I am a guest poster over on Alicia’s super delicious blog.
I made fantastic Leek and Bacon Bread pudding for her! Go Check it out!
Leek and Bacon Bread pudding
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Category Archives: recipe
Squash and Apple Soup
I know that the winter squash obsession has passed for most people, but I’m still obsessed. The sugars in those hardy winter squash are really coming into their own right now, making the squash really shine and work so well with whatever you want to add to it! I like my squash soup with a fall fruit (in this case, apples) because I feel like it really fills out the flavors and lightens the heavier squash components. I don’t roast my squash for soup; I feel like it takes too much time and I can just cook it down in water (or stock if you’ve got some laying around), keeping all of those delicious juices right in the soup pot. I also feel like it leads to a smoother soup. It also has the added bonus of NOT burning my hands, which is “handy” (yes, I went there – don’t judge me).
My dining companions (also known as BF and Big Sis) and I enjoyed this soup with sandwiches of baguette, salami, and brie, which were out of this world and were a fantastic accompaniment.
Squash soup isn’t one of those soups I remember eating as a child; it wasn’t even on my radar until I became obsessed with sunshine squash and soup a couple of years ago. Such bright, cheerful little squash need to be soup. They are vibrant and they have a fantastic flavor. But I could be biased. Also, I bought the one I used for this soup at an adorable honor system farm stand with a drop box for the money! I love honor system stands in general, but one where I can stand in a little mud and pick out my favorite squash from the pile – those are the best.
Squash-Apple Soup
1 Medium Winter Squash (I like sunshine squash but butternut or hubbard will work too) (1 1/2-2 lb) peeled, cored, and cut into 1” cubes
1 Asian Pear (Pear-Apple) peeled, cored, and cut into 1” cubes
1 Macintosh Apple (Cortland will also work but a tart apple is key) peeled, cored, and cut into 1” cubes
1-2 tsp Garam Masala seasoning (to taste)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
4-6 Cups Water or stock
Sour Cream/Creme Fraiche/Mascarpone Cheese/Greek Yogurt (for garnish, optional)
Put squash and apples into a large pot and add just enough water/stock until it comes to the top of the squash/apples but doesn’t cover them. Heat the pan over med-low heat and let it simmer, stirring occassionally until the squash is soft (15-20 mins). When the squash has begun to fall apart, add the spices and stir well to fully incorporate them. Taste the soup – add additional spices as you like. Allow the soup to simmer for another 10-15 minutes for the flavors to come together. You can serve the soup chunky if you like texture, or you can use an immersion blender/food processor/blender to make it velvety smooth. Serve in large bowls with a dollop of your cream of choice (my favorite is Greek yogurt, preferably Cabot).
Mini Oreo Cheesecakes
Mmm cheesecake. It’s creamy, it’s sweet without being cloying, and it’s delicious. Always. So when a friend came to work lamenting the “oreo cheesecake” she had gotten at Mike’s, saying that it was merely chocolate cake with some wierd creamcheese filling, I started plotting these little delights. She lamented the Mike’s cheesecake in August or so and I made her these in November; enough time for her to totally forget about that disappointment 🙂
My first challenge for these was to determine just what exactly I was going to do for the cupcakes and as Twitter was alive with Joanne Chang’s Flour cookbook and it seemed to be THE cookbook everyone was using. I determined that I needed to make her oreos. So I found the recipe on Boston.com thanks to Joanne Chang herself directing me to it (super thanks!). And started plotting. I had a vision of cheesecake with a full oreo base, until I realized that making all those oreos was just way more work than I was willing to put in ;P
So I just made the cookies, sans filling, and put them in my mini-cheesecake pan as crust. They were delicious, and will definately be made this way again!
The cheesecake was a breeze, after a quick phone call to my mom (the bible of all cooking questions and head-full of random and mostly useful information), I had a cheesecake recipe that worked with what I had in my pantry/fridge. I was giddy. I started cooking on Sunday around 1pm. I finished cooking around 8pm. I was exhausted, but it was worth it. Homemade Oreos, dark chocolate cheesecake, vanilla cheesecake, dark chocolate cheesecake. Delicious. And perfect. My coworkers certainly thought so!
Oreo Cheesecake
Note: I’ve made a lot of cheesecake. This one is very simple. Try it. If you want to make a full-sized cheesecake follow all of the directions below but replace the oreo cookie with a cookie crumb crust and bake the cakes for an additional 10-15 minutes. Also, I used the Flour recipe for my oreo cookies in the bottom of the cheesecake. I baked the cookies according to the recipe, did not fill them, then cut them to size and dropped them into my mini spring-form pan.
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1-8oz pkg cream cheese, full-fat, softened to room temp
1 1/2 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream, separated
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbs brown sugar
Preheat the oven to 325 Fahrenheit. Melt the chocolate chips over low heat. Beat the cream cheese and sugar together until creamy. Add 1/2 cup of the Greek yogurt or sour cream and the eggs to the cream cheese-sugar mixture. Beat this until smooth. Pour 1/3 of the cheesecake batter into another bowl and add the vanilla to this bowl. Mix well. Add the melted chocolate to the larger quantity of cheesecake batter (roughly 2/3 of the whole batter). Mix well. In a mini-spring-form pan (or a cupcake tin lined with paper cups) drop the cheesecake batter over the homemade oreo cookies, alternating chocolate-vanilla-chocolate for an oreo look. Pouring your batter gently over the back of a spoon (to disperse it, like making a layered cocktail) will keep the layers from blending together. Put the cheesecakes in the oven. While the cheesecakes cook, combine the rest of the yogurt/sour cream (1 cup) and the 2 tbs of brown sugar to make a glaze. Remove the cheesecake from the oven (about 10 minutes into baking) and glaze them with the yogurt/brown sugar mixture. Return the cheesecakes to the oven for another 15-20 minutes, until they are light golden brown. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow them to cool completely; overnight or at least 6 hrs is ideal. Serve them to someone who loves sweets, they’ll be over the moon about them. I swear it.
Baked Eggs, Simple and Delicious
I love breakfast foods. All of them. Eggs, home fries, French toast, pancakes, cinnamon buns – bring it on. So one day when I was home sick with a cold, I wanted breakfast, and not cereal-and-milk breakfast but homemade breakfast, preferably with veggies and cheese. But I was sick, I had a cold and just didn’t have the energy or desire to make myself an entire omelet for breakfast, so I baked an egg.
I never realized just how simple baked eggs could be and are. The most strenuous part of them is some light chopping to get all of the vegetables to a uniform size. I dug around in the fridge and unearthed some cocktail tomatoes, half a red onion, some red pepper, scallions, sour cream, cheese, and half-and-half I was good to go and eggs were on the menu. I did as much of a jig as my cold ridden self would allow and proceeded to perform some light chopping, I layered everything in an adorable bake-able mug (seriously, isn’t this Cambell’s soup mug awesome? I’ve had it since I was eight!) and baked it. Magical.
At this point I have made these baked eggs in many different forms but my favorite part of them is that they’re still eggs, so they’re versatile and can be made into a whole meal. Also this is great for cleaning out those tail-ends of vegetables that have been lingering in the crisper and need to be used up.
Kathy’s Baked Eggs
Note: The best part about this recipe is that it is so easy to make for more than one or just one person. I make it for BF and when I just don’t want to cook, it’s easy and delicious. I like this a lot with fresh tomatoes but it’s flexible – my recipe below is what I usually add to it, but the important part is to make sure you have a good amount of veggies in the bottom of your mug.
1 12oz bake-able mug or ramekin
1/2-3/4 cup of medium chopped vegetables or meat (I like tomatoes, red peppers, onion/scallions and some ham)
1-2 oz of grated cheese (cheddar is delicious but whatever you have on hand will work; again this is all about cleaning out leftover ingredients)
1 dallop of sour cream or greek yogurt (use whichever you already have/like better; they both work)
Cream, milk, or half and half
1-2eggs (depending on how hungry you are)
Preheat your oven to 350. Lightly grease the inside of the ramekin or mug you plan on using. Layer the vegetables in the bottom of the mug (I like onion, pepper, tomato). Add the cream/milk/half and half until it meets the top edge of the vegetables (this is different depending on the vessel). Then add the sour cream or yogurt. Gently crack the egg or eggs into the mug/ramekin; careful not to break the yolk. Sprinkle the egg with a little salt and pepper and then add the grated cheese. Bake for twenty minutes. Allow the mug/ramekin to cool slightly before eating it. Makes a perfect lazy dinner or brunch dish. Actually I am going to make it right now! Happy Sunday!
Nesting Spice Cookies
I love gingersnaps. I love the crackly sugar coating and the way it yields to a cookie that is sharp and spicy. I love the depth of ginger, molasses, cinnamon, and clove when they get together for a party. I love the crunchy snap of the cookie as it crumbles onto my tongue. I am obsessed. So when I saw this King Arthur Flour blog post about nesting cookies, my thoughts went to spice cookies and all I needed was a reason to make them, which was conveniently delivered in the from of a Merchant Marine friend stuck in Florida and another friend nursing a cold in Minnesota.
These gingersnaps are my thought of a perfect cookie and I have never found their equivilent. These are the same recipe we used in my high school culinary class. We used to sell cookies around the school every other Friday and there was one teacher who requested a bag of a dozen every time; how could we say no to that?
The snickerdoodles are also divine; I don’t have the passion for them that I have for the gingersnaps but how can you not love a cookie that is rolled in cinnamon sugar? More crackle! More soft yielding sugar! More cookie perfection! I used Smitten Kitchen’s recipe for snickerdoodles, so you can just go over there and snag it if you want to make these; I totally recommend it.
These nesting cookies will become your favorite cookie the way they became mine. The instant the pans were cooled, the sharp gingersnap married so well with the neutral snickerdoodle that the whole cookie experience became transcendental. My sister couldn’t keep her hands off of them! As I tried them for the first time, I said (to the general apartment), “Frack, I’ve found my favorite cookie and it takes twice as much work as any other cookie!” I then proceeded to eat two more of them before remembering I was giving them away, hem-hem.
These cookies were visually stunning, with the warm gingersnap color and the bright snickerdoodle. Now if I could just find a way to foist off more of them on people I know. Anyone need a care package?
Nesting Spice Cookies
Based on an idea I read about on the King Arthur Flour Blog
These Crinkly Molasses Cookies are from my Introduction to Baking book from high school (which still has safety sheets for the Hobart in it. Ah love).
The snickerdoodles are from Smitten Kitchen, I add an additional tsp of cinnamon to the dough when making it as well as dipping the cookies in cinnamon sugar.
The most important thing to note for these cookies is to make sure they are of a consistent size; use the same cookie scoop for both sets of dough (or at least matching scoops). Also make sure the cookie cutter is metal and sharp (the cookies will be very hot, so plastic will not work so well).
Ellie’s Crinkly Molasses Cookies
Makes about 3 doz large cookies (about 3 inches across) and 6 doz small cookies (about 2 inches across).
1 1/2 cups softened unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup demrera (raw) sugar (recommended but regular sugar works too)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees farenheit. Cream the butter and sugar together with a flat paddle in a stand mixer over med speed or with a hand mixer at medium speed. Add the eggs and mix to combine. Add the molasses and mix evenly (my trick: put a little canola oil in the measuring cup and let it cover the whole inner surface. Then add your molasses. The molasses will slide right out and it won’t be so hard to clean!). Measure half of the flour, the spices, and baking soda into a sifter and sift them together into the bowl. Sift the second half of the flour into the bowl. Mix the dry ingredients in until evenly incorporated, the dough will be a lovely nutty brown. Put the demrera sugar in a pie plate, allowing it to evenly coat the bottom. Using a standard cookie scoop (I like 1 1/2 Tbs), scoop the dough out of the bowl into same size balls and drop them into the sugar, coating them completely. Bake the cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet for 8 mins for smaller cookies, and 12 mins for larger ones.
If you want to make nesting cookies (like mine, sooooo pretty and fun):
Make a second batch of cookies that are a different color, I recommend these ones from Smitten Kitchen.
Cook 2 trays of equal amounts of cookies at the same time (I liked to do 8 on each sheet) and pull them out of the oven about a minute before they are done. Using a metal cookie cutter, cut your desired shape out of the middle of each type of cookie, swapping centers to create a nested effect. Return the cookies to the oven for another minute so the centers set. Delicious. Send/give them to a friend in need of a pick-me-up they will appreciate it.