Like Strawberry Wine...

Just when I was starting to think I could no longer be WOWed by a cookie (other than all those crazy novelty cookies with Oreos/Snickers/etc. hidden inside), I discovered this recipe.  I’ve eaten white chocolate macadamia cookies before, but believe it or not, I don’t think I’ve ever even had a macadamia nut in my own kitchen – ever.  I needed a new cookie to send to the guys this month and since this one is new to me, it was getting its turn. 

I allllmost made this recipe as is – just one minor tweak.  I’m still not sold on coconut so I omitted the coconut extract and subbed in more vanilla.  Do what you like though.  I’ll tell ya, I could have stood there with a spoon and eaten this dough straight out of the bowl, and that’s not usually my M.O.  I can take a bite or two of chocolate chip cookie dough, but then it gets to be too much.  I had to get these baked ASAP (not to mention take a guilt trip down to the gym for a 45 minute run while the dough was chilling) in order to avert diet disaster.  Why do these ingredients work so well together?  I guess it’s the creaminess of both, if a nut can be creamy (no comments please), not to mention the couple sticks of butter in the dough.  Whatever it is, it makes these freakin’ awesome.  Definitely give them a try, and good luck actually getting them into the oven – though I promise, they have two sweet spots: 1) dough form, and 2) approximately 6-7 minutes post oven-removal, trust me.

Recipe adapted from Annie’s Eats (www.annies-eats.com)

Ingredients

3 cups AP Flour

1 tsp coarse salt

1 ¼ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold and cut into chunks

1 cup granulated sugar

½ cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp coconut extract (optional)

12 oz white chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 ½ cups macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

Instructions

Whisk together the first four ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. 

Combine the butter and sugars and beat in stand mixer or by hand until smooth and just combined - couple minutes (I have a hand mixer and I found that mixing these with a pastry blender first, then beating, helped tremendously).  Beat in the eggs one at a time just until incorporated.  Blend in the vanilla and coconut, if using.

With mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients slowly, just until combined.  Fold in the white chocolate and macadamia nuts with a spatula.  This dough is chock full of chocolate and nuts, I promise, it’s not too much!

Cover and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350º.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  Roll a scant ½ cup of dough into a ball.  Holding dough in fingertips of both hands, pull apart and rotate 90 degrees then place jagged side up on the baking sheet.  **This is supposed to improve the appearance of the cookies when baked, but I just used my large cookie scoop and scooped dough directly onto the sheets – as you can see in the picture, they turned out fine.**

Bake the cookies, rotating halfway through, until golden and just set – about 14-16 minutes.  Let cool on the cookie sheets for about 2-3 minutes then transfer to cooling racks to cool completely.

Every once in a while, I read a recipe and want whatever it is immediately.  Well, ok, that actually happens a lot but I usually hold off and just create a stash of recipes that I refer to when I’m at a loss of what to make.  I found this cake recipe the other day though and read the ingredients – I had everything at home already, so I was making this cake…

Most people opt for chocolate cake or vanilla cake or even red velvet or carrot.  I have always had an affinity for strawberry cake.  More times than not, it’s what I had for my birthday every year as a kid.  And yes, I’m even talking about that bright pink boxed version – deeelish.

This recipe sounded great, it includes yogurt which gives a nice background tang and keeps it moist (ewww, hate that word), and requires you to roast the berries…I’d never heard of doing that, but I think it worked as the berry flavor really came through.  This is like the adult version of that boxed cake – I think I’m officially ready to move on.

Ingredients

Recipe adapted from www.brighteyedbaker.com

3 cups halved strawberries

1 ½ Tbsp granulated sugar (I omitted)

3 cups AP Flour, spooned and swept (I used 2 cups AP and 1 cup white whole wheat)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda

10 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup packed light brown sugar

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 extra large eggs, plus 1 yolk

½ cup plain yogurt (I used nonfat Greek yogurt)

1 tsp vanilla extract

¼ tsp red food coloring (I omitted)

Topping

1 cup white chocolate chips

¼ cup heavy cream

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375º.  Place the strawberries in a large baking dish and sprinkle with the 1 ½ Tbsp sugar. (I left this sugar out, just didn’t seem necessary since there is so much in the cake).  Roast for about 10-15 min, then remove from oven and set aside to cool for about 15 min.

Reduce the oven temperature to 325º.  Grease a 12-cup bundt pan.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. 

In a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until even in color and texture and the mixture has lightened in color slightly.  Add the eggs one at a time, then add the yolk, vanilla extract and food coloring, beating just until well mixed.

In a blender, puree the strawberries and yogurt then add to the sugar mixture and beat on low speed or stir to combine.  Sift and slowly add the flour mixture just until combined.  Do not overmix.

Pour the batter into the greased pan making sure to evenly distribute.  Tap the pan on the counter a couple times to eliminate any air bubbles.  Bake in a preheated oven for 50-55 min or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  I started checking the cake after about 45 minutes and checked every 4-5 minutes thereafter.  When done, let cool in the pan for about 15 min, then careful tap the pan over a cooling rack to release and cool completely.

After about 20 minutes, make the white chocolate ganache by slowly melting the chips into the heavy cream. (I did this in 25 second increments in the microwave)  Let cool enough for the mixture to thicken slightly then pour over the cake.  Let set before serving.

*NOTES*  I only had frozen fruit and on top of that, I only had 2 cups of strawberries so I added 1 cup of blueberries.  It took a little longer to roast the fruit since it was frozen, but it worked just fine.  Blueberries are a dominant flavor and color, hence my cake being more gray-purple than pink, but the taste was amazing.  I’ll definitely make this again with only strawberries though.  Also, I think other toppings would work well on this cake – perhaps a simple vanilla or lemon powdered sugar glaze, or even a cream cheese glaze.  I’m starting to crave this again just by talking about it.  Experiment and enjoy! 

For the first Baking GALS round of 2013, I wanted to make something different.  New year, no repeats (let’s hope I stick to that!).  I asked some friends for ideas and the suggestion was made to make something orange-flavored.  Well, two things immediately came to mind, both of which my mom made when I was growing up – orange cardamom bread and orange coffee cake.  I haven’t had the orange coffee cake in years and I’ve never actually made it myself so I knew that was the one.

A quick email and call home and I had the recipe and tips I needed.  I also learned that this is actually my grandma’s recipe and one of my dad’s favorites.  My mom has been making it for our family since the 70’s.  I think this is one of the few, if not the only, TRUE family recipes I’ve posted on this blog so I’m a little nostalgic about it.  If anyone makes this and doesn’t like it – spare me please and just keep your comments to yourself!

I noticed that there is melted shortening in the recipe – ewww, what??  I know shortening is just a vegetable product but it still just has a bad stigma in my head…even though one of my favorite jobs in the kitchen as a kid was to get a glob on a paper towel and grease the pans for whatever my mom was baking.  I distinctly remember sticking my hand in that big blue can…  So when I asked her if I could substitute butter, the immediate response was “Well that isn’t what they used when grandma was making this Steph - people used Crisco, just use Crisco.”  Ok fine, in honor of grandma, here goes:

Batter: 

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
2 beaten eggs

1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup melted shortening
1 tsp grated orange rind
3/4 cup orange juice

Topping:  In a separate bowl combine with a fork: 2 Tbsp grated orange rind, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1 Tbsp butter (soft enough to mush into the other ingredients).

Sift flour, salt, baking powder and sugar.  Add eggs, vanilla, rind, juice, and then add shortening.  Stir only until dry ingredients are moistened.  Pour into 8" square greased pan.  Per my mother when I asked about using a mixer, “No no!  It’s a very delicate batter, definitely mix it by hand.”  Done and done.

Sprinkle topping over batter.  

Bake in 400° oven for 30 minutes, though start checking it after 25.   Obviously I made muffins rather than a cake – for regular size muffins, bake for about 11-13 min; for mini muffins, bake for about 10 min.  

This is good warm, but the orange flavor really comes out as it cools a little.  Enjoy!

If you’re anything like me, at the beginning of a new year all you want to do is try to stop eating.  By this point you have gorged yourself at a whole slew of holiday gatherings beginning way back in November and now you need to reign that shit in!

I love chicken salad, and the way I make it, it’s really not that bad for you.  I generally mix low-fat mayo with nonfat greek yogurt and always useless boneless skinless chicken breast that I cook with no additional fat (no butter, no oil).  In my holiday laziness a couple weeks ago I was watching Food Network and saw this version of chicken salad that I’d never had before.  I was intrigued.  Even though the person making it was  -gasp!, Trisha Yearwood – seriously.  I never thought I’d be taking cooking tips from a country singer.  At any rate, assuming you like each individual component of this salad, I think you’ll really like it – great combination of savory and sweet, crunchy and soft, and to be quite honest, I think it’s the prettiest chicken salad I’ve ever made – so colorful!  To compensate for the fact that I went all mayo this time (still low-fat), I’ll be eating it over a bed of arugula, rather than between two slices of bread.  You do what you gotta do though….

Ingredients

I’m afraid I don’t really measure anything when I make chicken salad.  I’ll indicate amounts where I remember what I used, but otherwise, it really is a matter of personal taste.

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, poached in chicken broth and seasonings

5 stalks celery, small dice

scallions, finely chopped – maybe 5-8?

Seedless red grapes, halved – I probably used about 1-2 cups

½ cup slivered almonds – recipe doesn’t call for it, but I dry-toasted these first

Fresh dill, chopped – about 2 tbsp

2 tbsp poppy seeds

Mayo – maybe about a cup?

Salt & Pepper to taste

Chop cooked chicken to the size dice you prefer, add all other ingredients, mix well with mayo, season with salt & pepper.  Enjoy!