Kourabiedes cookies

Kouradiedes Cookies
(Powder Almond Cookies)

Ingredients

4 cups unbleached flour
4 sticks of unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/3 cups of ground toasted blanched almonds
6 tablespoons of powdered sugar plus more for coating
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
whole cloves, optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

In a bowl whisk together the flour, salt and ground powdered almonds.

In a stand mixer cream together butter, powdered sugar and egg yolks until light and fluffy. Next lower speed on mixer and slowly add the flour mixture. Once combined roll into 1 inch balls, place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Now you can either leave them in a ball shape and place a whole clove in the center or flatten with your thumb, which i do. My neighbor who gave me this recipe said that the clove is the traditional way to make the cookies, i prefer them without the clove.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until the are a light golden brown, transfer to cooling rack. Once the cookies are slightly cooled dust them with powdered sugar.

Enjoy Cooking

Gingersnaps Cookies

Gingersnap Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups unbleached flour
1 cup raw sugar - plus more for coating
3/4 cup of unsalted butter, room temp
1/4 cup dark molasses
1 egg
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, spices, salt and baking soda.

In the stand mixer cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Next add the molasses and egg a blend until smooth. Lower speed on mixer and slowly the flour until combined, remove bowl from mixer, cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge for at least 4 hours.

Preheat to 325 degrees

Roll dough into 1 inch balls, roll in raw sugar, place on a parchment lined cookie sheet, press slightly to prevent rolling and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges turn brown. Place on a cooling rack until firm.

Enjoy Cooking

Dulce de Leche Chocolate Cookies

I also ways wanted to make a cookie with Dulce de Leche as a filling but the process to make the Dulce de Leche was always so long, hours and hours and you need to keep stirring it but then i was reading the current issue of Food and Wine Magazine and there is a recipe for a pie that has any easy way to make it and it is done in the oven. So i used one of my chocolate cookie recipes and add the Dulce de Leche as the filling and it turned out great. Enjoy.

Ducle de Leche Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1/2 cup Green and Blacks Cocoa powder
2 3.5 oz bars of Green and Blacks Dark 85%, melted and cooled slightly
4 table spoons unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup raw sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Dulce de Leche
2 14oz cans of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

In a 9 x 13 inch glass baking dish empty the two cans of condensed milk and add the fleur de sel, cover with tin foil and place in a deep baking pan. Fill with water to the half way point by the side of the glass baking dish. Place in the oven and bake for about 2 hours. You will need to stir this about twice and also check the water level and add water as need. You want to keep no less than a third of the way up the side of the glass baking dish. Once the Dulce de Leche is the desired color and thickness remove from the oven, let cool, then place in the fridge to cool further so that it will be spreadable for the cookies.

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

In the stand mixer cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Next add the eggs, yolks vanilla and cooled melted chocolate mixing until creamed. Lower the speed on the mixer and slowly add the dry ingredients. Once combined, roll out on a floured surface, form into a ball, divided into two, flatten into disc, wrap in plastic and place in the fridge for at least 3 to 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Roll out chilled dough to about 3/16 to 1/4 of inch thick, using the cookie cutter of choice, cut out the cookies and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for about 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are firm to the touch. Transfer cookies to cooling rack to completely cool.

Once cool place about a teaspoon of the Dulce de Leche in the center of one cookie and place another on top and press to close, repeat until done with all the cookies.

You can also used a shortbread cookie as well.

Enjoy Cooking

Baked Ziti

I got a request for baked Ziti : i thought about it, it is a simple dish but how would i change it up, so i took the challenge and here is what i came up with, enjoy.

Baked Ziti

Ingredients

5 lb of Ziti pasta cooked ali dente
3 LB Ricotta Cheese
2 lb of mozzarella cheese
2 quarts of home made marinara sauce
2 8oz packages of mascarpone cheese
1 lb of Italian sausage, sliced
1 lb of Porcini mushrooms, sliced
2 cups parmesan cheese
6 eggs
6 cloves of garlic. minced
2 shallots, diced
1/4 cup of fresh chop Italian parsley
1/4 cup ribbon sliced basil
2 table spoons fresh thyme, chopped
2 table spoons of unsalted butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

You will need a large deep baking dish, i used a 17 inch by 12 inch by 5 inch pan.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a skillet over medium high heat melt 1 tablespoon of butter, next add the shallots and saute until soft. Remove from heat and add the garlic, and thyme and set aside.

In another skillet over med high heat and the remaining butter and the mushrooms and saute until tender, drain any liquid, place mushrooms in a bowl and set aside. In the same skillet crisp up the sausage, drain fat and set aside.

In a large bowl place the ricotta and mascarpone cheese and the eggs and whisk until combined. Next stir in the basil, the saute shallots mixture and half the parsley.

Now in the large pan layer in the ziti, ricotta cheese mixture, the mushrooms, half of the parmesan cheese and sausage. Stir to combine. Next pour in the marinara sauce and half of the mozzarella and stir to combine. Over the top sprinkle the remaining cheeses and parsley, Cover in foil and bake for one hour. Then remove the foil and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes until the cheese starts to brown.

Enjoy Cooking

Pork Stew

I review many cooking blogs to get inspired or if there was a dish i had and i am researching methods of cooking to teach myself how to recreate the dish. Well a few weeks back i was just researching pork, and i came across this website The Whole Kitchen and a recipe for Ancho-chile Pork Stew, which i made and it was wonderful. I posted the link below to the site, which is worth a long look. The image that is posted below is of the Pork stew from The Whole Kitchen site, it taste just as good as it looks. Well Jenn's recipe inspired me to create my own Pork Stew, which is posted below, I hope you enjoy it.

Pork Stew

Ingredients

1 8lb pork loin, removed from the bones and cut into 2 inch cubes, save the bones
8 cups of dry red wine
2 cups veggie stock, low salt
1 pound of assorted mushrooms, i use Crimini and Shiitakes
2 medium onions, diced
3 carrots, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup of scallions, diced
2 tablespoons butter
2 sprigs of Italian parsley
2 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 teaspoon celery seeds
1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Now this is a two day recipe

Day One

In a large deep bowl place the wine, all the veggies, bay leaves and the whole sprigs of herbs. In another bowl with a lid, place the meat and bones, season with salt and pepper, cover and shake to coat. Now add the meat and bones to the wine mixture. Cover and place in the fridge overnight.

Day Two

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Remove meat and bones from wine mixture and pat dry. Next drain the wine from the veggies and set both aside.

In a skillet over medium high heat, place a few table spoons of olive oil and brown the meat and the bones on all sides. Transfer browned meat and bones to a deep dutch oven. Add the veggies to the dutch oven and place in the oven for about 10 minutes, uncovered.

Remove from oven add flour and toss to coat. Return to the oven for an additional 20 minutes. Pour off any fat from the pan. Next add the stock and the wine to the dutch oven, lower the temp of the oven to 350 degrees and return to the oven for an additional 20 minutes.

While the pork has returned to the oven for the second 20 minutes, place the skillet on medium high heat and heat the seeds for about 30 seconds. Now add the butter and the remaining olive oil to the skillet followed by the mushrooms and saute until soft. Drain off and liquid and fat and add them to the Dutch oven, and place the dutch oven back to the oven, cover for the last 20 minutes.

Remove bones, sprigs of herbs and the bay leaves before serving and add the scallions on top.

Enjoy Cooking

Dark Chocolate Shortbread cookies

I getting ready to start my Christmas cookies for the season and i wanted to do something different, so i made a small batch of these last night. I took my shortbread cookie recipe and add the dark chocolate. I use to dip the original shortbread cookies in chocolate and when i was packing them up i had to make sure they were wrapped in wax paper so they would not stick to the other cookies. This way with the chocolate in the cookies there will be no need to wrap them. I really liked the way this cookie turned out, not too sweet and the right balance of chocolate. Enjoy

Dark Chocolate Shortbread cookies

Ingredients

3 cups unbleached flour
3 sticks on unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/2 cup raw sugar
1 cup of Green and Blacks cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt

Directions

In the stand mixer cream together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy.

In large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients.

Turning the mixer to low slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter and the sugar. Once all combined turn out, shape into a ball, wrap in plastic and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees

Cut the dough into quarters; roll out to about 1/4 inch thick and cut with the cookie cut of choice. Place cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet and back for about 20 to 25 minutes, the cookies should be firm to touch. Remove and place cookies on a rack to cool.

You can also dip these cookies in white chocolate if you want a little more sweetness to the cookies.

Enjoy Cooking

Stuffed Cabbage

When i was going through my recipe file i came across this recipe. I remember my Mom made a great stuffed cabbage and a few years ago i decide to create one of my own. I use pork instead of beef and i add a few other ingredients to give it a smooth flavor, i hope you all enjoy this.

Stuffed Cabbage

Ingredients

1 large savoy cabbage
1 LB of lean ground pork
1/2 LB bacon, sliced into 1 inch slices
2 cups of mushrooms of choice, chopped
2 15 oz cans of diced tomatoes
1 can of tomato paste
1 cup dry red wine
1 cup cooked rice of choice, i use brown
1/2 cup of minced carrots
8 oz Mousse Truffle
8 oz of prosciutto
2 medium onions, minced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 red pepper, minced
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon of fresh chopped dill
2 teaspoons of fresh chopped parley
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Place a large soup pot filled with enough salted water to cover the cabbage head, on med high heat and bring to a boil. Before add the cabbage, remove the outer leaves and core the cabbage stem. Boil the cabbage for about 5 minutes or until the leafs separate easily. Then remove head and place in colander stem side down to drain and cool.

In large skillet render off the bacon, remove the crisp bacon, reduce heat and add the 1/2 of the onions, saute until soft. Remove from heat, drain off excess fat and add half the garlic, thyme, dill and parsley, stir to combine. Then let stand for about 5 minute to cool.

Once cool next add the ground pork, Mousse Truffle, rice and egg, using your hands to combine, then set aside.

Now remove the leaves from the cabbage, patting dry as you go. Next cut a V at the stem end of the leaf.

Placing the leaf on a cutting board with the V towards you, now place a slice of prosciutto on the leaf, followed by a scoop of the pork mixture. Now fold the sides in on the mixture, then roll up the cabbage moving away from you, then to close use a tooth pick to secure. Repeat until pork mixture is gone. Set cabbage aside as you make the sauce.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

In a large deep dutch oven over medium heat place olive oil, carrots, red peppers, mushrooms and balance of the onions and garlic and saute until tender. Now add the balance of the ingredients, bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer for 15 minutes. Now arrange the stuffed cabbage in the dutch oven, cook on the stove for 5 minutes, then cover and place in the oven and bake about 90 minutes, basting about every 15 to 20 minutes. Once cabbage is tender it is done.

Enjoy Cooking

Steak au Poivre

This recipe is for Glen, who was looking for a way to cook steak. This is a very simple recipe. Steak au Poivre is Steak with Pepper. Enjoy.

Steak au Poivre

Ingredients

4 boneless sirloin steaks, about 1 inch thick, size is your choice
1/3 cup peppercorns, ground to medium coarse
1 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup of beef stock
1 stick of unsalted butter
2 small shallots minced
1 small onion minced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tablespoons Cognac
2 tablespoons of flour
Chopped parsley
salt

Directions

Pour crushed peppercorns into a shallow bowl, then dredge the steaks in the peppercorn so that they are coated on each side. Place steaks on a cutting and with the heal of your hand press the peppercorns into the steaks and set aside. Reserve the balance of the peppercorns

Preheat the broiler.

Place a skillet over medium high heat and place 4 tablespoons of butter, followed by the onions and shallots, saute until soft. Next add the wine, stock, cognac and a teaspoon of the reserved peppercorns. Reduce heat and simmer until reduced by half. Remove 1/4 cup of the liquid, whisk in the flour until smooth, then return to the skillet. Once sauce thickens, remove from heat and cover.

Place steaks under the broiler and cook about 3 to 5 minutes on each side. On the last 1 minute dot each steak with a tablespoon of butter. Remove from broiler, ten and let rest for 3 minutes.

To serving pour sauce over steaks and garnish with parsley.

Another great side with this is some blue cheese and a baguette.

Enjoy Cooking.

Spicy Roasted Acorn Squash

Spicy Roasted Acorn Squash

Ingredients

2 large Acorn squash cut in half, seeds removed
1 small onion sliced
1 small red dried chili, diced
4 tablespoons of unsalted butter
6 cloves or garlic minced
4 limes zest and juiced
8 tablespoons of maple syrup
1/4 cup of minced fresh ginger
1 table spoon of olive oil
2 bay leaves
2 star anise
3 cloves
1 sprig of rosemary

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

In a large skillet over med high heat place star anise and cloves, after stirring for 30 seconds add chili, olive oil, ginger, rosemary and onions. Saute until onions are soft. Remove from heat and lime juice, zest and garlic. Stirring to combine.

Place acorn squash on a parchment lined baking sheet, cut side up. Place a table spoon of butter in each squash halves. Followed by the saute onion mixture. Note: remove star anise, cloves, rosemary and bay leaves before spooning into squash halves.

Place in the oven and roast until tender, about 35 minutes. At the last 5 minutes spoon in 2 tablespoons pf maple syrup into each of the squashes. Remove from oven and let rest for a few minutes before serving.

Enjoy cooking

Snickerdoodles

Here is my version of the classic Snickerdoodle Cookies. It was actually not until a a few years ago that i actually ever had a Snickerdoodle cookie. Then this year i had them again and i have been on a mission to recreate them at home. All it really is, is a sugar cookie that meets a sugar cookie with a twist. My twist is the addition of another spice with the cinnamon that in crust the cookie. Oh and a plus is that these cookies have about a two week shelf life if they are around that long, which i doubt, enjoy.

Snickerdoodles

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups of unbleached flour
1 1/2 cups of raw sugar
2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temp
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Topping
1/2 cup raw sugar
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon cardamon

Directions

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, cream of tartar and baking soda.

In the stand mixer cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Next cream in one egg at a time. Once combined, lower the speed and slowly add the flour mixture. Once all blended, remove bowl from mixer and cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

In a small bowl mix together the topping.

Next roll dough into 1 inch balls, roll in topping mixture, then place on parchment lined cookie sheets, flattening slightly so they do not roll around. Bake for about 12 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Slide parchment and cookies onto cooling rack to cool.

Enjoy Cooking

Pumpkin Cheese cake

I tweeted about this last week, well i wanted to make it one more time before i posted it. I made a few changes to the ingredients and now it is perfect

I will be making this for Thanksgiving, enjoy.

Pumpkin Cheese Cake

Ingredients

Crust
2 cups of crushed Ginger Snap Cookies, Nabisco
1 stick melted unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling
16oz cream cheese, cubed
2 cups ricotta cheese
8 oz mascarpone cheese
1 15oz can pumpkin puree
1/3 cup raw sugar
1/4 cup raw sugar
4 egg yolks
2 eggs
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cardamon

Directions

Crust
Mix all ingredients in a small bowl, line a spring form with parchment then press crust ingredients on the bottom of pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until set. Remove from oven and let cool then place in the freezer while making filling

Filling
In the food processor puree together the ricotta cheese, cream cheese, 3 egg yolks, 1 egg, salt and 1/3 cup sugar, until smooth and creamy. Remove filling from food processor.

Next place the mascarpone cheese, pumpkin puree, spices, 1 egg yolk, 1 egg, 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup of the creamed filling you just made. Puree until smooth and creamy.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees

Now remove crust from freezer, encase sugar form pan with tin foil. Now pour in the first filling into the pan, smooth and level. Now pour on top the pumpkin filling, smooth and level. Next take a knife and swirl the two fillings together in a few places, smooth and level.

Place pan in another deep side pan and fill the pan with warm water and cover the entire pan with foil. Place in the oven and bake for one hour. Then release steam and continue to bake for and additional 1/2 hour, then remove foil cover and bake until set about 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and water bath and place on a cooling rack until cool, place in fridge over night. Note: after 6 hours in fridge you can cover with plastic wrap.

Serve after overnight cooling

Enjoy Cooking

Salt

Seasoning is so important when creating dishes and salt is the foundation for all cooking, so why noy try something other than just everyday white salt. I have posted some wonderfully epicurean organic salts from Mountain Rose Herbs. Check them out at www.mountainroseherbs.com and the red alaea salt is one of my favorites.

Some of Holiday Favorites

Here is a must have for your holiday cookies. Pepper Creek Farms has all these wonderful decorating sugars and they have a new line of Shimmers, which i have ordered already, they come in Amethyst, Periot, Garnet and Citrine... They also have Blue Pearlescent dots. Go to www.peppercreekfarms.com to order and see all the other wonderful things they have.

Prefect for the Thanksgiving Table

Here is one of must have for Thanksgiving. Go to http://www.stonewallkitchen.com/ to order it - A

Chicken & Shrimp Soup

Chicken & Shrimp Soup

Ingredients

1 3lb chicken cup up
2 to 3 quarts of water
1 pound of small shrimp, cleaned
1 cup of mushrooms of choice, cleaned and sliced
1/3 lb of Chinese cellophane noodles
2 large onions, one diced and the other quartered
2 celery stalks, quartered
2 small bok choy cut into ribbons
4 scallions cut into 1/2 pieces
1 inch of fresh ginger thinly sliced
4 cloves or garlic, 2 smashed and 2 minced
2 teaspoons of sot sauce
1 teaspoon celery seeds
1 teaspoon black pepper corns
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a large pot place chicken, quartered onion and celery, the smashed garlic pepper corns and the ginger. Fill pot with water enough to cover the chicken by two inches. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about two hours. You want the chicken to fall completely off the bones.

Remove chicken and set aside to cool. Strain stock and toss the solids, return stock to pot. And place all of the remain ingredients with the exception of the bok choy, scallions and shrimp.

Shred chicken and return meat to pot. Bring to boil, reduce heat and let simmer for another 1/2 hour. Next you need to time the following, based on the directions on the noodle package you want to add the shrimp at the last 3 minutes of the noodle cooking. Place noodles in soup, then the shrimp based on the cooking time of the noodles. Once done remove from heat and add the bok choy and scallions and serve.

Note: for a little heat add a whole chili pepper of choice at the last half hour of the simmer of the whole chicken. Put the chili in whole and cut small slits on the side of the chili.

Enjoy Cooking

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

I came across this recipe in error; I have been working on my recipes for pies, which is the bane of my existence. The fillings are not the problem; it is the crust that is the issue. So one night when I was working on a crust I came up with this dough, which is actually as a better cookie then a crust, so I though it would be great with a nice creamy chocolate filling to offset the non-sweetness of the cookie.

Chocolate Sandwich cookie

Ingredients

2 cups unbleached flour
1 stick of unsalted butter, diced and chilled
1/2 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoon half and half

Filling
1 cup dark chocolate chips or semi sweet
1 8oz tub of Mascarpone cheese
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Directions

In the food processor place the dry ingredients and pulse to combine. Next pulse in the butter until crumbs form, like a pie dough. Now turn on the processor and add the cream and vanilla , once the dough is almost together, remove from processor and roll into a ball. Divide into two, fallen into disc, wrap in plastic and chill for about an hour in the fridge.

Next roll out the dough the same way you would pie crust to about a little less than 1/8 inch thick. Now cut out the desired shape with a cookie cutter, i use scalped circle but any shape will work. place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and place back in the fridge for an additional hour.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

In a small bowl whisk together the egg yolks, half and half and brush on the top of the cookies.

Bake cookies for about 15 to 20 minutes or until light golden brown.

Transfer to a cooling rack.

While the cookies are cooling, place chocolate and butter in a double boiler and heat until almost all the chocolate is melted, remove from heat, add Mascarpone cheese and with a handle held mixer beat until smooth and creamy. NOTE: the Mascarpone should be a room temp so that it does not seize the melted chocolate.

Next spread the chocolate cream on one cookie and place another cookie on top and squeeze to close. Place on a parchment line cookie sheet and chill for at least an hour for the cream to set, enjoy.

Enjoy Cooking

Sugar Cookies

I have been getting allot of emails for a sugar cookie recipe. I have not posted one since it so basic and it is every cookbook, on the back of butter wrappers and so forth. But here is my twist on the basic sugar cookie recipe, enjoy.

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups unbleached flour
1 cup of raw sugar
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temp
1/4 cup key lime juice
2 tablespoon of key lime zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt



Directions

In the stand mixer cream together the butter and the sugar. In another bowl sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Next add the key lime zest,followed by the key lime juice and the vanilla extract. Once creamy and fluff, slowly add the flour mixture. Remove dough from bowl, wrap in plastic and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Divide dough into quarters and roll out to 1/8 to 1/4 thick and cut out into the shape of choice.

Place cookies on parchment lined cookie sheets and bake for about 12 to 15 minutes depending on thickness or until golden brown on the edges. Transfer to cooling rack and decorate as you wish. I often just dust with powdered sugar or make a simple butter cream frosting to mimic a key lime pie.

Enjoy Cooking

Raspberry Nut Pinwheel cookies

Here is a cookie recipe that i created for a contest i entered a few years back. I came in second, again, i was told there where too many steps. It is true it is a 2 day cookie, but it is so worth it. This is going to be on my Thanksgiving menu this year, all my deserts will have a pinwheel theme.

Raspberry Nut Pinwheel Cookies

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups of unbleached flour
2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 cup raw sugar
1/2 light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 jar of raspberry preserves
1 cup of chopped hazelnuts

Directions

In the stand mixer cream together the butter and the sugars. In another bowl sift together the remaining dry ingredients. After butter mixer is light and creamy, add the eggs, one at a time to the mixture. Reduce the speed on the mixer to a lower speed once the eggs are creamed in and slowly add the flour mixture. Once combined, remove from the bowl, divide into two balls, wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight.

Next day roll out the two dough balls into a 10 x 12 inch sheet: note, roll out onto parchment it will make it easier to roll up later. Place dough sheet on cookie sheets and place back into the fridge to re-cool, about an hour.

Remove from fridge and spread each sheet with raspberry preserves and then sprinkle the preserves with the nuts. Roll up the sheets on the long side. Wrap in plastic wrap and place them back into the fridge and again for another hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Remove logs from fridge, remove plastic wrap and cut logs into 1/4 inch slices. Place slices onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until the edges of the cookies turn golden brown.

Remove bake cookies to cooling rack - and enjoy

Enjoy Cooking

Grandma's Clam Chowder

I have been working up my menu for Thanksgiving and i have been pour over recipes. When going through my grandmothers cook book i came across this chowder, it was written on a piece paper that was stuck in the book, but it took me awhile to figure out the recipe since it was written in English, Spanish and a bit of French. It is a new take on the Manhattan clam chowder. Enjoy.

Grandma's Clam Chowder

Ingredients

4 cups of raw clams after they have been cleaned and removed from shells, diced
8 cups of clam juice - when shucking the clams you should get between 6 and 8 cups from them, if not use store bought juice
4 cups heavy cream
2 cups rock shrimp, shelled and cleaned
1 cups andouille sausage, diced
2 cups fresh chopped tomatoes
2 cups of diced potatoes
2 onions diced
6 tablespoons butter
4 stalks of celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
1/4 cup chopped parsley
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste.

Directions

First divide the veggies in half and place into two bowls: this is the onions, carrots celery and potatoes.

In a skillet over medium heat melt 1 tablespoon butter. Next add one of the bowls of veggies and saute them until soft about 6 to 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, once cool enough to handle, puree them in the food processor and set aside.

In a large soup pot place 1 tablespoon of butter and melt over medium high heat. Add the remaining bowl of veggies to the pot and saute for 5 minutes. Now add the clam juice to the pot and long with the pureed veggies and the tomatoes, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and adding the thyme and the garlic. Simmer for about an hour until the potatoes are soft.

While the soup is simmering place 1 tablespoon of butter in the skillet over medium high heat to melt, next add the diced sausage and saute until brown and crispy.

After the soup has simmer for about an hour add the diced clams and shrimp to the soup, along with the parsley and simmer for an addition 10 to 12 minutes.

Next add the remaining butter, heavy cream and the sausage to the pot and simmer for an additional 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, remove the thyme sprigs and serve, garnish with some fresh parsley

Serve with a nice baguette and some brie.

Enjoy Cooking