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I grew up in a single parent household.  My mom would make dinner every night.  Every once in a while we would get Arby's sandwiches when they were 5 for $5.  During Lent, we would either have fish sticks or Mc Donald's fish filet sandwiches on Fridays.  And we would sometimes order pizza from the Little Caesar that was just down the street.  But for the most part she would cook dinner from scratch.  I can remember eating a fair amount of pork chops.  Mom like to crust them with that Shake-n-Bake stuff you find in the supermarket.  Essentially they amounted to seasoned bread crumbs, but I guess it was convenient to make because they provided you with the bag to shake it up in.

Back then it was faux pas to cook pork to any temperature other than well done.  We all know where that road leads to.  A dried out, chewy mess.  Well, things have changed over the last few years.  The FDA now says that it is OK to eat pork at 'medium' temperature.  I swear most chefs in this country can probably tell you the exact day this happened.  It was like the best news anyone could have given out.  Bigger than the Bears winning the Super Bowl, bigger than a senate seat scandal, bigger than just about anything.  America would finally be able to enjoy a piece of pork.

This recipe is a grown-up, modernized version of those pork chops mom used to make.  No Shake-n-Bake was used this time though.  What you will have are nicely seasoned pork chops that are full of flavor and as juicy as can be.  The horseradish crust provides texture as well as flavor and makes them look like they just came out of a steakhouse.  Try these at your next family dinner or holiday party.

-The Chef

HORSERADISH CRUST:

  • 4oz butter, softened
  • 3Tbsp parsley, chopped
  • 1/2 cup prepared horseradish
  • 1tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1Tbsp mayo
  • 1/8 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 1 cup bread crumbs
  1. Combine the butter, parsley, horseradish, mayo, and mustard in a mixing bowl and mix well.
  2. Stir in the Parmesan cheese.
  3. Fold in the bread crumbs.
  4. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

For Making Pork Chops:
  1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Season pork chops with salt and pepper.  In a saute pan over med-high heat, add 2 tbsp of oil, and begin to saute pork chops.  Cook 1 minute on each side, then remove to a sheet pan.
  3. Remove horseradish crust from fridge.  Make the crust by forming it in the palm of your hands.  Try to replicate the size of the chop.  Place on top of pork chop and gently press into place.
  4. Cook pork with crust in oven for approximately 12 minutes.  Remove and place under the broiler and cook until crust is golden brown.
  5. Remove from broiler and let rest 5 minutes.  This allows the natural juices to absorb back into the meat so they don't run out because they were cut immediately.
  6. Serve with your favorite potato and vegetable.
 
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So I've been away from the blog for a little while because I've been working on a special project and I didn't want the person I was doing it for to find out the surprise.  M2's best friend in the world is Morgan and yesterday was his 3rd birthday party.

His mom planned a "Mr. Man" themed party for him.  The invitations that Abbi made had a picture of him with a graphic of a necktie around his neck.  She decorated the room with neckties and she found chocolate mustaches on a stick for everyone to hold in front of their face.  Needless to say she's very creative.  So when she asked me to make cupcakes to serve at the party I was sweating!  My shtick is really yummy goodies but not necessarily anything cute and creative.  I thought maybe I would just make a variety of cupcakes and make some sprinkles using the colors from the invitations to coordinate; boring I know, but at least they would taste good.  And then, about a week before the party, I had a stroke of genius at 4:30 in the morning... and then couldn't fall back asleep because I was planning.

There's a fabulous site called Bakerella, featuring the most amazing, creative and fun goodies.  They say imitation is the best form of flattery so my mission was to emulate some of the cupcakes she makes but re-work them a bit to fit with my own tastes and of course the "Mr. Man" theme of the party.  I remembered that Bakerella had visited The Pioneer Woman and made cupcakes that Ree gave instructions for how to decorate, so I also visited that site.

The main thing I changed is that Bakerella uses fondant, and I have a major dislike for fondant, you might even say hatred.  I instead made and used chocolate clay.  I also used my own chocolate and white cake recipes instead of the recipe they used.  I had a blast making the cupcakes, and now all I can think about are other occasions that I can make them for.  I've been calling them "Capped Cupcakes" because of the chocolate clay cap.  I hope that if Bakerella ever sees my cupcakes she's flattered and not appalled!

Making all the decorations is a major undertaking, so get a cup of coffee and a muffin and sit down for a nice long read... at least there's lots of pictures!

-The Baker

CHOCOLATE CLAY:

  • 10 oz Chocolate
  • 1/3 C Corn Syrup
  1. in a shallow bowl, melt the chocolate in microwave (be careful so that the temperature does not exceed 100 F) for approximately 1 minute; stir. if chocolate is not completely melted, return to microwave for 10 seconds at a time and stir until smooth
  2. add corn syrup to the chocolate and mix well (scrape all the corn syrup into the chocolate with a rubber spatula)
  3. using a rubber spatula, stir and fold mixture, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl well, until no shiny syrup is visible and the mixture forms a thick ball
  4. knead the clay until oil begins to ooze out, this is called "milking'; a lot of oil will come out, keep kneading until the clay is still oily but is starting to melt and feel very sticky in your hands
  5. pour mixture onto parchment paper (or waxed paper); let it sit and stiffen, uncovered, for at least 2 hours then roll into a ball and wrap in plastic until ready to use
  6. use at once or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month
  7. your cutouts will harden after a few days at room temperature and can be saved by storing in a cool, dry place
  8. just remember to not overwork the clay or it will begin to lose oil again and become sticky and impossible to work with

BAKERELLA'S SIMPLE BUTTERCREAM:
(taken from The Pioneer Woman's site)
  • 1/2 pound (2 sticks) salted butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 pound powdered sugar
  • Cream or half-and-half for consistency
  1. cream butter and vanilla, then add powdered sugar in increments
  2. add cream or half-and-half to reach desired consistency; color with gel food coloring as desired
Notes:  Definitely check out The Pioneer Woman's site for beautiful pictures of the making of the buttercream.  I had some pretty nice pictures of me making the buttercream but they were accidentally deleted... sniff sniff...  I'm still upset.
 
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It's really hard to improve on a classic.  Especially one as ingrained in us as the peanut butter cookie.  There's no need to reinvent the wheel.  So the other day when M2 wanted to make some cookies I managed to talk her out of our old stand-by, the chocolate chip, and convinced her to make some Peanut Butter cookies.

We use a fairly standard recipe, but I do like to add some almond extract to the dough to boost the nutty flavor.  I like to make a flourless cookie, so this recipe is a nice option if you're gluten intolerant or just choosing to limit your flour intake.  These are nice and dense and full of peanut flavor.

Be sure to bake the cookies just until set and then leave the cookies on the pan to continue baking a bit before removing them to a rack to cool all the way.  For a really decadent cookie dip in some melted milk chocolate.  Grab a big cold glass of milk and enjoy these!

-The Baker

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES:
    yield:  48 cookies

  • 2 C Peanut Butter, creamy
  • 1 C Sugar, granulated
  • 1/2 C Dark Brown Sugar
  • 2 Eggs, whole
  • 2 t Vanilla Extract
  • 1 t Almond Extract
  • 1 t Baking Soda
  • 1/2 t Salt
  • 1/2 C Milk Chocolate Chips
  1. Cream together the peanut butter, sugar and brown sugar
  2. Add the baking soda and salt
  3. Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring just until completely mixed in
  4. Stir in the extracts
  5. Stir in the chips
  6. Scoop onto parchment lined pans
  7. Bake at 350 F for 10 mins
  8. Let cool on pan for 5 mins then move to a rack to finish cooling
 
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A chocolate eclair is all that's good about French pastries... whole milk, butter, chocolate.  Is there any way that could result in something not delicious?  They're breath-takingly beautiful when you see them in a bakery display case.  At most bakeries when you order one they put it into a miniature box and tie it up with twine and it just screams elegance.

Maybe you've made these at home and they were a complete flop.  To make the pate a choux (the pastry dough) you are looking for certain things, and unlike most baking recipes a pate a choux recipe can't tell you exactly how many eggs to add.  If you've tried to make these and they didn't turn out, take a look at the recipe you used.  If it didn't explain to you that the number of eggs varies depending on a variety of variables then it will be hit or miss whether the recipe works out.

Why would the number of eggs vary?  Well, the first thing you do is bring the water (or milk) to a boil.  What happens when you boil water?  Some of it evaporates.  Most likely every time you make these the amount of water left after the boil is different.  Next, you add the flour to the boiling water and then you put it back over the heat.  The cooking again is affecting how much liquid is evaporating.  When you begin mixing the dough to cool it down you can see steam evaporating.  All of these things are affecting how much actual liquid is in the dough... and an egg is mostly liquid so you're replacing some of the evaporated liquid with the liquid from the egg, which is why it varies.

So, what are you looking for?  When you're cooking the flour over the heat the dough should come together as a ball and should look like mashed potatoes.  You want the pan to have a dried crust from the liquid evaporating.  Really what you're looking for is to get the pan to the point where you know it's going to be a pain in the butt to wash because it's all crusty.  (You won't get the crusty pan if you're cooking in a non-stick pan.)  Then you want to put the dough on the mixer and mix it to cool it down.  If you started adding the eggs right away you would end up with scrambled eggs.  When the mixing bowl is cool enough that you can comfortably rest your hand on it, you can begin adding eggs.

After you've added enough eggs, the dough is ready when it has a glossy surface, and is slightly yellow.  If it's not glossy and looks like mashed potatoes then you haven't added enough eggs.  If the dough is yellow but soupy, then you've added too many eggs.  When it's just right, you should be able to run your finger through the dough making a valley; the valley you make shouldn't disappear, but the edges should just barely start to fall in on themselves.  If the valley you make stands up rigid you're not quite there.

Next you pipe the dough onto your prepared pans and put them into a hot 400 F oven for 30 minutes.  It's important that the oven be hot because this will create the steam that will cause the dough to puff.  The opening inside the puff is where you're going to put all your luxurious filling, so you want as much space as possible!

Once the puffs have poofed up, and are a beautiful golden brown don't immediately remove them from the oven.  The insides are still a bit wet, and if you take them right out your beautiful puffs will collapse on themselves.  Begin turning down the temperature of the oven by 25 degrees every five minutes until you get to 200 F.  Then take them out of the oven and let them cool.

Once cool, poke a hole in the bottom of the puff.  Fill a pastry bag with your pastry cream and poke the tip of the bag into the hole.  Fill the puff until it starts to feel heavy.  When all the puffs are filled, gently warm the icing and dip the tops.  Set aside the dipped puffs to dry and then enjoy!

You can fill the puffs with lots of other things, and they can be either savory or sweet.  For example, you could pipe out round puffs and then cut the tops off and fill with a shrimp mousse for an elegant appetizer.  Once you master the dough let your taste buds go wild!

One word about the pastry cream.  Of course, anything that you cook or bake you always want to be careful to use clean utensils and wash your hands thoroughly.  However, with pastry cream those habits are even more important.  The ingredients are highly susceptible to food borne illnesses and you must be sure to keep everything clean and cool down the cream as quickly as possible.  The fastest way to cool the cream is to put it in a wide, shallow container and then set that container into an ice bath and then periodically stir the cream to even out the temperature.  This will quickly cool it down and keep it safe to eat.

Enjoy!

-The Baker

PATE A CHOUX:
yield:  24 - 2 1/2" eclairs
  • 1 C Water (or milk)
  • 4 oz Butter
  • 1 t Salt
  • 6 oz Bread Flour
  • 10 oz Eggs (approximately)
  1. In a heavy pot, bring water, salt and butter to a rolling boil, being sure the butter is completely melted
  2. Take the pot off the heat and stir in all of the flour, using a wooden spoon; return to the heat; cook until it's smooth and the pot looks clean (the mixture should not be stuck to the bottom or sides of the pot)
  3. Put on a mixer and on low speed begin mixing to bring the temperature down
  4. When the mixture is no longer burning hot begin adding eggs, one at a time until a glossy, but stiff paste is achieved
  5. Pipe or scoop onto parchment lined pans and bake at 400 F for approximately 30 mins; after 30 mins begin lowering the oven temperature by 25 degrees every five minutes; the reason for this is to dry out the inside of the puff so it's not soggy
PASTRY CREAM:

  • 14 oz Milk
  • 3 oz Sugar, divided (1 1/2 oz and 1 1/2 oz)
  • 1 1/2 oz Egg yolks
  • 3/4 oz Cake Flour
  • 1/2 oz Cornstarch
  • 2 oz Milk
  • 1/4 oz Butter
  • Vanilla, to taste
  1. In a heavy pot, boil milk and 1st portion sugar; stir constantly so as not to burn the sugar
  2. In another bowl whisk together the 2nd portion sugar, yolks, flour, cornstarch and milk until perfectly smooth
  3. Remove the boiling milk from the heat; using a small ladle pour some of the hot milk into the yolks mixture, whisking constantly; continue adding the milk until the yolk mixture is warm (this is called "tempering" and it will prevent you from scrambling the eggs by dumping them into the hot milk all at once)
  4. When the yolk mixture is tempered, pour everything back into the pot and put back over the heat, whisking constantly; bring back to a boil, letting it boil for one minute in order to cook out the starch; remove from the heat
  5. Stir in the butter and vanilla; dust the surface with sugar to prevent a skin from forming as it cools
  6. Place in a shallow pan and set into an ice bath to quickly cool the custard
CHOCOLATE ICING:

  • 2 oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate
  • 2 t Butter
  • 2 C Powdered Sugar
  • 4 T Water, hot
  1. Over low heat, melt together chocolate and butter; remove from heat
  2. Add powdered sugar and hot water and beat until smooth

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:
  1. Poke a hole in the bottom of the cooled pastry shells
  2. Fill a pastry bag with the pastry cream; push the tip of the pastry bag into the hole in the shell; gently squeeze the filling into the pastry shell; when the shell starts to feel heavy it's full
  3. Gently warm the chocolate icing; dip the tops of the filled pastry shells into the icing; set aside to dry; refrigerate any uneaten eclairs
 
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I love cheesecake.  It's so satisfying to eat a slice.  Cheesecake is definitely not something I buy.  I always make it.  For some reason store bought cheesecake is insanely expensive.  Granted, it uses fairly expensive ingredients, but this is definitely one item you could make at home that will be just as good (and in my opinion, better), and if you buy your ingredients on sale you've saved even more.  Today, for example, I was at the store picking up a gallon of milk and I saw that the cream cheese was on sale for $0.84 for an 8 ounce pack.  That's a great price!  Right on the spot I decided to make a cheesecake.

A lot of people are intimidated by the process of making cheesecake.  Because it's expensive to make and it's time consuming it's not something you want to try to make only to have it not turn out.  I really believe this is a myth perpetuated by cookbooks.  They tell you that you have to bake in a special pan (a springform); you have to bake it in a water bath (a pan of water your springform sits in to gently heat the cake as it cooks to prevent cracking); unless your pan is brand new you usually have to wrap it in foil before putting it in the water bath (to prevent water from getting in and ruining your cake, or at the very least making your crust soggy); then after the cake is baked you must slowly, little by little, reduce the temperature of your oven so that your cake slowly cools and it doesn't crack.  Many cookbooks even recommend that you leave the cheesecake in the oven overnight with the oven door propped open with a towel to allow the water bath to slowly cool, and thereby allowing the cake to also slowly cool.

Jeez!  Just reading that makes me not want to make a cheesecake.  I used to think that's what you had to do... I mean, that's what the cookbooks all say.  But then I started thinking about it.  Did I really think that bakeries and restaurants allowed their precious oven space to be taken over by cheesecake production?  No way!  Oven space is money!  There had to be a better way.

So I stopped using a springform pan and just baked in a regular cake pan.  I stopped using the waterbath.  I learned that by cooking the cake at a lower temperature I could avoid cracking.  Another major cause of cracks is over-baking the cheesecake.  It can be tricky to know when a cheesecake is finished because the center should still be jiggly.  Most of the time when you bake a cake, if the center is jiggly you keep baking, but not a cheesecake!

I, of course, have a quick and easy method to get cheesecake whenever I want it.  I just send The Chef a text message to bring me a slice home with him.  Instant gratification!  The cheesecake they serve at the restaurant is great and is based on the recipe from Carnegie Deli.  The only problem is that I can't stand the crust.  They use a sugar cookie as the crust and I just don't like it.  I actually peel it off in order to eat the cake.  I knew I could make it better so I searched out the recipe to the Carnegie Deli's cheesecake and I basically make it exactly the way they say, except I substitute a graham cracker crust.  I also swirl in some ganache or chocolate chips or a fruit sauce... whatever I'm in the mood for.

The Carnegie Deli cheesecake is very unique in that it has a very dark top.  This is achieved by baking the cheesecake for a few minutes in a 500 F oven.  When it's as brown as you'd like it to be, remove it from the oven and let it cool for a good 30 minutes while the oven also cools down to 350 F.  Then put it back in the oven and let it finish baking for another 25 minutes or so.  What you're looking for is a small circle (about the size of a quarter) in the center of the cake to still be jiggly, but the rest of the cake to be set.

At this point you're probably wondering how on earth I get it out of the pan.  Easy!  I let the cake cool completely on a rack.  This is very important because drastic changes in temperature will cause cracks.  Give it as much time as it needs.  When it's completely cool stick it in the freezer and let it freeze.  After it's frozen take it out of the freezer and put it over a VERY low heat on your stove top, constantly turning the pan.  What you're doing is just slightly loosening up the butter in the crust so that the cake will slide right out.  What you don't want to do is leave one spot over the heat too long and burn it or liquefy the cake.  Have a small knife ready and periodically slide the knife around the edge of the cake.  When it easily slides between the cake and the pan and you feel the cake release it's ready to come out.  Then just flip it out onto a plate and because it's frozen you can flip it into your hand and to turn it over and then set it down onto it's serving dish.  Then let it thaw and serve.  You can also wrap it very well in plastic and put it back in the freezer for unexpected guests or for a slice every now and then.

If the cheesecake cracks it's not the worst thing in the world.  Lots of sins can be covered by whipped cream!  You can also make a sour cream glaze to pour over the top.  The key is to give yourself enough time to do all the different steps and allow the cake to cool and freeze for as long as it needs to.  If it cracks, just keep trying, you will get it, I promise.

-The Baker

CHEESECAKE:

Prep: set out cream cheese to come to room temp; prepare crust; preheat oven to 500
Yield: 1 – 8” x 2” cake

GRAHAM CRACKER CRUST:
  • 9 full graham crackers, crushed (approx 1 ¾ c)
  • ¼ C Sugar
  • 4 oz Butter, melted
  1. crush graham crackers as finely as possible using a rolling pin or a food processor; or you can buy graham cracker crumbs in the baking aisle
  2. stir it all together and press into the prepared pan; set aside

GANACHE:
  • 1 T (½ oz; 19 g) Corn Syrup
  • 2 T (1 oz; 28 g) Heavy Cream
  • 4 oz Chocolate (semi-sweet)
  1. put all ingredients into a small pot over very low heat
  2. stir constantly until everything melts together and is glossy; set aside
CHEESECAKE FILLING:
  • 20 oz (467 g) Cream Cheese
  • ¾ C (137 g) Sugar
  • 1 ½ T (17 g) AP Flour
  • 1 ½ t (7 g) Lemon Juice
  • 1 ½ t (7 g) Vanilla Extract
  • 3 whole Eggs
  • 1 Egg Yolk
  • 2 T (35 g) Heavy Cream
  1. cream the cream cheese until very smooth and creamy (scrape down bowl)
  2. beat in sugar until well incorporated (scrape down bowl)
  3. beat in flour, lemon, vanilla, eggs, yolk and cream (scrape down bowl making sure there are no lumps)
  4. bake at 500 for 12 mins until the top is dark brown and cake has slightly started to rise
  5. cool cake for 30 mins while oven temp reduces to 350
  6. return to oven and bake another 25 mins (cake should be bouncy in the center and slightly risen in the middle and sides)
Notes:  Constantly scrape your bowl during the mixing to get rid of lumps.  Lumps will not bake out and you'll end up with a lumpy cheesecake.  Have your cream cheese at room temperature.  Mix at a low/medium speed for two reasons:  1) if you whip too much air into your batter you will never get the dense consistency that most cheesecakes are; and 2) overmixing the cream cheese will cause it to become grainy, which will affect your final product.
 
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I get my sweet tooth from my mother.  She always has a stash of something hidden in a drawer.  When I was a kid I didn't know about her stash and, except for holidays, my sisters and I didn't get candy or cookies all that often.  Mostly if we wanted some cookies someone better make some.

The other thing I get from my mother is my love for reading.  At the end of the day I love to lay in bed with a book and read until I doze off.  My mother and I used to get into her huge bed and burrow ourselves under the blankets and read.  Eventually she let me in on her secret.  I was a little bit older and not as inclined to pass out within five minutes of getting into bed and she couldn't disguise the crinkling of wrappers for the pages of a book!

I loved when she had M&M's because you could take a big handful and go back to your book without having to put your book down to unwrap something.  Twizzlers were pretty good too.  But what I hated was when she had Milano Cookies.  First of all, there weren't that many in the bag so you couldn't really pig-out on them.  But, secondly, they were filled with dark chocolate... ewww!  What kid likes dark chocolate?  I'm not even sure if my mother knows that I didn't really like the cookies.  I always managed to eat a couple because it was our special time and I didn't want to ruin it, but I sure appreciated it more when she had milk chocolate!

Now that I'm "growed" up (as M2 says), I have an appreciation for dark chocolate, and Milano Cookies.  I very rarely buy them though, because my kids don't share my childhood dislike of dark chocolate and they would eat the entire bag in a few minutes, and these cookies are way too expensive for that.  They're an indulgence and should be savored.  I decided that if I could figure out how to make them we could have them any time we, well I, wanted.  And that's how this recipe came to be.

To get the right texture you really need to let the dough mix.  Follow the mixing instructions carefully, otherwise you'll end up with a dough that is very crumbly.  It will still taste good, but it won't be a Milano cookie.  Bake them until the edges have turned a nice golden brown.  Usually with lighter colored cookies (like a sugar cookie, for example) if the edges have gone brown they're slightly over-baked, but not this time.  These are such delicate cookies that they need a little baked in sturdiness.  If you don't want to fill them with ganache, as I've used, fill them with a high quality jam, nutella, or top them with a quartered maraschino cherry before baking.  Or you could always eat them plain.

-The Baker

COOKIE DOUGH:

  • 8 oz Butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 C AP Flour, sifted
  • 1 1/2 C Powdered Sugar, sifted
  • 1 t Vanilla Extract
  • 1/2 t Almond Extract
  1. Cream the softened butter by itself on high for 5 mins
  2. Stir in the Vanilla and Almond extracts
  3. Add the sifted Powdered Sugar; slowly bring the mixer speed up to high; cream for 10 mins
  4. Add the AP flour; slowly bring the mixer speed up to high; cream for 10 mins
  5. Using a pastry bag and a star tip, pipe your desired shape onto parchment lined pans
  6. Bake at 350 F for 16 mins
  7. Let cool on the pan for 5 mins; then move to a rack to finish cooling
  8. When completely cool fill one cookie with ganache and sandwich shut with another cookie; let the ganache set before stacking
*Notes:  If you don't have a pastry bag you can just scoop the dough onto the pan using a spoon.

GANACHE:

  • 1 oz Heavy Whipping Cream
  • 5 oz Dark chocolate
  1. Gently warm the cream and chocolate; don't get it too hot
  2. Stir together the cream and chocolate until it's very shiny
 
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I've known my entire life that I wanted to work with food.  I had no idea how to go about making that dream a reality, and in fact, I thought that it wasn't even a possibility.  I thought that to become a chef you had to have been born in France and begin an internship with a French chef when you were like nine years old.  All of the chef biographies start like that... "I grew up in France and at nine years old my first job was as a pot washer in a Michelin Star restaurant.  I slept on a small cot near the back door so that I could keep the fires stoked all night."

At the time time I was growing up American cuisine was made fun of by the rest of the culinary powerhouses, like France and Italy.  There were no famous American chefs.  We did have Julia Child, but even she went to France to learn to cook!  Going to France was not an option for me.  What to do, what to do?

Well, I obviously did a lot of cooking and baking on my own for my friends and family, so I had a little bit of a background.  The more I did it though the more I realized that what I really liked to do was bake.  Where could I get the experience I needed to bake professionally?  At a bakery, of course!  So, I applied at a bakery, and the first thing they asked was, "Have you ever baked professionally?"  Um, no.  Well, they had no jobs for inexperienced bakers.  It was the same story pretty much everywhere I went.  The good old catch-22... they won't hire you without experience, but you can't get experience if they don't hire you... ugh!

I needed a job because life isn't free, so eventually I accepted a job as a counter worker at a bakery.  I got to watch all the professional bakers while I stood at the counter and helped customers.  I knew I could do what they did if only I could get the chance.  Well, one day I got that chance.  The muffins we served weren't baked in house.  We brought them in fresh baked from another bakery and the head baker decided there was no reason why we couldn't bake them ourselves.  In order to do that she needed to hire another baker... and I knew just the person!

I went to her and applied for the job.  All right, I begged for the job.  I pleaded for the job.  I reluctantly admitted that I had no experience or qualifications to do the job, but I had heart and I was a hard worker.  She gave me the job!  I have no idea why, but looking back it was probably because I was willing to work for next to nothing.

It was a hard job and I spent very long hours there mixing endless batches of muffins... baking endless muffins... washing endless dishes.  But I loved it.  The best part of the job was coming up with new recipes and trying them out on the customers to see what worked and what didn't.  After about a year of baking there I knew that baking was what I wanted to do with my life and so when I heard about a local culinary school I enrolled the next day.

This recipe was one of my favorites.  It's more of a dessert muffin than a breakfast muffin, but I won't lie, I've eaten plenty of them as breakfast!  We always made them with cinnamon chips (that's where my cinnamon chip obsession started), but you can leave them plain, put Streusel on the top, add a different type of chip or eat them with a sweet spread, which is what I've done today.

-The Baker

SOUR CREAM MUFFINS: (yield 9 standard muffins)
  • 1 3/4 C AP Flour
  • 1/2 t Salt
  • 1/4 t Baking Soda
  • 1 C Sugar, granulated
  • 4 oz Butter
  • 1/2 C Sour Cream
  • 1 t Vanilla Extract
  • 2 Eggs, whole
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 F; spray a muffin pan or line the pan with paper liners and spray the liners
  2. In a small bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking soda
  3. In mixing bowl cream the butter and the sugar; beat in sour cream and vanilla, until well blended
  4. Add eggs, one at a time
  5. Stir in the dry ingredients, just until combined-do not over-mix
  6. Scoop into a pan and bake 20 - 25 minutes (a toothpick should come out clean)
  7. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes; then finish cooling on a rack
Notes: These muffins freeze really well.  Add chocolate or cinnamon chips to the batter for variety.  Or serve with a sweet spread.

BROWN SUGAR CINNAMON SPREAD: (yield 1/4 C)
  • 4 T Butter, softened
  • 2 t Dark Brown Sugar
  • 1/8 t Cinnamon, ground
  1. In a small bowl mix together the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon until thoroughly combined
  2. Serve immediately or put in a covered container and refrigerate
 
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I don't think I was ever a fussy eater as a child.  I ate pretty much anything my mother made me.  Okay, maybe I wasn't the best at eating my veggies, but what kid is?  Spaghetti was a household favorite though.  Spaghetti with butter and Parmesan.  Spaghetti with oil and garlic.  Spaghetti with meat sauce.  I loved them all.  I'm sure my mother would love to tell you how many white shirts I ruined over the years with all the spaghetti sauce stains that just wouldn't come out.  My favorite has always been Spaghetti and Meatballs.  As a child I would spend a weekend here and there with my grandmother.  I'd go there on a Saturday, and she would have already been to the store and stocked up on all my favorites.  We'd have dinner on Saturday night, and breakfast on Sunday before going to church.  Saturday for dinner she'd make me a frozen spaghetti dinner and broil off some garlic toast.  I'd sit with her in the living room and we'd watch some TV (she loved the Golden Girls), and I felt like a king.  Hey when you're young, a Stouffer's dinner will do that to ya.

Everyone has a way of making their own meatballs.  It's usually taught to us by our mothers or grandmothers and, for sentimental reasons, rarely changes over the years.  I mean, you don't want to be the one in the family who breaks tradition, right?  Well fortunately for me, there is no family meatball recipe.  I guess that means it is up to me to start one.

Here is a recipe I came up with on the fly, which I have to say, is pretty darn good.  The key to a good meatball is two-fold.  First, it has to have some moisture.  If you add too many bread crumbs, it will be dry and dense.  The second part is the rolling of the meatballs.  You don't want to over-work the mix.  Roll the meatballs in your hands and try not to pack them too much.  You want it to be moist, light and tender enough to be cut with a fork.  It is your choice whether or not you want to simmer them in the sauce or not, but if you have the time, I would recommend it.  This is a pretty large recipe, but I like to use the leftovers to make meatball sandwiches!

-The Chef

SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS WITH HOMEMADE GARLIC BREAD
  • 2 lbs ground beef
  • 1 lb ground mild Italian sausage
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 onion, finely minced
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh Parsley
  • 3 eggs, beaten
  • 4 oz milk
  • 4 oz unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup Parmesan/Romano Cheese
  • 1 3/4 cup bread crumbs
  • 1 Tbsp kosher salt
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  1. Mix the beef, sausage, chopped garlic, minced onions, and chopped parsley in a mixing bowl until thoroughly mixed
  2. Add the eggs, milk, and melted butter; mix; mixture should be very loose
  3. Add the cheese, bread crumbs, salt and pepper; mix
  4. Refrigerate 30 min-1 hour
  5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  6. Roll meatballs the size of large golf balls; place on parchment lined sheet pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray; bake meatballs at 350F for approx 15 minutes, or until center is 155 degrees
  7. Remove from oven; place cooked meatballs in a Marinara sauce of your choice and simmer for 15 minutes
  8. Serve over cooked spaghetti, or your choice of pasta
HOMEMADE GARLIC BREAD:
  • 1 loaf French bread, or other baguette style bread
  • 4 oz butter, room temperature
  • 1/2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
  • 1/4 tsp salt and pepper
  • 2 Tbsp Parmesan/Romano cheese
  • 2 cloves peeled garlic, whole
  1. Split bread in half horizontally
  2. Spread with butter and sprinkle with Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and cheese
  3. Place in 350 F degree oven for 12 minutes; remove and bake under broiler additional 1-2 minutes to get top golden brown
  4. Remove from broiler and immediately rub peeled garlic cloves all over surface of the garlic bread
  5. Slice and enjoy
 
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I know this will sound really dumb, and I debated whether or not to even admit it, but there are some things that would never occur to me to make.  I'll see something in a bakery and buy a piece and later if I want another I either make another bakery run or I kick myself for not having bought more.  Then it dawns on me that I can make pretty much anything I want.

I love those apple squares you get at the bakery.  It's a pastry crust loaded with apples and a nice sweet glaze.  Nothing fancy, but that's what makes it so good.  You don't always need fancy.

A couple of days ago The Chef came home with a bunch of apples and asked me to make some baked apples.  I wasn't very inspired by that and pretty much just let the apples sit while I tried to get motivated to bake them.  After a couple of days I came to terms with the fact I was never going to bake them.  So, what could I do with them?  Finally it came to me... I could make the Apple Squares I love so much!

It's been so long since I had one that I couldn't really remember what exactly went into it so I got on the Internet to start researching.  Good thing I did because the pastry crust is a pretty unique one.  I would have just made a traditional sweet pastry crust, but it would've been off the mark and I probably wouldn't have been able to figure out why.  The crust is in fact a yeast raised dough.  Once I tasted it I was thrilled because it was dead on!

Like so many baked goods there are a million recipes floating around, but the one that seemed to keep coming up was from the King Arthur Flour catalogue.  I read over several different blogs that all referenced that particular recipe, so I decided not to reinvent the wheel and used that one, with just a few minor changes.  I assumed I would make it once and see where it was wrong and then correct it and make it again.  Not so... it was spot on!  It really tasted just like the squares I've gotten at the bakery, but as an added bonus, not only did I get to eat a tasty pastry, but my house smelled wonderful!

The key to making this successfully is to be really organized.  There are a lot of steps and you need to prepare the different components.  Once you've got all your components ready it's a snap to put it together.  Making the whole thing start to finish took me about two hours of pretty consistent work, so you do need a chunk of time to get it finished.

I used eight medium sized Granny Smith apples, but you could easily increase the quantity of apples if you want the square to be really loaded.  Other good additions would be some raisins, craisins or dried cherries.  You could probably cheat and save yourself some time by using prepared apple pie filling, but keep in mind that those apples tend to be a little mushier and one of the things that makes the Apple Squares so good is that the apples stay fairly crisp.  I've never tried with the canned apples, so I can't give them a thumbs up or thumbs down.

-The Baker

GLAZED APPLE SQUARES
yield: 18" x 13" pan


Pastry:
  • 1/2 C Milk, warm
  • 2 Eggs
  • 2 t Yeast, instant
  • 4 C All-purpose Flour
  • 1 t Salt
  • 8 oz Butter, cold, cut into pieces
  1. In a small bowl, beat the eggs and milk together, and set aside
  2. In a large bowl, combine the yeast, flour, and salt
  3. Cut in the butter with a mixer (or you could use a pastry blender or two knives) until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs
  4. Add the egg/milk mixture, stirring until a soft dough forms
  5. Divide the dough in half, form into thin rectangles, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about 30 minutes
Apple Filling:

  • 3/4 C Sugar, granulated
  • 1/2 C All-purpose flour
  • 1/4 t Salt
  • 2 t Cinnamon, ground
  • 10 C (about 3 lbs before peeling) Tart cooking apples; peeled, cored & very thinly sliced
  1. In a small bowl, combine together the sugar, flour, salt, and cinnamon; set aside

Glaze:
  • 3 C Powdered sugar
  • 6 T Milk
  • 2 t Vanilla Extract
  1. In a bowl, combine the sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth; set aside

Putting it all together:

  1. Lightly grease a 13 x 18-inch baking pan
  2. Cut a piece of parchment paper the size of the 1/2 sheet pan; remove one portion of the refrigerated dough and roll it over the parchment paper into a rectangle (the dough will be fairly thin); transfer the dough to the prepared baking pan by flipping it over into the pan and gently peeling the parchment off, then smoothing the dough where it needs it and working the dough up the sides of the pan
  3. Spread the apples over the dough being sure they are level and not domed, then sprinkle with the sugar mixture
  4. Roll out the remaining dough and place it over the top of the apples; pinch the edges together; cut steam vents in the top
  5. Gently brush the top with melted butter and cover with plastic wrap lightly, and let rise in a cool place for about 1 hour
  6. Towards the end of the rise, preheat the oven to 350 F
  7. Bake the pastry for approximately 25 to 30 minutes, until it’s golden brown; remove from the oven and cool on a rack for 20 minutes
  8. Drizzle glaze over the cooled bars; let cool completely; cut into squares
 
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I miss Summer.  It's only early November, but I already miss it.  My absolute favorite thing to do is have a barbecue.  But whether I'm cooking for a crowd or my family, I always look for a way to use the grill.  And where there is a grill, you'll surely find hamburgers of some kind.  Burgers are the quintessential American food.  I guess because you can top them any way you want so everybody has their chance to, dare I say, "Have it their way".

I suppose you could say they are one of my vices.  I don't think I've ever made the same burger twice.  No joke.  There is always something I change up.  I've never written down a burger recipe.  And I've made them hundreds of times.  To this day, that is probably my biggest challenge as a chef.  I tend to cook with what I have on hand.  Maybe that will be my New Year's resolution?!

So that being said, use what you have on hand.  Change it up a bit as you see fit.  One thing that I have been partial to lately, though, is the "mini-burger".  In this recipe, I use mini Hawaiian bread for buns.  Yum!  The chipotle mayo gives it some kick, and the arugula adds a nice peppery element that iceberg lettuce just doesn't have.  The bacon give it smokey-ness, the cheddar adds some sharpness, and the caramelized onions impart a little sweetness.  I'll admit, I had more than "my fair share" of these burgers.  Maybe that's why I like mini burgers so much...................

Enjoy!

-The Chef

BURGERS

  • 2 1/2 lbs ground beef
  • 1 Tbsp A-1 steak sauce
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 - 1/2 lb.  sharp cheddar cheese
  • 12 slices thick cut applewood smoked bacon
  • 6 oz baby arugula
  • 2 tomatoes, sliced 3/8" thick
  1. Mix beef, A-1, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper in mixing bowl until well mixed.  Form into 24 equally sized patties.
  2. Pre-heat oven to 350F.  Cook bacon for approx 30 minutes in oven on a parchment lined sheet tray.  Drain on paper towels.  Reserve.
  3. Fold sliced cheddar into a square and place on top of 12 burger patties.  Lay the remaining patties over the cheese and seal edges by pinching with your fingertips.
  4. For best results, use grill and cook approx 1-2 minutes on each side, or until desired doneness is achieved.
  5. Top with cooked bacon and more cheddar cheese.  Melt cheese and assemble. From bottom to top, layer: mayo, arugula, tomato, burger, caramelized onions.

CHIPOTLE MAYO:

  • 6 Tbsp mayo
  • 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp adobo sauce
  • 1 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
  • 1/4 tsp chopped parsley
  • pinch of salt and pepper

  1. Remove one individual chipotle pepper from can and finely chop.  (the rest can be stored in plastic bag or container in the fridge for up to 1 week).
  2. Place in mixing bowl.  Add remaining ingredients.
  3. Stir. Taste.  Cover and refrigerate for up to 1 week.
Note:  Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce are available at most local supermarkets.  Look for them in the ethnic food section by the Mexican ingredients.