Momma Buscemi's Favorite Ribs

     

These are the best ribs in the entire universe.  They've been a family tradition ever since I can remember and they always turn out phenomenal.  I'm not usually a big pork fan...but I LOVE these ribs!  Sinking your teeth into one of these thick, juicy ribs, and then licking the sweet sauce off your fingers....it doesn't get much better than that. My mom made these for the super bowl this year and they tasted even more delicious than I remembered.  They're so much better than any ribs I've ever had in a restaurant.  The ingredients in the sauce are the secret.  The peach preserves and brown sugar give it an amazing, sweet flavor that make them melt in your mouth.  We had these with my classic biscuits (found here).  Oh my lordy...I was in heaven.


Ingredients:
3 racks baby back ribs

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and black pepper to taste

2 slices of bacon
2 bunches fresh thyme
1/2 onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups ketchup
1 cup peach preserves
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon prepared dry mustard
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground paprika




Instructions:
1. Wrap the bacon around thyme, and heat 2 tablespoons oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add bacon wrapped thyme and cook for 4 minutes.  
2. Add chopped onion and garlic to skillet, and cook for 5 more minutes.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for 15-20 minutes longer.
4. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Drizzle 1/4 cup olive oil on top of ribs, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in the oven to bake.
4.  Baste ribs with sauce every 15 minutes until 2.5 hours is done.

Whole Wheat Ginger Snaps

These cookies are perfect in every way.  But I - unfortunately - did not come up with the recipe.  I found them on Allrecipe here.  I definitely recommend cooking them JUST until they crack for a super soft, moist cookie.  I don't understand why people like hard, crunchy cookies....soft is a billion times better!  The whole wheat flour and molasses give these such a rich, flavorful flavor.  And rolling the dough in sugar gives them a delightful, sugary coating.  I've never had a cookie with as much flavor than these...they're spicy and rich and oh-so-delicious.  The day after I made them, I took the last two cookies I had left over and made them into a sandwich with a big spoonful of Nutella slathered in between and took it to school.  Sorry I don't have a picture of it...I ate it before I had a chance. You have no idea how happy that cookie sandwich made me...I was seriously freaking out because of how good it was.  My friends were like..."what the heck?"  You'll just have to try it yourself if you don't believe me. (;

Favorite Gingerbread

  

Gingerbread...it's really not all that great, right? I mean c'mon, who has ever had a really good gingerbread?  Everybody knows that gingerbread cookies are the least tasty of all types of cookies.  And most gingerbread loaves are kind of dry and just average tasting.  Even the one at Starbucks isn't that good. 

That is what I thought before I made this gingerbread cake.

Now whenever I think of gingerbread, I think of this recipe.  It is the best gingerbread I have ever tasted.  Way better than Starbucks.  My dad and I ate nearly the entire loaf in one sitting - while putting chocolate sauce, ice cream, and whipped cream on the slices (oh yeah, we were stuffed).  It's so moist and full of flavor with spices.  I definitely recommend having it warm with these toppings, but it is delicious plain too.  It's also heavenly chilled or room temperature with cream cheese frosting.  I was planning on having a slice with orange cream cheese frosting once it cooled, but there wasn't enough left to make it for!  This is perfect with a cup of coffee in the morning as well.  And it makes great gifts during the holiday season.  This is everyone's holiday favorite...even the busy cooks (like me!) because it's so easy to make.

Yield: one 9-inch cake or one large loaf

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 1 cup molasses
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup hot water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 inch square pan or a loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the egg, and then the molasses.
3. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Blend into the creamed mixture. Stir in the hot water. Pour into the prepared pan.
4. Bake 40-50 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Chocolate Gingerbread Toffee Cake

This may be the best cake I've ever had.  I made this for Christmas dessert yesterday, and it is absolutely outstanding. Oh..and just a warning: it makes a very large cake.  There's only 3 people in my family, and we've probably cut about 10 slices out of it, and there's still over half a cake left. I guess it's because it's 3 layers instead of the usual two. We even freezed some of it to save for the future, since we didn't want it to go bad. It took some time to prepare, but it was TOTALLY worth it...and lots of fun to make. This was on the cover of the December issue of Southern Living, and it was the winning recipe for the annual white cake recipe.  My cake did not turn out looking quite as perfect as the one on the magazine (be sure to refrigerate it after you fill the layers ASAP or else the melted ganache will pull the cake apart and may break some pieces...) - but hey, it's the taste that counts, right?  First, you start off by making 3 layers of gingerbread cake.  Melted chocolate chips, softened butter, sour cream, and hot water make it exceptionally moist.  And the molasses, spices, and vanilla give it a perfectly spiced flavor.  After the cakes have cooled, you make the silky ganache.  And this is what makes the cake so rich; it's mainly chocolate chips, butter, sweetened condensed milk, and heavy cream. Wow...now that sounds like a heart attack just waiting to happen.  But we're not even done yet.  As you slather the ganache between the cake layers,  you'll also sprinkle a generous amount of toffee bits on top. Pop it in the fridge for a few hours, and then spread on the "icing on the cake": the ginger whipped cream. I didn't think ginger would taste very good in whipped cream, but it's absolutely heavenly.  Especially since it uses fresh ginger (I'm not sure how dried ginger would have tasted, but I'm definitely sticking to fresh when I make this whipped cream). After all those hours preparing this cake, and when you finally take a bite, it will taste like "all the wonderful flavors that come tumbling from a stocking: milk chocolate santas, gingerbread men, and buttery toffee candy."


You can find this spectacular recipe here.

Apple Almond Gingerbread

This is inspired from one of Whole Foods' (my absolute favorite grocery store...I could spend hours in there) recipes on their website, and I was really surprised at how amazing it turned out. I altered it slightly by making it a little more low fat, but you can't tell at all.  I can't believe something so healthy can taste so delicious.  First off: it's 100% whole wheat.  It also has apples and almonds which give the bread a delicious and nutritious crunch.  The molasses mixed with the whole wheat flour gives it an incredible richness that reminded me of sticky bread.  The only not-so-healthy ingredient is butter, but it's only a few spoonfuls. I'm gonna try adding some almond extract the next time I make it..I think it would give it a nice almond flavor.  But it's perfect as it is. This is a great holiday bread, and the wonderful aroma of spices fill the house while it's baking.  I recommend serving it when it's warm with a scoop of whipped cream.

Ingredients:

2.5 tablespoons butter, melted

2.5 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup slivered almonds, divided* 
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk (i used low fat)
1/3 cup unsulphured molasses
1/2 cup sugar 
1 tablespoon vanilla extract 
1 egg 
1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour 
1 tablespoon ground ginger 
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 
1 apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped (I used pink ladies)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch loaf pan. Put 1/4 cup almonds in bottom of pan and then rotate pan to distribute them around the bottom and sides (they'll stick to the greased pan); set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together buttermilk, molasses, sugar, butter, vanilla and egg. In a second large bowl, combine flour, ginger, baking soda and remaining 1/2 cup almonds. Add apples and toss well. Stir flour mixture into molasses mixture and then spoon batter into pan. Bake until cooked through and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool in pan for 30 minutes and then invert onto a plate and serve warm or at room temperature.