Cream of Potato Soup

I remember as a kid, after Saturday morning chores were done, our dad would take us over to the Cottonwood Complex to go sledding. As a parent I can now appreciate this. When my kids ask to go sledding, my reaction is a little whimpy. ("But it's going to be so cold. Do I even have snow boots?, etc.) It's one of those requests that makes me feel old, because I shouldn't be afraid go and brave the elements. I mean, I've whipped down the mountainside at Mountain Dell on a rickety sleigh and nearly killed someone. I've cross-country skied up Big Cottonwood and down Millcreek. I've hiked up random mountainsides and slid down on garbage sacks. I was pulled on an inner tube from the back of a truck down Lambs Canyon. I even took ski program! And now I don't even know if I have snow boots? Sheesh.

Anyway, Saturdays and sledding always remind me of my mom's potato soup. Made with onion, bacon, milk, shredded potatoes, and lots of black pepper, it was the soup de jour on a snowy Saturday. Because I'm turning into my mom (that's a good thing), I made my version of this soup. I love this soup for it's flexibility and simplicity, and it's so much better than any of the greasy, overly-thickened slime you'd get if you ordered this in a restaurant. Even if your pantry is nearly empty, you should be able to make this.

Cream of Potato Soup

2 T. olive oil

2 yellow onions (or 1 lg.), small dice

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 celery stalks, small dice

diced ham or bacon, to taste (optional) (I used leftover ham from the weekend party)

1 can (or equivalent water and bullion) chicken broth

4 russet potatoes, peeled and cubed

water, enough to cover potatoes

milk, to taste

cream, to taste (or use evaporated milk or half & half)

roux for thickening, if desired (2 T. butter, 3 T. flour, cook in saucepan 1-2 minutes. Add 1-2 c. warm milk, whisk until thickened, add to soup)

salt and pepper to taste

If using bacon, cook bacon until crispy. Remove and set aside, reserving 1 T. bacon fat for cooking the vegetables. Cook onions, garlic, celery, and ham in oil until softened. Add broth, potatoes and enough water to cover potatoes. Bring to boil and cook potatoes until tender. If you want a thicker soup (see picture) make the roux with the 2 c. of milk and add to soup. Bring to boil to thicken. Reduce heat to low and add as much cream as you want. (I added about 1/2 c. Add more or less to taste.) Check seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with bacon, if using.

There's No Crying in Baking

Sunday we had all of the family over for Emma's birthday. I thought I was prepared. Saturday I made up three pans of funeral potatoes to cook for Sunday. I bough a ham and had it sliced. I made a Jell-O with raspberries. I should have made the birthday cake too, but it was the ward party Saturday night and I ran out of time. (Guess what we had? Funeral potatoes, ham, and Jell-O.)
So I had most of Sunday afternoon to make rolls, a birthday cake, some backup brownies (yeah , we have a big family), put together a green salad and maybe a veggie platter.
Oh how I wish I had pictures to describe the chaos that ensued. I think a timeline will work best:

12:15-- We get home from church, everyone is cold and starving and demanding lunch. Ed has a meeting in 30 minutes so I'd better get chopping. Swiping some ham from the dinner, I threw together a brunch (or lunchfast as Emma called it) of ham, scrambled eggs, toast, leftover cinnamon rolls, and orange juice. Uh, you're welcome guys.
12:45-- Ed's gone. Ed usually does the dishes. I do dishes fast while trying to decide what cake I'm going to make.
1:00-- I make the roll dough. I scald the milk and nearly burn it (because, you know, I'm doing the darn dishes). The milk is taking forever to cool. Put milk mixture in garage to cool and nearly spill it on the dog food.
1:30-- Decide on a lovely yellow butter cake that uses the reverse creaming method. How intriguing! Prepare my mise en place.
1:45--Milk is cool. Finish preparing the roll dough, knead, and dump in an oiled container to rise.
2:00-- I'm running late! Wash bowl dough was kneaded in and start preparing cake batter. Forget to preheat oven. Realize that reverse creaming takes a long time.
2:15-- While reverse creaming, visiting teachers come over unannounced. Bring me a nice poinsettia and we chit chat. I'm wearing paint splattered sweats and covered in flour. Sensing my anxiety, visiting teachers leave.
2:30-- Finish cake batter. Hmmm, it calls for 8" rounds. I have a lot of batter. Will it fit? Yes it will! Barely. Oh, crap. Preheat oven. Should I use 9" rounds? Nah. I like tall cakes!
2:40-- Oven is preheated. Cake batter is divided evenly, smoothed, and comes dangerously close to the top of the pan. The picture in the cookbook shows a fine crumb and tight texture, like a pound cake. Perhaps it won't rise much. Put in the cake.
2:50-- Batter is rising and flowing over to the edge of the pan. Will the surface tension hold it together? Please?
2:52-- Cake batter is dripping over the edges. Dangit! What should I do? Wait. Maybe it will stop. It won't. Burn finger while spooning some of the batter out of the pans onto a plate.
2:54-- Cake batter is still dripping. Put a pan underneath to catch the drippings. Taste the batter on the plate. Not bad!
2:55-- Oven is taking on a nice smoky smell. I wonder if the cookbook says something about using tall cake pans! No, but clearly they do. Wish you would have bought those 8"x3" cake pans at Gygi's.
3:00-- Cake batter is steadily flowing out of the pans, but only out of one side, creating a divet around the rising cake, a beautiful volcanic valley of golden batter. Start thinking about making some brownies. You're definitely going to need a backup.
3:10-- Wash mixer bowl and start making texas sheet cake brownies. A crowd pleaser! Put flour and sugar in mixing bowl.
3:15-- Cakes are finally finished and boy are they ugly. In a brief flash of maturity, Emma pats me on the back and says "It's okay mom."
3:20-- What's that burning smell? Is it still the oven? Ah! the cocoa/water/butter mixture on the stove is bubbling away at a dangerous pace. Remove from heat and dump in flour sugar mixture. Mix in everything else. While pouring batter in pan, give it a taste. Hmm, it doesn't taste very sweet. Did I put in both cups of sugar? I can't remember!
3:25-- Pace around kitchen and finally decide to add another cup of sugar to the brownie batter. Scrape batter from pan into bowl, add sugar, scrape back into pan, and place into still smoky oven.
3:30-- Wash saucepan. Start making icing for brownies. Melt butter, cocoa, and milk in pan. Get distracted trying to get birthday cakes out of the pan. Frosting mixture scorches on the bottom but I'm mad and add the powdered sugar anyway. I think it tastes a little burned. Ed things it tastes fine, albiet with a pleasant smoky finish.
3:40-- Still with the burning smell? What's wrong? Look in oven and see brownie batter bubbling over the edge of the pan. Crap!
3:45-- While looking for a pan large enough to catch the falling batter, note that the brownie batter is now overflowing the pan in thin, beautiful sheets of chocolate. Double crap! Kitchen is dangerously smoking. Everyone in family opening windows. I try not to cry. There's no crying in baking!
3:47-- Flames erupt on the bottom of the oven in the shape of a sheet pan rectangle. Pull brownies from oven, covering my oven mitts in batter. Throw on baking soda to stop the fire. Take a deep breath and remind yourself you still have 3 potato casseroles, a ham, and 4 pans of rolls to bake.
3:50-- The rolls! Turn and see the dough overflowing the container. Punch down dough with more force than necessary, turn it, and tell it gently to wait a few minutes.
3:50 - 4:30-- Turn off oven, let it cool down, pull out racks, wash and dry them, scrape off burned batter from the bottom of oven. Call mom and ask her to make brownies. Give silent prayer thanking God for moms.
4:30-- Shape rolls and try to clean up the disastrous kitchen.
4:30-- Crank oven up and cram it with ham and funeral potatoes. Turn on the convection fan, baby!
4:40-- Make dip for vegetable tray. Decide not to make homemade salad dressing. Ask Ed to whip the cream for the Jell-O.
4:45-- Make chocolate buttercream frosting for cake.
4:50-- Try and make something from the cake-tastrophe. Slice tops of cake to make even with divet. Save tops. Patch together cake so it's roughly even. Even use some of the pieces that had falling into the other pan. Frost cake. Hey, this isn't too bad!
5:00-- Decorate cake with Junior mints and little peppermint patties that have white frosting snowflakes on them. Be glad you didn't cry over the cake - it turned out okay.
5:15-- Check on potatoes and ham. Almost there. Thank you convection! Swap everything out for a pan of rolls.
5:20-- Realize you're still in your sweats and the doorbell just rang. Ah! Change clothes, dash downstairs and get out salad stuff.
5:30-- Get nice sister-in-law to help you finish salad. Put in more rolls.
5:40-- Almost everyone's here. I made it!

Remember: any tears in the kitchen should be tears of joy. I will make that dang yellow butter cake again, with different pans, and I know it'll be great.

Date Filled Cookies, ZCMI Style

This is not the official recipe, but I've put together a pretty close duplicate to the date-filled cookies we used to buy after shopping at ZCMI (somehow that third cookie we'd buy for dad would never make it home). Eating these took me right back to my teenage days in the 80's where I'd stalk my then-boyfriend who had a job in the giftwrap dept.

I remember that the date-filled cookies were a little darker from the brown sugar and ground pecans in the dough, as opposed to the raisin-filled, which I think were made from a white sugar cookie dough. The dough is flavorful on its own, and would make a nice sugar cookie, especially with the addition of the ground pecans. The date filling is just right - just remember to use fresh dates and not the dry, sugared, chopped ones.

Date Filled Cookies

Dough

2 c. light brown sugar

1/2 c. shortening

1/2 c. butter, room temp

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1 t. vanilla
2 lg. eggs, room temp

1/4 c. buttermilk (or reg. milk, or sour cream I suppose would work), room temp

1/2 c. or so ground pecans (to taste)

3 3/4 to 4 1/2 c. flour
(Note: start with the lesser amount and add more until the dough reaches a "sugar cookie dough" consistency: not exceedingly soft but not too stiff either. Better to err on the softer side, as the dough will firm up in the fridge and result in a softer cookie.)

Filling

1 1/2 c. (8 oz.) dates, chopped into small pieces

1/4 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. water

1/8 t. salt

2 t. lemon juice

For the dough: cream together sugar, shortening, butter, baking soda, salt, and vanilla until smooth and light. Beat in the eggs, add buttermilk, then stir in the flour and pecans by hand. Cover bowl and chill at least one hour.

For the filling: in a small saucepan over medium heat, cook the dates, sugar, water, salt, and lemon juie gently for about 7 minutes, stirring frequently until thick. If necessary, add a little more water.

Preheat the oven to 350 and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

On a floured surface, roll out the half the dough and cut into rounds. I used a 2 3/4" round, but for more "bakery sized" cookies, use a 3 or 4-inch round. Place heaping teaspoon of date filling in the center of the rounds, and top the cookies with another round of dough, pressing lightly around the edges. (Note: if you used alot of flour to roll out the dough, or if your dough is very stiff, you may need to moisten the edges of the round with water before topping the dough.)

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until they're a light golden brown. Remove them from the oven and transfer them to a rack to cool.

Two Old Fashioned Breads: Date Nut Loaf and Whole Wheat Raisin Bread

Much of eating is about nostalgia--just watch Ratatouilli--and this is why I made these two breads. Visits to my Grandma Clark were quiet but special. Even while playing on her special back exerciser, things didn't get too out of hand. During the visit, grandma would disappear into the kitchen and reappear with little plates of spice cake, raisin cake, or any such mystery cake containing raisins, nuts, molasses, or whole grains. Her cakes were like her personality: unassuming and down to earth.
The Date-Nut Loaf is a little more refined than grandma would have made. It's light in color and enriched with a little cream cheese in the batter. Also, grandma would have never used this much butter in a lowly loaf cake. It turned out nice, but be careful not to overbake or it will be very dry. This recipe is from Dori Greenspan's Baking.

Date-Nut Loaf
2 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
3 oz cream cheese, room temp
3/4 c. light brown sugar
4 lg. eggs
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. almond extract
1 c soft pitted dates, each cut into 8 pieces
1 c. walnuts, chopped

Grease and flour a 9x5-inch loaf pan and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Put the pan on an insulated baking sheet or two regular sheets stacked one on top of the other.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Working with a stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat the butter and cream cheese on medium speed untl very smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, another 3 minutes or so. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the extracts. The batter may look curdled - that's okay. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Fold in the dates and nuts with a spatula.
Turn batter into pan and bake for 40 minutes, then cover the top of the cake loosely with a foil tent and bake for another 40 minutes or so (total baking time 1 hour 20 minutes). (Note: I only baked this about one hour and it seemed very done - even with the knife test.)

Whole Wheat Currant Bread
(adapted from Nick Malgieri's The Modern Baker)
I was really happy with this bread. It was substantial without being heavy, had a nice flavor, and made an excellent breakfast bread toasted with butter. This bread is more Grandma Clark's speed: dark, healthy, and you don't need a KitchenAid to make it.

2 c. whole wheat flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2 lg. eggs
1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. dark brown sugar
1/3 c. oil
3/4 c. buttermilk or milk
2 c. dried currants (or chopped raisins)
1/2 c. chopeed nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch pan. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in bowl and stir to mix.
In large bowl whisk eggs, add sugars. Whisk in oil and milk, one at a time, whisking until smooth after each. Scrape batter into pan and smooth the top. Bake until well-risen and toothpick emerges clean, about 45 to 50 minutes. Cool bread in pan 5 minutes, then unmold and cool completely before slicing.
Fold in flour to egg mixture. Quickly fold in currants. Scrape batter

Broccoli Hash

What do you do with a tiny bag of leftover pine nuts that have been sitting in your fridge since August? You could make this broccoli hash, which is possibly my new favorite way to eat broccoli. Sunflower Farmer's Market had a good price on Asiago, so that clinched it. I may make this as more of an everyday side dish by just omitting the pine nuts and using whatever cheese you have on hand.

The only things I would have changed is 1) chopped the broccoli pieces a little smaller and more "hashy"; 2) browned the broccoli a little longer in the pan (the garlic was beginning to get toasty so I panicked); and 3) not thrown in a head of broccoli so recklessly into a pan of hot butter. I now have a nice scabbed over blister from the burn on my arm.

This recipe is adapted from memory from the Food Network Cookbook. I hope I get it right.

Broccoli Hash

1 head broccoli

2-3 t. unsalted butter

2 t. olive oil

2 T pine nuts

2 shallots, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

Salt & pepper

shaved asiago to taste

Break up broccoli by hand and cook for 2-3 minutes in salted boiling water. Remove broccoli, drain, and press with paper towels to get the broccoli very dry. (Note: this takes a little effort and more than a few paper towels.) Roughly chop broccoli and set aside.

Melt butter in large nonstick saucepan. Add pine nuts and cook 2 minutes until brown. Remove pine nuts with slotted spoon.

Add oil to pan with the butter, heat, and add shallot. Cook for a couple minutes, add garlic, cook for 1 more minute (medium heat - don't burn that garlic!). Add dried broccoli and cook until edges are crispy, working in batches if neccessary. Return pine nuts to pan and toss to combine. Season generously with salt and pepper (remember the asiago will add some saltiness). Place in warm serving dish and top with shaved asiago.

Asiago Cheddar Hash Browns

It's hard to get excited about making dinner the days before and after Thanksgiving. After spending a couple of days in a cooking frenzy, I have been in no mood to spend time shoppping, plan, or execute meals. Tonight was a "breakfast dinner", a perfect opportunity to clean out the fridge and exercise the "Iron Homemaker" moniker.

I had a ton of potatoes, some cheddar and asiago leftover from the Thanksgiving Broccoli Hash (recipe coming soon), a few shriveled mushrooms, a green pepper, eggs, onions, and garlic. You can't go wrong with fried potatoes with cheese, and I made some western omelettes to go along. Ed says it was in the top ten dinners I've ever made, so if you think I'm a dork for posting a recipe for hash browns, you can just take that up with him.

2 T each butter and olive oil

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

yellow potatoes, roughly chopped (I don't know the amount - just enough to fill a large non-stick pan)

chopped fresh parsley

asiago and cheddar cheese, shredded

Melt oil and butter in large nonstick pan. Add onion and garlic. Cook for a few minutes while chopping potatoes. Add potatoes and season generously with salt, pepper, and garlic salt or powder. Cook potatoes until crisp and brown, adding a little more oil or butter as necessary. Toss in cheese and parsley and place under broiler to brown. You don't have to do this, but I like getting a crispy top.

Cherry Red Raspberry Pie

Can she make a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Bill!y Boy?
Can she make a cherry pie, Charming Billy?
She can make a cherry pie,
Quick as a cat can wink an eye,
She's a young thing
And cannot leave her mother.

I'm no young thing, and I've long since left my mother, but I made a cherry pie and it was awesome! (/Chris Farley)

For the recipe, I will thank Phyllis Bartholomew for her "Best of Show" Cherry Red Raspberry Pie. And as we all know, if your name if Phyllis, chances are, you can make a mean pie. Pie to me is a celebration of the past, a hallmark of a good cook, and a most virtuous dessert (Hey, you're eating fruit with pastry. How bad can it be?). When paired with ice cream or whipped cream, it has all the components of a great dessert: warm/cold, creamy/crispy, and tart/sweet.

Sorry chocolate satin and banana cream, but this is everything a pie should be. Tart and sweet, the raspberries give the filling an richer taste (although many didn't notice the raspberry) and a pretty dark red color.

Cherry Red Raspberry Pie

Filling
1 10-oz pkg. frozen red raspberries
2 c. canned sour pitted cherries, drained (reserve juice) (Note: 2 cans of cherries equals about 2 and a half cups. I added the extra 1/2 c. cherries.)
1 c. sugar
3 T. cornstarch (If you like your filling to hold up more, add another T of cornstarch.)
2 T. butter
1/4 t. salt
milk and sugar (to top the crust) (I used 1 egg whisked with 1 T cream instead of milk.)

Thaw frozen berries (save the juice) and add enough of the juice from the cherries to make one cup of liquid.

In a saucepan, mix sugar, cornstarch and salt. Stir in one c. of the cherry/raspberry juice. Add cherries and cook over medium heat until thick and clear. Cook one more minute. remove from heat and very gently fold in raspberries. (Note: I did this the day before and cooled in the fridge.)

Pour into pastry-lined pie dish. Add top crust. Seal edges and brush top with milk or cream and sprinkle with sugar. Cut seam vents if necessary. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes.

Crust
2 c. flour
1 c. cake flour
2 T. sugar (This is my addition. I like a little sweetness in the crust.)
2 T. super rich butter powder (I did not have this, but swapped out 1/2 of the shortening for butter.)
1 c. Crisco (I used 1/2 shortening, half butter that had been cut up and frozen for a few minutes.) 1 T. cider vinegar
1/2 t. salt
1/3 c. ice water

Mix the flours and sugar and cut in the shortening and butter (I use a food processor). Pulse or mix until you have butter pieces the size of peas.

Beat together wet ingredients. Gradually add until mixture begins to look like curdled cheese. Stop before the dough forms a ball around the blade. Form into a disk, wrap in plastic, and chill at least 1 hour.

The Power of Exploding Dough

After posting my initial recipe for Pullman Bread, my friend Carrie asked a very relevant question:
What happens if you fill a pan with too much dough and it tries to ooze out from under the lid while baking?I'm only asking because I KNOW that would happen to me since I'm such an amateur!

Of course I had the arrogance to ignore that question. After all, I've been baking for years and such a thing would never happen to me. Until I checked the oven to discover that the dough had risen so much as to blow the lid off the Pullman pan and turn the whole loaf on to its side.

So Carrie, to answer your question, the dough does not gently ooze - it explodes. And why did it explode this time for me? I used the same recipe, but I ended up with more dough since I decided to use the full amount of flour and use extra water. (The seasoned readers of my blog know that I'm very obsessive about adding too much flour. I think due to our dry climate, I almost always hold back the full amount of flour and see first how the dough comes together.)

I did not think that the extra dough would be that significant, but note that this recipe also calls for a higher percentage of yeast than the wheat Pullman bread. Oddly, the wheat Pullman can take about 3 lbs 3 oz of dough per pan. The white Pullman exploded using about 2 lbs of dough and change.

For future reference, I will not double the amount of yeast when doubling the recipe (more like 1.5 times). And, I will add full amounts of all ingredients and hold back a little flour as usual.

Happily, the dough lids were not damaged and the bread, although slightly underbaked, tasted fine, supporting my theory that even bad homemade bread is good.

Finnish Pulla Bread

While I don't wish bad luck upon others, I do see some misfortune as an opportunity to make something that would bring comfort to someone. I know this will make my old Weight Watchers teacher's head explode, but food is comfort, both literally and emotionally (reason #37 why I'll never be skinny).

So when my Finnish neighbor fell and broke her hip while shoveling snow last week, my first thought was, "Oh how terrible!" That quickly jumped to "Ooh I have an excuse to make Finnish Pulla Bread!". (I know, I'm going straight to hell.)

Pulla is similar to Challa and other egg and milk-rich celebratory breads (although I'm told that Pulla is eaten frequently). It has crushed cardamom seeds mixed in the dough, which makes it unique. The recipe emphasizes using cardamom that has been freshly ground, so I broke out the mortar and pestle and ground some up. It smelled amazing, and I'm determined to put the remainder of the cardamom to good use, perhaps in an Indian-spiced rice pudding.

Anyway, this is a really easy bread to make. I've never braided a loaf into a circle before, so that was a little stressful. I wish I could tell you how it tasted, but you'd have to ask my Finnish neighbor.

This recipe is from Baking with Julia, a great book based on the PBS series where different chefs would come to Julia Child's kitchen and bake different things. It was one of my favorite shows.

Finnish Pulla Bread

1 c. milk

1 T. active dry yeast

1/4 c. warm water

1/2 c. sugar

1 t. crushed cardamom seeds (from about 7 pods) (Note: I had to crush way more than 7 to get a t. of seeds.)

1 t. salt

2 large eggs

4 1/2 to 5 c. flour

1 stick (4 oz.) unsalted butter, melted

Glaze: 1 large egg beaten with one T. milk

Sliced or slivered almonds for topping

Pearl sugar, for topping (Note: I used coarse sugar)

Scald milk and cool to lukewarm. In large bowl, whisk the yeast into the warm water. Set aside for 5 minutes, or until the yeast has dissolved and is creamy. Whisk in the milk, sugar, cardamom, salt, and eggs. Switch to a wooden spoon, add 2 c. of the flour, and beat the mixture until smooth. Beat in the butter and then add as much additional flour, 1/2 c at a time, as you can until the dough is stiff but not dry. (You can also make this dough in a mixer fitted with the dough hook. Follow the procedure for hand mixing, adding the ingredients in the same order.)

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rest for 15 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until it is smooth and satiny, about 10 minutes. (Or knead in mixer about 5 minutes. Stop short of a satiny dough and finish kneading by hand to avoid overmixing.)

Shape dough into a ball and place in lightly oiled bowl, turning dough to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temp. until doubled.

Line a 14-inch pizza pan or large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Lightly oil a cook work surface.

Turn the dough out onto the oiled surface and knead it lightly and briefly, just to deflate it and release the air. Divide the dough into thirds, and roll each third into a rope about 36 inches long. Braid the three strands, braiding as far down to the bottom of the strands as you can. Lift the long braid (and try not to have a nervous breakdown) onto the parchment-lined pan, shaping it into a circle as you place it on the pan. Snip about 1 inch of the dough off each end of the braid and fuse the ends together, pressing and pinching them (if necessary) to fit. Roll the trimmings into a rope about a foot long and twist the rope into a bow shape. Place the bow over the seam you created when you fused the ends.

Cover the wreath with a kitchen towel and allow it to rise at room temperature until it is puffy but not doubled, about 45 minutes.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375. Brush the egg glaze over the bread. Sprinkle the wreath with sliced almonds and pearl sugar.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes (mine baked for 30), until golden, taking care not to overbake. Transfer the loaf to a rack to cool before cutting. Contributing baker: Beatrice Ojakangas.

Maida's Big Apple Pie

"To make an apple pie from scratch you must first invent the universe." -Carl Sagan

It's pie season, baby! I've already made a few pies to cull down the long list of Thanksgiving pie possibilities. My dad prefers pies to cake, so on a recent Sunday get together I tried out two: Sour Cream Apple Pie and Maida's Big Apple Pie. They are both from Nick Malgieri's new baking book, The Modern Baker. I really like his books, and he seems like a nice enough guy. You know, someone you could sit down and eat a piece of pie with.

Maida's Big Apple Pie (pictured above)

This is a galette (free form pie), but there's nothing "ette" about it. It's really big, almost twice the size of a normal pie. Like many apple pies, the filling is cooked a little beforehand as to eliminate the excess moisture. I also think that the use of half Golden Delicious apples is important here, as this type of apple breaks down in the pre-cooking process, binding the sturdier Granny Smith apples in a chunky applesauce.

Apple Filling

4 T. unsalted butter

2.5 lbs Granny Smith or other tart apples, peeled, halved, cored and each half cut into 6 wedges.

2.5 lbs Golden Delicious, prepared as above

1 c. sugar

1/3. light brown sugar

1 t. cinnamon

One double batch Rich Pie dough

egg wash (one large egg well beaten with a pinch of salt)

sugar for sprinkling

1 round pizza pan

1. Prepare and chill pie dough (see recipe below)

2. For the filling, melt the butter in an enameled cast iron Dutch oven or other large pan with a cover. Add the apples and sprinkle with the sugars and cinnamon. cover the pan and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, until the apples have exuded their juices. Uncover and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the apples are tender. About 1/3 will have disintegrated, and the rest of the apple slices should remain intact. Cool the filling. The filling may be made several days ahead and stored, covered, in the refrigerator.

(Cathy's note: I've made this pie twice. The first time I discarded the extra apple juices after cooking and the filling came out a little dry after cooking. The second time I added a little flour to the pan an the end of cooking and kept the thickened juices. I preferred the result of the 2nd effort.)

3. Set a rack on the lowest level and preheat the oven to 375 F.

4. Roll out the Rich Pie Dough into a circle about 16 inches in diameter and center it on the pan. Spoon the filling into the middle, leaving a 2.5 inch border of dough uncovered. fold in the uncovered dough toward the center of the pie, leaving an uncovered space in the center. Brush the top of the folded-over dough with the egg wash and sprinkle with the sugar.

(Cathy's note: the 2nd time I made this pie I somehow ended up with too much filling, so I made another small pie with the dough scraps.)

5. Bake the pie until the dough is a golden color and the filling is bubbling, about 40 minutes. Cool on a rack.

(Cathy's note: the Sweet Pie dough is pretty fragile and more difficult to work with than a traditional pie dough. It also cracked a bit [see image]. The second time I made the pie, I used a more traditional pie dough. Both were good, the firs crust being more sweet and crumbly and the second more sturdy and flaky.

Rich Pie Dough
Note: this recipe is a double batch
3 c. flour
1 t. salt
2 t. baking powder
2.5 sticks cold unsalted butter cut into small pieces
1 lg. egg
1 lg. egg yolk
1. Combine the flour, salt, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Add the butter and pulse about 20 times to finely mix in the butter.
Add the egg and egg yolk and pulse until the dough just begins to form a ball.
2. Invert the food processor bowl over a floured work surface to turn out the dough. Carefully remove the blade and transfer any dough on it to the work surface. Use your hands to press the dough into a disk about 1/2 inch thick.
3. dough disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour and up to 2 days.

Pizza Neopolitan

My sister Linda and her husband Paul were down from Victoria for the weekend. They came by on Friday for dinner, and I was warned by Paul that I "better make some good food".

I like making this pizza for entertaining because everyone can make their own little pizza and since it only takes 7-8 minutes to bake each one, dinner is a fun, informal chow fest.
This recipe makes a light, thin, chewy crust and and wonderful raw sauce. Don't even think about using jarred sauce. Traditional toppings are fresh mozzerella and basil, but we also had carmelized onions, blue cheese, kalamata olives, mushrooms, zucchini, ham, pepperoni, and fresh tomatoes. The difficulty is to top the pizzas sparingling or else the crust will get soggy and not cook properly.

Warning: you need to start this dough early in the day. It takes very little yeast and requires a long, slow rise. The result is soft, extensible, flavorful dough. This recipe is adapted from Maggie Glezer's excellent book, Artisan Baking.

Pizza Neopolitan
Pizza Dough
3 1/3 c. bread flour
1/4 t. instant yeast
2 t. salt
1 1/2 c. lukewarm water

Sauce
28 oz can crushed san marzano tomatoes (or equivalent of fresh tomatoes, peeled and seeded)
1 t. dried oregano
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
fresh basil, chopped (optional)
salt and pepper to taste (start with 1/4 - 1/2 t.)

Mix the Dough
Measure the flour, yeast, and salt together in the mixing bowl and stir them together by hand. Using the dough hook, mix on low speed while pouring in the water; continue to mix on low speed just until the dough gathers around the hook, about 3 minutes. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for about 10 to 15 minutes to allow the yeast to fully hydrate. Mix the dough on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the dough is fairly but not perfectly smooth.

Divide the Dough
On a lightly floured work surface, cut the dough into 4 equal pieces, each about 7 ounces. (Picture shows a doubled recipe.)
Shape each piece of dough into a tight ball using the following method:
1. flatten the dough and roll the dough up like a carpet.

2. turn the dough around and position it seam side up, and roll it up again.

3. roll the dough perpendicular to itself a third time
4. turn the dough seam side down and round out the dough under your palm into a tight ball.
(This may seem like overkill, but the point here is to make a really tight ball of dough.)

Place each ball on a floured tray. Flour the top of the dough and cover tightly with plastic wrap.

Proof the Dough
Let the balls of dough proof at room temperature until they aer soft and puffy but still springy, 5 to 6 hours. Or refrigerate the dough after shaping it, for up to 36 hours. (Note: I was 8 hours away from dinner, so to avoid overproofing, I proofed it in the garage - a very cold room - and brought it to room temp. for the last couple of hours.)

One hour before baking, arrange a rack on the oven's second-to-top shelf and place a baking ston on it. Clear away all racks above the one being used. Preheat the oven to its highest possible temperature setting. (The recipe says it's somewhere between broil and clean. You are trying for 750 but 500 degrees can still work).

Shape the Dough
Flour your work surface and palce a fully proofed dough ball on it. Flatten the ball with your hands and press it into a disk. Don't roll out with a rolling pin. You want to be gentle with the dough and preserve the air bubbles.
Place the dough on a sheet of parchment or directly on a peel that has been dusted with flour or cornmeal. Spread 1/4 c. sauce on the dough and add remaining toppings. Slide the pizza on to the hot stone and bake 6-8 minutes, depending on how hot your oven is.

Whole Wheat Pullman Bread

If I had a flag, I would run it up the pole. That's how excited I am about this bread. I've been searching for a good sandwich bread, and while the white Pullman loaves I had made were good, the master plan was to make a subtle switch to wheat. This bread isn't 100% whole wheat, as it contains just a little more whole wheat flour than white, but it's a happy medium for our family.

Making this is so different than doing artisan bread because the dough itself is a lot firmer. I think adding too much flour (and possible using old yeast) is the biggest reason many bread doesn't turn out, so when searching for the right consistency for this dough, I just hold my breath and add enough so it almost cleans the sides of the bowl.

Anyway, about the bread. The finished bread has a tight crumb and a great flavor: a little sweet with a mild wheat taste. It holds together well for sandwiches and toast and makes great bread crumbs.

Recipe Notes:
This recipe is for two loaves, but it can easily be halved. As it is, it challenges the dough capacity of my KitchenAid mixer. I think the original quantities are intended for a 4x4x13 Pullman pan, but my pans are only 12 inches long, leaving me with some extra dough to either make a small loaf or a few rolls. When I weighed the finished dough, it came to about 6 lbs 12 oz. I put 3 lbs in each pan and made a few rolls with the extra. You could tweak the recipe so I wouldn't have extra dough, but the quantities are easy for me to remember, so I leave them as is.

Whole Wheat Pullman Bread
5 t. instant yeast (I use SAF)
5 c. warm water
6 c. whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground white wheat)
4-6 c. white flour (I use Lehi Roller Mills high gluten flour)
2 T. natural dough enhancer (optional)
2/3 c. nonfat powdered milk
2 T. salt (I use Redmond Sea Salt)
1/2 c. butter, room temp (oil also works very well and gives the bread a softer crust)
1/2 c. honey

In your mixing bowl, mix the whole wheat flour, yeast, and water with a spatula. Cover for at least 15 minutes, or until bubbly. (This "autolyse" step can be skipped, but I think it gives the wheat flour and yeast a chance to hydrate, and me a chance to get all the other ingredients ready.)
In separate large bowl, mix 4-5 c. of the flour (reserve at least one cup), salt, powdered milk, and dough enhancer. (Mixing the powdered milk with the flour prevents it from clumping when you add it.)


Add butter and honey to mixing bowl, and with dough hook on low speed, add the flour mixture. Knead for 7-10 minutes, adding the extra flour as necessary. Dough should gather around the dough hook and almost clean sides of bowl.



Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead by hand for one or two minutes.
Place in oiled container or bowl and let rise until at least doubled.

Turn out and divide dough as necessary for your pans (see recipe notes above). Roll out dough in a 12x8-inch rectangle with the long side facing you. Roll up the dough tightly to form a log. Pinch seam and ends to seal. Place seam side down in a pan that has been brushed with oil (including the bottom side of the lid). Cover with lid 3/4 and let rise until dough has risen to about 1 inch from the lid. Place in 400-degree oven for about an hour.
Start checking bread at about 45 to 50 minutes. When bread in finished, it will be well browned, pull away from the sides of the pan and sound hollow when tapped. If you can, wait until cooled before slicing!

Adventures with a Swiss Vegan

So when I signed up to host an exchange student from Up with People for one week, I was asked what my hobbies are. I mentioned I enjoy cooking, and apparently that's codespeak for "give her the vegan chick". I was a little worried at first, but it was really alot of fun. Here are some of the goodies we made:
Yukon Gold oven fries.

Sweet potato (yam) oven fries

Fries Two Ways. The sweet potato fries have a sweet/spicy mixture of salt, pepper, brown sugar, chili powder, cumin, and a little cayenne. The regular potatoes I think were just salt, pepper, and olive oil. Slice your potatoes in fry shapes, toss in a bowl with a couple of chugs of olive oil, and toss in your spices. Bake at 450 until crispy. The sweet potatoes may take longer to get crispy, and both may need a turn with a spatula halfway through. I find it helpful to line the pans with parchment.

Pumpkin Soup. Gwen made a delicious pumpkin soup. She made it from memory, but I can tell you it had a fresh pumpkin and butternut squash (peeled, seeded, roughly chopped), 1 onion, vegetable broth, salt, red curry paste (about 1 t.), coconut milk (1 c. or so), and fresh chopped basil. It was really, really good.

Artisan Boule. I made some homemade bread a couple of times. You'd be surprised how many commercial and homemade breads contain milk or milk powder, so I stuck with the artisan formula of flour, water, salt, yeast, and time.

Vegetable potstickers. The picture of the final product didn't turn out, but here's a photo of the filling. I got the recipe online, so I don't have the exact contents anymore, but here's what I remember: 1 leek, finely sliced, 1 head napa cabbage, finely sliced, 2 shredded carrots, 2 cloves garlic, 2 t. soy sauce, 1 T. rice wine vinegar, a little dash of sugar if you want, handful of cilantro. Other recipes called for bamboo shoots and water chestnuts.

Roasted vegetables, fried parsnips, hummus. We also roasted a ton of vegatables. Here we did butternut squash, sweet potatoes, onion and garlic. The white stuff in the other bowl is are parsnips, parboiled then dredged in season flour and fried in olive oil. Mushrooms were thrown in for a good measure. Also pictured is the hummus to spread on the bread.

Not pictured is the vegetable thai curry & rice, miso soup, and tomato salad we made.

Fresh Apple Cake. I found out the Gwen will eat eggs, so I jumped at the chance to make an apple cake. Actually, my sister Laura made it with Emma's help. It's one of my favorite cakes: moist, dark, chunky, and not overly sweet. Last night my dad had some and he decided that we wanted that for his birthday cake. This recipe is from the Junior League of Salt Lake City Heritage Cookbook.

Fresh Apple Cake

4 c. apples, diced

2 c. sugar (can be reduced)

2/3 c. veg. oil

2 t. vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour (white may be used; we used half of each)

2 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

2 t. cinnamon

1 c. nuts (optional)

1 c. raisins (optional)

Optional topping:

1 c. brown sugar

1 c. nuts

2 t. cinnamon

Combine and sprinkle on unbaked cake. If you don't want to do this topping, you can leave in plain or ice it with some cream cheesd frosting.

Pour in 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Pullman Bread

My Pullman bread pans have finally arrived! I have searched far and wide for these pans, which are basically lidded loaf pans that make a sandwich-type loaf. I found some at Orson Gygi's but they were the wrong size (the 16-or 18-inch length). When the guy at Gygi's said that he didn't know when the next order would be in because of something about the price of steel in China, I panicked a bit. I searched Amazon.com and found "only two left in stock. Order now!" So that's exactly what I did.

Ever since I gave Grandma Sycamore the boot I've been sticking to my guns and trying to keep on a supply of homemade bread. I'm excited about these pans because this type of bread is great for sandwiches, toast, i.e., what my family usually eats every day. This bread is easy to make, just chuck it in the bowl and knead. There's no milk to scald and since you're working with a pretty firm dough, it's easy even to knead by hand and not worry about adding too much flour. The result is a bread with a tight crumb that's easy to slice. This recipe is from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook.

Pullman Bread

Note: this makes one loaf but it's easily doubled

1 1/2 lbs (about 4 1/2 c.) bread flour (note: I didn't have to add all the flour, so hold back a little to until you see how it comes together)

3 1/2 t. instant yeast

1 1/2 t. kosher salt

1 1/2 T. sugar

1/3 c. dry milk

2 T. unsalted butter, room temp

1 3/4 c. warm water

vegetable oil, for bowl and pan

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine teh flour, yeast, salt, sugar, dry milk, and butter. Add the warm water and beat on low speed until the dough is smooth, elastic, and uniform in color, about 5 minutes.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and finish kneading it by hand, about five times, making sure that all ingredients are fully incorporated and the dough forms a smooth ball. Place teh dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a woarm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Gently deflate dough and pull the sides into the center. Invert the dough in the bowl, so that it rests smooth side up. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise again until doubled in bulk.

Generously brush a 12-inch Pullman loaf pan with vegetable oil, making sure to coat the underside of the lid, as well as the bottom and sides of the pan. Set aise. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out the dough to a 12-by8-inch rectangle, with a long side facing you. Starting at the top, roll the dough toward you, gently pressing as you go to form a tight log. Pat in the ends to make even. gently roll the log back and forth to seal the final seam. Place the loaf, seam side down, in te prepared pan, and slide the lid three-quarters of the way closed. Let rise until dough is almost touching the lid. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425.

Close the lid completely and bake, rotating pan halfway through, until light and golden brown, about 45 minutes. Reduce oven temp to 350 and continue baking another 30 minutes. (Note: I only baked another 15 minutes.)

Transfer pan to wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Turn out bread and cool completely before slicing. The bread can be wrapped and stored for up to 4 days.

Buttermilk Bread

Now that I've awoken from my bread coma I can tell you about this great bread that I made the other day. I've been watching bread prices steadily rise and anticipating the cooler weather when I can finally give Grandma Sycamore the boot and make something much better. Let's face it, those types of bread are a step up from Wonder Bread but are gummy and have almost no flavor. Plus, homemade bread can be made for less than $1 a loaf.
I've never made buttermilk bread before, and this turned out nice. It had a pleasant tangy flavor and a sturdy enough texture for sandwiches. It's best with honey or jam acting as a sweet counterpoint to the buttermilk. This recipe is from Greg Patent's Baking in America, a really great book showing the history of American baking and providing authentic recipes.

Buttermilk Bread
2 c. warm buttermilk

1/2 c. warm water
2 1/4 t. instant yeast

7 c. flour
4 T. unsalted butter

1 lg. egg

1/4 c. sugar

1 T. salt

In mixer bowl or another large bowl, stir the buttermilk, water, yeast, and 3 cups of the flour together with a wooden spoon. Beat until smooth, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and set aside at room temperature untl doubled in volume and bubbly, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

In a stand mixer, add butter, egg, sugar, salt, and remaining 4 c. flour to the bowl. (Note: I hold back 1 c. flour and add as necessary. Do this especially if you are kneading by hand.) Knead on low speed for 5 to 8 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic and cleans sides of bowl. If the dough sems too wet and sticky, add a bit more flour.

Place in oiled bowl and let rise until almost tripled, about 1.5 hours.

Divide dough in half and shape into two loaves and place in two 9x5x3 loaf pans. Cover with lighly oiled plastic wrap and let rise until centers of loaves have risen 1.5 to 2 inches above rims of pans, about 1 hour.

Bake at 375 for 35 to 45 minutes.

Ming Tsai's Pork Potstickers

Sometimes you just need to break out of the box, and this was a perfect weekend try something new. I'd been craving potstickers and thought I'd give them a try. It takes a little time to put them together, but it's fun to do if you have helpers. This recipe supposedly makes 30 potstickers, so I doubled the filling to match my package of 60 gyoza wrappers. Even then, I had a lot of leftover filling, which Ed suggested that I make some sort of wacky Asian meatloaf. (Maybe another time!)

I'm embarrassed to admit that we scarfed down over 60 potstickers over two days, but man were they good. So next time, skip the take out and make these - thanks, Ming Tsai!

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/PORK-POT-STICKERS-236605

I Can't Believe I Bought This Much Butter

Or, alternatively, "Costco and the Moral Complexity of Buying in Bulk". Yes folks, thats 5 pounds of prime hydrogenated vegetable oil, with Tinkerbell thrown in for scale. I had a similar feeling when I bought a box of goldfish crackers larger than my ottoman. Sure, I saved a few bucks but I'm not running a Hometown Buffet here, not to mention the unspoken pressure of trying to eat 5 lbs of spread before the expiration date.
We are advised to buy in bulk, plan out meals weeks in advance, freeze meals, etc., as if cooking were to be avoided like a scheduled toilet scrubbing. What happened to imaginative, spontaneous cooking? While some planning is good, who knows what we are going to crave in two weeks, not to mention what's going to be fresh and even better, on sale? In the mean time, I'm striking a balance between Costco and the farmer's market and hoping not to to go bankrupt in the process.
Oh, and I canned some pears, perhaps tipping the scales toward wholesomeness and economy in the great moral balance of the universe.
I've gotta go - Fabio's here to take me on horseback ride through the Pyrenees.

Corn Chowder with Chiles

It's soup season! Okay, so it rained for half a day, but here in Utah that's a big deal. I've never made corn chowder before, but I had most of the ingredients so there you go.
This recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart's Summer Corn Chowder from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook. I increased the amounts by half, used milk instead of half-and-half, and increased the heat by adding extra chiles. I'm really happy with how it turned out. Even Ed liked it, and he doesn't even like corn. (I think the British are raised to think corn is animal feed, but that's a whole other post.)

Corn Chowder with Chiles
6 oz. bacon, diced
1 lg. onion, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
8 sprigs fresh thyme
salt and pepper
4 cups chicken stock or broth
3 ears of corn, shaved from the cob
8 oz. fingerling potatoes, cut into 1/2" slices (or use white/yellow potato, diced)
1-2 poblano peppers, cut into 1/2" dice (seeds and ribs removed) You can use whatever peppers you have on hand, depending on how hot you want your soup. I used 1 anaheim and 1 jalapeno. You could even used canned green chiles.
2 c. milk (or half and half)
roux for thickening, optional

Place bacon is small stockpot over medium-high heat. Cook until deep golden brown and all fat has been rendered. Remove bacon and drain on paper towel. Discard all but 2 T. bacon fat.
Add onion, celery, thyme, salt and pepper to taste. Cook over medium low until translucent, about 10 minutes. Add stock, cover, bring to boil, and reduce heat to medium. Simmer with lid ajar for 15 minutes.
Add corn, potatoes, and chile pepper Cook uncovered until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove and discard thyme. Add milk and thicken with roux if desired. If using roux, heat 3 T. butter in small saucepan; stir in 1/4 - 1/3 c. flour. Stir for a minute or so, then add in 1-2 c. of the hot soup. Stir until thickened and then return mixture to soup pot and whisk to incorporate.) Check and adjust seasoning. Garnish with bacon and whatever else looks good.

Raspberry Nectarine Jam

Remember that summer hailstorm that damaged many of the fruit trees around the valley? Well, my dad now has some really ugly, pockmarked, nectarines that have really delicious fruit inside (there's a gospel message in there somewhere). Anyway, I went over to pick more raspberries and he gave me a bag of the nectarines, so I put the two together and made a deliciously tangy raspberry nectarine jam.

Pesto 3 Ways

My sister-in-law Jerrea has an enormous basil plant so I stole a few bunches so I could make pesto and not have to spend a ton of money. Pesto enjoyed a big resurgence a few years back, and I still like making a couple of batches every summer. Spread it on toast, use in panini, pasta, on potatoes, on pizza, with chicken - whatever.

Basil Pesto
3 garlic cloves (more or less, depending on taste)
1/2 c. toasted pine nuts
1 t. kosher salt
2 c. basil leaves, packed
1/2 c. or so grated parmesan cheese
1/2 c. (about) extra virgin olive oil

I mix everything in a food processor and drizzle in the oil at the end. Check and adjust seasoning. Store in a lidded glass container with a little oil on top of the pesto to keep it from turning brown.

Pesto with Roast Chicken: put a tablespoon or so pesto underneath the chicken skin, season chicken, and bake at 375 until done. Serve with more pesto on the top if you want. Ina Garten has a recipe that also includes goat cheese with the pesto.


Pesto with hash browns: use pesto as a condiment. I use potatoes that have been par-boiled or baked, and then give them a rough chop, season, add onions or whatever you want, and cook in a well-oiled cast iron pan. I sometimes weigh down the potatoes with another pan to get a "pancake" effect. These potatoes have cheese and green onion. You can also boil small red potatoes, and then roughly smash up the potatoes with olive oil and pesto.

Pesto with pasta: this is just pasta with pesto, fresh chopped tomatoes, and some mozzerella cheese.

Jammin'

Today I got serious, put on an apron, and canned some jam. Yes, it's a pain, but who can deny the happiness you feel placing the gleaming jars of ruby jam on a tea towel to cool on your countertop. This jam is peach/raspberry. The peaches I stole from my neighbor's tree (That's what you get when let branches grow recklessly over the fence. Thanks, neighbor!), and the raspberries are from my mom and dad's garden.
I know I'm waxing a bit silly, but whenever I do some canning, or make a pie from scratch, I feel a connection to women of yesteryear. I may never cook over an open fire, do laundry in a river, or butcher a cow, but by dang I can make jam from stuff growing in the yard. I hope my ancestors looking down on my little accomplishment and will cut me a little slack and ignore the fact that I drive a living room with wheels and buy chicken nuggets in the shape of dinosaurs.

Luke's Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Our nephew Luke was visiting from England in August, and mowed through these chocolate chip cookies. Here's the recipe, Luke!

Luke's Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 c. unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 c. vegetable shortening

1 1/3 c. dark brown sugar

1 1/3 c. white sugar

4 T. corn syrup (or golden syrup)

2 T. cider or white vinegar

4 lg. eggs, room temperature

2 T. vanilla extract

1 t. salt

1 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

5 cups flour

2 bags (about 4 cups) chocolate chips

Cream butter and shortening until well mixed and fluffy. Gradually add sugars, corn syrup, and vinegar and beat until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Stir in flour and chocolate chips. If the dough still looks extremely soft, add a little more flour.

Chill the dough at least 1 hour, or if possible, overnight (I find if I bake these right away, they spread to much.) For large cookies, bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes. I use parchment-lined baking sheets. Adjust baking time and temp as necessary. Let cool on trays for a few minutes before transferring to a rack.

This makes a ton of cookies, so half the recipe if you want, but I like to make a full recipe and freeze logs of the chilled dough for future use.

Weekend Garden Extravaganza

Our neighbors the Stringhams have been very generous with their garden produce. Friday night we enjoyed their freshly-dug red potatoes with clean-out-the-fridge toppings: sour cream, cheese, mushrooms, bacon (from the BLTs), and peas.

Saturday was less exciting (mac and cheese), but I did make up a great batch of lime & garlic salsa with all of the extra tomatoes and peppers lying around. Here's an approximation of the recipe.

Lime & Garlic Salsa
4-5 reg. tomatoes + 5-6 romas (or whatever you have)
2 cloves garlic
1/2 bunch green onions (can use a white onion instead)
assorted hot peppers (I used 1 jalapeno, 1 small hot chili pepper, and 2 larger mild peppers)
juice from 1/2 lime
generous handful of cilantro
1/2 t. or so sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Finely chop everything or put in food processor. Don't process to long or you'll get too much air in the salsa and it will be pink. Don't be afraid to season it well, as it may need 1/2-1 t. salt. This salsa can be pretty "loose". If you prefer a thicker texture you can add some tomato paste.

Road Food

Ed in school + out running errands = drive thru dinner. I try to support local (or in this case, regional) places, so we went to Arctic Circle. Besides, their fries are so much better than McDonald's or Wendy's (rancid oil, almost always). Plus, my relationship with Wendy's has soured ever since I had a bad chicken wrap that caused some significant gastro distress. While three kids meals for 10 bucks is not bad, Arctic Circle really needs to get a value menu.

Speaking of gastro distress, I visited Carrie just as she was cleaning up dinner, and I got to see this gem of a dish. After laughing for about 5 minutes, we decided to have a little contest. Whoever can name 4 ingredients that are a part of this dish gets a Very Special Prize.