And We're Back!

Greetings strangers. I know, its been quite some time since Ive been to this space.... but I guess my writings and ramblings parallel my sanity... they are sometimes in and they are often out. Anywho, these past few months have been filled with so much new, so much wondrous-ness, and occasional overwhelming-ness, that I just haven't found the time to be here. I guess it has been more that I haven't found the right time. Every moment I meant to write or share, the words just never seemed to come, so I didn't push them. But, I have been baking....a lot.... and I can't wait to share with you some of my new favorites in coming posts.

One of the aspects that I love about baking during the winter is that it is almost forced time spent indoors next to your stove. Forced time to take the time to experience and feel the season through creating and feeding yourself and others. I find myself reaching for more ginger on those cold rainy days and comforting foods such as sweet potato biscuits, apple pandowdy, and handfuls of oats to boot. I love how food helps us experience each season, and when you live in California, allowing it to help create a faux atmosphere of a cozy winter via spices and root veggies when the sun is shining and there isn't a cloud in the sky.

So, I have a new recipe to share with you. One that I would never reach for if it weren't late fall or winter. Enter: the sweet potato biscuit. Warm right out of the oven with a pad of butter, being enjoyed wearing a chunky scarf swirled around your neck 4 times, rainy clouds as a backdrop (even if the closest thing you can find is wallpaper), and a cup of spicy tea following every bite. And scene.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

I have thus far only used bright orange sweet potatoes because I am in love with the beautiful orange buttery results. But, that being said, feel free to experiment with japanese sweet potatoes which are so flavorful and mellow in color. You can also skip a step by buying canned sweet potato, or heck even pumpkin, although the flavor just wouldn't be the same.

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup spelt flour

1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

2 TB light brown sugar

2.5 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

6 TB unsalted butter, chilled

3/4 cup pureed sweet potato

1/3 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees prepare your sweet potato for roasting. For 3/4 cups of puree you will probably need a medium size to large potato. Rinse and poke several times with a fork and then wrap in foil and stick it in the oven until very tender... about 45 minutes. After the root is done cooking you can scrape out the insides and mash with a fork or puree in a blender or food processor. Let cool.

Now for the dough. Sift and whisk all of the dry ingredients together. Using a pastry blender or fork or extremely chilly hands cut the butter in the dry ingredients until nothing but little bits resembling rice grains are left. Mix together the sweet potato and buttermilk in a separate bowl and add everything together. Try to handle the dough as little as possible. You want everything to come together, so if its a little sticky add some flour... if its a little dry add some milk. You'll get it. Knead the dough 5 or 6 times et viola... vous etes presque termine. Flatten out the dough on a floured surface so its about an inch thick. Cut biscuits with a round cutter or a jar works as well. Bake at 425 for about 20-25 minutes or until golden.

Music Pairing

"Truth" by Alexander

And again, whistleing just makes me happy. And so do sweet biscuits and cozy weather.

Im Borrowing: Lemon Lavender Shortbread

So the other week, my wife (seen at her badass foodie blog here) directed me to one of her old classmates' new endeavours. I explored, thinking it would be good, but wow, this one is a winner. Yummybooks blends her love of lit with that inner push that finds us crazy bakers in front of the oven with hot oven rack marks left all over are forearms.... or is that just me? She gives you a preview for what might be your next classics read and what for sure will be accompanying your side (and tastebuds) during the adventure. The featured recipe was inspired by the Secret Garden...which I think inspires some of my daily day to day life.

I chose to borrow Yummybooks lemon lavender shortbread mostly because they looked delicious, but it didn't hurt that we welcomed a new lavender plant to the garden the other day. And I must agree with this baker... use fresh. use fresh. use fresh lavender. The plant is beautiful and smells wondrous... not to mention it will withstand the sweltering hot California Valley heat that (knock wood) seems to have forgotten us this year. And of course it didn't hurt when I read she topped her cookies with sea salt. I love salt. Especially from the sea.

I thought I had my favorite shortbread recipe. This one, fairly thin and so flaky, is quite the contender. It will be served alongside peaches and vanilla ice cream for a dinner party tonight to make somewhat of a deconstructed peach pie. So fresh, so delicious.

Thank you so much Yummybooks for a new read in your blog and this delicious idea for a recipe. Profitez le weekend tout le monde!

Lemon Lavender Shortbread

adapted from Yummybooks

I tweeked this recipe a bit here and there, but the delicious idea remains the same. My best results turned when I refrigerated the cookies on the pan right before popping them in the oven and with a bit of whole wheat pastry flour for a nice crumb.

8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/4 cup cane sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup white whole wheat flour

1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 Tablespoon fresh lavender

zest of one lemon

sea salt to finish

Start by beating up your butter and cane sugar nice and well. Sift together the salt, flours, and powdered sugar. Once the butter/sugar is beat up for a couple minutes go ahead and slowly add your dry mixture as well as the lemon zest and lavender. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to incorporate all the goodness. It should come together into a ball. Refridge for 2 hours or so.

Once your dough is nice and chilly lightly flour a rolling surface. Set oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough so it is about 1/4 inch thick and cut out whatever shapes you desire. I stuck with the inspired design because I thought they looked nice and will work well with the peach pie sundaes I am adding them to. Place them on a baking sheet and sprinkle (just a tad!) of sea salt. They bake for about 10 minutes or until just golden brown. Let cool on a rack and they will firm up and be delicious.

Music Pairing

Audiobook of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Its not music, but its sound. Might as well dive back into the classics with a shortbread in hand.

My Favorite Breakfast

I've converted many a naysayer before, so it comes as no surprise that everyone doesn't share the same affinity for the rice cake as I do. The poor things do get a lot of crap. And if you are talking Quaker, then, yes it is even warranted crap. But next time skip over the styrofoam stuff and pick up a natural foods brand, like Lundburg. Top with some pb, raisins, banana, and cinnamon, and you wont be sorry. Pick up the Sunday Times..... and now thats a morning.

A Take On The Chocolate Chip

Oh, camp.

One Breath. Two Breath. Three Breath, four. These chicas are wild.

For those of you who are unaware, I have been spending the past three weeks being a Camp Counselor in Monterey, CA. A beautiful place, spent with hundreds of energetic and lovely (for the most part) young ladies.

The other day was the sanctuary of my week, my 24 free continuous hours granted every glorious Wednesday accompanied simply solo with the liberty to do as I please. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my girls, and camp is a blast... but sometimes you just need a break. As a matter of fact, I think they do too. There seems to be little time to linger and enjoy what is happening right now... and as our first session is wrapping up everyone is wondering where all the time went. In short there is little time to do "things" let alone do them well or even notice when they are happening. A problem indeed. It actually becomes impossible when your daily schedule is on autopilot and consists of:

7am Wake up

8 Breakfast (although I did see a camper take an entire peach pie to breakfast this morning; so I use the term "breakfast" loosely)

9 Class 1

10 Class 2

10:55 Snack

11 Class 3

12 Lunch/Fustercluck Time

1:30 Class 4

2:30 Class 5

2:25 Popsicle Break/ Sugarfest

3:30 Class 6

4:30 Free Time (Squeeze in hygiene maintenance, telephone calls, screaming, jumping, and maybe 3 seconds of sitting time)

6pm Dinner

7 Evening Activities/ Fustercluck #2

8:30 Night Meeting

9:30/10 (more like 10:30 in reality) wrestle the little ones into bed and hopefully regain sanity (usually 50% success rate)

Throw in crazy amounts of sugar, occasional disorganization and I cant flippin believe our girl's heads are still attached. Funny enough, all of this wondrous craziness was my inspiration to make some chocolate chip cookies. There is nothing that is more connected to childhood and understated than a chocolate chip cookie. We tend to dismiss them swiftly as being rather consistent, unchanging, and even boring (gasp!) using the standard ingredients: flour, butter, sugar, and chocolate chips. Its understandable how one might mistake the results of these darlings as being rather stable and unchanging. Au contrare my friends, since there is so much variety to look for in this sweet treat, I could seriously make hundreds of batches and not repeat the same flavor /texture/experience profile once. When you take the time to peer a bit closer, you begin to notice the techniques and elements that make all the difference in the world. Brown sugar lends a molasses flavor and chewiness. You want lightness and lift? Try beating your butter and sugar together on high for 4 or 5 minutos. Make your jaw work a bit more with a grainier flour and thus a denser cookie. Guaranteed chocolate in every bite, you request? Great idea... instead of adding more and risk overloading, cut up dark chocolate bars and find slivers and chunks throughout.

Its actually camp and its girls that make me think about my childhood and how I wish I would have paid more attention to the details then. The closer you begin to look at the one genre of anything the more varieties and differences unfold. So, I chose to look at the chocolate chip cookie. The other night I tried three different batches... the first too cakey, the second missing a certain je ne sais quoi, and the third just right. They will be dished out hot with milk to the girls on their last night, made with love as always, but more importantly....they are made with time. If only one notices, I'll feel triumphant, and hell if no one does... I always have my personal stash of leftovers and a chocolate laden smile.

Enjoy your time. Reading this. Baking these. And eating every morsel.

Les Cookies du Chocolat

adapted from here

1 3/4 sticks (10 TB) of unsalted butter, softened

2 TB cream cheese

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup Turbinado sugar

1 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

2 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour

1/2 cup almond flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

12 ounces dark high quality delicious chocolate cut into various sized pieces

more turbinado for tops of cookies

Preheat the oven to 360 degrees.

Cream the butter and the sugars in high for about 3 to 4 minutes. Scrape down the sides a couple times. Beat one egg into the mixture at a time, making sure each is incorporated individually. Sift your dry ingredients together: flour, baking soda, and salt. Add this mix slowly to the batter, reserving a teence for the end. Once everything is mixed up nice and neat fold in the rest of the flour mix and the chocolate chunks and slivers. We are now ready for the magic to happen.

Using a spoon or small ice cream scoop, drop the dough onto cookie sheets. Pop into the oven for around 8-12 minutes, depending on your oven and how done you love your cookies. After they start flattening a bit sprinkle some turbinado sugar on the tops...it makes all the difference. I like them when the edges are just turning brown and they are still nice and gooey. But hey, thats just me.

Enjoy with friends, family, and campers alike.

Music Pairing

Since I find it impossible to let myself recommend any camp friendly music coming out of Lady G*G*'s mouth, I will meet in the middle with Spice Girl love. Baby Spice would completely adore these cookies. And summer camp for that matter.

Girl Power.

Tarte au Citron REMIX

fantabulous photo compliments of Miss Megan W Moore

So this time I did things a little backwards. Sitting at the comp listening to le musique on the wondrous Grooveshark, I was smiling so hard listening to M Ward (also the smiles no doubt credited the gloriousness of the weekend too) I decided to let the song dictate the recipe. No thought really, just listening and then whatever came to mind... smiles, sun, bike rides, and ah yes, a lemon tart. Et plus...le chanson: "Chinese Translation" par M. Ward.

I think its partially because I have just wanted an excuse to make a tarte au citron. Ive been thinking about it since I left Paris and their cute little sunshine tartlets with "citron" written in a white chocolate cursive over their tops. My mom is going to kill me, when she sees yet another dessert sitting on the kitchen counter, waiting for her to make sure the lines from the last slice are as straight and clean as possible, usually meaning a sliver here and there to even everything out. Its true that the poor pies, tarts, crumbles, cobblers (not to be confused with the shoe man) always need a bit of help when it comes to upkeep and we, the Steins, have dedicated ourselves to never let one let itself go, you might say, until there isn't a crimbly crumb left. Its funny though how no frittata, Shepard's pie, or any of the like never needs any straightening like the glazed foodstuffs do. I guess sometimes you just do what you can, and when it comes to straight lines and the absence of crumbs, I guess we will just stick with the suga.

Tarte au Citron ReMix with Almond Meal Crust

adapted from Mr. David Lebowitz

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
zest of one lemon, grated
1/2 cup raw sugar (such as turbinado)
6 TB butter
2 eggs
2 egg yolks

One pre-baked Almond Meal Tart Shell (recipe to follow)



You are ready to commence!

In a small saucepan, heat the lemon juice, zest, sugar, and butter until everything is melted together. Keep on low heat.

In a separate bowl whisk together your eggs and yolks. To this eggy mix add about a couple TB of the buttery sugary mix to temper. Once you have warmed the egg mix whisk the two mixes together in the saucepan over low heat. The mixture should thicken, but be sure to stir constantly and attentively so you don't get scrambled eggs.... not a welcome attribute of a tarte au citron I say.

Once you see whisk marks in your curd (this should have taken about 10 minutes), pour through a strainer right into your pre-baked tart shell. Let this set up for a couple hours so you have a nice sturdy tart. Finish with shaved white chocolate...trust the frenchies on this one. Enjoy with puckered lips...


Ah, yes, to make the crust (or 2).....

Sweet Almond Tart Crust

adapted from Mr. Pierre Herme

Now, lets try something new. To get things just right when you are baking..whether it be bread or crusts, you need to start doing the gram things. I know, I know. I was intimidated at first too. But why? Its so easy. I guess it was letting go of my cute stainless measuring cups that I have grown accustomed to and reaching for my mom's digital scale that hasn't been used in a creep's age.* One definite benefit is the precise number flashing at you on the screen, ensuring accuracy time in and out. Yay for something new.

285 grams sweet (unsalted) butter
150 grams raw sugar (such as turbinado)
100 grams ground almonds
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
500 grams white whole wheat flour

Beat da butta. until creamy. Then add in your sugar, ground almonds, salt, vanilla, and eggs and beat on medium speed in a kitchen aid until things are just Incorporated. Then, take your flour and add, bit by bit, at a low speed. Et viola... you have your dough. Refrigerate at least for 2 hours or up to 3 days. This also keeps in the freezer....just transfer to the fridge about a half day before rolling.

When ready, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Now, formation. It depends what you are making the crust for, but for this particular recipe, I like to keep the dough fairly thick (around one inch) to counterbalance the intensity of the lemon. Flour your work space as needed, as well as the top of the dough. Roll dough out to desired thickness. Place in your desired vessel (mine was a medium sized square Pyrex) and it took approximately took 20 minutes to finish with a nice goldeny brown tone. Don't forget to stab the dough with a fork before baking. Once it has cooled, pour your citrus filling dans le centre et refridge ou mangez tout suite! Comme vous voulais....


Now... if you have managed to wait long enough to let your tart set, take a slice, turn on the aforementioned tune and skip around in circles trying not to stumble over your clumsy feet. There is nothing like good music, citrus tarts, sunshine, and a great spring day. If I ever open a cafe, each time someone orders a tarte au citron, the above will commence. They might think I'm a wacko, but again....I'm just gonna run with it.


*not exactly sure what this is suppose to mean....but just roll with it.

Homemade Wheat Thins

I am extremely close to getting banished from the kitchen. It isn't really the constant mess or flour, butter, and sugar's daily appearance on the grocery list. Its more my mom's (me too! me too!) sugar addiction. I'm not sure one would actually qualify it as a problem, per se, but we...

1) would gladly swap most main courses (steaks, caviars, cheese, etc etc) for a 50 cent Reese's or any type of cookie

2) cant say no. I mean, we can... but we're really not that into it.

So, to keep myself sane (and my poor mother that wakes every morning saying "Arghhh... I don't feeeeeel good. You have to stop this") I just needed to re-evaluate my approach to baking. Do I always have to bake a cake, double chocolate tarte, or cookies? Well, I will ignore my instinctual answer and give a more sanity based: no. So, as I wanted to bake the other day I came across a recipe for wheat thins. I love wheat thins! So I swapped the butter and sugar for some salt and whole wheat flour and got to business rolling out these cute and salty crackas.

Whole Wheat Thins (Homemade!)

Makes a whole-lotta

The idea of making a cracker and then storing them in old Lipton boxes, thankfully not occupied by those sad tea bags any longer, was really fun and exciting. The first go around, I didn't roll the crackers thin enough and I made them too large, so they weren't as snappy as the original. But by golly, the second time, they turned out just like the Nabisco boxed version... except better. Well at least that's what my mom said, but I'm sure shes just encouraging my new direction of butter-less baking. But I really must say, the wheat thins, well, they tasted like wheat thins. Quelle surprise I say! Lets roll....

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour

1/2 cup white all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar (I like turbinado/sugar in the raw)

2 tsp salt (plus more for tops)

3 TB olive oil (et plus pour les tops)

3/4 cup milk

And let us begin. Take your white whole wheat and white flour and sift them together into a rather large bowl.

(this is the flour. and the bowl.)

Add the salt et sugar and remix.

Add a little of this (the olive oil). Combine oil and dry mixture with fork until it resembles tiny pebbles.

Then add a little of that (the milk). Mix together so it forms a ball. And there is your dough. Now how easy was that? Well, I don't think I forgot anything...

Take your dough and roll it out on a floured surface until it is fairly thin.... let's say about the size of a wheat thin or your favorite snappy cracker. The thinner the dough, the crispier it will be.

I used a pizza cutter and a straight edge to get these squares. Then I brushed the tops with olive oil and sprinkled them with salt .... the signature of the wheat thin. (Tip: It is easier to brush the dough with oil before you cut them, but be careful not to brush the sections that are leftover from the squares as you gather the misfits and roll those again to make even more)

I forgot to tell you earlier, but set the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Arrange the squares on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes... although I check mine about every 10 minutes or so. They are done when they are golden brown.

Let crackas cool on a rack and Enjoy! Take that Nabisco.

Music Pairing

"Gone, Gone, Gone" from the soundtrack Crazy Heart. Because these thins aren't hanging around the kitchen for too long (forgive the corniness s.v.p.)... and like all the other music pairings... its just an excuse to post some more great music....or crappy stuff that I just like.

Anchovy and (mostly) Kale Pasta

Ok. Yes, its me again. You may be asking yourself why some of my blog-mates have not posted yet, but yet this is my 3rd recipe. Well, this is very simple, they have lives. And I have my parent's kitchen. So.... there you go.

This morning I woke up and had an intense craving for kale. Yes, I realize this is not your typical early morning reaction, but I went with it. I picked up some of the gorgeous dark stuff from the market, local to boot.... and decided to pair it with some of my favorite kale accompaniments (le tomate et les anchois) and threw in some pasta and parm to lighten the color and make it my own idea of happiness.

Italian pasta my sis brought back from Italy....

that somehow was knocked over and sprawled across the floor. This recipe screams me: kale et klutz. That's more accurate than you know.

My dad was equally as excited with his dinner... although slightly different from mine. The newest edition of the vegan, organic, and local hebrew national hot dog. (minus the vegan, organic, and local) But hey, he was happy....

Anchovy & (mostly) Kale Pasta

Serves one hungry gal who just finished 1.5 hours of yoga and constantly craves dark leafy greens. So that means roughly 42 normal people.*

1 TB olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup chopped white onion

2 anchovies

1/2 bunch of kale, or about 2 cups, chopped

handful of previously soaked and cooked white beans

5 cherry tomatoes

salt to season

1 handful of pasta

1/8 cup Parmesan cheese

In a medium skillet... well I love cast iron, but comme vous voulais.... heat up the olive oil for a minute or so. Then drop in your onion and saute for a couple minutes. Then drop in the garlic. Be careful not to burn it... that est no good. After the onions are translucent, add in the anchovies, beans, and cherry tomatoes. Let that cook down a bit and then throw in the kale. reduce heat to low, cover with a top while it reduces to goodness. After about 8-10 minutes uncover and cook off as much liquid as desired.

While that is cooking, go ahead and heat up a pan of water for your pasta. Cook it... put it in a bowl and throw in the veggie mix. Season with salt and top off with parm. If you are me, or have low blood pressure, season with salt again.

Recipe/Song Pairing: I found Son of a Preacher man particularly helpful when making this dish. If you substitute collard greens for the kale... even better.

* 42 is a completely made up number that has no mathematical basis. Just so ya know.

ORE-Oh My! Truffles....

I had been warned, before coming to Paris, that after a few months of living abroad, I would start craving typical American food - peanut butter, hot dogs that didn't come inside a baguette, nachos oozing with processed cheddar...and as my American friends slowly started to succumb to their cravings, I stood firm in my lack of cravings for American cuisine. Until, until, until - until one March afternoon, when I saw a six-pack of OREOs beckoning me to come release it from its vending machine prison. And how was I to resist?


I hadn't eaten an OREO cookie in six months, or more. It seemed like every pain au chocolat, every strawberry-wasabi macaron, every bottle of Saumur, would never be as tasty as that first OREO cookie. And then, I couldn't stop - I saw cookies everywhere, every train station had a vending machine, every shop had a pack. It took every ounce of restraint to resist their siren song - Six OrEOs! One Euro only! Prix fou!

So when trying to decide what to get my coworkers as a 'very American' going away present, I decided to rid myself of the OREO-craving for once and for all, with this recipe from allrecipes.com.

As promised, the recipe is easy, and I think even I, the complete kitchen-n00b did okay. It's also fairly cheap - if you live in America. In France, however, a pack of 16 OREO cookies costs 3 Euros. And don't get me started on the cost of Philadelphia cream cheese. Just saying.

But it does the trick - lots of gooey OREO-cream cheese to nibble on while prepping...and chocolate-y goodness at the end!


Easy OREO Truffles
(Recipe slightly modified from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
40-ish OREO cookies
8 oz Philadelphia cream cheese (I used Light to reduce the guilt factor)
16 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate (I used Hershey's, for that extra-American kick)

Directions:
1. Crush 8 cookies (or fewer - you could do with 6) into fine crumbs using a food processor - or, if you're me and working in a ghetto kitchen, shove them into a plastic bag and smash them to smithereens using a wine bottle (because your landlady doesn't have a rolling pin, much less zip-lock bags). Set these guys aside, they're going to be the topping.
2. Crush the rest of the cookies into crumbs (hmm..this recipe is quite therapeutic...) and mix the crumbs into softened cream cheese. I added a bit at a time, and blended using a wooden spoon (because again, I'm in a ghetto kitchen that doesn't have a silicon spatula or an electric blender).
3. Roll this mixture into little balls. The allrecipes.com recipe calls for 1" balls, which is what I did, but next time I'd make them smaller - maybe 1/2-3/4", so they're even cuter. Set them aside.
4. Melt chocolate! No microwave in this apartment, nor double boiler, so I did it old school - metal bowl over saucepan of water. I tried very hard not to dip my fingers into the liquidy goodness...I did not succeed. Some chocolate may disappear during this step.
5. Dip the balls in chocolate and place them on a wax-covered baking sheet, tray, plate, etc.
6. Sprinkle chocolate-coated truffles with the crushed cookies you'd set aside earlier, and pop the trays into the fridge.
7. Let truffles set for about one hour, then try not to eat them all in one go.

Prep time: 30 minutes
Chill time: 1 hour (enough to get in an episode of LOST)
Total time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Lessons learned: Cooking can make your right arm very strong. Need to discover a hobby to engage my left arm...or become an ambidextrous stirrer-blender.

Grandola

So, I love sweets. I admit it. More than most foodstuffs. There was even a time in college where I unsuccessfully tried to survive off of this tiny part of the food pyramid.. and nothing else. Yeah, that didn't go over so great. But really, I love grains too.... so the perfect combination and excuse to eat the two as soon as possible in the day is always a great granola recipe. Each batch comes out a bit differently, depending what types of nuts, dried fruits, etc. etc. I have on hand... so have fun altering this recipe as you see fit. I'll give you my most recent success, but I always find granola a good place to utilize a lots of back of the cupboard items that are close to being lost in the black culinary hole. Sometimes it works (cashews, pine nuts, dried pineapple) and sometimes, well, those items are still in the back for a reason (dented can of salmon, Crisco from the 80s, saltines from your last stomach ache). Anywho, let the crispy morning goodness soak for 15 or 20 with some milk or soy milk, accompanying it with yogurt and fruit isn't a bad call either, or sprinkle over some ice cream for added deliciousness.

Grandola

4 cups of old-fashioned oats

1/2 cup of sunflower seeds (other ideas: sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, pine nuts)

1/4 ground flax seed (wheat germ works too)

3/4 cup of mixture of halved cashews and almonds (alternatives: pistachios, Brazil nuts, peanuts, walnuts, pecans, macadamia nuts, the list goes on et on)

Big handful of shredded unsweetened coconut

1 cup dried dates and raisin mixture (dried pineapple, apple, cranberries, figs, cherries, kiwi...)

zest of one orange

3/4 cup honey, agave, or other liquid sweetener

splash of water

1/4 cup unrefined coconut oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the oats, flax seed, nuts, pumpkin seeds, coconut, and orange zest in a large bowl and set aside. In a pan over medium heat bring honey, water, and oil to a light simmer on the stove. Mix the dry and liquid mixture together and spread evenly onto 2 baking sheets. Pop in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown. I stir the mixture about every 10 minutes for even cooking. I like to add the dried fruit in the last five or ten minutes so it isn't rock hard when it cools. You may also add the dried fruit after baking too! Comme vous voulais! (As you wish) When you take the sheets out of the oven to cool, dont mix or touch, because the mixture will set a bit and create that great grandola clumpiness. Enjoy!

Reminder: Every oven requires different cooking times, so hang out in the kitchen with a book and tea as to keep an eye on the goodness.

Recipe/Song Pairing: Mamas and the Papas or the Zombies. I'm pretty sure they were into granola.

Tarte aux Fraises with Buckwheat-Oat Crust

O, Easter. One of my favorite holidays I think. First of all it often mandates a Brunch. Second, let's face it, I generally am all in for any sort of holiday that involves an excuse to get a bunch of family and friends to eat together and take an extra day off from the job that, o wait, I don't have.... still, Good Friday is pretty great. Especially if you aren't a churchgoer. Back in France, my ex-roomies are celebrating Paques at their chateau in Brittany, enjoying church and family probably much like typical Americans do, besides a couple minor exceptions. First, they laze around their family house, which en fait is a stone castle whose front yard might parallel the Rodin Museum more than anything . Second, while the kiddies at my parents house are hunting for eggs with Easter baskets, my roomies are probably hunting for a wild boar with their rifles. Gotta love the Frenchies.


Don't forget Passover... where lox and bagels make their Stein household brunch debut each year. Yep, thats about as Jewish as we get.


But, I'm sure we all ate well on Sunday, and while others were praying, I baked a new recette. Upon return to California, my first stop was the nearest co-op to Stockton, in Sacramento. I loaded up on all types of fun new flours and bulk items, including some buckwheat flour. I was baking with the stuff in Paris, using it in scones et plus, trying to take on some of my roomies Breton-ness. (Buckwheat flour is heavily used in galettes, or savory crepes, in the region of Brittany) So, still going through my Frenchie withdrawal I decided to combine the first pickings of California strawberries with a little twist as une petite homage for my favorite ladies back in France.






Tarte aux Fraises with Buckwheat-Oat Crust

So welcome to my first recipe. I don't like to complicate things too much, so if there are any questions for clarification... just holla.

Crust

3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 cup buckwheat flour
Handful of old-fashioned oats
1/3 cup unsalted butter
2 tablespoons of honey
splash of water

Take all the dry ingredients and mix well in a bowl. Then grab the last 3 ingredients and heat them in a medium skillet over medium heat. Dance around the kitchen while it all melts and begins to simmer. If you are not a dancer, you may insert alcoholic beverage of choice here. For Easter I find selected tracks dubbed "Jesus" on the Mariah Carey Christmas Album very helpful. Mix the wet with the dry and knead until all is incorporated together.

Set the oven to 350 degrees and press your dough onto a 10 inch tart pan. Jab the bottom of the crust a few times with a fork and stick it in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.... et viola! We are ready for our custard....



Filling


2 egg yolks
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons turbinado sugar
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
cap full of vanilla extract
dash of salt
2 tablespoons of cream
Strawberries and raspberries

Whisk the yolks, sugar, flour, vanilla, et salt in a pan until it is a smooth as you can manage. Puis, heat up the milk in a separate pan until it simmers. Bit by bit whisk the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking continuously over low heat. It should thicken rather fast so it resembles puddin'. Then stir in the cream. Let it cool and then refrigerate for a couple of hours. You may want to potect the mix with plastic wrap directly making contact with it, as to prevent it from forming a film.

Assembly

Scoop custard mixture onto the crust and top with rasberries and strawberries. I cut the strawberries in half, but you can arrange them whole or even cut into smaller pieces. Comme vous voulais! Bon appetit et Joyeuses Paques...