Great Side Dish for Wild Fowl

Our dear friend Rich left this morning. He was here for 10 days to get in some pheasant hunting. On his second day out with another hunter here, Rich brought home 3 pheasants, and my last two blog posts were of the recipes I used for these birds. Yesterday Rich went out again, coming back with 2 more pheasants, but these he brined to take home with him. We so enjoy having Rich here to visit, but all visits come to an end, no matter how wonderful.

Fall Fruit Compote

When thinking up recipes for the last birds, Rich's idea is always to brine them first, then possibly follow the brining with another soak of some kind. Last year he soaked the pheasant pieces in buttermilk all day following the brine. This year, one of the birds was used after just having been brined, while the second spent time in a wine marinade. No matter how one treats these wild birds, they are rather dry. Luckily I like the drier meat, though my husband is less keen on it, in general. To me, the breast portion of these wild birds tastes like dry dark meat. I don't care for the dark meat of turkey or chicken, because it is generally fatty and moist. Somehow, the flavor and fattiness are objectionable to me. Others just love it. For me, dry pheasant breast meat makes a darker meat palatable. 


No matter how you choose to go about preparing a wild bird, there will come the need for a side dish or other condiment to pair with it. While marinating the second half of the birds in wine, I originally had in mind to bake the bird in a wine sauce with a lot of dried fruits. Since that just wasn't coming together in my mind, Rich suggested making the fruits as a side dish. Aha! 

Dried Mission Figs from www.Nuts.com

Last year I had so many apples to freeze, I eventually went to dehydration instead of just freezing. Since I have all these dehydrated apple slices, I have looked for uses for the dried fruit. I had added some of them to the wine marinade for the birds, but wanted to use some in the final dish - which now switched to a side dish. Dried fruit retains a lot of sweetness. In thinking about cranberry relish to go with a roast turkey, and gauging the sweetness factor there, I opted to use Port as the main cooking liquid for the dried fruit. 

The Port Dilemma

Fresh Quinces

We like Port wine on occasion, so I have various types in our wine cellar. We have some 10-year-old late bottled ports, some Warre's Otima Tawny Port, some Ruby Ports, some Warre's Warrior and Fonseca Bin 27s, as well as a few vintage ports. Looking at the attributes of each type, I certainly didn't want to use a pricy vintage port to cook dried fruit. I also thought that Tawny would not give the rich color I wanted, plus it is less sweet than some of the red ports. Still, some of the fruits were very dark, like the figs and prunes (excuse me - ahem - "dried plums!"), so did I want a really dark wine like the Warre's Warrior or Fonseca Bin 27? Probably not, so ultimately I chose the Ruby Port. Ruby Port is exactly as it sounds: ruby red colored. It is quite sweet and pretty to look at, but generally less viscous than a deep red port. It is enjoyable to drink, in the manner of a more simple-to-enjoy dessert quaff. 

My Quince Still life

For other liquids I used some dry red wine and some water. Sweetener? I chose honey. Spices? That took some thought. I didn't want to use all the regular sweet spices, though cinnamon was still in the running. I left out cloves or allspice. I did use a half teaspoon of black peppercorns. Since I use only Tellicherry peppercorns, their fruity scent would help perfume the compote yet add a little bite. I meant to put them into a tea ball to easily pick out later, but just that fast I dropped them into the pot - oops! We had to fish them out later. Last minute I added one whole (small) star anise. Orange was another flavor I wanted to incorporate, but not to make any statement of its own. To this end, using a peeler, I peeled off a long strip of orange peel while leaving the white pith behind; removing the peel from the compote later is a snap. Another option would have been to either grate the rind or chop the peeled section and leave it in the mixture.

All that was left was to determine which fruits to use. The main idea was to use dried fruits, but there were two exceptions. I really wanted quince, if there were any available. Quince is a tart fruit that looks somewhat like a misshapen yellow apple. It needs to be cooked to make it edible. Quince has even more pectin than apples, and makes a wonderful jam. I felt they would also lend great flavor as well as thickening power to this compote. I was very glad to find that quinces were available. The other fruit not already dried were fresh cranberries, another great Fall flavor. Other fruits that were handy were dried cherries, apricots, figs and plums. With this in mind, here is what I did:

Fall Fruit Compote

Fall Fruit Compote

Makes about 6 or more servings

1½ cups Ruby Port
1 cup dry red wine 
½ cup water
½ cup honey
1 (4-inch) cassia cinnamon stick
1 whole star anise, optional 
½ teaspoon whole peppercorns, preferably Tellicherry
1 orange
2 quince
¾ cup (.75 ounce) dried apple slices  
½ cup (3 ounces) dried apricots, halved or quartered 
½ cup (3 ounces) dried plums (prunes), halved 
½ cup (3 ounces) dried Mission figs, halved 
½ cup (2 ounces) dried tart cherries
boiling water
¾ cup (2.5 ounces) whole fresh cranberries

fresh Cranberries

In a large saucepan, combine the first 4 ingredients. If desired, set the cinnamon stick, star anise and peppercorns in a piece of cheesecloth for ease of removal later, then add this to the pan. Peel a strip or two of orange peel, avoiding the white pith. Add to the pan, along with the juice squeezed from the orange. Peel, quarter and core the quince and slice them as with apples; add to the pan. Bring the mixture in the pan to boil, then set the temperature to just maintain a low boil. Reduce the liquid in the pan by about ⅓, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, set the dried apple slices, apricots, prunes, figs and cherries in a large measuring cup or medium bowl. Add boiling water to just not quite cover the fruit and allow the fruit to plump, covered, while the liquid in the saucepan is reducing.

Once the wine mixture is reduced, add in the dried fruits along with the soaking water and the fresh cranberries. Cook this mixture at a low boil for another 20 to 25 minutes, until reduced and slightly thickened. Remove the spices before serving.

This compote was absolutely perfect with the decadently rich Pheasant Alfredo. It had enough flavor and just enough "bite" to cut through the fattiness of the sauce and make a wonderful counterpoint to the flavors. I cannot recommend this mixture highly enough, and plan to make it again soon, possibly for Thanksgiving, to taste with turkey or chicken. 

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Bread Pudding is a Fine Comfort Food

I have yet to meet a bread pudding I didn't like. Bread puddings come in all sorts of styles, shapes, sizes and flavors. I don't believe bread pudding was ever a part of my life growing up, but once I married and moved to Guatemala, I started exploring the few cookbooks I had and found bread pudding as a dessert option. Leftover bread is always around. Milk and eggs and sugar were always on hand. Presto!

Most of my sisters like bread pudding, though some may eschew the whole concept on the basis of calorie or carb count. Granted, it is hard to make bread pudding without carbs. Calories can be corralled a bit if needed. I personally just don't care. Once in a while, I make bread pudding and sit in glorious rapture as I take a spoonful and savor the smoothness, sweetness and creaminess. It doesn't get much better for comfort food in my book. If you are not a bread pudding fan, then this blog is simply not for you.

White Chocolate Bread Pudding

It wasn't until my current husband and I moved to Mandeville, Louisiana that I really found out what bread pudding could be. The bread puddings I had made from my Joy of Cooking or Better Homes and Gardens books back in Guatemala did not have a sauce poured over them. In Louisiana, there is definitely a sauce poured on top of bread pudding just about everywhere you might go. And in Louisiana it is hard to find any restaurant that does not have bread pudding on the menu. I was in bread-pudding-heaven down there! Some bread puddings had the sauce poured over them straight from the oven, to soak in at its leisure. Some places served a sauce on the side, and some poured it over the pudding when it was served. Sometimes the bread pudding was made in a flat pan, sometimes in tall souffle type pans. Sometimes the puddings were more dry and sometimes very wet. Many had raisins. One even had coconut. Not every bread pudding I ate in Louisiana was on the tippy-top of my list, but they were still good. The ones that were really good though, were out of this world.

White Chocolate Bread Pudding left, and with Bourbon Sauce over top, right

One place we went quite often when living in Mandeville was the Times Bar & Grill. I would rate their bread pudding right at the top of my list of desserts, nearly provoking a "When Harry Met Sally" moment. Even if I was too full to eat a dessert, I would order it to take home. The Times Bar & Grill did survive Katrina, though I have no idea what their menu contains at this point in time as it has been a lot of years since we moved away. Another great restaurant right around the corner from where we lived was Semolina. They had some amazing pasta dishes, of course, and their bread pudding was the really tall one I described as like it was baked in a souffle dish. Excellent, though a drier variety.

Okay, so after all the amazing bread puddings I ate everywhere we went, I also continued to make them at home. I have played with the amounts and this recipe is the one I like best, both for the bread pudding and for the sauce. I like to add white chocolate to the bread pudding as I feel it makes the pudding even more unctuous, but it can be left out with no problems to the recipe. I use whatever kind of bread I want, from sandwich bread to a very artisanal, chewy style - or a combination. I often buy a loaf of French bread and use that. I rarely use dry stale bread. I think of a thing and want to make it NOW! The bread pudding I made a few days ago was partly made with leftover hamburger buns and part artisanal bread. 

Once I had some of my Double Chocolate Bread and decided to use it to make a bread pudding and it was great. The addition of chocolate chips might have made it better, though I had none at the time. No photos of my Double Chocolate Bread exist - it seems to disappear before a photo is even taken. This chocolatee bread is certainly a bread - nothing like a sweet cake or brownie. But it is absolute HEAVEN when toasted and topped with honey. 

Double Chocolate Bread

Makes two 8 x 5-inch loaves

1 package yeast, instant preferred (or "Gold" for sweet breads)
3 cups bread flour
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 egg
1 cup milk, warmed
¼ cup water
1 cup chocolate chips

In the bowl of a heavy duty mixer, combine together the flour, yeast, brown sugar, salt, cocoa, cinnamon. Add the warm milk, water and the egg, along with the chocolate chips and set the mixer to stir, then allow to knead for up to 8 minutes. Lower bowl, remove the dough hook, and allow to rise until doubled in bulk - about 2 hours.

Remove dough to a floured surface and divide into two sections. Gently roll into loaves and place in greased loaf pans, and allow to rise once more until doubled in bulk.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. These are smaller loaves, but they are dense, so may require the whole 30 minutes baking time.

NOTES: Rich yeast dough sometimes takes a very long time to rise. The King Arthur Flour Bakers catalogue has "SAF Gold Instant" yeast (sometimes referred to as "brown yeast"), made especially for these rich yeast doughs. It only comes in a 1 pound brick, so if you do not make rich yeast dough often, this might not be for you.

If desired, ½ to 1 cup of raisins may be added to the dough at the beginning of the kneading time, along with the chocolate chips. The raisins make a more moist bread.

Back to the Bread Pudding:

The heavy cream called for can be substituted with half & half, milk or 2% milk as desired, though the outcome will be far less creamy, particularly with the latter. Many bread pudding recipes call for raisins. I do not care for cooked raisins in a dessert, so I do not use them. If you love raisins, add in about 1/2 cup of them. Other dried fruits could also be added, such as craisins, cherries or apricots, or a combination.

I have experimented with many of the sauce recipes available. The sauce can be made with bourbon, brandy, cognac or rum, or none-of-the-above. It needs to cook until it "coats the back of a spoon" or until a candy thermometer reaches 235. The first time I made the sauce, it was in a taller saucepan and it took over an hour to reach that point. After that I started making it in my widest soup pot, giving the sauce a lot of surface area to evaporate more quickly. This way it takes about 15 or 20 minutes.

White Chocolate Bread Pudding

Makes one 13 x 9-inch pan

16 ounces of bread of choice, cut in 1-inch cubes
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
6 eggs
1 cup sugar
4 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons bourbon (or brandy, rum, cognac)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 ounces white chocolate, chopped finely

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 on Convection). Grease a 13 x 9-inch pan. Have a larger casserole or roaster pan that will accommodate the 13 x 9 pan easily.

In a large bowl, toss together the bread cubes with the cinnamon and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs until combined. Add in the sugar, heavy cream, cognac and vanilla and whisk together well. Pour this mixture over the bread cubes and stir to combine. At this point the mixture can be held for 15 minutes to 24 hours. When ready to bake, add in the white chocolate and stir. Have boiling water ready to pour into the larger pan. Pour the bread mixture into the prepared 13 x 9 pan. Set the bread pudding pan into the larger pan and very carefully, pour the boiling water into the larger pan until it comes halfway up the sides of the 13 x 9 pan, creating a water bath to help the pudding cook without making scrambled eggs. Carefully set the whole thing in the oven and bake until a knife inserted between the center and the edge comes out clean, about 40 - 45 minutes.

Just beginning to cook the sauce            sauce bubbling to half the pan height               coating the back of a spoon 

Bourbon Sauce

1½ cups heavy cream
½ cup sugar
3 tablespoons bourbon (or brandy, rum or cognac)
¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Stir all the ingredients together in a large, wide pot. If you prefer the bourbon to make more of a statement, add it later, once the sauce has cooked. Set the pan over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Lower to about medium heat and allow to cook without stirring, to 235 degrees or until it coats the back of a spoon. A candy thermometer is helpful, but not necessary. Just about when the sauce is ready, it will bubble up quite high in the pan (middle photo above), so check often. It should coat a spoon so when a finger is passed across the spoon it will leave a definite, visible trail (photo at right above).

Pour the sauce over the baked bread pudding. Cool to lukewarm to serve.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Port and Chocolate Salami

With the big wine tasting event just one week away, I am now going into high gear with finalizing the 6 appetizer dishes being created to pair with 6 specific wines - none of which I have tried except for the Warre's Warrior Port. I did this same thing last year, going in essentially blind, except for my knowledge of what the different varietals are like, and my trusty Wine and Food Pairing sheets. I knew I wanted to use chocolate, and walnuts help tone down sweetness as well as tart dried fruit like cherries. While port is a sweet wine, no wine can pair with anything too sweet. Nuts are a great accompaniment, as are many cheeses.

Fonseca Bin 27 Port and Warre's Otima Tawny

Port is a confusing wine, to those who do not know too much about wines. And if you are unfamiliar with port, though you love other wines, this will apply here also. Port is a fortified, sweet wine that originally came only from in and around Oporto (a port - as in, on the water, for shipping - town), in Portugal. Now, "port " wines are being made in Australia, South Africa, the US and many other places, and often from many grapes never used in Oporto. A fortified wine has had brandy added to the partially fermented wine to stop the fermentation process before it ferments out all the grapes' sugar. This makes port a dessert wine, which can be one of exceptional sweetness and depth. The very best port wines are vintage wines. A "Vintage" is only declared in years that the port growers (in Portugal) decide that the grape crop is worthy of making the greatest wine. Many factors come into play, but weather is the most overriding factor in wine-making everywhere. If the weather doesn't cooperate, the wines may come out just so-so; not the result vintners look for!

Fonseca Guimaraens Vintage Port

To make recognizing a true Vintage Port even more confusing, and I speak from my experience while still learning, is that some ports are labeled "Late-Bottled Vintage", for example. The word Vintage in there is confusing; is it a vintage or not? Not. Or a label that states "20-year old" - does that mean it is a vintage that was aged? Nope. Or another is having a year on the bottle that gives you the year the company was founded - but it is a year, right? No, not vintage. Then again, even among vintage ports, there are some few that are "declared vintage", but from a year that is not a declared vintage! What?! Well, these are found on occasion when a particular port grower has a certain small plot of land with a particular name all its own. Possibly that year was not the overall best for port growers all around Oporto, but that one little vineyard had optimal growing weather. There are little micro-climates possible in many vineyards. So for example, the very first Vintage Port I bought, before I was as familiar with this phenomenon, was a Fonseca "Guimaraens", 1967. Fonseca, along with many other wonderful Port wine growers, have certain little vineyards such as this. For these small vineyard selections, they may declare a vintage year, even though the rest of the Port growers do not see the crop as good enough. It turned out that my first purchase was a truly wonderful vintage. Beginner's luck. 

Then, aside from these red vintage ports, there are ports known as Ruby and Tawny. When you have the great vintage ports that need to be cellared for 20 years before they become palatable, Ruby Port is a nice change, meant to be drunk young. It can be pure plonk. Or it can be really very good. It has a lovely color, giving it the name Ruby. Tawny port is red port which has been left in a barrel over very long periods of time. Red wine, as it oxidizes with age, becomes lighter, more brick colored, and if very old, a lighter tawny color. In a barrel, with the amount of air that is available, the wine oxidizes more rapidly. Tawny ports can also be really lovely wines, slightly less sweet than some of the great vintage wines.

Warre's Otima Tawny Port left; Fonseca Bin 27 Port right

And then there are the red port wines that are called port, that don't fit into any of these categories, such as two of my most favorites, Fonseca Bin 27 or Warre's Warrior. These two are about the closest to what a vintage style will be like, but at a far more reasonable price. They are great to have on hand, because they are always good. I will be serving the Warre's Warrior for the wine tasting event. All this info, and there are so many other styles of Port to choose from!



In the past, I have made a recipe I found in an ad in the Food and Wine Magazine, to pair with port. Essentially, a chocolate candy with walnuts and dried cherries, it is a very good pairing, and easy to make. It is what I had planned to serve with the port wine tasting. And then I was online, looking for something else entirely, as usual, and came across a recipe for Chocolate Salami. I now see there are so many variations out there, but I went forging ahead on my own.

Chocolate Salami served with Port

First off, it is the cutest idea ever. This is a dessert, "sausage" only in the sense that it rather looks like a nice cry-cured sausage, but made with wafer cookies, cocoa, dulce de leche , dried fruits and nuts. 

Using the recipe I found as a baseline concept, but changed the ingredients to fit my need. I wanted to have a dessert that was not too sweet, so the sheer amount of condensed milk and dulce de leche seemed excessive. I decided to use only dulce de leche and skip the condensed milk. The cookies called for were "biscuit cookies". Vanilla Wafers can be a little more sweet than I wanted, so I found some called Leibniz Wafers and they are perfect in this recipe. Vanilla Wafers could be used. I wanted dried fruits in it, and used dried cherries and blueberries, along with walnuts, for their bitterness factor. I used a whole teaspoon of Kosher salt per recipe I made, balancing out the sweet with enough salt to give it character. When I finished making it, I tasted a little bit with a Fonseca Port I had opened on the counter and OMG! What a most heavenly-perfect match. 

Chocolate "Salami"

So, after finishing the recipes for the event, here is what I did:

Chocolate Salami

3 slices per serving = about 24 slices depending on thickness of slices

1¾ sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
¼ cup + 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
⅓ cup dulce de leche
7 ounces wafer cookies, such as Leibniz 
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
⅔ cup walnuts, broken
⅓ cup dried cherries
⅓ cup dried blueberries
confectioners' sugar for dusting

With a mixer, first beat together the butter and cocoa until very creamy. Add the dulce de leche to combine.

Formed and saved in paper towel tube

In a large bowl, crush the wafer cookies to medium-small bits. They do not need to be completely pulverized. Add the salt, walnuts and dried fruits. Make a well and scrape in the cocoa mixture. First using a spoon or spatula, begin to combine the ingredients, then switch to hands when the mixture gets too stiff to stir. Squeeze the ingredients together until the cocoa mixture is completely combined. Turn out onto a surface and divide into two equal parts. Begin rolling one section into a log. This will take a bit of patience, as with all the nuts and fruits, the mixture wants to break apart. Eventually it will come together, making a very dense log. Make the log as smooth as possible, rolling it out to about the size of a paper towel center roll. (If you have a couple of empty paper towel rolls handy, they are great for storing the logs until they get solid enough on their own.) Repeat this with the second part of the mixture, making two logs. Roll the logs in confectioners' sugar to coat, then wrap the logs in plastic wrap or waxed paper, twisting the ends. Slide the logs into paper towel rolls if available. Another alternative is using a baguette pan. The rounded forms help the logs to stay round while chilling. Set the logs into the refrigerator to chill completely before serving.

To serve, slice the logs with a very sharp knife in about ¼ inch thick slices. The amount of slices per log will depend on the thickness of the log and the length, and how thick the slice. 


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Just a Little Something Sweet

You know how sometimes you just have to have a little something sweet? Like you just can't go on if you don't have something - soon! Well, last evening I got that craving. Having been working frantically to get all the appetizer components made that can be made in advance, the last thing I felt like doing was making a dessert.

Some years ago, when I went on a completely RAW diet, where nothing at all is cooked or baked, I got very familiar with little dessert treats that can be whipped up in no time and really satisfy that craving. Once eating RAW, my cravings were satisfied far more easily. There are some very lovely dessert presentations to be found  on the internet these days for RAW desserts. Ice creams are easily made using nut or seed milks as a base. But what I loved most are these sweet little balls that can be made and kept refrigerated for when that craving hits. One of the first was Brownie Bites. Oh my! Whether on a RAW diet or not, those were just plain good. 

RAW Brownie Bites

RAW Brownie Bites

Makes 25 balls, about 48 calories apiece

1 cup pecans, finely ground
1 cup dates, packed tightly
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons agave nectar
3 packets sweet leaf stevia (or approximate)
3 tablespoons cocoa powder, for dredging
2 packets sweet leaf stevia, for dredging

Combine first 5 ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth and balled-up. Form into about 25 small balls about 1-inch in diameter, and then roll these into a mixture of the 3 tablespoons cocoa powder mixed with the 2 extra packets of stevia. Keep refrigerated. 


Later I discovered how easy it was to make varied dessert balls, or "RAW Cookie Dough" recipes. No eggs are involved in these, so no problem with bacteria. Just use nuts (often cashews or almonds, with their milder flavor as a base) and the addition of other things as desired. Dried fruits are great, either as an addition or as in the case of my own recipe for Fruit and Nut Balls, just a lot of wonderfully sweet dried fruits and nuts mixed together. 

RAW Fruit and Nut Balls

RAW Fruit and Nut Balls

Makes about 30 balls @ 68 calories each

¼ cup dried apricots, finely minced
¼ cup dates, finely minced
¼ cup craisins, finely chopped
¼ cup dried blueberries, finely chopped
½ cup walnuts, finely chopped
½ cup almonds, finely chopped
¼ cup agave nectar
1 tsp dried orange peel
¼ cup ground flax seed
2 packets Stevia
¼ cup almond butter

Mix all ingredients in a bowl until well combined. With hands, scoop up enough to pack together and roll into approximately 1-inch balls, then roll balls in either ground nuts, or coconut. Store in the refrigerator. 

Remaining RAW Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Anyway, back to last night. Raw cashews make a wonderful "cookie dough" base. However, I had no more raw cashews, having used up the last of them in a curry recently; drat... So, improvising, I had a craving for oatmeal cookies (I love oatmeal cookie dough - the real cookie dough, meant to be baked) and thought I'd use raw rolled oats. I am not totally sure if oats are heated when they are rolled, but I did not cook them, so I started out with almond meal/flour, added flax, some unsweetened coconut, and the oatmeal and tossed those things into the food processor. I should have stopped to grind the flax seeds first, as not many of them were ground in the processor. I was just in too much of a hurry to make my dessert to stop and take the time ;-)

I used agave syrup as the binder. I wanted chocolate chips and happened to have a partial bag of mini chips, so I mixed some of those in too. Chocolate chips are not RAW, so if you are being very strictly RAW, use Cocoa Nibs instead. Didn't have any of those on hand last night either.  If you do not want to use the oatmeal, or if making these Gluten-Free, add more almond meal, coconut or flax. The amount of agave syrup needed will depend on how much of the other ingredients are used. My "recipe" was written down after the fact, so the amounts are approximate. Watch when adding the syrup to see how the mixture comes together. If it is too dry, add more syrup. If it got too wet, add more of the dry ingredient(s) of preference. For now, this is more or less what I did for my craving last night. I ate about 3 of these little balls before they ever got to be balls, but by that time I was completely satisfied, so the rest are waiting for me in the fridge for whenever that desire strikes.

RAW Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Size of my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

 
Makes about 24 one-inch balls

⅓ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
½ cup flax, ground
½ cup almond meal
½ cup unsweetened coconut
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup agave syrup
more oats, if needed
¼ cup mini chocolate chips or cocoa nibs

Place the first 5 ingredients into a food processor and process until broken. Add the vanilla and with the processor running, add the syrup in a stream until the mixture starts to come together in a ball. Stop the processor as soon as this starts. If more syrup is needed, add more by hand. If the mixture is too wet, add more oatmeal. Fold in the chocolate chips and form into tiny, one-inch balls. If any are left, store in the refrigerator. Enjoy!



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

A New Twist on Oatmeal Cookies

I love oatmeal cookies. I love oatmeal, period. Chewy oatmeal cookies are my favorite. If they have walnuts, so much the better. Raisins I am not wild about, but I tolerate them. I eat oatmeal often for breakfast. I prefer whole oat groats or steel cut, but if I haven't managed the time right, I use Old Fashioned Oats. I like the chewy quality, so I eschew the instant varieties.

Some time back, my sister-in-law asked if I could make Caramel Apple Oatmeal Cookies. I had ideas, I created a recipe, I made them...but they were not what I hoped for. The flavor was great. The chewiness was great. However, the cookies came out positively lacy looking. They puffed while baking, then deflated, leaving large bubble holes behind. I have not gotten back to trying a better way to make those yet. My husband asked if I could make something for a little barbecue affair at work. Dessert, specifically. I asked if cookies would do, and he was happy with that. Being a little short on some ingredients just prior to my weekend grocery shopping excursion, I went simple. I decided on oatmeal cookies, because I had the things I needed. Chocolate chip were out - no chocolate chips in my cupboard.
 

Oatmeal Apple Cookies with Calvados

Last fall, I suddenly had apples being given me from all over. I have not been making apple desserts, though I should, with all the apples in the freezer. At one point, what with a side of beef taking up most of the freezer, I decided to try drying apples instead of freezing. I have a most wonderful Excalibur dehydrator with 9 shelves, so it went relatively quickly. I dried the apples to just crisp enough to snap, then bagged them. I stuck those in the spare refrigerator's freezer compartment, not wanting all my efforts to go to waste with mold, just in case. They were taking up about ⅓ of the space they would have if fresh. So here I am with all these apples I am not using. I decided to use some dehydrated apples in my oatmeal cookies. The outcome was really, really fine. The only thing to make these better would have been nuts, but I was on short supply there, too.

My dehydrated apples, easily broken in bits

What I did was use some Calvados to rehydrate the apples. I probably used more than was necessary (though all but a few drops was absorbed) but I was unsure of how much the apples would need to reconstitute. Calvados is a quite expensive Apple Brandy from around the Normandy region of France. I bought a bottle many years ago for a recipe that I cannot even recall anymore, but I still use it once in a great while, when looking for a boost to the apple flavor in something. I have never even tasted the Calvados by itself. But, the apple scent is unmistakeable. I added cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves to the Oatmeal Apple Cookies, though it was not noticeable to my palate. The Calvados kind of took over. That said, I took the cookies to my husband's work place yesterday, noting to all that this was a brand new recipe, and I invited any comments, critiques, or suggestions.

One woman immediately said she tasted cinnamon, which surprised me. Another said she loved them because while she was not terribly keen on oatmeal cookies, this recipe with apples made them wonderful for her palate. No one could tell there was an alcohol of any kind in them, of course, though upon opening the container I used to transport the cookies, the Calvados was the scent that jumped out at me. Of course, I know what that smells like, but it was quite evocative. Everyone professed to love the cookies, and judging by the amount that were eaten, I have to believe they were a hit. If you do not want to splurge on Calvados, apple cider would work fine to reconstitute the apples, or even just water, if necessary. Here is my recipe:

Oatmeal Apple Cookies with Calvados

Makes about 6 dozen 2-inch cookies

2 cups dried apples, broken into small bits
⅓ cup Calvados
1 cup unsalted butter
½ cup shortening or lard
1½ cups light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2½ cups all purpose flour
1½ teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 tablespoons boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 on Convection). Slightly warm the Calvados and add the broken dehydrated apples to reconstitute; set aside while preparing the cookie dough.

In a bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, cream the butter and shortening with the brown sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in the vanilla. Mix in the dry ingredients until just combined. Add in the oatmeal and mix partially. Combine the baking soda with the boiling water and stir well, then add to the bowl along with the reconstituted apples and finish combining with the oatmeal. 

Drop the dough at least 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets and bake the cookies for about 12 to 14 minutes, until puffed and golden. 

I realize that not just everyone has dehydrated apples in their house. I know I have seen dried apples in the dried fruit section of the grocery, though these are usually in little chunks and soft, like other "dried" fruit. These can still be soaked in Calvados or cider, though they will absorb far less. 


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

A Valentine Labor Of love

Sweet Potato Cardamom Cupcakes 

Anyone who knows me, or reads this blog, knows I love experimenting with recipes, trying different flavor combinations, and looking for things that are pushing the edge of where my husband will go with his food. I love trying new and different flavors, new spices or herbs, combining things in different ways. As I watch TV and hear about some of the more "out there" flavor combinations, I long to try them. So, in the back of my mind, I am always running through different flavors and how to combine them and in what. 

For some weeks now I have wanted to make cupcakes, core them, fill them with something and then frost them. In general I am not over fond of making cupcakes at all. I like eating them; they are cake, after all, and I love cake. However, I prefer to make one large something as opposed to lots of small somethings, at least in the cake or pie department. But, I had never "cored" or filled a cupcake, and wanted to try this out. The flavors and combinations were what was keeping me from starting, because I couldn't settle on a combination I liked. Yesterday morning, since I had not gotten my husband a Valentine gift, I sat down and focused. The process of creating the recipes and making all the components were almost a 6 hour job. Another time, with recipes already created, I know that much of it can be made over the course of days and finished easily in a short period of time when needed.

I settled on a sort of Middle Eastern set of flavors to work with. I had been thinking of a pistachio cream for the filling for a long while, but the rest of the equation had escaped me. So, pistachio filling was a start. Then I focused on the cupcake component. I prefer white cake. My husband also loves white cake. We will both eat chocolate, but it is not generally our first choice. I did not want to make a carrot cake, despite how much he loves that. With the Middle Eastern flavors I was going for, it was the wrong canvas. I wanted a moist cake, and had once made a cake with squash in it. I had a 10-ounce sweet potato in the fridge. I set it in a pan of water and boiled it for an hour, then cooled slightly and peeled it. I put it through a ricer and ended up with a perfect 1-cup. I decided on a yellow cake, as no  matter what, it would be yellow with the sweet potato. For the flavors, I went with cardamom, black pepper, orange zest and juice, all Middle Eastern flavors.

A couple of months back, when grocery shopping, I found freeze dried strawberries, in among the regular dried fruits. I do not care for strawberries. I abhor anything fake strawberry "flavored." I like the real flavored cream that results from strawberries soaking in cream - but not the berries themselves. So, since I had freeze dried strawberries, and my husband is a real strawberry fiend, I figured the flavor was real enough and I was not actually eating the fresh berries I do not care for. To give the frosting vaguely Middle Eastern flavor, I added rosewater. So, my stage was set. Then I started working on recipes.

I wanted to make the pistachio filling with an idea I saw on TV. They added pastry cream to a mixture with ground pistachios. I have a recipe for a pastry cream I have used for years. As a matter of fact, long ago I used to make it as a cooked pudding for my kids, as the flavor is so delightful. I made a batch of that first, while the sweet potato was cooking. Then, I worked on how to proceed with the pistachio part. I took some raw, shelled, unsalted pistachios I have had for a while and placed them in the food processor with some confectioners' sugar and processed that for about 5 minutes. It resulted in a pretty green powder. While it was already finely ground, I still worked the powder through a colander to take out any larger pistachio bits that might remain, though there was not much. I creamed some butter for about 5 minutes, then added in the pistachio powder. Once that was well creamed, I added in some of the cooled pastry cream and mixed. That went in the fridge to set.

I am going to post here the Pastry Cream, Pistachio Cream Filling and the Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting recipes. Tomorrow I will post the recipe for the cupcakes and the finalizing.

Pastry Cream

Pastry Cream

Makes about 1 5/8 cups (you will need ½ cup for the Pistachio Cream Filling)

1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In a bowl, whisk together the egg with the yolk and set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine the first 4 ingredients. Using a whisk, mix in the milk. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat and whisking constantly, allow the mixture to cook for another 2 to 3 minutes to cook out the raw starch taste. With a small ladle, scoop some of the hot mixture into the eggs and whisk quickly to temper the eggs. Add in another ladle of the hot mixture and whisk. Off the heat, add the whole egg mixture back into the hot pan. Place the pan back over very low heat, whisking constantly for 30 seconds to one minute, or until the mixture just begins to bubble. Remove from heat immediately, or the eggs will scramble If desired, strain the mixture. Place plastic wrap directly onto the hot surface of the pastry cream and chill completely before using. This can be made up to 2 days ahead and kept refrigerated.

Pistachio Cream Filling

Makes enough to fill 24 cupcakes

1/2 cup preferably raw, shelled, unsalted pistachios (or rinse salt off of regular pistachios and dry completely before proceeding)
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

Pistachio Cream Filling

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup pastry cream

Set the pistachios with the confectioners' sugar into the bowl of a food processor and process for at least 5 minutes, or until the mixture is a fine powder. With a mixer, cream the butter until very light. Add in the pistachio mixture with the salt and beat until well combined. Add the pastry cream and mix well. Chill. This recipe can be made 2 - 3 days in advance and kept refrigerated.

Strawberry Rosewater Frosting

Strawberry Rosewater Frosting

Makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes
 
1 (1-ounce) package freeze dried strawberries
6 ounces softened cream cheese
1 stick (4-ounces) unsalted butter, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons rosewater
 
Place 1 cup of the freeze dried strawberries in a food processor and process to a very fine powder. (Save the remaining few bits to crush and sprinkle over the finished cupcakes). Sift this powder with the confectioners' sugar and salt into a bowl and set aside. In a standing mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter for about 8 to 10 minutes, until light and creamy. Stop the mixer and add all the sifted ingredients. Start on very slow to incorporate the dry ingredients, then add the rosewater and increase speed and beat well. Can be made 1 day ahead and chilled. Bring to room temperature and beat to bring back the texture before using. 



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.