These scrumptious sticks of Spanish pastry are unforgettably divine. A crunchy exterior dusted with cinnamon sugar, and a creamy, eggy interior that will melt in your mouth. And so easy to make, you can easily do a couple of dozen in under 30 minutes. And a couple of dozen can easily disappear in under 30 minutes, too.

CHURRO’S

What you will need:

1 cup water

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/3 cup butter

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup flour

2 eggs, well beaten

1/2 tsp vanilla

 Vegetable oil, for frying

Cinnamon, and sugar, for dusting

Combine water, brown sugar, salt and butter in saucepan and bring just to a boil. Remove from heat and immediately stir in flour until well combined. Beat eggs, add vanilla and stir egg mixture in. I generally use a hand mixer at this point, but it is possible to beat in by hand.

Transfer batter into pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Heat 1 to 1.5 inches oil in bottom of heavy frying pan, or dutch oven, to 375 degrees. Pipe in 4 inch long strips of batter, frying for approximately 1 minute per each side, or until churros are dark gold in color.

Remove from oil, drain on paper towels. Roll churro sticks in cinnamon sugar, or dust with icing sugar. Delicious served with ice cream, or served with warmed honey as a dip. Can be dressed up with drizzled chocolate for beautiful presentation.

Enjoy!

D’Arcy Broderick is one of Newfoundland’s most talented and beloved musicians. Many of you know D’Arcy personally, or have appreciated his music,  and the contributions he has made to the traditional music scene in Newfoundland. From his days with the very popular The Irish Descendants, to his years as member of the award winning group The Fables and to his current participation with Middle Tickle, D’Arcy has made his mark.

Some of you may have heard that D’Arcy suffered a mild stroke recently. He has since been released from hospital, and is on his way to making a full recovery at home. However, as a full time musician, serious illness means the inability to work, and generate income. As a result, friends and family have organized a benefit concert and auction to assist D’Arcy and his family as he works toward recovery.

The concert will be held Sunday, February 17, at Club One on George Street. An all star line-up, including favourites such as Celtic Connection, The Irish Descendants, Eight Track Favourites, Rex Goudie, Siochana, The Masterless Men and The Fables, plus many, many more are are slated to play. The show will kick off at 3:00 pm and keep rocking until midnight.

Anyone interested in helping D’Arcy and his family, but are unable to attend the concert, you can check out the link below for the Facebook page. Information on donations for D’Arcy is listed there.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10216438178

Thanks!

You’re all still here! As a matter of fact, there are more of you then before. You seem to have a voracious appetite for all things Newfoundland, and are from all over the globe. I haven’t been here, but you all have. Way to make a girl feel bad. Just kidding - sort of.

It feels pretty good to be back, though. To make a six week, long winded, kinda boring story short, things happened, and I couldn’t put in any time here. But now things have stopped happening, and I’m back. And with six weeks of pent-up, half thought out, frustrated blog posts for you coming up. Lots of food. Yummy, yummy food.

So, thanks for dropping by, and come back again soon. I promise I will be here.

and to all, a good night!

Ok, so it seems that many of y’all are looking for Newfoundland Christmas music to get you in the mood.  You’ll find lots of links to all your favourite Newfoundland artists and their Christmas wishes below.

I know I’ve been terribly, terribly lazy about music postings - but I promise, watch for the New Year! You’ll all be begging me to stop then! Seriously, though, I have been hit and miss with posting this month, and all I can say is blame it on the season. Everything is so crazy that I just haven’t had much of a chance. Much is planned for the New Year though, including some great photo’s of all your favourite local bands.

On to the music! Here you go:

 You know you should check O’Briens!

Downhome Music 

Tide’s Point Music

Avondale Music

 Happy listening!

Ok, so Christmas is fast approaching, and most of us are in some sort of frenzy. Shopping, cooking, baking, cleaning, wrapping, threatening kiddies with eavesdropping elves, we’re all busy with something. To top it all off for me, we are into our sixth day of snow here, and that’s just wrong enough to call for rum toddies.

This is a recipe that came from some sort of Homemaker’s-type magazine back in the early eighties that my grandmother had. She modified the recipe a little before passing it on, and I fooled with it a little more. The best part is that you can cook up the spice water mix and store in the fridge for the duration of the holidays. Just reheat, on stovetop or microwave, and Presto! instant hot toddies. Just add a splash of rum, a spoon of honey and a slice of lemon to your mug and you are off and running. Although toddies and running don’t really have much in common. As a matter of fact, I think a disclaimer is necessary. Please do not run whilst drinking hot rum toddies. Please do not operate heavy machinery whilst drinking hot rum toddies. Please do not colour your hair whilst drinking hot rum toddies. And please, please, please do not call your ex just to tell him you are such a better place whilst drinking hot rum toddies. You have all been warned.

HOT RUM TODDIES

What you will need:

10 cups water

4 sticks of cinnamon

10 whole cloves

12 whole allspice (substitute powdered if you must)

1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

 1 lemon, sliced

Combine water, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg. Bring to a boil, reduce heat. Add sliced lemon, and let simmer, covered, for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat and strain into storage jug. Discard spices and lemon slices. Refrigerate until ready to use.

To make toddies:

Place 1 to 1.5 ounces rum into each mug. Add 1 tablespoon of honey, and one slice lemon. Top with warmed spiced water. Drink, relax and enjoy!

This was a recipe that originally came from a magazine in the early 1980’s, but please don’t ask which one. We have made this recipe many times over the years, and it’s one that the kiddies have always liked giving a hand with.

CHRISTMAS TREE COOKIES

What you will need:

1 1/4 cups Crisco shortening

2/3 cup sugar

2 cups flour

1 3/4 cups ground almonds

2 tsp cinnamon

1.5 tsp almond extract

1/4 cup water

1 cup raspberry or strawberry jam

Icing sugar, for dusting cookies

Decorations of your choice - sprinkles, fancy sugars, icing, etc.

Cream Crisco and sugar togther well. Add flour, ground almonds, cinnamon and almond extract and mix well. Gradually add your water until a firm ball forms. Wrap this up well and refrigerate at least an hour to make it easier to roll out.

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease baking sheets.

Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness, on a lightly floured counter. Cut out all the dough with tree shaped cookie cutters. Place on baking sheets and bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool completely on wire racks.

Spread half the cookies with a thin layer of jam and top with remaining cookies. Dust all lightly with icing sugar and decorate as you wish. We use icing and pipe little decorations and garlands on the trees. I have also used green and red colored sugars and they look lovely like that, too.

Enjoy!

Nothing says Christmas to me more than rum soaked cream cheese! Just joking, but really, who can resist? Creamy, rich, and only mildly alcoholic!  These are ideal to serve for any occasion, and impress most folks. Or maybe that’s just the rum talking. Either way, they are so worth the little effort they take. And if you really want to impress your friends, co-workers or neighbours, make up a batch of these, fancy them up in some pretty foil cups and you have yourself a present that will be remembered.

CHOCOLATE RUM BALLS

What you will need:

 1   125g. package of cream cheese, softened

1 cup ground almonds

1 cup icing sugar

1 tsp powdered instant coffee

1/4 cup dark rum

4 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted

COATINGS:  chocolate sprinkles, shredded or toasted coconut, icing sugar, crushed almonds, cocoa powder, fancy colored sugars, or whatever your little heart desires.

Blend cream cheese, ground almonds, coffee, icing sugar and rum together with melted chocolate. Chill in fridge for twenty minutes or so, or until slightly firm. Shape into 1 inch balls.

Choose what you would like to coat the rum balls in, and place coatings on plates in front of you. Roll rumballs around in coatings fairly firmly, making sure you get nice full coverage on each rumball.

Who can resist a creamy cheese balls at Christmas parties? This one is mild enough for anyone, and festive with the chopped red and green peppers. Try it. You’ll love it and your friends and family will love you! Yummy with whole grain crackers, veggie sticks or whatever else floats your boat.

Cheddar Cheese Ball

2  8oz packages cream cheese, softened

1/2 lb grated cheddar cheese

1/4 cup very finely chopped red and green bell peppers

1/2 medium onion, very finely minced

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp lemon juice

Mix all ingredients together using hand mixer, or mash together well with potato masher. Form into two separate balls. Roll in chopped parsley, or finely minced green onion, for an extra burst of flavour. Refrigerate until solid, but remove from fridge at least a half hour before you want to serve.

If you would like to kick up the flavour and heat, you can try substituting half the chopped bell peppers for chopped jalapeno peppers. Try adding in 1/2 teaspoon of Tabasco if you are adventurous enough. If you like a real kick, try rolling formed cheese ball in crushed pepper corns. Try blending in a little smoky chipolte.

Now, just because I say to split this into two balls doesn’t mean you have to listen to me. Not many do, so use your own judgement! You can easily split this into four smaller cheese balls, and try a couple of different variations. Helpful if you are catering to crowd, or different tastes.

Enjoy!

Sorry all! The computer problems I was having last week ended up to be so much worse than we thought! Anyway, after having to completely re-format the blasted thing, and in the process losing so much data, photos and music that I want to cry forever, we are finally back up and running.

Anywho, I will be back to posting some great holiday recipes for you all later today. All kinds of scrumptiously delicious dishes, desserts, appetizers and great party food. So please check back sooon!