Honey Never Spoils

Carrot Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:48:00 +0000

The first thing that you need to know about these muffins is that I accidentally ate 5 of them instead of a real dinner.

The second thing that you need to know about these muffins is that they're much more delicious than regular carrot muffins - I'm going to attribute this to the crushed pineapple in them. These muffins contain a lot more than just carrots. In fact, they feel like an evolutionary link between plain carrot muffins and the goodie crammed "Morning Glory" muffin.

Let's get on to the recipe before I end up eating a 6th muffin.

INGREDIENTS
2 Cups flour
1 Cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 Cup grated carrots
1 Cup plumped raisins
1 Cup chopped walnuts
1 8oz can crushed pineapple (undrained)
2 eggs
3/4 Cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla

Yields 12-14 muffins

Pre-heat oven to 375.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and ginger.

Add carrots, raisins and walnuts and mix gently.

In a small bowl mix together pineapple, eggs, oil and vanilla.

Add the liquid ingredients to the large bowl stir until just blended.

Pour batter in to paper lined muffin cups and bake 25-30 minutes, until golden.

Remove from oven and place on racks to cool.

Enjoy plain or hot and spread with butter. Mmmmm...

Pumpkin Pie

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:24:00 +0000

Better late than never? I know, it's no longer anywhere near the traditional time of year to eat pumpkin pie, but I don't care. This pie is so tasty, I would even make and devour it in August - how do ya like them apples?

It doesn't hurt that this pumpkin pie is incredibly simple to make. Find out how after the jump!

INGREDIENTS
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 Cups Libby's Solid Pack Pumpkin
1 2/3 Cups Evaporated Milk
3/4 Cup Sugar
1 TSP Cinnamon
1/2 TSP Allspice
1/2 TSP Salt
1/4 TSP Nutmeg
1 9" unbaked pastry crust (I made up a batch of Tillie's Pie Crust)

Preheat oven to 425°.

In a large bowl, mix together ingredients in order listed.

Pour the mixture into the pastry shell.

Bake for 15 minutes at 425°, then reduce oven temperature to 350° and bake 45 minutes longer.

Allow to cool, then serve with whipped cream.

Proof of Pie

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:15:00 +0000

Told you I was going to make pumpkin pie this weekend.

Recipe to follow shortly!

Crab Cakes

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 17:41:00 +0000

My Gram loved to order crab cakes when we would go out to eat. Actually, it's probably more accurate to say that she loved to order crab cakes and then point out the shortcomings of the recipe used to make them. I always just shrugged and nodded, yes, too much filling, yes, there should be peppers in here, no, I don't like the seasoning in it either. She was never totally satisfied with the crab cakes served to her, and until I made her recipe, I never fully understood why.

My gram's crab cake recipe is awesome. A short list of ingredients, no overpowering spices, fast and simple to make, easy to freeze and just as good when thawed a week later for a lazy dinner. I could pile more praise on these things, but it's probably best that you just make them and see for yourself.

INGREDIENTS
1LB Crab Meat
1/2 Cup Mayonnaise
1 TBSP Mustard (Dijon works well)
1 TBSP Worcestershire Sauce
1 TBSP Lemon Juice
1 TBSP Capers (chopped)
1 TBSP Green Pepper (grated) (optional)
Dash of Pepper Sauce (optional)
2 Slices dry white bread, crusts off*
Oil, for frying

*She doesn't have it written down, but she wants you to drop these in a food processor and make your own breadcrumbs. I did this the first time I made the crab cakes, and still had to supplement with extra breadcrumbs. The 2nd time, I just used the plain store bought bread crumbs, because I rarely have white bread around. Unless you have the bread laying around begging to be used up, just use store bought; it's easier and the difference is very minor.

Mix together all ingredients, except for the bread crumbs.

Spread breadcrumbs on a plate or tray.

Form the crab mixture into patties and roll in breadcrumbs.

Set aside. If you're going to freeze some of the crab cakes, now is the time to wrap them up and put them in the freezer.

Fry the crab cakes in hot oil until golden brown, approximately 2 minutes on each side.

Set aside on a paper towel and allow oil to drain.

To keep the crab cakes warm while you fry the whole batch, place them in a warm oven until ready to serve.

Pro tip: If you have a Costco membership, stock up on crab meat there. I'm thinking of making my 3rd batch of these later this afternoon.

I am a terrible blogger

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 11:03:00 +0000

It's been far too long since I updated Honey Never Spoils. I'm sorry.

As much as I would like to, I won't make any excuses for how lax I've been at posting recipes, so I'll just make you a promise.

Next week, you'll get my Gram's crab cake recipe. You're going to love it.

Bean Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 23:48:00 +0000

Even though the time for summer BBQs and picnics may be past for this year, there's still always room on the table for a side of bean salad. This is incredibly fast to prep and throw together, and stores excellently in 'fridge for days - in fact, I prefer the way it tastes after all the beans have been marinating together for a couple of days.

The only suggestion that I would make for this salad is to use freshly blanched green beans and wax beans instead of ones from a can. I actually intended to make the salad with fresh veggies, but unfortunately the store was out of fresh wax beans, so I skipped it this time. Although the salad is far tastier than I expected with the canned green beans (I am a vegetable snob sometimes, I'm sorry), I think fresh ones would give it a wonderful crunch that just isn't there when you use the canned green beans. Using fresh green beans won't add too much to the prep time, so if you have the time and fresh beans, I say go for it!

INGREDIENTS
1 LB can green string beans, drained
1 LB can yellow wax beans, drained
1 LB can red kidney beans, drained
1 LB can chick peas, drained
1 onion, minced
1 green pepper, minced
1/2 cup salad oil
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
salt & pepper to taste

Drain all of the beans and place in a bowl.

Add the onions and peppers.

Mix remaining ingredients together in a small bowl and pour over the beans.

Toss well.

Refrigerate, covered, until time to serve. Drain well before using.

Apple Fritters

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 01:43:00 +0000

So, Jon and I are both currently not eating much in the way of carbohydrates or added sugar - just some dietary changes we've decided to try out for the next month or so, since we've been feeling sluggish. Of course, when you have recipe boxes full of cakes and other sugary, carb-y, delicious things, sometimes you have to compromise.

Since these fritters are at least 50% apple each, I decided that it would be OK to make them, and perhaps to snack on one or two (okay, it was three, but let's keep that our little secret).

I was just looking at photos of other apple fritters online, and I definitely sliced mine incorrectly. I cut my apples in to 8ths, but it seems that most people choose to cut the apples in to rounds. Oops. Either way, mine tasted good, the apples still had a little crunch on the inside, and the only thing I would do differently is perhaps add some vanilla to the batter.

You can slice your apples however you choose.

INGREDIENTS
2 tart apples (Jonathan or Granny)
2/3 Cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
1/2 Cup milk
1/2 TSP lemon zest
1/4 TSP baking powder
1 TSP cooking oil + oil for frying
1 TBSP powdered sugar

Core and then chop or slice your apples.

Mix together all ingredients, excluding the apples and powdered sugar.

Dip apple slices in batter.

Drop in hot oil for 1 minute on each side. Be careful, I managed to splash some oil on my arm (klutz), and now I have lovely painful red burn marks.

Drain on paper towels.

Dust with powdered sugar.

I've been thinking about it as I typed this post up, and I bet that these would be delicious with a little ice cream or fresh whipped cream. Next time, I will have to have some on hand.

Corn Souffle

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 02:07:00 +0000

The Souffle. If you whisper the word too loudly while one is in the oven, it will fall... Right? Making this souffle worried me; up till now, I had never attempted one before, and no one likes a failed recipe.

I bought the ingredients for this a few weeks ago, truth be told, but I've been steadily coming up with excuses to not bake it. These have ranged from "I had corn yesterday!" and "It's too hot to bake something for so long." to "The puppy is bouncing around too much today, the vibrations will surely make the souffle fall."

Finally, I started to feel guilty about avoiding the recipe, and decided to toughen up and go for it.

So did it rise?

INGREDIENTS
2 Cups Cream-Style Canned Corn
2 TBSP Flour
2 TBSP Sugar
1/2 TSP Salt
4 Eggs, separated
1 1/2 to 2 Cups Whole Milk
1 TBSP grated Raw Onion
1 TBSP grated Green Pepper
1/2 Cup melted Butter

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Butter a 1 1/2 quart souffle or baking dish. Set aside.

Measure canned corn into a bowl.

Stir together salt, flour and sugar.

Mix with the corn.

Beat egg yolks to mix them and add milk. If the corn seems wet, use 1 1/2 cups milk, if dry, 2 cups. I couldn't decide what it seemed like, and used a little over 1 1/2.

Add onion and pepper, and mix it all in to the corn mixture. This looks like a petri dish to me. Let's quickly move on.

Stir in the melted butter.

Beat the egg whites till fluffy, but not dry, and gently fold in to the corn mixture.

Place mixture into the buttered dish.

Bake 1 hour, or until puffed and brown. Serve immediately.

So I put the souffle in the oven, and kept checking on it to see if it was getting "puffed and brown." After about 20 minutes, it began to rise...

It was getting puffed! Yes! It continued to puff up more and more. After 1 hour 15 minutes, I decided that it was nice and puffy and brown and done. I removed it from the oven and carried it to the table...

Even as I carried it the 10 feet to the table, I knew something was wrong. It fell even more quickly than I expected it to, and, worse, it jiggled.

Souffles shouldn't jiggle.

I snapped a couple of quick photos, and then put it back in the oven, hoping to solidify the interior of the souffle, and perhaps keep it from deflating even more.

After another 20 minutes, it seemed more solid, if still a bit deflated and sad, so I decided to eat it.

The corn "souffle" was very custard-y, underneath the crust. I'm not sure if this is the fault of the recipe or the creamed corn I bought, or a little bit of both. It certainly didn't turn out the way I had imagined it would (fluffy), even though this was very tasty. (I may have eaten half of it by myself.)

I'm planning on trying another souffle sometime soon, and then returning to this one, to see if a second attempt would render it puffier and more souffle-like.

Tillie's Pie Crust

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 07:11:00 +0000

People always seem to think that I will make them pie. I don't know where anyone got this idea from, since I pretty much bake everything but pie on a regular basis. Cookies? Sure, just tell me what type. Brownies? Okay. Cakes? Muffins? Cobblers? Lasagna? Just ask.

Pie? Oh god, are you sure I can't interest you in a nice cobbler instead? Honestly, before this pie, I hadn't even tried to make one in at least 5 years; that's how much of a disaster the previous pie was. Some friends and I decided to make the pie and the crust from scratch- we made a huge mess of the dough, and the filling - ugh, the filling. I know we wanted to make a strawberry rhubarb filling, the type with tapioca balls in it, but rhubarb wasn't in season. Hmm, what to use instead... Oh, I don't know, let's go with... bananas. Strawberry-banana tastes pretty good in smoothies and drinks, so we figured it would be a reasonable pie filling.

It was not delicious. Everything boiled out of the edges of the crust, the sugar burned to the bottom of the oven, somehow the crust was still unbaked, the tapioca was still in little balls, and the whole thing was a disaster. So I don't really like to make pie.

A couple of weeks ago, all of that changed. My boyfriend showed up with a box of strawberries and a few stalks of rhubarb- part of his weekly haul from a local CSA share. A pie was requested. Great.

Luckily for me, I had recently found Tillie's pie crust recipe. I figured that if there was ever a pie crust recipe I could follow, it would be one used by my namesake, my great grandmother. The recipe looked easy enough that even I couldn't mess it up too badly, so I agreed to make the pie.

I found went online to find a recipe for the filling, since I hadn't come across a strawberry rhubarb pie recipe in the boxes, and came across this one. As luck would have it, it didn't involve the dreaded tapioca balls, so I got started right away. It was a good pairing of recipes, and I was rewarded with a flaky golden crust and delicious moist filling.

INGREDIENTS (crust)
3 Cups Flour
1 Cup Shortening
1/2 Cup Water
1 TSP Salt

You will also need 1 egg white and 1 TSP water, to brush the crust with before baking.

Take 1/4 cups flour and add 1/2 cup water to it, mixing to make a paste. Set aside.

Mix the shortening and the remaining flour together.

Add paste and knead till smooth.

Divided in half, this will make 2 large pie crusts, or 1 closed or latticed pie crust.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface and gentle place it in your pie dish. Trim the edges.

If you're making the crust for a no-bake pie, at this point you can bake it at 450 degrees for 12 minutes.

Now's when I made the filling. It was incredibly simple.

INGREDIENTS (filling)
3 1/2 Cups Rhubarb, cut to 1/2" slices
3 1/2 Cups Strawberries, halved
1/2 cup (packed) brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

Take all of your filling ingredients. Mix them together.

Put them in your pie dish.

Now it's up to you if you want to roll out a big circle of dough and just cut vents in the top, or do a lattice pie crust. I wanted to do a lattice crust, but like I said, it's up to you.

Brush your crust with the egg white, and pop the pie in the oven.

For this particular pie, I baked it at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, and then for another hour and 25 minutes at 350 degrees. It seemed a bit fussy to me at the time, but the pie was delicious, so I won't argue with the directions.

I took the pie to my parents, and it vanished quite quickly, which is always a good sign. I can't wait to make more pies, next time with one of my gram's fillings.

Swiss Coconut Macaroons

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 21:32:00 +0000

Back in the beginning of July, Jon and I went to visit some of his family for a few days. I ended up being too busy to find the time to bake anything to bring with us, so in a panic I ran to a nearby deli* known for having outrageously large cookies and cakes, not to mention tasty sandwiches. I didn't know if their baked goods were, well, any good, but in my pastry frenzy I bought a half dozen or so giant cookies and then threw in a couple of mountainous coconut macaroons for good measure.

Were they any good? Well, let's just say I wished I had bought twice as many of everything. I've been wanting to devour macaroons ever since, and the pre-packaged ones from Whole Foods just wouldn't cut it.

Recipe box to the rescue! It just so happens that my gram made excellent macaroons, so I used a BBQ that Jon and I were going to as an excuse to make a batch of them. I'm not exaggerating when I say that they were the first thing to disappear from the food table. It looks like I'm going to have to make another batch of them for just Jon and I!

*"Famous 4th Street Delicatessen," definitely my favorite deli in Philadelphia.

INGREDIENTS
4 eggs (whites only)
1 Cup Confectioner's Sugar
1/2 Cup Flour
2 Cups Shredded Coconut
1 TSP vanilla extract

Heat oven to 325.

Beat egg whites till stiff.

Beat in vanilla extract.

Gradually add confectioner's sugar, continuing to beat until the mixture is thick and glossy.

Fold in the flour and coconut.

Drop by teaspoon full on to a greased and floured baking sheet (I just used parchment paper).

Bake for 15 minutes, until lightly golden.

After the macaroons cooled on their sheet for a bit, I decided that it was time to dip them in chocolate! Sure, you don't have to chocolate coat them, but why wouldn't you? I used the same technique for tempering the chocolate as I did for the peanut butter cookies, outlined over at Cooking for Engineers.

Let them harden for an hour or so on some parchment paper, and they're ready to go!

Peanut Butter Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 18:12:00 +0000

I've always loved peanut butter cookies. They're definitely in my top 5 list of all time favorite cookie varieties. When I was in Girl Scouts, I always ranked Do-si-dos above Thin Mints and Samoas. When my mom would go to the local bakery and ask what type of cookie I wanted, it was almost always a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie. Peanut butter cookies rock, and there's nothing you can do to convince me otherwise!

My gram's recipe box contains several variations of the traditional peanut butter cookie, but I decided to start with the cake mix cookie recipe first, for a couple of reasons.

1.) Some of the other recipes are ones written out by her friends, and have suspiciously clean recipe cards.
2.) I was already making macaroons that day, and felt a tiny bit lazy.
3.) I had never made peanut butter cookies with a cake mix base before, and wanted to see how their texture would be.

Since I was already planning to coat the macaroons I was making in chocolate, I decided to do the same to these cookies - adding chocolate to peanut butter cookies only makes them even more delicious. I used the seed method of tempering the chocolate, since I don't have a chocolate thermometer or a block of marble or granite handy. It worked out just fine, and was pretty easy. I would recommend it if you want to add a little chocolate to these or any other cookies you make.

Seriously, I am the worst at working with chocolate, and look how these turned out!

Now let's make those cookies.

INGREDIENTS
1 package Duncan Hines Butter Cake Mix
1 Cup Peanut Butter
1/2 Cup Cooking Oil
2 TBSP Water
2 Eggs

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.

Use cookie press or drop dough on to an un-greased cookie sheet by the teaspoon full. (I actually like to roll the dough in to little balls, because it makes all the cookies nice and even.)

Press with a fork that has been dipped in water.

Bake 10-12 minutes, until brown.

Cool on cookie sheet 1 minute, then remove to rack to finish cooling.

I let the cookies cool for an hour or so before I coated the bottoms in chocolate. I just took a dollop of chocolate on a knife, and smeared it around on the base of the cookie. Then I let them harden for an hour or so on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, just to be safe.

These cookies went over pretty well at the BBQ that I took them to - there were only a couple of cookies left over.

Macaroons and Peanut Butter Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 17:39:00 +0000

So! We packed up all of our belongings, double checked every drawer and cabinet and room, put everything in a Uhaul and drove across the country with a puppy and a smelly hedgehog.

And I forgot all of my bowls and bread pans in my old apartment. I have no idea how I managed to do that, since I packed up other things from the same cabinet, but sometimes these things happen.

Anyway, I quickly replaced the bowls, because trying to beat eggs in square tupperware containers is not my idea of a good time. Also, I needed to make some cookies to take to a BBQ that one of Jon's classmates was hosting, and you just can't make cookies without a mixing bowl.

I've been wanting to eat coconut macaroons for weeks, so I knew from the start that I was definitely going to try my hand at a batch of those - especially because I've always been told how amazing my gram's macaroon recipe is. I wanted to make a second batch of more typical cookies as well, just in case some people at the BBQ hated coconut. I eventually went with peanut butter cookies, just in case someone else decided to bring chocolate chip.

Of course, then I had to decide what recipe I would use for the peanut butter cookies, because I immediately found 3 different ones. I went with the cake mix based one, just to be lazy since I was already making macaroons as well.

I'll post both recipes over this weekend, along with a link explaining how to temper chocolate and make it nice and shiny.

Augh!

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 03:47:00 +0000

I'm so sorry for the lack of posts recently - I'm in the process of packing up and moving myself and the boyfriend and our puppy to the opposite side of the country, and it leaves even less time than I expected for baking and photographing.

I'll try to squeeze in some time for a post soon, I promise!

Popovers

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:33:00 +0000

I love popovers. LOVE THEM. Sadly, even though I have made this recipe several times over the last couple of weeks, I cannot make them look pretty in a photograph. Luckily, they are crispy and pop-over-y on the outside and soft and warm on the inside, even if they are not the prettiest popovers and don't like to come out of their tins without a struggle.

It's actually my mom who always made me popovers.

They were one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast or snacks when I was a kid, especially when my mom would put a spoonful of jam in the middle of them before putting them in the oven. As it turns out, my gram is the one who gave my mom her fail-safe popover recipe, so I guess I in part have her to thank for all of my tasty popover filled mornings.

Popovers are easier to make than I expected them to be. The only hard part is waiting for the ingredients to come to room temperature, and remembering to heat up the pan before pouring in the batter. If they didn't take 40 minutes to bake, I would want them for breakfast every day, even though I guess that they aren't technically a breakfast food.

INGREDIENTS
Remember, all ingredients must be at room temperature!
I cup flour
1/2 TSP salt (if desired)
2 large eggs
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 450.

Brush inside of popover or heavy muffin tins with crisco- butter or margarine will burn.

Place tin in oven to heat.

Mix together flour and salt.

Beat together eggs and milk.

Combine with flour and mix till smooth.

Remove heated pan from the oven and immediately pour mixture into hot pans - fill them at least 2/3 full.

Bake at 450 for 20 minutes.

Remove from oven, and with a sharp knife cut slits in each popover to allow steam to escape.

Lower the oven heat to 375 and bake popovers another 10 minutes or so.

Remove and eat!

Orange Rice Pudding

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 13:41:00 +0000

I am in love with this rice pudding. There, I said it. I love this recipe so much that I have decided to run off to Vegas and elope with it. Twice.

This rice pudding is a little bit different from the one I made before, which was my gram's go-to rice pudding recipe. This has more of a standard rice pudding texture than the other recipe, which is a custard. Also, the preparation is very different. For a start, the rice is uncooked at the beginning of this recipe; more importantly, the raisins are soaked in an orange liqueur. Also, this recipe is cooked on the stove, not in the oven. Sure, it's more work, and you may end up with boiled over milk all over your stove, but it's worth it. Trust me.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup dark raisins
1/2 cup orange flavored liqueur
1 quart milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup uncooked long grain rice
2 tsp grated orange zest
1 tsp grated lemon peel
2 tsp vanilla
2 or 3 drops orange extract
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream - whipped
6 or 8 orange segments (optional decoration)

Soak the raisins in the liqueur. Set aside.

Combine milk, sugar, rice, orange and lemon zest in a medium sauce pan.

Heat to boiling, reduce heat.

Simmer, covered, stirring occasionally until most of the milk is absorbed, 45 to 60 minutes.
Stir in raisins and liqueur during the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Watch the pudding closely during this, or it may boil over and you will end up with a mess.

Cool.

Fold whipped cream into pudding.

Spoon into bowls and garnish with orange.

Serve.

Shortbread Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Tue, 18 May 2010 03:27:00 +0000

I ate so many of these shortbread cookies when I first made them that I promptly got a belly ache and had to go lay down for a little while. They're so buttery and light, they just melt away in your mouth, and before you know it, you've eaten 8 or 9 of them. Dangerous.

This recipe came from my grandmother's sister, my great aunt Syd. She had some of the best "old lady hair" I've ever seen: naturally snow white and a bit fluffy. Aunt Syd would call my gram on the phone every single night at the same time, just like clockwork. Back before cell phones and caller ID, gram could answer the phone and know exactly who was on the other end of the line - at least when it was 8 PM, anyway.

One of the ingredients in these cookies left me temporarily confused. It calls for "4x sugar," which, it turns out, is just a type of confectioner's sugar. Most stores just seem to carry 10x sugar, which worked out just fine for these cookies.

INGREDIENTS
1 lb butter, softened
1 cup sifted packed 4x sugar
4 cups flour

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Cream butter.

Add sifted sugar gradually.

Add flour gradually - knead to blend well.

Roll out 1/4" thick on lightly floured board.

Prick with fork.

Cut in to 2"x2" squares.

Place on an ungreased sheet.

Bake 10 - 15 minutes, until a delicate color.

Makes 5 dozen.

Be careful not to over-bake your cookies. I always have trouble accepting that shortbread cookies are done, since the baked color is so similar to the color of the raw dough. I had my first sheet of cookies in for about 3 minutes too long- oops! They still tasted good, they just weren't as pretty.

Peanut Butter Squares

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Sat, 08 May 2010 04:29:00 +0000

Those chocolate peanut butter cookies I had at the Picnik Party on Saturday really set me off on a peanut butter binge. I finished off the remains of a jar I had in the cupboard, and when I was at the grocery store ended up buying 2 fresh jars - I couldn't decide between a jar with just ground peanuts or one with peanuts and a little bit of sugar. In the end, I decided that it would be best to stock up.

These squares seemed like a good place to start using up my peanut butter stockpile. They're really just a peanuty variation of a rice krispy treat, with peanut butter and karo syrup taking the place of the butter and marshmallows, and I'm fine with that. They took practically no time to make, and are quite tasty. Next time, I might have to spread a little nutella on them though!

INGREDIENTS
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup karo syrup (lite or dark)
1 cup sugar
6 cups rice krispies

Mix together the peanut butter, syrup and sugar in a saucepan.

Stir over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until smooth and bubbling.

In a bowl, pour the warm mixture over the rice krispies. Mix well.

Press the mix in to a lightly greased pan.

Let cool, then cut in to squares.

A Picnik Party!

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Sat, 08 May 2010 04:28:00 +0000

This past Saturday I had a little adventure*!

Casey, from TasteStopping, organized a "Picnik Party" for local food bloggers. Not only was it a fun chance to meet a few other local bloggers, but also play around with "Picnik," which is a website that allows you to edit photos online. Picnik is like Photoshop meets a Japanese photobooth - you can adjust the exposure and color settings of an image, or add in butterflies, hearts and facial hair - or do a bit of both!

Of course, we didn't spend the whole time staring at a computer monitor. There was also time to sit around and chat - and of course, to snack! Casey, who also is the woman behind Kitchen Witch, baked up several varieties of yummy cookies for us to munch on while we chatted. They were all great, but I have to say that my favorite were her peanut butter cup cookies. I'm such a sucker for the chocolate/peanut butter combo.

Anyway, it was a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon, and it was great to meet Jennifer and Wendy. I look forward to reading both of their blogs in the future. I'm so glad Casey organized the "picnik"!

* I say adventure because I somehow managed to get myself totally lost while driving to Home Cooked to meet up with everyone. I hit traffic, my phone/GPS died when I was only a few miles and a couple of highway exits away, the car charger I ran in to Best Buy to quickly charge my phone didn't work properly... Honestly, I don't know how I manage to make so many things go wrong when I'm trying to go someplace new. Anyway, I managed to get the phone on long enough to find out the last couple of turns I needed to make, and I arrived so late that it was certainly past the point of making a stylish entrance. Oops. At least I showed up in the end, and everyone was very nice to me, even though I was so very, very late.

Squash Casserole

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:31:00 +0000

It seems as though any self respecting housewife in the 50's had at least a couple of casserole recipes stashed away in their recipe box, and my gram is no exception. This casserole was pretty easy to toss together, like all good casseroles are, and, like most casseroles, isn't the prettiest looking thing once it's on a plate.

If I made this again, I think would use a homemade stuffing instead of one from a box, but besides that I wouldn't change much. I personally prefer casseroles with noodles in them, but this was also nice.

INGREDIENTS
5 or 6 small squash (green or yellow)
1 grated carrot
1 large chopped onion
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup sour cream
1 pkg. herb stuffing (Pepperidge Farm)
1 stick margarine or butter
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Chop squash.

Cook squash until tender; drain.

Mix squash, carrot, onion, soup, sour cream, salt and pepper.

Melt margarine/butter and mix with stuffing.

Layer the squash mixture and stuffing mix in a casserole dish, ending with stuffing.

Bake 15 - 20 minutes.

Serves 8.

Sweet Potato Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 19:29:00 +0000

After all of that matzo, it was such a relief to go back to using flour in everything. Don't get me wrong, matzo is all well and good, but no matter how much you grind it up and mix it with other ingredients, there's still that lingering matzo flavor, reminding you that it's in there.

It's been awhile since I've made a batch of muffins, and these sweet potato muffins sounded too good to pass up- plus I noticed that the only item I would need to go buy for them was the sweet potato. Who can resist a recipe when almost everything you need is already in your kitchen?

Of course, when I went out to pick up a couple of sweet potatoes, it started to pour, so I ducked in to the local organic market, hoping to grab the potatoes there. For some reason they only had Japanese sweet potatoes in stock that day, but I decided to just use them instead of getting soaked.

The Japanese sweet potatoes were just as tasty as regular ones, and the only thing I missed was the pretty orange color that regular ones would have given the muffins. There's always next time, I suppose!

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup butter (softened)
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups cooked mashed sweet potato
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 TBSP baking powder
1 TSP grated nutmeg
1 TSP salt
1/2 TSP cinnamon
1 1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 1/2 TSP lemon extract

TOPPING
1/4 cup sugar
1 TSP cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.

Add mashed sweet potatoes and eggs. Mix thoroughly.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, salt and cinnamon in a separate bowl.

Add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the milk, mixing well.

Add the pecans and lemon extract.

Line muffin tins.

Fill muffin tins 2/3 full and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture.

Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned.

Mmmmmm! Yields 24 muffins.

12 Egg Sponge Cake - Day Seven of Passover Recipes

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 15:00:00 +0000

So, this cake is the last Passover recipe I'm making - this year, anyway. Yes, I still have a couple more stashed away to try out next year. I enjoyed making, if not eating, most of these dishes (kugel...), and will definitely make several of them again (matzo ball soup, fruit chews...)

About the cake. It was pretty, and smelled nice, but even though I thought my gentle folding of the egg whites in to the batter was thorough, I must have missed some spots. There was a thin layer of really heavy, think, wet cake at the bottom in parts. Oops. The top part, especially the outer crust, was tasty, and reminded me of an angel food cake.

Ok, let's get a move on, I want to get back to baking with real flour!

INGREDIENTS
12 large eggs
1 1/3 cup potato flour
2 1/3 cup sugar
1 lemon - juice and zested rind

Preheat oven to 300.

Separate eggs.

Beat whites stiff.

Beat yolks well.

Add sugar and lemon to yolks. Beat thoroughly.

Add potato flour and beat again.

Fold in beaten egg whites gently.

Bake in un-greased springform pan, 40 - 50 minutes.

Yeah woo the cake is done party time!

Matzo Kugel - Day six of Passover Recipes

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 04:00:00 +0000

I'm a terrible judge of kugel. I don't really like it. If someone were to hand me some kugel that had been proven to be the best in the world, I would most likely say "meh" after tasting it.

I think that this kugel is "meh," so it's probably the best matzo kugel in the whole wide world. If you are a fan of kugels, noodle or otherwise, you should probably make it for yourself and let me know how this one stacks up against your other favorites, because I'm curious. It certainly smelled nice while it was baking, but you know. It's kugel.

Kugel is a funny sounding word.

INGREDIENTS
6 broken matzo
2 cups orange juice
1/2 cup cold water
4 tablespoons butter
2 large apple
4 beaten eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup raisins
1 TSP cinnamon
1 TBSP sugar

Heat oven to 350.

Pour orange juice and water over matzo and let soak.

Peel and chop apples.

Melt butter and saute apples until soft.

Combine all ingredients except for sugar and cinnamon.

Pour into a greased 1 1/2 qt. casserole.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Bake 45 minutes or until brown.

Let stand for 10 minutes.

Serve with extra sour cream.

Basic Matzo Stuffing - Day Five of Passover Recipes

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 04:10:00 +0000

Stuffing isn't something that ever seems to get made in my family, but ever since I had some awesome mushroom stuffing at a friend-hosted Thanksgiving, I've had an itch to make a batch. I didn't think that matzo stuffing could end up being as nice and fluffy as some made with regular bread, but I was pleasantly surprised. I think the optional celery and mushrooms really add something, so I wholeheartedly recommend using them.

I just asked my boyfriend what else I should say about this stuffing recipe, and he told me to say "It's delicious!"

He followed that up with "That stuffing really was delicious." So there you have it folks. This stuffing is delicious, and you should make it!

Delicious stuffing.

INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup vegetable shortening or chicken fat
3/4 cup minced onion
10 matzo, finely broken
1 TSP salt
1/4 TSP pepper
1 TBSP paprika
1 egg
2 cups chicken or vegetable soup stock
1 cup celery (optional)
1 cup mushrooms (optional)

Saute onions in fat until tender but not browned. If you are adding celery or mushrooms, now is the time to do it. I decided last minute to use both because I'm greedy like that.

Add matzo and toast lightly.

Combine seasonings, eggs and soup.

Add to matzo mixture.

Enough to stuff a 10-12 lb bird. I wasn't making anything that could be stuffed, so I just plopped the stuffing in to a couple of ramekins and baked it till it had a little crust on it. Yums!

P.S. I'm sorry that these photos are sub-par, but the stuffing smelled so yummy that I didn't want to take the time to photograph it properly. Bad Temma!

Pancakes with Raspberry Sauce - Day Four of Passover Recipes

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 04:00:00 +0000

Delicious pancakes during Passover? Is that even possible?

Of course it is - would I lie to you? You can probably figure out what the main ingredient is in these.

I'll give you three guesses, but you won't need them.

Yes, it's your trusty friend, matzo meal.

I was very skeptical of this recipe at first, wondering if the pancakes would rise at all. They definitely do, although they could always be a tad fluffier. Next time I make these, I'll probably beat the egg whites separately and then fold them in, to give them that extra poof. These pancakes are obviously not buttermilk, since it's hard to hide that subtle matzo flavoring, but they're tasty as can be anyway.

The sauce is great. I'm planning on stirring the leftovers of it in to my oatmeal tomorrow morning. I used strawberries for the sauce, because all of the raspberries at the market looked a bit old, but any fruit will yield a delicious topping.

Pancakes!

INGREDIENTS
PANCAKES
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup matzo meal
3 eggs
2 TSP honey
1 TSP salt
oil for frying
Raspberry Sauce (recipe below)
mint (optional garnish)

Warm the milk.

Mix milk and matzo meal in a large bowl. Let stand 10 minutes. (This is when I started on the sauce.)

Beat eggs and add to matzo meal mixture. Add honey and salt.

Heat oil in frying pan. Drop the mixture in by the tablespoonfuls.

Fry on both sides.

Serve with raspberry sauce - makes 10 pancakes.

RASPBERRY SAUCE
1 pint fresh raspberries
2/3 cup sugar
2 TBSP kosher for Passover brandy
1 TBSP lemon juice

Rinse berries; process with sugar and brandy until finely chopped in a food processor.

I just chopped up my strawberries and mixed them in with the sugar and brandy, since it didn't seem necessary to dirty up my food processor and I knew the fruit would cook down.

Cook the fruit mixture in a medium saucepan, on medium, for about 5 minutes.

Add lemon juice and serve warm or cold.

Yield: 2 cups.

Fruit-Nut Chews - Day three of Passover Recipes

noreply@blogger.com (Temma) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 04:00:00 +0000

These tasty little fruit-nut chews make me think of little round granola bars- with matzoh instead of oats, of course. I don't know if it's my love of raisins and walnuts speaking, but I would eat these even if it wasn't Passover! The edges bake and get just a tiiiiny bit crunchy, and the middle gets soft and chewy. Yum!

They're packed full of filling, high energy ingredients, and seem to keep pretty well... If you can keep from eating them all within a day or two, that is. These are definitely a good snack to toss in your bag and carry around with you for those mid-day munchy feelings.

Unrelated to the chews themselves, just look at how cute the little granny on the recipe is!

It's printed on the back of an RSVP to a seder at a local synagogue, and I can practically hear the drawing saying "Bubala, just wait till you try these fruit chews!" No wonder this found its way in to the recipe box!

INGREDIENTS
2 Cups matzo meal
2 Cups matzo farfel
1 1/2 Cups sugar
1 TSP cinnamon
3/4 TSP ginger
1 TSP salt
1 Cup chopped walnuts
1 Cup raisins
3 eggs, well beaten
3/4 Cup peanut oil
1/2 Cup mashed ripe banana

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine matzo meal, farfel, sugar, cinnamon, ginger and salt.

Stir in nuts and raisins.

Beat eggs, oil and banana together very thoroughly.

Beat in to dry mixture.

Drop by teaspoonful onto well greased cookie sheets.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until browned.

Makes about 50 chews.

Simple and handy to have around! I think I'm going to have to make a second batch of these...