Or, I probably should say “the perfect gingersnaps”, because they definitely are! The recipe is from Alice Medrich, so their deliciousness didn’t catch me by surprise. The cookies are crispy outside, chewy in the middle, loaded with fresh and candied ginger; so pleasantly warm! They are my carb servings which combined with low-fat cottage make a perfectly balanced meal (still on the diet… sort of). Suddenly, this cottage thing seems more appealing.
Don’t be surprised it wasn’t served with ice cream. See, I need to shed a couple of pounds here - I am trying to squeeze into this party dress by the end of the month. So, the dish is basically my diet food – less fat, more vitamins. If you are favoring traditional views you can top the crumble with a scoop of vanilla or orange ice cream. But the yogurt actually turned out pretty tasty, and it was good with the crumble, as well as on its own.
Does anybody else think that food blogging has an inevitable weight-gaining side-effect?
Farmers’ markets smell like apples. It’s impossible not to buy some when you are there. What’s more difficult is to resist the temptation of buying more apples than you actually need – happens to me all the time…
The strudel is one of my favorite ways to utilize these fruits. I stuff the strudel generously with finely chopped (never grated and squeezed) apples, kirsch-soaked raisins, crushed gingersnaps, and sugar. Some chopped toasted pecans or walnuts would be a nice addition to the filling if you are lucky and none of your family members suffer from nut allergies. I never leave all the filling juices behind, but spoon them over the apples. I like my filling succulent and caramelly, soft but yet with some texture present in the apples and not dry and gummy with barely recognizable ingredients. The sauce itself is also quite memorable. If you want you can make a sour cream sauce as well (for color contrast) and plate the strudel. But we ended up by pouring more cranberry sauce over the slices, anyway; the tiny pretty dots were not enough.
The recipe is adapted from the “Bon Appétit”.
And here’s another cookie. I hope you are not tired of them. Christmas is not too far, and I’ve been trying new and revising old favorite recipes preparing to a big give-away baking. So far, there are about two dozens recipes more to go. Don’t be afraid, I’ll dilute the cookie posts with something else :)
I think this cookie idea comes originally from Martha Stewart (but I can be wrong… I’ve got the old hand-written recipe copied from somewhere a long time ago). Anyway, I made them before and didn’t like the dough much – it was unpleasant to work with and I didn’t like the taste the following day. So, this is a new and improved version of mine :) Honestly, the cookies turned out better. I made them quite big (about 3-inch); you can form smaller cookies if you prefer, but adjust the filling accordingly.
If you suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome or arthritis, don’t try to pipe these cookies. And I’m not joking. My hands were quite sore after piping 4 dozens of these, even though I don’t have any of the aforementioned problems. The dough is quite stiff and not so easily piped. To alleviate the process, you can either chill the dough briefly, then roll it into little balls and bake. Or, you can form a log from the whole batch of dough, refrigerate it, slice and bake the following day as ice-box cookies.
Please, don’t get discouraged by what I’ve just said. The cookies are good and very much deserved to be made. Regardless the way they are shaped, the cookies are so Italian, crunchy but tender, buttery, lemony, and with a pleasant light peppery bite.
October Daring Bakers’ challenge was pizza, to be precise – Peter Reinhart’s wonderful pizza crust. To make it challenging enough, we were supposed to master the tossing technique. Although, it is definitely fun and adrenalin-releasing experience I prefer to stretch my dough on the fists letting the gravity to do its work. This way, the desirable thicker edges and very thin center are easily achieved.
We were required to take a picture of the flying dough in the air. Unfortunately, this historical (I mistyped “hysterical”, first :) moment couldn’t be captured – there was no qualified adult around to take such shot. You will have to believe my words that the dough was not just tossed in the air but even successfully caught. And I lie very seldom.
I have a tendency to overdo the fillings and toppings. And there’s an explanation for this. I still remember my nana teaching me how to make a cabbage pie and whispering: ”If you don’t put enough filling, dear, people will think you are cheap. Without the filling, the pie is just a bread crust. And you don’t invite guests over for a slice of a regular bread.” Who ever questions nana’s opinion? So, if you have the same issues with the fillings/toppings as I do, we (Peter Reinhart and I :) must warn you. Do not overtop your pizza! Be moderate with your toppings no matter how good they are.
My big thank you to Rosa, this month DB’ host! We all enjoyed it a lot!
In this one, I topped the unbaked crust with thinly sliced and sautéed in butter and brown sugar apples, with an addition of cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon/orange zest. The streusel, on contrary, wasn’t baked with the pizza. I made the crumbs ahead of time and sprinkled over the pizza top as soon as it came out of the oven. Someone might think it’s a cheating; I believe it’s a practical solution ensuring the perfectly crisp and nicely brown streusel crumbs (that’s how I always top my fruit crisps, by the way). I served the hot pizza with sour cream.
This is a savory one. Instead of a tomato sauce, I pureed the sundried tomatoes and roasted garlic with a bit of extra-virgin olive oil, and spread it over the crust. The next went grated mozzarella, followed by the thickly sliced and previously roasted red onions, grilled sweet red peppers, and crumbled feta. The whole thing was topped with fresh basil and parsley.
I baked the third pizza the following day when my dear and so very much nut allergic son was at school. First, I generously sprinkled the crust with toasted, coarsely ground hazelnuts. The second deck was peeled and thinly sliced Bartlett pears. I brushed the crust and pears with melted butter, drizzled the honey over the pears. Then I topped the pears with thyme sprigs. The time spent in the oven was sufficient enough to flavor but not to overpower the pears with thyme. As soon as the pizza was done, I brushed the pears with a little bit more warmed honey and sprinkled with some fresh thyme. It was delicious. Well, without excessive modesty, the all three pizzas tasted pretty much fantastic :)
