Looking for a Reason to Make Pastrami-Pretzel Bites?

Here is my entry for the 47th Pillsbury Bake-Off® contest: Pastrami-Pretzel Bites. Look good?

Here are a few reasons why you should give it a try:

I left out EASY TO MAKE.

The Grand Prize is a Million bucks. Stay tuned...

UPDATE November 3: Category winners are posted at bakeoff.com

Check them out and vote through December 2. 

My 2 Xmas Breads and Pictures for FRED

For xmas eve Jean always makes a giant pot of wild rice soup. See the cute santa hat? Jean made those for everyone.

I made 2 breads to go with the soup. First up: Rich and Tender American Dinner Rolls from the ATK Family cookbook.

I also made Betty Crocker's Focaccia. I topped with Dubliner cheese instead of parmesan. 

Recipe is on page 90.

I didn't have fresh rosemary so I added 1 TBSP of Tuscan Sunset.

Compared to the hours and hours of butter layering my brother did for xmas day, my effects seemed lame. He learned how from the America's Test Kitchen TV show. 

It's all in the family: pre-xmas popovers from my mom.

I needed to throw together a quick cheese tray and this was a hit.

We enjoyed a white xmas.

So did the puppies.

And the kids.

Did I mention that with a blog post about xmas, you get EGG ROLL?

 Sorry Martha, but your recipe yielded a lot of grease. I should have followed the process on the back of the egg roll package. It said to sauté the pork first and then drain the grease.

I've never made egg rolls before and the rolling easy. The egg wash really holds them together. 

Make sure your helper is wearing a lot of BLING.

Gaines Burgers Anyone? My Road to Making the Perfect Melting Snowman Cookies

I saw this on Pinterest last year and wanted to try it for this year's Cookie Exchange.

There are millions of versions. Some have pretzel arms or toasted marshmallow heads. 

I think Better Homes & Gardens magazine started it with this recipe. 

I used the pumpkin cookie recipe my kids love as the base. The cookies are orange-ish, so tinting them red would not be a stretch. 

I used 2T professional grade color from Lynn's Cake and Candy. 

I flattened them with a spatula so they would not become domes.

When baked, the color was a beautiful red. 

What would work for a hat? Byerly's had bell shaped Reese's Peanut butter cups. How to cut with out breaking them? Do it in two steps. Score edge with a very thin sharp knife (or EXACTO) and then cut in half.

What frosting would work? I asked the lady at LC&Candy and she recommended this.

It worked like a dream. Just heat in the microwave for 10 seconds. I got better at slathering it on and creating cute irregular edges as I worked. 

The eyes are mini chocolate chips and the carrot is just an orange sprinkle. What about the packaging? LC&C had clear clamshells. I had cupcake liners but they were too small. I widened the bottoms by forming over a tin can.

With labels the job was complete.

See how the frosting is much cuter when it is irregular?

But wait, what's this talk about Gaines Burgers? I had leftover cookie dough and wanted to try to make a red velvet powdered sugar crusted cookie like this (also from Pinterest).

I rolled some dough balls in sugar and baked them.

Ugh.

My hub said, "They look like Gaines Burgers!" If you are too young to know what that is, check out these videos. I didn't know they had been around in the 60s.

Eventually, they added the pouch. Watch this one.

Hey, wasn't there Gravy in those pouches?  

Nope. Don't confuse this with Gaines GRAVY TRAIN. 

Whatever happed to Gaines? Wiki doesn't say much here.