Baking season is here!

I work at an afterschool program and for snack the children usually have veggies and sunflower butter, or crackers, cheese sticks, fruit or sandwiches. We always have a lot of left overs. Well, I came across this recipe in a magazine that my Mom always sends me. It's a local super market magazine in Northern California, Something Extra Magazine. I found the perfect cookie recipe to share with the children using some of the sunflower butter. I hope they like Chocolate Sunflower Cookies.

Chocolate Sunflower Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sunflower seed butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup Nestle Toll House Delightfulls Caramel Filled Morsels
3/4 cup roasted, salted sunflower seeds

Stir together butter and sunflower seed butter in a large bowl; beat in sugars, then beat in vanilla and eggs. Stir in flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt, then stir in caramel morsels. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll dough into 1½-inch balls and roll in sunflower seeds. Place on baking sheets and bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool completely, then store in an airtight container.


These cookies look a lot lighter in color, but they are much darker (and not the greatest photo, either). I didn't have sunflower seeds, I just sprinkled the tops with turbinado sugar instead. Hope you give this recipe a try and share with your family and friends this holiday season.

Chunky Pecan Pie Bars

Okay, it's been a month since I last posted, I apologize. I still haven't unpacked everything to move into our new kitchen and here I am again packing up two other rooms for the next phase of our home remodel project. That would be the guest/sewing room and master bedroom and bath. I can't wait until it will all be done, it seems like it will never end.

Anyway, last weekend we went to a Christmas party where guest were asked to bring a dessert. This is my contribution, they are very sweet, but delicious, especially if you love Pecan Pie. I got this recipe from my Mom (and then found it all over the internet), she made them for Thanksgiving and everyone loved them. As well, as the pies, cookies and pumpkin bread she made! It was not a good place for me to be, but that's okay. Enjoy the recipe!

Chunky Pecan Bars

Crust:

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

Filling:

3 large eggs

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup corn syrup

2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cup Nestle's Toll House Semi-Sweet Chooclate Chunks, 11.5-oz. pkg.

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 13x9-inch baking pan.(I found to not skimp on this part, because it can be tricky getting out of the pan)

For Crust: Mix flour, butter and brown sugar in small mixer bowl until crumbly. Press into prepared baking pan.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

For Filling: Beat eggs, granulated sugar, corn syrup, butter and vanilla in medium bowl with wire whisk. Stir in chunks and nuts. Pour evenly over baked crust.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until set. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.

Eggplant and Four-Cheese Cannelloni

It's been another busy week, and cooking for my family, of course, but not remembering to take photos! Need to remember to have my camera handy. Anyway, when I was on my crepe-making spree a few weeks ago, I made this delicious eggplant and four-cheese cannelloni recipe.

 I was online looking up crepe recipes and found a video of Sara Moulton making crepes and then filling them with cheeses, I just had to try it.

Sara's Eggplant and Four-Cheese Cannelloni

12 crepes

1 med. eggplant, peeled, and cut crosswise, about 1/3" thick

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3/4 cup freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese

1/2 cup coarsely grated mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup coarsely Italina fontina cheese

1/2 cup whole milk riccotta cheese

2 cups homemade tomato sauce or your favorite store bought tomato sauce (I used my marinara sauce)

1/4 cup shredded fresh basil, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Brush both sides of the eggplant slices with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Arrange in one layer on a large sheet pan lined with parchment (I used my Silpats). Bake until tender, about 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Combine the cheeses and season lightly with salt and pepper.

Top each crepe with 2 to 3 eggplant slices. Spread 1/6 of the cheese mixture just inside the edge of the crepe. Roll up to enclose the cheese and eggplant and arrange it seam-side down in a gratin or shallow casserole dish.

Pour the tomato sauce over all the crepes. Top with additional grated Parmesan, if desired.

Bake until the sauce is bubbly and the cheese is melted, about 30 minutes.

Serves 6.

Recipe from King Arthur Flour

Oh, and it freezes beautifully!

Food on Fridays

Classic Creamy Coleslaw

Yikes, sorry I'm late! I can't believe it's Friday already! I mean I'm happy about it, but really this month is flying by too fast. Only a few more days left of school and I'll be thinking about taking time off from work. Anyway, here's something I made during the week. I've only made coleslaw once before, I'm not really a big coleslaw fan, but lately I've been wanting it and homemade is so much better than what you get at the markets. This recipe is pretty good and very easy to make. I used used light mayo and sour cream, and only about a tablespoon of grated onion. I think this will be my next potluck take along. This recipe is from the Martha Stewart website.

coleslaw and pizza

Classic Creamy Coleslaw

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon course salt
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used light)
1/4 cup sour cream (light again)
1 small green cabbage, finely shredded (about 1 3/4 pounds)
2 medium carrots coarsely grated
1 small onion, coarsely grated, optional (1 tablespoon instead)

Whisk together mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, salt, mayo and sour cream in a small bowl. Combine cabbage, carrots, and onion in a large bowl. Pour in dressing, and toss thoroughly. Refrigerate, covered, until coleslaw begins to soften, 1 to 2 hours. Can be covered up to 2 days. Just before serving, toss coleslaw again.

Food on Fridays

Food on Fridays: Focaccia

Every once in a while I get a craving from something bready and cheesy. Actually this doesn't have that much cheese on it, and I tried to make it healthy by using half whole-wheat flour. I think I have tons of similar recipes, but searched online anyway for a focaccia recipe that the dough can be made in the bread machine. I wanted to make it before I left for work and then just assemble it when I came home. Anyway, here's the recipe from my wooden spoon, with my little changes. Well, my big changes because I wanted to add cheese, onions, etc. Really, really easy and can be made by hand if you don't have a bread machine.

Focaccia Bread

1 cup + 2 tablespoons water (80F/27C)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used bread flour)
1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 tablespoon active dry yeast

Topping:
carmelized onions and garlic in olive oil
sliced olives
Mozzerella cheese, grated
Parmesan, grated
Kosher salt
cracked black pepper

Add water and olive oil to breadmaker pan. Then add salt, sugar (I used agave nectar), garlic powder, oregano, thyme, basil, and flour. Make a well in center of flour and add yeast. Set bread machine to dough cycle.

With oiled hands, evenly press dough into a greased 9x13 inch pan ( I used a 9x13 glass dish). Cover and let rise in warm place for 30 minutes or until double in size. While the dough is rising, prepare topping.

Use fingers to press dimples into dough. Spoon topping over dough. Sprinkle with remaining ingredients. Bake at 425F for 20 minutes or until done.

(sorry for the terrible photo, I used my cell phone and didn't think I was going to blog about it, otherwise I would have used a real camera and take a nicer photograph.)

Enjoy!

This is my first post for Food on Fridays, hope to do more since I love to cook but not great at blogging about it.

Have a great weekend!

It's that time again

Oh, yes, I have been anxious to make tamales all week. My daughter is out of town and isn't expected back until tomorrow and looks forward to making tamales, too! So I have Sunday reserved for our tamale day. My family lives far away, it would be nice if they were here with us, but it's not happening this year. Anyway, today I made a practice batch, after all this is my second time making tamales on my own, so I need the practice. In previous years, we would visit my Mom in Sacramento for Christmas and make tamales. She taught me how to make them and encouraged me that I can do it! Well, since this is my practice batch and this recipe looked very easy and not such a large batch to deal with, I went for it. I must say they were pretty tasty and a cinch to make with the help of a little gadget that I bought on ebay.

Here's the recipe from this month's Cooking Light. Okay, mine didn't look as pretty as the picture, but they tasted pretty good.

Here's the Mas Tamales Masa Spreader that made life a little easier when making tamales. Actually, I shouldn't wait until Christmas time to make tamales, they can be made and enjoyed any time of the year.