Homemade "Hostess" Cupcakes

I used this recipe as a help/inspiration.

Cupcakes:
1 batch of Cocoa Fudge Cake from the Betty Crocker cookbook, baked as cupcakes (made 2 dozen)

Filling:
1/2 c butter, softened
1 t vanilla
1 (13 oz) jar Kraft marshmallow creme

Cream the butter.  Beat in the vanilla.  Add the marshmallow creme, and continue to beat until fully incorporated.
Transfer to a medium to large piping bag.

Ganache:
5 oz bittersweet chocolate (bars are better than chips)
1/2 c heavy cream
1/2 t vanilla

Chop the chocolate roughly.  Put it in a food processor and process until fine particles.
Meanwhile, heat the cream to boiling, either in a small pan on the stove, or in the microwave.
Slowly pour the cream through the feed tube, with the food processor going.  Add the vanilla, and continue to process until smooth.  (You may need to stop the machine, scrape the sides, and continue.)
Transfer to a small bowl or liquid measuring cup.

Icing:
1/4 c butter, softened
1 c powdered sugar
1 t vanilla
1-3 t cream or milk

Cream butter.  Fully incorporate the powdered sugar.  Mix in the vanilla, and add cream or milk to make a piping consistency.
Transfer to a small piping bag with a small round tip (I used a Wilton #3 tip).

Assembly:

Core the cupcakes with a cupcake corer, and apple corer, or a paring knife.  If possible, save a slice from the top of the core to use as  "plug".

Cupcake corer--very handy!

Fill the cupcakes with the marshmallow filling, and top the filling with a "plug" of cupcake "crust".

Dip the tops of the cupcakes in the ganache, or use a spoon to spread it over the tops.

Chill the cupcakes in the refrigerator for 20 minutes or so, to let the ganache firm up.

Pipe the icing curlicues on top, and serve!

Leek Soup with Meatballs

Meatballs:
20 oz ground turkey
1 egg
1 t dry sage
1 t poultry seasoning
3 cloves garlic, minced finely
olive oil to fry

Soup:
Olive oil
3 leeks, washed and thinly sliced
1 celery root, peeled and diced
3 celery stalks, chopped
1 lb mushrooms (white ones might make the soup a nicer color than crimini), cleaned and diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 t dry sage
1 c smoked turkey stock
4 c water
about 4 T "better than bouillon" (or enough bouillon cubes for 4 c water)
black pepper
1/2 c-1 c cream (optional)

Mix the meatball ingredients.  Make small meatballs, and fry them in olive oil in a soup pot or dutch oven.  Set them aside.
Add a little more olive oil if needed.  Saute the vegetables.  Add the stock and seasonings.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and let simmer a couple of hours.
Blend with an immersion blender.  Add the cream and meatballs.

Baked Pork Chops with Mushroom Sauce

This turned out really well.  Both my husband and I enjoyed it a lot.

olive oil--about 2 T
1 onion, sliced in 1/2 circles (I used a good sized sweet onion)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
salt, pepper, dry thyme

olive oil--about 2 T
3/4-1 lb mushrooms (I had white button mushrooms this time, but I usually have crimini)
salt, pepper, dry thyme

olive oil--about 2-3 T
4 large pork chops
salt and pepper

1/2 c "cooking" marsala wine
1/4 c all purpose flour
1 c milk (I used 2%)
1/2 c heavy cream (could have used less)
salt, pepper, dry thyme

Warm some olive oil in a large skillet (I used my 12" AllClad) over medium heat.  Add the onion, and break up the rings, and try to coat all the pieces with oil, stirring occasionally after that.  You may need to reduce the heat to low so it doesn't burn.  Add the garlic when you're done mincing it.  Continue to cook until the onions are very soft, and much smaller volume than they started.  You could even caramelize them if you have more patience than I do.  Add salt and pepper to taste when they are almost done, and about 1/4 t thyme.  In the mean time, clean and slice the mushrooms.

Set the onion aside in a mixing bowl, trying to leave as much olive oil in the pan as you can.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Add another 2 T or so of olive oil to the pan, and warm it over medium heat.  Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are soft and browned, and have released liquid and cooked it off.  Add salt and pepper to taste, and about 1/4 t thyme once they are browning.

Add the mushrooms to the mixing bowl with the onion.

Pour olive oil into the skillet, and brown the pork chops.  I seasoned each side with salt and pepper as I was browning them.  I had to do the 4 chops in 3 batches, because two of them were so big.  Put the chops into a casserole dish.

Put the casserole with the pork chops in the oven, and set a timer for an hour (45 minutes is probably plenty).

De-glaze the skillet with the marsala, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom and sides of the pan.  Be smarter than I was, and mix the flour and milk before adding them to the pan, so you don't have lumps, and cook, stirring pretty constantly, until it is nice and thick.  Add the onion and mushrooms.  I recommend tasting the sauce to see how much more salt, pepper, and thyme it needs.  The sauce seemed excessively thick at this point, and I added 1/2 c heavy cream.  It probably didn't need it, but it was ok.

Pull the pork chops out of the oven, and pour the sauce over them.  If any are stacked, move them around so the sauce gets between.  Return to the oven until the timer goes off.  Check the internal temperature with an instant read thermometer, but mine was well over the minimum (I got 170-180).

Lots of protein soup

2-3 T olive oil
1 onion
1 kielbasa (12-16 oz, I think)
3 celery stocks
3 carrots
several cloves of garlic
1 chicken breast
1 c quinoa
1 (15 oz) can of white beans
rosemary
marjoram
8-10 c chicken broth
parsley

Candy Cane Meringues

4 egg whites
1/2 t cream of tartar
4 oz (by weight) candy canes ground fine
4 oz (by weight) powdered sugar

Sift the cream of tartar over the egg whites in mixing bowl.
Beat until soft peaks form.
Add a tablespoon or two of ground candy cane.
Beat until medium peaks form.
Gradually add the powdered sugar and the rest of the ground candy canes.
Continue beating until stiff and glossy.
Put the meringue into a pastry bag with a large star tip.
Pipe into "kisses" onto cookie sheets covered with silicone liners or parchment paper.
Let rest an hour or so.
Preheat the oven to 200F.
Bake for an hour, turn off the oven, and leave them inside for a few hours or over night.

Slow Cooker Pork Chops with Mushrooms

1 onion
4 pork chops
salt and pepper
1 lb mushrooms (white, crimini, etc.)
1/4 c butter (1/2 of a stick)
1 T arrow root powder
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 c cream
1 1/2 c milk
1 t dry sage
1/4 t dry thyme
1 t xanthan gum
salt and pepper

Slice the onion into rings or half-rings, and put it into the bottom of the slow cooker.
Season the pork chops with salt and pepper, and put them on top of the onion.
Slice the mushrooms, and put them on top of the pork chops.
Melt the butter in a saucepan.  Saute the garlic briefly.  Add the arrowroot powder and stir it until it is thick and bubbly.  Add the cream, milk and spices and cook, stirring occasionally until it comes to a boil.  Remove from the heat and whisk in the xanthan gum, being careful to break up any lumps.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
Pour the sauce over the mushrooms.
Set the slow cooker on high for 6 hours.

(I'll try to remember to take a picture when it's done.)

Pumpkin Pie Cookies

I used this dough recipe (but chopped the nuts pretty fine) and a pretty normal pumpkin pie filling recipe. (I didn't have evaporated milk, and I didn't want the filling to be very runny, so I used 1/3 cup powdered milk mixed with enough milk to make 3/4 cup instead of the 12 oz can of evaporated milk.)

Chill the dough in the bowl for just a little while (maybe 10-15 minutes) so it firms up a bit, but not too much.

Scoop the dough by tablespoons, 

 roll the blobs into balls,

 and use the back of a round teaspoon to make an indent.  Use your fingers to smooth out the cracks and make them round.  

(These round measuring spoons make the whole process easier.)

 Fill the indentation with a heaping 1/2 teaspoon of pie filling.

 Bake at 350F for about 15 minutes, until they start to brown around the edges and the filling is set.

Bake the rest of the pie filling in custard cups in a water bath.  (I had enough for 3 custard cups, which baked at 375F for 35 minutes.)