This is how we roll

Pistachio Cake

2011-05-19T17:45:00.001-04:00

This recipe for Pistachio Cake comes from Epicurious.com. The pistachio flavor is faint, but is complemented by cardamom spice. The combo of the two flavors give the cake an Indian flair.

I followed other readers' comments and decreased the sugar to 3/4 cup, only used 1 cup of pistachios, and decreased the butter to 1/2 cup.

The resulting cake is more of a tea cake, and not your typical fatty, rich, layer cake.

It's dainty.

I topped it with fresh whipped cream, flavored with a bit of raspberry extract, and tinted pink with a drop of red food coloring.

Be warned: Shelling all the pistachios is a pain in the butttttttttt!

(Though the original recipe calls for the cake to be baked in a rectangle pan, I baked it in two 9" round pans for 18 min.)

Oreos

2008-08-12T13:50:00.001-04:00

Oreo (noun) Two crisp chocolate wafer cookies sandwiched together by vanilla cream.

Back in January, I visited Flour bakery in Boston where they offered homemade oreo cookies. Intrigued, I had to try one. Their cookies were similar to oreos, but the chocolate wafers tasted extremely buttery and much thicker, more like a shortbread. They were good, but not exact replicas of my favorite cookie. Taking matters into my own hands, I googled Oreo recipes as soon as I got home and decided I must try to make them myself. I've had this recipe sitting around for a few months now and I finally tried it today.

I usually tend to stay away from making complicated cookies, especially the ones calling for multiple steps (aka. make dough, bake cookies, make filling, build cookie, clean up giant mess)...ack. But working the night shift at the paper today left me with plenty of time to kill this morning.

These cookies proved they were worth the effort. The chocolate wafers were thin, but not brittle thin, and the buttercream filling was the perfect consistency. I am happy with the way these turned out! Who needs Nabisco??

Homemade Oreos

Cookies
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room- temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

Vanilla-Cream Filling
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation
Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375 degrees.

In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.

Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.

To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2-3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.

To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream.

Makes 30 sandwich cookies.

Bridal shower cookies

2008-07-16T23:41:00.001-04:00

With MLF in the UK, I was left on my own to bake and frost a batch of custom bridal shower sugar cookies. After 4+ hours in the kitchen, I emerged with these wedding cake and wedding dress cookies.... and a GIANT mess of a kitchen. With MLF's help, I probably could have finished decorating these cookies in a jiffy AND had a cleaned-up kitchen in no time. I miss him.

Superstars!!!!

2008-07-16T23:37:00.000-04:00

Lemon cupcakes with lemon buttercream frosting. It's a yellow lemon theme, fyi. :)

Red velvetly goodness

2008-07-16T23:32:00.003-04:00

Red velvet cake is one of my favorites. I can't say why. Maybe it's the shocking color. Or maybe it's the hard-to-put-your-finger-on-it flavor. The cake has cocoa powder in it which makes it taste slightly like a chocolate cake, though it don't really taste that chocolatey. It tastes smooth, sweet, and rich. Red velvet cake recipes differ widely in proportions of ingredients and secret ingredients, but they will always call for buttermilk, vinegar and of course, red food coloring!

The bright red batter is quite a fun change from the usual white or chocolate battered cakes.

This pic makes them look browner than they really were. In real life, they were actually pretty red!

Get Low, low, low, low, low, low, low

2008-07-16T23:24:00.003-04:00

It's mid-July and here I am catching up on early month posts. Oops. Anyway...For the Fourth of July, MLF and I, along with a few friends, made trips to Charleston and Asheville. The cuisine of Charleston can be summerized in two words: low country or new South. Menus abounded with oversize biscuits, fancy egg benedicts with crab cake, stuffed french toast, fresh seafood, coconut cake, and the butteriest mac and cheese, all served with a large helping of Southern hospitality. When it comes to eating in the former British colony, it's hard to go wrong. The number of exceptional restaurants to pick from is amazing. The few we ate at were The Peninsula Grill, Poogan's Porch, Cru Cafe and Sermet's. We didn't have one complaint- and that's a big deal for us!

An oversized biscuit at Poogan's Porch.

MLF started off one day with a ridiculously large portion of peaches and cream-stuffed french toast with warm syrup at the Palmetto restaurant in the Charleston Place Hotel.

Beautifully prepared eggs benedict with Canadian ham.

THE best mac and cheese in the world. So rich it could have been dessert. Be sure to get this at the Cru Cafe, located on Motley St.

For father's day

2008-06-12T09:15:00.005-04:00

For the biggest peanut/peanut brittle/peanut butter - loving person I know, my dad, I made some peanut butter chocolate chip cookies this morning. These cookies are a cross between chocolate chip cookies and classic peanut butter criscross cookies. The peanut butter adds a slightly sandy texture to these crunchy-crispy soft-in-the-middle cookies. A healthy dose of chocolate chips thrown into the batter gives these cookies some gooey goodness. I know they weren't made for me, but I ate some anyway. I love these!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

* 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick), softened
* 1/4 cup of brown sugar
* 1/4 cup of white sugar
* 1/2 cup of peanut butter (I used creamy)
* 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
* 1 egg
* 1 1/4 cup of flour
* 1/2 tsp baking soda
* 1/2 tsp baking powder
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. In a large mixer, cream butter, peanut putter, sugars and vanilla. Add the egg and mix until light & fluffy. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt - mix thoroughly. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, stirring continuously. Add chocolate chips and combine. Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough on the baking sheet and press the center of the cookie with a fork. Bake for 10-11 minutes.

For a pic, see "For the Love of Cooking's" post of the same cookies at:
http://fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com/2008/05/peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

Zucchini-Pineapple Quick Bread

2008-06-05T18:43:00.001-04:00

In the newest edition of Cooking Light, the "make-over" recipe featured is for Zucchini-Pineapple Quick Bread. The new and improved recipe cut down the amount of fat and calories significantly. Just reading the short blurb about the bread made me want to try it. Reviewers said that they liked the low-fat version better than the original. Could that really be true? Were they lying??

Well, I've made the recipe, and it's really good! I never tried the orignal, but I'd say that if someone served this to me, I would have no idea it was low fat because it tastes just that good. I give it a big thumbs up.

It's an easy recipe. Here are the players.

Just add the zucchini in with the rest of the batter.

Pre-oven bread. I halved the recipe to only make one loaf- the full recipe makes two.

Soooooooo moist and tasty. I think I love it more than banana bread.

Zucchini-Pineapple Quick Bread

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour (about 13 1/2 ounces)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini (about 1 1/2 medium zucchini)
2/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup egg substitute
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 (8-ounce) cans crushed pineapple in juice, drained
Baking spray with flour

1. Preheat oven to 325°.

2. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, salt, and next 3 ingredients (through ground cinnamon) in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk.

3. Beat eggs with a mixer at medium speed until foamy. Add sugar, zucchini, oil, egg substitute, and vanilla, beating until well blended. Add zucchini mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Fold in pineapple. Spoon batter into 2 (9 x 5-inch) loaf pans coated with baking spray. Bake at 325° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans on a wire rack; remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack.

Yield: 2 loaves, 14 servings per loaf (serving size: 1 slice)

CALORIES 167 (32% from fat); FAT 5.9g (sat 0.5g,mono 3.3g,poly 1.7g); PROTEIN 2.4g; CHOLESTEROL 15mg; CALCIUM 16mg; SODIUM 151mg; FIBER 0.7g; IRON 0.9mg; CARBOHYDRATE 26.5g

Cooking Light, JUNE 2008

MLF's Polenta Casserole

2008-06-02T00:09:00.000-04:00

Polenta casserole with spicy Italian sausage, homemade tomato sauce and thick slices of mozzerella.

This is MLF's famed dish. He's been raving about it for months now. He claims it is one of his favorite foods in the world. Finally I was able to try it for myself last week when he decided to cook me dinner after my trip back from Chicago. It's pretty darn good (even though I made a very simliar recipe long ago), but I'd say this is even better because as you know, food always tastes better when others prepare it for you! And because this is SPECIAL polenta. By SPECIAL, I mean that this elusive polenta cornmeal was sought after for over 1.5 hours and at many groc stores. Poor MLF didn't realize that polenta was made with cornmeal! After scouring every grocery store shelf in Charlotte and enlisting the help of clueless store employees for this "polenta" stuff, he realized he could use cornmeal. Note that Harris Teeter employees!

Gingersnap Cookies

2008-05-19T21:44:00.001-04:00

These cookies are crisp at the edges, chewy in the middle. A roll through some demerara gives them sparkle and crunch. I stashed a large chocolate chip at the center of some cookies as a surprise!

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups cups granulated sugar, plus 1/2 cup more for coating
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup molasses
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup crystallized ginger, finely chopped

Heat oven to 375° F. Cream the butter and 1 3/4 cups sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed. Lower to medium and add the eggs, molasses, vinegar, and vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and pepper. With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Beat until incorporated. Fold in the crystallized ginger. Divide the dough into 3 equal portions (it will be sticky). Place each portion on a sheet of plastic wrap and form into a 12-inch log, 2 inches in diameter. Wrap and chill for 1 hour. Slice each log into disks, 1/2 inch thick. Dredge in the remaining sugar. Place on a parchment- or foil-lined baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake until crinkly around the edges, about 14 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks.

Yield: Makes 6 dozenCALORIES 73 (18% from fat); FAT 1g (sat 1g); PROTEIN 1mg; CHOLESTEROL 9mg; CALCIUM 8mg; SODIUM 72mg; FIBER 0g; CARBOHYDRATE 14g; IRON 1mg

Real Simple, MAY 2005

Lemon Strawberry Layer Cake

2008-05-19T21:23:00.006-04:00

Lemon Strawberry Layer Cake

Scrumptious! This cake is a modified version of 'Nathan's Lemon Cake' from Cooking Light. The original was supposed to make 16 servings, so I halved it and made the cake in 6'' ramekins. 4 of us managed to polish off the supposed 8 servings in about 10 minutes! The frosting is tangy and rich, matching perfectly with the lemony moist cake. I doubt that 16 servings would have posed much of a challenge--next time I'm making full-size.

Ingredients

object2="> Cake:
object2="> Cooking spray
object2=">2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
object2=">2 cups all-purpose flour (about 9 ounces)
object2=">1 teaspoon baking powder
object2=">1/2 teaspoon baking soda
object2=">1/2 teaspoon salt
object2=">1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
object2=">1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
object2=">3 large eggs
object2=">1 cup nonfat buttermilk
object2=">2 tablespoons finely grated lemon rind
object2=">2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. To prepare cake, coat 2 (8-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray; line bottoms of pans with wax paper. Coat wax paper with cooking spray. Dust pans with 2 tablespoons flour, and set aside.

3. Lightly spoon 2 cups flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine 2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

4. Place granulated sugar and 1/2 cup butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 5 minutes). Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture and nonfat buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat in 2 tablespoons lemon rind and 2 tablespoons lemon juice.

5. Pour batter into prepared pans; sharply tap pans once on counter to remove air bubbles. Bake at 350° for 32 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack; remove wax paper from cake layers.

6. To prepare icing, combine powdered sugar and the remaining ingredients (except lemon rind strips) in a large bowl; stir with a whisk until smooth. Place 1 cake layer on a plate; spread half of icing on top of cake. Top with remaining cake layer. Spread remaining half of icing over top of cake. Garnish with lemon rind strips, if desired. Store cake loosely covered in the refrigerator.

Yield

16 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 317(27% from fat); FAT 9.5g (sat 5.6g,mono 2.6g,poly 0.5g); PROTEIN 3.6g; CHOLESTEROL 56mg; CALCIUM 52mg; SODIUM 165mg; FIBER 0.6g; IRON 1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 55.7g

Nathan Coulon , Cooking Light, MAY 2008

Pawts dee kreem

2008-05-19T21:22:00.005-04:00

What's better together than chocolate and cream? Amy and I, of course!

Tonight we got together to make the NYT's recipe for Pots de Creme. PDC, which is pronunced: poh duh KREHM, is a creamy, custardy French dessert. Each portion is baked in an individual little ramekin. Basically anything and everything rich and creamy gets melted together and then baked in a water bath. This recipe calls for dark delicious bittersweet chocolate. I like my chocolate like I like my guys - dark and rich.

HA. Just kidding!! ... not.

We made the pots tonight and now they have to get their beauty rest in the refrigerator overnight before we can taste them tomorrow. I'm betting they'll be awesome!

Extra-Bittersweet Chocolate Pots de Crème

Time: 55 minutes, plus chilling

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup whole milk
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
4 egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
Crème fraîche or whipped cream, for serving.

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a heavy saucepan, bring cream and milk to a boil. Remove from heat; whisk in chopped chocolate until smooth.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the yolks, sugar and salt. Whisking constantly, slowly pour hot chocolate into yolks. Strain through a very fine mesh sieve into a large measuring cup or bowl.

3. Divide mixture among 2- to 4-ounce espresso cups or small ramekins. Set filled cups in a large roasting pan that has been positioned on center rack of oven. Add hot tap water to pan, halfway up sides of cups. Cover pan with foil; use a fork to prick holes in foil.

4. Bake until edges are lightly set (lifting foil to check) but center is still jiggly — it will set as it cools — 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer cups to a wire rack to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving with crème fraîche or whipped cream.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

Triple Bean Salad

2008-05-18T17:32:00.001-04:00

Beans, beans, the musical fruit...

This extremely easy recipe is from a issue of Better Homes and Garden. The recipe requires just a few ingredients and needs some marinating time. Apparently the author of this recipe won $200 or something for it. It's good...but not $$$ good! This cool and light salad makes a good side dish to summer's grilled meat entrees.

Ingredients:
2 cups frozen sween soybeans (edamame) [I used lima beans]
1 15-oz. can kidney beans
1 15-oz. can garbanzo beans
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp. finely shredded lime peel
1/4 cup lime juice

Direction:
Rinse and drain the canned beans. Combine with beans, edamame, onion and cilantro.
Whisk together oil, lime peel, lime juice and 1/2 tsp. salt. Pour over bean mixture and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours. Stir will before serving.

Makes 10 servings.

Pastels

2008-05-18T17:23:00.000-04:00

Ooooooooooo. A brand new box of pastels with 64 colors.

Bodhi pie in pastels.

Recipe to try!

2008-05-06T15:49:00.002-04:00

Tsai sisters are back from foraging Taiwan for tasty treats. Pics to come soon. Not sure if Blogger can handle massive amount of food photos we have though...

In the meantime, here's a recipe that sounds very promising. I'm marking it as a recipe to try soon!

Dot's Blondies with Chocolate Chips

Start to finish: 7 minutes preparation, plus approximately 20 to 25 minutes baking time and 20 minutes cooling time

2 sticks unsalted butter (plus more for greasing the pan)
1 pound (2 cups firmly packed) light brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour (see Cook's note)
2 large eggs
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans, optional

Cook's note: To get the proper texture, do not use an electric mixer. You do not need to sift the flour, but spoon the flour into the measuring cup so as not to pack it down too much. Use the spoon handle to brush away extra flour and thereby "level" the top of the measuring cup.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 9-inch-by-12-inch baking pan well with butter. Set the pan aside.

Melt the 2 sticks of butter in a 2-quart microwave-safe bowl covered with a paper towel. Remove the bowl from the microwave, and add the brown sugar. Stir well. Add the baking powder, salt and vanilla extract, stirring until completely incorporated. Stir in the flour, again stirring until it is well mixed. The batter will be very stiff.

Crack the eggs into a small bowl, and beat them well with a fork or whisk. Add the eggs to the batter and stir with a spoon until they are completely incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips (and the nuts, if using).

Spread the batter in the greased pan. The batter will be stiff and sticky. You may have to spread it to the edges of the pan with the back of a spoon, but don't worry too much about getting it exactly even, as the batter will spread as it bakes.

Bake until the top begins to get golden brown and the blondies just begin to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 20 to 25 minutes. (Baking time will vary depending on your oven and the type of pan.) Do not overbake! Cool for at least 20 minutes, and cut into small squares. Store in an airtight container or cover well with plastic wrap. These bars freeze very well and improve in flavor after the first day.

Makes 2 dozen

Approximate values per blondie: 216 calories (41 percent from fat), 10 g fat (6 g saturated), 38 mg cholesterol, 2 g protein, 31 g carbohydrates, 1 g dietary fiber, 59 mg sodium

A Low Fat Cookie?!

2008-04-15T11:06:00.002-04:00

Jessica convinced me to try a non-super-fatty recipe. I couldn't imagine a low fat oatmeal raisin cookie tasting good, but these cookies taste surprisingly good. They are soft and moist. Granola bar-ish I would say. I made them healthier by not using chocolate chips, subbing in some whole wheat flour, and adding some protein with walnuts.

Low Fat Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup all purpose flour (I subbed in 1/2 cup whole wheat flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (I added some extra spices for more flavor)
2 tbsp butter, room temperature
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup plain, unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup chocolate chips (I used raisins and walnuts)

Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars. Beat in the egg, followed by the applesauce and the vanilla extract. Working by hand, stir in the flour mixture and the oats until just combined and no streaks of flour remain. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop tablespoonfuls of the dough onto the prepared baking sheet, flattening each cookie slightly.

Bake for about 10-12 min. Cookies will be light brown at the edges when done.

Let cool on sheet for 3 or 4 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container.
Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

So Fitting for a Bostonian...

2008-04-04T15:04:00.001-04:00

You Are a Boston Creme Donut

You have a tough exterior. No one wants to mess with you.

But on the inside, you're a total pushover and completely soft.

You're a traditionalist, and you don't change easily.

You're likely to eat the same doughnut every morning, and pout if it's sold out.

What Donut Are You?

-P.

Oatmeal Cookie pic

2008-04-03T21:43:00.000-04:00

Here's the pic as promised!

Will Work for Cookies

2008-04-03T11:47:00.005-04:00

While MLF (he hates that name, btw...."my little friend") installed my living room ceiling fan the other night, I felt like it'd be a nice thing to do if I offered to bake him up something sweet for all his grunting efforts up on the ladder. I told him to pick ANYTHING he wanted and I'd make it right then. He picked my oatmeal cookies, typically made with raisins and chocolate.

Impressively (and surprisingly), the ceiling fan was looking pretty good so far, so I decided that I'd reward MLF with some extra-special oatmeal cookies. No same ol' raisins and chocolate this time around. I broke out the good stuff - dried cranberries, toffee bits, and semi-sweet chocolate chips. I even made an ice cream sandwich with the cookies which was stuffed with caramel pecan ice cream.

The ice cream sandwich was eaten before I could snap a pic. I'll post pictures of the cookies later though!

I used a recipe from Martha Stewart, but made some tweaks. This is my favorite oatmeal cookie recipe ever. The cookies come out chewy and very crispy at the same time.

Prissy's Oatmeal Cookies full of toffee, crasins and chocolate!
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups oats (I used a mix of quick-oats and old fashioned)
1 cup dried cranberries (use however much you want, i used a bit less)
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup toffee pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. In a large bowl, sift together flour and baking soda.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice during mixing. Add the egg; mix on high speed to combine. Add the vanilla; mix to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

3. Add flour mixture to egg mixture, and mix on low speed until well combined. Add the oats, cherries, chocolate, and toffee pieces; mix to combine after each addition.

4. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of dough onto a lined baking sheet. Repeat, spacing 2 inches apart.

5. Bake cookies until golden brown, about 10 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container up to 2 days.

Ok, so maybe Rachel Ray isn't THAT bad

2008-03-30T18:32:00.002-04:00

Thai Turkey Burgers with Warm Pineapple Salsa (*note: disregard the hugemongeous bun. The burger is actually good-sized, but the buns I bought are so big that they make the patty look teeny weeny.)

I have a love/hate relationship with Rachel Ray. I like watching her cooking show - I'll admit that I like grabbing a few ideas from her, but I mainly watch it because I like to critque her! It amazes me that someone can jabber on for 30 minutes non-stop talking to herself. And all those Rachel-isms. HOW LAME. And how many times can she possibly say "e.v.o.o" or "delish!" in one show (in her smoker-ish voice)? Come on.

But despite how annoying she is, she actually provided me with a tasty meal last night. In search of a simple recipe to make on a lazy Saturday evening, MLF and I dusted off my little-used Rachel Ray 30-minute Meal cookbook. After perusing the book for a mere 2 minutes, we settled on the Thai Turkey Burgers with Warm Pineapple Salsa. It seemed healthy, had strong exotic flavors, and involved minimal ingredients to buy. I tackled the burger portion of the recipe while MLF got to work on the salsa. The recipe was quick and delicious!! The burger patty is studded with garlic and scallions and flavored with curry powder and soy sauce. The sweet and spicy flavors of the salsa complemented it perfectly. This recipe is definitely a keeper. "Yum-o!" as Rachel Ray would say! *cringe!!!!!!!!!*

Thai Turkey Burgers

WARM PINEAPPLE SALSA

1 fresh, ripe, cored pineapple (I used a normal-sized can of sliced pineapple instead)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 red onion, finely chopped
2 Tbs dark brown sugar
10-15 fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips (I used dried basil)

BURGERS

1.3 lbs ground turkey breast
1 inch fresh gingerroot (or 2 pinches of ground ginger)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs dark soy sauce
2 tsp curry powder
Coarse salt, to taste
2 scallions, finely chopped
4 cornmeal-topped rolls or 4 toasted sandwich-size English muffins, split
Bibb, Boston, or red leaf lettuce for topping

Drain pineapple and cut into pieces. Place in food processor and process to a coarse, chunky texture. Heat sesame oil and crushed red pepper flakes in a skillet over medium-high heat until oil smokes. Add bell pepper and onions and cook 1-2 minutes. Add pineapple and heat through. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cook 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and toss in basil. Let the salsa hang out in the warm pan while you cook burgers.

Heat a nonstick skillet or griddle pan over medium-high head. Combine turkey, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, curry powder, salt and scallions. From into 4 patties and cook on skillet, 4 minutes on each side. Serve on rolls with lots of pineapple salsa and lettuce, with a chunked vegetable salad and your favorite chips alongside.

FROM: Classic Rachel Ray 30-Minute Meals

Bridal shower wedding cake sugar cookies

2008-03-28T18:23:00.000-04:00

My apprentice learns how to pipe icing.

Hot Cross Buns

2008-03-24T21:09:00.000-04:00

"Hot Cross Buns" was the first song I learned to play in the piano. It wasn't until last year or the year before that I realized that the song was really about a food that exists in real life! I learned that this Easter food was first made by a German monk who was also a baker (convenient). He saw many families in poverty around his village and decided to make a rich sweet bun to give them so that they might better be able to celebrate Easter.

Maple Mustard Pork Tenderloin

2008-03-24T21:04:00.000-04:00

Belated Posting #6: So easy! I did this in the toaster oven too!
Here is a link to the recipe: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/mustard_maple_pork.html

Caramel Pear Bread Pudding

2008-03-24T21:01:00.000-04:00

Belated Posting #5: This is like pear tarte tatin except with a bread pudding bottom! I halved the recipe and made this in a medium sized ramekin. Further miniaturizing the procedure, I baked it in the toaster oven.

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/pear_bread_pudding.html

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread

2008-03-24T20:56:00.000-04:00

Belated Posting #4: I got this recipe from "Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads"- it involves something called a soaker and biga (a mix of flour, liquids, a touch of yeast) that have to be prepared a night ahead of time, but the resulting bread is so moist, dense, and delicious that you will see whole wheat bread in a whole new light! This might possibly be the best loaf of bread I've baked...EVER.

Lunch

2008-03-24T20:51:00.000-04:00

Belated Posting #3: Who knew that brussels sprouts could be so yummy?? Pan-seared with salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of parmesan, these little guys were crunchy, nutty, soft, and satisfying. Nashoba Brook Bakery makes a great sourdough bread on which slather asparagus pesto and pile mounds of chicken salad (yogurt, dijon, mixed with chicken, almonds, grapes, celery, and craisins).

Jiao Zi

2008-03-24T20:44:00.000-04:00

Belated Posting #2: One cold and stormy Friday in February, small icy flakes began to fall from the sky. It snowed and snowed, until about 10 inches had fallen by morning. Despite all of our shoveling and the plows on the road, we were firmly housebound on Saturday. Needing no other excuses, we happily set about making leek and pork filled dumplings, complete with handrolled skins. Fried to golden perfection, these sizzling morsels warmed up a winter day.

cranberry pecan rolls

2008-03-24T20:26:00.000-04:00

Belated posting #1: I love the King Arthur's Whole Grain Baking book! These whole wheat rolls were soft and fluffy.

Happy Easter

2008-03-22T12:13:00.006-04:00

Hummingbird Cake

The cake looks pretty, but the taste is to be determined... This Hummingbird Cake is similar to a carrot cake, except minus the carrot part. The similarity is in the texture and flavor. It has a little spice in it, some crushed pineapple for moistness, AND it has cream cheese frosting. Oops, did I mention the key ingredient is bananas??

I didn't include the nuts as the recipe called for because I didn't feel like spending $9.99 on pecans at the rip-off groc store. I subbed applesauce in the place of most of the 1 cup of oil, so I hope this cake doesn't taste too "healthy." Shhh...don't tell. We'll see how it tastes tomorrow!

Cake:

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 can (8oz) crushed pineapple, well drained
1 cup chopped pecans
2 cups chopped firm ripe banana

Cream Cheese Frosting:

16 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 pounds confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 to 1 cup chopped pecans

PREPARATION:

Preheat oven to 350°. Sift flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and cinnamon together into mixing bowl several times. Add eggs and salad oil to the dry ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon until ingredients are moistened. Stir in vanilla, pineapple and 1 cup pecans. Stir in the bananas. Spoon the batter into 3 well-greased and floured 9-inch round cake pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes,or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn onto cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
Combine cream cheese and butter; cream until smooth. Add powdered sugar, beating with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla.

Frost the tops of all 3 layers, stack and then frost sides. Sprinkle top evenly with the 1/2 to 1 cup chopped pecans.

Blondies Have More Fun

2008-03-18T21:18:00.002-04:00

Butterscotch and chocolate chip blondie bites

These blondies are easy as pie! I got this recipe from the Smitten Kitchen. All it takes is just ONE bowl. I love it - less cleaning up to do later, more time to eat! The recipe provides you with a blank canvas of plain blondie batter and you can toss in whatever you want. Here I used some butterscotch chips and some chocolate chips. Next time I might use heath chips and chocolate. The texture on the inside isn't like that of a faux blondie/cookie bar. These are more "unbaked" than cookie bars. The insides are a teeny bit gooey and but not overly uncooked. They taste caramely and butterscotchy.

Blondies

8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla or 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Pinch salt
1 cup all-purpose flour

Butter an 8×8 pan
Mix melted butter with brown sugar - beat until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla.
Add salt, stir in flour. Mix in any additions (below).
Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350°F 20-25 minutes, or until set in the middle. I always err on the side of caution with baking times — nobody ever complained about a gooey-middled cookie. Cool on rack before cutting them

Bad to the Scone!

2008-03-14T21:43:00.002-04:00

Cream Scones

Get it? Bad to the bone.... bad to the scone?? These scones are ANYTHING but bad!! they are DELICIOUS! I'm hosting the ladies for brunch tomorrow and I figured in addition to buttermilk pancakes, we'd need something else to munch on too. This is another Dorie recipe - Cream Scones. They have the texture of a tender scone and the flavor of a buttery biscuit. The recipe called for currants, but I used some crasins too. Try slathering these suckers with some jam and whipped cream, that'd make YOU bad to the bone!

Saturday Dinner

2008-03-14T21:36:00.001-04:00

Pecan crusted salmon

Caramelized onion smothered baguette

We started out dinner with a little appetizer of caramelized onion smothered baguette. Long, long ago, this little tasty morsel started as a plain ol' french bread loaf. Before long, some butter found its way onto its halved slices. Caramelized onions piled on high and some chopped green olives decided to jump on board too. The whole mess of goodies was then doused with olive oil and baked for 15 minutes. Freshly grated parmesan cheese and a dash of balsamic vinegar was the final touch. (See Cream Puffs in Venice's blog for the recipe here.)

For the main dish, we had some salmon covered in a honey mustard glaze, then encrusted in chopped pecans, breadcrumbs and parsley. Super easy, very good. The whole thing takes about 20 minutes!

Dorie's Mocha-Walnut Marbled Bundt Cake

2008-03-14T21:24:00.001-04:00

Here's Dorie Greenspan's wonderful bundt cake. I think I jacked up the marbling because my chocolate and vanilla layers didn't look as pretty as the book. Therefore, no picture of the insides! ha! The cake was delicious. My little friend found it quite addicting. I brought 2/3 of the cake to work and left 1/3 at home for ourselves. MLF made like a grape and let out a little whine when he found out the news of the cake being taken to work the next day.

In search of a recipe?

2008-02-28T11:46:00.003-05:00

Like Goldilock's porridge, sometimes you are looking to find a recipe that is *just right.* With a specific dish in mind, but no recipe in hand, you scour google and food blogs for a good version of the recipe that inspires you to march to the kitchen and tie on an apron. Something not too high in fat, authentic, simple yet delicious, something tried and true, etc....

Now with foodblogsearch.com, your recipe hunt is simplified! All you have to do is type in what you feel like cooking, hit search, and you get recipes from other food blogs. Take your pick from the array of recipes! Perfect!

Try it! ---> foodblogsearch.com

Taste of Italy! #2

2008-02-28T08:47:00.000-05:00

After dinner Limoncello.

Pizza in Assisi.

A typical bakery store front display.

Veal. Or was it lamb? I can't remember... but it was good!

Taste of Italy. First installment.

2008-02-27T09:54:00.000-05:00

Pici pasta with a pesto and meat ragu. In the back, handmade gnocchi filled with cheese!

First dinner in Siena, Italy!

Beef carpaccio with a light orange sauce.

Lots of wine EVERY SINGLE night.

2008-02-20T23:24:00.000-05:00

This is called "Straw and Hay Tangled Fettuccine", a blend of spinach and egg fettuccine coated with a pinenut and parm spiked asparagus and spinach pesto. Y-U-M. I used fresh spinach pasta from Russo's, which made all the difference- it was thick, chewy and really held the sauce.

Ingredients

1 bunch of asparagus, halved crosswise
3 handfuls spinach
2 cloves garlic, lightly roasted (to make less pungent)
1/8 c. olive oil
1/4 c. toasted pine nuts
1/2 c. parmesan cheese, shredded

6 oz. fresh spinach fettucine
6 oz. egg fettucine

Boil water and cook asparagus for 2-3 minutes or until just tender. Blend in food processor with spinach, garlic, oil, cheese, and most of the pinenuts (reserve 2 TB for sprinkling at the end).

Then boil pasta until al dente. Combine 1 c. of pesto with hot pasta, adding more pasta until coated the way you like it. Garnish with extra pine nuts and shaved parmesan cheese.

2008-02-19T23:01:00.003-05:00

Banana Oat Muffins with Cranberries

I wanted to make a healthy muffin that was also hearty and tasty, which led me to pick apart 4 different recipes, each containing a facet of the type of muffin I wanted to create, and recombine parts of each in an attempt to create the ultimate muffin. Since my muffin had to be healthy but flavorful, I needed some butter for that rich taste, but figured that mashed banana could also act as a binding agent to sub for the rest of the butter. Then, I wanted to include oats as a way to up the fiber for maximum breakfast value. Lastly, I wanted to use a combination of yogurt/sour cream to see how the texture would be affected and to add moisture. Studying up on muffin food science and constructing a matrix breaking down each recipe into fat, dairy, flour, and sugar, I finally arrived at a hybrid recipe to try!

First, I soaked 1 cup of oats in sour cream/yogurt/buttermilk to soften them up and to add some tang to the muffins. Then I creamed some butter with brown sugar, added 1 egg, vanilla, and the mashed bananas. The oats got dumped into the wet mixture. Finally, I added the sifted-together flour mix and combined until everything was just moistened. I threw in some fresh cranberries I found in the fridge, along with some dried craisins. Crossing my fingers as I watched them bake, I could only hope the end result would be somewhat edible. Appearance-wise, they looked normal; they rose and rose into lovely domes. After 15 minutes, out they came! And... they were great! These banana-scented muffins are moist and light, while still packing some serious heft with all that fiber. Next time, I might try adding blueberries or raisins instead of competing cranberries which take attention away from the banana. I would also add a smidge more sugar, but all in all, this experient was a success. Okay, I'm done being a food nerd.

Banana Oat Muffins

1 c. combo of sour cream/yogurt/buttermilk (I used 1/3 c. of each)
1 c. rolled oats + shredded wheat

1 ¼ c. flour (I used whole wheat and all purpose)
1 ½ tsp. baking power
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt

3 TB butter
½ c. sugar

1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. mashed bananas (2 ripe bananas)

½ c. cranberries/raisins
½ c. fresh halved cranberries
nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Soak oats and bran in sour cream/yogurt/buttermilk for 30 min. Add honey if desired.

Whisk together flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl and set aside.

In stand mixer, combine butter with sugar until fluffy. Then add egg, vanilla, and mashed bananas.

Combine oat mixture with wet ingredients. Then mix in dry ingredients until just moistened. Do not overmix!

Add in fruit and nuts. Fill muffin tins ¾ full. Sprinkle cane sugar over each muffin, or make streusel.

Bake muffins for 15 minutes. Cool in tin for 5 minutes, then turn out on wire rack to cool completely.

I must know kung-fu...

2008-02-14T20:15:00.005-05:00

Ooo boy, I think I added a bit too much garlic because my breath is KICKIN'!!

This parsley pesto recipe was good though and it was an easy Valentine's day meal with the roomie. Quickly whirl together the ingredients in a food processor, toss it into some spaghetti, and add a few chunks of chicken strips for a meal.

Parsley pesto:

2 Tbsp. whole almonds
1 packed cup Italian parsley leaves
4 - 6 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
¼ tsp. salt
1 small garlic clove, pressed (optional)

In a small food processor, pulse the almonds until finely ground. They don't need to be quite as fine as, say, sand, but close. Add the parsley, 4 tablespoons of the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and garlic (if using), and process to a paste. Taste and, if needed, adjust salt, lemon juice, and/or olive oil.

(I added some fresh parm cheese to my pesto.)

Yield: about ½ cup

Dorie Greenspan Recipe #1

2008-02-13T22:09:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow I am wishing my co-workers a happy Valentine's day with some Carrot Spice Muffins. These babies are from the first recipe I am trying from Dorie Greenspan's book "Baking: From my home to yours." They are pretty easy to whip up and bake - I'd say 45 minutes or so from start to finish. The smell of the carrots and spices wafting from the oven are better than any candle you can buy. :) The texture of these muffins is very light and the crumb is loose...not what I'd expect from a 'hearty'-seeming muffin.

Here's the recipe:
Carrot Spice Muffins

Makes 12
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup shredded carrots, about 3, peeled and trimmed
1/2 cup shredded coconut, sweetened
1/3 cup raisins or currants
1/3 cup pecans or walnuts, toasted, cooled and chopped

Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 375°. Butter or spray the 12 muffin molds in a regular sized muffin tin, or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternately, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda and salt. Stir in the brown sugar, making certain there are no lumps. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the oil, eggs, milk and vanilla extract together until well combined. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don't worry about being thorough - a few lumps are better than over-mixing the batter. Stir in the carrots, coconut, currants and nuts. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.Bake for 20 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Sweet Hearts

2008-02-10T23:03:00.000-05:00

Valentine's Day cookie orders are completed! A day of baking, icing and wrapping produced 4 boxes of personalized "conversation heart" sugar cookies. I hope the valentine receipients get a kick outta them.

My little friend makes pancakes

2008-02-10T22:52:00.000-05:00

Yeasted pancake batter.

The artist at work.

Pancake minis!

The recipe for these pancakes required a packet of yeast and 1 hr of patience while letting the batter do it's thing. They pancakes were fluffy and had a yeasty/nutty flavor. Pretty good. Not sure it's worth all the wait though! Here's the recipe:

Yeasted Pancakes

(adapted from this recipe)

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp active dry yeast
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/4 cups milk (low fat/skim is fine), warm
1/4 cup water, warm
2 large eggs2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 cup of the flour, yeast and sugar. Stir in warm (110F) milk and water, mixing vigorously until smooth.

Cover with plastic wrap and let stand for 1 hour.

In a small bowl, beat together the eggs, melted butter, vanilla. Stir in the rest of the flour and the salt. Pour into yeast mixture and stir until smooth. Add in baking soda and stir well. Batter will be quite thick.

Heat a griddle or large skillet until very hot; a drop of water will sizzle and dance on the surface. Drop dollops onto hot griddle and cook until golden brown.

Serve immediately.

Makes 6 generous servings.

2008-02-10T22:27:00.001-05:00

I tried this mellow barley dish from "Super Natural Cooking" tonight. The book is a great inspiration for healthy/natural cooking, although stocking up on things like agave nectar, amaranth flour, brown rice syrup, and the like require high commitment. Not sure how natural I can get (I DID have my lunch of juicy dripping italian sausage on multigrain bread- healthy, right?), but this recipe calls for commonly found ingredients. Similar to arborio rice, the barley came out creamy, with a nice chew. The flavors of orange, watercress, parmesan cheese came together nicely in this subtle dish. Here is a link to another blog that has the recipe: http://otherpeoplesfood.blogspot.com/2007/06/risotto-style-barley-with-winter-citrus.html

Super Bowl Sunday

2008-02-03T17:01:00.000-05:00

Go Pats! In celebration of the Super Bowl, I've decorated my carrot cake with some green coconut astroturf and sprinkles. Goal posts of toothpicks and a football made by using a black sharpie on a red M&M.

For the cake, I used a recipe from Cooking Light. It's not really that "light" but I guess it's a whole lot lighter than other carrot cake recipes. The recipe only calls for 3 Tbs of oil! That's so little! er, I hope the cake tastes good.......

Carrot Cake Cake:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 6 3/4 ounces)
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/3 cup chopped pecans
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 large eggs
2 cups grated carrot
1 1/2 cups canned crushed pineapple, drainedCooking spray

Frosting:

2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 (8-ounce) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Additional grated carrot (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare cake, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife.

Combine flour, sugar, coconut, pecans, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk.

Combine oil and eggs; stir well. Stir egg mixture, grated carrot, and pineapple into flour mixture.

Spoon batter into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.

To prepare frosting, combine butter and cream cheese in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth.

Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla just until smooth. Spread frosting over top of cake. Garnish each serving with grated carrot, if desired.

Yield: 16 servings (serving size: 1 piece)CALORIES 322 (29% from fat); FAT 10.4g (sat 4.2g,mono 3.2g,poly 1.5g); PROTEIN 4.1g; CHOLESTEROL 40mg; CALCIUM 29mg; SODIUM 403mg; FIBER 1.4g; IRON 1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 54.4g

Cooking Light, APRIL 2007

From my home to yours

2008-01-31T10:22:00.000-05:00

I just bought the baking cookbook that seems to be all the rage among food bloggers: Baking - From my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan.

Everyone and their mother seems to be raving about the recipes in this book and say it's their favorite book ever. Can it possibly be THAT good? I have got to see what all the commotion is about.

I've tried only one of Dorie's recipes before. I made her World Peace (Korova) cookies, and I must say, they did turn out pretty darn yummy. Well Amazon.com says my book will be here by Feb. 6 so we shall soon see!

Oatmeal Bread

2008-01-29T09:55:00.000-05:00

After reading homesicktexan, I just had to try her great-grandmother's Oatmeal Bread. I knew it was a recipe for me because 1.) It called for ordinary ingredients that I had in my house, 2.) Required no kneading and 3.) Only had to rise for 1 hour....no fussy knead for 10 min, rise and then rise again, punch down, knead for 10 minutes, rise again, etc, etc. It is a lazy girl's type of bread!

The bread turned out pretty nicely! The crumb is tender and is like a mix between a homemade white bread and a banana bread. The honey and oatmeal combo smelled great while baking in the oven. After 45 minutes, the bread was ready for me to slather on the butter and eat away.

Great-Grandma Gibson's Oatmeal Bread

Ingredients:
2 cups of boiling milk
1 cup of oats (not instant)
2 teaspoons of salt
1 egg
1/2 cup of honey
4 tablespoons of shortening
5-5 1/2 cups of flour
2 packets of yeast
1/2 cup of warm water

Method:

1. Add oatmeal to hot milk and let stand for two hours. **
2. Dissolve yeast in warm water.
3. Mix yeast and other ingredients with oatmeal (start with five cups of flour and add more a little bit at a time until dough is smooth).
4. Form into loaves, and either fill two loaf pans or place in balls on a parchment-paper lined sheet.
5. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about an hour).
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes.

* I halved the recipe to make one loaf. Instead of using just half an egg, I used an entire egg and just added a bit more flour.

** I microwaved the milk, then poured it over the oatmeal. I only let it sit 10 min or so.

Fat/Fun Fest

2008-01-28T21:06:00.000-05:00

The title pretty much sums up our MLK holiday weekend in Boston, flitting from one food establishment to the next, to the next, ad nauseum, literally! Highlights: Modern Pastry ("Can I eat a cannoli for breakfast?" Yes! If it's from Modern, you can and should eat it whenever you can), Flour Bakery (pass me another homemade oreo), East Ocean City (jumbo deepfried prawns swimming in kewpie and candied walnuts.. mmm).

But some of the most satisfying food came from the Tsai Kitchen, where master baker PT and sous chef/kitchen annoyance JT went to work on 2 varieties of delectable biscotti. The cranberry almond biscotti was studded with spicy crystallized ginger, bottoms coated with white chocolate. The other was a brownie-like, rich chocolate walnut mini biscotti. Potential new items for sweetstuffcookies??

Lesson Learned

2008-01-18T11:30:00.000-05:00

Never make katsu in the oven.

After all my hard work of pounding down chicken breasts, dredging them in flour, egg and panko, I ruined my meal by trying to be healthy.

Instead of frying the chicken in oil, I figured I could spray them with oil, and fake-fry them by baking them in the oven.

Uhg, tasteless hunks of meat (no matter how much katsu sauce and ketchup I used!) .

Full fat is always the way to go, I guess!

Snack time

2008-01-18T11:09:00.000-05:00

The bloggers of "Ideas in Food" made some tasty looking treats. Their pretzel pralines look and sound amazing. Crunchy, salty and sweet! I'm adding these to my list of recipes to try. Hmm.... maybe I'll add a drizzle of melted chocolate to the mix too.

Caramel Pretzels
1cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups broken pretzel pieces
2 tablespoons of cold butter, cut in small pieces

Place sugar, salt and pretzel pieces in a heavy bottomed pot over a high flame. Stir the mixture constantly with a wooden spoon to thoroughly coat the pretzels with the melting sugar.

Once most of the caramel has turned amber, but still looks sandy, lower the heat and add the butter.

Stir well to blend and once the butter has been fully absorbed, turn the pretzels out onto a buttered sheet tray or silpat. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before eating.

Challah Back!

2008-01-17T21:47:00.000-05:00

Another lovely tan loaf of Challah bread. While rather time intensive to make, this bread is delicious! Its fine crumb and honey-scented flavor make it ideal to eat by itself or as French toast. Pass the syrup already.

Recipe from Epicurious.com: My Challah

Ingredients

2 teaspoons (6 grams/0.2 ounce) instant yeast
About 3 1/2 cups (475 grams/16.8 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (60 grams/2 ounces) warm water
3 large eggs, plus 1 for glazing
1 1/2 teaspoons (8 grams/0.3 ounce) table salt
1/4 cup (55 grams/1.9 ounces) vegetable oil
1/4 cup (85 grams/3 ounces) mild honey or 1/3 cup (70 grams/2.4 ounces) granulated sugar

Preparation

Mixing the yeast slurry
In a large bowl, whisk together the yeast and 1/4 cup (30 grams/1.1 ounces) of the flour, then whisk in the warm water until smooth. Let the yeast slurry stand uncovered for 10 to 20 minutes, or until it begins to ferment and puff up slightly.

Mixing the dough
Whisk the 3 eggs, salt, oil, and honey (measure the oil first, then use the same cup for measuring the honey — the oil will coat the cup and let the honey just slip right out) or sugar into the puffed yeast slurry until the eggs are well incorporated and the salt has dissolved. With your hands or a wooden spoon, stir in the remaining 3 1/4 cups (445 grams/15.7 ounces) flour all at once. When the mixture is a shaggy ball, scrape it out onto your work surface and knead it until smooth, no more than 5 minutes. (Soak the mixing bowl in hot water now to clean and warm it for fermenting the dough.) This dough is very firm and should feel almost like modeling clay. If the dough is too firm to knead easily, add a tablespoon or two of water to it; if it seems too wet, add a few tablespoons flour.
The dough should feel smooth and very firm but be easy to knead.

Fermenting the dough
Place the dough in the warm cleaned bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. (Or, the dough can be refrigerated right after kneading, them removed from the refrigerator to finish fermenting up to 24 hours later.) Let the dough ferment until it has at least doubled in bulk, about 2 hours, depending on the temperature in your kitchen. (If the dough has been refrigerated, it may take an extra 30 to 60 minutes to ferment.)

Shaping and proofing the dough
Line one or two large baking sheets, depending on how many breads you are making, with parchment paper or oil them. Divide the dough into two 15-ounce(430-gram) portions for loaves, one 1 1/2 pound (680-gram) portion for a large loaf and three small pieces for rolls (the easiest way to do this without a scale is to divide the dough into quarters and use one quarter for the rolls and the rest for the large loaf), or fourteen 2-ounce (60-gram) portions for rolls. To make a New Year's spiral*, roll each portion into a long, even strand, preferably sheeting it out first.

For each portion:
For a flat spiral, make a very loose spiral of dough on the prepared sheet, starting at the center and winding the dough around, leaving space between the loops, and tuck the end of the strand under.

For a high-rising spiral, wind the dough tightly around on the prepared sheet, without leaving any space between the loops, and be sure that the last loop is bound with a bit of tension. This will force the dough to rise in the center as it is proofing and especially during the oven rise.

If you would like to make the bird's head, before making a long strand, pull off and shape a small round from the dough. Set the round on the spiral, using a little water to help it stick. When the dough is fully proofed, pinch out a beak shape and use your finger to push in dimples for eyes, or use raisins or currants for the eyes.

Cover the loaves well with plastic wrap. (At this point, they can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours.) Let them proof until tripled in size, about 2 hours (or up to 3 hours if the loaves were refrigerated).

Meanwhile, 30 minutes before baking, arrange the oven racks in the lower and upper third portions if using two baking sheets, or arrange one rack in the upper third position if using one sheet, and remove any racks above them. Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C/gas mark 3). If desired, you can preheat one or two baking sheets to double with the baking sheet(s) the loaves are in. Beat the remaining egg with a pinch of salt for glazing the breads.

Baking the loaves
When the loaves have tripled and do not push back when gently pressed with your finger but remain indented, brush them with the egg glaze. Bake rolls for about 15 to 20 minutes, the 15-ounce (430-gram) loaves for 25 to 35 minutes, or the 1 1/2-pound (680-gram) loaf for 35 to 45 minutes, until very well browned. After the first 20 minutes of baking, switch the loaves from front to back so that they brown evenly; if the large loaf is browning too quickly, tent it with foil. When the loaves are done, remove them from the oven and let cool on a rack.

*According to the Encyclopedia Judaica, the New Year's spiral is a shape with a Ukranian origin, originally a bird shape with the center of the spiral culminating in a bird's head: "The bird's head symbolizes the phrase in Isaiah 31:5 'As birds hovering, so will the Lord of Hosts protect Jerusalem'" — which helps to explain why this spiral shape would be called a faigele, "little bird" in Yiddish.

Just give me a burger already!!

2008-01-17T17:42:00.000-05:00

For the past 3 days I have been craving MEAT. More specifically, COW meat in the form of a juicy burger (with fries too). Should I go to Cook-Out or not? I can't decide!

What I'll get when I give in and became the ultimate fattie:
The Cook-Out combo with a 1/4-lb. burger - cheddar style, french fries, onion rings and of course, a diet coke (gotta watch my figure).

It's our new blog!

2008-01-16T12:26:00.001-05:00

CHALLAH!!!!!!!!!!