Best of 2009!!... Today is New Years Eve, and before we get too deep into things, HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Today I am busy recovering from the last month of cooking, baking, and entertaining.  While I spend the day with family and friends, and take down the Christmas Decorations, I will leave you with some of my favorite recipes from 2009 both here at Evil Shenanigans and across the interwebs! Below is the best of Evil Shenanigans 2009! This...

Beef Empanadas... When I entertain I like to have a wide variety of foods available to snack on.  It keeps things from getting boring and it keeps the palate active.   So, when I plan a party of a gathering where little bites will be served I always make something with a Tex-Mex flair.  These empanadas are the perfect party food because they are easy to eat, they are filling, they look pretty on a platter, and they taste fantastic!      The...

Pancetta Risotto Cakes... Do you remember a few months ago when I posted that a recipe I created won a contest and the prize was a trip to San Francisco? At the time I was not able to share the recipe due to the ’super-secret’ nature of the contest.  Well, the contest is over and I am free to share, and share I shall.  These are my Pancetta Risotto Cakes and they are among my favorite appetizers to prepare, and consume.  They...

Merry Christmas!!!... Today I am celebrating Christmas with my family and friends.  I wish you and yours a happy holiday season, a very Merry Christmas, and a day filled with joy! Next week we will discuss more party food for all those New Year’s Eve parties coming up.  Let’s get a jump start, shall we?  Here are some delish dishes sure to please your guests, and help soak up some of that champagne! Crab Cake Dip Jalapeno...

Pecan Tassies (aka Pecan Pie Cookies)... I have a love affair with little pie shaped cookies. This time it is cookies that are in fact tiny pecan pies!  I adore them, with their little nubbly tops and their gooey centers.  These are lovely for dessert with a cup of coffee, make a lovely gift wrapped in a pretty bag, or are perfect for a dressed up gathering drizzled in a little dark chocolate.  They also freeze very well making them a great make-ahead cookie. I...

Porchetta... When I was at the FoodBuzz festival back in November I had something that was life-changingly good.  It is called porchetta. Porchetta is a pork shoulder with the fat and skin attached.  It is slowly cooked so the skin becomes crunchy while the meat becomes ridiculously tender.  The skin, attached to the fat cap, is easily removed after the porchetta finishes cooking and I like to chop it into small pieces to garnish...

Seared Filet with Mushroom Cream Sauce and a Givea... **UPATE** The winner, as selected by Random.org, was comment 14 – Brad!  Congrats to you! It is getting down to crunch time for Christmas and I know I have been getting some last moment gifts together for my friends and family. The folks at Omaha Steaks know how stressful this time of year can be and have offered me the chance to make the season a little tastier give one of my readers a $50 gift card!   If you...

Crab Cake Dip... I am not a big fan of crab in a general sense.  In fact I am not a fan of shellfish overall. That said, I love, and have always loved, crab cakes.  I like the mix of flavors, the different textures, and I find the creaminess of the crab mixture hard to resist.  So, in an effort to expand my crab consumption options I modified one of my favorite crab cake recipes and made it into a warm dip.  It has everything that...

Peanut Butter Cinnamon Blondies with Peanut Butter... The other day I was craving blondies and peanut butter at the same time. It often happens that I get dual cravings, and in this case it was easy to satisfy both with these incredible tasty blondies.  To amp up the peanut butter flavor, and because I like a frosted blondie, I whipped up a very quick peanut butter frosting.  The blondies were nice alone, but with the frosting they are something special and would make...

Spiced Chocolate Crinkles... There is something magic about a soft, chewy chocolate cookie. Crinkle cookies are an attractive addition to any platter of cookies.  I have a recipe that was given to me by a friend long ago which is lovely on its own, but you know me and my propensity to tinker.  Inspired by my Chocolate Spice Cake I decided to add some warm spices to the cookies, and I also punched up the chocolate flavor by using more cocoa powder...

Cranberry Chipotle Glazed Ham... **UPDATE**  The winner of the Microplane was #43 (as chosen by Random.org).  Congratulations to Amanda from The Two Boos Who Eat! We have ham today, but first … how about a giveaway? Because it is the Holidays, and because I appreciate all my readers more than I can express, I am giving away one of my FAVORITE kitchen tools! A Classic Series Microplane!  This handy tool is great for zesting, grating, and finely...

Fruit Cake... Wait!  Before you hit the back button just hear me out. I know fruit cake gets a bad rap, and most of the time it is well deserved.  Be it the candied citron, the fluorescent cherries, or insipidly sweet cake, most fruit cake is in fact very bad.  Terrible even.  I’m still asking you to hear me out, because I have created a recipe for fruit cake that is more than edible, it is actually good!  My husband and...

Double Peanut Butter Chip Cookies... I love to tweak recipes. Sometimes they are big tweaks, other times it is a small change with a HUGE impact. This is one of those recipes. In The Joy of Cooking there is a recipe for perfectly lovely Peanut Butter Cookies. They are traditional, with the crosshatch design on the top, in a way that screams, ‘homemade’. They are soft, peanut buttery, and really very good. In our house Christmas is not Christmas...

Jalapeno Bacon Stuffed Mushrooms... Let’s talk about party food, shall we? When I host, or attend and help cook for, a cocktail party I like to think about finger foods and two-bite dishes that are easy to eat, pretty and not too messy.   I like savory dishes that stand up to a variety of cocktails and beers, and nothing does that better than mushrooms. These mushrooms are stuffed with a mixture of cheeses which is studded with crisp fried bacon...