Desserts

Peaches, cream, and more

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If its August.  If it’s Colorado.  I’m eating peaches.  Any day. Every day.  For at least two weeks.  By themselves.  On Greek Yogurt with Colorado honey and slivered toasted almonds.  Or granola.   On top of vanilla frozen yogurt.  In a salsa on pork chops.  Etcetera.

Here are a few of the yummy things I’ve done.  Of course the best?  Above.

Grilled peaches:

Preheat clean grill to medium-high heat.  Cut peaches in half and remove pits.  Brush each half with a little bit of canola oil and place cut-side down on grill.  Let cook about 3 or 4 minutes and turn over when grill marks are well-established, but not blackened.  Cook another 2 or 3 minutes until tops of cut-side are somewhat visibly drying.  Remove and cool briefly.  Enjoy as is or try another good idea…

Grilled Peaches with Goat’s Cheese, Honey and Thyme
God had to have been in on this creation.  Of course.  Here’s how:
Grill peaches as above.  Top each with 1-2 T plain goat’s cheese (softened a bit).  Drizzle with your favorite honey and sprinkle with a few leaves of fresh thyme.   (recipe copyright Alyce Morgan, 2010)
Grilled Peach Salsa
Lovely on BBQ Pork Chops (Really),
Salmon
Shrimp Tacos
Grilled Fish
Tortilla Chips?  Of course.  Here’s how:

2-6 t very finely minced jalapeno (to your taste–start with 2t and more if you’d like)
1/3 c finely minced onion
2 large peaches (Colorado preferred), cut in half and grilled*, peeled after grilling, and chopped into 1/2″  pieces
1 ripe avocado, peeled and diced
1/2 ea medium red sweet pepper and green sweet pepper, diced
1/2 c chopped fresh cilantro
Juice of 1/2 a lime
Dash of kosher salt and a couple of grates of fresh ground pepper

In a medium bowl, mix all ingredients gently but thoroughly. Taste and correct seasoning if necessary. (Add more jalapeno, etc) Serve on with grilled pork chops, shrimp or salmon or on seafood or fish tacos. (recipe copyright Alyce Morgan 2010)


Wine? If you make the bbq pork chops or salmon, try a little inexpensive Beaujolais. Other reds or bigger wines, will overwhelm this meal. It’s summer and something lighter and refreshing will turn on these peaches. If you make the shrimp or fish tacos, a cold Spanish Albarino (lovely white) or even an Oregon Pinot Gris could do the trick.

(If you’d like to make the green bean salad, here’s the blogpost for it, though I dressed it differently here.  Rather than a mustard vinaigrette, I mixed a bit of top-quality light Ranch with some roasted salsa for a dressing.)

Lovely frozen yogurt from David Levovitz’ book THE PERFECT SCOOP. (Click for the recipe.)  Of course, we then had it like this:
 

                 Vanilla Yogurt with Sliced Colorado Peaches
 
Two-Dog Kitchen and Around the ‘Hood
 

Our tomatoes are ripe.  Salads are every day now.
 

Skippy Jon Jones and Tucker saying, “Hi!”
 

Emily’s home for a week or so.  Here she helps beat melted chocolate, a little cream, and sugar for a frozen chocolate yogurt testing that looked like this when done:

 
I’m still working on this…want to try it with toasted almonds, etc.  I’ll admit it was tres tres tres like it was… made with Valhrona Chocolate.  Definitely.  Oh my.  Ask for it if you’re coming to dinner.

Speaking of coming to dinner:  I have one space left in Cooking with Music for September 18 at 12:30.  It’s an Italian class with pizza appetizer, two main-course soups, and an apple crostada (free form apple pie) for $50.  Includes dinner (you also get to invite a friend) and wine.  Email me if you’re interested.
–
Right now, the sun is shining so brightly.  But on the windows I hear the tip, tap, tip of rain.  Opening the shades (closed to keep the sunroom cooler), I see it’s definitely raining.   Sun, Rain=Rainbow!  I’ll be watching out east for it.

It’s time for a little music, a candle or two, cell phones on off, and watches stored.  Friday.  A bit of dinner together.  Breathing how blessed I feel to have almost my whole family in my house.
Alyce

Figs, Figs, Figs or Bring me some figgy what?

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  Bring me some figgy…. oh, just bring me some grilled figs.  With blue cheese and thyme.
                                           

I missed you, blog.  Travel.  Work.  Kitten-sitting.  Cooking for folks.  Uh, writing for other websites (sorry.)

But I’m back.  And I’m back with figs.  If you haven’t grabbed fresh figs yet this season, the season is, my friends, waning.  (If it were early in fig season, would we say the season was waxing?)  Cheap?  OH NO.  Guess not.  So you better make the most of every biteful and not let one single one get too mushy to eat.

My little pint made it through two courses and I’ll share them with you.  After I tell you that I ate figs at Tyler Florence’s new restaurant, Wayfare Tavern, in San Francisco last Friday at lunch.  (Along with halibut and berry pound cake served with cabernet sorbet.) Of course, figs are a bit more available in California (just a tad) and Tyler had featured them as a starter with burrata cheese, onions and honey.  Were they good? Yes.  But why not save that buck (a little more than a buck to get to SF) and do something sweet at home?

Did we see Tyler? Yes!!!  Really.  What a day.  (Other spots we ate and loved in SF:  Scala Bistro-dinner and breakfast-wow; Cliff House –lunch at the bistro; dinner in the dr-best view in town!–a whole local sole-so fresh and perfectly fileted by the waiter at table; Tea House at the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park; AT&T Park–what beats a beer and a dog?)

Anyway, back to our (your) figs.  I grew up eating fig preserves or stewed figs my mom put up in the summer.  I can’t figure out where she got figs, but get them she did.  And how did we eat them?  In a little bowl to the side of a nice, big breakfast or right on top of a big plate of buttered biscuits that often were piled high with…sour cream. 

Nowadays, I often have dried figs with cheese in the winter.  Or I poach them in a little wine and serve them with honey and goat’s cheese or mascarpone or…blue cheese.  I have a youza youza recipe with puff pastry, reconstituted figs and blue cheese that is a slamdunk dessert with port in the winter.  But today.  This weekend.  It’s fresh figs in Colorado.  Get yours today.  Eat them plain.   Split them with a little knife and take off the stem or just eat them whole while holding the stem.  Or, you can do what I did:

Recipe 1:  Figs on the Grill   2 servings

1/2 pint fresh figs
2 ounces blue cheese (I like Maytag for this, but any blue would be fine.)  cut into pieces 1/4×1″ or so

2-3 T honey
2t fresh thyme leaves (or 1/2 tsp dried)
1/2t freshly ground black pepper
Heat grill, indoors or out, to medium-high temperature.  Slice figs in half and place cut side down on grill.  Let cook about 2-3 minutes until golden and sizzling with grill marks. 
 Turn over and let cook about 1 minute.  Place a tiny piece of blue cheese on each fig half right in the middle of the fig, pressing down a little to make sure the cheese stays put. 
 Cook until cheese is softened and just barely getting gooey.  Remove figs from grill, using tongs,  and divide between two plates.  Drizzle with honey and dust with thyme and a little black pepper on each.

Drink?  Ruby port. 

Fig “recipe” #2  Oatmeal with Fresh Figs and Almonds

Make your favorite oatmeal exactly as you like it.  While it cooks, slice some fresh figs into 1/4″ slices and toast 1/4 c sliced almonds.  When the oatmeal is done, sprinkle each serving with Vietnamese cinnamon and about 1T brown sugar.   Add some sliced figs on top and shower with toasted almonds.  Add about 1/3 c hot milk and chow down your goodferya breakfast.  Ahhhhhhh…perfect.

Drink?  Coffee, I’d guess.

Two-Dog Kitchen + 1 Kitten… and Around the Hood

Skippy Jon Jones is visiting Aunt Alyce and Uncle Dave for a few days while Mom goes to the mountains.
A few bloody clawmarks.
A little cat litter eating by the dogs.
A little catfood eating by the dogs.
Much general merriment.
Love. 
Mostly.
We’re thinking Skippito.

The fam in San Fran
Check out all the pics on my fb page

Rhyan brings dad for a hamburger and rootbeer float lunch on Saturday.
We still have to watch “The Incredibles”
Grandma never tires of it.  Well, not too much.
Sing a new song; eat a new fig,
Alyce

Blackberry Cobbler or It’s Spring Somewhere….

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I’ve always dreamed of living in a place where I could pick blackberries.
Off I’d head, early morning, basket in hand.
Maybe some gloves. 
These things can be scratchy, to say the least.
I might take one of the dogs.
Sometimes I read the blogs of women who live in such places.
They have so many blackberries that they blog about jam.
But I live up on the mesa.
Near the mountains.
And there aren’t any blackberries growing wild.
In fact, there’s nothing growing.
Unless someone planted it in a yard. 
And then:
They have to pay the water bill.
Silly, huh?
Wanna eat locally here?
You better enjoy cactus, of which I have plenty.
(I do have a sour cherry tree and rhubarb….)
I once had a $37. tomato I grew on the deck.
I pay hundreds a year for a couple of patches of grass.
(So my dogs don’t have to pee on rocks.)
All that leads you to know that  if I made blackberry anything,
my blackberries came from King Soopers.
On sale.
10 half-pints for $10.
Deal?
No, but it’s as good as it’s going to get.
And were we glad to get cobbler made from store-bought blackberries?
Uh-duh.
Alyce’s Blackberry Cobbler made from Store-bought Blackberries
7 c washed blackberries
1/2 c white sugar
1/3 c all-purpose flour
1 cup flour
1T white sugar, plus 1t for dusting crust right before baking
1/4 t salt
2t baking powder
4T butter, chilled
6-7T milk
1T melted butter
In 2qt casserole or a deep-dish pie pan, mix the berries, sugar and flour.  Set aside.
In a food processor, or using a pastry blender or two knives, mix the dry ingredients for the biscuit topping and cut in the butter until it’s all crumbs.  Shouldn’t be even, but will have tiny irregular bits and pieces.  Add milk, one tablespoon at a time, either processing briefly or stirring constantly with a fork.  When dough holds together, pull it together into a ball and knead it a few times until it looks and feels smooth.  Pat or roll it out into the shape of your pan and lift it onto the top of the berries, tucking it in to bed around the edges. Brush the crust with the melted butter.  Sprinkle with a little sugar on top (no more than a teaspoon full).  Bake about 35 minutes, checking in 10 minutes before that.  If it’s golden brown and bubbly, get it out of there and put it on a rack to cool.  Do let it cool quite a bit or you’ll have berry juice and crust for dessert.   Makes a lovely dessert, but a better breakfast.  Add some ice cream or gelato if you’re eating dessert.   A bit of milk on top of it in a bowl rounds out the dish for breakfast.
Two-dog Kitchen presents:
Whose bone is that?
A little neighborhood news: 
I have a flicker (and, no, this isn’t a place to put pictures) on my chimney.
He thinks it’s wood, but the part he’s on is metal.
A hollow, chimey jack-hammer.
Out front, the primroses, which look nothing like roses, are blooming inky, dark purple.
Nearby, a rabbit (he lives here) sits up just like a picture and looks at…?
Our house dove is at the edge of the roof cooing at her mate, who maybe skipped town.
Three young lady deer spent a lot of time peering in my window today, scared of Gabby.
The robins, down to a pair, are in and out, all around.
I’ve yet to figure out where they’re nesting.
My neighbors’ houses have forsythia in bloom.  Including Sarah M’s if she’s reading.
Why is yellow so hopeful?
In memoriam:  my pool-shooting buddy, Janet Egbert, who died yesterday suddenly…at the beautiful age of 52

Sing a new song; craft a new cobbler; love your friends while you have them,
Alyce

Book Club and Cookies: Good for your Heart..

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     I added a few grains of sea salt to some of the cookies … Wow.

Our Book Club (no-name) meets the first Wednesday of every month.  You pick your month by figuring out when you have time to clean your house and bake a couple of cookies or buy a bottle of wine.  We’re kinda new at this; we just met for the third time.   We seem to be growing by small increments, adding one new person each time.  So far, we’re all women.  Until now, we all lived in the same small up-on-the-mesa neighborhood.  Last night we had a good friend of mine join; she lives in the north end of town.  We agreed:  when it’s time for her to host book club, she’ll rent my house.  We don’t want to drive.  The wine may have something to do with liking to walk.  Perhaps this is a bit exclusive.  I don’t think we care.  Boy.

So last night was my night.  The book was MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather.  What a book.  It sparked lots of conversation about life on the plains, immigrants, and our own nationalities and backgrounds.  Maybe more than about the book itself.  Two of us discovered that each has an American Indian grandparent.  We all found out that one of us went to a  one-room school house; her father went to the same school.  Another still has a few words of German, even though her family came from Germany in the 1850’s.  We now know who feels at home in Colorado Springs and who would rather be elsewhere.

We work it this way (so far):  if you host, you choose the book for the next meeting.  The library has an extensive collection of book club books and we’ve been able to find one each time and get free copies for everyone.  Cool… and it’s accessible in lots of ways with a six-week check-out period. 

Well, this is a food blog…so how about a little about the food?   I served wine:  a nice California zin (Cigarzin) and an Alsatian Pinot Gris (Helfrich) to accompany a little cheese spread that’s great for spring.  Note:  I heard “Giada” talk about this spread and remembered it–not original–except for the addition of black pepper.

Mix equal amounts goat’s cheese and ricotta.   Add grated lemon rind and minced fresh basil to taste.  Optional:  a little fresh ground pepper on top.  Serve with skinny, crispy crackers.

(I saw this made on the Food Network–Giada, I think.  I don’t know if there’s a real recipe.)

I also served coffee and some sweet little cookies.  These are a riff on a cookie from Ina Garten’s BAREFOOT CONTESSA PARTIES, and Ina got the recipe from Eli Zabar.  Hmph.  Cookbooks bring people together; never doubt it.  Here’s how I did it:

BOOKCLUB COOKIES (Tiny shortbreads dripped, no–dipped! in chocolate)

3/4 # butter, unsalted (3 sticks) at room temp
1 c white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/4 t salt

3.5-4.5 oz dark chocolate  (I like Valrhona Guanaja; you can try orange Lindt as well)

1/4 c sea salt, optional

Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar for 2 minutes until light and fluffly.  Add vanilla; beat 30 seconds.   Mix salt (yes, it’s really only 1/4 t) into the flour and beat together with the butter-sugar mixer until the dough holds together well.  Dump dough onto counter and shape into a flat disk.  Wrap in plastic and chill 30 min.

*Preheat oven to 350F.  Remove dough from refrigerator. 

*Roll the dough out 1/4-1/2″ thick (your choice).  Cut out with 2″ fluted cookie cutters and place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake about 15-20 min, depending on thickness.  Cookies should remain fairly pale, but are done when they just begin to brown around the edges.  Cool on racks.

*Melt chocolate by placing in a deep, microwave proof small bowl, covered with a plate.  Microwave on low for about 2 minutes.  Stir; heat a little more if required.  Note:  some people would rather melt chocolate in a double boiler.  If you’d like to do that, bring a small pan of water to simmer and place a pan with the chocolate on top of the pan with water.  Make sure the chocolate bowl doesn’t touch the water.  Let chocolate melt slowly, stirring often until completely melted.

*Set out large cookie sheets or platters (2-3) and line with waxed paper.  Take a totally cooled cookie and dip its edge into the melted chocolate.  Let drip (you can wave it a little) a second or two and carefully place it on the waxed papered tray to cool and harden.  Add a couple of grains of sea salt if desired.    Repeat (this is time consuming) until all of the cookies are done.  Let sit just like that 2-3 hours until chocolate is solid.  Store covered with wax paper between layers. 

*You can also choose to leave the cookies plain, in which case they will keep longer–for weeks.

Sing a new song; bake a new cookie; read a new book; get to know your friends better….
Alyce

TWO-DOG KITCHEN  –up again.  Sorry if you missed it!

If I Knew You Were Comin’, Ida Baked a Cake….

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Sometimes, when good friends come to visit, or even acquaintances, they say, “When I come, will you make ____________?”  I’m happy to oblige.  Who wouldn’t feel good about that sort of request?

Sue knew she was coming for several weeks and said, “The only thing I want is a big chocolate cake; I’ve just seen that new Meryl Streep movie, ‘It’s Complicated.”  Well, Sue doesn’t really eat much chocolate.  Ever.  I didn’t know what to do with the request and I hadn’t seen the movie.  I make killer chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and, once when I sent some for her birthday, she took them to the office and told me, “You know I don’t hardly eat chocolate.”  And now she wants a chocolate cake?  Too weird.

Anyway, I absolutely LOVE chocolate cake. Seldom make it because my husband is not a chocolate eater.  Though he, too, seems to be coming around. Hmm.  Once, when I was staying at Sue’s, we stopped at a sweet cafe for dessert and I happily waded through a huge piece of multi-layer dark madness because I just never get any at home and, truly, most restaurants don’t have good dessert.  (So sad……….)

So what kind of a chocolate cake was I going to make?  I had made a Chocolate-Hazelnut torte for Thanksgiving.  One of those deep, murky, thick and seemingly  heavy, but sweetly light, melting things made in the springform pan.  Almost no flour. Great for gluten-free.  Basically ground hazelnuts (which made the “flour”) and melted oh-so-fine Callebaut bittersweet chocolate.  I thought I’d see a rerun of that cake.  Ooooo.  Did I really have a reason to recreate it?  I was in heaven.

This particular confection is not French, but Italian, and is called…………….

Torta Gianduja     ( as I tell my students, “Anything in Italian sounds good to eat!”)

and the recipe had come from COOKS ILLUSTRATED ITALIAN FAVORITES.  Since I’m now testing recipes from COOKS, I was even happier to try it all again and see how it went.  Their recipes are amongst the very well-tried and true resources for serious cooks.  If  you ever  use them, you’ll see the difference.

 I had no memory of the time involved to make this cake.  I had made it a few days before Thanksgiving because the recipe indicated “can be wrapped in plastic and stored in the refrigerator for several days.”  Who wouldn’t do that at holiday time?  Besides, I wasn’t even cooking Thanksgiving dinner last year; I was just filling in the holes for a dinner my friend, and phenomenal cook, Tony was making.  I could take my time and make the few dishes I was responsible for…at my leisure.  Oh  joy.  NO timetable really.  But, as I began to put things together this time, I realized this was time-consuming.  Not terribly, but somewhat.  So, I warn you.  This involves slowly melting chocolate; don’t try the microwave for this one, though I otherwise recommend it for chocolate.  It takes 15 minutes to roast the hazelnuts the first time around and then you have to towel, towel, towel them to get the skins off.  You must then roast them a second time. This is if you have bought SHELLED hazelnuts and I usually buy nuts in the shell for something like this–just to insure freshness.  Nothing worse than stale nuts.  If you shell the nuts, that’s another half-hour or more if your hands aren’t in great shape.   You’re beginning to get the picture.  So, leave an hour and a half for making this cake.  It took me two hours because three people called in the middle of the prep and the puppy had to go out oh, twice.  Big breath.  Definitely worth the effort. Not something you make every week, is it?  So, here’s the cake I made…huge thanks to COOKS’

CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT CAKE
TORTA GIANDUJA
SERVES 8 EASILY

8 T unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for the pan                                                      
6 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate

1 1/3 c hazelnuts (about 6 2/3 oz), shelled, toasted, skinned,
            and toasted again*
1 c granulated sugar, divided
2 T unbleached all-purpose flour or gluten free flour mix
6 large egg yolks
3 large egg whites
1/4 t salt                                                                                                 
Confectioner’s sugar
Whipped cream, optional                                                                         
Preheat oven to 350 and put rack in middle of oven.
Generously butter 9″ springform pan and set aside.
Place chocolate in heatproof small pot set over pan of simmering
water.  Melt, stirring occasionally.  Cool to room temperature.
Place toasted, skinned hazelnuts in food processor with 1/4 c
granulated sugar and process until finely ground.
In mixing bowl, with electric mixer (handheld or stand),  beat butter until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add remaining 3/4 c sugar, beating until creamy, 2-3 min.  Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add cooled chocoalte and beat briefly.  Add ground hazelnut-sugar mixture by gently stirring in. 
In another very clean and dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with
salt and beat until stiff peaks form.
With rubber spatula, fold in one-third of whites to chocolate- nut
mixture.  Repeat twice, folding carefully to maintain lightness.  Pour batter into prepared pan.
Place in oven and bake 40-50 minutes until fairly firm and toothpick comes out clean.  Center of cake will be moist.
          Cool completely on wire rack for 
3 hours.  Cake can be wrapped in plastic and stored in the refrigerator for several days.  Just before serving, dust with confectioner’s sugar.  Cut cake into wedges and serve with whipped cream, if desired.
*Toasting the hazelnuts:  Toast the nuts in a skillet or in a 350 oven for about 15 minutes.  Transfer nuts to kitchen towel and gather the corners of the towel together.  Twist the gathered corners to seal in the nuts.  Rub nuts together through the towel to scrape off as much as possible of the brown papery skins.  Ok if some patches of skin remain.  Carefully open towel on flat work surface.  Gently roll nuts away from skins.  Return nuts to oven or pan and roast/toast for 15 more minutes.

      
and, of course… NEWS FROM THE TWO-DOG KITCHEN:  
Thanks for a great visit, Suzy ; I loved making the cake.  The dogs enjoyed you, too!!
Sing a new song and bake a new cake, Alyce
       

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cream Cheese-Coconut Frosting or Riding on the City of New Orleans

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DSC00695 2
“Yes, by Saint Anne; and ginger shall be hot i’ the mouth, too.”
Shakespeare, TWELFTH-NIGHT,  Act II, Scene 3

It was a great day for city of New Orleans and a better day for the Saints.  As a good chunk of my family lives in that area (my dad was born nearby), I have some pretty good smiles myself this morning thinking of how he’d feel if he could hear yesterday’s Super Bowl score.  Naturally, while the game was definitely great,  the food was, to me, a little more important (ha) than the game…  Well, it’s true.

So——

Mike (next-door–great big tv) said he’d do some pulled pork (Remember all of those Yahoo! trending searches where “pork recipes” was near the top?–Mike was there.) and so I said I’d do a great dip with veggies and something for dessert.  Yes, and then when I got home from church, I had to do something about all of that.  Super Bowl.  Cold, icy, snowing up here on the mesa in the Springs.  Visibility low.  Pretty gray.  Good game coming..  (Don’t ask me, really, I  usually read the NYT and eat.)

I knew we needed to be ready early because we were walking (carefully, carefully) down to June and John’s for a pre-game  glass of wine first.  Oh, famous last words, I had plenty of time.  Why is it then that, as if often the case,  I barely have time to brush my teeth before we either leave or friends arrive?  When I had “plenty of time.”

The dip was no problem; I had been drooling over Melissa Clark’s Greek Goddess dip from the Wednesday NYT food section.  She notes “serve immediately,” so I left off making that as it was full of fresh herbs and appeared to come together in the food process fairly quickly. (It did.)  There wasn’t anyone who didn’t eat and eat that dip. (I did add a tish salt, a few drops of Tabasco and skipped the mayonnaise..this for future cooks.)   I also made my own pita strips,  not chips, by slicing up whole wheat  pita bread, spraying them with Pam and then sprinkling on either black pepper and sesame seeds or black pepper and paprika. (Bake 350 F, about 12 minutes, turning strips over once, half-way through baking.)  Both were yummy.   That wouldn’t take long, would it?  Still, chopping up the veg for a big tray WOULD be time-consuming; I left Dave to it.  He even got down a great big platter and washed it.  I married the right guy. You knew that.

 

But, the dessert.  What was I to make?  I flipped through my own mind’s recipe file and came up with homey trays of cookies or brownies (Super Bowl fare ain’t creme brulee.) or big, house-sniffing pies.  I fanned through the indexes of Ina Garten’s books for fun and wondered about ice cream, as I had heavy cream.  Chocolate and espresso was sounding good.  But I had made gingerbread with a little whipped cream for Friday night’s dessert (and part of Saturday morning’s breakfast)  after making
Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya from the lovely blog makingsundaysauce.com.  That gingerbread kept calling me back.  I  wanted it again, but I wanted it differently.  Weird, I have a sweet tooth typically only tuned to the chocolate station.  What was this about?  Oh…it was cupcakes calling.

What about cupcakes?  What about cream cheese frosting, as in carrot cake?  And what about some coconut?  Coconut cupcakes call people.  They just do.  If they like coconut, that is.  So I’d make some with and some without. (No problem after all; everyone liked coconut.) Make ’em, bake ’em and take ’em today. *  You’ll have a rock band playing in your mouth after you eat these.    Here’s how I did it:

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Coconut Frosting
   makes 20 cupcakes

1 3/4 c boiling water
1/3 c brown sugar
1 3/4 c molasses
2 eggs, well beaten
12 T unsalted butter, melted (1 1/2 sticks)

3 3/4 c all-purpose, unbleached flour
2T ground ginger
2 t cinnamon (I like Vietnamese)
3/4 t ground cloves
1 t finely fresh ground black pepper
2 t baking powder
1 t salt

Cream Cheese Frosting (see below)

2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut

 

                                                                         
                                         

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Grease and flour muffin pans (makes about 20).  If you want to line the cups with paper wrappers, you can.  I think they take the moisture out of the cupcake or muffin and make the cake steam in a way I don’t like.  I like the hot metal on the batter for a firm, crispy crust.  Try it once.

Beat well together the liquid ingredients in a medium bowl or 8 cup measuring cup.  In large mixing bowl, stir together the dry ingredients.  Add liquids and stir until barely combined.  Using a large pammed ice cream scoop, scoop the batter into the prepared pans, filling each cup no more than 3/4 full.  Bake about 15 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.  Remove from oven and let set a few minutes before turning out onto cooling racks.  Cool completely before icing.  After icing, dip tops, using a rolling motion,  into a shallow bowl filled with the  coconut.   Store in tupperware or on a tray carefully covered with foil (stick toothpicks in a few cupcakes to keep foil from sticking.)  Serve immediately or refrigerate.

*This recipe developed from reading two recipes and  creating the cupcake recipe with my own additions/changes.  1.THE FANNY FARMER BAKING BOOK  Marion Cunningham, p 325, “Soft Gingerbread” and  2.THE SPLENDID TABLE’S HOW TO EAT SUPPER by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift, p 310 “Dark and Moist Gingerbread.”

Cream Cheese Frosting
   from Grace Herson, chef extraordinaire, Woodlawn Plantation, Mt. Vernon, Virginia–Grace gave me this recipe in 1985 in a cookbook she and others wrote for me..

4T unsalted butter, softened
8 oz package cream cheese (low-fat), softened
3-4 c powdered sugar (start with 3 c)
2t vanilla

Place butter and creamed cheese in mixing bowl, and using electric mixer, beat together for 2 minutes.  Stop mixer, add 3 cups powdered sugar, starting the beater slowly, combine and then  and beat well.  Add vanilla and beat again 2 minutes.  Add more powdered sugar to desired thickness.  Use frosting immediately and refrigerate leftovers.

{printable recipe}

AND, OF COURSE, NEWS FROM THE 2-DOG KITCHEN:

wake up and play with me
Sing a new song; eat a new cupcake,
Alyce

Emily’s Takeover

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Today I decided to takeover not only my mother’s blog but her kitchen as well. I’m on vacation from seminary (follow my blog!) and decided to make a delicious dinner for my parents. I live in a dorm and eat in a cafeteria, so I don’t get a chance to do real cooking very often. I’m not a great cook, but I can follow directions pretty well. Today I wanted to stretch my culinary skills. We invited over some friends, and we watched the snow continue to fly. For some reason I gravitated to French foods or at least foods that sound kind of French. I had no idea if everything would go well together, but I didn’t know when the next chance for me to cook would be. It helps that I’m at home in safe place. In case something went wrong I could pull out the big guns (crying) and Mom would jump in and fix it. That didn’t happen although I had lots of questions.
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Menu:
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Hummus and Fresh Vegetables
Tuna Croquettes with Sauce Remoulade
French Onion Soup
Alyce’ Sweet Balsamic Salad
Creme Brulee
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Starters: I bought hummus (garlic) at the store and arranged on a cute plate these things:
celery, asparagus, English cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots
–Dish #1 : Tuna Croquettes –I’m not sure what I expected here, but they were a little like incredibly good crab cakes. Except! I didn’t have to pay for crab. I used tuna in pouches.

Recipe by Alton Brown
I had seen this recipe on Alton Brown’s show Good Eats. It sounded good. It turned out good. Because the panko is lighter than normal breadcrums, each little ball of tuna-ie delight was crispy but not heavy. I can’t see these croquettes as a full meal, but it was a satisfying appetizer. Even though the recepe online shows the croquettes with some sort of thick sauce, there was no recipe! Mom whipped up a sauce made of mayonaise, shallots, dill pickles and dijon mustard. She called it a Revved Up Tartar Sauce which then we realized was close to a sauce remoulade.
Dish # 2: French Onion Soup—This one doesn’t bake, nor does it have a ton of heavy cheese- just parmesan when you serve it. Oooo la la ! The house smells like heaven.
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Carmelizing the onions above. Ina says 20 min; it took 45.

The soup cooking.. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH———-


Here (above) are the parmesan croutons for the soup. Good all by themselves, too.

Recipe by the Barefoot Contessa (also found in the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook from 1999)

I have never made soup before except by heating up the insides of a can. So when the idea went off in my head to make French onion soup, I was confused. “Don’t you know I don’t cook?” I told myself, but I just wouldn’t listen to me. So I found what looked like one of the easier French onion soups in the world. The hardest part was slicing the onions. I had no idea how to slice an onion properly, but I found out that once you cook them it doesn’t really matter if you sliced them ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. It’s important to get all the onions about the same size if you can. It did take twice as long for the onions to brown than the Barefoot Contessa told me, but I assume that’s because I’m in Colorado and the altitude makes cooking weird sometimes. I used a sweet sherry that made a big difference in the final product. The house still smells wonderful from the onions and butter that were the base of the soup. I finished the soup about an hour and a half early and just left it on the stove until our friends showed up and we were eating the first course. It warmed up very quickly and was delicious.

Mom made a quick salad to go with the soup so that we would have something green. It was kind of like this:
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Dish 3a. Alyce’s Sweet Balsamic Salad
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10 cups mixed greens (she used baby arugula and baby spinach
1/3 c chopped walnuts
1/2 c cherry tomatoes
Juice of half a lemon
Pinch ea: kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
2T Balsamic Vinegar
1T honey
4-5 T extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/8 tsp fresh ground pepper
.
I think she made the dressing in the bottom of the bowl first. She whisked together the vinegar, honey and salt and pepper. Then she drizzled in the oil until it was all mixed pretty well.
Greens, walnuts and tomatoes went on top in a large bowl, which was refrigerated until we needed to eat it. Then Dad tossed it and served it on salad plates.

Dish #4: Creme Brulee See top and bottom photos, too!
Recipe from The Gourmet Cookbook edited by Ruth Reichl (2004)

Here-above- I am doing something Mom says is “tempering the eggs.” Otherwise, the hot cream will scramble the eggs and we don’t exactly want breakfast tonight.


SO GOOD! One neighbor raved, “This is the best creme brulee I’ve ever had!” I usually bake a type of cake for a dessert, but I really wanted to try something different. I think Creme Brulee is super fancy and grown up. Turns out it’s not that hard to make if you’ve got a torch handy. Mom said the key to a good creme brulee is good heavy cream and high quality vanilla. As a Masters student I understand that it makes sense to buy the cheap vanilla, but after eating this creme brulee I will NEVER buy cheap vanilla again. The creme was creamy and smooth. The brulee (expertly burned by my father) was crackling and crisp. If you want people to think you can make incredible desserts but you don’t know if you really can, this recipe is for you! It does take some specialized equipment (ramikins, torch), but invest in that equipment and it will pay off.
(Mom says you can use plain old Pyrex custard cups and put the creme brulee under the broiler; you can do without the special stuff but it’s so fun to torch something, says Dad.
The best part about cooking for people is that you get to spend time them and show them you care. I hope you enjoy these recipes and take over YOUR mother’s kitchen some time.
Check out the rest of the creme brulee pictures below…………………..
.
God Bless,
Emily
power tools


Mom’s note: Wow! I love having anyone cook like that for me. AND the creme brulee was, there’s no other word: silky. Thanks, Emi. Come home anytime.

Ginger Cookies and Merry Christmas!

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Food-Cookies-Ginger

Before we begin with ginger cookies, a huge and wonderful Christmas cookie hug to all who participated in DROP IN AND DECORATE. I think we had 14 dozen incredible sugar, gingerbread and chocolate cut-out cookies, decorated to the nines, for our local Bridge, An Assisted Living Center. We tasted, we decorated, we had dinner, we played, we sang, we laughed and we got to be better friends. Perfect thanks to Lydia Walshin of The Perfect Pantry for the super idea (now in the eighth year) of holiday fun and “doin’ good.”
Lydia tells me she’ll include a pic and a few sentences on the website after the first of the year. Eyes peeled. And: Let’s do it next year!

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Drop in and Decorate

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COOKIES COOKIES COOKIES

SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR

KIDS PARENTS DOGS CAROLS

SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR

SOUP BREAD BUTTER WINE (vegeterian lentil and chili con carne)

SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR

What a great time we had! We began decorating at 4pm and the last neighbor wandered back over for one more glass of wine about 9. We had

Three kinds of cookies:

Sugar
Chocolate/cinnamon
Gingerbread
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Three kinds of icing (with food coloring for lots of colors- if you desired)
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Regular (buttercream)
Glaze
Royal
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15 sprinkles (maybe more) We even had pearls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nuts
Crushed Peppermint
Coconut
Grated Chocolate
Altogether, we decorated about 14 dozen cookies for “The Bridge,” an assisted living community here in Colorado Springs. Cookies will be delivered tomorrow.
Pics posted and then, loved ones, I’m in bed and ready for a 6am departure to Florida.
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Gabby had a great time. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…………………………………

Merry Christmas! Enjoy!!
Eat a new cookie,
Alyce

Drop in and Decorate! Monday, December 14, 2009

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DROP IN AND DECORATE–STILL TIME TO RSVP FOR MON, 12/14, 4-7PM

What an incredible evening! Fun, Friends, Food……. and COOKIES, CAROLS & COOKIES!!!

Here’s a sampling of COOKIES and food::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

We will decorate three types of cookies:

Plain old Sugar Cookies from Fannie Farmer’s Baking Book
Gingerbread People (from same) and Chocolate Cutouts (Martha Stewart)

We have several colors of icing and 15 different “sprinkles.” We’ll even have “pearls.”

Cookies are to be donated to The Bridge (Assisted Living Center).

Please take a few to someone you know who no longer bakes. I have cellophane bags available.


Dinner: Your choice of Chili or Vegetarian Lentil Soup
French Bread from MARIGOLD’S CAFE
Wine: A-Z Riesling (Oregon)
Zinfandel (California)


Cocoa and
Coffee with, what else for dessert, your own decorated cookie!

Is there anything like a decorated cookie? Or any cookie cut into shapes? They’re just plain old fun. Enjoy the following poem………… It makes me think of Christmas Cookies.

Animal Crackers became such a part of American life that Christopher Morley (1890-1957), American humorist, playwright, poet, essayist, and editor, wrote the following poem:

Animal Crackers
by Christopher Morley

Animal crackers and cocoa to drink,
That is the finest of suppers I think;
When I’m grown up and can have what I please
I think I shall always insist upon these.
What do YOU choose when you’re offered a treat?
When Mother says, “What would you like best to eat?”
Is it waffles and syrup, or cinnamon toast?
It’s cocoa and animals that I love most!
The kitchen’s the coziest place that I know;
The kettle is singing, the stove is aglow,
And there in the twilight, how jolly to see
The cocoa and animals waiting for me.
Daddy and Mother dine later in state,
With Mary to cook for them, Susan to wait;
But they don’t have nearly as much fun as I
Who eat in the kitchen with Nurse standing by;
And Daddy once said, he would like to be me —
Having cocoa and animals once more for tea!

I’m on the way to Florida on Tuesday to bake with my sister for a few days. I’ll be back in time to make my wine group brunch, to do a clam sauce dinner for close friends, cassoulet on the 24th and so on. I’ll attempt to blog it all, but probably won’t accomplish it! Enjoy your holiday baking and cooking; it’s no chore. Share it all, my friends.

Until then, enjoy your Advent journey………
Walk, don’t run, to the stable. You’ll have more time to pray.

Sing a new carol………….Listen to all of the old ones……Plan on church for Christmas Eve……
Alyce