Digestives (Aka, Fancy Graham Crackers)

Bran: the ingredient frequently associated with flavorless, healthy muck.  But did you know it's one of the main ingredients in what was probably a childhood favorite?  The humble graham cracker.

Now, not that I don't like graham crackers as much as the next person, but they're messy and not really all that attractive.  Plus, I tend to like a slightly softer texture.  This is where the British alternative, the digestive biscuit, steps in.

Behold!  A soft, sweet-ish cookie with that graham cracker flavor!  I like the bottoms of mine with a thin layer of chocolate.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup wheat bran (Check your whole or organic food section)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
10 tbsp butter
3 tbsp whole milk
3 tbsp heavy cream

Directions:
In a medium bowl, use a pastry cutter or food processor  to mix together all dry ingredients.  Cut in butter until butter pieces are small.  Add in milk and cream and continue to mix with cutter.  Mixture will be dry and crumbly.   Press together with your hands and refrigerate 20 minutes.  Roll out to 1/2 inch between 2 pieces of wax paper and cut into rounds.  Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, turning the pan halfway through.  Cool on a rack.

Pork Faux Mein

In my early days, I promised to give you recipes that used little to no ingredients that you wouldn't know and likely have in your home.  Pork Faux Mein has only one, oddly enough, but tastes almost exactly like Low Mein noodles from a Chinese restaurant.

Much like Low Mein, this recipe is healthy only in that it has vegetables in it.

Ingredients:
1/2 package of uncooked spaghetti noodles
1 lb pork tenderloin, chopped in pieces about the size of the last joint of your thumb
5 tbsp butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1/2 a red bell pepper, diced
1 carrot, cut in small rounds
1 head of broccoli, cut in small florets
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine (you can substitute a very dry white wine if you need to)

Directions:
Snap spaghetti noodles in half.  Boil spaghetti noodles for 9 minutes.  Drain into collander or thoroughly drain in pan.

Melt butter in a large skillet with ginger and garlic over medium high heat.  Fry pork until you can no longer see any pink flesh remaining.  Add in vegetables and stir-fry until broccoli becomes bright green.  Pour in soy sauce and rice wine.  Stir to combine.

Add noodles and stir mixture until almost all the liquid is absorbed.  Serve hot.

Chocolate Truffles

What's better for Valentine's Day than making your sweetheart chocolates yourself?  I am also partial to making a few really good chocolates for myself, honestly!

These are not coated truffles (with a shell of hard chocolate on the outside) so they can be fancied up with a number of options and don't require any fancy equipment for even coating.  They are softer than traditional truffles as well, so they're well-served in mini-cupcake holders to prevent a mess.




Ingredients:
1/3 cup of honey
8 oz chocolate (you have some options here: see notes below) broken into small pieces
1 stick of butter, cut into small pieces
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tbsp rum (or another liquor to your taste.  Kirsch is good, as is whisky)
1 cup cocoa powder (or sprinkles.  Or another rolling product)
1 tsp salt

Directions:
In a medium bowl, combine chocolate and butter.  Put the bowl over a pot with of simmering water (water should be at least 2 inches short of the bottom of the bowl) and melt the chocolate, stirring often.  Once everything has melted, remove from the heat, and whisk in the honey, rum, and powdered sugar.

Cool in the fridge for about 10 minutes.

Combined cocoa powder and salt in a bowl.  Set out a plate.

Use your hands to roll small balls of chocolate (about the size of a marble) and then roll them in the cocoa powder.  Set on the plate.  Serve as desired.

Notes: I usually use 4 oz of semi sweet and 4 oz of bittersweet for a dark-ish chocolate truffle.  If you're not a big fan of dark chocolate, you may want to do all 8 oz in semi sweet.  If you like really dark, go with all 8 oz in bittersweet (makes my teeth hurt thinking about it)

Bonus Recipe: Thick Caramel Sauce

I searched, I hunted, I quested long and hard for a filling for chocolates for my husband this Valentine's Day.  His favorite chocolate from Holl's is the royal truffle, full of a gooey caramel sauce that we both love.

I wasn't sure: did I want to use a "real" caramel and just coat it with chocolate? (not the same, but delicious) Or did I want to try for that authentic goo?

We'll see how this goes!  It's certainly delicious by itself!

Important note:  This is not a good recipe to make with children.  Besides the patience factor, the caramel will rise up and possibly spit molten sugar at the stage where you add the heavy cream.

Ingredients:
2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp butter (chopped into small chunks)
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp rum (optional)

Directions:
Measure out and set aside all your ingredients in advance.  I usually do this anyway, but for this recipe it is ESSENTIAL.  Set them within easy reach of a cleared work space (I use the top of my stove since I have a flat top)

In a large saucepan (at least 4 qts), stir sugar and water until all the sugar is moistened.  Put on stove on medium high.

STAY WITH YOUR PAN.*  Watch it, without stirring, as it comes to a boil, and bubbles begin to slow down as the sugar melts off.  (This took mine about 5 minutes)   Continue to watch, now very closely, until the mixture begins to turn the color of honey.

Pull the pan off the heat and stir the mixture vigorously.   Continuing to stir, add the first 1/2 cup of heavy cream and the chunks of butter.  THE SUGAR WILL RISE UP.  Keep stirring until it settles back down and all the butter is worked in.  Still stirring, add the remaining heavy cream, vanilla, and rum.  Stir until totally incorporated, then pour into a glass jar or storage container.

DO NOT LICK THE SPOON UNTIL COOLED!  (Yes, I totally did this)

Let cool on the counter until no longer hot to the touch, then cover and refrigerate until ready to use.  It will get thicker in the fridge.

*I cannot emphasize highly enough the chaos that may ensue if you do not stay with your pan.  Let's just leave it at "burnt, crusted sugar water all over your stove and kitchen floor" or "burnt, crusted sugar water nearly or actually ruining your pan"

Everyday sweet/spicy chickpeas

Chickpeas are ridiculously tasty in my opinion.  Every so often I'll crack open a can and just start nibbling on the little guys, not paying any mind to the fact that I can't (and shouldn't) finish off the can in one sitting.

Here is something relatively quick and easy you can do for snack food for yourself or for a party.  They're also good on top of ice cream or yogurt.

Ingredients:
1 can of chickpeas, rinsed and well drained
1 tbsp butter or olive oil*
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cayene pepper

Directions:
Mix brown sugar and cayenne pepper in a medium bowl.  Set aside.

Line a cookie pan with wax or parchment paper.  Set aside.

In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat.  Toss in chickpeas and stir the pan frequently until butter dissolves and chickpeas begin to brown.   Immediately toss warm chickpeas into the brown sugar mixture and toss until chickpeas are evenly coated.  Spread in an even layer on cookie sheet and let cool.

*Main difference here is flavor.  Some people don't mind olive oil flavor in with their sweet stuff, personally I think it's pretty nasty.

Apple Tasty

I'm a huge fan of apple anything and baked apples are one of my favorites.  Make it quicker and easier by just slicing off the outside and throwing away your core.

This is a serve-one size (fairly large), but can be multiplied for however many people you want.  Great with a glass of milk.

Ingredients:
1 apple, roughly diced
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp pecans (or walnuts, really your choice)
1/4 cup crumble mix (see below)
1 tbsp butter



Directions:
Lightly coat a small baking dish (like a custard cup) with butter.  Toss apple with brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts, and pour into dish.  Melt butter and stir in with crumble mix, then pour over apples.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or microwave on high for 5 (crust will not get crisp)


Crumble mix

1 cup instant oats
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp brown sugar

National Brownie Day (belated)

National Brownie Day was this last Saturday, December 8th.  I had the best of intentions of posting this recipe then, but life got in the way.

This is a mildly altered version of Alton Brown's Cocoa Brownie's recipe (follow the link for the original) for increased chocolate-y goodness

Ingredients:

4 large eggs
1 cup sugar, sifted
1 cup brown sugar, sifted
8 ounces (2 sticks) melted butter
1 1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour, sifted
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup chocolate chips or chunks of chocolate
1/2 cup of pecans (optional)
1/4 cup flour

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Butter and flour an 8-inch square pan. Make sure you get into the corners!


Unless you're feeling super strong and long-lasting, grab a hand mixer with a whisk attachment or your stand mixer and whisk attachment and whisk the daylights out of your eggs until they increase in volume and get lighter in color.  Took me about 5 minutes with a hand mixer on medium speed.

Add both sugars. Add butter, cocoa powder, vanilla, 1/2 cup of flour and salt and mix to combine.  In a small bowl, toss chocolate chips and pecans (if using) with the remaining 1/4 cup of flour before mixing into the brownie batter.*

Pour the batter into a greased and floured 8-inch square pan and bake for 45 minutes. Check for doneness with the tried-and-true toothpick method: a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan should come out clean. When it's done, remove to a rack to cool. Resist the temptation to cut into it until it's mostly cool.

*Wondering why?  The flour keeps these ingredients from sinking to the bottom of the batter.

Russ's Recipe: Peppered Potato Casserole

My husband, Russ, makes this recipe on occassion for us.  He sort of made it his own from my mother's recipe for potato casserole.

Don't eat this too often unless you want a substantial weight gain!

Ingredients:
2 packages of southwestern style shredded potatoes (shredded potatoes with peppers added)
8 oz sour cream
1 stick of butter (melted)
1 can cream of chicken
1 medium onion, diced
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Any corn flake style cereal

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 13x9 pan with butter.

In a large bowl, mix sour cream, onion, cream of chicken, and 2 cups cheddar.  Empty both packages of potatoes in and pour over melted butter.  Mix together (a process best accomplished with clean hands and someone willing to turn on the spigot for you when you're done).  Spread the mix evenly into the pan, cover with the second batch of cheese.  Grab a handful of the corn flakes and crumble them over the dish, covering sparsel.

Bake 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  The edges should be browned.

Comforting Rice Pudding

Known in the cookbook I picked up the original from as Skansk Grot (yum...), this stuff is the perfect tasty breakfast food for the holidays since it makes a massive batch.  It's good hot, cold, and reheated.

Ingredients:
1 large apple (I like golden grimes or delicious, but pick what you like best) diced
1 tbsp butter
1 cup white rice (do not use brown  DO NOT USE BROWN!!!!!)
1 cup water
3 inch cinnamon stick OR 2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 cups milk
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/3 cup raisins (I like gold because they're prettier)
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Rub butter all over the bottom and sides of a LARGE saucepan (I use a spaghetti pot).  Let any leftovers melt onto the bottom.  Add rice, water, and cinnamon to the pan and heat over medium.

When the mixture boils, drop to a simmer and cover for 10-15 minutes or until the water has been absorbed.

Pour milk into saucepan, turn up the heat and stir until it begins to simmer.  Turn back down to low and add everything else except the vanilla.  Stir gently.

Cover the pan and simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and add vanilla.

Delectable Lime Buttercream frosting

My dear friend Cathy and I are always trying new things when we get together to cook.  What I haven't been totally upfront about is that sometimes I'm totally winging it.  This was one of those instances, and I'm happy to say it turned out delicious!

This isn't the best picture for it, but if you squint real hard you can see the lime zest leaves pretty little flecks of green in the white icing. Makes enough for 24 large cupcakes or about a billion tiny ones

Ingredients:
1 stick of SOFTENED butter*
2 cups of sifted powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp (up to you) lime zest
1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lime juice plus more if needed+



Directions:
Stick the butter in a bowl and hit it with a hand or stand mixer at medium speed a few times.  It should sort of smush like melting ice cream (NOTE: if it stays in block form, but with marks on it, it needs to soften more)  Sift the powdered sugar into the bowl and blend on LOW SPEED (anything more than that will cover your kitchen in powdered sugar and you can't say I didn't warn you) 

At this point, it should look grainy and slightly yellowish.  Add in the lime zest and lime juice and blend again (you can turn the speed up now)  It should all stick together and look like...well...icing.  If it's still grainy or too thick for the texture you want, add more lime juice a drizzle at a time.

Easiest way to decorate with it is to shove it into a ziplock (I'm presuming, like me, most of you don't have actual piping bags) and nick off the corner to the width you want.  Then squeeze it on in a spiral pattern.  The thickness I described this as making will not spread on its own, so either spread it yourself or make it a tight spiral pattern.


*NOT melted^
^DEFINITELY not melted#
#In no way shape or form should you melt your butter!
+ If you want to dye your icing, you have to subtract an equal amount of lime juice from the recipe or it will come out soupy.  I'd recommend adding the dye to the measuring spoon, then filling it the rest of the way with the lime juice

Hot Lava Cakes

I found a recipe for Cabernet Sauvignon Lava Cakes from McCormick Spices in one of my recipe magazines. Made it, tried it, made a face, and began pondering what was wrong and what I could do to fix it. Chatted with my friends at work and Kate suggested that maybe a little heat would be good (Rachel just said "Too strong!")

So I made three more batches with varying degrees and types of spices before finally settling on the recipe below. They're meant to be served hot, but they taste just as good cold, though there is sort of a suggestion of "Did you stuff this brownie with frosting somehow?"

Ingredients:
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate (I used Godiva): either use chips or chop up a bar
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1 tbsp of reduced sweet red wine*
1 tsp vanilla extract (not the fake stuff, please)
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
6 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or more, if you want)^

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425.

Put chocolate and butter in a large microwavable bowl and microwave for 1 minutes or until the butter is totally melted. Whisk it to death (aka, until you don't see any lumps) Add wine and vanilla and whisk again. Add confectioners sugar and whisk until the lumps are gone or nearly so. Add in eggs and whisk until fully incorporated. (!!!!!Read Below!!!!!!) Add flour and spices and whisk again. Try not to lick too much off your fingers, no matter how delicious it is.

Butter 4 custard cups (or juice glasses, if you have no custard cups) well. Pour batter into the cups and smooth the top with a spatula. Set all four on a cookie sheet. Bake 13-15 minutes (they should puff out of the cups a little and the top will look like a baked brownie, but they'll jiggle when you shake the pan) Let set for 1 minute, then run a knife around the edge of the cup and flip upside down on a plate to serve.

To reheat: put on a microwavable plate and microwave for 30 seconds.


IMPORTANT: if you don't get all the egg beaten in properly, you could come across a portion of the cake that has a huge hunk of cooked egg (and nothing else) in it. It is disgusting

*To reduce wine, pour a full bottle into a saucepan. Simmer until it's about 1/4 of the original volume

^Do you remember when you bought your cayenne? If the answer is no, please buy some new cayenne: the older it is, the less heat it has.

Quick and Easy: Squish

Sometimes I just want some cookie dough. But... we don't have any and I don't really have any desire to cook any.

Thereby I began making Squish (Which is what I told my then 4 year old sister it was when she asked) which tastes not at all unlike spicy cookie dough and also does not contain raw egg which I hear is allegedly bad for you.

Ingredients
2 tbsp butter softened (best option) or melted (also acceptable)
1 tbsp white sugar
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Cloves
Allspice
Ginger

Directions:
Squish the butter and sugars together. Add two shakes each of the spices (or to taste), then enough of the flour to form what appears to be cookie dough. Eat!

Ginger Gems

A simple, quick, dessert recipe for today to tantalize your tastebuds. This is what I call a "no kids" batch (in other words, very small)

Ginger Gems

Ingredients:
1 stick butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbs freshly grated ginger (you can also use thawed ginger cubes like the ones produced by Dorot. They last pretty darned long too.)
1 1/4 cup flour
3-6 oz chopped candied ginger to taste

Directions
Heat oven to 375
In a large bowl cream together butter, sugar, and salt until creamy. Add egg, mix well. Add vanilla and ginger root, mix well. Add flour and blend until all lumps are gone. Mix in the ginger, making sure to spread it evenly throughout (otherwise you'll have a handful of just vaguely ginger scented sugar cookies) Drop heaping tablespoons on an ungreased cookie sheet and mash slightly. These cookies barely spread at all so you can place them pretty close together. Bake for 12 minutes. Warning they will not brown, so be careful not to overcook. Unless your oven runs a little cold, twelve minutes is perfect for slightly soft cookies.

Granola

Having stumbled upon a pretty good recipe in Frontier Heritage Cookbook, I then proceeded to change almost everything about it because...well, I hate walnuts. The result lasted less than 24 hours as my husband, myself, and my dear friend Cathy munched blissfully away.

This recipe can be edited to suit your particular tastes: consider it a general guideline of delicious.

Homemade Granola Cereal
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups quick-cook oats (such as Quaker)
1 cup flaked or shredded coconut
1/2 cup slivered or sliced almonds, unsalted
1/4 cup flax seeds
3/4 cup butter (that's 1 1/2 sticks)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup honey
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp (or 4 tsp) vanilla extract

Directions

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and butter the foil well. Add oats, coconut, almonds, and flax seeds and spread evenly. Bake at 300 for 20 minutes, stirring several times. (if you have an oven that is hotter at the back than the front, you should turn the pan halfway through)

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, and honey over medium high heat for about 5 minutes or until bubbling. (Be careful! The bubbles come up quickly and will make an awful mess if they hit your stove). Remove from heat.

Turn up oven to 350. Add the butter mixture to the oat mixture and stir until thoroughly combine. Bake 10 minutes or until bubbly. (again, turning halfway through for hot ovens)

Let cool, then put into a plastic bag and seal tightly to last for up to a month.

Simple Scones

Snack time! Want something sweet but not too sweet? Scones are perfect! Best when served fresh out of the oven.

Simple Scones
Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
24 tbsp butter (3 sticks) COLD, cut into cubes
1 1/4 milk
1 large egg, beaten, with 2 tbsp milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover two baking pans with parchment paper.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter and cut it (*) into the flour until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Do not work the dough too much (ingredients should still feel cold)

Add the 1 1/4 cup buttermilk and mix until just combined and the dough begins to stick together. Add additional milk, 1 tbsp at a time if the dough seems too dry.


Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll or pat it into 2 6inch rounds about 1 1/2 inches thick. Cut each round in half, then cut each half into 3 triangles. Separate the wedges slightly and brush the tops with egg wash.

Bake until golden brown and firm to the touch: 30-35 minutes.

(*) Cutting in the butter can be done in a few different ways: with two knives (cross your wrists in an X and pull knives towards each other, being very careful not to snick your fingers), with a pastry cutter (a metal half circle with slits on the bottom that usually has a wood or plastic handle and is pressed into the dough repeatedly), or with a food processor (blend in pulses, not a constant run since the constant speed will warm the dough)