Anniversary Brownies

 

You can see these are not called "anniversary brownies". I call them that because today I made them for Margaret and Matthew for a belated anniversary of the date they got together, and the date they got engaged. I have probably noted over the years that they had known each other practically their whole lives though not in a romantic way. But one evening they re-met at a party, and the rest, so they say, is history. Matt wanted to give her a ring on the date they met, but Margaret had to work so he asked her the next day. 

I made a recipe out of a book I've used before here. I put in softened butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla and no nuts.

The brownies tasted very delicious, but looked quite a mess!

I have a feeling about what the problem is. I've recently been reading about how baking pans aren't all the same sizes. A 7x11 or a 9x13 may not be exactly those dimensions. I have had a few problems since I bought these stainless steel pans after the "glass breaking episode". I need to measure all the ones I have and see about getting new ones if they aren't right. 

Mashed potatoes and shallots/New to me guacamole recipe

This is a recipe from a woman whose blog I used to read and enjoy. And then she just stopped. Happily, it is still on the internet. 

I went to my blog to find the exact recipe, and I don't have it under "recipes". I did find it here and decided I'd post it so I could have it in my recipe list. 

This is Tara's blog. The last entry was in 2010. A lot of the people whose blogs I follow commented, and if any one of you knows anything about her since that time, - like a new blog somewhere? - I'd love to know.

So, back to the recipe.

Chop up shallots, as many as you need. It will depend on how many mashed potatoes you are making. 

Sauté in butter and olive oil (you choose portions of each) until well-done, even crispy.

Cook potatoes until soft, and mash with butter and salt.

Add shallots and mix in well.

Serve. Yum!

I also made guacamole from a recipe a friend gave me recently. 

Put 2 avocados through food processor. This didn't make them completely smooth, but were just right.

Chop shallots very finely and add to avocados. Squeeze half a lemon and strain juice into mixture.

That's it! And it was very good. I'm not an eater of raw onions, but this was alright. Shallots aren't as sharp a taste as onions can be. But the next time, I might try sautéing them a bit. I have no idea how it would turn out, but worth a try.

I used to post to Weekend Cooking, but I haven't been allowed to in ages. 

Addendum: It worked this time! 

The essence of summer suppers

 We have three favorite meals that I make only in summertime. I made a little vow to myself years ago that I would eat tomatoes only when they are fresh and local or from my own plants. They are heavenly. The other times of the year they come from God-knows-where and are, as they say, like cardboard plus being expensive. So when summer comes we eat and eat them. I also never buy fresh basil any other time of year, and usually have enough that I have grown myself. 

Hummus (which I do make other times of the year, sans tomatoes)

Pesto

Tabouli

As if we needed something else to worry about... glass pans

 I have always used glass pans for baking bread, cakes, supper recipes, desserts. My mother always had Pyrex pans, and I continue to use them. 

Three nights ago, I was roasting a 7x11 pan of potatoes and onions. It was covered in tin foil and the temp was 400º, just like always. It was a relatively new pan, but I'd used it a few times since buying it. We were in the living room watching Autumnwatch on BritBox when we heard a crash, a kind of explosion in the kitchen. And this is what we discovered.

The side of the pan was bowed out

We were stunned, to say the least. We thought it must be the new pan, though why it would have been alright before and not that night we couldn't figure out. So, I went online and was very surprised to discover that this is a thing! Hot glass pans can explode!! Some sites said that the new glass isn't like the ones in the past. Pyrex and Anchor say it is strong. Though they do add some directions like never put your dish right out of the oven on your stove or on a cooling rack - both things I have done forever. They say it needs to go on a cloth or potholder. That right there is pretty weird. I read that sometimes they explode after you've removed them from the oven - one family had sat down to Christmas dinner when it happened and they found pieces of glass three feet away! 

Well, being a quick-thinker and a cautious person, I went right to Amazon and ordered all new cooking pans - stainless steel. Old dogs can indeed learn new tricks!

Eating like a child; and another sweet grandchild saying

 Last night, this is what I had for supper.

Lettce, yellow beans, and corn from local farmers, our cucumbers and potatoes, and a glass of milk. These happen to be all my childhood favorite foods for summer suppers. The only thing missing is peas, which we will probably have tonight. 

And before supper, Hazel Nina and I were outdoors at our new fire pit which we haven't lit yet because the weather is too hot. She suddenly told me I looked "so cute" that she had to go get a phone to take a picture. As with Campbell Walker's adorable words the other day, I will say again, how many 72-year-olds hear that adjective applied to them! She also moved around a bit because she wanted to include the barn. Photographer in the making?

Death By Chocolate Cookies

I've had this recipe for ages, and decided to finally make these cookies.

Instead of Baker's chocolate, I used

Preheat oven to 350º F.

Melt half a 12-ounce package of chocolate chips. Set aside the other half.
Stir until melted and smooth.

Stir in:

3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup softened butter
2 slightly beaten eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Add and stir well:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Then stir in the half package of chocolate chips.

Drop by 1/4 cupfuls onto ungreased baking sheet.

Bake 12-13 minutes or until cookies are puffed and feel set to the touch.
Cool on cookie sheet 1 minute and then transfer to cooling rack.

The recipe said it makes 1 1/2 dozen. Mine made 11 cookies. Perfect to split with
our daughter and her family.

They were some of the best cookies I've ever had. Really. They are a little bit like brownies in cookie form!

Making my first contribution to Weekend Cooking since the new "ownership".

My mother's muffin recipe

These were the best cranberry muffins I've ever tasted. In fact, I had a couple other recipes for them in the recipe box, and I threw them away, knowing this is IT from now on. So many recipes I see call for 1/2 - 1 cup of sugar. That's a lot for twelve muffins, I think. This one calls for 2 Tablespoons, and even with tart cranberries, they were perfectly sweet. The same goes for butter - most of the time, recipes call for more than 3 Tablespoons.

The things I changed - I didn't separate the egg, and I used the whole egg. Also, as you must know by now, I only ever use butter in baking. And I greased the muffin pan with cooking spray.

Can you tell what is under the word "preheated"? Is it 400? Well, I wasn't sure enough so I put the oven at 350 F. I've made these muffins almost half a dozen times, and they have turned out perfectly. I baked them for about 20 minutes, but check because all ovens are different.

You may use fresh or frozen cranberries, and I put them in the food processor to break them up.

I love that she called them "standard" and that the cook can use any fruits she or he wants.

Please visit Weekend Cooking for more food related posts.

Susan Branch's Best Biscuits

I've had the most glorious couple weeks of reading, totally immersed in Susan Branch's memoirs.

She is an old friend whom I've never met. I have her cookbooks, her address book, her birthday book, her stickers, her calendars. I love her work with real handwriting and her paintings and her quotes. She has brought such joy to my life.

The one on the right was actually published first, but chronologically it comes third. I began with The Fairy Tale Girl, then Martha's Vineyard Isle of Dreams, and am now reading A Fine Romance Falling in Love with the English Countryside.

If you are a fan you will adore these books! And if you don't know Susan Branch these books are a good introduction.

This morning I decided to make her biscuit recipe. I have others in my recipes folder, but I've never posted about hers. In fact, I'm quite sure I made them only once. They are in her first cookbook.

You may see a couple changes I made after the first time I made them. I thought they were too salty so I reduced both the baking powder and the salt. Today I also substituted buttermilk for heavy cream because I didn't have any cream, and I love buttermilk in baked goods. Another difference for me is that I used a 9x13 pan sprayed with cooking spray. I've had such good luck using it before when I bake biscuits. I didn't butter both sides, just the top, but then we used the extra butter for the biscuits when they were cooked and we split them open. They cooked a little longer than hers, probably because of the different pan. I'd say 25 minutes or so.

They were excellent, perfect, delicious. Tom and I loved them, and then our beloved neighbors popped in and enjoyed them, too. Especially Hazel. She may have eaten four!

I'll put this up on the Weekend Cooking site.

Blueberry Fool

Blueberry Fool

I've had this recipe on a little post-it note in my recipe box for ages. I have no idea where it came from, but it is absolutely delicious, and incredibly easy and quick to make.

Melt 1 Tablespoon of butter in a saucepan.
Add 2 cups blueberries and 1/3 cup sugar.
Mix together, and take off heat.
Add 1 1/2 cups whipped cream and put in the fridge.

Honestly, that's it! I love this and will make it every summer during blueberry season from now on!

I think I'll add this to Weekend Cooking on Saturday, since it has been ages since I've posted a recipe!

Cranberry Nut Dessert

I'm thinking it is probably okay to post this to Weekend Cooking even if it has been offered there before because it was 8 years ago!! I have kept the recipe all this time, and I finally made it. I knew I would love it, and now plan to make it at least once a month. Cranberries are my favorite fruit to use in baking. I buy a lot of them in the fall and freeze them.  Here is where I originally read it.

Cranberry Nut Dessert

Preheat oven to 350º f.

Melt 1/2 cup of butter and let cool a bit.

Mix together 1 cup flour (I used whole wheat pastry)
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix together and add to dry mixture:
2 beaten eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (recipe called for almond extract, but I don't like the taste)
the melted butter

Add 2 cups of cranberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 chopped walnuts

Spray a 9-inch cake pan with cooking spray (my pan is 2 inches deep and it worked perfectly) and add mixture.

The original recipe called for 40 minutes of baking, but I baked it almost 50 minutes.

The most delicious cranberry dish I've ever eaten! We had it for breakfast rather than for dessert.

Refrigerator Rolls

I first mentioned this cookbook eight years ago, here. My friend Les gave me the book and I so love it.

On Wednesday I made some soup.

Soak over night in crockpot:

T. each:
cannellini beans
brown rice
moong dal (In India, "dal" is the word for lentils, and "moong dal" is the general term for mung lentils, also known as split yellow mung beans.)
black lentils
and einkorn (info here)
Next day, cook on high until all are soft. Then I added 1 cup of homemade tomato sauce. Delicious, and enough for supper and lunch for two people.

I wanted something to go with it, and decided on rolls. I haven't made rolls that often, and usually when I do it is my regular bread recipe with one of the loaves being rolls. So I went looking around, and came up with this one that didn't sound too hard for a sort of roll novice. 

I'm going to put up pictures of the recipe. You may click to make them bigger. 

You'll see that I made them with "my girls". Hazel had a snow day and they walked up and both helped with the rolls.

And then when they left, Hazel waved to the deer who were eating from our buffet of sunflower seeds.

You may be wondering what those delicious rolls looked like.

Can't you almost taste them?! PS I didn't cover with plastic wrap. I used a damp towel. And I used two 9x13 pans, greased with cooking spray, with 8 rolls per pan. This worked perfectly. Strong bread flour described here.

You may visit Beth Fish Reads for more food related posts.

Addendum: Sunday evening, the 13th I made the rolls with half whole wheat and half strong white bread flour and they were great. We both preferred them to the plain white. Made hummus and spread it on the rolls. Delicious!

Bean Dip

On the twelfth day of Christmas we had our family Christmas down at Michael and Estée's house. A glorious time was had by all!!

I made these brownies and cheesejacks. Tom made his famous (in the family!) bean dip. Here's what he does.

In a crockpot, mix together:

And about 1/3 of this 2 pound package of cheese, grated. (Sorry, blurry picture)

Turn on crockpot to low until mixed together and nice and warm.

This is what it looks like part-way done. The cheese melted in a little more.

Serve with

You may visit Beth Fish Reads for more food related postings.

Paul Hollywood's Soda Bread

I bought this book after I started watching The Great British Bakeoff. This is the first thing I've made from it. I went online and got the US equivalents for the British measurements.

Soda Bread 

500g (2 1/2 cups) plain white flour, plus extra for dusting

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (what we call baking soda)

1 tsp salt

400 ml (13.5 oz) buttermilk

I didn't have quite enough buttermilk so I used some regular milk.

1. Heat (we would say preheat) your oven to 200º C (395º F) and line a baking tray (cookie sheet) with baking parchment (we say parchment paper) or silicone paper. I used parchment.

2. Put all the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix well, then stir in the buttermilk to form a sticky dough. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape it quickly into a ball. Flatten the ball a little with your hand.

3. Put the dough on the baking tray. Mark it into quarters, cutting deeply through the bread, almost but not quite through to the base. Dust with a little flour.

4. Bake for 30 minutes or until the loaf is cooked through - it should be golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the base. Leave it to cool on a wire rack. Soda bread is best eaten within a day of baking. It freezes well.

It looks pretty darn good! But I could hear Paul telling me I could have baked it just a wee bit longer. Though the picture below is blurry, you might be able to see it is a touch underdone. 

Also, instead of an all-purpose flour, which I think is the equivalent to what the British call "plain", I used what I've learned from GBBO, is "strong flour."  

I guess I just assumed this would be right. Next time I might try the all-purpose, or part all-purpose. Also, he says you can use half wholemeal (whole wheat) which I will definitely do next time, though I wanted to make it his way the first time. And yes, I will make it again. It was so quick and easy and really delicious, even if it could have used maybe 5 minutes more in the oven.

You may visit Beth Fish Reads for more food related posts.