Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Ginger Cookies

Here's my favorite new cookie recipe to wish you belated happy holidays. I can't seem to stop making these. They are the perfect winter cookie spiced with warming ginger and cinnamon. They are tender, soft and cakey on the inside with the slightest snap of a crust on the outside.

The original (gluten) recipe comes from Chez Panisse. But I spotted Shauna's gluten-free version on her site, Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef and was inspired, as I am by so many of her posts and recipes, to try them. I love that they don't contain any xanthan or guar gums, commonly found in most gluten-free recipes, each of which have adverse effects on me.

I started with Shauna's version and then began experimenting. First, I traded the butter for coconut oil, and used mostly maple syrup with a little brown sugar instead of the white sugar. And I also tried it with brown rice flour and chia instead of the white rice flour.

These cookies are addictive and the perfect accompaniment for a cup of hot tea, eggnog or horchata. They also make a great whoopie pie, sandwich cookie or ice cream sandwich. I made a whoopie pie for the photo with an eggnog filling (1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons eggnog. If you're going dairy-free, try a nondairy eggnog or rice milk-based horchata). But I most like to eat them on their own. Straight, simple, comforting. And I must mention, if you have an unhappy tummy, the ginger in these will make you feel much better. Rx: cookie!

I've been making double batches of these and keeping the dough in the freezer. I bake up a cookie sheet full at a time for fresh hot cookies on demand. (I have to confess to eating the occasional dough ball straight from the freezer and in the heat of summer, I find them particularly refreshing that way.)

Plan ahead, these need to go into the freezer for several hours or overnight. But you can make them like I do and keep the dough in the freezer for cookies anytime. I use a #40 ice cream scoop from the restaurant supply shop to make even, perfectly round cookies. These scoops are inexpensive and seem to be more sturdy than most others that I've used.

Happy baking to all and to all a good night! And a big thank you to Shauna for turning me on to these incredible cookies!



Ginger Cookies

1 1/2 cups sorghum flour
1 1/2 cups brown rice flour
2 tablespoons ground chia seeds
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 teaspoons ground ginger

1 cup coconut oil, room temperature
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup molasses


Measure out the flours and combine them in a medium-sized bowl. Add the chia, soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon. Whisk together to combine well. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the coconut oil, maple syrup and brown sugar. With a mixer, (I used a hand mixer), cream together. Add the eggs, vanilla and molasses, and mix again until evenly incorporated.

Add the flour mixture, half at a time and mix until completely incorporated.

Transfer the dough to a covered container and put into the freezer overnight or for several hours.

Before baking, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the dough from the freezer and using a #40 ice cream scoop, make as many dough balls as you want to bake. Place the dough balls on a silpat- or parchment-lined baking sheet and return the sheet to the freezer, while the oven warms up. When the oven is ready, move the cookie sheet from the freezer straight into the oven. Bake for 12 minutes. The cookies will look just slightly underdone when you remove them from the oven, but they will continue cooking on the sheet until they cool. Let cool completely on the sheet to firm up (or they'll stick and fall apart).

I think these have the best texture when eaten the same day or the next day after baking.

Note: once the dough has frozen, you can also scoop out your dough balls and freeze them in a covered container or ziptop bag for faster baking later on. Just remember to bake them straight from the freezer to hold their round shape.

Enjoy!

Adapted from Chez Panisse and Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef.

Heidi Swanson's Baked Oatmeal

When I was a little girl, I remember cold, winter days at my grandmother's house. While she cooked, she'd set me up on a stool in front of the stove, then take one of her handmade quilts, warm it in front of a heater, and wrap it around me. I felt like a princess sitting high up on that stool with a soft, warm quilt pulled around me. She didn't know it then, but she set a standard for me about what real comfort means. I always hope that some of that comes out in my cooking.

This baked oatmeal dish is all about that kind of comfort. It comes from Heidi Swanson, of 101 Cookbooks fame. Swanson's beautiful blog is one of the first I started reading years ago. I have long admired the spare, clean, natural look of her photos. Her food is real, unprocessed and breathtaking. Swanson's recipes are vegetarian-based and have again and again introduced me to a flavorful world of unprocessed, nutrient-dense natural foods. Good for you really can taste good and look good.

Swanson's first book, Super Natural Cooking, is a favorite. So I was very excited this week to receive her just released second book, Super Natural Every Day. As soon as I cracked it open, I started marking pages with recipes to try:

• frittata with asparagus, goat cheese and potatoes
• summer squash soup with red Thai curry and coconut milk
• rice salad with spinach, basil, goat cheese, walnuts and cherry vinaigrette
• ravioli salad with olives, cilantro and pepitas (I've got to learn to make gluten free pasta!)
• yellow split peas with serranos, greens and parmesan
• kale salad with sesame and coconut
• chanterelle tacos
• boiled eggs seasoned with dukkah (an Egyptian spice blend)
• spinach chop with harissa, eggs, almonds and lemon
• roasted chickpeas
• quinoa patties
• sparkling panakam (an Indian beverage with ginger, cardamom and lime)

There are plenty of gluten-free recipes in this book and most of the rest could easily be adapted.



First up, I decided to try Swanson's baked oatmeal. In the version in her book, she makes it with berries, bananas, and walnuts. But she suggests you use this as a guide and switch out with whatever fruits and nuts you like. We just planted two little peach trees in our yard in the last couple of weeks. And boom, just days later, there are a couple of peaches dangling from the branches, soft and fuzzy, growing a little bigger each day. So I've had peaches on the brain. I know it's a little early for peaches. I'm dying to try this recipe with the fresh strawberries that are out now at the farmers market, with Confituras strawberry and vanilla jam drizzled on top. But the barometer has been bouncing up and down this week and triggering migraines for me, so that means no berries right now (a migraine trigger food). I'm hoping to try out that version soon. So with peaches on my mind, I decided to try it with defrosted frozen peaches and almonds.

First, I have to warn you that the smell of this cooking will turn your whole house into a comfort zone. This is the kind of smell real estate agents should have wafting from the oven of open houses. It will torture you while the oatmeal is baking.

Another ingredient note: Swanson's recipe calls for milk, but I used rice milk. If you're using almonds as your nut, almond milk would probably be great too. To keep it gluten-free, I used certified gluten-free rolled oats.

Swanson calls for an 8-inch square pan to bake the oatmeal. I used a deep dish pie pan instead. I think this made for a thicker layer and I had to cook it quite a bit longer to get the oats cooked all the way through in the center. Next time, I'd follow her suggestion or maybe make then in individual pans, which would make for quick reheating later for an express breakfast.

The smell of baking oats with vanilla, maple syrup, cinnamon, peaches and almonds will have you standing at the stove panting. And the dish lives up to the olfactory tease. It's light, fluffy, very flavorful and immensely comforting. I'm just glad I got some before my husband gets home starving from a morning playing ultimate (he plays ultimate frisbee).

As I mentioned, I want to try making this with fresh strawberries and Confituras strawberry vanilla jam drizzled on top, and a more fall-ish version with apples and pears with pecans.



Heidi Swanson's Baked Oatmeal

2 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups rice milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 10-ounce packages of frozen peaches, defrosted, drained and cut into chunks
1/2 cup toasted, salted whole almonds, chopped

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Butter or oil and 8-inch baking dish. Spread the peaches evenly in the bottom of the pan and set aside.

Combine: oats, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir together. Sprinkle over the peaches in the prepared pan. Set aside.

In another bowl, combine: maple syrup, rice milk, egg, half of the melted butter and vanilla. Whisk together completely. Slowly pour this over the oats and peaches in the pan. Shake or jiggle the pan gently to release any air bubbles.

Sprinkle the almonds on top.

Place the pan on a cookie sheet in the preheated oven. Bake for approximately 45 minutes, until the center is cooked through and fluffy. Let cool a bit, then drizzle with a bit more maple syrup and the rest of the melted butter to serve.

Serves 6 as a stand alone or double that as part of a larger breakfast buffet.

Recipe adapted from Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson. Check out more of Swanson's recipes on her blog, 101 Cookbooks.

P.S. My hubby got home just as I was finishing up this post. He came in, went straight to the stove, and still wearing his hat and backpack, stood at the stove gobbling this up by the spoonful. "Wow!" he responded when he came up for air.

Soba Noodles with Chicken and Almond Maple Sauce

The recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan have left me stunned and with an aching heart. I haven't yet made my way to Japan, but it has long been on the top of my travel wish list as a destination and culture that fascinates me. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone there in their recovery.

Soba noodles are one of my favorite Japanese comfort foods. Soba are usually made from a mixture of buckwheat and wheat flours. Buckwheat, contrary to its name, is not a type of wheat, and is gluten-free. But most soba noodles also contain a bit of regular wheat flour as well to make them less fragile. I used Eden Selected 100% buckwheat soba noodles, available locally at Whole Foods. I'm still on the hunt for a certified gluten-free soba noodle, which Eden's is not, but I have used these repeatedly and have had no problems.

When I went to Seattle, Lara Ferroni turned me on to the cookbook, Lucid Food by Louisa Shafia. She said she was inspired by the gorgeous, natural photography by Jennifer Martiné. I can see why. This is a book you can get lost in looking at the photographs. Kale has never looked so sexy. I was also charmed by the hand-drawn graphics embellishing the book.

This book seduces you with its storytelling, all the while teaching you to "green your cuisine" and eat in more sustainable ways. I love the introduction... Shafia describes the magic of a power outtage in New York City caused by a multistate blackout. Disconnected from trains, computers, and air conditioning, New Yorkers took to the streets for an impromptu party on the sidewalk. With their tvs turned off, neighbors chatted under a full moon and enjoyed the simple pleasures of a summer evening.

One of my favorite recipes from Lucid Food is this one for soba noodles with an almond butter sauce sweetened with maple syrup. Shafia makes it with tofu. I'm off soy for now, so I subbed some roasted chicken. The soba noodles have a soft, nutty, earthiness that is bathed in a very seductive sauce. It's made with a base of almond butter sweetened gently with maple syrup and sesame oil.

The sauce also includes a shot of soy sauce for savory saltiness. As I mentioned, I'm off soy for now, so I found a substitute that works well in this kind of context as a seasoning. It's Coconut Secret brand raw coconut amino. It is a gluten-free, soy-free, organic, coconut-based amino seasoning sauce. It also has much less salt than traditional soy sauce. It's raw, vegan, gmo-free, and contains 17 amino acids. I found it at Whole Foods, next to the soy sauce.

Along with the sobas and almond butter sauce, these noodles have snap peas for a fresh, green crunch. One of the things I love about this recipe is that Shafia pours the hot noodle water over the peas in a colander (also draining the noodles) to quickly cook the snap peas just enough. I also added some strips of red bell pepper too.

One note: the Eden Selected web site recommended cooking these 100% buckwheat sobas the traditional Japanese way to create a firmer noodle. This is easily done by shocking the noodles while they are cooking. Bring your water up to a boil, add the noodles, stir, and then let them come back up to a boil. As soon as the water begins to boil, add about 1/2 cup of cold water to the pan to stop the boiling. Repeat this one or two more times until the noodles are cooked through — when the inside of the noodle is the same color as the outside and they are still firm yet tender to the bite. This will happen quickly, in about 5-6 minutes.

We liked this sauce so much that I increased the proportion of sauce to make a little more of it. You can serve the extra at the table to add as you like.

Soba Noodles with Chicken and Almond Maple Sauce

1 pound roasted chicken meat, shredded

sauce:
3/4 cup almond butter
2-4 tablespoons soy sauce or soy-free Coconut Aminos
6 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced or grated
2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
2 tablespoons rice vinegar

noodles:
3 cups snap peas, ends trimmed and sliced diagonally
8-12 ounces soba noodles
1 red bell pepper, sliced
3 scallions, thinly sliced
one bunch cilantro
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
chili oil for serving

Make the sauce: Combine the almond butter, soy sauce (or aminos), maple syrup, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, and rice vinegar. Whisk together until it becomes a cohesive sauce. Set aside.

Place the sliced snap peas in a colander in the sink.

Fill a large pot with water, sprinkle in a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Add the noodles, return to a boil. As soon as the water returns to a boil, add about 1/2 cup cold water to stop the boiling. Let it come back to a boil again, and repeat with another 1/2 cup cold water. Repeat one more time, if necessary, until noodles are cooked through. This should take only about 5-6 minutes.

When the noodles are completely cooked, drain them into the colander with the peas. The hot water will cook the snap peas just enough. Rinse the noodles and peas in the colander briefly with cool water. Drain and then pour them out into a large serving bowl.

Add the shredded chicken, bell peppers, cilantro and scallions to the noodles and peas. Drizzle with about half of the sauce. Toss together with tongs until all of the noodles are coated with the sauce.

Before serving, sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Serve with chili oil and more almond butter sauce to add as you like at the table.

Serves 4.

Adapted from Lucid Food by Louisa Shafia.

Gluten-Free Meyer Lemon Curd Tartelettes

This is the time of year in Austin when Spring is on our doorstep. While we may still get a few nights around freezing in March, we're also having lots of bright, sunny days near 80 degrees and the trees are starting to bud out. It's time to start thinking about what's going into the garden in the next few weeks. But if you don't live in Texas, you might still be facing that last bit of chill. This little tart will give you a taste of Spring with its bright, sunny flavors.



Last weekend at the farmers market, I spotted Meyer Lemon Curd at the Confituras booth. They had mentioned it was coming weeks before and so I'd been keeping an eye out. I'm so glad I didn't miss it. I tried a sample... not because I questioned whether or not to get some, but because I couldn't wait to taste it. It knocked my socks off. A Meyer lemon is a cross between a lemon and an orange, with a sweeter, less acidic, rounder flavor than an ordinary lemon. It is one of my favorite flavors. Like most citrus, you'll usually find them in season in late winter. But they taste like bright sunshine to me. Just the antidote to too many chilly winter days. I have to say, I've had lemon curd before, even Meyer lemon curd. But none has come close to Confituras. It is the perfect balance of tangy, bright and sweet. This is the standard by which all other lemon curds will be measured in my book from now on.

Citrus curd is made by combining egg yolks, sugar, juice and sometimes butter. Sort of a custard. It's the perfect filling for a tart or to use as a custard in the layers of a trifle with pound cake or angel food cake and whipped cream.

Confituras is a small, local, preserve maker run by Stephanie McClenny. She recently won a Good Food Award in San Francisco for her Texas Fig Preserves with honey, balsamic and bay leaves. Her Salted Caramel Pear Butter is another one of my favorites. I sent jars of her treats to friends over the holidays as gifts. In Austin, you can find Confituras at the Saturday farmers markets and at Breeds, Antonelli's cheese shop, and Con'Olio. Outside the Austin area, you can order online.

I managed to snag two of the last jars of Meyer Lemon Curd at the farmers market last Saturday. (If I hadn't already blown most of my wad of cash on veggies and steak, I would have bought more.) I haven't gotten far enough into the world of gluten-free baking to find a favorite pie or tart crust recipe yet. So I did a little research online and decided to try this recipe for Cannelle et Vanille's shortbread crust. Her photographs are so breathtaking and inspiring. And she's a great source for gluten-free recipes now too. I can't wait for her cookbook to come out.

I haven't yet tried making my own curd (maybe one day Confituras will teach a class???), but here is one I'd like to try, if you want to make your own.

One ingredient note: I've been experimenting with different gluten-free flours for baking. And like many gluten-free bakers, I like Authentic Foods superfine brown rice flour because it's so much smoother and finer than others. But I tried one batch of this shortbread crust with their superfine flour and another batch with the heartier Bob's Red Mill stone ground brown rice flour. I liked the stone ground batch better for this shortbread because it actually enhances the sandiness in the texture. It came the closest to replicating the flavor of my old favorite traditional shortbread recipe. I was afraid that I would never be able to have a gluten-free version of that crumbly, sandy, flaky, vanilla shortbread flavor with gluten-free flours, but I was wrong. All the satisfaction, but none of the gluten. This will be my go to recipe when it's time to start making (gluten-free) holiday shortbread this year.



Equipment note: I tried these little tarts with individual 5-inch tart pans and also with these tiny, two-bite tart pans. For a very rich filling or in this case, a tart filling, I preferred the tiny tarts. The larger size were too big for one person to finish on your own.

Be sure to remove your butter ahead of time to allow it to soften a bit on the counter before mixing.

And look for Meyer Lemon Curd again this weekend from Confituras. I'm already craving more.


Meyer Lemon Curd Tartelettes with Gluten-Free Shortbread Crust

filling:
2 8-ounce jars Confituras Meyer Lemon Curd

topping:
8 ounces heavy whipping cream
1-2 tablespoons powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla

gluten-free shortbread crust:
2 sticks (225 grams) butter, softened
1 1/2 cups (110 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
zest of one organic Meyer lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups + 1 tablespoon (170 grams) Bobs Red Mill stone ground brown rice flour
1 cup (110 grams) cornstarch
1/4 cup (30 grams) tapioca starch
pinch of salt

Measure out your brown rice flour, cornstarch, tapioca starch and salt and whisk together in a bowl. Set aside.

Mix together the softened butter and powdered sugar until the butter is light and fluffy.

Add the lemon zest and vanilla. Mix again to incorporate.

Add the flour mixture half at a time and mix until it comes together. Form the dough into a ball with your hands. Break off pieces (between one and two tablespoons for the tiny tart pans) and press into your tart pans. Place tart pans on a baking sheet and cover with foil or plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

To bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove tart pans from the fridge and prick each crust with a fork to allow steam to vent. (The tarts may still puff up while baking. You can remove them from the oven mid-way through baking and prick them again. They will lay down again after cooling. But be sure to pre-bake them like this before filling if you're using a light filling. If you're making them for a heavier fruit filling, they should be fine baking with the fruit.)

While these are baking, prepare your whipped cream topping. Whip cream (with a whisk for a little workout or a mixer) with powdered sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form. Cover and refrigerate.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until the edges begin to get a little golden. Remove from oven and let cool. (Note: these can be made a day ahead and then filled just before serving. I actually preferred them that way.)

Just before serving, fill tarts with cold Meyer Lemon Curd. Top with a spoonful of whipped cream and serve immediately.

Yield: 20 tiny tarts or 6 to 8 5-inch tarts

Adapted from shortbread crust recipe by Cannelle et Vanille.

Gluten-Free Brownies

I love to bake. And I've spent years experimenting with recipes to find the one version of something that stops me in my tracks. The one that means the search is over. The one I will want to continue making forever. Like these chocolate chip cookies. And this shortbread. And this crumble. And these brownies. These are holy grail recipes. I would say that they are the recipes I would grab if the house caught on fire. But I think I know them so well, I wouldn't need to. I've made them so many times I can remember them.

But going gluten-free means redefining those old favorites so that I can still enjoy them. This will take time and experimentation. But I'm working on it. These brownies are the first to go gluten-free. They seemed like a good candidate. They are so easy to make, you don't even need a mixer. They are mostly eggs and chocolate and butter with a little flour to keep it all together. As a gluten-free flour, I used equal parts brown rice flour and tapioca flour. A lot of gluten-free recipes you see have combinations of a long list of alternative flours and even gums to hold things together. You don't have to fuss with all of that here. Just the two flours. One note, though: rice flours can be gritty if they are not very finely milled. I tried several brands. I kept seeing recommendations for Authentic Foods brand rice flours because they are milled superfine. I know, it's an extra step to have to mail order your rice flour, but it's truly worth it to avoid the grittiness. Other alternative gluten-free flours would probably work here as well, but this one works for me. Experiment and let me know what works for you.

These can be made in a square baking pan or as mini or full-size cupcakes. I've made them for several parties as cupcakes. If you're using a square baking pan, be sure to spray it and then line it with a strip of parchment hanging over the sides (seen here) for easy removal from the pan after baking and cooling.

The recipe below is for straight up, traditional brownies. For a spicy Mexican version, you can add 1/8 teaspoon chipotle powder, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder and 1 teaspoon cinnamon to the flour and give it some heat. These are my husband's favorite.

Substitutions note: I've also experimented with making these dairy-free, using Earth Balance baking sticks (trans fat free!). I'm hard pressed to tell you which I like better. The margarine gives them a little more chewiness in the texture which I love. But the butter is a little richer. I made batches of each and asked friends to give me a favorite. Even my 13-year-old buddy, Jackson, had a hard time picking a favorite, although he put in a good effort tasting one, then the other, then the first one again... Either way, you'll have fudgy brownies with chewy edges and big chocolate flavor.

Most important note: these are best made the day before serving. They'll be good after cooling from the oven, but the flavors develop overnight. They will be spectacular the next day. So make them a day ahead.


Gluten-Free Brownies

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon Authentic Foods Superfine brown rice flour
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon tapioca flour (or tapioca starch, same thing)
8 ounces 60-70% bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup or 228 grams)
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla


Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, measure out your brown rice flour and tapioca flour and stir well to combine. (If you're making the Mexican spicy version, add the spices to the flour and stir together.) Set aside.

With softened butter or cooking spray, grease a square baking pan (mine is 9 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches when measured across the top). Now cut a strip of parchment paper or foil a little narrower than the width of the pan and long enough to hang over on both sides. Place the foil/parchment in the pan and press it against the sides. It will stick to the pan. Now grease the paper as well. This seems fussy, but will insure that you get these babies out of the pan in one piece. The overhanging sides will act as a sling to lift out the brownies -- only when they are completely cool! You hear me!

In a cereal or soup-sized bowl, put the chopped chocolate and the butter. Microwave on 50% power in 30-second increments until the butter is completely melted. The chocolate won't look melted, but stir them together and it will melt completely. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk or stir together the eggs, salt, sugars and vanilla. (I use a giant whisk for this. Seen here.)

Add the melted chocolate to the egg mixture and whisk/stir together. Add the flour and gently whisk together completely.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 45 minutes, until the top is crackly and shiny. (You want fudginess, so the toothpick test doesn't really work here.) If you make these as mini-cupcakes, bake approximately 20 minutes. For full-size cupcakes, 30-40 minutes, depending on how fudgy you want them.

Let cool completely. COMPLETELY. Then, if you can't stand it, using the sling you made with foil/parchment, lift the brownies out in one piece, slice and eat. But if you are made of stronger stuff than most, cover the cooled brownies in the pan and refrigerate or let sit on a cool counter overnight. The next day, use the sling to remove them, peel off the parchment/foil, slice and enjoy.

From the square pan, these can be cut into 9 giant brownies or 12-16 smaller ones. They are very rich so a little goes a long way. (Yields 12 full-size cupcakes or 24 minis.)

Adapted from David Lebovitz and Nick Malgieri.

Shepherds Pie with Lamb and Bison

Baby, it's cold outside — even in Austin. The chill has had me craving a big bowl of something warm, comforting and soul-satisfying. One of the things about giving up gluten is that you end up craving those warm, squishy, bready things as comfort food. I've been working on finding dishes that are just as satisfying, but without the gluten. This is one of them.

This is a shepherd's pie made with ground lamb for flavor mixed with ground bison to make it healthier. (Did you know grass-fed bison has more omega-3s than salmon? Find out more.) Mix in plenty of whatever vegetables and herbs you like and top it with mashed potatoes. A small serving of this is quite filling so it's great for feeding a crowd and it's something the whole family will enjoy and be comforted by.

I've made this several times in the last few weeks and every time my husband says, "I could eat this every night" (and then he does). It keeps well in the fridge for leftovers or you can also freeze it for later. (This would be a great thing to make in a loaf pan and freeze to give to someone in need of some homemade love.)

This recipe is one of those that's really just a guideline. If you don't like lamb, use beef. You could add red wine or more or less broth, depending on how soupy you want it. You could make an all veggie version. You could put in whatever veggies and herbs you like. (I love the rosemary with lamb.) And you could also add some cheese to the mashed taters for another layer of gooey goodness. Run wild. Make it your own. You can't go wrong. And it'll make you feel cozier just knowing it's there in the fridge, waiting for you.

Recipe note: I used a lot of rosemary. We have a giant rosemary bush in our garden. It's the kind that grows up more than creeping horizontally. It takes up less garden real estate that way. But it seems to be a bit milder in flavor than other varieties, so I use more of it. If you're using rosemary, taste it first and decide how much you want. Also, I went with a non-dairy version here to lighten it up, but you can make your mashed potatoes however you like — use broth, sour cream, butter, whatever.

Shepherd's Pie with Lamb & Bison

1 1/2 to 2 pounds potatoes, chopped (I buy organic and leave the skins on)
1/2 cup butter or nondairy butter substitute or chicken broth or 1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 pound ground lamb
1 pound ground bison
4 5-inch stalks fresh rosemary, leaves stripped from stems and chopped
1 to 2 teaspoons hot, smoked paprika
1 1/2 cups carrots, chopped
1 1/2 cups zucchini, chopped
1 cup frozen peas (you don't even need to defrost them)
1 orange or red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 to 1 cup beef broth (Pacific makes an organic, low-salt, gluten-free one I like)
2 tablespoons corn starch

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Have a casserole dish handy. I'm not going to tell you exactly what size, because it depends on how you like your shepherds pie. You can make it in a wider, lasagna-style pan, if you want thinner layers of filling and potatoes. Or you can make it in a smaller, deeper pan, if like us, you want thick layers. We have a very old oven-proof stoneware pan that my husband says his grandmother used to use to make banana pudding. What could be better than that?

Start with your potatoes. Fill a large pan with water and bring to a boil. Add your potatoes and bring back up to a boil. Then, lower heat to medium or medium-low (so your pan doesn't boil over) and cook until fork tender. (This will take about as long as it takes you to prep the rest of the meat and veggies.)

In a large skillet, sauté the onion in olive oil over medium heat for several minutes until translucent. Add the garlic and meat. Increase the heat a bit and let the meat brown all over. The bison is going to be very lean. But if your lamb gives you more fat than you want in the pan, you can spoon some out at this point.

Add your vegetables and rosemary and let cook until veggies are just tender, but not too soft. It's better if they still have a little snap. This is going to go in the oven and cook a little more, so keep them a bit undercooked.

When the potatoes are tender, drain them and mash them with a potato masher or even a stick blender, if you want them really fluffy. Add the butter or whatever you using to make your mashed taters. Combine well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Place your hot meat and veggie filling into your casserole pan. Then top with mashed potatoes. Use a spatula or spoon to spread it out evenly over the top. Bake in oven for 20-30 minutes until completely heated through.

Serves 6-8.

Smoked Pork with Mustard Sauce

My husband can smoke some pork. My favorite is his smoked pork tenderloin with mustard sauce. It's tangy, a little sweet, but not too much, and it's got some zing. He's like a jazz musician. He's got a direction he's headed in, but he doesn't like to be boxed in with a recipe. He improvises. And it's always amazing. But I wanted to be able to share the recipe with you so I asked him to nail it down. After some experimentation, this is the one. It's hard to stop eating this stuff. Make some cornbread and get down to business. (This sauce would rock on smoked chicken or turkey as well.)



He likes pork tenderloin because it's faster to smoke than a larger cut, and because of the shorter time, it stays very moist. It's easy to process, you don't have to debone it and mess around with a lot of prep. It doesn't shred the same way you usually see shredded pork, but it does make beautiful slices that show off your smoke ring — the clear pink line that marks the penetration of smoke into the meat.



This recipe is for four tenderloins and enough sauce and marinade for all of them. You could cut it down, but if you're going to go to all the trouble of firing up the smoker, you might as well have a party or put some away in the freezer for later happiness.

Gluten-free note: Lea & Perrins Worchestershire sauce is gluten-free.

Mustard Sauce/Marinade:
24 ounces Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup honey
4 tablespoons molasses
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce

Pork:
Four 1 lb. pork tenderloins

Combine sauce/marinade ingredients and cook in a saucepan over low heat for about 30 minutes. Taste it and see where it is. You can add more mustard, if you like. Keep in mind that it will continue to mellow out over time. The bite of the vinegar will soften and the sweetness will come up as the flavors marry together.

In a gallon-size zipper plastic bag, put all four tenderloins and 1/2 cup marinade. Zip it up and massage the sauce into the meat to coat it all evenly. Refrigerate overnight.

The smoking:
Soak about six 8-10 inch long and about 1-inch to 1 1/2-inch diameter pieces of pecan in a bucket of water for 30 minutes.

Fill a chimney charcoal starter with hardwood charcoal and light it to use as the base of your fire. When it's going, put it in the firebox. Add half of the wet pecan to the charcoal. Get the temperature in the smoker up to about 225 degrees. Add your pork and smoke for about an hour and 20 minutes. Add more wet pecan as needed to maintain smoke and even temp of 225 degrees.

Remove the meat from the smoker and let rest on a platter, covered, for about 20 minutes. While the meat is resting, warm up the remaining sauce to a low simmer. Slice the meat into 1/4-inch slices on a bias and drizzle with sauce to serve.

For the leftovers, if there are any... Slice the meat, then brush it with a little sauce. Heat it under a broiler briefly just to warm it through and, if you like, crisp up the edges just a bit, like barbacoa. You can also freeze leftovers. Take the unsliced piece of tenderloin, place it in a zipper bag, add the sauce, remove as much air as possible before zipping it shut and freeze.

Serves 8-10.

Pumpkin Smoothie

I've been craving some of the flavors of fall — pumpkin, nutmeg, and cinnamon, but wanted a healthy way to indulge. So instead of pie, I tried this pumpkin smoothie. It's satisfying and guilt free. And it makes a quick breakfast or snack to keep you going through the grocery shopping, prep and cooking for the big feast tomorrow.

I've made it with plain canned pumpkin and then added spices and some agave for sweetness and I've also tried it with canned pumpkin pie filling for a quicker version. That one already has the spices and sweetener added, so it's a little quicker. But I prefer to use the plain pumpkin and add my own level of sweetness and spice. Add as much or as little of whichever spices you like. You could also sub milk or rice milk for the almond milk I used, but I like the little bit of almond in it. A banana adds creaminess. And I've tried this with a little almond butter, which has a more pronounced flavor, or silken soft tofu, to add some protein. Experiment with it and make it how you like. I like it icy cold, so add ice at the end, or refrigerate the pumpkin, tofu and almond milk before blending.

I haven't tried this yet, but it would probably also freeze into popsicle molds for tasty frozen treats. Since temps are still in the upper 80s here, that's sounding pretty good about now. Bring on the cold fronts!

Happy Turkey Day! (Links below to some Thanksgiving feast favorites.)

Pumpkin Smoothie

1 cup canned pumpkin purée
1/4 - 1/2 cup silken soft tofu
1/2 banana
3/4 cup vanilla almond milk
1 - 2 tablespoons agave
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
12 grates of fresh nutmeg
pinch salt

Combine all ingredients in a blender and whiz until well combined. If desired, add ice and blend again until smooth.

Makes one large or two small servings.


More Thanksgiving recipes:
Pecan pie
Pecan pie bars
Stuffed squash
Roasted carrots and parsnips with sage
Roasted butternut squash with cinnamon chipotle butter

And for the day after... this soup would also work very well with leftover turkey:
Smoked chicken, mushroom and wild rice soup

Green Tomato Jam

I've been on a corn kick lately. Fresh corn in salads, gorditas, pupusas, cornbread... I spotted this recipe in a recent issue of Food & Wine — their best new chefs issue. The recipe comes from one of their picks for best new chef this year, Clayton Miller from Trummer's on Main in Virginia. Miller makes hush puppies with this Indian-spiced Green Zebra tomato jam. With honey, ginger, garlic, cinnamon, cumin and cayenne, the jam explodes in your mouth and pairs well with cornbread or hush puppies.

Green Zebra tomatos are common at the farmers market. They are light green with dark green stripes and will ripen to a golden green with a mild, tart, sweet flavor. I love to grow them in the garden. Their flavor and color contrast well with the other red and gold tomatoes we usually grow.

Note: this recipe makes plenty. I ended up filling a quart jar. So you could probably cut the recipe in half, if you like. But it keeps well in the fridge because of the cider vinegar and I've found myself finding more and more things to put it on. It's even tasty as a quick Indian sauce on some chicken or veggies and rice. It's refreshing and full of flavor. Nice for this time of year when we're starting to crave more complex fall tastes but it's still too hot in Austin to dive full-on into those dishes just yet.



Green Zebra tomato jam

2 lbs. of Green Zebra tomatoes
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 garlic clove, grated or minced
1-inch cinnamon stick
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cut the tomatoes into a half-inch dice.

Combine tomatoes and other ingredients in a saucepan. Bring up to a boil and then lower heat to a simmer for about 40-50 minutes, until thickens. Stir occasionally.

Let cool to serve. Store covered in the fridge — a glass jar is perfect for this.

Yield: one quart

Adapted from Clayton Miller in Food & Wine, July 2010

Beecher's Mac & Cheese

While exploring Pike Place Market in Seattle, we stopped by Beecher's Handmade Cheese shop. I'd heard of Beecher's and even tried some of their Flagship Cheddar locally from Central Market. It was the best cheddar I'd ever tasted — a much more dynamic and full-flavored cheddar than I'd ever had before. Beecher's makes their cheeses with no artificial preservatives, flavor enhancers, sweeteners, colors or hydrogenated oils. It's just pure goodness.

I'd seen Beecher's Kurt Dammeier on the Martha Stewart show making "the world's best mac and cheese." That's a mighty big claim. I grew up eating my grandmother's mac and cheese. She was an old-school Southern cook who spoiled me with buttermilk biscuits, chicken and dumplings and the mac and cheese by which I've measured all others. Hers was creamy and cheesey underneath with a thick, crusty layer of cheddar over the top. I've experimented for years with different down-home and gourmet recipes to try to find one I liked as much as hers. Beecher's recipe is the one. We sampled some in their store and I had to try making it myself when we got home.

My husband immediately declared it one of the best things he's ever tasted. I have to agree. The sauce is not just creamy and luscious, but the also the cheesiest I've ever had. The crust of Gruyere and cheddar on top replicates the crust I always loved from my grandmother's version. First, you make your sauce and cook your pasta. Then combine them in a casserole pan (individual little casseroles are handy here and avoid fighting over the serving spoon), sprinkle the top with more cheese, and then bake it in the oven. You can make your sauce and pasta and assemble and refrigerate it before baking. This will actually enhance the flavor. (Saveur magazine recently had an article about the chemical reactions that take place in mac and cheese and they recommended letting the flavors develop like this before baking. So keep that in mind, if it's more convenient. This also means your leftovers will rock.)

This is rich stuff. It has a little chipotle in it to give it just a touch of heat. It takes a lot of cheese. It's not a cheap dish. But it is one of the most satisfying ever. A special occasion, over-the-top splurge. This is the kind of dish that will get you marriage proposals, so don't make it for just anyone.

Cooking notes: Be sure to undercook the pasta by a few minutes — it will continue cooking in the oven and you don't want it to get too soft. I used a rigatoni pasta because I wanted something with a big enough center to capture the sauce. It was perfect. I also used 2% milk and it was still incredibly rich. Beecher's Jack cheese wasn't available locally, so I subbed the Central Market house Jack. But be sure to use Beecher's Flagship for the cheddar. It's what makes this dish transformative.



Beecher's Mac & Cheese

For the cheese sauce:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup flour
3 cups (2%) milk
14 ounces (3 1/2 cups) Beecher's Flagship cheddar, grated
2 ounces (1/2 cup) Jack cheese, grated
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon chipotle powder
1 clove garlic, minced

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the garlic, and cook for a couple of minutes to soften the garlic. Add the flour and whisk together. Continue whisking while it cooks for about two minutes.

A little at a time, pour in your milk and continue whisking to incorporate. Then add a little more. Continue the whisking and adding until you've incorporated all of the milk. Keep whisking and cooking for about 10 minutes, until the sauce thickens.

Turn off the heat under the pan. Add the grated cheese, salt and chipotle. Whisk or stir until all of the cheese has melted. Refrigerate for later assembly or assemble into mac and cheese immediately (see below).

For mac and cheese:
6 ounces rigatoni pasta, slightly undercooked (by about 2-3 minutes) and rinsed in cold water, then drained
Beecher's cheese sauce (above)
1 ounce (1/4 cup) Beecher's Flagship cheddar, grated
1 ounce (1/4 cup) Gruyere cheese, grated

Spray one large or 6-8 small casserole pans with cooking spray.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the warm cheese sauce and the (undercooked) pasta. Pour the pasta and sauce into your baking dish(es). Sprinkle the top with the cheddar and Gruyere.

Bake for about 20-30 minutes, until warmed through. Note: while mine was cooked through at this point, the top wasn't quite browned yet, so I turned on the broiler for the last two minutes of cooking. Be sure to watch over it and pull it out before it goes too far.

Let cool for about five minutes before serving, if you can stand it.

Mac and cheese is uaually considered a side dish, or in the South, a vegetable. And you can serve it on the side with something else, like roasted chicken or whatever. But no one will notice anything else on the table. Just know that. If you have kids, I'm sure you could use this as a bribe to get them to eat their green veggies first.

Adapted from Beecher's World's Greatest Mac & Cheese recipe on MarthaStewart.com.

Serves 6-8.

Raspberry Oat Bars

During our visit to Seattle, we didn't make it to all the places on our list that we wanted to eat. But one place we did get to try several times was Macrina Bakery. With three locations around town, Macrina is a Seattle favorite for brunch, lunch and baked treats. Everything we tried there hooked us from the first bite. If we lived in Seattle, we'd be regulars.

When we got home, I wanted to try some more of Macrina's treats, so I picked up their cookbook, Leslie Mackie's Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook. It includes a wide range of their recipes from breads and muffins to pastries, cakes, pies, cookies, and brunch items. The newest edition has an additional chapter on their most-requested recipes.



The recipe I wanted to try first is an easy one, they call them fruit and oat bars. You layer a sweet almond dough in the bottom of your baking pan and bake it. Then top with raspberry preserves in the center and an oat crumble sprinkled on top. They make for a beautiful dessert, snack or even an indulgent breakfast treat.

These will definitely satisfy your sweet tooth. You could probably make them with a little less sugar in the crumble topping if you want them a less sweet. I love that they are rustic and very comforting. The raspberries have a tartness that balances well with the almond dough. They would make a beautiful holiday treat too.

Note: I reduced the almond extract a bit. The first time out it was a little strong for my taste. (The original recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon. Make it as you like.) Don't be intimidated by having to make the almond dough separately. It's easy and it's worth it. It makes for a flavorful base.


Macrina's Raspberry Oat Bars

sweet almond dough:
1/4 cup whole almonds
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted


Toast the almonds on a baking sheet at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until they start to turn golden. Let them cool completely.

Grind the almonds in a food processor (mini-processor works great here) until finely ground. I did this in pulses. Measure out 2 tablespoons of the ground almonds and place in a mixing bowl. If you have any left over, save it to sprinkle over your oatmeal.

To the almonds, add sugar and flour and stir together.

In another small bowl, stir melted butter and vanilla and almond extracts. Pour this into the bowl with the almond mixture and stir together until a crumbly dough is formed. You want the dough to stick together when you press it between your fingers.

If you want to do this step ahead, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until you're ready to use it.

If you're ready to go now, get out your tart pan. The recipes calls for a 13x9x2 inch pan. I used two smaller tart pans because I wanted the fluted edge they provided. This made for a little thicker crust on the bottom, which I liked. It made the bars easier to handle when cut. Use what you have. To do it all in one pan, I will probably use my 9 1/2 inch square brownie pan next time.

Press the dough into the pan using your fingertips. At room temperature, it will spread out easily. Just be sure to press it firmly into the corners and about 3/4 inch up the sides. When the dough is evenly pressed into the pan, cover and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Remove the chilled crust from the fridge and line it with parchment paper. Fill the bottom with dried beans or pie weights. Bake for about 25 minutes until the edges start to turn golden brown. Remove the parchment and weights and put it back in the oven to bake for 3-5 more minutes until the bottom is no longer moist. Let cool.

This is a good time to make the oat crumble topping.

For crumble topping and bars:
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
1 to 1 1/4 cups brown sugar (depending on how sweet you'd like it)
1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 1/2 cups raspberry preserves

Cut the butter into 1/4-inch pieces. Place them in a food processor with the sugar, flour and oats. Pulse the processor for 2-3 seconds at a time until the mixture turns into a clumpy and crumbly dough. Set aside for a moment.

Spread the preserves evenly over the cooled almond dough.

Sprinkle the oat crumble over the top of the preserve layer.

Bake for about 30 minutes. To get a nice golden brown on top, I turned the broiler on for just a moment before removing these from the oven. Be sure to stay with them if you want to do this so you can pull them out at the right moment.

Let cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting into bars. You can cut these into squares or rectangles depending on your preference. I liked the way they looked in long strips. How many bars you get depends on how you cut them. But these are big on flavor, so small servings are fine.

Adapted from Leslie Mackie's Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook.

Super Bowl Snacks

Looking for ideas for Super Bowl snacks? Here are a few from the archives...


Guacamole


Cheese Straws


Brent's BBQ sauce


Roasted Potato Salad


Tacuba Enchildadas


Chocolate Almond Bars


Chewy, Gooey, Chocolate Chip Cookies


Caramel Cake


Amond Butter Crispy Treats

Brent's BBQ Sauce

One year at Christmas, our friend, Brent, sent us some of the finest dang barbecue sauce I've ever had. Now, I grew up in the South, so barbecue for me means pork. I know, I live in Texas, and here, it's all about the beef. But as my husband says, pork is still the king of meats. I'm usually partial to a Carolina mustard-based sauce on pulled pork. But Brent's red sauce has convinced me that red can be as good as yellow.

This sauce is a little smokey with a nice balance of sweet (from brown sugar) and tangy (from cider vinegar and mustard) with a slow heat at the end (from cayenne and chipotle) that's really nice. Garlic, onion and molasses give it backbone.

There's a pot of it simmering on the stove right now — the perfect smell to go with a windy day and football playoffs in the background. I made a double batch so we'll have plenty. Brent's original quantities are listed below, but it's easy to double if you're feeling generous enough to share it with friends.



Tonight, we put this on chicken on the grill. (Note the dog's undivided attention on the chicken.) Tips from my husband, the grillmaster: don't put the sauce on the chicken until the last five minutes of cooking or the sugars will burn. He brushed it on and then turned it twice, so one side got a little more carmelized. Just keep a close eye on it.

For a quick meal, we also threw some zucchini and pineapple on the fire too. Next, I want to try it on pork and put it in a steamed Asian bun, dim sum-style.

A note on the ingredients: I used canned chipotles in adobo sauce. I picked out the biggest ones and chopped them up, seeds and all. If you want the flavor of the chipotles, but with less heat, you could leave out the seeds. Also, I made sure to use a natural liquid smoke with no MSG and no preservatives.

Muchas gracias, Brent!

Brent's BBQ Sauce

In a heavy-duty saucepot, sauté until onions are translucent:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 large onion, finely diced
4 cloves of garlic, chopped

Add:
1/2 cup Jack Daniels

Brent flames it here, but I was a bit sleep-deprived when I made this and felt a little paranoid about lighting the kitchen on fire, so I brought it up to a boil and let it bubble for a few minutes instead. Such a girl move, I know.


Add and stir together:
2 cups ketchup
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup molasses
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup tomato paste
4 teaspoons liquid smoke
1 tablespoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons cayenne
2 chipotle peppers

Let simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Yield: approximately 6 cups.

Adapted from Brent Warner.

Pioneer Woman's French Breakfast Puffs

Over Christmas I picked up Ree Drummond's The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl. Drummond, an L.A. city girl, went back to her hometown in Oklahoma on her way to a move to Chicago and met and fell in love with a cowboy. Now the city girl is a mom, feeding ranch hands, photographing and blogging from a working cattle ranch. She's adapted from being a former vegetarian to the meat and potatoes ranch lifestyle and palette. She began her blog "Confessions of a Pioneer Woman" sharing recipes, photography, and stories about ranch life and cooking.

I expected to find a few recipes that might be fun to try. But I immediately got wrapped up in the very engaging world of her life on the ranch. The cowboys, the husband, the four kids, the dogs, the cattle, the horses, the stories, the love and of course, the food. Her tone is very accessible and conversational and in no time at all you wish you could sit down in her warm kitchen with a hot cup of coffee (or a margarita) and gab and cook and watch her world go by.

Even if you aren't interested in cooking, her photos hook you immediately. They are gorgeous and thoughtful and give you insight into a beautiful, natural world. I would love to spend time there with her just seeing, taking in the incredible expanses and also the small details.

Aside from just having so much fun with her book — I curled up in bed on a cold night and read straight through the whole thing, like a novel, and had a great time — she includes instructions and photos of EVERY step of every recipe. This is a great resource if you're new in the kitchen. She'll take you through it step-by-step-by-step. And her recipes are straightforward, made with ingredients you can find in an Oklahoma grocery store and they are down home and hungry cowboy satisfying.

I wanted to share with you one of the first recipes I tried from her book, the French Breakfast Puffs. These are muffins, baked with the sweet, comforting flavor of nutmeg that you'd find in a cake doughnut. But these are what a cake doughnut aspires to be. They are soft and light and fluffy and steamy. Better than any cake doughnut I've ever had. Then, when they are hot out of the oven, you roll them in melted butter (and lots of it) and then in cinnamon sugar. The butter sinks in just a bit, giving them an added layer of to-die-for-ness and helps the sparkly cinnamon sugar stick to form a sweet and spicy crust.

I made these early one morning and wrapped them up still warm for my husband to take to work with him. I was jokingly calling them "butter bombs" because I felt so naughty rolling around in all that butter. But they were apparently quite enthusiastically received. I tried them in regular muffin cups and in mini muffin cups. I really liked that the mini muffins could be more easily handled (for the baker and the eater) and you can just pop them in your mouth. But I found the proportion of butter to muffin was much higher in the little guys because they are so much smaller. So I liked the overall flavor better in the regular-sized muffins. Whatever size you want them, bake these now. They are little puffs of happiness. These are impressive enough for a special occasion, but easy enough for an everyday breakfast.

French Breakfast Puffs

3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup nonhydrogenated shortening, at room temp
2 eggs
1 cup milk

for cinnamon sugar crust:
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
2 sticks of butter

muffin tin (12 muffin size) sprayed with cooking spray


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk together in a bowl: flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside.

In another bowl, with a mixer or a whisk (if you want to work some of these off before you eat them), cream together one cup of the sugar and the shortening. Add the eggs and mix to combine. Add half of the flour mixture and mix in, then half of the milk and mix in. Continue with the other halves, mixing until completely combined.

Pour batter into prepared muffin cups to just over half full. (You don't want these going up over the top of your pan too far or they'll fall apart when you roll them around in the butter later.) I used an ice cream scoop to get even amounts and quick release into the muffin cups.

Bake for 20-25 minutes (about 12-15 minutes for mini muffins) until tops are golden.

While the muffins are baking, melt the butter. Place it in a bowl big enough to roll the muffins around in comfortably. In another bowl (or a cake pan works well here too) combine the remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar with the cinnamon and stir together.

When the muffins are out of the oven, let them cool briefly so you don't get burned. Then take the still very warm muffins and roll them first in the bowl with the melted butter, to coat on all sides. Then roll them in the cinnamon sugar completely to coat. You're going to want to eat that first one. And you should just go ahead. They smell too good not to. Repeat with remaining muffins and serve immediately.

These are to die for freshly baked and still steamy. But I tried one the next day, popped it in the microwave briefly and it returned to its steamy, fluffy goodness.

Note: I filled my muffin cups only about half full and ended up with a little extra batter. So I made the mini muffins just to see if I liked that size better. You could use the remaining batter to make a second smaller batch after the first are out of the oven. Believe me, you'll want them all.

Adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl by Ree Drummond.

And check out Drummond's blog, The Pioneer Woman. You'll be charmed and she's sure to get your appetite going.

Sweet and Sour Soup with Pineapple and Shrimp

It was 11 degrees overnight in Austin. On top of that, the cedar is plaguing most of us with allergies. This is my favorite soup when I have that sore throat, achey, runny nose kind of feeling. It has big, bright flavors that will wake up your taste buds and clear your head: lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, pineapple and lime juice, with shrimp and rice noodles.

The only downside to this soup is that it has to be made fresh and eaten immediately. It's not a good candidate for freezing and having on hand for later when you feel bad. The freshness is part of what makes it so good. So make it to keep yourself warm or to perk up a friend who's under the weather. It's just the thing.

I've been making and fine tuning this recipe for years. A long time ago, I had a sweet and sour soup at a Vietnamese restaurant that included tomatoes, which added a nice texture and tang. That got me started looking for a version I could make at home. The fresh pineapple is my favorite element. I think this is the version I'm sticking with. Wish I had a bowl tonight.

Sweet and sour soup with shrimp and pineapple

1 pound medium-sized shrimp, shells on
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoons shallots, minced
8 cups of fish stock or chicken broth
3 stalks lemongrass
one bunch cilantro
2 kaffir lime leaves
4 slices of galangal
pineapple, peeled and cored, with core reserved; cut into bite-sized chunks
4 tablespoons fish sauce
3 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon peppercorns
1/4 cup lime juice
16 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, cut into quarters
4 tablespoons sugar
orange, red or yellow bell pepper, stem and core removed, cut into slices
one pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half
approximately 14 oz. package rice stick noodles, soaked in hot water according to package directions and strained

Make the broth:
Remove the shells from the shrimp. Reserve the shells. Devein the shrimp and set aside.

Place the shrimp shells in a stockpot with vegetable oil. Add shallots and cook together for about 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring.

Add the broth, lemongrass, the stems of your cilantro, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, the pineapple core and the fish sauce. Stir together. Bring up to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer at least 15 minutes. (Longer will mean more flavor, if you have the patience.) Strain the broth through a sieve and then put the broth back into the pan. Discard the lemongrass, etc. that you've strained out.

Grind together in a mortar and pestle into a paste: garlic, peppercorns, 2/3 of the cilantro leaves. Add to the broth and stir together.

Turn the heat back on under the broth to about medium. Add the lime juice, mushrooms, sugar, about half of the pineapple chunks and the bell pepper strips. When the broth is just below a boil, add the shrimp and simmer until the shrimp are pink and just cooked through. Watch carefully, this will only take a few minutes. You don't want your shrimp to be tough and overcooked. When shrimp are cooked through, remove from heat and add tomatoes.

To serve, place one serving of rice stick noodles into each bowl. Ladle soup into bowls and top with remaining pineapple chunks and sprinkle with cilantro.

Enjoy immediately!

Serves 3-4.

Adapted from Terrific Pacific by Anya von Bremzen.

Japanese Hot Pot with Chicken & Mushrooms

I have the best husband ever. In true Santa fashion, he gave me just the thing I really wanted for Christmas but hadn't even thought of putting on my list... a Japanese hot pot and the perfect hot pot handbook to go with it, Japanese Hot Pots by Japanese chef Tadashi Ono and writer Harris Salat. I have a favorite udon noodle hotpot I love to order when we go out for sushi in the winter. I've tried replicating the luxurious broth at home without much luck. But with my first try from this book, I found the flavors I was looking for. You know that feeling you get when you sit in a hot springs (or hot tub) outdoors in the cold or better yet, in the snow? You get warm and radiant all the way down to your core. You feel like a wet noodle afterwards, but in the best, most relaxed way. Eating a good hot pot can give you that same warm, comforted and nourished to your core feeling, with noodles!



First, about the pot. A Japanese clay hot pot is called a donabe (pronounced doh-nah-beh). These traditional earthenware vessels conduct heat evenly and retain that heat better than any other cooking material. They have a rounded unglazed bottom and a domed, glazed lid that allows heat to circulate. The lid has a small hole which acts as a steam vent and gives you a heads up when your soup is boiling. The towns of Iga and Shigaraki in central Japan (where my hot pot came from) are famous for making these pots in the traditional way. One important thing to note: you must temper your new hot pot before using it. This is easily done by cooking rice in it and then allowing it to cool in the pot, then clean it and allow it to dry completely before the first use. I'd advise doing this on a separate day from when you plan to cook your first hot pot. It makes the cooking process a little simpler and less time-consuming and you won't be in a rush for your pot to dry. The most important thing about hot pot cooking is to make sure that the pot is completely dry before you fire it up. If not, the water in the unglazed portion of the pot could expand when heated and crack it. Check out this video for step-by-step instructions on how to temper your new hot pot.

If you don't have a hot pot or want to try a few recipes before committing, you can use an enameled cast-iron pot like a Staub or Le Creuset.

In Japanese culture, sharing a meal from a single pot is thought to bring people closer together. We cooked ours on our gas stove and then brought it to the table to serve. But if you have a tabletop burner, you can cook it right there at the table. I was pleasantly surprised by how our donabe retained heat throughout the entire meal. The soup was steaming when we brought it to the table. But even after taking a few photos and leisurely eating our meal, the last bite was still quite hot at the bottom of the bowl.

I made a mushroom hot pot. The recipe in the book uses a variety of mushrooms, tofu, napa cabbage, tofu and spinach. I switched the tofu to chicken and the spinach and cabbage to boy choy. Feel free to use whatever you like. That's the fun of a hot pot.

The first thing you'll need, after your cooking pot, is the dashi, or broth. If you're wanting to make your hot pot quickly as a weeknight meal, I'd advise making the dashi ahead of time so it'll be ready to go. The recipe below is the base dashi recipe from the book. You make it with kombu (seaweed) and dried bonito flakes. You can find these at Whole Foods in the Asian aisle or at an Asian or Japanese market. You can also find kombu and bonito online at Amazon.

Dashi (Kombu-Katsuobushi Dashi)

8 cups + 2 tablespoons water
2 6-inch pieces of kombu
1 1/2 ounces (about 3 cups packed) dried, shaved bonito flakes

Pour 8 cups of water into a large stockpot. Add the kombu. (Do not heat yet.) Let steep for at least 30 minutes.

After steeping, bring the kombu and water to a boil over medium heat. When the water has begun to boil, carefully remove the kombu. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of water.

Now add the bonito flakes and give them a gentle stir to break up the clumps. Bring the mixture up to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes. If any foam or bubbles form on the top of the broth, remove them from the surface with a spoon.

Turn off heat and let steep for 15 minutes.

Strain through a fine sieve or cheesecloth. (The book says not to squeeze or press on the bonito, just let it strain through.)

At this stage, you can use the broth immediately or let cool and then refrigerate for up to 3 days.

Makes about 6 cups.




Mushroom Hot Pot (Kinoko Nabe)

4 cups dashi (from the recipe above)
1 cup sake
1/2 cup mirin
1/2 cup soy sauce
4 heads of baby bok choy
1 pound chicken tenders
1/2 pound small shiitke mushrooms (about 16), stems removed
2-4 trumpet mushrooms
1/2 pound enoki mushrooms, trimmed and pulled apart into bunches
2-3 serving bundles of frozen udon noodles, defrosted
Shichimi togarashi (citrus, sesame, chile seasoning)

Combine the dashi, sake, mirin and soy sauce in a bowl. Whisk together to combine. Set aside.

Place your tempered hot pot or enameled cast iron pan on the stove or burner.

Cut your defrosted udon noodle bundles into quarters. Place them in the outside bottom edges of the hot pot. Leave space in the center for the chicken. Place chicken tenders into the center of the hot pot. Cover with dashi about 3/4 full - save some broth in reserve, if it gets too full. You don't want your pan to boil over. Place the lid over the pot.

Bring the hot pot with noodles and chicken up to a boil over high heat. When it reaches a boil, decrease heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove the lid and add the mushrooms and boy choy to the pot. Cover and simmer another 5 minutes. (If using spinach, add it in the last minute before serving.)

Turn off heat and take the hot pot to the table — place on a trivet or heat-safe surface. Serve sprinkled with Shichimi togarashi.

Serves 3-4.

Adapted from Japanese Hot Pots by Tadashi Ono and Harris Salat.

To learn more about Japanese food, check out the Japanese Food Report blog by Harris Salat.

If you're in NYC, check out Tadashi Ono's restaurant, Matsuri.

Postscript: Listen to KCRW's Good Food (Jan. 9, 2010) for an interview with Harris Salat and Tadashi Ono about hot pots.