4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/2 Cup (1/4 Lb) Butter
1 pound confectioner’s sugar
1/2 Cup whole milk or half/half
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 drops almond extract Heat chocolate and butter in a small saucepan over low heat until barely melted, stir often.
Remove from heat. Combine confectioner’s sugar, milk or half/half, and extracts in a stand mixer
with the whip attachment, blend well.
Add chocolate/butter mixture and beat until it starts to hold some shape. It will be thin at first and firm up as it cools. Makes enough to frost tops and sides of two 9-inch layers or four 6-inch layers.

So,  to Tessa and Jared: I wish you many more years of happiness together and all the beauty that a good marriage can add to life! With love from your Fairy Godmother!  And…

By the way the screen in the background of the pictures at the top is the screen Rick made for our own wedding- almost 11 years ago- whew time flies when you’re having fun!  :) The tulips and grape hyacinth are from our garden.

xoxo

A Trio of Cookies for My Sweet

Posted on May 5, 2008 - Filed Under Cookies | 10 Comments

As a child I spent many hours on the road between Southern California, Nevada and Utah. My sisters and I were always going to visit my Gran and Gramps or going camping or to the beach or going back and forth between my parents yadayadayada. I wasn’t a particularly good car traveler- my parents usually had to give me motion sickness medicine which completely zonked me out. When I was awake I remember listening to my parents’ favourite music on 8-track tapes (Wow,does that date me? ;)  ) and playing car games like Slug Bug (Beetle Bug Bop) or I Spy. I think I know every land mark through all three states on I-15.  Zzzyx road anyone?

But my favourite part of traveling was the road trip food. My mom would put together a bag of snacks to get us through- we would never be the kind of people who might break down in the desert and have to go hungry for days. Then when we would leave my Gran’s house she would include home made sandwiches for us - a whole loaf’s worth and wrap them up for the road. Home made cookies were always included in these parcels.

So when Rick recently left for a long business trip by car- I couldn’t let him leave without cookie supplies. I made three kinds- because as Mae West once said-”Too much of a good thing is- Wonderful!” 

Peanut Butter Cookies

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup organic natural smooth peanut butter, oil mixed in well
• 3/4 cup salted peanuts

Preheat the oven to 350F. Sift the flour and baking soda in a small bowl. Cream the butter and the sugars until fluffy, add the egg and mix well. Add the vanilla and the peanut butter and mix well. Gradually add the flour mixture and mix just until combined. Stir in the peanuts. Scoop with a small scoop and roll lightly with your palms. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Press flat with the tines of a fork dipped in flour. Make a crisscross pattern by pressing again perpendicular to the first press. Bake  for 20-30 minutes, checking after 20 minutes, just until set and slightly browning around edges. Remove to rack to cool. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 3 dozen.

Chocolate Sparklers

• 2-1/8 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/4 cups butter room temperature
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• pink sanding sugar

Sift together the dry ingredients into a bowl. Cream the butter with the sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat to combine. Add the dry ingredients a little at a time until combined. Form into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for an hour.  Scoop into 1″ balls and roll in the sanding sugar. Place on parchment lined baking sheets about 2″ apart. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for about 12 minutes or until set. Let cool on the sheets for a couple of minutes and then remove to a rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.  Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Pecan Maple Syrup Shortbread

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cake flour
• 1/4 cup rice flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans, toast and cool them first
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 teaspoon maple extract
• egg wash, whole pecans and turbinado sugar for topping

Sift the flour and the salt together and add the pecans. Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, add the syrup, yolk and extract until well mixed. Gradually add the flour until just combined. Shape dough into a disk and cover with plastic wrap. Chill for at least 1 hour to overnight. Roll out to 1/4″ thickness, cut with 2″fluted biscuit or cookie cutter. Place on parchment lined baking sheets about 1-1/2 inches apart. Brush with beaten egg and top with a whole pecan pressing lightly to adhere. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake in a preheated 350F for about 12 minutes or until slightly golden. Remove to a rack to cool. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 2 dozen.

Make some for your next trek or just for someone you love!

Enjoy!

Masa Blinis for Tamale Open

Posted on May 4, 2008 - Filed Under blog events, Ethnic Delights, Appetizers, Recipes | 6 Comments

Courtney of Coco Cooks and Ben of What’s Cooking  are hosting a Tamale Open and even though I missed the posting deadline they are kind enough to let me join in. I enjoy reading their blogs on a regular basis and find scads of mouthwatering recipes there.

For Tamale Open I decided against making regular tamales because I didn’t feel like preparing the wrappers and steaming the tamales so what I came up with is a flat version of a Sopa.

A Sopa is a little fried masa “boat”-(you pinch up the sides after the first side is fried) that you top with various goodies- they are fun appetizer finger food. For mine I decided to scoop the masa into a cast iron skillet that had been coated with a little olive oil and then press them into flat “blinis” little pancakes. I fried them over medium heat on both sides until they were crispy on the outside and still tender on the inside. Then I topped them with Cotija cheese, avocado, salsa, sliced shallots and chile garlic butter shrimp and a little fresh cilantro. They were so good we could have eaten twenty of them. We were restrained and had two a piece.

Masa Blinis

• 2 cups MASECA instant corn mix for tamales
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup organic non-hydrogenated vegetable oil shortening or regular if you don’t care about trans fats

Stir the Maseca mix, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl. Heat the broth to lukewarm and mix it into the above with your fingers- (it’s a little like making mudpies) squish it to moisten all of the mix and remove most of the lumps. In another bowl, whisk or mix the shortening until fluffy, add the masa mix and whisk until fluffy. Heat a cast iron skillet or grill until hot, brush olive oil on the surface and scoop some masa mix in (space it apart maybe 4 in a 10 inch skillet) press it flat using the back of spatula-it’s a bit sticky so this takes a bit to do.  Fry it gently on both sides until crispy. Serve with toppings such as salsa , avocado, shrimp or shredded meats and cheese etc.

Chile Garlic Butter Shrimp

• 25 count peeled deveined shrimp
• butter
• garlic
• salt
• chile powder  

Rinse the shrimp and pat dry. Melt butter in a skillet and add some minced garlic, salt and a pinch of chile powder. Fry for a few minutes just until cooked.

Thanks to Courtney and Ben and can’t wait to see everyone’s dishes.

Enjoy!

Claytonia - Hearts for your Heart!

Posted on April 29, 2008 - Filed Under health focused recipes, Salads, Gardening, Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Do you know this green:

This is Claytonia perfoliata or Miner’s lettuce (Winter Purslane in Europe) a member of the Portulacaceae (purslane) family. It is a slightly succulent green with beautiful heart and spade cup shaped leaves and a tiny white flower growing out of the center. I planted  it  about 2 years ago and it has since self-seeded in my garden. That’s okay because as I weed it out I get a delicious treat for the salad bowl.

It has a very mild slightly sweet, tart taste reminiscent of spinach or peapods and the stems have the crunch of a bean sprout. Add it to salads, steam it or stir fry it- it all works deliciously. Although when cooked it loses its crispness and becomes a little slick.

It is called Miner’s lettuce because it is one of the earliest greens out and  miners would supposedly seek it out to eat it for it’s high Vitamin C content after a scurvy inducing winter diet. Here is an article in the Washington Post about it.

Members of the Purslane family are unusually high in Omega-3 fatty acids and are also a source of vitamin C and dietary minerals. They also contain powerful antioxidants which may have anti-cancer properties.
All that nutrition aside- Claytonia make a beautiful addition to your salad bowl and a nice change up for your run of the mill greens.  I like to combine it with baby Arugula (Rocket) a lemon/olive oil dressing, salt, pepper and some shavings of some good Parmesan Reggiano for a healthy delicious salad. 

Here I combined the above salad with grilled salmon and walnuts (other Omega 3 high foods) and added apples for fiber and crunch and here we have a delicious dinner that’s also good for you.

I’ll leave you with the lyrics to B.B. King’s Caldonia- just because it runs through my mind and I sing it every time I see Claytonia- just one of those weird ways my mind works I guess.

Caldonia

BB King, Lowell Fulsom

Walking with my baby, she got great big feet
Long, lean and cranky and ain’t had nothing to eat
But she’s my baby, I love her just the same
I’m crazy about my baby ’cause Caldonia is her name

Caldonia, Caldonia
What makes your big head so hard?
I love you, I love you just the same
I’m crazy about you, baby, ’cause Caldonia is your name

You know my mother told me to leave Caldonia alone
No kidding, that what she said
She said, “Son, the woman ain’t no good, leave her alone”
But mama didn’t know what Caldonia had been putting down
So I’m going down to Caldonia’s house and ask her just one more time

Caldonia, Caldonia
What makes your big head so hard?
I love you, love you just the same
I’m crazy about you, baby, ’cause Caldonia is your name