Scotch-a-Roos

Here's the recipe for the Rice Krispy treat that's made without marshmallows and is frosted with melted chocolate and butterscotch chips.  It is TO DIE FOR and so easy to make.  

SCOTCH-A-ROOS
 Adapted from Rick Fox
 Time: 30 minutes
 
 1 cup Karo syrup
 1 cup sugar
 1 cup peanut butter
 5 1/2 cups Rice Krispies cereal
 12 ounces milk chocolate chips
 6 ounces butterscotch chips.
 
 1. Bring Karo syrup and sugar to a boil over low heat.
 2. Remove from heat and add peanut butter and the Rice Krispies.
 3. Spread evenly into 9-by-12-inch cake pan. Do not press down.
 4. Melt milk chocolate and butterscotch chips together over low heat (or in a double boiler).
 5. Spread melted chips over top and let cool. Cut in squares and serve.
 
 Yield: About 24 servings. (Although, seriously, if you don't cut this into about 40 pieces, you will have to serve insulin alongside each piece.  It is that sweet.)

Vegan Cupcakes

Ripped from a 1/24/2007 NY Times recipe (which in turn was ripped from "Vegan With a Vengeance," by Isa Chandra Moskowitz)

FOR THE CUPCAKES:

Nonstick cooking spray

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder

3 tablespoons black cocoa powder (see note) or more Dutch-process cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup plain soy milk

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

FOR THE FILLING:

1/3 cup nonhydrogenated margarine, such as Earthbalance

1/3 cup nonhydrogenated shortening

21/2 to 3 cups confectioners’ sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the chocolate icing:

1/3 cup plain soy milk

4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup or confectioners’ sugar

For the royal icing:

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 to 2 tablespoons plain soy milk.

1. For the cupcakes: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-muffin pan with paper liners, and spray lightly with nonstick spray. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a mixer, combine the soy milk, oil, syrup, sugar, vinegar and vanilla. Mix at medium speed for 2 minutes. Add half the dry ingredients and mix to blend. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix for 1 minute.

2. Use a standard ice cream scoop to fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Turn out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

3. For the filling: In a mixer, beat margarine and shortening until combined. Add 21/2 cups confectioners’ sugar and beat until very fluffy, about 10 minutes. Taste for sweetness and add remaining 1/2 cup sugar if desired. Add vanilla and beat for 1 minute more.

4. For the chocolate icing: In a small skillet, bring soy milk to a simmer. Reduce heat to very low and stir in the chocolate and maple syrup, stirring until just melted. Turn off heat.

5. For the royal icing: Using an electric mixer or by hand, sift sugar into a bowl and add 1 tablespoon soy milk. Mix, adding up to 1 more tablespoon soy milk until consistency is like stiff toothpaste.

6. To assemble: Prepare two pastry bags, one fitted with a large plain tip, and one with a small writing tip. Fill large-tipped bag with filling, and the small-tipped bag with royal icing. (Instead of pastry bags, thick resealable plastic bags may be used. For filling, cut off one corner of bag so the opening measures a scant 1/2 inch across. For icing, opening should be just large enough to pipe a thin line.)

7. Using your pinkie, poke a hole in center of each cupcake top about an inch deep. Push tip of pastry bag with filling into each hole, firmly squeezing in filling and slowly drawing tip up and out. When all cakes have been filled, wipe off any excess that sticks out from holes; tops of cupcakes should be flat.

8. Place cupcakes on a baking sheet or tray that fits in refrigerator. Rewarm pan of chocolate icing over low heat if necessary, stirring constantly. Dip top of each cupcake into icing, swirling to coat completely. When all cupcakes are dipped, refrigerate 10 to 15 minutes to set. When set, use royal icing to make squiggles across center of each cupcake. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve, up to 1 day.

Yield: 12 cupcakes.

Note: Black cocoa, which gives the cake its characteristic dark color and bittersweet flavor, is available from King Arthur Flour, (800) 827-6836,kingarthurflour.com

Really, I should pass these off as Hostess Cupcakes and then no one would look at me funny!

Overnight Coffee Cake

So let's just not talk about the vegetable challenge, okay?

Below is a brilliant recipe and if we hadn't eaten almost the entire thing this morning, I'd include a photo. Maybe next time . . .

Ingredients:
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 TBS. ground flax seed meal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup buttermilk

Strudel topping:
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 TBS all-purpose flour
3 TBS butter, softened.

Directions:
1. Grease an 8" square baking pan. Cream together butter and sugars. Add egg and blend well. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon. Stir the flour mixture into butter mixture, then add buttermilk. Spread evenly into pan.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the strudel topping and sprinkle over the batter.
3. Cover pan and refrigerate overnight.
4. the next day, preheat oven to 350* and bake for 40 - 45 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

This recipe made me figure out how to use my oven timer -- I set the timer to preheat the oven, so I could just put the pan straight into the oven and then go back to sleep for a bit. Now, imagine if they had ovens that kept things cold and THEN heated them up. I wouldn't have had to get out of bed at all!

The Vegetable Challenge

Okay, enough dessert recipes -- I'm challenging myself to cook with vegetables for one week. I've mentioned before that I belong to an organic vegetable & fruit co-op. Every two weeks, I get a laundry basket full of seasonal, organic, mostly locally grown produce. The fruit is never a problem to consume, but the vegetables -- well, that's another matter. I like to think that I eat and cook healthily, but the reality is that I don't. The vegetables often rot in the crisper and end up as compost. So, this week I will cook and consume ALL the vegetables. Here's what I got today:

Parsnips
Carrots
Romaine lettuce hearts
1 giant sweet potato
Several white sweet potatoes
1 cheese pumpkin
Sweet peppers
Celery
Dandelion greens

Looking over the list, it doesn't look like all that much. How hard could it be to cook it all in a week? I've already decided to let myself off the hook with the dandelion greens and give them to a vegetarian neighbor. I don't like dandelion greens, no one else in my family will eat them and I just can't think of anything creative to do with them.

Right, I'm off to peel and cube some veggies for roasting tonight. Check back in for recipes.

Sausage French Toast Bake

This is recipe cribbed from the Fleischman's yeast website, but I've made significant changes to it. For one thing, they call for more eggs and much more butter than I use. They also suggest you mix it all in the pan (in fact, they call this "One Dish Sausage and French Toast Breakfast".) You can do it that way, but I find that it makes the final result stick to the pan annoyingly, so just use a bowl and transfer it to the pan. We all have dishwashers, right?

Sausage French Toast Bake

Batter:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3 TBS flax meal

3 tsp Rapid Rise yeast

2 TBS sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

2/3 cup milk (very warm, 120 - 130*)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

1 TBS cold butter, cubed

Topping:

3 TBS cinnamon sugar

2 eggs

2 TBS milk

6 pre-cooked sausage patties (I like to use soy sausage)

3/4 maple syrup

1. Spray 8 x 8 pan with cooking spray.

2. Mix batter ingredients together in a separate bowl

3. Scrape into pan and let sit with you make the topping

4. Cook the sausage patties

5. Mix eggs and milk together

6. Top batter with cinnamon sugar and sausage patties. Pour egg mixture on top.

7. Place pan in cold oven. Set to 350* and bake for approximately 30 minutes, until even brown on top.

8. Drizzle maple syrup on top when serving.

Cauliflower

I notice that the majority of my blog entries are for desserts. I just can't deny the fact that I don't care for cooking main courses. There is no fun if there's no sugar. However, I feel the need to experiment outside of my comfort zone and am determined to blog a vegetable dish each week.

You see, I was always brought up with vegetables that were either steamed or boiled to death. (The legacy of a stalwart, British/Colonial mother.) Vegetables were supposed to be healthy, so there could be no adulteration in the form of glazes or sauces or butter or anything tasty that might add calories, fat or sodium. Consequently, I am not a big fan of the cooked vegetable. However, I belong to an organic produce co-op and every other week I get a laundry basket full of fruits and vegetables. The fruit is no problem to consume, but there have been weeks when my compost pile has benefitted more than my stomach has.

This week's challenge vegetable is -- well, there are several, but I'll just start with the cauliflower. Never much cared for it -- served simply steamed, it is kind of nasty looking and a bit smelly. (Plus, it didn't help that the Elephant Man was described as having a monstrous looking "cauliflower ear".)

1 head cauliflower, broken up into florets
2 TBS olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2/3 cup bread crumbs (be a martyr and make your own from stale bread by whizzing them in the food processor or blender. I, however, used Progresso Italian Style)
1 TBS fresh chopped parsley
1 tsp. dried tarragon
1 TBS Dijon mustard

1. Steam cauliflower until just short of tender
2. Saute garlic and oil in a large frying pan. Add bread crumbs after garlic is fragrant and golden. Cook for a few minutes and then add parsley, tarragon and mustard. Mix it all together and warm it through. Add steamed cauliflower, toss well and serve.

It is actually yummy!

Apple Pie

The crust recipe comes from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, but the filling is my own. (Well, really, apple pie is just apples, spices and sugar, so not much of a recipe is needed.) I also cheat madly and buy a pre-made crust for the bottom. I can't ever manage to roll both top and bottom crusts without a breakdown (of both crust and me.)

Apple Pie Filling

Apples (about 6 large, peeled, cored and sliced about 1/4" thick. I like to use a mixture of hard apples -- think Granny Smith, Cortland, Rome, Jonagold -- and soft -- think McIntosh, Gala, Fuji.)

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 TBS. all-purpose flour
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. cardamom
1/8 tsp. allspice
3 TBS crystallized ginger, chopped (optional)

1 egg white
1 TBS sugar

1. Preheat oven to 425* degrees. Peel, core and slice apples. Toss with sugar, flour, lemon juice, salt, spices and ginger (if using).

2. Mound apples in unbaked pie crust. Lay top crust over apples and crimp the edges. Cut several vent holes in top crust. Brush with egg white and sprinkle with 1 TBS of white sugar.

3. Bake for 25 minutes, until top crust is golden. Reduce heat to 375* and bake an additional 30 minutes or so (until crust is a deep golden brown.)

Pie Crust
(from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook)

1 purchased pie crust in pan

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 TBS sugar
1 tsp. salt
8 TBS vegetable shortening (like Crisco)
12 TBS unsalted butter
6 - 8 TBS ice water

1. Throw all ingredients, EXCEPT WATER, in the food processor. Pulse it on and off until mixure resembles big crumbs, then gingerly pour just enough ice water in to bind the crumbs together and make a big doughy ball.

2. Split ball in two. Flatten each ball into a disk and wrap both in Saran Wrap. Put both disks in the freezer -- one for 15 minutes and one to freeze solid, ready for your next pie.

3. After 15 minutes, remove 1 dough disk and start the rolling process. I have the most awful time with this -- I've not yet mastered the art of rolling out an even, smooth, perfectly round pie crust. And this crust, with all the shortening and butter in it, is very delicate. SO, I cheat by sprinkling a bit of flour on a large sheet of wax paper and placing the dough disk on that. Another sprinkle of flour and then I put another piece of wax paper on top of the dough. I use my rolling pin ON TOP of the wax paper so that a circle of dough is rolled out between the two sheets of wax paper. It's fairly easy to peel off the wax paper and much easier to transfer the round of dough backed by one sheet of wax paper onto the mound of apples. Peel off the second piece of wax paper, crimp the edges and poke some vent holes into the top crust. Then follow the baking instructions above. I'd recommend baking this pie on top of a rimmed cookie sheet because it is very juicy. Unless, of course, you enjoy cleaning burnt sugar off your oven floor.