BeeStew Bakes: Oatmeal Rum Raisin Cookies

“‘Tis the season to be jolly. Fa la la la la, la la la la.” Oh it’s that time of year again when Christmas tunes are on full rotation on the radio and the smell of pine needles and holiday cheer fill the air.  It’s clear that I’ve been hit with the seasonal bug as I’ve gotten in the baking mood lately.  How unlike me?  Careful measuring and clear direction are not my forte.  But how funny is it that my baking fit has coincided with national cookie day? Who knew there was a national cookie day?  I didn’t know either.

Bachelorette Cookies

So I took a break yesterday.  My organizational skills for this blog lasted all of one week.  But in my haste to get blogs out this week it was brought to my attention that I didn’t explain my weekend wrap-up very well.  I plan to stretch my wrap-up the entire week not just on Monday.  So if you were wondering where Saturday was, here it is today!

So Saturday I was invited to a lovely bachelorette party for which naughty gifts were a priority for the party.  Of course, being the forever broke chica that I am I opted to make my gift.  Hence these lovely lingerie and (ahem) male anatomy cookies.  These were crazy easy yet everybody looooved them.  Did you expect any less from BS?  

Anywho, I bought some Pillsbury sugar cookies, rolled them out and used heart-shaped cookie cutters to build my lingerie foundation.  After I baked and cooled them, I used a pastry bag to apply royal icing to make pretty patterns.  Below is the royal icing recipe.

Ingredients

3 cups powdered sugar (sifted)
2 large egg whites
2 tsp fresh lemon juice

1. Separate the yolks from the eggs and lightly whisk egg whites with lemon juice.
2. Put the mixture in a mixing stand with beaters and set beaters to low.
3. Slowly add sifted powdered sugar until incorporated.  This icing should be “flooding” consistency.  

Decorating the Cookies

1. First, prepare a pastry bag or ziplock bag with a pastry tip and icing.  This icing recipe was suppose to be the consistence to flood (explained in step 3) the cookie however it was stiff enough to actually decorate with.
2. Next, take your icing-filled bag and outline your cooking into any shape you’d like.
3. Then, with the icing you’ve set aside, add a little water to make the consistency loose enough to flood the cookie.  Flooding simply means the icing is loose enough to puddle or just pour on top of the cooking to create a nice smooth surface.
4. You’ll need another pastry bag to flood your cookie in this step.

Really all I did was repeat these steps to create all of my cookies.  I used a few tutorials I found on Pinterest to get ideas on how to make them pretty.  Of course I was running late to this party so it helped that the icing dries really quickly.

Pumpkin Fritters

Mmm...fried dough and pumpkin.  What could be better?  I’m not sure why I thought of doing pumpkin fritters but I sure am glad I did.  Now, I’m not the best when it comes to deep frying.  I feel there’s a science to it and science and Beth do not mix well at all.  So when I took on this project it was definitely an experiment.  Aside from being a little heavy handed with the cinnamon, these fritters turned out crispy on the outside and soft and moist on the inside. MOIST. Side note; I really like saying that word since so many people hate it.  I find it very entertaining to see people cringe. Haha!

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ cup sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
1 can pumpkin puree
2 eggs
2 tbs melted butter
1 cup buttermilk
1 cap full of vanilla
vegetable oil (enough to fill a deep saucepan a little more than halfway)

1.  Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
2.  Next add all of the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well but not too much.  *Tip:  I like to beat my eggs separately, before adding them to the batter.  The batter should resemble thick pancake batter, not a soupy mess.  If it’s too thick, add a little bit more buttermilk.  
3.  Now, resist the urge to immediately start frying these babies.  You need to let the batter sit for about 30-40 MINUTES! Why? You need to let the spices marry and let the baking powder work it’s magic or “science.”
4.  Heat a deep saucepan full of oil at a medium heat. (CAUTION:  when I say “full” I mean a little more than halfway full. Not to the brim as that will cause a fire.)
5.  After 30 minutes, grab a spoon and scoop up some batter.  I wouldn’t scoop up too much batter as it will be hard to get the middle done.  You kind of want the size of golf balls not tennis balls.  I think.  I’m not big on those sports but I’m pretty sure a golf ball is smaller than a tennis ball.  Anywho, drop your golf balls into the saucepan.  I would drop no more than three or four.  Any more than that and your oil will drop in temperature and you will end up with soggy balls. Bahahahaha, “soggy balls.” Anywho, your balls should be floating to the surface.  About 1 ½ to 2 minutes on each side should work well.  Place your fried balls onto a brown paper bag or paper towel to drain the excess oil.
6.  Lastly, dust the fritters with some powdered sugar and indulge!

Drunken Grilled Peaches with Vanilla Mascarpone

So when I was trying to think of what dish should be my first entry I figured it should definitely include some of my favorite foods. Potatoes, bacon, cheese, all great foods in my book.  For some reason I just didn’t have anything under my belt that was camera-ready.  So I expanded my faves to booze and being the Tennessee girl at heart that meant Jack Daniels.  So what I came up with is pretty much summer on a plate.  Hot, sticky and drunk! Wait am I still talking about grilled peaches or a typical Saturday night in AdMo? I digress.

So this is my drunken grilled peaches with vanilla mascarpone.

1 peach

1/4 c mascarpone

1 T sugar

1 T half and half

1/4 t vanilla

1/4 c Jack Daniels 

1/4 c honey

1 T butter

2 t orange zest

1 T orange juice

Begin by whisking together mascarpone, sugar, vanilla and half and half in a bowl.  You just want to whip them a little to get the cheese a little lighter.  Set your cheese mixture aside and let chill in the refrigerator while you prepare the peaches.  Start grilling your peaches.  Since I don’t have a porch for a grill I used just a stove top grill in my kitchen to grill my peaches.  While the peaches, are going bring the Jack and honey to a boil in a small sauce pan.  Turn down heat and let bubble until you cook off the alcohol.  Then, turn off the heat, add the butter and stir.  Last, plate your peaches, plop a lovely cloud of mascarpone whip on top and drizzle that glorious jack honey all over that plate.  Stick a fork in it and enjoy!