Applesauce

Applesauce is one of my favorite ways to celebrate the fall - especially after a productive trip to the you-pick apple orchard. This works with just about any variety - a sweeter apple yields a sweeter sauce. Mix types of apple for a nice blend of slightly different flavors and consistencies.

Homemade Applesauce

8 apples (any variety), peeled, cored and sliced into small pieces
1/4 c water
1/2 tsp lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a large sauce pan. Cook over med-low heat, covered, for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. There should be a small amount of water on the bottom of the pot, simmering. If needed, add more water - a Tbs at a time to keep apples from getting too hot. When apples are tender and begin breaking down, remove from heat. Use immersion blender to puree to desired consistency or allow to cool completely and blend in a food processor. Sprinkle with cinnamon if desired.

My Take on the 'Super Charged' Cookie

I've seen the recipe many places, but every time I see it, I've been seduced by its relative simplicity, healthfulness and the likely hood that all of the ingredients are currently in my pantry. Finally, I whipped up a batch for myself and I'm pretty pleased. I'll admit, this is indeed a 'healthy' cookie - not to be confused with some of the other more buttery decadent things you may have seen here. But for right now, this hits the spot just right.

Super Charged Cookie
adapted from Dreena's Blog and a Foodie Stays Fit

1 cup old fashioned oats
2/3 cup spelt flour
1/4 tsp (rounded) kosher salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 Tbs of mixed dried currants and cranberries
2 Tbs chocolate chips
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup pulverized chia seeds (I used my coffee grinder - you can also use flax meal, but I find it's flavor a little overpowering sometimes in baked goods and chia is a nice neutral flavor)
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
3 tbsp peanut butter (can use any nut, seed butter)
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tbsp olive oil (can also use canola - it's just what I had on hand)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In a bowl, combine oats, flour, salt, cinnamon, coconut, raisins, carob or chocolate chips, and baking powder, and stir until well combined.
3. In a separate bowl, combine pulverized chia, syrup, almond butter, and vanilla and stir until well combined. Stir in oil.
4. Add wet mixture to dry, and stir until just well combined (do not overmix).
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or grease with oil or spray). Scoop onto try (I have a handy disher that works great for this)
6. Bake for about 10 minutes ( I bake with convection - 2-3 more minutes if you're using a regular oven). Do not overbake or they will dry out.
7. Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet for 1 minute, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

Banana "Soft Serve"

Hardly a new innovation of the innumerate creative and food-wise minds shaping the blogosphere, but one that I only just finally got around to trying. So simple, so refreshing, why hadn't I done this before? Thicker than a smoothie, looser than ice cream, this is much more like a deliciously refreshing and natural take on a frostie. Especially now that the mercury is practically boiling, it's a perfect way to end a hot summer day. Don't feel limited to the ingredients here, by the by. It's delicious with other frozen fruits mixed in too.

Banana "Soft Serve"

2 frozen bananas

1 Tbs of cocoa powder

1 Tbs of peanut butter

splash of milk (or coconut milk or milk alternative)

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until creamy. Scoop out and enjoy!

Vegan Chocolate Cake with Coconut Dream Frosting

Now, anytime you use the word 'vegan' to describe baked goods, most folks flee. In this combination, the cake is suprisingly moist and richly chocolately. It might lack that bit of mouth-feel richness butter can give but when paired with the coconut frosting, boy-oh-boy! This frosting rocked my socks off! This is the fluffy stuff of rainbows, unicorns and other puff-the-magic-dragon-like childhood dreams, but bursting with the coconut flavor your adult tastebuds rejoice in.

Chocolate Avocado Cake
adapted from the edible perspective
3 cups whole wheat pastry or all-purpose flour
8 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups sucanat or granulated sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used cold-pressed canola oil)
1/2 cup soft avocado, well mashed, about 1 medium avocado
1 cup water
1 c almond milk
2 Tablespoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8 or 9-inch rounds or 1 9 x 13-inch pan. Sift together all of the dry ingredients except the sugar. Set that aside.

Mix all the wet ingredients together in a bowl, including the super mashed avocado.
Add sugar into the wet mix and stir.

Mix the wet with the dry all at once, and beat with a whisk (by hand) until smooth.
Pour batter into a greased cake tins. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let cakes cool in pan for 15 minutes, remove from pan and place on rack to cool completely before frosting.

Coconut Dream Frosting
1/3 c non-hydrogenated shortening or butter alternative like Earth Balance
1/4 c coconut butter*
1/3 c light coconut milk
2-3 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Cream shortening and coconut butter in ingredients in bowl of stand-mixer with whisk attachment (or in a bowl to blend by hand or with hand mixer). Slowly add powdered sugar as you mix at low speed. Add vanilla and coconut milk in a tablespoon or so at a time (you may not need the full amount), until frosting reaches the desired consistency. Frost cake once cool. Enjoy!

*to make coconut butter at home, get some unsweetened dry, shredded coconut and put in a food processor until creamy.

Frozen Custard with Homemade Dark Chocolate Syrup

So many sweets lately, I know. It's hard to whip up enthusiasm for a meal you make out of the last wilting selections in your cupboards when special sweets are so much sexier. I promise, more proper meals to come in the near future, but right now, let me share with you one fabulous warmer-weather treat!

Custard has to be one of the most simple, fabulous and yet underrated foods of the world. Almost every culture has their own take on custards, sweet and savory. Bake it in a crust with some onion, bacon, spinach and cheese and you've got quiche. Add sugar, caramelize, set it and you've got flan. Add gelatin and you're rocking a pana cotta. Add mango and you're getting closer to one tasty pudding. The basic formula of egg + milk +cream yielded some pretty fabulous results.

Sometimes, these results come when you're not really expecting them. Like when I started making David Liebovitz's vanilla ice cream last night.It started out as a regular ice cream, but as I stirred the delicious combination of egg, vanilla, cream and milk over the stove I got a little wrapped up in the mouth-watering aroma and probably let the egg firm up a bit more than I should. More than I should if I were going for regular old (if fabulous) vanilla ice cream. However, it turns out, just about perfect for making frozen custard. That velvety, decadent custardy flavor you know from creme brulee, baked custards and creme anglaise...spiked with vanilla bean, cool and lovely, melting against your tongue. Oh, and the dark chocolate syrup didn't hurt either. Now, where did that spoon go...

Frozen Vanilla Custard

Adapted from David Liebovitz's The Perfect Scoop

1 c 2% milk

2 c heavy cream

5 egg yolks

3/4 c sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

1 vanilla bean

pinch of salt

Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the milk with the tip of a paring knife. Add the bean pod to the milk.

Stir together the egg yolks in a bowl and gradually add some of the warmed milk, stirring constantly as you pour. Pour the warmed yolks back into the saucepan.

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula - or if you're really going for that frozen custard flavor, a little past this stage but before the mixture begins to curdle. Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Rinse the vanilla bean and put it back into the custard and cream to continue steeping. Chill thoroughly, then remove the vanilla bean and freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturers instructions.

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

Adapted from Kim O'Donnell

1 c unsweetened hershey's special dark cocoa powder

1 c granulated sugar

1 c cold water

¼ tsp salt

2-3 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, whisk cocoa and sugar until all the lumps of cocoa are gone. Add water and salt and mix well with whisk. Cook over medium heat, bringing it to a boil. Keep boiling until thick, stirring to keep from scalding.

Remove from heat and allow to cool. When cool, add vanilla. Pour into an airtight glass container or a squeeze bottle and keep refrigerated.

To make chocolate milk, use at least 1 tablespoon of syrup for every 8 ounces of milk, adding more to taste.

Makes about 1 3/4 cups.

Walnut Shortbread

I have a great fondness for shortbread. I don't think I'd tasted anything close to real shortbread until I was in the 5th grade. Before that, about all I'd had were those tinned Danish butter cookies at post-church coffee hours and the Girl Scout Trefoil cookies I sold as a Brownie. That all changed once I recieved the topic allotted to me for my 5th grade pioneer day: food. Tasked with recreating some tastes of the history of American pioneer fare, I thought of the descriptions of food in A Little House on the Prairie, one of my favorite elementary school reads. We somehow extrapolated one of their recipes for shortbread - you know, the special treat in Mary and Laura's Christmas stockings? It may have been thanks to some behind-the-scenes parental digging getting our hands on a copy of The Little House on the Prairie Cookbook - but who knows? I was probably too busy licking the batter of my fingers to notice. Once the first taste of homemade shortbread melted on my tongue, I suddenly realized just how much I'd been missing with those tinned and boxed cookies. A nice little lesson in appreciating that even if the pioneers didn't have the marvels of modern technology and society, they had daggone delicious eats! Most of my classmates if I recall correctly, agreed with me. There certainly wasn't anything left to bring home. Though I have yet to get my hands on that recipe again (a task I am working on I assure you), I saw a delicious and slightly similar-sounding shortbread recipe in this month's MSL magazine. I tweaked it a bit to make it a bit more nutritious but it was certainly still absolutely melt-on-your-tongue tasty shortbread.

Walnut Shortbread

adapted from MSL March 2010

1/4 c walnuts toasted and chopped

1 c whole wheat pastry flour (the original used white flour)

1/2 c Sucanat or brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 stick of butter

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 F. Process walnuts in a food processor until ground fine. Add to a bowl with the flour and salt.

In a separate bowl or stand mixer, cream together butter, sugar and vanilla. Slowly add in flour mixture until just combined.

Press down into a 8" cake pan (a sheet of cellophane will be handy here to keep it from sticking to you), and cut the dough into 8 slices. Prick slices with fork a few times (I found concentric circles around the pan are rather pretty).

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the shortbread is golden brown and the middle is solid.

Enjoy!

(slightly) healthier chocolate chip cookies

Today kicks of the season of Lent for most Catholic and Protestant Christians, and whether you subscribe to those faiths or not, this time of year seems to be one of reflection and renewal. For some it may be a time of devotions, others perhaps closet reorganizing, starting at that long list of spring cleaning to-dos, garden planning and other outdoor chores and pursuits. It tends to be a time of introspection for me, a time to get back to the heart of what's really important to me and cut back on all that other extraneous stuff that get's in the way.

It's also a time of year I seem to naturally want to eat more nourishing things. With spring just around the corner, the first veggies and other sweet tastes of that so-close-I-can-almost-taste-it-season will soon be upon us. That said, we're not out of this winter buisiness just yet. And sometimes, especially at the end of a long and tiring day, I still want a cookie. A really tasty cookie. But perhaps a more nourishing cookie than most. Enter Myra Kornfled and her Healthy Hedonist. Her chocolate chip cookie recipe sounded like a great place to start for something nourishing with whole grains and unrefined sugars, but was still satisfactorily indulgent.

Slightly Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from The Healthy Hedonist by Myra Kornfled

1/2 softened unsalted butter

1/4 c brown sugar

1/2 c sucanat or maple syrup

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 c whole wheat pastry flour (whole wheat flour works too, just a slightly denser with a more earthy flavor)

1/2 tsp

1/4 kosher salt

1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats.

Using a mixer or wooden spoon and strong wrist, cream together butter, sugar and sucanat/syrup until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla until smooth.

In a separate bowl, mix the flower, baking soda and salt together. Slowly mix in the dry mixture into the butter mixture about 1/3 at a time until just combined (always best not to overmix cookies!). Fold in chocolate chips.

Drop walnut-sized cookies onto the prepared sheets 2" apart. Squash them flatish (but not too thin) with the palm of your hand or a glass or jar. Bake for 10-12 minutes for a cakey cookie and 15 for a crispy cookie.

Enjoy!

Sticky Toffee Pudding Cakelettes

I was a stranger to sticky toffee pudding until a visit to the UK for the holidays nearly a decade ago. I was in Bath, strolling the streets living out Northanger Abbey and Persuasion in my mind to my whimsical hearts' content. We stopped for dinner someplace the clerk at our hotel had recommended. It had columns out front - although in Bath, this really isn't much of a distinguishing characteristic. I'm sure dinner was lovely, but any memory of it was swiftly drop-kicked out of my mind by my first taste of sticky toffee pudding. Something I grieved over not having been in my life before then. Cakey, sticky toffee caramel sauce, whipped cream... nothing else I'd ever had before quite compared. It was almost my first traditional British 'pudding' expanding my global culinary experiences.

My whole family was smitten, and have since tried to replicate that decadence without great success. Though not quite the same as the original (can anything ever truly be?) this is one of my favorite approximations, and also comes quite close to the tasty way they make it a few blocks over at Commonwealth gastro pub. Also a plus for this version, it makes four individual servings as opposed to an entire bunt cake if you're cooking for a smaller crowd.

Sticky Toffee Cakelets

adapted from apartmenttherapy.com

Makes 4 single-serving cakes

For the cakes:

3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup pitted finely chopped dates

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

6 tablespoons packed brown sugar (1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons)

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the sauce:

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

1/3 cup evaporated milk or heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350° F. Use nonstick spray to coat custard cup or ramekin. In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to blend. Set aside. In a small bowl, combine the apricots and dates. Pour enough boiling water over the fruit to cover. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, or by hand, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Slowly add the dry ingredients. Drain the fruit and gently fold it into the mixture. Pour the batter into the prepared ramekins, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until puffed up high and a cake tested inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs attached. The cakes will fall like a soufflé when removed from oven. Allow cakes to cool slightly before turning out of their ramekins. Prepare the sauce:Combine sugar, butter, evaporated milk, and vanilla in a medium saucepan over medium heat and stir until butter is completely melted and the sugar dissolves. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes, until the sauce darkens to a deep brown color. To serve, drizzle the warm sauce over the cakes, allowing the some sauced to pool in the center where the cakes have fallen, or under the cake to let it soak up from the bottom.

Faux-'Reos

Another addition to the collection of delicious, homemade versions of storebought pantry sweets. I had wanted to try Tricia's delicious-looking take, but didn't have any shortening on hand. Luckily, I did have the evaporated milk this recipe called for, so I was in business. These and a tall glass of cold milk? Belly-rubbin'-heaven.

Cookies

1 c granulated sugar

2 1/2 c all purp. flour

1/2 c dutch-process cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp kosher salt

3/4 c (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, chopped into in cubes

2 egg yolks

2 tsp bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips or chunks, melted and cooled (Although still liquid)

2 Tbs water

Filling

1 c confectioners sugar

1 Tbs corn syrup

1 1/2 Tbs evaporated milk

Process sugar for 30 seconds in food processor, then add the flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa to combine. Can also do this in a regular bowl. Add butter and combine just until carse crumbs form. Blend in th egg yolks and vanilla. Scrape the melted chocolate into the batter an ix to combine. Add the water, 1 Tbs at a time until the dough comes together when squeezed in your hand. Note that he batter will be crumbly, but cohesive.

Preheat the oven to 400 F and grease 2 cookie sheets.

Gathere the dough together on top of a piece of parchement paper or wax apper with a scraper nearby. Divide teh dough in half and shape each piece into a flat square. Set one square aside and roll out the first square by covering it with a second sheet of parchemnt or wax paper and flattening itno a large rectangle about 13 x 15 inches and about 1/4 in thick.

Cut out as many cookies as you can using an inversted glass or cookie cutter. A scraper is a handy tool to get the dough off of your counter onto the cookie sheet.

Bake the first sheet 7-9 min or until edges are slightly dark. Let them cool on the baking sheet for 2 min. before transfering to a wire rack. Meanwhile, repeat the rolling and cutting with the remaining dough. If the dough gets too soft to work with, leave on parchemnt and chill for 20 min. in teh fridge or 5 min in the freezer. BAke cookies as above. Allow cookies to cool complteely or about 30 min.

To make the filling, combine the sugar, syrup and milk in a bowl untill they form a sticky mass. Spoon filling onto cookie with the flat side up or pipe through a pastry bag or ziplog bag with the corner nipped. Sandwich second cookie onto first. Each cookie combo should use about 1-2 tsp of filling. I found I needed to double the amount of filling to adequately fill all of the cookie combos. Allow to set for an hour to get ideal filling texture (if you're that patient - I wasn't).

Enjoy!

Grahm Crackers for Seth

Nothing like a snowy weekend to hole-up in the kitchen and keep yourself warm by keeping delicious things on the stove and in the oven. In addition to some delicious homemade whole wheat bread, lentil soup and mayonaise (yes, that recipe will be coming to you soon), I got down to some baking. What kind of baking? Still in the I-can-make-it-better-than-store-bought frame of mind, I set out to tackle some pantry staples. Or perhaps, more accurately, pantry sweets. I first made the grahm crackers from this fabulous cookbook, but while I enjoyed them immensely they were very molassesy, which is not truly grahm-cracker like and Mr. Pleasant is not at all fond of strong molasses flavor. So, for my second attempt I turned here, which produced a fabulous traditional honey, cinnamony grahm cracker flavor but so, so much better than anything storebought. For a softer, flakier cracker, bake for only 10-15 minutes. For a nice crispy, bring-on-the-milk sort of cracker, bake for the full 25 minutes.

You can thank our family friend Seth and his visit from the Midwest for this prompt post. By his request, I've got on the ball and posted this sooner rather than later. Yes Seth, here's your shout-out. And the Grahm cracker recipe as promised.

Graham Crackers

adapted from 101cookbooks.com

2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons unbleached pastry flour or unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

7 tablespoons (3 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen (or with a sturdy, sharp knife and loads of caution, cube frozen butter)

1/3 cup mild-flavored honey, such as clover

5 tablespoons whole milk (I found 2 additional Tbs. of milk were required, but this will depend on how dry the air is where you are - add any additional milk slowly and mix well, observing the consistency until it is sticky as described below)

2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

For the topping:

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade or in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse or mix on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off on and off, or mix on low, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal.

In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, milk, and vanilla extract. Add to the flour mixture and pulse on and off a few times or mix on low until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours or overnight.
To prepare the topping: In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon, and set aside.
Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be sticky, so flour as necessary. Trim the edges of the rectangle to 4 inches wide. Working with the shorter side of the rectangle parallel to the work surface, cut the strip every 4 1/2 inches to make 4 crackers. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place the crackers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets and sprinkle with the topping. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough. (If it is already cold in your kitchen, as it was in mine, I had no qualms about resting the baking sheet full of cut grahm crackers on the cold tile floor to "chill". I confess to not letting them chill the full 30 min -just as long as it took me to cut the second batch of crackers and I was happy with the results).

Adjust the oven rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more flour and roll out the dough to get about two or three more crackers.

Mark a vertical line down the middle of each cracker, being careful not to cut through the dough. Using a toothpick or skewer, prick the dough to form two dotted rows about 1/2 inch for each side of the dividing line. Alternatively, cut the crackers out into rectangles (I found our ravioli cutter to be quite perfect for this) once rolled, poke with a fork as desired and sprinkle on sugar.

Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the tough, rotating the sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Or, for the softer, flakier crackers, 10-15 minutes.

Yield: 10 large crackers or about 2 dozen smaller rectangles.

From Nancy Silverton's Pastries from the La Brea Bakery (Villard, 2000)

Mango Pudding

Mango is a fabulous way to get your fruit fix in the depths of winter. Bright, sunny mango is delicious with a fabulous nutritional punch. Here's a light but flavorful way to end a meal. Not terribly sweet, but will be sweeter the riper your mangoes are.

Mango Pudding

from Eating Well

Ingredients
1 envelopes envelopes unflavored gelatin

1/4 cup water
2 cups diced frozen mango, thawed (Trader Joes handy here)
7-ounce nonfat sweetened condensed milk (about half a 14 oz can - extra is fabulous for Thai iced tea and coffee)
2 tablespoons lime juice

Sprinkle gelatin over water in a small bowl; let stand until softened, about 1 minute. Microwave on High, uncovered, until the gelatin has completely dissolved but the liquid is not boiling, 10 to 20 seconds. Stir the mixture until smooth. Be cautious here in cold weather, gelatin will set quickly so don't do this until right before you add it to the rest of the mixture. Solidified anyway? Warm it in the microwave for 10 sec. until liquid again.

Place mango in a blender or food processor. Process until smooth. Push through a very fine sieve into a large measuring cup until you have 1 cups puree (or put through a foodmill on the finest setting). Whisk the mango puree, sweetened condensed milk and lime juice in a medium bowl. Slowly whisk in the softened gelatin mixture until well combined.

Lightly coat eight 4- to 10-ounce ramekins with cooking spray. Divide the pudding among the ramekins. Refrigerate until set, about 2 hours.

To serve, run a knife around the inside of each ramekin to loosen the pudding. Dip the bottom of the ramekin in hot water for 30 to 40 seconds, then invert onto a serving plate, holding ramekin and plate tightly together.

Sea Salt Caramels

This Christmas, the Mr. and I managed to put together a whole bunch of homemade gifts. My favorite by far was a recipe for caramels I'd had my eye on since I noticed it at the apartment therapy blog in 2008. Caramel and candy making in general has always daunted me with it's talk of precise temperatures, "hard ball" stages and vivid memories from my childhood of the smell of burnt sugar from a particularly disastrous caramel-apple making session at a friends house. However, with one wee little candy thermometer (which you can pick up for less than $5), this recipe couldn't be simpler. I ended up making many batches of these babies and perfected the technique with each attempt, but honestly, each batch was delectable as was - even the first batch! Though it requires careful babysitting on the stove, this process is surprisingly simple and incredibly delicious.

Sea Salt Caramels

adapted from apartmenttherapy.com

Ingredients

1 cup heavy cream

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup water

Directions

Line the bottom and sides of the pan with parchment paper and lightly oil the paper.

Bring the cream, butter and sea salt to a boil in a small saucepan; remove from heat and set aside.

Boil the sugar, corn syrup, and water in a heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil, without stirring but gently swirling pan; then cook without stirring until the mixture reaches 248°F, the firm-ball stage. Carefully stir in the cream mixture—the mixture will bubble up. Simmer, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes. The temperature should not go higher than 250°F. The mixture will slowly darken and turn golden brown. Once to the consistency you want (see candymaker tip below), pour the mixture into the baking pan and cool 2 hours.

Yield: About 40 caramels

CANDYMAKER TIP: To get the caramel consistency you want, test by dropping a spoonful of caramel into a bowl of cold water. It will form a ball, which you can test with your fingers. Stop cooking when the ball is the consistency that you want.

OPTIONAL: You can enrobe your caramels in tempered melted chocolate; sprinkle the top with some grains of sea salt (pretty salts make a difference); or press in some culinary lavender buds.* Cut into 1-inch pieces, then wrap each piece in a 4-inch square of wax paper, folding ends or twisting to close like taffy.*

ALTERNATIVE: Pour the caramel into individual candy cups.

Grandma Rosie's Persimmon Pudding with Cinnamon Creme Anglaise

This little persimmon followed us all the way across the country from Oregon. It sat ripening with other fruit for a week and change before finally becoming tender enough to be included in a recipe I've been excited to try ever since I came across it in my mom's collection of recipes. Although my mom's mom - my Grandma Rosie was never much of a cook, my mom had this recipe, written in Grandma Rosie's own hand writing on a faded index card for persimmon pudding. Having not ever tasted persimmons until last November and never having cooked with them myself, I was excited to try working with this strangely overlooked fruit.

The pudding looked simple - the simplest of the other persimmon pudding recipes I had encountered online. But I trusted in the simplicity of the dish - especially cooking with persimmon for the first time. I was not disappointed. Similar texture to a traditional English pudding, slightly crunchy carmelized sweetness on the top with a softer middle with a touch of tartness from the persimmon and the warmth of cinnamon. Positively mouth-watering.

However, that little note in the bottom left hand corner to "serve with sauce" left me a bit stumped. What sauce did you mean, Grandma Rosie? The back of the card provided no insight, so I went back to the Internet for some inspiration and settled on a cinnamon crème anglaise - another treat I had never made before, though I have enjoyed it many times. The simplicity of the recipe seemed a natural pairing with the simplicity of the pudding. The crème also did not disappoint - so much of a non-disappointment that I had no qualms using my fingers to scrape out every last bit of the few remaining dregs of crème from the bowl.

Cinnamon Crème Anglaise

from Bon Appétit

2 cups whole milk
1 3 1/2- to 4-inch-long cinnamon stick, broken in half
6 large egg yolks
5 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of fine sea salt

Combine milk and cinnamon stick halves in medium saucepan. Bring just to simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat; cover and let steep 1 hour. (I confess to shortening this time to about 20 minutes due to time constraints and added ground cinnamon to intensify the cinnamon flavor).

Whisk yolks, sugar, and salt in medium bowl. Return milk mixture to simmer. Gradually whisk milk mixture into yolk mixture. Return mixture to saucepan. Stir constantly over medium heat until sauce thickens and instant-read thermometer inserted into mixture registers 165°F to 170°F, about 3 minutes (do not boil). Remove from heat. Strain through sieve into small bowl; cool. Cover; chill until cold. DO AHEAD: Can be made 3 days ahead; chill.

Baked Doughnuts

As if taking over a certain Portlander's kitchen to make these once wasn't enough, the Mr. and I repeated the deliciousness.

Carrot and Apple Shortbread Cookies

I saw this recipie at 101 Cookbooks and decided that it would be an excellent way to enliven an otherwise hundrum Monday night. Don't let the nutrient-rich ingredients fool you folks, these cookies are little bites of pure, buttery decadence.

1/4 cup / 2 ounces / 50g semolina flour

1 1/2 cups / 6 ounces whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

5 ounces (150g) unsalted butter, room temperature

2/3 cup / 3 1/2 ounces (100g) light Muscovado sugar (or brown sugar)

2 ounces (50g) carrot, grated

1 ounce (25g) apple, grated

Preheat your oven to 350F degrees, or 180C. Sift the semolina, flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl, and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Stir the carrot, apple, and lemon zest into the flour mixture, and mix until well coated and evenly dispersed. Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture until a dough forms, then knead a couple times to bring everything together. Split the dough in two, flatten each piece into an inch-thick patty, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least thirty minutes.

When you're ready to bake the shortbread, roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface 1/2-inch thick/1cm. Or, to reduce mess, keep it in the plastic wrap and roll flat between two layers of plastic. Use a metal cutters to stamp out cookies, then place them on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to brown just a bit.

Birthday Cake for Mr. Pleasant

Each new year deserves quite the celebration - and for me that celebration needs cake. Great cake, make you wiggle your toes in culinary exstasy kind of good cake. The enjoyment of said birthday cake depends on a number of things of course - and I truly, honestly believe that the love put into a cake, no matter what the recipe, ingredients or skill, truly make the expereince the most rewarding. Perhaps nothing so dramatic as the magical realisim of Like Water for Chocolate, when the embittered cake baker pours all of her hurt, sorrow and anger into a wedding cake that makes all the guests suffer as she has. No, something more along the lines of sharing something with the people you care about. Birthday cake that my mom or grandmother made always tasted magical somehow. One of the first cakes I ever made all by myself as a kid, albeit from a mix, tasted really, really good to me - surely because of the hope and excitement I poured into it and pride I had in it. That said, I've also made some pretty awful things - no matter what feelings I was channeling at the moment - although in doing so, have good stories that my family still laugh about (ask my sister about the cinnamon bun that exploded the microwave sometime).

So yes, homemade, lovingly made and proudly displayed cake can be very tasty. It's even better when the cake is really, really amazingly delicious. Definitely a testament to Ms. Bernbaum here on the cake itself - such delicate crumb, velvety texture - something I admit to not always achieving with every cake I make. She broke down the basics to make a fool-proof, fabulous cake. It's a bold move to title one's cookbook the "Cake Bible" but Bernbaum does it credit!

Raspberry Chocolate Cake

Cake (from Bernbaum's Cake Bible)

1/2 c + 3 Tbs dutch process cocoa

1 c boiling water

3 large eggs

2 1/4 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 + 2 Tbs sifted cake flour

1 1/2 c sugar

1 Tbs baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 c unsalted butter, softened

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 2 9 x 1 1/2 inch round pans and line with wax or parchment paper (also greased). Wisk together cocoa and boiling water, cool to lukewarm. In another bowl, lightly combine eggs, vanilla, 1/4 of cocoa mixture. In large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients and mix on low speed for 30 seconds. Add butter and remaining cocoa mixture. Mix on low until dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed and beat for 1 1/2 minutes. Scrape down sides. Gradually add egg mixture in 3 batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addtion. Scrape batter into pans, bake for 25-35 minutes - until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and cake springs back when lightly pressed.

Filling

approx. 3/4 c raspberry jam ( I used a combo of black and red raspberry jam)

1/4-1/2c frozen raspberries, thawed and drained

dash (to taste) of raspberry rum (we had on hand) although framboise liquer would be lovely

Frosting

basic vanilla buttercream

powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, milk

Finishing Touches

solid milk chocolate, warmed in hand then shaved. pressed lightly to sides of cake with wooden spoon

Cupcakes - Vegan and Delicious (not an oxymoron)

Despite eating every day, I think many of us hardly think twice about our relationship with food. So much goes into every bite we take. From seed to plant to produce, from source to table, from ingredients to heaping dishes, from nourishment to comfort - our relationship with food is anything but simple. I've found that how you feel about and deal with food says a lot about where you are - and who you are.

Is food just about filling a void? Cramming something down your gullet because it's time to eat- you're running late and just need something to get you to lunchtime? Or is food about nourishment - not only nutritional, but emotional as well? The truth, realistically for most of us is something in between. We are busy people. We are on budgets. We have precious little time as it is, and frequently even less energy to do much with it.

When I think about the meals of my childhood, I don't think about the protein to complex carbohydrates ratio, or the proportion of my plate covered in vege, but I remember time spent with my family. Those precious few moments in an otherwise chaotic blur of sports practice, homework, school, friends, rehearsals and girl scouts - my family always made time to sit down and eat a meal together. Be it 20 minutes of morning oatmeal or 30 minutes of spaghetti, I remember those times because they filled me with something more than just food. They filled me with a special kind of nourishment, body and soul, that did more to get me through the days than old-fashioned oats ever could on their own.

I had the great pleasure of attending Molly Wizenburg of orangette's book signing when she was in DC this week. One of the things she said that I found profound despite seemingly obvious, is that food has a story. I've been trying more and more to really think about the stories around the food I make and eat. Giving full justice to the full experience of food - source to belly and beyond.

Appreciating our imperfect relationship with food - perfection never makes for great stories, now does it? - I turn to this particularly scrumptious, yet relatively healthy and animal-product free chocolate cake. I made it as cupcakes and couldn't get enough of them. Best, of course, when shared with those you love whenever your chaos-filled life allows ;)





Chocolate Cake with Chocolate 'Butter Cream'
from npr

Makes 12 cupcakes or one 9-inch cake

For the cake:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (can use a mix of wheat and white flours)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease one 9-inch cake pan or line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners. Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add the oil, vanilla, vinegar and water. Whisk together until smooth.

Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until a tester inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool before frosting.

For the butter cream:

4 ounces unsweetened (or bittersweet) chocolate, chopped
3 cups confectioners' sugar
8 Tbs shortening (I use non-hydrogenated), room temperature
2 to 3 tablespoons almond milk, plus more, if needed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat chocolate in a double boiler until melted. Let cool to room temperature. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, combine the confectioners' sugar, margarine, milk, vanilla and salt, and beat on low speed until combined, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes, then reduce the speed to low. Add the chocolate and beat until combined, then increase the speed to medium and beat for 1 minute more.

If the frosting is dry, add more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until it is creamy but still holds peaks.

Taste of the Irish

I love to celebrate St. Patrick's day because my mom loves to celebrate St. Patrick's day. I have particularly fond memories of waking up in the room I shared with my sister to discover a Kermit-the-frog piggy bank my mother had placed on our pillows one March 17th morning. I love celebrating St. Patrick's day because it makes me think of my mother's mother, a woman I never really knew, but who's life-story I've pieced together from my mother's tales, aged family photos and my grandfather's fond remembrances.

The story begins with a "fiery Irish girl" named Mary Rose who lived in the same apartment complex as my grandfather. The only girl in her class at Sacred Heart's all-girls graduating class NOT invited to join the sisterhood, our cousin O'Donnell confessed as we came across a curling snapshot of my grandmother at age 16. She was one of 7 siblings but an orphan most of her life, never quite reached 5', had dark hair and bright blue eyes. Eyes that she passed on to my mother and sister, and held a touch of mischievousness even as she sat for her formal bridal portrait. She had a best friend named 'Mugsy', somehow made her way to Los Angeles and despite the Great Depression, managed to find love with an ornery engineer from Texas who lived in the aforementioned apartment complex.

I love celebrating St. Patrick's day because it gives me a sense of connection, a sense of roots and culture and of belonging - not just to a particularly green island in the north Atlantic, or pipes, flutes and fiddles, Guinness or Jameson's, but to family. Family I didn't necessarily know, but is a part of me and who I am - not just where I come from.

I also love celebrating St. Patrick's day with the tastes of my family history. Though I sadly don't have any recipes passed down from my grandmother for the occasion, I've been working on a few of my own. So far they include tasty Irish-inspired food and time with the family I'm lucky enough to have around. Last night was quite the feast, roasted lamb, shepherd's pie, mashed potatoes, red cabbage salad, brown bread and my mother's contribution of delicious soda bread and my dad's contribution of a few rounds of rummy. The ending was particularly sweet, though. A decadently moist and rich Guinness chocolate cake and David Liebovitz's milk chocolate Guinness ice cream. To really up the ante, next time I think I'll replace a tablespoon or two of the cream with Irish cream. And yes, you only frost the top so the cake resembles a pint of Guinness.

Chocolate Guinness Cake

from the New York Times

For the cake:

Butter for pan

1 cup Guinness stout

10 tablespoons (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter

3/8 cup unsweetened cocoa

2 cups superfine sugar

3/8 cup sour cream

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

For the topping:

1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar

8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature

1/2 cup heavy cream.

1. For the cake: heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch spring form pan and line with parchment paper. In a large saucepan, combine Guinness and butter. Place over medium-low heat until butter melts, then remove from heat. Add cocoa and superfine sugar, and whisk to blend.

2. In a small bowl, combine sour cream, eggs and vanilla; mix well. Add to Guinness mixture. Add flour and baking soda, and whisk again until smooth. Pour into buttered pan, and bake until risen and firm, 45 minutes to one hour. Place pan on a wire rack and cool completely in pan.

3. For the topping: Using a food processor or by hand, mix confectioners' sugar to break up lumps. Add cream cheese and blend until smooth. Add heavy cream, and mix until smooth and spreadable.

4. Remove cake from pan and place on a platter or cake stand. Ice top of cake only, so that it resembles a frothy pint of Guinness.

Yield: One 9-inch cake (12 servings).

Jambalayah and Bread Pudding

Publish Post

With temperatures the lowest they've been in a decade here, it seemed about time to warm things up in the kitchen. Why not with a flavorful taste from New Orleans? A great end to a day with a windchill close to zero!


Jambalaya
adapted from wholefoods.com recipe

2 tablespoons safflower oil, divided
2 (12-ounce) packages pre-cooked spicy Italian chicken sausage, sliced diagonally
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 green, 1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 large onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
4 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups water
2 1/4 cups rice
1 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
3/4 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
1 (1-pound) bag frozen shrimp, thawed, tails removed
Hot sauce for serving

Method

In a large pot, heat 1 tablespoon oil over high heat. Add sausage and cook until lightly browned. Remove from pot and set aside. Add remaining oil, celery, bell pepper, onion and garlic. Cook until softened. Stir in tomatoes, broth, water, rice, thyme, salt and cayenne. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 35 minutes, stirring now and then. Add frozen okra and reserved sausage. Cook, uncovered, stirring frequently, until rice is tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Add frozen shrimp and continue cooking until heated through. Taste and season with more salt or cayenne if desired. Serve with hot sauce.

Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce

adapted from the Silver Palatte cookbook

1/2 loaf stale whole grain bagette
1 c heavy cream
1 c milk
3/4 c sugar
3 eggs
1 tbs vanilla

Slice or crumble bread in bite-sized pieces into large bowl. Soak bread in milk and cream for at least an hour. Combine sugar and eggs and vanilla in separate bowl. Once bread is soaked, pour egg mixture into bread and milk mixture, stir till combined. Pour into a well greased 8 x 8 baking pan and bake at 325 F for about an hour and 10 minutes or until browned and set.

Whiskey Sauce

1/2 c confectioners sugar
1 egg
4 Tbs butter
Whiskey to taste

Melt butter and sugar together in a double boiler over medium to medium-high heat. Once both are melted and very hot, remove from heat and add egg, stirring constantly. If the mixture gets lumpy, don't fret!* It's pretty forgiving. Add the whisky and stir till combined. Serve over warm bread pudding. Delicious!

Enjoy!


* A trick I learned from an early Moosewood cookbook saved my tukus in college the first time I ever attempted to make a custard sauce (when preparing it for over 40 people!). Use your handy-dandy food processor or immersion blender to smooth! It's that simple, and the texture comes out perfectly!

Christmas Cookies!

I've mentioned it already, but now I've finally done it! Sugar Christmas Cookies! Frosted! Of course, not terribly good for you, but a delicious indulgence of the season. Not a bad way to spend a chilly, winter-weather-advisory evening after completing your Christmas shopping, finally putting up your Christmas tree, and kicking back by the fire. These definitely fall into the soft, buttery crumble category of Christmas cookie - my personal favorite. It comes from my new mother-in-law. 2 c sugar
1 1/2 c butter
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
5 c flour
1 tsp baking soda in hot water (about a Tbs of hot water)

Mix dry and wet ingredients separately, gently mixing in the wet to the dry.

To frost:
1 c powdered sugar
2-3 Tbs milk
1 tsp melted butter
1/4 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
food coloring as desired

beat ingredients together, adding milk last - one Tbs at a time until you reach your desired consistencey. Add food coloring and play!