Crunchy Molasses Cookies - Great Food Blogger Cookies Swap

Last year I participated in a cookie swap from a message board I'm on.  I had fun with that swap, so when I heard about the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap I knew I wanted to be a part of it this year.  The concept of it is that food bloggers from all over join in for a small donation to Cookies for Kids' Cancer, then you are assigned three bloggers to send a dozen cookies to and you'll receive three dozen cookies in return from other bloggers.  Doesn't that sound like a great swap?!

There are so many food blogs out there, so it was nice to be connected to blogs I otherwise wouldn't have known about.  The bloggers I was assigned were:
The Crafty Foodie
Embracing Homemaking
Cardio Cats and Cooking


Knowing I needed to make at least 3 dozen cookies (with a few extras for us to enjoy here) and knowing that this was to raise money for Cookies for Kid's Cancer, I turned to my Best Bake sale Cookbook, which happens to give all proceeds from book sales to the same charity!  I wanted to make something "holiday"-ish.  One of my favorite holiday flavors is gingerbread, so these molasses cookies are the perfect holiday treat!  And my favorite part of these cookies is the sugar coating they get before going into the oven.  It helps bring out the sweetness from the otherwise spicey cookies.

I baked them, packed them up and sent them off to the recipients.  Then as I was on my way home from the post office I realized that I hadn't taken a picture of them!  What is a girl to do??  Bake more, of course!  I knew that I wanted to make holiday treats for our neighbors, so I whipped up another batch for them, and this time I remembered to take a picture before giving them away.  And another thing about making the extra batch was that I adjusted the bake time so they didn't come out quite as well done as the ones I had sent to my swap recipients.

Oh, and the best part of this swap?  Receiving cookies!  I was sent walnut sable cookies from La Peche Fraiche which I think lasted 2 days in our house, Ritzy Peanut Butter Crackers in Chocolate from Crackers on the Couch (when I opened this box the scent of chocolate and peanut butter wafted through the air...every box should have this scent!) and yummy jelly cookies from Mooshu Jenne.

I'm looking forward to doing this swap again next year!



Crunchy Molasses Cookies (slightly adapted from The Best Bake Sale Cook Book)

Ingredients
1 1/2 sticks (6oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar, plus additional for rolling
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/4 cup robust molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cardamom

Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle and beat until smooth and creamy.  Add the egg, molasses, and vanilla, one at a time, beating well between additions.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Place the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices in a separate bowl and mix well.  Add to the butter mixture.  Beat until everything is well incorporated.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat again.
- To form the cookies, break off small pieces and roll into 1 inch balls.  Roll the balls in sugar and place 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets.  Using your hand or the bottom of a water glass, press down until flattened.  Transfer to the oven and bake until the cookies begin to brown at the edges (approx. 10 minutes).  Cook on the cookie sheet.  Transfer to a wire rack and repeat with the remaining dough.

Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo Pasta

Remember the swaps I used to participate in?  Well, the format has now changed (and for the better!).  Instead of being assigned a recipe that I might not be too excited to make, we are now given the theme and a blog and we get to choose what recipe within the theme to make.  I love this change, because there have been one or two recipes that I had been assigned that I wasn't so thrilled about (and you could probably tell from my posts about them).  So I jumped at the chance to participate in this month's swap under the new rules.

The theme for this month was Vegetarian.  I was assigned A Taste of Home Cooking, which happens to be the blog of the swap organizer, Sarah (no pressure, right?!).  I went through her vegetarian recipes (love that she has a "vegetarian" label, hopefully the gal who was assigned my blog knew to look at anything labeled dairy or parve for an easy search!).  A few jumped out at me, but after a little deliberation and an e-mail of my top choices to my husband, we settled on Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo Pasta, which is a recipe from Marcus Samuelsson.  We're big Marcus fans from watching him on Chopped and have eaten at his restaurant Red Rooster, so we were excited to try this out.

Neither of us are huge roasted red pepper fans, but we decided to give this one a shot since we liked everything else about it.  I wasn't 100% sure how much "3 peppers" was, so I just bought a 12oz jar and used that.  Maybe that wasn't as much as I was supposed to use, but for us it was the perfect amount.  As my husband wanted me to say - if you usually don't like roasted red peppers, don't shy away from this recipe!

And the pasta was even better the next day for lunch!  I warmed mine up, but my husband ate his cold (I've mentioned before his fear of using his office's microwave, yes?) and he said it was just as good right out of the fridge.

I'm very glad that I chose this recipe to make.  And I'm even more excited to see what I get to make in the next swap!

Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo Pasta (recipe by Marcus Samuelsson, submitted to the swap by Taste of Home Cooking)

Ingredients
1/2 lb pasta (I used fettuccine)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, grated
1/2 cup half and half
4 oz goat cheese
1/4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated
3 roasted red bell peppers , coarsely chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
1 handful basil
8 oz artichoke hearts, cut into quarters

Directions
- Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and reserve.
- Heat the olive oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about one minute.
- Add the half and half, goat cheese, Parmesan and roasted red peppers and simmer until the cheese is melted. Remove from heat, season with salt and pepper and add the basil. Puree with an immersion blender or food processor. Add in the chopped artichoke hearts.
- Toss the pasta with the sauce and serve immediately.

Cornmeal-Crusted Flounder Sandwich with Tarter Sauce

I enjoy fast food as much as the next person, though I have never been a fan of hamburgers.  When I want a fast food fix my usual meal is a Filet-o-Fish from McDonald's.  My husband is not a big fast food person but he enjoys a good fish sandwich.  Whenever we go see the Mets play at Citifield, our go-to meal is a flounder sandwich from Catch of the Day.  When I came across this recipe in a cookbook I knew that I wanted to try this out since it would probably be 100x healthier than getting a fish sandwich at any of these places.

Not only was the fish delicious (and less greasy than their fast food counter part) but the homemade tarter sauce was surprisingly tasty.  When I get my fish sandwiches when I'm out I normally add ketchup to the usual tarter sauce.  This combo of flavors was so good as is that I actually have mixed this sauce up and added it to deli sandwiches since I made this dish.

These were so ridiculously easy to make that I'll definitely be making them again soon.  Even reheating some leftover fish tasted great!

Cornmeal-Crusted Flounder with Tarter Sauce (from Kosher by Design: Short on Time)

Ingredients
6 large flounder or sole filets
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs, lightly beaten with 2 tbsp water
1 cup ground yellow cornmeal
2 tbsp olive oil, plus more if needed (***I used grapeseed oil, as it has a higher heat tolerance)
1 cup mayonaise
2 sour pickles, very finely chopped
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp hot sauce

Directions
- cut each filet on either side of the spine and remove the spine; you will be left with 2 long pieces of flounder from each filet
- season both sides of each piece of fish with salt and pepper
- arrange 3 bowls on your work surface (I find it easiest to use deep dishes like a pie dish for this)
- place the flour in one bowl, the beaten egg in the second bowl, and the cornmeal in the third bowl.
- take the fish, one piece at a time.  Dip it into the flour; shaking off the excess.  Dip it into the egg; shaking off the excess, and then dip it into the cornmeal; shaking off the excess.  Repeat with the remaining 11 pieces.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  When the oil is hot, but not smoking, add the fish in a single layer, working in batches if necessary.  Cook for 4 minutes per side, or until a crisp crust forms and the fish is slightly firm to the touch.  Remove to a plate or platter.  If you are doing this in batches you will need more oil.
- Meanwhile, prepare the tarter sauce:  In a small bowl whisk together the mayonnaise, pickles, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce.
- Serve the fish on rolls with the tarter sauce.

Butternut Squash Lasagna

When most people think of fall flavors the #1 thing that probably comes to mind for most people is pumpkin.  I'm pretty sure 99% of my newsfeed on Facebook was dedicated to the arrival of the pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks on the day they made their return appearance.  However, when I think of fall I immediately think of butternut squash.  I seriously can't believe that before 2011 I don't think I had even tasted it.  I now want to put it in everything!  My butternut squash soup made an appearance on our table a few weeks ago.  But I'm always looking for different things to do with it.

So I was incredibly excited when I flipped through this month's issue of Food Network Magazine and in their weekend meal section featuring different lasagnas they included a recipe for one using roasted butternut squash.  I basically started salivating as soon as I read the title of the recipe.  I knew that I had to make it in the near future.

I was able to get this done on a Sunday night, when my husband was home to help with the baby.  Though I will say, although this recipe straightforward probably does take the 2 hours listed, it's easy to do some of the parts earlier than others.  For example, I put the squash and onions to roast and then went to feed the baby.  When I returned to the kitchen maybe 30 min later (my husband was on oven duty and had taken the pans out when they finished cooking) I then did the sauce.  I like when a more time consuming recipe doesn't leave time constraints.  Much easier to handle making a dish like this while I can't give it my undivided attention.

Although I typed out the recipe below as printed in the magazine, I adjusted the recipe slightly to suit our tastes:
- I used a red onion instead of a basic "cooking onion" as I usually do.  Roasted red onions may be another new favorite of time
-  I didn't use sage leaves just a sprinkle of dried sage. While I'm not the biggest sage fan my husband absolutely hates it and wouldn't touch a dish with sage leaves
- I used skim milk instead of whole
- I changed the size of the pan and made 2 pans. Since there are only two of us and I'm heading back to work in a few weeks I want to start stocking up the freezer.  One pan was plenty for dinner 2 nights and now we have some in the freezer to enjoy later.

This came out so delicious, I am sure it will make a return to my fall menu next year!

Butternut Squash Lasagna (from Food Network Magazine)

Ingredients
for the vegetables:
1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt
1 onion, halved and sliced

for the bechamel:
2 tbsp unsalted butter
10 sage leaves
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups whole milk
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg

for the lasagna:
unsalted butter, for the baking dish
1 cup grated fontina cheese (about 4 oz)
1 cup grated low-moisture mozzarella cheese (about 4 oz)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 4 oz)
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
9 no-boil lasagna noodles


Directions
- Make the vegetables: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Toss the squash with 1 tbsp olive oil on a baking sheet; season with salt.  Toss the onion with the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil on a separate baking sheet; season with salt.  Roast, rotating the baking sheets once, until the vegetables are tender, 18-20 minutes; set aside.  Reduce the oven temperature to 350.
- Meanwhile, make the bechamel: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add the sage and cook 1 minute.  Whisk in the flour until smooth, cook, whisking, until the flour is lightly golden but not brown, about 2 minutes.  Gradually whisk in the milk until smooth.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the nutmeg.
- Assemble the lasagna: Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish.  Toss the cheeses and the flour in a bowl; set aside 1/2 cup for topping.  Evenly coat the bottom of the dish with 1/2 cup of the bechamel.  Lay 2 noodles side by side on top.  Cover with one third of the remaining bechamel.  Sprinkle with half o the remaining cheese mixture, then top with half of the vegetable mixture.  Arrange 3 more noodles on top and repeat the layers (bechamel, cheese, vegetables).  Top with the remaining 3 noodles, then cover with the remaining bechamel; sprinkle with the reserved 1/2 cup cheese.
- Loosely cover the dish with foil and bake until bubbly, about 45 minutes.  Turn on the broiler.  Uncover the lasagna and broil until browned, about 2 minutes.  Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Primavera Chicken

Now that we have the baby, I am always looking for recipes that take very little prep time but still look and taste like I slaved for hours in the kitchen.  Flipping through my Kosher By Design: Short on Time book the other day I came across this recipe that not only was a perfect fit for a delicious fall dinner, but also takes no time at all to prepare.

All you have to do is slice up the zucchini, squash, and tomatoes the dish is basically ready to go!  Of course it takes 2 hours to cook but as someone who is home for most of the day but doesn't have all afternoon to cook, this is something that can easily be done.  Once I go back to work I would only make this on a weekend when we're busy around the house but even if you get home before 5:30 you can still have dinner on the table by 7:30.  I halved the recipe, but I typed it up as is below in case you have more than 3 people to feed.  It's very easy to halve since the original recipe calls for it to be baked in two separate 9x13 pans.

I actually threw in a few more vegetables (butternut squash and red onion), though I roasted them separately just in case they didn't all work well together.  In the end I served the added veggies underneath the rest and thought the combination was great.

This chicken dish will definitely make its way into our dinner rotation.

Primavera Chicken (from Kosher By Design: Short on Time)

Ingredients
6-8 chicken legs, with bone and skin
6-8 chicken thighs, with bone and skin
1 yellow squash, unpeeled
1 green zucchini, unpeeled
1 qt cherry tomatoes, halved
1 8oz bottle of Italian dressing

Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Place the chicken pieces in single layers, skin side up, into two 9x13 inch baking pans.
- Slice the squash and zucchini in half lengthwise and slice into 1 inch thick half-moons.  Scatter over the chicken.  Toss on the halved tomatoes.
- Shake the dressing and drizzle it over the chicken.
- Bake, uncovered, for 2 hours
- Remove the chicken to a platter.  Toss the vegetables in the pan liquid and then scatter them over the chicken.

Cranberry Walnut Scones

One of the big selling points for moving to my new town was the proximity to a Wegmans.  For those of you who aren't aware of this magical place, it is a super market that has a café, lots of prepared foods, a wonderful natural food section, amazing store brand items, and a toy train that runs above part of the store.  The one near me (and hopefully all other locations) has a great kosher selection, including a kosher counter in the area where they have the deli, bakery, seafood, etc.

Another reason I love Wegmans is the events!  From family movie nights to book signings, they cater to all audiences.  Which brings me to why I'm telling you about my supermarket...

Last week they had a book signing for chef Anne Burrell's new cookbook "Own Your Kitchen".  It happened to fall on the day I planned to do my food shopping, so that afternoon I packed up my son and off I went.  Anne is every bit a crazy/funny as she appears on TV.  After telling her that my husband would be jealous that our infant son was meeting her and he wasn't she replied "oh, I'm sorry...wait, no I'm not".  She called my baby her "littlest fan".  I knew I was right to start him young on his love for cooking!

When I got home and broke open the book, my eyes immediately fell to the Brunch section where the first recipe was for cranberry walnut scones; which was perfect since this month's What's Baking theme was scones!  So I set out to make them on a day when we were having company over (no need for my husband and me to eat all 8 scones ourselves).

The scones were simple to make, even if I second guessed myself on if the consistency of the dough was actually correct (they came out exactly as they should, so I guess it was right).  The one thing that I found to not work from the original recipe was the cook time.  After the suggested "16 to 18 minutes" the scones were definitely not done.  I happened to be in my kitchen with a friend who was a professional baker who mentioned that her scones usually take 30-40 minutes to bake.  I kept mine in for another 10 minutes and they came out perfect.

For the honey butter that goes with the scones, I decided to be ambitious (and work on my arm muscles a bit) and I whipped it by hand.  It took longer than I remembered whipping cream to take, but we were all standing around the kitchen drinking coffee while I was whipping so I didn't mind.  Have I mentioned how happy I am to have a kitchen big enough for people to stand around in?  So much better than my old tiny one where I would be running in and out of the room to join in the conversation happening in the living room/dining room.  Of course the next day I remembered that my immersion blender has a whisk attachment...oh well..next time!

This recipe was one that I actually felt I made in the allotted amount of time.  From start to finish it really didn't take more than an hour, even with my adding the extra cook time.  And the consensus of all my guests was that the scones came out delicious.  And after eating one I wish we had more than 2 left over....

 

 

Cranberry Walnut Scones (very slightly adapted from Own Your Kitchen by Anne Burrell)

 

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting)

1 cup granulated sugar

2 tbsps baking powder

zest of 1 orange

pinch of kosher salt

1 1/2 sticks (12 tbsps) cold unsalted butter, cut into pea-size pieces

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

turbinado sugar (Sugar in the Raw)

 

Directions:

- Preheat the oven to 375 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper

- Place the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, orange zest, and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine.

- Add the butter and pulse until the mixture looks like crumbled parmesan cheese (20 to 30 seconds).

- Add the cream and continue pulsing until the mixture begins to come together in little balls about the size of gravel, being careful not to overwork the dough or it will become tough.

- Turn the mixture onto a lightly floured work surface.  Add the cranberries and walnuts and gently work them into the dough.  Don't knead the dough - just bring it together until it forms a homogenous mixture, be gentle, but firm.

- Flatten the dough into a round disk about 1 inch thick.  Cut the disk (pizza style) into eight triangles.

- Place the dough triangles onto the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with a little turbinado sugar.

- Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden on top.

 

Honey Butter

 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream

1/4 cup honey

 

Directions:

- chill a metal mixing bowl in the freezer for 15-20 minutes (you can use your electric mixer bowl or, if you are whipping by hand, any metal mixing bowl).

- pour the cold heavy cream and honey into the bowl and beat until the cream begins to clump together (10 or so minutes).  Use right away or store in the fridge.

Parsnip and Potato Soup

I am so happy that my son's schedule is starting to get a slight bit more predictable and I am able to cook dinner again!  Usually it ends up being a quick and easy meal that gets made as my husband is putting the baby to bed, and dinner time ends up being 9pm, but we get to eat a home cooked meal, so we're ok with that.

One of my go-to shows to watch during this maternity leave is The Rachael Ray Show (it happens to fall at a time that usually ends up as my son's morning meal time and it keeps me entertained).  While I enjoy watching the show in general, it's also a great place to get meal ideas!  Last week she made a parsnip and potato soup that looked so delicious that I knew I needed to make it as soon as possible.

The soup starts out with bacon, which (obviously) I can't use, so I substituted a little oil and added a little more salt than it would have taken if we used salty bacon.  I didn't feel there was anything missing flavor-wise with these substitutions.  Something else I did that wasn't in the original recipe is that while I blended the soup I left some chunks of potato and parsnip, which my husband agreed was a nice touch.  It added a little more texture to the soup (we always laugh when the judges on Chopped refer to texture in dishes, but it's a very valid point!).

This soup is a perfect dish for a fall evening.

Parsnip and Potato Soup (slightly adapted from Rachael Ray)

Ingredients

2 tbsp cooking oil (I used grape seed oil)

2 tbsp butter

2 large Russet potatoes, 1 1/4 lbs, peeled and diced 

3 to 4 large or 6 medium parsnips, peeled and chopped (3 cups)

1 onion, chopped 

4 cloves garlic, chopped 

Black pepper 

1/8 tsp grated or freshly grated nutmeg 

1 bundle of parsley, tied with string

1 qt Imagine No-Chicken stock or vegetable stock

1/2 pt cream 

Salt

Toasted pumpkin seeds to garnish

Sourdough rolls to serve 

Directions

- Heat a soup pot with the oil over medium-high heat. Add butter to melt.

- Reduce heat a bit, add potatoes and stir to coat.

- Add parsnips, onions, garlic, black pepper, nutmeg and parsley; partially cover and cook to soften 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. (The color of vegetables should be light golden.)

- Remove parsley.

- Purée potatoes and parsnips in batches if necessary in a food processor or blender with stock or just add stock to the soup pot and use an immersion blender, leaving some chunks.
- Stir in cream then season the soup with salt to taste.
- Serve in bowls, garnish with pumpkin seeds, with sourdough rolls on the side for dunking.