Christmas Cookies

It was Christmas Cookie time, but I wasn't sure what to make, as the possibilities are seemingly endless. I narrowed it down to only recipes whose ingredients I already had on hand. Then, since I planned on giving the cookies away, I wanted a variety, or contrast at least. So it came down to this: one chocolatey/fruity and one nutty: Raspberry Brownies and Cottage Cheese Rugelach with Walnuts.

I'll start off with the Rugelach. Yes, it's a Jewish cookie, and I'm making them for Christmas, but so what? I'm an equal opportunity cookie baker/eater, and when I see a good recipe, I go for it. Also, what with them being rolled and shaped and so on, you'd think they would be complicated. But they're not. SUPER EASY. Seriously. Few ingredients, and the shaping process is a million times simpler than the pretty results would lead you to believe. My only alteration: the recipe calls for margarine, but I used butter. Not sure why it called for margarine, maybe it's some sort of kosher rule or something. But they're sweet, flaky, tender, and delicious. You can find the recipe for Cottage Cheese Rugelach with Walnuts on Epicurious.

Now for the Raspberry brownies. It's a dirty little secret. These are seriously the best brownies you will ever eat. I'm not joking. Everyone who has one says so. They're moist, fudgy, with a fruity tang. I got the recipe from my friend Alex, who is known for making complicated, elaborate desserts from scratch. Are you ready yet?

It's brownie mix with frozen raspberries thrown in. For real. But for whatever reason, the raspberries (or any other berry you have on hand, for that matter) make mediocre, ordinary brownie mix into a revelatory experience. You think I'm exaggerating? Try them, and you'll know I'm not.

So here are the instructions for Raspberry Brownies:

• Prepare brownie mix according to instructions on the box (I used Duncan Hines and followed the "Fudgy Style Instructions" (that's opposed to "Cake-Like Instructions").
• Pour half of it into the tray.
• Sprinkle a decent amount of berries over.
• Top with remainder of brownie mix.
• Bake according to box instructions.
• Bowl people over with the best brownies of their lives.

Pumpkin Muffins

Something needed to be done with the leftover pumpkin puree. Muffins sounded like a great idea, and after consulting several sources, the recipe I found on Epicurious was the most appealing. Pumpkin, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and cloves, studded with golden raisins and pumpkin seeds. While baking, the kitchen smelled like pumpkin pie. I'm looking forward to breakfast tomorrow!

Best Pumpkin Pie

Isn't that the most perfect pumpkin pie you've ever seen?

It's called Yankee Pumpkin Pie with Maple Whipped Cream from Williams-Sonoma Savoring America.

This is the same recipe I used last year, but for whatever reason it came out amazing, and my mom said it was the best pumpkin pie she's ever had. I did change a couple of things from the original recipe: 1) I switched out the heavy cream for evaporated milk and 2) I used only butter in the crust instead of a combination of butter and shortening (since that's all I had).

Williams-Sonoma Yankee Pumpkin Pie (with Laura's Alterations)

1 3/4 cups pureed pumpkin

pastry for a singe crust 9-inch pie (recipe follows)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

4 tsp flour

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

pinch of ground cloves

pinch of salt

1 cup evaporated milk

1/4 cup maple syrup

3 eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 tsp vanilla

Maple Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream

3 Tbl maple syrup

• On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pie pastry into a 14-inch round. Drape the pastry around the pin and carefully ease it into the pie dish, pressing it into the bottom and sides. Trim the overhang so that it extends 3/4 inch beyond the edge of the the pie dish rim. Roll the overhang under and crimp attractively. Freeze pie shell for 30 minutes.
• Heat over to 425ºF. Line the frozen pie shell with foil, fill with pie weights or dried beans, and bake until set to the touch, about 15 minutes. Remove the weights and foil and continue to bake until golden, 4-5 minutes longer. Transfer to a rack and let cool. Reduce oven temperature to 325ºF.
• In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin purée, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt and whisk until smooth. Add the evaporated milk, maple syrup, eggs, and vanilla and whisk until just smooth. Pour into the cooled pie shell.
• Bake until the center jiggles slightly when the dish is nudged, about 50 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool.
• To make the whipped cream, in a chilled bowl, using an electric mixer, beat cream until soft peaks form, about 2 minutes. Add the maple syrup and continue to beat until well blended and the cream forms soft peaks, about 30 seconds longer. OR pour cream and maple syrup into a cream whipper (such as isi) and dispense.

Pie Pastry For Single-Crust Pie

1 1/4 cups flour

1 Tbl granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

7 Tbl chilled butter cut into little pieces

3 Tbl very cold water

• Throw all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until the dough thumps together into a ball.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and shape into a 5-inch disk. Wrap the disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate until well chilled.

Smitten Kitchen's Nectarine, Mascarpone, & Gingersnap Tart

No, I'm not as good a photographer as Smitten Kitchen's Deb is. But that's not the point of this post. The point is, I'm going to a barbecue tonight, and was instructed to bring a side and dessert. Derek's in charge of the side, so I needed to come up with a dessert. This is what I came up with. And, I believe, it's a thing of beauty, if I do say so myself. It came out perfect. I'm looking forward to eating some. And, I used Lord Grey's Peach Preserves (see previous post) that I made as a glaze for the nectarines in this. Oh boy!

Lord Grey's Peach Preserves

This month's Bon Appetit had an article devoted to preserving, including a recipe for peach preserves fragranced with Earl Grey tea. It sounded so good! I like to make a batch or two of jam every summer, but am still overloaded with jars of strawberry and raspberry from previous years, even though I give some away as gifts (I'm just one person, how much jam can I eat??). But this sounded special, and different from my usual berry routine.

The recipe was very simple: 5 pounds peaches, 4 cups sugar, 5 bags of Earl Grey tea, and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. How could it go wrong?

Well, at first, I thought it went very wrong. The peaches were super juicy, and the preserves just wouldn't seem to thicken, even though I ended up cooking if for twice as long as the recipe stated. The kitchen smelled unbelievably good--Chanel or Dolce & Gabbana or somebody should make "Lord Grey's Peach Preserve Perfume." But the consistency seemed WAY too thin. I thought I had just made the best smelling preserve fail ever.

But NO! After sitting for a day, the preserves thickened up a bit, and are AMAZING on toast. Oh, my gosh. So good. So make some. Really, it's good.

Tinga Poblano

I made Tinga Poblano a couple of weeks ago, and it turned out to be a versatile dish: it can be eaten either as a stew or used as a filling for tacos. Either way, it was smokey, spicy deliciousness. I found the recipe in Williams Sonoma Savoring Mexico. Pretty darn simple too.

Baking Weekend

This was a three-day weekend, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Friday night, Derek and I went to the Blues Fest and saw three different bands from Louisiana (Zydeco: Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble and Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band; Brass: Rebirth Brass Band), plus Maceo Parker and Robert Cray.

Saturday was the Timbers game, which was fun, although the Timbers were truly terrible.

Sunday, I baked a very successful Cherry Clafoutis but forgot to take a picture of it. I found the recipe in Williams-Sonoma's Savoring France cookbook. I brought it over to my parents' house for dinner, and not much was left of it.

Today, I baked a Rhubarb-Strawberry Custard Tart (pictured here) to bring to a July Fourth barbeque. I haven't tasted it yet, but is sure looks good. This one came from Williams-Sonoma's Cakes, Cookies, Pies & Tarts.

Both recipes were quite simple.

Cheesy Foot

So my friend suggested I take the post-a-day challenge, which I think is a great idea. Depending on content, sometimes I will post here, and sometimes I will post on Brain Transplant Journal. So here we go, my first Post-A-Day: Cheesy Foot!

Saturday, I was at Derek's house, snooping in his refrigerator while he was off getting a taco. Finding some questionable cheese slices, I put one slice each in Tuco (black kitty) and Blondie's (gray kitty) bowls. Tuco was ON IT, growling at his cheese in enjoyment. Suddenly, he runs off with the mozzarella in his mouth. Where did he go? Derek's bedroom. Hmm. I check around for the cheese, and find that Tuco deposited it in Derek's dress shoe. Present! When Derek gets back from tacoing, I show him the cheese in his shoe, he laughs, then walks off, leaving the cheese there. Apparently, he promptly forgets about it.

Around 2:00 pm today, I get a text message from Derek, stating that he only just then noticed that he had been wearing a shoe with cheese all day. He said he noticed this morning that his shoe felt extra comfortable this morning, but didn't know why. He walked all the way to the Farmers Market on his lunch break with cheese shoe. Not sure how he finally noticed that something was amiss, but back at his cubicle, he took of his shoe, and found the mozzarella stuck to his sock.

Morals of this story:

1. If you want a comfortable shoe, add a slice of mozzarella.

2. I have a funny boyfriend, and he has funny kitties.

3. This ended up on the Kitchen Kat blog because it dealt with cheese.

Lamb Ragu

Last weekend, I realized that Touché has REALLY good food, after tasting the lamb ragu that Derek ordered. (We actually went back there for dinner later on that week before a Timbers game.)

In fact, I was so enamored by it, that I decided I needed to make lamb ragu at home. My tasty results are pictured on the left, and here's the Food and Wine recipe that I used.

Easy and really, really good!

Skip Casa del Matador

DON'T GO HERE:




















My friend Bruno felt like tacos tonight, but was up on NW 23rd. Where to go? I'd never been to Casa del Matador, so I suggested that. Turns out, that was a mistake. You want blaring music and frosted faux blonds from the suburbs? Go there. You want to spend $10.95 on mediocre tacos served with unseasoned, boiled black beans (seriously, the only seasoning on them was a sprinkle of cotija cheese) and numerously reheated generic "Mexican" rice. Go to Casa del Matador! You want only one napkin to share between the two of you? You guessed it! Casa del Matador. So you get the idea: this place was horrid. There was one bright spot, though: the drinks. My tamarindo margarita was really good and sprinkled with cinnamon, and Bruno's mojito was solid.
GO TO THIS TYPE OF PLACE INSTEAD:
Next time I want tacos, I'll be going to Taqueria Santa Cruz in St. Johns. Actual Mexicans eat there instead of transplanted Minnesotans who reside in Lake Oswego, and the tacos taste like what you'd get in Mexico, otherwise described as DELICIOUS. Oh, and they're all around $2.00. So yeah, if you want a taco, it's definitely worth a trip to St. Johns.

Felt Good Enough to Cook

Whoa! I haven't posted in a looooong time.

Last weekend, I bought ingredients for this very simple, but healthy and delicious dish, but have been too sick all week to make it. I don't mean *sniffle* *delicate cough* sick. I mean phlegmy, hacking cough, 101 degree fever sick. NOT FUN.

But today I feel BETTER. YAY! So I made this recipe I got from the Whole Foods Market Flavors Newsletter: GREENS WITH CARROTS, FETA CHEESE AND BROWN RICE, and it was a definitely a success. I was afraid it might be too plain, but it wasn't at all. Look at all that color! I could feel the nutrients seeping into me as I ate.

I used a combination of broccoli rabe and kale in mine and made two slight alterations to the recipe: I sauteed the onions in olive oil first before adding the rest of the vegetables, and used truffle-infused sea salt instead of plain sea salt. That's it! Try it.