Samoas Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Contest: Dessert Antipasti

It's that time again... the Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Contest! And, this year because the Samoas cookie is turning 40

Samoas Dessert Antipasti - Kid-friendly, easy and scout-approved!

, the contest was all about Samoas. So, our troop decided to do some recipe science and kitchen magic!

First, I looked through the recipes that have won or placed for Samoas in the past (a critical omission on my part last year). Then, I picked up our free boxes of Samoas cookies and a coupon for a free pound of Darigold butter from the Girl Scout office so that we could start creating!

Finally, I considered a brilliantly fun and easy no-bake recipe that honors my Nonna's Italian roots... her grand-kid approved Chocolate "Salami," which is basically a salami-shaped roll of delicious chocolate confection, studded with yummy cookies and usually with dried fruit, nuts and other flavorings such as citrus zest, vanilla, coffee, or alcohol. The recipe that we created is a riff on this old, classic recipe (that sometimes even uses raw egg yolks). To keep it kid-friendly, we skipped any alcohol or raw egg, and since the Samoas cookie is so flavorful already (caramel, toasted coconut, and chocolate plus delicious buttery cookie), we let it shine along with some scout-favorite mini marshmallows to enhance the "salami" look.

And, to go with the Samoa'd chocolate salami, we also tried out a Samoas Marshmallow Crispy Treat which, after all 14 Juniors in our troop taste-tested two different varieties of each recipe, the girls decided that the marshmallow-cereal treats tasted most amazing as the "bread" for the chocolate salami, so we submit for the Samoas Only Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Contest...  our very own Samoas Dessert Antipasti! 

Samoas Dessert Antipasti 
(Junior-Scout Approved!)

Nonna’s Samoa'd Chocolate Salami

• 10 crushed or chopped Samoas cookies 
• 1/3 cup sugar
• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa
• 5 Tbs. softened, salted Darigold butter
• ½ cup dark chocolate chunks or chips, melted
• 1/3 cup mini marshmallows

Samoas Marshmallow Cereal Treat “Focaccia”

• 4 Tbsp.  (1/2 stick) salted Darigold butter
• One 10.5 oz bag mini marshmallows (equals 6 cups) 
• 6 cups crispy rice cereal
• 1 box of crushed or chopped Samoas cookies 

For the Samoa'd chocolate salami
Put 10 Samoas cookies into a zip-top bag, close it, and bash up the cookies with a rolling pin until they are about pea-sized chunks (or chop them up with a chef's knife), then dump into a mixing bowl. Next add the sugar, unsweetened cocoa and the softened (melty) butter. Stir all ingredients together, by hand, until combined.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds. Pour over the cookie mixture and stir a little, then add marshmallows and stir well.

Spoon the mixture onto (powdered-sugar covered) plastic wrap and shape into a salami log (with cooking-spray covered hands. Dust with more powdered sugar, and roll up in plastic wrap. Pop into the freezer for about 30 minutes (or refrigerate for 1-2 hours), and then cut it in slices to serve with marshmallow "focaccia."

For the marshmallow-cereal treat "focaccia" 
Spray a 9x9 pan with cooking spray. Put all 15 of the Samoas into a zip-top bag, close it, and bash up the cookies with a rolling pin until they are about pea- and marble-sized chunks. Separate out about ¼ cup of crumbs for the top of the “bread” and set it aside.

Next, in a large soup pot, melt butter over medium-low heat. Once the butter is melted, add the bag of mini marshmallows, stirring to combine.  When the marshmallows are melted, remove from the heat and stir in the 6 cups of cereal.

Sprinkle the bottom of the prepared pan with some of the crushed Samoas. Mix the remaining Samoas (from the bag) into the marshmallow treat mixture (this takes a strong arm, or four Junior scouts and one leader). Next, scoop the marshmallow mixture onto the crushed cookies in the 9x9 pan, press gently to even out, and then top with the remaining ¼ cup of Samoas crumbs. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes until firm, then slice into thin “bread-like” chunks and serve topped with, or alongside, chocolate salami.

Melting the Darigold butter and marshmallows in copper pots (Samoas caramel is made in copper pots! That's a fact!)

Prepping the four versions for taste testing... 

More sugar? Less sugar? More marshmallows? Fewer? A whole box of Samoas? 

And, the winning recipe... to combine the chocolate salami with the cereal-treat "bread" with less sugar (but more Samoas). Cookie season is their favorite!! 

Unfussy: Eggplant Parmesan

I had a taste of this style of eggplant parm at my friend Claudia's house the other night as she was assembling it. The trick is to slice the eggplant thinly after soaking it in salted water to remove the bitterness from the seeds. 

Both kids liked it. Erik preferred it without the sauce, but Mads loved it entirely, and mom deemed it the best she's tasted. I didn't re-baked it smothered in sauce and cheese, but just topped them because we were short on time to get to a school function this evening. 

Eggplant Parmesan

Two large aubergines, peeled and sliced 1/8-1/4-inch thick and soaked in 2 Tbs. salt in water in a gallon-sized ziploc. I left ours overnight. 

3 eggs, beaten

2-3 cups panko crumbs or Italian breadcrumbs

Drain eggplant in colander, then squeeze dry. Dip in egg, then panko and bake on sprayed cookie sheet at 425-degrees F for at least 5 mins. per side. or until golden and crisp. 

Top with homemade marinara, fontina/mozzarella blend and parmesan, serve with whole wheat angel hair pasta. 

Unfussy: Chicken Saltimbocca

I let Erik choose dinner last night, and he picked Mac & Cheese, which Mads hates. So, I told him that we could have mac as a side and since he had no other ideas, I decided to make Saltimbocca and my favorite kale Caesar salad.

Mads loved the kale, and E loved the chicken. M didn't care for the prosciutto or the sage in the recipe. Everyone else loved it though.

Chicken Saltimbocca

2 chicken breasts sliced in half lengthwise (skinless, boneless)

12-14 sage leaves, chiffonade, then chop into small dice and mix into about 3 Tbs. butter

8 slices very thin prosciutto

Pound chicken flat between saran, spread each with 1/4 sage mixture, then top with two slices prosciutto. Cook in medium-hot pan, two at a time, prosciutto-side down to start. About 1.5 minutes per side.

Unfussy: Chicken Parmesan - ATK style

I love Americas' Test Kitchen. Watched an episode last night with great tips to make perfect chicken parm. And, since my children need more variety in their diets so they don't grow up to picky little snits... Voila!

It was great, and Erik the pickiest deemed it amazing.

Basically, halve two boneless skinless chicken breasts, pound between saran, then coat with an egg mixture of one egg and enough flour to make a runny paste. Then bread in a mix of 1/2 cup panko and 3/4 cup parmesan. Fry for 1.5 mins per side, two per pan, then place on cookie sheet. Top with a mix of mozzarella and fontina (or shredded Italian blend cheese), and broil until melted.

Serve topped with your own sauce simmered with a bit of olive oil, herbs, and one large can of crushed tomatoes (garlic, S & P, and about 1/2 tsp. sugar) until thickened. Yum.

Tender, moist chicken, light & crisp breading, flavorful, soft cheese topping, and delicious sauce that doesn't make the breading soggy.

Sweet, Beautiful Gnocchi - My Nonna would be proud...

So, I'm on a mission to make homemade gnocchi sometime before the end of this month. I've even talked to a girlfriend about doing it together one weekend afternoon... and, I've found the perfect sauce to go with it. Ragu. No, not the kind in a jar, but the real ragu. I recently watched a late-night Channel 9 "Create" cooking show hosted by Nick Stellino, featuring Seattle's Jason Wilson, of Crush fame. They did his Pork Ragu with gremolata, and it looked amazing.

I was recalling the ingredients at the grocery the next day, and missed a few, so made the recipe my own, and it was fantastic. Especially with the packaged gnocchi from Trader Joe's.

I did a lot of things differently, including using a fantastic white wine in place of the red... and carrots instead of fennel and leeks, spicy peppers and green olives. I went with what I had — sweet onion, diced; celery and carrot, diced (all from Yakima Fruit Market); pork shoulder, sliced fresh garlic, white wine, chopped canned tomatoes... and the gremolata was Italian parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic and Spanish olive oil. Fantastic.

You'll have to trust me that it was phenomenal - the photo is terrible, but I plan to try it again this week!

Ragu

4 pounds fresh pork shoulder large-chopped

1/2 c Spanish olive oil

sea salt and Johnny's seasoning (bad, I know)

1/2 large sweet onion, small dice

3 medium stalks celery, small dice

2 medium carrots, small dice

2 stalks celery, cut into small dice

6 cloves garlic, sliced

1 c Portugese white wine

1 quart canned chopped tomatoes

Gremolata

Italian parsley, chopped fine (about 1/2 cup)

Garlic cloves, chopped fine (about 6 cloves)

juice and zest of one large lemon

Spanish Olive Oil (until it looks right)

Gnocchi package from Trader Joes (with red label)

And, we did some ginger cut-outs with Elsa when she came for a sleepover on Thursday last week. Love the fun decorations!!

Sous Saturday

They were beyond excited to get some knife time in tonight, and were very good at listening and minding. They also zested, pressed, stirred, juiced, toasted, buttered, drizzled, snapped, and set. Good team effort on an awesome dinner.
Gremolata for the Osso Bucco; delicious, and because he made it, the E man even tried the parsley-full (Green!) stuff. Love it!

Aunt Lora's Biscotti

E had great fun helping me make biscotti (or "Iz-Got-Tee" as he says) this afternoon. At the time, M was mesmerized by the symphony DVD that Grammy bought for them at the symphony last Saturday. E loves the DVD too, but for him nothing can compete with something going on in the kitchen. He loves using the mortar and pestle, and watching things mix in the Kitchenaid very much. Well, and eating. Hahahaha! And helping too —"Eh-ik hep Mama. Tir (stir) Mama, hep'in!" He was also laughing and saying, "Bah!" because I said it a few times when I went to turn the mixer on and it was unplugged. I always unplug it right after mixing when the kids are up working with me, just in case they try to turn it on, but I often forget to plug it back in before flicking the speed lever back on again.

As usual, I tweaked the recipe a bit since I didn't have rum or brandy extract. I used 1 Tbs. vanilla, 2 tsp. anise, 1 tsp. lemon extract and 1 tsp. almond, plus the zest of one lemon and about 2/3 c toasted sliced almonds. I think I'll have to do a citrus-only, a chocolate and dried cherry, and probably a chai spice version of this recipe too...

Aunt Lora's Biscotti

3 c. flour
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

1 and 1/2 sticks of soft (unsalted) butter (or omit salt if you use regular butter)
1 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. anise
1 tsp. brandy
1 tsp. rum

Sift dry together, blend wet ingredients in Kitchenaid, then add dry. Divide dough into thirds and use a floured pillow case or a pastry cloth to roll each 1/3 into a long rectangular "roll". Bake on cookie sheet for 30 mins. at 350-degrees F. Cool slightly before slicing. If you want crunchy biscotti for dunking, bake the sliced biscotti an additional 7 mins. per side then cool on a wire rack.

Anniversario Felice A Noi!

Happy Anniversary to us (in Italian)! Northern Italian cuisine at its best — Café Juanita dinner… always wonderful, and a great way to celebrate turning 13! Plus we found a new favorite red wine. So very smooth and delicious – now to find a source for said wine…

On the menu tonight:

Aperitivi: Hendriks Gin and Q Tonic with Rising C Citrus and Fried Rabbit Livers
Clear Creek Pear Brandy Cocktail with Prosciutto Wrapped Grissini

Starters: Papparadelle pasta with Goose Sugo (sauce)
Zuppa della Sera - Parmigiano Brodo with Wagyu New York Beef and Nettles (delicious soup, like the Pho of Italy, but in a small bowl)

Fish & Game: Saddle of Oregon Lamb with Anchoiade Gratin, Warm Olive Vinaigrette and Toasted Rosemary
Seared Sushi-grade Jack Yellowtail with creamed Parmigiano Fingerling potatoes, Spring greens and Meyer lemon

Dessert: Pear Rhubarb crisp and Dark Chocolate heaven (truffle-like creamy dessert with vanilla sauce) 2/3 of the choc thing came home because it was SO rich and Grammy and the kids had it. Grammy savored – the kids inhaled it like ravenous hungry wolves and licked up every last bit… I swear they were growling while eating it.

One of our fave salads from Café Juanita is one the we have the recipe for, but Joel’s made so often, and so well, that neither of us could see ordering it there…

Pear Salad
(Chef Holly Smith)

2 large pears
1/3-1/2 c toasted pine nuts
1–2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
Parmigiano Reggiano, peeled with vegetable peeler into thin strips
2 oz. white truffle oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Sea salt, to taste

Slice pears 1/8-inch thick and place in mixing bowl with pine nuts, thyme and cheese. Dress with truffle oil, lemon juice and salt. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary with salt or lemon. Place on four chilled plates, garnish with fresh curls of cheese and drizzle with truffle oil.

Mangia, Little Man!

These are an old Italian Christmas cookie recipe, and I decided to try them since they remind me of a cookie that my Zia used to make when I was little. She lived right next door to Nonno and Nonnie, and she always had cookies for me when we dropped in to visit.

I found a great recipe on Allrecipes, but didn't have the time or ingredients to make the filling completely from scratch, so I used a jar of fig jam from Trader Joe's. I took the 9.5 oz jar of jam, added 3 Tbs. of cocoa powder, the zest from two organic oranges, and the juice from 1/2 an orange, about 1/3 c. of dried wild blueberries, and about 1/4 c. of organic agave nectar (but you could use honey instead). I made the dough by the recipe below, and for the glaze, I mixed powdered sugar with the juice of one of the oranges, then added a splash of cream (and then more pwd sugar), drizzled on and added sprinkles. Oh, also baked only 12 mins. - they do not need 15 as the recipe below says.

They are delicious! Erik agrees, and he helped with the whole process, although was trying to eat the raw dough so I had to break out some Pirouline cookies as a distraction. The Little E knows what he likes to mangia (eat) though—he knows the sign for cookie, says "KooKee" and says "Ooooooohhh OOOOoooohhhhh!" or does the chippy chuckle when cookies are available.













Cucidati (Italian Christmas Cookies)
from Allrecipes.com

1 pound dried figs
1 cup raisins
2 1/2 teaspoons orange zest
1/2 pound chopped walnuts
1 cup honey
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup orange marmalade
2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Grind the figs, raisins, orange zest and walnuts in a food processor, blender or food grinder. If the mixture is too thick, a couple of tablespoons of water can be added. Gradually blend in the honey, cinnamon, chocolate chips and orange marmalade. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease two baking sheets.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and baking powder. Cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the eggs, milk and vanilla until the mixture can be gathered into a ball. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut the dough into strips that are 4 inches wide. Spread filling onto one half of each strip lengthwise. Fold the dough over to cover and seal the edges by pressing on them with the tines of a fork. Slice the filled strips crosswise at an angle about every inch or so. This will make diamond shapes. Place the cookies onto the prepared cookie sheet.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Remove from the baking sheet to cool on wire racks. Glaze with your favorite confectioners' glaze and top with sprinkles for added festivity.

Just Plum Good!

We've got great Italian Plums on a tree in the back, and I've been looking for a good little recipe for them for awhile... this one does the trick. It's pretty easy, very tasty and oh, so summer-licious! It reminds me of something you'd get from a little patisserie...

Rustic Plum Tart

Single-crust pie dough (your favorite recipe)

5 oz. almond paste

9-10 smallish Italian plums, sliced

about 3 T. sugar (depending on tartness of fruit) mixed with

1 t. finely ground cardamom

Put the rolled out pie dough on a cookie sheet (about 12-inch circle), then roll the almond paste into an 8-inch circle between plastic wrap. Lay the almond-paste circle on top of the pie dough—centered—then start arranging the sliced plums however you'd like. Fold up, and crimp, the sides of the dough (brush the edges of the dough with milk if you'd like) then sprinkle the cardamom sugar over the fruit and a little on the edges of the dough.

Bake at 425-degrees F for 10 mins. then reduce temp and bake at 375 for about 20 mins or until fruit is soft and a little juicy. Cool on rack and eat warm or at room temp. Excellent with vanilla ice cream.

Mama Mia!

Erik saw me mixing up pizza dough tonight and was very interested, so I let him help. He dove right in and kneaded a little himself (and tasted it) too.

Jiffy makes a pretty respectable pizza crust mix (I'd usually use Steve's recipe, but I was in a hurry tonight). Kneaded it in rye flour, brushed with EVOO, sprinkled with chiffonade of fresh basil from South 47's herb garden, layered on sliced fresh tomatoes, sliced Sweet Pesto Turkey Sausage (from TJ's) and goat cheese (TJ's also). Baked about 16 mins. at 425 F. Bloomin' brilliant! And, our little man agrees.

The Mocking Joel (Blackberry Tart)

So, Joel teased me about blogging enough that I'm on to another blog...about things I'm ginning up in the kitchen, or things we're loving (from the grocery or at restaurants). This fabulous Blackberry Tart is from Jamie's Italy by Jamie Oliver (aka The Naked Chef), except that I made it easier by making a graham crust instead of a shortpastry crust... It was delicious. My adapted recipe for Torta di More:

Your favorite graham cracker crumb recipe - bake in 9-inch springform pan

Filling: 1 Tbs. vanilla paste (from Trader Joes), 18 oz. marscapone cheese (also at TJ's), 1/2 c. half & half, 3 Tbs. sugar, 3 Tbs. grappa or pear brandy

Whip the filling together with stand or hand mixer, until smooth & shiny. Spread over the cooled crust, then top with 3 cups fresh berries (pre-tossed in about 1/2 c. sugar).

(By the way, while he does tease me mercilessly about my blogging, Joel did make me the lovely header for this blog.)