Pasta with Swiss Chard, Raisins & Almonds

On Monday, we received a good portion of Swiss chard in our farm share, which I don't have very much experience with. So I was happy to find this recipe on Epicurious, adding a bit of pasta to turn it into a main meal based on Epicurious user recommendations.

I very much like how healthy this is: Swiss chard, almonds, raisins, and EVOO are very, very nutritive things to eat (better yet, use whole wheat pasta). Unfortunately, the final result here was a bit bland; everything just needed more "oomph" -- but this may be due to my tinkering with the recipe.

Next time, I'll increase the amount of smoked paprika (which was wonderful) and thrown in a bit of cinnamon and maybe cardamom to boot.


Pasta with Swiss Chard, Raisins & Almonds (adapted)

1 large, red onion, sliced lengthwise 1/4 inch thick
3 1/2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 1/2 lbs Swiss chard
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup coarsely chopped almonds with skins
8 oz cooked, short cut pasta (such as fusili, penne, shells, farfalle, etc.), kept hot

After washing & drying the Swiss chard, remove the center ribs and slice into 1/4-inch pieces. Chop the leaves coarsely and set aside.

Cook onion and chopped chard ribs with 1/4 teaspoon salt in 3 tablespoons oil in a 5- or 6-quart heavy pot over medium heat, stirring until softened. Sprinkle with paprika and cook while stirring, 1 minute. Add the chopped chard leaves in batches, stirring frequently until wilted, then adding raisins and water. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally until chard is tender, about 7 minutes. When finished, toss with pasta and adjust seasonings.

While chard leaves are cooking, start preparing the almonds. In a small heavy skillet over medium low heat, cook the nuts in the remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil, stirring frequently until golden, 3 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle almonds over pasta and chard.

Serves 6.

SHF #32: Ooey-Gooey Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownies

When I was a kid, my favorite candy was Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I couldn't get enough of that sweet yet salty, crumbly peanut butter middle, enrobed in Hershey's milk chocolate. Sometimes, I'd nibble the chocolate sides, leaving only a peanut butter center sandwiched by a thin layer of chocolate. I might pull the bottoms off with my bottom front teeth, leaving the exposed middle primed for licking. If I were impatient, I'd take a hearty bite, enjoying the feeling of harder chocolate co-mingling with a softer middle.

As I got older though, my chocolate-peanut butter cravings diminished. Sure, I'd enjoy a Reese's from time to time, or a scoop of chocolate ice cream with ribbons of PB, but my cravings took me elsewhere. (Primarily, to cookies.)

Until this year. January heralded a renaissance in peanut butter-chocolate love for me. Peanut butter cups? Yep. But even better are PB minuets, with super creamy centers covered in a more sophisticated chocolate. Or decadent brownies swirled through with rivers of peanut butter. Or, my new favorite, Chocolate Peanut Butter milkshakes from Abbott's Frozen Custard.

But, though we may not like to face it, food bloggers live in a real world where calories do count, and if I indulged my cravings as often as they'd like, I wouldn't be able to get out the door and get a milkshake.

So I found this Cooking Light recipe for Ooey-Gooey Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownies. They are good, but are not as decadent as they look (or should be). They're also chewy enough to pull out a loose filling, so watch out.

Still, if a raging Choco-PB craving hits you but you're not ready to blow the calorie bank, these will help you out. I brought them to a picnic, and they were among the first desserts to disappear from the table, so all in all, not a bad choice.

Ooey-Gooey Peanut Butter-Chocolate Brownies

3/4 cup fat-free sweetened condensed milk, divided
1/4 cup butter or stick margarine, melted and cooled
1/4 cup fat-free milk
1 (18.25-ounce) package devil's food cake mix
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
1 (7-ounce) jar marshmallow creme (about 1 3/4 cups)
1/2 cup peanut butter morsels (plus more for garnish, if desired)

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F.
Combine 1/4 cup condensed milk, butter, and next 3 ingredients (butter through egg white) in a bowl (batter will be very stiff). Line a 13 x 9-inch baking pan with aluminum foil (allowing extra to hang over the sides for easy lifting later). Coat bottom of foil-lined pan with cooking spray. Press two-thirds of batter into prepared pan using floured hands or a rubber spatula; pat evenly (layer will be thin).

Bake at 350-degrees F for 10 minutes. Combine 1/2 cup condensed milk and marshmallow creme in a bowl; stir in morsels. Spread marshmallow mixture evenly over brownie layer. Carefully drop remaining batter by spoonfuls over marshmallow mixture. If desired, sprinkle extra peanut butter chips over marshmallow mixture. Bake at 350-degrees F for 30 minutes. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Lift out using foil, and cut into 24 brownies using a pizza wheel.

Yield: 2 dozen (serving size: 1 brownie)

CALORIES 176 (25% from fat); FAT 5g (sat 2.1g,mono 1.6g,poly 1.1g); PROTEIN 2.6g; CHOLESTEROL 6mg; CALCIUM 30mg; SODIUM 212mg; FIBER 0.8g; IRON 0.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 29.9g

Cooking Light, SEPTEMBER 2000

Smoked Cheese Pasta Bake

I'm not a big fan of smoked cheese so I don't know why I thought I might go for this recipe. It's sort of like going on a date with someone you know you only like as a friend: kind of pointless and a little bit sad.

Ok, it's not that it's bad. There ARE a number of things I do like about it.

1) Using reduced-fat sour cream to increase creaminess
2) Throwing in spinach to sneak in vegetables
3) Super easy to make
4) Comfort food without a gazillion calories

In a nutshell: I'll make this again, but I'll substitute the smoked mozzerella for part skim mozzerella or ricotta. (Sort of like dating his brother without questionable ethics.)


Smoked Cheese Pasta Bake

1 pound uncooked penne or rotini
1 (26-ounce) jar fat-free marinara sauce (I like Newman's Own Sockarooni)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups reduced-fat sour cream
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded smoked farmer or mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F.
Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain.

Heat marinara sauce in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add salt, pepper, and spinach, stirring until blended; cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in cooked pasta.

Spoon half of pasta mixture into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Combine sour cream, smoked cheese, and basil; spread over pasta mixture in dish. Spoon the remaining pasta mixture over sour cream mixture; sprinkle evenly with Parmigiano-Reggiano. Bake for 25 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: about 1 cup)

Junior Mint Brownies

The idea for these brownies has been bouncing around in my brain for a few weeks. I'd found this recipe but was disappointed that the mints weren't an ooey-gooey layer in the midst of a chewy brownie, but melted with butter and incorporated into the batter.

So I set to solve that problem and came up with the following recipe. If there were one thing to change, it would be to increase the amount of Junior Mints. I had a 4.75 oz box (movie size) and it didn't cover the batter as fully as I'd have liked. I added some mini semi-sweet chocolate chips hoping they'd melt a bit.

The end result is satisfying -- chocolately, minty, delicious -- but that gooey layer isn't there! There is a layer, but it's not as squishy and thick as I'd hoped, and the brownie itself is drier than I'd prefer. I think I'm going to play with this recipe again and see if I can't get it closer to what I'd pictured (the Platonic ideal of Junior Mint Brownie, if you will.)

Having said that, are these good? Yep.
Sates a chocolate and mint craving? Yep.
Worth making? Yep.

Junior Mint Brownies

6 tbsp butter
6 oz semi sweet chocolate
¼ c cocoa powder (not dutch process)
¾ c flour
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. mint extract
1, 4.75 oz. box Junior mints
½ c. mini semi-sweet chocolate morsels

Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, allowing for 2 inches of overhang. Grease foil, excluding overhang.

Place butter and 6 oz. chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute at 40-percent power; stir. Continue microwaving at 30-percent power in 30 second intervals, stirring every 30 seconds, until chocolate and butter have melted. Let cool slightly.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; set aside.Place sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on medium speed until pale, about 4 minutes. Add chocolate mixture; beat until combined. Add flour mixture and beat, scraping down sides of bowl until well blended.

Scoop half of the batter into prepared pans (it will be very thick), smoothing the it as best you can with a rubber spatula. Top with Junior Mints, distributing as evenly as possible, and mini chocolate morsels. Dollop the remaining brownie batter over the mints, flatting dollops as best as possible.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes and then, using the foil, lift brownies out of pan. Place on a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

Grade: Flavor, A; Texture, B

Gingerbread Cupcakes

Vanilla Garlic is hosting a Cupcake Round-up -- such a good idea! Cupcakes are so lovely: petite and beautiful, who doesn't love a little cake topped by a swath of rich frosting and a few sprinkes?

But sometimes you're not in the mood for something light and sweet, but something a bit denser and spicy. Something that can stand up to a strong cup of tea or coffee. Something that won't leave smears of chocolate on your face.

Gingerbread is that something. And in cupcake form? Even better.

While this is a "light" recipe, you wouldn't know it. The cupcake has a crisp top with a moist and dense middle, brimming with spice and molasses flavor. I changed the source recipe a bit, adding some more spices, a bit of salt, and substituting egg whites for merigue powder mixed with water.

I finished these with a simple dust of powdered sugar, but I'm thinking about playing a bit more. A light dip in a lemon glaze would add a nice bit of zing.

Gingerbread Cupcakes

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-grain wheat flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup molasses
3 large egg white(s) (or 1/4 cup water plus 2 Tbsp and 2 Tbsp meringue powder)

Preheat oven to 325-degrees F. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper muffin liners.

Combine flours, sugar, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and allspice in a large bowl; mix well. Add applesauce, molasses and egg whites; stir until mixture is moist and well-combined. Fill each muffin tin 2/3 full with batter.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool cupcakes to room temperature and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Grade: B

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (aka, Blondies)

Tasty little buggers.

Essentially, these were a vehicle to try out a bag of Nestle Chocolatier 62-percent Cacao bittersweet chocolate morsels. Shane and I tasted them along with Ghirardelli's 60-precent Cacao bittersweet chips. Alone on the tongue, I preferred the Nestle (!!!) but in baking, the Ghirardelli still has my heart (and palate). (Shane liked the Nestle alone, too, but I forgot to ask him if he preferred it to Ghirardelli in a baked good.)

In any event, these cookie bars have a lot of virtues: easy to whip up, comforting, chocolately. They're not my favorite, and they won't make anyone swoon with pleasure, but that doesn't mean you won't be sneaking samples from the cookie jar, either.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (source)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups (packed) golden brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (about 4 1/2 ounces)
3/4 cup chopped pecans (I used walnuts - LR)

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Butter and flour 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan.

Mix flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda in medium bowl. Melt butter in large saucepan over low heat. Remove saucepan from heat. Add sugar and whisk to blend. Whisk in eggs and vanilla extract. Gradually stir in flour mixture (batter will be thick). Fold in chocolate and nuts.

Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake blondies until tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 25 minutes. Cool blondies in pan on rack. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.) Cut into squares and serve.

Makes about 24.

Grade: B to B+ range

Tags: baking, cookies, blondies, Nestle Chocolatier, Ghirardelli

Candy Corn Cookies

These candy corn-shaped cookies from BettyCrocker.com were too cute not to make. They didn't come out as precise as Betty's (she must have a construction grade level in her kitchen) but they are darling.

Some baked up as tricks.

Some baked up as treats.

Some give new meaning to the term "food porn."

I found it difficult to spread this amount of dough into the bread pan evenly, so next time I'll either use my own sugar cookie recipe or double the amount of cookie dough.

As for the taste, I'm pretty impressed with what I got from a mix, although the additional vanilla I added probably didn't hurt either.


Candy Corn Cookies (slightly adapted from BettyCrocker.com)
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Orange paste food color
2 oz semisweet chocolate, melted, cooled OR brown paste food color

Line a 8x4-inch loaf pan with plastic wrap, extending wrap over sides of pan. In medium bowl, stir cookie mix, butter and egg until soft dough forms.

Place 3/4 cup dough into a plastic zip-top bag. Knead desired amount of food color into dough until color is uniform. Press dough evenly in bottom of pan.

Divide remaining dough in half. Place one half into a plastic zip-top bag and knead in chocolate or brown food color until color is uniform. Press dough into pan on top of orange dough. Press remaining dough into pan on top of brown dough. Refrigerate 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until firm.

Heat oven to 375-degrees F. Remove dough from pan. Cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Cut each slice into 5 wedges. On ungreased cookie sheet, place wedges 1 inch apart.

Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until cookies are set and edges are very light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on pan, then move cookies to a cooling rack. Store in tightly covered container.


Grade: B

Coconut Layer Cake (Shane's Birthday Cake)

Retro Recipe Challenge Deadline: Sunday, October 15 11:59 EST!!!

This is another Maglieri cake. This is another cake recipe taken from Peter Kump's Cooking School Cake Baking packet. This is another delicious cake with texture issues.

The coconut flavor is lovely and brightened by hits of lemon. The frosting is very rich from its coconut cream and butter (it's a bit much for me, actually). It has great coconut flavor, deepened by rum. I added a 1/4 cup of confectioners' sugar to it make less slick.

But the cake is too dry and I'm not sure how to solve it. Add a half cup of milk, perhaps?

Coconut Layer Cake

Cake:
8 Tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 c. sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsps canilla
1/2 tsp. lemon extract
1 2/3 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups sweetened grated coconut

Buttercream:
1 cup coconut cream
2 eggs, room temperature
16 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
2 Tbsp white rum (I used 1 tsp. rum flavoring)
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups sweetened grated coconut
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325-degrees F. Grease two 9-inch cake pans, lining the bottom with parchement.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with sugar until light. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating smooth between each addition, scraping bowl and beater(s) occasionally. Beat in vanilla and lemon extracts.

In a separate bowl, mix baking soda, powder, and salt into flour. Beat half the flour mixture into the butter mixture adn continue to beat until smooth.

Beat in the sour cream, followed by the coconut, and finally the remaining flour mixture.

Spread batter evenly between the two pans. Bake for about 25 minutes, until well risen and firm in the center. Cool cakes in pans for 5 minutes, then unmold onto a rack and cool completely.

To make buttercream, bring coconut cream to a boil in a small saucepan over low heat. Meanwhile, beat eggs together in a bowl. Slowly add boiling coconut cream to eggs, beating vigorously. Return mixture to pan and cook over lowe heat, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened. Strain into a bowl and let cool completely.

Beat butter until soft and light. Beat in cooled coconut mixture, a little at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. Beat in rum and vanilla a little at at time.

To finish cake, place one round on a plate, trimming rounded top if needed, and cover with icing. Then top with other layer (again, trimming if needed) and cover with the rest of the icing. Press grated coconut all over the cake.

Grade: Flavor, A+; Texture, B-

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (My Birthday Cake)

This recipe comes from the Peter Kump's Cooking School Cake Baking Course Pack. The cakes are developed largely by Nick Malgieri.

Maybe it's my technique but every time I make one of his cakes, the texture is a bit off. The flavor is great, but the texture is not. Same problem with this cake. It's delicious but a bit too chewy. It's also dense, but I don't really see that as a problem.

The frosting is excellent but there's not enough to cover the top and sides of the cake -- hence the odd frosting job. If you use it, double the quantities in the frosting recipe below.

Best and Easiest Banana Cake ( slightly adapted)

Cake:
12 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 cup mashed, very ripe bananas (about 6-7 oz each)
3/4 cup milk or buttermilk

Cream Cheese Frosting (double to cover top and sides of cake)
1/2 stick butter, softened (4 Tbsp.)
1/2 lb. cream cheese, softened
1 c. confectioners' sugar
1 tsp. vanilla.

Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350-degrees F. Grease two 9-inch cake pans, lining the bottom with parchement.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter until soft and light. Gradually beat in the sugars and continue beating about 5 minutes until very light. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating smooth between each addition, scraping bowl and beater(s) occasionally. Beat in vanilla.

Stir baking soda, powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg into cake flour and sift over butter and egg mixture. Stir in bananas and milk to mix. Beat by machine on low for 2 minutes, scraping bowl and beater(s) several times.

Pour batter into pans and bake for about 25 minutes, until well risen and a skewer inserted in the center emerges clean. Cool cakes in pans for 10 minutes, then cover with a rack and remove paper and pan. Immediately turn cake right side up and finish cooling.

To make frosting, beat butter at medium speed until soft and light. Beat in cream cheese and continue beating until very smooth. Add remaining ingredients and beat until smooth. Continue beating about 5 minutes to aerate. Use immediately.

To finish cake, place one round on a plate, trimming rounded top if needed, and cover with icing. Then top with other layer (again, trimming if needed) and cover with the rest of the icing.

Grade: Flavor, A; Texture, B

Nectarine Coffee Cake

I have a problem with this recipe. It's a shame too, because there are so many great things going for it.

The flavor is great. There's a lovely tang from the lemon juice and zest, providing a nice contrast to the cinnamon sugar-dusted, in-season nectarines. It's dead easy to whip up and the recipe seems adaptable -- I'd like to try substituting the lemon flavors for almond, and topping the cake with some berries.

But here's the sticking point: the cake is too dry. Take-a-bite-and-then-reach-for-a-cup-of-coffee-out-of-sheer-necessity kind of dry. It's moist around the areas where the nectarines are nestled but beneanth that -- dry. Maybe this could be solved, in part, by really pushing the nectarines into the batter. But there would still be dry pockets.

Any ideas?

Nectarine Coffee Cake
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups self-rising flour
5 medium nectarines (about 1 3/4 pounds), halved, each half cut into 4 slices (Note: I was only able to fit about 2.5 nectarines, which jibes with the comments here --LR)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Generously butter 9-inch-diameter springform pan. Using electric mixer, beat 1/2 cup butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add 3/4 cup sugar and beat until blended. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then lemon juice and lemon peel. Beat in flour until smooth. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.

Arrange enough nectarine slices atop batter in concentric circles to cover completely; press lightly to adhere. Mix cinnamon and remaining 3 tablespoons sugar in small bowl. Sprinkle over cake.

Bake until cake is golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cut around cake to loosen; remove pan sides. Serve cake slightly warm or at room temperature. Makes 8 servings.

Grade: B until the dry problem is solved.

Crunchy Granola

What better way to celebrate a new blog design than with a granola? Huh? Huh? How?

OK. I know I'm reaching. Granola isn't that exciting. But my house is packed up for the move and I was in the mood for granola. Not having much on hand, I looked for a very paired down recipe. I found it with Kathleen Daelemans's recipe for crunchy granola.

It is VERY crunchy -- crunchier than you'd expect -- but it's also a tasty and healthy snack. Shane and I ate it up pretty quickly as is, but I'm sure it would be great with milk for breakfast, or sprinkled in some yogurt. I'm not sure I'd make it again simply because I'd like more "stuff" in the granola, but I did enjoy this.

Crunchy Granola

1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
8 cups rolled oats
2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, or slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and reserve.

Combine brown sugar and water in a 4-cup microwave proof glass measuring cup or bowl. Place in microwave on high for 5 minutes and cook until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from microwave, add vanilla extract and salt.

In a large mixing bowl, combine oats, nuts, and brown sugar syrup mixture. Stir until thoroughly mixed. Spread the granola onto cookie sheets and bake 45 minutes to 1 hour or until golden and crunchy.

When the mixture comes out of the oven, it is still very pliable. You may choose to add in dried fruit as a finishing touch at this time. When granola has cooled completely, store in an airtight container.

Grade: B

Chocolate Jello Pudding Pops

There are few Cosby-related items I remember vividly from childhood:

Fat Albert, watched in the afternoon on FOX 5. (The Brown Hornet: a tv show within a tv show. So meta!)

The Cosby Show, with Claire Huxtable as perfection in an 80s power suit. (Pretty! Smart! Sophisticated! Did I mention pretty?)

Chocolate Jell-o Pudding Pops; loved them. So much better than a fudgesicle – so worth begging for in the freezer section of Waldbaum’s. Opening the plastic wrapper would release a tiny puff of artic air and the vague scent of chocolate. Each pop would be carefully raked with my insicors, removing the delicate layer of ice before allowing myself to savor the chocolately goodness.

I can’t find them now, so I tried to make them at home. I accidentally bought Chocolate Fudge pudding instead of regular chocolate, so the flavor is off -- at least, I think that's it. The flavor isn't as sweet, nor is the consistancy as milky (and no protective layer ice!).

If you like chocolate popsicles, then by all means, whip these up. But they don’t have Bill Cosby’s seal of approval.

Thanks to Meeta at What's For Lunch, Honey? for hosting Monthly Mingle #3!

JELL-O Homemade Pudding Pops (recipe from Kraft)

2 cups cold 2-percent milk
1 pkg. (4-serving size) JELL-O Instant Pudding & Pie Filling, any flavor

Pour cold milk into medium bowl. Add pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk 2 minutes. Spoon into 6 (5-oz.) paper or plastic cups. Insert wooden pop stick or plastic spoon into each for handle.

Freeze 5 hours or until firm. To remove pop from cup, place bottom of cup under warm running water for 15 seconds. Press firmly on bottom of cup to release pop. (Do not twist or pull pop stick.) Store leftover pops in freezer.

Grade: B

Please can I have one?

Jello Popsicles

Hey! Guess what! It’s summer vacation! You’ve got two whole months to do nothing but get in trouble!

Well, no. Not if you’re not a kid. Or a sitting president.

So maybe you still have to get up in the morning, put on your corporate casual clothes, commute to work and spend 8 hours trying to look busy by “conducting online research” when really, you’re just searching for internet porn and Paris Hilton’s latest single. (Is there a difference?)

But for a moment, try to recapture the rapture that is summer vacation: long lazy days spent lolling in the grass, riding bikes, swimming in the neighborhood pool, waiting for the faint jingle of the ice cream truck to approach your house.

Behold! The mighty popsicle: summer on a stick.

There’s something about the flavor of these popsicles (Sadie & I used raspberry) that screams JELLO! I can’t put my finger on it, but the brand has a taste all its own. The consistency is also different from a "regular" popsicle: a bit richer, perhaps from the gelatin. Not that it mattered to Kian and Sadie; they love them. They’re easy to make, the color is vibrant (gorgeous, actually) and they taste good. What can else can you ask of a frozen treat?

Jello Popsicles

The proportions are approximated, so you may need to adjust the measurements to suit your tastes and purposes.
¼ pkg. plus 1 tsp. of Jello mix
¼ cup plus 1 tsp. sugar
1 ½ cups boiling water

In a medium bowl, combine Jello, sugar, and water and stir until powders are dissolved. Taste, and adjust for sweetness (e.g., add more Jello or a bit more water). Pour into popsicle molds and freeze until hardened, at least two hours. Yields approximately six 3 oz. popsicles

Grade: For kids, A. For adults, B range

Amanda Hesser's Thick and Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookies

Earlier this year, the New York Times’ Amanda Hesser published chocolate chip cookie recipes for three different types of cookies: Thin and Crispy, Flat and Chewy, and Thick and Gooey. I’d volunteered to bake cookies for a Writers’ Tea in Sadie’s class, and thought “Hey, why don’t I try that thick cookie recipe?”

They’re very easy to make, especially if you don’t sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt but, instead, dump them in a bowl and give them a quick stir. (Not that anyone around here did that…) . It’s a cake walk of a recipe. I did notice that, out of the three chocolate chip cookie recipes I’ve tried out since starting this blog, these had the most irregular borders (i.e., they weren’t circular).

The recipe calls for ¼ cup of dough per cookie for a total yield of 30 cookies, but I used my regular – and smaller -- cookie dough scoop. Despite Kevin’s skepticism over my accounting practices, I got about 40 cookies out of the recipe.

As for the consistency and taste, they’re not my favorite. I like thin, crisp chocolate chip cookies with good hits of salt and butter. These are thick, soft, and cake-like (mine were not gooey), though the butter flavor is still very present.

Having said all that, I didn’t turn my nose up at them. I just didn’t have to rip myself away from the cookie jar. But if you prefer a softer, cakier chocolate chip cookie, this is the recipe for you.


Thick-and-Gooey Chocolate-Chip Cookies
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons kosher salt
8 ounces butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups chopped bittersweet chocolate (chunks and shavings)
2 cups chopped walnuts (optional).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a mixer fitted with a paddle, cream the butter and sugars until fluffy, 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla. Add the flour mixture all at once and blend until a dough forms. Fold in the chocolate and walnuts. Chill the dough.

Roll 1/4 -cup lumps of dough into balls, then place on the baking sheet and flatten to 1/2-inch thick disks spaced 2 inches apart. Chill the dough between batches. Bake until the edges turn golden, 14 to 17 minutes. Let cool slightly on the baking sheet, then transfer to a baking rack. Makes 30 cookies.

Grade: B

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

Taking a page from Very Good Things, I made a batch of peanut butter cup brownies.

Although I love Alicat/Paula Dean's idea of Peanut Butter Brownie Cupcakes, I was too lazy to actually fill up individual cupcake tins.

Which, when you think about it, is seriously lazy.

Instead, I lined a 13x9-inch pan with aluminum foil, sprayed the bottom with a bit of oil, and placed 75-percent of the batter in the pan. (The batter came from a store-bought brownie mix.) Then I topped the batter with 39 mini Reese’s Peanut Butter cups and the remaining brownie batter, and baked it according to the package directions.

These were made for a reception following a choral concert and were snapped up pretty quickly, although they would have been better if I had used a better brownie mix. Still, peanut butter and chocolate are a damn fine combo.

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies
1 (18 1/2 ounce) package chewy fudge brownie mix, plus the ingrediants specified on the package
39 Reese’s Peanut Butter cups

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Line a 13x9-inch pan with foil, letting the edges overhang the sides and spray the bottom lined pan with cooking oil.

Prepare the brownie mix according to the directions on the package for cake-like brownies. Pour 75-percent of the brownie mix into the pan, then top with peanut butter cups (see photo below for illustration). Add remaining batter, attempting to cover the peanut butter cups.

Bake according to package directions, until a toothpick inserted in the middle (but not in a peanut butter cup) comes out clean. Allow to cool completely, then using foil, lift brownies out of the pan. Cut with pizza wheel or bread knife. Store in an airtight container. Yields 24 brownies.

Grade: B (higher with a tastier brownie mix)

Sour Cream Pound Cake

The cake isn't actually levitating; it's just on a cooling rack.

But it would be cool if it had metaphysical powers.

I love Everyday Food; it's my current favorite foodie mag. I especially love their "Sweet Favorites" section, which features reader submitted favorite dessert recipes.I had a sweet craving after dinner last night, so I thought I'd whip up this month's Sweet Favorite: Sour Cream Pound Cake.

It's a simple recipe -- really just throwing things in a mixer, and then into the pan. But the final result is ... eh. Not great, not bad just ... eh. It's got pleasant vanilla flavor but it's not particularly rich or buttery. It does weigh a lot, but that doesn't come across in the flavor.

Certainly, I may have screwed something up. Shortly after I added the first egg, the batter looked "broken" -- you know, that separated, curdled look. If I recall correctly, that happens when you over beat the butter, but I don't think I did.

The recipe says it should take 75 to 85 minutes to bake but by that point, my cake was still soupy inside. I finally took it out after 107 minutes, and it remained damper around the ring than I would have liked. (I could have left it in the oven, but I was losing patience by that point.) I also baked this in a silicone bundt; could that have impacted things so dramatically?

If you make it, let me know how yours turns out. I'd like to compare notes.

Sour Cream Pound Cake

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
3 c. flour, spooned and leveled
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2½ c. sugar
6 large eggs
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 c. reduced-fat sour cream (why they're skimping on calories in the sour cream after adding butter, sugar, and eggs is beyond me.)

Preheat oven to 325-degrees. Butter and flour a 10-inch tube pan (though it's clear from the magazine's photo they used a decorative bundt). In a medium bowl, which together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until light. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Then add vanilla and beat until well combined.

With mixer on lowest speed, add flour in three parts and sour cream in two, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat after each addition until just combined.

Spoon batter into prepared pan, smoothing top with a rubber spatula. Tap pan on counter to let batter settle. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out cleat and cake is golden brown, 75 to 85 minutes. Let cool in pan for 20 minutes, then run a metal spatula around the inner and outer edges of the pan. Invert onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

Grade: B

Pecan Cinnamon Muffins

(Check out Retro Recipe Challenge #1!)

I was cleaning out my kitchen cabinets – more of an archeological dig, really – and rediscovered the “Totally Muffins Cookbook.” Sue, my mother-in-law, picked this up for me at a garage sale (along with two sets of pristine, still-in-the-wrapper giant muffin tins. It was awesome. I later went to the same sale and bought an almost new chicken rotisserie for $20).

The big change I made from the recipe listed in the book and below was the type of flour used. I was running low on all purpose but had a full bag of self-rising flour, so I used that instead, omitting the baking powder and salt.

The muffins baked up a bit pale. They could have used more topping to give them a richer hue. That said, these are tasty with a nice, tender crumb, though I’d like them to have more of a cinnamon and sugar punch. If I make them again, I’ll increase both, perhaps adding some brown sugar to the batter. I’d also like to see what would happen if I used glazed pecans instead of the plain in the batter as well.

As always with muffins, the tops are the best part.

Pecan Cinnamon Muffins

1 cup pecan halves
1 ¼ tsps. Cinnamon
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 stick butter, softened
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. sour cream
1 Tbsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt.

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Spread pecans on a baking sheet and toast in oven, 7 to 9 minutes. While toasting, grease muffin tins or line with paper cups.

Roughly chop 75-percent of the pecans and set aside. Finely chop the remaining pecans and mix with brown sugar and ¼ tsp. cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside for topping.

Cream together butter and sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones, stirring only until the flour mixture disappears. Gently fold in roughly-chopped pecans.

Fill muffin cups with batter and sprinkle each with a generous amount of topping. Bake approximately 25 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. Let cool five minutes, then remove from pan. Makes 12-14 standard size muffins.

Grade: B


Tags: baking, cooking, muffins, Pecan Cinnamon Muffin, Retro Recipe Challenge, breakfast, recipe

Burgers and Baked Onion Rings

Sometimes you have such high hopes for a meal. You go to the store, carefully select your ingredients, get home, set up your mise en place, and cook.

And then, when everything is in front of you, and you take your first bite – well sometimes it’s great, and sometimes it’s not, and some it’s OK.

This is OK. We’re full and sated but not jumping through the roof with joy.

With the burgers, I didn’t make the patties thin enough so between that and the very high flame, they didn't cook evenly.

I’d like to try this recipe again – the flavor was good, but as they were well done, I’m sure they could be better. (They remained moist.) I always have trouble grilling meat. I need to get an instant read thermometer.

***

I love onion rings. FRIED onion rings.

For what they are, they’re good. But baked onion rings will never be mistaken for the real thing. I guess it isn't fair to compare them to fried -- they're not in the same league. (Baked = minors. Fried = majors.)

Having said that, the ones Michael Chu at Cooking for Engineers made look a lot better than mine, so perhaps something went awry for me.

I'm not going to bother with these again. For the amount of effort, the results aren't worth it.

Both recipes come from Cook's Country magazine.

The Ultimate Burger

8 strips bacon
1 to 2 slices of white bread, crusts removed & discarded, cut into ½-inch pieces
¼ cup milk
1-1/2 lbs. ground beef (85 to 90-percent lean)
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
2 large garlic cloves, very finely minced
Veggie oil for grill rack

Fry bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp, 8 minutes. Transfer bacon to plate lined with paper towels. Save bacon for another purpose. (Bacon bits for salad? Topping your burger for extra burger goodness?) Spoon 3 Tbsp. bacon fat into heatproof bowl in refrigerator until ready to use.

Place bread in small bowl and add milk, allowing mixture to sit for 5 minutes. Using a fork, mash bread and milk until if forms a smooth paste.

Break up beef into small pieces in medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper, then add garlic, bread paste, and bacon fat. Lightly knead together so that ingredients are well incorporated and mixture forms cohesive mass. Divide meat into 4 equal parts. Using hands, toss each portion of meat back and forth to form a loose ball, then gently flatten into ¾-inch patties.

Oil grate and grill burgers over very hot fire, without pressing down on them, until well-seared on both sides, 7 to 10 minutes. Serves 4


Oven-Fried Onion Rings

30 saltine crackers
4 handfuls kettle-cooked chips
2 med. Yellow or Vidalia onions cut into 1/2-inch wide rings
¼ c. flour
½ cup buttermilk
1 large egg
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
¼ c. flour
2 Tbsp. veggie oil

In a food processor, process saltines and potato chips to the size of your choosing (play it safe and don’t go to big or small).

Combine the buttermilk with 1/4 cup flour, cayenne pepper, egg, salt, and pepper to form batter.

Preheat oven to 450-degrees F. Take each onion ring and drop it into the flour, tapping off the excess. Then drop the ring into the buttermilk batter. Lift the ring out of the buttermilk (you use a chopstick or kebab skewer) and place it into the saltine-chip mixture. Spoon the coating around the ring until it's well coated and then lift it (using another chopstick or skewer) to a plate. Repeat until all the rings are gone or you get bored with the process, which ever comes first.

Pour oil onto baking sheet and place in the oven for 8 or 9 minutes. Carefully pull out the pan - it should be lightly smoking - and tilt it so the surface is evenly coated with oil. Placed onion rings onto the pan, making sure none are touching, and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Pull out the pan, flip all the rings over and bake for another 8 to 10 minutes. When finished, both sides should be golden brown.


Burger: B (With better grilling techniques, A range)
Baked Onion Rings: B- (ketchup helps...)

Tags: cooking, burgers, grilling, barbecue, recipe, Baked Onion Rings, cook out, dinner, side dish, Ultimate Burger, bacon fat

Mini Black and White Cookies

For Passover, the local Wegmans stocked up on Doc Brown's Root beer, macaroons, and Black and White Cookies from Wein's bakery. I grew up downstate, where -- I guess -- there are more Jewish people. So these "specialty items" that flooded Wegmans are just regular things I grew up eating -- especially Black and White cookies, which you'll find at almost every bakery and deli in the New York metropolitan area.

There are similar cookies up here ("Half moons") but they're not the same. Half moons seem to be flat circles of chocolate cookie-cake smeared with chocolate and vanilla cake frosting. A black and white cookie, however, has gently rounded and cakey vanilla base around 7-inches across, topped by swathes of glossy chocolate and vanilla icing. They are simple and fabulous.

I've wanted to make black and whites after scarfing the Wein's version a few weeks ago. And, since the latest Hay Hay, It's Donna Day* challenge is to create a cookie with two different flavors and two different colors, I knew the time had come. (Of course, I don't think this actually qualifies since it's not a Donna Day recipe. But when have such constraints ever stopped me from making cookies? )

Let me say this: baking these were more taxing than they should have been. Perhaps that's because it's been a long and frustrating week and my patience has worn thin (even the dog is giving me a wide berth). As I write this, I am sucking down the ultimate girly drink --a pina colada -- in an attempt to transport my psyche to a remote tropical beach. It hasn't worked yet, but there's still an entire pitcher left in the kitchen.

Back to the recipe: in the original, you're to drop tablespoonfuls of batter onto a baking sheet and pop them in the oven. Doing this, however, doesn't yield the graceful domes of a true black and white cookie but misshapen lumps. To overcome that, once the batter was on the sheet, I swirled it in a circle with a rubber spatula to even the cookie's "footprint" out. While not perfect, this certainly yielded better results.

As for the icing ... well, making it was a pain in the [insert body part of your choosing]. The original recipe calls for melted bittersweet chocolate but when I added it to the confectioners' sugar and water, all I got was a gluey mess. I tried again and substituted cocoa powder, which was much more successful.

The final result is good, but the I don't think I nailed that traditional black and white cookie taste. The chocolate icing, however, is superior. Shane licked the bowl clean...literally.

Will I make these again? I have no idea. Ask me after I've finished my drink.


Black and White Cookies

Cookie:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. lemon extract
1-1/4 cups cake flour
1-1/4cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Icing:
1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup boiling water, more or less as needed
1 tsp. vanilla

Cookie:
Preheat oven to 375-degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the milk, vanilla, and lemon extract. In a separate bowl, combine cake flour and all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt; gradually blend into the creamed mixture. Drop 2 tablespoons of dough 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. (I placed about 6 on a standard size sheet)

Bake until edges begin to brown, 10 to 13 minutes. Cool completely.

Icing:
Place 1 cup of confectioners' sugar in a bowl. In a separate bowl, blend together cocoa and 1/2 cup of confectioners' sugar.

Add vanilla to the all confectioners' sugar bowl, then mix in boiling water one tablespoon at a time until icing is thick but spreadable. With a brush, rubber spatula or the back of a spoon, coat half the cookie with vanilla frosting. Set on parchment paper until icing set up a bit.

While the vanilla icing is hardening, mix boiling water one tablespoon at a time into the cocoa mixture. Again, the icing should be thick yet spreadable. When ready, spread the "naked" half of each cookie with chocolate. Set on parchment paper until icing fully sets.

Yields approximately 16 cookies

Grade:B

*It took me a ridiculously long time to understand that play on words.

Is it wrong to drink a pina colada with a Mickey Mouse Straw? I don't care.

Clueless Gourmet Brownies

You can tell by the color that these lack a deep chocolate flavor.

I bought The Clueless Gourmet cookbook several years ago and, soon after purchasing it, made its brownies more a number of times. And then, for whatever reason, never made them again.

When I want a brownie now, I just doctor a very dark chocolate brownie mix by adding a half-bag of dark chocolate morsels and a half-cup to a cup of chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans) and bake to the chewy brownie directions (not cake-like) brownie directions. They're effortless and delicious.

But I'm trying to perfect a new frosted brownie recipe and I don't want to use a box mix. As a result, fond memories turned me back to the Clueless Gourmet. No chocolate chip or nut additions here -- I thought they'd distract from the flavors in the frosting.

As it turns out, it doesn't matter: I'm not using this brownie recipe for my frosted brownie plans. It's not they're it's not tasty -- they are -- but it doesn't have the deep chocolate flavor I'm looking for. Is it because I used the Scharffen Berger again? Maybe. When I eat a brownie, I want it to be sinful. These don't do that for me. The chocolate notes here are less of a deep, rich chocolate and more of a light cocoa.

Again, this is a good recipe. It does have a nice butter flavor not normally identifiable in brownies. Should you make these? Sure, especially if you don't have a lot of experience in the kitchen. There's a lot to be said for uncomplicated recipes.

They'd be overwhelmed, however, by the brownie frosting I plan to make, and that's a dealbreaker. Back to the drawing board.

Clueless Gourmet Brownies

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 stick unsalted butter, in 3-5 pieces
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line an 8-inch square pan, or 9-inch cake pan or pie plate, with parchment. Place chocolate and butter in a bowl and microwave for about a minute; stir. Continue microwaving at 30 second intervals at 50-percent power, stirring after every 30 seconds until everything is melted.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar for about a minute. Add the salt, vanilla and melted chocolate to the egg and sugar mixture. Stir until well blended. Fold in flour; when just combined, pour batter into pan.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until edges and top appear cooked and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out almost dry. Cool completely on a cooling rack.

Grade: B