falling back

sometimes you've got to go back to an old reliable to make something new. here you will see that i have taken my halfmoon cookie recipe, something i've been making for many a year and made it special for this coming holloween's holiday. cobwebs! so scary!!!!

p.s. there is a crinkle in the icing in the picture because i was too impatient to wait for the icing to completely set before taking the picture. bad!


to make the cobweb's icing technique:

1.make a little piping bag with a plastic resealable ziploc-type bag by spooning a little icing into it. you don't need too much maybe about 2 Tablespoons. snip off the tiniest bit of the corner of the bag.

2. spread opposite color icing over flat surface of the cookie. pipe thin lines of the icing (in the bag) into a bullseye shape over the iced cookie.

3. take a toothpick, start from the center of the cookie and draw lines gently radiating outwards, dragging the icing with it.

wherein our heroine 'wings it'

so i'm looking through the photos on my flickr food set that i've posted in the past months and looking for something good, something season appropriate (or not) to write about here. i came upon something i made in early june that was super easy and something i just put together based on combinations that are tried and true. honestly though, when i made it, i expected it to be tasty but nothing too special. i just wanted to bake and satisfy a little sweet craving. it actually turned out quite delicious. this is why i'm a heroine. in my head. sad face :(

here it is:

Quick Apple Tart with Oatmeal Almond Streusel

1 rectangular section of 1 sheet of puff pastry, rolled out
1 -2 apples (based on size), thinly sliced
ground cinnamon

for oatmeal almond streusel:

2 T brown sugar
2 T oatmeal
1 scant T flour
1 T slivered almonds
1 T butter
dash of salt


1. preheat oven to 375 degrees F or according to puff pastry instructions

2. to make the streusel: mix dry ingredients together and then cut in the butter

3. assemble the tart: layer apple slices in a row, overlapping each other in a pleasing elegant fashion. sprinkle with cinnamon and then sprinkle over that with the streusel.

4. bake until puff pastry is puffy and golden, about 20 minutes.

autumn for 2

i loved summer while it lasted. i probably had one of the best summers ever. bike rides, picnics, farmers markets, wearing shorts. i was sad to see it go but i must say that fall is really gorgeous. riding my bike home from the train station every day through red, yellow, and green tree lined streets. super romantic! its quite comforting to put on sweaters again, and the occasional whiff of that strange smokey smell in the cool air. it is also pretty wonderful to be cooking with the oven again. here is a nice recipe for these kinds of days.





Roasted Acorn Squash with Sage

1 reasonably sized acorn squash, enough to yield about 2 cups of flesh after roasting
olive oil
half an onion, chopped
chicken/vegetable stock
1 bunch sage
salt and pepper

1. preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. cut acorn squash in half, brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. roast in oven for about an hour or until soft when pierced with a fork or any other sharp implement. scoop out the flesh when squash has finished baking and is cool enough for you to handle. set aside.

3. heat a tablespoon of oil in a pan and saute onion until just brown around the edges. add squash and enough stock for your preferred soup consistency as well as the sage. simmer for about 20-30 minutes. add salt and pepper to taste.

4. puree contents in a blender or food processor. if it become too thick, you can return to the pan and add more stock.

serves 2

happy summer!

hi! i have been a long time away from here but still very much in a kitchen way but for whatever reason felt little need to blog. for probably the millionth time, i apologize. but you can check out the many pictures i've taken of the things i have been making at my flickr account. you can find them all here in my food set! no recipes though i don't think but all requests will be carefully considered.

today i took a trip to the farmer's market here in chicago and came home and threw together this nice lunch you see here. it is just cherry tomatoes, olive oil, feta, a little lemon juice and some fresh roughly torn oregano from my little back porch garden and eaten with some multigrain finn crisps (favorite). pretty conventional perhaps but those tomatoes were, dare i say, MAGICAL!

i also picked up a slew of squashes, various sweet onions, peppers, eggplants and unbelievably flavorful and sweet blueberries and early michigan peaches. on the agenda: PIE (using the last two ingredients of course)

food aside, i have put together a little summer mix for people who like to enjoy some warm weather playtimes and also lazytimes but 100% sweettimes. you can view the tracks and download the file here. you can also find it on the yewknee.com summer mix series which i have been a part of for the past couple of years. summer wouldn't be the same without this nice tradition! check it out for other fine music.

i hope everyone is enjoying the nice weather wherever you are.

merry holidays

pictured above are scottish shortbread, molasses, black and white and linzer cookies. the snickers contributed by the boyfriend.



i also made some fresh cinnamon rolls to eat while we opened presents.

for christmas dinner, we made a wonderful italian roast beef, stuffed shells and orangette's fennel salad that was so good i went into mourning once it was gone! i have another bulb in the fridge and will make some very soon for sure.

new years resolution: BAKE MORE BREADS!

i hope everyone is having some great holiday times, received many nice presents, directed many bites of delicious foods into your mouths and smiled many smiles!

p.s. if you are on grouprecipes.com (a myspace for foodies), add me as a friend!

snickerdoodles

today's post is a guest entry by liz mcadams, prolific knitter of babywear, nice neighbor, good friend, and food outing partner. she has made an appearance here previously, revewing my banana muffins. here she shares her special recipe for snickerdoodles! believe me, this girl knows her stuff! :::::



In this cookie, an old-fashioned treat is brought back to life. Snickerdoodles are a light crispy butter cookie rolled in sugar and cinnamon. Makes the most delicious bite – perfect paired with a cup of tea or as a late night snack.


Snickerdoodles

1 stick of unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour plus 2 teaspoons
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In a medium mixing bowl, beat the butter for 30 seconds. Add the 1 cup of sugar, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Beat until butter mixture is light and fluffy.

Then, beat in egg and vanilla. Add flour slowly – you may need to stir in the last ¼ and 2 teaspoons of flour (if mixer is not super powerful). Chill in refrigerator for a half and hour. Now pre-head the oven to 375 degrees. Wait 30 minutes until cookie batter is cool.

Mix 2 tablespoons of sugar and the cinnamon. Roll cookie batter into 1 inch ball, coat in sugar and cinnamon mixture. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until edges are golden. Transfer to a wire rack, cool 10 minutes.

coco choco sandwiches

melty chocolate sandwiches with coco jam and nuts

my relationship with coco jam has been a bit of a long process. i first came upon it some weeks ago while shopping at a tiangge. i had never heard of it before and i didn't know what to do with it other than what the lady selling it told me (to spread it on some bread which didn't really sound that exciting or appetizing), but it smelled so good that i bought a small jar of it. for weeks it sat on my desk unused. i would just open it up occasionally and smell it and that was good enough for the time being.

then one day as i was rummaging through the 23rd wonder of the world aka my parent's pantry (see previous blog entry) and i found a couple of bars of meiji black chocolate and i instantly thought of my little jar of coco jam. i broke a piece of chocolate off the bar and dipped it into the brown gooeyness and took a bite. dark, slightly bitter chocolate and sweet gooey coconut - it was pretty dang good.



so for the next week, whenever i felt like i needed a bit of sweet, i broke off a piece of chocolate and spread it a bit of the jam on it and had it like that. it wasn't something that i didn't have a lot of in a sitting, the flavors were strong and the coco jam would get a little too sweet after awhile so a piece here and there really did satisfy. but soon i felt like i really wanted to do something with it, i wanted to make a finished product - a dessert and not just a snack! ok, well a snacky dessert. a desserty snack?

i wanted to act fast. the impulse was with me and i wanted to do something sort of spontaneous and easy with stuff that i didn't need to go out and buy. so i came up with this sandwich that isn't anything out of the ordinary but @)#@)SDFJWELKJFE)(* so good. the bread balances out the strong and sweet flavors of the dark chocolate and coco jam and the nuts add..er.. nuttiness! you can use whatever nuts you like. we just happened to have hazelnuts here (which was kind of weird). macadamia nuts would be super good with this!



---

bread
coco jam
dark chocolate
crushed nuts


1. break up piece of chocolate and arrange on bread, leaving a margin on the edges so that the chocolate doesn't spill over the sides as it melts.
2. sprinkle over with nuts. place in oven/ toaster oven until bread is toasted and chocolate is melty.
3. heat coco jam in microwave so that it has a more spreadable consistency for only a 2-3 seconds. it melts really quickly and will start to bubble and crystalize if you cook it any longer. spread coco jam over the chocolate and nuts. cover with another slice of toasted bread and push down so the filling spreads and oozes out.
4. eat!