Homemade Sourdough Cheez-It Crackers!

 

Ingredients:

125 grams recently fed starter at 100% hydration
63 grams water
32 grams of melted butter
250 grams flour
10 grams salt
125 grams of shredded cheese

Directions:

• Mix starter, water, and melted butter together until well combined
• Add flour and salt to the mixture, and mix until completely combined.
• Add shredded cheese to the dough, and mix with your hands until you have a well-mixed ball of dough.
• Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 12-24 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Split the dough in half, and shape each half into a rectangle. Sandwich dough between parchment and roll out until 1/8 inch thin, or as thin as possible.
• Remove the top piece of parchment and cut the crackers into the desired shape, about 1-inch sq. Poke each cracker twice to keep them from puffing up too much while baking
• Leave on parchment, and bake in oven for 25-30 mins at 350°F. Turn off the oven and leave the door cracked, allow the crackers to cool in the oven. Then break apart and enjoy!

2015 Chili Cook-Off ~ People’s Choice Award - Texas Style

Authentic Texas-style chili contains no beans and is usually made with diced beef. Some purest use only beef and spices in their chili. We use brisket that has been smoked for 24 hours. Once the brisket has cooled, it is finely diced before being added to the remaining ingredients.

Ingredients:
2 pounds (or 1 kilo) smoked brisket (“Pecho” en español), shredded and trimmed of fat. We smoke the brisket for 12 hours and then finish it in the oven for another 12 hours. (If you don’t have brisket, you could use ground beef, browned and drained, or chuck roast (posta) that has been diced into ¼” cubes. You will need to increase the liquid smoke to 1/3 cup.
1 pound Italian sausage, browned and drained
1 medium onion, diced small
1 – 14.5 cans of diced tomatoes
1 – 6 oz. cans of tomato paste
2 cups of chicken stock
¼ cup liquid smoky broth from the brisket, with all fat dripping removed. Alternately, you can use “Colgin Liquid Smoke” sold in most grocery stores, including AutoMercado in Costa Rica
1 cups of water
½ pint of Pace salsa picante (medium) or 1 can of La Costeña Salsa Mexicana
1 tablespoon of beef stock concentrate 
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon of salt
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 tablespoon masa (corn flour) dissolved in ½ cup of water for thickening
2 tablespoons homemade chili powder (more, or less, according to taste)

Directions:
Brown the ground sausage and drain.  Add the meat and sausage to the pot with all the onions, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, chicken stock, beef concentrate, salsa, garlic, oregano, chili powder, salt, pepper, and 1 cup of water. Bring mixture to a steady boil, stirring frequently for at least an hour.  Mix the masa (corn flour) with enough cold water to create a thick batter and add it to the pot.  Simmer for 4 hours, or more.
Top with grated cheddar and diced onions before serving. Corn tortillas or chips go great with a bowl of chili.

Yield ~ 1 gallon

*Homemade Chili Powder
4 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili de árbol powder (Tree chili is a small Mexican Chili with a woody stem that is sometimes called bird’s beak chili.) 
2 whole chipotle chili peppers with stems removed, minced, and ground to a powder (Chipotle chili is a smoked Jalapeño chili pepper used primarily in Mexican and Tex-Mex cooking.)
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons smoked Spanish paprika
2 tablespoons garlic powder
3 tablespoons fresh finely minced oregano
1 tablespoon fresh ground coriander seeds
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground clove
4 tablespoons Hot Chili Powder (Purchased from MySpiceSage.com. Ingredients: Chile Pepper, Salt, Cumin, Oregano, Garlic, Cayenne Pepper, and Crushed Red Pepper)

Peppermint Bark

 Ingredients:

18 ounces dark chocolate chips (can use semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips)

18 ounces white chocolate chips

1 cup crushed candy canes or hard peppermint candies

½ teaspoon of vanilla extract divided.

Directions:

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  

2. Melt dark chocolate in a microwave-safe dish for 45 seconds.  Stir, then continue to heat for 10 seconds, stirring in between, until completely melted.

3 Stir in ¼ teaspoon of vanilla.

4. Pour melted dark chocolate onto parchment paper and spread evenly to about ¼ inch in thickness and chill in the refrigerator/freezer while preparing the white chocolate.

5. Melt white chocolate chips in a separate bowl in the microwave following the melting instructions above. If the chocolate should start to seize, you can fix it with a teaspoon of coconut oil.  

6. Add ¼ teaspoon of vanilla and ½ cup of the crushed peppermint candies to the white chocolate and stir to combine. 

7.  Pour white chocolate on top and carefully spread it over the dark chocolate. Sprinkle with remaining ½ cup crushed peppermints. Refrigerate for 10 minutes or until hard. Cut pieces with a sharp knife.