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Butterscotch Bars

This may be shocking, but I will always pass on chocolate if caramel is available. Chocolate is delicious, but something buttery, brown sugary, and chewy is my preference.

You can see how chewy and scrumptious these are from the picture above. They have a lot of butter, but I can sneak one from the pan in the kitchen without having to get out a napkin afterwards to wipe the shine off my fingers.

This recipe is adapted from Kim Ima’s new cookbook, The Treats Truck Baking Book. I remember reading about The Treats Truck years ago, just as the upscale ‘food truck’ trend was beginning. Her motto is ‘not too fancy, always delicious’, and the recipes in the book fits this adage perfectly.

You will find all of your everyday treats, from chocolate chip cookies to cupcakes. The recipes are simple, classic, and have lots of casual suggestions for mix-and-match adaptations to fit your taste.
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Posted 10 November 2011 | baked goods   cookbook review   cookies   dessert   vegetarian | Comments (5) Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Browned Butter Filling

This is no trick – just one delicious treat that would be perfect anytime from Halloween to Thanksgiving.

The cake is simple, not-too-sweet pumpkin (the filling more than makes up for this in sugar content), and the filling – oh the filling. A gooey, sweet, pumpkin-spiced concoction with the sophisticated finish of nutty browned butter.

The filling can be made up to two days ahead and kept in the fridge. Let soften slightly before assembling pies.

Before we start with the main attraction, here’s a quick recipe for making your own pumpkin pie spice. The fresh nutmeg totally makes it. (Just grate on a microplane or fine cheese grater.)

Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 T cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg Continue Reading »

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Posted 30 October 2011 | baked goods   dessert   pumpkin   seasonal   vegetarian   winter holiday | Comments (3) Tagged: , , , , ,

Pot of Beans

There are some things I do in the kitchen that are worthwhile to me, but may not matter much to everyone else. I’m sure you’ve seen a few of these things on this blog (half bread flour and half all purpose, really? Make your own vanilla? C’mon.)

I’m going to suggest something that you may initially scoff at, but I plead you to try it. Instead of opening a can of beans, soak and cook your own. Here are all of the reasons I think this is time well spent:

  1. Really and truly, they taste better. Canned beans are mushy and often have an off-taste.
  2. Economics: You can get a pound of dried beans for about $1.50, which yields 5-6 cups of cooked beans, (which often lasts my family about two meals.) A single can of beans costs about the same, and yields a cup and a half. You usually need at least two cans for a single meal. I’ll let you do the math.
  3. David Tanis says canned beans have no soul.
  4. You can get really neat dried heirloom varieties of beans here, that you will never find in a can.
  5. When you cook beans, not only do you get beans, but you get a tasty broth too.
  6. Most cans are lined with BPA. I know, the jury is still out, but I’m not waiting for them to come back in.
  7. If you’re lucky enough to have a pressure cooker, you can skip the soaking and have your beans in about 30 minutes. Continue Reading »
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Posted 17 October 2011 | legumes | Comments (16) Tagged: ,

Concord Grape Jam

Have you ever tasted a Concord grape? They taste bright and intense, although they are a little unsettling to eat. There is a thick skin that covers a gelatinous sac of flavor that encases a few seeds. After sucking on a few, I’m done, although the flavor is amazing. One way to capture that flavor all year round is to make them into jam.

WARNING: I’m not going to lie–this project is tedious and has a high likelihood of staining.

But it is fun, there are some great opportunities for kids to help, and what you have left is some real, old fashioned grape jam that will make the best PB&J sandwiches you’ve ever had.

The first step of the recipe calls for slipping the skins off the grapes. This is a great job for preschoolers and older. They’re fun to squish, and what pops out looks a lot like a frogs’ eggs. I’m going to save a few for Halloween.

I got seven half-pints of jam from this recipe and I used evaporated cane sugar. I had to bust out the Magic Eraser to get some spots off my walls, and this took the better part of an afternoon. Despite all that, I still recommend going to your local farmer’s market for some fall grapes.

Here’s the recipe I followed, although most of the ones I looked at were very similar.

Have you made any jam this year? I think this will be our last. We’ve put up several pints of strawberry rhubarb, cherry, blueberry, and now grape.

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Posted 06 October 2011 | condiments | Comments (2) Tagged: , , ,

Maple Banana Oatmeal

My three year old took a bite of his breakfast and asked me, “Mommy, is this pudding?” ‘Nough said. This is a good breakfast. So much so, one might actually think it is dessert.

And  not because it is overly sweet, just very flavorful for such simple ingredients. The oats are creamy, the banana and vanilla bring the party, and cinnamon and maple syrup warm and sweeten it up. To me, it tasted like a banana muffin in a bowl.

My only mistake was that I didn’t make enough, and my two kids ate it all. I doubled the recipe for you here, so you should have enough for two adults, or a small herd of children and a hungry parent.

This does take a few minutes longer than cold cereal or instant oatmeal in an envelope, but it is worth it. Especially as the mornings grow chilly. You have coffee to lure you out of bed, what do your kids have to look forward to? Perhaps this oatmeal. Continue Reading »

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Posted 25 September 2011 | breakfast   comfort food   grains   vegetarian | Comments (5) Tagged: , , ,