There is a rumor floating around the internet that summer is over. People are posting photos of the leaves turning where they live and Halloween costumes and candy are already in the stores.
Category Archives: Dessert
nectarine and lavender honey yogurt pops
Posted in Dessert, other stuff
Tagged frozen dessert, honey, lavender, nectarine, yogurt pops
lemon blueberry bread
Maryland has been in the news this past week.
Also, the school year started off on a tragic note.
It’s been a week to look inward. To give extra hugs to those close to us. To slow down and seek quiet and gentleness in what can be a hectic, often thoughtless, world.
Posted in Dessert
mom’s chocolate chip cookies
Happy belated Mother’s Day.
My mother has passed away, but Mother’s Day remains a day when I reminisce about all those little things that made my mom, well…my mom. When she died, my siblings and I sorted her things, like children do. It’s the small things of hers that I kept and still cherish. Things that I can take out, turn over in my hand, then tuck back away in a safe place until next time; objects which invoke a specific memory such as a Christmas ornament, photos, and handwritten recipe cards.
To the people who knew her, my mom was famous for two desserts: her brownies and her chocolate chip cookies, which she called drop sugar cookies (the reason known only to her).
Not your garden variety chewy chocolate chip cookie, hers were smaller and more cake-like, moist with gooey bits of chocolate throughout.
I adapted her recipe a bit, using all butter instead of shortening. Another change is the substitution of organic sucanate instead of granulated white sugar, and white whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour.
drop sugar cookies (chocolate chip cookies)
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1/2 cup organic sucanate
1 cup light brown sugar
2 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten and room temperature
4 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold water
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cream butter, brown sugar, sucanate an vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs and mix until combined. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Mix dry ingredients together. Add flour mixture to butter mixture in small increments, alternating with water until well combined. Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts.
Chill dough in refrigerator for one hour.
Drop by heaping tablespoons onto cooking sheet lined with parchment paper. They will not spread much, so they can be placed fairly close together.
Bake for 9-12 minutes, or until set. Remove from oven and let cool on sheet for 5-10 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to continue cooling.
sugar buns
A craving lately for a little something sweet with my 3 pm mug of afternoon coffee drove me to make these little treasures from the blog Seven Spoons by Tara.
I didn’t change much about the original recipe. I switched around the flour types, using white whole-wheat flour instead of all-purpose and regular bread flour instead of whole wheat (because these were what I had on hand). The next time I make them, I will add about 1/3 cup of chopped toasted walnuts or pistachios to the pastry before rolling and slicing. The almond extract in the pastry dough and the orange zest mixed in with the spices give it a different sort of flavor than the traditional heavy cinnamon sugary bun.
sugar buns
dough:
¼ cup warm water
½ cup milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
A few drops almond extract, optional
1 ½ cup white whole wheat flour, plus extra for dusting
¾ cup bread flour
2 ¼ teaspoons (1 packet) active dry yeast
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup (8 ounces, 2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small dice
In a small pitcher or measuring cup, stir together the water, milk, egg and almond extract, if using.
In a food processor, whisk together the flours, salt, sugar and yeast. Scatter the cubed butter across the flour mixture. Pulse until the butter is incorporated, but small chunks are still visible.Pour in the milk/egg mixture. Pulse again to combine the ingredients into a messy dough. It will be very sticky. Place in a bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight or up to 2 days.
filling:
1/3 cup granulated sugar, plus extra for dusting
1/3 cup golden brown sugar
Zest of 1 orange
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch of kosher salt
6 tablespoons melted butter
Combine sugars, zest, spices and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
Brush the wells of a 12-cup muffin tin with a thin film of melted butter. Set aside the rest of the butter. Coat the wells generously with granulated sugar, tapping out excess. Set aside.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough to an 8×20-inch rectangle. Brush the remaining browned butter across the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border on the long sides. Sprinkle the sugar mixture evenly atop the butter. Press the sugar lightly into the dough. Starting from the long side closest to you, carefully roll the dough into a tight log. Once completely rolled, pinch the seam to seal. Turn the rolled dough onto its seam and cut into 12 equal portions. In her blog, Tara explains that she prefers to cut them slightly smaller and make 14 buns, rather than 12, to cut portion size. Turn each slice onto one of its flat sides, and press down lightly to level. Place slices in prepared pan. Set aside to rise in a warm, draft free spot* until just about doubled in size, around 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat an oven to 375°F (190°C).
Bake the buns until puffed and golden, around 20 minutes. Immediately turn the buns out onto another sheet pan. Carefully flip buns right side up, cool until just manageable to touch, around 5-10 minutes. One by one, roll the hot buns in a small bowl of granulated sugar, coating completely but shaking off excess.
*I’ve explained previously my method for allowing dough to rise: Turn oven on to lowest temperature (in my case, it’s 100 degrees farenheit). As soon as the oven heats to that temperature, turn it off and place your dough in to rise according to recipe.
Posted in Dessert, other stuff, Uncategorized
Nutella macarons for V-day
I realize I’m posting early in the week, but I thought if you had these ingredients on hand, you might want to whip up a batch of these simple, yummy treats today for your true love.
My kids are getting older. I Realized last night that this is the first Valentine’s Day in 17 years that I would not be purchasing the themed box of cards to be handed out to classmates at a school party (which I always volunteered to help with).
I wanted to come up with an easy, yet special treat for today. My daughter won’t even consider a dessert without chocolate, or a peanut butter sandwich without Nutella spread. Incorporating my latest fancy for macarons, I present to you the Nutella macaron…
Nutella Macarons
one 13-ounce jar of Nutella
1 1/4 C. all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 large egg
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, beat together butter, 3/4 cup of the Nutella, and egg until well blended. In a separate medium bowl, toss together flour with baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until well combined (it will be a sticky dough). Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, adding a little flour if necessary. Separate dough into 18 equal pieces. Roll each ball into a round ball. Place each ball on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake 12 minutes or until set, being careful not to over bake. Cool 10-15 minutes on cookie sheet. Cut each cookie with a serrated knife. Spread the bottom of each cookie with 1 tsp Nutella and replace top.
meyer lemons: dessert and liqueur
Does everyone have a lemon bar recipe?
It seems so, but most people think of them as a summer dessert. Peak season for this fruit is the same as other citrus varieties-November to early March-and while it may not be seasonal exactly where I live, it is grown slightly south of here. The Meyer lemon was named after Frank Meyer, who worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the early 1900′s and brought this fruit back from China. It is more of a cross between an orange and a lemon, making it less bitter. Also, the rind is supposedly edible (a fact that I haven’t verified personally).
Aside from cheesecake, these lemon bars are the only non-chocolate dessert my youngest daughter will eat.
Tagged #cocktail, dessert, lemon bar, limoncello, liqueur, Meyer lemon
a pumpkin pie craving
Ever since I had to work through Thanksgiving, I’ve had a craving for pumpkin pie. The rest of the traditional Thanksgiving meal is fine, and I really missed my mother-in-law’s cooking this year, but the thing I really missed was not having any pumpkin pie.
I came across this recipe on one of my favorite new blogs, foodloveswriting. I love her blog because Shannalee does what I seem to be gravitating toward these days-more photo-blogging than recipes and cooking (probably a seasonal thing for me).
I didn’t change much about her recipe apart from using my own crust recipe. Also, I didn’t roast a pumpkin for puree, canned organic pumpkin worked very nicely (and neatly).
I’ve included a few photos in this post from the train garden at Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville. My husband and I had a free afternoon and strolled through the garden center. I’ve always heard the decor is beautiful and that the train garden was especially impressive.
pumpkin pie
1 unbaked pie crust
2 eggs
1 cup sucanat or brown sugar
1 Tbsp flour (I used whole wheat)
2 cups organic pumpkin puree (NOT pumpking pie filling)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
12 ounces organic heavy cream
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
In a large bowl, beat two eggs lightly. Add the rest of the ingredients. Mix together well.
Pour mixture into unbaked pie crust, leaving a little space at the top. Bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees; then lower the temperature to 350 degree. The original recipe says to bake another 40-50 minutes, but mine took more like 65 minutes. It’s done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Posted in Dessert
Tagged #baking, #pie, Chrsitmas, Davidsonville, dessert, Homestead Gardens, Maryland, pumpkin, pumpkin pie, recipe
triple ginger cookies
These cookies are not for the faint of heart…they are heady, complex, and spicy with three different kinds of ginger-fresh, ground, and candied-so if you don’t like ginger, it’s probably not for you. However, if you love ginger like I do, then these cookies won’t disappoint.
They are labor intensive, and if they weren’t my favorite winter cookie, I probably wouldn’t bother. At a time of year when gingerbread and ginger cookie recipes abound, these are a different sort. The bite of the cookie is complemented by the lemony frosting.
triple ginger cookies
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softenend
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup candied ginger, minced
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced
turbinado, or raw, sugar
icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp powdered egg whites
1 Tbsp milk
zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Whisk flour spices, soda, salt, and pepper together in a bowl, set aside. Cream butter and both sugars with a mixer until smooth. Add egg, beat until incorporated into butter and sugars. Add molasses, candied ginger, and fresh ginger. Gradually add flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Chill dough until slightly firm, about an hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop or roll dough into large balls, approximately 2 1/2 inches. Coat with turbinado sugar and place on cookie sheet, spacing about 3 inches apart.
Flatten the balls with the bottom of a measuring cup. Keep some water in a slightly larger measuring cup or a shallow dish. Dip the cup you are using to flatten the balls in the water every 3-4 cookies or you will want to kill me the cup will stick to the dough.
Bake 15-18 minutes, or until set. Let cookies cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to finish cooling.
Whisk all ingredients for the icing together until smooth, then spread approximately a Tbsp of icing on each cookie.
Posted in Dessert
Tagged #baking, #Christmas, #food, #homemade, #photography, Baltimore, cookie, cookies, delicious, dessert, ginger, gingersnap
2 for Tuesday
There is a radio station I listened to when I was younger that, on Tuesdays, would play two songs by an artist. The disc jockey would announce “two songs coming up from your favorite artist.” Even though my musical tastes have, shall we say, evolved tremendously since those days (Despite what my teenage daughter might think!), I’m offering my version of the “2fer”…acorn squash. Roasted and prepared two ways-one sweet, one savory.
It seems that when I make the roasted squash bread, sometimes it’s more orange and has a stronger, richer squash taste. Not sure what to attribute this to, since I’m uncertain how to judge if the squash is ripe or not. Nevertheless, it’s still delicious every time. The raw sugar on the top gives it a nice, sweet (but not too much) crunch.
Just as when I bake zucchini bread, I freeze individual slices on a parchment lined cookie sheet, then wrap them individually. This makes it so easy to pop one in the toaster oven for a minute or two. So delicious with a bit of cream cheese or apple butter.
penne with acorn squash
2 acorn squash
1/2 cup leeks, washed and sliced thinly
1 pound penne
4 teaspoons olive oil
6 ounces pancetta, diced to 1/4 inch thickness
1/2 cup chicken stock or broth, preferably homemade
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup light cream
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Slice the squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds with a spoon. Cut each half crosswise into wedges, about 1/2 inch thick. Lay the slices on a baking sheet and spray with organic olive oil cooking spray. season with salt and pepper. flip the squash and do the same to the other side. Bake about 30 minutes, turning the slices over halfway through baking, until soft and slightly carmelized.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to directions. Drain pasta, reserving approximately 1/2-1 cup of the pasta cooking water. Let pasta sit in colander for now. Peel squash and cut into chunks.
Heat 2 tsp olive oil over medium heat in large pot (you can use the same one you cooked the pasta in). Saute the pancetta and leeks together until pancetta is slightly crispy and leeks are transparent and tender. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the chicken broth/stock and scrape up any brown bits in the pan. Stir in the rosemary. Add pancetta, leeks and squash to the pan. Stir in penne. Add cream to the mixture and stir gently to coat. This is where you can add a bit of the reserved pasta water if it’s too dry. Stir in Parmesan cheese. Serve with additional parmesan on top.
roasted acorn squash bread
1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 1/4 cup squash puree
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1/4 cup raw sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts
To make squash puree: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut one large acorn squash in half and scoop out seeds with a spoon. Place each half on a cookie sheet coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake in oven approximately 50 minutes or until fork tender. Remove from oven and let cool. Scrape squash into bowl with spoon.
Lower oven temperature 350 degrees. Lightly oil and flour a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
Whisk all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt, allspice and cloves in a medium bowl until combined.
Beat squash puree, sugar, honey and oil in a large mixing bowl with electric mixer or a stand mixer until smooth, about 1 minute. Beat in eggs and egg whites. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients until combined. Fold in chopped walnuts.
Pour into prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle with raw sugar. Bake approximately 75 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Start checking for doneness at around one hour. Cool in pan for 10 minutes after removing from oven, then turn out onto a wire rack and let cool.
*What radio station did you listen to when you were younger?
how I almost burned my house down making an apple tart
Pretty excited about all the apples in the CSA box each week. The only thing is that I am generally the only one (and, on occasion, my son) in my house that eats them. I love apples. I really do. But I can usually only polish off the proverbial one apple per day. So when I receive ten apples in one week’s bounty…well then, that calls for dessert!
Dessert and, if you are unlucky like me, an oven fire.
Yep, you read correctly. As my husband said afterward, glad to know the fire extinguisher works but didn’t think we’d actually ever have to use it. I prepared and baked the tart on a flat cookie sheet. As the butter melted and the juices from the apple started to flow, it dripped (poured really) down into my gas oven. As flames crept out of the side, my shouts to my husband to get the fire extinguisher caused the kids to come running.
The fire was extinguished, the oven turned off, and the tart sat in the oven covered in a layer of thick, gray chemical dust. Slider and front door propped open, the dust-filled smoke billowed out of the house until it dissipated. Before it had even cleared, both kids had spread the drama by texting their friends. I hadn’t even had a chance to swear them to secrecy!
Learn from my lesson. Use a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with sides to avoid a mess or, worse, a fire hazard.
apple tart
One sheet puff pastry dough
4 firm, tart apples (such as granny smith)
1/2 cup sugar
4 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, diced into small pieces
1/2 cup apricot jelly
2 Tbsp Grand Marnier liquer (you can substitute rum or water, if you don’t want to use alcohol)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie (with sides!) with parchment paper. Roll out your puff pastry to about 10 x 14 inches. It doesn’t have to be a perfect rectangle. Place the puff pastry on the parchment paper. There are two ways to prepare your apples. First is to cut them in half through the stem and remove the core with a sharp knife. Peel the apples and slice them into thin wedges approximately 1/4 inch thick. The second is to core and section your apples like I did, using one of these. Peel and then slice your sections thin. Starting in the middle of your pastry, lay the apples diagonally in a row from corner to corner, slightly overlapping them. Continue laying the apples diagonally on either side of the center row until you reach the outer edges of the pastry. You may have to cut a few slices of the apple to make it fit in the corner. Sprinkle the 1/2 cup of sugar over the apples and dot with the diced butter.
Bake for 45-60 minutes, until the pastry is brown and the edges of the apples begin to brown, rotating the pan halfway through during baking. Remove from oven. Heat apricot jelly with 2 Tbsp Grand Marnier until thin. Brush the entire tart with this mixture. Allow to cool and serve warm or at room temperature.
