Dark Chocolate Pecan Cookies

I love dark chocolate.  I ALWAYS prefer it to milk chocolate.  Not only is it better for you (contains antioxidants) but it has a more complex and rich flavor.  I try and use dark chocolate whenever something calls for milk chocolate.  70% cacao is my favorite but for this recipe I used Ghirardelli 60% semi-sweet dark chocolate chips.  I bet you can’t eat just one of these delicious little chocolate morsels!

I winged it with these cookies.  I love really soft cookies so I like to add a little crunch with nuts.  Pecans are my favorite nut so I chose to use these for this recipe.  Honestly, these were heaven for me – my favorite chocolate and favorite nuts in a cookie?  You can’t go wrong!  Let these cool slightly and then dip them in milk until the soaked portion is just about to fall off.  Yummmm….ummmm….can I make these again???  Now???  They’re delicious.

Dark Chocolate Pecan Cookies

¾ c granulated sugar

¾ c packed brown sugar

1c butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

2 ¼ c all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ c pecan pieces (or more if desired)

½ dark chocolate chips (or more if desired)

Heat oven to 375F.

Gently whisk egg in a small bowl.  In a stand mixer bowl, combine sugars, butter, vanilla and egg. 

Tip: Softening of butter is a very important step in baking cookies (and many other baking recipes).  Butter that’s too cold makes cookies hard and butter that is too melted makes cookies spread too much when cooking.  For best results, let butter stand at room temperature for 30-60 minutes prior to use.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl.  Stir to combine.  Carefully add flour mixture to butter mixture with mixer on low.  Add nuts and chocolate chips.

Drop dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet using an ice cream scoop. 

Kitchen tool: Use a Size 16 spring-release ice cream scoop.  Scoop dough and run the scoop against the side of the bowl to ensure the same size cookies every time.  The spring allows for easy release of the dough onto the cookie sheet.  This is what mine looks like:

Bake 12-14 minutes or until light brown (center will be soft).  Cool cookie slightly and then place on a wire rack.

Serve with milk!  This recipe made 16 cookies. 

Three Hour Bagels

The grown ups in our house are NOT morning people. However, we have a toddler, so somebody is always up in the mornings. We have a good weekend system... one parent gets Saturdays, one parent gets Sundays to sleep in and the other one spends the wee dark hours doing puzzles, reading stories and making extra pots of coffee. Sunday mornings are generally my mornings to get up early. This morning, the tiny tot and I made bagels! I'd never made bagels, but I read this recipe in the food section of the Oregonian newspaper a while back. I love yummy recipes that are easy enough to make on a weekend morning, but involved enough that you get an awesome result. I used the recipe in the Oregonian with some technique changes from Smitten Kitchen. These are chewy and soft and really delicious. I ate mine toasted up with cream cheese and tomatoes from my garden. Awesome!

Three Hour Bagels - from the Oregonian and Smitten Kitchen 

Makes 8 medium sized bagels

 

1 1/4 cups warm water (divided)

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons yeast

3 1/2 cups bread flour (more for kneading - I needed about 1 cup extra)

2 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 egg (for egg wash - beat the egg with 1 teaspoon water)

1 tablespoon baking soda - for boiling

Toppings - I used only kosher salt, but both recipes I used mentioned minced garlic, onion, poppy seeds or sesame seeds as options.

In a small bowl, add 1/2 cup warm water. Add in the sugar and yeast, but don't stir. Let this sit for 5 minutes and then stir to combine.

While the yeast bubbles, in a large bowl, mix flour and salt. Make a well in the middle and pour in the yeast and sugar mixture. Pour in the remaining water and stir to make a shaggy dough. 

On floured surface, knead the dough for 10 minutes. (I kneaded by hand this morning, but have read that 10 minutes by hand is equal to about 6 minutes in a stand mixture with the bread hook engaged.) I used about 1 more cup of flour to get a nice, smooth, satiny ball of dough - not sticky, but not dry.

Lightly coat a large bowl with oil. Add the dough and turn it so that it is coated with oil. Cover the bowl with a damp dish town and let it rise in a warm place. (If it's cool out, I place a dish towel in the microwave and nuke it for 20 seconds and then put my bread bowl in the microwave with the hot towel. Voila!! Warm, moist place!)

Let the dough rise for one hour. When the dough is double it's original size, punch it down and let it sit for another 10 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball and cut it into 8 equal wedges.

 

Roll and shape each wedge into a smooth ball. Poke a hole in the middle and stretch it out until the hole is about 2 inches in diameter. I slung the bagel around my finger like a hula hoop. The dough really wants to bounce back, so I needed to make a nice, big hole.

At this point, preheat the oven to 450 and start a large bowl of water to boil. Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet and coat it with cooking spray and then sprinkle with corn meal. 

When the water is boiling, add 1 tablespoon of baking soda to the water - it will fizz a lot - and then drop in 4 bagels and boil for 2 minutes. Flip and boil for another 2 minutes.

Place boiled bagels on the baking sheet and brush with the egg wash and top with desired toppings - I only used kosher salt, but it seems anything that sticks to an egg wash would be fair game. 

Bake 10 minutes and then rotate pan 180 degrees and bake until golden brown. My bagels needed a total baking time of 18 minutes. Cool on a wire rack and then EAT!! I sliced and toasted my bagel, spread it with cream cheese and topped it with sliced tomatoes and more salt. Sunday morning heaven!!

 

My little man LOVED making bagels with me... here is a picture that melts my heart of him waiting for the bagels to bake. (All the pictures with that tiny lump of dough and that "baby bagel" are his very own creations. He was awesome!!)

Things made this time last year...
Thai Basil Meatballs with Mango Coconut Rice

Spinach and Feta Stuffed Sole

Chicken Tequila Fettuccine

Basic Roasted Chicken Wings

If you’re a fan of us on Facebook, then you know that I (Marie Antoinette) just moved back to Portland.  I’m so excited!  With my baby due in November, it was a great move for my husband and I to make so we can get away from some of the craziness of NYC.  Don’t get me wrong, it was a great experience and the food was FANTASTIC!  But Portland has a lot to offer and I’m ready to explore.  First stop…my new kitchen :)

One of our Facebook fans requested that I share my Basic Roasted Chicken Wings recipe.  This was one of the first dishes I made after moving to Portland because it was a no-hassle dish that requires little effort.  No one wants to deal with cooking complex meals while unpacking.  What I love about these is they are very simple to make, are versatile – you can season them with just about anything, and they are better for you than fried chicken wings.  With this recipe, you’ll get spicy wings with a crispy skin.  Just ask my husband!  When he eats these, he sucks the wing tips because they are so yummy.  I’m gonna try these as a base for buffalo wings next since I normally fry my buffalo wings “naked” (no flour or breading).

Basic Roasted Chicken Wings

chicken wings

seasoning salt

garlic powder

onion powder

ground black pepper

smoked paprika

crushed red pepper

dried parsley

extra-virgin olive oil

cooking spray

(amounts are to your liking)

Heat oven to 425F.   Tuck wing tips behind drummettes (see picture).  This prevents the wing tips from drying out and allows the wings to rest flat on the pan.

Sprinkle chicken generously with all seasonings on each side.  Drizzle olive oil over wings.  Using your hands, rub spice and oil mixture over chicken and into crevices.

Tip: The oil allows for the skin to develop a nice, crispy texture.  Soggy skin is a big no-no in our house.

Place wings on a roasting rack or broiler pan coated in cooking spray.  Cook about 10-15 minutes and then flip chicken to cook on other side.  Chicken is done when skin is brown and crisp.

Feel free to try different spices and let us know what works best for you.  Try anything! We love hearing new ideas!

Healthy Pureed Sweet Potatoes

Sometimes all it takes to bring out the best flavor in a fruit or vegetable is just to cook it.  Seriously!  What does slow roasting a tomato do?  What does caramelizing an onion do?    These two methods of cooking bring about flavors that are completely different from tomatoes and onions in their raw state.  You may not even need salt and pepper.  Cooking often does the job on it’s own. 

Well, the same goes for sweet potatoes.  Not only are they sweet on their own (which makes them super yummy – especially when cooking them for a long time) but they are also really good for you.  They contain fiber, multiple vitamins including A, C, and E, and also antioxidants.  I normally roast my sweet potatoes at a high heat for about 45 minutes.  By this time, they get bright orange, and you know they’re done because the sweet sugars start to ooze out of the skin and the skin begins to shrivel. 

We often see sweet potatoes fried in oil or mixed with tons of butter and sugar to make pies and other great desserts.  However, sweet potatoes are quite sweet on their own and very satisfying.  I like to roast my sweet potatoes and then puree or mash them.  All I add is a tiny bit of salt to bring out the sweetness even more and they make for a great healthy side dish.

Healthy Pureed Sweet Potatoes

4 sweet potatoes

1 tsp kosher salt

Yes, that’s IT!

Preheat oven to 425F.  While oven is preheating, rinse the outside of the potatoes to remove all dirt and thoroughly dry.  Poke a few holes through the flesh with a fork to allow the steam to escape during the cooking process.

Once oven is preheated, place potatoes directly on the rack in the middle of the oven. Place a sheet of foil or a baking sheet on the rack just below the potatoes.  This will catch all of the gooey sugars that escape as the potatoes cook.  Cook for about 40-45 mins or until soft and the skin begins to shrivel.

Remove from oven.  Allow potatoes to cool for about 5 mins and then remove the skin.  Place cooked potatoes and salt in the bowl of a food processor and process until fully pureed.   You may need to break up the potatoes a bit if the food processor is working too hard.

Alternative: Place cooked potatoes in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Use the whisk attachment to puree potatoes.

Mac and Cheese with Gouda and Bacon

If you are on a diet, read this instead. If you are gluten-free, read this. If you are dairy-free, read this. If you are meat-free, read this. 

If you are IN for pasta, cheese and pork, keep reading, you're home now. :)

This is Gouda Mac with Bacon. It's comfort food in all the best ways. It's creamy, it's filling, it's a coma on a plate. It's goodbye summer, and it's back to school. It will feed you for days. It freezes and reheats really well. And I hope you like it as much as we do. (We ate it with braised greens and cherry tomatoes from our garden so even Steven, right?? Yeah, we thought so too.)

Mac and Cheese with Gouda and Bacon 
Preheat oven to 300
Serves 5-6 as a main course, 8 as a side

1 pound macaroni noodles
12 oz bacon, cooked and crumbled, reserve 1/4 cup
1 tablespoon reserved bacon drippings
1/2 pound cheddar cheese, shredded, reserve 1/2 cup
7oz Gouda cheese, shredded, reserve 1/2 cup
4 cups milk (I used whole)
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
10 Ritz crackers
Salt and pepper to taste 

 
This is not a complicated recipe, but if you've never made mac and cheese from scratch, cheese sauce can be a bit hard to explain. I'll write this out in step by step instructions to make this as clear as I can.

1. Chop up bacon and cook until just under crispy. Cook in a high sided pan that you can make cheese sauce in.
2. Drain bacon, keeping 1 tablespoon of bacon drippings in the pan.
3. Boil noodles until just under done - shave ~3 minutes off the package cook time recommended.

Time to start the roux...
1. Melt 1/4 cup of butter in the pan you cooked the bacon in with the bacon drippings.
2. Add 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes to the butter and toast the spices while butter melts.
3. Add in 1/4 cup of flour and stir to combine. Add in the other 1/4 cup of flour and stir to combine. 
4. Let the flour cook for a bit until it's browning, but not burnt. You've now made a roux!! Many sauces start with a roux.
5. Add in milk 1 cup at a time, whisking all the time. Let the milk soak into the roux before you add more milk. It should take about 5 minutes to get all 4 cups of milk into the roux.

 

Time to make the cheese sauce...
1. Once all of the milk has been added to the roux, let the milk simmer until the sauce begins to thicken. Don't boil.
2. Add in cheese (holding back 1 cup) and stir to combine and let the cheese melt.
3. Keep the heat on, but very low. Cheese sauce should not boil, it just needs to simmer.
4. Season with salt and pepper. I used about 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and about 15 grinds from a pepper mill - this was probably about 1/4 teaspoon.

Ready to add the bacon and noodles and make the topping...
1. Add in the bacon.
2. Add in the noodles. Stir until well combined and cheese starts to sink into the open noodles. 
3. Butter a large baking dish (something about 9x13 and at least 2 inches high.)
4. Pour in noodles.
5. To make the topping, I like to take the reserved 1/4 cup of bacon, the reserved 1 cup of cheese and the Ritz and chop them together. 
6. Sprinkle on top of the noodles.

Bake at 300 for 30 minutes, uncovered. Broil on low for an additional 2 minutes if you like a crispier crust. DIG IN!! 

A few things about this recipe...
If you don't like bacon, don't use it. No need to increase the fat in your roux either - the bacon just adds flavor.
If you really like bacon, add more! Just make sure you drain the fat down to 1 tablespoon before you add the butter.
If you want a more plain mac and cheese, sub in another pound of cheddar cheese. 
I like the red pepper flakes in all mac and cheese, and it does not add much spice, just a nice dimension to the flavor. 
If you want a slightly healthier version, omit the cracker topping and top with sliced tomatoes. Delicious!

Things made this time last year...

Sweet Onion Tart

Thai Basil Meatballs and Mango Coconut Rice

Tomato Jam

Our gardens are out of control. We have hundreds of cherry tomatoes. We have pounds of regular tomatoes. We have purple ones, red ones, orange ones and green ones. They are gorgeous and we are eating them as fast as we can!

Tomato Jam is tangy and concentrated. It's like a combination of BBQ sauce and chunky, fancy catchup. It's like sort of like a chutney. It's really delicious and it's easy, easy, easy! It's delicious on it's own, but better over goat cheese or cream cheese and spread on a cracker. It's good baked onto chicken and it's good spooned out of the jar while standing in front of the fridge. 

 

This recipe quickly sucks up a lot of tomatoes and its a great way to use up those maters that are not so pretty, or a little past their prime. 

Tomato Jam - from a dear friend Betsy

Makes about 4 cups of jam

3 1/2 pounds tomatoes, roughly chopped, no need to peel

1 small onion, chopped, about 1 cup of onion

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon corriander

1 teaspoon salt

Juice from 1 lemon

 

Put all ingredients into a heavy sauce pan that has a lid. Stir ingredients together and bring to a boil. Reduce to very low and simmer for about 3 hours, or until greatly reduced. 

This jam keeps nicely in the fridge for about 3 weeks. Or you can process jars and keep them shelf stable for about 6 months. I had jars left over from these cutie cheesecakes. Here's how...

1. Boil glass jars for at least 5 minutes to sterilize. 
2. Simmer the lids and rings, but don't boil. 
3. Remove jars from water and let them air dry. 
4. Ladle hot jam into hot jars. 
5. Wipe rims of jars with a clean towel to remove any spilled jam.  
6. Place lids and rings on jars and screw on until set, but don't worry about getting a lot of torque on the rims.
7. Place jars in boiling water, water must cover the lids with at least one inch of water.
8. Process for 10 minutes for 1/2 cup and 1/2 pint jars, 15 minutes for pint jars.

The USDA provides a chart and canning recipe guide. It's a great resource and helpful place to check best practices.

Made this time last year...

 

No Knead Bread and Caprese Toast