I never made a big deal out of Valentine’s Day, and, really, I still don’t. My wife is just the same way. To us, it’s just a made up holiday, heavily marketed by Hallmark to make people feel guilty for being single. That doesn’t mean I don’t try to do something special for my wife; in fact, for our first Valentine’s Day, I made her a delicious dish of aromatic pistachio rice with apricot marinated chicken pieces. Usually, we’d rather opt for “just-us” time, over a candle-lit dinner in our own home.
So, this year should be no different, at least in terms of making something special. I’ve just really started getting into baking, and I’m learning more and more each recipe I try. In this formative phase, I usually just stick to a recipe as written. But, with a basic recipe as a foundation, it’s easy to come up with something unique and delicious. Inspired by the Valentine’s Day holiday, I came up with this delicious, pink cookie, reminiscent of Neapolitan’s cousin. Continue reading ‘Spumoni Cookies’
The Well Fed network has recently posted an entry about persimmons and gives a recipe for persimmon salsa. I thought, in the spirit of the Holiday season, I’d go a little different and post about a sweet variation on the persimmon theme. Here is a recipe for persimmon pudding, which is very much like a smooth bread pudding. The taste is somewhere around pumpkin pie, but the taste of the persimmon is more prominent than the pumpkin in a pie.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups milk
- 2 cups persimmon pulp
- 2 eggs
- 1 stick of butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients in two separate bowls.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, just incorporating them. Don’t overmix, or you’ll likely create gluten which will ruin the silky texture of the pudding.
- Add the mixture to a 13 by 9 baking pan and bake for 50 minutes, or until the mixture has a little wiggle, but spring back into place (like a custard).
- Allow to cool, and serve with whipped cream or this simple sauce:
Persimmon Pudding Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 1 3/4 cup water
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- dash of salt
Directions:
- Combine the ingredients in a medium saucepan.
- Bring just to a boil, then lower the head to medium-low.
- Cook until the sauce has thickened.
- Allow to cool slightly, then pour the sauce over the persimmon pudding.
- Allow the sauce to set, and serve (with whipped cream, even!)
I hope you enjoy! Happy Friday!
Erika, over a Kid Cuisine (part of the Well Fed Network–see the links section) just posted a recipe for Peanut Butter cookies which got me to thinking about my favorite Christmas cookies. I love sweets in the winter–there’s something particularly special about going to a friend’s or family member’s house and seeing the lavish spread of delicious sweets they’ve prepared (or had prepared) for you.
Apparently this is the norm in Scandinavian countries–my former boss told us a story yesterday about how her Norwegian mother-in-law would spend hours in the kitchen over the holidays. She’d spend this time preparing delectable goodies for those people who would frequent her home, and the spread would consist of several types of cookies and candy. Most contemporary folks now just stop by the bakery, because, as you can imagine, this is a time consuming process!
In the spirit of the holidays, I’m going to present to you a basic cookie dough recipe you can use for any kind of moderate sized, flat cookie. It’s basically a chocolate chip cookie dough, without the chips, and is easily customized.
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound of butter or shortening, softened
- 3/4 cup of granulated, white sugar
- 3/4 cup of brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 to 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
- Up to 10 oz of your choice of fillings
Directions:
- Cream the butter/shortening and sugars in a large bowl.
- Add the eggs and vanilla extract to combine
- Combine the dry ingredients separately, then add them slowly to the creamed butter/sugar mixture.
- Stir to combine, but don’t over work the dough.
- If you add less flour, your dough will be looser, meaning your cookies will spread out in the over. If you want firmer dough (and cookies with less diameter), add more flour.
- Stir in your mix-ins.
- Set the dough aside, in the refrigerator, to chill for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425.
- Take the dough out of the fridge and scoop it on to a baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches of space between the cookies.
- Bake for approximately 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are just beginning to turn golden.
- Cool on racks for about 20 minutes, and they are ready to eat. Cool longer if you plan on packaging them, to eliminate condensation.
This is a really simple recipe, and you probably won’t break the bank to make these. I would advise using only shortening or butter, though–margarine just don’t taste the same. Same with vanilla–use only the real stuff. A little really does go a long way.
Some variations: double chocolate chip (add 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder with the flour and chunked semi-sweet chocolate); Nutella chip (replace 1/4 cup of fat with 1/2 cup of Nutella spread and chunked simi-sweet chocolate; chopped hazelnuts optional).
What is your favorite holiday cookie recipe?
