In the last week I’d read on two independently-written blogs about Cinnamon Toast. And like many people, I think I did the same “oh yea, sure, you sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on buttered toast . . . what’s the big deal.” Well, let me tell you right off the top. This is NOT your typical cinnamon toast.

Can I just tell you right now – you gotta make this stuff. It’s absolutely delicious. Easy. Fun. Different, and oh, so gosh darned good! This would also be a great project for you and your children. It took about 20 minutes, I’d guess, to make these, then 25 minutes to bake. But then, you’ve got to seal them up and let them sit for 24 hours (that’s really hard). In that 24 hours they go from being crispy cinnamon toast to something more like shortbread with cinnamon and sugar. A cookie. Naturally, I tasted them when they cooled, but the butter is still almost a liquid at that point. Hence you want it to sit so the bread soaks it up. At least I guess that’s the chemistry.

If you go over to Orangette to read the story, you’ll learn that this is a recipe that Molly found in her grandmother’s recipe box, her dear, beloved grandmother who died recently. But Molly got her recipe box when the family divvied up her grandmother’s things. I just love stories like this, but then Molly is a good story-teller of the first order! She’s written a book about recipes and her life called A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table. A wonderful read, I’ll tell you first hand. She and her husband Brandon Pettit now own a (mostly pizza) restaurant called Delancey in Seattle. A big dream for two people who had zero restaurant experience. Her blogging probably didn’t hurt any in the popularity department. Wish I lived in Seattle so I could go try it! And run into Molly, perchance.

So here’s what’s involved with making this simple treat/cookie. You mix up some cinnamon and sugar, you melt some unsalted butter, brush trimmed sandwich sized white bread triangles with the melted butter, sprinkle it with the cinnamon-sugar, place on a parchment-covered baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes. That’s it. Told ya it was easy!

The other recipe (that I didn’t make) is over at Pioneer Woman. Hers is different – soft butter spread on bread then sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and broiled. More a breakfast food or maybe a fun snack.

So, please go out and buy some of that we-won’t-tell-white sandwich bread and give yourself a real treat! Trust me!
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A year ago: Mushroom Risotto (made in a pressure cooker)
Two years ago: Brownie-Bottom Pudding Pie
Three years ago: Mexican Chopped Salad (a favorite)

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So, I made this appetizer. To somewhat mixed reviews, including my own. I liked the components – the savory cheesecake layer, and the spiced apple layer, and the bacon sandwiched in between – but when you eat it. . . well, it’s good, but I wouldn’t call it outstanding. It’s best with a cracker or some kind of neutral palette to put it on; otherwise it’s too rich. And if you eat just the cheesecake alone – no. Didn’t like it. Adding the apple really makes a different, but then when you put it on a water cracker, it was very good. But it’s very unusual. Made for a nice addition to a buffet-type potluck event we went to. Would I make it again? Uhm. Maybe, maybe not. But not because it’s not good. I’d want to do something different to it. But I can’t figure out what. I’d for sure add less bacon, and I’d crumble it up really finely. And I’d probably not use the Irish porter ale cheddar that I did. I’d use ordinary sharp cheddar cheese. The porter ale cheese just got lost in the dish; maybe it even flavored the dish in an unpleasant way somehow. And it gave the cheesecake layer a speckled, or freckled look. Some guests, I noticed, just picked off the apples on top. They didn’t know what was underneath and didn’t want to try it. (Aren’t people funny sometimes?

This recipe comes from Diane Phillips’ cookbook, Happy Holidays from the Diva of Do-Ahead: A Year of Feasts to Celebrate with Family and Friends. I’d made a copy of the recipe and stuck it in my to-try book, and thought it would be appropriate for a large-group gathering. It could be made ahead (I did it the day before) and it’s supposed to be served at room temperature anyway.

The making of it wasn’t difficult, although there are several steps to it. The most time consuming was peeling, coring and slicing the apples. They’re mixed with some butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg (and a little tiny nip of lemon juice) and placed into the bottom of a prepared springform pan. I used parchment paper, but learned a valuable lesson – with a mixture as liquidy as the butter/sugar mixture from the apples, it oozed right out of the springform pan before I could get it in the oven. So you need to line the springform with a single piece of foil or parchment (I think foil would be easier to mold around the sides, but it’s got to be from one of those wider-width boxes of foil) that molds partway up the sides. It’s not necessary to go ALL the way up as it’s only the apple liquid that is in danger of leaking out. And it only fills the pan about 3/4 of an inch or so.

Anyway, the parchment or foil gets fizzed with nonstick spray. Then you very carefully arrange the apple slices in a pattern (like a spoke). I did that for the bottom ( the bottom that became the top once this was unmolded), then just poured in the remaining apples and the liquid. Then the bacon was sprinkled on top of the apples. Meanwhile I’d made the cheesecake mixture – cream cheese, two eggs, a dash of hot sauce and the shredded cheese. That combination was thicker than something you could pour, so I spooned it on top of the apples and carefully spread it in an even layer. It was at that point I discovered the brown sugar and butter sauce had oozed out of the bottom of the springform pan and all over my kitchen counter. Darn! I just hoped there was enough still inside that it didn’t ruin the appetizer. (There was, but it would have been nicer if it had ALL been there, of course. I did save some of it from the foil wrapped around the springform pan and poured it on top after it was baked and removed from the pan.)

So, back to the baking – I put the springform in a rimmed baking sheet, just in case more juice escaped. It baked for 45 minutes, at which point you stick a toothpick in the center to make sure it’s done (it was). Then it cools IN the oven for another 30 minutes with the door ajar (helps prevent cracks in the cheesecake). Once removed from the oven it needs to cool completely before you turn it over onto a platter. I did have a bit of trouble with this step – because the cheesecake was only about 1 1/2 inches high inside the springform pan, when it was turned over to unmold most of it came up, but because I’d not made a continuous piece of parchment, part of it stuck in the bottom of the pan. Sigh. But it didn’t matter – once the cheesecake cooled enough I was able to piece the top back together. See picture below.

The cheese came from Costco. It has a very dark look from the porter ale used, obviously. It has a really delicious nutty kind of taste. The white part is the cheese; the dark part is the ale they’ve somehow made it so it firms up like cheese. Do note – on the far right of the middle picture at the bottom you can see a small chunk of the cheese. Unusual, huh?

The bottom right picture shows the two layers – the cheesecake part and the apple layer on top. Made for a very attractive platter. We’d been invited to a Kentucky Derby party, and were asked to bring an appetizer. Sometimes brown-ish food doesn’t look all that appealing. I did hear a couple people whisper to the next person – what’s that, do you think? I should have made a little sign. Yet, the cheesecake part with the bacon was kind of hard to distinguish what it was. It needs to be eaten together – on a cracker or bread. Definitely. Maybe more would have tried it had I not used the porter ale cheese, which gave it a very unusual look.  They ate about 2/3 of it, so now I need to figure out what to do with the leftovers. Any ideas?
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A year ago: Orange Coconut Sour Cream Cookies
Two years ago: White Chicken Chili
Three years ago: Stacked Enchilada

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I had this all ready to post right around Easter, then promptly forgot it was in my “draft” queue. So, it’s a bit late, but . . . I didn’t want to look at it in my drafts until next Easter!

Ever watched the youtube video about how to peel hard boiled eggs? It was on somebody else’s blog a year or so ago and I couldn’t believe it. I watched it, but doubted it.

I don’t know about you, but periodically I have difficulty peeling hard boiled eggs. I did all the tricks – and my most common technique was to tap the wider end – after boiling – until it was cracked moderately, then I soaked them in ice water for half an hour or so. Supposedly the water seeps behind the membrane and loosens it. And most of the time that works. But not always.

Of course, you know the part about never hard-boiling newly purchased eggs. The chemistry is that air has to permeate the eggshell – to slightly dry out that membrane –  to allow a minuscule air pocket around the egg. That just takes time – a week or so while the eggs rest and dry out in your refrigerator. Once you boil them, it supposedly makes for easier peeling. But sometimes, no matter how hard I try – no matter how many days I wait, the shell just doesn’t peel easily.

SO . . . I tried this new trick from the video – adding baking soda to the water. I used 2 teaspoons of soda to boil about 16 eggs (I was making a lot of them). Our grandson Logan tried. He was “grossed out” about putting his mouth on the shell. He managed to get 2 of the 4 or 5 he tried, to pop out. But, gosh, it took a whole lot of huffing and puffing. I tried 3 and was successful with one, but it wasn’t worth it. So I stood at the kitchen counter and reverted to my usual method of letting the eggs soak in ice water for at least 30 minutes and peeling them the old way. We had problems with about 4 eggs out of 3 1/2 dozen. Not bad. But I probably won’t try the blowing trick again. We tried smaller holes, blowing from different ends, only blowing the ones that were perfectly intact (no cracks other than the mashed-in ends). None of that worked well. The one I was successful doing I blew from the large end. But the next one I tried – nope.

Surely every cook reading my blog has made hard boiled eggs, so I won’t belabor this. Except to tell you a few things:

(1) Simmer the eggs; don’t boil them.
(2) Rinse in cold water, then add ice cubes to the pan/bowl and let them soak for 30 minutes to an hour. Lightly crack the larger ends so some of the water can permeate. Then peel them . . .
(3) Trim a tiny little flat spot at each END of the eggs (i.e., don’t cut them in half lengthwise), then cut them in half, across. Each egg half will stand up perfectly. You can probably see this in the photo up top.

Then make up the filling. My deviled eggs aren’t all that different, really. But I often revert to a recipe my former business partner, Audré, used to make. She added curry powder. I loved them, and still do. Here’s what goes in my eggs:

• Mayonnaise
• Dijon mustard
• Sweet pickle relish (not much, and no juice)
• Salt and pepper
• Curry powder (try a little bit first – you can always add more)

Taste it to see if it needs more salt, or pepper. Or curry powder. Sometimes I make half regular and half with curry powder. Not everybody likes curry. I took 3 dozen deviled eggs to church on Easter morning. We folks who sing in the choir had to sing lots of music on this celebration day, at 3 services (8, 9:30 and 11). During the 2nd service, after we sing, we leave the sanctuary and we eat breakfast, potluck. I’d signed up for eggs. I didn’t use curry for those because I wasn’t sure our choir friends were all that adventurous. I made more for Easter dinner, and in those I added the curry. Yum.

A year ago: Italian Crumb-Crusted Chicken
Two years ago: Mango Strawberry Salsa
Three years ago: Lemon Velvet Gelato/Ice Cream (a real favorite!)

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There was some lovely fresh, wild-caught halibut at Costco the other day. No question I’d buy some of that. The $16+ piece of fish was cut into 4 pieces and 2 went into the freezer for later. The recipe I adapted came from a 2009 issue of Gourmet. It was for mahi-mahi, but I assumed halibut would work just as well. And yes, it did. Their recipe called for a tomato side salad, and also included fresh dill in the topping. I didn’t have dill, so just used fresh mint.

This recipe is SO easy. I kid you not. Place the fish on oiled parchment (I just put it on my Silpat Non-Stick Mat), mix up a little combo of mayo, Feta cheese, lemon juice and fresh mint, slather it on top of the fish, top it with a few slices of fresh lemon and broil it. When the lemon slices reached the degree of brown you see above, the fish wasn’t quite cooked through, so I covered the fish lightly with a piece of foil, turned off the broiler and left the pan in the hot oven for another 3-4 minutes. Perfection.

No need to make tartar sauce or prepare anything else to go on the fish. The mayo/Feta mixture not only moistened the fish, but it’s a perfect addition to each bite of fish. We didn’t eat the lemon slices, but you probably could if you like it! I’ll be making this again and again.
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A year ago: Jackalope Ranch (a restaurant in Indio, CA)
Two years ago: Broccoli with Mayo Mustard
Three years ago: Mock Caesar Dressing (one of my old standbys)

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The other night was our son’s birthday, and I took a good part of the dinner to their house. Karen made a lovely roast chicken and I made Brussels sprouts with orange brandy and dried cranberries, a green salad with some of the Rose’s Vinaigrette from a week ago, and dessert.

Last weekend we were in No. California and at a winery tasting room I bought a bottle of Earth & Vine’s Black Raspberry Elixir. It’s a bottled fruit concentrate (see photo below right) you can use mostly for beverages, I’d suppose. Although you could probably add it to fresh fruit, or on top of yogurt. The recipes on the bottle are all beverages, some with liquor, some without. The elixir has no alcohol in it – it’s just the straight fruit (both black and red raspberry purees), sugar and lemon juice.

There was no recipe for a float on the label, but it just sounded like something you could do with this, so I made it up in my head. I bought some Haagen-Dazs vanilla bean ice cream, brought along some Chambord and chilled club soda. That’s all there was in it. I looked up a few recipes for root beer floats and then just winged it. For each drink I used about a tablespoon of Chambord, about 2 tablespoons of the black raspberry elixir, about 6 ounces of club soda, then plopped in a nice rounded scoop of the ice cream. A straw was all that was needed. Do make sure the ice cream is really solidly frozen, though. Ours was a bit on the melting side so it oozed into the drink faster than we liked. Still mighty tasty, though. You might have to hunt for the elixirs (there are other flavors, but you can read all about them online at Earth & Vine). Then make up your own combination.
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One Year Ago: A photo of a riddling rack made into an herb garden
Two years ago: Lemon Oregano Vinaigrette
Three years ago: Caramelized Carnitas Tacos

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You may think you don’t like Brussels sprouts. Once you taste these, you might just change your mind. As it was, all of us eating these just happen to love Brussels sprouts, so it was never even a whisper in our minds we might not like this preparation. We all loved it. Absolutely loved it. Was it hard? No. Time consuming? No. The payoff was huge. I might even eat these cold, they were so good.

The recipe I read over on Charmian Christie’s blog, Charmian’s Corner. And she said just about the same thing as I wrote above. Her recipe is called “Brussels Meet Brandy,” because the recipe came from a cookbook called Kitchen Scraps. By Pierre Lamielle.

So what’s involved? Simmer at high heat halved Brussels in a little bit of water with a pat of butter added. You boil it until the water is nearly all gone (and the Brussels are nearly cooked through). Then you add brandy. Now I diverged just a little at that juncture. I couldn’t find the brandy bottle, but I found Gran Gala, an orange-based brandy liqueur sitting unopened on my booze shelf. I didn’t flambé the Brussels as the recipe indicated; I just boiled off the liquor. Then you add fresh orange zest, the juice from the orange, a minced shallot, some fresh thyme and dried cranberries. That’s it. Oh yes, just a bit more butter too. You cook it for a few minutes, turning and stirring until the Brussels are done and the orange juice has boiled down to a syrup. Serve while they’re hot. The preparation was really VERY easy. The recipe below is pretty-much Lamielle’s version except for the type of liquor, the fact that I didn’t flambé it, and I added fewer dried cranberries. And trust me, you’ll like them.
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One year ago: French Green Beans with Pears and Parmesan
Two years ago: Armenian Rice Noodle Pilaf (oh, is this ever delicious!)
Three years ago: Beer Margaritas (I don’t like beer, but I like these)

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The cookies I made last week, the Almond Cloud ones, were all given away. I wasn’t crazy about them (too sweet – they were too candy-like for my taste), although several other people I shared them with thought they were fabulous. Oh well. So, our cookie larder was bare. Dave does eat a chocolate chip cookie now and then when his blood sugar goes low, and I’m sorry to admit, but chocolate chip cookies are my all-time favorite. Mostly I make another recipe for them, called One-Bowl CC Cookies.

But sometimes I just want to try something different. This was from an older Gourmet issue. From the “You Asked for It” column. A regular reader who was about to move  out of the country was losing sleep over the thought of not being able to have her regular “fix” of CC cookies from the Silver Moon Bakery. This recipe is not online anywhere, except mention of the real-thing cookie you can buy from the bakery in New York City, whence this recipe comes.

What’s unique about them? They are: (1) more shortbread or cake-like in texture (because they contain a bit more butter than most cc cookies do); (2) smaller mounds of cookie, rather than flatter ones; (3) higher little mounds because the dough is chilled before making the dough balls to put on baking sheets.

Now, I did make a couple of changes to the Gourmet recipe. I added egg yolks (it’s what I had in the refrigerator) and since I’m a nut freak, I added chopped walnuts. Otherwise, the recipe is nearly identical. And what a great cookie this is. I made the cookies smaller than the recipe indicated (it said it made 30 2-inch cookies. I got 56 1 1/2 inchers out of the batch. I baked them at a lower temp (350 on convection instead of 375) for a bit shorter time (about 12 minutes). I also added bittersweet chocolate (the 365 brand from Whole Foods are little tiny squares of chocolate rather than the usual teardrop type) instead of semisweet. But you can use whatever you have on hand. Use a whole egg if you don’t have yolks on hand like I did.

We just LOVE them! Dave and I both. I took a few to one of my book club meetings the other morning (I’d just baked them, so they were almost still warm). Everyone thought they were very good. I really liked the texture – the more cakey, but firm cookie in the middle, plus the crispy edges are just what I like.
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One year ago: Cornflake-Crusted Halibut with Aioli Sauce
Two years ago: Shrimp, Bacon & Vegetable Chowder

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Out in our garage we have a 2nd refrigerator-freezer. It’s a bottom drawer freezer, this model. And I’ve reserved the space for frozen meat. Stashed way on the bottom are a couple of packages of ground pork, I think, from the last 4-H quarter pig we bought about 18 months ago. But the freezer completely shut off about 6 months ago and most of what was left of that meat I had to throw out. It hadn’t spoiled, but it certainly didn’t taste all that good. It had been just packed in butcher paper (not plastic pouch sealed as we’d requested), so when the freezer did its shutdown (we didn’t find out until nearly everything had reached room temp), I piled ice in there (which then melted and the bottom layer of meat was submerged in water), and later some dry ice too, and the meat all refroze eventually. But, the freezer burn on that pork was very prominent.

I need to take everything out of that freezer and discard those last couple of packages. But otherwise, that freezer is full of all kinds of meat – mostly from our home delivery meat guy, all purchased since our freezer meltdown. And the Costco boneless skinless chicken breasts I use all the time. And little beef tenderloins. And some fish. A bunch of pouches of frozen shrimp. And lovely, lovely pork chops. But last December I bought one of those huge crown roasts of pork at Costco, and cut it up into 2-bone chunks. There may be one more of those left, but I decided we should have some nice pork for dinner. Some of the good pork, purchased after our freezer problem. And incidentally, the Sears repair tech couldn’t find anything wrong. By the time he got here (that took 3 days) the freezer had decided to work again. The unit was still under warranty, so we had to wait those several days for the appointment.

SO, now we get to the recipe. Sorry it took so long to get here. I pulled out a recipe that had intrigued me back in 2004 (out of Gourmet), for pork chops grilled and served with a tomatillo and fresh apple chunky sauce. It just sounded so unusual. The recipe does still exist on the Gourmet website, with all the comments from people who made it and loved it. The only recommendation from readers was to use less salt. Fine. I changed it in the recipe below.

This lovely piece of pork looks like a kind of small oblong roast. With the 2 rib bones sticking out. I could have sliced the meat in half and made two chops, but I hoped the pork would be more tender and juicy if I left it in a larger piece. It just took longer to roast on the gas grill, but that was okay. We planned for it. Dave grilled it over high heat for about 10-12 minutes, turning once to get nice grill marks, then turned off the middle burner and let it sit while it roasted at a medium heat until it reached 150. We let it sit (loosely covered with foil) for 10 minutes, then sliced it and served it.

Results? Fabulous. Dave oohed and aahed all over the sauce. He thought it was off the charts delicious. The good thing – the sauce goes well on other things like chicken and fish, so the leftovers will be used tomorrow night. The pork was oh-so-very tender, even though I didn’t brine it at all. Just put on the herb rub (that contains some salt) about half an hour before. Thank you Costco! Next November or December we’ll be hoping Costco will have those long roasts again and I’ll buy two of them.
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One year ago: A true story about Corelle Dishes
Two years ago: BLT Smashed Potatoes
Three years ago: Chili Spaghetti

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Seems like I’ve been pressed for time at dinnertime for several evenings lately. The other night was no exception. We’d just returned from a 3-day trip to No. California and arrived home at 5:30 pm. After unpacking the car I quickly looked in the freezer and spotted some frozen filet of sole. Submerged in cold water, the plastic-sealed pouches defrosted in about 30 minutes. I grabbed a recipe I’d clipped out of Cooking Light ages ago and re-designed it to what I had on hand.

The Asian dressing ingredients were no problem (lemon juice, soy sauce, agave nectar, fresh ginger and a tiny, tiny jot of sesame oil). I cooked up a bit of bacon and shallots. They were set aside to drain while I sautéed the fish. Then I tossed together the salad (Romaine, arugula, radishes, green onions, cherry tomatoes) – but no dressing on it, you see. The salad was placed on a plate, the fillet placed on top of that, the dressing drizzled over the top of the fish, and the bacon-shallot mixture sprinkled on top. Done. Took less than 30 minutes beginning to end. It was a complete meal. A low-calorie meal at that. Even with the bacon, it has just 9 grams of fat. If you’d like a more “dressed” salad, make double the amount of dressing and toss half of it on the salad, the other half on the fish.

The dish was really good. The dressing was very light, but it did drip down onto the salad eventually once we started eating the fish, so it was sufficient, really. All-in-all, it was good, and yes, I’d make it again. Maybe even with salmon filets next time.
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One year ago: Chocolate Cake (a mayonnaise cake)
Two years ago: About Citrus Rosemary Gray Salt
Three years ago: Garlic VIP Dressing

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What’s that say, you ask? Happy Anniversary . . . Tasting Spoons . . .  this blog is three years old.

Yesterday, actually, was Tasting Spoons’ third anniversary. Can hardly believe it. It’s become a focus of my life, certainly. Here are some statistics:

979 posts are on my blog – how many of those are recipes, I actually don’t know, without counting them myself. Probably about 85% of them, so that’s more than 700 recipes. Yikes! Some other posts are travel stories, restaurant reviews once in awhile, some photo posts and an occasional blast about some food related issue too.

729 comments are on my blog. That’s actually very low as food blogs go. My readers like to read, but not to comment or write much.

200 regular readers check in daily to read my blog. That doesn’t count all the people who subscribe via email or through an RSS reader, so I actually don’t know how many more readers I have. But I appreciate each and every one of you. Thanks for stopping by, even if you don’t necessarily cook much of what I write about.

As long as you folks enjoy reading my stuff, then I’m still happily perking along trying new recipes. Thanks for reading. And thanks for telling me now and then, that you like the things I write, or the recipes I share. So thank you, my readers, for coming along on this journey. My wonderful camera I bought a year ago (a Canon Rebel XSi) has created some beautiful images – I think. I’m particularly proud of those.

And on a totally unrelated subject, if you haven’t seen these images of and about the volcano in Iceland, you owe it to yourself to go view these stunning photos (boston.com is the photography part of the Boston Globe):

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/more_from_eyjafjallajokull.html

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/icelands_disruptive_volcano.html

Image at top created using wordle.net

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