Simple Peanut Butter Cookies

Simple Peanut Butter Cookies

Cookie season is in full swing.  Thing 1 and I had a great time making the first batch of Christmas cookies last Sunday and I will be making these this coming weekend.  In the meantime, when I get a hankering to whip up a batch of cookies on a weeknight, this peanut butter cookie recipe is one I reach for again and again.

Mmm, sugar, butter, and peanut butter

First, it is super simple to put together.  The dough doesn’t need to be refrigerated before rolling so the cookies come together quickly.  They are easy to decorate (a must when you are talking about Christmas cookies).  And they taste just like peanut butter cookies should… buttery and full of peanut flavor, with a texture that is soft but a little crumbly.

Peanut butter balls

Putting a tray of these together only takes about a half an hour so if you find you need to make an emergency batch of cookies for your next holiday party, this is the recipe for you.  It is easy enough that it makes a great project to do with budding chefs.  Kids love to roll the dough and to use the fork to flatten the balls.  And of course they are excellent to decorate.

Dressed and ready for the oven

Simple Peanut Butter Cookies

Adapted from Clueless In the Kitchen

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

To Make:

Combine butter, peanut butter, white sugar and brown sugar in a mixing bowl.  Beat until combined.  Add in the egg and beat until smooth and creamy.

Whisk together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a medium bowl.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth.

Scoop out the dough with a teaspoon.  Roll into 1″ balls and place on foil lined cookie sheet, approximately 2″ apart.  Use a fork to flatten each ball, making a criss-cross pattern.  Since it is Christmas, feel free to decorate the cookies with chocolate candies, sprinkles, cinnamon candies, etc.

Bake in at 375 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.  The cookies will be soft when they come out of the oven but don’t over bake.  They will firm up once they cool.  Allow them to cool on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes before you remove them from the cookie sheet to a wire rack to cool completely.

To Serve:

Makes 3 1/2 dozen cookies.  Store in an air tight container for 3 days.

Apple Dumplings

Apple Dumplings

As I mentioned in my last post, we are hosting Thanksgiving this year and working hard at menu planning.  One interesting fact about Thanksgiving with Marc’s family is that it is mandatory that there are nearly as many desserts as there are adults joining us for the meal.  Marc’s mother is a great baker and his sister is a trained pastry chef so you can imagine how high the dessert bar is set.  So in addition to the obligatory pumpkin pie, we have a whole bunch of great desserts planned, including this one.

Fresh Apples

Of course, many people go the apple pie route.  It’s a great choice and a Thanksgiving classic.  We love apple pie around these parts which is one of the reasons why this recipe is a family favorite.  It has all the flavors of apple pie – the flaky pastry, the apple, and the sweet cinnamon-infused sauce – but in a neat little individual package.  Because the apples are whole you save time chopping and you only have one crust to manage (which makes life just that much easier).

Apples waiting for their wrapping

This recipe is the one that my mother-in-law has been making for years.  It is delicious as is so we really didn’t make many changes.  If you like, you could increase the spices a little bit, maybe adding a dash of cloves for a little spicy flavor.  But really, this recipe is as good as it gets, just the way it is.  Make sure to have some vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream on hand for serving.  After all, it is Thanksgiving.

Pouring the sauce

Apple Dumplings

Recipe from Charlene Marino

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar, plus additional for sprinkling if desired

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbls butter, plus more for dotting the apples

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2/3 cup lard (or shortening)

1/2 cup milk

6 medium apples, peeled and cored

To Make:

First, make a simple syrup by combining the sugar, water, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium sauce pan.  Set the pan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.  Remove the syrup from heat and add 3 tbls of butter and the vanilla.  Stir until combined and set aside.

To make the pastry, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Using a pastry blender or your fingers, cut in the lard until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add milk all at once and stir until flour is just moistened.  Turn the pastry out onto a lightly floured surface and roll dough into a 12×18 inch rectangle.  Cut the pastry into 6, 6-inch squares.

To assemble the dumplings start by placing an apple on each dough square.  Sprinkle apples generously with sugar, cinnamon, and freshly ground nutmeg and dot with butter.  Moisten edges of pastry, bring corners to the center of the apple, and pinch the edges together.

Place the wrapped apples about 1 inch apart in an ungreased baking pan.  Pour syrup over dumplings and sprinkle with more cinnamon and sugar if desired.  Bake in a 375 degree oven until the apples are tender, about 35 minutes.

To Serve:

Serve warm with fresh whipped cream or ice cream.  Serves six.  Recipe can be doubled.  Also, if you want your dumplings really saucy, feel free to double the syrup.

Honey-Glazed Beans

Honey-Glazed Beans

T-minus 12 days and counting until Thanksgiving.  We are hosting this year for the first time ever.  It is exciting but also a little nerve wracking.  Even with all the cooking we do, the idea of putting a big spread together and serving everything perfectly cooked and timed is somewhat overwhelming.  To help ease the stress, we try to plan a meal that has lots forgiving dishes.  Those that take very little minding while they are cooking and that provide a lot of flexibility for serving.

Dried Pinot Beans

These beans meet both of those criteria, with the additional benefit of offering a unique twist on classic baked beans.  The honey flavor comes through loud and clear in this dish, making it immediately obvious that you are dealing with something just a little bit different.  Like all good bean dishes, these cook long and slow and need very little help from the chef.

Honey and Maple Syrup

The beans cook in a honey-flavored broth with onion and a smoked ham hock (or bacon) until they are tender.  Then the beans are removed, the ham hock is chopped, and the broth is reduced until it is thick and syrupy.  Everything is tossed together and can sit, gently warming, on the stove until the rest of dinner is ready.  It’s the perfect recipe for a busy Thanksgiving meal.

Chopped Smoked Ham Hock

Honey-Glazed Beans

Adapted from The Joy of Cooking

Ingredients:

1 pound dried pinto beans

2 medium onions, diced

1 smoked ham hock (or 8 ounces bacon, diced)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

2 tbls ground ginger

1 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

To Make:

Rinse the beans.  Combine them with 10 cups of water in a large, oven-proof pot.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until beans are almost tender, about 45 minutes.

Drain the beans and reserve the cooking liquid.  Place the bean along with the onion, garlic, and ham hock (or bacon) back in the pot.  Stir the honey, syrup, ginger, mustard, salt, and pepper into the cooking liquid.  Pour the liquid over the beans, cover, and place in a 300 degree F oven.  Cook until the beans are fully tender, about 2.5 hours.  If cooking with a ham hock, remove the skin and bone and chop the meat.

At this point, you could separate the liquid from the solids refrigerate them both overnight.  About 30 minutes before you are ready to serve, boil the liquid over medium-high heat until it is reduced by about 2/3.  Once the broth is thickened, fold the beans, onion, and ham hock (or bacon) into the liquid.  Keep warm on the stove top until ready to serve.

To Serve:

Serve warm.  Makes 8 servings.

Split Pea Soup

Split Pea Soup

Split Pea soup is one of our favorites.  It is one of those soups that is completely underrated and rarely made often enough.  Sure, lots of people think split pea is kind of boring… but that is because they aren’t making it right.  The split peas may be the body of the soup but it is smoked ham hocks that are the heart and soul.  It’s the ham hock that really delivers the kind of depth of flavor that makes this soup something special.  It’s what you smell when you walk in the kitchen.  When it’s made right, it’s the chunks of smoked and slow cooked pork that are like little Christmas presents you sink your teeth into amongst the creamy split peas.

Vegetables

We usually make split pea soup after a meat smoking session when we have smoked up a big bone-in cut of pork.  We use the bone and left over meat to enrich the soup.  However, this time was a special occasion.  Over the summer, we had the pleasure of purchasing a whole hog.  In addition to turning 10+ pounds of pork belly into bacon, we had the opportunity to brine and smoke fresh ham hocks.  Those delicious hocks became the centerpiece of this soup.

The Hock

Part of the appeal of split pea soup is the simplicity.  You just need a few ingredients – split peas, carrot, celery, onion – and a few hours.  As a matter of fact, most of that time is hands off while the soup is simmering.  What’s not to love?

Simmering Soup

Split Pea Soup

Adapted from the Joy of Cooking

Ingredients:

1 smoked ham hock (if you don’t have your own on hand, you can often purchase them in the meat section of your supermarket)

4 cups of water

1/2 pound split peas (about 1 cup)

1 carrot, diced

2 small stalks of celery, diced

small onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper to taste

To Make:

In a large soup pot, combine the water, ham hock, and split peas. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to low and simmer for about an hour.  Stir in the rest of the vegetables and the bay leaf.  Simmer, covered, until the ham hock and peas are tender, about another hour (if your liquid doesn’t cover the ham hock, turn it occasionally).

Once the hock is tender, remove it from the pot, remove the skin and bone and discard.  Coarsely chop the meat and return it to the pot.  Continue to simmer the soup until the desired consistency is reached.  Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

To Serve:

Remove and discard the bay leaf before serving.  Serve hot with hot sauce and a side of crusty bread, as desired.  Serves 4-6 as a hearty soup course.

Bacon and Apple Stuffed Squash

Bacon and Apple Stuffed Squash

Well hello there, how have you been?  I am not sure what happened but I must have blinked because October is almost over and we haven’t done any blogging.  Yikes.  Luckily, it is fall and we just got our first Winter CSA distribution so there is plenty of inspiration to go around.  The winter CSA is lots of fun because the distributions are over flowing with tons of vegetables, apples, dried beans, and other goodies.  With that big box of yum, we were quickly inspired to make this delicious (almost vegetarian) butternut squash stuffed with flavors of fall.

Apples and Bacon (home cured)

The squash is roasted with butter and maple syrup and then filled with a stuffing made from leeks, apples, bacon, brown rice, and more maple syrup.  The stuffing nicely balances the sweet with the savory and makes for a light but filling main dish.  The recipe calls for butternut squash but you could easily substitute acorn or another hard shelled squash if that is what you had on hand.

Chopped Leek

This dish requires a few steps to make but it can almost all be done ahead of time.  It makes a great Thanksgiving option because you can prep it all a day or two in advance and then heat it up right before serving.

Ready for Roasting

Bacon and Apple Stuffed Squash

Ingredients:

2 medium butternut squash

1 tbls butter

3 tbls real maple syrup, divided

2.5 ounces thick cut bacon

1 leek, white and light green parts only, cleaned and finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

2 small apples, peeled, cored, and finely diced

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 cup cooked brown rice

To Make:

Cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds.  Arrange the squash in a roasting pan, cut side up.  Divide the butter and 1 tbls of the syrup between the four cavities.  Fill the pan with about an inch of water, cover with foil, and roast at 375 until mostly tender, about 40 minutes.  Remove the foil, rub the butter and syrup from the cavity all over the squash and cook for another 10-15 minutes until it starts to caramelize around the edges.

Meanwhile chop the bacon and cook in a heavy skillet over medium heat until browned and crisp.  Remove the bacon and set aside to drain on paper towels.  Drain off all but about 1 tbls of the bacon fat from the pan.  Add the leeks and garlic and sauté until the leeks are softened, about 10 minutes.  Add the apples to the pan and sauté until they are soft, another 10 minutes.  Remove from the heat and stir in the cooked rice and 2 tbls of maple syrup to bind it all together.  At this point, you can refrigerate both the squash and the stuffing, tightly wrapped in separate containers, until you are ready to serve.

Mound the stuffing into the cavity of the squash halves and bake in a 375 degree oven until warmed through, 10-20 minutes, depending on how cold everything was.

To Serve:

Serve hot as a main dish or as a hefty side.  Make it vegetarian by omitting the bacon and using olive oil or butter instead of bacon fat for sauteing the filling.  Serves 4.

 

Earl Greyer Ice Cream

Earl Greyer Ice Cream

Did you hear that summer is back?  Seriously, it has been really warm here lately.  To celebrate, this recipe is about holding on to summer and not letting go.  We decided that we had to hold onto summer for just one more pint of ice cream.

Ice cream ingredients

Have you ever noticed how many popular morning beverages have been turned into ice cream flavors?  For example, hot chocolate and chocolate ice cream.  Coffee?  Sure, there are a lot of coffee ice creams.  Tea?  Hmm, what about tea?  Lots of people drink tea… where’s the tea ice cream?   Right now, it is in my freezer.  This is thanks to David Lebovitz and his fantastic book, The Perfect Scoop.  We have written about this book before.  It is our go-to ice cream bible and has a plethora of recipes to try.  In this case, we decided to use his recipe for black currant tea ice cream as a foundation.  But we adapted it to use one of our most favorite tea flavors, Earl Greyer from The Republic of Tea.  The black tea flavored with bergamot makes for a delicious and light ice cream.

Cream, sugar, and tea

One final note.  Don’t feel like you have to wait for dessert to eat this ice cream.  I suspect that many of you out there have had a scoop or two of ice cream for breakfast somewhere along the way.  But now, you have the perfect accompaniment to a hot scone or fresh donut.  Go ahead, after all, it’s tea.

Ready to strain and cook

Earl Greyer Ice Cream

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

Ingredients:

1/2 cup whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

3/8 cup (75 grams) sugar

1/8 cup (8 grams) Earl Greyer loose leaf tea

3 large egg yolks

To Make:

In a medium sauce pan (with a lid) over medium heat, gently warm the milk, 1/2 cup of heavy cream, the sugar, and the tea leaves.  The idea is to heat the milk so the sugar is fully dissolved and you see some steam coming from the mixture.  Remove from the heat, cover and let steep one hour.

In a bowl, (using your wicked awesome) whisk the three egg yolks together.  In another bowl, pour in the other 1/2 cup of heavy cream and set a mesh strainer over it.

After an hour, re-warm the milk-tea mixture.  While whisking the egg yolks, slowly pour in the warm milk mixture.  Whisk constantly to avoid cooking the eggs.  Once the milk team mixture is incorporated in egg yolks, pour it all back into the sauce pan.  Heat the custard mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly.  To ensure that you have fully cooked eggs, the custard must reach a temperature between 170F and 175F.  An indication that this is done is when there is steam coming from the custard and it feels like it is starting to cook on the bottom of the pan.  To test if the custard is ready, dip a spoon into the mixture and run your finger down the back of the spoon.  If the trail left by your finger stays, the custard is ready.

When the custard has reached the right temperature, pour it through the mesh strainer and into the rest of the heavy cream.  Whisk to combine with the bowl set over in an ice bath to cool it quickly.  This must chill for at least eight hours.  Overnight is even better.  Once the custard is chilled, churn in the ice cream maker of your choice according to the manufacturer’s directions.

To Serve:

Eating the ice cream right out of the churner, which is very tempting, yields a lovely soft-serve texture.  Put it all back in the freezer for a few hours will yield something more like a traditional ice cream.  If you serve it frozen, it’s best to remove the ice cream from the freezer for about five minutes before serving.  Makes about 1 pint.

Congratulation to our Winner

Sorry for the delay in announcing the winner.  I was traveling this week and couldn’t get to the blog.

Congratulations to Scott Johnson!  You are the lucky winner of the $40 gift code for CSNstores.com

Keep an eye on your email for all the details.

Thanks to everyone who entered the give away and for all of our readership over that last year.  We are looking forward to many more.

Kelly and Marc