Ruttan and Law Family Recipes—The Secret Recipe Club

Big Fat Delicious Clone of a Cinnabon

Guess what?  For this month’s Secret Recipe Club assignment, I FINALLY got one of my favorite blogs and one that I’ve been waiting for well over three years to be assigned.  It has been a party at our house as I have made a ton of recipes from Shelby’s blog, The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch.  Going out with a bang here, but I’ve made the decision to not be part of the Secret Recipe Club anymore.  I have been with it from the day Amanda created it more than three years ago.  I have never missed one month.  It has been so fun, such a great time, and I have made some great friends along the way.  I’ve been feeling for a number of  months now that it will be time to move on once I finally get Shelby’s blog.  That has been what has kept me going, the excitement of waiting and wondering when I’ll finally get THE assignment. 

Brownie Biscotti

Shelby, Shelby, Shelby—what a wonderful woman!  We’ve “known” each other (haven’t met in person yet) since way back in about 2008 when we were both involved with Tuesdays With Dorie and baked our way through Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home To Yours in a huge weekly-posting group.  Those were the days, weren’t they?!

Throughout this last month, I have had the fun and pleasure of seeing how many of Shelby’s recipe from her blog I can make.  I have not been disappointed with a single one!  I loved the brownie biscotti and made it gluten free and used organic cane sugar to make myself a treat.  Can’t wait to make them again!

Way back when she posted these unique chocolate chip cookies, I made them.  I looked back through all my photos and my blog and never did put them on the blog.  But I did find where I wrote some notes after making them that Kevin really liked them.  This recipe, that Shelby posted back in 2009, was one she found on a handwritten recipe card that her family believes was from her Grandmother Lottie.  They have no butter and are made with cream instead, which is probably because cows’ milk/cream was more at hand back in those days than butter.  I made these to take to a get together we were having with some friends along with a couple other goodies and they were gobbled up.

 Grandmother Lottie's Old Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies

I didn’t want to only make treats or desserts from her blog, so I have turned to it for dinner inspiration over the last month.  I made a great chicken recipe weeks ago that was well liked here at my home.  I will not hesitate to make it again.  Just like when Shelby made it, I served it with rice (and for me quinoa).

Chipotle Chicken Skillet

My family LOVES cinnamon rolls, which Shelby has mentioned she can’t resist either.  It only seemed right to make the recipe she has pictured at the front and center of her blog.  These just might replace my cinnamon roll recipe, which I’ve used for years because the boys all really liked them.  How could you not like a giant cinnamon roll that is similar to Cinnabon?!  (Wish I could have had one!)  This recipe, which is similar in size of ingredients to mine, makes EIGHT rolls.  They are huge, and I think I rolled them the wrong way (from the long side of the dough instead of the short side, which would make each roll bigger).

Big Fat Delicious Clone of a Cinnabon

I really enjoyed looking all through Shelby’s blog and ended up having to make another recipe from her family file and settled on these date treats made by her Aunt Helga.  I changed up this recipe for candied date balls so I could eat them (no one else here will eat anything with dates!) and made the recipe with coconut sugar and raw honey instead of sugar and coconut oil instead of butter.  I also used some organic brown rice crisp cereal instead of Rice Krispies.  I enjoyed making some different with unsweetened coconut, chopped walnuts and even adding a little chocolate to some.

Aunt Helga's Candied Date Balls

Another awesome recipe I made were a quick-change version of Shelby’s Peanut Butter Caramel Swirled Brownies.  I had the brownies all ready to make and was getting out the ingredients for the peanut butter caramel, which called for smooth peanut butter and found that we were out.  Staring at me in the cupboard was some nice, smooth Nutella.  So I made the caramel sauce (which came from a Bobby Flay recipe) with Nutella!  After making the caramel and once it cooled, I will have to admit I tasted a little bit, for quality control purposes, you know.  It was good!  The caramel was swirled in to the brownies.  They made for a yummy dessert with ice cream on top.  It seemed necessary to take a bite of the one photographed here, so I can really attest to their deliciousness.  I’m a bad, bad girl, I know. ; ) 

Nutella Caramel Swirled Brownies adapted from Peanut Butter Caramel Swirled Brownies

The 9x13 inch pan of brownies lasted a few days around here.  One of Kevin’s 18 year old nephews was over and had one of the brownies and said they were SO good.  He asked for another.  Then he said I definitely had to make those for the next family get together. 

Nutella Caramel Swirled Brownies with ice cream

Wait, there’s more!  It has been strangely cool and quite rainy for an August in the Utah dessert here, so I was recently in the mood for chili.  Shelby to the rescue!  She has a great, simple White Chicken Chili on her blog!

White Chicken Chili

Another night for dinner, I had some more chicken I wanted to use.  Our dinner that night was Apricot Glazed Grilled Chicken from The Life and Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybunch.  Mmm, it was good!

Apricot Glazed Grilled Chicken

I made the glaze with some apricot jam my friend gave me that was made with agave instead of sugar!  I’m so blessed to have friends that care about my dietary needs.  My dinner included some sauteed sweet potato and portabello mushroom hash and a caprese salad.  Delicious dinner!

I saw Shelby’s post for Spicy Mango Lime Salsa with Pears and just like she said she had to when she saw it posted somewhere and had to make it, I did, too!  I also made homemade tortilla chips.  I made some with flour tortillas (not pictured) and some with corn tortillas, which I loved!  The boys couldn’t eat the flour tortilla chips fast enough and want more soon!  The salsa was supposed to be made with finely chopped red onion, but since I knew I was the one who was going to eat most of it (Kevin doesn’t like fruit in salsa), I left out the onion and added chopped jalapeno instead.  Yum!

Spicy Mango Lime Salsa with Pears and Homemade Corn Tortilla Chips

Are we there yet?  You know, how when you’re on a long trip and the kids complain and ask if we’ve arrived at our destination yet?  I’m almost done.  But aren’t you starving now?  Yeah, get over to Shelby's blog for all these delicious recipes.  Finally, I ended the month recently with another biscotti, which is the same thing I made first when I got my assignment (the brownie biscotti).  Since Shelby is from upstate New York and they love their maple syrup there, I wanted to make something with maple syrup, so I settled on her Maple Walnut Biscotti.  I have simply loved having so many treats this month, a lot of them I have adapted to gluten free and refined sugar free when it was something I wanted to be able to eat, like the biscotti.  I will spend the next month or so sharing individual posts for my adaptations for all these recipes.  For now, all the links to the recipes I used from Shelby are under each photo. 

Maple Walnut Biscotti

Shelby dipped her biscotti in a white chocolate glaze, I added some Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips to some of mine.  I’m not a coffee or tea drinker and don’t dip my biscotti in anything, but sure love it!

This Sunday night for dinner, I planned ahead and made one more recipe from Shelby’s blog—Pot Roast and Onions.  While I don’t like onions, my family does and I knew I’d be okay putting an onion in the slow cooker with a roast.  Loved this simple recipe and the gravy it made.  When it comes time to eat, my family is not happy to wait for pictures, so I got them all eating, then snapped this quick one of my dinner.  (They had mashed potatoes, but I don’t eat potatoes anymore, so I had a sweet potato.)

Shelby's Pot Roast

Is it over?  I mean this “era” in my blog life of being part of the Secret Recipe Club?  Let me just say that I’ve sure been torn from one day to the next, even one hour to the next throughout this last month.  I will still be checking in on reveal days as much as I can.  One of the reasons I feel like it’s time to let it go is because I just can’t seem to get around to as many blogs as I’d like and it doesn’t seem fair.  I’ll definitely still be here in food blog land, so never fear!  Peace out!  And we will meet someday, Shelby, my sista from another mista!

An InLinkz Link-up

Snickerdoodle Granola Bars, Gluten Free—Secret Recipe Club

Gluten Free Snickerdoodle Granola BarsT

These are sure tasty!  I know they look kind of plain and boring, but I assure you, there is some great flavor there!  Do you like Snickerdoodles, those cinnamony, chewy cookies?  These taste like those cookies, but in no bake granola bar form.  And of course, I made them gluten free with gluten free oats and a glluten free flour blend and used raw honey and organic sugar.  I decided to splurge a little on the sugar, I consider organic cane sugar not to be a 100% natural, unrefined sugar, but sometimes I use it—so sue me. ;  )  I also don’t use butter much anymore as I’ve been using coconut oil for the most part, but these called for butter and I decided to splurge there, too, and use real butter.  Mmm, I thought the butter flavor came through nicely with these.

Hey, I found these bars over at my Secret Recipe Club blog assignment for this month.  I really enjoyed Aimee’s blog, See Aimee Cook.  New to me, but I sure spent a lot of time there.  I had the hardest time deciding what to make.  Check out Aimee’s awesome Recipe Index.  I love that she posts weekly menus and browsing through some of those I wanted to make everything I saw.  Let me correct that, I wanted Aimee to cook everything I saw for me.  There is a lot of good stuff there.

These are making for a great little snack for me the last couple days.  I have this silly little trick—when my boys ask what certain things are, I tell them they are gluten free or sugar free and they cringe their noses and won’t even try most things.  Little do they know, they taste great and they’d never know if I didn’t tell them.  Makes them all for me that way and they last a lot longer, too.  Hehe

Snickerdoodle Granola Bars, Gluten Free, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Aimee at See Aimee Cook

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup (168 grams) raw honey

1/4 cup (35 grams, not packed) organic light brown sugar

1/4 cup (45 grams) organic pure cane sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

3  1/2 cups (315 grams) gluten free quick cooking oats

3/4 cup gluten free blend flour (I used Premium Gold Ancient Grains blend)

Line a 9 inch square pan with nonstick foil, enough to use the edges to remove the bars easily from the pan.  Spread a light coating of butter or coconut oil over the foil. 

In a medium sized saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, honey, brown sugar, and sugar until melted and smooth.  Let it come to a boil for 3 minutes.  Don’t let it boil to fast and high, if it is, turn the heat down slightly.  Remove from heat and add the vanilla, cinnamon, salt and cream of tartar.  Stir to combine.  Add the oats and stir well.  Add the flour a little at a time until well combined.  Spread the mixture evenly in the pan.  Press it down firmly (I like to use a potato masher for even pressing.)  Refrigerate for about 2 hours until bars are set.  Lift them out of the pan using the foil edges.  Cut into desired sized bars on a cutting board.  Store in an airtight container for up to a week at room temperature or for a month in the refrigerator.  They also freeze well.

These are perfectly soft and chewy at room temperature and obviously more firm out of the fridge.  They wouldn’t take long to come to room temperature, but after enjoying them room temperature for a few days, I have the rest stored in the fridge.  They have great cinnamon flavor and the butter really comes through.  I actually thought they’d be a little greasy, but they are not.  Great job on these Snickerdoodle Granola Bars, Aimee.  I’m totally thinking I’ll trick the boys and make other flavors of these.  We buy a lot of granola bars around here and I’d love to make them instead!

The night I made these, I decided to make this Blackened Chicken and Cilantro Lime Quinoa for dinner.  Course, I had to make it for the boys with rice and let them put it all in a flour tortilla like a burrito, blah, blah.  If I’d have just made quinoa with chicken, they probably would have all complained.  Whatever.  It worked just fine for me to make cilantro lime rice and some cilantro lime quinoa.  I followed Aimee’s recipe pretty much exactly.  I just didn’t make as much rice or quinoa so we wouldn’t have a huge abundance.  It worked perfectly.  I love quinoa and this was a great meal!

Check out Aimee’s blog, See Aimee Cook and all the other goodness from the Secret Recipe Club!

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Almond (Amaretti) Cookies (Gluten Free)—Group B, Secret Recipe Club

On Sunday, I had a little time and was making cookies.   After making two different kind, I saw my friend, Suzanne mention on the Secret Recipe Club Facebook page that they needed someone to fill-in for a blog posting today.  I’m always up for “playing” with other groups in the club and helping out when they need an extra baker/cook.  So I scoured the blog I was assigned, Dee’s blog, OnTheMove-In The Galley and instantly had heck of a time deciding what to make.  This blog is full of delicious food.  I don’t know her whole “story”, but right now she lives on a boat and cooks and bakes there.  She has lots of salmon recipes, including this Barbecued Salmon that I wish I could have made for this post.  Still plan to make it sometime.  Check out her blog, so much good food!

Since I was already baking cookies, I made more.  I made these Almond Cookies, which are like Amaretti Cookies.  I’ve always wanted to try making amaretti cookies.  They are kind of like an extra crunchy French macaron.  Dee mentioned how hers were a little chewy in the middle on the first day, but the next day or two they were crunchy throughout—but she still liked them.  As I write this on the day I made them, they are a little chewy in the middle, but mostly crunchy.  I love the almond flavor.  These are a perfect little cookie treat.  The only fat is a natural fat for the almond meal.  Can’t beat that.  I will make these again for sure.  I like having something I feel I can nibble on when I make other goodies for everyone else that I don’t eat since they aren’t as healthy.  Hey, I just realized these cookies are gluten free!

Check out the link for the Almond Cookies above on Dee’s blog for the recipe, I didn’t change anything.  She added a sliced almond or chocolate chip to the tops of hers before they baked, which sounds great.  I didn’t do that this time.  And I cut the recipe in to thirds because I ended up not having as much almond meal left as I’d thought.  I was proud of myself for the math I did to figure that out! ;)  It’s the little things for me sometimes, people.  Still with 1/3 of the recipe, I got 16 cookies.  Love them!

In more of my “snooping” around her blog, (Would love to know more of the story about why she currently lives on a boat, since I didn’t have time to read back to the beginning and through her entire blog, but it is such a great blog and quite the intriguing life.)  But in my search for inspiration of what to have for dinner last night, I found this Balsamic Chicken Caesar Salad and was inspired to try it, especially when I remembered some cooked chicken I had in the freezer.  I did a quick thaw of the chicken, reheated/sauteed it a bit, prepared the dressing and a salad and Kevin and I had it for dinner (while I fed the boys hot dogs).  After mixing the dressing, which is olive oil, Greek yogurt, balsamic vinegar, garlic and parmesan (similar to Caesar, but lighter since nonfat Greek yogurt is used instead of a mayo or egg yolks), I knew the second I added the balsamic vinegar that it wasn’t going to be a very pretty color.  Worst part was I have some white balsamic vinegar and should have used it, I even thought of doing so before adding the black vinegar, but in the end, I didn’t.  I think the dressing and salad would have looked so much better.  Oh well—the taste is what mattered and it certainly tasted great!  The veggies I added to our salad weren’t the same as the one Dee used, but I don’t think that made it too different, since the dressing and the chicken were the “stars”.  See the not-so-pretty, but ever-so-tasty brown dressing?  Our salad had red, orange and yellow sweet peppers, some cucumber, tomatoes, carrot and croutons, along with the chicken and romaine lettuce.

Once again, so glad I got to “play” with Group B in the Secret Recipe Club.  (I’m officially in Group A.)  Check out all the other posts for Group B below.

Focaccia Bread—Tuesdays With Dorie, Baking With Julia

Grilled Chicken Pesto Focaccia Sandwich

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie, Baking With Julia recipe is Focaccia.  I hadn’t made focaccia before (and can’t for the life of me spell it without looking it up every time).  I decided to make it last Friday and play around with a couple ideas for dinner.

I followed the recipe exactly, which you can get from our host this week.  Sharmini from Wandering Through is the host with recipe. 

After making the dough, it rises for an hour or so.  Then it is punched down and rises again.  After that, it then needs to spend 24 hours in the refrigerator, which is what develops all the bubbles focaccia is known for. 

Here it was ready for it’s second deflating.

After spending a day in the fridge, the three balls of dough are ready for their future.

For the boys, I just made a quick “pizza” with olive oil, mozzarella cheese, a little parmesan, and some pepperoni.  They ate it up!

Scott said he loved it just as it was with some dried (I didn’t have any fresh herbs) oregano and basil.

For Kevin and I, I carefully sliced open a couple pieces and made sandwiches like the one in the top picture.  Grilled chicken breast, some basil pesto I had in the freezer that I’d thawed, some roasted red pepper and some sharp cheddar cheese, I made them in to a panini to melt the cheese and toast the bread.  It was delicious!

With this third one, we didn’t eat it until the next night.  With our spaghetti dinner, I sprinkled mozzarella cheese and some more parmesan cheese on it and put it under the broiled (forgot to take pictures).  It was cut into breadsticks. 

I’d say it was all quite delicious and fun to play with.  You should try it.  It’s not difficult at all (the mixer does all the kneading).  You just need to plan ahead so you can make the dough a day earlier than you want to use it. 

Precipizi, an Italian Hanukkah Treat, Rigatoni with Braised Chicken in Saffron Cream, and Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies—Secret Recipe Club

Precipizi, an Italian Hanukkah Treat

Seems like it’s been a long time since we’ve had an assignment for the Secret Recipe Club.  Guess that might be because we all took December off.  But we’re back!  How were your holidays?  Getting right back into the swing of things and here we go with another secret revealed.  With the blog I was given for this month, I simply could not decide what to make, so I decided on three recipe to choose from.  After making each over the last couple weeks, I still couldn’t decide which to share, so today you’re getting three, three for the price of one! 

The blog I had this month is Katherine’s blog, appropriately named Katherine Martinelli.  Read Katherine’s About Me Page to learn about her wonderful life of travel and food writing as well as photography.  I love that she says she’s a wanderer.  I’d say so, a native New Yorker, she currently lives in Israel!  (I’m jealous.  Just kidding.  I love my life.) ;)  Her writing is published all over the world!  Like I said, I had quite the time deciding what recipe to make from her blog.   You may have noticed, I tend to gravitate toward treats and goodies.  After looking through so many of Katherine’s posts, I found a cookie I wanted to make, a delicious braised chicken with pasta and these precipizi.  It was fun to make all three.  Originally, I thought I’d try each and pick one, but they were all three so good I decided to share them all here.

What is precipizi?  It’s an Italian Hanukkah dessert, perfect for the holiday as a centerpiece or addition to a table full of desserts.  I think they are delicious.  My family wasn’t too thrilled about how chewy they become after the honey hardens a little on them.  They are perfectly bite-sized and the flavor is great.  Of course, I needed to change the recipe a bit, since it called for rum or other clear spirits and we don’t have any alcohol in our house and don’t use it.   So this is my “virgin” version.  I used vanilla extract and some orange extract.

Precipizi, an Italian Hanukkah Treat, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys! from Katherine Martinelli

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1  3/4 cup (210 grams) all purpose flour

2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar

2 tablespoons olive oil

pinch of salt

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon pure orange extract

a splash or two of water if the dough is too dry (I didn’t use any, but probably could have)*

1/2 cup canola oil

1/4 cup honey

powdered sugar (optional)

Mix together the flour, sugar, a salt in a medium-sized bowl.  In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil and flavorings.  Combine the two and mix together until combined, then lightly knead it on a flat surface until it is a smooth, soft dough.  Shape the dough in to small balls, about the size of olives (making about 24 balls).  Heat the canola oil in a large pan over medium heat.  Add the balls of dough (in batches with the pan not too crowded) and fry until golden on all sides.  Transfer to a paper towel lined wire rack. 

Remove any excess oil from the pan and wipe it clean.  Add the honey.  Once it is hot and bubbling, add the fried dough balls back into the pan and stir to coat.  Pour them onto a baking sheet lined with non-stick foil and allow to cool.   As they cool the honey will harden slightly.  Serve by arranging them into a tower, stacking them on top of each other in a pyramid shape.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

*The original recipe called for 2 tablespoons of rum, and I didn’t use a total of two tablesoons of liquid/flavoring, so a little water could be added to form the dough.

The recipe said to fry them with the heat on high, which I felt was a little too much, so use discretion anywhere from medium to high.  The oil is shallow, so they fry quickly on each side.

 Rigatoni with Braised Chicken in Saffron Cream

Next—I love braising meat, which just means browning it off, then cooking it in liquid until it’s very tender.  I love pasta, too and then was excited that this chicken pasta recipe had saffron in it and I had just the right amount left that a friend gave me a few years ago for my birthday.  Not sure when I’ll ever be able to afford saffron again.  It was fun to use in different things.  This pasta was delicious.  The boys all actually liked it.  Kevin really liked it and I did, too.  Once again, this recipe called for dry white wine, so I substituted some non-alcoholic sparkling cider that we had for the wine.  May be a lame substitution to some, but I have used fruit juices instead of wine before and it tastes good to us!  This didn’t make the dish taste apple-y, but I would like to try a white grape juice next time.  I’ll for sure make this again sometime….when I can get my hands on some saffron.   Besides the wine substitution, since I don’t like onions and this was supposed to have two cups of chopped onions, I was bold enough to put in one large shallot—and that was plenty for me. ;)  Also I think it would be delicious with fresh basil, I don’t have any right now during wintertime, but I did have some basil that I froze in olive oil this summer, so I used that and this was still a great dish.  Can’t wait to try it with fresh basil, which I love.  Please check out Katherine’s recipe here.

Rigatoni with Braised Chicken in Saffron Cream, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

2 pounds boneless chicken breast (bone-in with skin or thighs with skin and bones would also be great and add lots more flavor, I just had and used boneless)

salt and pepper

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 large shallot, chopped

6 garlic cloves, chopped

2 cups sparkling cider (or grape juice, or apple juice)

1 teaspoon saffron threads, crushed

2 cups chicken broth (I used low-sodium)

1 pound rigatoni pasta (penne would be fine, too)

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons (or more to taste) fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup frozen basil, packed in olive oil, thawed (or 2/3 cup fresh basil, chopped)

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.  Heat oil in a large, non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add chicken and cook until golden, about 7 minutes per side.  Transfer chicken to a plate.  Add shallot and cook until softened.  Add garlic and cook just another minute or so.  Add sparkling cider and saffron to the skillet and bring to a boil.  Continue to boil until liquid is slightly thickened and reduced by almost half, about 8 minutes.  Add the chicken broth.  Return the chicken to the skillet, bring it all to a boil, then reduce heat to low.  Cover it and simmer it gently until chicken is very tender, 30 minutes or so, depending on if you’re using bone-in chicken with skin, may require a little bit longer cooking time.  Transfer the chicken to a plate and let cool enough to handle.

Shred chicken and set aside.  Reserve skillet juices.  Cook the rigatoni in a pot of boiling salted water to al dente, according to package directions.  Drain pasta.  While it is cooking, add cream to the skillet and boil until sauce is reduced to  about 2  1/2 cups and is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, about 10 minutes.  Once it is boiling, turn heat to medium.  Stir in 2 tablespoons lemon juice, then the chicken pieces.  Stir over medium heat until heated through.  Season with salt and pepper.  Stir in the pasta and toss to coat.  Stir in the basil.  Serve.

Frozen/thawed basil is definitely not as pretty as fresh, but it’s just as tasty!

And finally—cookies!  I always like trying new cookies, especially if they are chocolate chip cookies and even more so if they have whole wheat flour.  Yes, because then I can use the excuse that they are healthier and I don’t feel as guilty eating them. 

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made half the recipe for these cookies.  Katherine adapted the recipe from Kim Boyce, author of Good to the Grain.  My cookies aren’t quite as thick as Katherine’s, but it is probably because I did not adjust the recipe for my high altitude, as I often do.  These were still great, especially if you like a crunchier type of chocolate chip cookie.  These were perfectly chewy with a crisp outside when they came out of the oven and cooled just enough to eat.  They were pretty crispy the next day, but certainly still great tasting.  When I make them again, I will probably bake them a few minutes less, though the recipes says 16-20 minutes and I only baked them for 15 minutes.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1  1/2 cups (180 grams) whole white flour (I used white whole wheat)

1 teaspoon baking powder  (I did adjust this slightly for high altitude baking)*

1/4 teaspoon baking soda (I also adjusted this slightly for high altitude baking)*

3/4 teaspoon coarse Kosher salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1/2 cup (110 grams) light brown sugar (recipe called for dark)

1/4 teaspoon molasses (because I didn’t use dark brown sugar)

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 ounces bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli 60%)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to a medium sized bowl and whisk together.  Cream the butter in an electric mixer and add the sugars, beating until well combined and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.  Add the eggs and mix in the vanilla.  Beat until combined.  Scrape sides of bowl.  Add the dry ingredients and mix just until fully incorporated.  Scoop the dough to about 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie onto the baking sheet.  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until light golden brown.

*The regular recipe uses 3/4 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, in case you want to use that amount instead of my small adjustment for high altitude.

Mmmm, now I’m hungry and it’s bedtime!  Thanks, Katherine, love your blog!

 

 

Dinner! Chicken & Arugula Meatballs in Tomato Sauce and Pear Salad

We had some friends from Kansas who are in Utah for the holidays come over for dinner a few days ago.  For some reason that day I was craving spaghetti so I planned to just make that for dinner.  Kevin reminded me that Dan doesn’t like spaghetti, as in there's only one food he really dislikes and it’s spaghetti.  Not the sauce, but the actual spaghetti pasta, it gives him the heebie-jeebies.  Weird.  He said he likes all other pasta.  I then remembered some meatballs I’d had in one of Paige's classes back in Kansas and I decided those are what I’d make and serve with penne pasta.

Try as I might, I can’t seem to do justice to savory food in photos.  Kevin got me a light box for Christmas, maybe once I figure that out I’ll get better.  But I did snap a few pictures of these fabulous meatballs.  One of the keys to making these is to make them small—the more the merrier, then everyone can have a plateful of meatballs instead of just one or two big ones.  This recipe makes 60 meatballs with one pound of ground poultry.  Another great reason to make these meatballs is that they freeze well.  Check out Paige's post about them from a few months ago.  These are perfect for pulling out of the freezer when you need a quick meal.

The meatballs were very well liked by our company (they begged for the recipe ;).  Paige has posted the recipe on her blog, which is adapted from an article in Food & Wine magazine back in the 90’s. 

Chicken & Arugula Meatballs in Tomato Sauce, by Paige Vandegrift, adapted from Food & Wine Magazine (My changes are in red—Katrina)

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for sautéing the meatballs (I ran out of olive oil and used canola)
3 thin slices pancetta or bacon, (about 2 ounces), chopped (I used bacon)
2 garlic cloves, minced
5 oz. arugula (or spinach), stemmed and finely chopped (I used spinach)
1 pound ground chicken (dark meat is best) (I used ground white turkey meat and it was a 19 oz. package)
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons plain dry bread crumbs (I used Panko bread crumbs)
½ cup freshly grated Pecorino-Romano cheese (about 1 ½ ounces)
2 tablespoons drained capers, chopped
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 large shallots, minced
¼ cup brandy, white wine or water is also fine (I used some chicken stock)
One 35-ounce can Italian (Roma) peeled whole tomatoes with juice, coarsely chopped in a food processor (this is a difficult sized can to find, a 28-oz. can is fine, but you can add half of a 14-oz. can if you like a lot of sauce) (I used both a full 28 oz can and a 14 oz can)
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme (I used about 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme)
Salt and freshly ground pepper

In a large non-reactive skillet, heat the 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the pancetta/bacon and cook over moderate heat until crisp, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the arugula and cook, stirring, until wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate and let cool.
In a large bowl, combine the ground chicken, bread crumbs, cheese, capers, egg, ¾ teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of pepper. Add the arugula mixture and beat until well blended. Roll the mixture by teaspoonfuls into ¾ -inch balls.
In a large skillet, heat some more olive oil. Add half of the meatballs in a single layer and cook over moderate heat, turning, until browned all over, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meatballs to a large plate. Repeat with the second batch of meatballs, adding more oil if necessary. Discard the fat and wipe out the skillet.
In the same skillet, melt the butter over moderate heat. Add the shallots and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the brandy/stock/water, whichever you’re using, raise the heat to high and cook until evaporated. Add the tomatoes and thyme and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook until the sauce is thickened, about 8 minutes.
Add the meatballs to the sauce and simmer over low heat until hot through and very tender—15 to 20 minutes. Serves 4 to 6.  Serve with one pound of any pasta if desired.

I sauteed them in three batches.

Mmmm!

Almost ready!

These are some great meatballs and a simple tomato sauce.  To go with the pasta and meatballs, I decided to make a Fresh Crispy Pear Salad that Suzanne at Thru The Bugs on My Windshield posted recently.  I just served the salad with some mixed greens and it was great as well. 

 

You can get the recipe on the link above to Suzanne’s blog.  Check out her amazing pictures!  Served with some good crusty whole grain bread, this meal was perfect and I could eat it everyday and was happy to share it with company!

FFWD—November Round Up—Potato Gratin, Roast Chicken and Caramel-Topped CHOCOLATE Semolina Cake

I decided last month after finding it hard to get French Fridays With Dorie posts up every Friday, that I would just do one post for the month with a quick recap of the things I made.  So while most FFWDers post every Friday, I plan to post on the last Friday of every month. What?  I know, it’s not Friday.  Well, cut me some slack, it was a holiday weekend, but I do want to get this post up before November is gone.

I made three of the four recipes that were chosen this month.  The one recipe I didn’t make was for Pumpkin Gorgonzola Flans, page 146.  I just couldn’t get it done, I wanted to try it, but certainly not with gorgonzola cheese.  I just don’t “do” moldy cheeses.  So I really was going to try it with another cheese and still plan to sometime because I do love pumpkin.  I may even just try a small, scaled down version of this soon because I have some pumpkin in the fridge to use up. 

Weeks ago though, I did make the Pommes Dauphinois (Potato Gratin), page 360.  How cute are these little individual gratin dishes I found months ago?  They are only about 1/2 cup each. 

 

I made about 1/4 of the gratin recipe and three little gratins (one was in a 1/2 cup round ramekin.  What is not to love about potatoes and cream baked with cheese?  The cream is infused with garlic and the potatoes are seasoned with a little thyme in between the layers of potatoes.  Topped with Gruyere cheese and baked, these really are a dinner treat.  I only took a bite of the one I served Kevin.  I just couldn’t do that much fat in my dinner at that time.  But for sure, someday when I’m really going to splurge on dinner, I will surely make the gratin again.

 

I made the Roast Chicken For Les Paresseux a couple weeks ago for a Sunday dinner.  It was pretty easy and the chicken was nice and moist, but neither Kevin nor I really like bone in chicken or dark meat.  So I felt like it was a lot of work and a lot of meat no one really wanted.

I need a Dutch oven.  I’m going to put on one my Christmas wish list.  The only thing I had that would even slightly work to cook the whole chicken in is the ceramic bowl to my Crockpot.  It actually worked fine, but I think it was a little small for the whole chicken and the potatoes and carrots, so I didn’t get as much browning on the chicken as I would have liked.  It also made it so I had A LOT more juice/liquid/stock in the bottom of the bowl underneath the chicken, the piece of bread underneath pretty much disintegrated.

That liquid was probably close to 2 inches deep.  We didn’t use it for anything.  Then, see if you notice anything wrong with this next picture--

Did you figure it out?  Well, I had NO clue until I was carving in to the chicken.  Here, does this help?

Nice chicken butt shot (sorry, Mom).  Well, turns out the whole thing would have looked a lot better AND been much easier to carve if it hadn’t been UPSIDE DOWN.  Maybe the breast side up might have even browned up nicer.  Yep, I cooked the bird upside down, photographed it upside down and had no idea the whole time, until I was carving it and though that chicken had the worst breast meat I’d ever seen.  Ahh, see, we don’t eat much whole chicken around here.  That and I’m just a dork.

We actually did enjoy the nice moist chicken once I figured out where it was.  sigh   Let’s move on.

Today (Sunday) I decided to give the Caramel-Topped Semolina Cake (pages 438-439)  a try.  Since there is Cream of Wheat in the cake, I remembered in the past, I had bought some chocolate Cream of Wheat.  When I went to find it at the store a week or so ago, it was Malt-o-Meal that makes the chocolate one.  Looking at the ingredients of both regular cereals, they were the same, so I went with the chocolate Malt-o-Meal to give this cake flan-like dessert breakfast treat at try.  I knew no one would eat this with plain Cream of Wheat and raisins.  It had to be chocolate.  So not only did I used Chocolate Malt-o-Meal, I also added mini chocolate chips in place of the dried fruit.  Scott loves Chocolate Malt-o-Meal, so I think he’ll eat the cake.  He hasn’t tried it yet.  I taste a few bites of it.  It’s okay, but not something I’d ever make again.

I also had issues with the caramel.  I’ve made Dorie’s caramels on the stove before, but this one was different—it was sugar and water with a splash of lemon juice.  I did everything exactly that the recipe said for the caramel and two times it turned to crystal within minutes.  It never caramelized.  I was quite annoyed.  What was the problem?

 

Kevin thinks its a high altitude—too much water issue.  He didn’t come up with that idea until I decided to make a different caramel—using the method from some of Dorie’s other recipes.   I put 1/3 cup sugar in a dry skillet, let it start to turn amber and smoke a little.  Then I added 3 tablespoons of cream and stirred it over the heat until it smoothed out.  I removed it from the heat and added one teaspoon of butter.  It looked much better and I forgot to take a picture of it.  I poured it in to the hot baking pan, which I only had a nine inch round pan and not an 8 inch.  Then topped it with the “cake” batter and baked it. 

  

I was happy that it came right out of the pan and the caramel looked good.  The cake is thin because I used the bigger pan.  I think it turned out exactly how it was supposed to. 

It really does taste okay.  But I would never consider it a dessert that I’d make for company or anything.  Not sure I’d ever even make it for breakfast, though it has everything you’d eat for breakfast, milk, eggs, Malt-o-Meal—and chocolate. ;)  I’m always glad when I try something new.  Now on to December recipes in between lots and lots of holiday baking!  Stay tuned for all that.  (And make that potato gratin sometime—it’s heavenly!)