Amazing Dessert Recipes

Holiday Sugar Cookies

2011-12-19T10:24:00.000-05:00

This perfect sugar cookie is easy to make, ready to roll quickly, is very firm so that the icing doesn't soften it, and tastes great. I originally developed this dough as a service project for the children of our Temple who were going to provide cookies for 1000 needy children. They are great as is, but also taste and look great when they are decorated with sprinkles or with icing.

MAKES 50-80 COOKIES

3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter – cool room temperature

1-1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 large egg, room temperature

4 cups ( 520 grams) all-purpose flour, fluffed, scooped and leveled into measuring cups

up to 4 teaspoons room temperature water, if needed

Vanilla Cookie Icing

4 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

10-15 tablespoons cream

Royal Icing

Food coloring, sprinkles, etc for decorating

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. with shelves in the bottom and top thirds of the oven. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large mixer bowl beat together the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla extract on low to medium speed, just until well blended.

Break the egg into a small bowl and fork-whisk until blended. Gradually beat the egg into the butter mixture.

Add the flour, all at once, to the mixer bowl, and beat on low speed until the mixture comes together into a dough. If the dough does not form, add the water a little at a time, using just enough to bring the dough together. Press the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Cut the dough into 4 pieces and return 3 pieces to the refrigerator.

Roll the dough to 1/8-inch thick or slightly thinner. Cut out the dough using cookie cutters of your choice. Set the cookies on the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for a total of 13-15 minutes, moving the top cookie sheet to the lower shelf and the bottom sheet to the top after half of the baking time, until the cookies are nicely browned around the edges.

Slide the parchment onto cooling racks. Repeat the process using the rest of the dough.

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For the icing:

Sift the powdered sugar into a mixer bowl. Beat in the vanilla and enough cream to make the icing the texture that you desire, depending on how you will use it. If it is to be piped you'll want it thick and if it is to be used as "fill", it will need to be thin. Divide the icing into several small bowls and add food coloring of choice to each bowl. The icing thickens as it sits, so keep the bowl covered until ready to use. Add a little more cream if the icing gets too thick.

Here are some decorating examples:

The snowman's hat had some chocolate added to white icing. It was spread on. The white body icing had the outline piped first. It was allowed to set and then the interior was filled with thin icing that flowed to fill the space. The scarf and belt were piped. The eyes are chocolate chips and the buttons are star-shaped sprinkles.

The design on this tree was piped on and while it was still wet, green sprinkles were sprinkled on and the excess shaken off. The balls are tiny red ball-sprinkles, the bubble lights are long sprinkles and the star is a candy-sprinkle. The garland was sprinkled with petal dust (ordered from www.sugarcraft.com).

For these Chanukah dreidles, the blue icing was spread on, and while wet, the cookies were sprinkled with blue sprinkles. This dried and then the raised letters were piped on with thick icing.

To make a harder icing for cookies that need to be stacked or frozen, use this icing

Royal Icing

3 large pasteurized egg whites

3-3/4 cups sifted powdered sugar + 1/4 cup, divided

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon flavoring of choice

Reserve 1/4 cup sugar and mix together all other ingredients. Beat for 7-10 minutes until the icing holds a strong peak. Add 1/4 cup more powdered sugar if necessary. Keep the frosting covered with a damp cloth to keep it from drying out. To use Royal Icing, outline the cookies and then let them dry. Thin some icing with water until it is the consistency of heavy cream. Using a teaspoon or squeeze bottle, fill in from the outline inward to cover the area. Let the cookies set for 1 hour before adding designs.

The cookies may be stored in a covered container for several days. They may also be frozen in a covered container, with waxed paper between layers. This way you'll be able to defrost each cookie individually. They’ll keep frozen for 3 months. Defrost at room temperature, uncovered, for several hours or overnight. When the cookies are completely defrosted and at room temperature, they may be iced.

Thanksgiving Desserts

2011-11-09T23:00:00.000-05:00

I usually make the same thing every year, although I might vary the apple dessert that I make. It's part of our tradition that the pies are mostly the same, and it seems that this is what everyone wants. So, rather than try and come up with something new, I'm just going to make it easy for you to find the recipes in my blog. Simply click on the name of the dessert to the recipe.

PUMPKIN PIE
I always make pumpkin pie. It's one of my husband's favorites and I've tweaked it to where it is just the way he likes it! It was also my father-in-law's favorite, and when I make it, everyone has warm memories of him. It's a little firmer than standard with a very rich, spicy flavor.

CARAMEL PECAN PIE
This is my favorite, so I usually make two at Thanksgiving - one to bring to our friend's dinner, and one to keep at home just for the family. It's a little different from Southern-style pecan pie. It doesn't have that gelatinous bottom, has more pecans and is richly flavored like caramel.

THE BEST APPLE PIE
Everyone seems to love apple pie, and this one is my favorite. You can tweak it to get it exactly the way you like it.

PEAR CRANBERRY TART
My daughter-in-law loves tart desserts, so when they are in for Thanksgiving, I like to plan on having one dessert with cranberries or rhubarb. This one looks beautiful, and cuts nicely into neat slices. It seems to be liked by even those who don't really like cranberries.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!

2011-09-08T20:15:00.000-04:00

You can order a magnificent bow, like this, from www.bccrally.org an all-volunteer nonprofit that raises money for breast cancer services and awareness. The bows come in 3 sizes to suit all of your needs, from mailboxes, doors, offices, gift packages, backpacks, cars and even as hair bows. The bows are custom designed and made for BCC Rally, an organization in which I am very involved. All proceeds benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Honor a loved one, or simply show your support by purchasing your bows now.

Don't look for any recipes soon - while I'm expending all of my energy to benefit BCC Rally, I'm also on the new Atkins Diet - and you know my recipes aren't compatible with that!

Pecan Pie Bars

2011-07-26T21:24:00.000-04:00

I like pecan bars that are gooey and caramelly, just like my pecan pie, so after much experimenting, I've decided just to go ahead and use my pecan pie recipe!! It's simple as can be - the most important thing is to line the pan with foil, or you'll never get them out of the pan. I also think it's important to use a shortbread base that doesn't have brown sugar in it because if you don't have some contrast between the filling and the crust, the bars taste too sweet and a bit boring.

Shortbread Crust

2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour, measured by fluffing, scooping and levelling
¾ cup sugar
⅛ teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut 1" thick

Filling

3 large eggs

1 cup sugar
1 cup dark corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups diced pecan pieces

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F., with rack in the middle of the oven. Line a 13 x 9-inch pan completely with a double-layer of aluminum foil. Leave a good amount of overhang, so you'll be able to remove the whole thing after the bars are baked.

For the crust: Place the flour, sugar and salt into a processor and pulse to combine. Add butter and pulse-process to coarse crumbs.

Sprinkle the crumbs into the lined pan, and then press them down to cover the whole bottom of the pan. ( I use my flat fingers to press everything down. Your fingers will also let you know if any part is thicker than another). It may seem that you have too much crust, but it won't be that thick once you get it tamped down really well, and you need a fairly thick otherwise the gooeyness will seep through.

Bake the dough until just starting to brown, about 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the filling:

In a large bowl, lightly whisk the eggs. Whisk in the sugar. Stir in the corn syrup, vanilla and nuts. Pour the filling over the hot, baked crust.

Bake for 5 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees F. Bake for another 25-30 minutes, until the filling is just barely set (doesn't shake). Cover the pan with foil after 20 minutes if the nuts are getting too brown.

Set the pan on a cooling rack and cool completely. Refrigerate the bars for at least an hour, or longer. Cold bars will be much easier to cut. Lift the foil up to remove the dessert from the pan. You'll be able to remove the foil completely, as the dessert will be quite stiff.

Set on a cutting board. Cut off 1/4-inch from the edges all around, and then cut the dessert into bars the size of your choosing. They are very rich, so keep that in mind when cutting them.

You can serve the bars cold, or at room temperature. Cold they are on the chewy side, and warmer they are more oozy.

Fresh Heirloom Tomato Sauce, and More Ways to Use Ricotta

2011-07-19T00:22:00.001-04:00

I guess until summer ends I'll still be in my Italian phase. I just can't resist those fabulous heirloom tomatoes and wonderful fresh herbs. Here is my fresh tomato sauce served over stuffed shells (with my homemade ricotta, but a good packaged ricotta works fine, too), but I also also love it spooned over angel hair or other pasta. At the end of the recipes, I'll also have some more ideas for using homemade (or not) ricotta and tomatoes.

When I say fresh tomato sauce, I'm not talking about spaghetti sauce - you know the long-cooked type that you find in a jar. No, this is a barely cooked sauce that tastes like fresh tomatoes. To start, I use heirloom tomatoes (the big purply ones) that I buy from the Specialty Farmer at Cedar Walk Farmer's Market. If you've been reading my blog, you know that I love their produce and buy from them all the time.

My friend thought they looked "dicey" - all purply and cracked. Yup. They do. It's because the Specialty Farmer leaves them on the vine until they're practically bursting, and picks them just before coming to market. Do not be fooled by the looks. This results in the most flavorful tomatoes that I've ever eaten in this country. Head over there if you live in Charlotte! It's open on Tuesdays from 4-7.

Fresh Tomato Sauce
Serves 4
The first time I made this sauce, I cooked the tomatoes for 10 minutes, as I had seen in so many recipes. But heirloom tomatoes, especially these cherokee purples should not be cooked that long, unless you want a very mushy, watery sauce. By grating half of the tomatoes, and leaving half diced and not cooked, you end up with the most flavorful and best textured fresh sauce.

3 pounds heirloom tomatoes (preferably cherokee purples)
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1 teaspoon olive oil, or more to taste
garlic or diced shallots, optional
2 tablespoons white wine
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, or more to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (your choice - oregano, thyme, sage, lavender)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Cut off a slice from the bottom of half of the tomatoes. Use your fingers to pull out the seeds from the little pockets in the tomato.

Using a box grater on the coarse side, gently grate the tomatoes into a colander, set over a bowl. Grate until you get to the cracked upper part of the tomato, and then discard the rest.

The remaining tomatoes need to be skinned. If the tomatoes are not very ripe, you'll want to make an X- cut in the bottom of the tomato. Very ripe and cracked ones don't need to be cut.

Boil a pot of water and immerse a few tomatoes at a time for 10-15 seconds. Immediately dip them in cold water to stop the cooking. The skins will now peel off easily.

Cut off the craggy top of the tomato, remove the seeds and cut out any hard core, and then dice the tomatoes into 1/4-inch dice. Add the chopped tomatoes to the grated ones in the colander. If there are any hardish bits of tomato, add these to the juice in the pot under the colander. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon salt over the chopped tomatoes and let them drain for 15 minutes. You'll now have a potful of chopped tomatoes and a rather large quantity of tomato juice.

If you like garlic or onions in your sauce, add the olive oil to a pot and saute the onions until soft, or the garlic for a minute (I never use either in this sauce). If not using the garlic and onions, pour the juice and hard bits of tomato into the pot along with the olive oil, wine, vinegar and chopped mixed herbs. Heat the juice on medium-high heat until simmering. Cook until the juice is reduced and thickened to a puree-type thickness (a matter of taste as to how thick it should be, but when you add the chopped tomatoes the sauce is going to get thinner as the tomatoes lose some of their liquid), about 10-15 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and add the chopped tomatoes. Stir in sugar and remaining salt. Taste, and adjust the sugar, salt and vinegar to get the taste you like. Stir in the chopped basil (or you can add the chopped basil directly to the pasta). Use immediately over pasta.

For Stuffed Shells
Makes 16 shells

16 large pasta shells
2 cups homemade or Polly-o Full-Fat Ricotta
2 cups shredded mozzarella, divided
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan, or a mixture of Parmesan, Asiago and Romano
1 tablespoon chopped fresh herbs
1 large egg
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking dish with heavy-duty foil, and then place a sheet of nonstick foil in the bottom (NO Cleanup!).

Put a very large pot of water up to boil, mixing in 1 teaspoon of salt.
Add the pasta shells and cook for 1-2 minutes less than the box calls for. Immediately rinse them in cold water to stop the cooking. Sprinkle on a little oil to keep them from sticking.

While the shells are cooking, combine all of the filling, except for 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, in a bowl, and stir to mix well.

Spoon 1 well-rounded tablespoonful of filling into each shell.

When all of the shells have been filled, spoon on the sauce, and top with the remaining mozzarella.

You can leave the shells uncovered, or cover with foil and bake for 15-20 minutes, just until the filling is hot. If the shells were covered, you might want to low-broil them briefly to slightly brown the cheese. Watch carefully, however. If you don't like any part of the pasta crusty, don't broil at all.

Tip
Fresh herbs are really hard to cut when they're wet. I like to chop them first, then put them in a small strainer, wash them and then dump them onto a paper towel to dry thoroughly before adding to my dish.

Heirloom Tomato Sauce with Spaghetti and Mixed Italian Cheeses

Fresh Ricotta Crostini with Roasted Vegetables

2011-07-12T09:50:00.005-04:00

I must have been Italian in another lifetime. How else can one explain my daily trips to the grocery store or my obsession with making things like fresh ricotta ; )

If you're like me, summer is just the best time for food - farmer's markets abound, and fresh food is the order of the day.

With local farmer's markets, you never know what you'll be able to get on the day you visit, but I was lucky to find that one of my favorite vendors had eggplant, zucchini, peppers and some of the best looking heirloom tomatoes you've ever seen.

Here's some of the produce from The Specialty Farmer (Waxhaw, NC), at Cedar Walk Farmer's Market (Ardrey Kell and 521 in South Charlotte).

To make simple roasted vegetables, preheat the oven to between 400 and 425 degrees F. Line 1 or 2 rimmed cookie sheets with heavy-duty foil, and then lay on a sheet of non-stick foil. Using the non-stick foil allows you to roast the vegetables with a minimum of oil.

Pare and cut vegetables to the size you desire (quicker cooking vegetables should be cut larger and longer cooking smaller so that everything will be done at the same time). I usually cut my veggies about 1/8-inch thick and 3/4-inch in diameter, but any size is fine, so long as you keep an eye out, so that the veggies don't overbrown or burn. For each pound of vegetables, use 1 to 1-1/2 tablespoons fruity olive oil. You can also toss in a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and a little mustard, if desired. Lightly sprinkle with salt and some chopped herbs of your choice. Make sure the veggies are all in one layer and not overlapping. Cook for 20-30 minutes, turning halfway through, until the veggies are brown, but not dry.

I roasted one of those large round eggplants that you see in the picture (sliced as described), and it was just the most perfect vegetable - creamy and sweet, not like so many store-bought eggplants that are bitter.

The Specialty Farmer also carries the most magnificent "yellow" zucchini. They taste great roasted but are so sweet and the texture so nice that we actually love to eat them raw, diced and put into salads.

Roasted vegetables are wonderful as an accompaniment to any grilled meats, in pasta or on crostini, as in the opening picture. On the crostini pictured, the lower left one has homemade herbed ricotta, roasted eggplant and an oven-dried tomato. The upper left has the herbed ricotta, diced fresh heirloom tomatoes, and mozzarella. The upper right has ricotta, roasted tomatoes, parmesan and fresh basil, and the lower right has roasted yellow zucchini, roasted mushrooms and the oven roasted tomatoes. There's no limit to the combinations you can do on the crostini. I served them last week with the ricotta, roasted veggies, fresh heirloom tomatoes and a drizzle of chocolate balsamic vinegar. Oh my!! More on vinegar later.

To make crostini, line a sheet with foil, and turn the oven on to high broil, with the oven rack at its highest setting. Buy a very good quality, crusty baguette (none of that white bready stuff, please!). I bought mine at the farmers' market from Breadsmith. They also sell their breads at Earthfare so you don't have to wait until Tuesday's market.

Slice the baguette on the diagonal into 1/8 inch or slightly thicker slices. Brush the slices lightly with olive oil (I used basil-scented oil - recipe follows), and sprinkle lightly with salt. Broil the bread until nicely browned - watching carefully as it only takes 10-20 seconds. In my oven, at 30 seconds the bread caught fire!

Remove the tray, turn the slices, brush with oil, sprinkle with salt and toast the second side. Put on the toppings of your choice, break out a great bottle of wine, relax and think of Italy!

To make roasted tomatoes, please see my post: Slow Roasted Tomatoes.

To make basil oil heat 1/2 cup fruity olive oil on medium heat just until warm. Add 20 basil leaves. Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes to several hours. The flavor intensifies as the mixture sits. If you're going to use it for dipping, where there are few competing flavors, 30 minutes is plenty.

Fresh Ricotta

Fresh ricotta is easy to make but the recipe isn't precise. That is, the amount of curdling agent is variable and you have to fiddle with the basic recipe to get the curds to form. There are lots recipes on the Web for ricotta. It's basically a question of curdling milk, and then straining out the curds and flavoring them. (and here we are talking about fresh milk ricotta, not whey ricotta). The recipes are very similar, with the curdling agent being lemon juice, distilled white vinegar or buttermilk. The first time I made it, I used buttermilk. It worked beautifully and we loved the fresh, creamy and sweet taste. After reading several posts online, I decided to try some of the other agents. Using vinegar was the most intriguing recipe, so for my second attempt, that's what I used. I made it 3 different ways - by adding the vinegar after the milk had been heated, by adding the vinegar to the milk and then heating the whole concoction, and by pouring the curds and whey through the strainer, rather than lifting the curds out of the whey and placing them into the strainer. I really disliked the version made by adding the vinegar after the milk was heated, as the ricotta had a distinct vinegar taste. Adding it before, resulted in only a minor vinegar taste, but reduced volume. When I poured all of the contents into the strainer, the texture was much more dense. It was very good - just had a different texture, and that is a matter of personal taste.

The mound in the front right was poured through the strainer.

For my final tries, I used lemon juice. I must have tried this 6 times, but the only way I could get the milk to curdle was to add so much lemon juice that the ricotta tastes way too tart and lemony. Needless to say, I would not recommend using lemon juice to curdle the milk.

You'll see a lot of discussion about whether you can make ricotta with ultra-pasteurized milk. And the answer is YES. In fact the trials I did with pasteurized milk (not ultra) did not work as well as the ultra pasteurized milk. This was probably due to the kind of acid I used and the temperature I cooked it to, though.

The last issue is exactly what temperature the mixture needs to be heated to. You'll see recipes that call for heating the milk anywhere between 160 degrees F. and 190 degrees F. Although curds did form at 160 degrees, the best results I got were with heating the milk to about 180 degrees but not much higher. When I let the mixture get up to 190 degrees, the ricotta was a little tough and stringy - not the creamy deliciousness that came from the buttermilk mixture heated to 180.

Fresh Milk Ricotta

1/2 gallon whole milk ( I used organic ultra-pasteurized)

2-1/3 cups buttermilk, divided

1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

For herbed ricotta

2 tablespoons fresh minced herbs ( I used basil, thyme and sage)

1-1/2 teaspoons fruity olive oil, or basil oil

1 tablespoon whole milk, if eating the ricotta after it has been chilled

1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, optional

You'll need the following equipment:

5 quart pot

2 layers of cheesecloth lining a colander, set over a large pot or bowl

instant read or candy/oil thermometer

wooden spoon

slotted spoon

Wet the interior of the pot you are using (5 quart works well). Add the whole milk. Heat on medium heat, stirring often until the temperature reaches 180 degrees F. (If using a candy/oil thermometer leave it in the pot, and if using an instant read thermometer stick it in periodically to test). At this temperature the mixture will be starting to simmer.

Here's my whole setup:

When the mixture reaches 180 degrees F. add 2 cups of the buttermilk in a slow, steady stream, and the salt. The mixture should be starting to curdle. If not, add the remaining buttermilk in 2 tablespoon increments until the mixture starts to curdle. Do not stir, once you add the buttermilk. You can gently move the curds to the center of the pot. Continue heating to bring the mixture back up to 180 degrees. When the temperature is obtained, remove the pot from the heat and let the curds sit, undisturbed, for 15-30 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the curds to the cheesecloth-lined colander. Once the majority of the curds have been transferred, pour the entire contents through the cheesecloth to capture the smaller curds. let the curds drain for 15- 60 minutes, depending on how firm you want the ricotta to be. If eating the ricotta cold, it will firm up dramatically upon refrigeration.

This ricotta has drained for about 25 minutes:

If making the herbed ricotta, add the oil, herbs and milk (if using) while the ricotta is warm. The ricotta is at its very best when freshly made and still warm. Store the ricotta in the refrigerator, but bring it to room temperature before serving.

Did I mention balsamic vinegar? The very best I have tasted comes from a small store in West Hartford, Connecticut. You can find them at bellagustaoils.com . You can't order online yet, but it's coming. The dark chocolate balsamic is absolutely to die for!

Becca's Baby Shower Bear Cake

2011-07-01T08:52:00.001-04:00

After making marshmallow fondant for my last baby shower event, I was excited to try covering a cake with fondant. I had been hesitant before, because commercial fondant doesn't taste very good, but marshmallow fondant tastes pretty good and doesn't have a lot of artificial ingredients in it. The second drawback came when I saw that fondant shouldn't be refrigerated. That doesn't work for me, because I usually use buttercream made with egg whites and butter. I decided to use Marshmallow Fluff instead of egg whites, but I wouldn't sacrifice the butter. Somewhere along the road, I read that if the cake were kept at 45 degrees, the fondant would be okay. Since I have a second refrigerator, it was easy to make that adjustment, and as you can see from the picture, the fondant came out beautifully. The lettering is done with Wilton Sugar Sheets, and I didn't know how they would do refrigerated either, but they seemed to be fine as well.

I made the bear a week in advance to give it time to firm up so that I could easily move it to the cake. It took an entire recipe of marshmallow fondant, and I added the green while the marshmallows were melted. This way I didn't have the arduous and messy task of kneading in the green. (I needed some black and pink fondant, which came from the white batch that I made to cover the cake). Work on a piece of waxed paper, so that you can move the bear after it has been made.

Start with the legs. They need to be fatter at the top (the hip/thigh part) and taper to the foot. Just bend the bottom of this piece to make the foot, which you can perfect after the bear is assembled.

The legs are going to attached midway, or slightly farther back from the center of the body.

Once the legs are made, the body can be shaped. It needs to be pear-shaped so that it comes down between the legs. Make the body taller and thinner than it needs to be. The head is going to weigh it down so that the finished bear will be shorter and fatter than you started. Attach the legs with a little water.

The arms get fashioned in the same manner as the legs with the top shoulder/bicep fatter than the hand. If you have the arms too long, you can always pinch off some to get them right once you have the bear all assembled.

For the head, start with a round ball about 1/3 the size of the body. Put a toothpick or stick of spaghetti into the body and then stick the round ball on. Once you have the ball stuck onto the body, you'll be able to see if it is proportioned right. If it isn't right, you get something that looks more like a pig, so just keep playing with it until it looks right. The snout, nose and eyes, though will really start making it look like a bear.

Some directions for teddy bears have the snout be flat and oval, but mine just didn't look bearlike until I made the snout stick out and be more triangular. Once you have it the shape you like, attach it with water.

Color a small bit of fondant with either dark brown or black coloring. Make the nose a reverse triangle from the snout. My bear has a substantial nose! I think it could be smaller and still be very bearish. The eyes, on the other hand, need to be pretty small to be right, and to me they seem to look best if they are touching the snout rather than farther up on the head. The mouth is easiest made with an edible marker.

For the ears I flattened a very small ball of green fondant, and then made them slightly concave. I used a fondant ball tool to make the indentation for the pink fondant.

To add the final touches. put on the pink foot pad with a small brown pad at the bottom. For the toes use the edible marker. The toes can either be on the pad like I did, or off the pad on the green part (these are the claws, so they can even be right at the edge of the green part of the foot).

To make the fur, use a small scissor to make tiny clips into the fondant, which will stick up and look like fur. Lastly, score the head/snout area so that it looks like the head has been stitched. I used a flat toothpick, but there is a fondant tool for this purpose, if you have one.

Slide the waxed paper and bear onto a cardboard round and set aside to dry for 5-7 days at least. Once the bear has dried out, you'll be able to lift him off of the paper and onto the blanket, or wherever else you like.

For the blocks:
The blocks came from a Wilton design, which you can find at http://www.wilton.com/idea/Baby-Block-Cake. For the round cake, I had to proportion the blocks smaller, but you'll have to adjust them to the size cake you make (mine was 12-inches). To see if the proportions would work, I cut the blocks out of paper and laid them on an upside down cake pan. Once I had the right size block, I printed out letters on my computer, testing out different fonts and sizes to get the one I liked best, and the size that looked good on the block size I had chosen. After you do that, you can use the Wilton instructions for cutting out the Sugar Sheets and applying the sanding sugar. A word of caution - you can't pipe and sprinkle all of the blocks with the sanding sugar, and then hope to transfer them to the cake. If any of the piping gel has gone onto the back or off the sides of the block, the blocks will adhere to the surface you have them on. Instead, cut out all of the blocks, attach the letters and only apply the edge gel and sugar just before placing them on the cake. To get the spacing nice, I put my little paper mockups on the cake, and then replaced each one with the Sugar Sheet block. That way it was easy to see which block went where.

Making the blanket:

I used the blanket to hide the little cardboard round that the bear was on. I was afraid that the bear might sink into the cake, so I put 3 straws into the cake (cut even to the top of the cake) to support him, and then the bear was on a 3-inch round cardboard that I found at Michael's Craft Store.

To get the correct size, I just kept adding strips to the blanket until it covered the cardboard.

To begin making the blanket, sprinkle a work surface with powdered sugar and roll a piece of fondant to just thicker than 1/16-inch. Cut out strips, about 1/8-inch wide.

Lay the strips horizontally, and weave 1 strip through the others so that one horizontal is on top and one on bottom, alternating until the whole strip has been woven.

Fold back the strips that are underneath the vertical strip.

Place on another vertical strip, close to the first one.

Fold down the strips that were up, so you now have two strips that are woven. Fold up the strips that are underneath, and repeat the whole process. Move the strips close to each other after they are woven in.

When the blanket is the size you want, press down on it to mesh it all together nicely.

Cut the tails to an even length. To make the fringe, make small cuts into the tails with a knife. Slide the blanket onto a small round or square cardboard so that you can move it, and so that it provides a nice base for whatever will go on top of it.

For the cake I used the chocolate cake recipe from my wedding cake (http://amazingdessertrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/06/tales-of-tiered-cake-final-recipes.html) . I used a nail rose in the center of each to make sure that the cake cooked evenly in the middle (don't forget to remove it when you flip the cake out of the pan!). It worked beautifully. A center cone would also work, but then you have to put in a plug, so I prefer the nail method. The frosting was an easy marshmallow meringue buttercream- see http://amazingdessertrecipes.blogspot.com/2010/02/valentines-day-layer-cake.html. Leave out the cassis and use the powdered sugar and corn syrup sparingly, to taste. Don't forget that you'll have the sweet fondant on the outside, so you don't want the frosting too sweet. Some people won't eat the fondant, though, so it should be sweet enough. You'll need a double recipe (3 pounds Marshmallow Fluff).

Apple Blackberry Galettes

2011-05-31T17:08:00.002-04:00

I've made these pastries several times over the last month, trying different shapes, fillings, etc. For pickups, turnovers work great, but for desserts that get plated, these galettes contain twice as much fruihen and are terrific when people are sitting, and forks are available. Directions for the turnovers follow. I've used Pink Lady apples here, because you need an apple that won't give off too much liquid. The apples stay firm and the sweetness nicely complements the blackberries (if unavailable, try Pinatas or Jazz apples). If seedy blackberries aren't to your liking, try them with blueberries. The pastry dough is also wonderful in this galette. It seems like a puff pastry, yet it's simple to make and has a complexity to the taste that goes great with the simple taste of the berries.

Makes 16 3-1/2-inch galettes or turnovers

Pastry

2-1/2 cups (11.4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour, fluffed, scooped and leveled

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

14 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into 1/4 inch chunks

8 ounces cream cheese, cold

1/3 cup heavy cream, cold

Filling

4 cups Pink Lady Apples, (about 4) peeled and cored

1 medium lemon

9 ounces blackberries, washed and patted dry

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Glaze

2 tablespoons heavy cream

2 tablespoons coarse sugar

Directions

For the Pastry: Place the flour, sugar and salt in a processor, and process for 10 seconds to mix ingredients. Add the butter, and the cream cheese by tablespoonfuls to the processor. Pulse-process for 8-10 pulses until the fats are cut into lentil-sized pieces. Add the cream, and process for 8-10 seconds until the dough starts to gather. Turn the dough out onto a work surface. Smear bits of the dough down against the surface with the heel of the hand, to incorporate the fat into the dough (this is called Fraisage). Gather the dough together, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least two hours and preferably overnight.

For the Filling: Dice the apples into 1/4-1/2-inch pieces, place in a large bowl, and sprinkle them with lemon juice. Stir in the sugar and all but 3 tablespoons of blackberries. Let the mixture macerate while you prepare the pastry.

Assembly and Baking: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. with a rack in the middle of the oven. Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Cut the dough in half, wrap and return 1/2 to the refrigerator, and roll the remaining piece out on a lightly floured board, into a rectangle, about 1/2-inch thick (size isn't all that important). Fold the dough into thirds, like a letter, and then roll the dough again to about 1/16-inch thick

Because you are going to cut the dough into large rounds, and because it is thin, the circles tend to change shape if you try and lift them from the board onto the parchment paper. Therefore, I like to transfer the entire rolled dough sheet to the parchment lined cookie sheet, and cut out the final shapes right on the sheet. Once the rounds are cut, the excess dough can be removed. For a nice serving size, I use a 6-inch cutter (the top of my cookie-cutter box is the perfect size). Once the edges get turned up, the finished pastry will be about 3-1/2 inches round.

If you have more than about 1/4 cup of juices in the fruit bowl, drain the fruit, reserving the excess juice. Stir the cornstarch into the fruit.

Doing 1 pastry at a time, spoon a heaping teaspoonful of filling into the center of a round, leaving about 1-inch all around with no filling on it. Fold the inch of dough up, all around the perimeter of the pastry. The dough will naturally make pleats.

When all the edges are up, press lightly downward on the pastry top to seal together the pleats and to make it so that when the pastry bakes it won't open up too much.

Brush the edges with a little cream, and sprinkle generously with the coarse sugar.

Place the cookie sheet in the refrigerator while you prepare the second sheet of pastry (if you don't have a refrigerator large enough to accommodate a cookie sheet, this step can be skipped. The pastries won't be quite as crisp, but no one will complain!). Chill the pastries for about 10 minutes, or until the dough has just firmed up. Spoon about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of juice (not the reserved juice, but the juice with the cornstarch in it) into the center of each pastry, and set them into the oven. Bake for about 20-27 minutes, until well browned and bubbly.

Repeat with the second sheet of pastries.

While the pastries are cooking, you can either make a little glaze or extra fruit to add to the pastries. Cut the remaining blackberries in half, and either stir in a little of the excess juice, or some of the juice that has some cornstarch mixed into it. If it has the starch, it should be heated for 10-15 seconds, or until the raw starch taste is gone and the mixture has thickened lightly. This extra fruit can either be brushed over the hot fruit (not on the pastry) or a little bit can be spooned on to add texture and moisture to the baked pastries.

To make turnovers, you need to cut all of the blackberries in half, and let the fruit macerate with the sugar for at least 20 minutes. Add the starch just before shaping, as with the galettes. Roll the dough into a rectangle ( the dough should be a bit thicker - maybe a scant 1/8-inch). You want to cut the rectangles to be about 4x4, so roll the dough to a size that is workable for you, rolling it slightly larger than you need it in case it shrinks when you cut it.

Because your really can't have any juice in these, I like to sprinkle the rectangles with powdered sugar to compensate for the sugar that is left in the juice you can't really use. After they are sprinkled, cradle 1 rectangle in your hand and spoon a heaping teaspoonful of drained filling into the center (use a slotted spoon because the fruit will continue to ooze juice as it sits).

Bring two opposite pointy sides and seal together, and then seal along the whole edge.

Now you need to make sure that the edge is well sealed. I pinch it tightly closed and then roll the edge slightly upward, as if you were making a pie crust edge. Hopefully this will prefent the turnover from splitting open when it bakes. Set the turnover on a parchment lined sheet. Cut a slit in the top of each turnover. Brush the turnovers with either cream, or an egg yolk whisked with 1/2 teaspoon of water, and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake at 400 degrees F. for 20-25 minutes until nicely browned.

Filled Fudge Cookies Revisited

2011-05-05T18:00:00.001-04:00

I originally published this recipe in December 2010, and recently cooked them again, with a friend. Just for experience, she made them at her house before our baking session, and found that she had some difficulties with the dough. I could tell immediately that she had overcooked the cookies, but when she described how dry her dough was, I knew that there was probably another problem. We made them again, using the ingredients she had brought and found that the dough was way too dry. The culprit seemed to be the flour. The recipe called for unbleached flour, and that is what she had brought, but it was Gold Metal - Better For Bread, unbleached, and this flour has too much protein in it for the dough to work (we know this because we made them again with Pillsbury unbleached and it worked fine). I have changed the recipe to reflect this - it now calls for all-purpose flour - either unbleached or bleached will work fine, and will be less confusing to those who can only find unbleached bread flour. The other issue was with the 1/2 can of condensed milk. I, of course, did this by weight, using 7 ounces of the condensed milk - which actually turns out to be more than half of the can - even though the can says that it is 14 ounces. The recipe now has a more precise measurement for this. Lastly, we wanted the cookies to look more elegant so we drizzled them with dark and white chocolate. I don't have a picture of the result, but they really looked wonderful.

This recipe is based upon a 1995 $50,000 Pillsbury Bake-off winner called Fudgy Bonbons. It was a really good confection, but not a great one, because the dough was kind of greasy and the filling bland. The original recipe called for using chocolate chips, which got melted together with some butter and then mixed together with condensed milk and flour. Because there was not a very large amount of butter, every time I made the cookies, the chocolate mixture seized - that is, it got stiff and grainy very quickly. The quick fix to this was to melt the chocolate and butter separately, and then to combine the chocolate with the very large quantity of condensed milk, which worked beautifully (as long as the milk is at room temperature!). I also thought that the dough would be smoother and less greasy with less butter in it. In addition to these problems, the original recipe called for using milk chocolate kisses in the center. So here you had a rather sweet wrapping around a mediocre piece of chocolate candy, rather than having a contrast between the two and a superb chocolate candy center. The last problem with the bon bons was that, although they tasted good the first day, after that the candy center hardened and then it was more like eating a wrapped candy, rather than a cookie. All of these objections were easy to fix as you'll see in the following recipe. In my opinion, I've turned a $50,000 bonbon into a $100,000 cookie! Love to have your opinions!

Filled Fudge Cookies
7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped ( I used Ghirardelli)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
7 ounces (2/3cup) sweetened condensed milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour, measured by fluffing, scooping and levelling

30 Dove Promise candies, Caramel or Peanut Butter (or solid)

2 ounces semisweet chocolate, for decorating
2 ounces white chocolate, optional (to get it to melt thinly, you need white chocolate with more than 31% cocoa butter (more than 15g/40g chocolate)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. with a rack in the center of the oven. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Place the chocolate in a large microwave-safe bowl, and heat it on medium power (5) for 1-1/2 minutes. If the chocolate isn't yet melting, heat it for another 30 seconds. Stir, and see if the mixture needs more heating or if it can rest and continue melting on its own. Continue, heating, stirring and resting until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Set aside to cool briefly.

Meanwhile, place the butter in a small microwave-safe bowl and heat it on 10 seconds to melt the butter. Stir the condensed milk and vanilla into the chocolate and then stir in the melted butter.

Add the flour and stir, and then knead the dough until all of the flour has been incorporated.

Keep the dough covered as you are making the cookies, and if it starts to crack a lot as you are making the cookies, drizzle and knead in a little more condensed milk.

To make the cookies, pull off a small ball of dough, and flatten it in the palm of your hand or on a board until it is a scant 1/8-inch thick. There are a few different shapes that you can make, and I use them to differentiate cookies that have different fillings. This time, I used round shapes for cookies filled with solid chocolate ( I didn't like those for the reasons mentioned above), square shapes for the caramel filled cookies and triangles for the peanut butter filled cookies.

For round or square shapes, set the Dove Promise square in the center of the dough you have just flattened, and then bring the sides up over the dough to encase the chocolate.

Once the dough is encased, you can squeeze and pat it in our hand and use your thumb and forefinger to shape the round.

For square shapes, tamp the cookie on its ends.

For triangles, I like to cut the Dove Promises in half. If using the caramel filled ones, they will need to be frozen first. I usually start with the same piece of dough as in the above examples, but I square it up on the work board and then turn it so that the pointed side is up. I put the piece of candy in, wrap the top edges around the candy, estimate the amount of dough needed to finish the wrap, and then cut off the excess dough at the bottom. (When I try to cut it into the triangle shape first, I always seem to end up with too little dough, but you can do it anyway that gets the job done).

The last thing to do is to seal the final edge, and I usually do that with a decorative rim.

Set the cookies on the prepared cookie sheet and bake them for 4-6 minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE. Cookies will be soft and appear shiny, but the bottoms will just be showing signs of being cooked and will look like barely-cooked brownies. Slide the parchment onto a cooling rack and let the cookies cool.

The cookies aren't that attractive without some sort of decoration, and cookies that don't look great won't be perceived as great, even if they are! I usually just melt the 2 ounces of semisweet chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl for about 1 minute on power 5 or until melted. I then make a little cone out of a plastic bag, snip off the tip and pipe some horizontal lines on the top to cover up the cookie blemishes. You can repeat the process with the white chocolate.

How long to let the cookies cool is definitely a matter of preference. After about 2 hours, the cookies will be cool, but the centers will still be totally liquid . I prefer them after about 6 hours when the chocolate has firmed up a bit, but isn't yet hard. By the next day, the centers will have firmed back to their original state. You can put them back onto a cookie sheet and set them in a 100 or 200 degree oven for a minute or two to re-soften the centers slightly.

The cookies do freeze, although they are always much better when freshly made. Set the frozen cookies in a 300 degree oven for 5 minutes to defrost the dough and soften the centers.

Makes about 30 cookies

Passover Chocolate Cherry Cake

2011-04-12T11:50:00.002-04:00

Don't forget to check out http://www.koshereye.com/ to see my recipe, Chewy Almond Chocolate Sandwiches. These are elegant yet simple Passover cookies that can also be made and enjoyed all year round.

I wanted to make a non-dairy Black Forest-type cake, but the only non-dairy whipping liquid I could find, locally, was Ungers. Because I don't think it's the tastiest product, I thought it would be different and flavorful to use a chocolate whipped cream-type frosting instead of the Unger's alone. In addition, I wanted something easier to make. I was able to find 778 (fabulous) preserves in my kosher market, and voila! A new recipe was born!

Pareve or Dairy
SERVES 8 - 10

Chocolate Nut Cake
1 cup chopped pecans (plus more if you want to pat them around the outside of the cake -order from http://www.ohnuts.com/ )

1/4 cup matzo cake meal
8 ounces non-dairy Passover semisweet chocolate, chopped (see below for websites)
1/2 cup boiling water

8 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup sugar

Cherry Chocolate Filling
3 cups kosher for Passover non-dairy chocolate, chopped (local or mailorder: http://www.choclat.com/ or http://www.ohnuts.com/.)
3/4 cup warm water
2 cartons (1 quart total) kosher for Passover Non-dairy Topping liquid, thawed (such as Haddar or Unger')
4 -5 tablespoons kosher for Passover powdered sugar* see note
2 jars of Cherry Preserves (I love 778 brand)

For the cake
1. PREHEAT the OVEN TO 350-degrees F. with a shelf in the middle of the oven. Grease two 9-inch round metal cake pans, and place parchment paper in the bottom of each.

TipL Cutting the parchment is easy. Put your hand in the pan to hold it steady and then with the other hand, cut around the pan with a kitchen-only box cutter, or a knife.

Place the pecans and the matzo cake meal in the bowl of a processor. Pulse on and off until the nuts are finely ground, about 10 five-second pulses.

Place the chocolate in a small bowl. Pour the boiling water over the chocolate and let it sit for 30 seconds. Stir, or whisk the chocolate until it is melted. The mixture does not have to be smooth.

In a large mixing bowl beat the eggs just to blend. Gradually beat in the sugar. Increase the speed to high and beat until the eggs are thick, pale, and tripled in volume , about 5 minutes.

Sprinkle half of the matzo-nut mixture over the eggs and gently fold into the eggs. Repeat with the remaining matzo nut mix.

Stir 1/4 of the egg mixture into the chocolate, and then gently fold this into the remainder of the egg mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans. BAKE FOR 18-25 MINUTES or until a tester comes out with no crumbs attached. Place the pans on a cooling rack

Loosen the sides of the cakes with a small metal spatula and then let them cool in the pans. Place a piece of waxed paper on a cake, and then a rack or board, and invert the two together.

Remove the parchment paper, and reinvert so that the cakes are right side up. The cakes will have sunk just slightly in the center. Do not try to level the cakes, as they are very tender and will fall apart if you try to level them. Freeze the top cake for 1 hour to make it easier to handle.

For the Filling
Place the chocolate and warm water in a large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on power 4 for 1 minute. Stir and allow to stand until the chocolate and water are well mixed. Reheat if necessary, but don't let the chocolate get too hot or it will burn (no higher than 120-degrees F.). Let the chocolate cool while you whip the creamer. The chocolate must still be liquidy and slightly warm when you add it to the whipped topping. (If you have a thermometer, 100 degrees F. is a good temperature for blending chocolate).

Pour the whipped topping into a large mixer bowl and add the powdered sugar. Whip the topping until it forms stiff peaks. Spoon a large dollup (1-2 cups) of the whipped topping into the chocolate, and stir rapidly to combine (the object is to add just enough so that the chocolate doesn't cool enough to cause the chocolate to harden, but not so little that the chocolate melts the cream).

Stir this mixture into the remaining whipped topping.

Assembly
Onto the bottom layer of your cake spread the preserves. I like to use a very thin layer of the jelly and then spread the cherries around. If you are using the 778 preserves there will be a lot of cherries. Although the recipe calls for 2 jars, this is so that you have enough cherries. You will have almost a whole jar of the jellied part left.

So that the cherries and filling do not get mixed up together, spoon on big globs of the filling before spreading it. The amount to use is personal - we like about 1/2-1-inch of chocolate filling.

Set the frozen layer on top of the spread frosting.

For a rustic looking cake, just add the cherries and filling on top, or for a more polished look, finish the cake by frosting the sides and adding borders.

The cake can be made several days ahead, or can be frozen for up to 1 month. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight.

Serve the cake directly from the refrigerator, if possible.

*Note: If you cannot find Kosher for Passover powdered sugar, grind granulated sugar in a food processor to get it a little finer. Add it to the whipped topping liquid, and refrigerate the mixture at least 15 minutes so that the sugar can dissolve.

Passover Time

2011-04-06T18:12:00.006-04:00

While I wasn't planning on posting this recipe just yet, I realized that some of you might need to order ingredients for Passover, and it might be a good idea to just give you an idea of what you should order.

This is a fairly easy chocolate cherry cake. If you think you might like to make it, here are some of the ingredients you might want to order:

chopped pecans (you need 1 cup, or more if you want to pat some around the cake sides
matzo cake meal (you need 1/4 cup)
semisweet chocolate, chopped or chips (24 ounces)
sugar (1 cup)
non-dairy Topping (such as Unger's Whip or Haddar)
powdered sugar (5 tablespoons)
cherry preserves (2 jars 778 brand)

I was really excited to see what's available for Passover this year online:

http://www.choclat.com/ has lots of Passover chocolates - both for baking and for eating. You need to order by April 11th

http://www.ohnuts.com/ has all kinds of nuts, including cashews, pistachios, filberts, pecans, etc. They also have chocolate chips, cocoa, coconut, any kind of dried fruit, sundried tomatoes, etc.

http://www.aviglatt.com/ has brown sugar

http://www.allinkosher.com/ has cashew butter and both Haddar and Ungers nondairy topping liquid (frozen).

Take advantage of all of these great products that you can get online these days and make something different!!

I'll be posting my recipe in the next two weeks, and I'll also have an easy but elegant cookie posted at wwwkoshereye.com (probably mid-Passover week). Almond Ganache Sandwiches are pareve and are made without any special ingredients that you would have to order - perfect for mid-week entertaining, lunch boxes and family dessert. You might also find my Passover Macaroon recipe there. It's a great site, so take a look!

Chewy Almond and Ganache Sandwiches

All about Scones Part 2 - Making scones in the U.S.

2011-03-11T22:56:00.002-05:00

Sarabeth's Bakery Currant Scones with homemade strawberry jam

In part 1, my friend, Ann, and I tasted scones at Brown's Hotel, in London, and then made them with some friends in an English kitchen. When I got home, I wanted to see how well the recipe would work with American ingredients and equipment. I wasn't surprised to find that the recipe did not work well, as Ann had told me that she hadn't had much luck using her American recipes in Britain. Most likely, the recipe didn't work well because the flour is different, but the butter and milk might have contributed too. I was a little surprised that the scones didn't brown in my oven at home, but then the temperature that Brown's scones cooks at is much lower than any other recipes I've seen, both English and American.

For my first try, I used my everyday flour, King Arthur unbleached all-purpose flour. I found that the dough was so dry that I had to add an extra 2-3 tablespoons of milk to even get it to come together. For the second attempt, I used Pillsbury bleached all-purpose flour, which has less protein in it than the King Arthur flour. I did find that switching to this flour worked better. At least I didn't have to add so much extra liquid to get the dough to the proper texture. However, the scones rose much higher than Brown's scones, and because of this they didn't look as pretty (bleached flour is probably the cause of this). I also think I overkneaded this batch of dough in an effort to get the dough "smooth", an instruction in Chef Ecuvillon's recipe (which I didn't do in London). Although they weren't tough, they didn't have the delicate texture found in the original Brown's scone. If I made these scones again, I would probably try them with biscuit flour (White Lily, Southern Biscuit, or King Arthur Perfect Pastry Flour), and would knead them lightly, as I had done in London.

For my next experiment I tried America's Test Kitchen Dreamy Cream Scones. This recipe is very similar to the Brown's recipe except that the butter doesn't get cut in as finely, it has more baking powder and cream instead of milk. The disadvantage to having more baking powder is that the scones rise higher and don't look as pretty. The texture is quite different because of the handling of the butter and the larger amount of baking powder. These were delicious but tasted more like ordinary biscuits, rather than th emore exotic scone!

Next, I tried Sarabeth's Bakery Currant Scones. These are extremely different from the two above, because they contain eggs and they have very little sugar in them. They were quite flaky and they cooked perfectly, with the oven starting out very hot, and then being reduced when the scones were in. The only problem with these was that they weren't sweet enough to suit my husband.

The last batch that I made, was from the Joy of Cooking. I made their classic scones, but instead of using egg I used double the amount of cream (as per variation in the Joy). This was the scone that we liked the most. These were the flakiest of all, crusty on the outside, yet moist within, and sweet enough to suit my husband's tastes. You'll see that they're not as shiny as Sarabeth's because the glaze is just a light brushing of cream, rather than the shine of an egg. Although they're not as pretty, we liked the taste of the crust better without the egg wash.

For the original Joy of Cooking recipe, please see The All New Joy of Cooking Classic Currant Scones. The recipe below has been slightly altered by me. Brown's Hotel Scones (adjusted for American kitchens) follows. For Sarabeth's, go to http://www.epicurious.com/ and look for the recipe that was printed in Gourmet Magazine in 2010.

The All New Joy of Cooking Classic Currant Scones, edited by Penny Eisenberg
Makes 8 wedges or about 20 round scones

2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour, fluffed scooped and levelled
3-5 tablespoons sugar, to taste
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder (can use up to 1 tablespoon)
1/2 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted butter, cold
1/2 cup dried currants or raisins

1 cup heavy cream + 1 tablespoon, divided, cold

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Either cut the butter into small pieces, or grate the butter on the large grate of a box cutter.

Toss the butter into the flour mixture to separate the pieces. If using cut butter (rather than grated) you will need to rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips or use a pastry blender to cut the butter in until the largest pieces are the size of peas, and the rest looks like breadcrumbs. Work quickly and lightly.

Stir in the currants or raisins. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the cream, all at once. Mix with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until the dry ingredients are moistened.

Knead the dough, lightly, turning the dough and pressing it until everything adheres together. Gently roll the dough into an 8-inch round, about 3/4-inch thick.

Cut the dough into 8 wedges, or cut out rounds with a 2t o 2-1/2-inch floured biscuit cutter. Place the scones on the parchment paper, at least 1/2-inch apart. Brush the tops of the scones with cream. If desired sprinkle with coarse sugar. Place in the oven and immediately reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees. F. Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden. Let cool on a rack, and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Brown's Hotel Scones adapted for the American Kitchen

Makes 16 wedges or 20 small round scones

4 cups minus 2 tablespoons (500 grams) lower-protein all-purpose (such as Pillsbury or Gold Medal), fluffed, scooped and levelled (if using biscuit flour, you might need 1/4-1/3 cup more flour)

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup raisins or sultanas

1 cup whole milk + 2 tablespoons, divided

For egg wash

2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon whole milk
pinch sugar

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Either dice the butter, or grate it on a box grater (see above). Add the butter to the flour mixture, and using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until it is no longer visible. Stir in the sugar.

Toss the sultanas into the above mixture. Make a well in the mixture and pour in all of the milk. Stir with a spoon until the mixture starts to come together.

Turn the mixture onto a lightly floured surface, and knead gently, 5 or 6 times, until it forms a smooth, soft dough (add a little more flour or milk to get the texture right). Form into a round, wrap in cling wrap and chill for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll the dough gently on a floured surface to about 1-inch. thick. Dip a 2-inch round cookie cutter into flour, and then cut out the rounds, dipping the cutter as needed. Press together scraps and re-cut. Place the rounds on the parchment paper. Alternatively you can shape the dough into two 8-inch rounds and then cut each into 8 wedges.
Make the egg wash, by mixing the ingredients together in a small bowl. Brush the tops of the scones with the egg wash.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the scones are golden brown and look and feel cooked on the sides. Let the scones cool until just barely warm or completely cooled, and serve with fresh strawberry jam. You probably won't be able to make Clotted Cream because you need unpasteurized or lightly pasteurized cream to make it, but you might be able to find jarred Devonshire Cream in a specialty food store.

All about Scones - Part 1 Brown's Hotel Scones

2011-03-07T21:46:00.001-05:00

I am so lucky to have been invited to spend my birthday in London with my dear friend, Ann and her family. One of the things she wanted to do there was to have me make scones with a few friends of hers. Never having made them before, I knew I would have to do some homework ahead of time. When I first thought about blogging about scones, I thought there would be a clear distinction between American scones and British ones, but I soon found that there really isn't a standard recipe, regardless of country of origin. Scones are buttery, baking powder biscuits. After that basic fact, anything seemed to go - amounts of flour, butter, sugar, liquid and leavening varied greatly. Even the pronunciation isn't universal. Americans tend to say "sc-oh-ns, while Brits are just as likely to say "sc-oh-ns" as "sc-ah-ns.

I was certainly thrilled that prior to our class, Ann wanted to take me to Brown's Hotel for their world-famous High Tea. High Tea at Brown's consists of a beautiful array of finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and fresh strawberry jam, an assortment of finger pastries and two cakes served from a trolley - and of course, your choice of tea!

All of the food was wonderful, but I was especially impressed by the scones and pastries. I rarely eat pastry out because it so often doesn't live up to my expectations. But these were all wonderful. We asked for the recipe for the scones, and were a little surprised when the communications person delivered it to our table. We were even more pleased and surprised when the pastry chef, Fabien Ecuvillon, also came out to talk with us about his pastries.

Me with pastry chef Fabien Ecuvillon at Brown's Hotel

Among other things, he told us that Brown's only uses fruits in season (except for the strawberry jam, which is a must-have for High Tea scone service). One of those rare fruits, in season when I was there, was sea buckthorn berry, and these he used in a delightful macaroon that was on the pastry plate, as well as in jelly, which he brought to us in a small glass. Both items were very different and interesting.

It is fine food like this that has kept visitors coming to Brown's for more than a century. If you plan on going to Brown's for High Tea, be sure to make a reservation, which you can do directly from their website: http://www.brownshotel.com/, or 020 7518 4155 ( in case you're wondering, this is a completely unsolicited rave review!)

Brown's scones are a little different from the average scone, whether British or American. They are tiny, round scones and have a more tender, cakey texture than the scones you find in the supermarket or bakeries in London (this is most likely because Chef Ecuvillon mixes in the butter until no longer visible, rather than the others who mix it in more chunkily). The round shape is definitely traditional - chef Ecuvillon told us that he'd probably be out of a job if he made them wedge-shaped! Wedge-shaped ones are easier to make, and you don't have any scraps to re-roll the way that you do with round ones. Scones made from scraps are a little denser, and Chef Ecuvillon always discards the scraps so that each scone is always perfect.

For our class the next day, we decided to try and replicate Brown's scones. We made them in the traditional round shape (we did re-use the scraps), and in the easier wedge-shape. Our British scones came out great. They weren't quite as pretty as Chef Ecuvillon's, but they were delicious. When I made them at home in North Carolina, however, they really didn't come out well. The reasons for this, along with American measurements and details will follow in part 2.

Brown's Hotel Scones
500 grams plain flour
17 grams baking powder
2 grams salt
100 grams cold, diced unsalted butter
100 grams sugar
250 ml cold milk
60 grams sultanas

For egg wash
2 large egg yolks
10 ml milk
pinch sugar

Place the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add the diced butter, and using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until it is no longer visible. Stir in the sugar.

Toss the sultanas into the above mixture. Make a well in the mixture and pour in all of the milk. Stir with a spoon until the mixture starts to come together.

Turn the mixture onto a lightly floured surface, and knead gently, 5 or 6 times, until it forms a smooth, soft dough. Form the dough into a round and wrap in cling wrap and chill for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. or Gas Mark 6. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.Roll the dough gently on a floured surface to about 2.5 cm. thick. Dip a 5cm cookie cutter into flour, and then cut out the rounds, dipping the cutter as needed. Press together scraps and re-cut. Place the rounds on the parchment paper.

Alternatively, you can shape the dough into two 8-inch rounds and cut the rounds of dough into 8 wedges.

Make the egg wash, by mixing the ingredients together in a small bowl. Brush the tops of the scones with the egg wash.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the scones are golden brown and look and feel cooked on the sides. Let the scones cool until just barely warm, and serve with Devonshire Clotted Cream (recipe follows in Part 3, and fresh strawberry jam.

From left: Rhonda, me, Ann-my friend and our hostess, and Gail

Baby Shower Desserts Part 3 - Mini Cupcakes

2011-02-09T22:03:00.001-05:00

For this baby girl baby shower, I made mini chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with blackberry cassis buttercream, decorated with royal icing booties. If you plan to decorate with booties, you'll need to make them at least 3 days ahead, as they need to dry and harden completely before using them.

To make royal icing booties, start with royal icing mix (from Michael's or a cake decorating store), or make your own using pasteurized egg whites.

Royal Icing
3 large pasteurized egg whites
3-3/4 cups sifted powdered sugar + 1/4 cup, divided
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon flavoring of choice (vanilla, etc)

Reserve 1/4 cup sugar and mix together all other ingredients. Beat for 7-10 minutes until the icing holds a strong peak. Add more powdered sugar if necessary. Beat in color of choice ( I use a toothpick to add color so I have control and don't add too much). Keep the frosting covered with a damp cloth to keep it from drying out.

Prepare a pastry bag with a coupler and a #12 round tip (the coupler allows you to change tips without emptying the bag).

If you want to, you can mark a piece of partchment paper with rounds so that you have a bit of guidance in how big to make the bookies. Always mark on one side, turn the paper over and then pipe on the backside so that you don't contaminate the frosting with the marker. Hold the bag at a 45-degree angle and pipe from the toe towards the heel, releasing the pressure as you get to the heel.

For the heel you can either hold the bag straight up-and-down- or you can angle the bag slightly towards the toe and then pipe upwards. Dip a dowel in powdered sugar and then press into the top of the bootie. Don't worry about excess powdered sugar - when the booties are dry you can brush away the excess with a small paint brush (food-safe).

Switch to a #2 tip and pipe "lace" at the top of the bootie (you'll have to experiment with this to see what looks good - I sort of made loops while raising the tip up). These booties are quite small, so it is hard to add a bow to the front. Instead, I made laces at the front of the bootie using the #2 tip. I used the same color, but you could do contrasting color if you like.

Don't put the booties on the cupcakes until just before serving, as the royal icing could get soft when exposed to the buttercream. These cupcakes are very small, so you might want to just use one on each (the opening photo has chocolate cupcakes with 2 booties and the vanilla with just one, for comparison).

For the Cupcakes
Before offering the recipes, I wanted to tell you about the new muffin pan that I just bought at Sur La Table. It makes 24 mini-muffins, but the best part is that the cups are shallower and wider than regular mini-muffin tins. The result is that the paper liners go in easier with no pleating and they come out of the pan much easier too.

Old style pan on left

For chocolatete cupcakes, use the recipe for Filled Chocolate Cupcakes Revised (but don't fill them).

I'd never actually made vanilla cupcakes, always opting for chocolate, but I had a baby shower to do and the mom-to-be didn't like chocolate, so it provided a good opportunity for me to work on my vanilla baking. I started with my all around sheetcake recipe from my book, cutting it down to the appropriate size, but the results were not really what I wanted - they were too sweet, two vanilla tasting and the texture wasn't quite right for a piece of cake that gets eaten out of hand. Fortunately, the fix was easy and I didn't have to rebake them more than once. I simply cut down on the sugar and vanilla and added more milk.

Vanilla Cupcakes
187 grams all-purpose flour -- measured by fluffing, scooping and leveling
1 -1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

5 ounces unsalted butter
1 cups sugar
1 -1 /2 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs

1 tablespoon oil
3/4 cup whole milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. with a rack in the lower third of the oven (use a hotter oven if you want cupcakes that crest higher). Place baking cups in each muffin space.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Place the butter and sugar into a large mixer bowl, and beat for a full 5-7 minutes until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each addition. Scrape down the bowl and then beat for a minute to blend everything. Beat in the oil.

By hand, stir in 1/3 of the flour mixture into the batter. Stir in 1/2 of the milk. Repeat until all of the flour and milk has been added. The batter will be very thick, as you'll see in the photo.

Spoon a heaping teaspoonful of batter into each mini-cup or a heaping tablespoon full into each full-size muffin cup. The cups should be about 3/4 full.

Bake for 8-12 minutes for minis (6-8 if using a hotter oven), 15-18 for full size cupcakes - until a tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out absolutely clean. Let the cupcakes cool for a few minutes and then take them out of the pan and set on a cooling rack until completely cool. Rinse the hot pan in warm water and then cool water. Repeat the process with the remaining batter.

You can see that the muffins didn't crest very much, despite the fact that the cups were well-filled. If you bake them in a hotter oven, they should crest more. Try 375 degrees - but just watch carefully that they don't overcook. Makes about 36 mini muffins. I didn't make larger muffins, but I'm guessing that it would bake 12-15 of the larger muffins.

Blackberry Buttercream
Blackberry Buttercream is more on the more purple side of pink, which worked for me, since the colors of the event were pink and purple. Blackberries are so much easier to sieve than raspberries, that I was thrilled that the color would work for this party. I opted to do my Easy Meringue Buttercream rather than Simple Buttercream (uses Marshallow Fluff instead of egg whites) because I wasn't sure if the simple version would handle all of the blackberry puree, but you might want to give it a try, since it is so much easier to make ( see Filled Chocolate Cupcakes Revised), and since this version had problems with the puree as well (details follow).

10-12 ounces frozen blackberries, defrosted as per below instructions
2-4 tablespoons cassis liqueur, optional
180 grams (6 large) pasteurized egg whites (I used Organic Valley egg whites - in a carton)
2 tablespoons water
1-1/2 cups superfine sugar (or you can buzz regular sugar in a coffee grinder)
4 sticks (21 ounces) unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup blackberry puree (see below)
1/2 cup powdered sugar

For the blackberry puree:
Defrost the frozen blackberries, retaining all of the juice. Boil the juice until it is reduced by half (you can add some cassis liqueur to this, before or after boiling, depending on whether you want to get rid of the alcohol or not). Run the blackberries through a food mill and add this puree to the reduced juice. Sieve the mixture through a medium strainer to get rid of all seeds (blackberry seeds are pretty large, so a medium strainer works). You should have about 1/2 cup blackberry puree. Do not add it to the buttercream until it is at room temperature.

For the buttercream:
Remove the butter from the refrigerator and cut it into tablespoon-size lumps so it can soften while you prepare the eggs.

Boil 2 inches of water in a pot into which your metal mixer bowl will fit. Place the egg whites into the clean, grease-free mixer bowl. Whisk in the water and sugar.

Place the bowl over the simmering water, and whisk –stir constantly until the mixture reaches 120-130 degrees, about 1-3 minutes (very warm to the touch, if you don’t have a instant-read thermometer). The mixture will be very warm, and the sugar granules should have dissolved. Remove the bowl from over the water. If you see any un-dissolved sugar crystals in the bowl, wipe these off with a paper towel.

Beat the egg white mixture , increasing the speed to medium-high to high speed , as quickly as possible without having the egg whites splash out of the bowl. Beat until the mixture looks like thick shaving cream, and the egg whites and bowl are cool - about 20 minutes.

This is easiest done with a standing mixer using a balloon whisk. To hasten the process, wet a towel and place a few cupfuls of ice chips into it. Wrap it up and place this under the bowl so that it in constant contact with the bowl.

By now the butter should be at cool room temperature. If you press down on it with your thumb, it should yield readily, but should not be soft and melty. If too soft, refrigerate it just for a few minutes to firm it back up. Place the butter into a large mixing bowl, and beat until creamy. On low, beat in 1/3 of the whites. Repeat with the remaining whites, 2 more times. When all of the whites have been added, increase the beater speed to medium-high, and beat until the mixture curdles,

and then smoothes out into thick and creamy frosting, about 10-15 minutes.

Beat in the blackberry puree, about 2 tablespoons at a time, beating after each addition until the buttercream is smooth again. Beat in the powdered sugar, 1/4 cup at a time. Adjust the flavor/sweetness by adding more cassis liqueur or more powdered sugar, to taste. Normally, buttercream can be frozen, but with this frosting, freezing created lots of problems.

For starters, I tried to beat it before it had come to room temperature (a definite no-no with all egg-based buttercreams). Here's what happened:

Now, this has happened before, and when I let the mixture come to room temperature it beat up nicely, but this time that didn't happen. In fact, as it got warmer, it got worse and worse:

It was the day before the shower and I had just spent 12 hours decorating cookies, so needless to say I was in no mood to remake the buttercream. I'm guessing this happened because of the large amount of liquid I had added to the buttercream (1/2 cup of blackberry puree plus some cassis liqueur). There was one last fix that had worked in the past. I softened 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter to cool room temperature. I spooned the buttercream back into the mixer bowl and beat in 1/2 cup powdered sugar. With the mixer on medium speed, I added the butter 1 tablespoon at a time, and lo and behold! The buttercream re-formed.

So, keep this in mind if you plan to make the buttercream ahead, or if you have trouble with another buttercream you have made.

The only thing left to do, is to pipe the buttercream onto the cupcakes. Refrigerate until 2-3 hours before serving , placing the booties on the cupcakes when you take them out of the refrigerator and the frosting has started to soften.

Baby Shower Desserts - Part 2 Onesie Cookies with Fondant Icing

2011-02-05T10:36:00.000-05:00

First let me say, that although my roll cookie is fantastic to work with, decorating these cookies, if you do it like this, with all of these variations, takes a LOT of time. It took me about 10 hours to decorate 65 cookies. If you are going to making these with kids, stick to the easy decorating - patterned "fabric", tie-dye with or without the 3-D flowers, etc. On the other hand, if you have the time or inclination to make many different ones, these are the cutest things and everyone will love them. Don't let the fondant icing scare you away - it's homemade marshmallow fondant, which tastes good and is pretty easy to make.

Before you start, you'll need to buy the cookie cutter set. I wanted the mini cookies (about 2-inches) because I knew that I would be making other desserts. I bought a set that included the the onesie cookie cutter and a bib cutter (which I didn't use) and 3 texture mats. If you search on Amazon for 'Onesie cookie cutter", this item will come up - Texture Cookie Cutter Set-Mini. This will give you the duck, ABC and striped designs.

You also need some food coloring, good brushes (Loew-Cornell) - the pointy one in the middle is the one I used most for painting the detail. The left-hand brush was used for brushing off excess powdered sugar, and the one on the far right was great for brushing on luster dust for a shimmery look (it's a very inexpensive watercolor brush that I bought in the supermarket).

nonstick fondant rolling pin

Long rolling pin and Perfect-A-Pie (rings) - Available from http://www.fantes.com/ (nice to have but not required - this will help you to roll the dough and the fondant to a consistant thickness)

Makes 75 Mini Onesie Cookies

Ingredient List

2 packages (10 ounces each) miniature marshmallows
4 pounds powdered sugar
1/2-1 cup solid vegetable shortening (Crisco)
3-1/2 teaspoons vanilla or other flavoring
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
4 cups ( 520 grams) all-purpose flour, fluffed, scooped and leveled into measuring cups
6-8 tablespoons pasteurized egg whites (about 3 egg whites)
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
corn syrup
food coloring
2.5 gallon ziptop bag - not required but very nice for rolling out dough and fondant

--------------------
Ingredients will be repeated for each recipe - they are INCLUDED in the ingredient list, above.

For the Marshmallow Fondant
2 bags (10 ounces each) miniature marshmallows
4-10 tablespoons water, divided
9-1/2 cups powdered sugar divided
2 teaspoons vanilla, or other flavoring, divided

It will probably be too hard to make all of the fondant at once, so use the directions below and make it twice:

Place 10-ounces of marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave 30 seconds on high; stir until mixed well. Continue microwaving 30 seconds more; stir again. Continue until melted (about 2 1/2 minutes). Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla.

If you want to make the fondant in a heavy-duty mixer, grease the bowl well with some of the vegetable shortening. Add 4-1/2 cups of the powdered to the mixer bowl. Grease a spoon and spoon the melted marshmallow mixture into the greased bowl. Mix the ingredients together on low until the mixture becomes dough-like. You can now use a dough hook, or knead the mixture by (greased) hands on a greased countertop, until the mixture is smooth and non-sticky. Add more water or up to another 1/4 cup of sugar to get the texture the way you want it. It should not crack, nor should it be overly sticky by the time it is finished. It should be supple and smooth. Repeat with the remaining ingredients to have 2 batches of fondant.

If not using a mixer, add about 4 cups of sugar to the marshmallow mixture. Stir with a greased spoon until shaggy. Place 1 cup of powdered sugar on a countertop and transfer the mixture to the powdered sugar. Knead together (with greased hands), adding more water (up to a total of 5 TB per batch) as necessary to get the powdered sugar completely mixed in and the ball of fondant smooth and supple, but not overly sticky.

If you know what colors you want, it's easier to knead it in now, while the fondant is still soft. You might want to wear gloves when kneading in color. I used a toothpick to spread a small bit of color onto the fondant, and then kneaded it in, adding more color as necessary. After you are done, coat the fondant with solid shortening, wrap in plastic and place into a plastic bag. Let the fondant rest at least overnight. For longer storage, place it in the refrigerator. If refrigerated, it will be very firm when you take it out. It can be softened in the microwave prior to using, but don't overdo it. Depending on the size of the ball (you may have broken off small balls to color them), it could take a few seconds on power 1 or 2, or up to 10 seconds on power 1 or 2. Better to under heat than over, because over heated fondant will be too soft to work with, and it will get stale as it cools. It will keep in the refrigerator for several weeks.

For the cookies
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter – cool room temperature
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg, room temperature

4 cups ( 520 grams) all-purpose flour, fluffed, scooped and leveled into measuring cups
up to 4 teaspoons room temperature water, if needed

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. with shelves in the bottom and top thirds of the oven. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large mixer bowl beat together the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla extract on low to medium speed, just until well blended.

Break the egg into a small bowl and fork-whisk until blended. Gradually beat the egg into the butter mixture.

Add the flour, all at once, to the mixer bowl, and beat on low speed until the mixture comes together into a dough. If the dough does not form, add the water a little at a time, using just enough to bring the dough together. Press the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Cut the dough into 4 pieces and return 3 pieces to the refrigerator.

For a foolproof rolling method, cut open a jumbo zip-top bag so that it is hinged on one long side. Flour the inside of the plastic and place one piece of dough inside.

To roll dough to an even thickness, you can use a pastry board with a dropped bottom or a plastic dough ring that is the exact thickness needed (see picture, above). The rolling pin runs on the edges of the ring, or the pastry board, allowing the dough to be rolled to the exact thickness needed (see Easy Dough Rolling Technique).

Roll the dough to 1/8-inch thick or slightly thinner. Cut out the dough using cookie cutters of your choice. Set the cookies on the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for a total of 12 -15 minutes, moving the top cookie sheet to the lower shelf and the bottom sheet to the top after half of the baking time, until the cookies are lightly browned around the edges. Slide the parchment onto cooling racks, and let cool completely before storing.
If using the cookies within 2 days, store covered with waxed paper to retain the cookies crispness. Otherwise, freeze the cookies for up to 3 months. Defrost them on wire racks, and then place in a storage container, loosely covered with waxed paper.

Decorating
Remove the fondant from the refrigerator and soften it as directed in the fondant section above. Cut three sides of a ziptop bag so that you have a hinged piece of large plastic. Sprinkle on a light coating of powdered sugar. Roll a piece of fondant out between the sheets of plastic to about slightly thicker than 1/16th inch, using the Perfect-A-pie Rings, mentioned above. You don't want to cut more than 5-10 pieces at a time, because they will dry out, especially if you are piecing together to make stripes, for example. If using the texture mats, you want to place them on the fondant, roll the nonstick fondant rolling pin over the mat and then use the cookie cutter to cut out the onesie shape. I like to use the texture mats with the convex side facing up, so that the design in the fondant will be raised not convex. It's easier to paint the raised designs than try and fill convex ones. Once you have them cut, brush a light coating of corn syrup onto a cookie and place the fondant on the cookie. Place the cookies on a cookie sheet and cover them with waxed paper to prevent them from drying out too much. You'll want to go back and paint these once you have all of the cookies done.

To make patterned onesies like these:

You can make the dominant color and the accent color reversed onesie at the same time. Roll out the two colors of fondant. In one of the pieces, cut out the accent pieces. For the ones above, I used a mini-poinsetta cutter, but you could use a star, circle, fruit blossom, or any other tiny cutter that you have or buy. Place the cut-outs on the other piece of dough, and roll the two together.

Now you can see that besides the patterned piece of fondant you have just made, you also have the purple piece with the cut-outs removed. Lift up the purple piece and set it on the unpatterned pink piece.

You can either roll the two together to make a patterned piece of "fabric" in opposite colors from the one you just made, or you can affix the purple piece with corn syrup, making a onesie with depth. Now use the cutter to cut out the onesie, and affix it to the cookies with a light coating of corn syrup.

To make this onesie with dots, I cut out the circles from the purple piece and then affixed the purple piece to the cookie. Then I cut out the white and pink circles, and inserted them into onesie. If I had tried to roll the circles into the purple piece, they wouldn't remain round, although that probably would have been an interesting pattern, too.

To make wide-striped onesies, you can use the striped onesie texture mat. Roll out the colors you want to use, and press the texture mat into the main color. Cut out a onesie and then use a sharp knife to cut the onesie where you want the stripe to be.

To line everything up, I like to place the cut pieces on top of the piece for the stripe and recut everything so that I can make sure that the cuts will line up nicely, and then I place the cookie cutter back onto the onesie and recut it so that I know it's the right size.

Brush a cookie with corn syrup. Place one piece of fondant on the cookie and press down lightly so that it adheres well ( I usually work from the shirt downwards). Place the second piece on and push it upward so that it nicely abuts the first piece, and then put on the last piece.

In the picture below you can see that I used the texture mat on purple fondant to get the duck. I cut that piece rougly and then set it on top of the white fondant. Then I used the cookie cutter to cut the onesie through both layers of fondant, and then I cut out the white piece underneath the purple fondant. Then I attached everything as described above. You can see that when you do it that way, the onesie looks seamless like the stripe was woven right into the "fabric".

If you want to make a 3-D flower, cut out the shape with a tiny flower cutter (I used a gumpaste fruit flower cutter). Cup the flowers with your fingers or a wooden skewer, and let the flowers dry for 15 minutes on the skewers. This will dry them just enough so that they will retain some shape, but they won't be so dry that you wouldn't want to eat them, and they will still be soft enough to reshape them if you have cupped them too much.

If you are very gentle, you won't make a hole in the center, as I've done in the flower, below.

But whether you have a hole or not, you can put a tiny yellow ball of fondant in the middle to finish the flower. Attach the flowers to the fondant onesie with a dot of corn syrup, after the fondant has been affixed to the cookie. In the picture below, you can see the 3-D pink flowers and also some flat white flowers.

To make the tie-dyed onesies above, simply put some food coloring on the fondant, but don't knead it in completely.

You can also use luster dust to give the onesies a glittery effect.

At this point you could be done OR you could really punch up the designs by painting accents on the cookies. For that you need royal icing, which dries hard.

Royal Icing
I use pasteurized egg whites that come in a carton. Don't follow the conversion chart (amount from carton to equal 3 egg whites), but instead just use the 3-5 tablespoons listed below. If separating out the whites from pasteurized shell eggs, be very careful not to get any yolk or grease into the whites or they won't whip up.

3-5 tablespoons pasteurized egg whites (about 3 egg whites)
3-3/4 cups and 1/4 cup powdered sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or other flavoring
water, as needed

Reserve 1/4 cup sugar and mix together all other ingredients. Beat for 7-10 minutes until the icing holds a strong peak, adding the remaining sugar if necessary.

Keep the bowl of frosting covered with a damp cloth to keep it from drying out. Divide the frosting into however many bowls of different colors you need. I used yellow or white (no food coloring) on the ducks, white with a tiny bit of purple in it to accent the white cookies, a few shades of purple for the ABC's and to punch up the purple multi-striped onesies, several shades of pink, etc. Here you can see that I've painted not only the duck and ABC but also the detail on the onesie. It really makes a difference!

Baby Shower Desserts Part 1 - Cabbage Patch Chocolates

2011-01-24T17:35:00.000-05:00

You don't need a recipe to make cabbage patch chocolates - just a technique guide to show you the way. To begin you'll need quite a bit of equipment and ingredients. There are two sites that I like for supplies - each one has its shortfalls. The one with the biggest selection is http://www.sugarcraft.com/. The drawbacks with using sugarcraft are that they are very impersonal - there is no phone number if you have a problem, and if you don't have your order number, you are completely out of luck - they cannot tell you anything about your order without it. In addition, they are very slow - no inquiries until at least 10 days, and that's when they ship. From this site, you also cannot order a small quantity of candy eyes, unless you take whatever color they give you (and some of the colors are very funky and not suitable for baby dolls). They do, however, have a huge selection with photos which makes it easy to see what to buy. The site that I actually bought the supplies from is: http://www.chocomolds.com/. They are very personal and friendly, shipped quickly and had a package of 48 eyes. It is hard to use their site, however, because they don't have any pictures, so you need to know what you want.

Here is what you need:

Baby Face Lolly Chocolate Mold (3 per mold)

Mercken's Peach Wafers (this is very delicious tasting coating- Do not buy Wilton wafers which are yucchy). If you are filling the molds completely with this, you need 2 ounces per face (you won't use that much but you lose some to hardening on utensils and bowls).

Dark Chocolate, if filling the centers with it - about 1-1/2 ounce per face. I used chocolate chips because they were cheaper (Ghirardelli). If I were making fewer and spending only my money, I would have used bar chocolate. Bar chocolate tastes better (to me) and is easier to work with because it melts into a thinner state than chocolate chips.

Instant-read thermometer - if you plan on tempering the chocolate

Mercken's Cocoa Dark Wafers (ok tasting - I use it for decorating only) - 1 bag if you want to paint on dark hair. You can also paint the hair with real chocolate, but if you don't temper it, it might turn whitish or rainbow-colored. If you want light brown hair, add brown food color to the peach wafers. If you want blond, you will need to buy 1 bag of Mercken's Yellow or White Wafers(not super white) and add food coloring to these. You might also need Paramount Crystals to get the yellow coating to melt ( I didn't need it for the peach wafers).

Candy Eyes - each small package has 48 eyes. Don't forget that you need 2 per face! You can make your own eyes, but you will need fondant and food coloring to do that.

4-1/2-inch sucker sticks

Petal Dust or something like that in a pink color to brush on the cheeks - I think I bought mine at Michael's, but any place that sells gumpaste supplies will have some.

Assorted brushes - you'll need some good quality brushes so that the hairs don't come off in the chocolate,

and one cheap, bushy brush for putting on blush. The pointy one I use for attaching the eyes and the one on the right I use for brushing blush. The pointy one was part of a set of more expensive brushes
by Loew-Cornell. There are two nice pointy brushes in the set. #1 and #4 370 round and 370 liner. You'll have to do an Internet search as I don't know where I bought them.

This is also from the Loew-Cornell set. 370 Shader #8. It's useful if you need to brush on chocolate to spots that you missed. Also good for fixing errors (more on this later).

Heating Pad for keeping the chocolate and chocolate wafers melted and at the right temperature.

Small cake decorating spatula - I like the one that is angled (I got mine at Michael's - it's manufactured by the The Ace of Cakes guy, Duff). It looks larger in the photo, but the blade before it bends is actually only 3-1/2 inches long.

Tweezers that you use only for food prep. I bought a special pair from a gumpaste supplier, but you could use regular tweezers as long as they stay in the kitchen!

Full-size muffin papers in various colors - one for each head

Tissue paper for the clothing - about a 5 or 6-inch square for each head

Ribbon - at least 6-inches for each, or more if you want to tie bows

Waxed paper

INSTRUCTIONS

Wrap the heating pad with a dishtowel, and turn it on to low.

Place no more than 1 pound of the Merckens peach wafers in a microwave-safe bowl ( use a bowl that doesn't retain heat, such as a pyrex dish or a plastic container). Heat on medium power (5) for 1 minute. Stir, and continue to heat and stir in 30 second increments on power 5, until the wafers are melted (don't let the coating get hotter than 120 degrees F.). Set the bowl on the heating pad.

If you're going to fill the entire mold with the coating, do that now, filling each mold right up to the top. Set the molds in the refrigerator to chill until the coating is completely set- anywhere between 5 -15 minutes.

If you plan to fill the centers with chocolate, you'll need to coat each mold with the peach coating. There are two methods for coating the mold with chocolate. I prefer to spoon in about 1-1/2 teaspoons of the peach coating into each of the 3 holes and then to swirl the chocolate around inside of the molds until they are completely coated. You'll be doing all three at once. I like this method best because it spreads the coating evenly and is much faster than painting each cup.

When you use the swirl method, the coating might swirl slightly out of the mold cup. This is actually good. It ensures that the entire mold is coated. Simply wipe off the excess coating with a paper towel or rag. If you want an extra thin shell, you can hold the mold upside down over a piece of waxed paper and let the excess coating drip out of the mold.

If you have trouble with this method, you can paint each cup individually. Start by putting in the 1-1/2 teaspoons of coating and then use the 370 Shader #8 brush to paint from this pool of coating. After you get the whole thing coated, you might have to go back and daub on more chocolate on the spots you missed - you can see a few in the photo below.

In the below photo you can see that I have missed some spots at the top, too. These will be especially problematic if you don't notice them, as the dark chocolate and coating might not adhere well and you might get some separation when you try to unmold the chocolates (more on this later).

Make sure that the space where the stick goes is clear of chocolate, as the sticks won't be properly set into the chocolate if there is hardened coating in the stick space.

Place the molds in the refrigerator for no more than 3 minutes to set the shells. Now you have to decide if you want to temper your chocolate or not. Untempered chocolate will take much longer to set, will never be as firm as tempered chocolate, and can turn white or streaky when dry. Since the chocolate will be encased in the coating, the white or streaky color won't show but you'll have to wait a lot longer for each one to set.

If you do want to temper the chocolate, place about 9 ounces (chips or finely chopped bar chocolate) in a microwave-safe bowl. Finely chop another 3 ounces of chocolate or set aside another 3 ounces of chips. Microwave the chocolate on power 5 for 1 minute. Stir and then reheat the chocolate in 30 second increments on power 3, stirring between each. Use an instant-read thermometer to make sure that the temperature is in the 90-110-degrees F. range. When all of the chocolate is melted, add the remaining 3 ounces of chocolate and stir and rest until all of the chocolate is melted and the temperature comes down to 84 degrees, but not lower. Place the bowl back in the microwave and heat for 10 seconds on power 2 to bring the temperature to between 88-90-degrees F. If the temperature goes about 91 degrees, you have to let it cool back down to 84-degrees, and try again ( you can add more chopped chocolate to get the temperature down a little faster). If the temperature drops below 84 degrees, you repeat the entire process. Once you have successfully tempered the chocolate, place the bowl on the heating pad to keep it at the right temperature. Stir and check the temperature often.

Spoon about 1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons of chocolate into each cup ( I use 3 molds at a time to make 9 babies, and then repeat the whole process, but you can do whatever will fit your refrigerator and counter space), so that the chocolate comes to within 1/16 inch of the top. Set the lolly sticks in the stick holes. You might need to press down on them to make sure that they are all the way into the space provided for them.

Place the molds in the refrigerator to set the chocolate. This will take about 5 minutes if the chocolate has been tempered and 15-25 minutes if the chocolate was not tempered.

Cover the top of the chocolate with 1 final layer of coating. I find it's easiest to just spread it with a teaspoon. Make sure that the molds are completely filled up, and then set them back into the refrigerator for about 3 minutes to set the coating.

Let the molds stand at room temperature for a minute before you try to unmold them. If the coating and chocolate are too cold, the coating will crack when you try and flex the mold to get the chocolate out. Place a piece of waxed paper on the counter or in a pan onto which you'll unmold the chocolate. To get them out of the molds, press on the noses of the babies. If the chocolate don't pop out, let them rest a little more and then try again. They should pop out of the molds pretty easily.

If you haven't done a good job in sealing in the chocolate, or if they were too cold when you tried to pop them out, part of the shell might stick to the pan and separate from the chocolate. Don't despair - it can be fixed!

Just use the decorating spatula (metal) or brush to add a glob of coating to the chocolate.

Then heat the spatula in the flame of a gas stove or over the coil of an electric, just for a few seconds to get the spatula warm. Press the spatula on the glob of chocolate and smooth it out. You can use your finger to do the final smoothing.

Another problem you can have when the chocolates pop out, is that there is excess chocolate around the edge of each form because you put just a bit too much coating into the mold.

This also gets fixed with a warm spatula - if you look at the photo of the spatula, above, you'll see that's exactly what I'm doing. Just run the warm spatula around the edge of the form and the little excess tails of coating will melt away. Again, your finger is the perfect finishing smoother.

You're now ready to do the hair. You can use that nice tempered chocolate you have warmed on the heating pad, or you can melt some of the cocoa wafers for dark hair, or use one of the other combinations mentioned above, for other colors of hair. Use the fine pointed brush, above, to brush chocolate onto the curl that is molded into each chocolate. You can then use your imagination to do other hair styles. For fine, wispy hair, use an almost dry brush. If you want some spiky hair sticking out, you will need to let some of the chocolate or dark wafers to start to cool and thicken, otherwise it will be too thin to stand up.

For the eyes, use a fine pointed brush to dot a small glob of melted peach coating in the socket of each eye. Use tweezers to set the eyes into the sockets, and then press lightly so that the eye will adhere to the melted chocolate.

If you want to make your own eyes, I think it is much easier to use fondant than to pipe royal icing eyes. Roll fondant into small round balls - they should be smaller than the sockets. Into the center

of each ball, press in a small colored ball. For the iris, use black food coloring. Eyes will look more natural if the iris is slightly cut off at the bottom of the eye (not as shown here), so that it gives the suggestion of a lower eye lid.

The last thing to do is to give the cheeks a little blush. Use the petal or luster dust in a pretty pink color. Don't put too much on the brush at once. The dust has a little bit of a glittery effect, but if you put it on sparingly, and brush off any excess, it really gives the babies depth and personality!

For the bonnets, use scizzors to make a slit in the side edge of the muffin papers, and then set the heads into

the bonnets. You can do the bonnets or the sleep sacks first.

To make the sleep sacks, set the tissue paper square either under the lower third of the head or at the neck.

Fold in the two sides.

and then tie the ribbon around the top.

You can also make a wider bottom, so that they look more like sleep sacks.

Voila! You have now made some of the cutest looking chocolate lollypops in the world!

Baby Shower Desserts

2011-01-22T23:59:00.022-05:00

CABBAGE PATCH CHOCOLATES -

ONESIE BUTTER COOKIES WITH FONDANT ICING -

CHOCOLATE AND VANILLA MINI-CUPCAKES WITH BLACKBERRY CASSIS BUTTERCREAM AND ROYAL ICING BOOTIES -

I've been busy baking, as you can see. The recipes are coming, but they take almost as long to post as they do to create. Stay with me as I guide you step by step in making these beautiful desserts for your loved ones.

Filled Chocolate Cupcakes - The recipes - revised January 2011

2011-01-10T16:09:00.001-05:00

This is an update to this recipe which was put up in September. I was making them again recently (January '11), and realized that there was an error in the ingredient section (probably, because as you can tell from the following text and photo, I had trouble reading my soiled recipe copy). The gram weight of flour was correct, but the corresponding cup measurements were not. If you have printed out this recipe, please check the updated ingredients.

In addition to this, if you read the prior post, you might have noticed that I wasn't happy with how tender the cupcakes were. This time around, I did some more experimenting and found that using bread flour instead of all-purpose made for a sturdier cupcake, and, I added another egg. This made the cupcakes firmer, also helped them rise higher and allowed me to get the cupcakes out of the liners more easily.

The following is the original post, with the appropriate corrections made to the ingredients.

----------------

I've been trying to get this post done since the summer, but I had to grab a few minutes late at night to write up my recipes, because the days were filled with BCC Rally auction stuff. Now that the auction is over, I finally have time to post. But when I go back to see what I've done, I can hardly read the recipe because it's covered in chocolate!

That's why you need a CD-rom cookbook (mine, of course). Because instead of having a cookbook that's covered in chocolate, you can have a few recipe pages that you've printed off, and when you're done, you toss the messy things out! But now, on to the recipe!

The Cake
The first time I made the cupcakes with Veronica and Jasmine (see Filled Chocolate Cupcakes, Part 1, I used a light version of my Chocolate Layer Cake. They were delicious, but a bit too tender. I think they were so tender because we used the maximum amount of milk (3/4 cup) and because we mixed them by hand. When I made them again, I used just a bit more than the minimum, and they came out much better - a little denser, which held up better for a pick-up type cake.

Makes 42 mini-cupcakes or 12 regular cupcakes

2-1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon oil

1 cup minus 1-1/2 TB (122 grams) bread flour, measured by fluffing, scooping and levelling*
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons (2.5 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons and at room temperature
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 large eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sour cream, room temperature

1/3 cup cup milk (skim or regular), room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. with an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Line muffin pans with liners.

You can see that they sort of pop up and don't stay down in the cups. Just give them a good shove from above, and let the sides pleat. When you add the batter, they will stay down.
Place the chopped chocolate and the oil in a microwave-safe container. Micro-cook on medium (#5) for 1 minute. Stir and then reheat in 15-second increments on medium power until the chocolate is melted.

In a small bowl sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set it aside.

In a mixer bowl, combine the butter and both sugars. Beat on medium speed for 3-5 minutes until the mixture is uniformly smooth and creamy, and well aerated. Beat in vanilla. Add the eggs, beating for 1 minute after the addition of each egg, and scraping down the bowl a few times.

On low, beat in the sour cream and chocolate. On low, in 4 additions, beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, starting and ending with the flour. (This is actually easier to do by hand, because the batter doesn't tend to separate when you do it by hand, but it does make the cake more tender when done by hand).

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, using one spoon to scoop up the batter and the other to push the batter into the pans. Fill the cups 1/2 to 3/4 full.

Bake for 8-11 minutes for the minis, or 15-20 minutes for the full-size cupcakes, until a tester comes out clean. Set the tins on a wire rack until the cupcakes are cool, and then remove them from the pans.

The Filling
I used whipped cream to fill the cherry-topped cupcakes, and Simple Vanilla Buttercream for the ones that look like Hostess cupcakes. The cream was easier to make, but the buttercream tasted far better. I've been making my buttercream a little thicker and sweeter lately, by adding a little powdered sugar to my basic recipe, but for this I wanted a filling that was very creamy - again so that it would be reminiscent of Hostess cupcakes. To do this, I used less than half of the powdered sugar as usual.

It’s ultra important that the butter be at the right temperature for this recipe to work, AND THE ROOM! If the room is too hot, the buttercream will never form. The room should be no warmer than 74 degrees - and colder is even better.

To get the butter the right temperature, cut it into tablespoons and let it stand on a cutting board until barely soft. Using your thumb, push down on each pat to flatten it into the board (it will still be very firm, and will split when you press down on it). In 3-5 minutes the butter should be ready. If you press down on it with your thumb, it should yield readily, but should not be soft and melty. If the butter is a little firm, it can always be beaten a little bit more, but if too soft, you’ll have to refrigerate it, and start over. I always aim for a little bit harder, rather than too soft.

2-1/2 sticks (20 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
1 pound jar Marshmallow Fluff (this is a natural product containing only eggs, corn syrup and flavoring - so don't use another brand unless you check the ingredients)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3 tablespoons sifted powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons corn syrup, to taste
2-3 tablespoons milk to soften the buttercream, optional

Now that the butter is at the proper temperature, scrape the butter into a mixing bowl and beat it until creamy (1 or 2 minutes.) Scrape down the bowl. Beat in the powdered sugar until fluffy. Add half of the Fluff, and beat on medium high until blended. Add the remaining Fluff, and continue to beat, on medium-high, for 2-5 minutes or until the frosting is fluffy and light and no longer marshmallowy.
This is what it should look like.

If the buttercream, does not form after beating for 5 minutes, place it in the refrigerator for 10 minutes, and then try and beat it again. After the buttercream forms, beat in the vanilla, corn syrup and milk, to taste.

If you put a coupler in the pastry bag before filling it, you'll be able to try tips to find the one that works best with the size cupcake you are making. The piece on the left goes into the pastry bag, and then the tip gets put on, and the nut, in the center, keeps the pastry tip tight.

Choose the tip that fits the size of the cupcake (I used Magic Tip #8 for filling, and Wilton #21 star for filling)

Stick the tip into the bottom or top of the cupcake, depending on how you finish them (if you plan to add chocolate icing instead of having the frosting come out of the top, fill from the bottom, otherwise you will see the dimple where the frosting went in. It's easier to fill them from the top. For one thing, you don't have to take them out of the wrappers, which give some support to the cupcake so it doesn't split as you fill it. You can also feel when the cupcake is filled with the buttercream, and can stop before the cupcake starts to split.

You can see they look great with nothing more than some frosting coming out the top. But they're also fantastic, and look like mini Hostess cupcakes if you frost them with chocolate icing and vanilla icing decoration.

Chocolate Icing

My notes didn't say if the following recipe is the right amount to frost all of the cupcakes (sorry - I either post it now, or you have to wait another year until I make them again!)

3/4 cup whipping cream

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons hot water

Heat the cream in a small microwave-safe bowl for 30 seconds. Stir in the chocolate. Let it stand for a minute and then stir. If the chocolate isn't completely melted, heat in 10-second increments on power 5, stirring between each, until the chocolate melts completely and the mixture can be stirred into a smooth glaze.

Sift the powdered sugar into a small bowl. Stir the chocolate into the powdered sugar. Stir in half of the hot water. The mixture should be thin enough to fall off of the spoon in a steady stream. If it isn't, add the remaining hot water, 1/2 teaspoon at a time.

Dip the cupcakes into the glaze. Turn the cupcakes right side up and let the glaze firm up a little.

In the photo below you can see that I filled the cupcakes from the top, and I wasn't able to get the top level, so that the chocolate dips down in the center. You can add a decorative design, as I have here, to cover the dip, or you can add the vanilla glaze

Vanilla Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons whipping cream

Sift the powdered sugar into a mixer bowl. Whisk in the vanilla and the cream. The glaze should be thick enough to pipe. Add a little more sugar or cream, if necessary to get the proper texture.

For this amount of glaze, you'll need a very small piping bag. You can make one out of a plastic storage or zip-top bag. Cut the bag in half, horizontally.

Put the bag into a small glass, and then fill the bag

Hold the bag closed at the top, with the filled part resting in your palm, and your thumb and index finger holding the top (you can put a rubber band around the top if it is easier). Gently squeeze the filling toward the tip. Make a very tiny cut in the tip with scissors. Pipe on the decoration, and then refrigerate until 30 minutes before serving.

Cheese Blintzes with Berry Sauce

2010-12-29T16:08:00.000-05:00

I thought it would be simple to put together a nice blintz recipe to put up in time for New Year's Day brunch. But then again, somehow I forgot that I am a compulsive food nut! I started with my original recipe which called for 3 eggs, 1 cup of skim milk, 1 cup of flour and a few other ingredients (we'll get to the filling in a minute). These wrappers were good, but they weren't quite as sturdy as I would have liked them and the batter was just a tad heavy which made swirling the pan a little harder than necessary. I had seen some recipes on the Internet that varied a bit, and so I proceded to make them again, and again, and again until I can barely stand the thought of blintzes (at least in the near future). I tried adding more milk, using water instead of milk, adding melted butter, etc. The ones made with water were flat tasting and didn't brown up enough. The ones mades with less egg and more flour were tough and dry and stuck to the pan. Finally I thought I would try adding a little more egg, and voila - I had the wrapper I was after. As for the filling, you might see recipes that call for pot cheese, farmer's cheese, cottage cheese or ricotta. Personally, I have never seen pot cheese in the store, and I knew that the farmer's cheese that we get here was totally wrong - it is a brick of cheese with a dense texture- not at all the right texture or taste (we don't get Friendship farmer's cheese, which I understand might be perfect). Ricotta didn't work for me either because it contains vinegar, and the taste is all wrong. After researching pot cheese and farmer's cheese I learned that traditionally, these are fresh milk cheeses that aren't readily available because they spoil fast, but that they are basically cottage cheese that has been drained so that the texture is drier and firmer (and that's what I had always used in the past). I made my filling with a low fat cottage cheese, and also a full-fat cottage cheese, but the difference wasn't great, so I opted to stay with the lower fat cheese. Don't forget that once you press out the liquid, the denser cheese is also denser in calories and most other nutritional elements. Besides the type of cheese, there were instructions for processing the cheese, whipping the cheese, hand-beating the cheese or stirring it. For my Light Jewish Holiday Dessert cookbook, I had made some lowfat blintzes, in which I had processed the filling. I remembered that I didn't quite like the texture this made, but it hadn't made much difference for that book, because there was also an apple filling inside of the blintz. But with just cheese, I wanted this filling to be perfect. I tried the processing method again, and also used the beater on another batch. Both of those methods created a cheese that was too thin. I decided to stir everything together by hand, pressing the cheese against the side of the bowl to make it a little smoother (I don't think for blintzes that you want a totally smooth filling). I also used the filling at room temperature and one batch with refrigerated cheese and the difference was vast. The ones with the room temperature cheese were runny and grainy, while the chilled filling hung together nicely and remained creamy. Even with the colder cheese, the filling wasn't as firm as I would have liked it. I did some more experimenting adding more egg and then egg and flour to the filling, and here again, the results were spectacular. The filling with more egg and a little flour held on to its shape even after the blintzes were fried and warmed in the oven. I'm sure that those of you who eat blintzes have a mental idea of what is perfect for you. Now that you know the effects of these ingredients, techniques and temperatures you'll be able to tweak the recipe to create your own perfect version. By the way, the berry sauce was also an adventure (recipe follows).
Happy New Year!

Makes 10 Blintzes

Blintz Batter
2 large pasteurized eggs
1/2 cup milk (skim to whole, your choice)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoons sugar
1/2 cup (65 grams) all-purpose flour, measured by fluffing, scooping and levelling

Cheese Filling
2 pounds cottage cheese (brand matters - use one that tastes sweet and delicious to you!)
2 ounces light cream cheese, room temperature
2 tablespoons powdered sugar, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large pasteurized egg, whisked (instructions for regular eggs follow)

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, for frying

Berry Topping
3 cups blackberries
3 cups raspberries
2 cups blueberries
1/3 -2/3 cup sugar, to taste
dash cinnamon, optional
1 teaspoon cornstarch, optional

For the very best results, you'll want to make the filling far enough in advance so that it will be cold when you fill and fry the blintzes. You can also make the wrappers a few days ahead, if you like. If you want the berries softer and sweeter, make them in advance, too. At the very least, you want to make the berry topping at least 1-2 hours ahead of serving, especially if using blackberries, which have very firm center cores.

For the blintz batter, place the eggs, milk, salt , and sugar in a food processor bowl. Process until well blended. Add the flour, all at once. Process for 5 seconds to blend the ingredients. Scrape down the bowl and pulse for 3 more seconds to blend well. Transfer the batter to a storage container. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, and up to 3 days.

To make the filling, you'll need to drain and press the moisture out of the cheese. I've tried cheesecloth, the traditional method, but find it messy and inefficient. I find that the easiest way to do this is in a knee-high stocking. Cut off the top 3 inches of the stocking, and then put it in a tall glass with the top of the stocking cuffed over the top of the glass so that it will stay in place when you fill it with the cheese.

Hold the stocking over the sink with one hand, squeeze all of the filling towards the tip of the stocking.

Continue to squeeze the cheese until the stuff coming out looks very thick or like curds are coming out.

The best way to get the cheese back out of the stocking is to put the stocking back into the glass, fold the top over the glass (as in the beginning), and then holding onto the stocking on the outside of the glass, turn the glass upside down over the bowl. Shake the glass crisply and the cheese should start coming out of the stocking. Once it starts coming out, you can squeeze the stocking to help it along.

You have now made pot cheese or farmer's cheese! Add the cream cheese and press it against the sides of the bowl with a wooden spoon. Once it is smoothly against the bowl, start mixing the cottage cheese and cream cheese together by mashing it against the side of the bowl. The object is to mix the two together and to smooth out the cottage cheese a little - you are not aiming at a smooth filling - just one that is smooth enough to be pleasing on the tongue! Stir in the remaining filling ingredients until well blended. Transfer to a covered storage container, and refrigerate until cold or up to 1 day ahead.

Before starting the blintz wrappers (crepes), have a piece of parchment paper near the stove onto which you will flip the crepes. Remove the blintz batter from the refrigerator and stir it. Heat a small nonstick pan over medium to high heat (depending on your stove and pan), until a droplet of water rolls around in the pan ( you can also use a carbon steel crepe pan, but you'll need to lightly butter it). Ladle about 3 tablespoons of batter (a scant 1/4 cup) directly into the center of the pan. Immediately pick up the pan and swirl the pan around and around so that the batter widens out to fill the whole pan with batter. By the time you do this, the crepe will almost be finished cooking. Set it back down on the burner to finish cooking any spots that still look shiny. As soon as the entire surface is dull, the crepe is done.

To get the crepe out of the pan, start the edge with a fork and then just turn the pan upside down over the parchment. Once the edge is raised you'll be able to grab it and pull, and the whole crepe should come down onto the parchment paper. You want this side of the crepe to be nicely browned, but not too brown or burned. Adjust the burner accordingly. On my heavy-duty gas range with an All-Clad pan, I start off medium-high and then need to turn it down to medium-low, but each stove will be different.

For my taste, the crepe on the left hand is too light, while the one on the right is just a bit too dark. You can stack the crepes one on top of the other, and fill them as soon as they are all done, or cover them with wrap and refrigerator for several days before using.

Make the berry topping, sometime before you start filling the blintzes, either within 2 hours or ahead.

In a small pot, combine 1 cup washed blackberries and 1 cup of washed blueberries**. Place the remaining washed berries in a bowl. Add 1 tablespoon sugar to the berries in the pot and 1/4 cup sugar to the berries in the bowl. Let both sets stand for 10 minutes. Mash the berries in the pot with a potato masher or fork.
Place the cornstarch in a small bowl and stir in 2 teaspoons water. Bring the berries to a boil, reduce the heat and let the mixture cook for 4 minutes. Stir in the cornstarch mixture, bring it back to a simmer and let the mixture cook for 1 minute or until it goes from being cloudy to being clear. Let the cooked berries cool for 1 minute, and then strain them over the berries in the bowl.

Toss the berries with the cooked mixture until everything is well coated. Set aside at room temperature for 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally, or transfer to a covered storage container and refrigerate until ready to serve (we like the berries at room temperature but you can eat them at any temperature you like).

When ready to assemble the blintzes, preheat the oven to 200 degrees if you've used pasteurized eggs and to 300 degrees if you've used regular eggs in the filling. Take the wrappers and cheese out of the refrigerator. Set one wrapper on a piece of parchment or work surface with the browned side up. Place about 2-1/2 tablespoons of the filling on the crepe, just downward of the center in a mound that is about 1-inch x 3-inches.

Most instructions call for folding over the bottom edge first and then the sides, but I think they are easier to make if the sides are folded in first, and then the bottom. If done this way the crepe will stick to itself and you won't be fighting with it trying to get the sides to stay in.

Fold the bottom part over the filling and then continue to roll the blint up into a cylinder.

Add 1 tablespoon butter to a large frying pan (I use cast iron), and heat until the pan is hot and the butter has started to brown. Add half of the blintzes to the frying pan and cook for a few minutes on each side until they are brown on both sides.

Drain the blintzes on paper towels and then put them on a pan and set in the warm oven. Repeat with the remaining blintzes. If you have used pasteurized eggs in the filling, they won't need more than 5 minutes in the oven to warm them up. You don't want the filling too hot or the blintzes will be hard to eat. If you have used regular eggs, you want the filling to reach 160 degrees. This should take 10-15 minutes in the oven. Let them cool down before you eat them, or the filling will be unpleasantly hot.

Serve the warm blintzes with a bowl of sour cream and the berries.

**You can use any mix of berries that you like, but don't mash raspberries unless you are fond of the seeds. Even if you strain them, lots of the raspbery seeds will get into the sauce (to strain raspberries you need a fine mesh strainer, a food mill or a chinois). If you are using only blackberries, you can skip the heating process. Just mash 1/3 of the berries, add back into the remaining sugared berries and let them macerate for 1-2 hours or overnight.

Enjoy the berry sauce on pancakes, waffles, blintzes, cottage cheese or ice cream.

Mushroom Barley Soup

2010-12-25T17:18:00.000-05:00

I love soup because it's so easy to make, doesn't really need fussing, measuring or gussying up - in other words, just the opposite of baking. Especially when I've put all of my energy into making dessert and making it pretty, soup is just so easy! And nothing is better on a cold winter evening, than a nice bowl of hearty soup. My Dad, who loved to eat, didn't start cooking until later in life, after he and my mother both retired. He, too was a great lover of soup. This recipe is basically his with just a few minor changes and a fleshing out of the techniques. He used equal portions of dried and fresh mushrooms, but I don't usually keep dried mushrooms around, and they can be hard to find. I find that the cremini mushrooms are so tasty that the dried ones are not needed. If you do decide to use some dried mushrooms, soak them in hot water, drain them reserving the liquid and then strain the liquid into the soup

Serves 6

1 tablespoon mild oil, divided
3/4 cup cremini mushrooms, washed, dried and chopped
1/4 Vidalia onion, skin removed, and chopped into 1/4-inch pieces
1 celery stalk, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
4 cups low-sodium chicken stock
4 cups low-sodium beef stock
1/2 cup pearl barley
1 cup non-fat half & half
salt and pepper to taste

Add the 2 teaspoons oil to a large stockpot. Heat on high, and when the oil is hot, add the mushrooms, and saute until brown.

Reduce the heat, add the remaining oil, onions, celery and carrots, and cook for about 5 minutes, until the onions are translucent but not brown. Add the stock and the barley. Cover the pot and simmer for 1-1/2 hours.

You can leave the soup as it is, but I like to puree a few ladlefuls , which makes the texture more pleasant to me, and also thickens the soup. I use a slotted spoon to transfer about a cup or two of veggies and barley to the processor, and then I process it until it is not quite smooth. After it is ground up pretty well, you can add a little of the broth to help get it pureed. Once it has the texture you like, scrape it back into the soup. Stir in the half & half, bring back to a simmer, and serve. Soup almost always thickens overnight. If you want it more liquidy when you reheat it, add more half & half or puree some more of the veggies.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

2010-12-18T11:45:00.000-05:00

For a limited time, I'm offering my books and CD-roms at up to 45% off the retail price. There's still time to order before Christmas.

Reduced price: $12.00 includes S&H in continental U.S.

Reduced price $15.00, includes S&H in continental U.S. This book can have a personalized inscription. Please send me the name with your order.

Reduced price: $12.00, includes S&H in continental U.S

To get these prices you must order directly from me, via Paypal. Add your selections to the cart located in the left-hand column.

To receive your purchase in time for Christmas, please order before Monday, so that I can have it in the mail no later than Tuesday morning. Your purchase will come with a personal note from me, addressed to your gift recipent.

Cranberry Pear Tart or Gratin

2010-11-26T10:21:00.000-05:00

So, it's the day after Thanksgiving, and I had posted this recipe beforehand, showing the gratin but not the tart, which I planned on making for Thanksgiving. I did go ahead and make this as a tart, which you can see came out beautiful! And so tasty - everyone loved it. As per my original assessment, I did add a little thickener so it would work better in the tart, but I also found that I didn't use all of the streusel, so I've adjusted the amounts below, and I didn't use all of the filling. I'm not changing the filling, though, because you need that amount of liquid to cook all of the pears. Just save the extra as cranberrysauce, and that will be delicious, too.

Whether you make it as a tart or a gratin, the flavor is intense, but not as bitter as many cranberry desserts. It seems to be adored by both those who love cranberries and those who usually don't like them, so give it a try!

For the crust you can use either the Press-In Sablé Crust, weighted and partially baked, or you can use Sweet Pastry Crust, which is a more traditional tart crust recipe. For this crust, roll the dough into a 13-inch round, about 1/16-inch thick. Transfer the dough to the tart pan, pressing it snugly into the bottom of the pan where it meets the edges and into the flutes of the tart pan. Roll a rolling pin over the top of the pan to cut off the excess dough. Press up on the edges to thin them out and to raise the edges about 1/16-inch (for a photo description, see Pies and Tarts Part 3. ) Refrigerate or freeze the crust for at least 15 minutes or up to 3 weeks (for long storage, place the tart in a jumbo zip-top bag). For either crust, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Press a piece of greased aluminum foil snugly on top of the dough. Fill the foil with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes, remove the foil and beans and bake 5 minutes more, just until the bottom crust is cooked but not brown. Set aside to cool completely.

Cranberry Pear Filling
3 cups fresh cranberries ( about 1 package)

3/4 cup sugar

2 McIntosh apples, peeled,halved and cored

3-4 firm pears, peeled and cored, cut into 1/2-inch dice and tossed with 1 teaspoon lemon juice (using 4 pears will give a little more "tooth" to the filing)
1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

1/4 cup golden raisins

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Water, as needed

1 teaspoon tapioca starch or cornstarch
2 teaspoons cold water

Streusel (Crumbs)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour, fluffed, scooped and levelled into measuring cups
1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Wash the cranberries and remove any soft or rotten berries. Measure out 3 cups and place in a saucepan with the sugar. Place the apples in a food processor and process as finely as possible. Add to the pot. Cook over medium-low heat until the berries release their juices, about 8 minutes. Add the pears, brown sugar, orange juice, raisins and cinnamon to the pot. Increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens and the pears are cooked, through but still firm, about 10-20 minutes, checking every 5 minutes to make sure there is enough liquid in the pot. If the mixture does not seem to be saucy enough, add water, 1/4 cup at a time, until the mixture seems thin enough for the pears to cook and for the mixture not to scorch. ( If your pears were very hard to begin with, they will take the longer amount of time to cook). During the last minute of cooking, place the starch in a small bowl and gradually add the 2 teaspoons of water to the starch. Stir this into the cranberry mixture and boil for about 1 minute. Transfer the mixture to a bowl to cool, and then refrigerate until ready to use (can be made ahead).

For the Tart:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. For the streusel, combine the flour, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Add the butter and mix with your fingers to distribute the fat. Squeeze the mixture into crumbs. Fill the tart with the cranberry filling.

Top with the streusel, and bake at 375 degrees F. until the crumbs are browned, about 15-25 minutes. Let the tart cool at least 30 minutes before serving. The tart can be made 8 hours ahead and stored, uncovered, or loosely covered, at room temperature.

VARIATION - Cranberry Pear Gratins

For 8 gratins, you probably need half of the filling and a full recipe of the Streusel.
To make gratins, leave the thickener (tapioca or cornstarch) out of the filling. Place about 1/2 cup filling in each of 8 mini-gratin molds (you can also use ramekins, but you get more topping with the gratin molds which are shallow and long). Sprinkle the crumbs over the gratins and set in the oven for 15-25 minutes, just until the crumbs are nicely browned. Let the crisps cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Pecan and Pistachio Chocolate Chip Fingers

2010-11-06T23:29:00.057-04:00

I almost always have cookies in my freezer for emergencies, but I had just gotten back from vacation and found out that I was the only one making dessert for a fundraiser celebration that I recently attended. I had frozen a cake beforemy trip, but didn't have time to make anything else, and my freezer was totally void of cookies. The party was at 7 and it was about 4 when I got this news. I wanted t make a simple dessert but didn't want to make brownies or chocolate chip cookies, both of which could have been done in the time allotted. Most of my cookies need chilling time, so I knew they were out, but I do have a lovely Heath bits cookie in my book, and I thought that would be perfect. The only problem was that I didn't have time to shop for Heath bits and didn't have them in my cupboard. What I did have in my freezer, however, was a small bag of left over baklava filling. I thought this might make a very interesting variation on my original recipe, and I wasn't disappointed. The cookies were crispy, buttery and had an unusual flavor due to the pistachios in the recipe.

2-1/2 sticks butter (10 ounces), room temperature

1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar

2 large egg yolks, room temperature
3 cups (390 grams) unbleached all purpose flour, fluffed, scooped and leveled
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup mixed nuts, chopped finely by hand or in processor
1/2 cup mini-chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa, for dusting

Decorating Glaze

1/4 cup (2 ounces) mini-chocolate chips

1 teaspoon oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. with shelves in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar, just until blended. Beat in the vanilla and egg yolks, one at a time until well blended. Beat in the flour, a cup at a time (If you don't have a heavy-duty stand mixer, stir in the flour by hand.). Stir together the nuts, choclate chips and cinnamon. Stir this into the dough.

Shaping the cookies:
1. Use your hand to measure the ball size to about 1 inch.

2. Roll the ball in your palms in a circular motion to make it round and smooth.

3. Roll the ball into a log-shape by moving your hands back forth, parallel to each other.

4. Use your palm size to measure the length of the cookie to about 2-1/2-inches long. They will double in width, so go for a thinner, longer shape.

Transfer the cookies to the prepared cookie sheets, leaving about 2-inches between cookies.

Place the cookie sheets on the two shelves of the oven and bake for a total of 12-14 minutes, switching the pans from top to bottom, etc. after half of the cooking time.

Remove the cookie sheets and slide the parchment onto cooling racks to let the cookies cool for 5 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 275 degrees. When the temperature has come down, slide the parchment paper back on the cookie sheets and bake the cookies for another 10 minutes. Remove and cool, as above for about 5 minutes.

While the cookies are slightly warm, put the ground chocolate/cocoa into a strainer or sugar-shaker, and dust the tops of the cookies with the chocolate mixture. Let the cookies cool completely before eating.

If you'd like to decorate them as shown in the opening photo, place the chocolate chips and oil in a small microwave-safe container. Micro-cook on medium power (5) for 1 minute. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted.

For this amount of glaze, you'll need a very small piping bag. You can make one out of a plastic storage or zip-top bag. Cut the bag in half, horizontally.

Put the bag into a small glass, and then fill the bag.

Make a very tiny cut in the tip with scissors. Pipe on the decoration.

These cookies keep for several days at room temperature, in a covered container. They may also be frozen in a covered container, with waxed paper between layers. This way you'll be able to defrost each cookie individually. They’ll keep frozen for 3 months. Defrost them at room temperature, uncovered.

Spiced Squash and Pear Soup

2010-10-25T00:08:00.000-04:00

Here's my ultimate fall and winter comfort food. And it's low-fat, high fiber and very easy to make - you can't say that about too many comfort foods! For the soup pictured here, I actually used squash and about 1 cup of leftover canned pumpkin. That's the great thing about it - you can vary the vegetables, the spices and the stock. So whatever, your preferences are, jump in and make it the way you like it!

1 tablespoon olive oil
5-6 cups (about 2-3 pounds) peeled and seeded butternut squash chunks (or carrots or pumpkin)
1 pear, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1/4 sweet onion, peeled and chopped (optional and to taste)
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 teaspoon of Kabsa spice, optional ( if no Kabsa spice is availabe, add a pinch of cardamom, cinnamon, cumin and fennel - to equal 1 teaspoon)
5 cups low-salt chicken stock
fresh thyme stalks, for garnish

Place the oil in a large stockpot. Add all o f the chopped vegetables, fruit and spices - except the ginger, to the pot. Turn the veggies in the oil so that everything is coated. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes to lightly glaze the vegetables.

Add the ginger, and cook for another 2 minutes. In case you've never used fresh ginger before, it's an ugly brown tuber that you find in the produce isle. It doesn't keep very long, so I buy a knob, use what I need and then peel and chop the remainder and throw it into a jar full of dry Sherry. It will keep for months like that.

Add the stock. It should just about cover the vegetables. If there isn't enough, you can add water or more stock. Bring the stock to a simmer, cover the pot and cook for about 1 hour until the vegtables are

soft enough to mash completely.

To puree the soup, use an immersible blender. Blend completely smooth, or leave some chunks, however you prefer.

Alternatively, the vegetables can be transferred to a food process and processed until smooth. Process first to a rough chop, and then add a little stock, if necessary, to blend the vegetables to your desired preference.

Stir the blended vegetables back into the pot. At this point the soup will be a little thin.

Simmer it, uncovered, for about 10 minutes to thicken it up. If you plan to eat it immediately, you can continue to simmer it to the desired thickness. If making the soup ahead, don't over-thicken it, because it will dramatically thicken as it cools, and will stay thicker even after it gets reheated.

To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the fresh thyme.

Pea and Bean Stew

2010-10-15T18:32:00.000-04:00

With the cooler weather coming in, it's great to have a hearty dish that can be whipped up in under 1/2 hour. A few weeks ago I was given a jar of Feisty Mama Medium Salsa. I had never tried the salsa before, because I don't eat raw onions and garlic, but the owner of Feisty Mama is a collegue of mine, and I use salsa sometimes to save time in cooking, so I was thrilled to receive a jar from her. Before I put anything in my cooking, though, I always taste it straight out of the jar. Let me say, that I was bowled over by the fresh taste of this jarred salsa, that tasted like someone had just made it. Kudos to you, Debra, for coming up with a recipe and technique to make this salsa so refreshing and fresh-tasting. If I ate salsa and chips, I would get on that website and order a case!

http://www.feistymamasalsa.com/

You can see from the label that the salsa is all natural, and fat free.

If you plan on cooking with salsa, you need to use at least the medium hot kind, and even the hot, if you want the spice to shine through when you are done cooking. I prefer, not spicy, so the medium worked fine for me.

In this "chili" type stew, I used frozen baby peas, frozen baby lima beans and canned kidney beans. I loved this mix because the canned kidney beans are soft and velvety, while the lima beans are firm and a little grainy, and the peas, which were barely cooked, sort of pop in your mouth. The mix was terrific. To make the stew spicier, you can add more salsa, use the hot salsa, or you can add the salsa just before serving to preserve the spicy taste. These are all variations you can use to make the stew the way you like it, and after all, that's part of the point of cooking something yourself!

Here are all of my ingredients:
For 6 servings
2 jars of tomato sauce
1/2 cup Feisty Mama Medium Salsa
1 cup canned kidney beans, drained
1/2 - 1 cup of canned pumpkin ( in the baking aisle, but make sure it isn't filling that contains brown sugar, etc)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup frozen baby lima beans
1 cup frozen baby peas
1/4 raisins
water, as needed

In a medium saucepan, combine the tomato sauce, salsa, kidney beans, pumpkin (adding the larger amount makes it thicker and sweeter) and spices. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the lima beans, cover and cook for 6 minutes. Add the baby peas and raisins, and cook for 3 minutes. Serve immediately, or refrigerate and serve within 5 days. If you want the stew to be thicker, you can always boil it uncovered until it is thick enough. If you want it thinner, add some water. The stew gets thicker as it sits, and up to 1/2 cup water may need to be added. It also gets milder as it sits, so take that into consideration. I like it best the day after I make it.

We like the stew served over brown rice, with cheese and sour cream, or in tortillas. I thin it a little for the rice variation, and leave it thick when using for tortillas.

The Best Apple Pie

2010-10-02T14:45:00.000-04:00

I know I have unfinished business with my filled cupcakes, but it's been so long since I posted that it will take me quite awhile to figure out everything I did with the cupcakes. In the meantime, it's apple picking time, and I wanted to re-post my recipe for apple pie, which I worked on last Fall.

This is a re-post from last Fall when we went to Boston to visit our daughter.
One of the trips she had planned was to a nearby apple orchard for an afternoon of apple picking. The farm had many different varieties of apples, and we came away with more than a bushel of Cortlands, Macintosh, Empire and Macoun apples. With so many apples, the logical thing to make was apple pie, so that’s what we did the next day. Expecting great things, we were disappointed when we tasted the pie, that evening. Why wasn’t this the best apple pie?

Let’s start with the apples. For an 8-inch pie, I usually use 10 cups of apples consisting of about 5 Granny Smith apples, 1 golden delicious and 2 Macintosh apples. It’s a blend that I’ve come up with over the years that satisfies my requirement for texture, moisture and taste. Using the apples from the orchard instead of my usual mix, produced a pie that wasn’t sweet enough or juicy enough. I decided to go back to the kitchen and write down what happens to each apple when it is cooked. For my experiment I used 2 ounces of each apple (about 1/2 apple, but I did it by weight for accuracy), 1 tablespoon of brown sugar and 1/6th tablespoon of butter. Each was covered with foil and baked in a 400 degree F. oven.

When I uncovered the apples there was a striking difference between the amount of liquid in each cup. The Macouns were gushers, giving off 6 teaspoons of juice, the Macintosh gave off 4 teaspoons (but the Macs I bought in the supermarket only gave off 1), the Empires 3 teaspoons (same for the store-bought Empires) and the Cortland only 1 teaspoon of juice. Since the pie we made in Boston was mostly Cortlands, I now knew why our pie was not as juicy as we would have liked. I also tested the apples that I normally use: Granny Smiths and Golden Delicious. The Granny Smiths gave off 3 teaspoons while the Goldens gave off 5. This would account for my pies almost always flooding into the plate when the first piece is removed.

Here's a chart showing my results:

Apple Texture Juiciness Sweetness

Macintosh------- Very soft-----Least------------Sweet/tart

Rome ----------- Very soft-----Least------------Sweet/tart

Cortland--------- Medium------Least------------Sweet/tart

Empire-----------Medium------Moderate--------Sweet/tart

Golden Delicious-Medium------Most------------Sweet

Macoun----------Medium------Most-------------Sweet/tart

Granny Smith----Med-firm----Moderate--------Tart

Fuji--------------Extra Firm---Moderate--------Sweet/tart

Gala-------------Extra Firm--- Moderate--------Sweet/tart

So to start making YOUR perfect pie, you would decide whether you like your pie very moist, medium-moist or on the dryer side, and then you could choose the appropriate apples. If you wanted a very sweet pie, it wouldn’t be a good idea to use only Golden Delicious, though, because you’d have so much liquid, you’d never get it thick enough. Instead, you could add a little more sugar to the tarter apples and mix in only one or two of the very juicy, sweet apples. Because we wanted to use only the apples we picked (tarter , drier varieties) we should have added a little extra sugar, and could have added some fresh apple cider to make up for the lack of moisture. There’s also a question of tenderness with the filling and you’d want to combine apples that get pretty soft when cooked with those that are firmer. Some apples take forever to cook, and might not be a good choice for a pie in which the crust will be done in about 50-60 minutes. Romes and Macs tend to get very mushy – which I think gives a nice taste and texture when used in combination with firmer apples. Empires, Cortlands, Macouns, Goldens, etc. are medium-firm and Fujis and Galas tend to take longer than 60 minutes to get soft, unless sliced very thinly. Lastly, the amount and kind of thickener needs to be chosen. My mother always used tapioca to thicken her pies. But tapioca (cracked or pearls) leaves little gelatinous globules in the pie that I’m not fond of. Flour is really not a favorite of mine either because if it doesn’t get mixed well, it can be very unpleasant, and if the apples don’t heat up enough or for a long enough time, the flour will taste gritty or pasty. I usually use cornstarch, even though it doesn’t do that well with acidy foods like apple pie – another reason that my usual pie is on the runny side (maybe I should mix in some Cortlands next time). For a pie made with mostly Cortlands, I would cut way down on the amount of cornstarch used – maybe half as much. Yesterday, I tried tapioca starch, which actually gave me the absolute perfect thickness! I bought it in Earthfare, my local organic market. It looks exactly like cornstarch, and the box directions said to use the same quantity as cornstarch. I used the recipe you’ll find below, and have never been as happy with the results.

But back to Boston… Could more have gone wrong with my pie in Boston? You bet. The crust was really just mediocre. I knew from the get-go that I probably hadn’t used enough water in the dough. I was worried about the crust being tough – a problem I had had the last time I made flaky crust- and water is usually the culprit when crust gets tough. I thought it might be a little dry (it was), but was surprised that the crust was so tender that it barely had any texture in the mouth. As a bottom crust it was fine, but the top crust really didn’t work. So, of course, my challenge when I got home was to figure out exactly how to tell when you’ve added enough water. Here’s the answer: The dough should feel supple, but not sticky, and it should hold together. You should be able to pick up the dough ball and hold it above the counter without it falling apart.

When you roll it, you should be able to fold it without it cracking.

If any of these problems arise, add a little more ice water to the dough. If the dough is too sticky, it could be because it’s not cold enough, or it might need more flour. If it needs to be toughened a little, you can also fold it and then re-roll it. This works especially well for the top, because it makes it flakier. And so, here is MY Perfect Apple Pie

Serves 6 - 8
MAKE DOUGH 1 DAY AHEAD
Flaky Pie Crust
2-1/2 cups (325 grams) unbleached all- purpose flour, fluffed, scooped and leveled into measuring cups
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
10 tablespoons (5 ounces) shortening, frozen and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
5 tablespoons (2.5 ounces) unsalted butter, cold and cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/4 cup (or more) ice water, divided
Filling3-5 medium Granny Smith apples
1 medium golden Delicious apple
2 medium McIntosh apples
1 lemon or 1 tablespoon of Fruitfresh mixed 2 quarts with water
3/4- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup tapioca starch (or cornstarch)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
Glaze1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon sugar

Place the flour, salt and sugar in a food processor bowl. Pulse-process to mix everything together. Place the shortening and butter on top of the dry ingredients. Pulse-process until the fats are cut into pea-size bits, about 5, three-second bursts. Transfer the mixture to a bowl. Sprinkle on 3 tablespoons ice water. Mix with a fork and then, using your hands, press the mixture into a solid mass. If necessary, add more water to bring the dough together. The dough should feel supple, but not sticky, and it should hold together. You should be able to pick up the dough ball and hold it above the counter without it falling apart. Divide the dough in half. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. with a rack in the middle of the oven. Grease and flour an 8-inch glass pie plate . (Flouring the plate is controversial, as there is a risk that the dough could shrink off of the pie plate rim. However, it’s so much easier to get the slices out of the pan when the plate is floured, that I do it anyway. )

For the filling, peel, core and cut the apples into 1/4-inch slices, using as many as necessary to have 10 cups of apples. Squeeze the lemon into a large bowl of water, or use the Fruitfresh. Place the apples into the bowl of water, drain, and then return the apples to the bowl along with the brown sugar, cinnamon and tapioca starch.

Transfer the dough to the pie plate using one of these techniques: Flip the dough over the rolling pin. Pick the whole dough piece off of the plastic and lay it into the pan.

OR
Flour the dough, fold it in half or quarters, and then transfer it to the pan and unfold it .

There should be several inches of overhang. Trim the dough to 1/2-inch beyond the rim ( I use my thumbnail as a guide).

Transfer the filling to the crust-lined pie plate, mounding it high in the pan. Dot with the butter.

Brush the rim of the crust with water so that the top crust will adhere well.

Roll out the remaining dough, making it larger than the bottom crust, so that it will fit over the mounded apples.

Trim the top crust so it is the same size as the bottom crust. Squeeze the two edges together and then roll the edge up to make a nice border on the pan rim.

Here you can see that I’ve rolled the right edge of the pie crust, but not the left side, yet. I also experimented with cutting out a diamond shape in the middle of the crust as a steam vent. It also gives me a good place to stick a knife into the apples to see if they are cooked. But I think I liked the round vent hole better (see opening photo). It was easier to get it in the center and it didn’t tend to rip the way the diamond did.
Flute the edge using one of the techniques from this post on Pies and Tarts: http://amazingdessertrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/03/pie-and-tart-crust-shaping.html

Make 4 or 5 slits in the pie with a sharp knife. Mix the sugar with the milk and brush this over the crust ( or brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar – your choice).

Place the pie on a baking sheet. Bake the pie for 25 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 375 degrees F. and bake for another 30 - 40 minutes more until both the top and bottom crusts are golden. Shield the pie rim with aluminum foil if it is getting too brown. To make a simple shield, take 3 pieces of aluminum foil slightly large than the pie. Crimp the edges up to make it less square and to hold the pieces together. Cut a cross in the middle of the foil and bend back the foil, from the center outward, to reveal the pie below. Set the shield on top of the pie – it should leave the center open to brown but will shield the rim crust, which always cooks faster.

Cool at least 30 minutes before eating.

For best results, the pie should not be made more than 8 hours in advance (leave uncovered at room temperature). Rewarm it at 350 degrees F. for 15 minutes. Leftover pie should be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated. Heat at 350 degrees F. to re-crisp the top crust.

Filled Chocolate Cupcakes.\, Part 1

2010-08-02T10:02:00.000-04:00

I'd been thinking about making some cupcakes for a party, when I got a call from a friend asking me if her daughters could come and learn how to make cupcakes with me. Little did they know that I had never made chocolate cupcakes before! But, I thought it would be a great learning experience for us all. When the girls came, I learned that they, like me, had reservations about cupcakes because there's usually a mound of frosting glopped on the outside and too much dry cake underneath. We all thought it would be fun to try and fill the interior of the cake with some frosting and I decided on cherries for the top ( I had been invited to a party and was asked to bring something chocolate with fruit).

I would say that the morning was not a success, although we did have fun and learned what to do when you have a failure. The first problem was that the cupcakes (we made minis and regular) stuck to the pans. We hand anticipated some trouble and had greased and floured some of the cups, and just greased the others, but ALL of the cupcakes stuck.

But the cake tasted great - so we certainly didn't want to throw it away. Now was the chance to think creatively. Veronica thought the cupcake remnants looked like muffin tops (they did) and in keeping with our idea of having filled cupcakes, we decided to cut off the tops and sandwich two together with frosting and filling inbetween. Here are my two helpers, Jasmine and Veronica.

I had planned on using simple meringue buttercream and cherries for the filling, but Jasmine wanted to know if I could make some ganache, so we made some of that, too. The buttercream never really firmed up the way I had hoped (the kitchen was WAY too warm), so eating the cakes right away (no refrigeration) was perfect with the soft buttercream, cherries, chocolate cake and oozy ganache (like hot fudge!).

The ganache went on top and we ended up with something looking like a moonpie, which tasted great! Another idea for when things don't work out is to do a trifle sort of dessert. In this case I used real whipped cream instead of buttercream (it's quicker to make and the dessert can be eaten straight from the refrigerator).

Next post, look for the recipes for chocolate cupcakes, frosting and icing that works!

Turkey Burgers with Apricot Glaze

2010-07-26T22:59:00.000-04:00

Another quickie dinner for the Eisenbergs, I'm afraid. Nobody here but us chickens, too hot, too busy to do much else. For those of you who didn't catch the previous post, the fabulous plate that the dinner is on is a disposable, compostable plate made from palm leaves that have dropped, been cleaned and pressed into plates. They look like wood and are strong like styrofoam. I'm in love with them! You can check them out at Marx Palm Leaf Plates. I have some other photos of the plates that I'll put at the end of the post.

With only two people at home now we have a lot of leftovers and I hate to throw them away. I had pulled a recipe out of a magazine that called for turkey burgers with a currant glaze, but I had some wonderful apricot glaze leftover, along with the mustard dressing that I had made for the Red Rice and Sausage dish previous post), and then there were peaches... What can I say - it's peach season in North Carolina and I can't resist them when I head to the farmers' market. Apricot glaze and peach - YES! Needless to say I had to revamp the recipe to suit my pantry and the season.

Here's the burger recipe:

1 tablespoon fresh thyme

1-1/3 pounds ground turkey (not breast)

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons mild flavored oil (light olive or canola)

1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1/2 cup Good Food Apricot Spice Barbecue Glaze ( if you make your own, include fresh ginger), more to serve at the table

1/2 citrus fruit - tangerine, lemon or orange

2 ripe peaches

Whole grain buns

I have some very fragrant lemon-thyme growing at my house, which I knew would be perfect with the apricot/ginger sauce and peaches. When using fresh herbs you don't want to use the tough stems, so slide the leaves off against the direction in which they are growing. Fresh herbs can be hard to chop when they are wet, so I usually chop them dry, and then wash them. A tea holder is a great tool for this. If I had one of those individual ball holders I would use that, but since I didn't, I used this individual mesh tea holder, and it worked just fine.

In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the meat, chopped thyme, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and salt. You can see how nice and pink the meat is - if it's brown at all, it means that it's been exposed to the air and wasn't stored properly. I like to mix it all up with my hands, using a light touch to combine everything together.

Divide the mixture into 5 patties, each about 1/2-inch thick. They will look quite large, and maybe a little thinner than you'd like them, but when they cook they tend to draw up, and will be thicker and smaller after they've cooked.

(I actually had more than 1-1/3 lbs, which is why there is a small blob in the middle- for our dog, Molly!)

Spray a cast iron skillet with some cooking spray and turn the heat on high. When the pan is very not - just before smoking, add the burgers. Let the burgers cook for about 3 minutes, turning down the heat just slightly if they appear to be overbrowning. Flip the burgers over and let them cook another 3 minutes. Place half of the glaze in a small bowl. Brush the burgers with the glaze. Partially cover the pan, reduce the heat to low to medium (depending on your stove - you don't need the burgers to brown anymore, but you do need to get the centers cooked).

Let the burgers cook another 2 minutes, and then flip them over again,brush with the glaze and let them cook for 1 more minute. The interior temperature should be about 165 degrees. They will continue to cook after you remove them from the pan and while you brown up the peaches.

While the burgers are cooking, slice the peaches in half to remove the stone. Slice each peach half into 5ths, and squeeze the juice over the slices, and then dab on some of the apricot glaze.

These are freestones, so the pit comes right out of them. If you don't get freestones, you will have to cut the peach off of the pit - it doesn't look as pretty but tastes good just the same!

When the burgers come out of the pan, turn up the heat to medium-high, add the peaches and cook them until they are browned.

Serve the burgers on toasted buns with some of the reserved apricot glaze and grilled peaches. If you want to make your own apricot glaze, puree canned apricots with some fresh ginger, lemon, tamarind, salt and mustard.

Have any of the Lowfat Mustard Sauce left from the previous recipe? Here's another dressing you can make from yesterdays:

2 tablespoons of Lowfat Dijon Mustard Salad Dressing

2 tablespoons nonfat Greek yogurt (I use Oikos)

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon water, or more to taste

Mix everything up with enough water to make it the texture you like. Use 1-1/2 teaspoons per person on mixed greens (1 to 1-1/2 handfuls per person).

Here's another view of the plates:

Facebook

2010-07-20T00:38:00.000-04:00

I've just put the photos of the desserts in my new CD-rom up on Facebook. There are 73 photos and they're arranged by category: cookies, pastries and then cakes. I haven't figured out yet how to put a link for facebook here, so sign on and then search for Amazing Desserts. Please give me a thumbs up (like) if the photos make you drool!!

Red Rice with Sausage and Roasted Vegetables

2010-07-19T10:07:00.000-04:00

Before I get into the recipes, let me tell you about the plate that I used. It's a biodegradable and compostable palm plate that I got as a promo from Marx Foods (http://www.marxfoods.com/products/Eco-Friendly-Plates). The plates are made from palm leaves that have naturally dropped from the palm trees and then cleaned and formed into these fantastic disposable plates. They have the feel, weight and durability of styrofoam, but they're really quite nice to look at and to eat off of -and of course they are environment friendly. My husband's comment was "too bad they don't have a lid. They'd make the perfect green take-out container..." Anyway, we thoroughly enjoyed eating off of them. In fact, they are so nice, there is this urge to clean them and use them again, but that's not a great idea because they have ridges in them that wouldn't clean well (I don't actually know if they'd hold up to washing but the thought was there...) The next time I need disposables, I'm definitely ordering a set of these palm plates. They come in lots of great shapes from round, square and hexagonal dinner plates, to smaller salad plates and soup bowls. Check out the website to see the full array of products - Marx Palm Plates.

I must say that this is not the prettiest food that I've ever made, although it did look more appetizing than the picture shows. I had some leftover sausages that I wanted to use up, and some fabulous veggies from the farmer's market so I thought a jambalaya-type dinner would be just the thing. The problem is, I don't really like garlic, onions, and hot spices, so a true jambalaya was not really feasible. I decided to use some of the elements of jambalaya and then just make it up as I went along. It really was a taste extravaganza and we thoroughly enjoyed it. I decided to pair it with salad with a very tangy mustard dressing. The recipe for that follows.

The recipe would serve 2 adults and 2 kids. To serve 4 adults, use all of the vegetables (I used half and then mixed the remaining half into the leftover rice to be used as a side dish tomorrow) and increase the rice to 1-1/4 cups. You probably won't need more liquid, as there was plenty, which I evaporated by cooking the rice with the cover off for the last 5 minutes of cooking.

Red Rice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup chopped onions (more if you like onions and none if you hate them!)
2-3 small sausages per person (I used turkey breakfast links)

1 cup short-grained brown rice (1-1/4 cups if more servings are needed)
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (14-ounce) can low-salt chicken stock
2 bay leaves

Roasted Vegetables
1 zucchini, quartered and cut into 1/4-inch thick chunks
1 red bell pepper, halved, cored and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
2 baby or chinese eggplants, stems removed and cut in 1/2-inch x 1/4-inch thick chunks
1 or 2 handfuls of cremini or white mushrooms, stemmed and quartered
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce or balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

For the rice:

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large nonstick dutch oven or saute pan. Add the onions and sausages and cook on medium heat until the sausages are brown, stirring the onions occasionally so they don't burn, and turning the sausages so they brown on all sides. Remove the sausages to a bowl (they won't be cooked through).

Stir in the brown rice, paprika, dried thyme and dried oregano. Stir to coat the rice well, and then add the canned tomatoes with the juice, the chicken stock and the bay leaves. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover, reduce to a simmer and cook for about 50 minutes.

Meanwhile, dice up all of the vegetables and mix them with the olive oil, salt, oregano, thyme, paprika and Worcestershire sauce.

Line a jelly-roll pan with aluminim foil (nonstick, if you have it), and spread the vegetables in it in a single layer. Place in the oven, and roast for 15 minutes. Increase the heat to 450 and cook for another 15 minutes, until the vegetables are browned and cooked through (if you prefer the vegetables a little more al dente, you can start them out in a 450 degree oven and cook for only 20 minutes - enough time to brown them but not soften them too much).

When the rice is almost done, check to see if it is too soupy.

If so, move the lid a little so that some of the steam can escape. If the rice is fully cooked, but too soupy you can remove the lid completely and cook for a few minutes uncovered. About 3 minutes before serving, cut the sausages into 1/2-inch chunks. Add them to the pot, replace the cover, and let the sausages steam on low heat, just to finish the cooking.

Stir in the half of the roasted vegetables and reserve the remaining veggies for another meal ( if you need more servings, you can add all of the veggies).

Serve the red rice directly from the pan, or portion it out, as in the opening photo.

If you'd like the dish to be more like jambalaya, add garlic, Andouille sausage, celery, cayenne and black pepper. You can also add chicken and shrimp.

Salad Accompaniment

I wanted a salad with a bit of a punch to it. I used organic mesclun mix, bok choy, carrots and sugar snaps, with raisins as a garnish. I thought the cruciferous bok choy and the sweetness of the remaining ingredients would taste great with a super-mustardy dressing.

Lowfat Dijon Mustard Salad Dressing

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 - 3 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon agave syrup or honey

2 tablespoon olive oil

fresh herbs to taste, optional

In a small bowl, whisk together the mustard, vinegar, soy sauce and syrup. Little by little, whisk in the olive oil. Add pepper and herbs if desired.

This is a pungent mustard dressing. Use sparingly.

Makes enough to lightly dress 6-8 servings (1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons per serving)

Pecan Snowballs

2010-07-16T17:09:00.000-04:00

I just got back from my son's wedding, so it will be awhile until I start posting again. In the meantime, the recipe for my favorite cookies just went up at Frigidaire's recipe section. To see the recipe, click here.

Two Variations on Lite Ravioli

2010-07-07T16:52:00.000-04:00

There are only two of us home now, and with temperatures topping 95 degrees, there are lots of days when I don't feel like cooking much. On this particular day I had some left over citrus marinated chicken breast, but it wasn't enough for a meal and neither of us had felt like having it for lunch. So..

Buitoni Lite Ravioli were on sale at the market so I bought some of it along with a bunch of broccolini, mushrooms and some Fat-free half and half. I had some nice smoky tasting corn that had also been grilled the night before, fresh herbs from the garden, white wine and Italian cheeses, which I always keep in the house. By the time the pasta water boiled and the ravioli cooked, all of my add-ins had been cut and my whole meal was ready to eat! Did I mention La Brea frozen French rolls that bake up like fresh ones in 5 minutes? That's an easy summer meal.

Variation 1

Here's my mis-en-place (my ingredients for the dish).

For two people I used 2 handfuls of mushrooms (these are Cremini), which I sliced 1/4-inch thick, 1 ear of corn, kernels removed, 1 bunch broccolini, chopped, and about 2 tablespoons fresh herbs (leaves removed from woody stems and then chopped).

I also had about 1-1/2 small grilled chicken breasts, which I diced into bite-sized pieces.

I got a large pot of salted water boiling for the pasta. When it was rapidly boiling I added the ravioli and cooked it according to package directions, but undercooked by 1 minute. When the ravioli went into the pot, the rolls went into the toaster oven at 375, for 5 minutes and then the toaster was turned off, but the rolls left in the hot oven until ready to serve.

To get the mushrooms nice and brown, I heated about 2 teaspoons olive oil in a large, stainless skillet or saute pan. When the oil was hot, the mushrooms were added and stirred often, turning the mushrooms and cooking them until brown. In the chicken went, and it was sauteed briefly just to brown the chicken a little.

I added about 1/4 cup wine to the hot pan (this is called de-glazing)and cooked on medium to high heat, stirring everything around until the wine evaporated ( maybe 1 minute max). The pan was set aside until the ravioli was just 1 minute from being cooked. At that point the pan was placed back on a medium heat and about 1-1/2 cups of fat-free half and half was added to the pan, along with the herbs, and simmered until the ravioli was ready.

When the ravioli was done, it was added to the cream mixture, and the broccolini was blanched in the boiling pasta water for 30 seconds (if you need to empty the pot to get the pasta out, add the broccolini first and just let it cook for 30 seconds). The broccolini was added to the saute pan, the corn stirred in, and the whole thing tossed together. Then the pot was moved off heat, covered and allowed to rest and blend flavors. Before serving, I added some fresh ground pepper and some grated Italian cheese.

I like to use a mixture of Romano, Asiago and Parmesan. The asiago is mild and smooth, the Parmesan is salty and the Romano adds an earthiness. Because I like a coarse girnd, I usually do it with my Kitchenaid mixer attachment (it's also really easy to clean.).

I put the bricks of cheese in the top, grate it on low speed, catching it in a container below, and then I add 1/3 of it back into the grinder, so that some of it is finer.

Here you can see the coarsely grated and the cheese that has been put back in and is finely grated.

I should say that this makes a very thin white sauce. If you like a thicker sauce, reserve 1/2 cup of the half and half and place it in a jar. Add 1 tablespoon flour on top of the liquid. Cover and shake it vigorously. After you add the half and half to the pan, add the contents of the jar. Reduce the heat to a simmer and let the mixture cook for a few minutes to thicken the sauce and cook out the raw taste of flour. Continue with the recipe. The final product will be a little bit thicker still, as the starch from the pasta and the cheese will thicken up the sauce a bit.

Shopping List for Variation 1 (above)
1 package Buitoni Lite Cheese Ravioli
2 teaspoons olive oil

2 handfuls of mushrooms, sliced
1-1/2 cooked chicken breasts, chopped
1 ear of corn, shucked and kernels cut from cob
1/4 cup white wine or Vermouth
1-1/2 cups fat-free half and half
2 tablespoons fresh herbs, chopped
1 bunch broccolini, chopped
freshly grated cheese, about 3-4 tablespoons, or to taste

Optional
1 tablespoon flour

Variation 2

Basically, this is the same recipe, as above, except instead of using leftover chicken, I used chicken sausage (tomato, basil mozzarella chicken sausage which i got at BJ's), which I sauteed up with zucchini and mushrooms (in case you haven't guessed by now, I don't eat garlic or onions, but they would be great in either of these if you like them). Another nice addition to this would be some cannelini beans. Because we had had the above ravioli fairly recently, I wanted to make the sauce a little different, so I added some different spices (thyme and basil in the above, and basil and lavender in this variation), and I also made a pink sauce by adding in about 1 cup of tomato sauce.

The pink sauce is a bit heavier, but not as filling as a traditional red sauce, so it is still suitable for the summer. Because it's lower in fat, it also is nice for the summer.

Each of these recipes serves 3