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Hermit cookies

hermit cookies

I think we’re about two weeks out from Thanksgiving, about 5 weeks from the Christmas season, and about 31 business days from the end of the year. All of which indicates that it’s time to bake cookies. I’m going to bake cookies this year and I’m going to bake cookies I’ve never baked before.

I’m starting off with the hermit cookie because as I read through the recipe it was obvious that they would offer an incredible spicy flavor and a chewy texture; the combination of the two promises a comforting sweet treat that is perfect for these dark, late fall days.

Naturally I substituted dried cranberries for the traditional raisins and I tossed in some pecans because it seemed like the right thing to do. The finished product is deeply and intensely spicy with a texture that is addictive. I especially like the brown sugar frosting that gives away with a bit of crunch an instant before your teeth sink into the dense ginger interior. If you like ginger then these easy-peasy bar cookies are for you.

Hermit Cookies
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4 ounces unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/4 cups packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk
1/4 cup molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup pecans, rough chopped

Brown Sugar Icing
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar, plus more if needed

Preheat oven to 350º. Line the bottom of a rimmed baking sheet with parchment and butter the sides.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and cloves and set aside.

Fit your mixer with the paddle attachment and cream the butter and sugar together until well combined. Add the eggs and mix until light and fluffy. Add the molasses and vanilla and mix well. Add the flour mixture and mix just long enough to combine thoroughly. Dump in the cranberries and pecans and whirl about for 30 seconds or so…juest enough to get good distribution.

Now comes the hard part…this recipe is much more suited to a drop cookie because of its denseness…but it excels as a bar cookie …so dump the cookie dough into 4 piles on the baking sheet and slowly and methodically spread it out until it cover the entire sheet. Patience will pay off here. Bake for about 15 minutes and then cool on a rack.

For the icing you’ll cook the brown sugar, milk, and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat; whisk in vanilla and confectioners’ sugar. If icing is too thick to drizzle, stir in more milk, a teaspoon at a time. If icing is too thin, stir in more confectioners’ sugar, a teaspoon at a time. Let cool slightly.

Drizzle bars with icing. Let them sit for at least 15 minutes before cutting into bars.

November 16, 2008 | Filed Under baking, cookie, food, ginger, quick and easy, recipe | 10 Comments 

Chicken n Biscuits

chicken and a biscuit

This beautiful meal is absolute bowl-licking deliciousness. Chicken and veggies enrobed in a winey, chickeny veloute with light, buttery biscuits proudly perched on top. After a good day at work, coming home and putting this together for the guys was a real pleasure. It would be easy to think of biscuits as off limits for dinner, but that’s not the way I think my good peeps…nope, a perfect biscuit is just as much at home on the dinner table as it is on the breakfast plate. Of course I used the cylinder technique to make the biscuits and I urge you to do so too. Surely I can’t be the first person to think of the cylinder technique but I will tell you that my sweet genius husband is very proud of me for it…that and my other totally original invention, the vacuum sleeve.

Chicken n Biscuits
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1 medium onion diced
6 tablespoons butter
2 chicken breasts, diced
2 potatoes, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup white wine
2 cups chicken stock
3 tablespoons flour
pinch of dried rosemary

Preheat the oven to 425°. Sauté the onions and chicken over medium heat. Set aside. Put the potatoes and carrots in a pan and cover shallowly with water…toss in some salt and cook until tender. If you use purple potatoes cook them separately from the carrots because the colors will mix. Drain and set aside. Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a pan and mix in the flour. Cook over a medium low heat and then add the wine and chicken stock, whisking to form a sauce. Cook gently for a few minutes, taste for salt and then adjust. Add the rosemary, the potatoes, carrots, chicken/onions, and the frozen peas.

Vanessa’s Better Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons of butter, very cold, diced
¾ cup of milk (more or less)
Put the flour, salt, and baking powder into the workbowl of your food processor fitted with the blade. Pulse this to mix it and then add the diced butter. Pulse until it is coarsely combined. Add the milk through the opening in the top as you pulse it to mix it together. Add it very slowly and only add enough to bring the dough together. It’ll be different every time you make them.
Turn the dough out onto the counter (here comes the cylinder technique) and roll it into a cylinder with a circumference that is the size of the biscuit you want to make. Cut the cylinder into equally sized pieces…again depending on the size of biscuit you want.

Butter a baking dish and pour the chicken mixture into it. Place the biscuits on top. Into the oven it goes for about 10 to 12 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown.

Eat it up and feel good about yourself…a meal like this, you deserve it.

November 12, 2008 | Filed Under Local, baking, beef, fish, poultry, pork, food, quick and easy, recipe | 9 Comments 

Jubilation, sleep and a celebratory dinner

paella

The last few weeks have been a blur. Working full time at a new job, knocking on doors for Obama, calling people in swing states, reading 538, Huff, and RCP with an obsessive zeal and all the while trying to avoid the hype. The 2000 and 2004 elections were sore spots on my psyche and I didn’t trust any of the polls that came out near the end. On election night I was prepared to stay up all night…no sleep until a winner was called or at least until we knew how bad the outcome was going to be. When the Pennsylvania returns came in I was comfortably numb. Then as I watched CNN and simultaneously scanned the electoral map, district by district, I saw that Nate Silver was right and as they called Ohio and New Mexico, Colorado, and then at 10:00 the whole election, well I was in tears. Tears of joy to have a true leader as president. I finally made it to bed around midnight. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights I was tucked into my bed by 9pm and happily logged those extra hours of much need rest. In the midst of all this joy I have felt a bizarre emptiness, so much of my thoughts and time had been consumed by the election and now with it over…dare I return to my life?

A good meal goes a long way toward getting life back on track. Paella is a Spanish rice dish that I think may have a reputation of being complex (the flavors certainly are) but in reality it couldn’t be simpler. Certainly, if one wanted to make an authentic paella using spanish rice, and authentically appropriate meats (rabbit) and seafoods (clams, lobster, and shrimp), then it might be a great deal more complex. Most recipes for regional dishes like paella insist that you use specific ingredients but really it is absolutely acceptable to substitute freely.

I’ve got several large quantities of rice in my pantry…Nishiki, Basmati, Jasmine, sticky, black, and Burmese red and I not about to buy another just for this. Spanish rice is short grain, as is Nishiki, so I used that. I shopped at Trader Joe’s and they didn’t have any uncooked shrimp so I substituted some good looking scallops and clams. Most recipes call for chicken but I’ve never liked it in paella so I blew that off but I did include chorizo which almost all versions of paella call for. Some recipes call for lima beans or green peas which I think are unappealing in this dish, but most call for artichoke hearts and that was available at TJs. A box of chicken stock, some white wine, saffron, onion, garlic, and tomatoes and that’s it. The best part of making the paella is that you don’t have much to do. I find it’s best to set the timer, pour a glass of wine and walk away. A paella that is over tended won’t have the toasted, crusty rice bottom called a socarrat and without that it’s just a seafood rice casserole. Walk away from it and you’ll get that crust…also don’t be afraid to use some heat on this.

paella

Paella
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8 ounces Chorizo
1 medium onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup drained diced tomatoes
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
3 cups short grain rice, rinsed well
1 box chicken broth
1 cup water
1 cup white wine
1 teaspoon saffron threads
1 dozen frozen clams
6 frozen scallops
8 ounces frozen artichoke hearts
Olive oil

Heat oil in a wide shallow skillet over medium-high heat. Saute the chorizo until browned, remove and reserve. In the same pan, make a sofrito by sauteing the onions, garlic, and tomatoes in olive oil. Cook for 2 or 3 minutes on a medium heat and cook until the mixture caramelizes a bit and the flavors meld. Fold in the rice and stir-fry to coat the grains. Add the chorizo and saffron and pour in the broth and wine and simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes over a medium low flame . Add the clams and scallops, and artichoke hearts, gently nudging them down into the rice. Cover and let simmer another 10 minutes. Remove the lid and turn the heat to medium-high and cook for a minute or two to allow the bottom to more fully toast. Remove from the heat and let it rest uncovered for 5 minutes before serving.

Paella offers some wonderfully bright flavors because of the saffron, seafood, and artichokes and the sofrito, chorizo, and rice give it a soulful heft that translates to comfort. It looks impressive but can be pulled off in about 30 minutes.

November 8, 2008 | Filed Under beef, fish, poultry, pork, fish, food, recipe, rice and other grains, spicy | 8 Comments 

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