earring posts from Madewell
• Evian water facial spray
• Tassel necklace from Nordstrom
• SWiG wine tumbler (great for coffee, too)
• Layered necklace
• Genmine hair remover electric pen
• Snowflake ornament
• Chicken poop lip balm (yes, seriously that's the name)
• Wine wipes
• Emily McDowell greeting cards
• Lavender spray
• iPhone charging cable
• Burt's Bees pomegranate lip balm
• Drinking Buddies wine glass markers
• Cookie butter from Trader Joe's with a honey crisp apple
• Everything but the Bagel sesame seasoning blend from Trader Joe's
• Smashing S'mores from Trader Joe's
• Gift card to the Urban Juicer
• Sanders dark chocolate mini bites
• J Crew wool trouser socks
• Blue Chair Bay coconut rum (or key lime pie rum) mixed with Bai coconut drink or Vitamin Water zero pineapple-coconut (Yes, Nancy loves coconut!)
• Mud Pie inspirational card deck of quotes
• Tervis tumbler
• Ulta Beauty hair care sampler
• Key chain
• Nativity canvas art print from Kirklands
• Bootie slippers by Xhilaration
• Prosecco with homemade ginger cookies
• Faux-fur pom-pom beanie from Old Navy
• Mexican spiced chocolate

Hopefully, this list will give you lots of great ideas for stocking stuffers. Merry Christmas!

Nancy and Margaret Ann, our (ahem) VIPs for the night ;)

So much fun! I wish I had taken more pictures of the crowd!

Pizza Dough

Keely sure does spoil me. For Mother's Day this year, she gave me a Big Green Egg! Ever since, I knew I wanted to learn how to make a great pizza on it. I began this journey by taking a "Bread, Butter, and Jam" cooking class in our community a few weeks ago, taught by my friend Sadira who is a wonderful cook. (Thanks, Sadira, for a wonderful lesson!) Most people who know me already know I make bread, but not this kind. This is artisan bread, which I thought would make a better pizza dough than my sourdough bread.

When Scott and Tina came down for a visit last weekend, I knew it would be the perfect time to experiment. Since I had never done this before, I didn't know how large each pizza would be. So just in case, I doubled the batch of dough. We ended up with a variety of six large pizzas for only three people. What the heck. We had a great time making them and an even better time sampling each one!

Prepare dough 1-5 days in advance.

Like my sourdough bread, it's best to know in advance and plan accordingly because the pizza dough is best when allowed to set for at least 1-5 days. I made my two batches of dough on a Tuesday given that we were going to make pizza on a Friday night. I placed each batch of dough in a gallon ziplock bag and then stored each in the refrigerator. By the fourth day, the dough had doubled in size.

Each batch of dough makes 3 large pizzas approximately 12-14" in diameter. Once the dough is divided, you basically just stretch and fold the dough 4 times, then allow the dough to rest for approximately 20 minutes. While resting, cover the dough with a thin wet dish towel to prevent the dough from drying out. Repeat the stretch-fold-rest cycle five times. For the last cycle though, let the dough rest for approximately an hour so that the dough will rise about 1.5 times in size.

"Stretch and Fold" 4 times for each loaf.

Rest for 20 minutes for each of the first four Stretch-Fold-Rest cycles.

Let dough rest about an hour for the final cycle so that it rises 1.5 times in size.

Now you're ready to make the crust. Place each round of dough onto a floured surface to remove some of the stickiness. Next, shape each round of dough into a thin pizza crust. I tried using a rolling pin, but letting it rotate in the air seemed to work better. (I'm definitely going to need more practice with this step. But seriously, who cares what the shape is?) Place on a pizza peel that has been generously coated with cornmeal so that it will easily slide off onto the Big Green Egg. Now for the fun part: choose your favorite toppings.

This isn't enough cornmeal. Use about twice this amount.

I'm working on the BBQ chicken pizza.

Tina and Scott are experimenting with their own toppings.

We went ahead and topped all of the pizzas. Next, slide one at a time onto the pizza peeler that has been generously coated with cornmeal. Bake each pizza for only 5 minutes in the Big Green Egg that has reached 500 degrees.

Scott's favorite: Olive oil, pesto, pizza blend cheese, sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh oregano

Another favorite: Pesto, mozzarella, Roma tomatoes, bacon, fresh basil

Tina's invention: Olive oil, pimento cheese, pizza sauce, chicken, bacon, spinach, avocado, tomatoes, jalapeño peppers. So good!

White BBQ sauce, mozzarella, pulled chicken, cilantro, Rudy's BBQ sauce. Meh. Won't do this one again. 

Meat Lovers: Pizza sauce, pizza cheese blend, sausage, pepperoni, bacon, fresh oregano. Always a winner.

Another favorite: Olive oil, fig jam, mozzarella. Bake and top with prosciutto and arugula. 

The last one was my favorite as well as Tina's. In fact, now I'm on a mission to make a batch of fig jam! Stay tuned . . .


Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 2 cups water at room temperature
• 4-1/2 cups bread flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
• Cornmeal

Directions:

1. Mix yeast and water. Set for 2 minutes. Add bread flour to yeast mixture. Place salt on top of bread flour. Mix together for approximately 2 minutes with either a stand mixer or by hand. The dough will be soft and sticky. Place in a gallon ziplock bag and refrigerate for 1-5 days so that the dough will double in size.
2. Preheat Big Green Egg (or oven) to 500 degrees.
3. Divide dough into 3 equal parts. Stretch and fold each round of dough 4 times, then allow the dough to rest for approximately 20 minutes. While resting, cover the dough with a thin wet dish towel to prevent the dough from drying out. Repeat the stretch-fold-rest cycle five times. For the last cycle though, let the dough rest for approximately an hour so that the dough will rise about 1.5 times in size. 
4. Now you're ready to make the crust. Place each round of dough onto a floured surface to remove some of the stickiness. Next, shape each round of dough into a thin pizza crust. Place on a pizza peeler that has been generously coated with cornmeal so that it will easily slide off onto the Big Green Egg. 
5. Top each crust with your favorite toppings. 
6. Bake each pizza for only 5 minutes in the Big Green Egg that has reached 500 degrees.

Note: For artisan bread, only use 1.5 cups of water. Follow steps 1-3 above. Score the loaves and place on a floured cookie sheet. Lightly spray with water. Bake at 500 degrees for 5 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 450 degrees and bake for another 15 minutes or until done. 

Recipe adapted from the class, "Bread, Butter, and Jam" taught by Sadira Ebert at Southern 71, a wonderful place to "gather, shop, and share" in our Westhaven community.

J Alexander's Copycat Carrot Cake

One of Steve's favorite desserts is J Alexander's carrot cake. It's amazing. For years, I had been trying to get the recipe. No luck. . . that is, until we moved to Franklin. When we were having dinner one night several years ago at a local seafood restaurant, Steve and I shared a piece of its carrot cake. We were surprised and delighted that it tasted very much like J Alexander's. I was hoping to get the recipe. No harm in asking, right? Surprisingly, the chef came out to our table after I made my request. I was shocked! (At the time, I couldn't find a copycat recipe online. Today, you can find many variations.)

The chef said, "Are you ready?"
I quickly grabbed a random piece of paper in my handbag, and he started reciting the recipe from memory. The list of ingredients kept getting longer and longer.
"You're pulling my leg, aren't you? Surely you don't have this recipe memorized. Or, maybe it's sabotage!?! Seriously. I promise to buy your carrot cake every time we have dinner here."
"Trust me. I've been making this for years. Yes, I have it memorized."

I've only made it twice because it is so decadent. The first time was several years ago when I first got the recipe. I didn't realize it at the time that the chef was giving me the restaurant variation, so it made a huge batch. The second time I made it was last night. I thought it would be the perfect cake to make for Scott's birthday since I knew carrot cake was a favorite of his, too. I was right. And in Scott's case, he didn't even have to worry about the calories. :)

I love this sign we found at The Factory in Franklin.

 J Alexander's Copycat Carrot Cake

Ingredients for Cake:

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1-1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained
• 2-1/2 cups grated carrots
• 1/2 cup coconut
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Ingredients for Cake Syrup:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1-1/2 teaspoon butter
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Ingredients for Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 2 sticks butter, room temperature
• 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 box powdered sugar (about 4 cups)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together first five dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix together the next seven ingredients. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients, mixing well. Pour into a greased 9x13 cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

While cake is baking, begin making cake syrup. Combine ingredients in medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.

When cake is finished baking, poke holes all over hot cake with a fork. Pour the cake syrup over the top. Refrigerate until cool.

Make cream cheese frosting by combining ingredients with an electric mixer until smooth. Top completely cooled cake with cream cheese frosting. Garnish with chopped pecans (optional).