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.

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

Pizza Crust for the Fluffies

There are two camps of pizza crust eaters: the crispies and the fluffies.  I'm a fluffy.  I like big, fluffy crusts with chewy centers and crispy outsides.  This is my favorite crust recipe

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 1/4 tsp yeast (or 1 packet)
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt

Directions:
 In a small bowl (or measuring cup, if you're like me and hate extra dishes) mix together the warm water, brown sugar, and yeast.  In another, larger, bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups flour with salt.  As soon as the yeast blooms*, mix the olive oil into the water mixture, then dump everything in on top of the flour and salt.  Mix together as thoroughly as possible, adding more flour if necessary to get the dough to the point where it's thick enough (and not sticky) to knead.  Knead it for 5 minutes, adding more flour as necessary, then coat lightly with olive oil, drop back in the bowl, and cover with a towel or plate.  Let it sit for 1 hour.

 Preheat oven to 425.

VERY lightly oil only the bottom of your pizza pan.  Do not oil the lip of the pan.  Plop your pizza dough down in the middle of the pan and squish and push the dough towards the lip.  Here comes the reason I  told you not to oil the lip of the pan: if you've oiled everything, your dough is going to shrink back towards the middle as soon as you stop pushing it.  Therefore, you want to push the dough up over the lip and curl it slightly down on the sides of the pan so it will stick.  Jab at the parts of the crust that are touching the bottom of the pan with a fork a few times so steam can escape.  Bake for 5 minutes.

Add toppings and cook until cheese/crust/toppings achieve desired brown-ness (for me, about 12 minutes)

*Instead of being  merely murky, you'll see the water/sugar/yeast mixture start to have light "blobs" of color that push out from the center of the bowl.  Fun to watch.

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.

Beef Stew

This is my absolute winter favorite (chubby little bear cub I turn into in winter...)

Ingredients:
Roughly 1 1/2 lbs of beef chunks.*
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 can of dark beer (Guiness or other stouts recommended)
3 cubes beef bullion
2 cups water
1 onion, quatered
1 stick celery sliced
4 large carrots or about 1 cup of baby carrots chopped into small pieces
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup quick-cook barley

Mix together flour, salt, and pepper. Toss the beef in the flour mixture until totally coated.

Heat oil in a soup pot on the oven (I use a spaghetti pot). Toss in beef and extra flour. Brown on all sides. Pour in beer and water. Add bullion and onion. Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium low heat.^ If you, like me, like the flavor of celery but not the texture add it now so it can cook to mush.

Let cook for at least 30 minutes. Add carrots. Cook another 15 minutes. Add peas and barley. Let cook for 10 minutes or until a lentil that has been fished out is tender.

OPTIONS!
-Potatoes instead of lentils: add at the same time as carrots
-Rice instead of lentils: add at same point as lentil would be added
-Additional veggies: rule of thumb is that you should add them at the same time as one of the other veggies of similar toughness. For example, corn would go in about the same time as peas (ditto other types of beans) radishes would go in at the same time as carrots.
-Tomatoes: always add last. Even after the lentils. They fall apart quickly.
-Red wine: different sort of flavor. I think the stew needs thyme mixed in with the flour if you use red wine. (About 1/4tsp)


*You can buy a tenderloin or other large pieces of meat if you like and cut it down. Flank steak is often a good choice for price alone
^The longer you cook this the more tender your beef will be. If you don't want to take the time, leave at medium and keep an eye on it (chances are good your pot will be almost full.)

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.

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)