My Halloween Game: Treats, No Tricks

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, everyone! Sadly, I'm not really celebrating or even decorating at my house this year, as I have too many other things going on--namely, the dreaded packing, which has begun. :-( And I've started by cleaning out the fridges, freezers, and pantries. Do y'all listen to "The Splendid Table" with Lynne Rosetto Kasper on NPR? LOVE that show, and one of my favorite things is when people call in and list five things that they have in their fridge, then Lynne has to come up with something wonderful that the person can make for dinner from those ingredients. I find this game very inspirational in trying to use up the odds and ends that I'm unearthing around here. Thus, over the next month, I will be sharing whatever interesting (and hopefully, delicious) mystery meals that I can concoct with just the contents of my current kitchen (dig that crazy alliteration!).

I will begin my new blogging series with a quick and easy pasta dish. As I was cleaning out one of the smaller freezers, I found a bag of baby scallops and a package of imitation krab. I began by thawing the seafood, then in a large skillet with a couple of tablespoons each of olive oil and butter, I browned the scallops on all sides. Then I removed them from the heat and added the krab, about a tablespoon of minced garlic, a good pinch of red pepper flakes, and another couple of tablespoons of butter to the hot pan. Once the fish and garlic had both softened, I added the juice of one large lemon and some salt and pepper. Then I threw in a carton of leftover spaghetti that I found in the fridge and cooked everything until warmed through. I added the scallops back to the mix, along with a tablespoon of dried parsley, and a generous handful of parmigiano-regiano. That was it! Easy-peasy Lemon-Garlic Seafood Pasta, elegant enough to serve in a fine Italian restaurant, all from odds and ends that I found in the fridge and freezer! YUM!

BIG NEWS!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, though this announcement comes at least a decade late in my evolution as a grown-up, I have some important news. Despite my very modest salary teaching at a community college, spotty credit issues of the past, and monumental student loan debt, I have, at long last, become a homeowner! Thanks to relaxed qualifications for the no-money-down USDA Rural Housing Loan and the allure of major federal and state tax incentives, I was finally ready to take the plunge! After more than a year of searching listings and viewing properties, three realtors, four mortgage brokers, and a substantive homebuying education program provided by HGTV (Property Virgins, House Hunters, and My First Place), I managed to find a cute little 1900 farmhouse on 1.2 acres--plenty of room for the dogs and for my gardening efforts--that is closer to work and just five minutes from town, yet still in a country setting.

Originally listed for $125K, I used my rigorous HGTV training to negotiate a heck of a deal at $113K with the sellers paying $5000 in closing costs. And the best part of all, though there are many projects to be attended to eventually, the house has a FABULOUS updated eat-in kitchen with adjoining computer desk that is just PERFECT for a food blogger like myself!

I am so excited to make the move over Thanksgiving weekend, though NOT excited to pack up a house where I've lived (and accumulated crap!) for nine years--especially right at the busiest part of the semester. God help me! So as you can imagine, I am more than a bit OVERWHELMED right now, so I am not spending as much quality time in the kitchen. But I do have a couple of quickie recipes to share nevertheless.

The first is an autumnal salad idea that I first sampled at my friend June's fabulous Canadian Thanksgiving celebration over our Columbus Day weekend. It's ridiculously simple, but SO amazing! You'll want some greens of your choice, crumbled blue cheese, sliced apples, candied pecans, and balsamic vinaigrette. SO YUMMY! Speaking of apples, have you tried the new SweeTango variety, an offshoot of the Honeycrisp? Well, you should! For the pecans, I browned them in some butter, then sprinkled them with a couple of tablespoons of maple sugar (though brown sugar would do). And for the vinaigrette, I whisk together a half cup each olive oil and balsamic vinegar, along with a tablespoon of spicy brown mustard, and a little honey to taste. Season with salt and pepper, and if you're feeling adventurous, a pinch of cinnamon. Of course, if you add some sliced, cooked chicken, you would have a terrific entree salad. In any case, you MUST try this salad...simply MUST! You'll thank me...and my friend, June.

Lastly, I have a quick treat for you. Other than the intricate apple pie that I made as a birthday gift last weekend, I haven't been doing any real baking. But the other day, I wanted something sweet to nibble on, and I came across a recipe on Farmgirl Fare for Baby Shortbread Cookies with Mini Chocolate Chips and English Toffee Bits. Not only are these cookies tender and buttery and delicious, but they are CUTE as can be, and can be whipped together and in the oven in no time flat! In fact, this recipe should be earmarked for holiday baking, as it would be a very welcome addition to any festive cookie platter.

Baby Shortbread Cookies with Mini Chocolate Chips and English Toffee Bits
(Source: FarmGirl Fare via The Kitchn)

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup English toffee bits, such as Heath (pecans would be a good swap-out, too)

Heat the oven to 350°.

With a electric mixer, cream the butter and powdered sugar until smooth, about one minute. Beat in the vanilla, and then add the flour and salt. Reduce the speed to low and mix in the mini chocolate chips and toffee bits.

With a small scoop, drop cookies onto a heavy duty baking sheet lined with unbleached parchment paper or a Silpat. (Two dozen of these cookies will fit on one sheet, so the whole batch will bake on two trays.)

Bake until the edges are just starting to brown, about 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container or freeze.

Prizewinning Pie Prepared for Pal

One of my favorite things to watch on the Food Network each year is the National Pie Championships from Celebration, FL. I also enjoy trying out many of the prizewinning recipes. I'm not sure how I missed it this year, but thankfully, my buddy Anna over at Cookie Madness alerted me to a very special apple pie that won in the professional division from a recipe created by chef, Dawn Viola. It's called Vanilla-Vanilla Bean Roasted Apple Pie, and it has some very interesting and unusual twists to it. In fact, it seems at first glance like an extremely fussy recipe, but I think the resulting pie may be well worth the extra effort! The apples in the filling are roasted and caramelized ahead of time, giving them more depth of flavor, and as an added bonus, by pre-cooking the apples, you don't get the dreaded filling shrinkage that accompanies so many traditional apple pies. But the real star of this pie is the crust. While Ms. Viola actually makes her own butter, any higher-fat European-style or Danish butter can be substituted. The richer, more flavorful butter yields a pastry that is delicate and so shatteringly flaky, that it's almost like eating baked apples inside of a crispy croissant rather than regular pie crust.

Of course, for someone who lives in a very small city with only three proper grocery stores, finding the high-end butter proved...problematic. After searching all of Plattsburgh, including the health food co-op, I realized that I was going to have to cross the border. That's right--I had to go to another COUNTRY to find appropriate butter! And even that was more complicated that I had originally anticipated. I thought I would try the butcher in Covey Hill, but they were already closed the night I went. So then I continued on into Hemmingford proper, but the main grocery store there was closed, too! Frustrated, I decided to pop into the merry little Irish resto-pub called Witsend for some fish and chips to boost my spirits and strengthen my resolve before continuing my quest. Once I'd finished my dinner, I headed east to Lacolle to the IGA, which I knew stayed open later than the places in Hemmingford. Et VOILA! I found a brand of Swiss-style butter called Lactancia. There were a lot of different varieties, including something called "antique" butter (scary thought--but you know I had to buy some to try it!). In the end, I used the one that came in sticks called "My Country," a cultured variety. Man, is that stuff DELICIOUS! It's very dense and rich and has a slight tanginess to it that I knew would be delicious in the crust of the apple pie.

I tried to follow Ms. Viola's directions fairly closely, but I did do a few things differently. First, my freezers are overstuffed, so I did chill the food processor blade and the pie plate, but not the processor bowl or the dry ingredients. Also, I used regular flour and sugar, not organic. And instead of Granny Smiths, I used a combination of Jonagolds and Cortlands. When roasting the apples, I used a couple of tablespoons of maple sugar (instead of granulated) for an added boost of flavor. Because I had read reviews that said the filling was very runny and would not set up, I used two tablespoons of frozen apple juice concentrate in place of the half cup of apple cider, and I only dotted the top of the filling with two tablespoons of the very rich butter, not four! I thought the filling was sweet enough, so I didn't add additional sugar on the top crust. Lastly, I found that it took some extra time for the bottom crust to get golden brown, about one hour total baking time.

Now I made this pie as a birthday treat for my dear friend, Janice, so I didn't get to see it cut. But some of the filling exploded out of one side of the pie, knocking off a couple of pieces of the crust in the process, so I tasted a bit of it, and it was truly YUMMY! Not quite two hours after it came out of the oven, I delivered it, still warm, to the birthday girl and her family. They were coming home from a celebration at their hunting camp in Churubusco, so we met at a halfway point, in the dark, by the side of the road on the Military Turnpike for the hand-off, covert ops-style. (Tee hee.) As soon as they arrived home, I got a text message assuring me that it was amazingly delicious, etc, etc, so I think it turned out well! (The Padulas are a true "foodie" family and fabulous cooks in their own right, so if they say something is good, it must be good!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANICE!

Vanilla-Vanilla Bean Roasted Apple Pie
(Source: Dawn Viola, National Pie Championships)

For the crust:
2 1/2 cups Organic all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting/rolling
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon vanilla powder
3 tablespoons organic sugar
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
2 1/2 sticks unsalted Danish or European-style butter, cut into 1/2″ cubes
1 tablespoon white vinegar, chilled
6 – 8 tablespoons ice water

For the filling:
4 tablespoons Danish or European-style butter
12 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, sliced in large chunks
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup organic sugar*
4 tablespoons organic all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup apple cider
1 tablespoon heavy cream

For the egg wash:
1 egg
1 tablespoon of cream
coarse sugar, optional

Measure out all ingredients and place in the freezer for 15 minutes. Place the food processor blade and bowl in the freezer for 15 minutes. (I just chilled the bade.)

Make the dough:
Place the food processor bowl back on the motor with the blade, as directed by the manufacturer. Combine flour, salt, vanilla powder, sugar and vanilla bean seeds in the food processor; pulse to mix. Add butter cubes and pulse 10 times, or until the mixture begins to resemble coarse meal with pea-sized pieces.

Add the vinegar and pulse to mix. Add one tablespoon of water at a time, pulsing to incorporate, until the mixture begins to clump together. Pinch some of the dough in your hand. If it sticks together, the dough is ready. If the dough does not stick to itself, add another tablespoon of water, pulse, and pinch the dough together again. Repeat until the dough holds together without being overly wet. Dough should be slightly crumbly, but hold together when pinched.

Remove dough from the food processor and transfer to a work surface. Divide the dough into two equal parts and gently shape into two flat round discs. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Prepare the apples:
Preheat the broiler. Add apples, vanilla bean seeds, cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of the sugar (I used maple sugar here) to a roasting pan; toss apples to coat. Broil until the tops of the apples begin to brown. Apples can burn easily under the broiler, so don’t walk too far away. Toss apples as soon as you notice browning. Once apples are caramelized but not cooked through (I would say 6-8 minutes total), remove from heat and add the remaining sugar, the flour, vanilla extract (oops--this must be an accidental omission in the recipe, but I added one teaspoon) and salt. Add the apple cider (I used 2 T of frozen apple juice concentrate instead) and cream, stir to incorporate. Taste for seasoning – add additional salt, sugar, vanilla or cinnamon to taste. (At this point, I put the filling in the fridge to chill while I got on with rolling the crusts. You don't want to put hot filling into a cold crust. That defeats your purpose of keeping the pastry very cold.)

Finish the pie:
Place a 9” pie plate into the freezer. Remove one dough disc from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 5 – 10 minutes, or just long enough for it to become easy to roll, but still chilled. Lightly flour your work surface and roll out to a 12” circle. Place in the bottom of the chilled 9” pie plate. Return to the refrigerator to chill.

Remove second dough disc and roll out to a 12” circle on a lightly floured surface. Remove after bottom crust and filling from the fridge and add apples to bottom crust. Place top crust over the apples and pinch the top and bottom dough edges together to enclose the apples. Add decorative edge if desired, and slice 1” air vents around the top of the pie.

Make the egg wash:
Beat the egg in a small dish and mix in cream. Lightly brush the egg wash over the top of the pie and along the edges. Sprinkle with coarse sugar, if desired.

Bake:
Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. Cover edges with aluminum foil if browning too quickly. Turn the pie in the oven, and continue to cook for another 15 minutes. Continue to cook for 7 minutes, as needed, until the crust is golden brown and flaky. (I covered the edges with a pie shield after a half hour, then covered the top with a sheet of tin foil after 45 minutes, but continued baking for an hour until the bottom of the pie was golden brown.)

Cool:
Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least two hours before cutting and serving.

Follow-up (11/22/09): I recently remade this pie to celebrate my former roommate's return, and because she's a brown sugar kind of gal, I used half white sugar and half brown in the filling. I also added a pinch of allspice, and instead of heavy cream in the filling, I used a little bit of vanilla latte coffee creamer that we had open. The brown sugar made the filling taste like a CARAMEL apple pie and was about the same, soft consistency. So you might consider that very tasty variation.

Time for One Last BBQ

I know I am SO LATE in offering today's recipes...like, MONTHS late! But I have a good excuse! I actually first tried these dishes back in July. A friend of mine from school invited a small group of colleagues that had become chummy over the summer via Facebook to his house for a fabulous cookout. Besides starting us off with some killer margaritas, my friend, Chris, served up some very tasty baby back ribs, this AMAZING potato salad, and also some wonderful marinated and grilled chicken skewers called "spiedies," that are apparently a specialty in the chef's hometown of Binghamton, NY. Chris tells me that everyone has his or her own "secret" recipe for spiedies, so I am honored that he'd share his secrets with me...and now you, dear readers! (Though it took me MONTHS of cajoling to wheedle all of these recipes out of him!)

I haven't made the spiedies yet, but today, in celebration of a four-day fall break from school, I tried a version of the ribs (though I made boneless beef ribs in my crock pot) and also the incredible corn and potato salad. As far as I'm concerned, we can close the book on the search for the best potato salad recipe--THIS IS IT! And if you hurry, you just might be able to prepare a batch with the very last of the farm stand produce. (There have been threats of snow here, and dustings in the higher elevations, but by some miracle, we still have local corn!)
















Larry's Best Baby Back Ribs
(Source: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1667,133180-252198,00.html)

2 racks baby back ribs
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium onion, minced
5 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 cups catsup
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tablespoons spicy mustard w/horseradish
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Melt butter in 2 quart pot. Add onions and garlic. Cook over low heat until onions are soft.
Stir in remainder of ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let cool completely.

Cut each rib rack in half. Place in tins and pour a liberal amount of BBQ sauce over ribs. Cover with tin foil and place in preheated 190°F oven for 9 hours. (Yes, 9 hours!*)

Remove from oven. Discard drippings or save for other use. Transfer ribs to grill or place under broiler for about 10 minutes. May be refrigerated and grilled at later time. Serve with extra BBQ sauce. Enjoy!

*Chris cooks his ribs in the oven for 225 degrees for two hours uncovered then two hours covered. I made mine in the crock pot. I sauteed the onions and garlic in the butter until soft, then added them and all of the other sauce ingredients to the slow cooker. Then I browned the ribs on all sides in the same saute pan and added them to the pot (my ribs were boneless, but if you're using bone-in or baby backs, you'll need to cut them into sections that will fit in the pot). Cook the ribs for 3-4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low, or until exceedingly tender. I also only made half of the sauce and STILL had lots left over (which I saved for future uses)!

Potato and Corn Salad with Bacon, Blue Cheese, and Sherry Vinaigrette
(Source: Bon Appétit, August 2004)

Yield: Makes 8 servings

3 ears fresh corn, unhusked
2 large red bell peppers
2 pounds 1 1/2- to 2-inch-diameter unpeeled red-skinned potatoes (about 24), quartered
4 thick bacon slices, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons sherry wine vinegar
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 cup chopped green onions
3 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano

Prepare barbecue (high heat). Grill corn until husks are blackened on all sides, turning occasionally, about 15 minutes. Cool 15 minutes. Remove husks and silk. Cut kernels from cobs.

Cut 1/2 inch from top and bottom of each pepper. Quarter each pepper lengthwise. Trim ribs and seeds from peppers. Flatten pieces, breaking slightly, if necessary. Place peppers on grill, skin side down. Grill without turning until skins are blackened and blistered, about 10 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Peel peppers; cut into 1/2-inch squares.

Cook potatoes in large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain; let cool 5 minutes in strainer. Transfer to large bowl.

Sauté bacon in medium skillet over medium heat until crisp. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels.

Whisk oil and vinegar in small bowl to blend. Season dressing with salt and pepper. Drizzle 1/4 cup dressing over potatoes; toss to coat. Add corn, bell peppers, bacon, cheese, onions, oregano, and 3 tablespoons additional dressing; toss to coat. Season salad with salt and pepper. Add remaining dressing by tablespoonfuls to moisten, if desired. Serve warm or at room temperature.

*Because I can't leave well enough alone, I made the following amendments to this recipe: to the vinaigrette, I added a tablespoon of grainy mustard, a half teaspoon of granulated garlic, and a pinch of cayenne. Also, I shorted the olive oil by a few tablespoons and swapped out some of the bacon drippings. And, I didn't have fresh oregano, so I used fresh thyme leaves instead. YUM!

Chris Ford's Special "Spiedies"

4 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons parsley
2 tablespoons mint
2 tablespoons chives
1 tablespoon basil
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon sage
4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
1 orange (cut up)
1 lime (cut up)

Cut chicken into 1 inch cubes. Mix all other ingredients together in large bowl. Stir up mixture and add chicken. Marinate for 24 hours. Put chicken on metal or wood skewers and grill.

*Traditional way to eat spiedies is to take a piece of Italian bread in your hand, fold it around the skewer, and pull the meat off.

I know, I know...

The only thing you must be more tired of than summer squash recipes is Amish friendship recipes. But too bad! I got one more for ya. And it also includes a type of squash, so all my culinary worlds will now converge. ;-)

My latest Amish loaf is pumpkin walnut, and besides being seasonally appropriate (nay, perfect!), the pumpkin puree adds extra moisture, so I was able to cut the oil by half. Therefore, not only is it nummy, but it's higher in fiber and lower in fat. What further rationale do you need to make some for yourself? (What's that you say? You don't have any of the starter? If you are in the greater Plattsburgh, New York area and want to get on board the Amish friendship wagon, please let me know. I am more than happy to hook you up.)


Amish Pumpkin Walnut Loaves

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 (3 ounce) package instant pumpkin spice pudding mix
1 cup Amish friendship bread starter
1/2 of a 15 oz. can pumpkin puree (about 3/4 cup)*
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups toasted walnuts, roughly chopped

In a large mixing bowl blend together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, spices, and pudding mix. Make a well in the center of the bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the Amish starter, pumpkin, oil, eggs, milk, and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients and blend until just combined. Stir in the walnuts. Pour batter into two greased loaf pans (I spray mine with flour-added baking spray.)

Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for one hour. Cool for 10 minutes in the pans on a wire rack. Remove bread from pan and cool completely on the rack.

*You can easily freeze the remaining pumpkin puree for your next batch of pumpkin walnut bread!

The Year of Yellow Squash (Continues)

Are you sick of posts related to summer squash? Well, imagine how sick I am of having to think of new things to do with it! For every one squash I use up, three more appear in its place! I thought I would make a significant dent in my supply last weekend when I put up a half dozen pints of my famous zucchini relish (now summer squash relish), but nooooooo! Given the weather of late, it can't be much longer that my garden keeps offering up its plentiful yellow bounty. But until we reach the end, I still have a seemingly endless supply of squashes eyeballin' me on the counter.

So as I often do, I turned to the wise advice of posters from GardenWeb's Harvest Forum and a thread called "101 Things to Make with Zucchini or Summer Squash." Some nice person posted a recipe for something that sounded savory and hearty called "Zucchini and Sausage Stew." I whipped up a batch earlier this afternoon and let it bubble away in the crock pot all day, making the house smell delicious. Most people would serve it over some kind of pasta (tortellini would be especially good!), but I went with rice because, well, I LOVE rice, and serving it over rice also makes it gluten-free (are you reading this, Jen/Spike?). And with all those veggies in there, it's pretty darn healthful, too! Most importantly, it's tasty stuff--very warm and filling--and it will provide lunches for me (and perhaps my work colleagues!) all week.

*Follow-Up: Um....did I say ALL WEEK? I brought a crock pot full of the leftovers to school today (10/5), and it's almost empty! LOL! Oh well...I'm glad my co-workers enjoyed it. (I'll admit...it was better the next day.)

Summer Squash and Sausage Stew
(Source: adapted from GardenWeb's Harvest Forum)

1 pound ground sausage (I used 1 1/2 lbs. garlic Italian links)*
2 cups celery, 1/2-inch pieces (I finely chopped mine)
1 cup onion, chopped
2 green peppers, 1/2-inch pieces (I chopped a variety of chiles*)
2 - 28 oz. cans chopped tomatoes (I used one quart of home-canned and 2 small cans of fire-roasted)
2 lbs. zucchini or yellow squash, 1/2- inch pieces (you may also slice it--I shredded mine)
2 teaspoons salt (or to taste)
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon granulated garlic (or 2 t. if not using garlic sausage like I did)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil, optional

shredded parmesan or Italian cheese blend to garnish

Brown sausage, drain. Add celery, onion, and peppers and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour mixture into a preheated slow cooker (set to high), then add the tomatoes, squash, and seasonings. Stir to combine. Cover and cook for 3-4 hours on high, or 6-8 hours on low. Taste to correct seasonings. Serve over pasta, tortellini, or rice. Garnish with shredded parmesan/Italian blend cheese.

*I wanted to use the hot peppers that I grew in my garden, so I used a mild Italian sausage. But if you use sweet peppers, you might wish to use hot Italian sausage.

Amish Loaf MADNESS!

As I shared awhile back, I recently converted some of my regular sourdough starter into that sweet and perennial favorite, Amish friendship starter. And now, of course, I am trying to find new and interesting things to make with it. First, I made a decadent chocolate zucchini cake and then some streusel-topped chocolate chip muffins. So this past weekend, I decided to veer away from chocolate (just temporarily!) and go a citrusy route.

The basic recipe for Amish Friendship Bread (CAKE really!) is as follows:

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 - (5.1 oz) box instant vanilla pudding
1 cup Amish friendship starter
1 cup oil (swap out applesauce for half or all of the oil as a lower-fat option)
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup nuts

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl (or large glass measuring cup), mix the wet ingredients until thoroughly combined. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, add the wet mixture, and blend just until you don't see anymore dry flour. Stir in the nuts, pour into two well greased and sugared bread pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.

This is the most basic version of this recipe, but of course you could add chocolate chips or dried or fresh fruits. You can include the nuts or omit them or substitute all manner of seeds. You can swap out different flavors of pudding mix such as cheesecake or pistachio, then you could add complementary extract flavors (like a little almond extract with the pistachio). You can substitute other spices for the cinnamon, like cardamom or ground ginger, etc. You could use orange juice in place of the milk and add cranberries for a lovely holiday loaf! In short, the recipe is highly adaptable, and could yield an infinite number of variations.

The one I tried this weekend was a lemon poppyseed version. I made it (almost) as written, except that I added a little lemon oil to up the citrus impact. It turned out really, really good--so very moist and very flavorful! In the future, though, I would perhaps make two changes. I would double the amount of poppyseeds, and I would only use one box of pudding mix. I'm not sure how or why, but some recipes for different versions of the Amish friendship bread have morphed into calling for TWO boxes of pudding, and I think that's probably overkill. The bread is almost TOO moist, if that's possible, and with a texture that flirts with gumminess. I will make these amendments to the recipe below. Still, the resulting bread was delicious, and I definitely recommend it as an option for those of you with extra starter still hanging around, or for those looking for an excuse to develop the starter and begin your own tasty experiments!

Lemon Poppyseed Amish Friendship Loaves
(Source: adapted from Allrecipes)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 cup poppy seeds (I would double this=1/4 cup)
2 (3 ounce) packages instant lemon pudding mix (I would reduce this to one box)
1 cup Amish Friendship Bread Starter
1 vegetable oil (may swap out out applesauce for some or all of the oil)
2 eggs (if reducing the pudding to one box, I would add one egg=3 total)
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4-1/2 teaspoon lemon oil (or the finely-grated zest of one or two lemons), optional

In a large mixing bowl blend together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, poppy seeds, and lemon pudding mix. Make a well in the center of the bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the Amish starter, oil, eggs, milk, vanilla, and lemon oil or zest. Add to dry ingredients and blend until just combined. Pour batter into two greased loaf pans (I spray mine with flour-added baking spray.)

Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for one hour. Cool for 10 minutes in the pans on a wire rack. Remove bread from pan and cool completely on the rack.

Soup for you!

Open the windows, close the windows. Open the windows, close the windows. Turn on the fan in the bedroom or get a heavy sleeping bag and throw it on top of the duvet to survive the night? And today, the weather man even dared to utter the "s" word, as in "a chance of s___ on Wednesday." ACK! Last month was AUGUST, for cryin' out loud!

The weather may be a bit schizophrenic right at the moment, but I think I have come up with the PERFECT way to transition between the seasons...with a fabulous, stick-to-your-ribs chowder that blends the last of the summer's harvest with first of autumn's. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: PUMPKIN CORN CHOWDER!

LOOK at it! Don't you just want to dive into that golden-orange lusciousness? And I promise you, it is a wonderful combination of flavors that tastes as good as it looks! It starts off like a basic corn chowder, but I've taken it up a notch by stirring in a can of pumpkin puree at the end (sure, sure...roasted fresh pumpkin would be even better). Then it seemed to want for something else, but what? I tried a little cumin, and that was pretty good, but then I went with a pinch of spicy Madras Curry Powder, and it was absolutely PERFECT with the pumpkin. I didn't want so much that it screamed "CURRY SOUP," but just enough to add a little warmth and depth and sweetness. People, this soup is SO GOOD, especially the next day...as such things so often are. And it yields something close to three quarts, so you will be set for your lunches all week! You're welcome.

Pumpkin Corn Chowder

8 slices bacon, browned and crumbled, fat reserved
2-3 large stalks celery, diced
1 large onion, diced
6 cups chicken (or vegetable) stock
leaves from a large bunch of thyme (or substitute 1/2 teaspoon of dried)
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne (or 1/4 t. for wimps!)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
6 ears of corn, kernels cut and endosperm scraped from cob (about 6 cups)
8 small to medium red potatoes, cut in one-inch chunks
1 can pumpkin puree (about 1 3/4 cups)
1 cup evaporated milk
handful of fresh parsley, chopped (about 1/4 cup)

In the frying pan used to cook the bacon, saute the celery and onion in 4-6 tablespoons of the reserved fat until tender. Add the stock and stir, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the thyme leaves and bring to a boil.

Transfer the vegetable mixture to a large stock pot, add the curry powder, tumeric, cayenne, salt and pepper, and stir. And the corn kernels and endosperm (the milky stuff scraped from the empty cob with the back of a knife) and the potatoes, and bring back to a boil for about ten minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Stir in the canned pumpkin and the evaporated milk (substitute half and half if you prefer, but I like the flavor of the evaporated). Finally, add the crumbled bacon pieces and the chopped, fresh parsley. Taste to correct seasonings and serve.

Fabulous Fall Fare/Fair

Ah, fall! My favorite time of year! We didn't have much of a summer, but all that cool and wet seems to have been setting us up for a most glorious and colorful autumn! Last weekend, I had a nearly perfect day, taking in one of my favorite annual events, the Peru Applefest--a tiny little church fundraiser with carnival games, crafts, baked goods, and live music. On Sunday, the Catholic menfolk do a great BBQ, too. You get a half a chicken, corn on the cob from Rulf's Orchard just down the road, a baked potato, cole slaw, a dinner roll, all the milk you can drink, and ice cream for dessert, all for nine bucks!

I showed up around 1pm, and first cruised through the annex to look at the crafts and bake sale items. I'm sad to report that I was too late for the infamous beer bread, but I did manage to snag a jar of dill pickles that this one young fellow makes every year. (They are ALMOST as good as my own! Tee hee.) Then I headed out back for the BBQ lunch, and when I was done eating, I was going to head down the road to Rulf's, like I typically do, to get apple cider donuts and take a horse-drawn wagon ride through the apple orchards. But as I was walking back to my car, a local band started playing, and I decided to stop and listen for awhile. Two hours later, I was still sitting there! They were pretty good, playing lots of country rock covers and a few originals; but mostly, it was just nice to sit out in the warm sun for what will surely be one of the last few days that one could do so comfortably.

After the Applefest, I skipped my Rulf's visit and headed over to my friend, Lee Ann's. It was her husband's Steve's birthday the day before, and I wanted to drop off some special treats for him. In the past, I have made him lemony things, but I knew that Lee Ann would be making a key lime pie (as requested) for dinner. With the citrus quotient covered, I decided to make something somewhat chocolately. Of course, I am still playing around with my Amish friendship starter, and I found a recipe for some tasty-looking streusel muffins. They are meant to include some sort of fresh or dried fruit, but I thought chocolate chip walnut muffins with the sourdough tang and the sweet, crispy tops would be delish. Plus, they would make a good grab-and-go breakfast item for the family during the school and work week. For my pains, I got invited to stay for a terrific, seasonal dinner (penne with chicken and homemade pesto and tomatoes from the garden), and even better, to play Beatles Rock Band with the birthday boy (it was his present) and daughter, K. Naturally, we rocked, as do these muffins. ;-)

Amish Friendship Muffins
(Source: adapted from amishrecipes.net)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup Amish friendship bread starter
3/4 cup oil
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup nuts, chopped (I used toasted walnuts)
1 cup raisins or blueberries or chopped apple (optional--I used chocolate chips instead!)

Topping
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, slightly softened

Preheat oven to 350. Liberally grease muffin tins if not using liners.

Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt,cinnamon, and sugar. Stir in the starter, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract. Add nuts. Mix in optional ingredients, if desired. Fill lined or well-greased muffin tins 2/3 full. Sprinkle each muffin with topping and bake for about 20 minutes. Makes about 22 regular muffins.

All by myse-ee-elf! Don't wanna be...

Everyone who knows me knows what a very social creature I am. I really love people, and in true Myers-Briggs extroverted type, when I am feeling down or tired or frustrated, being around others usually reenergizes me and pulls me out of my funk. So perhaps you can appreciate the gravity of the situation when I tell you that my closest friend and (former) roommate left at the end of August last year for "a month of training" at the home office of her company near Minneapolis, and never came back. I don't blame her, mind you. Two months after she left, they reorganized and eliminated her department back here in Plattsburgh, so she no longer had a job to come back to! And in this economy, a person would be a fool to give up a steady, salaried position. However, that means that I have been living on my own for over a year now. Fall semester (2008) wasn't too bad, as I am always so busy, that I blinked and it was Christmas! But the holidays were tough, and even more so, the long, dark, winter cooped up in the house by myself. And then this past summer, when everyone was out and about, and I am usually taking my little road trips here and there and doing fun things, I had no one to go with me (sniff!).

In short, I am just OVER living alone! I admit, having the big comfy chair and the remote control and/or the computer to myself is nice. And everything is always exactly where I put it, so I can usually find things when I need them. And even though I love cooking, sometimes it's liberating, after a long day at work, to just grab a hodgepodge of odds and ends from the fridge to nibble on (what my friend and officemate, Lee Ann, proclaims "Sampler Night" at her house!) and call that dinner, without feeling the need to prepare a proper meal...or even do the dishes for a day or two (since there aren't that many to pile up)! But using my fabulous new Beatles Rock Band game as a metaphor for life, it can be enjoyable to play by yourself, but it's always more fun to have others play with you in your band!

There are other (culinary) things that are vexing about living alone, too, such as the tiresome redundancy of leftovers in general, and the inability of one person to use an entire loaf of bread before it goes stale in particular. They really should sell half loaves for singletons. I can't tell you how much bread I've thrown out since my roommate moved away! In fact, I buy bread a lot less now, prefering to keep wraps in the fridge for the occasional sandwich. But I was craving toast recently, so I broke down and bought a loaf. Still, I only managed to consume maybe a third of it before it dried out on me. This time, I refused to be wasteful, so I considered what I might make with the leftover bread. Croutons and panzanella (bread salad) were initial contenders, but then I was reminded of an episode of Nigella Feasts where she used a knackered old loaf of bread to make what she called "bread and butter pudding." So that's what I decided to make, bread pudding.

Usually I make a very decadent version with croissants and heavy cream for special occasions, but this was a more workaday version. In fact, so that I didn't end up wasting the leftover bread pudding, I ate it for a few nights for dessert, and then I would split a piece in half and brown it on both sides in a frying pan, eating it like French toast for a few mornings for my breakfast! Clever, eh? It was very tasty, but I made one big mistake. As I usually use croissants or a crusty, hearty loaf of some kind to make bread pudding and not sandwich bread, I ended up cutting the pieces too small, and then I mixed them together with the custard, so that the pieces disintegrated and the pudding compacted too much, with the resulting dessert being tasty, but too dense for my liking (refer to picture at the end of the recipe). I do remember Nigella making hers with alternating half pieces (with every other pointy end sticking up), then pouring the custard over the top, and now I see why. At the very least, I should have toasted the bread a little ahead of time. Oh well, I will correct these problems in the recipe below, and then you folks may learn from my mistakes. I dedicate this bread pudding, as Beyonce' sings (featured prominently on tonight's episode of my new favorite show, "Glee"), to all the single ladies!

Singletons' Bread and Butter Pudding

about 2/3 to 3/4 of a loaf of stale bread, pieces cut in half (you may wish to lightly toast the pieces of bread before cutting if it's a very tender sandwich bread)
1 to 1 1/2 cups sliced almonds, toasted*
6 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/4 cups half-and-half
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons butter, cut into very small pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray, and layer in the pieces of bread, overlapping them to try to eliminate empty spaces. Sprinkle the sliced almonds over the bread as evenly as you can.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until light in texture and pale in color. Then whisk in the half-and-half, extracts and salt. Pour the custard evenly over the bread and almonds, and set aside for about ten minutes for the custard to soak in thoroughly. Top the pudding with bits of butter scattered across the top, and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes, or until the pudding is puffed, browned, and just set in the middle. Serve by itself or with a dollop of your favorite jam and/or whipped cream.

*I personally LOATHE those wrinkly little abominations known as raisins, but feel free to swap out raisins for the almonds (or use both!) if you so choose. Though I would nuke the raisins with a little orange juice or rum and let them plump up first before adding them to the pudding. Again, you do as you see fit...

MORE squash-based desserts? Really??

I know I seem to have a theme going here, but bear with me. I bought one small (four-inch) pot of yellow squash starts to plant in my garden, split it in half to share with my friend, Vicky, and I still have yellow squash coming out of my ears! Vicky must be also be awash in squash, because she brought a loaf of the BEST zucchini bread into work the other day to share with us, her lucky co-workers. Now, as you know, if I am adding squash to baked goods, I prefer the chocolate zucchini cake in all its forms. Regular zucchini bread has never done too much for me. But this was REALLY delicious! So I asked for the recipe, and wouldn't you know, it was from Paula Deen, known for providing us with killer (almost literally) decadent recipes. For my colleagues who tasted the bread that Vicky made and want to make that exact version, here is that recipe (although Vicky omitted the nuts):

Paula's (and Vicky's) Zucchini Bread
(Source: Paula Deen via Food Network)

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup water
2 cups grated zucchini
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in.

Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Alternately, bake in 5 mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes.

When I went to the Food Network's website to retrieve the above recipe, I read almost all of the previous 487 reviews! With the help of the people who had gone before me, I had some pretty good ideas about what I might want to tweak. And I am happy to report that my version yielded two AMAZING loaves! The bread was tender and flavorful with an awesome, slightly crunchy crust. Here's what I did to adapt Paula's recipe:

--Despite reviewer claims of saltiness, I left it at a half tablespoon, because I love the salty-sweet thing. (Those who don't may wish to cut back to 1 teaspoon.)

--I cut the nutmeg to 1/4 teaspoon (freshly grated, which is powerful stuff).

--I added 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (and had no loaf top sinkage as many reviewers reported, and as the picture on the Food Network's web site clearly displays).

--I upped the cinnamon to half a tablespoon.

--As many people found the bread overly-sweet, I reduced the sugar to 2 1/2 cups, and swapped out one cup of brown sugar for the white.

--Many reviewers chose to cut the oil by half and replace it with applesauce to add flavor, preserve moistness, and make it a bit healthier. I might try that next time.

--I omitted the water (which I always consider a flavor diluter), and increased the squash to 3 cups, thus adding more moisture. Also, I used yellow squash instead of zucchini, because as I said, I have a TON of it from my garden!

--I added 2 teaspoons of vanilla because it seems wrong not to.

--I doubled the amount of nuts (2 cups) because I love them so, and toasted the pecans for a few minutes in a dry frying pan beforehand. This is always worth doing when nuts are involved.

--As many reviewers had trouble with the loaves sticking, I sprayed my pans with floured nonstick spray and put parchment just on the bottoms of the pans. The loaves turned out perfectly (after letting them cool in the pans on a rack for 10-15 minutes).

--I used dark, nonstick pans, so I reduced the baking temperature to 325, and they took an hour and five minutes, rotating the loaves about halfway through for even baking.

Taking all of these amendments into account, my version of the recipe goes like this:

Gina's Summer Squash Bread

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly-grated nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups grated yellow squash
2 cups toasted walnuts or pecans, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and sugars. In a separate bowl or large glass measuring cup, combine oil, eggs, lemon juice, and vanilla. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add squash and nuts and fold in.

Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray and lined with parchment, for 1 hour to 1 hour and 5 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Alternately, bake in 5 mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes. Let loaves cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes before turning out and allowing to cool completely on the rack.

More fun with zucchini!

It's that time again...when your garden starts giving you daily baseball bats of zucchini--or if you didn't plant any, your friends and neighbors clutter your stoop with their friendly offerings. Oppressive as the onslaught may be, I still welcome it. I make my zucchini relish for the rest of the year (which I put on darn near everything!), shred and freeze some in two-cup portions for baking during the winter months, and of course, make my very favorite, absolutely-to-die-for chocolate zucchini cake! However, recently, one of my dearest college friends was talking about using an Amish friendship starter in her baking--something I haven't done in more than a decade, because you ultimately end up with swimming pools of the stuff once you feed it a few times, and your friends and colleagues quickly become vexed when you overshare! But it had been a long time since I had baked with the "Amish" starter, plus, I remember reading in the King Arthur cookbook that you could use your regular sourdough starter to convert it to the sweet Amish friendship starter, which I've always wanted to try.

So I took a cup of my regular sourdough starter and put it in a glazed ceramic bowl, then added a cup of milk, a cup of sugar, and a cup of flour, covered it loosely and let it do its thing for about 24 hours on the kitchen counter. Sure enough, the next day, it was all bubbly and puffy and lovely. Now...what to do with it? This is when I got what turned out to be a brilliant idea: AMISH Chocolate Zucchini Cake! I sort of combined King Arthur's recipe for the traditional Amish friendship cake made with the sweet starter and my regular chocolate zucchini cake recipe. For an initial experiment, I think it turned out very well, moist but structurally sound and very flavorful, with that slight sourdough tang from the addition of the starter. And I really took it over the top by adding a terrific maple walnut icing! The only change I would make would be to increase both the sweetness and the cocoa content by a little bit, and I have included those amendments in the recipe below. The great thing about the King Arthur version of the Amish friendship starter is that the leftover cup of starter can be stored in the fridge and fed again again at a later date to bake something else yummy! But let's start with this:

"Amish" Chocolate Zucchini Cake

1/3 cup butter
2 ounces/squares unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup cocoa powder (preferably dark)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups (activated) Amish friendship starter
3 cups zucchini, peeled and shredded
2 cups walnuts, toasted and very coarsely broken up
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray one 12-cup bundt pan and a large loaf pan.

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the two squares of unsweetened chocolate with the butter (about two minutes total, stopping and stirring once or twice). Mix in the cocoa powder and set aside to cool a bit.

Beat oil and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until well blended. Slowly add in the chocolate and butter mixture and mix. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract.

Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into medium bowl. Mix in dry ingredients in thirds, alternately with the Amish friendship starter. Mix in grated zucchini, nuts, and chocolate chips.

Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about an hour for the bundt, and 50 minutes for the loaf. Cool cakes for about 15 minutes in their pans before turning out to cool completely on a rack. Dust with powdered sugar before serving, or better yet, coat with maple walnut icing (recipe to follow). This is such a moist cake that it will keep (covered) for up to a week.

*Like most cakes of its kind, it's even better if you let it age for at least 24 hours before cutting and devouring.

Maple Walnut Icing

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, softened
1/4 cup (real, preferably Grade B) maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon maple extract
pinch of salt
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted, cooled, and chopped

Cream together the butter and syrup until smooth. Mix in the vanilla and maple extracts and salt. Whisk in the powdered sugar (adding a little extra powdered sugar if too thin or some cream by the teaspoon if too thick). Stir in the chopped walnuts. Pour over the cakes and let it drip down the sides. (You can always zap the icing in the microwave for 15-30 seconds on defrost to make it more pourable if need be, then it will set up nicely as it cools.)

That takes care of dessert, but there's always more zucchini to use up, so we need something savory. There are many, many versions of zucchini bake, casserole, or pie out there, but I have one that I favor that makes use of many goodies from the garden, including fresh herbs and both sweet and hot peppers. It makes a good side dish for dinner with some sort of meat from the grill, or a nice lunch entree, or topped with poached or basted eggs, a terrific breakfast/brunch!

Gina's Zucchini Bake

1/4 cup olive oil
3 cups shredded (unpeeled) zucchini (or yellow squash or a mix of the two)
1/2 large onion, diced or shredded
1 large red pepper, seeds and ribs removed, diced or shredded
2 jalapeno peppers, seeds and ribs removed, diced or shredded
4 green onions, root ends removed and sliced thinly (both white and green parts)
4 large eggs, beaten
1 cup Bisquick (or similar baking mix)
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper (about 1/2 teaspoon each)
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped (or a teaspoon dried)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 8x8 square baking dish or 9-inch Pyrex pie plate with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat. Add the shredded squash, onions, and peppers. Cook for about five minutes until veggies start to soften. Set aside to cool for ten minutes or so.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, then mix in the Bisquick, cheeses, parsley and salt and pepper. If the veggie mixture has cooled to warm, stir it all in at once. If it's still very hot, add it a little bit at a time to the egg mixture to temper it slowly (like a custard).

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 35 minutes until set in the very middle and golden brown on the bottom and edges. You can top with some more shredded cheddar cheese, or some sliced ripe garden tomatoes and/or poached eggs for a breakfast dish. Yum!

Early Autumn Incites Baking FRENZY!

So much for our two weeks of summer! I have spotted the first few trees starting to turn color, and a few nights ago, I had to run around the house, closing all of the windows, and digging up some spare blankets to avoid turning on the heat! There was an actual frost warning--IN AUGUST! What ridiculous weather we've had this year. And this weekend has been drizzly and damp, and it has really put me in a serious baking mood.

I usually bake for other people, but as this is my last weekend of freedom before the semester starts in earnest, yesterday, I made some cookies just for ME! Not that I won't share them, of course, but they are just the kind of cookie that I like best--sweet, salty, buttery and nutty. YUM! This recipe comes from King Arthur Flour, and they are simple drop cookies--easy-peasy! You can mix up the dough and bake it right away if you like, or you can chill it for cookies that are less flat and crispy (as pictured below) and more rounded up and chewy...your choice. I really only made one significant change to the recipe. I LOATHE the overpoweringly artificial taste of butterscotch chips, so I swapped out some toffee bits and extra pecans. Delish and truly addictive!

Salty-Sweet Butter Pecan Cookies
(Source: adaped from King Arthur Flour)

1 1/3 cups pecan halves (I used 2 cups)
2/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon butterscotch, vanilla-butternut, or butter-rum flavor (I used Princess Cake flavor, which is mildly nutty)
1 teaspoon vinegar, cider or white (I used cider)
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups butterscotch chips (I swapped out 1 cup of toffee bits)
1/2 cup granulated sugar mixed with 3/4 teaspoon plain table salt, for topping

1) Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment or a Silpat) two baking sheets.
2) Place the pecans in a single layer in a pan, and toast until they've darkened a bit and smell toasty, about 8 to 9 minutes. Set them aside.
3) In a large bowl, combine the sugars, butter, shortening, salt, espresso powder, baking soda, vanilla, flavor, and vinegar, beating until smooth and creamy.
4) Beat in the egg, again beating until smooth. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a spatula to make sure everything is thoroughly combined.
5) Mix in the flour, then the chips and toasted nuts.
6) If you're going to refrigerate the dough, cover the bowl, and refrigerate for about 4 to 5 hours; or overnight. Cookie dough refrigerated for 3 1/2 to 4 hours will spread moderately; chilled overnight, it will spread much less.
7) Mix the 1/3 cup sugar and salt for the coating, and put it in a bowl. To bake cookies immediately (without refrigeration), use a spoon (or a tablespoon cookie scoop) to scoop 1 1/2" balls of dough into the sugar/salt mixture, rolling to coat. Then transfer to the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2" between them on all sides; they'll spread quite a bit. Or use a teaspoon cookie scoop to scoop 1 1/4" balls of dough.
8) Bake the cookies for 10 to 11 minutes — 11 minutes for smaller cookies, 12 for larger ones. Their edges will be chestnut brown and their tops a lighter golden brown. (For dough that's been refrigerated, add 30 seconds to 1 minute to those baking times.) Remove them from the oven, and cool on the pan until they've set enough to move without breaking. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Yield: about 4 dozen 3" cookies, or 7 dozen 2 1/4" cookies. (SHEESH! Mine must have been big ones, as I only got 32 cookies!)

But I didn't only indulge in selfish cookie baking, I also made a pie today--perhaps the most perfectly executed specimen ever to come out of my oven! I'm thrilled that it turned out so well, because it's a gift for my neighbors who helped me out of a (literal) jam lately. I won't go into too many of the gory details, but suffice it to say, I'm still having sewer drainage issues that have been plaguing me since the spring thaw. And my brave and selfless neighbors came over, dug down to the main line in the back yard, and snaked it clear with a couple of long lengths of cable from the barn. Talk about Good Samaritans! So I thought the least I could do was to pay back some of my indebtedness with a homemade pie. Both fellows enjoy all kinds of berry pies, so I rooted around in the freezer and found one bag of blackberries and another quart of wild blueberries. Thus, it was to be a black-and-blue pie! And since I've been making a lot of double-crust pies of late, I decided to go with a crumble topping for this one. My neighbors like a rather sweet pie, so I knew it would go over well. I believe that this recipe yields a perfect transitional pie between the seasons--showcasing summery berries inside, but with a warmly-spiced topping that hints at autumn right around the corner.

Black-and-Blue Crumble Pie

one nine-inch pie crust, your favorite recipe

Black-and-Blue Filling:
5 cups blackberries and blueberries (in any proportion you prefer)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons tapioca flour (or ground instant tapioca)

Crumble Topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly-ground nutmeg
pinch of salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, slightly softened

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and chill the pie crust until very firm. In the meantime, gently mix together the berries, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, corn starch and tapioca flour. Set aside until the oven has come to temperature and the pie shell is well chilled.

Pour the berry filling into the pie shell and even the top with a spatula. Bake on the lowest rack in the oven for 30 minutes. Toward the end of the first half hour of baking, make the topping. Whisk together the flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Then blend in the butter with your fingers until evenly distributed throughout the dry ingredients, and large, moist crumbs begin to form.

After the pie has baked for 30 minutes, remove it from the oven, add a pie shield (or tin foil) to the edges, then carefully top the pie with the crumble mixture. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees, and return the pie to the oven for about another 45 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling up from underneath and puffing up the topping all over (especially in the middle!), and the topping is golden to caramel brown.

Carefully remove the pie shield (tucking any loosened pieces of the crumble right back onto the hot pie filling), then cool the pie completely on a wire rack, at least two hours, before serving.

The summer's finally PEACHY!

I command you to walk away from the computer this very minute, and hurry to the store or farmstand or farmer's market, and buy yourself a whole passel of peaches which are--right at this very moment--at their peak of juicy perfection! Of course, my zone (4) is just too frosty for this heat-loving fruit, so our "local" peaches generally come from New Jersey, just a day's drive. Despite the cool, wet summer, the peaches are quite lovely this year. Other than eating them out of hand, the best thing you can do to showcase peaches when they are perfectly ripe is to make a homemade peach pie! But first, an introductory anecdote, as is my way...

Last weekend, my friends and I attended the 154-year-old tradition known as the Redford Picnic (colloquially, "The Fifteenth of Redford") in Redford, NY. Its main function is as a church fundraiser, and there are all the typical games of chance and food booths and homespun music performances that are to be found at any such country fair. The two attractions that make the Redford Fair unique are first, the wonderful 1890's Armitage-Herschell wooden carousel that was donated to the Church of the Assumption in Redford in 1910 and is reported to be the oldest in America that is still in operation. It is comprised of 24 original carved horses and four sleighs, and the carousel can be ridden just once a year at the Redford Picnic, formerly powered by actual horses, and now run by a tractor.

The second event that truly defines the Redford Picnic is the pie booth, where you put your quarter down on a number between 1 and 30, spin a roulette-type wheel, and if it lands on your number, you win a pie! Of course, if you're not a lucky person, you can always purchase a pie for ten bucks. Though the pies are homemade, whether you get an edible one or not seems to be as much of a gamble as the spinning wheel game itself.

My friend June and I both tried to win a pie, but we gave up after a couple of bucks' worth of quarters. June finally bought a pie, mainly for her pie-loving husband, Tom. She chose peach, but I could tell by the looks of it, it was sub-standard. (I suspect that pie-making skills have deriorated quite a bit since the Redford Picnic's inception in 1855!) The crust looked thick and dry and decidedly un-flaky, and the peaches inside--God help us--may have been from a can. Moreover, they were glommed together with little beads of undissolved tapioca. In a word, EWWW!

I felt so bad for them, that when I spied some lovely Jersey peaches in the grocery store this week (for a mere $0.69/pound!), I quickly grabbed a few pounds and decided to make them a proper peach pie. As he ate his icky Redford pie, Tom (born in Alabama and raised in New Orleans) unkindly proclaimed that northern piemakers obviously knew nothing about making peach pie. So I took it upon myself to reclaim the honor of the Yankee piemaking tradition!

Of course, I began with my favorite half-and-half pie crust recipe rom Ken Haedrich, but to make it truly old-fashioned, genuinely Southern, and ridiculously light and flaky, I made it with half butter and half lard instead of vegetable shortening. Then for the filling, I used three pounds of perfectly ripe, peeled peaches, with just a scant half cup of sugar, a little vanilla and a few drops of almond extract (always good when paired with stone fruits), and because they were so juicy, some extra thickener so that the filling wouldn't end up being runny.

Since I made the pie as a gift, I didn't get to see the inside with my own eyes, but June sent me a picture after she cut the first slice, and it was GORGEOUS! The filling wasn't runny, but neither was it stiff like Jell-O. The peaches softened but did not dissolve into mush, and the bottom crust was golden brown, as it should be. I quote June, the recipient of said pie: "The peaches were perfect. Tender, yet each holding its shape. Their freshness really shone through. The pie was light and yet tasty. The perfect summertime dessert." SUCCESS!

Perfect Peach Pie
(Source: crust recipe adapted from Ken Haedrich's Pie)

Crust:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1/2 cup frozen lard, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1/2 cup ice water

Filling:
3 lbs. peaches (8-10), peeled and sliced in sixths
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
3 tablespoons corn starch
3 tablespoons tapioca flour
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons butter

Egg Wash (optional):
1 egg
1 tablespoon cream

In the bowl of a food processor, add the flour, sugar and salt and pulse to blend and aerate. Add the cold butter and lard and pulse about ten times until the fat breaks into petite pea-sized pieces and the dough looks like crumbly oatmeal. Drizzle in about 1/2 cup iced water, more or less, just until the dough holds together when pinched between your fingers. Divide the dough in half, form two disks on pieces of plastic wrap, and chill for at least an hour, or even overnight.

When the dough is thoroughly chilled, preheat your oven to 400 degrees and prepare the peach filling. Make an shallow "X" in the bottom of each peach with the tip of a sharp knife. Drop the peaches into boiling water for 30 seconds to a minute, or until the peels start to loosen. Remove the peaches to a bowl of cold water, then peel and pit them, and cut each one into sixths. Sprinkle the peach slices with the lemon juice, then gently mix in the sugar, vanilla, almond extract, corn starch and tapioca flour, and set the mixture aside while you form the pie crusts.

Roll out one of the crusts and fit it into a 9-inch Pyrex pie plate, cutting off the excess and forming a stand-up edge between a half-inch and an inch high. Place in the freezer to firm while you roll out the second crust. When the botton crust is firm, pour the peach filling into the pie plate, scatter bits of butter on top of the filling, and cover with the second crust. Pinch the edges together to seal and crimp decoratively. Cut four large slits (or many smaller ones) in the top of the pie, and use a pastry brush to apply a thin coating of egg wash (one egg whisked with one tablespoon of cream) if desired.

Bake the pie for 30 minutes at 400 degrees, reduce the heat to 350 degrees, cover the edges of the pie with a shield or tin foil, and bake for about 45 minutes more. Let cool for at least two hours before cutting and serving.