Madhu Knits and Cooks

Recipe, knitting, and sewing project notes

Tag: Cooking — Snacks

  • Cheddar Scallion Jalapeno Drop Biscuits – Near-Instant Gratification

    Making a soup and need an accompaniment to make it a full meal?  Or want a quick savory option for brunch or breakfast?  Or just want something delicious that takes virtually no time to make?

    Assuming that one has to answer "yes" to at least one of these questions, the solution is Cook's Illustrated's Cheddar and Scallion Drop Biscuits recipe, to which I usually add half to a full minced jalapeno.  The recipe takes just a few steps – basically, stirring things togetherness (yes, that easy!).  

    Cheddar Scallion Biscuits Dough

    Cheddar Scallion Dough Together

    Cheddar Scallion Biscuits Ready for Baking

    These few steps somehow result in an amazing, amazing result – a savory, moist and light biscuit.  The scallions add a nice sharp flavor, the jalapeno adds sweetness and spice, and the cheddar adds another mellow flavor.  These biscuits are so good that I made them three times within the first month of trying this recipe!

    Cheddar Scallion Biscuits Baked

    The cooled biscuits last a few days, and can be warmed up in an oven or microwave, though their texture may become slightly more uniform instead of the day-off feature of having a slightly firmer crust and soft interior.  Regardless, these are an amazing treat!

    Cheddar Scallion Biscuits Cooling

  • King Arthur Flour Fudge Brownies – Believe the Hype

    In a sign of our modern age, my latest recipe attempt was inspired by a beautiful picture on Instagram.  The picture in question was posted by King Arthur Flour, the NH employee-owned flour and baking company that is my flour of choice for all of my baking needs.  

    Not only did the picture look fantastic (such that I wanted to bake this dessert right away), but also a quick google search on my phone revealed many reviews for "best brownies ever!" and the like.  And so to work I went on creating my own batch of King Arthur Fudge Brownies.  

    The recipe was more in depth than your traditional, individual wet and dry ingredient mixing and then combining process – but thankfully not too much more onerous.  First, you make a thick, sticky base with the eggs, cocoa, vanilla, espresso powder, baking powder and salt.

    King Arthur Fudge Brownies Mixer

    While that is solidifying, you melt the sugars into melted butter (be careful to not overheat the butter if you are using a microwave).

    King Arthur Fudge Brownies Melted Butter and Sugar

    Ok, now to some combining.

    King Arthur Fudge Brownies Sugar Chocolate and Butter

    Then add flour.

    King Arthur Fudge Brownies Flour plus Chocolate

    And chocolate chips.

    King Arthur Fudge Brownies Chocolate Chips Mixed In

    Ok, now we are ready for the pan.

    King Arthur Fudge Brownies in Pan Unbaked

    And now for the result!

    King Arthur Fudge Brownies Baked

    Great, shiny top and the brownies themselves were both fudgy and cake-like, as promised by the recipe description.  

    King Arthur Fudge Brownies Slice

    The brownies also had a spot-on chocolate flavor, which I attribute to my first-time usage of dutch-process cocoa.  I usually ignore the specific cocoa directions for my baking projects, but this cocoa guide on King Arthur's website really helped me determine which cocoas make sense in which recipes.  So word to the wise, consult King Arthur for not only recipes, but also recipe tips to make you a better baker!

    King Arthur Fudge Brownie Thickness

  • Five Minute Summer Bruschetta

    I love summer.  I mean I don't love hot weather or humidity…but I do love the fresh amazing vegetables and fruits.  Kicking off this summer's fresh vegetable season was my first attempt at bruschetta – the Italian fresh tomato dish that could not have been easier to construct.  

    My bruschetta included a slight variant of the traditional recipe in that I used parsley instead of the traditional basil.  This ingredient substitution was inspired by a version I had the day before from a North Fork, Long Island grocery store – the parsley seemed to add an unexpected lightness to the dish.

    Thankfully I was able to recreate this version with great results – tart, sweet and garlicky.  Definitely a recipe repeat that makes for a great make-ahead appetizer and can be prepared in virtually no time.

    Bruschetta

    Five Minute Bruschetta

    Ingredients:

    • 4 ripe tomatoes on the vine, chopped
    • 1 tbsp. red onion, minced
    • 2 garlic cloves, minced
    • 1 tbsp. minced parsley
    • extra virgin olive oil, to taste
    • kosher or sea salt, to taste
    • pepper, to taste

    Directions:

    • Mix ingredients together, adding salt, pepper and olive oil to taste.  
    • Let sit for 15 minutes (or more), adjust seasonings as necessary, and serve with toast, chips or crackers. Can be prepared several hours or a day in advance and kept sealed in the fridge.  

  • Spicy Edamame Dip – Healthy Summer Snack

    For some unknown reason (except, perhaps, search engine optimization), the Food Network appears to be achieving more prominence in my cooking life.  I recently blogged about my first at-home soba sauce attempt, based on a Rachel Ray recipe, and maybe because it just showed up early in Google results, I also made a Trisha Yearwood spicy edamame dip a month or two back.  

    Spicy Edamame Dip Prepared

    The edamame dip is related to the soba dish in the sense that I had leftover frozen edamame after the soba attempt and I wanted to use it before too much time elapsed.  And so to the internet I went.

    I followed the recipe fairly loosely, in that I:

    • substituted frozen for fresh edamame, and the leftovers were not quite 16 oz.
    • used 1 tbsp. of lime juice instead of 4
    • halved the cayenne simply because I ran out, so threw in some red chili flakes instead
    • blended in 1/2 cup of the edamame cooking water instead of 3/4 cup

    Spicy Edamame Dip Ingredients

    My general reaction to this dip is that it was a pretty good dip base, particularly for cool, green summer party dips, but I probably need to add more herbs and citrus juice to really bring out the flavors.  It was slightly bland when I first made it, but I think more experiments could definitely make this better.

    Spicy Edamame Dip Served

  • Green Chile Chocolate Tart – The Great Bake-off Continues

    Marching through the fantastic Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book, I made a wonderful Green Chile Chocolate Tart the same day as my second Maple Buttermilk Pie attempt.  

    Green Chile Chocolate Full on Tablecloth

    The tart turned out wonderfully – creamy, incredibly rich, and with a perfectly sublime fresh chile flavor.  The baking experience also finally taught me what I was doing wrong with my Four & Twenty Blackbirds pie dough construction, and I got the added bonus of using my pretty Williams-Sonoma tart pan for the first time (good thing I made a special trip to buy it 5 years ago!).  

    Unfortunately, the one drawback of making this pie is that it is definitely a time consuming process – even slightly more so than the other Four & Twenty Blackbird pies.  In addition to the standard pie-making steps, you also have to boil the milk and cream, steep the green chiles in the mixture, and then use the hot milk/cream mixture to melt the chocolate pieces.  So while in totality those steps aren't that onerous, on top of the pie dough making:

    Green Chile Chocolate Dough Cut with Butter

    the pie dough kneading:

    Green Chile Chocolate Dough

    the pie dough rolling, chilling, and pricking:

    Green Chile Chocolate Dough Rolled and Pricked

    the pie dough pre-baking:

    Green Chile Chocolate Dough Foil Beans

    the pie dough baking and cooling:

    Green Chile Chocolate Dough Baked

    This is a long process!  Oh well, onward to the next steps of steeping the chiles:

    Green Chile Chocolate Milk Jalapeno Steeping

    whisking the milk/cream/chile mixture with the now melted chocolate pieces:

    Green Chile Chocolate Whisking Filling

    and then baking/cooling:

    Green Chile Chocolate Dough Baked in Foil

    Unfortunately the baking/cooling process was a bit trickier than I would like because the butter melting and leaking through the tart pan bottom, which made a bit of a slippery mess under the foil wrapping.

    The baking process was also a bit more complicated because the crust shrunk while baking (yet, again!) so I had to use some of the excess filling to make individual custard (or fudges?) in ramekins:

    Maple Buttermilk Pie 2 Baked with Custards

    Otherwise, though, serving was a breeze – look at this great, guest-ready crust:

    Green Chile Chocolate Crust Close Up

    And just a small slice goes a far way with this rich tart:

    Green Chile Chocolate Pie Slice Close Up

    So lots of leftovers, which was great after a day's worth of effort to make this pie:

    Green Chile Chocolate Pie Cut Close Up

  • Thank you Elsen Sisters – I feel like a pie master! Four & Twenty Blackbirds Buttermilk Chess Pie

    Although pies have apparently become the "new cupcake" over the past few years, I've never really gotten into pies.  Sure, I like a standard winter pie like pumpkin or sweet potato, and custard pies are pretty great, but I have never really become a pie connoisseur,  let alone a pie master.  

    Enter the Elsen Sisters and their wonderful bake shop, Four & Twenty Blackbirds, and even more wonderful cookbook, The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book.  Four & Twenty Blackbirds is a popular bakery and cafe in Gowanus, Brooklyn, and Emily and Melissa Elsen, the co-owners, also recently opened a new outpost in the Brooklyn Public Library's central location.  

    I have to admit that while I've had the opportunity to sample Four & Twenty Blackbirds' popular pies, I was never truly blown away by them.  Sure, they were probably among the best pies I've ever had, but I didn't feel the intense need to go back for their pies.  

    My pie revelation didn't come until friends gave us the Elsen sisters's pie book, and boy, oh boy, not only did this book make me feel like a pie master, it also made me feel like a pie aficionado.  And this feeling occurred after only attempting one of their pies – the fantastic Buttermilk Chess Pie.  The first result was so great that I ended up making the same pie twice in one week!

    Buttermilk Pie Partly Settled

    I modified my two attempts at this pie by using up the remaining graham cracker crumbs from the Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake to substitute a spiced graham cracker crust for the cornmeal crust.  

    Buttermilk Pie Graham Cracker Crumb Crust

    I followed the directions for Four & Twenty Blackbirds' gingersnap crumb crust for assembling and baking the crust.  I was slightly worried about the small gaps in the crust after pre-baking it, but it ended up being a great holder for this silky pie filling.

    Buttermilk Pie Baked

    The other substitution I made was to use vanilla extract for the vanilla paste, but didn't feel the final pie was missing anything.  It was incredibly silky (straining the mixture is a must!), and particularly flavorful after cooling completely or even after settling in the fridge for several hours.  The first time we ate the pie, just after it was slightly warmer than room temperature, the flavors weren't as complete as when we ate the leftovers.

    Buttermilk Pie Close Up

    The second time I made the pie, I did follow the suggestion to sprinkle a bit of cinnamon and sugar on top of the pie during the baking cycle, and the wonderful aroma that spread through our apartment was definitely a sensation I'd like to repeat when I make this pie again.

    Buttermilk Pie with Spices

    I look forward to baking my way through this entire book – hope you all will join me in this 2015 effort as well!

    Buttermilk Pie Sliced

     

  • Treat Yourself! Salted Rosemary Garlic Butter

    Leftover rosemary and dinner rolls – what to do?  Impromptu salted rosemary garlic butter!

    Rosemary Garlic Butter

    I cannot emphasize how simple and easy it was to make this butter, which made a huge difference to both our leftover takeout dinner rolls and my mood the day I put it together.   It was really flavorful and light with the salt and fresh diced herbs, and felt amazingly indulgent while eating.  Definitely a great way to make a weeknight dinner or brunch feel special!

    Rosemary Garlic Butter on Bread

    Salted Rosemary Garlic Butter

    Ingredients:

    • 2 tbsp. butter, room temperature
    • 1 small clove garlic, minced
    • Approx. 1/2 tsp. fresh rosemary, diced
    • a few pinches of sea salt (to taste)

    Directions:

    • Mix ingredients together.  Either form into your preferred mold or shape, wrap in wax paper, and place in fridge to firm up; or just place in a small container and refrigerate.

     

  • Standard Cornbread Two Ways – All-Purpose and Serrano-Spiced

    For Thanksgiving, I was charged with making cornbread in addition to a macaroni and cheese and side green dish.  I decided on a simple Cook's Illustrated recipe because unlike most CI recipes, it seemed easy to construct and somehow seemed even less onerous than other online cornbread recipes.  In picking the simple All-Purpose Cornbread recipe, I also hoped to avoid the disappointing result of the CI Jalapeno-Cheddar Cornbread recipe.

    Cooks Illustrated All Purpose Cornbread

    (All-Purpose Cornbread)

    Unfortunately, while the cornbread turned out fine (one cornbread was made to the recipe as is, and another with one diced serrano), it wasn't really the best or even one of the top cornbreads I have ever consumed.  It was slightly too dry (and I don't think it was due to potential over-baking) and didn't have that strong of a corn flavor.  Although cornbread is not necessarily the most exciting food, and even less exciting than corn muffins, hopefully I will find a better recipe moving forward.

    Cooks Illustrated Cornbread with Jalapenos

    (Serrano-Spiced Cornbread)

  • Weeknight Chocolate Chip Cookies

    While making dinner one night, I decided to put together a quick post-meal dessert.  Rather than deferring to what could turn into an all-night Cook's Illustrated effort, I used the AllRecipes.com Best Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe because it promised a chewy cookie with crisp edges, which are definitely my favorite type of cookie.

    AllRecipes Chocolate Chip Cookies

    True to the promised directions, the cookies took virtually no time to put together.  I modified the recipe by halving the portions, omitting the walnuts because of my nut allergy, and probably used less chocolate chips than called for (also a frequent alteration I make to cookies).  I also baked the cookies for less than what was called for in the recipe – the first batch at 8 minutes, which was probably a little too undercooked, and the second at 9 minutes, which was perfect.  

    The cookies were pretty good – chewy and chocolate-y – but not the "best" I have ever had.  I can definitely see myself using this recipe again though in a pinch.

     

  • The Best Oatmeal Cookies Ever!

    Not surprisingly, Cook's Illustrated has done it again – created the most perfect recipe for one of my favorite food items.  This recipe has the benefit of also being easy to make, which is (just one) complaint about our test kitchen friend's gifts to the world.

    So, behold, the best Thin and Crispy Oatmeal Cookie recipe I have come across.  The cookies were easy enough to assemble on a weeknight, and the result – again – was outstanding.  Thin and slightly salty with the oats stealing the show by adding both an almost nutty and chewy components to the cookies.  

    Thin and Crispy Oatmeal Cookies

    Thankfully, we shared the wealth with some co-workers, almost all of whom also declared these to be the best oatmeal cookies ever.  

    The only modification I made was to reduce the baking time to 12 minutes, potentially because my new oven isn't calibrated (and my oven thermometer succumbed to a long, painful death a year ago).  But otherwise, very easy to make and bake while preparing a weeknight dinner.