We usually have a holiday party every year. In the past, it's been a Christmas party but the last two years we've had a New Year's Brunch. It's been a nice change because there aren't as many schedule conflicts and that extra week or two to plan and clean is just wonderful.
This year I gave my camera to my brother who took a lot of really great photos. I am going to just link the album here if you want to see the pictures. For people who have seen these on Facebook, they are mostly the same photos plus some extra ones of people who don't have facebook accounts. (btw, if you click on the slideshow, I think you can see the pictures in a larger format)
This year's party was so much fun. Everyone seemed to find someone to talk to and everyone seemed to really enjoy the food. There were two recipes that people requested and I'm going to share them here. The first is:
Hazelnut Hot Chocolate
Heat 2 cups milk & dash of cream in a saucepan over med heat until almost simmering. Add 1/4 cup nutella & a pinch of kosher salt. Whisk vigorously until frothy. Divide among 2 mugs and cap off with a shot of Frangelico liqueur or a nip of vanilla.
I have found that it scales well and you don't have to be super precise with the measurements. Also, Kahlua is very good in place of the Frangelico. A special thank you to Andi for sharing the recipe with me forever ago.
The other requested recipe was for hash browns. I'm not a huge fan of the recipe with the condensed soup for hash brown casserole. I didn't care for how it scaled and how it kept in the chafing dish last year so I looked hard for something simple but good. When I first came across this recipe on Allrecipes.com I was kind of skeptical but it got so many good reviews that we tried it out on Christmas day and...wow.
I pretty much followed the original recipe for the party except I didn't use all cream--I did half cream and half 2% milk and would have used whole milk if I had it on hand--and I quadrupled it. The recipe scaled nicely. I was a little nervous about doing this but I layered it like a lasagna...I put down one layer of hash browns, sprinkled spices and cheese over the top, poured milk to saturate...and then repeated that until I ran out of ingredients. I did do some calculating to make sure I was using the right amount of milk, salt and garlic for the layer but I won't bore you with all that. :P If you don't like hash browns, still try this recipe sometime, seriously, it's that good. Also, for my vegan friends, Mollie tested the Hazelnut Cocoa with vegan ingredients so I can share her results if you like. I'm guessing the hash browns will veganize well, too!
Anyway, let me know if you want recipes for anything else. Except the quiche. That one is my secret. :D You have to come over for that.
2 comments:
The hashbrown dish does veganize well! I suspect people get a little anxious when they hear vegan. It tends to conjure up images of expensive meat replacements and wandering aimlessly through the aisles at Whole Foods. :P
Mollie, I think all I'd have to do to change people's views of vegan food is show them a couple your amazing cakes!! :D
Post a Comment