Snow and Peanut Butter Cookies

Snow is falling in big flat flakes here. I should make that beef stew right now because all my appointments have been cancelled. I’ll do that as soon as I finish the peanut butter cookies I want to bake “just to have.”

My Mom always had a freezer full of stuff “just to have.” In case the grandchildren came over. Or she got unexpected company. Or she just wanted a little nibble. So, I guess I have become my mother. I need to have some peanut butter cookies in the bin.

If you do too, here’s my Mom’s terrific recipe. I use lots of organic products but for these, I stick to good old Skippy, which still tastes the best in cookies. I give a large range of cooking time — if you like soft, light cookies, use the minimum time. I like them dark and crispy, so I bake them a little longer. Up to you.

Peanut Butter Cookies

• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup shortening
• 2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the flour, baking soda, salt, sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix at low-medium speed until the ingredients are well combined. Add the peanut butter, shortening and eggs and beat until the mixture forms a soft, uniform dough. Shape small clumps of dough into rounds, then flatten them to create 1-1/2 inch circles. Place the circles on a cookie sheet, leaving some space between each circle, and press the tops with a fork, making a criss-cross design. Bake for about 16-20 minutes or until browned and crispy.

Makes about 60

Banana Bread with Chips and Raisins

It’s going to snow here again which means the supermarkets will be like the Mall on black Friday. Yep, I’m going shopping too, although I usually try to avoid the place when I know people will be stocking up on groceries to last until next New Years because, you know, the snow is coming and we’re never going to get out of the house. But I haven’t been to the store since before year end and I am clean out of stuff.

Except for bananas. I always buy too many and then wind up making banana bread which I usually freeze and then give away every other Tuesday when our local Hadassah hosts a Tea Party — NOT a political one I can assure you — for cancer patients and their caregivers at our local hospital.

So after I use up the browning bananas for the bread I will have to put new bananas on the list along with milk, fruit, sweet potatoes and everything else I’ll need until next New Years.

Here’s a good recipe for a large Banana Bread that will make at least 12 servings. You can freeze it (or freeze half). Sometimes I add chocolate chips, sometimes raisins.

Banana Bread

• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

• 2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 cup vegetable shortening

• 1-3/4 cups sugar

• 4 large very ripe bananas, mashed

• 4 large eggs

• 1 cup chocolate chips or raisins, optional

• 1/2 cup chopped nuts, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8-cup bundt pan. Mix the flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the vegetable shortening and sugar at medium speed until well blended. Beat in the bananas. Beat in the eggs. Add the flour mixture and beat the ingredients until smooth and well blended. Fold in the chocolate chips, raisins and/or nuts. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the bread from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes in the pan. Invert onto a cake rack to cool completely.

Makes one bread serving 12-18

Pear and Cranberry Crisp

My Dad once dumped a bowl of oatmeal on top of my head. I don’t actually remember the event but heard the story so many times that I can imagine it clearly. I was about 1-1/2 years old and sitting in a high chair, my Dad trying to feed me. My parents said I was a fussy eater — little did they know I would grow up to be a food writer, enthusiastic about all sorts of things to eat!

Apparently my Dad became frustrated because I wouldn’t open my mouth for the oatmeal. He tried the usual methods of persuasion they used in those days: “here comes the airplane into the hangar.” “Here comes a spoon for Uncle Dick.” And all that, but nothing worked so he dumped the stuff on my head.

Unfortunately then he had to wash my hair and so on, so it was only a moment of glory for him. He was a terrific father so I forgave him this folly every time he talked about it.

I’m not sure how I came to love oatmeal. But long before it became the “healthy breakfast that lowers cholesterol and may prevent heart disease,” oatmeal became a regular part of my life because I like how it tastes.

I am fussy about the kind. I prefer Bob’s Red Mill for eating as cereal, McCann’s for cookies, crisps and other kinds of baked goods. I love fruit desserts with an oatmeal-based crust because oats are naturally sweet and mild, but not cloyingly sweet with sugar and they don’t leave an aftertaste in your mouth.

January is National Oatmeal Month. Apparently more people eat oats in January than at any other time of year. Try some yourself. A good place to start is my recipe for Pear Crisp.

Pear and Cranberry Crisp

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel

pinch of salt

1/2 cup butter

5 ripe but firm pears

1 cup fresh cranberries

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Combine the one cup flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, lemon peel and salt in a bowl. Cut the butter into chunks and work it into the dry ingredients until the mixture is crumbly. Set aside. Peel and core the pears, cut them into chunks and place the chunks in a bowl. Add the cranberries, sugar, lemon juice and 2 tablespoons flour and toss ingredients. Place the fruit mixture into a baking dish. Cover with the oat mixture. Bake for about 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Makes 8 servings

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sprinklefingers:

the night before last i was in bed trying to get sleepy enough to fall asleep. with a few minutes to spare before my self-imposed curfew (of 11pm,) i was using my trusty telephone to google phrases that might result in something i’ve never seen before.

and guess what? i found something i’ve…

if you learn how to roast a chicken you can make a delicious and different dinner every night of the week. I’ve never seen this item in the stores but I can imagine how weird it must be to open a can and see a whole chicken stuffed inside of it. I think canned, frozen and packaged foods have some real value and even the greatest cooks and cookbook authors use items like frozen peas, canned beans and the like. But a whole chicken? A whole chicken? Someone out there who has actually tried this — I would love to hear from you!

Sprinklefingers and the Monstrous Sandwich

sprinklefingers:

wcfoodies:

deleteyourself:

Burger King now has a quad-stacked hamburger. With a large coke and fries that comes out to a whopping 1840 calories. Don’t forget to add some “Funnel Cake Sticks” for dessert.

Every time you eat, you’re voting for a food system. The less shit like this we consume, the less likely we are to see unnecessary, unhealthy abominations like this on the international menu. This is disrespectful all the way up the chain, from the animals slaughtered for this base gluttony to the farmers out there who put care into their meats and produce to the consumer, both those of us who’d never touch this sandwich to those who would. It doesn’t matter if you wouldn’t eat this; other Americans will, and we’ll both pay the price, they with their health and we with our tax dollars to support rising medical costs for a nation poisoning itself.

How do you stop it? Don’t eat this sandwich. Don’t eat from fast food restaurants, period. Vote with your dollars by shopping at the farmer’s market. Vote with your stomach by eating real food, grown on real farms. Don’t give in to convenience and excess just because you can.

Amen to that, sister.

I’d like to sneak a peak to see who actually orders this monstrosity. It is positively suicidal. Or is it homicidal? Do these guys have some secret plan with the drug companies who manufacture diabetes medication?

Carrot and Parsnip Fries

Man and woman does not live by french fries alone, although sometimes that’s all I think I want for dinner.

But french fries aren’t the healthiest thing and besides they can be messy to make if you cook them from scratch.

Long ago I tried to find an alternative because I realized I would never be able to eat as many french fries as I’d like to. Nothing really comes close. I’ve tried the baked fries, but really, they’re awful unless you put a whole lot of olive oil on them and then, what’s the point?

On the other hand, if you don’t use potatoes your expectations aren’t the same. When you make carrot “fries” or green bean “fries” you don’t expect them to taste like regular french fries so you don’t make the comparison in the first place. You can even bake them rather than fry them and it’s okay because your mind is not thinking the usual.

I make carrot and parsnip fries at least once a week. They’re roasted. It’s one of the vegetables that I DOUBLE at dinner because everyone, I mean, everyone who eats dinner at my house, loves these things.

They’re not french fries. But they’re really really good.

Try some. This is from my book, Hip Kosher.

Carrot and Parsnip Fries

• 1 pound carrots
• 1 pound parsnips
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• salt to taste
• 3 tablespoons chopped mixed fresh herbs, optional

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Peel the carrots and parsnips and cut them into strips about 4-inches long, 1/2-inch wide and place them on a baking sheet. Pour the olive oil over the vegetables and toss them to coat each piece. Sprinkle with salt and the optional herbs. Roast for about 20 minutes, turning them once or twice, or until the vegetables are tender and lightly crispy.

Makes 4 servings

Potato Pancakes with Smoked Salmon, Sour Cream and Chives

Potato pancakes for breakfast? 

Yes indeed. It’s one of our New Year’s Day favorites. My cousins come to stay with us for a few days and we usually eat a couple of days of smoked fish (salmon, sturgeon, whitefish and herring) with bagels. But New Year’s Day should be a little more special so a couple of times I’ve made very large potato pancakes (like 6-inches) and served them with smoked salmon on top, capped with a blob of sour cream garnished with chopped fresh chives and sometimes with red salmon caviar.

Quite luxurious to eat. Beautiful and festive looking too. And it’s easy. You can make the pancakes ahead and reheat them to hot and crispy in a 425 degree oven, then serve them with the cold smoked salmon and sour cream on top.

I’ve given a potato pancake recipe before, but I change it slightly for New Year’s breakfast. When I couple it with something cold, like smoked fish, I prefer a shreddy texture — it makes crispier pancakes (so I don’t grate or chop the potatoes. I use the shredding blade on a food processor). I also don’t use baking powder because I like the pancake flatter and unpuffed — a better texture with the moist, cool fish.

Potato Pancakes with Smoked Salmon, Sour Cream and Chives

• 4 large Russet-type baking potatoes, peeled

• 1 large yellow onion

• 3 tablespoons bread crumbs 

• 2 large eggs

• 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

• freshly ground black pepper to taste

• vegetable oil for frying

• 12 large slices smoked salmon

• dairy sour cream (about 1 cup)

• chopped chives or salmon caviar

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees. Shred the potatoes and onion using the shredding disk of a food processor. Using a handful or two at a time, place the shreds into a kitchen towel and squeeze as much liquid out as possible, then place the shreds in a bowl. Repeat with the remaining potato-onion mixture. Add the bread crumbs and toss the ingredients. Add the eggs, salt and pepper and mix to distribute the ingredients thoroughly. Divide the dough into 6 equal portions. Heat about 1/4-inch vegetable oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot enough to make a bread crumb sizzle, fry each portion, one at a time, for 2-3 minutes per side or until browned and crispy. Keep each pancake warm in the preheated oven until you finish frying all the batter. Place the pancakes on 6 plates. Top each with two slices of salmon. Top with a blob of sour cream in the center. Garnish the top of the sour cream with some chopped chives or a dollop of salmon caviar.

Makes 6 servings 

Baked Marinated Pineapple

London broil is definitely not filet mignon and olives aren’t truffles.

And yet, many years ago, I confess, I made an elaborate New Year’s Eve dinner for friends with those very substitutions. Filet was too expensive. Truffles? Forgetaboutit. No way. So, I made Beef Bordelaise — even made the stock from scratch — using London Broil. To garnish, I sliced black olives to replace the truffles.

They didn’t even look like a good imitation of truffles.

But dinner was great, festive too. The meat was tough but no one cared. There was plenty of wine and that made everything taste better. Besides, I had asked our 6 friends to come formally attired and they all substituted jeans or corduroys, so I guess we were even.

I didn’t keep accurate records in those days but the meal started with some hors d’oeuvre and champagne. Dinner was a soup followed by the beef. I know I made asparagus — steamed, not roasted (which I usually do today) and with no Balsamic vinegar droplets because no one knew about that in those days. I think there was also a mushroom ragout and roasted potatoes.

I do remember dessert, fabulous looking (and tasting) meringue-topped pineapple halves filled with fruit that had been macerated with Grand Marnier and Meyer’s rum. I remember because my husband Ed and I had recently been to London and eaten in a restaurant called Parkes, where we ordered this dessert at the suggestion of a friend who had been there before us. I worked out the recipe, long ago, and have been making this dessert, for which everyone is grateful, ever since.

Here’s the recipe:

Baked Marinated Pineapple

1 large pineapple

6 tablespoons confectioners sugar

3 tablespoons orange flavor brandy

3 tablespoons dark rum

4 large egg whites

3/4 cup sugar

Cut the pineapple in half lengthwise, keeping the leaves intact. Carve the flesh from the shell, remove and discard the fibrous core and cut the flesh into chunks. Place the chunks in a bowl and add the confectioners sugar, brandy and rum. Toss ingredients and refrigerate for 1-5 hours. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Beat the egg whites with the whisk attachment of a standing mixer (or use a hand beater) until they are foamy. Gradually add the sugar and gradually increase the speed to high; beat until the whites stand in stiff, glossy peaks. Place the macerated fruit and its juices back into the two pineapple half shells. Spread the meringue over the fruit. making sure to spread the meringue to the edges, sealing in the fruit. Place the filled pineapple halves on a cookie sheet. Wrap the leaves in foil to protect them form burning. Bake the pineapple for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove the foil and serve. Makes 6 servings 

Blueberry Muffins

When you’re used to plain yogurt and dried apricots for breakfast every day, the rare, occasional blueberry muffin becomes a luxurious treat. It’s not as if I can’t buy a fresh blueberry muffin at any bakery or coffee shop, any time. Or even make my own. They only take a few minutes to make and a few minutes to bake.

But I think of blueberry muffins as dreadfully fattening, especially the post-modern 21st century variety that looks three times bigger than I remember blueberry muffins from my youth.

When I first started working I was young and slim and everyone in the office brought in breakfast, so I did too. My choice was a yogurt (a rarity then) plus a blueberry muffin. Within 6 months I had gained 10 pounds.

I always attributed the gain to the blueberry muffins, so I stopped buying them.

I have to say, when you don’t eat something that you consider delicious for a long time, you really appreciate it when you do eat it.

I am going to make some blueberry muffins sometime between now and New Year’s Day when my cousins are at my house for a long-weekend sleepover. We’ll get a little bored with the smoked fish we usually eat, even the luxurious version I’ll serve on New Year’s Day (with smoked salmon on top of potato pancake). So blueberry muffins it will be. A simple breakfast goodie. A couple of scrambled eggs and hot coffee and we’ll be satisfied.

By the way, if you don’t have buttermilk you can use plain kefir or yogurt or make this: 1 tablespoons lemon juice plus enough milk to equal one cup; let stand for 5 minutes. 

Blueberry Muffins

• 4 tablespoons butter

• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 cup buttermilk

• 1 large egg

• 1 tablespoon grated fresh orange peel

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a muffin tin. Melt the butter and set it aside. In a bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. In a second bowl, mix the buttermilk, egg, orange peel and vanilla extract. Pour the liquid ingredients into the flour mixture and stir only to blend ingredients (do not mix vigorously). Fold in the berries. Drop the batter in equal amounts into the prepared muffin tin cups (the number will depend on the size of the muffins) to about 2/3 filled. Bake for 22-26 minutes, depending on size, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Makes 9-12