Viennese Banana Cake

This recipe was printed in the "Weekend" magazine that came with "The Montreal Star", of that much I am sure.  Since "The Star" went under in 1979, this recipe obviously predates that.  I don't have the original copy anymore so I don't know who to attribute it to, but it may well have been the venerable Margo Oliver, Canada's first "Betty Crocker" when General Mills expanded into Canada, if I believe everything I read on Wiki.  Provenance aside, this recipe has been made hundreds of times since then, and remains one of my tried and true favorites.  And I have no clue what makes this cake "Viennese", but that's the title, and I'm running with it.

I've come across a multitude of banana cake recipes on the web in recent weeks, each claiming to be the best.  Oh, I've tried others to compare, but return to this one again and again.  It's perfection epitomized as far as I'm concerned.

Your search ends here:

Viennese Banana Cake

1/2 cup unsalted butter, or 114 g, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup mashed bananas (usually 3 bananas)
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chopped walnuts

Cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy.

Add eggs, beating well after each addition.

Add vanilla and bananas, mixing thoroughly.

Combine all dry ingredients, and add alternating with milk.

Stir in nuts.

Grease and line a standard loaf pan.

Bake in a 350°F preheated oven for 1 to 1-1/4 hours, checking often towards the end.  Cake is done when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

My notes:

I've never been bothered to measure my bananas, I always use 3 and leave things at that.

It's safe to tent the loaf with a piece of aluminum foil if the top starts to brown and the cake isn't completely baked.  Or crank the heat down a bit.  Or do both.  This cake is hard to ruin - the milk keeps things nice and moist.

I use a Pyrex loaf pan, and find I need to tent my cake with foil at about the 50 minute mark, generally baking for the entire recommended time of 1-1/4 hours, sometimes cranking down the heat of the oven if the thermometer registers too high.

This cake keeps infinitely well in the fridge, and is best served cooled, in my opinion.

The smell of this cake baking can make grown men weep for their mommies, and bring strangers in from off the street.

 

 (Consider yourselves adequately warned.)

Organization for the Nation

Despite having been the teacher's pet many a time and graduating with honours, I despised school.  I was the one child who counted down the days until summer vacation, (do you want the count with or without weekends?) and then counted down the remaining days of summer vacation with dread in my heart.  Just thinking about Labour Day weekend elicited palpitations in my young chest.

Every single one of my first-day-back-to-school photos shows me red-eyed and sniffling, wiping the snot across my face while I waited for the school bus.  I can only imagine my mother, walking back to the house, confoundedly shaking her head and wondering what she did wrong to have been burdened by such an anti-social and non-conformist progeny.

One slogan from my skool daze remains indelibly etched into my gray matter:  Sanitation for the Nation.  That's what the toilet paper holders said in every school I have ever attended, and it's stayed with me to this day.  G. H. Wood. was a supplier of toilet paper, hand paper, and a variety of institutional sundry goods, especially within our school jurisdiction.  The logo could be found everywhere if one was observant enough.

It goes without saying that pretty much any word ending in -ation makes me think of G. H. Wood and Co. and their "Sanitation for the Nation" catchphrase.  Procrastination for the Nation - that's one of my favorites.  Another one is Organization for the Nation.  Having spent exactly half of my lifetime working in some administrative capacity or another, organizing is something I take pride in.  Being able to find the receipt for a 13-year old toaster is a skill (!), and implementing cohesive systems that even alphabetically-challenged coworkers can use efficiently is my forté.

One thing I didn't take pride in was my jumbled recipe file.  Rather, files, folders and binder.  Since the advent of the internet, I have so many favorite cooking sites (Taste Spotting, anyone?) and I have printed up so many recipes that I hardly use my cookbooks anymore.  Organizing all those recipes was my proverbial Waterloo, however.  I tried a binder with a handy A- to Z- index.  Turns out I filed so much stuff under C- (cakes, cookies and chicken anyone?) that looking for the Chicken Marsala recipe caused me to salivate over things like Blondies (should that have been under B?), and swoon over Carrot Cake.  My system lacked a certain efficiency, but I knew where everything was, and pulling the files out and reminiscing about tried-and-true recipes is a task I quite enjoyed, thankyouverymuch.

But I've been on an organizational bender these days.  With our on-going renovations upstairs, we've had to store lots of things, and cull clothing, books and knick-knacks.  The other day I went through the bedroom and ended up with a trunk-full of clothing to be donated to Hudson's community health care society.  I sorted through old books, and many of them ended up in the handy bin at our neighbouring War Memorial Library.  Household goods can be dropped off at the War Memorial Library as well, and are sold on Saturday mornings from 10-12.  Going into "The Bunker", as the basement is affectionately known, requires restraint.  The last time I went, I had to control myself from buying a tiny red table-top piano.  And I don't even play piano.  Go figure.

But back to the recipes.  The other day, I spotted a clear plastic accordion folder at my grocery store.  It was sturdy, it could be wiped clean, and my wheels started to turn.  I picked it up for $5.  If it didn't work for my recipes, it would work for my knitting patterns (again, blame the internet for enabling us knitters).

It took me a while to create my headings, trying to maximize the use of the 24 folders in an efficient matter.  Where do I file my Osso Bucco recipe?  What about my slowcooker recipes?  And those handy little booklets from Carnation Milk and Robin Hood Flour and the BC Salmon Fishing Council?   I needed a cohesive and intuitive system, and wanted to utilize the folder to its full capacity.  With a few Post-it notes and dry-runs under my belt,  I was confident enough to make permanent folder names with my beloved P-touch labeller.

Oh bliss:

I am enjoying my new filing system more than you can imagine.

Now, what's for dinner again?

Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut butter cookies.  Everyone's favorite, non?  I'm a chocoholic, but these turn my crank.  They're not too sweet, just the right mix of crumbly and chewy, and the above cookie tin?  Empty in no time.  Inhaled.  Finito.  Buh-bye.  Time to bake some more.

SO JUST DOO EET!  Bake these babies.  And for goodness' sake, please don't use any of that healthy, organic, all-natural peanut butter.  Use Skippy, or  Kraft, or Jif, whatever you have on hand, provided it's full of hydrogenated junk and sugar in every processed form known to man.  Keep the good stuff for your morning toast, and use the cheap stuff to bake these goodies.

Without further ado, this recipe originates from the same tattered Robin Hood cookie booklet once doled out at Tupperware parties in the mid 70's, the same one the Ginger Sparklers hail from.  I'm sure I didn't let you down with those, and I promise these won't disappoint, either.

Peanut Butter Cookies

2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup butter
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs

Mix flour, baking soda and salt, stirring well to blend.

Cream butter, peanut butter and sugars together thoroughly.

Beat in eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Add flour mixture to creamed mixture.  Mix well.

Shape dough into 1" balls and place 2" apart on ungreased baking sheets.  Press flat with floured fork.

Bake at 375°F for 10-12 minutes.

Yield: About 6 dozen cookies.

My Notes:

I use a potato masher to flatten the cookies.  I like the look better, but it's a personal thing. I always dip my potato masher into flour before pressing each cookie so it releases easily.

In summer months, when the butter is softer, I need to chill the dough at least an hour before rolling.  If you can't shape the cookies easily, refrigerate and try again in a half an hour or so. 

Feel free to halve this recipe, and by no means double it - you'll be rolling little balls and baking until the cows come home.   And we don't want the cows to come home, ergo, no doubling.

I like to make larger cookies, and if I make 1-1/4" balls, I can get 4 dozen out of the above.

I always, always, always bake on an insulated cookie sheet.  Why anyone bothers with inferior cookie sheets is a wonder to me.  Do yourself a favour and invest in some.  Mine are made by Wearever, but they seem to be discontinued (so much for that 25-year warranty, eh?)  However, T-fal now manufactures a line marketed under the name AirBake.

Get thee some, you won't be disappointed.

And bake thee some.  You won't be disappointed, either.

Merry Christmas!

Just in time for Christmas...snow!

Despite Environment Canada's dire "green Christmas" prediction, it snowed!  And now with temperatures hovering near -15C, we'll have a white Christmas after all.  No chance of  the snow melting over the next few days with temperatures like that.

I think we've had one of the mildest falls in recent history.  No amount of accumulation until December 23! That's very rare for our area where I think we can count maybe one or two green Christmases in maybe the past 50 years.

On December 21, we had a bit of freezing rain, and the next day, when the sun came out, it was glorious!

On the home front, the turkey dressing is made, and I've probably eaten about a third already, hoovering it right out of the Pyrex dish.  It's irresistible, dressing.  I can barely wait for turkey dinner tonight.  Eric is working on the 25th and 26th, so we've moved the turkey dinner up to accommodate him.  We've learned to roll with the punches around here, where Eric's work schedule is concerned.

My knitting needles have been bashing furiously away, one "One Skein - A Stole" knit out of Noro Kureyon sock yarn for my co-worker, blocked just under the gun, and a pair of Lopi "Duffers" for another knit-worthy friend.  I even managed to find a use for my frogged Malabrigo merino, but that will be a post unto its own!  Eric's getting a Lopi sweater for Christmas that needs to have just the zipper sewn in.  In my defense, it's already basted, and I need probably 2 hours or so to finish it properly, but that will have to wait until tomorrow, unfortunately!  Oh well.  The best intentions die fast as I always say!  It's hard to finish a sweater when the recipient is nearby.  As it was, I knit this sweater in secret, throwing it into the dryer (the one place I knew Eric would never look...) when I heard his footsteps coming down the stairs.

Besides Christmas baking and cooking, shopping and wrapping, knitting and working, Christmas Day will come whether we're ready or not!  You might as well sit back and enjoy the ride.

So to all our virtual friends near and far, from our house to yours, I wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Skor Shortbread

Shortbread cookies didn't appeal to me until very recently.  During summer and winter school breaks, I used to work in a commercial kitchen.  One December, I had to bake an even thousand of Granny Knight's shortbread cookies for Christmas receptions.  That year, the chef decided that Crème de menthe parfaits topped with Granny's shortbread was the de rigeur Christmas dessert.  With a maraschino cherry on top, it looked like a yuletide train-wreck.  Still today, the smell of crème de menthe makes my gag reflex kick in.  Just looking at a bottle of day-glo green de Kuyper in a liquor store is enough to make me avert my gaze and shuffle along quickly.   After that holiday season was over, it was only normal that simply thinking about shortbread was a form of self-inflicted torture.

Despite the fact that everyone raved about my baking skills and the light, tender, melt-in-your-mouth shortbread I managed to create, the beauty of shortbread was lost on me.  I simply used to throw about 5 pounds of butter in the huge, industrial Hobart mixer and put it on BEAT and walk away for about 10 minutes.  When the mixer started to sound like the space shuttle about to take off, it was my cue to add flour and cornstarch and icing sugar, finishing the dough before the old gray Hobart launched itself into orbit.  To say I used to abuse the dough was an understatement.  I put so much disdain into making those cookies, that when people commented, "I can just taste the love that went into these", it was all I could do to stop my 18 year-old eyes from rolling back into my head.  If only you knew - was what I'd think.  Thankfully, the edit and pause buttons in my brain were still functioning in those days.  I'd smile gracefully and nod my head.

To this day, I attribute beating the hell out of the butter to my shortbread success.  That and Granny Knight's recipe - which I have duly repressed.

Last winter, I came across this recipe that would change my mind about shortbread forever.

Skor Shortbread.  I mean -  think about it - a Skor bar in any form is amazing, and baked up in this shortbread, it's nothing short of divine.  You cannot go wrong.

These make great gifts.  And they're easy - just mix, pat, bake and cut.  No fancy shaping, no chilling and rolling out, no icing, just straight-up mix, pat, bake and cut.  Easy-peasy.  Go out and buy yourself some cute Christmas cookie tins, make a few batches, and you'll be set for those last-minute OMG-I-have-to-bring-something-along gifts.

Skor Shortbread

2 - 39g Skor Chocolate Bars
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sifted icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1-1/4 cup flour

Preheat oven to 300F.

Crush one Skor bar into rough, 1/4" pieces.  Set aside remaining chocolate bar.

Beat butter until smooth.  Gradually beat in sugar until mixture is light and fluffy.

Mix in vanilla and salt.

Using a mixing spoon, mix in 1 cup of flour until just mixed.  Add chopped Skor bar along with remaining 1/4 cup flour. 

Pat into an ungreased 8" square baking dish, and using floured fingers, pat into an even thickness.  Pierce with a fork every 1".

Finely chop remaining chocolate bar, and sprinkle on top.

Bake on bottom rack of 300F preheated oven, about 35 to 40 minutes, until edges are golden brown and middle is pale golden.  Immediately cut into squares.  Cool completely in pan.

My Notes:

Buy the 4-pack of Skor bars at the grocery store.  You can thank me when you make your second batch and don't have to run out for more.

If you have Skor baking bits, by all means, use them.  I also add in a small handful of chocolate chips when substituting them and use my trusty Braun blender to chop everything finer than 1/4" pieces...I'm all about consistency like that.  Your cookie - your choice.

I line my metal baking pan with parchment paper, this helps the unmolding.

The original recipe calls to cut 16 squares - I cut them in half again on the diagonal, so I end up with 32 triangles.  It's your preference.  The more the merrier in my books.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

It's Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, and I can't remember having finer weather than we have right now.  Bright sun, warm 24C days, and crisp starry nights that start far too early, but it's that time of year.  The forecast calls for at least 4 or 5 more days of the same, which is a welcome change to the dreary cold and wet days we've experienced in the past week.

Through some strange twist of fate, I've been laid up with the cold to end all colds - and somehow Eric has managed to strand himself in Italy -  so I'm on my own this holiday weekend, which is kind of fitting considering all I really want to do is pull the duvet over my head anyhow.  Earlier, when I called Eric's hotel in Rome, the girl at the front desk said, "Yes, sir, I'll connect you".  My voice - I don't know what to say (literally and figuratively) - it's non-existant, and the few words that I manage to croak out have obviously skewed my gender significantly.   (And somehow...I just knew... when I bought a dozen boxes of Kleenex last week, that it was a dark omen and a harbinger of mucus to come.  Some sales are irresistible, and Kleenex on sale is my weakness).  I've obviously brought this on to myself.

But rather than have a pity party, let's reminisce about Thanksgivings gone by:

My Thanksgiving menu is virtually always the same, and has been for the past 10 years.  We start off with a golden carrot soup that features orange juice and zest, pureed with red peppers and onions courtesy of Martha Stewart.  We then move on to turkey breast, mashed potato casserole, braised brussels sprouts with maple syrup, pecans and bacon, red cabbage, bread stuffing, and the requisite cranberries and gravy.   The potatoes, brussels sprouts and stuffing are made ahead and heated in the oven while the turkey cooks.  Red cabbage nukes admirably in its serving dish.

I hate having tons of steaming pots and pans on the stove while entertaining, so anything make-ahead wins votes from me.  There's nothing worse than mashing potatoes at the last minute, while watching the gravy boil over and the stuffing spontaneously combust because you've stuck it under the broiler...because you forgot.  And then you're dealing with fire alarms and steamy glasses and a sink full of dishes, while your guests shuffle on the other side of the kitchen island, sipping their wine nervously, wondering what they did wrong to be invited to this culinary gong show. 

Not that that's ever happened to me...

I've got things down to a fine art and rarely deviate from the fixed menu anymore.   As far as I'm concerned, it's perfect in every way.

A few years ago, I gave up basting the bird for hours in favour of cooking turkey breast.  It cooks up faster, there's less mess, and you're practically guaranteed a perfect, moist meat.  I'll never go back to making a whole bird again, I think.  I've been converted.  (And what?  You've never defrosted a turkey with a heat-gun?  You've never dropped a Rubbermaid tub full of turkey brine on your kitchen floor?)  When I say I speak from experience, I speak from experience, double the bold and italics, please.  Learn from my mistakes.  It's turkey breast all the way, from here on in.

One thing I'll never deviate from - pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.   This is tried, tested and true:


Pumpkin Cheesecake

1 cup crushed gingersnap cookies
3 Tbs melted butter
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 Tbs brown sugar

2 - 250g (8 oz) packages of cream cheese, softened
1-1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1/4 cup flour
1-1/4 cup pure pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling!)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp mace
1/4 tsp cloves
2 Tbs rum

Preheat oven to 325F.

Grease a 9" spring-form pan.

Mix crushed gingersnaps, melted butter, cinnamon and brown sugar and press into bottom of spring-form pan.  Chill.

Beat cream cheese until fluffy.  Slowly beat in sugar.  Add eggs, one at a time.  Gradually beat in flour, spices, pumpkin and rum.

Pour onto crust.  Bake for 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 hours.

Refrigerate overnight before serving.

My notes:

Feel free to modify the spices.  The quantities are so small, they're subtle.  If you don't have mace substitute allspice.  Or leave it out all together.  It'll be our little secret.  My original recipe called for 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice - something I've never been able to find on this side of the border.  If you can find pumpkin pie spice, by all means, use it instead. 

Please don't use low-fat cream cheese.  This is not the time nor the place to skimp on calories.  Your diet can start tomorrow.  Carpe diem - or carpe cheesecake.

I've never managed to bake a cheesecake that hasn't cracked - apparently you've not supposed to over-mix, which I don't think I do, but you never know.  I've tried leaving a pan of water in the oven, and cooling the cheesecake in the oven, all to no avail.   Perfection evades me, okay?  But I'm okay with that, because your eyes will be closed anyhow, after your first bite.  They might even roll into the back of your head after tasting this cheesecake, so consider yourself forewarned.

Either way, this cheesecake is the epitome of perfection, crack or no crack.

Bienenstich Cake

I've been eating this cake since I was this high (pointing at my knees).  The recipe comes from my mom's Dr. Oetker Schulkochbuch.  That's German for "Dr. Oetker's School Cook Book".  Apparently, they used to bake and cook at school, in the old days.  (Sorry, Mom!)  Seriously, this cookbook dates from the late 40's or early 50's, and some of the recipes have "austerity" written all over them.  It's also probably why this particular version of Bienenstich doesn't feature a decadent filling, either. 

Today, most Bienenstich cakes are filled, either with whipped cream or vanilla pudding.  Why anyone would want to mess with perfection is beyond me.  This cake disappears, and I mean **poof**, in an afternoon.  Keep your cream filling, stuff your whipped cream, but pass me another piece or four of this cake...I'll take the post-WWII version any day.

I realize my photo is a bit minimalist.  Austerity cake =  austerity photo.  What's remarkable is that there was actually a piece - one last piece - to photograph at all. First person up the next morning gets it.  (That would be me - sorry Eric!)  The early bird gets the cake in our house, so to speak.

I still remember my mom making this cake and giving me the pot to lick clean.  To this day, the sugar, butter and almond topping makes my heart skip a beat.  While the cake is slowly browning in the oven, I can usually be found, looking wistfully as it bakes, pot in one hand and spatula in the other, cleaning out the pot.  Life is very, very good.

Bienenstich means "bee-sting" in German.  Apparently bees like it, too:

Bienenstich

Yeast Dough Base:

1 package active-dry yeast (or 2-1/4 teaspoons)
1 tsp sugar
250 mL milk, lukewarm
500 g flour
100 g sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbs oil
bitter almond flavouring (I use Dr. Oetker essence from a local import deli.  It's worth hunting down.)

Dissolve 1 tsp sugar in 250 mL warm milk.  Add yeast and mix, and let rise 10 minutes.

Mix approximately 300 g of flour with sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl.  Set remaining 200 g flour aside to mix in while kneading.

Stir yeast/milk mixture with oil and bitter almond flavouring. (If you have the Dr. Oetker essence, use about 1/2 of the vial.  If you're using regular bottled essence, use maybe a 1/4 tsp.)

Add yeast/milk/oil mixture to flour and sugar in mixing bowl. 

Gradually add remaining flour until dough comes together and can be kneaded.

Knead for approximately 10 minutes, adding as much flour as is necessary to obtain a smooth dough.  Dough should not be sticky.  Place in a large greased bowl and cover.  Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, approximately 1-1/2 hours.

Topping:

100 g butter
200 g sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbs milk
200 g chopped blanched almonds

Blanch almonds if you have only natural almonds with their skin on.  I like this tutorial.

Chop almonds, either with a chopping knife, or in a food processor.  (Don't make powder; you need little pieces.)

Melt butter and sugar in a pot over low heat on stove-top.  Add almonds, vanilla and milk, ensuring sugar has melted.  Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Lightly grease a 10" x 15" roasting pan with oil or non-stick spray.  (I like to use a roasting pan with high sides as opposed to a jelly-roll pan to prevent the topping from overflowing, as the yeast dough will rise to about an 1-1/4" in height.)

Spread topping evenly on yeast dough.  (If topping has hardened, put it back on the stove, add a bit of milk, and let it warm slightly).

Bake in a 350F oven for 20-25 minutes, until topping is golden-brown.

My notes:

As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, I loosen the sides from the pan with a butter-knife.  If you let the cake topping harden, you'll have a hard time getting it out of the pan.

If you only have instant rise yeast, follow the instructions on the yeast package.  This generally means warming all liquid ingredients, and adding them to your yeast and flour mixture, adding as much flour as is necessary to knead dough.

I use my KitchenAid mixer for all steps of the dough, but finish kneading by hand.  Sweet yeast dough has a different feel than, say, bread dough or pizza dough.  It's a bit tougher and kneading it by hand warms the dough and gives me a better idea if I need to add more flour or not.

I hope you'll try this cake, and enjoy it as much as I do.  This cake transcends all boundaries, and I've never met someone who could eat just one piece.

The Sourdough Experiment

I am pretty excited about the opening of a Bulk Barn near our house.  This means I won't have to travel too far to buy things like spelt or rye or other specialty flours, so I've been poring over recipes and books and checking out blogs for inspiration.

The other night I was salivating over this blog entry over at The Reluctant Homesteaders, and figured now would be opportune to give sourdough bread another try.

I've made sourdough before, and don't remember what happened in my life that my starter bit the dust, so I used the original recipe I found at Robin Hood flour and gave it another chance.  Robin Hood's sourdough starter is called Sherwood, and I won't repeat the recipe here, because you can get it at the aforementioned link.  I don't even want to link you to the actual sourdough bread recipe, because the photo of the bread is SO DISMAL I'm embarrassed for the people at Robin Hood.

Oh. Okay, okay, you wanna see this sad excuse for a loaf of bread?

CLICKY HERE!

I mean, really.  REALLY?!?  That pathetic excuse for a loaf of bread looks like it spent 2 days in a plastic bag on the grocer's shelf before being abandoned in the trunk of a car.  It looks deflated and battered, not at all indicative of what a crusty, fragrant, glossy loaf of sourdough bread should look like.  It's like the poster-child for the bread that didn't quite make it off the shelf and had to be transformed into croutons, or - shudder - breadcrumbs. 

Wow.  Well.  I feel better now that I've gotten that out of my system.

So about a week ago, I dutifully put together the sourdough recipe.  I mixed everything up, and grossly underestimated The Power of the Yeast when I used one of my Corningware dishes.  After about 2 hours, I went into the kitchen, and my starter was pouring out of the dish and spreading out of the counter, like something out of a Twilight-Zone-kitchen experiment gone wrong.  Had I not caught it in time, I think the mass would have been pouring down the front of my kitchen cabinets and taking up residence in my kitchen drawers.

I am dutifully stirring and nurturing my starter.  I've given some starter to my Mom, who said she'd also give sourdough bread-baking another try, and I've found a recipe that uses the starter discard at The Yumarama Bread Blog to make pancakes and waffles.  I'll let you know how things turn out when I finally get around to making a loaf.

Maybe I'll even have a pretty picture to go along with it.

Nancy's Potato Chip Cookies

I was recently forwarded an email newsletter from Great Balls of Yarn, a chain of wool shops (doh!) in Florida.  I know, I know, whodathunk?  Florida and knitting go together like, well...oil and water, maybe?  At the bottom of the newsletter, the good people at GBY shared a cookie recipe.  This was the reason my friend forwarded me the email - she said the recipe had my name written all over it.

No, my name's not Nancy - but I am giving credit where credit is due.  Nancy makes one heck of a cookie.  The newsletter - from a wool store that credits itself as being a Gourmet Knitting Store - said Nancy's Potato Chip Cookies were the best.  Well, a challenge like this was too great for me to turn down.  I had to try them!

What more can be said about these?  They're quite innocuous looking, a tad bland, in fact.  But once you bite into these little gems, the first impression is of a good, nay, very good, shortbread cookie.  Then you get to the surprise, as the crispy little salty bits of potato chips delicately infuse your palate.  The two tastes together can only be described as sublime.

In keeping with the Snicker Doodle recipe, the beauty of these cookies lies in its simplicity.  A few simple ingredients that result in a superlative cookie.  These are so good, they're going to be part of my Christmas cookie arsenal this year.

I used Cape Cod potato chips, just like the recipe called for.  Next time I am going to try Miss Vickie's, because I think part of the success of these cookies is the "greasiness" of the chips.  I think lighter chips, such as the Lay's or Pringles of this world, would not be as successful.

So don't thank me - thank Nancy, the doyenne of cookie-makers who frequents Great Balls of Yarn.  And thank Great Balls of Yarn for knowing a good thing when they taste it, and for sharing it with the world.

Nancy's Potato Chip Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1-1/2 cup sifted flour
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup crushed Cape Cod potato chips

Cream together softened butter and sugar until fluffy.

Fold in the sifted flour until smooth.  Add vanilla and chips.

Drop by rounded teaspoonful onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Flatten slightly.

Bake at 325F for 15-20 minutes.

Yield:  about 30 cookies.

My notes:

As always, the success of this recipe lies in the butter.  Don't consider using salted butter, and don't even entertain the idea of using margarine.  Again, weigh your butter if you have a trusty kitchen scale.  1 cup of butter = 227 g.

I crushed the potato chips in a Ziploc bag using my rolling pin.  Next time, I am going to use the potato chip bag instead, as the Ziploc bag is now effectively toast.  (Yes, I like to re-use Ziploc bags, okay?  No need for it to end up in a landfill if it's held romaine lettuce, or some bread.  Lecture over).  I wondered how finely I needed to crush the potato chips?  In the end, I'd say the largest bits were about 1/8" big, and still recognizable as bits of potato chips.  All that to say, don't grind them into powder using a food-processor.  Part of the goodness of this recipe is the surprise crunchiness, and that would be lost if you crushed the chips into oblivion.

I am in love love love with my Wilton Even-Bake insulated cookie sheet, so much so that I recently bought a second 14" x 16" cookie sheet.  If you're in the States, this baby might run you around $20 at Target, but being Canadian, (we enjoy being screwed on US goods), I ended up paying something like $35 bucks.  The sticker shock nearly killed me, but I am sure it will last a lifetime.  These will be the last cookie sheets I will ever need to buy, of that I am positive.

I line my cookie sheets with parchment paper.  In the spirit of environmental friendliness and in keeping with my little Ziploc rant above, I use and reuse the same parchment paper for cookies until it starts to look tattered.  No harm done making a little thing last a bit longer.  Every little bit helps.

Next time, (oh yes, there will be a next time!), I think I am going to drizzle a bit of melted chocolate on the top.  I think that chocolate could only enhance these little babies, but even without, they are divine.

Amen.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ahhh yes...the breakfast of champions:

My favorite orange cat mug filled with a cuppa steamin' Earl Gray and a couple of chocolate chip cookies.  Probably everyone has made these before, and if you haven't, you have no clue what you're missing.

This recipe is the best of the best, crispy yet chewy and loaded full of chocolate chips.  The trifecta of cookie perfection.  If you happen to buy the 2.4 kg bag (I know, it's a piggish quantity!) of Chipits at Costco, well, the recipe's printed on the back.  For those unable to lay their paws on a bag of Chipits brand chocolate chips, here it is:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter or shortening (I always use butter)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (optional - I didn't put any in)

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large bowl, beat softened butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until fluffy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla until creamy.

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt.  Gradually blend into creamed mixture.

Stir in chocolate chips and chopped nuts, if using.

Drop dough by tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375F for 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown.

Yield: about 4 dozen cookies.

I hadn't made these in years, and they were awesome.  Scarfed 'em down in no time...don't tell anyone.

I've mentioned this before, but I have to say my trusty digital kitchen scale has revolutionized my baking.  I always weigh my butter now, instead of using those not-so-precise cutting lines on the sides of the 1 pound butter packages we have here.  1 cup of butter weighs 227 grams or a half a pound.  Easy as pie, or cookies, in this case.

Oatmeal Casserole Bread

 

Because it's Saturday....because it's -15C outside...because I am sitting beside a warm fire, drinking a cuppa Earl Grey and enjoying a slice of oatmeal casserole bread.

And because I want you to enjoy the same thing, here it is:

Oatmeal Casserole Bread

1 package active dry yeast
1-3/4 cups boiling water
3/4 cup oats (I use quick-cook oats)
1/4 cup molasses
1-1/2 tsp salt
3 tbs oil
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup warm water (for yeast)
4 cups all-purpose flour

Pour boiling water over oats.  Stir in molasses, salt and oil.  Cool.

Dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water.  Let rise 10 minutes.

Add yeast mixture and 1-1/2 cups flour to oat mixture.  Beat on low speed of mixer for 30 seconds, then high for 3 minutes.

Stir in remaining flour by hand.  Let rise until doubled.  Beat 25 strokes.

Grease a 2 quart casserole and sprinkle with oats.  Place dough in casserole and sprinkle with oats.

Let rise until dough is 1" above rim.

Bake at 375F for 35-45 minutes.


My notes:

I used a 1.6L CorningWare dish - I would have used  a 2-quart dish if I owned one.  No harm done, just remember to grease the top edge of the casserole dish, because your loaf will rise higher.  I was out of active dry yeast, so I used my Fleishmann's Rapid Rise yeast, mixing it with the 1-1/2 cups flour first.  The result was the same.  This is a very sticky, shaggy dough.  You CANNOT knead it, so don't even try.  I use my KitchenAid mixer, using the dough hook for all steps, even the "beat 25 stokes".  This recipe makes a light, yet moist bread.  I guarantee you, it won't be around for long.  I'm working on my third slice, don't tell anyone...

Magic Squares

That's all that's left after the huns at the office descended upon my pan of Magic Squares today.  Most desserts aren't worthy of capitals, but these could be best described as MAGIC SQUARES.

Hell, they're worthy of caps and bold:  MAGIC SQUARES.

The first time I had these, I called them Miracle Bars, because, truly, they are miraculous.  There is nothing magical about them, but miraculous, oh yes.  Definitely!  And easy?  An industrious four year-old can make these.

There is nothing subtle about these bars.  They are an in-your-face, full-out sugar-rush of goodness.  So, for the uninitiated, here it goes:


MAGIC SQUARES

1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup graham crumbs
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use Chipits brand)
1 cup coconut
1 cup chopped nuts (I use pecans)
1 can sweetened condensed milk, such as Eagle Brand

Mix melted butter and graham crumbs, and press into 8"x8" glass baking dish.

Mix chocolate chips, coconut and nuts in a bowl.  Spread evenly over graham crust.

Pour can of sweetened condensed milk over entire mixture.

Bake in a 350F oven for 25-30 minutes, checking often towards end of baking time.

Let cool, and enjoy.

I guarantee you they won't last long, and they'll have the troops begging for more, once their stomach aches go away.  These are so easy to indulge in.  I keep saying, "I'm just gonna have a leeeetle sliver...", and before you know it, a chunk is missing.  And the knife?  It stays IN the pan.  I make imbibing in these babies easy.  Just call me an enabler, I'm proud of it.

There are as many variations of these squares as there are cooks.  In fact, I recently came across an old copy from an original Eagle Brand advertisement that was easily 25 years old.  The recipe called for the sweetened milk to be poured directly on top of the crust, and let me tell you, the outcome of that ain't good.  I also know lots of bakers who layer the coconut, nuts and chips, and this creates an end product that falls apart.  Mixing the dry ingredients results in a more homogeneous topping, with all that melted chocolate goodness holding things together.

It's like creating nuclear fusion, right in your own kitchen!

The Resurrection of the Snicker Doodle

Behold the lowly Snicker Doodle, a cookie that deserves a place in the cookie Hall of Fame! My coworker recently gave me a copy of this recipe, and said I "had to make it!". I promptly filed the recipe away for future reference. (It was on the top of my pile of recipes to try - honest!) Not long after, I happened across the same recipe in our local small-town newspaper, and made another mental note. Now I really had to give them a try!

How can I best describe this holy trinity of butter, flour and sugar? Please, you owe it to yourself to experience them! This recipe is so simple, it's probably been overlooked hundreds of times as not being worthy of mention.

So, for the record:

Snicker Doodles

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1-1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
cinnamon and sugar (for rolling cookie dough in)

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg. Sift dry ingredients together and add to creamed mixture, stir.

Refrigerate one hour.

Roll dough into walnut-sized balls and roll in the cinnamon and sugar mixture.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 400F for 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Yield:  about 24 cookies.

My notes:

I used a scant 1/3 cup sugar and approximately 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to roll the cookie dough in. If you're picky like me and have a digital kitchen scale, each ball of dough weighed 21 g, and the recipe made 25 cookies. (Just putting that out there!) I use air-bake cookie sheets, for those of you not familiar with them, the cookie sheets are made of a double-layer aluminum; if the bottoms of these babies burn, well, it's 'cause the top is on fire. My first batch stuck to the cookie sheet a bit, so I lined the cookie sheet with parchment paper for the second batch. I took the cookies out of the oven while they were a bit "puffy"; they deflated while cooling, and this results in a tender, chewy interior. Since I find measuring butter using conventional methods not quite precise, with the introduction of my new digital cooking scale, I'm now measuring butter by grams instead of cups.

Here's a handy conversion:

2 cups butter = 454 g
1 cup butter = 227 g
3/4 cup butter = 170 g
1/2 cup butter = 114 g
1/4 cup butter = 57 g
1/3 cup butter = 76 g
2/3 cup butter = 151 g

Please give these Snicker Doodles a try!

Ginger Sparkler Cookies

This recipe comes from an ancient Robin Hood flour booklet that formed the back-bone of my cookie making exploits for many, many years. There is no date, no copy write, no publishing information whatsoever inside, so I can sleep at night posting this recipe. My booklet is full of dollops of unidentifiable ingredients, some pages are stuck together, and cryptic notes fill the margins of the pages, things like, "do NOT double - massive quantity of dough". This recipe can be easily doubled, and friends and family might thank you if you do.

As a self-confessed chocoholic, I like cookies that contain copious amounts of chocolate or cocoa; these cookies contain none, yet they still deliver not only in the taste department, but also in the bring-back-the-good-old days department. Nothing takes me back in time like a home-made ginger cookie.

Ginger Sparklers

2 cups flour
2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. cloves
1 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup butter
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg

Granulated sugar for rolling

Spoon flour into dry measuring cup. Level off and add soda, salt and spices; stir well to blend.

Cream brown sugar, butter, molasses and egg together thoroughly.

Add flour mixture to creamed mixture. Mix well.

Shape dough into 1" balls. Roll in granulated sugar and place 2" apart on greased baking sheet.

Bake at 375° degrees for 8 - 10 minutes. Cool slightly before removing from pan.

Yield: about 4 dozen cookies.