Popovers have always seemed intimidating but the truth is they are really pretty easy. And, not only are they delicious, they are impressive looking on the table! You can make the simplest, easiest dish for a dinner party or holiday meal and put it next to a popover and it will look like you fussed.

This holiday and last, my mom served popovers with honey butter on Christmas Day. They are such a treat, I can no longer imagine the holiday without them. My husband and I also have a popover tradition every spring at tax time. Our accountant is in the suburbs of Chicago so we have to venture out there with fingers crossed to hear our fate… a prosperous return or will we owe Uncle Sam. After the news, we treat ourselves to a lunch at Neiman Marcus in Northbrook to either celebrate or drown our sorrows. Within minutes, the attentive servers place an enormous, hot popover on your bread plate with a side of strawberry butter. mmm, heaven.

You may want to invest in a popover pan. Mine was worth the investment as I have started making my muffins in the pan as well for taller, more elegant muffins. You can also make popovers in ramekins or muffin tins. Before beginning, you may want to read these popover tricks and tips. Try these for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Popovers
(supposedly this is the ACTUAL Neiman Marcus recipe)

Serve hot with honey butter or strawberry butter.
Makes 12 popovers.

Begrudgingly heading to a cookie exchange and don’t have time to make cookies? Can’t go empty handed to a friend’s house this holiday without an edible offering? Hate baking? Oven broken? Can’t face long ingredient lists? Spiders are your answer. Arachnophobes, fear not… these spiders don’t bite back.

I challenge anyone to produce a cookie recipe with less ingredients! Only two! And, these look fun and taste yummy. The chow mein noodles produce the crunchy/salty that matches oh so well with the chocolatey/sweet. Many of those who received my mixed cookie plate this season were pleasantly surprised by these tangled bites.

Spider Cookies

Ideas:
-Use white chocolate for albino spiders!
-Try some flavored chocolate like a smooth praline bar or some Exotic Chocolate Chips like curry & coconut or ancho & chipotle chili.
- Mix in 1/2 cup of peanut butter
- Mix in peanuts or nuts.

These Greek little balls of heaven are a Christmas special. My husband who is half Greek makes them every year. In the bakeries of Greece, the Kourabiethes are piled up high and deep and look like a mound of little snowballs. My trusty, old-school Greek cookbook reads, “Kourabiethes are the national cookies of the Greeks for Christmas and New Year’s Day.”

These are not unlike other powdered sugar covered cookies you find at the holidays like Mexican wedding cookies. However, this version has a Gerogiannis family twist added to it. My in-laws brush the cookies with orange flower water or rose water before covering with the sugar which gives them a wonderful light fragrance that you catch a whiff of just before biting.

Kourabiethes - Greek Butter Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup plus 1 lb. confectioners sugar
1 egg yolk
1 T brandy
2 1/2 cups flour
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
orange flower or rose water (optional)
1/2 cup almonds (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix butter and 1 cup sugar until very light and fluffy. stir in egg yolk and brandy. Mix sifted flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Mix in the flour and baking powder a little at a time until dough no longer sticks to your fingers. If you are adding the almonds, chop them up into fine pieces.  Mix them in while mixing in flour, accomodating for the extra ingredient and not letting the cookies get too dry.  Knead well until dough is smooth and can easily be rolled into balls. Take small pieces of dough and shape into balls or small crescents. Place on parchment paper on a baking sheet or on a lightly greased sheet. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until very light brown. While still warm, brush very lightly with orange flower or rose water. Roll in confectioner’s sugar and set on a tray or plate. Use the remaining sugar to sift over top until well covered.

Let the cookie baking begin!!! Last weekend, we baked up about 8 dozen cookies to give away to friends, neighbors and clients. It was the most warm, festive, sugar-high, Christmas-spirited day. For a few weeks, we perused all my December food magazines and searched cookbooks marking possible recipes. Then, we made a long list and my husband and I took turns picking favorites until we had 5 different recipes. Unfortunately, a number of them were thwarted by the total sell-out in the baked goods aisle at the store. I have never seen anything like it in an American grocery store. The shelves were nearly bare!

But, I love a good excuse to change directions and be spontaneous. Still lurking and waiting to be bought were a number of bottles of large, salted macadamia nuts. Although I love white chocolate, macadamia nut cookies, I have never made them myself. I searched online and found this recipe that was rated highly by all who tried it.

Honestly, this was the best cookie dough/beater licking ever. I knew from the fragrant, salty-sweet batter that we were in for a treat. The fresh baked cookies were sublime. They are so good that just moments ago, I opened up a gift box of cookies intended for my office neighbor and snitched one out for myself!

White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies

Heat oven to 375 F. In large bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt with electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs, beat well. Stir together flour, and the baking soda; gradually add to butter mixture,beating until well blended. Stir in white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. (Edges are golden brown and center is set.) Cool slightly, remove from cookie sheet to wire rack to cool completely.

Tonight we had our first snowfall in Chicago. The glistening white flakes floated down and coated the ground and the trees making a winter wonderland. I glided along the unshoveled sidewalks making long tracks in the snow, kicking it up off the toe of my boot now and then. Tomorrow will be full of muddy boot puddles, scraping and digging out the car, tentative winter drivers and lots of complaints from winter-haters. But, I don’t care! Right now, I am loving every minute of it! My house feels cozier than ever, my snow-fiend dog is in hog heaven, and the bright fresh white world feels full of hope to me tonight.

The beginning of winter signals that it is prime time to dive into a bowl of steaming hot, chunky chili. There are many great chili recipes and variations but this one is a yummy standby.

All-American Chili

6 oz. hot Italian sausage
2 cups chopped onion
1 chopped green bell pepper
10 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground beef or ground turkey
1 jalepeno, chopped
2 T chili powder
2 T brown sugar
1 T ground cumin
3 T tomato paste
1 t dried oregano
pepper and salt to taste
3 bay leaves
1 1/4 cups merlot or other fruity red wine
2 cups beef broth
2 - 28 oz. cans diced tomatoes with their juice
2 - 15 oz. cans kidney beans (or red beans)

Heat a little oil in the bottom of stock pot and cook onions, peppers, garlic and meat until meat is browned. Add spices, sugar and tomato paste and continue to cook a few minutes while stirring. Add the tomatoes, wine, beans and broth. Simmer for 30-60 minutes. If you like, top with grated cheese, sour cream and/or green onions.
I love my chili with a side of cornbread!