Oatmeal Cookies

I don’t understand the green food thing for St. Patrick’s Day. Someone emailed me (and several other women who bake for a biweekly Tea at Stamford Hospital, sponsored by our local Hadassah group) and suggested that we could, if we wish, bake something and color it green because the next Tea will be a St. Patrick themed event.

Nope.

When I bake with my grandchildren I let them use food coloring and we frequently have lavender or cerise blue or fuchsia butter cookies or layer cake. I have lots of little bottles with lots of colors that they can mix together.

But they’re kids.

Green bagels, green cake and so on is just not happening here. I don’t remember when that whole thing started.

Green Ireland is an amazing country, one of the most gorgeous I’ve ever been to. Emerald Isle is a good name for it, so true, so lovely. It rains a lot there and then it stops and the grass and the leaves, the bushes and plants and everything else is incredibly beautiful. To me the green in nature conjures up hopeful signs of life. But green, fake-colored food? Nope.

I’ll be making:

Oatmeal Cookies

10 tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanila extract

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups quick oats

1 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet. In the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium speed, cream the butter and sugar together for a minute or so until creamy. Add the brown sugar and blend it in thoroughly. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract. Add the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt and beat until the ingredients are well blended. Stir in the oats and raisins. Drop mounded tablespoons of the mixture onto the cookie sheet, leaving some space between each lump of dough. Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Repeat with remaining dough.

Makes about 4 dozen

Mom’s Raisin Bran Apple Crisp

Wanna Sell Your House? Smell this!

Yesterday I baked a Banana Bread that I couldn’t eat because I’m allergic. But I always have leftover bananas around so I make Banana Bread a lot. I love the aroma. In fact, I mentioned yesterday that it is one of the best kitchen smells there is.

Which reminded me about when we were selling our old house. The real estate agent told us to make sure there were some good aromas coming out of the kitchen in order to entice prospective buyers.

So I got to thinking about the good smells that come out of a kitchen and what I could bake or make to make my kitchen be the one someone wanted to cook in and therefore buy my house. I even wrote one of my newspaper articles about house-selling aromas.

Choices I considered: fresh coffee, tomato sauce, fresh-baked yeast bread, anything with baking apples.

Well, fresh coffee is the easiest but you can’t have it going all day or it tastes and begins to smell bitter.

Yeast bread is my favorite, but I didn’t always have the time to bake one.

Tomato sauce may be among my favorites but the garlic could be off-putting to some.

So, apple it was. Baked apple. Apple pie. Apple Crisp. 

Fortunately we had some wonderful desserts during that time. We did sell the house too!

Here’s a recipe with an intoxicating aroma — my 

 Mom’s Raisin Bran Apple Crisp:

•  2 tablespoons butter

• 4-5 large, tart apples, peeled, cored and sliced

• 2 tablespoons sugar or honey

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• pinch or two of salt

• 1/3 cup sugar

• 3 tablespoons butter

• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

• 2 cups slightly crushed raisin bran cereal

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt the 2 tablespoons butter and set aside to cool slightly. Combine the apples, 2 tablespoons sugar, cinnamon, salt and melted butter and place in a baking dish. Cream the 1/3 cup sugar and 3 tablespoons butter with an electric beater until well combined. Beat in the flour. Add the raisin bran and work it into the creamed mixture gently, leaving the bran flakes more or less intact. Sprinkle this mixture on top of the apples. Cover the pan and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the cover and bake for 10-15 minutes or until crisp and golden brown.

Makes 8 servings

Cherry Cobbler for a birthday

Today is George Washington’s real birthday. Back in the day, we celebrated it on February 22nd. At school we made 3 cornered hats and colored them black. We learned about Washington, as a general, crossing the Delaware during the American Revolution. 

And of course we heard the same story every year. That George Washington never told a lie and one time he chopped down a cherry tree and then immediately ‘fessed up.

No one really knows if that one is true or not. Nevertheless, Washington’s birthday and cherry desserts were always the “big thing” long long before President’s Day became associated with sales on cars, clothes and mattresses.

So, happy birthday dear first president. I sometimes wonder what you would think about the political climate of the 21st century.

Cherry Cobbler

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 4 cups sour red cherries, drained canned or fresh, pitted
• 2 tablespoons minute tapioca
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Mix the flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add 4 tablespoons butter and work into the dry ingredients until the mixture is crumbly. Beat the egg and milk together. Add to the dry ingredients and mix until a soft dough has been formed. In a separate bowl, mix the cherries, remaining 3/4 cup sugar, tapioca and lemon juice. Let stand for 10 minutes. Place the cherry mixture into a baking dish or pie pan. Cut the remaining 2 tablespoons butter into small pieces and scatter on top of the cherries. Roll or press the dough to fit the baking dish or pie pan, crimping the edges to seal the dough to the pan. Make 2-3 slits in the dough. Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 6 servings

One Bowl Chocolate Cake with Fudge Frosting

Today is National Chocolate Cake Day. And also a snow day for a lot of us (we got at least another 14-inch dump of snow over the night and into the morning). I have to say, I resent a nighttime snow fall because I like watching the flakes come down. It’s so soft and quiet and makes me feel cozy and safe inside. When I woke up this morning it was all over, but for the plowing.

But I digress. It is National Chocolate Cake Day. A good day all around to make a dark, luscious, tender cake to enjoy while also maybe taking a snow day. It’s a good dessert for Valentine’s Day too. Or anytime really.

Here’s a cake I’ve been making ever since I was 12 years old, when I baked this for my own Bat Mitzvah celebration. I’ve tried dozens of different chocolate cake recipes over the years and haven’t found one I like better. And it’s easy to make too.

So, until I find a better cake, here’s my recipe for:

One Bowl Chocolate Cake with Fudge Frosting

• 2 cups cake flour

• 1-1/2 cups sugar

• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1-1/2 cups buttermilk

• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening

• 2 large eggs

• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 2 9-inch cake pans. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt together into the bowl of an electric mixer (or large bowl for use with a hand mixer). Add the buttermilk and shortening and beat the ingredients at medium speed for about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat the ingredients for another 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cake layers cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cake rack to cool completely. Frost the layer and outside of the cake with the fudge frosting. Refrigerate leftovers.

Makes one 9-inch cake

Fudge Frosting

• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate

• 1 cup dairy sour cream

• pinch of salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt the chocolate in the top part of a double boiler set over barely simmering water. When the chocolate has melted, remove the top pan from the bottom part of the double boiler. Add the sour cream, salt and vanilla extract to the chocolate and beat the ingredients vigorously with a whisk to blend them completely into a smooth frosting. Let cool for a few minutes, until it has a spreading consistency. Use between layers and for outside of the 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

Which is better, the food or the memory of the food?

Was your mother really a good cook? Was that chocolate cake or those hash browns you had 20 years ago at that restaurant really fabulous?

Food memories can be funny. Our tastes change. Maybe Mom’s chocolate chip cookies weren’t really that good, maybe those hash browns were actually a bit too greasy and if we ate these foods today in someone else’s kitchen or in a different restaurant we wouldn’t rave.

But we remember them so fondly that we think we’ll never find the ultimate recipe for whatever it is we thought was so wonderful.

I have that feeling about a lot of foods. My Mom’s Nut Roll. The Apple Tart at L’Orangerie in Los Angeles. My grandmother’s baked blintzes. The Hot and Sour Soup at Temple Garden in New York’s Chinatown.

When autumn comes and I see the trees turning orange and gold, my food memory turns to pumpkin pie and that makes me remember the Automat. It went out of business when I was a little girl, but I still remember my Aunt Roz and Uncle Mac taking me there for lunch or dinner when we went into Manhattan to go ice skating or to see a show. They were the kind of aunt and uncle that took their nieces and nephews to places and we all loved them so much that the food that came with the day would of course be wonderful no matter where or what it was.

At the Automat, if it was autumn, there was pumpkin pie.

It was the very best pumpkin pie. In my memory. I have been trying to duplicate its flavor and texture since I started cooking. But food memories linger so no matter what I come up with, it’s never “the one” even if the results are fabulous. Someone once gave me a recipe that was supposed to be the Automat authentic version and I made one. Of course I didn’t remember the pie tasting like my pie did.

So which is better, the food or the memory of the food?

Both really, for different reasons. We can savor the memory and eat something delicious even if it isn’t quite the version you remember.

Here’s a terrific recipe for Pumpkin Pie. Not too spicy and with a hint of molasses. Don’t use pumpkin pie “mix”, use plain pumpkin puree or fresh mashed pumpkin (press fresh mashed pumpkin to extract excess liquid).

Pumpkin Pie

• 1-1/2 cups mashed pumpkin (canned is fine)

• 1/3 cup brown sugar (any kind)

• 1/4 cup white sugar

• 3 tablespoons molasses

• 3 large eggs

• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 3/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1-1/2 cups half and half cream or evaporated milk

• 1 9-inch single pie crust, unbaked

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Spoon the pumpkin, brown sugar, white sugar and molasses into a bowl and blend ingredients thoroughly. Beat in the eggs. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and cream. Blend ingredients thoroughly. Pour the mixture into the crust. Bake for 8 minutes. Reduce the heat to 325 degrees F and continue baking for 55-60 minutes or until set. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Makes one pie

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Mom’s Butter Cookies

It wouldn't be a proper Break-the-Fast without these cookies. My mother made them so

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.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cookies and milk. It’s the snack we got when we came home from school. My mother, who started to work when I entered the 4th grade, somehow found the time to bake cookies three or four times a week.

There were no other snacks during the day. It’s not as if my parents were depriving us or trying to get us to eat less junk. It’s just the way it was for us, and as far as I knew, for everyone else. When I went to a friend’s house I also got cookies and milk, maybe not homemade cookies but Oreos or sugar wafers, sometimes Vienna Fingers (all three with a goodly amount of white icing).

Today is National Junk Food Day, which a lot of people use as an excuse to eat … a lot of junk. But do we really need to set aside a day to do what so many of us already do?

Btw, it’s not really a national holiday. That takes an act of Congress and, no matter what you think about our government, no one in his or her right mind would propose a national day on which we should eat (and have our children eat) junk.

First Lady Michelle Obama is actually trying to take a critical look at childhood obesity (the Let’s Move campaign). Maybe there’s a way to keep the kids, and ourselves, from getting fatter and fatter.

I say, let’s start by having only one snack a day. I say cookies and milk. How about Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Cookies? Here’s an easy recipe:

Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Cookies

3 cups quick cooking oats

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

12 tablespoons (1-1/2 sticks) butter

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1/4 cup apple juice, orange juice or water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet (or two). Combine the oats, flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside. Place the butter, white sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer (or a large bowl) and beat on medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until creamy and well blended (or use a hand mixer). Add the egg, juice and vanilla extract and blend them in thoroughly. Add the oat-flour mixture and blend it in thoroughly. Mix in the chocolate chips. Drop the dough (a mounded tablespoon worth)  onto the cookie sheet, leaving room for the cookies to spread. Bake for about 10 minutes or until set and lightly browned. Let cool slightly, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough. Makes about 4 dozen

For more about National Junk Food Day see: http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/food/article/Healthy-ways-to-celebrate-Junk-Food-Day-577270.php

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