Banana Shortbread Rum Balls

Pretty much every rum ball I've ever made - or eaten - has been a chocolate affair. So of course I decided to do something totally different.

A while back Blue Chair Bay sent me some banana rum to make cocktails with, and not too long ago Walker's sent me some shortbread cookies. This isn't a required post for either of them - it's just that if I have a product here, I'm going to use it. I mean, why would I go out and buy a different brand if I have these in the house?

But since I didn't actually pay for either, I thought I'd let you know the source.

Anyway, non-disclosures aside, I thought the flavors would be good together. I also added a graham cracker for the texture. You If you don't happen to have graham crackers around, you could skip it without dire consequences.

Banana Shortbread Rum Balls

2 packages* (4.4 ounces each) of Walker's shortbread cookies
1 graham cracker (a 5 x 2 1/2-inch rectangle
Pinch of salt

1 cup confectioners sugar

1/4 cup blue Chair Bay banana rum
Confectioners sugar, for coating

Put the shortbread cookies and graham cracker in your food processor and pulse to break them up, then run the processor to turn them into crumbs. It's fine if you have a few small pieces - they'll create a little crunch in your cookies - but you don't want large chunks.

Add the powdered sugar and pulse to combine.

With the processor running, add the rum. Stop when you've added about 3/4 of the rum, and check the consistency. You're looking for a smooth but somewhat thick dough that will hold its shape when you roll it into balls. It shouldn't be crumbly. Add as much more rum as you need to get the right consistency.

If you happen to add too much rum and the paste gets too soft, just crumble more cookies (or a piece of a graham cracker) and add them to the food processor.

Use a small disher or spoon to portion the dough into one-bite balls. I ended up with 32 cookies, but the quantity you get will depend on how large you make them.

Roll the balls in powdered sugar and store in a closed container. The cookies tend to absorb the sugar, so you'll probably need to roll them in sugar again before serving.

Most rum ball recipes suggest that you let them age for up to two weeks, but that's up to you.

*If you don't happen to have the 4.4-ounce packages, you can certainly use cookies from any size package as long as you've got about 8-9 ounces of cookies.

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Rum Raspberry Tart #ChristmasWeek

Welcome to Day Two of Christmas Week. This event is hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Susan of The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen. We hope to inspire you to break out those holiday sprinkles and get your bake on!

The holidays are crazy hectic for all of us, but for someone like me who feels compelled to make everything from scratch, it can turn into a giant mushroom cloud of insanity.

I still have vivid memories of the holiday dinner when I had a near-meltdown a couple hours before company arrived. I figured out what had to be done before they showed up and my timeline said that I'd be done vacuuming and setting the table two hours after they arrived.

That was also the first year I bought a bagged salad and brought home a cake from a charity auction. I felt so guilty about that cake, but after the guest had gone, I realized that if I had taken the time to bake, frost, and decorate a cake, I might have been eating dinner in a straightjacket.

Since then, I've decided that it's important to pick one's battles, and if someone sends me a box of gloriously delicious cookies, it's perfectly find to plate those up. I don't need to churn my own butter, make my own cheese or bake my own brea - uh, wait a minute. I do bake my own bread. Never mind on that one.

This recipe speaks to all of us who are flat out of time. Many years, I make a rum cake for the holidays, so I had to add rum to this dessert. While it starts with a mix, it's gussied up just a little bit for the season.

And, best of all, it's quick, easy, and can be made well ahead of time.

While this has enough rum to add a hint of flavor, it's not enough rum to get anyone tipsy, and the filling bakes, so you're going to burn off alcohol in that process, anyway. If you want to make this an adult-only dessert, use some rum for the glaze instead of just water.

As for that pearl sugar, if you can't find it locally, it's available online from a number of sources. It's a round white puffed sugar that's often used for decorating pastries. It doesn't melt or brown when baked, and keeps its bright white color.

Rum Raspberry Tart

1 box Krusteaz Raspberry Bar mix
1 stick of butter, melted
1 tablespoon rum
1 cup powdered sugar
Pinch of salt.
5-10 drops green food coloring (optional)
3-4 teaspoons water
1 tablespoon pearl sugar

Heat the oven to 350 degrees and have a 9-inch square tart pan with a removable bottom standing by.

Mix the flour portion of the bar mix with the melted butter, just until all the flour is moistened. Put about 3/4 of the mix into the tart pan, pressing it into the bottom. If you have enough to go a little above the sides, that's great. It seems thin, but it will puff.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, until the edges are just barely brown.

Meanwhile, mix the rum with the raspberry filling from the bar mix.

When the 15 minutes are up, remove the baked tart shell from the oven and spread the raspberry filling over the top of the tart. You can leave the outer edge uncovered, if you like, but it will likely spread that far during baking, anyway.

Use a fork to break the remaining dough into crumbles and sprinkle on top of the raspberry filling. You won't have enough to cover the filling - just scatter it randomly across the top.

Return the tart to the 350 degree oven and bake until the top crumbs are turning golden and the raspberry filling is bubbling around the edges.

Remove the tart from the oven and let it cool on a rack. As soon as it's cool enough to handle, remove the tart from the pan. Leave it on its bottom at this point - we just want to remove it from its ring. If you wait to remove it until it's completely cool, any raspberry filling touching the rim of the pan will be really sticky.

Let the tart cool completely on the rack.

Meanwhile, mix the powdered sugar with the salt. Add about half of the drops of green food coloring, if you're using it. Add the water, a teaspoon at a time and mix. If you like, you can substitute rum for some of the water. Continue adding water to the mixture until it's a thick, but easily pourable consistency. Add more green food coloring if you prefer a darker shade, but keep in mind that most food colorings don't taste great, and the drizzle will darken a little bit as it dries.

When the tart is completely cooled, drizzle with the green icing, then sprinkle with the pearl sugar.

Slice into squares to serve.

 More about CHRISTMAS WEEK!!!

Swing by all the participants to see what they've been whipping up for the holidays:

• One 5 piece set of Anolon Bakeware Set
• Two Sets of Ball Heritage Collection Quart Jars (each set includes 6 jars)
• Two Sets of Ball Heritage Collection Pint Jars (each set includes 6 jars)
• One Set of 1 Dozen Assorted Cookie Sampler Box from The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen Bake Shop
• Two Sets of Brownie Brittle Snack Sampler (each set includes One 5-ounce bag of each flavor)

Plus 1 Copy of each of these cookbooks:

• One Autographed Copy of Make Ahead Bread by Donna Currie
• One Copy of The Mixer Bible by Meredith Deeds
• One Copy of 175 Best Babycakes Cake Pop Recipes by Kathy Moore and Roxanne Wyss
• One Copy of 175 Best Mini Pie Recipes by Julie-Anne Hession
• One Copy of The 250 Best Brownies, Bars & Squares by Ester Brody
• One Copy of Oatrageous Oatmeals by Kathy Hester
• One Copy of Adventures in Comfort Food by Kerry Alteiro
• One Copy of Food Truck Road Trip by Kim Pham
• One Copy of Decadent Gluten-Free Vegan Baking by Cara Reed
• One Copy of 100 Juices, Smoothies and Healthy Snacks by Emily von Euw
• One Copy of CopyKat coms Dining Out at Home Cookbook Recipes by Stephanie Manley
• One Copy of Copykat.com's Dining Out At Home Cookbook 2 by Stephanie Manley

Giveaway is OVER.

I was not provided product or incentive for participating in this event.

Yum

Holiday Cooking - or NOT

As a food blogger and somewhat maniacal cook, everyone expects that I'll cook all the big holiday meals. And most years I do. Most years I enjoy the cooking frenzy. Most years I enjoy the challenge. Most years I enjoy the planning and the shopping and the prepping.

But every once in a while I think that it would be nice to relax and enjoy the holiday. Put my feet up before dinner, then wait for my empty plate to be filled. If I was part of a big family, holidays might jump from house to house to house.

Or maybe I'd have a crowd of people in the kitchen helping me peel and stir and mash and whisk and grate and it would be a heck of a lot of fun.

But the only jumping that happens on most holidays is me jumping from oven to sink to stove to refrigerator while I'm prepping and serving and cooking.

And then when I sit down to eat, I feel like I've already eaten it all, after tasting and seasoning and stirring and living with all the sights and sounds and smells of that cooking food. At about that point, the thing I most want to eat is something that I didn't prepare with my own two hands.

But still, most years, I want to do all that work. I take pride that every single little thing was prepared from scratch, even if I had to start prepping six days earlier to accomplish it all.

Most. Not all.

A few years ago, I suffered great angst when I bought bagged salad instead of choosing lettuce and hand-tearing it for salad, but no one noticed. Or at least they didn't comment.

Afterwards, I felt a little dirty, but also a little relieved. The next year I bought a cake from a charity bake sake.

But some years, even that isn't quite enough help.

When my good friends at Whole Foods recently offered to give me a full holiday meal, I didn't hesitate for two seconds. Heck yeah. It was the best of all worlds. I got a whole meal that I knew was going to be good, and I got custody of leftovers. I still had to heat it up and plate it and do some cleanup afterwards, but someone else did all the heavy lifting for me.

It was an interesting process. When I arrived at Whole Foods, there was a kiosk right inside the door where I gave my name and they said they'd call me when it was ready.

They pointed to the pickup area and said that I could have some free hot cider, if I wanted to chill for a few minutes. Instead, I wanted to pick up a few non-Thanksgiving things, so I took care of that, and before I was done touring the store, my name was called and someone showed me the order, pointing to each item in the box and showing me the instruction sheet for reheating.

The meal included a smoked turkey, mashed sweet potatoes, collard greens, bourbon gravy, Southern-style cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce, and sweet potato biscuits.

Here it is on a plate, where it belongs.

And for dessert, there was a pretty spectacular flourless chocolate cake.

We were out of the store in about 20 minutes total, and everyone in the store was cheerful and helpful and friendly. It was incredibly simple. Non-stressful.

They even included a disposable aluminum roasting pan for the turkey, and the containers that held the dressing, potatoes and collard greens could be used in oven or microwave. I wouldn't say they were attractive enough for serving for a nice dinner, but if you moved into a new house and hadn't unpacked the serving pieces yet, they'd be fine.

The smoked turkey was pretty spectacular. My mother-in-law is a big fan of wings, so she claimed that right away.

For leftovers, we had hot turkey, turkey sandwiches, turkey chili, and then bones and odd bits ended up in the stockpot to make a nice smoky stock. I ended up with 2 quarts of a very flavorful stock.

Keep in mind that this was a meal that was described as sufficient to feed 4 people, and there were three of us for dinner. Three normal adults, not three starving teenagers, but  there's no doubt we could easily have fed a few more for dinner, since there were leftovers of every component. But I was giddy to have the leftovers because I love day-after turkey sandwiches.

And did I mention that the cake was good for leftovers, too?

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. That's a flourless chocolate cake that's really rich and amazing. Imagine a cross between cheesecake and fudge, and you've got an idea.

This a very welcome holiday treat for me, and I have to thank Whole Foods for their generous gift. I was able to put a great meal on the table without spending time that I didn't have, and I got to enjoy the meal like a guest in my own home.

I'll admit that I'm not going to order holiday meals from Whole Foods for every holiday from now on, because I do love cooking, and I love showing off my cooking to guests. But next time I'm too stressed and need a break, I wouldn't hesitate to order from them. I'm already eyeing some of their other meals.

The crazy thing is that what they charge for these meals is pretty affordable, considering what it usually costs me when I go shopping pre-holiday and considering the quality of what I got and how many extra meals I got from it.

The downside to ordering a holiday meal like this is that the menu is set, so if you have a family favorite side dish that you absolutely have to have, you might have to do a little bit of work. But making one side dish or opening a bag of salad greens isn't a big deal compared with the hoopla involved in making the whole meal.

Besides smoked turkey, they also have several types of roast turkey, but that's not all. Right now (at my local store) you can order ham, leg of lamb, roast beef, roast pork, or a complete vegan meal. One thing I think is really cool is the "classic holiday sides." It's just what it sounds like - all side dishes. So all you need to do is cook the main dish, open a bagged salad, and pick up dessert at the bakery.

That's not bad, right?

Everyone had a nice, relaxed meal and enjoyed the holiday, including Mom and Snickers..

Thanks again to Whole Foods for being such a great place to blog for, and for the fantastic meal. It gave me time to rest up and make plans for Christmas! But if you're pressed for time, too stressed to cook, or your kitchen's not capable, they're ready to cook your Christmas meal for you.

So, tell me, have you ever catered a holiday meal? What did you think?

Yum

The Turham - a ham stuffed into a turkey!

I've always wanted to create a new food-related portmanteau. And there are so many related to turkey. I mean, think about it - there's the Turducken, and Tofurky.

Wait, I see we've lost a few people running to Wikipedia to see what a portmanteau is. We'll give them a second to get back here before the fun starts.

For those of you who haven't fled, portmanteau translates to "suitcase" and it's two (or more) words that have been mashed together. So, a tofurkey is tofu and turkey, and a turducken is turkey, duck and chicken. And we also have this year's Thanksgivukkah and the lovely menurkey.

So, I came up with the ...

But wait. Let me tell you a story first.

When I was a kid, we always had turkey for Thanksgiving. Never failed. Always. Then, when Christmas rolled around, mom would ask if we wanted turkey again, or if we wanted something else.

Ah, the vague and nefarious "something else." Because the problem was that the list of possibilities was pretty short. Chicken was too common. Ham was a possibility, but that's what we usually had for Easter. We didn't really do fancy beef or pork roasts.

So, we were back to turkey again. Or sometimes ham.

And that got me thinking ... and thinking ... and portmanteau-ing. I mean, if you can stuff a duck inside a turkey, why not stuff a ham in there?

Yes, I'm serious. One problem with the turducken is that it has to cook for a long time for all the meats to cook. But I figured that a fully-cooked ham only had to get warm, so I could pull it out of the oven as soon as the turkey was done.

So, I bought a 10-pound turkey and a 10-pound bone-in ham. I de-boned a turkey, leaving just the leg bones (I removed the thigh bones) and all the wing bones. For easier access, I cut it at the backbone, so I could lay it flat.

Then, I took the bone-in ham and removed those bones. I also removed the tough skin and some of the excess fat. And then I put some seasoned bread crumbs inside the turkey put the ham on top of that, and then wrapped the turkey around the ham and skewered it shut.

In retrospect, I would have been better off using one of those rolled boneless hams, because getting the ham to fit neatly was a bit of a chore. I had way more ham than I needed, but the shape wasn't optimal for getting it to fit inside the bird.

But I got it done. It took about an hour for the prep, and then I popped it into the oven and roasted it just like I'd roast a turkey. It took a bit under 3 hours for the turkey to be fully cooked.

And that was that.

The neat thing about having the bones removed from the turkey was that after I removed the legs, I could slice straight through the bird and have slices of ham surrounded turkey. Like this:

Presenting the Turham!

Next time I might also use less ham and have a slightly thicker layer of stuffing instead of the thin layer of bread crumbs. but overall, I think it was a pretty successful attempt.

What do you think? Would you do it?

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