How you doin’? I’m a real “cookie monster!” I love my icebox cookies. Icebox cookies, also known as refrigerator cookies, are slice-and-bake cookies. The dough is formed into a log, chilled in the refrigerator (also known as an icebox), and then sliced into rounds before baking. Ice box cookies are short… mostly flour, sugar and butter. A short cookie is crisp and buttery like a piece of Walker’s Scottish short bread… yum.
 
There are hundreds of recipes for Icebox Cookies. Recipes come in all flavors, ranging from chocolate to vanilla, lemon, orange, etc. By alternating colors and flavors of dough, usually chocolate and vanilla, cookies can be made with patterns, such as checkerboards or pinwheels.
 
By exchanging the lemon zest for orange zest, the lemon juice for frozen orange juice concentrate and the pecans for poppy seeds you can make great Orange-Poppy Seed icebox cookies.
 
Icebox cookies are a great prepare-ahead-of-time dough because it can be kept refrigerated for 3 days in a form or other shape, or frozen for a month or so. Then, cookie dough can be cut and baked at any time, even if directly from the freezer.
 
Prep time:  15 minutes
Bake time:  10 to 12 minutes
Chill time:  1 hour
Yield: 6 dozen cookies

Ingredients
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoon lemon zest (use a micro-plane, if you have one)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup pecans, finely chopped
 
Directions

1. Thoroughly cream the butter and sugar together. 
2. Add the egg, lemon zest and lemon juice; beat well. 
3. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture, mixing well.
4. Stir in the pecans. 
5. Shape the dough into rolls 2 inches in diameter.  Chill thoroughly.
6. Preheat oven to 325⁰F. 
7. Slice the cookie dough very thin and place on ungreased cookie sheets. 
8. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes. 
   
9. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.

ChefSecret:  You may be asking yourself, why do all Ed’s recipes call for kosher salt? The main difference between regular salt and kosher salt is the structure of the flakes. Chefs find that kosher salt, due to its large flake size, is easier to pick up with your fingers and spread over food. Kosher salt is also less likely to contain additives like anti-caking agents and iodine.

Special Note:  We actually had a real ice box in a rental vacation cabin at Big Bear Lake, California. Every morning around 8 o’clock the ice man cometh (really, he did) so we could keep things chilled another day.

Covid-19 Quip of the Day:  The World Health Organization announced that dogs cannot contract COVID-19. Dogs previously held in quarantine can now be released. To be clear, WHO let the dogs out.
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Do you have a question or comment?  Do you want to share a favorite recipe or pictures with our readers?  Send your thoughts to ed@perspectives-la.com.  All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide. We have added a new search feature to make it easier to navigate through our blogs. 
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Here is wishing you the very best for the upcoming holidays. To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, be positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind welcoming in the holiday season. If you have a little extra in your pockets to share with others at this difficult time, please consider donating to Feeding America. Thank you for reading.

#ThanksgivingRecipes #Thanksgiving #HolidayRecipes #ChristmasCookies #LemonPecanIceBoxCookies #Dessert #Snack #Holidays2020 #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19 #FeedingAmerica #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup 

                                      ©Perspectives/The Consulting Group, Inc., 2020

How you doin’? This is the time of year you see all those cheap, drugstore chocolate covered cherries on the shelves with the seasonal candy—the ones with the semi-liquid goo in the center. The Brock Candy Company began making cherry cordials in the 1930's and the tiny treat helped keep the company afloat during the Great Depression. Queen Anne Candy Company began making their chocolate cherries in 1948. Neither of these two brands is what this recipe is all about. Mine are sophisticated, luscious brandy-soaked chocolate covered cherries and there is nothing cheap about them.
 
The recipe is as simple as it is delicious and is derived from an old French tradition that started in the 1700s. The confection was called griottes (gree-OAT) and appeared in the Franche-Comté region of eastern France. Cherries were a local crop, and long-stemmed sour griotte cherries were soaked in a local-made kirsch (cherry brandy) and enrobed in chocolate.
 
This recipe makes beautiful homemade confections that are perfect to give as gifts this time of year.
 
Prep time:  15 minutes
Soak / Freeze time:  3 hours
Chill time:  10 minutes
Yield: 18 chocolate covered cherries
 
Ingredients
18 maraschino cherries with stems, drained well
1/2 cup kirsch or cherry brandy
6 ounces semisweet chocolate
 
Directions

1. Drain the cherries well and place them, stem end up, in shallow bowl. 
2. Pour brandy over cherries to cover. 
3. Place bowl in freezer for a couple of hours until cherries are frozen.  The brandy itself will not freeze. 
4. Melt the chocolate in double-boiler over hot (not boiling) water.  Do not let any water mix with the chocolate or the chocolate will seize.
5. Drain and dry the frozen cherries on a paper towel and quickly dip, one at a time, into chocolate, swirling by the stem until completely covered.  (Chocolate will harden almost immediately.) 
6. Place the chocolate covered cherries on a wax paper-lined plate or rack in the refrigerator until ready to serve.  Pull them out of the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before serving.

ChefSecret: When melting the chocolate, do not let the bottom of the double boiler touch the boiling water or it may burn the chocolate.

Covid-19 Quip of the Day:  I swear, we are fighting off two pandemics at the same time—Covid-19 and Stupidity. We have been trying to fight stupidity since humans began, and we’re still waiting for an anti-stupid vaccine to be created.
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Do you have a question or comment?  Do you want to share a favorite recipe or pictures with our readers?  Send your thoughts to ed@perspectives-la.com.  All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide. We have added a new search feature to make it easier to navigate through our blogs. 
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Here is wishing you the very best for the upcoming holidays. To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, be positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind welcoming in the holiday season. If you have a little extra in your pockets to share with others at this difficult time, please consider donating to Feeding America.

#ThanksgivingRecipes #Thanksgiving #ChocolateCoveredCherries #ChocolateCherries #BrandiedCherries #DarkChocolate #Dessert #Snack #HolidayRecipes #Holidays2020 #Thankful #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19 #FeedingAmerica #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup 

                                                ©Perspectives/The Consulting Group, Inc., 2020

How you doin’? A couple of years ago we were asked to create a line of holiday gingerbread houses. We researched gingerbread houses, people and even Old Saint Nick himself to their origins. We learned the history and found quite a few good recipes as well. This is the recipe we went with.
 
Gingerbread cookies should not be just for the holiday; they are great to munch on all-year ‘round. Unfrosted gingerbread cookies can even be crushed and used for cookie crumb crusts for special cheesecakes.
 
The first documented commercial trade of gingerbread “biscuits” in England dates back to the 17th century, where they were sold in monasteries, pharmacies, and town square farmers' markets. In England, gingerbread was thought to have medicinal properties. They were kind of a rough crude cookie… nothing that would be acceptable in today’s market.
 
In the 16th century, the English had replaced the breadcrumbs with fine-milled flour, and added eggs and sweeteners, resulting in a lighter, tastier cookie. The first gingerbread “man” is credited to Queen Elizabeth I, who surprised visiting dignitaries by presenting them with gingerbread men baked and decorated in their own likeness. Then she would bite their heads off—only kidding.  Just checking to see if you’re paying attention.
 
In the story the Gingerbread Man, he springs out of the oven alive and is transformed from a piece of gingerbread to a live, gingerbread man. Thus, an inanimate object springs to life, signaling the desire the woman has for a child. Awww… isn’t that cute?
 
Moving right along… Gingerbread Houses originated in Germany during the 16th century. The elaborate cookie-walled houses, decorated with foil in addition to gold leaf, became associated with Christmas tradition. It is unclear whether gingerbread houses were a result of the popular fairy tale, or vice versa.
 
Gingerbread houses are quite edible, and absolutely delicious. You have to eat it, because it will turn moldy and lose its flavor the older it gets. That is, unless you're participating in a contest, in which case eating the house would be ill-advised until you receive your prize!
 
Prep time:  20 minutes
Chill time:  3 hours
Bake time:  10 to 12 minutes
Decorating time:  allow 30 to 60 minutes
Yield: 2 dozen cookies
 
For the cookies
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light molasses (room temperature)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup hot water
 
For the icing
2 cups powdered sugar
6 to 7 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
 
To bake the cookies

1. In a medium-sized bowl, sift together the flour, ginger and salt; set aside. 
2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat.  Remove from heat and stir in the sugar, then the molasses. 
3. In a cup, dissolve the baking soda in the hot water. 
4. In alternating steps add the flour mixture and dissolved baking soda to the molasses mixture; begin with the flour and end with the baking soda. 
5. When a medium-firm dough has formed, (one that feels firm to the touch and yet rolls out easily), cover and refrigerate until well chilled, about 3 hours.
6. Preheat oven to 350⁰F and grease your cookie sheets.
7. Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and turn onto a floured surface.  Using a small portion at a time, roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness. 
8. Cut out the dough with a cookie cutter.
9. Place the cookies about 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. 
10. Bake the cookies until lightly browned about 10 to 12 minutes.
11. Remove the cookies from oven and let them cool about 3 minutes on the cookie sheet.  Then lift them onto wire racks to finish cooling.

To make the frosting

1. Add the cream or milk, a little at a time, to powdered sugar to make a good spreading consistency. 
2. Divide the frosting into separate dishes and tint with food coloring in the colors you want to decorate with.
3. When the cookies are thoroughly cooled, spoon the frosting into a pastry bags fitted with a small nozzles and pipe on eyes, boots, suits, and hair.
4. Let the frosting harden completely before storage. 
5. Store the cookies in an airtight container until ready to devour.

ChefSecret:  Handle the dough as little as possible and work quickly so the warmth of your hands doesn't soften it too much. 

Special Note:  If making Mr. or Mrs. Claus gingerbread cookies, the colors will be red and black for suits, hats and eyes. Leave majority of frosting white for beards, hair and fur.

Covid-19 Quip of the Day:  “Kids would be a lot cooler if every time they shouted “MOM,” it was followed by, “You’re Awesome,” “Thanks For Keeping Me Well-Fed,” “Thanks For Home Schooling Me During These Difficult Times,” “Thanks For Keeping Me Alive!” Just kind of dreaming, I guess.
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Do you have a question or comment?  Do you want to share a favorite recipe or pictures with our readers?  Send your thoughts to ed@perspectives-la.com.  All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide. We have added a new search feature to make it easier to navigate through our blogs. 
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Here is wishing you the very best for the upcoming holidays. To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, be positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind welcoming in the holiday season. If you have a little extra in your pockets to share with others at this difficult time, please consider donating to Feeding America. Thank you for reading.

#ThanksgivingRecipes #Thanksgiving #Gingerbread #GingerbreadMen #GingerbreadPeople #Dessert #Cookies #HolidayRecipes #Holidays2020 #Thankful #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19 #FeedingAmerica #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup 

                                               ©Perspectives/The Consulting Group, Inc., 2020

How you doin’? Are you a crunchy snack eater? I certainly am. I don’t enjoy granola and milk-soaked breakfast foods. What I do like is munching on granola clumps while watching TV. It’s the combination of a sweet (not too sweet), crunchy (lot of texture), seemingly healthy snack food… the latter being a misnomer—it ain’t necessarily all that healthy.

With good intentions, Granola was invented in Dansville, New York by Dr. James Caleb Jackson at the Jackson Sanitarium in 1863. The Jackson Sanitarium was a prominent health spa that operated into the early 20th century on the hillside overlooking Dansville. And then it kind of disappeared.
 
The food and name “Granola” were revived in the 1960s, and fruits and nuts were added to it to make it a health food that was popular with the health and nature-oriented hippie movement. At the time, several people claim to have revived or re-invented granola. During Woodstock, a soon-to-be hippie icon known as Wavy Gravy, popularized granola as a means of feeding large numbers of people during the festival. Another major promoter was Layton Gentry, profiled in Time magazine as "Johnny Granola-Seed."
 
In 1964, Gentry sold the rights to a granola recipe using oats, which he claimed to have invented himself, to Sovex Natural Foods for $3,000. From there it was sold to a number of different companies. Here’s where it gets interesting.

In 1972, an executive at Pet Incorporated of St. Louis, Missouri, introduced Heartland Natural Cereal, the first major commercial granola. At almost the same time, the Quaker Oats Company introduced Quaker 100% Natural Granola. Quaker was threatened with legal action by Gentry, and they subsequently changed the name of their product to Harvest Crunch. Within a year, Kellogg's had introduced its "Country Morning" granola cereal and General Mills had introduced its "Nature Valley".
 
And then, there are granola bars. Granola bars have become popular as a snack.  Granola bars consist of the same ingredients with just a little more of the sticky stuff, pressed and baked into a bar shape, resulting in the production of a more convenient snack. Granola bars are the perfect individually packaged snack easy to carry in a purse, backpack or other bag for munchin’ later alligator (ode to the hippies). While passed off as a health food, they're basically cookies masquerading as a healthy alternative.
 
Prep time:  15 minutes
Bake time:  30 minutes
Cool time: 1 hours
Yield:  About 8 cups (2-1/4-pounds)
 
Ingredients:
2 cups old fashioned oats
1-1/2 cups almonds, roasted or toasted, roughly chopped
1-1/2 cups sunflower seeds, hulled
1 cup unsweetened coconut, wide slice shredded
1/4 cup sesame seeds, white, hulled
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup canola oil
2-1/ tablespoons whole cane sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins or craisins  (optional)
 
Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350⁰F. Gather all the ingredients and have at your side.
2. Combine the oats, chopped almonds, sunflower seeds, unsweetened coconut, sesame seeds and wheat germ in a very large bowl.
3. Combine honey, oil, whole cane sugar and cinnamon in a saucepan bringing it just to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar completely and fully incorporate the oil. Do not burn the sugar!
4. Mix wet ingredients into the oat mixture; coat the dry ingredients well.
5. Spread mixture onto parchment-line sheet pans in a single layer to ensure the greatest exposure to the heat. 
6. Bake in an oven for about 10-15 minutes; check the color and dryness of the mixture. Coconut should be browning but not burning.
7. If ready, use a large spatula (to minimize breaking the clumps apart) and turn the layer over to expose the underside of the mixture and bake for another 10-15 minutes.  NOTE:  the mixture should be toasted brown in color (not burnt) and dry.
8. Let the mixture cool completely before packing or storing. If bagged too soon, the granola will become soggy and lose shelf life.

ChefSecret:  It’s best to divide the mixed dry ingredients into two bowls and coat each one with half the wet mixture; then recombine all ingredients together to ensure thorough coverage.

Covid-19 Quip of the Day:  An average giant panda eats at least 12 hours a day. A confined human eats like a panda. Hence the name--PANDEMIC.
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Do you have a question or comment?  Do you want to share a favorite recipe or pictures with our readers?  Send your thoughts to ed@perspectives-la.com.  All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
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To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, be positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind—that’s the American way.  If you have a little extra in your pocket to share with others at this difficult time, please consider donating to Feeding America. Thanks for reading.

#Snack #Baking #Granola #Almonds #CrunchySnack  #Raisins #Craisins #Cinnamon #Woodstock #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19 #FeedingAmerica #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup

                                                © PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, Inc., 2020

How you doin’? My friend Lisa from Crazy Richard’s Peanut Butter, asked for a fondue recipe—here it is Lisa—and there are even a couple of peanut butter options.
 
I can’t think of a better way to entertain one’s self than with a simmering pot of chocolate fondue. I can’t remember when I first discovered my love for chocolate fondue, but I can tell you it is a child’s dream dessert come true. It’s kind of like being in Charlie’s Chocolate Factory, gazing at and inhaling those beautiful wafts of melted chocolate pools.
 
Chocolate fondue can be made with any type of chocolate—dark, milk or white. You can use the inexpensive brown stuff or a good premium chocolate. Keep in mind that by going with dark chocolate fondue over the milk chocolate versions, you will be receiving many health benefits as dark chocolate is rich in antioxidants, which are able to fight off free radicals in the body. There is also the absence of milk in pure dark chocolate, which is beneficial for many lactose intolerant individuals.
 
Have a little fun with flavor! It’s so easy to make a custom blend fondue using the ingredients in your pantry.

• You can add 1/4 cup of sour cream to 2 cups of dark chocolate and have a Chocolate Sour Cream Fondue.
• Go a little bit nutty by adding 1/4 cup of peanut butter to 2 cups of milk chocolate.
• Be completely outrageous and add both 1/4 cup marshmallow fluff—the store-bought fluff stuff—and 1/4 cup peanut butter to 2 cups of either dark or milk chocolate to create your own S’Mores Fondue.

 
Kid’s stuff you say? Then be a little more sophisticated.

• Add just a touch of spice—a 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne to 2 cups of dark chocolate—to give you a delicious fondue with a bit of a kick.
• Playing on the adult theme you can add a little liquor to your dark magic… a couple of tablespoons of rum, Kahula or Grand Marnier will add a very special adult flavor.

 
Remember, if you are making your own milk chocolate fondue, there needs to be a liquid mixed with the morsels or they will stick to the pan and scorch. Many people use half and half, others evaporated milk. This is key to creating a rich, creamy, chocolate fondue for your family.
 
And, what’s a chocolate fondue without some dippers?  Strawberries, bananas, pineapple, pound cake, pecans, almonds, and anything else you can spear with a fondue fork or dunk with a spoon will work. Anything goes!
 
Use the right stuff. Not all chocolate is created equal. For great dark chocolate fondue, we have found that 64% dark chocolate to be about the best. If your taste leans toward lighter, you can’t beat a 32% milk chocolate for a silky-smooth milk chocolate fondue.
                             
Do it with flair. When making fondue it’s not all about how it is prepared that elevates it above the norm. Presentation is a factor almost as important as preparation. Use a good, attractive, heavy ceramic melting pot (metal fondue pots are for meat) or go crazy and put it all in a chocolate fountain and get “oohs” and “ahhs” all evening long. If it is made right, it will taste right, and then it can be dressed up to look right.
 
Happy Dippings!

Covid-19 Quip of the Day:  “I’ll tell you a coronavirus joke now, but you’ll have to wait two weeks to see if you got it.”

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Do you have a question or comment?  Do you want to share a favorite recipe or pictures with our readers?  Send your thoughts to ed@perspectives-la.com.  All recipes and cooking tips are also being posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
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To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, be positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind—that’s the American way.  If you have a little extra in your pocket to share with others at this difficult time, please consider donating to Feeding America.  Thanks for reading.

#Dessert #Brunch #Fondue #ChocolateFondue #Chocolate #DarkChocolate #MilkChocolate #WhiteChocolate #PeanutButter #CrazyRichardsPeanutButter #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19 #FeedingAmerica

                                               ©Perspectives/The Consulting Group, Inc., 2020