Whole Wheat S'more Cookies

As I’m sure most of you have noticed I appear to have lost my mojo. I currently am working on 3 blog posts all of which sit open on my computer serving as a collection of anti-ego fodder that I can reread every hour or so to remind myself that I’m lucky to have a real job cause writing ain’t ever gonna pay the bills. The only way to rectify this current state of bloggers slump is a good old fashion cooking post. When easy blogging is needed nothing (sort of mommy blogging) is easier than posting a macro setting enhanced shot of food and calling it a day. I’ve chosen to also take out some insurance in the form of chocolate – how can you people not love my blog when I offer big pornographic images of dark sugary goodness? A nice side benefit to this post is that it serves as a big “I told you so” to all of the haters who called out my cookie making skills.

As a birthday gift my mom signed me up for a year of Bon Appetit and this month’s issue focuses on green cooking including an entire section on baking with whole grains (which, technically I believe is brown cooking). Those of you who grew up in a household where sneaking fiber into your diet was not considered a top priority might not know that baking with whole wheat flour is a great way to make your cookies, cakes and pastries as card board-y as possible. If you like a hearty corrugated snack followed by a good bowl movement then whole grain baking is for you. I, however, was somewhat skeptical of whole grain’s ability to deliver on the bon to my appetite until I came across the recipe for whole wheat s’more cookies.

I’m a huge fan of the s’more and am easily tempted into s’more flavored snack items all of which have always disappointed. S’more poptarts? Cloying. The S’more candy bar? Down right icky. Some might argue that since real s’mores require one to merely stack store bottom items one on top of the other in a (obviously slightly disturbing) Semi-Homemade fashion that seeking out a s’more substitute is the height of laziness. Conversely spending roughly an hour and $20 on recreating this treat might be seen as foolishly complicated. I’m a riddle.

I substituted a half milk half plain yogurt mixture for the buttermilk that the original recipe called for mostly because neither of the 3 markets that I passed on my way home had buttermilk in stock and there was no way in hell I was going to dreaded Key Food for one damn item. As I started stirring ingredients together I realized that, likely due to somewhat unrestrained late night munching, my chocolate chip supply was running dangerously low. I ran across the street to the bodega that saves my life on a daily basis but while they did stock candied walnuts and jumbo sized jars of marshmallow fluff and Jiffy blueberry muffin mix there wasn’t a chocolate chip in sight. I briefly considered substituting a bag of Kissables but ultimately decided that the festive colors would probably be considered an affront to brown baking. I realize that here I am admitting to skimping on chocolate, the exact ingredient that I used as a lure only 2 paragraphs ago but come on, you’re already half done with the post you might as well see this thing out.

Whole Wheat S’More Cookies

(Adapted from Bon Appetit)

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 ½ cups packed dark brown sugar

1 ½ tsp kosher salt

½ tsp baking soda

2 large eggs

¼ cup plain yogurt

¼ cup milk

1 tablespoon dark molasses

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

½ cup melted butter

1 ½ cups chocolate chips

1 cup mini marshmallows (left out over night so they’re a bit dried out)

¾ cups chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat. Whisk flour, sugar, salt and baking soda in a large bowl. Whisk eggs, yogurt, milk, molasses and vanilla in medium bowl, whisk in butter. Add egg mixture to dry ingredients stirring until dough is evenly moistened. Stir in chocolate chips, marshmallows and nuts.

Drop cookies by the tablespoon onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake cookies until dry to the touch but still soft, about 15 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

I was pretty happy with this recipe though the cookies turned out a bit ugly mostly because many of the marshmallows (especially those on the bottom of the cookies) melted. Surprisingly they didn’t stick to the silpat or the parchment. This was my first silpat baking experience (another gift from mom) and I expected to be blown away but I didn’t notice any difference in final product. The silpat is still a welcome addition to my kitchen since it’s easily reusable and thus doesn’t require me to trek out to the cake supply store for restocking purposes.

The s’more cookie recipe promised that the combination of whole wheat flour and chopped walnuts would somehow magically combine to create an oscar worthy graham cracker performance and I have to admit that as the cookies baked my house did begin to smell distinctly graham-y. However, the taste of the cookies was not particularly reminiscent of dessert around the campfire. Don’t get me wrong, they were solidly in the yummy category and I think you could very easily use them to sneak whole grains into your average white bread loving American child but s’mores they ain’t.

Fall Cooking

Writers block and the demands of the holidays have set in and I think we know what that means – it’s time for a “What I ate last night” post! (With a bonus “What I bribed my developers with” post!).

Inspired by the butternut squash and rabbit pasta dish I had at Henry’s End last week and by the lamb sausage and slowly wilting head of kale that the CSA delivered to me I put together the following very fall appropriate dinner.

Pasta with Sweet Potatoes, Sausage and Kale

1 medium sweet potato peeled and cut into ¾ inch dice

½ of a large onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, diced

1 bunch of kale

1 tsp fresh rosemary

2 sausages cut into slices or crumbled

½ cup chicken or vegetable stock

Canola oil

Salt, pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place diced sweet potato in a baking dish and toss with 1 tablespoon oil and salt and pepper. Cook sweet potato for 15 minutes stirring once at the 7ish minute mark. In the mean time sauté onion and garlic in skillet (I, of course, used my beloved cast iron) when translucent add sausage (if you’re using precooked sausage hold off on adding it until the kale is done). Now is also a good time to start your pasta water. When the sausage has browned add the kale and the stock and cover for 5 minutes. When kale has wilted (you may need more than the five minutes, if it’s not tender let it stew for a bit longer) add the cooked sweet potatoes and pasta. Voila!

Last night I was only semi impressed with this dish but somehow between 9pm and this afternoon’s lunch the pasta transformed itself into a sort of ambrosia. I am now officially dubbing the arranged marriage between mild sausage and the rosemary a success. The pair obviously spent the night commingling in the marriage bed of pasta and veggies and love is in the air (and now in my tummy).

As a “Thanks for doing your job and making me look good doing my job” treat I stole the recipe for Fresh Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies from Rachel at Coconut & Lime. I substituted regular vanilla for the vanilla paste and was happy with the flavor – I also used regular chocolate chips because (obviously) nowhere in NYC sells mini chips. The cookies were amazing -- sweet and tart all at once -- and will hopefully result in developers being good to me for at least another 2 weeks.

For those of you who look at the cookie recipe and think, “I will not use parchment paper because it is precious now that buying it requires a special trip to the cake supply store on 22nd which appears to be the only place in all of NYC selling this elusive product and which is at least a 20 minute subway ride form anywhere I ever go now that my office is located in Siberia and which closes at 5pm because apparently only stay at home moms bake things” I warn you – the cranberries pop as they cook and produce a sticky substance that is officially known as “fucking cranberry goo” and which will pretty much never come off of your cookie sheets.

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Third Party Resources

There are a lot of great fall recipes that use the produce of the season. All you have to do is look online! Nowhere else in the world will you be able to find tips on how to win at blackjack and cookie recipes alongside an oil change checklist!

What Do You Do With 25lbs Of Tomatos?

You make tomato sauce. Possibly more tomato sauce then a single girl can eat. Possibly more tomato sauce than would fill my bath tub to brimming (my hair may turn a disturbing shade of pink but I will totally covered if ever sprayed by a skunk (or maybe not) (random fact that I can now confirm: Costa Rica has skunks)). In the interest of full disclosure I should admit that this bounty is not the unforeseen result of my tomato growing project – which went well but 2 small plants do not 25lbs of tomatoes make. No, I explicitly signed up to be buried in tomatoes. My CSA offers a tomato share at the peek of tomato season and back in June when, after a winter full of squash and broccoli, I was feeling ready to take on the vegetable world I thought, “25lbs! Great, I’ll make sauce and freeze it for winter! It will be fun!” And it was fun, it was just also overwhelming and since I couldn’t begin until after work lasted until midnight.

Really it’s my mother who should be blamed for this ridiculousness.

I know my mother loves me and all but this is not why she makes and cans roughly 8 billion quarts of tomato sauce each summer. In truth Mom just cannot handle the idea of wasting food. When I was two we moved into the house where my parents still live and mom started her huge garden which, as it has every year since, led to megatons of vegetables. In an effort to do right by the fruits mom turned to a cookbook tomato sauce recipe and heavily modified it to use as many vegetables as possible. This is how the version listed below came to include summer squash. Knowing my mother I’m surprised that she didn’t some how include surplus apples or cucumbers. This sauce is also a great way to lie to children – once you’ve sneaked in every vegetable imaginable and cooked it down into a fragrant red bubble brew put it in the blender and your children will never know how many vitamins you’re forcing on them under the guise of spaghetti. But be forewarned, feed your children homemade and they’ll turn up their noise at every other red sauce save ketchup – one summer of capricious cooking could have you, like my mom, chained to the stove ever August and September for eternity.

My Mom’s Tri County Fair Award Winning Tomato Sauce

1/2 onion chopped
1/4 tsp dried basil (1tbsp fresh)

1 clove garlic
2 tbsp parsley

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups chopped, peeled tomatoes
1-3 summer squashes diced

1 small carrot grated
1 6 oz can of tomato paste

2 tbsp chopped pepper
1 tsp salt

1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp oregano

1/8 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp thyme

Add the oil and saute the onion, garlic carrot, and pepper. Then add the tomato paste and the herbs and spices and chopped tomatoes. Slow cook at a simmer
for hours. Eat, freeze or can.

The sauce is good if you grew the tomatoes yourself, even better if the herbs are fresh and, obviously, the best if your mom makes it for you.

How to Make Friends and Influence People with Cake

In honor of Gillian's birthday last week I stole this recipe from Smitten Kitten. Nothing says Happy 33rd like a felony! Actually, nothing says Happy 33rd like 3 cups of whipped cream. I am very happy to report that this recipe has the most impressive ease of baking to number of oohs and ahhs ratio that I've ever experience in cake form. If you have no desire or ability to bake but somehow have been roped into providing dessert for people whose opinions matter this is the cake for you (if the dessert is for losers who you don't care to impressive might I suggest pudding cups?).

I made only one change to Smitten Kitten's recipe, I needed the cake to be substantially larger than the 7 cookie base that she describes, I accomplished this by surrounding the middle cookie with the halves of two other cookies (sorry for the blurry picture). The wafers were easily halved using a serrated knife though this did bring a certain amount of collateral damage to my kitchen floor where a week later I'm still picking up little black crumbs with my bare feet (brooms are for losers.).

Upon arrival at the office with this cake the gasps of "Oh my god you made that?!?" were almost deafening. I suppose I should have smiled, demurred and taken credit for my awesome baking skills but much as I cannot help replying to "cute shirt!" with "I know! JCrew online sale! FIVE DOLLARS!!!" in this case I could not help revealing that this was the easiest cake ever. The only skill required is the whipping of cream and I had the Kitchen Aide do that for me, from there on out it's just layering. If I make the cake again I'll spread the whipped cream out further to the edges of the cookies. When I assembled the cake having the cookie edges stick out looked great but after the requisite overnight setting period the wafers couldn't stand up to the extra weight of the absorbed whipped cream resulting in droopy cookies. Looking at the picture of the Smitten Kitten version also makes me wonder if I should have whipped the cream a little more but the texture of my cake seems good and I have a primal fear of overwhipping.

Ms. Kitten writes that she had considerable trouble locating the Nabisco chocolate wafer cookies needed to make this cake but I am happy to report that Key Food totally delivered on the cookies -- though it seems likely that they had been waiting around on the shelf since 1963. Cookies don't go bad, right? While in the grocery story I also came across packages of chocolate mint, ginger and lemon wafer cookies and I wonder if the recipe could be made with thee variations -- gingersnap icebox cake sounds pretty awesome.

Spending a good 15mins layering cookies is apt to wear a girl out so post "baking" Amy and I indulged in whipped cream sundaes while watching the last episode of Gilmore Girls. This might seem like the kind of eating that has lead to the obesity epidemic now so rampant in this country but might I direct you to the strawberries at the bottom of the bowl -- that's fruit people, fruit is HEALTHY.

Maraschino Cherries Should Contain Booze

Since January when I read this Accidental Hedonist post about the history of maraschino cherries I have become staunchly anti prohibition. Maraschino cherries used to be soaked in booze! I guess I sort of knew this, I wasn't really surprised, just saddened that America's overzealous coupling with puritanism could be allowed to ruin what sounds like a wonderful idea. Even worse, why did we continue with the bleach and sugar bath post 1933? It is obviously way past time to bring the booze back to the cherry but after much googling I was unable to locate a source for old fashioned sinful maraschino cherries. So I was forced to make them on my own.

(Warning: The ingredient list of "cherries" and "booze" supplies many ways for this post to slip into dirty innuendo, I will try to resist them, but it will be very hard) (hee. hard.)

I think as far as internet bloggers go I'm pretty qualified to lead everyone down the path to cherry exploration. In addition to being an adventurous chef who can reliable tie a cherry stem in a knot with her tongue I also grew up with cherries. My grandparents lived in Cherry Valley, California where they grew a few acres of cherry trees. Every year at cherry harvest my family would trek down from the mountains to help out. In my parent's case this meant picking and boxing bucket after bucket of cherries for the "we pick" sales and praying that the suburbanite children didn't fall off of a ladder and kill themselves thus certainly leading to our family's demise at the hands of a liability lawsuit. For me and my brother and cousins cherry season meant a couple of weekends perched in a trees snacking on cherries and spying on the children being dragged on "you pick" family outings. (it also meant ignoring our mothers' warnings regarding what becomes of children who OD on too much fruit... but since this is a post about food I'll leave this little lesson to your own learning). In addition to great childhood memories the cherry orchard all access pass also afforded me direct knowledge of some awesome Cherry recipes (including cherry strutzle cake which the internet is insisting is just like stollen but I assure you it is not -- stollen is bready, strutzle is decidedly a cake with the crumbly top coat to prove it) but, the Germans weren't big on liquor soaked fruit. Until now.

I was supposed to find marsca cherries for this recipe to be authentic, but I don't live in Italy or Slovenia and while my local produce market was willing to stock cherries that have made the cross country trip from California they do not seem to be importing from Europe just yet. I had hoped to find some Queen Anne cherries which is what American maraschino cherry makers use since they're lighter in color and thus more easily dyed florescent red but I came home with a standard bag of bings.

The key to authentic maraschino cherries is cherry liqueur, specifically cherry liquor made from marsca cherries, the most prominent brand is Luxardo which I could not find. I substituted Heering Cherry Liqueur, a product of Denmark made from danish stevns cherries, which seem to exist only to serve this liqueur and a microbrew beer as the internet makes no other references. Coincidentally I'll be in Denmark come Saturday, perhaps I'll try to hunt down some cherries (or at least drink the liqueur on it's home turf). The liqueur itself is surprisingly drinkable. I tend to find liqueurs overly syrupy but this one is sharp and alcohol tasting (in a good way) without losing the feel of cherries. I could concoct many an entertaining cocktail using this as an accent and may have to keep a stock in my bar (aka the shelf where I keep booze).

I know what you're thinking -- Brianna, this is a lot of lead in for a a bar condiment recipe. But I had no choice but to provide ample back story in order to fill out this post since the actual making of the maraschino cherries is easy-peasy. Saturday morning I washed my cherries and packed them into a glass jar, covered them in a loving blanket of cherry liqueur, sealed the lid and put them in a dark place to marinate. At the last minute I decided to make two versions, one traditional and one with half cherry liqueur and half brandy since brandy cherries are also a common enough drink garnish. Today, when I got home from work I broke open both jars and began the cherry sampling, and it was good.

Surprisingly the cherries came out bleached! The few sad fruits stuck at the top of the jar where they weren't completely immersed in the loving embrace of alcohol came out black due to oxidation but the ones buried only a layer below were bright pink in the case of the brandy mix and a stunning red in the all cherry liqueur version. Neither was anywhere near the shade of nonalocoholic maraschino cherries but after tasting each I can't see any reason not to always use the adult cherries. The cherries tasted like a solid more cherry-ish version of the booze they were soaked in and for this reason I think I like the half brandy version best, the flavor is more complex and has a pleasant smoky aftertaste. I don't think I would enjoy straight brandy cherries as much as I suspect they would lose all resemblance to the fruit. The brandy cherries also seemed a bit firmer, this is probably due to the higher alcohol content. This is not to say that the straight Heering soaked cherries are anything to turn your nose at, they're also a vast improvement over their bleach soaked brethren and I suspect that if you don't have a taste for wine (which brandy is made from) you'd probably prefer the cherry only version.

I felt it only appropriate to sample my cherries as a garnish so I whipped up a drink including one part Heerings, one part lime seltzer and, of course, a cherry and was quickly in summer drink heaven. I know I should be sampling my cherries on top of a sundae but I've already had my daily dose of ice cream and am trying not to use this blog as an excuse to gain 3000lbs. I assure you the alcoholic sundae will be explored soon. Also on the exploration list is to try this recipe with dried cherries which I hear works... and which I'd be very happy about come winter.

Recipes I Inviented 1: Pinto Bean Soup

When I lived in the bay area my friend Sky and I fell in love with a Mexican food joint on Berkeley's 4th Ave. I can't remember the name of the place but it's in the back of the parking lot that sits between Peet's Coffee and Sur La Table. Sky and I spent many happy Sunday afternoon lazing on their patio at a time in my life when happy afternoons were a bit too uncommon. Our favorite dish was a big bowl of pinto bean soup covered with a mound of fresh avocado and tomato. After moving to New York I found myself missing Sky and Mexican food and California and I decided to try to recreate this soup. After a fair amount of trial and error I think I've managed a reasonable facsimile (perhaps one of my Bay Area readers can whip up my version and then head over to 4th Ave for a side my side comparison?).

Pinto Bean Soup



















1tbls olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced
1 bell pepper, roughly diced
1 tsp oregano
1 tbls cumin
salt
pepper
1 cup vegetable broth
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 caps pinto beans, rinsed
1 can hominy
1 cup corn (I usually use frozen)
2 limes, juiced
chopped avocado
chopped tomato

Place the oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat, add onion, garlic, jalapeño, bell pepper, oregano, cumin, salt and pepper; saute for 5 minutes. Add broth, tomatoes, beans, hominy, corn and lime juice and simmer for 10 minutes. Using and immersion blender puree a small amount of the soup (I do this in the pot) so that the soup base becomes think and creamy. Serve with chopped avocado and tomato.

I usually eat this soup plain but it's also wonderful with a couple of warm corn tortilla or (trust me) scrambled eggs. I don't think the original soup had hominy in it but I'm fascinated with hominy and always looking for ways to eat it that do not include picking around the tripe in menudo. I suspect that the soup could benefit from a little chopped cilantro if your taste buds allow you to consume cilantro without triggering the feeling that you are eating a cleaning product.

I'm hoping to make Recipes I Invented a semi regular series on this blog -- if you happen to make any of these recipes please comment and let me know how it turned out!

Getting Back to my Roots: Klesla

Klesla is a religion in my Dad’s family (no, we’re not huge hockey fans as google would have you believe). The must have replacement for mashed potatoes in every holiday meal these dumplings are essentially German gnocchi and only have three ingredients: potatoes, flour and egg. The egg is mostly optional and the source of much discussion at family gatherings – it helps bring the dough together but if you add just the right amount of flour you shouldn’t really need it – as a klesla newbie I’m a fan of the egg. You’ll need to rice the potatoes which requires a potato ricer – I’m not positive if this is a unitasker but I know of no other use for the contraption, luckily the’re pretty cheap.

I think yesterday was my first foray into solo klesla making and it didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. I didn’t work enough flour into the dough and the dumplings came out a bit mushy. I’m overly sensitive when it comes to cooking and this minor setback (I won’t say failure since the klesla still got eaten) left me in a bit of a pout. Klesla should be solid and sliceable even when hot and when piled in a serving dish the dumplings should not stick together.

Klesla

3lbs Yukon Gold potatoes (Russets are also fine)

2-2.5cups flour

1 egg

Boil the potatoes until just fork tender (if they get to mashable you’ve gone too far). Let the boiled potatoes cool then peel and rice. Add one egg and ½ cup of flour to the riced potatoes and knead to bring together. Continue adding flour ½ cup at a time until the dough is shiny and elastic (mom’s words). Bring a large pot of water to boil. Divide the dough in half and roll into two 3 inch think ropes. Cut the ropes on an angle into 3 inch potions (just like how you'd cut a baguette -- the idea is maximum surface area). Drop the dumplings into the boiling water and cook until they rise to the top. Slice into bite sized pieces and serve with gravy (I have at least one cousin that forgoes gravy for butter).

Left over klesla is a prized breakfast treat – cut into bite sized pieces and fry in a little butter or oil – I like mine with a fried egg.

Cappuccino Christmas Cookies

My mother started making these around ten years ago to include in her elaborate Christmas gift baskets (dried fruit, homemade jam, spaghetti sauce ... honestly everyone should start kissing up to my mom in hopes of being blessed next year with some of the '07 bounty). While the cookies are not traditionally christmas-y (no peppermint or nutmeg or rolling pins are used) for me they've become one of the harbingers of the holidays. Even though I'm too late to officially enter the What Was I Thinking? Cookie Exchange I figured I'd share the recipe anyway (perhaps there are other late season baker's out there).

The following recipe was written for a hand mixer but this year I let my kitchen aide do the dirty work and everything turned out just fine.

Cappuccino Cookies
(makes about 4 and 1/2 dozen)

2C firmly packed light brown sugar
1C butter-flavored vegetable shortening
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp rum extract
3C flour
2 Tbsp instant coffee granules
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt

Beat sugar and shortening till blended; Beat in eggs, milk,and both extracts. In another bowl combine flour, coffee, cream of tartar, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt. With mixer at low speed add flour mixture to shortening mixture and blend. Divide the dough in half and roll into two logs app. 2 inches in diameter. Wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate for 3 hours (or overnight). oven temp 350. Slice cookies 1/4 inch thick and place 2 inches apart on parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes.