CrankyCakes

I have a predilection for inappropriate competitiveness that dovetails beautifully with culinary contests.  And when our fair’s Whoopie Pie competition ended up on a day I knew I’d have free, there was little chance of me missing it.

I’d been there earlier in the week, and had scoped out the scene of the King Arthur Flour-sponsored contests.  I hit the computer for a whoopie pie research and recipe.  I liked the concept, suggested by some, that the whoopie pie was sort of a working class macaron, a lovely little confection that’s always seemed entirely too fussy for me to consider making.

Knowing that my talents lie more in the region of presentation and flavor than technical baking, I decided that interesting flavors were the way to go.  I love the combo of maple and peanut butter, and thought I’d give it a whirl.

Given that KAF was the sponsor, I based my recipe on theirs.  My first try, using butter for the fat, was a failure in that the cookies ran together into flat pancakes.

Luckily, I had time for a second try, when I used organic unhydrogenated shortening to much better, more cookie-shaped, results.

I got to the fair to discover that I was the 10th of 12 contestants to enter the competition.   All I could see of the competitors’ was chocolate, and there’s no way to judge a whoopie pie from its appearance, so I sat down to wait and watch the judges with other Ladies Who Enter Fair Contests.  Together we tried to determine what the panel’s body language meant, and was it bad or good if your plate’s tag was in a particular position and other such arcane things.

Soon enough the agony was over and I didn’t win a ribbon.  When I tried the winners’ entries, I had to agree: a great whoopie pie is cakey and fairly thick; my cookies had great flavor, but were distinctly cookie-ish.   So it’s back to research to find a soft and cakey non-chocolate whoopie pie recipe, which doesn’t sound like too bad a winter’s hobby.  And in the meantime, here’s a really delicious maple-peanut butter cookie recipe for your fall enjoyment.

Maple-Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies
Adapted from King Arthur Flour
About 9 sandwiches

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease baking sheets.

1.  Whisk together:

• 2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2.  In a separate bowl, whip until very light:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter or natural shortening, softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

When very fluffy and well combined, add in:

• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 2 large eggs
• 1 t. vanilla

3.  Add dry mixture to wet in three parts, and stir just until combined.

4.  Drop batter by the 1/4 cup onto prepared baking sheets. With the back of a spoon spread batter into 4-inch circles, leaving approximately 2 inches between each cake.

5.  Bake 15 minutes or until they are firm to the touch. Remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.

6.  While cookies are cooling, whip together until combined and fluffy:

• 1/4 cup shortening or butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 cups Marshmallow Fluff
• 2 T. smooth peanut butter

Pipe or spread onto one cookie and top with another and serve.

(And those too-flat cookies from the first batch?  I layered them with sliced local plums and mascarpone cheese and brought it to a friends for dinner after weighting it down and letting it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours.  Good – like some kind of simple trifle or riff on tiramisu.  I would have doused it with sherry or port but thought I’d leave off the alcohol as if my kids would eat it anyway.  Right.)

I spend so much time loving the food of Vermont that I sometimes forget to pass on other good things that cross my path.  Please let me rectify that in a round-up of recent goodies from here and there.

Boloco
We got to take part in the “Pairing is Sharing” event that Burlington’s Magic Hat beer and the Boston-based Boloco burrito chain offered to introduce a new burrito and benefit the on-line mentoring program icouldbe.org.  I especially loved the Buffalo Burrito, and liked Magic Hat’s fall Odd Notion, a spicy, orange-y Belgian ale.   The Leftover Queen got much better pictures than mine, if you want to take a peek.

with The Leftover Queen & CrankyGreg

pmg's Nicole & her lovely friend

Palm Plates
As a member of the Foodie Blogroll Community, we got our hands on some Palm Plates put out by Marx Foods.  I’m pretty averse to disposable things, but liked the sound of these made-from-palm-leaf dishes.  Less manufacture, less waste, and kind of crunchy-cute looking.  We put them to the test for a variety of uses.

Breakfast:

And dinner:

We washed them & dried them and took them camping:

As a costume:

We’ve now used them so far beyond their one-use intentioned purpose that it seems ridiculous to mention that there are a few cracks in them.  When I finally am forced to call them done, I’ll throw them in the compost pile and declare victory.  I’m glad there are products like these out there to choose from when disposable stuff is necessary.  Which it usually isn’t.

What’s Cooking

I started following this cooking-natural-foods-with-kids blog on Facebook, and ended up winning a cute little prize that deserves mention on its own, beyond the great content Michelle and her family are producing.  She sent a “matchbook garden” my way.  Adorable, and totally appealed to my love of the faux and the miniature.

I’m just waiting to find a friend who’s quitting smoking and I’m totally going to give this to them, since I don’t feel up to explaining the shades of difference between playing with pretend matches and playing with actual flammable substances to E. & Z.

Penzey’s

If you’ve ever asked me where you should get your spices, chances are good that I’ve directed you here.  I love this folksy company for their earnest love of food nearly as much as I appreciate the variety and quality of their herbs and spices.  That’s why I was really worried when the fall catalog came with the words “Arizona Dreaming” emblazoned across the front.  I just didn’t want to know if these folks supported the anti-immigrant stuff that’s going on in Arizona.  With great trepidation I opened the catalog and read this letter from Bill Penzey.

(image courtesy penzeys.com)

I nearly cried.  It’s all that’s good about food, and the ties it creates and the cultures it celebrates.  I ordered some of the spice mix, though I surely didn’t need another chili powder blend.  But we love it, and I love Penzey’s even more. When it’s time to restock your spice shelf, give these good folks a try.

And now, back to our usual Vermont goodness and cranky ways.

The Vermont plums are in, and they are damned good.   So good that I find myself leaving the farmer’s market each week of their short season with far more than I really need or have plans for.  Which was what was happening a couple of weeks ago when I ran into a friend who told me about her old neighbor who made dumplings with the plums that grew in her yard.

Of course the word, “dumplings” piqued my interest.  So with quarts of plums at the ready, I went home to find a recipe.  Here’s what I found, and have so far made two batches – one to freeze for winter, and one we ate fresh with grilled sausage and a great deal of delight.

Plum Dumplings
Adapted from AllRecipes.com
The original recipe’s yield says 25, but 20 seems to be closer to the truth

1.  Peel, quarter, boil until tender and then mash:

• 2 large or 4 small potatoes

2.  While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the plums.  Slice in half:

• 25 prune plums (Who knows?  Maybe you’ll get 25 out of the recipe and will actually need each one.  If not, you’ve got sugary sweet plums as a snack, so it’s a low-risk situation.)

Remove each pit, and sprinkle a bit of sugar into the spot where it was.  Place plums in a bowl while you prepare the dough.

3.  Make the dough by sifting together:

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 t. powdered lemon peel
• pinch ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Make a well in the center and add:

• 3 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons softened butter
• 1 cup mashed potato

Mix together with a wooden spoon until too hard to stir, and then knead until very smooth.

4.  Flour a cutting board well, and roll out half of the dough to 1/4″ thick.  Use a glass or biscuit cutter to cut out 3″ or 4″ rounds.  (Work fairly quickly so the circles don’t dry out.)  Place one round on the palm of one hand, rub the circle’s outside with a sugared plum to moisten the dough.

Stretch and seal the dough around the plum, trying your best to avoid any holes in the dough.  (If you do end up with a hole, just grab a scrap from the board and patch it.)

Repeat until all dough is used up, gathering and re-rolling as many scraps as you can.  (To freeze at this point, place in a single layer on a well-floured cookie sheet and stick in the freezer until hard, and then put in a container or bag.)

5.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and gently place dumplings in the water and boil for about 10 minutes. (Add about 4 minutes if you cook from frozen.)

6.  In a large sauce pan, melt together over medium-low heat and stir until warm and thick:

• 1/2 c. unsalted butter
• 1  c. brown sugar or your favorite jam or marmalade (we were lucky to have some peach butter bubbling away on the stove and so used that)
• 1/4 c. bread crumbs to thicken if you like.

I’d like to come up with some brilliant summation here, but I’m a bit distracted as I’m here with a 5-year old here who insists it’s my birthday (it’s not) and that I have to go off to a party with Batman, a plastic dinosaur and some wooden milk.  You, on the other hand, should get yourself some plums and eat them in any way you can think of.

My inner hoarder has come out to play and I’m in an absolute frenzy of food preservation.  So far:

• 26 jars of blueberry jam
• 8 jars of gooseberry jam
• 6 jars of gingered zucchini marmalade
• 6 jars of blackberry rhubarb chutney
• 4 pints of canned peaches
• 10 pounds of frozen blueberries
• 6 quarts of frozen blackberries
• 4 pints of frozen shredded zucchini and carrots
• 4 pints of frozen roasted tomatoes and garlic
• 3 freezer bags of various roasted vegetables
• 3 pints of frozen rhubarb
• 1 bag of Czech plum dumplings

My kitchen is now a living fruit fly museum, the house is a wreck and I’m busier than if I had an actual job.  Is this because having a basement filled with food helps assuage the upheaval of part-time contract work?  Because Z. is starting kindergarten and I’m trying to maintain an illusion of control?  Because it’s an especially delicious harvest year?  Who knows.  I keep claiming that I want to stop with all the fuss and crankyGreg keeps telling me that I won’t.  He’s probably right.

Maybe you need a recipe to help with your own neuroses, or for some more sane purpose like gift giving.  Here’s one I adapted to use up the blackberries that have been going crazy around here, as well as some late-season rhubarb and gone-to-seed cilantro.  It’s tart, sweet, and a little spicy in addition to being beautiful.

Blackberry-Rhubarb Chutney
Adapted from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving

Yield: 6 8-oz. jars

If this is your first foray into canning, read this and this.

1.  Prepare your canner, 7 8-oz. jars, and lids, and keep warm.

2.  In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine:

• 3 cups fresh or frozen blackberries
• 1 cup chopped rhubarb stalks
• 1 cup shredded peeled green apple
• 1 1/4 c. finely chopped onion
• 1 can of chopped pineapple in juice (or else 2 large grated peeled green apples)
• 2 T. finely chopped ginger
• 3 cloves finely chopped fresh garlic
• 1 t. orange or lemon zest
• 1/4 c. orange or lemon juice
• 1 c. red wine vinegar

Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.  Reduce heat, cover and boil gently for about 15 minutes.

3.  Add to the mix in the saucepan:

• 1 1/2 c. granulated sugar (make sure it’s cane sugar when you’re canning)
• 1 c. golden raisins (I left these out, but would have thrown them in if I had had them around)
• 1 c. water

4.  Make a spice bag with some cheesecloth or a stainless steel tea ball with:

• 1 T. coriander/cilantro seeds (fresh if you’ve got them on your bolted plants in the garden, dried if not)
• 2 hot peppers, as hot as you like.

Boil gently until thickened, about 15 minutes.

5.  Ladle hot chutney into hot jars, leaving 1/2″ headspace.  Remove air bubbles by poking a chopstick or similar implement around the sides of the jar, then adjust headspace by adding more chutney if necessary.  Use a clean damp cloth to wipe the rim, then center the lid on the jar.  Screw band down until fairly tight, but don’t over-force it.

6.  Place jars in the canner so that they’re completely underwater.  Bring to a boil and then process for 10 minutes.  Take off the lid.  Wait for 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store in a cool place once you’ve made sure the jars have a good seal.

There.  Don’t you feel better?

The vegan minister at our church retired recently, and we sent him off in fine Unitarian style with a big potluck picnic, music, bounce castle, and all manner of wholesome fun and well-wishing.

Though I knew most people in attendance are happy omnivores, I couldn’t bring myself to make something that the guest of honor wouldn’t eat.  And a quick review of what was in the fridge turned into this take on the summer classic, which seemed like one of those why-didn’t-I-think-of-this-before sorts of dishes once it occurred to me.   There was something especially fab about having it on the church picnic table right next to the genuine orange carrot-Jello mold, which I did indeed help myself to a big day-glo scoop of.

Vegan Insalata Caprese
Serves 8

Prepare tofu:

• 1 lb. package extra firm (not silken) tofu, pressed, then sliced fairly thickly, and marinated for 1 hour in 1 cup of water with 1/2 t. kosher salt and 2 cloves chopped garlic

While the tofu’s marinating, reduce to 1/3 cup over low simmer:

• 1 cup balsamic vinegar (don’t waste super-high quality stuff on this – run of the mill stuff will be fine)

Pat the tofu dry, then layer it in whatever shape suits you and your serving dish with:

• 4 ripe tomatoes, sliced into pieces about the size of the tofu
• 1 cup large basil leaves

Drizzle the vinegar over the top, then top with:

• 2 T. olive oil
• kosher salt & freshly ground pepper to tastev

Voila.  Now you’ve made the vegans happy.

Colorful, easy and refreshing, this is a nice use for all the stuff starting to show up or wind up here in the gardens and CSA shares.

Making it also marked the last use of my favorite bowl, which has finally cracked through to such a degree that liquids seep out.  It’s now on the porch with some straggly hot pepper plants limping over its side.

Sweet Summer Salad
4 servings

• 4 ears of corn, boiled for 30 seconds (yes, only 30), and kernels cut from the cobs
• 1 qt. edible pod peas (snow or sugar snaps), strings removed, blanched for 30 seconds

• 3 cups watermelon, either cubes or balls
• 1 T. lemon or lime juice
• 1 t. fish sauce or umeboshi vinegar
• 1 dash vinegar based hot sauce

Mix it all together and serve cold or at room temperature.

I like the nutrition and transportability of a breakfast smoothie, but I don’t always want something sweet first thing in the morning.  I started making these during the heatwave a couple of weeks ago, and have been pretty breakfast-happy with them.   They’re healthy, creamy and tart, and have enough protein to keep me reasonably satisfied until lunchtime.  Plus not having fruit or sweet things in them means that the boys never, ever abscond with my cup.

Savory Super-Green Smoothie
Makes 1

• 1 c. plain lowfat dairy or soy yogurt
• 1/4 c. soy milk, whey from yogurt, or milk
• 1/2 ripe avocado
• handful of spinach or lettuce
• 1 T. tahini
• 1/2 t. spirulina powder
• 1 T. green olives or your favorite salsa
• 3 or 4 ice cubes

Stir, blend & repeat until nice & smooth.

One day I’m going to give away my last super-easy recipe and you Crankies are going to realize that I’m not actually a terribly good cook, just one who’s willing to be adventurous with ingredients.

But I’ll risk coming one step closer to that moment by delivering the promised recipe for Summer Rolls with Edible Flowers that was featured in my Beautiful, Edible Blossoms workshop at Red Wagon Plants.

This is probably my favorite no-cook meal.  It feels like you’ve actually made something, but you haven’t worked too hard – and you don’t have to heat anything for it unless you want to.   You can decide what to put in them by what’s in your refrigerator – combine a protein (marinated tofu, leftover chicken, etc.) on a bed of something mild (lettuce, bean thread noodles, shredded carrots), a dash of something strongly flavored like fish sauce or umeboshi or tamari, all rolled up in the rice paper wrapper and you’re done.  Adding in edible flowers makes them beautiful enough to serve to Fancy Company, should you be in the mood for that.

The recipe below suggests using all pale ingredients for the filling so that the flowers are especially visible, but – as always – you should feel free to make ‘em with what you’ve got.

Beautiful Summer Rolls
makes 8 (enough for a snack for 4)

• 8 rice paper wrappers, soaked one at a time for about 15 seconds in cold water, just before you’re ready to make them
• 4 cups bean thread noodles soaked in warm water for 10 minutes and then drained, and cut into smaller pieces
• 1 cup thinly sliced light green lettuce
• 1 cup diced marinated extra firm tofu, seitan, diced cold chicken, or other protein
• 8 leaves cilantro or basil
• ~1 T. fish sauce (or substitute lime juice or umeboshi vinegar or tamari)
• 8 edible flowers (these pictured are with nasturtiums and violas, and if you don’t have access to any you can use some red leaf lettuce or anything brightly colored that you want to see)
• sweet chili sauce, peanut sauce, fish sauce, or one of the traditional sauces on this page for dipping

Make by placing one soaked wrapper in front of you on a plate or cutting board.  Place about 1/2 cup noodles and lettuce, basil or cilantro and cubed tofu in a line on the wrapper. Drizzle over just a little bit of fish sauce or whatever you’re using.

Fold one edge over the filling, tucking the filling in so that you can roll tightly.   Place the flower to one side of the filling.

Tuck in the other sides, roll the wrapper, which will stick to itself, while using your fingers to compress the filling so it can be rolled fairly neatly.  Cover with a damp towel until the others are done, then serve with your preferred dip.

Oh I’ve got so much food to share with you that it’s hard to keep myself under control.  But I’m trying to maintain a reasonable pace and go one at a time.

Here’s a super-easy, grown-up, beat-the-heat treat for you on these hot days.   It’s one of the yummy things we made for crankyGreg’s birthday party last week, and they’ve been a pretty delightful left-over to have around.

Whether or not you choose to feel a little smug as you tell your children that no, these are for adults only is entirely up to you.

Ginger Popsicles
(yield depends on the size of your molds – this gave us about 12)

• 3 12-oz. bottles of ginger beer (not ginger ale, which is neither sweet nor ginger-y enough)
• 1 very thinly sliced lime
• 2 oz. (or more, or less) bourbon, though you can turn them into Dark & Stormy Pops if you use Gosling’s Black Seal Rum

Set up your popsicle molds or whatever you like to use to jerry-rig ‘em.  Drop a lime slice into the bottom, then a splash of bourbon, then fill to the appropriate line with ginger beer.  Keep in mind that they will expand as they freeze.  Let them sit in the freezer for 3 or 4 hours and then enjoy them most heartily.

I don’t know if our librarians could possibly know how much the summer reading program saves our sanity.

How positively alluring and magnetic we find that weekly day at the library, amidst the chaos of the disrupted schedule, the dinners with friends that stretch on into the night while mommies sip wine and can’t bear to call children in before sunset, the watergun fights and overtired, mosquito-bitten warriors on endless quests.

Library day.  So we gather whatever books we can find to return, bring in the boys’ reading lists from the past week and we toodle down the hill.  They perch on chairs and gesticulate wildly while they describe the horrible things their favorite characters have done on that week’s pages.

While there this week, E. excitedly found a past favorite, “Wild Boars Cook.” Oh, the boars (Horace, Morris, Boris & Doris) are horrible creatures, beautifully drawn and full of badness.  While in this sequel book they are neither bathing in toilets nor breaking toys nor farting, they are in the kitchen making a “massive pudding,” with ingredients I’ll leave you to discover.  Plus the book ends with a recipe for a massive cookie, and we made our version of it.

Massive Cookie
Adapted from “Wild Boars Cook”
Makes 1 cookie, about 12 servings

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream together until very well blended in a medium bowl:

• 1/2 stick (4 T.) butter
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 3/4 c. sugar

Sift over the top of the butter mixture:

• 1/2 c. white flour
• 1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/2 t. baking soda

Stir thoroughly.  Then mix in:

• 1/2 c. chocolate chips

Grease a cookie sheet, then form dough into shape of a large cookie.

Bake for 15 minutes, then have one of your little boarlets carefully sprinkle over the top while you stand there nervously with potholders between your child and the pan.  Or maybe just do it yourself:

• 1/2 c. m&m type candies
• 1/2 c. gum drops or jelly beans

Bake for 15 minutes more, or until golden brown.

Cool, cut into wedges or whatever shape you like.

Have any great kids books with recipes you love?  I’d love to hear about them since, ahhhhh, our next library day is coming soon.