End-of-Winter Cookies

Though it's not any warmer here, there is a hint of change in the air. Sunshine has been shrinking the snow cover, temps are forecast to hit 40+ degrees in a few days, and Mr. M is overhauling Iris (my vintage road bike) in readiness for a new cycling season. He's been putting in so many hours on this labour of love, the least I could do was bake him some cookies.

At the tail end of winter, we still have bags of oranges on the counter and bags of cranberries in the freezer (not to mention the bags of chocolate chips that populate the cupboard year-round). I like to combine all three flavours in a hearty oatmeal cookie that bakes up moist and deliciously studded with bright bits of tart cranberry and rich semi-sweet chocolate. Plenty of oats and whole wheat flour lend an illusion of healthfulness, but don't kid yourself: real butter and honest sugar make this a cookie that is a cookie.

Cranberry-Orange-Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies - makes 5 dozen

Set oven to 350º. In bowl, cream:

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar (or you can use all brown sugar, as I did)

3/4 cup (6 oz) butter, softened

Add:

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat until fluffy. Add:

1 cup unbleached flour

1 cup whole wheat flour (or whole wheat pie and pastry flour if you have it)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Mix until combined, then stir in:

2½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats

Zest of 1/2 navel orange or 1 clementine

1 cup cranberries, chopped (berries may be fresh or frozen; if frozen, thaw briefly before chopping)

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Dough may seem a bit dry, but don't worry - the cranberries will release moisture during baking. Drop by generous teaspoonsful, 2" apart, onto cookie sheets covered with parchment or non-stick baking mat.

Bake 12 minutes, then remove from oven (cookies will look uncooked in the center). Let cookies stand 5 minutes in pan, then remove with spatula and cool completely. Store in an airtight container; cookies may also be frozen.

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What's your favourite cookie recipe? (Feel free to write it out or include a link in your comment....)

:)

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What to Do on a Really Cold Sunday

by Sue Perez, age (ahem)

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Zest an orange...

...and spend a happy minute sniffing your fingertips before washing off the heavenly scent.

Use the zest to make Orange Scones (with chocolate chips).

Bake the scones and add Orange Frosting. (This is known as Painting the Lily, or, Almost Too Much of a Good Thing.)

Chop and sauté savoury stuff - onions and peppers for starters...

...then add broccoli and eggs and cream and cheese and herbs and salt and pepper. Put the whole thing in the oven to bake. (Frittata, if you haven't guessed.)

While frittata bakes, make coffee and tea. When frittata is done, slice and introduce it to the scones.

Scone, meet Frittata. Frittata, meet Scone.
(Oh, sorry, Ham - you know Frittata and Scone, don't you?)

Enjoy with coffee and tea and a Loved One.

After eating, play with yarn while Loved One washes the dishes (bless him).

An hour or two later, get up to check the thermometer and make sure it's still too cold for a walk.

Then, as long as you're up, make another cup of tea and have another scone.

Repeat as necessary. :)

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Orange-Chocolate Chip Scones with Orange Frosting (adapted from this recipe) ~ Oven 400°

1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup chilled butter, cubed
1 egg
Buttermilk (or milk substitute with a bit of vinegar added)
Zest and juice of 1/2 orange (save other half of orange for frosting)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine dry ingredients in food processor. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in chocolate chips. Place zest and juice from 1/2 orange in measuring cup; add buttermilk to equal 1/2 cup. Stir in egg. Add to dry ingredients and pulse briefly to combine. Turn onto floured surface and knead briefly. Flatten into 8" circle; cut into 8 wedges. Bake 20 minutes; let cool slightly; frost with Orange Frosting.

Orange Frosting:

1 Tablespoon butter, melted
1 cup powdered sugar
Zest of remaining 1/2 orange

Combine ingredients in bowl. Gradually add juice from remaining 1/2 orange to desired consistency. (I like to make the frosting thick, so it doesn't run off the hot scones.)

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How do you stay warm on a Really Cold day?

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Flour, Butter, Sugar, Egg

Magical words, aren't they? And look what they add up to....

From Sweden via Utah comes the recipe for these delicious Tea Cakes (recipe has been modified slightly - you can find the original here on Astri's blog, in the comment section). Tender and buttery, they're also very quick to make. Stir up a batch for breakfast or tea, and top according to your taste and imagination.

Not-Quite-Swedish Tea Cakes

1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. almond extract
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup flour
Nuts for topping (optional)

Mix wet ingredients together, then stir in sugar and flour. Spread in buttered pie pan, and top with nuts if desired. Bake at 375º for 20-25 minutes or until done (may test with a toothpick). Cool slightly, cut into wedges, and enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea.

Half a recipe, in the same size pan, bakes in 15-20 minutes.

Though these cakes are delicious plain, chopped or slivered nuts add a touch of richness and crunch. (We like walnuts.)

For extra decadence, here are some other topping ideas:

• Sprinkle with pearl sugar, raw sugar, or spices before baking
• Dust with powdered sugar after baking
• Sprinkle hot cakes with chocolate chips; let chips soften for a few minutes, then swirl
• Spread with jam
• Drizzle with icing
• Top with fruit

Today I used walnuts and powdered sugar and chocolate chips ... purely for demonstration purposes, you understand.

Many thanks to Astri and her friend Mona for sharing the recipe.

Tea time!

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Simple Pleasures: Toasted Kale

We fell in love with kale this winter. Sturdier than lettuce, more satisfying than spinach, it has become our go-to leafy green (at least until the weather is warm enough to make a cold salad seem appealing).

Kale is wonderfully versatile. For a hearty and warming side dish, steam-saute kale with a bit of oil and stock, and toss with minced garlic in the few seconds before leaving the pan. Chopped raw and dropped into simmering veggie or meat soup, it will hold its shape and add visual appeal. Cooked gently with cream or coconut milk, kale makes an earthy yet luxurious pasta topping.

But for truly addictive flavour and texture, toasted kale wins hands-down.

Toasted Kale

Preheat oven to 425º (400º if using convection oven). Dump some kale onto a shallow baking pan and drizzle with olive oil. Toss to distribute oil (hands work well for this), then spread evenly, leafy edges facing up. (Kale need not be thoroughly coated.) Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

It's very hard to get a good photo
of the oil, salt, and pepper....

Bake 7-10 minutes or until leaf edges are charred and crispy. Serve hot and listen to the gluttonous crunching (your own or that of your family). Reflect with complacence that kale is very, very good for you.

Note: For super-crispy and snack-worthy kale, remove the stems, give the leaves plenty of breathing room, and bake a little longer. You can lower the oven temperature if you want crispiness without charring. (Don't forget to save the stems for soup.) To combine thrift with nutrition, and save a little time, keep the stems intact and slightly crowd the pan. This will give a lovely charred/steamed texture as in the photo above.

Some ideas for toppings (should you want to paint the lily): Sesame seeds (before or after toasting), very finely grated parmesan cheese, nutmeg, paprika, cayenne, finely chopped crispy bacon, crumbled blue cheese....

Do you like kale? How do you cook it?

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Simple Salsa Verde

I love salsa verde. Tangy and intensely green, it's especially appealing at this time of year - like a spring tonic after months of slightly stodgy root vegetables and heavy winter food. So when tomatillos (salsa verde's key ingredient) showed up at our village grocer's the other week, I couldn't resist buying some.

Tomatillos, like tomatoes, belong to the nightshade family - but tomatillos are firmer than their tomato cousins, and much more tart. A mature tomatillo is bright green, and may be covered with a papery husk; the skin has a slightly sticky coating which remains even after washing (this is entirely normal).

The ingredients for salsa verde are simple and few: raw or roasted tomatillos, hot peppers, scallions, cilantro, and salt - all whirled together into a chunky sauce.

Go green!
(¿Vaya verde?)

I like to core, then roast the tomatillos slightly to release their juices and intensify the flavour - but you can skip these steps if you like. (Coring creates a little well to collect the tangy juice.)

Try salsa verde layered with cheese in quesadillas, or spooned over eggs for a lively take on huevos rancheros. As a topping for chicken enchiladas, it makes a pleasant change from red sauce. I've even used it, with grated jack cheese, as a filling for yeast rolls. (Perilously delicious.)

Wake up your eggs with salsa verde

Salsa verde is also the perfect complement to pork. We drizzled ours over simple tacos filled with what I call "cheater carnitas" (pork roasted in a crockpot until tender, removed from drippings and shredded in a shallow layer on a sheet pan, then sprinkled with chopped onion and heated in a 350º oven until onions are soft and meat is crispy at the tips).

Mmmmm

Simple Salsa Verde - yields about 2 cups

3/4 lb. tomatillos, husked, rinsed, and stemmed (about 6 medium fruit)
3 serrano peppers, coarsely chopped
(I am a spicy-food wimp, so I use one jalapeño with seeds and ribs removed)
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1 bunch scallions (green onions), coarsely chopped
1 large bunch cilantro, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Lightly core and roast tomatillos (if desired) under broiler for 5-7 minutes until juicy and slightly charred. Cool slightly (or completely - either is fine). Do not chop roasted fruit or you'll lose the flavourful juice.

(If you skip the roasting step, coarsely chop the raw tomatillos, and add a few tablespoons of water when blending your salsa to attain desired texture.)

In a blender or food processor, puree tomatillos and chopped pepper(s) until chunky. Add remaining ingredients and puree until no large chunks remain. Enjoy!

Salsa verde keeps for about a week in the refrigerator - if you can make it last that long. We had no problem polishing off this batch in record time. (In fact Mr. M likes to scoop it up with a spoon and eat it plain.)

You can of course buy salsa verde in a jar - I like Herdez brand for its authenticity and short ingredient list (preservative-free, and no mysterious "natural flavors" or "spices" which are usually a cover for MSG). But sometimes it's just more fun to make your own.

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A Blizzard and Truffles

Have you ever noticed that double consonants - as it might be "zz" or "ff" - make words look so much more interesting? Blizard and trufles don't have nearly the same oomph as their twin-consonanted counterparts.

Today we have snow both inside...

...and out.

A blizzard is sweeping across the Midwest, making it a very good day to stay home and crochet (with plenty of tea-and-truffle breaks).

Truffles have got to be one of the simplest (and best) candies ever. Just chocolate and cream, with optional flavourings of your choice, are all the ingredients you need to make these nuggets of heavenly richness and delight.

To make your own truffles, start with a 1:2 ratio of cream to chocolate. (Heavy cream and dark chocolate work best.) By 1:2 ratio, I mean 1 fluid ounce of cream for every 2 ounces by weight of chocolate. I used a half-pint (8 fluid ounces) of cream to a pound (16 ounces) of chocolate for each of my batches. You can of course use metric measurements if you like - just preserve the ratio.

A pound of chocolate, with a half-pint of cream, will yield about 35-40 1" truffles.

Note: Do NOT use "chocolate candy coating" to make truffles - it won't work. :)

Quickest Truffles:

First weigh your chocolate - break it up if necessary. I like to use good quality semi-sweet chocolate chips, with a 3.5-oz. Lindt 70% bar thrown in - this gives a dark, edgy truffle with very little sweetness. (Using all semi-sweet chocolate chips works too and gives a slightly sweeter truffle.)

Tip for breaking up a chocolate bar: Leave it in the wrapper. Place on a folded towel, and thwack it with a rolling pin. Go up and down, from end to end, in both directions. Flip it over and thwack some more.

Peel it open, and there you are:

Some recipes tell you to chop the chocolate, but I find this tedious and unnecessary. :)

Now heat your cream to boiling (in a roomy pot), then remove from heat and dump the chocolate in:

Start stirring....

It will look like gloppy chocolate milk at first, but don't give up. After a minute or two, a magical transformation begins:

Keep stirring, and soon you'll have a glossy, silky, utterly tempting pan of chocolatey goodness just begging to be tasted.

Now's the time to add any flavouring. Liqueurs and liquid extracts, such as lemon, orange, or mint, work very well. You could also use a very strong espresso, or coffee essence if you have it. Start with a little (perhaps 1/2 teaspoonful), adding more if necessary. As a conscientious cook, you'll want to taste the mixture repeatedly while stirring in the flavourings.

You can also divide your plain truffle mixture into more than one bowl, and flavour each one separately.

For this batch, I'm using peanut butter (several tablespoonsful):

That's it for the first step. Set the bowl in a cool place (a freezing porch works really well for us) and let the mixture firm up.

Slightly Fussier Method, with Infused Cream:

After weighing chocolate, place it in a heat-proof bowl and set aside. (You can if you like put the bowl in a 250º oven while the cream is heating - this will give you a head start on melting the chocolate.)

To infuse the cream, first choose your flavours. I used the zest of one orange; you could also use fresh mint leaves, whole or ground spices, or anything that takes your fancy. Place the flavouring in a pan, and pour the cream over.

Heat the cream to boiling, then pour it into your bowl of chocolate. For smooth truffles, strain out any flavouring bits.

Stir until smooth and glossy, and check flavour. (My mixture wasn't nearly orangey enough, so I added some orange extract.) When mixture is to your taste, set aside to cool.

Here are my two truffle mixtures cooling:

The peanut-butter batch is slightly gritty-looking, and the fussy orange-infused batch is satiny-smooth.  (Both taste wonderful.)

When the mixture is cool but not hard, scoop it into little lumps on a baking sheet lined with parchment, waxed paper, or silicone mat. The lumps need not be smooth - you will take care of that later.

Pop the baking sheet into the freezer for 5-10 minutes to firm up the chocolate. While the lumps are firming up, get your coating ready in a small bowl.

Suggested coatings: Cocoa powder, finely grated coconut, chopped toasted nuts. (You can use sugar, but it will soak up moisture from the truffles and become sticky. Confectioner's sugar, on the other hand, will dry out and become slightly crunchy. Go figure.)

Take the baking sheet out of the freezer, and one by one, roll the truffles quickly in your hands to smooth the surface. Then drop them in the bowl of coating. You can roll the truffles in the coating, or use a small dish with a lid and shake them. Whether rolling or shaking, do 3 or 4 at a time.

My orange-infused truffles were rolled in either finely ground, unsweetened coconut, or plain cocoa powder. The peanut butter truffles were rolled in chopped toasted peanuts, and sprinkled with a tiny bit of coarse salt.

As you coat the truffles, put them right back on the baking sheet. When all are coated, chill once more until firm. Try not to sample too many. You want to share these with loved ones, right?

Store finished truffles in the refrigerator, in a sealed container. When you hear them calling your name (and they will call your name), pull out a truffle or two. Let them come up to room temperature while you make a cup of tea or coffee, then enjoy!

I will leave you with a few more snow pictures, taken this morning when the storm was still young:

Heavy-laden pine

Squirrel's eye view from the garage door -
already a good 6" deep,
and hours of snow yet to come.

Happy winter!

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Double Ginger No-Chill Molasses Cookies

Mr. M adores all things gingery - the hotter, the better. Add some molasses and he's in tastebud heaven. Needless to say, these soft and chewy spicy cookies are a big hit with him.

Adapted from a recipe I found online (and search though I might, I can't find the link), I've upped the ginger quotient by adding chopped candied ginger, and used all dark brown sugar for a double molasses hit. An optional white chocolate glaze adds a veneer of elegant richness (though to be honest a simple buttery icing would do as well).

Although there's no need to chill the dough, you may do so if you like.

Heat oven to 350°

1/2 cup butter, softened

2-3 Tablespoons chopped candied ginger

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/2 cup unsulphured molasses (the darker the better)

1 egg

2 cups flour (I use half whole-wheat)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

(For a less fiery cookie, ground ginger may be reduced to 1/2 teaspoon)

I used a chef's knife with an oiled blade to chop the ginger.

Add ginger to butter and blend well.

Mix in sugar, then pour on the molasses and mix again.

Add egg and blend well, then gently mix in dry ingredients.

Pinch off or scoop 1" pieces of dough (I used a small spring-loaded scoop). Dip bottoms of dough in sugar (raw sugar for me), then place on lightly greased cookie sheet. (If using parchment or a silicone baking mat, no need to grease.)

Bake for 10-12 minutes and cool on rack. Glaze if desired with melted white chocolate or buttery icing.

Brew up some coffee or tea, and enjoy!

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