Creme Wafers

I had a little leftover creme fraiche, what to do? Creme wafers leapt to mind - the most tender of cookies - I want to call them biscuits in the British parlance. They are essentially tender, flaky pie pastry with sugar on top. There are fun options to the recipe - you can use a different spice with the sugar such as allspice, cloves, or "pumpkin pie spice". You could also sandwich two cookies together with buttercream, nutella, ganache...mmmm.

Roberta's Creme Wafers

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup creme fraiche or whipping cream
• 2 cups (300 grams) all-purpose flour
• Cinnamon sugar or sparkling sugar

Preparation

Place all ingredients except cinnamon (or sparkling) sugar in a food processor and mix until just blended.  Place dough in bowl, cover, and refrigerate for at least one hour.  Flour a rolling surface and roll dough out to 1/4" thickness. Cut into desired shapes, using a fork, gently prick surface and then sprinkle with cinnamon or sparkling sugar.

Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes

Old-Fashioned Date Bars

I was suddenly nostalgic for those childhood date bars my mother used to make when the kitchen would smell like baked oatmeal with an undeniable sweet overtone. You know those bars - the ones that are oat-y, buttery, and sweet, but not too sweet because they are made with a high proportion of dates rather than granulated sugar?  Well, not too sweet until you eat too many!  Yes, those.  Yum.  I tried two variations from the traditional recipe. First, I used steel-cut quick oats.  They added a nutty, chewy texture.  I am not totally convinced it works perfectly, but it is an interesting change.  The second was to add a 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves to the date mixture. I had some left over from the Caldo Verde I made last week.  Freshly ground spices are the best, so I couldn't help adding a touch since they were right there. The cloves blended well with the dates - I think I'll keep this addition.  Here's the recipe I followed with my tweaks:

Date Bars

Ingredients

• 16 ounces pitted and chopped dates
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar (if you like it less sweet, decrease this amount)
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cloves
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup shortening or lard
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 3/4 cup all purpose or whole wheat flour (or mixture)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups quick-cook oats (steel-cut for chewier, regular quick-cook for tender bars)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a saucepan mix the dates, sugar and water together. Bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes or until thick. Add cloves and cool slightly.

Blend the brown sugar and fat together until creamy.  Add rest of ingredients.  The mixture will be crumbly.  Pat half the mixture into a base crust in a 13x9 pan.  Spread date mixture over and then crumble the rest of the oat mixture on the top.  Bake 25-30 minutes.  Cut into desired bar sizes and let cool.

Quick Waffles

Here is a quick and easy waffle recipe that can take on all kinds of flavors.  This morning I zested a tangelo into it.  Divine orange flavor permeated the batter reminding me of winter in Tucson when the tangelos come ripe right off the tree.

Quick Waffles

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 3/4 cup milk (can substitute club soda, orange juice, or some combination of these)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 Tablespoons cornmeal
• Optional flavorings:
 
• zest of an orange, tangelo/minneola, or lemon
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons freshly chopped rosemary or thyme
• Club soda, as necessary

Preparation

Place all ingredients into a blender in the order given above.  Liquids must go first into a blender or things will not blend properly.  If you are going to add a seasoning, such as grated orange zest, add it now. If you are going to use fresh herbs, I'd recommend leaving out the sugar or scale it back to a pinch. Blend until all flour is absorbed, scraping sides as necessary.  The batter should be the thickness of unwhipped heavy whipping cream.  If it is too thick add more milk - or better yet club soda (I've also substituted tonic water in a pinch or orange juice on a whim).  The soda will lighten the waffles.  I've even substituted all the milk for club soda and it makes a light crispy waffle.  You're now ready to pour the batter into your preheated waffle maker.  As the batter sits, it may thicken up.  If so, add a little more milk or club soda to keep it at the right consistency.

You can use different flours than regular all-purpose flour, but you may have to adjust the quantities.  Straight whole wheat flour will weigh down the waffles so I wouldn't recommend using 100% whole wheat - try mixing it with some regular flour.  You can also substitute a hot cereal grain mix for the cornmeal. If you do that, I recommend letting the batter sit for at least 10 minutes and adjust the liquid to ensure it is still the thickness of unwhipped heavy whipping cream. Cereal grain tends to absorb more liquid than the cornmeal.

This makes a little more than 4 waffles in our waffle maker. We sometimes double it so we have extras for the freezer. Put a sheet of waxed paper between each waffle before freezing so that they are easy to get apart to heat just a few at a time.

German Baking Tradition

For the last several years, a good friend and I have been baking traditional German holiday sweets in preparation for the festive holiday season.  Why German?  Well, she is German and I love German baked goods such as Lebkuchen, Printen, Christstollen, etc.  It's a great day of baking for hours and hours.

We usually make 3 or 4 different recipes from a German cookbook.  My friend translates them as we go and we're off and baking.  Lebkuchen is always a must. After that we try out a new thing or two each year, and one or two from the past.  This year's new item was Speculaas cookies. I had this wrong when I originally posted this - I had called them Springerle, which is the southern German version.  Speculaas is the northern version. My friend, Nina, had gotten beautiful carved wooden molds to use for them, including this beautiful Saint Nicholas.

This year we also made Printen, one of my favorites from in and around Aachen, Germany.  This recipe calls for a special chunky sugar - see the picture below.  This type of sugar is hard to get in the US, so you can either leave it off or use the more common sugar sprinkles you find in this country that are clear crystals, or perhaps use nuts (almonds or hazelnuts) instead.

 

Aachener Printen

Ingredients

• 250 g. dark honey
• 65 g. brown sugar
• 65 g. butter
• 375 g. flour
• Grated lemon peel of 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon each of cardamom, coriander and cloves
• 3 teaspoons baking soda (original recipe calls for 7 g. Potash, which is not available in the US, but if you get it mix it with a little water until all lumps are gone)
• 100 g. chunky sugar sprinkles, in Germany you'd purchase "grümmel" (see picture above)

Preparation

Melt honey, brown sugar and butter together over low heat in a saucepan. Cool slightly and add rest of ingredients.  If using potash add after dough is mixed and knead into it.  Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour.  Roll out dough and press the "grümmel" onto to the top (roll lightly with rolling pin to press in evenly).  Cut into 3x8 cm strips.  Put on a greased baking sheet sugar side up and brush top with a little water.  Bake 15-18 minutes at 175-190c (or in convection oven at 170-180c).  Cover with chocolate, if desired.  These need to sit for several days or more before eating.  You can store them in an air-tight container with a piece of bread, an apple or something that will give off some moisture to soften the cookies if you like them chewier rather than hard. We are still eating them several weeks later and they are wonderful.

Happy baking to all my readers!  Thanks for another great baking year, Nina!

Cookbook Review: All-Butter, Cream-Filled, Sugar-Packed Baking Book

Who can resist picking up and perusing a book entitled "The Rosie's Bakery All-Butter, Cream-Filled, Sugar-Packed Baking Book"?  Not me, and since its the baking season, bring it on.  There are 17 chapters with over 250 recipes in this tome and every single one looks delicious; however, these are not for the faint of heart. Along with solid advice on cakes, cookies, bars, pies, and puddings, author Julie Rosenberg also classifies cookie types exactly as they should be - just check out these chapter titles: Chewy Crunchy, Crispy Chompy, Cakey Cookies, Sandwiched Together.

My perusal resulted in a desire to hop on a plane to head to Boston to visit her bakery in person.

Since I don't have that opportunity, I am going to start baking from this book today. First up - Ginger Shortbread from her Crispy Chompy chapter. After the initial crispy chomp, I expect a melt-in-the-mouth experience coupled with a pungent sweetness from the two kinds (!) of ginger. My expectations were right on. One thing to note, if you can find baker's cut crystallized ginger about 3mm size, this will make the recipe even easier since you won't have to chop the cyrstallized ginger, which can be tedious since it always wants to stick to the knife. One thing I might do post-baking is to dip them in chocolate - who wouldn't love that?

Here is the recipe:

Ginger Shortbread

Ingredients

• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons 
all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon 
(lightly packed) light brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons ground ginger
• 1 cup coarsely chopped candied ginger

Preparation

• Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together into a small bowl and set aside.
• Cream the butter, brown sugar, vanilla, and ground ginger together in a medium-size mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer once or twice to scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula.
• Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until the mixture is fluffy again, about 
45 seconds. Scrape the bowl.
• Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a work surface. Work the candied ginger into the dough with your hands.
• Divide the dough in half. Place two 16-inch lengths of waxed paper or plastic wrap on a work surface. Shape each half of the dough into a rough log about 10 inches long and 1K inches in diameter, and place it along one long side of the paper. Roll the log up in the paper and twist the ends like a hard-candy wrapper.
• Refrigerate the log for 1 to 2 hours.
• Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Using your hands, gently roll the wrapped dough back and forth on the work surface to smooth out the logs. Refrigerate again for 4 to 6 hours.
• Fifteen minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Remove the dough from the refrigerator, unwrap the logs, and cut them into slices that are a generous L inch thick. Place the cookies 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake the cookies until they are golden and firm to the touch, 28 to 30 minutes. Let them cool on the baking sheets.

Makes 60 cookies

It's the holidays - if you need new inspiration for your holiday baking - pick up a copy.  Go ahead, give yourself an early Christmas present!

The Rosie’s Bakery All-Butter, Cream-Filled, Sugar-Packed Baking Book (Workman Publishing; December 2011).

Pear Versatility

Pears come in many sizes and varieties and fall is peak season for them. Bartletts are probably the most common ones encountered in the grocery store and they are wonderful.  However, if you can find ripe Comice pears you will experience something completely different and even more wonderful.  I first came across these in Europe and after many years have now found them at peak season in our grocery stores.  They are fleeting, though, so if you find them, buy them.  The Comice pears I found yesterday at the store were labeled "French Butter" pears (the sticker still said "comice") - they are somewhat squatter, sometimes smaller, and have less of a neck than other types.  At peak ripeness they will have a greener skin than a Bartlett, but they will also have a yellow hue, give ever so slightly when touched, and smell like a pear.  They have a beautiful perfume that accompanies a very juicy, soft fruit - all of which are more pronounced than with any other variety I have eaten.  The best things to do with these pears are to eat them alone or with a piquant goat cheese that complements their perfume and juiciness.

If you have Bartletts on hand, here is a delicious dessert or breakfast dish to make, taken from an old Food & Wine article (circa 1996).

Maple Pear Pancake

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 3 Tablespoons butter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (or 1/4 whole wheat, 3/4 all-purpose)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 Bartlett pears, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 cup maple syrup (use real maple syrup)
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Preparation

Heat oven to 350 ° F.

Mix the milk and egg together, and then whisk in 2 Tablespoons melted butter.  Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together and whisk into the milk mixture.  Let stand for 10 minutes. Letting it stand is important to the final texture of the pancake as it allows the flour to fully incorporate with the liquid.

In a non-reactive oven-proof skillet, cook the pears, 1 Tablespoon of the butter, and 1/4 cup of syrup over high heat until caramelized.  Remove from heat and add 2 teaspoons lemon juice and the remaining 1/4 cup syrup.

Whisk the batter once or twice and pour it over pears.  Bake for 15 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  Invert pancake onto a platter and serve with additional maple syrup.

Serves 4.

Whole Wheat Waffles with Ginger

Waffles to the third power!  I decided that our weekend waffles needed a kick in the pants.  So, what could be better than whole wheat and ginger?

Whole Wheat Waffles with Ginger

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 cup gingerale (diet or regular, no matter) or ginger beer
• 1 egg
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 3 Tablespoons cornmeal
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger root (use more if you want more ginger flavor)

Preparation

Blender method: Put wet ingredients into a blender then add all the dry ingredients and blend.  Scrap down sides as necessary and blend until it's smooth.

Bowl method:  Put all dry ingredients into bowl, make a well and pour in the wet ingredients.  Whisk until all lumps are gone.

Let stand 10 minutes.  It should be the thickness of heavy cream.  If it's too thick add a little water and blend or mix briefly again.  Ready, set, make waffles!

Makes 3-4 waffles depending on your waffle maker.

BBQ Sides

The famous Club Yankeelov (aka "The Club") came over for dinner tonight and Todd BBQ'd a pork shoulder. I find it hard to pair healthy foods with BBQ. It just cries out for deep fried sides and/or lots of starch. However, I had to try for a healthy starter and sides so that we could splurge a little on dessert. Given that 7-month old Lexie the Great was coming to dinner as well, I knew that dinner would not be a long drawn out affair.  So, a quick simple appetizer, healthy-ish main course, and a satisfying chocolate-y dessert (The Club loves chocolate!) were in order for the menu.

For the appetizer I settled on dried apricot halves slathered with a little goat cheese (I used blue goat cheese for half of them and a French chèvre coated with dried tarragon for the other half), and I topped each with a roasted Marcona almond and drizzled them with a touch of honey. Inspiration came from a recent Sunset Magazine. The ingredients make all the difference in this little morsel.  If you can, use Blenheim variety dried apricots. They are the best apricot for eating outright. If you were going to cook apricots I might suggest something else, but for eating out of the bag I haven't found any dried apricot better than the Blenheim variety I buy at Trader Joe's, well, other than those my Grandmother dried from her own little tree that she rescued from the cherry orchard.  Use high quality goat cheese (good French chèvre is unbelievable - you could mix it with a little fresh basil or thyme if you have a plain variety).  Only use Marcona almonds - luckily these are fairly easy to find now.  I've seen them at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and even Costco. Yes, they cost more than regular almonds, but they are totally worth it.  Regular run of the mill apricots, almonds, or goat cheese will just not be the same experience.

For the sides, I made a double salad.  The bottom layer was a stripped down spinach salad with a roasted garlic and smoked paprika caesar dressing.  The top was a roasted corn, Vidalia onion, basil and cherry tomato salad layer (in the most recent, July 2011, Sunset Magazine).  Along with the BBQ'd pork and buns, it was a fairly light meal as BBQ goes.

To finish the meal we had crepes stuffed with peanut butter & chocolate (a la "Reeses") topped with vanilla bean ice cream.  The stuffing was made with a little creamy peanut butter mixed with grated Mexican chocolate (yes, the stuff you melt in milk to make hot chocolate - "Ibarra" is a common variety). I used about 2 Tablespoons peanut butter to 1/3 cup grated chocolate.  Microplane the chocolate before mixing with the peanut butter.  Because the chocolate has an almost gritty sugar texture, the filling ends up having a slight crunch to it.  Mmmm. 'Twas good. However, if that crunch doesn't appeal to you just - your favorite chocolate instead.  If you need a good crepe recipe, French Classics Made Easy has a good one with detailed drawings and instructions (although it neglects the "always throw out the first" one rule).

That's my menu planning for the week!

Gra Gra Gra Granola

Yes, sing along like you are rocking to the tune Lola by the Kinks. Or do you remember Lola Granola from Bloom County? Either are fun things to start your morning.  Do you need to eat better in the morning while rocking out or reading comic strips from long ago?  If you are not a toast eater (see my post on Bread the old-fashioned way) I highly recommend granola with a little milk or better yet yogurt.  Every month or so I make a big batch of granola - it keeps!  I get out my big roasting pan, jar of honey and the requisite peanut butter.  You see, peanut butter is a staple of every breakfast in our household.  Peanut butter on toast, on french toast, on waffles...you get the idea. 

Now, on to the recipe, which originally came from Sweet Desserts - a cookbook for diabetics that I'm not sure you can find anymore.  I have adapted it over the years, but the basic recipe is the following: 4 cups of rolled oats to a 1/2 cup liquid sweetener (fruit syrup, honey, agave syrup, etc.)  and a 1/2 cup peanut butter (almond or other nut butters would probably work, too).  Heat the sweetener and peanut butter together over low heat.  Stir into oats and place in a 9x13 and bake at 250 degrees for an hour stirring every 15-20 minutes.  Let cool slightly and add dried fruits of your choosing and let it cool.  I dare you to keep from nibbling while it cools!  I can never resist.

Now what I do is make at least double that much and add interesting rolled grains rather than just oats.  Cut back the oats and add rolled barley, rye or wheat.  I tend to keep it about 2/3 oats, though.  I also add things like flax seed, oat bran, and/or wheat germ.  I also add something fun, light and  such as puffed rice or cheerios.  My current fruits of choice are dried blueberries, cranberries (the orange-scented ones from Trader Joe's are great), raisins, golden raisins, chopped candied ginger (!), and currants.