It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, yet again. Sorry, but between work and the hot, humid weather we haven’t been doing a whole lot of cooking recently. I promise to change that here really soon!

Local peaches have been showing up for the last 2 weeks or so. I made my first trip to the Little Farmer, one of my favorite places here in Wisconsin, and they start their season the beginning of August with early season apples and peaches that they get from a farmer over in Michigan. The peaches were superb and I had to pick up a bunch, both for eating and for cooking. I really like this year’s crop, sweet and super juicy, yet they seem to have a nice tart kick to them, even when fully ripe.

Normally, if I am going to pair peaches with any fruit it is usually raspberries, but since we are between raspberry crops, here in Wisconsin, I went with the next best thing and paired them with blackberries this time.

Cobblers come in various different forms. Some use a cake like batter poured over the top for a smooth topping, some people make a more biscuit like batter, and others use biscuit like dough and some even pour the batter in first, place the fruit on top and allow the batter to rise through the fruit as it cooks. It all depends on what part of the country you are from. I like them all and have recipes for numerous types of cobblers. This time I went with the more traditional biscuit like dough that I cut out and placed on top of the fruit.

Some people are intimidated by having to peel peaches. It really is quite easy if you know the trick. It is just like peeling tomatoes. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cut a shallow “X” in the bottom of the peach and place in the boiling water for about 15 seconds. Remove and quickly dunk in an ice bath. The peels will then easily slip off.

Blackberry Peach Cobbler

4-5 pounds peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced
1 cup blackberries
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch

1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar + more for sprinkling on top
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup butter, diced and chilled
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 375°F. Toss together peaches and blackberries in a large bowl.

In another bowl combine the sugars and the cornstarch. Sprinkle over the peach mixture and toss to combine. Transfer to a 9×9 baking pan or deep dish pie pan and set aside. To make the top, combine the salt, flour, sugar and baking powder. Add the butter.

Using a pastry cutter or a couple of knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add the milk and stir just to bring the dough together. Do not over stir. Pour out onto a lightly floured surface and knead once or twice to bring it all together. Pat out, into a circle about 1/2″ thick. Cut out into 2″ rounds. You might have gather up the dough and pat it out again. You should end up with 9-10 rounds. Place evenly on top of fruit mixture.

Sprinkle with a little sugar and bake for approximately 30-40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the fruit is bubbling. Allow to cool and set up for about 10 minutes before serving.

It’s the middle of May and that means that the rhubarb I’ve been watching grow for the last 6-7 weeks is finally ready to start harvesting. That may not mean a whole lot to many people, but I get all excited just thinking about it. Yes, I know I need to get out more! But seriously, I love the tart flavor of rhubarb. Paired with strawberries, it becomes the ultimate late spring/early summer food pairing, at least in my book.

Last year, I wrote about rhubarb a couple of times and you can expect the same again this year. I’ve got 3 huge plants in my backyard; enough to keep my family constantly in rhubarb desserts for the next 2 months and still have enough to give away to friends not blessed with their own plants, and, depending on how rhubarb crazy we get this year, enough to freeze so that we can have rhubarb pie later in the year, when the craving hits.

While my favorite way to eat rhubarb is in pie, we try to find other ways to use it to keep things fresh and lively. This recipe is a great way to showcase shortcake early in the season, when many of us have to still rely on strawberries shipped in from California, instead the the more flavorful sun ripened strawberries that can be picked closer to home.

The recipe calls for sweet vermouth in which the rhubarb is poached. I like the added subtle flavor this adds, but if you don’t have sweet vermouth and don’t want to buy any, the fruit will still be plenty flavorful if you substitute water.

Poached Rhubarb with Strawberries

12 oz. rhubarb, cut into 1/2″ chunks
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup sweet vermouth
2 Tbsp. grenadine
2 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced

Combine sugar, vermouth and grenadine in a nonreactive saucepot and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the rhubarb, bring to a boil and cook for 3-4 minutes. The rhubarb should still be slightly undercooked when you remove it from the heat, or it will overcook and turn to mush. Leave out on the counter and allow to cool to room temperature. The rhubarb will finish cooking and sweeten up as it cools. Once cool, add the strawberries, stir and refrigerate. This can be made a couple of hours ahead.

Shortcake
I used this recipe originally for this dessert.

2 cups All-purpose Flour
1/4 cup Sugar, granulated
1 pinch Salt
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1 each Egg, beaten
1/2 cup Half and Half
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
6 Tbsp. Butter, chilled and diced

Preheat the oven to 400. In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. In another bowl combine the egg, half and half, and vanilla. Add the butter to the dry ingredients and cut it in using a pastry blender or 2 knives. The mixture should resemble coarse crumbs when done. Add the wet ingredients stirring only to bring the dough together. Don’t over mix the dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead 4 to 5 times. Pat into a cirlce about 7 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter 3 inches in diameter, cut out 6 rounds. Place on a sheet tray that has either been greased or lined with parchment paper. Brush the tops with an egg wash made of 1 egg, beaten with 1 Tbsp. of either water or half and half. Sprinkle tops with granulated sugar then bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place on a rack to cool.

To Assemble

Split 4 of the shortcakes in half and place bottoms in a bowl. Top with 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream and equally divide the poached rhubarb and strawberries over top. Cover with top half of shortcakes and serve.

I know I’ve said it before, on this blog, but I’ll say it again, “My wife rocks!!!!” I woke up this morning to the smell of cinnamon rolls baking, and there is no better smell in the world! I love the fact that my wife can cook so well, which, in this day and age, is saying something. I am constantly amazed by the number of people I meet that “can’t cook.” I know I’ve said it here before, but it never ceases to amaze me. Luckily, I think we are starting to see that trend change. Just look at all the good food blogs out there today. It seems that people have finally awakened and have come to realize that cooking doesn’t have to be a chore, but something that we do out of love and passion. It is sad that so many of my generation have to learn this lesson later in life, but I am glad that they are learning it.

So this morning, my wife woke up really early and couldn’t get back to sleep so she decided to make cinnamon rolls (I’ve already established how much I think this rocks!). Being overwhelmed by my ever expanding cookbook collection she headed to the internet in search of a good recipe. Like me, she just can’t leave well enough alone. She found Paula Deen’s Cinnamon Roll, like the dough recipe, found the icing recipe from Todd Wilbur’s “More Top Secret Recipes,” and kind of just winged it with the filling. Whatever she did, they came out great. Try them out and surprise someone you love with a little cinnamon love in the morning!!!

Cinnamon Rolls
makes 12

1/4 oz package yeast
1/2 cup water, warm
1/2 cup milk, warm
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
3 1/2 – 4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 Tbsp. cinnamon, ground
1/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup raisins

8 Tbsp. butter, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup cream cheese, room temp.
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. salt

In a bowl dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Let sit 5 minutes to activate. Add the milk, sugar, butter, salt and egg. Mix well and add 2 cups of flour. Mix and add another 1 1/2 cups flour. Mix and add the remaining flour only if needed. Knead for 7-10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise until double, about 1-1 1/2 hours. Punch down dough and roll out, on a lightly floured surface, to a rectangle approximately 9″x15″. Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins, mixing well. Gently spread the softened butter over the dough then sprinkle with the cinnamon mixture, using it all. Starting on the long side, roll the dough up, pinwheel style, pinching the seam together. Cut into 12 slices. Coat the bottom and sides of a 9×13 baking pan generously with butter then add the cinnamon rolls. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise until double, about 45 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake for approximately 30 minutes. While the rolls are baking prepare the icing by combining the butter and cream cheese. Add the sugar, vanilla and salt and beat until light and fluffy. When cinnamon rolls are done, remove from oven, allow to rest for 10 minutes then generously ice the tops. Serve warm!

One of the things I remember most about living in NYC were the pretzel carts that dotted the corners throughout Greenwich Village. Sure I remember the hot dog carts, but to be honest, I’m more of a fan of Chicago dogs than New York dogs (sorry NYC!). But I loved those pretzel carts, serving up hot, soft pretzels drizzled with American style, yellow mustard, none of that dijon or whole grain stuff!!! My mouth is watering just thinking about them. But my love of pretzels goes much farther back to when I was a little kid. In fact, I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love pretzels, from the rock hard sourdough pretzels of the Pennsylvania dutch to those warm, soft festival treats.

As a kid, I had even attempted to make soft pretzels a time or two. They were good, but not great, and, at the time, they seemed to be an awful lot of work. It’s amazing how perception changes as you grow older. Yesterday, I thought I’d surprise my wife with a batch of freshly baked pretzels when she arrived home from work, and I couldn’t believe how easy it was to make them. It is even a breeze to form them, something I remember as being so difficult as to be almost impossible!

Since I hadn’t made pretzels in many, many years (more than I want to remember!) I had to do a little research. While most recipes had a relatively consistent set of ingredients, I found large variances in the boiling stage (the most important stage of pretzel making) ranging from a quick dip of 5 seconds to 1 minute on each side. In the end, I did what I always do, taking what I believed to be the best ideas from many recipes and created my own. I opted not to brush the boiled pretzels with eggwash before baking, but if you want a shinier crust than I achieved you might want to add that step, brushing the pretzels before sprinkling with salt.

While you can, sometimes, find “pretzel” salt, don’t bother. Because it is a specialty salt you will pay a premium for it compared to kosher salt, which works quite well.

Finally, in commercial production of pretzels, they are often boiled in a lye solution. Lye is rather caustic stuff and can easily cause severe burns if you get some on you. Stay away from the stuff. Instead most people (me included) use baking soda to raise the ph of the boiling water to give a mildly alkaline solution. Purist say they can taste the difference, but it is very minor, and believe me, it is not worth the risk of an alkaline burn.

Soft Pretzels
makes 6

1 tsp. yeast
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 1/2-3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. iodized salt
1 cup milk, warmed to 100-110°F
kosher salt

1/4 cup baking soda
4 cups water

Mix together the yeast and the sugar. Add the warm milk and allow the yeast to activate. Add 2 1/2 cups flour and the iodized salt and mix. Knead for 5-7 minutes, adding more flour, if necessary, to form a soft, but not sticky dough. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover with a damp towel and allow to rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Preheat oven to 425°F. Degas the dough, divide into 6 portions and roll into 6 strands.

Allow to rest for 5 minutes, then one by one stretch to 18″ and form into pretzels. To form: create a loop with the bottom closest to you and cross the ends.

Fold the ends back down over the loop, extending the ends just slightly.

For for a more professional look you can give the ends a half twist before bring them back down.

Press the ends down lightly to secure but don’t mash the pretzel. Meanwhile bring the water and baking soda to a boil in large pot. The water should be 2-3″ deep. If not, add more water and baking soda, keeping the ratio of 1/4 cup baking soda for every 4 cups of water. Let the water come to a gentle, not rolling boil. One at a time, place the pretzels in the water, cook for 20 seconds, flip and cook for 20 seconds longer. Remove from water, allow to drain, then place on a greased cookie sheet. Repeat with all the pretzels. Allow each pretzel to dry for about 1 minute then sprinkle liberally with kosher salt. The pretzel should be moist and tacky, but if it is too wet the salt will just melt. Bake the pretzels for approximately 10-13 minutes or until a deep golden brown. Remove from oven, place on a cooling rack and allow to cool for a few minutes before tasting.

To rewarm pretzels, place in a brown paper bag. Sprinkle the bag generously with water and heat in a 350°F oven. Whatever you do, don’t rewarm them in the microwave, it will just make them tough and chewy!!!

With all the hype, in recent years, about artisan breads, sourdoughs, and preferments, you might get the idea that baking regular, old white has become a dying art. But if you look a little deeper at many baking sites you’ll see that the standard loaf of white bread still reigns supreme when it comes to home baking. With all the knowledge out there, why does this humble loaf still get so much attention, while at the same time often being maligned? The answer is pretty simple; it’s convenient and pretty easy. Many recipes call for standard all purpose flour, so there is no running to the store to buy bread flour as you probably already have all purpose flour on hand. Secondly, there is the time factor. Most standard loaves of white bread can be made, from beginning to end, in just a few hours, as opposed to many artisan style breads that can involve numerous hours over the course of a couple of days.

Sure, these long fermented, Old World breads and techniques can create breads with an unrivalled depth of flavor, but they can be time consuming and in this day and age people don’t always have the time or the energy to be feeding starters, or have the forethought of preparing a starter the night before.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not opposed to experimenting and baking these types of bread, quite the opposite, in fact. I love playing with breads made with these starters, and I think everyone should experiment with baking their own sourdough breads at one time or another. But I also think that everyone should have a simple, no fuss bread recipe that can be made with minimal effort and just a few hours of time.

This bread, makes a great “everyday” loaf, perfect for sandwiches, toast, or just eating as is, smeared with a little butter. It has a soft, dense crumb from using softer all purpose flour, and enriching it with fat, in the form of milk and butter. The flavor might lack the punch or the depth of longer fermented breads, but it makes the perfect conveyance for sandwich fillings or butter and homemade jelly, and guaranteed, it beats the pants off of any store bought white bread you can buy.

White Bread
makes 1 loaf

1 cup milk, warmed to 100-110°F
2 Tbsp. + more for the top butter, melted
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. yeast, not instant
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt

Combine milk, butter, sugar and yeast. Stir well then allow to sit for 10 minutes to allow the yeast to start to activate. Add the flour and salt, and mix, in a mixer with a dough hook, for 10 minutes. Alternatively, mix in a bowl until the dough comes together, then pour out onto a counter, that has been lightly dusted with flour, and knead, by hand for 12-15 minutes. Place into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp towel and allow to rise, in warm place, for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size. Lightly grease a bread loaf pan. Turn out onto the counter and gently deflate the dough. Pat out into a square, the sides of which are the length of your bread loaf pan. Roll up the dough tightly, pinching the seam together and placing it on the bottom. Fold the very ends under to form a smooth loaf, and again pinch the seams together and place the dough, seam side down, into the loaf pan. Cover with a damp cloth and again allow to rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled. Meanwhile heat the oven to 350°F. When dough has doubled bake for approximately 45 minutes or to an internal temperature of 205°F. Remove from oven. Remove bread from pan, place on a cooling rack and brush the top of the still hot bread with melted butter. Allow to cool before cutting.

Okay, I have to admit, I’m a sucker for Monkey Bread!!! Yes, I know, it probably can’t be considered the height of the culinary arts, but damn it’s good. What’s not to like; rich caramel, buttery goodness, a crisp crust and gooey interior. It’s got everything you need to start the day off right!! Add a cup or 2 of coffee and you can start your day in high gear.

There are a number of recipes out there for Monkey Bread. Some use store bought biscuit dough, others use store bought bread dough, and yet others have you make everything from scratch. While “made from scratch” is often my favorite way to go, I have to admit that, in this case, I am partial to the recipes using store bought biscuits. Not only do I like the soft texture of the Monkey Bread made this way, but it cuts down on a lot of prep work, which makes it a great breakfast for when you have overnight guests. Get a couple of the kids involved, they love to help shake the dough in the sugar, and you can have this on the breakfast table in no time.

Money Bread

3 cans (12oz each) biscuit dough
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
1 cup, packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350° F. Grease a large bundt or tube pan. Meanwhile mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon and either leave in a large bowl or place in a large ziplock bag. Cut the biscuits into quarters and toss them in the sugar-cinnamon mix until well coated. Arrange the pieces in your prepared pan sprinkling with the optional pecans and/or raisins as you build up the layers. In a saucepan mix the butter and brown sugar over medium high heat. Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute. Pour over the biscuit pieces and immediately put into the oven to bake. Bake for approximately 35-40 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 8-10 minutes, then turn out onto a plate. Don’t allow to cool longer or the Monkey Bread might stick to your pan as the sugars cool.

Awhile ago I had promised myself to do more baking to regain some of those skills I lost due to not using them much over the last many years. While I have done more baking since I started this blog, I haven’t done nearly the amount I want, so I’ve made that promise to myself again and hopefully will stick with it.

The bread I baked the other day is the first loaf I’ve baked in quite some time, and I realized just how rusty those skills become without use. Don’t get me wrong, it turned out fine, but I do need a little work on my skills to get my breads to the level I would like them to be. None the less, I thought I’d share the recipe I used as it produces a bread with really good flavor. The crumb was a little dense for my taste, but again this was more due to my rusty skills then the recipe itself.

Before I get into the recipe though, there are a few terms I need to go over as many of you may not be familiar with them. First off is the term “poolish.” There are numerous different types of pre-ferments and words used to describe them. Poolish is one such term. While there are many different words out there, I find that there are 4 that people need to know. The rest of the terms are mostly variations on these 4 terms. These are, sourdough, levain, biga and poolish. The first 2 are preferments that capitalize on wild yeasts and micro organisms. These tend to take numerous days to create initially. Once created they are stored in the fridge and “fed” every so often to keep them active. When ready to bake with these type of preferments, a bit of the starter is pulled from the fridge and “fed” over a day or 2 to make the wild yeasts active again before making bread. These starters give bread a wonderful depth of flavor and often a slight sourness to them. These are very traditional methods of leavening a bread.

In contrast a biga and poolish use a small amount of commercially prepared yeast (store bought) to create a preferment. The yeast is mixed with water and flour, covered and allowed to sit for a few hours or overnight. Like its sourdough cousins, these starters help add depth of flavor to the bread and contribute to a more open texture and crumb. The main difference between a biga and poolish is hydration. A biga has less water and is more dough-like in consistency while a poolish contains more water and is closer to a batter or sponge in consistency.

In this recipe I also use a “stretch and fold” method of fermentation. During the initial bulk fermentation the dough is gently stretched out, folded into thirds, turned 90 degrees and folded into thirds again then gently rolled to tighten the surface again. This is often done every 30 minutes for the first 90 minutes of fermation and is used in open textured breads to help align the gluten strands.

Finally, if you are looking for a nice crisp crust to your bread you really need to invest in a pizza stone, preferably a large, square one and a spray bottle. The pizza stone will help provide a more even temperature in your oven, along with helping to crisp the bottom of your bread. The spray bottle, filled with water, will create the perfect steamy environment, in your oven, for producing a nice crust.

Basic Batard

1 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/4 cups water, 90-100°F
3/4 tsp. yeast

2 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup water, 90-100°F
2 tsp. yeast
2 1/2 tsp. salt

Start the night before you want to bake. To make the poolish, combine the first set of ingredients and mix until well combined. Cover, loosely with plastic wrap and allow to ferment, at room temperature, overnight. The following morning, combine the flour, yeast and salt in a bowl and set aside. Add the remaining water to the poolish and mix to loosen. Add the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Pour out, onto the counter that has been lightly dusted in flour and knead for 7-10 minutes. The dough will be slightly soft and on the sticky side. Refrain from adding too much flour as you knead. You want the dough soft. Lightly oil a bowl and place the dough in it. Place in a warm spot (preferably about 70-75°F – an oven with the light turned on is perfect if your kitchen is on the cool side). Every 30 minutes do a stretch and fold, as described above, making sure to be gently so as to not knock the gases out of it. After 90 minutes the dough should be about double in size. If not allow to proof a little longer, without doing any additional folds. Divide the dough in 2 and form into batards (a short fat baguette). Allow to rise for 30 minutes. Meanwhile place pizza stone in oven and preheat to 500°F. Dust a peel with flour, place batards on the peel, dust the tops with flour and, using a thin, sharp knife slash the top of batard starting about 1 inch from the end and going to within 1 inch of the other end and about 1/4 inch deep. Open the oven door and, using the spray bottle spray the sides of the oven. Try not to directly spray the pizza stone as excess moisture on the stone may make it crack. Quickly slip the loaves onto the pizza stone, close the oven door and reduce the heat to 450°F. During the first 5 minutes of baking quickly open the oven door and spray down the sides of the oven with water 3 times to produce steam. Do this quickly so as to not lower the temperature of the oven too much and to trap as much steam as possible. Bake for an additional 20 minutes or until an instant read thermometer registers 200-205°F.

As tempting as it may be to cut into the bread right away, allow it to cool for at least 15-20 minutes to help develop its flavor.

Anyone watching the Olympics this year? I don’t know what it is, but for some reason I just can’t get into them much this year, which is strange for me as I am usually glued to the TV for the Winter Olympics. I did catch the opening ceremonies, which I thought were outstanding and I’ve caught a bit of the skiing events but not as much as I normally do. I’ve always been a big fan of the downhill events, especially the Super G and Downhill. I also love all the slalom events. I guess I’m kind of “old school” that way, though I don’t mind the newer “freestyle” events and snowboarding. I’ll watch the hockey events, but I have to admit, I’m bored mindless by all the other skating events. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they shouldn’t be included, I just don’t personally find them all that captivating, though I know many people do. So are you watching them this year? What are your favorite events?

In my last post I made chicken breasts wrapped in puff pastry. Since I had bought the pastry and used only 1 sheet of the dough I had another one left (they come 2 to a package) and thought I would create this simple dessert. The filling for this galette is frangipane, an almond filling made with ground almonds, sugar, eggs and a few other ingredients. I didn’t have almonds but had a block of marzipan around so based this frangipane off of that.

It’s hard to beat this combination of flavors. Chocolate complements both the almond and the banana flavors well and helps bring the galette together. Serve slightly warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or cold the following morning as an excellent breakfast pastry.

Banana Almond Galette with Chocolate

5 oz. marzipan
2 Tbsp. heavy cream
1 egg
2 Tbsp. sugar + more for sprinkling on top
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 bananas, peeled and sliced 1/4″ thick
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed

Pre heat oven to 400F. Break up the marzipan and mix with the cream and egg until smooth. Lay out puff pastry sheet on a lightly greased baking tray. Spread marzipan mixture over pastry leaving a 1 1/2″ border.

Sprinkle with the chocolate chips.

Finally arrange the banana slices over top, in a decorative fashion. I just created overlapping rows.

Sprinkle granulated sugar over top of the bananas and bake for 17-20 minutes or until the puff pastry is golden brown and the almond filling has puffed slightly. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

For added texture you could skip the step of sprinkling the sugar over the bananas before baking. Instead wait until the pastry has come out of the oven and cooled slightly. Sprinkle with sugar and use a blow torch to caramelize the sugar over top.

Now that my daughter is getting a little older (almost 3 1/2) she likes to spend time in the kitchen and “help” Mommy and Daddy. And by “help” I usually mean “hinder.” Not that she doesn’t have the best intentions, but, well…. she’s 3. She is a really good stirrer though so we often task her with that job, even if there is no stirring required for what we are making (a note to all parents out there who haven’t discovered it yet, but a bowl of flour and spoon will keep your kid occupied for quite awhile, though keep a close eye out or you will end up being occupied for quite some time cleaning up the flour!).

This past weekend Genevieve got to help Mom make one of her favorite things: Banana Snack Cake. The recipe comes from my mother (not sure where she got it) and was one of my favorites, growing up. Since we often have bananas around (Genevieve’s favorite fruit) this cake gets made a lot, and Genevieve is quite fond of it. She was very excited to get a chance to help make it this time.

Banana Snack Cake

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk*
1 cup (2 medium) bananas, mashed
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup quick oats
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
6 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional) (we like ours without)

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9×13″ pan. In a mixer, beat the butter until fluffy then add the sugar.

Add eggs, one at a time, then the buttermilk, vanilla, and mashed bananas, mixing well. Stir in the flour, oats, salt and baking soda. Mix well and gently add the chocolate chips. Spread batter into prepared baking pan.

And don’t forget to give the mixer’s beaters to your kid!!!!

Not doing so can lead to some serious consequences, including major temper tantrums! Sprinkle the top with nuts (if using) and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.

*If you don’t have buttermilk you can substitute with 1/2 cup regular milk mixed with 1/2 Tbsp. of white vinegar.

Okay, it finally happened. I succumbed to the holiday cookie mania sweeping blogs and the web this time of year. I feel guilty… and kind of dirty, like when you fall prey to one of those forbidden pleasures, but these cookies are so good I have to share them with everyone. Rich, chewy, decadently fudgy, with a crisp exterior and a soft, moist crumb, what’s not to love? Just writing about them makes me feel a little sinful.

Seriously, these are great, little cookies, eaten as is or sandwiched together with a little raspberry jam, these little morsels are usually on of the first things to disappear off of any cookie platter. The key to them is to not over bake them. Pull the cookies from the oven when they still look slightly underdone. This way you will end up with that crisp exterior, and fudgy, brownie like interior.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

2 cups sugar, granulated
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 squares (1 oz each) unsweetened chocolate,melted and cooled slightly
4 each eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 pinches salt
1 cup confectionery sugar

Combine the sugar, oil and vanilla in a stand mixer. Add the chocolate and mix to fully incorporate. Add flour, salt, and baking powder and just mix to combine. Don’t worry, the mixture will be more like a thick brownie batter than a cookie dough.

Chill batter for, at least, 3 hours or overnight. When ready to bake preheat the oven to 350. Scoop approximately 1-1 1/2 tablespoons of batter into a ball. Roll in the confectionery sugar and place on a cookie tray.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until almost no indent remains when touched. Allow to cool on pans for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. Serve as is or sandwich the cookies with raspberry jam for an extra special treat.