February DOTM: King of Cookies

The Disappointment Cookies.

I don’t know why, but I don’t have a repertoire of recipes that I trust. Maybe it’s because I would usually rather experiment with something new than actually make something that I know will turn out well? I don’t know. At any rate, I don't have much of a collection. So when it comes to giving recipes to other people, or suggesting things for a dessert, or whatever, I’m never like, “Ooh, my grandmother’s coconut cake, it’s so easy and perfect!” it's always more like, “Hmmm, I bet I could make a filling out of this tart recipe and then wrap it in the leftover puff pastry I have and oh it calls for hazelnut flour but I’ll just grind up some almonds instead...” and then I have to test it and tweak it forty seven times before it really comes out well.

That’s fun and all, but sometimes you get tired of complicated things. I make enough complicated things at work. I just wanted a cookie. But ya’ll. I went through THREE cookie recipes before I found one that came out well. THREE. Wtf? I mean, they were edible. But I can’t share a recipe that only comes out so-so. As I was chewing on a rubbery sablé I could just imagine your collective disappointment when you finally made them and I COULD NOT DO THAT TO YOU GUYS. So I got really pissed off and stomped around for a while. And then I remembered that I DO have a perfect recipe!

I didn’t come up with this, and in fact it might very well be the recipe off the Nestle bag, I don’t know. But I do know that it makes the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had.

1/2 pound butter
365g brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 eggs
360g AP flour
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
450g chocolate chips

Cream the butter and the sugar to a paste. Add the vanilla and eggs. Once that's combined, add the sifted dries, then the chocolate chips and mix just til incorporated. Bake em at around 325 or so.

Successsss!

MARCH DOTM POPS BY AMELIA

I told you guys Amelia's DOTM was gonna be worth the wait. You will be getting these in your mail box but if you are already crazy from the heat perhaps you'd like to make some now!!! Just click the images to see the luscious recipes for these weather appropriate treats!

february: salted caramel chocolate lava cakes!

February is a terrible month. The fun of winter (lights, cookies, Santa, etc.) has long passed but spring still seems so far, far away. I have been lucky enough so far not to experience anything a news team might name "snowmageddon," but winter is still sucking pretty hard right about now.

That's why I, and you, need WARM GOOEY OOZY CHOCOLATEY CHOCOLATE CAKE to make it through. When the cold and dark are bringing you down and you're ready to murder some groundhogs hole up with a valentine and make this and feel better.

Chocolate lava cake is basically nothing more than an undercooked cake. You cook the batter over a water bath before baking so that you can take the cake out of the oven early, before the center is set. You can make the batter ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze it. It's so easy but trust me, people will go apeshit for that lava. Serve it warm out of the oven and VOILA, VALENTINES APLENTY.

If you're not into caramel (in which case you'll never be MY valentine, but that's ok) you can skip that step; you'll just have chocolate instead of caramel lava. Make sure to take them out of the oven when they start to look sunken for maximum goo.

This is the best dessert to eat in bed, according to the chef who demo'd this for our class. Take that as you will.



Chocolate lava cake with salted caramel
I'm not sure exactly how many cakes this yields; I halved the recipe so, approximately half a shit ton.

4 egg yolks
4 whole eggs
7 oz butter
150 g dark chocolate (I used 70%, cause that's how I like it, but anything above 55% will do)
3/4 cup cake flour
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

8 oz sugar
2 oz water
Heavy cream
Fleur de sel or other flaky sea salt


-Preheat your oven to 400.

-Make the caramel:
Have an ice bath ready. Heat the sugar and water in a saucepan. Don't stir it! When it reaches a dark blonde (as seen against a white plate...it will look darker in the pot), stick the pot in the ice bath to arrest the cooking. Add an equal amount of heavy cream and stir to combine. It will be a thick sauce-like consistency. Let cool slightly and firm up a bit.

-Spray some molds, flan cups, ramekins, etc. I used a muffin tin which was a bit of a pain to extract the cakes from but it worked OK.
-Melt the butter and chocolate over a water bath.
-Add the yolks and the whole eggs a little at a time, whisking constantly. The mixture will appear to separate and then will come back together. Cook to 170-180 degrees (this ensures the eggs are pasteurized but not overcooked).
-Add the sifted powdered sugar a little at a time.
-Add the sifted flour a little at a time.
-When the mixture is well-incorporated, pour into molds 3/4 full.

-Form the caramel into small truffle-sized balls and sprinkle with fleur de sel.

-Bake the cakes for a few minutes, just until they start to set up a bit and a crust begins to form. Drop a caramel ball into the middle of each one and bake for another few minutes. They will look slightly sunken and underdone-- this is good. All told they'll probably be in the oven for about 10-13 minutes.

-Pop them out of the molds (or fish them out of the muffin tin with a fork) and serve immediately.

JANUARY DOTM

Tara made a pie for National Pie Day in one of my personal favorite flavor combinations: Cherry Almond! My corner market has cherries right now.....ooooooooo.
And remember.."No exploding pies"!!
Thanks Tara!

NOV DOTM Chocolate Guinness Cake

So, this is a cake I make a lot because it's so easy and I usually have everything I need at home already. The beer, however, does need replenishing sometimes. I've found that even people who aren't cake people like this cake. It stays pretty moist even in the fridge and freezes well.

Ingredients:

1 cup dark cocoa powder (sifted)
1 3/4 cups flour (sifted)
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups brown sugar
1 cup Guinness (not extra stout)
1 cup boiling water
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup coconut flakes

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and put water on to boil
Mix all dry ingredients then add wet ingredients one at a time adding the water last.
The batter will be very wet. It’s normal.

I use a 10” sprayed spring form pan with a pizza pan or something underneath it in case any leaks out. In my oven the cake bakes in 45 minutes. About halfway into cooking time sprinkle the top with coconut flakes. They will toast as the cake finishes baking. Do a toothpick test and if it comes out clean it’s ready. Let it rest for about 30 minutes before removing from the pan.
Any pan can be used but the cooking time will get adjusted. If you use a casserole dish to make it more like a sheet cake it’ll take about 20 minutes.

I serve it with whipped cream
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Whisk together in a cold bowl (I put mine in the freezer) until it looks like whipped cream. You can add more powdered sugar if it’s not sweet enough for ya.

October DOTM: Apple Cream Pie

I'm sending out my October DOTM today!
It's a recipe for Apple Cream Pie from Mildred Armstrong Kalish's memoir Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression (which I highly recommend!) Check out the book's website for more farm recipes!

From Chapter 11, "Farm Food"

Here’s how to make crust for two large one-crust pies.

3 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/8 cup skim or whole milk

Blend all together with a fork, and form into two equal balls using your hands. Roll out between two sheets of wax paper. Peel the top paper off the dough using a spatula. With the paper side up, carefully fit the crust into the pie pan. Now carefully remove the wax paper. If the crust tears, don’t worry. Using your fingers, carefully paste over the hole. Take care not to stretch the dough. Unlike the old-fashioned lard dough, you can handle this mixture as much as you like. You will probably never make the old-fashioned dough again. (I was skeptical of this crust at first, because pie crusts intimidate me anyways, but even though it's not that pretty...it was easy and delicious!)

Note: the following recipe for pie filling is for one ten-inch pie; if you want to make two pies, double it.

¾ cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons flour
6 large Granny Smith apples
½ pint heavy cream
cinnamon

Combine three quarters of a cup of sugar with three tablespoons flour and one half teaspoon salt. Stir. Add three tablespoons of this mixture to the dough-lined pie pan, and pat it gently but firmly into the crust with the opened palm of your hand. This little trick promises a crisp bottom crust when baked. Set aside the remainder of the sugar mixture.

Peel, core, and cut into eighths six Granny Smith apples. Add two tablespoons of lemon juice if the apples are not tart enough. Arrange apples in the crust, sprinkle with the remainder of the sugar-flour mixture, and dust liberally with cinnamon. Pour a half pint of heavy cream over all and sprinkle one tablespoon of sugar on top of this wonderful creation. Place in 450° oven for twelve minutes, then reduce the heat to 350° and bake about one hour or until the apples are done. You should test for doneness with a toothpick—or a straw drawn from the kitchen broom if you are as indifferent to the dangers of germs as we were.

Sorbete de limon al mar de cava

My contribution to DOTMC last year was inspired by this dessert, Sorbete de limon al mar de cava, which I first had in January 2008 at Cal Boter in Barcelona. I was lucky enough to be able to return yesterday and couldn't resist ordering it again, even though the menu has other tremendously delicious and classic Catalan desserts. There is something about this perfectly smooth sweet and sour sorbet floating in an equally sour but very strong liqueur that just gets my goat. The other thing that makes me crazy is the liqueur is basically impossible to find, even here in Barcelona, so I guess I'll just take what I can get and enjoy the special chances I have every few years.

RICHARD AND LYNNE'S CINNAMON ROLL AND KLEINUR

Finally posted!! Sorry it took so long. I am all over the Kleinur!!!!!! For step by step illustrated instructions, download the pdfs which are linked below.



Cinnamon Roll



Ömmu-kanelsnú∂ar (Granny's cinnamon rolls)
Adapted from Cool Cuisine by Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir, Vaka-Helgafell.
Richard Lewis, Dessert of the Month entry for May 2009


From my many visits to Iceland over the years, I've accumulated quite a number of Icelandic cookbooks. Unfortunately, most of them are not available outside of Iceland - like this one
(unless you want to buy the used copy up on Amazon at the moment for $50, which seems a bit much!). I've never actually seen these little rolled cinnamon shortbread-like cookies on my
travels, but they are great, and you probably won't find the recipe elsewhere...
700g flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baker's ammonia
225g sugar
200g cold butter
2 eggs
50g melted butter
1 tbs cinnamon
cream
Mix the flour with the baking powder and baker's ammonia in a bowl. Add 150g of the sugar
and mix. Cut the cold butter into small cubes and crumble it thoroughly into the dry ingredients
using a mixer.

Make a well in the middle of the crumbs and break the eggs into it. Gradually stir into the mixer
at low speed and knead until smooth. If the dough does not come together, add cold cream by
tablespoons. Remove from the bowl and form into a disk (you may need to knead it a little to get
all the dough bits to stick together) - wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 355°F. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it into a rectangle,
about 25 x 35 cm. The dough will be pretty firm, but you should be able to shape it pretty well.
Brush the dough with the melted butter.
Trim the edges of the dough so they are straight. Mix the remaining 75g of sugar with the cinnamon and sprinkle it over the dough.
Roll up the rectangle, starting at one of the long sides. I recommend using Silpat for these
cookies as it makes it easier to roll the dough.
Cut the roll into 1 cm thick slices and arrange them on a baking sheet lined with parchment
paper.
Bake the rolls in the center of the oven for 20-25 minutes or until nicely brown and crisp. Enjoy!











Kleinur


Kleinur (Icelandic doughnuts)
Adapted from Icelandic Food & Cookery by Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir, Hippocrene Books.
Richard Lewis, Dessert of the Month entry for May 2009
There are variations on this theme around Scandinavia, but here is how to make the Icelandic
version. This recipe tends to make kleinur that are a little more crisp and less dough-y than other
versions, which I like. You can get them pretty much all over in Iceland, even at the airport. I've
never seen them anywhere in the USA, though...


2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baker's ammonia (use a mix of baking soda and baking powder if you don't have it)
Pinch of salt
6 tbs butter
2 eggs
1 tsp freshly ground cardamom
1/4 cup buttermilk (you may not use all of it)
oil for frying
Grinding fresh cardamom makes a difference! I love my mortar and pestle - it gets a lot of use for grinding spices. Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, baker's ammonia, and salt in a bowl. Add the butter and stir until
combined. Add eggs and flavoring and mix well.
Add the buttermilk little by little until the dough is fairly soft, but not sticky. If the dough gets too wet, don't panic - just add flour until it all comes back together.
The dough is pretty forgiving.
Flour a flat surface, take the dough out of the bowl, and roll it out to around 1/8 to 1/6 inch thickness.Don't sweat it too much over the shape - you're going to end up trimming off pieces and re-
rolling this out several times with dough scraps.
Trim off one edge of the dough so that you have a straight side.Use a bench scraper or some other long straight edge to mark out parallel lines roughly 1 1/2
inches apart. Now would be a good time to start heating the oil for frying - a good sized wok works great as the vessel for frying.
Mark off diagonal lines that are spaced out about 3 inches apart.Once you have the whole surface of the dough marked off, go ahead and cut through the dough
fully to make lots of little diamonds. Make a little slit in the center of each diamond, and pull one end of the dough through the center slit.I make all of the diamonds first, and place them on lightly-floured baking sheets. Take all the
scraps from the first set of diamonds, roll it out again, and repeat until you've used up basically all the dough. They recommend getting the oil to 375°F. I usually just wing it, and try a small bit of dough in
the oil to figure out if it's at frying temperature (it'll start sizzling and turning brown when it's hot
enough). Fry the bows, 6 at a time in the oil until just golden, about 2 minutes.
Use a slotted spoon to turn them over once for even cooking. Cook them a bit less on the other side. Use the spoon to remove the bows from the oil, and let them cool and drain on paper towel. Technically, that is it - but I like to dust them with a little powdered sugar just before eating,
even though it's not traditional. Wait until they are cool so the heat and steam don't make the sugar gummy).
Dunking in coffee also works well!

June DOTMC: Strawberry Rhubarb Crema Catalana

These days I’m super into using the best ingredients I can find. For this recipe I wanted to use the fruit from my CSA and fresh raw dairy from my dairy club. I’m also trying not to use refined sugar or corn starch wherever possible so I thought I’d give this a go. This is a traditional Catalan dessert made slightly modern through the use of ingredients as it is usually made with sugar, corn or potato starch and no fruit. Play around with it and fee free to borrow my cast iron caramelizing tool!

5 stalks fresh rhubarb
1 ½ t. butter
1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/4 cup honey

Slice and sautee the rhubarb in butter until soft, approximately 4-5 minutes. Combine with strawberries in a large bowl, refrigerate.

2 cups milk
4 tablespoons honey (more to taste if you wish)
seeds of 1 vanilla bean
4 egg yolks
1 T kuzu powder
2 T maple crystals

Pour milk into pan, add 2 T honey, the vanilla bean seeds and bring to a simmer and remove from the heat.
While the milk is heating, beat the egg yolks, 2 T honey and the kuzu. Gradually stir in the hot milk and then return the mixture to the pan. Bring back to a simmer and cook, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes or until thickened to the consistency of soft pudding. Strain out the vanilla seeds and pour into a serving dish or 4 individual serving dishes, add 2 T of the strawberry-rhubarb mixture to the middle of the custard, let cool, then refrigerate for at least an hour (will be fine covered with plastic for up to a day.) Just before serving, sprinkle maple crystals on top and using either a kitchen torch or cast iron tool specifically for this purpose, burn the crystals to caramelize.

Serves 4

DOUBLE DESSERTS

We have two Desserts Of the Month to feature today. The first is Molly Schnick's whose month was a while back but I misplaced it. Luckily it resurfaced!!
For those of you who don't know Molly's Snickerdoodles, which I prefer to call Schnickerdoodles, are the best version I have ever tasted. In other words DON'T SLEEP.





















The next DOTM, is APRIL and comes to us from Jodi, our Vegan Queen! I love love love a good quick cake recipe! This one looks moist and flavorful and I plan on making it for sure. It looks like the kind of cake you can build a tea party around!
Thanks Ladies!!!!

MARCH DESSERT OF THE MONTH

Check the mail DOTMCers!
Today, I got the most beautiful surprise! A charming dessert, perfect for Springtime from our Miss March, Amelia! I had never heard of Posset or Friands before! It seems Posset is an old English pudding drink, similar to a nog. I know I speak for all of us when I say I cannot wait to dip in.
I found a tidbit on this historic dish! Thanks so much Amelia!!!

DOTMC JANUARY

Lovely Miss Tara sent a tea cake recipe with some tea bags to encourage us! I am making this for this todays's House marathon...I mean Superbowl. Check in later for pics!Thanks Tara!!

DEC DOTMC

It looks beautiful Lori!!!!

DEC DOTMC

Ruby’s Fresh Apple Cake
This is a recipe that my grandmother (Ruby) has been using for a long time and I associate it with the holidays. She happens to be one of those ladies where you find out what pattern her serving dishes have on them and stick strictly to that pattern at family gatherings. I am not entirely sure where it came from, but I knew I needed to make it for my first DOTMC. I hope you enjoy it!

Cake
Ingredients:
1 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil, 3 eggs, 1 tsp. baking soda, 2 tsp. cinnamon, 2 tsp. vanilla flavoring, 3 Cups Diced Raw Apples (I typically use Golden Delicious, I think any kind would work, but would avoid Granny Smith), 1 Cup Raisins, 2 Cups Sugar, 1 tsp. salt, 3 Cups plain flour, 1 cup black walnuts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease 10" tube pan.
Blend oil and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beat after each egg.
Add salt, soda, vanilla and cinnamon and blend.
Add flour, reserving enough coat nuts, apples, and raisins. I blend in the majority of the flour and then fold in the flour coated nuts, apples, and raisins.

Bake for 1 hour 45 minutes at 325 degrees.

Sauce (to pour over cake, optional & delicious)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup milk, 1 stick of margarine (or butter), 1 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, 1 tsp. baking soda

Directions:
Bring to rapid boil for about 2 minutes. Pour over cake in pan. Cool cake before removing.

SEPT DOTMC FROM MARCEE

Marcee's recipe came in the mail today! How darling, it looks and how incr-EDIBLE it sounds. I am definitely investing in some butter and giving it a try

AUGUST DOTM APPLE COBBLER!

First and foremost- congratulations to Nicole!! Yea!!

I decided on apple cobbler for the August recipe because cobblers are very summer to me, but apples have started to show up at the farmers market, which is a nice welcome to fall.

Happy Baking!

MOLLY'S JUNE DOTM

I had the pleasure of trying this delicious concoction on the 4th of July at Molly's house! It was tremendously refreshing and tart (I like tart!) and the sparkly cava really made it special. I insist you make this quick before summer is out!!!
Also, let it be known that this pic was taken with an actual 35 mm camera and then clumsily scanned as a pdf and not a jpeg set for image by myself, she of the wedding brain- hence the neon limes, but hey some folks are really into neon....right?

MARCH DOTMC

HOW CUTE IS AMELIA'S COCONUT PIE???

MOLLY'S FEBRUARY DOTMC

Delish Chocolate cake that turns out even when you think it isn't going to! Molly made this for one of our supper clubs and it was fantastic, she had been worried that something went wrong but when she unveiled it- the proof was in the few minutes in which it was DEVOURED.