Spicy Roasted Chicken Legs

I was looking for a simple way to prepare chicken legs.  I came across this recipe.  It is nice because you can change the flavor by changing the spices.  I used Margarine instead of butter because I heard that butter burns easier than margarine.  I used different spices like salt, garlic, onion, and paprika.  If you click on the link at the bottom of this recipe there are pictures to go with each step on The Pioneer Woman's website.

Prep Time: 20 Minutes  |  Cook Time: 30 Minutes  |  Difficulty: Easy  |  Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 24 whole Chicken Legs
• 2 sticks Butter
• 1 Tablespoon Hot Salt (or You Favorite Seasonings)
• 1/2 cup Lemon Juice (or To Taste)

Preparation Instructions

Melt 2 sticks of butter in a saucepan. Pour ½ cup of lemon juice (fresh or bottled). Now add your seasonings. In this case, 1 tablespoon of Morton’s Hot Salt. You can use whatever seasonings makes your skirt fly up, be it minced garlic, salt and Cayenne pepper ... let your imagination run wild. Stir it together until combined.

Rinse and pat your chicken legs dry. With metal tongs, transfer them one by one into the butter mixture and place on a baking sheet. Once all of the chicken legs are coated and on the baking rack, take a pastry brush and give them one last coating of the butter mixture. Sprinkle them with some more of your seasonings.

Place them into a 400-degree oven for 30 minutes. If they need a bit more color, turn on the broiler for a couple minutes and watch them closely. Remove them when they are nice and golden brown.

The Pioneer Woman

Mrs. Fields Eggnog Cookies and Frosting

I had to come up with a cookies recipe for a cookie exchange this year. I love to bake and have tons of cookie recipes but I wanted to find a recipe that was more for the holiday season and different than what usually appears on holiday cookie plates in our family. Here is the winning recipe. Keep in mind the frosting recipe makes more than enough frosting for 6 dozen cookies. I doubled the cookie recipe and used one frosting recipe. The cookies turned out wonderful. Another thing to note is the frosting takes some time to set up so make sure you have time to let them sit before they are packaged away.  Happy Holiday Baking to all!


Yields: 3 dozen cookies
1 recipes of the Frosting yields enough for more that 6 dozen cookies.

2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup SALTED butter, room temp (Mrs. Fields calls for this)
1/2 cup eggnog
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon nutmeg (optional)

Preheat oven to 300F.

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg; mix well with a wire whisk and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter with an electric mixer. Add eggnog, vanilla and egg yolks and beat at medium speed until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Chill dough.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased baking sheets, 1″ apart. Sprinkle lightly with nutmeg or skip this step and sprinkle on the nutmeg after you ice the cookies. Bake for 23-25 minutes or until bottoms turn light brown.

Transfer to cool, flat surface immediately with spatula.

Eggnog Icing
3 C. confectioners’ sugar
1/4 C. softened butter or margarine
1/3 C. commercial eggnog (use as much as you need)

In small mixer bowl, beat confectioners’ sugar and butter or margarine until well blended. Gradually beat in eggnog until icing is smooth. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

Leave of Absense

Whoa!  Where has the time gone since I last posted?  I haven't posted a recipe in two months... yikes!  I make a bunch of freezer meals over the weekend and will be posting the recipes as I try them.  I will be having freezer meatloaf and mashed potatoes tonight.  Stay tuned!