Magical...

Whoever said Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits just had to be biscuits?

Give these a try on a snowy day and serve them with hot cocoa. Your kids will think you are a magician.

Ordinary biscuits go from this:

to this:

And you can even make these:

Buttermilk Biscuit Donuts
from Paula Deen

Ingredients

Peanut oil, for frying (Canola is good too)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar

Icings:

2 cups confectioners' sugar, divided
5 tablespoons milk, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup cocoa powder

Colored sprinkles
Chocolate sprinkles

2 cans buttermilk biscuits (I use the ones that come 10 to a can because they make mini donuts and mini donut holes. But you can also use the larger biscuits if you want bigger donuts.)

Directions:

Heat 2 inches of oil in a large pot or Dutch oven to 350 degrees F.

In a shallow bowl, stir together the ground cinnamon and sugar and set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together 1 cup of confectioners' sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, set aside. This is the vanilla icing. In another bowl, whisk together 1 cup of confectioners' sugar, 1/4 cup of cocoa powder and 3 tablespoons of milk and set aside. This is the chocolate icing.

Lay out the biscuits on a cutting board and with a 1/4 to 1/2-inch round cookie or biscuit cutter (or any small circle you can find), cut out a hole from the middle of each biscuit. Fry them in the oil until just golden and then flip with tongs to fry the other side. Be careful not to cook them to long. You can even fry the donut holes. Drain on paper towels and then toss in the cinnamon-sugar or ice and decorate with sprinkles, as desired.

So make them for someone you love and watch the magic happen!

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On Giving Thanks And Praying

I am thankful that Obama won. I would not have much hope if he were not the one sitting in the white house for the next four years. In my heart I know that he is the change this country so desperately needs.

I am thankful that I live in a state where I can finally marry my partner of thirteen years. I pray for a day when minorities no longer have to fight to have the same rights as everybody else. I pray for a day when voting on other peoples rights is no longer an option. I pray that someday we will all be considered equal.

I am thankful for the friendship we had with our dear friend Tisha who bravely lost her battle with an illness that took her from us way to soon. If there is one thing I have learned from losing somebody so close, it is to not take our loved ones for granted. It is to appreciate and celebrate and love one another each and everyday that we get to be together.

Tish and I appreciated a lot of the same things. Good food, good music, and good shoes were a few of the things we loved to share. We marveled at each other when one of us was sporting a brand new pair of Keens (the shoe of choice for both of us) or when we found an amazing recipe in the latest issue of Fine Cooking Magazine. One time I remember complaining to her about my dull knifes and the next time she came to my house she brought me my very own steel. That steel has now become priceless to me, and I will never sharpen my knifes again without thinking of her.

She would often refer to me as Sarah Martha, telling everyone Martha Stewart had nothing on me. She was one of my inspirations for writing this blog, always reminding me that its been a while since my last post and didn't I think I should do something about that. In fact, she is the reason my last post is marked September 22 nd. I just couldn't find it in myself, until now, to write about my love of food when I could no longer share it with my friend.

These last few months have been full of highs and lows, ups and downs. Its amazing how life can give and take, yet still leave you feeling thankful for it all.

Here is a recipe I wanted to share just in time for Thanksgiving. Its a wonderful excuse to sit down with those you love and let them know just how much you are truly greatful that they are in your life.

Brown Sugar Apple Cheesecake

from Baking: From My Home to Yours,

by Dorie Greenspan

For the Crust:

30 gingersnaps (or a scant 2 cups graham cracker crumbs)

2 tbsp light brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)

1/2 stick (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted

For the Apples:

1/2 stick (4 tbsp) unsalted butter

3 large Golden Delicious or Fuji apples, peeled, cored and cut into eighths

2 tbsp (packed) light brown sugar

For the Filling:

1 1/2 pounds (three 8-ounce packages) cream cheese, at room temperature

3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar

6 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp apple cider

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 tsp ground cinnamon

3 large eggs

3/4 cup sour cream

To Make the Crust:

Butter the bottom and sides of a 9 or 10-inch spring form pan. Put the gingersnaps in a food processor and whirl until you have crumbs; you should have a scant 2 cups. (If you are using graham cracker crumbs, just put them in the food processor.) Pulse in the sugar and cinnamon, if you're using it, then pour over the melted butter and pulse until the crumbs are moistened. Turn the crumbs into the spring form pan and, using your fingertips, firmly press them evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan as far as they'll go. Put the pan in the freezer while you preheat the oven. (The crust can be covered and frozen for up to 2 months.)Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.Remove the pan from the freezer and wrap the bottom tightly in aluminum foil, going up the sides. Place the pan on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, or until the crust is set and lightly browned. Transfer to a rack to cool while you make the apples and the filling. Leave the oven at 350 degrees F.

To Make the Apples:

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. When the foam subsides, toss in half of the apple slices and cook, turning once, until they are golden brown, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle the apples with 1 tablespoon of the sugar and cook them, turning, just until coated, another minute or so. Scrape the apples onto a plate, wipe out the skillet and repeat with the remaining apples. Let the apples cool while you make the filling.

Getting Ready to Bake:

Have a roasting pan large enough to hold the spring form pan at hand. Put a kettle of water on to boil.

To Make the Filling:

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese on medium speed, scraping down the bowl often, for about 4 minutes, or until it is velvety smooth. Add the sugars and beat for another 2 minutes. Beat in the cider, vanilla, and cinnamon. Reduce the speed to low and beat in the eggs one by one, beating for 1 minute after each egg goes in. Finally, beat in the sour cream and heavy cream, beating just until the batter is smooth.Pour about one third of the batter into the baked crust. Drain the apples by lifting them off the plate with a slotted spoon or spatula, and spoon them into the pan. Cover with the remaining batter and, if needed, jiggle the pan to even the top. Place the spring form pan in the roasting pan and pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the spring form pan.Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour and 30 to 45 minutes , covering the cake loosely with a foil tent at the 45-minute mark. The cake will rise evenly and crack around the edges, and it should be fully set except, possibly, in the very center--if the center shimmies, that's just fine. Gently transfer the cake, still in the pan, to a cooling rack and let it cool to room temperature, then refrigerate it for at least 6 hours; overnight would be better.Run a blunt knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the crust, open the pan's latch and release and remove the sides.

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My Search Is Over...

For those of you who have read this blog from the beginning you know one of the things I have been trying to find is the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. Dare I say, I think I have found it.

If you are a food blogger I'm sure you have seen the amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe from the New York Times. There has been so much buzz about this cookie recipe in the blog world I knew I had to try it (and share it with all of my non-food blogging friends).

There are a few tricks to making the perfect chocolate chip cookie. First you must make the dough about 36 hours before you are going to eat them. I know this sounds ridiculous. But by letting the cookie dough hang out in the fridge for a few days it actually develops a wonderful rich flavor that is missing in a more traditional chocolate chip cookie.

Secondly, this recipe calls for over a pound of good quality bittersweet chocolate. We are not talking chips here. I used Callebaut bittersweet that they sell in large chunks at my local grocery store and it tasted divine, well worth the extra cost.

Third, the recipe says to use 3 1/2 oz. of dough per cookie. This makes a very substantial cookie. I ended up making mine only 3 oz each and it seemed to be plenty. Making larger size cookies creates that desirable contrast between a crispy outside and a soft a chewy inside. Cookie heaven if you ask me.

And the last trick to divine chocolate chip cookies is a tiny sprinkle of sea salt right on top of those chocolaty mounds right before they go in the oven. Salty and sweet, what can be better than that?

Intrigued? Wanna give these a shot yourself? You can find the recipe here. Trust me, you will be glad you actually let that dough stay in the fridge longer than you thought was humanly possible. And besides, I never said you couldn't "test" the dough every now and then. Cookie dough, its a good thing.

Oh, and I almost forgot. These cookies are best eaten still warm (although they tasted pretty good at room temp. too), so I just baked them as we were going to eat them. The dough can hang out in the fridge for up to 72 hrs. But don't worry, I don't think it will last that long. And make sure you have plenty of milk to go with them. Enjoy!

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Its Worth The Drive...

These amazingly fresh, still warm donuts can be found here. Trust me, its worth the trip!

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Oh Heavenly Potatoes...

These potatoes are amazing! Caramelized and crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. They go amazingly with roasted chicken. You can try doubling the recipe so you can have left overs, but we have never been able do that because no matter how many I make we end up eating them all!

I got this recipe from my friend Tish who I believe got it from an issue of Fine Cooking Magazine.

Roasted Smashed Potatoes

1 1/2 - 2 lbs baby potatoes (skin on)

olive oil

kosher salt

freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook whole potatoes until fork tender. Drain potatoes and lay out to dry on a clean dish towel. Line a rimmed baking sheet (you might need more than one) with parchment paper or non-stick foil. Using a second clean dish towel press down on each potato to flatten to about 1/2'' and fan out a bit by pressing and twisting at the same time. Put potatoes in a single layer on baking sheet and drizzle with a good amount of olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Roast in oven for 30-45 minute, flipping potatoes over about halfway through (I usually wait for them to start to brown on one side and then I flip them over). You will know they are done when they are brown and crispy.

This recipe feeds one, or I mean two, actually it should feed four, but it never has in my household.

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The Daring Bakers Strikes Again...

This month... chocolate eclairs! Well in my case they are more like cream puffs. My first batch of Pate a Choux (cream puff dough) deflated as soon as I took them out of the oven. I don't think I kept them in long enough. The second time I kept them in a few minutes longer and viola, perfect cream puffs! Oh yeah, and instead of chocolate eclairs I made Chocolate peanut butter eclairs. I used a chocolate glaze for the top and a salty peanut butter pastry cream for the filling. They were quite nice if I do say so myself.

Here is the recipe as given to us by the Daring Bakers Tony Tahhan and MeetaK.
The only change I made to the recipe was replacing the chocolate in the pastry cream with 1/3 cup of peanut butter. I also added a touch of fleur de sal after it cooled down to get the lovely salty sweet effect. It got many rave reviews. I highly recommend you give it a try!

Éclairs consist of 3 elements:

- Pâte à Choux, also known as Choux Pastry or Cream Puff Dough

-Pastry Cream

- Chocolate glaze

Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs

Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé

(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• Cream Puff Dough (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with waxed or parchment paper.

2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough.Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers.Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff.The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.

3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking time should be approximately 20 minutes.

Notes:

1) The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

Assembling the éclairs:

• Chocolate glaze (see below for recipe)

• Chocolate pastry cream (see below for recipe)1) Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.

2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 – 104 degrees F or 35 – 40degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the bottoms with the pastry cream.

3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream and wriggle gently to settle them.

Notes:

1) If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water,stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create bubbles.

2) The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough

Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé

(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• ½ cup (125g) whole milk

• ½ cup (125g) water

• 1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

• ¼ teaspoon sugar

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour

• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the boil.

2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough will be very soft and smooth.

3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your hand mixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time,beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.

4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

Notes:

1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.

2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Chocolate Pastry Cream

Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé

• 2 cups (500g) whole milk

• 4 large egg yolks

• 6 tbsp (75g) sugar

• 3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted

• 7 oz (200g) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Velrhona Guanaja, melted

• 2½ tbsp (1¼ oz: 40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.

2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture.Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.

4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.

5) Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.

Notes:

1) The pastry cream can be made 2‐3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

2) In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream.

3) Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.

Chocolate Glaze

Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé

(makes 1 cup or 300g)

• 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream

• 3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

• 4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature

• 7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1)In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Notes:

1) If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly
 in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water.

2) It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce

Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé

(makes 1½ cups or 525 g)

• 4½ oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

• 1 cup (250 g) water

• ½ cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream

• 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar

1) Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.

2) It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

Notes:

1) You can make this sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for two weeks. Reheat the sauce in a microwave oven or a double boiler before using.

2) This sauce is also great for cakes, ice-cream and tarts.

Check out all the other wonderful creations of my fellow Daring Bakers.

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The Magic Of Little Pies...

Needless to say my summer has been pretty busy. Seems like we have gone from one thing to another and its already August. August? Where has the summer gone? I can remember summer lasting forever when I was a kid. What happened to lazy days? To catching fire flies at night? To swimming until our hands turned into little prunes? Guess that's part of the magic of being a child. And now that I am a Mom I get to do it for my own kids, and that's pretty magical too.

I made these little pies a while ago when sour cherries were in season. I was So excited to find them at my local farmers market, I couldn't pass them up. Sour cherries are just that, sour. So I wouldn't recommend eating them straight up. But put a little sugar on them and throw them in a pie shell and they are just heavenly...especially with vanilla ice cream!

I used Martha Stewart's recipes for both the crust and the filling. But instead of using a typical 9 inch pie plate I made them in my muffin tin. I think they came out pretty adorable if I do say so myself.

All you have to do is roll out the dough the same way as a traditional pie, but using a cookie cutter or a circle of some sort, cut out little 4" circles for both the top and bottom crusts. Line the muffin tin with the bottom crusts and fill with cherry mixture. Cut top crusts into strips to make lattice tops. At this point I put them in the fridge for a few hours or as long as over night. When you are ready to bake them brush the tops with beaten egg and sprinkle with course sugar. I baked these little guys for about 30 mins. Also I let them cool for quite a while before I removed them from their pan. If you do it while they are still warm I think they may just fall apart. Makes about 8 little pies.

So grab whats left of the summer and make some little pies. And if you cant get sour cherries just use whatever fruit is in season at the time. And just maybe the magic of one of these little pies will make you feel like a kid again!

Heres a wonderful little pie chart that tells you how to use different fruits for pie filling!

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