Hi Sweeties! Coming up for air here to check in with you and to share my cooking exploits of this morning. Feeling very domestic. One of the “benefits” of impending surgery and subsequent rehab is you have the ultimate incentive to get ducks in a row. So I’ve been madly filing, tidying, organizing, prepping . . . and as of this a.m., that extends to food.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t intend to (and really can’t) put up all the meals we’ll need for almost 8 weeks post-surgery (for that, I’m relying on the kindness of friends and family), but I can do little things – things with more of an eye toward when I’m cleared for activity and can cook again. Because then it’ll be late-fall and I will be mourning the end of the summer bounty from my CSA.

Like zucchini. Holy moly, there’s been a lot of zucchini in our share lately. And if we were a family of 3 zucchini lovers, well, maybe I’d feel easier about it. But as it is, it’s me who’ll eat it. So what’ve I done?

The other night I prepped these zucchini fries, and let me tell you, they were AMAZING. L. tried one but wouldn’t eat it. D. was out that night and so I ate a whole tray-full myself for dinner. They’re heavenly. I had plain panko crumbs and Italian seasoning blend in the pantry, so I made up my own zesty coating – that’s what I’d recommend ’cause then you can tailor it to your tastes. Just fantastic, although a bit time-consuming.

And this morning I’ve grated 18 cups of zucchini! I used 6 in a double-batch of scrumptious zucchini muffins (eating one now as a snack as I type). I have 24 big muffins (most will get tossed in the freezer once cool – you can take them out one at a time or in a group to serve a crowd) and 4 bags (3 c. each) of grated zucchini in the freezer. I can use these in soups, cookies, or more muffins later in the fall. Let’s just say I’m feeling a lot of affection toward my food processor.

For those of you with gardens or abundant CSA shares, tell us all what you do with your zucchini-overload in the comments! There may be more next week . . . .

© 2011, Sarah. All rights reserved.

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1. Zucchini Muffins

You can say what you want about Martha Stewart.  She might make you feel small, or she might not be the friendliest woman around, but the gal can cook, dammit.  Her stuff’s reliable.  Martha’s recipes are well written and they work.

This weekend I used two new Martha recipes – one that’s sure to become a staple in our Christmas cookie rotation, and one that I might make again for a crowd, but probably not just for the three of us.  I’ll explain that one later in the week.  Since we’re on the brink of Christmas, and ya’ll might be noodling around for something else to add to your dessert plates, today we’ll do the sweet stuff! 

These cookies are SO tasty. Soft, chewy, rich and dark and not over-the-top sweet.  And pretty, too – look at ‘em up there, so dramatic with their dark brown and stark white!  A couple of practice pointers:  Don’t be afraid of this dough – when you first blend the ingredients, it’ll have the consistency of thick frosting, but if you freeze it as directed, it’ll set up well and be easy to work with.  I’d also recommend you double the recipe – really, 18 cookies won’t be enough once your crew gets their paws on these!

Chocolate Espresso Snowcap Cookies (originally from MarthaStewart.com)

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, espresso, baking powder, and salt. With an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg until well combined; mix in cooled chocolate. With mixer on low speed, gradually add dry ingredients; beat in milk just until combined. Flatten dough into a disk; wrap in plastic. Freeze until firm, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place confectioners’ sugar into a medium bowl; working in batches, roll balls in sugar twice.

Place balls on prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies have spread and coating is cracked, 12 to 14 minutes; cookies will still be soft to the touch. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 18 cookies.

© 2010, Sarah. All rights reserved.

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Are you a fan of Semi-Sweet on Facebook and Twitter?  If you’re not, you should be – you’ll have access to all manner of “bonus content,” including links to interesting health- and nutrition-related articles, delicious-looking recipes I find, news about goings-on around town, and many days, updates on what I’m eating (you might find something new to try!).  A couple of days ago, I posted some tips for making it through the holidays while still fitting into your skinny jeans, and also about baking cookies.  And a few people commented – surprised comments like “Hey, idiot! The two are incompatible!”

Well I argue they’re not.  I’d describe my diet this time of year as “Robbing Peter to Pay Paul” – that is, I sacrifice calories in certain areas so that I can indulge in others, while still avoiding holiday weight gain.  And I also exercise that oh, so elusive word – “moderation.”  So when L. and I baked the Candy Cane Kiss cookies I’m about to tell you about, I had one.  And no BLT’s (batter licks or tastes) while in process.  And the rest of my day was filled with wholesome, low-calorie, healthful foods (but for those few pretzels I had at a board meeting, natch).  You. Can. Do. This. Too.

OK, lecture over – on to the fun stuff!

It’s the official start of one of my favorite holiday pass-times . . . baking cookies.  L. and I kicked off bake-a-palooza 2010 with a great Candy Cane Kiss cookie baking session and they came out beautifully.  This is an easy recipe that’s great to do with kids – if you have those around the house, too.  If you want to make extras, this recipe doubles great, and you can freeze the cookies to eat/give away later.  Just make sure they’re fully cooled, and then use a 9×13 plastic container with a lid (ours are Rubbermaid), and if you’re anal like me, you might want to invest in some super-duper big Ziplocs to put around the containers.  No freezer burn’s going to penetrate your goodies, no-siree.  Wanna see a slideshow of our efforts?  Check it out now, but beware, there’s music.

I’ve laid in my ingredients to do a boat-load of my now-famous rugelach (every faux-Jew’s gotta have a rugelach recipe in her repertoire), some dog biscuits for doggies-not-ours, walnut snowballs (L’s favorite and mine too), sugar cookie cutouts, and probably something with pecans, because I somehow ended up with two bags of them.

I’ll keep you posted as I go along!

© 2010, Sarah. All rights reserved.

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Yikes?!  It’s TWO DAYS until Thanksgiving?  What? Are you all set?  You probably have dinner nailed down by now, but don’t you want something a little special for breakfast?  I made these muffins last weekend and they are the perfect seasonal breakfast item.  And so easy.  And because these are even better the day or two after you bake them, why not get ahead of the game and whip these up tonight or tomorrow, so you can wake up to a delicious homemade treat on Turkey Day? 

Apple Pumpkin Muffins with Streusel Topping (adapted from Allrecipes.com)

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease 18 muffin cups or use paper liners.

In a large bowl, combine 2 1/2 cups flour, 2 cups sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, pumpkin and oil. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; stirring just to moisten. Fold in apples. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons flour, 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle topping evenly over muffin batter.

Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

After these cool, store them in an airtight container in the fridge.  Or freeze them.  Whatever you do, warm them slightly before you eat them, and if you like, slather with a little softened butter or whipped cream cheese that’s been sweetened with a little maple syrup. 

© 2010, Sarah. All rights reserved.

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And now for something completely different . . . not a soup, or a stew, or a Crock-Pot dish.  Not a chicken thing or a tofu scramble.  A desserty/snacky/breakfasty delight. 

I usually try to minimize my baking efforts.  It’s not that I don’t enjoy it.  And L. certainly digs getting her mixer on and crackin’ a few eggs.  But then we have the product, and it’s delicious, and, well, hard to resist.  So we eat it all up and then we (well, D. and I) pay the price on the hips, the belly and with the corresponding uptick on the scale. 

But we love us some baked goods in this house, and so when I was faced with a bunch of really brown bananas, well, I couldn’t resist trying out this new recipe for banana bread.

My recipe makes two full-sized loaves.  The Greek yogurt helps add moisture without added fat (there’s butter for that!).  We made one chocolate with chocolate chips, and one plain with chocolate chips.  They’re both damn good, although I think the choco/choco is a little too much . . . and I would’ve loved nuts, but the weirdospeople around here aren’t into those in their quickbreads. 

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Bread (adapted from Savory Sweet Life)

Preheat over to 350°. Lightly grease two 9×5 loaf pans with cooking spray or butter. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Stir in egg, mashed bananas, sour cream, and vanilla until well blended. Add baking soda, salt, flour. Mix everything until well incorporated. Add chocolate chips, cocoa powder (if you want both loaves to be choco/choco) and nuts (if using), and split the batter in half.  Add cocoa to one-half of the batter.

Pour batter into loaf pans and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the loaf – if it comes out clean, your loaves are done.

Makes 2 full-sized loaves, and this stuff freezes like a dream – pack one away for your next coffee-klatch.

© 2010, Sarah. All rights reserved.

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One last cookie recipe for you this season – the grand-daddy of them all. This is the most praised cookie in my battalion of cookie recipes.  I am not exaggerating when I tell you that people fall all over themselves for these rugelach.  Lifetime rugelach-lovers have confided in me that these are better than any they’ve ever tasted before . . . . so if you want to make some friends (maybe influence some people?) this season, whip up a batch or two of these and be generous.  And read to the end for a shortcut that might make these less daunting to bake.  

Rugelach

Cream the cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light. Add 1/4 c. granulated sugar, the salt, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and mix until just combined. Dump the dough out onto a well-floured board or countertop and roll it into a ball. Cut the ball in quarters, wrap each piece in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

To make the filling, combine 6 T. of granulated sugar, the brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, the raisins and the walnuts.

On a well-floured board, roll each ball of dough into a 9-inch circle (a nice way to get a neat circle is to place a 9-inch pie plate upside-down over the dough as a stencil, scoring the dough around the edge with a small knife). Spread the dough with 2 T. apricot preserves and sprinkle with 1/2 c. of the filling. Press the filling lightly into the dough. Cut the circle into 12 equal wedges, cutting the whole circle in quarters, then each quarter into thirds. Starting with the wide edge, roll up each wedge. Place the cookies, points tucked under, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Combine 3 T. granulated sugar and 1 t. cinnamon in a small bowl.  Remove the cookies from the fridge, brush each cookie with the egg wash, and sprinkle each cookie with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack and let cool.

Yield:  approximately 3 dozen cookies.

Note:  the possibilities for fillings are endless.  I usually make at least 2 batches of these, half with apricot and half with seedless raspberry preserves.  You can use a chocolate spread, like Nutella, or chocolate and raspberry together.  I’ve heard of people using fig jam, some just use cinnamon-sugar and nuts.  Think of what flavors appeal to you and go from there – the dough is neutral and will showcase whatever’s inside.

Next – these are a lot of work: mixing, rolling, filling, chilling, yada yada yada.  If you want to make “lazy-man’s rugelach,” you can roll the dough into a rectangle instead of a circle, insert your fillings, roll it up into a log and cut slices.  Then chill them and brush them as you would traditional, crescent-shaped rugelach.

© 2009, Sarah. All rights reserved.

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Happy Wednesday, friends!  Been a long time since I put up some hotlinks . . . . Here’s a nice collection of holiday links for you – focused on sweets.  I haven’t tried them, yet, but if you do, will you post in the comments and let us know what you think? 

Here’s a great-looking recipe for peppermint cookie bark. (Macheesmo)

This cookie made with pistachios, dried cranberries and candied ginger shouts “Christmas!” (Luna Cafe)

Perhaps you’ll want to loosen your belt and serve The Kitchen Witch’s rendition of Ina Garten’s luscious croissant bread pudding. (The Kitchen Witch)

Go free-form with this fabulous looking cherry almond galette- no hardcore baking skills needed. (The (Wicked) Awesome Whisk)

Here’s a collection of delicious-looking cookie recipes adapted from local bakeries. (Globe Magazine)

And last, but not least, a yummy sweet kugel recipe . . . if you’ve never had sweet noodle pudding, you need to try this one out . . . and you know?  It’d be great (yet decidedly not traditional!) with your Christmas ham. (Bitten)

© 2009, Sarah. All rights reserved.

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Back on the butter train, folks . . . if you’d like to find vegan cookie recipes with whole wheat pastry flour or flax meal . . . please point your browser elsewhere today.  ‘Cause for me, the real culinary spirit of Christmas is in a wide array of buttery, sugary treats.  But what do I always say?  Moderation in everything . . . so during this indulgent season, pick your battles.  Don’t eat a sweet roll for breakfast, a heavy mayo-laden sammie for lunch and a rich prime-rib dinner, OK?  If you’ve got a gathering in the evening, balance the apps, dinner and cookies with a light, fruit- and veggie-rich breakfast, a high fiber lunch that contains a bit of protein (think big green salad with some chicken, tofu or beans on top) and then have whatever you like later.  Consider, however, having only what really looks super delicious and special to you – blindly grazing on all the options is a bigger deal fat- and calorie-wise.  But here’s the thing – this is a once-a-year thing and you should ENJOY yourself, too . . . so if that means that if you really love indulging here and there, then I say, have at it.  Life is waaay too short to deny yourself all that pleasure.

Today’s recipe evokes warm memories in me.  My Grandma Helen’s walnut snowballs are a riff off Mexican Wedding Cakes, Russian/Swedish Tea Cakes, and a Lebanese cookie called mamoul.   And while I’ve tweaked her recipe a bit over the years, no one can touch my Grandma in the cookie-baking department.  Every Christmas, Grandma whipped up about 8 different kinds of cookies, placing them neatly in between sheets of waxed paper in Currier & Ives tins that she’d collected.  Before guests came over, or after a meal, we’d haul out the various tins of goodies and pick and choose our favorites.  Going to her house at Christmastime and eating all those different cookies is one of my top-ten childhood memories.

This recipe is my favorite of the lot.  Rich and crumbly and not over-the-top sweet, with a great toasty walnut flavor.  Best ever is that they also happen to be L.’s favorite Christmas cookie.  So the traditions of my Swedish-American grandmother, who married my Lebanese-American grandfather, are living on through her Chinese-American great-granddaughter.  Life is good.

Helen’s Walnut Snowballs

Beat the butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy.  Add 1/2 c. powdered sugar and the vanilla; beat until well blended.  Beat in the flour, then the walnuts.  Divide dough in half; form each half into a ball.  Wrap each ball separately in plastic wrap and chill until cold, about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place the remaining 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar into a pie plate.  Set aside.

Working with half of the chilled dough, roll the dough by 2 teaspoonfuls between palms into balls.  Arrange the balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment, about 1/2-inch apart.  Bake until golden brown on the bottom and just pale golden on the top, about 18 minutes.  Cool cookies 5 minutes on the sheet.  Gently toss each warm cookie in the powdered sugar to coat completely.  Transfer the coated cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.  Repeat the same procedure with the other half of the dough.

Makes about 4 dozen.

Here’s a little tip – did you know that most Christmas cookies can be baked and then frozen?  It’s true!  So if you’re a compulsive over-achiever planning type like me, you can start cranking out the goods weeks in advance, then layer them in air-tight containers (parchment or waxed paper in between layers, please) and pop ‘em in there for later.  Cookies make welcome gifts and you’ll always have some on hand for company.

© 2009, Sarah. All rights reserved.

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We’re rounding out the Thanksgiving dessert preparations today with pecan pie.  Chocolate pecan pie, to be exact.  This easy recipe isn’t for the faint of heart – it is RICH RICH RICH.  Serve it with a little sweetened whipped cream and watch your guests hold their bellies with delight. 

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and put your oven rack in the lowest position.  Put the chocolate chips in microwave-safe bowl (preferably glass) and microwave in 15-20 second intervals to melt (be careful not to scorch those chips!!).  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, stir together (don’t whisk) eggs, corn syrup, sugar, vanilla and salt.  Stirring constantly, gradually add melted chocolate.  Pour filling into prepared crust; place pie plate on a rimmed baking sheet.  Arrange pecans in one even layer over the filling.

Bake just until set (filling will jiggle slightly when pie plate is tapped), 50-60 minutes, rotating halfway through cooking time.  Let cook completely on a wire rack, at least 4 hours (or up to overnight) before serving. 

Leftovers!?

OK, if you’re making all this pie, depending on how many guests you’re feeding, you’re gonna have leftovers.  Which is never a bad thing, when it comes to pie – I mean, what better Friday-after-Thanksgiving-breakfast is there than a slice of pie and a cup of coffee or tea??  What’s the best way to store those goodies?  Fruit pies (double or single-crust) are best stored at room temperature.  Putting them in the fridge will only make the crust gummy.  Wrap them well in foil and they should keep for 2 days.  Custard and cream-filled pies (like pumpkin and pecan) should be wrapped in plastic wrap and put in the fridge.  They’ll last for a day or two. 

Stay tuned – learn all about Chia in Monday’s post!  Have a great weekend.

© 2009, Sarah. All rights reserved.

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A mid-day post, how novel?!  I wanted to get this up, stat, because I just got an email from a flummoxed reader who asked me to explain the term “blind baking” – the pumpkin pie recipe calls for you to blind bake the crust. 

“Blind baking” is just a fancy term for baking the crust before you put the filling inside.  You should use dried beans or pie weights (the pie weights I’ve seen are either ceramic balls or else little metal balls all linked together on a chain) to keep the bottom of the crust from puffing up too much as it bakes.  It’s likely something you’ve already done, if you ever bake pie or quiche.  For the uninitiated, after you get your crust situated in the pie plate, put a bunch of dried beans/pie weights in to cover the bottom part of the crust, bake for the time indicated, remove the beans/weights, and fill the pie. 

Many recipes/cookbooks call for you to line the crust with aluminum foil before putting the pie weights in – this can help keep the crust from getting too brown.  I don’t do this, and I haven’t had an issue with too much browning – in fact, I find the foil to be cumbersome and that it usually wrecks the crust a little bit going in.  So if you wanna be a purist, you can do this, but I take the short-cut way and don’t.

Please, if you ever have questions about terms or recipes, just email me or post them in the comments, OK?

Carry on!

© 2009, Sarah. All rights reserved.

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