Peach Blueberry Crumble Tart

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I almost always mark the arrival of summer by when I can start baking with stone fruit. I’ve said multiple times before that the taste of peaches always reminds me of summer, and although I love nectarines and red plums, peaches will always be my first choice to eat or bake. A little over a week ago, my grocery store finally started stocking peaches; so you guys all know what had to happen.

I don’t think summer baking needs to be super complicated. In the first place, it’s hot, so when/if you use it, you don’t really want the oven to be on any longer than necessary. In the second place, the fruit’s delicious enough to where it doesn’t need a lot of embellishment/fancy stuff done to it. Just keep things simple.

This is definitely one of those recipes that colors safely within the Keep it Simple lines. The ingredients are minimal, there’s very little embellishment given to them, and it comes together relatively quickly as well.

It starts out with a quick vanilla cinnamon crust that gets pressed down into the tart pan and pre-baked ahead of time, which prevents the bottom from becoming soggy from all of the lovely fruit juices. While the crust bakes, you can put together the other two components: the fruit filling, and the streusel topping.

As I say in the recipe itself, one of the best things about this dessert is its flexibility; meaning, the fruit itself can be swapped out for substitutions of whatever you have on hand, or whatever you prefer. Peaches are my first choice, but any other stone fruit will work as well. Similarly, if you’re not a fan of blueberries or don’t have any on hand, raspberries or blackberries or strawberries will work just as well.

The star of the streusel topping for me are the almonds. They add both flavor and texture that plays really well against the flavors and texture of the fruit.

This is a perfect dessert for a summer cookout. I wasn’t at one when I made it, but in case you’re reading this and need a dessert/to make and take along with you to one, look no further: this is the one you want.

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Peach Blueberry Crumble Tart

Recipe Adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients

For Tart/Crust

  • 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups fresh blueberries*
  • 2 cups fresh sliced peaches*
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract

For Streusel Topping

  • 1/2 cup, plus 2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup, firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
  • 3 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/2 tsp. almond extract
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 Tbs. chopped raw almonds

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a a 9-in. fluted tart pan with removable bottomm cooking spray and set aside.

In a small bowl, mix flour, sugar and cinnamon; stir in butter and the 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract just until blended and dough clumps together. (If it’s still too dry and you need to add in a tablespoon or so of water, that’s fine.)

Use your hands to press the dough into tart pan, making sure it’s evenly spread/layered to the edges.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for about 10 minutes on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine blueberries, peaches, honey and extracts; toss to coat.

For streusel topping: in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar and salt. Add the melted butter and almond extract and stir until the mixture is crumbly, with some large chunks remaining. Stir in the almonds.
Spoon fruit mixture into crust; Sprinkle the streusel on top.

Bake at 350° 45-50 minutes or until topping is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack at least 15 minutes before serving.

* Note: the peaches can be swapped out for any other stone fruit (nectarines, plums, even apricots) and the blueberries can be swapped out for any other berry.

Sharing at Fiesta Friday #436.

Honey Curry Chicken

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When I was first learning how to cook,(about 10-11 years ago–yeesh) my mom gave me some advice that is still helping me to this day: get really comfortable good at making a handful of dishes so that you can put your own spin on them, and always have a ready meal to ‘whip’ out at and make at a moment’s notice.

I took the advice, and it’s served me very well. Like a lot of home cooks, I too now have a list of ‘go-to’/’old faithful’ recipes that I depend upon and keep in a regular rotation just because #1, They come together pretty easily, #2, They’re pretty popular with the crowd I’m feeding, #3 I’ve made them enough times to where I can put my own spin on them to the point where I don’t really need the recipe anymore, and it’s just more for occasional reminders when certain things slip my mind.

I’ve shared most of those recipes on the blog already, and today I’m sharing another one. Like the majority of the others, it’s chicken breast (which we prefer) as it’s generally inexpensive and so far as proteins go, also pretty good for you. It’s also very much one of those ‘blank canvas’ ingredients that can be adapted for a number of different cuisines.

I hope I don’t piss any purists off by what I decided to call this recipe. I do recognize that a true/traditional curry from pretty much any cuisine takes hours to make and has a long ingredient list of fresh spices. I admit right off rip that this is very much a quick, nontraditional, ‘shortcut’ to a curry. I use jarred, pre-ground curry powder, and from start to finish, it probably doesn’t take much longer than 2 hours to put together.

But, whether you think it should be called a curry or not, it is good.

The honey and the soy sauce are a really great salty-sweet offset to the bite of the spices, and as it cooks, then sits, the flavors get even better. This is far from a conventional curry, both in the method and the ingredients, but they do work well together, and it’s relatively easy to make–thus explaining why it’s now in our regular rotation.

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Honey Curry Chicken

Recipe by Jess@CookingisMySport

Ingredients

  • 4-6 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into medium sized (about 2 inches) cubes
  • 2 large sweet onions
  • 2 cups, plus 1/3 cup flour, divided
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons of your favorite multi-purpose seasoning (I used Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Saute)
  • 40 ounces of chicken broth
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2/3 cup melted butter or margarine
  • 2/3 cup honey
  • 4 tbsp honey dijon mustard
  • 1 cup low sodium soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon yellow curry powder
  • 1 tablespoon ground coriander
  • 1 tablespoon ground cardamom
  • 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons turmeric

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Divide the cubed chicken into two 1 gallon sized plastic bags.

In a medium size bowl combine 2 cups of the flour with the multi purpose seasoning and stir together with a fork.

Evenly divide the flour mixture between the two ziploc bags. Seal tightly, then toss to coat thoroughly, so that there is an even layer over meat.

Coat the bottom of a large non-stick stockpot or Dutch Oven with a few tablespoons of canola, vegetable or olive oil. Brown the floured meat over high heat on the stovetop. Don’t worry about it cooking all the way through, just cook long enough to give it some color. When it’s browned, temporarily move the meat to a sheet pan. Don’t overcrowd the pot, you’ll have to repeat/do this in about 2-3 batches to get through all of the meat.

When you’re finished browning the meat, add a little bit more oil to the pot, then add the onions. Cook over medium heat until they’re softened and translucent, 5-10 minutes. Remove the onions from the pot and place them with the browned chicken.

Add about 1/3 cup of flour to the pot/Dutch oven. Stir with a whisk over low-medium heat for about 2-3 minutes, just until you can smell the flour begin to toast.

Pour in the chicken broth, bay leaves, melted butter, honey, soy sauce, honey mustard and the spices.Use a wire whisk to stir, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Allow to cook for about 20 minutes, tasting and adjusting for seasoning (but also keep in mind, it’s going to develop even more flavor in the oven, so it’s okay if it doesn’t taste perfect just yet).

Spray an 11×13 and an 8 x 8 baking dish with cooking spray. Place the browned chicken and the onions in the dish in an even layer.

When the curry sauce has reached your taste level, ladle it over the chicken so that is is at least half-submerged. (You’ll have extra broth leftover, this is fine) Cover the baking dishes tightly with foil.

Bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes, until the chicken can be easily pulled apart with a fork.

Serve over white or brown rice.

Sharing at Fiesta Friday #435.

Strawberry-Lemon ‘Biscrolls’

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It’s just about summer time, and for me, that means I’m trying to bake with as much fruit as I possibly can. The stone fruit isn’t quite ready yet where I am, but the berries and the citrus fruits are–which, is what we’re doing here for today’s recipe.

Aren’t these just beautiful? The lovely swirl probably makes you think they’re breakfast rolls, right?

Well you’d be half-right, and half-wrong.

They’re a roll; and, a biscuit.

I call them, ‘biscrolls’. In a nutshell, they’re the perfect marriage between a breakfast roll, and a biscuit. I’ve been wanting to test this out for a while now, but I wasn’t sure how/if it would even work. Biscuit dough isn’t difficult to put together, but the handling is something to be mindful of. You can’t overwork it, or the biscuits will be tough. Yet the majority of breakfast rolls are made from yeast doughs that have to be kneaded quite a bit so that the gluten will develop properly.

The issue I was uncertain about going into this was whether the biscuit dough could hold up to being ‘rolled’ into a spiral without being overworked. I found a way to mitigate this issue with a little thing called patience.

I started out with my go-to biscuit recipe, adding lemon zest and lemon/vanilla extract to that dough. I kept the method exactly the same in putting it together, especially the overnight rest in the fridge. This will allow the gluten in the dough to relax, and will also thoroughly chill the dough enough to where it’s sturdy enough to be rolled the following day.

On Day 2, I gently rolled out the chilled and rested biscuit dough, spread it with chopped strawberries, butter, sugar, then rolled it up cylinder style (much like you would with regular breakfast rolls). After this, I let the dough rest again in the freezer to allow it to firm up long enough to where the spiral shape would hold up after slicing.

And, voila. I was really pleased with how these turned out, especially the texture. They’re lightly and fluffy on the inside, almost like a yeast roll, but not quite because of the biscuit technique in making the dough. The strawberries and lemons really gave them a fresh and light flavor that was exactly what I was going for. I kept these first biscrolls plain, but I do think if you have sweet tooth, they’d taste even better drizzled with a thin lemon glaze on top, like true breakfast rolls.

Best of all, the flavor possibilities are endless and adaptable for just about any fruit or time of year.

Strawberry-Lemon Biscrolls

Recipe Adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

For Biscuits

  • 6 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen
  • 2 cups buttermilk, plus more if necessary
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon lemon extract
  • 1 large lemon

For Filling

  • 2 tablespoons melted butter
  • 1 cup chopped fresh strawberries
  • 3 tablespoons of white sugar
  • 1 large lemon, zested

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar with a fork.

Using the large holes on a box grater, grate the butter into the dry ingredients and stir a few times to combine. Zest 1 full lemon into the dry ingredients and stir again. Make a well in the center of the bowl.

In a medium bowl, combine the buttermilk, and the extracts. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the well and use a large rubber spatula to stir the mixture together. If it seems a little dry you may add additional buttermilk until it forms a shaggy dough.

Sprinkle a pastry mat, wooden cutting board or wax paper with flour. Turn the dough out onto the surface and pat a few times with your hands until it loosely holds together. (Don’t knead it too much or the warmth in your palms will melt the butter and cause the biscuits to be tough.)

Pat and roll the dough into a rectangle. Take the two opposite ends and fold them together like a business letter into thirds. Flip it upside down and pat & roll it into another rectangle, sprinkling the surface with flour if it gets too sticky. Repeat the folding process two to three more times before patting it into one final rectangle.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.

Spread diced strawberries on a plate lined with parchment paper. Place in the freezer for about 30-45 minutes, until they are firm to the touch.

Preheat oven to 425°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place a shallow pan of water on the bottom rack of the oven.

Sprinkle a pastry mat, wooden cutting board or wax paper with flour. Turn the dough out onto the surface, and gently roll out to a 15 x 9 rectangle. Brush the melted butter over the dough. Sprinkle the white sugar, the lemon zest and the diced strawberries on top of the dough, leaving about a 1 inch border around the rectangle clear.

Roll the dough up the same way you would cinnamon rolls, from the long side, as tightly as you can.

Keep the dough in a cylinder shape, and gently transport to parchment lined baking sheet. Place the sheet pan in the freezer for twenty minutes.

Using a sharp knife or a bench scraper, cut the dough into 10 slices. Place the ‘biscrolls’ back on sheet pan, arranging them close together so that they are barely touching.

Bake for 20-25 minutes on the middle rack of the oven, until golden brown.

Sharing at Fiesta Friday #434.

Coffee Cookies

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Although I’ve kicked the habit a few times in the past, I’m at a point in my life where coffee is an absolute necessity.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that my morning coffee ritual is sacred to me. I legit get pissed when something gets in between me and that cup of Joe–not to mention a killer headache.

In the past, I’ve taken my coffee obsession into the kitchen and experimented with it as a baking ingredient, to really great results. After seeing that coffee could make for a really delicious cake and pan of blondies, I think it was rather inevitable that we’d eventually end up here.

A butter cookie is a great blank canvas recipe that allows for experimentation with flavors. When it’s a cookie press butter cookies it’s even better just because there’s so little labor involved in making them. After the dough is mixed, it’s literally as easy as pressing them out through the press onto a pan and baking them off within minutes. Because I was new to this, (and because I had always wanted to try this particular stencil on my cookie press), I took this route for my coffee cookies.

As you can see, this is a very simple, straightforward recipe to follow. The dough holds up very well to baking and still maintaining its shape/design. They’re not too sweet, which makes them ideal as snack alongside, what else? A cup of coffee.

One thing I will say is very important in making these, is making sure that the coffee you use to bake with is one that you would want to drink all on its own. If you wouldn’t drink it, don’t cook/bake with it is a pretty good rule of thumb to follow in the kitchen in general, actually….but don’t ask me how I know.

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Coffee Cookies

Recipe Adapted from You Can Bake it Too

Ingredients

  • 250 grams butter, softened
  • ⅔ cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons of your favorite flavor of coffee*
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups plain flour

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit., Place about 3 baking sheets in the freezer to chill thoroughly.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and sugar, until creamy, 2 to 3 minutes, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl. Add the coffee and vanilla extract and mix just until combined.

With mixer at low speed, gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating until combined. (Dough will be quite thick.)

Place dough into your cookie press. Press dough out onto ungreased and unlined baking sheets.

Bake until cookies are set and lightly golden, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating pans once. Let cool on pans for 2 minutes. Transfer to wire racks. Let cool completely.

*Make sure the coffee you use is coffee you would want to drink. I first tried this with regular generic brand instant coffee, and the results weren’t what I wanted them to be. The cookie is going to taste like the coffee, so make sure the coffee tastes good to you.

Note: no one oven is the same, & different baking sheets bake cookies differently. Keeping this in mind, I will ALWAYS test bake one cookie before baking entire sheets of the whole batch, just to get a good idea of how long they should be in the oven and if I need to adjust the way I’ve cut, rolled them out, etc. I highly recommend that you do the same.)

Sharing at Fiesta Friday #432.

Lemon Cornmeal Cake & Strawberry Lemon Curd

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Happy Mother’s Day, everyone.

I’m dedicating today’s post to all the mothers in my life, in appreciation for all the work that they do. I truly believe that the mothering I’ve received (from my mom, as well as from many mother-figures) is one of the greatest blessings of my life. I am who I am because of them.

I hope all of you who do celebrate this holiday can somehow do so with the mothers and mother figures in your life.

For all who do not celebrate it, I hope you’ll at least stick around a few minutes longer for the food.

I knew leading up to it that I wanted to make something special for today, something that put me in the mind of springtime, as Mother’s Day always does. When I think of Spring, I automatically think of citrus, and since lemon is a favorite flavor of several mothers in my life, that’s the direction I decided to go in here.

This cake is going into the You Can’t Mess This Up category, seeing as it’s a one-bowl recipe that requires zero creaming or heavy machinery outside of a spoon, a bowl and your own two hands. With lemon juice, lemon zest AND lemon extract, it’s just about as lemon-y as can be, but I also really appreciate the inclusion of two other ingredients that really make it something special: cornmeal and rosemary.

You might think that cornmeal would make a cake crumb too coarse and unappetizing, but that couldn’t be further from the truth for this one. It’s plenty moist, but the cornmeal gives the cake’s texture a unique ‘body’ and flavor that I think really works with the lemon. The herb is a no brainer; you can’t go wrong with lemon and rosemary.

I’ll be honest, I was just as excited to make this curd as I was to bake the cake; the cake may have been an excuse FOR me to make the curd, actually. The curd is sweet from the strawberries, and yet the lemon gives it that sharp, fresh acidity that hits that area in the back of your tongue just right; you know the one I’m talking about.

The idea of making/having a dessert that was essentially, strawberry lemonade ‘flavored’ was the impetus behind this whole thing, and I have to say I was SO pleased with the results. I think once you try it, you will be too.

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Lemon Cornmeal Cake & Strawberry Lemon Curd

Recipe Adapted from Our State and Blossom to Stem

Ingredients

For Cake

  • 1 cup yellow cornmeal
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • ⅓ cup powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
  • 1½ tablespoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ⅔ cup vegetable oil
  • ⅓ cup melted unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 2½ cups whole buttermilk
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest
  • 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons lemon extract
  • ½ teaspoon fresh rosemary, stem removed and leaves chopped

For Curd

  • 1 1/4 cups frozen strawberries
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • zest of one lemon
  • 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, from 3-4 lemons
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch, fully dissolved in a few tablespoons of water
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and sliced into 6 roughly even slices

Directions

For Cake

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, granulated sugar, powdered sugar, baking powder, salt and lemon zest.

Make a well in the center of the ingredients. Pour in the vegetable oil, melted butter, honey, buttermilk, beaten eggs, lemon juice, and rosemary. Stir just to moisten.

Spit the batter between the two prepared cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the top of the cornmeal cake starts to brown and show cracks. (Cakes are done at an inner temp of 190°. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

For Curd

Place the strawberries in a medium heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium high heat. Simmer the strawberries until they have some give when prodded with a silicone spatula. They don’t need to be very cooked berries, but you don’t want frozen centers either. It shouldn’t take any longer than about 5 minutes.


Add the strawberries to a blender. Then add the sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice, and blend until thoroughly pureed. Then crack each egg into the blender and blend until just incorporated (just a quick pulse is all you need for these).
Place the mixture back in the saucepan, add the cornstarch water.

Heat gently over medium-low heat, stirring frequently with a heat safe spatula, until the mixture reaches 170°F on an instant read thermometer. Remove from heat. Add the butter and stir gently. The mixture will be fairly runny, but don’t worry, it will thicken up in the refrigerator.

Pour through a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl (ideally one with a pouring spout). Transfer to jars or other airtight containers and refrigerate until set, preferably overnight.

Sharing at Fiesta Friday #431.

Sweet Potato Dutch Oven Bread

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I consider it a real shame that I’ve had and treasured my Dutch oven for literal years and never realized that there were more things I could do with it than just make stews and braises.

It wasn’t until a few months ago when I started baking sourdough bread that I first tried out baking in my Dutch oven. To be frank, I was blown away by the results, and shocked that I had gone this long without having Dutch oven-style bread in my life.

So what’s the big deal with the Dutch Oven? In the first place, a big one (Mine is 6 quarts) is perfect for baking up huge loaves of bread at a time, which is great if you’re like us and you love the carbs.

Second, the heat distribution of a Dutch Oven is where it’s at because it allows you to get that thick, crackly artisan style crust that you normally only see in bread coming out of professional bakeries.

Third (my personal favorite), the Dutch Oven will keep the loaf from spreading out too wide and flat while baking so that you can get and keep that rounded height shape even after baking.

Mashed potato is really a magic ingredient for bread dough. It keeps it soft and moist for days, and if you use sweet potato, you get added flavor and color. This isn’t a sourdough bread, but I still used the same technique for mixing, rising and baking as I did with my go-to sourdough recipe, and got really great results out of it.

One last thing: I really don’t recommend baking this bread without having a thermometer on hand to doublecheck the inner temp. The sweet potato makes it very moist, and the golden outer crust can be misleading as to whether or not it’s actually cooked through. Better to be safe than sorry. Remember, baking is science: the numbers won’t lie or steer you wrong.

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Sweet Potato Dutch Oven Bread

Recipe Adapted from Bake from Scratch

Ingredients

  • 8 cups (1016 grams) bread flour
  • 3 cups (760 grams) lightly mashed baked sweet potato
  • 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon dried basil
  • 2 tablespoons (18 grams) kosher salt
  • 4 1/2 teaspoons (14 grams) active dry yeast
  • 1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups (568 grams) warm water (105°F/41°C to 110°F/43°C)

Directions

In a medium bowl, sprinkle the active dry yeast on top of the warm water. Sprinkle the tablespoon of sugar on top of the yeast and allow to sit for 10 minutes, until proofed and frothy.

In a large bowl, combine the flour with the herbs and kosher salt and stir together with a fork.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the yeast-water and the sweet potato.

Use the dough hook to stir until a smooth dough comes together. (I’ve had days where I needed to add more flour, I’ve had days where I needed to add more water. This is probably just going to depend upon the weather, the time of year, and the temperature of your kitchen.)

Grease the bowl, place the dough back inside and cover with plastic wrap, and a damp kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise until it’s covered in size, about 90 minutes.

Gently deflate the dough. Shape into a boule-like round. (It’s somewhat like a tomato) Flour a banneton bowl (or a regular bowl) and place the dough inside, seam side up. Cover with the plastic wrap and kitchen towel and allow to proof for another 45 minutes-to an hour.

About halfway through the second rise, preheat the oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit and place a 6 quart Dutch oven with the lid on inside the oven. (BE SURE THE HANDLE IS METAL AND NOT PLASTIC)

Take the Dutch oven out of the oven and remove the lid. (It’s going to be very hot; Don’t burn yourself.)

Place a piece of parchment paper on a sheet pan. When the dough is finished rising, Turn the parchment line sheet pan upside down and place on top of it. In one swift motion, turn the dough bowl upside down onto the parchment paper, and lift away the bowl.

Grip two sides of the parchment paper and use them to swiftly lift the bread into the Dutch oven. Use a bread lame, or a very sharp knife to slash at least two gashes into the surface of the bread, about 1-1 1/2 inches deep each. You can make a cross, or any other pattern you desire) Place the lid on top of the Dutch oven and place the whole thing back inside the oven.

Immediately reduce the oven temperature to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Allow to bake, undisturbed for 40 minutes. Remove the lid and check the color of the dough. The bread should be risen and slightly golden brown on top. If it’s still pale, place the lid back on and allow to bake for another 10 minutes, then check it again. If it’s golden brown, remove the lid and allow to bake for another 20-30 minutes.

Use an internal thermometer to check the inner temp of the bread. It should be at least 205 degrees Fahrenheit.

Carefully remove the bread from the Dutch Oven and allow it to cool completely on a wire rack for at least an hour.

Sharing at Fiesta Friday #430.

Cardamom Butter Cookies

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Filed under Cookies, Desserts

I think I’m about ready for Spring to come and stay.

I picked up a habit a few years ago of baking for the approach of a ‘season,’ meaning even if the weather isn’t necessarily matching what I want it to be at the time, I bake for it in anticipation of its arrival.

For instance, when I baked today’s recipe, the weather was nowhere near resembling Spring. But lo and behold, today as I type this post, it’s 73 degrees fahrenheit and sunny where I am. Pretty neat.

A cookie press can be a really cool gadget to keep in your baking toolkit so long as you have the right one and are using the right cookie recipe. In case you guys were curious, this is the one that I use, and after 3+ years, it’s never given me any issues (unlike some other brands. Also, they didn’t pay me to say that, I’m just spreading the word out of appreciation for the product).

So far as the right cookie recipe, you want to stick with standard, no frills or mix-in dough (sans-baking soda) that deliver a crisp butter cookie with a short crumb. Simplicity is your best friend best here.

Aren’t these pretty? The dough comes together in minutes, and the vanilla and cardamom work really well together to give the cookie a nice balance between sweet and spice. These are perfect alongside tea and coffee.

Pro-tip: Don’t forget to freeze your baking sheets before using the cookie press, it makes all the difference in achieving a neat and sharply designed cookie!

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Cardamom Butter Cookies

Recipe Adapted from TeaTime Magazine

Ingredients

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1¼ cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or extract
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit., Place about 3 baking sheets in the freezer to chill thoroughly.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter, sugar, and lemon zest at low speed until combined. Increase speed to medium, and beat until creamy, 2 to 3 minutes, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl.

Gradually add eggs, beating until well combined after each addition and scraping down sides as needed. Add vanilla paste, beating until incorporated.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cardamom, and salt. With mixer at low speed, gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating until combined. (Dough will be quite thick.)

Place chilled dough into your cookie press. Press dough out onto ungreased and unlined baking sheets.

Bake until cookies are set and lightly golden, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating pans once. Let cool on pans for 2 minutes. Transfer to wire racks. Let cool completely.

Note: no one oven is the same, & different baking sheets bake cookies differently. Keeping this in mind, I will ALWAYS test bake one cookie before baking entire sheets of the whole batch, just to get a good idea of how long they should be in the oven and if I need to adjust the way I’ve cut, rolled them out, etc. I highly recommend that you do the same.)

Sharing at Fiesta Friday #429.

Funfetti Sugar Cookies

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Filed under Cookies, Desserts

Like many kids her age (and no doubt many kids at heart), my niece loves sprinkles. She’ll eat them in pretty much anything. For myself, even when I was her age they never did much for me the foodie in me.

They don’t add much of anything to foods, flavor-wise. But I will admit that they do make them nicer to look at.

One thing I will say I’ve learned from doing a lot of baking for a kid with an affinity for sprinkles is that they’re not all created equal. Certain sprinkles work better for certain baked goodies than others.

The two predominant types of sprinkles are nonpareils (the microscopic little spheres) and jimmies (the narrow, oblong shapes). There’s also sanding sugar, dragees, pearl sugar and quins. As I said, these don’t all ‘work’ the same way. Some work better for baking than others. Some I wouldn’t recommend baking with at all.

For instance, nonpareils and sanding sugar are poor choices for mixing into dough or batter. They’re very tiny, and thus don’t distribute well. That tiny size also gives them a poor ‘bleeding ‘factor when they’re baked. I know from trial and error that it’s just not appealing. They are however good choices for sprinkling or pressing on top of frosting.

There’s a reason why jimmies are one of the more popular types of sprinkles. In the first place, they pop in color. Second, they don’t taste terrible in and of themselves (you’d be surprised how many sprinkles actually aren’t that tasty). Third, they ‘bleed’ well/effectively when baked. That ‘bleeding’ factor is important when it comes to picking out sprinkles, and it also matters in today’s recipe. I wouldn’t recommend using any other type of sprinkles but jimmies in this cookie dough. You’ll be mixing, then rolling and you need a sprinkle that can hold up under that kind of handling.

The cookie itself is simply flavored with vanilla and almond. It’s slightly crisp on the outside, with a tender crumb on the inside. My niece loved them. Plus, they’re pretty; just as a funfetti cookie should be.

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Funfetti Sugar Cookies

Recipe Adapted from Southern Lady Magazine

Ingredients

  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 cups rainbow colored jimmy sprinkles, divided
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar

Directions

In a medium sized bowl combine the flour, salt and baking powder. Stir together with a fork and set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, use a standing or handheld mixer to cream together the butter and confectioner’s sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and extracts and mix just until combined.

Add the flour in two batches, just until combined. Stir in the sprinkles.

Form the dough into a wide, flat disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.

Using a 3-inch round cutter, cut as many cookies as possible, rerolling scraps until all dough is used.

Place cookies on prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle tops with granulated sugar.

Bake until edges are lightly browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on pan for 5 minutes. Remove to wire racks to let cool completely.

Sharing at Fiesta Friday #427.

Chicken Taco Salad

Posted
Filed under Main Dishes, Salads

After the carb-heavy last few weeks we’ve had on the blog recipe-wise, I think it’s a good time to lighten things up around here.

(I do eat and enjoy eating green things, you guys.)

I spent/wasted a lot of time thinking that I hated chicken salad, because most times, it gets made with a mayonnaise based dressing. Mayonnaise triggers my gag reflex and I believe it’s one of the most disgusting foods ever invented, so for a while I just thought chicken salad wasn’t for me.

Then I discovered there were other ways of making chicken salad that had nothing to do with mayonnaise. From there, things have progressed very nicely (and tastily) with me and chicken salad. I set about testing different ways to make it with vinaigrette based dressings and the results have been pretty awesome, if I may say so myself.

Here’s my latest riff on chicken salad. The ingredients are all of the things I enjoy in a taco served up chicken-salad-style while the dressing is vinaigrette based. It’s inexpensive, pretty much fool-proof and also really very good.

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Taco Chicken Salad

Recipe by Jess @CookingisMySport

Ingredients

For Salad

  • 2 rotisserie chickens, deboned (It should yield about 4-5 cups of shredded, and/or chopped chicken)
  • 1 red onion, diced
  • 1/4 cup green onions, diced
  • 3 bell peppers (I used green, red and orange), diced
  • 2 (4.5oz) cans of diced green chiles
  • 1 (15.25oz) can yellow corn
  • 1 bunch (about 2 oz) of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
  • 1 bunch (about 2 oz) of fresh parsley, roughly chopped

For Dressing

  • 1/4 cup of oil (canola, vegetable, olive will all work; your choice)
  • 4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • Juice of half a lime
  • 3 tablespoons of honey
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

For dressing: combine all of the ingredients together in glass measuring cup and whisk together with a fork.

In a large bowl, combine the chicken, onion, green onions, bell peppers, chiles, corn, and herbs and stir well with a large spoon.

Slowly drizzle in about half of the dressing and stir thoroughly to combine. Taste it—if it’s to your satisfaction, you can leave off the rest of the dressing and save it for later, or you can add and stir it into the rest of the salad mixture.

Cover the chicken salad and refrigerate for at least a few hours, but preferably overnight to allow flavors to meld.

Serve salad on crusty, sturdy sandwich rolls, like these 🙂

Sharing at Fiesta Friday #425, co-hosted this week by Pauline @ Beautiful Voyager.

Vanilla Almond Scones

Posted
Filed under Breakfast

I’m a Vanilla kind of girl. When it comes to food, that’s pretty literal. Vanilla is my favorite ‘flavor’ for most desserts; cookies, ice cream, cake, and as indicated by today, scones.

I think that vanilla desserts are some of my favorite because they’re clean, simple and straight to the point. There’s less to hide behind so to speak in terms of the ingredients, and it’s usually pretty easy to tell if they’ve been done right or not.

Also, vanilla flavored desserts are great for adding little pick me ups like fruit, caramel or chocolate, while still not needing those things to still taste good. V is for Vanilla AND Versatile.

I actually made these at the same time as I did last week’s Chai Spice Scones. And as much as I really like the chai spice scones with all the added spices, I still gotta say: I liked these more. The combination of the vanilla and almond was simple, but they just really did it for me.

I think I end up saying this in the recipe itself every time I make scones (or biscuits), but it bears repeating just because it really will get you the best results: freeze your butter, let the dough rest overnight, and don’t forget to trim the ends. Following those three steps will get you excellent rise and texture on your scones, and when it comes to the ones that have simple flavors, those kinds of things really make a difference.

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Vanilla Almond Scones

Recipe Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens

Ingredients

  • 5 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 2 tablespoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, frozen
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 2/3 cup heavy cream
  • 2/3 cup sour cream
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla bean paste
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 2/3 cup sliced almonds

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Use the large holes on a box grater to grate the butter directly into the dry ingredients.

Cut in the sour cream with a fork until it’s evenly distributed in large chunks.

In a small bowl, combine the beaten eggs, vanilla paste and almond extract.

Make a well in the center.  Pour in the heavy cream. Use a large fork and a large rubber spatula to stir the mixture together. If it seems a little dry you may add additional heavy cream until it forms a shaggy dough.

Sprinkle a pastry mat, wooden cutting board or wax paper with flour. Turn the dough out onto the surface and pat a few times with your hands until it loosely holds together. (Don’t knead it too much or the warmth in your palms will melt the butter and cause the scones to be tough.)

Pat and roll the dough into a rectangle. Take the two opposite ends and fold them together like a business letter into thirds. Flip it upside down & roll it into another rectangle, sprinkling the surface with flour if it gets too sticky. Repeat the folding process two to three more times before patting it into one final rectangle.

Wrap the rectangle in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit

Place a shallow pan of water on the bottom rack of the oven.

Sprinkle your work surface with flour and unwrap the scone dough out onto it. Use a bench scraper or very sharp knife to trim the edges of the rectangle. Cut the remaining dough into squares, about 2″ each.

Remove the cut scones to a baking sheet you’ve lined with parchment paper, rather close to each other (it will help them rise higher). Brush with additional heavy cream and sprinkle with almonds and coarse sugar. Place the pan of scones in the freezer for 30 minutes, uncovered.

Bake until scones are golden brown, 20-25 minutes.

Sharing at Fiesta Friday #424, co-hosted this week by Jhuls @ The Not So Creative Cook.