Chocolate caramel-filled thumbprint cookies

Caramel-Filled Chocolate Espresso Cookie Cups
(adapted from Baking Bites who adapted it from Demolition Desserts)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp dark brown sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp white sugar
2 tsp instant espresso powder (I used 3 tsp of Baker's Brew spice from Savory Spice)
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a mini muffin cup with paper liners (or grease well).
In a medium. bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Blend in instant espresso powder, egg and vanilla extract. With the mixer on low, gradually blend in the flour mixture. Mix until no streaks of dry ingredients remain. Stir in chocolate chips.
Bake for 10 minutes. Press centers of cookies down and then cool cups in the pan for 10 additional minutes. Remove from pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Soften ~1 cup Nutella and ~1 cup dulce de leche/caramel in the microwave, scoop into a plastic bag, snip off the end and squeeze into cup holes.

Sprinkle with dark chocolate curls if desired

Makes about 3 dozen.

Thai Peanut & Spice-Encrusted Pork Tenderloin

This is a really easy, delicious, and fast recipe using just a few ingredients.

It turned out great -- I recommend serving with large lettuce leaves, onions, spicy peanuts, cilantro, and spicy peanut sauce (I made some out of peanut butter, yogurt, and lots of spiciness w/ red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, etc)

Pork tenderloin
Taste of Thai Spicy Peanut Bake
Olive oil
Minced garlic, salt, pepper

1. Coat tenderloins with olive oil, salt and pepper.
2. Rub minced garlic onto tenderloin
3. Coat tenderloins with as much of the Spicy Peanut Bake as will stick.
4. Bake on a foil-covered rimmed cookie sheet at 450 for 20 minutes, or until center of meat reaches 145 degrees.

Southwestern Pulled Brisket

This was adapted from Smitten Kitchen -- it is a good recipe overall, but not as amazing as I'd hoped. It has a lot of heat, but for some reason, not as much flavor as I'd expected.

It is a few more steps than just dumping some beer over a brisket and letting it slow-cook (a tried and true method), so I'm not sure that I'll make this just this way again...but I might use some of these ideas next time around.


Serves 4, but depends on if you're eating it as a taco-like filling or on its own.

3 pounds beef brisket
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
5 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 Spanish onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups water (I used beer instead -- Upslope's Foreign Stout to be exact)
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, with their juices
1 to 2 whole canned chipotle chiles en adobo (I used two peppers and it had some serious heat. Might go with one next time, to focus a bit more on the flavor)
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup molasses

Directions (cut and pasted directly from Smitten Kitchen)

For serving:
If sandwiches, soft sandwich buns. If tacos, small soft tortillas. For both, I suggest some slaw, pickled onions and/or pickled jalapeños.

Season the beef generously with salt and pepper, to taste. Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil and heat just until beginning to smoke. Add the meat and cook, turning once, until browned on both sides, about 10 minutes total. Transfer the meat to the slow cooker; leave the skillet on the heat.

Add garlic, onion, chili powder, coriander, and cumin to drippings in the skillet and stir until fragrant, about one minute. Add vinegar and boil until it’s almost gone (and seriously, get your head out of the way of the steam; inhaling vinegar is no fun!), scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Stir in water and pour the mixture over the brisket. Crush the tomatoes through your fingers into the slow cooker; add the tomato juices, chipotles, bay leaves, and molasses. Cover the cooker, set it on LOW, and cook the brisket until it pulls apart easily with a fork, about 8 to 10 hours. (The original recipe suggests 8 hours, but my mother-in-law, who makes wonderful brisket, says she cooks hers for 10. So I went with 10 and it was lovely, but feel free to check in on yours at 8 hours to determine if it needs more tenderizing.)

To serve, you’ve got two options: Leave the meat in the slow cooker and use two forks to pull it apart and stir it evenly into the sauce; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Remove and discard bay leaves. This is obviously the simplest route.

Your second option is to do as I did, just a little more work. I strained the sauce (to remove the cooked-until-dead vegetables and bay leaves), chilled it so the fat would be easy to remove, then reheated and reseasoned it well, simmering it down (to about 2/3 the volume) to thicken it a bit. We poured it back over the brisket as we pulled it, and then, when we got where we were going, reheated the whole pan on low. (You could also thicken the sauce without skimming the excess fat — there was actually not as much as I’d anticipated.)

Coconut Thumbprint Cookies with Salted Caramel (and/or Cookie Butter)

This recipe was featured in this month's Martha Stewart Living, and tried out by a few helpful blogs online.

The dough is really crumbly and hard to get into ball form (and impossible to thumbprint until they have cooked halfway), but the cookies turned out well overall.

I think the salted caramel is the way to go (Martha makes her own of course...I used a jar of Dulce de Leche), but I was caught up in the Cookie Butter craze and wanted to use that for these too, so I did half and half.

Both are good...these must get frozen before I am carrying all 54 cookies around on my thighs.


Makes 54 cookies

3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs beaten
12 ounces sweetened flaked coconut

44 small soft caramel candies (12 oz.) 
6 tablespoons heavy cream
1 jar Dulce de Leche

Flaky Sea Salt

Preheat oven to 350. Beat together butter and sugar with  mixer on medium speed until it is pale and fluffy, then add vanilla. Setting your mixer on low, gradually add flour and 1/2 tsp salt and beat to combine (some other bloggers have suggested adding 1 - 2 eggs to the butter/sugar mix...the dough seemed incredibly dry, but the cookies did turn out). Using plastic wrap, press dough together, and roll into 1 1/4-inch balls (I recommend rolling all of your balls and setting aside before you dip).

Working in fours (I found that worked best), dip each ball into the beaten egg, and then roll in coconut. (Yes, it is messy.)

Place balls on parchment-lined baking sheet and press and indentation of your thumb into each cookie (I couldn't do this til they had baked for 10 min or so). Bake for 10 minutes, then remove sheet from oven and re-press indentations. After that, put the sheet back in the oven and bake for another 9-10 minutes or until golden. Let cool on wire racks. Repeat with remaining dough.

Dump caramel/dulce de leche/cookie butter into a sandwich bag, and microwave for ~10-20 sec if you need to soften it a bit. Cut off a small corner of the bag, and pipe your filling of choice into the indentations of each cookie and sprinkle with sea salt. (Store in airtight containers for up to 2 days.)

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Living Feb 2012

The cookie butter filled version...

Almond Cardamom Cookies

I found this blog recently after it was mentioned in NYT's Dining and Wine. These cookies are gluten-free and can be made vegan depending on your butter vs. shortening choice.
The cookies ended up tasting delicious, although I did have some major issues with the consistency. I ended up baking them more than 3x the time suggested (every time I would tap them lightly in the oven to see if they were done, the almond meal batter would just stick to my finger), but I'm wondering if it was a result of the vegetable shortening? Next time I'll probably go with butter, but otherwise, these really did taste delicious!

Ingredients

1/2 cup of unsalted butter or vegan vegetable shortening (if going the vegan route)
10 tbs of powdered sugar
3/4 cup of almond meal
1/2 cup of besan (chickpea )flour
2 Tbs of sorghum flour
1/4 tsp of green cardamom powder (tip for making the powder here)
1/8 tsp of salt
parchment paper

Directions
1.  Sift the almond meal, besan flour and sorghum flour together
2.  Add in:
  1/4 tsp of cardamom powder
  1/8 tsp of salt
3.  Set it aside
  In another bowl cream together:
  1 stick of softened unsalted butter
  10 Tbs of powdered sugar

4. Mix them gently together.
5. The dough is going to be a bit sticky and loose, but gather it up as best you can, roll it into a ball, wrap it in a bit of saran wrap and pop it in the fridge to take a nap for about 20 minutes.

6. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
7. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
8. Take out the dough and knead it a bit... only 3 or 4 times, then nip off little bits.
9. Roll each one into a little ball and put it on the cookie sheet.
10. Pop an almond on top.


11. Now back into the fridge again for another 15 minute cat nap.
12. Then take them out and put them in the oven on the middle rack for about 22 minutes or so. (note: Mine needed almost an hour?! Altitude perhaps?)
13. The cookies should stay on the light side of done. You can tell when they're ready when they're light brown on the bottom.
14. Take them out of the oven.
15. Let them sit on the cookie sheet for another 5 minutes then move them to a cooling rack.

The unbaked cookies

Brussels sprout and potato frittatas

From Eating Well...


I adapted it to make two frittatas instead -- I halved everything except the veggies -- we had some leftover, but I liked the more veggie-than-egg consistency.

Ingredients


1Tbs EVOO
2c refrigerated pre-shredded potatoes
8oz brussels sprouts, trimmed and thinly sliced (about 2 c)
1/2c chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
16oz container egg beaters
1/3c grated Parmesan cheese
1/4c low fat milk
2tsp dried thyme
1/2tsp salt
1/2tsp pepper

Directions


1. Preheat oven to 400. Coat 4 10oz ovenproof ramekins with cooking spray and place on a baking sheet.
2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add potatoes, brussels sprouts, onion, and garlic. Cook, stirring, until softened and beginning to brown, about 6 minutes. Divide the mixture among the prepared ramekins.
3. Whisk egg substitute, cheese, milk, thyme, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. Pour the egg mixture over the potato mixture and gently stir to combine.
4. Transfer the baking sheet to the oven. Bake until the eggs are set and an instant read thermometer inserted into a frittata registers 160, about 35 minutes.

Thanksgiving Stuffing

This is a combination of lots of "recipes" -- it's sort of a "kitchen sink" approach, but it made for some delicious holiday stuffing this year!

Ingredients:

8 Tbsp. unsalted butter
3 cups chopped onions (about 1 pound)
2 cups chopped celery (4 to 5 stalks)
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped fresh fennel bulb (just the white part)
1 - 2 apples, chopped

1/2 - 1 cup figs, chopped
1/2 - 1 cup chestnuts, chopped
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh sage
2 Tbsp Herbs de Provence

12 cups (generous) 1-inch cubes day-old pain rustique or ciabatta bread with crust (about 1 1/4 pounds)

2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp. fine sea salt
1 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
1 cup (or more) low-sodium Swanson chicken broth (or 1/2 cup chicken broth, 1/2 cup white wine) - may need more depending on dryness of bread!



Directions:

Melt butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onions, celery, apple, and fennel. Sauté 8-10 minutes, until vegetables are soft. Add figs, chestnuts, and all herbs; sauté 1 minute longer. (DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cool, cover, and chill.)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Divide bread between 2 rimmed baking sheets. Bake until bread is crusty but not hard, reversing sheets after 5 minutes, 10 to 12 minutes total. Transfer to very large bowl and cool.

Butter 13x9x2-inch baking dish.  Then in your very large bowl, gently toss the vegetable mixture in with the bread. Whisk eggs, salt, and pepper in small bowl to blend, then whisk in the broth (or half broth, half wine if you’d like) until combined. Add egg mixture stuffing, tossing to combine evenly and adding more broth by 1/4 cupfuls if dry. Transfer stuffing to prepared dish.

Bake stuffing uncovered until cooked through and brown and crusty on top, 60 minutes.
If stuffing feels dry, moisten halfway through with more butter/wine/broth.
Let stand 10 minutes.

Christmas Butter Cakes

This recipe for buttery, almond-flavored squares of deliciousness was adapted from Culinary in the Desert, who adapted it from Land o' Lakes.
The only modification I'd suggest is to just use a 9 x 13 pan - you might have too much frosting, but I thought the bar thickness was about right using those dimensions.

For the dough

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
11 tablespoons (about 2/3 cup) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the frosting

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon almond extract
pinch salt
4 cups confectioners' sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons milk

To prepare the dough

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in egg, milk and vanilla until combined. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Scoop mixture into a 10" x 15" (Note: I used a 9 x 13) baking pan coated with cooking spray, then spread to an even thickness. Place into the oven and bake until set, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and set pan on a wire rack to cool completely.

To prepare the frosting

In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter, almond extract and salt until smooth. Mix in confectioners' sugar. Gradually add enough milk until you get a spreadable consistency. Spread frosting over the cooled slab of baked bars. Slice into 24 bars. Decorate as desired -- I used Wilton's Christmas sprinkles.

Makes 24 bars.

Spiced Cranberry Cake(s)

Made many mini-cakes but adding a middle layer of leftover cranberry sauce. Adapted from Bon Appetit.

Ingredients

cake

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup almond flour or almond meal* (about 2 1/2 ounces)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder**
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup plain Greek-style yogurt
• 1 cup chopped toasted almonds
• 1 cup whole berry cranberry sauce
• 1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries
• 
  

Preparation

cake

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 12-cup Bundt pan (or many mini-bundt pans). Whisk first 8 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Add both sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract, then Greek-style yogurt. Add dry ingredients; beat just until blended. Fold in almonds and cranberries. Fill prepared pan(s) halfway, evenly spread cranberry sauce, then carefully spread remaining batter on top.
• Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out almost clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes (much shorter if in separate pans). Cool cake in pan 10 minutes. Turn cake out onto rack and cool completely.
  Frost or sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Fluffernutter & Chocolate Cookies

Fun new addition to the Christmas cookie line-up from this blog...

ingredients:

You will need:
1 batch of peanut butter cookie dough (recipe follows)
regular marshmallows, sliced in half lengthwise
chocolate glaze (recipe follows)

Peanut Butter Cookies:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Chocolate Glaze:
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

directions:

To make peanut butter cookies:
Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl, set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat the butter, peanut butter and sugars for 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla.
Gradually add in the flour mixture on low speed. Chill dough 15 minutes in the refrigerator.
Place by rounded spoonfuls on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 7-9 minutes, until edges are very lightly browned (cookies will not spread much at all). Do not overbake.

To make chocolate glaze:
In a double boiler over hot, but not boiling water, combine chocolate chips, butter, and corn syrup. Stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth, then add vanilla.

To assemble the cookies:
As soon as the peanut butter cookies come out of the oven, place 1 marshmallow half on the top of each cookie (you may need to flatten the cookies slightly with a spatula first). Place them back in the oven for 2-3 minutes, until the marshmallow is melted. Let cool completely.
When completely cooled, spoon a small amount of chocolate glaze over the top of each cookie. Glaze will set slightly upon cooling.

Self-frosting Nutella Cupcakes

These are blogosphere favorites, and were quick and easy to throw together for tomorrow's holiday potlucks. This version of the recipe taken from Baking Bites...

Nutella Frosted Cupcakes
10 tbsp(140 grams) butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups (200 grams) sifted all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
Nutella, approx. 1/3 cup

Preheat oven to 325F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.
Cream together butter and sugar until light, 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Don’t worry if the batter doesn’t look smooth. Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until batter is uniform and no flour remains.
Using an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin liner with batter. They should be 3/4 full, if you’re not using a scoop. Top each cake with 1 1/2 tsp Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the nutella.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 12.

Southwestern-ish Homemade Veggie Burgers

The food processor made this an easy dinner to throw together in minutes (with the help of steam-in-the-bag frozen brown rice anyway.) The recipe is adapted from Desert Culinary, and I think it turned out great -- kind of like spicy falafel! Served with avocado on top and on made-from-scratch rolls from a rosemary/thyme/garlic-spiked peasant bread dough, this turned out to be a surprisingly delicious "healthy" meal.

Brown-Rice Veggie Burgers (Adapted from Food and Wine)

1 packed cup cooked brown rice, at room temperature, divided
1 - 2 oz Pepper Jack cheese, cut into small pieces
1 chipotle chile in adobo (to taste - I used a big one with a tsp or two of the sauce -- gave a medium level of spice)
1 teaspoon salt
1 large poblano chile, seeded and finely chopped
5 scallions, thinly sliced (use the root and about half to 2/3 of the stalk)
3/4 cup mukimame/shelled edamame (can use peas too...I used the frozen, steam-in-the-bag mukimake from Target)
1/4 cup roasted and salted pepitas (I used sunflower seeds because I couldn't find pepitas that morning)
olive or canola oil
buns or rolls and assorted toppings for serving

Place 3/4 cup rice, cheese, chipotle and salt into a food processor - pulse until slightly pasty. Add chopped poblano, scallions, mukimame, and pepitas - pulse just until the vegetables are blended in and coarsely chopped.

Scoop mixture out into a bowl and knead in remaining rice. Using damped hands, divide mixture into four equal pieces, shaping each firmly into a 4" patty, roughly 3/4" thick. Place into the refrigerator and chill for 20 to 30 minutes.

Preheat grill pan or flat skillet. Brush one side of the patties with oil and place, oiled side down, into the grill pan - cook over medium heat until golden and crusty, about 5 minutes. Brush top side with oil, then carefully turn patty over and cook until heated through and golden, about 5 minutes more.

Serve on buns or rolls with your toppings of choice.

Makes 4 servings.

"European Peasant Bread" (or bread with a mix of your favorite whole grains)

This was round 2 of the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day baking, and allowed me to use up some miscellaneous non-all-purpose flours in the pantry.
It, like the basic boule recipe, is delicious and versatile -- I made a basic loaf, a few pain d'epi's, and a couple loaves of cinnamon raisin bread just from this batch.

Ingredients
3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (2 packets)
1 1/2 tablespoons Kosher salt
1/2 cup rye flour*
1/2 cup whole wheat flour*
5 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour*

*I actually used 4 cups all-purpose flour+1 cup whole wheat flour + 1 1/2 cups spelt flour -- If you like whole grain foods, then you can get away with adding more and increasing the whole grain-to-AP-ratio. I think it is most important to just make sure it all adds up to ~6 1/2 cups of flour.

Cornmeal for the pizza peel


Directions

Mix the yeast, salt and water in a 5-quart bowl. Add the flours and mix without kneading using a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, a 14-cup food processor with dough attachment, or a spoon/wet hands combo.

Lightly cover the dough and rest it at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses, about 2 hours. Refrigerate the dough and use over the next 14 days -- you can use the dough immediately (as I did) but evidently it’s easier to work with when cold.

When ready to bake, dust the surface of the dough with flour and cut off a 1-pound piece. Dust with more flour and shape it into a ball by stretching the outer layers to the bottom, rotating the dough until smooth on all sides. If you have taken it from the refrigerator, rest the dough on a cornmeal covered pizza peel for 40 minutes (I don’t have a pizza peel so I used a cutting board). If not, it can rest for the 20min the oven is pre-heating.

Set a baking or pizza stone in the center of the oven and preheat it to 450°F 20 minutes before baking. Also, place an empty broiler tray on a different oven rack.

Sprinkle the dough with flour and use a serrated knife to cut slits or “scallops” across the top. Slide the dough onto the baking stone and pour 1 cup of hot water into the broiler tray. Bake until the crust is browned and firm, about 35 minutes (if your loaves are smaller, start checking around 15min!)

Triple Mustard Salmon

This recipe is from my latest issue of Food and Wine and it is definitely a new favorite. I wasn't sure how it would turn out (too mustard-y? too bland?) but it is a perfect balance of flavors, and has an amazing crisp texture on the outside and soft warm wonderful fresh salmon goodness on the inside. I had to make a few tweaks from the orginal recipe (I think there may have been some errors with theirs...), and they are incorporated below.
This is also super fast and easy -- will definitely be doing this one again and again.

Ingredients
3 tablespoons toasted wheat germ
1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds, crushed
2 6-8 ounce skinless salmon fillets
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 tablespoon canola oil (or a healthy dose of Pam)

Directions

1. In a shallow dish, combine the wheat germ and mustard seeds. Season the salmon fillets with salt and pepper. In a bowl, blend the Dijon mustard with the dry mustard and spread it over each side of the fillets. Dip the fillets in the wheat germ mixture one side at a time until thickly coated.
2. In a nonstick skillet, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the fillets, crust side down, and cook over moderately high heat until browned and crisp, 3 minutes. Turn the fillets and cook over moderate heat until barely cooked in the center, 3 minutes longer. Transfer the salmon to plates and serve crust side up.

Savory Cornbread Muffins With Jalapeños and Corn

Another quick recipe from Recipes for Health. These muffins have an appealingly coarse grain texture and a nice robust flavor from the corn and buttermilk.
Unfortunately, most of the actual flavor depends on the spice/taste of the jalapenos you put it in it, which is hard to judge at the store. So you might want to (carefully) taste your jalapeno before adding it -- if it is really mild, add more than the 2 Tbsp, but if it is insanely spicy, maybe a bit less.

1 cup yellow cornmeal, preferably organic stone-ground
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage or 1 teaspoon rubbed sage
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 cup corn kernels
2 tablespoons minced jalapeños
1/2 cup grated Cheddar or Monterey Jack (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees with the rack positioned in the upper third. Oil or butter muffin tins.

2. Place the cornmeal in a bowl, and sift in the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Stir in the sage. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, buttermilk, oil and honey. Whisk or stir the cornmeal mixture into the liquid mixture. Do not beat; a few lumps are fine, but make sure there is no flour at the bottom of the bowl. Fold in the corn kernels, minced jalapeño and optional cheese.

3. Spoon into muffin cups, filling them to just below the top (about 4/5 full). Place in the oven, and bake 20 to 25 minutes until lightly browned and well risen.

Yield: Twelve muffins, depending on the size of your muffin tins.

Advance preparation: These keep for a couple of days out of the refrigerator, for a few more days in the refrigerator, and for a few months in the freezer.

Nutritional information per muffin (based on 12-muffin yield; does not include optional cheese): 161 calories; 1 gram saturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 32 milligrams cholesterol; 23 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 362 milligrams sodium; 5 grams protein

Vegan Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Butternut Squash and Apple With Candied Walnuts

I adapted this from The Temporary Vegetarian column in the NYT.
Next time around I would put all of the cut produce in a much larger baking area so that they could all slightly char and crisp without getting mushy from surrounding veggies.
Aside from that minor texture issues in a couple of spots, I thought the taste of this was wonderful. (Oh and if you're hungry (read: pigs like us) and thinking this will serve two people as a main dish...you might want to double it -- we definitely wanted a bit more.)

Ingredients

* 1 1/2 cups brussels sprouts, trimmed, halved
* 2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch asymmetrical chunks
* 2 cups (about 1 large) Honeycrisp, Cortland, or Granny Smith apple, cored and cut into 1-inch asymmetrical chunks
* 1 shallot, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch slices
* 2 tablespoons olive oil (or Pam if you want to omit some fat/calories)
* 5 fresh sage leaves
* Salt and freshly ground pepper
* 1/2 tablespoon maple syrup
Candied walnuts
Craisens/dried cranberries

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large, shallow, baking dish, toss the brussels sprouts, butternut squash, apple and shallot with olive oil and sage leaves. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Bake without stirring until vegetables and apple are wrinkled, slightly brown, and the edges of the squash are beginning to crisp, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
2. Remove vegetables from oven, drizzle with maple syrup and sprinkle with 2 to 3 tablespoons of halved or roughly crumbled walnut pieces and 2 to 3 tablespoons of craisens. Return to oven for about 5 minutes, then serve.

"Slow"-Baked White Beans With Kale

This came from Recipes for Health originally, but I tweaked a few things to add a little more spice to it as well as to make cooking time a little faster because I got a late start on it. Ideally you'd do all the prep early and let the oven do most of the work, but with the right adjustments, either way works!

Ingredients

1 bunch kale, stemmed and washed in two changes of water (I actually used 1/2 bag of frozen kale + ~2 cups of fresh baby spinach)

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (I omitted and used Pam and water and a splash of white wine, but the oil would help the veggies soften best probably)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 2/3 cups white beans (3/4 pound) or dried lima beans, picked over and soaked for at least four hours and drained (I used 2 cans of cannelini beans)

1 6-ounce can tomato paste, dissolved in 1 cup water (I used 1 1/4 cup marinara sauce)

1 teaspoon herbes de Provence

1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

Salt and a generous amount of freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup bread crumbs

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. If you are using fresh kale, you may want to blanch it first to extract some of the bitterness.

2. Heat a greased/oiled pan over medium heat; add the onion and carrots. Cook, stirring often, until the onion is tender, about five minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute. Add the dissolved tomato paste, and bring to a simmer. Stir in the kale/spinach and let all veggies soften, adding more liquid (water, wine, or tomato sauce) as needed/desired.

3. Add the drained beans, red pepper flakes, herbes de Provence and salt and pepper. Transfer to a large (greased) ovenproof casserole and place in the oven. Bake until the beans are tender and creamy (original recipe was for 3 hours and for if you are using dried beans -- I only cooked this for about 20-30min). Taste and adjust salt

4. Mix together a bit of olive oil and the bread crumbs. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the beans, and continue to bake another 10min until the bread crumbs are lightly browned. Remove from the heat and serve; or allow to cool slightly and serve.

Yield: Serves six (or two, if you're Scott and I. There were no leftovers.)

(Oh and a poached egg on top is delicious :) )

Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad with Red Onion, Lemon and Pecorino

I found this recipe on Food52 after having something just like it at Pizzeria Da Lupo.
It is really tasty in a tangy but not bitter sort of way, and pretty easy if you have a food processor to slice the Brussels sprouts.

* 1/2 small red onion
* Juice of 1 lemon (~3-4 Tbsp)
* 1 teaspoon honey
* 1 teaspoon whole grain mustard
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 3 cups Brussels sprouts (use larger sprouts if possible)
* 1/2 cup finely grated pecorino romano

1. Soak the onion slices in a small bowl of cold water for 15 to 20 minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, honey, mustard and a pinch of salt and pepper. Whisk in the olive oil until the dressing is emulsified. Set aside.
3. Trim all of the Brussels sprouts, cutting off any bruised outer leaves and slicing off a good portion of the hard root end. Using a mandoline (or a food processor!), shave the sprouts one at a time. When you're done, use your fingers to gently separate the leaves so that the shredded sprouts resemble a very fine slaw.
4. Put the sprouts in a serving bowl and toss gently with the onions (which you've now drained) and the dressing. Fold in the pecorino, taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

Chicken Paprikash

This was based on a NYT "What we're reading" posting, so I won't blame the NYT that it wasn't as good as I thought it might be. The only reason I bother writing it up then, is that I am sure with a few minor tweaks next time, it could be good. Changes that I will make next time are included below, and all reflect an effort to spike the flavor in a few ways -- there was nothing bad about the original...it just seemed a bit bland. Thus, enter more salt, pepper, garlic, and some red pepper.

3 pounds skinless chicken breasts

Salt and pepper(a lot)

2 onions , chopped fine

2 red bell peppers , stemmed, seeded, and sliced thin

3 garlic cloves , minced

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/4 cup high-quality (could be smoked, sweet, whatever you like) paprika

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional, and to taste...if you want a little heat)

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

3/4 cup fat free greek yogurt (optional; only if you want a creamy sauce)

1. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Place in slowcooker.

2. Pile in onions and peppers, stir in garlic, tomato paste, paprika, pepper, broth, and flour and cook 4 hours on high, 6 hours on low.

3. Turn off heat, stir in yogurt (or sour cream) until incorporated and season with salt and pepper. Serve.

(Oven) Fried Chicken and Savory Waffles with Cayenne-Bourbon Maple Syrup

Cooked this up from a combination of recipes found online, namely this one for the chicken and this one for the waffles. I doctored them both up a bit, and here's the version I used.

Obviously the chicken isn't greasy like it "should" be in the traditional recipes but this is less messy and more healthy.

Anyway, this is really tasty -- highly recommend it!

Oven-Fried Chicken

2 cups cornflakes (or 1 cup already-crushed cornflakes)

1 tsp thyme

2 tsp paprika

½ tsp chile powder

½ tsp cayenne pepper

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 can evaporated milk

1. Preheat the oven to 400. In a food processor, process the cornflakes, thyme, paprika, chiles and salt.

2. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray or line with parchment paper. Pour the evaporated milk into a shallow bowl. Pour the cornflake mix on to a plate and spread it out so that it's even. Dip each chicken breast, first in the milk, and then in the cornflake mix, pressing it on so that it sticks to the entire breast. Place on the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining chicken.

3. Put the baking sheet with all of the chicken on it in the oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Savory Waffles

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour

3/4 cup yellow cornmeal

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

¼ tsp black pepper

2 tsp mustard powder

½ tsp dried thyme

1/4 cup wheat germ

3 large eggs

2 cups well-shaken buttermilk

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 tablespoons olive oil

Into a large bowl sift together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Repeat sifting 2 more times and stir in wheat germ.

In another large bowl whisk together eggs, buttermilk, and oil. Add flour mixture all at once and whisk just until combined.

Preheat a waffle iron and preheat oven to 200 °F.

Brush waffle iron lightly with additional oil. Spoon batter into waffle iron, using 1/4 cup batter for each 4-inch-square standard waffle and spreading batter evenly, and cook according to manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer waffle to a baking sheet and keep warm, uncovered, in middle of oven. Make more waffles with remaining batter in same manner, brushing waffle iron with mire oil before adding each batch.

Bourbon-Cayenne Maple Syrup

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1 Tbsp bourbon

1/4 - 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Combine all three ingredients; heat for 1min in the microwave. Drizzle over chicken and waffles. (May want to double or triple the recipe depending on how many are being served!)