Chocolate Chip Cookies and Salted Caramel Sauce

One of my earliest memories of baking is making chocolate chip cookies with my dad. He was always the baker in our house growing up and he is still an expert cookie maker. I can remember standing at the counter watching him cream the butter and sugar together with a pastry cutter. To me it never seemed like a planned thing to make cookies. We would take the butter out and start, no waiting for it to come to room temperature. And, there were always chocolate chips in the pantry. I couldn't tell you where or when they were purchased, but they were just always there like a favorite stuffed animal. And maybe that is what chocolate chip cookies have become for me, a comfort food like no other, not only because of the salty, chewy, and sweet flavors, but because of the comfort of making them with family. Now as an adult, I always have chocolate chips in my pantry, just in case I need them.

It is my father's birthday today, so I have made chocolate chip cookies and will be dropping them off at his work this afternoon to surprise him. I used the recipe on the back of the Tollhouse chip bag. That is the one we always have used, and I follow it exactly. That recipe, hands down makes the best chocolate chip cookies. My only piece of advice is to bake them for the minimum amount of time listed on the package (usually 9 minutes).

As an aside, this recipe also always makes me think of the Friends episode when Phoebe tries to remember the recipe that her grandmother used to make chocolate chip cookies. Monica then makes about 100 batches of cookies to try and get it right, only to find that it was the recipe from the back of the Nestle chip bag that she used.

The other thing that I made was a Salted Caramel Sauce. My dad is a huge fan of ice cream, salt and caramel. I thought what would be better than a jar of homemade salted caramel to go over his ice cream. I used a recipe from Cara at Cara Lee Cupcakes and Cake. The recipe was super easy to follow and the sauce turned out delicious!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Family Reunion and Berry Trifle

This past Sunday was spent getting together for our annual family reunion. It was wonderful to see everyone and spend time outside by the pool. It was an even better surprise to see my sister Emma, who showed up unannounced from Ithaca! She is fabulously talented and always busy with work, so it was nice to be able to catch up with her and her boyfriend.

One of the best parts of the reunion of course is the food. When I was much younger the family would get together at a park and there would be rows and rows of food, but also many more people. Now that everyone is much more spread out, we just get together at a cousin's house to play frisbee golf, swim and of course eat good food.

My mom offered me the job of cooking/ preparing the food for the day and I was glad to take her up on that offer. So I ended up making the mini caprese salad, a berry trifle, and Mediterranean pasta salad.

The berry trifle was a huge hit so here is the recipe. I found this by searching online for a trifle recipe, however I do not really follow the recipe, I really just needed some ideas. So this is my variation on what I found.

Berry Trifle

1 box vanilla pudding
1 orange
1 c. milk
1 c. sour cream
2 c. whipped topping (or whipped cream)
3 c. blue berries (I just buy 2 boxes at the store, or use as many as will fit in the dish)
2 c. strawberries sliced
1 pound cake (you could also use angel food cake and other "light" ingredients to make it low fat and low calorie)

Mix milk, sour cream and pudding together in a bowl until blended. Then zest (use a small grater to shave off the skin of the orange, but not the white part) the orange and mix into the pudding. Cut the orange in half and squeeze the juice into the bowl. I do this over my hand to catch any seeds. Mix well. Finally fold in the 2 cups of whipped topping and place in the fridge.

Wash berries and slice strawberries. Slice the pound cake into small cubes about 1 inch by 1 inch.

Place sliced strawberries around the base of a clear glass trifle bowl or other tall dish. Cover the bottom with a single layer of cake. Next top with 1/3 of the cream mix. Then add a layer of blueberries, cake and 1/3 cream. Next is a layer of the sliced strawberries, cake and cream. That will take me to the top of the bowl. Sometimes I have to mix in the rest of the whipped topping with the last 1/3 of the cream mix to have enough to cover the cake. Finally top with a layer of blueberries. Feel free to vary the layers as you see fit. The first time I made this (see pic above) I was not able to get as many layers in the bowl because I used too much cake.

Rhubarb Cobbler

As promised, I am adding the pics from the rhubarb cobbler that I made for dessert this Easter.
At the tender age of 10 I asked my grandmother to show me how to make rhubarb since I was the only other one in the family besides her that like it. So it is the recipe written in my 10 year old hand from my grandmothers kitchen that I share with you for the fruit part of this recipe. I then refer to the tried and true Betty Crocker recipe for the cobbler topping, which in essence is more like a sweet biscuit than anything else. I a have also used an oatmeal pie topper, which I think I prefer.

Rhubarb Cobbler

4 c. chopped Rhubarb (washed and stalks only)
1 c. sugar
2-3 tbs. cornstarch

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Mix all ingredients together in a pot then place over medium heat and cook until boiling or the fruit mix has thickened. You may want to add a bit of water to the bottom of the pan initially to keep the mix from sticking. Once the fruit mix has thickened remove it from the heat. You do not want to over cook the rhubarb because it will just break down and you will end up with more of a fruit spread than chunks of fruit in a sweet sauce. At this time you can place the fruit mix in an oven proof glass dish or baking dish. I used a 1 quart round baking dish.
*A pie pan is probably not deep enough, also I do not usually make pie with this because the crust doesn't cook properly and ends up soggy.

Then place the topping over the hot fruit and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Biscuit Topping

4 tbs. shortening
1 tbs. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. milk

Mix dry ingredients together in a small bowl. Cut in the shortening (neat trick courtesy of my cousin Nancy: use your finger tips to "cut" the shortening into the flour by pinching the flour and shortening together. This will be much quicker than using a fork or pastry cutter!)
Add the milk and minx until just combined. Place dollops onto hot fruit mix then bake for time specified above.


(This cobbler recipe will work with peaches, pears, strawberries, blueberries or any combo of those, it is a very flexible recipe!)

Time for a Break

Finally Easter break has come! Though rainy, it has been a productive break so far, meaning that I have done everything around the house except work on my paper for class. I finally had a chance to get out and work in my garden since it was not raining for a day. I planted Hostas, Dahlias, Fresias, and Tulips. I even climbed up in the Japanese maple and trimmed up the branches some. It was nice to finally be out in warm weather.

It is nice this year to not have to make an Easter dinner, but I am in charge of dessert. So I will be making vanilla cupcakes with lemon cream cheese icing for lunch and a rhubarb cobbler for dinner.

Rhubarb is probably one of my favorite spring foods. The part you eat is the stalk, which reminds me somewhat of asparagus and celery. The red stalk is tender and very bitter, but when sugar is added and then cooked, it creates a tart treat. If you like lemon bars or lemon meringue pie, then you will probably like rhubarb.

I will be consulting my inherited copy of Betty Crocker's cook book circa 1980 (with my mom's notes) for the cobbler recipe and will post pictures upon completion.

And on Sunday we bake!

Pumpkin (Butternut Squash) Bread with Cranberries

When life or your mom hands you Butternut squash... ?

Inspiration struck in the form of my father who made a "pumpkin" pie with summer squash! My mom gave me some squash from the fall that needed to be used because as the temps warm they just don't keep as well in the basement. I am not particularly fond of sweet squash, but realized courtesy of my father that it could be used to replace pumpkin in recipes. So I decided to make pumpkin bread using said squash.

I peeled it and cut it into chunks, then boiled it until it was very soft. Then once drained, used a whisk to mix/mash it all up. It had been boiled long enough that no food processor or blender was necessary! I then used a basic pumpkin bread recipe and replaced the pumpkin puree with the homemade version that I created. I also added some cranberries for additional flavor and sprinkled one of the loaves with chopped pecans. The two loaves are in the oven as we speak and looking beautiful. I will add pics when they are finished.



Yum! Very moist and good flavor!

Domestic Bliss and Apple-Sass

I did not have to work today... woohoo! Like many people I took a look around my messy house and said screw it I am gonna do something other than clean on my day off.

So, instead of cleaning I decided to earn another patch for my domestic diva status and learn how to can food. Now canning food is a process that I have watched my parents do since I was a small child, so naturally I went to my mother, the queen of all things domestic. She could give the circa 1990 Martha a run for her money in the cooking department.

Anyway, I had gone apple picking about a month ago with some friends and had a ton of apples just taking up space in my fridge, so apple sauce was the obvious choice for canning. I decided that I did not want to stand over a pot for an hour waiting for all these apples to cook, so I selected the lazy (or creative) way out. The Crockpot!

I cut and cored and peeled all 30 apples by hand, quartered them and dumped them into the Crockpot on low over night. Magically in the morning I had apple soup and schlepped it to mom's house. I added some cinnamon, put in over the wood stove at the rents house and then let it thicken. About 30 minutes later, after prepping the jars, was ready to fill and steam can my sass.

It turned out beautiful. I should have taken a picture! So for those of you interested in having homemade apple sauce for over the winter check out the Ball Blue Book, basically the bible of home canning.

Love it, but hate it

I love flying. I think really it is that I enjoy being in the airport with all the different people, going different places. It seems like a great place to start a story or a movie because there are so many options. (Maybe thats part of why I am obsessed with the movie Love Actually, also possibly because I am obsessed with all things English, but that is for another post).

Unfortunately my brain does NOT like flying. So while I am enjoying the surroundings, my brain decides to rebel against my body and give me what I can only imagine morning sickness feels like. No, I am not preggers, nor would I make a very happy prego lady if this is really what morning sickness is like.

Anyway.

I get horribly motion sick. Boo and sad face. I was with my family on a trip back from Florida this past Sunday and they were able to experience first hand what it is like when I start to feel sick before flying.

Did I take Dramamine you might ask? Of course I did, I think I would be an idiot if I did not, however I guess I did not take it early enough before getting into the car. Because, at the airport I started to feel nauseous. Yes, I was not even on the plane yet. Needless to say, I spend the next 45 minutes pacing around the airport to try and get it to go away. Even preparing myself for the inevitable by getting a plastic bag from one of those little stores.

It was finally time to board and I was not feeling better. My poor mother felt horrible for me and wanted to help, but I just wanted to be left alone in my misery. I mean who really wants people around when they feel like they are about to hurl? Not this girl.

By the time the plane started to taxi, I think the pills started to kick in, because I was feeling better and even managed to stay awake and look out the window for the second flight. Note to self: Take meds prior to getting into car with E as the driver. Being squeezed into the back seat with three other adults didn't help either.

Otherwise, had an awesome time visiting my amazingly talented sister in Florida, bonding with the fam and swimming with the alligators and manatees.