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Grandma’s Buttermilk Cornbread

September 28, 2012 by 19 Comments

 

A couple nights ago I had a sudden and overwhelming desire to stuff my face full of my Grandma’s cornbread. It’s hard to explain if you didn’t grow up on cornbread, but the drive to consume it can be a powerful force. So powerful, in fact, that I actually made two pans full at ten thirty at night just so I could eat a huge wedge warm from the oven and have an untouched pan to take to a friend’s house the next day.

The smell of toasty corn bread baking up in a coal-black cast-iron pan is pretty close to one of the best things on earth. I have a Pavlovian response to the aroma of cornbread. By that, I don’t mean I bark and run around in circles, but I may have been caught panting and drooling and maybe even wagging my tail a time or two.

I’ll get it out o the way right now and say that cornbread is not sweet. That’s cake. Corn cake, if you want, but it’s cake. And I’m not saying that’s nasty, I’m just saying it’s not cornbread.

The cornbread I’m sharing with you today is the be all and end all of cornbreads to me.

My Arkansan grandma made this cornbread for me probably less often than I have in my memory, but often enough for it to define Grandma’s cooking in my mind. I know it was always at our Thanksgiving table, often in the stuffing, but just as often in a bread basket in gloriously big yellow squares. I remember getting a wedge from the cast-iron pan right after it was pulled from the stove; a sinfully large pat of cold butter melting and sliding right off of the top of the steaming bread.

When I was first married, I quizzed Grandma on why this was her favourite cornbread recipe of all. She grew up on a very plain cornbread; one that was almost pure cornmeal and water and a smidge of egg. No leavening, no nothing. It was a corn-lover’s dream, but very crumbly. She told me, “That bread crumbled if you looked at it.” As an adult, she got all that great corn-y flavour of the cornbread she knew and loved in a package that held together when she discovered the Buttermilk Cornbread recipe that she wrote out by hand for me.

I still have that recipe card, laminated and caked with flour over the years, written in Grandma’s own hand. Although I have it memorized, I still look at the card every time I prepare it. It’s like a sweet hug from Grandma.

Now, if you want to get really stratospherically happy, there really isn’t anything better than a pan full of Grandma’s Buttermilk Cornbread with a potful of bubbling hot beans. Oh mercy. Seriously. Just typing that sentence made me start drooling like a baby. That’s a complete meal in and of itself, but you can up the vegetable content by adding a BIG GREEN SALAD alongside it if you want.

The cornbread is equally at home accompanying chili or soup. More than once, I’ve used the cornbread batter to coat corndogs or top a casserole dish or chili for tamale pie. Most often, though, it’s a cast-iron skillet, a stick of cold butter, a fistful of napkins and me flying solo. Butter dripping down the sides of a steaming hot wedge of golden, fragrant cornbread and my fingers digging in to pull off piece after piece.Grandma said I could.

Thank you, Grandma!

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Grandma’s Buttermilk Cornbread

Grandma’s Buttermilk Cornbread

As long as I live, there will not be anything that tempts me as powerfully as a hot-from-the-oven wedge of golden cornbread freshly taken from the cast-iron pan with a pat of cold butter melting and sliding right off of it.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal (not self-rising)
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 3 tablespoons melted butter
  • 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
  • bacon grease or butter for the pan

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425°F.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and use a whisk to gently combine them, ensuring there are no dry pockets of cornmeal.

Pour into a generously greased 8-inch or 10-inch cast iron skillet, preferably, or an 8-inch by 8-inch square cake pan, or 8-inch round cake pan. Pour the cornbread batter into the greased pan and bake for about 30 minutes, or until a skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Serve warm for best flavour. Leftovers can be stored -wrapped in a towel or plastic wrap- at room temperature for up to 48 hours, but will taste best if reheated slightly before serving. If your cornbread gets a little old and stale, crumble it and use for the best Cornbread stuffing that you will ever eat in your lifetime. Guaranteed.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/09/28/grandmas-buttermilk-cornbread/

Filed Under: Accessible Ethnic, Appetizers & Snacks, Bread, Comfort Food, Holiday Food, Recipes, Snacks, Vegetarian

Cheddar Tailgating Bread

August 29, 2012 by 26 Comments

Last week I took my five boys to the playground to meet some friends and somehow or another ended up taking ten boys home with me. It’s funny how that happens sometimes.

I was happy I had the extras around, though, because I was working on a few recipes and needed some unvarnished opinions. One of the recipes I had on the docket was one I had made previously for my family but wanted to make again for the purposes of double-checking myself. I was brushing up on my finger food skills and had done my own version of the cheese breads that have circulated the great interwebs for some time.

Why work on snacks right now?

Not to make you panic or anything, but you have eight days until the NFL football season officially starts. That’s right, you have eight days to get yourself in gear for snack food season. If you have kids playing football, you’re already in the thick of it.

Even more importantly (to me), the season premiere of Doctor Who is on Sunday. Hello. This year is so very timey wimey. This clearly requires food, and lots of it.

Have you wrapped your brain around all the delicious possibilities yet?

This cheese bread is just about the perfect option. It doesn’t require any exotic ingredients, it’s easy as can be to put together, it can be cooked in your oven or on a grill at a tailgating party, and it’s a serious crowd pleaser. In fact, when I said, “Go ahead, guys… dig in…” This is what happened.

What you can’t see in this picture is my husband sitting off to the right growling because the boys’ hands got to the bread before his did. Behold the power of the cheesy bread.

Right after this picture was snapped, The Evil Genius performed a perfect swan dive directly into the center of that loaf. He proclaimed it to be dangerously good.

The boys (mine and the others) concurred.

Then there were requests. My boys asked to have it at their birthdays. Their friends asked that I serve these at the boys’ birthdays. Then one friend asked that at the next sleepover, I ONLY serve this bread, and lots of it.

I’d say that’s pretty successful wouldn’t you?

Those boys are no fools: they know good food when they taste it. It’s hard to go wrong when you start with soft-on-the-inside/crusty-on-the-outside Italian bread that is cut into grab-able squares, generously doused with melted butter mixed with minced green onion and garlic, toasted til hot and tender, then crammed full of Cheddar cheese and baked until bubbly with browned bits of cheese capping it. I suppose the shower of chopped parsley at the end is strictly optional, but it does look nice and it at least makes a valiant attempt to add some breath freshening to the party.

Like a fool, I told the boys about the cook’s tax (the crispy bits of cheese stuck to the foil after the bread is gone) and like the smart young men they are, they ate all of it.

If any of those guys are reading this, I have a message for them, “Unlimited Tailgating Bread is yours if you come clean my barn and help me plant garlic this fall.”

That oughta do it.

I’d better go grate some cheese.

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Cheddar Tailgating Bread

Cheddar Tailgating Bread

Soft-on-the-inside/crusty-on-the-outside Italian bread that is cut into grab-able squares, generously doused with melted butter mixed with minced green onion and garlic, toasted til hot and tender, then crammed full of Cheddar cheese and baked until bubbly with browned bits of cheese capping it. This is a true crowd-pleaser!

Ingredients

  • 1 loaf Italian bread (16 ounces, by weight)
  • 1 pound grated extra-sharp Cheddar cheese
  • 1 stick (4 ounces by weight) butter
  • 1 large clove of garlic, minced or pressed
  • 1 bunch of green onions (scallions) trimmed and thinly sliced
  • A fistful of fresh curly parsley, minced
  • Nonstick cooking spray and foil

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F (or preheat grill to medium heat). Lay out a double thickness of standard foil (or a single thickness of heavy-duty foil.) Spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside

In a microwave safe bowl, or a heavy-bottomed skillet, heat the butter until melted and mix in the garlic and sliced green onions. Stir with a serving spoon.

Lay the loaf of bread on the cutting board and cut a ½” grid pattern into it stopping about ¼” above the base of the bread so that it stays connected. Gently pry apart the bread and spoon the butter mixture along the seams. Gently wrap the foil up around the top of the loaf and put on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven, open the foil and sprinkle the Cheddar cheese over the top, gently pushing some of the cheese down into the cut bread.

Leave the foil open and return the pan to the oven or grill and raise the heat to 425°F or HIGH for another 15 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted and bubbly and lightly browned on top.

Let set for 3 minutes before showering with freshly minced parsley and serving.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/08/29/cheddar-tailgating-bread/

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Bread, Camping Food, Comfort Food, Holiday Food, kid food, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Side Dishes, Vegetarian

Earl Grey Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream

August 10, 2012 by 26 Comments

 

Last week was a beautiful, fantastic whirlwind.

My house was filled with out-of-town family members who had converged to celebrate the wedding of my baby brother, Luke, to the woman of our, er, his dreams, Elvi.

Luke is a poet and I do not mean that esoterically. He’s an actual poet. He’s finishing up his master’s degree in poetry this year and I am not referring to limericks.

Elvi is an artist and I don’t mean that figuratively, either. She’s a working multi-media artist who does incredible things. Everything she does looks like art, even passing communion…

If you’re thinking that the wedding of a poet and an artist would be a feast for the senses you’d be one-hundred percent right, but of all the magical things there were on that day the most wonderful of them all was the love radiating from Luke and Elvi.

Gosh, I love these two so much.

Their car did not cooperate with the wedding plans. It you-know-what-ed the bed in a big way just a couple days before the ceremony. Did they let that get ‘em down? No way! My little sister and her boyfriend led a contingent of little kiddles in decorating the happy couple’s  bikes so they could ride away in matrimonial style. Off they went into the Buffalo sunset for a celebratory wedding coffee, seltzer cans rattling and streamers snapping behind them…

I think Luke summed up all our feelings with one victorious little hand gesture.

You know it, little brother. Welcome to the family, Elvi, we like you more than ice cream. I know you know that’s big…

~~~~~

So why the cupcakes? Yours truly was in charge of baking, decorating and bringing the wedding cake.

The wedding cake presented some -how to say it, ah yes- big challenges. Namely, it didn’t behave well but that’s a story for another day. Also, my children -shockingly- were not willing to give up eating for three days for me to perfect the cake. So selfish, those children.

In short, the cake was made, but the Earl Grey Cupcakes that were planned as “dessert insurance” (in case the cake went too quickly) were tossed onto the “good idea but not do-able in time” pile. Instead, I drank all but one batch’s worth of the tea-infused milk and just got around to making the cupcakes yesterday. What? Noooo. I didn’t do that on purpose so that I could eat a whole batch of cupcakes by myself. I’m not that kind of girl. On Thursdays.

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Earl Grey Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream

Earl Grey Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream

These lightly Earl Grey flavoured, super-moist cupcakes are topped with a fluffy lemony buttercream. Serve these for afternoon tea or as an elegant dessert.

If you want to amp up the Earl Grey presence a little more, you can use some of the chilled, infused milk in the buttercream in place of the heavy cream.

Ingredients

    Ingredients for Earl Grey Cupcakes:
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 5 Earl Grey tea bags
  • 1 cup butter, at room temperature
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • Ingredients for Lemon Buttercream:
  • 1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces by weight) butter, softened to room temperature
  • 4 cups (1 pound, by weight) powdered sugar
  • 6 tablespoons heavy cream or chilled infused Earl Grey whole milk
  • 2 teaspoons lemon extract

Instructions

To Make the Cupcakes:

Pour the milk into a heavy-bottomed saucepan with a tight fitting lid. Scald the milk (heat until it is steaming and many tiny bubbles have formed in the milk around the edge of the pan. Add the tea bags, remove the pan from the heat and put the lid in place. Let the milk cool to room temperature like this. When the milk is cool, squeeze the excess liquid from the tea bags and discard them. Measure one cup plus 2 tablespoons of the cooled infused milk and reserve the rest.

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a mixing bowl with an electric hand-held mixer) beat together the butter and sugar until lighter in colour and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat well.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter/egg/sugar. Beat on low just until combined. Add about 1/3 of the infused milk that you measured. Again, beat just until combined, scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl and repeat -flour, milk, flour, milk- until both flour and milk are completely incorporated.

Line 24 muffin/cupcake wells with cupcake liners and spray lightly with non-stick cooking spray. Fill the liners about 2/3 full of cupcake batter.

Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until they spring back when pressed lightly or a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.

To Make the Lemon Buttercream:

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or a mixing bowl with a handheld electric mixer) beat the butter on high until it is light and fluffy. Gradually add in the powdered sugar until incorporated. Then, with the mixer on high, whisk in the cream or infused milk and the lemon extract until the buttercream is light and fluffy. Use an offset spatula to smear the buttercream on the cupcakes or load it into a pastry bag with a big tip to pipe on the frosting.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/08/10/earl-grey-cupcakes-with-lemon-buttercream/

 

Filed Under: Cakes, Comfort Food, Desserts, Holiday Food, kid food, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With:

“Barbecue” Grilled Spare Ribs

July 18, 2012 by 5 Comments

There are some things that are meant to be eaten delicately; minute bites, dab the mouth gently, use flatware, and such.

This is -most emphatically- not one of those dishes. Tear into it with your hands and teeth. Get sauce all over your chin and halfway up your cheeks. Ribs demand pride-free commitment to the eating process. I dare you to try to eat ribs with a fork and knife. You’re going to end up looking a-fool. The rib bone will careen off of your plate onto the table (and heaven help you if you’re using a tablecloth.) It’s best just accept the mess is coming, tie your hair back and dive into it with gusto.

Meaty, smoky, full-body-eating-experience ribs are an American summer tradition. If you’re lucky, you live somewhere that people take the process of cooking ribs very seriously. If you’re seriously blessed, you live just up the way from a good rib joint. If you don’t? Well, don’t despair. You can turn out superb quality ribs using nothing more than an oven and a grill. The key is really in patience. You don’t do ribs every day, so do not be in a rush. You can’t hurry ribs just like you can’t hurry love. No. You’ll just have to wait. (Yes, I did just break into song. Don’t tell me you didn’t.)

You have to rub the ribs and let them sit for twenty four hours then cook low and slow and then finally you can slather them with barbecue sauce (if it floats your boat, and it does float mine) at the tail end of cooking. You don’t sauce it at the beginning because the sugars in the barbecue sauce burn when cooked for too long. A little char on a rib is a good thing, but a charcoal rib is not. Next you move those sticky, sweet, spicy, salty, smoky ribs to a cutting board and let them sit for a couple of minutes. I mean it. You let ‘em sit. Don’t rush those ribs. Cut them into one- or two-rib servings, depending on how meaty they are

After all that, you can finally dig in. And dig in you will.While you’re digging in, the dogs will look at you longingly. The cat will circle around the table none-to-discreetly. Neighbors you’ve never met will drift into your yard because the scent of just cooked ribs will have wafted down the street and onto their patio.

You’d better share. It’s the right thing to do. While you’re at it, give them a napkin because they’re going to need one.

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“Barbecue” Grilled Spare Ribs

“Barbecue” Grilled Spare Ribs

Sticky, smoky barbecue ribs are an All-American summer tradition. You'll want to plan ahead before cooking these as they need to sit in the refrigerator with a dry rub for 24 hours before grilling.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup sweet paprika
  • 1/4 cup granulated or raw sugar
  • 1 tablespoon granulated onion (or onion powder)
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 rack of pork spare ribs (about 4 pounds)
  • 1 cup peach salsa (or substitute peach juice or nectar plus 1 peeled clove of garlic if salsa is unavailable.)
  • barbecue sauce for brushing on the ribs at the end of cooking time and for serving
    • Also Needed:
  • Heavy Duty Foil
  • 1/2 cup food quality wood chips (apple, cherry, hickory, etc...) soaked in water for 1/2 hour before needed

Instructions

In a small mixing bowl, use a fork to mix together the paprika, sugar, granulated onion, and cayenne pepper.

Remove the membrane from the rack of ribs and lay the ribs on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle half of the spice mixture over the ribs, rub in enthusiastically, flip the rack and rub on the remaining half of the spice mixture. Cover the ribs with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for 24 hours before grilling.

Pull off a section of heavy-duty foil that is several inches longer than your rib rack on either end. Be sure the foil is wide enough to come up around the rib rack and close securely. If necessary, lay two pieces together and fold along the long edge three or four times, crimping, to form a wider piece. Remove the plastic wrap and lay the rib rack down on the foil. Spoon the peach salsa (or nectar and garlic) over the ribs. Pull the long sides of the foil up together over the center and fold down . Crimp up both ends of the foil and put in a cold oven on a rimmed baking sheet.

Set the oven to 250°F and let the ribs bake for 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat half of your grill to 275°F. Form a ball of double layer of heavy duty foil up around the soaked wood chips, leaving am open space about the size of a half-dollar for smoke to escape. Place that on the heated side of the grill. Place the partially cooked rib rack over the cooler part of the grill, curl side facing up, using indirect heat to finish cooking the ribs.

When the rib bones twist easily in the meat, they are done. Before you pull them off of the grill, brush one side generously with barbecue sauce, flip the rack and brush the other side. Continue cooking until they are as caramelized as you like them. I like mine done with a bit of char on the sauce, so I left mine over the heat for about 5 minutes after they were fully cooked.

Transfer the ribs carefully to a cutting board and let them rest for 5 minutes before cutting between the bones.

Tuck a napkin under your chin and enjoy!

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/07/18/barbecue-grilled-spare-ribs/

P.S. Yes. I know that real barbecued ribs are done over the grill all the way. This is a great way to get mega barbecue flavour with half the work.

 

 

Filed Under: Comfort Food, Holiday Food, kid food, Main Dish, Meat, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes

Crispy Chorizo Dogs

July 6, 2012 by 13 Comments

I am not going to talk about how hot it’s been the past few days. I just won’t. I will, however, talk about how due to things that I won’t talk about, all my best-laid plans for elaborate Independence Day foods went pfffft. I opted, instead, for hot dogs: and lots of ‘em.

Who here watched Matlock? I remember parking myself in front of the tube (not steak) every week to watch Andy Griffith defend folks who did nothing wrong. (Except for that one episode, but I digress.) One of the things I liked best about the show was when he would stop at the food cart in front of the courthouse and order a hot dog with the works. Matlock loved his hotdogs.

Ah, the much maligned humble hot dog or tube steak. My theory on why so many people diss hot dogs is because they began as a way to use up the nasty bits left over after the beautiful primal cuts had been taken. Then something wonderful happened. The nasty bits got a make-over and started getting attention for what they were: a cheap source of nourishment. In the tradition of most foods of humble origins, they threw in spices -and lots of ‘em- and then figured out that applying fire* improved the taste and texture. Hallelujah.

*No matter what my husband says or Matlock would’ve said,  I will not be swayed. I think the most horrific thing you could do to a hot dog is steam or boil it. Yeeeeeeee-uck! He maintains that a steamed or boiled “dirty water dog” is one of the wonders of the world. I think he is -while adorable- completely nuts. Come on folks. Take sides here. Weigh in. I promise I won’t brag if I’m right. Much.

I am personally in the “too much stuff on a hot dog is just about right” camp, much like Matlock. Unlike an expensive steak where I don’t want to overwhelm the intrinsic beefiness of the meat with extraneous flavours, I feel a-okay with loading a hot dog with all sorts of craziness. I’m no hot-dog purist. (Is there such a thing?) I see a hot dog as a blank canvas made for fun.

What goes better with meat than more meat? Nothing! Well, okay, more meat with mustard and onion. Specifically, crispy chorizo nuggets. When you add super crisped bits of spicy, Mexican-style chorizo to the top of grilled hot dogs, it elevates the simple meal from phoned-in to party-fare.

Do yourself a favour. Make some tonight. Do it to avoid the heat. Do it to defend and elevate the hot dog. Do it for Matlock.

May you rest in peace, Andy Griffith. Thank you for the memories!

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Crispy Chorizo Dogs

Crispy, spicy bits of chorizo top a grilled dog to elevate the summer classic to party fare!

Ingredients

Instructions

Place a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium high heat. Break up the chorizo with your hands into the hot pan. Use a sturdy, heat proof spoon to continue breaking up the chorizo into tiny bits as it cooks. Continue cooking the chorizo past the point of fully-cooked, breaking it continually with the spoon, until it is deeply browned and the bits are crispy. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the chorizo to a paper towel lined plate to drain, if necessary.

Place each hot dog in a bun, top first with mustard, then crispy chorizo, then onions and candied jalapenos.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/07/06/crispy-chorizo-dogs/

 

 

Filed Under: Comfort Food, Holiday Food, kid food, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , ,

Butterscotch and Milky Way Tapioca Pudding | Amish Recipe

June 29, 2012 by 10 Comments

I’ve told you about my friends, Ada and Anna, in the Maple Sandwich Cookies post. What I haven’t told you about these ladies is that we are constitutionally incapable of having a conversation without it somehow turning to food and lots of it.  We talk about every kind of food we can think of, but our favourite topic is always dessert.

About three months ago, we were chatting about pudding (like you do) and Anna said, “Mom, you’ve told Rebecca about our butterscotch tapioca, right?” Whenever Anna says that, my ears perk up, and they did. “No…,” said I. “I don’t believe you have!”

What happened next is etched in my brain for all of eternity because I never had heard of such a glorious, decadent, unapologetically desserty dessert in all of my time.

Ada: Well, you start with cooking tapioca with brown sugar…

Anna: And then you add in white sugar, egg and milk.

Ada: Stir it so it doesn’t scorch!

Anna: Then you stir in butter and vanilla. Now you have to let it cool. Then you fold in whipped cream. Lots of whipped cream.

Ada: And chopped Milky Way bars.

Anna: And little tiny pieces of cream cheese. That’s it!

Ada: No, that’s not quite it. We sometimes serve it with caramel ice cream topping.

 

THUD. That was the sound my jaw made as it hit the floor. I was speechless. I was mesmerized. I was so befuddled that I walked out of their store with neither the recipe nor the requisite pearl tapioca.

I couldn’t really head back up the hill to see them again for about a week, and when I finally got there  no one was home. I left a beseeching and desperate note pinned to their front door, “Dreaming about your tapioca! Would you be so kind as to write it down for me? We can exchange it the next time we see each other!” I’m pretty sure I drew some smiley faces and hearts, too.

Two weeks after that, Ada and Anna pulled their buggy into my driveway to chat about helping me paint my fence and porch. Their horse was a bit lame that day, so they didn’t stay long, and it wasn’t until they were out of the drive and halfway up the road that I remembered the pudding.

Just three days ago I finally got my hands on the recipe that Anna had copied over for me by hand. They called it “Butterscotch Tapioca” but I had to add the Milky Ways to the title of the recipe because, well, MILKY WAYS ARE IN THE PUDDING. Holy cow. If you’re not clutching your keyboard in anticipation by now you never will be.

It was absolutely everything I was waiting for and more. Normally, I prefer my tapioca warm with fruit, but this stuff is served cold. Warm is not optional; it needs to be cold. You want the whipped cream and candy bars to hold their integrity and if you fold those into warm pudding it’ll just go phllllllbbbbbt. You want a bowl full of this in the refrigerator just so you can walk by with a spoon and turn back and get a big old mouthful.

Even my three tapioca-averse children hoovered this with wild abandon. The two who like tapioca under normal circumstances? Forget about it. They were so blissed out they couldn’t even speak. And my husband… He walked up and said, “Tapioca in the summer? I don’t know about that… It’s more of a winter…” as he lifted the spoon to his mouth. The next words out of his mouth were, “Oh my. I need another bite. Boys, can you get me a bowl?”

Behold the power of Ada and Anna and their magical Butterscotch (AND MILKY WAY) Tapioca Pudding.

 

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Butterscotch and Milky Way Tapioca Pudding | Amish Recipe

Butterscotch and Milky Way Tapioca Pudding | Amish Recipe

In this recipe from my Amish friends, Ada and Anna, tapioca pudding takes a turn for the spectacular when cooked with a brown sugar custard then loaded with folded-in whipped cream and oodles of chopped Milky Way candy bars and little tiny bits of cream cheese.

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups small pearl tapioca
  • 6 cups water
  • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
  • 2 eggs, well beaten
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 stick butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 1/2 cups whipping cream (or heavy cream) whipped to firm peaks (or 3 cups of Cool Whip)
  • 15 "fun size" Milky Way bars or 2 King Size Milky Way bars, roughly chopped
  • 4 ounces cream cheese, cut into small pieces

Instructions

Bring the tapioca, water and salt to a boil in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent sticking.

Add the brown sugar and stir well. Continue simmering until the tapioca is cooked all the way through (clear or just a tiny white speck at the center of each tapioca pearl.), stirring quite frequently to prevent scorching. My small pearl tapioca purchased at Ada and Anna's store took close to 40 minutes to reach this point.

In a 4 cup measuring cup, whisk together the milk, sugar and beaten eggs. Ladle about a cup of the hot tapioca mixture into the egg mixture and whisk until smooth, then return that to the pan whisking constantly. Bring to a hard simmer and then turn off the heat. Add the butter and vanilla, stirring until the butter is melted and incorporated. Cover tightly and refrigerate until cool.

Stir the cooled tapioca well to loosen it up. Add 1 cup of the whipped cream and stir it in. Add the remaining whipped cream and fold it in gently. After the whipped cream is incorporated and the mixture is even, fold in the chopped Milky Way bars and small pieces of cream cheese. Serve immediately or refrigerate, with a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding and also tightly covered for up to a week.

Ada and Anna suggest serving this with caramel ice cream topping if you want!

Notes: Do not use large pearl tapioca in this pudding as it will take far too long to cook through. Ada and Anna suggest that if you're short on time, you can substitute granulated tapioca, but I have not tested this option. Additionally, when you have chilled the tapioca in preparation for adding the final ingredients, it's going to look like a big, brown lump. Don't fear! Just stir it well to loosen it up. It will lighten significantly in colour and texture as the whipped cream is folded in.
http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/06/29/butterscotch-and-milky-way-tapioca-pudding-amish-recipe/

Filed Under: Accessible Ethnic, Breakfast Foods, candy, Comfort Food, Desserts, Holiday Food, kid food, Party Food, Pudding, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian

One Ingredient Mango (or Banana) Ice Cream

June 8, 2012 by 18 Comments

Around a decade ago, my stepmom, Val,  and my dad gave us a seriously burly juicer as a gift. For those of you well-versed in juicers, I’ll name drop for a second here; it’s a Champion. That thing is jet-engine powerful. And I used that jet engine to make juice. Lots of juice. Juice is good for kids, right?* But there’s only so much juice a gal and her crew can consume.

*Well, as long as it’s real juice and not a sugar bomb. I know…

Then one day, while we were hovering around Val’s kitchen looking hungry (because if you’re smart, that is the way you’ll arrange your face in her kitchen so you can taste her food), she offered to whip up a treat for us. She fished some frozen mango strips and bananas from the freezer. She assembled her own juicer and stuffed the frozen fruit into it. The motor whirred and out of the end of the juicer came… what?… seriously???… It was ice cream. Or at least it looked it.

And oh-my-sweet-heavens it tasted like it. It tasted like the most glorious, indulgent ice cream I had ever eaten. I didn’t even wait until it made it to my own personal bowl. My spoon kept going back to the bowl sitting under the juicer. The Evil Genius’s spoon was even faster than mine. Superlatives were used folks.

That was a day that will live in our memories forever, because it was the day we discovered (I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but my kids are standing over me insisting I tell you what they call it) Fruit Poop. If I wasn’t so desensitized by being the mother of five boys, I might have died just now putting that in print for all you to read, but that’s what the kids (including the big, adult one to whom I’m married) like to call it. This name came about while watching the juicer extrude the fruit. Okay, boys. I told them. Can I go back to calling it ice cream now?

All summer long, this is our go-to dessert. And for years, I’ve kept my mango strips, bananas, and whatever other frozen fruit I wanted to use in plastic containers in the freezer. The only problem was that the lids on those dad-burned containers always shattered on me when I tried to pry them off. I tried switching to freezer bags, but those would slip down in and among rock-hard venison loins, bags of peas and corn, and white paper packages containing that half-a-pig we ordered. It drove me batty.

I recently discovered the joy that is Glad Freezerware. It’s made to go into the freezer! (Duh, right?) It’s tough stuff. It’s made to go from freezer to microwave to whatever and is dishwasher safe. SCORE. I’m still trying to figure out a way to make my kids dishwasher safe. That would so simply my life. Glad… can you get on that? Please?

Here’s how I use it for the One-Ingredient Ice Cream. Cut a large amount of ripe mangoes and bananas into strips or one-inch thick chunks. Believe me. You’re going to want this often. Lay them out -not touching- on a parchment lined baking sheet and stash them in the freezer until frozen solid all the way through. The point in freezing them like this is so you don’t have one giant lump of frozen fruit. No matter HOW burly your juicer or food processor, you cannot make something good out of lump-o-fruit.

Do your level best not to snitch them at this point. Yes, I know they’re tasty, but they’re MAGICAL when they’re frozen and turned into fruit poop, er, one-ingredient ice cream.

For best results, transfer the frozen fruit into Glad Freezerware containers, then store in the freezer until ready to use.  You’re going to be grateful those lids don’t shatter when you take them off, because you’ll be taking the lids off all. the. time. to make this ice cream.

The lid, the lid, the lid didn’t shatter!

Again, no snitching! I had to smack a hand away from these containers. Alright. I smacked my own hand away, but the point is that you want what’s coming next!

I am not engaging in hyperbole when I tell you this is some of the best tasting stuff I have ever eaten. And look at the banana “ice cream”.

I do so love this plain. I adore it. But if I was to accidentally trip and drizzle a little chocolate syrup on top, I would love it that way, too. Ahem.

We also love blends. Mango/Banana? Two thumbs up. Blueberry/Banana? Big yes! Have fun with it. You have to taste this to believe it. It tastes like soft-serve frozen custard, but it’s good for you. Holy cow. It’s really good for you. It’s FRUIT!

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One Ingredient Mango (or Banana) Ice Cream

One Ingredient Mango (or Banana) Ice Cream

You'll have to taste it to believe it, but this super-creamy, luscious ice cream is made from just one ingredient! Whether you choose mango or banana or another fruit entirely, you'll be blown away by how decadent frozen fruit can taste when blitzed in a food processor or a juicer with a blank plate. Summer heat doesn't stand a chance when you have this recipe under your belt!

Ingredients

    For Mango 'Ice Cream':
  • Strips or small chunks of frozen mango
  • (The equivalent of 1 to 1 1/2 mangos yields one very generous or two medium servings.)
    • For Banana 'Ice Cream' (Taste like vanilla ice cream):
  • Strips or small chunks of frozen banana
  • (1 1/2 bananas are about equal to one very generous or two smaller servings)

Instructions

For Either Flavour of 'Ice Cream' Using a Juicer:

Put the blank plate on your juicer (the one that allows you to make 'whole juice' vs. strained juice.) Add the chunks of frozen fruit to the hopper and press down gently until all the fruit has been extruded.

Either eat immediately for soft-serve texture, or pack gently into a freezerware container, cover and put in the freezer until solid. This is best served the day it is made, but can be stored longer and softened slightly at room temperature before serving later.

For Either Flavour of 'Ice Cream' Using a Food Processor:

Put the chunks of frozen fruit into a food processor work bowl that has been fitted with a metal blade. Put the lid in place and process until it is a soft-serve consistency. You may find you need to stop the food processor to scrape down the sides occasionally.

Serve immediately like soft-serve, or pack into freezerware containers, cover and put into the freezer until solid. This is best served the day it is made, but can be stored longer and softened slightly at room temperature before serving later.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/06/08/one-ingredient-mango-or-banana-ice-cream/

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received Glad Freezerware but the opinions contained in the post are entirely my own. I really do love these containers. For more information on the new Glad Freezerware containers, visit their Facebook page.

Filed Under: Comfort Food, Desserts, Freezer Pleaser, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, Holiday Food, Ice Cream, kid food, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cream Puffs and Profiteroles | Make Ahead Mondays

April 30, 2012 by 6 Comments

 

My husband turned eleventy one on Saturday.

Okay, not really… He turned forty six, but to hear the guy talk, he sounds like he thinks he’s butter scraped over too much bread.  Don’t feel too badly for him, though. He is the only person I’ve ever known in my life who -when asked how old he is- rounds up by a year or two. Somehow or another, he combines this funny aging complex with a playful personality. When we were dating, he once insisted, “I may be eight years older than you, but I’ll always, ALWAYS be WAY more immature than you are!” He meant it.

This is the dad who does back flips off of the swings when he goes to the playground with the kids (giving me a heart attack in the process.) This is the husband who panics over the thought of picking out a gift for me, yet still pulls off the coolest gifts ever*. This is the guy who lost track of time while photo-documenting the entire process of a snake eating a frog in the side yard, thus missing a family picnic. This is the man who loves cartoons (Looney Tunes is top of the heap), anime, Laurel and Hardy, playing guitar and drums and piano and bass and, and, and… This is my guy.

*Knowing how much I love dance, he scored two tickets to a limited showing of a touring traditional Chinese dance troupe.  It required a trip to the city (he would probably rather have dental work done), going out to dinner (he’d prefer hitting his thumb with a hammer), and dressing up (he would rather let the eight year old drive the family van than dress up.) He got some serious husband points for that present.

…And whether he’s turning eleventy one or forty six, I am going to try to make him a birthday feast that will make him borderline weepy with joy. This year was my year to earn points. I made a dinner comprised of his favourite dishes of all time and capped it off with the dessert that makes him clap his hands and laugh with anticipation. I’ll be spending this week sharing my Evil Genius’s birthday feast. We’re going to start not at the beginning, but rather at the end of the meal, because it is the most perfectly perfect fit ever for Make Ahead Mondays. We’re going Cream Puffy! Actually, we’re going down Profiterole Lane, but let’s start with the cream puffs.

Cream Puffs are another of those marvelous children of pâte à choux or choux paste. I’ve already told you a little of my love for choux paste, but I have much, much more to share with you, and THIS is one of my favourites. In this case, you nix the cheese and Dijon mustard and let the choux paste stand on its own. Oh man, let me tell you, you’re going to make like my husband here and clap and laugh when you see this coming.

Profiteroles are the happy result of splitting a largely hollow cream puff in half and filling it with sweet, creamy filling. HOLLER! In this case, we’re filling our profiteroles with ice cream and then drizzling warm hot fudge sauce over the whole thing. Then we drizzle the hot fudge sauce directly into our mouths. I mean, really. This is Grandma Val’s hot fudge sauce that I’m using. I’m no fool.

That all sounds awesome already, right? Would you like me to make it even more awesome? ‘Cause I can. And I will. It is more awesome because you can whip up that choux paste, pipe it out into the shapes you want and freeze them. Then you can have cream puffs and profiteroles any old time you want. You don’t have to thaw the dough or anything prior to baking. You just pop them on a lined pan and bake. The only concession you have to make for baking them from frozen is that you add five minutes to the cooking time. That’s do-able, right?

That’s TOTALLY do-able. Make yourself some cream puffs. Make someone happy. Then make some  profiteroles and make someone ecstatic.

 

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Cream Puffs and Profiteroles | Make Ahead Mondays

Cream Puffs and Profiteroles | Make Ahead Mondays

Did you know you can freeze cream puff dough (choux paste) and bake cream puffs from the frozen dough any time you want? It's true. Bake them up and fill those crispy, brown, mostly-hollow poufs with your favourite ice cream then drizzle with warmed hot fudge sauce as the ultimate reward for having a well-stocked freezer. Happiness is a warm cream puff with cold ice cream!

Ingredients

    For the Cream Puffs:
  • 1 stick (4 ounces by weight) butter
  • 1 cup (8 ounces by weight) water
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 1/4 cups (5 1/4 ounces by weight) all purpose flour
  • 4 large eggs (preferably at room temperature)
    • For the Profiteroles:
  • Ice cream
  • Hot Fudge Sauce

Instructions

To Make the Cream Puffs:

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a large baking sheet (or two) with silpats or parchment paper.

Bring the water, butter and salt to a rapid boil in a heavy-bottomed, 2 quart capacity saucepan over high heat. Remove the pan from the burner and add all the flour at once. Stir strongly until the flour is completely wet. Return the pan to medium high heat and continue stirring strongly until a light film forms over the bottom of the pan and the dough is smooth and soft and forms a ball when stirred. Remove the pan from the heat. Transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (or to a large, heat-proof mixing bowl if a stand mixer is unavailable.) Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. After the final egg is added, beat on high for at least 2 minutes, but not more than 4. (If beating by hand, you can count this as a large part of your daily workout. Beat it into submission!)

You must pipe or scoop out your cream puff dough immediately, but there are two options for after you portion them out. Either way, begin by using a pastry bag with a large plain tip or spoons to portion the dough into 16 equally sized rounds on the prepared pan(s). I use a pastry bag to pipe circles, piping in smaller toward the top. Traditionally, you tap down the little peaks that form, but my kids like to bite those off, so I leave them. Alternatively, you could use two large tablespoons portion it out, using one spoon to scrape the dough from the other over the pan.

At this point you can put the pan directly into the freezer, transferring the cream puffs to a resealable zipper top bag or freezer safe container with a tight fitting lid for up to 3 months.

~or~

To Bake the Cream Puffs:

(If preparing from frozen, simply add 5 minutes to the baking time at the end.) Place pan in the oven, bake for 15 minutes. Do not open that door! After 15 minutes, lower the heat to 375°F and cook for an additional 15 minutes. When the time is up, turn off the oven and stick the handle of a wooden spoon in between the body of the stove and the door to hold it open just a little and let the cream puffs cool in the oven like that for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the pan from the oven. You can serve them immediately or cool to room temperature.

To Make Profiteroles:

Break open a cream puff at the midline (much like a muffin). Place the bottom on a plate, put a good sized scoop of ice cream on the base, add the top part of the cream puff and drizzle with warmed hot fudge sauce.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/04/30/cream-puffs-and-profiteroles-make-ahead-mondays/

Filed Under: Component Foods, Desserts, Freezer Pleaser, Holiday Food, Ice Cream, kid food, Make Ahead Mondays, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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