Chocolate Covered Cherries

It's almost that time of year again, when the store shelves are covered with boxes of all sorts of sweet delights. As a young child chocolate covered cherries always caught my eye, and was one of my favorite treats, even for my birthday.

I stumbled across a small pamphlet of chocolate treats from Nestle that I picked up waaaay back in 1982 and still have. The rest of the recipes I may get to some day, but I've never tried them, because my family loves these so much. It's time to share this recipe with you.

Chocolate Covered Cherries
60 maraschino cherries with stems (are about 30 cherries in a 10-ounce jar)
3 tablespoons butter, softened
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 cup each milk chocolate chips and semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 T. vegetable shortening

Drain cherries thoroughly on sheets of paper toweling (several hours or preferably overnight). In a small bowl, combine softened butter and corn syrup. Stir in sifted confectioners' sugar, salt, vanilla. Sometimes I add just a touch of the marachino cherry juice as well. Knead mixture until smooth. If mixture is too soft to handle, put it in the refrigerator to chill well. On a surface dusted with confectioners sugar roll out dough to about 1/8 inch thick with a small round cutter, about 1" in diameter, cut the dough into circles. Shape around each cherry. Place the coated cherries upright on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper or parchment paper. Chill until firm. Melt chocolate and shortening in a double boiler over low heat. Holding cherries by the stem, dip one at a time into the chocolate. Spoon chocolate over the cherries to coat. Be sure to completely seal the cherries, otherwise the cherry juice may leak out after the chocolate has set. Let excess chocolate drip off cherries. Place the dipped cherries stem side up on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Chill until chocolate is firm. I sometimes double dip. Don't skip the shortening, it makes the chocolate smooth and keeps it from "blooming" when hardened. Enjoy!

Gala Apple, Celery & Pecan Salad with Figs

I discovered a version of this salad last winter when I was looking for a nice crispy salad for a linger longer at church. It's a perfect blend of sweet, tart, and savory, which is a big hit around here, well except for with Nature Guy, but that just leaves more for the rest of us!

Enough chatter, let's get to the fixings!

Gala Apple, Celery and Pecan Salad with Figs

SALAD

6 c. thinly sliced Gala apples, (cored)

2 cups thinly cut on the bias celery

1/2 c. chopped dried figs

1/2 c. chopped toasted pecans or walnuts

DRESSING

2 T. lemon or orange juice (I tried orange juice today, and I think I like it better!)

2 T. Dijon or yellow mustard, either is great

1 T. each honey and real maple syrup, or just use all honey or all syrup

I/3 cup olive oil

1/2 tsp. salt

Mix all dressing ingredients in a medium size bowl. Core, slice and add to dressing the apples, mixing to coat. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to coat. Whalaa! Fresh and crisp, deliciousness in the middle of winter, or anytime. Enjoy!

Orange Cranberry Caramel Rolls Quick & Easy!

 

What to do when the man of the house is craving cinnamon rolls and you don't want the thick gooey frosting? Compromise and create a yummy caramel roll infused with orange, and slathered with cranberry sauce in the center. 

 

 We bought a bag of oranges that are hit and miss. Some are flavorful and juicy, others are rather dry. Thus the reason I usually don't by bagged anything in the way of fruit. All is not a loss though, because I juiced a couple of the oranges and grated the peel on one to make the most amazingly flavorful rolls, if I do say so myself, and I just did!

These rolls are soft, with a nice caramel topping, buttery and sweet, with a touch of sunshine and Autumn all rolled into one. Yes, I know it's officially winter, but I had leftover cranberry sauce that was crying to be used, and I associate cranberries with Autumn mostly. The plus side is that these are relatively quick and easy. Enough of this chatter though, lets get cooking!


ORANGE CRANBERRY CARAMEL ROLLS

TOPPING

1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c. butter, melted in a 9" x 12" baking pan
2 T honey
1 T. grated orange rind

ROLLS

3-3 1/2 c.  flour
1/4 c. oats
2 T. flaxseed meal
1/4 c. sugar
1 T. yeast
1 t. salt
1/2 c. each orange juice, and water
1 T. each butter and oil
1 egg
1 T. grated orange rind

FILLING

2 T.  cinnamon sugar + 1/4 cup brown sugar
 brush rolled out dough with some of the melted butter in the baking pan
1/4 - 1/2 cup cranberry sauce
1 T. grated orange rind

Grease 13 x 9 inch pan. melt one cube of butter in the pan by placing in the oven heated to 250. Check after five minutes. Combine all dry ingredients listed under ROLLS, except for 1 1/2 c. flour in your mixer bowl. Heat to very warm the orange juice and water. Add the liquid, orange rind and egg to the dry ingredients and mix on low using the dough hook,  until combined, turn up to medium and continue to mix about 3 minutes, then gradually add 1- 2 cups of additional flour until a nice soft dough forms and pulls away from the side of the bowl.

On a  clean, floured, dishcloth roll out the dough to a 15x7 inch rectangle  Brush the dough with some of the melted butter in the baking pan. Using a wide spatula spread a very thin layer of the cranberry sauce on the buttered dough. Sprinkle the combined sugar over the cranberry sauce, the orange rind, and then roll the dough up starting on a long side.

Add the orange rind, 1/2 cup brown sugar and two tablespoons of honey to the baking pan and mix with the melted butter. Cut the dough into twelve slices. Place them in the baking pan and cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap or a dishtowel. Let rise until doubled in size, in a warm place for 30 to 45 minutes.

Taking off the plastic wrap or towel, place the rolls in the oven on an upper rack, and turn the oven on to 375 degrees. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are golden. Remove from the oven and let sit for 1 minute, then turn out onto tinfoil. Whaalaa! Pure heaven for breakfast! Enjoy!

Bearers of Heavenly Light - Women of Strength Who March Quietly In the Path of Service and Love

On a day when women are taking to the streets to protest perceived injustices, I want to take a moment to pay honor to those quiet bearers of heavenly light, who go about their days in humble service. These angels of mercy are a strength and example to me, and those who know and love them.

I won't mention names, because there are so many good women I know that I fear I may forget someone and cause hurt feelings. There is a dear lady who wanted to have something to do to help others in our congregation, so we called her to be one of our compassionate service leaders. She will be organizing women to help take a meal in, or care for children, or whatever the need was in any emergency or care need situation. She was so excited when she found out what we wanted her to do, she hugged me, and got tears in her eyes.

I recently put a text out to give this same lady a ride to a doctor's appointment 7 hours away, on the other side of the state. Within 3 hours, I had a response from someone who needed to go to Portland anyway, so they left the day before the appointment, and this dear lady got a hotel room for them both along with driving and paying for gas, and I think some of the food.

Today, after having surgery three days ago, the first lady is being driven home by another angel of mercy, who came down from Washington, where she cares for her ailing mother, to bring the patient home. When this recovering woman gets home, her visiting teacher will be there to provide the proper diet she will need to recover and heal, and help organize any other need such as cleaning, tending to the dog and such.

I know of another woman who has an elderly woman staying in their home, to care for her. They aren't related, but the need was there, and she and her husband (when he's home), take turns seeing to her needs. This takes a lot of sacrifice of time to do things she would probably rather be doing at times, to care for someone who needs long term care.

Recently we had a huge cultural event in Idaho for a temple dedication. Our youth were asked to learn a dance, and we were given the task of sewing their costumes. Several women participated in the sewing project, but we had 19 flapper style dresses to make, so this was a huge undertaking. One woman spent several all nighters sewing seven of the dresses all by herself, and they turned out gorgeous. Considering the slippery fabric that tended to snag and fray , the pattern issues and multiple sizes, plus lack of time to get these done, these women did an amazing job, and our girls looked awesome!

I wish I had a picture of them in costume, but these are some of the finished dresses.

I also know of women who have volunteered for years on our local Wallowa Valley Festival of Arts committee. Their dedication to the arts here in our little neck of the woods has been amazing, some serving on the committee for 10 years or more. They are a positive force for good in bringing the arts and culture here, as well as helping support local businesses and galleries.

One of my friends is a genealogist, and helps people on a weekly basis to organize and build their family trees online.

There are countless women I can think of who will take time out of their days to lift another through a visit, or phone call, or ride to wherever they need to go. Many of these women donate money as well to help the poor and needy in our valley and elsewhere. Their good deeds are many, and make our world a better place to be. They lighten and brighten the days of so many, and are bearers of heavenly light.

These are just some of the most recent stories I can share that come to mind. I hope you will share your stories here in the comments so we can perhaps lift each other, and realize just how much good is being done in our world today.