Tag Archives: recipes

do you dream in buttercream?

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Well I don’t actually  dream in buttercream, but it makes for a jazzy sounding post title.

So I have been working and working on a buttercream frosting worthy of posting and I accomplished it with a birthday cake I baked last weekend.

So here it is:

Dreamy Vanilla Rosewater  Buttercream  Frosting

(frosts a 9 inch layer cake and 2 -3 dozen cupcakes depending on how frosted you want things)

1 cup of butter softened (1 stick salted, 1 stick unsalted)

4 cups of sifted confectioners sugar

7 teaspoons of half and half (maybe a smidgen more, maybe a smidgen less depending on what you want)

1 Teaspoon of rosewater (as in used for COOKING)

1 1/4 Teaspoons of a good vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon of salt

Combine butter, sugar, and salt until well blended and smooth (use a mixer and use a large bowl and don’t splatter)

Add half and half and vanilla and rosewater and beat until smooth – between 4 and 6 minutes.

Come on people, how easy was that?  Why use frosting in a can?

You can add a couple of squares of unsweetened baking chocolate melted to turn this frosting chocolate.  You can add about 2/3 cup of shredded sweetened coconut to make coconut dream frosting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the best mac & cheese….ever

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Yesss….comfort food season is upon us. 

How would you like my macaroni and cheese recipe?

If you are on a diet, or can’t eat rich oooey cheesy goodness, DO NOT make this recipe.  And this is not your mama’s mac and cheese, it’s a special occasion make once in a while kind of deal.

And oh yes, as a related aside, I love these old vintage Dansk Koben Style Dutch ovens from the 1950’s and 1960s?  I picked a couple up in sunny yellow at different tag sales years ago.

Dansk is reissuing them and selling through Crate and Barrel.  Boy am I glad I scored mine at $5 a piece quite a few years ago.  They are quite the tasty price now if purchased new in 2012 (the pricing is a bit ridiculous I think). I have a 4 quart and what I make the Mac & Cheese in, a 6 quart.  They also reissued the baking pan from the Koben Style line.  Save your money on that one – everything sticks to the enamel on that particular pan, so unless you want to be a dishwashing slave, skip it.

Anyway…These Dutch Ovens (Dansk Kobenstyle) do show up often on Ebay and at tag sales.  The prices on Ebay can get a little rich for my blood on them. But if you can score one of either size for $20 or under, you got a great deal.  Mine were a steal, but I collected them before they became collectable – my original impetus was my mother had a 6 quart Kobenstyle Dutch Oven and I loved cooking with it and wanted one of my own. I ended up with two. And seriously, I use them ALL the time.

The Best Macaroni and Cheese…Ever

6 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup flour

salt and pepper to taste

2 cups low-fat half and half

1 3/4 cups light cream

8 oz cream cheese (block not in the tub)

1 box of elbow macaroni or small pasta of your choice (16 oz)

5 cups of grated/shredded cheese (I buy the mix – Cheddar and Monterey Jack, or the “macaroni and cheese blend” which also has  American)

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 a medium onion minced

Healthy dash of Worcestershire sauce

Healthy dash of Tabasco sauce

Small dash of ground mace

8 slices of cooked and crumbled thick bacon

Melt butter in dutch oven. Add onion, cook a few minutes until translucent. (4 minutes on my stove on a medium flame I watch like a hawk so not to burn butter.)

Reduce heat to low and whisk in flour and salt and mace. When it all comes together like a white paste you are finished with that step.

Slowly add half and half.  Add Tabasco and Worcestershire.

Slowly add light cream.

Bring it up to a boil and then reduce heat to low.

Add grated parmesan cheese.  When that is incorporated and smooth, add cream cheese.  When that is incorporated and smooth slowly add the other cheese (cheddar blend see above).

Stir, stir, stir so nothing sticks and turn off burner and move sauce off the heat. (Here’s a tip – I remove a cup of the sauce to a separate container – I usually cook this a day ahead, so when I reheat I add the extra sauce as it heats up – some people just heat up with extra milk – I find this thins it out)

Cook your pasta as per the instructions on the box. Drain but do not rinse.

Fold into your cheese sauce in the Dutch Oven.  Add the crumbled bacon and gently fold a little more until all incorporated. Check your mac and cheese and add additional salt and fresh ground pepper to your taste.

You can either serve as is, or throw Dutch Oven into the fridge and eat a day later.  If you choose the eat a day later option, reheat slowly on stove top on very low and add back in the extra cheese sauce which you put in a separate air tight container and refrigerated along with big batch of mac & cheese.

If you don’t use the extra cheese sauce in the re-heating of the mac and cheese, you can store for a few days and use on other things (like broccoli)

This is very rich, but super yummy.  This recipe will serve a crowd easily as you won’t want to dish up honking huge portions.

And hey, if dishing up to grown-ups give a rough chop to some fresh Italian Flat Leaf Parsley and toss on top when serving as a garnish.

chocolate peanut butter madness

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Enough of politics and development for the week, let’s get back to cooking!

So….you know I have a thing about “magic” or “seven layer” bars…they are easy to make, look much fancier than they really are…and kids (of all ages LOL) love them.

So can you stand yet another variation??

Chocolate Peanut Butter Madness

1 package Devil’s Food Cake Mix (or dark chocolate or even German Chocolate will do)

1 egg

1/2 cup of butter melted

1/2 cup of peanut butter (smooth) melted

1 bag of Reese’s peanut butter chips (they are usually about 10 oz)

1 1/3 cups of semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips (I like those 60% dark cacao ones)

1 1/3 cups of shredded coconut

1 cup chopped pecans or peanuts

1 can of Eagle brand condensed milk (unless you are buying say the Goya equivalent use Eagle, it is the best)

Mix the cake mix, butter, and egg.  It turns into a dark, slightly uncooperative play-doh.

Take a greased and lightly floured 9″ x 13″ cake pan and smush the cake mixture into bottom of pan evenly- you might wish to try to smush down with the back of your hand (as if your hand were in a fist and you have the flatness of your fingers all four together).

Next sprinkle on evenly over cake mixture in the following order (do not deviate):

1. shredded coconut

2. chopped peanuts or pecans

3. shredded coconut

4. peanut butter chips

5. chocolate chips

Next drizzle melted peanut butter evenly over top.

Next drizzle condensed milk evenly over top.

Bake in 350 degree oven for approximately 25 minutes (today I think I baked them for 28)

Cool at least an hour before cutting.

Enjoy!

 

 

are cupcakes safe to discuss?

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Hello cupcakes!  Greetings on a rainy Sunday morning afternoon (started earlier and got distracted).

So listen, I seem to have inadvertently upset people by discussing current events in Tredyffrin and some of my random act of consciousness where politics are concerned.  I would apologize, except this is my blog .  It really is ok for a woman to like home crafts like cooking and want to discuss politics and current events occurring in local municipalities.

So that being said, I recently discovered Himalayan Indian Grocery in Exton (Marchwood). They have a fun assortment of oils, spices and teas and chutneys.  Some fresh produce (they have some unusual varieties of eggplant), some dairy (you do have to watch for expiration dates) and a large frozen section of all sorts of Indian foods.  I also found rose water to bake with there – hadn’t seen that in a while.  Anyway, I bought a Tandoori marinade pouch that I mixed with plain whole milk Indian yogurt, and made delicious Tandoori chicken which we grilled.  To accompany that I created a Jasmine rice with a blend of curry and masala spices and raisins, chopped almonds, a smidgen of fresh basil.

Now to the cupcake of it all….

They are, I will warn you, semi-homemade from the cupcake side.

Creamsicle Orange Cupcakes with Coconut & Ginger Butter-Cream Cheese Frosting

I made 24 cupcakes.  I started with a Duncan Hines Orange Supreme Cake Mix.

I pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees.  In a large mixing bowl I added 1/2 cup orange juice, 1 cup water, 1 teaspoon of vanilla or orange extract (pure not imitation), 4 tablespoons real mayonnaise, 6 tablespoons honey, 3 eggs, 1/3 cup canola oil.  Mix with mixer until blended and a bit frothy.  Add cake mix, blending on low until mix incorporated and then about a minute and a half on med-high.  Add 1/2 cup shredded coconut to batter.  Incorporate.  Pour into cupcake tins lined with cupcake liners – the recipe will make 24 cupcakes. When a toothpick comes out clean, the cupcakes are baked.

Bake 18 to 21 minutes (as per cake box directions).  Cool in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes before carefully removing cupcakes.

When cool, frost.  I already told you how to make my frosting in the banana cake recipe. OMIT the banana and cinnamon and add 1 teaspoon ginger.  Also add 2 tablespoons orange juice.

These are cupcakes that keep best in fridge in a cupcake container – the frosting will melt when too warm.

Feel better now?

But seriously, this blog is a mixed bag.  So it is and never will be all Suzy Homemaker – after all I am not all Suzy Homemaker. I blog first and foremost for myself as this is my creative expression.

just bananas/just desserts

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Ok, what happens when I am supposed to be resting on a sprained ankle? I get restless.

The result: Banana Cake with Banana Buttercream Frosting. (I had leftover bananas to use up )

Banana Cake:

350 degree oven (pre-heat)

Grease and flour two round cake pans (mine are 9 1/2 inch) and line bottom with parchment or brown paper (cut out a circle just like your mom used to do.)

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups flour

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons buttermilk powder *

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1  teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt (regular not large crystal sea salt)

3/4 cup sour milk**

1 cup smushed ripe bananas

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 cup white raisins

1/2 teaspoon EACH of cinnamon, green cardamom powder, ground ginger

* = sour milk is regular milk with 2 teaspoons of white vinegar added. Stir in vinegar to mix, let sit 5 to 10 minutes

**= buttermilk powder can be gotten at baking supply places or online.  It must be refrigerated when opened.  You can use buttermilk powder AND sour milk OR regular buttermilk.

Take nuts and raisins and toss in a tablespoon or so of flour and set aside in small bowl.

Mix all dry ingredients.

Add bananas.

Add buttermilk or sour milk.

Add vanilla

Add butter

Beat everything on a low speed until blended and then pop up the power to medium high for about 2 minutes

Split batter evenly between prepared pans. Sprinkle nuts and raisins evenly over both plans (split in other words)

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until toothpick or skewer comes out clean.

Cool in pans on rack for 10 – 15 minutes.

Remove cakes from pans and cool thoroughly.

When cool remove parchment or brown paper from bottom. Carefully or you will take chunks of cake away

Banana Butter Cream Frosting:

1 cup butter

1/2 smushed banana

4 cups confectioners sugar

scant 1/4 cup meringue powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 tablespoons soft cream cheese

2 tablespoons of milk

1/2 teaspoon EACH of ground ginger and cinnamon

First cream butter and cream cheese.  Add vanilla and spices and banana.  Add sugar. Add milk.  Beat with hand mixer until frosting is smooth and creamy.

Frost the cake.  I will note that after I frost this cake I place four evenly placed wooden skewers in the top and place cake in refrigerator for frosting to harden.  This is a cake that has to have leftovers stay covered and refrigerated. I will also note that I decided to add the meringue powder (also available at specialty food/baking supply or online) to this because the banana makes the butter cream frosting too soft I think.  The meringue powder which I generally keep on hand for royal icing stiffens the frosting up nicely.

I don’t think I left anything out.

Enjoy!

happy 100th julia child!

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Julia Child would have been 100 today.  PBS Digital Studios did this fun tribute.

In celebration of her 100th birthday, Julia Child Remixed by John D. Boswell,  for PBS Digital Studios. Please support your local PBS station as they have many cool programs!

Visit pbs.org/food to join in the celebration, check out  recipes and more. You can leave your own tribute to The French Chef by cooking a Julia recipe and sharing it on Facebook and Twitter with #CookForJulia.

Special thanks go to the Julia Child Foundation for their support. The French Chef episodes used courtesy of WBGH/Boston. For more, go to http://www.wgbh.org/JC100

Follow them on Twitter: @pbsds.

I keep wondering what Julie Powell will say today – she is the author of the Julie/Julia project which I loved. It is a shame all the links are broken to what was her original Salon blog – I guess the original is gone now?   Her book was turned into a lovely movie with Meryl Streep. After the movie, she came out with another book called Cleaving.

Anyway, I grew up watching Julia Child on TV in black and white and I also have a couple of her books, including a vintage copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and her memoirs My Life in France.

Incidentally if you can master a few Julia classics, you can cook.  She gives you bones.  Her roast chicken recipe is still the best on the planet.  My own roast chicken recipe uses hers as a base. – where my recipes are my own that I share, the basic techniques for my roast chicken recipe were learned from her basic roast chicken recipe.  You see, a lot of chefs forget the basics, which as a related aside is why I love Ina Garten so much (The Barefoot Contessa). Like Julia Child, she is a big believer in basics. And in order to develop your own recipes, professional or home chef, you have to master some basics.

Happy Birthday Julia Child!  Bon Appétit!

sharing summer recipes: couscous and cornbread

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Yes, I am one of those crazy people who cooks even when it is hot.  I have two dead simple recipes to share with my readers today.  They are not necessarily to be served together, I just happened to be fiddling after gardening.

One is a summer salad with Israeli Couscous, and the second is my spin on cornbread.  Cornbread to me is summer and fall.

Cornbread

Oven pre-heated to 425 degrees.

  • dash of ground ginger
  • dash of cinnamon
  • 1 3/4 cup cornmeal
  • 1/2 cup sugar (white)
  • 3/4 cup flour (I use organic all-purpose)
  • 1 teaspoon of salt (if you use sea salt, make it a scant teaspoon)
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 cups milk (I used 2 percent today, but anything except skim will work)
  • 4 tablespoons buttermilk powder
  • 1 egg
  • 4 or 5 tablespoons of butter
  • turbinado sugar
  • 1 teaspoon good vanilla extract

Grease and flour a loaf pan.

Mix all the “wet” ingredients together.  You can do it with a whisk.  I do add the melted butter slowly and last into the wet.  You don’t want to cook your egg, after all.

Combine all the dry ingredients and whisk into the wet ingredients.  Pour in your prepared pan and top the batter with a dusting of turbinado sugar.

Pop into your pre-heated oven and  cook about 25 minutes.  Today I cooked it a couple of minutes more, other times a couple of minutes less – depends on the oven.  When the cornbread is slightly brown on top, maybe a couple of cracks on the top and a skewer or knife comes out clean, the bread is finished.  Take it out, let it cool, remove from pan.

Easy and delicious.

This bread is yummy plain, with butter, with jams or preserves, or honey.  I like cornbread with honey.  Right now the honey I have is from right here in West Chester – Carmen B’s.

Summer Salad With Israeli Couscous 

 

  • 1 cup Israeli Couscous
  • Spring onions
  • Parsley (fresh flat leaf Italian – I grow it in my garden)
  • Mint (I grow peppermint and curly mint which is a spearmint)
  • 5 or 6 ounces of crumbled Queso Fresco
  • Jayshree Kosher Salt Garden Seasoning (from Florida, their stuff is terrific)
  • olive oil
  • wine vinegar
  • one fresh lemon, juiced
  • fresh radishes
  • pine nuts (optional)
  • salt, pepper to taste
  • garlic powder

Boil the dry Israeli Couscous in about 3 cups of water according to directions on package of whatever brand you buy (around 12 minutes.)  Drain it and shock it with a quick dash of cold water and toss into a bowl.  Israeli Couscous is larger, and looks like little wheat colored pearls.  You can’t substitute regular couscous for this recipe.  It is specifically designed for the Israeli Couscous.

Chop up a few spring onions (or a bunch of scallions), one or two tomatoes, small bunch of Italian flat leaf parsley, small bunch of fresh mint (you CAN’T substitute dried mint, it will taste gross, so don’t even try), fresh radishes.  Season with Jayshree Kosher Salt Garden Seasoning and fresh ground pepper OR Season with regular salt and pepper. The Jayshree Kosher Salt Garden Seasoning is well worth ordering, or Jane’s Crazy Mixed Up Salt would work too.  Not Lowry’s Seasoned Salt – ick.  Plain salt and pepper might be too bland, but it is entirely up to you.

Toss ingredients lightly and create a simple dressing from the lemon juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic.  Whisk the vinaigrette together and pour over salad mixture.   Add crumbled Queso and pine nuts if you so choose.  Toss again and refrigerate.

Easy and delicious.

All the veggies I put in my summer salad with Israeli Couscous today came from the East Goshen Farmers Market.  I would love to share recipes with the market, but apparently, I am too different a person for  the market manager to handle, or I am not politically correct enough, or both.  She had contacted me , wanting to link my blog to the EGFM blog, but then changed her mind.  I was fine with that (and felt bad at the time that she was obviously so uncomfortable having to tell me “oops”).  You see, Birchrun Hills Farms is a producer at this market, I am not changing my mind on how I feel about Farmer-Supervisor Miller and his part in the attempted eminent domain for private gain of Ludwig’s Corner Horse Show Grounds, or the dubious shenanigans in West Vincent.  This is why yesterday, when I had a lunch meeting at White Dog Cafe in Wayne, I passed over a couple of luncheon dishes that were advertised as being made with Birchrun Hills Farm products.

I do however, love the East Goshen Farmers Market even if Madam Market was so impossibly rude last week to me it was embarrassing and hurtful at the same time.  Which given her perky PTA mom persona the rest of the time I have seen her (which is only at the market), was somewhat shocking. It was last week’s behavior that has made me mention the drama a second and last time on this blog.

I am new to this community, so a lot of people are getting to know me.  I totally get that.  But I believe in being active and helpful in one’s community (paying things forward), and last week the EGFM said they were looking for input on gluten-free bakeries and products.  So I stopped to give feedback.  The conversation kind of  came to a screeching halt when she snapped at me how she was a nutritionist.  I am a breast cancer survivor, but I don’t go around snapping that at people when they talk about the disease and possibly use incorrect buzz words and such.  And if I am working on a community event and someone is kind enough  to offer feedback when I solicit it, I am always glad to listen.  After all, you never know where the next great idea will come from.  And well, heck, I know people who have started these farm markets and hired bakeries in this area for organic and gluten free.  I also have friends who live utterly gluten free lives and have to bake on their own because the variety of what they find at gluten free bakeries doesn’t suit their allergies.

Whatever.

I don’t need this gal as a BFF (and since I am blogging about it, a precisely made voodoo doll may be in the process of being crafted or the Welcome Wagon might run me over, I simply don’t know), but I will tell you what, being a newcomer into an area versus being part of the established community has shown me again why you shouldn’t judge before you get to know someone.  Live and let live, and her loss.   I will never be rude to this person, and I will be happy to support the market because it is truly fabulous and with the exception of one farm, full of wonderful vendors.  In that regard she has done a marvelous job.  She can’t help the rest of it.  Just her nature.

To the rest of you, my readers and the people I am meeting here and there as I settle into Chester County, thank you for the warm and friendly welcome.  I look forward to sharing more with you on this blog as the spirit moves me.

Happy cooking!

snow day recipes…

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One of the joys about having your own blog is you get to set the content.  You can yack it up  over politics, lifestyle, social commentary…and even post recipes.  I have decided to share a couple of comfort food winter recipes. A breakfast and a dinner one.

Breakfast recipe: German Pancake

Dinner recipe: Mac and Cheese

Full disclosure is I have a bad habit of recipes going along  in my head for years, so I don’t always write things down.   So you may have to tweak….which is why you won’t see my gnocchi recipe online – it’s all in my head and ever-changing.   I do have a few other recipes uniquely my own loaded on Scribd.  [CLICK HERE] – I will note the Sunday Pasta Sauce recipe won me a ver nice prize from Epicurious.com a few years ago….

I will start with the German Pancake.  It seems to be perfect for winter mornings in Chester County.  I had a Pennsylvania German Grandmother  and an Italian Grandmother and Great Aunts and a father whom I definitely inherited a cooking gene from , but the bones of this recipe comes courtesy of Cristofer Malloy at Bon Apetit / Conde Nast – the recipe is from 1984 – where I changed it is I added cinnamon and cardamom and 3 tablespoons of sugar to my batter and I do not flip it. (so the flipping thing is NOT in this recipe)  Here it is tweaked to how I like it:

German Pancake:

4 eggs,

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup flour
cinnamon and cardamom to taste

pinch salt

three tablespoons sugar

Whisk all  together. 

Melt two tablespoons butter in cast iron or oven proof heavy fry pan, (oven at 425 degrees), after butter melts and is slightly brown in pan and the pan is really  hot, pour in batter and bake approx 12 minutes – it will puff up like a hat three to five inches above pan – dust with powdered sugar and cut into wedges and serve like that or with maple syrup or even a warm fruit compote (apples simmered in cinnamon, ginger, simple syrup)- so easy….so delicious.

And now…Mac and Cheese.  This is my base recipe.  I will turn leftovers into things like tuna noodle casserole, or I will add things to my basic recipe – pancetta, diced ham, crumbled bacon, peas, hot dogs, turkey kielbasa, those chicken sausages at Trader Joe’s,  jalapenos…whatever hits me – not all at once, however (ick).  It’s just if I am feeling cheesy and spicy for example, I might stir in jalapenos.  Or if I have left over ham or some bacon open, might cook that up and add it.  Or I might sautee and drain ground beef or turkey and make it that way. You get the picture. It does not take much time to do, so why not try scratch and leave the boxed stuff on the shelf in the grocery store?

Here is the base (and it is approximate because it’s mostly in my head):

Mac and Cheese Base:

1 14.5 oz box of the Barilla enriched elbow whole wheat macaroni (I really like this pasta) cooked according to box directions and drained  and ….

cheese sauce:

carmelize 1/3 to 1/2  DICED sweet onion in 3 to 4 tablespoons of butter. 

After carmelized (brown, cooked down, sweet),

add 1 tablespoon more butter and when melted whisk in 3 tablespoons flour until cooked in and smooth. 

Add a pinch of salt and slowly add 1 1/2 cups of milk (any kind but skim), bring up to heat but not quite a boil

and add a pinch of nutmeg and
whisk in 2 cups of cheese  slowly –  sharp cheddar and second cup of  mixed cheeses like colby jack or even that five cheese shredded Italian works.   I choose not to use all cheddar, because sometimes cheddar just separates.

Whisk around until smooth and add 4 oz of cream cheese.  Yes, cream cheese.  Not whipped cream cheese, incidentally. If you want to dress up the cheese more, you can add  4 oz goat cheese instead of cream cheese.
When all combined and smooth balance out salt and pepper to taste and if sauce is too thick for you, add a little more milk and keep stirring over moderate to low heat until you find a consistency you like.  I caution you to only add more milk in small increments like 1/4 cup at a time.  Watery cheese sauce is disgusting.
Pour over cooked 14.5 oz box of elbows which has been drained but not rinsed and returned to pot.

Mix, let pasta sit with lid on a few minutes and serve hot.

The onion adds another layer and because it is carmelized and diced it disappears into the cheese sauce. You get a great flavor that provides a subtle layer of flavor.

The funny thing is I now see professional chefs jazzing up Mac & Cheese with carmelized onion, but I have been doing it for a long time that way – I just like onion and garlic so if I can work it in, it gets worked in.

Also, I prefer my Mac & Cheese stove top, but some people like to make it and add toasted and seasoned breadcrumbs or croutons and bake it a little – if you do that, I suggest making half as much again cheese sauce because Mac & Cheese in the oven can dry out and you might need more cheese sauce when it comes out of the oven.  Baking it is mostly just heating it through for like 15 minutes at 350 in a buttered baking dish with this recipe once assembled.

Garlic however is not for Mac & Cheese in case you are wondering.

But it does fit with the things I serve with the base Mac & Cheese – things like a mixed green and baby spinach salad in a vinaigrette and baked parmesan crusted chicken with smoked paprika and garlic.  If I serve the Mac & Cheese with ground beef or kielbasa or something in it, then it moves from side to main course.

Happy Sunday all!