Acorn Cookies

Fall is here, so it's time for Acorn Cookies!  This is a favorite recipe in our family because it's pretty easy, the cookies look adorable, and they are highly delicious and addicting.

Acorn Cookies

1 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup pecans + about another 3/4 cup
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking power
about 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Chop all of the pecans into fairly small pieces. A food processor helps.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, stir together the butter, brown sugar, 3/4 cup of pecans and vanilla until well blended. Set aside the rest of the pecans. Add the flour and baking powder and stir until just blended.


If the dough seems very sticky, refrigerate for about 15 minutes.

Make a ball of dough about 1" in diameter, and then roll the ball between your hands into an oval shape. Stand this up on your cookie sheet, and then pinch the dough on the top to make a point. If that sounds confusing, hopefully the photo below will help:

You can put the acorns quite close together on the cookie sheet, because they won't get much bigger.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until the points are golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool. Some of them may have flopped over, but never fear, they will still look great when they're done.

Melt chocolate chips in a microwave and stir until smooth. Carefully pick up the cookies by the point and dip them into the chocolate, and then into some of the remaining nuts. Allow to cool before eating, or else you'll get a lot of nuts falling off.

These are great with semisweet or dark chocolate. Or if you have a crazy child in your family who doesn't like chocolate, you can also use butterscotch chips.










(A final note - Gwyneth did post the recipe once already, but I thought more photographs and details might be helpful!)

Chicken and Dumplings

 

 

Like many people, I'm a fan of the Smitten Kitchen blog, and a number of the most popular recipes at my house have been taken  or adapted from recipes I found on the site. This is one of the recipes I make the most often, as it takes advantage of ingredients I almost always have on hand, it uses inexpensive chicken thighs, and it just tastes yummy. I modified the recipe from the original a bit, replacing leeks with celery, since I usually don't have leeks lying around, omitting a bit of sherry (same reason) and substituting dried herbs for the fresh. I've never made this recipe with tarragon, but it sounds like a great idea, so I left that ingredient in. I did, once, toss in a few fennel seeds instead and it gave the stew a wonderful Eastern European vibe.

 

Chicken and Dumplings

 

Serves 4

 

Chicken

6-8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
Table salt and ground black pepper
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large onion, minced
1-2 stalks celery, chopped

1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
1 cup frozen green peas
1 tablespoons dried tarragon leaves (optional) 

Dumplings
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons reserved chicken fat (or unsalted butter)


Heat the oil in a large casserole over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken thighs, about 5-6 minutes per side, then take them out and set aside. Drain off all but about 1 tablespoon of the remaining oil, and save it for the dumplings. Return the pan to the heat, and add the butter. Lower the temperature to medium, and saute the onion and celery until translucent. Season with salt and pepper.

Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in the chicken broth and bring the mixture up to a simmer. While you wait, remove the skin from the chicken thighs (it should come off pretty easily once it's been cooked, but be warned, it is a greasy, messy job.) Put the chicken thighs and herbs into the pot, and then turn down the heat to medium-low. Cover the pot and let the stew simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, until the chicken is falling off the bone.

Remove the chicken pieces and let cool. Turn the heat off the stew. This is a recipe I usually make on the weekends, so I cook everything up to this point earlier in the day, then let it rest a bit until I'm ready to finish everything off.

Once the chicken has cooled enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones. Skim off any fat from the top of the stew and discard. Add the chicken, peas, and milk to the stew and bring to a simmer.

Make the dumplings: Warm up the milk and chicken fat togther in a saucepan or the microwave. In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the milk mixture until the dough comes together. It will be very sticky still. Using two spoons, scrape balls of the dumpling batter into the stew. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, then serve.

Recipe adapted from the Smitten Kitchen: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2007/12/chicken-and-dumplings/

Pecan Pie

My dear husband had his birthday last month, and he had one request: Pecan Pie. Partly, this was the pragmatist in him: the pecans were going to go bad, and he hates to waste anything. But also, the man just loves my pecan pie.

In truth, this is my sister Miriam's recipe. She is the one in the family who is famous for her pies. But I do my best. For one thing, I make my pie crust from scratch:

(Quick style note - please forgive the awkward font formatting. For some reason, when cutting and pasting from some Word documents, blogger doesn't let me change the font style. It is deeply annoying, but I haven't got the time to re-write the whole recipe just to make the fonts match.)

Basic Pie Crust

For a covered pie. Make a half-recipe if you are doing an uncovered pie, like this pecan pie recipe.

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour   

1 tsp. white sugar 

½ cup solid vegetable shortening

8 Tbs (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter

1 tsp. Salt 1/3 cup plus 1 tbs. cold water

1 to 2 tbs. cold water, if needed)

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix together the flour, sugar, and salt.

Break the shortening and the butter into large chunks then add the shortening and butter to the flour mixture.  Cut into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter or by cutting in opposite directions with 2 knives, one held in each hand. 

Cut the pastry until some pea-size chunks remain in the mixture and the rest is reduced to the consistency of coarse crumbs. 

Drizzle the water over the mixture and work the mixture together with your fingers.  If needed add 1 to 2 tbsp. of water until the pastry forms a ball (do not overdo the water in order to have a flaky crust, but make sure you add enough so that you are able to handle the dough)

Split pastry into two equal balls and roll out on a floured surface. Fill with your favorite pie filling.



Milo was so excited about my pie, he wanted to take a picture with his own camera:

Pecan Pie

9 inch unbaked pie crust     
1/3 cup butter, melted 

1 cup light corn syrup 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup dark brown sugar 

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 eggs, slightly beaten

1 heaping cup pecan halves

Heat oven to 350(F.  In large bowl, combine corn syrup, sugar, eggs, butter, salt and vanilla; mix well.  Pour filling into unbaked pie crust.  Sprinkle with pecan halves.  Bake at 350(F for 45 to 50 minutes or until center is set.  (Toothpick inserted in center will come out clean when pie is done.)  Cool before serving. 

Recipe contributed by Miriam; from a Dear Abby column

Brandied Carrots

In our family, we like to either totally nullify the nutritional value of our vegetables by adding plenty of dairy fat (for example, Continental Vegetables), or spice them up by adding a bunch of booze. And sometimes we do both (dad's recipe for creamed mushrooms with sherry is coming, just as soon as I can take a photo of it that doesn't look totally disgusting. Mushrooms are not very photogenic). This recipe falls in the middle category, and it is a wonderful way to kick up the flavor of plain old steamed carrots.

Brandied Carrots

1/4 cup water

4 cupes sliced carrots

juice of 1/2 lemon

brandy

salt

1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Bring the water to a boil. Add the carrots, then cover and turn the heat down to medium. Cook until the carrots are tender, about 5 minutes or so. Drain the carrots, then return the pan to the heat, and add the lemon juice, parsley, and a jigger or so of brandy. Toss together, letting a bit of the liquid evaporate. Add salt to taste and serve.

From "The Master in the Kitchen"

Chocolate Chip Bars

I find it hard to decide which I like better - chocolate chip cookies, or chocolate chip bars. These little bites pack a huge punch of brown sugar & chocolate flavor.

Chocolate Chip Bars

3/4 cup butter, softened (1 1/2 sticks)

2 cups packed dark brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (1 bag)

Heat oven to 350° F.  Grease and flour a 13x9 inch baking pan.

Beat together butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until smooth. Add flour, baking powder and salt and stir until just barely combined, then mix in the chocolate chips.

Dump it into the pan and smooth the top as best you can. (It'll be quite thick, so this can be a challenge.)

Bake 20-25 minutes until firm - test by sticking in a toothpick to make sure it comes out with only crumbs.

 

Shortbread Cookies

 

My kids love shortbread, and it's a handy cookie recipe if you know any kids who are allergic to eggs. 

You can make shortbread with nothing but butter, sugar and flour. But a few extra ingredients can make them even more yummy!

Shortbread

1 stick butter, softened

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 cup whole wheat flour (optional; you can substitute all-purpose flour)

1 cup all-purpose flour

Blend together the butter, brown sugar and vanilla, then mix in the cornstarch and flour.

Let the dough rest for 30 minutes in the fridge, while you heat the oven to 350°.

Either roll and cut with cookie cutters, or just press into a round or square pan. I sprinkle turbinado sugar on top, but you could use sanding sugar or colored sprinkles too.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are just starting to turn brown.

Banana Bread

If you have a copy of the 2003 edition of the Hogley Cookbook, you may have noticed that page 10 and page 13 have the exact same recipe. One of these pages was supposed to be this recipe for Banana Bread, and now you can see what you've been missing!

This recipe originally came to us from Ms. Segreti, a friend of Joy's mother-in-law, via a copy of their church cookbook. It's incredibly easy and really delicious!

Banana Bread

2 overripe bananas
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 butter, melted
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325°.

Grease and flour a regular-sized loaf pan.

In a medium bowl, mash the bananas to a pulp. Mix in the sugar and then the egg. Drizzle in the butter and stir until well combined. (You'll still have lumps of banana.)

Stir in the flour, salt, baking soda and walnuts, and then pour into the pan and smooth the top.

Bake for 1 hour, or until completely set in the middle. (Stick in a toothpick or a strand of spaghetti to make sure only crumbs come out.)

Leek and Asparagus Quiche

This is another recipe dedicated to my grandfather. Shortly I graduated from college I spent a couple years living in L.A. Finding myself. (And then once I found myself, I said - "Look at you! What are you doing here in L.A.! Go back to school and get your Master's!" So I did.) Well, actually, the way I remember it, there was a lot of dancing to Brit-pop in crowded Hollywood nightclubs, but that's another story.

Anyway, this is not about my wild party days. It's about the day that I invited my grandparents over for lunch at my little West Hollywood apartment. I wanted something that would impress Grandma and would reassure Paga that I was not living on potato chips (Veggie Booty, actually. It was L.A.) and broccoli (which in fact I was). And then I thought - "Quiche!" It's French, and therefore fancy, perfect for lunch, and not too rich for my grandmother. I went on a search for a great quiche recipe, and ended up finding this recipe on the Williams Sonoma website, which I adapted a bit. Needless to say, it was a big hit, and has become a mainstay of my entertaining menu.

There are many ways to modify this recipe to use whatever it is you have on hand - this time, for example, I threw in some red bell pepper for color. I gave the recipe to a friend and she made a delicious mushroom and zucchini version. Bacon, onion, and cheddar is another great combination.

Don't be put off by the small number of eggs in the recipe. It's not a typo. The end result is a very rich, creamy, custardy quiche. It's really important to let the quiche sit and rest for at least 30 minutes before serving; otherwise, you'll end up with a runny mess.

“Impress the Grandparents” Quiche

For the pastry:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

8 Tbs. (1 stick) chilled butter, cut into small cubes

1 to 2 Tbs. ice water

For the filling:

8 asparagus stalks

1 bunch leeks (white and pale green parts only), cleaned and chopped
3/4 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
3/4 cup milk, at room temperature
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 Tbs. butter, melted
1 cup shredded Gruyère cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Dash hot sauce

To make the pastry, in a bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Drop in the butter and, using a pastry blender or your fingertips, work the ingredients together quickly until crumbly and the mixture resembles oatmeal. Add the ice water a little at a time just until the dough begins to hold together. Gather into a ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 425ºF. On a lightly floured work surface, using your hands, flatten the ball of dough into a disk. Dust it with flour and roll out into a round 11 inches in diameter. Fit carefully into a 9-inch glass pie dish. Trim the dough to allow a 1-inch overhang, then fold under the overhang and flute the edges. Prick the dough in several places with fork tines and refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Alternatively, save yourself the trouble, go to the store and buy a pie crust. No one has to know.

Partially bake the pastry shell until it just begins to color, 10 to 12 minutes. If the pastry puffs up during baking, prick again with a fork to release the steam.

Remove from the oven and set aside. Reduce the oven temperature to 375ºF.

Now, prepare the filling: Blanch or steam the asparagus stalks for about 5 minutes, or until just cooked. Plunge into bowl of ice water to stop cooking. Slice into ½ inch lengths and scatter around in pastry shell.

Next, sauté the leeks in butter until they are soft. And smell good…Mmmm... Add these to pie crust as well.

In a bowl, combine the cream, milk, eggs and melted butter. Using a whisk or fork, beat until well blended. Stir in the cheese and season with salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper or just a splash of hot sauce. Pour into the prepared pastry shell and mix around with a fork so that everything is distributed evenly.

Bake until the custard is set, 25 to 30 minutes. The center will still look a little jiggly, but check the center of the quiche with a knife to make there is still no runny liquid there. Remove from the oven and let stand for about 30 minutes before serving. Serves 6.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Chocolate and zucchini? Together?

Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Just trust me on this one.

My dad is a talented gardener, and every summer our garden was overflowing with fresh fruits and vegetable to be eaten up and canned. Zucchini, in particular, seemed to do very well in the Seattle soil, and each year we would be inundated by huge, dark green, monsters of zucchini. For mom, it was a challenge to figure out what to do with it all. Then she discovered this recipe (and dad discovered the Continental Vegetable recipe), and voila! Problem solved.

This is a lovely, moist, but not-too-sweet loaf cake that is perfect for a tea-time snack. It's a big recipe, and makes three loaves - if you want just one loaf, divide the amounts by three (which is what I usually do). It's a fairly forgiving recipe, so if you don't get the coversions exactly right for the baking powder and soda, it won't make much difference.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

3 Eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp. Vanilla

2 cups brown sugar, packed

3 squares unsweetened chocolate

3 cups grated zucchini (about 3 store-bought zucchini, or one zucchini from Dad’s garden)

4 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cloves

Heat oven to 350 degree F. In a microwave or double boiler, melt the chocolate.

In a large bowl mix together the eggs, oil, vanilla and brown sugar.  Stir in the melted chocolate and then the zucchini.

Mix the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl, and then add them to the zucchini mixture. Stir well.

Bake in 2 or 3 greased and floured loaf pans for 40 - 60 minutes, depending on loaf size.  To test whether the loaves are done, get a piece of spaghetti and stick it into the tallest part of each loaf (my mom's clever technique). If it comes out with wet batter still attached, cook for another 5 minutes then test again.

The cooked loaves freeze well. (This is very useful as gardens generally produce a huge amount of zucchini all at once.)

From: the Zucchini Cookbook, discovered by Mom