Grandma Sue's Valentine's Cookies

My grandmother used to send us each a big heart-shaped cookie for Valentine's day.  Each one was uniquely frosted with botanically-correct flowers [She once was an in-house artist for a university botany department] and the cookies were as tasty as they were pretty.  These lemony sugar cookies were my first experience with lemon zest, and for a long time I thought it was weird that Grandma Sue put lemon peels in her cookies, but they sure were tasty.

I deviated from the original recipe by swapping in whole grain flours [shocking, I know] and meyer lemons, plus butter for "oleo" [it has the same water content, and isn't hydrogenated]... but they still taste just right to me.  They're fantastic plain and I don't have Grandma's artistic abilities, but I do like to play with the royal icing.

[I'm sending these to my nieces, whose names all begin with A, as thanks to their mom for sending me maternity clothes.]

Recipe: Sue's Granddaughter's Lemony Valentine's Cookies

Wild Disappointments & Pecan Macarons with Cranberry

Oof... it's hard to get going again.  It would have been easier if I hadn't hinted at exciting things to come, only to have them disappoint me. I tried to make the pecan bankets too small -- disregarding the instructions in my own recipe -- and they leaked all over the place.  They kind of looked like praline langues de chat, but they weren't worth taking on the plane with me.  The wild rice/oatmeal/cranberry cookies looked pretty, but they tasted pretty blah.

The flavor of the wild rice macarons with cranberry jam filling was spot on, but as soon as the meringue dissolved it felt like your mouth was full of sand -- I thought I'd ground the rice into a fine flour, but there was clearly a little grit left. [JG actually spit it out, and he's usually a trooper.]  Instead I had to make do with pecan macarons with the cranberry jam and they were excellent, but they weren't quite as specifically linked to the flavors of to my grandmother's kitchen as I wanted.

I haven't given up -- right now i have fully cooked wild rice drying in a bowl of confectioner's sugar which I think will fix the macaron texture.  Is it more work than anyone else will want to do?  Probably, but I can't give up on an idea until it has thoroughly defeated me, and right now I'm just behind in points.

Recipe:  Pecan Macarons with Cranberry

Silken Sweet Potato Pie

1 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes
8 oz silken tofu
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 T molasses
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp cardamom
pinch salt
pinch nutmeg

bake crust
puree filling add to baked crust, return to off oven.

Calaveras Cookies

 

I meant to get these posted before Dia de los Muertos [All Souls Day], but that didn't happen.  Instead, you can marvel at them this year and plan to make your own next time... They would, of course, work as Halloween cookies, but since I was using my Mexican Chocolate Cookie dough it seemed only appropriate to wait for November 2nd.  Sometimes decorated cookies don't taste as good as the look, but that cookie is a workhorse and has enough flavor to power through my as-tasty-as-it-gets royal icing. [Royal icing looks great but tastes flatly sweet, even with a goodly amount of almond extract. That's why the flavor of the cookie underneath is so important.]

These were pretty fun to make.  As you fill them, different features appear and I'd intentionally leave "highlights" here and there and I found the emerging characters very entertaining... which is good, because I made a double batch (~80) and it did take a while.  On further consideration, I could have made the cookies twice as thick (1/4") and it probably would have made them even tastier.

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You also don't need the fancy cookie cutter.  I have one (that I think I got after Halloween one year at Williams-Sonoma) so I use it, but you could do the same technique with a simple oval and get almost the same effect (minus the little teeth).  I have no artistic talent*, so I like guidelines.

Recipe: Royal Icing

Gluten-Free Brownie Skins

I recently made these guys over the weekend for a gluten-avoiding friend of mine.  They have very few ingredients and come together in a minute.

The recipe comes from 101 Cookbooks, where they're called "Chocolate Puddle Cookies," but I think they taste like gooey brownies when they're still warm, so I've renamed them accordingly.  They do firm up as they cool but they maintain a thin layer of goo in the middle.  The first time I made them without nuts; this time I used toasted and skinned hazelnuts... both were tasty but a little too sweet for my liking [though JG's a big fan].  I think next time I might swap out some of the powdered sugar for rice flour or buckwheat [which would be a different cookie entirely but a little grain's always better for you, right?].  I'll let you know how it goes.

Also, I made a half recipe and a #60 scoop and managed to get about 20 the size of my palm [10 on each cookie sheet].  The ones in the original recipe must be monsters... which makes sense since each cookie would have almost a quarter cup of powdered sugar.[!]  Even the smaller ones I made have about 1.5 tablespoons per cookie... so, yeah, they're not low-calorie, but they are a decadent, gluten-free addition to the cookie plate.

Cantaloupe Bars

I entered a farmers' market bake-off this weekend.  I didn't win, but I _did_ come up with a new way to eat cantaloupe.  The judges preferred a blueberry buckle to my quirky melon dessert, but it _is_ melon season and the markets are full of unusual varieties.  I've only recently become a melon lover, but they really are refreshing and "clean" tasting and I think their upgrade to dessert status is overdue.

I thought it would be fun to play on my beloved agua fresca flavors, and the result was a gorgeous melon-y curd paired with a tangy buttermilk/crunchy pepita crust. [The crust is a winner by itself; I've got lots of ideas for it.]  These bars are definitely more rich than my normal fair, so I suggest making them to share... at a Labor Day cookout, perhaps?

Recipe: Cantaloupe Bars

Tres Leches para mi Cumpleaños

I like making myself birthday cakes. I also like throwing parties near my birthday so I have an excuse to make a goodly-sized cake that I won't then eat all by myself, one shameful bite at a time.  The best part is that if the party is not actually on my birthday, no one feels compelled to sing to me before we all dig in.

Last year I made a rum cake, but a baker friend of mine [You know those beautiful little tarts in the case at Whole Foods? Those are hers.]  brought over a tres leches or "three milk" cake... made all the more fantastic because where she's from in Brazil, they use coconut milk in lieu of heavy cream... It was the best tres leches I've ever had.

So I decided it had to be tres leches for mi fiesta... but, being The Whole-Grain Texan, I had to mix things up a little. Diana Kennedy has a recipe for an almond sponge cake in her Cuisines of Mexico that uses almost the same ingredients for the cake itself [crucially: 5 eggs, separated, and no butter] but used almond meal in lieu of flour... really more like a financier. I wasn't sure how it would hold up to the thorough dousing required of a tres leches so I opted to use more [white whole wheat] flour... and fat-free milks and light coconut milk....and was well pleased with the results. It tastes decadent, but it's only a little heavier than a stack of pancakes... and with a lot more protein!

This isn't a traditional tres leches, but I think we've pretty well established that I don't think traditional=better.... and it tastes fantastic, if I do say so myself. As one guest -- and San Antonio native -- put it, "This is really, really good; but you could never sell it at a Mexican bakery." I'm sure he's right, but I bet I could put it on the menu at a fancy hotel restaurant in Mexico City and have it singled out in at least a few travel books.

Am I getting a little too full of myself on this one? Well, you'll just have to make it [for Cinco de Mayo?] and decide for yourself.


Recipe: Tres Leches de Maria
If you have a standing mixer, you can whip the egg whites while you're mixing the batter, but keep an eye on them. This cake is "frosted" with whipped cream, which I whipped myself [which actually makes it Quatro Leches, plus the coconut milk]. I imagine you could use a lower-fat pre-made something, but I won't vouch for the texture. You could also just garnish it with a big pile of fresh or macerated strawberries... I think I might do that next time. The pictured cake is actually 1.5 recipes, 3-8x8 pans, because I wanted it to be tall and square like a fancy cake... but two layers would have been plenty... and you can certainly bake it in a more traditional 9x13 sheet pan.
Cake:
5 eggs, separated
1 cup milk [I used skim]
1 cup sugar, divided use
1 tablespoon amaretto [almond liqueur]
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup almond meal [2 oz, ground]
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter [or 1 teaspoon lemon juice]
Leches:
1 can fat-free evaporated milk
1 can fat-free sweet and condensed milk
1 can light coconut milk (3rd press)
Optional Cream "Frosting":
1/2 pint, heavy cream (optional)
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Slivered almonds or fresh fruit to garnish
Cake:
Preheat oven to 300F. Line the bottom of 2-8x8 baking pans with parchment, then grease and flour the pans.
Put egg yolks in a big bowl and whites in a suitable one for whipping, and allow both to come to room temperature. Add milk, amaretto and 3/4 cup sugar to the yolks and whisk together to dissolve sugar, then whisk in remaining dry ingredients except the cream of tartar.
Whip egg whites on low speed until foamy, then add tartar and gradually increase speed as you slowly pour in the remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Beat on high speed until the whites are stiff and glossy.
Add about 1/3 of the whites to the batter and whisk in to incorporate and lighten. Switch to a rubber spatula and add remaining whites, gently folding the batter over itself until no big clumps of whites remain and batter is pretty much the same shade all over. Divide into two pans and bake for 60-75 minutes or until cake is evenly toasty golden brown and does not jiggle when moved. Move to a cooling rack and allow to cakes to cool to room temperature without removing from the pans.
Once cool, go around the edges of the pan with a knife, then turn out the cakes and remove the parchment. [Cake layers can be wrapped tightly in plastic and stored on the counter for a day or in the freezer for a week. Thaw completely before continuing.]

Leches:
One to 4 hours before serving, combine leches in a 4-cup measuring cup or medium bowl. Place bottom cake layer on a serving plate or platter with a deep rim [and place that plate in a larger roasting pan, if possible]. Poke holes all over and slowly pour or spoon about half of the soaking liquid over the top. Try to get as much of the edges as possible. Let it sit ten minutes, then place the second layer on top and repeat the process. You will likely overflow your plate, but the cake will do its best to soak up everything you give it. Whip cream with sugar and almond extract and refrigerate until ready to serve. [The cake can sit out.]
To serve, use a big spoon and offset spatula to dollop and spread whipped cream all over the cake. Garnish with slivered almonds or fruit as desired.

Dutch Letters -- Almond Bankets

Here's another Iowan delicacy for you: The Dutch Letter. It's an artifact of Dutch settlers in the area, an almond pastry called "banket" that was once reserved as a holiday treat and often spelled out "Merry Christmas" [in Dutch] or a birthday celebrant's name: the "letterbanket". In Iowa, it's simply called a "Dutch Letter" and found year round in certain bakeries in the shape of an "S." [I guess it was the prettiest of the stand alone letters?]I loved these things as a kid and always asked my grandmother to bring them with her on their annual visits to Texas. I hadn't had them in years until I recently came across her recipe and made them for my uncle, a fellow almond pastry lover. They're not nearly as intricate as they were in my memory. You roll out a pastry dough (pie dough) cut it into strips, lay a log of almond paste down each strip, roll it up, and bake it. The fact that pie dough now comes in the freezer and almond paste now comes in tubes makes it even easier, if you like shortcuts.

However, I believe that easy is often less tasty and definitely less economical... Almond paste in a tube is about 50% ground almond, 50% sugar+ binder+ preservatives+ bitter almond, and costs $7.99 for 8 ounces at my grocery store, which -- if you generously allow $.50 for the sugar and preservatives -- means you're paying $30/lb* for ground almonds. Yes, they're blanched almonds but a) my whole grains add flecks and bits to everything anyway, so pure white almonds are almost antithetical to my baking aesthetic and b) blanched almonds still only cost $6/lb, tops.

Grandma Sue's recipe calls for adding sugar and eggs to the almond paste to make the filling, and I discovered I could use whole almonds (at $4/lb), toast and grind them with sugar, add egg and extract, and the resulting filling was a little less sweet and tasted even better.
[Love you, Grandma!]As for the pastry, you can certainly use your favorite pie crust recipe, but I tinkered a bit and came up with a whole-grain version that uses half the butter of a regular pastry recipe and added ground almonds to boost the flavor. [Yes, it's adding some fat back in, but it's different fat.] It's slightly less flaky, but the nuts and oat flour make it an extremely forgiving, richly flavored dough.

Recipe: Dutch Letters -- Almond Bankets
There's a total of 1 pound almonds used three different ways. I made these as 2-inch sticks for JG's lab; you can make them much longer and shape them in whatever form appeals. You can also make much heftier pastries by not dividing the dough and using all of it to fill a single baking sheet and piping the filling twice as thick... just be careful to seal the seam. The almonds on top are not traditional, but rather pretty and give the pastry an extra crunch.

Filling:
4 oz almonds, toasted (~2/3 cup almond meal)
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 egg

In a food processor, grind almonds and sugar until very fine and clump together, ~2 minutes. Add egg and extract and process until smooth. Scoop into a ziploc-style bag and chill until ready to shape pastry.

Dough:
1 cup oat flour
2 oz almonds, toasted* (~1/3 cup almond meal)
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
6 T butter (3/4 stick or 3 oz.) [optionally browned and cooled]

1 c white whole wheat flour
2 T butter, diced and chilled
1 T amaretto
1 T vodka
1 T water

flour for dusting
1 egg
2 oz sliced or crushed almonds [optional]
sugar

Combine first 6 ingredients in a food processor and grind until almonds disintegrate ~2 minutes. Add wheat flour and pulse until distributed, then add chilled butter and liquids. Process until dough forms cohesive mass [small chunks of butter may be visible], divide in half, flatten into disks, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least 20 minutes. [Depending on your oven, you may want to start heating it now.]

Assembly:
Set oven to 425F.
Remove filling and dough disks from fridge. [If dough is hard, wait ~5 minutes until pliable enough to roll.] Cut parchment paper to fit your baking sheet, dust with flour, and roll out one disk to ~ 12"x15" or the size of the sheet. Use a straight edge and pizza wheel or knife to cut along the length of the dough in 4 equal strips. Use your baking sheet to transfer the cut dough back to the fridge to firm up while you repeat with the other disk.

Using 1st sheet, cut ~ 1/4" -1/2" corner off of the filling bag and pipe along one edge of the strip. Roll the dough along the length and pinch/flatten seam underneath. Shape each log into letters or cut each into 5-6 equal pieces.

Topping Option 1:
Beat egg, brush over top of pastry and sprinkle with sugar

Topping Option 2:
Beat egg, add almonds and stir to coat. Scatter almonds down the length of the logs [fingers are easiest] and sprinkle sugar over all [use fingers from the other, non-gooey, hand].

Bake 18-20 minutes or until egg wash is golden brown. Check in the last couple minutes to make sure optional almonds are deeply toasted but not burned. Transfer to a cooling rack and break pastry at seams once cool enough to handle. [The crispy filling globs that ooze out and stick to the sheet are what I like to call "baker's pay."]

Assemble 2nd sheet while the first sheet is baking. Store in an airtight container.

*Updated: My brain originally refused to compute the full extent of the price gouging and I erroneously stated that 40z of almonds for $7.50 equaled $15/lb. 1 lb=16oz, so the paste costs ~$30/lb for the blanched almonds.


* *Toast raw almonds at 350F for 5-10 minutes [it varies] or until they sizzle and start to pop. Small black spots where they touch the pan are okay, but if they smell burned at all you've got to start over.

Grandpa Jack's Toffee... my way.

I was looking to make a non-cookie treat and a trip through my grandmother's old recipe box yielded a card in my grandfather's handwriting for English Toffee. [As far as I can tell, it's an American creation, where "English" means slathered with chocolate.] My grandmother made a lot of sweets, but my grandfather always made the candy, using a scientific thermometer permanently borrowed from his chemistry lab to monitor the temperature of the sugar.
I grew up hearing stories about Grandpa and his chemistry candy thermometer, but I've since learned you don't actually need to take the sugar's temperature if you're making a simple caramel or toffee. It'll be at the hard crack stage once it starts taking color, so you can just pull it off the stove when it's a little lighter than you want the final candy to be and let it sit in the hot pot until it reaches that caramel brown color. It's easy, but it rarely fails to impress.

Another thing about toffee specifically is that the butter will separate out a bit, which then, in English toffee gets combined with the chocolate to make a rich top coating. I was able to reduce the butter from 16 tablespoons to 6 [browning 2 of them for more flavor] without a problem. I mean, it's still a candy made from sugar and butter, but reducing the fat never hurts.
I also have a trick to keep the chocolate from getting too soft in a warm room, but for that, you'll have to follow the recipe...

Recipe: Jack's Granddaughter's English Toffee
Grandpa's recipe calls for pecans, though it seems walnuts would be more "English".

6 Tbs butter [divided use]
1 cup sugar
pinch salt
1 Tbs amaretto
3 oz dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

Place a cookie sheet into the oven and set to 400F.* Oil an 8x8 metal pan close to the stove. In a heavy bottom pot, brown 2 tablespoons of butter over medium high heat. Once the butter solids turn the color of almond skins, add remaining butter, sugar, and salt, and stir until the butter melts and sugar liquifies. Boil, stirring occasionally, until mixture is a rich caramel color, just a shade lighter than desired. Stir in amaretto [mixture will sputter] and pour into the prepared pan. Wait 3 minutes for the toffee to set, then sprinkle with chocolate. Wait another ~2 minutes for the chocolate to mostly melt, then spread with an offset spatula or knife. Remove cookie sheet from the oven and place over the toffee pan. Let it sit for 3 minutes, [turn off the oven meanwhile] then remove. Sprinkle with toasted nuts and allow to cool until chocolate is firm to the touch, ~30-45 minutes. Turn toffee out of the pan and cut with a sharp knife or break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

* The pan over the top will heat the chocolate further and help retemper it... without melting your toffee. [FYI: if you're making those cookies with the Hershey's Kiss in the middle, it's also best to pop those bad boys back in the oven for a couple minutes after adding the kisses; they'll actually re-solidify faster and harder.]

Gluten-Free Cashew Gingersnaps

This recipe is basically a tuile batter: an egg-white based cookie that uses a little flour or ground nuts for structure. They harden as they cool, so they're sometimes spread thin, then rolled up like a cigar fresh out of the oven and filled with a ganache after they cool, or sometimes they're made into squiggly designs and stuck vertically in a mousse or ice cream, restaurant-style.

I'm not much of an artist, but I can write fairly well with tuile batter.


Recipe: Gluten-Free Cashew Gingersnaps
There's not a whole lot of ginger in this recipe, but there's no flour to mute it so the flavor is pretty pronounced. The cashews offer a neutral buttery flavor that goes well with the ginger, but almonds would work well, too. The batter can be stored in the fridge for a few days, but after baking they'll soften to the point of chewiness after a few days.

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup cashews
3 egg whites
1/4 tsp cider vinegar
1/4 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp cardamom
1/8 tsp salt

Sesame seeds, to garnish

Preheat oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and puree until mixture is mostly uniform and frothy in appearance with small nut chunks. Transfer to a quart-sized zipper-seal bag. Snip one corner and pipe into desired shapes, then sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake ~10 minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch. [The cookies will harden as they cool.] Transfer paper with cookies to a cooling rack -- do not attempt to remove cookies until cool. If they're still flexible at that point, you can put them back in the [off]oven and the residual heat should dry them out.

Store in an air tight container.

Peanut Butter Shortbread for Grandpa Ed

My paternal grandfather passed away recently. He was a great lover of peanut butter before his doctor cut it from his diet, so I've created a new peanut butter cookie recipe in his honor. I did a shortbread because he considered people over 5'5" to be abnormally tall.
He switched to refried bean and mustard sandwiches once the peanut butter was banned. I'm still working on how to turn that into a cookie.

Recipe: Peanut Butter Shortbread for Grandpa Ed
These actually hold together a little better if you use at least part wheat flour, but a few relatives will be avoiding gluten at the memorial, so I adapted. I like to use the grind-it-yourself peanut butter, it's nice and thick and the oil doesn't separate.

yield ~4 dozen

2 cups oat flour
1 cup powdered sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cocktail peanuts (or cashews)
1 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), browned or simply melted
1/4 cup amaretto
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla

[up to 4 Tbsp water, as needed]

Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine dry ingredients and nuts in a food processor and pulse until nuts are roughly chopped. Add all remaining ingredients and process until well-combined, stopping at least once to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mixture may look crumbly but should cohere when pinched together -- add water a tablespoon at a time until it does.

Transfer dough to a mixing bowl. Pinch off walnut-sized pieces [cookie scoop #60] and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Use a small cut-glass vase or candy bowl to press the dough into a 1/8" disk, repeat until the sheet is full, then trim up the edges with an offset spatula or pizza cutter. [I obviously turned them into squares.]

Bake ~12 minutes or until cookies are golden brown.

Fantasmas Dulces [Ghost Sweets]

I first saw these on 101 Cookbooks, but I've since seen them so many other places that I don't know who deserves the credit. All I know is that they amuse me every time I make them.

Mine are flavored with HerbSaint, an absinthe clone from Louisiana that imparts a nice anise flavor often found in Mexican baked goods. I even used anise seed for the eyes; their tiny stems look like wild eyebrows... which, of course, doesn't make sense. Why would a ghost have eyebrows?

I included my recipe after the jump but you should use whatever meringue recipe works for you. Some people go nuts about meringue specifics, but I've found they're not that fussy if you use enough sugar.

Recipe: Fantasmas Dulces [Ghost Sweets]
You can swap vanilla or almond extract for the Herb Saint. I've also made these with black sesame seeds, silver dragoons, or mini chocolate chips for the eyes.

Yield: ~36 ghosts
3 egg whites (room temperature)
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Herb Saint or Pernod
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar

anise seeds to garnish

Preheat oven to 225F. [Put your whites in your mixing bowl and leave them near the stove until they're room temp.] Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and fill a small bowl with anise seedsWhisk the two sugars together and set aside.

Add salt and liquor to whites. Using a whisk attachment, whip whites on low speed until foamy on top, ~1 minute. Increase speed to high and whip until soft peaks form, ~45 seconds. With the machine running, pour in sugar in a steady stream. Once mostly combined, stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and whip again on high speed until stiff peaks form, ~45 seconds more. Spoon into a pastry bag [without a tip] or a gallon ziploc [cut a corner off the bag when you're ready].

Pipe ghost shapes as 3 stacked mounds. [imperfections = personality] Use your finger to place the eyes. Bake 1 hour, turn oven off, and leave for another 1-3 hours or until stiff to the touch. If it humid, transfer immediately to an airtight container.

Fat-Free Butterscotch Syrup?

Is that possible? Using real butter?

Yes. Yes, it is.

It's dipping into the warm drink zone here in Yankee Land. We have a particular favorite to coincide with the beginning of apple cider season: ButterBeer.


Yes, this is the name of a drink from the Harry Potter series. We first had it at an Alamo Drafthouse screening and the server described it at spiced cider, butterscotch syrup, and a shot of rum. [I imagine it's a take off of a Betty Crocker-type butter rum cider.] We've bought Monin syrup and made it that way, but I dislike ingredients called "butterscotch flavor." Real butterscotch sauce isn't hard to make, -- butter, brown sugar, cream -- and substituting water for heavy cream makes it a syrup instead of a sauce. I also happen to know a secret for taking the fat out of butter in a syrup base.

You ready?

Recipe: Butterscotch Syrup
yields~1 cup

1/4 c (4T) butter
1/2 c brown sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 c water
1/2 tsp vanilla

Melt butter until foamy with first hint of browning. [If it starts to smell burned, it is. Dump it and start over.] Whisk in sugar and stir occasionally until sugar dissolves and mixture is bubbly. Slowly pour in water while whisking continuously. The mixture will foam and sputter. Don't flinch.


Pour into a heatproof bowl or measuring cup (Pyrex is good) and stir in vanilla. Freeze until butterfat forms a solid layer on top. Scrape off the fat and store for another unwholesome purpose or discard. Let syrup come to room temp, if sugar is still grainy, bring to a boil again (nuke) until sugar dissolves completely. [It shouldn’t be, but these things sometimes happen.]

Bottle syrup and store in the refrigerator. [I have squeeze bottles, but you can reuse a [clean] honey or maple syrup bottle]

Crab Apple Preserves

JG and I were at a wedding in New Hampshire recently and came across a crabapple tree in a park. There was fruit all over the ground and the tree was chock full of fruit still, so we emptied a shopping bag and filled it full of fruit (~4 lbs). I'd never done anything with crab apples before, but we quickly discovered they're extremely tart like cranberries but with a heady apple scent, which took us into thanksgiving-style thinking. The idea was to preserve them in a spicy syrup for serving after turkey, but I was wholly unable to keep the skins from splitting during the simmer, no matter how many ways I pricked them.
Luckily, as super potent apple, they also have a very high pectin content, so I sieved the whole mess and turned it into some wildly-colored preserves that we can serve in lieu of cranberry sauce this year... unless I happen upon a wild cranberry bog up here, then we may have to have both.
How do you know that weird little fruit is a crabapple? Cut it in half; it should have a 5-star seed pattern. If it doesn't, I don't know what it is and you probably shouldn't put it in your mouth.
I attempted to make crabapple jam squares, but they went horribly awry in snack-cake kind of way. Tasty, but not what I wanted to send to my grandfather.
I think I came up with a solution today, but more experiments are required...


Recipe: Crab Apple Preserves
What I made was an amalgamation of a few failures, but this way will work the first time around.

~2 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1/2 stick cinnamon
6 black peppercorns
3 cardamom pods
1 alspice berry
1/4 tsp anise seed
1 lemon, juice and zest (or an orange, for a little less zip)

~ 2 lbs crab apples, whole

Use 1 1/4 cup sugar for every 1 lb of crab apples. Combine spices in a diffusing ball or tea bag. Bring sugar, water, citrus, and spices to a boil and simmer in a small stockpot or dutch oven, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Remove spices with a slotted spoon and discard. Add crab apples and simmer gently for 15 minutes. [Congratulations if your skins don't split.] Set up a strainer over a big bowl, pour the contents of the pot through, and press the solids until only the skins, stems, and cores remain -- the cores are much tougher than a normal apple. Return the contents of the bowl to the pot over medium heat and stir frequently until the preserves hit 220F (they'll foam up and come close to boiling over at about 218F). Pour into hot jars and seal. Process in a water bath, if desired.

Low-Fat Fegatini

Fegatini [little livers] is an Italian chicken liver pâté, usually made by pureeing the liver with onions and butter and marsala wine... which didn't really sound like anything I'd want to eat until JG and I stumbled upon this fantastic mousse at Mulberry in Austin. We used to eat there on my Tuesdays off, and we'd get the fegatini at least twice a month. As it came time to leave Austin, we realized we were going to have figure out how to make it ourselves.Liver pâtés usually need a lot of butter to emulsify, to give it a creamy quality. A mousse requires additional heavy cream to incorporate air for a lighter texture... but just like folding in whipped cream, it's not "lite." It's one thing to order a dollop, it's something else entirely to have a tub of it in my fridge.

My silken chocolate pie gave JG an idea -- an idea sure to offend tofu lovers and pâté lovers alike.... Silken Fegatini: glorious, glorious tofu-liver.
It's been weeks now since I've had the fegatini at Mulberry and I'm sure Zach's would still win in a side-by-side tasting, BUT compared to a standard recipe this stuff is obscenely healthy. Low-fat, high protein... nutritionally dense... instead of a little dab on a toast point, you can actually slather this on a sandwich. It's a rich, meaty, guilt-free indulgence. Can you tell I'm excited?

Recipe: Silken Fegatini
The mousse sets as it chills. The butter isn't absolutely necessary, but that little bit at the end brings the flavor profile much closer to the original.

8 oz chicken liver, trimmed, rinsed, patted dry, and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces.
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 shallot, diced
1/2 cup brandy, divided use (or 1/4 cup brandy, 1/4 marsala)
2 tablespoons butter
6 oz firm silken tofu

high quality balsamic vinegar
good honey
toasted bread, pita, or crackers

In a large skillet over low heat, pan fry shallots in olive oil until lightly golden brown ~8 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high and add liver [a spatter guard is handy] stirring frequently until browned and just cooked through, then transfer meat to the bowl of a blender or food processor.

Add half of the brandy (1/4 cup) to the skillet and scrape to deglaze the pan. Once liquid is almost completely gone, add remaining brandy or marsala, turn off heat, and pour liquid into the liver container, making sure to scrape all the flavorful goodness from the pan. Puree until mostly smooth, scrape down the sides of the bowl, add butter and tofu, and puree further until completely smooth, scraping down bowl once or twice more as you go.

Transfer to an airtight container and chill. To serve, scoop with a small ice cream scoop and drizzle with balsamic vinegar and honey and serve with toast points, pita, or crackers.

Serving for a party:
Select a nicely shaped bowl or dish [I often use the cover of my butter dish], line with plastic wrap, fill, cover and chill. Turn out onto a decorative plate, remove plastic, and dress as above.

Silken Chocolate Pie

This pie is fantastic. It's rich and creamy. It melts in your mouth yet cuts perfect slices. It's low-fat and has fewer calories per slice than a standard chocolate chip cookie, and more protein. It's tofu, baby.
It started with a recipe by Mark Bittman for chocolate tofu pudding. I've come across vegan chocolate pie recipes that consist of a bag of chocolate chips and block of tofu, but this one seemed a little more refined. I also had a bunch of biscotti crumbs I'd been saving and it was time to empty out the freezer in preparation for the big move... and I just happened to have a block of silken tofu in the bottom of my fridge that had to go, too. What's a girl to do?

Add liquor, for one thing. I had a small squeeze bottle of blended strong stuff that was left over from the beef cake. I also reduced the sugar and melted chocolate and added cocoa powder in its place, both because I wanted it to be a richer chocolate flavor and less pudding-like and because I didn't want to just throw out the last bit of cocoa powder in the pantry.

I love this recipe. I've now tried it out on friends, parents, in-laws, and a 4-year-old niece. With every group I told them part way through that the pie was tofu-based and they still finished it -- well my mother-in-law had already finished hers and I'm not sure if she would have -- but my dad sure did and he's not the tofu type... he's not even the chocolate type, actually, but he still liked it.
If you reduce the water and add more cocoa powder, you get something the consistency of chocolate truffles... I'm pretty excited about the possibilities.

Recipe: Silken Chocolate Pie
The picture is a small pie that I made in a 6” cast iron skillet, which used a half recipe of the filling and easily served 8. For the full recipe I used 3 tablespoons each rum and amaretto, then topped it off with water. The liquor boils off for the most part so it's safe for kids. I think brandy would work well, or crème de menthe for a grasshopper pie. You can also use all water… I'm still working on a crumb crust from scratch. I've tried to come up with one that doesn't have to be baked, but it hasn't really worked yet. You can use oil in place of the yogurt to make it non-dairy... but only if your crumbs are vegan to begin with.

Crumb crust:
1 1/2 cups cookie or cracker crumbs (I used my biscotti)
2 tablespoons fat-freet yogurt or sour cream
1 tablespoon rum or water

In a 9" pie pan, mash yogurt and rum into crumbs until they stick together. Add a little more yogurt if necessary. Use a dampened drinking glass or spoon to press the crumbs into place.

Pie filling:
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup liquor and/or water
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1/3 cup cocoa powder
pinch salt
1 pound firm silken tofu

Chocolate shavings or additional cocoa powder, sifted, to garnish.

In a large glass measuring cup in the microwave or in a small saucepan on the stove, boil liquid and sugar until sugar is mostly dissolved. Add chocolate and let sit a minute or two until the chocolate is mostly melted. Stir in cocoa powder and salt, then transfer to a blender (or use an immersion blender), add tofu, and puree until smooth. Pour into prepared crust, and chill at least 30 minutes before serving.

Yield: 8-12 servings

Whole-Wheat Mexican Chocolate Cookies

I always have to suppress an eye-roll when people talk about baking as chemistry. It's not real chemistry. I mean, some of the more avant guard pastry may be, and there are chemical reactions involved in baking, but most home baking is a matter of approximate ratios of flour/sometimes sugar/butter/salt/sometimes egg. You don't have to level off every cup and teaspoon perfectly... eyeballing it works in most cases. You might start off with a quick bread and end up with a cake, but that's because they're not that different... muffins are just an excuse to eat cake for breakfast. That said, it is possible to throw off your ratios inadvertently -- like forgetting to reduce one ingredient when halving a recipe or accidentally grabbing the 1/3 cup instead of the 1/2 cup -- and it change the texture quite a bit. Still edible, but not quite right.

In the case of these particular cookies, there is a certain point where the batter is basically a soft chocolate mousse... a really, really good chocolate mousse with caramel notes of browned butter, earthy cocoa and espresso and just the right amount of cinnamon. If you eat enough of the dough at this stage you can actually throw off your ratios significantly, rendering the final dough too dry and unfit for anything but a cookie crumb crust base. It, um, happened to someone I know...
Recipe: Whole-Wheat Mexican Chocolate Cookies
These cookies are very thin with a delicate crumb, in part because of the pastry flour. I've only managed to reduce the butter by 25%, but since they're so thin you get a lot of cookies and each one packs a pretty satisfying chocolaty punch. Sometimes I roll them thicker ~1/4” if I want something sturdier to make sandwich cookies. You can omit the sesame and cinnamon for a more basic chocolate cookie flavor, or add 1/8 tsp cayenne for a hint of heat.

1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp sesame seeds

8 oz. (16 Tbs/2 sticks) cold butter (divided use)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp espresso powder
1 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 Tbs vanilla

Combine first five dry ingredients and set aside. Brown 4 Tbs butter in a small skillet until golden brown and fragrant. Pour into bowl of your standing mixer and add cocoa, cinnamon and espresso. Turn on low speed and stream sugar into running mixer. [This helps cool it a little so you don't melt the rest of the butter.] Once sugar is fully incorporated, slice remaining butter into large pats and add to somewhat cooled mixture. Increase speed to high and beat until creamed… 2-3 minutes. The color will go from almost black to a rich brown like chocolate frosting. Reduce speed to medium and add eggs yolks, then vanilla. Beat until batter is nice and thick.

Now you’re just a few eggs and some refrigerator time shy of a mousse. DO NOT EAT MORE THAN A SPOONFUL OF THIS LOVELY BATTER OR YOU’LL RUIN YOUR COOKIES! Add the flour mixture, ½ cup at a time and waiting until flour is mostly incorporated before adding next scoop. Divide dough roughly in half and dump into Ziploc bags or wrap in plastic wrap before flattening into disks. Chill dough for 15 minutes, refrigerate for up to 3 days, or freeze indefinitely [Allow to come to a cool room temp before rolling out]. If chilling, turn on oven to 350F so it'll be ready when you are.

Unwrap dough and place on parchment paper, keeping plastic wrap spread over top. Roll dough to 1/8” thick, remove plastic, and cut into desired shapes. Using an offset spatula or a thin pancake spatula, move shapes to parchment-lined baking sheet and bake 8-10 minutes. Once done, slide cookies, parchment and all, onto cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before removing from parchment.

Whiskey Marshmallows

I learned to make marshmallows recently. My first attempts were more like taffy... unimpressive, to say the least. My pastry guru was kind enough to give me his recipe, but his -- while truly creating everything you want a marshmallow to be -- uses corn syrup to guarantee stability. I decided to omit it, upping the sugar and water instead. Then I decided to add my favorite flavoring (rye whiskey) because I like a little booze in my cocoa. It actually added floral note, like orange blossom water, with just a hint of burn. The only problem was my powdered sugar. It didn't look particularly dry, but once I dredged my marshmallows, it stuck in little nuggets.
Still, JG was blown away... and then sad that eating too many of these would probably turn him into a diabetic before he's 40. Be warned: Once you've tasted homemade marshmallows, it's hard to accept jet-puffed corn syrup ever again.

Recipe: Whiskey Marshmallows
The recipe looks complicated, but only because it's best to have everything set up and ready to go when you need it. Gelatin sheets can be found at bake shops and maybe restaurant supply stores. You can use unflavored powdered gelatin (like Knox) instead. In a separate bowl, combine 3 tbs with 1/2 cup water to bloom, then add the entire contents to the mixer after the syrup. If you haven't used your powdered sugar in a while, be sure to sift out any hard lumps.

5 sheets of gelatine
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
3 egg whites
2 tbs whiskey (or other liquor)
1 tsp vanilla (or orange blossom water, bitters, peppermint liqueur, etc)
1/2 tsp salt
spray oil
powdered sugar, sifted

To prepare:
Bring egg whites to room temp in the bowl of a standing mixer.
Bloom gelatine sheets in ice water until pliable ~ 5-7 minutes. Remove from water, squeeze out excess and set aside.
Meanwhile, add water, then sugar to a medium saucepan*. Let sit to allow the sugar to hydrate ~5 minutes.
Pick your pan.** Line with plastic wrap, spray with cooking spray and dust thoroughly with powdered sugar.
Measure out flavorings and set aside.

To make:
Bring the sugar to boil over medium-high heat. [If you have a candy thermometer, you can clip it to the side now, but don't be tempted to check it with an instant read later... you'll crystallize the sugar.] Once the sugar begins to boil, start whipping your eggs whites. Begin on low speed until foamy, [just like the angle food cakes!] then move up to maximum speed. When peaks form, turn the mixer off and wait for the syrup. You want to take the syrup off just before it caramelizes. This will take about 10 minutes. If you've got a candy thermometer (I don't), you want it to reach 250F. Otherwise, you want to wait until the bubbles get up to an inch across before they pop and the syrup just starts to get a hint of a golden color.

Turn off heat and turn the mixer on high. Holding the pot above the mixer (don't tip it in at the lip of the bowl), stream the syrup directly into the egg whites. As soon as the syrup's in the bowl (some will stick to the pot) throw the bloomed gelatine into mixer to melt. Continue mixing on high until it looks like marshmallow fluff ~8 minutes. Add salt and drizzle in flavorings, continue mixing until stiff peaks form and you can turn the bowl upside down without the marshmallow sliding out.

Spray a spatula with cooking spray and use it to scrape the bowl into your prepared pan. Smooth out as much as possible with spatula, then spray top of marshmallow with cooking spray and smooth out with your hands [careful, it's hot!]. Dust heavily with powdered sugar and cover with plastic wrap, smoothing top once more.

Give the gelatine at least 6 hours to set, then turn out onto a cutting board and cut to your desired size with a hot knife. You can also coat the knife with cooking spray, but you have to be very careful not to get your handle greasy or you might lose a toe. Fill your pan 1/4" full of powdered sugar and dredge your marshmallows, making sure all sides are coated. They're ready to go at this point, although they're better if you give them another 6 hours for the edges to dry out.

Store in an airtight container.

*It's better if it's not non-stick because the dark interior makes it harder to judge the color... plus the syrup's going to stick a bit anyway. Hot water will dissolve it no matter what pan it's in.
** A 9x13 yields marshmallows ~1/2" thick. If you want bigger ones, use an 8x8. If you want thinner ones (for mini-marshmallows) use a half-sheet or jellyroll pan.

JG's Lucky Peas

This one I can't take any credit for. JG picked me up from work at midnight last night. In the car was a steamy container of black-eyed peas he'd made for luck [a southern tradition]. They were so good I ate more than half the container on the ride home. Happy New Year!
Recipe: JG's Lucky Black-Eyed Peas

2 tsp olive oil
3 T [~1 oz] cubed ham
1 shallot, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 16 oz can black-eyed peas
1/2 cup water
1 pickled jalepeno, sliced
1/2 tsp cumin, toasted and ground
4 allspice berries, ground [~1/4-1/2 tsp]
salt to taste

In a small saucepan, heat oil over medium high heat and brown ham with shallots. [Ham occasionally explodes at high heat; a splatter guard is highly recommended.] Add beans--with canning liquid--and water, stirring to scrape up any stuck bits [fond] from the bottom. Add pepper and spices, then salt to taste. Lower heat to a simmer and stir occasionally for 10-15 minutes or until thickened slightly. Serve over rice or quinoa or with a side of tortilla chips or crackers.

Olive Oil Crackers with Sesame

People tend to be surprised that I make my own crackers, but they're easy, they're fresh, and they contain only what I put in them... and I can put all sorts of things in them, depending on my mood. Crackers are great on their own, but if I know I'm going to serve them with a specific cheese or dip or pate, I like to tailor the flavors to match.

Right now, JG and I have some amazing cheeses from Houston Dairymaids. My favorite is a creamy semi-ripe from grass-fed cows with a rich color and out of this world earthy flavor that merited a cracker with a little extra crunch.
Recipe: Olive Oil Crackers with Sesame
You can use a pizza wheel or fluted pastry wheel to make evenly-sized crackers. Be sure to cut all the way through the dough. They'll break easily along the score lines after they're cooled.

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup bread (high-protein) flour [you can sub all-purpose or more whole wheat]
3/4 cup water

additional flour for rolling
1 egg
1/8 cup water
1 tsp white sesame
1 tsp black sesame
1/2 tsp brown mustard seed
cracked black pepper

Turn oven on to 400 F. In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, salt, and baking powder. Drizzle oil over and squeeze through with your fingers until evenly distributed. Add remaining flour, stir briefly to distribute, and water. Stir, scraping sides, until dough ball forms. It's a pretty wet dough, so it'll be a little sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest 17 minutes. [The rest, called autolyse in baking, is crucial for gluten formation.]

Coat two cookie sheets with flour [or parchment paper and flour]. Divide dough in half, sprinkle with flour and roll out as thinly as possible, adding more flour when necessary to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin. Repeat with second sheet. Whisk together the egg and water and brush over the dough [this makes the toppings stick. I just pour it on and smear it with my hand if I can't find a pastry brush]. Sprinkle seeds and pepper over dough and bake 15-18 minutes or until edges brown. The crackers will harden as they cool and they're easy to burn, so keep an eye on them. Once cooled, break apart into desired size.

Variations:
Use the oil from a jar of sun-dried tomatoes in place of olive oil and add the tomatoes, chopped small, to the dough.
Use the brine from a jar of olives in place of water. Reduce or omit salt.
Use all whole-wheat flour and top with wheat germ.
Reduce water by 1 Tbs and replace with 1 Tbs soy sauce for more savory crackers. Reduce salt by half.