Cook Like Mad

pretty pecan pinwheels!

As I continue with my baking kick, my mind turns to cost. What ingredients can I cut out and still have a great cookie? Butter? No way. Sugar? Not in a million. Flour? Fat chance. Eggs? Hmm….And that’s where we begin.

In nearly every traditional cookie recipe, eggs lend texture, flavor, rise, and even sheen. But what if you’re secure in the ability of butter, sugar, and flour to add texture, pecans and warm spices to add flavor, and the layers created by the careful combining of butter and flour to create rise? Then you’ve got yourself a great cookie recipe. These Chinese Five Spice Cookies are not only fun and easy to make, but also resourceful. Change the filling to cinnamon, sugar, and currants, or fig jam and chopped almonds-any way you make these, they’re flaky and delicious.

Eggless Chinese Five Spice Cookies

Makes 25 cookies

Dough:

1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 cup butter, in small cubes, chilled

3-4 tbsp cold water

1/8 tsp salt

Filling:

1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 tsp chinese five spice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and lightly grease a baking sheet or use a silpat to line one.

2. Mix the salt into the flour. Using a pastry cutter or your hands, quickly incorporate the butter into the flour, until the mixture resembles coarse sand and the butter is still cold. If butter begins to warm, place mixture in the freezer for 5 minutes and begin again. Add just enough cold water to make a rough dough that stays together. You should be able to see butter streaks in the dough. Wrap in plastic and set in the fridge for 10 minutes to relax the gluten you may have developed in mixing and to allow the butter to cool.

3. Meanwhile, prepare the filling by mixing all ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.

4. Unwrap dough, lightly flour a flat surface, and roll out dough to a rectangle (about 12” x 8”), making sure it’s 1/4” to no less than 1/8” thick.

5. Sprinkle filling on top of the dough to make a thin, even layer and roll lengthwise until you’ve created a log. Place in the freezer to firm up for 10 minutes.

6. Slice the log into 1/4” to 1/2” slices, depending on how big you’d like the cookies, using a sharp knife. Place cookies flat on the baking sheet and into the oven, for 10-12 minutes, or until light golden brown. Cool on a rack and enjoy!

-M : )

Aw, they look like hearts… Good thing v-day’s coming up!

Palmiers are the biggest trick in the book. They not only require two ingredients, frozen puff pastry and sugar, but maintain their addictive crunch for days after they’re baked. Using a silpat makes clean up especially easy, but the puff pastry has enough butter in it, and the sugar retains pliable enough out of the oven, to ensure easy removal of the cookies from the baking sheet even without pre-greasing.

A recipe really isn’t necessary for these scrumptious cookies, as they’re really a cinch, but here we go. Enjoy!

Palmiers (i.e. Mini Elephant Ears)

Makes 20 cookies, but can be easily multiplied

1 4” x 7” sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed in the refrigerator overnight

1/2 cup sugar, plus extra for dusting

flour, as needed, for rolling

Method

1. Preheat oven to 385 degrees and line a baking sheet with a silpat baking mat. If you’re not using a silpat, leave the baking sheet ungreased.

2. Roll out puff pastry on a lightly floured flat surface until it is less than 1/8” thick and sprinkle heavily with sugar. The layer of sugar should be nearly as thick as the layer of puff pastry dough.

3. Fold both ends (lengthwise) into the middle so they meet. Repea, doubling over your last fold. Fold in half lengthwise, so you have a log, roll in sugar, and place in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up.

4. Slice cookies with a very sharp knife, each should be about 1/4” thick. Place cookies down on the baking sheet or silpat so you can see their layers (i.e. lay them flat) and sprinkle again with sugar. Bake 10 minutes, or until they turn light golden. The bottom will be a darker golden than the top- that’s what you’re looking to see. Cool on a rack. These cookies are best once completely cool, when they’re at their crunchiest. Yum!

-M : )

Ok, so I guess I’m on a baking kick. Its just that D and I have a few friends coming over to watch football tonight and tomorrow night, and I couldn’t help but bake some goodies to munch on during the game. I made both palmiers (recipe in part deux) and chocolate-dipped pecan meringues (recipe below). I am particularly fond of cookies that are easy, cheap, and can be made small, and these two recipes match all the criteria.

Not only do smaller cookies take less time to bake, they are also a wiser bet for satisfying your guests and making sure that your baking doesn’t go to waste (and frankly, your feelings don’t get hurt). Bigger cookies require the guest to contemplate the size of their appetite, normally an evaluation that takes place after a meal. If you want your baking to be put to good use (i.e. chomped and digested) then make those cookies smaller! Smaller cookies means more cookies to enjoy, and fewer people saying no to trying one. No one’s going to need to consult their diet commandments to eat one. All the pleasure in a couple fewer bites, that’s all. You can even feel good having seconds. And trust me, you’ll want more than one.

What I love about these cookies is not only that they’re easy and liked by all, but also that they have a certain adult quality about them. Its that almost-burnt flavor, that caramelized, brown sugar taste that deepens and balances the sweetness. They are crunchy, light, and even great without being dipped in chocolate, white or dark. Serve a few in a bowl with some raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries, add a little whipped cream or ice cream, and you have a more formal dessert. Whether you share them with friends while watching football or enjoy them crushed into ice cream, cuddled up with a good book, enjoy!

Chocolate-Dipped Pecan Meringues

Makes 25-30 1 1/2” cookies

1/2 cup pecans

2 egg whites

pinch salt

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/8 cup white chocolate chips

1/8 cup dark or milk chocolate chips (your choice)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 385 degrees and lightly grease baking sheet, or better yet, use a silpat baking mat on top of the baking sheet.

2. Pulse pecans in a food processor (preferably a small one) until coarsely ground. Take care not to over pulse, or else oils will release and coarse texture will be lost.

3. Whip eggs whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks form and add sugar slowly, while continuing to beat whites. Beat until stiff peaks form.

4. Immediately fold in pecans, taking care not to deflate the egg whites (the sugar does help to stabilize them, though).

5. Drop or pipe about a tablespoonful of batter onto baking sheet or mat, and leave 1” of room between cookies. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn oven down to 285 degrees. Bake for another 15-20 minutes until golden all over. Cookies will still be slightly soft to the touch, but they will harden as they cool out of the oven, yielding a crunchy texture.

6. While cookies cool, melt the chocolates in separate dishes in the microwave. Dip bottoms of the cookies in melted chocolate once completely cool and firm and place them on wax paper, then in the fridge, so the chocolate can harden.

Note: white chocolate-dipped cookies will not need to be refrigerated to harden, but the milk or dark chocolate-dipped ones probably will.

Enjoy!

-M : )

There are some no-brainer food combinations that come to mind when I think of things to make for dessert: chocolate and mint, chocolate and cherry, chocolate and coconut, chocolate and almond, chocolate and peanut butter, white chocolate and berries, hmm…chocolate, white, milk, or dark, seems to compliment an inexhaustible list of flavors, huh? However, chocolate desserts, even when they contain fruit, can be quite heavy. The solution? Use the chocolate as a background flavor, as I’ve done in this take on a napoleon, using pate a choux (cream puff) disks in place of the traditional puff pastry rectangles, and pumpkin white chocolate puree in place of the heavy pastry cream filling. The result is a light, texturally interesting, and visually impressive dessert. And, of course, it’s delish- would I post the recipe if it wasn’t? Be assured, its a winner. Enjoy! : )

Pumpkin White Chocolate Pate a Choux “Napoleon”

Pate a Choux Dough (adapted from Nick Malgieri’s “How to Bake“)

Makes 30 3” rounds

1 cup water

6 tablespoons butter (I actually prefer salted butter, here)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup all purpose flour

4 large eggs

2/3 cup coarse white sugar, for sprinkling (coarse brown sugar is a fine substitute- look for demerara sugar)

pastry bag with 1/4 inch round tip

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a large baking sheet, or place a spat mat on the baking sheet. Arrange racks so that they are in the center of the oven.

2. Combine water, butter, and salt in a medium size saucepan or pot over medium high heat and bring to a boil. When mixture boils, turn off heat, add flour all at once and stir with a wooden spoon until incorporated and mixture leaves the sides of the pot cleanly.

3. Transfer paste to a bowl and spread the paste up the sides of the bowl to quicken cooling process. Let cool for 1 minute, then add eggs, one at a time, stirring until each is absorbed before adding the next.

4. Spoon mixture into pastry bag fitted with 1/4 inch wide round tip and pipe 3” pinwheels onto the baking sheet, keeping 1” between each puff. Pipe pinwheels by starting in the center first and coiling the dough around the center. When you’ve made a 3” pinwheel, release pressure on the bag and pull the tip away to the side (don’t pull the tip up) in a quick motion. Sprinkle tops of pinwheels liberally with coarse sugar. Don’t worry about shaking excess sugar off the baking sheet or mat, it will just caramelize in the oven and add extra crunch to the pinwheels.

4. Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden and fully cooked through. Puffs should retain their shape out of the oven. If they collapse on themselves, bake for an extra minute or two.

Pumpkin White Chocolate Puree

Makes enough for 4 Napoleons

1 small can pumpkin puree

1/4 cup real maple syrup

2 tsp molasses

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch nutmeg

1 cup white chocolate chips, melted in the microwave

Method:

1. Mix 1/2 pumpkin puree (1 of the two parts) with the rest of the ingredients, except for the white chocolate, together in a bowl. Divide in half. Add melted white chocolate chips to one of the halves, mix and set both bowls aside.

Construction of the “Napoleon”

Pate a Choux Pinwheels

Pumpkin Puree

White Chocolate Pumpkin Puree

white chocolate chips, about 1/8 cup per person

1. Place a pinwheel cream puff in the center of a plate. Spoon or pipe about 1 tbsp of the non-white chocolate pumpkin puree onto the pinwheel and repeat layering process until you have used 3 pinwheels. Repeat with other plates.

2. Drizzle white chocolate pumpkin puree over each stack and sprinkle with white chocolate chips so your guests know the components of the dessert. Enjoy!

-M : )

Of all four seasons, autumn has the best food. Its like Goldilocks and the three (well, four..) bears: Winter’s food is too heavy, Summer (and Spring) food is too light, and Autumn’s just right. Vegetables and Fruits get the attention they deserve, and the spices are warm without being heavy, simultaneously sweet and savory. It is often a time of indulgence, as people are eager to make desserts with the apples, pears, pumpkins, and even sweet potatoes that crowd the market shelves, but our bodies are pushed back into balance by the amount of nutrients in the available food: brussel sprouts, winter squash, leeks, green beans, and broccoli, are a few that come to mind (in addition to those mentioned above, of course).

Using fruits and vegetables in desserts has always been an interest of mine. I much prefer zucchini breads, banana muffins, sweet potato pies and berry cobblers to cheesecakes, pecan pies, and other (in my opinion) more cloying treats. Produce in desserts adds depth of flavor, texture, color, and boosted nutrition. Its also a great way to help introduce kids to unfamiliar and perhaps intimidating foods.

This recipe for Pumpkin Ginger Bars is special then, in two ways: it’s in tune with the season and it includes some healthy ingredients (like molasses, cinnamon, and pumpkin). It’s also the most addictive baked good I’ve ever made. The lightness of the filling combined with the chewy, crunchy base provides a textural contrast that most desserts lack. For me, when I have pumpkin pie, I find the crust to be superfluous, unnecessary, almost a dilution of the filling’s flavor. Not so with these; the crust is made with ginger snaps, and then covered in a thin layer of caramel, pairing perfectly with the homemade pumpkin filling. The filling is incredible on its own, but you’ll never leave tasteless crust behind when you eat these. So take a little time this afternoon to appreciate and share autumn’s bounty with these Pumpkin Ginger Bars. With two of these warm from the oven, a cup of mulled cider and a good book, you’ll be fully equipped for a cozy afternoon : )

Pumpkin Ginger Bars
Makes 28 bars

For Crust:
30 2″ gingersnap cookies (I like Sweetzels brand), crushed in a food processor
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/8 cup brown sugar

For Caramel layer:
2 bags Werther’s classic chewy caramels
1/2 cup milk
3 tbsp butter

For Pumpkin filling:
1 15oz. can pumpkin puree
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/8 cup molasses

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and grease a 13 x 9 in. pan (glass works especially well).

2. Combine the cookie crumbs, butter, and brown sugar in a small bowl. Dump the mixture into the greased pan and distribute evenly over the bottom. The mixture will be very crumbly but don’t worry. Press it down lightly with your hands and make sure the crust extends to the edges of the pan.

3. Bake the crust blind for 10 minutes in the 425 degree oven to help it firm up. Don’t let it get too brown!

4. Unwrap caramels and place in a bowl over a pot of simmering water to melt. Add 1/2 cup milk and 3 tbsp butter to the bowl. Once caramels have melted, stir the mixture until it is fully incorporated and keep it over the double boiler to remain warm.

5. When the crust is ready, pour the caramel mixture over the crust and spread delicately to distribute it evenly over the crust’s surface. It will be thin, but there is exactly enough.

6. Combine all remaining ingredients in a bowl and pour over the caramel, again distributing the filling evenly.

E. Bake for 15 minutes at 425 then lower oven to 350 and finish cooking for 35 more minutes. Bars are done when the top feels firm and the filling no longer jiggles in the center.

Note: I recommend letting these cool to room temp before slicing them, and when you do slice them, make sure you use a sharp knife and press down firmly- the bottom crust is very dense. Additionally, I would refridgerate these, or they will be incredibly chewy. The fridge makes the crust crunchy rather than chewy and I tend to find them even better this way.

Enjoy!

-M : )

Newton’s third law states that “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction,” so it comes as no surprise that the fast food industry is currently being attacked by a stronger-than-ever coalition of extremely vocal and well-supported food alarmists. Now don’t get upset, I’m no fast food junkie. However, I do believe in a consumer’s right to choose and that birthday parties should involve cake, Halloween should involve kids collecting candy, and schools should have the ability to offer students a dessert option with their lunch.

In this time of feuding non-profits, where organizations like the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Center for Consumer Freedom are butting heads over “issues” like if a child should be allowed to bring birthday cupcakes into school to share (!), or whether non-chain restaurants should disclose the nutritional information of their menus, I find myself inclined to back away from this battle and get back to the basics. I say ignore the food-focused fear-mongering and rely on a little personal responsibility. All you need to know to be healthy is what you already know, intrinsically:

1. Fruits and vegetables are good for you. Eat a lot of them. Period.
2. For proteins such as poultry, fish, and meat, a portion size is closer to the size of your fist than the size of your plate.

3. Carbohydrates are easy access energy for your body, since they are more easily broken down into elements your body can use than protein is, for example. Whole grains contain more fiber and nutrients than refined grains, but white bread isn’t evil. Neither are cupcakes. Moderation is key.

4. A little fat in the diet does the body good. Some nutrients are only fat-soluble, meaning that without the presence of fat in the body, we can’t break these vitamins and minerals down for our bodies to use. Also, our brain is made mostly of fat. Think about that! The unsaturated varieties are preferable, but when it comes to saturated fats, Coconut Oil is a good example of a healthy one. This doesn’t mean you should eat it by the spoonful, but try substituting it for canola oil once in a while.

5. Sugar, refined or not, is still just a carbohydrate and a little candy, chocolate, or cake should be a source of pleasure not anxiety.

So with that said, I have a great banana muffin recipe to share. Yes, it calls for refined all-purpose flour, real butter, and white sugar, but you can modify the recipe if that suits you.

A couple notes:

*For a more substantial muffin, try dropping peanut butter into the centers, or add jam also and make them pb&j muffins. Apple butter, or other fruit butters also make delicious additions, as does chopped fruit, such as apples or pears.

*To add a center to your muffin, fill up the muffin tin halfway with batter, drop in a teaspoonful of your filling, and cover with a thin layer of batter so the filling is hidden. I also love to crumble two of these into an ovensafe bowl, crack two eggs over it, and bake at 325 for 10-15 minutes until the whites are set and the yolks are still runny. Sprinkle salt on the eggs and eat from the dish- the sweet muffins with the salty eggs is a great combination! Either way you choose to serve them, enjoy. And see…without even trying you’re getting a little of everything you need here: carbs, fiber, protein and a little fat, as well as added vitamins and minerals from the bananas. Here’s to not over-thinking our food.

Fool-Proof Banana Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 large very ripe bananas (or 4 small), mashed
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup butter, melted (oil can be substituted)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Coat muffin tins with liners or cooking spray.

2. Mix all ingredients together except for the flour in a large bowl and carefully stir in flour at the end just until incorporated. Don’t over mix or your muffins will be tough.

3. Fill muffin tin 3/4 way full and place tin in hot oven. Bake 15-25 minutes, depending on the size of your muffin tin, until a cake tester comes out clean. Rotate tins halfway through cooking if the heat of your oven is uneven.

Enjoy!

-M : )