How about a little treat for the weekend? I saw a Food & Wine recipe for Chocolate Chip Pretzel Cookie Bars on lovely Maria’s food blog and knew I had to give them a try. I’m a sucker for anything with a salty-sweet flavor combination.

I was a little curious about what the texture of the pretzels would be like in something baked. When they were hot out of the oven, the pretzels were a little soft, but once the bars sat for a bit they got crunchier. My favorite way to eat them: after they’ve cooled, zap your bar in the microwave for 7-10 seconds. The bars are a little warm and the pretzels still crunchy. YUM!

I had a meeting with some of my Federated Media peeps this week and sent them back to the office with a few cookie bars. Within the hour I had an email from one of the VPs saying “mmmmmm” and a tweet from my DailyBuzz Moms team about how much they loved the bars. I really can’t take any credit. It’s a straight up Food & Wine recipe, which I didn’t even discover myself (thanks Maria!)…but everyone agrees, they are DELISH! Enjoy!

After writing about Grammy McCarthy’s brownies last week, I feel like I have to write about her blueberry muffins, too! Just like the brownies, she always has a batch ready for us when we visit. And whenever we make them here at home two things always happen:

1. I have fond memories of time with Grammy and Grampy. Sure enough, the other morning as I was re-heating a few for our breakfast, I was immediately transported to Grammy’s kitchen.
2. Cate constantly begs to eat more muffins. And when I say constantly, I mean CONSTANTLY. The girl is obsessed. And rightly so. They are darn good!

So, here you are everyone, Grammy’s treasured Blueberry Muffins. Enjoy!

Nate’s Grammy lives south of Boston in a perfectly scenic, coastal New England town. Her home is on a lovely little gulf where you can watch the tide and the plethora of birds go about their daily business. I have so many memories there, of time spent with Nate and his family, experiencing all the emotions and rites of passage you experience with family, including our own wedding reception.

Of course, as is often the case, there are many food associations with Grammy’s home. The two food items that are always in abundance when we visit are blueberry muffins and brownies, both of which we all eat far too quickly!

Nate loves Grammy’s brownies. There are a few things in Nate’s mind that I think no one will ever live up to in comparison with Grammy. Her brownies are one of those things. I, of course, am always trying oodles of different brownie recipes, so I actually rarely use her recipe. Not because I don’t love them. I’m just into comparing brownie recipes! So, on Mother’s Day evening, after Nate had cooked up a divine filet mignon dinner, he said, “Do we have stuff to make brownies?” To which I replied, “Yes!” And then he said, “Okay, I’ll make them, but I’m making them my way.” Which means Grammy’s way, of course.

The brownies tasted exactly like Grammy’s. Nate was beyond happy with the result. And it was a great Mother’s Day present for me…delicious brownies and happy memories of days and nights on the gulf. Who could ask for more?

A note on this recipe. Yes, she uses shortening. And, yes, Nate used it, too. And, to be honest, these brownies come out with a great texture – not gooey at all, but not dried out, either.  They are the texture you expect a brownie to be and have a nice crust on top. Also, they are not uber chocolatey. If you have Julia Child’s brownies on one end of the spectrum (i.e. the super duper gooey moist chocolatey end of the spectrum), then these are on the other end. Chocolatey enough, but not overwhelming. Nikki, my anti-chocolate friend, might even give them a try!

Oh, one more thing, unlike most brownies in my life, I actually think I like these better the second day.

 

Our neighbors are Swedish and they invited us over this past Tuesday night to enjoy some semlor (plural for semla), a cream-filled bun with almond paste. The pastry is a Fat Tuesday tradition in Sweden. Rebecca and David told us that people love the buns so much they start appearing as early as Christmastime and are enjoyed for months rather than just one day. Click here for a fun article about semla.

The semlor were scrumptious. Essentially it’s a cardamom bun with almond paste and cream. You slice off the top, scoop out the insides, mix it with almond paste and milk, then add it back to the bun. Top with whipped cream and some powdered sugar and you are ready to party it up Fat Tuesday style. Cate, like a true Kindergartener, barely touched hers. Which means I ate two. And only an unusual amount of will power kept me from finishing off Anna’s as well!

Rebecca and David did a great job making the buns and Rebecca kindly translated her recipe for me to share on the blog. My brain almost exploded converting the measurements, so I hope you appreciate all the hard work that went into this recipe. Translating, converting…Rebecca and I are ready for a nap! (Also, big thanks to Nate the scientist for making sure I kept my decimals in the right spots!)

I’m including Rebecca’s original measurements so that you can’t blame me if I got the conversions wrong. Which I’m pretty sure I got right. Remember, I didn’t even take one math class in college. But Nate helped, so we should be good.

We asked Rebecca and David how to eat the semlor. They said many people have strong opinions about this and laughed. They like to eat the top and then just pick the bun up and bite right in, which worked well for us!

I love bread pudding. There’s nothing quite like it. Especially when there’s chocolate involved.

Today I found myself with a loaf of 2-day old pugliese Italian bread that we really had no use for. I’ve only ever used soft breads for bread pudding, you know, brioche, that light fluffy white Italian bread from the grocery store bakery section, croissants, etc. Recipes always called for that kind of bread and some of them even said things like “cut the crust off.” So it comes as no surprise that I was always scared to try making bread pudding with a more rustic, crusty bread. And that fear has been the waste of several decent loaves of stale bread because….

That crusty, rustic pugliese worked GREAT in bread pudding. That’s right, I took the plunge. And the water felt good, people. Don’t be scared, use that crusty bread!

I did slice off the pointy crusty top from the loaf, and, after I cut the bread into 1″ – 2″ slices, I cut the bottom crust off each piece. The rest of the crust I left on. I liked having varying textures in the pudding, and the crusty parts absorbed the custard and cooked beautifully.

I am so glad I experimented with that bread today. Because, turns out, chocolatey bread pudding makes a mighty tasty lunch. Nutritious, too.

Happy Eating!

When I asked for tips for cooking with kids a few weeks back, you shared wonderful suggestions and tips. And many of you identified with my struggle, which made me feel much better knowing I’m not alone. 😉

Since that post, I’ve had Cate helping a LOT in the kitchen. There was ample opportunity given that it was Thanksgiving week. We’ve had some great success and, while there are still moments of frustration, I’m doing much better with the whole process overall. In fact, Cate cooked with me for hours on Friday and we were both happy the whole time. It was great!

Here are a few things I’ve concentrated on the last few weeks that I think have made a big difference:

PREPARATION
When Cate and I made Chocolate Almond Crackles, I prepared a lot of the recipe ahead of time (and she didn’t even realize it). For example, I had the chocolate melted and cooled waiting to be mixed in. The butter was softened. All the ingredients were taken out of the cupboards and all of the measuring utensils were on the counter. I can’t believe how much this helped!!! I think a lot of the trouble Cate and I have in the kitchen is she gets bored. By prepping these simple steps ahead of time, there was very little downtime while we were actually cooking together, so Cate felt consistently engaged.

EXPECTATIONS
Set expectations for myself – expect things to take longer, expect things to get messy, etc, etc, etc. Set expectations for my kids – for example, before we even go in the kitchen, I remind Cate that she can’t just grab things or move too quickly so that we can stay safe. I also try to remember to communicate what all the upcoming steps are so she knows what’s going on.

PATIENCE
That one word says it all. The more patient I am, the happier everyone is. Easier said then done sometimes, but I’m working on it!

And now for the recipe for these delicious cookies. They’re from the Martha Stewart “Holiday Cookies” special issue that’s on newsstands now. (There’s a $1 off coupon for the issue on the MarthaStewart.com homepage, bottom right.) My contact at Martha sent me a copy of the issue (muchas gracias, Mark!) and it is full of all kinds of amazing-looking cookies. I absolutely love these Almond Chocolate Crackles. They have great texture, moist and chocolatey but with a bit of crunch thanks to the almonds. And they just plain taste good. The powdered sugar doesn’t really stay bright white over time…just an fyi!

Each week Cate, my kindergartener, gets to choose a book at the school library. This week she picked a cookbook, which I thought was really sweet. We sat down, picked out a recipe (a very tasty fudge recipe that I’ll share below), gathered our ingredients and got to work! After a few moments of me getting frustrated because Cate wouldn’t listen, we finally settled into a groove and had fun. And I had her cut the fudge into pieces and display them on a plate. She really had fun and was very proud of her hard work!

I have to confess something. Cooking with kids is not the easiest thing in the world for me. I try to be patient, and we usually settle into a groove…but incorporating my children into my cooking just doesn’t come naturally to me. But I want it to! I think it’s important for children to have positive experiences in the kitchen and to develop cooking skills that will serve them their entire lives. Plus, it’s supposed to be fun! SOOOO….

Does anyone have any tips for cooking with kids? I want to hear them! I’m sure some of you out there do a great job cooking with kids, while others may be more like me and struggle with it. For those of you who do have it figured out, I’m hoping some of your magic can rub off on the rest of us. Please share your tips!

Oh, and before I forget, the fudge recipe. YUM.

On Sunday I was a in a dipping mood. I made hummus guacamole dip, spinach artichoke dip and apple toffee dip! It was almost like Super Bowl Sunday around here, except no football. Which I’m thinking some people might actually like. I mean, the food is the best part of a Super Bowl party, right? 😉

It’s been years since I made apple toffee dip, which is a pretty ubiquitous recipe.  It was just as tasty as I remember it! Although, next time I’m adjusting some of the measurements, which I will make note of in the recipe below.

It’s apple season. Slice some apples. Make this dip. You’ll thank me.

I’m doing something today I never do. I’m recycling a recipe AND a photo. But I just feel like I NEED to. The warm weather calls for it and, since I first wrote about this recipe, there are a lot more of you reading this here blog. I’m saddened to think you may have missed the original homemade frozen yogurt post from back in the day.

I love my frozen yogurt recipe. Great texture, just sweet enough, and downright addictive. Also, you can freeze the leftovers without it getting icy. (Xanthan gum is the key and worth tracking down!)

It’s kind of tragic, I haven’t made this frozen yogurt in aeons (which Nate has reminded me of more than once!). I’ve recently discovered Pinkberry and their amazing coconut frozen yogurt. I think today’s post has inspired me to dig out my ice cream maker that’s been hiding and figure out the coconut flavor. Mmmmmmm…..

Okay, you may be thinking the title of this post is nuts, since summer is over. Apparently Mother Nature doesn’t think so. After a downright cold summer here in the Bay Area, the last two days (including the first day of school) have been steamy hot. What the? So, despite the fact I’m annoyed I can’t take Cate swimming and none of her new school clothes work in hot weather, at lease I can eat my way out of my sorrows.

How about a strawberry milkshake? Sounds good to me!

People, my milkshakes last night rocked. Actually, I would say that they brought all the boys in the yard. And I can teach you how to make it. But I have to charge.

Okay, now that I have that out of my system, and that song is permanently in all of our heads, on to the recipe. The texture for our strawberry milkshakes last night was perfect. Hopefully this “recipe” comes out just as well for you!