Cream & Sugar Kitchen

Smoky Caramelized Onion Dip, For the Win

I'm not even gonna lie about my love-hate relationship with professional football and the Superbowl.  For me, it's not a real Superbowl unless 1. the Chicago Bears are shufflin', 2. Walter Payton is still alive, and 3. it's 1985.   Nowadays it's just an excuse for me to make and/or eat junk food and yell at the television for three hours straight while being as curmudgeonly cynical as possible.  So while you may be having the best Superbowl ever, New Orleans Saints, if you don't mind I'll just pretend that Ditka and Refrigerator Perry are still kickin' it in the league.  

Earle and I were invited to a Superbowl-ish party this year, but the Mid-Atlantic snowpocalypse of 2010 kept us in the city (and the party was canceled anyway.)  Instead, Earle made some dericious honey barbecue wings and mac 'n cheese, and as a jumping off point for the feastivities, I threw together some caramelized onion dip last minute.

My original plan consisted of two key ingredients:  Simply Organic french onion dip mix and sour cream.  In all honesty:  I am lazy.  I am cheap.  I am no better than Sandra Lee.  Unfortunately for me, Whole Foods was out of the french onion dip mix (d'oh!) and I had to think on my feet. 

This past summer I went to an impromptu BBQ and quickly threw together a doctored-up onion dip:  french onion dip mix & sour cream with added caramelized onions, cumin, cayenne, and chili powder.  For our Superbowl dip, I took it a step further, creating a smoky, creamy base then adding sweet caramelized onions and crunchy, salty bacon.  A tasty counterpoint to raw veggies and potato chips, I could see it pairing well with either pita or wholegrain tortilla chips as well.  Add some beer and a big screen t.v. and you are good to go my friend.

As we all know, caramelizing onions is about the easiest thing you can do in the kitchen, and below are photos of my onions after 15 and 30 minutes.  I let them cook down for a total of 40 minutes, so they ended up deeper and darker in color than are shown here.  While the dip couldn't be simpler to make, you do need a little bit of time to let the concoction set up in the fridge - I'd factor in about one or two extra hours of inactive prep time for the recipe.  This dip is a frackin' crowd-pleaser so, you know, it's totally worth it.

Smoky Caramelized Onion Dip

• 2 slices thick-cut bacon, cut lengthwise into strips then diced
• 2 medium sweet onions (about 1 and 1/2 to 2 lbs), halved then thinly sliced
• 16 ounces sour cream
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste

In a sauté pan, cook your lovely little bacon bits over medium heat, until just cooked through and slightly browned.  Remove bits with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.  Add onions and sauté over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for about 35 to 45 minutes, until the onions have reduced significantly and turned an orangey-brown.  Transfer to medium-sized bowl and cool for 10 to 15 minutes.

To your onions add sour cream, cumin, granulated garlic, chili powder, cayenne, and bacon.  Mix until well incorporated.  Season with salt and pepper to your liking.  Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour. 

***If omitting bacon, start out by heating two to three tablespoons of vegetable oil in your pan, then add onions.***

Yield: 2 cups / approximately 10 servings   

Homemade Granola - Any Way You Want It

As soon as I typed the second half of the above title, you can imagine what popped into my head:

Journey - Any Way You Want It

I don't know why I've been putting off trying my hand at homemade granola, because this was literally one of the easiest things I've ever made, except for maybe rice krispie treats.  (Should the r in "rice" and k in "krispie" be capitalized?  I understand that it's kind of a formal, trademarked name.)  Anywho, easy, peasy, 1-2-3.  The only thing that was minor-ly time consuming was chopping nuts and dates, but honestly, I think I spent about 50 minutes total (including bake time) and ooh la la, fresh granola on my counter, in my bellyz.

The kind of granola we eat, and what we eat it with, seems to be a pretty subjective thing dominated by personal tastes.  An old roomie of mine loved it with raisins and fruit; I avoid the stuff at all costs.  Another person I know prefers a bit of milk on their granola; I like a nice healthy dollop of plain or vanilla yogurt.  Sometimes even a very light drizzle of honey.  Don't forget the chocolate chips!  (I can't live without a bit of the sweet stuff on my granola).  I know another person who eats it dry.  Dry, people!

I started to get frustrated rummaging through mounds of granola recipes calling for items I wouldn't deign to eat with a spoon.  Dried blueberries?  Ick.  Raisins?  Again, no thank you.  But then I realized..."doy, Jaime.  You don't have to put those things in your granola!  You can have it...Any Way You Want It."

And so, moral of the story is: granola is good for you.  It tastes deeelicious.  It's so easy to make, even a caveman could do it.  And you can tailor it (and how you consume it) to your every desire and whim.  For example, the recipe I chose to adapt called for an optional 1/4 cup of sesame seeds.  I thought about that for a minute.  Then I thought about the expensive sesame seeds in my cabinet that I use for bagelry.  Then I thought about how much I like flax seeds.  So much in fact that in my granola I decided to add a whole cup of 'em.  Yum to the O.  (I just died a little inside as I typed that).

Any Way You Want It Granola

• 3/4 cups pecans (or any other preferred nut)
• 1/2 cup natural almonds (or any other preferred nut)
• 4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/4 cup to 1 cup golden flax seeds or sesame seeds (optional)
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup, cane syrup or honey, at room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 3/4 cup chopped dates (optional)
• 1/2 cup dried blueberries or raisins   Hell no!  Okay, well only if you want them.

Feel free to add, subtract, or substitute any of the above additives - the nuts, dates, or dried fruit.  I would stick to everything else, although you could probably use agave in place of syrup or honey, and this recipe would work just fine with Earth Balance.

Preheat the oven to 375°F.  Line a large shallow baking sheet with foil.  Spread the pecans and almonds on the sheet and roast for 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly toasted.  Transfer the nuts to a board, let cool then chop.  Set aside.

Reduce the oven temperature to 300°F.  Pour the oats and seeds (if using) in a mound on the same baking sheet.  Melt the butter in a small bowl in the microwave.  Stir in syrup/honey/agave and salt and drizzle on top of the oats. Stir well with a rubber spatula and then spread out the oats in an even layer.

Bake the oats for 30 minutes, stirring once with the spatula halfway through, until the oats are lightly colored.  Let cool; the mixture will crisp as it cools. Add your fixins (dates, nuts, etc.) and toss.

The original recipe, adapted from Epicurious, said something about yielding 7 cups of granola, but I think it lies.  Either way you get a good amount of the stuff at half the price you would pay in the store.  Store at room temp in bags or jars for approximately one month.

Happy New Year! Have Some Baklava Muffins.

The above picture is proof that Christmas and New Year's actually happened this year (I mean last year), even though it feels like it flew by in no time at all.  The tree and all its trappings came down on Sunday, thanks to Earle, while I was catching a double feature at the Ritz.  When I came home, it was almost like they hadn't been up at all.  I know I must seem like a total sap, but I'm a bit attached to the weeks between Thanksgiving and January 1st.  And now it's back to reality, back to the regular everyday.

I baked a lot over the holidays - rocky road chocolate bites, bagels, tons of chocolate-covered pretzels with various toppings thanks to Helen's post over at Philly Foodie, my first brisket (most of the credit goes to Earle, but I helped!), soft pretzel bites (Tracey and I made those together), and for a delicious New Year's brunch hosted by friends Josh and Martha, these fluffy baklava muffins.

First off, I have to mention that Martha made the most delicious cinnamon buns completely from scratch.  I thought I took a video of her icing some hot-out-of-the-oven buns, but alas I have yet to figure out my new phone and failed to press the record button.  (Which is pretty dumb, no?)  All I can say is...wow.   Warm, gooey, caramel-ly, smothered in what appeared to be a cream cheese based icing (but I could be wrong)...they were pure, unadulterated sinfulness. 

There was a bounty of amazingly delicious food at the brunch and I shan't lie:  I was a little embarrassed by my simple muffins.  While a bit on the basic side, they have such a light and fluffy texture with a bit of cinnamon, sugar and walnut filling and a drizzle of honey on top gets completely soaked up by the ever-so-slight sponginess of the muffin.  Earle and I tried one right out of the oven and were entranced by their very delicate sweetness and airy texture.

I was very, very excited on Christmas morning when I opened up a gift from my dad's wife, Bianca, to find a square muffin pan.  I had been pining over one at Fante's for awhile and was super duper psyched to try it out.  What I didn't quite realize is the size difference between the square cups and the average round muffin pan - the square ones were almost twice the size of my round ones, so I had to double the recipe.  Oops.

What I also didn't quite realize was that the finished muffins would be, duh, double the size then originally intended.  Thankfully they're light enough, and not a bit dense, so eating a whole one might take some time but shouldn't be all that tricky.  The next time I make these though, I'll probably use a smaller muffin pan.  Or put a bit less batter in each cup.  Lesson learned. 

The recipe was adapted from Nigella Lawson's How to Be a Domestic Goddess (but originally taken from The Joy of Muffins, a book I'm seriously contemplating buying right now.  Someone talk me out of it.)  My version is under the cut.  Make these!  Eat these!  They take no time at all!  You won't regret it.

Dericious: Low Cal / Low Fat Double Chocolate Muffins

If you're like any average American, you need all the help you can get come holiday time to ensure that your pants still fit on January 1st.  Ah, my friends...no need to worry!  Aunt Jaime is here to help.

Okay, "Aunt Jaime" is a little creepy because I'm not an aunt in any way.  In fact, I'm the oldest child in my family by about nine years, which means I better not become an aunt any time soon or my 21 year old little bro will have some esplainin' to do.  I think I like the term "Aunt [insert name]" because of the "Aunt Emily" joke from When Harry Met Sally.  WHMS is an American treasure ya'all, so I will assume everyone has seen it, ergo leaving the reference unexplained.  And if you haven't seen the film in its entirety (ahem, Earle), shame on you.

Wow, I really got off topic here.

What I wanted to say was, very simply, I love chocolate.  Yeah, no transitions, just gonna put that out there.  I'm purely, utterly, devoted to the stuff.  And it just seems like November to January everyone else is as devoted - even Ann Taylor Loft had chocolates next to their registers last week when I ran in quickly with a friend.  It's just enough to drive me choco-bonkers.  So if you're trying to curb your intake and watch your girlish figure over the holidays, I highly suggest these oh-so-easy, oh-so-chocolatey low calorie, low fat muffins.  I'm tellin' ya, they're good and even Earle gave them two enthusiastic thumbs up.  Recipe under the cut.

Homemade Bagel Tutorial

About a month ago, I noticed that my friend Sara kept Twittering and Facebooking about homemade bagels.  When I first read the words "homemade" and "bagels" next to each other, my ears perked up like a hound dog's...what the what?  I kept thinking, "she must be off her rocker, mayor and sole inhabitant of Crazertown."  For some strange reason I had lumped bagels with baguettes as an impossible bread that absolutely cannot be baked in an ordinary home kitchen.

Sara sure did prove me wrong.  Working from a Nigella Lawson recipe out of "How to be a Domestic Goddess," the bagels were soft and chewy with a positively dreamy, crunchy outer layer.  After noshing and savoring these homemade treats, I can honestly say I never ever want to eat another store-bought or day old café bagel again.  The texture and taste goes beyond just "fresh"...heavenly seems a better descriptor, especially straight out of the oven with some butter and jam or cream cheese (or plain).

The technique needed for this recipe isn't that advanced - just make sure to block out a few hours and prepare yourself to flex a bit of muscle.  I think you'll agree that once you've tried these at-home bagels you won't go looking for them elsewhere.

Let us begin, shall we?

Snack Break: Apple Cider Doughnuts and Levain Bakery Cookies

Now that the seasons are finally changing I'm snuggling into nesting mode, which can mean only one thing:  bakingfreakoutbonanza!!

I keep going through all of my food magazines, sourcing recipes and dreaming of conquering them, one by one, in my tiny, somewhat efficient kitchen.  So when my friend Tracey suggested that we make apple cider doughnuts via Smitten Kitchen's recipe, I was totally down.  There doesn't seem to be much that SK's Deb can't do, even as a new mom, which just sends me to new heights of kitchen awe and baker envy.  Tracey and I made a valiant effort nonetheless, and even though we suffered some mishaps (involving a missing thermometer and a friend who found a tiny shard of glass in his doughnut) they turned out good.  It was just one random shard of glass!  No idea how it got there.  We didn't poison anyone, okay? 

We even used Tracey's cookie cutters to cut some of the doughnuts into cute heart shapes.  Aren't we just the most precious things ever? 

Don't answer that.

And in other Snack Break news I FINALLY made it to Levain Bakery in NYC a couple of weeks ago.  I saw a feature about the owners on the Food Network about a year or two ago and have been dying to go ever since.  At $4 a pop, their cookies are dense and moist, hearty and filling.  I bought two of each variety except for oatmeal raisin, because oatmeal raisin is the redheaded stepchild of cookie flavors.

left: chocolate chip walnut.  right: dark chocolate chocolate chip.

dark chocolate peanut butter chip.  yowza.

I'm not much of a milk drinker, but here's a tip:  these go really, really, really well with a tall, cool glass of the white stuff.  Especially after nuking these bad boys for about 10 seconds in the microwave.

I also made an apple pie this week, but you'll never see pictures of it (insert sinister "mwahahahaha" laugh here).  It tasted pretty damn nummers but it looked like an amateurish Play-doh sculpture that one of my five-year-old cousins would make.

On the kitchen agenda for this weekend:  bagels and babka.  I'm definitely doing a trial run of bagels on Sunday, because I want to make a second batch to take home for Thanksgiving.  And I found an awesome chocolate babka recipe that I'm just dying to screw up.  Would love to make some savory scones too, and a caramelized onion and mushroom galette, and caramel toffee cookie bars, and popcorn bark, and...

Kitchen's Open

To put it simply, I'm back.  Work is starting to calm down, I was able to make a dent in the mountain of t.v. shows in my DVR, and I actually have time to check Oh No They Didn't and Facebook.  Life is good...for the moment.  I know it will get hectic and crazed again in the near future, so for now I just need to enjoy it.

Tonight was a good night:  I got home before 7pm for a change and played a little Top Chef catch-up while making apple pie for the first time.  Just finished watching tonight's episode of Gossip Girl (don't make fun of my pop culture choices) while the slightly wonky-looking pie baked away in the oven; no matter how un-pretty it looks the smell is amazingly delicious...they should really market apple pie as a scent (wait, maybe they already do).

I'm really excited to get back in the kitchen this week.  I'll be attempting bagels on my own this weekend (I'll be posting a bagel tutorial later this week) and am searching for some new recipes to try out as well.  Maybe a savory scone?  Or chocolate ricotta pudding?  Any suggestions?  Send 'em my way. 

Blueberry Pie Tutorial

Would you believe that I've never made a pie before?  Seriously!  Wait, scratch that.  I made a pecan pie once, but with frozen crust.  Does that count?  Not so much, in my book anyway. 

What I love most about doing tutorials is twofold:  obviously learning new techniques is the primary focus, but it also offers a window into my friend's personal histories.  Case in point:  my friend Monica's blueberry pie. 

Monica grew up in Ithaca, New York; I've never been, but all I've ever heard about the town is that it's absolutely gorgeous, and people there are like, super duper smart.  Cause there are two major colleges there?  Get it?  Ok anyway.

I was lucky enough to snag some time with Monica, hunkered down in her kitchen as we (read: she) made the most delicious & tart, flaky & buttery pie I'VE EVER TASTED.  And I like pie.  A lot.  Which means I've had my share.  Which means hers is really really really good and...I think you get it.  Monica was such a pro at the pie game that I had to ask where she learned all of her tricks - apparently she spent a lot of time with her mom and grandma, either watching or baking.  Which are the little things about food and my friends that I love to hear about...because what often brings our families together (and our friends) is, in fact, food - its preparation and consumption.

The unlucky part in all of this is that I suffered a major photo meltdown, and lost almost all of the pictures that were to accompany this post (the two below are the only ones I saved; the photo above is courtesy of Monica).  It seriously ruffles my RPattz undies to no end.  So instead of step-by-step instructions and tips accompanied by a photo-record, I've included Monica's recipe below and inserted her little hints and tricks within it as much as possible. 

I can't stress enough how dericious her pie was, and how knowledgeable and skilled she was with the dough (and as some of you know, dough really freaks me out).  I'm planning on making an apple pie soon for Earle's birthday, and I'm so glad that Monica was able to walk me through pie crust first!  Monica's recipe is vegan, but you can certainly swap out the non-dairy items if you'd like.

Monica's B is for Blueberry Pie

For the crust (9 inch, 2 crust):

• 2 and 1/2 cups flour (white or whole wheat/white mix)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup shortening (Earth Balance shortening sticks are easiest to work with)
• 6-7 tbsp cold water

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix flour and salt in large mixing bowl.  Cut shortening into chunks and work into flour with either a pastry cutter or two knives - mix until you have a crumbly texture with the shortening in pea-sized lumps.  Add cold water one tablespoon at a time, mixing lightly with a fork, until the dough starts to ball around the fork.  Form into a dough ball and divide into two parts as evenly as possible.  Wrap each with plastic wrap and refrigerate while you prepare filling.

For the filling:

• 4+ cups fresh or frozen blueberries (If using frozen, Monica recommends thawing and then draining them to remove excess liquid)
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice (optional)
• 1 tbsp Earth Balance butter substitute

In a medium mixing bowl, mix flour and sugar, toss blueberries in, then add lemon juice (if desired). 

Remove dough from fridge and lightly flour your work surface.  Roll out one of the pieces of dough for the bottom of the pie.  When you have this piece rolled out to your liking, fold lengthwise in half, then fold in half again.  Place folded dough in bottom of pie pan, round edge facing out, and unfold and position it - this is the bottom of your pie.  Trim edges evenly with a knife or scissors (save your scraps!***).  Fill with blueberry mixture and dot with little tabs of Earth Balance.  For the top sheet of crust, repeat as you did with the bottom and place on top of pie filling.  Seal edges with a little cold water and roll up the edges to further close them.  At this point you can give your edges a little flair (like in my picture above) by simply pressing in opposite directions around the perimeter of your pie (sorry, I don't know how better to describe that, and Monica did it so fast and so well!)  Cut steam vents into top of pie and brush crust with soy or almond milk (optional).

Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes then turn oven down to 350 and bake an additional 30 to 40 minutes, until crust is lightly browned and filling is bubbly.  Let cool until filling starts to harden, then enjoy!  Or, you can do what we did and dig in almost right away, when the pie is still bubbly but no less tasty.  

***Monica used her scraps to make itty bitty mini-pies that she topped with some preserves.  You can also roll the scraps out and cut them into slices, spinkle with cinnamon and sugar, and bake until lightly golden. 

National Cookie Month: Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Since Halloween is only a few days away, I thought these peanut butter cup cookies were the perfect closer for National Cookie Month.  Chewy in the middle, crispy around the edges with morsels and bits of chopped Reese's peanut butter cups, these treats are sure to please your kids, your best friends, your grandpa, your coworkers, your worst enemy, your significant other.  Simply put, there's not much to not love about them.  Peanut butter, chocolate, sugar, butter...duh.

The recipe comes from this month's issue of Real Simple, and I tweaked just a couple of things (added a little more vanilla and substituted all-purpose flour with bread flour to make them a little more chewy).  Below is my version, but the original can be found here. 

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

• 1 and 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 and 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 bag (about 12 oz) mini peanut butter cups, coarsely chopped

Heat oven to 375° F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, whisk or sift together flour, baking soda, and salt.

For the next step you can either use an electric mixer or work by hand (I did the latter and they came out fine).  Beat butter and sugars until creamy.  Add egg and vanilla and combine.  Gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated.  Fold in peanut butter cups.

Drop tablespoon-size mounds of dough 2 inches apart onto baking sheets.  Bake for 12-15 minutes, until edges are light brown.  Let cookies rest on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

Sadly this is the last week of National Cookie Month, but who needs an excuse to bake?  This certainly will not be my last cookie post.

National Cookie Month: Raspberry Thumbprints

Oy.  What a weekend.  Suffered the worst hangover ever in my 30 years and managed to sleep almost all of my Sunday away.  Ah, but not all of it luckily; I recovered later in the day and baked a quick batch of raspberry thumbprint cookies. 

Backstory:  I first attempted this same recipe around the holidays last year and it was a flat out FAIL.  Let's just say that if a certain someone is trying to bake healthier, that certain someone should never, ever use I Can't Believe It's Not Butter (the not-for-baking kind).  Yeah, I'll just leave it at that.  No need to rehash lost battles.

I'm pleased to report that Sunday's batch came out much better than last year's and were oh-so-tasty.  The recipe comes from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine, and while they're not as editorially photogenic as hers, they turned out buttery and dense, not too sweet, with a nice shock of preserves in the center. 

the dough is dense and not sticky

Apricot, raspberry, and strawberry are all traditional flavors for thumbprint cookies, but last year I used Damsonplum preserves, and while the dough fell flat, the center still worked with the overall flavor profile of the cookie (Ha!  I've always wanted to say "flavor profile."  So.  Pretentious.)  I'm gonna snob out here for a sec and say that I prefer to use Bonne Maman preserves because they're all natural and straight up good, but any brand you like will do.  You can also add a chocolate chunk (milk chocolate or something semisweet would probably work best).

These take almost no time at all to make, besides about an hour or two of chilling time before baking.  I started prepping at 4pm and by about 6pm we were steady munching.

To get started, use Martha's "all-in-one cookie dough" recipe, then check out the "drop cookies, three ways" instructions and follow steps 1 and 3.  Bake about 13 to 15 minutes, rotating cookie sheet half-way through, until pale golden brown.  

Enjoy!

Next week - peanut butter cup cookies!