It Started in Bulgaria

Pepakakhr Cookies

2011-12-07T13:42:00.000-08:00

My family has made these Scandinavian cookies for Christmas forever. They are quite an effort, but totally worth it. I like to make them in three stages - I mix the dough one day and then refrigerate it overnight, cut out and bake the cookies the next day, and then freeze them until I am ready to devote several hours to a decorating extravaganza.

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter or margarine, softened to room temp.

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 TBSP molasses

1 egg

2 TBSP milk

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp ginger

1 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp cardamom

3 1/4 cups flour

Method:

1. Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Stir in molasses, egg, and then milk.

2. Whisk together the baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and cardamom in a small bowl. Mix into the butter/sugar mixture.

3. Gradually stir in flour. It will take a while, and some energy! If you can't quite stir it all in, just save the rest to spread on the counter later when you are rolling out the cookies.

4. Chill dough in the refrigerator for at least two hours or overnight. If you chill it overnight, you may need to let it warm up just a little before rolling it out.

Later:

5. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line cookies sheets with parchment. Sprinkle counter and rolling pin with flour.

6. Roll out the dough and cut out cookies with cookie cutters. Use a spatula to transfer the cookies to the cookie sheets.

7. Bake about 9 minutes or until firm. Rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back mid-way through if you think of it.

8. Let cookies cool on the baking sheets for about a minute, then transfer to wire racks or newspaper to cool.

At this point, you can either freeze the cookies or decorate them once they are cool.

For decorating, I use a vanilla buttercream frosting like this one, usually reducing the butter down to about 1 TBSP because you don't really need so much for this. I also add a tiny bit of almond extract to taste - about 1/4 tsp, but it depends on whether you like almond.

Go to town with the frosting! You can do fancy white decorations with a pastry bag, or divide the frosting into small cups and add drops of food coloring. I happen to think pepakakhr taste great with red hots and raisins on the frosting, but I also use just about every other kind of sprinkles and nonpareils.

Coriander and Chocolate Chips

2011-01-31T20:47:00.000-08:00

In Bulgaria I dreamed of tart pans. And electric mixers. Cream of Tartar. Maple extract. Meanwhile, I learned to cook. Sometimes I didn't know exactly what I was making, like when I mixed up those caramel rolls with a jar of clear sticky liquid that looked like corn syrup.

They turned out.

Who would have guessed that a place where I couldn't read the labels on most foods would turn out to be the perfect place to get comfortable in the kitchen? It still seems a bit miraculous that I sounded out the Cyrilic world "kor-ee-aahn-der" and realized coriander was the same as cilantro. A Bulgarian vocabulary sheet on spices, a google image of a cilantro leaf, and an online spice dictionary all helped me in my pursuit of making pico de gallo.

All of which is to say that lacking a tart pan didn't hold me back much. But it's fun having one. So far I've made one lemon tart and one chocolate-chip pecan tart (see below). Why so few? Well, it's not my only new kitchen toy. I've also been busy with my new angel food cake pan, cherry pitter, zester, rice cooker and blender.

Chocolate Chip Pecan Tart

Lightly adapted from Mom's Book of Baking

Simplest Pie Crust

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup plus 2 TBSP unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat to 325 F.

2. Gently lay the rolled out dough into the tart pan. Press firmly into the corners so the dough doesn't stretch as it bakes. Run a rolling pin across the top of the pan to cut off the excess. Prick the bottom of the crust a few times with a fork. Place the tart pan in the freezer while you mix the filling. (Or don't if you don't have room in your freezer, like me!).

3. Combine the sugar and flour in a mixing bowl. Stir in the butter, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.

4. Stir in the pecans and chocolate chips.

5. Take the tart shell out of the freezer. Place it on a baking sheet and pour the filling into the crust.

Bake for 45-50 minutes until the filling is just set. Let cool completely on a wire rack before cutting and serving. Store at room temperature.

S'Mores Brownies

2011-01-29T22:27:00.000-08:00

So I was recently discussing the name "s'more" with one of my students. Why is it called a "s'more?" What do those letters have to do with chocolate melting over baked marshmallows and sandwiched between crumbling graham crusts?

"It's because you always want 's'more,'" said he.

"Well, maybe I might want 's'more' beef or 's'more' smoothie," I replied. "It should be called a 'ch-ma-gra' or something that actually relates to the ingredients."

He agreed. We came up with possible acronyms for a while, then moved on to the actual business of our class, which was to write travel pieces. Evoke sensory details. To make the reader feel as if she is in a place, having an experience she has never had.

For example...

"When I opened the squeaky broiler drawer, I saw a clean square of flames sitting in my brownie pan. As I had done with so many flaming s'more marshmallows before, I blew as hard as I could into the quickly charring marshmallows adorning my brownies. A few minutes layer, the trash can was a bit stickier and my second attempt at the broiled marshmallow layer was browning to perfection. This time I left it in for only 8 seconds. Soon a dorm full of boys demolished the s'mores brownies, never knowing of my pan-shaped fire. My first ever kitchen fire was over."

S'Mores Brownies

Adapted from Mom's Book of Cookies

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 cup plus 1 TBSP sugar

3 oz (3 squares) unsweetened chocolate

3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups mini-marshmallows or large marshmallows cut into slices

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F / 176 C. Line an 8 X 8 inch pan with foil.

2. Melt 4 TBSP of the butter and stir into the graham crackers and 1 TBSP of sugar. Press the mixture evenly across the pan, packing it tightly with your fingertips. Bake for 6-8 minutes, or until fragrant and golden brown.

3. Put one inch of water in a saucepan and place a stainless steel bowl over the top, making sure the water doesn't touch the bowl if you can. Combine the rest of the butter and the chocolate in the bowl, whisking occasionally, until melted. Set aside to cool a little.

4. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small mixing bowl.

5. Whisk together the remaining sugar and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the chocolate/butter mix and the vanilla. Gently stir in the flour mix until just incorporated. Pour over the graham crust and bake until set in the center, 30-35 minutes.

6. Remove the pan from the oven and heat the broiler. Scatter the marshmallows over the top and broil, checking OFTEN until the marshmallows are brown. This could take 8 seconds (my oven) or 1-3 minutes (the oven of my cookbook's author).

Cool on a wire rack. Spray your knife with cooking spray before attempting to cut through the marshmallow layer when you cut your brownies into squares!

Yep, looks like my s'mores used to. Don't let this happen to you! But if it does, just peel off the top layer and try again, like me.

Basil Pesto

2010-09-26T15:25:00.000-07:00

When I saw a giant bunch of basil at the farmer's market last weekend I knew it was time. I've been eying my food processor every since we got back from Bulgaria and I unpacked it from storage, but I hadn't used it yet. The time had come.

Basil Pesto (adapted from The Four Burners, who adapted it from Bon Apetit)

4 cups fresh basil leaves, washed

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup pine nuts

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

1/4 cup grated Romano

1 tsp ground sea salt

1. Combine basil, olive oil, garlic and pine nuts in your food processor. Process until smooth, stopping to scrape the edges with a knife three times.

2. Add cheeses and sea salt. Process again until smooth.

Combine with pasta and a few tablespoons of hot pasta water. OR freeze in an ice cube tray and then store in a plastic bag for later use, like I did!

On Vacation: Poached Pear Chocolate Cake

2010-07-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed posts have been pretty much nonexistent this summer. That's what moving from Bulgaria to California via New Jersey, New York, Ohio, North Carolina, and Minnesota will do to you. I'm having a great time but not doing much in the way of testing new recipes. However, just to tide you over until I start posting again later this month, check out an amazing Poached Pear Chocolate Cake recipe at Confessions of a Tart, which I just used to make a wedding cake for my brother and NEW sister-in-law! Yay!

Caramel Rolls

2010-06-28T10:02:00.000-07:00

The cupboard is dwindling. But good things are still possible in the last week before we move. Good things like caramel rolls. My husband Brett claims these are one of the best things I've ever made, and I'm inclined to agree.

One of my favorite things about this recipe is that you can make it the day before a brunch and then let the rolls rise in the fridge overnight. Since I was just adding a salad and some eggs to round out the meal, I didn't have to worry about rushing around the kitchen in the morning. A lucky thing, since I had my last big training run for New York's Boilermaker 15 K in two weeks and it pretty much took all morning by the time I managed to roll out of bed.

Caramel Rolls

Barely Adapted from Simply Recipes

Dough

1/4 cup warm water

1 pkg yeast

1/3 cup + 1 tsp sugar

3/4 cup milk

4 TBSP butter, melted

3 large egg yolks

1 TBSP orange zest

1 1/4 tsp salt

4 + cups flour

Filling

1/2 cup white sugar

1 TBSP cinnamon

4 TBSP (or less) butter

Topping

3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

4 TBSP unsalted butter

3 TBSP honey

1 TBSP light corn syrup

1. First, make the dough. In a small bowl, sprinkle yeast over the warm water. Sprinkle on 1 tsp sugar. Stir. Cover and let sit for about five minutes, until foamy. Pour into a mixing bowl and add the sugar, butter, milk, eggs, salt, and 3/4 of the flour. Stir. Stir in remaining flour. Knead until smooth, adding more flour if the dough gets sticky. Lift the dough up and butter the bowl, spinning the dough once to coat. Let rise in a warm place for about an hour. I like to use the oven - turn the heat on for about 30 seconds and then turn it off, and you should have a secure warm environment.

2. After an hour, punch down the dough and turn out onto a floury counter. Let sit for 20 minutes. In the mean time, stir together the sugar and cinnamon for the filling and melt the filling butter (if you prefer, you can also just spread softened butter when the time comes). Combine the topping ingredients in a large saucepan and let sit on the stove, ready.

3. Roll the dough into a large rectangle, about 12 X 18 inches. Spread with butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture. Roll up tightly into a long log. Pinch together at the ends and to create a seam across the middle, so the filling doesn't spill out. Cut into about 15 equal rolls of about 1 inch.

4. Melt the topping ingredients together over low heat until uniform. It should only take a couple of minutes. Grease a large pan (9 X 13 ideally) and pour the topping into the bottom. Place the rolls evenly in the pan, then cover the whole thing with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (the rolls will spread and rise).

5. Take the rolls out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before you want to bake them so they can return to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown on top, turning the pan halfway through for even baking.

6. When you take them out of the oven, immediately invert them onto a large tray or baking sheet, being careful not to spill any caramel on yourself. Don't wait on this step or they may be stuck to your pan for a long time!

Let cool for a little while and then SERVE WARM.

Last Minute Apple Crisp

2010-06-27T05:15:00.000-07:00

When my friends were unexpectedly held up before a dinner party this week, I figured I would use my thirty minutes of waiting time to throw together a dessert. I didn't have much around, because we're moving next week. But with just a few ingredients and a few minutes, I made my friend Pat's amazing apple crisp. It was quick and easy, and, we all agreed later, delicious.

Apple Crisp (From Pat Miller)

4-6 large apples, peeled and sliced

1 tsp cinnamon

Lemon juice from 1/2 lemon (or a TBSP of water)

1/4 cup butter

3/8 cup brown sugar

1/8 cup white sugar

3/8 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter an 8 X 8 inch glass dish.

2. Scatter the apples into the pan. Sprinkle with lemon juice (or water) and cinnamon.

3. Cream together the butter and sugars. Then stir in flour and salt.

4. Sprinkle the topping over the apples.

5. Bake for 30 minutes or until the crisp begins to bubble.

Banana Blackberry Muffins

2010-06-24T03:22:00.000-07:00

There is something about fruit being available only in season that suddenly elevates berries to the upper reaches of culinary bliss. Raspberries are good for two weeks in August, blueberries for one week in September, strawberries for three weeks in May. The rest of the time, the rest of the fruit. Sure, I like it when shiny green pears are in season and when limes stop costing as much as an entire Chipotle burrito, but when it comes down to it, berries are my favorite.

So you can imagine I was pretty excited when I saw frozen blackberries at Carrefour, the new French grocery store in town. Berries?! But I didn't freeze any last summer! What a gift!

I suppose I will lose some of these thrills next week when I return to the U.S., and every single fruit is once again available at all times, in or out of season. But I hope to retain a bit of my wonder and enjoyment for all things berry. I have a feeling that now that I know what goes with what season, I'll always at least be influenced in my choices by an actual knowledge of the fields and orchards.

Anyway, all this is leading up to one delicious recipe. I didn't want to waste all my blackberries at once on a cobbler or a pie, so I've been spreading them out over many, many muffins. Today, the combo is worthy of the blog. Banana + Blackberry = Just about Right.

Banana Blackberry Muffins

adapted from the most delicious banana bread recipe from my Grandma Helen

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 TBSP milk + 1 tsp baking soda (combined)

2 eggs

2 squishy brown bananas

1 cup (or more) blackberries, thawed and drained

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

2. Cream the butter and the sugar in one bowl. Mash the bananas in another.

3. Stir the eggs into the butter and sugar, then add the milk/baking soda and baking powder. Stir in the bananas.

4. Stir in the flour until just combined. Add the blackberries. It's OK if the batter is streaked with purple. Personally, I think they look prettier that way.

5. Spoon into muffin cups until they are all the way full. This will give them nice domes on top.

6. Bake for about 22 minutes, rotating halfway, until golden brown on top and a fork inserted into the center comes out clean.

7. Cool in pan, then store in a tupperware. You may freeze these if you wish.

A Shortbread Crust, Two Ways

2010-06-09T09:28:00.000-07:00

It all started when I had leftover caramel and four lemons in the fridge. You might think there's no way two such separate ingredients could ever be connected. "Lemony caramel popcorn?" "Citrus Caramels?" you say, mockingly. I might have agreed with you before I found the following AMAZING shortbread recipe and started putting ingredients on top of it willy nilly.

I may never make a different shortbread crust, and I plan to continue experimenting with possible toppings, because apparently you really can't go wrong.

So, with no further ado, I give you...

The Shortbread Crust, Two Ways

Begin by making The Shortbread Crust (from Joy of Baking)

3/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1/8 tsp salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter a 9 X 9 " pan.

2. Cream together the butter and the sugar. Stir in vanilla.

3. Add flour and salt and combine.

4. Press mixtures into the bottom of the prepared pan.

5. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.

Now, it's time to choose your adventure. Your first option is for almond caramel bars.

Almond Caramel Bars

Shortbread Crust (above!)

1 cup caramel, warmed

1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds

1 chocolate bar

1. Let the shortbread crust sit and cool for an hour.

2. Pour the almonds evenly on top and pour the caramel over them.

3. Break the chocolate bar into pieces and scatter them across the warm caramel. After ten minutes, use a butter knife to spread the soft chocolate over the bars.

4. Let cool and then cut into triangles.

Option #2, my personal favorite, though it's hard to choose, is Lemon Bars.

Lemon Bars (topping from Epicurious)

1 shortbread crust, still hot

4 large eggs

3/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Powdered Sugar

1. Whisk together the eggs and sugar. Add the lemon juice, then the flour.

2. Pour over hot shortbread base. Reduce oven temperature to 300 F and move a rack to the middle.

3. Bake until set, about 30 minutes.

4. Let cool before dusting with powdered sugar and cutting into squares. Store covered and chilled.

Strawberry Bread

2010-06-07T07:56:00.000-07:00

Strawberry season has come and gone in Bulgaria. It was lovely though brief. I should have known when the cherries took over the front of every store and stall that I should just let the strawberries go. But I didn't. Surprise. I bought two more pretty looking baskets and stuffed them in my fridge below all the cherries. When that first bit of berry hit my mouth...

ICK. They had that slightly acidy chemical taste I associate mainly with trying to hold various plaque-removing washes in my mouth at the dentist.

What was I going to do with two giant baskets of acidic strawberries?

So far I've come up with a use for just one, though I have another possibility on the horizon. Strawberry-using device #1?

Strawberry Cream Cheese Quick Bread from My Baking Addiction.

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 cup milk + 1/2 TBSP lemon juice)

1 1/2 cups strawberries, rinsed, dried, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a bread pan.

2. Combine cream cheese, butter, and sugar. Mix in eggs, one at a time, then vanilla.

3. In another bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

4. Stir flour mixture into butter mixture, until just combined. Stir in buttermilk.

5. Fold in the strawberries. Pour into prepared pan.

6. Bake 50-60 minutes, rotating half way, until golden brown on top and a fork inserted in the middle comes out clean.

BBQ Thai Chicken Pizza

2010-06-05T08:25:00.000-07:00

Start with the...

Pizza Dough

(adapted from the Smitten Kitchen)

1 1/2 cups warm water

2 TBSP olive oil

1 tsp brown sugar

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 pkg active dry yeast

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

1. Put your warm water in a small bowl and sprinkle the yeast on top. Set in a warm place and cover with a towel for 5 minutes. Stir to dissolve yeast.

2. Stir together the wheat flour, brown sugar and oil. Add yeast and water.

3. Add the flour and salt.

4. Knead 5 minutes IN THE BOWL (why mess up your counter?), adding a bit of flour here and there to keep it from sticking to your hands or the bowl. Then lift up the dough and dribble a generous dash of olive oil into the bowl, using the dough to spread it. Turn over the dough so it is now coated with olive oil too. Cover the whole shebang with a towel and place in a warm kitchen corner for 1 1/2 hours.

Now, the toppings for the BBQ Thai Chicken Pizza

(from The Pioneer Woman)

Mozzarella, in thin slices

Purple Onion, sliced thinly

Chicken Breasts

BBQ Sauce

Chopped Cilantro

1. Coat the chicken breasts in BBQ sauce and bake for 25 minutes at 375 F. Dice and coat in more BBQ sauce.

2. Spread out the pizza crust on an oiled pizza pan. Spread the mozzarella on top.

3. Scatter the onion over the top. Then the diced chicken.

4. Sprinkle on more BBQ sauce.

5. Bake until cheese is bubbly and the crust starts to brown at the edges, between 15-20 minutes.

6. Sprinkle on the chopped cilantro.

The Birthday Cashew Bars

2010-06-03T11:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my husband's 35th birthday surprise party. Some of his favorite foods are green olives, cashews, and caramel frosting. Since I couldn't figure out a way to work in green olives to a birthday dessert, I went with cashew bars with caramel sauce. I posted about the (somewhat finicky but tasty) caramel sauce earlier this week, so here's the recipe for the (delicious and incredibly buttery) cashew bars.

Cashew Bars

from Baking Bites

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup salted cashews, coarsely chopped

1. Preheat to 375 F.

2. Cream the butter and sugar, then gradually beat in the flour. Stir in 1/2 cup of the cashews.

3. Press the dough into a 10 X 15 '' pan, making it relatively even. Then scatter the remaining cashews over the top and press them in neatly.

4. Bake for about 25 minutes, until the dough is golden brown but the edges aren't too dark. Watch those edges!

5. Let cool for 10 minutes and then slice. This is vital. The bars will become too crisp to slice neatly if you don't do it while they are still warm. Then let them cool completely before you remove them to serve.

Making Caramel

2010-06-01T07:38:00.000-07:00

I've always ignored the idea of making "dessert sauces." What do I need a sauce for if I have a good dessert? But I've recently changed my mind. I made some cashew brittle shortbread this week, and planned to serve it with ice cream. But then I thought of those caramel cashew paws I used to sell at my college candy store job. Then I thought of the homemade caramels my friend Kelsey used to make in high school. Then I thought, cashew shortbread over ice cream drenched in caramel sauce!

So I scoured the internet, reading post after post about how intimidating caramel is and how it shouldn't be so intimidating. How it's really hard but actually not that hard. How you have to trust your nose and eyes and wear protective safety gear.

My first batch, featured here, worked out pretty well. For some reason one of the jars looks better than the other, but that jar looks and smells amazing. I think the cooking would've been more even if I had a sturdier saucepan, but such is life.

In the recipe below, I am drawing on David Lebovitz for the safety ideas, and Smitten Kitchen for the main recipe.

Caramel Dessert Sauce

1 cup sugar

6 TBSP butter

1/2 cup + 2 TBSP heavy cream, at room temperature

1. Use a large (2-3 quart) saucepan. Don't use a smaller one, the mixture will eventually be foaming like crazy. Be sure your saucepan is very clean. Put on oven mitts, a long sleeve shirt, and sunglasses or glasses. Fill a bowl with ice water in case you get a bit of the hot hot hot sugar on you and need to stop the burn. (I didn't have any trouble, but I was prepared!)

2. Pour the sugar into the saucepan and begin heating it over the highest setting of your medium heat.

3. Let the sugar melt to achieve a coppery color, swirling it around in the pan so it cooks evenly. You'll be tempted to stir it a lot, but this will just cause grainy clumps. You can draw the sugar back a bit from the edges of the pan at first (with a whisk or high heat spatula) so that the same sugar isn't always exposed to high heat at the edges.

4. Once the sugar is melted to the a deep dark orange-red but before it burns, whisk in all the butter (still over the heat). The mixture will foam, just keep stirring.

5. Then remove the butter/sugar mixture from the heat and whisk in the cream.

6. Let cool and thicken for a while, then pour into a glass jar or over ice cream or over whatever your caramel-complementing dessert might be!

Store in the refrigerator.

Weekend Herb Blogging: All about Cherries

2010-05-28T23:19:00.000-07:00

The cherries have arrived here in Bulgaria, and probably to wherever you are as well. I've seen them at the store, at the fruit stands, and overflowing from crates next to trucks on the side of the road. So on Wednesday when I visited my favorite fruit stand in Mladost, I decided to buy a giant bag of them and see what I could do with cherries for the latest edition of Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this time by Cook Almost Anything.

So here are the results - cinnamon cherry jam, cherry jam bars, and lemon cherry muffins with lemon glaze. One bag of cherries can lead to many great things...

Cinnamon Cherry Jam

adapted from the Wandering Chopsticks Blog

1 1/2 cups cherries, washed and pitted

1 TBSP + 1 tsp sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1. Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar over the cherries and let sit for as long as you have, anywhere from 45 minutes to several hours.

2. Transfer to a saucepan and heat over medium high heat until they begin to boil, stirring frequently.

3. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally. You can simmer them as long as you like, either to have a chunky ice-cream toppingesque jam, or longer so the fruit breaks down.

4. Pour the hot jam into a sterilized jar and seal for long term storage, or into a tupperware or regular jar if you plan to eat it in the next week or two.

Cherry Jam Bars

from Cooking with Amy

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cups sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup cold butter, cut into cubes

1 egg

1 cup cherry preserves (I used the jam from the recipe above)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F and butter a 9 X 9 glass dish.

2. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

3. Either cut the butter in with two butter knives, or massage in with your fingers, until the dough comes together as a crumb-like mixture.

4. Stir in the egg with a fork.

5. Press 3/4 of the mixture into the bottom of the dish. You may have to flour your fingers to keep them from sticking to the mixture. Pour the jam on top, not quite going to the edges. Sprinkle the remaining mixture over the jam.

6. Bake for 30 minutes, rotating halfway through, until golden brown. Cool before cutting into squares.

Lemon Cherry Muffins / Bread with Lemon Glaze

adapted from Sweet Mary

2 1/4 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

5 TBSP butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Zest of 2 lemons

1 cup - 1 TBSP milk

Juice of 1 lemon, divided

3-4 TBSP Powdered Sugar

1-2 cups cherries, washed, pitted, and cut in half (if thawed from frozen, drain first)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Butter a bread pan and a muffin pan (or use liners).

2. Combine the milk and 1 TBSP lemon juice in a small bowl. Let sit.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt.

4. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until combined. Stir in eggs, then vanilla, then lemon zest.

5. Stir flour mixture and milk/lemon juice mixture into the large bowl, alternating between the two several times.

6. Fold in the cherries.

7. Divide the batter between the muffin pan and the bread pan.

8. Bake muffins for about 25 minutes, bread for about 35 minutes, until golden on top. Meanwhile, stir together remaining lemon juice and enough powdered sugar to make a glaze.

9. When your remove the muffins and bread, drizzle lemon glaze on top so it melts and spreads.

10. Cool for 15 minutes and then run a knife around the edges of both muffins and bread and remove.

An Easy Twist on Brownies

2010-05-23T01:42:00.000-07:00

I have long enjoyed peppermint patty brownies, but this week I decided to try out the Snickers version. Now I think you could put just about any favorite chocolate candy (Reese's, Milky Way, York, Snickers) in the center of your brownie with pleasing results. Just layer your favorite brownie batter in a muffin tin or a square pan, add the candy, and then layer batter on top. Bake just as you would without the candy. So easy!

Delicious

2010-05-21T00:52:00.000-07:00

When I brought these "magic" bars to my advisees this week, they polished them off in mere seconds and then picked the crumbs off the bottom of the tupperware. They were an equally big hit at our poker game last night. So unlike my last experiment, the disastrous spreading mocha cookies, this trial paid off. See for yourself. They only take about 10 minutes to make.

Cranberry Butterscotch Magic Bars

Adapted from Baking Bites

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup oats

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup walnuts

1 cup dried cranberries

3/4 can condensed milk

Dark Chocolate Chips or a dark chocolate candy bar, in pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F / 176 C. Grease an 8 X 8" pan or line it with parchment.

2. Stir together the oats, butter, and graham cracker crust. Press it into the baking dish with your fingers or a small flat spatula.

3. Drizzle the condensed milk over the crust (or wait and pour it over the layers, I think this is what I'll do next time).

4. Spread the walnuts, cranberries, and butterscotch chips across the top in even layers.

5. Sprinkle on the dark chocolate last.

6. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Cool completely in the pan before slicing into triangles, diamonds, or squares.

Yeastspotting: Rosemary Sea Salt Focaccia

2010-05-17T07:33:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite first finds of the food blogging world was Wild Yeast's "Yeastspotting" feature, which regularly links to incredible bread recipes around the internet. So now that I've been cooking and blogging myself for a while, I decided to submit this Rosemary Sea Salt Focaccia Recipe, which is by far my most requested. EVERYONE likes it. At least so far!

Rosemary Sea Salt Focaccia

1 pkg (1/4 oz) active dry yeast

1 cup warm water

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

3 TBSP olive oil

2 TBSP fresh rosemary – some chopped, some whole

Coarse Salt

1. Dissolve the yeast in one cup warm water, cover with towel, sit 10 minutes.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, and chopped rosemary. Stir with a wooden spoon. Now add the water/yeast mixture.

3. Mix with a spoon and then hands, knead in the bowl until smooth. (Really! There's no need to smother your counter in flour!)

4. Oil another mixing bowl and put in the dough, spinning to coat with olive oil. Cover

with a towel and let rise in a warm place 1.5-2 hours until doubled in size.

5. Preheat oven to 400 F / 200 C.

6. Don't punch the dough down! Just pick it up out of the bowl and place it in a big round pan - I use a large cake pan.

7. Using all ten fingers, create big dimples in the top of the bread as you stretch it to the sides to fill the pan. (I didn’t know what this meant until I ate focaccia in Italy. The many dimples actually go down about a half-inch in the final baked Italian version – making the top look like a prairie dog field).

8. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle on sea salt chunks and fresh rosemary. Be liberal!

9. Bake 20 minutes or until lightly golden. Let sit for a few minutes and cut with a pizza cutter. Serve warm.

Alternative toppings: pesto and mozzarella, roasted vegetables, chopped sage and parmesan, sliced olives and mozzarella. Always add cheese halfway or more through baking so it melts but does not burn.

As Bulgarian as Apple Pie

2010-05-15T07:53:00.000-07:00

I know a lot of people associate Apple pie with America. But since I never made one until moving to Bulgaria, and have now made LOTS, I guess I'll always think of it as that pie I made in Bulgaria. And that pie I ate in Amsterdam. Wow. Next time you're in Amsterdam be sure to have some Apfeltart, you won't regret it.

Anyway, it turns out apple pie isn't very hard at all, once you learn how to make a crust.

So, start with the crust. Make the double layer just as directed but before you put on the top crust and flute the edges and make the steam slits and brush on the egg wash, add the apple pie filling below.

Apple Pie Filling

6 cups peeled sliced green apples

1 TBSP lemon juice

2 TBSP flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

2 TBSP butter, in small pieces

1. Put the apples in a bowl. Squeeze lemon juice on top.

2. Combine flour, cinnamon, salt, and sugar. Stir into apples.

3. Add the apple pie filling to your crust, and dot the butter over the top.

NOW, put the cover on your pie and proceed with fluting, cutting slits for steam, and brushing on the egg wash!

The Smell of Christmas in Germany, Any Time You Want It

2010-05-14T02:26:00.000-07:00

Walking through the Christmas Markets of Munich, Nuremberg and Freiburg, there is one delicious smell in common - honey roasted almonds. The aroma of hot salty sugary nuts floats out of paper cones held in happy hands, and beckons from stands with crank turned roasting contraptions.

Luckily, you can now enjoy the smell and taste of German honey-roasted almonds at all times of year, and in your own home and country! I make these pretty often, and they are always delicious. Just be careful not to let your almonds burn in the first step, it's the only risk.

Honey Roasted Almonds

2 cups whole almonds

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp water

2 tsp vegetable oil

1. Spread the almonds in a single layer in a shallow ungreased baking pan and place in a cold oven. Turn oven to 350 F / 176 C and bake, stirring occasionally so no almonds remain at the edges for long, for 12-15 min. Do not let them blacken! Remove from the oven and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and salt. Lay out some waxed paper or parchment on the table.

3. In a saucepan, stir together the water, honey, and vegetable oil. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir in the almonds and cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed.

4. Pour the sticky almonds into the sugar and salt mixture and toss to coat completely and evenly. Spread out on the waxed or parchment paper and let cool.

Store in a sealed container at room temperature. The flavors will combine and the taste will improve for up to 2 weeks, at which point you should make sure they get eaten before they go stale.

The Big Cookie

2010-05-11T10:27:00.000-07:00

What is it that fascinates us about the giant cookie? Eating a giant cookie is just so much better than eating 2 or 3 smaller ones. There is more gooey center between those crisp edges, more mass to hold the milk you dunk it in, more crevices in which chocolate can hide. Lately I've seen a lot of recipes for huge cookies across the blogging world, but probably none as famous as the New York Times chocolate chip cookie from two years ago. This recipe, the result of an extensive research binge by one reporter, supposedly contains all the best characteristics he discovered on his cookie journey. What's not to like about that? Try it for yourself and see.

The New York TImes Chocolate Chip Cookie

2 cups minus 2 TBSP cake flour (or all-purpose if you don't have cake flour, like me)

1 2/3 cups bread flour (or all-purpose if you don't have bread flour, like me)

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp coarse salt

2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter

1 cup plus 2 TBSP granulated sugar

1 1/4 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsps vanilla

1 1/4 pounds chocolate disks or broken up chocolate bars (at least 60% cacao)

Sea Salt

1. Whisk flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt in one bowl.

2. In another bowl, cream together butter and sugars until very light and fluffy (5-6 minutes). Stir in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.

3. Add the dry ingredients and stir until incorporated, but don't stir any more than that.

4. Carefully fold in the chocolate, trying not to break up the pieces.

Cover the dough in foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours (no more than 72).

5. Preheat the oven to 350 F / 176 C and line a baking tray with parchment.

6. Spoon five golf ball size chunks of dough onto the sheet, two on one end, one in the middle, and two on the other end. These are going to expand a lot! Sprinkle the dough balls with a small pinch of sea salt.

Bake 18-20 minutes until golden but not crisp, rotating sheet halfway. Let cool on the pan for 10 minutes before removing to racks or paper towels.

Enjoy!

Love the big cookie idea?

Find out how to make giant M and M cookies in muffin top pans at Picky Palate.

Try the 4 oz super chocolate cookie from My Baking Addiction.

Cinco de Mayo

2010-05-06T02:57:00.000-07:00

Last night we attended a Cinco de Mayo nacho competition. What a brilliant idea. All the contestants brought piles of creative nachos, put them by numbers on a picnic table, and then watched and waited as the judges arrived to sample and view and eventually (after perhaps an hour and a half of deliberation) declare a winner as we were all getting full.

Our Entries

Our first entry: Rachel Ray's Sweet Heat Nachos. Find the recipe here.

Our second entry: Cinnamon Tortilla Chips with Strawberry Avocado Salsa from the New York Times. Find the recipe here.

The judges examining the entries

Our entries, though beloved by many - including us - did not win. Too nontraditional perhaps. But I still plan to make them many more times in the future. And next year, when we're back in California, we'll be hosting a nacho competition of our own. Inspired.

Spring Vegetable Quiche

2010-05-03T21:43:00.000-07:00

It all starts with a dough pie crust. I used my basic pie crust, omitting the sugar. I also reduced the recipe in half, because it usually makes a double crust pie. Once you have the pie crust rolled out and ready to bake, begin the recipe below...

Spring Vegetable Quiche

1 potato, cut into very thin rounds, each of which are cut again in half

1 tomato, cut in quarter size chunks

10 asparagus spears, ends trimmed, cut in thirds at an angle

3 eggs

1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 cup skim milk

olive oil

sea salt

pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Position a rack in the lower third of your oven.

2. Line a glass dish with a brushed on coat of olive oil. Spread potatoes out in it. Line the pie crust bottom with foil. Put both the pie crust and the potatoes in their pan in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove. Remove foil from crust.

3. Push the potatoes in the pan to one side and add the asparagus and tomatoes. Bake for 6 minutes. Stir together the eggs and milk and several twists of salt and pepper while the veggies are roasting.

4. Pour the roasted vegetables into the crust. Sprinkle with cheese. Pour eggs/milk over the whole thing. Press down with a spatula to be sure everything gets wet and the top is relatively flat.

5. Bake 15 minutes, then rotate and turn the heat down to 350 F. Bake 20-30 minutes more, until set in the middle and golden brown on top.

Enjoy! We loved this!

Baby Shower Cheesecakes

2010-04-28T11:13:00.000-07:00

I was presented with an interesting challenge this week when I found out my friend Petia, whose baby shower I would be attending, doesn't really like sweets. What was a dessert-baking girl to do? But! She likes cheesecake. So I wanted to make cheesecake, but for some reason, I thought mini-cheesecakes would be more baby showerish.

So I searched online and found the perfect recipe. Not only was it for mini-cheesecakes made simply in a muffin pan (who has one of those pans made JUST for mini-cheesecakes anyway?), it involved Oreo cookies, which just arrived in Bulgarian stores this month, and which I seem to have developed an unexpected addiction to.

Really? A girl who likes to make her own cranberry sauce and squeeze her own orange juice is fond of Oreo cookies? Yes, I admit it. I like packaged cookies.

These mini-cheesecakes got some of the happiest reviews I've heard all year, so I highly recommend trying them yourself. They are stunningly simple too.

Mini Oreo Cheesecakes (recipe can easily be doubled)

Barely adapted from Bake or Break

12 whole oreos

8 oreos, crushed or chopped into small pieces

1 pound (2 8 oz packages) cream cheese (room temperature!)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs, beaten lightly in a small bowl with a fork

1/2 cup sour cream

1 shake of salt

1. Preheat the oven to 275 F (135 C).

2. Line a muffin tin with muffin papers, then place a whole oreo at the bottom of each cup.

3. Stir the cream cheese in a big mixing bowl. It should be soft if you've let it sit at room temperature for a couple of hours. Stir in the sugar and then the vanilla.

4. Drizzle in the eggs, stirring constantly. Add the sour cream and salt. Mix thoroughly until everything is blended.

5. Add the crushed cookies and stir.

6. Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups.

7. Bake for about 22 minutes or until the centers are set.

Cool completely at room temperature and then put in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight. Right before serving, remove from muffin tin and peel off papers.

Orange Cranberry Bread

2010-04-16T08:43:00.000-07:00

You know how sometimes you buy a big bag of oranges at the grocery store and get home to discover they are really orange balls of blah? Such was the case with my bag this week. Under all that red netting, they were misshapen and a tad woody to boot. What to do? Squeeze 'em!

Luckily for all concerned, I found a recipe for cranberry - orange bread at Baking Bites. The perfect use for 6 bad oranges.

Cranberry-Orange Bread

Gently Adapted from Baking Bites

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

2 eggs

Zest from one orange

2 TBSP canola oil

1/2-2/3 cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350 F and put a rack in the bottom 1/3. Grease a bread pan.

1. Pour the cranberries into the orange juice to soak. I left mine in the fridge overnight, but I think fifteen minutes would probably do.

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

3. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the eggs, zest, and oil. Pour the juice out from the cranberries and into this bowl, leaving the cranberries separate.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined. Stir in the cranberries.

5. Pour into the prepared bread pan and slide into the oven.

Rotate after 20 minutes, and check by poking a fork in after 45 minutes. If nothing comes out on the fork, it's done. Mine was ready in 45, but it could take a bit longer, depending on your oven.

Mammoth Muffin Tin Apple-Raspberry PIES

2010-04-14T11:16:00.001-07:00

Last night I needed a baking project and a fun new dessert to try. We had very little cocoa, very old cream, 1/2 bag of frozen raspberries from last August, mushy apples, and plenty of butter.

Apple raspberry pie! Bingo! But alas, I have no pie pan, and my neighbor who does was out for the evening. LUCKILY, food blog search came through as always when I searched for apple raspberry pie. Mini pies at the Baked blog popped up right away. Simple little pies, baked in a muffin tin.

I had a mammoth muffin tin, and my own recipe for never-fail crust. Why not?

My pie crust and the following filler recipe yielded five gorgeous not-actually-that-mini pies. And BOY did we enjoy them with vanilla ice cream tonight after dinner.

Recipe for Apple-Raspberry Muffin Tin Pies

1 pie crust

Filling (barely adapted from the Baked Blog):

2-3 large apples

1 cup raspberries, fresh or thawed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

Juice and Zest from 1/2 lemon

1 cinnamon stick

1.5 TBSP cornstarch

1.5 TBSP cold water

Egg Wash for the Crust

1 egg yolk

2 TBSP milk

Step #1: Make the Filling

1. Put apples, lemon juice, and a cinnamon stick in a pot with a splash of water. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Don't worry, more juices will appear.

2. Stir in the raspberries, lemon zest, and sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves, it won't take long.

3. In a small bowl, combine the water and corn starch. It becomes kind of like cement. Stir into the pie filling, and keep stirring until the mixture thickens. This took mine about 8 minutes, and I admit I occasionally stepped away from the pot, so constant stirring isn't quite necessary. The consistency becomes almost jamlike.

4. Set aside to cool. I left mine for a couple of hours.

Step #2: Roll out the Crust and Fill

(Preheat oven to 400 F)

1. Take the crust out of the fridge and roll out the first half on the table. Cut large circles from the crust.

2. Push the circles into the lightly greased muffin cups, shaping the dough as best you can so it comes all the way up the sides.

3. Remove the cinnamon stick from the pie filling. Spoon mixture into dough-lined muffin cups.

4. Roll out the other half of the crust and again cut circles.

5. Press the tops carefully over the mini-pies, pressing the extra down and into the tin to connect with the lower half of the crust.

Step #3: Egg Wash

1. Beat together egg yolk and milk with a fork.

2. Brush onto pie tops with a pastry brush.

3. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, if desired (and why wouldn't you desire it!?)

Bake 20-25 minutes until crust turns golden brown.

Enjoy! VERY GOOD with vanilla ice cream.

Colorful Cooking

2010-04-12T10:03:00.000-07:00

Spain's famous white asparagus

The many shades of macarons in Paris

A beautiful workstation at Bill's in Brighton, England

A homemade cheesecake in Vermont

Greek Yoghurt Breakfast in Santorini, Greece

Did you know white asparagus simply never saw direct sunlight as it grew? It's regular asparagus kept buried below a layer of mulch to prevent photosynthesis, or so I learned from Barbara Kingsolver.

Walking through the Boqueria marketplace in Barcelona, it's impossible not to think about how color and taste combine. Red grapes or green? Blackberries or blueberries? Purple or yellow plums? White cheddar or orange? Green olives or black? Asparagus that soaked up sunlight or asparagus grown in the dark?

Since high school, I've designed meals with a variety of color in mind. More colors mean more varied nutrition as well as a happier eye. My favorite meals often hit every shade in the rainbow, or at least almost.

Though I got back from my travels last night, and there are some peanut butter chip bar cookies cooling on the counter, I'm not quite ready to post a new recipe. So instead, I'll link to a few highlighting the two most recent colors of spring food - asparagus and strawberries. Both are just coming into season, hurrah!

Asparagus Risotto from Simply Recipes

Strawberry Yoghurt Popsicles from The Kitchn

Asparagus, Goat Cheese and Lemon Pasta from Smitten Kitchen

Strawberry Shortcake from The House of Annie

Barcelonian Gelato

2010-04-07T10:45:00.000-07:00

Above: Gelato from Gelaaati and Maximum in Barcelona

Pine Nut in Venice, Cinnamon and White Chocolate in Cinque Terre, Dulce de Leche in Barcelona. I've had some pretty incredible gelato this year. During this week in Barcelona, I could hardly turn a corner without encountering the hot sweet smell of waffle cones and seeing piles of delicate bright gelato beckoning. So now seems like a good time for some related links, as I am still out of Bulgaria and therefore my kitchen, so cannot post recipes of my own.

David Lebovitz's great post "What is Gelato?"

Chocolate Balloons from King Arthur's Flour - I've been wanting to try these for ages. What a great idea for a homemade bowl to hold frozen desserts.

Favorite Gelato Recipes from a gelato-making teacher in Bologna, posted by Time Magazine.

101 Cookbook's Version of Pinkberry Tart Fro Yo.

Homemade Waffle Cones at Chocolate Gourmand - unfortunately you have to have a special waffle iron to make these. But just in case you are so excited about the concept you are willing to invest, or you just want to see how it's done....

Cake Batter Ice Cream from Scoopalicious

Food Presentation

2010-04-05T06:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had lunch at Juicy Jones, an incredible vegetarian restaurant and smoothie shop in Barcelona. One of my favorite things about this place is the food presentation.

When I ordered the guacamole yesterday, I never imagined I'd be receiving such a lovely plate. They created a veritable food flower, with guacamole as the center and carrot chip and basil petals.

If you're ever in Barcelona, check this place out - turn into the Barri Gotic from the Rambla where the dragon's head sticks out from a building overhead, and you'll see it in a block. But in the meantime, perhaps their guacamole can serve as inspiration. If you feel like it, leave a link to some lovely food presentation you've seen lately, as inspiration for others.

Crepe Inspiration

2010-04-04T01:02:00.000-07:00

When it comes to providing inspirational onslaught of flavors for a cook, Barcelona takes the cake. Or the flan. Or the palmera de chocolate.

Or in this case, the crepe. Anyone who likes food must spend some time in La Boqueria marketplace when visiting Barcelona, and this visit I made a new discovery inside its vast maze. "Creps de Barcelona," serving up some of the most beautiful crepes I've ever seen. I first fell for crepes in the main Los Angeles farmer's market, nurtured my affection for them at "The Skinny Pancake" in Burlington, Vermont and finally, learned to make them. After slaving over my own tiny thin circles of batter, I have a new appreciation for the crepe artist pictured above. Wow.

Since I'm in Barcelona and sans kitchen at the moment, here are some other bloggers crepe posts if you want to try them out at home. My favorite fillings are tiny cubes of white cheddar with thin slices of apples and berries with nutella, but really, the sky's the limit.

David Lebovitz's Buckwheat Crepes

Cooking with Amy's Basic Crepes

Chocolate and Zucchini's Des Crepes

From Giant Vegetable to Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

2010-03-29T08:13:00.000-07:00

Five months ago I bought a pumpkin from under a tent in Mladost 1, then walked it all the way to Mladost 3. This is a long way to walk with a pumpkin, but I've been reaping the benefits ever since. Pumpkin chocolate cookies, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin-black bean quesadillas, pumpkin chili. There's just a lot of good stuff that comes from pumpkin. This weekend I took out the last precious cooked-down pumpkin from the freezer and decided it was time.

Time for pumpkin whoopie pies with maple cinnamon cream cheese frosting! Oh yeah.

Now, you might be wondering why there isn't a photo of these wonders. It's because I thought they were duds. Big pumpkin-y duds. When I went to frost them, all the cakey cookies stuck together, so the final products were not as aesthetically pleasing as I had hoped. But I served them at a dinner party last night anyway and everyone LOVED them. So I think I better share the recipe, and simply suggest that you NEVER stack the pumpkin mini-cakes on top of each other. Just frost them straight off the tray when they are cool and serve them from a parchment-lined platter.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

From Tastespotting. Check out their vast whoopie pie selection here.

For the cakey cookies:

1.5 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tbsp ground ginger

1/2 tbsp ground cloves

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil

1.5 cups pumpkin puree

1 large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F / 190 C. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and cloves.

3. In another large bowl, whisk together brown sugar and oil until well combined. Mix in the pumpkin puree. Add eggs and vanilla - whisk until fully incorporated. Stir in the flour mixture.

4. Spoon large spoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between each cookie. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the cookies crack on top and a fork inserted in the middle of one comes out clean. Let cool completely on the pans.

For the Frosting:

1.5 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup butter, room temp.

4 oz cream cheese (half of a normal plastic tub)

1 tbsp maple syrup

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1. Beat the butter with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add the cream cheese and mix thoroughly.

2. Add powdered sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon and vanilla and keep stirring fast until well combined

Time to make whoopie pies!

1. Turn half the cookies upside down on the parchment. Frost generously. Place the other halves on top and press so the frosting spreads to the edges.

2. Refrigerate 30 minutes before serving.

Serve with forks, these are a lot like cakes.

Constructing a Cake

2010-03-27T06:05:00.000-07:00

Two of my friends had birthdays this week. So I made a two layer cake. And doubled the recipe. And ended up with one HUGE cake. Which cake? David Lebovitz's Devil's Food Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache.

I used to find layer cakes intimidating, but they really aren't much more work than a single cake. You just have to butter two pans and frost a marginally greater surface area. Try it! It makes for such a cute layered slice. David does a great job of explaining the process with his recipe here. While you're there, if you haven't already, explore the blog. He's a great baker.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

2010-03-24T22:35:00.000-07:00

Sunday night I needed a dessert fast for our Sunday night potluck. One thing I knew for sure, I had just the frosting to put on top of whatever it was I made. I love this buttercream. It's great on cookie cake, but it also shines on cupcakes. Or directly from the bag. Whatever. It's tasty.

I only have one cupcake pan, which turned this recipe for 16 cupcakes into 12 high domed wonders. I recommend the 12 little mountain tops, if you like that kind of thing...

Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

12-16 cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 cup boiling water

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup white sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla

For the frosting:

1/4 cup butter

2 cups powdered sugar

2 1/2 TBSP milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Make the cupcakes:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F / 190 C. Line 12-16 muffin cups.

2. In a small bowl, stir together the hot water and cocoa until smooth. Let cool to room temperature.

3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

4. In your main bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla.

5. Stir in the dry ingredients until just incorporated, then add the cooled cocoa/water mixture and stir until smooth.

6. Fill cups 2/3 (or more) full. Bake 16-20 minutes. The cupcakes are done when you can insert a toothpick (which I never have, so a fork works too) and it comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes before frosting.

Make the frosting:

1. Cream the (room temperature) butter and powdered sugar.

2. Stir in the milk and vanilla.

Frost!

Mark Bittman and Cornbread

2010-03-24T10:56:00.000-07:00

Mark Bittman, a.k.a. "The Minimalist", is doing great things with food for the New York Times. So much so that his Bitten blog has made it into my internet toolbar for weekly checking. Though I'm sure he can make highly complicated dishes as well, he tends to post recipes for easygoing-but-delicious combinations, pushing readers towards good taste instead of exact measurements. On Sunday I made his incredible cornbread, much to the delight of our guests and my husband.

My other favorite Bittman contribution to the food world so far was his summer article, 101 Salads. The time is now approaching when we can take advantage, once again, of the superb world of produce. I saw a blooming daffodil on my run today!

MORE coffeecake

2010-03-20T11:37:00.000-07:00

Now that I've tried my first coffeecake and realized how incredibly easy it is, I'll be making more. Lots more. Starting today with Simply Recipe's apple coffee cake. I used the recipe basically as is, except I added a little cream, which just might be why everyone at our Saturday brunch kept asking "Why is this so moist?" In a good way.

Apple Coffee Cake (slightly adapted from Simply Recipes

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

5 1/2 TBSP unsalted butter, room temperature

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup whole milk (or mix mostly cream and some skim)

2 apples, peeled and sliced

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Butter a pie pan.

2. Mix together the cinnamon and 1/3 cup sugar in a small bowl.

3. In another bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt.

4. In your main bowl, cream the butter with the rest of the sugar. Beat in the beaten egg. Add the flour in 3 installments, alternating with the milk. The batter will be pretty wet.

5. Spread 2/3 of the batter in the pie dish. Layer the apples in a spiral pattern on top and sprinkle with 1/2 the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Spread the rest of the batter on top.

6. Sprinkle the cake with your remaining cinnamon and sugar mixture. Press it in a bit to the batter by spreading a knife across the top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top is crusty and golden brown.

A Cook's Confidence and Mocha Cookies

2010-03-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

When I first learned to cook I had no confidence in the kitchen at all. Marinate was a cloudy concept, my first stock smelled like onions had exploded in my nose, and if I didn't have one of the ingredients in a recipe, forget it. Why even try? I made exact measurements, kept track of timing to the minute, and never, ever, added random ingredients just to see if they would make a recipe better.

Tonight I eyeballed a cup of sugar in my apple pie, substituted 1 tablespoon of butter for 2 because it would conveniently finish a pack, tore random basil leaves into my pizza sauce until it felt like enough, and changed the oven temperature for the pie because it just seemed too hot. I prebaked the pizza crusts since they were a bit soggy last time and experimented with boiling down my sauce since it's sometimes too watery. In short, I used the recipes as guides but I was the cook.

Clearly, times have changed. Confidence in the kitchen is probably my biggest cooking asset now. I answer questions from helpers authoritatively, even when I have never tackled the particular problem they are dealing with. More of that? Yes. Stir it like this? No quite, more like this. It's like I have a cooking compass, and it mainly points towards good food.

But then sometimes it doesn't. Like when I made these mocha cookies from my favorite bakery in California - Some Crust. I took my cook's confidence just one step too far - substituting random chocolate for 99% cocoa, random chocolate for bittersweet, regular flour for pastry flour, and my own quick arm for an electric mixer. I couldn't get that other stuff, so I thought why not try? Ho hum. I suppose they do make recipes the way they are for a reason!

Still, even my mocha cookie giant pancake flops were pretty good. Only imagine how good they would be if you had all the ingredients and tools AND confidence. Check out Some Crust's recipe here at Bake Space.

Stars in my Pie

2010-03-14T11:26:00.000-07:00

Happy Pi Day (yesterday)! This is probably my favorite thing I've made this year, so go make it yourself and ENJOY.

Chocolate Pudding Pie

Crust

3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 tsp flour

1/4 cup melted butter

1/4 cup granulated sugar

scant 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Pudding Layer (from Smitten Kitchen)

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/3 cup sugar

3 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 cups whole milk (or use 1/2 cup cream and 2 1/2 cups skim like me)

4 oz bittersweet or dark chocolate, finely chopped

1 tsp vanilla

Whipped Cream Layer

1 cup heavy cream

2 TBSP sugar

First, the crust.

1. Melt the butter while you combine the rest. Stir in the butter. Press firmly into a pie dish and bake at 325 F for 10 minutes.

Then, the pudding.

1. Whisk together the cornstarch, cocoa powder, sugar and salt. Gradually whisk in the milk. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until it starts to boil. This will take a while. Keep on whiskin'! Whisk as it boils for 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

2. Whisk in the chocolate pieces and vanilla. Pour into the pre-baked crust.

Just before serving.

1. Chill a metal bowl.

2. Pour in the cream and sprinkle the sugar on top. Beat until the whipped cream holds peaks. Use a rubber spatula to shape the cream attractively on top of the pudding layer.

And if you want...

Shave curls of chocolate on the whipped cream. You might enjoy melting chocolate on a double boiler (or a metal bowl over simmering water) and squeezing it through a hole in a plastic bag onto parchment to make shapes. Chill in the fridge for 1/2 an hour and you too can have stars in your pie! Or spell out Happy Pi Day. Or whatever.

Baking Powder Biscuits

2010-03-14T01:50:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I woke up in the mood for something besides cereal. Maybe because I had cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner on Friday. This happens sometimes, when I don't have time to cook. So I went into last year's scrapbook of recipes and tugged out the instructions for my cousin Juliana's Baking Powder Biscuits. They take about 3 minutes to stir up, and 20 minutes later, you can enjoy warm flaky buttery biscuits dripping with jam, honey, pumpkin butter, or whatever else you please.

Baking Powder Biscuits, by Juliana Peterson

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup wheat flour

1 tsp salt

3 tsp baking powder

2 TBSP melted butter

about 3/4 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a baking sheet.

1. Whisk together the flours, salt, and baking powder.

2. Stir in the melted butter.

3. Gradually stir in the milk, stopping once the dough is wet but thick.

4. Drop by the 1/4 cup full onto the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown splotches appear. Makes about 6.

Could it be any easier? Enjoy!

Chicken Tikka Masala and Cook's Illustrated

2010-03-13T04:55:00.000-08:00

This week I made my first attempt at Indian Food. And it worked. Wow. It wasn't an easy recipe either. Chicken Tikka Masala requires layers of marinade, spices, sauce-simmering and yoghurty-chicken broiling. Who held my hand through such a process? The foodsmiths of Cook's Illustrated. I don't really feel right posting the instructions here, because they seem to put a ton of work into their recipes. But you can see and try them all for free with a 14 day trial membership (I've already had two with my two different e-mail addresses), copying and saving as many as you want. I'd probably subscribe if I was living in the U.S., but for now I've got a bank of 10 recipes waiting to be tried, and this first one turned out just like they said it would.

Search "Chicken Tikka Masala" at http://www.cooksillustrated.com/ if you want to try this great recipe, or just sign up for a trial membership and start browsing through the hundreds of possibilities on their site. If you decide you don't want to pay to subscribe, be sure to go on after 13 days and cancel.

Making Pie Work for You

2010-03-09T09:45:00.000-08:00

When we first moved to Bulgaria, I had a lot of free time. We didn't know anyone, didn't know how to get anywhere, didn't have to go to work yet. So I decided I would learn how to make pie. The first one was pretty good, probably because I lavished about 5 hours on it. The second one stuck to the table like bubble gum to your shoe, and I was turned off pie for a bit.

This year I tried a new recipe, one that involves massaging the butter into the pie with your fingertips. A bit gross at first, but then the crust actually sticks together, and doesn't shellack itself to the table. Totally worth it. So far I've used the crust to make apple pie, raspberry tarts and blueberry lemon hand pies. It worked well for every single recipe.

Simplest Pie Crust

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups flour

1 TBSP sugar

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup chilled butter, cut into chunks

2/3 cup ice water (or less)

1. Whisk flour, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. If you have time, it doesn’t hurt to throw all this in the fridge for a bit so everything is as cold as possible when you add the butter.

2. Massage in the butter with your hands until relatively evenly distributed. Your hands WILL get messy. Do not attempt to do your hair in the middle.

3. Using a fork, stir in the water in three or four installments until the dough almost comes together into a ball. Use less than 2/3 cup if you can.

4. Divide dough in half – press into two balls. Wrap in plastic wrap or foil and put in the fridge for at least 1/2 hour, up to 1 day.

5. Flour your rolling surface well. Put flour on your rolling pin. Drop one ball onto the table and flatten it a little. Then lift it up, flip it, and put more flour underneath. Roll a couple of times, then lift it up, put flour underneath, and flip it again. Then roll out into a large circle. Insert a thin spatula around the edges to loosen, then loosely roll the crust sheet onto your rolling pin. Put the crust in your pie pan as the base.

6. Now, depending on your recipe, you can either do this twice in two different pans and pre-bake the crusts (for pies like pumpkin) or put in your filling and then repeat and put the second dough circle on top, cutting slits for steam to release. Either way, be sure to SCRAPE away any stuck dough before re-flouring your surface to roll out round two.

Fluting the edge of a double crust pie: Cut off most of the overlap, leaving about a 1/2 inch around your pie. Fold this under so it is sitting lumpily on the edge of the pan. Then push your left index finger from the inside rim between your right thumb and index finger from the outside rim, creating a ) indentation. Repeat around the edge of the pie.

Egg wash for a golden crust: beat together one egg yolk and 2 TBSP of milk. Brush on top of a single crust rim or a double crust top for a golden color.

For an apple pie: sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top of the egg wash

With leftover crust dough: roll out again and cut out small shapes with cookie cutters or a knife. Brush with egg wash and put around the edges or middle of the pie as decorations.

Breakfast for Dinner Buffet: Raspberry Coffee Cake

2010-03-07T10:15:00.000-08:00

My friend Amanda and I have started a tradition of Sunday night potlucks on campus. Someone hosts, sending out an invitation and a theme, and everyone brings something. It definitely helps assuage the Sunday evening it's-not-quite-still-the-weekend blues. This week Brett and I had the inspired idea of having a breakfast for dinner potluck.

I was going to make cinnamon buns, but we had an appointment to be interviewed for the Bulgarian national radio website at noon, which cut into my potential dough rising time, so I decided to try my first coffee cake instead. There are a LOT of coffee cake recipes out there. Apparently people like it a lot. Who knew?

So after some debate between vanilla, apple and raspberry, I decided it was time to defrost the block of raspberries Brett bought directly from a farm truck last fall. I chose a recipe to adapt from Confessions of a Tart, who apparently adapted it from Smitten Kitchen. Food blogs are so great.

Raspberry Coffee Cake

For the raspberry layer:

As Many raspberries as you have (I used a cup of thawed out berries. I think it would have been great with two cups.)

1/8 cup granulated sugar

For the crumbly layer:

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Sprinkle of salt

1/2 cup melted butter

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

For the cake layers:

1/3 cup yoghurt (I used 4.5 %)

1 egg + 1 yolk (don't let your first yolk slip down the drain like me!)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

6 tbsp butter, cut into 6-8 pieces

Preheat the oven to 325 and grease a 9 X 9 " pan.

1. If you're using thawed berries, pour them into a bowl and drain off some of the excess liquid. Mix in the sugar and let sit.

2. Combine the sugars, cinnamon and salt for the crumbly layer. Mix in the melted butter, then the flour. Set aside.

3. For the cake layers: in a small bowl, combine the eggs, yoghurt and vanilla. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

4. Add the butter pieces and a big spoon of the yoghurt mixture to the flour mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon, cutting the butter into the flour as you work, cutting/chopping/beating for thirty seconds or so. Then add the yoghurt mixture in two more installments, stirring hard for 20 seconds after each installment.

5. Pour most of the cake layer batter into the prepared pan, leaving about 1/2 cup in the bowl.

6. Spoon the raspberries over cake layer #1. Then dollop the remaining cake batter over them.

7. Spoon the crumbly mixture over the raspberries and bake. In my Bulgarian oven, it took about 60 minutes. Start checking yours at 45. A fork inserted in the middle should come out clean (except maybe for a bit of raspberry).

Hope you like it! EVERYONE at the potluck did.

And if you want more coffee cake options, try...

Apple Coffee Cake from Simply Recipes

Blueberry Coffee Cake from Chocolate and Zucchini

Cranberry-Walnut-Pumpkin Coffee Cake from The Taste Space

Banana Coffee Cake with Chocolate Chip Streusel from Back to the Cutting Board

Strawberry Coffee Cake from Joy the Baker

Plum Coffee Cake from The Arugula Files

Apricot Orange Coffee Cake from Buttercream Barbie

I said there were a lot of recipes out there. This is just the tip of the ice burg!

The World is Warming Up: Chipotle Burritos

2010-03-05T15:42:00.000-08:00

Today the temperature crept up and the sun came out. I went for a run and am now treasuring hopes that spring has really come. Of course, I've been treasuring them since November. I'm really not a winter person, exactly.

As long as things are getting warmer, why not make a spicy dinner to match? I first made these when I realized there was no chance of Chipotle Mexican Grill ever coming to Bulgaria. They are a pretty darn close approximation to the Chipotle chicken burrito, with the pleasant addition of mango salsa. Now if only I could figure out how to make lime salt for chips on the side. If you know, PLEASE leave me a comment with explicit instructions!

Chipotle Style Burritos, in 6 parts

Preface: Burritos are mainly about cilantro and limes. Do NOT put away your limes or cutting board full of cilantro at any point during the preparation of these burrito elements, as you will probably need both again later.

Part I: Shredded Chicken

Put several boneless chicken breasts in a baking dish. Pour in 1/2 cup water. Cover dish with foil. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45-60 minutes (until no longer pink inside). Remove to a bowl and shred, using two forks, by pulling them away from each other through the chicken.

Part II: Lime-Cilantro Rice

Put 1 tsp olive oil in a pan and heat over medium high heat. Stir in 1 cup of long grain white rice for 1 minute (stir the whole time). Add 2 cups water + 1 tsp salt to the rice. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in zest from 2 limes and 2 TBSP chopped cilantro and cover/sit for an additional 15 minutes.

Part III: Pico de Gallo

Dice 2 tomatoes and 1/2 yellow onion. Stir in 2 TBSP chopped cilantro.

Part IV: Guacamole

Mash 2 peeled avocados. Add one chopped tomato (discard seed and juice) OR one diced mango. Stir in 1-3 minced garlic cloves, a handful of chopped sweet onion, one lime's worth of juice, and a bit of diced jalapeno - if you like that kind of thing.

Part V: Mango Salsa

Mix: 1 diced mango, 1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper, 2 tbsp chopped cilantro, 1 finely chopped jalapeno (optional), 2 tbsp lime juice, and one tbsp lemon juice. Cover and let sit for 1/2 hour before eating.

Part VI: Putting it all together

Shred cheese (we like cheddar). Heat tortillas briefly in a dry skillet. Layer in warm chicken and rice and sprinkle cheese over it so it will melt, then add the rest. Chopped lettuce contributes a nice crunch.

Leftover jalapeno? You can freeze those little peppers and use them again some other time. Just thaw them out before deseeding and chopping the next time.

Morning Glory Muffins

2010-03-01T07:58:00.000-08:00

The Medium Version

The Mammoth Version

This morning wasn't totally glorious, because I woke up at 2 a.m. and fell back asleep at 5:30. Ah, jetlag. At least I had the new "Best Recipes of 2010" magazine from Cook's Illustrated to entertain my midnight hours. So our trip to the U.S. both kept me up and lulled me back to sleep.

While we were staying with friends in San Francisco, I had my first shot in a couple of years at a stack of thick cookbooks. Here in Bulgaria, I rely mainly on food blogs, but there, I read thick tomes of creative inspiration over meals. I didn't have too much time for copying recipes, what with all the job interviewing, but I did manage to jot down the steps for these Morning Glory muffins. I'm convinced they will aid Brett and I as we train for next July's Boilermaker 15K in New York.

Morning Glory Muffins

1/2 cup raisins

2 cups flour

1 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups grated carrots

1 grated apple

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

3 eggs

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line muffin cups for regular sized muffins or grease mammoth muffin tins.

2. Fill a small bowl half full with hot water. Pour in raisins to plump. Leave them there.

3. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add carrots, apple and walnuts.

4. In a separate bowl, beat together the vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla with a fork. Stir into the dry mixture until just combined.

5. Drain the raisins. Fold in.

6. Bake 20-25 minutes, rotating halfway. I found the regular sized muffins took about 20 minutes, the larger versions about 23.

7. Cool 5 minutes in the pan before removing to cool on racks - or cool all the way in the pan, they'll still be good!

What I DIDN'T buy in the U.S. this week: Oreos

2010-02-28T08:48:00.000-08:00

We got back late last night after a week of job interviews, visits with friends, and trips to the almost equally enticing beaches and grocery stores of California. I brought back almost as many American food items as I did clothes, but one thing that didn't tempt me were Oreos (or Newman-Os). Why not? Because I made my own right before we left.

Let me say up front that this is one of the finickiest cookie doughs I've ever dealt with. In order to get that dry crunchy chocolate cookie to sandwich the rich creamy frosting, you must be prepared for seriously crumbly batter. But if you persevere, good things will happen.

Homemade Oreos

1 1/4 all purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 1/4 sticks room-temperature butter

1 large egg + 1 egg yolk

Frosting (I used the same buttercream I use to frost cookie cakes)

1. Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375 F. Line baking sheets with parchment.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add egg and yolk.

3. In another bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix these dry ingredients into the wet ones.

4. Use your hands to mold balls of dough and drop evenly onto the cookie sheets, leaving a few inches in between. Bake 9 minutes (don't overdo it or they'll be impossible to chew!).

5. Sandwich the cookies with PLENTY of frosting.

Eat. Enjoy.

The Old Standby

2010-02-17T09:09:00.000-08:00

My first few attempts to cook in Bulgaria just made me sad. A soup stock that made the house smell like onions for days, candied orange peel that died my hands neon. A pie whose crust shellacked itself to the counter and refused to budge.

Then I managed two successful dinners - Rachel Ray's chicken satay stir fry and a chicken couscous salad. Great was the rejoicing in the Potash household, and I have pretty much made the same two dinners at least twice a month ever since.

This Thai stir fry is my standby - having a bad day? Company coming? Red peppers practically free at the Bulgarian markets? Any of the above function as a not-really-needed excuse to spend one hour in return for taste bud bliss. That is, taste bud bliss if you enjoy gingery peanutty orange flavors dancing across your tongue.

Chicken Satay Stir Fry with Orange Blossom Rice

adapted from Rachel Ray

Rice:

3 3/4 cups water

2 oranges’ worth of zest

2 cups rinsed jasmine rice

Chicken:

2 TBSP canola oil

2-3 chicken breasts or 8-10 chicken tenders, cut into bite size pieces

3 cloves minced garlic

1 medium yellow onion, sliced

1 red bell pepper, sliced

2 medium carrots, cut into matchsticks

optional but good: 6 shallots, cut on an angle into 2 inch pieces

Sauce:

4 TBSP chunky peanut butter

3 TBSP dark soy sauce

3 TBSP honey

1 inch ginger, peeled and minced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 orange’s worth of fresh juice

1. Heat water with orange zest to boiling. Add rice, return to a boil and stir. Cover pot

and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until tender – 18 minutes (meanwhile, make chicken

and sauce). Fluff with a fork.

2. Put all the sauce ingredients in a small pan, mix, and let simmer on very low heat

while you cook the chicken. Stir once or twice.

3. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add chicken pieces and onion (and

shallots) and stir-fry 2 minutes. Add garlic and stir for another minute. Add remaining

veggies and stir fry 5 more minutes or until chicken is cooked through (you can always

check by cutting into the chicken to see if it is pink).

4. Make sure sauce is warm and stir a couple of times. Then pour over chicken and

vegetables and combine.

Serve chicken and rice with a bowl of chopped or whole salty peanuts to garnish with.

Digital Picnic #3: All dessert

2010-02-16T12:22:00.001-08:00

It's amazing the sheer aesthetic appeal of the food we see while traveling. At left, individual fruit salads at La Boqueria Market in Barcelona, molded goat cheese in Norway, Serbian shaped bread and Marzipan fruits at an international grocery store in Vienna.

Most of our travel picnics involve bread, cheese, fruit and an astounding variety of dessert. But this week, my digital picnic choices are for a purely decadent all-dessert wishing-it-were-summer pretend winter picnic.

Let me know if you try one of these recipes, I'm hoping to get to them all eventually.

Pecan Lace Sandwich Cookies with Orange Buttercream at Epicurious

Layered Cookie Bars at Picky Palate

Maple Creme Brulee at Closet Cooking (a nod to Montreal)

Chocolate-Caramel Cookies at Culinary in the Country

Cinnamon Toast on Cinnamon Raisin Bread

2010-02-14T00:53:00.000-08:00

It's Valentine's Day. You knew that, of course. I decided to abandon the usual heart shaped pink foods, partly because a friend borrowed my red food coloring on Friday and used it all! I don't blame her though, you'd be amazed how many red drops it takes to make red velvet cupcakes.

Instead, I decided to make cinnamon-raisin-walnut cinnamon toast for Brett, as cinnamon toast and pizza pretty much tie for his favorite foods, and pizza makes a poor breakfast. I was surprised to discover that cinnamon bread has almost exactly the same process as cinnamon rolls (which I had a business making in 4th grade, but that's another story). It really only requires about 20 minutes of effort and then some waiting during various rises. So if you love cinnamon toast, why not try making your own bread to go underneath all that butter and cinnamony sugar?

Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread

Adapted from "My Food Blog"

who got it from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

4 tsp granulated sugar, divided

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 pkg yeast

1 1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 large egg

3 TBSP melted butter

1/2 cup milk (I used skim, but it would probably be better with whole)

3/4 cup warm water

1 1/2 cups raisins (brown, golden, or a combination)

1 cup chopped walnuts

For the topping: 1/2 cup sugar + 2 TBSP cinnamon

1. Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water. Sprinkle 1 tsp of the sugar on top and set aside, covered, for about 10 minutes.

2. Melt butter on the stove over low heat. Set aside to cool slightly.

3. Whisk together the flour, remaining sugar, salt, and cinnamon.

4. Take the cover off your yeast mixture, stir to be sure water and yeast are all combined, and then pour into a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add egg, milk, and melted butter. Stir together thoroughly.

5. Knead, in the bowl, for about 8 minutes, adding flour frequently as needed. Butter another bowl. Put the bread in, turn once to coat with butter, and cover with a towel. Let rise 1 1/2 - 2 hour until doubled in size. Grease loaf pans. Preheat oven to 180 C / 350 F.

6. Divide the dough in two. Roll the first ball into a rectangle, about 8" X 12". Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Roll up tightly and place in greased loaf pan. Repeat.

7. Bake 20 minutes, then rotate pans back to front and bake 20 minutes more (check after 15 to be sure they aren't turning too dark on top.

Let cool before slicing.

For cinnamon toast: slice, toast, butter, sprinkle with combined cinnamon and sugar. Then stick the toast slices into an oven or toaster oven until the butter, cinnamon and sugar melt together and form a delicious crust.

Cookie Cake worth Celebrating

2010-02-13T00:58:00.000-08:00

I used to look askance at the giant frosted cookie cakes at the local grocery store back in California. Then one of my advisees brought a double-layer-frosted-in-the-middle-and-on-top monstrosity to a dessert party we were having, and I broke off a bit. So much for my cookie cake prejudices, it was delicious.

Cookie cake is easier than cookies and easier than cake, and some might argue it tastes better than either one. You can make it with any kind of cookie, frost it with any kind of frosting, decorate it with any colors and sprinkles you happen to have on hand, and everyone will love it. I made one last night for a friend's birthday, and it managed to compete with a fancy Bulgarian bakery cake and red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting - no easy task.

My Favorite Cookie Cake: Sugar

3/4 cup butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs

3 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 375 and line the bottom of a round pan with parchment.

2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in eggs one at a time.

3. In a separate bowl whisk flour, salt, and baking soda. Mix in to the butter/sugar/egg mixture.

4. Press into your lined round pan, spreading as evenly as possible and trying to avoid holes or crumbly bits at the edge so the cookie cake crust will be solid.

5. Bake at 375 F for 10-15 minutes or until the top is quite golden.

6. Cool completely (or as much as you can if you're in a hurry like I was yesterday!).

Frost with the frosting of your choice. I like...

Vanilla Buttercream

(adapted from Sweet Nicks)

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

2 1/2 TBSP milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Cream together butter and powdered sugar.

2. Mix in milk and vanilla. Stir until evenly combined and creamy.

3. Add food coloring if you'd like, or leave white.

4. Spread. Top with desired sugars or sprinkles.

Like cookie cake? Try...

Seven Layer Cookies at Smitten Kitchen

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake at The Open Pantry

Taste of Home: Peanut Butter Cookies

2010-02-12T08:21:00.000-08:00

When I lived in Spain, the only peanut butter was called "Capitan Cacahuete" (Captain Peanut) and I might just as easily have been buying plague butter for all the help I got in finding it and eating it. I suppose Europeans look on peanut butter a bit like Americans look on the Australian marmite (EEEEEEWWWWWW, no offense). Never, in my happy tours through bakeries in upwards of a dozen European countries, have I seen a peanut butter cookie.

Maybe that's why I wanted to make them last night. In just eight days, we'll be heading back to the U.S. for interviews in California, and my mind seems to hop back and forth across the ocean four or five times a day right now. There are approximately 27 things I can't wait to do. But eating peanut butter cookies isn't one of them, because I made them last night, and since then I've eaten 5.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Adapted from The Road to Blue Ribbon Baking

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 1/4 cup brown sugar

1 TBSP vanilla

3 TBSP milk

1 egg

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp baking soda

granulated sugar for dipping (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Cream together butter and peanut butter. Beat in sugar until light and fluffy. Add milk and egg and blend well.

2. In another bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda. Stir into the main bowl.

3. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.

4. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar if you wish. Place in rows on ungreased (or lined) cookie sheets. Press with a fork one way and the other way to make the usual peanut butter cookie lined pattern.

5. Bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown. If you wish, press squares of white or milk chocolate into the center of each cookie as soon as you take them out. Or, as pictured, press white chocolate and, after a short interval, milk chocolate for a pretty framed effect.

Speaking of Cocoa and Cheese: Hazelnut-Mascarpone Brownies

2010-02-10T07:06:00.000-08:00

If you've already tried yesterday's Cold War Brownies then you know that sometimes cheese and chocolate are meant to be together. I never knew it until I tried Tiramisu for the first time outside the U.S. I had always thought of Tiramisu as a cold coffeeish nothing with bits of lady fingers drowning in it, until I had a brick-sized piece for dessert one night when we first moved to Sofia.

And that's when I knew I had misjudged mascarpone.

Hazelnut Mascarpone Brownies

Filling:

250 grams Mascarpone, softened

1 egg

1/4 cup sugar

1 TBSP lemon juice

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup chopped roasted hazelnuts, skins removed (toast until they become fragrant and a little golden, then rub with a towel to remove skins)

Batter:

135 grams chopped chocolate

4 TBSP butter

3/4 cup flour

pinch salt

2 TBSP cocoa powder

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup chopped roasted hazelnuts, skins removed

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line an 8" square cake pan with parchment. (Ignore my photos, I used a big pan and multiplied the recipe because I couldn't find an 8" at the store.)

2. Put the softened cheese into a large mixing bowl. In another bowl, combine eggs with sugar, beating with a spoon or a mixer if you have one until light and fluffy. Add to the Mascarpone. mix well. Mix in lemon juice, vanilla, and 1/4 cup chopped roasted skinned hazelnuts. Cover and refrigerate.

3. For the batter, melt the butter with the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water on the stove. Stir together until combined and remove from heat. Set aside to cool slightly. Beat sugar, eggs, and vanilla in (yet another) bowl until light and fluffy. Fold in the chocolate mixture. Mix in baking powder, salt and cocoa. Add flour and combine until smooth. Finally, fold in hazelnuts.

4. Spread batter into your lined pan. Take the filling out of the fridge and spread it over the batter. Pull a large wooden skewer (or knife) through the layers in figure eights to create a marbled effect.

5. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, 30-35 minutes. Do not over bake. Let cool before cutting, but be sure to eat at least a little bit while it's still warm!

Fight for at least one corner. It's your right as baker.

Brownies and Bagels

2010-02-09T06:25:00.000-08:00

I spent this past weekend far more affected by food than I anticipated. Brett and I went to a spa in Sandanski, a small town in the mountains of Southern Bulgaria. Strangely, we seemed to be almost the only customers. We soon learned that was because Greek farmers had shut down the Greek/Bulgarian border protesting their steady downward fall of income. Then, after a couple of days of relaxing, I tried to combine a pesto pasta, apple walnut salad, cosmopolitan, and creme brule at the spa restaurant. Sounds great, right? Well, it did, until it gave me food poisoning.

So now I'm home and I have a lovely new pedicure and a new long mileage in my training for a 15 K, but I'm only eating crackers, and I'm worried about the Greek farmers and the Bulgarian tourist industry. So I will have to rely on a couple of recipes I tried earlier this month from 17 and Baking for this post. It's a great site, and as bagels and brownies are few and far between in Bulgaria, I and my fellow international teachers enjoyed the results of both, hugely.

Recipe #1: Basic Bagels

To add toppings: drop the bagels in a bowl of cold water after boiling them and sprinkle on whatever you wish (rock salt, poppy seeds, sky's the limit) once you've set them on a baking sheet.

Recipe #2: Cold War Brownies

Perfect, as is. Be ready for a bit of heat in your chocolate.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

2010-02-04T01:05:00.000-08:00

I was as picky as they come when I was a kid. It lasted for quite a while, leading to the nickname "bunny rabbit" in college, as I alternated bagels and salads accented with crunchy goldfish crackers. My mom occasionally made my dad's favorite dishes in spite of my pickiness - salmon or sweet and sour chicken - but I seem to recall being fairly vocal with my suffering.

Ironically, since moving abroad my tastes have expanded to the point where last night I made sweet and sour chicken myself. So here is the recipe, and maybe my mom will read it and make it again for my dad, and some of my complaining childhood food karma will be eliminated.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

adapted from Cooking Light

1 TBSP olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 inch ginger, minced

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1 1/2 pounds skinless boneless chicken breast, cut into chunks

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 red pepper, chopped

1 small can pineapple chunks in juice

1/3 cup soy sauce

1 1/2 TBSP brown sugar

2 tsp brown sugar

Salted Cashews, chopped or whole

1. Drain pineapple and reserve 1/2 cup juice. Whisk together juice, soy sauce, cornstarch, and brown sugar.

2. Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet over med-high heat. Saute chicken for 2 minutes. Add garlic, ginger and crushed red pepper and continue stirring until the chicken is done, about 3 more minutes. You can always cut a piece of chicken to be sure it is not pink inside. Remove chicken mixture to your serving bowl.

2. Add onion, celery, and red pepper chunks to the pan. Saute 4 minutes. Add pineapple chunks and stir for 30 more seconds.

4. Add chicken mixture to the pan. Again whisk the liquid mixture briefly and then stir into the stir fry.

5. Bring the liquid to a boil and cook for one more minute.

6. Sprinkle with chopped or whole cashews, either mixing them into the dish or allowing each person to put on as many as they wish.

Serve with white or brown rice.

Digital Picnic

2010-02-03T09:34:00.000-08:00

Berries at a Prague Market, Walnut and Fig Pieces in Istanbul (referred to locally as "Turkish Viagra", Bulgarian cookie assortment at checkout, and Goat Cheese in Paris

Two days ago I woke up to a slight softness in the air and the squish of mud under my work shoes as I headed over to school to proctor first semester exams. I felt spring creeping across campus, and it gave spring to my own step. An hour later, as I watched 10th graders taking their chemistry exam, it began to snow. Hard. Six inches later, the spring in my step and on campus was rather quenched. So I guess I'll have to stick with digital picnics for a while yet.

Recipes I'd like to make and bring to a picnic if ONLY it were warm and breezy outside:

#1 Banana-Blackberry Muffins from Tongue-n-Cheeky

#2 Chicken Hummus Wraps from Dinner with Julie

#3 Apple-Cranberry Bars from Seven Spoons

#4 Homemade Peanut Butter Cups from Baking Bites

#5 Yeast-Raised Doughnuts at 17 and Baking

Apple Spice Cake with Caramel Frosting

2010-02-02T09:30:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid, my favorite dessert was spice cake with raisins and caramel frosting. Or maybe it was the small bowl of frosting leftover from making the spice cake. So it's no wonder I turned to an old classic on this most stressful week of first semester. Because the Bulgarian government gave all the schools in the city of Sofia a week off for a "Swine Flu Vacation" back in the fall, our first semester exams are condensed into just five days. Five days, 10 exams, lots of grading, lots of studying, lots of planning. Grumpy kids, grumpy teachers, and six surprise inches of snow as I was beginning to think of spring. But Sunday night we had our usual international faculty potluck, and I dug deep for a traditional spice cake. I found two likely looking recipes online - an apple spice cake from David Lebovitz and a caramel frosting at the Food Network. Combined, they equal a rich apple-y cinnamon caramel gooey goodness to put a smile on my face even as first semester explodes into its finale. Oh yeah, and the other people at our party liked it too.

Apple Spice Cake

(adapted from David Lebovitz)

2 TSBP butter

2 large green apples (peeled, cored, cut into cubes)

2 TBSP white granulated sugar

12 TBSP butter, softened

1 3/4 cup white sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup dark raisins

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 TBSP baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 cup plain yoghurt

1. Melt the butter in a large skillet and saute the apples over med-high heat until they turn golden brown, stirring only 3 or 4 times.

2. Once they are cooked, add 2 TBSP sugar and cook until the cubes are glazed and the butter has mostly evaporated. Put on a plate to cool.

3. Preheat the oven to 350 F, put a rack toward the bottom, and butter and flour a 12 cup bundt pan, tapping out any excess flour.

4. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, then vanilla.

5. In a small bowl toss the raisins with a little flour to separate them.

6. In another bowl, whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.

7. Stir half of these dries into the main batter. Then add yoghurt. Then the rest of the dries. Don't mix too thoroughly, a few flour streaks are OK. Fold in the apples and raisins.

8. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake, rotating after 20 minutes. David Lebovitz's recipe suggests 45 minutes, but it took mine about 60. Start checking for doneness at 45, but expect it to take longer. Bake until a toothpick or a fork inserted into the center comes out clean.

9. Let cool for 10 minutes before unmolding onto a rack or platter to cool completely.

Caramel Frosting

(from the Food Network, reduced by 1/2 and there was still a LOT)

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/6 cup heavy cream

1/2 box (8 oz) powdered sugar

1/2 tsp pure vanilla

walnut pieces (if you want)

1. Melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and cream. Bring to a boil and then pour into a mixing bowl.

2. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat with a mixer (or exhaust yourself with a whisk, like I did) until you like the consistency.

3. Ladle spoonfuls over the top of the cake, allowing it to drip down each side and pool in little scallops at the edges. Sprinkle walnuts over the top and press some into the sides.

Enjoy!

If you just can't get enough spice cake, try Pinch My Salt's Pumpkin Spice Cake, Jane Spice's Peach Spice Cake, or Serious Eats' Lavendar Honey Spice Cake.

Thinking Morocco

2010-01-31T00:13:00.000-08:00

This morning I woke up and realized it was our fourth weekend in a row in Bulgaria. This almost never happens. Over the last year and a half, we've visited 17 different countries, and that means traveling at least once a month, sometimes two or three times.

At this time last year we were starting to plan our trip to Morocco - three days in Marrakech followed by three days of surfing for me and three days in the Atlas mountains for my husband.

Marrakech turned out to be a strange place to eat. Flatbreads, figs, fresh-squeezed orange juice, smoothies, spice cake and much more laced the city, but it was off limits to us. We had to eat things that had been cooked for hours, to be sure we wouldn't end up sick. So we admired the nightly cooking stalls in the main square Jema el Fnaa from our usual cafe, where we ate couscous or tagine.

Still, seeing the combinations of cinnamon and fruit in salads and the stacks of pita on the street provided me with cooking inspiration for later. I decided to try a Moroccan salad this fall using safe Bulgarian produce, and it was a big (and easy) hit.

Moroccan Cinnamon Carrot Salad

5 carrots, washed, peeled, and grated

2 TBSP orange juice

1/4 cup honey

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Optional Additions: toasted sunflower seeds, raspberries, blueberries, apple chunks

1. Combine orange juice, honey and cinnamon and pour over grated carrots. Stir with a fork.

2. Sprinkle on any desired optional additions.

Other Moroccan Recipes:

Chicken Tagine from Rachel Ray (pretty easy)

Pita from earlier this month

B'Stilla, a Moroccan Chicken Pie from Epicurious

(I've never made this but I had it once in a Moroccan restaurant in L.A. called Dar Maghreb and it was AMAZING.)

Hot to Cut a Mango

2010-01-30T04:11:00.000-08:00

My cousin Juliana spent 6 months in Nicaragua before coming to visit us last year in Bulgaria. After a week here we went to Barcelona in May and discovered fruit riches beyond our wildest dreams at La Boqueria marketplace. We bought ripe mangos and Juliana taught my husband Brett and I how to cut mango like the Nicaraguans, using a butter knife we borrowed from our hotel breakfast buffet. (She also managed to cut an avocado for us with dental floss later in the trip. She's got skills.)

Having spent years hacking mangos into tiny flat pieces in California, I was thrilled to discover Juliana's simple technique. Now I use it to make mango salsa, mango-ginger-pear crisp, and fruit and green salads featuring the ripe slimy sweetness that is mango.

Here's the basic technique:

1. Look at your mango and choose a side down which to cut. Aim for about 1/3 in from the edge. You are hoping to make a cut straight through without hitting the giant pit.

2. Once you have your section of mango, score it with a sharp knife to create a checkerboard.

3. Put pressure on the skin side, pushing the mango section inside out. The cubes of mango will emerge, waiting to be gently sliced off by you in perfect little pieces.

That's it! Whether you eat in on a park bench in Barcelona or mixed into some favorite recipe, mango is just better when it doesn't take 30 minutes to cut apart.

Peanut Butter Heath Blossoms

2010-01-28T23:42:00.000-08:00

In California there seem to be frozen yoghurt and ice cream shops on almost every block. You walk in, sample half a dozen flavors, and then choose from a dizzying array of toppings to be "cut" into your dessert.

My favorite is cake batter ice cream with chocolate chip cookie dough and rainbow sprinkles. It sounds disgusting, I know. But a close second is some kind of peanut butter frozen yoghurt with Heath bar or Butterfinger, and I set out to replicate those flavors last night in a cookie, since my favorite frozen yoghurt shop "21 Choices", is now thousands of miles away.

The final cookie was golden, crunchy, peanut buttery, with a hint of Heath that would have been better defined if I had more than 1/4 cup of Heath crumbs left in my U.S. baking supplies hoard. Ah well, it was still pretty great, and you can add more Heath if you're residing in the Western world.

Peanut Butter Heath Blossoms

(adapted from the Heath Bar Cookies at Simply Recipes)

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) butter, softened

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 1/2 cups white sugar (though I might try 1 cup white / 1/2 cup brown next time)

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup Heath chips (or more, depending on how Heathy you want it)

1 cup chocolate chunks (I just cut up 1 1/2 chocolate bars, but chocolate chips would work)

One Chocolate bar broken into squares or 36 chocolate kisses, unwrapped

Preheat oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with parchment.

1. Cream together the peanut butter and butter. Cream in the sugar.

2. Stir in eggs one a time, then vanilla.

3. Chop up chocolate bar and combine with Heath chips in a small bowl.

4. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in another bowl.

5. Stir in 1/3 of the flour mixture, then 1/2 the chocolate, then 1/3 the flour mixture, then 1/2 the chocolate, then the rest of the flour mixture. Combine well.

6. Refrigerate the dough for an hour, or freeze it in balls until you want to bake it.

7. Lay the dough in rounded tablespoonfuls on the cookie sheet, leaving several inches between cookies.

8. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden, rotating the sheet halfway for even baking.

9. Immediately push chocolate squares or kisses into the center of each cookie. If you use chocolate squares, give them two minutes to soften and then swirl them into a puddle of chocolate with a knife.

10. Let cool. It will take several hours for the chocolate to reset unless you refrigerate them. Enjoy!

The Many Faces of Pizza

2010-01-28T11:07:00.000-08:00

Pizza is always there - in Hungary, Vienna, England, Italy, Slovenia, and Bulgaria. When the paprikash or scones or wiener just get to be too much, pizza awaits.

When we first moved to Bulgaria, I became a pizza-lover for the first time. I learned to say "moje li pizza vegetariana bez muslini y bez luc?" around the same time I learned that nodding means no and shaking your head means yes.

I've since discovered my favorite pizza in the world in Lake Bled, Slovenia, but never mind that

(I can't afford to dwell on the memory too much), today is about making pizza crust, and the many things you can do with it.

Not only is pizza always there, but it can be whatever you want it to be. I've made deep dish, thin crust and regular crust pies with essentially the same recipe for dough. I first found it at Smitten Kitchen, and now I just adapt it to my thickness preference and top it with whatever seems right -

pesto and pine nuts, chopped tomatoes and basil, pepperoni and a truckload of fresh mozzarella for my husband. Tonight I also made bread sticks and rosemary knots with leftover dough. So if you choose to follow in my kitchen tracks, you too can have pizza (with any and all the toppings of your choice), bread sticks, and rolls from just one quick batch of dough.

Rosemary Pizza Dough

(adapted from the Smitten Kitchen)

1 1/2 cups warm water

2 TBSP olive oil

1 tsp brown sugar

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 pkg active dry yeast

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves chopped

1. Put your warm water in a small bowl and sprinkle the yeast on top. Set in a warm place and cover with a towel for 5 minutes. Stir to dissolve yeast.

2. Stir together the wheat flour, brown sugar and oil. Add yeast and water.

3. Add the flour, salt, and rosemary.

Now's a good time to make your pizza sauce: in a small saucepan, combine 1 can crushed tomatoes, 4 leaves basil (optional), 1 TSBP of olive oil, and some salt and pepper. Let simmer while the dough rises, stirring occasionally if you remember.

6. When your remove the towel, your dough should be nice and poofy (and your sauce should be starting to smell nice on the stove). Gently deflate the dough and divide it. If you'd like to make thinner pizzas, divide in 4. For thicker pizzas, or to make one pizza and some bread rolls as I did, divide in two.

7. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Oil your pizza pan(s). Press the crust down into your pan, pulling up thick ridges at the edge for a deep dish pizza (as pictured here). Coat with your prepared sauce and whatever toppings suit you. Since shredded mozzarella hasn't hit Bulgaria yet, we slice up the mozzarella balls that come in bags of water at our Austrian grocery store. Your pizza may look at bit different at first, but it all comes out the same once the cheese melts.

8. Bake about 20 minutes, until tapping the crust makes a hollow noise and when you lift up an edge with your spatula, you see the bottom is cooked.

9. Let sit for a few minutes before slicing. Enjoy!

And if you have the energy...

Rosemary Knots and Breadsticks

(loosely inspired by Emeril Lagasse's Garlic-Knots)

1. Lightly flour your counter and preheat your oven to 350 F.

2. Roll out your remaining pizza dough into a big rectangle. Lightly brush it with olive oil.

2. Use a knife to cut the dough into strips about one inch wide and six inches long. Tie half the strips into loose knots. Roll the other half into ropes and then twist pairs of them together to form breadsticks.

3. Lay them out on an oiled baking sheet and let rest (and rise) for 30 minutes, covered with a damp clean towel.

4. Bake for 12-15 minutes, brushing on more olive oil after 5 minutes if you'd like a deeper golden hue to your final product.

Eat!

The Digital Picnic

2010-01-27T11:05:00.000-08:00

Bakery bread in Amsterdam, Smoothies at "La Boqueria" market in Barcelona, a cheese shop in Glasgow, desserts on show in a Parisian chocolaterie

Many a fabulous picnic have I had in the last year and a half of travel. I still enjoy taste memories of warm chocolate tart on a balcony in Greece, Jarlsberg cheese in a Norwegian railroad station, avocado smooshed over baguettes on a bench in Barcelona and date scones on the banks of the Bosphorus in Istanbul. As the temperature dips below zero in Sofia and our heaters do their darndest to keep pace, I've decided to have my own digital picnic right here. Perhaps I'll make it a wintry tradition.

Should I somehow be transported to a windless warm place tomorrow and invited to a picnic, here are the five recipes I've seen online lately that I'd be tempted to bring along...

#1: Pumpkin Apple Bread at The Amateur Gourmet

#2: Cinnamon Roasted Almonds at Two Peas and a Pod

#3: Gingered Lemon Bars at Simply Recipes

and #4: Cinnamon Plum Jam at The Kitchn with #5 Popovers at The New York Times

Baking Minty

2010-01-27T09:49:00.000-08:00

Every time I return to the U.S., I fly back to Bulgaria with at least twenty York peppermint patties. I consider mint chocolate the ideal dessert. Britain does it well, with Fry's Peppermint Cream bars and Mint Aero, and Germany proffers green and white Ritter Sport packages filled with a neat grid of chocolate-on-mint, but Bulgaria hasn't yet embraced the craze. I can feel it coming though. Last week I made Andes Mint Chip Cookies for my weekly "Dessert Office Hours" and my 10th grade girls exclaimed that they LOVED mint chocolate.

I've experimented with it a fair amount, making thickly iced green and brown bars, mint chip cookies, and peppermint patty brownies, among other things. The iced bars were TERRIBLE, the cookies are good but not too sweet, and the brownies are one of my all time favorite desserts. For those of you who share my minty sweet tooth, here are the recipes for the cookies and brownies.

Andes Mint Chip Cookies

(adapted from the Tootsie Roll Website)

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup white granulated sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1 package Andes Creme de Menthe baking chips

2 2/3 cup all-purpose flour (I might lessen this slightly next time)

Cream together the butter and sugars, then stir in vanilla and eggs.

Stir in baking soda and baking powder, then add the mint chips.

Finally, mix in the flour in three parts.

Refrigerate the dough for one hour in the refrigerator.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

Place rounded tablespoonfuls of dough several inches apart on the tray.

Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly golden.

If you want, make balls with some of the dough by rolling it in your palms and stick them in a Ziploc in the freezer for future warm fresh cookies. Just bake frozen dough balls directly from the freezer in the same way, though it may take an extra minute or two.

Find many many more recipes for all things Andes at Tootsie Roll's recipe site (believe it or not).

Peppermint Pattie Brownies

from the York website

24 small York peppermint patties (unwrapped!) or After Eights

1 1/2 cups melted butter

3 cups granulated sugar

1 TBSP vanilla

5 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Preheat your oven to 350 F (325 if you plan to use a glass baking dish).

Grease a 13 X 9 X 2 inch pan.

Stir together butter, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl. Add eggs one at a time and beat until well blended.

Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter mixture and blend well.

Reserve two cups batter. Spread the remaining batter in the greased pan. Arrange mints about 1/2 inch apart in a single layer, then spread the reserved 2 cups batter over them.

Bake 50-55 minutes or until the brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Cool completely in the pan (on a wire rack if you can) and then cut into squares.

ENJOY!

And for those of you who really want to bake minty...

I enjoyed the Thin Mints from Baking Bites, though they were a lot of work, and sometime soon I plan to make Joy the Baker's Peppermint Chocolate Sandwich Cookies.

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes at Simply Recipes and Mint Chocolate Fudge at eCurry also look great.

French Toast with Cinnamon Apples

2010-01-26T09:42:00.000-08:00

Bulgaria's food scene is changing as fast as you can say "Subway." As one of my students recently wrote in a poem, "I used to smell Bulgarian food everywhere / Now I never do." Each week when Brett and I head for the grocery store we find something new. The most recent delivery (just this week) was maple syrup all the way from Canada. But at 20 leva for a tiny bottle, it's still a hot commodity. Kind of like gold. So I'll continue my pattern of the last two years and top my pancakes and French toast with fruit.

Strawberries, raspberries, or mixed berries all cook up in about 10 minutes with a bit of water and sugar, but in the end, my favorite is Cinnamon Apples. Since I discovered I could make my own apple sauce with nothing but a pan, an apple, some sugar, and eight minutes, I've been doing it pretty regularly. Hot steamy apples compliment cinnamon French toast beautifully, and the whole operation is quick enough for me to do when I run home for lunch between classes.

Cinnamon-Apple Topping

Water

Two Green Apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

1/8-1/4 cup sugar (depends on you)

1 tsp cinnamon

Fill a small saucepan with an inch and a half (or so) of water. Add prepared green apples, sugar and cinnamon and stir. Cook over high heat, uncovered, while you make your French toast (8-10 minutes or until it is as soft as you want it). If it begins to boil too hard, just turn it down a notch.

Cinnamon French Toast for Two

Four slices firm white bread

Two eggs

1/8 cup milk

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Butter for the Pan

Heat a frying pan over medium high heat (I used level 10 on a scale of 12). Coat thinly with butter.

Mix milk, eggs, and cinnamon with a fork until combined.

Drop bread, one slice at a time, into mixture and let soak for a second. Flip. Soak.

Add eggy bread to pan, keeping well over on one side. Repeat with another slice of bread and place it on the other side. I found it took about two and a half minutes to brown the French toast to golden, but check every so often to be sure it doesn't burn. Flip. The other side doesn't take as long to cook, so start checking after a minute.

Plate and top with hot cinnamon apples.

Want to try other unique flavors of French toast?

Check out Cinnamon Nutmeg French Toast with Berries at Baking and Books or Apple Gruyere French Toast at Serious Eats.

This simple Pumpkin Butter from All Recipes is also a great French Toast topping.

Bruschetta for Two

2010-01-25T09:40:00.000-08:00

Over the summer I saw Julie and Julia back in the United States. Having never eaten bruschetta, I was oddly curious as I watched "Julia" and her husband inhaling thick slices of crusty bread drizzled in olive oil and piled with tomatoes, basil and garlic. At that point, bruschetta sounded more like a hair implement than a food to me, and I was still a little scared of raw garlic.

A few months later, Bulgaria's annual series of tomatoes arrived. (Did you know Denmark didn't want Bulgaria in the E.U. because of the tomato market competition?) First the big ripe red ones, then medium reds, then yellow and orange mediums, then mini-yellows and water-balloon plump mini-reds.

It seemed like it was time. Time for bruschetta. I found a recipe to play with at Pinch My Salt, and it was as easy as promised. When I discovered the entire delicious process took only about ten minutes, I knew it was a keeper, but it didn't truly come into its own until we visited Cinque Terre, Italy, the birthplace of pesto. After two nights of homemade pesto on various homemade pastas with fresh parmesan and strawberry-studded tart to wash it all down, I added yet another new food to my slowly-becoming-less-picky diet. There is something about pesto pasta with pine nuts and bruschetta that gives gusto to a busy Monday. Or any busy day, really. Or days that aren't busy.

Bruschetta Recipe

Adapted from Pinch my Salt

5 Diced Cherry Tomatoes (optional addition: yellow or orange tomato for color)

Chopped Fresh Basil Leaves (6-10)

3 TBSP olive oil

Splash of Balsamic Vinegar

3 Twists of Sea Salt (1/4 tsp)

2 Twists of fresh Pepper (1/4 tsp)

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 Clove minced garlic

1/2 Baguette or slices of crusty style bread

1. Combine all except bread in a small bowl. Let sit and soak while toasting the bread.

2. Toast slices of crusty bread in the toaster oven or the oven, until lightly golden (about 5 minutes).

3. Arrange slices on a plate. Spoon mixture over them, drizzling any extra olive oil on

top of slices that look a little dry.

Alas, my food processor is in storage in the U.S. so homemade pesto isn't an option. Luckily, our Austrian grocery store is heavily stocked with all things Italian. We LOVE the Barilla brand pesto, and happily shell out twelve leva every few weeks for a monstrous jar.

If you're looking for further stuff-on-bread options, check out these bruschetta variations:

Goat Cheese and Basil Bruschetta or Nutella Banana Bruschetta at The Perfect Pantry

Roasted Vegetables on Garlic Bruschetta at What's For Lunch Honey

Avocado Bruschetta at Foodaphilia

Pita Bread

2010-01-24T11:13:00.000-08:00

In Southern California, Sunday meant a stroll through a farmer's market overflowing with colorful fruits and vegetables, fragrant purple-spotted lilies, fresh baked goods, and a musician or too. My favorite booth featured homemade pita bread and a slew of Mediterranean dips - hummus, tzaziki, and baba ghanouj.

Surprisingly, after trips to Greece, Turkey and Morocco, I've only encountered pita bread abroad in two places - the Moroccan Restaurant Annette in downtown Sofia (Bulgaria) and my own kitchen. It takes a few hours to make, but it will fill your house with a wheat-flavored warmth and make you look forward to lunch all week.

Pita Recipe

Slightly adapted from The Moosewood Cookbook

1 cup wrist-temperature water

1 1/2 tsp (half a 1/4 oz packet) active dry yeast

1 TBSP sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 to 2 1/2 cups white flour

a little olive oil

extra flour for rolling out

1. Place the water in a mixing bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes – it will get foamy. Sprinkle in the sugar. Stir in the salt until all is dissolved.

2. Add wheat flour and 2 cups of white flour (ONE CUP AT A TIME), mixing enthusiastically with a whisk, then a wood spoon, then your hand. Knead the dough in the bowl for a few minutes, adding up to 1/2 cup more white flour to combat stickiness (I didn’t add more and I was OK). When the dough is smooth, transfer to an oiled bowl and turn so all the dough is a bit slick. That way it won’t stick to the bowl.

3. Cover dough with a clean tea towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk (1-2 hours).

4. Punch down the dough and transfer it to a clean floured surface. Knead it for about five minutes, then divide it into 10 equal pieces (or whatever number / size you want). Knead each little unit for a few minutes, then, being sure your surface is floured, use a rolling pin to flatten the circle out until very thin, about 1/8 of an inch. It will look sort of like a big cut out cookie or a pancake. Do this for all the circles, then let them rest for 30 minutes.

5. Preheat the oven to 500 F (I could only get mine to like 480 but it worked anyway). Place a baking tray in the oven for a minute and a half or so to heat it. Then brush it with olive oil and place as many circles on the tray as will fit WITHOUT TOUCHING EACH OTHER. Put into the oven right away and bake 6-8 minutes. Watch them bake because it’s fun to see them poof up, and you want to take them out as soon as they are lightly browned.

6. When you take them out of the oven, set the tray down and transfer that round of pitas into a slightly damp clean towel and put it into a paper bag. Paperclip the bag shut. Let the pitas sit in there for 15 minutes so they don’t turn into crackerlike breads. While they are inside, you can start the next round of pita baking. I was only able to do two or three breads at a time, so it took me four rounds to finish. It was TOTALLY worth it. I don’t think it would be a good idea to do two sheets in the oven at a time, but you could try. I have a feeling the heat wouldn’t be as powerful.

Try it with chicken salad, peanut butter and bananas, or hummus.