Those cookies that just kept coming

EVERYONE remembers the cookies that Chris Mathewson "Cupcake" baked for the big day. Yesireee Bob......all 480 of them! Indeed - just when you thought you were the lucky one who snagged the very last cookie, you'd turn around 5 minutes later to find the plate refilled again. Which of course meant you had to continue eating them. They were that amazing, and totally addictive. None of us could believe it when we woke up the following morning and found the original box Chris brought them in, and yes, MORE COOKIES! Everyone was excited, and we, of course, ate them. So imagine our surprise when a week or so after Glenn and I returned from our honeymoon in Maine, we found a tin of guess what? More cookies. And still somewhat fresh. We ate them, all except one. We vowed to each other to save it until the day we got the recipe to make more. So the photo above is Glenn eating the last one today after lunch, and thank you Chris for the recipe below. I think we need to call a meeting with the powers that be so I can make a motion that you be called "Cookie" now, instead of "Cupcake".

Peppermint Pothole Cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup raw sugar

1/2 cup turbinado [or light brown] sugar

1 large egg, beaten

2 tablespoons whole milk yogurt

2 teaspoons peppermint extract

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 to 3 teaspoons cut peppermint leaf

1 rounded teaspoon baking powder

8-9 ounces dark semi- or bitter- sweet chocolate, melted

Cream butter and blend with sugar until smooth and even textured. Beat in egg, yoghurt and peppermint. Combine flour, salt, peppermint leaf and baking powder and add to mixture.

Place teaspoonfuls on buttered, uncoated cookie sheet. Pat with floured fingers to form depression in center of each. Fill with chocolate.

Bake for seven to nine minutes at 375 degrees. Remove from oven and cool for about five minutes, then chill to set chocolate.

Makes about six to eight dozen.

White Trash Cake

A fellow former flatlander (3 f club?), Martha Bartsch brought a wonderful cake to the 'fest. Martha is yet another talented artist we have the pleasure of knowing - and her cake rocks!

White Trash Cake (Hummingbird Cake) from West Virginia

350 degree oven- cook in angel food cake pan (hole in center) coat pan lightly with crisco and flour

3 cups all purpose flour

2 cups white sugar

1 tsp. sat

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

mix well with a spoon, add:

1 1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 unbeaten large eggs

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 8 oz. can crushed pineapple, undrained

1 cup chopped bananas (3-4, ripe best)

mix well, then add and mix in:

1 cup large pieces walnuts, black walnuts if you can get them, pour into pan

Bake 1 hour or until done

whip, beat until light

1 8 oz. cream cheese

1 softened unsweetened butter

1 tsp. vanilla

1 box confectioner’s sugar

Spread over cake and enjoy. Un-iced cake can be made ahead and frozen. Thaw and frost.

Thank you Martha!

Mergefest Collages

Artist Paedra Bramhall created a mergefest collage for us that we wanted to share with you. He is also making collages with the images he took from the wedding (check out the iron and roses one below). He has offered to print a limited edition for anyone interested.

Paedra can be contacted at: paedra07@sover.net

and to see his extensive artistic journey through various mediums you can visit his site at -

http://www.paedra.com/

This week's recipe

Here is the dish that Chris and Judy Louras brought to share at the wedding. I'm sorry to say we didn't get a chance to taste this either, but we are thinking it sounds pretty wonderful and are hoping to have a second chance at trying it.....hint, hint.

Crawfish/Shrimp Etouffee Recipe

1 pound shrimp (cut in half) or crawfish tails

1 stick butter

1 large onion, diced (heaping cup)

1/2 cup celery, diced

3/4 cup green bell pepper, diced

1/4 cup red bell pepper, diced

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

1/2 cup K.A. A.P Flour, *toasted

3 cups *crawfish/lobster stock/veggie broth

( i.e. 2 cups lobster stock + 1 cup veggie broth)

1 teaspoon parsley

1 teaspoon thyme (if ground, then less!)

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 tablespoons seafood hot sauce (greene’s of vt texas chipotle)

2 tablespoons chipotle hot sauce (sting ray)

1 teaspoon lemon

Saute onion, celery, bell peppers, garlic and bay leaf in butter in Dutch

oven until onion translucent.

Whisk in flour and stir/scrape constantly for 5 minutes on medium+. This

is a white roux.

Slowly add most of crawfish/lobster stock/broth mix and bring to boil for

5 minutes.

Add parsley, thyme, seafood sauce, chipotle sauce, lemon and tomato paste

Simmer for 15 minutes, do not boil, stir about every five minutes.

Mixture should have a sauce-like consistency, add a little stock if

necessary, but don't over thin.

Add crawfish tails/shrimp and cook 10 minutes. Crawfish tails are precooked.

* Stock can be made by boiling lobster bodies (w/liver), or crawfish heads

and/or shells.

* Toast the flour in a cast iron pan, over medium heat. Keep the flour

moving. This isn't something that can be left alone, the flour can burn

quickly. You’re looking for a med. brown - darkish brown color.

The Iron Guild

We really can't thank the Iron Guild enough for the "Ring of Fire" performance they dazzled us with at our wedding. Our dear friend Don Ramey brought over a CD of images he took and we were able to relive it again. Great photos Don!

To see a slideshow of the pour click here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackiekirkmancampbell/sets/72157622595665277/show/

The Iron Guild also just had their 4th annual Halloween Pour at the Steel Yard in Providence and it looks like it was amazing and very well attended. I hate it we couldn't be there. Sigh, maybe next year.

To see some great photos go to http://gregcookland.com/journal/2009/10/halloween-iron-pour-at-steel-yard_30.html

That is a really fun blog also- a huge amount of cool information. I think I'm going to have to start following it.

And for more of the Guild, you can also see a snippet of the pour here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flJu1lWQTUA

You guys are fantastic! Please don't ever stop.