Christmas Crackle Cookies

I haven’t made these in a while, and I always get requests for the same ol’ same ol’ cookies at the holidays, and it just gets so boring!  So, I decided this year, I’m making some new recipes, and trying out a few new ones.   This one isn’t new, but it’s a great recipe, and these cookies are always a big hit.  As they bake, they crack open, which is why they are called crackles.

To make these, you will need:

If you are looking for a DELICIOUS and easy home made bread recipe, search no more.  This is it!  I have made this bread countless times over the last year and it is AMAZING.   And, it’s so cheap to make, too!

Ingredients you will need: 

• 3 Cups All-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 Teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 Teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
• 1 1/2 Cups Water (slightly warmer than room temperature)

Directions:

Mix the flour, salt and yeast together in a bowl.   It’s very important you do this prior to adding water.

When the dry ingredients are combined, add the water, and mix with a fork or spatula until it’s all mixed together well.  It will be sticky!

Add plastic wrap over the top of the bowl, and let sit on your counter for 12-18 hours.  It will rise during this time!

I actually made 2 batches, so I had a bowl for each one.

I let it sit for 17.5 hours.  It rose quite a bit by the next morning!

Next, place your cast iron pot in the oven, and preheat both to 450º.  Do NOT add the dough yet!

 

While your oven and pot are being preheated, flour your work surface and hands really well. (I like to place aluminum foil on my counter for easy clean up).  Form the dough into a ball.  Don’t knead it, just form it with your hands into a ball.

Once your oven and cast iron pot are both preheated to 450º, remove them carefully from the oven and remove the lid.

Pick up your ball of dough and drop it into the pot.  Make sure the ball of dough is floured all around – you will NOT need to grease your pot.

Place the lid back on, and place it back in your oven.  Bake for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes are up, remove the lid from the pot, and bake for another 15 minutes.  This will give your bread a crispy crust!

After the 15 minutes are up, carefully remove the pot from the oven.

If you are like me, you will oooh and ahhh over it’s beauty.  Seriously.  A loaf of hand made, fresh bread has never looked so beautiful.

 

What does the inside look like? It’s a dense bread with lots of “nooks and crannies”.

 

Quite honestly, this bread is perfection.

We IMMEDIATELY sliced ourselves a slice and buttered them.  You know what?  This is the BEST BREAD I’VE EVER TASTED.   Chris’s words were, “you really out-did yourself this time, babe!”  haha!  It’s a thick, dense bread, and it is SO crispy on the outside – ALL the way around, and very soft on the inside.

I FINALLY have found a home made bread that knocks my socks off.  A bread that is post-worthy!  And it’s SO EASY!

We go through a lot of bread in our house.  Sandwiches, french toast, grilled cheese, BLT’s, toast, etc – do you know how much bread is?!  We pay $2.68 for a tiny loaf of white sliced bread at the store!

This bread comes out to about 30¢ a loaf.  And sorry, but there is NO comparison.

Remember when I said I made 2 loaves?  This is how my 2nd one came out:

And, I already have another batch of dough rising on the counter to make a 3rd loaf for tomorrow.  I’m going to slice them up and freeze them!  I will never buy store bought bread again!

Oh, and a special thanks to my mom for letting me “borrow” this cast iron pot.  And by “borrow”, I mean “give”.  I don’t think she’ll ever see this pot again.  LOL!

More of my recipes:

My grandma was a genius in the kitchen.  She was known for being able to make the most delicious meals out of just a few ingredients.  This is one of the dishes she used to make quite often, and like so many of her others, one of my very favorites.  This is also one of the easiest recipes to make, too.

This is pretty much all you’ll need.  I have 2 large tubs of baby spinach and 2 bags of spinach (I bought the bags because they were out of the tubs).  Spinach wilts down to almost nothing, so you need a lot.  You’ll need some pork chops, a small onion, oil, salt/pepper and water.  That’s it!

You will also need a large pot.  Add some oil to the bottom, just enough to coat the bottom of the pan.  Grandma always used olive oil, but I love cooking with coconut oil.

Next, cut up your onion into tiny pieces.  I only used half of an onion, because it was pretty large.  I like to finely chop mine with my Kuuk onion chopper.

Once your oil gets hot, pour the onions into your pan, and let them fry for a few minutes.

I usually buy thin pork chops, but the store only had thick ones, so I sliced them in half to make them thinner.

Once your onions have been cooking for a few minutes, add your pork chops.  Cook them on both sides until they are cooked through.

Once your pork chops are all cooked, add  half of your spinach to the pan, and then fill the pan about 1/3 of the way with water.  You don’t want to add too much water because the spinach wilts down very quickly and your broth will be too watery.

Add some salt, give it a stir, loosening the pork chops from the bottom of the pan, and then add the rest of your spinach.

My pan is actually quite large, and you can see that the uncooked spinach fills the pan right up to the top.

Give it another stir and add a little more salt.   Leave it on high heat for 15 minutes.

This is what all that spinach wilts down to!

After 15 minutes on high heat, turn it down to a simmer, and let it simmer for about an hour.  Keep stirring occasionally.

When it’s done, just pour into a bowl and enjoy.  The pork chops will be so tender, and the spinach and broth just takes on the most delicious flavor.  Chris enjoys it so much, he even drinks the broth when he’s done.  This is an excellent way to add more green vegetables to your diet, too!   Healthy, easy and delicious.

Four years ago today, my grandma passed away.  I’m guessing she’s looking down at me, seeing me sharing her recipes with the world and she probably feels like a celebrity, with her recipes on the “little tv” (what she used to call my computer monitors, lol)  Grandma was the most adorable, loving woman, and I miss her SO much!

Thank you, Grandma, for sharing your recipes and so much more with me!   Love and miss you always ♥ ♥

I’ve shared a lot of my grandma’s recipes on my blog. Being her only granddaughter, I spent so much time with my grandma, and she showed me how to make some of the most amazing dishes.  There were two recipes I always loved that she made, but never learned how to make them. And the older I get, the more I miss these recipes.  My mom was making grandma’s “peas & macaroni” dish the other day and I told her how I missed grandma’s spinach soup, and lentil soup.  As we were talking, my mom was going through her “cookbook” (all handwritten in a spiral notebook) and she found these recipes!!

I was so happy I almost cried!!

Today, I made this recipe – grandma’s lentil soup – and this was my first time making it, and it turned out awesome.  It tasted just like grandma’s!   Here’s the recipe:

First, you’ll need a bag (1lb) of lentils.  Grandma always used brown lentils, but our grocery store only had green lentils, which are actually even better for you – so that’s what I made.

Pour them into a bowl, sort through and make sure you pick out any bad ones, give them a good rinse, and then place in a bowl with lots of cold water to soak overnight.  Make sure you use a large bowl with lots of water – these absorb the water and will easily double in size.

The next morning, pour them in a colander, and give them another good rinse.

Pour them into a large pot with plenty of water, add salt, and boil for an hour or until the lentils are tender (when they are soft when you squish them).  If you are using brown or red lentils, they may take less time – the green ones take the longest.  Once they are tender, remove from heat, and pour them into a colander to strain again.

In another large, 5-quart pot, fill about 2/3 full with water.  If you have a hambone, add that to it (to flavor the water).  You can also use some bacon, or pork salt.  Or, you can use Goya’s Ham Flavored Concentrate.  I picked up a box at our local Walmart Supercenter.  It was in their Goya food section.   If you go this route, add 3 packets of the ham flavored concentrate to the water.  Stir, add a little salt, and let the water come to a boil.

 

While your pot of flavored water is coming to a boil, cut up an onion (I like to finely chop mine with my Kuuk onion chopper).  Get your frying pan, and add a few tablespoons of oil – grandma always used olive oil, but I prefer coconut oil.   Let the oil heat up, and then add your cut up onions.  Let the onions cook in the oil for a minute or two.  Then, add your lentils that you have in your colander.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Fry them, stirring regularly, for about 15 minutes.

After they are done being cooking in the frying pan for about 15 minutes, pour the lentils into your water that’s flavored with either ham concentrate or ham bone.  (Remove ham bone if going this route).

Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes.

Pour the lentils over rice – and enjoy!  I know it sounds like a lot of steps, but it will be so worth it!  Like I said, I made this for the first time today and couldn’t believe how good it was.  And Chris LOVED it!  I was so afraid it wouldn’t taste like grandma’s, but it truly did!  The lentils made a LOT of soup, too, so Chris and I both will be having that for lunch throughout the week.

This is a very inexpensive meal to make, and a little goes a long way!  Grandma was known for making the most delicious meals out of just a few ingredients.  If you try this recipe, please let me know how yours turned out!