This is an amazing cookie!
It tastes of autumn: apples, cider donuts, fresh apple cider and cinnamon.
It reminds me of hayrides, bonfires, dry leaves crackling under foot, and evenings cool enough for a sweatshirt.
Ah, autumn.
This little delight captures the tastes and scents of fall in each bite.
Continue on for an easy to put together recipe and my commentary.
In honor of the first Packers game of the NFL season, I’m sending Packers cupcakes to UTPA with Ken tomorrow. One of the other guys in his department is from Wisconsin and is also a diehard fan. Together they can celebrate with these Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with a Dark Chocolate Ganache filling. The “grass” frosting is vanilla butter cream.
Go Packers!
Since the beginnings of married life, I’ve had an herb garden that included basic herbs and simple vegetables growing. Even in Washington D.C. (when neighbors were giving me a good natured ribbing about farming in the city) I managed a few carrots and leaf lettuce in otherwise uninhabitable soil. In North Dakota I had a HUGE garden, and in both Michigan and Indiana we had back door kitchen gardens with an abundance of herbs and the occasional tomato and pepper plants.
Cooking red cabbage reminds me of my grandmother’s dinner table with a vague recollection people, family probably, eating bone in pork chops.
The warm savory cabbage comes through my family of origin as a German food – probably inspired by the peasants for whom simple meals of winter crops that would last through extended cold snaps was the norm.
What a festive way to celebrate – by making a Gingerbread House!
Continue reading "Gingerbread House Part 1: Recipe and Baking" »
Here are a dozen and a half highlights of 2009:
Organic carrots – cleaned 5lbs at a time. In 2009, our kids discovered vegetables beginning with carrots.
Stock – This year we were quite intentional about regularly making stock and using as the flavor base not only for soup, but also for rice, couscous and even to saute vegetables in a low fat way.
Tortilla soup with homemade tortilla chips – Soup became the staple of the year as we developed favorite flavor profiles.
Ribs – Ken perfected BBQ ribs this year with a savory rub and a long and low process of cooking.
Pizza – He also perfected both crust and topping combinations to the extent that it’s a rarity that we eat carry out pizza.
Salmon Chowder – This soup used both our kitchen made stock and utilized seafood which we had made a commitment to eat more of in 2009.
Roladen – A favorite, reminiscent of our days in Munich. Also one of the most Googled recipes of 2009.
Ice Cream Cake – The temperature on July 8, Madeleine’s birthday, was 104 degrees and thus we decided to have an ice cream cake for her. What a fun new way to celebrate. I’d like to try to make one.
Ox Tail Soup – Another of the most Googled recipes of 2009, however, it was probably one of my biggest culinary disappointments of the year. I had wanted to try ox tail for a very long time and when I came to find out that my maternal grandmother, one of my earliest cooking teachers, made it that desire increased. Well, the soup/stew wasn’t what I expected. Maybe I’ll try again in the new year.
Charlie Trotter – Eating at the Kitchen Table and meeting Charlie himself was an amazing way to celebrate Ken’s dissertation defense and inaugurate the final steps toward his PhD (which he received in May).
Meatballs – One of the funniest food episodes this year is when I made meatballs, and I kept making them, and making them, and rolling them, and preparing them, and making them… 442 in total.
Hot and Spicy Chicken Wings – Mine are the best in the Valley, no, in the world.
Olive Burger – Hungry for an olive burger like the one at the Keyhole Bar in the UP, I tried to re-create one. My version was quite delicious, but still it just wasn’t quite it. Unplanned, our summer vacation included a 2000 mile (each way) road trip to the UP and the Key Hole Bar where I ate the real thing.
The Perfect Steak – Ken’s grilling mastery is off the charts: delicious, juicy, and what beautiful grill marks on the steaks. Likewise, he’s grilled fish, ribs, ratones, and vegetables.
Grilled Cheese – This was Madeleine’s first grilled cheese that she made “all by herself.” Another Madison House Chef is launched.
Blueberry Muffins – 2009 was a year of baking and sharing baked goods. Baking is still one of my favorite ways to relax.
Pork Picnic – We tried and successfully accomplished Pulled Pork!
Bok Choy – This was our new vegetable of the year. While I’d eaten it many times before, I had not ever cooked with it, but now it’s in the regular rotation of vegetable sides.
Looking to 2010 I’m hopeful to do more baking, to explore more vegetables and create new ways to eat them, and to eat at another world class restaurant (maybe in Spain, the UK, or Finland). I look forward to learning to make homemade sausage, finding a great paella recipe, and continuing to catalogue these recipes (and share them) via this Madison House Chef blog.
Happy New Year, 2010 – Enjoy!
When we lived in North Dakota a woman named Betty Lou made the hands down, best, (should be) award winning rhubarb dessert ever. It was tart, yet sweet and the shortbread cookie style crust was buttery and flaky. We enjoyed it several times at her home and at potluck dinners -- she always took home a clean dish as there was never a single bite left. When I asked her about the recipe, she handed me a yellowed newspaper clipping that had been hand edited to double the recipe. I asked for a pen and paper to write down the information. "No, no. Just take it. I know how it's done," she replied. Once home I immediately attached it to a recipe card and covered it in plastic, knowing that this would be a family heirloom. It is!
It's blueberry season!
What a luscious delight in midsummer -- a feast for eye, for nose, and for the tastebuds.
Thus far I've made blueberry muffins, blueberry pancakes, and nearly blueberry sorbet (for some reason the sorbet didn't set up properly, we'll try again soon).
Ken has, of course, been enjoying blueberries with half and half (gotta' watch the fat and cholesterol thus it wasn't cream...)
What shall I bake tomorrow with these delicious blue orbs of joy?
