it's freeeezing here

Ok, I know that as a native Minnesotan, I am not supposed to complain about the weather. But three years in Manhattan, where the combination of population density and pollution prevents snow from sticking for more than four hours, have left me totally soft and unprepared for the vicious reality that is Minnesota winter.

We're set to get our first big winter storm this week, and it's supposed to be 2 below on Friday. Not below freezing - below ZERO. So I'm planning on spending most of this week and weekend heating up in the kitchen, hanging out by the warm oven and getting a bunch of my holiday baking done.

On the agenda so far: family classic Russian Teacakes, Peanut Blossoms, Scandinavian spritz cookies, and a brand new chocolate gingerbread cookie recipe from the geniuses at Baked, one of my favorite bakeries of all time.

What are you making for the holidays? And what else should I make? If you've been good this year, I might take requests ;)

very American apple pie

If there's anything more American than apple pie, it's this apple pie, which has a delicious pecan crumble crust covering sweetly spicy apples that have been sauteed in real Kentucky bourbon. Pecans, being native to south-central America, put the patriotic appeal of this delicious dessert right over the top.

I first made this recipe for Thanksgiving dinner two years ago, after seeing it in the New York Times. It comes from a restaurant called Bubby's in Tribeca, a diner known for an delicious home-style brunch and an extensive, varied, and invariably scrumptious selection of pies. I loved the recipe so much that I ended up asking for the book it came from that Christmas, and everything I've made from it has been really, really good.

But back to the pie at hand. We usually have a pretty good-sized crowd for Thanksgiving dinner, and not everyone in my extended family likes pumpkin pie (sacrilege, right? you already know how I feel about pumpkin flavored things). I love making classic apple pies (in fact, I entered one in the Minnesota State Fair this summer), but I was intrigued by the addition of the bourbon, the nutty crumble topping, and the fact that the apples get sauteed before being put in the pie shell.

This pie is fantastic with or without classic accoutrements such as whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, and was such a big hit with my family that we haven't been able to celebrate Thanksgiving without it since. For some reason, this year's pie was even more delicious than last - I don't know if it was the Wild Turkey, the Minnesota-grown apples, or my culinary education kicking in, but I hope next year's turns out just as well!

Bubby's Whiskey Apple Crumble Pie (slightly modified by me)

Pate Sucree (recipe from the French Culinary Institute):

125 grams butter, softened

63 grams powdered sugar

1 egg plus one yolk

250 grams all-purpose flour

Crumble Topping:

3/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/4 c. light brown sugar

1/4 c. granulated sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

Salt

6 tbsp cold unsalted butter

1/2 c. chopped pecans

Whiskey-Apple Filling

3 tbsp. cold unsalted butter

2 pounds tart apples, peeled, cored and sliced 1/4-inch thick (Granny Smith work great)

1/2 c. light brown sugar

Pinch ground cloves

Pinch ground nutmeg (freshly grated, if possible)

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 tbsp. whiskey or bourbon (I used Wild Turkey for an All-American Kentucky bourbon take)

1. To make the crust, bring the butter and the eggs to room temperature. Beat the butter and the (sifted) powdered sugar with an electric mixture until thoroughly creamed. Add eggs one at a time, careful to maintain the emulsion and mix thoroughly before adding the next. Add flour and mix only until incorporated. Wrap in plastic and chill in refrigerator for at least one hour.

2. Roll out crust, place in buttered 9-inch pie dish, crimp edges as desired. Chill for at least 30 minutes. (I like glass or Pyrex pie tins, because they allow me to monitor the done-ness of my crust more easily.)

3. Make the crumble topping, either by hand or in a food processor. If the latter, add all ingredients except butter and nuts, pulse to mix. Add butter, pulse until texture approximates lentils or small peas. Add chopped nuts. If by hand, mix all ingredients except butter and nuts until combined, cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives. Mix in pecans at end, chill until needed.

4. Core and slice apples (I tend not to peel mine, you can if you like). Melt butter in frying pan over medium heat, add apples and brown sugar. Cook until slightly soft around the edges, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, add spices, bourbon. Let cool for 10 minutes

5. Pour filling into chilled crust, top with crumble. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes; lower oven to 350 and bake for another 40 to 50 minutes, or until topping is set and filling is juicy, bubbling, and heavenly-smelling.

6. You'll want to eat it right away, but do yourself a favor and let it rest - the pie will cut more easily and taste even better once it's cooled down (at least an hour - our pie was even tastier the day after Thanksgiving!)

if Starbucks can do it...

I know that Thanksgiving is still six weeks away, meaning it's probably too early for the seasonal deluge of pumpkin-pie-spiced foods. But here in Minnesota it's COLD already, cold enough that I've been hunting for my box of winter clothes that got somehow misplaced in my move. Cold enough that I heard the "s-word" on a weather report yesterday. (snow? in October? we are not in Manhattan anymore...) And cold enough that I felt justified in needing to make these pumpkin muffins when I saw the recipe while flipping through my enormous cookbook collection. Plus, Starbucks is already hawking their pumpkin pie latte. If they can do it, so can I.

I made these muffins last Saturday night, to give me something to do other than watch bad TV and get nervous about our race the next day before I went to sleep early. (I just started coaching a juniors rowing team. They're the best, but I now have enormous compassion and sympathy for all the coaches I worked with growing up.) I've always found baking to be a productive form of stress reduction, and these muffins did their job.

These muffins have the dubious distinction of being "healthy," with whole wheat flour and a relatively limited amount of fat compared to many other muffin recipes. Unlike some lower-fat recipes, they were still nice and moist, and the molasses adds a distinctive fall flavor. The pungent combination of spices made the whole house smell good as the muffins baked, and the finished product was a big hit in the food tent at the regatta.

I adapted this recipe from Ellie Krieger's The Food You Crave, which seems to do a great job making healthy food taste like it might not be so healthy. The recipe as written calls for 1 c. of pumpkin, which is just slightly over half of the standard size 15 oz. can. I hated to see the extra pumpkin going unused, so I not-quite doubled it to use all the pumpkin, and adjusted for the fact that I was missing some of the suggested flavoring.

Pumpkin Pie Muffins

2 c. all purpose flour

1 3/4 c. whole-wheat flour or whole-grain pastry flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. kosher salt

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ground allspice

1 1/2 c. firmly packed dark brown sugar

6 tbsp. molasses (I used full flavor, and the finished product was VERY molasses-y, so I would adjust according to your taste)

1/2 c. vegetable oil

15 oz. canned pumpkin

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 c. lowfat buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter or spray 24 standard size muffins, or twice as many mini-muffins.

Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt and spices together in a medium sized bowl. In a larger bowl, combine the brown sugar, molasses, and oil, whisking until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time. Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla. Stir in a third of the dry mixture, then half the buttermilk. Repeat, ending with the last third of the dry ingredients, being careful not to overmix. Pour into prepared muffin pans, and bake for approximately 20 minutes or until the top springs back to the touch (mini muffins will bake more quickly). Let cool, unmold, and store in airtight container. I imagine these would freeze well, however none of ours lasted long enough to find out!

cookies (according to me)

My family does care packages better than any other family I know. My freshman year of college, I was the only kid on my hall who received a customized copy of "The National Enquirer" with her pet's face posted over the "World's Fattest Cat!!!" picture. Another only-in-my-family winner was the CD labeled "We Love You, Liz" that contained only 17 tracks of my least favorite song. With no set list, so I had to listen to every track to find out exactly what was on it. (The song, in case you were wondering, is "Teen Angel." So tragically stupid.)

But the best care packages always involved food. I have a very clear memory of getting a large container of my mom's chocolate oatmeal cookies sophomore year, and sharing them with hall-mates only to become mired in a deep philosophical debate - were these cookies actually cookies? Some stubborn friends insisted that to be a cookie required spending time in an oven, making these no-bake goodies unworthy of the cookie title. But there's chocolate, and sugar, and butter, which makes them a cookie in my book.

Now that I have a classical pastry education, I feel free to unilaterally declare that these morsels of fudgy goodness, are in fact cookies. But whatever you call them, they're delicious - a winning combination of chocolate and peanut butter combined with the chunky solidity of oatmeal. They're also quick and easy to prepare, and require only one pot and one spoon. It's true that beauty is not among their many attributes, but I think once you taste them you won't mind one bit.

This latest batch is destined for a care package to my sister Kathleen at graduate school, but of course I saved a few for us here!

Chocolate Oatmeal Drop Cookies

3 c. sugar

3/4 c. cocoa

1 c. milk

1/2 c. butter

1 c. peanut butter

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. vanilla

6 c. quick oatmeal

Bring the sugar, cocoa, milk, and butter to a rolling boil for one minute over medium to medium high heat. Remove from heat.

Add vanilla, peanut butter, and salt, stir still smooth.

Add oatmeal, stir to coat.

Drop with tablespoons onto waxed or parchment paper. Let cool.

Enjoy!

I'm baaack

Sorry it took so long! Hopefully these new posts and recipes will help make up for my absence, and I'll try to be more diligent in the future...

vegetable adventures, part 1

As I mentioned earlier, my family is participating in a CSA with a local farm, and so far it's been an interesting and delicious experience. The first week we got lots of fresh lettuce, some herbs, the greenest pea pods I've ever seen, and one pint of delicate, beautiful early strawberries, which I turned into a strawberry tart for Kathleen.

Since then we've gotten at least two pints of strawberries every week, and more lettuce. Beets, radishes, zucchini, sweet little pickling cucumbers, and fresh currants (both red and white) have all come through our kitchen. And then last week we got our first UVO - unidentified vegetable object. Spiky and maleficent looking, it wasn't really like anything I'd seen before. My mom stripped its green crown so it would fit in our crisper drawer, where it sat for several days before an illuminating newsletter arrived from the CSA with the weekly list of box contents. By process of elimination (not lettuce, not beets, not strawberries), I deduced that I was facing a kohlrabi.

I should have known to keep a weather eye out for this strange vegetable; a friend who'd participated in a CSA previously had warned me about them. "I didn't know what to do with it," she said, "so it just sat in our refrigerator all summer and eventually I threw it away." Being a child of the Internet generation, I turned to Google for answers. Wikipedia and the University of Minnesota website informed me that kohlrabi is part of the cabbage family, and can be eaten raw or served baked, roasted or steamed. Taking a cue from Deborah Madison's book Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, which I checked out of the library and have been loving, I decided to steam it and serve it with sour cream and dill, potato-like.

Ten minutes and a sharp chef's knife transformed the kohlrabi from something alien to something ordinary, just a pile of small white matchsticks. My youngest sister, whose general disdain for all things vegetable has been observed in this blog before, wandered by and tried a few of the raw pieces. "This is good," she said, surprising both of us. "It tastes like cauliflower."

Which it does, vaguely, being clean and starchy with just a bit of a peppery finish. In a midstream change of tactics, and in deference to the fact that cauliflower is one of two vegetables Laura actually likes, we decided to roll with the kohlrabi's cauliflower-like properties and prepare it the way we like our cauliflower - tossed with a little bit of olive oil, kosher salted, and roasted in a 400 degree oven. Since the vegetable had already been cut into matchsticks, we ended up with a dish that resembled kohlrabi fries - salty, crispy, a little burned, and really not half bad. So our first vegetable adventure ended very well, and I'm looking forward to whatever next week's basket brings us.

take out the trash fruit crisp

Shortly before I left New York, I was thrilled to discover that Bravo showed reruns of The West Wing almost every day. I bribed myself to pack and clean between 9 and 11 each day with those two hours of political skullduggery and smart, witty rapid-fire dialogue (and Rob Lowe as Sam Seaborne). The show is crammed with throwaway lines and funny little conceits, one of my favorite being "Take Out the Trash Day" from the first season. The White House deliberately releases several sensitive and potentially damaging stories on the same day, realizing that with a finite amount of column space each issue will receive less press. This concept, slightly transmuted and with a positive spin, is just as applicable in a summer produce-filled refrigerator, and the results are much tastier!

Now, I'm not suggesting you use any fruit that actually belongs in a trash can. But if you find yourself facing, as I did recently, half a case of cherries going slightly soft, a few nectarines whose better days have passed, and the remains of a pint of strawberries, do not despair. An oatmeal-topped crisp is the perfect solution when you don't have quite enough of anything to make a fruit-specific dish and the fruit in question is no longer pretty enough to be served raw or on its own.

Exact technique or recipe will vary depending on the fruit you use, but most fruit can be cleaned, sliced, tossed with a little bit of sugar, lemon juice and spices to taste, spread in a glass or metal baking dish and sprinkled with generous handfuls of an oatmeal/butter/brown sugar topping. I like to add a little kosher salt and cinnamon to round out the flavor; fresh nutmeg or ginger can also be delicious. Bake the crisp in a 350 degree oven for 30-45 minutes, or until the fruit starts to juice and bubble and the topping becomes golden and crisp.

If you want to use a harder fruit like rhubarb, I recommend sauteeing or poaching it before placing it in the dish. Rhubarb is delicious cooked on the stovetop with butter, a scraped vanilla bean, sugar, and a little rose wine. Sliced strawberries can be added after the rhubarb is cooked and before placing the crisp in the oven for a deliciously seasonal take on early summer ingredients.

One of the best things about this fruit crisp is its versatility - it will be perfect with strawberries and rhubarb in June, raspberries and peaches in August, and apples and cinnamon through the fall and winter.