Hazelnut & Fig Biscotti

If you asked me what is your favorite nut I would say hands down a freshly roasted and skinned hazelnut ! However, they are a bit time consuming to do. So what is nice is that Trader Joes sells roasted and skinned hazelnuts. In a pinch they work really well.

This recipe is from Juliene Jones of Vergennes Laundry up in Vermont. I used mission figs in the recipe. I find they are softer then the Calimyrna figs. They are also easier to find in the market. This recipe has a lot of butter in it and is richer then a normal Biscotti recipe. In addition, because of the high nut content I would freeze some for later use.

2 1/2 cups of roughly chopped toasted and skinned hazelnuts
14 ounces of mission figs chopped into small cubes
1 1/2 cups of unsalted butter
1 3/4 cup of sugar
3 1/2 cups of AP Flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt

Cream the butter and sugar in a mixer until smooth. Add your eggs in and mix until well incorporated. Now add your flour and baking powder. Then mix in your nuts and figs. Divide dough into two. On a piece of parchment shape two logs that are two inches thick. Bake each log in a 325 degree preheated oven for 30 minutes. Cool and slice into one inch slices. Bake the slices for 18 minutes more. They will be a lovely light brown!

What is kind of interesting is the Celts thought that hazelnuts would concentrated wisdom and poetic inspiration. There is an ancient tale that nine hazel trees grew around a sacred pool, dropping nuts into the water to be eaten by some salmon (a fish revered by Druids).

When they ate the hazelnuts they absorbed the wisdom.The number of bright spots on the salmon were said to indicate how many nuts they had eaten. I may know how many pounds I have gained by how many of these really good cookies I have eaten.

Sauerkraut or Choucroute

Well it is October and with really fresh cabbage at one dollar a head I thought I would make some sauerkraut. But not just any kind of sauerkraut. I thought I would add some parsnips and some spices. To get started you will need a crock.

Getting a sauerkraut pot can be expensive. The pot is not the expensive part. It is the shipping.. The pot is very heavy. Ace Hardware is the best place to buy them. You can order them online and then pick them up at the store. The company that makes them is an old USA company named the Ohio Stoneware Company. They combined older stoneware companies about fifty years ago. It is an interest story about stoneware in the USA. You can go to their website and read their story.

You can pickle all kinds of vegetables. It takes two to three weeks for them to be pickled. You can only pickle when the temperature is cooler. The crock needs to be in a cool place at 60 to 65 degrees. So a cool basement is the best place. Because of the salt content the product will not spoil. It just becomes this wonderful tang. After the three weeks you will need to can the kraut or refrigerate. I used red cabbage. But you can make the traditional with just plain old green. After this I will be pickling some rutabaga. It is my understanding that it becomes this wonderful rich and sweet condiment.

To get started one large head is about 24 cups shredded. This will reduce to about one half after completion. Reduce the amount of salt by percentage based on how many cups of vegetables. So for 24 cups add 1/4 cup plus one tablespoon of best quality salt to the vegetables. Now pound and stir the salt into the vegetables. You will now add your spices. This is very much up to you. I added two tablespoons of roasted whole coriander seeds, one tablespoon of roasted fennel seeds, one teaspoon of red pepper flakes and a few juniper berries.  Place into the crock and cover with lid. Let sit for 18 hours. After this the vegetables will have given out their juices.

Now make a brine of four and one half cups of water and three tablespoons of salt. Heat until the salt has dissolved. Cool and add to the crock. Add your weights. Bubbles will appear as it starts to ferment. This is a good thing. Acid is forming. Check every couple of days that the brine is covering the vegetables and skim off any foam. When the bubbles stop and the tang is there the kraut is done. At this point you will refrigerate or process by canning for 15 minutes.

Have fun by trying all kinds of vegetables or even make kimchi. I will share my adventures with fermentation soon.

Happy Octoberfest !

Double Trouble Cookies

I mentioned in my earlier post about this recipe. The cookies are really delicious and very easy to make. They are a two toned treat made with chocolate and toffee.  As the name suggests they are really double trouble.

 Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. In a mixer place 1/2 cup of room temperature butter with 1/2 cup of vegetable shortening. Mix until blended. Now add 3/4 cup of sugar and 3/4 cup of brown sugar to the mixer and mix until blended. Now add 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and 2 3/4 cup of flour. Mix and divide in two.

With one piece of the dough piece add 1 cup of toffee pieces and in the other 2/3 cup of melted dark chocolate and 2/3 cup of dark chocolate chips. (The better the chocolate the better the results.)

With a small scoop place 1/2 of each dough on to a parchment lined cookie sheet. Flatten to 1/4 inch and you have to use parchment because if you do not the toffee will stick to the cookie sheet.

Bake for 13 minutes and let cool before removing from parchment.

Pickled Pimento Peppers

It is getting to the end of the season for really fresh produce. At a farm stand I picked up some fresh red pimentos. They are similar to red peppers, but have a distinctive flavor.
They are marvelous added to all kinds of dishes.  

I removed the seeds and roasted them to add more flavor. To make the brine you will need to place in a sauce pan the following to warm through.

1 cup of sugar
4 smashed cloves of garlic
2 teaspoons of kosher salt
1 teaspoon of herbes de Provence
1/2 teaspoon of freshly cracked black pepper
1/8 teaspoon of saffron
1 teaspoon of Aleppo pepper
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
1 1/2 cups of water
1 bottle (12 ounces) rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of good olive oil

Add you roasted peppers to the brine. Can and seal in boiling water for 10 minutes.

Dark Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Zucchini and more zucchini ! I found out a few secrets to really good zucchini bread. First shred them on the finest shredding disk and toast your walnuts before adding them into the batter. In addition, I really love these mini loaf pans. It is great for portion control and all those lovely chewy corners. Another thing is to preheat your oven twenty five degrees higher and once you throw them in the oven turn down to the baking temperature. You will get the best rise this way. The recipe is adapted from better homes and garden fall baking magazine. They have a really yummy recipe for double trouble cookies. Half toffee and half chocolate chip. The chocolate chip half has a chocolate dough too! It is a really great issue.

3 cups of AP flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
2 extra large eggs
2 1/2 cups of finely shredded zucchini
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla paste
3/4 cup of dark chocolate pieces
1 cup of toasted walnut pieces

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and then turn down to 350 degrees. Spray your baking pan with baking spray. Now place all the wet ingredients into a mixer and mix well. Now add in all the dry ingredients and mix until incorporated. Place into pans and bake until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool if you can. It is very good with a cup of hot tea.

Beef Stir Fry with Gochujang

I was checking out my neighborhood Korean grocery store looking for the much talk about Gochujang. Gochujang is a heavenly fermented chile paste. It comes in different heat intensities. I recommend getting the medium heat, because I like adding additional fresh chiles to my dishes. You can add this condiment to any number of things. Talking to a Korean friend would be fun for more ideas. Gochujang is becoming increasingly more popular in Western cooking too. To make the stir fry easy I bought a tray of beef stir fry. You can of course cut up your own. But it is so easy to purchase a prepare one at a store. The following is a list of ingredients:

1 package of beef stir fry
2 bok choy sliced
1 small young zucchini sliced
1 small onion slices
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 package of shiitake mushrooms quartered
1 tablespoon of ginger diced
1 yellow bell pepper sliced
1 tablespoon of Gochujang
1/4 teaspoon of five spice powder
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon of curry powder
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons of shaohsing rice wine
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 Fresno chile sliced

3 tablespoons of cornstarch to dust the beef


Begin with heating a pan with peanut oil on high. Place a small amount of beef in a plastic bag and add one tablespoon of corn starch. Shake the sealed bag. Add the beef in batches to a smoking hot pan. Flash fry until lightly brown and remove to a plate. Repeat until all meat is seared. Now added a little more oil and add the onion, mushrooms, bell pepper, bottoms of the bok choy, garlic, ginger and chiles. Lightly brown and make the sauce. To make the sauce, place in a bowl the brown sugar, Gochujang, rice wine, brown sugar, soy sauce and spices. Now your vegetables should be lightly browned. At this time add the zucchini, bok choy tops, beef and sauce. Cook until the zucchini is lightly browned. I hope you had your rice cookers going. I love my rice cooker and I recommend basmati rice. You could also cook up some Asian noodles too. Enjoy the dish it is really delicious.

Cinnamon Sugar Rhubarb Muffins

When I see really fresh thin ruby red rhubarb I cut it up and stick it in the freezer. These muffins are a really delicious use of the frozen rhubarb. When you melt the butter pour it over the frozen rhubarb to defrost the rhubarb. As I mentioned before in my blog freezing rhubarb really helps in the baking processes. This is an easy and very addictive muffin recipe. You can swap out the rhubarb for peaches, apples, berries.....


For the muffins:
2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
2-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 stick of unsalted butter melted
2 large eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups 1/4-inch-diced frozen rhubarb
For the topping:
3 Tbs. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 400°F and line a muffin tin with foil baking cups. I really like foil baking cups.They are so much better than the paper ones.To make the muffins use a mixing bowl to combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt and whisk to blend.

In a another bowl mix together the buttermilk, rhubarb and melted butter, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Lightly stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until the batter just comes together.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups, using a large ice cream scoop.

Now in a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle 1/2 tsp. of the cinnamon sugar over each muffin.

Bake the muffins until they’re golden brown for 18 to 22 minutes. Watch the tops of the muffins because the sugar will burn. Cover lightly with foil close to the end of cooking if getting to dark.

For more baking, PBS will be airing the new British Baking Competition in September. I think these muffins would definitely get the heads up!

So Good !