Granola Bar Cookies

Cookie Monster
I have never found a cookie that I didn’t like. Seriously. I can’t think of one cookie I have tasted that I spit out in disgust. I like ‘em sweet, I like ‘em chocolaty, I like ‘em oatmeal-y. I even like the British biscuits that are filled with currants. (Full disclosure: I am not a big fan of any anise-flavored cookie. I will eat it, because no cookie should be left behind, but I will not seek them out.)

I am not the worst cookie addict in my household, that honor goes to my beloved. But, because we all have cookie self-control issues, I try to limit the cookies we have in the house—we’ll just eat them. Every once in a while I go Cookie Monster postal because Me Want Cookie!!!

That happened last weekend. I found myself with leftover ingredients from other dishes, so I immediately went for the Granola Bar Cookies recipe below. I have seen many versions of and “All In” cookie recipe. This one I adapted from The Pioneer Woman website where they are called Everything Cookies. I have also seen them called Kitchen Sink Cookies. I call them Darn Tasty, and a good substitute for a granola bar in your lunch. They’re also great for breakfast when you gotta get out the door…but don’t tell my kids that!

This makes a lot of Granola Bar Cookies depending on the size. I usually freeze half of the dough. Play around with the add-ins: you can use chocolate chips, rice crispies or whatever you have on hand that sounds good…

Granola Bar Cookies
Serves: 36 Read more…

Lemon Meringue Pie

Pucker-Up Buttercup
Fourth of July always makes me think of dessert…there are so many ways to add red, white, and blue color to sweet dishes. For this reason, and because it is in my nature to be contrary, I am going rogue for the Fourth with yellow. And by yellow I mean Lemon Meringue Pie. (Pies are totally patriotic, and yellow is the color of summer, and we are right in the middle of summer so it works, right?)

My mom made lemon meringue pie occasionally when I was growing up, and when she did, it was a big deal. (Especially to Dad!) Full disclosure, I wasn’t a huge lemon fan as a kid. Now? I’m that sad individual that will sit by myself with a vat of lemon curd and a spoon and be totally happy with the world.

Mom’s recipe came from the 1965 edition of the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. Forget Curious George or James and the Giant Peach, this was the book of my childhood. I have a lot of memories of my sister and I flipping to the pancake and waffle section on the weekends, and Dad showing us how to get the Swedish pancakes super thin. Some of the recipes in there are tried and true and some of them are, well…scary. (It was 1965. We’ve come a long way.) And then, there was the Lemon Meringue Pie.

Mom’s crusts were always super-flaky no matter what pie she made. (Her Pumpkin Chiffon is the bomb). The Meringue pies were a different kind of cool because she piled the meringue high—which, I think, is key. It gave the pie a real WOW factor, and in our family it’s all about the WOW. Just ask Dad, he’s the King.

I don’t currently have a copy of the BH&G Cookbook (I have ordered one from Ebay…it’s not here yet and I am getting impatient.) This recipe is as close as I can remember, and I will check back once the original arrives.

Happy Fourth of July!

Lemon Meringue Pie Read more…

Never-Fail Biscuits and Strawberry Freezer Jam

Jammin’ Biscuits

My grandmother was a canner. Growing up, I remember every summer she would can her tomatoes and the fresh peaches that she picked herself in Brentwood. She also made an incredible blackberry jam from the bramble I once fell into as a child. (No es bueno.) Alas, that recipe has been lost. I’ve looked for it everywhere, but I am starting to think that she didn’t have it written down—and made it from memory. Gam did it the old school way, too, with melted wax on top of the jam. So good…

I started canning about 8 years ago, mainly because the apricot tree in the backyard of our old house produced so many apricots one year that I had to do something. I just couldn’t bring myself to throw them out. I brought some here to the store to share, but even that didn’t put a dent in the quantity. So I made jam. Lots of it. I was hooked on canning.

In the following years, I kept making jam, but I also started making pickles and chutneys and also canning the tomatoes from my garden. When those crops were exceptionally big I made salsas and tomato sauces. It was work, but tasting the flavor of my summer tomatoes in January made the hard, hot work worth it.

This year, sadly, I won’t be doing much canning or preserving— at least not as much as in previous summers for two reasons. The first is I don’t have a garden. With the water restrictions, I decided it just wasn’t worth planting a big garden and fighting that battle. The second reason is I just don’t have time. For the next five weeks, there is something going on every weekend, sometimes more than one event. I barely know what day it is most of the time.

I can’t just not do anything, so I’m going the quick and easy route. Freezer jam is great and you can do it if you find a free hour. (For me, that’s midnight). We are crazy for strawberry jam in my house—especially when you spoon it on warm, fresh (and really quick!) biscuits. Yum…

Strawberry Freezer Jam
Makes about 5 (8 oz) half pints
Adapted from FreshPreserving.com, the Ball website Read more…

Peach Cobbler

Baby, it’s Cold Outside

Memorial Day Weekend is upon us, and I gotta say, I can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that the official start to Summer and the Summer grilling season is here. Perhaps it’s because it feels more like February than May. ( Seriously? Can we shut the fan off now? Thanks.) This time last year, I was at a baseball tournament melting into the bleachers. Fast forward to the tournament this weekend and we’ll be wrapped up like we’re at an outdoor hockey game.

It goes without saying that I just can’t get excited about firing up the BBQ. I look outside and think braised short ribs not baby back ribs. I can, however, get behind dessert. Weather doesn’t matter when it comes to dessert, and if you look really close, you will notice that the peaches and nectarines are in the market. We’ve received some of the first loads of Fitzgerald Peaches in the store, which is always a happy day. I’m dying to make something with ‘em.

My plan for Memorial Day is: figure out what sort of dinner we are going to have once we know the baseball schedule, and make a peach cobbler. Whether you BBQ or not, anytime is a good time for peach cobbler…or peach crisp…or peach tart…or peach pie…you get my drift. Nothing goes better with peach cobbler than a Memorial Day BBQ except maybe some good vanilla ice cream—although you won’t hear me say no to peach cobbler for breakfast either (ice cream included).

Peach Cobbler
Adapted from King Arthur Flours.
Yields 12 servings

This version is made from fresh peaches baked with a sugared biscuit topping. Tapioca flour or Instant ClearJel are both good choices for thickening. Either, unlike flour or cornstarch, keeps the fruit’s juice clear and its flavor true. The resulting color (and flavor) is spectacular. Read more…