TWD Repeat: Sugar Topped Molasses Spice Cookies

For the month of November, us TWD Bakers are given the option to bake the recipes in whichever order appeals to our schedules. Since I had already made the Molasses Spice Cookies once before, I knew it would be easy to whip them up again. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of letting the butter melt instead of just coming to room temperature. The cookies tasted absolutely delicious, but they were really flat and thin. I used the picture from the last time I made these, since this batch didn't look all that pretty. But they still managed to disappear within a few days!

If you follow the recipe well and don't mess up the butter, you'll get a slightly thin and chewy cookie, with a hint of heat from black pepper and ginger. The molasses flavor really comes through and makes these cookies a perfect fall/winter afternoon treat. Thanks for picking one of my Dorie favorites, Pamela!

Maple Walnut Biscotti

When I'm sad, I bake. Stressed? Bake. Bored? Bake. Overwhelmed? Anxious? Happy? Bake, bake, bake and then bake some more. The comforting task of measuring ingredients and knowing that it's going to turn into something delicious helps to center me. Life might be spinning out of my control, but in my little red kitchen I can create something that makes my house smell great and makes my husband smile.

On Sunday night, our family lost a great woman. Alex's grandmother died and we all feel her loss very deeply. Omi was one of a kind; totally unique and an absolute original - and she loved showing her individuality. She lived a really rich life, full of art, travel, family and good food (she loved dessert) and I am so fortunate to have been given nearly 10 years with her. I'm not sure if she would have liked this biscotti flavor, but I like to think that she would have tried it anyways - just to tell me what she thought of the recipe.

Ingredients:
adapted from Dorie Greenspan
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp maple flavoring
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350. In stand mixer cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and cornmeal and add to the stand mixer. Mix until it's just incorporated, not too much! Fold in the walnuts by hand.

Scrape half the dough onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Using a spatula and your fingers, form the dough into a log, 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. Repeat with the second portion of the dough. It helps to wet your hands before and during, since the dough is sticky.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until the logs are light golden but still soft to the touch. Let cool for 30 minutes but keep the oven on.

With a long serrated knife cut 3/4 inch slices diagonally from each log and stand them up, spaced slightly apart, on the baking sheet. Return to the oven for another 15 minutes until firm and golden. Store airtight for up to 2 weeks.

Italian Chicken

There's chicken hiding under there. I promise.

Dinner inspiration can strike at the most random times. I was in my spin class, suffering through another hill-climb-sprint-c'mon-push it-let's go-you-can-do-it, when I remembered that I didn't have a plan for dinner. I had defrosted chicken earlier in the day, but was at a loss for how to prepare it. Then, as I mentally cursed my sadistic instructor, I remembered watching Giada make chicken parmesan, and I thought "Okay, I can do that, just minus the cheese." Funny how I think about food during my spin class.

Alex and I both thought this was pretty tasty. Next time, I'll fuss a little more with the sauce, like saute more onions and garlic before-hand, maybe with some mushrooms or other veggies. It's great with a green salad and crusty bread to help soak up all the sauce. I'm sure you could top it with cheese, but in my opinion, why ruin a good thing? It's fairly healthy as-is, so you can make this without the cheese and you won't even miss it.

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts

2-3 TBS flour

Italian seasoning (dried oregano, basil, garlic, pepper)

1 onion

1 clove garlic

1 jar pasta sauce or 1 can crushed tomatoes

Optional - other veggies

Cooking spray

Instructions:

Take the chicken and trim it into smaller "tender" sized pieces. Place each piece between plastic wrap and pound until thin. Mix together flour and spices and then lightly dredge each piece of chicken. Be sure to shake off the excess.

Lightly coat a non-stick pan with cooking spray, and allow the pan to get hot (med-high). Once it's hot, sear chicken for 3-4 minutes on each side, until it's browned. Doesn't have to be done all the way through, but it will be mostly cooked because it's so thin. Remove the chicken and set aside.

Spray pan again and saute up the onions and garlic for 5 minutes, until softened. Add other veggies if using. Pour in sauce and allow it to come to a light bubble. Add the chicken back into the sauce, turn down heat and simmer until chicken is hot and cooked through.

Pumpkin Bourbon Bread Pudding

I'll be honest with you, internets. There isn't really a way to photograph this bread pudding so that it looks "pretty." It's an orange and brown speckled mess of bread chunks and pudding, and it just doesn't look all that attractive in pictures. However, the flavor more than makes up for this! So you can just ignore the messy photo above and instead, imagine a warm mouthful of bourbon-spiked pumpkin, highlighted by cinnamon, ginger and cloves...all mixed up with toasty hunks of challah bread. Yeah, isn't that better?

I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen (a fantastic food blog) and knew immediately that I had to make it. It's so simple - toss bread cubes with butter, whisk together pudding ingredients, toss everything together, bake. The only thing I'll do next time is use a little less bread. I used a whole loaf of challah, which was a little too much. The bourbon is optional, of course, but why wouldn't you want it? If you have a can of pumpkin laying around, please make this. You'll thank me!

Ingredients:

Adapted from Gourmet Magazine, October 2007 & Smitten Kitchen

1 1/2 cups whole milk (Or 1 cup heavy cream plus 1/2 cup whole milk)

3/4 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs plus 1 yolk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

Pinch of ground cloves

2 tablespoons bourbon (optional)

5 cups cubed (1-inch) day-old baguette or crusty bread

3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.
Whisk together pumpkin, cream, milk, sugar, eggs, yolk, salt, spices and bourbon, if using, in a bowl.
Toss bread cubes with butter in another bowl, then add pumpkin mixture and toss to coat. Transfer to an ungreased 8-inch square baking dish and bake until custard is set, 25 to 30 minutes.

Birthday Macarons (Daring Bakers October Challenge)

I can run, but I can't hide. A wise friend told me that my 30's will be as great as my 20's, but with money. I like that!

In honor of my birthday, Daring Bakers made today the posting date for the October Challenge. Okay, not really, it is just a coincidence, but it's still pretty fun to post such a great recipe today!

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.


THE DARING COOKS OCTOBER 2009 CHALLENGE: MACAROONS

Introduction: Unless you’ve been frozen in permafrost for the past five years, you’ve likely noticed that cupcake bakeries have popped up all over like iced mushrooms. Knock one down, and three take its place. Much has been made about not only the cupcake’s popularity, but also its incipient demise as the sweet du jour. Since we seem to be a culture intent on the next sensation, pundits, food enthusiasts and bloggers have all wondered what this sensation might be. More than a few have suggested that French-style macaroons (called macarons in France) might supplant the cupcake. This may or may not come to pass, but the basic premise of the French macaroon is pretty damned tasty.

In the United States, the term “macaroon” generally refers to a cookie made primarily of coconut. But European macaroons are based on either ground almonds or almond paste, combined with sugar and egg whites. The texture can run from chewy, crunchy or a combination of the two. Frequently, two macaroons are sandwiched together with ganache, buttercream or jam, which can cause the cookies to become more chewy. The flavor possibilities and combinations are nigh endless, allowing infinitely customizable permutations.

I was excited for this challenge, but very intimidated. For such a simple recipe (egg whites, sugar, almond flour), it is extremely tempermental and will make you want to rip your hair out while you fling the fallen egg whites across the room, screaming "I HATE YOU STUPID MACARONS!"

That is, until you peak in the oven and discover that yours have grown "feet", the proper macaronage base, and then you're screaming "I MADE FEET! THEY HAVE FEET!"

see the little "feet" at the bottom?

All in all, I attempted 5 batches of French macarons. The only successful batch was the first one. The next 3 fell flat (like little pancakes) and the final one looked right, but the nut flour was rancid and they tasted terrible. I used walnuts that had been in the freezer for a while and they must have gone bad at some point. Ick.

Mariel and her roommate helped me bake and fill the successful batch with a simple chocolate ganache.

If I had more time and patience (and more egg whites), I might have tried a more complicated flavor of macaron with a different filling, like a buttercream. Some of the Daring Bakers got very creative with their flavors! They look fantastic.

I don't think I will ever make these again, as it's a little too ungapatch (Yiddish for fussy), even though the final product was delicious! Thanks for a really great baking challenge this month, DB! I can't wait to see what we're making for November.

Preparation time: Not taking into account the amount of time it takes for you to bring your egg whites to room temperature, the whole baking process, including making the batter, piping and baking will probably take you about an hour to an hour and a half. How long it takes to make your filling is dependent on what you choose to make.

Actual baking time: 12 minutes total, plus a few minutes to get your oven from 200°F to 375°F.

Equipment required:
• Electric mixer, preferably a stand mixer with a whisk attachment
• Rubber spatula
• Baking sheets
• Parchment paper or nonstick liners
• Pastry bag (can be disposable)
• Plain half-inch pastry bag tip
• Sifter or sieve
• If you don’t have a pastry bag and/or tips, you can use a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off
• Oven
• Cooling rack
• Thin-bladed spatula for removing the macaroons from the baking sheets
• Food processor or nut grinder, if grinding your own nuts (ouch!)

Ingredients:
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature. Most bakers will agree that the egg whites should be aged for about 3-5 days, in fridge, covered with paper towel).

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.

2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.

3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.

4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.

5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).

6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.

7. Cool on a rack before filling.

Yield: 10 dozen. Ami's note: My yield was much smaller than this. I produced about two dozen filled macaroons.

Additional Information:
David Lebovitz breaks it down: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2008/09/making_french_macarons.htm...
More macaroon 411: http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/10/introduction-to-french-macarons.html
Get inspired by our own Tartlette!: http://www.mytartelette.com/search/label/macarons
Go behind the scenes of Paulette: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXIvX0-CEu0

Anniversary Dinner Menu

For our 2nd anniversary celebration, I made us a nice homey dinner. We toasted 2 wonderful years with our new favorite wine, a rich and mellow Burgundy from Renault Winery in NJ. I know, Jersey wine? What? Trust me, it's delish!

Alex requested a simple roast chicken and I played around with some new side dishes. This roasted chicken recipe is my go-to choice, easy enough to throw together last minute on any type of chicken and it really highlights the natural flavors.

One side dish choice was inspired by a CSA gift from a friend - swiss chard! I had not had good swiss chard in a while, so I was looking forward to this. It's a nice and buttery green, with a unique flavor. It can be cooked in the same manner as spinach or kale, easy enough to saute up with some garlic and red pepper flakes.

Lastly, I tried a new potato dish that wasn't a 100% success, but I'm willing to try again because it has potential. Hasselback potatoes should be sliced veeeeeery thinly, but I was in a hurry and I think that impacted cooking time. Okay, I know that impacted cooking time! Overall, though, good flavor and easy enough to play around with!

Simple Roast Chicken

Ingredients:

8 pc chicken, rinsed and patted dry

Olive oil (about 1/4 cup, maybe less)

Dried rosemary, thyme, poultry seasoning (about 1-2 TBS each)

Garlic powder (optional)

Salt & pepper

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 425 and lightly spray a 9x13 baking dish. Place the chicken pieces inside, skin side down, making sure they are in a single layer.

Pour the olive oil and spices into a small bowl and mix well. Using a basting brush, coat each piece of chicken with the oil mixture, and then flip and repeat. They should be skin side up when they go into the oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes, basting once or twice, or until chicken is 165 degrees inside.

Allow to rest 10 minutes before serving.

Hasselback Potatoes

Ingredients:

Baking potatoes (one per person)

Olive oil, to coat potatoes (about 2 tsp per potato)

Garlic cloves, sliced very thinly

Salt & pepper

Other spices optional (rosemary, thyme, etc)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450. Lay two wooden spoons down next to each other on a cutting board and place the potato in between the handles. Using a knife, cut thin slices into the potato, but use the spoon handles as a guide to make sure you don't cut all the way through.

Place a slice of garlic in between each potato layer and sprinkle with salt & pepper. Pour olive oil over each potato, rubbing it in well. Put potatoes into a shallow baking dish and bake for about 35-45 minutes, until they are done. Might take longer, depending on your oven.

Sauteed Swiss Chard

adapted from Simply Recipes

Ingredients:

1 large bunch of fresh Swiss chard
1 small clove garlic, sliced
2 TBS olive oil
2 TBS water
Pinch of dried crushed red pepper (really, no more! It's pretty spicy with just a pinch!)
Salt

Instructions:
Rinse out the Swiss chard leaves thoroughly. Remove the toughest third of the stalk, discard or save for another recipe. Roughly chop the leaves into inch-wide strips.

Heat a saucepan on a medium heat setting, add olive oil, a few small slices of garlic and the crushed red pepper. Sauté for about a minute. Add the chopped Swiss chard leaves. Cover.

Check after about 5 minutes. If it looks dry, add a couple tablespoons of water. Flip the leaves over in the pan, so that what was on the bottom, is now on the top. Cover again.

Check for doneness after another 5 minutes (remove a piece and taste it). Add salt to taste and serve.

Veggie Pumpkin Chili

I. LOVE. FALL.

Love it love it love it. It's the best season, in my humble opinion, for indulging all of the senses. I love to see the leaves change from green to fiery reds and oranges, hear the dried leaves crunch under my feet and the wind pound at our little house, smell the woodsmoke and hints of fall and snow in the air, feel the chill that means I get to pull out my sweaters and down comforter, and I love to taste the flavors of autumn - apple, cinnamon, clove, maple, nutmeg, squash, and most especially...pumpkin.

There was a rumor of the Great Pumpkin Shortage of 2009, so whenever I saw a can of Libby's Pumpkin, I grabbed it. Now, I have 6 cans of pumpkin in the pantry and I'm so excited. The first new pumpkin recipe was inspired by one of the cooking blogs that I follow religiously, but I'm usually too intimidated to make anything! Cara's recipes are really creative and she's a very healthy gal. She's got great ideas for healthy substitutes and always posts the nutritional information for each recipe, which I really appreciate!

The original recipe called for ground turkey, but I wanted to keep it vegetarian so we could add cheese/sour cream, etc. Overall, it's a different chili than we were used to. The flavors were more mellow, but that could have been from a chili powder shortage in our pantry. I used one whole packet of seasoning, and about another tsp of chili powder, but I don't think it was enough. The flavor is slightly sweet and a little smokey (thanks to the chipotles!) and the heat follows a few seconds later.

You might scoff at the idea of pumpkin in chili, but it makes for a wonderful velvety texture. This is really thick chili and the pumpkin added a slight (really very slight) touch of sweetness. I think that next time, I'll eliminate the cinnamon and add more chili powder. It's perfect for a cold night, ready to warm you up inside! A great fall meal.

Veggie Pumpkin Chili

adapted from Cara's Cravings

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped onion

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 medium sized peppers, diced

1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced

2-3 TBS chili powder I

2-3 tsp cumin

1 tsp cinnamon

1 small can diced green chili peppers

1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, carefully seeded and minced

15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

15 oz can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup frozen corn kernels

28 oz can crushed tomatoes

14 oz can diced tomatoes (I used the kind with chili peppers already added)

15 oz can pumpkin puree

Instructions:

Spray a large pot with nonstick cooking spray and place over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for about 5 minutes, until just softened. Add the garlic and bell peppers, and cook about 5 minutes more until tender.

Season with salt, pepper, chili powder, chipotle, cumin, and cinnamon. Stir in remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes to blend flavors. Make sure that the butternut squash is fork-tender. If not, simmer some more.

Make this the day before serving in order to allow the flavors time to develop. Serve with your favorite chili toppings - cilantro, green onion, cheese, sour cream, etc.