Gingerbread Cookies

Last month's book club, though a bust book-wise, was pretty delicious in the food category.  Bite-sized gingerbread cookies were a big hit, and knowing our dad's obsession with and eternal hunt for "the best gingerbread," we knew we needed to make these as our contribution to the annual family Thanksgiving feast.

You can find the recipe in Jenna Weber's "White Jacket Required," but a few minutes of internet sleuthing can save you a few dollars.  The recipe is actually for cookie sandwiches filled with chocolate buttercream but... we like our gingerbread plain, thankyouverymuch.  The ingredients list is rather simple, with one "secret" touch- a bit of white pepper.

Making cookie dough doesn't typically require any heat (till the baking part, of course), but this recipe was a whole new experience- the dough is actually made stovetop.  It starts out with boiling brown sugar and a whole bunch of spices together- this is the crucial step for building that rich and spicy flavor base.

The real fun comes when the baking soda is added- two teaspoons of it created a rapid transition from thick and bubbly to frothy and light- I literally felt like I was stirring a pot of brown marshmallow fluff.  So weird!

Here the pot comes off the heat and two sticks (two sticks!) of butter are melted in one piece at a time.

Adding the cold butter helps cool things down, and the flour pulls everything together into a slightly sticky but workable dough.  We pulled out Mom's ancient rolling pin and rolling surface and added a bit of flour.

A took on the rolling job and used a small glass to cut perfect circles out of the 1/4 inch dough.  It would be fun to make other shapes as well, but we loved the bite-sized option.  Uncooked, the gingerbread dough is very dark and shiny.

Ready to bake! The recipe calls for 12 minutes at 325, but our book-club friend did plenty of experimenting and determined that six minutes made a perfect, chewy cookie.  If you prefer a crispy cookie (like a gingersnap!), follow the 12 minute rule.

The cookies don't expand much so you can actually place them a little closer together on the cookie sheet than we did.  Cool on the sheet for a minute and then transfer to a cooling rack, as usual.

These cookies were a huge hit with our family, especially with the padre.  The cooking process was a lot of fun and they really produce a delicious, spicy and chewy gingerbread perfect for the holidays.

Our dad did suggest we really up the ante by trying a really high quality molasses and the best quality spices we can find.  The cinnamon we used was a fancy version from Penzeys, but the rest were just generics.  I guess we'll have to try again!

These are a perfect cookie for a holiday party, your Christmas dessert table, or a cookie swap- they're fun (but very simple!) to make and doubling or tripling the recipe would produced plates and plates of cookies (good for gifting!).  We love soft, chewy, spicy gingerbread, and will be making these for years to come.

The Standard Dinner Series

Last week we were invited to a special dinner event hosted by Knob Creek, one of a dozen dinners they are holding around the country to promote their brand.  Even though the featured restaurant was Meritage (one of my favorite spots in the city!), I turned down the invitation since I have no (actually, negative) interest in bourbon.  However, the lovely PR rep persuaded me to give it a chance- and I couldn't say no to an offer of what was sure to be a delicious dinner gratis.  The dinner featured an amuse bouche and four courses, all of which used bourbon as a flavor component.  

Each course was served with a different bourbon, and an expert from Knob Creek was on hand to tell the diners about the product, as well as give lots of historical information (Knob Creek was the name of the farm Abraham Lincoln grew up on!) and some fun facts from the business.  It was an entertaining evening and the food was amazing- each course highlighting Chef Anne Coll's expertise with a variety of meats and preparation styles.  The bourbon flavor was absent in the food (thankfully?) but I'm positive it was one of those extra special components that is impossible to pick out but absolutely necessary for the final presentation.

Our amuse bouche was a lamb meatball.  A unique way to start the meal-- a higher end meat served poor man's style.  Of course, it was no ordinary meatball, with a light mint dressing and a creamy feta and pepper sauce.  The tenderness of the meat actually really lends itself to grinding (there should probably be more lamb burgers in existence).

When I first viewed the menu, I was most excited for the second course, since the words "cured salmon," "bacon," "roe," and "pickles" were all together in one dish.  I mean, really.  Does Chef Coll view my food dreams?

Candlelight is great for ambiance, terrible for pictures.

 Interestingly, bourbon played two roles in this dish.  The salmon was cured pastrami style, with a hint of rich smokiness in the flavors of the light crust.  The natural smoked essence of pastrami was really pulled out by the bourbon- I guess nine years in a burnt wood barrel does that!  The trout roe was also prepared with bacon and bourbon, balancing their saltiness with a bit of woodsy richness.  I had a hard time not putting those thin slices of salmon directly into my face, but the thin toasted baguette and the dill infused creme fraiche weren't bad companions- and by that, I mean they were perfect (the pickles DID go straight into my face).

The dinner slowly moved to heartier dishes, with the second course being the most visually appealing.  A tiny quail was served whole (although with no bones present except in each miniature leg) with a hidden sweet bread stuffing.  A bed of spinach was the lone vegetable in the dish- the two sauces were both fruit based.  A chunky chutney of persimmons and pomegranate was dressed with an apple cider gastrique.  Um... gastrique?  Caramelized sugar deglazed with vinegar- which accurately describes the flavor of the sauce.  However, bourbon again provided the balance to the flavor profile- alone, this may have been too sweet and sour.  It was a fun dish to look at, but a little odd to eat- fork and knife or finger food?

The final meat course was what everyone in the restaurant was raving about at the night's end.  Perfectly prepared venison- I had no idea game could be that tender, but this venison was as soft as filet mignon (apparently it was a particular "brand" of meat famous for this quality).  Cooked to a perfect medium rare and sliced into perfect rounds, I would like to return to Meritage for this alone.  The parsnip puree and brussels sprout accompaniments were also much enjoyed (my husband thought the parsnip was mashed potatoes it was so smooth!).

One of our table mates for the evening happened to be the one in charge of organizing and planning each of the dinners in The Standard series (and yes, she gets to eat them all!), and she made several comments that stuck with me from that night.  First, she was thrilled that the meal was not intensely heavy- the venison was prepared in such a way (and served in a reasonable portion) that even a red meat course was better than "beef cheeks or pork belly," apparently the heavier meats of choice of many of the other featured restaurants.  By the time dessert was served, I was pleasantly full but still ready for a few bites of sweetness.

A sweet potato bourbon bread pudding was coated in a walnut-maple glaze and served with a pool of salted caramel- a true Southern-inspired dessert.  Again, the flavors of the rich dessert lent itself to the smoky richness that bourbon imparts- rendering the sweetness much more palatable.  A little vanilla ice cream and a sliver of chocolate allowed this dish to cover pretty much every popular flavor of dessert without overwhelming it.

Our tablemate also praised Meritage for its excellent food- there is no doubt that Chef Coll beautifully displayed the dining scene that Philadelphia has to offer, as well as highlighting exactly what Knob Creek was looking for- a meal and a restaurant that is raising the standard of fine dining.  While Meritage doesn't get as much day to day press as some of the shinier new restaurants, it is surely holding its own as a neighborhood restaurant turning out some spectacular and inventive meals.

If you think these dishes sound good, you have the chance to try them yourself this week (December 5th-December 7th) for just $39 at Meritage.  I'm almost tempted to go back and eat them all again!

Shane Confectionery & Franklin Fountain

If you live in the Philadelphia area, chances are you've made a visit to Franklin Fountain, the old-fashioned ice cream shop in Old City.  What you may not know is that Ryan and Eric Berley, brothers and owners of Franklin Fountain, purchased and rehabbed a long-time neighborhood candy shop, Shane Confectionery, just two doors down.  While I typically prefer ice cream to candy, we jumped at the chance to tour the candy-making kitchens located directly above Shane.  Thanks to an invite from the super sweet Sara, who writes a beautiful blog and also happens to be a baker and candy-maker for the two shops, we got an inside look at the hand-crafted techniques and old-school appliances.  The Shane website provides a great history of the shop.








Sara took us through the ice-cream room and up the stairs to the main candy-making floor.  She explained that they make everything by hand, and utilize equipment to keep everything as "old-fashioned" as possible.  For example, they still use hand-fused copper kettles and bowls heated over a gas stove that has to be hand-lit- no pilot lights!  They even have a refurbished butter-cream churner that is at least five feet across.


One of Shane's specialities is clear toy candy-  a hard candy made from molten corn syrup and sugar that is carefully hardened in intricate molds that are decades, if not centuries, old.  Shane boasts the largest clear toy candy mold collection in the country, with an entire wall of the kitchen devoted to hand-labeled storage drawers for each mold.  The molds range in size and shape and can make candy ships complete with candy masts and sails and flags to a more simple candy swan or cat.  The options seemed endless.

 However, no candy shop is complete without chocolate, and Shane has an entire "chocolate floor" devoted to hand-dipping chocolates of all varieties.  There are several slow-churning, heated vats of chocolate as well as a dipping table with a heated insert- several people can sit around the dipping table making buttercreams, chocolate covered potato chips, caramels, nuts clusters, and fruits.

Tray after tray of various chocolates were waiting to be packed up or sold in the store below.  Sara let us taste some dark chocolate buttercreams, which really reflected every tedious step of the process.  The buttercream tasted like smooth, dense frosting without a hint of artificial ingredients.  The bitter chocolate coating was the perfect contrast, providing a hard shell around the buttercream.  As they're all hand-dipped, no chocolate looks the same, but the experienced hands of Shane's employees keep the chocolate coating smooth and even.

Although I probably could have sat and eaten chocolate all afternoon, we had made the decision to stop in for some ice cream next door at Franklin Fountain.  On our way out, Sara pointed out the waffle makers used to make Franklin's waffle cones.

She also let us take a peek at the marshmallows she'd been working on- peppermint flavored, no less!

Franklin Fountain is notorious for having a long line out the door- up to a thirty minute wait in my experience, even in cold weather.  However, we got lucky and caught them at a quiet time, giving us plenty of time to stare at the menu and drool over all of the options.  There are tons of ice cream flavors available every day, with a rotating list of seasonal specials.  There are also milkshakes and sundaes and pretty much any combination of sweets you could imagine.

I had my eye on the pies located in a little cabinet near the front of the store.  The peach praline with a lattice top looked particularly delicious.

Like Shane, Franklin Fountain keeps things as old-school as possible, from the employees uniforms (and facial hair!) to the decor to the telephone.  Once we realized that they were using a wall-mounted "hand-crank" telephone, we were tempted to make some calls just to see it in use.

Check out that phone on the far left.

 Since I'd run the Philly half that morning, I figured I could treat myself.  The pie looked amazing, but I knew I needed to try some ice cream too.  Thankfully, Franklin made the choice easy by offering a "hot milkshake"- literally a warmed piece of pie dunked into a milkshake.  Pure food genius.  The peach praline pie was paired with a butter pecan milkshake ($9.50).  And yes, it was even better than it looked (and sounded).  Flaky crust, warm peaches, and a buttery, nutty ice cream bath.  Served in a large metal cup with a paper straw, this was the most amazing post-race treat I can imagine.

A ordered a single scoop of a special flavor, made in collaboration with one of our favorite Philly spots- Federal Donuts.  This ice cream has a chocolate base but includes chunks of cake donuts and plenty of the Israeli appolonia spice used in the donut shop.  The combination of chocolate and spicy donuts was a great balance- neither outshines the other.

We were spending the afternoon with a friend, and she also went the single-scoop route, choosing the seasonal pumpkin flavor.  Like most pumpkin-flavored things, the primary flavors were pumpkin pie spices, with plenty of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.  Scoops of ice cream are served in fancy glass stemware and a "single-scoop" is plenty to share amongst friends.  While we passed around our ice cream (+ pie), we had lots of fun admiring and discussing the old-time decorations and appliances.

Our adventures at Shane and Franklin Fountain felt like a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, and certainly, the visit to see the inner-workings of a candy shop surely were (many, many thanks to Sara!).  However, we definitely need to get ourselves back down to Old City more often for some chocolates and ice cream.  It's a great place for a date or to take out-of-towners- so unique and a real delight to visit.

Shane Confectionery
110 Market Street

Franklin Fountain
116 Market Street

Pumpkin Pasta with Kale and Pancetta

Happy belated Thanksgiving from sunny Florida!  We've eaten plenty of delicious food over the past several days, but that doesn't keep us from reminiscing about other meals past.  Last weekend, I ran the Philly Half Marathon under A's name- a nagging knee injury kept her from completing any real training- but she was still a wonderful spectator, even inviting me over to partake in our usual pre-race ritual: pasta eating.  This time, we went the easy way by visiting the pasta bar at Whole Foods- fresh pasta is the best way to go.  We came up with a simple mix of ingredients that came together quickly and still seemed extra fancy.

First up: a little sauteed pancetta.  Nothing like some salty, cured pork to provide a flavor base for this dish.  We used four ounces to build a meal for four.

About a third of a very finely chopped purple onion joined the pancetta, gaining a few crispy edges and softening in the middle to dial down the bite.

The small cut of the ingredients made for a quick cooking time- five minutes later we drained the meat and onion onto a paper-towel lined plate.  We decided to add a little green to the mix, tearing some leftover kale into bite-sized pieces and tossing it into the pancetta-oiled pan for a few minutes to wilt.

The pasta was a fresh radiatori sourced from Severino Pasta Company across the river in New Jersey.  A pound was the perfect amount for this dish- and at $3.99/lb, it was a steal!  Other ingredients necessary to finish the pasta: 1/2 a can of pureed pumpkin, an equal amount of full-fat ricotta, and a few grates of fresh nutmeg.

Melt the pumpkin and ricotta down on low heat, adding a few splashes of milk to thin things out a bit.

The ingredients will melt down and form a cream sauce- seasoning the sauce is a good way to distribute flavors throughout the pasta- especially with pasta shapes with lots of crevices like radiatori!  We kept it simple with the nutmeg and a pinch of salt.

Fresh pasta only needs a few minutes in boiling water to cook through.  We added the pasta to the cream sauce immediately after draining.  Add the pancetta/onion mixture and kale as well and mix gently to incorporate everything together.

We also roasted asparagus (extra-skinny, just the way I like it!) and a garlic-rosemary rubbed pork tenderloin.  Truly the perfect pre-race meal, but it was also fun to eat as a "double date" with the guys.

The pasta dish could be amped up for an entree with a can of white beans or cubed chicken breast, and was just the right mix of fall flavors.  Pumpkin this and pumpkin that seems to infiltrate every store and restaurant during the autumn months, but this dish forms a savory alternative, and with heartier flavors from the meat and greens, is just the depth of flavor and comfort we need on a cool night.

Reads and Eats: White Jacket Required (Book Review)

Several months before we started our own blog, I was beginning my now-an-everyday-obsession with reading food and healthy living blogs.  One of the first I began reading regularly was entitled Eat, Live, Run, a blog written by a woman named Jenna, who at about my age was finding her ground in the months following college and culinary school.  Although her blog has morphed considerably from that time, from a more lifestyle/fitness blog to a solely recipe-based blog, I've loved following her journey  as she's moved across the country and followed her dreams in food, writing, and yoga.  Her recipes are always beautiful, and while not always 100% original, are typically easy, delicious, and healthy (minus all those cakes and pies she loves to bake!)

It was only fitting that our food-based book club decided to read her newly published book, entitled White Jacket Required: A Culinary Coming-of-Age Story.  

The book is written in a very different style as her blog, detailing her adventures in and out of culinary school in memoir fashion.  Unfortunately, we all thought she should stick with what she is good at-- blogging.  Her book was awkwardly written (some stories that she clearly found amusing weren't so to us readers), she had difficulties connecting her stories and characters, and we all found her inability to "find herself" a bit frustrating.  While the accidental death of her younger brother brings a bit of life (ironically) to her book, the rest of the book was mediocre.  

Similar to other books we've read, each chapter ended with a few recipes (some from her blog, some new).  While some of the recipes looked delicious and fun, they typically had no relationship with the chapter itself, which in turn made it impossible to connect with the recipes.  Not saying I need to have an emotional connection to food, but it makes the recipes more meaningful to the reader- and makes us more likely to reproduce them!

For our meeting, we all chose a recipe (either from the book or the blog) to share potluck style.  J chose the Greek Salad- a classic mixture of artichoke hearts, red onions, kalamata olives, and cucumbers, tossed and mixed with an herby olive-oil based dressing. She added a chopped green pepper to bulk it up a bit. Feta on the side-- we love huge chunks but others aren't as fond of the salty cheese.

We also had a side of roasted root vegetables (an almost embarrassingly simple recipe, although we won't deny we loved them!).  Two of the ladies in our group love to bake, so they each tackled a cookie recipe provided by Jenna.  First up, a super unique recipe (Jenna notes that this is NOT her original!) of Chocolate Zucchini Crinkle Cookies.

Zucchini can enter the dessert realm outside of just bread-- crazy!  Although these had a good amount of shredded squash, you seriously can't taste it at all (and I tested it on my vegetable-o-meter husband).

It was impossible to decide if we preferred the chocolate cookies or the gingerbread cookies- we are slightly obsessed with gingerbread, and these soft, spicy cookies were perfect in every way.  We enjoyed them so much we are planning on making them for our Thanksgiving dessert array this week!

And finally, I produced the main course for our dinner, selecting a recipe from the blog since none of the savory book recipes really appealed to me.  Although Jenna calls these "Crock Pot Beef Carnitas Tacos," they're technically NOT carnitas.  Regardless, it's an amazingly simple and delicious recipe and one that I'm going to definitely file in my mental "make often" recipe file.

You want to know how simple this is?  Purchase a piece of beef.  Slice an onion and two bell peppers (I chose yellow and red).  Place them in your slow cooker with a dash of this and a dash of that from your spice cabinet (chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and a bit of cayenne-- but you can really use whatever spices you like!).  Cook on low for eight hours.  Done!

No need to pre-brown the meat.  No need to chop carefully.  No need to measure your spices.  While Jenna recommends flank steak, I used a cheaper cut of top (or maybe it was bottom..?) round.  Regardless, you don't even need cooking liquid- the fat from the meat and the liquid from the vegetables is just enough to keep things perfectly moist.  The meat should be falling apart when you return for it, but a simple shred with two forks will make it easier to serve.  I piled a few chunks of meat  on a corn tortilla and added a few slices of avocado, some chopped green onions, and a squeeze of lime for a simple but flavorful main course.

While none of us loved the book, the food turned out fantastic- a bit of a random meal (none of us really coordinated our dishes) but it was really fun to eat such a variety.  It doesn't hurt that we always have such a great time together, too!  And, while I wouldn't recommend spending the money or time on White Jacket Required, I would certainly continue to recommend Eat, Live, Run as a place to find great recipes.