Colorful Mardi Gras Recipes

• Cook the grits according to package directions, but add in the butter and garlic powder at the beginning of the cooking process.
• Once the grits have about 10 minutes to go, heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium high heat.
• Add the peppers and onions to the pan and stir to coat in oil. Saute for 5-7 minutes, and turn the heat up a little higher if desired. Remove from heat and set aside.
• Once the grits are done, stir in the cheese, and cover pot with lid so the cheese melts easily. Stir to combine.
• Plate the grits in a wide mouthed bowl or plate. Top with the sauteed vegetables. Salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.

• Mix water, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl and let sit for 10 minutes.
• In another bowl, beat the eggs, salt, vanilla, and evaporated milk together. Mix egg mixture to the yeast mixture in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Add 3 cups of the flour to the yeast mixture and mix on low speed til just combined. 
• Cut in the shortening and continue to mix while adding the remaining flour. Scape the sides with a rubber spatula as needed. 
• Remove dough from the bowl, place onto a lightly floured surface and knead with lightly floured hands until smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Spray a large bowl with nonstick spray. Put dough into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a towel. Let rise in a warm place for at least 2 hours.
• While the dough is rising, use this time to turn your sanding sugar into powdered sugar. Use a clean spice grinder to pulse your sugars one at a time until the consistency is powdered sugar, about 5 pulses or 10 seconds of grinding. Set each color aside in a plastic container with a tight fitting lid for later, and clean the grinder between colors.
  
• Preheat oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat.
• Add the confectioners' sugar to three separate plastic containers with tight fitting lids, separated by color, and set aside.
• Roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness and cut sides to form a rectangle. Cut the dough into 1-inch squares.
  
• Deep-fry, flipping once until golden on each side, less than a minute. As the beignets are fried, drain them for a few seconds on paper towels.
  
• Decorate in one of two ways, either by shaking beignets in each individual color of powdered sugar, or by using your fingers to sprinkle a stripe of each sugar color on the beignets. The latter method uses less sugar if that's your goal. 

• Prepare your grill. If charcoal, do this sooner than later. If gas, you can wait til you have the kebabs prepared.
• Put the salt, oregano, peppers, garlic and onion powders together in a small ramekin and stir to mix. Set aside.
• Dice the vegetables and protein into even sized pieces. Toss them all in a large container with a tight fitting lid.
• Pour the oil into the container, put the lid on, and shake to coat.
• Open the lid and sprinkle the seasonings on the vegetables. Put the lid back on and shake to coat.
• Thread the vegetables and protein on the skewer in any order you like.
• Grill over semi-direct heat for 15 minutes, turning every 5 minutes.

Cake

• Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom, side and tube of 12-cup fluted tube cake pan with shortening; lightly flour.
• In medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt; set aside. In large bowl, beat granulated sugar, butter, vanilla and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 5 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat flour mixture into sugar mixture alternately with milk on low speed, beating just until smooth after each addition. Pour into pan.
• Bake 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours. 

Icing

• Heat butter in a saucepan over medium heat until melted.
• Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla.
• Stir in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until smooth and the consistency of thick syrup. Pour over the completely cooled cake.
• Immediately decorate with sanding sugar, alternating between the green, yellow, and purple sanding sugars. 

Make the Cream Horns

• Thaw the puff pastry at room temperature until it is flexible (about 20 minutes).
• Use a pizza cutter to cut it into 1/2" inch strips.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Put a small ramekin of water within reach of your work area. Starting at the tip, wrap one strip of pastry around the mold, slightly overlapping as you wind your way up. I needed 2 strips per horn. Use a dab of water on the pastry to adjoin the new strip, and to attach the end of the last strip to the last wind around the pastry. Do not overlap the opening, this will make them difficult to remove.
  
• Set the pastry wrapped horns on a baking sheet prepared with a Silpat or parchment paper.
• Mix the egg and water in a small bowl and brush onto the puff pastry. You don't need to worry about the bottoms.
  
• Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool completely. Gently remove the molds from the puff pastry, they should slide out easily.
• You can put these in an airtight container at this point to finish the next day if you like.

Make the Chocolate Ganache

• Put the the corn syrup and butter in a small pot over medium heat until melted.
• Remove from heat and add in chocolate chips. Stir until melted.
• Put sprinkles in a small, wide plate or bowl.
• Dip the wide end of each horn in the chocolate, then gently dip in the sprinkles. Roll around in the sprinkles if needed. Set aside on a large cutting board in a line.

Make the Multi Colored Drizzle

• Put the white chocolate chips in a heat safe bowl or Pyrex measuring cup.
• Heat the heavy cream over medium heat, watch it carefully it will happen fast with this small amount of liquid. Do not let it boil, and when the first signs of bubbling appear, remove from heat and pour over the white chocolate chips. Stir until smooth, this may take longer than it seems like it should.
• Once smooth, divide into 3 ramekins and use food coloring to make a green, yellow, and purple drizzle. Stir carefully but work fast.
• Use a spoon to drizzle each color on the puff pastry cones. Heat the ramekins in the microwave for 4-5 seconds right before using if it's thickening up. Go in whatever color order you like, and drizzle lightly since you can always add more, but you can't take away what falls off the spoon. At this point, you can put these in an airtight container and finish the last step the following day, or continue on.

Make the Cream

• Mix the cream ingredients together and use the whisk attachment on a stand mixer, or a blender until light and fluffy.
• Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Gently insert the tip into each cream horn and gently squeeze to fill the cone with cream, pulling out as you feel the horn filling up. Push in gently at the end to attempt to make a pretty star shape. This may not go well, but it might.
  
• The cream horns are now finally ready. If you used the powdered milk, the cream will not deflate and these can be eaten within 4 days. Keep the refrigerated, or eat immediately. Happy Mardi Gras!

• Set out three equal sized bowls.
• Mix the lemon carbonated water, sugar, lemon juice, Triple Sec, and vodka together in a large mixing down, stirring until sugar dissolves.
• Pour equally into the three bowls. Add food coloring to each bowl: purple, yellow, green. Stir with a spoon to mix. 
• Heat up 1/4 cup water in a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup with a spout (or something similar with a spout) for 60 seconds. Take the hot water out of the microwave and add in one gelatin package. Use a spoon to stir, let sit for 2 minutes until the gelatin is fully dissolved.
• Add one bowl of what will be the bottom layer color into the gelatin. Stir together well.
• Line up the condiment cups on a baking sheet. Evenly pour the gelatin color mixture into the cups. Pour a little at a time, you can always add more to each cup to make them even. You may not need all of the gelatin mixture for the first layer and can throw it out when done. 
• Refrigerate the first layer for at least 2 hours.
• Repeat steps 3-7 for the next two layers.