Don't Faint... I think I am back to blogging!

So, to say it has been awhile since I last posted is probably a little bit of an understatement. It has essentially been nine months… I have been cooking though, but I have also been busy with taking a few classes for my certification, sleeping during most of my first trimester, among other things. Thankfully I am now done with classes and have most of my energy back. I wish I had posted over the last months because I know I made several dishes that we loved including some new cookie recipes for Christmas, new Indian dishes… and I don’t remember the names to even post the recipes. Alas, I hopefully to pick back up with cooking, baking, and blogging now.

The most recent season of The Bachelorette finished up on Monday night and we had quite the meal to celebrate the end of a mediocre show (this season was fairly boring until the end) and several weeks of yummy meals and fun times with good friends and their pups. Seth and Elizabeth out did themselves with a surf and turf entrée consisting of petite fillets, grilled shrimp, and homemade crab cakes. Emily and Dowe did tasty sides of baked potatoes (with all the fixings) and asparagus. Russ and I followed up this fancy meal with a rather plain, but still yummy dessert. Since I am back to blogging I am also finally finding time to catch up on other food blogs that I enjoy reading, including Smitten Kitchen. I knew that I wanted to do something that involved the fresh Mentone blueberries Russ and I picked with his family the other weekend. I didn’t want to do the obvious blueberry cobbler though. I remembered seeing a blueberry dessert on Smitten Kitchen recently and went back to find where she made Blueberry Boy Bait. It is apparently based on an older recipe that a young girl submitted to a contest and won. She named it because of its effect on boys. Well, since we are watching The Bachelorette it sounded like the perfect fit.

To make the Blueberry Boy Bait you combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt) together in a bowl. Using an electric mixer you beat the sugars and softened butter together until they are light and fluffy. Next you add the eggs one at a time while the mixer is still going. Next you lower the speed of the mixer and add 1/3 of the flour of mixture until it is combined. Then add half the milk followed by half of the remaining flour mixture, the remaining milk, and lastly the remaining flour mixture. Once it is all combined you fold in ½ cup of blueberries. Pour the batter into a greased baking dish. Then combine the sugar, cinnamon, and another ½ cup of blueberries and sprinkle it evenly over the top of the batter. Put it in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Let it cool and then cut it into squares and serve.

This was a simple, but tasty summer cake. It really would work just as well (maybe even better) as a coffee cake in the morning as opposed to dessert. It was not an over the top cake, but for the ease of preparation and amount of time it is winner for simple blueberry cake. The only change I would make next time is either increasing the cinnamon in the topping by a pinch or adding a little cinnamon to the batter. It really is perfectly fine without upping the cinnamon, but I love a little spice in my cakes. It would be an easy coffee cake to take for a weekend trip with friends. Overall I was pleased with the dessert and while Russ didn’t feel any strong effects from it he did like it and rates it an 8.

Fresh Berries

This summer I have had a container herb garden again. I don’t know that I have mentioned it much on the blog, but I have enjoyed it just as much as I have in the past years. We have incorporated the herbs into many meals and they have been delicious. Even though I have loved my container garden, I dream of having an in ground, large garden someday. You see when we redid the backyard I was hoping it would work out to have a large fruit, vegetable and herb garden, but the shade, trees, layout etc. all worked against me and it just didn’t work out. It is probably for the best as I am not sure I have the time to take care of a larger garden right now, but I can still dream right and at least we have Mentone. That’s right, Mentone has a garden of sorts. There are all sorts of things growing up in Mentone and among them are blueberries and blackberries in the summer. This past weekend Russ, Jason, Allen, and I all picked berries. Thanks to Russ being a fabulous picker we ended up with lots of berries. Picking the berries was relaxing and fun and something I look forward to doing again next year. So, until I get a large garden of my own I’ll enjoy some yearly berry picking up at Mentone.

So, what does one do with lots of fresh blueberries and blackberries? Well besides eating lots of them as a snack everyday I decided to make a pie for my Dad’s birthday. There have been so many great blueberry recipes in all of my cooking magazines lately that it was a tough choice of which to make, but in the end I decided on Fine Cooking’s Black and Blueberry Pie with Lemon-Cornmeal Crust.

To make the pie you start by making the dough. You start by adding the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and lemon zest into a bowl. Then begin adding the cold butter by cutting it into the dough. Once the butter is still in large pieces add the cold shortening and continue cutting it in until it is pea size. With a fork add the lemon water until the dough comes together. Then wrap the dough in two discs and cover with plastic wrap. These need to chill for at least 60 minutes or up to a couple of hours. While the dough is chilling you can start the filling. Start by combining sugar with the cornstarch, allspice, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Then toss the black and blueberries with the mixture until they are all coated. Then set this aside. Once the dough has chilled roll out one half of the dough and roll it out over the pie pan. Let the dough fall in and cover the bottom and sides. Then add the filling into the pie. Next take the other disc of dough and roll it out. Cut it into strips and then lay these out on top of the pie in a lattice formation. Cut the remaining butter into small pieces and put them in the open spots in the lattice. Next put the entire pie in the freezer to rest for 15 minutes. Have the oven preheated to 425 and put a baking sheet in to let it heat up. Remove the pie from the freezer and brush the dough with melted butter and then sprinkle with sugar. Put the pie on the heated baking sheet and let it bake for 15 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 375 and let it bake for an additional 60 to 80 minutes or until bubbly in the center. Let it rest and cool prior to serving.

This was an excellent pie. I really liked the subtle lemon flavor that was in both the dough and berries. The cornmeal in the dough added nice texture and flavor and overall the dough was easy to work with when it came to rolling out and forming the crusts. The berries were center stage as they should be and had great flavor and texture. Russ and I both felt like it could have been a touch sweeter, so next time I would increase the sugar in the berries slightly. I really liked the combination of black and blueberries and felt like the proportions worked out really well. Overall this was a wonderful pie with fantastic fresh, hand picked berries. Russ rates it a 9.

Black and Blueberry Pie with Lemon-Cornmeal Crust, Fine Cooking

For the dough:
9 oz. (2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour; more as needed
1/3 cup fine yellow cornmeal
1 Tbs. granulated sugar
2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
1 tsp. table salt
6 oz. (12 Tbs.) cold unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces
2 oz. (4 Tbs.) cold vegetable shortening
1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice combined with 1/4 cup ice-cold water

For the filling:
2/3 cup plus 1 Tbs. granulated sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/8 tsp. ground allspice
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. table salt
5 cups room-temperature blueberries (1 lb., 10 oz.), washed and drained on paper towels
2 cups room-temperature blackberries (10-1/2 oz.), washed and drained on paper towels
1/2 oz. (1 Tbs.) cold unsalted butter
1 oz. (2 Tbs.) melted unsalted butter

Make the dough: In a large bowl, stir the flour, cornmeal, sugar, lemon zest, and salt. Using a pastry blender or two knives, begin to cut the butter into the flour. While the butter is still in large pieces, add the shortening to the bowl and continue to cut the fat into the flour until most pieces are the size of large peas.
With a big fork, stir in the lemon water, 1 to 2 Tbs. at a time, until the mixture looks shaggy but is moist enough to hold together when pressed. With well-floured hands, gently gather and press the dough into two equal disks, handling it only enough to make the edges of the disks reasonably smooth. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for at least 60 minutes, but preferably 2 to 4 hours, before rolling.
Roll the bottom crust: Roll one disk of the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a 13-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Gently transfer the dough to a 9-inch metal, glass, or ceramic pie plate (I like to fold the dough in half and unfold it into the pan). Don't stretch the dough as you line the pan, or it will spring back when baked. If necessary, trim the overhanging dough to 1 inch from the edge of the pan. Refrigerate until needed.

Make the filling: In a large bowl, whisk 2/3 cup of the sugar with the cornstarch, allspice, cinnamon, and salt. Add the blueberries and blackberries and toss gently until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

Fill and top the pie: Roll the second disk of dough out on a lightly floured surface into a 13-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into 3/4-inchwide strips. Pour the fruit filling into the pastry-lined pie plate, being sure to include any dry ingredients remaining in the bowl. Lay five of the dough strips over the pie, parallel to each other and spaced evenly (use longer strips in the center of the pie and shorter strips near the edges).
Carefully fold back the second and fourth strips a little past the center of the pie and lay a long strip of dough across the center of the pie, perpendicular to the other strips. Unfold the second and fourth strips over the perpendicular strip.
Next, fold back the first, third, and fifth strips and lay a new strip across the pie, perpendicular to the folded strips. Unfold the three strips over the new strip.
Use this alternating technique to weave in three more strips (two go on the other side of the pie), completing the lattice top and evenly covering the pie. Trim the strips to overhang the pie by 3/4 inch.
Roll the overhanging bottom dough and the strips together into a cylinder that rests on the edge of the pie pan.

Crimp the edge. Cut the cold 1 Tbs. butter into small pieces and dot over the open areas of the lattice. Freeze the assembled pie for about 15 minutes to relax the dough.

Meanwhile, position a rack in the center of the oven and set a foil-lined heavy-duty rimmed baking sheet on the rack. Heat the oven to 425°F. Just before baking, brush the lattice top with the melted butter and sprinkle with the remaining 1 Tbs. sugar. Put the pie on the heated baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F and bake until the fruit is bubbling consistently at the center of the pie, 60 to 80 minutes more. This is important—if it isn’t bubbling near the center, it hasn’t thickened yet. If the crust starts to get too brown, cover it loosely with foil during the last few minutes of the baking time.
Let the pie cool to just warm before serving.
The dough can be made up to 2 days ahead and refrigerated, or up to 2 months ahead and frozen. And the baked and cooled pie can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Dip and Drinks

I am not sure why, but appetizers are one of my real weaknesses when it comes to cooking. Just look to the left at the number of times I have posted about appetizers since I started blogging… six, just six appetizers in over a year. Now, to my credit there are plenty of times we have served cheese and crackers, fruit, chips and salsa, or cashews as appetizers and while these are all tasty they are not creative, exciting, or different. I think part of my issue is that if I am cooking the entire meal then I don’t leave enough time or don’t start preparing far enough in advance to include a more creative appetizer. Also, there are plenty of appetizer recipes out there that would take you just as long to prepare as a main course and somehow on nights like tonight when that is all I am preparing then I feel like I should get a break and not have to work as hard for just an appetizer. The thing is though when we eat out appetizers tend to be my favorite. I love the idea that they are tiny dishes that can still have all the flavor, complexity, and texture of a main course, but in a nice small package. Tonight I decided to not go the super simple / quick and easy route, but to not get too elaborate or involved either. I flipped through my cookbook from Magnolias and found a recipe for their Spinach and Artichoke Dip. After reading through the ingredients I was sold on it. You might be thinking in my excitement over the recipe that I forgot about dessert. Me… forget about dessert… are you kidding! We planned what we were doing for dessert a week and a half ago! More on it later.

To make the Spinach and Artichoke Dip you start by sautéing the onions in butter. Once they are soft you add the garlic and let it sauté for a few minutes. Next add the flour and stir everything together to make a roux. Keep stirring it for a couple minutes and then add half the cream until it thickens. Then add the rest of the cream and let it thicken. Next add the spinach (thawed and drained), artichokes (chopped), Havarti cheese, Parmesan cheese, nutmeg, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Stir this together and let it cook for a few minutes. Serve warm with herb toasts. Russ made the herb toasts and he started by making the olive oil, herb mixture. He minced the garlic, chives, and basil. He put these in a bowl and added the olive oil, salt, and pepper. After mixing it all together he cut the baguette into quarter inch thick slices. He then tossed the slices in a bowl and poured the mixture over them tossing to coat. These then bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. They can be served at room temperature.

This really turned out well. The Spinach and Artichoke Dip was creamy and warm with a nice balance of cheese, spinach, and artichoke. I felt like the nutmeg and cayenne didn’t really show through. Next time I might increase the amount of both slightly to add a little more of a kick and spice to it. The herb toasts were a nice change from a plain baguette, but I do think a plain baguette slices (toasted, untoasted, or grilled) would work fine too. Russ and I did taste test it after I finished it and felt like it was slightly salty. I added a little more cream and let it cook down to try to counter act the saltiness and I think it worked. Next time I won’t add all the salt at first, but add part of it and then taste it before adding any more. All in all this was very tasty and creamy and a real hit. While not a complicated appetizer it was well worth the effort and a nice change from cheese and crackers. Russ rates it a 10!

I still haven’t forgotten about dessert and I guess you could say I am saving the best for last. The Country Club makes these amazing dessert drinks called Mississippi Muds. We both love them and Russ figured out that all they are made of is vanilla ice cream and Kahlua. The key is to getting the right consistency – thick, but not too thick. Russ has been practicing and he made them for everyone tonight for dessert. They are creamy and sweet without being too sweet. It is a great quick and easy dessert. They were a huge hit that even the non-sweet eater of the group, Dowe, requested one! Unfortunately we drank them before getting a picture, but I imagine they’ll show up again on the blog another day. Russ wouldn't rate them since he made them, but I'll give them a 9. They were a little on the thick side this time or they would have received a 10.

Spinach and Arthichoke Dip, Magnolias - Authentic Southern Cuisine
Makes 3 ½ cups

3 tablespoons butter
½ cup minced onion
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups heavy cream
3 (10 oz) packages frozen spinach, thawed and all the liquid pressed out
1 (14 oz) can artichoke hearts, drained and cut into ½ inch pieces
6 ounces Havarti or fontina cheese, grated or finely diced
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon white pepper
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 2 minutes, stirring to prevent browning. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Sprinkle the flour over the onion and garlic mixture to make a roux. Stir well to combine and allow to cook over medium-low heat 1 minute more. Add half the cream and stir vigorously until the mixture combines and thickens. Use a spatula to release any of the mixture that may be stuck to the bottom edges of the pan. Add the remaining cream and stir again until the mixture is smooth and thickened. Add the spinach, artichoke hearts, Havarti or fontina cheese, Parmesan, nutmeg, salt, white, black, and cayenne pepper. Continue to stir over medium-low heat until the cheeses have melted. Check seasoning for a balanced flavor. Serve with Herb Toasts.

Herb Toasts, Magnolias – Authentic Southern Cuisine

¾ cup light olive oil
2 teaspoons mashed garlic
1 tablespoon very finely minced chives
1 tablespoon very finely minced basil
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 long loaf of fresh, crusty French bread cut into ¼ inch thick slices (or less)

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all of the ingredients except the French bread and let sit for 15 minutes. Place the slices of bread in a large bowl and drizzle on the oil and herb mixture as you are tossing the bread slices to coat. Lay the bread slices out on a baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until they are crisply toasted and light golden in color. Remove from the oven and allow for them to cool to room temperature before stacking in a basket.

My Chocolate Chip Cookie Quest

A couple of weekends ago I made two different kinds of cookies including a new chocolate chip cookie recipe. While we liked the chocolate chip cookies I didn’t think they were the end all be all for chocolate chip cookies. I’ve made several cookies that were to me a look no further this is the recipe such as these Oatmeal Chocolate Chip and these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, however, I have not had such an experience with a chocolate chip cookie recipe yet. I’ve decided to try and make an effort to seek out the best chocolate chip cookie recipe out there. Now, this is tricky as everyone has different things that they like about a cookie since I like chewy cookies over crunchy or cakey ones that will be goal. I also like a lot of chocolate chips in them and for them to be sweet, but not too sweet. Since Russ and I were going over to Allen’s to watch the Super Bowl I thought it would be the perfect time to try out another chocolate chip cookie recipe and what better one to start my quest with than the classic Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe. Believe it or not this is my first time trying this recipe even though I know it is considered the standard recipe to many people. I tend to shy away from recipes that I find on packages although I am not quite sure why except that I might be developing a few food snob tendencies…

I followed the recipe as is, however, it doesn’t specify unsalted or salted butter or light or dark brown sugar. I used salted butter and light brown sugar this go around. Cookies tend to come together in a very similar fashion – wet ingredients in one bowl (mix together to incorporate the butter) and dry ingredients in another. Then slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet and finally fold in the chocolate chips and nuts if you use them (I left out the nuts since Russ doesn’t like them in his cookies). These bake for 9 – 11 minutes at 375 F.

I can see why this recipe is considered the standard for chocolate chip cookies as it was a good, classic chocolate chip cookie. However, I felt like it was a little cakey for me. I am not sure if maybe I should have made them smaller to make them less cakey or not. I also felt like while some cookies had plenty of chocolate chips that there were others that were lacking in the chip department. I do think that at some point I’ll give this recipe another go and this time I’ll add more chocolate chips, try using dark brown sugar, and make smaller cookies. Everyone seemed to like them, but there were no rave reviews like those that the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies garnered the other weekend… so, I’ll keep trying out recipes until I find one that gets the same wow reviews. Russ rates these chocolate chip cookies a 9.

My Sweet Tooth

For as long as I can remember I have had a major sweet tooth. My biggest weakness is candy which my family, friends, and dentist can all attest to; however, no sweet is safe around me. I am just not one of those people who can have a bag of candy or homemade cookies in the kitchen and not eat them. If sweets are in the house and I know about it then they are gone within days… okay hours… fine, I’ll fess up they are gone within minutes… So, while I love baking sweets I have to either give most of them away shortly after making them or wait until we are going to be with friends or family who join me in demolishing them. A weekend in Mentone with three guys seemed like the perfect opportunity to try a new cookie recipe or two.

I couldn’t decide between two cookie recipes I found on Smitten Kitchen’s blog, so I made both. The first is a Peanut Butter Cookie that has both chocolate and peanut butter chips in it and the second is Smitten Kitchen’s favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie. Like most cookie recipes both of these you mix the wet and dry ingredients separately and then add the dry slowly to the wet. Once the dough is formed you fold the chips into it. The only unusual part to me is in the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe where you use cold and not softened butter. I am not quite sure why he calls for cold butter, but I imagine there is some reason I am not aware of for it. It did take longer for it incorporate with the other ingredients. I followed both recipes exactly with the exception of leaving the nuts out of the chocolate chip cookies (since apparently boys’ prefer cookies with no nuts). Both cookies required longer baking times for me, but I think the cold weather may have played a part in this. Either way be sure and watch them and just adjust the baking times as needed without over baking them.

While everyone liked both cookies the Peanut Butter were hands down the favorite. The Peanut Butter cookies had great flavor, texture, and chip to cookie ratio. I really liked not only the peanut butter flavor, but also the addition of the two kinds of chips. They were sweet, but without being super sweet. They were thick, but not chewy. They don’t really brown, so be sure and don’t over bake them waiting for them to brown on the edges. These were enjoyed by all and will certainly be repeated! The Chocolate Chip cookies were good, but nothing special and I felt like they were missing something. I will say that I do think that this recipe needs the nuts in it for the extra texture and flavor and this is probably what I sensed what missing. If you like cookies with nuts then I would love it if you gave it a try and told me how they turned out. These also spread a lot on me and ended up being a fairly thin cookie and I tend to prefer a little bit thicker texture. Russ rates the chocolate chip cookies a 9 and the peanut butter cookies a 10.

Holiday Cookie Baking

In elementary school I would each invite all the girls in my class over for a Gingerbread House and Cookie Decorating party every December. Mom made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers using a melted sugar mixture as glue and sugar cookies in different holiday shapes in advance. Each child would get their own house to ice and decorate with colored hard candies, gum drops, and candy canes. We would also ice and decorate sugar cookies with different colors of icing and sprinkles. This was a holiday tradition in our house for years that not only I participated in, but also Jessica and Will and there classmates. After elementary school we no longer had the individual parties or decorated gingerbread houses. However, my Mother would still make her holiday sugar cookies along with her fudge and my Dad would make his famous peanut brittle and Aunt Bill’s (a candy similar to blonde fudge). As the years passed and we all went to college and moved out of the house many of these traditions became a thing of the past. A couple years ago Jessica and I decided to begin a new family tradition of having a Saturday in December dedicated to holiday baking. For the past few years we collect different cookie recipes and narrow it down to a select few to try. The past two years Dad has joined us to help make his famous holiday candies. It has become a day that Jess and I both look forward to and enjoy spending together. From what we hear it sounds like our family and friends who are recipients of some of the goods enjoy it too!

This year we decided on three cookie recipes and two candy recipes. Apparently we were being a little overzealous as we didn’t end up having time to make one of the candies. In order to have plenty to share we tripled one cookie recipe and doubled all the others. We really put Jess’ Kitchen Aid mixer to the test this year, so next year we plan to use both our mixers to accommodate the larger quantities. The selections this year were Linzer Cookies, Chocolate Butter Cookies, Nut Crescents, and Dad’s Peanut Brittle.

Russ gave me an early Christmas gift of a Christmas Linzer Cookie set. It had a recipe that came with it that looked really yummy with only four ingredients including orange extract. The dough did require lots of chilling in the fridge at different stages, so despite the few ingredients it took a while to have it ready to roll out. Once they were baked we decided that we probably should have rolled it a little thinner. The flavor with the hint of orange and the buttery texture were wonderful. We used apricot (homemade by Elizabeth) and raspberry jam in between the two cookies which added both great color and fantastic flavor that worked with the hint of orange. I love the beautiful look of linzer cookies with their window effect and the color of the jam contrasting with the dusting of powder sugar – picture perfect!

Both the Chocolate Butter Cookies and the Nut Crescents came from the holiday baking issue of Cooks’ Illustrated. The Chocolate Butter Cookies started out well with the dark dough coming together and forming easily into smaller portions to chill in the fridge. When the dough came out we rolled it out attempting to get it to be 3/16 of an inch thick. The problem is that the dough is very difficult to work with and has to stay cool in order for you to cut the cookies out and move them to the baking tray. As you roll it out in order to get it that thin the dough warms up too much and becomes very sticky and soft. It was quite an ordeal, but in the end we rolled them slightly thicker, cut them out, put them back in the fridge to chill again and then removed them and placed them on the baking sheet. Once they were baking we had two trays with silpats and two with parchment paper (the recipe calls for parchment paper). Well, the cookies on the parchment paper burned on the bottom making them inedible…. So, we only baked them on the silpats from then on and were thankful we had doubled the recipe since we had to throw out the burned ones. The next night we go to decorate these with melted white chocolate. Let’s just say that turned into a sticky mess, so we opted for undecorated cookies. The flavor was delicious with a distinct chocolate and espresso flavors and the texture was perfect from the butter. All in all these cookies were a huge hassle and consequently we won’t be making them again which is a shame as they were quite tasty. On the other hand the Nut Crescents (usually called Mexican Wedding Cookies) came together without any trouble. We used pecans in our batter and then formed the dough into rings instead of crescent shapes. They baked up perfectly and looked pretty with their powder sugar dusting. If I don’t say so myself I think this may be the best Nut Crescent style cookie I have ever tasted. They were not dry at all as I sometimes find this kind of cookie. They had a wonderful somewhat crumbly texture that was still moist and full of flavor from the pecans. These are definitely a recipe to be repeated! So, Cooks’ Illustrated is currently 1 for 1 which means we’ll probably still seek out their holiday baking issue next year, but we’ll keep an eye out for pesky recipes!

Dad has been our guest chef for two years in a row now and we love having him join us. This year he came and made his homemade Peanut Brittle which is his Dad’s recipe. It is a fairly simple recipe with only a few ingredients, but it comes out with a great crunchy texture and tons of yummy peanuts! He hasn’t made it in several years now, but it tasted just as we remembered it.

Russ gives the Peanut Brittle a 10, the Nut Crescents and Chocolate Butter Cookies 8s and the Linzer cookies a 9. It was a very fun afternoon and a tradition that I look forward to each holiday season.

Linzer Cookie Recipe

1 cup butter
2 cups sifted Cake Flour
1 tsp. Orange Extract
1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
1 jar Raspberry or Apricot Jam

Mix butter, orange extract and sugar. Stir in 1 cup of flour at a time, mixing well. Chill the dough at least 2 hours. Roll out 1/2 the dough on cookie sheet to 1/4 inch thick and chill 30 more minutes. Cut with the Linzer Cutter without an insert. Remove excess dough and bake immediately at 350F for 12 minutes. Roll out the other half of dough on a second cookie sheet and chill for 30 minutes. Cut with the Linzer Cutter with your choice of the 6 inserts in place. Remove excess dough and bake immediately at 350F for 12 minutes. Cool completely. Dust tops with powdered sugar. Spread 2 teaspoons jam on each cookie bottom. Place tops over bottoms to create the sandwich effect. Makes 10 - 12 cookies.

Other recipes and more pictures are coming soon. The pictures above are not great since my regular photographer was out of town duck hunting. The good news is he brought home duck... so stay tuned for my first attempt at cooking duck!

The Almost Perfect Dinner and The Perfect Dessert

I have been cooking and baking with an active interest in it for a few years now. While I still consider myself a novice in the kitchen I do think that there are some basic dishes that I should have made by now. Now in the past year I have made some progress by making lots of firsts for me such as a tiered cake, fruit cobbler, lasagna, pot roast…. However, there are still several dishes out there that I think are classic dishes that I surely should have made by now. One such dish is chicken pot pie. I have never made it and while I have found several recipes for it that looked tasty I have simply passed them by. Well, that changed tonight as I decided to finally cross chicken pot pie off my list by giving Ina Garten’s Chicken Stew with Biscuits (her version of chicken pot pie) a go.

I will start out by saying that this is a very time consuming dish to make. It is an enjoyable one to make, but be sure you have plenty of time set aside for it. I started by roasting the chicken. This is not the first time I have followed Ina’s method of roasting chicken breasts and they always turns out perfect – moist and flavorful! It is very simple to do and yields great results, so even if you don’t make the rest of this recipe try roasting chicken breasts (on the bone with skin) like Ina. While the chicken roasted I chopped all the veggies and parsley (including celery and red potatoes which were my addition). I also put the chicken broth and bouillon cubes in a pot and let them heat up. You then blanch the carrots in one pot and sauté the onions and celery in a little butter in a dutch oven. Once the onions are translucent you add the flour in while stirring. Then you add the broth, cream (I used half and half), veggies and chicken and mix it all together. The chicken stew then goes in a baking dish and bakes for about 15 minutes uncovered. While it is baking you make the biscuits by combining the dry ingredients and then working the butter into them. Then you add the half and half and parsley and work it all together. The dough gets rolled out and cut into somewhat thin biscuits. The biscuits are then added to the top of the stew and brushed with an egg wash. The whole dish goes back in the oven for about 20 more minutes.

Russ, Allen, and I all enjoyed the chicken stew with biscuits. The flavor of the stew was excellent and the biscuits were the perfect topping. The stew was thick and creamy and the biscuits added great texture. The only problem was that the carrots should have blanched for longer and I should have blanched the potatoes too. We all thought the potatoes were a good addition they just weren’t cooked through. I even thought about pre-cooking the potatoes and then didn’t do it… Next time I’ll make sure that the carrots and potatoes are almost completely cooked through when I add them to the stew. Despite the crunchy vegetables Russ rates it a 9.

Now, since it was Saturday night and we were in Mentone I couldn’t make a hearty, comfort food dish for dinner and then not serve dessert… so I took the opportunity to try a recipe I saw on Smitten Kitchen for Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip Cookies. These are a fairly straight forward cookie recipe with one small twist that takes these cookies from good to over the top amazing! You add a little orange zest to the cookie dough and it really just makes these cookies fantastic. The cookies are not too crunchy or too chewy and have a great balance of oatmeal and chocolate chips. Smitten Kitchen also adds chopped nuts to hers, but since Russ doesn’t like nuts in cookies I left them out. I really think this could be a look no further this is it perfect recipe for Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip Cookies. Since Russ did the shopping and bought the largest bag of chocolate chips I have ever seen and since the holidays are coming up I may be making another batch of these sometime soon. Russ rates the cookies a 10!

One Apple Too Many...

Tonight is Bachelor Night and Seth and Elizabeth are hosting which means that Russ and I are in charge of an appetizer and dessert. Since I have been on an apple kick and still have apples left I decided to do an apple dessert. There is an abundance of apple recipes, so narrowing it down was a little difficult. I decided I wanted to make an apple bar of sorts and I finally decided on County Fair Caramel Apple Bars from King Arthur Flour’s website.

For the sake of time I decided to make the bars on Sunday. You start by mixing unsalted butter, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, sugars, and vanilla extract together. You then add the flours (all purpose and nut flour – I made my own pecan flour). Once the mixture is crumbly you remove half of it to use in the topping. You then mix the egg into the remaining portion of the mixture. This is then pressed into a greased baking dish and baked at 350 for 17 minutes. While the crust is baking you can prepare the topping. You peel the apples and slice them. You then cut the slices into pieces. The apple pieces are then mixed with cinnamon, brown sugar, salt and vanilla extract. You then combine the flour mixture (that you set aside earlier) to the apples. This is then evenly distributed over the crust and baked at 350 for 45 minutes. Once they have baked you allow them to cool. You then are supposed to go ahead and cut them into bars and let them cool further, however, I managed to skip this step. Lastly you melt caramel candies with milk or cream (I used half and half) and drizzle this over the bars.

So, last night when I made the bars they looked picture perfect! I covered them with foil once they had cooled completely (including the drizzled caramel) and didn’t look at them again until I go to cut them to take to Bachelor Night….. When I go to cut them I am disappointed to find that something happened overnight and the caramel has become liquid and the apple topping mushy. They didn’t look beautiful and appetizing like they did last night. I try to bake them a little longer to have the caramel firm up, but in the end Russ thinks that they taste good enough and we’ll serve them with ice cream and chocolate sauce to help them out. I am not sure if not cutting them and putting them in Tupperware was the problem or what, but in the end the bottom of the crust was over baked (possibly from baking them again in an attempt to have the caramel harden), the apple filling lacked texture, and the drizzled caramel didn’t hold up enough to provide its flavor or stickiness. Russ felt like the apple topping still had good flavor and he is right, but overall these were a bust. I’m not going to bother recreating this recipe to try to have a better end product since there are so many other yummy sounding apple bar recipes out there. For now I am going to leave the rest of my apples alone until this weekend when I’ll pick back up with working with them perhaps to make homemade applesauce (Russ’ request). Russ rates the Caramel Apple Bars a generous 7.

For an appetizer we brought cheese and crackers which were yummy and lucky for me fool proof. Seth gave us all a treat and made his Dad’s special sandwiches which involve a hoagie, sliced steak, sautéed onions, green peppers, and mushrooms, tomato sauce and melted mozzarella cheese. Yummy! Russ liked them so much he is still talking about them. Dowe and Emily did a wonderful Caesar salad and tomatoes with basil and fresh mozzarella. It was a fun night, but now Russ and I are feeling the Bachelor pressure… after the not so great shish kebabs and the apple bar disaster we have got to step up our sides for next week and the entrée for the following. We are keeping our fingers crossed…

(Since the apple bars aren't much to look at... I included our latest family picture from one of our hikes in Highlands.)

Apples, Apples and More Apples

This Saturday Russ and I made no plans except to stick around the house, watch football, bake, grill, and hang out with friends. Russ got started in the kitchen first by grilling wings for lunch and prepping the ribs. Once he was done with the kitchen I took over and started my apple baking. As I mentioned before we stopped by an orchard on our way home from Highlands, NC and picked up two and a half pecks of apples. I have been looking at different apple recipes for days now trying to narrow down what I want to try. I decided on a muffin and cake recipe for today.

The Apple Muffin recipe I decided on is from King Arthur Flour and it calls for predominately whole grain flour. To make the muffins you mix the flours (white whole wheat and all-purpose), baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together. Set this bowl to the side and cream the butter and sugars. Then mix the egg and buttermilk in and then turn off the mixer and stir in the flour mixture. Once this is all incorporated then you mix in the apple (which is cored, peeled, and cut into chunks). This is then put into muffin tins and baked for 10 minutes at 450 and then 15 minutes at 400. You are supposed to sprinkle the remaining brown sugar over the batter before baking, but I managed to forget this until they had already baked.

The muffins turned out really well! They are not a sweet muffin, but a tasty one filled with apples. The apples truly take center stage in this recipe and really make the muffin. You can’t put too many apples into it. This is one I will definitely try again, only next time I’ll probably double the recipe since it only makes 12 muffins in order to have more to share with friends and family. I did manage to share a few with Jess and Scott and sent a couple with Will (Russ' good college friend who was passing through town) and Megan (Will's friend) for the road. Jess called to tell me that she thinks they are best muffin yet and she has tasted lots of them in my quest for a perfect blueberry muffin! I may have to use some of the last of the Mentone blueberries from the freezer and try this recipe with blueberries. Russ rates the muffins a 9.

Next up on my apple baking spree is a cake I have made once before (pre-blog) and despite it not being the prettiest of cakes it was a real hit as far as flavor and texture. It is recipe I found online called Gooey Apple Sheet Cake. I am typically not a big fan of sheet cakes simply because they are not very attractive and have to be served out of the pan, but I do make exceptions and this recipe is definitely worth the exception.

To make the cake you mix melted butter and sugar together and then add the eggs. In a separate bowl you mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and cinnamon). You then add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk until it is all mixed together. You then fold the apples into the batter and spread the batter into a greased pan. Then you make the topping by mixing the cream cheese, powdered sugar, eggs, and oats together. You then spread this over the cake batter and put it in the oven to bake for 45 minutes at 350.

This recipe is so simple to put together and it is so moist, rich, and gooey (hence the name). It is not light by any means, but it is well worth the splurge. I was a little disappointed though that I chunked the apples instead of leaving them in thin slices. Last time I believe I did the think slices and I think the shape and thickness of slices would work much better than the chunks. Allen, Russ, Will, Megan and I all loved it! It is a recipe that is a guaranteed hit with a crowd, so if you are in need of a dessert sometime soon I would highly recommend it. As an added bonus it is similar to a coffee cake, so it is tasty in the morning too! Russ rates the cake a 10.

On a non-apple note I also made homemade Stove Top Macaroni and Cheese tonight. Russ and I were watching the Food Network recently and ran across Alton Brown’s Good Eats on cheese. Being the cheese lovers that we are we could resist watching. Russ loves the macaroni and cheese from the blue box, so despite the many recipes I have tried for homemade macaroni and cheese he still prefers the box kind. Alton convinces his nephew on the show that his Stove Top Mac and Cheese is better than the box kind, so I had to give it a try.

To make the macaroni and cheese you start by bringing a large pot of salted water to a boil. Once boiling you cook the elbow pasta until al dente. While the pasta is cooking you grate the sharp cheddar cheese. You also mix the evaporated milk, dry mustard, hot sauce, salt, and pepper together. I went ahead and double the recipe since there were five of us for dinner. Once the pasta is cooked you drain it and run cold water over it. Then you return it to the pan and add the milk mixture and then the cheese. This is supposed to cook for a couple minutes until it thickens up and the cheese melts. I had to turn up the heat in order to get it to thicken a little quicker.

The recipe is very simple and the results are good, but not great. The texture was not as smooth as I would have liked, however, this may have been in part to my increasing the heat to have it thicken. It also had good flavor, but was far from fantastic. I think I’ll keep trying to find a homemade macaroni and cheese recipe that is true winner. Russ rates the mac and cheese a 7.

Gooey Apple Sheet Cake

For the Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar1 cup butter -- melted

2 eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 c buttermilk

2 c chopped apples -- (1/4-1/2 inch pieces)
1 and 1/2 tsps ground cinnamon

For the Topping:
3 cups powdered sugar

8 oz. lowfat cream cheese (softened)

2 eggs
1/4 c oats

Mix melted butter and sugar with a mixer. Add eggs and beat well. Combine the flour, baking soda, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, mixing well. Fold in the chopped apples. Spread batter into well greased (or sprayed) 13 x 9 baking pan. Mix Topping ingredients and put over cake BEFORE baking. Bake in a 350ºF oven for 40-45 minutes. You can store this on the counter or in the refrigerator. Great warm, cold, or at room temperature.

Source: Found online and is modified from a recipe from Diana's Desserts.

Bachelor Night!

As I mentioned before the new season of the Bachelor starts tonight and we are starting back up our tradition of eating dinner and watching it with Elizabeth, Seth, Emily and Dowe. This week we are in charge of bringing the appetizer and dessert. For the appetizer I decided to go with a recipe out of the new Junior League cookbook that is a real winner and very easy. It is called ….. and is like the “grown up” version of the traditional hot artichoke dip. As for dessert, Emily’s birthday is tomorrow so I wanted to make a birthday cake. Since she is a chocolate fan I decided to go with the cover recipe off of a new cookbook that Russ’ Mom gave me recently for a Devil’s Food Cake with Bittersweet Chocolate Icing.

For the appetizer you mince the garlic and chop the artichoke hearts (I buy them already quartered, so that there is less chopping involved) and sun dried tomatoes. You then mix everything together with the mayonnaise (I use light) and feta. Then put it in a baking dish and let it bake for about 15 minutes at 375F. Serve it hot with crackers, bagel chips, pita chips etc. It is super simple and really yummy! If you are hosting any get togethers or going to any parties where you need to take an appetizer I highly recommend this one. It is a real crowd pleaser! (Nicole – You could make this one very easily.) Russ gives the dip a solid 9.

For the cake I decided to make the cake part yesterday and then make the icing tonight before we go. For the cake you start by letting the butter, eggs, and buttermilk all come to room temperature. (For the eggs you can put them in warm water for about 15 minutes to let them come to room temperature and the others I just let sit on the counter for a while.) While you are waiting on these you can go ahead and sift the flour, salt, and baking soda together. You can also

To make the icing you again let the butter come to room temperature. You then mix it with a rubber spatula in a bowl until it becomes the consistency of mayonnaise. Next you cut the unsweetened chocolate into small pieces and then put it in a bowl. Under the bowl with the chocolate you put a smaller bowl with hot water in it and let the chocolate slowly melt. Once melted you add the eggs to it one by one and then add the vanilla extract. It kind of freaked me out that the recipe called for raw eggs, but the author said that as long as you handle the eggs properly and buy them from a reputable source you should be fine. Russ also said that he has eaten plenty of cookie dough and batter before and has always been fine and I guess I have too. So, I got over the freak out and added confectioners sugar (that had been sifted) to the chocolate little by little until it is all mixed. Then I took part of the chocolate mixture to the butter and mixed them together. I then added the chocolate / butter mixture back to the rest of the chocolate mixture and mixed them all together. I then iced the cake by putting one layer on the cake stand and icing its top and placing the other layer on and icing the top and sides.

I thought the cake turned out pretty well. The cake part was moist and had a nice mild chocolate flavor to it. The icing I thought was fantastic with a wonderful bittersweet flavor to it. I really thought the icing outshone the cake part. Everyone loved it and gave it a 10, but Russ felt like the birthday cake I made for him is even better, so he gave tonight’s cake a 9.

Elizabeth and Seth were in charge of the entree and did marinated rib eye steaks. The marinade had a wonderful flavor to it! Emily and Dowe handled the vegetables doing corn on the cob and steamed broccoli with a yummy bernaise sauce. It paired really well with the steaks and the bernaise sauce make a fantastic finishing touch. It was a fun night with good friends and this season of the Bachelor looks like it is going to be very entertaining!

Hot Feta Cheese and Artichoke Dip, Tables of Content JLB
Serves 8

4 oz oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and rinsed
1 (14 oz) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
8 oz feta cheese, crumbled
1 cup mayonnaise
2 garlic cloves, minced

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Pat the sun-dried tomatoes dry with a paper towel and chop. Combine the tomatoes, artichokes, cheese, mayonnaise, and garlic in a bowl and mix well. Spoon the artichoke mixture into a shallow 1 and 1/2 quart baking dish and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until bubbly; do not overbake. Serve with bagel chips and / or thin plain crackers.

(Cake recipe will be posted soon.)

Two Salads and Brownies for the Lake!

Sumner (now Sumner and John) has done a lake weekend with Birmingham and Atlanta friends for several years now. I have been lucky enough to be included in these and for the past few years Russ has been a part of them too. Sumner’s parents have a great lake house that lends to lots of fun times in the water and on the porch! Everyone always brings some food and some drinks and we eat, drink and be merry all weekend! There are a few dishes that have become traditions for the annual lake weekend including Sumner’s Lime Daiquiris, Erin’s Rotel Cheese Dip, and Sumner’s Broccoli Salad. This year I am tasked with bringing the Broccoli Salad, a potato salad, and a dessert.

Don’t be fooled by other Broccoli Salad’s out there as this one is the best! I might be a little biased as it always reminds me of fun weekends at the lake, but I have tried other broccoli salads and have yet to find one I like as much. It is very simple to make too. You start by washing the broccoli, cutting the stem off, and separating / cutting it into bite size pieces. You then add golden raisins, toasted chopped pecans, chopped red onion, and crumbled bacon or taken (turkey bacon). For the dressing you mix mayonnaise, sugar, and apple cider vinegar together. The dressing is made and left in a separate container until you are ready to eat.

The broccoli salad has the perfect mix of ingredients that give great flavor and lot of texture. The dressing is light, sweet, and tangy and complements the salad perfectly. This is a real crowd pleaser that everyone loves. It is a great dish for picnics, tail gates, lake weekends, or any other time. I don’t think it is as good the next day as it looses some of it great crunchy texture, so if you are making it for just a couple people you might just dress half of it to start with and keep the rest of the dressing and dry salad for another day. Russ rates the broccoli salad a 9.

I don’t have a tried and true potato salad. On top of that I don’t even have a particular favorite kind of potato salad as I like the ones with mayo and mustard, the white ones with no mustard, the vinegary ones…. The only thing I don’t like is when they are too saucy and it overtakes the potatoes and other ingredients. So, I went on a search for a recipe and talked to a couple co-workers and ended up going with a co-worker’s tried and true recipe for Sour Cream Potato Salad.

To make the salad you boil the potatoes whole, let them cool, and cut them into large chunks. You also hard boil four eggs, let them cool, and give them a rough chop. You then chop the celery and onion (my addition) and toss all of these ingredients together. You then make the dressing in a separate bowl. You combine mayonnaise, sour cream, Italian dressing, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. This is then gently tossed with the potato mixture. Shortly before serving you add the chopped pimientos, and pickle relish.

While I really like the use of sour cream in this potato salad I found it a little to saucy for my tastes. I think it is a good recipe, but I think I'll keep searching for my tried and true potato salad recipe. Russ rates the potato salad a 7.

My last item was any type of dessert. I knew I wanted one that I could make ahead and that most everyone would like. I decided to try a brownie recipe that I found earlier this summer and had wanted to try. It is for Classic Brownies that can be made with or with out nuts. I made them without as that is how Russ’ prefers them.

It is a fairly simple recipe; however, I managed to make it more complicated by not reading the ingredients list very well before hand. I start making them only to realize the bar of unsweetened chocolate I have is 4 oz and not 6 oz. I then do a pantry search and find exactly 2 oz of unsweetened chocolate! So, I think I am good to go only to get a little further and realize that I don’t have cake flour like I thought I did. Allen and Russ were hanging out on the porch, so they sweetly offered to go get cake flour. Two grocery stores later and with a little help from someone in the flour aisle and they find it. Finally I am ready to get started.

To make the brownies you melt the chocolate and butter slowly in a double boiler. You then mix the flour, salt, and baking powder together. Once the chocolate and butter are melted you remove them from the heat and whisk in the sugar little by little and then stir in the vanilla extract. You then fold the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture in thirds. The batter is then poured into a baking pan that is covered in foil and sprayed with Pam. The brownies bake for about 35 minutes at 325 F. If you like you brownies cakey then be sure that the cook through and that a tooth pick comes out clean. If you like them a little more chewy then cook them until the toothpick comes out with just a little batter on it.

I made these on Thursday night and let them cool over night wrapped in foil. I went ahead and cut them Friday morning and Russ helped me out by sampling them. He said that he would like to start having brownies for breakfast more often! The brownies are rich, dense, and just little chewy. Russ rates the brownies a 9.

The lake weekend was lots of fun! Russ and I enjoyed being with good friends and good eats! (Russ and I forgot to take pictures of the Broccoli and Potato Salads. Sorry!)

Broccoli Salad, Recipe from Sumner

Salad Ingredients:
2 heads of broccoli (wash, cut most of the stem off and separate)
½ cup of golden raisins
½ cup toasted pecans, chopped
½ cup red onion, chopped (plus a little extra)
1 pack (12 slices) turkey bacon

Dressing Ingredients:
1 ½ cups of mayo
½ cup sugar
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

To prepare the salad wash the broccoli and cut off the bulk of the stem and separate it into bite size pieces. Chop the pecans and onion. Cook the bacon according to package directions. Crumble the bacon once it is cooked. Toss all ingredients together in a bowl.

To make the dressing mix the mayo, sugar, and vinegar together and refrigerate it for at least 3 hours. Keep the dressing separate until you are ready to serve the salad and then dress it. The dressing makes a lot more than you need, so add it as you go and use enough to give it a good, light coat.

Sour Cream Potato Salad, Old Southern Living Recipe Collection

6 medium red potatoes
4 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
½ cup sliced celery
2/3 cup mayonnaise
½ cup sour cream
¼ cup Italian dressing
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 ¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
¼ cup sweet pickle relish
1 (2 oz) jar diced pimiento, drained

Wash potatoes, and cook in boiling salted water to cover 30 minutes or until tender. Drain and cool completely. Peel and cube potatoes (I didn’t peel them). Combine potatoes, eggs, and celery in a large bowl; toss gently.

Combine mayonnaise, sour cream, Italian dressing, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a small bowl; stir well. Pour over potato mixture tossing gently. Cover and chill thoroughly. Just before serving, add the relish and pimiento; toss gently. Yield: 8 cups.

Classic Brownies, Cook’s Illustrated

1 cup (4 ounces) pecans or walnuts, chopped medium (optional)
1¼ cups (5 ounces) cake flour
½ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon baking powder
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine
12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, cut into six 1-inch pieces
2¼ cups (15¾ ounces) sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 325 degrees. Cut 18-inch length foil and fold lengthwise to 8-inch width. Fit foil into length of 13 by 9-inch baking dish, pushing it into corners and up sides of pan; allow excess to overhand pan edges. Cut 14-inch length foil and, if using extra-wide foil, fold lengthwise to 12-inch width; fit into width of baking pan in same manner, perpendicular to first sheet. Spray foil-lined pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. If using nuts, spread nuts evenly on rimmed baking sheet and toast in oven until fragrant, 5 to 8 minutes. Set aside to cool.

3. Whisk to combine flour, salt, and baking powder in medium bowl; set aside.

4. Melt chocolate and butter in large heatproof bowl set over saucepan of almost-simmering water, stirring occasionally, until smooth. (Alternatively, in microwave, heat butter and chocolate in large microwave-safe bowl on high for 45 seconds, then stir and heat for 30 seconds more. Stir again, and, if necessary, repeat in 15-second increments; do not let chocolate burn.) When chocolate mixture is completely smooth, remove bowl from saucepan and gradually whisk in sugar. Add eggs on at a time, whisking after each addition until thoroughly combined. Whisk in vanilla. Add flour mixture in three additions, folding with rubber spatula until batter is completely smooth and homogeneous.

5. Transfer batter to prepared pan; using spatula, spread batter into corners of pan and smooth surface. Sprinkle toasted nuts (if using) evenly over batter and bake until toothpick or wooden skewer inserted into center of brownies comes out with few moist crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool on wire rack to room temperature, about 2 hours, and then remove brownies from pan by lifting foil overhang. Cut brownies into 2-inch squares and serve. (Store leftovers in airtight container at room temperature, for up to 3 days.)

Lots of Cooking and Baking Tonight

There are several ingredients out there that I see in lots of recipes and want to try using, but haven’t gotten around to trying them yet. One of these ingredients is won ton wrappers. I found a recipe that called for them in the June CL that I have wanted to try for a couple weeks now. You may think it is an Asian dish, but it is actually an Italian one. Won ton wrappers are frequently used as a short cut way (as opposed to making homemade pasta) for making raviolis. The recipe is for Mushroom Ravioli with Parmesan-Chive Sauce and since Scott (a non-mushroom eater) is out of town we decided to have Jess (a mushroom lover) over for dinner.

The recipe is fairly simple to make the different parts, but is time consuming and does dirty up a few dishes. To make the filling you cut the mushrooms up in the food processor by pulsing it a few times. Once they are chopped you sauté the shallots and add the mushrooms and a little salt and sauté for a few minutes. Once the filling is made you add about 2 teaspoons full of it to the center of each won ton. You then fold the won ton over and seal it using a little water to dampen the edges. You will want to keep a damp paper towel over the other won tons to keep them from drying out while they wait. Once you have formed all the raviolis they hang out on a cooking try with that has been sprinkled with a little cornstarch (keep them covered with a damp towel and stick them in the fridge if you are not going to boil them for a little bit). Go ahead and get a pot of water boiling for the pasta and then start on the sauce. For the cream sauce you whisk the milk and flour together over medium-low heat until it thickens (about 4 – 5 minutes). Then you remove it from the heat and add the chives, salt, pepper, and cheese. Once the pasta is cooked then you add them to the sauce and top with chives. I did increase the quantities on everything as this recipe comes from a section on cooking for two and since tonight’s dinner was for three I upped the amounts.

We thought the raviolis were good, however, they took a lot longer than I anticipated to make. In fact we put Jess to work to help fill the raviolis when she got to our house. Aren’t we great hosts... lucky for us she is a great big sister and likes to cook! Russ’ Dad had brought us some fresh shrimp back from the beach, so Russ grilled them up and we had the shrimp along with some yummy contributions Jess brought as an appetizer. This worked out really well since dinner was a late one tonight. The cream sauce worked well with the raviolis, however, I still think there could have been flavor to the dish. I think the mushroom filling could have used some red wine and more seasoning (I used a little more salt than called for and added pepper) to enhance the flavor. The won ton wrappers were a lot easier than making homemade pasta I think homemade pasta for raviolis is better as far as taste and texture (if only my homemade pasta turned out better….). I will most likely not make this recipe again mainly because of how time consuming it was, however, I love the combination of mushrooms, cream sauce, pasta, and chives and will certainly look for more recipes like this in the future. Russ rates the raviolis a 7.

I must also point out that Russ thinks I am trying to kill him when I make vegetarian meals. The last few times I have planned on making a vegetarian meal something comes up and we end up eating out that night or like tonight conveniently meat shows up at the last minute (in the form of fresh shrimp tonight)…. Hmmmm….

For the side I tried one of Ina Garten’s recipes for Green Beans with Shallots. This recipe struck my eye since I knew I would have leftover shallots from the pasta. You blanch the green beans for a couple minutes in boiling, salted water and then dump them in an ice bath (which stops the cooking and keeps the pretty green color). Then sauté the shallots in a little oil and butter for a couple minutes. Last add the green beans, salt, and pepper and sauté until the green beans are heated through. (Please note: The recipe for the green beans will be posted shortly.)

We liked the flavor of the green beans with shallots. I let them boil a little too long (my hands were busy at the 3 minute mark, so they boiled a little longer) and I think they would have been better if I had cooked them a little less. I liked the flavor combination of the shallots and green beans. I don’t think this is the ultimate green bean recipe, but I certainly may make it again as it was tasty. Russ rates the green beans a 8.

I have been in the mood to make a fruit cobbler recently, but can’t seem to justify making a big dessert for just Russ and me. So, since Jess was coming over I decided to go for it. There are so many recipes out there that I didn’t know which to pick and ended up deciding on trying Fine Cooking’s that is on the cover of their June / July 2007 issue. I like how their instructions give you options on some of the flavorings. The topping is a little different than I am used to as it almost looks like sweet biscuits that top it and don’t cover the entire top. For my cobbler, I decided to go with peaches and blueberries.

To form the dough you use a food processor and add the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and pulse to blend. Then you add the butter and pulse until they are the size of small peas. You then hand blend the sour cream and any flavorings you want (I used cinnamon). You form the dough into a log and split it into 10 pieces and put it in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake it.

For the fruit you put it in a bowl after slicing it appropriately (depending on the fruit you use) and add the sugar, flour, salt, and any flavorings. I used vanilla extract and lemon zest in mine.

You then dump all the fruit in a bowl and top it with the dough pieces. This bakes for 50 to 60 minutes at 350F. I put the fruit in first and then added the biscuit pieces a little later as I wanted them to brown, but not get too hard. Once it is cooked then you let it sit for about 20 minutes before serving. We served it with vanilla ice cream, of course!

The cobbler was yummy and to be fair to the raviolis I must confess that a significant part of why dinner was a late one was because I took on making a full meal and a dessert on a weeknight. Russ had warned it would be too much to do for one night and while he was probably right… I was set on making a cobbler and Russ was looking forward to eating it. The cobbler was fairly simple to make and I feel like if I make this recipe again then it would come together even faster the next time around. The biscuit topping was yummy and was sweet, but not too sweet. I really liked the sour cream in it. The fruit was wonderful, but how could you go wrong with fresh, ripe Chilton County peaches from the farmer’s market and blueberries we picked with Russ grandparents last summer in Mentone. The ice cream was the perfect accompaniment to the dish as it added a creamy, sweet flavor. I will certainly make another cobbler, but while we really liked this recipe I imagine I’ll keep trying new recipes until I find one we like even better. Russ rates the cobbler a 9.

Fruit Cobbler, Fine Cooking June / July 2007

Sour Cream Cobbler Dough
Yields enough topping for one cobbler.

7 ½ oz. (1 2/3 cups) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar or packed light brown sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
¼ tsp. table salt
3 oz. (6 Tbs.) cold unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces
Up to two dough flavorings (optional)
¾ cup sour cream, chilled

In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Pulse briefly to blend the ingredients, about 10 seconds. Add the butter pieces and pulse until they are the size of small peas, 5 to 7 one-second pulses.

Dump the mixture into a large mixing bowl. Add any dough flavorings (see list below), if using, and stir until evenly dispersed. Add the sour cream. Using a rubber spatula, gently smear the ingredients together until the flour is evenly moistened and the dough begins to form large, soft, moist clumps. Bring the dough together into an 8 inch long log. Divide the log into 10 roughly equal round pieces. Refrigerate the pieces while preparing the fruit.

Dough flavorings (choose 1 or 2 – optional):
Finely grated lemon zest: ½ tsp.
Finely grated orange zest: ¾ tsp
Finely ground cornmeal: ¼ cup (1 ¼ oz)
Ground cinnamon: ¾ tsp
Toasted almonds, pecans, walnuts, pistachios, or hazelnuts: ½ cup, chopped

Prepare the fruit filling:

Put the fruit in a large bowl. Toss with ½ to ¾ cup granulated sugar (use less for very ripe, sweet fruit and more for fruit that’s not perfectly ripe and sweet), 1 Tbs. all purpose flour (if you cobbler has any berries in it, use 2 Tbs.), and a pinch of table salt.

If you want to add optional filling flavorings, choose 1 or 2 from the list below and gently toss them with the fruit now, making sure to mix them in evenly.

Fruit (choose up to 3, for a total of 8 cups. All fruit should be ripe, well rinsed, and drained.): Apricots (cut into 1 inch thick wedges), Blackberries, Blueberries, Peaches or nectarines (cut into 1 inch thick wedges), Plums or pluots (cut into 1 inch thick wedges), Raspberries, Strawberries, hulled (if small leave whole; if medium cut in half; if large cut into quarters)

Filling Flavorings (choose 1 or 2 – optional):
Finely grated lemon zest: 1 ¼ tsp.
Finely grated orange zest: 1 tsp.
Ground cinnamon: ½ tsp.
Ground nutmeg: ¼ tsp.
Minced fresh ginger: 2 tsp
Pure almond extract: ¼ tsp.
Pure vanilla extract: 1 tsp.

Assemble the cobbler:
Pile the fruit into the baking dish, scraping any remaining juices or sugar from the bowl, and spread evenly. Remove the pieces of dough from the refrigerator and arrange them randomly on top of the filling, leaving spaces between the pieces. Don’t be tempted to flatten the dough – the large pieces are important for proper and even baking of the filling and topping. If desired, sprinkle a little sugar evenly over the cobbler.

Bake the cobbler:

Bake (at 350F) until the filling is bubbling and the topping is browned, 50 to 60 minutes. Let sit about 20 minutes to allow the juices to settle. You can serve this cobbler hot or warm (it will stay warm at room temperature for 1 to 1 ½ hours). Serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, if you like.

Breakfast and Dessert

Russ and I were both exhausted from yesterday's rib cook off, so the only cooking that went on in our house today was for a late breakfast and a late night dessert. One of the many perks of being married to Russ is that he makes me coffee on the weekday mornings and frequently makes me breakfast on the weekends. He has been getting into making omelets recently. They started out where they tasted wonderful, but looked like a cross between scrambled eggs and an omelet. However, in the past few weeks they not only taste great, but look perfect too!

For the omelet this morning he used chopped green pepper, onion, and cheese for the filling. He uses whatever we have around which is usually a mix of veggies. However, he has made a few more gourmet omelets that include leftover salmon and feta or leftover steak with peppers and onions. Today's omelet was wonderful and a great, late breakfast! Russ rates the omelet a 8.

The only other "cooking" that took place today is that I made some frozen yogurt. This is a recipe I found online that is adapted from David Lebovitz's book "The Perfect Scoop". This may be one I need to get sometime soon... The one I tried is for Coconut Pinkcherry Yogurt. Russ and I have a bunch of cherries in the fridge, so I decided to put them to good use. I have not made frozen yogurt before, but found it to be fairly simple just involving lots of stages and waiting. You first strain whole milk yogurt in the fridge for 6 hours. Then you put together the mixture and let it cool in the fridge for 1 hour. Then you follow your ice cream maker's instructions for the remainder.

We ended up trying it out as a late night snack! It was very yummy and smooth. We both thought it could have been a little sweeter, but I think this may have been that some of the cherries were a little tart. Russ liked this better than the pineapple sorbet, but I like the pineapple better. We put the leftover back in the freezer and it was very frozen the next day and didn't have the creamy texture it had when it was first made. Russ actually liked the more frozen texture better. Russ rates the cherry frozen yogurt a 8.

Coconut Pinkcherry Yogurt

Adapted from "The Perfect Scoop", David Lebovitz

Makes about 1 quart

3 cups strained yogurt* or Greek-style yogurt

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

3/4 cherries, pits removed and roughly chopped

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk

Mix together the yogurt, sugar, almond extract, cherries, and coconut milk. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

*To make 1 cup of strained yogurt, line a mesh strainer with a few layers of cheesecloth, then scrape 16 ounces or 2 cups of plain whole-milk yogurt into the cheesecloth. Gather the ends and fold them over the yogurt, then refrigerate for at least 6 hours.