Sweet & Savory

Millionaire's Shortbread

2013-04-06T11:18:00.000-06:00

I just returned from a freezing spring break trip to London. While I was not expecting to return from the UK with a tan, I was also not expecting it to snow twice or for all my pictures to be of my eyes peeking out over my thick knitted scarf. Thankfully we were able to stay warm ducking in and out of cafes and the free museums. Because I spent a large portion of my time in London warming my hands on a steaming mug of hot chocolate, I got very familiar with the traditional tea time snacks. Out of all the biscuits, scones, hot cross buns, and pastries I sampled, my favorite by far was the millionaire's shortbread!

To me, shortbread cookies are delicious as they are. I love the crunch and crumble of shortbread and the slightly sweet, browned butter flavor. But the brilliant Brits have improved upon this simple treat by layering shortbread with caramel and chocolate. These delectable squares are the great grandparents of the Twix candy bar. If you like Twix, you'll love this recipe!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter and flour an 8x8 square pan. Cut the cold stick of butter into cubes.

In a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, and salt. Add the cubes of butter and pulse until the butter is size of peas. Press the shortbread dough into the prepared 8x8 pan.

Bake 20 minutes, until the shortbread is golden brown around the edges. (this is a tad more brown than you want it! No one's perfect.) Set aside and let cool completely.

Heat the remaining 2 Tbsp butter and sweetened condensed milk in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Continue to boil for 15 minutes, until the mixture is thick and caramel colored.

Pour the caramel over the cooled shortbread. Allow to cool completely. I let mine cool in the fridge while I made the top chocolate layer.

Using a double boiler, melt the chocolate, whisking until smooth. Pour over the caramel covered shortbread and let cool at room temperature for 10 minutes. Chill in the fridge until cooled completely.

Do you see those beautiful layers? Crunchy shortbread, sweet caramel, and bitter, smooth chocolate have never looked so good! Cut the shortbread into squares while it is cold. These squares are delicious kept cold in the fridge or softened up a little to room temperature.

Millionaire's Shortbread

recipe by Claire Robinson

Ingredients:

1 stick + 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold, divided
1 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
14-ounce cans sweetened condensed milk
6 ounces semi sweet chocolate

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter and flour an 8 x 8 square pan.

Cut the cold stick of butter into small cubes. In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Pulse to combine. Add the cubes of butter and pulse until the butter is the size of peas. Press the shortbread dough into the prepared square pan. Bake 20 minutes until golden brown around the edges. Let cool completely.

In a saucepan on medium-low heat, combine the remaining 2 Tbsp unsalted butter and sweetened condensed milk. Bring the mixture to a boil, whisking continuously. Continue to boil for 15 minutes, until the mixture is caramel colored and thick. Pour over the cooled shortbread and place in the refrigerator to cool completely.

Using a double boiler, melt the chocolate, whisking until smooth. Pour over the cooled caramel covered shortbread and let cool at room temperature for 10 minutes. Chill in the refrigerator until completely cool. Cut the shortbread into squares while cold.

Creamy Hummus Lentil Soup

2013-03-23T12:58:00.001-06:00

The first time I tried hummus I did not like it. Let me explain. I tried it at a Girl Scout "multicultural night" when I was eight years old. Hopefully now that first statement doesn't seem so offensive! My troop went to a regional activity to learn about the countries of the world. Moms from several different troops had set up dozens of booths in a gymnasium, each one representing a different country. They had pictures, dolls, clothing, pottery, and food at each table and a short speech prepared to give us a brief cultural background. This is something I would thoroughly enjoy now, but sadly my pea-sized eight year old attention span only made it twenty minutes. As my troop was herded from country to country, I feigned interest for the sole purpose of receiving a foreign snack at the end of my visit. Because they were adept at catering to young girls, most of these ethnic bites were cookies. Except Turkey. After sampling wedding cookies in Mexico, we touched down in the Middle East to learn about Muslims and the Black Sea. My gaze soon wandered into Germany and the enticing plate of shortbread-jam linzer cookies there. I prayed my stay in Turkey would be brief. After the presentation I was handed a baby carrot with some strange goop on the tip. Not a cookie. Definitely a vegetable. I ate it while glaring bitterly at the troop in Germany devouring their linzer cookies, greedily licking their jam-smeared lips.

I didn't try hummus again for years, but I'm happy to report that when I did, I fell in love. Today, if I'm offered hummus, veggies (yes, even baby carrots), and Stacy's Pita Chips, I'm on board. So, when I saw this recipe for lentil soup with hummus in Bon Appetit, I knew I had to make it. To make this soup, you start with a basic lentil soup, which is delicious on it's own, but then comes the brilliant twist of stirring in hummus.

The result is a creamy, thick soup that begs to be scooped into your mouth on a steaming piece of pita bread.

Pick through the lentils for small rocks or other non-lentil items and rinse well. Heat the olive oil in a stock pot on medium heat. Add the chopped carrot and onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and a good pinch of salt and pepper and cook 5 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Stir in 2 Tbsp curry powder and cook for 1 minute, until fragrant.

Add the rinsed lentils, 4 cups of water, and the bay leaf. Bring soup to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes until the lentils are soft.

Meanwhile, make the hummus. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. In a food processor, puree the chickpeas, lemon juice, 1/4 cup water, ginger, garlic, pepper, and olive oil until smooth. Adjust lemon juice, ginger, garlic, and pepper to your taste.

Stir the hummus, 2 Tbsp olive oil, and remaining 1 Tbsp curry powder into lentil soup. The soup will be thick, so add water to thin if desired. I added 1/2 cup. Season with a few pinches of salt and pepper according to your taste.

You can actually SEE the creaminess the hummus adds to the soup. Serve with warmed pita bread and enjoy!

Creamy Hummus Lentil Soup

recipe adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients:

Lentil Soup:

3 Tbsp olive oil, divided

1 medium carrot, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 large garlic cloves, chopped

3 Tbsp curry powder, divided

1 cup French green lentils, picked through and rinsed

Bay leaf

Hummus:

15 ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Juice from 1 lemon

1 tsp fresh ginger, grated

1 clove garlic, grated

1/2 tsp pepper

4 Tbsp olive oil

Instructions:

In a large stock pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the carrot and onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and a good pinch of salt and pepper and cook 5 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Stir in 2 Tbsp curry powder and cook for 1 minute, until fragrant. Add the rinsed lentils, 4 cups of water, and the bay leaf. Bring the soup to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes until the lentils are soft.

Meanwhile, make the hummus. In a food processor, puree the chickpeas, lemon juice, 1/4 cup water, ginger, garlic, pepper, and olive oil until smooth.

Stir the hummus, 2 Tbsp olive oil, and remaining 1 Tbsp curry powder into lentil soup. Add water to thin the soup if necessary. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2013-03-09T10:11:00.000-07:00

My official job title in Spain is a Language and Culture Assistant or auxiliar de conversación. I have the best job in the world; earning a living experiencing the Spanish languages and culture. It sounds almost too good to be true, but this is a real job that you can learn more about here. In return for this amazing opportunity, I am expected to share my language and culture with the students and teachers at my school, facilitating an international exchange of ideas. However, thanks to globalization, most aspects of the American culture have already made it overseas. There are few things I share about my home that most Spaniards I meet aren't vaguely familiar with already. This is not the case for food. I'm sad to report that the general opinion of American food is based on McDonald's and KFC menus. I'm not going to launch an anit-fast food campaign over here because it is a big part of American culture and I'd be committing an enormous act of hypocrisy. I think McDonald's french fries are one of the most addicting foods on the planet and Taco Bell Crunchwraps are a work of culinary genius.

I mentioned in my homemade pumpkin puree post that I take classic American baked goods to school to share with my coworkers and students. This is my way of showing them that we have SO much more to offer than hamburgers and delivery pizzas. It should come as no surprise that my favorite way to experience a foreign culture is through its cuisine, but I get so much more pleasure from telling people about my home through the foods I grew up with and love. With these cookies, I was able to share the traditions of autumn in America, from the holidays, to the pumpkin patches, corn mazes, and hot apple cider! I'm well aware that fall has come and gone, but who doesn't want a cakey, moist reminder of falling leaves and crisp air during the months of dreary, cold winter weather?

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a sheet pan with a Silpat or parchment paper. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars. Add the egg, vanilla, and pumpkin and beat until combined. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Slowly mix into the cookie batter until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Using a cookie scoop or teaspoon, drop the cookies onto the prepared cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes until puffed up and lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat in the pumpkin puree and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. With the stand mixer on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Drop the batter onto a Silpat lined cookie sheet using a cookie scoop or a tablespoon. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes depending on the size of your cookies.

Pumpkin Puree

2013-03-07T06:22:00.000-07:00

Spanish food is very bland. I love it, but there is little flavor variation as Spaniards pride themselves on using very few spices in their cooking. I don't mind the simplicity in the savory dishes, but I have to report that Spanish baked goods are boring. Spaniards eat cakes with less flavor than a store-bought Sara Lee pound cake and exclaim "¡Què rico!" In an effort to convert some Spaniards to the worshiping of desserts with flavor, I've been baking some old-fashioned favorites and taking them to school for my colleagues. I have kept the flavors simple so as not to shock their palates; coffee cake, homemade pound cake, and most recently pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. So far, my attempts of exposing the teachers at my school to flavorful desserts has been a success. In exchange, they’ve persuaded me to open my stomach to stingray, octopus tentacles, and even tripe!

To make the pumpkin cookies, I had to make my own pumpkin puree. America is the land of good and plenty of canned pumpkin. In Spain, you cannot simply go to the grocery store to buy canned pumpkin. Even in October and November, when American supermarkets are bursting with this and other flavorful squash varieties, both canned and fresh pumpkins are absent from Spanish grocery store shelves. If you ask for a pumpkin, you'll likely be pointed in the direction of a butternut squash. (Delicious, great for making soup, but not a pumpkin.) In late October, I finally found a small sugar pumpkin at a fruit stand and when I informed the shopkeeper I planned to bake it and make it into a pie rather than carve it into a jack-o-lantern, she gave me the "Oh, you're foreign," look I've become very accustomed to. I had some leftover puree that’s been patiently waiting in my freezer, until now.

To make your own puree, plan on an hour inactive prep time while the pumpkin bakes and no more than 30 minutes of blending and straining the puree.Straining is a very important step, especially if using to make a pumpkin pie. Baked pumpkin has a stringy texture and straining ensures a smooth final product.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with tin foil. Cut your pumpkin in half and scrape out the pulp and the seeds. Place the two halves skin side up on the baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes to an hour until the flesh is very tender. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Scrape the cooled pumpkin flesh out of the skin. In a blender or with an immersion blender, puree the flesh until smooth. If you're not up to dirtying more kitchen equipment, mashing the pumpkin flesh with a fork will work just fine, though it will take longer. Pour the puree through a strainer to get rid of any remaining stringy pieces.

Now it's ready to add incredible flavor to a pumpkin chorizo pizza or a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies! If not using it immediately, your homemade pumpkin puree will keep for one week in the fridge or up to one year in the freezer. Freeze it in Ziploc bags for easy storage.

Cheesecake Bars

2013-02-24T09:42:00.000-07:00

School birthdays were always something I looked forward to as a kid. Each year I would assume the role of Birthday Queen For the Day, taking homemade cupcakes to my class, bestowing these mom-made culinary jewels upon my loving classmate subjects. Perhaps I took myself a little too seriously! Over the years, my mom has made countless batches of ice cream cone cupcakes topped with Betty Crocker Rainbow Chip frosting. Although she is perfectly capable of whipping up fabulous frostings from scratch, often making up the recipe as she goes, I would beg her to buy this frosting. There's nothing like it. To this day, it is my kryptonite and nothing, NOTHING, can stop me from eating it straight out of the container by the spoonful. For this reason, not my prepackaged food snobbery, I do not buy this frosting more than once a year. I like to fit comfortably into my jeans...

I have a few precious months remaining in my English teaching position in Spain. I teach at a very small elementary school, so when a child has a birthday, the whole school celebrates! The kids bring cakes, soda, chips, cookies, and candy to share with their classmates, the other students, and, luckily for me, the entire teaching staff. Last week, I walked into the teachers lounge to find a "birthday cake" sitting on the table. I use the quotation marks here because birthday cakes in Spain are nothing like the ones I grew up with in the states. Cakes here resemble pound cakes, are only slightly sweet, and are served sans frosting. A teacher told me this particular cake was a cheesecake. He went so far as to say it was a "New York" cheesecake. Well, it wasn't. Not even close. It was a New York cheesecake if you were to add gelatin and remove half the sugar and cream cheese. All this "cheesecake" did was make me miss cheesecake!

Where does one indulge a cheesecake craving in Spain? Nowhere. There is a tapas bar in my town that serves a cheesecake flan. It's tangy and smooth like a cheesecake, but the first bite reveals a pool of deeply sweet caramel syrup typical of a flan. It really is the best of both worlds! However, my craving was so acute, even this delicacy wouldn't satisfy. If I wanted a cheesecake, I'd have to provide for myself. After a quick trip to the store and a raid of a better stocked kitchen than mine for a 9x13 pan, I was ready to whip up a quick and easy ode to the classic American cheesecake. No stand mixer, springform pan, water bath, or hour-long cooking time needed!

I made these cheesecake bars for the first time for a catering event a few years ago. I needed a dessert that could feed a lot of people and could be made ahead of time. I ended up baking several sheet pans of these bars and refrigerating them overnight. They were a hit at the party; easy to slice and, when cut into little squares, easy to eat. Since then, I've baked smaller batches for potlucks or for my own personal enjoyment. Sometimes I share...

**Note: Allow your cream cheese and eggs to come to room temperature before starting the bars**

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray. If you want to have perfectly cut cheesecake squares, prepare the baking pan as shown by my tutorial here. In a medium mixing bowl combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and salt. Pour in the melted butter and stir to moisten the crumbs. Press into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of your prepared baking pan and bake for 10 minutes, until the crumbs are lightly browned. Set aside to cool while you prepare the filling.

Increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar, salt, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla and whisk to combine. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Pour the batter over the cooled graham cracker crust.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the cheesecake is just set. If you're unsure, insert a knife into the center of the cheesecake. It should come out clean. Allow to cool completely at room temperature, then cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. This will allow the cheesecake to set completely and facilitate easy cutting.

Just before serving, remove the cheesecake from the fridge and, if using the parchment paper and tin foil preparation method here, lift the chilled cheesecake from the pan. Cut into squares, wiping the knife clean after each cut. Enjoy your little taste of the classic American cheesecake!

Cheesecake Bars

recipe adapted from joyofbaking,com

Ingredients:

Crust:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs, about 13 crackers
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
2 8oz packages cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 lemon, zested
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs, room temperature

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9x13 in baking dish with cooking spray or line with parchment paper as shown here.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and salt. Pour in the melted butter, stirring to moisten the crumbs. Press the crumb mixture on the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of the prepared baking dish. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, until the crust is lightly browned. Set aside to cool.

Increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar, salt, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla and whisk to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition, Pour the cheesecake filling over the cooled crust. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until the cheesecake is just set, wobbling slightly when touched.

Allow to cool completely at room temperature, cover, and refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight. Cut into bars just before serving, wiping the knife clean after each slice. Top with berries, chocolate syrup, or whipped cream.

Amsterdam: Stroopwafels, Red Lights, & Bikes

2013-02-12T14:12:00.000-07:00

I had a mind-blowing experience in Amsterdam. It was unlike the mind-blowing experiences most tourists will recount upon their return from this medieval city as neither legal prostitutes or drugs were involved (although my drug of choice, sugar, was to thank for my reaching nirvana). Ok, enough build up. I'm sure the suspense has brought you to the edge of your seat! What did I encounter in Amsterdam that caused the heavens to open and Dutch angels to sing? I found, and I'm not exaggerating, my favorite cookie in the entire world. Until this point, I had held white chocolate macadamia nut on a pedestal closely followed by the All-American chocolate chip and snicker doodle varieties. Well, my dear America, I say this with respect- when it comes to cookies, the Dutch have you beat. The best cookie in the entire world, at least to this foodie, is the stroopwafel!

I did not immediately set my sights upon the Dutch food scene when I got off the train in the Amsterdam Centraal Station. I borrowed a bicycle, made friends with a local, and embarked on a two-wheel tour past the many canals, bridges, and churches in the horseshoe shaped city center. It was very cold, but the light aerobic exercise and the panic-induced adrenaline from biking alongside cars and hundreds of other cyclists kept me warm. In Amsterdam, anywhere from one to three people will ride on the same bike, sharing the road with larger motor vehicles that do not yield, and NO ONE WEARS HELMETS! Every major square in the city center has hundreds of bikes tethered to the bike racks. Do you see the shining metallic glow in the background of the first picture in this post? That is the lamppost light reflecting off of hundreds of handlebars! I can not remember the last time I rode a bike before this trip, let alone a thin-wheeled rode bike, but after a few shaky starts, and only one complete fall to the ground, it proved to be the most entertaining way to tour a city.

After a few hours of biking and a visit to the Anne Frank House, I had worked up quite an appetite! My guide led me to Cheese & More by Henri Willig, where you can sample dozens of different varieties of goat, sheep, and cow cheeses, compotes, mustards, dipping sauces, licorice, and cookies free of charge. They had Gouda, Edam, and Fenugreek along with specially flavored cheese made by smoking or infusing them with peppers, pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, and herbs. I was able to pull myself away from the cheese table for a brief moment to sample from the Dutch products section. That is where I saw the stroopwafel. I was only interested in the plain-looking cookie because the name seemed comical to me. My little bite of this cookie, the perfect balance of crunchy, gooey, and caramelized sweetness, immediately put me in my place! This was not a cookie to be mocked. This was a cookie to be sought out and worshipped! After a few more free samples.....

Stroopwafels (syrup waffles) are sandwich cookies made of two thin, crispy waffle cookies held together by caramel syrup. They are sold in many different sizes and in single or pack variety all over the city, but I found the best stroopwafels at Melly's Cookie Bar. The heartbreaking thing about these cookies is, unless you have a special thin waffle cookie maker, there is no way of baking stroopwafels in your own kitchen! I am not one to buy special "makers" of any kind, but in this case I would definitely consider making an exception!

The food carts in the Christmas markets and city squares were still open and selling holiday sweets to shoppers and tourists. Here, I found more waffles, dipped in milk chocolate and colored white chocolate, dusted with powdered sugar, or served steaming hot and plain. They smelled divine, and as you can see, looked delicious, but I did not purchase a waffle because I had just eaten a sinfully bittersweet Belgian waffle with dark chocolate sauce and whipped cream the previous day. Instead, I ordered a raisin Oliebol, fresh from the fryer.

Oliebollen (oil balls. The name is definitely more appealing in Dutch) are deep fried sweet dumplings, traditionally flavored with currants and raisins and eaten during the Christmas season. When you order one, you will be asked if you'd like it with or without powdered sugar (is that even a question??) They are a mildly sweet, not too dense, comfort food that make a delicious breakfast when paired with coffee or hot chocolate. These too are sold all over the city. I found the raisin and citrus flavored Oliebollen at the gourmet food market, La Place, but as I had already tried the Dutch donut, I purchased a square of their fantastic fire-roasted tomato focaccia instead. Good choice!

The strangest Dutch food I encountered was from a fast food establishment called FEBO. This restaurant chain operates using an automatic, vending machine concept. While some of the dishes offered, hamburgers, fries, etc, can also be purchased at the counter, the majority of the food items come to each customer from a giant wall of vending machines. A hamburger from a vending machine? "Press A4 for the bacon Salmonella with cheese! Would you like fries with that?" I did NOT eat there. However, I walked and biked past many FEBOs and observed that the majority of tourists and locals are not deterred by the idea of vended hot food. The lines were always out the door!

How To: Prepare a Brownie Pan

2013-02-05T02:30:00.002-07:00

I included this tutorial for preparing an 8X8 brownie pan in my Mini Cadbury Egg Blondies post, but this tip is so useful I think it deserves its own post. You can use this method for blondies, brownies, and bar cookies. It adds a little more time to your recipe preparation, but I promise it's worth the extra step. No more slicing through brownies while holding your knife at an awkward angle. No wasted, crumbled pieces because the first few brownies are impossible to get out of the pan in one piece! Simply line, lift, slice, and serve.

**You may read this and think, "What a waste of tin foil!" Feel free to reuse the foil more than once. I would not, however reuse the parchment paper. This tip works best on 8X8 pans, but will work well for a 9X9 as well. Any larger and you risk crumbling when lifting out of the pan.**

Cut an 8x8 square of parchment paper. You can measure using a ruler or simply trace the bottom of your baking dish.

Spray the dish with cooking spray. Lay two long strips of aluminum foil in the pan, forming an X. I tear a long sheet of aluminum foil, cut it in half, then fold each half into thirds. This forms two reinforced strips. Leave a few inches of foil hanging off the sides to create "handles."

Lay the 8x8 parchment paper square over the foil. Spray the parchment with cooking spray. This parchment/foil apparatus will allow you to lift the entire batch of blondies, brownies, or bar cookies out of the pan (after they are baked and cooled), making it very easy to cut them into neat, even squares.

When cool, use the aluminum foil "handles" to lift blondies, bar cookies, or brownies out of the pan.

Transfer to a cutting board to slice...and sample:)

Bruges: Ice Sculptures, Waffles, & Frites

2013-01-30T06:21:00.000-07:00

I took the train from Paris to Bruges, Belgium the day after Christmas. I had a day and a half to experience the quaint city that, to me, appears to have stepped out of a fairytale. Unfortunately, my travel camera charger succumbed to the rain in Paris, and my camera died after I snapped only four photos of the medieval city. I was able to capture a nice aerial view of the main square, Markt, with it's one of a kind architecture and brightly colored buildings. In the center of Markt, people were still celebrating the Christmas season, taking advantage of the giant ice skating rink and Christmas market. The smell of freshly fried frites wafting from the food stands hit me like the train that brought me to Belgium!

Belgian frites come hot, greasy, and poked with a miniature fork so you can pretend to feel sophisticated while you devour them. They also come with over 20 different kinds of mayonnaise based sauces. I'm from Utah where the mixture of mayo and ketchup we fondly refer to as "fry sauce" is king. I described this sauce to a Belgian and he replied, "Oh, you like cocktail sauce?" I was confused, thinking my frites would come slathered with the tomato and garlic sauce I love to eat with shrimp. However, after my frites were lifted from the fryer, I watched as they received a generous squeeze of my beloved fry sauce. Whatever you like to call it, fry or cocktail, the combination of the famous sauce from home and fresh Belgian frites was out of this world!

Another great street food staple in Bruges is the Belgian waffle. The batter they use is thicker and almost dough-like compared to the US version. It's cooked exactly the same way as in America, but the final product is a more dense waffle that comes encrusted in granulated sugar. As if that isn't enough of an improvement on the waffles I grew up on, my Belgian waffle came drizzled with dark chocolate sauce and topped with whipped cream. They also provided a mini fork for attempted daintiness while consuming.

And, of course, there's the Belgian chocolate. It puts Hershey's to shame and makes you consider morbid obesity as a future life goal. I told the shopkeeper I wanted one thing, but I wanted it to be the best. She appreciated my gusto for her chocolate-making, laughing a little at the expense of my enthusiasm. She gave me a dark chocolate covered hazelnut crème. If I hadn't been traveling by Ryanair with their ridiculously strict carry-on policy, I would have bought an early Valentine's Day pound of chocolates for myself. They would not have made it through January.

The most unique and not too historically significant thing I did in Bruges was attend their annual ice sculpture festival. Each Christmas season they choose a different theme and spend weeks carving enormous blocks of ice with chainsaws and picks to create a labyrinth through which thousands of bundled-up spectators walk and admire. This year, the theme was Lord of the Rings, but to avoid paying for that trademark, they settled on generic fantasy that resembled Lord of the Rings as closely as legally possible. There was an "Evil Eye" that looked over the castles, "dwarf mines," and "walking tree forests." It was below freezing inside so my visit lasted just over 15 minutes! It was overpriced, but how many times does a girl get to visit to tiny Bruges during Christmastime in her life? I think once, if she's lucky!

Paris: Croissants, Versailles, & French Onion Soup

2013-01-30T05:01:00.000-07:00

At last! I have returned from my whirlwind, 7 country eurotrip. This is my first time in Europe, and possibly my only opportunity to live abroad for the foreseeable future, so I'm taking advantage of every travel opportunity I can. From the moment I learned about the best/worst budget airline, Ryanair, I have been compiling a list of places I must see before I have to leave Spain. The number one city on that list? Mon Cheri, Paris.

Who doesn't dream of the Eiffel Tower, seeing the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, or walking along the Champs-Élysées? When I read Julia Child's biography My Life in France, Paris became more than "The City of Lights and Love" to me. I recognized it as a culinary capitol of the world. As I started learning to cook and realized how much classic French cuisine has influenced the culinary world, I knew most of my time in Paris would be spent doing my favorite thing--eating. So, it should come as no surprise that before I planned a sightseeing itinerary, I wrote an epicurean wishlist. That majority of the dishes on the list were desserts. What a surprise.

First up--the elegant French macaron. These cookies are very different from their coconut counterparts we know as macaroons. French macarons are almost-too-pretty-to-eat sandwich cookies available in a variety of vivid colors and flavors, the most popular being raspberry, chocolate, pistachio, and vanilla. Because the cookies are made with almond flour, they have a crisp, meringue-like exterior that reveals a chewy center when bitten into. As if that isn't tasty enough, the cookies are glued together with buttercream! At Pierre Hermé I sampled two macarons, white truffle hazelnut and passion fruit milk chocolate. Both were surprising and delicous! At the Laudarée beneath the Louvre (my low blood sugar dropped my mood to borderline cranky after hours of roaming the massive museum!), I went for something classic, tasting their coconut flavored macaron. When eating these dainty confections, it is hard not to feel pampered a la Queen Marie Antoinette. "Let them eat cake"...and macarons.

I dare not divulge how many croissants I ate in Paris. Mmmm...chocolate, sweet almond, pure butter, who knew they had different flavors? I will report that Parisian croissants really do taste better than any others in the world, or at least the parts of the world I've seen. The best pastries I ate in Paris were a gift from our train driver when we accidentally took the wrong train to Versailles. He felt badly for the lost American tourists and bought us chocolate chip and custard filled croissants proving the unfriendly French stereotype very untrue. The lesson here, when traveling, getting on the wrong train may lead to a culinary adventure!

On Christmas Eve morning, I treated myself to a Nutella crepe. I was so greedy, I didn't pause to snap a photo of the crepe before I attacked it with my fork! The steam from the fresh-off-the-griddle crepe melted the Nutella until became a gooey, smooth, chocolate and hazelnut dream spread. Merry Christmas to me!

Another fabulous Nutella experience: While waiting to get into Christmas mass at the Notre Dame (I still can't believe I can write that sentence!) we stopped by Amorino for gelato. Yes, it was very cold, but does that really matter when an ice cream craving strikes? My cone was filled with their Nutella and hazelnut flavors. I love how they arrange the ice cream scoops to look like a flower. It's nearly too pretty to eat.

On Christmas Eve, we met with other language assistants from Ourense to make a fondue dinner. How French! We skipped the meat fondue course altogether, prioritizing the more important cheese and chocolate courses. I melted a blend of Swiss and French cheeses in a garlic and white wine sauce. We made sure to have vegetables, fruit, and crusty baguette on hand for dipping. The semi-sweet chocolate melted into heavy cream to create a velvety, rich, smooth dip for our madeleines, gaufres (waffles), bananas, and apples. We made ourselves a home away from home in a rented apartment in Paris, covered in cheese and chocolate, to have ourselves a merry Christmas Eve.

I spent Christmas day trekking through my neighborhood searching for French onion soup. I was picky about the café because I did not want the tourist attraction version of the simple peasant dish. I've made French onion soup before, but never has the combination of beef broth, thyme, caramelized onions, and a cheesy crouton made me as happy as it did that Christmas afternoon. It was difficult to take a picture of my soup because the camera lens kept fogging up from all the steam! Good soup warms you from the inside out, and on that holiday when I found myself thousands of miles away from my family and friends, the French onion soup in the nondescript Parisian café cured my homesickness.

Now that I've reported on the culinary highlights from my first stop in Paris, it's time for the worst. On Christmas night, the only restaraunts open were the non-Christian ethnic eateries. Ourense does not have much to offer in the ethnic food department, so I jumped at the opportunity to feast on Indian food. (Is there anything better than naan?) We ordered our food and watched as the cook loaded our plates into a tower of three microwaves! I'm not so ignorant that I believe this never happens at restaraunts in the US, but at least the waiters discreetly microwave dishes in the kitchen. Furthermore, I'm fairly certain microwaves are not meant to be stacked on top of other microwaves. Despite the fact that our food was nuked right before our eyes, it was fabulous, if a little bit unevenly heated. It was fabulous, until the next day. Merry Christmas to us, we got Indian food poisoning:)

How To: Roast a Bell Pepper

2012-12-13T08:33:00.000-07:00

Roasted bell peppers taste completely different, and dare I say, SO MUCH better, than their raw counterparts. You can buy them pre-roasted from a supermarket, but they cost much more than raw bell peppers from the produce section. I will let you in on a little secret. If you have 10 minutes, a gas stove, or an oven with a broiler, you can roast peppers in your kitchen at home. You can have freshly roasted peppers that are much more flavorful than the storebought version any time you want! So, why buy something when you can make it better yourself and save money?

There are three methods to roasting your own pepper: the broiler, grill, and gas stove method. For all three methods you will need a whole pepper (bell, italian, jalapeño, serrano, etc) and a resealable plastic bag.

**Broiler Method: Preheat your broiler to high and move the oven rack to the top third of the oven. Cut the pepper in half and remove the vein and seeds. Place the peppers on a sheet pan with the skin side facing up and place pan in the oven. To achieve an even char, you will need to keep an eye on the pepper and rotate the pan until the skin is black on all sides. Remove the peppers from the oven and place in a resealable plastic bag. Seal the bag and set aside until cool to touch.

**Gas Stove & Grill Method: Turn a gas element to high heat. Place the pepper on the element, directly above the flame. Using tongs, turn the pepper frequently to allow for even charring. When the skin is black on all sides, place the pepper in a resealable plastic bag and seal. Allow to cool.

The purpose of placing the pepper in a bag is to allow for very easy peeling once cool. The condensation and heat that collects in the bag keeps the skin soft enought to rub off the pepper. Do not rinse your roasted pepper! This rinses away all the flavor. Once the pepper is cool, roughly rub the pepper skin until it peels away.

Look at that smoky tender vegetable! Once your pepper is peeled, chop, dice, mince, slice, and use in your favorite recipe.

Peanut Butter Cup Cake

2012-12-13T08:07:00.001-07:00

This is NOT a cupcake. I wrestled with the title of this post, because this cake needs to bear the name of my absolute favorite food in the world - the Reeses Peanut Butter Cup. This is a peanut butter cup...wait for it...cake. Not a peanut butter cupcake. Now, onto the recipe!

When dreaming up this cake, I wanted to use my favorite Cocoa Frosting and stay true to a peanut butter cup: luscious peanut butter coated with creamy chocolate. Thus, this variation on basic yellow cake was born, Peanut Butter Layer Cake. Naturally, I had to add peanut butter cup pieces to the cake as well. When I tried the cake the first time, there just was not enough peanut butter flavor to compliment the chocolate frosting. How did I fix this? I added more frosting! Is there such a thing as too much frosting? My Peanut Butter Cream Frosting brings all the flavors in the cake together in the perfect balance of peanut butter and chocolate, inspired by the masterfully crafted Reeses Peanut Butter Cup! I´ve said this before and will say it again- HOW can they not sell these in Europe?

After the Peanut Butter Layer Cake has cooled completely, place one layer on a cake plate or stand. Spread with a generous layer of Cocoa Frosting.

Roughly chop a dozen mini peanut butter cups.

Scatter the pieces on top of the frosted cake layer.

Top with the second cake layer and frost with remaining Cocoa Frosting. Dump the frosting on top of the cake, then gradually work your way outward, smoothing the frosting toward the edges and down the sides of the cake with an uneven spatula.

If you want a polished final product, dip the spatula in hot water and run along the sides of the cake to smooth the frosting. This step is purely aesthetic. The cake will taste the same either way!

Chop a few more peanut butter cups and scatter on top of the frosted cake.

Prepare a piping bag (or resealable plastic bag with a corner cut off) and fill with the Peanut Butter Cream Frosting.

Pipe the frosting as desired on the top and around the base of the cake. Piping frosting around the base of a cake is a great way to hide mistakes and little imperfections at the base of a cake. The professionals do it too!

Cut into the cake and share Reeses peanut butter chocolate perfection with your family and friends!

Peanut Butter Cream Frosting

2012-12-05T11:32:00.000-07:00

I have discovered something truly shocking during my time abroad. Spaniards think peanut butter is gross! It seems they more than dislike it. I know I'm making a generalization here as I have not met the entire country, but on a few instances I have gotten this impression. I was presenting to the 5th grade class about food in America and was explaining how we are all raised on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They asked what the PB&J stands for and when I told them peanut butter, crema de cacahuete, they wrinkled their noses in disgust! Another time I generously offered a Reese's peanut butter cup to a friend and he declined because of the peanut butter. This is one cultural difference I can not understand.

No matter where in the world I'm living, I will always regard peanut butter as the king of spreads. For me, it reigns over Nutella, Biscoff, cream cheese, and jelly. This frosting pairs perfectly with the Cocoa Frosting and Peanut Butter Layer Cake to make the fabulous, 100% American, Peanut Butter Cup Cake that I will post later next week. Stay tuned and enjoy this recipe in the meantime.

To make this very quick frosting, make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and peanut butter until smooth and fluffy, 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add powdered sugar. Add the buttermilk 1 Tbsp at a time until desired, spreadable consistency. Beat on high speed for 2-3 minutes.

Frost cupcakes, spread on graham crackers, or put in a piping bag to create the Peanut Butter Cup Cake! To frost an entire cake, double or triple this recipe.

Peanut Butter Cream Frosting

Recipe by Sweet & Savory

Ingredients:

1/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup + 2 Tbsp powdered sugar
2 Tbsp buttermilk

Directions:

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and peanut butter together on high speed until smooth, 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating on low speed after each addition until combined. Add the buttermilk 1 Tbsp at a time until the mixture reaches frosting consistency. Beat the frosting for 2-3 minutes on high speed.

How To: Dice an Onion Like a Pro

2012-12-05T10:23:00.001-07:00

Do you ever watch cooking competition shows like Top Chef, Chopped, and Iron Chef and get really jealous of their ninja-like knife skills? I DO! The chefs on these shows move their knives with such precision and speed, creating uniform cuts of various ingredients, it seems they could dice a pound of potatoes blind-folded! I feel better about my tortoise-like-by-comparison knife skills when I think of the many hours of repetitive movement, hand cramping, and boxes of band-aids the chefs had to endure before reaching the skill level we see on TV. However, I do have some insider knowledge of how cooks and chefs chop so perfectly and I'm going to share them with you!

We will start with onions. I have a love/hate relationship with onions. I love eating onions: French onion soup, pearl onions in a stew, caramelized onions on a flatbread pizza, all of it is delicious! But I hate cutting them. I dread cutting them. I've tried holding a matchstick between my teeth, wearing glasses, all of the old wives' tales that supposedly keep you from crying your eyes out. They don't work. In the end, I've found it best to fight through the tears and eagerly await the final product. It's always worth it in the end!

Now, the lesson! Remember what I said earlier, no chef began chopping onions at lightening speed. It took years of practice and undoubtedly a few cuts to their fingers along the way. Practice makes perfect, so be patient with yourself.

First, some onion anatomy. An onion has two ends; the hairy root end and the pointy grow end.

Remove the outer paper-thin layers.

Cut the onion in half through the root end. You should have some of the hairy root end on both halves of your onion. This is very important! The root will hold the onion together while you make the various cuts.

Place the onion flat-side down on your cutting board. Pressing firmly on the top of the onion with your free hand, make 3-4 horizontal cuts across, but not completely through, the onion.

Rotate the onion one quarter turn toward you so the root end is facing away from you. Make 3-4 vertical cuts perpendicular to the cutting board all the way through the onion.

At this point, your onion should look like this with horizontal and vertical cuts. Now, prepare to feel like a Top Chef!

Rotate your onion one quarter turn away from you. Keeping your fingers out of the way, make vertical cuts through your onion. Start at the grow end and work your way toward the root end. Watch as the diced onion pieces fall uniformly onto your cutting board!

Now, sometimes you will want a large dice and other times you'll need to finely dice your onion. The more horizontal and vertical cuts you make, the smaller the pieces in the final product. This method is faster (less exposure to the onion=less crying!), creates a more uniform cut (no struggling with smaller pieces burning while larger pieces need more time to cook), and makes you feel like a professional (move over Bobby Flay!)

Feliz Thanksgiving: 8 kilograms, Mini Ovens, & Contraband Soup

2012-11-30T07:55:00.000-07:00

This year, I am working as an English language assistant in a public school in northern Spain. In October I left my quiet, happy life in Utah to live in a country with a different currency, measuring system, and language, 5,000 miles away from everyone I know and love. The first few weeks were a little rough with the eight hour time difference, finding an apartment, and separation anxiety from my car, but now that I am two months into my stay, I'm having the time of my life! I'm improving my Spanish, meeting new people, traveling through Europe, working with the best kids and teachers, and trying the most amazing food!

While I'm willing and excited to dive head first into Spanish culture, I'm reluctant to let go of all my Americana, including putting my napkin in my lap, my favorite TV shows (Gossip Girl, New Girl, 30 Rock, Happy Endings), and my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving! I mentioned in my Mexican Hot Chocolate Pie post that Thanksgiving is my favorite because of the menu planning, grocery shopping, hours in the kitchen, and sharing food with my loved ones. This was not my first Thanksgiving away from home, but it was definitely the first spent on a different continent. Did that drive me to deny myself a day of feasting and food comas? Never. Together with my fabulous roommates and the other language assistants in Ourense, we created a traditional Thanksgiving spread, drawing on our creativity, resourcefulness, and breaking a few airport security rules to acquire the necessary ingredients!

I'm exaggerating on the airport security rules. The green bean casserole cook bought the hard-to-find Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup on a weekend trip to Madrid. She had to plead her case to get it past airport security! We thanked her dedication and bravery by eating the entire casserole.

Turkey is not a common meat in Spain. In this country, ham is king. We special ordered an 8 kilo turkey (17.5 lbs) a week before our Thanksgiving feast. It did not come frozen like the butterball turkeys stocked eye high in Walmarts back home. The man at the deli sold us a fresh turkey, so fresh we had to remove a few feathers ourselves, with no giblets already removed. That presented a major gravy-making problem, but I'll get to that later.

The turkey brined in our tiny fridge overnight. Everything in my European kitchen is one size too small, including the roasting pan for the turkey! In order to prevent the bag from ripping on the turkey's feet (yes they left those on!) while it soaked in the savory herbs and spices, we double bagged the turkey, set it in a stock pot, set that stock pot in the roasting pan, and propped the bird up with Diet Coke and beer cans. That is the epitome turkey brining ingenuity!

Brown Sugar Thyme Turkey Brine

recipe adapted from epicurious.com

Ingredients:

8 quarts water
2 cups kosher salt
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp black pepper
2 tsp dried thyme OR 2 bunches fresh thyme
8 garlic cloves, smashed
rind from 1 orange, peeled in large strips
rind from 1 lemon, peeled in large strips

Directions:

In a large stockpot, combine water, salt, brown sugar, and pepper and stir until salt is dissolved. Add thyme, garlic, orange rind, and lemon rind and stir. Line a large roasting pan or stock pot with a plastic garbage bag. Rinse the thawed turkey and place in the plastic bag. Pour the brine over the turkey and tie off the plastic bag so the turkey is completely submerged in the brine. Refrigerate in the stock pot or roasting pan for 12-18 hours.

The next day, we prepared our brined turkey for roasting. At home, our turkey is set on a rack in a roasting pan to allow the drippings to collect in the bottom of the pan during roasting. Those drippings are later transformed into creamy, rich gravy. To compensate for the lack of roasting pan with a rack, the turkey roasted atop a bed of aromatics (chopped onions, carrots, celery, and apples) and was stuffed with onion, garlic, and the flesh from the lemons and oranges used in the brine. Before the bird went into the oven, I rubbed the skin with a compound butter made from room temperature butter, salt, pepper, and thyme.

As you can see, the bird took up the entire oven! I tented it with foil to prevent burning on the top and to facilitate auto-basting, similar to using a roasting bag which were nowhere to be found in the supermercado. We left the bird alone for 2 hours and 45 minutes. During this time, our power turned off twice because of the oven induced overexertion!

Nearly three hours into the turkeys roasting, I removed the tin foil and prepared a glaze. I glazed the bird three times in 15 minute intervals, rotating the pan after each coat to facilitate even browning. Finally, with the help of my stronger male roommate, the turkey was removed from the oven (it weighed a ton!), tented with foil, and left to rest for 30 minutes. It's very important to let meat rest after roasting or grilling. The resting time allows the meat the soak in the juices released during cooking. If you cut into hot steak or poultry right after it's cooked, all the juices will escape from the meat, leaving it dry and flavorless.

Brown Sugar Mustard Glaze

recipe by Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup dijon mustard

Directions:

In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar and mustard. Beginning 45 minutes-1 hour before the turkey is finished roasting, glaze the turkey with the brown sugar mustard mixture every 15 minutes, tenting with foil if browning too quickly.

Once the turkey had rested, we started the gravy. It took 2 people to tilt the roasting pan while 1 person held a saucepan underneath the collect the drippings! (Everything about this Thanksgiving was unorthodox!) I made a quick gravy by blending together some onion and apple slices from the roasting pan and the turkey drippings. I transferred that mixture to a saucepan, added a few tablespoons of flour, and whisked while the mixture came to a boil. Finally I added salt and pepper to taste. The gravy was slightly sweet and every one loved it!

This was our spread! We had all the classics, turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, two kinds of stuffing, creamed corn, green bean casserole, macaroni & cheese, and our friend from Argentina brought ham and cheese empanadas!

I loaded my plate with comfort food and joined my new friends in celebrating a tradition from our home. It was definitely a Thanksgiving to remember! We brought Thanksgiving to Spain with a fabulous dinner and decadent desserts....

Mexican Hot Chocolate Pie

Silky Smooth Pumpkin Pie

and Walnut Crumble Apple Pie!

Pumpkin Chorizo Pizza

2012-11-27T08:56:00.000-07:00

Raise your hand if you're still living off of Thanksgiving leftovers! During the weekend, my roommates and I dutifully devoured the best stuff first- mashed potatoes, macaroni & cheese, green bean casserole, and pie (we actually ate the pie for breakfast the next day). Now all that remains is enough turkey for a few sandwiches or salads and the leftover pumpkin puree from the pumpkin pie. Usually, I forget about the pumpkin puree until I find it weeks later, shoved into the back of my fridge and blanketed with mold....I'm not proud. So when I packaged the excess pumpkin puree in a tupperware this year I promised myself I'd use every last spoonful, and I have succeeded!

In my opinion, the best use of pumpkin puree is a glorious, smooth pumpkin pie. After that, I usually resort to pumpkin chocolate chip cookies or stir a few tablespoons into my morning oatmeal. I decided to take pumpkin puree into a completely different direction, not using it for sweets, but for something savory. The obvious answer to my savory pumpkin search is soup, but I wanted to try something a little more adventurous. Let me tell you, I was rewarded! And as will you after you try this Spanish/Mexican take on the classic pepperoni pizza.

Usually I like to make my own pizza crust. I haven't even tried to find yeast in the supermercado yet! For the sake of time and to avoid more grocery store headaches, I used a store bought, par-baked, 12-inch pizza crust. Adjust the amount of sauce and toppings needed for your pizza depending on the size of the crust you're working with.

Slice the onion and bell pepper into thin strips. In a skillet over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and bell pepper and salt and pepper liberally. Cook, stirring occasionally, until very soft 25-30 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside. In a small bowl, stir pumpkin puree, salt, pepper, thyme, and cayenne pepper.

Preheat your oven to the pizza crust's package or recipe instructions. In the same pan you used to cook the onions and bell pepper, on medium-high heat, cook the minced garlic until fragrant. Add the pumpkin puree mixture and chicken stock to the pan and stir to combine. Bring pumpkin sauce to a boil, the remove from heat.

Place pizza dough on a cookie sheet or round pizza pan. Spread the pumpkin sauce on the unbaked pizza crust.

Top with onions and bell peppers. Thinly slice the chorizo and add to the pizza. Scatter the cheese on top of the pizza and get excited!

Bake according to your pizza crust's packaging or recipe instructions. Try to let cool slightly before diving in!

Pumpkin Chorizo Pizza

Recipe by Sweet & Savory

Ingredients:

12-inch pizza crust (storebought or homemade)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 link Spanish chorizo, thinly sliced
1/2 cup grated cheese

Directions:

Heat olive oil in a fry pan over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper and salt and pepper liberally. Cook until soft, stirring occasionally, 25-30 minutes. Remove from pan.

Preheat your oven according to your pizza crust's packaging or recipe instructions. Combine pumpkin puree, salt, pepper, thyme, and cayenne pepper in a small bowl.

Heat the same pan used for cooking the onions and pepper to medium-high heat. Add the minced garlic and saute until fragrant. Add the pumpkin puree mixture and chicken stock and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat.

Place pizza crust on a cookie sheet or round pizza pan. Spread crust with pumpkin sauce, top with the onions and bell pepper, chorizo slices, and cheese. Bake according to the pizza crust's packaging or recipe instructions.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Pie

2012-11-24T17:26:00.000-07:00

Comfort food has the unique ability to give you a sense of being at home. I love living in Spain, but when the occasional bout of homesickness strikes, nothing makes me feel better faster than a quick skype session with my family, a Diet Coke, and a Reese's peanut butter cup! This week was Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday, and the fact that I was not celebrating it with a marathon cooking session with the Macy's Day Parade in the background was a little depressing. I was not alone in missing America on the most gluttonous of holidays. There are many other language assistants in my town that were also faced with the prospect of no Thanksgiving 2012! Since we couldn't sit idly by while our friends and families gorged themselves 4,000 miles away, we decided to have a celebration of our own. This year, the Americans in Orense brought Thanksgiving to Galicia! We crammed 17 people from America, as well as England, Argentina, and Spain, a 17.5 lb turkey, all the comfort food staple side dishes, and four pies into our little European piso and feasted until 1 am! Despite the lack of traditional Thanksgiving ingredients in the supermercado, we were able to successfully recreate green bean casserole, mashed potatoes with gravy, cranberry sauce, creamed corn, stuffing, macaroni and cheese, and the most important, pumpkin pie! Everything was delicious and everything tasted like home.

My favorite part of Thanksgiving, or any meal for that matter, is dessert. Out of the pies I baked this year, the one that was the least traditional was this Mexican Hot Chocolate Pie. I have expressed my love of all dishes Tex Mex, so it goes without saying that I am a HUGE fan of chocolate with a kick. I love the sensation of tasting the bitterness of dark chocolate followed by a slowly building burn of chili powder. If you have never experienced what I just described, you have got to make this pie!

This pie has a cookie crust. The original recipe calls for gingersnaps, but there were none in the supermercado. Time to improvise! I used these cinnamon cookies instead and the crust was fabulous! So, this cookie crust can be made with either gingersnaps or cinnamon graham crackers. It's up to you!

In a food processor, process the cookies until fine crumbs. Alternatively, crush cookies by placing them in a Ziploc bag and smashing them with a rolling pin. Add ginger, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, and salt and process to combine.

Add the melted butter and stir until the crumbs are moistened.

Press the crumb mixture firmly in an even layer on the bottom and sides of the pan. Freeze for at least 30 minutes while you prepare the chocolate filling.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a small saucepan on medium heat, heat the heavy cream until just bubbling around the edges. Chop the chocolate and place in a large bowl.

Pour the heated cream over the chopped chocolate and let sit for a minute or two. The finer you chop the chocolate, the faster it will melt! Whisk until smooth.

Whisk in the egg. Add the ginger, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, and a pinch of salt and whisk until smooth. A pinch of salt is more than you would think. For the purposes of the recipes I post on this blog, a pinch of salt is made from pinching your thumb, pointer finger, and middle finger together to grab a decent amount of salt. Remember, salt brings out sweetness so it's very necessary in dessert recipes!

Pour chocolate mixture into the chilled cookie crust. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the filling is set on the sides, but wobbles slightly in the center. Let cool to room temperature, then chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight.

Just before serving, remove the pie from the refrigerator while you prepare the cinnamon whipped cream. This is the best part! With an electric mixer or wire whisk, whip the cream, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, and salt until soft peaks form.

Spread the whipped cream on top of the pie in an even layer. Cut into the pie, take a bite, agree that spicy dark chocolate is the best flavor in the world, and devour the rest of your slice!

Mexican Hot Chocolate Pie

Recipe adapted from Allison Kave's First Prize Pies

Ingredients:

Cookie Crust:

1 3/4 - 2 cups gingersnap or cinnamon graham cracker crumbs

1/8 tsp grated fresh ginger

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

pinch of salt

8 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Dark Chocolate Filling:

7 oz dark chocolate, finely chopped

1 cup heavy cream

1 egg, room temperature

1/8 tsp grated fresh ginger

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

pinch of salt

Cinnamon Whipped Cream:

1 1/2 cups heavy cream, cold

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

pinch of salt

Directions:

In a food processor, process cookies until fine crumbs. Add ginger, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, and salt and pulse to combine. With the processor running, add the melted butter in a steady stream until all the crumbs are moistened. Press crumb mixture firmly onto the bottom and sides of a pie tin and freeze for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Finely chop the chocolate and set in a large bowl. In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the heavy cream until just bubbling on the edges. Pour the heated cream over the chopped chocolate and let sit 1-2 minutes. Whisk until smooth. Whisk in the egg. Add the ginger, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, and salt and whisk until smooth. Pour the chocolate mixture into the chilled cookie crust.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until the edges are set and the center is still slightly wobbly. Let cool to room temperature, then chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours or overnight.

Just before serving, remove pie from refrigerator. Using an electric mixer or wire whisk, beat heavy cream, sugar, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, and salt until soft peaks form. Spread in an even layer on top of the pie. Serve immediately.

Quick Buttermilk Substitute

2012-11-24T09:03:00.000-07:00

It's going to happen. More than once. You will be mid-recipe when you'll realize-yikes!-you don't have a vital ingredient. Ideally, you should make sure you have your entire ingredient list before beginning a recipe because sometimes your mental list of the contents of your pantry differs from the actual inventory of your pantry. Thank goodness for easy substitutes. In the case of buttermilk, all you need is regular milk and lemon juice or vinegar. It's not as good as the real thing, but it will do in a pinch!

Living in Spain, some recipes consist entirely of substitutes. It's very challenging and frustrating to be out of my element (pun) when cooking in another country, but it also forces me to get creative! I could not find buttermilk anywhere in the supermercado for my buttermilk pancakes, so I bought milk (which comes in a cardboard carton over here) and a lemon instead.

This recipe makes 1 cup of buttermilk. Multiply or divide to get the amount your recipe calls for.

Buttermilk Substitute

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp acid (lemon juice or white vinegar)
15 Tbsp (just under 1 cup) dairy (milk, heavy cream, or half & half)

Directions:

In a liquid measuring cup, combine acid and milk. Let sit for 5 minutes. Continue your recipe!

How to: Microwave Poached Egg

2012-11-24T08:28:00.000-07:00

Cooking for one. It happens in dorm rooms, apartments with old appliances, or houses stuffed with so many roommates, you have to play tetris with all the items in your fridge to find a space for your milk jug. Still, I see none of those conditions as an excuse for Ramen noodle and mac & cheese dinners every night. No one deserves that boring dining experience. My escape from boxed meals is the incredible, edible egg. You can make SO many inexpensive, quick, and tasty dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with this thing! Many are familiar with the basic scrambling, frying, and hard boiling, but my cooking method of choice is neither of these. It's poaching.

Poaching eggs is done in a pot of simmering water with a splash of vinegar. It is a delicate process because the egg will easily fall apart and leave you with something resembling extremely watered-down egg drop soup if something goes wrong. While it's definitely worth the time to learn how to correctly poach an egg, there is a very convenient shortcut for those days when you're starving and need to eat NOW. The shortcut is.....the microwave! All you need is 5 minutes, a microwave safe glass, cooking spray, an egg, and you've got yourself the makings of a healthy meal.

To start, spray the inside of a microwave safe glass, mug, bowl, etc with cooking spray. Fill the inside of your cup with 2 tsp of water, barely enough to coat the bottom of the glass. Crack your egg into the glass and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.

Time to cook! Put the glass in the microwave and cook for 30 seconds for soft yolk or 1 minute for hard yolk. Remove from microwave. If there is water left over in the bottom of the glass, tip your glass to drain the water.

Use a spoon to gently remove your poached egg from the glass.

For breakfast, serve the egg with toast. For lunch or dinner, serve on top of salad greens topped with your favorite dressing.

Nutella Bites

2012-11-22T06:08:00.000-07:00

Is there anything better than Nutella? Seriously. I used to think the most divine spreadable food was peanut butter, and while it still holds a very special place in my heart, it was knocked off it's ooey gooey pedestal once I discovered this chocolate, hazelnut counterpart. I love Nutella. I eat it on graham crackers, bananas, over my ice cream....sometimes straight out of the container....don't say you never have!

However, when I'm in the company of other people (hence, it is not appropriate to take my Nutella straight up) I find a more civilized, and very cute, way to eat this chocolatey spread is sealed in pastry. When you combine Nutella and pastry dough, something magical happens. Words won't do it justice, but I'll try. The buttery dough bakes to flaky perfection on the outside while Nutella melts ever so slightly inside the pastry pocket. The end result, buttery pastry with a smooth, gooey chocolate, hazelnut center. This is the perfect way to get your chocolate fix!

This recipe is extremely versatile. I love using equal parts butter and cream cheese in my dough, but you may use your favorite pie dough recipe or store bought pie dough. You can also substitute the Nutella for another filling, like peanut butter, but I've found the peanut butter tends to dry out a little during baking if it's of the crunchy variety. Experiment. Find a filling/dough combination you love! This recipe as I've written it here yields 2 dozen Nutella Bites.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.

Make sure your unsalted butter and cream cheese are at room temperature. In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat butter and cream cheese until smooth.

In a separate bowl, whisk flour and salt together. Add to butter, cream cheese mixture with the mixer on low speed. Mix until just combined.

With a rubber spatula, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure the dry ingredients are fully incorporated.

Turn the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and flatten into a disk. Cover with the plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out to 1/8" thickness (think of the height of 2 quarters stacked on top of one another). Using a round biscuit cutter, cut as many rounds as you can from the dough, gathering and re-rolling the scraps to cut more.

Assemble the bites in batches. Keep the pastry rounds you're not filling in the fridge. It's important not to allow the butter in the dough to warm to room temperature. This will result in a less flaky dough. If you're not up to baking all the bites in one go, you can store the extra dough, stacked with a little plastic wrap between each layer, in a ziploc bag in your freezer for up to 1 month.

To assemble the bites, scoop a tiny spoonful (1/2 tsp) of Nutella onto each round. Do not overfill or the Nutella will squeeze out of the sides when you fold the pastry dough in half. Dip your index finger in water and wet the edges of the pastry round.

Fold pastry round in half, pressing gently with fingers to seal edges together. Using a fork, seal the edges completely. If making the Nutella bites ahead, assemble them to this point, then lay them flat on a cookie sheet and freeze for a few hours. Once they are frozen, you can store them all in a ziploc freezer bag for up to 1 month. When ready to serve, follow the regular baking instructions.

Place the Nutella bites onto your silpat or parchment lined baking sheet and bake in your preheated oven until the bites are golden brown, 15-18 minutes.

Allow to cool slightly, but not all the way as these are the very best when warm. When ready to serve, dust with powdered sugar.

Nutella Bites

recipe adapted from foodnetwork.com

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

4 oz cream or neufchatel cheese, room temperature

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

4 Tbsp Nutella, creamy peanut butter, jam, etc

powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silpat.

In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk flour and salt together. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to butter, cream cheese mixture until just incorporated. Scrape down sides and bottom of mixing bowl with a rubber spatula.

Turn dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, flatten into a disc 1 inch thick, and wrap completely in plastic wrap. Chill for at least 30 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the pastry dough out to 1/8 inch thick. Using a round biscuit cutter, cut rounds out of the rolled dough, gathering and re-rolling the scraps to make more rounds.

When assembling the bites, work in batches, keeping the extra pastry dough rounds cold in the fridge. Place 1/2 tsp Nutella on each round. Dip your index finger in some water and wet the edges of the pastry dough round. Fold the dough in half, lightly pinching the edges together to seal. Use a fork to seal the edges of the pastry dough completely.

Bake bites on the prepared baking sheet for 15-18 minutes until golden brown. Let cool slightly, then dust with powdered sugar.

Sunshine Cupcakes

2012-11-22T05:52:00.000-07:00

A few summers ago, I vacationed in upstate New York at the Finger Lakes at my friend's lake house. I know right?! Before you get too jealous of my wonderful connections, I'll tell you that it rained 75% of the time I was there, ruining my plans to sunbathe and water ski to my heart's content. (I have fair skin and can not tan and I've never water skiied a day in my life, but when imagining a summer on a lake one fantasizes of these things.)
One day my friend's neighbor kindly brought us treats. She had baked a "sunshine cake" and I laughed at the irony of it. Also, the fact that the cake was chilled made it seem even less sunny to me. However, with the first bite of my slice, all my cynicism was obliterated by the fresh citrus punch of the cake. The mandarin oranges lend a sweet moisture to the cake while the smooth cream cheese mixed with tangy pineapple compliment the cake to create a citrus "sunny" flavor.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 24 cupcake tins with paper liners. In your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix cake mix, eggs, canola oil, and mandarin oranges on low speed until completely combined, then continue to mix on high until fluffy (2-3 minutes)

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full and bake for 20-25 minutes until they look like this

Golden brown. Let rest in pan for 5 minutes then transfer to rack to cool completely.

Beat cream cheese and butter in stand mixer with paddle attachment until fluffy. Add vanilla, sugar, drained pineapple, and Jello mix and beat until fluffy...er. Add yellow food coloring, if you want your frosting to be extra sunny. I didn't, but next time I will!

Frost your cooled cupcakes or eat the frosting with a spoon....I won't judge

I wish my camera could pick up the moisture content of these cupcakes. Garnish with candied lemon peel, orange peel, colored sugar, etc if desired. Stick them in the fridge. Room temp, these cupcakes are pretty good, but cold and rested they are AMAZING! So try to be patient.

Sunshine Cupcakes:

recipe by Sweet & Savory

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

1 box yellow cake mix
4 eggs
1/4 cups canola oil
1 can (11 oz) mandarin oranges, undrained and crushed

Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 cups (2 sticks) salted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 can (20 oz) crushed pineapple, drained
1 cups powdered sugar
1 box Jello cheesecake mix
yellow food coloring, if desired

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 24 cupcake tins with cupcake liners. In stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat cake mix, eggs, and vegetable oil until combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl with rubber spatula. Add crushed mandarin oranges with juice and beat for 3 more minutes.

Fill each cupcake liner 2/3 of the way full with batter. Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Let rest in pan for 5 minutes, then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting. In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Add vanilla, pineapple, powdered sugar, and Jello mix and beat until combined. Stir in a few drops of yellow food coloring, if desired.

Have at it! Frost your cupcakes and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to overnight before serving.

White Chocolate Cranberry Bars

2012-11-22T05:39:00.000-07:00

During this holiday season, I needed a high yield dessert recipe for a Christmas potluck. I'd had my fill of pumpkin pie and all things chocolate, so I choose to bake my take on Starbuck's seasonal Cranberry Bliss Bars. These fly off the shelves at the coffee shop each year and mine were a huge hit at my potluck. The distinct flavors and textures of the sweet, crunchy, red cranberries, tangy orange zest, and fragrant yellow crystallized ginger are all tied together by the creamy white chocolate in this fall brownie-like dessert.

Note: buy your crystallized, or candied ginger at an Asian market. At Smith's 2 ounces costs $10.99. I got mine for $3.99 for 10 oz at my nearby Asian market. Do not panic if you can't use it immediately. When stored in an air tight container, crystallized ginger has a 2 year shelf life.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and spray a 9x13" baking pan with cooking spray. I like Baker's Joy because it takes care of the buttering AND the flouring of your dish for you!

Cream your butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy 2-3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition.

Add vanilla and minced crystallized ginger. Mix to combine. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

Slowly add in increments the dry ingredients to butter and sugar mixture with the mixer on low speed. Scrape the bowl. Add white chocolate chips and chopped craisins and mix by hand until just combined.

Evenly spread batter into prepared baking dish. Bake 20-25 minutes until the edges look like.....

This! Golden brown. Let cool completely before frosting.

While the bars cool, prepare the frosting. Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar while gradually adding lemon juice, 1 tsp. at a time. Add vanilla extract and orange zest and beat until combined.

The frosting should be thick like this. Set frosting aside while you prepare the white chocolate drizzle.

Place shortening and white chocolate chips in a heat proof bowl over a saucepan filled with 1 inch of simmering water.

This is called a double boiler. (It's a good technique to be familiar with, but if you're short on time, melt the chocolate and shortening in the microwave)

Allow to melt slightly on the double boiler, then whisk until smooth. Pour into a Ziploc bag and set aside.

Time to build! Spread frosting evenly on cooled bars.

Sprinkle with chopped craisins.

Snip one corner of the Ziploc bag with the white chocolate drizzle in it and drizzle over bars in a criss cross pattern. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. I like to cut mine into triangles. Make 5 vertical slices and 3 horizontal slices. This gives you 24 bars. You can stop here, or do what I do and make a diagonal slice through each bar creating 2 triangles. This gives you 48, three-bite triangle portions.

Aren't the triangles cute? I think so. I also think if you are able to wait a full calendar year between gnoshing on these fall treats you are a superstar. I'll be making these in the spring, summer, and winter as well!

I had to post this. I let my dog sample the batter while I was cleaning up. She approves!

White Chocolate Cranberry Bars

Recipe adapted from Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars by Todd Wilbur

Ingredients:

Bars:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 T crystallized ginger, minced
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. fine salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/4 cups craisins, chopped
3/4 cups white chocolate chips

Frosting:
4 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
4 tsp. lemon juice
3 tsp. orange zest
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cups craisins, chopped

White Chocolate Drizzle:
3/4 cups white chocolate chips
2 tsp. shortening

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9x13" baking dish with cooking spray. In a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light 2-3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl between each addition with a rubber spatula. Add vanilla extract and crystallized ginger and mix to combine.

In a separate bowl whisk flour, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture gradually until just combined. Scrape the bowl, incorporating any remaining flour into the batter. Mix white chocolate chips and craisins into batter by hand.

Evenly spread batter into prepared dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the edges are lightly golden brown. Let cool completely before frosting.

While bars are cooling, prepare the frosting. In a standing mixer with a paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and powdered sugar, adding lemon juice 1 tsp. at a time to reach thick frosting consistency. Add orange zest and vanilla extract and beat. Set aside.

In a double boiler, prepare the white chocolate drizzle. Melt white chocolate chips and shortening, whisking to combine thoroughly. Pour into Ziploc bag and set aside.

Time to build! Spread on top of cooled bars. Sprinkle the 1/4 cups chopped craisins evenly on top of the frosted bars. Make a small snip in one corner of the ziploc bag with the white chocolate drizzle in it. Drizzle over the bars in a criss cross pattern. Refrigerate bars for at least 1 hour before slicing. (or if you're impatient, pop them into the freezer for 30 minutes to let the frosting set.) Makes 24 bars or 48 triangle slices.

One Ingredient Ice Cream

2012-11-22T05:25:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or are frozen yogurt shops popping up faster than CSI spinoffs? I'm not complaining. For me, frozen yogurt is the ultimate sweet treat, not to mention, a healthy alternative to ice cream. Each of them have so many flavors from classic vanilla to bubble gum with toppings from sprinkles, berries, and candy bar bits to mochi and fruity pebbles. When I'm feeling frozen yogurt, I am that person who has to sample EVERY flavor in the shop before I decide on the one. Then, I lose all self control at the topping bar, where I pile white chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips, Reese's peanut butter cups, Butterfinger, cheesecake bits, brownie bits, and whatever else catches my eye atop my soft serve swirl. By the time I get to the cash register and the yogurt scale, the toppings outweigh the fro-yo. I have then officially cancelled out any health benefits frozen yogurt offers over ice cream. But do I lament this fact? Never! I enjoy every spoonful.

While the self-serve-charge-by-weight franchises offer frozen yogurt for just cents per ounce, frequenting these shops adds up. Even still, budget and calorie wise, frozen yogurt comes out ahead of ice cream. But what if I told you I know of a cool, sweet treat that is cheaper and healthier than frozen yogurt? What if I told you it's made from one ingredient? Well, I'm telling you. It's BANANAS!

Frozen, overripe bananas take on an ice cream-like consistency when blended in a food processor or blender. Fresh bananas become bitter when frozen, so wait until your fruit is speckled brown for firmer, scooped ice cream consistency, or until they have large brown spots for a more soft-serve texture. Whatever your preference, this treat is inexpensive, quick, healthy, and delicious!

For a large scoop size portion, you need 2 overripe bananas. (I like soft-serve consistency, so I chose super ripe bananas.) Peel them, cut in half, then slice each half into 1 inch pieces. Place those pieces in the freezer until they're, well, frozen:)

After an hour or two, the pieces should be firm, but not rock hard like ice. Little crystals may be present on the flesh of the fruit.

Dump the pieces into your blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then blend for a few seconds more.

Now from here you can either eat the banana ice cream as is or you can add a tablespoon of nutella or peanut butter, a drizzle of caramel sauce, or a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar. Experiment with your favorite flavors!

Unlike my frozen yogurt extravaganzas, I like this treat simple. I top my banana ice cream with whipped cream, caramel sauce, and walnuts. That's how I do a healthy ice cream sundae!

One Ingredient Ice Cream

recipe by Sweet & Savory

Ingredients:

2 overripe bananas, frozen and cut into pieces

desired ice cream toppings (nuts, caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, sprinkles, etc.)

Directions:

In a food processor, pulse frozen banana pieces until smooth. Scrape the sides of the food processor and pulse 2-3 times more.

Scoop into an ice cream bowl and create your ice cream sundae.

Flaky Pie Crust

2012-11-21T14:59:00.001-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving! Tomorrow may be just another Thursday in Spain, but that will not stop me from celebrating my favorite holiday. Would you believe me if I said I love Thanksgiving more than Christmas? It's true! Each year I look forward to the menu planning, grocery shopping, baking pies late into the night on Wednesday, waking up early on Thursday to roast the turkey and watch the Macy's Day Parade, and finally, timing the many side dishes perfectly so they are steaming hot when the glorious turkey is removed from the oven! My family is full of cooks and we LOVE slaving away all day in the kitchen before sharing an oversized meal with our friends and family.

My Thanksgiving in Spain will take place on Friday this year. We have invited all the Americans we know to have a Thanksgiving feast at our apartment. We had plans to recreate the traditional menu we all grew up with, until we ventured into the supermercado! There are no pecans, no pumpkin puree, no cranberries, no cream of mushroom soup or fried onions (there goes the green bean casserole!), and no sweet potatoes. So, it seems we will have to be a little more creative and resourceful with our side dishes. Fortunately, we were able to get our hands on a 17 lb turkey through a special order at a carnicería.

"Turkey, raised in Galicia. The flavor of tradition." At least we will have a golden, roasted bird at the center of our Thanksgiving table!

True to my sweet-tooth form, I have appointed myself "Chief Pie Maker." I originally planned to stick to the basics: pumpkin, pecan, and something sinful and chocolatey. However, the aforementioned lack of pumpkins and pecans in the Spanish supermarkets presented a major obstacle. I was able to track down a sugar pumpkin from which I made my own pumpkin puree, and the pecan pie will likely become a walnut pie. (Stay tuned to see how that turns out!) Combing the grocery store for my ingredients was exhausting, frustrating, and depressing. I was worried about finding any ingredient other than sugar and flour for my pies until I made my way to the refrigerated section where I found stacks upon stacks of butter-the key to a flaky pie crust. Thank goodness butter is well-loved around the world!

Back home in Utah, I am constantly switching between making pie crust with butter or Crisco. I like the flavor butter lends to pie crust, but sometimes I find Crisco produces a flakier final product. This has led me to experiment with all butter, all Crisco, and half butter half Crisco. In the end, it comes down to personal preference. If you are a butter person, this recipe can be made with all butter. If you love Crisco, use all Crisco. If you are on the fence, try half and half. I found butter at the Spanish grocery store before I found Crisco, so I stuck with butter this time!

**This recipe can be made by hand or in a food processor. I like to make mine by hand because the dough is more likely to be overworked in the food processor. That's my opinion! If using a food processor, pulse flour, salt, and sugar until combined. Add cold butter cubes and pulse until the mixture resembles gravel (not sand). Add the ice water 1 Tbsp at a time until the dough comes together in a ball. Remove from the food processor, separate into two balls, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 1 hour before rolling out.**

The key to flaky pie crust is keep the butter cold. The colder the butter (or Crisco) the better. When cold butter meets the heat in the hot oven, the butter will melt quickly creating steam. The steam is what forms the flaky pockets of pastry in the pie dough. Cut your butter into small cubes and place in the freezer. Fill a liquid measuring cup with 1/2 cup water and a few ice cubes. Set aside. Mix the flour, salt, and sugar together with a wire whisk.

Remove the butter from the freezer and scatter over the flour mixture. Using a pastry blender, fork, or your hands, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it reaches the consistency of gravel, not sand. You want to leave larger chunks of butter in the dough. The larger pieces of butter help to form the flaky layers in the dough while it bakes, so don't pulverize them all to achieve the sandy texture.

Remove the ice cubes from the water. Sprinkle the cold water over the pie dough 1 Tbsp at a time, while mixing gently, until the dough comes together to form a ball. Separate the dough into two balls.

Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour before rolling. The dough will stay fresh in the fridge for one week or up to three months in the freezer. Make sure the dough is wrapped very tightly if refrigerating for more than 1 hour or if freezing.

Flaky Pie Crust

Recipe by Sweet & Savory

Ingredients:

2 cups flour, spooned into measuring cups, NOT packed
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes
      OR 1 scant cup Crisco, cold, broken into small pieces
      "scant" cup=unpacked cup. Realistically, it equals a level 3/4 cup
1/2 cup ice water

Directions:

Cut the butter into small cubes and place in the freezer. (Alternatively, place the measured Crisco in the freezer and break into small pieces just before mixing with the dry ingredients) Place a few ice cubes in the 1/2 cup water and set aside.

With a wire whisk, mix flour, sugar, and salt. Scatter the butter (or Crisco) over the flour mixture. Using a fork, pastry cutter, or your fingers, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles gravel.

Remove the ice cubes from the water. Sprinkle the water over the pie dough 1 Tbsp at a time while mixing gently. Stop adding water when the dough will hold a ball shape. Do not overwork the dough!

Separate the dough into two pieces and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Chill for at least 1 hour before rolling. Makes enough dough for a double pie crust.

Southwest Loaded Baked Potato

2012-11-14T14:44:00.001-07:00

Ahhh the potato. Is there a starch more versatile than this glorious spud? What would a hamburger be without french fries? A summer BBQ without potato salad? A late night snack run to the kitchen without potato chips? Your Thanksgiving feast without mashed potatoes? And it's not just Americans that have perfected recipes highlighting this staple crop. I adore potatoes in perogies, spicy Indian curry, or Spanish tortilla just as much as the recipes I grew up with! When I bought the "on sale" sack of potatoes this week at the grocery store, instead of exploring the variety of international cuisines and cooking techniques that a potato can adopt, I decided to take the spud back to basics. We are making a baked potato!

I am guilty of fake baking potatoes in the microwave. When I'm starving, and not in my right mind, 5 minutes cooking time ALWAYS trumps 60 minutes cooking time. However, my apartment in Spain does not have a microwave. Sure, I could invest in a new appliance, but I like that I'm forced to be a little more resourceful than I am back home in my fully stocked and completely operable kitchen. Here, I am required to do a little more menu planning.

When you give a potato the hour it deserves to bake slowly in an oven, it rewards you for your patience. Its crispy exterior crunches delicately under your fork before opening to reveal a burst of steam and soft, cloud-like, creamy potato flesh. At this point, a little salt and pepper is all you need to make a baked potato sing. I'm giving it some Southwestern flair with a roasted red bell pepper, sauteed onions, an egg, and lots of melty cheese!

This is another infinitely adaptable recipe. You can fill your baked potato with just about anything you have in your fridge, including diced chicken, turkey, or ham. After you've tried my Southwest inspired recipe, tweak your potato filling to make this recipe your own!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Using a fork, prick the potato a few times on all sides. Rub a teaspoon of olive oil on the outside of your potato and salt and pepper liberally. Bake for 1 hour until a knife inserts easily into the potato. Set potato aside to cool briefly.

While your potato cools, start working on your onion and bell pepper. Heat the remaining olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Saute the diced onion until soft and translucent, 10 minutes. Set aside. Turn your broiler on to high and place the pepper in the oven skin side up. Check its progress often and rotate if needed to achieve an even char on the surface. If you have a gas stove, char the pepper on your burner directly over the flame.

Place pepper in a ziploc bag until cool enough to touch. This will allow steam to accumulate around the bell pepper, making it easier to peel when cool. Peel the skin from the pepper and dice the flesh.

Now, back to the star of the show! Remove a layer from the top of the potato and scrape out the insides. You can either save the inside of the potato or eat them. I almost always eat them! Leave a thin potato layer on the sides when you're hollowing it out.

Now we are to the fun part. Fill your potato with the diced onion and pepper leaving enough space at the top for.....

The egg. Just crack that baby directly into your potato.

Sprinkle some cheese on top and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until the egg white is set and the yolk is soft.

Here is the finished product. Fresh out of the oven, it looks quaint and semi-interesting....

but after you attack the potato with your fork and the soft egg yolk cascades over the melted cheese and roasted vegetables, you know it's time to dive in! I made a little side salad out of my leftover vegetables. Waste not, want not!

Southwest Loaded Baked Potato

Recipe by Sweet & Savory

Ingredients:

1 medium potato
1 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
salt and pepper
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper
cheese (the amount you use is up to you!)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. With a fork, prick the surface of the potato a few times on all sides. Rub 1 tsp. olive oil on the outside of the potato and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Bake for 1 hour until a knife inserts easily into the potato. Set aside until cool enough to handle with your hands.

While your potato cools, prepare the onion and bell pepper. Heat the remaining 2 tsp. of olive oil over medium heat. Add the diced onion and saute until the onion is translucent and soft, 10 minutes. Set aside. Heat your broiler to its highest heat setting. Place the bell pepper half under the broiler skin side up. Check the pepper's progress often, as you may need to rotate it to get an even char on all sides, and remove from oven when skin is charred black. If you have a gas stove, you can also blacken your pepper directly on your stove top over the flame. When the bell pepper skin is charred black, place in a plastic bag until cool enough to touch. Peel off the skin and dice the pepper flesh.

Slice a layer off the top of the potato and hollow the inside out with a spoon, leaving a thin layer on all sides. Fill your potato with the diced onion and bell pepper. Crack the egg on top of the vegetables and sprinkle as much cheese as desired on top. Return potato to the oven for 20 minutes, until the white is set and the yolk is still soft.

Glazed Lemon Cake

2012-11-08T16:56:00.000-07:00

I baked these cakes during my summertime all-things-lemon frenzy after I grossly overestimated the amount of citrus fruit needed for the citrus bridal shower. So, why did I wait to publish this post until now? Surely not because I am a habitual procrastinator, no. I reserved this recipe until now because miniature loaves of quick bread are the answer to every holiday gift giving conundrum and this recipe is my favorite quick bread of all time! When wrapped in cellophane and tied with a festive ribbon, these make the perfect tangy and sweet holiday gift for your child's teacher, your neighbors, or the host of the next dinner party you attend. Because a polite dinner party guest should never show up empty handed!

As I said, this is my favorite quick bread recipe. I love it more than banana, zucchini, coconut, apple, and even pumpkin chocolate chip bread. The fresh lemon zest and juice in the sugary glaze coats your taste buds with a zesty, bright flavor that is subtly echoed in the buttery, light lemon cake. It's delicious in the summertime and a flavorful reminder of summertime during these colder months of the year.

This recipe yields enough batter to fill a bundt pan, loaf pan, or four mini loaf pans. I like to make mini loaves because a) everything's cuter in miniature and b) I can never have just one slice of this cake and I fell better about eating 2 mini slices of lemon cake than 2 big slices!

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter and flour a bundt pan, loaf pan, or 4 mini loaf pans. I like to take this preparation one step further and line the bottom of the loaf pans with parchment paper. This ensures even browning of the bottom and sides of the cakes as well as an easy release from the pan after baking.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Alternating with the buttermilk, and dry ingredients to the butter and sugar mixture in three additions.

Add the lemon juice and zest. Scrape the bowl to ensure all the ingredients are combined. Do not over mix the batter.

Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 65-70 minutes if using a bundt or loaf pan or 15-20 minutes for mini loaf pans.

Bake until the cake's edges are golden brown and pull away from the side of the pan slightly or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool on a wire rack while you prepare the glaze.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar. Add the lemon juice and zest and beat until smooth. Sample if you must, you must, but keep in mind you have to glaze an entire cake too!

With a toothpick or wooden skewer, poke holes in the warm cakes. Pour the glaze on top of the cakes and allow to cool completely in the pan and the glaze to set. When cool, remove from pans, slice, and serve.

If you are able to stop yourself after eating one slice, I salute you.

Glazed Lemon Cake

recipe adapted from Silver Palate Cookbook

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 Tbsp lemon zest, tightly packed
2 Tbsp lemon juice

Lemon Glaze

1 lb powdered sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
3 Tbsp lemon zest, tightly packed
1/2 cup lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter and flour a bundt pan, loaf pan, or 4 mini loaf pans. If using loaf pans, line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time.

In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients in three additions to creamed butter and sugar mixture alternating with the buttermilk. Add lemon juice and zest.

Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for 1 hr 5 minutes if using a bundt or loaf pan, 15-20 minutes for mini loaf pans. The edges will be golden brown and will pull away from the side of the pan slightly and a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean when done. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

While the cake is cooling, prepare the lemon glaze. Cream butter and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add lemon zest and juice.

Using a wood skewer, poke holes in the cake. Pour the icing over the surface of the cake. Allow to cool completely in the pan. When the cake is completely cool, turn out of the pan and serve.