Cookie baker lynn

What is Healthy?

2012-01-30T07:15:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about this question for a long time. I've wanted to blog about my thoughts, but it's such a big topic that I think I'll have to break it into chunks. These thunks (thoughts + chunks) may or may not have recipes and pictures. I hate to post without those because this is, after all, a food blog, but I might have to just give you text a couple of days. Otherwise I'll obsess about getting the right food and the right pictures and I'll never get the posts written.

So, back to the topic - what is healthy?

We are bombarded with advertising that promises us health. It comes from drug companies, vitamin manufacturers, sportswear and sports equipment companies, and food manufacturers. It's a fact that "health" sells. People want to be healthy. They want to feel good. They don't want to be in pain or unable to fit in their clothes. So they are willing to spend money to attain "health."

But what is health? Is it being skinny? I don't think so. There have been some people who were really skinny just before they died. That's called starvation.

Is it being buff and fit? Again, some athletic people have made really muscly corpses. It's possible to kill yourself with exercise or steroid use.

I define health as having everything in the body working optimally, the way God created it to be.

So, how do you get healthy? Is that something that you take a pill (or a handful of pills) to achieve? Do you become healthy by buying gadgets to shake, melt, or pummel your fat into submission? Or is healthy obsessing over every bite that goes into your mouth and exercising three hours a day? The answer? I don't know. If I knew the answers, I could write the definitive book, go on Oprah, and become a gazillionaire within a week.

I do, however, know a few things that I believe to be true. If you'd like to join me on my journey toward a healthier lifestyle, keep reading. If not, check back now and then as I'll still have some evil desserts to post. I still bake treats to give away.

Changing your lifestyle, if it's going to work long-term, is a matter of baby steps. If you try to do it all at once, you'll fall and fail. But changes that can be gradually incorporated aren't as painful and are more likely to be lasting.

A big part of health is being aware of what you put into your body. Your body really is the sum total of what you put into it. You have to give it the right kind of fuel, or it won't work properly. You wouldn't pour Diet Coke into your car's gas tank and expect it to run well. In the same way, putting garbage into your body will eventually break something in your body.

So Baby Step #1 is to change you salt. Get rid of the table salt that's in your cupboard and start using sea salt. It comes with bonus minerals and is easier for your body to deal with than the stuff that's extremely processed. (Here's a nice article about why you should use sea salt rather than processed salt.) You don't have to buy Fleur de Sel (which is wonderful as a finishing salt to sprinkle on top of your food, but pricey), just a sea salt that's available in the grocery store will do.

There, wasn't that easy? Hopefully within the week I'll get back to you with baby step #2. In the meantime, enjoy life - it is a gift!

What To Eat

2012-01-19T14:49:00.000-08:00

One of the hardest parts about going grain-free is menu planning. I'm such a creature of habit that it's hard for me to think outside of my standard menu go-to's: hamburgers, tacos, and pizza.

Pizza is particularly hard as we've had a tradition in our house of having pizza every Saturday night. Ever since I learned how to make a good pizza dough, we've had pizza and a show on Saturdays. We had pizza with Star Trek- The Next Generation. We had pizza with The New Adventures of Lois and Clark. And now we have pizza with whatever we've Tivo'd (that's a verb, right?) You can see that pizza is firmly entrenched in our family culture.

So after our initial foray into grain-free eating, we approached the coming weekend with dismay. No pizza? How's that supposed to work? What do other people eat on Saturday? And what do they eat on Sundays after church with football? You have to have cold pizza for lunch! I think that's like the 11th commandment or something.

It was my grown daughter who came to our rescue. She offered up her recipe that gives full pizza pleasure without grains - pizza in chili. It's an interesting concept - take a bowl of chili and stuff all of your favorite pizza toppings into it, smother it with cheese, and enjoy it with abandon (or with a bottle of wine). It was a hit! You can easily make it to suit your tastes and preferences by changing up the toppings. And really, you don't have to wait until Saturday to have it; that's just us.

Pizza Chili

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced

1 lb. ground turkey, chicken, or beef

1 lb. spicy Italian sausage, sliced (optional)

1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 cup marinara sauce
1 28 oz diced tomatoes
1 16 ox can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

Favorite pizza toppings (olives, mushrooms, pineapple, ham, pepperoni, etc.)
sea salt, basil, oregano, thyme (to taste)
Grated mozzarella cheese

1- In a large pot, cook the bell peppers, onions, and garlic in the olive oil until they begin to sweat. Add the ground meat (and optional sausage, if using) and cook until browned.

2- Stir in the tomato sauce, marinara sauce, diced tomatoes, kidney beans, pizza toppings, and spices. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes or until chili reaches desired thickness. If it is too thick, add water.

3- Reduce heat and serve in bowls, topped with mozzarella cheese (optional but strongly suggested!).

What's New

2012-01-15T07:08:00.000-08:00

It's strange how some arbitrary things become meaningful. Birthdays that end in zero have much more importance than the rest of the decade. Anniversaries that are divisible by 5 are held in higher esteem than the others. And buying a new calendar makes us feel that somehow there's a new start; everything's new, fresh, and open to reinvention.

One of the things I've been reinventing is our diet. I'm constantly tinkering to see what will help us all be our healthiest. This past Christmas we spent passing the flu around like a White Elephant gift being regifted over and over. We were sick of being sick! So my family didn't grumble too much when I informed them that we were going to be trying something new - going grain-free and sugar-free.

Shocked? I know, me too!

How's it going? Well, it's been interesting. The refrigerator has been fairly bare as I try to figure out what we can eat in place of what we used to eat. Snacks, treats, and meals are all impacted. Empty are the bread drawer and the cookie jar. This is a hardship for the family of the Cookie Baker and former Bread Baking Babe.

My husband's standard lunch is a sandwich and some sort of chips. Well, that's not working out. Take away the bread and chips and you're left with... well ... stuff piled on a plate.

I've figured out that the job of grains is to:

1- Define portions. A taco is clearly one serving; remove the taco shells and you've just got a big taco salad.
2- Provide transportation for the meat. Ever try to eat a big double decker hamburger with all the trimmings sans buns? Sloppy mess. Speaking of which, what's a Sloppy Joe with buns? Stew!
3- Act as a filler. If you eat a bowl of rice with your stir fry, you only eat 1/4 as much of the stir fry, so it stretches further and is more economical.

Once of the hardest things to do without has been bread. No sandwiches. No toast. Nothing to sop up the egg yolk from the morning fried egg. :-(

I realized something had to give when we were at the grocery store and the bread aisle just about did us in. Rolls, loaves, wraps, pitas, and bagels. Ahhh, bagels..... So I went home and searched one of my favorite sites for special dietary needs, The Spunky Coconut. I found just what I was looking for - a bread that would be safe for out new diet. I had some pumpkin puree in the fridge leftover from a holiday flurry of pumpkin smoothies and whipped up a loaf.

I wish that I had taken a picture to share with you of my son's happy face when he saw there was bread he was allowed to have. We demolished the loaf in a day and he anxiously asked if I had any more pumpkin puree.

Pumpkin Bread

- adapted from The Spunky Coconut

1 cup pumpkin puree
4 eggs at room temperature*
1/3 cup coconut sugar (which is low glycemic index)
3 Tbsp liquified coconut oil**
1/4 tsp vanilla creme liquid stevia
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup coconut flour, sifted (don't skip the sifting!)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins

1- Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Line the bottom of a loaf pan with parchment paper and grease the pan.

2- Place all of the ingredients into a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer. (One advantage of baking gluten-free is that you don't have to worry about over-mixing and getting a tough product.)

3- Scoop the batter into the loaf pan, smoothing it to make an even loaf.

4- Bake for about 50 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest in pan for 5 minutes then remove from pan and allow to cool on a cooling rack.

Serve with butter or cream cheese.

*If the eggs are cold, it will cause the coconut oil to harden. To bring refrigerated eggs to room temperature, float them in a bowl of warm water for about 5 minutes.

** To liquify the coconut oil, spoon it into a small, heatproof bowl and set that in a larger bowl of very warm water.

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T13:05:00.000-08:00

Can it be that another year has already whizzed past? It's been a busy year. Between baking, homeschooling, vacationing, hosting cooking camps, and watching my granddaughter grow up, I haven't been posting nearly as much as I would've liked to. I'm not making a resolution of it, but I will try to be a bit more consistent in the coming year.

So here's a toast to the year gone by and the one yet to come. May the joy increase, the inevitable pains be productive, the lessons be learned quickly, and the calories not count.

I'm toasting with a glass of the best eggnog I've ever had. I've never been a big fan of egg nog. My family always got excited when the cartons showed up in the grocery store and I would buy it for them. But the gloopy texture and the odd taste didn't please my palate, so I'd pass.

But this fall a friend told me about his family's tradition of making eggnog. More specifically, Gramma made the egg nog. A gallon at a time. Every Christmas. Even on vacation.

He related how one Christmas the extended family was on vacation together in Mexico and it just wouldn't be Christmas without Gramma's eggnog. So they hiked into to town to buy the supplies for a gallon of eggnog. After hiking back with their burdens, Gramma put together the splendid libation, and they took turns stirring it for the 40-50 minutes needed to thicken it. Then it needed to sit in the refrigerator overnight to let the flavors meld. Having nothing else on hand, she poured the eggnog back into the plastic jugs that had held the milk.

The next morning, arriving back after some frolic time, they were appalled that the jugs were empty and in the garbage can. The cleaning crew told them they'd thrown the milk away since it had obviously gone bad. Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Back to town. More supplies. More stirring. Then after more chilling, the cleaners held at bay, Christmas was back on. There was eggnog at last!

If the eggnog was worth that kind of perseverance, I just had to try. And, yes, it's worth it. Light, delicious, frothy, and not overly sweet. One small glass is never enough. I've become an eggnog fan!

You could make the recipe as written, but then you'll probably kick yourself and say, "Why didn't I make more??" If you want a whole gallon, multiply the recipe by 4.

I used raw, whole milk and farm fresh eggs from healthy chickens. If you are uneasy about using raw egg whites, you can substitute powdered egg whites for that. And if you are not comfortable pouring rum into your eggnog, you can use rum flavoring (which is alcoholic, too). If there are kids at your gathering, you can put the rum on the side so adults can add their own to taste. And if anyone dislikes nutmeg, putting it on the side accommodates their tastes as well.

Gramma Jane's Famous Eggnog
- adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, 1968 Edition
serves 6 to 8

1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
1/4 tsp salt
4 cups whole milk
3 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Rum to taste
Freshly ground nutmeg to taste
1/2 cup whipping cream (optional)

1- In a large saucepan beat the 1/3 cup sugar and the egg yolks. Add salt. Stir in the milk.

2- Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture coats a spoon. It will not be as thick as a custard. (I timed it while making a gallon. This took about 50 minutes. Taking turns stirring is a good way to make it easier.)

3- Pour this mixture into a medium mixing bowl and set that into an ice bath to speed the cooling. Stir occasionally as it cools.

4- When the mixture is cooled, beat the egg whites until foamy. With the mixer going, gradually add the 3 Tbsp sugar, beating until soft peaks form (when you pull the beater out of the egg whites, they should make little mountains that floomp over at the tip).

5- Add the beaten egg whites to the custard and mix thoroughly. Add the vanilla, rum (unless you'll be serving it on the side), and nutmeg. Chill 3 or 4 hours.

6- Pour the eggnog into a punch bowl or cups. Dot with dollops of whipped cream and add a dash of freshly grated nutmeg.

Thank you Jane for sharing the recipe.

Christmas Crack

2011-12-22T07:32:00.000-08:00

It's been 4 years now since I shared on my blog the perilous substance known as Killer Crack Peanut Butter Fudge. I've been strong and resisted the temptation to make it for quite a while now, but I've gotten some terrific comments from readers who have. My favorite was this:

This is the fudge my husband rebukes, the way any good evangelical man rebukes sin, fearing and secretly lusting after it. He literally carries plates of this stuff to the neighbors so that it will not dwell under his roof, or on his waist. And yet I keep making it. The making AND the rebuking; a weird holiday tradition now.

Yes, I am all about holiday traditions and keeping it festive for my readers. With that goal in mind, I present to you my latest concoction, Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Crack. This is the evil cousin of the Killer Crack Peanut Butter Fudge. It's pretty simple to make, and yet it's irresistible. And once you've tried it, you are helpless; you simply must go back for more. And more. And....well, you get the picture.

What is it, you ask? A layer of pretzels, a layer of caramel, a layer of chocolate, and then a sprinkling of Crack. And by crack I mean sea salt. Either chunks or flakes will do, just so long as you get a nice hit of salt with every sweet, sticky, gooey, chocolatey, crunchy bite. It's seriously amazing.

I've made it three times now. The first time was just playing around with the idea, the second time was refining it and the third time was because the second pan went so fast I didn't take any pictures! And the third pan has been cut up and put into containers to be given away because I don't want my family to be in such a carb coma that they can't open presents on Christmas. But I'd better get those containers out the door quickly, or else certain unnamed family members might "accidentally" happen to pry open a container (even if it's already in a sealed box ready to be mailed) and "accidentally" fall face first into it. Not pointing fingers or naming names. I don't want to spoil Christmas. I'm just saying it's a possibility.

If you're looking for the ultimate last minute gift, the perfect hostess present, or just a decadent treat for your co-workers or yourself, this is it. Go buy some pretzels, cream, and chocolate and in a couple of hours (you can wait for the chocolate to set up, can't you?) you can be in serious salty-sweet heaven.

Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Crack

8 oz. pretzels
1 cup heavy cream
5 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup water
1-1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 lb. good milk chocolate, chopped
Sea salt (Fleur de Sel or Maldon Sea Salt are good choices)

1- Line a jelly roll pan (10-1/2 x 15-1/2-inches) with parchment paper and butter the paper. (Mine is a seasoned stoneware pan, so I skipped the parchment paper.)

2- Spread the pretzels in an even layer in the pan. Break up a few pretzels to fill in gaps as needed.

3- In a small saucepan combine the cream, butter, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat and remove from the heat. Set it aside.

4- In a large saucepan combine the water, sugar, and corn syrup. Stir gently just to combine. Be careful to not splash the sugar crystals up onto the sides of the pan. Cover the pan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. The steam from the simmering will help to wash any errant sugar crystals from the sides of the pan.

5- When the sugar is dissolved, remove the lid from the pan. Continue simmering until the liquid turns a golden caramel color. If your liquid is getting dark in one area and not in another, DO NOT STIR. You can pick up the pan and gently shake it side to side the even out the color.

6- When the liquid is golden caramel color, add the cream mixture and stir. The mixture will bubble up, so be careful. Simmer and stir with a clean wooden spoon until a candy thermometer in the mixture reaches 248 deg. F, approximately 15 min.

7- Pour the caramel over the pretzels evenly.

8- After the caramel has set, melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler. For a prettier presentation, you can temper the chocolate. (I was attempting to temper the chocolate, but got distracted, so it didn't go well, hence the artistic swirliness of the chocolate. If that happens to you, don't worry. People will think you went to an extra effort to get those swirls, so if they compliment you, just say thank you.)

9 - Spread the melted chocolate evenly over the caramel layer.

10- Sprinkle sea salt sparsely over the top of the chocolate layer.

11- When the chocolate has set up but not hardened, use a pizza cutter or a knife to cut it into squares.

Eureka!

2011-12-08T12:35:00.001-08:00

Oh, man, I thought I was all set for Christmas. All of the planning and shopping done, just wrapping and shipping left to do. Wrong. Someone went and did something amazing, transferring their name from Santa's Good List to the Most Excellent List.

When I was typing up my last post I looked and looked for the recipe. I searched in all of the likely spots -the shelves that holds my cookbooks, the other other shelves that hold my cookbooks, the other other shelves that hold my cookbooks (what do you think, too many cookbooks?) and in the magazine holders that hold all my old Bon Appetite's and other cooking magazines. I came up empty handed and frustrated. I decided that since I hadn't posted since the paleozoic era (or close to that), I'd just throw up the post as is and hope that one of my faithful readers would know just what I was talking about and be able to supply the recipe. And there were many good suggestions, but none was it.

My husband saw my frustration and quietly went on a quest. While I had given up on the recipe and had moved on to other tasks, he methodically worked his way through all the possible hiding places, thoroughly checking each one. Then, with a pleased smile of satisfaction, he set the errant Baking Sheet in front of me.

"Where did you find it?" I squealed, leaping up to kiss him. He modestly informed me that it had gotten jammed behind the magazine holders and had slipped down and gotten somewhat squashed under them. What a guy! Santa's going to have to find an extra special way to reward this good boy. Maybe something with lace....

Whole-Grain Soft Molasses Cookies
- adapted from King Arthur's Baking Sheet - Julie Christopher

1/2 cup (4 oz) applesauce
1 cup (7 oz) sugar
3/4 cup (6 oz, 1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup (3 oz) molasses
1 large egg
1/3 cup (2-1/4 oz) crystallized ginger, minced
1-1/2 cups (6-1/4 oz) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 cups (6-3/4) King Arthur Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground allspice
Sugar for dipping

1- Drain the applesauce for several minutes in a fine strainer set over a bowl to remove excess liquid.

2- In a large bowl, cream together the applesauce, sugar, and butter; beat at medium speed until well blended (about 3 minutes). Add the molasses, egg, and crystallized ginger; beat until well combined.

3- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, salt, and spices. Gradually add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture, beating slowly until blended. Chill the dough for at least an hour. If you bake it the same day, the cookies will be crispy, flatter, and chewy. If you bake on the second or third day, the cookies will be taller and softer (like in my photos).

4- When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 deg. F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

5- Scoop the dough by tablespoons and form into 1-inch balls. (If the dough gets sticky while you're working with it, pop the dough back into the refrigerator to chill it.) Dip the tops of the balls into the sugar and place them, sugar-side up, 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.

6- Bake for 10-11 minutes, until set, but still soft and puffy in the center. Remove the cookies front he oven and allow them to cool for 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to finish cooling completely.

Makes about 30 cookies.

Surprise Cookies

2011-12-05T07:03:00.001-08:00

Christmas gift giving is tricky. There is a decision to make- do you go for a big surprise, with the possibility that the recipient will not like the gift, or do you have them pick it out, making sure the size and color are correct, then wrap it and hand it to them?

I love surprises. That tingly feeling of anticipation as they hold your wrapped package in their lap, wondering what on earth it could be, not daring to hope, but hoping anyway that it might be that one thing they really wanted. The tension builds as they gently ease open the wrapping paper (or tear it off, if that's the way they roll). And then, if you shopped/planned/or made correctly, the look on their face makes it all worthwhile.

Early in my marriage I tried for surprises and they always failed. First of all because my husband has an almost supernatural gift for knowing what's inside a wrapped package. I tried wrapping a tie rolled up into a squishy ball, foregoing the standard and obvious tie box. My husband, picked it up, gave it a squeeze, and said, "Oh, that's a tie." I was quite depressed. Then I tried the box within a box gambit. He'd pick it up, shake it, listen critically, and announce the contents. Boo again. He guessed the cologne before he even picked up the box, smelling it three feet away from the tree.

Finally my husband realized that knowing what all of his presents were a week before he even unwrapped them drained Christmas morning of a lot of its fun. He now has a strict no guessing policy. He doesn't shake, squeeze, or sniff any packages under the tree. Until Christmas morning. Then he releases his inner Karnack and has a good time.

But the other reason my surprises fail is because of finances. Since he pays the bills, unless I pay cash, he knows about it. And accumulating a stack of cash isn't something I'm good at. I do many things fairly well, but none of them generate income, so I'm stuck either asking him for money to buy him a present (which he always vetoes, saying he doesn't need anything) or buying in a very modest price range.

Last year I finally managed to surprise him. I'd been saving cash in my super secret cash stash and when I found a really good deal on Amazon on something he had on his wish list, I asked my daughter to order it and handed her the cash. She kept it at her house and brought it over Christmas eve, sneaking it into the house while my husband was occupied with the grand baby.

Christmas morning he was happy, amazed, and confused when he opened his gift. He said thank you many times, then asked over and over "How did you do it?" It drove him nuts. I loved that best of all.

Today's cookies are molasses cookies. An obvious choice for Christmas time and always welcome. What's the surprise part about it? Um, (she coughs in embarrassment and nervously shuffles feet), it's the recipe. There is no recipe today. You see, I made these cookies a while ago. I've been too busy with life to stop and take pictures of stuff I've made recently, so I was really scraping the bottom of the barrel for this post. And after I'd gotten it written, I could not find the recipe. I'd helpfully written the notation that it came from a King Arthur's Baking Sheet and was Whole Wheat Molasses Cookies. So, if any of you happen to have the recipe, please email it to me and I'll post it. Till then, I'll keep looking. And hopefully I've inspired you to go bake your own favorite molasses cookie.

Please Pass The Cupcakes

2011-11-23T07:53:00.001-08:00

My memories of Thanksgiving don't match up with current reality. In my childhood, Thanksgiving was a wonderful time when we brought out the very best of everything. The linen, china, and candles made the dining table a glittering, shimmering tableau of beauty. The heavenly smells wafting from the kitchen had us all drooling with anticipation for the coming feast. My mother sternly warned us not to snack, but black olives were always pilfered from the cut glass bowl in which they resided. When the perfectly browned turkey was carried out and set on the table, and the plates were loaded up with slices of meat, great globs of mashed potatoes and stuffing, over which rivers of gravy were poured, it was torturous to sit patiently through the grace.

My current reality is that I spend 3 days baking and then collapse at the table while everyone eats. Is it just a lot more fun and special when someone else does all the work? In a word, yes. I know this to be true because this year we had two Thanksgiving dinners. (My, that does sound porky, doesn't it?)

The first dinner was an early Thanksgiving feast that we put on as a send-off for my son who's on his way to boot camp (he joined the Naval reserves). He and his wife came over to break bird with us and give thanks for our blessings. While I didn't go all out (no pies, to everyone's disappointment), it was still essentially a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

For our second dinner, we were invited to my daughter's house. She and her husband did all the work, cleaning, baking and prepping for two days ahead of time, then serving us a beautiful meal. All we brought was wine and gravy. That was much more like it! So, apparently, the key to a happy, relaxed meal is to have someone else fix it for you.

The only downside to eating at someone else's house is the lack of leftovers when you get home. Normally I hate leftovers clogging up my refrigerator, but Thanksgiving leftovers are as much a part of Thanksgiving as the main meal is. How can you properly watch a football game without a turkey-cranberry sandwich or a plate of turkey and stuffing, with extra gravy? Can it be done?

More importantly to me, what do you eat for breakfast the day after Thanksgiving if there is no leftover pumpkin pie? Pumpkin pie has squash, milk, and eggs, so what part of that doesn't say healthy breakfast to you? But if the leftover pie is languishing in someone else's kitchen, you either have to suck it up and have oatmeal, or bake your own pie. Or cupcakes.

Yes, I said cupcakes. These beauties are even healthier than pie because there's no crust. They're just delicious pumpkin pie taste in cupcake form. So there's no fussing to get straight edges when you cut a piece of pie (you pie nibblers out there know what I'm talking about!), just single-serving goodness, ready to go. Plus without having to make a crust (my pie downfall), they're a snap to make. I'd say, "easy as pie," but they're easier!

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes
- adapted from Baking Bites

2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 15-oz. can pumpkin pie puree
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup half and half or evaporated milk
Whipped cream (for topping)

1 - Preheat the oven to 350F. Line the cups of a mini muffin tin with paper liners. (You can't skip the liners, or you won't be able to get the cupcakes out neatly.)

2- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice.

3- In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla and half and half until well combined. Add in dry ingredients and whisk until no streaks of flour remain and batter is smooth.

4- Fill each muffin cup about 3/4 full. They won't really rise.

5- Bake for 11-14 minutes. Cool cupcakes in pan. They will sink as they cool.
Chill cupcakes before serving. Top with lightly sweetened whipped cream.

Makes 24, possibly a few more.

Chocolate Can't Fix Everything

2011-11-15T07:33:00.000-08:00

Every relationship that you have changes you. Sometimes the changes are subtle, like emulating a friend's hairstyle, or the way in which they answer the phone, and sometimes they are drastic, like making a career choice or moving across the country, just to be with a friend. People brush up against your life and leave their fingerprints on it.

Sometimes that might be words of wisdom that come back to you at just the right time. Sometimes it's the memory of an extravagant act of selflessness that prods you to be a better friend. And sometimes it's pieces of pain, shared in quiet moments.

One of my friends once confided in me that her marriage was loveless. Not that either cheated on the other, just that there was no emotion, no passion. I had often wondered why she married this bland man, unremarkable in looks, personality, or finances and one day posed that question to her. She responded, "Because he asked. And I didn't think anyone else ever would." I cried inside, thinking of both of them living in a settle-for, I-can't-do-any-better-than-this marriage.

Another friend was in a truly unhappy marriage. Her husband was demanding, treating her as if she were a slave rather than a cherished gift from God. He was verbally abusive to her and I often found her in tears. I offered our home as a sanctuary for her daughter so that she could drop her off if the fighting got too ugly. More than one late night she came to visit.

One Sunday I sat behind my friend and her husband in church. From the set of her shoulders I knew that she was crying. She left the service early and when I went outside, she was sitting in her car, tears streaking down her cheeks. Though her face was saying, "just leave me alone," I motioned for her to roll down the window. I took her hand and kissed it, leaving an imprint of my lipstick on her hand, a kiss to take home. It made my heart ache that I couldn't do anything to fix it and make everything better.

And what could I say to my very dear friend who's husband of 20 years drained their bank account and left her and their 4 children for the woman he'd been having an affair with for 10 years? I offered to buy her a t-shirt that says, "It's better to have loved and lost than still be married to the crazy b-----d," but that wouldn't fix it all and heal the pain of loss and betrayal.

If only chocolate could fix everything. I'd make a batch of these bars and take them to every hurting woman in my life. But some days it seems like that would be a mountain of bars. I can't do it alone. So I have a challenge for you bakers out there. Make your favorite treat, then, rather than eating the whole batch and moaning about the size of your hips, wrap them up individually in cellophane and put a little ribbon around each one. Tuck some into your purse and see how many hurting people you can find that day to give them out to. And if you run out of hurting people to bless, try just brightening someone's day. There's nothing like the smile of someone who's been randomly given a cookie!

My Heart Breaks For You Bars
(aka Thousand Dollar Bars - adapted from King Arthur Flour)

shortbread layer:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

caramel layer:

2 cups caramel, cut into small chunks
3 tablespoons heavy cream

chocolate layer:

3 cups chopped milk chocolate or dark chocolate, melted
1 tablespoon coconut oil (optional)
Crunchy sea salt for garnishing

1- Preheat oven to 300 Deg. F. Line a 9 x 13-inch pan with parchment paper, leaving enough to hang over the edges.

2- In a medium-sized bowl, beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla. Add the flour. At first the mixture may seem dry, but will come together as you continue to beat at medium speed.

3- Take the dough (it will be somewhat stiff) and press it evenly into the pan. Lightly flouring your fingertips will help with any sticking.

4- Prick the crust all over with a fork. The holes will allow steam to escape and the crust will bake evenly with fewer bubbles.

5- Bake the crust until it's lightly golden brown on top and the edges are deeper golden brown, about 35 to 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and set it aside to cool completely.

6- Once the crust is cooled, melt the caramel and cream over low heat in a small saucepan. Pour the caramel over the cooled crust and set in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to chill and firm up.

7- Melt the milk or dark chocolate slowly in a double boiler or over very low heat. If it seems very thick, add a tablespoon of shortening to thin it. Pour evenly over the chilled caramel layer and spread to cover all of the caramel. Sprinkle the sea salt over the chocolate layer. Return to the fridge until the chocolate is well set. Cut into 2" x 2" squares to serve. (The chocolate may shatter if you cut it straight from the fridge, so you might need to let it warm up just a tad before cutting.) It's best to store these bars in the refrigerator.

8- These bars can also be cut and dipped in milk chocolate to resemble Twix ® bars. After the caramel layer has chilled firm, cut down the length of the pan, splitting the bars into two long, narrow bars. Then cut each long strip into "fingers". Dip the chilled bars into melted chocolate, place on parchment paper to set, sprinkle with sea salt, and allow to set up for several hours.

(Note: It's waaaaay easier to spread the chocolate on top, rather than dipping them, but dipping gives a nice, all-over layer of chocolate that's wonderful. Either way, they're delicious. And don't forget the crunchy salt. Salt + chocolate + caramel + shortbread = fabulous. If cookies could fix problems, these would do the job!)

Lotus Eaters

2011-10-26T08:17:00.000-07:00

OK, I have to got to admit it. Once again, I've been a bad blogger. I've only put up one post this month and the month is almost gone. I was gone for two weeks, and the week before that I was packing and prepping for the trip. In the week since I've been home I've scaled Mt. Laundry, harvested the fields of suitcase regurgitation in my living room, and tried (not very successfully) to refocus our brains into work and school mode. What I haven't done is bake.

Sure, I've made bread for sandwiches and I've made dinners, but nothing that made me run for the camera and shriek, "Don't eat that yet!" I think I must have caught something in Hawaii. A bug? A virus? Or maybe just a way of life.

We noticed a peculiar phenomenon while we were there. Wherever we went we saw a certain type of person, usually a man. He would be lean, leathered, wearing minimal clothing, as though fresh out of the surf, with an unfocused quality to his gaze as he looked out at the waves.

We dubbed them the Lotus Eaters. They would sit in parks, walk down the streets aimlessly, or stand on the beach, watching the sets roll in. It was as though they had come to the islands many years ago and had been sucked into a timeless existence, living from one ride in the surf to the next, unaware of the passage of time.

Just being in Hawaii does tend to bring on that mindset. Each day is so like the one before it, with temperatures in the 80's, a light breeze coming off the ocean to cool the skin, clouds scudding across the sky, and the sound of the surf always in the background. The only difference day to day is what you choose to do with that day. Playing in the ocean, stacking rocks, watching the sunset, or just closing your eyes and smelling the plumeria.

On the drive back to the airport I kept asking my husband, "Have we really been here two weeks? Are you sure it's time to go back. It feels like only 3 days. 4 at the most!" Without that dated return flight ticket, it would have been so easy to put off the return for just a few more days. And then a few more. And I'd eventually be wandering the streets of Maui with browned, crackly skin, wearing a thong bikini, and a faraway look in my eyes.

I suppose it's for the best that we came home when we did. The thought of appearing in public in a thong bikini is enough to jolt me back to reality. I guess instead of a lotus eater I'll stick with being a brownie eater. It works for me.

These are delicious brownies that I made before the trip. The recipe is one that I've heard raves about. I had to try it, but, of course, couldn't leave perfection alone and had to add my own spin on it. They are fudgy, chocolatey, cherry goodness in a bar, much tastier than lotuses.

Baked Cherry Brownies
- adapted from Baked

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp dark unsweetened cocoa powder
11oz. dark chocolate (60 to 72% cacao), coarsely chopped
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tsp instant espresso powder
1o-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup tart dried cherries

1- Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking pan, preferably glass or light-colored metal.

2- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder.

3- Put the chocolate, butter, and instant espresso powder into a large bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter and completely melted and smooth. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water and add the sugars. Whisk until completely combined, then remove the bowl from the pan. The mixture should be at room temperature.

4- Add 3 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Ad the 2 remaining eggs and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not overbeat, or your brownies will be cakey.

5- Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture. Sprinkle the chips and cherries over the flour. Using a spatula (not a whisk), fold the flour mixture, chips, and cherries into the chocolate until just a bit of the flour mixture is visible.

6- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time. The brownies are done when a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it.

7- Let the brownies cool completely before cutting into squares. Store tightly covered with plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Note - I stored mine in an airtight glass container and a few got forgotten on the counter before our trip. When we got back, they were surprising still edible. Hey, why are you looking at me like that? When you've got a chocolate craving, you go with what you've got!

The Three S's

2011-10-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

Can you guess where I am?

Here's a clue.

Here's another clue.

Got it yet? How about this. It pretty much says it all.

Yup. I'm in Hawaii. Maui, to be specific. The sun, the sand, the surf. It's pretty fabulous. Especially knowing that back home people are breaking out their extra warm sweatshirts and snuggling up to warm mugs of tea. Here the tea is iced and we debate whether to turn on the AC or just let the ocean breeze blow through the screen doors.

We've gone snorkeling, boogie boarding, body surfing, swimming. And by we, I mean my husband and kids. I don't like getting my face wet. What? Don't look at me like that! You already knew I was weird. I anchor the beach towel and take pictures so that my daughter and husband can have something to post on Facebook.

I also excel in the shopping department. No vendor remains unvisited in my quest for Christmas presents and thank-you gifts. In case you're thinking there will be a hefty overweight bag fee at the airport, fear not, because I travel like a hippie.

I realize that most people, when on vacation, want to do as little in the kitchenette as possible. We're staying in a beautiful condo where everything is brand-new and the kitchen is gorgeous! (Contact information available on request). Knowing this, I menu planned in advance and brought along ingredients like a jar of honey, a baggie of salt, a baggie of yeast, a 5 lb. bag of King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour, and a 6 liter dough rising bucket. Yup. Hippie. I'm on vacation and I'm making my own bread, pizza crust, and hamburger rolls.

You might think that's a bit much for a vacation. Let me tell you about my hippie daughter. She and her husband and their daughter are here, too, but in a different part of the island. She started her packing and menu planning 3 months in advance. She fermented, dehydrated, and prepped food to take along, including a dehydrated scobie so she could make her own kombucha in paradise. She also carefully packed her daughter's cloth diapers (no diaper rash on vacation!), the Sweet Pea Baby and favorite blanket, her daughter's special eating time bowls and food coats, as well as coconut oil, olive oil, and spendy food supplements. Guess what happened.

The morning we were flying out my son-in-law was loading the bags into the back of the car, which was in the driveway, back hatch open. He put in the big suitcase, went in the house for another bag, heard a sound like a car door slamming, went outside with the second bag, and the first bag was gone. Someone had stopped, grabbed the suitcase, hopped into their El Camino, and sped off down the street. Seriously. Who steals a suitcase? What were they hoping for? Whatever they hoped for, I'm sure they were tremendously disappointed.

Every single thing in that suitcase was expensive, either in terms of the time spent to make it, or the cost to replace, but not one thing had street value. My chin quivers when I think of some landfill being gifted with a whole load of lovely organic cotton double-thick diapers.

But, thankfully, my son-in-law is awesome. He shrugged and said, "They didn't take anything that can't be replaced. We'll go shopping in Hawaii." And with the wonderful attitude, the trip went on, it wasn't ruined, and we're all having a grand time.

I don't have pics of the food that I made. We were too busy enjoying it to stop and take pics. Here's the dough recipe, though, in case you travel like a hippie, too, and want to have your own healthy bread on the go. I'll bet you could even enjoy it at home.

100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Makes two to three 1.5 lb loaves

1 1/2 c lukewarm water
1 1/2 c lukewarm milk (I used coconut milk)
1 1/2 Tbsp granulated yeast (1 1/2 packets)
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp salt
1/2 c honey
5 Tbsp neutral-flavored oil (I used coconut oil)
6 2/3 c whole wheat flour

1. Mix the yeast salt, honey, and oil with the lukewarm water and milk in a 5-quart bowl or a lidded, not airtight food container.

2. Using a spoon, food processor with dough attachment, or a stand mixer, mix in the whole wheat flour without kneading the mixture.

3. Cover the mixture, and allow it to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flatten on top); approximately 2 to 3 hours.

4. Although the dough can be used after it has risen and collapsed, the authors state that the mixture is easier to handle when it is cold. Refrigerate it in a lidded, not airtight container and use over the next 5 days. After the five days, put the dough in the freezer for up to 1 month.

5. On baking day, lightly grease a 9x4x3-inch nonstick loaf pan. Using wet hands, scoop out a 1 1/2-pound (cantaloupe-size) handful of dough. With wet hands, quickly shape the dough into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.

6. Drop the loaf into the prepared pan filling it slightly more than half-full.

7. Allow the dough to rest for 1 hour and 40 minutes. Flour and slash the top of the loaf using the tip of a serrated bread knife.

8. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) for 5 minutes, if not using a stone; otherwise, preheat the oven 20 minutes before baking time.

9. Place the loaf on a rack near the center of the oven. Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray and quickly close the oven door. Bake the loaf for 50 to 60 minutes or until deeply browned and firm.

10. Allow to cool completely before slicing in order to cut reasonable sandwich slices.

Back to School Blues

2011-09-27T07:07:00.000-07:00

I've been desperately ignoring it, doing my very best ostrich impression, hiding my head in the sand, but it's come anyway. Yes, school is upon us. I know for most mothers, back to school is a time of "ah, the kids go away all day and life is quiet again." For homeschoolers, though, it's a time of "oh no, my other job is starting up again!"

For some reason this year has been particularly bad. I was in such deep denial about the coming school year that I didn't even put in my school book order until two weeks before we were scheduled to start. Perhaps that was my subconscious ploy to delay - if the books aren't here, we can't do school, right? But I was foiled by my most excellent curriculum provider. They had the books on my doorstep the day we started. Grrr.

You see, I was not ready to let go of summer. It seemed like we'd barely had a summer and I wanted to continue our ambitious agenda of lazing around, going to the pool, hanging out with friends, reading trashy novels, and baking just for fun. But life intrudes and pretending to be a grown up takes precedence over play time.

So, to console myself, I made cookies. Since I'm trying to drastically cut down on sugar (see my last post), I thought I'd try these cookies. Sweetened only with fruit, they seemed to be the answer to my post-breakup prayers. But I have to be honest with you. They're a make-do cookie. You know, the kind you eat when you're desperate for something sweet and there's nothing else in the house. It's not that they're bad, but they're not amazing. If you had your choice of these cookies and the ones in the previous post, you'd pick the latter. Every time.

In fact, I even ended up chucking a few of these cookies. They'd gone moldy. My family probably figured out that if they just held firm, the sugar embargo wouldn't last and I'd come up with something more tempting. (They were right. You should see what's sitting on my counter now!) Or maybe it was because of the coconut. My family has issues with coconut.

But if you're committed to not feeding your family sugar, or if your kids have never had sugary treats, you will probably really enjoy these cookies. They are moist, the banana-chocolate combination is always a winner, and they have the added bonus of making you feel virtuous while eating a cookie. But if you're one of the parents who packs a lunch for your child to take to school, be aware that they might try to trade these away for a Twinkie. (Euww!)

No Sugar Banana Cookies
adapted from 101 Cookbooks

3 large, ripe bananas, well mashed (about 1-1/2 cups)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 cups rolled oats (not quick or instant)
2/3 cup almond meal
1 Tbsp coconut flour
1/3 cup coconut, finely shredded & unsweetened
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup chocolate chips

1- Preheat oven to 350 deg. F with a rack in the top third of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat.

2- If your coconut oil is solid, warm it up to liquid. You can use either a saucepan or just set the measuring cup into a cup of hot water. You want the oil liquid, but not hot.

3- In a large bowl combine the bananas, vanilla extract, and coconut oil. Set aside. In another bowl whisk together the oats, almond meal, coconut flour, shredded coconut, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder.

4- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips. Let the dough sit for 10 minutes to firm up a bit.

5- Drop the dough in dollops about 2 tsp each onto the prepared baking sheet, about an inch apart. Bake for about 12 minutes, until the tops are just browning. Leave on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes before removing to a cooing rack.

The Breakup

2011-09-17T12:02:00.000-07:00

Dear Sugar,

It's been a while now since we broke up, but I can't stop thinking about you. Don't misunderstand, it's not that I want to get back together; I know you're no good for me.

I remember all the reasons I gave when we broke up:

~ You don't make me feel good about myself

~ You were so controlling

~ Sometimes being with you just made me sick to my stomach

~ And, I know this sounds immature, but, you were always more popular than me. When we went anywhere together, you were the one people were interested in. I need to have friends that care more about me than you.

But even though I know we're through and I'm better off without you, the problem is that I can't stop thinking about you and all the good times we shared. Baking together in the kitchen, cozying up together at the end of a meal, and those delicious stolen moments together late at night. I'm constantly reminded of you by all the friends we have in common. And when I'm lonely or bored, I still reach for you, like a phantom limb.

What we've shared was special and magical, but it can't go on. I learned a lot from our time together, and I grew a lot, too (several pant sizes), but I have to put an end to this. I'm seeing others now. I try to fill the void with my new companions, Stevia, date puree, and sometimes I still see my honey. They don't make magic happen like you did, but it's for the best. I've moved on. I won't look back.

Well, maybe just a little. Now and then.

Missing your sweet kisses,

Cookie Baker Lynn

Post Break-Up Cookies
(aka Hazelnut & Milk Chocolate Chunk Cookies)
-adapted from Flour

Just the right balance of tender, chewy, crunchy, and sweet, these are the perfect way to get over a break up. You make the dough one day, and the next day, if there's any dough left, bake up the cookies. Two comfort foods in one.

3/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp (1-1/2 sticks plus 1 Tbsp/ 185 gm) unsalted butter, at room temp
2/3 cup (140 gm) granulated sugar
2/3 cup (150 gm) packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups (210 gm) blanched whole hazelnuts, roasted
2-1/2 cups (370 gm) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp kosher salt
12 oz (340 gm) milk chocolate, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces

1- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar on medium speed for about 5 minutes, or until the mixture is light and fluffy. Stop the mixer a few times and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

2- Add the eggs and vanilla and beat on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until thoroughly combined. Scrape down the bowl again.

3- In a food processor, pulse 1/2 cup (70 gm) of the hazelnuts until ground to a fine powder. Roughly chop the remaining 1 cup (140 gm) hazelnuts. In a medium bowl, stir together the ground and chopped hazelnuts, the flour, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chunks. On low speed, slowly blend the flour mixture into the butter-sugar mixture. Mix just until the flour is totally incorporated.

4- For best results, scrape the dough into an airtight container and let it rest in the refrigerator overnight (or at least 3 to 4 hours) before baking.

5- When you are ready to bake, position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 deg.F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

6- Using a medium cookie scoop (about 2 Tbsp) make dough balls and drop them onto the prepared cookie sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Flatten each ball slightly with the palm of your hand.

7- Bake for 9 minutes, or until the cookies are golden brown on the edges and pale and slightly soft in the center. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 to 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies to the rack to cool completely.

Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. The unbaked dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

(As always, the quality of your cookie won't surpass the quality of your ingredients. Make sure your hazelnuts are not stale or rancid and use good quality chocolate. I loved the Guittard I used in these.)

Semi-Amazing

2011-09-02T07:02:00.000-07:00

Very often I feel inadequate. When I look at the jobs I have to do, they seem like huge mountains to scale and for my Everest assault I'm equipped with only a fork, a paper bag, some dental floss, and I'm wearing shorts, a tank top, and flip flops.

Then I make the mistake of looking to my side. There are herds of other women, sure-footed as mountain goats, decked out in climbing gear from REI, managing to make it look as easy as a walk in the park as they nimbly navigate life's hazards, leaping from rock to rock, ascending at a dizzying pace.

My biggest personal mountains are in the areas of my job (homemaking) and the raising, training, and teaching of my children. I meet amazing women, or read their blogs, and think, "My gosh, where does she find the extra 36 hours per day to be in a book club, do inventive crafts with her children, redecorate her bedroom, learn Italian, run marathons, publish a book, raise all their own food in the garden, play an instrument beautifully, can everything that grows, cook delightful, inventive, and healthful dinners every night, sew her own designer wardrobe, and still keep her home immaculately clean?"

I compare myself to that and I just want to crawl onto the couch with a bowl of pudding, pull a blanket over my head, and give up. I'm not ever going to be that amazing, so why bother trying?

I used to have hope that one day I'd be amazing, that one magical day it would all come together. My house would be spotless, my children would be on track in their schoolwork and would start reading the encyclopedia, just for fun. Since everything at home was under control, I could shed the stained sweat pants, put on a cute outfit, and go out with girlfriends, not dreading the inevitable phone call of "When are you coming home? They're trying to kill each other and if they don't succeed, I'll do it for them!!"

But I've come to the conclusion that's not going to happen. I once had a friend (one of the amazing kind with perfect, mannered, homeschooled children and a spotless home) come over to my house for the first time. In shock she surveyed the debris of toys, socks, books, projects, shoes, dress-ups, and dog hair coating the living room and she said, "You must be really good in bed. My husband would never put up with this!"

So I started a blog. A happy little corner of life where I could feel amazing. But I'll let you in on a secret. Just in case I might have you fooled, I'm still not amazing. Did you ever wonder why almost all of my pictures are close-ups of the food? Yes, partly it's to show the tantalizing texture of the food. But mainly it's because It's a chore to find more than 2 square feet of table or counter that's clear of stuff.

And the food? Some of it is original, but most of it I just copy. I hang onto the coattails of someone who's truly amazing and hope some of it will rub off on me. Like today's recipe. It is amazing and comes from a woman who is also amazing, Janelle. She has a beautiful blog where she chronicles her life and cooking adventures, Talk of Tomatoes. Fabulous photos, wonderful recipes, and lovely writing. Sigh. (Oh, sorry, just comparing myself again.)

I met Janelle at the food blogger's dinner I attended in the spring. We were each to bring something to share and she brought some red pepper jelly. Ohmygosh, it was love at first bite. Spread on a cracker with some chèvre, it was addictively good. My husband, after his third cracker, said, "You have got to get this recipe!"

Janelle, being an amazing person, already had it posted on her blog, making it super easy for me to copy her. And my family loves me for it. I didn't have any chèvre cheese, so I used cream cheese on flatbread crackers. Oh, heavens, it's good! Hot, sweet, salty, creamy, crunchy - it's a sensation overload for the mouth. You barely finish the first cracker before you're reaching for the next.

I put off making this jelly for months, thinking it would be really difficult and time consuming. It's not. It's super easy. In fact, next time I make it (which will be soon), I'm going to make up a big batch. I think jars of this will be my new favorite Christmas present to give!

The next time you want to appear like you have it all together, use a snow shovel to get all the junk out of the living room, vacuum (vacuum tracks are important, they make it look like you clean regularly), and then serve this jelly with cream cheese on crackers. After the first bite, no one will care that you're only faking it.

Spicy Red Pepper Jelly
- from Talk of Tomatoes
makes about 2 small jam jars

1 cup finely chopped (OR quickly pureed) bell red pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 1/3 cup white vinegar
2 tsp calcium water from POMONA PECTIN*
1 1/2 tsp pectin from POMONA PECTIN*
2 1/3 cup white sugar

*(I found Pomona Pectin at Whole Foods. It's pricier than standard pectin, but each box makes 2 to 4 recipes, and it's a natural citrus pectin that allows you to use less sugar in your jams and jellies. I love it! The calcium water is included in the packet; it's not something you have to buy separately.)

1. Wash and rinse jars; let stand in hot water. Bring lids to boil; let stand in hot water. Read through the insert with the pectin, if you haven't used this brand before.

2. Either mince or puree peppers in a food processor. Place in medium saucepan with vinegar and red pepper flakes. Bring to boil, stirring occasionally, then let simmer 5 minutes.

3. Add calcium water to pan. Stir well.

4. In small bowl, combine pectin powder with 1/2 cup sugar (scoop the sugar out of the 2-1/3 cups sugar you already measured).

5. Bring pepper mixture back to a boil, stir in pectin-sugar blend to dissolve. Then add remaining sugar. Stir vigorously to dissolve, once it boils, remove from heat.

6. Fill jars to 1/4inch from top. Wipe rims clean. Screw on lids. Boil 10 minutes in hot water bath. Remove and let cool. Label.

For gift giving, tie red ribbons around the neck of the jar, add a pretty piece of cloth under the ring, or make a gift basket with crackers, chèvre or cream cheese, and a bottle of wine. (Just a few ideas I picked up from other people.)

Over The Top & In The Middle

2011-08-30T08:10:00.000-07:00

It would have been wrong for the cookie baker to have a cooking camp and not bake cookies. So it was that for the last edition of cooking camp, we made cookies. And since it was the last one, we went all out, making cookie-stuffed cookies.

Short Friend was once again camping, (what is it with this obsession with camping? Nature is fine in it's place - outdoors. That doesn't mean that we need to be in it's place. But I digress.) so Tall Friend again brought his little sister to share in the fun.

These outrageous cookies caught my eye on Pinterest. They're basically a stiff chocolate chip cookie dough wrapped around oreos. The result? A mammoth cookie that's got great taste, contrasting textures, and a fun surprise in the middle. Really, what's not to love? Plus, as a bonus, shaping the cookies involves playing with your food. It's like playdoh that you're allowed to eat. (But we did have to cover that once you lick your hands, you MUST go wash them. I think we had to cover that several times.)

We also covered some cookie-making basics (stuff that I covered in this post). It was all pretty simple stuff. The only tough part was keeping the kids from snacking on the oreos. I'd gone to great trouble to search out and purchase sandwich cookie without hydrogenated fats (well, it wasn't great trouble. They were on an end cap at Whole Foods. I saw them and grabbed them.) Another member of my family had already found the package and opened them and before I killed him, I hastily counted the cookies remaining. Ah, just enough with none to spare (but the family member's life was spared). I put the precious remaining cookies in a zip-loc bag and hid them. Yes, sometimes a baker has to do that to protect the ingredients.

Forming the cookies was everyone's favorite part. You take two balls of dough, sandwich the oreo in between, and smoosh (a highly technical baking term), then add dough as necessary to cover and seal in the sandwich cookie. The resulting dough mounds are plopped onto baking sheets, cooked, and tasted, I mean cooled on wire racks.

The verdict? Thumbs up! We ate cookies with our lunch and watched an educational baking video, Tangled, which covers the importance of cast iron frying pans.

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
3-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 package chocolate sandwich cookies (preferably without hydrogenated fats) (or 24 cookies, if your husband finds the package and snacks on them)

1- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat.

2- In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugars with a mixer until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

3- In a medium bowl mix together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring just until combined. Add the chocolate chips when there are still traces of flour showing.

4- With a medium cookie scoop, form balls of dough. Place a ball on either side of a chocolate sandwich cookie. Smoosh together and seal up the edges so the cookie is totally encased in cookie dough.

5- Place the dough balls on the prepared baking baking sheets and bake for 13 minutes, or until the tops are set and the edges begin to brown.

6- Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

I'm Going Nuts

2011-08-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

When I was little I couldn't see the point of the newspaper. (I understand that with the internet, no one sees the point of a newspaper now, but this was way back when.) Why would anyone want to start their day looking at depressing pictures of war, stories of crime, and horrible economic news? The only part of the paper worth anything was the comics page. While my parents drank nasty coffee and read their awful part of the paper, my sisters and I would eat our sucrose flakes and squabble over who got to read the funnies first. (Although, really, including Mary Worth, Apartment 3G, and Judge Parker in the funnies was odd, because they were never funny.)

Once the comics were mined for their nuggets of humor, all that was left was the puzzles and little filler sections. One of those fillers was a column called Ask Andy. Andy was, apparently, some sort of genius, because he had answers for every question that was mailed in to him. Or, he printed the questions that he knew the answer to and pitched the rest. Either way, I was always trying to come up with a great question to send in so I could see my name in print.

The questions that were printed were on the order of "Why is the sky blue?" and "How do snakes move in the sand?" I'd come up with a stumper and run it by my dad, the physics professor. He encouraged my enthusiasm for scientific enquiry, hoping I'd grow up to be a super science nerd, too. Sorry to disappoint, Dad.

I never got a question printed. I don't remember that I even mailed in a question. My dad always had the answers. It could be that he was smarter than Andy.

One question that would be worthy of sending in to Any would be "why don't seeds and nuts sprout in the shell?" And the answer to that question leads to the kitchen.

Nuts contain high amounts of enzyme inhibitors. That's the reason that eating a lot of nuts can make your tummy feel unhappy. God put the enzyme inhibitors there to keep the nuts from sprouting prematurely, trying to make a new plant when it's not even in the ground. That's a good thing. But having those enzyme inhibitors in your tummy is not a good thing.

So how do you make nuts a happy thing for your digestive system? The same way that God does. Soak those suckers. When you plant a seed and wait and wait and WAIT for little green bits to poke through the ground, what's happening underground is germination. Part of that process is the seed (or nut) getting wet enough long enough for the enzyme inhibitors to be neutralized so that growth can happen.

In my kitchen this translates to a big bowl of saltwater on the counter with a batch of nuts having a pool party in it. I soak the nuts, drain, then dry either in the oven or food dehydrator. (Good information on how to soak various types of nuts is in this post.) After they're dried till crispy, I put them in a zip-loc bag and store them in the freezer. I often carry a small bag of walnuts in my purse as a snack to keep my blood sugar level even. When I offer them to friends (it's rude to snack without offering to share, my mother told me), I'm frequently told "No, thanks. I don't like walnuts." Then when I encourage them to try my soaked nuts, they're amazed at the difference. No bitter taste! No heavy feeling in the tummy! It's wonderful how simple soaking changes them so much.

Once you try soaking nuts, I doubt you'll go back. And once you've fallen in love with the new and improved flavor of walnuts, you'll want to try this recipe to showcase their great taste. These bars are sticky, crumbly, gooey, loaded with nuts, flavored with honey and are absolutely delicious. Plus they're super easy to make. So get soaking and baking!

Walnut and Honey Bars
- adapted from The Cookie Book

1-1/2 cups (6 oz) all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 cup (4 oz) butter, diced

filling:
scant 3 cups (11 oz) soaked and dried walnut halves
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup (2 oz) butter, melted
1/4 cup (2 oz) light brown sugar
6 Tbsp dark clear honey
2 Tbsp light cream

1- Preheat oven to 375 deg. F. Lightly grease an 11 x 7-inch baking dish.

2- In a food processor, combine the flour, confectioners' sugar, and butter and process until the mixture forms crumbs. Pulse, adding 1 to 2 Tbsp water till it makes a firm dough.

3- On parchment paper, roll the dough out into a rectangle to fit the bottom of your baking dish, 11 x 7-inch. Flip the parchment paper over the baking dish, peeling the dough off to line the bottom of the baking dish. Trim and fold the took edge inwards.

4- Prick the base thoroughly with a fork. Line it with foil and weight the foil with baking beans or pie weights. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the beans and foil, return the dish to the oven, and bake another 5 minutes, until cooked, but not browned. Remove the pan and reduce the temperature to 350 deg. F.

5- Sprinkle the walnuts over the base. Whisk together the remaining filling ingredients. Pour over the walnuts and bake for 25 minutes.

6- Place the pan on a wire cooling rack to cool completely before slicing.

Butt Wait, There's More

2011-08-20T09:18:00.000-07:00

Warning: this post contains material pertaining to bottoms. If you are easily offended, or just want something more delicious than what I'm offering today, I suggest you click on to the the next blog.

Bottoms, also known as buns, are the topic of the day. But if I said buns, then you'd go looking for a tantalizing bread product, preferably dripping with sugar and cinnamon. Now that I've got your mind on that track, check out this post, then join me back here.

You back, cinnamon roll in hand? Good. Now we can get to the bottom of today's issue. Buns. I mean bottoms.

Most people probably don't think about bottoms much. Unless you're trying on jeans, or working out, or at the pool, or ice skating (I tend to fall down a lot), or....OK, maybe people do think about bottoms a fair amount. But the people who think about buns a whole lot are new parents.

Doing diaper changes every couple of hours (or minutes, depending on the little one) gives a concerned parent the opportunity to assess the state of their child's buns all day long. Are they smooth and healthy or are they covered in an unsightly, painful rash?

As a new parent I didn't know any better than what advertising told me, so when my precious little bundle of joy got a bad diaper rash, I reached for the Desitin. People, that stuff is nasty. It's basically zinc oxide. It stuck to his poor, fragile skin and to the diaper, so when I next changed the diaper, it pulled off a layer of skin. Ouch! It made a painful problem much, much worse!

After that horrible experience I did some searching for natural alternatives and found a wonderful ointment made with herbs. It soothed, it healed, and it didn't have any nasty chemicals in it. But it was also expensive. So I set about trying to make my own version.

The main ingredient in the ointment is comfrey. Comfrey is a member of the plant family known as "weed." But a useful weed. It contains allantoin, a cell proliferant (meaning it encourages cells to grow and spread). For blistered buns, this means swift healing. Hooray!

Now comes the part of the post where you get angry at me. I've sold you on comfrey and now you want to know where to get it. Well, I get mine in my sister's back yard. Her house used to be owned by a naturopath who grew a medicinal herbal garden. Plus, due to a stream running through the property, local regulations mandate that no chemicals be used in the yard. So it's organic, plentiful, and cheap!

If you do an online search, there are several places that sell organic comfrey seeds. If you don't have the space or inclination to grow your own, you can also order comfrey oil. But that can be spendy. Finding your own source and making your own is the thriftiest way to go.

Once you've located comfrey, you need to turn it into comfrey oil. This is so easy, it's ridiculous. You soak it in oil. That's it. Then you add whatever thickening and soothing agents you'd like, and, hey, presto, Bun Goobies!

Bun Goobies? Yes, we like to name things weird names. We also like to make up lyrics to known tunes and possibly sing them at diaper changing time. Here, as an added bonus for today's post, are the lyrics to the diaper changing song, sung to this tune.

Diaper Changing Song

Puttin' on the bun goobie goobies on
Puttin' on the bun goobie goonies on
Puttin' on the bun goo-oobies

I put the goobies on the buns
Cause you are my honey bun
I don't want your buns all sore
So I'm putting on more and more

(Freestyle for the rest of the song or the rest of the diaper change, whichever ends first.)

Bun Goobies

Fresh, organic comfrey leaves
Olive Oil (doesn't need to be fancy or expensive)
A clean stone (optional)
Cheesecloth
Strainer
Beeswax, grated
Cocoa butter (optional)
Coconut oil (optional)
Calendula oil (optional)*
Essential oil for fragrance (optional)
Baby food jars

Rinse and towel dry the comfrey. Into a clean jar (I like to use a quart canning jar), cram as much of the comfrey in as you can. Pour the olive oil into the jar slowly, allowing it settle into the spaces between the leaves.

It's important to keep the leaves submerged under the oil. Leaves that aren't covered can start to mold. If that happens, you'll need to toss it all and start over. To prevent that from happening, place a well-washed stone on top of the leaves to keep them from bobbing up above the surface. Also, filling the jar to the top with oil discourages mold growth.

Place the jar in the sun and leave it there for one to two weeks (depending on how warm it is). If sun is unavailable to you (hello Northwest weather), you can place it in a food dehydrator or an oven on low for 4-24 hours.

When the oil is done it will be green with a strong, funky smell. Funky like comfrey and oil, not funky like decay. Line a sieve with cheesecloth and place it over a bowl. Pour the oil into it and allow it to drain into the bowl.

The first time, just allow gravity to do all the work. This is the first "pressing". Set that oil aside. For the second "pressing," use a wooden spoon to mash the leaves, pressing all the oil out that you can. This results in a darker oil, but it's still good. Throw the comfrey leaves onto your compost heap.

In a saucepan over low heat gently heat the oil. To each cup of oil, add 1/4 cup of grated beeswax. Stir until the wax is melted. At this point you can add any of the optional oils. Be aware that adding extra oils will change the consistency and you might need to increase the amount of beeswax that you use.

Check for proper firmness by placing one tablespoon of the mixture in the freezer for just a minute or two. Test the firmness and adjust if necessary. To make it firmer, add more beeswax; to make it softer, add more oil.

When you're satisfied with the consistency, remove the salve mixture from heat and immediately pour into clean baby food jars.

Label and store in a cool dark place. It will last for months, even years.

It's an awesome baby shower gift and it's also useful as an all-around first aid ointment.

* You can make calendula oil the same way as the comfrey oil, if you have access to organic calendula. I recommend growing your own. They're a lovely, cheerful flower, and the petals make a very soothing oil.

Cool and Creamy, Sweet and Dreamy

2011-08-17T07:15:00.000-07:00

Although the general purpose of Cooking Camp is to have fun, I do try to incorporate some specific skills into each week's lesson. This week my band of happy little campers were to learn about working with chocolate. I'm not any kind of an expert, but since I have done tempering and dipping a few times without disastrous results, that's enough of a knowledge base to be able to pass along. The key to being a teacher is being at least one step farther along than the student, right?

To showcase our tempering skills, I picked peppermint patties, those delightful confections with a cool peppermint center surrounded by the snap of dark chocolate. Mmmmmmm.

The campers were excited to try them, but it was a bit difficult to get them to focus on the task at hand. I don't have many photos of them doing actual cooking tasks as they were constantly distracted by iPods, conversations, Words With Friends, and general goofiness. Trying to get three teenagers who are best friends to focus on a task is kind of like herding cats or juggling jello. I'm so glad I don't work in a high school!

I tried a new recipe for the patties because this one didn't require the overnight air drying of my previous recipe. The peppermint filling was a bit stickier than I was anticipating, but once dipped, it was the creamiest, most delicious I'd ever had.

The tempering process ended up being a bust as far as a learning moment. Because it was a fairly warm day, the chocolate took a long time to cool and the campers cut short their kitchen time to go to the ice skating rink. Hey, I understand. Summer's short and you have to pack in as much as you can. So while they skated, I dipped, and they got to take home a bag of the most amazing peppermint patties you can imagine. Not the most beautiful (I've previously discussed my dipping skills), but what they lacked in glamour, they more than made up for in taste.

If you love peppermint patties, you've got to try these! They are wonderful on their own, but would also be amazing if you put them in brownies or ice cream; however, there are no guarantees you'd be able to keep them from just being eaten the day they're made.

Best Ever Peppermint Patties

2 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 1/2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
1 T butter
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar, for kneading and rolling
10 ounces 70%-cacao bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Beat 2 1/4 cups confectioners sugar with corn syrup, water, peppermint extract, butter, and a pinch of salt using an electric mixer (with paddle attachment if using a stand mixer) at medium speed until just combined. Knead on a work surface dusted with remaining 1/4 cup confectioners sugar until smooth. Roll out between sheets of parchment paper on a large baking sheet into a 7- to 8-inch round (about 1/4 inch thick). Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes. Remove top sheet of paper and sprinkle round with confectioners sugar. Replace top sheet, then flip round over and repeat sprinkling on other side.

Cut out as many rounds as possible with cutter, transferring to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Freeze until firm, at least 10 minutes. Meanwhile, gather scraps, reroll, and freeze, then cut out more rounds, freezing them.

To make chocolate coating:

Melt three fourths of chocolate in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Don't let the temp get over 120 deg. F. Remove bowl from pan and add remaining chocolate, stirring until smooth. Cool until thermometer inserted at least 1/2 inch into chocolate registers 80°F.

Return water in pan to a boil and remove from heat. Set bowl with cooled chocolate over pan and reheat, stirring, until thermometer registers 88 to 91°F. Remove bowl from pan.

Balance 1 peppermint round on a fork and submerge in melted chocolate, letting excess drip off and scraping back of fork against rim of bowl if necessary, then return patty to sheet. Coat remaining rounds, rewarming chocolate to 88 to 91°F as necessary. Be sure to work in small batches. You need to keep the chocolate in the right temperature zone and the filling as close to frozen as possible. Once the filling warms up it goes all limp and is difficult to keep on your dipping fork. Let patties stand until chocolate is set, about 1 hour.

In warm weather, store in the refrigerator.

Makes about 2 dozen

Note: In warm weather, the longest part of this process is waiting for the chocolate to cool down to 80 degrees. You can plan your work around this. Perhaps start with the melting of the chocolate, then making the peppermint filling as the chocolate cools.

Birth Day Cake

2011-08-10T16:26:00.000-07:00

I recently had a birthday. It was a very good day with lots of well wishes, cards, presents, and a cake. But it started me thinking about what an odd thing it is to celebrate your birthday. You are queen (or king) for a day with no chores, no hassles, just your choice of cake, your choice of dinner, and presents (at least, that's how it works in our family.)

So what is it the birthday girl (or guy) did to deserve all this attention? Arrive. Yup, that's basically it. You just show up, take a breath, and all of a sudden you're a super star. But who made it all possible? Who put in the work to make it happen? That's right, the mother. 9 months of pregnancy, up to 3 days of labor, excruciating pain, possible surgery, and she gets nada.

Why doesn't the mother get the credit and recognition every year? She's the one who should get the cake. She should also get to retell the birth story every year, in graphic detail, including how long the labor was, how much it hurt, and how many stitches were required. And the baby that she birthed should give her a thank-you gift every year.

Since my mother lives in another state, I couldn't share my birthday cake with her. Which is too bad, because it was really nice. I usually go with a chocolate overload cake, but this year I wanted something a little lighter. I had some nice, ripe mangos on the counter, so I chose a recipe that combined layers of sponge cake with a delicious mango mousse. Topped off with fresh mango puree, it was lovely.

Sorry you couldn't have a slice, Mom. Thanks for giving me life. Oh, and there's a little something for you at The King's English. :-)

Mango Mousse Cake
- adapted from Sky High - Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes

Cake:
6 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/3 cups cake flour
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and slightly warm

Rum Syrup:
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup light rum

Mango Mousse:
2 cups diced mango, from 4 or 5 mangoes
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup plus 1-1/2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp unflavored gelatin powder
2 Tbsp light rum
1 cup heavy cream

1- Preheat the oven to 350 deg. F. Line the bottoms of three 8-inch cake pans with rounds of parchment paper. Place a large bowl and beaters from a hand-held electric mixer in the freezer.

2- Place the eggs in a large heatproof bowl. Gradually beat in the sugar and the vanilla. Set over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly until all the sugar dissolves and the eggs are warmer than body temperature. Remove from the heat and, with the mixer on medium-high, whip the eggs until very fluffy and stiff enough so that a slowly dissolving ribbon forms from the dripping batter when the beaters are lifted.

3- Sift the flour and return it to the sifter. Carefully sift about a third of the flour over the top of the eggs. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold it in. Repeat with the remaining flour, folding just until blended evenly. Drizzle the melted butter over the batter and gently fold it in. Divide the batter between the three prepared cake pans.

4- Bake the layers for 12 to 14 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the pans to wire racks and let the layers cool completely in the pans. To unfold, run a butter knife around the rims to gently release the edges of the cakes. Tap them out gently and remove the paper on the bottom of each layer.

5- In a small saucepan combine the sugar, lime juice, and water for the rum syrup. Cook over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Boil until the syrup is reduced to 1/2 cup. Remove from the heat and add the rum.

6- Place the mango chunks in a medium saucepan. Add the water, bring to a simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 10 to 15 min. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.

7- Transfer the cooled mangoes, along with any liquid in the pan, to a food processor or blender. Puree until smooth. Remove 1/2 cup of the mango puree, stir in 1-1/2 Tbsp of the sugar, and set aside for garnish. Place the remaining mango puree in a large bowl.

8- Put the gelatin in a small glass or ceramic dish. Add the rum and let soften for about 5 minutes. With a microwave on low, heat the gelatin until dissolved, 10 to 15 seconds.

9- Whisk the gelatin and remaining 1/3 cup sugar into the mango puree until the sugar dissolves.

10- In the large chilled bowl, whip the cream until stiff. Using a rubber spatula, fold the cream into the sweetened mango puree.

11- To assemble the cake, place one cake layer on a cake stand or serving plate, flat side up, and soak it with 1/4 cup of the Rum Syrup. Spread one 1/3 of the Mango Mousse over the layer evenly. Repeat with the second cake layer, using another 1/4 cup syrup and another 1/3 of the mousse. Add the last cake layer. Soak this with the last of the syrup and mousse. Chill for about an hour, to allow the mousse to set up. Garnish with chopped mangoes, if desired.

Cooking Camp - The Sibling Edition

2011-08-06T17:23:00.000-07:00

The original invitees to Cooking Camp were Serena, Tall Friend (TF) and Little Friend (LF). The plan was to meet every Friday through the summer and have them learn new kitchen skills and techniques. That plan was derailed when LF had to go out of town for 3 weeks. So the second Cooking Camp was smaller. Which actually was just as well because it involved lots of caffeine. We made coffee ice cream and iced coffee, and the three of them amped up on caffeine might have been more than my kitchen could handle.

This week, to add a little zip to the mixture, we invited the younger siblings. TF's little sister, SF (Short Friend), and Serena's little brother, Samuel, (Samuel) made guest appearances. They were both thrilled to be invited to be part of the cool kid crowd. They were also thrilled that we were making cinnamon rolls. And not just any cinnamon rolls, but monster cinnamon rolls.

We talked about yeast and how to wake it up, we covered gluten and a bit about the different types of flours (why you don't use bread flour for cakes, and vice versa), and they also learned a super cool trick for cutting rolls with dental floss. (Slide a length of floss under the roll, bring the ends of the floss together and cross them to pinch off a perfect circle.)

Also, they learned the importance of not interrupting the teacher when she's counting out loud the number of cups of flour being added to the dough. And the importance of resisting the temptation the chime in with random numbers to "help" the counting. And that "the magic of television" works much better if the dough made the previous day, rising in the refrigerator overnight, gets pulled out an hour ahead of time to come to room temperature. (Oops! Cold dough is really difficult to roll out.)

Then while the rolls baked, they got in a game of Calvin Ball Croquet. So, another successful Cooking Camp in the bag!

Monster Cinnamon Rolls
- makes 24 generous rolls

Dough:
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup milk
3/4 cup plus 1 tsp sugar
1-1/4 tsp salt
7-1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
5 large eggs
8-1/2 - 9-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Filling:
1 cup sugar
1/2 c. butter
3 Tbsp ground cinnamon

Icing:
2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
enough milk to make glue-like consistency, about 2 Tbsp.

1- For the dough, heat the butter with the milk, 3/4 cup of the sugar, and the salt in a small saucepan until the butter is melted. Set aside to cool. (If you are using raw milk, heat till small bubbles appear around the edge of the pan. Scalding the milk destroys the enzymes that interfere with the yeast growth.)

2- In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water, add the remaining tsp sugar, stir, and set aside for 10 minutes, until the mixture is bubbly. Add the lukewarm milk mixture and the eggs and beat until well combined.

3- Add the flour a cup at a time, stirring and using enough flour to form a stiff dough. Turn out on a floured board and knead until smooth and satiny, approximately 10 min. (or place in the bowl of an electric mixer and knead with a dough hook until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl, approximately 5 min. I have a 5 quart KitchenAid and the dough burbles up and wraps around the dough hook, so I need to scrape it down frequently).

4- Place the dough in a very large buttered bowl, turn to butter the top, and allow to rise, covered loosely with a kitchen towel, in a warm place until doubled in bulk, approximately 1 hour.

5- When the dough has doubled, punch it down and divide it in half. Roll one half out to a large rectangle, about 12" x 24".

6- Butter two 9 x 13 baking pans. For the filling, melt the butter. Spread 1/2 the butter evenly over the surface of the dough. Combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle 1/2 of it evenly over the melted butter. Roll up the dough lengthwise, pinching the dough together to form a seam when rolled. Cut the dough log in quarters, and then each quarter in thirds. If you are particular about pretty rolls, trim off the ends. Place the rolls in a buttered 9 x 13" baking pan. Repeat with the other half of the dough. Cover the rolls loosely with a kitchen towel and allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

7- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake the rolls for about 20-30 minutes or until puffed and browned. Mix the icing ingredients and drizzle over the rolls. Allow to cool to room temperature on racks (if you can).

If you prefer a cream cheese frosting:

Combine 1/2 lb. cream cheese, softened with 1/4 cup whipping cream and 1 tsp vanilla extract until smooth. Add 3-4 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted, blending until smooth and soft, not stiff.

Optional:

If you want to "pimp up" your rolls, you can throw raisins, chopped nuts, coconut, or your favorite exotic ingredient into the filling.

Deliciously Repurposed

2011-08-01T07:44:00.000-07:00

Leftovers are the bane of my existence. I hate having bits and bobs, odds and ends from cooking projects cluttering up my counters, cupboards, and refrigerator. A half a bag of teff flour, 3/4 cup of alphabet pasta, and an amazing amount of egg whites interred in their tiny plastic coffins in the refrigerator are just a few of the things that make it hard to put away groceries. I have so many leftovers, that it's hard to find a place for actual food.

Cooking camp, although it was a lot of fun, did have the aggravating side effect of producing more leftovers - a whole pan of marshmallows. I didn't want my kids to just hork down the whole pan as I'm not tall enough to be able to reach the ceiling to peel them off of it, were they to consume that much sugar. So, what to do with a pan of marshmallows?

Recently on Pinterest I saw a delicious idea - s'more truffles. Leftover marshmallows seemed like a great excuse to make truffles. I played around and came up with my own recipe and they were delicious! I put little mini-muffin papers into an egg carton and sent some to work with my husband, some to youth group with my daughter, and gave some to visitors that stopped by. And the few that were leftover? Well, I'm not crazy enough to complain about leftover truffles!

S'more Truffles

1 lb. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp espresso powder
Homemade marshmallows
powdered sugar
1 packet of graham crackers, crushed into fine crumbs
1 lb. milk chocolate

1- Place chopped chocolate in medium heatproof bowl.

2- Combine whipping cream and espresso powder in medium saucepan. Bring cream mixture to simmer over medium-high heat, whisking occasionally. Pour cream mixture over chopped chocolate; let stand 1 minute, then whisk until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

3- Place the chocolate mixture into the refrigerator to cool and thicken, about 2 hours.

4- Using kitchen shears, cut the marshmallows into the size of mini marshmallows. Dip the shears in powdered sugar frequently to keep them from gumming up. Rolls the mini marshmallows in the powdered sugar to keep them from sticking to each other, then shake off the excess sugar.

5- Place the graham cracker crumbs into a shallow bowl. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

6- Remove the thickened chocolate from the refrigerator. Using a small scoop (about Tbsp size), scoop up a ball of chocolate, smoosh a little marshmallow into the center, cover it over with chocolate, and drop the chocolate ball into the graham cracker crumbs, rolling it to coat it completely. Place the ball onto the prepared tray.

7- Repeat with the remaining chocolate and marshmallows. As soon as a tray is full, place it into the refrigerator. If you're working in a hot kitchen, you might need to work with only a portion of the chocolate at a time, keeping the rest in the refrigerator to stay firm.

8- Allow the chocolate balls to firm up in the refrigerator, from 1 hour to overnight.

9- Use the milk chocolate to dip the chocolate, following the tempering instructions in this post.

Store the truffles in the refrigerator.

Cooking Camp

2011-07-25T11:14:00.000-07:00

This spring I saw a brochure for a kitchen store that does cooking classes. They listed a summer cooking camp for teens that ran for a week. My daughter and I loved the sound of that, but not the price tag. $385. Seriously?? I can cook. I can teach. So I decided to have Cooking Camp in my kitchen for my daughter and a couple of her friends.

Since we have multiple schedules to juggle, we're shooting for once a week, and since I do desserts, the theme of the camp is "Desserts!" Each week we cover a different skill and make a treat that the kids can take home.

The first week we handed out binders for the recipes, went over kitchen rules (I think I broke all but one the first day), and made marshmallows. Teens and marshmallows. What was I thinking?

I walked them through making a sugar syrup, using a candy thermometer, using gelatin, whipping marshmallows, and then, through the magic of television (I made a batch the day before so I could pull out the finished product like they do on cooking shows), I cut a pan of cooled, dried marshmallows for the kids to cut and roll and powdered sugar.

Then, to insure that they were fully sugared up, we roasted marshmallows over the gas stove (note to self: shake the powdered sugar off before putting the marshmallow over the burner), and made s'mores.

First cooking class - I'm not sure how much they learned, but I give it an A+ for fun!

Definitely In The Top Three

2011-07-20T06:49:00.000-07:00

Recently I saw an online discussion about the question, "If you had to get rid of all but 10 cookbooks, which would you keep?"

Seriously? How would I even begin to answer that question? It would be easier to pick which child to keep. Some days that would be really easy choice, depending on who's annoying me the most that day.

My cookbook collection has spilled out of the kitchen, overflown the bookshelf into the dining room, taken over a bookshelf in the living room, and has satellite locations in the guest room (which, technically, is the Lego room). The cookbooks are a chronicle of my kitchen adventures, starting with the Joy of Cooking, the first cookbook I got as a newlywed. The tomes span the years of beginning cookery, my forays into Chinese cuisine, my excursion into low-fat land, and my decadent rebound phase when I embraced the butter. Since beginning blogging, the collection has grown quickly. When I saw three or more bloggers enthusing about the same cookbook, it went onto my Amazon wishlist, and I was just a click away from owning it. It made gift-giving occasions really easy for my husband.

Although he enjoys gifting me with cookbooks, husband has suggested many times that perhaps I could do a little judicious whittling. Nothing drastic, just get rid of a couple of cookbooks that I haven't opened in years. What? That's crazy talk! I might need that one recipe I have bookmarked or that one cool chart on substitutions or cooking times as related to altitude.

Although it would be a Herculean struggle to whittle it down to only 10, I might be able to do it. But I agreed with one of the discussion commenters who said, "You can have my copy of Baking when you pry it out of my cold, dead fingers."

Baking, From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan is a classic. It's beautifully laid out, covers a huge range of baking categories, has fabulous recipes, and is sprinkled with charming anecdotes from Dorie. I have given it as a gift several times, and I know it would definitely make my 10 To Keep list.

Why the unpaid advertisement for Baking? Because I heart Dorie and I was reminded again of how great her recipes are when my husband asked for some cookies to take to work. I hadn't tried this recipe before (astoundingly!), but Dorie didn't fail. They're amazing cookies. Half cookie, half candy bar, all delicious! One of the co-workers exclaimed (with mouth full), "Oh my gosh, these are so good! They're like food bars, only tasty." And another, who has recently lost a lot of weight, asked for a very small sliver to taste. After savoring that morsel he asked politely that the pan be moved out of his reach, so his hand wouldn't wander over and snag a few bars on its own.

So if you ever see a copy of Baking at a yard sale or the thrift store, buy it. But you won't find one there. Because anyone who owns Baking loves it and is going to hang onto it!

Chocolate Oatmeal Decadence Bars
- adapted from Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Oatmeal layer:
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (you can sub out 1-1/4 cups with white whole wheat flour)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups (firmly packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup salted peanuts, coarsely chopped*

Chocolate layer:
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup moist raisins**
3/4 cup coarsely chopped peanuts, preferably salted

*I didn't have salted nuts, so I used plain, raw peanuts and added 1/4 tsp. salt to the batter. If you use a chunky sea salt, if will give hits of salt, rather than an all-over salty flavor.

**If your raisins are not moist, place them in a small bowl, cover them with very hot water, and let them soak for 15-20 minutes. Drain briefly on a paper towel to remove excess water.

1- Preheat oven to 350 deg. F with a rack in the center of the oven. Butter and 9 x 13-inch baking pan and put it on a baking sheet.

2- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

3- In the large bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until it is soft and creamy. Add the brown sugar and beat for 2 minutes, then add the eggs one at a time, beating for a minute after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

4- Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear. With a rubber spatula, stir in the oats and chopped peanuts.

5- Remove 2 cups of the batter to a bowl and set aside. Put the remaining dough into the buttered pan. Gently and evenly press the dough over the bottom of the pan. Set aside while you prepare the next layer.

6- In a heatproof bowl combine the condensed milk, chocolate chips, butter and salt. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until the milk is warm and the chocolate and butter are melted. Remove the bowl from the pan of water and stir in the vanilla, raisins and peanuts.

7- Pour the warm chocolate over the oatmeal crust, then crumble the remaining oatmeal mixture over the top. There will be gaps between the oatmeal clumps, and that's OK.

8- Bake for 25 to 30 min, or until the topping is golden brown and the chocolate layer is dull and starting to come away from the sides of the pan. Place the pan on a cooking rack and cool for about 2 hours.

9- Refrigerate the pan for at least one hour before cutting. You can either cut them in the pan or remove the whole block of goodness to a cutting board to cut.

Cut into 32 rectangles, about 2-1/4 by 1-1/2-inches.

Treat Food That's Really a Treat

2011-07-17T06:08:00.000-07:00

Becoming a parent transforms the way you look at the world. As you clutch your newborn baby to your chest, the world becomes, in the blink of an eye, a frightening place, fraught with lurking dangers. Things which you never gave a thought to, prior to childbirth, now seem ominous. A staircase is a place of peril, with the possibility of tripping and falling ever before your eyes. The person sneezing in the grocery store might be spreading killer germs. Driving down the freeway with your infant strapped into the carseat brings on visions on car crashes and fiery death as you struggle to rescue that new, precious, helpless bundle. Why do you think there are so many cars on the road with Baby On Board signs?

As your child grows, you continue to keep a part of your heart in his or her body, cringing at every stubbed toe, bleeding at every scraped knee, wishing desperately you could protect him or her from all harm.

I think that parents of kids with food sensitivities have it even tougher than regular run-of-the-mill parents. A friend of mine discovered her son had a violent allergy to peanuts when a day care worker wiped the face of a boy who'd eaten a peanut butter sandwich and then used the same cloth to wipe her son's face. His face inflated like a playground ball! Panic!!

Always on guard, vigilant against what might be lurking inside a "treat" that's given to your child, early on you have to teach them the litany of "I can't have" foods. What a blessing, then, to find some "I CAN have" treats. Especially if you don't have to go to a specialty bakery and pay $6 a muffin for it!

The obvious solution for kids with special dietary issues is to make it yourself. Then you know exactly what went into it, you know it's safe, and if you find the right recipe, you can also make it delicious. (And, trust me, not every $6 muffin is delicious!)

I recently made these as a thank you for a super sweet mom who took my son for a week to a Vacation Bible School. Her son has gluten, soy, and egg allergies. She shared them with some other moms of food-issue kids and they all clamored for the recipe, so I'm bumping it up to the head of the posting queue.

I had a muffin before I gave them away (I can't give away untested food - it might be nasty!) and they are really good. Not just in a "not bad for gluten-free" way, but truly good. Moist, tasty, studded with blueberries, with a good texture, not gluey or brickish. Even if you're not going gluten-free, you'll enjoy them!

GF, Egg-free Blueberry Muffins
- adapted from The Spunky Coconut

1 cup almond meal flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour (the same thing as tapioca starch)
1/2 cup coconut flour
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 tsp baking powder*
1/2 cup dried blueberries
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 tsp xantha gum or guar gum (they're interchangeable; the xanthan gum is more expensive)
1 Tbsp flax seed meal
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup milk (substitute coconut milk if dairy is an issue)
1/2 tsp Vanilla Creme Liquid Stevia
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup coconut oil, liquified

*If corn is an issue, you can make your own baking powder. Substitute 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp cream of tartar, 1/2 tsp tapioca starch.

1- Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Grease a 12-well muffin tin.

2- In a medium bowl combine the almond meal flour, tapioca flour, coconut flour, baking soda, baking powder. Whisk together to break up any clumps. Stir in dried blueberries.

3- In a bowl combine the applesauce, guar gum, flax meal, and apple cider vinegar. Make sure there are no lumps.

4- To the applesauce mixture add the milk, stevia, honey, and coconut oil. Stir well.

5- Divide the batter between the muffin cups and bake for about 22 minutes.

They are delicious warm, or you can let them cool on a cooling rack.

Party Paranoia

2011-07-13T08:01:00.000-07:00

For the most part I am a fairly rational person. I can look at situations and think through the possible outcomes, arriving at conclusions supported by data, probability, and experience. There are, however, a few cases that defy logic. Heights, spiders, and birthday parties.

We recently visited Hoover Dam. Did you know that thing is freaking tall? And that above it they've built a brand new bridge that spans the gorge? And that unwary fools can walk out onto that bridge, cluelessly taking pictures, seemingly unaware of the perils posed by the combination of strong, gusting winds and extremely high bridge? I suppose they just think logically that, hey, if it was dangerous, people wouldn't be allowed to walk out there, right? Or that since thousands of people have done it before without dying, the odds are that they'll survive. I know all these things, and yet I just can't get my brain beyond, "high, windy, slipping, falling, plummeting to certain, splatting death below."

It's the same with spiders. I've been through the exhibit at the zoo, designed to soothe the arachniphobe with informational plaques about the harmless, beneficial spiders, placed right next to the case containing the "HOLY COW! There's no glass on this case! That huge, hairy spider could jump right out and land on my face!! What kind of place is this, putting innocent kids at risk?!! Someone give me a shoe so I can smash that thing!!" My husband had to escort me out and put a paper bag to my face so I wouldn't hyperventilate and pass out. (If I had, I'm sure the spiders would have rushed out and dragged my body away to be wrapped in the spider equivalent of Tupperware to be sucked dry at a more convenient time.)

Perhaps you're wondering why birthday parties might fall into the same category as heights and spiders. Let me clarify - it's not all birthday parties that reduce me to a quivering wreck, huddled in a corner, rocking and sobbing. Just the birthday parties that I have to put on for my children.

My first two children were born in the same month and it ruined that month for me. I dreaded having to put on their parties and the dread swallowed up the whole month in a cloud of worry, guilt, and dread. (Yes, I know I've said dread 3 times, but I really, really dreaded those parties.)

First of all, there was the question of theme. What would be fun? What would be different? What wouldn't break the bank? And what would make all the kids happy? I've done basket weaving, tie-dyeing, card making, nail decorating, American Girl doll, and several piñatas. There's been playland, beach, pool, and backyard parties. I've done theme cakes till I see Pixar toys in frosting in my dreams.

Through all my years as a party planner, I've learned that the key to happiness is low expectations. I no longer do huge shindigs. We alternate friend party years with family party years. And I strive for the lowest stress possible. For my youngest son's birthday we invited friends to come to the pool. I brought cupcakes and watermelon slices. They swam, opened presents, and ate cupcakes. Ahh, the sweet smell of another birthday party over!

I ended up making three different kinds of cupcakes. I wanted to make minion cupcakes, not because they fit so naturally with a pool party theme, but because they're cute. So I made Twinkies, doubling the recipe, and making cupcakes with the rest of the batter. Then I made strawberry cupcakes, because I had strawberries in the fridge that needed to be used up. Then I made chocolate gluten-free, egg-free cupcakes for a guest with special dietary requirements. After all, what fun is it to go to a party and not be able to eat cake?

Today you get the strawberry cupcakes and next time I'll give you the chocolate speciality recipe. So you'll be doubly prepared next time you're called on to throw a party. Do not fear, they're easy to make and even with lousy decorating skills like mine, you can still wow the crowd.

Strawberry Minion Cupcakes
- adapted from Sky High, Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes

1/4 lb strawberries, hulled and halved
2-1/4 cups cake flour
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
2-3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 large egg whites
1/3 cup milk

1 batch of Twinkies (preferably homemade)
1 batch of your favorite buttercream frosting
Smarties - yellow and white ones
Edible food pen
Thin black licorice ropes, or black gel paste food coloring

1- Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Line cupcake pans with 18 cupcake liners.

2- Place strawberries in a food processor or blender. Process till no lumps remain. Measure out 3/4 cup puree and set the rest (if there is any) aside for smoothies or pouring over ice cream or french toast.

3- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

4- In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter. When it's fluffy, add the strawberry puree.

5- Add the dry ingredients and blend until light and fluffy (the batter will be very thick).

6- In another bowl, whisk together the egg whites and milk to combine. Add the whites in three parts to the batter, mixing only until incorporated after each addition.

7- Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full. Bake 18 to 22 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

8- Let cupcakes cool in the pan 10 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

9- To assemble the minions, cut the Twinkies in half. With the edible food marker, draw around the outside of 1/2 the Smarties and color in a circle for the eyeball. Then glue together pairs of Smarties with frosting. When the frosting has dried and the goggles are stable, use frosting to glue the goggles to the Twinkie halves. If you like, for some of the minions, use a single goggle, instead of a pair.

10- If you have the licorice, cut small lengths to use as goggle holders, smiles, and hair spikes. I didn't have licorice (my husband can tell you precisely how many stores in a 5 mile radius of my house don't carry it), so I used an ample amount of black food coloring gel with a small portion of the frosting to do the smiles and goggle straps. We had to make do with bald minions.

11- Frost the cupcakes and plant the minions into the frosting.

Reduced Guilt Brownies

2011-07-09T06:50:00.000-07:00

I am a horrible packrat and I know it. I blame it on the Great Depression.

Wait, you think I lived through that? No, even though a big birthday is coming up I'm not THAT old. My grandparents lived through it. My father's parents raised two kids and pinched pennies till they screamed for mercy (the pennies, not the kids) while the country suffered through profound economic turmoil. They raised a lot of their own food in the garden, made it themselves or did without, and never, EVER threw anything away. Because, after all, you might need it again.

The Bible says to train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. Can you guess something about my father? Yes, he's a packrat, too. His workshop is a museum of projects past and present. Old sports equipment, broken bits of jewelry, dried paint cans, and scraps of lumber. You never know what you'll find in there, because, after all, he might need that again.

I have to fight this tendency in my own life. The most difficult things for me to part with are magazines (I can't just throw away a Bon Appetite, for goodness sake! I might want to cook one of those recipes. Someday. If I remember it. And can find it.), cardboard boxes (what if I need to mail a package, what will I put it in if all the boxes are promptly put out in recycling like my husband prefers?), and, of course, food.

There is tremendous guilt attached to unused food. There are children starving in Bangladesh! How can I just casually toss out leftovers just because no one wants to eat it? My refrigerator is stuffed with plastic food coffins, waiting for the lids to bulge so that I have permission to throw the contents away. No shame in throwing away bad food (except for letting it go bad in the first place).

An obvious solution comes to mind. When I get a cardboard box, I need to ruthlessly clean out the refrigerator, put it all in the cardboard box, and mail it to Bangladesh. My husband would be happy since the boxes wouldn't be piling up in the garage. I'd be happy because my refrigerator would be clean. And Bangladesh, well, can I pretend that my leftovers will bless them? Maybe if I tuck in a Bon Appetite, that will make up for the rainbow sheen on the ham and the slightly furry quality of the bread.

The best way to avoid leftovers is to plan ahead. If you're making a big recipe, invite company over, or freeze half of the recipe. And if you know a recipe calls for part of an ingredient (half a green pepper, 1/3 of a jar of sauce, etc), menu plan so that the next night you use up the rest of it.

When I posted about making bean dip, I promised you a way to use up those extra beans. Bean salad is a good choice. Tossing them into chili or a soup? Another winning idea.

But, me being me, I like dessert. Bean brownies. The beans replace the flour, so these are a nice option for the gluten-intolerant among us. The brownies are super moist and delicious. No one that I've served them to has been able to guess what the secret ingredient is. Plus, they're so easy, that they take next to no effort to make. All that, plus the warm happy glow of not having leftovers turning slimy in the refrigerator. Bonus!

Black Bean Brownies

1-1/2 cups cooked black beans
3 eggs
3 Tbsp coconut oil
1/4 c. cocoa powder
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup date puree (directions to make your own in this recipe)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp instant coffee powder
1 cup (6 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips, or coarsely chopped semi-sweet chocolate (divided)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (soaked and dried)

1- Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Grease an 8 x8 -inch pan.

2- Into the bowl of a food processor, put beans, eggs, coconut oil, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla, date puree, sugar, instant coffee, and 1/2 cup of the chocolate chunks. Process until smooth.

3-Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup chocolate and nuts over the top. With a rubber spatula, gently press on the chunks till they are all submerged under the batter.

4- Bake for 35 to 40 min. The edges should be baked and the center set. Let cool completely. But if you like oozy, messy chocolate, especially served with vanilla ice cream, cool slightly and then cut (or scoop) it.

It's For The Children

2011-07-01T09:06:00.000-07:00

Long ago, when I was pretty new at parenting, I bought my son a can of Chef Boyardee ravioli as a treat. It wasn't something I would normally buy, but I thought as a special splurge I'd get it for him. He wouldn't eat it and I initially was angry. I'd bought it as a treat, why wouldn't he eat it? Then I tried it and I could see why. It was nasty!

For some reason we, as a society, reserve some of our nastiest foods for our children, and then we package them up as special treats. Canned, frozen, packaged, or fast food - if you look at the ingredients list you realize that we are feeding the least developed and most vulnerable bodies the most repulsive and often harmful foods.

I used to purchase food (or foodlike items) without a thought as to the ingredients and the effect they might have on my kids. After all, if it wasn't safe for kids, it wouldn't be sold for kids, right? Right?

Actually, the onus is on parents to safeguard their kids. It's up to us to read labels, be informed, and make good choices for our children. The companies who sell snacks loaded with hydrogenated fats, high fructose corn syrup, and artificial flavors and colors aren't going to go out of their way to let you know the health threat their products pose to your kids. They are in business to make money, not to do your job for you.

With cartoon characters (you wouldn't believe some of the stuff I've bought just because it had Mickey or Donald on it!), catchy jingles, toys, and ads with cute, laughing kids, advertisers try to lure unwary parents into buying foodlike products for their tykes. And if you're not convinced that it will make your children happy, they show you how much easier your life will be if you just open a can, pull it out of the freezer, or go through the drive-thru.

But what are you really buying? Is it nutritious? Is it going to help their growing bodies? Or is it even food? This short (about 4 minutes) clip shows how to make chicken nuggets and also how advertising has brainwashed our kids.

So what's a mama to do when her chilluns clamor for fast food? Make her own, of course!

My daughter is doing her best to meet the nutritional needs of her daughter in the healthiest way possible. Her research has shown her that including organ meats in the diet of a toddler is extremely important for growth and development. That's good to know, but how on earth do you get a toddler to eat liver? Hide it in nuggets! If it works for nasty chicken paste, it works for healthy chicken livers, too.

See how much my granddaughter loves them? Seriously, she gets so excited when her mommy makes her chicken nuggets. She'll yum up three in a meal (and she's a tiny person). Because it's chicken liver, not beef, it's got an easy texture for a person with three teeth to handle. It's good for her, it's easy to fix, and she loves it. What could be better?

Now if you're inspired to try this for yourself, just be sure you get organic chicken livers. The liver is a filter organ and you don't want to eat what's in a non-organic chicken's body!

Real Food Chicken Nuggets

Organic chicken livers
Organic psyllium husks
Grated Parmesan cheese
Pepper
butter

1- Cut the livers up in to baby hand holding size. Rinse them off.

2- Combine the psyllium and cheese on a plate. Sprinkle some pepper over the mixture. Dredge the livers in the psyllium mixture.

2- Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Fry the nuggets, turning to cook on all sides.

How easy is that? Lots less trouble than getting in the car, driving to a take-out place, and then having lots of trash to deal with. Plus look at the happy consumer! That's advertising that doesn't lie.

Milk Gone Wild

2011-06-27T07:51:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much to all of you who took the time to comment on my last post. It was very encouraging! I haven't abandoned the blog; I've just been busy with day camp at church and letting ideas percolate. I'm ready to hit you with my first hippie post!

The elementary school I attended was set up in an unusual way. Outside the old stone building was the standard playground with monkey bars, tetherball poles, and four-square lines painted on the cracked blacktop. There was also a large field area with a diamond for playing kickball (or my version, trip over the ball), and a track (on which one could barf up a lung running the 600). This area was separated from the school by a very busy 4 lane street.

I'm not sure which brilliant planner thought that was a good idea, but they avoided having to scrape little kids off the street by installing a tunnel under the street. On each side of the street was an entrance with doors that could be locked, stairs that descended to a dark, dank tunnel, and stairs that led to freedom on the other side. Well, relative freedom. The misery of sports awaited on one side and the purgatory of math and spelling tests waited on the other.

I digress.

The point was that the tunnel was a closed environment. And the worst thing imaginable was if a child, say one hurrying to run home on a Friday afternoon, dropped his or her milk carton in the tunnel. And it stayed there all weekend, leaking, and getting nasty. The first kids to use the tunnel on Monday morning were hit by a wave of stomach-turning putrid milk smell, and there was no escaping it. You had to hold your breath and run all the way across, hoping that no tender-tummied child added their morning bowl of Lucky Charms to the odor melange. Because if one did, they all did. And that smell would merit hazardous duty pay to the poor janitor who got to go down there to clean it up.

I've had that smell memory in my mind all these years and it was with amazement that I learned that milk doesn't necessarily go bad when it's left unrefrigerated. It's only pasteurized milk that putrifies. Raw milk, milk which hasn't been pasteurized, will sour, but it's not the same stomach-heaving smell that I associate with kick ball.

My daughter, queen of nutrition research, started telling me about raw milk and it's benefits last year. She told me about how pastuerized milk is not good for you, and convinced me to try raw milk. I was initially skeptical. Isn't pasteurization a good thing, done to protect milk drinkers? Won't drinking raw milk make me sick? After some research and a little logical thinking, I realized that people have been drinking raw milk a lot longer than pasteurization has been around. If raw milk was deadly, people would have stopped drinking milk altogether.

(Caveat - to be healthful, raw milk must come from grass-fed cows that are healthy. If you drink the milk that is destined for pasteurization before it's pasteurized, that's very risky. Much lower standards of hygiene are called for in non-raw milk dairy cows, and those cows can have antibiotics, growth hormones, or pus in their milk.)

There is friendly bacteria in raw milk which is really important for gut health, and those friendly bacteria do some amazing things. When raw milk has soured, you can leave it at room temperature and something magic happens. The milk separates into two layers, one semi-solid, and one clearish. The clearish layer is whey and it is chock-full of fabulous bacteria which can be used to lacto-ferment.

What is lacto-fermenting? Basically it is letting the friendly bacteria convert the starches and sugars in food into lactic acid. This preserves the food and makes it tremendously beneficial to your gut health, as well. I have previously lacto-fermented, even though I didn't know I was doing it. Yogurt is lacto-fermented milk!

My first attempt at lacto-fermenting with my raw milk whey was this fabulous bean dip. This is one of the times I long for the advent of scratch and sniff technology for computer monitors. Pictures of bean dip just don't adequately convey the full tangy, garlicky allure of this dip. One scoop of it on your favorite chip or veggie and you'll quickly come back for more. You'll just have to trust me and try it.

If you are not fortunate enough to live in a state where raw milk is available (don't get me started on a rant about why our government thinks that staging raids on Amish dairy farmers who sell raw milk is a priority for our tax dollars!), you can use the liquid that separates from yogurt as your fermenting agent.

Lacto-Fermented Bean Dip
- from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon

2 generous cups black beans (you can also use kidney, pinto, or white beans)
warm, filtered water (Chlorinated tap water will kill your helpful bacteria)
2 Tbsp whey or lemon juice(not necessary for the other types of beans)
1 onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
4-6 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp sea salt
4 Tbsp whey

1- In a large bowl, cover beans with warm water. The water level should be well above the beans, as the beans will absorb water and swell. Stir in the whey or lemon juice, and leave in a warm place 12-24 hours.

2- Drain, rinse, place in a large pot and add water to cover the beans. Bring to a boil and skim off the foam. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 4-8 hours. Check occasionally and add more water as necessary. The beans are done when they will mash easily.

3- With a slotted spoon, scoop out and measure 3 cups of the beans. (Save the rest of the beans in liquid, covered, in the refrigerator and I'll tell you next post an idea on how to use them.)

4- Place the onion and garlic into a food processor. Process until well chopped. Add the 3 cups cooked beans, sea salt, and whey. Process until smooth. Place the bean purée into a 1 quart glass jar, leaving at least 1-inch of headroom at the top. If you have extra bean purée, put it into a smaller glass jar, leaving at least 1-inch headroom.

5- Cover tightly with a lid and leave at room temperature for about 3 days. If your room temperature is on the coolish side, place the jar in a warm spot. I have under-cupboard lights which make an ideal warming spot inside the cupboard.

6- Check the jar daily. At first there will be no signs of activity. After 2 to 3 days, you should start to see little pockets forming in the purée. As the pockets grow, the level of the dip rises. If it starts rising dramatically, it can force liquid out of the lid, so keep an eye on it and scoop some out to another jar, if you need to.

7- Once the dip has fermented, transfer it to the refrigerator or cool storage. Enjoy with your favorite chips or veggies, spread it inside a taco, or eat it by the spoonful!

Out Of The Closet

2011-06-16T06:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was at Costco and I ran into a friend of my daughter's. She commented that I hadn't been writing much lately. Um, yeah.... sorry about that.

First of all, I've been on vacation. We went to a friend's condo at Lake Las Vegas and soaked up Vitamin D for a week. It was awesome and I highly recommend it.

Secondly, I've been running out of steam on the blog for a while now. I feel like I'm in a death spiral of no motivation = fewer postings = less feedback = no motivation.

And thirdly, and most importantly, I've changed. I've been blogging for four years now and in that time the way I cook, what I cook, and the way I look at food has changed a lot. A lot of the food in my earlier postings I just wouldn't make today.

It's been a combination of exposure to other food bloggers and my daughter's relentless quest to learn about nutrition that has led me to this point. And now I feel it's time to come out of the closet. Here's the big reveal.......I'm a suburban hippie.

I buy organic. Whenever possible I make food myself. I have jars of strange food/science projects on my counter and in my cupboards bubbling, fermenting, and growing strange pond scum on top. And most importantly, as it relates to my blog, I've cut way back on sugar. The cookie jar is frequently empty. I only bake when I know I'll be able to give most of it away, as I've become convinced of the negative health consequences of eating lots of sugar.

This might seem like a weird detour in my life, if you only know me superficially, but it's actually a logical progression. I've always had quite a bit of hippie in me. My babies were all midwife-attended births, 3 of them at home. I've washed enough cloth diapers to fill a landfill (but they don't). I nursed my babies an average of 2 years (Sarah brought the average down quite a bit, and I apologize for that, honey). My primary care physician is a chiropractor. It's only logical that I should start to care about the quality of food that I put into myself and my family.

What does this mean for Cookie Baker Lynn? I had thought about having a complete blog overhaul, maybe changing my name to My Hippie Kitchen (already taken), and focusing only on the weird things I'm experimenting with in my kitchen. But really, I'm still me. And I still love to bake. So it's going to be a mix. Some of the evil white sugar stuff I'm known for, as well as some of my hippie living stuff. And I'll throw in some health and nutrition rants occasionally, just to see if I can't shake off those two remaining commenters.

So, before you delete me forever from your RSS feed, what do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

New and Improved

2011-06-06T05:56:00.000-07:00

I'm something of a cynic. When companies advertise a product as "New and Improved!!," it always smacks to me of a desperate attempt to palm off a shoddy piece of goods, claiming, "It's not nearly as nasty as it used to be!" If it wasn't broken in the first place, why fix it?

There are some recipes in my repertoire that I would never dream of tinkering with. Why mess with perfection? But sometimes, life happens and where before you had perfection, you now have something you never dreamed possible - an improvement.

I've been struggling with what to do for my kids' teachers for a year-end thank you gift. I homeschool my kids (and, no, I'm not looking for an excuse to buy myself another cookbook), but I also take them once a week to a homeschool co-op. The excellent teachers who've been trying all year to instruct my children deserve at least a little thank you.

It wasn't until the last day of class that I decided what to do. Cookies. (Well, duh, I really should have thought of that weeks ago.) I woke up early and assessed that I had enough time to bake a batch of my Fabulous Brownie Cookies. They're easy and have a good effort to results ratio. So at 5:30 in the morning I'm melting chocolate, measuring flour, getting the eggs out, and, oh, giant leaping dust bunnies! The recipe calls for 4 eggs and I only have 3!

A quick internet search provided multiple options for egg substitutions (most of them nasty), but fruit puree sounded promising. Since I'd had such good results using date puree in these cookies, I decided to go with that. A quick 20 minute soak of the dates, pureeing with my hand-held blender, and I was back on track.

We have to be out the door at 8:00 and at 7:30, the kids were scarfing down breakfast while I was stamping white paper bags, stuffing them with cookies, tying on bows, still in my pajamas. Miraculously, we made it out the door on time. And the cookies? Really good. In fact, really, really good. Still deliciously rich, chocolatey, and brownielike, but with an added depth of flavor and an extra oomph of texture, these are clear winners. So I guess new and improved doesn't always mean "less nasty." Sometimes it really does mean "more fabulous!"

Even More Fabulous Brownie Cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 large eggs
3 Tbsp date puree*
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups chopped pecans, toasted

*Directions for making your own date purée here.

In a large, heavy saucepan combine butter, unsweetened chocolate, and 1-1/2 cups chocolate chips. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until butter and chocolate melt; set aside and cool.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl; set aside. Beat eggs sugar, and vanilla in a medium mixing bowl at medium speed with an electric mixer. Gradually add flour mixture to egg mixture, beating well. Add chocolate mixture; beat well. Stir in remaining 1-1/2 cups chocolate chips and pecans. I used my medium scoop (1-3/4" across) to drop blobs of dough (about 2 Tbsp) 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Don't overbake - the cookies should just loose their sheen on top, but still be moist. Let them set on the cookie sheets for a few minutes (they will continue to bake a bit), then remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

strawberry rhubarb crisp

2011-06-01T06:07:00.000-07:00

In the 4th grade my teacher asked the class how many of us had grandparents living. I was one of the few in the class to raise my hand for having all four living. (Yes, I know, many people now in the age of blended or redefined families have 16 or so people they call grandparents, but back then, 4 was the normal maximum.) Many of my friends had only 1 or 2 grandparents living and this made gave me a strange impression that grandparents were ephemeral creatures who might at any time disappear without warning.

I decided that since time with the grandparents was obviously fleeting, I'd better invest in the relationships as much as was possible. Given that we all lived in different states, I started a letter writing campaign. I strove to write to my grandparents at least once a week, although it ended up being probably closer to once a month.

I would write long, chatty notes about what I was doing in school, my tough homework assignments, my dance classes, the boys I thought were cute, the onerous camping trips we went on, my bouts of stomach flu, and the funny things the dog did. In return I'd get nice, fulsome letters detailing their gardens.

Their letters would give status updates on the runner beans, how the tomatoes were coming along, and the awful things that late spring cold snap had done to the apricot blossoms. I decided that being an old person meant your life was extremely boring and you had nothing to live for except your garden.

My sister and I shared this view of gardening obsession and nodded knowingly to each other when our father's letters started being mainly garden-related. Yes, he was turning into an old person. Sure he can grow beans, carrots, and tomatoes like nobody's business, but it's kind of sad when you have nothing else to write about.

Then my sister and I were exchanging emails this past week, catching up on our schedules, the weather in our respective states, and how said weather was affecting our....gardens. Yes, it's true. We're old people now, too.

Luckily, I still have challenging, bewildering, frustrating, amazing, frustrating, and wonderful children to give me things to think about besides my garden. I say luckily because I'm a lousy gardener. Anything that goes into the ground is on its own out there. It had better be tough, hardy, and able to withstand unarmed assaults by armies of slugs. (Well, they don't have arms, do they? Just nasty, slimy feet and voracious, munching jaws.)

When my grandchildren write to me, I'm sure they'll be thrilled to hear back from me the details of how the blueberries, oregano, and rhubarb are doing, because that's all that survive my harsh gardening techniques (plant it and ignore it). Hopefully, they won't even have to have me write about it. If they live close enough, they can come over and pick blueberries to munch, oregano to put on a pizza, and rhubarb to put into a crisp. Because, really, wouldn't you rather eat from a garden than hear about it?

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

4 cups fresh rhubarb, 1-inch diced (4 to 5 stalks)
4 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
1 cups granulated sugar, divided
1 Tbsp Stevia Extract (not pure Stevia)*
1-1/2 tsp grated orange zest
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 cup all-purpose flour (you can substitute 1/2 with white whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup quick-cooking (not instant) oats
12 Tbsp (1-1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced

*I buy the kind that's cut with lactose for table use. It's available at Trader Joe's. If you can only find pure Stevia, use about 1/4 tsp.

1- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees with rack in the center of the oven.

2- Toss together the rhubarb, strawberries, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, stevia, and the orange zest in a large bowl. In a measuring cup, dissolve the cornstarch in the orange juice and then mix it into the fruit. Pour the mixture into an 8 x 11-inch baking dish and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper to catch drips, in case the crisp bubbles over.

3- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, the remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar, the brown sugar, salt, and oatmeal. With the mixer on low speed, add the butter and mix until the dry ingredients are moist and the mixture is in crumbles.

4- Sprinkle the topping over the fruit, covering it completely, and bake for 1 hour, until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden brown. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Flutterbyes

2011-05-28T06:11:00.000-07:00

They say that April showers bring May flowers. That's true, but just because a month flips over on the calendar, it doesn't mean that the rain stops around here. So what do May showers bring? Babies!

Just over a year ago I blogged about making a small wedding cake for my daughter's maid of honor. The first year of marriage has gone so well that I was invited to help with the food for her baby shower!

The mum-to-be has a nursery beautifully decorated with a Classic Pooh theme. The challenge with that is that Classic Pooh is no longer in vogue. Good thing she's an ebay diva and my daughter is queen of the thrift stores. Between them they've been able to score crib bedding, stuffed animals, books, wall hangings, and a pile of baby outfits with Pooh bear and friends on them.

My contribution? I made a sling (a necessity for new mothers, in my opinion). But it was my younger daughter who brought the biggest smile to her face. When Serena was born, her nursery was also done in Classic Pooh. So Serena passed along the framed print of Christopher Robin and friends gathered around a table for a party that had hung over her crib. I love recycling, especially when it brings so much joy!

And for the food, I was thrilled to have an excuse to buy yet another cake pan. This one makes a flock of butterflies (which, according to Wikipedia's page on collective nouns should be a rabble of butterflies). Very spring-timeish and very Pooh Bearish.

I came up with a recipe for a moist cake (I hate dry cupcakes!) and then was in a quandary as to how to decorate them. I wanted the beautiful details from the pan to show through, so I just lightly iced them with an almond glaze and dusted with just a hint of purple sparkling sugar for fun.

You can still make these, even if you don't have the specialty pan. Just bake them up as regular cupcakes and decorate with lovely crystallized violets or lavender sprigs.

Butterfly Cupcakes

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1-1/2 cup + Tbsp cake flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 large egg yolk at room temperature
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup buttermilk at room temperature

Glaze:

3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp almond extract
2 Tbsp water

1- Preheat oven to 350 deg. F.

2- Using a pastry brush, thoroughly butter the cake pan, being careful to brush the butter into all the crevices. Lightly dust the pan with cake flour and tap off the excess flour. (If making standard cupcakes, place cupcake papers into a cupcake pan.)

3- Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Sift a second time into another bowl.

4- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until it is light in color, about 4 minutes. Add the sugar in a steady stream with the mixer running. Beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.

5- Add the eggs and egg yolk, one at a time, beating well after each addition, scraping the sides of the bowl down as necessary. Beat on medium speed for 2 more minutes.

6- With the mixer on low speed, add the oil and beat for 1 minute.

7- In a small bowl combine the vanilla and almond extracts and the buttermilk. Using a rubber spatula, fold in half of the dry ingredients into the batter. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add half of the buttermilk mixture. Fold in the remaining dry ingredients, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the remaining buttermilk.

8- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, filling each cup about 2/3 full, smoothing the surface with a spatula.

9 - Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

10- Allow the cakes to cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then gently loosen the cupcakes with a plastic knife or fork and turn them over to finish cooling on the rack.

Because the pan makes 6 butterflies at a time, I had to bake these in 3 batches. Between each baking, wipe out the pan then regrease and flour before putting in more batter.

11 - For the glaze, combine the powdered sugar, almond extract and enough water to give a smooth, runny consistency. You can either dunk the cooled butterflies into the glaze or drizzle the glaze over the cooled cakes on the cooling rack.

Makes 18 cupcakes

Rethinking Banana Bread

2011-05-21T07:40:00.000-07:00

It's easy to see how people get locked into their habits. What starts out as "this is the way I do it" becomes "this is the right way to do it" which ossifies into "this is the only way to do it."

When I was the new mother of an infant, a lot of the advice that my mother and mother-in-law gave me drove me nuts. They thought they knew the best way to parent because they'd been parents. But what did they know about the best way to put the baby in the car seat? They didn't even have car seats when they were new mothers. Or seat belts!

Why would I need advice on how to heat a bottle at night? Or that helpful tip about putting bourbon in the bottle to help the baby sleep at night? Well, since I was nursing, the bottle question didn't apply. And putting bourbon in the mommy would help mommy sleep, but feeding it to a baby? Really???

While babies and their needs stay the same, ideas, technology, and invention change the way some things are done. It wasn't until after my second child was out of the car seat that someone saw that babies fall asleep in the car and invented a car seat that could easily come out of the car, letting the baby stay asleep. Genius!

I try to keep this paradigm of change in mind as I watch my daughter parent. And she is doing things differently than I did. Bucking the standard "wisdom" that you should start a baby on rice cereal at 6 months (you shouldn't), she's doing baby-led weaning. She puts her daughter (now 10 months old) in the Bumpo chair (another brilliant invention) at the dinner table, puts on her eating apron, and sets a variety of food on the tray in front of her. Real food. Stalks of cooked asparagus, sauteed onions, and strawberries are some of her favorites. This method is perfect for someone as strong-willed as my granddaughter. She's in control of what she eats and she gets to pick from a healthy array of choices. She's much happier than if someone tried to shovel pureed ick into her mouth with a spoon.

I know that I get in ruts in the kitchen of doing things the same way because that's the way I've always done it, baking things with the same recipe because that's what I'm familiar and comfortable with. But it's good to try new things because life does change.

Recently King Arthur Flour featured this banana bread recipe on their website, touting it as a customer favorite. I have a banana bread recipe that I love. I've used it about as long as I've been baking. So why try something new? Because you never know what you might be missing. And if you passed on this banana bread, you would be missing indeed. It's got whole grains, but it's so moist you don't feel like you're eating a healthy brick. My son was sad when the last piece was gone and requested it again almost immediately. That's change I can live with!

Heavenly Healthy Banana Bread
- adapted from King Arthur Flour

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, light or dark, firmly packed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon banana flavor, optional
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 medium to large bananas, cut into chunks
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
1 -7/8 cups King Arthur 100% white whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp flax meal
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 - Preheat your oven to 350°F with a rack in the center of the oven. Lightly grease an 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" or 9" x 5" loaf pan. The larger pan will give a somewhat flatter loaf.

2 - In a small bowl, mash the bananas.

3 - In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the vanilla, baking soda, salt, and mashed bananas, beating until well combined.

4 - Beat in the honey and eggs.

5 - Add the flour and flax meal, then the walnuts, stirring until smooth.

6 - Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top. Let it rest at room temperature for 10 minutes. Don't skip the rest period!

7 - Bake the bread for 50 minutes, then gently lay a piece of aluminum foil across the top, to prevent over-browning. Bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, then remove the bread from the oven; a long toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center should come out clean.

8 - Allow the loaf to cool for 10 minutes; then remove it from the pan, and set it on a rack to cool completely.

Cookies From Pluto

2011-05-18T08:21:00.000-07:00

To explain the rift between the sexes, a book was written called Men are From Mars, Women are from Venus. That may well be true, but what the book failed to address is that my son is from Pluto.

My son has a peculiar way of looking at the world and a mystifying way of expressing himself. This can make communication very challenging. No ordinary stranger can understand him; it takes an intensive language immersion course to make sense of what he says.

You don't believe me? I challenge you to unravel this one.

"Mom, did you see that car that just went by? I think it was a beaver. Kinda hortony."

Well, after much cogitation, I deduced that he meant it was a BMW (a beemer), and that it was silver, like the one our relatives, the Hortons, rented when they came to visit. Crystal clear, right?

Can you guess what he meant when he asked about "that stomach thing that you put into your ears and listen to your body"

Of course - a stethescope. You got that, right?

How about this exchange?

"Mom, you know those cookies that you used to make? We should make those."

"What kind of cookies are those, honey?"

"You know, the kind that are brown with the chocolate."

Multiple questions followed about the color of the cookie (dark brown or tan - "lightish tan"), and whether the chocolate was in the cookie, on the cookie, around the cookie, or just flavoring the cookie ("In it. In bits.")

Have you guessed it? Yes, it was these. Now wouldn't a standard Earthling have just said, "Mom, could we bake some chocolate chip cookies?"

Once the confusion was cleared up, we did bake cookies. Chocolate chip. But I was bored with my standard and wanted to try something new. I cracked open a brand new cookbook I'd gotten for Mother's Day (Thanks, sweetie!), and found just the thing. Moist, chew, chocolate chunk cookies. Oh, yeah!

The recipe initially irritated me because it called for a mystery ingredient I didn't have on hand. So I came up with my own substitution and it turned out wonderfully. The cookies have a lovely texture, and the taste is amazing. I normally make small, dainty cookies, but there's something fun about a really large, delicious cookie. You can make them either way, but I think you'll get more of the moist, chewy texture if you keep them large.

Those Cookies With The Chocolate
- adapted from The SONO Baking Company Cookbook

1/2 cup dates, pitted and sliced*
Boiling water
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I subbed out 1/2 with White Whole Wheat flour)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp coarse salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp almond extract
2 cups coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate

*Dealing with the dates is tricky in a small quantity, so you can make a big batch of date puree and store it in a glass jar in the refrigerator for later use.

1- Put the dates into a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Let them soak for 20-30 minutes, till softened. Drain the dates (save the soaking water to make oatmeal or put into bread, to sweeten it). With a handheld immersion blender or small food processor, puree the soaked dates to form a paste. Add a small amount of the soaking water, if necessary, to get a smooth consistency.

2- Preheat the oven to 350 deg. F with racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

3- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda: set aside.

4- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the date paste, butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and salt on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl halfway through.

5- Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the almond extract.

6- With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients, beating until the flour is absorbed. Gently fold in the chocolate chunks with a rubber scraper.

7- Using a 2-inch (1/4 cup) scoop, scoop out the batter onto the prepared baking sheets, placing the scoops about 2 inches apart.

8- Bake for 14-16 minutes, rotating the trays halfway through the baking time. The cookies should be set, browned on the edges, but still very soft in the center.

9- Place the sheet on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. (The cookies will continue to cook with the residual heat.) Use a metal spatula to transfer the cookies to the rack and let cool completely.

Bi-Winning

2011-05-14T07:39:00.000-07:00

There is no such thing as an unmixed blessing. For every upside, there is a downside. It's part of the physics of life.

For example, if I were to win the lottery (which I won't because I don't buy tickets) and trade in my amazingly large mom-mobile and drive off the lot a brand new sexy Porsche, my insurance rates would go up, I'd probably get tons of speeding tickets, and my husband would be cross because my Porsche couldn't haul a half sheet of ply from Home Depot.

The Bible tells us that children are a blessing, and that's true. But along with the blessing part comes the bleary-eyed, awake all night, baby screaming, poopy-diaper-that-leaked-and-soiled-the-whole-outfit part. And just because they grow up doesn't mean the poop stops.

Going on a dream vacation to the tropics also means that you have to deal with the TSA, time changes, rental hassles, lost luggage, and possibly bringing home a tropical disease as a souvenir.

Recently, though, I think I might have found a crack in this otherwise iron-clad rule.

Ice cream is one of my favorite things about summer. I keep my ice cream maker humming busily all summer long. But that means that the egg whites pile up in my refrigerator. Since I pay out some big bucks to buy free-range organic chicken eggs, I'm not about to just toss out those egg whites! But what is one to do with 5 egg whites?

In another post, I explained what to do with 6 egg whites, but it was with glee that I found a delicious way to use 5. Angel Food Cupcakes. And the best part for me is that cupcakes are so easy to share! You can put 6 in a box and it's an extravagant gift. Try putting 6 slices of angel food cake in a box. Not so impressive.

So now you know. 5 egg yolks will make fabulous ice cream. Try lavendar, almond cherry chocolate, double mint, blueberry, lemon gelato, or my favorite, chocolate. (I have made a ridiculous amount of ice cream, haven't I?) Then with the extra whites, you can make these beautiful, airy, lightly tangy, totally delicious cupcakes.

In the words of Charlie Sheen, it's bi-winning!

(This video makes me giggle every time I watch it)

Lemony Angel Food Cupcakes
- adapted from Baking Bites

3/4 cup superfine sugar*, divided
1/2 cup sifted cake flour
5 large egg whites, room temperature
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
zest of one lemon

* If you don't have superfine sugar on hand, you don't need to run to the grocery store for it. Just throw regular granulated sugar into your food processor and run it till the sugar is fine. Not too long, though, or you'll end up with powdered sugar!

1 - Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

2 - In a small bowl, sift together cake flour and 1/4 cup superfine sugar.

3 - In a large bowl, beat room-temperature egg whites until foamy, then add in cream of tartar and salt. Gradually add in the remaining 1/2 cup of superfine sugar while the mixer is on high speed, beating the egg whites to soft peaks. With a rubber spatula, gently fold in the vanilla and lemon zest.

4 - Fold in flour mixture, adding it in two or three additions.

5 - Divide evenly into prepared muffin tins. Fill them almost full.

6 - Bake for 16-18 minutes, until golden brown. The tops will spring back when lightly touched.

7 - Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove the cupcakes to the wire rack to cool completely.

Lemon Icing Drizzle

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Confectioner’s Sugar

Add enough confectioner's sugar to the lemon juice to make a drizzling consistency. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle on top of cooled cupcakes.

Makes 12 - 16 cupcakes. (The recipe says it makes 12, but mine made 15, I think because of the size of my farm eggs.)

Fight or Flight? Oh, yeah, Fight!

2011-05-10T06:58:00.000-07:00

My daughter is a warrior. And although her name does mean princess, she's nothing like Xena, Warrior Princess. She's a lot buffer and tougher.

Last week she came home in the middle of the day with her baby girl in her car seat. As she walked through the front door she saw that the stereo was on the floor in the middle of the living room. Odd. That shouldn't be.

She set her girl down on the floor by the coat rack and was pondering whether her husband was unexpectedly home, or whether there was a burglar in the house, when she heard noises downstairs. Walking down the carpeted stairs, based on the quality of noises she heard, she decided, "definitely burglar."

When she rounded the corner into the family room she saw a pile of their things (xBox, stereo, laptop, etc) by the sliding glass door and next to it a man trying frantically to open the door. Unfortunately for him, that door is broken and requires a precise series of lift, shove, push, and lower in order to be opened.

The adrenaline already surging through my daughter peaked and she flew at the intruder, screaming at the top of her lungs, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?" Then she punched him in the face three times. He broke free and ran upstairs, my daughter chasing and screaming the whole time. After he sprinted out the front door she called 911.

After the adrenaline surge left, the cops and her husband were able to gently tell her that what she had done wasn't the optimal course of action. When there's an intruder in the house, you should leave the house immediately and call 911. She was very blessed that the burglar was not a professional (he'd walked by more valuable things on his way to the xBox) and that he hadn't had a knife or gun on him. Also, that her daughter sat unfazed and untouched in her car seat the whole time.

I said that the burglar was blessed that she didn't think about picking up one of the 15 lb. dumbbells lying there.

So why do I tell you this story? Because I love that my daughter is awesome, confident, strong, and fearless. And she approaches life with the same attitude. Her kitchen is a place of wonder, mystery, and adventure where she tries out new things all the time. Zero fear of failure. She's teaching me new things all the time and she inspires me.

Recently, I finally got around to trying something new that's been on my to-try list for about 2 years. Homemade Nutella. I had some crepes leftover from a savory dish and really wanted Nutella and banana crepes. But, sadly, I had no Nutella. My younger daughter offered to bike to the store and buy some (she really wanted those crepes, too), but it occurred to me that I had hazelnuts in the freezer, so I should make it myself.

I don't know why I put this off for so long. It's so easy. It takes longer than opening a jar from the store, true, but I do have the satisfaction of knowing exactly what goes into my homemade version. Plus I get to check another item off my to-try list. Yeah and high fives to me!

Homemade Nutella
adapted from Su Good Sweets

2 cups whole raw hazelnuts
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
up to 1/4 cup vegetable or nut oil
1/2 tsp vanilla

1- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place hazelnuts in a single layer on a shallow baking pan. Toast until the skins are almost black and the meat is dark brown, about 15 minutes. Stir the nuts halfway through baking so ensure an even color.

2- Wrap the hazelnuts in a clean kitchen towel or paper towel, and rub until most of the skins have come off. Don’t fret if you can’t get off all the skins.

3- Place the nuts in a food processor and process, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. At first, you will get coarsely chopped nuts, and then it will turn into a fine meal. After a little while, the nuts will form a ball around the blade, and it will seem like you only have a solid mass. Keep processing. The heat and friction will extract the natural oils, and you will get hazelnut butter! This takes about 5 minutes.

4- When the nuts have formed a paste, add in the sugar, cocoa and vanilla. Slowly drizzle in enough oil to make a spreadable consistency. Since the mixture is warm, it will be more liquidy now than at room temperature. Transfer the spread to an airtight container, and store refrigerated for up to 1 month. For best results, stir the Nutella before using.

Fabulous Foodie Feast

2011-05-04T06:59:00.000-07:00

It's been a year since the amazing Val of More Than Burnt Toast organized a Food Bloggers' Tour of Pike Place Market. She comes to the Seattle area twice a year and it's always a treat to get to hang out with her. Since we all had such a great time doing the Market tour, it was decided that we needed to get together again. This time the venue was the wood-fired oven in the backyard of Sortachef, Don. He has an authentic wood-burning oven which he built himself (directions and pictures are on his blog), and offered to share it with us. Along with people from the tour, we added some new faces and had a lovely time getting to know each other, sharing our passion for all things food (and wine!).

When a wood-fired oven pizza is the centerpiece of the meal, an Italian theme is a natural. Start with fun food bloggers (being Italian was optional, although a trip to Tuscany didn't hurt), add antipasti,

add several different delicious wines,

design and make your own pizza,

bake it in a real, wood-fired oven,

and add a dash of dessert

and you've got a recipe for a fabulous evening!

I, of course, volunteered for dessert. My first thought for an Italian dessert was cannoli, but the logistics of transporting and filling on site, plus my fear of frying, made that option a no-go. Instead, I went with cannoli cake. It's a sponge cake with a cannoli filling, redolent with the flavors of almond and orange, which I found on the website of Cream Puffs in Venice. Since I didn't alter the recipe a bit, you can go here to get the recipe.

Thanks, Don and Kathy, for hosting this fun event! We'll have to do it again.

Rules of Engagement

2011-04-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

My daughter met her special someone when she was 15. They married when she was 22, and the whole time they were together it was a long distance relationship. They didn't go to the same school so they only saw each other at church or when one of them could make the 45 minute drive to the other's house. Then when they graduated from high school, he went across the state to college. What had been seeing each other once or twice a week became once or twice a quarter. Thank heavens for email, texting, and cell phones!

My daughter will be the first to admit that it was really tough, but also that it was invaluable for their relationship. Because they didn't have a lot of time to be together physically, they spend a lot of time talking and working through issues together.

One of the most important things they hammered out were the ground rules for fighting.

#1 - No violence. Ever.

#2 - Leave the past in the past. Don't drag it into present conflicts.

#3 - Leave out absolutes like "you always" or "you never"

#4 - Remember that words are as hurtful as knives. Choose the words you speak carefully as they can't be unspoken.

#5 - Don't let the sun set on your anger. Or if it sets and you're still angry, stay up all night working it out. Don't go to bed mad.

#6- Don't walk away in anger. Stay and work it out.

#7 - No withholding. The marriage bed is not a bargaining tool.

I must confess that recently I broke one of those rules. Sort of. You see, my Cuisinart broke. It just stopped working one day. I wasn't shocked as I'd bought that food processor at a yard sale 20 years ago for $10 (yes, I know, I have amazing yard sale blessings).

A food processor isn't an absolute necessity. Lots of people get by without them. It's just that for certain tasks it's really, really nice to have one. So when my husband asked about some apple scones I'd talked about making, I ....(hangs head in shame)....withheld. No, not the marriage bed, the scones.

"I can't make them without a food processor," I said, trying to convince myself it was only a teensy, weensy lie, knowing full well that I was certainly capable of making scones without a food processor. I just didn't want to. And if the scones were dangled out there as bait, maybe hubbie would be motivated to buy me a new one.

Hubbie is no fool. He, too, knows that scones can be made without an appliance (well, an oven is a necessity), but he's a big sweetie and likes to spoil me. So he went ahead and ordered me a new one. It was just like Christmas when that big box arrived on the doorstep! And the very first thing I made to break in my new baby was the apple scones. So, I'm not totally evil, am I?

These are so easy to make in the food processor, and they're "rustic," which means zero fuss. Let the food processor do the work, knead in the apple bits, lump it onto a baking sheet, score, and bake. You're half an hour away from delicious, warm scones!

If you've had a fight and need to do penance, try making the scones. All will be forgiven, I'm sure. And if you don't have a food processor, they are terrific incentive for getting one.

Apple Buttermilk Scones
- adapted from Muffins and Other Morning Bakes by Linda Collister
Makes 8 scones

1 large crisp tart apple (about 1/2 lb)
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour*
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup raw sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
6-1/2 Tbs unsalted butter, chilled and diced
about 2/3 cup buttermilk, plus extra for brushing

1- Preheat the oven to 425 deg. F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2- Peel, core, and coarsely chip the apple into 1/2-inch chunks.

3- In the food processor combine the flours, baking soda, and sugar. Pulse briefly to mix. Add the butter and process until the mixture looks like fine crumbs. With the machine running, add the buttermilk through the feed tube to make a soft but not sticky dough.

4- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead in the apple chunks to form a coarse, bumpy dough. Don't worry is they're not totally incorporated.

5- Shape the dough into a ball and put in onto the prepared baking sheet. Pat the dough into a 9-inch round. Brush lightly with buttermilk, then sprinkle with a little raw sugar to give a crunchy surface. Using a sharp knife, score the round into 8 wedges, but don't separate them.

6- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden and firm to the touch.

7- Cool on a wire rack. You can eat them immediately, warm, or they are also good split and toasted. If you really want to go crazy, slather them with good butter and your favorite jam or honey. But I find them irresistible plain.

*I use a blend of 1/2 all-purpose flour, 1/2 white whole wheat

Spring Takes The Cake

2011-04-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

It's been a long, dreary winter. Here in the Pacific Northwest sightings of the sun have been few and far between. Many people are affected by SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) and become depressed and morose. I just get SOTSER (Sick Of The Stinking Endless Rain), which has essentially the same effect. What a lift it is to the spirits when finally the signs of spring start popping up! Birds have returned from their condos in Phoenix to serenade me in the morning. Tulips and daffodils wave their cheerful colors in counterpoint to the grey skies. And strawberries are back in the stores. Hooray!

What better way to celebrate the return of spring than to make a cake? Spring is perfect for baking as there are beautiful, fresh ingredients available and it's not so hot that you dread turning on the oven.

This cake is unique in that the cake layer and the meringue layer topping it are baked together. Then the layers are piled with cream cheese filling and strawberries. Plus, as a bonus, you end up with 5 egg yolks - ice cream time! Whether you're looking for a special dessert for Mother's Day or just want an excuse pick up a flat of strawberries, you won't regret trying this cake. Not too filling, not too sweet, not too fussy - just right.

Blitz Torte With Strawberries and Cream
- adapted from Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too by Susan Purdy

Cake:

1-1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1-1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp milk
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
2 large egg whites

Meringue layer;

4 large egg whites at room temperature
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup plus 1 Tbsp superfine sugar, divided
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup sliced almonds (I used toasted, slivered almonds, coarsely chopped)

Vanilla Cream Filling:

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt, drained in a strainer for 15 minutes (I used plain whole milk yogurt, and added an extra bit of vanilla and sugar)
1 Tbsp granulated sugar, or to taste
1 tsp vanilla extract

Fruit:

2 Tbsp almond or hazelnut liqueur
3 cups fresh strawberries, rinsed, hulled, dried, and sliced
1 Tbsp granulated sugar

1- Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 deg. F. Coat two 8-inch round cake pans with baking spray, line the pans with parchment paper, and spray the paper. Dust the pans with flour and tap out the excess flour.

2- Prepare the cake batter: Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt onto a sheet of wax paper or into a bowl. Set aside.

3- In a small saucepan, heat the milk to just below a simmer. Remove from the heat and let cool until tepid.

4- In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolk and vanilla and almond extracts until blended. Add 1/2 cup of the sugar and beat until light in color. Scrape down the bowl and beaters. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the warm milk. Increase the speed to medium and whip until the sugar is completely dissolved. Scrape down the bowl and beaters.

5- In a clean bowl, with clean beaters, whip the egg whites until foamy. Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and whip until the whites are stiff but not dry. Fold about one third of the whipped whites into the egg yolk mixture. Then alternately fold in the flour mixture and the remaining whites. Divide the batter equally between the prepared baking pans and smooth the tops. Set aside.

6- Prepare the meringue layer: In a clean bowl, using the electric mixer, whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar until foamy. Gradually add the 1 cup sugar and whip until the whites are stiff but not dry.

7- Divide the meringue between the cake pans, spreading it evenly over the cake batter. Combine the cinnamon and the remaining 1 Tablespoon sugar and sprinkle it over the meringue layers. Then sprinkle the sliced almonds over each layer. Baker for about 30 minutes, until the meringue top is ivory-colored and crisp to the touch.

8- Cool the layers in the pans on wire racks for about 10 minutes. Run a knife blade between the cakes and the sides of the pans, top each layer with a plate covered with foil or plastic wrap, and invert. Remove the pans and papers, invert the layers again onto racks, and cool completely.

9- Prepare the filling: Combine all the ingredients in a mixer or a food processor and process until completely smooth. Refrigerate until needed.

10- To assemble the cake, place 1 cake layer, meringue side down on a flat plate. Brush the almond or hazelnut liqueur over the cake. Spread the cream filling on top, then cover it with a generous layer of sliced strawberries. Add the second layer, meringue side up. Refrigerate until serving time. Place the remaining berries in a bowl, sprinkle them with the sugar and toss lightly.

11- To serve, place a spoonful of berries alongside each slice of cake.

I added a dollop of whipped cream to the top to pretty it up.

Cookbook Fail

2011-04-19T06:47:00.000-07:00

It's been said that the best way to succeed is to fail. That seems kind of counter-intuitive. If you want to succeed, shouldn't you succeed? The thing is, nothing teaches as firmly and thoroughly as failure.

Raise your hand if you have ever
* Put in baking powder instead of baking soda
* Put in tablespoons instead of teaspoons
* Burned something
* Underbaked something
* Left out an ingredient
* Omitted a step in recipe
* Failed to read a recipe all the way through before starting and only midway into the baking realized you were missing either a key ingredient or tool.

I've done all of those. Some of them more than once.

Each time you fail you learn more. And I have failed a lot. If you've read my blog for any length of time you know that. I ought to be a genius by now! I'm not, but what I am is able to spot some obvious bloopers and pause to evaluate.

Recently I got suckered into buying a new cookbook. I knew nothing about the author, but it had beautiful pictures, so I gave in. Hey, it was at the thrift store, so I only paid $2 for it. Perhaps that should have been a clue. If there was nothing wrong with it, why get rid of it?

After getting it home and thumbing through it, stroking the pretty pictures (yes, I do that. Don't you?), I decided the panini sandwiches needed to go on the menu. Because I'm into making my own bread, I liked that the recipe included directions for making flat bread.

I started by putting the warm water into a bowl with the sugar and then I paused to read out much yeast to add. 30 g or 1-1/4 oz. Hmmm. I'm much better with teaspoons and tablespoons for yeast. My kitchen scale isn't good with teeny measurements, but I dragged it out to see if it would cooperate. Let's see.....scooping, scooping, scooping.....30 grams - holy cow, that's a lot of yeast! Maybe the 30 grams was a misprint and I'd do better to follow the ounces. Start over.....scoop, scoop, scoop..... again - a huge amount of yeast.

Wait a minute, the jar I store my yeast in says it holds 4 oz of yeast. That means that this recipe which makes 10 small flatbreads (ie, not very puffy and risen) calls for over 1/4 of the jar of yeast???? That's insane!

So, I guessed at an amount that seemed appropriate, and it turned out beautifully. Thank you years of experience!

The flat bread has ground fennel, which lends it an interesting flavor, and the sandwich has arugula, which adds a fabulous peppery note. Fresh, oozy, melty mozarella and salty tangy proscuitto round out the flavor parade. If you like sandwiches, you've got to give it a try. You could buy flatbread at the store, but really it is simple. And I've fixed the recipe, so there's no fear of failure here. Trust me, I've made the mistakes for you.

Mozzarella and Proscuitto Panini
- adapted from Coffee & Bites

1-1/3 cups lukewarm water
1/2 tsp sugar
1-1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 lb (4 cups) bread flour
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

For the filling:
extra virgin olive oil to drizzle
8 oz fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
4 oz (2-1/2 cups) arugula
8-12 wafter-thin slices proscuitto
salt and freshly ground
black pepper

1- In a small bowl combine 2/3 cup of the lukewarm water with the sugar and yeast. Stir, cover, and leave in a warm place for 5- 10 minutes, until it's bubbly and about doubled in size.

2- While the yeast is growing, roast the fennel seeds in a dry, hot pan (a cast iron skillet is ideal) until you can just smell the aroma and the seeds begin to pop. Grind the seeds with a mortar and pestle until quite fine. Mix the fennel seeds with the flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the yeast and oil. Start to mix into the flour, adding the remaining 2/3 cup of water.

3- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes until the dough is elastic. Place the dough in the bowl, cover with a towel and leave in a warm place for 45 minutes until almost doubled in volume.

4- Turn the risen dough out onto your work surface and divide it into 8 pieces. Using a rolling pin, roll each out to about 6 inches in diameter, about 1/2-inch thick. Prick all over with a fork.

5- Heat a cast iron skillet until really hot. Place the dough into the pan (I could fit two at a time in my pan). When the bottom of the bread is dotted with dark spots (check after 2-3 minutes), turn the bread over and cook for a further 4 minutes. Stack the rounds of bread and cover with a clean kitchen towel while cooking the remaining rounds of dough.

6- For the sandwiches, split 4 rounds of bread horizontally with a bread knife. Place the halves cut-side up on your work surface and drizzle them with olive oil. Top 4 halves with mozzarella, arugula, and ruffles of prosuitto. Season with freshly ground black pepper and sandwich with the other halves of flat bread.

7- Toast the panini in a panini maker or a cast iron skillet, with the top weighted down, just till the mozzarella melts. Halve each panini to serve.

Makes 4 paninis. You can double the sandwich ingredients to make 8.

The Brosetta Stone

2011-04-14T06:30:00.001-07:00

Recently my family and I were watching a video of a young man of our acquaintance introducing his "friend who is a girl but not a girlfriend" to his guy friends. From the banter and mild ribbing that took place, it was obvious that this lady friend had been previously discussed between them and they were here to check her out. As the guy friends were were leaving, one reached over and clapped the young man three times on the shoulder. The young man flushed and grinned.

My husband, ever the astute observer, paused the video and said, "He just got a 'Way to go!'"

My daughter and I both said, "What? What are you talking about?"

My husband said, "Didn't you see that shoulder clap? That was totally a 'way to go, man' shoulder clap. Didn't you see that?"

We played it again about 5 times in slo-mo. Yep, there it was - clap, clap, clap, flush, grin.

My daughter and I were stunned. All that slapping and grunting that guys do means something? We challenged my husband. "What if it had only been two claps?"

"Oh, that would have meant 'bummer, dude.'"

"And one clap?"

"That's either hi or goodbye."

I was amazed. I felt like I'd been handed the Rosetta Stone of guy speak! What could I do with this powerful information? Should I, armed with a discreet video camera, go to football games and locker rooms to study these wild yet gentle creatures in their natural habitat? Perhaps I could open peace talks between the sexes, acting as translator. Or maybe I could figure out how to communicate effectively with my husband, resulting in the toilet seat being left down at night.

With great power comes great responsibility. I must ponder this and figure out the best way to wield my knowledge. And while I'm pondering, I'll eat cake.

This cake doesn't take any figuring out. It's simple to make and even simpler to eat. And with apples and a streusel topping, it says delicious in all known languages, including guy speak.

Country Apple Cake
- adapted from Muffins and Other Morning Bakes by Linda Collister

7 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
2-3 Tbsp milk
1-1/2 cups thickly sliced tart eating apples (I used organic Fuji)

Topping:
1/2 cup raw sugar
6-1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and diced
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

1- Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Grease a 8-1/2 x 4-1/2 - 2-1/2-inch loaf pan, then line the bottom with parchment paper.

2- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

3- Add the eggs slowly, then add the vanilla.

4- Sift or sieve the flour, salt, and baking powder over the mixture. Add 2 Tbsp of milk and stir just till combined. The batter should be a soft mixture that just drops from the spoon. If it's too dry, add an additional Tbsp of milk.

5- Spread the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula. Arrange the apple slices in an even layer over the top.

6- Place all the topping ingredients in a medium bowl and rub together with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. (This can also be done in a food processor.) Sprinkle the topping evenly over the apples, then press down gently.

7- Bake for about 1 hour until golden and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

8- Let cool in the pan until lukewarm, then serve warm from the pan or cool completely on a wire rack. Eat within 3 days. When thoroughly cooled, the cake can be wrapped and frozen for up to 1 month.

Rose In Bloom

2011-04-12T07:00:00.001-07:00

One of the first people to start reading my blog, outside of my family, was a friend of my daughter's who I called the Kitchen Princess, as she was still living at home, learning about cooking. When the Kitchen Princess got married, I changed her name to Kitchen Queen, as she had her own kitchen to rule over. Recently the Kitchen Queen had a princess of her own, a darling baby girl named Rose who is adorable with lots of black hair and kissable, plump, pink cheeks.

In honor of Rose, I'm posting this lovely rose-tinted sorbet. The recipe is from the Kitchen Queen, so it's fitting. It's the perfect adult sorbet, with the tang of grapefruit and the zing of tequila. Grab a bag of grapefruit the next time you're at the store so you can try it, too!

Grapefruit Tequila Sorbet

2 cups sugar
1 cup water
2 cups ruby red grapefruit juice, freshly squeezed
Juice from 2 limes
5 Tbsp tequila*

1- Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until the sugar has all dissolved. Pour into a medium mixing bowl and put in the refrigerator to chill while you squeeze the citrus.

2- Juice the grapefruit and limes. Pour the juice through a sieve to remove seeds and pulp, then add it to the sugar-water bowl. Cover the bowl and chill completely.

3- When the juice is thoroughly chilled, remove it from the refrigerator, and stir in the tequila. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and freeze, following manufacturer's directions.

4- Scoop the sorbet into a container with a lid and put it in the freezer for several hours to firm up.

* The tequila gives the sorbet a smoother consistency. It also imparts flavor, so be sure to use a tequila that you like.

Happiness On A Plate

2011-04-06T06:22:00.000-07:00

In high school I had a boyfriend that drove me nuts. As we parted company at school on Friday he'd say something vague like, "I'll call you." Then I'd spend the whole weekend waiting by the phone for the call that never came. On Monday I'd find out that he'd been out with his buddies doing something wonderful like shooting bunnies in the desert. It made me feel tremendously special that I came in second to that.

After several weeks of this I got fed up and started making sure I had plans to be elsewhere. I'd call up girlfriends and invite them to go to a movie, ask if they needed to go to the library, or just invite myself over to watch TV. I wanted to be sure that if he did actually call, he'd get the message that my life didn't revolve around him and that I wasn't just sitting around pathetically waiting for the phone to ring.

I learned several things from that relationship, one of which was that I couldn't sit and wait for other people to make me happy. I need to be in charge of my own happiness.

Recently I was flipping through a back issue of Bon Appetite and saw a chocolate stout cake recipe. This was just before St. Patrick's Day and I thought it would be fun to put the beer in the cake and blog about it for the great boozefest, I mean Irish celebration. But life interfered and it didn't get made in time. But I had the can of stout sitting on the counter and I still wanted to make it. I had not birthdays coming up, no celebration to justify a cake, but I wanted it. So I made it. Because some things always make me happy, and chocolate cake is one of them.

The stout in the cake was really interesting. The flavor was elusive, but present. The very best part, though, was the frosting. Oh my ganache, it was good. Like a truffle turned into frosting. I'm not sure that I'll make the stout cake again, but give me a bowl of that frosting and I'll be a happy camper for sure!

Chocolate Stout Cake
- adapted fromBon Appetite

Cake:
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
14 tablespoons (1-3/4 sticks) salted butter, room temperature
1-1/4 cups plus 3 tablespoons sugar
3 large eggs, separated
3/4 cup chocolate stout, regular stout, or porter
2/3 cup freshly brewed strong coffee

Frosting:
1 pound bittersweet chocolate (54% to 60% cacao), chopped
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

For cake:
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter and flour two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 -1/2-inch-high sides. Line bottom of each cake pan with parchment paper round; butter and flour parchment. Place chopped chocolate in medium metal bowl. Set bowl over saucepan of barely simmering water and stir until chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove bowl from over water and set aside.

Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat butter and 1-1/4 cups sugar in large bowl until fluffy and pale yellow, about 2 minutes. Add egg yolks 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition. Beat in lukewarm melted chocolate, then stout and coffee. Beat flour mixture into chocolate mixture in 2 additions just until incorporated.

Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites and remaining 3 tablespoons sugar in another medium bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold 1/3 of egg whites into cake batter to lighten, then fold in remaining egg whites in 2 additions. Divide batter between prepared cake pans (about 3 cups for each); smooth tops.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer cakes to racks and cool in pans 20 minutes. Invert cakes onto racks; remove parchment paper and cool completely. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and store at room temperature.

For frosting:
Place chopped chocolate in medium heatproof bowl. Combine whipping cream and espresso powder in medium saucepan. Bring cream mixture to simmer over medium-high heat, whisking occasionally. Pour cream mixture over chopped chocolate; let stand 1 minute, then whisk until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Chill chocolate frosting until slightly thickened and spreadable, stirring occasionally, about 2 hours (or for quick chilling, place frosting in freezer until thickened and spreadable, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes).

Using serrated knife, trim rounded tops from both cake layers so that tops are flat. Place 1 cake layer, trimmed side up, on 9-inch-diameter tart pan bottom or cardboard round, then place on rack set over baking sheet. Drop 1 1/4 cups frosting by large spoonfuls over top of cake layer; spread frosting evenly to edges with offset spatula or butter knife. Top with second cake layer, trimmed side down. Spread remaining frosting evenly over top and sides of cake. DO AHEAD: Can be made up to 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome and refrigerate. Let cake stand at room temperature at least 1 hour and up to 3 hours before serving.

When Life Gives You Tangelos, Make Muffins

2011-03-30T06:37:00.000-07:00

I haven't been posting very regularly because there's been a lot of life going on. Some good, some bad, and some complicated. Whichever it is, though, it just needs to be dealt with.

Sometimes my refrigerator is kind of like my life. There are random things lurking in there that need to be dealt with. Various plastic tombs of forgotten bits of frosting, egg whites, and leftovers. Some have gone beyond the point of redemption. Those are pretty easy to deal with - if it's oozy, furry, or a different color from when it went into the refrigerator, I pitch it.

What's troubling are the things that I know are perfectly good, well, somewhat good, and I can't bear to throw them out. Then I have the conundrum of whether to leave it in the refrigerator until it fits the above criteria, or to get creative and figure out a way to use it up.

A recent purge of the fridge brought to light 2 half-used bags of cranberries. I know I bought the cranberries at Thanksgiving time, and it's gross that I still have them in March, but that's life. There were plenty of good berries in there among the shriveled, manky ones, so I couldn't just thrown them away, right?

I found a muffin recipe that calls for cranberries. Perfect! Except it also calls for an orange. I didn't have an orange, I had a tangelo. So that's what I used, figuring that in a muffin no one could tell the difference. Except my husband. He took a bite and asked, "What did you put in this? It tastes different." I explained the orange/tangelo paradigm, leveled him a look and said, "Deal with it." He quietly ate another bite and said, "It's good!" Smart man.

Tangelo Cranberry Muffins
- adapted from Muffins and Other Morning Bakes by Linda Collister

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
grated rind of 1 tangelo (or 1/2 an orange)
1 large egg
1-1/4 cups milk
2 tsp freshly squeezed tangelo (or orange) juice
1/4 cup melted butter or vegetable oil
1-2/3 cups fresh or frozen cranberries (picked over, yucky ones removed)

1- Preheat the oven to 425 deg. F. with a rack in the center of the oven. Grease a deep 12-cup muffin pan.

2- Sift the flours and baking powder into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar, pecans, and grated citrus rind.

3- In another bowl, lightly beat the egg with the milk, orange juice, and melted butter or vegetable oil. Add to the dry ingredients, stirring quickly with a wooden spoon until just mixed. It's OK if there are still traces of flour.

4- Add the cranberries and stir briefly, using as few strokes as possible. Do not overmix or your muffins will be tough.

5- Spoon into the prepared muffin pan, filling each cup about two-thirds full. Bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch. Let cool in the pan for 1 minute, then turn out onto a wire rack. Eat warm or preferably within 24 hours. When cooled all the way, the muffins can be wrapped and frozen for up to 1 month.

Peanut Butter and Nature

2011-03-23T06:13:00.000-07:00

My father is a big fan of nature. He cross-country skiis, he organizes and leads senior hikes, and his idea of the perfect weekend is to spend it up to his hips in a freezing cold river, catch and release fly fishing. I don't know how he ended up with me.

My idea of a perfect weekend involves a book, a blanket, a fire place, a mug of hot tea, and a plate of cookies. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like nature, it's just that nature has its place - outdoors. And mine is indoors, where it's warm and there aren't creepy, crawly or slithery things.

My dad really tried to indoctrinate me into the joys of nature. He'd point out fabulous vistas of snow-capped mountains and rushing rivers. Yawn. He'd take a big lungful of fresh, frosty air and say, "Isn't this exhilarating?" Um, yeah, that's one way to describe the feeling of putting on clothes that have spent the night at sub-zero temperatures.

When all else failed, he bribed with food. For long car trips we got hard candies. Maybe it was a treat, maybe it was because he thought that there was less likelihood of bloodshed if our mouths were welded shut with toffees. Either way, I'll always associate a particular brand of toffees with car trips. And I never buy them.

On one especially hot hike, my dad hiked ahead and then rejoined us, telling us some story about spotting kindly nature fairies up ahead. When we came upon a small, burbling stream, with cries of amazement, he showed us the kindly fairies had left candy bars for us in the stream. That trip was almost bearable. Chocolate was involved.

Of course, happy campers cannot live on sugar alone. Main meals must be brought along, too. What does one bring along for a picky eater who will only eat peanut butter and jam sandwiches? Well, peanut butter and jam sandwiches, of course. But my father's too smart to pack in a jar of peanut butter and a jar of jelly. He had plastic tubes that looked like large toothpaste tubes with a screw-top cap and a removable crimper at the bottom and he'd fill one with peanut butter and one with jam. Then he had the brilliant idea to put both in the same tube, taking up even less space.

The resulting smear looked disgusting, but I fell in love with it. The peanut butter and jam were homogenous, so that no bite was too dry (too much peanut butter) or too slippery (too much jam). It's the way I've made my pb&j's ever since.

When I tried these cookies, I thought they'd be a peanut cookie with jam in between. Instead, it's just like my beloved pb&j. A paste of peanut butter and jam sandwiched between two cookie layers. What could be better? Just so long as they're served indoors by the fire, with the book and the tea.

PB&J Squares
- adapted from Mrs. Field's Best Ever Cookie Book

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter; softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup favorite jam or jelly
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 Tbsp powdered sugar

1- Preheat oven to 325 deg F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.

2- In a medium bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Whisk to blend and set aside.

3- In the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed, combine the butter and sugar to form a grainy paste. Add egg and vanilla, and mix until smooth. Scrape down sides of bowl. Then add flour mixture and blend at low speed until thoroughly combined. Dough will be firm.

4- Divide dough into 2 pieces; form disks and wrap tightly in plastic wrap or a plastic bag. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

5- Remove one disk from the refrigerator. On a floured board roll out the disk to 9 by 13 inches, about 1/4-inch thick. Place it in the bottom and up the sides of the prepared baking pan. Place the pan back in the refrigerator.

6- In a small bowl, combine the peanut butter and jam, mixing to a smooth consistency. Set aside.

7- Remove the second dough disk from the refrigerator and roll it out to 9 by 13 inches.

8- Remove the pan from the refrigerator and spread the peanut butter and jam mixture over the dough. Sprinkle with the powdered sugar. Place the second dough rectangle on top of the peanut butter layer. Pinch down side edges all around the pan.

9- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch in the center. Cool in pan, then cut into squares.

History - Anyone? Anyone?

2011-03-19T07:29:00.000-07:00

In high school I took an advanced placement history class. It was one of the most boring classes I've ever taken. I struggled to stay awake as the teacher droned on and on about battles, land purchases, and the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act (think Ben Stein in Ferris Buehler's Day Off and you'll get a pretty good idea of how stultifying the class was).

Once a week an essay was due on the material covered. I struggled mightily with those essays. For a competitive A student, it was a blow to my pride to have papers coming back with B's on them. There was a boy in the class whose older sister had taken the class two years previously and his papers came back with A's on them every week. It wasn't until much later that I learned he'd been handing in his sister's essays.

Sidenote: when I took the AP test, my score trounced his. Ha! Take that, M.W!

Not surprisingly, this class killed off any interest I might have had in history and made me break out in a cold sweat at the thought of ever cracking another history textbook. It wasn't until I began teaching my kids that I discovered that history isn't just dates and governmental edicts, it's the story of people and the ways they changed the world in which they lived. History, well told, is as exciting as any fiction novel; perhaps more so because it actually happened.

Recently I was offered the chance to review a book, For All The Tea In China. Normally I only do cookbook reviews, but since this one had tea in the title, I couldn't pass it up. I love tea.

What a wonderful book! If only my history teacher had the story telling skills of Sarah Rose, I might have been a history major in college. For All The Tea In China is the story of how one man, Robert Fortune, undertook a herculean task of corporate espionage, to steal the plants, seeds, and secrets of tea-making from China. First class writing and and a story worthy of a spy novel gave me much to think about as I prepared my morning cup of tea. There's a lot of history in that mug!

Although I drink tea all day long, I think there's something special about that mid-afternoon cuppa. It's a lovely break in the day, a chance to slow down, take a breath, and enjoy a moment of peace. And, of course, if you're having tea, you need a little something to go with it. I like something bready and not too sweet. These dainty muffins are perfect for teatime. Their subtle vanilla perfume blends particularly well with Darjeeling, but they can also match up well with my favorite, Earl Grey.

After you make the muffins and put your feet up for a mid-day break, might I suggest a book to read with your tea? I think you'll enjoy For All The Tea In China. Even if you had a horrible history teacher.

Thank you to the publishers for sending me a copy of the book to review!

Teatime Vanilla Muffins
- adapted from America's Best Recipes
- makes about 3 dozen mini muffins

1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 tsp vanilla extract

1- Preheat oven to 400 deg. F. Grease one (or several, if you have them) mini-muffin pan (s).

2- In a medium bowl, combine the sugar and egg. Beat well on medium speed of electric mixer.

3- In a small bowl combine the flour and baking powder and whisk to mix.

4- Add the flour to the sugar mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Stir in the butter and vanilla.

5- Scoop the batter into the prepared mini-muffin pans, filling the cups two-thirds full. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from pan immediately and let cool on a wire rack.

Charm School For Guys

2011-03-15T04:22:00.000-07:00

I've come up with an idea that will secure my fortune. I'm going to start a charm school for guys. While girls have equal opportunities to play sports, I think guys need equal opportunities to learn how to function in polite company.

There are a lot of guys out there who would benefit from charm school. Perhaps you know some of them. Some of the basic covered in my charm school for guys would be:

1- Deportment. Perhaps you don't need to learn how to glide into a room, balancing a book on your head, but you won't impress anyone slouched to one side like you've had a blow out.

2- Gentleman skills. Opening doors, pulling out chairs, helping on and off with coats - these are dying skills which need CPR.

3- Dinner table manners. To quote one of my favorite movies, She's The Man, "Chew like you have a secret!" Really, dudes, no woman wants to see what you're eating after it's passed your lips.

4- Dress. No, that doesn't mean you wear a dress! It means you care about how you dress. Perhaps you can't afford to look like James Bond in your wardrobe choices, but you can certainly take it up a notch if your low-riding pants let everyone know what the print-du-jour on your boxers is.

5- Conversation. This is where guys are most desperately in need of guidance. Grunts do not a conversation make. What passes for conversation between a bunch of guys playing video games would make the gorilla house at the zoo sound like The Globe Theatre. I think a whole semester would be spent on the fine art of conversation. How to make introductions, how to reply intelligently to a query, and, most importantly, how to pay sincere compliments.

I'm not sure if it's linked to the y-chromosome or what, but there seems to be an inability with guys to pay sincere compliments. And if circumstances demand a compliment, it is squeezed out, grudgingly, in the negative form.

"Dinner didn't suck." (In response to a 5 course meal that took 3 days to prepare.)

"You're not that bad." (In response to a recital that involved 2 hours of practice per day for months)

or, the exceedingly generous, "No, don't worry, you look fine." Fine? Fine?? For "fine" I just spend 3 hours curling, painting, primping, plucking, cinching, squishing, and gilding?

Guys, here's how it's done. Say it simply. Say it honestly. Say it with enthusiasm. And say something NICE, that will make her glow with happiness.

Let's try those compliments one more time.

"Dinner was fabulous. I know you put a lot of effort into it and it certainly paid off! You're a wonderful cook."

"Wow. That's all I can say. Wow. I never suspected you were that amazingly talented!"

and, for the bonus round, "You are breathtakingly gorgeous. I can't believe that I'm lucky enough to get to go out with you."

Try it guys. Really, it doesn't hurt .And you might even like the results so much that you try it again. And again.

Today's cookies are snickerdoodles, which are basically sugar cookies rolled in cinnamon sugar. Think of the cinnamon sugar as compliments - something sweet which, when liberally applied, makes everything better.

Whole Wheat Snickerdoodles

1-1/2 cups sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 egg plus 1 egg white
1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Topping
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

1- Preheat oven to 400 deg. F with racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.

2- In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and egg white; beat well.

3- In a separate bowl whisk together the flours, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and beat well.

4- In a small, shallow bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon for the topping. Using a cookie dough scoop, or your hands, shape the dough into walnut-sized balls. Roll the dough balls in the cinnamon-sugar and place them 2-inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.

5- Bake for 8-10 minutes. The cookies will puff up and flatten as they bake. For soft cookies, be sure not to overbake. Bake just till the tops are set, then allow the cookies to rest on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

Note: It's best to prepare and bake this dough the same day. It doesn't work as well if you refrigerate it.

If It Looks Like a Brownie...

2011-03-12T07:00:00.000-08:00

Apparently my post about my dog horking up on the carpet struck a chord out there with the canine population. I had several readers tell me that the same day they read the post their dogs did the same thing. One reader even sent pictures!

What is this? Have I become the blog equivalent of a dog whisperer? Did all those dogs out there think that leaving a mound on the carpet was their best shot at being famous - sort of a reality TV thing for dogs?

Whatever the reason, it is with trepidation that I post today's pictures. Again, it's something delicious that looks like....well... what do you think it looks like? If you've ever spent time on a farm, I'm sure you'll be able to come up with an apt simile.

A friend who knew I have a thing for (obsession with) brownies loaned me a brownie cook book to thumb through. She warned me that the times and temperatures for the recipes could not be trusted implicitly, but the ingredients were always spot on.

I made the Bigger Better Brownie Blobs and my husband hasn't stopped raving about them. They are a brownie in a cookie form, but so much more than that. The big chunks of dark chocolate give a smooth, silky, luscious contrast to the toasted nuts, and the brownie base is the perfect balance between cake and fudge. On their own they're amazing, but if you serve one with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream, be prepared to enter a place of mouth happiness rarely experienced. (I would use other descriptors, but that would violate my blog's PG rating.)

Trust me on this. I know what the brownies look like, but they taste phenomenal. Bake them and enjoy. But I refuse to be held responsible for anything you might step in. And if that should occur, please don't send me pictures!

Bigger, Better Brownie Plops Blobs
- adapted from The Brownie Lover's Bible

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup cocoa
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
1-1/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1Tbsp vanilla extract or Kahlua
6 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 lb 70% bittersweet chocolate, chopped in chunks
9 oz toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped

1- Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Line 3 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter

3- Whisk the cocoa into the butter. Add the bitter chocolate and whisk until melted and completely smooth.

4- Add the brown sugar and whisk until smooth.

5- Remove from the heat and let cool for 10 minutes.

6- In a small bowl, whisk the eggs until blended.

7- Add to the cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until thick and glossy.

8- Add the vanilla.

9- Mix together the flour, salt and baking powder. Add to the chocolate mixture and mix until smooth.

10- Using a rubber spatula, fold in the bittersweet chocolate chunks, then the nuts. Some of the chocolate will melt, which is okay. It gives the cookies a nice streaky appearance.

11- Using a 3 Tbsp ice cream scoop or 1/4 cup measure, scoop out the batter, 6 cookies per baking sheet.

12- Bake for no longer than 10 minutes. Don't overbake!

13 - Cool on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes until they have firmed up slightly.

14- Remove with a metal spatula and cool on a wire rack. Store in a tightly sealed container, with parchment paper separating the layers, for up to a week.

Makes about 17

You Do The Math

2011-03-08T05:54:00.000-08:00

When you say, "It's March!" people have different reactions. Some will run to the grocery store parking lot to stock up on Girl Scout Cookies. Others will get excited and wave team pennants for March Madness. Me? I cringe, shudder, and try to curl up into a small ball in the corner because I have to do taxes.

When I say "do taxes" I'm not even talking about the taxes for the whole family. No, my responsibility is only for the information pertaining to my small business (come by some time and I'll make your skin feel soft and you feel beautiful). Even though I've been doing this for years and have yet to be put on the rack or in the iron maiden, I have a disproportionate dread of the task. I've finally nailed my routine for how to do it.

First of all, I procrastinate for as long as it's physically possible. When my husband's polite questions turn into firm statements like, "I really need your part of the taxes so I can get this done," then I put a date on the calendar. I have to dedicate a day to it without interruption, or I know it won't happen.

Then, on the scheduled day, I procrastinate for as long as possible. This is an excellent day for cleaning the tub, changing sheets, shaving my legs, and getting my workout done.

Finally, when I can put it off no longer, I organize all my paperwork and supplies on the dining room table. Paperwork which I hope is all there, because I'm a little bit sloppy about paperwork. No, I'm actually a lot lazy about paperwork (adding to the stress). And by supplies I mean a pen, a pencil, scratch paper, a calculator, and stress munchies.

And before I embark into the treacherous waters of the 1040 schedule C, I must decide on a carrot. Do I want a new cookbook? Will I treat myself to a video? I hadn't baked cookies in a while, so I decided to bake cookies just for fun as my reward.

I plowed through the onerous task, finished in under 3 hours (probably less, but it felt longer) and still had time to make cookies. I played with a recipe from my archives and came up with a very stiff dough. I wasn't sure how it would bake up, so I pressed it into a square pan. After baking, I debated whether or not to dress it up with glaze, or fancy it up with layers. Laziness won and I just cut into the bars. Good choice.

This is comfort food, pure and simple. The dense dough makes a moist, slightly chewy background for the dark chocolate chunks. I pick up bars, examining the cut sides for the biggest chunks of chocolate. (I know, not polite. But they're my reward, so I can do what I want with them.) Also, I'm not normally a fan of cinnamon with chocolate, but the small amount here works extraordinarily well, giving the flavor a tantalizing complexity.

Perhaps since I sailed through this year's taxes, I'll be much calmer about it next year. Yeah, right. I think I'll keep this recipe handy, just in case I need carb tranquilizing again.

Chocolate Chunk Reward Bars

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats*
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
8 oz coarsely chopped dark chocolate (in the 60 to 70% range)

1- Preheat oven to 375 deg. F. Spray an 8x8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray.

2- In the bowl of a mixer, combine the butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute until well blended.

3- Add the flour, oats, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Beat on low speed just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chunks.

4- Put the dough (which should be quite stiff) into the baking pan. Using a rubber spatula, or your hands, press the dough down evenly.

5- Bake 12 - 15 minutes, until the top looks completely set. Allow to cool on a wire rack to room temperature. Slice into bars when cooled all the way.

* If you only have regular rolled oats on hand, you can easily make your own quick-cooking oats. Just toss them into a food processor and pulse it a few times. The only difference between the two kinds of oats is the size of the flakes.

Puppy Love

2011-03-06T05:24:00.000-08:00

When I was small I really wanted a dog. My sisters also wanted a dog and together we launched a campaign of whining, pleading, reckless promises, and Bambi eyes that eventually got us a puppy. At six weeks old Max was adorable and all he wanted was to be loved, held, and petted. He'd go to sleep in our laps and was the cutest thing ever.

The person who gave (palmed off) the puppy to my parents told them that the dog's mother was a border collie and the father was unknown. A border collie is a pretty small dog and I'm sure my parents thought that they could handle something the size of a bread box.

As Max grew, it became pretty apparent what his father was and which parent had the more dominant genes. It was German Shepherd all the way, baby. He grew much larger than a bread box, approaching a bread truck in size. And in temperament he was just a huge, leaping, galumphing, slobbering, fiend for fetch, tug-of-war, or any other game that involved showing off his speed and strength.

One of his favorite games was escaping out the front door. When the doorbell rang, he'd bound to the front door, tail wagging eagerly, anticipating the coming contest. The person answering the door had to hold onto his collar and try to gracefully open the door while preventing Max from lunging at the visitor. Woe to both of them if a package was involved, because then Max was released from the restraining hold and would fling himself into the gap, shouldering his way to freedom, and run down the sidewalk in a flash of brown fur and wagging tail. My father had to go retrieve Max from the pound so often that I think he had a frequent stay punch card.

The reckless promises that we made to get a dog involved the usual: walking, feeding, and cleaning up after him. We were actually pretty good about the walking and feeding part, but were abysmal at the cleaning up part. In his frequent sallies on the town he'd ingest who knows what and when he was safely back at home he'd head to his favorite clump of grass in the back yard and raze it like a hungry sheep. Then, at night, when we were all blissfully, ignorantly sleeping upstairs, he'd creep out of the kitchen (any area with carpeting was forbidden territory to him) and hork up a load on the carpet.

I might be misremembering, but he seemed to vastly prefer the carpet for his midnight gullet evacuations. Perhaps because the smell lingered much longer in the carpet and he could savor his freedom memories for weeks. Or, more likely, he didn't want to mess up the kitchen floor because that was where he slept.

My father had a very strict rule about hork mounds: "The one who finds it has to clean it." Well, come on. We became extremely adept at pretending we'd seen nothing, nothing at all, as we sidestepped the pile and quickly dashed into the kitchen. My father would be the one grumbling and cleaning up the mess. There is nothing fun, enticing, or glamorous about a heap of dog vomit.

Which brings me to today's recipe. It was delicious. Really. Chicken with a strong smack of orange, fried, with a tangy sweet-citrus sauce. But honestly, I can't look at the pictures without seeing dog barf. Sorry, but it's the truth. I just don't have the mad hot photography skills to make this look good.

You can go out on a limb and trust me that it tastes and smells good. Try it. Make it, then dim the lights to serve it. Dim them a lot. Then serve a gorgeous dessert.

Orange Peel Chicken

SAUCE

1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp minced garlic
4 green onions sliced
1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp chili garlic sauce
1 Tbsp soy sauce

CHICKEN

1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 chicken breast fillets
1 egg beaten
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
Peel from 1/4 orange julienned (into 1/8"-thick strips)

1- For the sauce, heat 1 Tbsp of oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and green onions, then quickly, so the garlic doesn't burn, add the tomato sauce and water. Add the sugar, chili garlic sauce and soy sauce and bring to a boil. Simmer until the sauce thickens, about 5 to 6 minutes, then turn off the heat.

2- Heat 1/2 cup oil in a wok over medium heat. Slice the chicken breast fillets into bite-sized pieces.

3- Combine beaten egg with milk in a medium bowl. Pour the flour into another medium bowl. Coat chicken pieces by dropping then into the flour, then dipping in the egg mixture, then dredging in the flour again. Arrange the coated chicken on a plate until all the chicken is coated.

4- When the oil is hot (about 360 deg. F), add about half of the chicken to the oil and cook for a few minutes, until brown on one side, then flip the chicken over. When the chicken is golden brown, remove the pieces to a rack or paper towels to drain. Repeat with remaining chicken. When all of the chicken is cooked, rinse the oil out of the wok and place it back on the stove over medium-high heat.

5- When the wok is hot, add julienned orange peel and chicken. Heat for 20 to 30 seconds or so, stirring gently. Add the sauce to the pan and cook for about 2 minutes. Gently stir the dish a couple of times, being careful not to knock the coating off the chicken. Cook until the sauce thickens, then serve with brown rice on the side.

Serves about 4

I'm Done With Pies

2011-02-28T07:26:00.001-08:00

That's it. I give up. I'm quitting pies. I've tried and I've tried, but I just don't like making pies. I've taken classes on pies, I've practiced making pies, and I still get frustrated. The effort to result ratio is way too high, plus the results are never certain until you cut into the pie.

This past weekend we celebrated two birthdays. For birthdays I am always happy to make a cake, tailored to the tastes of the birthday boy or girl. When asked what they wanted, both birthday boys, independent of each other, requested pie. Sigh.

To accomodate the tastes of all involved (ie, my husband hates peaches), I made two pies - one peach, one apple. I started out two days ahead of time because the pie dough has to be made then chilled. I carefully went through all the required steps, cutting in the butter till pea-sized (no shortening here, all good butter), carefully adding the ice water a bit at a time, chilling the dough disks, rolling out, filling, baking.

I suspect the baking time was the problem. The pies had different baking temperatures and times. And by the time I got the final pie in the oven it was bedtime. My sweet husband volunteered to stay up and babysit the pies. Then when I heard the timer beep I sat bolt upright in bed, remembering that I'd forgotten to turn the oven temp up for the second pie. I ran into the kitchen, cranked the temp, and set the timer for another 15 minutes, hoping for the best.

Well, if hopes were dollars, we'd all be millionaires, right?

The pies looked beautiful, resting on the counter. The birthday boys eyed them appreciatively as they arrived. But looks alone don't make a good pie. When we cut into them, we had.....sigh....pie soup. So disappointing. Everyone said it tasted fine, but this was a polite group. The final word came when I sent some leftover pie home with my sister. Her report? "The peaches were good, but the pie crust was...eh. Tasted flat, like you forgot the salt."

Now, understand that I really do appreciate honest feedback. I can't improve unless I get those kind of comments. But knowing that I'd served bland pie soup to a birthday boy was the final straw. If you want a birthday cake, call me. If you want pie, go to Marie Calendar's.

(My family isn't panicking about this edict. They're confident I'll forget all about it by Thanksgiving, and will take on three different kinds of pies, just to make everyone happy. We'll see.)

You might have already noticed the lack of pie pictures here today. I was so angry at the pies, I refused to take their pictures. So, instead, I give you the cake I made for Valentine's Day. Yes, the layers did slide a bit as I frosted it. Yes, it was a bit on the sweet side. But at least it wasn't a pie!

Raspberry Chocolate Cake
- adapted from Taste of Home

3 cups sugar
2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup baking cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1-1/4 cups buttermilk
3/4 cup canola oil
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
1-1/2 cups strong brewed coffee, room temperature

FILLING:
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons milk
9 tablespoons butter, softened
3 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons raspberry liqueur
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 drops red food coloring, optional (I didn't use it)
4 tablespoons seedless raspberry jam, melted

FROSTING:
1 package (8 ounces) cold cream cheese
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1 tablespoon raspberry liqueur
4 cups confectioners' sugar

1- Butter three 9-inch round cake pans. Line the bottoms with parchment paper rounds. Butter the parchment paper. Dust the pans with baking cocoa. Preheat the oven to 350 deg. F with a rack in the center of the oven.

2- In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, flour, baking cocoa, baking soda, salt, and baking powder.

2- In a separate bowl combine the buttermilk, oil, and vanilla. Add this mixture to the flour mixture.

3- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat for 2 minutes. Gradually add the cooled coffee (the batter will be thin.)

4- Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pans before removing to wire racks to cool completely. Peel off and discard the parchment paper.

5- For filling, in a small saucepan, whisk together flour and milk until smooth. Cook over medium heat for 1 minute or until thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and let stand until cool.

6- In a large bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar and mix well. Gradually add cooled milk mixture; beat for 4 minutes or until light and fluffy. (It will look odd, but will eventually come together). Beat in liqueur, salt and food coloring if desired.

7- If the cake layers have domed, using a long, serrated knife, level the tops. Place one layer on a serving plate; spread with about 2 tablespoons jam. Spread one of the remaining layers with the remaining jam. Let stand for 30 minutes.

8 - Spread 1/2 cup filling over cake on the plate to within 1/4 in. of edges. Top with jam-covered layer, then spread with remaining filling. Top with remaining cake layer.

9- In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add in cocoa and liqueur. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar until light and fluffy. Frost top and sides of cake.

(If at any point the cake starts sliding around, pop it in the refrigerator to firm up the filling.)

Store in the refrigerator.

I Heart My Zo

2011-02-25T06:10:00.000-08:00

When life is stressful or I'm just feeling blue, I want to go to my happy place. Sometimes my happy place is a hot bubble bath with a glass of wine, sometimes it's in front of my sewing machine, sometimes it's my kitchen, and some days it's the thrift store.

If you're not a member of the thrift store fan club, you might not understand how it can be a calming, uplifting experience to paw through someone else's cast-offs. It's like a treasure hunt. You never know what you might find. It might be a copy of that book you've been wanting to read, a glass soap dish holder that's perfect for the guest bathroom, a comforter to send away to college with your child, a DVD of your favorite movie, a 1,000 piece puzzle that's never been opened, or a sweater from your favorite brand. And you can get it all for under $10!

The truth of the matter is that some people give away ridiculous stuff. Brand new, with tags on, even. I don't find amazing things every visit, but I have found such great deals that I keep coming back.

My all-time, best ever, lucky find happened when I was in the appliance aisle. I was trying to describe to my husband what to look for, a bread machine to replace mine that was old and cranky. In particular, I wanted a Zojirushi, the larger one, that looks just like this one, this.....HOLY COW! It's a Zojirushi! And it looks brand new!! And it's $7! HOLY GRASS-FED ORGANIC COW!!!! I snatched that puppy up and cradled it to my chest throughout the store. No one else could touch this. It was MINE.

I got it home and examined it. It looked almost new, although there were some very light marks inside the loaf pan that indicated it had been used once or twice. What silly person would toss a $200 machine after using it once? Ah, I know what happened. They baked in it. Silly, silly, you never bake in a bread machine. Even a Zo, which has a much better loaf pan. The bread machine is for mixing and rising. Then you take the dough out of the machine, shape it into a loaf, put it into a greased loaf pan and bake it in the oven. It's so easy that I bake all of my family's bread (including hamburger buns) and most of that uses my Zo.

Yes, it is a bit cheaty, to a bread purist, to use a bread machine, but you know what? I don't have time to be snotty about getting food on the table. My life is busy, and it works really well for me to let a machine do the mixing and babysitting of the dough. And it works really well for my family who gets to enjoy fresh bread all the time. Mmmm, warm bread with melting butter. Now that's a happy place for me!

I wish my pictures for this post could be put up in scratch and sniff format. The loaf looks pretty boring. It's just bread, right? Oh, not if you can smell it. There's cinnamon in there and it smells up the kitchen in the most amazing way as it bakes. While it's baking, it wafts an enticing aroma around, drawing hungry, drooling family members to gather around the oven, asking, "When is the bread done?"

WARNING: If you have not been a bread maker, and you get a bread machine, you'll find it's addictive to make bread. And your family will probably gorge themselves on warm, fresh bread. Don't worry, after about 5 lbs, or a month, whichever comes first, they'll figure out that the good bread is here to stay.

Barley Cinnamon Bread
- adapted from Beth Hensperger's The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook (which I love!)

for a 1-1/2 lb loaf

1 cup plus 3 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp light brown sugar
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2-1/4 cups bread flour
1/2 cup barley flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3 Tbsp dry butter milk powder
1 Tbsp + 2 tsp gluten
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1-1/2 tsp salt
2-1/4 tsp SAF yeast

1- Place all the ingredients into the pan, according to the manufacturer's instructions. Select "dough" mode. Press start.

2- When the machine is done (1:50 minutes in my machine), remove the dough from the pan. Spray a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with baking spray. Gently press the dough into a rectangle (I don't use a rolling pin as I want to keep some of the rise), and roll up the dough into a loaf shape, pinching the dough together. Place the dough roll in the greased loaf pan, with the seam on the bottom. Cover the loaf with a towel.

3- Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. When the loaf has risen so that the top of the loaf is at least even with the top of the pan, place the loaf in the oven. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. If you're unsure whether or not the loaf is done, insert an instant read thermometer in the side. If it reads 190 deg. F or above, the loaf is done. If not, return it to the oven for another 5 minutes.

4- Remove loaf from pan and place on cooling rack. Now comes the really hard part. Let it cool - without cutting it! The structure of the bread is much better if the bread is allowed to cool all the way before you slice it. But if you can't wait, slice away, slathering each piece with lots of good butter. Then start another loaf going right away, since this one's toast. (Little bread joke there.)

Four More Years, Four More Years

2011-02-23T06:20:00.001-08:00

Happy Blogday to me,
Happy Blogday to me,
I can't believe it's been 4 years,
Happy Blogday to me!

Yes, four years ago I timidly entered the world of food blogging. I was not ( and am still not) ambitious, thinking that blogging would launch me into a career as a cookbook author or celebrechef. But in a way, a quiet, unspectacular way, it has done that. Not that any publishing house is knocking on my door, contract in hand, but I've created an online cookbook right here. It's a reference for me and my family to locate favorite recipes. You're welcome to use it, too, free of charge.

As to celebrechefdom (isn't that a great word I just made up?), no, you won't be seeing me filling a time slot of the Food Network. I barely have time to get my laundry done and make my bed. Doing a TV show? I don't need that kind of pressure in my life. Besides, when I'm nervous, my voice gets high and squeaky, like Minnie Mouse on helium. Not a good TV presence. But I do occasionally get a jolt of surprise when meeting a friend of my daughter's or a co-worker of my husband's who says, "I love your blog! I just make your brownies. They were soooooo good!" It always surprises me to learn that someone I don't know reads my blog.

Have I made any money from this venture? No. I'm definitely in the red here. But I have gotten some free stuff and I've gotten the confidence to enter a contest which I won (more free stuff!). And more importantly, there are the intangibles of blogging. I now know wonderful people from around the country and around the world who I would never have met without blogging. And I know that even if I never posted another cookie, we'd still be buddies.

The other interesting thing about blogging is how my skills and confidence in the kitchen have increased. I'm willing to take on new challenges and they're not as daunting as they used to be. Also, as I've become more aware of food possibilities, I've branched out from Rice Krispie treats and chocolate chip cookies. It's been fun to have the blog as my playground, where I could experiment with food, mixing flavors, trying new techniques, and giving free reign to my playful side. My family is very familiar with the phrase, "It's for the blog." And they're OK with that.

One of my most popular posts is my Fluffernutter cake , a tribute to Elvis. It was fun to make and killer delicious. I've been toying with the idea of revisiting the fluffernutter theme, and this time I did it as a Whoopie Pie. Yes, all the fabulous deliciousness of the Fluffernutter cake that you can hold in your hand.

Print out the recipe, make up a batch, and let me know what you think. Your comments are my paycheck. They don't spend well at Costco, but they give me motivation to keep posting.

Fluffernutter Whoopie Pies
- adapted from King Arthur Flour

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (3 medium to large) mashed bananas
2 large eggs
2 cups King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour, white wheat or traditional
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips

Filling:

2/3 stick (~11 Tbsp) butter, softened
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1-1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp milk
1 cup marshmallow fluff

1- Preheat the oven to 350 deg. F with racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2- In a large bowl cream together the butter, sugars, and salt until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and the bananas. The mixture will look curdled; that's OK.

3- Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

4- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and mix until evenly combined. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and mix for 1 minute more.

5- Stir in the mini chocolate chips.

6- Scoop the dough by Tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets. (If you want larger pies, you can use a quarter cup measure, but allow plenty of space for them to spread out.)

7- Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, until the edges are very lightly browned and the tops spring back when lightly touched. (If you're making the larger size, bake for 12 to 14 minutes). Let the cookies rest on the sheets for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

8- For the filling, cream together the butter and peanut butter. Add the powdered sugar and beat till smooth, adding milk, if necessary to achieve a smooth, frosting consistency.

9- With a rubber spatula, fold in the marshmallow fluff till there are no streaks of marshmallow remaining.

10- To assemble the whoopie pies, spread about 2 Tbsp of the filling on the bottom of one of the cooled cookies. Gently press another one on top.

Store the cookies in the refrigerator in a tightly closed container.

(Notes on the filling - I specified natural peanut butter as I'm trying to cut all hydrogenated fats out of my kitchen. I wanted to see if natural would work here. It was fine, but will need refrigeration to keep it from separating. Also, although you'd think I'd know better by know, I read 2/3 next to the butter and added 2/3 cup, not 2/3 stick. It makes a difference. So if you were one of the recipients of these, know that making it as directed won't give you the same taste you had before.)

Gone But Not Totally Forgotten

2011-02-18T05:51:00.000-08:00

There was a headline in the news today about a graveyard that had bodies stacked up 8 deep in the graves. There was zero organization, so that people would not be able to track down the remains of their loved ones. Sad.

Reading that, I was reminded of the folder on my computer that's labelled "Blog Photos." Although I try to have neatly labelled folders and a list of items to post, more often than not, the photos languish in limbo until I unearth them months (years?) later and say, "What was that??? And why did I think I would ever post that?" Or if I'm really desperate for material to post, "What was that and where can I find the recipe to post it. And is there any way to make those pictures resemble something edible?"

Here is a case in point. I don't even remember making this cake. It looks good, though, doesn't it? I can't tell if I put cocoa in the whipped cream, or maybe folded some pudding in there to make it kind of like a mousse. Did I bake that cake in a half-sheet pan, or two 9x13's? I don't know.

And why were there pictures of pudding in the same folder? Oh, light begins to dawn. I was making a chocolate trifle with the leftover cake. Cake, pudding, whipped cream. See? But still no recipe.

Well, you're all big boys and girls out there. If this calls to you, I'm sure you can figure it out yourself. And then post the recipe. Because I'd like to make it again, and I'm clueless.

Baking With Kids

2011-02-16T06:05:00.000-08:00

Several years ago my I bought a book called Drawing With Children. Every time he saw it my husband liked to joke that he'd draw with children, but he couldn't find a sharpener big enough to fit their heads. (yeah, he's warped, but I love him anyway.)

That was what came to mind when Aimee, the editor of Simple Bites and the author of the blog Under the Highchair, asked me to write a post about Baking with Kids. To get the answer to the burning question of whether it's better to used minced or diced kids, when baking with kids, head over to Simple Bites. (Yes, I'm warped too. Didn't you know that by now?)

Because I've been feeling a bit swamped lately (can you tell by how infrequently I post?), this will be my last post for Simple Bites. But not to fear, they've got some wonderful new writers who will more than fill the void. Be sure, if you haven't already, to sign up to subscribe via email or RSS feed.

And the picture? That's my son and the armpit butter. Why? Well, go read the post and find out.

Love, Love, Love

2011-02-14T06:31:00.000-08:00

English is an imprecise language. When you say, "I know," does that mean you know it in your heart, you have it memorized, or you've heard it vaguely somewhere sometime? When you say "Run," are you referring to a marathon, an errand, a nasty snag in your stocking, or a political campaign? And if you "shot" someone, it had better be with a camera or a bottle of tequila.

The word "love" is another imprecise word. We can love a car, a pet, a pair of shoes, a spouse, an ice cream flavor, a class, a grandmother, or just about anything (except okra, but that's a post for another day). But we don't mean the same thing each time. You don't love your grandmother the same way you love Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia (I hope, for your gramma's sake!).

In the original language of the New Testament, there are three different words for love. There is philios, which is brotherly love, eros, which is sensual, romantic, or erotic love, and agape, which is selfless love.

The kind of love that gets the most attention in our culture is eros love. It sells cars, it earns ratings on television, and makes people buy overpriced lingerie. But the kind to look for is agape love. That's the quiet love that does things for another, expecting nothing in return. It's the new mother who gets up 5 times in the night to nurse the crying baby. It's the son who takes out the yard waste bin when it's full, without even being asked to do so. It's the daughter who cleans up the kitchen after dinner as a special surprise. And it's the husband who sets his alarm and gets up at oh-dark-thirty every morning to go to a job he hates but is grateful to have, so that he can pay the bills for his family.

There's nothing sexy or flashy about agape love, but it's the kind of love that's most worth celebrating on Valentine's Day. So do something selfless for those you love. Make waffles. Pumpkin waffles. With amazing butter. It's a love letter on a plate. And even though it wasn't your motivation for doing it, you'll probably get a hug for making them.

I Love You Pumpkin-pecan waffles with maple-cranberry butter
- adapted from Williams Sonoma Breakfast

For the butter:
1/2 cup (2 oz) fresh or thawed frozen cranberries
1/4 Cup (2-3/4 oz) pure maple syrup
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

for waffles:
1 cup ( 5 oz) all-purpose flour,
1 Tbsp firmly packed dark brown sugar,
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1-1/4 cups (10 fl oz) whole milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1-1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans
Warmed maple syrup for serving

1- The night before make the maple-cranberry butter. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the cranberries and maple syrup and cook, stirring frequently, until the cranberries have softened and popped, about 5 minutes. Let cool, then place in a large bowl and add the butter. Beat with a wooden spoon until just combined. Cover the maple-cranberry butter and refrigerate until ready to serve.

2- Preheat the waffle iron. In a large bowl, sieve together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt, and whisk until well mixed.

3- In a large bowl or measuring pitcher, whisk together the milk, egg, and butter. Stir the milk mixture and the pumpkin puree into the dry ingredients until just blended. The batter may be slightly lumpy; do not overmix. Stir in the pecans and transfer the batter back to the pitcher.

4- When the waffle iron is hot, pour batter evenly over the center of the grid, easing it towards, but not into the corners and edges with a wooden spoon. Close the iron and cook according to the manufacturer's instructions until the waffle is golden brown and slmost crusty on the outside and the inside is soft, light, and springy, about 4 minutes.

5- Either serve each waffle as it is finished, or keep them warm on an uncovered platter in a low (200 deg. F) oven while you cook the rest of the waffles.

6- Serve the waffles on warmed plates. Using a small ice cream scoop, place a ball of cranberry butter on top of each waffle and serve at once with warm maple syrup, if desired.

If The Pants Fit...

2011-02-09T18:29:00.000-08:00

A great party conversation starter is the question "If you could be in a movie, what movie would it be?"

Contrary to what some might think, my automatic answer would not be Pride and Prejudice. First of all, it's a television series, not a movie (at least the correct version is). Secondly, Mr. Darcy only has eyes for Elizabeth Bennet, so what would be the point?

No, my pick would be for Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Surprised? You don't think I have much in common with a clique of whiny, self-centered, teenagers, out looking for fun? Well, I might, but that's not the reason I picked that movie. You see, I'd be in the opening scene where they're shopping in the thrift store and they find the amazing pants that magically fit any body. You would spot me in the background as the girls are walking in the door; I'd be the one at the cash register BUYING THOSE JEANS BEFORE THEM!

I hate jeans shopping more than I hate going to the dentist. I get weary of taking pants on and off and on and off and looking at myself in the mirror with all of my bumps, lumps and bulges prominently displayed. And my panty line, too, if they're particularly tight jeans. I get so tired of the process that I end up grabbing a pair and saying, "Fine, these are the least loathsome. I'll buy them."

Then I take them home and the minute I put them on I realized I've made a huge mistake. Again. That's why there are 12 pairs of jeans in my bedroom, but when it was time to run a jeans load in the washer, I took off my jeans and walked around the house in my socks and a jacket. It's a longish jacket, but my son still covered his eyes with his hands. (Too much information?)

Anyway, the point is that I want magic jeans. Awesome jeans that fit right no matter what time of the month it is. Jeans that don't sag in back, making me look like a plumber's helper. Jeans that don't bunch at the top of the legs. Jeans that don't allow strangers to know what brand of underwear I buy. Is that too much to ask for?

You see, if I had magic jeans, I'd be able to eat as much of these wonderful bars as I like and still be able to have pants to wear. That's saying a lot because these bars are addictively good. Trust me, just one will not suffice. One is like the prelude. You'll come back again and again for that hit of shortbread, nuts, and chocolate. And then you'll be fighting me at the thrift shop for that pair of magic jeans!

Toffee Squares

Adapted from Very Merry Cookie Party
Yield: 48 squares

Crust:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour

Topping:
7 to 8 ounces milk chocolate, broken into pieces
1 cup chopped almonds, toasted

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with parchment.

2. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar on medium speed until light, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg yolk, vanilla, and salt. On low speed, gradually beat in the flour just until mixed. The dough will be stiff. Pat the dough evenly over the bottom of the baking pan. The dough might be a bit sticky. Use the butter wrapper to press the dough down into the pan.

3. Bake in the center of the oven until pale gold on top, about 20 minutes.

4. Remove the pan from the oven and scatter the chocolate pieces evenly over the crust. Return the pan to the oven for 1 minute. Remove the pan again and, using a knife, spread the chocolate evenly over the crust. Sprinkle evenly with the almonds.

5. Let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Using a sharp knife, cut into small squares, then carefully remove from the pan with a small offset spatula or an icing spatula.

My Favorite Whine

2011-02-07T07:11:00.000-08:00

The weather's getting me down. I think I'm not alone here. Although the Pacific Northwest isn't being hit by the epic amounts of frozen global warming that the East and Central areas are (including Texas, freaking hot Texas almost couldn't host the Super Bowl because of drifts of the stuff!), we are under a cloud. Actually, lots of them. We're in that bleakest month of the year, February, where the predominant color theme is grey.

Vitamin D deficient, we stumble down the street clutching our coffee, hoping to find a lifeline in a paper cup of caffeine. It gets us through the day, but just barely. What we need is sunshine. Beautiful, warm, light sunshine.

What I want is a beach. A warm sandy beach where the sand is so soft it's like stepping on pillows. And, although the temperature is in the 80's (F), it never feels too hot because of the soft breezes that waft the elusive scent of plumeria over you. When the gentle warmth has seeped all the way into your bones, you can get up and take a few steps to the edge of the water, wade in, and cool off. The water is just the right temperature, cool enough to be refreshing, but warm enough that it doesn't take your breath away.

You see, what I really want is to pack my bags and go to Hawaii. What I did instead was make muffins. Tropical muffins. I threw together the flavors of the tropic - bananas, pineapples, would-have-been-coconut-but-I-couldn't-find-any-in-my-cupboard, and macadamia nuts. Then I could drape a lei over my neck, put Tiny Bubbles on my iPod, crank up the house heat, light a floral candle, and hula my way around the house, eating the taste of the tropics. My husband draws the line at importing a beach, though. The sand is a booger to get out of the carpet.

(I also put quite a bit of bran in the muffins. Hopefully that will help me live long enough to actually get to Hawaii! Or at least to outlive winter.)

Tropical Branana Mini Muffins
- adapted from The Complete Muffin Cookbook
makes about 36 mini muffins, or 12 regular ones

1 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 cup wheat bran
1/4 cup chopped dried pineapple
1/4 cup dried coconut
1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts
3 ripe bananas, mashed (1-1/2 cups)
3/4 cup water
1 large egg
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp grated lemon peel OR 1/4 tsp lemon extract OR 1/8 tsp lemon oil

1- Preheat the oven to 375 deg. Lightly grease the insides of a mini muffin tin.

2- Into a large bowl sieve together the flours, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the wheat bran, pineapple, coconut, and macadamia nuts.

3- In a medium bowl whisk together the bananas, water, egg, vanilla, and lemon flavoring.

4- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture. Stir just until mixed. Do not overstir!

5- Spoon the batter (I used a small cookie scoop) into the prepared tin. Fill each cup to the the top.

6- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool muffins in the pan for 8 to 10 minutes before removing from the tin. (At this point I had to wash out my tin and regrease it for the second batch. If you've got more than one tin, lucky you!)

Let's Give Grace

2011-02-02T10:28:00.000-08:00

(Note: this post is irrelevant to the sweet people who leave me comments. But maybe the thought will make it's way to the people who need the upbraiding. And my gentle readers get a bonus good cookie recipe. Plus pretty pictures like I promised.)

A blogger friend of mine has recently been going through some tough times. Due to unfortunate circumstances, she's had to make some changes to her blog. Has there been love, understanding, support and encouragement? In some cases, yes, but in a lot of cases, I've been astounded at the hater-ade poured out in the comments section.

What ever happened to "if you don't have something nice to say, say nothing at all"? Remember that is a real person with feelings that you're writing to. It's not an impersonal corporation; it's a somebody who's doing the best they can with what they've got. Would you really say those things to that person if they were standing in front of you? It's easier to be brusque, snarky, or unkind when you're looking at a monitor. Remember that there's a human being on the receiving end of your comments.

Try picturing what comes out of your mouth (or your keyboard). Is it a bouquet of flowers that uplifts and puts a smile on the face of the recipient? Or is it a flaming bag of dog turds?

In order to make the blog world a happier place, I encourage you to make your comments sweet and tasteful - just like these cookies. Whether you give cookies in a comment, in a box, or on a plate, you will make someone smile. And remember, what goes around comes around. Would you rather receive the cookies or the flaming turds?

Grace Cookies
- adapted fro Bitterweet by Alice Medrich

2 cups (9 oz) whole wheat pastry flour
14 Tbsp (1-3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup (3-1/2 oz) sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup (about 1-1/4 oz) roasted cacao nibs

1- In a medium bowl with an electric mixer, beat the butter with the sugar, salt, and vanilla until smooth and creamy but not fluffy, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, and add the nibs.

2- Add the flour and mix until just incorporated. Scrape the dough into a mass, and, if needed, knead it a little with your hands to make sure the flour is completely incorporated. Form the dough into a 12-by-2-inch log. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

3- Preheat the oven to 350 deg. F with racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

4- Use a sharp knife to cut the cold dough log into 1/4-inch thick slices. Place the cookies at least 1-1/2 inches apart on the prepared sheet pans.

5- Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until the cookies are light golden brown at the edges, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking time.

6- Allow the cookies to cool for a minute on the pan and then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

These cookies are good the first day, and even better the second or third day. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a month.

Crossed Greenish Eyes

2011-01-31T11:38:00.000-08:00

I have a child that has very firm ideas about the way life should be. There is a right way and a wrong way. Period. No room for discussion.

One day he had my face in his hands and he was gazing into my eye. Do you know what he said? Did he say how much he loved me? Did he say that he loved my cookies more than life itself? No, he said, "Mama, your eyes are kind of greenish. All of our eyes are brown. So we will have to find a new house for you to live in." Well, geez, I get kicked out for my eye color?!

I myself get unhappy when things aren't precisely right. Like these pictures. I will straight up confess that it's painful for me to post these pics. They're so bad they make me want to burn the negatives (good thing they're digital). But the chimichangas are delicious and I really wanted to share the recipe. This is one of my favorite ways to use up the chicken leftover from a roast chicken dinner.

So can you forgive me for the bad pics? I promise I'll reward you for your leniency with a lovely cookie next time. Because I really need the grace. I'm already searching out homes for slightly ditzy, greenish-eyed bakers. There aren't that many that allow me to come with a kitchen full of appliances and a freezer stocked with unsalted butter, nuts, and 16 different kinds of flours.

Roast Chicken Chimichangas
- adapted fromCooking Light

2-1/2 cups shredded roasted skinless, boneless chicken breasts (or just buy a roasted chicken and shred up that much meat)
1 cup (4 oz) crumbled queso fresco cheese (or shredded Monterey Jack cheese)
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 garlic clove, minced
1 (4.5 oz) can chopped green chiles, drained
1 (16 oz) can fat-free refried beans
6 (8-inch) flour tortillas
Cooking spray
1/2 cup bottled green salsa

1- Preheat oven to 500 deg. F.

2- Combine first 7 ingredients (chicken through chiles) in a large bowl; toss well.

3- Spread 1/4 cup refried beans down center of each tortilla. top each tortilla with 2/3 cup chicken mixture; roll up. Place rolls, seam sides down, on a large baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Coat tops of chimichangas with cooking spray. Bake for 7 minutes. Serve with salsa.

Yield: 6 servings (1 chimichanga and about 4 tsp salsa)

PS - As I was going to post, I chickened out and just couldn't publish the full-on ugly pictures. Instead you get the semi-ugly peep show shots. Can you trust me that they're good and try them anyway?

High Maintenance By Choice

2011-01-28T07:32:00.000-08:00

I think I was one of the last people on the planet to see the movie When Harry Met Sally. I didn't see it in theaters. I didn't rush to rent it when it came out on video. I didn't even request it from the library. I think I taped it when it aired late night on TV. And then I laughed. A lot. Because I finally got the joke.

Several years ago, when my sister got married, she had a lovely chocolate wedding cake, with a large tureen of chocolate sauce on the side. Not knowing I hadn't seen the movie, she didn't understand why it didn't make me laugh. In case you've never seen the movie, with the scene of Meg Ryan ordering a chef salad and pie in a restaurant, the sauce on the side signified that my sister was high maintenance.

In my own way, I'm high maintenance, too. I order my salad with the blue cheese on the side. It makes me gag, but my husband loves it. I bring my own hot water along because I use filtered water and the nasty chlorine taste of tap water spoils my tea. If the toast is brown at all, it's overdone. And don't even get me started on bad cookies- I can't bear to waste the calories on yucky baked goods.

Those are all matters of taste, though. There are some people who are high maintenance and just can't help it. Allergies and medical conditions make it necessary for them to politely, sometimes apologetically, ask for special treatment. One of my favorite people to bake for, my chiropractor, is one such person. He's on a restricted diet and can't have gluten. Does that mean that he's a second class citizen, restricted to nasty, cardboardy baked goods? Not if I can help it!

I wanted to try to make a gluten-free version of a cupcake and since he's a huge peanut butter fan, I remade a recipe from Cupcakes to fit the bill. I substituted Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free Flour for the all-purpose flour. I hadn't worked with it before and was surprised at how different the batter tasted. It was strongly bean-flavored and I was afraid the whole batch would have to go into the garbage can. Surprisingly, though, baking dissipated the bean flavor, and any that lingered was covered up by the delicious peanut butter frosting. All in all, I would call them a success.

Sadly, though, I can't make them again for the good doctor. He's been put on a no yeast, no sugar regimen. Sigh. If you have a yummy recipe that's gluten, yeast, dairy, and sugar-free, let me know. Because otherwise he's on his own!

Gluten-free Peanut Butter Cookie Cupcakes
- adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

for the cupcakes:
1-3/4 cups Bob's Redmill Gluten-free Flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp xantham gum
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1-1/3 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup natural creamy peanut butter
3 large eggs
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream

for the frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup creamy peanut butter

1- Preheat oven to 375 deg. F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners (about 20).

2- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and xantham gum.

3- With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Beat in peanut butter until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture, and mix until just combined. Beat in sour cream.

4- Fill each lined cup about 2/3 full. Bake until pale golden and a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 13 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely before removing the cupcakes.

5- With a mixer on medium-high speed, beat the cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, and butter until pale and fluffy. Stir in peanut butter by hand.

6- Spread 1 to 2 Tbsp frosting onto each cupcake. Refrigerate until frosting is firm, about 10 minutes. Using a fork dipped in confectioners' sugar, make a crosshatch pattern in the top of the frosting.

Store cupcakes in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Monday Randomness

2011-01-24T06:54:00.000-08:00

I have entered a cupcake contest over at The Middlest Sister. Check it out and vote. I'd appreciate it if you give me a sympathy vote because I 'd love to win the sweet prize package Libbie has put together, but if you chose to vote for one of the other cupcakes, I'll totally understand. They're way cuter than mine! Oh, sigh, me and my decorating skills. At least you can be assured that mine were delicious.

And now on to today's post!

One of the things I like to do when I'm bored is go check my blog stats. It's fascinating to me to see little dots on the map representing people around the world who somehow find their way to my blog. My own mother doesn't read my blog; what would someone in Thailand, Spain, Lebanon, or Denmark find interesting about my blog? Well, apparently not much in Denmark. They only stayed 0 seconds. Oh my, fame is fleeting.

Another interesting part of the stats I check out is the downloads. I can track which pictures are the most downloaded. I feel embarrassed about my lame photography skills, so it's a little ego boost to see if people like pictures enough to jack them. What was disturbing to me was that for a while this picture was leading the hit parade.

Really? What are you people doing with a picture like this? Making it your laptop background? Printing a poster for above your bed? Putting a framed copy on your desk at work as your pretend family? I find this a little troubling.

A current favorite download right now is this diptich my husband put together for me when I wrote the post comparing shoes and cakes.

He listened and paid attention when I was researching, comparing Jimmie Choos and Christian Louboutains. Thus it was that when he was walking down the hallway at work and spotted a picture of Christian Louboutains as someone's desktop wallpaper, he knew right away what they were.

He said to the woman, "Ah, Christian Louboutains!" Her jaw dropped open and she said, "Are you .... a fan of his shoes?" (Unasked question - "Do you have any in your closet and/or are you gay?"). He assured her that it was his wife that liked the shoes and she was relieved. Finding out a male co-worker has a thing for designer high heels - awkward!

What isn't awkward is cookies. (Yes, I'll have to check the archives, but that might possibly be my worst segue ever. Deal with it.)

Cookies are always appropriate - an ice breaker at social gatherings, a great way to meet the new neighbors, an appreciated gift that says, "I'm thinking of you!" Even if you have the decorating skills of a donkey (did you vote for my cupcakes yet?), you can whip up a batch of cookies that will brighten the day and bring smiles to the faces of the lucky recipients. And if a few of the cookies don't make it out of the house, I won't tell. You deserve a happy day, too!

Happy Day Cookies
(aka Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup dried cherries, chopped
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1- Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Adjust oven racks to the upper and lower thirds of the oven.

2- In a large bowl beat butter and sugars together until creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat well.

3- In a medium bowl combine the flours, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture and mix well.

4- Stir in the oats, cherries, and chocolate chips. Mix well.

5- Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 9-11 minutes, rotating sheets top to bottom halfway through. The cookies should be browning around the edges and the tops set, not gooey-looking.

6- Cool the cookies for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.