Panades are a typical Mayan pastry, stuffed with either beans, fish, or meat. They can be eaten plain or smothered in a spicy hot pepper onion sauce. (Matt Armendariz/McNab Publishing Ltd.)

A Mayan dinner party for 12.21.12 (+video)

By Kendra Nordin, Kitchen Report / 12.19.12

There is a lot of talk about the Mayan calendar rolling over to Dec. 21, 2012 and simply coming to end, which has been translated by some as, that's it, folks. No more time, no more us. I can't say that I agree, since I've already received my 2013 work calendar and everything there seems to be in order just fine. For a more reasoned, scientific explanation, you might want to check out NPR's report, "A Guarantee: The world will not end on Friday."

My first brush with Mayan culture was when I hopped off a cruise ship in Cozumel in 2006 and explored the Chacchoben Mayan ruins. That's where I found a rather modest exhibit sign next to one of the many-stepped pyramid temples indicating that the Mayan calendar would finish up in six years. It tried to be reassuring that while some people interpreted this to mean the end of time, it could also be seen as a restart. A clean slate for all of us.

I'd like to suggest that you give both theories a rest and instead actually learn something about Mayan culture. A good place to start would be with Flavors of Belize: The cookbook created by Tanya McNab and Shelley Bowen Stonesifer. First of all, the Mayans haven't vanished. There are by some estimates some 7 million Mayans alive and well living throughout Guatemala, southern Mexico and the Yucatán Peninsula, Belize, El Salvador, and western Honduras.

In "Flavors of Belize," Mayan culinary traditions are explored alongside those of the British, Mestizo, Creole, Chinese, Lebanese, Garifuna, and more. Belize is a melting pot of all these cultures and this cookbook is an attempt to showcase the best of them, relying on renowned chefs and cooks to share their recipes.

My own second brush with Mayan culture came when I spent a week in Belize learning about the chocolatemaking process – from cacao bean to chocolate bar. After spending one morning tromping around 30-acre cacao farm in the rainforest, we headed to the farmer's homestead for lunch. Afterward we huddled under a pavilion with a rustic, knee-high stove. Some of us perched on plastic lawn chairs, others leaned against the smooth posts that rimmed the edge, and watched as the farmer's adult daughter made us a traditional Mayan chocolate drink.

First, she scooped dried cacao beans onto large sheets of metal balanced over the open flame. She used a dried corn cob to stir the beans to ensure each one felt the heat from the metal to draw out the base, earthy flavors of chocolate.

When the beans were fully roasted she dumped them out on a squat table and used a small round stone to crack the shells off the beans leaving behind cacao nibs. We all took a turn pounding the pile of beans.

Next came the winnowing process, sifting the exposed beans through a mesh pan to allow the lighter outer shells to blow away, leaving behind the meaty nibs. The nibs were then passed through a hand-cranked grinder. This is hard work. The warm jungle air felt even hotter with the heat from the nearby fire and beads of sweat flew as we ground the cacao into chocolate paste.

The smooth paste was shaped into round patties. These were stirred with water, raw sugar, and pepper in large colorful plastic jugs to make the famous Maya chocolate drink.

“Chocolate” is derived from the Mayan word “xocoatl.” Many of us know chocolate as solid bars, but for most of its history – back to 500 B.C. – chocolate has been consumed as a drink. It was revered by Mayan priests and used in ceremonies by royalty. The valuable cacao seeds were traded as a form of currency to barter for corn and other commodities. Spaniard Hernando Cortés discovered storerooms of cacao when he arrived in 1512 to conquer the Aztec.

Expanding trade routes brought cacao to Europe where the Europeans added sugar, a sweetner unknown in Central America. By the 1700s, elite Europeans enjoyed sweetened chocolate drinks, sipping from elaborate cups and discussing politics in “chocolate houses.” The demand for both chocolate and sugar took off, eventually forming the powerful, global industry that it is today.

But Mayans have much more to offer than just chocolate. "Interestingly, many of the recipes we feature in 'Flavors of Belize' can be traced to Maya origins," note the cookbook authors.

Among these are kack'ick soup, panades with hot pepper onion sauce, and a Maya chocolate cake. While Mayans most likely did not eat chocolate cake, it would be easy to agree that all chocolate recipes could be traced to their Maya origins, and as the authors say, chocolate could be considered "among the greatest gifts the ancient world provided to modern-day civilization."

The authors have shared their recipes here, so you can host your own Mayan-themed dinner party on Dec. 21, 2012, ease those ancient-modern worries away with a piece of chocolate cake, and welcome the return of longer days.

Kack’ick Soup

Mariposa Restaurant, Chaa Creek, Cayo

The name, translated from the queck’chi Mayan language, means "Spicy Red Soup." 

4 pounds chicken, cut into serving sizes

2 inch piece of ginger root, peeled, diced

6 to 8 cloves garlic

1/2 cup cilantro, diced

6 medium tomatoes, deseeded

4 medium green bell peppers, deseeded

1 teaspoon dried chilies, to taste

1 tablespoon red recado*

1 cube chicken bouillon, optional

Spicy red chili powder, to taste

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons cilantro, minced, for garnish

1 ripe avocado, diced, for garnish

Place chicken, salt, ginger root, 3 cloves garlic and 1/4 cup cilantro in a large pot with enough water to cover the chicken.

Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer until chicken is cooked. Grill the remaining garlic, tomatoes and green peppers. Soak the dried chilies in broth until tender.

Purée all grilled vegetables, red recado, the remaining cilantro and the soaked chilies. Sieve the purée, pour into the broth, add chicken bouillon, spicy red chili powder, black pepper and simmer forapproximately 15 to 20 minutes.

Serve with coconut white rice and garnish with cilantro and avocado.
 

*Red recado paste
 

Red recado is a Maya spice paste particularly popular in the Yucatan region of Mexico. A deep brick red, racado rojo is the most common, and is an essential ingredient of the region's famous slow-roasted pork dish, cochinita pibil. Use it as a flavoring rub for pork, chicken, and fish. Recado rojo can be bought at Latin markets in brick-shaped packages.  

5 tablespoons annatto seeds

6 to 7 allspice seeds

1/4 teaspoon whole cloves

1/4 cup sour orange

1/4 cup vinegar

Grind annatto seeds, allspice seeds and whole cloves to a powder. Combine annatto powder with sour orange and 1/4 cup of vinegar and process to a paste. May add more sour orange and vinegar if necessary to achieve a thick paste. Store in refrigerator.

Panades

Serves 4 to 6

You may also fill with refried beans. When using refried beans, eliminate red recado paste from the recipe. Locally, cooks use red recado to differentiate between panades fillings. The red color from the recado paste, represents the fish, and the plain masa is for the beans.

1-1/2 pounds corn masa or 2 cups Quaker® Masa Harina de Maiz mix

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon red recado paste (see below)

1/4 cup water

1-1/2 cups fish filet, cooked, flaked

Vegetable oil for frying

Tortilla press 

Fish filling:

2 pounds fish filet

6 epazote leaves, minced

2 to 3 tablespoons cilantro leaves, minced

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons onion, minced

1 teaspoon garlic, minced

Place fish, epazote and cilantro in a pot with enough water to cover, boil until fish is cooked. Approximately 15 minutes Remove fish from pot and cool. Flake fish, combine with salt, black pepper, onion and garlic.

Mix masa, baking powder and salt. Dissolve recado in water and add to masa until soft and masa holds. If using Masa harina, follow instructions on package. Form into 1-1/2 inch balls. Place ball of masa in between 2 sheets of parchment paper in the center of a tortilla press and flatten. Place approximately 1 teaspoon of fish in the middle and fold over to form a patty, press edges to seal. Do not overfill.

Heat oil in a large frying pan and fry panades until it floats, turn and cook until slightly crisp. Serve with hot pepper onion sauce (recipe below).

Hot pepper onion sauce

2 cups onions, minced

2 habanero peppers, deseeded, sliced

2 tablespoons cilantro, minced

6 allspice seeds

1-1/2 cups vinegar

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients and marinate for 2 hours or overnight. Will keep for several weeks in refrigerator.

Maya Chocolate Cake
Chan Chich Lodge, Gallon Jug, Orange Walk

1-1/2 cups buttermilk

1-1/2 cups canola oil

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2-1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 cup cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 cups boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans. Dust with flour and line withparchment paper. Combine buttermilk, oil, vanilla and sugar in a bowl. Add eggs oneat a time, blending thoroughly. In a separate bowl, sift the dry ingredients.

Combine dry ingredients with wet ingredients 1/2 cup at a time, mixing with water as needed. Mix until well blended. Pour batter evenly into the two baking pans. Bake 40 minutes or until knife inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, loosen sides, thencool to room temperature and remove from pan.

Chocolate icing

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla

4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup boiling water, as needed

Beat butter and vanilla. Sift powdered sugar, salt, and cocoa powder. Add to butter, alternating with boiling water as needed. Beat at highest speed until creamy. If frosting is too thick, add water 1 teaspoon at a time. If the frosting is too soft, add powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon at a time.

Mushroom caps stuffed with bread crumbs, seasoning, and cheese. Bacon provides an additional salty flavor, but for a vegetarian option leaving the bacon out still makes for a tasty appetizer. (The Gourmand Mom)

Bacon stuffed mushrooms

By Amy Deline, The Gourmand Mom / 12.18.12

Stuffed mushrooms are one of the first hors d’oeuvres I learned how to make as a youngster. I remember begging my mother for the opportunity to make the mushrooms for family gatherings. And boy did I beam with pride when they were served! There’s just something about that kind of positive recognition that is so encouraging. Those experiences are a large part of the reason I enjoy cooking as much as I do. It’s so much more than just the food.

My recipe is an adaptation of the recipe I made as a child. I’m not sure where the original recipe came from. It was just something my mom made. My husband is anti-mushroom, so I haven’t made stuffed mushrooms for years. I don’t remember the exact proportions and I’m not even sure I remember all of the ingredients. Had I the foresight, I might have called home to get the recipe, but I remember the taste, so we’ll figure it out.

The original recipe does not call for bacon, but since I have a bowl of cooked, crumbled bacon, leftover from my Baked Potato Soup, I’m throwing some in. Everything’s better with bacon, right? If you’d rather keep it a vegetarian dish, just omit the bacon. They will still be delicious!

Bacon Stuffed Mushrooms

1-1/2 pounds large Mushrooms (about 20 large mushrooms)

 1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 small onion, finely diced

1 teaspoon garlic, minced

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1/2 cup bacon, cooked and crumbled

Leaves from 1-2 sprigs fresh parsley, chopped

4 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon salt

Black pepper

1/8 cup Parmesan cheese

Paprika

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Clean mushrooms with a damp cloth and carefully remove the stems.

Place the mushroom caps in a single layer in a baking dish. Finely chop the mushrooms stems and place them in a bowl. Add the sour cream, diced onion, garlic, bread crumbs, parsley, and half of the melted butter. Mix to combine. Taste and season, as desired, with salt and pepper.

Generously stuff the mushrooms caps with the mixture. Drizzle a few drops of the remaining melted butter onto each mushroom. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and paprika. Bake for 30-35 minutes until lightly browned and tender.

Grated beets, carrots, tangerines, and crunchy pecans on a bed of baby spinach is a sweet and crunchy break from too many holiday desserts. Add coucous or another grain to make the salad more substantial. (The Garden of Eating)

Brighten up with a fresh spinach salad

By Eve Fox, The Garden of Eating / 12.17.12

I made this salad for myself and my hubby for lunch a few days ago. It seemed like a perfect antidote to the dwindling sunlight and colder temps as we enter the final days of the countdown to the heart of darkness (aka the winter equinox). 
 
 I was feeling a little draggy after another night of not enough sleep so I decided to take a short hiatus from my usual lunchtime fare – something bread-based, followed by cookies – in favor of a fresher and lighter meal. 

I love grated beet in salads – it's sweet and juicy and crunchy. And the color is so bright and beautiful, too, especially paired with the orange of the shredded carrot and tangerine slices – hence the "sunburst" name. 

I also love citrus fruit in salad – juicy, tart and sweet. And the toasted nuts are deliciously crunchy and rich. I really like the baby spinach as a base for this salad – very tender and flavorful. Although I admit that I am mostly focused on the flavor, it's an added bonus that all these things really good for you, too. 

I added some grain to give the salad a bit more substance. I used leftover couscous from a Moroccan themed potluck we hosted recently but you could use farro or quinoa or whatever you have on hand. I probably would have included some goat cheese but didn't have any in the house. Toss in a handful of currants, raisins or dried cherries, splash with a healthy dose of your favorite vinaigrette and you're in business. Eat well and stay well!

Sunburst spinach salad with grated beets, toasted pecans and couscous
Amounts vary based on how much you want to make
 
Baby spinach, washed and dried

Beet, peeled and grated

Carrot, peeled and grated

Pecans or walnuts, toasted

Dried currants, raisins, cherries or cranberries

Tangerine or orange, peeled and sliced

Vinaigrette (I used a simple balsamic one)

Couscous, farro, or quinoa, cooked and cooled

Directions:
 
 Lay down a thick bed of baby spinach, top with couscous or other grain, layer on the grated carrot and beet, and top with the toasted nuts and sliced citrus. Drizzle with your favorite vinaigrette and dig in.

Tofu is a staple in vegetarian and vegan meals. Making your own requires just two ingredients and some perseverance. (The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook)

Meatless Monday: How to make homemade tofu

By Patricia Tanumihardja, The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook / 12.16.12

I’ve tried making tofu several times now and the process never goes exactly the same.

I’m always surprised – the resulting tofu may turn out a little firmer or a wee bit spongier. I really can’t tell you why but that’s OK since it always tastes good. I just mix it up, using the tofu in different recipes. Keep in mind, the quality of your soymilk plays a huge part in how your tofu will turn out. In other words, keep experimenting until you’re satisfied!

As for equipment, I took out my stainless steel pot, a couple of wooden spoons, my recently-purchased cheesecloth (you can use a thin cotton non-terry dish towel or handkerchief), and I was ready to start tofu-making.

True to “no fancy equipment” form, I decided to convert an old plastic tofu container into a makeshift tofu press. I turned it upside down and started cutting into the nicks that were already molded into the plastic, making sure the slits were big enough to allow liquid to drain through. Clever, eh? You could also use a colander to press your tofu.

Homemade Momen Tofu

Time: 45 minutes to 1 hour
 Makes: about 14 ounces of tofu

2 teaspoons Epsom salt
 4 cups soymilk (storebought or homemade)

Stir the Epsom salt into 1/2 cup hot water until it completely dissolves.

In a large pot, bring the soymilk to a gentle boil over medium-high heat. When steam starts to appear and bubbles form around the edge of the pot, reduce the heat to medium. Simmer for about 3 minutes, stirring often to ensure the soymilk doesn’t burn. Remove any film that forms on the surface.

Reduce the heat to low. Pour the Epsom salt mixture into the hot soymilk a little at a time, stirring after each pour. The curds will soon start separating from the whey. As soon as obvious curds have formed and the whey turns from a milky white to a yellowish, translucent liquid, stop pouring. You want to use as little coagulant as possible because it might impart a bitter taste to the tofu. I usually use up about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the Epsom salts mixture.

Take the pot off the heat and cover with a lid. Let it sit for about 15 minutes to allow the curds to separate even further. After 15 minutes, if the whey is still opaque, add more of the Epsom salts mixture, stirring after each pour. Don’t worry if the curds are no bigger than coarse breadcrumbs.

Set your “tofu press” over a colander in the sink. Line the press with the cheesecloth.

Pour the curds and whey into the “tofu press” in stages, waiting for the whey to drain into the sink. Wring as much liquid from the cheesecloth as possible.

Press the curds into the “tofu press,” filling out the corners. Or press into the bottom of a colander or sieve. Fold the cheesecloth neatly and place a folded towel on top to soak up excess liquid. Weigh down the tofu with two cans of food.

Allow the tofu to set for 15 to 20 minutes. Unwrap the cheesecloth and turn the tofu block out into a large bowl or plastic container. Fill with water, being careful not to hit the tofu directly with the stream of water, and rinse the tofu gently. Drain and the tofu is ready to be made into dinner.

To store, submerge the tofu in water in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days, changing the water every day. Remember, this is fresh tofu and has no preservatives!

Fat Toad Farm is a small, family run dairy farm in Brookfield, Vt., that produces farmhouse goat cheeses, plain and flavored, and cajeta which is caramel using goat's milk. (Joanne Ciccarello/Staff/File)

The rise of independent cheesemakers

By Stir It Up! Editor, Kendra Nordin / 12.16.12

Note to Stir It Up! readers: This is an article from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) about a new book that delves into the state of artisnal cheesemakers in the United States. I found it interesting, as it reflects culinary themes and trends that we have explored at CSMonitor.com, and I trust that you will find it informative, too.

Crafting high-quality artisanal cheese is not complicated, but it’s also not easy. Basically, heat a lot of milk, add bacterial cultures and enzymes to thicken it into a curd, drain it, salt it, and let it ferment and age. Of course, to make cheese like this, you must first buy fresh milk or own a farm and stock it with cows or sheep or goats plus equipment, and spend endless strenuous hours carrying around heavy pails and obsessively cleaning equipment to make sure it’s sanitary. Do this day after day, until you have enough cheese to distribute, market and sell in a crowded marketplace. Then repeat the whole process.

Does this sound like a job you would enjoy? For a growing subculture of Americans, it does: The number of independent cheesemakers in the United States has doubled since 2000. Some of these people are rebelling against what they see as an overly corporatized, factory-scale system of food production in America. Others are trying to preserve local landscapes, jobs, and a traditional way of life.

But for all the stress and strain of running a farm and selling a product, artisanal cheesemakers represent a new version of an old American dream: people who make a living doing what they want, where they want, on their own land.

“They get life out of it,” says Heather Paxson, an associate professor of anthropology at MIT, who has spent years studying artisanal cheesemakers. “They find joy in the alchemy of working with this fluid substance that becomes something glorious, and they don’t get tired of it.”

Now Ms. Paxson has turned her research into a new book, “The Life of Cheese” – published in December 2012 by the University of California Press – which delves into the ethos, methods and politics of artisanal cheese-making. At a time when the ethics of food is an important issue for many Americans, the work offers a unique glimpse of people who have taken foodmaking into their own hands.

A sense of where you are

The roots of America’s current artisanal cheese movement date to the back-to-the-land movement of the 1970s. Many of today’s cheese artisans, Paxson found, are well-educated former white-collar workers who either burned out in their previous jobs or are living a long-held dream of farming, often in a place that is meaningful to them. “They love where they live,” Paxson says.

Take, for instance, Vermont Shepherd cheese, made in Putney, Vt., and run by a Harvard University graduate, David Major, who sees cheesemaking as a way of keeping his family’s property intact and of remaining “directly engaged with the land.” Other cheesemakers Paxson visited see their businesses as a way of preventing their home areas from becoming suburbanized, or disused, and overgrown.

Many see their cheesemaking in distinctly political terms. Mateo Kehler, a maker of artisanal cheese at Jasper Hill Farm in Vermont, has said his enterprise was a “response to globalization,” adding, “at a time when the extractive efficiency of capitalism … threatens to collapse the planet’s natural systems, it is totally appropriate to remember that all capital originates with sunshine and soil.” 

And while the traditional strongholds of artisanal cheesemaking are such places as Wisconsin, Vermont, and northern California, it is a national phenomenon. “There are people making good artisanal cheese in Alabama,” Paxson observes.

In all, there are upward of 450 independent, artisanal cheese-producing farms and creameries in America; Paxson visited or interviewed the proprietors of about one-tenth of them in her research, going back to 2004, while conducting interviews with scores of other industry workers and regulators – and also spending a stint working on Major’s farm, to see the process from the inside.

Still, if artisanal cheesemakers are, in part, rebelling against the economic order, their scale is not large enough to scare companies that are major producers of food. Reliable aggregated statistics about artisanal cheesemakers’ revenues do not really exist, Paxson notes. A few have done well enough to have their brands sold in chain stores such as Whole Foods Market and Wegmans, and some have developed their own regional distribution networks. Others scratch out sales from local farmers’ markets.

“A lot of these people are in it not to make a lot of money,” Paxson says. “They need the money to keep going, but it’s not about making it big. It’s about keeping going.”

Where do-it-yourself cheese-makers have been most successful, however, is in propagating an ethos of craftsmanship, and in inventing new kinds of cheese. In both of these areas, the American artisans feel a kind of superiority even compared to the vaunted cheese-makers of France – where, because of European Union regulations, many famous cheeses are now mass-produced.

In the book, Paxson relates the account of one Wisconsin artisan, Myron Olson, visiting a cheesemaking museum in Switzerland, looking at a supposedly old-fashioned technique being displayed, and thinking “today’s Friday, and I did that Tuesday!”
 

Camembert and politics

The regulation of artisanal cheesemaking is, Paxson says, “a window into broader issues of politics,” raising the question of government intervention versus individual liberties. Some artisanal cheesemakers would prefer not to make pasteurized cheese – briefly heating milk intensely to kill potentially dangerous bacteria before beginning the cheesemaking process – and think doing so removes precious flavor. (US cheesemakers can also meet legal safety standards by letting cheese cure for an extended period of time.)

Artisanal cheesemaking may not be a revolution, but as Paxson makes clear, it is an important part of a larger shift in the way Americans value food – and in the way some enterprising farmers have quietly rebelled against a corporatized, globalized world by going back to the farm.

“They are really looking to make a life and a living that is defined on their own terms,” Paxson says.

– Peter Dizikes, MIT News Office

A quick breakfast bread made with spelt flour and filled with crunchy pecans and sweet dates with just a kiss of orange. (Beyond The Peel)

Orange kissed date pecan bread

By France Morissette and Joshua Sprague, Beyond The Peel / 12.14.12

A quick breakfast bread is a staple in most any recipe collection and household. We all grew up with a variation of a banana bread or a zucchini bread recipe that we’re fond of, and either graces our breakfast table a few times a year or at least when folks come for a visit or drop by for brunch. The best part about these breads is that they can easily be made ahead of time and be enjoyed for days. It’s like the perfect leftover and, like coffee cake, it often tastes better the day after.

I should mention the reason I use sprouted spelt flour is because a grain that is sprouted before being ground into flour has a higher nutritional composition but is also easier to digest. That being said, any flour will work just fine. I also prefer to use natural forms of sweeteners but if you are still transitioning to whole foods, feel free to use what you have. It may change the cooking times as honey does caramelize much faster than sugar.

Date Pecan Bread

10 dates, pitted and sliced

1-1/2 cups water

2-1/2 cups sprouted spelt flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoon butter, melted

1/2 cup honey or sweetener of choice

1 egg, beaten

2 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon orange rind

1 cup chopped pecans

In a small sauce pan, place the pitted sliced dates and the water on to boil. Cover and reduce heat to simmer for 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a loaf pan or line with parchment paper. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together.

Remove the dates from the heat and allow to cool slightly so that the egg does not cook when added to the mixture. Add the butter, honey, beaten egg and vanilla to the date mixture and stir to combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Add the chopped pecans to the batter. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 55-60 minutes. When a tooth pick is inserted into the center and comes out clean it is done.

Allow the loaf to cool for 10 minutes before inverting the pan and removing the loaf. The loaf should sit for 15 minutes before serving. Keep in an airtight container or bag, and store in the fridge.

Combine all the flavors of a candy turtle – chocolate, pecans, and caramel – into a simple cookie for your holiday cookie platter. (The Pastry Chef's Baking)

Chocolate turtle cookies

By Carol Ramos, The Pastry Chef's Baking / 12.13.12

I love "thumbprint" cookies for holiday parties.  They're cute, little, and tasty. I was already making Peanut Butter Chocolate Kiss Cookies for my dessert party so I went with this as a different cookie option. Instead of Hershey Kisses in the middle of the cookie, this held a well of caramel. Caramel, chocolate, and toasted almonds (or pecans) – you can't really go wrong with this combination. I made the dough ahead of time and completed the steps of rolling the cookie dough balls in the egg white and chopped nuts then making the well in the center.  After that I put them in freezer bags and stashed them in the freezer until baking time.  

Let me just say this cookie is a good reason I can't stop trying out new recipes. Even though I have a veritable treasure trove of tried and true cookie recipes, you just never know when you're going to discover another gem. And this is a gem. I'm so glad I found it and tried it because it's going to have a regular place in my holiday baking from now on. This is a seriously good cookie.

The texture is like a chewy, fudgy cookie, the nuts provide a nice crunch and the caramel was divine. Seriously. Plus they're cute, right? My only issue with it is my cookies spread more than I would've liked even though I baked them from frozen dough and on the convection setting in my oven. There wasn't a "well" for the caramel as much as a "little dip."  I did re-impress the center with a half teaspoon to make it more well-like but the cookie still had a little spread.  But that's not enough of an issue to stop me from making these again (and again). I will just need to play with the ingredients a bit to see if I can have it spread less, perhaps add a smidge more cocoa.

Chocolate Turtle Cookies

From Pixelated Crumb

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar

1 large egg, separated, plus 1 egg white

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/4 cups pecans, chopped fine

14 soft caramel candies

3 tablespoons heavy cream

Combine flour, cocoa, and salt in bowl. With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2 minutes. Add egg yolk, milk, and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture until just combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, 1 hour.

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk egg whites in bowl until frothy. Place pecans in another bowl. Roll dough into 1-inch balls, dip in egg whites, then roll in pecans. Place balls 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Using 1/2-teaspoon measure, make indentation in center of each ball. Bake until set, about 12 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking.

Microwave caramels and cream in bowl, stirring occasionally, until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Once cookies are removed from oven, gently re-press existing indentations. Fill each with 1/2 teaspoon caramel mixture. Cool 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. 

Torcetti pasta with chestnuts, pancetta, and sage in a creamy sauce. (The Runaway Spoon)

Pasta with chestnuts, pancetta, and sage

By Perre Coleman Magness, The Runaway Spoon / 12.12.12

This recipe was born from my love for chestnuts, and my overzealous purchase of them before Thanksgiving. I include chestnuts in my dressing, and when I see them on the shelves, I go a little nuts and always buy more than I need. So after that holiday madness dies down, I find ways to use them in other recipes. And by that point I have heard “chestnuts roasting on an open fire” on the radio at least once.

This dish doesn’t take long to prepare, but makes an elegant, unique meal break during this crazy season. Time to take breath and enjoy time together.

Chestnuts are nutty and slightly sweet and pair beautifully with woodsy sage and salty pancetta. I readily find packages of pre-diced pancetta at markets, but if you don’t, go to the deli counter and ask them to give you a couple of thick slices and dice those into bits.  Thin sliced pancetta does not work as well.  

I used a short, twisted pasta labeled “torcetti," but any short, thick pasta will work, like fusilli or casarecce. Orecchiette would work as well.  The chunks of pancetta and chestnut get lost in long pastas.  And I will admit, this is enough pasta to serve 4 people with a salad and some nice bread, but for big eaters, it may only serve 2!

Pasta with Chestnuts, Pancetta and Sage

Serves 4 (or two if you are really hungry)

10 ounces dried pasta

4 ounces diced pancetta

1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage, plus several large leaves

4 ounces roasted chestnuts, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup white wine [editor's note: may substitute cooking wine]

1 cup heavy cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Parmesan cheese

Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water, according to package instructions. Drain the pasta in a colander.

While the pasta is cooking, sauté the pancetta in a sauté pan, large enough to hold the pasta, over medium heat until it is cooked through and crispy.  Use a slotted spoon to remove the pancetta to a plate lined with paper towels to drain.  Drop a few sage leaves into the hot drippings and fry until deep green then remove to the paper towels. (This helps flavor the sauce, and the fried leaves are a wonderful garnish). 

Drop the chopped chestnuts into the drippings and sauté until they are a deep tan color, smell nice and nutty and start to crisp up, about 5 minutes.  Remove with the slotted spoon to the paper towels. Turn the heat off under the pan and let the drippings cool for a minute.  Drop the garlic in the pan for just a minute (don’t let it burn or turn dark), then pour in the wine.  Turn the heat on high and bring the wine to a boil. Sprinkle in about 3/4 of the tablespoon of the chopped sage.  Cook until the wine is reduced by half and is thickened and syrupy, about 5 minutes.   Add the cream, lower the heat to medium and simmer until heated through and slightly thickened.

Add the drained pasta to the sauce in the pan and toss to coat, stir in the pancetta, chestnuts and remaining chopped fresh sage. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately, with parmesan cheese grated over the top.

Buttery shortbread cookies are turned into a festive color with a sophisticated herbal taste by adding green tea to the dough. Dip them in chocolate for delicious tea break during the holiday season. (Blue Kitchen)

Chocolate-dipped green tea shortbread cookies

By Terry Boyd, Blue Kitchen / 12.11.12

This post was written by Terry's wife, Marion Boyd.

It’s the time of year again when people are streaming in and out of our house, and we are streaming in and out of lots of other houses, too. To help with all the festive to-ing and fro-ing, we like to have some lovely treats on hand. This year, for the first time, we’ve added green tea shortbread cookies to our arsenal.

Shortbread cookies are so wonderful – buttery, delicate, crumbly goodness. Adding matcha (Japanese powdered green tea) gives them a faintly herbal, haunting note – still delicate, but with a slightly sophisticated edge. 

The Internet has zillions of shortbread recipes, but really there is only one. Deb over at Smitten Kitchen notes that, in her green tea shortbread cookie recipe, and so it is. There are faint variations in the amounts of this or that, and now and then someone will add an egg (noooooooo!), and the cookie décor might be different, but really, look around. All the recipes are the same.

Shortbread cookies have very few ingredients, so each one needs to be fresh and of high quality. I recommend using familiar, fresh, unsalted American-style butter rather than a  European-style butter like Plugra. The difference is that American butters have a higher water content, and when you are making shortbread, you need that extra bit of water to help it transition from a collection of inchoate ingredients into a single mass.

Regarding the green tea, we hope you will use the best matcha you can find. See the Kitchen Notes for a couple of outlets we recommend.

The most onerous part of this process is melting the chocolate, and that part isn’t complicated at all.

Chocolate-dipped Green Tea Shortbread Cookies
Makes about 2 dozen cookies

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup plus one tablespoon powdered sugar

3 tablespoons unsweetened green tea powder (matcha – about 1/2 ounce)

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 or 2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar, for sprinkling on the unbaked cookies (optional)

5 or 6 one-ounce squares of bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 325 degree F. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, salt, powdered sugar, and matcha.

In another bowl, beat the softened butter with an electric hand mixer, just until it becomes soft. Beat in the vanilla. Then gradually mix in the dry ingredients. Everything should form a single mass. If it stubbornly remains a powdery bunch of crumbs, sprinkle in 1 or 2 teaspoons of water, and continue to mix. When everything is combined, you will have a beautiful green dough. Cut it in half, form each half into a disc and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Longer than this and you may have to let it warm up a bit so it can be worked.

Lightly flour your surface and a rolling pin, place a disc on the table, and roll it out to about a 1/4-inch thickness. I cut these cookies into little rectangles, then used a spatula to move them onto parchment or waxed paper on a baking sheet. These cookies don’t spread out much in the baking, so can be pretty closely spaced on the baking sheet. Once they are all set out on the baking sheets, sprinkle lightly with the confectioner’s sugar.

Slide the baking sheets in the oven and bake for about 12 minutes or so, depending on the neurosis level of your oven. They should lightly brown around the edges.

Cool the cookies completely on a rack. Only after they are cooled should you try to dip them.

For dipping, chop the chocolate, then melt it in the top of a double boiler until it is shiny and liquid. To dip the cookies, hold by one end, then dip the other end, gently shake off the excess and place on waxed paper on a rack or plate. Once the cookies are set, which will take a while, store them in an airtight container with waxed paper between the layers. Done. The cookies will keep for a week or more.

If you wish, you can also skip the chocolate entirely and just serve these in their delicate, elegant simplicity.

Kitchen Notes

Dipping chocolate. I used bittersweet chocolate, but dark chocolate would also work wonderfully. Use baking chocolate, not chocolate chips – the former melts, the latter doesn’t.

Why not white chocolate? Because it is no fun to work with. A “derivative” of chocolate, it’s made from cocoa butter, sugar, salt and milk. That is, white chocolate is not chocolate, and it doesn’t behave like chocolate. In particular, when you try to melt it, it never becomes smoothly liquid like actual chocolate. In the process of making these cookies, I did try melting the white stuff. Even though I knew better, I actually was seized with the notion that maybe this time it would work out. The result was pretty much a stiff, resistant (but melted) blob. I did get white chocolate on one cookie, but it looked bad (although the lucky recipient said it tasted great). If you want this cookie with a white chocolate taste, I recommend Deb’s green tea cookie sandwich recipe.

How about the tea? The matcha in this recipe came from the Spice House. Our more usual source, and our favorite source for great teas, period, is Harney & Sons.

How about a coffee? By the way, these cookies are fantastic with a cup of coffee. When friends drop by during the holidays, serve these and Hazelnut Rosemary Jam Cookies, and you are set.