Granola bars

 Let's get one thing straight - these aren't healthy for any reasonable definition of healthy.  These granola bars have tons of sugar and butter - and while dried fruit, nuts, and whole grains, it doesn't make up for the fact that these are essentially cookies.  Just like commercial granola bars.  However, the flavors can be more interesting than commercial granola bars, and you can avoid certain ingredients if you like.  I made a big batch of these for Jamie's breakfasts during his hour car commute.  I'm working on a couple variations for the next batch.  Switching the sweetener (brown rice syrup, maple syrup, honey, etc.) and the add-ins (dried fruit, nuts, chocolate chips) creates totally different recipes.  Remember the chemistry though - if you want chewy bars your ingredients need to be as hydrophilic as possible.  As always, better ingredients yield better results.  These are easy enough to make, but a pain to store and transport - I wrapped them in parchment paper then placed them in a big ziptop bag in the refrigerator, pulling one or two out every morning in my terrible impression of a doting housewife.

Almond cranberry granola bars

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup flax seed oil

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup agave syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups rolled oats

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup almonds

Method:
Preheat oven to 350F.
In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar.
Add the rest of the wet ingredients and beat well.
Take 1/2 cup of the oats, place them in a blender or food processor and grind into a fine flour.
Sift the oat flour, baking powder, and salt together into a separate bowl.
Whisk or mix in the remaining oats.
In thirds, add the oat mixture to the wet mixture.  Beat until well combined.
Remove paddle attachment and replace with bread hook or remove and do the rest of the mixing by hand.
Add cranberries and almonds.
Mix until everything is well combined.
Spray an 8 x 8 pan with baking spray or oil (I use silicone - I strongly recommend it in this case).
Lay a piece of parchment paper over the sprayed pan, with significant overhang on each side.
Spray parchment paper with baking spray or oil.
Scoop mixture into pan.
Press down to even out mixture.
Bake until edges are just browned, about 25-30 minutes.
Remove pan from oven.
Let cool slightly.
Using the parchment paper as a sling, remove granola bar mass and place on a flat surface.
Cool completely, then place in refrigerator for 2-3 hours or freezer for 20 minutes.
Cut granola bars into squares while very cold.
Wrap in parchment paper to store.

Apple walnut fig cake

This cake is delightfully boozy.  So boozy that I would strongly recommend not serving it to those under 21, even if you would, perhaps, love to get a small person to sleep or stop screaming from teething.  Plus you're not supposed to give little kids nuts.  I made this cake as a large bundt, but I have a lot of syrup left over so I'm planning to make some mini-bundts or mini-loafs tomorrow, with a shorter baking time, to spread around the neighborhood as fall gifts.  This is a basic buttery egg leavened cake with additions.

Ingredients:
3 cups sugar (not this is a pretty sweet cake - you can reduce to 2 1/2 cups if you like but any further is going to throw off the chemistry)
1/2 cup high-fat European style butter, softened
6 eggs, brought up to room temperature
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups cake flour, sifted
1 teaspoon salt (there is about taste, not chemistry, so this can be skipped)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
2-3 apples, peeled, cored, diced finely
6 large fresh figs, stemmed and diced finely
1 cup chopped or crushed walnuts
1 cup apple brandy (Calvados)
1/4 to 1/2 cup powdered sugar (can be omitted)

Method:
Preheat oven to 325F.
Cream together sugar and butter in a stand mixer.  You could try this some other way but it's going to be a pain.  I seriously recommend doing this with a stand mixer if at all possible.
Cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy.  I would suggest 5 minutes at least with the paddle attachment.
In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs 2-3 minutes, until they develop a bit of fluff.  Add to stand mixer and beat 2 minutes.
Add cream and vanilla, beat another 2 minutes.
Sift together flour, salt, and spices.
In thirds, slowly incorporate the flour mixture.  Beat until well combined.
Gently fold in apples, figs, and walnuts.
Spray bundt pan with baking spray or grease / flour very, very well.
Bake 75 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool cake slightly, transfer to a wire rack or plate.
Mix apple brandy and powdered sugar.  Bring to just a boil, then remove from heat.  Whisk well to ensure a good mix.
Brush or drizzle on glaze while cake is still warm.
Let cake cool completely, reapply additional glaze as desired.
You can also simply drizzle on some alcohol, but the cake won't get a glaze.  The fruit is fresh, so this isn't exactly a preserved fruit cake, but alcohol without a glaze will nudge the flavor that way.

Apple cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

We're in a cupcake phase with the three year old.  He doesn't actually eat much of the cupcakes, but he loves the idea of cupcakes.  Particularly using the pastry bag and adding sprinkles to things.  We're also in the height of apple season here in central Maryland, to the extent central Maryland has an apple season.  We do have lovely farms and orchards where the kids and I can go pick apples (and raspberries and broccoli and herbs and flowers and pumpkins) and enjoy bucolic west county for a morning.  Unfortunately, we decided to go apple picking before a play date lunch with ChaseKBH's current crush (I'm not actually sure if the crush is on the 2.5 year old or the 2.5 year old's mother, but while ChaseKBH primarily plays with the just-5 year old, he spends the next couple days talking about the females in that household).  Alas, alack, ChaseKBH tripped over his two feet running in a field trying to cut flowers, resulting in a bloody nose.  He had to be contented giving his fair lady a small decorative pumpkin and a chocolate lollipop.  

Of course, ChaseKBH isn't contented with simply pursing the preschool set.  He's also in love with our next door neighbor - a wonderful lady who is about three decades too old for him.  But he's determined to win her over with baked goods.  She's still at work, but I have dutifully texted her and we're going over tomorrow morning with cupcakes.  In the interim, we're snacking on the excess.

This recipe is a bit difficult on volume - it could be 12 cupcakes, it could be 18, it depends entirely on how much volume the apple takes up.  Do yourself a favor and be sure to only full 2/3 of the way up the cupcake liners.  If you fail, as I did, tear or cut off the excess and consider it your cook's bonus.

Ingredients:

Cupcakes

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour 

1 teaspoon baking soda 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

Pumpkin pie spice OR cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg to taste 

1 1/2 cup sugar 

1/3 cup vegetable oil 

2 eggs 

1/2 cup milk 

1 teaspoon vanilla 

2 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped finely

Cream cheese icing

1/2 cup cream cheese, softened

1 pound powdered sugar 

1 teaspoon vanilla

2-4 tablespoons milk

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Sift together flour, soda, powder, salt, and spices.  I think this is great with a huge amount of ginger, but really you need to know your audience.  It's pretty hard to ruin with too much spice, and its fine with no spice (if boring), so use your judgment.

Beat sugar, oil, eggs, milk, and vanilla on medium speed with a hand mixer or stand mixer.

Add sifted flour mixture into wet mixture.  Beat until well combined.

Fold in apples.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Beat together cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until fluffy, about 4 minutes.

Add 2 tablespoons milk.  Beat 2 minutes.  Add milk until desired consistency is reached.

I frost these with a pastry bag because I suck at frosting things.  

Cupcakes!

The three year old likes chocolate cupcakes.  And sprinkles.  Especially rainbow sprinkles.  I'm not really one for boxed mixes - mostly because I'm too cheap with money and storage space.  However, I'm also pretty lazy and love easy recipes.  Hands down best easy chocolate cake recipe ever is from the back of the Hershey's tin.     I prefer other cocoas, but I'll use that recipe (and the cocoa if I'm in a pinch) and have cupcakes in less than half an hour.  For the frosting, however, I made ganache - simply a cup of heavy cream, scalded, and a bag of 60% cacoa Ghiradelli chocolate chips melted and whisked into the hot cream then slightly cooled.  ChaseKBH was able to dunk the cupcakes into the ganache to easily frost them, then add the rainbow sprinkles.  Now, my floor has little multicolored balls ground into it, but what's a little floor damage in the grand scheme of creating a young baker?

Payesh

We just celebrated my younger child's Annaprasan - first feeding.  The best description of this event is a Hindu version of a christening from the social perspective, though theologically it's completely different.  The event centers around food - it takes place when the baby is ready to start on solids.  The baby is fed a small portion of food, usually rice pudding or rice, and presented with a traditional Bengali meal (fried vegetables, vegetable curry, fish curry, lamb curry, rice, yogurt, and rice pudding).  The rice pudding, or payesh, is by far the most important dish.  Bengalis make and serve payesh for all auspicious occasions.  We also really like the word auspicious.  Typically payesh is flavored with saffron and rosewater, and contains sultanas and pistachios.  However, since Beatrix Amiya (hereinafter referred to as BeaABH) is only five month's old, I wasn't about to include nuts or other add ins.  

It might make me a terrible Bengali, but I really do not care for payesh.  Its mostly a textural thing - generally too soupy and the rice grains come as an unwelcome surprise.  I also hate cooked raisins with a passion.  In my version of payesh, which I'm sure can be criticized as nontraditional, the rice is cooked in a half-and-half mixture, the liquid a bit reduced, so it comes out creamier.  The rice is also cooked so it melts into the creamy mixture.  The pudding is thickened by the starch coming off the rice.  I do a number of other things wrong, like browning the butter rather than making or using ghee, and fiddling with the temperature since I don't have the knack to push the limits and avoid burning.

Nina's version of payesh

Makes 6-8 servings, depending on how much you like the stuff

Ingredients:

1/2 cup basmati rice

1 tablespoon unsalted butter (preferably European-style high fat butter)

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups whole milk

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup sugar

2-4 teaspoons rose water

6-8 threads saffron

2 green cardamom pods

Method:

Rinse basmati rice several times in cold water - place rice in bowl, flood with water, agitate with your hand, drain, rinse, repeat until agitating the rice in the water does not produce cloudy water.

Brown butter over medium heat.  

Whisk together heavy cream, milk, salt, sugar, rose water, and saffron.  Crack cardamom pods slightly and add.  Set aside.

Add rice to butter.  Saute rice in butter, stirring regularly, for 3 minutes.

Pour in cream mixture.

Increase heat to medium high.

Stirring constantly, bring pot to a boil.  Reduce heat and stir.  Try to keep mixture just under the boiling point, stirring constantly, until the rice is cooked.  It will take about 20 minutes.  Do not let this burn - if it does, toss it and start again.

Cool and serve.

Almond meal chocolate drop cookies

These cookies are extremely hydrophilic, to the point of being rather delicate, crumbly, and chewy.  To make them crisper, reduce the almond meal (sub one for one with flour), or sub the brown sugar for white.  I like them crumbly, but they make break apart and do not store well.  They have a deep chocolate, cocoa taste.  They can be made with any cocoa, but a Dutch processed one is rather nice.  I've never added chips or nuts because of the texture, but go ahead and see how it works out!

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup European-style butter, softened to room temperature, preferably softened overnight

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup flour

1 cup almond meal

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  I suggest a stand mixer.

Add eggs and vanilla, beat 2 minutes.

Sift together remaining ingredients.

Add in thirds, beating well each time.

Drop in rounded tablespoons on two prepared baking sheets.

Bake 12-15 minutes or until the cookie is set.

Cool slightly, transfer to wire racks and continue cooling.

Yields 24 large cookies.

Blueberry Nectarine Crumble

I'm allergic to peaches.  This is a problem in the summer in the mid-Atlantic, as everyone tends to, well, eat a lot of peaches.  When I was a kid I could at least eat cooked peaches - it's technically a blossom allergy and not a food allergy according to my allergist.  As I get older I am less able to deal with peaches of any kind.  Somehow, I have no problem whatsoever with nectarines.  Or, for that matter, blueberries.  So I decided to make nectarine and blueberry crumble.  The kid ate raw fruit but still hasn't accepted the idea that you would cook fruit.  Truth be told I can't say that I disagree with him - raw fruit is almost always better when its fresh and in season.  But we had a glut of blueberries and nectarines, and my husband likes baked fruit desserts, so off to the kitchen.

Ingredients:
3 nectarines, washed, pits removed, sliced into 1/8 pieces
1 lb blueberries, washed, picked over, and stemmed
1/2 cup sugar, depending on sweetness of fruit you can increase or not
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, cold, diced into pieces
1 1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Cold water

Method:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Toss together fruit and 1/2 cup sugar, cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Place fruit mixture in oven safe casserole dish or baking dish.
Cut butter, flour, remaining sugar, and remaining salt together until it resembles pebbles.
Splash in cold water and continue to cut until it's just slightly a sticky dough that's loose and falls apart easily.
Place on top of fruit mixture.
Bake for 45 minutes or until the crust is golden and the fruit mixture is sizzling a bit through the cracks.
Cool.
Serve with ice cream, whipped cream, or plain.

Tomato and corn casserole

My husband hates casseroles. Too bad. I like this one, and its one of the few ways to get him to eat fresh corn (he hates corn on the cob).

Tomato and corn casserole

Ingredients
5 ears corn, cut off the cobb
2 large tomatoes, cubed
4 garlic cloves, smashed
3 pieces whole wheat bread, torn
1 cup buttermilk
salt to taste
pepper to taste

optional - 2-3 tablespoons butter, 1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Method
Toss corn, tomatoes, bread, and garlic together.
Salt and pepper,
Place in casserole dish.
Pour buttermilk over mixture.
If desired, cut butter into breadcrumbs and place on top for a crust.
Let sit at least 30 minutes in refrigerator (can be left overnight - 18 hours).
Bake at 400F for 45 minutes, covered, last 15 minutes uncovered if using crust.*

*Never put a cold dish in a hot oven. If you are placing the dish directly from the refrigerator, put it in a cold oven, then turn on.

Medium Rare

Medium Rare does one thing, and does it well - steak and fries.  Its not the greatest steak in town, not by any stretch, but its very good, the fries are awesome, the salad is excellent, the sauce awesome, and the slices of hot bread crispy enough that the Madeline-adoring francophile ChaseKBH is happy.  Downside is the lack of a valet, though it's right by a Red Line metro station, and is a easy (as in 30-45 minutes depending on traffic) drive from Columbia as its in Cleveland Park.   Met friends there to celebrate new careers, brought the kids, drank a terrible sparking Loire that tasted like carbonated apple juice, and a very nice Fitou, though I liked the Washington Cab we had the time before better.  It's loud, casual, and they do a kid's portion of the menu, and have fun (though not terribly clever) desserts.  In other words, we can take the rugrats without the stares of death.

Fake Lady Hatt's Cake

I truly hate Thomas the Tank Engine and all his little friends.  Thomas is a moron who fails to listen, does something stupid, gets yelled at, listens, and forgets the lesson by the next installment.  Henry is whiny, Percy has an attitude, James is a snotty jerk, and Sir Topham Hatt is abusive at best.  Plus what the heck does it mean to be cross?  The three year old, however, loves Thomas and all the accouterments. I've stepped on every damn train Rev. Awdry could have ever dreamed of, and compliment ChaseKBH by calling him a Really Useful Engine. So of course for his third birthday, the Thomas obsessed child wanted Lady Hatt's Cake.  I search and searched to try and find a recipe or something that would give me a hint as to what constituted Lady Hatt's Cake.  The internet failed me, however, and I could not find a definitive recipe.   Moreover, ChaseKBH was not particularly able to articulate what on earth Lady Hatt Cake consisted of, but did babble a bit about strawberries and cream and butter and flour and Thomas getting it all wet.  It turns out that he was actually talking about the cake made for Alicia Boddy's tea, but whatever.       I told him it was Lady Hatt's Cake and he believed me.  Its one of the many things he will be in therapy for later.

We served the cake, along with chocolate cupcakes with blue icing, at Chase's third birthday party.  I'm not sure if every where is like this, but here you invite the entire preschool class and their parents.  It actually is nice to have the relationships with the other parents, but I'm far too lazy to throw a party at a party place.  Instead, I used my parents' backyard, served steak, chicken, corn, hot dogs, and Trader Joe's frozen naan, booze, and made the cakes.  Trust me, I love my kids and his friends, but the booze was necessary to deal with their screeching.  

 The adults loved the Lady Hatt Cake, and ChaseKBH was just happy he got what he (thought he) wanted.  It's a simple genoise layered with cream and strawberries. The genoise recipe is adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum, and really does require a stand mixer.  The below recipe makes about 24 parfaits.

Lady Hatt Cake for ChaseKBH

Ingredients:

3 lbs of strawberries, hulled and sliced

1/4 cup sugar

Juice of one lemon

1 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons of European-style butter (I used Kerrygold)

8 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 cup sugar

2 cups sifted cake flour

2 teaspoons salt

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

2 pints heavy (whipping) cream

1/4 cup sugar (increase to 1/2 cup if you like it sweet)

Method:

Prepare

- Preheat oven to 350F.

- Macerate strawberries in 1/4 cup sugar, lemon juice, and a little salt.  Let sit at least 45 minutes.

- Line 2 jelly roll pans with parchment paper, with substantial overhang.

Make the genoise

- Brown butter over low heat.  Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

- Whisk together eggs, vanilla, and sugar in the bowl of the stand mixer.

- Place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water.  Whisk, whisk, and whisk some more until the mixture has warmed and is increasing nicely in volume.  About 5-8 minutes.

-  Place bowl in stand mixer fitted with whipping whisk.  Whip the heck out of the egg mixture, until it is extremely voluminous, shiny, and just about to burst the bowl.

- Pour in butter and fold in gently.

- Sift together salt and flour.

- GENTLY fold in the flour/salt mixture.

- Pour the batter into prepared pans.

- Bake 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

- Remove from pans and let cool.

Prepare the filling

- Whip cream and 1/4 (or 1/2) cup sugar.

- Drain strawberries, reserve liquid.

- Boil 1 cup water.  Mix in 1 cup sugar and reserved strawberry liquid.  Cool.

Assemble the parfaits

- Prepare 24 little cups.  I used the simple clear cups you can buy at any grocery or party store.

- Cut one pan of genoise into pieces about the size of the bottom of the cup with a biscuit cutter.  Do the same with a biscuit cutter the size of the top of the cup.  Split rounds in half.

- Layer cake in the cup, use a pastry brush to brush on the syrup, then layer strawberries and cream, alternating, and topping with whipped cream.

- Smooth tops with a spatula.

- Keep refrigerated until serving.