It's a Snap!

I love this time of year... the parties, the lights, and the FOOD! Last week, I realized that I needed to make goodies for a dear co-worker's birthday, our company goody day, AND my family's tree trimming party. With that in mind, we had a whirlwind night of kitchen activity, starting with supper. My wonderful husband Chris got things started for me while I was still at work. I don't know what I would have done without him!

Chips in the Head

I had really been craving potato chips for weeks, but in the spirit of teaching the kids healthy choices, we seldom buy them. It turned out we had a few lonely potatoes, so I decided to go ahead and feed my craving while having and adventure with the kids. Homemade potato chips, here we come! Chris seasoned chicken legs and thighs and baked them in the oven at 350 degrees for about an hour and a half. While the chicken was baking, he prepped potatoes for me by washing them thoroughly and using my daughter's mandolin to very thinly slice the potatoes. The sliced potatoes went into a big bowl of water to prevent browning. I understand that it leaches some of the nutrients from the potatoes, but it was worth it for the pretty color on this rare treat.

He didn't feel like he was having good success with the finest setting on the mandolin, so he used the next step up. I would say use the finest setting even if some of the slices shred. The thicker they are, the faster they get soggy.

The next step was heating the oil. We used what we had in the house, which was a combination of best blend, canola, and olive oils. You need at least two inches of oil so the slices have room to move around.

When you add the potato slices, the oil fizzes way up, so don't use a pan that you have to fill too full or you'll have a mess on your hands. The slices will curl up on the edges, but they won't be really crispy until they turn golden brown. We did not use any kind of chemicals to keep the chips "white" during frying, so ours were very golden.

Toss the still hot chips with whatever seasoning you prefer and set them aside to cool in single layer on paper towels to catch the extra oil. These chips were so much fun to make, and the kids loved that we did it ourselves. And for all you concerned moms out there, we did serve vegetables!
Snap! Crackle! POPCORN

After dinner is when we really started having fun. This year, I had time in advance to prepare for our corporate goody day! Everyone loves popcorn, so that's what we went with. You'll hear a lot about how Pinterest has expanded my cooking and crafting world. I found a Pin with six amazing sounding sweet popcorn recipes and picked two (links to the recipes below:

1. Cinnamon bun popcorn (cinnamon caramel corn with pecans and white chocolate) via Our Best Bites
This was absolutely INCREDIBLE. It really tastes like it sounds. The caramel was also a fun experiment for the kids, too. They watched as we added sugar, cinnamon, corn syrup, butter, and vanilla to the pan and brought the mix up to a boil. Since we did a small batch, it was hard to test it with the candy thermometer, but I was able to show them with a glass of cold water the difference between the soft crack and the hard crack stage of sugary candies. They want me to make it again! I may have to make the cinnamon caramel as a stand-alone, it was soooo good!

3. Popcorn brittle (caramel, M&M’s & peanuts) via Simple and Delicious.

This recipe was also delicious, and much crunchier than the cinnamon bun version. We love the seasonal m&ms in it. I bet this would be beautiful with any of the holiday colors. I'm thinking the Easter pastel m&ms in spring would be very cool...

Both recipes were a huge hit at both the birthday party AND the goody day!

The Title Track - Ginger Snappin!

I may have the best husband ever. While I was fussing with the caramels, Chris was whipping up a batch of gluten free gingersnap dough. As promised by the recipe, this was the least fussy GF dough I've worked with yet. Thanks this time to the Gluten Free Goddess!

The plan for these crispy, tasty treats was to use them as spicy "chips" in the chocolate chip cheesecake dip recipe that I found on, you guessed it, Pinterest! (Are you sensing a theme here?) Well, the cheesecake dip recipe suggested using Teddy Grahams, but Teddy Grahams aren't gluten free, and just don't have that holiday SNAP I was looking for. Our answer to Teddy Grahams...... Ginger Snap Bears!

A couple of years ago, I bought tiny cookie cutters for making fun shapes in our bento box lunches. It turns out that they're just the perfect size for bite sized cookies too! These truly were the perfect cookies for that cheesecake dip, but they were also pretty darned good all by themselves. I may have a few more; we made an army of them!