Carrot Cookies

So, the past month or so has been a busy one in my life and while I haven't stopped cooking, I have stopped documenting the process.  About two months ago, I packed up, left Austin, and moved to Houston to start a new job.  While Houston's treated me nicely so far, there will always be some occupied real estate in my heart for Austin, TX.  The move to Houston did come with a substantially larger kitchen, so the name of this blog isn't quite as accurate anymore (but small is a relative word...and believe me...although nicely sized, you wouldn't need to search too long to find kitchens bigger than my current one).

Nevertheless, I did some cooking in my last kitchen, but have failed to share yet, so here goes....  This recipe is one I've made several times because I'm pretty near in love with these cookies.  And....they have carrots in them, so one could say they're good for you...right...?  The best part is the slight saltiness, so make sure to use coarse salt.

This recipe is from Marcus Samuelsson's blog

Ingredients
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. coarse salt
8 tbsp. (1 stick) butter, softened
6 tbsp. sugar
6 tbsp. brown suger
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. water
1 cup rolled oats (I like to use the thick cut ones)
1 cup grated carrots
6 oz. chocolate chips

1. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.

2. Mix in butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy (around 3 minutes).

3. Add egg, vanilla, and water and beat on low speed until incorporated.

4. Add the dry mixture and continue to mix on low speed.

5. Add oats, carrots, and chocolate chips and once again, mix on low speed until all is combined.

5.  Chill dough in the refrigerator for 15 mins - 1 hour.  While dough is chilling, preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.

6. Roll about a tablespoon's amount of dough between your palms to form a ball, and then slightly flatten each ball with your palm once on the cookie sheet.

7. Bake 10 - 12 mins, then let cook on a wire rack.

Apple Butter Pizza

 Apple butter pizza.  Notice how each word in that previous sentence has double letters...so, it seems this combination was meant to be.

The deliciousness of this pizza made up for the fact that I had a really awful time in the kitchen making it.  While brainstorming what to do with the multitude of apple butter jars that I had (see Apple (Cider) Butter post) I decided that I would try using it in one of my favorite foods - pizza.  I thought I could use apple butter instead of pizza sauce, and in my kitchen I had the makings for pizza dough in a kit (I'm a cheater this time, I admit), and arugula and potatoes that I wanted to use as toppings.  From there I picked up a red onion, a pear, bacon, and some Gruyere cheese.

The evening started out nicely enough, I made the dough from the pizza kit, smeared it with apple butter, laid down some arugula, and it wasn't until I was reaching for the potatoes before I hit some roadblocks.  I grabbed the first potato and noticed it was a little soft, so I consequently reached my hand in the potato bag again only to have it met with some sort of liquidy, stinky, rotten mess.  I lifted the bag up and realized it had been leaking this mess all over my assortment of teas (because yes, I choose to store my potatoes on top of my tea).  So the pizza was put on hold while I cleaned and tried to salvage the tea that the rotten potato glop hadn't ruined yet. 

I then finished the pizza, put it in the oven, and wanted to sit down and wait with a nice glass of wine.  I used my fancy-smancy new wine bottle opener I got for Christmas, and instead of working for me (like it had done in the past) it decided to completely demolish the cork making its removal from the wine bottle impossible.  So eventually I figured the only way to get wine out would be to push the remaining cork in and let it mingle in the wine with all the shavings and chunks of cork already floating around as a result of the removal effort.

So the rest of the evening was spent drinking wine poured from the bottle through a fine-mesh strainer into a wine glass - how classy is that!  But regardless, the wine was good, the pizza was better, and it didn't need no stinkin' (and I mean that quite literally) potatoes!

Ingredients
 (Its a pizza, so I didn't really measure anything...I'm pretty sure that's how pizza's roll)
Pizza crust (I used a Chef Boyardee pizza kit crust)
Apple butter (Find recipe here, or use your own - about 1/2 cup)
Arugula (about a handful or two)
Red onion (about half, sliced)
Pear (about half, thinly sliced)
Bacon (4-6 slices, cooked and crumbled)
Cheese (1/2 - 1 cup, I used Gruyere and I'm happy with that decision)

1. Make crust according to package directions.

2. Slather pizza crust with apple butter.

3. Add toppings in any order you choose.

4. Top with cheese.

5. Cook according to pizza crust instructions.  In my case it was around 18 minutes in a 425 degree oven.

Apple (Cider) Butter!

  
First, let's take a moment to come to terms with the fact that apple butter contains no butter.  According to my extensive research, ahem Wikipedia, apple butter is labeled as such because of its "thick, soft consistency, and apple butter's use as a spread for breads."   Whatever you call it, apple butter's a mighty tasty addition to the breakfast table on items like toast, biscuits, and pancakes.  Apple butter can also make appearances in the other meals of the day as an accompaniment to pork or even (warning, here comes some foreshadowing) as a replacement for tomato sauce on a pizza.

While the apples cooked I took a stroll over to Central Market to buy some ground cloves, which I had forgotten to buy while at the store.  As much as I enjoy Central Market, I discovered, not for the first time either, that this is not the best place to buy your spices.  Unless you're concerned with the all-natural/organic properties of your spices - which as much as I'd like to be, my income (or lack thereof) won't allow it right now - then there are better deals to be found. So instead of dropping $12 on some ground cloves I pulled the old borrowing a cup of sugar from your neighbor routine...except the cup of sugar was 1/2 tsp of ground cloves....and the neighbor was a friend I called up....so, I guess the two scenarios aren't that similar after all...

I choose to make more of a non-traditional apple butter by replacing the granulated sugar with apple cider and honey.  To make a more traditional recipe, replace the honey with 3 cups granulated sugar and/or replace the apple cider with 3 cups of water and 3 additional cups of sugar (i.e. if both changes were made, there would be 6 cups of granulated sugar).

For the details of the boiling water canning method, refer to the pickled beets post.


The recipe is adapted from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.

Ingredients
6 lbs apples, peeled, cored, and quartered (I used a mixture of Braeburn, Golden Delicious, McIntosh, and Jonagold)
2 cups sweet apple cider
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
Granulated sugar (to taste) 

1.  Combine apples and apple cider in a large enough stainless steel saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring occasionally, until the apples are soft - around 30 minutes.

2.  Transfer the apple mixture to a food processor or food mill (working in batches) and puree just until a uniform texture is reached - do not liquefy!

3.  In a clean saucepan, combine the apple puree, honey, cinnamon, and cloves.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat while stirring frequently.  Reduce heat and boil gently, still stirring frequently, until mixtures thickens.  The mixture should hold its shape on a spoon when done - or if you want to be really uptight about it, you can use the doneness test as detailed in the Ball book...it involves spooning a small amount of the apple butter onto a chilled plate, and when the liquid does not separate (no liquid rim around the edge of the butter), the butter is ready.  You can also taste test it during this point, and if you prefer sweeter apple butter, add some granulated sugar and stir until dissolved.

4. Ladle the hot butter into the hot jars (10-12 pint jars) leaving 1/4-inch headspace.  Remove air bubbles, wipe jar rims, center lid on jar, and screw band down until finger-tip tight.

5.  Place jars in canner, ensuring they are covered with water.  Bring the water to a boil, cover, and process for 10 minutes.  Remove canner lid, wait 5 minutes, and then remove jars, cool, and store.

6.  Enjoy!

Pickled Beets with Dill (and a Mini-lesson on Canning)

This is my first blog post...ever!  And it seems quite unfitting that my first post for Stories from a Small Kitchen actually took place in quite a large kitchen.  I pickled these beets at my parents' place while visiting a month or so ago.  Not to discredit my dishwasher-less, pantry-less kitchen (because those objects by no means define a kitchen in my mind), but working in a kitchen with counter space and level stove burners was quite a treat.

Since this is the first post involving canning food, I will detail the process as I understand it works - though I am nowhere close to earning the expert canner award, and my instructions shouldn't be taken at face-value.  The process involves a canning pot (a very large pot), canning rack (or you can use extra jar rings top side up at the bottom of the pot - just something to raise the jars off the pot bottom so boiling water can circulate underneath), jars (including the glass jar and the two piece lids - the jar rings and flat lid with the rubberized gasket which produces the seal), bubble tool (they actually make these, but a plastic knife or chopstick can be used instead), canning tongs, and a funnel (not necessary, but really useful).

 

The first step is to wash all the canning supplies with warm soapy water.  Next, place the canning rack in the canning pot, fill with water, place empty jars in, and depending on how long your recipe takes, start boiling the water (this step takes a loooong time with so much water).  Boiling the empty jars serves as a way to sterilize them.  I put the lids in a bowl, and when it's time to fill the jars, I empty some (enough to cover the lids) of the boiling water into the lid bowl in the process of removing the jars from the pot (this warms the rubberized seal). Fill the jars with the food to be processed, remove air bubbles by running bubble tool around edge of jars, wipe the jar rims with a damp towel, place the flat lids on, screw on ring bands, return the jars to the boiling water, and follow the processing instructions for recipe...simple as that!

Now for the recipe...from Put 'em Up! by Sherri Brooks Vinton

Ingredients
2 lbs beets
1 cup distilled white vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tablespoon salt (I use pickling salt, but I don't think it really matters)
1/4 cup fresh dill weed
1 tablespoon dill weed

1.  Prepare beets.  This can be done by boiling or roasting.  To boil, place beets in a large enough pot and cover with 2-3 inches of water, boil until tender when pierced with a knife ~ 30-40 minutes, drain and set aside to cool.  To roast, preheat oven to 350 degrees, wrap beets individually with foil, roast on a baking sheet until tender when pierced with a knife ~ 45 minutes, set aside to cool.  When the beets have cooled, the skins will easily slip off.  Cut beats in half and then into 1/4-inch slices.

I used beets and fresh dill weed from the CSA program I joined.  Unfortunately I didn't have enough beets from the farm for the entire recipe so the rest of the beets came from the grocery store.  I found the size difference between the local farm beets and the grocery store beets entertaining.  I characterized the beets - the smaller, local farm beet as just that, a short, overalls-wearing farmer with a country accent, and the larger, supermarket beet a city boy, with a New York accent...this personification didn't make the following roasting and slicing steps any easier though...

Beets are messy!

2.  Combine the vinegar, water, sugar, and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil (this is the brine).  Stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved and then remove from heat.

3.  Pack the beets into the hot jars freshly removed from the canning pot.  Arrange the beets snugly, but with enough room for brine circulation.  Divide the fresh dill and dill seed evenly among the jars.  Pour the hot brine over the beets and cover by at least 1/2-inch, while leaving 1/2-inch headspace between the top of the liquid and the lid.

4.  Process the jars.  After trapped air has been released, rims have been wiped, and lids attached, return the jars upright to the canning pot ensuring that the jars are covered by at least 2-3 inches of water.  Once the water is boiling, put the lid on the canner and process for 30 minutes.  Turn off heat, remove the canner lid, and let jars rest in the water for 5 more minutes.  Remove jars and let sit for 24 hours.  Check the seals, then store in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year, or give to friends and family!!

Filling the canning pot completely (even with empty jars) helps keep the jars upright.

They taste great on their own or with a dollop of Greek yogurt on top of potato pancakes.  The other day I enjoyed a slice of crusty bread topped with cheese, arugula, and these babies...yum!