Not Always as Written

The email was pretty straight forward. "Dear Sweetie, do you EVER follow a recipe exactly as it was written. You know someone went to a lot of work to test it, why do you feel entitled to change it?" Okay, she is a loyal reader, a friend who obviously knows me well enough to have my email, but she has an ax to grind on my creative license.
The short answer is yes, I do follow recipes as written. As a matter of fact at the end of the month you'll see my Daring Baker's Challenge, and it has to be made as written, those are the rules. But the long answer to my friend is not always. Not everyone can alter a recipe the first time out. I am not always terribly successful at my edits. But the truth is, in the case of the following cookie, I prefer walnuts over almonds in my cookies. I had a little light brown sugar and a little dark brown sugar, so we combined them, I suppose it is medium brown sugar. And my flour bin looked a little like sand art, whole wheat and white mingling in one space. I had sweetened coconut not unsweetened like the recipe called for. And, although I have the remains of my kick ass 10 pound bar of bittersweet Guittard bar, I have random remains of Schokinag chocolate chunks, Nestle chocolate chunks and Nestle butterscotch chips, what the hey, I dumped them all in...didn't even measure! Ha! The result, delicious.

I know not to mess with flour and fat proportions, baking soda vs. baking powder, but other elements, go for it. What is the worst that can happen? Inedible? Doubt it, but the birds are a little hungry this time of year. So, get in there and cook!

Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies
from Epicurious.com and altered by me!

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
6 Tablespoons white sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
2 1/4 cup old fashioned oatmeal
7 oz can sweetened coconut
chocolate chips or chunks, 12 ounces or 2 cups
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped
Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add the eggs and mix until incorporated. Add the vanilla, soda, salt and flour and mix until combined. Add all the good stuff and gently mix until it is all ditributed. Use a large spoon or dough scoop and then flatten the mounds on the sheet. They spread a little, so don't crowd them. Bake on Silpats 12 minutes at 350 or until the edges are just brown. Cool on racks.
I am wrapping mine in wax paper with layers of thinly sliced apple (not touching the cookies) to ship them off to New Mexico. Make sure you share yours with someone you love too!

Grilled Pizza

Grilled Pizza, sounds mysterious to a large number of folks. It is currently our favorite company food when we have a group of parents and kids. We grilled away on New Year's Eve for a group of 25 with great success.
The dough is the great beginning. You have to begin a day early for Alton Brown's pizza dough, but it is worth the wait. The recipe is a little long, so I have the link and my notes here. If you are interested in whole grains, feel free to substitute half the flour with whole wheat.

The recipe makes 2 pizzas. I find when we have a group, it is easier to make individual pizzas, after all doesn't everyone have their favorite topping? One batch of Alton's dough will make about 6 individual ones. And my theory is, if you're going to go to all that trouble, double the recipe. Follow it exactly to the rolling out section.
You will find that the dough is especially springy. If you plan far enough ahead, you can make all the little discs of dough, and stack them on floured wax paper. The flour is VERY important. Then simply freeze the crusts in large Ziplocs. I take them out while the grill is heating on high, and pop them apart with my bench scraper. If they are floured properly, the wax paper will peel right off. Let them rest on a floured board, and within minutes you can re roll the crust and stretch to the desired size. It works exceptionally well.

Turn the grill down to medium high and brush a little olive oil on it and simply slide the dough from the pizza peel or cookie sheet onto the hot grates. Generous dustings of flour or cornmeal will keep things slick. Once it hits the grill, close the lid and it will begin to puff. Within minutes, the top will be bubbly and the bottom browning. Slide it onto a spatula and back onto the peel, upside down. Now, top the pizza with whatever floats your boat on the side that was just grilled.

Then back to the grill, slide it back on and close the lid. Let the crust cook and the cheese melt, and you are ready! We can fit 4 individual pizzas on the grill at a time. Keep a vigilant eye however, because they go from cooked to black quickly!
The toppings are always a fun selection. Of course pepperoni, and I found these tiny mini ones at Costco, cooked Italian sausage, mushroom, onions, peppers you know the routine. But how about the fun things like jerk chicken, fresh jalapenos, green olives, pineapple, artichoke hearts, pepperoncini, and fresh herbs?
The sauce is my favorite part, and I simply cook down those enormous cans of San Marzano tomatoes from Costco for hours and add spices, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and then use my immersion blender to make it smooth. It gets better as time goes on, and the leftovers are great on pasta! Besides the usual grated mozzarella, try fresh slices, grated parmigiana, provolone or even Fontina for a really rich pizza. You are limited by only your imagination.
Try it on your family first, and see how the order of events goes, and you'll see how much fun this is with a group. Believe me, they will all leave with the recipe and be awed that you ever attempted this! Buon Appetito!

Fairy Fingers

Remember in the 90's when the craze was low fat? It was happening everywhere with abandon to good taste. Well in the frenzy of fat free everything, I got my hands on one of my favorite cookbooks. Chocolate and the Art of Low-Fat Desserts by Alice Medrich. Do not be a skeptic. Granted, the recipes are low in butter which yields more biscotti type cookies, no complaints here. But even more importantly, when you bake with a deep cocoa like Pernigotti, the flavor is so intense, you don't miss the fat. But there are recipes for cakes, tortes, mousse, and dozens more delicious chocolate offerings.

I am all about ingredients, so Nielsen-Massey vanilla, Pernigotti Cocoa and Trader Joe's almond meal. The almond meal is a great short cut for baking. I could never get my almonds this fine in my Cuisinart, there are no additives and you'll find lots of places to sprinkle them into!

Today, the mercury is dropping, it is nice and dry out (a rarity in the Mississippi Delta) and meringues are on the menu. Doigts de fee, to be exact, which literally means fairy fingers. They are piped meringues, but could be made as mounds, stars, whatever floats your boat. I piped logs to break up. The batter is divine, I am crazy about egg whites and could have eaten the bowl full. Yea, I've heard of salmonella, it is very low on my list of worries, just past rattlesnake bites and meteors. The first batch I piped with a large open star. They held their shape well in baking and turned out great, but I really wanted to see if I could make them more delicate.

I made a second batch, trying the recipe with powdered egg whites. They actually whipped up beautifully, but seriously fell apart when I folded in the other dry ingredients and spread pretty flat when I piped them with a small round tip. They ended up in the trash, and I found myself going at it a third time. I was really curious if these powdered whites could stand up to the fresh whites. I decided they are more stable when it comes to whipping them, so I really let the KitchenAid at them. I caught them just before they were too dry, and then folded in the final ingredients. I decided that was the key, the batter taste much better than batch 2, and my fairy fingers baked to look like fingers, not blobs like batch 2.

Plan ahead, your oven will be cranked for 1 1/2 hours which is wonderful on a chilly day, but the fingers need another hour in the oven turned off to continue to dry. So give them a try, you'll love the light ethereal crunch, the deep flavor of the cocoa and the hint of almond. Go ahead, Get In There and Cook!

Alice Medrich Chocolate and the Art of Low-Fat Desserts

Fairy Fingers

3/4 cup superfine sugar

3 ounces almonds (I use Trader Joe's Almond Meal)

3 Tablespoons cocoa

4 Tablespoons Cornstarch

1/2 cup egg whites at room temperature

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon almond extract

*Preheat oven to 200. Line 2 sheets with parchment paper.

*Combine 1/4 cup of the sugar with the cocoa, almonds and corn starch in food processor. Process until you have fine meal. Set aside.

Combine egg whites, cream of tartar and extracts in bowl of mixer. Mix until soft peaks form, then slowly add the remaining sugar and whip on high until stiff peaks form.

*Fold in remaining dry ingredients with rubber spatula. Scrape mixture into pastry bag with an open star or round tip. Pipe logs onto parchment with an inch between the logs.

*Bake for 1 1/2 hours. Turn the oven off and leave in the oven for another hour. Break the logs into 3"-4" fingers.