Jam Bars

My mom used to make these all the time when I was a kid.  I made them this week, using homemade plum jam from last summer, and they brought a preview of summer as well as a (tasty!) flashback to childhood.  Super simple.  Super yummy.  Sweet with a hint of salty. 

Mmmm.



Cream together:

• 1c. butter or margarine
• 1 1/3 c. brown sugar, packed
• 2 1/4 c. flour
• 1 1/3 t. salt
• 3/4 t. baking soda
• 2 c. oats (quick cooking or regular)

Press half the mixture into a 9x13 pan.  Spread with 12 oz. of jam or preserves and pat remaining crumb mixture on top.

Bake at 400F for 25 minutes.  Cool and cut into squares.

Peppernuts

Because I love you all, I'll share our family recipe for Peppernuts, which are eensy little Christmas spice cookies with a yummy crunch. Within Mennonite clans, each family has their own recipe, which they claim is "the best." Of course, this one is the REAL best recipe.

It is a very big recipe and will make hundreds of tiny cookies, which I eat by the handful (very dangerous). I'm sure that you could halve it, but why would you want to? Their meant to be given away anyway!

This is also a fun recipe for kids to help with...younger kids rolling out the ropes and older kids cutting. Plus the slave labor helps, since they're a little time intensive. Maybe I should have some kids.....?

Peppernuts are best with coffee, dipped in or just crunched along side your sipping. And it's the only cookie that you're allowed to eat with breakfast.

The specifics in this recipe come from my mom.

1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
6 cups flour (I use 5 1/2 cups)
1.5 cups finely chopped nuts (pecans recommended)
A dash of salt
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. anise oil or 3/4 tsp anise extract
3/4 T. baking soda dissolved in 1 T. hot water

Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs and continue beating. Sift flour, measure and sift together with spices and salt. Add gradually to creamed mixture. Add soda solution and anise. Add nuts. Chill dough.

Roll out on floured board into long round sticks about 3/4 inch in diameter. Roll onto cookie sheet lining them up until the sheet is full. Chill again (I freeze them). Take out one strip at a time and cut into 1/4" - 1/2" circles and bake on greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes, depending on how thick you cut them. I bake them until they are nice and brown because that makes them crispier.

The rolled out dough can be kept in the freezer as long as you'd like -- until you're ready to bake lots or just one pan at a time. They freeze very well after baking too!

it is so good apple, honey, quark tart

okay.  so i had some left over pie dough from making a quiche and there are apples all over in the market.  and cheryl told me about the wonders of the quark you can get from the cheese people at the farmer's market.  together, they made this amazing tart.  i used this recipe as the basis.  you should make this.  it. is. so. good.  you won't regret it.

i didn't use a tart pan or anything.  i just made a free-form tart out of the dough i had remaining.  this is what it looked like when it was done:

i definitely recommend spreading the cheese gingerly with your fingers.  otherwise the crust will tear.  oh, and since i used pie crust instead of puff pastry, i partially baked the crust before putting the fillings in.  

Apple, Honey and Goat Cheese Tart

INGREDIENTS:
1 sheet puff pastry (about 8.5 ounces)
2 small apples (I think I used Cortland, but I really just asked the farmer what type were best for a tart. You would be totally safe using a golden delicious apple, for sure) [i used granny smith--b.]
A little lemon juice
1/3 cup honey
2 tbsp butter, melted (mine was mostly melted)
6 ounces fresh goat cheese (as soft and spreadable as you can find — *not* crumbles)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Core, peel and slice the apples into thin half-moons. Set aside in a bowl with a teaspoon or two of lemon juice, to prevent them from browning.
3. Roll out puff pastry to about 1/4″ thick, so that it covers a 9″ square tart pan. Roll puff pastry onto your rolling pin and lay it down on top of the tart pan. Press the dough into the corners and crevices to create a fluted crust.5. Spread a thin layer of goat cheese over the bottom of the puff pastry in the tart dish. I used my fingers (with very washed hands) to spread it gently, because even a cheese knife risked breaking the puff pastry.
4. Toss the apples with butter and honey to coat evenly. Spread in a uniform layer over the goat cheese.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until apples are lightly browned and honey is bubbling. Remove, cool for ten minutes, and serve.

Serves about 6 as a first course and dessert, or 12 as hors d’oeuvres.

Rhubarb (or any fruit) Crisp

This is the recipe I used for Wednesday's rhubarb crisp. The part for the topping is my aunt's. You can pretty much adapt it to any kind of fruit you want. It is easy peasey. Which is why I love it.

For the fruit part, I used 5c. of chopped up rhubarb for a 9x13 pan, but you can use however much you have or need in order to fit the dish.

Mix the dry ingredients (sugar, flour, salt, and cinnamon) and then mix them into the fruit.

I used 1/3c. of sugar and 1T of flour per cup of rhubarb. If you use another kind of fruit, adjust according to the sweetness of the fruit. I also sprinkled a little salt and a little cinnamon into the mix. A little lemon zest is nice too, if you have it. Dump the fruit mixture into your pan.

For the "crisp" part, I used 1 stick of butter, 1 cup of sugar, and 2 cups of flour for a 9x13 pan. Sprinkle a little salt in there too, if you remember (which I didn't). Cut the butter into the dry ingredients. So long as you keep these proportions, you can make as much or as little of this as you want, according to the size of your dish. Usually I like to have about 1/4" or so of topping spread over the whole thing.

Bake at 425 for 10 minutes, then continue baking at 350 for 25-45 minutes, until the fruit is soft and the juice looks like it's getting good and thick.

At the end, I stick it under broil for a few minutes, just to make the topping brown and crisp up a bit.

Happy crisp making!

Cranberry Cobbler

got this recipe from my cousin janelle at christmas. mmm!

Cobbler:
3 c. biscuit baking mix
2 c. sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. milk
3 c. fresh cranberries

Mix baking mix, sugar, eggs and butter together. Blend in milk. Stir in cranberries lightly until evenly coated with batter. Pour into a greased and floured 9x13 baking pan. Bake at 350 for 50-55 min. Spoon hot butter sauce over warm cobbler. Serves 8-10.

Hot Butter Sauce:
2 c. sugar
1 c. butter
2 c. whipping cream
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Mix altogether in a deep saucepan over medium heat.Bring to a boil. Boil 5 min., stirring constantly.

Notes:
*I halved the butter sauce recipe and it was plenty. I also just poured about half the sauce over the cobbler and served the other half on the side, letting people add as they desired.
*Caleb insisted i follow the recipe the first time i made it. I still wish i had added some orange zest to the cobbler, and maybe some pecans. I'll also add more cranberries if i can ever bring myself to make this again. And probably less sugar.
*Growing up, my mom made that exact same sauce but we called it 'pancake syrup.' YUM. We never had mrs. butterworths. It wasn't til i was an adult that i realized it was actually a sauce intended to go over apple cake. And now here it shows up again in the cobbler!

Chocolate Bark with Cardamom, Pistachios and Fleur de Sel

Ingredients:

5 oz. bittersweet chocolate (70% cacao), chopped into chunks

1/2 tsp. cardamom seeds, toasted in a dry skillet, cooled, and crushed

3 Tbsp. raisins or dried apricots, cut into small pieces (I omitted this ingredient)

2 to 3 Tbsp. salted green pistachios, some left whole, some crushed into small pieces

- Fleur de sel

Steps:

1. Line a large flat dish or baking tin (about 10 by 8 inches) with a piece of parchment or waxed paper.

2. Put the chocolate and cardamom seeds in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.  When chocolate has melted, stir in half the pistachios (and fruit, if using).

3. Spread mixture over the paper in a thin sheet, then press the remaining nuts (and fruit) lightly into the warm chocolate.  Sprinkle lightly with sea salt.

4. Refrigerate until bark has set, about an hour.

5. To serve, break into pieces.  Store any extra bark into the refrigerator in a covered container or waxed-paper bag.  It will keep well for a few weeks.

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

my mom made this chocolate cake for almost every birthday. after i went to college, she started making it with the mocha butter cream frosting and ganache and it got EVEN BETTER. she won first prize at the county fair with this recipe! :)

CAKE:
1 cup butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups buttermilk
3/4 cup cocoa (mom uses dark chocolate cocoa but i cant find it)
2 3/4 cups sifted flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Cream butter, add sugar gradually and beat until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Sift dry ingredients together, add to creamed mixture, alternately with butermilk. Pour batter into three 9-inch pans which have been greased and lightly floured, lined with wax paper and buttered. Bake at 350 for 25 to 35 min. Cool completely on racks.

MOCHA BUTTER CREAM FROSTING:
Mix 2 tbsp instant coffee with 1 tbsp very hot water or coffee and set aside to cool. Beat together 3 c. powder sugar, 8 oz + 3 oz. cream cheese (cold) and 3/4 cup cut up butter (cold). Beat until fluffy then mix in coffee mixture. Frost cake and chill for at least 1 hour.

Note: instead of instant coffee i have made it with regular coffee, ground super fine. i actually prefer that. i just happened to have instant coffee in my cupboard this week. don't ask

GANACHE:
Heat very carefully 6 oz. dark chocolate, 1 stick butter and 1 tbsp. corn syrup just until melted (I take it off the stove before chocolate is completely melted and stir to finish melting). Pour ganache over top of cake and let drizzle down sides. You will probably need to let it cool a while so it is a thick enough to still pour but so it won't run to the bottom of the cake plate.

Warning: the frostings will become a pool of meltedness if you a) don't let the cake cool enough before frosting it with the buttercream, b) don't let the cake cool again after frosting with the buttercream or c) don't let the ganache cool enough before pouring it on at the end. i have made this mistake before and it makes an ugly mess.

Keep cake refrigerated until serving. If possible I like to take the cake out of the fridge about an hour before I serve it. I think the flavor comes out more as the temp rises closer to room temp and the texture is more moist.

Coconut MaCaron's

For the coconut lovers among us...

2 - 7 oz. packages of sweetened flake coconut
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 t. vanilla
2 egg whites, room temperature (very important!)
pinch salt

Preheat oven to 325 F. Fold the coconut, condensed milk, and vanilla together. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the pinch of salt until stiff & soft. Fold the whites gently into the coconut mixture. Scoop by small spoonfuls onto parchment-paper lined cookie sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes til toasty brown.

*For a little extra sum'n-sum'n, dip them into melted Nutella. Slip into coconut coma. Dream of white-sand beaches.

Browned Butter Blondies

I made these the other day for Lindsey and Alicia and they requested this recipe. It is easy and yummy and has an atrocious amount of sugar. This is my go-to dessert recipe when my kitchen is bare.

2 cups flour
2 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
10 T. butter
3/4 c. eggs (which is funny, but the original recipe called for egg substitute, as I got this from Cooking Light. But, I'm not interested in using egg substitute)

Combine flour, sugar, b.p., and salt in large bowl.

Place butter in a small skillet over med. heat. Cook for 6 minutes, until lightly browned, stirring a bit. Cool 10 minutes or so. Whisk into eggs. Pour butter/eggs into dry ingredients and stir just until moist. Spread batter into 13x9 pan coated with butter. Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Best a bit gooey.

Wanted Chocolate Pie

Made this from 101Cookbooks.

Satisfied. :)

peanut-swirl brownies

These are the brownies I made for the Feist concert picnic. Or did Cheryl? A legend is born....






Peanut Swirl Brownies
(by Ina Garten)

1 pound unsalted butter
1 pound plus 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, divided
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
6 extra-large eggs
3 tablespoons instant coffee granules
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 12 by 18 by 1 1/2-inch sheet pan. Melt together the butter, 1 pound of chocolate chips, and the unsweetened chocolate in a medium bowl over simmering water (*don't overheat, or the chocolate will burn). Allow to cool slightly.
In a large bowl, stir (do not beat) together the eggs, coffee granules, vanilla, and sugar. Stir the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and allow to cool to room temperature. In a medium bowl, sift together 1 cup of flour, the baking powder, and salt. Add to the cooled chocolate mixture. Toss the remaining 12 ounces of chocolate chips in a medium bowl with 1/4 cup of flour, then add them to the chocolate batter (*this handy little trick keeps the chips from sinking to the bottom of the batter when baked). Pour into the prepared sheet pan. Spoon the peanut butter over the top of the chocolate mixture and using a knife, swirl it through the chocolate mixture.
Bake for 20 minutes, then rap the baking sheet against the oven shelf to force the air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Bake for about 10 to 15 minutes more or until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not overbake! Allow to cool thoroughly, refrigerate, and cut into large squares. Makes 20 large brownies.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm not much of a baker, but this blog, which links to this article, which is all about this chocolate chip cookie recipe is super interesting.

there are all kinds of little interesting tidbits in the article/recipe but the long and the short of it?

36 hours of resting cookie dough in the fridge + a small sprinkling of sea salt on top before baking = the best cookie

I love lemons

I could almost eat this entire recipe myself-- just with a spoon. However, we also like to eat it with scones. Or, I've also put this into a tart crust and topped it with whipped cream.

Lemon Curd

1 c. + 2 T sugar
1 T cornstarch
1/8 t. salt
1 c. fresh lemon juice (about 5 med. lemons)
3 large eggs, beaten a bit
2 T. butter
1 t. grated lemon rind

Combine first 3 ingredients in a saucepan, stirring with a whisk. Stir in juice and eggs; bring to boil, stirring a lot and simmer 1 additional minute after boil starts. Remove from heat. Add butter and lemon rind. Stir until butter melts.

Spoon into bowl and chill several hours until cool. Or, eat a bunch of it right out of the saucepan before it makes it to the fridge like I do.

What we like to do with leftover rice.

Vanilla Rice Pudding

1 c. leftover long-grain rice
about 2 1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. white sugar
1 cinnamon stick
-- heavily simmer in sauce pan for about 20 minutes (adjust milk quantity if needed)--
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 egg
--mix together in a seperate bowl. Add a few tablespoons hot rice to this mixture white stirring. Add a few more tablespoons and stir. Then, add brown sugar and egg mixture to the saucepan of rice and mix together.
-- stir until very creamy, about 10 minutes
-- add 1 t. vanilla and serve

sea-salted smoky almond chocolate bark

Since Cheryl voiced her affinity for this flavor of gourmet chocolate bar (at World Market for $6), I saw this recipe in the paper and thought I'd post it. Easy, gourmet-tasting, and frugal. Maybe we could call this Cheryl's Bark instead!

Makes 15 pieces

8 oz. Nestle Chocolatier 53% cacao dark chocolate baking bars, broken into small pieces
1/2 c. smoked almonds, coarsely chopped & divided
1/8 tsp. sea salt, preferably large crystal

Line an 8" baking pan with waxed paper.

Microwave chocolate in a small, uncovered, microwave-safe bowl on high (100% power) for 45 seconds; stir. If pieces retain some of their original shape, microwave at additional 10-15 second intervals, stirring just until melted. Stir in 1/4 c. of the almonds.

Pour into prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with remaining almonds. Tap pan several times to spread chocolate and settle nuts. Sprinkle with sea salt. Refrigerate for about 1 hour or until firm. Break into pieces. Store in airtight container at room temperature.