That's a good lookin' dip!

One nice thing about working from home is that I have the luxury to go the store pretty much whenever I want. As you might imagine, I try to go when there aren’t a lot of people there.

The downside of this flexible schedule is that it has made me a pretty lazy meal planner. Because I can go to the store every day, I do go to the store every day. Sometimes multiple stores…

The people all know me now at the local spot as the weird 20-something guy who shops only when retired people shop.

I think they like me though because I bring them lots of strange ingredients. I have a knack for finding weird stuff they didn’t even know they had in their own store.

On this day, that ingredient was fennel thanks to the poll last week when an appetizer won. There was a pristine row of fennel bulbs in my local store. Untouched.

The check-out person didn’t even know what they were, let alone the look up code. When he asked me what they tasted like I blurted out, “It’s like licorice celery.”

He replied, “That sounds horrible.”

I almost brought him some of this dip just to redeem fennel in his mind after my apparently gross description!

Baked Fennel Dip

Yield: Serves 6.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

3 bulbs fennel, quartered and roasted
2 cloves garlic
3 Tablespoons honey
1/4 cup half and half or cream
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
3 Tablespoons olive oil
Pinch of salt and pepper
Butter, for baking dish
Crackers or crusty bread

Helpful Equipment:
Food Processor

Directions:

1) Chop stems and roots off of fennel, leaving just the bulbs.

2) Wash bulbs well and quarter them.

3) Heat oil in an oven safe skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the fennel quarters and sear on each side for 3 minutes per side.

4) Add garlic cloves (whole, but peeled) to the pan. Sprinkle on some salt and cover the pan with foil. If you don't have an oven-safe skillet, you can transfer all of this to a baking dish.

5) Bake the fennel and garlic at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until the fennel is very tender.

6) Transfer fennel and garlic to a food processor and pulse until smooth. Add other ingredients (reserve 2 tablespoons of cheese for topping) and continue to pulse until everything is combined.

7) Butter a 3 cup baking dish and transfer the dip to the dish. Sprinkle on remaining cheese and salt and pepper.

8) Bake dish again for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

9) Serve dip with thick crackers or crusty bread.

Adapted from a Martha recipe.

Roasting Fennel

Fennel is kind of a strange vegetable. It’s looks like what would happen if you stuck celery and dill in some sort of nuclear chamber and fused the two together.

It’s delicious stuff though and I love cooking with it every chance I get.

Strange Root!

What I love about fennel is its light flavor. It smells pretty strongly of anise, but once you roast it down, it completely mellows out. It still has a subtle licorice flavor, but it’s very light.

Mixed with a few other ingredients, I think it makes a really solid dip.

Prepping fennel can be a pain if you’re doing something fancy with it. For this recipe though, just chop off the stalks and the root tips and give them a good rinse.

Ready to quarter and cook.

Quarter the fennel next and toss the fennel quarters into a pan with a good drizzle of olive oil. If you have an oven-safe pan, that would work best since we are going to transfer these to the oven after a quick sear.

Just heat the skillet over medium-high heat until the fennel lightly caramelizes, about 5 minutes.

All ready to roast!

After that, go ahead and add a few whole garlic cloves to the dish along with a good pinch of salt.

Cover this entire thing with foil and roast it at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes. The fennel will get super-tender.

This will also make your house smell like a licorice factory and a garlic farm had a baby.

This will make your house smell awesome.

The Dip

Besides the fennel and garlic, there’s only a few other ingredients that you need.

The half and half (or cream if you want to get crazy) is important as it gives the dip a really smooth texture. The honey gives the dip some sweetness which is nice and the Parmesan cheese gives it some saltiness and, well, cheesiness which is always good for a dip.

Good flavors here!

Basically, just throw all of this stuff in a blender or food processor and pulse it until it’s a smooth consistency. I recommend tasting it at this point and adjusting for salt and pepper. It might need a bit more cream or honey. Just use your best taste bud judgement.

NOTE: If you don’t have a food processor, I still think you can make this dip. The fennel bulbs are so tender after roasting that I think you could just mash them with a fork and the stir everything together. It might be a bit more rustic, but I think it would work fine.

When you think it’s ready, pour it into a lightly buttered baking dish and sprinkle on a bit more Parmesan cheese.

Ready for the oven.

Bake this bad boy at 400 degrees for another 20 minutes and you’ll be left with this thing of beauty.

The crispy edges are the best.

Those almost burned bits around the edges are my favorite part. They are crunchy and delicious.

Serve this warm with crackers or nice crusty bread.

Chomp!

Why did I pick this as a Thanksgiving Appetizer?

Well, for one, you can make it in advance. Two, although it does have a bit of cream in it, it’s actually a really light dip. The flavors are completely refreshing and palate cleansing so I thought it would work well as a snack before the big meal.

It’s definitely a unique dip and one that I bet most of your guests haven’t had.

I don't recommend the grilled cheese approach.

This idea started as a sandwich and it ended as a sandwich. A very messy sandwich as you can see. A sandwich that I wouldn’t really recommend you make unless you own stock in a napkin company.

I had dreams of making a creamy pumpkin grilled cheese sandwich, but cream cheese doesn’t do a great job of holding together when it gets hot so the whole thing kind of just melted all over the place. Don’t get me wrong though… it was very tasty! I had no problem scarfing it all down, but it’s definitely easier to just use it as a spread.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Spread

Yield: 1 Cup

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup cream cheese
2 Tablespoons honey
1 orange, zest only
Pinch of chili powder
Pinch of salt

Helpful Equipment:
- Zester

Directions:

1) Mash pumpkin and cream cheese together in a small bowl.

2) Stir in honey, spices, and orange zest.

3) Use on toast, bagels, or almost any baked good.

Making the Spread

You could go the complete sweet route with this spread by mixing in standard pumpkin pie spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, etc.), but I decided to give it a slightly different flavor with some chili powder and orange zest.

Orange isn't optional.

It’s very important when making spreads like this to make sure you get just canned pumpkin. You don’t want the canned pumpkin pie filling with lots of crap in it. If you’re in doubt, take a look at the ingredients. They should only have pumpkin listed. Nothing else.

Once you pop your can open just mix the cream cheese and pumpkin together really well. I just used a fork and kind of mashed it all together.

These two things play nice together.

It’s okay if there are some lumps. The only way to get rid of those would be to beat the mixture with a hand mixer or something and that’s more work than it’s worth in my opinion.

Once your base mixture is mixed, you can add in your spices. The orange zest really makes the whole thing pop so try not to leave it out.

Then just add a pinch of chili powder and salt to taste. The finished spread should be a lovely light orange color.

Well that turned out bright!

Honestly, I recommend stopping here. Use the spread like this for toast, bagels, or heck. Just eat it with a spoon if you want. It’s really delicious.

But if you want to venture into the world of the messy, I have a sandwich for you!

The Pumpkin Sandwich

The key with this sandwich, if you are daring enough to try it out, is to do the exact opposite of what you would normally do with a grilled cheese. Normally, I recommend cooking grilled cheeses on medium-low heat which lets the bread toast slowly while the heat radiates into the cheese, melting it.

If you do that with this sandwich, you’ll have a huge mess on your hands.

Instead, you want to cook the sandwich on a high heat for about 45 seconds per side. That will toast the bread nicely, and just warm through the filling.

Butter a piece of bread and set it in a hot skillet. Add a few dollops of pumpkin spread to the bread.

Work quickly!

Top it with another piece of buttered bread (butter side up) and set it over medium-high heat. After about 45 seconds, carefully flip the sandwich and you should have a lovely browned toast.

Cook it for another 45 seconds and your done. If you do it right, none of the pumpkin mixture will spill out.

Hot and quick!

Let this cool for a minute before eating it. I cut mine in half just so you could see the runny (but delicious) mess that this sandwich is capable of.

Just spread it on, people.

By all means make the pumpkin spread in this post. It’s very Fall-ish. It would go great on a huge number of breakfast foods.

Maybe don’t try to do what I did with the whole sandwich thing. If you wanted a sandwich you could always just toast two pieces of bread and stick them together with some spread in the middle!

Don’t make something delicious harder than it needs to be.

I can do romantic sometimes!

Betsy and I had a whirlwind month over the last four or fives weeks. We were both out of town a lot, but not traveling together. When we are in town together, we’ve both had really busy work schedules.

So it kind of felt like we were two ships passing in the night.

We decided to right the problem a few weeks ago by having a dedicated date night. No movies or dinner out though because that’s exactly what we had been doing too much of over the last few weeks. So we stayed at home, came up with a fun menu together, and just relaxed.

I thought I’d share some of the stuff we ate on our very fun date night!

It Was Betsy’s Idea

Betsy came up with a great idea for a date night menu. Instead of having one big meal, she wanted to have a bunch of smaller plates. Kind of like tapas I guess, but mostly appetizers that we could just kind of snack on all night long.

This sounded like a great idea to me! We went to a few stores together during the day and shopped for fun snacks that we would eat later in the night. Betsy never goes grocery shopping with me so it was a nice change to shop together.

For kind of a starter dish to our meal of starters, I set out some olives, roasted, marinated garlic cloves, a wedge of soft truffle cheese (Betsy loves truffles), and some crackers.

Basic starters

I also prepped one of my favorite appetizers: Radishes and butter.

It might sound strange, but it’s really good. Make sure to use a really good European style salted butter. It’s an awesome dish.

Simple but good.

The Mosto Cotto

One of the fun things you can do if you want to plan a night like this is pull out special foods that you might have from trips. We pulled out a small bottle of this stuff called “Mosto cotto” from our honeymoon to Italy.

From what I could tell, to make this stuff they just take a bunch of Sangiovese wine and slowly simmer it down for about 18 hours. The result is a thin syrup that’s sweet and tangy at the same time.

Hard to find... sorry.

You could pour this stuff on your shoe and eat it, but it’s really tasty on cheese.

I cubed up some romano cheese and drizzled the mosto cotto over the top. Tasted just like it did in Italy!

One of my favorite things!

The Crostini

The most substantial parts of our date night meal was a bunch of different crostini that I made. I pretty much took most of these ideas from the most recent Bon Appétit issue which gave six or seven really great crostini ideas.

One of the most important parts of making good crostini is to make sure the bread is cooked well.

Ideally, you want a very crusty exterior and a soft interior. The best way to do this, that I’ve found, is actually on the grill.

Just get your grill super-hot, rub the grates with some olive oil, and toss on the sliced bread. Any baguette will work great for this.

Important!

I made three different kinds of crostini. The nice thing about these is that they all took just a few minutes to prepare once the bread was ready.

The first was a Mexican inspired crostini with Mexican crema (basically sour cream except a bit lighter), grilled corn, and fresh cilantro.

The second one was a standard caprese style crostini with mozzarella, basil, and tomatoes.

Light and tasty!

The most ambitious one that I made had fresh ricotta cheese, ripe peaches, prosciutto, and honey.

It was pretty amazing.

Set all these plates out with some fresh cherries and a big bottle of red wine and date night is served!

Quite the spread!

I was worried that I wouldn’t be full after this, but it worked out fine. The crostini were all pretty filling and since we had been snacking all afternoon on cheese and olives and stuff, it was the perfect amount of food.

The nicest thing about doing a date night like this is that all of the dishes were really quick to make (and clean up). I wasn’t toiling away in the kitchen for hours or anything.

Hopefully, this gave you all some ideas that you can use for a date night or just as a fun appetizer for a party or something!

Maybe best breakfast ever.

A few weeks ago I was browsing Sam Sifton’s (NY Times Restaurant critic) best dishes that he ate in 2010. It’s a fun little interactive piece. It has sound but if you have a few minutes and want to get really hungry, you can check it out here.

Some of the dishes are pretty complicated and would be really hard to reproduce at home (hence their greatness), but one dish jumped out at me as completely make-able. So make it I did!

The dish is an interesting twist on potato hash that includes some tangy apples and sweet honey. It’s just as easy to make as normal hash really but the flavors are way more complex and delicious.

Sweet Apple Hash

Yield: Serves 2.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

2 Russet potatoes, diced (you could use any potato really)
2 apples, peeled, cored and diced
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
4 ounces bacon, cubed
2-3 Tablespoons good quality honey
Pinch of salt and pepper

Directions:

1) Prepare all ingredients. Cook bacon in a skillet over medium-low heat to slowly render out fat. Remove bacon and save for later once it's crispy, about 10 minutes.

2) Add diced potatoes to skillet with bacon fat and cook over medium-high heat until browned and almost cooked, maybe 8 minutes.

3) Once browned, add apples and bacon to pan and heat for another minute.

4) Drizzle honey over hash and stir to combine and coat hash.

5) Serve immediately with eggs.

Adapted from a Vandaag recipe.

The restaurant that Mr. Sifton went to charges $8 for this dish which honestly sounds like a heck of a deal to me. I thought it would be at least double digits.

It only has a few ingredients really. Try to use good honey and bacon if you can. That makes a huge difference.

Simple enough.

Of course, I have no idea how the restaurant actually prepares this dish, so I just kind of winged it. I decided it would be a good idea to fry up everything in bacon grease since I was making bacon anyway.

When is it not a good idea to fry stuff in bacon grease?!

Evenly cubed.

I think the most annoying part of this recipe is dealing with the apples. It’s just kind of a pain peeling, coring, and chopping apples.

But you can do it. I have faith in you. Toss in a bit of lemon juice with your apples to make sure they don’t turn brown.

Sliced with a bit of lemon.

In your favorite skillet (I recommend cast iron or non-stick), add your bacon and cook on medium-low so the fat gently renders out.

After a few minutes this should leave you with a Tablespoon or two of bacon grease and some really crispy bacon which you can scoop out of the skillet and reserve for later.

Nice and crispy.

Then add your potatoes to the skillet and cook them over medium-high heat until they start to brown nicely. This will take maybe 8 minutes.

You don’t want them cooked completely, but almost if that makes sense.

Bacon fat is a good thing.

Then add the apples and bacon back to the dish. Toss a few times and hit the whole things with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Cook for another minute or so just to heat everything and blend all the flavors. Be sure not to over cook it at this point or the apples will get soggy.

The Best Part

Once your dish is practically done, drizzle in a few tablespoons of honey.

This really sends the dish over the top.

Action shot!

Toss the dish one more time to heat up the honey and create a glaze over the hash.

As with any hash, I served this with some really runny over-easy eggs.

This was one of the best hashes I’ve ever had without a question.

Gotta have a good egg with this.

So, if you happen to live in New York and can stop by Vandaag for brunch, more power to you.

For everyone else, I highly recommend this stuff. I think it’s going to become my default hash. The salty and sweet combo is just out of this world.

Tempeh Tempeh!

I consider myself a pretty adventurous eater. Probably not Bizarre Foods adventurous, but you can pretty much bet that if I come over to your house, I’ll eat whatever you put in front of me.

This has almost always been true about me, but has definitely been amped up over the last few years via Macheesmo. Now when I see something new, it’s not that I’ll eat it if it’s served to me, it’s that I develop a deep need not only eat the stuff, but cook with it, and make it delicious.

Enter tempeh. I’ve had this stuff only a handful of times and I’ve never felt confident enough about the dish to post on it. But this time the dish was worth posting. It was like I accidentally unlocked the secret tempeh code of the universe. It’s spicy and slightly sweet and pretty awesome.

In Oprah fashion, this dish is one of my favorite things and if I could, I would send you all home with your very own sample.

Sweet Heat Tempeh

Yield: Serves 2.

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

8 ounces tempeh (any flavor will work)
1 clove garlic
2 inches fresh ginger, minced or grated
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
1/3 Cup orange juice
1/4 Cup honey
1 Tablespoon chili garlic sauce
1 Tablespoon neutral oil (for cooking)
Cilantro (opt. garnish)

Directions:

1) Chop tempeh into bite-sized pieces.

2) In a small bowl, mix all the other ingredients (except the neutral oil). Whisk together well.

3) Add a drizzle of neutral oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat.

4) Once hot, add tempeh and cook for a few minutes per side until tempeh is lightly browned.

5) Add glaze to pan and cook until glaze reduces a bit and sticks to tempeh, about 2 minutes.

6) Remove and serve with greens and rice or wheat berries.

Let’s Talk Tempeh

If you’ve never have tempeh, it’s very similar to tofu except, I think maybe better in some cases. Tempeh is made with soy beans, just like tofu, except the beans aren’t mashed. So it’s a lot firmer and has a very different texture. Also, they ferment the soy beans and then add in other flavors as well.

I can’t really think of anything that has a similar texture to tempeh. It’s firm, but also kind of light. It has a bite to it, but isn’t crunchy at all.

I think it’s actually a lot easier to work with than tofu. You don’t have to press it or worry about it sticking or falling apart. It just works.

You can find it these days around the tofu in most supermarkets but it probably won’t be very prominent. You could also just ask someone in the supermarket for it which at a minimum will give you some entertainment because they will have no idea what you’re talking about.

Strange stuff...

Assuming you can find some of this stuff though, cooking it is actually a breeze. Pop it out of the wrapper and chop it into bite-sized pieces.

I sliced mine into 1/4 inch strips and then sliced those down the middle. This stuff cuts really easily.

Flying by the seat of my pants.

The Glaze

The thing about tempeh though (much like tofu) is that I find it pretty bland on its own.

And I don’t really do bland.

So I came up with this quick little Asian sweet heat glaze that was really awesome with the tempeh.

You’ll need this stuff.

These guys I know!

Be sure to chop up the garlic and ginger really well and then whisk everything together. Set this aside until you need it.

Glaze on!

Like I mention in the recipe, I also quickly sauteed some bok choy for the dish. You could use a lot of different greens for this, but I do think some veggies is a good addition if you want to make a whole meal out of this.

For later.

Cooking the Tempeh

This stuff is pretty much the easiest stuff to cook in the world. You don’t need to worry about cooking it all the way through like meat and it won’t fall apart like tofu does.

It’s pretty fail safe actually.

Just add a few Teaspoons of neutral oil to a large skillet and put it over medium high heat. Once it’s hot, add all the tempeh and try to spread it out into an even layer. Let the tempeh cook for a few minutes on each side.

It should get lightly golden brown, like this:

So far so good.

Next, turn your heat down a bit (to mediumish) and pour in your glaze. Give this a good stir so the glaze coats all the tempeh pieces evenly.

Continue to cook for another minute or two until the glaze thickens and sticks to all the pieces.

It’s a beautiful thing.

So far really good!

Whatever greens you choose to use, you can cook them in the same skillet. Just scoop out the tempeh and then add all the greens with maybe another drizzle of oil if the pan is dry.

I served the tempeh over some cooked wheat berries and bok choy with some cilantro on top.

Awesome meal.

This actually turned out to be a pretty spicy dish. The wheat berries and greens help kill the heat a bit.

If you refuse to venture into the land of the tempeh, you could use this glaze for all kinds of things from chicken to tofu as well.

Anybody a tempeh fan out there? Did I just turn anybody into one?

These flavors are out of this world.

Believe it or not, not everything that’s delicious needs to be a huge production. Sometimes the most delicious thing you’ll eat all week can be thrown together in just a few minutes and take only three ingredients.

This is that dish.

It’s almost impossible for me to imagine a dish so packed with flavor that can be made in the same amount of time as this quick fig dish.

It’s so quick you can literally make it during a commercial break. I know. Because I did.

Figs with Blue Cheese and Honey

Yield: Serves 2.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

Figs (about 4 per person)
Blue Cheese
Honey
Pinch of salt

Directions:

1) Slice figs in half and broil them for 1-2 minutes on high, cut-side up, until they are warm and slightly browned around the edges.

2) Sprinkle on blue cheese and drizzle with honey.

3) Devour them!

The Figs

If you aren’t familiar with figs, they are a very strange fruit. When you cut into them it looks like some sort of alien fruit. If you take a leap of faith and bite into one though, you’ll be rewarded with a subtly sweet flesh that’s like nothing else.

They happen to be in season near the end of Fall so this time of year you can usually find some really good ones in the store. You could use any kind of fig for this dish, but I used brown Turkish figs.

Beautiful things!

Figs are best when they are almost over-ripe. They should be kind of mushy. If they are firm then they aren’t quite ripe yet.

You can also tell pretty easily when you cut into them. Of course, by then, they are cut open so you might as well just eat them even if they’re a bit under-ripe.

Usually the darker the color, the riper and sweeter they will be.

Broiling the Figs

If you were just going to pop a fig in your mouth, you’d want it to be ripe. If they aren’t ripe, they can be a bit bitter.

But for this recipe, it’s okay if they aren’t perfectly ripe because we’re going to broil them for a minute which will soften them up and also caramelize them a bit.

Just slice the figs in half, lay them out on a baking sheet, cut-side up, and place them under the broiler for about 2 minutes. You want them to be warm and slightly browned around the edges.

The Toppings

The toppings don’t get much easier than this. Just some blue cheese and honey is all you need.

And no. You can’t substitute the blue cheese. The tanginess is essential to the dish. There’s only 3 ingredients so no substitutions people!

I went pretty heavy on the blue cheese...

Once your figs come out from the broiler, sprinkle on as much blue cheese as you want (I like a lot) and drizzle on some honey.

Serve it up and wow your friends!

Tried to make it pretty...

The nice thing about broiling the figs is the skin because a bit crunchy. So you get this kind of crunchy texture, with the soft fig flesh and the blue cheese and the honey.

It’s really out of this world.

An awesome snack.

The only other thing I’ll mention about this dish is that it can actually be served as either an appetizer or a savory dessert. It works perfectly both ways.

Some things are better when they aren’t overcomplicated. This is one of those things.

If you can get your hands on some nice figs, definitely give this dish a shot!

Ginger-packed.

With the holiday season in full effect I thought I’d spend a week and post a few cookie recipes that have been swimming around in my head recently. Therefore, I’m un-originally calling this week Cookie Week. As an aside, it also happens to be cookie week on Tablespoon.com where I write once a week as well. So, basically, if you don’t like cookies you might want to just ignore me for a week.

But who in their right mind doesn’t like cookies?

I thought I’d start the week off with something simple: Ginger snaps. I like ginger snaps a lot mainly because they tend to not be too sweet. I usually don’t like stuff that’s super-sweet and these guys have a great balance of spice and sweetness.

I decided to jack up the ginger flavor a bit by using fresh ginger as well as ground ginger.

Double Ginger Snaps

Yield: 30 Cookies

Prep Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes

Ingredients:

3/4 Cups (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1 large egg
2 Tablespoons fresh ginger, grated
2 Teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 Teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 Teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon molasses
2 Tablespoons honey
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 Teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
Coarse sugar for topping cookies (Optional but a nice touch)

Helpful Equipment:
Microplane zester for ginger

Directions:

1) Cream together butter and sugars using a hand mixer or stand mixer until mixture is light and fluffy. In a seperate bowl, combine all dry ingredients.

2) To butter mixture, add egg, vanilla, molasses, honey, and fresh ginger. Stir to combine.

3) Slowly add dry ingredients in a few batches and stir until dough comes together.

4) Scrape dough out onto clean surface and form a log out of the dough. Wrap the log in plastic wrap tightly and store in the fridge for an hour so the dough can firm up. You can also freeze the dough if you want to store it for a long time.

5) Slice off 1/4 inch cookies using a sharp knife. Dip cookies in coarse sugar on one side and set sugared side up on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silicon mat.

6) Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Cool before serving.

Making the Snaps

There are a few more ingredients in these cookies than some others, but actually making the cookies couldn’t be easier.

Cookie deconstructed.

Start by combining your butter and sugars into a bowl and mix with either a stand mixer or hand mixer. Cream the butter and sugar together until it’s nice and light and fluffy. This will take a few minutes.

Once the mixture is light and fluffy, add your egg to the mix.

You don't need a fancy mixer for these...

In a separate bowl, combine all your dry ingredients. So that means the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ground ginger. Mix those all together with a fork.

The Secret Ingredient

I was hoping to give the cookies a bit more of a spicy flavor by using some fresh ginger along with the ground ginger.

It worked really well actually. The key is to grate the ginger finely so it kind of dissolves into the cookies.

Secret ingredient!

Combine the fresh ginger, honey, molasses, and vanilla extract in your mixing bowl with the butter/sugar/egg. Mix for a few seconds to combine.

Then add your dry ingredients in two or three batches, mixing slowly until the cookie dough is combined. Don’t over-mix it or you’ll end up with tough cookies. Nobody likes tough cookies.

When the dough is ready, scrape it out onto a clean surface and shape it into a log. The log should have about 1 1/2 inch diameter, but there’s no need to measure it or anything. Just get it close.

Wrap this really tightly in plastic wrap and store it in the fridge so the dough can chill for at least an hour. This will just make it easier to work with.

You can store this forever.

When you’re ready to bake the cookies, unwrap your log and slice off as many cookies as you want to bake. I just baked them all at once, but you could definitely just bake them as you need them and keep the dough stored for later. It would keep in the fridge for a few days or you could freeze it for even longer.

Use a sharp knife to slice the dough about 1/4 inch thick.

1/4 inch is good.

Dip these guys in coarse sugar and lay them out on a baking sheet. Give the cookies plenty of room because they’ll grow.

I actually over-crowded my pans a bit. I think 12 cookies per baking sheet is about the maximum. For best results, use parchment paper or a silicon baking mat with the cookies.

Sugar topping.

Bake these guys at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. I err on the side of undercooked because I like these a bit soft. Definitely check on them around 7-8 minutes and remember that they’ll firm up a bit as they cool.

Let the cookies cool for a few minutes before eating them.

I like mine a bit on the soft side.

When I was planning out my cookie week lineup, these were the clear underdogs going in. I just wasn’t sure that they would be fantastic.

But they’re the kind of cookie that sits unassuming at a holiday party for a few minutes until someone tries one. Then word spreads and suddenly they are gone.

Check back tomorrow for a cookie with an even more hidden ingredient!

I like my oats a tad purple.

For pretty much all of 2010 Betsy and I have been on a serious smoothie kick. We’ve been making this smoothie everyday for awhile now and it’s a fantastic way to kick the day off.

There’s just one problem.

Our new house is a lot colder in the mornings than our old apartment. We used to live on the top floor of a row house and I think the heat would naturally rise up to us. But now we are in this old (but cute) house and the mornings feel like we’re living inside an ice block.

So smoothies are the last thing I want these days.

Instead I’ve been trying a few different oatmeal breakfasts. I usually just buy rolled oats and call it good, but for some reason I decided to try out the steel cut oats the last time I was in the store.

I’m sure I’ve had steel cut oats before, but I don’t remember them completely blowing my mind like these do now. The problem is that steel cut oats take about an hour to cook properly which just isn’t realistic for me or most people on a weekday.

The good news is that with a little pre-planning the night before, you can have a delicious, hot oatmeal breakfast ready for you in the morning in just a few minutes.

Overnight Oats

Yield: Serves 2.

Prep Time: 5 minutes + Overnight soak

Total Time: 15 minutes + Overnight Soak

Ingredients:

3/4 Cups steel cut oats
3 Cups water
Pinch of salt
Optional toppings: Bananas, any fruit you can think of, honey, flax seed, butter, brown sugar, milk, etc.

Directions:

1) The night before, add water to a medium pan and bring to a simmer.

2) Stir in oats and a pinch of salt. Stir on the heat for about a minute.

3) Cover the oats, kill the heat, and go to bed.

4) In the morning, put the oats back over medium heat and cook until bubbling. All the water should be absorbed. It'll probably take 5 minutes for the oats to heat up.

5) Add in fruit or any other add-ins during the last minute of cooking.

6) Top with delicious toppings and eat immediately.

Real Deal Oats

The key to making this overnight situation work is to make sure you have steel cut oats. If you use rolled oats then you’ll have a big soggy mess on your hands the next morning.

These guys are what you’re looking for.

Interesting stuff.

Steel cut oats are a whole different beast from their rolled cousins. Since they aren’t mechanically flattened, they absorb a lot more water and take a lot longer to cook, but the result is an oatmeal that’s much heartier and has a better texture.

I highly recommend trying them out especially since this way of preparing them takes about the same amount of time in the morning as if you were making instant oats.

The Night Before

There’s a tiny amount of planning involved here since it’s an overnight dish, but it’s really not that bad.

Bring your water to a simmer in a medium sized pot and add a pinch of salt. Then, once the water is simmering, toss in your oats. It’ll look like a ridiculous amount of water for the tiny amount of oats.

Stir this over the heat for about a minute. You should have something like this going on.

The night before....

Once you stir it all together for a minute, kill the heat, put on the lid, and go to bed!

In The Morning

When you’re ready to break your fast, you’ll find this in your oatmeal pot!

You'll wake up to this!

Stick this back on medium heat and stir it until it comes to a simmer. You basically just have to heat it up and it’s done. It usually takes me about five minutes to make. The water should be completely absorbed and the oatmeal should be bubbling big bubbles as it simmers.

The Add-ins

As with any oatmeal dish, the add-ins are pretty much endless. Betsy and I like to stir in some frozen fruit to the oatmeal when it’s almost finished cooking.

Today’s fruit was blackberries.

Purpleberries.

When they’re stirred in they turn the oatmeal a slight purplish color, but they give the whole dish a nice fruity taste.

This was my finished pot!

Warms the soul!

I like mine with some banana, flax seed, honey, and occasionally a dollop of butter.

Great way to start the day.

The awesome thing about this dish is that it’s completely filling and energizing. I feel ready to tackle the day after I eat it.

It seems almost too good to be true that you can make this in about 5 minutes. They’re just too good. They should really take longer to make.

It’s like some sort of strange breakfast cosmic cheat code.

But it’s a cheat code that you should definitely take advantage of!

A great breakfast!

I remember the first bran muffin I ever had. It tasted like dirty rag but had the texture of cardboard. I was told that this thing I was eating, this cardboard thing, was very good for me. As you might guess, it didn’t matter. It was many years before I ever tried a bran muffin again.

After trying a few more over the years though, I learned that it’s completely possible to make a bran muffin that has a softer texture, one with a moist interior. What I’m trying to say is… it’s completely possible to make a bran muffin that doesn’t suck.

To counteract the dryness of the bran, you just need to up the liquid a bit. Add in another egg and, in this case, some raisins. They lend a bit of moisture to the finished muffin also.

Raisin Bran Muffins

Yield: 8-12 muffins

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

1 Cup whole wheat flour
1 Cup wheat bran
1/2 Teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 Cup honey
3 Teaspoons baking powder
2 Eggs
1 Cup milk
2/3 Cup raisins (optional)

Helpful Equipment:
You'll want a muffin tin obviously.

Directions:

1) Mix all dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix wet ingredients separately.

2) Stir wet ingredients into dry mixture. Don't overmix the batter. It'll be pretty wet but the bran will absorb a lot of moisture.

3) Quickly stir in raisins. Again try not to overmix batter.

4) Pour into muffin tins that are either sprayed with non-stick spray, or rubbed with a light coating of butter. You could also use cupcake/muffin tins. You can fill these up almost to the top. They won't rise like cupcakes rise. Sprinkle extra bran on top as a garnish.

5) Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Try not to overcook them or they will dry out fast.

6) Cool on a rack for 5 minutes before eating.

Adapted from How to Cook Everything.

Making the Batter

You could definitely use normal all-purpose flour for these, but I figure since I’m making bran muffins, I might as well make them very bran-filled. So I used whole wheat flour. This gives the final muffin a very nutty flavor which I really liked.

Lots of fiber!

One of the ways I added a bit more moisture into the muffins (besides the extra egg) is to just barely raise the amount of butter in the muffins. The original recipe had 3 Tablespoons. I added an extra tablespoon and I think it really helped with the final texture.

Butter. It's good for the soul.

Pulling the batter together is really easy. Start by mixing all your dry ingredients in a medium bowl (flour, bran, baking powder, salt). Then mix all your wet ingredients separately (milk, eggs, melted butter). Then stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

It’ll be a pretty wet batter but trust me the bran will soak up a ton of liquid as it cooks. Try not to over-mix your batter, just stir it together until it’s barely combined.

Then quickly stir in your raisins if you’re using them. I highly recommend them but I guess you could leave them out.

I like mine with lots of raisins.

Baking the Muffins

Pour the batter into prepared muffin tins. You can either line your tins with paper or spray them with non-stick spray. Or if you’re me, just wipe them down with a very thin coat of butter.

I also could’ve filled mine up all the way to the top. These didn’t rise like cupcakes rise.

I sprinkled on some extra bran also just for show.

I could've filled these a bit more.

Cook these at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. If you make them larger, they might need 30 minutes. Try not to over-cook them though or they’ll get pretty dry.

A toothpick should come out cleanly from the center.

Yum.

Move these to a rack to cool for about five minutes and then they are ready to eat!

On the smaller side...

These will be best right away when they’re warm. They’re fine just like that but you could also spread on a bit of extra butter… if you’re feeling feisty.

Inside a muffin!

These were definitely best right away, but I let them cool and stored them in a bag and ate them all week for breakfast. They were just fine all week long! I didn’t even heat them up actually.

They reminded me nothing of cardboard!

But this is not that french toast. This stuff is so tasty that you’ll barely need syrup. A dollop of whipped cream and a drizzle of real syrup will put it over the edge though.

Simple but not standard.

I changed up my normal French toast routine for this version by substituting almond extract instead of vanilla. That’s a substitution that I’m doing more these days and so far I’ve always liked the almond version better. Also, I made a kind of crazy whipped cream with ricotta and honey. It turned out better than expected honestly.

Almond French Toast

Yield: Serves 3-4.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

1 Cup milk
2 large eggs
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Teaspoon almond extract (or vanilla)
1/2 Teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Butter or oil for cooking
8 thick slices of bread

Whipped Cream:
1 Cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 Cup mascarpone (or ricotta I guess)
1 Tablespoon honey

Helpful Equipment:
Cast Iron Skillet or Griddle

Directions:

1) If you're using homemade whipped cream, start by whipping the cream, honey, and mascarpone together in a bowl until the cream forms stiff peaks. Set in the fridge until ready.

2) Use a sturdy bread for this, stale is good, and slice to about 1/3 of an inch thick.

3) Lightly beat your eggs, milk, sugar, extract, and cinnamon together in a dish.

4) Add a dab of butter to a hot pan or griddle over medium heat (I used a cast iron pan).

5) Let your bread soak in the custard mixture for about 15 seconds. (Less if you're using a flimsy bread, more if you're using a sturdy bread)

6) Add to the hot pan and cook for 3-4 minutes per side until the toast is nice and brown.

7) Serve immediately with maple syrup, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and some fresh whipped cream.

Adapted from How to Cook Everything.

Making the whipped cream

So my original plan with this whipped cream was to add a tiny bit of mascarpone cheese with the cream and add some honey. I figured it would be tasty with French toast. For some unknown reason, when I went to the store I purchased ricotta cheese instead of mascarpone cheese.

Since I had it, I figured I would try my idea with ricotta.

Something different...

The ricotta starts off almost like cottage cheese (and I was sure it would be a failure) but then after some serious whipping (which you have to do anyway) it smoothed out quite a bit and magically turned into whipped cream.

The honey gives this a great flavor and honestly the ricotta was very good. It gave the final product a lot of body. I’m not sure that I’d recommend buying ricotta just for this, but if you have extra and are trying to sneak it into things, this totally works and was actually pretty good.

Just add all your ingredients into a preferably chilled metal bowl and whisk like crazy until it turns into whipped cream!

Worked like a charm!

The French Toast

If you can at all help it, please don’t use flimsy white bread for french toast. It just kind of sucks in my opinion. You want something sturdy that can sop up a lot of the custard mixture and hold together without a problem.

You could definitely use no knead bread for this or any good french bread. While you can use fresh bread (I did for this recipe), it’s pretty standard to use older, stale bread. Since it’s kind of dry it’ll actually soak up even more of the custard which is a good thing.

Whichever bread you use, slice it pretty thick. I did about 1/3 of an inch slices.

Bread selection is very important.

This is a really basic french toast custard recipe. The only fancy thing I did was substitute almond extract for the vanilla.

If you’ve never used almond extract before, here’s my advice: Go buy some. Anytime you see vanilla extract in a recipe, try substituting almond extract for it. I’ve yet to find a recipe that doesn’t work great with almond instead of vanilla.

Basic stuff.

Lightly beat the eggs and milk together and then mix in your extract, sugar, and cinnamon. I like to use a pie dish for this because it’s shallow and the bread fits perfectly in it. A bowl would make it hard to get the bread soaking.

Depending on how sturdy and stale your bread is, you’ll need to soak it for different times. If you are using crappy white bread, you’ll need to soak it for about 5 seconds. If you’re using a sturdy stale bread, 45 seconds would be better.

I let my bread soak for about 15 seconds per side and that was about perfect. It should be heavy and clearly filled with custard, but not really soggy.

The long soak.

Cooking the French Toast

Unless you have a large griddle, you’ll probably have to cook these guys in batches which means you should also soak them in batches.

I used my trusty cast iron skillet to cook these. I put my skillet over medium-high heat and once it was heated, I added a tiny dab of butter to it. Then toss the bread straight in!

This will smell good immediately.

After cooking for 3 or 4 minutes on side one, give them a flip! They should be nice and browned but not burnt at all. Then another 3 or 4 minutes on side two.

Flipped!

Serve these up as soon as possible with a dollop of whipped cream, a sprinkle of cinnamon and some syrup!

Freakin' excellent.

This is a really quick way to feed a crowd a delicious brunch. Plus, if you plan right, you can just use stale bread for it! They’ll never know.

But I’m telling you… almond extract. That’ll have them coming back for more!