Nanaimo Bars, eh!

September 3, 2009 | Posted by Lorraine as Cookie Recipes, Cozy Comfort Food Recipes at 12:13 pm | Comments »

Nanaimo Bars

Because I love my oven, I’m not really one for “no-bake” treats- but, let me tell you, these bars made me a believer. They’re called Nanaimo Bars, named for the City of Nanaimo in Canada, where they were invented by a local housewife who joined- and won- a recipe contest.

A Nanaimo Bar is, essentially, a bar cookie with a cookie-crumb base topped with a custard filling, and a layer of chocolate. If it sounds simple, that’s because it is. It is also really, really delicious- kind of like a candy bar in a bar cookie. There are many varieties of Nanaimo Bars, and many fans (there’s even a Facebook Fan Page!)

Want to make ‘em yourself? Here’s a classic Nanaimo Bar recipe:

Nanaimo Bar Recipe, eh!

Ingredients

CRUST:
1 stick unsalted butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 whole egg, beaten
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (or digestives)
1 cup flaked coconut (optional! Omit if you hate coconut)
CUSTARD:
1 stick unsalted butter
3 tablespoons heavy cream
2 tablespoons custard powder (I heart Bird’s Eye, but feel free to use Vanilla Pudding powder as well)
2 cups powdered sugar

CHOCOLATE LAYER:
4 squares semisweet chocolate (1 oz. each) OR bittersweet chocolate
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Make the CRUST:
In a medium saucepan over LOW heat, melt together the butter, sugar and cocoa powder. Slowly (you don’t want to cook the egg here) add the beaten egg, whisking all the time, cooking over a LOW flame until it thickens. Remove from heat, and stir in cookie crumbs and coconut. Press this into an ungreased 8″ x 8″ square baking pan, and set aside.

Make the CUSTARD:
In a large bowl, cream butter, cream, custard powder, and powdered sugar together until incorporated. Beat until light. Spread over the cookie crust.

Make the CHOCOLATE LAYER:
In a medium saucepan over LOW heat, melt chocolate and butter. Remove from heat. Once cool, but still liquid, pour over the custard layer.

Cover and refrigerate. Then slice into squares, and… mmm.

Quick and Comforting Churros

May 25, 2009 | Posted by Lorraine as Cozy Comfort Food Recipes, Quick Meal Ideas, Recipe at 12:20 pm | (1) Comment »

cinnamonchurros
It’s no secret that, as a semi-professional baker, I don’t mind spending hours in the kitchen experimenting with all sorts of sweet treats. From perfecting a plain cheesecake to developing sugar-free desserts, I never shy away from long, sometimes tedious recipes.

Once in a while, though, I just want something good and sweet and quick, something that’ll make the house smell like cinnamon, and be heavenly with a cup of coffee. These churros are just that. Fried batter rolled in sugar- how much simpler can you get?

Yes, you have to deep-fry them. If you have a deep fryer, all the better, but I’ve never needed one, and I swear that these churros are easy to make- as long as you’re careful, and take the usual precautions when deep frying.

Cinnamon Churros

A cup of water
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 whole eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

First, mix the white sugar and cinnamon in a dish. Set this aside. Then, start your oil: in a deep frying pan, heat about two inches of oil to 375 degrees.

In a separate pan, mix together the water, brown sugar, salt and butter, and bring to a boil- you want everything melted, but watch it, you’re not making caramel here. Turn off the heat, and add the flour, stirring it well into the mixture. Add the eggs and vanilla, making sure not to cook the eggs (add them slowly), and stirring well until good and blended.

Prepare a piping bag with a large star tip (or a sturdy freezer bag with one of the corners cut off). This is how you’ll pipe your churros- place your batter into it now. When your oil is hot enough, pipe some of the dough into it, around four to five inches long. Be careful not to burn yourself.

Now work quickly. You should be able to do four or five churros at once- they only need around two minutes in the oil… remove them when they’re golden brown to a plate covered with paper towels. While they’re still warm, roll them in the cinnamon sugar mixture until well coated.

Serve immediately with some good hot chocolate (the thicker the better), or a cup of dark-roast coffee.

Mmm… Adobo

February 24, 2009 | Posted by Lorraine as Cozy Comfort Food Recipes, Quick Meal Ideas, Recipe, Something Salty at 1:36 pm | (1) Comment »

adobo, originally uploaded by spo0on.

Got some chicken or pork? Some garlic? Vinegar? Then you can make adobo. Yes, that’s all you need.

Adobo is the Philippines’ national dish. Nearly anything can be “adobo-ed”- from chicken to pork (or, in most cases, chicken and pork), to squid, to spinach leaves.

The beauty of adobo is that you can go completely minimalist (as I described above), or add a lot of things to it, and still have a hearty, hot, absolutely awesome meal. Got a few peppers left from last week’s chili? Chop them up, add them in, and your adobo becomes spicy (and, dareisay, even better with rice). Have an open can of coconut milk in your fridge? Make it adobo sa gata, creamy and delicious. Or splash about a half-cup of light soy sauce (Chinese or Japanese- they’ll both be delicious) in, and make a darker adobo.

I’m not just saying that, either: this is how we eat in our house. Sure, we’ll have pasta or steaks or stir-fries, but at least once a week, probably twice or more, we have adobo. It’s just the easiest thing: put your meats, vinegar, garlic (lots of garlic, don’t be shy here), salt and pepper in a large pot, bring it to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer it until you can’t smell the sharpness of the vinegar. Serve with plain rice.

Cookbook Review: Back of the Box Gourmet

February 9, 2009 | Posted by Lorraine as Cake Recipes, Cookbooks, Cozy Comfort Food Recipes at 1:00 pm | Comments »

Nostalgia never goes out of style- especially in the kitchen. Who of us doesn’t crave the food we were brought up with- whether we got it from our moms, our grandmothers, or our family cooks?

And that’s the “why” behind the cookbook Back of the Box Gourmet, an absolute gem of a book I was lucky enough to pick up at a used books sale recently. “Back of the box” refers, of course, to the recipes that “have appeared on the backs of boxes, bottles, and packages”- yes, the very same recipes our moms and grandmothers and family cooks reached for when wondering what to make for dinner. From original Toll House Cookies, to Fluffer-Nutter Sandwiches, to Lipton Onion Burgers- these are American “classics” that don’t pretend to be fancy, and frankly don’t need to be.

On a particularly lazy afternoon last week, I tried out one of the recipes in the book: the Original Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake, which was first created by the wife of a Hellmann’s Mayonnaise sales distributor in 1937. Not quite as exotic as it sounds, the mayonnaise here replaces any eggs, oil and salt one would usually use in a chocolate cake recipe. The lemon juice in mayonnaise also adds tenderness to the cake- much as buttermilk (or the old buttermilk-replacement standby of milk and lemon juice!) would. The resulting cake? Deliciously moist, and extremely pleasing- especially because of the added dates and walnuts. I share the recipe with you here:

Original Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup boiling water

1 cup coarsely chopped dates

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1 cup sugar

1 cup real mayonnaise (please use Hellmann’s or Best Foods)

6 tablespoons grated unsweetened chocolate (I used regular baking chocolate, but you could use a bittersweet bar and remove part of the sugar)

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups unsifted cake flour

Grease and flour a 9×9x2-inch baking pan. In a small bowl, stir baking soda and boiling water together until dissolved. Stir in dates and nuts. In a large bowl with mixer on low speed, beat sugar and mayonnaise together until well mixed. Add grated chocolate and vanilla; beat until blended. Add date mixture; beat. Gradually beat in flour until smooth. Turn into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan.

Perhaps my favorite thing about this cookbook, though, is author Michael McLaughlin’s “Gilding the Lily” notes at the end of each recipe. In them, he suggests additions or changes to the recipes. For the HERSHEY’S Hot Fudge Sauce, for example, he suggests stirring in 2 or 3 tablespoons of Grand Marnier, dark rum, or Kahlua, into the finished sauce. Yum.

Back of the Box Gourmet is available at Amazon.

Super Bowls of Awesomeness

February 2, 2009 | Posted by Lorraine as Cozy Comfort Food Recipes, Snack Recipes at 4:26 pm | (1) Comment »

Superbowl Sunday is over! Do you know where your chicken wings are?

Chances are, the answer is in your tummy- along with other traditional Superbowl goodies. Every year, American food bloggers start posting some of the most sinfully delicious recipes in the days leading up to the Superbowl. This year was no different- from spicy Buffalo wings to pico de gallo, from jazzed up onion dips to cheese balls that make you go weak at the knees, the best thing about Superbowl recipes is that they’re actually great all year round. Here, a round-up of my favorites this year:

Chicken Wings
Can you have Superbowl without wings? Ree Drummond over at The Pioneer Woman Cooks posted a link to her classic Wings recipe, which I’ve made several times and love fiercely. For something a little different, check out Priscilla’s Tempura Chicken Wings, which use a sweet soy marinade instead of the usual hot sauce.

Chili
A bowl of Chili is, for me, one of the greatest comfort foods around. This year, Style Slacker’s Chipotle Chocolate Gourmet Chili had my mouth watering just reading the recipe. And because I’m trying to cut down on my meat consumption, I’m loving the Adventurous Vegan’s recipe for Big Paul’s Chili – because yes, Vegans can have fun in the kitchen too.

More Finger Food
Forget the forks and knives, and grab these:
Ed Levine’s Bacon-Cheddar Popcorn – truly inspired. Must. eat. this.
Simply Recipes’ Chicharrones de Pollo - yes, chicken again, but little fried bits of heaven? Yes, please.
And again from the Pioneer Woman, Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies – made with just three ingredients, and seriously addictive.

Sweet Stuff
Slashfood linked to Nigella’s (yes, there’s only one Nigella) Peanut Butter Squares as a Superbowl treat, but really- couldn’t you eat these every day? The same could be said of The Bumbling Baker’s Guinness Cupcakes, which she initially made for St. Patrick’s Day, but are perfect for Superbowl (hello, they’ve got beer in them!) or, like I said, any day.

So there you have it: my favorite Superbowl recipes, to be enjoyed after the Superbowl- because they’re that awesome.

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