Rice Krispy Crusted Macaroni and Cheese
"What are you going to be for Hallowe’en?"
It’s the question my granddaughter Nina asked recently as we were walking down the street.
So I said “I’m going as a grandma. And Grandpa is going as a grandpa.”
She thought that answer was so funny she stopped to laugh out loud for a long time. And said “but you are already grandma!”
So I told her that I was going to buy a gray-haired wig and a cane and go trick-or-treating looking like an old, bent-over woman. And I showed her how I would do it and what I would sound like when I said “trick or treat” with my best old-person voice.
But of course I am not going trick or treating because I am in Egypt. Yes, that’s right. Egypt. Cairo. Tahrir Square, the Pyramids, Sphinx and the whole bit. That’s why I haven’t been blogging as much as usual.
But I also just learned that our group, which has 9 women, will be having an early Halloween and we will be wearing gulabyas (Egyptian dresses) so I guess I will be in costume after all.
When my neighbors at home come to my door on the real Halloween and they realize I am not home I hope they don’t vandalize the place too much. One year our doors got sprayed with that stuff that comes flying out of a can like neon colored string and we had to have everything painted because the string didn’t come off.
It’s been years since I went trick-or-treating with my children. They are grown and go trick-or-treating with their own kids now. But I remember that Halloween night was always the turning point for the weather. It was always cold and frequently rainy on that night (why couldn’t nature wait one more day???)
So there was always something warm and delicious when we got home. Like soup or Mac and Cheese and certainly hot chocolate with marshmallows.
If you go trick-or-treating and need some warm nourishment afterwards, before the candy gobbling, try Macaroni and Cheese. I would give a nourishing and warm Egyptian recipe but —- more on that some other day. Here’s a good recipe for Macaroni and Cheese.
Macaroni and Cheese
8 ounces elbow macaroni
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups whole milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
few grindings of nutmeg
4 ounces American cheese, cut into small pieces
4 ounces cheddar cheese, grated or chopped
1 cup Rice Krispies cereal (or similar), optional
2 tablespoons melted butter, optional
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook the macaroni until it is al dente. Drain and set aside. In a saucepan, melt the two tablespoons of butter over medium heat. When the butter has melted and looks foamy, add the flour and stir it into the melted butter using a whisk. Cook for about a minute. Gradually add the milk, whisking constantly to form a smooth sauce. Add the salt, nutmeg, American cheese and cheddar cheese and stir until the sauce is smooth and thick. Stir in the macaroni and coat all the pieces. Spoon the macaroni into a baking dish. If you like a top crust, mix the cereal and melted butter and sprinkle on top of the macaroni. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the cereal is browned and crispy.
Makes 4 servings
Chocolate Truffles
Chocolate instead of broccoli to stay healthy?
No, not really. But in a recent study the results indicated that eating chocolate might cut a woman’s risk for stroke. Read about it here.
This is not the first time I’ve heard that chocolate is healthy (it has flavanoids, which have anti-oxidant properties, which in turn help lower LDL (bad) cholesterol).
But this is the one of the only times I’ve heard someone caution women not to over-interpret the results. Like, do not substitute chocolate for broccoli. And a cardiologist who was interviewed said that although chocolate may be good for you, maybe the study results would have been similar if they used apple skins or grapes.
I’ve always wondered about some of these studies. I wonder whether you can prove whatever you want depending on how you go about the study.
Well, I am no scientist, so I don’t know.
But I do remember, many years ago, when the information regarding dietary fat was still in its infancy and Nabisco came out with SnackWells, the so-called “healthy” cookies because they were lower fat. And people started eating SnackWells because they thought it was okay. And judging from the number of people I met (and watched at the supermarket) who ate boxes and boxes of those cookies, most didn’t seem to realize that it’s way too many calories and that it might be more harmful than if you ate a butter cookie or two.
So the broccoli warning makes sense.
But if you want to eat something delicious and chocolate-y — for your health — try these truffles. They are amazingly easy to make and you can give them away as gifts so they’re good for the upcoming holiday season.
But don’t eat the whole batch at once.
Chocolate Truffles
- 1/2 pound semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 4 teaspoons brandy or rum or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 tablespoons butter at room temperature
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sprinkles, toasted coconut, ground nuts, etc. (approximately)
Chop the chocolate in a food processor into small bits. Heat the cream over medium heat until it is hot and bubbles form around the edges of the pan. With the processor on, pour in the cream through the feed tube and process until well blended (you may have to scrape the sides of the bowl once or twice). Refrigerate the mixture for 30 minutes. Add the brandy or rum and the softened butter and blend them in thoroughly. Spoon the mixture into a bowl and refrigerate for at least one hour or until the mixture has firmed enough to form a soft “dough.” Take small pieces of the dough and shape into small balls. Place the balls on waxed paper or aluminum foil on cookie sheets. Refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes. Roll the balls in cocoa, sprinkles, etc.
Makes about 3 dozen.
Passover Birthday Cake
Kichels
Fried is one of my favorite foods. Fried anything, but especially potatoes, onion rings, chicken wings and doughnuts.
So on Hanukkah, when “fried” is fashionable, I’m not going to be the person who makes the healthy alternative. We eat relatively healthy stuff almost all of the time. Hanukkah is a celebration of delicious little goodies cooked to a crisp in vegetable oil!
I won’t do it for the entire eight days, but at least on the first night of Hanukkah (December 1st this year) it will be fried, fried, fried. Potato latkes for sure, but I’m thinking also about “kichels”, a kind of cookie my Mom used to make.
Kichels are an old Jewish family favorite and most recipes for them tell you to bake the dough. But my mother fried them. They were ultra-thin, crispy, not too sweet and absolutely impossible to resist. Her recipe is amazingly simple and only calls for one cup of flour, but it’s enough for a family of 4-6 as a first night treat. Or whenever.
Kichels
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, beaten
1/4 teaspoon white vinegar
vegetable oil for deep fat frying
Place the flour and salt in a bowl. Add the beaten eggs and vinegar and mix thoroughly until a smooth dough has formed. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until the dough is very thin, almost like paper. Cut into squares or rectangles or odd shapes as small as 1-1/2-inches or up to 3-inches. Heat about 2-inches vegetable oil in a deep saute pan (or use a deep fryer) over medium-high heat until the oil reaches about 375 degrees (a bread crumb or tiny piece of dough will sizzle quickly). Drop the cut-outs, a few at a time into the oil (they will puff up) on both sides until they are crispy and faintly browned. Drain on paper towels. Sift confectioner’s sugar on top.
Makes 4-6 servings
Soggy Cheesecake Crust
Hi Leslie - sorry that your cheesecake crust comes out soggy. It may be that water leaks into the seams of the springform pan. You can line the bottom with tin foil (overhang it), then attach the side, then take the overhanging part and crumple it to try to seal all the edges. That may help.
On the other hand — it may be the recipe. It’s important to bake the crust for at least 10 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven. Then let it cool. Then fill it.
Another trick you can try — add some ground nuts to the crumbs. Nuts always crisp up nicely and stay crispy better than crumbs do.
Another tip: bake the crust for 10 minutes, brush it with an egg wash (beat an egg with a small amount of water) and bake for another 3-4 minutes.
And another: let the crust cool, then layer on a thin layer of melted chocolate, jam, lemon curd or the like. This adds a flavor dimension of course, but it also helps keep the crust crispy.
After sitting in the fridge, even after all that, eventually cheesecake crust will become soggy just from the moisture in the cheese. But the tips above will help get you a better crust at least at the beginning.