Salt Dough

Salt Dough Shapes
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So this isn't necessarily an edible recipe (although you could eat it, but it wouldn't taste good), but it's something fun from my childhood and definitely a fun activity to do with children. It's definitely domestic!

My mom use to make salt dough for us growing up. We would roll it out and cut it into shapes or form it into things. We would bake it and then paint to our heart's desire. It was one of my favorite things. I loved to make homemade ornaments, paint them and give the out as Christmas gifts.

I wanted to carry on this tradition for my children. My daughter loves when we make Salt Dough. This dough is so versatile. You can make a batch and use different colors of food coloring or you can leave it white. This last time we made it, we wanted to leave it white so that my daughter could paint it. If you don't want to bake and paint them, you can make different colors and play with it like Play Dough. Just make sure you leave it in an airtight container or plastic bag in between uses. I've noticed that when I leave dough in a plastic bag that it gets a little soggy. Just remove and add a little bit of flour and knead until dough goes back to regular consistency. This recipe also makes A LOT of dough. Depending on what we want to do with it, I usually make a half batch. If you want to make several different colors of dough, do a whole batch.

Last month, as a surprise for our anniversary, my parents helped my oldest make some ornaments. They rolled the dough out, cut them out into shapes and baked them. After baking and cooling, they let her color on them with markers and put a picture of each of my children on them and then sealed them with some Mod Podge with glitter. They gave them to us as an anniversary gift from our kids. They were such treasures. It will most definitely be a yearly tradition we do so that we have annual pictures of our family on our Christmas tree.


Here's what you need:

-1 C fine salt (I just use regular table salt)
-3 C white flour
-1 1/2 C water

1. Preheat oven to lowest temperature (170 degrees on my oven). Combine salt and flour into a mixing bowl. Stir to combine.

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2. Stir until mixture forms a ball. If you want colored dough add a few drops of food coloring at this point. Remove ball from bowl and knead for a couple minutes until ingredients (and coloring) are thoroughly incorporated.

Salt Dough
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3. Roll out dough to about 1/8 in. thick. Use cookie cutters, pizza or pastry cutter to make shapes. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. If you want to make ornaments, take a straw and poke a whole in the dough so that you can hang it. Once all your shapes are on the baking sheet, bake on the lowest temperature overnight or for 4-6 hrs. After 4 hrs, feel and see of the dough feels soft. If so, continue baking. Once they look more white and hard to the touch, remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

She loved rolling out the dough!
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Kids love this stuff!
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4. Once cooled, you can paint them, use markers, glitter, etc. to decorate them. If you want to put a picture on them, do that now. Seal the ornament with a thin coat of Mod Podge. Allow to dry completely. Use baking twine, yarn, hemp cord or whatever you have on-hand to use for hanging. You can also string several shapes together to make a cute banner to hang for the holidays. We also like making bugs, snakes, etc. to decorate. Just use your creativity and imagination.

Here's the printable recipe.

Enjoy and Happy Baking!

Holiday Cheese Ball

Love the look of the different colors of peppers.
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Our family has a tradition of gathering on New Year's Eve to play board games and socialize. We usually have a main dish, but then everyone brings their favorite finger foods. One of my favorites growing up was having a holiday cheese ball. It was not the holidays without this scrumptious snack.

Not all cheese balls are created equal and this one is sure to delight your taste buds. Once you have homemade, it's hard to go back to store-bought ones. It doesn't take much time to make your own and I love knowing exactly what's in it. It definitely tastes better, too. This is my go-to recipe and it's a family favorite.

This cheese ball is my favorite because it's easy to make, looks festive for the holidays, it tastes awesome and the ingredients are simple. It's savory with a hint of sweetness. And I typically always have the ingredients on-hand, so it comes together quickly if I need something when company comes over or I need to take something to a gathering. You can serve this with your favorite crackers or pretzels. I love using Wheat Thins. You can also choose what kind of nuts to use to encapsulate the cheese ball. I use whatever I have on-hand, but my favorite is chopped pecans. This makes 2 cheese balls and they keep well in the refrigerator for a week or more, so you can do this ahead of time.

Here's what you need:

-( 2)  8 oz pkgs. of cream cheese, softened to room temperature

-1 C crushed pineapple, drained well

-¼  C chopped green pepper (I love using a mixture of green, red and orange)

-1 TBS chopped onion (optional)

-1/2 tsp seasoned salt (can use up to a tsp if you prefer things more salty)

-1 C chopped  pecans (or you can use your favorite chopped nut)

1. Mix all ingredients together except for nuts.

2. Take a piece of plastic wrap and spread out 1/4 C of the chopped pecans. Place half of cream cheese mixture on top of pecans and sprinkle with another 1/4 C. of chopped pecans. Form into a ball and roll until the outside of the cheese ball is covered in pecans. Repeat this process for the other cheese ball.

3. Cover the cheese balls with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Holiday Cheese Ball
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Serve with Wheat Thins, Ritz, Townhouse or Club crackers. Enjoy and Happy Baking!


Here is the printable recipe.

Clove-Studded Holiday Ham with a Spiced Orange Glaze

Holiday Ham
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I have never attempted to bake a ham because I've never really been a fan of ham and it always felt a little bit intimidating. Why? I have no idea because all you basically have to do is heat it up and glaze it. That's it.

I have helped others cook a ham and I've always glazed it with the packet that comes with the ham. The ham would taste fine, but never lick-my-fingers good. Well, I'm here to tell you that if you aren't a ham fan, this recipe might convert you. The glaze is amazing and the ham turned out so moist and juicy. It even looks festive for the holidays.

Baking a ham is so easy, but it takes a little bit of time. The ham is already cooked and you are basically reheating it, but if you are working with a large ham or a frozen one, it'll take more time. I'd recommend thawing your ham the day or night before you want to cook it. You want to plan about 15 minutes per pound to heat it. Optimal serving temperature for ham is about 140 degrees, so you can use a meat thermometer to check the temperature. My ham cooked a little bit faster than the 15 min/lb and using the thermometer ensures that you won't overcook it and dry it out.

Now let's talk about the glaze. Some people glaze the last 5-10 minutes after the ham is 140 degrees, but I liked basting it with the glaze throughout the cooking process. I basted it about every 20-30 minutes and the flavor went throughout the ham. It was awesome! I did a big ham and we had plenty of leftovers for soup and sandwiches.

This ham is rockin'! It's moist, juicy and full of holiday flavor. I love the spices with the hint of orange. It's perfect for the holidays. The whole cloves used to stud the ham don't provide a lot of flavor, but they look festive. I added ground cloves to the glaze to enhance the flavor. You want to cover the ham to prevent it from drying out and the glaze created a delicious crust. I'm sure you will love this.

Here's what you need:
-10-12 lb spiral-cut ham (you can use a smaller ham and you can half the glaze recipe)
-2-3 TBS of whole cloves
-3/4 C honey
-3/4 C brown sugar
-1/2 TBS dark molasses
-1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
-1/4 tsp. ground cloves
-juice of one orange (about 1/4- 1/2 C)
-zest of one orange

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place your ham in a large roasting pan. You may want to line it with foil because the glaze makes a bit of a mess. Take whole cloves and poke them into the large portion of the ham that is not sliced. This is called "studding." I placed them in between the diamond pattern. Cover with a lid or aluminum foil and place in oven.

Clove Studs
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 2. In a medium sauce pan, combine honey, brown sugar, molasses, cinnamon, ground cloves, orange juice and orange zest. Stir mixture and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low just to keep mixture warm.

3. Open oven and uncover ham and baste with mixture every 20-30 minutes.

4. Once your ham has reached 140 degrees, remove ham from oven and uncover. Turn heat up to 425 degrees. While oven is heating, spoon glaze over ham and baste with a basting brush. Pull back the sliced pieces and ensure glaze goes in between ham pieces.

5. Once oven is at 425 degrees, return ham to oven uncovered and bake for another 5 minutes. Turn off oven and broil top of ham for 3-5 minutes to create a candied crust on ham.

Glazed Ham
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6. Remove from oven and allow ham to rest for 5 minutes. Slice and serve.

This would make a wonderful holiday meal with plenty of leftovers.

Enjoy and Happy Baking.

Here's the printable recipe.

Peppermint Bark Cereal Treats

Peppermint Bark Cereal Treats
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I love this time of year because I can find so many yummy mint-with-chocolate treats. Seriously, mint and chocolate is such a yummy combination. And it always reminds me of the holidays. I am Dove Peppermint Bark chocolates. Peppermint Bark anything is so delicious.

This time of year is so busy and it seems like the holidays just creep up on me. We spent some time in Florida last week visiting some close friends and I was on the beach and realized that we hadn't done any neighbor or friend gifts! I wanted to do something quick, easy and festive. Here's a fun twist on traditional cereal treats. The very marshmallowy, minty, chocolately, and super festive. One batch does a cookie sheet sized pan, so you only need to do a batch or two and you'll have a bunch to go around.





Here's what you need:
-1 lb. of mini marshmallows (I love using the peppermint kind if you can find them)
-5 TBS of real butter (plus a little extra for buttering your pan)
-1/2 tsp. real vanilla extract
-1/8 teaspoon of peppermint oil (The oil is more potent, but I love the flavor.)
-9 C of rice cereal (Rice Krispies or any off-brand)
-a few drops of red food coloring (if not using peppermint marshmallows)

Peppermint Bark Drizzle
-1/2 C semi-sweet baking chips
-1/2 C white baking chips
-1/4 tsp. peppermint oil, divided
-3-4 crushed peppermint candy canes
-1-2 TBS of oil (can use vegetable, canola or coconut. I prefer coconut)


1. Butter a standard-sized cookie sheet and set it aside.

2. Place butter into a microwave-safe bowl and microwave until completely melted.

3. Remove bowl from microwave and add vanilla, peppermint oil and food coloring. Stir to incorporate into butter. Stir in your marshmallows and coat with butter. Make sure you measure the peppermint oil. This is different than peppermint extract. The oil is STRONG and a little bit goes a long way. I like using the oil because it doesn't have any fillers and it has a true peppermint flavor. Unless you get a good brand of extract, sometimes it tastes more like mint toothpaste than true peppermint.

4. Microwave on high for about 1.5-2 minutes, stirring in 30 second intervals. Once marshmallows have melted, stir in rice cereal. Stir completely until cereal in completely covered in the marshmallow mixture.

5. Butter your hands and press cereal treats into an even layer on your buttered cookie sheet.

6. Use a chocolate melter if you have one (it's like a mini crock-pot that melts chocolate and keeps it at a constant temperature). I have 2 of them and they are my favorite to use. I love that it keeps the chocolate at a constant temperature and I don't have to worry about using a double boiler or running the risk of my chocolate seizing in the microwave. If you can invest in one, I highly recommend it. It also works great for dipping chocolates. If you don't have one, then you can melt the chocolate in the microwave in 15-30 second intervals. It takes about 3-4 minutes and you want to make sure that you stir often. Use 2 separate bowls and melt the white and dark chocolate. Once your chocolate is melted, add in 1/8 tsp. peppermint oil into each bowl and stir. Add in a tsp at a time of oil into each bowl until it reaches your desired consistency. I like the chocolate a little runny so that it drizzles easier.

7. Drizzle dark chocolate and then white chocolate over cereal treats. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes and then drizzle with remaining white and dark chocolate.

Chocolate Drizzles
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8. Let the chocolate set and then cut into squares.

Plated with Pretzel Turtles
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You can also arrange them in a bag and tie with ribbon for a quick gift.

Gift Idea
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Enjoy and Happy Baking.


Here's the printable recipe.

Pretzel Turtles

Pretzel Turtles
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Being domestic doesn't mean you have to spend all day in the kitchen! Here is a perfect idea for last minute gifts for neighbors, friends or co-workers. These whip together in a flash, they taste amazing and they look so cute too! I was introduced to these a couple years ago and I love making these when I need something quick and easy.

Here's what you need:
-1 bag of Rolo chocolate candies
-1 small bag of small pretzels
-1 C of pecan halves (one for each pretzel. Amount depends on how many you make)

Garnish:
-3 TBS white baking chips
-1/2 tsp of oil (can use vegetable, canola or coconut. I prefer coconut.)

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. Lay out pretzels on parchment paper. Unwrap your Rolo chocolates and place on top of each pretzel. (I had 53 Rolos in my bag, so this made 53 chocolates.)

3. Place cookie sheet in your oven and bake for about 2-3 minutes. Watch these because you want to take them out before the melt and fall over. Mine baked just over 2 minutes.

4. Remove tray from oven, place a pecan half on top of each Rolo and then push it down.

I love melty caramel and chocolate.
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 5. Melt chocolate in microwave in 15-30 second intervals. Once chocolate is melted, add oil and stir. This will help your chocolate be a little more runny so that it's easy to drizzle on top of each chocolate. You can also use a chocolate warmer if you have one.

6. While chocolates are still on parchment paper, take a spoon and lightly drizzle white chocolate over each turtle. Just do it randomly--just move the spoon back and forth quickly and the chocolate will fly all over the turtles.

White chocolate drizzle
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7. Allow the turtles to sit on parchment paper until chocolate is completely set.

Delicious.
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Remove and put on a decorative plate or in a decorative bag. Tie with some cute ribbon and you've got a super easy and cute gift.

Neighbor gifts.
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Here's the printable recipe.

Pie Dough & Donkey-Booses

Holiday Pies.
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One of my favorite family traditions during the holidays is having the annual "Pie Pantry" at my parent's house during the Thanksgiving break. There are 6 children in my family and we all bring our favorite pie (or two), my parents make their favorites and we put them all together and so that there is a plentiful selection to choose from. Since we have so many pies, we get to enjoy them on Thanksgiving and during the break when we all get together to play board games as a family. It's one of my favorite traditions. And it's so yummy to have such tasty pies to enjoy together.

I'll be honest. Making a homemade pie crust was super intimidating to me. I usually chose to make a pie that had a graham cracker crust because making homemade pastry dough never really worked out for me. My mom makes fantastic pies and her crust is amazing. It's always super flaky and buttery. I went on a quest to make a pie like hers.

This summer I had a bunch of cherries and peaches that I wanted to make something with and my mom suggested making freezer pie filling. She came over and helped me prepare all of my pie fillings and she taught me how to make her pie crust. (As a side note: if any of you have family members that you enjoy learning how to bake or cook from, take the time to do it. Life is too short and you will treasure the time spent together.) It was so fun to be in the kitchen together and having her teach me. She is one talented lady. I hope my skills are that honed when I'm older.

So I'm going to share her amazing pie crust recipe with you. It's a pretty easy to make, but give yourself a batch to learn on. My biggest challenge making it for the first time was getting the liquid right because each brand of flour seems to have different moisture contents, so you have to learn how the dough is suppose to look and feel. Don't worry though, it's pretty basic. You can use this for pies or even for homemade chicken pot pie. Once you make your own, you won't want to go back to store-bought dough. This is super delish!

This recipe makes (5) double-crust pie shells as well as (2) single shells. I usually don't bake that many pies at a time, so I usually make 1/3 of the recipe which makes (1) double crust pie, (1) single shell and some leftovers. Here's what you need:

-6 C unbleached flour
-3 C butter-flavored Crisco

-3 tsp. salt

-1 1/2 C cold water

A little note about measuring flour: scoop the flour with a spoon and lightly put it into your measuring cup. When it is full, take the back of a butter knife and slide it on top of your measuring cup to make it even and flat. This will ensure a proper measure.

Put flour, shortening and salt into a large mixing bowl. Mix together with your fingers (or a pastry cutter if you prefer) until it resembles a crumb mixture. 

You want pea-sized crumbs or smaller
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Add cold water a little at a time until your mixture is moist and can be formed into a ball. Try not to work the dough too much. Mix just enough to form into a ball.

Formed Dough
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Roll out a portion of dough into a large circle on a floured surface. Roll dough to be about 1/8" thick. Place dough over your pie dish. Press dough into pie dish, get out any air bubbles and cut off any excess dough with a butter knife.

You can leave the edge as-is, but I think it looks pretty to scallop the edge. I did this edge by pinching by thumb and pointer finger of my right hand while pushing the dough with my left pointer finger. If I make a double-crust pie, I make my decorative edge and then wisk an egg and apply to top crust with a pastry brush and then sprinkle with sugar. This makes a very beautiful golden and crispy crust.

Decorative Edge
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I also used some of the extra dough to make a mini-pie for my daughter. She had lots of fun helping and I think she felt very proud to have her very own pie that she helped make. I love it too because all of the little mini pans we use in the kitchen were mine that I used when I helped my mom. It was fun to see them go full circle. 

My little helper. She was enthralled with the flour.
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Bake filled pies at 375 degrees on lowest or second lowest oven rack for about an hour or per recipe. Keep an eye on your pie edges to ensure they don't brown too much before your pie is done. You can place some foil around your edges and remove them about half-way through baking time, but I usually don't have a problem with them over-browning. 

Pre-baked pie shells: Make sure to poke holes with a fork in the bottom of your pie dish before baking. Bake at 375 degrees for about 8-10 minutes. Cool completely and fill.

Enjoy and Happy Baking. Imagine bringing homemade pies to Thanksgiving or Christmas parties. You will look like such a Domestic Goddess (or Domestic God for all of my male followers). :)

What is a Donkey-Boose, you say? Well, when I was little and I'd help my mom make pies any extra dough was rolled out into a circle, cut into strips and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and baked. It was one of my favorite things to look forward to after all that hard work in the kitchen. I don't know why they are Donkey-Booses, but they are. My mom called them that and her mother and her mother's mother. I guess it's just a generational made-up name that stuck.

So take remaining pie crust dough, roll into a circle and cut with a pizza roller. Put parchment paper on a cookie sheet and place pie crust on top of parchment paper. 

Poke holes with the back of a fork.

Donkey Booses
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Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. For these I used cinnamon and vanilla sugar. 

Yummy vanilla sugar
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Bake at 375 degrees for about 8-10 or until golden brown. Enjoy them warm with some milk. They are yummy and remind me of being a kid. Enjoy and happy baking!

Can you see those awesome specks of vanilla bean? Yum.
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Printable Recipe:

Pie Dough

Makes (5) double-crusts and (2) single crusts

6 C unbleached flour

3 C butter-flavored Crisco

3 tsp. salt

1 1/2 C cold water

Place flour, shortening and salt into a large mixing bowl. Mix with your hands until it resembles a crumb mixture. Slowly add cold water and mix until a ball is formed. Take a portion of dough and roll into a large circle about 1/8" thick. Place into pie dish and form. If making a double-crust pie, fill and repeat with top crust. Cut off any excess dough and  make any decorative edge that you prefer. Wisk an egg until well-beaten and use a pastry brush to apply to your top crust. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake filled pies at 375 degrees  on lowest oven rack for about 1 hour or per recipe. Pre-baked crusts: Poke holes with a fork in crust prior to baking. Bake at 375 degrees for about 8-10 minutes.

To make Donkey-Booses, roll out dough and cut into strips with a pizza roller. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar (or vanilla sugar) and bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.