Hide the cheese

Cherry Dark Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

Do not adjust your TV set. This really is a post from Hide the Cheese.

I have been AWOL from this blog for so long that those of you that get my posts by e-mail may have wondered if there was something wrong with your feed.

As with most of you, I got caught up in that crazy end of the school year thing with concerts, awards ceremonies, and celebrations. And there was also the overlap of spring and summer sports that had us running to at least one game or practice almost every evening.

Mostly, though, all of the spare time that I used to spend writing here has been eaten up by the time I have spent trying to get our county school system to reverse its decision to change the schedule at our middle school. Although a schedule change may not seem like a big deal, that change was part of a plan that turned the school around a few years ago, and it has huge implications on students' ability to succeed, particularly students who need extra help or whose only opportunity to take a music or art elective is at school.

I have gotten a glimpse into the workings of our local system with its administrative and political pressures and it is not always pretty. Trying to effect change -- even with a large group of committed parents and community activists -- has given me some insight into what David was up against when he faced Goliath.

I can go on and on about that, but the real focus here is food. Once again, I am in search for the perfect snack. We were at a swim meet a couple of weeks ago, and the kids had veggie burgers before they swam. I watched them chow down on those burgers and thought that there was no way I would have been able to exercise after washing one of those down. 

The next week, I wanted to give them something lighter, something that would give them a bit of energy and not weigh them down. I remembered this recipe that had popped up in an e-mail from Food52. I had never made granola bars before, but this seemed like the perfect opportunity to give them a try.

I adapted the recipe to suit my audience. One child doesn't like peanut butter, one doesn't like raisins. And they all love chocolate. So I went with dried cherries and dark chocolate as the primary flavors.

The kids all tried them at last Wednesday's swim meet. Oscar was the most enthusiastic, probably because anything with chocolate will win him over. Olivia revealed that she doesn't like pumpkin seeds, but she is still eating the granola bars. Chloe announced that she doesn't like them at all, although she didn't identify any particular ingredient that was objectionable.  Regardless of the critiques, all three kids dropped times in their swim races.

I will continue to play with the flavors to see if I can win all three kids over, but for now I am loving having these little treats in the refrigerator for a quick breakfast or snack. And they will be in the swim bag again tonight.

2009: Mint Limeade
2010: Grilled Peaches with Mint Whipped Cream
2011: Sour Cherry Clafouti (make this now because sour cherry season is short!)
2012: Rose-Laced Strawberry Ice Cream

Cherry Dark Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

Adapted from Gena Hamshaw's recipe on Food52
Makes 12-15 bars
15 minutes preparation time, plus 2 hours for chilling

If you want to experiment with different flavor combinations, you might want to make a smaller batch. I recommend making half a batch and using a 8-by-8 square pan for your practice runs.

2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup toasted pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2/3 cup sunflower butter
1/2 cup honey
1/4 teaspoon salt

Line a 9-by-13 pan with plastic wrap.

In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, pumpkin seeds, dried cherries, and chocolate chips.

In a large measuring cup, mix together the sunflower butter, honey, and salt. Pour the sunflower butter mixture over the oat mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until the oats are thoroughly coated.

Empty the mixture into the baking pan and flatten it out with a spatula until it is even. Cover with another layer of plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours. Just before serving, cut into individual bars. I liked cutting them into fairly small servings, 2 or 3 inches per side. Wrap individual granola bars in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator. They will keep for up to 2 weeks, if they last that long.

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Dark Chocolate Pecan Cookies

Now that you've read the title to this recipe, is there any way that I convince you that these would make a semi-healthy after school snack?

Here's my pitch. Chocolate has become practically a health food. It has been touted as having all kinds of health benefits, such as lowering blood pressure and helping prevent heart disease. It also reportedly improves cognitive functioning and reduces the incidence of stroke. Some reports claim that it reduces blood sugar and staves off cancer. Here's WebMd's article on the subject, and one from the Cleveland Clinic.




Almost enough to make you want to put down the kale and reach for a piece of chocolate, isn't it?

The recipe also has very little added sugar or butter. Sure, there is some, but if we stick to that adage our mothers taught us, "everything in moderation," it's not too bad.

Still not convinced? Well, then, just go for it. New Years' resolutions were so long ago I can't even remember mine. Besides, if your resolution wasn't "eat more chocolate," it's not too late to change it.

2009: Candied Ginger Scones
2010: Coeur à la Crème
2011: Green Rhubarb Galette
2012: Rhubarb Shortcakes

Dark Chocolate Pecan Cookies

Adapted from Alice Medrich's Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy

Makes 2-3 dozen cookies
20 minutes preparation time
30 minutes baking time

8 ounces dark chocolate (with 60% or greater cacao), coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups pecan halves

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Bring a medium-sized stock pot of water to a simmer. Place a heatproof bowl over it and add the chocolate and butter. Stir the chocolate and butter occasionally until they have melted together. Set aside to cool.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla. When the chocolate mixture is cool to the touch, add it to the egg and sugar mixture and stir to combine. Stir in the flour mixture. Add the nuts and mix again until they are evenly distributed.

Scoop out generous tablespoons of dough and arrange them on the cookie sheets about an inch apart. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until the outside of the cookies is dry and begins to crack. Remove from the oven and let cool.

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Chloe's Cinnamon Apples

We've had a few bad apple years here. Not that the apples have been bad, but it has been hard for all of us to enjoy them. Loose teeth, missing teeth, and braces all have inhibited  that glorious seasonal tradition of biting into a crisp apple.

I began slicing the apples for the children's snacks, but they didn't have the same appeal for lunch. The kids pack their lunches in the evening and by the next day at lunch, the apples are brown with that just-over-the-edge-of-ripeness smell.

When I was packing a snack for a hike recently, I wanted to bring along some apples but faced the same problem. I thought of tossing the apple slices with a bit of lemon juice, but knew Chloe would object if they were too tart. My compromise was to add a sprinkle of brown sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon for good measure.




The result tasted like apple pie filling before being cooked, and it was a big hit.

Chloe has been the biggest fan and has gotten very good at making them herself. She slices them right into a storage container, adds the lemon jiuce, sugar, and cinnamon, puts on the top and gives the whole thing a shake. Presto! They're done and she pops them in the fridge to be enjoyed over the next couple of days.





Now the only bad apples in our house are of the human variety.

2009: Butter Crackers
2010: Crêpes
2011: Clementine Sorbet
2012: Lemon Cake Squared (Have the leftovers from Olivia's birthday party in the fridge!)

Chloe's Cinnamon Apples

Serves 4 for lunch or snack
15 minutes preparation time

2 whole apples, washed
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons brown sugar
sprinkle of cinnamon

Slice the apples into quarters and remove the cores. Slice each quarter into 2 or 3 more pieces. If making these for later, put the slices in a storage container, add the lemon, sugar, and cinnamon, and put the top on. Shake gently until the apples are uniformly coated.

Alternatively, slice the apples into a bowl, and the remaining ingredients, and stir with a wooden spoon until the apples are completely coated with the cinnamon sugar.

The apples will keep for a couple of days in the refrigerator.

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Lavender Truffles

Sometimes, you plan to volunteer on a committee at school or in the community, help out a bit, give a few hours of time to a cause.

It starts slowly and you are curious so you ask lots of questions. Everything is new to you and the more you learn, the more there is to learn. You ask more questions and dig deeper, but things still don't fit together. You do research, talk to others, and analyze data. Suddenly, you begin to understand, but you do not like what you have learned. The explanations don't make sense. You analyze, and ask, and brainstorm, and try to find ways to solve the problem, to get the fairest outcome for the most people.

But it doesn't seem to be going your way. There are too many hidden agendas, too many others, advocating for their own interests behind the scenes. You don't know who is making the decisions and aren't sure how to best press your case.

It does not seem fair, and you go from learning to advocating. You write e-mails and letters along with others who feel the same way. You attend evening meetings, go to bed discouraged or optimistic, and wake up again, ready to do more.

It is energizing and hopeful one day, and you enjoy collaborating with others, making new friends and allies. The next day, you are exhausted and defeated, frustrated that so much effort has gotten nowhere.

You think, "in a few days, this will be resolved," but in a few days, it has not ended. You think again, "by next week, it will be over."

And it will be. But it's not over yet, and now you are obsessed.

You are in up to your eyeballs. In for a penny, in for a pound. Giving it your all. Going whole hog.

Which is my way of saying that my plan was to get you this recipe for Valentine's Day, but things have gotten in the way.

It's never too late for chocolate, though. And it is an excellent boost of energy to get you through that meeting, to prop you up for one more e-mail, or to inspire one more brainstorm.

2009: Vanilla Bean Pudding
2010: Chocoalte Shortcake with Blood Orange Sauce
2011: Flourless Chocolate Cake
2012: Chocolate Shortbread Ganache Bars

Lavender Truffles
Adapted from Gourmet

 

Truffles are incredibly easy to make and the result is a delightful little nibble that you can serve at a party, take to a meeting, or package up for a gift.

Makes 2-3 dozen truffles
1 1/2 hours preparation time, plus 1 hour chilling time

6 ounces high quality dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon lavender
3-4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a small stockpot or in the microwave until it is hot, but not simmering. Add the lavender and let it steep in the cream for 10 or more minutes.

Heat the cream again so that it is hot but not to the point of boiling, and pour it through a strainer over the chocolate. Mash the chocolate into the cream with a wooden spoon until it is fully incorporated.

If the chocolate doesn't melt in completely, put a pan of water on the stove top and bring it to a simmer. Set the bowl with the chocolate and cream over the pan of water and stir until the chocolate has all melted. Whisk until the mixture is smooth and glossy. It will not look like a huge amount of the chocolate mixture, but the truffles are small, and they are intense, so there will be plenty.

Put the bowl in the freezer and let it chill for at least half an hour. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. When the chocolate mixture has hardened, scoop out teaspoon-sized portions of the mixture and roll each portion between your hands to form a ball. Don't worry if the ball isn't perfect.

Continue scooping and rolling until you have rolled out all of the truffles and place them on the cookie sheet. If the mixture begins to get so soft that it is melting all over your hands as you roll, return it to the freezer.

When you have finished rolling out all the truffles, put the cookie sheet in the freezer again for 20 to 30 minutes.

Put 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder in a small shallow bowl. Remove the truffles from the freezer. Put three or so truffles in the bowl at a time and swirl the truffles around in the bowl until they are completely coated in cocoa powder. Repeat until all of the truffles are coated, adding additional cocoa powder as needed, one tablespoon at a time.

If you have small paper cups, put one truffle in each; otherwise, layer the truffles in a storage container between sheets of wax or parchment paper. The truffles will keep in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks.

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Anita's Apple Crisp

There are some days when you just need to wallow in it. There are days when the loss or grief that is lurking right under the surface needs to be let out. Normally, you keep it together, moving through the day, talking, doing, even laughing. But it is there. Always.

Maybe you tell someone. Maybe it's a friend or maybe it's someone you barely know who asks you how you are. And you really tell her. Surprise! But instead of running in the other direction, she nods and tells you that she too is carrying a loss. And you cry, but still, acknowledging the hurt feels better than always trying to forget it.

And you realize how many people are walking around with those holes. They are all out there, people who are missing and hurting and wondering how this could have happened.

Some days, you just need to wallow. You hand the kids off to a spouse, you take them to a neighbor, or you lock yourself in the bathroom for a few minutes. Or, maybe, if they are old enough, you tell them that you are sad and that you need some time to sit still.

Then you let yourself feel that sadness, that loss. You think about her and remember her, the conversations you had, her smile, her laugh.

You remember his voice and how he looked when he talked about something he loved. You remember the first time you met and the first time you had a real conversation. You remember a joke he told and an expression that he loved to use.

You remember what it felt like to be with her, how you felt. You walk through those memories, and even though it hurts, you revel in being with her again.

Then you unlock the door, dry your tears, and walk back to join those who are still here. You make something delicious and sit together to eat. Or you talk. Or walk. Or you play a game or read a book.

And even though that hole is still there, you are okay.

2009: Banana Chocolate Chip Snack Cakes (my first recipe ever!)
2010: Robin's Egg Meringues
2011: Molasses Cookies
2012: Mom's Apple Butter

Anita's Apple Crisp

Serves 8
20 minutes preparation time
40-45 minutes baking time

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into several small pieces
2 pounds apples (6 medium), peeled, cored, and diced
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

vanilla ice cream for serving

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Measure the oats, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt into a small bowl. Stir them together with a fork. Add the butter and work it into the dry ingredients with your fingers until the mixture looks moist and there are no longer any apparent lumps of butter. Set aside.

Arrange the apples in a 2-quart baking dish. Add the lemon juice and stir. Sprinkle the sugar on top of the apples and stir again. Sprinkle the oat mixture evenly over the apples.

Bake until the the apples are completely soft and the topping is brown and crisp, 40 to 45 minutes.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

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Perfectly Soft-Boiled Eggs, Take 2

Remember that post I did about making perfecly soft-boiled eggs?

Ignore it.

Something wonderful happened, you see, and now I have a new favorite, fool-proof way of making soft-boiled eggs.

One of you, kind readers, left me a comment, explaining your mother's way of making soft-boiled eggs. It is super simple and it works every time. And, best of all, it doesn't require much attention at all. Just plunk those eggs in a pot full of water, turn a timer and that's it. I just had to share.

So, thank you, Livy, for reading and for sharing this tip. And thanks to your mom, too!

Perfectly Soft-Boiled Eggs, Take 2

In Livy's comments, she notes that gas stoves seem to cook more quickly than electric and she removes the egg 30 seconds sooner when cooking with gas. I have gas and 10 minutes has worked on my stove. The edge of the yolk is firm but the center is still soft. Given the variety in stoves and personal preferences, though, it may take a bit of fiddling with the exact timing to get the perfect egg.

Fill a pot with cold water.

Add the egg(s)s and place the pot, uncovered, on a burner over high heat. Start a timer for 10 minutes.

When the timer goes off, remove the pot from the heat, drain the water, and fill the pot again with cold water. Let the eggs sit for 30 seconds or so until they are cool enough to handle. Put in the egg in an egg cup and serve.

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Almond-Oat After School Cookies

I have a love-hate relationship with prepackaged snacks. When ever I see parents who travel with great little bags of snacks I always admire their organization. And our kids love all of those snacks, especially those one-serving protein bars. They are very convenient and were especially great for the kids to take to camp because they don't need refrigeration and are fairly healthy.

But my effort to get the kids to eat them only when on the go and not at home was a losing battle. By the end of the summer, the kids were chewing through protein bars like mice munching through Swiss cheese. And those things are pricey, which is not at all in line with our belt tightening! So basta.

Now I am trying to make something home made for the kids to have when they come home from school. My goal is to prepare something on the weekend in a large enough quantity that it will last through the week. Ideally, my criteria are:

1. Nutritious - the snacks need to stick with them for more than a few minutes and to offer some nutritional benefit. Whole grains, nuts, some protein, there has got to be something of substance.

2. Tasty - the kids have to like the snacks as much as those protein bars or they'll never eat them.

3. Reasonably portable - something that can be eaten in hand, so that it can still be a snack on the go.

I see that third one slipping away quickly. One of our regular snacks has been homemade applesauce and, since that satisfies numbers 1 and 2, I've been going with it. And, at least for now, I'm not too worried about them having some sugar and fat. All of us parents have our own ideas about what kids should and shouldn't have, but my theory is that, in moderation, treats are okay. I am fine with a cookie or two alongside a piece of fruit.

I also worry that if I make the after-school snacks too obviously healthy, the kids won't like the end result and we'll have wasted food languishing on the counter while the kids beg for more goodies from the snack aisle. Maybe I can wratchet down some of the less healthy stuff over time, but for now, I'm sticking with my mantra, "everything in moderation."

I realize that getting nutritious and tasty into the same snack might be a bit tricky. Generally, I'm not a fan of sneaking helathy foods by my kids because I'd rather that they learned that they like healthy foods. But I'm not above a few tricks.

Chloe refuses to eat anything with nuts in it. She's not allergic and she will eat them raw, but she just doesn't want them in her baked goods. Fair enough. For these cookies, I used almonds and oats, but ground them so that they would not be detectable. I also used whole wheat flour and mostly brown sugar.

The cookies are chewy and moist, and the little bits of almond and oats add something to chew on so they seem to last a bit longer. They made a great snack, along with some sliced honeycrisp apples.

And from Miss Chloe?

"Momma, these cookies are so delicious!"

Whew.

2009: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip After School Cookies
2010: Chocolate-Hazelnut Macarons
2011: Classic Apple Pie

Almond-Oat After School Cookies

I tried making these cookies with less butter to see how a lower fat version would taste. The shape and texture of the cookies was different. They were more cakey but still tasty. In the end, I decided to stick with the version with more butter because they just tasted more. . . well. . . more buttery. If you decide to go the lighter route, use 1 1/2 sticks of butter instead.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies
30 minutes preparation time, plus at least an hour for chilling the dough
1 hour baking time

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup whole almonds
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter (8 tablespoons or, for a lighter version, as little as 12 tablespoons)
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 large egg

Measure the oats and almonds into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until they are chopped into tiny bits. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and pulse once or twice to combine.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan or in the microwave. Add the sugars and almond extract, and stir with a wooden spoon. Add the egg and mix again until the mixture is smooth. Stir in the dry ingredients and mix just until the dough is evenly moist.

Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour and up to several days.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Scoop out the dough with a table spoon and arrange about 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 10, just until the cookies are lightly brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and let cool on a rack.

The cookies may be stored in an airtight container for about a week.

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Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

I have been doing a lot of whining for the past week or so.

Why does school have to start before Labor Day?

Couldn't we just have one more week of summer?

And why do they have to start school on a Monday? A five-day week that first week back is exhausting.

If we had a three-day week this week, we could build up more gently until everyone is back in the groove of going to bed early, getting up early, making lunches, doing homework...

I'm this way every August as I bemoan the eagerness with which I waited for the more carefree days of summer only to have them fly by at warp speed.

I have talked to friends who have a much better attitude. They're looking forward to the rhythm and routine of fall again, getting onto a more regular schedule with the kids. It sounds good. And yet I'm having a hard time getting it into my head that lunches need to be made every night, homework needs to be done, backpacks need to be packed every day.

The children feel it, too. By the end of the week, we were tired out, exhausted with all that staying on schedule, not to mention all that behaving during the school day.

Fortunately, we still have our Friday night movie and pizza nights. We still cling to these nights, and this past week it was especially welcome, a chance to chill out on the couch after a mentally and physically exhausting week. It was a chance to come together, relax, and remember that, even with all of the changes that the week brought, some things do not change.

Hmmm, maybe there's something to that routine and rhythm thing after all.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

If you're looking for a super dense, earthy whole wheat dough, this isn't it. The bread flour and whole wheat pastry flour make this dough light and barely identifiable as whole wheat dough, but a bit more healthy and filling nonetheless. It's a bit chewier than our standard semolina pizza dough, more of a classic American crust. It works as well for pizzas cooked on the grill as those baked in the oven.

Makes enough for 3 medium pizzas
20 minutes preparation time, plus about 2 hours for the dough to rise
approximately 10 minutes per pizza baking time

2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups unbleached bread flour
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons salt

Measure the yeast into a bowl and add the warm water. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes, then stir the yeast to make sure that it has all dissolved into the water. Add the olive oil and stir.

Measure the flour into the bowl and sprinkle the salt over the top. With a wooden spoon, mix the flour until it is very stiff. Abandon the spoon and use your hands to work the flour and water into a cohesive dough. Turn the dough onto the counter and knead it for a few minutes until it is smooth and consistent in texture. If you weren't able to get all the flour into the dough before, you can work it in as you knead.

Form the dough into a ball and put it back in the bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rise until it is about double in size, approximately 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees or as hot as it will go (but not broil). If you are using a pizza stone, slide it into the oven and let it heat for about 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into thirds and roll each third out. Add the toppings of your choice and bake for 8-10 minutes per pizza. Get it while it's hot!

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Avocado and Grapefruit Salad with Pistachio Vinaigrette

For the first time in more than 12 years, I spent a few days home alone. Those words still don't seem like they go together to me. Home. Alone. 

I had been away from the family before when I have traveled for work or for fun, but I had not been home without the children for more than a few hours since... well, since I had children. It's hard to believe. Last week, Gabe and the kids went down to Miami to visit his family, but I only had enough vacation time to go for a few days.

I was apprehensive before they left. I thought that I might feel a bit lost, that the house would feel eerily quiet, that I would get lonely. I made a list of about 6,000 projects that I wanted to get done, everything from gardening to reorganizing the basement. There are always more things to do than we have time for in the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives, but I also wanted to make sure that I had enough to do to fill the quiet hours. Just in case I felt lonely.

But it didn't happen. I kept waiting for a feeling of loneliness to wash over me or for the house to creak and creep me out. But it didn't happen. I had Buddy to keep me company, and I talked to Gabe and the kids every day. I even looked at pictures of them and felt that tug of love. But at the end of the day, it was just me. And I loved it. 

I had forgotten how free it can feel to lie in bed and read for a few uninterrupted hours. Or to take a long bike ride in the middle of the day. Or to garden until dark just because I felt like it. Or to eat when I felt hungry, not when I thought it was necessary to avoid a meltdown. Or to make a salad for lunch that I knew I would love and not have to worry whether anyone else would eat it.

My mini staycation reminded me of myself in my younger days. I was transformed back to that young woman who lived alone, who had her life in front of her. The experience recharged me. And when I saw the children in Miami a few days later, they were even more charming than ever. Amazing that after a few days alone, they are the most beautiful, clever, funny people. Again. At least to their mama.

2009: Almond Granola
2010: Vietnamese Cucumber Salad
2011: Grilled Fava Beans with Pepper and Pecorino

Avocado and Grapefruit Salad with Pistachio Vinaigrette

Gabe and I first had this salad at The Inn at Little Washington, back before we had children and such things were in the realm of possibility. The tartness of the grapefruit is the perfect counterpoint to the creaminess of the avocado and the pistachios add crunch.

If you can't find raw pistachios, it's fine to use the roasted and salted ones. Just skip the toasting step.

Serves 4 as a side dish
20 minutes preparation time

3 tablespoons raw pistachios
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 ruby red grapefruit
1 perfectly ripe avocado
2 teaspoons champagne vinegar
sprinkle of salt

Toast the pistachios in a skillet over medium heat until they are fragrant and just begin to deepen in color, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and let them cool for a couple of minutes.

Measure 2 tablespoons of the pistachios into a mortar and pestle and crush them until they are small but not completely pulverized. Pour them into a small bowl, add the olive oil, and whisk. Set aside.

With a serrated knife, first cut the top and bottom off of the grapefruit. The idea is to cut as much of the pith off as possible without removing too much of the flesh. Continue to remove the remaining peel by cutting from top to bottom around the entire grapefruit. Next, remove each section of flesh by cutting along each side of the membranes that separate the sections. Remove the sections and arrange them on a platter, leaving a space in between each piece.

Cut the avocado in half and separate the two halves. Remove the peel. with your hands Slice the avocado the long way into slices (I leave the seed in while I do this) and arrange the slices between the grapefruit sections.

Sprinkle a pinch of salt over the grapefruit and avocado and then sprinkle the toasted pistachios on top.

Add the vinegar to the olive oil-pistachio mixture along with a pinch of salt and whisk until it emulsifies. Spoon the dressing over the salad. Serve and eat!

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Poblano Pepper and Potato Tacos

One of the food highlights from out our trip out west this spring was a taco truck in the middle of nowhere.

At the end of our trip to Yosemite, we asked one of the park rangers if he had any suggestions for one last hike on our way out. He suggested an out of the way wildflower walk that was stunning, a path along a steep hill dotted with wildflowers that ended in a rushing river.

He also recommended a taco truck. Recommended is too soft a word. He raved about a taco truck, saying that he was a taco aficionado and that he had traveled all through California and Mexico looking for the best taco. And he found it, just outside Yosemite.

We couldn't resist. So after our wildflower hike, we found the truck parked in the parking lot of a convenience store: Ramon's Tacos. I was afraid that the vegetarian options might not be as good as the hype, but both the tacos and burritos were excellent. Truly the best I have ever had, although I am definitely not an expert. For me, one of the highlights was the tortilla, which was fresh and tasty, so unlike the gummy version that we often get here. Ramon also served the tacos with a slice of lemon which we squeezed over top of the tacos to make them even better.

I have heard that around here, there are some authentic Mexican restaurants in Riverdale, Maryland, including La Placita, which I'm eager to try. I'd also love to find a good source of tortillas; otherwise, I may have to figure out how to make my own.

In the meantime, the experience motivated me to step up taco night at home. This filling idea came from tacos at Loteria in the Farmers' Market in Los Angeles. Oscar and I had them when we visited there last year. They're hearty and the peppers are not spicy, but are loaded with flavor. They make an excellent alternative to our usual refried bean filling. 

If you go to Yosemite, leave through the southwest side of the park on Route 140 and stop by Ramon's. It's at the corner of Highway 140 and Plainsburg Road in Planada. And bring one back for me.

2009: Radish Tartines
2010: Gruyère-Stuffed French Toast
2011: Cilantro Rice, Chipotle-Style

Poblano Pepper and Potato Tacos

Makes enough filling for 8-10 tacos
10 minutes preparation time
20  minutes cooking time

2 poblano peppers
splash of olive oil
4 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped finely
1 tablespoon finely chopped oregano
salt and pepper to taste
8-10 tortillas
1 lemon, cut into wedges

Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper. Heat the oven to broil. Broil the peppers until they are blackened, turning them so that they are broiled on all sides. Remove them from the oven and set them aside to cool. When they are cool enough to touch, peel off the skins and remove the seeds and stem. Coarsely chop them.

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the potato cubes and cook for a few minutes, just until they begin to brown. Add the garlic, salt and pepper, and enough water just to cover the potatoes. Bring them to a simmer. Cook until the potatoes are tender but retain their shape, about 15 minutes. Add the chopped poblano and heat just for a minute until the mixture has warmed through. Add the oregano and stir.

Serve straight up in a warm tortilla with a squeeze of lemon or add any other toppings that make you happy.

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Egg-Topped Pizza

Our Friday pizza-and-a-movie nights are still going strong after nearly three years. We do skip them occasionally, but when we do, the weekend feels a bit off.

A friend teased me recently that I wouldn't meet her for a drink until quite late on a Friday night because I had to stay home to eat pizza and watch a movie with my kids first. My reaction was, "You know you're a good friend or I wouldn't have come at all!" After a long week, I often have trouble making it to the final credits.

And I'm not the only one. I have been surprised to see how many times the kids have passed up other invitations in order to stay home and eat pizza with their parents.

Ok, ok, for the kids, it may be more about getting to watch TV, which they don't otherwise get to do much.

Whatever. I'll take it.

As the kids are getting closer to teenagerdom (and it's definintely starting to feel like a -dom), I realize that we have to shift the fun activities that we do together as a family. We need to grow with our kids if we want them to continue to enjoy spending time with us. So it's less Top Chef and more Disney tween shows. Sigh.

No matter. The evenings are still a way to hang on to some of the family time that is so dear to me.

The type of pizza we make varies, but this has become my favorite pizza lately. I remember seeing eggs on pizzas in Italy, but I don't see them much here. My favorite way to cook it is so that the yolk stays a bit runny. It takes a bit of watching to accomplish that, but even even if the egg goes too far and becomes hard cooked, it is delicious.

I usually add smoked mozzarella to get a bacon-and-egg-flavor thing going, but if you eat bacon, you could also toss a bit on for a true breakfast pizza.

2009: Spaghetti and V-Balls
2010:  Homemade Butter
2011: Simple Crusty Peasant Wheat Bread

Egg-Topped Pizza

The recipe is for a single thin-crust pizza, but it takes 2 or 3 of these to serve our family of 5.

Makes 1 pizza (serves 2)
20 minutes preparation time, plus a few hours for the dough to rise

1 batch semolina pizza crust
1 cup tomato sauce*
3 ounces smoked mozzarella, sliced
3 eggs

Prepare the pizza crust and set it aside to rise.

About 40 minutes before you plan to serve the pizza, preheat the oven to 500 degrees. If you have a pizza stone, put it in the oven and let it heat in the oven for at least 30 minutes while you roll out the dough, prepare the sauce, and prepare the toppings.

Roll out the dough thinly. Remove the pizza stone from the oven and sprinkle it with cornmeal or semolina flour. Transfer the dough to the stone. Working quickly so that the stone doesn't get too cool, spread the sauce evenly across the dough. With the back of the spoon, carve out three indentations for the eggs by pushing the sauce to create a low ridge around the edges. Sprinkle the cheese on top but don't put any in the indented spots.

Put the pizza back into the oven for about 5 minutes. Remove the pizza and stone and crack an egg into each of the indentations that you created. If any egg leaks out, dam the leak with a piece of mozzarella or a spoon of sauce. Holding the stone very flat so that the egg doesn't slosh out, return the stone to the oven.

Cook until the white is firm but the yolk is still runny, about 5 more minutes. Serve -- and consume -- immediately! 

* To make a basic pizza sauce, saute a couple of roughly sliced garlic cloves in olive oil for about 30 seconds, add a 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes, a tablespoon of tomato paste, and a few chopped leaves of fresh oregano, and let the pot simmer until sauce thickens, about half an hour.

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Green Apple Fizz

We've just returned from Spring Break in California. My head is still in the clouds and I'm finding it hard to adjust to east coast time. I will sort through the gazillion photos that I took and soon I'll do a post for you recapping the highlights. In the meantime, though, I have a little something bubbly for you.

I love the idea of having a frou frou drink for a party, something fruity and refreshing. It would be something special for the nondrinkers and it could be spiked for those that care to indulge.

For me and the fancy drink, though, idea and execution rarely meet. I lie in bed dreaming up all kinds of fabulous concoctions, but often I forget to put the needed ingredients on the shopping list. Or I buy the ingredients, but run out of time for the actual preparation.

This time I thought I was golden. I had that green apple syrup prepped in the morning, hours before our guests were to arrive. Gabe did run out at the last minute because we had forgotten the seltzer and ice. But by the time the curtain went up, it was all assembled: ice, seltzer, and syrup were on their own table, ready to be mixed for our guests. And then our friends arrived, and I began chatting and eating, and drinking. I forgot all about my sweet drink.

A few must have tried it out because there was a bit missing from the pitcher, but, without a host to do the mixing, most people didn't know what to do with it.

So there were leftovers. Which we thoroughly enjoyed. The green apple is crisp and refreshing, a perfect drink for the spring, before the berries are out, but when a cool, sweet drink hits the spot.

Next time, we need a bar tender. I'm thinking those kiddies are old enough.

Green Apple Fizz

Makes 8-10 drinks
30 minutes preparation time, plus several hours for chilling

2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups water
4 Granny Smith apples, plus extra slices for garnish
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice (from about 6 limes)
2-3 quarts seltzer water

Put the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a low boil and stir until the sugar dissolves. Remove the pan from the heat and set it aside to cool.

Cut the apples into quarters and remove the cores. Grate or shred the apples (I used a food processor, but you could also use a grater). Pour the shredded apples into a large pitcher (or two, if you don't have one large enough). Add the lime juice and, when the syrup has cooled to room temperature, add it too.

Let the mixture sit for several hours or overnight to allow the flavor of the apples to steep into the sugar syrup. Before serving, pour through a strainer into another pitcher, mashing the shredded apples with a back of the spoon against the strainer to remove all of the juice.

To serve, fill a 12-ounce glass with ice. Add about 1/3 cup syrup and top off the glass with seltzer. Stir. Taste and add more syrup, if you want a stronger flavor. Garnish with a slice of apple.

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Perfectly Soft-Boiled Eggs

[I've updated my technique for making perfect soft-boiled eggs here. ~ Margy 10-05-12.]

We've been duped.

A few years ago, we thought we had found the perfect little bakery-restaurant for breakfast in New York: excellent coffees, dark hot chocolates, shatteringly crisp croissants, perfect soft-boiled eggs. It became part of our routine, and our breakfasts there were always an auspicious way to start our days of walking and sightseeing.

But it turns out that our ideal breakfast spot is not the independent corner bakery that we thought we had so cleverly discovered. No, it turns out that it is in fact an international chain, Le Pain Quotidien. Sigh.

It was a letdown at first, to be sure. As Olivia said, "I liked it better when it was somewhere special that we went only when we were in New York."

But now I'm getting used to the idea. A few have opened in the D.C. area, in Georgetown, Bethesda, and Alexandria. It's been convenient to have them closer to home and the quality is still excellent. It makes the world a smaller place, too, to know that from Mexico to India and Australia to Abu Dhabi, children are stirring that dark chocolate into steamed milk and cracking open a soft boiled egg.

Also, I owe PQ a debt of gratitude for getting my children hooked on soft-boiled eggs. They love dipping their strips of toast into the soft yolk, and it's a quick enough breakfast to make that they can have them before school.

It also has gotten me to continue my obsession with making perfect eggs. A perfect soft-boiled egg should have a firm white but a soft, runny yolk. As we have tried to master the perfect egg at home, we have eaten many hard boiled eggs that we had hoped would be soft and even the occasional way-too-soft-egg with a white that was still runny. Blech.

The timing is tricky. Some recipes say to boil them for a certain number of minutes, but it's always been unclear to me when you begin timing. Is it from the time the first bubbles appear or sometime after that? And dropping an egg into already boiling water invariable results in a cracked shell with some of the white leaking out in an unappealing way.

If PQ can churn out millions of perfect eggs around the world, surely I should be able to make one in my kitchen.

The key, I think, is to watch the water as it begins to boil. (Forget everything you've ever heard about watched pots.) Ignore the tiny bubbles that cling to the eggs almost as soon as you turn on the heat and, instead, look for larger bubbles begin to bubble up from the bottom of the pot. That's when to begin timing.

Start watching

Not quite yet

Now!

I don't know how PQ does it without a cadre of pot watchers, but maybe someday I'll find out. In the meantime, we're having perfect eggs, every time. Now I'm wondering whether we could throw in some natural dyes to color the outside of the eggs for Easter. . .

2009: Natural Egg Dyes with Botanic Prints
2010: Tissue Paper Easter Eggs
2011: Flourless Chocolate Cake with Blood Orange Sauce

Perfectly Soft-boiled Eggs

Since I wrote this post, I discovered (thanks to one of my clever readers) an even easier way to make perfect soft boiled eggs. Read about it here.

Serves 5
About 10 minutes cooking and preparation time

5 large eggs
3 pieces sliced bread
butter for the toast
salt and pepper to taste

Place eggs in a pot of water deep enough to submerge the eggs. Put the pot over high heat. Once small bubbles appear, clinging to the eggs and the side of the pot, watch the pot carefully. As soon as a larger bubble -- about the size of a pea -- bubbles up from the bottom of the pot, set the timer for 4 minutes. Turn the heat down to medium. The water should continue to boil, but not violently.

Stay in the kitchen. Make the toast, butter it, and slice it into long strips. When the timer goes off, remove the eggs from the heat and run them under cold water for a few seconds. Serve immediately. 

To crack the eggs open, use a spoon to crack the shell all the way around the circumference of the egg about one-third down from the top (how many degrees latitude would that be?). Use the spoon to lift off the top. Scoop the egg out of the top, season it, and eat it. Salt and pepper the remaining egg, dip strips of toast into the egg yolk, and then scoop out the rest of the egg with a spoon.

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Lemon Cake Squared

I have a new favorite.

At least for now. These things go through cycles, and I'm sure I will change my mind again and again, but for now I'm sure of it. I have a new favorite.

 A new favorite cake, that is.

 Did you think I meant a favorite child? Try as my children might to find out who my favorite really is, I'm not talking. Would you believe me if I said that I didn't have a favorite? I really don't. I find that at any one point in time, one of the three is going through a trying phase and one is going through a particularly easy phase. The other is the wild card.

But those roles are constantly changing. On any one day, one may be driving me crazy and another may be particularly charming. But at the end of the day, when I tiptoe into their bedrooms to peek at them while they sleep (or I think they are asleep!), my heart is incredibly full. All of the joys that each has brought to me come flooding into my mind and I am overwhelmed with gratitude that they are a part of my life.

Really. I do not have a favorite.

Cake is another matter.

Olivia, who loves the tartness of lemons enough to eat them raw, asked for a lemon cake with lemon frosting for her birthday. And in the shape of Mickey Mouse, too, please. If it's not too hard. Ah, yes, I love a good challenge.

To make the cake, I tarted up the basic yellow cake recipe from Cooks Illustrated's The New Best Recipes by adding fresh lemon zest and juice. The cake was moist, with a tender crumb. There was nothing heavy or dense about it. Just light, lemony goodness.

I loved, loved, loved this cake. And I wasn't the only one. Of the 12 children at her party, not one left a bite behind.

 

I gave the Mickey my best shot. My black never gets black enough and my cake decorating skills are not refined, but Olivia was happy. Phew.

2009: Vanilla Bean Pudding
2010: Chocolate Sheet Cake with Brown Sugar Buttercream (still Oscar's favorite birthday cake)
2011: Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

Lemon Cake Squared

Adapted from Cooks Illustrated's The New Best Recipes
Serves 12-14
45 minutes preparation time, plus time for frosting and decorating
20 to 25 minutes baking time

I have written the recipe as a round layer cake. But to make Mickey I only baked one of the layers in a 9-inch round pan. The remaining batter, I put into smaller round pans (I ended up using 3) so that I could make the ears. The cooking time for the smaller pans was 5 or 10 minutes less than for the larger pans.

Whatever shape you make the cake, I find it helpful to freeze the cake for a short time (15 to 30 minutes) before frosting it. The cake will be firmer and fewer crumbs will end up in the frosting.

For the cake:
4 large eggs
1/4 cup freshly grated lemon zest (about 4 lemons)
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (2-3 lemons)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) butter at room temperature, cut into tablespoons

For the frosting:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 cups confectioners' sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 2 9-inch round cake pans.

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla. Take out one cup of the egg mixture and set it aside.

Measure the cake flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt into a mixing bowl. Mix on low for just a few seconds until the ingredients combine. With the mixer running on low, add the butter one tablespoon at a time, waiting about 10 seconds after each addition. Mix until the butter and flour form small clumps.

Add the cup of egg mixture that you set aside and mix just to incorporate. Turn the speed to medium-high and beat until the mixture turns lighter in color and becomes fluffy, about a minute. Add the remaining egg mixture and mix to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and mix until the mixture is fully combined. The batter will look slightly curdled.

Pour the batter into the cake pans and smooth the tops with a spatula.

Bake until the cakes are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool on a rack in the pans for about 10 minutes. Remove from the pans and continue to cool on a rack until completely cool to the touch before frosting.

To make the frosting, use a mixer to beat the cream cheese and butter together on medium speed. Add the confectioner's sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the lemon juice and mix again to combine. 

To assemble the cake, place the first layer on a serving tray. If it is not flat across the top, trim a bit of the center off the top with a large knife. Frost the entire cake. Add the second layer and frost again. Garnish with lemon slices.

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Eggplant Croquettes with Tarragon Aioli

Party Time

Act 2

Scene 1

The setting:  That same kitchen

The event:  Oscar night, again

The cast: Family, neighbors

The action: A party in full swing. Hungry children, eyeing the buffet with suspicion. A few nibbling unadorned toasts and pasta. Adults drinking sparkling water, wine, taking plates from a pile, heaping them with food, forgetting diets.

Noshing.

Margy: Oops, I forgot the aioli!

More action: Serving platters dwindling. Children tentatively eating eggplant.

Scene 2

Later: Plates of indulgences are empty. Healthier foods remain, waiting to be put away.

Scene 3

The next morning: A mostly clean kitchen, tired family, getting ready for school and work.

Oscar: I never got to try the eggplant.

Gabe: It's gone. We ate it all.

Oscar, disappointed: Oh. Okay.

Gabe: Wait. What's this? I had forgotten about it!

Scene 4

That evening: Family at the dinner table. Eggplant, reheated in the oven, dipped in aioli. Children enthusiastically eating eggplant.

2009: Cuban Black Beans (still a classic)
2010: Baked Potatoes with Cilantro Pesto
2011: Black Sesame Carrots

Eggplant Croquettes with Tarragon Aioli

Aioli is a creamy, garlicky mayonnaise, and the tarragon in this version is excellent with the eggplant. You omit it and serve the eggplant with another dip or just straight up.

Adapted from Plenty
Makes about 50 croquettes
30 minutes preparation time
1 hour cooking time

For the croquettes:
3 medium potatoes (about 2 cups after mashing)
2 large eggplants (about 2 cups after cooking)
1 cup crumbled feta
2 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
approximately 2 cups bread crumbs, preferably homemade, divided
canola oil for frying

For the aioli:
1 egg
1 garlic clove, smashed with a wooded spoon and peeled
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
pinch of salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped tarragon

Put the whole potatoes in a pan, cover with water, and boil until tender when pierced with a knife, about 30 minutes depending on the size of the potatoes. When the potatoes are tender, drain the water and set the potatoes aside to cool. When they are cool enough to handle, peel off the skins with your hands.

Meanwhile, preheat the grill on high. Prick the eggplants with a fork and grill them until they are blackened on all sides. When they are completely blackened, set them aside to cool. When they are cool enough to touch, scrape the flesh out of the skins. Discard the skins and chop the eggplant coarsely.

While the potatoes and eggplant are cooling, make the aioli. Put the egg, lemon juice, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse just enough to mix it. With the food processor running, slowly pour in the olive oil in a thin stream. Add the tarragon and pulse just to combine. Scoop the aioli into a small serving bowl and refrigerate it until ready to serve.

In a medium-sized bowl, mash the potatoes and eggplant together. Mix in the feta, parmesan, egg, salt, and 1 cup of the breadcrumbs. Take a bit of the mixture out and shape it into a snake on the counter. Cut off a 2-inch length and test it to see whether it holds together. It should hold its shape as you life it off the counter. If it's too moist, add more breadcrumbs.

Divide the croquette mixture into quarters. Roll each fourth into a long snake a bit wider than your thumb. Roll each length in breadcrumbs and then cut it into two-inch segments. Arrange the segments on a baking sheet and set them in the refrigerator to chill for about 20 minutes.

Spread a couple of plates with newspaper and top with paper towels.

Pour an inch of canola oil into a deep pot and heat it over a medium-high heat. When the oil shimmers, drop in a small piece of the croquette. If it sizzles immediately, the oil is hot. Working in batches, drop the croquettes into the oil, making sure that there is room for the hot oil to circulate on all sides of each croquette. Cook them until they are golden brown, approximately 2 to 3 minutes per batch.

Remove the croquettes with a slotted spoon and drain them on the paper towels. The croquettes are best served immediately, but if they can be kept in a warm oven until ready to serve. Serve on a platter with the aioli.

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Herbed Goat Cheese and Lentil Crostini

Party Time

Act 1

The setting:  Brand spanking new kitchen, open for business

The event: Oscar night

The cast: Gabe, Margy, Olivia, Oscar, Chloe, swirling around, cooking, setting out glasses, silverware, napkins.

The action: Small groups of adults and children arrive, family and neighbors, casually dressed, bearing food and drink. People gather in small groups, begin chatting, laughing.

[Exit Margy, stage left] We hear her greeting new guests as they arrive.

[Enter two adults and two children with a tray of food.]

[Enter Margy, stage left] We see her pause, survey the scene for a full minute, smile.

She enters back into the fray, chatting, pouring wine, passing appetizers.

Party time.

2009: Mom's Cheese Spread
2010: Crêpes
2011: Leek and Goat Cheese Frittata

Herbed Goat Cheese and Lentil Crostini

Each of the three components of this dish -- the baguette toasts, the lentils, and the goat cheese spread -- can be made ahead and stored in airtight containers. Store the toasts at room temperature and the goat cheese and lentils in the refrigerator. If the toasts lose their crispness, reheat them in the oven for a couple of minutes before assembling. Bring the lentils and goat cheese to room temperature before assembling the crostini.

Adapted from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Cooking
Makes about 30 crostini
30 minutes preparation time
30 minutes cooking time

For the crostini:
1 baguette
approximately 1/4 cup olive oil
1 garlic clove

For the lentils:
1/2 cup small French (Le Puy) lentils
1 teaspoon salt

For the goat cheese spread:
8 ounces soft goat cheese, such as Chèvre
a few splashes of milk
3 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs, preferably chives and flat leaf parsley, plus more for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

While the oven is heating, slice the baguette. Layer the slices in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Brush each slice on both sides with olive oil. Toast the slices in the oven until they are golden brown, about 10 minutes. Remove them from the oven and set them aside to cool. Slice the tip off one end of the garlic clove and, when the toasts have cooled, rub the garlic clove over the top of each toast. Set aside.

Put the lentils in a small saucepan and bring them to a simmer over medium-high heat. Turn the heat down to low, add the salt, stir, and simmer the lentils until they are tender but still hold their shape, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain the lentils and set them aside.

In a small bowl, mash the goat cheese with a fork, adding a couple of splashes of milk, until the mixture becomes a spreadable consistency. Add the fresh herbs and mix just until they are fully incorporated.

To assemble the crostini, spread a thick layer of goat cheese onto each toast. Top with a teaspoon or so of lentils and a sprinkle of chives.

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Chocolate Shortbread Ganache Bars

For Valentine's Day, I wanted to give you something fantastically chocolatey.

When I saw this recipe from Melissa Clark with her description of a layer of luscious chocolate ganache on top, I knew I had to give it a try. The cookies have shortbread as a base and are topped with ganache, that most luscious and easy-to-make of chocolate treats. Clark writes a weekly column in the New York Times Dining section and her recipes usually look delicious but comforting, the type of cooking that really speaks to me. She also has a new cookbook out, Cook This, Now, which I don't have yet, but it is a book that I need to add to the collection.

I changed things up a bit, of course. My valentine is not a fan of fruit with his chocolate, and Clark had added a layer of cherry jam on top of the short bread. That had to go. I considered and ruled out two other options quickly because Gabe doesn't like mint or nuts with his chocolate either. I thought about adding a bit of coffee, which I think would have worked well, but in the end, I decided to add a bit of bergamot flavor instead. 

Bergamot is the dominant flavor of Earl Grey tea, one of Gabe's favorites. The tea is derived from bergamot oranges, which are actually part of the citrus family. Technically, then, I was violating Gabe's no-fruit-with-chocolate preference, but I thought he might be willing to make an exception for his beloved Earl Grey.

To infuse the ganache with bergamot flavor, I steeped the cream in tea. I used two teabags and the result had just a hint of bergamot. The bargamot flavor was very subtle. Gabe described it as a mild citrus flavor. Next time I make these I will increase the number of tea bags for a more intense flavor. Or maybe I will just eliminate the tea altogether and just go for pure chocolate goodness.

I highly recommend the sea salt, however, because it adds a perfect bit of assertiveness on the tongue to contrast beautifully with the lusciousess of the chocolate.

We couldn't stop at one, and I don't think you will either.

Happy Valentine's Day!

February, 2009: Wee Handmade Valentine Cards
February, 2010: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
February, 2011: Orange Chiffon Cake

Chocolate Shortbread Ganache Bars

I made these in a larger pan than Clark used because the I wanted a thinner, crisper shortbread to contrast with the ganache. Also, Clark calls for lining the pan with parchment, but I found that the bars came easily out of an unlined, ungreased glass pan.

Adapted from The New York Times
Makes about 20 bars
30 minutes preparation time
20 minutes cooking time, plus 2 to 3 hours for chilling

For the shortbread:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-sized pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the ganache:
1 cup heavy cream
3 Earl Grey teabags
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate (62% cocoa or more), finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt such as fleur de sel, for topping

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, pulse together the flour, cocoa, confectioners' sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt. Add the butter and vanilla and pulse again until the butter bits range in size from grains of sand to small pebbles. (Clark's recipe says to pulse until the mixture comes together in one mass. This didn't happen for me, but no matter, the shortbread still was excellent.)

Turn the dough out into a glass 9-by-13-inch pan and pat the mixture in firmly with the flat of a metal spatula or with your hands.

Bake until the shortbread is firm to the touch, about 25 minutes.

While the shortbread is baking, heat the cream in a small pan just until small bubbles appear along the inside perimeter of the pot. Add the teabags and set the cream aside to let it steep. After the tea has steeped for 5 to 10 minutes, remove the teabags one at a time, mashing each on the side of the pan with a wooden spoon to remove all of the concentrated tea flavor.

When the shortbread has finished cooking, remove it from the oven and set it aside to cool.

Meanwhile, put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream again, just until bubbles form at the perimeter of the pan. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let it sit for a minute or two. Whisk together the cream and melted chocolate until the mixture is smooth.

Pour the ganache over the cooled shortbread and smooth it with a spatula. Sprinkle the coarse sea salt on top of the ganache. Cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator to cool completely, 2 or 3 hours.

When you are ready to serve, cut the bars with a sharp knife. The first one may crumble a bit on the way out, but the others will come out easily.

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Garlicky Cuban Yuca (or is it Yucca?)

Apparently we need a new song. Yes, thanks to George and Ira Gershwin, we have "you say potato, I say patahto," but we also need "you spell it yucca, I spell it yuca."

According to Wikipedia, the plant we eat is known as "yuca," whereas the perennial shrub is "yucca." A quick search on epicurious revealed lots of recipes for "yuca" but also one for "yucca." Hmmmm. Even the venerable Versailles Cuban restaurant in Miami has it both ways on the menu, suggesting that in Spanish it is spelled "Yuca," but in English it's "Yucca."

I am thoroughly confused. But I think I have more often seen it in restaurants as "yuca", and, most importantly, my Cuban husband spells it "yuca" and the man is an excellent speller. So I'm going with the Cuban on this one.

To confuse things even more, yuca is also known in South America and Africa as cassava or as manioc. Whatever you call it and however you spell it, yuca is a starchy root vegetable that provides much of the world with those essential carbohydrates.

In this version, commonly seen in Cuban restaurants, the yuca is boiled until it is tender, then smothered in garlic oil and baked. We made it in Corolla as part of a Cuban meal with black beans, tostones, and mojitos. Yum!

Garlicky Cuban Yuca

Serves 6
20 minutes preparation time
20-30 minutes cooking time

2 large yuca roots
6 garlic cloves
1/4 cup olive oil
salt to taste

Peel the yuca. This isn't the easiest of tasks because the skin is thick and hairy, but use a sharp knife and cut the skin off of one side first. Then set that side on your cutting board to give some stability while you peel the other sides. Cut the yuca into large chunks. If there is a thick, woody fiber running through the pieces, scape it out with the point of a potato peeler.

Put the yuca in a large, oven-proof stockpot, cover it with water, and add a few dashes of salt. Bring the water to a boil and cook the yucca until it is tender when poked with a sharp knife (it will not be as tender as potato; more like cauliflower). Depending on the size of your chunks, this will take at least 20 minutes, so begin testing it when you hit the 20 minute mark.

While the yuca is cooking, prepare the garlic oil. In a mortar and pestle, mash the garlic until it is reduced to small chunks. Scrape it into a small bowl, add the olive oil, a few sprinkles of salt, and mix.

When the yuca has cooked, drain the water off. Return the yuca to the pot, and add the garlic oil. Serve immediately or keep in a covered dish in the oven until you are ready to serve.

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Tamari-Roasted Almonds

As I mentioned before, I had a burst of cooking energy before the wrecking ball left us without a kitchen. These tamari almonds were one of the things that I made to squirrel away for our time without a kitchen.

Nuts are such a healthy and tasty snack, but our kids have not been consistent fans. A handful of nuts with a piece of fruit makes a quick (and portable) snack for the kids and I'm always looking for something with a bit of protein to keep their energy levels and moods from spiking.

Lately Chloe has been willing to eat the tamari almonds from Whole Foods which is a huge step, but they're quite pricey and it seemed that it would be very easy to make them at home. Indeed they were. A toss in some tamari and a quick bake were all it took, and Chloe has been making her way through the jar.

Tamari-Roasted Almonds

5 minutes preparation time
30 minutes cooking time

3 cups whole, raw almonds
1/3 cup tamari
pinch of sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Roast the raw almonds in the oven for 10 minutes. In a mediumsized bowl, mix the tamari and sugar together. Remove the almonds from the oven and toss them with the tamari mixture.

Return the almonds to the oven and bake until they are slightly darker, about 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool completely. The nutw will keep for to a month in an airtight container.

Soft Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes, Herbs, and Sour Cream

Over time, we've developed a yen for soft scrambled eggs, eggs that are cooked just until the yolks and whites are fully cooked, but no longer. Perfectly done, they are tender and moist and not the least bit dry. Our trip to Paris, during which we had the most excellent scrambled eggs, sealed the deal for us.

Even though eggs are the most basic of foods, I find cooking them perfectly to be a challenge. When Olivia and ate brunch at Prune on our trip to New York, the eggs were perfect. My omelet was cooked completely and the outside was firm but not at all dry while the inside was still a bit runny. And Olivia's scrambled eggs were perfectly soft. I was impressed and renewed my determination to master the art of the perfect egg. First up, the soft scramble.

The key, Gabe read in Julia Child's My Life in France, is not to heat the pan too hot. Also, keep stirring them while they cook and remove them from the heat before they are completely cooked because they will continue to cook even after the pan is off the heat.

We often eat our scrambled eggs plain, but from time to time we also throw in extras like a bit of cheese, scallions, pesto, whatever is on hand. One of my favorite combinations is herbs and sour cream. A perfect little breakfast, right at home.

Soft Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes, Herbs, and Sour Cream

Serves 6
15-20 minutes preparation and cooking time

2 tablespoons butter
1 dozen eggs
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup fresh herbs such as parsley, chives, basil, tarragon, and/or thyme, chopped
1/4 cup sour cream

Heat a large saute pan over medium-low heat. Add the butter and swirl it around until it melts and completely coats the sides and bottom of the pan.

Add the eggs all at once. If the pan is the right temperature, there won't be any sizzle when the eggs hit the pan. Stir immediately with a wooden spoon. Continue to cook the eggs over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until they are almost completely cooked but are still shiny and moist. Remove them from the heat before they are completely cooked, because they will continue to cook in the hot pan. Add the herbs and tomatoes and stir again.

Serve immediately onto warmed plates and top each serving with a dollop of sour cream.

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Creamy Hummus Salad Dressing

My favorite lunch these days is a bed of lettuce topped with whatever veggies we have in the refrigerator. Lately this has included cucumbers, peppers, green beans, and of course those excellent tomatoes. I often throw on a few crumbles of feta, some olives, and some toasted nuts and I have myself a delicious little (or not so little) lunch.

The only dilemma has been the salad dressing. I wanted something light and fresh that wouldn't overwhelm all of those great seasonal vegetables but I still wanted something tasty. And preferably creamy. Usually creamy dressings are so heavy, though, and with out new fall routine, we have been trying to eat healthier with more emphasis on fruits and vegetables.

Hummus already has a smooth and creamy texture, and thinned with a oil, vinegar and lemon juice and just a splash of water it made a salad dressing that fit the bill. The first time I made it, I added too much water to thin it, so I cut that back a bit and added more olive oil instead. I tossed in a handful of fresh herbs for some added flavor.

Think of the dressing as a base for whatever other flavors you'd like to add. Minced garlic or shallot, a pinch of hot pepper flakes, a dash of Sriracha sauce, a splash of soy sauce... the possibilities are endless. If only this produce season were too.

Second helping: Pea Shoot, Feta, and Olive Sandwich
Thirds: Classic Basil Pesto (much on my mind because I need to make a few batches to freeze.)

Creamy Hummus Salad Dressing

Makes approximately 1 cup
15 minutes preparation time

1/2 cup hummus
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon lemon juice or red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 to 1/2 cup fresh herbs such as chives, parsley, basil, thyme, or oregano
any other seasonings you'd like to add, such as minced garlic or shallot, a pinch of hot pepper
    flakes, a dash of Sriracha sauce, a splash of soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Whisk all the ingredients together in a measuring cup or small bowl. Just before serving, drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss. The amount of dressing that you need will depend on the size of your salad. I like to make sure that each lettuce leaf is coated.

Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for about a week.

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Cuban Tostones (Fried Plantains)

One of my few regrets about being a vegetarian is that there are few Cuban foods that we can eat anymore. Those delicious Cuban sandwiches all have meat. Of course, we still have our black beans, always a family favorite, and there are these tostones.

There are (at least) two types of plantains commonly available here, the sweet ones (maduros) and the green ones, known to Cubans as platanos verdes. The green plantains are larger and firmer than the sweet ones, although they are often yellow rather than green (the picture above should help). Platanos verdes are Gabe's favorites and it didn't take the rest of us long to be won over by these tasty little fried treats.





McDonald's isn't the only place to figure out that twice frying makes for a tastier end result. These tostones are fried, smashed, and fried again. The crowning touch is a sprinkle of salt and a bit of minced fresh garlic. The garlic is strong. Make sure that everyone eats some so that you all have equally strong breath. As a side bonus, you'll keep the vampires away.

Second Helping: Olivia's Warm Goat Cheese Salad
Thirds: Grilled Corn with Cilantro-Lime Butter

Cuban Tostones (Fried Plantains)

 

If you want to cut the plantains ahead, you can leave them submerged in water so that they do not brown. Remove them and drain them a few minutes before frying. The first round of frying can be done up to 24 hours in advance so that all you have to do just before serving is fry them again one more time and add the topping.

Makes about 25 tostones
15 minutes preparation time
30 minutes cooking time

5 green plantains (see note above)
canola oil for frying
sea salt for sprinkling
2-3 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon olive oil

Peel the plantains and cut each into approximately 2-inch sections.

Pour enough canola oil into a deep pot so that it will be deep enough to generously cover the plantain sections. Heat the canola oil over medium-high heat. To test to see if the oil is hot enough, break off a small piece of one of the plantain sections and drop it into the oil. If it sizzles immediately, the oil is hot.

Cook the plantain sections in batches, making sure that in each batch, there is some space between the plantains for the oil to circulate. When the plantains are golden, remove them from the oil and drain them on newspapers covered with a paper towel.

One at a time, put the plantain sections into a paper bag and smash them with something heavy, a mallet or a rolling pin works nicely. This is definitley something that children would enjoy doing.

After you have smashed all of the plantains, if you would like to put them aside for later, wait until they have completely cooled, then wrap them in foil and store them for up to a day.

When you are ready to eat them, fry the tostones in batches again until they are a deep golden brown. Remove them with a slotted spoon from the oil and transfer them to newspapers covered with paper towels to drain. Sprinkle them with salt while they are still warm. Keep the tostones warm in a low oven (200-250 should do it) until you have finished frying all of them.

Prepare the garlic mixture by mashing the garlic and olive oil together with a mortar and pestle until the garlic cloves have broken down and form a lumpy paste. Add a few sprinkles of salt and mix again. Set aside.

Just before serving, top each tostone with a dollop of the garlic mixture. Eat them while they're hot!

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Cilantro Rice, Chipotle Style

I have a confession to make. You may think it's nonstop cooking around here, even that we are whipping up wholesome, local, organic, vegetarian, completely-from-scratch meals day after day. We all have to have our aspirations, but the truth is that as a family we have developed a wee addiction to Chipotle.

As fast food goes, Chipotle is fresh, tasty, and fairly healthy. Added bonuses are that there's one close to home and we all like it. It's hard to beat for a quick dinner when no one feels like cooking or we are behind on our shopping.





The base for all of their dishes is a fresh tasting rice, with just a hint of lime and cilantro. One of the employees who worked there told me that there's no oil in it, but I just don't believe it. It's not at all sticky and the grains are smooth and moist, so I'm guessing that it contains a good bit of oil.

When Chloe suggested that we make burritos at home recently, I told her that we'd recreate our own homemade version of Chipotle's rice. I only used a touch of oil, so our version was a bit stickier but it was still quite tasty. Also, we kept the flavor mild to ensure that it would keep its universal kid appeal, but if just Gabe and I were eating, we would have punched up the flavor by adding more cilantro and lime juice. The beauty is that because you add those flavors at the end, you can taste and adjust to suit yourselves.


The result was a hit, even before we added all the other fixings. We've now added burrito night into our regular repertoire, although I don't think our Chipotle addiction is going anywhere anytime soon. This week, we were away for the weekend so didn't shop, daily swim practice started, and I have been a bit under the weather. In other words, we were there last night.

As my very wise aunt said, "The one good thing about an addiction is that you always know how to satisfy it."

Cilantro Rice, Chipotle Style  

If you chop the cilantro and squeeze the limes while the rice is cooking, this dish is very quick to make.

Makes about 4 cups of cooked rice
15 minutes preparation and cooking time

2 cups Basmati rice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (from about 2 limes)

 Pour the rice into a strainer and run it under cold water to rinse it.

Heat the olive oil over low heat in a large stock pot. Add the rice and salt and stir to coat the rice with the oil. Add 3 cups of water and bring the water to a boil. Boil the rice for 1 minute, reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 10 minutes. Remove the lid and fluff with a fork.

Add the lime juice and cilantro and stir.

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Disinfectant Scrub

As promised, here is the recipe for the other homemade cleaning product that we use regularly, a scrub for the bathrooms and the kitchen. Again, it has Dr. Bronners as the base, and baking soda gives it some graininess to make it a good scrub. It also has vinegar in it, which I think is to give it a bit of bubble as well as for its cleaning properties. (If you've never made baking soda and vinegar volcanoes with your kids I highly recommend trying it. . . outside.)

The teatree oil has antibacterial and antifungal properties so it is perfect for the bathroom. If you do not need a disinfectant, though, you can substitute some of that addictive grapefruit oil for the teatree and lavendar oils.

This scrub is also a snap to make, although I have to admit that Gabe has become the regular maker and shaker these days.

Disinfectant Scrub

10 minutes preparation time

I usually buy the oils for this recipe right from Virginia, which you can do too. Just send me an e-mail and I will send you her contact information. They are also available at many grocery stores. We have bought them at Whole Foods and I understand that they are also available at MOM's Organic Market in this area.  When you are looking to buy the oil, note that it need not be food-grade quality, which is usually more expensive.

Makes about 2 1/2 cups of scrub
10 minutes preparation time

1 1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup Dr. Bronner's Unscented Pure Castille Soap
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
2 teaspoons tea tree essential oil
2 teaspoons lavender essential oil

Mix all the ingredients together and add about 1 1/2 cups of water. Stir the mixture until the baking soda has dissolved into the water. The mixture will dry out over time. If necessary, add more water and mix again. Use on sinks, tubs, showers, toilets, shower walls, etc. 

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Simple Crusty Peasant Wheat Bread

This is a variation on those no-knead bread recipes that have been around for a few years now, but it is even easier than the other versions that I have seen. For me, easy + delicious = a keeper.

As far as I know, Jim Lahey from the Sullivan Street Bakery pioneered the no-knead technique and it really took off after Mark Bittman ran it in a Minimalist column. Lahey's technique uses very little yeast and a long rising period to give the dough a delicious flavor and texture. Lots of versions of this recipe are now floating around, most of them with a 12- to 18-hour rising period.

For me, that long rising period was always an impediment. I never seemed organized enough to count back that 18 hours and start the bread in advance so that I could have it ready when I wanted it.

When our friend Duncan brought a loaf to dinner and  told me that his version only had to rise for a couple of hours, I was intrigued. And when I took a bite of the bread I was hooked. It was excellent, crusty on the outside with a light, soft interior. The recipe calls for making a double batch and leaving half to rise for an extended period in the refrigerator. This worked well for us because when one loaf was gone, we had dough in the refrigerator ready to go for a second loaf.


Duncan told me that the original source of his recipe is a comment from a post on CoolTools about no-knead bread. Although the bread was great as it was, I wanted to try it with a bit of whole wheat flour to give it an earthier texture, more like a hearty peasant loaf. The results were fantastic.

So good, in fact, that I had to snap the photos immediately because I knew that loaf wouldn't be around for long. Not with the bread lovers in this house.

Second Helping: Lavender Buttermilk Biscuits
Thirds: Spaghetti and V-Balls

Simple Crusty Peasant Wheat Bread

Makes two round loaves
15 minutes preparation time
45 minutes baking time, plus at least 2 hours for rising

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons yeast
3 cups warm water
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Mix the yeast, water, and salt together in a large bowl. Stir with a large wooden spoon until the yeast and salt are completely mixed in. Add the flours and mix with a wooden spoon until the flour is fully incorporated.  The dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover the bowl with a dish towel and let it sit for at least two hours to rise.

After the dough has risen, arrange the racks in the oven so that a Dutch oven fits on the middle shelf. Place the Dutch oven on the middle rack and heat the oven to 450 degrees.

To bake one loaf, cut the dough in half and transfer half to a small bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator for another day. It will last for about a week in the refrigerator.

Sprinkle flour over the remaining dough and turn it out onto a floured board. Roughly shape it into a ball by folding any uneven edges under the ball, and let it rest until the oven has preheated.

When the oven has reached 450 degrees, remove the Dutch oven. Carefully place the dough into the Dutch oven with the uneven folds facing up (these will open up as the bread cooks to give the bread a wonderful texture) and put the lid back on the pot. Place it in the oven and cook for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and let it cook until the top is a deep golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Remove the pot from the oven and carefully take the bread out of the pot. Let it cool on a baking rack until you are ready to serve it.

When you are ready to bake the second loaf, remove it from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature while the oven preheats. Continue baking according to the instructions above.

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Flourless Chocolate Cake with Blood Orange Sauce

I sometimes think that there is a collective consciousness. Or maybe all ideas are riding on the same current. Right after I posted this recipe for Orange Chiffon Cake, the New York Times ran a recipe for Yuzu Chiffon Cake, and I remember that at the time I was working on my recipe for Edamame Dip recipe, Mark Bittman ran a recipe in his (former) Minimalist column for a pea dip that included a variation for edamame dip.

Then right after I photographed this chocolate cake recipe, Amanda Hesser ran a recipe for Flourless Chocolate Cake in her last Recipe Redux Column. So many coincidences.

Wait a minute! As I'm writing this, I realize that all of those recipes that I mentioned are from columns that are no longer running. Is this a bad omen?

Fortunately(?) for me, no one is paying me to write this blog, so there is no one to hand me a pink slip. I may not have fame or fortune like those other food writers do, but the up side is that I am tough to fire. As Bill Cunningham says in the wonderful documentary that is now out about him, "If you don’t take money, they can’t tell you what to do, kid. ... Money’s the cheapest thing. Liberty, freedom is the most expensive."

I'm hanging on to that.

As for this cake, it is rich, dense, almost fudgey. We have been making it from Gourmet for years and it is always a hit. The classic accompaniment is raspberry sauce, but I prefer it with the slight bitterness of blood oranges because they cut the richness of the chocolate. Also delicious is a scoop of lightly sweetened whipped cream which lightens the denseness of the cake.

Not only is it delicious, but it is very easy to make. So if you don't already have a cake like this in your repertoire, add this one. I promise you will not regret it.

Second Helping: Chocolate Banana Cream Pie
Thirds: Blueberry Crumb Cake

Thank you so much for your comments and ideas about kitchen renovations. I have loved getting virtual tours of all of your kitchens, and you have shared lots of inspiration as well as many practical ideas. You all are the best readers a girl could ask for!

 

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Adapted from Gourmet

Serves 10
20 minutes preparation time
35 to 40 minutes baking time, plus time for the cake to cool

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
6 eggs
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
whipped cream for serving (optional)
Blood orange sauce for serving (optional), recipe follows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan. Butter one side and place it butter side down in the pan. Butter the top of the parchment paper, too.

Place a large metal bowl over a pan of water that has been brought to a low simmer. Add the chopped chocolate and butter to the bowl and heat it, stirring occasionally with a rubber spatula, until the chocolate and butter melt and are thoroughly mixed.

Remove the bowl from the heat and place it on a heatproof surface. Add the sugar and whisk until it is fully incorporated. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking after each egg. Sift in the cocoa powder and whick again until it is just incorporated into the batter.

Pour the batter into the springform pan and level it with the spatula. Bake until the top has a thin crust and a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs attached.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then remove the sides of the springform pan. Place a baking rack over the top of the cake and turn it over so that the cake can continue to cool on the rack.

Serve with whipped cream or blood orange sauce (recipe follows).

Blood Orange Sauce

2 cups freshly squeezed blood orange juice
1 cup granulated sugar

Mix the ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium high heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar completely dissolves. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to simmer until the sauce thickens, about 15 minutes.

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Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

Laced in with the sadness of the past year have been surprising moments of joy. We have gathered with others who also loved our dear ones and in those gatherings there has been much celebration, gratitude, and laughter. Misery loves company. It gives the phrase a new meaning. I have found much solace among the company of others who are also miserable. I have witnessed amazing love and tenderness, made new friends, and reconnected with others who I had not seen in far too long.

During one of these gatherings, I realized that I don't have a good peanut butter cookie recipe. Riduculous, isn't it? My life seems to unfold that way, jumping from moments of despair and contemplation to the mundane and the trivial. The profound and the prosaic. The bitter and the sweet.

Of course, I had to remedy the situation that I could remedy, the lack-of-a-good-peanut-butter-cookie-recipe situation. So here it is: the perfect chewy, crunchy, intensely peanut butter-y peanut butter cookie.

Second Helping: Chocolate Sheet Cake with Brown Butter Cream Frosting (the favorite again this year for birthday month).
Thirds: Green Eggs, No Ham (a Dr. Seuss tribute)

Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

Adapted from Alice Medrich's Chewy, Gooey, Crispy, Crunchy Melt-in-You Mouth Cookies

Medrich's recipe says that she usually chills the dough before baking for 2 hours, but that melting the butter instead is a reasonable substitute and makes for a chewier cookie. An approach that leads to instant gratification and a chewier cookie? Sold! I also changed things up a bit, substituting some whole wheat pastry flour and adding roasted peanuts to get more crunch.

Makes 3 dozen cookies
20 minutes preparation time
about 15 minutes baking time

1 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup roasted, salted peanuts out of the shell

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk the flours, salt, and baking soda together in a small bowl.

In a large bowl, use a mixer to mix together the sugars and butter until thoroughly combined. Add the egg, vanilla, and peanut butter and mix again until all of the ingredients are fully incorporated. Add the flour mixture and the peanuts and mix again, this time until the ingredients are just combined.

Scoop generous tablespoonfuls of cookie dough, and form them into balls. Arrange the balls on the lined cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Flatten each ball with the tines of a fork into a cross hatch pattern.

Bake the cookies for 14 to 16 minutes until they are lightly golden brown in color. Medrich always rotates her cookie sheets from top to bottom and from front to back, which I am sure makes for perfectly-evenly cooked cookies. I forget to do that about half of the time, but the cookies are still delicious.

Cool the cookies on a baking rack. They will keep in an airtight container for 2 weeks.

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Coco-Choco Pudding


The forces have been conspiring to get me to make pudding. First, Food 52 featured pudding in their recipe contest last week. I wanted to make an improved version of the Jell-O pistachio pudding that I loved as a child, but I didn't get around to testing it in time to submit it.

Then, on Friday, Olivia had some surgery on her mouth. Watching her have the surgery and recover from it has been like hearing nails on a chalkboard. It makes me cringe. Granted, she will be okay, but it is no fun to see her suffering. The recovery has been rockier than we thought it would be. She is still quite sore and eating is painful. 

As a  parent, it is heart wrenching to stand on the sidelines and watch her suffer. I want to reach in and take away her pain, or waive a wand to make it better. Maybe these times are necessary to teach both parent and child that children can handle adversity on their own. Maybe, but I don't like it.

 
 
So what is a mama to do? Cook, of course. To make eating easier on her, we have come up with a variety of soft foods, including, banana milkshakes, fruit shakes, rice and mild curry, mashed potatoes, garlicky butternut squash, and soft pasta (well past my standard for al dente).

And of course there has been pudding.

I gave the pistachio pudding a try, but I used arrowroot -- and too much of it -- and I ended up wtih a gloppy mess. Yuck. I'll give it another try, but in the meantime, I switched to chocolate because that is what Olivia was craving. I used coconut milk to give that standard chocolate pudding a tropical flair. That and Smitten Kitchen's pina colada cake got me thinking about adding an umbrella.

 
Most importantly, the texture was just what the patient ordered. Cold, creamy, and smooth. A treat to soothe that unhappy mouth.

 
Second Helping: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Thirds?: Vanilla Bean Pudding

Coco-Choco Pudding

Serves 6
15 minutes preparation and cooking time, plus time for chilling

1 15-ounce can coconut milk
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

In a small saucepan, heat the milks over medium heat just until they reach a simmer. Add the vanilla and mix it in. Remove the pot from the heat.

In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch, sugar, and salt. Sift in the cocoa powder, and whisk it again to combine. Slowly add the cornstarch mixture to the milk, whisking constantly.

Return the pot to the stove, and bring it to a simmer over medium heat. Whisk constantly until the pudding thickens, 3 to 5 minutes. Strain the pudding into a heat proof bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, pushing the plastic wrap down onto the surface of the pudding. Refrigerate until the pudding sets, about an hour in the freezer or 2 hours in the refrigerator.

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Cooking with Mother Goose: Homemade Apple Sauce

Cooking with Mother Goose: A series of occasional posts inspired by children's stories and rhymes -  just one more way for me to hook the children into the kitchen.

For Baby
You shall have an apple
You shall have a plum
You shall have a rattle
When papa comes home.

Okay, this isn't as much a recipe as a plea. And I've thrown in a technique for good measure. If you have never made your own applesauce at home, you have to try it. It tastes so much better than the commercial variety, and it is incredibly easy. There are lots of different approaches. Some people peel the apples in advance, others use a food mill at the end to separate out the peel once it is cooked.

But my method is the easiest of all. You don't even need to peel the apples. Just quarter and seed them and cook them. When they are soft but while they are still hot, run them through a food processor. That's it! The sauce will become a lovely, smooth purée. You will see a few flecks of peel, but they will be so tiny and soft that they will not impair the consistency at all. And leaving the peels on during cooking gives the applesauce a lovely color. For these pictures, I used Empire apples, grown by my uncle in upstate New York. I love the rosy tint the apple sauce gets from their skins.

And this time of year, when some of those farmers' market apples are beginning to look a bit tired, apple sauce is a delicious way to get some fruit into the diet, while still eating seasonally and locally. Our children are pretty tired of apples at this point in the year, but they still see apple sauce as a treat. So please, please, please, head to the closest farmers' market, buy yourself a bunch of apples (seconds will do if they have any) and make some applesauce. Baby -- and the rest of you -- can lap it up, even before Papa gets home.

Homemade Apple Sauce

There really are no precise proportions needed here. If I am canning the apple sauce and want to make sure they have enough acid, I usually add about a teaspoon of lemon juice per quart. More detailed instructions  for canning are here (although they do not add lemon juice). I don't add sugar because I find that the apple sauce is sweet enough as is, but a pear or two thrown into the mix is delicious.

a mix of varieties of sweet apples, washed, cut into quarters, and cored (peels still on)
1 or more cinnamon sticks

Put the apples and cinnamon stick(s) in a large heavy stock pot. Add a splash of water to keep the apples from burning before they release their own liquid. Cover the pot and bring the apples to a simmer over medium-low heat.

When they are very soft, but while they are still hot, scoop them out with a slotted spoon and run them through a food processor. It is important to do this while the apples are still very hot because it will give them a smoother consistency. Purée until smooth.

If you have apple juice left over, you can add it to the sauce for a thinner consistency, or drink it. Serve the apple sauce warm, at room temperature, or chilled. Warm apple sauce is especially tasty over vanilla ice cream or with gingersnaps.

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Molasses Cookies

Much gratitude for all of your kind words in response to my last post. There are such good reminders in those comments about how important it is to be honest with our children and about how resilient those little ones are. Thank you for that.

In appreciation, I give you one of our all-time favorite cookie recipes. I discovered this recipe when I was working on a cookbook for our preschool, Acorn Hill. It was one of the first recipes that I tested for the book, and it was a big hit at home. We have been making these cookies ever since. Many thanks to Mary Forrest for allowing me to share her recipe here.

These cookies are chewy, lightly spiced with cinnamon and cloves, and topped with a sprinkle of sugar. I hope you make them immediately and that you all love them as much as we do.

Because, when life gets us down, we need cookies.

Molasses Cookies 

The original recipe calls for chilling the dough for 2 hours before baking the cookies. This chill makes for a chewier cookie, but we have made the cookies many times when we were in too much of a hurry to wait and they are still excellent.

Makes 3 dozen cookies
30 minutes preparation time, plus time for chilling
20 to 30 minutes total baking time

1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 1/4 cups unbleached white flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
granulated sugar for dipping and sprinkling

Using a mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar. Add the egg and molasses and mix to combine. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the molasses mixture and blend until the ingredients are completely incorporated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, if you have the time.

When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Pour some granulated sugar into a shallow bowl.

Roll the dough into balls the size of large walnuts. Dip the tops of the cookies in the granulated sugar and arrange them on the cookie sheets at least an inch apart. Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, until they are firm. Remove them from the oven and immediately sprinkle them with more granulated sugar.

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Mexican Chocolate Tea Cakes

Mexican tea cakes -- sometimes known as Russian tea cakes -- are among my favorite cookies. Loaded with pecans and filled with light powdered sugar, they are a bite of delight. Really, there's not much that could be done to improve them.

Except maybe adding chocolate.

Butter and chocolate combination; chopped almonds.

In this version, I replaced some of the powdered sugar with cocoa powder, for a deep chocolaty flavor. And since they're called Mexican tea cakes, it seems only appropriate to make the chocolate version a Mexican chocolate version. A hit of cinnamon and chili pepper do the trick.

Chili powder spices up these cookies; and then they take a dip in the sugar-cocoa mixture.

These cookies would be great as part of a gift packge for teachers or neighbors, or just to keep on hand to offer guests over the holidays. I'm making a few batches to serve at Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Food52 cookie exchange next weekend.

Let the holiday baking begin!

Sugared up and ready for the oven.

Mexican Chocolate Tea Cakes

You can add as much or as little chili powder as you like. The heat that it gives will depend on the strength of the powder you use. I liked just a touch to complement the cinnamon flavor, but the best way to make it perfectly is to taste the dough and adjust it to your own liking.

2 sticks butter, softened
1 1/2 cups cocoa powder, divided
2 cups confectioners' sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon chili powder or more to taste (optional)
1 cup whole almonds, finely chopped

Beat together the butter, 1/2 cup of cocoa powder and 1/2 cup of confectioners' sugar until fluffy and lighter in color, scraping the sides of the bowl a few times with a spatula, about 5 minutes. Beat in the vanilla.

In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, cinnamon, and chili powder. Add the flour mixture to the butter bowl along with the almonds and mix until combined. The dough will be very stiff. Taste it and if you like, sprinkle on a bit more chili powder and mix again. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until quite firm, 3 or more hours in the refrigerator (or if you are in a hurry, about 1 hour in the freezer).

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. On a large plate or in a shallow bowl, sift together the remaining 1 cup of cocoa powder and 1 1/2 cups of confectioners' sugar. Mix it with a fork until it blends together.

Remove the bowl of dough from the refrigerator. Scoop out a tablespoon at a time, working first from the edges of the bowl because the dough there will soften first. Roll each scoop into a ball and roll it in the sugar-cocoa mix until it is completely coated. Arrange the cookies on the cookie sheet with about 2 inches between cookies. Cook for 8 minutes.

As soon as you can handle the hot cookies after removing them from the oven, roll them again in the sugar-cocoa mixture and set them on a rack to cool. When they have cooled, roll them yet again in the sugar-cocoa mixture.

The cookies will keep at room temperature in an airtight container for about 2 weeks.

Jobs for children: Children can smash almonds (in a freezer bag using a mallet, for example), sift sugar aned cocoa powder, measure the ingredients, and run the mixer. And they are very good at rolling the cookies into balls and rolling them around in the sugar.

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Best Ever Pecan Bars

Do you have a recipe that you just love that you look for any possible opportunity to make? If so, I would love to hear from you --  please leave me a comment and let me know what your favorite is. I'm always curious to know what others love, and I'm sure other readers would be interested too.

These pecan bars are my favorite.

Who am I kidding? If you have been reading here for any time at all, you probably realize that a person who loves to cook and eat as much as I do probably can't limit herself to just one favorite. And you would be right, but these pecan bars are utterly fantastic and would be high up on any list of my favorites.

OK, there's not quite this much butter in them, but there is a wee bit in those lumps.

These little bites have a shortbread crust and are topped with pecans in a gooey, honey syrup that is divine. They are a perfect indulgence.

I first made them for Chloe's baptism party more than 6 years ago, and I still remember sitting around with one of Chloe's godfathers as the party was winding down, putting my feet up, and eating several of these back to back.

Pecans ready for their starring role, and the cream blending into the filling mixture.

I have been making them for parties ever since and the serving plate is usually empty long before the party ends. I'll let you in on a secret, though. I usually have a few hidden away in the kitchen for me -- oops, I mean, for us -- to have after the party. So now you know that if you come to a party at my house and are really desperate for just one more pecan bar, if you poke around long enough in the kitchen you will find a few. Just be sure to leave me one. Although, now that you have the recipe you can make your own any time you want.

The shortbread hot out of the oven, and with the pecan mixture poured over the top.

Ironically, Chloe won't touch these pecan bars. She has a general rule against nuts, although as with many of her food rules, she breaks it on occasion. In this case, she breaks it for peanuts and tamari almonds. Pecans, however, have not yet won her over. Until they do, someone else will just have to eat her share.

Second Helping: Brown Sugar Cookies

Best Ever Pecan Bars

Adapted slightly from Gourmet
Makes 2 dozen bars
25 minutes preparation time
45 minutes cooking time, plus an hour or more cooling time

The pecan bars can be made a few days ahead. If I don't need the pan, I just tightly wrap the entire pan in plastic wrap and store the bars at room temperature. If I need the pan, I cut them and store them between layers of wax paper or parchment paper in a tin at room temperature.

For the shortbread:
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the topping:
2 cups (8 ounces) pecans
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make the shortbread. Cut the butter into tablespoon-sized pieces. Put all of the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and mix just until the butter varies in size from grains of sand to small pebbles. Empty the mixture into a 9-by-13-inch pan and press it firmly and evenly into the pan using your hands or a spatula. Bake until the mixture is lightly golden, about 20 minutes.

Make the topping. In the same food processor (for goodness sakes please do not wash it in between), pulse the pecans for just a few seconds until they are coarsley chopped. Set them aside.

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter, sugar and honey, stirring until the mixture is smooth. Add the cream, stir to incorporate it completely, bring to a simmer, and let it bubble for about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and immediately add the pecans.

Pour the pecan mixture evenly over the hot shortbread, spreading it with a wooden spoon if necessary. Cook until the mixture is bubbling, about 20 minutes.

Cool completely in the pan. Use a sharp knife to cut into 24 bars. At first it will seem that the mixture is completely stuck in the pan and will be impossible to remove. Once cut, however, the bars actually pop out quite easily. Store in an airtight container. If you need to stack the bars, place wax or parchment paper between the layers to keep them from sticking.

Jobs for children: Because so much of this recipe is made in the food processor, the best job for children is measuring. And of course they can always work the controls on the food processor.

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Hide the Cheese Lavender-Cheddar Muffins

We had a busy, fantastic, fun weekend. Along with Halloween and visits from some of our favorite people on the planet, we had a bash for my birthday, complete with a band whose services we had bought at the Acorn Hill silent auction. It was such a treat to have the house filled with music, and even better to have that music enhanced by the sounds of conversation and laughter. A big, noisy party does me good.

Of course there was food. We made a large version of the Dinner in a Pumpkin, some frittatas, noodles, a grilled veggie platter, Grilled Eggplant Baba Ganoush, and a red pepper-feta dip. Friends and family filled in the gaps with fried plantains, spinach fritters, fresh veggies, and black bean sliders. For desserts, we made Oscar's crowd-pleasing brownies along with pecan bars and red velvet and carrot cupcakes that our super babysitter made as part of her cupcake business. I will have some of those recipes to write up for you soon.

Grating cheese and mixing the batter.
In addition to the food that we served, there were a couple of dishes I planned to make that I didn't get finished, including these savory muffins. A while back, Oscar declared, "Mom, you should make Hide the Cheese muffins!" We are fans of Alice Waters' Hide and Seek Muffins from Franny at Chez Panisse, and aparently he thought we should have our own Hide the Cheese version. The idea of a savory muffin had been rattling around in my head anyway, because I thought they would be the perfect nibble to accompany a drink. I loved the idea.

Cubing the cheese and hiding it.

I tested this recipe out a couple of weeks before the party thinking I could make them in advance and freeze them. They were a big hit around here, though, and after everyone ate their fill, there were none left to freeze. I never got around to making more for the party, so now I'll think of these as my woulda, coulda, shoulda muffins. I think they make an excellent snack and would be delicious on the Thanksgiving table or at brunch. If I get enough of these recipes together, it just may be the excuse I need to have another party.

Second Helping: Pumpkin Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Hide the Cheese Lavender-Cheddar Muffins

When I made these muffins, I did not completely submerge the cheese cubes with batter, and the result was that the cheese bubbled up and coated the top of the muffins. They were delicious that way, but when I make them again, I will try topping some of the cheese cubes with batter to see if I get a gooey, cheesy center. I'll update this post once I've given it another go.

Makes 10-12 muffins
20 minutes preparation time
20-25 minutes baking time

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried lavender
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
1 1/4 cups grated cheddar
12 small cubes of cheddar (mine were about 1/2-inch cubes)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and oil a standard 12-cup muffin tin (or line it with cupcake liners)

Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and lavender together in a small bowl. Add the egg, milk and grated cheese, and mix just until all of the flour mixture has been incorporated. The batter will be stiff and quite lumpy.

Spoon the batter into the cups of a muffin tin, filling each cup about two-thirds full. Push one cube of cheese into each muffin. The batter will come up around the sides of the cheese cube but will not quite swallow it.

Bake until a toothpick comes out clean (don't put it in the center where the cheese is), about 20 to 25 minutes. The muffins are best served warm.

Jobs for children: Children can help grate cheese, measure, mix, grease or line muffin tins, and, of course, hide the cheese.

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Homemade Soft Pretzels

At the top of my list of universal truths is this one: outside of the farmers' markets, no tomato beats a home grown one. Some foods are worth the effort to grow at home, and some aren't. I put carrots in that second category. Mine seem to come out too small, gnarly, and bitter.

Soft pretzels are the culinary equivalent of the homegrown tomato.

Dissolving the yeast and setting the dough aside to rise.
The homemade versions are much better than the standard soft pretzel from a food truck or a ball game. This recipe comes with a warning, then: once you make pretzels at home,  you won't want to eat them anywhere else. Fresh out of the oven, with a crisp shell and chewy, doughy, middle, they are divine.







Rolling, rolling, rolling.
An added bonus is that they are fun to make. Dough is always great for children to manipulate, and this dough gets rolled into long cylinders and formed into pretzel shapes. It's like rolling and shaping clay or play dough, but this dough is okay to eat. In fact, when you think about it, we should all get rid of the play dough and keep a stash of pretzel or pizza dough in the refrigerator for play time. It offers the same amount of fun, but at the end of the process, we can cook it into something delicious.

Shaping the pretzels and dropping them into their boiling water bath.
This recipe came into our lives from my brother-in-law, one of many great recipes he has shared. Now we make pretzels to accompany soup for dinner, as an appetizer, or as a stand-alone snack. There really is no bad time of year for them but I think  fall  is the best time. As the weather gets cooler and we start to hunker down for winter, they are perfect to eat in front of the fire, or while snuggled in front of the TV. As Olivia says, "They're warm and soft, and melt in your mouth. And they're very comforting on a cold day."

I probably don't need to say this, given that pretzels are essentially a bread product, but the children all loved them. In fact, we brought them to a neighborhood party this weekend and they were devoured immediately. I admit that I strolled around with the basket of hot pretzels telling everyone that they really should eat them right away because they were best hot. But nobody seemed to mind.

Second Helping: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip After School Cookies

Get 'em while they're hot!

Homemade Soft Pretzels

These pretzels are best eaten while they are hot, fresh out of the oven.

Makes 1 dozen pretzels
2 hours preparation time (including the rises)
about 15 minutes baking time

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
3 cups unbleached white flour, plus more for rolling out the dough
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
8 teaspoons baking soda
large-grained sea salt or Kosher salt for sprinkling

Measure the yeast into a large mixing bowl and add the warm water. Stir with a wooden spoon until the yeast has dissolved. Add the flour, sugar, salt, and butter, and mix with a wooden spoon to combine. Using your hands, mix a bit more to incorporate the butter. Don't worry if the butter doesn't mix in completely; some small lumps will give the pretzels a delicious buttery flavor.

When everything is incorporated, knead the dough until it is smooth and no longer sticks to the bowl. Cover the bowl with a dishcloth and let the dough rise until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour. (I admit that I have cut this rise short -- to about 30 minutes, and the pretzels were still delicious.)

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

After the dough has risen, punch it down, and cut it into 12 roughly equal-sized pieces. Sprinkle a bit of flour onto the counter to keep the dough from sticking and roll each piece of dough into a long snake. Form each snake into a pretzel shape and set it onto the cookie sheet to rise. Be sure to pinch the dough together at the meeting points to keep the pretzels from unraveling when you cook them. When you have formed all of the pretzels, cover them with the dishtowel and let them rise again for 15 to 30 minutes.

While the pretzels are rising, preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Fill a large, non-reactive pot with water and bring it to a boil. Add the baking soda.

After the pretzels have risen, add a few at a time to the boiling water and let them boil for about 1 minute. As you take each pretzel out of the water, shake it a bit to remove the excess water and place it back on the baking sheet. Sprinkle the coarse salt on top. After you have boiled and removed all of the pretzels, bake them for 12 to 15  minutes until they are golden brown.

Jobs for children: This entire process is child friendly. Children can measure and mix the yeast, measure and mix the flour and butter, knead the dough, and prepare the baking sheets. Most fun of all, though, is for them to cut the dough, roll it into long snakes, and form it into pretzel shapes or any other shapes you like, really.

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Chocolate-Hazelnut Macarons

As promised, here is a macaron recipe for you chocolate lovers. Chocolate is a challenge for me because I adore it, but I have become very susceptible to the effects of caffeine. I'm not sure if the cause is all the years of low caffeine consumption while I was pregnant and nursing my babies or if it's just genetics, but the result is that if I have chocolate at night I will llikely lose a couple of hours of sleep.

Cracking hazelnuts for the meringues.
I sometimes will have a luscious chocolate dessert anyway, because there are times when a few hours of sleep is a small price to pay for an excellent dessert. The other solution I have come up with is to have chocolate in the morning. I now keep a(t least one) bar of dark chocolate in my desk at work so that I can have an indulgence without paying a price.

Of course you can try the batter, my dear, you  just have to lick it off your nose!


Folding the chocolate-nut mixture into the meringue.
But I live with a couple of chocolate-loving night owls who would be very happy staying up till the wee hours of the morning indulging in chocolate treats. These macarons seemed like they would make my chocolate lovers happy and I thought I might even justify having one with my breakfast. After all, they're made with egg whites and nuts. Very healthy, no?
The chocolate filling, ready for chilling.


Piping out the macarons and assembling them.
For this batch of macarons, Andrea and I adapted David Lebovitz's Chocolate Macaron recipe. We added hazelnuts and the flavor was excellent with the chocolate. The macarons were thicker than the peach ones that we made, but the meringues were crisp on the outside and chewy in the middle. Again, I think the only thing I would do differently would be to more finely grind the nuts.

The end result is such a fun treat, really different from other desserts. Not a cookie or a cake, just its own special delight. Or as Oscar says, "It's chocolate!" What more do you need?"

The reviews are in!

Chocolate-Hazelnut Macarons

 If you would like to make the macarons in advance, bake the macarons and make the filling, but store them separately, the macarons in an airtight container at room temperature, the filling in the refrigerator. If the filling is stiff when you are ready to assemble the macarons, let it sit out of the refrigerator for a few minutes or return it to the mixer and whip it again.

Adapted from The Sweet Life in Paris (Broadway) by David Lebovitz

Makes about 25 macarons
40 minutes preparation time
about 20 minutes baking time

For the filling:
1 cup heavy cream
4 teaspoons light corn syrup
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

For the macaron shells:
1/2 cup ground almonds (just less than 1/2 cup whole raw almonds before grinding in a food processor)
1/2 cup ground hazelnuts (just less than 1/2 cup whole raw hazelnuts before grinding in a food processor)
1 cup powdered sugar
12 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
4 large egg whites, at room temperature
10 tablespoons granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

First make the filling. Heat the cream and corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat. Just when the cream begin to bubble around the edges, remove the pan from the heat and add the chocolate. Sitr until it has melted completely. Add the pieces of butter and stir them in until it is fully incorporated. Set the pan in the refrigerator to cool.

Next make the macaron shells. Grind the almonds and hazelnuts by running them in a food processor for a couple of minutes until they are extremely fine. At the end of the process, you will need 1 cup of ground nuts. Although this surprised me, it actually takes less than that amount of whole almonds to get 1 cup of ground nuts. Add the powdered sugar and cocoa powder and mix briefly. Set the mixture aside.

In a mixing bowl with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the granulated sugar and beat again until the mixture is shiny and holds stiff peaks. Add the almond mixture and fold it in with a rubber spatula. Don't over mix the batter at this point. The ingredients should be well-incorporated and even in color but still retain the peaks from the egg whites.

Fit a pastry bag with a plain tip (about 1/2 inch in diameter). Spoon the meringue mixture into the pastry bag. Onto the cookie sheets, pipe out about 50 round disks each 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter and 1 inch apart. Gently tap the cookie sheet on the counter a couple of times to level the meringues. Cook them for 15 to 18 minutes, until the top of the shells is firm to the touch. Let the meringues cool completely on the parchment paper (you can gently slide the parchment off the cookie sheet if you want to reuse it) before removing them.

If you like, use a pastry bag to add about a tablespoon of filling onto a macaron and then top it with another. You can also do this with a spoon. Continue until you have assembled all the macarons. Depending on how full you fill the macarons, you may have chocolate filling left over.

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Olivia's Warm Goat Cheese Salad

As you know if you have been reading this blog for a bit, I love nothing better than to cook with our children. Not with them as an ingredient, of course, but with them in the kitchen with me. Just in case you were wondering. I even like to cook with other people's children, although I do have a bias towards my own. But once in a while Olivia likes to take over.

There are many Saturday mornings that I have come downstairs to find her in the kitchen, shooing me away while she whips up a surprise. Often it has been pancakes but most recently it was lemon meringue pie. And if you have never had lemon meringue pie for breakfast, let me be the first to recommend it.

When I got home from work on Monday, Olivia had a plan in action. She had written up a menu for us on a chalkboard, café style. Gabe and I were happy to cede the kitchen to her. Among the menu items was this simple but delicious salad, a reminder that sometimes the best meals are simply prepared with high quality ingredients. The greens were from the farmers' market, and I love the way she noted on the menu that the goat cheese was from Cherry Glen.

Olivia was clearly energized by the process and proud of making the dinner herself, and we were eager to step into the role of her grateful customers. I'm thinking that this summer we should turn over the kitchen to the kids more often, although I think I can't encourage this too much or it will become more like a chore and less like their own creative initiative. But I'm hoping a hint or two will do the trick. 

In Olivia's own words, here is the salad with warm goat cheese toasts that she made. She made the dressing, too, but didn't measure the ingredients so you're on your own there. She also uses a secret ingredient in her dressing which I have sworn not to reveal, but it will be much more fun if you add your own secret ingredient anyway. Every meal should have one, don't you think?

Olivia's Warm Goat Cheese Salad

This is for 6 people

about 2 tablespoons of goat cheese
12 little pieces of bread
some salad

some salad dressing:
red wine vinegar
olive oil
shallots
a lot of Dijon mustard
salt and pepper
a secret ingredient

Warm the goat cheese in the microwave for 15 seconds or until it is a little melted. Brush a thin layer of warm cheese onto the bread. Put the breads onto a cookie sheet and bake them at 400 degrees for about 5 minutes or until the bread is a little crisp.

Whisk together the salad dressing ingredients and dump it on the salad.

For each personal serving, put the salad in the middle of a plate and put the breads on the west and east sides of the plate.

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Simple Fried Rice

I love to spend time puttering in the kitchen. When I feel a bit out of sorts or crabby, an hour or two in the kitchen will usually make everything right. I just slip on my cooking shoes, put some music on the CD player, and cook something, anything really. And my mood improves considerably. Unless my creation is a disaster. But that's a whole other story.

I realize that not everyone uses cooking as therapy. Many of you  -- some might even say more normal people -- might find that going for a walk, taking a nap, or vegging in front of the TV is what it takes to recharge. I get that. And this recipe is for you. 

The reality is that I can't always spend as much time in the kitchen as I would like. These days have felt especially rushed. Summer swimming has begun, and softball and baseball are continuing. The children are still in school, and there are lots of end of year activities associated with that, plays, concerts, recitals. We have been on the run. 

Quick meals have become the norm, and this fried rice fits the bill. It is quick, delicious, and infinitely variable. It's also a great way to use up leftovers because you can throw in any odds and ends.  The key ingredients that add flavor are the peanut and sesame oils, soy sauce, ginger, and scallions. Beyond that, mix it up. Cooked veggies, tofu, nuts would all be great. It is also an excellent vehicle for a dash of Sriracha Sauce.

Writing up this recipe has convinced me. I know what I'm making for dinner tonight.

With summer right around the corner, I'm expecting more peace in our near future. You'll find me sitting on the porch or by the pool sipping some refreshing drink, preferably with one of those cute umbrellas in it. Or maybe in the pool.

Who am I kidding? I'll probably be in the kitchen.

Simple Fried Rice

The rice is best if it has been pre-cooked and refrigerated before use because it will dry out a bit and separate nicely for the stir frying process.

Serves 4-6
15 minutes preparation time
15 minutes cooking time

1 tablespoon peanut oil plus a splash more, if needed
2 1-inch pieces of ginger, peeled
1 or 2 carrots sliced into matchsticks
4 eggs, scrambled
6 cups cooked brown or white long grain rice
3/4 cup chopped scallions (about 1 1/2)
2 tablespoons soy sauce, plus more for the table
1 teaspoon sesame oil
additional pre-cooked vegetables or tofu

Heat a large, deep frying pan or wok over high heat. Add the peanut oil and swirl it around the pan.  Cook the ginger just until it begins to turn golden, about 1 minute. Remove the ginger from the pan and discard. 

Add the carrots and cook until they are tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon and set them aside. Swirl the remaining oil around the pan. If you don't have enough to coat the sides add another splash. When the oil is hot again, swirl the pan to coat the sides. Add the eggs and immediately swirl them around the pan until they cook completely. With a wooden spoon, the egg up into small pieces.

Add the rice, soy sauce, sesame oil, and any other pre-cooked ingredients that you are using and cook until everything is heated through, 3-4 minutes. Serve, passing extra soy sauce at the table for anyone who wants it.

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Homemade Butter

If you have not made homemade butter before, it's a treat.  Our children enjoy the shaking but even more they enjoy watching the transformation from liquid to solid.  While we shake we chant this song that we learned at Acorn Hill, inserting the name of the next person that will receive the jar:

Come, butter, come
Come, butter, come
[Name] is at the garden gate
Waiting for a butter cake
Come, butter, come
Come, butter, come.

It has the perfect rhythm for the shaking process. 

 
This recipe makes a basic salted butter.  You can modify it in many ways, including adding honey, fresh herbs, or cinnamon and sugar.  When you make this, save the buttermilk.  I have a great recipe using buttermilk that I will post soon.

Second Helping: Kale Chips

Homemade Butter

Makes about 1 cup of butter and 3/4 cup buttermilk
about 15 minutes shaking time

1 pint heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 clean marbles

Put all the ingredients in a jar and shake.  Pass the jar around to anyone who is willing to help, preferably while singing or chanting the rhyme above.  If children are involved, it is likely that they will lose interest before the butter is done and you will get a bit of a workout. 

At some point the butter will become the texture of whipped cream and seem difficult to shake, but persevere.  The butter is done when it has become solid and separated completely from the buttermilk.  Pour the buttermilk into a jar and save it for future use.  Remove the marbles and scoop the butter into your vessel of choice.

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Chocolate Banana Cream Pie

For Oscar's actual birthday, the one on his birthday, not the family party or the party with his friends, he requested banana cream pie.  His Uncle Eddie makes a mean banana cream pie, and Oscar wanted one for his birthday.  Because Oscar is such a chocolate lover, I decided to stray from the traditional and make a chocolate pudding instead of the usual vanilla one and make the crust chocolate, too.

It was divine.  I love the combination of the cool sweetness of the pudding and the cream with the texture of the crust.  And one of the great things about this recipe is that if you tire of making it half way through, stop after you make the pudding and serve it just like that.

But if you do get all the way through, it makes a great birthday pie.

 





Second Helping:  Vanilla Bean Pudding

Chocolate Banana Cream Pie

Serves 8
about 1 hour preparation time, plus 3 1/2 hours to chill

for the pudding:
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cocoa powder
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

for the crust:
4 tablespoons butter
2 cups crushed chocolate cookies (I used Newman's chocolate alphabet cookies)

to finish the pie:
2 bananas
1 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix the whole milk and evaporated milk together in a large measuring cup.  In a medium sauce pan set off of the stove, mix the sugar, cornstarch, salt, and cocoa powder.  Add the milk and evaporated milk in a slow, steady stream, whisking constantly.  Whisk in the egg yolks.  Heat the mixture over medium heat, and whisk constantly until the mixture simmers and thickens, about 10 minutes. 

Set a strainer over a bowl and pour the thickened pudding into the strainer.  Mash and stir the pudding to push it through the strainer.  Cover the pudding with plastic wrap by placing the wrap right onto the surface of the pudding so that it does not form a skin.  Let it cool in the refrigerator for about half an hour.

To make the crust, melt the butter and pour it over the cookie crumbs.  Mix thoroughly.  Press the cookie mixture into a 9-inch pie plate.

When the pudding has cooled, pour half of it into the crust.  Place an even layer of bananas on top and then cover with the remaining pudding.  Let the pie chill in the refrigerator until it has cooled completely and has set, about 3 hours. 

Just before serving, whip the heavy cream.  Add the sugar and vanilla and whip until the cream forms soft peaks.  Spread the whipped cream over the top of the filling.  Slice the remaining banana and arrange it over the top of the whipped cream in the pattern of your choice.  Serve immediately.

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Banana Coconut Pecan Bread

We have made a lot of banana chocolate chip snack cakes (my first recipe on this blog!).  It doesn't often happen that all three children want the same food for breakfast or for a snack, but banana baked goods seem to do the trick.  I wanted to change it up a bit, though, so I have been working on this banana bread.

I know that banana bread may not be the most exciting recipe to share, but I have been tweaking this recipe for months and I am really happy with the way it has come out.  It is very banana-y and moist, and the coconut adds a bit of extra sweetness. 

Of course, not everybody in our family likes nuts, so I had to come up with a trick for making half the loaf with nuts and half without.  I left the batter without nuts then put a spatula in the middle of the pan and poured in about half of the batter.  Leave the spatula there and stir nuts into the remaining half of the batter.  Pour that into the other side of the pan and remove the spatula.  Place a nut on the top of the nut side so that you can track which side is which. 

If you happen to have access to a snaggletoothed two year old nephew with deliciously pudgy fingers and a smile that melts your heart, definitely enlist him to help.

Second Helping:  Blueberry Crumb Cake

 

Banana Coconut Pecan Bread

Makes 1 standard loaf
20 minutes preparation time
50-55 minutes baking time

approximately 2 cups mashed bananas (3-4)
6 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup coconut
1/2 cup pecans, broken a bit (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour a standard loaf pan.

In a large bowl, mix together the mashed bananas, butter, sugars, and eggs.  In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking soda, and coconut.  Mix until just combined.  Add the nuts and mix briefly.  Pour the batter into the loaf pan. 

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean, about 50-55 minutes. Standard-sized muffins take about 25 minutes to bake.  Let the cake cool in the pan for about half an hour then flip it out onto a cooling rack to continue to cool or serve it warm.

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Vegetarian Matzo Ball Soup

Matzo ball soup is one of those quintessential comfort foods that seems like it should be able to cure anything.  Well, maybe not anything, but definitely a cold or a heartache.  Usually it is made with chicken, though, making it a no no for vegetarians. 

Of course we needed to remedy that by making a vegetarian version.  The leeks in this recipe give the broth a rich flavor and the egg in the matzo balls adds a hint of chicken-y flavor.  It's not quite like the rendered chicken fat of the original version, but it is robust and warming.  To add flavor to the matzo balls, I add leeks and parsley to them.  The soup gets even better as it ages, and, if possible, I make it a day before I plan to eat it so that the flavors have a chance to develop overnight.

 

This soup has become one of Olivia's favorites and if we go too long without making it, she reminds me to put it back in the dinner rotation.  Now that she's into those double digits I'm sure there are inevitable heartbreaks ahead.  I hope not too many, but when they come, I'll be ready with my box of matzo meal.

Second Helping: Cuban Black Beans

 

Vegetarian Matzo Ball Soup

Serves 6
20 minutes preparation time
approximately 60 minutes cooking time

This soup is even better after it has rested for a day.  If you make it in advance, either wait to cook the matzo balls or cook them and store them separately from the soup or they will swell to gargantuan size.

For both the soup and the matzo balls:
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups chopped leeks, white and green parts only (about 3 medium leeks)
1/3 cup fresh chopped parsley, divided

To finish the matzo balls:
4 large eggs
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup matzo meal
1 teaspoon salt

To finish the soup:
1 large onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 celery stalks, diced
1 large red pepper, diced
4 medium carrots, scrubbed and diced
8 cups water, or 3 bouillon cubes and 8 cups of water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups green beans, cut into 1-inch segments

In a large soup pot, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat.  Add the leeks and cook until they are soft, about 5 minutes.  Remove about 1/4 cup of the leeks and set them aside.

To make the matzo ball mixture, in a small bowl, beat the eggs lightly, then add the 4 tablespoons of olive oil and mix again.  Add the matzo meal, salt, the 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley, and the 1/4 cup of leeks that you set aside.  Mix thoroughly.  Cover and refrigerate until the mixture firms up, at least 30 minutes.

While the matzo mixture is chilling, work on the soup.  To the leek pot, add the onion, garlic, celery, red pepper, and carrots.  Cook until the vegetables begin to soften, about 7 minutes.  Add the stock or water and bouillon and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. 

Bring a wide-bottomed pot of water to a boil.  Meanwhile, with moistened hands, roll the matzo mixture into balls about the size of golf balls.  The mixture should make 15 to 16 matzo balls.  Drop the matzo balls into the water, cover and simmer over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally, until they are firm and uniform in color, about 20 minutes.  Remove them from the water with a slotted spoon.

When the matzo balls have cooked, add them to the soup pot along with the green beans and remaining parsley.  Simmer until the green beans are tender, about 5 minutes.  Serve immediately.

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Baked Potatoes with Cilantro Pesto

We have been reading our way through Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books.  The stories are beautifully written and transport me to a time and place that I will never know.  And the children are so well behaved.  The wonder and gratitude that they express when they receive an orange or a peppermint stick for Christmas makes me yearn for those simpler days. 

Wilder wrote those books well into her adult years (prompted by her daughter), but her attention to detail is amazing.  I really thought I might be able to build a log cabin after reading her description of Pa making one.  We had to take a breather after The Long Winter, though.  It is a phenomenal story of resilience and survival, but living in a wood cabin with blizzard winds whipping through the cracks and months of intense snow storms makes me happy to live in the age of brick, insulation, and furnaces. 

And, of course, there is the problem of the food.  At the beginning of the winter, the family's staples were bread, baked potatoes, and butter.  First the butter runs out, then the potatoes.  By the end, they were dipping into next year's seed wheat to make bread to survive.  Rough times.

Since we read that book, though, baked potatoes have become a regular item in our dinner rotation.  We have such a rich range of choices for toppings, but this pesto offers a taste of green spring, which I welcome after our own long winter.

Baked Potatoes with Cilantro Sauce

Serves 6
15 minutes preparation time
About 45 minutes baking time

6 large baking potatoes, scrubbed and rinsed
1 teaspoon cumin
1 cup parsley
1 cup cilantro
1/4 cup olive oil, preferably Spanish
a few generous pinches of sea salt
a couple of grinds of fresh pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

Using a fork, poke a few holes in each potato.  Place the potatoes directly on the oven rack and bake until they are tender, about 45 minutes, depending on the size of the potatoes.

In a frying pan, toast the cumin over medium heat just until it is fragrant, about 1 minute.

Blend all of the remaining ingredients with the cumin in a food processor.  Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.  When the potatoes are done, split them open, smear them with the pesto, and dig in.

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Crêpes

 
Before Ophélie, the French teacher we hosted, came to visit, we were a bit apprehensive about feeding her.  When we had told her that we were vegetarians, her response was that she didn't like many vegetables. Uh-oh. 

I was determined to find a middle ground, though.  So on the first day of her stay with us, I quizzed her about what she liked.  We found a few common vegetables; lettuce and tomatoes were ok, green beans were tolerable.  But we found lots of overlap in the carbohydrate family.  Pasta, rice, and, of course, bread were on the list.  That gave us a good start.  And Ophélie told us that she likes to make (and eat) crêpes. 

 
Crêpes have the advantage of being one of those foods that can be paired with anything, which is great when you are eating with people with a range of tastes.  Each person can add his or her preferred filling.  We made a big pile of crêpes and put them on the table with shredded Gruyère, goat cheese, sautéed mushrooms, and sautéed spinach. And for dessert, we had them with sugar, sugar and lemon, jam, and Nutella.

 
Ophélie taught us her method of making crêpes, and we all helped.  Olivia and Oscar even took a turn at the stove and Olivia masterd the in-air flip.  The crêpes could be an appetizer, dinner or dessert.  This recipe makes enough to generously serve six for dinner and dessert.  I am looking forward to many more years of making and eating crêpes.  And when we make them, we will think of Ophélie.

 
Second Helping (from the archives): Sage Risotto with Wild Mushrooms

Crêpes

Makes 35-40 crêpes (count on 3 to 5 per person, for dinner and dessert)
15 minutes preparation time
30-60 minutes cooking time

For this number of crêpes, you will need about 4 cups of fillings, such as shredded cheese, goat cheese, sautéed mushrooms, sautéed spinach.  For dessert, consider using sugar alone, freshly squeezed lemon juice with sugar, jam, or Nutella.

4 1/2 cups flour
1 quart milk
10 eggs
canola oil for frying the crêpes

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, milk, and eggs.  Whisk vigorously until most of the lumps are out of the flour and the batter is fairly smooth.  Be patient and recruit helpers, as this will take a bit of time and energy.  Alternatively, you oculd use a blender or food processor, but you'll get much less exercise.

Heat a medium-sized frying pan over medium high heat.  If you have two frying pans, you may want to use both to decrease the cooking time.  And the best scenario is to find someone to work that second pan so you have a cooking partner.

Add about 2 teaspoons of canola oil to the frying pan and swirl it to coat the pan completely.  Add about a quarter of a cup of batter to the pan and immediately swirl it around the pan so that it leaves an even thin layer in the pan.  Cook until the crêpe lifts easily from the pan when you put the edge of a spatula underneath it.  Flip the crêpe and cook it on the other side until it is lightly browned, one to two minutes. 

Generally, the first crêpe will not come out well, but you may still find someone willing to eat it for you.

Repeat this process until you have cooked all of the crêpes.  You should not need to add more oil to the pan.  After you pour in the batter and swirl, it will initially seem that the crêpe will stick and will not come loose from the pan.  But after it cooks for a minute or two, you should be able to get a spatula underneath it and flip it.  For a thrill, loosen the crêpe with a spatula and try flipping it in the air.  The key is to have no fear.  You just have to go for it.

Keep the crêpes warm in the oven as you cook them.  When you are ready to serve, put them on the table alongside the fillings and let everyone build their own.

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

 
Do you remember that old jingle, "Sometimes you feel like a nut; sometimes you don't"?  I never understood that ad;  I always feel like a nut.  By that, I mean, of course, that I always feel like eating nuts.  If you interpreted it any other way, you wouldn't be the first. . . 

If you want a trip down memory lane, watch the ad on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_AYqZddckc.  The hair, the shorts, the low tech look are quite entertaining.

Anyway, given a choice, I will always choose the nuttier option.  Ice cream, salads, cookies, brownies, banana bread, in my view, they are all enhanced by nuts.  And I'm not too picky about the type.  They all have their place.  I have posted recipes here for almonds in cake and granola.  I have shared recipes for pecans in pie, banana chocolate chip snack cakes, even snow.  I have put pine nuts in pesto and stuffed grape leaves.  So I'm not exaggerating.  I love me some crunchy nuts.

 
Peanuts are no exception.  Peanut butter has long been a staple for me.  I know it is considered a favorite of the younger set, but its resurgence in my life coincided with parenthood.  When I was first pregnant and many foods were unappealing, I could always tolerate peanut butter.  I remember, too, in those early days after Olivia was born, when a successful day was one in which I both ate lunch and took a shower, peanut butter was there for me.  Its convenience makes it hard to beat.  Even now, one of my regular breakfasts on the go is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 

And peanut butter cookies are among my favorites.  When I had a hankering to make some peanut butter cookies the other day, I wanted them to be extra nutty.  So I threw in a handful of peanuts.  And some chocolate chunks because chocolate is always a good thing when it comes to cookies.

These cookies still retain the chewiness of a classic peanut butter cookie, but the peanuts and chocolate add more crunchiness to each bite.  And, of course, the chocolate is addictive.  Even Gabe, who usually isn't a fan of nuts in his cookies or the chocolate-peanut butter combination loved these.

Second Helping (from the Archives):  Green Eggs, No Ham

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I used dark chocolate chunks in these cookies instead of chips because I love the way they look and taste, but chips would certainly do.

Makes about 40 cookies
15 minutes preparation time
approximately 25 minutes baking time

1 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup crunchy (of course!) peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup roasted unsalted peanuts
1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder.  In a separate large bowl, cream together the butter and peanut butter with a mixer on medium high, until they are completely incorporated.  Add the sugars and beat again.  Mix in the egg and vanilla.  Add the flour mixture and blend thoroughly.  Mix in the peanuts and chocolate chunks.

Drop the dough by generous teaspoonfuls onto the sheet.  Bake until the cookies are lightly golden, about 8 minutes.  The cookies will keep their chewiness for several days stored at room temperature in an airtight container.

Robin's Egg Meringues

A few weekends ago, I was engaging in my favorite Sunday afternoon activity, reading the Sunday New York Times and dozing between sections.  I treasure the afternoons when I can do that.  We have a big sectional couch in our family room that can hold all five of us at once.  And that is exactly how I like it on a Sunday afternoon.  All of us sitting or lying on the couch, reading, resting, or playing quietly. 

So there we were one Sunday afternoon when I heard Olivia gathering Oscar and Chloe in a hushed voice.  I wasn't sure what they were up to, but I knew it was something.  So I continued to read and doze.  Or maybe I should say doze and read.  When I finally pulled myself out of the couch, I followed their voices to the kitchen. 

There they all were, flouring, mixing, and generally conspiring.  I didn't care what they were making; it was great to see them collaborating.  They wanted their creation to be a secret so I went back to the couch.

It turned out that they were making meringues from Mary Poppins in the Kitchen:  A Cookery Book with a Story.  I picked the book up at a book sale in the spring when the children were going through a period of singing many of the songs from the soundtrack (especially The Perfect Nanny, I Love to Laugh, and Let's Go Fly a Kite).  Olivia tweaked the recipe here and there to make it her own, including adding blue food coloring.  When my children get together in the kitchen they often consider the color as much as the taste.

Gabe dubbed them "blumeringues," which I thought was very clever.  But the children had already come up with their own name based on the color:  robin's egg meringues.  So sweet (the meringues, too)!

Robin's Egg Meringues

Adapted from Mary Poppins in the Kitchen
15 minutes preparation time
40-45 minutes, baking time, plus an hour for cooling

3 eggs
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
food coloring (optional)

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.  Lightly butter and flour two baking sheets.

Beat the egg whites with a mixer on medium-high speed.  Add the salt and cream of tartar and mix until the mixture holds its shape.  Add the sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is shiny and quite firm.  Using a tablespoon, drop the mixture onto the baking sheets, leaving an inch or more between the meringues.

Bake in the oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until the meringues are firm to the touch.  Turn the oven off and let the meringues sit in the oven for an additional hour with the oven door open.  Serve immediately.

The meringues will keep in an airtight container for a few days.

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Orange-Soy Tofu

I know that for meat eaters, tofu can be a tough sell.  I can commiserate.  The first time I tried it was from the salad bar in college.  I put it on my salad because I thought it was feta.  Boy, was I disappointed!  It was a tasteless, cold, mushy surprise.  It was a looooong time before I had the courage to try it again.

After that story, will I ever convince any of you out there who are skeptical about tofu to try this recipe?  I hope so, because this dish has a lot of flavor.  Tofu is extremely mild and will taste like whatever you cook it with.  I have shared other tofu recipes on this site, namely Vegetarian Sloppy Joes and Spaghetti with V-Balls.  This recipe gives tofu a different twist.  It is marinated overnight with soy sauce that is flavored with garlic, ginger, and orange.  The tofu soaks up all of that fantastic flavor.

Although it takes a bit of planning to make this dish so that you have enough time to marinate the tofu, it only takes 35 or 40 minutes to cook.  If you marinate it the night before, you can just pop it in the oven when you return from work the next night and it will bake in the time it takes to cook the rice.

Orange-Soy Tofu

Serves 4 as a main course
25-35 minutes preparation time, plus several hours for marinating
30-45 minutes baking time

1 cup soy sauce
juice and zest of 1 orange
2 tablespoons brown sugar
4 whole garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 pound extra firm tofu
cooked brown or white rice for serving

Mix all of the ingredients except the sesame seeds and tofu in a small sauce pan.  Bring the mixture to a simmer and let it cook for 20 to 30 minutes to thicken.  Remove from the heat and let cool.  Add the sesame seeds.

Drain the tofu and cut it into slices.  Arrange the tofu slices in the bottom of a shallow baking dish.  Pour the sauce over the tofu and let it marinate for at least 3 hours or as long as 24.  The longer the tofu marinates, the more intense the flavor will be.  Turn the tofu during the marinating process to ensure that both sides absorb the marinade. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Drain the marinade off of the tofu into a separate storage container.  I have had good luck keeping this marinade in the refrigerator for several weeks.  Bake the tofu until it is lightly browned and heated through, 30 to 45 minutes.  Serve with rice.

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Semolina Pizza Crust

 
Friday night has become homemade pizza night at our house.  Maybe it has something to do with the weather turning colder, but on Fridays after a long week, we all burrow in, crank up the oven, and eat to our hearts' content.  It has become a very relaxing, enjoyable family night. 

For me, the key to a good pizza is a good crust.  I prefer a thin, crisp crust, more like an authentic pie from Naples than what you get from your typical American pizza parlor.  It's tough to recreate that without a wood-fired, 700-degree oven, but this dough makes me very happy.  The recipe is adapted from Biba Caggiano's Trattoria Cooking, which I have written about before here.  I love it because the recipes are simple but delicious.  The cookbook has become one that I trust completely and turn to again and again.

By now, we just quote the cookbook as if Caggiano were a family member, "Biba says. . . "  Well, Biba says that semolina flour can be used in place of some or all of the all-purpose flour.  I find that using half semolina flour gives the dough a fantastic texture and flavor.  Of course, if you don't have or can't find semolina flour, you can use all all-purpose flour instead.

 
If you like a thin crisp crust, too, there are a couple of things that you can try.  First, roll the dough as thin as possible.  The thinner the dough, the crisper the crust will be.  I try to roll it as big as my pizza stone, which is round and about 16 inches in diameter.  I also find that using a pizza stone or tiles helps crisp up the crust because it allows the cooking surface to hold the heat.  Preheat the pizza stone in the oven for about half an hour before you are ready to use it.  That way when you put the dough on it, it begins cooking from the bottom up immediately.  I know that some cooks advocate cooking the crust before adding the toppings, but with this recipe I haven't found that to make a difference, so I don't bother.

 
When we roll out the dough, we don't worry about getting it round.  We just let the shape form as we roll it.  This makes for some fun, irregular shapes.  We even had a heart the other night.

 
Lately we have been eating our pizza while we watch TV together.  We aren't much of a TV-watching household, but Gabe and I have gotten the kids hooked on Top Chef.  So we go from very little TV to foul-mouthed, competitive cooking.  I have a feeling that somewhere down the road the children will question my parenting judgment, but for now, we're having a blast.  We have recorded the last episode (no spoilers please!) and we'll watch it tonight as we munch our pizza.  And next week when Top Chef is over, I'm thinking family game night will be an excellent replacement.

To those of you celebrating Hanukkah, have a wonderful holiday!

Semolina Pizza Crust

Adapted from Biba Caggiano's Trattoria Cooking

Since the crust is so thin, it usually takes between two and three of these pizzas to fill all five of us up, although lately I have taken to making four of them so that we have lots leftover for weekend lunches.  The dough does not suffer with extra rising time.  It can be made the night before you want to cook it, for example.  You can pop it into the refrigerator in the morning after it has had a chance to rise or just leave it on the counter until the following evening when you are ready to cook it.

Makes 1 medium, thin crust pizza
15 minutes preparation time, plus 3 or more hours for the dough to rise
10-12 minutes cooking time, plus 30 minutes for preheating the oven and pizza stone

2 1/4 teaspoons (or 1 packet) active dry yeast
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup semolina flour or an additional 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons salt

Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup warm water.  Add the remaining ingredients.  Mix everything briefly with a wooden spoon until the wet ingredients are incorporated into the flour.  Then mix the dough by hand until everything is blended.  Turn the dough out onto a counter and knead it for 5 to 6 minutes.  The dough should be smooth and stretchy.  If it is sticky, add a bit more flour and knead it again for a minute or two.

Form the dough into a ball and put it in a large bowl.  Sprinkle a bit of flour over the dough and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  Set the dough aside to rise for three or more hours.  After three hours, the dough should have doubled and you should see small bubbles throughout.

About a half hour before you are ready to cook the pizza, put a pizza stone or baking tiles in the oven and preheat it to 500 degrees.  Let the stone heat for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove the dough from the bowl and flatten it onto a lightly floured surface.  Roll it out with a rolling pin into whatever shape it takes.  Remove the pizza stone from the oven, sprinkle it with a bit of semolina flour or coarse cornmeal and transfer the dough onto the stone.  Add your favorite toppings.  Bake until the crust and cheese are lightly browned, 10 to 12 minutes.

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Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

 
I have often seen tomatillos listed as an ingredient, but only recently tried cooking with them.  For those of you in Maryland, I first bought tomatillos at the Crossroads farmers' market, which has a decidedly Latin flair.  Crossroads is now closed for the winter, but you can find tomatillos at Latin markets or I have even seen them at Whole Foods.

 
They are interesting little critters.  They have a tangy, citrusy flavor and when broiled, they develop a delicious smokiness.  Their papery skins are easy to peel and are enchanting as they come off. 

 
Underneath the skins, the tomatillos are a bit sticky.  They need to be rinsed to remove that gumminess before they are roasted.  This salsa comes together very quickly and would make a delicious topping for tacos, quesadillas, or an omelette.  We ate ours with chips, which would be a perfect after-school or game-watching snack.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

The serrano chile made this salsa too spicy for all the children except Olivia, who has a reasonable threshold for spicy food.  If you are making this to serve children, I recommend separating the ingredients in half and and adding the chile to the adult half.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups salsa
15 minutes preparation time
7 minutes cooking time

25-30 tomatillos, papery skins removed and rinsed
1 serrano chile (optional)
1 very small garlic clove minced (about 1/2 teaspoon)
2-3 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Set an oven rack on the top setting, and preheat the oven to broil.  Spread the tomatillos and chile, if you are using it, on a cookie sheet and broil them, turning them once or twice, until they are soft and partially blackened, about 7 minutes.  If you are using a chile but want the salsa a bit less spicy, let it cool and remove the seeds.  Put the tomatillos and chile in a food processor or blender.  Add the remaining ingredients and puree until smooth.  See, isn't that easy? 

Use as you would your favorite salsa.

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Pre-Baked Tart Crust

 
Everything tastes better and looks more elegant in a crust.  This recipe makes one crust for a topless tart (so to speak).  It can be used for sweet tarts or savory ones, just omit the sugar if you are making it for a savory dish. 

Stay tuned for a recipe for the filling . . .

 

Pre-Baked Tart Crust

Makes dough for one 1-crust tart
15 minutes preparation time, plus at least 15 minutes chilling time
30-35 minutes baking time

1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar (optional)
1 stick cold, unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces
2-4 tablespoons cold water

You can make the dough either by hand or in a food processor.  Lately, I have been doing it by hand, partly because I don't want to have to clean the food processor and partly because it's fun for me and the children to get our hands in the bowl and muck around with the flour and butter.

If you are making the dough by hand, whisk together the flour, salt, and sugar, if you are using it.  Add the butter and mix it into the flour mixture quickly with your fingers until it ranges in size from tiny pebbles to cornmeal.

If you prefer to use a food processor, add all the ingredients except the butter and water into the food processor bowl and pulse a few times.  Add the butter and pulse a few more times until the butter is broken into small pieces, ranging in size from cornmeal to tiny pebbles. 

If you have been using a food processor, turn the flour mixture into a large bowl.  Add 2 tablespoons of cold water and mix with a fork or your hands.  If the dough does not hold together after you have mixed in the water, add one additional tablespoon of water at a time until it does.  Form the dough into a ball with your hands.  Flatten the dough into a disk and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. 

Chill the dough for at least 15 minutes and up to a couple of days. 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it out on lightly floured plastic wrap or parchment paper.  Roll the dough until it is about 2 inches larger than the diameter of the tart pan.  Drape the dough over the rolling pin and transfer it to the tart pan.  Push the dough down into the sides of the tart pan until it fits snugly.  Roll the rolling pin over the top of the sides of the pan to cut the dough.  Remove any excess dough.

Butter a large sheet of foil and place the foil, butter side down over the dough in the tart pan.  Press the foil into the pan so that it sits tightly on top of the dough.  Fill the pie plate with pie weights or dried beans.  Bake the crust for 25 minutes.  Remove the weights and the foil and bake until the crust is lightly brown, about another 7 minutes.  Remove and complete according to the requirements of your specific recipe.

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Lemonade Stand Risotto

Olivia is the queen of the lemonade stand.  Unfortunately for her enterprise, our street doesn't get much traffic.  But after calling around to friends and cousins, she almost always finds a cohort.  Oscar and Chloe sometimes go along to help, but Olivia is definitely the catalyst and the manager.  They sit together out in the sun, eagerly mixing up lemonade, selling, and counting the take. 

I'd love to be able to tell you that we freshly squeeze the lemons for these lemonade stands, but we don't.  For one thing, we would have to spend a fortune on the lemons in order to make enough lemonade for the neighborhood.  The last time the children had a stand, my nephew, Sean, went door to door gathering customers, and we needed a lot of lemonade.  This is a highly subsidized activity, and so far, the children have kept all of the profits (although that may change -- there are some good things for them to learn there), so there is no offset to our costs.  Besides, our only squeezer is a manual one, and if we were squeezing by hand, we would all be suffering from repetitive stress injuries by now. 

 
Instead, we buy concentrate and save the lemons for risotto, among other things.  I had never had lemon risotto until a trip to Sicily.  Gabe and I went there with Sarah and Ed and I remember having this dish under the stars at a restaurant with a beautiful patio.  We had lots of wine that night, including a dessert wine called Zibibbo.  I love the sound of that name so much that I tried to talk Gabe into naming one of our children after it.  Just think of what a cute nickname Zibi would be.  Cooler heads prevailed, fortunately.

This dish, even without Sicily or the wine, is delicious. 

Lemonade Stand Risotto

We eat this risotto as a main course, often paired with greens.  It would also make an excellent accompaniment to fish or poultry, for those of you who eat such things. 

Serves 6 as a main course
10 minutes preparation time
30 minutes cooking time

6-7 cups vegetable broth or water with 2 bouillon cubes
4 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, diced
zest and juice of 2 lemons, divided
2 cups arborio rice
1 cup freshly grated parmesan, divided
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the broth or water with the bouillon in a small stock pot.

In a large pan, heat the butter over medium heat until it melts.  Add the onion, stir, and cook until the onion is soft, 6 to 7 minutes.  Add the lemon zest and rice and stir to coat the rice evenly with butter.  Add about 1 cup of the stock and stir.  Cook until the broth has been absorbed by the rice, stirring occasionally.  Continue adding broth about a cup at a time, stirring and letting the broth cook into the rice before adding more. 

The risotto is done when it is tender to the bite and a bit chewy but still retains its shape.  This usually takes between 15 and 20 minutes.  Add the lemon juice and half of the parmesan and stir.  Taste the risotto and add salt if desired.  Serve immediately and pass the remaining parmesan at the table.

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