Sugar and Spice Gingerbread

Cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and allspice always seem to make a fresh appearance in the kitchen as the weather turns cold. These are the “warm” spices. Not peppery, but the kind of seasoning that heats your tongue.

Maybe a long long time ago everyone realized how good these spices tasted with other seasonal ingredients like pumpkin and squash, or with cold weather drinks like mulled wine or cider.

Or maybe it’s because in medieval times most families only ate these spices near Hanukkah and Christmas because seasonings were expensive and people saved them for holiday celebrations.

But now there are new reasons to use “warm” spices. They may actually be healthy. Here’s one article that sums up the benefits of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. There are several new studies with similar findings.

Among the claimed benefits:

Cinnamon helps prevent inflammation and also helps regulate blood sugar. 

Cloves contain antioxidants.

Ginger boosts the immune system and reduces motion sickness.

Nutmeg can stimulate your brain and reduce fatigue and stress.

But really, healthy or not, spices like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger make food taste good. And that’s the best reason to use them. So try this yummy Gingerbread, a seasonal favorite, made with several warm, fragrant, tasty and healthy spices.

Sugar and Spice Gingerbread

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon powdered ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

5 tablespoons butter or margarine

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup molasses

1 large egg

1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and flour an 8-inch square baking pan. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, black pepper and cloves and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium speed, cream the butter and sugar for 1-2 minutes or until well blended. Beat in the molasses and egg, scraping the sides of the bowl once or twice. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with the buttermilk, until all the ingredients have been added and the batter is smooth and uniform. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 30 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cake rest in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cake rack to cool completely.

Makes one cake

New, Chippier Grand Finale Cookies

Occupy The Kitchen!

My family marched around my kitchen yesterday, starting their own Occupy movement!

They were protesting too few chocolate chips in my Grand Finale cookies.

They are demanding more chips, fewer raisins. 

They said I had too much power, that my recipe decision regarding the amount of chocolate chips was undemocratic.

They held up their big signs. They grunted. Stamped their feet. Made me change my recipe.

I changed it. Because they were right!

So here’s the new, chocolate-chippier version.

Democracy works.

New, Chippier Grand Finale Cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

1 large egg

1/4 cup orange juice

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups quick cooking oats

2 cups chocolate chips

1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup finely chopped almonds

1/2 cup golden raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheets. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar and sugar at medium speed for about 2 minutes or until smooth, creamy and well blended. Add the egg, orange juice and vanilla extract and beat them in, blending thoroughly. Add the flour mixture and blend it in thoroughly. Add the oats, chocolate chips, coconut, almonds and raisins and mix them in. Scoop heaping tablespoons of dough and place on the cookie sheets, leaving some place between the blobs for the cookies to spread. Bake for 14-16 minutes or until golden brown and crispy. Let cool on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes then remove to a cake rack to cool completely. Makes 36-42 cookies

cartoonpolitics:

Oh well that’s alright then ..

So sad.

Leftover Cranberries?

I remember the day when my mother decided to get all sophisticated on us and switch from canned jellied cranberry sauce to the canned whole berry kind. I thought my Thanksgiving world was going to ruins. I liked that cylinder of shimmering, quivering jelly with the can indentation lines on it. I liked the way the pieces flopped onto the plate when my mother cut it into thick, velvety slices. 

The whole berry kind was somewhat too grownup for my then 8 or 9 year old self, but I had to admit that it was good too, not the disaster I anticipated.

But the best was when she got a new recipe for baked cranberry sauce. It’s the one I make every year, although sometimes I add on a second version. Then I know there will be leftovers.

Everyone always talks about the turkey leftovers. But there’s so many delicious things you can do with cranberry sauce leftovers! Like fritters to go with that turkey sandwich!

Cranberry Fritters

1 cup all-purpose flour

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons sugar

2 large eggs

1/3 cup milk or coconut, almond or soy milk

1 cup whole berry cranberry sauce

vegetable oil for frying

sifted confectioner’s sugar, optional

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and sugar into a bowl. In a separate bowl beat the eggs and milk together until well blended. Add the flour mixture and mix until well blended. Fold in the cranberries. Heat 1/2-inch vegetable oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot enough to make a bread crumb sizzle, drop the batter by the tablespoonful into the hot oil. Leave space between the fritters so that they cook crisply. Fry for a minute or two per side or until browned and crispy. Drain on paper towels. Serve plain or with sifted confectioner’s sugar. Makes 6 servings

Polishing silver the easy way

Polishing silver? Ugh on the hours you need wiping each little tine of each fork with polish and cloth and having to wear rubber gloves and all. My cousin Leslie gave me a terrific tip to make it incredibly easy easy easy. Here it is:

Line a glass or ceramic (nonmetal) pan with aluminum foil. Add about a cup of Arm&Hammer Washing Soda. Place the silverware on the foil. Cover the silverware with boiling water.

Watch the fizz! When it stops fizzing you’re done!. Rinse the silverware in soapy water, rinse, dry an that’s it!

How easy is that?!

Roasted Asparagus

Need  quickie vegetable for Thanksgiving?

Try roasted asparagus. It’s among the easiest of side dishes you can make. It looks good. Tastes good. You can make it in advance. Serve at room temperature. 

This is one of my go-to fall back dishes whenever I am stuck for an easy, veggie side dish, no matter what the occasion.

Roasted Asparagus

1 pound asparagus

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Wash the asparagus and remove the woody portions at the bottom. Peel if very thick. Coat the asparagus with the olive oil. Place the asparagus on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 6-10 minutes, depending on thickness, or until barely tender. Let cool to room temperature. Sprinkle with Balsamic vinegar. Let rest for 15 minutes before serving. Makes 6 servings

You can serve this hot too: sprinkle the just-roasted asparagus with a squirt or two of lemon juice.

You can serve this topped with thin shavings of Parmesan cheese.

Farro Pilaf with Winter Squash

Vegetarian Thanksgiving Guests?

Every year I hear about people who go nuts because they have vegetarian guests coming for Thanksgiving dinner and they don’t know what to cook for them.

Maybe they’re truly flustered. Or maybe they’re actually upset that their teenager, who, like all other teenagers is otherwise the model of good manners and propriety, has just given up meat. Or they’re annoyed because their daughter-in-law (of course) has “turned” vegetarian on them.

Or something like that. 

But really. I know change is difficult for most of us and the Thanksgiving turkey dinner seems almost sacrosanct, but there is always so much food on the table, most of it meatless, that a vegetarian can skip the meat and eat everything else, right?

It’s not as if you have to make an entire extra dinner.

All you have to do is heavy up on the sides. That means the usual mashed potatoes and/or sweet potatoes, plus a bunch of vegetables. And if you add a rice or pasta recipe or a recipe for a whole grain casserole that should do it. 

Then everyone is happy. The turkey lovers (I confess to be that) can have their turkey and the vegetarians can be satisfied too.

Suggestions for recipe that make good side dishes and that will also nourish and please vegetarians: Spinach Pie, Mujadarah (a bulgur wheat/lentil dish), brown rice and mushroom pilaf, eggplant Parmesan, Bulgur Wheat Casserole with Dried Apricots and Pistachios, Macaroni and Cheese. Dozens of others.

And try this one, for Vegetarians. Meat eaters will love it too.

Farro Pilaf with Winter Squash

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger

1 cup diced winter squash (such as butternut)

1 cup farro

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1-3/4 cups vegetable stock

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes or until the onion has softened slightly. Add the garlic, ginger and squash and cook, stirring occasionally, for another minute. Stir in the farro, parsley and thyme. Season with some salt and pepper. Pour in the stock. Bring the liquid to a boil. Boil for one minute. Turn the heat to medium-low, cover the pan and cook for about 25 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed. Makes 6 servings

No Pecan Pie on Thanksgiving

Our family Thanksgiving dinner always used to end with apple pie, because it would have been unthinkable not to have my mom’s perfectly perfect apple pie, and also pecan pie, because my sister-in-law Eileen, who claims she isn’t a good cook, nevertheless makes one spectacular pecan pie.

Unfortunately, my daughter Gillian is allergic to pecans, so we haven’t served pecan pie on Thanksgiving for decades. 

No problems. I love to fuss and fix recipes. So I came up with nut pie versions that didn’t cause a health problem and were also really tasty. Like this one for Honey Hazelnut pie. Which you could also make with cashews or pistachios.

Honey Hazelnut Pie 

• 3/4 cup honey

• 1/3 cup sugar

• 3 large eggs

• 3 tablespoons melted butter, margarine or coconut oil

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1-1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup chopped hazelnuts

• 1 cup chopped dried apricots (or use more nuts)

• 1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the honey, sugar, eggs, melted butter and vanilla extract in a bowl and blend them thoroughly with a whisk. Stir in the flour, salt, hazelnuts and apricots. Pour the mixture into the pie crust. Bake for about 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and crusty.

Makes one pie serving 8 people

Memories of Pumpkin Pie

Anyone over a “certain” age and living in the New York Metropolitan area will remember Horn & Hardart Automats, those grand cafeterias where you could get on the usual line and buy the usual stuff from the steam tables. But it was always more fun to buy the individual portions of food that were set in little alcoves on the wall, each covered by a glass window. You would put the required number of nickels in a slot and poof! the glass window would open and you would take your food and before you knew it the window closed, and another identical portion of food would circle around and take its place.

If you didn’t have enough change you could get some from the “nickel lady,” in charge of the change booth. As I recall, the nickel ladies were always plump.

My Aunt Roz and Uncle Mac used to take me and my cousin Leslie to the Automat when we went ice skating in Manhattan. The two of us always had the vegetable plate: macaroni and cheese, hash browns and spaghetti.

Dessert depended on the season, but in the autumn I always picked pumpkin pie.

I remember Automat pumpkin pie as a miracle. It was tender, moist and not too spicy. It had a golden sheen on top and nice, crumbly crust. It was the best pumpkin pie ever, even better than my Mom’s.

And so, even after the ice skating days were done and trips to the Automat over, I would sometimes make my way over to one to pick up a slice of pie. 

Then the Automats closed, pushed out of the gastronomic mainstream by the likes of the McDonald’s and Burger King of the world.

Neither of those eateries have pumpkin pie.

Wow, do I wish I had that Automat recipe.

I make a different pumpkin pie every year. I don’t know if the one below is better than the Automat’s. Memories can be deceiving. But I can say it is delicious. Tender, moist, and with a glossy sheen on top. Perfect for Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Pie

• 1-3/4 cups mashed pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 1-1/2 cups coconut milk, half and half cream, evaporated milk or nut milk

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 9-inch unbaked pie crust

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Beat the pumpkin, sugar and brown sugar with a whisk or electric beater set at medium for a minute or until well blended. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the coconut milk until well blended. Add the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt and beat ingredients for a minute or until well blended. Pour into the pie crust. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 45 minutes or until set. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Makes one pie serving 8 people