Cookie Dough Truffles

Tastes like real cookie dough minus the raw eggs wrapped in chocolate. If you like cookie dough, this is going to hit home like no other comfort food.

Ingredients:
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
2¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
1½ lb. semisweet (or bittersweet) chocolate, coarsely chopped
Mini chocolate chips (for garnish)

Servings: 30-40 truffles

Instructions:
Combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up enough to form balls.

Shape the chilled cookie dough mixture into 1-1½ inch balls. Place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Cover loosely, transfer the pan to the freezer and chill for 1-2 hours or until very hard and frozen.

When ready to dip the truffles, melt the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water (double boiler). Removing only a few truffles at a time from the freezer dip each chilled truffle, one at a time, coating in chocolate, use a fork to remove and tap gently to remove the excess. Use a fork and the edge of a knife (I use a fondue fork) to slide the truffle onto a silicone sheet or wax paper.

If at any point during dipping, the cookie dough balls become soft and less frozen, return to the freezer to chill for 30 minutes.) If using mini chocolate chips for garnish, sprinkle on top quickly after dipping each truffle before the chocolate sets. Once all the truffles have been dipped, store them in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Recipe From: Dainty-Chef.com

I was stunned at how much these tasted just like cookie dough. Right down to the gritty butter sugar texture. If your one to eat raw cookie dough, this is going to hit the spot. The one warning I have is that they have the texture of cookie dough too. You will need to freeze these in order to dip these. Then your going to have to really keep these in the fridge or they will start to sweat after they are dipped.

But another good recipe to add to your truffle collection!

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Truffles

There might be better peanut butter truffles out there, I am not sure, but there wont be easier. These come out creamy and packed with peanut butter flavor. This recipe is just a modification of the Oreo Cheesecake Truffle recipe.

Ingredients:
1/2 package Nutterbutter Cookies
1 (8 ounce) package Cream Cheese, softened
2 (8 ounce) packages BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate or Chocolate Almond bark (what ever chocolate you want to use really)

Servings: ~30-40 truffles

Instructions:
Crush the heck out of ~36 cookies or so, your looking for about 3 cups of crushed nutterbutters. I did this with my little mini chopper, but you could easily do this with determination, a rolling pin and a bag. While the recipe is forgiving a few chunks are not so bad, you want the bulk of the cookies to be down to coarse sand size. Feel free to blitz a few extra cookies and set aside if you want to sprinkle the cookie bits on top.

With the ~3 cups of cookie sand, add in the 8 oz package of cream cheese and blend until smooth. I did this in my kitchen aid as blending it smooth with a spoon was proving unwieldy. You want this to be smooth, really smooth and well mixed. Don't worry about crushing the cookies more, get out the hand mixer or use the stand mixer and mix well but don't whip, no need to get air in there.

You should end up with something the consistency of play dough or a little thinner, this stuff should be thick (hence the difficult to mix). If it seems too thin to work with or your house is too hot, put it all in the fridge, covered and let it chill for a bit. Then take it out and roll it into balls. I used my 2 tsp cookie scoop* leveled (found this to be a good 2 bite truffle size) to measure out the "dough" and then rolled it into balls using my hands.

Once these are in ball form, chill them! Heck if you want freeze them. Your about to dunk them into melted chocolate and the colder they are the "cleaner" your chocolate will stay. So if you don't want crumbs in your chocolate, chilling is crucial and if you don't want a mess, it is still important.

Pop these in the fridge or freezer for an hour or two or over night. When your ready, bring the ~16 oz of your preferred chocolate up to temp in a double boiler**. Don't cheat and use the microwave your going to end up going back and forth warming and stirring and wasting a lot of time. Once the chocolate is melted, take some of the truffles out (do this in batches and keep the rest in the fridge or freezer).

Drop one truffle at a time into the melted chocolate, turn over gently to coat and then remove with a fork, tap the ball on the edge of the boiler to remove excess chocolate. Carefully use the edge of a knife (I used a fondue fork) to slide the ball onto waxed paper or a silicone sheet. If your going to sprinkle cookie bits on top, do it now before the chocolate cools. Repeat, for what seems like ever, with all of the cookie balls.

Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Store leftover truffles, covered, in refrigerator.

Recipe From: I made it up, tried it out and found it to be satisfactory. Try it with any cream filled cookie and it should work out well.

Some notes
*I used to think people who used cookie scoops were Nancy pants who didn't like to get their hands dirty. I bought the set of 3 after seeing so many sites using them, and now feel I should kick myself for waiting so long. Well worth it, use them all the time now.

**I cannot stress enough the importance of the double boiler on a project like this. The microwave method is going to be a huge pain, don't skip this part. You have 30-40 of these to do. Just get a a medium sized pot and a glass bowl. Fill the put 1/4-1/3 full of water and place the bowl on top. The water should not touch the bowl. Turn the heat onto medium, you want the water to simmer. Toss all the chocolate on top and stir as it melts. This will keep your chocolate the perfect temperature. And don't spend money to buy one, glass bowl and pot work great and you already have them.

I thought these were easy and the best part, oven free. I wont say super quick, dipping all these guys took a bit of time though you get faster after your first few. Using a silpat was perfect and any extra chocolate around the base could easily be broken off after so don't worry about a little waste on the silicone.

Easy, almost no bake (only melted chocolate) and they had a strong peanut butter flavor while still being creamy and smooth.

Eggnog truffles

Soft creamy boozy eggnog goodness. Over the top rich and strong eggnog flavor

Ingredients:
130g white chocolate, finely chopped *
1 ½ tablespoons heavy cream (or commercial eggnog)
1 ½ tablespoons rum – or to taste
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg – or to taste**
cocoa powder, for rolling the truffles

*I used Godiva, you MUST use good quality white chocolate in this recipe. No white chocolate baking chips!
**I used a dash or two more, but my nutmeg is old and low quality

Servings: This made 8 (2 tsp) truffles

Instructions:
Place chocolate and cream/eggnog in a small heatproof bowl and melt over a saucepan of simmering water (Double boiler), stirring until creamy and smooth. Remove from the heat, add the rum and nutmeg and mix to combine. Taste! See if you need more rum or eggnog. If you want a more boozy taste add a bit more with a little bit more chocolate. If you need more eggnog taste add more nutmeg.

Set aside to cool, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours or overnight. Using a small cookie-scoop or a small spoon, make truffles with 2 teaspoons of ganache per truffle and roll into the cocoa powder.

Place in fluted paper cases. Keep refrigerated. Truffles can be refrigerated for up to 5 days.

Recipe From: TechniColorKitcheninEnglish.blogspot.com

I found these truffles to be amazing, my favorite truffle recipe of all time. No really, doesn't get better than this. I don't think I will ever try another eggnog truffle recipe, this one was perfect!

I used Godiva white chocolate, commercial store bought eggnog (super thick stuff, not all homemade eggnog will work, use heavy cream if in doubt), Captain Morgan Private Select Rum and rolled them in Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder.

They did come out a bit soft, in a good way, but these need to stay refrigerated or you will need to add in some more white chocolate. The same thing if you want to dip them, they will need more white chocolate to firm up. I would not however recommend dipping them, they came out perfect rolled in cocoa powder.

Popovers - Success!

I've always wanted to try making popovers and have had the King Arthur Food blog recipe saved for a while. Now I had just had a conversation with TWO people the day of making these where they mentioned they have never had good luck with popovers and have given up. These worked perfectly on the first try. I don't think I can take credit for my success, I think it is all due to the recipe. It worked really well and I used a regular muffin pan.

Ingredients:
4 large eggs, warmed in a cup of hot water for 10 minutes before cracking
1 1/2 cups milk (skim, low-fat, or full-fat), lukewarm
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour
3 tablespoons melted butter

Servings:
17-18 popovers, you will need two muffin pans!

Instructions:
Fully preheat the oven to 450 degrees F! <-- This is important to make sure the oven is fully up to temperature before starting. Position a rack on a lower shelf. Grease muffin pan thoroughly (I used Pam). Thoroughly whisk the eggs, milk, and salt. Add the flour all at once, and beat with a wire whisk. There shouldn't be any large lumps in the batter, but smaller lumps are ok. Whisk in the melted butter, combining quickly.

Pour the batter into the muffin cups, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake the popovers for 20 minutes without opening the oven door! Reduce the heat to 350°F (again without opening the door!), and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until they're a deep, golden brown.

If there is a little bit that isn't browned, you run the risk of collapse. The first pan I cooked till every visible spot was a very deep golden brown and I thought this made them a little overcooked. But the second batch had a few small spots that hadn't turned golden brown yet and there was a smidge of collapse, but nothing resembling full collapse. They were still hollow in the center. They even made their own holes on the bottom so I didn't need to make holes in them to prevent sogginess.



Not having cooked popovers before, I would not have guessed they were finicky based on this recipe. I highly recommend it for your next bread making experience. Next time I will be trying variations with adding powdered Vermont cheddar, herbs, and may favorite I have seen - corn and chive (Smitten Kitchen but with the King Arthur Baker's Banter recipe).

Recipe From:
King Arthur Flour Baker's Banter Blog

Whirl Cookies

Whirl cookies are a source of great controversy in the Bechberger household. You either fall on the side of white swirl on the outside or chocolate swirl on the outside. There is a difference! This year I just made the white on the outside, but I secretly doubled the chocolate in the chocolate recipe and I love how it came out.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (if you used unsalted butter)
4 squares/ounces melted chocolate

Servings:
Makes about 30 cookies

Instructions:
Mix all the wet ingredients then add the dry ingredients. The dough is often soft enough to add the chocolate to half the batch at the end if you would prefer.

I find it easier to either make two batches; one all white and one all chocolate or halve the recipe and make each separately. The half batch proportions are 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt and if chocolate 4 oz melted chocolate.

Roll out each dough between saran wrap. You could chill the dough if you want to roll it with a rolling pin, but I am impatient and roll it freshly made between two pieces of saran wrap. Roll each to 1/4 inch thick in roughly the same shape. Rmove the top layer of saran wrap on each and lay dough side together. Again remove one side of saran wrap and roll up like a jelly roll.



You can chill the dough to slice, but I find it so much easier to just go ahead and slice with dental floss. place the floss under the log and cross over the top. Pull on the floss in opposite directions and you will get a nice perfect slice no matter how warm the dough is.



Place slices on parchment paper and bake for 8-10 minutes (just barely starting to turn golden on the edges) in a 400 degree F oven.


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Oreo Cheesecake Truffles

A soft chocolaty center en-robed in milk chocolate that come together quick. These were huge hit at the Christmas exchange and didn't suck up my oven!

Ingredients:
1 (16 ounce) package OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, divided
1 (8 ounce) package Cream Cheese, softened
2 (8 ounce) packages BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate or Chocolate Almond bark (what ever chocolate you want to use really)

Servings: ~30-40 truffles

Instructions:
Crush the heck out of ~36 cookies or so, your looking for about 3 cups of crushed Oreos. I did this with my little mini chopper, but you could easily do this with determination, a rolling pin and a bag. While the recipe is forgiving a few chunks are not so bad, you want the bulk of the cookies to be down to coarse sand size. Feel free to blitz a few extra cookies and set aside if you want to sprinkle the cookie bits on top.

With the ~3 cups of cookie sand, add in the 8 oz package of cream cheese and blend until smooth. I did this in my kitchen aid as blending it smooth with a spoon was proving unwieldy. You want this to be smooth, really smooth and well mixed. Don't worry about crushing the cookies more, get out the hand mixer or use the stand mixer and mix well but don't whip, no need to get air in there.

You should end up with something the consistency of play dough or a little thinner, this stuff should be thick (hence the difficult to mix). If it seems too thin to work with or your house is too hot, put it all in the fridge, covered and let it chill for a bit. Then take it out and roll it into balls. I used my 1 tbs cookie scoop* leveled (found this to be a good 2 bite truffle size) to measure out the "dough" and then rolled it into balls using my hands.

Once these are in ball form, chill them! Heck if you want freeze them. Your about to dunk them into melted chocolate and the colder they are the "cleaner" your chocolate will stay. So if you don't want crumbs in your chocolate, chilling is crucial and if you don't want a mess, it is still important.

Pop these in the fridge or freezer for an hour or two or over night. When your ready, bring the ~16 oz of your preferred chocolate up to temp in a double boiler**. Don't cheat and use the microwave your going to end up going back and forth warming and stirring and wasting a lot of time. Once the chocolate is melted, take some of the truffles out (do this in batches and keep the rest in the fridge or freezer).

Drop one truffle at a time into the melted chocolate, turn over gently to coat and then remove with a fork, tap the ball on the edge of the boiler to remove excess chocolate. Carefully use the edge of a knife (I used a fondue fork) to slide the ball onto waxed paper or a silicone sheet. If your going to sprinkle cookie bits on top, do it now before the chocolate cools. Repeat, for what seems like ever, with all of the cookie balls.

Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Store leftover truffles, covered, in refrigerator.

Recipe From: Everywhere! This seems to be all over the internet, in pretty much this exact form. I think it is even on Nabisco and Philadelphia's web site. You will find almost no variation from site to site other than the kind of chocolate on the outside.

Some notes
*I used to think people who used cookie scoops were Nancy pants who didn't like to get their hands dirty. I bought the set of 3 after seeing so many sites using them, and now feel I should kick myself for waiting so long. Well worth it, use them all the time now.

**I cannot stress enough the importance of the double boiler on a project like this. The microwave method is going to be a huge pain, don't skip this part. You have 30-40 of these to do. Just get a a medium sized pot and a glass bowl. Fill the put 1/4-1/3 full of water and place the bowl on top. The water should not touch the bowl. Turn the heat onto medium, you want the water to simmer. Toss all the chocolate on top and stir as it melts. This will keep your chocolate the perfect temperature. And don't spend money to buy one, glass bowl and pot work great and you already have them.

I thought these were easy and the best part, oven free. I wont say super quick, dipping all these guys took a bit of time though you get faster after your first few. Using a silpat was perfect and any extra chocolate around the base could easily be broken off after so don't worry about a little waste on the silicone.

You can really use any cream filled cookie for this, though chocolate is every ones favorite it seems. I plan to try them out with Nutterbutters in the near future. I also adapted this recipe using gingersnaps, but I will post that on a separate blog as there are a few more nuances that I discovered.

Easy, almost no bake (only melted chocolate) and they seem to be a hit with the chocolate crowd.

Dijon Braised Brussels Sprouts

Made these for Christmas this year and the sauce is incredible. If you don't think you like Brussels Sprouts, try this recipe. Of course, I love Brussels Sprouts when done properly and this is going into regular rotation. They are in season this time of year and was able to find a whole fresh stalk to use.

Ingredients:
1-2 lbs brussels sprouts, halved and any wilted outer leaves removed
1 tablespoon olive oil to coat the pan
Salt & pepper to season
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup broth (chicken, beef, or vegetable)
2 to 3 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced (I skipped due to time, but would be a good addition)
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon smooth dijon mustard

Servings:
I think we got 4 servings out of a whole stalk of Brussels Sprouts.

Instructions:
Trim sprouts and halve lengthwise. Oil a sheet pan and place Brussels Sprouts cut side down and season with salt and pepper. Roast at 450 degrees F for 10-20 minutes until golden brown (or fully cooked). If they didn't brown the oven wasn't hot enough or there wasn't enough oil in the pan. I like the caramelized flavor the browning gives them. When done, make the sauce by adding the wine and stock and reduce by about half. Lower the heat and add the mustard and cream. Either add all the Brussels to the pan or spoon over the top in a dish. Voila! Quick deliciousness and relatively healthy.

Recipe From:
Smitten Kitchen

Christmas Dinner of Mustard Glazed Lamb Ribs, Herb Popovers, and the Dijon Braised Brussels Sprouts. Rest of the recipes coming...

Quick Sour Cream Cheese Bread

Flavorful fluffy cheese bread that will taste like you worked on it for hours but comes together in a mater of minutes.

Ingredients:
3 cups (750 mL) all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. (15 mL) baking powder
1 tsp. (5 mL) salt
1/4 tsp. (1 mL) cayenne pepper (optional)
1 cup (250 mL) grated old cheddar or other intensely flavored cheese
1/2 cup (125 mL) grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/4 cups (310 mL) milk
3/4 cup (185 mL) sour cream or plain yogurt
3 Tbsp. (45 mL) butter, melted
1 large egg
*few Dashes of powdered garlic
*Sprinkling of herbs

Servings: 9 x 5 inch loaf pan

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray an 9- x 5-inch loaf pan with non-stick spray.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and cayenne pepper. Stir in the grated cheeses, tossing to blend and get rid of clumps.

In a medium bowl, stir together the milk, sour cream, butter and egg. Add it to the dry ingredients and gently stir with a spatula just until combined. Don’t overmix, or your bread will be tough.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. If you like, sprinkle the top with additional grated cheddar or Parmesan cheese. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until the loaf is golden and the top is springy to the touch. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.

Recipe From: Babble.com/family-kitchen

I can't stress enough use good cheese! I also added a bit of garlic powder to mine and thought this was great but this recipe would lend itself to a little more or even some herbs. Really flexible.

It is a soft moist bread that whips together really fast but tastes like you worked on it for hours. The bread will sweat a bit inside the pan, so I recommend making sure you remove it from the pan for a bit before serving or serve warm.

Chocolate Filled Pretzels for the holidays!

These looked so much cuter in the Pinterest post where they were actually circular pretzels, but I couldn't find any round ones! And just filling two holes looked like eyes. They are as delicious as chocolate covered pretzels, but don't give you messing fingers. These were also REALLY easy to make!

Ingredients:
Bag of pretzels
Bag of chocolate chips
Christmas M&Ms

Servings:
Made about 40 or so pretzel cookies

Instructions:
Heat your oven to 200 degrees F. Place pretzels on parchment paper on a cookies sheet and fill holes with chocolate chips. Be careful to keep the chips inside the holes. Place in the oven for a few minutes, watching the chocolate melt. Careful, this slow heat the chips will keep their shape and you risk burning them. Give the cookie sheet a good jolt and that will flatten the melted chocolate. Pull the pretzels out and place an M&M in the center of each hole (I prefer the look of M side down). Cool and enjoy!

Recipe From:
Not sure, I saw this on a Pinterest site and most others use the stripped Hershey kisses to fill the pretzels. I liked the symbol of the wreath much better.

Rugelach - My favorite Holiday Cookie

Rugelach is my favorite holiday cookie. The dough turns out incredibly flaky and moist filled with cinnamon and nuts (raisins optional). Just be careful too cook them long enough in the middle to be fully cooked. I used to make circles, then roll them like croissants, but found they don't cook as evenly as cylinders.

Ingredients:
Dough
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter, cubed
1 - 8 oz package cream cheese
1/3 cup sour cream
Filling
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tblspn cinnamon
1 cup finely ground walnuts
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Servings:
about 30 cookies

Instructions:
In mixer cream butter and sugar, then cream cheese, eggs, salt, sour cream, and last flour. If it's too wet to handle you could add more flour, but it will be a sticky dough. Adding too much flour will make it a tougher cookie. Chill if it is too difficult to roll out.


Flour the work surface and the dough if needed. Roll out in a cylinder and top with the filling. Press filling lightly into the dough. Begin rolling the cylinder from one end, about 3 times. Cut along the cylinder and set aside. Keep rolling and cutting till it is all rolled. Then cut each cylinder every 1-2 inches. Place each cookies an inch apart on parchment paper. Bake a few cookies to start to get the baking time down (open up to check center is done). Depending on home much you rolled it they can bake from 20-35 minutes. Luckily, this is a forgiving dough and the sugar is the first thing that will burn on the bottom of the cookie. If you find you can't cook the center without burning the bottom, lower baking temp or roll thinner. Cool and store in airtight container.



Recipe Modified From:
Allrecipes.com

Heaven - aka Nutella Swiss Buttercream Frosting and Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Two recipes here. One for "Heaven" frosting which is a swiss buttercream frosting; ideal for those who hate the sugary buttercream frostings almost all cakes have. When I added Nutella, I literally cried out "Heaven," hence the name. The other is for ice cream cone cupcakes - cake baked in an ice cream cone. The picture above is of a cake I made for 3 friends' 30th birthday party (myself included). The cake is made out of structural elements inside and Little Debbie and Hostess goodies outside. The top layer is actually a spice cake covered in the Nutella Swiss Buttercream. Spice cake was forgettable, but the frosting was "Unforgettable... That's what you are. So unforgettable..."

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites
26 tablespoons butter,
softened (3 sticks plus 2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup nutella

Recipe for the Ice Cream Cupcakes below (soooo easy!)

Servings:
For a 9-inch cake (plus filling, or some to spare)

Instructions:
Whisk egg whites and sugar together in a big metal bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisk occasionally until you can'€™t feel the sugar granules when you rub the mixture between your fingers. Transfer mixture into the mixer and whip until it turns white and about doubles in size. Add the vanilla. Add the butter slowly a couple cubes at a time and whip, whip, whip. It may look curdled at one point, but keep whipping until all the butter is added. Then taste. Lick fingers clean. Taste again. Add the cup of Nutella. Whip. Taste. Tell the guests to go away the frosting is all yours. Threaten them with the licked clean spatula. Call a help line, you have a problem...

Recipe Modified From:
Smitten Kitchen" for full instructions. Some people report this was tricky to make, but it came together so easy for me. I had never made swiss buttercream before and had some Nutella I wanted to use up before moving. I searched for a frosting I thought would have a similar consistency and handle adding Nutella to it. Little did I know how wonderfully this frosting would come out even without the Nutella. Adding the Nutella just took it over the top - hence the name "Heaven." If you don't have to ice shapes on your cake, you just need to add more deliciousness, I would recommend swiss buttercream frosting above any other (unless it has to sit out in the sun - it is mostly butter after all).



Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Ingredients:
One box mix and necessary ingredients (I used red velvet for the holidays)
One box of ice cream cones (yes those cheap flavorless ones...)
One batch Nutella Swiss Buttercream Frosting

Put ice cream cones into a high sided pan (so they can't fall over when you move the pan). Mix together box mix cake with needed ingredients. Pour batter into ice cream cones about 3/4 full. Too full and they will run over. Bake according to cupcake cooking times. When done pull out and cool. Frost. Decorate. Easy and delicious!

I was so shocked as a young teen the first time I had these. It was amazing to me that you could bake cake in the ice cream cones and it comes out better than either of the two alone. I was glad to find out the other day that others have similar reactions when a group of friends had them for the first time. Need to make cupcakes for a class, want less mess? Try these!

Ginger Glazed Beef Short Ribs or Shanks

Short ribs are all the rage now, but I find that using beef shanks results in a lot less greasy fat with the same amount of flavor and shanks are usually a very cheap cut of meat. Any stew meat should work in this recipe. While I did not end up with a glaze, I did end up with a very flavorful sauce (lick the bowl clean!) and tender meat (fall off the bone) with gingerized vegetables (yes I am inventing words now). The vegetable soaked up a lot of the ginger flavor and were a real treat. Enjoy my adaptation.

Ingredients:
2 cups dry red wine
4-5 pounds bone-in beef short ribs, cut into individual ribs
1 tsp salt
1 head garlic (I used roasted garlic)
5 large fresh shiitake mushrooms (I skipped this)
1 large onions, peeled and quartered
1 cup baby carrots
2 inches fresh ginger, grated
8 allspice berries, freshly ground
2 tsp cinnamon
12 sprigs fresh thyme or other herbs on hand
3 cups low-sodium chicken stock
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Instructions:
Put all ingredients in a crockpot and let cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. The original recipe called for beef short ribs, but I find these too fatty and the grease needs to be skimmed off. Using beef shank, there is a lot less fat and just as much flavor. When completely cooked, pull meat out and strain the liquids. My vegetables were still crisp (not mush like most long cooked stews) so I retained those and served them with dinner.
Take the liquid and reduce significantly in a pot till sauce thickens. Add cornstarch or flour if you want to make a gravy but I enjoyed it as a nice sauce with some crusty bread to mop it up.

I reduced my liquids down to about 2 cups of liquid and it could have reduced more. Since I used too much vinegar the first time, I added a ¼ cup of brown sugar to cut the acidity. This liquid was supposed to make a glaze for the meat (if braised) and I thought adding the sugar would help make it into a glaze. But after reducing the liquid and braising the meat in the oven for a while it did more to dry the top layer of meat than to create a glaze. So, I will skip this step in the future and just serve the reduced liquid over the crockpot cooked meat.

Serves 5-6.

Nutritional Information:
Estimated using Recipe Calculator

Amount Per Serving
Calories 589.6
Total Fat 15.1 g
Saturated Fat 5.5 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 6.4 g
Cholesterol 218.0 mg
Sodium 697.2 mg
Potassium 1,895.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate 8.6 g
Dietary Fiber 1.2 g
Sugars 2.0 g
Protein 87.7 g

Recipe Modified From:
Kitchen Konfidence