The Cookie Crumbles

Cinnamon Apple Quick Bread

2011-10-13T15:52:00.000-04:00

I am waaaaaaay behind on the posts I had hoped to make. I still have an entire summer's worth of farm-share related blogs to get to, but I'm going to not even think about those until after this holiday season is done.

Although I love yeast breads, the joy and simplicity of a simple quick bread never ceases to amaze me. After I went on my annual apple-picking excursion, I wanted to try some new things with my apples. The first recipe I settled on was an apple quick bread, which is a variation of Paula Deen's zucchini bread, which I became well-acquainted with this summer during my farm share, when I had zucchinis coming out of my ears. At the time, I thought the base would be good for other fruit or veggie mix-ins, and I was right. With a little tweaking, I made this recipe work beautifully for apples.

But first, a little interlude (or skip down for more baking!):

Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday, hand's down. Not only do I love Halloween-themed treats, but I love Halloween tradition as well. Last year, around this time, I paired my Halloween and Fall-themed posts with little blurbs on the background of some common Halloween tradition and/or lore, including the history of Halloween and trick-or-treating, vampires, zombies, jack-o-lanterns, and bobbing for apples. This year, even though I am starting a little late, I am continuing that tradition with this latest topic:

"So useful to have him swooping around like an overgrown bat."

This is my 6 month old kitty cat, Severus (as in Severus Snape, because I'm a huge nerd), and he and his brother Magnus hold my heart in their paws. I've always been a dog person, growing up I had a wonderful German Shepherd, and I never seriously contemplated owning a cat. But, I always promised myself that if I did ever get a cat, he would be jet black from the tips of his ears to the bottoms of his paws. There's just something about them that draws me in. So what more perfect Halloween interlude than to examine the superstition surrounding Halloween and

Throughout history, the attitude towards cats in general has been one of dueling extremes. In ancient times, particularly in Egypt and Rome, cats were revered. In Egypt, they were the earthly representatives of the goddess Bastet, while in Rome, they were often worshiped as household gods. The ancient Christians had a tradition that a tabby cat kept the baby Jesus warm when he was born, and in gratitude, the Virgin Mary bestowed the characteristic "M" on his forehead.

But during the Dark and Middle Ages, this began to change. In 1232, the Pope suggested that cats might in fact be agents of the Devil. Although no one is sure what caused this shift in attitudes, the fact that cats are nocturnal animals with highly reflective eyes that seem to glow and aloof demeanors probably didn't help matters any! Many cats were burned at the stake along with their owners during medieval witch hunts. One high-profile example in the 17th century was the story of Charles I and his favorite cat, which happened to be black. Charles I was very attached to his kitty, so the story goes, and even assigned guards for its protection. When it died, he allegedly exclaimed that his luck had gone, and the very next day, he was arrested. His subsequent execution resulted in the (temporary) overthrow of the British monarchy, and only did more damage to the reputation of black cats. In the latter part of the 17th century, New England witch hunters in Salem and elsewhere became convinced that cats, particularly black ones, were familiars -- that is, the spirits in animal form that collude with and assist witches. These early attitudes gave rise to most of the black cat superstitions we are familiar with today, such as: having bad luck if a black cat crosses your path; a black cat at a funeral meaning another family member will die; and just the general bad luck that was believed to follow black cats around. It also gave rise to the classic Halloween icon of a black cat silhouette.

Even though we live in modern times, some superstitions unfortunately die hard, because a study in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science looking at adoption rates in CA animal shelters found that black cats have the lowest adoption rate out of all coat colors. All Halloween playfulness aside, this is heartbreakingly unfortunate for all the sweet black kitties out there that desperately need love. If you're ever in a position to welcome a cat into your home, and you have a choice of a black one, please seriously consider taking him or her since statistics show that it is unlikely that someone else will come along to adopt him. :-(

And now, back to baking!

Cinnamon Apple Bread

This recipe is ridiculously easy. So easy that I hardly have any pics to go with the post. First, start with some apples. I used Fuji exclusively, because that is what looked good at the orchard, but generally I like to have a mix of apples. Either dice them up or shred them using the biggest openings on your shredder. I chose to shred because it goes quickly, and I always get lazy when I'm dicing, and I end up with progressively larger and larger pieces...

Mix a little lemon juice into those cut apples, to slow down the oxidation (browning).

Pre-combine the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and spices. A note about the sugar: I've made this bread using a variety of sugar amounts, from 1 cup to 3 cups, which is why there is a range in the recipe listed below. It depends on what taste you are going for. 1 cup of sugar is hardly sweet at all, and would pair well with a glaze or icing. 2 cups is moderately sweet, and 3 (what the original recipe called for) is very sweet, like apple pound cake. I personally like 2 cups the best, half brown and half white, but that is my tastebuds. My husband prefers 1 cup.

Beat the eggs together with oil and water in a separate bowl, then mix in the apples (and nuts if you want them).

Combine the dry and wet ingredients together.

Then, take 2-9x5" loaf pans, spray them with butter spray, and line the bottom with parchment. Spraying before you put the parchment on the bottom helps it to stick to the metal. Then give the top of the parchment a little spray as well. Don't skip the parchment step, believe me, I only tell you to parchment-line something if it is really necessary. Then, divide the batter between the two loaf pans, and bake at 350F for about 50 minutes (as a range, I'd say anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour). Keep baking until a tester comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for ten minutes before de-panning and cooling fully.

This bread is a yummy and fragrant bit of Fall, studded with apples and walnuts, and swirled with spices. It would probably be delicious with a caramel glaze, but that involved going to the store, so I didn't bother. As-is, however, 2 loaves got devoured in a single day at my work. If you have apples, and you want to make more than just pies and crisps, consider making this bread!

Cinnamon Apple Bread

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

2 C apples, shredded
1 tsp lemon juice
4 eggs
1 C vegetable oil
1/3 C water
3-1/4 C AP flour
2 C sugar (1C brown, 1C white)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 C nuts, pecans or walnuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F
Shred or dice apples, and mix with lemon juice
Beat together eggs, oil, and water. Stir in apples and nuts
Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and spices in separate bowl
Combine wet and dry ingredients
Line the bottoms of two 9x5" loaf pans with parchment, and spray bottom and sides of pans
Divide batter evenly between 2 pans and bake for about 50-60 minutes, until tester comes out clean
Cool in pan for ten minutes, then de-pan
Enjoy!

Quick & Easy Dinner: Buffalo Chicken Breasts

2011-06-01T11:25:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the crappy pictures in advance, I know they leave a lot to be desired. But, take it from me, this recipe is totally worth making!

Buffalo chicken breasts have fast become one of my favorite quick chicken recipes because it is a snap to put together. I've hardly had any free time lately due to work, and anything that is quick and tasty is at the top of my cooking list. This dinner is a no-brainer for anyone who likes buffalo wings -- but if you don't like regular hot sauce, substitute a mild version (or an even hotter version if you like more heat).

This dish only has a handful of ingredients: combine hot sauce, melted butter, onion powder and Worcestershire sauce together.

Set aside 1/4 C of the sauce, and use the rest to marinate chicken breasts (I used the thin sliced, as always) in a sealed ziplock bag for about 30 minutes at room temperature (it won't kill you, I promise). A little longer won't hurt, I think I actually marinated for closer to 45 minutes because I got side-tracked doing other things. But, if the thought skeeves you out, marinate it in the fridge for at least two hours.

Then, remove the breasts and discard the marinade. Saute the breasts in a cooking spray-coated pan over medium high heat for about 4 minutes per side (more for thicker breasts) until fully cooked.

And that is it! Such an easy, hassle-free recipe, and it's huge on taste!

...Incidentally, do you know what Worcestershire sauce is? I had heard of it of course, and even occasionally dabbed it on some steak, but I had never bothered to really find out what the heck was in it. Turns out, Worcestershire sauce was first made in Worcester, England by the pharmacists (or, in British lingo, "dispensing chemists") John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins (of Lea & Perrins fame), and was first commercialized in 1837! It is a type of fermented fish sauce, believe it or not (I had no idea!) containing anchovies, malt vinegar (or white vinegar in the US), onions, garlic, molasses, cloves, soy sauce, and other spices.

Buffalo Chicken Breasts
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

Anywhere from 1 lb to 1.5 lbs of chicken breast halves, anywhere from 6 oz (regular thickness) to 3 oz per half (thin sliced)
3/4 C hot sauce
1/4 C butter, melted
1/2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce (aka Worcester Sauce)

Directions

Combine hot sauce, melted butter, Worcestershire Sauce, and onion powder to make buffalo sauce
Reserve 1/4 C marinade, and set aside
Marinade chicken and remaining buffalo sauce at room temperature for 30-45 minutes
Remove chicken and discard marinage
Saute chicken in a cooking-spray coated pan over medium high heat for 4 minutes/side (thin breasts) until chicken is cooked thoroughly
Serve with reserved sauce

Quick & Easy Dinner: Goat Cheese and Prosciutto-Stuffed Chicken Breasts

2011-04-07T21:01:00.000-04:00

Here is yet another easy, quick, and relatively light weeknight dinner recipe: chicken breasts stuffed with goat cheese and prosciutto. As with other quick chicken recipes I make, these are with thinly sliced breasts folded over a filling, but you can adapt it to work with full-sized breast halves by slicing into the breast and creating a pocket, then adjusting the cooking time accordingly (and perhaps finishing it in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 350F after sauteing)

The packs of thinly sliced breasts that I buy have 5 breasts per package. Accordingly, I split my goat cheese (Chevrai brand, 4 oz) into 5 slices, and buy a prepackaged proscuitto that also has 5 slices per package. Don't ask me if the prosciutto is domestic or imported, I have no idea. I'm a gourmand, not a gourmet (where cooking is concerned, anyway). All I know is: it tastes good and it is easy.

I always bread the chicken when I make this recipe. Because the chicken gets folded, I only bread one side. To do this, dredge one side of the chicken successively in flour, beaten egg and seasoned bread crumbs.

Then, lay the breast down, with the coated side face down. Lay the full slice of prosciutto on top of the breast, and then the slice of goat cheese on top of the prosciutto, on the lower half of the breast.

Fold over and secure with toothpicks.

Saute over medium-high heat in a cooking spray-coated pan, for about 4 minutes per side. Make sure that the fold on the side of the chicken (opposite the open end) is also cooked. You might have to get a pair of tongs and hold the chicken on-end to accomplish this.

And then it should be done, and ready to eat! Simple, and yummy!

If you want to make more, scale everything up depending on how much chicken you intend to use!

Goat Cheese and Prosciutto-Stuffed Chicken Breasts
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

1 package of thinly-sliced chicken breasts (each breast is approximately 4 oz)
1 block of goat cheese, 4 oz, sliced to match breast number (can use more cheese if making more than 5 breasts)
1 package of prosciutto (enough for 1 slice per breast)
Seasoned breadcrumbs
Beaten egg and flour for dredging

Directions

Coat one side of the breasts in breadcrumbs: first, dredge one side in flour; then beaten egg; then seasoned crumbs.
Place breast coated side down
Layer on one piece of prosciuto
Place one slice of goat cheese on lower half of breast, and fold breast over, securing with toothpicks
Saute with cooking spray over medium-high heat for about 4 minutes per side, until done. Don't neglect the fold.

Quick & Easy Dinner: Olive and Pimento-Stuffed Chicken Breast

2011-04-07T20:54:00.000-04:00

Here is another quick and light weeknight chicken meal: chicken breasts stuffed with pimentos/olives, cheese and bacon.

The original recipe, which I modified a bit, calls for just pimentos. However, I had never bought "just pimentos" before, and didn't have a clue where the supermarket by my house was hiding them. I looked by the olives, which seemed logical, and also by the jars of roasted red peppers, garlic, sundried tomatoes, etc etc and no dice. So I bought a jar of sliced Spanish olives with pimentos (I think this is called "olive salad" sometimes), and this is why there are olives in my pictures. I have since discovered that jars of just pimentos were hiding in the Spanish food aisle, which was probably the only aisle I didn't go down for some reason. I think the recipe was very yummy with the olive/pimento mix, although the taste of olives was strong...and salty. If you don't particularly like green olives, I'd recommend using pimentos only.

Oh, and it goes without saying that my recipe list has all light ingredients, but you can certainly substitute full-fat counterparts as you see fit!

Combine the bacon, onion, pimentos and/or olives, mayo, lemon juice, hot sauce, and the shredded cheese (if you are using shredded), and set aside.

A few points about this step:

I always cook my turkey bacon in the microwave to save time. Directions are usually on the package, but I always cook them on high for about 3 minutes on paper towels. Give them a minute or two to cool, and they will get crisp and easy to crumble!
Instead of using shredded cheese and mixing it into the filling, I used what I had on hand, which was presliced fat-free cheddar (Borden). This worked fine as well, so if you already have sliced cheese, don't think you need to run out and grab shredded too. You'll just add the cheese at a later step.

Then, decide whether you want your breasts coated with bread crumbs, which is totally up to you. If you decide yes, you can use preseasoned breadcrumbs, or season your own with some Italian seasoning, garlic powder and onion powder. This step is optional. If you are stuffing the breast, dredge the whole thing in flour, egg and then bread crumbs. If you are folding thin breasts over the filling, like what I did, you can just dredge one side, and have that be the outside that touches the pan.

Now it is time for assembly. If you are using a full-sized breast half, slice into it, creating a pocket, and stuff the filling in (stuff sliced cheese in there too if you are using it). Secure with a toothpick.

If you are using the really thin breasts, lay the cheese slice (if you are using it) on what will be the interior side, then place the filling on top of the cheese, and fold the breast over, securing with one or a few toothpicks.

Now, saute over medium-high heat, about 4 minutes per side, adding additional spray as needed. If you have the thin breasts folded over, they should be fully cooked at this point. The thick breast will have to be finished in the oven for about 12 minutes.

Olive and Pimento-Stuffed Chicken Breasts
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

2 slices turkey bacon, cooked and crumbled
3/4 cup shredded part-skim or fat-free cheddar cheese (or 1-2 slices per breast)
2 tablespoons minced green onions
1 1/2 tablespoons diced pimientos
1 tablespoon canola mayonnaise or light mayo
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce ** or to taste
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (or the thinly sliced chicken breasts that I used)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Cooking spray (olive oil)
Seasoned bread crumbs (optional)
Flour and egg for dredging breasts (optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.
Cook bacon, either in a large ovenproof skillet, or in microwave until crisp. Crumble.
Combine bacon, next 6 ingredients, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Cut a 1-inch-wide slit into the thick end of each breast half; carefully cut down to the center of chicken to form a deep pocket. Divide filling mixture evenly among pockets. Secure with wooden picks. Sprinkle chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. OR follow directions for thin breasts, and fold breast over the filling
Heat pan over medium-high heat. Spray pan. Add chicken to pan; saute 4 minutes. Turn chicken over and repeat.
If using thin breasts, they are probably cooked through at this point. If you have thick breasts, bake at 350° for 12 minutes; let stand for 5 minutes.

Quick & Easy Dinner: Hawaiian Chicken (Light)

2011-04-07T20:53:00.001-04:00

I've been trying to cook lighter lately, in a concerted effort to lose weight. Because of my working hours, I've been trying to concentrate on entrees that are not only light, but also quick and easy. Many nights, this means some variation on chicken, because it cooks quickly (especially if you pound it out thin, or buy the breasts that are sliced extra thin).

The great thing about chicken is that it is so versatile -- you can completely change the meal just by changing the sauce and or accompaniments.

This meal, Hawaiian chicken, I modified off of the Cooking Light site. It is a recipe for chicken breasts which have been marinated and basted in a soy sauce-pineapple glaze, and quite easy to put together. If you are interested in some lighter versions of meals, I suggest giving this site a try. Just make sure to check out the serving size of any recipe you intend to try, because I've noticed that some of the "light" recipes have less fat and calories because the portion size is a lot smaller, not because of adjustments to the recipe. But in most cases, Cooking Light is a great resource, and most of the recipes seem fairly simple and fairly adjustable to your individual tastes.

This recipe requires a little forethought, because it involves marinating overnight (although, you can get away with marinating for 2 hours if you really need too, but you might want to make more sauce, so you can baste more as you cook).

The marinade contains low sodium soy sauce, pineapple juice, low sugar ketchup, ginger, and garlic. Combine everything first, and reserve about 1/4 C of the marinade, covering and refrigerating it.

Add the rest to a ziplock bag filled with the chicken. This will get refrigerated, ideally overnight, but at least for a few hours if you can. Prep-wise, it is much more efficient to set up the marinading the night before.

The next day, you simply discard the marinade, salt and pepper your chicken to taste, and saute the chicken in some olive oil cooking spray. How long will depend on the thickness of the chicken you are using and the amount of heat you are using. I normally buy thin-sliced breasts to save me time, which are about 1/2" thick. These take about 4 minutes per side on medium-high heat, and you can use the reserved marinade from the day before (the one that wasn't sitting with raw chicken) to baste occasionally. If you intend on serving the chicken with some additional sauce on the side, make sure that you put some on the side before you start basting, as you don't want to be dipping your basting brush that has contacted raw chicken into the same sauce you intend to serve with the meal.

If you aren't sure whether your chicken is done, slice open a piece through its thickest part, and check. Keep in mind that the marinade itself is reddish, so it might tinge the meat pink.

And that is it, a quick, easy, flavorful and light way to dress up some chicken breasts for a weeknight dinner!

Hawaiian Chicken
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

1/4 cup pineapple juice
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons lower-sodium soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons minced peeled ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
Cooking spray
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups hot cooked long-grain white rice
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

Combine first 5 ingredients. Reserve 1/4 cup marinade; place remaining marinade in a zip-top plastic bag. Add chicken to bag; seal. Chill overnight (or at least a couple of hours)
2. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Remove chicken from bag; discard marinade in bag. Sprinkle chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan; baste with 2 tablespoons reserved marinade. Cook 4-6 minutes. Turn chicken over; baste with 2 tablespoons reserved marinade. Cook 4-6 minutes.

French Toast Casserole

2011-04-07T20:45:00.001-04:00

My friend Allie, of Grover Cookie fame, recently hosted a brunch get-together so that we could all spend some time with her new little man. So I decided that now would be a great time to try one of those overnight breakfast casseroles I keep reading about -- you know, the kind that you assemble the night before, pop in the fridge overnight, and then just pop in the oven the next morning? I read about people who make such casseroles for Christmas morning, because all you do in the morning is bake it, which leaves you free to enjoy Christmas morning with the fam while breakfast takes care of itself. So with visions of being a domestic goddess on Christmas morning dancing in my head, I decided to take one of these breakfast casseroles for a test drive.

There are two main categories of breakfast casseroles that I have encountered: sweet, meaning that it is more along the lines of waffles, pancakes, etc; or savory, meaning it is usually egg based, with meat, cheese and occasionally potatoes. Since eggs were already on the menu, I decided to save an egg-based casserole for another time, and concentrate on the sweet, in this case, a French Toast Casserole recipe modified from Paula Deen.

It has very simple ingredients: eggs, cream, milk, vanilla, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, all assembled the night before, and the recipe also calls for a wonderful pecan praline topping that you sprinkle on right before baking. It is, essentially, a French Toast bread pudding.

First the bread: Paula calls for French bread, a 13oz-16oz loaf. Well, when I went to the store, all I could find was baguette, and a 12oz loaf at that. So I bought it. Better than nothing, amiright? However, this meant that I had already deviated from Paula's instructions without even meaning to. She calls for you to slice the bread into 20-1" slices, and arrange upright in two layers in a 9"x13" pan. I sliced my baguette into many more slices, since it was longer, but because the loaf and slices were so small, I had to: 1) downgrade to an 11"x7" pan; and 2) lay the slices flat, making 2 layers that way instead. And it worked fine, so don't fret if you can't find full-sized French bread.

Next, you combine the eggs, half and half, milk, vanilla, sugar, and spices. This recipe doesn't call for a lot of sugar in the custard, because you are going to be topping the casserole with praline and, presumably, syrup. If you don't want the praline topping, you could compensate by bumping up the sugar to 1/2C to 1C, depending on whether you still plan to use syrup. Or, you can put syrup or maple extract directly into the custard.

And then, evenly pour the custard over the bread.

Once you pour the custard on the bread, cover and refrigerate this overnight, let that bread soak up the liquid. The next morning, it will look like this:

Now, you can make the praline. Combine pecans, butter, brown sugar, maple syrup (the real stuff, if you have it), light corn syrup, and the spices.

Spread it over the surface of the casserole, and bake in a preheated oven. Because I made this in an 11"x7", mine was a little thicker, and I baked it for about 47 minutes. If you make it in a 9"x13", it will take closer to 40 minutes.

Tada!

Sorry for the quality of the final pics, I was trying to take pics as I was serving the casserole. Just slice it up, and serve it, letting people put maple syrup over it just like regular French toast.

And it was yummy. Oh my, was it yummy.

The praline topping contrasted beautifully with the bread custard, and the maple syrup tied everything together. Although, as I said before, this dish can exist without the praline, but I'd bump the sugar in the filling up to at least a half cup if you decide to lay off the pecans. But I wouldn't. Lay off the pecans, that is, because the topping is just divinely rich and satisfying.

There are some other recipes out there that call for you to saute the bread/egg mixture before putting it in the casserole pan, and I am sure that is tasty too...but, this recipe is already super-yummy as is, and it is easy. Now, this casserole is rich, so it is definitely not meant to be an every day breakfast treat, but it really is a perfect casserole to make, especially for mornings when you want to spend the time with your family, and not over a stove.

French Toast Casserole
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

Casserole

1- 13 to 16oz loaf of French bread
8 eggs
2 C half-and-half
1 C milk
2 tbls granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Praline Topping

2 sticks butter, melted
1 C pecans
1 C brown sugar
2 tbls light corn syrup
1.2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Directions

Slice bread into 1" thick slices (20 slices for a regular French loaf, more for a baguette).
Arrange in a sprayed 9x13" pan in 2 layers (or in an 11x7" pan in 2 layers for a baguette)
Combine eggs, half-and-half, milk sugar, vanilla and spices together
Pour over the bread slices in the pan, covering evenly
Cover pan and refrigerate overnight
The next morning: preheat oven to 350F
Make praline topping: combine pecans, butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and spices together, tossing to coat nuts
Take casserole out of fridge, and spread topping over casserole
Bake for 40 minutes (45-50 in an 11x7" pan) until puffed and lightly golden
Serve with maple syrup

Lemon Blossoms (Easy Things to Do With Cake Mix #3)

2011-03-24T22:18:00.000-04:00

And, with this post, I am finally done with the three boxes of yellow cake mix that I had left over from Christmas. The first two were used to make Pecan Cake Bars and Raspberry Oat Bars, respectively. Both recipes are delicious and quick ways to use cake mix, with the raspberry oat bars being a real stand-out in terms of flavor and ease of assembly. For this last box of mix, I decided to stick to the fruity route, and I chose a recipe called Lemon Blossoms from Paula Deen, which are tiny little lemon cakelets baked in a mini-muffin pan and covered in a lemon glaze. I had it in mind to test as a potential Easter recipe (for some reason, Easter and lemons are always associated in my mind), plus it sounded like a great, bright, spring-time recipe now that Spring is officially here.

Although, you'd never know Spring is here from all the snow I've been cleaning off of my car every morning, but that's another story.

This recipe starts with an ordinary box of yellow cake.

Normally, when I make a lemon cake from a mix, I buy the lemon-flavored mix, and dump in a box of lemon Jell-o to make the color bright and the flavor pop. It is an easy thing to do, and I recommend it for anyone who wants a quick lemon cake. This recipe, however, calls for a box of yellow cake mix, and a box of instant lemon pudding, so I was very interested to see how the flavor of this cake compared to my standard from-the-box lemon cake (Spoiler Alert: this recipe is divine).

Combine cake mix, pudding, lemon zest, eggs, and vegetable oil in the mixer until well-combined. The batter will be very thick, resist the urge to add extra liquid, these cakes are supposed to be dense, like a tea cake.

Fill a sprayed mini-muffin tin (no liners) with batter, filling the wells half full of batter. The blossoms rise a lot, and if they spill over the top of the well, getting them out of the pan might be harder, so make sure you only fill up half way.

Now, they bake in a pre-heated oven. The tops will spring back when they are done, mine took about 15 minutes, although the directions say 12.

When they come out, before they cool, invert the pan and turn them out onto a towel. Paper towels are fine.

You can right them if you want.

At this stage I was a little worried. Mine looked browner than Paula's -- baking them until the sprang back seemed to turn them into what felt like little hockey pucks...or so I thought.

Now it is time to dip them in the glaze. Paula calls for you to dip them as soon as you turn them out onto the towel. I didn't do this, because I didn't have my glaze made yet. I don't think the blossoms ended up any worse for wear, but that is your decision. So, prep your glaze (you can even do this before you assemble the dough, just be sure to cover the glaze, and stir it again before you dip): lemon juice, lemon zest, a little veggie oil (I didn't put as much in as she called for), and a little water.

There are two ways to dip: you can either dip the entire blossom, or just the top. It definitely affects the flavor, and both are yummy. The texture is a little softer if you dip the whole thing, but the lemon flavor is much stronger, so I recommend trying it both ways to see what you like better. If you intend to dip the entire blossom for most or all of them, I'd double the glaze, because I started running a little low.

Dip them, Put them on a rack on top of wax paper, so that the excess glaze can run off, and let them set for about an hour before you try to pack them for storing.

They look a little like glazed doughnut holes, and the taste is wonderful. The cake is dense, but the flavor is light and bright. The amount of cake you choose to dip will really affect the level of lemon. I loved them both ways, they are the perfect accompaniment to tea, and just a great addition to a dessert spread in general.

There's no reason why you can't substitute lime juice and zest, or orange juice and zest to change the flavor. You can use vanilla pudding in the mix, or you can use lime or orange Jell-o, respectively. There's also no reason why you can't substitute a chocolate cake mix and chocolate pudding, and make the glaze out of vanilla and water instead (or substitute a chocolate glaze).

Lemon Blossoms
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients
Cake

1 box of yellow cake mix (18.5)
1 package lemon instant pudding (3.5 oz)
Zest of 1 lemon
4 eggs
3/4 C vegetable oil

Glaze *

4 C confectioner's sugar
1/3 C lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
2 tbls vegetable oil
2 tbls water

Directions

Combine cake mix, pudding, zest, eggs and oil in mixer, and mix until combined, about 2 minutes
Spray a mini-muffin tin with butter spray, and fill the wells half full with batter. This recipe makes 48 mini-muffins, and uses 2 pans
Bake in a pre-heated 350F oven for 12-15 minutes
Turn out immediately on a tea towel
In the meantime, make the glaze, combining all glaze ingredients together
Dip the blossoms, either by covering completely, or by dipping the tops (*double the glaze recipe if you want to completely cover all blossoms)
Let glaze harden for an hour before putting away
Can store at room temperature

Shepherd's Pie, Lightened Up

2011-03-23T19:07:00.001-04:00

As you might have detected from several of my past blog posts, I like themes. I highly enjoy seasonal cooking and baking, to the point where I will cling to any excuse to incorporate a theme into my kitchen experiments. This post is no exception, although with far more legitimate origins. It is, after all, still St. Patty's season, which means, for me, that all things even slightly Irish in origin are a-go. So I decided to give Shepherd's Pie a try.

Shepherd's Pie, aka Cottage pie, is a meat pie topped with a mashed potato crust. Termed "cottage" as a reference to the poor people who could not afford to indulge in extravagant meals, this pie was originally conceived in the 18th century as a way to use up leftover meat scraps. It was paired with the potato due to the latter's affordability (potatoes were relatively cheap at the time). Originally, cottage/shepherd's pies were made with beef mince, and although both terms are still used interchangeably, many current shepherd's pie recipes contain mutton instead of beef (due to the connection between shepherds and lambs, presumably).

Hey, I'm a meat and potato kinda girl. But I'm also a "trying to get back in shape" girl, so I decided to give this recipe a try with some heavy modifications because: A) I don't like lamb; and B) I'm on a diet, so I need to try and keep things light. Mashed potatoes and "light" are not exactly synonymous, but I think this recipe does a good job. Don't get me wrong, because of my modifications, you won't entirely mistake it for a full-fat version, but it is flavorful and pretty healthy, while still tasting like comfort food. It goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that many of the ingredients in this recipe can be swapped out in favor of their full-fat counterparts if you wish.

Like all Shepherds Pies, this one begins with mashed potatoes. So grab and peel some potatoes (I used russet, but you can use whatever you like), cut them into quarters, and then bring them to a boil uncovered with some whole, peeled garlic cloves. You want to boil them until they are fork-tender, probably at least 15 minutes, closer to 20 for larger chunks.

Drain the potato chunks and garlic and put them in whatever container you are going to use to mash them in. For myself, I mash them right in the pot I boiled them in. Add the sour cream, 1/4C beef broth, butter substitute (or real butter if you want to splurge), and the cheese, and mash them up. I do this by hand, I am not a fan of potatoes that have been whipped by a mixer. Plus, it is easy to overmix them using a mixer, and then the consistency is all wrong. My advice is to stick to a hand masher, especially since this volume of potatoes isn't large. As you mash, check the consistency of the mashies. If you think they need a little more liquid, add some from the reserved 1/4C beef stock, but do so slowly, it is easy to add liquid but next to impossible to take it away. When you're done with the potatoes, cover them and put them aside temporarily while you focus on the meat.

First up is the bacon. I used turkey bacon, which I cooked in the microwave to save time (the directions will be on the box). If you plan on using regular bacon, fry it first, and then cook everything else in the bacon fat.

Chop up some onion and carrots, and prep some peas (I usually make a meat and potato only pie, but I decided to test out this recipe with the veggies in it, and was pleasantly surprised).

Saute your onions in olive oil spray on medium high until they begin to sweat and turn translucent, and then add and brown your beef.

Add in the peas and carrots and minced garlic, and cook for another few minutes. Add in some tomato paste and flour, and mix well to combine.

Then, in goes the beer. Dump in a full bottle of beer and bring everything up to a boil for 3 minutes. I used Guinness, and it smelled absolutely fabulous while it was cooking. As you mix it, try to scrape the bottom of the pan for all of those lovely browned bits accumulating at the bottom.

Add the crumbled bacon, the beef broth, rosemary, and salt and pepper to taste, and bring the mixture back up to a boil. Once it boils, turn down the heat to a simmer and cook uncovered until the sauce thickens, about 15 minutes or so.

Now it is time to assemble. I made mine in a 9.5" glass pie plate. Put all of the meat into the dish, and spread it into an even layer. Then, spread the potatoes on top. Spritz some butter substitute spray (like I Can't Believe It's Not Butter) on top of the potatoes.

This goes into the oven for about 30 minutes. Pull it out, sprinkle about a cup of cheese on, and pop it back into the oven for another 10 minutes, so that the cheese can melt.

This needs to rest for about 10 minutes before you slice into it. And there you have it. Comfort food without the guilt. This pie really is tasty, despite being considerably lightened up. I am convinced it is the Guinness, it adds such a distinctive taste to the meat.

As an aside, my mashed potatoes didn't look like much in the pot, or when I was spreading them on top of the meat, but when I cut into the pie, I was shocked to find out that my potato layer was about 3 times as thick as my meat layer. Next time, I will probably split the potatoes in half. I'll put half on the pie, and save half in the freezer for another day, either as a quick side dish or to make another pie.

Shepherd's Pie, Lightened Up
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

Potato Cheese Topping:

4 large russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
10 whole garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 cup sour cream, fat-free
1/4 to 1/2 cup beef broth (low sodium, fat-free)
2-4 tablespoons butter substitute (I Can't Believe It's Not Butter or your favorite), softened
1/2 C shredded fat-free cheddar cheese (from 1 3/4 C bag)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Nonstick cooking spray

Meat and Veggie Filling

6 slices turkey bacon, crumbled
2 medium onions or one large onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus 1/2 teaspoon
1 pound ground beef (extra lean, 93%)
2 to 3 medium carrots, chopped, (about 1 cup)
3/4 cups frozen peas, thawed
4-6 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 can of tomato paste (3oz)
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 (12-ounce) bottle of beer (I used Guinness but a lighter beer is also fine)
1/2 cup beef broth (low sodium, fat-free)
1 teaspoon finely minced fresh rosemary leaves or 1/2 tsp dried
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Remainder of fat-free Cheddar

Directions

Prepare potato topping:

In a large saucepan add the potatoes and garlic and cover with cold water.
Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook, uncovered, until the potatoes are fork-tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Drain.
Transfer the potatoes and garlic back to the pot.
Add the sour cream, 1/4 cup of the broth, butter, salt and pepper, and mash with a masher until most of the lumps are gone, and garlic is also smashed. If using a mixer, be very careful not to over-mix.
If the mixture is too dry, add the remaining 1/4 cup broth.
Cover and set aside.

Meat and Pie Assembly

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray a, 8-10-inch round baking dish with nonstick spray.
Cook bacon (in skillet or in microwave).
Saute onions in cooking spray until translucent
Stir in the beef and cook, stirring occasionally, over medium-high heat, until the beef browns, about 7 minutes.
Add the carrots, peas, and garlic and cook, stirring, until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes.
Stir in the tomato paste and flour and cook, stirring, until well blended, about 2 minutes.
Add the beer, bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes.
Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, and scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan, about 2 minutes
Add the cooked bacon, the broth, rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and the pepper, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the sauce thickens, about 15 minutes.
Spoon the meat mixture into the prepared baking dish.
Spread the potato topping evenly over the beef mixture.
Bake until the filling is hot, the topping is lightly browned and the edges are bubbly, about 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the cheese. Return to the oven and bake for 10 more minutes.
Let rest out of the oven for 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Oreo Balls That Don't Need Refrigeration. Is there anything butter can't do?!

2011-03-16T22:57:00.001-04:00

This isn't even a real recipe, but it is important enough that I wanted a post about it.

Oreo balls are amazing. They are one of the easiest and most popular things in my entire food prep repertoire. If you haven't tried making them, I can't recommend them enough. Wherever you bring them, people will love you. There's just one problem. They contain a block of cream cheese, which means they have to be refrigerated. While this isn't often a huge deal (they normally disappear too fast for this to be too much of an issue), it can present a problem if fridge space is short, or if they are going to be sitting out for a while (for a picnic, etc), or if you want to use them for something like event favors.

Oreo balls are already delicious and addicting, but I wanted to find a way to cut out the cream cheese without compromising the flavor, yielding an Oreo ball that would be just as delicious, but could be stored at room temp. This St. Patrick's Day was the perfect opportunity since I was planning to make a batch of Shamrock balls (mint Oreo balls) anyway.

I wanted to do this for the sake of convenience, but also for the sake of my sanity. I won't let my milk sit out for more than a minute on the counter. Is anyone else like this?

I can't bear the thought of milk, or any dairy product for that matter, going bad. I'm one of those people that searches through all the milk gallons for the one with the latest date. I'm one of those people that sniffs the milk every time I take it out, and if I detect even the slightest aroma, down the drain it goes. I have a deeply-rooted fear of dairy products sitting out too long. When I bring something dairy that needs to be refrigerated to someone's house, I make sure it goes right into the fridge. And, when it sits out to be served, I helicopter around it nervously, waiting to put it back into the fridge.

Mind you, I'm a microbiologist. It's my job to think about bacterial growth. Heck, it's my job to work with bacteria period. And even though all my training tells me, in a rational inner voice, that bacteria aren't going to flourish in my milk that has only been out for two minutes, I just can't help myself. So having Oreo balls that can just sit out, and don't need to be fussed with, is welcome on so many levels.

Normally you crush Oreos with cream cheese and dip them. Without the cream cheese, you need something else to bind the crumbs together. Not icing from a tub, like you would use with cake balls, because the added sugar will make them too sweet. Of course you could make your own icing and control the sugar. Or you can do what I did, and carry it one step further. After all, if you take out the sugar from icing, what are you left with? It is the easiest solution, and also, I think, the best: butter. The Wonder Fat.

This is crushed Oreos in a bag, by the way...

A stick of butter did the trick for my double-stuffed mint Oreos. Solid butter, not melted butter -- just slice it up into tablespoons and toss it into the crumbs with the mixer going. I even did this immediately after the butter was taken out of the fridge, I didn't bother to soften it. Just beat, and the crumbs will come together. Once they do, you can roll them and dip them like any other ball. And, finally, you can store them like any other ball, that is to say, at room temperature.

Now, I tested this out on mint Oreos, which are double-stuffed (as are all flavored Oreos). When you are using these kinds of Oreos, you generally use the whole cookies from 2/3 of the package, and scrape the filling out of the remaining 1/3, using only the cookie part. For these, I used a little more filling, because I wasn't sure at first whether additional Oreo filling or butter would bind better (butter does, btw), and they were just a tad too loose, so I could have done without the extra filling.

Because I haven't had a chance to test the butter proportions yet on a package of regular Oreos, if you decide to make these, start out with 6 tbls of butter first, combine it, and make sure it isn't too loose before you add the final 2 tbls. You might even need an extra tbls or so, I don't know. But I know it'll work. And, it'll taste divine. Let's face it, taste-wise when has butter ever been added to the detriment of anything?! Exactly.

King Cake (Mardi Gras Style)

2011-03-15T19:36:00.000-04:00

I have always wanted to try my hand at making a King cake, that purple, yellow and green colored sweet confection traditionally served during Mardi Gras, and this year was finally the year I managed to work it into my schedule. This recipe is a yeast dough, and is a little advanced because of the extra steps involved in using yeast, but it is not difficult. I will try to be as explicit as possible for those who have never baked with yeast before.

But first, how about a little background info on these colorful cakes?

In the title, I specify that this recipe is specifically for a Mardi Gras-style King Cake. I have to make this distinction, because there are actually many different types of King Cakes in many different cultures. Typically, these cakes are associated with the Epiphany, the 12th day after Christmas (aka Twelfth Night) when the 3 Wise men (aka the 3 Kings) finally arrived in Bethlehem to visit the Baby Jesus. The King Cake "season" extends from the Epiphany all the way until the day before Lent (Shrove Tuesday, or Fat Tuesday).

Besides the famed (at least in the US) King Cake of New Orleans, King Cakes include the vasilopita of Greece, the roscon de reyes of Spain, and the galette des Rois of France, amongst others.

All these cakes have several features in common: they are typically a variation of a sweet bread, occasionally with a filling, and they almost always contain a trinket of some sort. This trinket can range from a simple bean (the majority of European King Cakes), to a coin (vasilopita), to a plastic baby representing the Christ Child (New Orleans). The person who gets the piece with the trinket either has special privileges for the day, special obligations, or both. In the case of New Orleans King Cakes, the finder of the trinket is usually declared King or Queen for the day, with the obligation to provide next year's King Cake, or host next year's Mardi Gras party. Some Mardi Gras krewes (parades and balls) also choose the monarch of their ball using the King Cake.

And speaking of

...

Mardi Gras is the New Orleans Carnival season, filled with parades, balls and King Cake parties, from the Epiphany until Fat Tuesday. In fact, for those of you who don't speak it, Mardi Gras is literally the French for Fat Tuesday. Although the whole season is referred to as Mardi Gras, it culminates on the literal Mardi Gras, the day before Lent, the idea being to eat and celebrate as much as possible before the fasting and deprivations of the Lenten season.

The practice of Mardi Gras was brought to New Orleans by its earliest French settlers, with the earliest recorded Mardi Gras in New Orleans taking place in 1699.

The three traditional colors of the Mardi Gras are purple (justice), gold (power), and green (faith).

Parades (Zulu, Rex, etc) and balls are the most common form of Mardi Gras celebrations, and they are run by Krewes, which are somewhere between social clubs and charitable organizations. These krewes run the gamut from super-exclusive to open membership (for a small fee). The oldest on record is the Mystick Krewe of Comus (1830). During these parades, "throws" are hurled from the floats into the waiting crowd -- the stereotypical beads and doubloons, although some krewes are starting to become more elaborate with their throws, offering limited edition items or krewe-specific trinkets. The most sought after throws are the Mardi Gras Coconuts, thrown during the Zulu parade.

The Mardi Gras style King Cakes feature prominently in all of these celebrations. They are brioche-type bread, traditionally twisted, but many varieties exist. They were also traditionally deep fried like huge doughnuts, but that has been changing. Now it is very common to find them baked and with a filling, which can be cinnamon, praline, fruit, cheese, or some combination of the above. A special subtype called the Zulu cake is iced with chocolate and filled with coconut as a nod to the coconut throws of the Zulu parade. Some New Orleans krewes use the King Cakes to choose a monarch for their parades and/or balls.

Incidentally, since there is bourbon in this recipe...the famous Bourbon Street in New Orleans is not named after bourbon the liquor, it is named after the House of Bourbon, the royal family of France which ruled from the 16th century (contemporaries of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I of England) until the two French Revolutions (in 1792 and 1830).

And now, back to the King Cake!!

The recipe I chose to modify has a cinnamon praline filling. I was tempted to add cheese, but I didn't have room to store the cake in my fridge overnight, so I didn't. I'll provide a suggestion for a praline-cheese filling at the bottom of this post. I also chose to fold my dough into a cylinder as opposed to rolling it jellyroll style because of the thickness of my filling.

This recipe, as well as any other bread recipe involving yeast, starts with "proofing" the yeast, that is, making sure the yeast is active. Start by heating up the milk, you want it between 110F and 120F. This should feel like a temperature for a baby bottle or warm shower. If it is scalding hot, you will kill the yeast. If you aren't sure, do what I did, and check it with an instant thermometer. I found that 1 C of milk in a 1 C glass measuring cup nuked on high for 60" did the trick, but it will differ a bit based on your microwave.

Pour the milk into the bowl where you will be assembling the dough, sprinkle in one packet of yeast, and 1 tbls of sugar, stirring to combine.

Then, leave it alone for about 10 minutes. If the yeast is active, it will start to bubble a bit.

Now, add the sugar, salt, nutmeg and zest to your yeast, and mix (I just used a spoon).

Then add the yolks, bourbon, extract, OJ and mix again.

Now in goes the flour, cup by cup. At this point, I started using my paddle. Once the flour is in, I started adding the butter a few pieces at a time (in 1/4 tsp cubes), until it was pretty well incorporated, which took a few minutes with the paddle.

Now, turn it out onto your floured counter (or other floured surface) and knead until the dough is no longer shiny, is elastic, and springs back when pulled. Here is a simple but great tutorial on kneading. Kneading by hand will take anywhere from 8-12 minutes, depending on how vigorous you are.

Put the dough in an oiled bowl (I used Crisco veggie oil), cover with a damp towel (I used paper towels that had been wetted and then squeezed out of excess water), and let rise for about 1 hour, until doubled in size.

In the meantime, make the filling. Put the toasted pecans, brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, butter and salt into a foo processor, and process until crumbly.

After your dough rises, punch it down.

This deflates the air pockets, and re-invigorates the yeast by redistributing them and exposing them to new food sources. Punching dough is used when you want an end product with a tender and fine crumb, a little denser, like cinnamon rolls, and cake-like pastries (FYI, folding at this stage will produce larger air pockets, and is used for things like rustic loaves, baguettes, etc). Then, let it rise again, and punch it down again (I admit, I skimped on this step, and I didn't notice any ill-effects of skipping the second rise/punch, so if you're short on time...)

Now roll it out to a 28"x8" rectangle. I rolled mine out to an 18"x8" rectangle, because apparently I can't read. This is why my roll looks so fat, and why my finished King Cake was more like a disk than a ring...

Put on the filling (*see below for a note about cheese filling, if you want to use it), leaving a 1" perimeter. Brush this perimeter with an egg yolk/milk mixture.

Fold the dough over the filling and pinch shut along the sides, and on the two ends. Again, mine is too fat. At this point, roll it right onto some parchment, for easy transfer to a cookie sheet.

Form this cylinder into a ring, and pinch the two ends together. Don't be like, me, try to leave a circle in the center at least 3" in diameter. Slide the ring/parchment onto your waiting cookie sheet.

Cover with damp towel again, and let it rise again, for about 30 minutes.

Then, brush it with some of the remaining yolk/milk wash (which I forgot to do) and bake it until it is golden, and the underside is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Let it cool for at least an hour. When it is cooled, you can make the glaze. To be authentic, have your colored sugars on hand.

Combine the confectioner's sugar, orange juice, bourbon until smooth. It'll be pretty thick, brush it on top or spoon it as best you can. Immediately after, grab your sanding sugars, and start sprinkling in alternating colors.

This cake, even though it didn't look quite like I pictured, turned out even better than I was expecting. The bread was subtly sweet, slightly buttery, and extremely tasty, while the pecan filling was absolutely delicious.

When I brought it to work, everyone devoured it. I definitely will be making this again next year for Mardi Gras, trying out the addition of cheese to the filling. The dough was so tasty on its own that I am thinking of using it as a base and experimenting with other kinds of breads to make some coffee rings and other pastries.

King Cake (Mardi Gras Style)

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

Dough

1 C warm milk (110F-120F)
1 packet of active dry yeast (1/4 oz)
1/2 C sugar
4 yolks
1 stick sweet butter, cold, cut into pieces
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
2 tbls orange juice
zest from one orange
2 tbls bourbon
4 C flour

Filling

3 C toasted pecans
1/2 C brown sugar
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 stick sweet butter
pinch of salt

Glaze

2 C confectioner's sugar
2 tbls orange juice
1 tbls bourbon
1 tbls water
sanding sugars in purple, yellow and green

Directions

Heat the milk to 100F-120F
Pour the milk into the bowl where you will be assembling the dough, sprinkle in one packet of yeast, and 1 tbls of sugar, stirring to combine. Let it stand for about 10 minutes. If the yeast is active, it will start to bubble a bit.
Now, add the rest of the sugar, salt, nutmeg and zest to your yeast, and mix (I just used a spoon).
Then add the yolks, bourbon, extract, OJ and mix again.
Add the flour, cup by cup.
Add the butter a few pieces at a time (in 1/4 tsp cubes), until well incorporated
Turn dough out onto floured counter (or other floured surface) and knead until the dough is no longer shiny, is elastic, and springs back when pulled, 8-12 minutes approximately.
Put the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a damp towel, and let rise for about 1 hour, until doubled in size.
In the meantime, make the filling. Put the toasted pecans, brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, butter and salt into a food processor, and process until crumbly.
After dough rises, punch it down. Let it rise again for 30 minutes, then punch it down again.
Now roll it out to a 28"x8" rectangle.
Put on the filling, leaving a 1" perimeter. Brush this perimeter with an egg yolk/milk mixture.
Fold the dough over the filling and pinch shut along the sides, and on the two ends.
Form this cylinder into a ring, and pinch the two ends together.
Transfer to cookie sheet, cover with damp towel again, and let it rise again, for about 30 minutes.
Then, brush it with some of the remaining yolk/milk wash, and bake it until it is golden, and the underside is golden brown, about 30 minutes.
Let it cool for at least an hour.

For Glaze: Combine the confectioner's sugar, orange juice, bourbon until smooth. It'll be pretty thick, brush it on top or spoon it as best you can. Immediately after, grab your sanding sugars, and start sprinkling in alternating colors.

For Cheese Filling: Combine 2-8 oz packages of softened cream cheese, 2 egg, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1 tbls of milk or cream in a mixer until well-combined and fluffy. Thin with more milk/cream if need be, and spread in a thin layer on the dough before spreading the pecan layer on the dough.

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie Bars

2011-03-15T09:01:00.001-04:00

This is my second recent posting on pecan bars, and it is a recipe I have been wanting to try forever: a shortbread-based pecan pie bar. My previous pecan bars from a cake mix, while tasty, were not quite what I had in mind, so I decided to start from scratch, and make my own recipe. And this time, I decided to do something I had never done with pecans before: add some bourbon.

Now, bourbon has a long history of being paired with pecans in pecan pie, although how long, no one knows for sure. For certain, it is a Southern tradition. Bourbon, the drink, is named after Old Bourbon (present day Bourbon County) in Kentucky, the place associated with its invention. To this day, 95% of the world's bourbon comes from Kentucky, and the export of bourbon to the rest of the world is a billion dollar industry.

This recipe starts with the creation of a shortbread crust. I did this all in my food processor today, but I've made this dough before (for thumbprint cookies) in my mixer. Both work fine, so don't worry if you don't have a food processor. I have included directions for making with a mixer in the printable recipe at the bottom of the post.

Whisk together egg yolks and vanilla, and set aside.

Combine the flour and the sugar in your processor, and pulse a few times to combine.

Cut up your cold butter.

Ad it a few pieces at a time, with the machine running, until it looks crumbly, this won't take long.

Then, pour in the egg/vanilla mixture, and process until blended and the dough starts to pull away from the sides.

Take this dough, and pat it into a sprayed 9"x13" pan evenly, but make a tiny lip around the edges to try and contain the filling you will eventually be pouring in there.

This gets baked in a 350F oven for about 20 minutes, until it is lightly golden.

Meanwhile, make the filling. Combine white and brown sugar, light and dark corn syrup (you can use all light corn syrup if you want to lessen the sweetness, this filling is pecan pie-sweet), melted butter, beaten eggs, vanilla and bourbon until well mixed.

Then, stir in pecans and chocolate chips.

When the shortbread base comes out of the oven, and pour the filling on top.

Pop it back into the oven for another 25-30 minutes, until set.

Let it cool completely before slicing.

These bars are great when they are cooled, even better the next day. The shortbread crust is buttery and firm, and pairs deliciously with the sweet filling. These bars are pretty easy, create no mess while baking (unlike some recipes I've seen that actually tell you flat out in the recipe that the bars will overflow the pan and land on your oven while baking), and are a decadent treat. They are a great take-along item too -- a lot of people don't like to fuss with cutting a pie, but no one objects to grabbing a bar.

Don't be afraid to leave out the bourbon, or adjust the amount up or down according to your personal preference. The first time I made these, I actually used about 4 tbls of bourbon in the filling, because I couldn't get enough. I loved them this way, but there were people who thought they were way too strong. Since then, I've dialed down the amount significantly. For me, because I love the bourbon flavor, 2 tbls is just right, but bourbon can overwhelm the flavors, so I would start with 1 tbls the first time you make them if you're unfamiliar with bourbon, and see if you like how they taste. You an always add more the next time you make them if you approve of the bourbon flavor. It is a distinctive flavor, it is definitely not for everyone. These bars will be delicious even without a single drop of bourbon, so don't hesitate to leave it out if you think the bourbon taste is not for you.

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie Bars
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

For the Shortbread

1 C cold sweet butter, cut into pieces
2/3 C granulated sugar
2 1/4 C AP flour
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla

For the Filling

3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup corn syrup (1/4 light, 1/4 dark)
1 cup sugar (1/2 white, 1/2 brown)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tbls bourbon (optional, see note in the text)
2 C pecans
1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

For the Shortbread

In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks and vanilla together, set aside.
Combine the flour and granulated sugar in a mixer with the paddle attachment or in a food processor/mixer and process just to blend.

For Mixer: Sprinkle the butter onto the flour/sugar mixture and mix on medium until the mixture looks crumbly, this won't take long. Add in the egg mixture and mix until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.
For Processor: With the machine running, add the butter 2-3 pieces at a time and process until the mixture looks crumbly. With the machine still running, add the egg yolk mixture and process until blended and the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Pat dough down in a 9"x13" sprayed pan, making a slight lip around the edges
Bake in a 350F oven for 20-25 minutes, until golden (see Step 3 below)

For the Filling and Bars

In a bowl, combine the sugars, corn syrups, melted butter, vanilla, beaten eggs, and bourbon, and mix well to combine
Stir in the pecans and chocolate chips, coating well
Pour the filling over the shortbread crust when the shortbread crust comes out of the oven
Bake bars at 350F for 20-30 minutes (my oven took about 23), until filling sets
Cool completely
Slice and serve
Even better the next day!

Jacked Jambalaya!

2011-02-28T17:10:00.001-05:00

As in build muscles, that is! Just in time for Mardi Gras, this Jambalaya is chock-full of lean protein and whole grain carbs, perfect for anyone trying to stay healthy and/or watch their fat intake! It is modified from Emeril's Kicked Up Jambalaya, made up to be a healthier version: turkey andouille sausage, chicken breast, shrimp, brown rice, low-sodium chicken stock, and cooking spray.

But first, a brief interlude into the origin of that famous Louisiana dish, Jambalaya!

Jambalaya is a combination of meat, vegetables, and rice, similar to paella, and indeed it is of dual Spanish-French origin. There are actually two types of jambalaya: Creole and Cajun. They both start with what is known as the "holy trinity" of ingredients: onion, bell peppers and celery. Meat is then added, most often a spicy smoked sausage (andouille), poulty, and seafood. Stock and rice are also an integral part of the dish. The main difference between Creole and Cajun jambalaya is the addition of tomatoes. Creole jambalaya contains tomatoes, and is often also referred to as "red jambalaya" accordingly. Cajun jambalaya is more brownish in color, and without tomatoes.

Although there are many theories where the name "jambalaya" came from, the most likely is that it is derived from the Provençal (i.e. the French dialect spoken in Provence) word "Jambalaia", which literally means "mish mash" -- a pretty accurate description!

And now, back to the food!

This recipe is complex without being complicated, if that makes sense. It is a little time consuming, but the end result is so worth it.

The first step is to make the Creole seasoning. This is actually commercially available if you can find it, as Emeril's Bayou Blast, but you can also make it from scratch. It contains paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic and onion powders, pepper, salt, thyme, oregano, and black pepper. At this point, you can control the heat by adjusting the amount of cayenne pepper in the mix. 1 tbls of cayenne gives it a nice hot pep. 2 tbls would be really hot. If you don't like hot spice at all, maybe 1/2 tbls, or eliminate it all together. There are two ways to modulate the heat in this recipe: adjust the amount of cayenne pepper in the Creole seasoning , or use less Creole seasoning overall. I'd probably opt to tweak the cayenne rather than less seasoning overall, but that is up to you.

Then, start chopping, this is the most labor-intensive part. I started with the veggies: onions, peppers and celery.

Then, some lovely turkey andouille sausage (I found mine at Whole Foods, Wellshire Farms brand), cut into 1/2" slices

Then, slice up some skinless chicken breasts (sorry, no pic), and prep some shrimp (peel, de-vein, and defrost if need be).

Now, it is time to flavor your meat with the Creole seasoning. I did this shake-n-bake style, putting each meat into a ziplock bag with the spices. I split the spices between all 3 because I wasn't reading the original recipe carefully -- Emeril actually only calls for you to season the chicken and shrimp (I guess because the sausage is already spiced). I don't think it much matters, to tell you the truth. Later, when it goes into the stock, most of the seasoning will go into the liquid anyway. How much seasoning you want to use is up to you, but I used it all.

Toss those seasoned shrimp into the bottom of your dutch oven, with some olive oil spray. Periodically spray the shrimp as they cook, to keep the spices from burning. When they are done, take them out and set them aside.

Ditto for the chicken.

Now put the sausage in and brown it. This is not as critical to watch for done-ness if the sausage comes fully-cooked (check your package).

Then, leaving the sausage in the pot, add in the onion, pepper and celery, along with chopped tomatoes, cayenne and some garlic. Let this cook for a few minutes, so the veggies can start to sweat. You can add some fresh thyme at this stage, although the thyme taste was a little strong for me.

Now it is time to add the stock, chicken, the can of crushed tomatoes (undrained), and the bay leaves.

This will simmer away happily for a bit, and then you add the rice. I pretty much used the whole box, because it was just a tad more than 2 cups, and it seemed like there was a lot of liquid that I was hoping the extra rice would absorb.

This cooks some more, and gets even happier. Then, you add back in the shrimp, some chopped green onion, and some fresh chopped parsley (which I forgot), and it cooks a little more.

Take it off the heat for about 10 minutes. At this point, it seemed like there was a lot of excess liquid. But I used a slotted spoon and served 2 helpings in a bowl.

By the time my husband came back for seconds (maybe 10-15 minutes later of it sitting uncovered), this happened:

Beautiful!

It is a lot of steps, but once you get going, you realize that it isn't hard, just prep-intensive.

And there you have it, a filling and pretty lean meal. Comfort food that you can feel good about eating!

Jambalaya

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

For the Creole Seasoning

2 1/2 tbls paprika
2 tbls salt
2 tbls garlic powder
1 tbls cayenne pepper* (see text)
1 tbls black pepper
1 tbls onion powder
1 tbls thyme, dried
1 tbls oregano, dried

For the Jambalaya

1 1/2 lb turkey andouille sausage (24 oz)
1 1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 lb shrimp, peeled, de-veined, and defrosted if frozen
2 C onions, chopped
1 C bell peppers, chopped
1 C celery, chopped
2 tbls garlic, minced
3 bay leaves
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves (optional)
1 C chopped tomatoes
1-28oz can crushed tomatoes, undrained
3 C low-sodium & lowfat chicken stock
2 C brown rice (not minute rice)
1 C green onions, chopped
1/2 C fresh parsley, chopped.
Olive oil cooking spray

Directions

Spray a large Dutch oven with olive oil spray over medium-high heat.
Season shrimp with Creole seasoning and saute until almost cooked through, about 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove shrimp and set aside until later.
Season chicken pieces with Creole seasoning. Spray Dutch oven, and add chicken pieces and saute until browned on both sides, about 8 minutes. Remove and set aside.
Respray. Add sausage and cook until browned.
Add onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic, bay leaves, cayenne and thyme (if using) and cook until vegetables are wilted, about 6 minutes.
Add tomatoes, can of crushed tomatoes and stock and return chicken pieces to pot.
Season with salt and pepper and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.
Add rice to pot, stir well and return to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and cook for 15 minutes.
Add shrimp, green onions and parsley to Dutch oven, mixing carefully, and continue to cook, covered, for another 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit 10 minutes before serving.

Raspberry Oat Bars (Easy Things to do with Cake Mix #2)

2011-02-21T17:21:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am currently baking my way through some of the excess baking supplies I purchased during the holidays, most notably several boxes of yellow cake mix. If the pecan cake bars of my previous post were easy, this next recipe is still easier, and quite tasty. It has a great fruit flavor, which makes it a perfect bar to make now that the weather is (supposed to be) getting warmer. It flurried by my house this morning, and I heard on the radio that there was 6" of snow on the ground in Bergen County. So maybe these bars can make you feel like Spring is coming (so long as you don't look out the window or go outside).

I originally modified this recipe from a posting I saw here, although I altered a decent amount of ingredients

You start with a box of yellow cake mix. Just plain old yellow, not the Butter Recipe yellow, which has artificial butter flavoring added to it. Trust me, we are putting almost 2 sticks of butter into the recipe, we don't need any artificial butter flavor on top of that.

Take that dry cake mix and add some quick cooking oats (1 minute oats, do not use slow cooking oats). Mix them around to combine them a bit.

Then, add melted butter, vanilla, and a little lemon zest.

Take half the crumbs, and pat them down into a sprayed 9"x13" pan. Pat it down firmly.

Next, take some seedless raspberry jam, and combine it with about 1 tbls of fresh lemon juice, stirring until smooth. Then, spread the jam on top of the base. I used a 12oz jar of jam, but you can buy a bigger jar if you want a thicker fruit layer.

Don't mind the crumbs, I started sprinkling before I remembered to take the pic of the jam layer...

Once the jam is down, take the remaining crumbs and sprinkle them on top. Once you are done sprinkling, you can pat the crumbs down semi-gently.

This gets baked for a little over 20 minutes.

When it comes out of the oven, let them cool completely, and then you can cut and serve!

Easy!! And tasty!! My favorite kind of recipe!

This recipe is actually very versatile, because you can vary the kind of cake mix, and kind of jam. How about chocolate cake with raspberry jam? Or lemon cake? White cake with cherry or blackberry jam? There are plenty of specialty jams out there at stores such as Wegman's or Harry & David's, and I'm sure most of them would pair wonderfully with a basic cake mix. Or, you can try lemon or lime curds, pumpkin or apple butters, or a combination of jam and curd -- maybe some nice lemon curd and blackberry jam?

And, this bar doesn't have to be refrigerated, which makes it a great take-along item for a party or picnic!

Raspberry Oat Bars
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

1-18.5oz box yellow cake mix
1 3/4 sticks butter (14 tbls), melted
2 1/2 C quick-cooking oats
2 tsp vanilla
zest of 1 lemon
1-12oz jar of seedless raspberry jam
1 tbls fresh lemon juice

Directions

Preheat oven to 375F
Combine dry mix and oatmeal in a bowl
Add melted butter, vanilla and zest to oatmeal/cake mixture, and mix thoroughly
Pat 1/2 of crumbs down in a 9"x13" pan, patting firmly
Combine jam and lemon juice until smooth
Spread jam on top of crumb layer evenly
Sprinkle second 1/2 of crumbs on top of jam layer, patting down gently when finished
Bake at 375F for 18-23 minutes, until golden brown.
Take out and let cool
Slice once cool. Can be stored, covered, at room temperature

Raspberry Jam

Pecan Chocolate Cake Bars (Easy things to do with cake mix #1)

2011-02-20T16:07:00.000-05:00

This post is short and sweet. After Christmas, I was left with an excess of certain baking ingredients that I intended to use over the holiday but never did. Things like 4 boxes of yellow cake mix, 2 boxes of pumpkin bread mix, 1 box of red velvet cake mix, 2 bags of bright red candy wafers, 2 huge jars of marshmallow fluff, a box of graham cracker crumbs, bags of chopped pecans, gads and gads of bittersweet chocolate chips, and 3 cans of pumpkin. Now, my apartment is the size of a shoebox, which makes my closet about the size of a postage stamp. I just can't possibly horde baking ingredients forever. Well, actually...I probably could, but according to my horrified husband, I just can't possibly horde baking ingredients forever. So I need to use up my supplies, pronto.

Red velvet cake mix and red wafers are already gone, as Valentine's Day cupcakes with red molded chocolate decorations on top. I made the pumpkin bread last week, and sprinkled on some pecans. One box of yellow cake mix had a hole in the plastic holding the mix, so when I went to open up the box, it poofed all over my clothes. Said box is now in the trash, potential morph into baked goodness unfulfilled. So sad.

But this is the story of Yellow Cake Mix #2.

Yellow Cake Mix #2 has become Easy Things to do With Cake Mix #1. Still with me? Good. This yellow cake mix was destined for great things, although not the thing I thought it was destined for. I thought it was destined to become a yummy pecan pie bar, like a shortbread bar with a buttery crust. But instead, it turned out to be more of a yummy pecan cake, and I'm advertising it as such.

My usual historical interludes have been more sporadic of late, and this post will have to fall in the interlude-less category, because I've already covered the topic of pecans quite extensively.

Take out that cake mix and reserve 2/3 C. To the remainder of the mix, add 1 stick of melted butter and one egg, mixing well to combine (I did this by hand, btw).

Take this dough, and pat it into the bottom of a sprayed 9"x13" pan, and partially bake it.

Meanwhile, combine eggs, vanilla, corn syrup, brown sugar, and the reserved cake mix in a bowl.

When the partially baked dough comes out, it should be slightly golden.

Sprinkle pecans and chocolate chips onto the base, then pour over the lovely filling.

It'll bake up nice and yummy.

And there you have a minimal-effort pecan cake with chocolate.

It easily cuts into squares, so I guess it could be called a "bar" -- it looks like one. But this has a softer texture, and I always think of bars as firm and dense...so I consider this a cake bar, if that makes sense.

Whatever it is, it's good!!

The original recipe can be found here, although I tweaked my version slightly.

Pecan Chocolate Cake Bars

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg

For the filling

3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cups dark corn syrup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans add chocolate chips!!!
2/3 cup yellow cake mix

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch pan.
Reserve 2/3 cup cake mix.
Mix together remaining cake mix, margarine, and 1 egg. Pat in prepared pan.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Beat together 3 eggs, vanilla, reserved 2/3 cup cake mix, corn syrup, and brown sugar. Pour on cake in pan. Sprinkle pecans on top.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30-35 minutes.

Easy Favor Packaging

2011-02-18T18:15:00.001-05:00

I have now made cookies favors for two different events, both baby showers. The first was for my cousin, where I baked up really cute Mickey Mouse sugar cookies, and packaged them to be consistent with the Disney theme that her mom chose for the shower.

The second were the Grover Cookies of my previous post, which were for my friend Allie's baby shower.

Since the process of making these favors was pretty much the same both times, and since it really can be applied to almost any favor that you would like to make, I thought a separate post that just talked about favors and favor packaging might be useful to some people wanting to create tidy-looking favors for an event. The two examples I have listed here are both edible, obviously, but this method of packaging can also be used for non-edible favors, if you like the look.

The Favors

Let's start from the beginning: what to make? Cookies are an obvious choice, but candy, cake balls, mini-cakes, muffins, and even cupcakes (depending on the icing) are also potential choices with this type of packaging. Is there a theme, be it colors or characters?

Whatever you choose, just keep in mind that, depending on the size of the function, you might be in for a lot of work if you choose a favor that is too complicated to make. So put some thought into a few things: 1) How many do you have to make (accounting for a few extras)? 2) How complicated are they to make? 3) Do they need to be decorated, and if so, how long will that take? 4) Can they be made in advance? 5) If so, how feasible is it to store them (i.e. how much room do you have in your freezer)? 6) Are they something that can stay out at room temperature for a considerable length of time post-packaging (at least a day or two)?

Number 6 is particularly important, because this dictates how far in advance you can package the favors.Something like Oreo Balls would be exceptionally delicious as favors -- buuuuuut they have cream cheese in them and are thus perishable. So if you want them as favors, you either have to package them the day before and find space in your fridge for all the favors in their packaging, or you have to commit to packaging them just before you leave when it will probably be highly inconvenient to do so. And then, they will be sitting at room temperature for an indeterminate length of time (some people might not eat theirs during the party, or even the same day, for that matter), so you'll have to run around encouraging people to gobble down their favors before they leave the party, lest they get sick later. My best advice, therefore, is to choose something that will freeze well, so that you can bake it in advance. Something that isn't too complicated to decorate, especially if you have a lot to make. And, finally, something that is perfectly stable at room temperature, so that you can package them a day or two in advance, pack them in a travel box, and leave them there until it is time to bring them to the party. It might not be exactly what you pictured in your head when you first start mulling over ideas for favors, but trust me, this advice will reduce your stress-level by at least ten-fold.

One of my favorite ways to make favors is to use a stamp cookie cutter -- one of those cookie cutters that comes with a little stamp that leaves a design in the dough. My Micky Mouse cookie cutter for my cousin's shower was a stamp cookie cutter.
(I apologize in advance for the quality on some of the Mickey Mouse pictures, I don't know what is going on with my phone -- the details on the cookies themselves were clear as bells)

First you use the outer cutter to cut into the dough:

Then you use the inner stamp to create a darling little imprint in the dough which will still be visible after baking:

Some cookie cutter sets also come with texture maps as an alternate way to press a design into the dough. The great thing about these types of cookies is that the imprint itself is a decoration, so you don't necessarily have an additional step for decorating if you don't want it. For the Mickey Mouse cookies, I left them as-is and packaged them up.

Alternatively, if you intend to decorate the cookies with royal icing or something like that, your job just got a whole lot easier, because now you have lines to trace and you don't have to freehand it! A quick Google search will bring up hundreds of options like these. My personal favorites are the Star Wars Cookie Cutters from Williams-Sonoma. They have two sets, Heroes and Villains and Vehicles, and I own (and am in love with) both of them. How cute would those be, all packaged up for a birthday party??

In the case of the Grover cookies, they were frosted and dipped in sprinkles -- nothing crazy.

The Grovers weren't from-scratch dough, they were slice-and-bake, and you know what? Everyone just loved them, and thought they were both adorable and delicious. Remember, you're making these out of love for someone, so don't be afraid to make some decisions that ease some of the stress on yourself, too!

The Labels

Even though I have Labels and Packaging listed separately, you have to think about them together to some extent, at least for sizing, because they are a pair. The labels on my favors are folded over the tops of the bags and stapled on. So, the first question is: what size labels do you need to make? And in order to answer that question, you need to know what size bag you want to use.

For most things you will make, the best cellophane bag size to buy will be 4"x6" -- that should accommodate most things you would make. So, let's use that as an example, with the understanding that you can scale it up if you need a bigger bag.

Aesthetically, I think a set up where the favor is 1/3 label and 2/3 bag is the most pleasing to the eye. For a 4"x6" bag that is 6" long, this means that you want the label to hang down 2 inches. Since the label will be folded in half horizontally over the top of the bag, figure 4 inches of height in order to get a 2" overhang on either side of the bag. Your bags are also 4" wide, so you will need a template that is 4.25"x4.25" (I always put a little extra on, so that the label extends past the sides of the bag ever so slightly, the last thing you want is a label that is more narrow than the bag).

PowerPoint is a great option to make the labels in, if you have access to it, because you can freely move around words and text. Open a blank PowerPoint slide (in '07 version) and go to Design -> Page Set Up and select "Custom" in the pull-down menu, while making the Height and Width both 4.25". Click show ruler, and keep in mind that the horizontal zero is the axis the label will be folded on.

Now, make one half of the label with a mixture of fonts and pictures. There are plenty of fonts available online to tie into a theme. The font below on the Disney label was Waltograph. Once you have one side made, decide if you want the second half to be exactly the same, or if you want different things on either side. If you are doing the same combo of pics and text on both sides, it is easy to get it over to the other side. Select all of the pics and text on one half of the label, then go to Arrange -> Group together. Then, you can select the entire group, and go to Arrange ->Rotate -> Flip Vertically and Arrange ->Rotate -> Flip Horizontally. If you are using different pics (like I did below), you can do this with just the text, and arrange the pictures by hand. You end up with something like this:

and

Now, if you select the label, and hit the Shape Outline option, you can outline the labels in a very light grey, this will really help when you are cutting them. Then you can print them out, maybe 4 or 6 to a sheet -- regular paper is fine, but you can also use something more sturdy like card stock or photo paper. Cut them out with scissors or slice them out with a paper slicer, and the labels are all set!

The Packaging

I am very concerned with freshness. So I opt to heat seal the favor bags before putting the labels on, using one of these, an impulse heat sealer:

These things are great! In order to activate the heat, there is a little metal piece under the handle that needs to connect to the screw at the end of the sealer, so it is only hot when you are sealing something. They run about $35-45 depending on the size you get. Mine is an 8" sealer, but if you want it for larger projects, they have sizes up to 16".

You set the length of exposure with the knob in the front. I have found Level 2 to be perfect for the Wilton 4"x6" cellophane bags, but you might have to play around a bit to find the sweet spot for sealing the bags you bought. Here's how it works:

Put the favor in the bag.
Set the sealer to the proper level
Line up the edges of the bag a bit -- it doesn't have to be perfect, this will be covered by the label anyway.
Drape the bag over the bottom of the element, try to make it straight. Make sure that you are positioning the seam somewhere that will be covered by the label.
Bring the top of the sealer down over the bag, and press down with the handle. This will complete the circuit and the sealer will turn on. The little red light above the knob will go on, and the machine will hum.
When the light goes back off (just a few seconds), the machine has done its business, but don't go lifting the handle immediately, you need to give the bag a few seconds to resolidify, so count to four first (as in one thousand one...etc).
Gently lift the top lever up. Most likely the bag will be stuck to the top.
Gently peel the bag off of the top, and voila! Heat sealed favors!

Now you can fold and staple on those labels, and you have these:

Beautiful favors in nice neat little packages! And the best part is, you can use the same basic process again and again to make favors unique to each event!

Grover Cookies (Cookie Favors)

2011-02-10T17:35:00.002-05:00

Presenting the further adventures of everybody's favorite hero. A monster who is faster than lightning, stronger than steel, smarter than a speeding bullet. It's...SUPERGROVER! (And he's cute, too)!

This posting is about a month overdue. I had some deadlines at work to deal with, and my baking/posting predictably suffered accordingly. But within the next few weeks, I hope to be entirely back on track.

This posting isn't technically a recipe.It is a decorating and packaging idea for making Grover cookies (which could easily be adapted to make pretty much any Sesame Street monster into a yummy cookie. And, because of their very nature, they are also a great thing to make with kids!!!

I also show a glimpse in an easy way to package cookies in general for favors, but I am saving the details of that for a different post.

Now, onto the cookies, with some little-known Grover facts sprinkled in, such as:

(Grover's official birthday is October 14th!)

These cookies (along with a matching cake) were made for our friend Allison's baby shower which just so happened to be Grover-themed. They were done primarily by my cousin, with yours truly assisting, and help from momma-to-be Allie herself!

To make these cookies, you will need some
Basic Supplies (for Grover) colors will vary depending on the monster you are making:

Sugar cookie dough (store bought or your favorite recipe), for rolling
Frosting, dyed blue (from scratch or ready-made, we used tubs of BC Vanilla frosting dyed with blue gel)
Blue sprinkles (or jimmies, depending on which part of the country you are from)
White fondant (Satin Ice is an excellent brand. Stay away from Wilton, it tastes horrible)
Blue gel dye, for the icing
White, red, black and pink candy coating melts (you can melt these yourself and use a small #2 or #3 decorator's tip, or buy These nifty candy coating pen writers that we found, in red and pink.
A circular cookie cutter, ion the 2" to 2.5" range. A set like this is particularly useful, and has every size you will probably ever need. You can find sets like this at your local craft store, as well as stores like Sur la Table, as well as online.
A small oval cookie cutter (for the eyes). You can find graduated oval cookie cutters at the stores above, or online.

(Incidentally, all the links I provide above are for the specialty cake decorating store by my house, Candyland Crafts)

(Grover's original name was Fuzzyface!)

The workflow goes something like this:

1. Roll out your cookie dough, and using a large circular cookie cutter, cut out your cookies and bake them according to the recipe specifications. I leave the specifics up to you, since it will depend on what dough you decide to use. We had a lot of cookies to make, so we opted for the ease of Pillsbury Slice and Bake sugar cookie dough, which is a great option, especially if you are short on time. If you have the time, feel free to make your own favorite rolled sugar cookie dough from scratch

(The best-selling Sesame Street book of all time is The Monster at the End of This Book, first published in 1971!)

2. When the cookies come out of the oven, after they've cooled for a few minutes, you can go ahead and use the same cookie cutter to recut the baked cookies. This step is entirely optional, but it will make the edges sharp and the sizes uniform. Since we were making favors, we wanted the cookies as uniform as possible.

3. Let the cookies cool completely. In the meantime, get your icing dyed to the proper color.

(Grover originally had dark green fur and an orange nose. This puppet later was used for Grover's mommy!)

4. Roll out the white fondant and use the small oval cutter to cut out eye shapes (this is Grover-specific. For other monsters like Oscar, Elmo and Cookie, use a small round cutter). When eyes are cut, use melted black candy coating wafers to dot on the pupils. This is where the candy writer comes in handy, because it is a true black. Trying to dye melts black yourself usually results in a dark purple, and the only time I've seen black melts sold is at Halloween. You can get away with dark brown if you can't get a hold of the writer and can't find black melts. I wouldn't recommend using chocolate chips only because it needs a way to adhere to the fondant.

Here is my cousin, hard at work on a tray-full of fondant eyes

5. When the cookies are cool, frost the cookies.

(Grover first appeared in 1967!)

6. Then, dunk them in the sprinkles until the frosting is pretty much completely covered.

7. With a little melted candy coating (preferably white), attach the eyes to the cookie.

8. Using melted pink candy wafers or the pink writer, draw on a circle for the nose below the eyes (you can try the more teardrop shape if you want, I am not much of an artist so I stuck with basic shapes).

(SuperGrover might know how to fly, but he can never land without crashing!!)

9. Using your red candy writer or melted red wafers and a small round tip, pipe on a thin red mouth. All the cookies are smiling here, although having a nearly straight line going across would be a little more accurate.

We made some labels, and packaged them up.

Here's Allie, hard at work on the packaging details!

And here is what the finished product looked like:

The packaging itself is involved enough that it is in a separate post, if you are interested in the relatively easy way I package cookies for favors.

(Frank Oz voiced Grover from 1967-2001, and he still occasionally does so. Grover is currently voiced most often by Eric Jacobson!)

And here is a pic of the matching Grover cake that my cousin also made. She used the same frosting and sprinkles for Grover's face. A larger oval cutter to cut out white fondant eyes. Fondant dyed black and a small circle cutter for the pupils, one of the sugar cookies frosted pink for a nose, and rolled fondant dyed red for the mouth.

These cookies could also be done with royal icing, but I love the look of the frosting and sprinkles because it looks, well, fuzzy! Just as it should. These colors and shapes could easily be modified for any other monster. If you make Oscar, don't forget to draw in his brown unibrow!

And last, but certainly not least, a huge congrats to Allison and her husband Mike, whose little boy was born on January 27th!!!!!

Baklava Bars

2011-01-10T18:10:00.006-05:00

Around the holiday season, I like to trot out my family's traditional recipes -- food of either Greek or Polish origin. One of the recipes that makes an annual appearance every year is baklava, a traditional confection made with nuts, honey and phyllo dough. Although I make it every year, by and large, baklava is a pain for the occasional baker because the phyllo dough can be a challenge if you aren't used to working with it.

So when I saw this recipe for "Baklava Bars" on the Betty Crocker site, I was instantly intrigued. It called for a sugar cookie base, a layer of nuts, crumbled phyllo, and a sweet syrup drizzled on the top. Needless to say, I was anxious to see how this would measure up to traditional baklava. So I decided to modify it a bit according to my family's usual recipe, and check it out. And might I say, if you like baklava, but have always been intimidated by the phyllo, or even if you are Greek or Middle Eastern and looking for a quick way to get that baklava taste without spending a ton of time, then this recipe is for you. I modified the original recipe to use the filling and syrup that I like best, which I think will be tasty to most people, but if you are already a baklava maker, you could easily substitute the filling and syrup you normally use. The only adjustment I would make would be to omit water from your usual syrup, to keep it a little thicker and avoid drenching the bars. Use less of it than you would normally use, since your syrup-sans-water will now be thicker and sweeter than normal.

The best thing about this bar is that it starts out in the easiest possible way: with a sugar cookie mix. So, grab some butter. If you have a microwave-safe mixing bowl, you can melt the butter right in there.

Then add the cookie mix, eggs and orange zest, and mix until combined.

Pat it evenly into a 9"x13" pan, it will be thin, no worries. Push it right into the corners, you want complete coverage.

This crust is going to get partially baked. While that is baking, make the nut filling. In the Middle East, pistachios are the most common nut used, while most Greek recipes call for walnuts. I love the taste of pistachios in baklava, but I also like the depth of flavor that comes from a combination of nuts, so I grabbed the Planters brand "Pistachio Lovers Mix", which is predominantly pistachios, but also has cashews and almonds. But you are free to fill up the nut volume with whichever nut combination you prefer. Equal parts pistachios, walnuts and almonds is also a tasty choice.

Chop up those nuts into small pieces, and add in some sugar, melted butter and cinnamon.

Then, once the partially-baked sugar cookie layer comes out of the oven, spread the nut layer down on top. This recipe provides for a nice thick layer of nuts, which is how I like it. You can halve the nut layer amount if you are not that into the nut part of baklava.

And now for the fun part. Normally, "fun" and "phyllo" are two words that don't appear together in sentences, but this process actually is fun. Grab a box frozen phyllo dough (the pastry sheets). Don't defrost it, it will only crumble correctly if you just took it out of the freezer. This is my favorite kind:

Incidentally, this particular box is specially-sized for 9"x13" pans, for any of you traditional baklava makers out there, so if you use these sheets, you don't have to trim!

Now, the phyllo is inside the box in 2 separately packaged 8 oz rolls. You only need one of these for the recipe, so take one of these out of the plastic. Now, start to break off pieces and crumble over the nut layer. you will be surprised how easily it crumbles (as long as it is still frozen).

No need to fuss with the layers, just break some big chunks off for crumbling. Now, about halfway through the roll, you need to put some butter on the phyllo crumbles. For a traditional baklava, this involves brushing melted butter on the sheets with a pastry brush. Obviously, that is not an option here, unless you want to brush off all of your lovely crumbles. So you have two easier options. One is to melt butter and put it into a little spritz bottle and spritz it over the phyllo; the other option is to use a can of butter spray. I tend to use the former, my mom uses the latter. Obviously, butter tastes a little better, but the butter spray tastes great too, and is slightly more convenient. For these bars, I did actually use butter spray because I didn't plan ahead enough, and they were still fantastic. Just enough to give it a light coat is fine.

Now, finish crumbling the roll, and end again with butter or butter spray. Again, light but even coat.

Pop it into the oven, and bake until the phyllo crumbles are golden brown.

Luckily, the syrup is quick to put together, because you use the microwave! None of the stove top boiling that normally is the hallmark of baklava syrup. So you can wait until the baklava bars are almost done baking before you assemble the syrup, because it takes a mere 3 minutes and change.

Honey, cinnamon, lemon juice, orange juice, and orange zest go in a microwave-save container. Cook it on high for 2 minutes, stirring halfway through. When it is done being cooked, stir in some vanilla.

Then, drizzle the syrup onto the bars while both the syrup and the bars are still hot. Let the syrup soak in.

Then, I'd leave them until the next day, let the flavors bloom. Just let the bars cool to room temp, cover with some aluminum, and leave on the counter until the next day. Then, you can cut and enjoy!

As you eat it, the top might detach from the bottom, since the nuts have a hard time cementing everything together, especially with a thick layer of nuts. I really feel, however, that a thicker nut layer is important to the taste of the bars, because there is only one nut layer total (as opposed to the multiple thin layers found in traditional baklava).

These bars are a great alternative to a traditional baklava. A lot of the taste without a lot of the fuss.Normally, I am not a big fan of baklava, because the syrup is too sweet. But, although this syrup is mostly honey, the overall effect isn't as sweet, since there is less syrup on the bars than on a traditional baklava. All in all, it is a great way to inject a little flair into your dessert repertoire!

Baklava Bars
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

Sugar Cookie Layer

1 pouch of Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix (1 lb 1.5 oz)
1 stick butter, melted
1 egg
1/2 medium orange's zest

Nut Layer

3 C assorted nuts, chopped
2/3 C granulated sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 stick butter, melted
1/8 tsp salt (if using unsalted nut mix)

Phyllo Layer

8 oz frozen phyllo dough sheets (1 roll of a 2 roll 16 oz package)
butter or butter spray, for spraying phyllo crumbles

Syrup

2/3 C honey
4 tbls butter
1 tbls brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp lemon juice
2 1/2 tsp orange juice
1/2 medium orange's zest
2 tsp vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray 9"x13" pan
FOR COOKIE LAYER: Combine melted butter, cookie mix, eggs, and orange zest in a bowl, mix to combine
Place dough in a 9"x13" pan, patting down to cover entire bottom evenly
Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes, partially baking dough. Will be slightly golden
FOR NUT LAYER: combine chopped nuts, sugar, butter and cinnamon in a bowl. Mix until well combined
Spread nut layer on top of partially baked cookie layer, to edges of pan
PHYLLO: Crumble frozen phyllo dough on top of nut layer. Pause to spray surface with butter (or butter spray) halfway through crumbling and at the end of crumbling. Spray until phyllo is lightly coated.
Bake bars ar 350 for 20-25 minutes longer, until phyllo is golden brown
SYRUP: Combine honey, lemon and orange juices, brown sugar, butter, zest and cinnamon in a microwave-safe bowl
Microwave on high for 2 minutes, stirring halfway through (watch to make sure it doesn't bubble over
Stir in the vanilla
Drizzle hot syrup evenly over the hot bars, and allow to cool to room temperature
Enjoy once cooled, or cover and store at room temperature until the next day, for the flavors to meld

Tiramisu

2010-12-22T15:16:00.001-05:00

For Christmas, I always make at least one tiramisu, which I bring to my cousin's house. It has become something of a tradition, and I thought I'd share the recipe, since it always goes over so well. It is one of those things that is slightly labor-intensive, but so worth it. It is also one of those things that is heavily customizable, especially with regard to the choice of liquor used.

Tiramisu is a delectable dessert made of cookies dipped in coffee and liquor layered with sweetened mascarpone cheese. Mascarpone is a fresh triple-cream cheese, that is to say, a cheese that is over 75% butterfat by dry weight. In fact, it is not a true cheese at all, since it is not make with any rennet or starter, it is closer to a clotted cream. The process used to make it is most similar to the process used to make yogurt.

Although there are many town in Italy that claim to be the birthplace of tiramisu, the first documented mention of the dessert only dates to 1971.

There are a lot of varieties of mascarpone cheeses to choose from, especially around the holidays. I like Bel Gioioso the best, but see what is available in your local supermarket. I don't recommend it if you can find true mascarpone, but you can substitute regular cream cheese using the following method: 16oz cream cheese beaten with 1/3C sour cream and 1/4C heavy cream until smooth. But trust me, try to find the real deal if you can.

Start off by taking your yolks and sugar, and placing them in a heat-resistant bowl. You need to temper the yolks, so set the bowl over a pan of simmering water, and whisk continually until the temp of the yolks is 160F.

Then, place the yolks and sugar mixture into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for several minutes until pale and fluffy.

Add in the mascarpone, and beat until combined.

Now, it is time to whip egg whites. Do this in a separate bowl, I normally use my hand mixer. You can use regular egg whites if you wish, but I use the pasteurized whites for safety reasons.

If you decide to use pasteurized whites as well, use a tablespoon of merengue powder, to help them whip. Pasteurized whites definitely do not whip as nicely as regular whites.

Whip the whites until fluffy. This is easy in the case of regular whites, just fold them into the cheese when stiff peaks form. However, fluffy is a relative term with pasteurized whites -- the bubbles will be really small, and they will triple in volume. For pasteurized whites, scoop fluffed whites from the top -- the bottom is hard to whip and will stay liquidy, so you will have to beat and scoop several times.

If there is a tablespoon or so of pasteurized whites that won't whip, don't worry. Just leave it in the bowl and don't mix it into the cheese.

Fold the whites into the cheese.

In the meantime, brew coffee -- about 30oz, or 5-6oz cups.

Put it into something that will be easy for you to dip from later. I use an 9"x13" pyrex casserole dish. To the coffee, add 2 tbls of espresso powder and 4 tbls sugar, plus 1/2C liquor.

I normally use a combination of brandy and chocolate liquor, but you can choose whatever you like.

Now, open your packages of ladyfingers. I prefer the hard imported dry ones with a tiny bit of sugar on top, not the soft and spongy ones.

Carefully, dip your ladyfingers into the coffee/liquor mixture. I do this with a fork supporting the bottom of the cookie. I dunk it in, flip it over, and then lift it out. Only leave it in for a few seconds, it absorbs quickly!

Layer the bottom of the pan you want to make your tiramisu in with the soaked ladyfingers. I make mine in a 9"x13"x3" so it will be high enough for 2 layers. But, you can make it in whatever you want.

After the ladyfingers go down, spread half the cheese mixture over them, covering completely. I ladle my cheese mixture over the ladyfingers, it is pretty liquidy at this point.

Sprinkle unsweetened cocoa powder over the cheese. You can also use dark chocolate cocoa or whatever else you have on hand.

Then, repeat! Ladyfingers:

Cheese:

Cocoa:

Then, store it in the fridge for at least 6 hours, although overnight is best. Let those flavors mingle and get happy.

The next day before you cut into it and serve it, sprinkle a little fresh cocoa powder on it.

Then, slice and serve.

This recipe is fantastic. It is very basic, very traditional, and huge on taste! Using pasteurized whites means that the final cheese filling is slightly less-structured than if you had just used regular whites, but it is a trade-off with safety, since you can't temper the whites. Whether to go pasteurized or regular whites is a decision I leave to you.

You can also use whichever liquor you like. My favorite is brandy and chocolate liquor, but I have on occasion used all chocolate liquor, as well as a mix of dark and white chocolate liquors. You could even use something a little non-traditional: Kahlua, Bailey's or Frangelico spring to mind. The cheese is a neutral taste, so anything that pairs well with coffee and chocolate will do well in this recipe. You can even leave it out all together if you wish, and add a little vanilla or coffee flavoring syrup to the coffee if you want a non-alcoholic version.

Whatever you decide, this recipe will be a great addition to your holiday dessert table!

Tiramisu
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients
For cheese filling

8 egg yolks
1/2 C sugar
1.5 lbs mascarpone cheese
1 C pasteurized egg whites plus 1 tbls merenge powder or 3/4 C egg whites

For coffee/cookie layers

30oz strong brewed coffee
2 tbls instant espresso powder
4 tbls sugar
1/4 C brandy
1/4 C chocolate liquor
1 package ladyfingers

Unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting.

Directions

Place and sugar in a heat-resistant bowl. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water, and whisk continually until the temp of the yolks is 160F.
Place the yolks and sugar mixture into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for several minutes until pale and fluffy.
Add in the mascarpone, and beat until combined.
Whip whites in second bowl until peaks form. See blog for additional notes about pasteurized whites.If you decide to use pasteurized whites as well, use a tablespoon of merengue powder as well, to help them whip.
Fold the whites into the cheese.
In the meantime, brew coffee -- about 30oz, or 5-6oz cups.
Put it into something that will be easy for you to dip from later.
To the coffee, add 2 tbls of espresso powder and 4 tbls sugar, plus 1/2C liquor.
Carefully, dip ladyfingers into the coffee/liquor mixture. Only leave it in for a few seconds, it absorbs quickly!
Layer the bottom of the pan you are using with the soaked ladyfingers.
After the ladyfingers go down, spread half the cheese mixture over them, covering completely.
Sprinkle unsweetened cocoa powder over the cheese.
Then, repeat for a second layer, ending with cocoa
Cover, and refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight
Next day, sprinkle extra cocoa on before serving

Peanut Butter Pie (No Bake)

2010-12-20T20:03:00.000-05:00

Here is an incredibly easy no-bake dessert that is great if you need a quick holiday treat: No Bake Peanut Butter Pie. It has few ingredients, and is a snap to put together! It has peanut butter, Hershey's Kisses, cream cheese and Cool Whip, all in a graham cracker crust. Pretty simple!

I have the original recipe from a "Hershey's Holiday Favorites" mini-mag from 2004, but it can also be found online here. I tweaked it just a bit, to be more peanut buttery!

The first thing you need for this easy dessert is a pre-made graham cracker crust, 6oz.

Then, you take 26 Hershey's kisses and a little milk, and melt them in the microwave. Melt them carefully, in 30 second intervals (stirring between each interval) until smooth.

Spread the chocolate on the bottom of the crust and chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

In the meantime, beat some softened cream cheese with some sugar until light and fluffy.

Then, plop in an entire 16 oz jar of peanut butter. Yes, the whole jar. Mix well!

Then, fold in about 8 oz of Cool Whip into the peanut butter mixture, stirring well to turn this:

into this:

Once everything is smooth and homogeneous, spread it in the pie crust on top of the chocolate, cover, and chill for several hours or overnight.

If you buy a 12 oz or larger Cool Whip, you can spread Cool Whip on the top, and decorate with leftover Kisses...

This recipe makes one dense peanut buttery pie. If you want an even stronger flavor, try natural peanut butter!

The major virtue of this pie, other than its peanut buttery goodness, is that it is super easy to assemble. It is a perfect dessert to put together during the holidays, especially if you are short on time!!

Peanut Butter Pie (No Bake)
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

1-8" (6 oz) pre-made graham cracker pie crust
1- 8 oz block of cream cheese, softened
3/4 C sugar
16 oz peanut butter
16 oz tub of Cool Whip, thawed
Bag of Hershey's Kisses

Directions

Melt 26 Kisses and 2 tbls milk in microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring between each interval until smooth
Spread on the bottom of crust and refrigerate 30 minutes or until firm
Beat cream cheese and sugar until luffy
Add in peanut butter and beat until combined
Fold in 8 oz Cool Whip and mix until combined
Spread peanut butter mixture into crust and refrigerate several hours until firm
Decorate with remaining Cool Whip and Kisses if desire

Rocky Road Candy

2010-12-20T19:39:00.001-05:00

Here's a quick and easy holiday candy recipe that can be made entirely in your microwave. It is a great and tasty treat, and especially easy to do with kids!

Rocky road ice cream was invented in 1929 by William Dreyer, who was in the ice cream business with his partner Joseph Edy -- and yes that is today's Edy's ice cream for those of you in the east, and Dreyer's ice cream for those of you in the west -- the ice cream is marketed under 2 names to honor both founders. As the story goes, William Dreyer added walnuts and bits of marshmallow (snipped with his wife's scissors) to chocolate ice cream. Prior to this point in time, the only ice cream flavors available i he US were vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, so Dreyer's new flavor became a hit. Dreyer and Edy decided to call the flavor "Rocky Road" as a nod to the Great Depression, and the flavor took off from there.

This version of rocky road candy is made with peanuts, but you can substitute any nuts (or any mix-ins in general) that you want. The original recipe came out of one of those little recipe mini mags, but I tore the page out, so I don't recall which one. The original recipe can also be found on the Eagle Brand site.

First, melt some semi-sweet chips, butter and sweetened condensed milk in the microwave. Do this on high in the microwave at one minute intervals, stirring after each minute until the chips are dissolved. When the chocolate is close to melted, shorten the intervals to 30 seconds.

Let the chocolate cool down about 5 minutes.

Then, combine the peanuts and marshmallows in a large bowl, and stir in the chocolate

Mix until well-combined, and spread in wax paper-lined 9"x13" pan.

Chill in the fridge until solid (around 2 hours), and then cut into squares. This candy can spend several days at room temperature.

Because this is such an easy treat, requiring no baking, it is great as an activity to do with kids, or to whip up if you want a quick treat to bring to your office or give as gifts.

It is easily customizable, I used marshmallows and peanuts, but you could easily substitute whatever you want, in whatever amounts you wish.

Rocky Road Candy
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

2C (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
1-14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 tbls butter
2 C dry roasted peanuts, salted
1-10.5 oz package mini marshmallows

Directions

In microwave safe bowl, combine chips, butter and condensed milk
Microwave on high in minute and half minute intervals, stirring after each interval until smooth
Let cool 5 minutes
Combine peanuts and marshmallows in large bowl. Add chocolate and stir to combine.
Spread mixture in a wax paper-lined 9"x13" pan, and refrigerate 2 hours
Lift candy out of pan and cut into squares. Cover loosely and store at room temperature.

Gingerbread Bread Pudding

2010-12-20T17:15:00.001-05:00

I love me some gingerbread. Normally, I make several batches throughout the holiday season, as well as the occasional gingerbread man and decorated gingerbread house. This year, I decided to add a twist and combine two of my favorite things, and make Gingerbread Bread Pudding!

I got the idea from Bobby Flay’s pumpkin bread pudding (which I would also like to try someday), but I tweaked the recipe a decent amount, not the least of which was making use of gingerbread, and using mixes that Betty Crocker sells, for added convenience!

But before we get to the recipe, let’s take a quick time-out to explore the origins of that wonderful treat known as “Gingerbread”!!

Gingerbread as a term can actually be applied to a great many baked goods. The only things they have in common are ginger, and a propensity for using molasses or honey in place of granulated sugar. Originally, the term gingerbread didn’t even mean a sweet confection flavored with ginger, but rather any bread with ginger sprinkled on top – which was most loaves, because ginger was used as an early preservative and was also believed to ward of colds and upset stomachs.

Gingerbread has a long history. Originally from the Middle East, where ginger was first used as a preservative, it was brought to Europe in 992 AD by Gregory of Nicopolis, a monk. There are many different variations, including treacle and parkin (England), lebkuchen (Germany), licitar (Croatia), pepperkaker (Norway), and pierniczki (Poland). In Poland, Torun gingerbread (Toruński Piernik) has been produced ever since the Middle Ages. Gingerbread became so popular in Europe that there were gingerbread fairs held at various times throughout the year, the most famous being in Nuremberg, Germany.

Gingerbread also has a long history of being molded into shapes. Originally, gingerbread dough was pressed into molds, although later it took on the shapes we are more familiar with: gingerbread houses and gingerbread men. Gingerbread house-making has its origin in Germany, where it is called lebkuchenhaeusle. It caught on after the Brothers Grimm popularized what is arguably the most famous gingerbread house of all time: the Witch’s house in Hansel and Gretel, and German immigrants brought this tradition of gingerbread house-making to the US. The first documented instance of a gingerbread man actually dates back to Elizabeth I of England, who used to have them baked and decorated in the likenesses of her guests, in an effort to awe them.

The widespread association of gingerbread with Christmas had to wait until the mid 19^th century, when Queen Victoria’s German-born husband, Prince Albert, imported the tradition of gingerbread making (along with the tradition of Christmas trees) to England.

In making this pudding, I decided to keep it simple and start off with the boxed mix of gingerbread. It’s easy, and it has the traditional taste of gingerbread that I was looking for, without a lot of the fuss of a from-scratch recipe. But if you have a favorite gingerbread recipe, this bread pudding recipe can certainly be adapted, just skim down the post until you get to the part where I talk about chopping up and toasting the gingerbread cubes.

For this recipe, I made 2 boxes of gingerbread, according to the directions on the box, and baked them in 2-8” square disposable cake pans, because that’s what I had on hand. The box gives directions for multiple size pans, so you can look on the box to find the directions that fit the pans you are using. One thing I would make sure, though, is not to combined both boxes into one plan, like I did for the gingerbread cake balls, because having smaller, thinner cakes makes the toasting process a lot easier than one big thick cake.

So, make, bake and cool 2 boxes of gingerbread cake.

Then cube up both cakes into cubes that are maybe a half inch wide by whatever the depth is of your cake (hence why it is better to have 2 thinner cakes than one fat one).

Spread the cubes out on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, and toast for about 10 minutes at 350. You’re not making croutons, you’re just trying to dry them out a tad, so don’t make my initial mistake and bake until they are rocks. You can see the toasted to the left, and the untoasted to the right. Put these cubes into a 9”x13” pan once they are cool.

Then, you make the custard: egg yolks, heavy cream, milk and vanilla. Whisk it until it is well-combined, and then slowly pour it over the gingerbread cubes. Gently press the cubes into the custard a little bit, and let it soak in for about 15-20 minutes.

Then, you bake it for 50 minutes to an hour. Gingerbread pudding is best warm, but if you try to dig into it at this stage, it will probably be runny and fall apart. My advice is to let it cool fully, cover it, and refrigerate it for a few hours or overnight.

Then, when you are ready to serve it, cut it, and zap it in the microwave piece by piece. My microwave took about a minute or so to get to the right temp, wait until you can hear it sizzle! Put some good quality vanilla bean ice cream over it, and enjoy!

I have to admit, I wasn’t sure about this pudding while I was making it. I over-toasted the bread cubes, I didn’t feel like there was enough custard, I forgot to add sugar to the custard period, and I felt that the top of the bread pudding was too hard. But, I gave it a break overnight and came back the next day, microwaved a piece, and man! It was good!! I didn’t miss the sugar, and in fact, I think the whole thing would be too sweet with it, so I am permanently leaving it out of the recipe from now on. I am toying with the idea of increasing the amount of custard by 50% (3C heavy cream, 1.5C milk, 2 extra yolks and a bit more vanilla), because I think I ended up with more cubes of gingerbread than the original recipe was supposed to accommodate, so keep that in mind if you want to try this recipe, although I haven’t tried that. But even as-is in the amounts specified below, this gingerbread bread pudding is delicious, relatively easy, and definitely a different twist on an old favorite!!

Bobby Flay also has a caramel apple sauce that he puts over his pumpkin bread pudding that I think would be equally delicious on this gingerbread pudding. I didn’t have time to try it, but the recipe is at the above link.

Gingerbread Bread Pudding
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

2 14oz boxes of gingerbread mix (Betty Crocker) plus ingredients specified on the box (water, eggs)
2 C heavy cream
1 C milk
2 tsp vanilla
6 yolks

Directions

Make and bake 2 boxes of gingerbread according to the directions on the box
Cool completely
Cube gingerbread into ½” cubes, place on a cookie sheet, and toast for 10 minutes at 350F.
Cool cubes completely and spread in a 9”x13” pan
Assemble custard: whisk yolks, cream, milk and vanilla in a bowl until smooth
Pour over the cubes
Push cubes slightly into custard, and let soak for 15-20 minutes
Bake at 350F for 50-60 minutes
Serve warm (see above) or cool completely, cover and store
When serving, place pieces of gingerbread pudding in microwave, cook for ~1 minute (until warmed through and slightly steaming) and top with vanilla ice cream

Peanut M&M Cookies

2010-12-16T22:07:00.001-05:00

This post is nice and simple, but a great, great cookie. My mom and I have been making them for year, peanut M&M cookies, in Christmas colors! The original recipe is based on one available on the M&M site, but I've slightly modified it to suit our tastes, and it is even better than the original!

First, you cream together butter, and brown and white sugar, then add in the egg and vanilla.

The, the dry ingredients get added.

And here's where it gets fun: add in some chopped pecans and a WHOLE BAG of peanut M&M's (in Christmas colors, if you can find them).

Stir them in, and then use a #40 scoop to scoop the dough onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet.

Bake them for 13-16 minutes, until golden.

Remove to wire rack after 2 minutes for complete cooling.

And that's it...and these cookies are wonderful. Everyone just loves them, they are consistently the first to disappear from cookie platters, especially once people realize that all those red and green things are actually peanut M&Ms! They are so simple to put together, it is criminal. One batch will make just shy of 3 dozen using a #40 scoop -- and you really should use this scoop, otherwise you will end up with one single lonely peanut M&M per cookie, and I don't know about you, but my conscious just can't handle that kind of guilt! But the good news is that they are so easy, a double batch takes no time at all if you want a few more cookies!

The great thing about these cookies is that M&M's come out with other holiday-colored candies all the time: fall, Halloween, Easter, Valentine's Day -- and these are all great excuses to make these cookies again. Seriously, you want these in your life, and on your cookie platter.

Peanut M&M Cookies
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

2 sticks of butter, softened
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C brown sugar, packed
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
2 C flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 C pecans, chopped small (but not fine)
1-12.6 oz bag Peanut M&M's in Christmas colors

Directions

Preheat oven to 350
Cream softened butter and sugars until fluffy
Add in egg, salt and vanilla and mix until combined
Add in flour and baking soda, and mix until just combined
Add in pecans and peanut M&M's, and stir until combined evenly
Using a #40 scoop, scoop these cookies onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet
Bake at 350F for 12-16 minutes, until golden
Coll on sheet for 2 minutes, then remove to rack to cool completely

Rugelach

2010-12-16T21:57:00.000-05:00

I've been making rugelach for Christmas for a few years now, as per a special request from my mom a few years back, as they are one of her favorites. I happened upon this recipe from Ina Garten, and with a few modifications, made them my own.

Rugelach is Yiddish for "little corners" (although sometimes it is attributed as being related to the word "royal"), with the -ach ending actually denoting the plural form of the word. It originated with the Ashkenazic Jews of central and eastern Europe, who adapted the tradition of using sour cream in dough from the Middle East. The dough is typically sour cream or cream cheese-based, and it is rolled around a filling that typically contains nuts, spices and/or raisins. Sour cream-based rugelach is typically a yeast dough, while cream cheese rugelach typically uses eggs as the leavening agent. This recipe falls into the latter category.

As far as effort goes, these cookies are on the medium end of the scale: you do have to roll, fill and roll again, but the process isn't difficult, and I have several tips and suggestions to help you on your way. You need some basic ingredients first: some jam (I used a 15oz jar of Polander's because it is naturally low in sugar), ground nuts (I used walnuts) and and other ingredients. Ina calls for raisins. I say "bah humbug" to that, and used mini chocolate chips instead.

You start with softened cream cheese and butter, which you mix together until fluffy.

After it is well combined, you add in the rest of the wet ingredients (sugar and vanilla) plus salt, and beat until combined. You then slowly add the flour and mix until the dough just combines.

Then, you form it into a ball, and cut that ball into quarters like so:

Wrap each quarter in saran wrap, and stick them all in a ziplock bag and chill them in the fridge for an hour.

In the meantime, you can get your filling together: brown and white sugars, nuts and mini chips.

You can also get the cinnamon sugar for sprinkling together, as well as the egg wash.

Now, flour your work surface fairly liberally. Take a quarter of the dough out, pat flour all over it, and roll it into a 9-12 inch circle. Keep the pin well-floured. You'll thank me later. Then, plop your jam right in the center. Ina says to puree it first, I never bother. If you are using jam, it should be fine. If you have preserves with huge fruit chunks, you might want to think about pureeing it first.

I normally spread it around with the back of a spoon in a circular pattern, kind of like how pizza sauce gets spread on dough. Once that is done, I trim the dough to match the circle, leaving maybe 1/2 inch to 1 inch overhang. I always end up with uneven edges when I roll dough into a circle, so this is an important step for me.

Then, take the nut/sugar/chip filling and sprinkle it on the dough.

As you can see from the pic, I sprinkle heavily along the edges, not so much in the center. When you are rolling the actual cookies up, you roll towards the center, and you will find that the filling pushes towards the inside anyway, so it makes rolling a lot easier not to start out with so much filling there.

Then, cut the dough into quarters. It is hard to see in the pic, but you can just make it out.
And then, you take each quarter and slice it into thirds, so you end up with 12 total pieces.

Starting from the outside, you take one piece at a time and roll inward towards the center of the dough.

Place these on a cookie sheet, seam side down, brush with the egg wash and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.

Then, they get baked for 18-25 minutes. The range is large because each oven I try these in is vastly different. Take them out when they are a nice golden color.

You can remove them to a wire rack within the first 2 minutes, to let them cool fully.

These cookies are great. The dough is tender, they are not too sweet, and the chocolate is subtle but definitely present. I made apricot rugelach here, but you can use any flavor of jam you wish. I was toying with the idea of raspberry ones, but I already had raspberry thumbprints made, so I didn't want redundancy. These cookies take a little time, mostly because of the hour in the fridge, but they aren't hard as long as you are well-floured. And, they really make for a nice presentation on a cookie tray.

Consider adding them to your holiday baking this year!

Rugelach
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients
For dough
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/4 C sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
2 C flour

For Filling
2 C walnuts, or other nuts, finely chopped
1/4 C brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
6 tbls sugar
1 C mini chocolate chips (or raisins)

1-15 oz jar of jam for spreading
1 egg beaten with 1 tbls milk, for egg wash
1 tsp cinnamon mixed with 3 tbls sugar for sprinkling

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Cream the cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light.

2. Add 1/4 cup granulated sugar, the salt, and vanilla.

3. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and mix until just combined.

4. Dump the dough out onto a well-floured board and roll it into a ball. Cut the ball in quarters, wrap each piece in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

5. To make the filling, combine 6 tablespoons of granulated sugar, the brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, the chips, and walnuts.

6. On a well-floured board, roll each ball of dough into a 9-12 -inch circle.

7. Spread the dough with 2 tablespoons apricot preserves and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the filling. Press the filling lightly into the dough.

8. Cut the circle into 12 equal wedges—cutting the whole circle in quarters, then each quarter into thirds.

9. Starting with the wide edge, roll up each wedge.

10. Place the cookies, points tucked under, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

11. Brush each cookie with the egg wash.

12. Combine 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle on the cookies.

13. Bake for 18 to 24 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack and let cool.

Chocolate Hazelnut Toffee Cookies

2010-12-08T21:00:00.000-05:00

If Ferrero Rocher and old fashioned monster cookies did the dirty and had love babies, these cookies would be those babies. Inspired by one of Giada's recipes, the end result ended barely resembling the original by the time I was through tweaking, but the result is a sublime mixing of chocolate and hazelnut, with a hint of toffee. The ingredients list is a little long because of all the mix-ins, but the cookies are straightforward to assemble.

First, you need to toast some hazelnuts. As you can see from the picture above, I opt to buy the pre-chopped 8oz hazelnut bag, which works perfectly. Just spread the nuts out onto a lined parchment sheet, and bake for 10-15 minutes until fragrant and starting to brown. Keep an eye out though, you don't want them to burn.

Then you cream together the butter and sugars until fluffy.

Add in the eggs and vanilla to combine. Then, add in some melted bittersweet chocolate. Premix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and soda, and salt) in a bowl, and add those as well, mixing to combine. Once that is done, you can add the mix-ins: nuts, bittersweet chocolate chips, oats and toffee bits.

I recommend using good quality chocolate for both the melting and the chips, I use Ghirardelli. Also, as pictured above, toffee chips are available in bags for baking, either Skor or Heath (I prefer the latter), but if you can't find them, you can always finely chop or process a Heath bar in the food processor!

Once everything is together in the batter and well-combined, use a #40 scoop to scoop out dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets.

Bake for about 12 minutes. I can not stress this enough, but the cookies will not look done when they come out. In fact, they will seem underdone and will still be incredibly soft. They will have lost most of their shininess, but will be so soft it will almost look like they are about to deflate. However, trust me, if your oven is truly 350F, and you use a #40 scoop (scraping off excess dough), they should be ready to come out of the oven at right around 12 minutes, even if they are so soft they are souffle-like.

You need to leave them on the cookie sheet outside of the oven for an additional 5 minutes to continue baking before removing them to a cooling rack to cool and harden further. The thing is, these cookies harden. A lot. And if you don't take them out while they are still underdone, you will end up with chocolate hazelnut hockey pucks. Which isn't tragic, they will still taste good, but the consistency will be off a little. I know, I know, it is a leap of faith for me too every time I pull them out of the oven at 12 minutes, but it always ends up being the right call -- unfortunately you'll have to wait until the cookies fully cool down to believe this, because they will be soft right up until they achieve room temperature. But trust me.

And at the end of it, you end up with these:

Chocolate hazelnut cookies that are sure to impress!

Chocolate Hazelnut Toffee Cookies
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted
1/2 C old-fashioned oatmeal
2 1/4 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
11.5 oz bittersweet chocolate chips (Ghirardelli)
8 oz hazelnuts, chopped and toasted
8 oz toffee bits

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F
Spread hazelnuts onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and toast at 350F for 10-15 minutes, keeping close watch
Cream together butter and sugars until fluffy
Add in eggs and vanilla and combine
Add in chocolate and combine
Combine dry ingredients (flour, baking power, baking soda and salt) into a bowl, and add to wet ingredients, mixing until combined
Add the mix-ins (oatmeal, hazelnuts, chocolate chips, toffee bits) and stir until combined
Use #40 scoop to scoop onto a cookie sheet, and bake ~12 minutes (cookies will still look raw and too soft when done)
Cool on pan for at least 5 minutes before removing to rack
Let cool completely before storing

Gingerbread Truffles (Gingerbread Cake Balls)

2010-12-06T22:13:00.000-05:00

Because I'm on a roll, here's one more posting that is a cake ball variation. These are gingerbread cake balls, and I've been dying to try them ever since last year. 'Tis finally the season, so here they are, in an abbreviated posting, because I'm sure everyone is familiar with the basics of cake balls by now.

You start with gingerbread. From scratch if you'd like, but it really defeats the purpose of making an easy treat. I used 2 of these guys:

They are 14 oz each, a little more than the average cake mix when put together, so they need a little extra time baking. Combine the 2 mixes plus the ingredients specified on the box, and bake in a 9"x13" pan at 350F for about 45 minutes.

Once the cake is done and cooled (same day, next day, whenever), mash it up with a tub of vanilla icing. When it is well-combined, use the #60 scoop to scoop it into balls. Chill these for at least a half hour, if not a full hour.

Now comes the dipping. I'd recommend a variation on vanilla candy melts (the white and colored Wilton melts are all vanilla). Choose your color and one or two contrasting colors if you wish. Melt the main color, thin it with some vegetable shortening, and dip the balls. Wait for this to harden before you drizzle on one or two accent colors. For these, as you can see, I went with white for the main color, with red and green accents.

All in all, I am very pleased with the way these gingerbread truffles turned out. The spicy gingerbread flavor really comes through, they just taste like little bites of Christmas. Plus, not only does the recipe yield over 5 dozen, but they will be okay in the freezer for at least a month, and when they defrost, they don't have to be refrigerated.

If you like gingerbread at this time of year, I highly recommend these truffles, they'll go a lot further than a loaf of gingerbread!

Coconut Cake Balls

2010-12-06T21:54:00.001-05:00

Since my previous koulourakia post was for something quite labor-intensive, I decided to follow-up with a post about an easy holiday treat!

This entry is yet another of the many variations on Bakerella's cake balls that I've come up with over the years, and one I mentioned offhandedly as a possibility in a previous post. But they are good enough that I decided to give them their very own post -- coconut cake balls! This post is very short, it is really more of an idea than a recipe, but they are easy and tasty, and for some reason, I always associate coconut confections with Christmas, so here is the workflow:

First, make and bake a white cake mix (brand of your choice) in a pan of your choosing (although I think 9"x13" is easiest), following the directions on the box.

Then, put the baked and cooled cake in a bowl, and mash it up with a tub of ready-made vanilla icing and a 14oz bag of sweetened shredded coconut until it is relatively homogeneous. If you don't plan on baking and rolling in the same day, you can store the cake wrapped in saran wrap for a day or two, or freeze it for later use.

Using a #60 scoop, scoop out the cake/icing mixture and roll into balls. Chill these balls in the freezer about 30 minutes or until firm, which could take up to an hour depending on the starting temperature of your cake. If the cake was frozen, it'll take closer to 30 minutes.

Then, dip the balls into candy coating wafers of your choice, thinned with some vegetable oil. I always use dark chocolate for these to simulate something along the lines of a Mounds bar, but vanilla melts will work just as well. You can also use real chocolate, but I find that it is easier to use the candy coating wafers because they melt more evenly and set up faster.After this coating hardens, drizzle on a contrasting color if you so desire.

And there you have it! Easy coconut cake balls for the holidays! I've made a lot of variations on cake balls, and these are definitely one of the best. The mix-in of actual coconut gives them a little something extra, they are tasty little truffles of coconut goodness. Plus, the recipe as written will yield over 5 dozen, so you will have plenty to take places or to give as gifts.

Koulourakia (Greek Butter Cookie)

2010-12-06T21:52:00.002-05:00

This is my second posted recipe for koulourakia, which are traditional Greek butter cookies normally served at holidays, particularly Easter, but also Christmas. They come in a variety of shapes, including twists and circles, and the following directions are to make the more common twist form.

Helpful schematic courtesy of my Uncle Jeff

For those of you who have never had the opportunity to taste koulourakia before, they are butter cookies, on the dry side like biscotti. They are meant to be enjoyed with coffee or at least milk. They are slightly sweet, with vanilla, and glazed with an egg wash. And they are delicious, a simple flavor but one of the best around. This recipe is my Aunt Maria's, and it is hand's down the best I've had since my Yia-Yia's (who never wrote anything down, and unfortunately that recipe was lost).

But before we begin, there are a few provisos about making koulourakia. I'm not going to lie: these cookies are time consuming if you make them the traditional way, rolling and shaping them, as opposed to dropping them into small rounds. To me, the extra time is worth it, but it is a labor of love to the tune of about 5 hours.

If you decide that you just want to scoop and drop cookies, it will go a lot faster, I'll give some ballpark baking times at the bottom. They are just as tasty round. Using the dough measurements I give, this recipe will yield about 15 dozen cookies twisted, 7 1/2 dropped, it is an incredibly high yield recipe that would be a great choice for a cookie exchange as well.

And about the twisting: the dough is dry out of necessity, it is important for the final cookie consistency, but it can make rolling a challenge, especially since you roll it to a log of about 3/8" thick -- pretty thin actually. The dough can and will crack and break as you roll it occasionally. Sometimes you can just pinch it back together, sometimes you need to re-roll it. And sometimes you just pitch it back into the bowl and try again. I try to be as explicit as I can be with the instructions for rolling and baking. Don't misunderstand me, I don't want to discourage you from making them, they are a fabulous cookie!! I just want you to be prepared if you choose to make the traditional shape (and again, you can always just scoop out the dough and bake it into rounds).

Okay? Okay! Let's get started. First, butter and sugar get creamed together until nice and fluffy, this will probably take about 3 minutes of good hard mixing.

Then eggs and vanilla get added in and combined.

Premix all of the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and baking soda) in a bowl, and add it into the batter slowly. I normally do this about a cup at a time. Be sure to mix thoroughly.

Now, here comes the fun bit: the rolling. Take a #60 scoop, and scoop out a wad of dough. Roll it around in a ball for a few seconds to smooth it out, and then roll it between your hands until it is maybe 2 inches long. Put it down on the counter. There is a lot of butter in the dough, so it shouldn't be too sticky. But, if you are noticing it sticks, put a very light coating (so light it is pretty much invisible) on the counter and your hands.

This dough needs to be rolled out (carefully) 12" long. I always have the ruler for reference, because my eyes will play tricks on me if I don't.

Then, cut the dough in half, leaving 2-6" pieces. I use one of those firm, clear plastic butter knives for this part, so I don't have to worry about scratching my counter. If you are finding that rolling such a big piece is too hard for you, you can always cut the dough in half when it is still 2" long, and then roll each half out to 6" separately, although this will take longer.

Pick up a piece of the dough and transfer it to the parchment-lined cookie sheet where it will bake, to the position it will bake in. Bend the dough in half like so:

Then, cross over one side with the other:

And bring that piece up around the other side to make one full twist:

Do it for the other half of the dough as well. Eventually, you will end up with a sheet of these:

Don't be discouraged if some crack or break. I've made hundreds and hundreds, and mine do too, it is just the nature of the dough. Unless you are my Aunt Maria, and your cookies always look perfect like they came out of some koulourakia cookie press. Normally, you can repair breaks with a pinch, and the cracks will be less noticeable as the cookie puffs while baking.

Don't be afraid to pack the cookies onto the sheet, they don't spread much, and the more cookies you put on a sheet, the fast the whole process takes. I normally pack 20 onto a sheet in this configuration:

Also, I don't know about you, but I only have 4 cookie sheets. For this recipe, I have to reuse them like mad. What I normally do is twist enough cookies for all my sheets, and then start them baking. While I am out of sheets, I twist cookies on the parchment on my counter, and then when I get a sheet that is cooled enough to put new cookies on (about the length of time it takes the sheet following that one to bake), I just bring the cookie sheet flush with my counter and slide the new parchment + cookies onto it like this:

This way, I can keep twisting even if I have run out of sheets. Generally, when I bring a cookie sheet out of the oven, I start twisting a new set of cookies onto parchment, and by the time I am done twisting 20 cookies, the sheet is cool enough for me to slide them on there.

The dough will be sitting around for a while as you make these cookies (and it was already extremely dry to begin with), so keep the bowl covered with a few layers of damp paper towels

Then, the cookies get brushed with an egg wash. One single egg got me through all 15 dozen, you don't need to be too heavy-handed with the wash. Also, if you have sheets of twisted but unbaked cookies laying around, brush with the egg wash right before you put it into the oven to bake, so it doesn't dry.

Then go ahead and bake. Mine took about 14 minutes.

They should be golden brown when they come out -- how brown is a matter for your personal preference. My aunt and I like them overdone, my mom prefers them lighter, so don't be afraid to experiment with different baking times -- after all, you will have 15 dozen!

If you don't want to do all that twisting, just use the #60 scoop to scoop and drop dough onto the cookie sheets and bake, around the same length of time, just keep an eye on them. Doing it this way should yield about 7 1/2 dozen cookies, still an impressive haul for one batch.

Or, you can roll them, and form them into circles, that is another traditional shape. If you're feeling really adventurous, you can make coils, circular braids or "S" shaped cookies like here, all also traditional. But I like the twists best, because that's how my Yia-Yia made them.

I can not say enough good things about these cookies. The taste is subtle but addicting. The texture is the perfect complement to a nice cup of coffee or tea, or milk.

These do very well in the freezer, they'll be good for at least a month if not more, so you can easily make them ahead of time. Look at me, mine are done, and Christmas isn't for another 3 weeks.

Plus, the recipe yields so much that you will have enough cookies to bring everywhere. I'm bringing them to 4 places minimum, and I'll probably bring some to the lab as well, and still have enough to be steadily noshing until New Year's.

If you're a Greek looking for a great Koulourakia recipe, or if you're on the prowl to try some cookies from around the world, or if you're just looking for a simple and delicious butter cookie with natural ingredients (simple if you just drop them onto the sheet, that is), consider this recipe for your holiday baking.

Koulourakia
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

1 1/2 C sweet butter
1 1/2 C sugar
3 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
6 C AP flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
Beaten egg (for egg wash)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy
Add in eggs and vanilla and beat well to combine
Combine all dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and soda) in a separate bowl
Slowly add dry ingredients to wet, mixing thoroughly
Using the #60 scoop, scoop out dough. Either roll out, cut and twist dough as desired (see blog text); or drop dough directly onto parchment-lined cookie sheets for round butter cookies
Brush with beaten egg
Bake 10-15 minutes (depends on shape). Remove when golden brown. Let cool on sheet 1 minute before removing to rack

Peanut Butter Blossoms

2010-12-04T17:06:00.001-05:00

My mom and I have been making peanut butter blossoms for years at Christmastime. It is a well-known and well-loved recipe which came originally from Crisco, although my mom and I slightly modified the recipe to exclude...well...the Crisco. Instead of the butter-flavored shortening that the original calls for, we just use regular butter in a 1 to 1 swap. This doesn't work in every recipe, because while shortening is 100% fat, butter is only about 80% or so fat. However, for these cookies, a 1 to 1 swap of butter for shortening works fine, because of the added fat of the peanut butter. You can use crunchy or creamy peanut butter, but make sure it isn't reduced fat.

Another quick note: this recipe only has one egg, and little flour, which means it is on the firmer side just how my family likes it. But, if you want a softer cookie, you can either add an additional yolk into the batter or an extra 1/4 C of flour, and pull them out of the oven a minute or so early to let them finish cooking on the rack.

The first thing you do is get out a bag of dark chocolate Hershey's Kisses. You can use the milk chocolate if you really want, but I think the dark ones taste better.

Unwrap about 5 dozen kisses in preparation. Go ahead and have one.

Now, cream the butter with the sugars until light and fluffy.

Then, add in the egg, vanilla, milk and peanut butter. Do yourself a favor and give the measuring cup and spatula a quick spritz of butter spray before you measure the peanut butter, it will make getting the peanut butter back out of the cup a lot easier. And as for the milk, I used 2% because it is what I had. I know that my mom has gone so far as to use the lowfat half and half because that's all she had, and both work fine. Mix until everything is well-combined.

Now add the flour and baking soda, and mix until combined. Using a #60 scoop, scoop out dough and roll into a ball.

Then roll the ball into sugar and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 for 8-11 minutes. The cookies will just start to crack when they are done.

Bring them out of the oven, and immediately press a kiss down into the center of the cookie. The kiss will start to melt, and this will make it stick to the cookie. But don't be afraid to push down, you need to push hard enough to displace the dough around the kiss.

Remove the cookies to a wire rack when you are done putting kisses in all the cookies on the sheet.

Now, and this is the most important part: leave them alone. The heat of the cookies will melt the kisses, but the kisses will hold their shape and resolidify as long as you don't try to pack them away for several hours. It will take a while for the chocolate to solidify properly. If the kiss is shiny, don't touch it and don't try to put the cookie away. Once the kiss is matte, give it another 30 minutes, and then tentatively investigate the kiss -- if it seems solid, then you can pack the cookies away, with layers of wax paper between the cookie layers.

I consider this recipe to be a Christmas classic. It is easy, tasty, and relatively high yield (somewhere between 4 and 4 1/2 dozen). If you don't already make them, and you like a great peanut butter cookie, consider adding this to you Christmas cookie list!

Peanut Butter Blossoms
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:

1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 C sugar
1 stick butte, softened
1 egg*
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp milk
1/2 C peanut butter
1 3/4 C AP flour*
1 tsp baking soda
Sugar for rolling
Hershey's Dark Chocolate Kisses

*see blog text for additional details

Directions

Preheat oven to 375F
Unwrap 5 dozen Hershey's Kisses
Cream together butter and sugars until fluffy
Add in egg, vanilla, peanut butter and milk, and mix until well-combined
Add in flour and baking soda, and mix until combined
Using a #60 scoop, scoop out dough and roll into a ball
Roll dough balls in sugar, and place on parchment-lined cookie sheet
Bake 8-11 minutes, until cookies begin to crinkle
Press a Hershey's Kiss in the center of each cookie, and remove cookies to wire rack to cool completely
Let cool completely (several hours) until kisses are no longer shiny before packing away.

Easy Pistachio Chip Cookies

2010-12-02T14:23:00.000-05:00

This is my first Christmas cookie posting of the 2010 Christmas Baking season, and I'm starting out with a brand-new cookie recipe that is super-easy but big on taste!

My Christmas cookie baking is fairly constant from year to year in terms of variety, but I try to roll out at least one new variety per year, to test. Sometimes, the new ones make the cut and transition to perennial Christmas cookie staple...and sometimes they don't. These pistachio cookies definitely make the cut, for both their taste and ease of assembly. Let's face it, when you are making many different kinds of cookies, convenience definitely becomes an important factor. I tore the original recipe out of a Betty Crocker mini cookie magazine, but it is also available online here. The original recipe calls for cranberries, but I modified it, because I prefer chocolate!

These cookies start by using a Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix pouch as a base. I rarely use a cookie mix as a base, but there are some cookies where it works beautifully, and this is one of them. Can you use from-scratch drop sugar cookie dough? Sure you can, with the understanding that you will sacrifice some of the convenience. The choice is yours. Me? I say why fix what ain't broke, and I just use the mix.

So, begin by combining all the dry ingredients in a bowl. This includes the cookie mix, a box of pistachio instant pudding, and a little extra flour.

Then, you add in some melted butter (yet more convenience!) and eggs. Because the butter is melted, you should have no problem making these cookies with nothing more than a wooden spoon, no need to whip out the stand mixer for this one! If your butter just came out of the microwave, add it first and mix it into the dry ingredients for a few strokes before you add the eggs, so you can avoid the heat of the butter cooking the eggs.

Once this is well-combined, stir in some salted, dry-roasted pistachios and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Try to make sure the pistachios are lightly salted, unsalted nuts will taste too bland in the final cookie.

Now, you use the #60 scoop, and scoop cookies out onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Slightly flatten the tops, and bake until the bottoms are starting to brown.

The first batch I baked, I forgot to flatten. It wasn't tragic. You can see the difference in the flattened vs not flattened look below. But if you forget to flatten, bump up the baking time a little, since the cookies are a little thicker.

These cookies are definitely going into my permanent Christmas cookie rotation, I love all things pistachio-flavored. They were easy and super tasty. If your tastes run away from chocolate, you can always do what the original recipe calls for, and use dried cranberries and maybe even white chips instead of the dark chips.

Easy Pistachio Chip Cookies
(Printable recipe)

Ingredients

1 pouch Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
1 box (4-servings) pistachio instant pudding mix
1/4 C flour
1 stick butter, melted
2 eggs
1 C dry roasted, salted pistachios, chopped
1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F
Combine cookie mix, pudding mix and flour in a bowl, mix to combine dry ingredients
Add melted butter and eggs, mixing well to combine (can do by hand)
Stir in the nuts and chips
Using a #60 scoop, drop onto parchment-lined cookie sheet. Slightly flatten tops
Bake for 9-11 minutes, until bottoms are browning
Cool on sheet for 2 minutes before removing to wire rack

Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake Pie

2010-11-17T09:53:00.000-05:00

I. Love. Pumpkin. Pie. In fact, let’s be honest: I love pumpkin anything. But pumpkin pie is the very pinnacle of all pumpkin desserts as far as I’m concerned. I used to make a traditional pumpkin pie every year, but last year I went in a different direction, rolling out a brand-new type of pie, and haven’t looked back since. This new pie, the Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake Pie, is my definitive holiday pie. It is like three desserts wrapped into one, and although it might sound busy, this pie has the most wonderful blending of flavors that results in my favorite Thanksgiving dessert.

I had always been intrigued with pumpkin cheesecakes, but I had never tried to make one before. The pie I am going to describe is a little different from a regular pumpkin cheesecake in that the cheesecake layer and the pumpkin pie layer are kept separate, with a pecan layer on top. This concept was originally inspired by Bakerella, who made a similar pie on her blog. But after reading the comments posted about that recipe, a lot of people complained that the recipe failed to give a filling that solidified properly. So I decided to try my hand at making this pie, keeping the distinct pumpkin, pecan and cheesecake layers, but completely revamping the recipe itself, starting from the ground up. The results I got were just wonderful, and that’s what I’ll be sharing in this post.

First, you need a pie crust. Deep dish if you can, there will be a lot of filling. I used the Sarah Lee 9” deep dish frozen pie crust, and it was still frozen when I filled it (although it sat on the counter after I had filled it with the cheesecake layer, and while I was assembling the pumpkin layer – maybe 10 minutes. Feel free to use your own recipe if you want, just keep a closer eye on how the crust browns, because my directions are for a crust that is partially frozen.

The first layer that goes down is the cream cheese. Start with your cheese softened, maybe sitting out at room temp for 30-45 minutes or so, cut up into cubes in your mixing bowl. Once the cheese is a little softer, you beat it with the sugar until it is well combined and not lumpy.

Add the vanilla and a dollop of sour cream (a slightly rounded tablespoon), and beat until incorporated. Add the egg, and beat until combined and the lumps are pretty much gone. Try not to overbeat. Then, pour the cheesecake layer into the bottom of the crust.

Now for the pumpkin layer. I personally like adding each spice individually, as opposed to the pumpkin pie mix. I also freshly grate the nutmeg before I use it, and although that isn’t strictly necessary, it smells and tastes wonderful. Combine the pumpkin, sugar, spices, salt, egg and whites in a bowl, and whisk until thoroughly combined.

You can do that by hand, it is easy enough to combine. Then, layer the pumpkin mixture on top of the cheesecake mixture carefully. I would spoon it on gently, and then spread it out. Gently.

At this point, you put some aluminum on the crust to protect it from over-browning, and pop it into a 400F oven. After 5 minutes, and without opening the door, turn the oven down to 375F and keep baking for 25 minutes.

While it is baking, assemble the pecan topping. Combine the pecans, brown sugar and maple syrup in a bowl.

Be sure to use real Grade A maple syrup, not the stuff you typically buy for pancakes. No Log Cabin or Aunt Jemima!

After the 25 minute bake time is up, take the pie out of the oven. You are going to be putting the pecan topping on quickly, you don’t want the pie to cool down too much. Remove the shield so that you can sprinkle pecans right to the edge of the crust, and start sprinkling the topping evenly all over the pie. I typically use all or almost all of the topping. Taking the shield off will also give you an idea of how much the crust still needs to brown. I leave those judgments up to you, because each crust and oven might be slightly different.

Put the shield back on if you think it is necessary, and pop the pie back in the over for another 20 minutes. After that time is up, try to take a peak (without opening the door if you can manage it) and see how the crust is doing. If you took the shield off, is it browning nicely or getting overdone. If it is getting overdone, put the shield back on. If you left the shield on, is it not browning enough? If not, take the shield off. This will really depend on your oven. Using the same exact crust, at my parents’ house, I had to leave the shield on the entire time to prevent excess browning, but in my apartment I took the shield off after the topping went on, and they both turned out great. The best advice I can give is just pay attention to the crust.

Let the pie bake for a further 10 minutes (so, 1 hr total bake time), then remove it from the oven and place it on a wire rack for cooling.

Let the pie cool down at room temperature for at least an hour, if not more. If you cover it to put it in the fridge while it is too warm, you will end up with condensation building up on the inside of the cover, making the crust and pie top soggy. It doesn’t have to be completely 100% room temp before you put it in the fridge, but make sure the bottom is no more than slightly warm. If you are worried, you can do what I do and check the cover about an hour after I put it into the fridge. If there is condensation building, wipe it off with a paper towel.

This pie needs to chill for maybe 5 hours minimum, but I highly recommend overnight. It’ll make slicing and serving so much easier, plus, it just tastes better when it is thoroughly cold.

Again, this pie: my favorite rendition of pumpkin pie. The flavors are complex, and so are the textures, but you have the strong pumpkin coming through, complemented by everything else. If you are a pumpkin pie fan, consider adding this to your holiday baking list this year!

Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake Pie

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

1-9” deep dish pie crust, frozen or fresh (see notes in above text)

Cheesecake Layer

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 slightly rounded tbls sour cream
1 egg

Pumpkin Layer

15 oz can of pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
¾ C sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp allspice or cloves
¼ tsp salt
1/3 C evaporated milk
1 egg
2 egg whites

Pecan Layer

1 ½ C pecans, chopped
½ C brown sugar, packed
2 tbls pure maple syrup

Directions

Preheat oven to 400F
Beat cream cheese with the sugar until it is well combined and not lumpy.
Add the vanilla and a dollop of sour cream (a slightly rounded tablespoon), and beat until incorporated.
Add the egg and whites, and beat until combined and the lumps are pretty much gone. Try not to overbeat.
Pour the cheesecake layer into the bottom of the crust.
Combine the pumpkin, sugar, spices, salt, egg and whites in a bowl, and whisk until thoroughly combined (can do by hand).
Layer the pumpkin mixture on top of the cheesecake mixture carefully. Spoon it on gently, and then spread it out.
Put some aluminum on the crust to protect it from over-browning.
Bake it into a 400F oven for 5 minutes then, without opening the door, turn the oven down to 375F and keep baking for an additional 25 minutes.
While it is baking, assemble the pecan topping. Combine the pecans, brown sugar and maple syrup in a bowl and stir to combine well.
After the 25 minute bake time is up, take the pie out of the oven.
Working quickly, remove the shield and start sprinkling the topping evenly all over the pie.
Put the shield back on if you think it is necessary
Put the pie back in the over to bake for another 20 minutes.
After the time is up, try to take a peak (without opening the door if you can) and see how the crust is doing. Decide whether to use the shield or not based on the level of browning
Let the pie bake for a further 10 minutes
Remove it from the oven and place it on a wire rack for cooling.
Let the pie cool down at room temperature for at least an hour before covering and storing in the fridge
Overnight chilling yields the best results

Cranberry Upside Down Cake

2010-11-16T15:32:00.001-05:00

This year, I decided to add some desserts to my Thanksgiving repertoire, and after spying this eye-appealing recipe on the Williams-Sonoma site, I decided to try my hand at a cranberry upside down cake. So with a few ideas taken from a similar recipe from Martha, I concocted my own version of this recipe that combined what I felt were the best elements of both, plus some additional mods from moi.

But before we get to that, let’s talk cranberries!

Cranberries get their name from the distinctive shape of their open flowers, which look like the head of a crane. They are one of the three native fruits found in North America (the other two being blueberries and Concord grapes), and the Algonquins were among the first to harvest them, as components of both food and medicine. The first English settlers learned about cranberries from the Native Americans, and it is believed that they were served as the very first Thanksgiving dinner, and have been a holiday staple ever since. Here are some more fun facts:

The first NJ cranberry grower, John Webb, was also the first to notice that good cranberries bounce. He discovered this because, with his wooden leg, he had difficulty carrying his berries down the stairs, so he would drop them. Webb noticed that the good berries would bounce to the bottom, while the rotten berries would stay on the steps. Incidentally, good berries bounce because they contain small pockets of air that rotten ones lack. These pockets of air are also what makes good cranberries float, the rationale behind the “wet harvest” you have probably seen pictures of in cranberry bogs filled with floating cranberries. Contrary to popular belief, cranberry beds are only flooded at harvest time.

White cranberries are the same species as red cranberries, they are just harvested before the deep red color has a chance to develop.

Ocean Spray, the largest manufacturer of cranberry-related products in the US, is actually owned as an agricultural cooperative of cranberry and grapefruit growers, and has been around since 1930.

Now, back to the cake!

Fair warning: cranberries are tart. Delicious. But tart. This may look like a cake with cherries on top, but it sure doesn’t taste like it. This cake is a mature flavor best suited for adults. Kids will love the look of the cake, but probably not the taste, so although I highly recommend this cake, I’d also recommend making sure it isn’t the only dessert offering if there are lots of kiddies at your holiday table. Fair enough? Good. Who ever heard of too many desserts anyway, right? Psssht. Not me, that’s for sure.

Now, this cake makes for a beautiful presentation that is actually very simple to assemble. The whole process begins with an orange. Zest and juice it. Then, throw some of the juice and half the zest in a saucepan with some brown sugar and butter, which you keep on medium heat until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved.

Throw in some cinnamon and a pinch of allspice right before you are done. Then, you pour it into a 9” round cake pan that has been butter sprayed, with a parchment round on the bottom that has also been butter sprayed. Trust me, you’ll thank me later on. I hardly ever heed directions that recommend parchment-lining cake pans, and honestly I rarely have an issue…but for this cake, I truly believe depanning it would be very difficult without the parchment round on the bottom. So, pour the sugar/butter/orange/spice mixture into the pan, and spread it over the entire bottom (you can probably just tilt the pan to do this, it worked fine for me). Once that layer is down, it is time to sprinkle on the cranberries. You will use nearly all of the ¾ lb bag, less a few berries. Sprinkle them on so that there is complete coverage over the bottom of the pan, but only a single layer of berries, like this:

Now, you can start assembling the dough. First, combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) in a bowl. Separately, cream together butter and sugar, then add yolks(one at a time), vanilla and the remaining orange juice and zest. Then, start adding the dry ingredients, alternating each addition of the flour mixture with an addition of buttermilk.

Whip the whites and the cream of tartar with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form, and then fold the whites into the batter with your spatula or a wooden spoon.

Then, spoon the batter over the cranberries and spread it evenly.

Bake at 350F for 55-60 minutes, until cake bounces back and a wooden skewer comes out clean. Now, when I made this, my batter overflowed just a tad. I’m not 100% sure why, and it was nominal, but do yourself a favor and put the pan on a cookie sheet while you are baking it.

Then, you cool it 15 minutes in the pan, invert it and leave it for another 5, and then finally de-pan it. Is all that necessary? I’m not sure, but I can tell you that the cranberry topping came out of the pan perfectly using this method, so I’m sticking to it!

Although it isn’t pictured, this cake is best served with some sweetened whipped cream (recipe below) or some Reddi-Wip, which will cut through the tartness of the berries.

This cake is quite tasty and definitely different. The orange comes through nicely and adds depth to the flavor, as does the hint of cinnamon and allspice in the berries, the cake is yummy and moist, and the cranberry layer combines both sweet and tart. Visually, the ruby red jewel-like topping is a stunner. Again, the cranberries are still on the tart side, even smothered in sugar and butter, because they are whole berries and not a sweetened sauce. But between the sugar, orange and whipped cream, I think the tartness is at an acceptable level (although this might vary from person to person). If you hate cranberries, this might not be your dessert. But if you want a little sumpin’ sumpin’ different from the usual offerings that still screams “holidays!” then this is it!

Cranberry Upside Down Cake

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

Topping

¾ lb (12 oz) bag of fresh (or thawed frozen) whole cranberries
1 C brown sugar
½ stick unsalted butter
2 tbls orange juice
Half of the orange zest
½ tsp cinnamon
Pinch of allspice

Batter

1 ½ C AP flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter
1 C sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbls orange juice and remaining zest
½ C buttermilk (you can clabber your own with 1/2 tbls of lemon juice or white vinegar and ½ C milk for about 10-15 minutes)
1/8 tsp cream of tartar

Whipped Cream

1 C heavy cream
¼ tsp vanilla extract
1 tbls confectioner’s sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F
Butter a 9”-round cake pan. Put a parchment round onto the bottom of the cake pan, and butter that as well
Place brown sugar, ½ stick of butter, 2 tbls of orange juice and half of the zest of one orange in a saucepan. Heat on medium until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Add cinnamon and allspice about halfway through heating.
Pour the topping into the bottom of the pan, and tilt pan to ensure full coverage
Sprinkle a single layer of cranberries on top of the sugar/butter mixture, packed tightly, but no more than one berry layer thick
Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside
Cream together the butter and sugar used for the batter. Add egg yolks one at a time and mix until thoroughly combined. Add in the vanilla and remaining juice/zest, and mix until combined
Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour. Beat each addition until just combined
In a separate bowl, combine the egg whites and cream of tartar, and whip with a had mixer until still peaks form
Fold whites into batter by hand, and spoon onto the cranberry layer, spreading batter until even and touching all sides of the pan
Place pan on a cookie sheet, and bake for 50-60 minutes, until golden, cake springs back, and toothpick inserted comes out clean
Transfer cake pan to wire rack and cool in-pan for 15 minutes
Invert onto serving plate, and let stand inverted for 5 minutes before removing the pan
For the whipped cream: Using the whisk attachment on your mixer, or a hand mixer, whip the cream until soft peaks form, then stir in the vanilla and sugar

Cranberry