So its been awhile since I last posted, but, at least, this time I have an excuse. I was off at a family reunion for the past week, and since I don’t own a laptop computer I didn’t have any way of posting from the house we rented. But even if I did, I have to admit I probably wouldn’t have posted. I wanted a week away from the computer (at least as much as possible) and that included updating the blog.

It’s not that I didn’t have stuff to post. My family (on my Dad’s side) is full of great cooks and since we all shared the cooking we were never in want of a good meal. In fact, if any of us left that reunion less than 5-10 pounds heavier it would be a miracle!

One tradition, that had stopped a few years back, was re-instituted this year-making home-made ice cream. When my Grandfather was around it just wasn’t a summertime family get together without homemade ice cream. Luckily, this past Christmas both my brother and I received old fashioned, hand cranked ice cream makers from our Dad so the decision to start up the tradition again was an easy one.

Of course, I don’t think the youngest generation was all that thrilled. There were numerous looks of, “You mean I have crank it to get ice cream?!” But in the end I think everyone enjoyed gathering around the ice cream machines and taking a turn either cranking on sitting on top of the maker to help steady it as the ice cream got harder and got tougher to crank. I also don’t think many of them knew what to make of the icy treat that was produced. Let’s face it, home cranked ice cream can be kind of icy. It certainly isn’t as smooth and creamy as that $5.00 a half gallon stuff you buy at the store. But for those of us who have grown up making ice cream occasionally, it was a treat that brought back many childhood memories.

But let’s face it, what really makes homemade ice cream great is all the homemade sauces that accompany it. So we also had a strawberry sauce, a rhubarb sauce and homemade hot fudge to pour over top. Or use your own favorite homemade sauces.

The recipe for this ice cream comes from the booklet included with the White Mountain Ice Cream Freezer. The recipe is for 2 quarts of ice cream but it can easily be scaled up. We ended up making 10 quarts to feed our large group (with just a little left over!).

Old Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream
makes 2 quarts

2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
dash of salt
1 cup half and half
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup whipping cream

Scald milk (cook just until bubbles start to form around the edges. Remove from heat and add sugar and salt. Stir until full dissolved. Add remaining ingredients and chill for, at least 30 minutes, before placing in the ice cream freezer. Freeze following the manufacturer’s directions for your ice cream freezer. The ice cream will then probably need to be packed with ice or placed in a regular freezer for 30 minutes to 1 hour to harden a bit. Scoop and serve with your favorite toppings!

I had meant to post this recipe a couple of weeks ago, but I’ve kind of been off my game a little the last few months, as witnessed by the fact that I have been posting rather sporadically. Sorry, I’ll try and do better. Yeah, I know I’ve said that before, but this time I mean it!!!!

If you have followed this blog, or taken a look through the recipe indexes you will notice that I love rhubarb. While technically not a fruit-we use the stem of the plant-people most often refer to it as such since it is mostly used in the same context as fruits-meaning it is most often used in making desserts.

Here in Wisconsin, rhubarb is on of the first edibles to break ground in spring and by mid May it is ready to start harvesting. Because it is ready so early we often associate it with spring and early summer, often pairing it with other early summer fruits such as strawberries and raspberries. But, rhubarb can be harvested all summer long and into early autumn.

While pairing rhubarb with peaches is far from new, ground breaking work it’s not a pairing that you see regularly, so I thought I would whip up a Peach and Rhubarb pie to make use of our rhubarb patch one last time before it was done for the season. While this recipe comes a little late, I still see plenty of peaches in the markets and if you have a rhubarb patch you probably still have a couple of weeks left before the hard frosts kill it all off, so hurry up and make yourself one of these. You won’t be sorry!

Peach and Rhubarb Pie

3 cups peaches, sliced, with or without skins-your choice. I left them on.
3 cups rhubarb, sliced
1/3 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Your favorite pie crust for a two crust pie.
1-1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line a 9″ deep dish pie tin with one pie crust. Combine the peaches and rhubarb with the flour, sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon, tossing to coat well. Pour into the pie tin and top with the remaining crust. Pinch the edges of the crusts together, fluting the edges for a decorative look. Cut 4-5 steam holes in the top of the crust and place in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes then sprinkle the top with the remaining sugar and continue to bake another 15-25 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the juices are bubbling. Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before serving. I like to wait an hour or more to make sure the pie has set up properly.

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.

On Sunday the family headed a few miles south to Kelley’s Country Creamery, a new ice cream place in the area. We were originally drawn to it because they sell hard pack ice cream, a novelty in this part of Wisconsin where frozen custard reigns supreme. This was our second trip even though the place hasn’t been open for a month yet, and I see many more trips there before the season is over. While we were drawn by the promise of hard pack ice cream, we have been hooked by the excellent quality, and the farm to table approach they take. You see, the Kelley’s also own the farm that produces the milk they use in their ice cream. It is my understanding that they send their milk to a local dairy producer who pasteurizes it and turns it into an ice cream base that the Kelley’s then flavor and churn. Supposedly, they have 61 flavors that they produce, on a rotating basis. While I haven’t seen, or tasted all of them, I have been impressed with the quality of the ice creams I have tried and inspired by their creativity. Of course they offer up the standards of chocolate, vanilla (which looks and tastes like homemade), and strawberry, but they also offer up more interesting flavors such as Purple Cow (grape), Root Beer, Orange-Chocolate Chip, White Chocolate-Raspberry, and Moo Luau (banana split ice cream-banana with swirls of chocolate, strawberry and pineapple). They are located just south of Fond du Lac, WI on County Rd. B (exit off of Hwy. 41 and drive east a few miles). Their website is here. Check it out, and if you find yourself in the area, definitely stop by for a scoop or two.

In the meantime, you can use this Hot Fudge Sauce to make your own Sundaes. This recipe has a great, old fashion flavor and is the perfect foil to a dish of vanilla ice cream. On try of this simple recipe and you’ll never buy store bought again!

Hot Fudge Sauce

1 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup corn syrup
1 Tbsp. butter
3oz. unsweetened chocolate
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine cocoa powder, sugar and 3/4 cup of cream in a sauce pot and stir to combine. Add corn syrup, butter and chocolate. Slowly bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Once at a boil stop stirring and cook until mixture reaches 236°F. Remove from heat, allow to cool for 5 minutes then add remaining cream and vanilla extract. Store, covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. To serve, gently heat over a double boiler or in a microwave at half power.

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.

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.

This past weekend I celebrated my 40th birthday. I wasn’t nearly as traumatic as I thought it would be. Sure, I’ve come to the realization that I’m not as young as I used to be, but I also came to the realization that you are only as old as you feel. I certainly don’t act and feel like I thought 40 year olds act and felt, when I was a teenager.

The weekend was rather low key. No major party, just good times with family. My parents made the trip up from Indiana and my brother and his wife came up from Madison, WI to help me celebrate, and to have our family “Christmas.” Hey, better late than never. We filled the weekend with good food, plenty of games, and lots of laughter….and the occasional Hurricane.

We also filled with weekend with plenty of good food. For my birthday dinner, I chose hamburgers, done on the grill. Yes, I know, it’s not fancy, and surely doesn’t do justice to a chef’s birthday dinner, but I love burgers and besides, we had a big day of eating ahead of us the following day. The following morning started with coffee and Eggs Benedict, using another batch of homemade English Muffins. Eggs Benedict are another one of those dishes that I never tire of, and if I wasn’t afraid of what it would do to my arteries, I’d probably eat it a couple times a week!

Our main meal of the weekend was a full blown holiday feast with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, in other words, the whole works. Over the last few years I have forsaken roasting the turkey and, instead, grilled the turkey in my Weber grill, flavoring it with hickory smoke. As usual, everyone ate too much, especially my brother who refuses to listen to both his body and our warnings about his past years’ gluttony.

Sunday lunch, leftovers, was saved by my brother and his wife, who had brought along a bunch of home canned pickles and relishes, including their fabulous Dilly Beans.

Overall, the weekend was a wonderful success and there were plenty of food highlights, as there always is when my family gets together. One of the standouts was this wonderful pie my wife created. She conceived of the idea a week or so ago while eating a snack of banana and peanut butter pretzels. While, at first, it might seem a little strange, the flavors work quite well together. The pie is ready a few hours after being made, but I found that allowing the pie to sit overnight allows the flavors to meld a little more. The best part is that the pretzel crust was still crunchy 3 days later, though I doubt the pie will last that long.

Peanut Butter Pie with Preztel Crust

FOR CRUST:
2 1/2 cups pretzels, crushed
3 Tbspl brown sugar
3/4 cup butter melted

FOR FILLING:
3/4 cup peanut butter, creamy
1 package (3oz) cream cheese, room temp.
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 container (12oz) whipped topping, thawed
3 bananas, peeled and sliced 1/4″ thick

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine all the ingredients for the crust and mix well. Save 1/4 cup of pretzel mixture and spread the rest into a 10″ pie tin,working all the way up the sides and making sure that the crust is even. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool completely before filling. Sprinkle remaining pretzel mixture on s cookie and bake 10-12 minutes. Cool

In a large bowl, combine the peanut butter and cream cheese. Add 1/3 of the whipped topping and the sugar and beat until smooth and no lumps remain. Add remaining whipped topping and gently fold in until well combined. Fill crust with 1/2 of the filling then top with sliced bananas. Top with remaining peanut butter mousse. Garnish with remaining crushed pretzels and chill for 3 hours or overnight before serving.

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 eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. 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.

Yesterday we got as far as cutting and baking the gingerbread pieces. Today it is time to assemble and decorate. But before we can do that we need to make some Royal Icing to use as our glue.

Royal Icing
1 each egg white
1 tsp. cream of tartar
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Beat egg white just until it loosens up. Add cream of tartar and powdered sugar. Stir until fully incorporated. You may need to add more sugar, to get a thick, frosting like consistency. Using just enough icing to adhere the pieces, build the base of your house, like in the picture below, using heavy cans of food to hold the pieces together as the icing hardens. This probably won’t be enough but I prefer to work with smaller batches and make it more often.

Use only enough icing to hold the pieces together, initially. This helps the icing dry more quickly than when it it loaded on. After it dries and the pieces are somewhat secure, you can then go back and reinforce the joints with more icing. Only after you have a solid base, with joints that have dried, can you then add the roof. The same rule applies here; add only enough icing to cement the pieces together to speed the drying process, then go back and reinforce. As you can see from the picture below, I have found it easiest to place the roof flat on the counter top and prop up the house. This works for small houses, but not large structures.

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