Reading a Cookbook

Veggie Planet

When I get a new cookbook I usually dive right in and start cooking. I glance through it noticing the little side notes but lately I've been reading the book. I've noticed tips about pressing tofu, I prefer to dry fry, cooking spices, how to select produce, and much more.

Small food processor

                                          I am writing this post because of one of my favorite cookbooks, Entertaining for a Vegetarian Planet, has a lot of side notes in it as well as a guide to unusual ingredients. She, Didi Emmons, writes about all sorts of party planning with tidbits about brunches, cakes, cookies that wrappers can be set on fire to create rockets, "snacks in a flash", flavored ice cubes, menu planning, and other items.  One particular note, she calls it a "thumbnail recipe", that I like is a recipe for granola topping that can also be used as a muffin topping or in cake batter. It calls for cranberries, almonds, sugar, and cardamom. You put all the ingredients in a food processor and run it until they are chopped. I have a small food processor so I  stirred in the cardamom after processing the frozen cranberries, almonds, and sugar.

       To the left is a picture of it on granola,  it resembles cranberry sauce in tastes and looks but could probably be changed easily by using different fruit and spices. I think the hard part would be finding a fruit that is able to keep it's shape like the cranberries. For example apples, walnuts, and cinnamon might be a good combo. Or may a stone fruit, like a peach, that isn't too ripe with cardamom and almonds. I think frozen blueberries or raspberries might just make a purée and more of a sauce than a chunky topping.
     One last note she suggest putting milk (i.e. cows, almond, soy) on the granola with the topping. I prefer mine dry.

Bourbon Chocolate Chip Cookies with Bourbon Soaked Cherries

That is a lot of bourbon in one cookie but it's so tasty and delicious, and now I will tell you how to make them.
    The first step takes the longest but is the simplest part, the bourbon soaked cherries. You only add eight cherries to the recipe but you should make a lot for drinks,like Manhattans, or maybe a bourbon soaked cherry milkshake ( let me know how the last one turns out because I haven't done that yet), or even just pop them in your mouth when you need a quick pick me up. Just kidding... maybe...err yeah.

Cherries, Mason Jar, Bourbon

    All you need is a mason jar with a lid, some bourbon (I was using four roses yellow but decided to go all fancy on the blog with Buffalo Trace), and cherries. I went with frozen cherries due to price point and fresh cherries just aren't available right now. I have also tried this with dried cherries and my advice is to just don't do it. They came out looking like prune fingers and pretty chewy. JUST DON'T DO IT.

thawing cherries

    The first step is to pour the cherries in the mason jar and wait for them to thaw out. This takes about two hours, then you pour the bourbon over them and place the lid on the mason jar and refrigerate for a day or so. I always wait at least one day. I know it's hard but you can do it. Just think, in a day or so I can make some really tasty cookies!

Bourbon poured on cherries

 In case you've already been drinking the bourbon here are some visualizations.
And now it is time for the cookie recipe.
   As I have stated before I am a big fan of the Alphabakery Cookbook made by Gold Medal Flour. Just to clarify I like the cookbook not the flour.  The chocolate chip cookie recipe from there is good but I like to add vanilla, bourbon, bourbon soaked cherries, and I make a few minor adjustments.
I will now write out the recipe because I know you didn't come here for my candor.
Bourbon Chocolate Chip Cookies with Bourbon Soaked Cherries
1/2 cup of evaporated cane sugar
1/2 cup of light brown sugar
1/2 cup of butter, or one stick of butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 tablespoon of bourbon
1 1/4 cups of gluten free flour, if you are using regular flour then 1 1/2 cups
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
8 bourbon soaked cherries quartered
6 oz of chocolate chips

 1. Melt butter in a double boiler, then add sugars, egg, vanilla, and bourbon. Mix well.

cold cookie dough

2. Add flour, baking soda, and salt to the butter mixture. Mix again. Add quartered cherries and chocolate chips, stir, and then put in the freezer.
3. Heat the oven to 375°
4. After the oven has heated place spoonfuls of dough on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Then cook in the oven for 10-12 minutes.

Baking in the oven

5. Take the cookies out, and place the cookie pan on a wire rack and wait to cool.
Yeahh cookies!










     

Granola Bars

After weeks of making granola from several recipes found on line I finally gave up and decided to try granola bars.  I made this recipe not too sweet and not to decadent so it can be eaten at breakfast. It is also very pliable.  It can be made gluten free, vegan, and you can add other ingredients pretty easily.      

      I used butter (which could be subbed with earth balance or margarine), sugar, honey and molasses (or just molasses),  vanilla (optional), gluten free quick cooking oats,  ground pecans,  unsweetened coconut, and chocolate chips or some sort of fruit.

Mixing all the ingredients

 The first step is to melt the butter, sugar, honey and molasses together. Then add the vanilla, oats, nuts,coconut, and chocolate chips to the mix. Next you put the mixture into a prepared pan, pressing evenly, and bake for 22 minutes, then wait five minutes to cut into the bars and then another hour to cool and break apart completely. After that they can be stored on the counter in an air tight container. They don't last even a week around these parts!

Pressed into pan

Finished baking

Cut into bars

Here is the recipe !

1/2 cup of butter

1/2 cup of sugar

2 tablespoons of honey

2 tablespoons of molasses

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

2 cups of quick cooking oats

1/3 cup of ground nuts

2 cups of unsweetened coconut

1/3 cup of chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 º and prepare an 11 x 8 pan by buttering and then layering with parchment paper, once lengthwise and once crosswise.

      Then melt the butter with the sugar, honey, and molasses. Add the vanilla and stir. Add the rest of the ingredients. It will look dry but will be some what sticky. Then pour the ingredients into the prepared pan and press evenly. Sprinkle with extra coconut and chocolate chips and put in the oven for 22 minutes. Take the granola bars out and then let sit for five minutes. After five minutes cut into 14 bars. Then let sit for about an hour before removing the bars from the pan.

Simple syrups

I like to make simple syrups. They are easy to make, and add different flavor dimensions to drinks and other foods. A simple syrup is usually equal parts sugar and water with some sort of flavoring. I like to use a bit less of sugar and lots of spices. The two I have give here as examples are a lavender syrup and a chai syrup. Other ones that I have made are a rosemary and sage simple syrup and a juniper berry and sage simple syrup.
The first syrup for this blog is the lavender simple syrup.
I used one and a half cups of water, a half cup of sugar, and one and a half tablespoons of lavender.

I combined all the ingredients and heated it on the stove until the sugar dissolved. I then bring it to a boil and then simmer it for 15 minutes. After that it steeps for another 15 minutes. Once it cools I strain the lavender out and pour it out into a mason glass.
This syrup is good in mixed drinks, lemonades, and with earl grey tea.

Another syrup I like to make is the tealess chai syrup from Entertaining for a Veggie Planet by Didi Emmons. I make chai tea and sometimes add it to my mixed drinks from time to time.
I use raw honey, cloves, star anise, cardamon pods, and fresh ginger, mix it with water, stir it and then bring it to a boil. Then it simmers for an hour, making the whole house smell like a big cup of chai tea !
 After it cools I strain it into two mason jars .

Not as Dense Brownies

The last brownie blog that I posted was, admittedly, a very dense brownie which some people like. Others prefer a less dense brownie, so this blog post is for those who like the slightly fluffier brownie.

This recipe is a variation from the Alpha-Bakery Gold Medal Flour Cookbook found under F is for Fudge Brownie.

This recipe is simple and only uses one pan for prep and one for cooking. I follow the recipe, except that I add about 1- 2 Tablespoons of Cocoa, depending on how "chocolately" I want the brownie to be.
The ingredients are a half a stick of butter, I use unsalted, 6 oz of chocolate chips, sugar, flour, vanilla, baking powder, salt, eggs, and chocolate chips and nuts if you want.
As a note, I tried using Sunspire chocolate chips in this recipe, but it made it have an odd texture so I suggested just using Hershey's or Nestlés for these.

The first step is to melt the chocolate chips with the butter at a low heat, then after it melts  take it off the heat and add all the other ingredients and stir.

 Scrape the batter into a buttered 8x8 pan and bake it at 350° for about 20 minutes. Let sit for about a half hour, and then you may have a less dense brownie.

Almond Macaroons

    When life of cookie baking gets too sweet I make almond macaroons. These cookies are relatively easy to make, flourless, and semi healthy compared to other cookies.
      I based my recipe off of the Almond Macaroon recipe from Epicurious . My version has a lot less sugar in it, and instead of salt I use cream of tarter.
   

Pulsed almonds

Batter

    I start with 6 ounces of sliced almonds and pulse them in my food processer until it resembles a coarse flour, you could grind it more if you like a smoother cookie.
    Then mix in 2/3s cup of sugar, with the almonds in a bowl. Add the cream of tarter, 1/4, teaspoon, two egg whites, and 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract, then stir.
The batter should have the consistency of a good thick oatmeal. After that I plop the batter on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. The size of the cookie is dependent on what you want, they usually double in size compared to the first plop. This recipe I usually get 24 cookies but this time I made them larger so I only got 12.

Precooking

On the cookie sheet cooling

Then you bake the cookies at 350° for about 10 minutes. You want the cookies to have a nice brown edge. If you like them crispy, I prefer chewy, then I would leave them in for another 2-3 minutes.
Take them out of the oven and let them sit on the cookie sheet until completely cooled.

Done !

Frittata

    Sometimes a cooking life leaves you with leftovers, and instead of just leaving them to rot, compost or trash, you could make a frittata. At least that's what I do. 

The first step is to take your left over veggies, in this case I had onion, spinach, roasted red pepper, and kalamata olives, and saute them in about a tablespoon butter. I usually saute the onions first and brown them with salt and then add the rest. I also will add fresh herbs as well.
 After that I add some sort of beaten egg mixture. This time I used 3 eggs and ricotta cheese. I have also added half and half to the mixture as well as other cheese, whatever is left over.

 After pouring the egg mixture on the evenly spread sautéed veggies I let it sit for about four minutes or until the edges of the frittata start separating from the edge of the pan. I then put it in the oven at 350° for about 7 minutes. The center part should be firm at this point. Sometimes I will also brown it with the broiler for a minute to get the top brown and crispy.
I usually make this for brunch, perfect for last nights leftovers.

Frittata with leftover sour cream.