When life sends you lemons... make lemonade.: baking

Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts

18 November 2016

Grated Apple Pie

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I found this recipe online yesterday via Savory Spice Shop. CA had prepared Martha Stewart's Pâté Brisée on Wednesday, anticipating baking when LG came here. KF and NJ decided to help.

I discovered a new trick: sift your previously oven-roasted, chopped nuts through a colander to eliminate the nut dust.

The little girls aren't fond of nuts, so 1/4 of our pie is pecan-free. Now, into the oven.

Voilà...

A couple of weeks later we made the pie again, for our Thanksgiving celebration with the International students.

02 July 2016

Our week has been good. Very good. The Colorado Fun Kids arrived Wednesday in time for dinner, stayed one night, and then flew from Chicago O'Hare to Vienna, Austria. Grandparents there drove them the one hour to Bratislva, Slovakia--DIL's hometown.

On the drive here from Fort Collins, D+M's Family stopped to see J+M and the Omaha Fun Kids, then drove to the Peoria, IL area to visit GG and my family. A good time was reportedly had by all.

Omaha

Eureka

Peoria

My 95-year old Dad's 28th great grandchild, Natalie Ann.

Their time with us was too short, but our family of 12 will be together by mid-

August in Fort Collins, CO. And, JE's family will arrive here for a visit mid-July.

The insanity began when we invited some newly-vegan friends for dinner on our porch. No... back up a bit. Thursday early afternoon I stepped-off the cliff. Willingly. It was my idea. Why not bake cookies for the 16 university students and 4 leaders who are going along with the Fun Kids for 5 weeks in Slovakia--Cru's Slovakia Summer Mission? Why, I have almost 3 hours; I'll just whip-up a batch of Aunt Roxy's Oatmeal Crisps. With walnuts. And raisins. And dried cranberries. And chocolate chips. Oh! I'll top them off with M+M's!

Yep! Right off the I am woman, W-O-M-A-N... cliff.

Ta-dah! Unfortunately, one such victory inspires grandiose plans for unreachable goals; complex, highly-strategized plans--preparing dinner for vegans.

I've asked CA to just shoot me if I ever get anywhere near such a cliff again.

I pulled off a highly-edited, reportedly superb version of my original menu... On-the-fly. I made the enchilladas, but discarded plans for the taco entrée and used the oven-roasted sweet potatoes (already prepared) as a side dish. The two planned desserts--melon skewers and fresh berries in a tequila-agave syrup--were likewise abandoned. We were too full after appetizers and the meal. Really, though, there was no way I had energy to chop, assemble, and arrange one more recipe!

glutenfreegoddess.com

Roasted Red Pepper Hummuus.

A can of vegan chili and a package of vegan cream cheese. Nasty tasting, so doctored-up with green chiles, medium-temp red Salsa, a chopped Jalapeño.

That worked; it was palatable. Served with these:

twohottamales.com Guacamole recipe Also, served with Teader Joe's Sweet Pitato Tortilla Chips

We always use Tortilla Factory's White Corn Tortillas. These are lightly fried and well-drained just prior to assembly.

Sweet onions+mushrooms+baby spinach=vegan enchillada filling.

Enchilladas with glutenfreegoddess.com 's Green Chile Enchilada Sauce (add 1/2 cup Medium Salsa and 1/2 cup Sour Cream.

Oven-roasted Sweet Potato side dish.

Oh, and some Green Rice--just regularly-prepared rice with green salsa added.

The kitchen was completely trashed and required a major clean-up before bed, and more today.

I sat on the couch and ate 1/2 bag of Trader Joe's Milk Chocolate Peanut butter Pretzels. Note: It is always advisable to shoot yourself in the foot after falling off a cliff.

12 June 2016

Do you share recipes?

I've always shared recipes, except for my favorite cookie recipes. Those I'd held back from posting online. For a time I worked on a plan to sell to corporate clients, or through a website I had envisioned. The fact is that our family interactions and travel are more important to us than developing a small business.

I'm ready to share my best cookie recipes. Because I only ever use the finest ingredients, these are 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 (5 stars). Am I required to post reviews, or is "scout's honor" good enough?

Aunt Roxy's Oatmeal Crisps
(My MILs Aunt Roxie was a school cook, and bequeathed some killer recipes. )

Preheat oven to 350°

1 cup White sugar
1 cup Light brown sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 cup Butter
2 medium Eggs
1-1/2 cup Flour
1 tsp. Baking soda
1/2 tsp. Salt
3 cups Quick oatmeal
1cup Nuts, chopped (pecans or walnuts, usually)
1cup White raisins (may substitute partial qty of dried cranberries
(Roxy added 1 cup of Coconut, but I rarely have.)
(My husband CA thinks it's an abomination to add chocolate chips, but they do taste good in these cookies.

1. In large mixing bowl, combine both sugars and butter. Add vanilla. Mix thoroughly.
2. Beat in eggs.
3. Add dry ingredients into mixture in this order: flour, baking soda, salt. Now, stir in; mixing well.
4. Pour in the quick oatmeal, nuts, dried fruit(s), etc. Mix in thoroughly.
5. Scoop cookie dough into walnut-sized balls. Place on ungreased baking sheet 2" apart.
6. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes, or until slightly browned. For softer cookies, remove from oven when tops are still moist-looking. Cool slightly on baking pan.
7. Place cookies directly on a cooling rack until they're cooled to room temperature.
8. Store immediately in air-tight container.
WARNING: Oatmeal is quite absorbent, so, for best results do not refrigerate or freeze raw dough. Doing so will result in drier, crunchier cookies.

This is a very special shortbread recipe, discovered by a friend of a friend, but my friend, too--JZ. Posting this is especially poignant right now as JZ was recently diagnosed with a terminal illness. I have co-opted this recipe and shared it with appreciative friends for over 25 years.
JZ discovered this recipe in the old Cuisine magazine in December 1983.

This a 5"x5" baking pan=1/4 recipe.

This is an 8" square pan=1/2 recipe.

My Father's Shortbread
Cuisine Magazine, 12/83

1 lb. Butter
1 cup Sugar
3 cups Flour
1. Blend together as you would pie crust; do not knead.
2. Press mixture tightly into 9"x12" baking pan. I prefer a baking pan with squared-off corners rather than rounded. Cuisinart makes a great pan. The 8"x8" is perfect for 1/2 a recipe.
3. With a metal scraper or chef's knife, score the cookie dough into 1"x 2-1/2" rectangles, small squares, or larger squares cut diagonally into triangles.
4. Press the pointy tines of a fork into each cookie to prevent bubbles.
5. Refrigerate for at least an hour, or up to 48 hours.

Preheat oven to 350°.

6. Bake for approximately one hour--watching carefully as ideally they will be slightly golden. The carmelizing butter makes the cookies darken. These cookies are very rich; the more carmelized they are, the richer they are.
7. Wait just 5 minutes, then re-cut all lines and edges, and poke again with fork tines. Cool to room temperature.
8. Carefully remove cookies from baking pan.
9. Seal immediately in airtight container. These cookies have a high-fat content, so interleave layers with parchment paper or waxed paper.

This next recipe fascinated me as soon as I spotted "sieved egg yolks" in the ingredients list. My Polish girlfriend's mother declared she'd never, ever heard of such a Polish cookie. They're still fun to make and quite tasty, with an interesting texture.

Sarah Leah Chase'sPolish Butter Cookies
Cold Weather Cooking

1 cup Butter
1/2 cup Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
1/2 tsp. Almond extract
1 Egg yolk, slightly beaten
2 Hard-cooked egg yolks, cooled and sieved*
2 cups Flour**

Beat together softened butter and sugar.
Mix together beaten egg yolk and flavorings.
Add seived egg yolks.
Gradually mix in flour, until forms soft ball.
Gather dough into ball, wrap with cling film and refrigerate one hour.
Roll dough to thickness. Cut into small shapes 1-1/2 - 2".
Bake at for 12 - 15 minutes @350°

*Press chilled yolks through a fine mesh sieve.

I worked for 16 years at a very good corporation, as an executive secretary. Yep! I'm that old. All of the lovely ladies I worked with were excellent cooks. The friend that gave me this recipe is a true southern character. One of my favorite sayings MK would pull-out when a certain co-worker would consistently over-share: "It's like you put a quarter in and she just can't shut-up."

Mary King's
Molasses Cookies

3/4 cup Butter

1 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Molasses
1 Egg
2 cups Flour
2 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground cloves
1/2 tsp Ground ginger
1/2 tsp Salt
Extra granulated sugar for rolling in.

1. Cream together butter and sugar
2. Add molasses and egg: beat well
3. Whisk together dry ingredients in a separate bowl
4. Gradually add dry ingredients to butter mixture
5. When well-blended, cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour
6. Preheat oven to 350°
7. Shape cookies into 1" balls, roll in sugar
8. Bake on ungreased baking sheet for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown
9. Cool 5 minutes; remove cookies to cooling rack; store in air-tight container

I sometimes use this recipe to make sandwich cookies--with lemon filling. Just regular icing with a bit of lemon juice and lemon zest added.

Our family calls these Monster Cookies because originally we baked them over-sized. The unbeatable combination of peanut butter and chocolate.

Monster Cookies

1 cup White sugar
1 cup Light brown sugar
1 cup Butter
2 Eggs
2 tsp. Vanilla
2/3 cup Peanut butter
2-1/4 cups Flour
1 tsp. Baking soda
12 oz. Semi-sweet chocolate chips (I prefer Ghiradelli)
1-1/2 cups Pecan pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Beat together butter and sugars.
3. Mix in peanut butter, eggs, vanilla.
4. Add flour and baking soda; stir until well mixed.
5. Add chocolate chips and pecans; blend in completely.
6. Form 1" to 2" balls--I use a cookie scoop.
7. Place 2" apart on ungreased baking sheet.
8. Bake at 350° for approximately 15 minutes.
9. Cool 10 minutes; remove to cooling rack and cool completely. Store in Ziplock or airtight cookie tins.

We usually scoop half the recipe into balls and freeze on a baking sheet. Drop frozen cookie balls into Ziplock bags and store in freezer. Thaw slightly before baking.