Super Pi Day Weekend

Peanut Butter Pie at the Colophon Cafe in Fairhaven for dessert on Pi Day, then French-style apple pie for dinner at home tonight! Because we had a late lunch at 3:00 today, so why not?

Yule Log 2015

I used the Heavenly Cake Roll recipe again from Smitten Kitchen this year, and some marzipan fruit that I had in the cupboard, plus a sprinkling of mini M&M's. The kids were uninterested in helping as they had a bevy of friends over for NYE.

It was tasty as usual.

Happy Thanksgiving @Home

Macrina Bakery's Apricot Walnut bread crostini with some tasty French cheese, blue cheese and apple-cinnamon goat cheese, our spatchcocked turkey read for the BBQ, roasted veggies rule!!, and ready to eat!

Erik laughing, Mads going for her faves, and a nicely set table with placemats from Made By Joel 

Caesar salad with anchovies, stuffing with sage sausage and honecrisp apple, barbecued rosemary sage turkey, roasted truffle green beans, roast sweet potatoes and shallots. Plus potato rolls and gravy. Mmm... 

Cranberry Custard Pie - Mmm...

Bananas and Nuggets and Chocolate

I stumbled upon a list of "3-Ingredient Recipes" awhile ago and pinned this banana cookie recipe. It was surprisingly good, although I am certain the children would find them vile, and Joel was uninterested too. 

3-Ingredient Banana Nut Cookies

2 large, very ripe bananas

1 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup chopped pecans (the original recipe called for walnuts, but I didn't have any)

Mix, drop by rounded Tablespoons onto cookie sheet and bake at 350-degrees F for about 14 minutes. I makes exactly 12 cookies. 

These would be perfect as "breakfast" cookies. If only the kids would eat them. But, they abhor oatmeal, and Madeline doesn't like nuts anymore. Unless they are blended into the form of peanut butter. 

So, for dinner, over fries and homemade chicken nuggets.Not really a recipe, since I eyeballed a recipe on my phone, and then blatantly did my own thing. There were herbs in the crumb mix which would've make Erik fuss. And, since I've been intentionally making food that makes him practice dealing with things he doesn't like, I took in easy on him tonight. I just took chicken tenderloins from Costco, cut into bite-sized pieces, dipped in melted butter then shook them in a bag with panko crumbs seasoned with sea salt and smoked paprika. Baked at 400-degrees F for 20 minutes (I turned them after 10). They were a huge hit. Even with Madeline, who now claims to hate chicken (but will eat salad all day long). 

And, this double-chocolate banana bread from the Smitten Kitchen blog is divine. Really, really chocolaty and delicious. Decidedly more enticing to everyone else in the house than my "healthy cookies-like things" (Whatever.) 

But, really, make Deb's chocolate bread. You can't even taste the banana. 

 

King's Cake

The chocolate peanut butter cake from Sky High (I have the book now) and featured on the Smitten Kitchen blog (http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2008/08/chocolate-peanut-butter-cake/) again... gluten free cake this time though, and quite tasty. It made a festive and fun King's Cake for Epiphany last night and I put two beans in this year, which Joel & I got! 

Rainbows, Birthdays, and Pumpkin Spice Kisses

This isn't the first (or even the second) time I've made an "epic" rainbow cake for someone's birthday, but I usually do save it for a significant milestone. Madeline's 5th, Sharon's 60th, and now Jamie's 40th. Jame's was the tallest cake yet since we did the full Roy G. Biv of rainbow colors, plus a pink layer on the bottom. Eight layers of goodness, especially since I used the vanilla cake recipe from Smitten Kitchen! It was delicious, sturdy, and worked well with all my colors. I used this recipe for the frosting (always delicious).

And, this weekend I made these Pumpkin Spice Kiss (and Kissless) Cookies that I spied on Pinterest from Sprinkle Some Sunshine right here. They are not too sweet, especially the rolled-in-cinnamon-sugar kissless ones), and tasty!

Bûche de Noël 2012

I've been meaning to try the flour-less chocolate cake roll from Smitten Kitchen since I spotted it on Deb's blog, then I decided that it would be perfect for our annual Bûche de Noël. We've been doing them for about five years now, and the kids love to help (especially with the candy decorating...) 

The verdict? This "Heavenly Chocolate Roll" is divine – rich chocolate that's light as air, delicious cream filling with just the right amount of sweetness. Really nice, much less rich than other recipes from year's past, and it turned out looking like a pretty log without any frosting at all! 

Enjoy! 

Heavenly Chocolate Roll 

(adapted slightly from Smitten Kitchen)

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 Tbs. hot water
6 large eggs, at room temperature, separated
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt

Spray parchment-lined jelly-roll pan with baking spray, preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Melt the chips in the microwave on 1/2-power for about 90 seconds, stir, 30 seconds more with hot water, stir and let sit to cool slightly. Beat egg yolks until pale and creamy, then slowly add in sugar and keep beating until "pale and ribbony." Eventually, add the melted, cooled chocolate. 

Meanwhile, beat the 6 egg whites with the salt until stiff peaks form, then add 1/4 into the yolk/chocolate mixture. When combined, fold the rest of the whites into the yolk/chocolate mixture, then pour into prepared pan. Bake for 15-17 mins. until soft and dry, but pick comes out clean. May seem undercooked. 

Remove from oven to cooling rack (in pan) and cover with a damp towel (I sprinkled mine with 360-degree Double Chocolate vodka), and let cool 10 mins. Remove towel and sprinkle with:

1 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder (sift over the cake), cover with towel and flip over, then sift another 

1 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa over the other side 

Then, use the towel (re-sprinkled with water or vanilla or... Double Chocolate vodka) to roll the cake up. I rolled it lengthwise to get a longer, thinner roll, but rolling from the short side would be excellent with this recipe). Let cool (rolled up in the towel) until you're ready to fill.  

Filling: 

1 c. whipping cream
3-4 Tbs. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 Tbs. Double Chocolate vodka

Beat all ingredients until it holds stiff peaks.

Carefully transfer the cooled roll to a serving plate, fill with cream and decorate festively! Happy New Year!! 

A Very Merry Year: October

So, instead of going crazy with holiday baking last year, I decided that it would be much more fun to spread the joy out over the year and gift someone each month with something lovely from my kitchen.

This month has been very busy with PTA, Girl Scouts, and other volunteering in both M and E's schools, which is why the October cookies are just being baked today. And, appropriately, the recipients of this month's cookies are both Madeline and Erik's classes for their Harvest and Halloween parties, respectively.I found the idea for the skeletons in Family Fun magazine, originally "Gingerbread Skeletons," but I went with a cut-out chocolate cookie recipe off Smitten Kitchen for the cookie instead. The second cookie recipe is a classic favorite of ours: Playdough Cookies, which I chose for their great taste and their sturdiness. Multi-colored leaves for M's class, and plain pumpkins for E's (with orange icing). Preschoolers will be frosting the pumpkins, so delicate sugar cookies are not the order of the day!Happy Halloween!!

A Very Merry Year: July

So, instead of going crazy with holiday baking last year, I decided that it would be much more fun to spread the joy out over the year and gift someone each month with something lovely from my kitchen.

This month, our cookie gift goes to Miki, who is due any day now with her 3rd kiddo, a boy — Rhys (the traditional spelling/Welsh spelling of Reece). Miki loves candy like Heath bars in her Cold Stone ice cream, so I thought of adding toffee bits to chocolate chip cookies. There was a "Brickle Drop" cookie recipe on the bag, but I took the excellent name and looked for a proven recipe on the Smitten Kitchen blog. Deb never fails me, and this recipe was no exception. I altered it a bit, of course...

Happy Birth-month Miki! We can't wait to meet your newest little "brickle."

Brickle Drop Cookies
adapted from Crispy, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies on Smitten Kitchen

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 1/3 cups Heath toffee bits and 2/3 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended.

3. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended.

4. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time (for giant cookies) or a tablespoon at a time (for smaller cookies) onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.

5. Bake larger cookies for 15 to 17 minutes, or 10 to 12 minutes for smaller ones (check your cookies before they’re done; depending on your scoop size, your baking time will vary) in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Pepita Fig Berry Nut Granola

I love the kids' cookbook, Salad People by Mollie Katzen (of Moosewood Restaurant fame). I've gifted the book to a few kids in the last couple years, although our copy here is from the library. Today, after school, we decided to make the granola, which we (of course) adapted. Neither of our kids like to eat oatmeal, so there's a method to my madness here... I hope it works!

I love that Salad People has really clear steps, for kids to follow along...

Madeline loved measuring things in to the bowl,
and mixing the dry ingredients with her hands

Erik loved snipping the figs with kid scissors

And, in the end, we got some delicious and beautiful granola!

I must admit though, I did adapt this recipe according to Deb's granola recipe from Smitten Kitchen (so less oil, some cinnamon, watching the baking time...) — her recipe is right here.

A Very Merry Year: May

So, instead of going crazy with holiday baking last year, I decided that it would be much more fun to spread the joy out over the year and gift someone each month (or so) with something lovely from my kitchen.This month's treat is Margarita Cookies, yes, that's right. And, how appropriate for the month of Cinco celebrations. I got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen, right here (you can sub the tequila with orange juice, or 1 tsp. lime juice and 1 tsp. agave nectar whisked together).

And, luckily for Madeline's fabulous preschool teacher, today is also National Teachers' Day. So, Terri's getting a dozen, fresh out of the oven. They're buttery, citrusy and light with a tender crumb and the slightest hint of salty sweetness. Mmm... "They're awesome!" declared my favorite little male sous chef. Indeed they are, Erik! They're so good, we're also sharing these gems with a few other lucky friends... And, they are pretty too. The little flecks of orange and lime zest are bright in the buttery little circles, and the edges are sparkly with sugar and margarita salt. In fact, these are going to be added to our regular holiday baking rotation for sure. Whip these up - you won't be sorry!

Plum Cardamom Kuchen

I love the Smitten Kitchen blog — fabulous recipes, inspiring stuff, really. And, as Deb always has the best recipes, and I'm always looking for a plum recipe this time of year to accomodate the bounty of our tree... I made her Plum Kuchen tonight (and roasted some zucchini and did my fave chard recipe too... harvest time in our garden!)
Uh-MAZE-ing!! Amazing depth of flavor, perfect tart-sweetness of plums, light but hearty... really. I didn't have lemons to zest, so I ground up some cardamom to throw in. Fab. Try it.