Speedy Rosemary Sugar Cookies

I read this recipe by Sally's Baking Addiction for sugar cookies, and decided to make something very similar for my mother, who is a rosemary aficionado.  The cookies are super soft, smell strongly of rosemary, and are just fine without any topping-- though I think they're much prettier with the icing.
My take on the recipe takes less time than Sally's, because I skip the long chilling of the dough.  But do bear in mind that my kitchen is freezing-- if you are in a warmer house, you may want to chill the dough for an hour or so before baking the cookies, to avoid excessive spreading.





Ingredients:

For cookies:

♕1 stick / 115g unsalted butter at room temperature
♕3/4 cup / 220g white sugar
♕1 egg
♕1 tsp / 5mL vanilla extract
♕1 Tbsp / 3g rosemary leaves
♕2 tsp / 3g baking powder
♕1 1/2 cups / 190g white flour

For frosting:

♕3/4 cup / 100g powdered sugar
♕2-5 tsp / 5-20mL milk
♕1 tsp / 5mL vanilla
♕2 tsp / 2g rosemary leaves
♕1/4 tsp / .5g dried lemon zest

Procedure:

♕Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
♕Beat butter until it is light and fluffy.
♕Cream sugar and butter, then stir in vanilla extract and egg.
♕Add rosemary leaves and stir until smooth.
♕In a separate bowl, combine baking powder, salt, and flour.
♕Mix dry and wet ingredients.
♕Roll dough into little columns, about half the size of your index finger, and about 1 inch/2cm diameter.
♕Place these dough columns far, far apart on the cookie sheets-- you'll end up with about 10 cookies per sheet.  The column shape makes the cookies tall and fluffy, not flat, as they spread out.
♕After rolling all of the dough, place the baking sheets in a cold place.  Fridge, freezer, or cold outdoors (covered, of course!)
♕Set oven to 350˚F / 180˚C.
♕Bake cookies for eight minutes.  They will be white when you take them out.
♕Let cool on sheets for about five minutes, then transfer to cooling rack.


Make the icing:
♕Combine powdered sugar, lemon zest, and rosemary.
♕Stir in vanilla extract, then add milk until everything is just smooth.
♕Immediately drizzle over cooled cookies and let harden for seven minutes.
♕Serve!

Apple Cornbread

After reading this cornbread recipe, I very much wanted to make something similar.  I modified the ingredients slightly to fit what I had in my kitchen.
This cornbread has a pleasant smell and is just sweet enough to be a dessert.  I am very satisfied with the texture, which is crumbly without being mealy.

Ingredients:

♕125 g / 1 cup white flour
♕115 g / 1 cup corn meal
♕13 g / 3.5 t baking powder
♕6 g / 1 t salt
♕1 1/2 large apples, or 3 small ones
note: select apples that are good for baking.  Very crunchy as well as mealy apples tend to bake poorly, so if possible, select more sturdy types, such as Gala, Fuji, or Granny Smith.
♕85 g / 6 T unsalted butter
♕2 eggs
♕30g / 1.5 T wildflower honey
♕75 g / 0.3 cups + 1 T brown sugar
note: Turbinado or molasses-darkened sugar both work here
♕240 mL / 1 cup milk
♕Optional: generous handful mixed berries and/or raisins



Procedure:

♕Preheat oven to 205˚C / 400˚F
♕Chop apples into slices or rounds no thicker than 0.75cm / 0.3 inch.  Remove peels if they are rough.
♕In a bowl, stir together flour, corn meal, baking powder and salt.

♕Heat butter until it is still solid, but very soft.
♕Add in butter, honey, sugar, eggs, and milk to the bowl.
♕Mix until no clumps are present.
♕If using, stir in berries and raisins.
♕Oil a 30cm / 12 inch diameter round baking dish, such as a cake pan or cast iron skillet.
♕Place one third of the chopped apple slices on the bottom of the dish, and cover with one half of the batter.
♕Place another third of the apple slices atop of the batter, and then cover with the remaining mixture.
♕Place final third of apple slices on top of the batter.
♕Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a brown crust is present and the center does not jiggle.
♕Serve warm.

Walnut Scones

This is a recipe for simple walnut scones.  The dough can be very quickly assembled, and is not too sweet, but rather rich.  The scones kind of look like biscuits, but I'd like to think that their taste and smell make up for that discrepancy.  If you wish to make them look more dessert-like, you could sprinkle the dough with large-grain sugar, like turbinado, or cover in an icing (such as a glaze made from a few spoons of milk and half a cup of confectioner's sugar, with some lemon zest).
These can be served warm or cold, and the given proportions yield about 16 medium sized pieces.

Ingredients:
♕2 cups / 290g white flour
♕4T / 50g white sugar
♕0.5 t / 3g baking soda
♕0.5T / 5g baking powder
♕Dash salt
♕6T / 85g cold butter, cubed
♕1.25 cups + 1T / 250mL cream
♕0.5T / 5mL vanilla extract
♕0.5 cup / 60g walnuts, crushed into pieces 1cm or smaller

Procedure
♕Preheat oven to 425˚F / 220˚C.
♕In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients and combine well.
♕Add in butter cubes, and mix well either with a large wooden spoon or with very clean hands.
♕Gradually stir in cream and vanilla extract.  Stop mixing once dough becomes evenly moist.
♕Stir in walnut pieces.
♕Drop scones in circles on a parchment-covered baking sheet, or cut into triangle shapes.  Make scones approximately the size of a deck of cards.
♕Bake for 15 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through the process if you have poor convection.
note: you will probably have two batches of scones.

Curry-Fried Plantains

Plantains are the starchier, less sweet brothers of bananas.  They remind me of potatoes when I cook them, but more delicate.  This is a recipe for very spicy plantains-- if you find it to be too hot to eat as is, you can stir in a few spoonfuls of canned coconut milk upon taking off of the pan.  The addition of coconut milk will make the plantains more soft, less like a finger food.
Be careful!  You must be sure to add just enough coconut milk to coat the plantains, to avoid making a very unsavory soup

Ingredients:

♕15mL / 1 T coconut oil
♕Dash asafoetida/hing powder
♕5g / 2 t tumeric powder
♕5g / 2 t coriander powder
♕2g / 1 t cayenne pepper
♕5g / 2 t  cumin powder
♕2 plantains
♕12g / 1 T dark brown sugar
note: I refer here to the American brown sugar, which is white sugar mixed with molasses.  If you have none, you could either mix equal amounts of sugar and molasses together and add that, or simply use all white sugar.
♕Pinch salt

Procedure:

♕Melt oil in pan on medium-low heat.
♕Add all of the spices and stir until aromatic and a shade darker, from three to five minutes.
♕As the spices heat, peel and chop the plantain into circles 1cm / 0.5 inch thick.
♕Add the plantain to the oil in one layer, trying to avoid having the pieces touch.
♕Raise heat to medium-high.
♕Let sit uncovered for five minutes, until the bottoms have a crust.
♕Turn over the plantains and cook the other side for another three minutes.
♕Continue cooking and flipping until both sides of the plantain are nicely browned, and the plantain feels like an almost-ripe avocado to your spatula.
♕Sprinkle sugar and salt atop of the plantains and flip once more, turning off the heat.
♕Serve!

Gingerbread Cereal

This is a recipe for a gingerbread flavored granola cereal.  
Although I use coconut oil, one can easily substitute it with unsalted butter, grapeseed oil, or even vegetable oil.  If you use an unsaturated fat, you do not need to melt it.
The cereal is very crunchy when it is ready, although when it is removed from the oven it looks rather wet.  It is spicy-smelling, and would go great with sliced granny smith apple. 

Ingredients:

♕250g / 3 1/4 cups rolled oats, uncooked
♕90g / 1/3 cup coconut oil
♕100g / 1/3 cup dark molasses
♕20g / 1T clover honey
♕5g / 2t ginger powder
♕5mL / 1t vanilla extract
♕3g / 1t ground cloves
♕1g / 1/2t ground cardamom
♕200g / 1 1/2 cup raisins



Procedure:

♕Preheat oven to 350˚F / 180˚C.
♕Melt coconut oil.
♕Stir in molasses, honey, and spices.
♕Stir mixture into dry oats, and spread oats onto a baking sheet.
♕Bake for 20 minutes, stopping halfway to stir.
♕Let sit in a turned-off oven for 5-10 minutes, then mix in raisins and allow to cool completely.  The oats will get very crunchy after cooling.  If you want large clusters of oats to be present in your cereal, then have the mixture cool in clumps instead of as one layer, and do not mix it often.
♕Let cool completely, then place in a glass jar until ready to serve.

Orange and Walnut Shortbread Cookies

Shortbread cookies are rather simple to make.  This recipe has a subtle nutty aroma, and the sort of orange you select for zesting strongly influences the final result's smell.  If you have no turbinado sugar, you can easily substitute white sugar, but I also recommend adding a couple pinches of shaved dark chocolate to the batter.

Ingredients:

♕1/2 cup / 120g butter, unsalted, at room temperature.
♕190g / 1.5 cup white flour
♕1/4 cup / 55g turbinado sugar
♕10 walnut halves, ground
note: you want the largest pieces no larger than 3mm
♕zest of one small, aromatic orange
♕1 t / 3mL vanilla extract
♕Approximately 30 walnut halves
note: or more, depending on how thin and small you cut your cookies

Procedure:

♕Combine butter, zest, and sugar.
♕Mix in chopped walnuts flour, and vanilla and combine until dough is homogeneous.
♕Roll the dough into a tubelike shape and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
♕Preheat oven to 375˚F / 190˚C.
♕Cut the dough into thin cookie slices.
♕Top each cookie with a walnut half.
♕Bake for 20 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway if you have poor convection.
♕Allow to cool, and serve.

Healthy Chocolate Covered Fruit

In Russia, it is rather common to serve tea with small candies.  A popular sort of small candy is chocolate-covered dried fruit, stuffed with a nut.  This recipe recreates these candies, but while it is very tasty, it is also very ugly.  Do not let the appearance discourage you!
This procedure can be used as a guide for lots of different fruit and nut combinations.  My very favorite is prunes with toasted almonds.
The chocolate sauce can of course be substituted with simple melted chocolate.  The charm of the coconut-oil based coating is that it smells very strongly of coconut, and you control the amount and type of sugar as well as cacao powder.  If you do choose to use melted chocolate instead, know that the layer of chocolate on each fruit will be much thicker.
In such a simple recipe, quality must be high.  Use good chocolate, aromatic coconut oil, soft dry fruit, and toasted nuts for candies worth serving with tea.

Ingredients:

♕18 dried apricots, whole
♕18 walnut halves
♕3T / 50g extra virgin coconut oil
♕3T / 25g cacao powder
♕2T / 25g sugar

Procedure:

♕Melt the oil and sugar.  Stir in the cacao powder, making sure to avoid clumps.
♕In each apricot, make a long slice, so that the apricot becomes a pocket.
♕Place one nut in each apricot.
♕Dip apricots in to the chocolate mixture, and place on a piece of parchment paper.
♕Move to a cold place.
♕At this point, the chocolate coating will be rather thin on the fruit.  If you wish to make it thicker, allow coating to dry and quickly redip the candies.
♕Allow the coating to harden completely, and serve.

Grapefruit Greek Yoghurt Parfait

This is a tasty, protein-rich yoghurt recipe.  You could either make it for breakfast, or prepare it in a small jar-like container and have it for lunch.  Many elements in the recipe can be adjusted to suit what you have in your kitchen.  I will definitely be using this greek yoghurt-mascarpone base for more lunches, and look forward to trying out new ingredient combinations.

Ingredients:


♕1 cup / 250g Greek-style yoghurt, plain
note: I use nonfat, and the amount of mascarpone added masks the sour taste.
♕2 T / 32g mascarpone
♕1T / 21g honey, ideally one with a strong flavor such as buckwheat honey
♕3-6T / 30-60g oats, rolled or steel-cut
♕1 segment of grapefruit
♕Pinch of grapefruit, lemon, or orange zest
♕Splash quality vanilla extract
♕Handful blueberries

The greatest charm of a parfait in a clear container is that the
fruit, oatmeal, and yoghurt often fall into a face-like shape.

Procedure:

♕Combine the honey and mascarpone, mixing well
♕Add in Greek yoghurt and scrape the grapefruit segment's pulp into the mixture, do not get any of the fibrous walls into the mix
♕Add vanilla and zest.  Mix until homogenous.
♕Layer blueberries, oats, and yoghurt mixture into a container or bowl.
♕Let sit overnight, chilled, or at least for two hours.

Dark Chocolate Strawberry Truffles

These truffles were surprisingly successful.  They have an interesting fruity aroma that can be attributed to the walnuts and strawberries working in tandem.  They are completely raw, vegan, and have about 20 minutes of hands-on time.

Ingredients:

♕ 1 cup/150g walnuts
♕ 4 strawberries
♕ 5T/45g cacao powder note: I used cacao powder without any sugar, but with vanillin added.  If you do want to add a vanilla aroma to your truffles, either use vanilla enriched cacao powder (if you have it), or add powdered vanillin.  the recipe will be too wet to accept liquid vanilla extract.
♕ 2t/6g molasses
♕ 2 T/20g agave
♕ 3T/45mL coconut oil

♕ pinch salt
♕ splash strong, unsweetened coffee
♕ 1 cup/100g cacao nibs or unsweetened coconut flakes note: with the cacao nibs these truffles become less sweet than if you just ate the batter.  If you are fond of a higher sweet:bitter ratio in chocolate treats, you can either add more sweetener or roll the truffles in both cane sugar and cacao nibs.



Procedure:

♕ Soak the walnuts overnight.
♕ In a food processor, combine all ingredients save for the cacao nibs or coconut flakes.  Process into a smooth paste.
♕ Scoop out teaspoon-sized balls of your paste and roll in the cacao nibs or coconut flakes.
♕ Refrigerate for at least two hours, or freeze for at least 10 minutes.
♕ Serve with coffee.

Rhubarb Fool

There are lots of recipes for fruit fools, and to complicate things further, some people even spell fool "foole".  But regardless of spelling, as a rule, fool(e)s are easy to make successfully.

Ingredients:

♕ 1.5 lb/700g rhubarb stalks
♕ 1/3 cup+1 T+1t/70g+15g+5g cane sugar
♕ 1/4 cup+1T/80g+25g honey note: if I had real maple syrup, I'd use that instead!
♕ 1T/15mL good vanilla extract
♕ just over 1/2 cup/125g whipping cream
♕ 5 strawberries, sliced

Procedure:

♕ Place a medium-large mixing bowl, preferably metal, and a mixer attachment into your freezer.
♕ Cut your rhubarb into 1 inch/2cm long bits
♕In a pot, cover rhubarb and 80g honey + 70g sugar with boiling water.  Stew on medium-high heat for 3 minutes.
♕ Remove 3/4 cup/220g rhubarb, approximately, from the water and set aside.  Pour off any liquid that you can, but do be gentile with the cubes, as you do not want them to become a stringy mess.
♕ Continue to stew remaining rhubarb for about five more minutes, then use a colander or sieve to separate the matter from the liquid.  With this batch, do not worry about preserving the chunks, they will become mash and that's alright.  Drain the liquid as well as you can and place the rhubarb into a bowl.  Stir in 25g honey. 
♕ Make the whipped cream by getting your frozen bowl and mixer attachment, pouring the 125g of cream into the bowl, and whipping for approximately 7 minutes.  Start on low speed and gradually increase it, adding vanilla and 15g sugar (cane if you like rough texture, plain white or powdered if you want smooth whipped cream) just before the cream begins to form peaks.  Be careful not to overwhip!
♕ Spoon about half of the whipped cream into the mashed rhubarb, mix, and place on the bottom layer of your serving bowl.  Top with sliced strawberries.  Place unmashed rhubarb on top of that, and dust with 5g sugar.  Garnish with remaining strawberry slices, and whipped cream. note: if you have rum raisins, I suggest breaking them out for this recipe as well. 
♕ Refrigerate ASAP


♕ Done!