Care Package Cookies

The kitchen is my playground. It’s my place of cooking and virtual carthweels, meditatively mixing this and that to make good things to savor and share. Sharing is the best part. Anytime I am in crisis mode, the kitchen comforts. A poem my daughter’s boyfriend sent me from London referred to cooking as a ‘zipline to peace.’

Yes it is.

An unexpected trip to the O.R. for my daughter had me baking for the medical teams just yesterday. The saddest part was that she was required to fast after midnight the night before. Here I was that morning, infusing the whole house with the aroma of chocolate chip cookies. She admitted to being tortured. I apologized.

Most of the twenty-ish surgeries she had prior to this happened nowhere near home and we were more in survival mode than self-care. This surgery was different. We slept in our own beds the night before and didn’t have to make a hospital appearance at pre-dawn. (I even got to keep my morning hair appointment and do a little shopping)! This was a quick procedure to extract a misbehaving screw from a hardware plate from the lateral part of her left ankle. It looked like it might just erupt from the skin. Instead she got a tidy incision to remove it and will get back to walking after a little downtime.

When we escaped from New York almost three years ago and re-started her medical miracle here in Baton Rouge, just as we were promised, the care teams have treated us like family. We keep them on speed dial! BIG Shout out to Baton Rouge Orthopedic Clinic and their exceptional surgeons and all the support staff. Thank you cookies help spread our gratitude. Happy Cooking!

Packed in a pretty loaf pan, tied with a ribbon and hand-delivered — is there a better way to say thanks?!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know what you’re thinking: ‘another chocolate chip cookie recipe, really?!’ And the answer is yes! This one is worth its weight in gold and is the result of much testing by the award winning author David Leite of Leite’s Culinaria and I found it in The Essential New York Times Cookbook where they credit Leite’s exhaustive testing to create the best version of the beloved cookie. I give it my own little twist, making the cookies half the size suggested and giving the cookie sheet a whack on the counter as soon as I pull it from the oven. My mom taught me this trick a million years ago and it gives the cookies a wrinkly surface rather than domed tops. A couple of tips: —a kitchen scale is a baker’s dream! The recipe is infallible if you weigh rather than measure the ingredients and it is so fast! —King Arthur Flour is my preferred flour —My shopping had me in the cutest bakeshop in Baton Rouge, CounterSpaceBR where I found a cookie dough scoop and decorative loaf pans that are perfect for packing up cookies for sharing. I much prefer shopping local to the mega mailorder situation. —A word on chocolate for chips: my absolute fave is the dark brown bag of Ghirardelli bittersweet chips which are 60% cacao. They are less sweet and larger than the customary ‘semisweet’ chips and they stay melty even when the cookies are cool. —Lastly, this recipe makes a mountain of cookies. It halves easily if you’d rather just make a little hill of cookies. I’ll say it again—Happy Cooking (and sharing!)

• 1 3/4 cups plus 2 Tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour

• 1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour

• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt, plus more for sprinkling

• 2 1/2 sticks (10 ounces) unsalted butter, slightly softened

• 1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) packed light brown sugar

• 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 1/4 pounds (20 ounces) bittersweet chocolate chips or disks

COMBINE the cake flour, bread flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Use a whisk to blend the ingredients together.

CREAM the butter, brown sugar and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment (or in a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer) on medium speed until very light, about 5 minutes. Turn off the mixer and scrape the bowl once or twice. When the mixture is creamy and light, add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Stir in the vanilla. With the mixer on low, gradually add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Mix in the chocolate chips.

TRANSFER the dough to an airtight container (or keep it in the mixing bowl and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap pressed against the surface of the dough) and refrigerate overnight or up to 3 days.

BAKE! Preheat the oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop the dough into golfball sized balls onto the baking sheet, leaving a couple inches between cookies to prevent them from connecting in the oven. Sprinkle each cookie with a few grains of coarse salt and bake until golden brown with soft centers and set edges, about 8 to 12 minutes (timing depends on temperature of dough, the type of baking sheet and the oven. Truly no two are alike!) When the cookies are done to your preference, remove the sheet from the oven and give it a gentle rap on the counter to deflate the cookies into wrinkly perfection. (Careful if you have fancy counters).

COOL the cookies for a minute or two on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely before storing in an airtight container. OR enjoy them warm with a friend.

Makes about 3 dozen 3 -inch cookies

Merry Memories

It is true what they say:  A picture IS worth a thousand words.  Ever comfortable in yoga pants and a fleecy sweatshirt, I jazzed my uniform up a bit for the holidays--jeans and a sweater and I was ready to go.

My daughter Reilly, our resident fashion consultant urged, “Everybody!  Let’s get dressed up for a photo...”  We were going to cook dinner--Christmas dinner--at my in-laws’ home an hour away.  Comfort was key.  I reluctantly changed into a dress and tugged my signature ponytail loose to let my hair down.   We packed up the car with all the supplies to prepare our traditional holiday feast the moment we arrived:  beef tenderloin, tiny red-skin potatoes, fresh green beans, salad greens and acoutrements, and the piece d’ resistance:  a fresh-from-the-oven bar of espresso brownies and classic vanilla ice cream from Ellen’s Homemade.  I ran through the mental checklist, called it good and off we went.

Eager to get dinner started, I headed straight for the kitchen, pushed up my sleeves, and unpacked our goods.  No sooner had I preheated the oven than I was beckoned for the photo-op.  I took my time strolling from my mother-in-law Claire’s immaculate kitchen to the living room’s magnificent stone fireplace, the scene of our impromptu portrait.

“Stand here, look this way, SMILE,” and moments later I was allowed to get back to the business at hand.  Cooking.  With my family, for my family.  It’s my absolute happy place.  It’s in my blood and brings complete contentment.  The girls gathered in and went to task, snapping the stems from the green beans, scrubbing and halving the potatoes, spinning the lettuce for salad.  The fire crackled from the stone fireplace.  Over the river and through the woods.

“Six o’clock,” Claire answered, as if being surveyed.  “Let’s shoot for six.” We had ample time to prepare the components of our feast.  This menu never wavers, as much as I try.  My suggestions fall on deaf ears as far as our Christmas meal goes.   Any other day of the year, this crew is game to switch things up.  Not today.

With one oven, we stagger the cooking with an assumed timeline.  First the potatoes.  Classic, simply cut in half, tossed with olive oil and a generous sprinkle of coarse salt (our at-stove-and-table favorite is the locally produced JQ Dickinson Saltworks, handmade by seventh generation salt makers in nearby Malden, West Virginia).  The potatoes roast, cut sides down until they are golden on the bottom.

We pull the potatoes to standby position, ready to be quickly heated when the tenderloin is done. A holiday treat, the beef is rubbed with good olive oil fresh garlic, salt, and a shower of black pepper.  Pop it in the hot hot oven and it’s perfectly cooked 25 minutes later.  We let it rest while the potatoes go back in to reheat.

Italian green beans simmer on the stove with tons of fresh garlic, a bit of tomato and a kiss of Sherry.  The combination creates a fragrant dressing for the just-tender beans.  Delicious. For some reason I only make these at Christmas.  I make a note to put them in regular rotation.

If I insist, my crew will allow some level of variation on our salad.  I love simply dressed greens with red pear, Gorgonzola, and toasted pecans.  Or crisp romaine with a bright cranberry dressing and slices of tart apple.  This year the votes went in favor of a favorite weeknight recipe, “Dressed in the Bowl Caesar.”  The girls made big curls of Parmesan to jazz it up.

Six o’clock was fast approaching.  The table, a massive round that comfortably seats the 12 of us, is set with candles glowing. We, in the no longer immaculate kitchen, staged a buffet on Claire’s butcher block island.  The fireside crew filed in to fill their plates.

Each of the 12 seats filled instantly and glasses raised to good health and many blessings.  Then quiet, accented with the happy cadence of forks and knives.  The conversation resumes and someone announces ‘this is the best ever!’  Because more hands are involved?  Because we are together at one big table?  We have graduated, all grown up, grateful palates.

The fire, which has been carefully tended throughout, beckons.  The earlier fireside crew takes dish duty and the cooking committee breaks out dessert.  The bar of espresso brownie, once a staple I crafted daily at a local restaurant, is now on stage.  “One or two triangles?” the girls inquire.  They ornately plate the brownies with a scoop of Ellen’s vanilla and a spoonful of raspberry-cherry compote. 

I have begged to switch up dessert, offering centerpiece-worthy Bouche de Noel or one of those magazine cover desserts that taunts you, making you impulsively buy the magazine with every intention of getting around to the project (I vividly recall one such ‘cake project’ for my brother-in-law’s birthday, a genoise with multiple fillings, enrobed in a wide chocolate band and topped with huge curls of dark and white chocolate, while dutifully assisted by one toddler).  These festive ideas are always rejected in favor of The Brownie.

Once the kitchen is spiffed back into Claire’s preferred level of tidiness, no one is left standing.  The fire wins and those who do not succumb to the happy food coma launch into lively and fiercely competitive rounds of charades.  I’m a shoo in for the food coma and happily listen to the shouts of the revelers, “book!  Two words, first word, sounds like!” as I drift into dreams of total serenity, occasionally regaining consciousness when the fire pops like the Fourth of July or there is an exceptionally animated charades performer.  I accidentally engage in the game and am offered a turn.  I accept, sleepwalk to the stone hearth-stage, and do my best with my charades draw.  I want to freeze this frame. Christmas with family in West Virginia.

ESPRESSO BLONDIES

A family favorite for all occasions! These have had a seat at many tables since I hosted my first West Virginia Christmas in my Charleston home in…1995! We moved the festivities to my in-laws’ when they built their home near the rim of the Gorge in the early 2000’s. Our Merry Memories in Baton Rouge began five years ago when we left the mountains of WV for sunny Louisiana.

• 1 ½ cups unbleached flour*

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• ¾ teaspoon salt

• 6 ounces (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, cool room temp

• ½ cup sugar

• 1 cup light brown sugar

• 2 eggs (large)

• 2 Tablespoons instant coffee powder dissolved in 2 teaspoons hot water (I use Maxwell House—can use ‘Sanka’ for decaf)

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 cup chocolate chips (I like Ghirardelli)

Position the rack in the center of the oven.  Preheat to 325.  Butter a 13x9x2” inch baking pan (I use a metal pan, and I line it with foil to make cutting easier—but not necessary. 

Put the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine.

Put the butter in the large bowl of an electric mixer and mix on medium speed for 15 seconds.  Add the sugar and brown sugar and beat until the butter and sugars are creamed thoroughly, about 1 minute.  Decrease the speed to low and mix in the eggs, dissolved espresso, and vanilla, mixing just until the eggs are incorporated.  THE MIXTURE WILL LOOK CURDLED.  Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl once during this mixing.  Slowly add the flour mixture and mix just until the flour is incorporated and the mixture is smooth.  Mix in the chocolate chips.

Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center no longer has liquid clinging to it, but the brownies still feel soft, 28-35 minutes.

Let cool completely, then cut into 12 squares (I cut each square into triangles)

*VERY IMPORTANT!!

Unbleached flour has a higher protein content than ‘all-purpose’ and is the best flour in this recipe.  

The mixing times are also important—I have ‘over-mixed’ the batter and it doesn’t turn out well.

Happy Baking!

Brown Butter Jam Bars

Buttery pastry that does double duty + beautiful jam = sweet happiness in finals week (or any time!)

My house is quiet for a change. I’ve gotten accustomed to turbulence and prefer it. Where did everybody go?! The empty nest filled up and just like the tide, the crowd receded again. I’m never sure if I’m cooking for two or ten, so I shop for plenty, just in case. Imagine my delight when my college junior called for a little meal prep assistance for finals’ week! She has been inundated with projects and presentations and now exams in another not exactly ‘in-person’ (read: super stressful) semester. She lives close enough to home to swing by for dinner any day of the week. Instead, I offered to deliver my care package in the name of her favorite comfort foods: hand-breaded crispy chicken tenders and mashed potatoes, whipped to fluffy goodness with a bit of peel to ensure the real potato effect. For an in between snack or breakfast or dessert, I baked a pan of jam bars which were inspired by a beautiful jar of St. Dalfour black raspberry jam that came home in my oversized grocery run. Toast and jam is nice, but brown butter jam bars are hard to beat! Any care package delivery needs a little sweet treat and these even freeze and ship well! Don’t delay, send a care package today:)

Cut these into little squares for serving or keep in larger slabs to wrap and freeze or ship!

Brown Butter Jam Bars

Not to worry, you don’t need to fuss with the browning of the butter here. It happens magically in the oven when you bake the bars. Use your best and favorite jam here. I used St. Dalfour black raspberry and every taste tester raved! In the past I’ve used a recipe from my trusty Betty Crocker cookie book which uses walnuts and raspberry preserves. I didn’t have any nuts on hand, so I searched for a formula that included almond flour and oats. Here’s my twist on a recipe from the Pioneer Woman.

• 1 cup unbleached flour

• 1/2 cup almond flour

• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats

• 1 cup packed brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup (2 sticks/8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into large cubes (cool room temp)

• 1 jar (10 to 12 ounces) of your favorite jam

HEAT the oven to 350. Line a 13x9x2-inch baking pan with parchment paper*

COMBINE flour, almond flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Toss in the butter cubes and stir with a rubber spatula or clean hands (or the paddle attachment if using a stand mixer) to blend the butter into the dry ingredients with some small clumps remaining. This will make a nice crumble on top of the bars.

SCATTER about two-thirds of the crumbly dough into the prepared baking pan and smash it into an even layer on the bottom of the pan. Spoon the jam in little dollops on top of the dough base and carefully spread it to the edges using the back of the spoon.

SPRINKLE the jam layer with the remaining dough crumbles.

BAKE until your whole house smells amazing! Actually you’ll have to peek in around 25 minutes in. The jam will be bubbling a bit and the edges of the crust will be caramelized brown and the top crumbles will be golden and almost set. Depending on your oven, it could take another 10 minutes for a total of 35. Let them cool in the pan on a rack before cutting and serving and certainly before wrapping and shipping. Using a long edge of the parchment, slide the whole bar onto a cutting board and cut into squares/slabs/shape of your preference. Store in an airtight container for up to a week or well wrapped and frozen for 3 months. Preferably, deliver to your student without hesitation.

Makes about 2 dozen

Happy Cooking!

*Forget about diamonds…parchment paper is a girl’s best friend! To make getting the bars out of the pan a breeze, line it with an oversized sheet of parchment paper. I turn my pan upside down and fold the sheet to the size of the bottom of the pan with some overhang. Flip the pan back over and the sheet fits right in with edges extending above the sides of the pan. Ready for action.

Summer at Camp

When my youngest daughter was 10, she unloaded her backpack on a Friday after school as her fourth grade year was winding down. She handed over a flyer and ordered me to read it. “MOM!! Can I go?! It looks so fun! Mrs. Pancake told me about this and said all her kids go! Carli Sears goes! Can I GO?” My ten year old became a spokesperson for Camp Twin Creeks the moment she heard about this magical place.

I hadn’t sent any of my older girls off to camp for two weeks and the thought was difficult to process on the spot. I called the number on the flyer and a jolly Scottish fellow answered. He’s been spokesperson forever and I told him we’d talk it over. Best. Decision. Ever! Emma has packed up her camp kit almost every summer since that colorful flyer landed on my kitchen counter. It’s daily conversation, the friendships, the fun, the wardrobe of CTC gear, the Crocs.

Paving the way for campers like Emma, Carli Sears attended Camp most summers as well. Five years Emma’s senior, her presence at CTC had a West Virginia Welcome that no one could forget. I met Carli even before she was born and had the privilege of catering her baptism brunch when she was a tiny bundle. She swam with my oldest daughter Sara and played soccer with my next oldest Reilly at George Washington High School. I cheered with her parents at swim meets and soccer games. When she was in college, she helped with my friend Luisa’s catering company and was my assistant at kids’ cooking classes. I cherish these kitchen memories!

Carli’s life was tragically cut short in 2016 just days before her twenty-first birthday. Though she is not here physically, her personality and contagious smile remain! Her family, friends and Camp Twin Creeks community didn’t miss a beat in honoring her life with a Carli Sears Camp Scholarship for a student from Charleston, West Virginia to attend their first year of camp for free with all kinds of bells and whistles. Read: a little camp kit shopping spree and of course a pair of Crocs! The scholarship recipient can contribute back to the scholarship to keep the fund going, all with the ultimate goal of keeping Carli's memory strong at Camp and keeping a camper presence in her name each summer and beyond.

Carli’s mom Julie told me that Carli loved Camp so much that she would bring home bottles of that sweet mountain spring water to freeze and enjoy the taste of Camp any time she was missing it. We miss you, Carli! Thank you for leaving so much sparkle!

Savoring camp memories with a cake project. Hope you’ll follow along for some campfire cake fun and also help keep the scholarship fund in Carli Sears’ name going strong.

Campfire Cake

My girls all have late Spring birthdays which is the perfect time to go camping or do some pretend camping with this festive cake. When I asked Emma about a recipe to include with this love letter to Camp and Carli she finger wagged me for suggesting s’mores. So we are going next level here and hope you’ll cook up some family fun in your own kitchen. It’s a raid the pantry or the snack aisle at Target and no holds barred. Emma and I constructed this together, laughing, crying, hugging.

Our decorations included: twisted pretzel sticks for the border, stacked firewood and logs in the fire; Chocolate graham crackers for the sleeping bags and dirt and rocks; Teddy grahams for the campers; Quick toasted mini marshmallows for the firepit marshmallows; assorted life savers (or other hard candy—red, orange, yellow) for the ‘fire’ and campers’ pillows (you melt these on foil in the oven, see below for the ‘how-to’); ice cream cones, the sugar cone style, for the trees; sprinkles!

First: bake a cake in a 13x9-inch cake pan. We made the ‘birthday cake’ recipe on the King Arthur cake flour box and it’s a good one! If you are a fan of Red Velvet cake like Carli, go with that! Anything goes, really. It’s your canvas for cake decorating fun!

Next: frost the cake as you desire. We went with green to emulate the lush grass at Camp Twin Creeks. Since you can cover as much of the surface as you desire, the frosting is not super important…it’s mostly the ‘glue’ to anchor all your landscaping and such.

For the fire: Heat the oven to 350. Place a small sheet of foil on a rimmed baking sheet and brush it with a little canola oil. Smash some lifesavers, red, yellow, orange and sprinkle them like a little mosaic on the oiled foil. You’re looking for a rough shape about 6 inches square. For the pillows, you can smash a couple more lifesavers of your favorite color and make a small shape on the foil, away from the ‘fire.’ Place the baking sheet in the oven and like magic, the candy melts into flames in minutes. CAREFUL!! It is hot. Remove the baking sheet from the oven to cool on a rack and handle when it’s cool. You can break it up as desired to make your flames.

For the trees: frost the outside of a sugar cone and sprinkle with green sugar. Stack 2 cones and frost, then sprinkle, for a taller tree.

Now get to the really fun part, putting it all together with your creative flourishes! You can use the photo as a guide or go your own way. The most important part is to ENJOY!

Happy Cooking!

20 Questions with Tracey

Tracey Scalia has worn a lot of hats since we first met at the beach in Florida when we were teens in bikinis. She went to college for respiratory therapy, worked through the medical field for a bit and traded her Mercedes for a Subaru and left the beach for Boulder. She channeled her love of cheesecake and went to pastry school. Now with two college age kids, she has turned her pastry degree into hospitality management, helping run the family business, The Burns Pub & Restaurant in Broomfield.

Back in the day when our pre-married names were so similar people thought we were sisters, we would hop out of the ocean and race up the steps to her parents’ kitchen for lunch, doctoring up ramen and boxed mac and cheese as teens will do. We were in each others’ weddings in the early 90’s and though we don’t get to see each other as often as we’d like, our shared love of the Florida Gators and our hometown beach finds us reuniting in Florida from time to time. Hoping we can savor her fabulous coffee cake together soon!

What’s your 20 minute recipe? That’s a tough one! Coffee cake, I have one you can whip together really quick. Breakfast is my favorite meal, this one is really easy and it makes the house smell really good.

What’s your favorite city? Rome because of everything it has to offer! I love Rome, I love Italy! I would move there if I could!

What’s your Favorite restaurant in your current city? I eat a ton of Mexican food. I usually go with independent and family-owned restaurants. Tres Margaritas. I go there a lot, they have great Tex-Mex. My go-to is always enchiladas. I just love enchiladas! They have a fish dish I love with mangos and avocados so it’s a little healthier. 

Treasured find in the back of your fridge? I always have a few ziploc bags of homemade sauce. I learned to make Chuck’s grandmother’s sauce, Nana’s sauce. My kids love it. Her secret was making the sauce with some fatty pork shortribs in it. If I can’t find those I use Italian sausage. You get the flavor from the meat and take it out for a smooth sauce. It’s funny because after I was divorced, Chuck called me to ask how to make his own grandmother’s sauce! He said the kids said his didn’t taste right. They still say mine is better.

Who taught you to cook? Mom, my mom was a great cook! I wish I had paid more attention. Because she was European, she knew how to cook a little bit of everything. Then I went to school for pastry and learned baking. Lots of trial and error. 

What’s your go-to dish for company? Typically a dessert, I would say cheesecake. People love my cheesecake! I went to culinary school because people loved my rum cake. I’ve had a lot of people ask me for the rum cake recipe and I haven’t given it out.

What’s on your cooking playlist? Oh you’re gonna laugh at this! I actually listen to country music. Modern country like Rascal Flatts and Carrie Underwood. It’s kind of soothing. I like to concentrate so I don’t like anything too distracting.

Coffee, tea, or Kombucha? KOMBUCHA! I drink Kombucha every day, I believe in its health benefits. I love it, I think it’s great! Some are better than others. I really don’t drink much caffeine because I have terrible insomnia. 

Date night--at home? or out? I’m a single empty nester. I’m married to my work! If I do date, I like to go out and I like to travel just FYI for all those bachelors reading your blog. How are you going to date in COVID anyway?

Most stained cookbook? Sort of my cookbook folder, the collection of recipes that I’ve collected and perfected. My mom gave me my first cookbook in high school The Joy of Cooking and I used it until it fell apart.

Surf? or Turf? Surf of course! Actually I hardly eat any meat outside of seafood. I run a kitchen where I have to taste meat but I almost never cook any meat. I’ve thought about making my sauce vegetarian but I don’t think it would be the same.

Indispensable kitchen tool? Rubber spatula. I can’t imagine a kitchen without one. I have every color shape and size. Even the little teeny baby ones. They are so great!

Staple childhood comfort food? Probably anything custard. That’s why I love cheesecake. My mom made everything with custard. It makes me think of her a lot when I eat custard.

Who would you most like to share a meal with? past, present or fictional? This is kind of random. Because I love Italy and Italian food so much I think It would be Pavarotti! I think he would be really fun to have a meal with. I picture him being boisterous and fun, someone who knows how to enjoy food and drink!

Ideal grilled cheese? Sourdough bread with slices of tomato, I like a really good cheddar. We do Irish cheddar here on our Shepherd’s Pie but it doesn’t really melt well. 

Favorite pizza topping? Sundried tomatoes and anchovies. I love it! I love thin crust pizzas like they make in Italy.

Where would you want to take a cooking class? Oh gee I wonder! I’ve actually looked into taking a cooking class over there. There are cookie shops on every corner in Italy. My daughter is minor-ing in Italian so I’m hoping to go over and visit her if she gets to study abroad. 

What’s your Counter Intelligence cooking tip? Overbeating anything with flour in it is a huge pet peeve. Don’t overbeat a cake! People don’t understand how tough a cake will be if it’s overbeaten. Also make sure you get your ingredients to room temperature when you’re baking. The butter, eggs and milk should all be close to the same temperature when you’re mixing your batter.

Three things next to your stove? My utensils, my Vitamix and my stand mixer. I use them constantly. A Vitamix is awesome! I got it in the divorce. 

Favorite Sports Team? Florida Gators. I bleed orange and blue!! 

Writer’s delight! Tracey’s coffee cake is perfect any time of day

You’ve gotta love a good old fashioned handwritten recipe! Use Tracey’s tip of ‘tempering’ the butter, sour cream and eggs to cool room temp before mixing. I used butter instead of shortening and pecans in the topping. One of my tasters wished it had four times as much apple…Play around and enjoy! Happy Cooking!

20 Questions with Ellen

Baking is Ellen Gray’s personal sport and she speaks fluent pie. As they say, the proof is in the pudding and her blog No More Mr. Nice Pie was a finalist in the 2018 Saveur blog awards in the baking and sweets category. A trip through her site’s photos and recipes is like walking into a magical world of delicate pastry, seasonal fruit, and poetry, complete with confidence-building tutorial every step of the way. When she’s not baking professionally or writing on her blog, she whips up witty words and delicious recipes for Saveur and Food52.

I had the good fortune of meeting Ellen briefly at our shared writing coach Molly O’Neill’s annual event The Longhouse Food Revival where she was serving up her famous pies with scoops of ice cream. The following year, Ellen and I were some of the lucky attendees at a food writing retreat, hosted in absentia by our dear Molly, at Julia Child’s summer home in the south of France. Daydreaming about this experience, I’m at Julia’s famed kitchen counter, observing Ellen rolling out pastry for a summer vegetable tart featuring our haul from the local fresh air market. We often muse about when can we go back.

What’s your 20 minute recipe? You can make a pie in 20 minutes. Crumb crusts are quick, and really if you’re organized, you can do it. Key lime pie, the recipe is right there on the can of sweetened condensed milk, only takes a few ingredients and 15 minutes in the oven. If you’re smart, you’ll make two and freeze one. Frozen Key lime pie can be a dessert life saver! It serves up like a citrusy semifreddo.

What’s your favorite city? Whatever city is warm in winter and cool in summer and serves great food. I love them all!

What’s your favorite restaurant in your current city? Arturo’s in Maplewood, New Jersey, adjacent to where I work. It’s the BEST pizza place. They are amazing! The New York Times wrote it up. It’s tiny and there’s always a line.

Treasured find in the back of your fridge? When I find some squirreled away rhubarb in my freezer, it’s just amazing. It makes everything better.

Who taught you to cook? Three women. My mother, paternal grandmother, and her housekeeper Jessie. She really taught me how to feed a crowd.

What’s your go-to dish for company? Chicken pot pie.

What’s on your cooking playlist? I vacillate. Jazz, classical, music from the 70’s, show tunes.

Coffee, tea, or Kombucha? Absolutely coffee! With some whole milk. I grew up with a Chemex before anyone called it a pour over. I still brew this way.

Date night—at home? or out? We see a lot of theater, we are very lucky. So we don’t do a traditional date night. I’ll run from work to the train and meet my husband at the show. Sometimes I’ll grab a dollar slice on the way and arrive with a smudge of sauce on my cheek.

Most stained cookbook? I have a beloved copy of Silver Palate. I just adore that book. I also turn to the Farm Journal’s Complete Pie Cookbook again and again.

Indispensable kitchen tool? I’ll tell you what you can’t really replace is an offset spatula.

Staple childhood comfort food? Homemade chocolate pudding with marshmallows in the bottom.

Who would you most like to share a meal with? past, present or fictional? Laurie Colwin.

Go-to olive oil? Frantoia from Palermo. Made in the antique olive oil pressing tradition by five generations of extra virgin olive oil producers,

Ideal grilled cheese? The BEST I ever had, at Borough Market in London. Assortment of cheeses, the Shire medley. It’s remarkable!! I dream about that grilled cheese.

Favorite pizza topping? Well-made fresh tomato sauce, really delicious fresh mozzarella and fresh basil. There’s really a small summer window for this and it always tastes better when you’re in Europe. UNLESS you get a really good dollar slice and they’re not usually a dollar anymore. They’re more like $4.

Where would you want to take a cooking class? Wild Flour Bread near Sebastopol, California. I want to learn to make bread and scones there. When you walk in it’s like when the colorized part of the Wizard of Oz happens.

What’s your Counter Intelligence cooking tip? People tend to be overly critical when they’re making pie. They need to relax a little bit, it’s only pie. They can try again.

Three things next to your stove? Kosher salt in a very generously filled OLD salt cellar that belonged to my grandmother, an oversized pepper mill, and a framed Charles Schulz comic strip of Lucy scolding Snoopy about junk food and Snoopy says, “come back and have some doughnuts and potato chips with your cupcake.” It reminds me of wisdom of the late Jonathan Gold. Be a curious eater. Don’t do what everyone else is doing.

What’s your favorite sports team? Whoever my children choose as their favorite soccer team. Really whoever has the best jersey. My sport is baking and I’m a runner. I’ve run lots of half marathons. I’m happiest as a team of one.

A classic Key lime pie is a fun canvas for Ellen Gray. She is partial to freezing this popular pie and embellishing it with a variety of fruits at serving time.

How do you bake a pie in 20 minutes? Divide the steps: first make and bake the crumb crust. Next mix the filling, pour it into the cooled crust, and bake for 15 minutes. Following Ellen’s advice, make two pies and you’ll spend almost zero minutes making dessert when you’re in a pinch!

Graham Cracker Crust

1¼ cups graham cracker crumbs
¼ cup packed light brown sugar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
 
STIR together the graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar and salt in a medium bowl.

ADD the melted butter and toss with a fork to incorporate. Butter a 9” pie plate and press the crumb mixture into the bottom of the pie pan and up the sides. (A small measuring cup is helpful for smoothing the crumbs evenly into the pie plate.)

CHILL the crust while you preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Bake the crust for about 8 minutes, just until it turns golden. Remove from the oven and set on a rack to cool while you prepare the filling. Increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

Key Lime Filling

Delicious as-is. For Ellen’s over-the-top embellishments, check out the LIME section in her recipe index.

4 large egg yolks
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons lime zest
1/2 cup Key Lime juice (Ellen uses Nellie and Joe’s- available in most supermarkets)
 
PLACE the egg yolks in a large mixing bowl. Using a handheld electric mixer, beat the egg yolks for 5 minutes until thick. Add the sweetened condensed milk and the zest and beat until smooth, then gradually add the Key Lime juice, beating on low speed to combine.
 
PLACE the cooled pie shell on a baking sheet. Gradually pour the filling into the crust and bake the pie in the preheated 350 degree oven for 15-17 minutes. The pie will be set around the edges and be the slightest bit jiggly in the center. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for several hours until firm (or freeze for the ‘semifreddo’ texture, or for later).

CUT into thin wedges and serve as desired. A dollop of whipped cream and thin slice of lime? Or go over the top with Ellen’s extras. ENJOY!

Trifecta! Cookie Perfection!

Quick! What's your favorite kind of cookie? Is it a golden, bumpy, chocolate studded masterpiece? Crumbly cross-hatched peanut butter? Virtuous oatmeal cookie with raisins and a punch of cinnamon? I'm here to announce that you don't have to choose. Problem solved! 

I present to you Three Cookies in One, a Trifecta of cookie perfection. It's every good thing held together with a little bit of dough. Perfect, right?! What's even better is you can mix your dough, bake one pan of cookies to kill the craving, then save the rest to bake later. I usually put the mixing bowl full of dough right in the fridge, then try to muscle it out with a scoop. I've broken a scoop or two this way and bent some of my spoons. Oh the horror!

This time, I scraped the dough out into a shallow container, snapped on the lid, and the next day,  the dough popped right out of the container in a perfect slab of dough. AHA! I cut it into squares with my bench scraper (of course a knife will do the trick) and roughly formed the squares into balls. Into the oven and voila! The revelation was so exciting I just had to share.

When I described my discovery to my friend Ashley, she looked at me like I was insane, confessing she eats the dough raw. We all have our weaknesses. Happy Cooking!

Three Cookies in One (aka Trifecta Cookies)

• 1 stick butter (1/2 cup), slightly softened
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup PB powder*
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup raisins or dried cherries
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or peanuts

HEAT the oven to 350. CREAM the butter and peanut butter together and mix in the sugars and salt. MIX well and add the eggs, vanilla, PB powder, cinnamon and baking soda, mixing to incorporate. ADD the oats, chocolate chips, raisins, and walnuts and stir to blend. DROP teaspoonfuls of the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets about 2 inches apart. BAKE for 10 minutes until golden (for a chewier cookie) or 12 minutes for crunchy cookies. COOL on the sheets before storing in an airtight container.

Counter Intelligence tip! Scrape your dough out into a shallow container with a snug-fitting lid and press it into an even layer. Snap on the lid and chill it overnight or up to 3 days. Turn the slab of dough out onto a cutting board and cut into small squares (looking for about 48 cookies total). Shape the dough squares into balls and bake as above. (If the dough is still cold--Louisiana kitchens tend to warm the dough quickly!--the cookies may need an extra minute or two).

Makes about 4 dozen

World Peace Cookies

If you only ever make one cookie recipe for the rest of your life, let this be it. This recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan, a chef and cookbook author who wrote several of our family's favorite cookbooks (if you need a good all-purpose baking cookbook, you can't go wrong with her Baking From My Home to Yours). Dorie calls these "world peace" cookies because she claims that they're so good that they could inspire world peace. I think she's right. 

These cookies are soft cocoa-y, full of chunks of bittersweet chocolate. They're a little salty, which sets off the chocolate and makes them even more addictive. They come together really quickly, plus they're slice and bake so you don't even have to spend time rolling them out. The dough freezes well, so you can make a double batch and save half in the freezer for when you have an urgent chocolate craving and you want to have warm, melty cookies in less than 15 minutes. 

World Peace Cookies

• 1 1/4 cup flour 
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 stick plus 3 Tablespoons of butter at room temperature
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 5 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Mix up the flour, cocoa, and baking soda in a mixing bowl. Sift it if it's lumpy. 

Cream the butter in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment until it starts to get fluffy. Add the sugars, the salt, and the vanilla and continue beating it until it's light and fluffy, about 2 minutes more.

Turn off the mixer and add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar. Cover the bowl of the mixer with a kitchen towel to keep the flour from flying all over the place. Mix it until the flour is just incorporated. Then add the chopped up chocolate and mix a little more until it's all combined. The dough might be a little crumbly. This is okay. 

Lay out a piece of plastic wrap on the counter. Scoop half of the dough onto the plastic wrap and form it into a log that's about an inch and a half in diameter. Wrap it tightly in the plastic wrap and put the log in the fridge. Do the same thing with the other half of the dough (or put them in the freezer if you want to save them for later). Let the dough chill for at least 3 hours. 

When you are almost ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Cut the log of dough into slices that are about half an inch thick. No worries if the slices crumble all over the place. You can just squish them back together. Place the cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 12 minutes. The cookies won't look completely done, but they'll firm up as they cool.

With thanks to guest blogger Sara Hamilton

Lemon Sunshine

When life gives you lemons, make a beeline to the kitchen..

My citrus devotion stretches back to my childhood. The lime tree in our backyard created an unending fountain of limeade, a favorite thirst quencher. Our grapefruit tree provided sunshine at breakfast as we spooned jewel-like segments from the halved fruits with those jagged tipped spoons. On Sundays we stopped at a farm stand for bulging brown sacks of oranges which we juiced in shifts. Rinse, cut, squeeze, sip. I can hear the song of the juicer and taste the nectar of Mother Nature. 

My new surroundings now provide a welcome wealth of my favorite fruit group. I first recognized the familiar leaves on trees during a pre-move visit to Baton Rouge and celebrated my return to citrus country. The town is a virtual grove of delicious fruit. A satsuma tree serves as the property line between my house and the one next door, the fruits sequentially ripening on cue. This short and stout tree is heavy with ready-to-peel fruit. My sweet neighbor has the greenest thumb going and insists she has plenty to share. So I pluck one from the tree from time to time, zip off the peel and savor each juicy segment. It’s a fun treat to enjoy even in traffic and will brighten the cloudiest day.

I thank her by bringing satsuma bars over and notice another citrus tree in the far corner of her tropical landscape. “Is that a Meyer lemon tree?” I ask. The next morning, before I had the first sip of coffee, I noticed a gift bag propped on the chair on my front porch. Yellow and green peeked out from the top of the bag and I raced out to investigate. Better than any golden ticket, I now have more than enough Meyer lemons to chase the blues away.

First order of business, I dashed out to Sur La Table for a juicer and put it right to work. Its song is in a different key than the one of my childhood, but equally as sweet. This one hums as the juice flows and happiness surrounds me. I’ll bake a cake and continue with my list of citrus delicacies, some to keep and some to prop on the doorstep next door, and beyond.

Lemon-Blueberry Cake

As I pondered the infinite possibilities of my lemon bounty, an invitation to a neighborhood gathering appeared. Dr. Donald Ingram, an expert in the health field, was scheduled to present “Blue Versus Gray: Possible Benefits of Blueberries for Healthy Aging” so it seemed appropriate to add blueberries to my lemon creation. With thanks to Brown Eyed Baker for the recipe inspiration.

For the Cake:

• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons unbleached flour, divided (plus a little extra for the pan)
• 1/2 cup cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• zest of 2 large lemons
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (plus a little extra for the pan)
• 3 eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice mixed with 1/2 cup milk in a measuring cup
• 2 1/2 cups blueberries (I used frozen wild blueberries)

For the Glaze:

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• zest of 1 lemon
• 2 to 3 tablespoons milk

Make the cake:

Heat the oven to 350 (reduce temperature to 325 if using a dark or non-stick baking pan). Butter and flour a 10-cup Bundt pan and set aside.

Whisk together the 2 cups unbleached flour, the cake flour, the baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

Place the sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer (or large mixing bowl) and add the lemon zest. Mix on low speed to moisten the sugar with the lemon. Add the butter and cream together on medium speed until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl once or twice, about 3 to 5 minutes.

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well on low between each. Scrape the bowl and add the vanilla. Mix to combine, then add 1/3 of the flour mixture alternately with half of the lemon juice-milk mixture, mixing on low just until combined. Repeat with the remaining flour and lemon-milk, adding the last 1/3 of flour and mixing to combine.

Toss the blueberries with the remaining 2 tablespoons flour (tiny wild blueberries work great here,  keep them frozen before mixing into the cake batter) and gently fold them in to the batter with a rubber spatula. Spoon the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and smooth the top with the spatula. Bake until golden and just firm on top and a tester inserted comes out clean, about 50 to 60 minutes. Cool the cake on a wire rack for 30 minutes, then turn it out onto a serving platter to cool completely before glazing.

Make the glaze: 

Combine the powdered sugar and lemon zest, mashing together with a rubber spatula. Add the milk gradually, stirring to blend until desired consistency is achieved. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake and allow to set for a few minutes before slicing and serving.

Market to Table with Edible Schoolyard New Orleans

When I landed in the U.S. after a two week food excursion in France, the email at the top of my inbox grabbed my attention: “A little help needed for Market-to-Table tomorrow.” Jet lag couldn’t keep me away from this invitation and I answered with an enthusiastic yes.

Once a year, Edible Schoolyard New Orleans, a signature program of FirstLine Schools, loads up the 3rd grade students from Samuel J. Green Charter School onto buses and over to Crescent City Farmers’ Market. Hand in hand with their chef educators and New Orleans chefs who carve out time to assist with the annual event, the students skip through the market selecting good things from local farms. They will bring their haul back to the kitchen classroom and prepare lunch for their families. 

The vendors at this open air market welcome the inquisitive shoppers and offer them tastes of their bounty. A sampling of thin-sliced cucumbers and sweet peppers prompted a discussion about how fresh and delicious the produce at the market is. “My mom always buys vegetables here!” a proud student announced.

A rough menu had been sketched featuring the best seafood and produce of the season and the teams selected local catfish filets, okra and sweet potatoes, green beans and pomegranates, tomatoes and squash, and satsumas. My team was led by Reed Eldridge, executive chef at Three Muses on Frenchman Street, who drew the dessert card. Chef Reed explained to the kids how he likes to feature seasonal fruits in his desserts and they carried heavy sacks of tangy satsumas back to the bus and into the kitchen. “Let’s make satsuma bars,” he said. My mind drifted to the satsuma tree in my new backyard, heavy with tangerine-looking citrus and I knew what I would get into the moment I got home.

A recess break for the junior chefs allowed time for the kitchen crew to set up the stations for an all hands on deck cooking party. The quiet shifted to lively chatter when the kids jumped in with scrubbed hands, ready to work. 

Our group got busy blending cubes of butter into flour for the crust, cracking eggs, and zesting and juicing the satsumas for the filling. Chef Reed helped the small hands pat the dough into parchment-lined pans and while this buttery crust baked, they whisked the filling together. 

Quiet resumed as the students headed out to the dining room to greet their families at tables set for lunch where they break bread together and celebrate the meal they all helped prepare. For me, it was a gift to take part in this annual event. Third graders chatting with farmers and chefs, shopping and chopping, juicing and stirring, then enjoying the delicious fruits of their labor. Their smiles are forever etched in my mind. Now I'm off to my own kitchen to share smiles and satsuma bars with my neighbors.

Satsuma Bars

I am new to Louisiana, but no stranger to homegrown citrus. Pleasant surprise to have a flourishing satsuma tree in my backyard in Baton Rouge! I had to dive right in with a batch of satsuma bars in my kitchen. Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens ‘Blood Orange Bars’ -- if you don’t have a satsuma supply, try this with tangerines or the BHG version.

For the crust:

• 1 1/2cups unbleached flour
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup cool unsalted butter (1 stick), cut into small cubes, plus a little for the baking pan

For the filling:

• 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon citrus zest (I chose orange-skinned satsumas and zested with a microplane)
• 1 cup fresh satsuma juice
• 3 tablespoons unbleached flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• powdered sugar for dusting

Heat the oven to 350. Line a 13x9-inch baking pan with parchment paper, extending the paper up the sides of the pan and lightly butter the paper.

Make the crust: Combine the 1 1/2 cups flour with 1/4 cup powdered sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Add the butter cubes and work together with your hands until mixture is blended and crumbly. Transfer to the prepared baking pan and press evenly over the bottom of the pan. Bake for 15 minutes until light golden. Let cool on a rack a few minutes before filling.

Make the filling: Crack the eggs into a medium bowl and whisk in the sugar, citrus zest and juice. Add the 3 tablespoons flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt, whisking until the flour is blended in. Pour the filling into the crust and bake until the filling is set, about 20 minutes.

Let cool completely on a rack before dusting with powdered sugar and cutting into squares. (Using the exposed edge of the parchment paper, slide the cooled bar onto a cutting board to make cutting easier. Chilling the bar before cutting also makes a neater cut. Cut into squares or rectangles as desired and serve. Keep remaining bars chilled in an airtight container).