All That’s Left Over

5 Jan

I thought of doing a New Year’s post.  I really did.  I got this cookbook for Christmas, essentially 932 pages of drool-worthy recipes.  A 4.6 lb tome of culinary inspiration.  I made a cake recipe from it, and it was excellent (Guinness chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting, if you’re curious), but lately I have been out of blogging mode, and it’s been weeks since my camera has made it inside the kitchen.

Nonetheless, the blogging bug bit last night, and it bit hard.  The problem was, I had nothing to write about.  Sure, I could have made something for dinner.  But, you see, our refrigerator is currently stuffed to the gills with leftovers.  And while leftovers are delicious, they kind of get in the way of culinary creativity, you know?

For this reason, a New Year’s post seemed hypocritical.   While the world is celebrating a fresh start–if 1/1/11 doesn’t just scream “New Beginnings,” I don’t know what does–I find myself still staring at 2010 every time I open the refrigerator door.  And truth be told, I kind of dig the metaphor it calls to mind.  It’s not like we start from scratch every time January 1st rolls around, you know?  Life is cumulative, and no resolution, no “fresh start” should ever fail to acknowledge that.  Sure, we can hope to make this year better than the last, but we cannot hope to cast aside all that we bring into it, from 2010 and all the years prior, the good and the bad.

So, for the next week or so, I will be happily eating the leftovers of meals past.  Because, while the gnocchi didn’t quite make it through to 2011 (mold), last week’s lamb is something I hope to eat again and again.  Just like dad made it in 2010.  No improvement required.

Lamb with rosemary (a Jamie Oliver recipe)

Sauteed yellow squash and onion

Roasted carrots, parsnips, and garlic

You’re Looking Swell, Dolly

24 Dec

There are cookies, and there are Christmas cookies.  Christmas cookies incorporate things like cinnamon and cherries and ginger and cloves, or take the form of stars or trees or candy canes.  They are decidedly festive, and just looking at a Christmas cookie reminds a person that December 25th is right around the corner.

Cookies, on the other hand, are standard dessert fare, with ingredients ranging from chocolate chips to coconut to rice krispies.  Who says, though, that regular cookies don’t warrant a spot in the holiday spread?  December, for me, has been quite the baking marathon, and I am living proof that sometimes even the most dedicated Kitchen-Aid devotees among us need a little break.  Rolling and pressing and cooling and frosting becomes more a chore than a relaxing afternoon in the kitchen.  So, as my final cookie of the Christmas season, I baked up these Hello Dolly bars, found on the Homesick Texan blog.  Because, Christmas-y or not, no one can argue with big blocks of chocolate, butterscotch, coconut, pecans, and sweetened condensed milk.

“HELLO, DOLLY” BARS (makes 25 squares)
From Homesick Texan

1 1/2 C crushed cinnamon graham crackers (about 8 graham crackers)
1/2 C butter, melted
1 C chocolate chips
1 C butterscotch chips
1 C sweetened shredded coconut
1 C chopped pecans
10 oz. sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and make graham cracker crumbs in the food processor.

Melt butter and pour in graham cracker crumbs until both are evenly combined.  Press mixture into the bottom of a greased 8 x 8 square pan.  Layer on coconut, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and pecans, then pour sweetened condensed milk over the mixture as evenly as possible.  Bake 25-30 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned.  Cool completely, cut into squares, and store in the refrigerator.  Serve at room temperature (they’re also good straight out of the fridge, or frozen, if that’s your thing).

Merry Christmas, folks.  May your day be merry, your heart be light and your sugar coma be so very, very delicious.

And Everything Nice

14 Dec

Here in New York, the weather outside is frightful.  The temperatures are a little too low, and the snow is falling a little too early.  I’m all for walking in a winter wonderland in theory, but when the reality of it actually comes around, it is hard to remember that this is, in fact, The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.  It has been my experience in recent years, though, that when the weather gets cold, the cold get baking.  And when the entire apartment smells like sugar and spice, I say let it snow.

Christmas parties are, for some, an excuse for unadulterated eggnog consumption and the shameless donning of ugly sweaters and holiday-themed jewelery.  Christmas parties are, for me, an excuse to bake cookies three days in a row.  Day 1 brought what was by far my most ambitious undertaking.  Bon Appetit‘s December issue had a good spread of holiday cookies, but the Coffee-Spice Shortbread with Crystallized Ginger had been calling my name for weeks.

See, ginger and I have an interesting relationship.  As someone whose favorite flavor profiles are spicy and sweet–though not in that order, as the recipe index of this blog indicates–ginger is an obvious favorite.  My mother, however, is allergic to the stuff, and thus my adventures with ginger are a fairly recent development, having never had much access to it as a kid.  Thus, ginger is simultaneously my Holy Grail and my Forbidden Fruit, a double-threat classification that most other 22-year-olds would reserve for things more exciting (and quite possibly more illegal).

The end result was a hard, crunchy, spicy cookie that looked impressively (shockingly) similar to the picture in the magazine.  They were ever so slightly bitter as a result of the ground coffee beans, and all of the flavors were cut nicely by the simple vanilla-powdered-sugar-and-water glaze.  Next time, I would chop the crystallized ginger into smaller pieces and perhaps use twice as much; and, considering how much I’ve already told you I love ginger, perhaps you should consider doing the same.  Otherwise, though, they were pretty fabulous, and (so I’m told) quite the conversation piece at the Christmas party that my parents brought them to.

So, forget the chestnuts roasting on an open fire.  Forget the jack frost nipping at your nose.  Take this as an excuse to spend this evening (or this afternoon, even) baking cookies at home, in pajamas, drinking tea and listening to Christmas music.  Because, baby, it’s cold outside.

COFFEE SPICE SHORTBREAD WITH CRYSTALLIZED GINGER (makes 24 shortbread cookies)
From Bon Appetit, December 2010.  Original recipe here.

For the shortbread:
2 C all purpose flour
3/4 C packed dark brown sugar
2 T plus 2 t ground coffee beans (I used hazelnut flavored coffee beans)
2 t ground ginger
1 1/2 t ground cinnamon
1 t ground cardamom
1/2 t salt
1 C unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

For the glaze and garnish:
1/2 C powdered sugar
2 t water
1 t pure vanilla extract
6 T chopped crystallized ginger (next time, I would only use 3 T)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit, with one rack in the bottom third and one rack in the top third of the oven.  Set aside two baking pans with removable bottoms (the original recipe called for two 9-inch-diameter tart pans, and in lieu of these I used one 9-inch-diameter springform pan, and one 8 x 8 square pan with a removable bottom).

In a food processor, mix flour, brown sugar, coffee, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom and salt.  Process for a few seconds, just until combined.  Add cubes of butter, one by one, processing for a second or two after each addition.  When dough is still clumpy but moist and uniform throughout, remove from food processor and divide into two equal pieces.  Press each piece into one of your baking pans, making sure dough is tightly packed and spread evenly.

Bake 25 minutes, one pan on each oven rack.  Switch the pans on the racks, and bake for another 20 minutes or so, until shortbread is golden but still soft. Cool in pans for 5 minutes, then remove pan sides and, keeping the shortbread on the pan bottoms cut each into 12 triangular pieces (for 24 pieces total).  Cool completely.

For glaze, mix sifted powdered sugar, vanilla, and water in a small bowl, adding more water (a few drops at a time) if necessary.  Pour glaze on shortbread and spread with a spatula or wooden spoon, leaving about a half an inch around the border (shortbread should still be on your pan bottoms).  Sprinkle on chopped, crystallized ginger and allow to sit for at least another hour, until glaze is fully set.  Separate pieces and serve, or store in the freezer or refrigerator.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.