Pesto and Mozz Aebleskivers! (win an Aebleskiver package)

Print Print   |  Print Email this to a friend   |  September 30, 2009
Filed Under giveaway!, recipe, what I made for dinner! | 224 Comments

Nearly a year ago I made my first aebleskiver, thanks to the good folks at Aunt Else’s who introduced me to this fabulous culinary orb at the Mill City Farmer’s Market. They gave me a pan and a package of their mix and off I went. Now I make them with my sons on a regular basis. The boys love the process of cooking them almost as much as eating them. We’ve tried stuffing just about everything but the kitchen sink in the centers. Sometimes sweet, sometimes savory. Seriously, if you cook anything in the shape of a sphere my kids will eat anything at all. Although I don’t always stick to the Aunt Else’s mix, I have to say it is better than any of the batters I’ve come up with so far. It is made with local, organic, whole grain ingredients so I can’t feel too guilty about using it on occasion. I’m still looking for the perfect recipe.

Last night was the threat of our first frost, which means winter is on its way and my garden is seeing its final days. Stefan came over to do a big harvest, which was bittersweet. I got such a gorgeous bounty, but it was one of the last. I will miss picking fresh veggies from my backyard farm. I dread going to the grocery store to buy things that I have picked for myself all summer. One of the plants in grave danger of being destroyed by the cold was the basil. I have LOTS of basil and in one cold snap it could all die. That was the inspiration for my pesto and mozzarella stuffed aebleskivers. Not exactly traditional, but a match made in heaven!

To win an Aunt Else’s Aebleskiver package see the directions at the bottom of the post. Read more

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Plum Cupcakes with Sweet-Corn Ice Cream!

Print Print   |  Print Email this to a friend   |  June 9, 2009
Filed Under cake, frozen dessert, giveaway!, recipe | 32 Comments

My husband brought home corn last weekend from the market that was so sweet it just begged to be made into a dessert. But, that was not quite what he had in mind for this batch so we grilled it, peeled it, a small squeeze of lime juice and a sprinkle of salt. The lime brings out the sweetness even more. The following day I was back at the market and got more of the sweet corn and some early season plums that I suspected would be a bit tart. I figured the tart plums and the milky, honey like corn would be great companions.

Right away I knew that the corn would be turned to ice cream, with just a touch of vanilla and nothing more to distract from the delicate flavor. I baked the plums in a pound cake recipe that includes a touch of cornmeal. Not too much or it would be dense, but enough to give a hint of corn flavor and a nice texture. I left the skins on the plums because they were too gorgeous to remove and once they baked the skins were perfectly soft. We are weeks, if not months away from having these grow locally, but our neighbors to the south are kind enough to ship us their crops until then!

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Strawberries in Red Wine, keep it simple (but delicious) on Earth Day! (the last Le Creuset giveaway for Mother’s Day!)

Print Print   |  Print Email this to a friend   |  April 22, 2009
Filed Under Uncategorized, giveaway!, recipe | 109 Comments

Today is Earth Day and in an attempt to keep my “cookprint” to a minimum, I decided to make a simple, but crazy delicious dessert. Once again Lynne Rossetto Kasper is my inspiration. You see, my husband and I are planning a trip to Italy this summer with our boys. In an attempt to get ready for the journey we’ve been eating a lot of Italian food. I figure it is more important to understand the food than, let’s say, learn the language! ;) So I whipped up a batch of Lynne’s lasagna and then followed it with this incredibly easy and yet divine bowl of strawberries.

I’ve been reading on other food blogs about the perfect spring crop of fresh strawberries. Well, here in Minneapolis we finally have buds on the trees, but we’re a good while off before we are plucking fruits from the vine. In fact today is the day that the Backyard Harvest folks deliver the dirt for my Urban Farm. By June I’ll have my own organic garden, but until then…to the market I go. The strawberries I bought at the store were decent, but not yet at their full potential. To maximize their flavor I macerated them in red wine and a touch of sugar. A little chiffonade of mint and they were bright and summery.

Keep reading to find out about the last Le Creuset giveaway!

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Springtime Flower Cake for Kathy (Le Creuset Giveaway)

Print Print   |  Print Email this to a friend   |  April 6, 2009
Filed Under cake, giveaway!, recipe | 171 Comments

This weekend was my neighbor’s birthday. Her husband asked me to bake her a decadent chocolate cake and decorate it with “Spring Flowers.” Here in MN it isn’t exactly bursting with flora yet. In fact, as I was working on the cake it started to snow. But Easter is right around the corner and the tulips and rhubarb are promising to come out of the ground soon. We hold our breath and hope for a greener time, soon. Her cake, like Kathy herself, had to be over the top and fantastic! I wanted it to be bright and full of life to compensate for the snow!

The chocolate layers were made up of Devil’s Food, Chocolate Pastry Cream, Bittersweet Ganache, White Chocolate Buttercream and the flowers were made from gum paste.

Happy Birthday Kathy!

Last week I was in such a rush to get my Daring Baker Challenge done in time that I forgot to give away another Le Creuset Stoneware Heart Ramekin with Cover, Red. This week I will give away 2 to make up for it. Just leave me a note below and tell me what you are making for Passover*, Easter** or whatever you are craving now that it is spring. I will pick 2 random winners next week.

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The Absolute Best Coconut “Haystack” Macaroons (3 desserts for Passover and another Le Creuset Giveaway!)

Print Print   |  Print Email this to a friend   |  March 25, 2009
Filed Under cookies, giveaway!, recipe | 92 Comments

Passover is coming up soon and there are a few desserts that are ubiquitous for this holiday. Coconut macaroons, “fruit slices” and caramel covered matzo are my favorites. All of them can be found wrapped tight in the “kosher” section of the grocery stores, usually sealed to sit there for months, if not years. When you peal the plastic off you are left with overly sweet, dense and utterly flavorless versions of these wonderful treats. So I make my own! None of them are particularly complicated and after making them yourself you will be forever ruined to the Manischewitz versions.

In this post you will find my recipe for Coconut “Haystack” Macaroons, plus links to three different Fruit Jellies and Read more

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Chicken Pot Pie with Home Made Puff Pastry (and a LE CREUSET Giveaway!)

Print Print   |  Print Email this to a friend   |  March 18, 2009
Filed Under giveaway!, recipe, what I made for dinner! | 243 Comments

There are very few things that say comfort food like a chicken pot pie. I go for the classic combination with  chicken, peas, carrots and a parsnip for flare, in a rich creamy white sauce that is made with fresh thyme and parsley. The whole thing is draped in a crust of homemade puff pastry. It is this last detail that transforms this bastion of Americana into something utterly sublime. The mille feuilles (thousand leaves) of pastry are baked as a golden brown crown that adds the flaky contrast to the creamy stew below. Seriously folks, it got me mother of the year status in my house! ;)

Puff pastry is the ultimate dough in any home or professional kitchen. One that is not at all difficult to make, but it requires some of your time and a bit of your patience. The store bought version may be convenient but it will leave you feeling lackluster, while the home made dough will make you weep. In order to get the flaky puff that gives this dough its name, you must diligently “laminate” layers of dough with layers of butter, about one thousand in all. It is the butter that create steam as the dough bakes, which causes all the layers to separate into a flaky crust. Once you work with and taste the pastry you will understand why it is worth every moment that goes into its preparation. I make a batch that will easily prepare pot pie for dinner, a napoleon for dessert and flaky caramelized palmier to dip into my morning coffee. Or, the dough can be frozen for a month. Read more

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Candied Pink Grapefruit! + The Aebleskiver Winner!

Print Print   |  Print Email this to a friend   |  December 19, 2008
Filed Under dessert, giveaway!, recipe | 35 Comments

Wow, thank you all for such a wonderful response to the Aebleskivers post. I was not the only one who’d never heard of these fabulous little pastry orbs, but most of you had! I was struck by how many stories there were of people eating them as children and in particular from Solvang, California.  A destination to be added to my travel plans.

Thanks also to the folks at Aunt Else’s Aebleskivers for sharing this fantastic prize with us. So many of you were interested in their cast iron Aebleskiver pan that they have generously reduced the price for all of you who did not win this time. Check out their website for details. Now the lucky winner of the Aunt Else’s Aebleskiver mix and pan is Jane! She said the pan has been on her wish list for years and no one has ever gotten it for her. This is your lucky year! Enjoy.

This time of year you find many recipes that call for candied fruits. Read more

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Aunt Else’s Aebleskiver Giveaway! (My Baker’s Christmas Wish List continues!)

Print Print   |  Print Email this to a friend   |  December 12, 2008
Filed Under equipment, giveaway!, kids | 261 Comments

This fall I met Chad and his partners at the Mill City Farmer’s Market in Minneapolis. My co-author and I did a bread presentation from our book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. When I came off the stage, there was Chad and these funny round pans which were filled with little cakey spheres. I’m not sure what pastry rock I have been living under, but this site was completely foreign to me. I had to run off to do a wedding cake that day so I couldn’t stay to see Chad’s explanation or try one of these donut/dumpling/cake/crepe like creations.  The following week I went back to find him and his spheres and this is what I learned:

Plus, enter to win… Read more

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Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake with Sugared Cranberries! (The Apron Winner is…)

Print Print   |  Print Email this to a friend   |  November 10, 2008
Filed Under basic, cake, giveaway!, kids, recipe | 45 Comments

This past week I taught several classes on bread baking. We made breads from my book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day that fit the cooling weather, like oatmeal pumpkin bread. The recipe calls for a roasted “pie” pumpkin, but only uses 1 cup of it. I promised all the wonderful people in my class that I would come up with a way to use the rest of that pumpkin puree and share it here. Every year at this time I make a Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake, in fact I make a few of them, by demand. It tastes like the richest, creamiest pumpkin pie you will ever eat. Even people who swear they don’t like pumpkin love this cheesecake.

I topped it with some beautiful red fruits, including sugared cranberries. The tartness combined with the crisp sugar coating is a perfect compliment to the smoothness of the cake. Keep reading and I’ll show you how.

Before I make the cheesecake I want to THANK YOU all for the fantastic well wishes during this eventful month! The winner of the Zoë bakes apron by Crooked Brook is… Read more

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Happy Blog-iversary Cake (and a “Thank You” Apron Giveaway!)

Print Print   |  Print Email this to a friend   |  November 2, 2008
Filed Under cake, equipment, giveaway! | 124 Comments

This month I am celebrating so many things I felt it necessary to make myself a cake and have a party, with you! As you all know by now it is my blog-iversary, but it is also my birthday in a couple of weeks, the first anniversary of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (75,000 in print, oh my!), the election is FINALLY here and this just happens to be my 100th post! To say the least November is a BIG month for me!

The very talented and generous folks at Crooked Brook, where I get all of my chef jackets, sent me a wonderful apron (see picture below) to give away! Leave a comment and I’ll pick the winner next Sunday and send it off, just in time for Thanksgiving! Read more

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Foodbuzz 2009 Blog Awards Nominee

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