Autumn Desserts
Apples, pears, and pumpkin desserts always taste the best in the fall. I’ve often wondered why that is so. Maybe it is because they blend right in with the spicy aromas of turning leaves piqued by the smell of evergreens about to take over the “green scene” for winter. More likely, it is because this is the time of year when tree-ripened apples and pears show up in great variety in the market and pumpkins – well, they fill huge bins just waiting to be selected.
Thinking of autumn desserts, I couldn’t decide between an old-time Finnish favorite – a simple to make, buttery, apple-sugar cake, and pumpkin cheesecake. So I decided to include them both.
But here’s an idea for seckle pears, too. Seckle pears are those tiny little pears that show up for a brief period of time in the fall. Usually locally grown, they are sweet little fruits, no taller than three inches.
I got this idea also in Finland, when a friend served it for dessert. I asked her for the recipe and she just said, “There’s no recipe,” she replied, “you just wash the pears, stand them up in a pan and bake them for about an hour.” What temperature (anything from 325 to 350 degrees F. depending on what else you are roasting. Try that for a no-fuss dessert when you are really busy! When the pears are soft, just sprinkle them with powdered sugar and serve with whipped cream flavored with a little crème de menthe, one pear per person.
This next recipe is a simple Finnish one, too, perfect with any of the fresh apples of fall. It was first published in The Finnish Cookbook in 1964.
FINNISH APPLE SUGAR CAKE (Omenasokerikakku)
Makes 12 servings
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) softened butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
dash salt
3/4 cup light cream or undiluted evaporated milk
2 medium apples, peeled, cored and sliced about 1/2 inch
Cinnamon sugar: 2 tablespoons sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9 by 13-inch cake pan.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together; add the eggs and beat until light. Stir the flour, baking powder and salt together and add to the cream mixture alternately with the cream. Mix until batter is smooth and spread into the prepared pan.
Insert the apple slices so that the outer edges of the apple slices are up. Sprinkle evenly with the cinnamon sugar and bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean and dry. Serve warm.
Pecan Crusted Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake
This needs to chill overnight so that it will cut easily, so plan accordingly.
Makes 16 servings
Pecan Crust
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
1 cup pecans
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar.
Filling:
4 packages (8-ounce) cream cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 can (15-ounce) pumpkin
1 cup whipping cream or undiluted evaporated milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 10-inch springform pan with cooking spray.
In a food processor with the steel blade in place, combine the flour, butter and pecans. Process until pecans are finely chopped and blend in the brown sugar. Press mixture evenly over the bottom and about 1/2 inch up the sides of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and set pan on top of a rimmed cookie sheet.
Meanwhile, make the filling: In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar together until well blended. Beat in the eggs, pumpkin, cream, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice. Pour mixture into the crust in the pan. Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until a knife inserted just slightly off center comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake the cheesecake. Cool on a rack, then chill overnight before cutting into wedges to serve.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Holiday Favorites
HOLIDAY FAVORITE RECIPES FROM FRIENDS AND FAMILY
Holidays, for many people are laced with a web of memories, and these memories center on “together” times, be they a cookie making session, a coffee party, a family gathering, or just a get-together of friends.
Here, four special friends share their own favorite holiday recipes, each one is connected to family or friends in a special way. I offer, also, my family’s favorite memory.
Kathryn Martin, UMD Chancellor, shares the recipe from her Dutch grandmother. Kathryn writes: “My grandparents, Katrina and John VanZutphen moved to the United States shortly after the First World War, settling first in Kimberly then Little Chute, Wisconsin which was home to a significant number of immigrants from the Netherlands. My grandfather worked in a tannery and my grandmother ran a rooming house, both in an effort to save money to buy their dairy farm in Stanley, Wisconsin. Every Friday my grandmother baked fresh cookies, fresh bread and a variety of kinds of cakes and pies. But only at Christmas time did we have “Grandma Van’s Refrigerator Cookies”. Christmas for me is not complete without my Grandma VanZutphen’s Refrigerator Cookies, both as a recollection of wonderful family events, but also for my memories of helping her and my mother stir the dough and make the cookies.”
Grandma Van’s Refrigerator Cookies
1 cup butter
1 cup lard (can substitute Crisco, but do not substitute butter for this)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
5 cups all-purpose flour
Melt the butter and lard together. Add soda to the melted mixture and add the remaining ingredients in the order given. Form dough into sticks, either round or rectangular. (I usually make rectangular blocks about 2 inches high by 2 ½ inches wide). Wrap and chill overnight. Slice 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick and bake at 375 degrees F. until light brown. Time depends on how thick the cookies are.
Arlene Coco, restaurant owner, writer, and fellow “foodie” is of Southern heritage She says her mother would always make Jambalaya on Christmas Eve because it fed a crowd and she could keep it warm in the oven to serve when the family came home after Midnight mass.
Louisiana Jambalaya
Serves 12
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick)
2 cups onions, diced (1 large)
2 cups celery, chopped (2-3 stalks)
1 ½ cups green pepper, chopped (1 large)
2 tablespoons garlic, minced (3 large cloves)
2 pounds of Boneless Chicken Breast, diced
1 can (28 ounce) diced tomatoes in juice
1 Tablespoon Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon Cajun seasoning
2 teaspoons salt
1 pound smoked sausage, sliced thin
3 cups parboiled rice (Uncle Ben’s)
5 cups Chicken stock
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
½ bunch fresh parsley, chopped
Tabasco to taste
In a large Dutch oven or straight edge saucepan with a lid, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions, celery, green peppers and garlic. Cook until soft, about 5-10 minutes. Add chicken and cook slightly. Add diced tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce , Cajun seasoning and salt. Simmer 10 minutes more and add sausage and rice.
Stir until well mixed and add 5 cups of chicken stock. Stir again and heat to a boil. When boiling, turn heat to low and simmer covered for 30 minutes.. Add green onions and parsley. Season to taste with Tabasco.
Lise Lunge Larson, was born and raised in southern Norway, and brings her tradition of food and story telling to Duluth. For many Norwegians, Ribbe, Pork Rib Roast with red sweet cabbage (surkal), mashed potatoes, gravy and green peas is the traditional Christmas meal. Its status is a little like that of the Thanksgiving turkey for Americans. In other words, it’s just not Christmas without it. The fact that the roast should be seasoned and refrigerated for 1 to 3 days makes it very handy for the cook to get a large part of the meal preparation done ahead. And, the cabbage is best made a day ahead of time, too.
Norwegian Pork Rib Roast, “Ribbe”
Serves 6
One 4 pound pork rib roast with the rind and fat. The bones need to be cut every 2-3 inches by the butcher.
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
½ -1 cup water
If you managed to get the pork rib with the rind, place it fat side up and with a very sharp knife, cut through the rind and fat in a crosshatch pattern with 1 inch diamond shaped squares. Rub the meat all over with salt. Cover and refrigerate for 1 or 3 days.
Preheat oven to 400degrees F. Place the meat fat side up in a roasting pan. Bring the water to boil and pour over the meat. Cover with aluminum foil and place the roasting pan in the middle of the oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes.
Remove the roast from the oven. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees, remove foil, and place the roast on a wire rack inside the roasting pan. Return to oven, this time in the lower third.
Roast for about 1 hour, basting if needed to keep it moist. It’s a little difficult to say exactly when the ribbe is done as it will depend on how thick the piece is. Use a thermometer to check for internal temperatures.
If you managed to get the ribbe with the fat and rind, move it to the middle of the oven when it is done and turn up the heat to 400-425 and roast for about 20 more minutes, checking it frequently. You want to turn the crackling crisp without burning the roast. When the rind is brown and the squares have started to separate, it’s ready.
Cut the meat into 2-rib sections and serve with mashed potatoes, gravy made from the drippings, green peas and a sweet and sour red cabbage (surkal) dish for a colorful and festive meal.
Surkal
1 head of red cabbage
2 apples
2/3 cup water
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. caraway
2-3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar or more to taste
2 tablespoons red currant jelly
2 tablespoons maple syrup or more to taste.
Finely slice cabbage into thin, long strips. Slice apples into sections and layer the cabbage and the apples in a heavy bottomed pot with the caraway, salt, and maple syrup. Pour the water and the vinegar over and bring to a boil. Stir to mix and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for at least one hour, till cabbage is completely tender. Add currant jelly and adjust the sweet and sour ratio to taste.
This dish is actually best when made one day ahead of time and is the perfect accompaniment to ribbe.
The talk at the Continental hair solon often centers on food, and when I mentioned this gathering of recipes for this story, Chuck immediately offered Bill’s recipe for Cranberry Pudding. This favorite of theirs was first served to them at a friend’s home, who shared it with Bill who makes it every holiday season without fail. The recipe, he thought came from an old Betty Crocker cookbook. Bill, however, always makes this steamed pudding in a metal loaf pan rather than a tube-type pan that is commonly used.
Steamed Cranberry Pudding
Serves 10 to 12
2 cups fresh cranberries
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup boiling water
1/2 cup light or dark molasses
Sauce:
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
Lightly grease a 2-quart metal pan. Pick over the cranberries, wash and drain.
Sift together the flour and salt; dredge cranberries in the flour mixture. Dissolve soda in the boiling water and add the molasses. Stir and allow to foam up.
Add molasses mixture to the flour and cranberry mixture. Mix until well blended. Spoon into the prepared pan and cover with a double layer of foil. Fasten with a heavy elastic band or string.
Place into a deep saucepan and fill with water up to about half the way up the side of the pudding pan. Cover and place over high heat. Bring water to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for one hour. Remove from water and allow to cool. When ready to serve, invert onto a serving plate. Cut into 1/2 inch slices.
To make the sauce, mix together the sugar, butter and cream. Cook over medium heat until thick, stirring constantly. Add vanilla and pour over individual slices of the pudding.
I think my brothers and sisters would agree that Mom’s Raspberry Sauce is our number one Christmas food memory.
Back when our parents lived on Rose road, they had a huge raspberry patch. Every summer they froze ice cream buckets full of these beautiful, juicy, berries. Mom would use them to make Raspberry Sauce for Christmas Eve dessert.
On Christmas Eve we packed into their little house – there must have been a hundred of us, or so it seemed. The buffet was potluck and varied in offerings from hamburger casseroles to wild rice salads, fruit salads, a variety of Christmas breads and cookies.
What we all looked forward to, though, was the Raspberry Sauce Mom made from her frozen berries, and served out of a huge punch bowl. The sauce was a clear red pudding, which she usually thickened with tapioca. Cornstarch would have made it cloudy. We spooned the sauce into clear glass cups or clear plastic glasses and plopped a dollop of whipped cream on top. Even the babies loved this dessert!
Today, without the advantage of having buckets of home-grown raspberries, I make the sauce using raspberries from the supermarket and cranberry raspberry juice.
Mom’s Raspberry Sauce
Makes about 16 servings
2 quarts frozen unsweetened raspberries
2 quarts raspberry cranberry juice
1 cup minute tapiocas
Sugar to taste
Sweetened whipped cream for serving
In a large 6 to 8 quart pot, combine the berries, juice and tapioca. Let stand for at least 15 minutes. Then, place over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring at first occasionally, but when the sauce comes to a boil, stir vigorously until it is smooth and thickened. Taste and add sugar.
Cover and set aside to cool. The sauce will thicken even more when it is cold.
Serve with sweetened whipped cream for dessert.
Holidays, for many people are laced with a web of memories, and these memories center on “together” times, be they a cookie making session, a coffee party, a family gathering, or just a get-together of friends.
Here, four special friends share their own favorite holiday recipes, each one is connected to family or friends in a special way. I offer, also, my family’s favorite memory.
Kathryn Martin, UMD Chancellor, shares the recipe from her Dutch grandmother. Kathryn writes: “My grandparents, Katrina and John VanZutphen moved to the United States shortly after the First World War, settling first in Kimberly then Little Chute, Wisconsin which was home to a significant number of immigrants from the Netherlands. My grandfather worked in a tannery and my grandmother ran a rooming house, both in an effort to save money to buy their dairy farm in Stanley, Wisconsin. Every Friday my grandmother baked fresh cookies, fresh bread and a variety of kinds of cakes and pies. But only at Christmas time did we have “Grandma Van’s Refrigerator Cookies”. Christmas for me is not complete without my Grandma VanZutphen’s Refrigerator Cookies, both as a recollection of wonderful family events, but also for my memories of helping her and my mother stir the dough and make the cookies.”
Grandma Van’s Refrigerator Cookies
1 cup butter
1 cup lard (can substitute Crisco, but do not substitute butter for this)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
5 cups all-purpose flour
Melt the butter and lard together. Add soda to the melted mixture and add the remaining ingredients in the order given. Form dough into sticks, either round or rectangular. (I usually make rectangular blocks about 2 inches high by 2 ½ inches wide). Wrap and chill overnight. Slice 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick and bake at 375 degrees F. until light brown. Time depends on how thick the cookies are.
Arlene Coco, restaurant owner, writer, and fellow “foodie” is of Southern heritage She says her mother would always make Jambalaya on Christmas Eve because it fed a crowd and she could keep it warm in the oven to serve when the family came home after Midnight mass.
Louisiana Jambalaya
Serves 12
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick)
2 cups onions, diced (1 large)
2 cups celery, chopped (2-3 stalks)
1 ½ cups green pepper, chopped (1 large)
2 tablespoons garlic, minced (3 large cloves)
2 pounds of Boneless Chicken Breast, diced
1 can (28 ounce) diced tomatoes in juice
1 Tablespoon Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon Cajun seasoning
2 teaspoons salt
1 pound smoked sausage, sliced thin
3 cups parboiled rice (Uncle Ben’s)
5 cups Chicken stock
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
½ bunch fresh parsley, chopped
Tabasco to taste
In a large Dutch oven or straight edge saucepan with a lid, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions, celery, green peppers and garlic. Cook until soft, about 5-10 minutes. Add chicken and cook slightly. Add diced tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce , Cajun seasoning and salt. Simmer 10 minutes more and add sausage and rice.
Stir until well mixed and add 5 cups of chicken stock. Stir again and heat to a boil. When boiling, turn heat to low and simmer covered for 30 minutes.. Add green onions and parsley. Season to taste with Tabasco.
Lise Lunge Larson, was born and raised in southern Norway, and brings her tradition of food and story telling to Duluth. For many Norwegians, Ribbe, Pork Rib Roast with red sweet cabbage (surkal), mashed potatoes, gravy and green peas is the traditional Christmas meal. Its status is a little like that of the Thanksgiving turkey for Americans. In other words, it’s just not Christmas without it. The fact that the roast should be seasoned and refrigerated for 1 to 3 days makes it very handy for the cook to get a large part of the meal preparation done ahead. And, the cabbage is best made a day ahead of time, too.
Norwegian Pork Rib Roast, “Ribbe”
Serves 6
One 4 pound pork rib roast with the rind and fat. The bones need to be cut every 2-3 inches by the butcher.
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
½ -1 cup water
If you managed to get the pork rib with the rind, place it fat side up and with a very sharp knife, cut through the rind and fat in a crosshatch pattern with 1 inch diamond shaped squares. Rub the meat all over with salt. Cover and refrigerate for 1 or 3 days.
Preheat oven to 400degrees F. Place the meat fat side up in a roasting pan. Bring the water to boil and pour over the meat. Cover with aluminum foil and place the roasting pan in the middle of the oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes.
Remove the roast from the oven. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees, remove foil, and place the roast on a wire rack inside the roasting pan. Return to oven, this time in the lower third.
Roast for about 1 hour, basting if needed to keep it moist. It’s a little difficult to say exactly when the ribbe is done as it will depend on how thick the piece is. Use a thermometer to check for internal temperatures.
If you managed to get the ribbe with the fat and rind, move it to the middle of the oven when it is done and turn up the heat to 400-425 and roast for about 20 more minutes, checking it frequently. You want to turn the crackling crisp without burning the roast. When the rind is brown and the squares have started to separate, it’s ready.
Cut the meat into 2-rib sections and serve with mashed potatoes, gravy made from the drippings, green peas and a sweet and sour red cabbage (surkal) dish for a colorful and festive meal.
Surkal
1 head of red cabbage
2 apples
2/3 cup water
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. caraway
2-3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar or more to taste
2 tablespoons red currant jelly
2 tablespoons maple syrup or more to taste.
Finely slice cabbage into thin, long strips. Slice apples into sections and layer the cabbage and the apples in a heavy bottomed pot with the caraway, salt, and maple syrup. Pour the water and the vinegar over and bring to a boil. Stir to mix and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for at least one hour, till cabbage is completely tender. Add currant jelly and adjust the sweet and sour ratio to taste.
This dish is actually best when made one day ahead of time and is the perfect accompaniment to ribbe.
The talk at the Continental hair solon often centers on food, and when I mentioned this gathering of recipes for this story, Chuck immediately offered Bill’s recipe for Cranberry Pudding. This favorite of theirs was first served to them at a friend’s home, who shared it with Bill who makes it every holiday season without fail. The recipe, he thought came from an old Betty Crocker cookbook. Bill, however, always makes this steamed pudding in a metal loaf pan rather than a tube-type pan that is commonly used.
Steamed Cranberry Pudding
Serves 10 to 12
2 cups fresh cranberries
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup boiling water
1/2 cup light or dark molasses
Sauce:
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
Lightly grease a 2-quart metal pan. Pick over the cranberries, wash and drain.
Sift together the flour and salt; dredge cranberries in the flour mixture. Dissolve soda in the boiling water and add the molasses. Stir and allow to foam up.
Add molasses mixture to the flour and cranberry mixture. Mix until well blended. Spoon into the prepared pan and cover with a double layer of foil. Fasten with a heavy elastic band or string.
Place into a deep saucepan and fill with water up to about half the way up the side of the pudding pan. Cover and place over high heat. Bring water to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for one hour. Remove from water and allow to cool. When ready to serve, invert onto a serving plate. Cut into 1/2 inch slices.
To make the sauce, mix together the sugar, butter and cream. Cook over medium heat until thick, stirring constantly. Add vanilla and pour over individual slices of the pudding.
I think my brothers and sisters would agree that Mom’s Raspberry Sauce is our number one Christmas food memory.
Back when our parents lived on Rose road, they had a huge raspberry patch. Every summer they froze ice cream buckets full of these beautiful, juicy, berries. Mom would use them to make Raspberry Sauce for Christmas Eve dessert.
On Christmas Eve we packed into their little house – there must have been a hundred of us, or so it seemed. The buffet was potluck and varied in offerings from hamburger casseroles to wild rice salads, fruit salads, a variety of Christmas breads and cookies.
What we all looked forward to, though, was the Raspberry Sauce Mom made from her frozen berries, and served out of a huge punch bowl. The sauce was a clear red pudding, which she usually thickened with tapioca. Cornstarch would have made it cloudy. We spooned the sauce into clear glass cups or clear plastic glasses and plopped a dollop of whipped cream on top. Even the babies loved this dessert!
Today, without the advantage of having buckets of home-grown raspberries, I make the sauce using raspberries from the supermarket and cranberry raspberry juice.
Mom’s Raspberry Sauce
Makes about 16 servings
2 quarts frozen unsweetened raspberries
2 quarts raspberry cranberry juice
1 cup minute tapiocas
Sugar to taste
Sweetened whipped cream for serving
In a large 6 to 8 quart pot, combine the berries, juice and tapioca. Let stand for at least 15 minutes. Then, place over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring at first occasionally, but when the sauce comes to a boil, stir vigorously until it is smooth and thickened. Taste and add sugar.
Cover and set aside to cool. The sauce will thicken even more when it is cold.
Serve with sweetened whipped cream for dessert.
Mini Indulgences
MINI INDULGENCES WHEN JUST A LITTLE BITE OF SOMETHING SWEET WILL DO
Often when we eat out, we share a dessert (one dessert, 4 forks). So I thought, this being the season for indulgent desserts it would be fun to work out some favorites out in mini versions. Desserts like crème brulee, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, chocolate mousse and truffles. Upscale restaurants and fancy day spas serve them in miniature 2 to 3-ounce sizes (or in the amount that a shot glass will hold).
The trick to making these at home is to be creative in finding little-enough dishes. Mini pies are simple – you can use miniature muffin cups. Chocolate mousse is easily served in one-ounce shot glasses (but you need to find spoons small enough to dig into them). Mini crème brulee posed a bit of a problem until I hit upon the idea of using porcelain or metal butter cups, although votive light holders might also be a choice. You just need to be sure that whatever you use can withstand the heat of the oven and the heat of a blowtorch.
Chocolate Espresso Mousse
For mini mousses, shot glasses work well here whether glass or ceramic. Chocolate covered coffee beans are sold in coffee shops (like Starbucks), or in the coffee section of the supermarket. Remember to locate demitasse or similar little spoons for serving.
Makes 12 mini (1-ounce) desserts
1 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon finely ground espresso
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
3 tablespoons superfine sugar
3 tablespoons instant coffee granules
12 chocolate covered coffee beans
In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the cream and ground espresso. Microwave, uncovered, on high for 2 minutes or until cream is hot. Strain cream into another microwave-safe container to remove any little bits of ground coffee and add the chocolate sugar and instant coffee granules. Pour into 12 shot glasses. Chill for 3 hours or until firm. Top each with a chocolate covered coffee bean.
Mini Pecan Pies
Bake these pies in miniature muffin tins.
Makes 24
Crust:
4 ounces (1/2 of an 8-ounce package) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
Filling:
1 large egg
3/4 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup pecans, chopped to 1/4 inch pieces
Garnish:
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
In the food processor with the steel blade in place, combine cream cheese and butter. Process until blended. Add the flour and process until flour is worked into the mixture. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Divide dough into 24 equal pieces. Place one piece of dough into each of 24 miniature muffin pan cups. Press dough onto bottom and up the sides of the edges to form shells.
In a small bowl, mix the egg, brown sugar, vanilla and pecans. Spoon mixture into the muffin cups, dividing the mixture evenly. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Let stand 5 minutes, run knife around the edges of each to remove from pans. Put chocolate chips into a heavy-duty plastic bag. Set sealed bag into hot water to melt the chocolate. Snip a very small hole in the corner of the bag and drizzle over the pies.
Mini Crème Brulee
Very easy to put together. My first batch I cooked in tiny demitasse cups, filling them by half. Then, after calling around I found 2-ounce little metal cups from a restaurant supply that cost only 49 cents each and they worked well, too. This is an easy recipe to put together. I used a dozen of them for one batch. A regular blow torch is handy for melting the sugar on top.
Makes 12 1-1/2 to 2-ounce desserts
2 cups heavy cream
5 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar, preferably super fine or baker’s sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
about 1/2 cup light brown sugar
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Whisk the cream and egg yolks together until perfectly blended. Put through a fine strainer to remove little lumps from the egg yolks. Mix in the sugar and vanilla. Pour into 12 two-ounce cups and place in a large baking pan. Pour about 1 inch of boiling water into the baking pan. Bake for 35 to 55 minutes, then check for doneness by inserting a knife into the center of one and if it comes out clean, they’re done. Be careful not to overcook or, like a custard, the crèmes will separate.
Remove from the baking pan and set on a counter to cool. Chill at least 3 hours before serving.
Before serving, spread a thin layer of brown sugar on top of each to cover completely.
Now, with a blow torch, melt the layer of brown sugar. The point is that you need to caramelize the sugar that will melt and then harden. Theoretically, you can do this under the broiler, but I have more luck with a blow torch.
Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles
8 ounces milk chocolate, or 1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter, creamy or chunky
1 cup whipping cream, whipped
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
Put chocolate into a large glass bowl and microwave on HIGH 30 seconds at a time until chocolate is almost completely melted. Stir in peanut butter and cool to room temperature. Whip cream until stiff and fold into the mixture. Refrigerate until firm.
Scoop chilled mixture into 1-inch balls. Mix powdered sugar and cocoa powder and roll the truffles in the mixture. Place into miniature bon bon cups and refrigerate to store.
Makes 3 dozen.
Often when we eat out, we share a dessert (one dessert, 4 forks). So I thought, this being the season for indulgent desserts it would be fun to work out some favorites out in mini versions. Desserts like crème brulee, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, chocolate mousse and truffles. Upscale restaurants and fancy day spas serve them in miniature 2 to 3-ounce sizes (or in the amount that a shot glass will hold).
The trick to making these at home is to be creative in finding little-enough dishes. Mini pies are simple – you can use miniature muffin cups. Chocolate mousse is easily served in one-ounce shot glasses (but you need to find spoons small enough to dig into them). Mini crème brulee posed a bit of a problem until I hit upon the idea of using porcelain or metal butter cups, although votive light holders might also be a choice. You just need to be sure that whatever you use can withstand the heat of the oven and the heat of a blowtorch.
Chocolate Espresso Mousse
For mini mousses, shot glasses work well here whether glass or ceramic. Chocolate covered coffee beans are sold in coffee shops (like Starbucks), or in the coffee section of the supermarket. Remember to locate demitasse or similar little spoons for serving.
Makes 12 mini (1-ounce) desserts
1 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon finely ground espresso
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
3 tablespoons superfine sugar
3 tablespoons instant coffee granules
12 chocolate covered coffee beans
In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the cream and ground espresso. Microwave, uncovered, on high for 2 minutes or until cream is hot. Strain cream into another microwave-safe container to remove any little bits of ground coffee and add the chocolate sugar and instant coffee granules. Pour into 12 shot glasses. Chill for 3 hours or until firm. Top each with a chocolate covered coffee bean.
Mini Pecan Pies
Bake these pies in miniature muffin tins.
Makes 24
Crust:
4 ounces (1/2 of an 8-ounce package) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
Filling:
1 large egg
3/4 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup pecans, chopped to 1/4 inch pieces
Garnish:
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
In the food processor with the steel blade in place, combine cream cheese and butter. Process until blended. Add the flour and process until flour is worked into the mixture. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Divide dough into 24 equal pieces. Place one piece of dough into each of 24 miniature muffin pan cups. Press dough onto bottom and up the sides of the edges to form shells.
In a small bowl, mix the egg, brown sugar, vanilla and pecans. Spoon mixture into the muffin cups, dividing the mixture evenly. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Let stand 5 minutes, run knife around the edges of each to remove from pans. Put chocolate chips into a heavy-duty plastic bag. Set sealed bag into hot water to melt the chocolate. Snip a very small hole in the corner of the bag and drizzle over the pies.
Mini Crème Brulee
Very easy to put together. My first batch I cooked in tiny demitasse cups, filling them by half. Then, after calling around I found 2-ounce little metal cups from a restaurant supply that cost only 49 cents each and they worked well, too. This is an easy recipe to put together. I used a dozen of them for one batch. A regular blow torch is handy for melting the sugar on top.
Makes 12 1-1/2 to 2-ounce desserts
2 cups heavy cream
5 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar, preferably super fine or baker’s sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
about 1/2 cup light brown sugar
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Whisk the cream and egg yolks together until perfectly blended. Put through a fine strainer to remove little lumps from the egg yolks. Mix in the sugar and vanilla. Pour into 12 two-ounce cups and place in a large baking pan. Pour about 1 inch of boiling water into the baking pan. Bake for 35 to 55 minutes, then check for doneness by inserting a knife into the center of one and if it comes out clean, they’re done. Be careful not to overcook or, like a custard, the crèmes will separate.
Remove from the baking pan and set on a counter to cool. Chill at least 3 hours before serving.
Before serving, spread a thin layer of brown sugar on top of each to cover completely.
Now, with a blow torch, melt the layer of brown sugar. The point is that you need to caramelize the sugar that will melt and then harden. Theoretically, you can do this under the broiler, but I have more luck with a blow torch.
Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles
8 ounces milk chocolate, or 1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter, creamy or chunky
1 cup whipping cream, whipped
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
Put chocolate into a large glass bowl and microwave on HIGH 30 seconds at a time until chocolate is almost completely melted. Stir in peanut butter and cool to room temperature. Whip cream until stiff and fold into the mixture. Refrigerate until firm.
Scoop chilled mixture into 1-inch balls. Mix powdered sugar and cocoa powder and roll the truffles in the mixture. Place into miniature bon bon cups and refrigerate to store.
Makes 3 dozen.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
My Dude Ranch Experience
MY DUDE RANCH EXPERIENCE
Last summer I spent a week visiting Colorado Dude Ranches. I never expected to ride a horse, I was just curious about the food and what else you could do in the setting. We have a daughter who is crazy for horses, and she would have loved nothing more than to spend a week at a dude ranch where the first thing you get on Monday morning is a comprehensive, personalized horseback riding and horsemanship lesson. The rides got more complex each day, and by the end of the week, you’re just about an expert after climbing mountains, descending them, crossing rivers and winding your way through wooded terrain.
What else could you do on a dude ranch? Lots of natural things like mountain hiking and biking, fly fishing, river rafting, archery, golf, reading, relaxing, evening barbecue cookouts and dancing. The focus is on family activities with supervision for young kids as parents take off on their own. During the winter season, some of the dude ranches are located near popular ski resorts, too.
Cost? The range was from less than $200 to about $300 per day per person, and there are various discounts and family plans at different ranches. Usually, but not always, a week long stay is required. I’ve included web sites below if you’d like more information.
What about the food? Well, it’s not just baked beans and wieners anymore. Even though the meals might be labeled as chuck wagon or cookout, the fare is more likely to be an updated version of American Western with a barbecue or southwestern flair. Some of the ranches have trained chefs at the helm.
You may be looking for something sweet and gooey for Valentine’s Day about now. From the Latigo Ranch cookbook here are two really easy sweets. The Peanut Butter Cookout Pie recipe makes three pies, each one serves 10. Make three and freeze two. Or, invite friends in for coffee and dessert. The brownies are always a hit. We enjoyed them for dessert at lunchtime after spending the morning outdoors. I’ll offer more “fun” recipes from dude ranches in another issue.
PEANUT BUTTER COOKOUT PIE
(Adapted from the Latigo Ranch Cookbook)
3 Oreo cookie crumb pie crusts
2 cups creamy peanut butter
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1-1/3 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1-1/2 cups whipping cream, stiffly beaten
10 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup hot coffee
Chopped peanuts and whipped cream for decoration, if desired
Prepare the pie crusts using your own favorite recipe. Beat the peanut butter, cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream. Spread mixture into the three cookie crumb crusts. Melt the chocolate chips in the coffee and spread over the three pie tops. Top with whipped cream and sprinkle with the chopped peanuts, if desired. Chill until firm. These pies freeze very well, but add whipped cream after thawing, if used Each pie makes 10 servings..
DOUBLE CHOCOLATE PACK TRIP BROWNIES
(Adapted from the Latigo Ranch Cookbook)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup white corn syrup
2 large eggs
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts, if desired
Melted White Chocolate, melted, for garnish (if desired)
Preheat the oven to 350*F. (325*F. for convection oven). Grease an 8-inch square baking pan, and line bottom with parchment.
Cream the butter and sugar. Add the vanilla, corn syrup, eggs, chocolate and oil and mix well. Mix the flour, salt and baking powder and stir into the creamed mixture. Blend in the chocolate chips and nuts. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until the center of the brownies are firm to the touch. Drizzle with melted white chocolate if desired. Cool before cutting into bars.
For information, prices, photos and descriptions of six of the ranches, look them up on the internet at the following addresses:
www.drowsywater.com
www.latigotrails.com
www.barlazyj.com
www.aspencanyonranch.com
www.kingmountainranch.com
www.clazyu.com
Last summer I spent a week visiting Colorado Dude Ranches. I never expected to ride a horse, I was just curious about the food and what else you could do in the setting. We have a daughter who is crazy for horses, and she would have loved nothing more than to spend a week at a dude ranch where the first thing you get on Monday morning is a comprehensive, personalized horseback riding and horsemanship lesson. The rides got more complex each day, and by the end of the week, you’re just about an expert after climbing mountains, descending them, crossing rivers and winding your way through wooded terrain.
What else could you do on a dude ranch? Lots of natural things like mountain hiking and biking, fly fishing, river rafting, archery, golf, reading, relaxing, evening barbecue cookouts and dancing. The focus is on family activities with supervision for young kids as parents take off on their own. During the winter season, some of the dude ranches are located near popular ski resorts, too.
Cost? The range was from less than $200 to about $300 per day per person, and there are various discounts and family plans at different ranches. Usually, but not always, a week long stay is required. I’ve included web sites below if you’d like more information.
What about the food? Well, it’s not just baked beans and wieners anymore. Even though the meals might be labeled as chuck wagon or cookout, the fare is more likely to be an updated version of American Western with a barbecue or southwestern flair. Some of the ranches have trained chefs at the helm.
You may be looking for something sweet and gooey for Valentine’s Day about now. From the Latigo Ranch cookbook here are two really easy sweets. The Peanut Butter Cookout Pie recipe makes three pies, each one serves 10. Make three and freeze two. Or, invite friends in for coffee and dessert. The brownies are always a hit. We enjoyed them for dessert at lunchtime after spending the morning outdoors. I’ll offer more “fun” recipes from dude ranches in another issue.
PEANUT BUTTER COOKOUT PIE
(Adapted from the Latigo Ranch Cookbook)
3 Oreo cookie crumb pie crusts
2 cups creamy peanut butter
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1-1/3 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1-1/2 cups whipping cream, stiffly beaten
10 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup hot coffee
Chopped peanuts and whipped cream for decoration, if desired
Prepare the pie crusts using your own favorite recipe. Beat the peanut butter, cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream. Spread mixture into the three cookie crumb crusts. Melt the chocolate chips in the coffee and spread over the three pie tops. Top with whipped cream and sprinkle with the chopped peanuts, if desired. Chill until firm. These pies freeze very well, but add whipped cream after thawing, if used Each pie makes 10 servings..
DOUBLE CHOCOLATE PACK TRIP BROWNIES
(Adapted from the Latigo Ranch Cookbook)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup white corn syrup
2 large eggs
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts, if desired
Melted White Chocolate, melted, for garnish (if desired)
Preheat the oven to 350*F. (325*F. for convection oven). Grease an 8-inch square baking pan, and line bottom with parchment.
Cream the butter and sugar. Add the vanilla, corn syrup, eggs, chocolate and oil and mix well. Mix the flour, salt and baking powder and stir into the creamed mixture. Blend in the chocolate chips and nuts. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until the center of the brownies are firm to the touch. Drizzle with melted white chocolate if desired. Cool before cutting into bars.
For information, prices, photos and descriptions of six of the ranches, look them up on the internet at the following addresses:
www.drowsywater.com
www.latigotrails.com
www.barlazyj.com
www.aspencanyonranch.com
www.kingmountainranch.com
www.clazyu.com
Monday, March 19, 2007
Holiday Recipes
HOLIDAY FAVORITE RECIPES FROM FRIENDS AND FAMILY
Holidays, for many people are laced with a web of memories, and these memories center on “together” times, be they a cookie making session, a coffee party, a family gathering, or just a get-together of friends.
Here, four special friends share their own favorite holiday recipes, each one is connected to family or friends in a special way. I offer, also, my family’s favorite memory.
Kathryn Martin, UMD Chancellor, shares the recipe from her Dutch grandmother. Kathryn writes: “My grandparents, Katrina and John VanZutphen moved to the United States shortly after the First World War, settling first in Kimberly then Little Chute, Wisconsin which was home to a significant number of immigrants from the Netherlands. My grandfather worked in a tannery and my grandmother ran a rooming house, both in an effort to save money to buy their dairy farm in Stanley, Wisconsin. Every Friday my grandmother baked fresh cookies, fresh bread and a variety of kinds of cakes and pies. But only at Christmas time did we have “Grandma Van’s Refrigerator Cookies”. Christmas for me is not complete without my Grandma VanZutphen’s Refrigerator Cookies, both as a recollection of wonderful family events, but also for my memories of helping her and my mother stir the dough and make the cookies.”
Grandma Van’s Refrigerator Cookies
1 cup butter
1 cup lard (can substitute Crisco, but do not substitute butter for this)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
5 cups all-purpose flour
Melt the butter and lard together. Add soda to the melted mixture and add the remaining ingredients in the order given. Form dough into sticks, either round or rectangular. (I usually make rectangular blocks about 2 inches high by 2 ½ inches wide). Wrap and chill overnight. Slice 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick and bake at 375 degrees F. until light brown. Time depends on how thick the cookies are.
Arlene Coco, restaurant owner, writer, and fellow “foodie” is of Southern heritage She says her mother would always make Jambalaya on Christmas Eve because it fed a crowd and she could keep it warm in the oven to serve when the family came home after Midnight mass.
Louisiana Jambalaya
Serves 12
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick)
2 cups onions, diced (1 large)
2 cups celery, chopped (2-3 stalks)
1 ½ cups green pepper, chopped (1 large)
2 tablespoons garlic, minced (3 large cloves)
2 pounds of Boneless Chicken Breast, diced
1 can (28 ounce) diced tomatoes in juice
1 Tablespoon Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon Cajun seasoning
2 teaspoons salt
1 pound smoked sausage, sliced thin
3 cups parboiled rice (Uncle Ben’s)
5 cups Chicken stock
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
½ bunch fresh parsley, chopped
Tabasco to taste
In a large Dutch oven or straight edge saucepan with a lid, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions, celery, green peppers and garlic. Cook until soft, about 5-10 minutes. Add chicken and cook slightly. Add diced tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce , Cajun seasoning and salt. Simmer 10 minutes more and add sausage and rice.
Stir until well mixed and add 5 cups of chicken stock. Stir again and heat to a boil. When boiling, turn heat to low and simmer covered for 30 minutes.. Add green onions and parsley. Season to taste with Tabasco.
Lise Lunge Larson, was born and raised in southern Norway, and brings her tradition of food and story telling to Duluth. For many Norwegians, Ribbe, Pork Rib Roast with red sweet cabbage (surkal), mashed potatoes, gravy and green peas is the traditional Christmas meal. Its status is a little like that of the Thanksgiving turkey for Americans. In other words, it’s just not Christmas without it. The fact that the roast should be seasoned and refrigerated for 1 to 3 days makes it very handy for the cook to get a large part of the meal preparation done ahead. And, the cabbage is best made a day ahead of time, too.
Norwegian Pork Rib Roast, “Ribbe”
Serves 6
One 4 pound pork rib roast with the rind and fat. The bones need to be cut every 2-3 inches by the butcher.
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
½ -1 cup water
If you managed to get the pork rib with the rind, place it fat side up and with a very sharp knife, cut through the rind and fat in a crosshatch pattern with 1 inch diamond shaped squares. Rub the meat all over with salt. Cover and refrigerate for 1 or 3 days.
Preheat oven to 400degrees F. Place the meat fat side up in a roasting pan. Bring the water to boil and pour over the meat. Cover with aluminum foil and place the roasting pan in the middle of the oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes.
Remove the roast from the oven. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees, remove foil, and place the roast on a wire rack inside the roasting pan. Return to oven, this time in the lower third.
Roast for about 1 hour, basting if needed to keep it moist. It’s a little difficult to say exactly when the ribbe is done as it will depend on how thick the piece is. Use a thermometer to check for internal temperatures.
If you managed to get the ribbe with the fat and rind, move it to the middle of the oven when it is done and turn up the heat to 400-425 and roast for about 20 more minutes, checking it frequently. You want to turn the crackling crisp without burning the roast. When the rind is brown and the squares have started to separate, it’s ready.
Cut the meat into 2-rib sections and serve with mashed potatoes, gravy made from the drippings, green peas and a sweet and sour red cabbage (surkal) dish for a colorful and festive meal.
Surkal
1 head of red cabbage
2 apples
2/3 cup water
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. caraway
2-3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar or more to taste
2 tablespoons red currant jelly
2 tablespoons maple syrup or more to taste.
Finely slice cabbage into thin, long strips. Slice apples into sections and layer the cabbage and the apples in a heavy bottomed pot with the caraway, salt, and maple syrup. Pour the water and the vinegar over and bring to a boil. Stir to mix and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for at least one hour, till cabbage is completely tender. Add currant jelly and adjust the sweet and sour ratio to taste.
This dish is actually best when made one day ahead of time and is the perfect accompaniment to ribbe.
The talk at the Continental hair solon often centers on food, and when I mentioned this gathering of recipes for this story, Chuck immediately offered Bill’s recipe for Cranberry Pudding. This favorite of theirs was first served to them at a friend’s home, who shared it with Bill who makes it every holiday season without fail. The recipe, he thought came from an old Betty Crocker cookbook. Bill, however, always makes this steamed pudding in a metal loaf pan rather than a tube-type pan that is commonly used.
Steamed Cranberry Pudding
Serves 10 to 12
2 cups fresh cranberries
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup boiling water
1/2 cup light or dark molasses
Sauce:
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
Lightly grease a 2-quart metal pan. Pick over the cranberries, wash and drain.
Sift together the flour and salt; dredge cranberries in the flour mixture. Dissolve soda in the boiling water and add the molasses. Stir and allow to foam up.
Add molasses mixture to the flour and cranberry mixture. Mix until well blended. Spoon into the prepared pan and cover with a double layer of foil. Fasten with a heavy elastic band or string.
Place into a deep saucepan and fill with water up to about half the way up the side of the pudding pan. Cover and place over high heat. Bring water to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for one hour. Remove from water and allow to cool. When ready to serve, invert onto a serving plate. Cut into 1/2 inch slices.
To make the sauce, mix together the sugar, butter and cream. Cook over medium heat until thick, stirring constantly. Add vanilla and pour over individual slices of the pudding.
I think my brothers and sisters would agree that Mom’s Raspberry Sauce is our number one Christmas food memory.
Back when our parents lived on Rose road, they had a huge raspberry patch. Every summer they froze ice cream buckets full of these beautiful, juicy, berries. Mom would use them to make Raspberry Sauce for Christmas Eve dessert.
On Christmas Eve we packed into their little house – there must have been a hundred of us, or so it seemed. The buffet was potluck and varied in offerings from hamburger casseroles to wild rice salads, fruit salads, a variety of Christmas breads and cookies.
What we all looked forward to, though, was the Raspberry Sauce Mom made from her frozen berries, and served out of a huge punch bowl. The sauce was a clear red pudding, which she usually thickened with tapioca. Cornstarch would have made it cloudy. We spooned the sauce into clear glass cups or clear plastic glasses and plopped a dollop of whipped cream on top. Even the babies loved this dessert!
Today, without the advantage of having buckets of home-grown raspberries, I make the sauce using raspberries from the supermarket and cranberry raspberry juice.
Mom’s Raspberry Sauce
Makes about 16 servings
2 quarts frozen unsweetened raspberries
2 quarts raspberry cranberry juice
1 cup minute tapioca
Sugar to taste
Sweetened whipped cream for serving
In a large 6 to 8 quart pot, combine the berries, juice and tapioca. Let stand for at least 15 minutes. Then, place over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring at first occasionally, but when the sauce comes to a boil, stir vigorously until it is smooth and thickened. Taste and add sugar.
Cover and set aside to cool. The sauce will thicken even more when it is cold.
Serve with sweetened whipped cream for dessert.
Holidays, for many people are laced with a web of memories, and these memories center on “together” times, be they a cookie making session, a coffee party, a family gathering, or just a get-together of friends.
Here, four special friends share their own favorite holiday recipes, each one is connected to family or friends in a special way. I offer, also, my family’s favorite memory.
Kathryn Martin, UMD Chancellor, shares the recipe from her Dutch grandmother. Kathryn writes: “My grandparents, Katrina and John VanZutphen moved to the United States shortly after the First World War, settling first in Kimberly then Little Chute, Wisconsin which was home to a significant number of immigrants from the Netherlands. My grandfather worked in a tannery and my grandmother ran a rooming house, both in an effort to save money to buy their dairy farm in Stanley, Wisconsin. Every Friday my grandmother baked fresh cookies, fresh bread and a variety of kinds of cakes and pies. But only at Christmas time did we have “Grandma Van’s Refrigerator Cookies”. Christmas for me is not complete without my Grandma VanZutphen’s Refrigerator Cookies, both as a recollection of wonderful family events, but also for my memories of helping her and my mother stir the dough and make the cookies.”
Grandma Van’s Refrigerator Cookies
1 cup butter
1 cup lard (can substitute Crisco, but do not substitute butter for this)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
5 cups all-purpose flour
Melt the butter and lard together. Add soda to the melted mixture and add the remaining ingredients in the order given. Form dough into sticks, either round or rectangular. (I usually make rectangular blocks about 2 inches high by 2 ½ inches wide). Wrap and chill overnight. Slice 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick and bake at 375 degrees F. until light brown. Time depends on how thick the cookies are.
Arlene Coco, restaurant owner, writer, and fellow “foodie” is of Southern heritage She says her mother would always make Jambalaya on Christmas Eve because it fed a crowd and she could keep it warm in the oven to serve when the family came home after Midnight mass.
Louisiana Jambalaya
Serves 12
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick)
2 cups onions, diced (1 large)
2 cups celery, chopped (2-3 stalks)
1 ½ cups green pepper, chopped (1 large)
2 tablespoons garlic, minced (3 large cloves)
2 pounds of Boneless Chicken Breast, diced
1 can (28 ounce) diced tomatoes in juice
1 Tablespoon Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon Cajun seasoning
2 teaspoons salt
1 pound smoked sausage, sliced thin
3 cups parboiled rice (Uncle Ben’s)
5 cups Chicken stock
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
½ bunch fresh parsley, chopped
Tabasco to taste
In a large Dutch oven or straight edge saucepan with a lid, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions, celery, green peppers and garlic. Cook until soft, about 5-10 minutes. Add chicken and cook slightly. Add diced tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce , Cajun seasoning and salt. Simmer 10 minutes more and add sausage and rice.
Stir until well mixed and add 5 cups of chicken stock. Stir again and heat to a boil. When boiling, turn heat to low and simmer covered for 30 minutes.. Add green onions and parsley. Season to taste with Tabasco.
Lise Lunge Larson, was born and raised in southern Norway, and brings her tradition of food and story telling to Duluth. For many Norwegians, Ribbe, Pork Rib Roast with red sweet cabbage (surkal), mashed potatoes, gravy and green peas is the traditional Christmas meal. Its status is a little like that of the Thanksgiving turkey for Americans. In other words, it’s just not Christmas without it. The fact that the roast should be seasoned and refrigerated for 1 to 3 days makes it very handy for the cook to get a large part of the meal preparation done ahead. And, the cabbage is best made a day ahead of time, too.
Norwegian Pork Rib Roast, “Ribbe”
Serves 6
One 4 pound pork rib roast with the rind and fat. The bones need to be cut every 2-3 inches by the butcher.
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
½ -1 cup water
If you managed to get the pork rib with the rind, place it fat side up and with a very sharp knife, cut through the rind and fat in a crosshatch pattern with 1 inch diamond shaped squares. Rub the meat all over with salt. Cover and refrigerate for 1 or 3 days.
Preheat oven to 400degrees F. Place the meat fat side up in a roasting pan. Bring the water to boil and pour over the meat. Cover with aluminum foil and place the roasting pan in the middle of the oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes.
Remove the roast from the oven. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees, remove foil, and place the roast on a wire rack inside the roasting pan. Return to oven, this time in the lower third.
Roast for about 1 hour, basting if needed to keep it moist. It’s a little difficult to say exactly when the ribbe is done as it will depend on how thick the piece is. Use a thermometer to check for internal temperatures.
If you managed to get the ribbe with the fat and rind, move it to the middle of the oven when it is done and turn up the heat to 400-425 and roast for about 20 more minutes, checking it frequently. You want to turn the crackling crisp without burning the roast. When the rind is brown and the squares have started to separate, it’s ready.
Cut the meat into 2-rib sections and serve with mashed potatoes, gravy made from the drippings, green peas and a sweet and sour red cabbage (surkal) dish for a colorful and festive meal.
Surkal
1 head of red cabbage
2 apples
2/3 cup water
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. caraway
2-3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar or more to taste
2 tablespoons red currant jelly
2 tablespoons maple syrup or more to taste.
Finely slice cabbage into thin, long strips. Slice apples into sections and layer the cabbage and the apples in a heavy bottomed pot with the caraway, salt, and maple syrup. Pour the water and the vinegar over and bring to a boil. Stir to mix and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for at least one hour, till cabbage is completely tender. Add currant jelly and adjust the sweet and sour ratio to taste.
This dish is actually best when made one day ahead of time and is the perfect accompaniment to ribbe.
The talk at the Continental hair solon often centers on food, and when I mentioned this gathering of recipes for this story, Chuck immediately offered Bill’s recipe for Cranberry Pudding. This favorite of theirs was first served to them at a friend’s home, who shared it with Bill who makes it every holiday season without fail. The recipe, he thought came from an old Betty Crocker cookbook. Bill, however, always makes this steamed pudding in a metal loaf pan rather than a tube-type pan that is commonly used.
Steamed Cranberry Pudding
Serves 10 to 12
2 cups fresh cranberries
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup boiling water
1/2 cup light or dark molasses
Sauce:
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
Lightly grease a 2-quart metal pan. Pick over the cranberries, wash and drain.
Sift together the flour and salt; dredge cranberries in the flour mixture. Dissolve soda in the boiling water and add the molasses. Stir and allow to foam up.
Add molasses mixture to the flour and cranberry mixture. Mix until well blended. Spoon into the prepared pan and cover with a double layer of foil. Fasten with a heavy elastic band or string.
Place into a deep saucepan and fill with water up to about half the way up the side of the pudding pan. Cover and place over high heat. Bring water to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for one hour. Remove from water and allow to cool. When ready to serve, invert onto a serving plate. Cut into 1/2 inch slices.
To make the sauce, mix together the sugar, butter and cream. Cook over medium heat until thick, stirring constantly. Add vanilla and pour over individual slices of the pudding.
I think my brothers and sisters would agree that Mom’s Raspberry Sauce is our number one Christmas food memory.
Back when our parents lived on Rose road, they had a huge raspberry patch. Every summer they froze ice cream buckets full of these beautiful, juicy, berries. Mom would use them to make Raspberry Sauce for Christmas Eve dessert.
On Christmas Eve we packed into their little house – there must have been a hundred of us, or so it seemed. The buffet was potluck and varied in offerings from hamburger casseroles to wild rice salads, fruit salads, a variety of Christmas breads and cookies.
What we all looked forward to, though, was the Raspberry Sauce Mom made from her frozen berries, and served out of a huge punch bowl. The sauce was a clear red pudding, which she usually thickened with tapioca. Cornstarch would have made it cloudy. We spooned the sauce into clear glass cups or clear plastic glasses and plopped a dollop of whipped cream on top. Even the babies loved this dessert!
Today, without the advantage of having buckets of home-grown raspberries, I make the sauce using raspberries from the supermarket and cranberry raspberry juice.
Mom’s Raspberry Sauce
Makes about 16 servings
2 quarts frozen unsweetened raspberries
2 quarts raspberry cranberry juice
1 cup minute tapioca
Sugar to taste
Sweetened whipped cream for serving
In a large 6 to 8 quart pot, combine the berries, juice and tapioca. Let stand for at least 15 minutes. Then, place over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring at first occasionally, but when the sauce comes to a boil, stir vigorously until it is smooth and thickened. Taste and add sugar.
Cover and set aside to cool. The sauce will thicken even more when it is cold.
Serve with sweetened whipped cream for dessert.
Pear and Apple Cobbler
AN AUTUMN DESSERT – PEAR AND APPLE COBBLER
I have always enjoyed reading about old-fashioned desserts in my collection of old and antique cookbooks. Early American cooks were masters of fruit puddings, dumplings, cobblers, pandowdies, crisps, fruit grunts, buckles, slumps, betties and roly-polies that have doughs and batters on top or are rolled in dough. There is as much variety in the names of the desserts as there are opinions about how they should be made. It is impossible to define or distinguish, for example, a cobbler from a buckle, or a slump from a fruit grunt. Yet, among the cooks that still know the difference, there are those who would defend with their life the name of their favorite buckle or grunt. One reason for the different names is simply because we have people from many different backgrounds in our country. Many of these desserts were considered a meal in themselves, and often served as a Sunday-night supper.
Cobblers aren’t part of my background; our favorite cooked fruit dessert was a thickened “sauce” that we topped with thick, fresh cream. We probably learned this from our father who we called “Isa”, (father in Finnish). He preferred sauce for dessert to anything else. My clever mother, knowing that everybody loves a choice would ask him, “What would you like to have for dessert, blueberry pie, apple pie, custard pie or strawberry sauce?”
Isa would immediately reply “Strawberry sauce!”
She hadn’t baked any pies that day, but she knew his answer before she asked the question.
Well, my father would have preferred a Pear and Applesauce to a Pear and Apple Cobbler. Sobeit. This is a great old-fashioned fruit cobbler, which I like to think of as a hot version of a shortcake.
PEAR AND APPLE COBBLER
Makes about 6 servings
4 medium pears, peeled, cored & sliced into 1/4 inch wedges
4 medium cooking apples, peeled, cored & sliced into 1/4 inch wedges
1 cup lingonberry preserves
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1freshly ground cardamom seeds
1/4 teaspoon salt
Topping:
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
5 tablespoons firm butter, cut up
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup milk
Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream for serving
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter 3-quart shallow baking dish. In a mixing bowl, combine lemon juice and vanilla and add the pears, apples and lingonberry preserves. Toss to coat evenly. Combine the 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup flour, cardamom and salt toss with the apples and pears. Pour the fruit into the baking dish and arrange into an even layer.
In a mixing bowl or food processor, combine the 2 cups flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix the egg and milk together and add to the flour mixture, tossing until dough comes together.
Roll dough out to 1/3-inch thickness and using a cookie cutter cut desired shapes (I used leaf shapes in the photo). Place cut-outs on top of the fruit mixture in the pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the cobbler is bubbly around the edges and the topping is lightly browned. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.
I have always enjoyed reading about old-fashioned desserts in my collection of old and antique cookbooks. Early American cooks were masters of fruit puddings, dumplings, cobblers, pandowdies, crisps, fruit grunts, buckles, slumps, betties and roly-polies that have doughs and batters on top or are rolled in dough. There is as much variety in the names of the desserts as there are opinions about how they should be made. It is impossible to define or distinguish, for example, a cobbler from a buckle, or a slump from a fruit grunt. Yet, among the cooks that still know the difference, there are those who would defend with their life the name of their favorite buckle or grunt. One reason for the different names is simply because we have people from many different backgrounds in our country. Many of these desserts were considered a meal in themselves, and often served as a Sunday-night supper.
Cobblers aren’t part of my background; our favorite cooked fruit dessert was a thickened “sauce” that we topped with thick, fresh cream. We probably learned this from our father who we called “Isa”, (father in Finnish). He preferred sauce for dessert to anything else. My clever mother, knowing that everybody loves a choice would ask him, “What would you like to have for dessert, blueberry pie, apple pie, custard pie or strawberry sauce?”
Isa would immediately reply “Strawberry sauce!”
She hadn’t baked any pies that day, but she knew his answer before she asked the question.
Well, my father would have preferred a Pear and Applesauce to a Pear and Apple Cobbler. Sobeit. This is a great old-fashioned fruit cobbler, which I like to think of as a hot version of a shortcake.
PEAR AND APPLE COBBLER
Makes about 6 servings
4 medium pears, peeled, cored & sliced into 1/4 inch wedges
4 medium cooking apples, peeled, cored & sliced into 1/4 inch wedges
1 cup lingonberry preserves
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1freshly ground cardamom seeds
1/4 teaspoon salt
Topping:
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
5 tablespoons firm butter, cut up
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup milk
Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream for serving
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter 3-quart shallow baking dish. In a mixing bowl, combine lemon juice and vanilla and add the pears, apples and lingonberry preserves. Toss to coat evenly. Combine the 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup flour, cardamom and salt toss with the apples and pears. Pour the fruit into the baking dish and arrange into an even layer.
In a mixing bowl or food processor, combine the 2 cups flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix the egg and milk together and add to the flour mixture, tossing until dough comes together.
Roll dough out to 1/3-inch thickness and using a cookie cutter cut desired shapes (I used leaf shapes in the photo). Place cut-outs on top of the fruit mixture in the pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the cobbler is bubbly around the edges and the topping is lightly browned. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.
Three Inspirations from Copenhagen
THREE INSPIRATIONS FROM COPENHAGEN
It had been an exhausting flight to Copenhagen. Packed like sardines in a can, we flew over the Atlantic in the 43rd row (of 44) in the Northwest plane. Hardly conscious, we were transferred in Amsterdam to a KLM flight to Copenhagen, our destination. It was midday in Denmark, sunny and bright and we collected our bags, passed through various controls and into the airport. Dick’s crutches and leg brace brought us more assistance than we’d ever had before and we found ourselves on an electric cart whizzing through the airport with a smiling young Dane who was humming a tune. “If you sing, people treat you much better,” he said, “they don’t get mad at you if you make a mistake!”
He was a bit surprised that we didn’t have a hotel reservation. We relied on our trusty Lonely Planet guidebook, which instructed us to head for the tourist information desk just outside customs where we would find a hotel room at a discounted rate. We ended up at Hotel Alexandra on Hans Christian Anderson Street. It looked a little old and tired from the outside, but proved to be a delightful place. Connected to the hotel is a brasserie where we decided to have our evening meal.
The restaurant was totally organic and the food was delicious. We ordered every appetizer on the menu and that’s where the inspiration for these recipes came from. All three of these spicy accompaniments are simple to make and have a variety of possible uses.
Aioli Sauce on Baby New Potatoes
Steamed, unpeeled baby new potatoes were halved and tossed with this sauce and served as an appetizer. To save time, you could use a commercial mayonnaise (comprised of the first five ingredients), but homemade mayonnaise cannot be better, even though we need to cook the egg these days. This sauce is great on hot or chilled fish or shellfish.
Makes 4 to 6 servings
1 large egg
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon Dijon style mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup each olive oil and canola oil
4 or 5 cloves garlic
1 pound steamed, unpeeled baby new potatoes, halved
Chopped fresh parsley
In a small saucepan, stir together the egg, lemon juice, water and salt over very low heat for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand 4 minutes. Pour into the blender container; cover and blend at high speed. While blending, add the garlic and very slowly add the oil, blending until the sauce is thick and smooth. Occasionally, turn off the blender and scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula.
Toss with the new potatoes and serve hot or as a cold potato salad.
Chili Butter with Grilled Corn
Of course, this tasty butter is delicious on all kinds of grilled vegetables. We had it on corn.
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 tablespoon chili powder
Grilled or Steamed fresh corn on the cob
Blend all of the ingredients together. Shape into a log, wrap and chill. Cut into slices and serve with hot corn on the cob.
Smoked Tomato Sauce
This aromatic sauce is great on veal meatballs, but it is equally delicious on pasta, grilled or sautéed fish, shellfish, or chicken breasts. You start by smoking fresh tomatoes.
Makes about 2 cups
4 tablespoons hickory sawdust or black tea leaves
2 tablespoons brown sugar
12 fresh Roma tomatoes, halved and seeded
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups chicken stock
Line a wok or large frying pan with foil. Sprinkle sawdust or black tea leaves and brown sugar into bottom of the pan. Place a cake rack on top. Arrange the tomatoes in a single layer on the rack. Cover and turn burner on high until smoking. Smoke for 15 minutes. Remove from the burner and let cool.
Place tomatoes, salt, pepper, olive oil and chicken stock into a saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat; cook for 30 to 40 minutes. Puree in a blender or with a hand-held blender. Taste, and add more salt and pepper if needed. Serve over meatballs, cooked pasta, chicken breasts, fish or shellfish.
It had been an exhausting flight to Copenhagen. Packed like sardines in a can, we flew over the Atlantic in the 43rd row (of 44) in the Northwest plane. Hardly conscious, we were transferred in Amsterdam to a KLM flight to Copenhagen, our destination. It was midday in Denmark, sunny and bright and we collected our bags, passed through various controls and into the airport. Dick’s crutches and leg brace brought us more assistance than we’d ever had before and we found ourselves on an electric cart whizzing through the airport with a smiling young Dane who was humming a tune. “If you sing, people treat you much better,” he said, “they don’t get mad at you if you make a mistake!”
He was a bit surprised that we didn’t have a hotel reservation. We relied on our trusty Lonely Planet guidebook, which instructed us to head for the tourist information desk just outside customs where we would find a hotel room at a discounted rate. We ended up at Hotel Alexandra on Hans Christian Anderson Street. It looked a little old and tired from the outside, but proved to be a delightful place. Connected to the hotel is a brasserie where we decided to have our evening meal.
The restaurant was totally organic and the food was delicious. We ordered every appetizer on the menu and that’s where the inspiration for these recipes came from. All three of these spicy accompaniments are simple to make and have a variety of possible uses.
Aioli Sauce on Baby New Potatoes
Steamed, unpeeled baby new potatoes were halved and tossed with this sauce and served as an appetizer. To save time, you could use a commercial mayonnaise (comprised of the first five ingredients), but homemade mayonnaise cannot be better, even though we need to cook the egg these days. This sauce is great on hot or chilled fish or shellfish.
Makes 4 to 6 servings
1 large egg
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon Dijon style mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup each olive oil and canola oil
4 or 5 cloves garlic
1 pound steamed, unpeeled baby new potatoes, halved
Chopped fresh parsley
In a small saucepan, stir together the egg, lemon juice, water and salt over very low heat for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand 4 minutes. Pour into the blender container; cover and blend at high speed. While blending, add the garlic and very slowly add the oil, blending until the sauce is thick and smooth. Occasionally, turn off the blender and scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula.
Toss with the new potatoes and serve hot or as a cold potato salad.
Chili Butter with Grilled Corn
Of course, this tasty butter is delicious on all kinds of grilled vegetables. We had it on corn.
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 tablespoon chili powder
Grilled or Steamed fresh corn on the cob
Blend all of the ingredients together. Shape into a log, wrap and chill. Cut into slices and serve with hot corn on the cob.
Smoked Tomato Sauce
This aromatic sauce is great on veal meatballs, but it is equally delicious on pasta, grilled or sautéed fish, shellfish, or chicken breasts. You start by smoking fresh tomatoes.
Makes about 2 cups
4 tablespoons hickory sawdust or black tea leaves
2 tablespoons brown sugar
12 fresh Roma tomatoes, halved and seeded
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups chicken stock
Line a wok or large frying pan with foil. Sprinkle sawdust or black tea leaves and brown sugar into bottom of the pan. Place a cake rack on top. Arrange the tomatoes in a single layer on the rack. Cover and turn burner on high until smoking. Smoke for 15 minutes. Remove from the burner and let cool.
Place tomatoes, salt, pepper, olive oil and chicken stock into a saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat; cook for 30 to 40 minutes. Puree in a blender or with a hand-held blender. Taste, and add more salt and pepper if needed. Serve over meatballs, cooked pasta, chicken breasts, fish or shellfish.
strawberry filled flapjacks
June-July,
STRAWBERRY CREAM FILLED FLAPJACKS
One of the pleasures of this time of year (there are many!) is the abundance of fresh, juicy, locally-grown strawberries. We eat as many as we can just plain, out of hand. For breakfast, they go on top of cereal with milk or cream. For dessert they’re a favorite with cream and sugar.
Personally, it seems a crime to cook these beauties into jam, or to mash them, strain them, and make jelly before you’ve eaten your fill of them just fresh and unadulterated.
Crepes sounds like a kind of fancy term for these pancakes, which our kids call “flapjacks”, and that I enjoyed as a kid. I had totally forgotten about them until one summer, not long ago, when they “slept over” at a cousin’s place, and their mom, Ann Snyder, made flapjacks for breakfast. It was a big hit – and as Ann says, you can hardly keep up with them when you get started. One at a time off the griddle, they’re buttered and cinnamon-sugared and eaten in seconds.
For this dessert, I make the flapjacks about 8 inches in diameter, stack them, and allow them to cool. Then I mix up the strawberry filling and roll them up with the filling in the center. At this point they can be refrigerated a few hours before serving if need be. Of course, they can be eaten immediately, too!
STRAWBERRY CREAM FILLED FLAPJACKS
FOR THE FLAPJACKS
1 cup milk
3 whole eggs
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Nonstick Spray or Butter
STRAWBERRY FILLING
2 cups fresh strawberries, rinsed, hulled, and sliced
1/4 cup granulated sugar
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
FOR SERVING
Additional sweetened, sliced strawberries
Whipped Cream
In a large bowl, whisk the milk, eggs, flour, 1 tablespoon sugar and salt together until batter is smooth. Place an 8-inch omelet pan over medium high heat until a drop of water sizzles in the pan. Scoop about 1/4 cup of the batter and pour it into the pan. Tilt the pan around to coat the bottom of the pan evenly. Cook about 1 minute or until the top of the flapjack looks cooked. Run a rubber spatula around the edge of the pan, then turn the pancake over. Cook about a half minute or until the flapjack has flecks of golden brown on the second side. Remove from the pan and place on a plate. Repeat to make a dozen flapjacks, stacking them on the plate.
For the filling and topping, combine one cup of the berries with the 1/4 cup granulated sugar. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth and well blended. Stir in the reserved berries.
Spread a spoonful of the filling onto each of the flapjacks. Roll up. Serve topped with chilled, sweetened sliced berries spooned over and a dollop of whipped cream.
Makes 6 servings, 2 filled flapjacks each
STRAWBERRY CREAM FILLED FLAPJACKS
One of the pleasures of this time of year (there are many!) is the abundance of fresh, juicy, locally-grown strawberries. We eat as many as we can just plain, out of hand. For breakfast, they go on top of cereal with milk or cream. For dessert they’re a favorite with cream and sugar.
Personally, it seems a crime to cook these beauties into jam, or to mash them, strain them, and make jelly before you’ve eaten your fill of them just fresh and unadulterated.
Crepes sounds like a kind of fancy term for these pancakes, which our kids call “flapjacks”, and that I enjoyed as a kid. I had totally forgotten about them until one summer, not long ago, when they “slept over” at a cousin’s place, and their mom, Ann Snyder, made flapjacks for breakfast. It was a big hit – and as Ann says, you can hardly keep up with them when you get started. One at a time off the griddle, they’re buttered and cinnamon-sugared and eaten in seconds.
For this dessert, I make the flapjacks about 8 inches in diameter, stack them, and allow them to cool. Then I mix up the strawberry filling and roll them up with the filling in the center. At this point they can be refrigerated a few hours before serving if need be. Of course, they can be eaten immediately, too!
STRAWBERRY CREAM FILLED FLAPJACKS
FOR THE FLAPJACKS
1 cup milk
3 whole eggs
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Nonstick Spray or Butter
STRAWBERRY FILLING
2 cups fresh strawberries, rinsed, hulled, and sliced
1/4 cup granulated sugar
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
FOR SERVING
Additional sweetened, sliced strawberries
Whipped Cream
In a large bowl, whisk the milk, eggs, flour, 1 tablespoon sugar and salt together until batter is smooth. Place an 8-inch omelet pan over medium high heat until a drop of water sizzles in the pan. Scoop about 1/4 cup of the batter and pour it into the pan. Tilt the pan around to coat the bottom of the pan evenly. Cook about 1 minute or until the top of the flapjack looks cooked. Run a rubber spatula around the edge of the pan, then turn the pancake over. Cook about a half minute or until the flapjack has flecks of golden brown on the second side. Remove from the pan and place on a plate. Repeat to make a dozen flapjacks, stacking them on the plate.
For the filling and topping, combine one cup of the berries with the 1/4 cup granulated sugar. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth and well blended. Stir in the reserved berries.
Spread a spoonful of the filling onto each of the flapjacks. Roll up. Serve topped with chilled, sweetened sliced berries spooned over and a dollop of whipped cream.
Makes 6 servings, 2 filled flapjacks each
strawberry filled flapjacks
June-July, 2006 Woman Today
STRAWBERRY CREAM FILLED FLAPJACKS
One of the pleasures of this time of year (there are many!) is the abundance of fresh, juicy, locally-grown strawberries. We eat as many as we can just plain, out of hand. For breakfast, they go on top of cereal with milk or cream. For dessert they’re a favorite with cream and sugar.
Personally, it seems a crime to cook these beauties into jam, or to mash them, strain them, and make jelly before you’ve eaten your fill of them just fresh and unadulterated.
Crepes sounds like a kind of fancy term for these pancakes, which our kids call “flapjacks”, and that I enjoyed as a kid. I had totally forgotten about them until one summer, not long ago, when they “slept over” at a cousin’s place, and their mom, Ann Snyder, made flapjacks for breakfast. It was a big hit – and as Ann says, you can hardly keep up with them when you get started. One at a time off the griddle, they’re buttered and cinnamon-sugared and eaten in seconds.
For this dessert, I make the flapjacks about 8 inches in diameter, stack them, and allow them to cool. Then I mix up the strawberry filling and roll them up with the filling in the center. At this point they can be refrigerated a few hours before serving if need be. Of course, they can be eaten immediately, too!
STRAWBERRY CREAM FILLED FLAPJACKS
FOR THE FLAPJACKS
1 cup milk
3 whole eggs
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Nonstick Spray or Butter
STRAWBERRY FILLING
2 cups fresh strawberries, rinsed, hulled, and sliced
1/4 cup granulated sugar
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
FOR SERVING
Additional sweetened, sliced strawberries
Whipped Cream
In a large bowl, whisk the milk, eggs, flour, 1 tablespoon sugar and salt together until batter is smooth. Place an 8-inch omelet pan over medium high heat until a drop of water sizzles in the pan. Scoop about 1/4 cup of the batter and pour it into the pan. Tilt the pan around to coat the bottom of the pan evenly. Cook about 1 minute or until the top of the flapjack looks cooked. Run a rubber spatula around the edge of the pan, then turn the pancake over. Cook about a half minute or until the flapjack has flecks of golden brown on the second side. Remove from the pan and place on a plate. Repeat to make a dozen flapjacks, stacking them on the plate.
For the filling and topping, combine one cup of the berries with the 1/4 cup granulated sugar. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth and well blended. Stir in the reserved berries.
Spread a spoonful of the filling onto each of the flapjacks. Roll up. Serve topped with chilled, sweetened sliced berries spooned over and a dollop of whipped cream.
Makes 6 servings, 2 filled flapjacks each
STRAWBERRY CREAM FILLED FLAPJACKS
One of the pleasures of this time of year (there are many!) is the abundance of fresh, juicy, locally-grown strawberries. We eat as many as we can just plain, out of hand. For breakfast, they go on top of cereal with milk or cream. For dessert they’re a favorite with cream and sugar.
Personally, it seems a crime to cook these beauties into jam, or to mash them, strain them, and make jelly before you’ve eaten your fill of them just fresh and unadulterated.
Crepes sounds like a kind of fancy term for these pancakes, which our kids call “flapjacks”, and that I enjoyed as a kid. I had totally forgotten about them until one summer, not long ago, when they “slept over” at a cousin’s place, and their mom, Ann Snyder, made flapjacks for breakfast. It was a big hit – and as Ann says, you can hardly keep up with them when you get started. One at a time off the griddle, they’re buttered and cinnamon-sugared and eaten in seconds.
For this dessert, I make the flapjacks about 8 inches in diameter, stack them, and allow them to cool. Then I mix up the strawberry filling and roll them up with the filling in the center. At this point they can be refrigerated a few hours before serving if need be. Of course, they can be eaten immediately, too!
STRAWBERRY CREAM FILLED FLAPJACKS
FOR THE FLAPJACKS
1 cup milk
3 whole eggs
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Nonstick Spray or Butter
STRAWBERRY FILLING
2 cups fresh strawberries, rinsed, hulled, and sliced
1/4 cup granulated sugar
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
FOR SERVING
Additional sweetened, sliced strawberries
Whipped Cream
In a large bowl, whisk the milk, eggs, flour, 1 tablespoon sugar and salt together until batter is smooth. Place an 8-inch omelet pan over medium high heat until a drop of water sizzles in the pan. Scoop about 1/4 cup of the batter and pour it into the pan. Tilt the pan around to coat the bottom of the pan evenly. Cook about 1 minute or until the top of the flapjack looks cooked. Run a rubber spatula around the edge of the pan, then turn the pancake over. Cook about a half minute or until the flapjack has flecks of golden brown on the second side. Remove from the pan and place on a plate. Repeat to make a dozen flapjacks, stacking them on the plate.
For the filling and topping, combine one cup of the berries with the 1/4 cup granulated sugar. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth and well blended. Stir in the reserved berries.
Spread a spoonful of the filling onto each of the flapjacks. Roll up. Serve topped with chilled, sweetened sliced berries spooned over and a dollop of whipped cream.
Makes 6 servings, 2 filled flapjacks each
Peruvian Flan
Woman Today – Feb/March, 2007
Peruvian Flan
On a recent cruise, we took a land tour into the countryside of Peru, through Lima. Sightseeing was mainly through the vantage of a bus window. We did, however, have lunch at a plantation.
What surprised me the most about Peru was its modern-day sophistication combined with a sense of ancient history. The Inca ruins reminds one of the ancient Roman Empire, but that’s where the similarity ends.
Culinarily speaking, maize (corn), potatoes and aji (peppers) date back to the Incas and pre-Incas. The cuisine was later influenced by the arrival of the Spanish and other ethnic groups, although Spanish is the predominant language.
The potatoes were amazing! Deep yellow, white, and even purple potatoes grow well here. At a plantation luncheon, we were served a terrine/salad made with layers of different colored mashed potatoes, chilled, sliced, and served with a dressing – definitely an avant-guard concoction.
As in all of South America, flan is the ubiquitous dessert - not the flan we know that’s a pastry with a filling, but the Spanish type that is a custard coated with caramel. I’ve had flan baked in individual pans, and flans that look like a wedge of custard pie topped with caramel. In this Peruvian variation, the flan is baked in a ring mold, and I like this the best of all because it is so easy to make and serve. I like to fill the center of the ring with fresh berries. Think of this as a springtime dessert when the new, sweet strawberries arrive.
I often get questions about the difference between sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk. Sweetened condensed milk (Eagle Brand milk), is a mixture of whole milk and 40% sugar, heated until 60% of the water is evaporated. This makes the milk sticky, thick and sweet. Evaporated milk is concentrated milk, sold in cans and comes either whole or nonfat. If a recipe calls for condensed milk, it almost certainly refers to sweetened condensed milk.
This is a great recipe for a lot of people. If you’d like to make a smaller flan, you can cut the recipe in half and cook the flan in a 5 or 6-cup ring mold. Baking time will be slightly less.
Peruvian Flan
Serves 18 to 20
1 cup sugar
10 large eggs
2 cans (14 ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
2 (12 ounce) cans evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 dash cinnamon
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat an 11-cup metal ring mold with nonstick spray.
2. Put sugar into a heavy skillet and stir over medium heat until sugar is melted and caramelizes. Pour the caramelized sugar into the tube pan and turn pan from side to side until the bottom and part of the sides are coated with the sugar. Set aside and allow to harden, (Set in a pan of ice water, if necessary).
3. In a large bowl, stir together the beaten eggs, sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, vanilla and cinnamon until well blended.
4. Pour egg mixture into the caramel-coated mold. Place into a larger pan with 2 inches of hot water. Bake for 1 hour or until custard is set.
5. Let cool, then invert onto a serving platter or plate.
6. Decorate with fresh berries or edible flowers.
Peruvian Flan
On a recent cruise, we took a land tour into the countryside of Peru, through Lima. Sightseeing was mainly through the vantage of a bus window. We did, however, have lunch at a plantation.
What surprised me the most about Peru was its modern-day sophistication combined with a sense of ancient history. The Inca ruins reminds one of the ancient Roman Empire, but that’s where the similarity ends.
Culinarily speaking, maize (corn), potatoes and aji (peppers) date back to the Incas and pre-Incas. The cuisine was later influenced by the arrival of the Spanish and other ethnic groups, although Spanish is the predominant language.
The potatoes were amazing! Deep yellow, white, and even purple potatoes grow well here. At a plantation luncheon, we were served a terrine/salad made with layers of different colored mashed potatoes, chilled, sliced, and served with a dressing – definitely an avant-guard concoction.
As in all of South America, flan is the ubiquitous dessert - not the flan we know that’s a pastry with a filling, but the Spanish type that is a custard coated with caramel. I’ve had flan baked in individual pans, and flans that look like a wedge of custard pie topped with caramel. In this Peruvian variation, the flan is baked in a ring mold, and I like this the best of all because it is so easy to make and serve. I like to fill the center of the ring with fresh berries. Think of this as a springtime dessert when the new, sweet strawberries arrive.
I often get questions about the difference between sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk. Sweetened condensed milk (Eagle Brand milk), is a mixture of whole milk and 40% sugar, heated until 60% of the water is evaporated. This makes the milk sticky, thick and sweet. Evaporated milk is concentrated milk, sold in cans and comes either whole or nonfat. If a recipe calls for condensed milk, it almost certainly refers to sweetened condensed milk.
This is a great recipe for a lot of people. If you’d like to make a smaller flan, you can cut the recipe in half and cook the flan in a 5 or 6-cup ring mold. Baking time will be slightly less.
Peruvian Flan
Serves 18 to 20
1 cup sugar
10 large eggs
2 cans (14 ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
2 (12 ounce) cans evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 dash cinnamon
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat an 11-cup metal ring mold with nonstick spray.
2. Put sugar into a heavy skillet and stir over medium heat until sugar is melted and caramelizes. Pour the caramelized sugar into the tube pan and turn pan from side to side until the bottom and part of the sides are coated with the sugar. Set aside and allow to harden, (Set in a pan of ice water, if necessary).
3. In a large bowl, stir together the beaten eggs, sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, vanilla and cinnamon until well blended.
4. Pour egg mixture into the caramel-coated mold. Place into a larger pan with 2 inches of hot water. Bake for 1 hour or until custard is set.
5. Let cool, then invert onto a serving platter or plate.
6. Decorate with fresh berries or edible flowers.
Scandinavian Cardamom Braid (Refrigerator Method)
Scandinavian Cardamom Braid (Refrigerator Method)
A sweet plaited cardamom flavored bread is a classic in all of Scandinavia and is always found both on the breakfast and the coffee “tables”. It is rich with eggs and butter giving it a tender crumb and a thin, golden crust. I bake this bread often, but have simplified the method to save time and effort, and to eliminate tedious kneading, I chill the dough after mixing. The chilled dough is easy to handle, making it simple to shape into braids. For the best flavor I recommend using freshly crushed cardamom seeds. Ground cardamom, regardless of the brand loses so much flavor you can hardly taste it in the finished bread.
2 packages active dry yeast
1 cup warm water, 105*F. to 115*F.
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
1 teaspoon freshly crushed cardamom seeds
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
4 to 4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let stand about 5 minutes or until the yeast foams. Whisk in the butter, dry milk, cardamom, sugar, eggs, and salt.
Stir in flour, 1 cup at a time, until dough is very stiff, but still moist (depending on the time of year and humidity, the amount of flour you will need will vary.)
Cover and refrigerate at least two hours or overnight.
Divide chilled dough into 2 parts. Divide each of the parts into 3 parts. Shape each part into a rope about 30 inches long. Braid three ropes at a time together to make 2 loaves. Place the two loaves on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Cover and let rise until puffy, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (325 degrees F. for convection oven). Brush loaves with a mixture of egg and milk and sprinkle with sliced almonds or pearl sugar. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden.
Tips for Preparing ahead:
The nature of this bread makes it a natural for “mixing up ahead of time”, as it needs to be stirred up and chilled at least for two hours. Once baked, the bread can be
A sweet plaited cardamom flavored bread is a classic in all of Scandinavia and is always found both on the breakfast and the coffee “tables”. It is rich with eggs and butter giving it a tender crumb and a thin, golden crust. I bake this bread often, but have simplified the method to save time and effort, and to eliminate tedious kneading, I chill the dough after mixing. The chilled dough is easy to handle, making it simple to shape into braids. For the best flavor I recommend using freshly crushed cardamom seeds. Ground cardamom, regardless of the brand loses so much flavor you can hardly taste it in the finished bread.
2 packages active dry yeast
1 cup warm water, 105*F. to 115*F.
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
1 teaspoon freshly crushed cardamom seeds
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
4 to 4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let stand about 5 minutes or until the yeast foams. Whisk in the butter, dry milk, cardamom, sugar, eggs, and salt.
Stir in flour, 1 cup at a time, until dough is very stiff, but still moist (depending on the time of year and humidity, the amount of flour you will need will vary.)
Cover and refrigerate at least two hours or overnight.
Divide chilled dough into 2 parts. Divide each of the parts into 3 parts. Shape each part into a rope about 30 inches long. Braid three ropes at a time together to make 2 loaves. Place the two loaves on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Cover and let rise until puffy, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (325 degrees F. for convection oven). Brush loaves with a mixture of egg and milk and sprinkle with sliced almonds or pearl sugar. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden.
Tips for Preparing ahead:
The nature of this bread makes it a natural for “mixing up ahead of time”, as it needs to be stirred up and chilled at least for two hours. Once baked, the bread can be
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