Easy Cake Cookies

My littlest valentine and I made cookies while my bigger -but-still-little valentine was at a birthday party this morning.  We made cake cookies, a thing I've never done before.  

1 box cake (in this case, strawberry, an artificial flavor I will never get again)

2 eggs

1/3 cup oil

Mix 'em up, drop 'em on a greased sheet bake 'e, for 8 - 10 minutes at 375.

I shaped half of them into hearts while he stirred in the very small amount of white chocolate chips we had left into the remaining batter.

Of course, quality control is very important when it comes to chips, and we encourage that in our house as long as we're the only ones eating the result.

On the sheets:

Baked.  They puff a little, but don't spread much:

We made vanilla butter cream frosting, tinted pink.  Because how else are the sprinkles going to stick?

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature

4 cups confectioner's sugar

6 TBS cream

2 tsp vanilla

Alternate sugar and cream into the butter in about three or four rounds for best results.

Safe keeping until the cookies are cool and everyone is packed up and at my parents' house, where they can get sugared up while Mama and Daddy go on a date for Valentine's Day.

Did I mention the quality control?  We split one.  It was 10am.  I'm a good mother.

High Five

My kids get High Five Magazine in the mail every month, thanks to my in-laws.  I love this magazine, and we read it a lot together.  Yesterday we made a "cookbook" of all the recipes from their back issues.  It's a copy of each recipe page, three hole punched and put in a three ring binder.  They think it's the best thing ever.  The only thing I had all the ingredients for right away was this:

The kids liked it.  (no comment from the peanut gallery - not all recipes are created equal. 

I went shopping for other ingredients today.)

The Peanut Gallery.

Put the Hammer in the Coconut...

I got the kids a coconut today at the store.

It took my sweet, patient husband a good amount of doing, but he got it open.  

We all tasted it.  Some liked it more than others, but I was glad the kids were so interested and willing to try something new.

Unfortunately, I suffered the loss of my favorite mixing bowl in the process.  (We wanted to catch the water/milk and taste it, too.)  :(

Luckily, there is a Bed Bath and Beyond near me and I've been saving up my 20% off coupons.  If all goes well, by tomorrow, I'll have three new favorite mixing bowls.

Pinkalicious

You know me.  I'm not typically a from-the-box kinda gal.  I like to make things.  But sometimes, you just gotta add three eggs, some water, some oil and dump the box of cake mix in.  Oh, and add some NEON PINK FOOD COLORING!!

Then you need to open the can of frosting.... no, wait, I take that back.  I totally should have made the damn butter cream frosting.  Oh well.  At least I didn't make the fake strawberry flavored cake.

Because of their love of the book Pinkalicious, here's what I did with the kids today.  (AFTER we ate green food.)

"ingredients"

batter

my kids made 'em pretty

And yes, if I'm seeing you this week - hell, if I see you on the street tomorrow - I'm giving you some of these pink cupcakes.  I will not be responsible for consuming them.

Grass below you, Sky above...

Last week I made spinach and goat cheese turnovers for May Day.  They were really delicious - especially the next day topped with a poached egg. (You know how I love a runny egg on ANYTHING!)  This was my first time using phyllo sheets - I really liked it. They're like little homemade spanakopita and, while a little heavy on the prep, once I got into the rhythm of the assembly, they were really easy.  I especially liked the addition of lemon zest and the texture of the whole pine nuts inside.  My 2 1/2 year old son liked brushing the melted butter on the sheets as I folded them up.

Here's the recipe:

May Day Turnovers:

INGREDIENTS:

1 TBS Olive oil

1/2 cup diced red onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 bunches spinach, chopped

2 oz goat cheese

1/3 cup toasted pine nuts

3 TBS parmesan cheese, grated

1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, minced

1/2 tsp lemon zest

4 frozen phyllo pastry sheets, thawed

1/2 c unsalted butter, melted

INSTRUCTIONS:
Makes 12

Preheat oven to 375F.

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat.  

Add onion and garlic and saute 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, toast pine nuts on med/low in a dry skillet.

Increase heat to high.  Add spinach and saute until wilted, about 5 minutes.

Drain spinach mixture, pressing on slids to release as much liquid as possible.  Transfer to a bowl and cool completely.  Add goat cheese, pine nuts, parmesan, rosemary and lemon zest.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Cut phyllo sheets into three strips each, lengthwise.

Lay one strip on a cutting board and brush with butter.  Place 1 rounded TBS of the filling at one end of the strip.

Starting at one corner, fold pastry over filling, forming a triangle.

Repeat, folding up the length of the pastry (like a flag), and buttering between each fold, as well as at the end.  Set on an ungreased baking sheet (because, really, there's enough butter, don't you think?).

Repeat with the remaining pastry, butter and filling.

Bake at 375F until golden, about 12 minutes.  Cool slightly and serve.

Serve leftovers, slightly warmed in the oven or toaster oven with poached eggs.

Ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch Cherry Bomb!

Join me in the delights of unconventionalism, won't you?  I this week made Cherry Jam.

This jam made it on to vanilla ice cream (with and without chocolate syrup), toast, and.... a grilled cheese sandwich.  No, wait.  Several grilled cheese sandwiches.  For lunch and then For Breakfast.  That's right.  I served grilled cheese sandwiches for breakfast.  And I was right to do it.

I used the Cherry Jam, Cracker Barrel's New York Extra Sharp Cheddar, Tregula (omg, you have to try Tregula!) and some day-old boule from Patrick's Bakery.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  Cherry jam on a grilled cheese sandwich is the most beautiful thing you never heard of.   It was suggested in the recipe from Eating Well for this jam, and it looked so good I had to try it.  Now you should.

The recipe below makes enough for 2 sundaes, some toast with butter and 1 1/2 grilled cheese sandwiches.  And tasting.  Lots and lots of tasting.  It is half of the original recipe, and therefore easily doubled.  It is also really easy to make with kids, as you just stir all ingredients together and stick it in the oven.

Roasted Cherry Jam

Modified from EatingWell's Smokey Roasted Cherry Jam (I don't do smokey)

INGREDIENTS

1 15oz pkg pitted frozen cherries, thawed and cut in half

1/4c orange juice 

1/2 TBS chopped fresh thyme

1/4 tsp garam masala

1/4 salt

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 450F

Combine all ingredients in a pie plate or baking pan

Roast, stirring occasionally until the cherries are broken down and the liquid has thickened, 35 - 45 minutes (same time for double recipe)

Let him eat cake.

Oh, my blog, how I've missed you.  I was on vacation for a week in Columbus, Ohio for Easter.  I gotta figure out how to update from my iPhone.


The day before we left was my husband's birthday.  I made him a cake.  Well, I made him six cupcakes and a half a layer cake.  I knew we were going to have to eat most of what I made, and give the rest to my parents as payment for taking us to the airport, so... there it is.

Bill loves coconut.  He especially loves Almond Joys.  Was I going to crush up a bunch of Almond Joys and throw them in a box cake for his birthday?  No, sir.  I made him an Awesome Almond Joy Cake from scratch.  

I looked at a lot of recipes online and in my cookbooks, but none of them seemed coconut-y enough for me.  I also noticed that because of my extremely efficient clearing out of the refrigerator before going on a trip ninja stylings, I had exactly three eggs.  I was going to have to make half a recipe.  (Two and a half eggs is always fun to add to anything!)

The closest recipe to what I wanted came from Ina Garten, so I adapted her Barefoot Contessa's Coconut Cake recipe and created a coconutty-almondy-chocolate-chunkity masterpiece.  Here's my version of the recipe. (I made half of the recipe shown below.)

Roots And Zest Coconut Almond Chocolate Chunk Cake

Ingredients

3 sticks unsalted butter, softened + more for greasing pan (or use spray like lazy me)
2 cups sugar
5 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp coconut extract
2 1/2 cups white flour + more for dusting pan
1/2 cup almond meal
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup coconut milk
4 oz sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup chocolate chunks (the big guys - not chips)


Instructions


Preheat oven to 350F.  Butter or spray two 9" round cake pans and dust them with flour.


Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl until fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing in between each addition, and scraping down the sides. Add the vanilla, almond and coconut extracts and mix well [Ina's note here was, "The mixture might look curdled; don't be concerned."  It did.  And I wasn't, thanks to her.]


In another bowl mix together the flour, almond meal, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Alternately add these dry ingredients and the coconut milk to the batter in three rounds.  Fold in the shredded coconut and chocolate chunks.


Pour the batter into the two pans and smooth the top.


Ina says to bake it for 45 - 55 minutes at 350F.  I think that sounds like a long time.  When I did half this recipe, here's what happened next:


For my cupcakes, I used the six silicone cups that came with this cook cookbook for kids.  I also made one 9" round.  The cupcakes took 15 minutes.  The one 9" round took 22 minutes.


I used Mark Bittman's Butter Cream Frosting recipe from page 727 of How To Cook Everything. I substituted 1 tsp coconut extract for half of the vanilla in his recipe.  I also made the whole recipe for my half cake + 6 cupcakes.  Because I'm like that.

Butter Cream Frosting


Ingredients


1 stick unsalted butter, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
6 TBS cream or milk, plus more if needed
2 tsp vanilla extract (again, I used 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp coconut extract for mine)


Instructions


Cream the butter with an electric mixer.
Gradually work in the sugar, alternating with the cream and beating after each addition.
Stir in the extracts.
If the frosting is too think to spread, add a little more cream, a teaspoon at at time,  If it is too thin (unlikely, but possible), refrigerate.  It will thicken as the butter hardens.

Layering and Decorating


Ingredients


whole almonds (I toasted mine a little in a dry pan on medium heat for a few minutes)
chocolate chunks
about 6 oz sweetened shredded coconut

Instructions

When layering the cake, whether it be a 9" round on top of another 9" round, or half of a single round on top of the other half like I did, let the cake cool completely before frosting it.  Smooth frosting on the bottom layer, sprinkle with some of the chocolate chunks, then lay the second layer on.  Smooth the remaining frosting over the top and sides of the layered cake.

Press shredded coconut all over the top and sides of the icing.

Decorate with whole almonds and the rest of the chocolate chunks as makes you happy.  Let your kids decorate the cupcakes to make them happy.

This cake was really, really awesome.  

Happy Birthday, Bill!

Irish Soda Bread

I love making Irish Soda Bread with my kids.  It's quick, I always have all the ingredients on hand, and the results are really delicious.  The kids love making Irish Soda Bread for this reason: I let them put their hands in the dry ingredients and mush it around.  Once we put the wet ingredients in, they use their forks (raw eggs, you know).  Then Mama blobs it all out on a cookie sheet and sticks it in the oven.  This St. Patrick's Day, we put butter on the warm bread, drizzled it with honey, and ate it as dessert! 

Here's the recipe:

Dry: 

4 cups flour 

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 TBS sugar

2 TBS caraway seeds Optional.  I usually add another 1 tsp

1 cup raisins  I usually add another 1/4 cup

Wet:

1 beaten egg

1 cup butter milk

A scant cup of milk (any fat content) with 1 TBS lemon juice works just as well - mix this up first and let it sit on the counter while you're mixing the dry ingredients

1 cup plain yogurt  Fat free and reduced fat works just fine if you prefer.  I like to use fat free Greek yogurt.

1/4 tsp vanilla extract Optional.  

I tried adding vanilla (some of my life-time supply from Mexico) for the first time on St. Patrick's Day because I knew these loaves had dessert as their fate.  It was really good!

Steps:

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients.  Mix until just combined - do not over mix.  Dough should be very sticky.

Place dough on lightly greased cookie sheet - I always make two loaves and just drop the two roundish blobs on a single sheet.

Bake at 375 for about 30 - 35 minutes.  The outside should brown a little.

You can make one big loaf if you want to, just bake it for longer - 45 minutes.

If you make two, you can always freeze the second loaf, wrapped in tin foil.

What fun!

The raw dough.

The finished loaves.  MMMM!

My 26 year old ice cream machine

My parents save everything.  I have dressed my daughter in my party dresses and pushed my son in my old pram (thanks, Mom!).  This week, while staying at my parents' house while my husband was away for work,  recording, I played game after game on my old CollecoVision console from the early 1980s (thanks, Dad!).

One great kitchen discovery from the treasure trove in the basement was the Donvier Ice Cream Maker.   Bought on sale in probably 1984 (for $19.99 down from $29.99!), and perfectly preserved in the box with the instructions printed on it, this ice cream maker holds many memories for me.  And now my kids get to use it.

I put the metal insert in the freezer one night, and the next afternoon, I told the kids we were Making Ice Cream!!  Are you kidding?  This was gonna be awesome.  Now, to make it awesome for ME, we made Chef Rick Bayless's Avocado Ice Cream from EatingWell's April issue.

I love Rick Bayless.  I loved watching him win on Top Chef Masters, and I will be forever jealous of our friend who got to hang out with him and eat his food at a small gathering.  I love avocados.  I have been known to enjoy tequila on occasion (though mostly 10 - 15 years ago).  You already know how I feel about zest. 

The kids loved doing this.  They turned and turned and turned and TOOK TURNS turning and turning!  What a great experience for them to be able to see their progress and make something together.  I sat them at the dining room table and they did it all.  Fantastic.

I was so excited to taste this ice cream, and really liked the avocado flavor I got from it.  I think the zest garnish really helped (I tried it the second time without, and found it really does make a difference).  I also found it a little sweet for my taste.  I think I'd use 1 cup instead of 1 1/3 cup next time.  My husband was wishing for more of a gelato experience, and I wonder what would happen if you made this with milk instead of water.  Chances are I'll try it and find out.  The kids each ate about a spoonful and then requested Girl Scout Cookies.  They're two and four, do you blame them?  It's the first year we've gotten GSCs and, boy are they going fast!  I'm so proud of them for trying the green ice cream, though.

I brought some over to my parents' house this week, too, and both my mom (dessert, and particularly ice cream lover) and my dad (typically a dessert passer) LOVED it.  I also heard from a friend before I made this about her story of her family who loved it too.  Her two year old ate it up, her husband tasted the lime most prominently and she, the tequila.

I'm so happy to have a treasure trove of riches four miles away (in someone else's basement), and really look forward to the next time I get to make ice cream with the kids.  This thing is great, if you want to try to find one on E-Bay or something.  I also discovered you don't have to put it in the ice cream machine.  My machine only fit half of this recipe.  I put the other half in a glass pie plate and stuck it in the freezer. It came out exactly the same as the other, it just took a little longer.

But how can you deny the awesomeness of this:

No Electricity! No Ice! No Salt Needed!  

Also,  apparently "Anyone! Can! Do It!"

To answer your question: Yes, I served ice cream made with tequila to my family.  I knew they weren't going to eat very much, if any, and I wanted to keep the integrity of the recipe - at least the first time around.  This was really about the experience of making ice cream with them.  Next time we're doing vanilla made with some of the Life-Time Supply of Mexican vanilla my parents brought back from Cancun for me last week.  Maybe malteds will be in our future, too!

The Most Important (and usually most rushed through) Meal of the Day

In my house, breakfast's makeup is contingent upon a few things: whether or not the kids have school, what time we have to be out the door, what time Molly gets up (Freddy has some sort of magic internal clock and is constantly within 5 minutes every morning), and how much sleep Mama and Daddy got the night before.  Usually we have cold cereal or scrambled eggs.  Sometimes hot cereal, pancakes or soft boiled eggs ("melty eggs") make it to the table, too.

On a few occasions lately, I've been well rested, not pressed for time, and a little inspired.

One day we had Trader Joe's multigrain pancakes with blueberry sauce.  I served it with blue cheese- and prosciutto-wrapped asparagus.

I sliced the prosciutto into long pieces, sprinkled crumbled blue cheese on them and rolled up the steamed (ok, microwaved with a little water for 90 seconds) asparagus inside them.  I had made these asparagus snacks as a late night treat the night before, and wanted them again in the morning. I figured I put asparagus and goat cheese in my omelet/frittata the morning with leftover salmon when I have it, so why not as a side to pancakes, right?  It also gets a whole serving of vegetables under my belt for the day before I even leave the house!

I made the pancakes according to the package (this batch came out really fluffy and thick, which is why there is only one on the plate in the picture - they're filling!).  I made the blueberry sauce by putting two cups of frozen blueberries (TJ's again!), 1/2 cup of water, 1/8 cup sugar and a mixture of 1 TBS cornstarch and 1TBS water in a sauce pan on medium heat.  As the pancakes cooked, I stirred it occasionally until it thickened.

On another day, we had oatmeal.  We had inspired, chunky, flavorful oatmeal.  I used Trader Joe's Oven Toasted Old Fashioned Oats. (We also like the Multi-Grain Hot Cereal as a rule, and I'm sure it would have made a great compliment to these add ons.)  I made half of the "6 servings" amount on the package.  I added about 1/4 tsp of cinnamon, 1/8 - 1/4 cup of dried cranberries (actually whatever was left in the package from snacks), and I peeled and cubed a whole pear.  I cooked the cinnamon and cranberries along with the oatmeal in order for the flavors to settle in and the cranberries to plump.  I let my kids add the pears at the end, stirring them in before serving.  They loved this and needed me to take pictures of their bowls, too.

 

I have to add that my husband was inspired this morning.  It was a scrambled eggs kinda day and it was his turn to make breakfast.  While cooking, his eyes lit upon the cherry tomatoes on the counter.  He cut them in half, sautéed them in olive oil and seasoned them with a little salt and pepper.  He served them next to the scrambled eggs and served it all with sliced focaccia from Patisserie Margo in Edina. (They are a favorite local bakery of ours - go at lunch time and get the roast beef and roasted red pepper sandwich on a fresh-baked croissant!)  I'm sorry I have no picture of his breakfast, but the tomatoes were sweet and moist and poppy and delightful!  Much, much better than my usual blop of salsa and plain yogurt on the side of my eggs.  (Again, a vegetable serving before you walk out the door!)  He was proud of his inspiration, and so am I.  Go, Bill!