Relay for Life

Last month, I posted the sad news that my friend Maria's daughter, Zoe, passed away 5 days after her 16th birthday from Ewing's Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer.  Next Saturday, August 25, I and many friends and family of Zoe's will be participating in Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society on Team Zoe.  Each participant pledges to raise a certain amount and all the money raises goes to the American Cancer Society to help fund research to eradicate cancer once and for all.

Zoe's 9-year-old brother, Teo, is also going to walk in the Relay for his courageous sister.  Teo started his fundraising yesterday morning with a goal of $100 and by the time I first saw the posting on facebook, two hours had passed and he had already reached his goal.  I donated anyway because I wanted to support Teo's efforts and help him become one of the top fundraisers for the Relay.  I spread the word through my facebook page and also posted a thread on an online fitness board I've been going to for years.  I hate asking people for money, even for a good cause, but this one was special and I wanted to help Teo all I could.  I was very touched by all the responses from online friends, most of whom I had never met.  But that didn't stop them from showing their support for a 9-year-old boy they had never met either but who touched them for what he was doing for the sister he loved and misses so much.  Thanks to Laura, Nancy, Harper, Debbie, Shannon, Julie and many other friends and family, as of today, Teo was the #4 individual fundraiser of the Relay and Team Zoe was #1.

Check out Teo's fundraising page and feel free to support with a tax-deductible donation if you're inclined and/or your thoughts and prayers for Teo and Zoe's family as they channel their grief and missing Zoe into something positive that could someday prevent other families from going through what they did.  As Teo says, "I don't want anyone else to experience cancer!"  This is a very special 9-year-old indeed.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Biscuits

Cream Cheese Biscuits - made August 13, 2012, recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook

The original recipe was titled "Cream Cheese and Chive Biscuits" but I didn't have chives. Since I don't cook, there's no reason for chives to be in my possession.  I do, however, have cinnamon so I added a teaspoon of that to the dough to see how that would go with the cream cheese. This made for a very sticky dough and I'm always paranoid about adding too much flour when I roll it out in case the biscuits turn out dry so I lived with the difficulty of working with a sticky dough rather than risk over-flouring it.  I like the concept of how to make this because the turning and rolling was reminiscent of a laminated dough (think Danishes and croissants) so I was hoping for something flaky.  Added bonus that it uses buttermilk.

This turned out pretty well, maybe because it's hard to go wrong with eating warm biscuit(s) with butter melting over it them.  The cinnamon wasn't as pronounced as I would've thought so it might be better to go with more than 1 teaspoon. They weren't flaky in the sense that croissants are flaky but they weren't too dense either.  The outside was crunchy and the inside was "mealy" if that's a good word for it.  Despite the cream cheese in the dough, I didn't get much of a tang from the cream cheese which for me was good since I don't actually like a strong cream cheese flavor.  It would probably be more interesting with chives, should I ever actually buy chives for any reason.

2 ½ cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 ¼ teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 stick unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces

4 ounces cream cheese, cold, cut into pieces

1 ¼ cups buttermilk

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar and cinnamon.  Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the butter and cream cheese until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few larger clumps remaining.
2. Pour in the buttermilk; using a fork, mix in the buttermilk until incorporated and the dough just comes together.  The dough will be slightly sticky; do not overmix.
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.  With floured fingertips, gently knead about four times, until all the crumbs are incorporated and the dough is smooth.  With a lightly floured rolling pin, gently roll out the dough to an 11 by 8-inch rectangle, about 1 inch thick.  Using a bench scraper or long offset spatula to lift the ends of the dough, fold the rectangle into thirds (like a business letter).  Give the dough a quarter turn.  Roll out the dough again to the same dimensions and repeat the folding process.  Wrap with plastic, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 
4. Return the dough to the work surface.  Roll out as before, and repeat the folding process. Give the dough another quarter turn, roll out the dough one more time, again in a rectangle about 1 inch thick.  Using a sharp knife, trim and discard ¼ inch from all sides; divide the rectangle into 12 equal squares or rectangles.  Place on the prepared baking sheet about 1 ½ inches apart.  Refrigerate for 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven to 425°F.  Bake, rotating the sheet halfway through, until the biscuits are golden and flecked with brown spots, 15 to 18 minutes.  Transfer the biscuits to a wire rack to cool.

Orange Sandwich Cookies

Orange Sandwich Cookies - made August 12, 2012 from Shugary Sweets' blog

I blogged earlier about how much I enjoy oranges and orange-flavored confections, puzzling as to why I don't bake things like orange cookies more often.  Still can't tell you why but I'm certainly glad I did when I tried this recipe.  This is a very good orange cookie with orange cream filling.  Even my "we don't really like sweets" parents enjoyed this cookie when I brought some over last Sunday.  The dough is easy to make, easy to work with and the cookies come out moist with crisp edges.  Just don't overbake them - 10 minutes in my oven was perfect to get a nice texture to the cookies.  I also used my small ice cream scoop and made smaller cookies since they were going to end up being sandwich cookies.  The cookies don't spread very much so they were the perfect thickness.  I altered the filling slightly as I prefer to use orange juice instead of orange extract or heavy cream but please click on the recipe title to go back to the original recipe on Shugary Sweets' blog.  Overall, an excellent cookie with a summer flavor.

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp orange extract
1 egg
1 generous tablespoon orange zest
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
pinch of salt
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Cream Filling
1/2 cup butter
2 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons orange juice (less or more depending on your preference for the consistency of the filling)

1. For the cookies, cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add vanilla and orange extracts and egg. Beat about 2 minutes. Beat in zest of two oranges (about 1 heaping tablespoon) and 2 Tbsp of fresh orange juice. Scrape sides of bowl and add in dry ingredients.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop by tablespoon and bake in a 350 degree oven for 9-11 minutes. Allow to cool completely.
3. For the filling, beat butter with powdered sugar.  Add enough orange juice to achieve desired consistency/ Spread filling between two cookies of like size. Store in airtight container.

 

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes - made August 10, 2012 from High Heels & Grills blog

When I saw the picture of these pancakes from High Heels & Grills' blog, they looked so good I had to make them, especially since I had milk to use up in a hurry.  It's not hard to make, although you do have to be prepared for a couple of things.  First, when you make the brown sugar-cinnamon mixture and put it in a ziploc bag to squeeze into the spiral, careful with the bag.  Mine busted open as I was swirling the mixture onto the first pancake so I had to transfer the mixture into another bag and try again.  My swirling skills leave something to be desired but it was the best I could do after the busted bag kerfluffle.

Second, I didn't consider the science of when you flip the pancake over and that brown sugar-cinnamon-butter mixture gets direct exposure to high heat, it melts, caramelizes and burns easily.  Far more easily than the rest of the pancake that you're trying to fry long enough so that it cooks before the brown sugar swirl burns. Long way of saying: don't cook over high heat when you flip over.

I thought the pancakes were pretty good but the cinnamon swirl cooked faster than the pancake so that part was almost like sticky toffee when I ate it.  I think it might've been better to add a bit of batter over the swirl to sandwich it in.  Taste-wise it was still good although mine didn't look anywhere as pretty as High Heels & Grills' picture (click on the recipe title to go to their blog and see a much more mouth-watering pic).  Surprisingly, I enjoyed the cream cheese glaze the most.  Usually I care more about the pancake rather than the topping but the glaze went very well with this pancake and was superior to using syrup.

Cinnamon Filling:

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
6 Tbsp. brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Cream Cheese Glaze:

4Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
2 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
milk (optional)

Pancakes:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons. baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil

For the cinnamon filling:

1. In a medium bowl, stir together butter, brown sugar and cinnamon.  
2. Pour into a zip lock bag and set in the freezer until further use.

For the glaze:  

1. In a small bowl, combine butter and cream cheese, stirring until smooth and well combined.  
2. Stir in the powdered sugar and vanilla - incorporate well.  You can add a little milk if you want a more runny consistency.  Set aside.

For the pancakes:

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. 
2. Whisk the milk, eggs, and oil in to dry ingredients until well combined. 
3. Heat a large, non-stick skillet over medium heat and spray with cooking spray. 
4. Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup and add batter to the skillet, making about 4-inch pancakes.  
5. Retrieve cinnamon filling and massage so as to incorporate any butter that may have separated. 
6. Snip the corner of your baggie and squeeze filling into the open corner. 
7. When your pancakes begin to form bubbles, add the filling in a swirling manner. 
8. Cook pancakes 2-3 minutes or until they begin to turn golden-brown and then flip. 
9. Cook 1-2 minutes until golden brown again. 
10. Flip pancakes onto a plate and serve with a drizzle of glaze.

Linked to Sweet Treats Thursday and Whatcha Whipped Up Wednesday

 

Hamburger Bake

Hamburger Bake - made August 10, 2012 from The Cinnamon Roll Murder by Joanne Fluke

For real cooks, this dish would barely be a half step above Hamburger Helper.  But this was just my cooking speed (don't judge).  I checked out this book, the latest in Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swensen culinary mystery series, from the library and in the context of the story, this is a dish that Michelle, Hannah's sister, threw together with random ingredients from Hannah's kitchen at the last minute.  I, being a complete non-cook, had to put together a grocery list to buy what I needed for this since these ingredients don't "just happen to be" in my kitchen.  Just the butter, flour, baking powder and salt.  Everything else had to be planned for and purchased ahead of time.  I took the liberty of using ground turkey breast instead of ground beef, both to cut down on the grease and because I prefer ground turkey over beef in taste and texture anyway.

This is essentially a pasta-less Hamburger Helper on top of biscuit dough.  Probably something I would've made when I was in college since my cooking skills are about the same now as they were back then.  And occasionally I have the palate of a picky 7-year-old so it's hard to go wrong with something cheesy and bready.  Although, in my defense, I made this after a week of having salad greens (no dressing) with my grilled salmon.  No sense in eating totally healthy for too long; I might not recognize myself.  But this is a very filling dish because of the biscuit layer so I think it might be a better candidate for a potluck if you need to feed the masses.  I didn't mind the top layer but if I make this again, I'd probably skip the biscuit layer and make noodles to go with it instead.

Filling

1 pound lean ground beef (I used ground turkey breast)

¾ cup chopped onion

1 10 ¾-ounce can condensed Cheddar cheese soup

1 cup frozen vegetables (I used frozen corn)

¼ cup whole milk

Crust

½ cup butter

¾ cup whole milk

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, scooped and leveled

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Topping

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1.     Preheat oven to 400°F.  Line a 9 x 13 inch pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

2.     Make the filling: Crumble the lean ground beef into a 10-inch or larger frying pan.  Add the chopped onion.  Fry the meat and onion over medium heat on the stovetop until the ground beef is nicely browned.  Drain off the fat.

3.     Add the condensed soup, frozen vegetables and the ¼ cup milk to the ground beef and onions.  Stir well.  Cover the frying pan and set the mixture aside.

4.     Put ½ cup butter in a microwave-safe bowl.  Add the ¾ cup whole milk and heat on high for 1 minute.  Stir.  If the butter isn’t completely melted, heat for another 30 seconds and stir.  Continue to heat in 30-second increments until butter is melted.  Cool mixture slightly.

5.     Make the crust: Measure out half the flour into a mixing bowl.  Add the baking powder and salt.  Add the remaining half of the flour and stir with a fork until all of the dry ingredients are thoroughly combined.

6.     Add the butter and milk mixture to the mixing bowl, and mix until the resulting dough is well moistened.

7.     Spoon the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan in an even layer.  Spread the ground beef mixture as evenly as possible over the dough.  Sprinkle the cheddar cheese over the top of the hamburger layer.

8.     Bake for 30 minutes then let cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before serving. 

Crème Bruleed Chocolate Cake

Crème Bruleed Chocolate Cake - made August 11, 2012, recipes adapted from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan & Julia Child and Cupcakes by Martha Stewart

Bruleed the bananas on top of the custard but custard melted from the heat

"If you're afraid of butter, use cream."  Your average foodie, chef and baker know those famous words were uttered by the incomparable Julia Child who brought the art of French cooking to the American kitchen and palate. In a roundabout way, I owe this blog to Julia Child because it was watching the movie, Julie & Julia, that finally spurred me to start blogging almost 3 years ago.  So in honor of her birthday on August 15, I'm giving a French twist to the classic American chocolate cake by making this Creme Bruleed Chocolate Cake - a chocolate cake "shell" filled with vanilla bean custard; I added sliced bananas to top the custard and bruleed them to crackly goodness.  A version of this confection is in the Baking with Julia baking book but I went with Martha Stewart's recipe for chocolate cupcakes instead as it was also similar in using cocoa powder for the chocolate flavor and oil instead of butter.  Plus I wanted something on a smaller scale for a brulee since it doesn't have a long shelf life and is best enjoyed within minutes of being caramelized.

2nd attempt, bruleed the bananas first then placed them on top of the custard

The chocolate cake itself was pretty good and came out well.  The creme brulee custard tasted good but I don't think I cooked it over the stove top long enough since I was afraid of overcooking the egg yolks and having the custard break like the last time I tried a stovetop creme brulee.  So it didn't set like it was supposed to and I had to rely on the freezer to firm it up.  Then when I tried brulee-ing it, the custard simply melted. I'm afraid I needed the master chef herself to save my creme brulee.  However, one of her legacies that I always remember is not to be afraid of trying something.  Even if you fail, you try again.  And again.  Someday I will conquer a stovetop version of creme brulee.  It wasn't today but I'm not afraid to try it again.  Thank you for showing the way with your fearlessness and Happy Birthday, Julia Child!

Crème Brulee

¾ cup heavy cream

1 vanilla bean

5 large egg yolks, at room temperature

3 tablespoons sugar

1.      Pour the heavy cream into a medium saucepan.  Split the vanilla bean and scrape the soft, pulpy seeds into the pan, toss in the pod and stir to mix.  Bring just to the boil over low heat.

2.      Meanwhile, in a medium heatproof bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together just to blend.  Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk, continuously and energetically, until the mixture is very pale and hot to the touch.  Remove the yolks from the heat.  Gradually but steadily whisk the cream into the yolks, pod and all.

3.      Put the bowl back over the hot water and let it sit there, with the heat turned off, whisking occasionally, for 5 to 10 minutes, until the cream thickens.  Set the bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice cubes and cold water and allow the mixture to cool, whisking now and then.  When the custard is cool to the touch, retrieve and discard the vanilla bean (or clean it and save it to flavor sugar) and push the mixture through a strainer into a clean bowl.  Cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.  The custard can be made the day before and kept covered and refrigerated until needed.

Chocolate Cake
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1 ½ cups sugar

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

¾ teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

¾ cup buttermilk

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

¾ cup warm water

1.     Preheat oven to 350°F.  Lightly spray dessert shell pans with nonstick cooking spray.  (You can also use muffin tins but don't line with paper liners if you're going to brulee the custard.)  In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Add eggs, buttermilk, oil, vanilla and the water.  With an electric mixer on low speed, beat until smooth and combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

2.     Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each about two-thirds full.  Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the centers comes out clean, about 15 minutes.  Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. 

3.     To finish, top with chilled custard, sprinkle with granulated sugar and torch with handheld torch until sugar is crackly and brown.  You can also add bananas on top of the custard and brulee that as the top layer instead with a sprinkling of sugar.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Thumbprints

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Thumbprints - made August 8, 2012 from Chocolate and Vanilla by Gale Gand

Here's a quick and easy cookie recipe for any peanut butter and chocolate lovers.  It might seem involved since it's got a cookie dough and a filling but both are easy to put together.  The dough is great to work with (not too soft or sticky) and doesn't spread much, even if you only chill it for 30 minutes before baking, which is what I did.  Toast the peanuts first before you chop them to get a bit more flavor.  To make the indentations in the ball of cookie dough, contrary to the name of the cookie, I didn't actually use my thumb.  Instead, I used a 1/2 teaspoon to press a nicely rounded indentation in the middle.  You can make a deep impression but it will flatten a bit when the cookies bake; however all you need to do is press the 1/2 teaspoon gently in the middle again to make the indentation more pronounced.  If you don't plan to bake the cookies right away and would rather freeze them for later, make the indentations in the dough balls first before freezing them.  Then you don't have to worry about "thumbprinting" the cookies when they're frozen balls of dough and not apt to take kindly to indentations.

Make the filling while the first batch of cookies are baking.  The filling does set as it cools so it's better to have it a bit warm when filling the cookies.  It did lose its sheen and have more of a matte finish which might not look as pretty but it still tastes the same.  I don't know that I'd call these a particular favorite but it's a nice option if you want a nice-looking cookie that's a bit different than the norm.  You can also play with the flavors.  If you don't like peanut butter or peanuts, leave off rolling the cookie dough balls in the chopped peanuts and make them plain then fill with nutella, caramel, plain melted chocolate, jam or anything else you prefer.

Cookies

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

½ cup packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons milk

¼ cup semisweet chocolate chips, chopped

¼ cup chopped roasted salted peanuts

Filling

¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons peanut butter

2 tablespoons corn syrup

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1.      Preheat the oven to 375˚F.

2.     Cookies: In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add the brown sugar and vanilla and mix on medium-low speed. Mix in the flour and salt, then add the milk and chocolate chips and mix until combined.

3.     Using your hands, roll pieces of dough into 1 ½” balls and dip the top of the balls in the chopped peanuts.  Place peanut-side up 1 ½” apart on a cookie sheet.  Push 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon in the middle of each cookie to make a deep impression.

4.     Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes or until they’re light golden brown.  Let cool on the cookie sheet while you make the filling.

5.     Filling: Melt the chocolate chips in a medium bowl set over (but not touching) a saucepan of simmering water.  Stir in the peanut butter, corn syrup, 1 tablespoon water, and the vanilla until combined.  Let cool for 5 minutes.  Using a spoon, fill the centers of the cookies with the filling.  Let sit for 30 minutes to set.

911 Chocolate Emergency Cookies

911 Chocolate Emergency Cookies - made August 6, 2012 from Sticks and Scones by Diane Mott Davidson

One of my worst habits is leaving books lying around.  Some of which I'm in the middle of reading so I want them accessible, others I'm moving from one bookcase to another in the vain hope of trying to find room to fit them all and when I can't, they lie wherever I last had them before I got distracted by something else (squirrel!!).  Sometimes I'm also flipping through a book and a recipe catches my eye that I plan to make "someday" so I put a marker on the page (I never dog-ear a book's pages, that's sacrilege) then I put the book on my "look at me first for some reason" shelf.  Such is the case with this recipe.  It's from an old Diane Mott Davidson culinary mystery book in her Goldy Bear series (that's the name of the caterer character - really) and I must've been in a chocolate mood when I first read it because I put a bookmark on the page, put it on the aforementioned shelf then forgot about it for awhile.

I finally got to it though and made these cookies.  I made them the normal cookie way that's advocated in the book, although I did leave off the vanilla frosting listed with it.  But because the dough was soft, I also made them in little square muffin tins (my brownie bites pan) and put half a Cadbury Milk Chocolate Caramel (still going through my stash from Europe) in the middle.  I baked the brownie bites pan a little longer than the recipe called for had I been baking them as regular cookies so they really did come out more like mini brownies than cookies.  Still tasted good though.  The ones baked as cookies were a bit like baked fudge or very fudgy cookies.  Make them small as they're a bit rich but if you like chocolate, these'll satisfy any kind of chocolate craving you have.

6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened and divided

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa, sifted

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed

¾ cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1.     In the top of a double boiler, melt the chips, chopped chocolate and 4 tablespoons butter, whisking smooth.  When melted, set aside to cool briefly.

2.     Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

3.     In a large mixing bowl, beat the remaining 4 tablespoons butter with the sugars.  When the mixture is the consistency of wet sand, add the eggs and vanilla.  Mix in the slightly cooled chocolate mixture, beating only until combined.  Stir in the flour mixture, mixing only until no traces of flour appear.

4.     Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 25 minutes, until the mixture can be easily spooned up with an ice cream scoop.  Don’t overchill it or it’ll become hard to scoop. After scooping into dough balls, freeze until firm in the freezer (30 minutes or more) or chill for at least an hour in the refrigerator.

5.     When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F.  Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

6.     Place the dough balls evenly spaced on the cookie sheets and bake for 9-11 minutes, just until the cookies have puffed and flattened. Do not overbake; the cookies will firm up upon cooling.  Allow the cookies to cool 2 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer them to racks and allow to cool completely.

Linked to Sweet Treats Thursday

 

Grilled Salmon

Grilled Salmon - made August 1, 2012 from Mel's Kitchen Cafe blog

This is my occasional, obligatory "throw 'em off with a real-food recipe" post.  I received one of my favorite gifts for my birthday, namely an amazon gift certificate. which burned a hole in my email inbox until I spent it on a new Zojirushi indoor electric grill.  Although I don't really cook much, I've been wanting an electric grill for awhile because a) I'm hoping that would make me miraculously cook more, b) the grill would magically turn out really good food despite my lack of cooking skills, c) an indoor electric grill is much easier to clean and cook with than an outdoor grill but mostly d) because one of my neighbors keeps grilling the most delicious-smelling, mouthwatering, drool-worthy food and I was in serious gastronomic envy every time they grilled.  I don't even know what they grill but it always smells so delicious I want to track them down, show up at their door, introduce myself and see if they'd invite me in for dinner.

But rather than pathetically intruding on my neighbors, I finally pulled the trigger on getting a grill of my own and for my first test run on it, I went with this simple grilled salmon recipe I found on pinterest.  You have to click back on the recipe title to the original blog post from Mel's Kitchen Cafe because that picture looks so good.  Mine doesn't look as moist and I think the mistake I made was not holding back some of the marinade (pre-salmon soaking) and using that to baste the salmon with as I was grilling it.  Told ya I don't cook much.  Next time.  Still, this was pretty tasty and for once, I was the one filling the air with a delicious barbecue aroma.  So there, neighbors.  Enjoy with your olfactory senses while I get down to eating.

1 1/2 pounds salmon fillets
lemon pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste
salt to taste
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup vegetable oil

1. Season salmon fillets with lemon pepper, garlic powder, and salt.
2. In a small bowl, stir together soy sauce, brown sugar, water, and vegetable oil until sugar is dissolved. Place fish in a large resealable plastic bag with the soy sauce mixture, seal, and turn to coat. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
3. Preheat grill for medium heat.
4. Lightly oil grill grate. Place salmon on the preheated grill, and discard marinade. Cook salmon for 6 to 8 minutes per side, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

 

Snickerdoodle Blondies

Snickerdoodle Blondies - made August 4, 2012 from Mandy's Recipe Box blog

I've been trying a lot of recipes from other foodie blogs lately, thanks in large part to pinterest.  In the "old days" (aka a couple of months ago), whenever I came across a recipe I wanted to try, I used to cut and paste the url and keep in a word doc so I can find the recipe later.  Thanks to pinterest, I can now pin those recipes with abandon on a board I labeled "Baking Recipes I Want to Try" and whenever I need inspiration or want to try a new recipe, I just go back to that board and comb through whatever might strike my fancy.  Technology and innovation are wonderful things.

Usually what determines why I pin a particular recipe is either I like the picture, I'm intrigued by the recipe, it contains an ingredient I know I'll need to use up someday (buttermilk, I'm talking about you) or all of the above.  In this case, I was meeting a friend for brunch and needed something quick and easy to put together, with the added advantage of it won't melt in summer, it doesn't contain nuts (one of her kids is allergic) and I had all the ingredients on hand. So I went with this recipe from Mandy's Recipe Box blog. I like snickerdoodle blondies because they retain the goodness of a snickerdoodle cookie but are easier and faster to bake since it's just a one-pan affair.  This was so quick and easy to put together that I literally mixed up the batter and had it ready to bake just in the time it took my oven to preheat to 350 degrees.  I only made a half recipe and baked it in an 8" pan so I adjusted the ingredient amounts accordingly below.

This came out pretty well and was more moist and chewy but still a little cakey than a regular snickerdoodle cookie, probably because it was thicker than a cookie.  Although, technically, it's also not like a snickerdoodle cookie because it doesn't contain cream of tartar.  I used a new jar of Vietnamese cinnamon that I got from Sur La Table and it was taste-bud-opening the difference in taste between fresh cinnamon and the stuff I've been using from the Costco jar I bought long ago.  The one type of ingredient you don't want to buy in bulk is spices.  Buy them right before you need them, in as small a quantity as possible.  Spices lose their freshness after a short time and while you can compensate by increasing the amounts you add in the recipe, it's still better to use fresh spices.  I learned that lesson the hard way when I bought the cinnamon jar from Costco many moons ago.  I've been using it since I didn't want to waste it but now that I have a new (much smaller) jar of cinnamon, I'm tossing the big bottle and sticking with the fresher spice.

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon grated or ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 egg, at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

a pinch nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 x 8" pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and set aside. 
3. In large bowl, beat together butter and brown sugar for 3-5 minutes. Add in the egg then the vanilla, and beat until smooth. 
4. Stir in the flour mixture until well blended. Spread evenly in prepared pan. Combine the granulated sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a little bowl. Evenly sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over the top of the batter.
5. Bake 25-30 minutes or until surface springs back when gently pressed. Cool before cutting.