twd: Mrs. Vogel's Scherben

These lovely little fried dough straws could also been called "Funnel Cake Cookies."

There are super easy, except for the part where I dodge flying specks of hot oil while dropping in the dough. But hey, it keeps things interesting.

I'm surprised these aren't sold at fairs, in little paper cones as an alternative to the whole tangled funnel cake. My cookies weren't that sweet. I think my "large pinch of sugar" should have been a little bit bigger. So I made up for it with the cinnamon sugar and powedered sugar added afterward. It seems like a recipe that gets better the more you make it, and get a feel for proper amounts of flour and sugar and salt. That's basically all it is. Yet somehow, when it's fried, it's delicious.

I love fried dough things. I think we need a specific word in English, like freigh or frode. Or doughfries. Or doufies. Or perhaps it's better not to.

Happy Birthday TWD! Tarte Tartin

It is the two-year anniversary of Tuesdays with Dorie! A big thanks goes out to Laurie for starting the whole thing, and to all the twd bloggers for making it great each week. Oh, and Dorie Greenspan too, for the cookbook in the first place.

Instead of a regularly scheduled pick, everyone got to vote on a recipe. The winner.....Tarte Tartin! Okay, so I may be the only one, but I hadn't ever heard of it before. I love Dorie's story about it's origins in Paris. It seems the Tartin sisters forgot to put the pastry dough in first, and realized it after the apples were in the pan. Being a bit creative, they flopped it on top and turned the whole thing upside down.

Which is great, because it's really simple and really tasty!

I'm not sure about the color of mine. I'm thinking I didn't let the sugar caramelize enough on the stove before putting it in the oven. I thought it was a deep caramel color, but honestly, it was a little hard to tell with all the butter and apples.

Or perhaps it was the pan I used. The recipe calls for a cast iron skillet, which is so exciting because I love cast iron skillets and have one that I tempered years ago and have used maybe once. Well, I thought I'd tempered it properly. But today, as I dug it out, I remembered that the last time I saw it I noticed rust. Yep, rust. So I used an aluminum pan instead.

Of course I ate some straight out of the oven. I was on the way out the door for dinner with a friend, and so I quickly cut it up and dumped it in a container. It's rather like cobbler now. Only more Frenchie. ;)

Happy 2010!!!

As per tradition, gotta have the greens and the black-eyed peas. Yes, I would like the economy to bounce back and the more greens you eat, the more greenbacks will come your way. The peas, as mere coins, aren't quite as important.


As what goes better with greens and black-eyed peas than cornbread and gravy?
Rosemary cornbread and curried gravy perhaps?


5-Spice Black-Eyed Peas

Sautee onions and garlic in a little oil
Add Chinese 5 Spice, salt, and pepper to taste
Add black-eyed peas and cook until tender
Add tomatoes at the end, and let cook for about five minutes

Curried Gravy

Brown flour in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly
Add salt, pepper, and curry powder to taste and brown until the flour is a nutty, medium brown
Add milk, stirring constantly to avoid lumps

Rosemary Cornbread

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/6 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
fresh rosemary, about 1/8 cup

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and butter or line a muffin pan. This recipe made 5 cornbread muffins.
2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. When the butter begins to brown, add the fresh rosemary. Continue cooking about 10 minutes until it turns a light brown and has a delicious, nutty aroma. Filter out the rosemary, but keep all the browned milk solids.
3. Whisk together the eggs and milk. Drizzle in the butter, whisking constantly to avoid cooking the eggs.
4. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
5. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and stir just enough to form a batter. It will have a few lumps, which is fine. Overbeating could make the cornbread tough.
6. Pour into the pan and bake about 25 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry.
7. Serve forth while still hot, with lots of good sweet butter. I stirred together some butter, honey, and cinnamon and slathered it on. Very good.

Homemade Granola

I can eat bags and bags of granola and feel like I'm not eating a thing. It's weird - and dangerous. I've tried before to make my own granola, but I failed miserably by burning the whole thing and having to dump it in the trash can. This time I somehow managed to get it right, and ration it out for many breakfasts. Oh, happy day.

Granola

2 cups old-fashioned oats

1/4 cup agave

2 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp peanut butter

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup cranberries

1/8 tsp fine sea salt

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup shredded coconut

1/4 cinnamon

1. Melt butter. Add peanut butter while hot and stir to mix. The peanut butter will melt into the butter.
2. Next add agave and vanilla to butter mixture.
3. In a separate bowl, mix other ingredients.
4. Add the liquid to the dry and mix until well combined.
5. Spread the mixture in one layer on a baking sheet sprayed or coated with oil.
6. Bake on 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

twd: Chocolate Cheesecake

This holiday season has flown by.
Seriously, all the things that have happened in the past few weeks are smudgey and blurred.
So when I realized I hadn't made the past couple of twd recipes I got a bit dizzy.
And determined...to make this weeks pick of Chocolate Cheesecake by
I'm not a big fan of cheesecake but I did enjoy this a lot. I did mix it up a bit. I used short read cookies instead of graham crackers for the crust. Instead of melted chocolate, I added fudge. Quite good.

twd: Sables

Sables = French shortbread cookies
As soon as I broke it down like this, I knew most of the cookies would be going in the freezer until the next time my mom visits. She's a shortbread freak and I wouldn't feel right not sharing.

But first, the cookies, picked this week by Bungalow Barbara. We've had a lot of cakes lately so a cookie sounded perfect! Plus, I just moved to a new apartment in a new city and started a new job. And helped my brother move. Lots of moving and decision made me squeak with delight when I saw how simple these Sables are. And squeak again at how delicious they are.

I opted for the spiced version with cinnamon, ginger, & cloves. There ain't no going back now! I want all my shortbread spiced!

My cookies came out a little crispy. I think the oven was too hot. Its the first time I've used it & now know it cooks hot hot hot. My last gas stove was the same way. Is it something about the gas as opposed to electric? Hmmm.

Neiman Marcus Cookie Mix

These are my favorite chocolate-chip cookies of all time. As a kid, I didn't even like chocolate-chip cookies. I thought they weren't sweet enough. But I never had these.

This is a recipe that my sister got from somewhere, attached to a lovely, potential urban myth about a lady wanting to buy the Neiman Marcus cookie recipe. The waiter said it cost "two" and she said "Done." The recipe came, then the bill, with an actual price tag of $200.00 or $2000.00 depending on the telling. So revenge is sweet when you freely spread the recipe around.

Regardless, it's divine. My sister teaches in China and chocolate-chip cookies just aren't really part of the life there as they are here. Well, our lives anyway. So I decided to send a bag across the big wide ocean. The mix would work well as a gift, too, in a pretty jar. The baker just needs to add one egg, .5 cup butter, and .25 tsp vanilla to the dry mix.

Neiman Marcus Cookie Mix

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 cup oatmeal

6 oz chocolate chips

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup nuts (optional)