Favorite Holiday Movie - Pink Saturday

What's your favorite holiday movie? Mine is White Christmas. I love the music and of course the story!

I am linking this to Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound.

Happy Halloween!

My Halloween recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks, Above & Beyond Parsley. Above & Beyond Parsley is a Junior League of Kansas City cookbook. I've had this cookbook since it's first publishing in 1992 and have been making these muffins almost every year since.

These muffins are delicious! The butterscotch chips add a nice sweetness to the pumpkin. They travel well and were treats on Friday for my office.

Butterscotch Pumpkin Muffins

1 3/4 cup flour, sifted
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugars, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Create a well in the middle of the mixture.

In another bowl, whisk together eggs, pumpkin and butter. Stir in the butterscotch chips. Pour into the well of the dry ingredients. Fold together just until dry ingredients are moistened. Do not overmix.

Spoon batter into greased muffin tins. (I use cupcake liners) Spoon batter evenly into muffin tins. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Place on a rack to cool.

Anise Candy

Another favorite from Schmidt's Bakery is Anise Candy. Schmidt's sells this at Christmas time and every year my mother in law phones in her order for 30+ plus bags. Everyone in my family, except me, LOVES this candy.

I found some Anise Oil and decided to see if I could duplicate this sweet treat. I can't remember the last time I made hard candy. I had forgotten just how LONG it takes to get to the hard ball stage. I am sure our humid weather played a part in the timing.

The family reviews are in and while they said the candy was good, it just wasn't Schmidts.




Anise Candy

2 cups sugar
1/2 white corn syrup
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon anise flavoring
1/2 teaspoon red food coloring

Boil sugar, syrup and water until a candy thermometer registers a hard crack stage.

A candy thermometer is essential for this process. Be prepared, this takes a long time, approximately an hour.

Remove from heat; add flavoring and food color, stir but be careful of the fumes when the oil is added.

Pour onto a greased cookie sheet, let sit a few minutes, score and cut once slightly hardened.