Potato Galette

Daffodils are by far and away my favorite flower. Daffodils are so sweet and undemanding. They bloom where they are planted and are content in the most humble of places but their beauty is fit for a king's garden. Stephen gave me these daffodil bulbs right before he left for basic Training last spring. These flowers make me think of him. Not that I don't anyway... but these are the sweetest remembrance of last Easter and my son.

 Spring is in the air and Easter is drawing near. I love Easter! It is a celebration of new life and a grand excuse to gather friends and family around the table. It is the chocolate, flowers, strawberry, and sunny skies season. I loved Easter when I was a little girl. My family always ate a big ham dinner and then my dad and grandpa hid Easter eggs all around our big yard. The kid who found the golden egg got a coin. My big brother ALWAYS found the golden egg. I NEVER found the golden egg but I did find lots of candy in my Easter basket. My Mom usually made me a new spring dress but she never made me wear an itchy Easter bonnet. My Mommy understood these things! My favorite dress of all was my pear dress. Yep! I was four years old when Mom made my pear dress. It was the most beautiful pink dress in the whole wide world. But I digress away from food. I get to cook Easter dinner again this year. It should prove to be a grand celebration. I have yet to plan the whole menu but the ham, dessert, and potatoes have been decided upon. I put the potatoes through a trial run Sunday. I thought they were great. The top was perfectly crunchy and the middle was soft, buttery, and just right salty. The recipe sounds like a lot of trouble but it really does slide together very quickly. I think it is easier than mashing potatoes just as everything else needs attention. I think they would also make a delightful addition to a brunch.
Potato Galette 

2½ pounds potatoes Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and sliced ⅛ inch thick

8 Tablespoons butter, divided

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

2 teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

1½ teaspoon  rosemary

Adjust oven racks to the lowest position and heat oven to 450°.

Peel and slice the potatoes using a mandoline slicer or the slicing attachment of a food processor. Place the sliced potatoes in a large bowl and fill with cold water. Use your hands to swirl the water to remove the excess starch. Drain the potatoes in a colander and then spread on paper towels and thoroughly dry.

Melt 4 tablespoons butter and then whisk in cornstarch, salt, pepper, and rosemary. Add the dried potatoes and toss until thoroughly coated. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a 10 inch cast iron skillet or other heavy bottomed ovenproof skillet and swirl to coat the pan. Place one potato slice in the center of the skillet then overlap slices in a circle around the center slice, followed by outer circle of overlapping slices. Place the remaining sliced potatoes on top of the first layer, arranging them so they form even thickness. Dot each layer with butter and a few sprinkles of salt and pepper to taste.

Place skillet over medium-high heat and cook until sizzling and potatoes around the edge of the skillet start to turn translucent, about 5 minutes. Spray a 12 inch square of foil with nonstick cooking spray. Place foil, sprayed side down, on top of the potatoes. Place a 9-inch cake pan on top of foil and fill with 2 cups of pie weights. Firmly press down on cake pan to compress potatoes. 

Transfer skillet to oven and bake 20 minutes.

Remove cake pan and foil from the skillet. Continue to bake until potatoes are tender when a paring knife is inserted in the center, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the potatoes from the oven and return the skillet to medium heat on stovetop and cook, gently shaking the pan (using a potholder - handle will be hot!), until galette releases from sides of pan, 2 to 3 minutes.

Off heat, place cutting board over skillet. With hands protected by oven mitts, use one hand to hold cutting board in place and 1 hand on the skillet handle, carefully invert the skillet and cutting board together. Lift skillet off galette. Use a serrated knife to gently cut wedges and serve immediately.

Shaker Lemon Pie

Tis the season for lemons. When life gives you a big box of lemons then get busy! You need to get those lemons preserved! I preserved 2-3 pounds in a salt brine. I will use those later to make a tagine. Another 3 pounds went into candied lemons. Then began the lemon curd processing and I wrapped up the whole lemony delight with a Shaker Lemon Pie. I combined the ideas from several recipes and then added a twist of my own just because I can. It think it turned out quite nice. The lemon retained just enough of its shape to add a nice toothsome quality to each bite;  I also loved the smooth texture and bright flavor made by the juice combined with the eggs, butter, and sugar. I made a pâte brisee for my pastry but I think it would have also been nice with my old standby When All Else Fails pastry.

This pie inspired me to look up the history of Shakers when I was enjoying Millar Time at PSU. They were an interesting bunch of people. The really odd thing is that they promoted celibacy in marriage. I know, that in itself is odd. Unbiblical, really. But that is another subject! Yeah... they wondered why the movement was not growing more rapidly. Let's see now. No babies... very unhappily married people... They never changed their ideas concerning making  family in the usual way but they did eventually promote adoption. Some of the adopted kids stuck with their new family; thus the sect enjoyed a longer history than it would otherwise have enjoyed. At any rate their pie is good. Here is the recipe.

Shaker Lemon Pie

Pastry for a two crust pie

2 large Meyers lemons

 2 cups sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

4 eggs

4 tablespoons butter, melted

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 egg white

Coarse sugar, for sprinkling

Thoroughly wash lemons, then dry with paper towel. Finely grate the zest into a small bowl. Mix in the sugar. Set aside for a full hour so the sugar can draw out the full lemon flavor from the zest.

Carefully peel as much pith off the lemons as you can then use a mandolin, to slice the lemons crosswise as paper thin as you can get them; remove and discard seeds. Put the  slices in a medium-sized bowl. Add salt to the sugar and zest mixture and then pour the sugar mixture over the lemon slices. Cover and set aside at room temperature for 24 hours.

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

 Roll out half the dough ⅛ inch thick on a lightly floured surface, fit it into a 9- pie plate, and trim the edge, leaving a ½-inch overhang.

In a large mixing bowl whisk the eggs and then add cooled, melted butter. Whisk well. Add the four and whisk until thoroughly combined. Add the macerated lemon-sugar mixture and mix gently until combined well. Pour into the prepared pie shell.

Roll out the remaining dough into a 12-inch round on a lightly floured surface, drape it over the filling, and trim it, leaving a 1-inch overhang. Fold the overhang under the bottom crust, pressing the edge to seal it, and crimp the edge decoratively.

Beat one egg white until frothy and brush over pie crust, then sprinkle with coarse sugar. Cut slits in the crust with a sharp knife, forming steam vents, and bake the pie in the middle of the oven for 25 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350°F. and bake the pie for 20 to 25 minutes more, or until the crust is golden. Let the pie cool on a rack and serve it warm at room temperature.

Saturday Morning Pancakes

My Saturday morning began like few others. At 7:10 I heard the sweetest voice singing Are You Sleeping, and then Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and then began a whole repertoire of Christmas songs and other songs Michael learned in church. I was thoroughly enjoying the early morning concert but as do so many good things, it ended. Michael began calling out my name, "Mimi! Mimi! Hey Mimi!" All was silent for a few moments and then Michael called out all the louder, "Mimi! Change my diaper! It is poopy!" Thus began my day with the most important task on my to do list. We got that diaper changed, washed up, and headed to the kitchen to begin task number 2. Somebody needed to feed this kid. I happily volunteered. 

I was excited to make buttermilk pancakes for my buddy. I used to make pancakes for the kids nearly every Saturday morning. I topped them with strawberries and whipped cream or maple syrup. Yummy! But for this special Saturday morning I had another idea. I made blackberry syrup from the abundant crop last summer and I had recently made lemon curd from the pounds of Meyer Lemons that landed in my kitchen. So I combined the two treats for Michael on top of my favorite buttermilk pancakes. He really liked it! The lemon curd was a perfect balance for the sweet, sweet blackberry syrup. The two combined were a burst of summer sunshine goodness.

I got carried away when I made up Michael's plate. He got 2 scrambled eggs, and 4 pancakes with blackberry syrup and lemon curd. I laughed when I placed such a large plate in front of the little guy. To my amazement he licked his plate clean (literally!). I served his Mom breakfast an hour later and Michael asked for more! 

There are few things more satisfying than waking up to a child singing and few things funnier than being called to poopy diaper detail! Of course feeding him was the proverbial cherry on top!

So here is the pancake recipe followed by the lemon curd recipe. I hope you try the combo. It really was a good idea. 

Saturday Morning Buttermilk Pancakes

2 cups flour

2 tablespoons sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

2 cups buttermilk

¼ cup sour cream

2 large eggs

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

Whisk flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together in a medium bowl. In a second medium bowl, mix together buttermilk, sour cream, eggs, and melted butter. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients; gently stir until just combined. The batter should remain lumpy with a few streaks of flour. Do not overmix. Allow batter to sit for 10 minutes before cooking.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12 inch nonstick skillet or griddle over medium heat until it is shimmering. Carefully wipe out oil with paper towels, leaving a thin film of oil in the pan. Using a ¼ cup measure portion batter into hot skillet. Cook until edges are set and bubbles on the surface are beginning to burst, 2 to 3 minutes. Flip pancakes and continue to cook until the second side is golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Serve pancakes immediately. Repeat with the remaining batter. 

Lemon Curd

2 cups sugar

1 cup fresh lemon juice (about 6 lemons)

4 large eggs plus 4 large yolks, beaten

¼ cup finely grated lemon peel (about 3 lemons)

1 ½ sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Set a fine-mesh strainer over a medium heatproof bowl next to the stove.

In a heavy, medium sized saucepan, whisk together the sugar, lemon juice, eggs, egg yolks and lemon peel. Add the butter and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes.

Lower the heat and simmer, stirring, until the mixture thickens and registers 160° on an instant-read thermometer, about 5 minutes. Strain the mixture into the prepared bowl, and then press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface. Let cool to room temperature. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to one month.

Peanut Blossoms

My little Buggy was piled from trunk to backseat with bags and bags of groceries. I was armed with a killer menu of all new foods and fun things to feed my kids and guests for Christmas. Now I have fun with all new recipoes and ideas but my kids look for same old, same old. To that end, I loaded up the passenger seat with a big container of fresh baked cookies made from tried and true recipes. Aah yes! I baked triple the Ginger cookies, Scottish Shortbread, Russian Teacakes, Angel Kisses, and gooey, fresh from the oven Peanut Blossoms.

Just one stop left... the airport! Stephen was flying in for Christmas. You should have seen his face when he opened the cookie container and found the Peanut Blossoms right on top. They are a childhood favorite. I don't know where the recipe came from. It has been in the family since I was a little girl. I hope you enjoy.

Peanut Blossoms

1¾cup flour

1 tsp soda

½ tsp salt

½ cup shortening

½ cup peanut butter

½ cup sugar

½ cup brown sugar

1 egg

2 Tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

2-10 ounce bags of Hershey Chocolate Kisses

Sift together flour, soda and salt. Cream butter, peanut butter, and sugars. Add egg, milk and vanilla and beat well. Refrigerate the dough 1 hour. Shape chilled dough into one inch balls and roll in sugar. Bake on ungreased cookies sheet for 8 minutes at 375°. Remove from oven and press unwrapped Hershey's kiss into the center of the cookie.

These are especially delicious when served warm, before the kiss has hardened!

Gingerbread for the Stout Hearted

So I texted son number 2 and asked him who makes a good stout. "Aaah... never mind," I texted back. "I see that Obsidian is a stout and it is a few pennies cheaper than this other stout." My choice was met with texting approval.
Son number one was impressed when he saw a bottle of the good stuff on my kitchen counter. And then I shocked him when I popped the top and poured half the bottle into a saucepan and brought it to a boil. If that was not hard enough on the dear boy he really went into shock when I added baking soda, brown sugar, and molasses to the hot stout. "NO! MOM, NO!!!!" Too late. I was on a quest to make the world's best gingerbread. I did not want that wimpy stuff that sinks in the middle or lacked strong, straight ginger zing. Oh no! If visions of gingerbread are going to dance in my head then I want the good stuff. I had my reasons for adding alkali baking soda to acidic beer, molasses, and sugar and I had my reasons for adding these taste boosters to my precious gingerbread. But I am sure you are much more interested in the final product than the science behind it. It took 2 batches to get a perfectly level, luscious, and tasty pan of gingerbread.
So here is the recipe. Be sure to serve it with a generous dollop of whipped cream. This is not a gingerbread for the faint of heart!

Gingerbread for the Stout Hearted

¾ cup stout

½ teaspoon baking soda

⅔ cup molasses

¾ cup packed light brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

1½ cup flour

2 tablespoons ground ginger

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon finely ground black pepper

2 large eggs

⅓ cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger

Adjust oven rack to the middle position and heat oven to 350°. Grease and flour an 8 inch square baking pan.

Bring stout to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. remove from heat and stir in baking soda. This will cause the stout to foam. When the foaming subsides, stir in the molasses, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until dissolved; set mixture aside.

Whisk the flour, ground ginger, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and pepper in a large bowl; set aside.

Transfer the stout mixture to a large bowl. Whisk in eggs, oil, and grated ginger until combined. Whisk wet mixture into flour mixture in thirds, stirring vigorously until completely smooth after each addition.

Transfer batter to prepared pans and gently tap the pan against the counter 3 or 4 times to release any large air bubbles. Bake until the top of the cake is just firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 35 to 45 minutes. Cool cake in pan on wire rack, about 1½ hours. OK. You do not really have to wait that long. It takes me about 15 minutes to dive into it. I love it when it is still so warm that it fairly melts my freshly whipped cream into a puddle!

Gooey Chocolate Cookies

I made these cookies for an office Christmas lunch but alas! and alak! I baked them a day early. I took a plate to the office and left a plate for my son. They disappeared moments after I left them in the lunchroom and received rave reviews from the home-front. Nick declared them to be the best cookies ever. It is nice that the office chow hounds enjoyed them but it is umpteen times nicer that my son enjoyed them. The kids gave me this plate the Christmas of 1995. It was the absolute brightest moment of that Christmas and has been a most treasured gift since then. I love this plate; it never fails to conjure up the sweetest memories of my kids. It has been a pleasure to pile it high with cookies every Christmas since. Do kids ever understand what their gifts mean to a Mommy until they have kids of their own?


Gooey Chocolate Cookies

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (18 ounce) box moist chocolate cake mix
Raw cane sugar for rolling cookies in.

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. beat in the egg. Then beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours
to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in raw cane sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart.
Bake 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and "gooey." Cool completely and serve them to your kids.

Ma's Easy Apple Cake

If Ma did not have an apple pie sitting on her sideboard then she had an apple cake. I could always count on good eats from her. I loved going to her house and helping myself to generous servings of her baked goods. Sometimes I ate several generous servings! Ma said I was not "fleshy enough"so she was happy to support my gluttony. This cake is very simple to bake and makes a great comfort food.
You would think I could leave well enough alone! But, no! I had extra pears in my kitchen and wondered just how they might bake up in Ma's Apple Cake. Well... sometimes my bright ideas are just that, bright ideas. But from time to time I finish my baking with the statement, "I shouldna' oughta' done that."Such was the case when I substituted pears for apples. I did not adequately compensate for the extra moisture in the pears so the cake turned out gooey. It tasted great but the texture was not particularly good. I ate a couple of pieces and took the rest to work. The chow hounds made quick work of it but a few had the gall to comment on the gooey-ness. They were right; it was too gooey.
I decided to leave her good recipe alone for now. Here it is as Ma made it. I hope you enjoy it. This cake has been a family favorite for years.

Ma's Easy Apple Cake

1½ Cups oil

2 cups sugar

2 eggs, well beaten

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups chopped, fresh apples

1 cup toasted walnuts

Preheat oven to 300°.

In a large mixing bowl combine oil, sugar, and eggs.

In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add to oil, sugar, egg mixture. Mix well.

Add vanilla. Stir in apples and toasted walnuts.

Pour batter into a greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Bake 45-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs.

Mom's topping:

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons milk

½ cup brown sugar

Mix all topping ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil 3 minutes. Pour over cooled cake.