Crisp Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

Wow these are good.  The recipe was in the NY Times this week, and I knew I had to get these in the oven as soon as I possibly could.  You should too.

Crisp Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies


5 ounces (1 1/4 cups) whole-wheat pastry flour [I used KAF white whole wheat flour]
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
Heaped 1/2 cup smooth organic peanut butter, with no salt or sugar added [I used Skippy], plus 2 tablespoons for filling the cookies
5 ounces (3/4 cup) raw brown sugar
1 egg

1. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.
2. Cream the butter and 1/2 cup of peanut butter in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the raw sugar and beat on medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the egg and beat together. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and gradually add the flour mixture, beating at low speed.
3. Place a piece of parchment or wax paper on your work surface and spoon the dough onto the paper in a strip 12 to 14 inches long and about 2 inches thick. Fold the paper over the dough and shape the strip of dough into a log. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate several hours or, preferably, overnight.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit with racks positioned in the middle and lower portions. Line baking sheets with parchment. Remove the log of dough from the refrigerator and cut it in half. Rewrap one half and return to the refrigerator. Cut the remaining half into thin rounds, no thicker than 1/4 inch, and place them on the parchment-lined baking sheets about 1 inch apart, with the rows staggered. Place 1/4 teaspoon of peanut butter in the center of each round. Remove the other half of the dough from the refrigerator and slice in rounds. Place each round on top of a peanut butter-topped round. When all of the rounds are covered, lightly flour your fingertips (I didn't need to do this) and seal the cookies by pressing down gently all the way around. It won’t matter if the top cracks a little. Your rounds should be about 2 1/2 inches in diameter.
5. Bake in the middle of the oven for 15 to 16 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly colored and semi-firm to the touch, switching the baking sheets top to bottom and front to back halfway through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before eating. They won’t be crisp until they cool.
Yields about 24 cookies.

iTunes, Opa-Style

Turning 90 affords a great many things:
No one tells you what to do.
You eat whatever you want.
You sleep whenever you want.
You drive as slow as you'd like (or as fast as you can!).
You've arrived in a world where aches and pains may plague you, but hey, you can eat chocolate for lunch.  It's a balance, right?

Well, for Opa's 90th - we were lucky enough to be invited to join in the festivities at a favorite restaurant.  As a birthday surprise, the kids gave the gift of music.  
Milo, the eldest great-grandchild, provided videography, and Daniel, Melanie, and Faren played "Happy Birthday" to Opa on clarinets and a French horn!  Many friends and family seemed to like the show, no matter how brief.  Enjoy!

Apple Pie Bars

As promised, here's the recipe for fulfilling your longtime dream of holding a piece of apple pie in the palm of your hand.  Yes, it can happen. 

I mean, just check out the oats, all sweet with their blanket of butter and brown sugar.  Really folks.  These do require 3 steps, but your house will smell delicious, and your belly will love you - not to mention all the other bellies in your house.

Apple Pie Bars
from Recipe Girl

Ingredients:

CRUST:
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
FILLING:
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, thinly sliced
1/2 cup light brown sugar
6 pounds (about 12) Granny Smith apples , peeled, cored & thinly sliced [I used Cortland]
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated (preferred)
1/2 cup water, as necessary
TOPPING:
3 cups quick cooking oats
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes and chilled

Directions:

1. Prepare the crust: Preheat the oven to 375°. Line a 12-by-17-inch rimmed baking sheet or jelly roll pan with parchment paper. [If you get frustrated easily, then spray some Pam on the sheet pan before you put the parchment down - to "glue" it.]  With an electric mixer, beat the butter with the sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. At low speed, beat in the flour, spices and salt until a soft dough forms. Press the dough over the bottom of the prepared pan and 1/2 inch up the side in an even layer.  Bake in the center of the oven for about 15 minutes, or until the crust is golden and set. Let cool on a rack.
2. Meanwhile, prepare the filling: In a very large, deep skillet melt the butter with the brown sugar. (If you don't have a large skillet, divide between 2 skillets). Add the apples to the skillet and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes. Stir in cinnamon and nutmeg. Cook until the apples are caramelized and very tender and the liquid is evaporated, about 10 minutes longer; scrape up any bits stuck to the bottom of the skillet and add up to 1/2 cup of water to the pan to prevent scorching. Let cool.  [I added no water, and just ended up cooking the apples until the sugar and butter sort of lost their liquidity.]
3. Prepare the topping: In a large bowl, mix the oats with the flour, light brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Using fingers (wash your hands and take off your rings first!), squeeze the butter into the oats & sugar and crumble together until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Press the mixture into clumps.
4. Assemble the bars: Spread the apple filling over the crust. Scatter the crumbs on top, pressing them lightly into an even layer. Bake in the center of the oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the topping is golden; rotate the pan halfway through baking, and keep an eye on it to make sure the top isn't getting too browned. Let cool completely on a rack before cutting into 2-inch bars.

Apple Pickin'

Yesterday we went apple picking up in Easton, CT.  It was a beautiful day, where the sun remembered us after a spell of rainy days. 

 

There were loads of apples of all kinds - Empire, Golden Delicious, Cortland (my favorite), Red Delicious, Fuji, Gala Red . . .

. . . and the trees were just bursting with fruit.

Twist and gently pull . . . then polish on your pant leg, and take a bite!

I'm making Apple Pie Bars tomorrow.  Recipe and pictures to follow.

Banana-Graham Muffins

I'm always surprised when I find a great recipe on the back of a box.  But why?  It makes perfect sense that a big, profitable company (Nabisco) would spend a couple of dollars on recipe development.  Well, a good muffin is a surprise I'm always happy to taste.  So, I'm sharing.  Look at these beauties!

This is a low fat, dense muffin.  Most muffins I make without oil or butter offer me but a breath of taste, and I find myself longing for another . . . and another.  These have a heft because of the crushed graham crackers, but the banana is the perfect match, adding more than enough moisture.  Just look at the inside. 

 Mmmm.  Enjoy!

Banana-Graham Muffins
(from Nabisco)

Makes 12 standard muffins

2 2/3 cups graham cracker crumbs (in a food processor, I pulsed about 2/12 sleeves of crackers)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 cup fat-free milk
2 tbsp honey
2 ripe bananas, mashed
walnuts for the top (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

Combine graham crackers crumbs, sugar and baking soda in a bowl, and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine egg, milk, honey and mashed bananas.  Add the dry mixture to the wet, and stir until moistened. 
Using an ice-cream scoop, fill paper-lined muffins cups with batter (these don't rise too much, so you can fill 'em up).  Top with nuts, if desired.
Bake for 18 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 5 minutes.  Remove from pan to cool completely. 

Cookie Dough Brownies

I don't know about you all, by my kids are obsessed with cookie dough.  Cookie dough ice cream, frozen yogurt, candies, flavoring, frosting, cupcakes - whatever.  If it says cookie dough, they have to have it.  And so, when I clicked on these little treats, their cookie dough radars went "ding!ding!ding!," and they demanded I make these for SnacKlub.  So this was the treat last Friday. 

I like a good treat, but these were just too much.  Two really rich desserts in one.  The dough is, indeed, eggless, and it is spread on top of the cooled brownies.  Feel free to use your own brownie recipe.  I will, next time.  I like a fudge-y brownie with a much richer taste than these had.  When I told the kids these were not my favorite, they looked at me like I had just grown antlers.  So, maybe it's a kid thing.  Like I said - cookie dough has some mad powers. . .

Here's the link to the recipe.

Oreohhhhh!

This was the teenager's birthday cake this year, and if I were to listen to absolutely everyone who tasted it - it will be the birthday cake for all birthdays until the end of time.  It was pretty darn good.  And cakes don't really thrill me.  This one thrilled me, took me out to a show, and bought me a car.  This cake has elements of love in it that don't exist in any romance, fairy tale, or parent/child bond.  You have to make this, and make it for a crowd.  People will lavish you with thanks, praise, and kisses.  You will reign supreme over birthday cakes.  You will be cherished. 

Now go - bake!  The recipe's right here.  You're just a click away from forever happiness. 

Homemade Concord Grape Jelly

In our farm share last week, we got a few bunches of Concord grapes.  They're much smaller than what we're used to getting at the supermarket, but their aroma and taste are spot on Welch's grape jelly.  Ahh, they took me back.  But then . . . I crunched on the seed in there.  That would not do.  No one in the house liked them any more, whether or not they tasted "just like Welch's grape jelly!"  So they sat in their colander on the counter.  Alone.  Untouched.  I was about to just toss the small purple orbs, when I thought - maybe I can make my own grape jelly.  So I plucked each little grape from the stem, tossed all of them in a heavy sauce pan along with a scoop of sugar (maybe 1/3 cup), and turned on the heat.  It bubbled and boiled, and I started mushing the grapes into the liquid with my potato masher, and after only 20 mins or so, things were looking good.  I added about a tblsp of cornstarch, and pushed the hot liquid through a strainer.  Ta da!  My own Concord grape jelly. 

I spread some cream cheese on a graham cracker and topped it off with the jelly, and was instantly transported back to childhood.   Such a treat.  Enjoy!

If Baking Was Like Dating

Hi, I'm peanut butter frosting.  Some dig my flavor, and most can't live without me.  I'm sweet and salty, and oh so creamy.  But I'm looking for a better half.  I've tried vanilla, but when we're together its flavor is so cloying.  I crave a dynamic taste to really make me swirl and enjoy life at the top.  If you're fresh, and cool, I'd love to top off your evening with my charm.

Well, hello there.  I think I have the flavor you crave.  I'm very rich, too.  Many icings say I'm the only cake for them, but I just "choc" that up to frosting's high opinion of itself.  Aren't all the flavors the same - thinking it's all about being at the top?  Just why, then - when we're together - are we called a cupcake?  I don't see the words frosting or icing in there.  If you're whipped up in a frenzy, and want a place to settle down, then I'm your mate.  I add depth of flavor to anyone who can pay me a compliment.  Might that be you?

Hubba, hubba.  Look who's at the party.  Everyone's talking about how these two met up - on this blog.  It's where all the ingredients for love are totally sweet on each other!

We know what's for dessert, but who's paying the tab?

Whoopie!

Look what I did.  It was the kids' first Friday of the school year.  If it's Friday, during the school year, it's SnacKlub.  Each kid brings home whomever they like (11 kids in my little house this past week), and I have a new treat waiting for them all.  I can't believe it, but this is our third year of SnacKlub!  Where does the time go?
So, for this year's first SnacKlub, the treat was: Banana Caramel Whoopie Pies.  Here's the link from a fave blog of mine, Annie's Eats.  I have a lot of faves, I know.  These were easy as, well, pie!  I used a different filling.  I whipped together 2 sticks of softened butter, with 12 oz of softened cream cheese.  Then I added, a little at a time, 4 and a half cups of powdered sugar.  Finally, I whipped in Annie's caramel sauce - the half cup she calls for.  Now, when making the caramel sauce (I did it the day before), just watch that sugar.  As soon as it's amber-colored, you should turn off the heat, even if there are little flecks of unmelted sugar.  I'm telling you, if you really stir it until there are no more flecks, you'll burn the sugar, and then your caramel sauce will lose that desired, deep sweetness, and you'll have to make believe you wanted it that way by calling it burnt sugar sauce.  And who wants to make believe?  Get real, and make these.  The sweetness of the banana comes right to the edges of the "cookie" halves and almost crunches on your teeth.  That, mixed with the cream cheese filling - oh my dear, I'm faint with love.
Enjoy.

Let's Jam

How do you turn these beauties . . .

. . . into this pot of gold?

Of course I will share.  Too delicious not to.

Put 1 and 1/3 cups of sugar in a pot (An enameled cast iron, like this one - my fave Le Creuset pot - is good.).  Add 1/4 cup of water.  Bring to a boil, and as it bubbles, look for it to turn clear.  Once you see this clear syrup-y stage, add the fresh apricots - which you've halved, and pitted.  You'll need about 2 lbs of apricots (before pitting).  Stir occasionally, and sort of mush them with your spatula or spoon.  I don't recommend using a wood spoon, as the hot sugar liquid will pull flavor from it.  I used a silicone spatula.  Keep stirring and smooshing over a low flame for about 30 - 45 minutes.  The last 5 minutes of simmering, add 2 tbps of lemon juice.  Let cool for a few minutes before placing into your canning jars.  I filled 3 half-pint-size jars full to the rim, and a half of one for me.  Just for me!

If you can't make this, sell your kitchen.

We're all looking for easy, fresh, and healthful.  And why are we so amazed when we find it?  Are we still not over Julia Child?  Do we think cooking dinner means using every dish and pot in the cabinets?  No, no, no.  Easy lives and breathes.  Easy is waiting for us to stop running up and down the aisles in Trader Joe's and Stop and Shop - on the SAME day!  Easy does not think very highly of reduced sauces, or braised anything.  Easy is this dish.

Now, close your eyes, and recite the ingredients.  You've just seen them.  You can do it.  Eggs, basil, cherry tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella.  Oh - and I poured a little half and half on top, to keep the eggs from burning.  That is it my friends. 

Spray some Pam in the pan, then tumble your cubed cheese in there, along with the basil chiffonade, and the halved tomatoes.  Now, make some "wells" for the eggs (I made 8, and used a 9x13 pan), and crack them in there.  Pour about a half cup of half and half on top, sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper, and put in a 350-degree oven for about 15 mins.  Then put under the broiler for about 3 minutes. 

You're welcome.

The Pickle Post

In our farm share last week, is it any surprise that we got over a dozen cucumbers?  Of course not.  This is their season.  And I was waiting.  I wanted a whole lotta cukes, because I had plans.  Pickles!  So easy, and so give-able (you know I'm a food pusher).  Plus, pickles are a great way to pucker up to the heat of the summer.  You can't sweat when you eat a pickle.  If it's sour enough, all your pores will pucker! 

Here's what I did:

Quarter your cukes, and slice them so they'll fit in your Bell jars (I got a dozen for $12 at my local hardware store).  In each jar (Guess how many you can fill with your quartered cukes - I filled 6 pint-sized jars with about 10 cukes.), place a few sprigs of fresh dill, and one fat garlic clove, sliced.  In a medium saucepan, bring to a boil the following: 2 cups of cider vinegar, 1 1/4 cup water, 2 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp kosher salt.  Boil for 2 mins.  Pour the hot liquid right on top of your cukes all tucked in tightly their jars.  Fill each jar to the tippy top.  Seal.  Cool on the counter for about a half hour, then refrigerate for at least 24 hours before crunching. 

Full Swing

Yellow plums and juicy, sweet cherries were among the shares we got this week. 

Zucchini, squash, and eggplant.  I immediately grilled these and then served them cold with grilled chicken, later in the day.  The beets, I cut up like matchsticks and added to salad.  Yum.

These beans, above and below, were delicious lightly steamed.  After cooking though, the purple ones were no longer purple!  They looked the same as the green ones.  So strange. 

Can't resist the pesto.  I took all the basil we got and made a batch.  So good, in every way.

Iced Coffee, Redux

If you start your morning with this,

it's going to be a great day - guaranteed. 

I learned a little about making amazing iced coffee.  How?  My friend Lisi posted this on her blog, and so I followed her link and went here.  Follow the instructions, and you will have the perfect coffee with which to make the best summertime treat ever.  Even my 10-year-old daughter clamors for this.  No more watered-down, diluted coffee taste for me.  The sweetened condensed milk should not be omitted.  Go for it.  This is possibly one of the best finds ever. 

Enjoy!

Sunny Fruits and Whimsical Vegetables

A bright spot in our week, last night, was getting our shares.  Such a surprise with each delivery, it's a true delight to lift back the flaps on those boxes and discover our farm share fate.  Boy, do I have some pictures to share this week. 

Take a look at these apricots, Rainier cherries, and sour cherries.

A veritable bounty, and it's too darn hot to bake a pie.  My solution:  the freezer.  Here, I pitted the sour cherries, and laid them on a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

After I spread them evenly, I slid the tray in the freezer.  Once frozen, I zipped up the cherry halves in a freezer bag, and there they will stay until my pate brise can come out of the fridge without practically liquifying in the summer heat. 

Now, onto the veggies.  Here's some squash, and some purslane.  A new one for me.  I'm going to steam some, and serve it with some brown rice.  Might just plop it on my lunchtime sandwich, too. 

Look at this pretty eggplant.  

And these peppers are delicious.  So much better than Stop & Shop produce.  Green beans, fresh off the vine.  "Snap!"

Melanie held up this fennel to me and said, "High five, Mom."  Such a joker.

I'm thinking of sauteing the fennel, eggplant and squash together (like my friend Ann did) to get a makeshift ratatouille.  Mmmm. 

Remembering Through Baubles

This past weekend, we went to visit the kids' great-grandparents.  All of ninety years old, they're in better shape than some seventy-year-olds.  But don't tell them that; they will not believe you.  One of the things we did during our visit, was go through my grandmother's jewelry.  Some pieces were trendy, whereas other pieces were strikingly beautiful.  Mel has no love for jewelry that is worn.  She just appreciates its shine, its jingle, or even its history.  And history is what her G-G has a lot of.  So we heard all about some of the items:  a ring her mother bought - after saving for its hefty price for so long - almost 100 years ago; a pair of earrings purchased for my great-grandmother, on the occasion of my grandmother's birth; and a charm bracelet to beat all charm bracelets.  Each piece had a story, and meaning behind it.  Mel soaked it all in.  I remembered this bracelet, too.  It has a working mini slot machine that I used to tink, tink, tink all the time.  A gold bicycle with working wheels, and I'd ride it all along the tablecloth in front of my place at the table.  My favorite piece was the mini U.S. Mailbox, and when you pulled open the top slot to "insert" a letter, you saw two extremely miniature red ruby hearts.  So dear.  Also, there was a regular old wheat-back penny, dated 1954, that was bound in a gold setting, and attached to the bracelet.  I'd forgotten, but my grandmother reminded me that she volunteered for an organization long ago that helped developmentally challenged young adults.  She spent many hours there, and the head of the organization, after lamenting that he could not pay her for her time, offered her that single penny as a token of his gratitude.  It must have been an extremely special token, for her to have set it and attached it to this bracelet, upon which dangles a lifetime of memories. 
It was a very special vist, with so much joy in remembering. 

First Fruit Share

This week we got more greens, fava beans, another gorgeous head of red leaf lettuce, plus some cucumbers, and zucchini and squash.

And, drum roll please, we got our first taste of fruit - some sour cherries and regular sweet cherries. 


See the difference?

Sour cherries on their own leave me wanting, to be quite honest.  But bake them in a little pie-cup, like I did here . . .

. . . and all I'm wanting is more.  I'm sorry, but pie making is not my specialty (maybe because I never measure anything that goes in a pie - ever), but I think I tossed about 3 cups of the pitted sour cherries with about a cup of sugar, a quarter cup of flour, and some lemon juice.  I used Mark Bittman's Flaky Pie Crust recipe.  I am the lousiest roller-outer of dough, even with my zip-up plastic circle that is supposed to yield a perfectly even, round pie crust.  Plus, it was almost ninety degrees in my kitchen, and the butter was melting far too quickly, even with putting the pan in the freezer in between filling each muffin cup with the dough.  I ended up just smooshing dough globs in there.  Then I took my foil pieces (that I had pre-fashioned in the shape of the cups before inserting the dough), and greased them and put them on top of the moulded dough.  Then I filled the foil cups with beans.  See?

Then after these baked at 425 degrees for 12 minutes, I discarded the foil and beans, and filled the semi-baked cups of dough with the cherry/sugar mixture, and baked that at 350 degrees for about 45 mins.  After letting them cool (not too long, or you'll never get them out), I just scooped them out of their cups, and put them in little ramekins.  Of course I ate one.  Had to.  And did you know that a baked sour cherry is a taste that can alter your life?  Now, take many baked sour cherries, with sugar, and inside a crumbly, buttery, crust - well, that can just blow any other taste experience out of the water.  Hands down.  The most wonderful, delightful thing to come out of my oven.  And a LOT of things come out of my oven. 

Well, I steamed the zucchini and squash tonight.  The greens, I blanched again, and will saute them later in the week.  But the sour cherry tartletts - they may not last a day.

Choco-Love. Seriously.

These were the cookies for today's game. Really good, chunky, chewy chocolate-y. And the Oreos act as a casual injection, because cookies really should not be taken all that seriously. Perhaps that's why I like baking them so much! I mean, really - they're small, individually-sized mounds of delight. Nothing more than that. But these brought smiles all around. And that is definitely the reason I like to bake. All the smiles. A good cookie just brings us back to the center, where we hold it all together. Hmmm. Perhaps I should take cookies more seriously . . .

Here's the link to the recipe at How Sweet It Is.

Last Week's Veggies - Gone!

We greatly enjoyed our veggie share last week. We have been so very busy, I almost forgot to take pictures.
Almost.

More kohlrabi, a beautiful head of red leaf lettuce, some favas, gorgeous zucchini and squash . . .

. . . more greens, garlic scapes, and some garlic.

I roasted almost all of this, all together. Bathed in a little olive oil, salt and pepper, I laid all the thickly cut and diced veggies out on two pans, and roasted at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. I even wrapped the garlic bulbs in foil and let them roast in there. Then I squeezed all that goodness over the roasted veggies. Absolutely divine. See?

The greens, I blanched, and then later sauteed them in garlic and olive oil, then added some bacon and placed on top of some brown rice. We do love our bacon. Can't let that go around here.

After eating out so much over the holiday weekend, it was great to have some superbly fresh food in our bellies. Yum!

More S'Mores

I made these again. Boy are these always a hit. Always. Here's the recipe.

Enjoy. I know you will.

As American as Baseball and Apple Pie

This Independence Day weekend, we spent our time cheering on some pretty swell ball players, if I do say so myself. Very fun indeed.

And, yes, we did enjoy some homemade apple pie. Thanks bro!