Season

Cinnamon Sugar Crackers

April 2, 2012February 2, 2017

I recently found this recipe for cinnamon sugar crackers. The pictures looked like cheez-its, except no cheese, just a lovely dusting of cinnamon sugar. They’re like cookies but smaller and crunchier. A nice way to have something sweet but smaller servings and more snack-esque than cookies. They’re like a mix between a Snickerdoodle and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Cinnamon Sugar Crackers

Ingredients

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
5 Tbl sugar, divided
2 tsp ground cinnamon, divided
2 Tbl milk or half and half (I used 2%)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, combine the butter, flour, 4 Tbl of the sugar and 1 tsp of the cinnamon. Pulse until the mixture forms coarse crumbs. Now add the milk or half and half and process again until the dough comes together and forms a ball. In a small bowl, combine the remaining sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.

Dump out the dough onto a floured surface and, using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough out. You want it to be as much of a rectangle as you can and about 1/16 inch thick. With a pizza cutter wheel or a sharp knife, trim the sides off and cut the dough into 1 inch x 1 inch squares.

Carefully transfer the crackers to a baking sheet (preferably lined or greased). I needed to use my knife to help get the dough off the counter. Once on the baking sheet, take the blunt end of a skewer (or the end of a paintbrush because you don’t have any skewers around) and make a hole in the center of each cracker. This ensures that the crackers don’t puff up too much while they’re baking. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the crackers before baking them for 11-15 minutes. I baked mine for 11 minutes, turning them halfway through. You want the edges to be golden brown. After removing them from the oven, transfer the crackers to a rack to cool. Enjoy!

Lemon Rosemary Palmiers

April 1, 2012February 2, 2017

When I say palmiers, doesn’t something incredibly fancy and impossible to make come into your mind? It does for me. If the name is so French that Jonah can’t say it, it’s gotta be tricky. (Every time I told him I was going to make these, Jonah asked “What’s a palmier again?”) But that is so not true. Especially when you’re just going to use your leftover puff pastry from that beet tart you made… Seriously. So easy.

I found these on Joy the Baker and have been dying to make them. They’ve been calling my name from my Pinterest food board. I adapted the recipe and the method a teensy bit.

Lemon Rosemary Palmiers

Ingredients

1 package puff pastry
3/4 cup of sugar
zest of 1 large lemon
1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary (fresh is better, but dried will do just fine)

Instructions

Finely chop the rosemary and set aside. On a clean, flat surface rub lemon zest into the sugar using a bench knife (if you have one) or the back of a spoon (that’s more like it). Put the sugar in a bowl and set aside. Unfold the thawed puff pastry onto a lightly (very lightly) floured surface and roll it out a little bit. You don’t need it too much bigger, just like an inch on each side is good. Move the puff pastry somewhere else, sprinkle the surface with about 1/3 of the lemon sugar, and then put the puff pastry back on top of it, pressing it down a bit to get the sugar to stick. Once the puff pastry is down, spread the rest of the sugar and the rosemary over the surface.

Now tis time to roll. Roll the long side in towards the middle. Then roll in the other long side to the middle. Gently press the sides together so they stick a little bit (though the outside will be covered with lemon sugar, so mine didn’t stick crazy well). Wrap this in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for about an hour, or until it’s cold and relatively firm.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Remove dough from the fridge and slice in about 1/2-inch thick slices. Place on lined baking sheet (think silpat or parchment paper – I used foil and buttered/floured it, which work well). Bake for 10 to 15 minutes of until golden brown. You’ll probably want to rotate the baking sheet halfway through baking. Keep a close eye on the cookies after about 11 minutes. They might burn quickly because of all the sugar. Actually, because of the burning sugar, I replace the foil between each batch so it didn’t smoke. Remove the palmiers from the pan pretty much immediately after baking, and put them on a wire rack to cool. Once they’re cool, dig in and enjoy!

Lemon Baked Cod

March 29, 2012February 2, 2017

The other day I went to the grocery store in search of something to make for dinner. There was this lovely cod fillet that looked especially appetizing, and, knowing there was a lemon in the fridge with which to dress it, I bought some. After looking at a few recipes online, I decided to make up my own little recipe for lemon baked cod. It was really light and delicious AND easy.

Lemon Baked Cod

Ingredients

1 lb of cod fillet (I actually used about 3/4 of a pound, but this rounds things out and you’ll have leftovers)
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 Tbl lemon juice
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
a pinch of pepper
paprika

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cut the fish into serving sized pieces. In a small bowl, mix the butter and lemon juice. In another small bowl, combine the flour, salt, and pepper. Dip each piece of fish into the butter mixture to coat, and then into the flour mixture, turning to coat. After dipping, you can put the fish on a baking sheet or dish. Pour the rest of the butter/lemon mixture over the fish and sprinkle it with paprika. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork. Enjoy! We served ours with couscous and spinach. Yum.

Carrot Miso Soup

March 28, 2012February 2, 2017

Last week Jonah and I were feeling like soup. I had seen a carrot soup with miso recipe on Smitten Kitchen and decided that we should make it because a) it’s healthy and b) I love miso. It’s always nice to find recipes where you either don’t have to go to the store at all because you have everything or you only need to buy one or two things to make it. That was the case, so I was happy.

I’m going to be honest with you guys. I didn’t really like this soup. I liked the taste and everything fine, but I had a lot of trouble with the texture. Kind of reminded me of baby food, which isn’t so great when you’re not a baby. But I’m going to give you the recipe anyway because I think with a little adjusting here and there, the texture problem could be fixed. Whether the solution is more broth or cooking the carrots longer or having a better blender, I’m not really sure, but next time I might even try all of the above.

Carrot Miso Soup

Ingredients

2 Tbl olive oil
2 lbs carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves (6 if they’re small), peeled and chopped
1 Tbl finely chopped ginger
4 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup white miso paste
Toasted sesame oil
2 scallions, thinly sliced

Instructions

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the carrots, onion, and garlic and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the onion is translucent. Add the ginger and the broth, cover the pot, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the carrots are tender when poked with a fork, about 30 minutes.

Now, it’s time to puree the soup. You can either do this in batches in a blender or with an immersion blender. I used an immersion blender, which worked pretty well, but as I said above, maybe not well enough. In a small bowl , whisk the miso together with about a cup of the soup, and stir the mixture back into the pot of soup. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon into shallow bowls and top it all off with a drizzle of sesame oil and a sprinkle of the scallions. We also added a slice of bread. Enjoy!