Jacques’ Cranberry Chutney

With the influx of guests, decorating and tasks for the holidays I’ve let my posting fall off. Time for a few quick hits.

We all have favorite recipes, collections we go to no matter what appears in a magazine, food show or blog. Some because it would be heresy to deviate from. In my family that would be Nana’s hardsauce that she’d pour over plum puddings. Never liked plum pudding as a kid but a bowl of hardsauce would suit me just fine. If any family member held the holidays and tried something other than nana’s hardsauce – well, that would just be an insult to her memory. Other go to recipes are the ones you make and sigh, perfection. Why try any other chocolate cake , hermit cookie, veggie chili ,whatever once you’ve found the one recipe that truly rings your chimes for flavor, texture, ease of preparation and your other selection criteria.  

For me, Jacques Pepin’s Cranberry Chutney from Jacques and Julia Cooking at Home is one of these recipes. Doesn’t matter what I see in blogs, tv or magazines – this is my go to recipe.

I rarely deviate from the recipe as published but have seen the addition by some of dried cranberries to a sauce which might be interesting. If I were hosting a meal with many kiddies, I might swap the lemon for orange. Be forewarned, this recipe is TART. But, I like tart. The chutney is not only lovely with turkey; I also enjoy it as a topping for cream cheese on a bagel or toast. If you’re a fan of tart lemon flavor and a fan of cranberries – this could be your next go to recipe as well.

This post is participating in the linky parties noted below.

Mmmm, a bit of Chai tea, jam and homemade cornbread

Recipes for cornbread and corn muffins vary widely in ratios of flour to cornmeal, from grainy dense very little flour recipes (being a New England gal, I’d liken these to what those dog biscuits that clean their teeth must be like) to the light and fluffy “New England” cornbread recipes with significantly more flour than cornmeal. They also vary widely in amounts of sugar with many restaurant cornbreads, like Marie Callender’s very very very sweet (to my tastes).  Given my own preferences, this is my all time favorite corn muffin recipe.  Sometimes I do butter, sometimes oil in the recipe below. Martha’s recipe had said yielded 24 – I get 12 regular size muffins using my little Wilton 12 square pan. The picture shows you the largest of the 12 squares I baked. Just whipped up a batch as I’d been craving them lately. Ahhh, a bit of Chai tea, jam and cornbread – my breakfast and my late afternoon snack. I feel so cozy and nurtured J.

My Favorite Corn Muffins

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living, Sep 2007

Vegetable-oil cooking spray
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup coarse yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup oil or melted butter

Oven 375

Lightly coat a muffin tin with cooking spray. I open the dishwasher, place the pan on the open door and spray there (next wash and the inside of that door is cleaned off).  I then tip it over to let any excess oil drain while I mix the recipe. Saw this tip on NordicWare’s site.

Combine dry ingredients well ( flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt). I always put baking power and baking soda through a small sieve (some tea strainer designs work) as there’s nothing worse than getting a little bit of that bitter bite if either goes into your mix with any lumps.

Fork beat the egg with buttermilk and oil in a small bowl. (i.e. don’t get out the hand mixer but do break up the yolk and be sure the wet are well incorporated with each other before you add them to the to dry). Add to dry ingredients, and stir until just combined.

Fill muffin cups about three-quarters full. Bake until tops are golden, about 18 minutes (Start checking at 15). Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan to cool on racks.

This post has been added to the party Make it with Cornbread Monday:    

Best Ever Easy Chocolate Mocha Cookie

It’s been skipping about the high 90 temps for the last few weeks; we’re all hoping it’s that last great blast of summer. Thinking about getting some of the inside Halloween décor out, but before its even fall?  My mountain location gets fall and I really want it now. Feels too strange, so haven’t cracked those décor boxes open yet.

Then, as I’m marvelous at meeting deadlines and do intend to write about recipes here, I decided I’d sign up for April’s Attic Twelve Weeks of Christmas Cookies and I need to get BAKING today.  But, hey – it’s dipped to the mid 90’s and might hit the 80’s this week; my air conditioner can handle the oven warming up the house (not exactly good green thinking, but I’ve got a blog deadline   ).

Nevertheless, I have two types of recipes I create for the holidays.  There are the really fast “been way too busy with work”; “stayed up too late reading a book or finishing Christmas presents”; and “I’m just too dang tired” easy recipes.  Then there are the “messes up the entire kitchen, takes a day to make and another half day to clean up after” recipes. Guess what I’m going for in this heat?

You might find this hard to believe as my first recipe of the 12 is starting with a mix, but I do have a rather discriminating palate. I would never have believed cookies from a mix could taste this good, having relegated most mixes to the category of “you can taste the graininess of the sugar since the recipe doesn’t make you cream butter and sugar”.  If you are also a “must be completely homemade, never a mix” snob – try these cookies.  You’ll be pleasantly astounded.  I know I was.  Last Christmas this recipe became a staple of family on the other side of the country (we have a family Facebook where we consistently tempt one another off diets) and friends and family here who know of my mix snobbiness and were delighted to find I’d uncovered something they too might whip up one day.

This recipe is a variation of Betty Crocker’s Mocha Toffee Chocolate Cookies.

Best Ever Easy Chocolate Mocha Cookie

Oven 350.  Have cookie sheets and parchment paper ready.  I use a 3TBL scoop to measure as I like bigger “bakery style” cookies.  Original recipe called for “rounded teaspoons”.

In a medium bowl mix:

4 tsp instant espresso coffee (dry)

4 tsp vanilla

Until coffee is dissolved.

Add:

1/2C vegetable oil

2 eggs

Beat with fork to blend eggs.

Add one good quality chocolate cake mix (today I used Devil’s Food Moist cake mix by Betty Crocker, if Duncan Hines is on sale – that’d be the one. I just wouldn’t go for German chocolate as I like the deepness of the chocolate flavor the dark cake mix brings).

The batter should be shiny and hold together.  On occasion I’ve had to add a TBL or 2 of water.  The first time I made this I broke the spatula I was using – now I use a strong fork.

Add:

1C semisweet chocolate chips (I use regular size)

1/2C plus chopped walnuts (I don’t quite add 3/4C but do add more than 1/2C)

Mix. Use scoop to drop same size balls of dough onto parchment lined cookie sheet.

Flatten a tad.

Bake 11 to 13 minutes.  Wait 5 minutes then slide parchment paper with cookies onto cooling racks and cool at least 15 more minutes. They are very moist inside.  You can easily bake only part of this recipe and refrigerate the remaining. I wrap the dough tightly in plastic and put it in a tightly sealing plastic container (a la Tupperware) and refrigerate.  I do bring the dough to room temperature before scooping and baking.

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Food Nazi?

I have two choices for folks who periodically pop in – I can let you think that your memory is completely failing (“oh no, not already! *&^%#!) or I can let you in on a secret.  WordPress lets you date posts any day you want.  So, maybe you did stop in yesterday but now something shows posted day before yesterday and the day before that which you simply do not recall.  You’re not nuts, no worries. If you subscribe to the blog you’ll see the new posts without having to pop in every so often or wonder about your memory with a periodic cram of my postings showing up as though spread through time.  Your email will let you know to stop on by.  Cool, huh?   

Nectarine, previous garden

So, today’s topic - you’ll recall from my earlier post Paradoxes, Inconsistencies, Contradictions and Christmas Gifts that I have no intention to try to reconcile each of my purported beliefs with reality. So, yes, like oh so many others out there, I believe I’d like to lose a bit of weight, yet I signed myself up for baking and blogging about cookies every week. I have other fall goodies I want to make, now I’m realizing that I’ll be baking even more.  This is dangerous territory for me. 

Grapes, previous garden

What I haven’t shared yet is that I was a strict vegetarian for 15 years. Healthy whole grains only for me and mine, nothing instant, boxed, packaged or with too much sugar.  My siblings did not subscribe to the same belief.  Their children even less so. I and certain friends may have reveled in a polenta casserole with sautéed squash and onions covered in homemade (and grown – veggie and fruit pictures from my previous garden) tomato sauce, chewy homemade whole grain yeast breads or a marvelous homemade hummus with pita, not so the meat and potatoes siblings. They’d wander summer potluck parties full with tables of wonderful food by me and my friends in search of some unhealthy morsel.  I started to hear things like “we stopped at McDonald’s on the way up” – on the way up to our veritable feast!  I think my brother feared his children might starve themselves if only presented with the lovely veggie rich dishes Aunt Maggie served. The clincher came when I was overloaded with work and setting up for the annual decorating the Christmas tree event at my house.  I’d added fish and chicken to my own diet by then. I was simply too busy to cook, knew they all love all sorts of beef so I ran up the road to get takeout from the barbeque restaurant. When bro and his munchkins arrived I guiltily announced (at the time I would never have considerd having anyone over and not doing the cooking, this was a first) “I’ve been swamped lately and just too busy to cook, so I picked up barbeque” and I showed them the bags of dripping ribs and barbeque chicken. They became positively gleeful, joyful, giddy with happiness.  You know what I mean – you can tell when the exurburence levels climbs by leaps and bounds all at once. Their profound relief and joy was staggering.  I gave up then and there cooking or baking “my style” food for them.  They love Funfetti boxed cake and canned frosting – ok, they get Funfetti boxed cake and frosting.  I’ll save the “from scratch” chocolate pound cake with ganache or whipped cream as frosting” for others who share my tastes.  

 

Not just them, I must admit, there’s now me. Last night I was craving a fluffy white buttery homemade biscuit.  I had the thought – easy to add wheat flour to this, but no. This was a purely indulgent carbohydrate “must have”. I dragged out a cookbook my mom got for her wedding shower from her sister. You know, from the days before butter, eggs or white flour would be the death of us. I indulged in half a recipe of biscuits and made them large with extra butter – a few for dinner with peanut butter and jam (well, one nod to our current concept of health, pure fruit spread), a few for brunch tomorrow, sliced and toasted. Sigh, flaky, buttery heaven.  I can highly recommend the very simple Baking Powder Biscuits from Lily Wallace cookbook made with butter as the shortening and perhaps a tad more of that then the recipe calls for.  Oh, if you haven’t guessed SKINNY veggie me is long gone, replaced by “needs to lose more than a few pounds” with sweet tooth me. J

 Overtime, the skinny veggie me didn’t just add chicken and fish.  I let sugar back in, with a vengeance.  Worse than a salesman with a foot in the door and a quota to meet, sugar slammed into my existence. I started using white flour. Now a plate of goodies from me doesn’t meet the polite, small smile that doesn’t reach the eyes “oh, whole wheat muffins with honey .. thank you” but the rousing stand up and hug from same nieces and nephews, “Thank You! I LOVE the candies and fudge you make us – it’s the BEST!” and very wide truly appreciative grins from neighbors who get cupcakes, cookies and cakes.  I don’t doubt that they’re trying to use positive reinforcement on me so that I never return to that stuff I’d make when they were younger – but it works.  Even last week’s posting of the cake mix cookies engendered a “You better be good or I’m not giving you any of the cookies Maggie made us” from the neighbor munchkin fifth grader to her first grader brother.