Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

Another comfort food for the Robber which he requested that his mother make for him when she came out to visit (she did make these). Nana used to make these a lot when the Robber was a wee lad, but had to stop when her seventh child had severe nut allergies. Still the Robber remembers them fondly, and jumped at the opportunity to have these in our non-nut restricted kitchen.

Ingredients:

For the bars:
1 C. flour
1 C. quick oatmeal
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 C. butter or margarine
1/2 C. sugar
1/2 C. brown sugar
1 egg
1/3 C. peanut butter
1/4 C. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 package (2 cups) chocolate chips

For the frosting:
1/4 C. powdered sugar
2 T. peanut butter
2-3 T. milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a 9 x 9 glass pan.

2. In a small mixing bowl, combine flour, oats, baking soda and salt.

3. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in eggs, peanut butter, milk and vanilla. Stir in the combined dry ingredients by hand.

4. Spread mixture in prepared pan and bake for 18-20 minutes. When bars are freshly out of the oven, sprinkle the chocolate chips on top and spread evenly as the chips melt.

5. For the frosting, combine all ingredients and blend thoroughly. Drizzle over the top of the melted chocolate and swirl while still melted if desired.

Cholesterol Pie

I think most families (except mine?) make this dessert, they just call it something different. In the case of the Robber's family they call it cholesterol pie and someone makes it for every major family event. The Robber himself loves it and when his mother came to visit and to help out with Ruggles last week, the Robber requested special that she make it for him. I ended up making it, in a grand gesture of support for the Robber and to allow Nana to spend more time with Ruggles and I think everyone was happier that way (see note on pecans below) but I think the future I will leave the making of this to the Rawles.

Writing Ruggles and "cholesterol pie" in the same paragraph hurts my heart a little, even if it is entirely hypocritical given that I exposed him to icecream in grand amounts during my whole pregnancy.

Notes: I added chopped pecans to the crust and toasted chopped pecans and some chopped dark chocolate chips to the top. The pecans to the crust were genius for the Robber and I felt the toppings were too, but the Robber scraped them off the top and then ate the rest. Hmmm. If I were making this again I would make a thicker cream cheese layer and remember that the crust is kind of crumbly, so you have to portion out the cream cheese layer for the spreading, not just plunk it down in the middle and spread it out from there.

Ingredients and Directions:

Layer 1

1 C. flour

1/2 C. butter or margarine

1/2 C. chopped nuts (not optional, pecans!)

Mix together and spread in a 9x13" glass pan. Bake at 350 F for 15-20 min.

Layer 2

8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature

1 C. powdered sugar

1 1/2 C. Cool Whip

Cream together and spread over cooled Layer 1.

Layer 3

1 large package instant chocolate pudding

2 1/2 C. milk

Beat together for 2 minutes and pour over Layer 2.

Layer 4

2 C. Cool Whip

Spread on top of pudding layer. If desired, sprinkle top with nuts, chopped chocolate, etc.

Plum Clafoutis

And just like that, my little cooking bug returns. I guess the oven has room in it again.

But it's hard, you know, to cook and to care for a little lion at the same time. Still, I wanted to bake something again just because I wanted to bake and to prove I was more of a human again and less of an incubator. I've been on this fruit kick something serious during pregnancy, so I had lots of plums and I lot of buttermilk I had the Robber buy thinking I would make biscuits-- and I had some milk-- but what I didn't have was flour, cream, or time. What does that all add up to? In this case, clafoutis. And as always, this was easy and delicious, a perfect post-pregnancy treat.

Oh, and the Robber liked it too.

Notes: I made a second one tonight but I forgot to add the sugar to the fruit layer, let's see how it turns out eh? Because if it doesn't need it, that would cut down on the calories a little and make it even more appealing.

Adapted from Julia Child, available here on Gratinee:
http://gratineeblog.com/2009/09/julia-childs-plum-clafouti/

Ingredients:

1 lbs firm, ripe plums (I used three medium-ish plums cut in round cross-sections)

1 1/4 C. milk (I used buttermilk)
1/3 C. sugar
3 eggs
1 T. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 C. sugar

1/3 C. extra sugar

Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 F. Cut plums in half (or in slices, like I did, I think it's easier to cut through that way) and sprinkle with some sugar. Set aside.

2) Add all of the ingredients except the fruit and the additional sugar in a blender in the order listed. Blend for 1 minute on high.

3) Pour of layer of the batter until it covers the bottom of your baking dish (I use a large glass pie plate). Place in the oven for about five minutes or until a film of the batter has set in the bottom of the dish.

4) Spread the fruit over the batter with skins up (if using halves). Sprinkle with the extra sugar (optional). Pour the rest of the batter over the fruit.

5) Bake for an additional hour or until the clafouti has puffed and browned and a tester placed in the center comes out clean. If desired, sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving. Can serve hot or cold (I prefer cold, the next day).

Additional notes: Julia Child notes you can use either 1 1/4 lbs apples or 3 C pears. To make this Julia's way way, drop the plums in boiling water for ten seconds and then peel and slice them. Next soak the fruit in 1/4 C. orange liquer, kirsch, or cognac and let stand for one hour. Then substitute this liquid for part of the milk in the recipe and omit the final 1/3 C. of sugar.

Rosemary and Cheese Biscuits

The truth is that shortly before Christmas the cooking bug in me died. I don't know what happened. Just one day I wasn't interested anymore. I stopped looking at my stock pile of recipes, dreaming of the kitchen, wondering what ingredients to buy next. I just lost interest. That and I was tired. Tired from residency, tired from December, tired about eating.

Which was unfortunate, because my kind sister S. got us this lovely cookbook for Christmas full of beautiful pictures and good things to eat, and I looked at it and just didn't have the gumption to begin.

Until I discovered the recipe for Cheesy Biscuits and then I was reminded of this time I went to Red Lobster (I think the only time I ever went to Red Lobster) in Burlingame or some other such odd place (I can't remember exactly) and there I ate these amazing delicious little cheesy biscuits that I have wanted ever since and finally that little memory alone propelled me back into the kitchen... twice thus far. Yes, they were that good I overcame my cooking lull to make them not once, but twice! And today I have been singing happy little songs all about cheesy biscuits and smooching my Robber and all was well in the world, briefly, when the cheesy biscuits came out of the oven and the smell wafted through the Cubby and the hope of brighter days ahead dawned. All from the cheesy biscuits.

Adapted from The Essential Fingerfood Cookbook by Bay Books, page 56.

Ingredients:

1 C. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

3.5 oz butter, chopped

4 T. sour cream or buttermilk or plain Greek yogurt (the original recipe calls for 1 T. but I have used 4 both times)

2 oz. grated Cheddar cheese

2 oz. grated Parmesan cheese

1 T. chopped fresh rosemary

1 T. chopped fresh chives

Directions:

1. Sift the flour and baking powder together in a bowl. Cut in the butter into the mixture is akin to fine breadcrumbs.

2. Add the cheeses and herbs and stir until thoroughly mixed. Add the fat in 1-2 tablespoons at a time until the mixture is softened. You may have to dump the mixture out onto the counter and knead it together so that it forms a firm ball of dough. Wrap the ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

3. While refrigerating, preheat the oven to 350 F and lightly grease one baking sheet with butter or oil (or use parchment paper).

4. Press the chilled dough out into a flat round and cut into 8 wedges. Arrange the wedges on the baking sheet and bake until the wedges are puffy and started to crisp around the edges, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool-- the biscuits will deflate a little while cooling but ideally will have crispy cheesy edges with soft warm cheesy insides. Enjoy!

Swedish Sticky Chocolate Cake (Kladdkaka)

I saw this recipe on my friend R.G.'s Facebook page a while back and tagged it, feeling like R.G. ought to know what was good and what was not. She is down to earth, reliable, smart, and used to live in Sweden. The cake is somewhat opposite-- gooey and sweet, runny and soft, but so tempting... I made it for our Valentine's celebration this year and the Robber ate and ate of it. Definitely a treat for two.

I realized I didn't have cocoa powder so I subbed in Ghiradelli hot cocoa mix which was good but I think created a sweeter product. To tone down the sweetness I served it with some tart and creamy Greek yogurt just barely sweetened and with strawberries mixed in. I preferred to eat it that way, while the Robber ate his along with some swallows of whole milk. Either way, it was delicious.

Barely adapted from AllRecipes.Com.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/swedish-sticky-chocolate-cake-kladdkaka/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=kladdkaka&e8=Quick+Search&event10=1&e7=Home+Page

Ingredients:

1/2 C. all-purpose flour

1/4 C. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 pinch salt

2 eggs

1 1/3 C. white sugar

1 T. vanilla extract

1/2 C. butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 F. Heavily grease and flour an eight inch pie plate.

2. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, and salt, set aside. In separate bowl, combine eggs and sugar and beat until thick and smooth. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture (or vice versa) and mix until thoroughly combined (but avoid over beating). Add in the vanilla and melted butter and stir until homogeneous. Pour into the prepared pie plate.

3. Bake on the lower rack of a preheated oven (to avoid burning the top) until the center of the top had a set crust-- about 35 min. The remainder of the cake may still appear gooey at the edges. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for at least one hour before serving. Can serve either warm or cold.

Quick Biscuits with Maple Butter

These are the biscuits that I made with the dreamy cream scones to use up my leftover Thanksgiving whipped cream and I had very low expectations for them because the picture in the NYTimes made them look just like any other lesser biscuit. Low and flat and not particularly flaky. But then I made them with butter and cream, not margarine and grain milk. and you better believe these were so packed with butter and cream that it was like eating a flaky, salty stick of butter and if you are into that thing, well, then you can imagine it being pretty amazing. So much for being "well."

We didn't try out the whipped maple butter, but trust me, these don't need it.

From the NYTimes Well Thanksgiving blog 2012:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/11/12/health/20121111_vegetarian-thanksgiving.html#Quick_Biscuits_With_Maple_%E2%80%9CButter%E2%80%9D

Ingredients:

For the biscuits:

2 C. all-purpose flour, plus extra for work surface

1 T. baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 C. vegan margarine... or ahem butter...

3/4 C. soy, almond or rice milk... or real milk, or cream...

For the "maple butter":

1 C. vegan margarine, at room temperature

1/4 C. maple syrup

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

2. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add margarine and cut it roughly into flour using a pastry cutter, until mixture is the texture of coarse meal with a few larger margarine lumps. Add nondairy milk and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Do not overwork.

3. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and pat into an oblong shape, about 1 inch thick. Using a 2 1/2-inch floured cookie or biscuit cutter, cut the biscuits out and place them on a baking sheet (or just cut them into wedges). Brush the tops lightly with melted margarine and bake for about 12 to 15 minutes, or until they begin to turn golden. Remove biscuits from oven immediately and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

5. Make the maple “butter.” In a mixing bowl, using a whisk or electric mixer, whip margarine with maple syrup until light and fluffy. Refrigerate until serving.

Dreamy Cream Scones

The last new scone recipe I tried was so bad I didn't even post it. The scones were lumpy and soggy and gross and I gave up on new scone recipes figuring, as you all figure, that I have enough. But then came this day after Thanksgiving when I had this exact amount of whipping cream I had to use, and this and another scone/biscuit recipe were both circulating the air, and the Robber was hungry, and such came to such and I made these with chopped fresh cranberries in them and then they were what every scone should be--  more biscuity rather than cakey, but not dry-- not too sweet-- and I ended up buying more cream and making them twice. The end.

Note: For the add-in I chopped my cranberries in half and then coated in sugar before adding to the dough.

An old Smitten Kitchen recipe:

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2006/11/dream-a-little-dream-of-scone/

Ingredients:

2 C. all purpose flour

1 T. baking powder
3 T. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
5 T. chilled, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1 C. heavy cream

1/2 - 3/4 C. currants, cranberries, etc.

Directions:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425°F.

2. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. 

3. Using a pastry cutter, quickly cut the butter into your flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal, with a few slightly larger butter lumps. Stir in add-in ingredient (currants, etc.) 

4. Stir in heavy cream with a rubber spatula or fork until dough begins to form, about 30 seconds.

5. Transfer dough and all dry, floury bits to countertop and knead dough by hand just until it comes together into a rough, sticky ball, 5 to 10 seconds. Form dough into a round disc and flatten gently until about 1-1.25" thick. Cut into 6 wedges.

6. Place wedges on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and bake until scone tops are light brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack for at least 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.