Dutch Speculaas Cookies

Dutch Speculaas Cookies: "

I have often thought about trading the Netherlands for Paris. This is all just hypothetical, but I can see myself enjoying a croissant everyday and living la joie de vivre in France. Baguettes, pain au chocolat, macarons, madeleines. What would I really miss from my home country? ... Speculaas Cookies! I'm sure I'll have to pack an extra suitcase just to take a fair amount of speculaas cookies with me.




What exactly is speculaas? Speculaas is a combination of different spices; cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom and white pepper. You can easily make it yourself (I wrote the instructions down for you, scroll under), but I bought the spices allready combined. In case I forgot to mention, or that you haven't catched on - keep up! ;) - speculaas is a traditional Dutch/Belgian cookie that is made for the holiday St. Nicholas Eve on December 5th.




I am very content with devouring a pack of store-bought speculaas cookies, but I wanted to make it from scratch myself. I googled a recipe and tried it out today. The cookies are delicious, however, this particular recipes seems to me as an American version of speculaas cookies. Meaning, a little too much butter and sugar. Not that there's anything wrong with that :), but I'm determined to find the perfect authentic Dutch speculaas recipe somewhere in the near future. Rating: 4 out of 5.



Speculaas Cookies: About.com

Ingredients: This will make a very large amount, I made half the recipe.
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 ¼ cups dark brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 3 ½ cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon *
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger *
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg *
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves *
- 1/16 teaspoon ground cardamom *
- 1/16 teaspoon ground white pepper *

*- If you have speculaas spices, substitute the spices listed above for 3 teaspoons speculaas spices

Instructions:
- Cream the butter, sugars, and vanilla until they are thoroughly mixed and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and continue beating the mixture on medium-high until it turns fluffy again.
- Mix the remaining dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Turn the mixer speed to low and stir the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture in thirds, until the dough is fully mixed. Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours, until it is thoroughly chilled.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out the chilled dough to ¼-inch thick (⅛-inch thick if thin, crispy cookies are preferred) and cut into shapes with a cookie cutter. If desired, use a traditional Belgian speculaas mold by pressing the chilled dough into the mold, cutting away the excess dough, and inverting the mold onto the baking sheet to release the cookie, design-side up.
- Bake the cut or molded cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges appear set and just begin to brown. Allow the speculaas to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer them to a wire cooling rack.

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Winter Pasta

Winter Pasta: "

I seem to inherit a lot of CSA boxes. Friends and neighbors forget to put holds on their subscriptions before leaving town, and sure enough, they end up in my kitchen. When I was a kid there was a house that was always happy to take in stray animals, I've become the equivalent for CSA boxes. And I have to say, it's pretty great.

That said, cooking through a box is always a challenge of sorts. I mean, you want to cook your way through it before things start to go bad, sad or wilted. This always forces me to adapt and try out ideas I might not have considered otherwise. You also have the element of surprise that comes along with each box - not knowing exactly what will be inside each one. Although, there is one thing I do know. The box, whichever farm it comes from, usually includes lots and lots of greens - kale, spinach, lettuce, chard, arugula. Sometimes all of the above.

My friend Dan dropped off a box the other night, and after a quick glance I knew I would need to put a dent in the greens right away. I made this simple one-pot winter pasta with a sauce made from lots of kale, shallots, garlic, goat cheese and penne. Whatever I had on hand. You might tweak it with a different cheese - Parmesan or pecorino, for example. Or even ricotta. You could top it with a some chopped black olives or toasted nuts...I kept it pretty simple here. You can reheat any leftovers the next day, with a splash of water. The pasta holds up nicely.

I know a lot of you subscribe to CSAs and I'd love to hear your favorite ways to use up your greens. I have a bunch of go-to green-intensive recipes I rely on, but if you're doing something unique or unexpected with them on your end please share. I suspect Melissa Clark's kale salad will continue to be in high rotation around here all winter. I keep making it, in part because unlike other green salads that go south shortly after being dressed, this kale salad likes to party. It's delicious, and just gets better as it sits around, fully dressed, waiting for people to notice it. Other favorites? You can't go wrong with a hefty pot of Ribollita - I trade off between that and various takes on this lentil soup to which I add lots of chopped kale.

Continue reading Winter Pasta...

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Spicy Cauliflower with Sesame

Spicy Cauliflower with Sesame: "

Not everyone is a fan of the humble cauliflower. I get that. But we've enjoyed a good number of tasty cauliflower recipes together over the years, no? My hope is that the cauliflower curry or the lemon-zested sauté converted at least a few of you who were on the fence? If not, maybe this next recipe will. It's no joke. Imagine a skillet of caramelized onions cooked down with fragrant cumin, ginger, garlic, sesame seeds and chiles. Add cauliflower and cook until tender. Vibrant, spicy, sweet earthiness all on one plate.

The inspiration for the recipe comes from Reza Mahammad's lovely cookbook, Rice, Spice and all Things Nice. I bought a copy and slipped it into my suitcase the last time I was in Portland, and I'm finally(!) getting around to cooking from it. I'm always on the look out for approachable Indian recipes, and this book is full of great ideas and beautiful photos. It seems that with a tweak or two, I can turn a good number of the recipes into one-pan weeknight meals. For example, with this cauliflower, you might toss in a couple handfuls of grilled or pan-seared paneer cheese or tempeh.

Give this a try, even if you don't think you're much of a cauliflower fan. It's that good. I can also imagine doing a creamy soup version of this - with a pureed cauliflower soup base topped drizzled with an oil infused with the cumin, turmeric, garlic, and chiles....topped with toasted sesame seeds and some sort of flatbread croutons?

Also! I know some of you are starting to think about Thanksgiving menus, I figured I'd update and bump up my favorite vegetarian Thanksgiving recipes, as well as my favorite vegan Thanksgiving recipes. I went through and swapped out a few old favorites and swapped in a few new ones.

And lastly, on a complete side note and unrelated to anything to do with cauliflower - I want to tell you about a new, secret-until-now section of my site. I figured I'd bury a note here for those of you who read to the end. Here's the jist of it: I'm dying to know what your favorite cookbooks are. And beyond that - I'd love to know which recipes are your favorites from those books. I think I've found a way for us to share this sort of information with each other.

So...Let's say you have two favorite recipes from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, you can now share your thoughts here. Last weekend I bought Amanda Hesser's The Essential New York Times Cookbook. I made Bill Granger's Scrambled Eggs for breakfast yesterday, and have a slight twist on the Poppy Seed Torte headed for the oven. I can make notes here.

While you can use the new library system to make note of favorite recipes from any of your cookbooks, I thought it might be fun to also casually focus on a single book for a couple weeks at a time. What do you think about choosing a group cookbook? I have a list of recipes as long as my arm to try from The Essential New York Times Cookbook, so maybe we can start there? I'm not exactly sure how this is going to play out, but let's give it a shot. Who's with me?

The system is new, and we're still finding a few little bugs. Needless to say - your patience and understanding is much appreciated! Hope you like it. The direct URL: library.101cookbooks.com. -h

Continue reading Spicy Cauliflower with Sesame...

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Mixed Mushroom Soup

Mixed Mushroom Soup: "

Big, hearty soups are what appeal to me this time of year - flavorful broths punctuated with earthy mushrooms, starchy beans, long-cooked onions, or chunks of roasted winter squash. The sort of soups and stews that are able to take their place at the center of a meal instead of being relegated to a side dish. This is exactly the sort of soup I made over the weekend. I used a mish-mash of market mushrooms, a bit of cooked barley, and a good dose of onions. I gave it a bit of a Japanese flavor profile by using toasted sesame oil and shoyu/soy sauce as finishing elements. Quick, hearty, and satisfying.

You've heard me say it before, there a few things that help me eat well throughout the week - even when things get busy. I make over-sized pots of soup, like this one, let the leftovers cool to room temperature, then freeze them off in quart-sized baggies. A lot of the soups I love have grains and veggies and often some element of protein. They make for quick, one-pot lunches and dinners that you can pull from the refrigerator or freezer and have on the table in under ten minutes. It feels awesome. I've found on days when I'm too busy to shop, or cook something from scratch, these sorts of soups are just the thing I crave. And its a nice option to have versus eating out or ordering take-out.

As I mention down below, I made this soup with barley, but it could also work well with wild rice or brown rice. You could also skip the soy sauce and toasted sesame oil, and take things in an entirely different direction. A bit of smoked paprika and lemon creme fraiche might be interesting. Or what if you did a saffron yogurt swirl, like we did for this lentil soup and added lots of chopped chives to finish?

And a little housekeeping, if you'll permit? Somehow, six months has passed since the last update on my new cookbook. Not sure how that happened, but I assure you - plenty has been going on behind the scenes. I turned in the manuscript over the summer, we decided on an entirely new jacket, a handful of people I deeply admire were kind enough to write notes for the back cover, and if all went well last week, Super Natural Every Day should be at the printer. I can't believe I'm actually typing that sentence. I promise to do a proper write up and post a bunch of pics sometime in the next couple of weeks.

And! before it slips my mind - I know many of you are on the lookout for vegetarian Thanksgiving recipes, and vegan ones as well. I updated those pages the other day and hope some of these recipes might make it to your holiday tables.

And lastly - a few of us have started cooking recipes from the newly-released Essential New York Times Cookbook. I think we'll focus on it through November, and then pick another cookbook to focus on in December. Please join us if you like! I learn much from spending time with individual books - and I bet you will too. So far, I've cooked Bill Granger's Scrambled Eggs, a variation on the Poppy Seed Torte, and the Takeout-Style Sesame Noodles - you can see my notes here. Judy Rodger's Warm Bread Salad is next on my list. -h

Continue reading Mixed Mushroom Soup...

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Sourdough Soft Wheat Rolls

Sourdough Soft Wheat Rolls: "

Remember how I spent some time trying to get a good soft crumb with sweet sourdough? Well I applied that same science to getting a nice soft wheat roll. The secret is adding some sour cream. Yes, you can add potatoes and that works too but the outcome is a bit heavier than the sour cream which helps produce a soft light crumb. Everyone wants a soft roll with dinner at times, yes the crusty hard rolls are terrific too, but sometimes you just want a soft dinner roll…

So here you go:

Sourdough Soft Wheat Rolls

Make sure your Whole Wheat starter (You really have to use a whole wheat starter for this recipe) is fed very well the night before and make sure you have at least 1 lb of it for the next day. Feed it @ 100% hydration (leave it out at room temperature overnight after feeding it in the evening.

Then the next day (around 10:00am or time it yourself to arrive hot for the dinner table):

Mix together in a large mixing bowl or dough folding container:

1. Whole Wheat Starter @ 100% – 16 oz/453g


2. Water – 4 oz/113g


3. Sour cream (nice thick regular fat kind)- 3 oz/85g


4. Malt Syrup (or Honey) – 1 oz/28g


5. Soft Butter- 2 oz/56g


6. Sea salt- .4 oz/11g

You do not need to autolyse the dough because of the large amount of starter used, which was basically autolysed all night long. Mix all of the ingredients together and then add:

1. All purpose flour- 15 oz/425g

Mix together into a soft dough but do not knead. This makes a very soft dough. Cover the dough and let it ferment 3.5 – 4 hours, folding the dough once each hour. Then weigh your dough and divide the amount into 12 pieces or however many you need. My rolls were 3.4 oz each and I made 12 rolls.

I placed the rolls into an oiled round casserole dish and made sure each roll was coated in the oil. I then covered the rolls and placed them into a dedicated refrigerator which is set at 46F. If you use your colder refrigerator, take the rolls out sooner and give them longer to warm up and proof before baking.

I left the rolls in the refrigerator for two hours and then warmed them up and proofed them for 1 hour. I set the dish of rolls into a pan containing hot water to speed up the proofing. Once the rolls are done proofing, slash the tops, then make sure the tops are oiled or spray with oil and bake at 425 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes.

I spread butter over the tops once the rolls were done baking. Serve hot with lots of butter!

This will make around 2 lbs 9 oz/1173g of dough at 64% hydration. It will make a dozen rolls approximately 3.4 oz/96g each.

Have fun baking everyone!

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Overnight Sourdough

Overnight Sourdough: "

This sourdough is started in the evening, fermented overnight at room temperature and baked the next day.

Overnight Sourdough: In the evening add together in a folding trough or mixing bowl:

• Vigorous starter @ 100% hydration – 4 oz/113g (I used a whole wheat starter, but a white starter works just as well)


• Water – 24 oz/680g


• Whole Wheat Flour- 6 oz/170g (I used white whole wheat)


• Bread Flour- 1 lb 7 oz/652g (I used King Arthur’s Bread flour for this recipe)

Stir the ingredients well and let set for 30 minutes (autolyse) Then to your dough mixture add:

• Salt- .8 oz/22g

Stir the salt in well and then incorporate:

• All purpose flour – 9 oz/255g (bread flour can be used instead)

Work in the remaining flour with your hands until all of the flour is incorporated. Then cover the dough, so it won’t dry out and let set overnight at room temperature.

Next morning fold dough down and separate into three loaves weighing around 1 lb 5 oz each. Shape and let final proof. I staggered shaping the loaves thirty minutes apart. It took six hours for the final proof so don’t get impatient. When you feel the dough has about an hour until it is ready to bak, preheat your oven and baking stone to 480 degrees.

When you are almost ready to bake your first loaf, put your roasting pan into the oven to preheat for about five minutes. Then slash, spray, cover your loaf with the roasting lid and bake your first loaf, turning your oven down to 450 degrees for the first 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes, take off the roasting lid, using hot mitts and being careful when removing the lid as hot steam escapes.

Put the lid on top of your oven. Turn the loaf around for even browning and bake it for 10 -15 minutes more. If your loaf browns too quickly in the last ten mintutes of baking, turn the oven down to 425 degrees for the last ten minutes. Remove the baked loaf and cool on a baking grate.

After you take out your loaf, preheat the oven to 480 again and repeat the process for the next two loaves.

This recipe makes about 4 lbs 2.8 oz/1893g of dough at 65% hydration.

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Pumpkin Sourdough Bread. Food For The Soul

Pumpkin Sourdough Bread. Food For The Soul: "



'It isn't bread that feeds you; it is life and the spirit that feed you through bread.'

--Angelus Silesius, in Der Cherubinische Wandersmann



Nothing in the world is more fun to me than making a beautiful loaf of bread. It is like walking in the footsteps of bakers throughout the centuries before me. Finding joy and pleasure in creating bread fresh from my oven. I love the comments of people who walk through my front door when I am baking, " what is that wonderful smell?" they will exclaim.

Such a gentleness it creates in my soul to make bread. Mixing the ingredients and waiting for the magic to begin. Wild yeast in the air that are beyond my control, that infuse my bread and make it rise. It reminds me that there is grace all around me. That there are things put in place, wild yeast and bacteria's that know exactly what to do, only given the right environment. Making sourdough bread is a lesson in faith. I do what I know to do, then I let go and trust that the bread will rise. I not sure why I feel such joy when it does rise, like it has done a hundred times before, but I do. Make some sourdough bread and see if you find new virtues. Joy and faith being mixed with love to make this journey on earth a place of culturing our food to give us life.



Pumpkin sourdough is one of the best recipes to start with when you are new to sourdough breads. The pumpkin gives the sourdough cultures something to eat , so it rises beautifully and easily. The taste is incredible and the color is so fall like it will make you proud. You will feel like a real artisan baker.

Pumpkin Sourdough Bread

Makes 1 large loaf or two small loaves

1 1/8 cups water

½ cup sourdough starter

4 ¼ to 5 cups of whole wheat flour

¾ cup of pumpkin

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tbsp olive oil

Filling

4 tbsp of butter

2 tbsp cinnamon

1/2 cup of sucanat

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1.Beat together 1 1/8 cups of the water, the starter, and 2 ½ cups of flour in a large bowl.

2.Thoroughly blend the squash and remaining ¼ cup water and stir into the sponge along with salt and oil. Gradually sir in enough of the remaining flour to form a dough.

3.Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and cover for 10 minutes until it relaxes. Meanwhile, wash and dry the bowl. Thoroughly knead the dough, adding flour as necessary to keep it from sticking. When it is smooth and elastic, form the dough into a ball. Lightly grease the bowl and put the dough inside smooth side down. Now turn the ball over to grease the top. Cover the bowl and set aside for 5 hours, or until it doubles in size.

4. Then place dough on a non stick surface or flour a board and roll it out into a rectangle. About 16x12. Then spread generously with butter.Sprinkle with sucanat and cinnamon and chopped pecans. Roll into a log and pinch sides closed.

5. Divide the dough and place in greased pans. Cover and let them rise for 1 to 3 hours or until the dough has risen to a desired size.

6. Bake in preheated oven 400º for 20 minutes then lower the heat to 350º for 20 to 30 minutes more or until they are brown and firm-sided and sound hollow when removed from pans and tapped on bottom.

7. Cool on rack

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