There’s always room in the recipe file for a simple dessert.  Something you can knock out in no time, without much thought, pulling ingredients from the pantry and freezer.  One that is easy, delicious and above all things, quick.  Look no further; this is that recipe.  Puff pastry, fresh fruit or canned, a little almond paste.  Perhaps not things you have lying around all the time but certainly easy items to stash away for emergency dessert needs.  In my opinion, there absolutely are dessert emergencies.  They happen more frequently than I care to admit.

This is a variation on a recipe developed by my friend and sometime employer Gale Gand that we’ve been doing lately at events and food festivals.  It’s a good recipe and a crowd pleaser, one that can be rustic or elegant as the situation demands.

Really, it’s just a fruit and a little almond cream nestled in puff pastry.  Classic components, classic flavors.  There’s no special technique or skill involved in folding the pastry – just gather it up around the fruit and give it a good push to hold.  I’ve tried fancy pleating – just can’t help myself sometimes – but the pastry just puffs up in the oven anyway, making the pleating pointless.  It’s really very simple despite my best efforts to overcomplicate.

I’ve altered the recipe and the technique a bit from the original to suit my taste and methods.  The fruit can be varied – we’ve been using fresh pears – but a jar of vanilla poached apricots I canned last summer has been begging to be used in something pretty. I really love the combination of apricots and almond and though the fruit was a bit soft due to my canning method, they were rather wonderful.  The fruit baked up soft and jammy, very cozy with a cup of tea.

The sugar/spice mixture can be varied to your tastes.  If you have pumpkin pie spice hanging around after the holidays, this is a good use for it.  I had a vanilla sugar/turbinado combination leftover from a baking project, so I used that.

The tarts can be baked off several hours ahead and really are best the day they’re baked.  While still delicious, the pastry tends to loose its crispness over time.  Think beyond dinner too … they’re rather lovely for breakfast or a snack.  If you ask me, I think they’re rather perfect for just about any time.

This can go from a rustic breakfast treat to a fancy plated dessert in no time. Elevate it with the plating – make a crème anglaise or perhaps a caramel sauce to serve alongside.  Not so rustic anymore.

A quick note on puff pastry – while Pepperidge Farm is available everywhere and certainly works here, seek out an all-butter pastry if you can.  Trader Joe’s has a nice one and Whole Foods has an excellent – and expensive – one as well.  Or make your own.  Blitz puff pastry isn’t all that complicated, infinitely better than store bought and is a wonderful thing to have tucked away in the freezer.

STRESS BAKING THERAPY FACTOR:  A KEEPER.  It’s quick, easy and impressive.  This is the one you throw in when the dinner menu you’ve devised is ridiculously overcomplicated and you need to ease back on the last course without anyone having the slightest idea.

on this blog two years ago: simple jam tart, double chocolate cookies

on this blog one year ago: spiced pecans, roasted sweet potato & wheat berry salad

RUSTIC APRICOT & ALMOND CREAM TARTS based on a recipe from Gale Gand

Makes 4 tarts

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

2 Tablespoons almond paste, room temperature

2 Tablespoons sour cream

2 Tablespoons sugar

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of nutmeg

pinch of allspice

4 apricot halves (canned & drained is fine and better than unripe fresh fruit anyway)

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Line a sheet pan with a piece of parchment paper and set aside until needed.
3. In a small bowl, combine the almond paste and sour cream, mashing it together with a spoon until mostly smooth.
4. In another small bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice.  Set aside.
5. Unfold the puff pastry and give it a few passes with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to even out any creases.
6. Cut the pastry into four even squares.
7. Spoon ¼ of the almond/sour cream mixture into the center of each pastry square and smooth into a 2” circle.
8. Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of the sugar mixture on top of the almond cream.
9. Top with an apricot half, cut side down.
10. Top each apricot with a sprinkle of the sugar mixture.
11. Gather the puff pastry up around the apricot, folding to enclose the fruit neatly and press around the fruit to enclose. Don’t try to pleat the pastry prettily as it won’t hold during baking but it will puff up around the fruit and look quite nice when done.
12. Bake until golden brown, about 25-30 minutes.
13. Let cool before serving, dusting with powered sugar if you like.

Happy Chinese New Year!  Gong Xi Fa Cai!  It’s The Year of the Dragon which just sounds cool, doesn’t it?  Powerful and strong, conjuring up images of Bruce Lee and fire breathing stuff.  Last year?  The Rabbit.  Doesn’t have quite the same fierce ring, does it?  I don’t know much about the Chinese Lunar Cycle or the historic meaning and symbolism of these things but I always like the idea of a celebration.  Any opportunity to cook and eat delicious things with friends, I’ll take.

So I had a few over yesterday to celebrate Chinese New Year with the second of my very enjoyable Sunday Lunches.  Cooking for people I care about is the single most satisfying thing I do.  No joke, my favorite thing is invite people over and feed them.  The friendship, conversation, catching up, encouragement and sheer hilarity over good food and drink – it’s an unparalleled experience.  Can’t think of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than sharing a good meal with good people.  I have some damn entertaining friends, which is exactly why I wanted to start my Sunday Lunch series in the first place.  We don’t get together nearly enough.  I’m trying to fix that.

This week I devised a menu of things I’ve wanted to do for years – dim sum. Frankly, it was quite the undertaking for one person.  I really could have used a few Asian Grandmothers at my elbow helping me properly pleat dumpling after dumpling. It may have been a bit ambitious to do nine different dim sum-ish dishes but I planned ahead and utilized my freezer well.  Though looking at my 4 burners and 1 bamboo steamer, I admit there was a moment when I wondered how I was going to pull it all off at the same time.  A few glasses of wine helped alleviate that thought.

The Year of the Dragon Menu:

- Pork Pot Stickers with Ginger Soy Dipping Sauce

- Char Siu Bao with Hoisin Chile Sauce  (BBQ Pork Steamed Buns)

- Shrimp Har Gow (Crystal Shrimp Dumplings)

- Pork Shui Mai (Steamed Pork Dumplings)

- Chinese BBQ Spareribs

- Sticky Coconut Rice & Chicken in Banana Leaves

- Crispy Spring Rolls with Sweet Chile Dipping Sauce

- Stir-fried Bok Choy

- Som Tum (Thai Green Papaya Salad)

- Pavlova with Passion Fruit Curd and Blackberries

Yes, there are a few oddballs in there.  Som Tum is a green papaya salad that I fell in love with while in Thailand last year and I had an extra papaya leftover from class last week so there you have it.  On the menu where it added a welcome brightness and acidity to the menu.  Besides, Thailand celebrates the Lunar New Year so it counts.

Pavlova, well that one I just felt like making. It was light, full of flavor and perfect after a Chinese meal.  I also had a plate of store-bought lucky moon cakes and other sweet treats and they were interesting as only Asian sweets can be.  Things stuffed with red bean paste and sweetened mung beans aren’t always crowd pleasers to our western palates.  I’ll post the Pavlova later, it needs a few tweaks.

The crowd favorite by far, was the pot stickers.  No surprise as this is always the case.  I’ve been making these for so long I can’t recall where the recipe came from and I‘ve tweaked it along the way.  Below is the one I use in my classes but truthfully, in my own home, it’s one I roughly follow.  Sometimes I skip the cabbage, though I much prefer it with.  Sometimes I add diced water chestnuts for a little crunch or maybe a bit of finely diced bok choy; a little more ginger or a shot of garlic.  Sometimes I add a squirt or two of siracha or chile paste.  You can use ground turkey or chicken, rather than pork, but they’re not nearly as tasty.  Personally, I think they’re too lean – pork has that wonderful fattiness that makes such a moist and flavorful dumpling.  Hail to the pig!  Again.  Don’t forget to make the sauce either; it really makes the dish.

Of all the dumpling genre, next to won tons, I think pot stickers are the easiest to make.  I’ve seen the round wrappers, sometimes called gyoza wrappers, frequently in regular grocery stores though nothing beats an adventurous field trip to an Asian market. I have a deep fondness for these markets – the smells, the strange ingredients, the slight uneasiness of having no idea what you’re doing, the unexpected finds.  Love it.  My regular Asian Market has a whole freezer case of various wrappers and usually carries three different kinds of round wrappers specifically for dumplings.  This time I picked up the green ones to add a little color to the table.  I rather liked the color though they tasted just like the regular ones.  I like to think the green color symbolizes money and prosperity in the new year too.

So here’s the thing with pot stickers – it’s all about the pleating.  Sure, you could skip this part and just fold them into half moons but why?  That pleating is what gives them the distinctive half moon shape and gives you a chance to show off.  It’s actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it.  One thing to keep in mind:  there’s a sweet spot when it comes to filling.  Too much and you won’t fit it all in neatly or get a good seal.  Not enough and you’ll have a half empty dumpling.  After filling a few, you’ll get the hang of it.

So here’s how this goes:  with your finger, very lightly brush half the wrapper with water.  Put some filling in the center – a healthy Tablespoon should do – and fold the wrapper into a half moon, pinching to seal only at the center/top.  To pleat, keep in mind that you’re pleating on one side of the dumpling only.  Start with the half to the right of center and using your two index fingers or a thumb, fold a bit of the dumpling over and pinch.  Repeat 2 or 3 more times, working your way to the edge, pinching to seal as you go.  Lovely.  Now repeat down the left of center. The pleats should make the dumpling curve in. Give the dumpling a little push to make a nice flat bottom so the pleats are nicely on top. Yes?  Keep trying; you’ll get there.  Also keep in mind as you switch from pleating the right side to the left that all pleats should face the same direction.  It’ll be prettier that way.

Line the dumplings up on a parchment lined sheet pan without touching.  Now then, you can freeze them now, right on the sheet pan, or you can cook them right away.  If I’m not cooking immediately (as in within the next hour or so) I freeze them so they don’t get soggy.  Frozen dumplings cook just fine from the freezer and are a godsend for quick weeknight meals or elaborate dinner parties.

So here’s the good news … the recipe makes quite a few.  Enough for some healthy eaters and certainly enough to stock up the freezer.  Cook them off as needed.  I often whip out a few for a quick weeknight dinner.  Sometimes, when I’m particularly lazy or feel the need to mix it up, I skip the pan-frying and boil them for soup dumplings.  Works just as well

STRESS BAKING THERAPY FACTOR: 突出. (so there!) I love a project and this is a good one. It does take a little bit of time but it’s not overly difficult and the rewards are tremendous.  These are really delicious. Don’t kid yourself into thinking that those Cosco dumplings hold a candle to these.  Think of yourself as a little dumpling maker and get cranking.  No really, turn your kitchen into a dim sum parlor and open for business.  (full disclosure:  Google translate tells me those Chinese characters above mean outstanding.  I really hope that’s true and not something horribly offensive.  If so, my sincere apologies.)

PORK POT STICKERS WITH GINGER DIPPING SAUCE

Makes about 3 dozen

You’ll always have some wrappers leftover.  Wrap tightly and freeze for another project or just cook and use like pasta.  They make great ravioli wrappers too.

Dumpling filling:

¾ pound ground pork (or ground chicken or turkey)

¼ pound cabbage, very finely chopped

1 Tablespoons fresh grated ginger

3 scallions, finely chopped (white & green parts)

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

1 Tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry

1 ¼ teaspoons sesame oil

½ teaspoon kosher salt

Pinch of white pepper

1 package round dumpling or gyoza wrappers  – defrosted overnight in the refrigerator if frozen

small bowl of water

vegetable oil

Dipping sauce:

6 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons rice vinegar

1 ½ teaspoon sesame oil

1 ½ teaspoon grated fresh ginger

a pinch of white pepper

½ teaspoon garlic chile paste (sambal) or siracha (add more to taste if needed)

1. Make the filling:  in a large bowl, combine all the filling ingredients.  Stir until just combined, do not over mix or the filling will be tough.  Set aside.  Note:  Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.
2. Fill the dumplings:  Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.
3. With your fingertip, wet the outer edge of half the wrapper lightly with water.
4. 4.    Using a spoon, place one heaping Tablespoon of filling in the center of the wrapper.  Resist the urge to overfill or you’ll have trouble sealing the dumplings.
5. Pleating/Sealing the Dumpling:
6. Step 1 – Seal the Center:  Fold the dumpling into a half-moon shape, pinching to seal in the center only.
7. Step 2 – Pleating Right Side:  While holding the dumpling upright/curved side up, use your index finger and thumb to pinch the edges of the dough on the edge farthest from you.  Working from the center to the right edge, seal and pleat the dough 3 or 4 times down the right side, pinching to seal
8. Step 3 – Pleating Left Side:  Do the same thing on the left edge – starting again from the center, make 3 or 4 pleats on the edge farthest from you along the left side of the dumpling, pinching to seal.  Note:  you’re only pleating one side of the dumpling and in the same direction on the right and left.  When finished it should curve into a half moon shape.
9. Firmly press the pleated side of the wrapper against the flat side to be sure there’s a good seal. If there’s too much filling, remove the extra to get that seal.  Give the dumpling a little push so it has a nice flat bottom, pleat should be on top.  Note:  dumplings can be made ahead and frozen at this point for up to two months.  Freeze solid on a sheet pan, transfer to a Ziploc bag.  Cook directly from the freezer.
10. Make the dipping sauce:  mix all the ingredients in a bowl and set aside.  Note:  Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.
11. Cook the dumplings:  heat a 2-3 Tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large deep skillet over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking.
12. Place dumplings in skillet in a circular pattern, with the pleat side up and facing in the same direction, and press down gently so they stand up.  Don’t crowd the pan, the dumplings should just touch – you may have to do a few batches.
13. Pan fry for about 4 minutes until the bottom is a nice golden brown.
14. Pour room temperature water into the pan – careful, it may spatter – halfway up the dumplings (do not drown) and cover with a tight fitting lid.
15. Steam for about 6 minutes, or until the filling is cooked through.  Some liquid will likely remain.
16. Remove lid continue to cook for a few additional minutes to cook off any remaining liquid and re-crisp the bottoms.
17. Give the pan a shake to see if any dumplings are sticking; use a spatula to gently loosen any that may be sticking. (They are pot stickers after all.)
18. Carefully slide the dumplings onto a plate and serve hot with the dipping sauce.

Once in a while, I get to do some very cool things.  I’m very fortunate in that way.  Last week an email came over the wire from Gale Gand with an invitation to join her at the Barry Callebaut Chocolate Academy for a demonstration.  That our friend Pastry Chef Meg Galus was giving the demo was an added bonus.  You don’t have to ask me twice.

Meg (that’s her above in the snappy hat) and I both worked for Gale at TRU, a fine dining restaurant in Chicago and later I would pitch in here and there to help Meg out when she was down a person.  I was a sort of freelance pastry chef for a while and it worked well for both of us.  She’s now the Pastry Chef at NoMi Kitchen in the Chicago Park Hyatt and makes some amazingly delicious things. I mean really delicious things.  If you haven’t been there yet, go now.  All the food is amazing.  Plus, she’s a good person and a great friend so I would have shown up to support her and be a friendly face in the crowd regardless.  And to mock her endlessly.  I’m a good friend like that.

The "Banquet" version

Barry Callebaut is one of the predominant suppliers of quality chocolate in the world.  Several years ago (3?  4?) they moved their North American headquarters from Canada to Chicago and built a beautiful showplace space.  The office is mainly sales and marketing personnel but there’s also a brand, spanking new state-of-the art kitchen where they have opened a Chocolate Academy.  All kinds of classes are offered, from beginner to professional levels, from leading chocolate experts and technicians.  If you need to brush up on your chocolate showpiece skills, this is the place.  It’s been a while and my chocolate skills have atrophied a bit … looking around at the student’s handiwork, I’m thinking I may need a refresher.

a version for brunch

For the demo, we were ushered into an auditorium, handed swag bags filled with various product pamphlets and samples (always good.) Meg then proceeded to show us how to take a few core components and make several different desserts in her typical efficient skill and humor.  She discussed the challenges of working in a hotel versus a typical restaurant and the very different needs and requirements of each.  First off, there’s the restaurant – NoMi Kitchen – with all its press and accolades but there’s also 24-hour room service, hotel amenities (where’d you think that chocolate on your pillow came from?), banquets, Sunday brunch buffets, private parties and weddings in addition to the occasional dinners catered for the VIP condo residents that live on the higher floors.  Oh and because it’s a hotel, it never closes.  Christmas, New Year’s Day, Superbowl, random Mondays?  All open for business.  It’s a kitchen that technically never closes and it takes supreme organization skills to keep it all straight.   It doesn’t hurt if you have a touch of perfectionism.  That would be Meg and that’s why we love her.

components for the plated version

Above all, Meg is a realist.  She knows exactly how much her staff of four can handle so she makes many core pastry components cross-functional.  For example, there’s a baked chocolate mousse cake that is delicious on its own but can also work as the base of a banquet mousse cake, crumbled on the plate of a fancy restaurant dessert or as a layer in a brunch parfait.  Vary the accompanying components and you can make that one thing into several different desserts.  I’ve made that mousse cake hundreds of times yet hadn’t fully considered it’s versatility.  Even in our busy home kitchens, it’s good to have workhorse recipes like this that cover a multitude of uses.

we pastry chefs have a tendency to hunch ...

Of course we got to taste everything.  That’s the best part and samples were plentiful of both the desserts and various chocolates that we discussed.  I don’t know where I can find Callebaut’s “Cara Crakine” but I intend to find out.  Or figure out how to make my own.  That stuff was stinkin’ delicious. I am afraid to consider the consequences of getting my hands on a bucket.

If you’re in Chicago and looking to increase your chocolate knowledge and skills, I recommend stopping by.  Non-professional classes are four hours long and $100 which is a great price for the quality of information you’ll receive.  Professional level class cover a variety of subjects, are 2-4 days long depending on the topic and appear to top out at $850, which is really reasonable.  If you’re in Canada, Europe or Southeast Asia, there are academies there as well – check out the website.

Gale, Meg & I with a giant muffin behind our heads

Barry Callebaut Chocolate Academy

600 W. Chicago Avenue, Suite 840

Chicago IL  60654

+ 1 312 496 7427

How much banana bread can a person eat?  In the history of my banana purchases, at least one of the bunch ends up blackened in the trash or stuffed into a freezer bag awaiting some more interesting fate.  Smoothies?  Over it.  Muffins, pancakes and waffles?  Done.  My freezer is stocked with bags of said baked goods, right next to more indistinguishable frostbitten bags of frozen bananas.  It’s time to find something new because, god forbid, I change my purchase patterns.

Years ago, my girlfriends and I treated ourselves to a spa weekend.  Fancy, right?  Hardly.  I think it may have actually been a fat camp and we just didn’t realize it.  Meals were restricted or shall we say, carefully calorically calibrated to provide enough energy yet be boring and small enough to leave us wanting more.  We developed a strange sixth sense of exactly when the dinner bell would ring.  Due to these limitations, we found ourselves discussing food all the time.  All.  The.  Time.

One afternoon activity was a cooking class focused on healthy snacks.  You bet we were all there.  First ones in the front row, if I remember correctly because I’m sure we thought we’d get an extra snack out of it.  I recall the chef making a sorbet by shoving frozen bananas through his fancy juicer, which extracted an odd looking brown mush.  Didn’t matter – we would have eaten it regardless but turns out, it was marvelous.  Cold, light and the essence of banana with exactly zero fat.  It was simply smoothly pureed frozen bananas, nothing else.  How easy was that?  We licked our bowls clean and wandered off to tai chi or water aerobics or a nap, carefully noting what time dinner was that evening.

Looking at yet another bunch of slowly rotting bananas the other day, I remembered that mush.  I tried the same method and quickly learned my juicer didn’t work quite like his so I went a different route taking inspiration from a book I recently received.  I roasted the bananas to bring out more flavor and made a brown sugar simple syrup with a little vanilla, lemon juice and a pinch of salt.  I pureed it all together, chilled then processed the mixture in my ice cream maker.  Delightful!  A little more involved than the method I witnessed but still rather easy and certainly more flavorful.  For having no dairy or fat, it was surprisingly creamy.  I loved it.

Yet that smash-it-through-the-juicer technique appealed to me for it’s sheer simplicity.  I realize not everyone has an ice cream maker so I came up with another method that didn’t require one.  Same process to start – roast the bananas but then peel and freeze them overnight while the simple syrup chills.  The next morning, chop up the frozen bananas (they have a tendency to whirl about in big chunks if you don’t), put both everything in the food processor and run it until smooth.  A few hours in the freezer to set up and there you have it.  Couldn’t be easier.  It’s not quite as smooth and creamy as the ice cream maker version but just as delicious.

Since the sorbet is pretty much 100% bananas, you need quite a few to make a large quantity.  I had forgotten a whole bunch last week, tucked as they were in a back corner, so this wasn’t a problem.  But often I only have one or two so there are a couple directions to go.  The recipe can be easily cut down/adjusted to as little as two bananas (¼ of the recipe) or you can pop them – peel and all – in the freezer until you’ve accumulated 8 or so.  Roast them, as directed, right from the freezer adding about 5 minutes to the roasting time.  You’ll have more liquid; just add that right to the mixture.

STRESS BAKING THERAPY FACTOR:  NOT BAD AT ALL.  It’s surprisingly flavorful, creamy and delicious and fits in rather well with resolution diet plans.  There’s nothing really stressful involved whatsoever, in fact, I would say it even alleviates the stress of what to do with those slowly rotting bananas on your kitchen counter.  Win win.  Oh and on a side note, you can bet we stopped at McDonald’s on the way home from that spa.  Burgers all around and an order of nuggets for the car.  Hells yes.

ROASTED BANANA SORBET

Makes 1 pint.  Note:  Ripe means soft, spotted or even black and extremely fragrant.  The riper the bananas, the better the flavor of the sorbet.  If the bananas are frozen, add 5 minutes to the roasting time.

8 ripe bananas

½ cup light brown sugar

¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons water

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of kosher salt

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Wrap the bananas, in their skins, individually in foil.
3. Roast until soft and cooked through (use tongs to test), about 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, bring the brown sugar and water to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
5. In a blender, puree the peeled roasted bananas, simple syrup, lemon juice, salt and vanilla until smooth.
6. Transfer to a bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight until thoroughly chilled.
7. Process in an ice cream maker, according to the manufacturers instructions.
8. Transfer to a freezer container and freeze for at least 3 hours before serving.

NO ICE CREAM MAKER METHOD:

1. Roast the bananas as directed above then peel, transfer to a freezer container or bag and freeze until solid – several hours or overnight.
2. Meanwhile, bring the brown sugar and water to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar then add the lemon juice, salt and vanilla extract, stirring to combine.
3. Transfer the simple syrup to a container and refrigerate overnight until thoroughly chilled.
4. Chop the frozen bananas into ½” to 1″ pieces and process in a food processor with the simple syrup until smooth.
5. Transfer to a freezer container and freeze for at least 3 hours or overnight.

It’s an unusual one, technique heavy and full of truly unique concoctions.  Cereal Milk Ice Cream?  But of course!  That’s the whole reason for eating a bowl of cereal, after all.  Apple Pie Cake?  Oh my.  Compost Cookies?  Genius.  Page after page of original thoughts, entertaining header notes and creative versions of old favorites. It’s often said there are no new ideas, just variations on existing ones.  After going through this book, I’m not so sure.  Everything here is somewhat familiar yet different.  There are things in here that I’ve never even considered.  A tip of the hat to you, Ms. Tosi.  Dammit.

I actually pre-ordered this book on Amazon months before release, which is something I’d never done before.  I read the article in the LA Times about Crack Pie a while back and made it over the summer.  It was something else – achingly sweet, utterly delicious and completely addictive as the name suggests.  A little involved (you have to make a cookie first to make the crust) but worth it.  I was curious to see what else she had up her sleeve.

While flipping through, I came across an interesting recipe – Corn Cookies.  Sounded intriguing.  It was cold outside and I could almost taste the crunchy sweet corn flavor transporting me right back to a summer outing at a pal’s cabin.  My interest was piqued.

Coincidentally, I was in the market for a unique cookie.  A rather fancy holiday cookie exchange was on my horizon, one that has historically caused a little anxiety.  A cookie exchange was nothing new, I’d been attending them since my childhood except those were held at Maricopa Lanes with my Mom’s bowling league.  This was something entirely different.  This one is held in a gorgeous Lake Shore Drive home, overlooking a stormy Lake Michigan.  After a nice lunch, coffee from a silver samovar and lots of pink bubbly, attendees are given large, beautiful boxes and instructed to circle the antique dining table taking 2 from each of the 30-plus offerings.  I should also mention that half the crowd is pastry chefs and culinary professionals.  It’s great fun and the hostess is wonderful but you have to show well at this thing, if you know what I mean.  No chocolate chip cookies or things made with cornflakes unless you are intentionally trying to be ironic (in which case a touch of gold leaf will help convey that.)  Finding the right cookie is rather important, to me at least.

I always try to come up with a delicious and unique cookie, something that will look good on the over laden table.  So I decided to make this Corn Cookie, much smaller than indicated and sandwiched with a Salt & Pepper Buttercream.  Sweet corn, butter, salt, pepper … the perfect combination.  Stand out they did amongst the gingerbread, molasses, shortbread and macarons.  Light yellow rounds with a white, speckled filling perched prettily on a frosted glass plate.  Went over like gangbusters.  Whew.

I have to say, these are delicious.  Unusually delicious in a buttery, esscence of corn kind of way.  Chef Tosi uses the cookie for all sorts of other things too – for the cookie crumbs in a pie crust and as the bread in a ham & cheese sandwich.  Sounds crazy doesn’t it?  I imagine it would taste like a crispy griddle cake.  When you think of it like that, putting ham and cheese between it make perfect sense.  I’d eat it.

The secret of these cookies lies in freeze-dried corn.  I knew The Spice House had it as I’ve been know to eat quite a bit of the samples by the register from time to time, but I was surprised to find it in my regular grocery store under the “Just Tomatoes” label.  I used about half of the 4-ounce bag and ground the kernels fine in my spice grinder.  I found the corn flour easily too at the same store – Bob’s Red Mill comes through again.

There are some particular techniques to pay close attention too – first off, cream the bejesus out of the mixture.  This is important otherwise you’ll have heavy cookies.  Secondly, chill the batter so it holds it’s shape – I chilled the dough, rolled 1” balls and then froze them.  Finally, be sure to slightly under-bake the cookie – they will continue to cook after after coming out of the oven.  Remove when they feel quite soft but the top has crusted over and they’re ever so lightly browned on the edges.  The cookie will collapse a little as they cool, which is exactly right.

STRESS BAING THERAPY FACTOR:  BUTTER ME UP.  This is a good one when you need to impress.  It looks rather unassuming, just a little yellow cookie with some white stuff in between but the flavor will surprise.  It’s salty sweet, has a mysterious little kick to it and the smallest hint of sweet corn flavor.  People love them but might not place the flavor right away, it’s so unexpected.  When you’re tired of chocolate chip, brownies and snickerdoodles make these.  People won’t know what hit them.

SWEET CORN COOKIES WITH BLACK PEPPER BUTTERCREAM from Momofuko Milk Bar Cookbook

Makes 3 dozen sandwich cookies

Process freeze dried corn in a spice or coffee grinder to a fine powder.  You can find this at The Spice House or better grocery stores (look for the “Just Tomatoes” brand.)  Bob’s Red Mill makes an easy to find corn flour or check out Hispanic grocery stores.

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 ½ cups sugar

1 large egg

1 1/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

2/3 cup freeze dried corn powder

¼ cup corn flour

¾ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt

1. for the cookie dough:  In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
2. With the mixer on low, add the egg and beat until blended.
3. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat for 8 minutes until very pale in color and nearly doubled in volume.
4. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour, corn powder, corn flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
5. Chill the dough, in the bowl is fine, for about 1 hour to make it easier to roll.
6. Scoop 1 Tablespoon portions of cookie dough and roll between your hand to form balls.
7. Place on a parchment lined sheet pan, touching gently is fine, and freeze until solid, at least 2 hours.  Transfer to a Ziploc bag for longer storage if you don’t plan on baking within the next day or so.
8. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
9. to bake:  Place frozen cookies on a parchment paper or Silpat lined sheetpan, spacing at least 1” apart.   Don’t let defrost – The cookies must be cold going into the oven. (note:  frozen cookies balls have a tendency to roll around.  Give them a little press to flatten one side and keep them in place.)
10. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through for 10-12 minutes total until cookies are soft but lightly crusted on top and very lightly brown on the edges but still bright yellow in the center.
11. Cool completely on the sheetpan before transferring to an airtight container and store for up to 5 days or in the freezer up to 1 month.
12. to fill:  match up cookies in same size pairs and pipe salt & pepper buttercream on the bottom of one cookie.  Top with another same size cookie and gently sandwich together.

SALT & PEPPER BUTTERCREAM

This Swiss Buttercream is pretty easy to put together and very delicious.  Make sure the butter is cool; soft but cool.  The recipe will make more than you need If you prefer, add the salt and pepper to about 2/3 of the mixture and reserve the plain buttercream for another use.  It will freeze for up to 3 months; rewhip before using.

4 large egg whites (½ cup)

1 cup sugar

pinch of kosher salt

12 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature (3 sticks), cut into 1” pieces

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon – 1 Tablespoon ground black pepper (to taste)

kosher salt (to taste)

1. In a heatproof bowl, whisk together the egg whites, sugar and salt.
2. Place over a pan of simmering water and whisk until sugar is completely dissolved.  To test, rub the mixture between your fingers; if it’s gritty the sugar isn’t fully dissolved.
3. Transfer the mixture to an electric mixer and beat with the whisk attachment on high until completely cool – about 5 minutes.  This is important – if the mixture is still warm, it will melt the butter.
4. Add the butter, a 1” piece at a time, beating on medium speed until smooth.  Scrape the bowl occasionally.
5. Add the vanilla, black pepper to taste and additional salt if needed.
6. Transfer to a piping bag and fill the cookies as directed above.

I spent quite a bit of time this summer in France, and I really enjoyed the ritual of lunch. It’s no surprise really, that I warmed to this concept immediately. Family and friends gather together, usually on Sundays, for a long enjoyable meal full of delicious food, great company, conversation and wine. The food is plentiful and the wine flows freely, in our case, a large amount of lovely rose. It was summer in the French countryside after all. I was just trying to blend in. With a squeal of delight, I vowed to institute similar lunches as soon as I got home.

So now I find myself deep in an unseasonably warm January, many miles from the Gascon countryside and many months later and I have yet to have one of these lunches. Where does the time go? So as a sort of resolution, I’ve decided to get on with these things I always say I’m going to do. I called up some friends and decided to make posole for the New Year, something I’ve also been meaning to make for ages. No time like the present.

Santa brought some good stuff this year, namely a big box of beans from Rancho Gordo. I love this company, which I first discovered at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in San Francisco several years ago. Steve Sando works with several growers here and south of the border to cultivate and grow magnificent, interesting and very tasty beans indigenous to North America. They’re just gorgeous.

Part of my holiday loot included a bag of white corn hominy or posole. Perfect! I have been wanting to make posole with these big kernels for some time and now I would. One of my other half-ass resolutions is to USE the special food gifts I receive or purchase. What exactly am I saving these things for?? By the time I find the perfect occasion, they’ve gone stale or outright bad. So let’s get on with it, shall we? Sunday lunches start NOW.

According to the Rancho Gordo website, “Posole (or Pozole) is dried corn that’s been slaked with lime (cal), giving it a nutritional boost and making the ancient grain more digestible. Also known as hominy, Posole works in stews, as a side dish, in classic Mexican and southwestern dishes or even ground in a food processor to make grits.” What I do know is that these kernels cook up rather large and after a soak/simmer they sort of “pop” and have a great chewy texture. Game on.

A recipe for Posole Rojo (red) was tucked into the Rancho Gordo box but I wanted to go green. Green always has been my favorite color. Luckily, those Rancho Gordo people know their stuff and had a Posole Verde recipe on their website. Bingo!

Working with the corn kernels was fairly straight-forward, much like working with dried beans. An overnight soak and a few hours of simmering. I used their recipe as a guideline, tweaking it to my tastes – an extra poblano and some poached, shredded chicken along with some typical Mexican flavors – cilantro, lime juice, oregano. Because I added some extra poblanos, it was a rather interesting shade of army green but tasty all the same. If I had access to Hatch green chilies, I would most certainly use those.

Traditionally, posole is served with quite the array of garnishes, allowing the diner to add a bit of this and that to customize their bowl. I laid out a humble spread of lime wedges, additional cilantro, sliced radishes, and avocado. I was supposed to finely shred some cabbage but forgot. I also forgot about a massive stack of homemade tortillas I had made as well. They would have been awful nice with the posole but what are you going to do?

Good conversation, lots of laughs and a delicious meal. It was the perfect Sunday meal with friends. And since it was lunch everyone was home fairly early with none of the hangover nonsense that usually ensues. As one guest commented, “This is great! I still have time to lay on the couch!” And that my friends, is a perfect day.

STRESS BAKING THERAPY FACTOR: OH SI POR FAVOR. First off, anything I can put an avocado in/on/next to is reason for rejoicing. Add some green chilies and I’m a happy camper. I live for green chilies and this one has them in aces. This soup/stew is warming and cozy and frankly, fun. That’s the thing about Mexican food. It’s always a good time. Add some margaritas or a cold beer and you’ve got the start of one helluva party. If it matters in any way, I hear this soup is rather healthy too. Suppose that’s a resolution I should think about at some point.

POSOLE VERDE adapted from the Rancho Gordo website

Serves 8

If you don’t have dried posole, canned would be perfectly acceptable – just drain, rinse and add at the same point the cooked posole is added below.

½ pound dried posole (whole dried hominy)

1 red onion, peeled and halved

kosher salt

20 small to medium tomatillos, paper skins removed

3 poblano chiles

1 serrano chile

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 garlic cloves, peeled

1 cup coarsely chopped cilantro

2 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano

1 ½ quarts low-sat chicken broth

Freshly ground black pepper

2 cups poached shredded chicken, white and/or dark meat (see here for poaching tips)

Garnishes:

diced red onion

chopped cilantro

lime wedges

thinly sliced cabbage

thinly sliced radishes

diced avocado

1. Soak posole overnight in water to cover generously.
2. Drain posole and place it in a saucepan with fresh water to cover generously.
3. Bring to a simmer, cover partially and cook at a gentle simmer until the corn kernels are tender, 2-3 hours; many will split open.
4. Season with salt and cool in the liquid.
5. Roast the vegetables (onion halves, tomatillos, poblanos and serrano); traditionally this is done on a hot dry griddle, skillet, comal or directly on a gas burner, turning frequently until well charred on all sides. I prefer the hands-off oven method – 375°F on an oiled sheet pan for 40 minutes, turning the vegetables halfway through until the onions and tomatillos soften and the peppers are nicely charred.
6. Put the roasted poblanos in bowl and cover with plastic wrap to steam until cool.
7. Transfer the other vegetables to another bowl and let cool, collecting their juices.
8. Skin the cooled poblanos by scraping with the dull side of a paring knife, discarding seeds, stems and skin.
9. Discard the serrano chile stem but don’t skin or seed.
10. Put all the roasted vegetables and the garlic cloves in a blender, in batches if necessary, and puree until smooth. (Don’t wash the blender.)
11. Heat the oil in a large stockpot over moderate heat.
12. Add the vegetable puree and adjust heat to maintain a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes to blend the flavors.
13. In the blender, puree the cilantro, oregano and 1 cup of the chicken stock.
14. Add this mixture to the vegetable puree along with 4 cups of chicken stock.
15. Drain the posole and add it to the pot along with the shredded chicken.
16. Season with salt and pepper and return to a simmer. Thin with additional stock if necessary.
17. Serve warm in bowls with assorted garnishes and tortillas.

Jim Lahey is a genius.  What?  You don’t know who he is?  You should.  The man has single handedly revolutionized home bread baking with a ground breaking no-knead method.  Yes, I know this no-knead bread thing has been around for a few years and is all over the internet with 8 million bloggers posting photos of their picture perfect loaves.  Mark Bittman made it a sensation when he published his New York Times article in 2006.  People have been oohing and aahing the standard boule baked in a Dutch oven ever since.  For a ridiculously simple dough, it is a beauty.  But there are other loaves, more interesting loaves, in my opinion than just this one.

How it works is simple:  in a large bowl mix, flour, water salt and a surprisingly small amount of yeast together.  Cover and let rise for a long time – 12-18 hours.  That’s it.  No heavy duty mixing or kneading.  No special equipment for the most part.  No sore hands or carpal tunnel flare ups.  You just stir it together and let time take over.

In his article, Mark Bittman asked food scientist Harold McGee what the deal was. His response: “It makes sense. The long, slow rise does over hours what intensive kneading does in minutes: it brings the gluten molecules into side-by-side alignment to maximize their opportunity to bind to each other and produce a strong, elastic network. The wetness of the dough is an important piece of this because the gluten molecules are more mobile in a high proportion of water, and so can move into alignment easier and faster than if the dough were stiff.”

Well, alright.  Making a decent loaf of bread, with good crust and great crumb has alluded me.  My bread was … OK at best and great on occasion but the results were inconsistent.  What if I didn’t have to do anything other than stir?  It sounded too good to be true.  So a few years ago, I tried the recipe in that article.  Me and everyone else.  It was fantastic – simple and delicious.  And stunningly gorgeous.  It came out of the oven crackling, chatting me up.  I may have even snapped a few pictures, I was so enamored.

Then about a year ago, I ordered a copy of Lahey’s new book – My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method.  If he’s the one that pioneered this no-knead method, then I wanted to see what he had to say.  I also wanted to try my hand at more than the classic boule.

It has become one of my favorite books, pushing aside my many more traditional baking volumes.  I have to tell you, this method is ridiculously easy and produces fantastic bread every time.  I’ve made several things from this book, tweaking a few recipes here and there and everything, every single thing, has amazed me.

But from the beginning, as I was flipping through the pages, one photo kept bringing me back.  Strecca.  The Sticks.  Long thin, flat loaves with garlic, olives or cherry tomatoes pushed in.  They looked fantastic.  They spoke to me.

So on a slow night, I mixed up the dough.  That took all of 3 minutes, most of which was spent tracking down my yeast.  Then I covered it and settled the bowl in a nice, toasty spot for a long slow rise – about 14 hours.  I slept through half of it.  Another quick rise – 1-2 hours – and then it was time to shape.  Here’s how complicated this was.  I cut the dough in half and stretched each piece into a long strip by pretty much letting the weight of the dough do the shaping.  Whew.  Exhausting.

Into an oiled pan with garlic cloves pressed into one, olives in the other then brushed with olive oil, a sprinkle of sea salt and a bit of ground pepper and thyme.  You could skip the olives and garlic and leave them plain if you like, but why?  Into a 500°F oven, on top of a preheated pizza stone (I never move the thing) for 15 minutes.  Voila.

I cut off a piece – there was a great crust and a beautiful hole-y crumb. The garlic surprising cooked up soft and nutty in those 15 minutes and the olives were nice and briny.  The bit of salt on the crust was my favorite part, but then it always is.  It was delicious, so I cut off another piece.  Brought to mind a really good ciabatta – chewy and crunchy at the same time.  And utterly addictive.  I sliced off another piece.  And another.  Next thing I knew, the damn thing was gone.  It hadn’t even fully cooled yet.  Then I eyeballed the other one.  Yeah, it was that good.

These loaves don’t hold well – there’s no preservatives or fat to keep them moist – so eat up.  I made a ½ recipe (or two sticks) because, well, it’s just me around here.  A good thing too because I demolished those two sticks in a matter of hours.  Alone.  Yeah, I did and it’s a good thing there weren’t two more waiting in the wings.

STRESS BAKING THERAPY FACTOR:  MAMA MIA!  I’m still a little baffled at how little effort goes into something so fantastic.  Why aren’t we all doing this, every day?  Explain that to me, would you?  Banish that grocery store garbage forever.  The thought of one of those spongy, flavorless “Italian” loaves at Jewel has me cringing right now.  My bread can kick your breads butt.  I have visions of slicing one horizontally and making one amazing sandwich.  Of course, I’d have to make more because my two are suspiciously gone, but that’s no problem whatsoever.  The only thing that might create a wrinkle, and it’s an easy one to overcome, is time.  It really really needs that long slow rise.  But it takes no time to whip together – mere minutes – so do it before you go to bed and you’ll have beautiful bread for dinner the next night. So yeah, why aren’t you doing this?

STRECCA  from Jim Lahey’s “My Bread”

Makes 4 thin sticks or loaves

for the dough:

3 cups bread flour

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¾ teaspoon sugar

¼ teaspoon active dry yeast

1 ½ cups cool water

topping:

olive oil for brushing

sea salt for sprinkiling

optional:  10 pieces pitted olives, garlic cloves or cherry tomato halves

freshly ground pepper

fresh thyme leaves

1. Make the dough:  In a medium bowl, stir together the water and yeast until dissolved.
2. Add the flour, salt and sugar and stir until combined with a spatula, wooden spoon or your hand until a sticky dough is formed and everything is well combined, about 30 seconds.  Do not knead.
3. First rise:  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature until the dough has doubled in size and is covered with bubbles – about 12-18 hours.
4. Initial shaping:  Dust a work surface with flour and scrape the dough from the bowl in one piece.
5. Fold the dough over itself 2-3 times and gently shape it into a flattened ball.
6. Brush the surface of the dough lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon sea salt.
7. Generously flour a tea towel and gently place the dough round on the towel, oil side up.
8. Dust the top of the dough lightly with flour and gently fold the towel over the dough.
9. Second rise:  Let rise for 1-2 hours.  The dough is ready when it is nearly doubled in size and if you gently poke the dough, it holds the impression.  If it springs back, let rise for another 15 minutes.
10. 30 minutes before the rise is complete, preheat the oven to 500°F with a pizza stone (if you have one) in the lowest position.
11. Oil a 13” x 18” sheet pan with olive oil and set aside.
12. Final shaping:  Cut the dough into quarters and gently stretch each piece evenly into a stick, approximately the length of the pan.  Let the weight of the dough do most of the work.
13. Place on the pan, leaving 1” between the sticks.
14. If you like, push your choice of – 10 cherry tomato halves (cut side up), 10 peeled garlic cloves or 10 pitted olives – evenly into the length of the dough.
15. Brush each loaf with enough olive oil to create a thin coat of oil on the surface of the dough.
16. Sprinkle each with sea salt, a few grinds of ground pepper and if you like, some fresh thyme leaves.
17. Bake:  bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.
18. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

I’m not much for New Year’s Resolutions.  Why make promises I know I’m not going to keep?  That’s exactly what I need, another list of unfinished projects.  However, there are things – OK many many things – I know I could and should do better.  Like flossing.  I really need to get on that one so this year I’m going to try.  Start small and see how it goes.  And eating breakfast.  I rarely eat breakfast and yet I know, because my mother drilled it into my head, it’s the most important meal of the day.  But the fact is, she’s not here making breakfast for me every day anymore and I am extremely low functioning upon waking.  It’s a miracle I make it out the door dressed.  Some things just have to give.

Yesterday, while watching three AWESOME bowl game (seriously – the Outback, Rose and Fiesta Bowls were some of the best football I’ve watched in years), I came across this great post on TheKitchn.  The premise is not a new one – make something one night that you’ll eat for the entire week.  It’s very practical.  This one though, was about breakfast and steel cut oats in particular.  Partially cook a large batch of steel-cut oats, portion into mason jars and leave out overnight to continue to cook.  In the morning, store the jars in the fridge and grab one every day for an instant, healthy and tasty breakfast.  Well, why didn’t I think of that?

I love steel-cut oats – their chewy texture and nutty flavor is outstanding and puts those crappy packets of instant garbage to shame.  But the 7 minutes they take to cook are simply too taxing for me in the morning.  Most of the time, I just cannot pull it together.  The thought of having a jar, ready to go to eat at my leisure, is beyond appealing.  Fast good food for breakfast. Yes indeed.  Plus this will help combat a common problem of mine – ridiculous hunger later in the day that usually leads to poor choices.

I used steel-cut oats from a local farmer – Three Sisters Garden – because I love their nutty chewiness.  I also layered in some tasty additions – a little brown sugar in the bottom of each, a few ladles of oatmeal, some delicious fruity/nutty bits, then a ladle or two of oatmeal to top off.  To be honest, looking at the giant pot of oatmeal and my 5 pint jars I didn’t think there was any way it would all fit so I hastily rounded up some extra jars.  I was wrong. The batch size fit those 5 pint jars perfectly.

So for some tasty mix-ins, I did the following, little bits of this and that I had lying around:

-       jar 1: wild blackberry jam, pinch of allspice

-       jar 2:  dried cherries, chopped almonds, pinch of cinnamon

-       jar 3:  dried apricots, chopped pistachios, pinch of ginger

-       jar 4: chocolate raspberry jam

-       jar 5:  dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin pie spice

I hear they get better as the week goes on, so we’ll see but so far so good.  Jar 1 – the blackberry jam one – was delicious.   I’m wondering how it will work for other breakfast grains – 7-grain cereals, grits, amaranth, wheat berries and the like.  I’m liking this idea.  A lot.

So Happy New Year everyone!  Let’s start with a regular healthy breakfast and see how this goes.

STRESS BAKING THERAPY FACTOR:  SERIOUSLY? COMPLETELY STRESS-FREE.  This one is ridiculous heathy and makes me feel rather on top of things, like maybe I know what’s going on and am in control of my own universe.  Well, that’s a first.  Let’s face it, studies have shown a zillion times, how important a good, fiber rich breakfast is to start the day.  It gives you energy, helps you think clearly and reduces hunger later in the day so that drive-thru doesn’t look nearly as attractive at 2pm.  We know all this, yet we often ignore practical information.  So this year, let’s do this thing.

STEEL-CUT OATS ON THE GO from TheKitchn

Makes 5 pint jars

1 2/3 cups steel-cut oats

4 cups water

Large pinch kosher salt

mix-ins:  spices, dried fruit, jam, nuts, sweeteners

1. Get your 5 pint jars ready to go – washed and clean, lids off.
2. In a medium saucepan, bring the oats, water and salt to a boil.
3. Lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 3 minutes.
4. Ladle the oats into the jars (they’ll be a little soupy, which is perfect), layering in any desired mix-ins.
5. Let the jars sit at room temperature, overnight.
6. In the morning, place the jars in the refrigerator.
7. To reheat:  remove the metal lid and microwave for 2-3 minutes on high.
8. Jars keep for at least one week refrigerated.

Another New Year’s Eve is upon us. Where did the year go? Am I the only one that’s surprised by this? “Time flies” doesn’t even begin to cover this but in the meantime, I plan on ringing in the New Year in a fun proper fashion. Some friends and I are attending a Roaring Twenties party tonight and are dressing up like gangsters. This being Chicago, I think we’ve got it in the bag. Beforehand, everyone is meeting at my place for some tasty snacks and cocktails. And I’ve got a special one planned. Ginger Kir Royales.

Traditionally, a Kir Royale is champagne with a bit of crème de cassis syrup. It’s delightful – bright, a little fruity, rather elegant and transports me right back to a ritzy bar in Paris. I like to be reminded of things like that. This year, I’m making a spicy simple syrup with a lot of fresh ginger and a fresh vanilla bean. A little bit of this with some champagne or prosecco and we’ll start the evening off right. It isn’t bathtub gin but it’ll do.

The syrup is also great mixed with sparkling water for a nice, zippy homemade ginger ale. With a squirt of lime juice, this is one of my favorite drinks. It also makes a fantastic martini, shaken with a little fresh mint. In fact, it makes all kinds of great cocktails and is even delicious when used to sweeten your ice tea. Oh, and did I mention how great it is with lemonade? Yeah, that too.

So Happy New Year! Be safe, have fun and best wishes into the coming months.

STRESS BAKING THERAPY FACTOR: RIDICULOUS. If you get stressed out during this one, look for the light at the end of the tunnel. You’re making a tasty cocktail! Keep that in mind. Usually by the new year, I find I need a stiff drink and this one takes the cake.

GINGER VANILLA SIMPLE SYRUP

Makes about 1 cup

¾ pound peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger

1 ½ cups sugar

1 ½ cups water

1 fresh vanilla bean, split & scraped

1. Peel and finely chop the ginger – a spoon works best to scrape of the skin but can become rather tedious for large amounts. To finely chop, I ran the fresh ginger through the shredding blade on my food processor. Voila!
2. Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan, add ginger and scraped vanilla bean (seeds, pot and all) and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat to a low simmer and continue to cook for 1 hour.
4. Turn off heat and let steep for at least 1 hour.
5. Strain and chill. Keeps for 1 month in the refrigerator. (You can discard the strained ginger bits but I like to store it in a jar in the fridge and use a spoonful or two in my tea.)

Ideas:

- Ginger Kir Royale: add 1-2 Tablespoons ginger syrup to a champagne flute and top with chilled champagne or prosecco.

- Homemade Ginger Ale: add 2-3 Tablespoons ginger syrup to a rocks glass, add chilled sparkling water and stir. Add ice.

- Ginger Mint Martini: in a shaker combine 3 parts chilled vodka, 1 part ginger syrup and 1 mint sprig with ice. Shake, strain and garnish with a mint sprig.

As I pop my head up from the holiday chaos, I realize it’s been a while since I posted.  And I was on such a roll there for a minute.  Such is life.  Hope everyone had a lovely holiday and is ready for the New Year.

I encourage you to check out this post by Caroline over at Whipped on her family’s visit to the Lakeview Pantry.  So inspiring.  At times like these, it’s good to keep everything in perspective. I’m a fantastic schlepper so I plan on heading over there in the New Year to help out.  I’m also thinking that my cabinets need a seriously purging and will put together a box (or three) to take over next week.  If you have some spare time and/or funds, consider doing the same.

So some housekeeping matters … a few posts back, I did a little Spice Islands giveaway and random.org came up with the lucky #3 which meant Eileen was our lucky winner!  I sent off that box a few weeks back.  Hope she got it.  Thanks to everyone who commented – I really enjoyed reading your responses.

I’m still recovering from my holiday baking craziness … a few thousand tiny cookies, 16 gingerbread houses, multiple batches of holiday candy and then I get the nutty idea to make bacon as Christmas gifts.  Bacon.  Yep, I made it.  I’ll post on that later because as ridiculous as it sounds, it was pretty fantastic and not all that difficult, really.  All that said, there’s a reason I spent the better part of yesterday comatose on my couch.

I plan on getting my act together today, in the midst of cleaning up the disaster of an apartment that I call home, and post a few New Years recipes in time for celebrations or crashing on the couch and watching 14 football games simultaneously.  I adore New Year’s Day.

As you get ready for 2012, perhaps you find yourself looking for some festive party snack ideas.  Well, I have a few suggestions:

Bacon Cheddar Gougeres (I’ll be making these!)

Cheese Straws (ate a ton of these on Christmas)

Fresh Tomato Tart  (you can use any vegetable!)

Puff Pastry Wrapped Asparagus (w/Proscuitto!)

BBQ Chicken Bao (a lucky food!)

Spiced Pecans (tasty, tasty)

Stovetop Smoked Salmon (so good on a bagel)

Bacon Wrapped Dates (oh my, make extra)

Empanadas (great for those 14 bowl games you know you’re going to watch)

Mexican Hot Chocolate (ahem, it’ll cure what ails you)