Archive for February, 2010
A big container of fresh blueberries sitting on the counter is just asking to be used in a recipe. I like blueberries in all kinds of desserts and baked goods, but I have to admit that breakfast foods usually spring to mind when I think about using them. Blueberry muffins, coffee cakes and pancakes are all classics in my book – so for a little bit of a change while staying in the breakfast mindset, I opted to make some Fresh Blueberry Waffles.
These light, buttermilk waffles have fresh blueberries cooked right into them. They are tender and moist, with a good buttery flavor to them that sets off the blueberries very well. They are not very sweet on their own, despite the inclusion of the berries, which means that you can indulge yourself with as much maple syrup as you like when you sit down to enjoy a big plateful. Stick with fresh blueberries if you can, because frozen berries will add a lot of extra moisture to your waffles and could make them a bit too moist in the center as they defrost during cooking.
The only potential drawback to using whole, fresh berries is that they can – and will – pop while your waffle is cooking. A good, thick batter will definitely help to contain them, but I would opt for using a regular waffle iron (shallow squares) rather than a Belgian-style waffle iron with big, deep squares that leave you with shallow walls that won’t hold the berries together quite as well. Also, make sure that your waffle iron is well-greased so that any popped berries will still release cleanly with the rest of the waffle when it is ready.
These freeze well and can be reheated by defrosting them in the microwave, then putting them in a 350F oven for about 5 minutes to let them crisp up again.
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Girl Scout cookies come and go, and not every cookie recipe makes it to the cookie booths every spring. Lemon coolers are a retired Girl Scout cookie that many lemon-lovers have fond memories of. Unfortunately, memories are all that they have because these cookies aren’t offered in this year’s line-up. I liked the bright, lemony flavor of these cookies too and also appreciated the fact that they were a little different than the rest of the Girl Scout’s offerings. I wanted to try and give them the same treatment as some of my other favorite Girl Scout cookies and come up with a homemade version.
There was one big problem with this plan: my memory of the cookies – along with a photo of a Lemon Coolers box – were all I had to go on when creating the recipe. My memory was of a crisp, tender cookie that was lemony and coated with confectioners’ sugar. I remember it having a much lighter texture than, say, a shortbread cookie and I also recall that it was fairly sturdy, not crumbly. So, my interpretation is based on this template. I will admit that if you pulled out a 12 year old box of Girl Scout cookies to compare these to, they might not be twins, but they’re definitely going to satisfy a craving for a crisp lemon cookie and match the look of the originals.
I used cake flour with a very little bit of cornstarch mixed in to give these their light texture. They’re softer than shortbread, but still have a nice crispness to them when you take a bite. I used real butter, which the original cookies probably did not, but I opted to use lemon extract (lemon oil is also a very good choice) instead of fresh lemon zest because that is closer to the flavor I remember in the originals. To give them that lemon-slice shape, I formed the dough into a log, chilled it, then sliced it in half before cutting the individual cookies. This made it very easy to shape them all and ensured that they all came out to the same size.
These cookies turned out to be very close to what I was looking for in a faux Girl Scout Cookie. They are slightly sweet and have a nice lemony flavor to them. I baked them just until the edges turned golden, which make for a crisp-tender cookie, and generously dusted them with confectioners sugar while they were still slightly warm. They kept well for several days without loosing their taste or texture, but they were so light that they were easy to eat two at a time.
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Since it’s Girl Scout cookie season again – whether you’re buying from a local troop or using it as an excuse to make some Homemade Girl Scout Cookies – it also means that Dreyer’s has put its seasonally available Girl Scout cookie ice creams back in grocery store freezer cases. These limited edition ice creams feature some of the most popular Girl Scout cookie flavors, like Samoas and, in this case, Tagalongs. Tagalongs are shortbread cookies topped with a layer of peanut butter and then coated in chocolate, a bit like a peanut butter cup with a cookie base. This Dreyer’s (Edy’s on the East coast) flavor has a vanilla ice cream base, along with swirls of peanut butter and fudge, and some Tagalong cookie bits.
The ice cream is good, it has a nice vanilla flavor to it and is both creamy and light, along the lines of other Dreyer’s Grand ice creams. The fudge and peanut butter swirls really make it taste like a peanut butter cup, too, and there are plenty of each mixed into the ice cream. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the cookie content. While I found plenty of recognizable cookie chunks in the Samoas ice cream, the cookie pieces were few and far between – and they tended to be so small that they really didn’t contribute much. So, while it was good, I might stick to mixing in some Tagalong cookies that I’ve crunched up myself to make sure that I get a lot of crunchy cookie pieces along with all that fudge and peanut butter.
Cookies are not generally geeky things, they fall more into the “all around” category of things that can be enjoyed by anyone. But once you move away from chocolate chip and peanut butter and into more complex cookies, it’s only natural that things will sometimes go to far. Besides, didn’t anyone ever tell you that baking was a science? Today, The Huffington Post celebrates all of the Geekiest Cookies Ever with a big gallery that features everything from Periodic Table Cookies to gingerbread men clad in lab coats.
Most of the innovative cookies featured come from the very creative Not So Humble Pie, who has been putting a nerdy twist (in a good way!) on cookies for quite some time now. I am particularly fond of the containment suit cookies and the gel electrophoresis cookies, although of course the Wii controllers look very tasty, too. You can also find two more big galleries of Science Cookies on her site.
I saw a photo of a Banana Bread Cobbler in an issue of Southern Living and immediately knew I had to give it a try, since I am a big fan of both cobblers and banana bread. As I read through the recipe, I realized it wasn’t what I expected it to be. I assumed it would be something along the lines of a bread pudding with a streusel on top, using a loaf of banana bread as a base. Instead, this dessert has a cake base that is topped with slices of fresh bananas. The bananas are topped with a streusel and everything is baked until the cobbler is tender and the topping is crunchy.
Over the course of trying the recipe, I made some big changes to the original recipe. I cut down the amount of butter in the recipe by half, used a combination of buttermilk and milk in the banana bread base, and added cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla to spice up the overall flavor and make it more like my favorite banana breads. I also used fewer bananas than the original recipe suggested because too many bananas tend to make this dessert get a little mushy, especially the leftovers a day or two after baking.
So, although it may sound like an unusual combination, this is a delicious dessert. The cake at the bottom is tender and flavorful, and a great backdrop to hold everything together. The streusel topping is delicious and crunchy, and the toasted pecans are a fantastic addition to the dessert, both in terms of flavor and texture. The bananas really stand out, too. This was great on the first day when it was still warm, but tasted just as good as leftovers served at room temperature. I ate mine plain, but I can see how a scoop of ice cream, a bit of hot fudge and some whipped cream could turn this cobbler in to a great base for a riff on a banana split.
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