Barb Painter

Barb Painter, Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter or shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup buttermilk
2-1/2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped raising or 1/2 cup chopped, crystalized ginger

Directions:
Cream butter and brown sugar together. Beat in egg and molasses. Sift together flour, baking soda, spices and salt. Mix buttermilk and flour mixture in to batter. Stir in chopped raising or ginger.

Drop the batter from a teaspoon onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 8-12 minutes.

Optional: frost with orange or rum-flavored frosting.

Barb Painter, Dinner

Ingredients:
One 3-4 pound chicken
2 slices thick-cut bacon
1 mandarin orange and 1 onion for bird cavity

Rub:
Minced rind of 1 lime and 1 mandarin orange
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp dill weed
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tsp fresh ground pepper
2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil or olive oil

Apricot-Mandarin Orange Glaze:
3 tablespoons fresh mandarin orange juice
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup apricot preserves
2 cloves chopped garlic
Fresh ground salt and pepper

Directions:
Wash the chicken and dry thoroughly, inside and out. For the rub: combine all rub ingredients to make a thick paste. Loosen the skin of the chicken and force the rub and slices of bacon under the skin, particularly over the breasts. Rub the exterior with toasted sesame oil and any remaining rub. Salt and pepper the cavity of the bird. Quarter the mandarin orange and onion, tuck inside the cavity. Using elastic food ties (or new shoelaces), truss the chicken.

Place chicken on spit rods of a rotisserie and cook for about an hour and a half or until meat thermometer inserted into thigh meat registers 180 degrees. Let chicken stand for 20 minutes before cutting.

Note: We made this chicken 2/12/23 at the South Beach Inn, Cocoa Beach, and served with Baked Potato, Sweet Potato, and Roasted Asparagus, Key Lime Pie for desert. Could not find elastic food ties, so we had to use shoelaces to truss the bird.