Salt dough ornaments

basic salt dough
1 cup fine-grained salt
¾ cup very warm tap water, or a smidge more
2 cups flour
1 Tbsp. cooking oil (for a smoother dough)

For colored salt dough, you'll also need some food coloring. The cheapie liquid kind works, but you may find you need to add a smidge more flour to keep the dough workable. Alternatively, the pricier concentrated gel paste food coloring will give you the brightest, deepest hues without adding much liquid to the mix.
spiced salt dough

For a yummy smell and a naturally pretty brown hue, try this variation.
1 cup fine-grained salt
¾ cup very warm tap water, or a smidge more
1½ cups flour
½ cup cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 Tbsp. cooking oil

1 Whichever version of the dough you're using, combine the salt and warm water in a big mixing bowl; stir well until the water turns cloudy and the salt is just about dissolved. Stir in the oil.
2 In another bowl, add the flour. If you're making the spiced dough, you'll also want to stir in the spices with a fork, until well combined.
3 Add the flour/flour mixture to the liquid a little at a time, and use a wooden spoon to work it in. The mixture will start to clump up; when the spoon stops doing anything, switch to your hands and start kneading. You want to get the dough to the point where it feels cohesive and has some elasticity to it; this'll take at least five minutes or so of kneading, and as much as ten. You may find that you need to add a smidge more water to get the dough soft and pliable; add the water just a few drops at a time as needed. When the dough starts to come together, it also helps to switch to kneading on the countertop rather than in the bowl.
4 At this point, if you're working with the basic salt dough and want to create some pretty colors, separate the dough into however many colors you want. Get yourself some rubber gloves and put them on, as working with food coloring tends to produce a bit of a mess. Place a lump of dough in a stainless steel (or other non-porous, non-food-coloring-absorbing) bowl; drop some food coloring on the dough. Work the coloring into the dough, kneading until you have a nice uniform color, and adding more food coloring as necessary until you're happy with the hue. Bear in mind that colors will fade a lot once the dough is baked, so it's best to get the colors fairly vivid. If the dough starts getting sticky from the liquid in the food coloring, add in a little more flour as necessary.
5 Store the bits of dough in a tightly sealed container, or wrapped snugly in plastic wrap, until you're ready to use.
getting creative

Once you're ready to start shaping ornaments, you have a couple of options. The easy, no art skills required method is to roll out the dough and use cookie cutters to form decorative shapes. For those who like to get a little more creative, however, there's also the freeform sculpting option; just treat the dough like clay, and mold the dough into whatever shape you like.
For both methods, it's best to pull out only a little dough at a time to work with, keeping the remaining dough covered. This is especially true if you're getting elaborately sculpty with your dough and laboring lovingly over each one; you don't want the dough to dry out before you get a chance to work with it.
With the cookie cutter method, roll out the dough to the desired thickness -- I like ¼" or so, which is just thick enough to make the ornament nice and sturdy without turning it into a total lead weight. As you're rolling the dough, periodically lift and rotate the dough to make sure it's not sticking to the surface. Once it's rolled, use your cookie cutters to cut out whatever shapes you like. Transfer the cutouts to a foil-lined baking sheet. Now use a straw, chopstick or whatever other skinny implement you can find to poke a hole near the top of the ornament; this is very important, as it gives you a way to hang up the ornament once it's done. You can bake as is, and either leave plain or decorate with paint after the ornaments are baked. Alternatively, for a more 3D effect, try decorating the cookie with appliquéd bits of dough. For my Christmas tree ornament, for example, I rolled tiny little balls of dough to create ornaments; at each point on the tree where I wanted to place an ornament, I simply brushed on a little bit of water (this acts as a sort of glue), then gently pressed the ornament into place. I also used the straw to produce additional decorative holes in ornaments.
The sculpting method allows you even more freedom to exercise your artsy-fartsy instincts. As this method generally involves sticking together lots of little pieces of dough, it's best to assemble the ornament directly on the foil-lined baking sheet, to avoid the potential hassle of having to transfer a complex creation from counter to pan. It's also good to make sure the bottoms of the ornaments are dusted with some flour to keep them from sticking; when you press down the main "body" of each ornament (the base section upon which you'll build up the ornament), lightly flour the bottom. As with the cookie cutter ornaments, you can then use a little bit of water to "glue" on additional bits of dough. And as with the cookie cutter-style ornaments, don't forget to poke a hanging hole in each of your masterpieces.
the great bake-off
Once you've filled up your tray with ornaments (you can pack them in fairly close, as these won't really expand as they bake), you're ready to pop them in the oven, which should be preheated to 250F. Some recipes for salt dough ornaments call for a higher baking temperature, but upping the dial can result in unsightly cracks and browning of the dough, so I prefer to stick with the lower, safer temps.
Bake until the cookies have hardened -- this can take four hours or even more, depending upon the thickness of the ornaments. You'll want to check on the ornaments from time to time, and flip them over once the top side is mostly hardened to ensure that the bottom dries out as well. As the ornament bakes the colors will lighten as the moisture is cooked off; dark patches generally indicate spots that still have some moisture. If the drying process seems to be taking particularly long, you can also help speed up the process by removing the mostly-dried ornaments from the baking sheet, and placing them directly on the oven's wire rack (provided the wires aren't spread so far apart that your ornaments fall through). Having both sides exposed to the warm air should help speed things along somewhat.
the finish
After you've finished baking the ornaments into a sufficiently hardened state, let them sit out on wire drying racks for another day or two (this ensures that they'll really be fully dried-out). At this point, you can use paint to add whatever details you like to your ornaments, or leave them as is. It's also a nice touch to add initials and date to the back of each ornaments (fine-point permanent marker is easier to work with than paint for this purpose). Whether you've decided to paint or not, you'll want to finish off your little works of art by giving them a couple of coats of clear varnish (either paint-on or spray varieties). The varnish will add an extra protective layer to keep your ornaments preserved for years; if you choose a gloss variety, it'll also add a nice shine to the ornaments and perk up the colors to boot.
Of course, you're not quite done yet. Remember that hole you made a point to remember to poke at the top of each ornament? Time now to put it to use. Take a 9" length of narrow ribbon; bring the ends of the ribbon together and tie into a knot. You'll have a lovely little loop of ribbon. Pull the loop end of the ribbon through the hole in the ornament, so that you have the loop on one side and the knot on the other. Bring the knot end through the loop, and pull taut. Voila -- pop your ornament on your tree and admire it for years to come, or wrap it up as a lovely gift for someone else to enjoy!

Almond Thumbprints with Chocolate Drizzle

3/4 pound (3 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Filling:
1 (8 ounce) can almond paste (solo brand or other)
3 cups confectioner’s sugar
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla

2 ounce good quality semi-sweet chocolate

1. In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, combine the softened butter, sugar and vanilla. In another bowl, sift together the flour and the salt. Gradually mix the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a large disc; cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

2. While dough is chilling, prepare the filling. In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, break up the almond paste and combine with the confectioner’s sugar. Add the egg whites and vanilla, beating until combined; cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

4. Roll the cookie dough into 1 inch balls and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press a large indentation in the center of each cookie. Spoon or pipe a generous tablespoonful of the filling into each indentation.

5. Bake the cookies for 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden on the edges. Let cool for 1 minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.


6. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a simmering pot of water until smooth. Using a knife or a spoon drizzle the chocolate over the cooled cookies.

Yield: about 4 1/2 dozen cookies




; ;

Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce Recipe

Yield: 12 servings.

1 Tbsp. Garlic Puree
1 lb. butter
2 qt. heavy cream
8 oz. milk
1 lb. Parmesan cheese
4 oz. fontina cheese
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. black pepper

In a saucepan brown garlic puree. Stir on medium-high heat until sauce thickens. Turn off heat and continue to stir.

Makes 1 gallon.

Olive Garden Toasted Ravioli

16 oz Package of Meat Filled Ravioli ( fresh or frozen -unthaw if frozen )
2 Eggs Beaten
1/4 C Water
1 tsp. Garlic Salt
1 C. Flour
1 C. Bread Crumbs Plain
1 tsp. Italian Seasoning

Mix water with eggs and beat well, set aside. Mix Italian seasonings and garlic salt with the bread crumbs and set this aside.
Measure flour in bowl and set aside.
Heat vegetable oil in deep fryer or skillet to 350 degrees for deep frying.
Dip ravioli in flour then in the egg wash then in bread crumbs and carefully place in hot oil. Fry until golden, remove from oil and drain. Serve with you favorite marinara sauce.

Olive Garden Salad with dressing

1 bag American Blend Dole Salad
4-5 slices Red Onion
4-6 Black Olives
2-4 Pepperochini if you like a sweet pepper you could use a Banana Pepper
1/2 C. Croutons
1 small Tomato Quartered
Freshly grated Romano Cheese, Parmesan Cheese workds well too!

Chill one salad bowl in freezer for at least 30 minutes. Place bag of salad in bowl. Place on top of lettuce but red onion, black olives, banana peppers, tomatoes, and croutons. Add some freshly grated Parmesan cheese if you like, and add plenty of Olive Garden Salad Dressing on top See below for dressing recipe.

Olive Garden Salad Dressing

1/2 C. Mayonnaise
1/3 C. White Vinegar
1 tsp. Vegetable Oil
2 Tbsp. Corn Syrup
2 Tbsp. Parmesan Cheese
2 Tbsp. Romano Cheese
1/4 tsp. Garlic Salt – or one clove garlic minced
1/2 tsp. Italian Seasoning
1/2 tsp. Parsley Flakes
1 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
sugar (optional)
Olive Garden Salad Mix

Place all ingredients in a blender until well mixed. If this is a little to tart for your own personal tastes please add a little extra sugar. You can enjoy your Olive Garden salad dressing for about 10 days if stored in an air tight container in the refrigerator. Another great use for the Olive Garden salad dressing is you can use it for a marinade for vegetables or even meats that you might like to grill. So you can see the Olive Garden salad dressing, can be used in more than one way.

Olive Garden Breadsticks

From the kitchen of Todd Wilbur

Servings: Over 8
Difficulty: Easy
Cook Time: Over 120 min


Ingredients
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon warm
water (105 to 115 degrees F)
16 ounces bread flour (3 cups)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
On top:
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

Cooking Directions
Dissolve the sugar and yeast in the warm water in a small

bowl or measuring cup and let the mixture sit for 5 minutes,

or until it becomes foamy on top.

Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Use the paddle

attachment on a stand mixer to mix the softened butter into

the flour. If you don't have a stand mixer, use a mixing spoon

to combine the butter with the flour. When the yeast mixture

is foamy, pour it into the flour mixture and use a dough hook

on your mixture to combine the ingredients and knead the

dough for approximately 10 minutes. If you don't have a stand

mixer, combine the ingredients and then knead the dough

by hand on a countertop for 10 minutes.

Place the dough in

a covered container and let it sit for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until it

doubles in size. When the dough has doubled, measure out 2-ounce portions

and roll the dough between your hands or on a countertop

to form sticks that are 7 inches long. Place the dough

on parchment paper-lined baking sheets, cover and set aside

for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size once

again.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Bake the breadsticks for 12 minutes, or until golden brown.

When the breadsticks come out of the oven, immediately

brush each one with melted butter and sprinkle with a little

garlic salt.

Makes 12-13 breadsticks

*****

Anyone who loves Olive Garden is probably also a big fan

of the bottomless basket of warm, garlicky breadsticks served

before each meal at the huge Italian casual chain. My guess is that

the breadsticks are proofed, and then sent to each restaurant,

where they are baked until golden brown, brushed with butter and

sprinkled with garlic salt. Getting the bread just right for a good

clone was tricky -- I tried several different amounts of yeast in all-purpose

flour, but then finally settled on bread flour to give these

breadsticks the same chewy bite as the originals. I discovered that

the two-stage rising process is also a crucial step to making the

perfect Top Secret Recipe for these very popular soft breadsticks.