Gimme S'more Grahams!

Homemade grahams and fixin's for next level s'mores

I've been reading about homemade graham crackers for quite some time. The thing is I haven't made a habit of eating graham crackers just to eat them - I usually only eat them with s'mores and unfortunately I only eat s'mores when I'm camping. Sadly, no camping trips have been planned for this summer - you can see the dilemma. However, as fate would have it, the lovely Martha Stewart featured s'mores on the cover of her July 2012 magazine reminding me that July 4th was right around the corner. Just like that, a s'more festivus was created! Even better, the s'mores recipe featured homemade grahams with patriotic star cutouts. Oh how I love Martha - and Independence Day - and grahams - and s'mores. I altered her recipe a tad (this is an actual measurement) as my dough was too crumbly to roll out.  A little half & half did the trick. After several rounds of chilling in the fridge, cutting squares & stars and baking tray after tray - I can report these grahams were VERY tasty and not at all healthy in case you were wondering. I may start making them just to make them and not wait around for s'more season!

Graham Crackers
Adapted from Martha Stewart Living 2012

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons honey
•  As Needed - 1 1/2 teaspoon half & half (adjust as needed to make a workable dough)

Directions

1. Whisk together flours, wheat germ, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.
2. Beat together butter, sugar, and honey with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; beat until combined.
3. Turn out dough onto a floured surface, and divide in half. Roll out each dough half to 1/8-inch thickness, and refrigerate until firm, about 10 minutes. (If you find you can't roll out the dough, work in the half & half as needed). Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut out squares with a 3-inch fluted square cutter if you have it - or just eyeball it. Cut a star out of the center of half the cookies using a 1 1/2-inch star cutter or get creative with any shape. Reroll scraps once, and repeat. 





My stars weren't perfect - but I didn't hear any complaints!



4. Place squares 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets, keeping cookies with cutouts together. Refrigerate until very firm, about 15 minutes.
5. Bake cookies until dark brown, 14 to 16 minutes, rotating halfway through (star cookies take about 1 minute less). Let cool on sheets 10 minutes. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container up to 2 days.

Graham crackers, sparklers and my little brother devouring a s'more - I think he fell in love.

What the Kale!?!

It seems as though there is a kale craze running rampant. I'm happy to report I have been on the bandwagon for months now! Not only is kale delicious it is also nutritious - a perfect item for a blog devoted to tasty healthy things. I have two favorite recipes for kale: Kale Chips and Kale with Cannellini Beans and Bacon. The first is simple - the second is not. Today, we are going with simple. Let me start by setting your expectations at a reasonable level. Kale chips are in no way like a potato chip. Please don't be fooled by the many kale enthusiasts desperate for you to try kale chips with attempts at luring you in with false claims comparing kale to a potato. Yes, they are light crunchy seasoned bits of goodness but they do not have the taste or texture of a potato chip. I repeat: not a potato chip.

Now that expectations are set - on to the easiest recipe you will ever find! I make kale chips at least once a week...sometimes twice a week. Every time both cookie sheets of kale chips are gone within an hour (I have an abundance of snackers in my house). It is important to note the type of kale used - the curly kale  found in most grocery stores works much better than Lacinato "Dinosaur" kale often found at local farmers markets - I have a sweet cousin that can attest to this.

Kale Chips
Adapted from several sites

1 bunch kale
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt, to taste
**If you want a little kick add a dash of Cayenne Pepper, Garlic Salt or Paprika depending on your preference

Preheat oven to 300°F. Rinse and dry kale. Remove center ribs and stems. Cut or tear into pieces. Toss with olive oil in a bowl then sprinkle with salt. Arrange leaves in a single layer on two baking sheets. Bake for 20 minutes, or until crisp. Voila! Serve immediately...or not. They are great either way!

Some photos for reference:

Before (top) and After (bottom)
Mmmmm crispy goodness!

The final product

Cherry Amaretto Drop Cookies

Several weeks ago I invented a new recipe: Cherry Amaretto Drop Cookies. I can't take full credit for inventing the recipe per-se, rather I simply reconstructed an old recipe for Polka Dot Cookies (PDC) my mom and I make at Christmas. As far as I know, she and I may be the only people that like the PDC's, but nevertheless, we keep making them (and eating them). The PDC recipe calls for red and green maraschino cherries, walnuts and chocolate chips -- pretty fancy. However, with cherry season in full swing I decided to give the PDC recipe a classy little makeover. 

It all started by soaking some beautiful bing cherries in Amaretto <<Drool >>.  The end result was fab! I added chocolate chips to the last dozen for some variety. These tasty cookies have a cake or biscuit texture, they are not overly sweet. I recommend them to anyone looking to make good use of summer sweet cherries!

Cherry Amaretto Drop Cookies

Ingredients:
1 C. Margarine
1/2 C. Sugar
1/2 C. Brown Sugar
2 Eggs slightly beaten
2 tsp. Vanilla
4 C. Flour
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
2 tsp. Baking powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 C. Milk
1 C. Bing Cherries, halved
1/3 C. Amaretto

Combine cherries and amaretto in bowl, soak overnight. Mix dry ingredients in medium bowl. Mix liquids, except milk, in large bowl. Add dry ingredients to liquids alternating with addition of the milk.

Drain cherries of excess liquid. Fold into cookie dough.

Drop big teaspoons of batter onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees.

ENJOY!

Bing! It's Cherry Season!

Yesterday at the grocery store I wandered into the produce section as I would any other day - intending to pick up bananas for my husband.  Naturally, I would end up with some ho-hum citrus for myself.

Then I saw them.

My heart fluttered.

A smile swept across my face and I ran to them completely forgetting about the bananas, husband and citrus. "YES!!!!!" I shouted (in my head). "Alas! It is cherry season!" I LOVE cherries. Love them. 

An index of recipes started racing through my mind - visions of Bon Appetit! summer volumes perfectly illustrating cherries in desserts, salads, and glazes - oh the possibilities!

I left the store with only one bag. I promised myself to ease into it - savor the season. My little AbbyMuffin and I enjoyed them this morning on the patio (she really didn't have any - but she was certainly curious). It was a beautiful morning - birds chirping, hot coffee in my McDreamy/McSteamy mug and perfectly sweet cherries. I love summer.

Some recipes I would enjoy making and tasting:

From Bon Appetit! - Oh my.

 

Chocolate Cinnamon Mousse with Cherries

One Perfect Bite - I would say so.

Pork Medallions with Ancho Chili and Cherry Glaze

An avocado and a cherry? I'm very intrigued.

Avocado Cherry Salad

Oh Martha. You get me every time.

Fresh Cherry Tart

Brownie Cookies - For Health Reasons...

"Health Food" - the definition can vary depending on the person, latest diet trend or current level of stress.

In this case, I must share with you that my sister is getting married in one month. If that weren't enough to boost a girls' stress level, she has also volunteered to watch my dog Abby for the weekend while my husband and I are away. She's a saint.  Needless to say, her stress level is CODE RED: Needs Chocolate!!! 

This TastyHealthy Brownie Cookie Recipe I stumbled upon at Lifes Ambrosia will be the perfect "Thank you for watching my crazy dog - please try to relax" gesture.They certainly look like ooey gooey tasty delights and the health factor will be determined by the mental relief felt by those who taste them!

Makes 20-30 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 package fudge brownie mix
• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 stick butter, melted, cooled
• 2-3 tablespoons cold water
• 1 cup dark chocolate chunks (or Semi-Sweet...or Milk Chocolate...)

Instruction:

• Whisk together flour, brownie mix and brown sugar.
• Using a heavy spoon, stir in eggs one at a time. Followed by butter and 2 tablespoons water. If the batter appears like there is too much flour add 1 more tablespoon of water. Batter will be very thick.
• Fold in chocolate chunks

THICK batter....look at that spoon!

• Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease a cookie sheet or use parchment if you have it handy.
• Drop heaping tablespoons of dough on the cookie sheet, you want pretty thick cookies here to get the brownie feel, about 3 inches apart. Press down slightly. Don’t flatten completely.



Tasty little mounds - ready for baking

• Bake for 8-10 minutes.
• Remove from oven, allow to cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet.



Fresh out of the oven...mmmm...they smell good!



Let cool completely before dressing them up! I LOVE this baking twine.

Enjoy!