Family Baking: Tassies

One of my most favorite and least favorite things to bake during the holidays are Pecan Tassies.  The recipe that my family uses is from my great-grandmother and is a bit labor intensive.  This year was the first making them without my mom, and I learned several lessons.  I'll start with those, since they're important. 

1. Use full-fat cream cheese and butter.  Don't use substitutions, it is NOT the same. 

2. Let the cream cheese and butter come to room temperature naturally, do not soften in the microwave, it is NOT the same. 

Okay, now that I've got my public service announcements out of the way, let's look at a short description and pretty pictures! 

The dough is very simple, and is butter, cream cheese, and flour. Make the dough, divide into 24 small pieces, and press into mini muffin tins. 

 Crush half to one cup of pecans and fill mini muffin cups about halfway. 

Mix egg, brown sugar, and vanilla and then pour into cups to cover nuts.  

Then bake for 15 - 20 mins and EAT! 

If there is any interest in the specific recipe, let me know and I'll get it typed up and emailed out! I'm not posting this full secret on the internet, no sir!

2 Ingredient Hot Chocolate

In the interest of full disclosure, I had a shitty day today.  Poor sleep last night, an early and stressful morning at work, and an emotional afternoon with a friend made for quite a Thursday. 

I came home chilly, sad, and tired.  Do you know what the perfect solution was to those issues? 

NUTELLA HOT CHOCOLATE

Now, are you prepared for the steps that you will need to go through in order to obtain this amazing hot chocolate?! One Two. Three. Yep, seriously - three steps - that I have illustrated below in case you are having a  very very very long day and need assistance. 

1. Put 8oz milk into a saucepan and heat on medium. 

2. Add 2 - 4 Tbsp Nutella to the heated milk and whisk. 

3. Pour into mug, drink, & enjoy. 








Now, go scoop out some Nutella, get the milk from the fridge and ENJOY. 

Mission: Fill the Freezer

With everything going on with my Mom, I've been trying to be as proactive as possible over the last few weeks.  We're keeping fingers crossed that Mom will continue to feel well, and that with all of her friends and family, there will be plenty of helping hands.  So far, Mom has only missed 1 day of work (Chemo Session 1), but as of Monday (October 17) Dad has been switched to mandatory 6 days a week, 12 hour shifts. 

I made sure I remembered how to use my Dad's lawnmower, I've got all the directions, doctor information, and details memorized, but my mind kept coming back to food.  If Mom wasn't feeling well, and Dad was at work 9am - 9pm, were they going to be eating Subway for dinner?  Uh, not my parents.  My mom and dad both love to cook, and eat (haha), so it has become my personal mission to fill their freezer - and it's a big old, stand alone freezer.  With a little help from some friends, armed with great recipes, and a little more than $100, I am well on my way.  I need to edit some photos, but I've already made 8 different recipes, and 2 dinners of each - so we're at 16 dinners, for two people! Plus, I pre-scooped and froze some peanut butter cookie and chocolate chip cookie dough, so they can just grab a few balls of dough and throw them on a sheet pan!

I'm hoping to finish some food posts in the next week or two, and hope some of you will enjoy the same recipes, whether you're stocking a freezer or not!