I did the same thing for my niece for Christmas--16 small bottles and 8 large. She is a new first-time home owner and she loved it! It's a unique gift and good for people who like to cook!

Yes, you are lucky, and so is beachlily's niece - what a terrific gift!

Do you like popcorn? I'm completely addicted to the half-sharp paprika sprinkled on buttered popcorn. A little does go a long way, though. It's sneaky hot. :)

Garam masala is good on roasted cauliflower.

beanthere, those are both TERRIFIC ideas. I would never have thought of the popcorn trick. And I know to cook cauliflower with garam masala, but I never thought about just sort of sprinkling it on roasted -- sounds great. Thanks.

Oooh, nice gift! I gave my son a smaller "make it yourself" box from Penzeys. I started him out with 8 jars and didn't go with anything too exotic as he is still a beginner.

I would encourage you to try some of the recipes in their catalog. I have tried several and have had good results with all so far.

Linda

Ooooo...I never thought about using the half sharp paprika on popcorn. Yum.

I got the Chili 9000. Eh. Not sure chili powder needs star anise. There's almost too many flavors. What did you think of the 3000?

I like the Vietnamese cinnamon when I want a strong flavor. I overdid it with some applesauce last year, though...yick. Their cinnamons are all good.

We like Herbes de Provence in beef stew.

I gave Liana Penzey's for Christmas, too...a basic herb box and a gift certificate. She who has always scoffed at Mom's collection of herbs and spices now as a foodie boyfriend. She's been coming home and robbing my spice drawer to make rubs and beer butt chicken.

ArabellaMiller gave me a baking box of Penzey's in an exchange and I loved them all. I even hesitated before using them over my regular spices depending on the recipe/recipient. How bad is that??
Enjoy!
Jo

The box I did for my niece were two of the do-it-yourself boxes. The packing material costs more than the package did. It took a lot of thought, but really worked well.

My husband will be at the Jacksonville Mayo Clinic for surgery Feb. 1. I've already marked on the map where the Penzey's is in Jacksonville, so that I can visit during any free time I'll have. Good to get away from a hospital, even if only for a little while.

I am jealous :-) Penzey's spices sound nice!

Lucky you, I love Penzey's spices. I intended to get my DD and DDIL and gift box for their stocking and didn't do it.

I still need your recipe suggestions. To get you started, about the Vietnamese cinnamon? So many of you rave about it. I know it will be good in anything I use cinnamon for ordinarily. But what have you found really makes use of the difference?

Oh yeah, the cinnamon. Make molasses cookies first, I use the Vietnamese cinnamon in these.

Chewy Molasses Cookies

1 1/2 cups of shortening (I use half and half with butter, but all butter makes them too crispy for my taste)
1 cups granulated sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup of dark molasses
4 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
Chopped crystalized ginger, optional, to taste. I used about half a cup, finely chopped and wish I'd have used more but I love ginger
Coarse sugar or turbinado sugar for rolling

Ccream the shortening and sugars. Add the molasses and eggs and mix until well blended. Sift the flour (yeah right, I don't, LOL) and measure 4 1/2 cups into a separate bowl. Add the spices, salt, and baking soda and whisk to combine. Turn the mixer to low or stir, and add the flour slowly until well mixed. Stir in the chopped ginger and chill the dough for at least an hour.

After the dough has chilled for an hour, roll tablespoonfuls of the dough into balls and roll the balls in the coarse sugar to completely coat. Place the dough balls about an inch apart on a greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake for 12 to 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

The cookies will puff up and crack. When the cookies are done the cracks should still look a little wet, but the outside should look dry. They'll "fall" a little as they cool, let them sit a couple of minutes on the sheet before you try to move them to cooling racks.

after that you could make some cinnamon meringues, they're low fat so they kind of healthy. Yeah, sure they are...

CINNAMON CRACKLE MERINGUES

2 egg whites
3/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla

makes 20 meringues

Put egg whites in a clean dry bowl. Mix with hand mixer till egg whites are thick and creamy.

Begin to add sugar a tablespoon at a time frequently while mixing. Pour in the cinnamon continuing to blend. Lastly, mix in the vanilla.

Preheat oven 325 degrees.

Prepare 2 baking sheets with wax paper covering. Pour in mixture from bowl to pastry bag using a star tip.

While putting on wax paper create a 1 inch circle and then continue on top of it making smaller circles.

Place in the oven for 30 minutes. Cool for 10 min.

Sprinkle top with cinnamon.

Oh, and I like a little cinnamon sprinkled on top of whipped cream with hot chocolate and I make a quick dressing for fruit salad with a cup of plain or vanilla yogurt, 2 or 3 tablespoons of honey and a teaspoon full of cinnamon.

You could make cinnamon rolls or apple pie too, or just make cinnamon snaps, right after you eat up all those molasses cookies:

Cinnamon Snaps Better Homes and Gardens

Makes 60

3/4 cup shortening (I use butter)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
cinnamon sugar, for rolling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream shortening and sugar.
Add eggs and molasses and mix. Mix together the flour, soda, cinnamon and salt. Add dry mix to wet gradually and mix in.

Roll in 3/4" to 1" balls. Roll in cinnamon sugar (I use LOTS of cinnamon, you do it to taste).

Bake 10-12 minutes until set and cracked. Cool on sheet for just a few seconds, until the cookies are transportable. Remove to wire rack to cool.

I love cinnamon.....

Annie

Cinnamon rolls. Yum.

Annie loves cinnamon, and I love Annie!

Those all look great. Thanks for sharing them, Annie. I think I will make some snaps to send to my daughter at college, who has been hinting for "care packages."

I use the half sharp paprika in salsa, chili and black bean soup. Recipe below:

Black Bean Soup with Red Paprika Sauce
Serves 8

1 lb. dried black beans (soak overnight, then drain)
8 cups water or broth (I use veggie broth)
2 cups chopped onions, med.
2 ribs celery
2 cups chopped tomatoes
2 TBLSP paprika (use a mix of regular and sharp, to your taste, but be careful, the half sharp is hot)
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup cilantro
1 cup corn (optional but is pretty and tastes good)
1/4 tsp. pepper
lightly salt to taste AFTER the beans are cooked! You'll be adding salt with the paprika sauce, so undersalt.

Simmer beans until soft, 2-3 hours on the stove, 6 hours in the crockpot.

Puree half the bean soup mixture before adding corn. (If desired, I just run the hand blender or potato masher through it once or twice).

Red Paprika Sauce (add to soup once it's done)
Saute the following in 2 TBLSP olive oil until veggies are soft:
1 large red pepper, diced fine
3 scallions, minced
2 tsp. paprika (or less, to taste, once again be careful with the hot stuff)
2 tsp. salt
2 TBLSP lime juice

Swirl the sauce into the soup before serving

Note: I also add a pinch of epazote to the black beans when cooking. ANOTHER Penzeys thing I forgot about!

This is a vegetarian style soup, but feel free to add some bits of ham or sausage if you just can't abide by bean soup without it. Doesn't really need it though.

That sounds great.

What is epazote?

Gellchom, Lars sent me some epazote once, I'd never used it before. I thought it smelled like mint, but tasted more like fennel. It's used a lot in South/Central American cooking, I think. It's also supposed to have some medicinal qualities which I don't remember, I'd have to look up.

It's nice with beans, as Lpink noted, beans are mild enough in flavor to take on more assertive herbs and spices, at least that's my opinion. It's why I love beans, I can do a zillion things with them. (Plus, they're cheap and healthy!)

Now I really want cookies, though.

Annie

Epazote is not a seasoning per se, at least I've never seen it used as such. It is added to the cooking water for beans in Mexico, supposedly to reduce the gas causing properties of beans. Taken as a medicinal herb, epazote has "carmative" properties which basically means it relieves gas. I don't know if it does or not, but I follow the tradition and use a pinch in the cooking water of my beans. It is most commonly used for black beans, which is why I mentioned it. But it doesn't taste all that great so you only want to add maybe 1/8-1/4 tsp. In a spicy soup like the one I posted it will highlight the tastes, not detract, IMHO. So it's not an essential ingredient in that soup, in fact it is not really an ingredient at all, just something I practice with beans, it was not part of the original recipe so don't sweat it if you don't have epazote.

Do you can? Because I have a recipe for Pear Cardamom butter that was pretty good. Cardamom could also be added to apple butter.

Here is a link that might be useful: More on Epazote from Gourmet Sleuth

thanks, for that information, L, I was using it as a seasoning, although I know it's an herb and an antispasmodic. I've got several recipes that call for it and coincidentally, they all are for some type of bean. Hmmmm....

I figured it was seasoning, although I didn't think it tasted very good. (grin) Of course, I don't think a lot of seasonings taste very good, so I figured it was just me.

Annie

When you use Vietnamese Cinnamon in an old standby recipe, do you use the full amount, or do you reduce the measurement? I'm asking because katiec mentioned above that she used too much in applesauce one time. ... Are all of the Penzey's spices stronger than others or are they "just" better?

I was wondering about the various cinnamons as well. I haven't ordered any as of yet because I can't decide between them all! Are there truly significant differences between them? Which one would you suggest using as a sub for "regular" cinnamon?

Sorry to bust in on your thread gellchom!! Congrats on your spice haul!

Lisa

I love cinnamon and I like a strong cinnamon flavor so in most baked goods I use the full amount of Vietnamese cinnamon, although the clerk at the store told me that most people use half.

In something like applesauce or salad dressing I start with half and then taste, those are flavors that can easily be overwhelmed by cinnamon.

I buy the Vietnamese because that's what I like best, I think either is a substitute for "regular" cinnamon. The Korintje is supposed to have less bite, while the Vietnamese is the familiar "sweet spicy" flavor that most of us are familiar with. I like the bite, so I stick with the Vietnamese.

Annie

Oh, I forgot Ceylon cinnamon, it has a less sweet flavor, it's used a lot in Mexican cooking. It's really the "true" cinnamon.

Annie

Penzeys is a good company, and their spices are fresh. But that doesn't mean that you can't find good fresh spices in other places too. Depends on where you live and what you have access to. They do mail order, which is one of the positives for me. Their stores are good if you live near one, but any spice market type store is a real treat for a foodie. The downside of Penzeys is you have to pay shipping if you mail order, so that's why I save up a list of cool things to buy so I'm not paying all the shipping and just getting one little jar of epazote or something like that.