Holiday Maple Cookies

I love maple syrup. I basically eat pancakes just for the syrup. I am always looking for recipes with maple syrup or extract in them, so when I came across this Martha Stewart recipe for Maple Leaf Cookies (can't find the recipe online anymore, but here's a pic) I had to give them a try.

The last few Martha recipes I've tried have been a disaster. Lots of steps (which I followed!) and then bland boring nothingness as a result. These looked so cute though, I had to give her one more shot. But I learned my lesson from last time: no need to totally follow her intricate and sometimes unnecessary steps, learn her tips once and use them again (ex. use of the freezer in this one!), and don't feel pressured to make the cookies AND the cookie tin, like she does. :)

They actually came out great--delicious and adorable. I made a few alterations, skipped a step or two, and used Chinese take out boxes and pretty napkins to wrap them up and deliver them as holiday gifts in the office!

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup grade A maple syrup (not the fake kind!)
vegetable oil cooking spray
Parchment paper
Cookie cutters

For the glaze:
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2 tsp light corn syrup
1/2 tsp maple extract
2-3 tsp milk
Sprinkles, etc (optional)

Preparation:
Sift flour and salt into a medium bowl
Beat butter and sugars on medium high speed until creamy (3 min or so)
Reduce speed and add yolk and maple syrup
Slowly add flour, beating until just incorporated
Shape into two disks, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 2 hrs to 2 days.

**Note here: I refrigerated my dough for 1 day and when I took it out, it was impossible to work with. In retrospect I think it would have helped if I had kneaded the dough a bit before freezing it. As it was, it kept breaking into crumbly bits when I tried to roll it out. I have a feeling Martha would say not to let the dough thaw before trying to work with it, but I got so frustrated trying to roll out the cold dough I almost tossed it out! I let it thaw about 15 minutes, had a much easier time rolling it out, and my cookies turn out just fine. So there Martha!

When ready:
Roll out disks of dough to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness (I like them thick, more chewy. If you prefer crispy, roll thinner) on a lightly floured sheet of parchment paper
Place sheets with dough on baking sheets and freeze for 15 minutes
Remove from freezer, and take dough off parchment paper
Coat the baking sheets with cooking spray, re-line with the parchment, and coat parchment with cooking spray
Cut out cookies from frozen dough (freezing helps them keep their shape!) and space 1 inch apart on sheets (they don't expand much)
Roll out and cut remaining scraps
Put back in freezer for 15 min
Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Bake cookies until edges turn slightly golden, about 15 minutes
Cool on wire racks

For glaze:
In small bowl, beat/mix confectioner's sugar and milk until smooth. Add corn syrup and extract and mix until icing is smooth and glossy. Add more milk or corn syrup to thin if needed. You can add food coloring here if you wish, but I like the nice light brown of the maple extract. Smells amazing!

Using butter knife, spread glaze thinly on cookies. Top with sprinkles, etc while wet.
Allow to dry for at least 20 minutes.
Deliver to friends and co-workers. :)

Low Fat Non Dairy yet Still Delicious Pumpkin Muffins

I discovered this recipe back in high school when I, in crazy teenage girl fashion, decided not to consume anything with fat in it. I found all these recipes that found ways to eliminate fat: replacing oil with yogurt, replacing butter with applesauce...usually these recipes resulted in breads that tasted (and often felt) like rubber or muffins that had to be dunked in something while eating so you could actually chew them. Of course, I knew nothing about nutrition or calories, or that when things are low-fat, that generally means they are high in sugar. Like Snackwell's FAT FREE Devil Food cookies. Remember those? I used to eat those by the box. No guilt. Anyway, these muffins use honey in addition to sugar, which gives added sweetness and makes then super moist. And since they have no oil/butter in them, that means you can slather them with butter afterwards. Twisted logic? Not for me. :)

Those of you who are extra ambitious, make use of one of your decorative pumpkins and make the key ingredient yourself. Just cut, roast or steam, then peel and puree the pumpkin. You'll also have the extra treat of having fresh pumpkin seeds for roasting.

Also, this is yet another one-bowl recipe!


Ingredients:
2 eggs
3/4 cup honey
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup cooked mashed pumpkin
1/4 cup water
1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
some salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin tin or bread pan.
Mix all ingredients well in one bowl.
Pour into tins or pan. Be sure not to overfill, this rises quite a bit.
Bake for approx 25 min for muffins, 1 hr for bread. Baking time varies so check often with a tester. When the tester/knife/toothpick comes out clean, it's finished.
Let cool on a cooling rack. It smells so goodd you'll be anxious to dig right in, but this recipe requires some time for the muffin/bread to set so be patient!

One Bowl (You can do it!) Honey Challah

This Challah manages to taste as good as it looks--a noteworthy achievement considering its glistening crust and audacious braids. Its creator will offer you a recipe and some instructions, but its execution requires a degree of techne (craft/art). The fact that Sabrina's food is infused with love can't hurt either. --Guest Blogger and challah eater Danny Steinberg


I'm filing this post under recipes AND rainy day activity, because come on, what's better on a cozy day than the smell of fresh bread in the oven?

Note: This recipe calls for 3 risings (1hr min, 30 min, 1 hr). If time is short, you can do two. The suggestion is to leave the dough to rise in a warm place. Since I don't have a boiler in my apt, I let the dough rise in a warmed oven that had been turned off. If you choose to do this, the first step in this recipe is to preheat the oven to its lowest setting and turn it off. You can also choose either of the first two risings in the refrigerator for as long as you'd like. The recipe says for a few hours, but I did mine overnight and the third rising in the oven and it tasted great. Just be sure to let the dough come to room temp before kneading/braiding.

Ingredients (makes 2 loaves):
1.5 packages of active dry yeast (1.5 tablespoons)
1 TB plus 3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup olive or vegetable oil
5 large eggs
1 TB salt
8 cups all purpose or bread flour
Approx 2 TB honey
optional: 1/2 cup raisins per challah, poppy or sesame seeds

Preparation:
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 TB sugar in 1 3/4 cups of warm water.

Whisk oil into yeast and then 4 eggs, one at a time. Add in remaining (3/4 cup) sugar and salt.

With a wooden spoon, gradually add flour. When dough holds together in a ball, it is ready for kneading.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Usually takes about 5 minutes.

Clean out bowl and grease it with oil or cooking spray. Return dough to bowl and put it in prewarmed oven or fridge to rise (see note above) for 1hr. Hopefully it it will double in size. Mine doesn't always but still seems to work!

Punch dough down and let rise another 30 minutes.

Turn dough onto floured surface, split in half, and braid! (if you are using raisins, add them now)

6 braid challahs are beautiful, but even with explicit instructions, I can never make them. So, if you know how, great. If you don't and want to stick with the 3 braid, the easiest way it to it is to rolls the dough into 3 long rods, each at least 12 inches long. Place them in a row and pinch the middles together so it looks kind of like a bow tie with the knot in the middle and 3 fingers coming out from each side. Proceed to braid each side (outside rod to the middle, alternating) and pinch the ends when you're done. If you want a round challah, once you're done braiding, pinch the two ends together (firmly! They tend to fall apart during the next rise).

Do the same with the other loaf. At this point in the recipe I used, it suggests if you want to save the second loaf to braid it and then freeze it (braid and egg wash after defrosting for about 5 hrs). When I did this, the braids completely fell apart. So, I would suggest freezing the dough BEFORE braiding. Although, I guarantee you will eat the first loaf so fast you'll wish you had baked them both. No more freezing for me.

Place loaves/loaf on greased cookie sheet (leave space for expansion in between). Beat the remaining egg with the honey and brush over the challah. Be generous, this is the part that gives the bread the beautiful sheen and nice crunch.

Let rise another hour.


Preheat oven to 375. Bake on middle rack for about 30-40 minutes or until darkly golden. (I made the mistake of taking them out when just golden and found myself with a raw center...)

Cool loaves on a rack.

Eat with butter and raw honey while warm. Use leftovers for french toast. Bring to dinner parties. Make mini versions for sandwiches. Possibilities are endless.

Quick and Easy Lentil Salad

Mmmm...lentils. They are so pretty--round, delicate, colorful--and so healthy! But I never seem to know what to do with them. I bought some beautiful Turkish red lentils at Sahadi's last week, my favorite go to place for specialized ingredients.


Some friends came over for an all veggie dinner tonight, so I gave my mom's lentil salad recipe a try. My mom's recipes are the best--minimal ingredients, usually quick and easy, use fresh ingredients, and taste great. Turns out the recipe is no exception. Delicious and literally took me 10 minutes to make with plenty of leftovers for lunch.


Ingredients:
Any type of lentils (I used small red Turkish lentils)
Fresh herbs (I used chives)
Whatever veggies you have laying around (I used tomatoes)
Rice wine vinegar
Salt/Pepper
Olive Oil
Lemon

Preparation:
Pour desired amount of lentils into pot of boiling water. I used approximately 2 cups which made much more than I expected.
Simmer on stove for approximately 10 minutes, Remove from heat at the moment when the lentils go from crunchy to tender. They turn to mush incredibly fast so be vigilant!
Strain lentils and rinse with cool water to stop them from cooking.
Mix lentils with fresh herbs, veggies (best are tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, celery), juice of half a lemon, salt/pepper, and rice wine vinegar (amount depends on amount of lentils you cook, and I love rice wine vinegar so use a generous amount). Use the amount you would to heavily dress a salad.
Finish with a small amount of olive oil.
Delicious to eat right away, but flavors will set if you refrigerate for a bit.

Incredible Blueberry Crumb Bars

Although we are just past blueberry season, we are quickly approaching dessert season: winter. So now is the perfect time to make these amazing blueberry crumb bars. Calling them bars, even though this is basically a cake, means you can eat them for breakfast. :) I found this recipe here. Half this recipe and you'll still have plenty.
Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of one lemon
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

3. In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. (This took an extra 20 minutes in my oven, last 5 minutes on broil to get the top crunchy.) Cool completely before cutting into squares. Store in fridge or freeze to eat later.

Relaxing Day Trip #1: Brighton Beach!!

People love to leave the City for the weekend and escape to the beach. Beaches in NJ and Long Island are beautiful, but getting there can be a pain! Rushing to the train station and paying big bucks to fight for seats and sit on the train for hours sometimes just doesn't seem worth it.

Enter Brighton Beach.

A short subway or bike ride from central Brooklyn (and totally doable from Manhattan), Brighton Beach is where it's at! Russian delicacies along Brighton Beach Boulevard, plenty of space to set up shop on the beach, amazing people watching, shimmering water, and waves just high enough to jump over--what more could you ask for? There are also relatively clean bathrooms and changing areas and Coney Island amusements are just a short walk along the boardwalk away.

For those of you who have yet to experience Brighton Beach, I highly recommend taking advantage of the designated bike path (built in 1894 and the nation's first!) along Ocean Parkway, which will get you to the beach in less than 30 minutes without worrying about getting hit by a car of crazy hipsters or being stuck on a stalled F train.

Rainy Day Activity: Homemade Bath Salts

Lavender is my favorite bath addition and in addition to smelling amazing, has many medicinal and aromatherapeutic properties you might not know about. Lavender is natural antiseptic and is great for healing healing minor cuts, burns, and insect bites. Lavender is known for its soothing and relaxing properties and has been shown to relax muscles, ease headaches, and relieve stress. Even better, lavender is naturally soporific--perfect for a bath right before bed.

So the question is, how to get the lavender in the bathtub? If you have fresh or dried lavender, you can put it right into a mesh tea bag and drop it in the tub as it's filling up. Since for most of the year I don't have easy access to fresh lavender, I prefer the bath salt method. Easy, smells great, and they last forever. Also, combining lavender with epson or sea salts is especially good for muscle aches and pains, as salts are known for their healing properties.

Recipe for Lavender Bath Salts:

1 bag of Epson Salts (usually sold in a cardboard box at your local drug store)

*if you want to step it up a notch, try one of these high end fancy salts

1 small bottle of lavender essential oil
*you can actually use any essential oil for this. Grapefruit, jasmine, and rose are some other nice ones

Preparation:

Pour salts into large mixing bowl.

Mix salts with essential oil. The more salts you use, the more oil you need. At least 20 drops for a solid scent. Add more if you like a stronger scent.

Pour into plastic bags and tie with ribbon, or use these cute tins and affix your own labels!

These also make great party favors, bridal or baby shower gifts!

Heavenly Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Why you need an ice cream maker, Reason #1:

Today on my way home from work , I stopped at the supermarket, headed straight for the ice cream aisle, and walked away with nothing. Not only was I disappointed with the boring selection (namely the lack of peanut butter chocolate chip), but I just can't believe how expensive ice cream is! Not worth my $5. So, I made a beeline for the dairy aisle, picked up some half and half and whole milk, and headed home to make my own.

It's hard to find a good solid (i.e. easy) recipe for peanut butter chocolate chip ice cream. Especially one that doesn't use eggs. Not that I'm against eggs, but making ice cream with eggs usually involves cooking a custard on the stove and I generally don't have the energy (or the patience) for cooking when I'm making ice cream.

Yes, you will need an ice cream maker to make this. However, my $50 Cuisinart Ice Cream Machine has been well worth the investment. There is nothing like homemade ice cream and the independence you have to make any combination of flavors and use your favorite all natural ingredients.

I found this recipe for Peanut Butter Ice Cream here. Made a few adjustments to make it a bit healthier and added chocolate chips to get me right back to where I started. I eat a lot of ice cream so I try to cut back the fat a bit by using milk instead of cream. You'll be surprised how you can't tell the difference! The result is a creamy, crunchy, peanut butter infused dream. And it comes out perfect from the freezer, not icy like some non-custard recipes. Yum!

Ingredients:
1 cup all natural (peanuts only) crunchy peanut butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups whole milk
1/3 cup half & half (for creamier ice cream, use more half & half, less milk)
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
half a bag of chocolate chips

Preparation:
Combine the peanut butter and sugar in a blender until smooth. Add the milk. Blend on low speed until smooth and the sugar is dissolved. Add the half & half and vanilla and pulse until blended. Pour into ice cream maker. When thick, mix in chocolate chips, scrape into freezer safe container or in small individually sized tupperware containers.