Linzer Poker Cookies

a good friend of mine, alexis, loves linzer cookies. really, he is the only person i know who actually gets excited about these little guys. usually offered as a complementary mini desert at fancy lunch cafes, these cookies don't get enough face time - other than at christmas and with old ladies. but alexis has shown me the way, not consciously, but nonetheless his excitement put them back on my radar. i love it; a grown man who is very, very choosey about just about everything - but especially food - reenacts the same scene every time they are presented. "ooh! i love these!" then he would proceed to finger dive toward the cookies, bring back one between his pointer finger and thumb. bite by bite the cookie would evaporate and never left a distance greater than 6" from his face. mind you, alexis is much to classy to let the conversation go astray during this whole process, so my observations were always done under the radar. but i noticed it and was always taken back by it. i mean, wouldn't you rather a dark chocolate truffle or something?

but i get it now! i realize where my misunderstanding was: i was shortchanging this cookie by assuming it was just a pair of sugar cookies housing some sticky-sweet jam. yeah, no. linzer cookies are more a pastry dough than a cookie dough. it's divinely simple; no chemicals, no eggs and no added flavorings. just the basics and some technique - well, and some jam. cinnamon is the secret weapon here; it brings just enough complexity to keep you interested. the cookies themselves are slightly flakey and melt once in your mouth - similar to a tart shell - while the jam gives that quick punch of bright fruit flavor everyone loves.

it's coming back around for poker night tomorrow, so i decided to get festive this time around - hence the funny cut outs.

LINZER COOKIES

5oz butter, soft

1/3c sugar

1 1/4c flour

1/4c almond flour

pinch salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

*cream butter and sugar together

*in a separate bowl sift together the flours, salt and cinnamon

*gradually mix in the dry ingredients into the creamed butter

*separate the dough in two

*sandwich each piece between two sheets of wax paper and roll out to 1/8" thick

*lay flat and chill for at least an hour or until very firm

*preheat oven to 350 F

*cut 1 1/2" rounds with a biscuit cutter, cut out the centers of half

*bake for 10-15 minutes

*let cool completely before sprinkling the cut out cookies with powdered sugar then spreading your jam of choice - i used strawberry - onto one side of solid round.

* you know what to do next!

Mini CupCakes

i adore miniature things. anything that is smaller that its suppose to be - i will love it! miniature boxes that you can't even begin to imagine putting anything in, glass figurines, sets of playing cards, vases, plants, people (other than babies - they scare me) really i love small things. who doesn't like miniature things? i mean who doesn't say "oh my god that is sooooo cute!" and then pick it up just to compare it to their palm every time they see one of those miniature baby running shoes. we all love small things that aren't suppose to be small - face it.

so with this understood why have i not thought of mini cupcakes before? i can not answer this. but they are genius. sometimes you just don't feel like eating an entire cupcake, but you know you can't just can eat half and "save it for later". eh, so instead eat two mini cupcakes and be done with it. the other great thing is that you can mix and match flavors half way through your delinquently glutenous rendezvous with this manna from my kitchen (yes i had to spell check all three of those words).

as you can see i made some plain ole' vanilla and then took the remaining batter and transformed it into chocolate. ahhh yes. then topped it off with an organic vanilla bean classic buttercream - done the authentic way. you can see the little black pods in the picture. and honestly the chocolate is the keeper on this one. so because i am lazy - i will only give you the recipe for the chocolate. if you must have the vanilla, all you have to do is subtract the cocoa and the coffee and you got it.

MINI CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

1 1/3c flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

1/4 c dutch processed cocoa

2 tbs coffee

3/4c sugar

2 1/2 oz butter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1c buttermilk

* preheat oven to 350 F, line your mini cupcake pan your paper cups

* sift all of the dry ingredient together

* in a separate bowl cream the butter and the sugar

* beat in the egg and vanilla

* beat in the 1/3 of the dry ingredient, then 1/2 of the buttermilk - repeat until all is incorporated, ending on the dry ingredients.

* pour into your prepared pan and cook for 13-16 minutes. check it with a toothpick

VANILLA BEAN BUTTERCREAM

8 oz butter, soft & cubed

1/2 c sugar

2 tbs water

3 egg whites

pinch cream of tatar

1/2 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise

* beat eggs until soft peaks are beginning to form, slowly add in 2 tbs sugar and the cream of tartar.

* continue to beat the eggs until shiny and stiff

* in a small pot combine the remaining sugar and the water.

* heat over medium high flame to boiling. insert your candy thermometer and monitor until it reaches 245 - 250F.

* immediately take off the heat

* with the mixer on, slowly pour the hot syrup in the egg whites

* continue to beat until the temperature has gone down to room temp.

* begin dropping in the butter one cube at a time - beating well between each addition.

* the mixture will look really bad for a while - trust me keep beat it and it will all come together.

* scrape out the vanilla pods with the back of a knife and drop into the mixture, beat to combine.

* pipe onto your cakes!

Chicken Pot Pie

who can forget the stouffer brand frozen pot pies? growing up i ate like a hog. i would eat a frozen pot pie as an after school snack. a snack, that is before dinner. have you ever turned over one of those boxes? its horrifying and if memory serves me there is more that one serving to that ball of heart attack. no seriously its scary. i took a looksee at the official stouffer website and someone actually left a comment on the pot pies asking the company to include and addition packet of gravy to go along with the frozen pie so that they could pour it on after it was cooked. yikes! more gravy? is the 83% of your daily value of saturated fat not enough? yeah maybe you are right lets try and top the 100% mark, get it all done with in one meal. don't be a gravy topper people, its just not worth your heath.

so needless to say; josh loves a pot pie. that request probably came from him. but there was no way he will ever live to see me pop a frozen pot pie in the microwave. or cook anything in a microwave for that matter. so i scrounged around and found an ina garten recipe that looks pretty darned good and set out to tweak it for my use. in other words - lighten it up.

it a favorite around this tiny apartment, not so much with me - but josh literally lights up when i mention pot pies. the secret is the crust. the secret is always the crust. i hate saying it because you always here it and it just mounds a huge "pressure to preform" on the cook, but really - don't screw up the crust!

CHICKEN POT PIE

Filling:

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast

olive oil

salt and pepper

2 1/2c chicken stock

1 chicken bouillon cube

6 tbs butter

1c chopped onion

6 tbs flour

4 tbs whole milk

1c diced carrots

5 oz frozen peas

1c pearl onion

1/4c minced fresh parsley

*preheat oven to 350 F

* rub chicken with oil and season with salt and pepper

* cook for 30-35 minutes, just to cooked thru

* let cool then cut into 1/2" dice

* in a large pot melt butter

* add onions and cook to tender, about 10-15 minutes

* add flour, stir constantly for 2 minutes

* add in heated stock and bouillon, simmer for 1 minute

* add 2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper and milk, stir to combine

* add chicken, carrots, peas and parsley

* spoon into your "pie pan" of choice. i use 12 oz ramekins

Crust:

1 1/2c flour

3/4 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 c shortening

1/4 c cold butter, cubed

1/3 c ice cold water

*mix all the dry ingredients

*cut in the shortening and the butter with your hands

* add in the water and stir just to combine - do not over stir! you do not want to develop the gluten.

* form into a ball, wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes

* remove from frig and roll out

* place over your "pie pan".

* beat on egg with 1 tbs water - brush all over your prepared dough

* sprinkle w/ salt and pepper

*bake the whole thing in a preheated 375 F oven for 1 hour, the insides will bubble and most likely ooze out. let cool a few minutes before attempting to nosh.

Ginger Snaps

if you look up ginger in the thesaurus you are given the synonym "sparkle". oh sparkle! of-course who wouldn't put the two together?

synesthesia is a condition in humans where our senses are literally crossed. so you can hear colors or smell words. strange yes, but it is believed that when we are born our senses are all crossed. over time we learn to separate and classify our experiences into the 5 basics we learn. psychedelic, yes but that alone proves to me that this crossing is possible in all of us and that we all subconsciously understand this mishmash of senses.

eat a slice of ginger, fresh or crystalized, and tell me what you feel. i bet its sparkly. who doesn't want to be sparkly? i do.

think about fireworks, just about as sparkly as you can get. the burst of twinkly perfectly engineered symmetrical balls of colored flame shoot through the sky. all your attention is focused on what is unfolding before you and you ease into it just in time to see the glittery leftovers fall.

yeah, ginger is sparkly - not sparkle, that's completely different. since i can't leave anything well enough alone, i dipped these guys in a pool of turbinado before putting them in the oven to give it some extra jazz, aka make them sparkly! i like my snaps extra snappy so i cook then a tad long and cut a bit thin.

GINGER SNAPS

2c flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground clove

5.5 oz unsalted butter, soft

2/3c sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4c cain syrup (i only use STEEN'S)

1 egg

* combine all dry ingredient, whisk to make sure evenly mixed

* in separate bowl cream the butter to light and fluffy

* add sugar to the butter, beat until smooth and creamy

* beat in egg, cain syrup and vanilla

* gradually mix in the flour mixture. mix to combine.

*roll into a log and chill for 2 hours.

* preheat oven to 350 F

* cut the chilled, stiff log of dough into 1/8" to 1/4" thick rounds.

* smash one face of the round into a plate filled with turbinado, put cookie sugar side down on a lined baking sheet.

* cook for 10-13 minutes, depending on your required snappyness level.

'THE' CORNBREAD

cornbread - when done correctly - is god's gift to cheap people. i am a cheap person. well most of the time. anyways cornbread; its crumbly, takes over your mouth, then melts away into a tasty cloud-like texture. Is it cake or bread? i don;t know. but it can be used for anything.

everyone has their favorite use. mine happens to be for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. try it and tell me its not awesome, my father likes to drown his in honey for an after dinner snack, josh likes to eat his anytime after 2am with whipped honey butter slathered on top, my mom dissolves her in soups, my grandfather mashed his up with a wedge of cheddar cheese, a few spoons of molasses and a pool of milk (just a touch of the south there). yum. its quintessential soul food and we all know about soul food.

growing up (and i believe even to this day) my mom had a special cast iron pan that was sectioned off into equally sized wedges. pour the batter in, pop in the oven and 20 minutes later you have 8 perfectly sized servings waiting for their butter therapy. they beg for greedy hands to grab onto one of those triangles of gluttonous opportunity. my mother's kitchen, unlike my miniaturized one, had storage for such specialty items like that, mine: no way. I have to have at least 3 uses for an object to justify letting it take up real estate in my kitchen.

so i made chicken chili the other night - and really there is no other option but cornbread. really, i dare you to name an accompaniment that compliments chili any better, or even equally. don't even think of saying rice. just no. so i am going to share with you my cornbread recipe. only because when cornbread isn't done correctly its worthless; how something can be gritty, gooey and dry all at the same time is beyond me, but i happens. this took me somewhere around 6 years to get right and this is THE cornbread recipe. no more no less - don't experiment. if you do i will not be held responsible. broccoli is especially banned. sorry.

CORNBREAD

1c all-purpose flour

1c cornmeal

1/4c + 1tbs sugar

1 tbs baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4c shortening (crisco works well), softened at room temp

1 c milk

1 egg

* preheat oven to 425 F

* combine all the dry ingredients : flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt

* cut in the shortening with your hands to a fine crumble. similar to pie crust, but finer and more even.

* in a separate bowl whisk together the milk and egg.

* quickly add the milk mixture to the flour mixture. mixing only enough to combine. it will be a bit lumpy.

* pour into a greased 9 x 9 square pan.

* cook 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

* cut and serve

ROSE SCENTED & CHOCOLATE CARAMEL MACARONS

i spend a year of college at the virginia tech satellite architecture school in D.C.. which is where i met my friend wayne. he was unfortunate enough to share a tiny little room with me, a phish following guy (you see where i'm pointing to) and four large drafting tables. unfortunate because, well i tend to be a little "crafty" sometimes. by crafty i mean i come up with a half baked idea to create something, proceed to do zero research on how to make it happen, use my limited knowledge on material and just get to work - and usually when things go haywire i seem to think that if you just let it sit for a few hours by itself, when you come back it will be exactly how i planned it to be. hm. yeah that doesn't work - ever, unless its a relationship - then it works.

poor wayne constantly had precious desk space taken up by collaged chipboard models that were held together by much to delicate threads, or soaked in paint thinner, or covered in loose graphite - you name it i've tried it. he would come in at 3am to find me kneeling on my drafting table hovering over my drawings trying to figure out what line i just drew, messed up or needed to erase. not to mention i ate sardines for dinner almost every night at that time (it was college!) so inedibly i would come back to our little one room sweat shop smelling like dead fish. he was too well behaved to ever said anything, but i know he smelled me and my rotten sea.

his favorite recollection is when i emptied a gallon of elmer's glue that i found laying around the building (don't ask, its architecture) onto about 50 plastic coke rings ( yet another story) then laid a large sheet of cracked plexi on top of that. lets just pause for a moment and think about that - a gallon of elemer's glue on a drafting table - ok. so, like usual i left the premises and went to have a few drinks and maybe some dinner.

enter wayne after his lovely dinner, ready to get back to work on his thesis. the glue as you would image has spilled over the edges of the table onto the carpeted floor of our room. the plexi has slide off to some other location and the plastic coke rings, i don't know what they were doing but there were 50 of them. yeah, mind you my desk is in the doorway of this tiny room. one has to deal with whatever situation is happening on my desk to get to your own, there is no way around it.

enter the cleaning lady (who disliked me for obvious reasons). needles to say, wayne got the brunt of some serious spanish cursings. so being the good friend he is, he calls me, leaves a remarkably calm message - and what was my reply? i believe my exact words were "don't touch it, ill take care of it when i get back - it should be fine in a few hours" ha!! not fine, but he gave it an ok and somehow got to work next to the elemer's eruption.

i threw the whole thing in the trash when i finally did get back. surely the cleaning lady enjoyed emptying that bag.

so wayne's 30th birthday party is tonight and i figured i own him. so i made these macarons to bring to the party. i am a bit unhappy about the rose scented filling - it was way too thin. but i hate white chocolate - laothe it - so it doesn't surprise me that this little rondevou didn't work out exactly as i want it to. but otherwise these guys are delish.

ROSE SCENTED MACARONS

1c powdered sugar

1/2c almond flour

2 egg white - at room temp, aged a day or to in the frig

5 tbs sugar

* preheat oven to 375 F

* in a food processor pulse the powdered sugar and the almond flour a few times to make sure the texture is consistent

* with an electric mixer beat the egg white until they begin to hold shape.

* add the 5tbs sugar and continue to beat until shiny and stiff

* gently but thoroughly fold in the sugar/almond flour mixture

* put into your piper of choice and pipe out a 1" round only a parchment lined baking sheet.

* let the batter rest for about 30 minutes, then place in the oven.

* cook for 15-18 minutes.

ROSE SCENTED FILLING

4oz white chocolate, chopped

1/4c heavy cream

2 tsp rose syrup

1/2 tsp rose water

*heat the cream on stove until it begins to boil

* take off heat and add chocolate, let sit for a minute then stir to combine

* add the rose syrup and water, stiring to combine.

* keep in frig to set and use to fill the cookies

CHOCOLATE CARAMEL MACARONS

1c powdered sugar

1/2c almond flour

3 tbs dutch cocoa powder

2 egg whites, aged for a day or two in the frig

5 tbs sugar

*the process is the same as above but when you pulse the sugar and almond flour add in the cocoa

CARAMEL FILLING

2 tbs corn syrup

1 1/2c sugar

1/4c water

1/2c heavy cream

3 tbs unsalted butter

1/2 tsp ground sea salt

* add corn syrup, sugar and water to saucepan. stir to combine and turn the heat to medium-high.

*let the sugar mixture bowl - do not stir - until it reached a nice amber color. occasionally swirl the pot to make sure the coloring is even.

* meanwhile heat the cream and salt to almost boiling.

*once the sugar has reached the color you desire - take off heat and carefully pour in the cream.

* whisk to combine over low heat to make sure it is an even consistency.

* take off heat and whisk in the butter.

*set aside to cool completely before using as your filling.

PEAR WALNUT CRUMBLE MUFFIN

josh, if left to himself would eat coco-puffs for breakfast. i kid you not, ok maybe he would settle with some cinnamon toast crunch. both of which have basically no nutritional value. how can someone start their day with that? so every now and again i venture and make him some muffins for saturday morning breakfast. and when i do i try my hardest to cram as much fresh fruit and nuts in these little guys as possible. its one of my only chances to get fruit into his diet.

like banana bread you should opt for very ripe bananas for the maximum sweetness and taste - same with the pears. who wants to bite into a unripe pear? yick! pears should not have the same consistency as apples people! go for the ones that are more like a peach - a ripe one of-course. enough of my preaching... eat ya breakfast!

PEAR WALNUT CRUMBLE MUFFINS

1 pear, finely diced

3 tbs brown sugar

3 tbs sugar

3 tbs vegetable oil

1 banana, mashed

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbs milk

1c flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp ginger

1/8 tsp salt

1/3 c chopped walnuts

* preheat oven to 350 F and line muffin pan

*toss the pear, brown sugar and regular sugar together to coat

* beat together the mashed banana, oil, vanilla, milk and egg

* sift together in a separate bowl the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt

* slowly add the flour mixture to the banana mixture. stir just to combine.

* fold in the pears and walnuts

* spoon into your prepared muffin pan.

* make crumble:

CRUMBLE

2 1/2 tbs brown sugar

3 tbs chopped walnuts

2 tbs flour

1 tbs cold butter, cubed

1/2 tsp cinnamon

*combine sugar, walnuts, flour and cinnamon

*with your hands cut in the butter into the walnut mixture. mix until it has a nice evenly crumbly texture.

* spoon even amount on top of your muffin batter filled pan

* cook muffins for 25 minutes.

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES W/ DULCE DE LECHE ICING

ok do not feel bad if you aren't really sure what dulce de leche is. honestly? to this day i just think of the jeans - i mean come on! i do work in the fashion industry - of-course that doesn't really help since they aren't spelled the same. yeah anyways it is has nothing to do with fancy shoes and handbags. dulce de leche is south american and translates to "milk candy". so with a translation like that its a bit obvious what this is panning out to be. yes it is sugary milk boiled down over a long period of time until its dark, gooey and scrumpish. I made my own - which i will try and post one day - but you can buy yours anywhere and i am sure it will be just perfect.

speaking of making the stuff. i came up with this little ditty as a result of ruining my second batch of this goo. josh's sister is coming in town for the weekend and so i was planning to make alfajores (kinda a south american answer to moon pies) for weekend treats. but when i made my extra batch - wanting them to be extra thick to hold up between two cookies - well i neglected it and yes burned it! so i was left with my first batch which was thinner, hmmm seems like it needed a new home foster home along side some butter and sugar. so here's to it - delish. does the icing "design" look a little like a cow pattie to you? just a thought.

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

1c flour

1c sugar

1/4c + 2tbs good quality cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2c buttermilk

1/4c vegetable oil

1 extra large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2c fresh brewed coffee

*preheat oven to 350 F and line a muffin pan

* sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, soda, baking powder and salt. mix to combine

* in a separate bowl beat the buttermilk, oil, egg and vanilla with an electric mixer to combine

* with the mixer on slowly add in the flour mixture

* once all of the flour is incorporated add in your coffee. stir to combine

* spoon into your lined muffin tins

* bake for 20 minutes until toothpick comes out clean

DULCE DE LECHE ICING

3oz butter, melted and cooled

8oz powdered sugar

3 tbs dulce de leche

1-2 tbs water or milk

1 tsp vanilla

*melt butter, pour into your mixing bowl and let cool to room temperature

*beat in sugar slowly until the combination looks a little crumbly

*add in a little of the water and dulce de leche, beat to combine then add more sugar

*repeat until all the sugar is used and it is the consistency you desire.

DAD'S ROAST CHICKEN & GRAVY

growing up my mom did most of the cooking. There was lots of gumbo, spaghetti and baked chicken with a little twist of the exotic like tongue and blackbirds thrown in the mix every now and again. I am not misspelling; my grandparents (mom’s side) are small rural farmers and so we get these Louisiana delicacies fairly regularly. I’m getting away from the real point.

like every family, once in a while something briefly aligns in the universe and the father is left to provide dinner for the family. so this happened to my father one faithful day when I was a little girl. To this day we aren’t really sure what he did but from what we can all gather he took a large bag of chicken wings and proceeded to bake them in a stew of sweet grapes. chicken wings as you all know can only be eaten with your hands. And grapes as we all know tend to cook down to not much more than sticky sweet syrup. Hm. what came after he put that casserole dish of chicken wings down on the dinner table was like a paper napkin genocide. you pick one of the juicy little wings up nosh on it a few seconds and have an undeniable need to wipe your fingers clean – immediately. but the problem is that you have something very close to a grease laced sap on your hands and the napkin plys stay with you even after you thought you were done with it. It was a environmentalist’s nightmare. mounds and mounds of shredded dirty napkins were shrewd over the table and we held our hands up in the air like a doctor, freshly prepped for surgery. you couldn’t touch anything but another napkin – or another piece of chicken until you just gave up. I don’t recall any side dishes with that meal, not that it would matter.

we fondly called this sticky sweet chicken creation “sticky chicken”. How my brother and I loved sticky chicken! We requested it all the time even in front of confused guests. It was exotic to us, but blackbirds were a standard.
this recipe is not sticky chicken only my father knows that recipe, but it is a recipe for baked chicken and gravy, my father’s favorite of mine. so I guess the tables have turned on us. seems every time I go home for a visit he requests I make this, or drops a hint which is more his style.
here’s to sticky chicken!

ROAST CHICKEN & GRAVY

6-7lbs whole chicken

1 lemon, cut in half

1 whole clove garlic, cut in half crosswise

1 large bunch fresh thyme

1 medium yellow onion, cut into quarters

4tbs unsalted butter, melted

kosher salt & fresh cracked pepper

*Preheat oven to 425 F

*remove innards from the cavity of the chicken & remove access fat. rinse whole chicken under the sink. Pat dry with paper towels and place on your roasting rack and tray.

*season cavity with salt and pepper. stuff in the lemon halves, thyme and garlic halves.

* tuck the wings under and tie the legs together with twine.

* brush melted butter all over the chicken and season with plenty of salt and pepper.

* lay onions in pan around the chicken

* bake in preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours or until thermometer reads its done.

* take chicken out of oven, remove chicken and its rack burnt onions (they always turn to coal on me).

*make gravy:

GRAVY

2 tbs flour

1cup chicken stock

*drain all but two tbs of the fat that is left in the pan

* put your roasting pan over medium heat on stove top

* with a wooden spoon mix in flour with the fat, cook stirring constantly for 1 minute

* whisk in stock, deglazing the pan at the same time.

* simmer on low until you are ready to serve or the gravy is becoming thick.