Soft Molasses Cookies - Recipe #4

This week I needed to find a recipe that was not a key part of a meal (most of my meals were out and about because of a busy rehearsal/performance schedule) and was fairly quick and easy: cookies!

Soft Molasses Cookies to be exact. I don't have strong feelings about molasses cookies either way, but the PM likes them quite a bit, so I made them for him because he let me use his car for 9 hours of driving to and from a rehearsal this weekend.

1 cup of sugar
3/4 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
Fat sugar, if desired

- Beat the sugar, sour cream, butter, shortening, molasses and egg in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with a spoon.

- Stir in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt.

- Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.

- Bake in an oven at 375 for 9-11 minutes or until almost no indentation remains when touched in center.
- Cool 1-2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.
- Sprinkle with fat sugar while cookies are still warm.

Review:

I didn't realize there were three kinds of molasses, and I don't know what the differences are in terms of baking. I picked up the "full flavor" version, figuring that was "regular." As it turns out, molasses is stinky. STINKY.  I had no idea.

I'm not a molasses cookie expert, so my judgment of this recipe is probably not the best. They were easy to make and taste like cookies, but I don't think they are anything to write home about. For my oven, 9-11 minutes were too long to bake them. The first cookie sheet that went in the oven produced overdone cookies. I've suspected that my oven may be calibrated wrong, it often seems to cook too hot. I also had trouble finding a good time to sprinkle them with the fat sugar (fat sugar is my term, the recipe just called for sugar). If I waited until after the 1-2 minutes of chilling on the baking sheet, most of the sugar rolled off of the cookie. If I sprinkled them while still on the baking sheet, the sugar melted onto the pan. There was sugar EVERYWHERE.

I would eat these with some tea in the afternoon as a snack if there was nothing else around and I really wanted something sweet, but I'm not sure I'd make them again for my own consumption. I think I'm just not a fan of molasses cookies.

Netflix Rating:
Me: 2.0
PM: Cookies. (The PM refused to play along with my Netflix Rating guide on this one and repeatedly responded with "cookies" when I asked him to rate them. Either the cookies paralyzed his brain with awesomeness or he was channeling Cookie Monster.)

Jan 31, Edited to add: I solicited another reviewer for these. My lunch buddy UB is a big fan of molasses cookies and she rated them a solid 3. She says the taste is a little off from what she's used to.

Feb 3, Edited to add: By special request, I sent a few of these cookies to my nephew, Rooster E 2.0. They were received today, and so I asked Rooster E 2.0 for a review/rating. Rooster E (the original) relayed back to me:
                    "Ok, well I think the reviewer has some confusion. He said he loved them and would eat them ALL!!! Munch munch munch and when I explained it, he said 1. I tried to show him again on my fingers and he said 'here let me show ya' and closed all my fingers one by one until there was only one left. 'One' he again replied and turned back to his playdough."

Old Timey Photo - Postcard #4 & Swedish Flag Mosaic - Crafty Crap #1

This postcard is from a big collection of fun postcards I picked up many years ago - I found the first of five packs of these in a bookstore and tracked down the rest of the set online. The back says "A happy family, c. 1900."

Postcard #4 for the New Year Resolution went out to my old friend from college, JD. She lives far away and I haven' seen her in several years, so she'll probably think that's me on the postcard. She's special like that.

An article on old photography and the solemn faces epidemic.
Russian color photographs from the early 1900s. Amazing.

**********************

The January Crafty Crap has been completed! A year or so ago I decided to try my hand at doing mosaics and I make a punch of Swedish Flag window hangings (or trivets) for most of my family. (The glass looks really pretty with the sun shining behind it.)

It took a lot longer to make each one that I thought it would, so I wasn't able to finish the one for Rooster C in time. Probably cheating, but it seemed appropriate to make her Swedish Flag the crafty crap for this month. Nothing like getting a gift more than a year late!

Overnight Asparagus Mushroom Strata - Recipe #3

It's cold, cold, cold this week in Minneapolis; staying in for a big, lovely breakfast/brunch on Saturday is the best way to start the weekend. Clearly.

I found a recipe for a breakfast casserole of sorts. I tweaked it, as usual.

2 teaspoons butter, or as needed
1 3/4 cups of sliced mushrooms
3-4 English muffins, split and toasted
2 cups shredded cheese of your choice
1/2 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped broccoli
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
8 eggs
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

- Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir the mushrooms until their liquid has mostly evaporated and the mushrooms are beginning to brown. (It amazes me how much mushrooms shrink when cooked.)

- Grease a pan, I used an 9x9 baking dish, and arrange the muffin halves, cut side up, in the bottom of the dish. Stuff remaining muffins into the spaces between the halves.

- Spread 1 cup of the cheese over the muffins in a layer.

- Distribute the vegetables over the cheese.

- Whisk together eggs, milk, salt, dry mustard, and black pepper in a bowl.

- Pour egg mixture over the muffins and vegetables.

- Cover the dish and refrigerate overnight.
- The next day, when you are sleepy and lazy in your PJs: preheat the oven to 375.
- Remove the casserole from the refrigerator and let stand for 30 minutes. Spread 1 cup of the cheese in a layer on top of the vegetables.

- Bake 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted near the edge comes out clean. Let stand for 5-10 minutes before cutting into squares.

Review:

This was tasty and really awesome to just throw in the oven in the morning. Doing the prep-work the night before is brilliant for lazy-Saturday people like me. The english muffins were very smooshy and yummy at the bottom of the thing and helped keep it together when serving up the pieces. The veggies came out perfectly cooked, hot all the way through, but not overdone and limp.

It took more than the given 45 minutes to cook, closer to an hour - probably because I used a smaller, square pan instead of a 9x13 as the original recipe suggested.

I would change this recipe a bit the next time I make it. There was too much liquid left in the pan, I think because I added many more veggies than the original recipe called for but didn't cut down on the milk to balance it out. I'd probably try it with only 1 cup of milk next time to see how it goes. I think the tomatoes really add a lot of liquid to the dish, more than I figured on.

The PM suggested that the top layer of cheese be added later on in the baking so that it is more cheesy and gooey and less crunchy.


Netflix Rating:
Me: 3.5
PM: 3.5

Portobello Mushroom Puffs - Recipe #2

Last year I bought a package of puff pastry dough (frozen) on a lark. I never used it, so for the second recipe of the year it is making it's debut in my kitchen.

The recipe is mostly from the Pepperidge Farm puff pastry website. I tweaked what they had on there.

2 tablespoons butter
3.5 cups portobello mushrooms, chopped
2.5 cups white mushrooms, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon chipped fresh thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 of a 17.3-ounce Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets package (1 sheet), thawed
1 egg, beaten

- Preheat oven to 375
- Lightly grease 12 (2.5 inch) muffin-pan cups
- Heat the butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and mushrooms and cook until the liquid evaporates, stirring occasionally. (Note: I used my food processor to chop up my mushrooms, hence they are super chopped.)

- Remove the skillet from the heat. Stir in the cheese, thyme, garlic powder, and black pepper.
- Unfold the pastry on a lightly floured surface. Roll the pastry into a 12x16 inch rectangle. Cut the rectangle into 12 (4 inch) squares.

- Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the mushroom mixture onto the center of each pastry square. Brush the edges with the egg.

- Fold the edges to the center over the filling and twist tightly to seal, fanning out the corners. HA! I could barely get the corners and edges to stick together in any fashion, let alone a fancy fashion.
- Place the pastries in the muffin-pan cups and brush with the egg.

- Bake for 20 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown.

- I toasted some dried, chopped white onion and sprinkled that along with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar dressing and grated parmesan cheese on top of the finished product.

Review:

I thought the thyme was too strong and overpowered the mushroom mixture. The PM said he couldn't taste the thyme, and he appreciated that the mushrooms had a meaty texture (probably because I super chopped them?). I think the filling needed more cheese and maybe one more flavor to compete with the strong mushroom presence - maybe sundried tomatoes or spinach or something. I'll have to try another experiment with the other sheet of puff pastry dough that is still in my freezer. Stay tuned. . .

Netflix Rating:
Me: 3.0
PM: 3.5

Nagoya Tower of Televi Dining - Postcard #3 (Vintage!)

When I came up with this resolution, I put out a call to my friends on the interwebs to send me their updated addresses if they wanted to receive a postcard. One of my LBC peeps mentioned that she collects odd and interesting postcards, so NN is now the proud recipient of this one!

This postcard came from a collection of four packs of old Japanese postcards that my friend HD gave me several months ago. If I remember the story correctly, they were sent to a homesick Japanese exchange student several decades ago, so none of them are "used."

This particular postcard comes from the collection that is marked "The Nagoya Tower of Televi," and it is obviously showing off the modern dining facilities in the tower.
You can check the hours of operation here for your visit.
The tower was once destroyed in a Godzilla battle.
Tourist info from Happy Jappy. That's a horrible website name.

Spinach Artichoke Dip, Recipe #1

For my first new recipe of 2011, I decided to make the spinach artichoke dip. I love this stuff, and I have no idea why I never tried making it before. It was very, very tasty and oh so cheesy.

I found a recipe online and tweaked it to fit my cheese-loving needs.

1 package of cream cheese, softened (8 ounces)
4 ounces of goat cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup grated romano cheese
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped (14 ounces)
1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

- Preheat oven to 350
- Lightly grease a small baking dish
-In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, goat cheese, parmesan cheese, romano cheese, garlic, basil, salt and pepper.

- Gently stir in artichoke hearts and spinach.

- Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish.
- Top with mozzarella cheese.
- Bake in the preheated oven until bubbly and lightly browned (about 30 minutes).
- Serve with bread, celery, and/or tortilla chips. Whatever you like.

Netflix Rating*:
Me: 4.5
PM: 4.0

*Netflix Rating system seems to be a good way to rate these recipes:
1 = Hated It
2 = Didn't Like It
3 = Liked It
4 = Really Liked It
5 = Loved It

Spoonbridge and Cherry - Postcard #2

This classic Minneapolis postcard was sent out to UJ in honor of his enthusiastic response to my blog. Rooster B was kind enough to send UJ's comments to me via email:


so i was visiting [UJ] when he read your blog new years resolutions. i would like to make you aware of his replies.
 
1.  "did it.  i just watched 2 football games on sunday and saw some dam with Mike Roe."  (you know, the guy on dirty jobs tv show)
2.  "i already do."  as he raises his beer and takes a swig.
3.  "i already do."  as he raises his beer and takes a swig.
4.  i can't repeat the words he said.  sounded like the swedish chef on the muppets.
5.  "ha ha ha."
6.  "no meal i make is ever the same."    trust me, its true.  some have so much pepper and old spices in them i can't eat whats on my plate.  his reply when i express my distaste is "just trying to get rid of some of those old spices bud."
7.  "i send multiple cards a day to file 13."
8.  "i don't play with my crap, i just flush it."     (this one was my personal favorite.)
9.  "what the hell is that?"
10. "every day i hike to the kitchen and turn on the faucet."
11. "whats that mean."
12. "barley, hops, yeast."  as he raises his beer and takes a swig.
  
 Clearly UJ is my favorite uncle. He would be yours, too. The best part is that he probably won't look at the postcard I sent him until sometime this fall.

Here's some info on the Spoonbridge and Cherry:
Official page from the Walker.
The Wikipedia entry gives more info about the area.
The artists' take on it.

I promised UJ a photo of me at the sculpture so he could get an idea of the size. This photo was obviously not taken recently, everything is green instead of white.

Chadakoin River - Postcard #1

This one went out to my buddy BP. He's a lucky boy for getting the first postcard of 2011 from the Resolute Rooster.

Here are some interesting links if you'd like to learn more about this mighty water way:
Very brief history of the river
River monster?
It'll take you to the Gulf!

This Rooster has a few resolutions.

Twelve, in fact.

This blog is to keep me honest.

Here are the Rooster's Amazing Resolutions for 2011:

1- Attend at least two cultural events per month.
2- Practice at least four times per week.
3- Exercise at least four times per week.
4- Master Swedish verbs.
5- Super clean one room each month.
6- Try out one new recipe each week.
7- Send one postcard each week.
8- Crafty crap!
9- Learn to play the theremin.
10- Go hiking and see waterfalls.
11- Beat the PM at Scrabble.
12- Eat five fruits/veggies a day.

I decided that the 1st and 2nd didn't count in January, so the resolutions start on 1/3/11 since it is a Monday. Mondays are good days to start things.