Two takes on tea cakes of the past

Posted on November 30, 2011 by bilrob

Two takes on tea cakes of the past

By Judyrae Kruse

Recently, Dorothy Trethewy of Snohomish wrote, “If anyone has a family recipe for old-fashioned tea cakes, I would appreciate knowing how to make these cookies.

“My great-grandmother always had the blue cookie jar full of these not-too-sweet, crisp cookies. Unfortunately, she never shared her ‘secret’ recipe with anyone, leaving behind just the memories.”

The minute we read that, a whole lot of us longed to be right there in that now-gone time, eating this special treat.

Naturally, and not unexpectedly, either, faithful Forum cooks jumped right into the search-and-find challenge. As usual, they’ve come up with some great possibilities for us to try, starting with today’s first version shared by Edmonds cook Connie Wood.

“I’ve not written before,” she says, “but have wanted to do so many times. Since I’m not a regular contributor, I was a little timid about doing it. When I read Jean Kroeze’s recipe in the Oct. 19 Forum, though, I thought I’d look through my oldest cookbook.

“There, under Dropped Cookies was listed a Vanilla Tea Wafer recipe. There were two others, but they were actual cakes. (As I mentioned, this is an old cookbook, so I copied it word for word exactly.) I’m not sure if this recipe from ‘Woman’s Companion Cook Book,’ copyrights starting in 1942, is similar to Dorothy’s great-grandmother’s, but here it is.”

Connie adds, “The paragraph following the recipe was not part of the recipe but is marked decorations for various dropped cookie recipes.”

And Judy Larson of Marysville sent along our second recipe today and says, “Upon reading Jean Kroeze’s recipe for tea cookies, I wanted to compare it to the icebox cookies my mom used to make.

“I was surprised at the similarity, with the exception of the difference in the sugars, choice of nuts and chilling time. My mom always used walnuts, and they were my favorite cookies. The French Bakery at the Pike Place Market makes one with hazelnuts. Tea cookie is a totally unfamiliar name to me.”

Judy mentions this particular version is taken from the “Purity Cook Book,” originally published in 1932.

Vanilla tea wafers

1 1/3 cups cake flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, well beaten
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Sift flour; measure; add salt and baking powder; sift again.

Cream shortening; add sugar gradually and blend thoroughly; add the well-beaten egg. Add milk and dry ingredients alternately, then the vanilla.

Drop by teaspoonfuls 2 or 3 inches apart onto a well-greased baking sheet. Bake in a moderate oven (375 degrees) 8 to 12 minutes.

Makes about 30 cookies.

Decorations: Nut meats, candied fruits, dried fruits, crystallized flowers, shredded coconut, chocolate shot, colored sugar and colored candies may be arranged or sprinkled on the cookies before baking. Nut meats and fruits will stick better if they are dipped in slightly beaten egg white. The sugars, candies, chocolate shot and coconut may be sprinkled on the cookies as soon as they are removed from the oven, while they are still warm and moist.

Purity Cook Book ice box cookies

1 cup butter or shortening, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup almonds or 1 tablespoon caraway seed

Cream butter or shortening, add sugar gradually and cream until light and fluffy. Add well-beaten eggs and vanilla and beat well. Mix and sift together flour, baking soda and salt and add to first mixture. Add chopped almonds or caraway seed and mix well. Form into long rolls and leave in ice box or cool place overnight. Slice thinly for cookies and bake on greased baking sheet in a hot oven (400 degrees) for 10-12 minutes or until light brown.

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Recipe: Macadamia Maple Tart

Posted on November 30, 2011 by bilrob

Recipe: Macadamia Maple Tart

You’ll go nuts over this delicious tart which has it all – rich shortcrust pastry, that elusive Maple syrup flavour and crunchy nutritious Macadamia nuts.

Make your own shortcrust pastry if you have the time – nothing beats a delicious buttery home-made pastry tart case.

PASTRY INGREDIENTS:
2 cups plain flour (sifted)
175 gms butter (cold)
1 egg yolk
Iced water to mix

DIRECTIONS:
A food processor is the easiest way to go.
Put the sifted flour in the processor and add the diced butter.
Process with on/off action until mixture is crumbly.
Add the egg yolk and about a tablespoon iced water.
Continue on/off action then leave processor on to judge whether a few more drops of iced water are needed to bring the pastry into a ball.

Wrap in cling wrap, flatten into a rough circle and refrigerate until needed.

TART:
Shortcrust pastry (above) or 1 sheet unsweetened shortcrust pastry
3 large eggs
Three-qtrs cup of soft brown sugar
1 tspn vanilla extract or vanilla paste
One-third cup pure Maple syrup
60gms melted butter – cooled
2 cups (or more) Macadamia nuts to cover top
Icing sugar to dust
Thick cream to serve

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 180deg C.
Grease a 25cm flan tin with removable bottom.
Roll out pastry between two sheets of clingwrap then line tin, pressing gently into base and sides and trimming top evenly.
Make sure edges are of even thickness. Prick base with fork and chill 15 mins.
Line the tart case with baking paper and uncooked rice (kept for the purpose) or pastry weights.
Blind bake for 5 mins.
Remove paper and weights then bake for a further 5-10 mins or until base is dry and crisp.
Meanwhile whisk or process eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, maple syrup and butter to combine.
Pour mixture into tart shell and place the Macadamia nuts evenly over the tart covering the whole of the top.
Return tart to the oven and bake for a further 25 minutes or more until the pastry is golden and the centre is set and firm to touch.
Cool in the pan until able to handle.
Dust with sifted icing sugar.
Serve in wedges with thick cream.
Serves 8-10.
Delicious!
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Vegan eateries find success downplaying the ‘v’ word

Posted on November 30, 2011 by bilrob

Vegan eateries find success downplaying the ‘v’ word

When vegan bakery BabyCakes NYC recently opened a satellite shop in downtown Disney World, honesty wasn’t a virtue. The shop’s teal signs touting their dairy- and egg-free treats proved too much for the mostly middle American, indulgent vacationers passing by.

“It was more of a repellant,” said owner Erin McKenna. “People were just walking away.”

Within a few days, the scary ‘v’ word on the sign was made much smaller. And soon, unsuspecting walk-in customers were gushing over agave sweetened vanilla cupcakes with lemon frosting and chocolate whoopie pies, unaware they were made sans eggs, milk and butter.

McKenna took the same approach when she opened her New York bakery in 2005 – letting the desserts, rather than the vegan message, speak for themselves.

“I didn’t want people to automatically write us off and not come in,” said McKenna, who also has a bakery in Los Angeles. “I was confident the stuff I was making was good enough to compete with other stuff on the market.”

Celebrity vegans like Lea Michele and Alicia Silverstone might help boost the lifestyle as a sexy new food trend, but for many Americans veganism remains a turn-off, conjuring images of political zealots, hippie lentil loaves and hockey puck pastries.

It’s one reason vegan restaurants and bakeries are increasingly finding success by downplaying what they don’t include on the menu.

But vegan food also has evolved, with vegan cupcakes taking top prize on Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars” and restaurants like Candle 79, an upscale New York vegan eatery, serving Moroccan spiced chickpea cake with red pepper-coconut curry and date-apricot-ginger chutney.

It doesn’t matter if the “meatloaf” or cake is vegan so long as it tastes amazing, said Harry Balzer, chief industry analyst for The NPD Group, a consumer marketing research firm. Marketing a delicious cake or promoting that your restaurant offers the most diverse flavors will grow a business, not hocking them as vegan.

When Ann Gentry opened Real Food Daily in Santa Monica, Calif., nearly 20 years ago, the menu advertised its offerings as organic vegetarian, even though everything they served actually was vegan. Vegetarians generally avoid meat, but will consume dairy and eggs.

“Nobody was using the word ‘vegan,’” said Gentry.

When she opened a second restaurant in West Hollywood five years later, the sign boldly showcased “organic vegan cuisine.”

“I came out and said it and really it didn’t change anything,” said Gentry, who is expanding to another location at Los Angeles International Airport and is refurbishing the West Hollywood storefront. Gentry is considering dropping the vegan tag because the restaurant name “says it all and we have a reputation and we don’t have to justify who we are.”

“Most of who we serve are people that aren’t necessarily vegan or vegetarian. They’re looking for really good healthy food in a great environment,” she said.

Recently, Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, stumbled upon a Las Vegas bakery with decadent looking sweets in glass cases. But she assumed few, if any, of the options would be dairy-free.

“There was no sign that noted anything at all about the v word,” said Newkirk, who happily discovered many desserts at the Red Velvet Cafe were vegan and promptly devoured some tiramisu.

“I don’t hold it against businesses who are trying not only to sell to the choir… but are trying to sell to ultra-conservatives that are hesitant even to try Ethiopian food or a samosa or a vegan anything because that’s not what they’re used to,” said NewKirk.

Ronald’s Donuts in Las Vegas serves a mix of regular and vegan doughnuts, but doesn’t advertise the vegan options. The eatery, which opened nearly 20 years ago, has developed a cult-like following in the vegan community.

“We’ve developed a lot of vegan customers. They come from everywhere, out of country, out of town,” said Janie Kang, whose husband owns the restaurant. Her vegan brother experimented with a doughnut recipe using soy shortening and swapping fresh yeast for eggs to help the doughnuts rise.

Balzer says diners are dietary explorers, “but only new versions of things we already know, not things we don’t know.”

That’s why Christopher’s Kitchen in South Florida reworked classics like barbecue flatbread with caramelized onions, thyme, avocado, red pepper, creamy nut “ricotta” and hunza raisins are popular. The zen-decorated eatery is perfect for the ladies-who-lunch crowd in ritzy Palm Beach Gardens and is a favorite of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams.

And chef Christopher Slawson is about to open an upscale restaurant in South Beach. He says lux decor, perfect plating and exceptional service are just as important as what is in the food.

“When you’re trying to influence people to consider a different lifestyle you have to really put elegance on it and approach it a different way,” he said.

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Reimagining desserts

Posted on November 30, 2011 by bilrob

Reimagining desserts

Angel Food Biscotti

Start to finish: 1 hour (20 minutes

active)

Makes 3 dozen cookies

1?13-ounce loaf angel food cake
1 cup dark chocolate bits
¼ cup minced dried cherries
¼ cup minced dried apricots
¼ cup sparkling sugar (large gran-
ule sugar)

Heat the oven to 300 degrees. Set

a metal rack over a baking sheet.

Cut the cake into sticks measuring

about 4 inches long, 1 inch wide and

½ inch thick. Arrange the sticks on

the rack, leaving space between. Bake

for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the sticks are dried and firm. Allow to cool.

In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the chocolate bits on high in 20-second bursts, stirring between each, until melted and smooth. Drizzle the chocolate over the biscotti.

While the chocolate is still melted, sprinkle with the minced cherries, apricots and sugar. Allow to harden. Store in an airtight container at room temperature between sheets of waxed paper.

Nutrients per cookie (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 60 calories, 15 calories from fat (22 percent of total calories), 2 grams fat (1 gram saturated; no trans fat), no cholesterol, 11 grams carbohydrate, 1 gram protein, 1 gram fiber, 75 milligrams sodium.

Spumoni Truffle Squares

Start to finish: 2 hours 15 minutes

(15 minutes active)

Makes 64 squares

2 12-ounce bags white chocolate
bits
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed
milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup lightly chopped pistachios
1 cup lightly chopped dried cherries
½ cup mini chocolate chips

Coat a 9-by-9-inch pan with cook-

ing spray. Line with waxed or parch-

ment paper, allowing excess to overhang the edges of the pan.

In a medium saucepan over medium-low, combine the white chocolate bits and sweetened condensed milk. Heat, stirring constantly, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the vanilla, pistachios and cherries. Transfer to the prepared pan. Sprinkle the mini chocolate chips over the top. Refrigerate until completely chilled, about 2 hours.

Using the overhanging edges of the waxed or parchment paper to help, lift the truffle square out of the pan. Trim any uneven edges, then cut into 1-inch squares. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Nutrients per square (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 100 calories, 50 calories from fat (45 percent of total calories), 5 grams fat (3 grams saturated; no trans fat), 5 milligrams cholesterol, 13 grams carbohydrate, 2 grams protein, 1 gram fiber, 20 milligrams sodium.

The assignment: Take classic desserts and reimagine them as cookies. The results will fill your Christmas cookie tins to overflowing.

Indian Pudding Cookies

Start to finish: 20 minutes

Makes 3½ dozen cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup yellow cornmeal
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon dry ginger
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1¼ cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon honey
2 eggs
½ cup finely chopped dried cranberries
1 cup powdered sugar
Juice of ½ lemon

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cornmeal, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter, granulated sugar, molasses and honey until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating and scraping the bowl between each. On low speed, mix in the flour-cornmeal mixture. Stir in the cranberries.

Scoop the dough by the tablespoonful onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between for spreading. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes on the pans, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

In a small bowl, mix together the powdered sugar and lemon juice. Use a spoon to drizzle over each cookie. Store in an airtight container, between sheets of waxed paper, at room temperature.

Nutrients per cookie (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 110 calories, 40 calories from fat (37 percent of total calories), 5 grams fat (3 grams saturated; no trans fat), 20 milligrams cholesterol, 17 grams carbohydrate, 1 gram protein, no fiber, 55 milligrams sodium.

Tiramisu Drops

Start to finish: 45 minutes

Makes about 40 cookies

1 cup slivered blanched almonds, lightly toasted
½ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons instant espresso or coffee powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 8-ounce tub mascarpone cheese
3 tablespoons powdered sugar, divided
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
Shaved chocolate, to decorate, if desired

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a food processor, pulse together the almonds and granulated sugar until finely ground but not reduced to a paste. Add the butter and vanilla, then pulse to incorporate. Add the espresso or coffee powder, salt and flour and pulse until a crumbly dough comes together.

Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and place on the prepared baking sheets. Using your finger, or the handle of a wooden spoon, press an indent into the top of each cookie. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden and firm. Allow to cool on the baking sheet.

When the cookies are cool, in a medium bowl stir together the mascarpone and 2 tablespoons of the powdered sugar. Transfer the mixture to a pastry bag or a zip-close plastic bag with the corner snipped off. Pipe a dollop of the filling into the indent of each cookie.

Sift the remaining tablespoon of powdered sugar with the cocoa powder. Sift over the tops of the cookies. Decorate with shaved chocolate, if desired.

Nutrients per cookie (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 100 calories, 70 calories from fat (66 percent of total calories), 7 grams fat (4 grams saturated; no trans fat), 15 milligrams cholesterol, 7 grams carbohydrate, 2 grams protein, 1 gram fiber, 15 milligrams sodium.

Fruitcake Cookies

Start to finish: 1 hour (15 minutes

active)

Makes about 40 cookies

1 cup sugar
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter,
room temperature
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon EACH: nutmeg, ground
cloves, allspice, salt, baking soda
1 egg
Zest of 1 orange
¼ cup orange juice
1¾ cups all-purpose flour, divided
¾ cup EACH: candied peel, chopped
dates, candied cherries, dried
apricots, toasted pecans
Colored sugars, if desired

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a

baking sheet with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the sugar, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, salt and baking soda. Beat until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and orange zest, then beat to combine. Add the orange juice and half the flour, then mix, scraping down the bowl as needed to ensure even mixing. Add the remaining flour and mix to thoroughly incorporate. Stir in the candied peel, dates, cherries, apricots and pecans.

Working in batches, drop the dough by the tablespoon onto the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with colored sugars, if desired. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Nutrients per serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 100 calories, 35 calories from fat (36 percent of total calories), 4 grams fat (2 grams saturated; no trans fat), 10 milligrams cholesterol, 15 grams carbohydrate, 1 gram protein, 1 gram fiber, 45 milligrams sodium.

Banana Split Cheesecake Bars

Start to finish: 3½ hours (½ hour active)

Makes 24 bars

Brownie crust:

12 ounces semisweet chocolate bits
¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter
2/3 cup sugar
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Cheesecake layer:

Two 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
3 ripe bananas
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
3 eggs

Topping:

1 quart strawberries, hulled and sliced
¼ cup pineapple jam
1 tablespoon water

Brownie: Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the chocolate bits and butter on high for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring every 20 seconds, or until melted. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour and salt. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Stir in the chocolate-butter mixture. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven. If there are any bubbles in the crust, gently push them flat. Leave the oven on.

Cheesecake: In a food processor, combine the cream cheese, bananas, sugar, flour and salt. Process until completely smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, processing and scraping the bowl between additions. Pour the batter over the brownie crust and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the center no longer jiggles. Cool, then refrigerate until completely chilled.

Topping: When the cheesecake is completely chilled, arrange the sliced strawberries over the top. In a small microwave-safe bowl, mix the pineapple jam and the 1 tablespoon of water. Microwave until bubbling. Spoon the jam over the strawberries. Allow to chill for 15 minutes for the jam to set up. Cut into squares. Store, well wrapped, in the refrigerator.

Nutrients per cookie (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 270 calories, 160 calories from fat (57 percent of total calories), 18 grams fat (11 grams saturated; no trans fat), 100 milligrams cholesterol, 26 grams carbohydrate, 4 grams protein, 2 grams fiber, 120 milligrams sodium.

Strawberry Shortcake Bars

Start to finish: 45 minutes (15 minutes

active), plus cooling

Makes 16 servings

Bars:

½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
2 eggs
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup strawberry jam

Icing:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk or cream

Bars: Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line

a 9-by-9-inch baking pan with foil,

allowing a couple of inches of excess to extend past the sides of the pan. This will help for removing the bars from the pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar and butter. Add the eggs, one at a time. Add the salt and vanilla and stir to combine.

Stir in the flour and baking soda until well mixed. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan. Spoon the strawberry jam over the dough. Drag a knife through the dough and jam, swirling the jam into the dough. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden and a wooden pick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan.

Icing: To make the icing, in a small bowl whisk together the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk or cream. Drizzle the icing over the surface of the cooled bars. Allow the icing to set up. Using the foil as handles, lift the bars out of the pan. Peel off the foil and cut the bar into 16 pieces. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Nutrients per serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 170 calories, 60 calories from fat (32 percent of total calories), 6 grams fat (4 grams saturated; no trans fats), 40 milligrams cholesterol, 28 grams carbohydrate, 2 grams protein, no fiber, 110 milligrams sodium.

Lemon Meringue Cookies

Start to finish: 2 hours (30 minutes active)

Makes 3 dozen cookies

4 egg whites
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
8 ounces lemon curd

Heat the oven to 200 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the egg whites, cream of tartar and vanilla. Use an electric mixer to beat until the whites are foamy. Very slowly, while continuing to beat, add the sugar. Beat until the mixture is thick and glossy.

Use a spoon to dollop the mixture in walnut-sized mounds onto the prepared baking sheets. Using a slightly dampened finger, press an indent into the center of each mound. Bake for 1½ hours, or until the meringues are dried and crisp.

Store the meringues in an airtight container, at room temperature, between sheets of waxed paper.

For crisp cookies with a soft lemon filling, add a teaspoon of lemon curd to each indent just before serving.

For soft, marshmallow-like cookies, fill the cookies at least several hours (and up to 24 hours) before serving.

Nutrients per cookie (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 35 calories, 5 calories from fat (8 percent of total calories), no fat 5 milligrams cholesterol, 8 grams carbohydrate, no protein, no fiber, 10 milligrams sodium.

Red Hot Velvet Meltaways

Start to finish: 1½ hours (30 minutes active)

Makes 3 dozen cookies

Cookies:

1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon red food coloring
1 teaspoon cinnamon extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Frosting:

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
¼ cup powdered sugar
Red sugar or sprinkles, to decorate

Cookies: In a small bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the granulated sugar, butter, food coloring, cinnamon extract and ground cinnamon just until creamy and well combined. Stir in the flour mixture, then refrigerate the dough until chilled, about 1 hour.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Roll the chilled dough into balls the size of a large marble. Slightly flatten each ball to a disc about ¼-inch thick. Arrange the cookies on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until set. These cookies should not brown or spread, and will be quite fragile. Allow to cool on the baking sheet.

Frosting: With an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, butter and powdered sugar until smooth and creamy. Using a pastry bag or a zip-close bag with the corner snipped off, drizzle the frosting over the cookies in a zigzag pattern. Sprinkle with red sugar or sprinkles to decorate. Store in a single layer in the refrigerator.

Nutrients per cookie (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 100 calories, 70 calories from fat (64 percent of total calories), 8 grams fat (5 grams saturated; no trans fat), 20 milligrams cholesterol, 9 grams carbohydrate, 1 gram protein, no fiber, 25 milligrams sodium.

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Low and slow: Poaching in olive oil takes fish & seafood to sophisticated levels

Posted on November 30, 2011 by bilrob

Low and slow: Poaching in olive oil takes fish & seafood to sophisticated levels

Cooking fish in your home kitchen can be unforgiving. Overcook by a few minutes and it’s too dry. Skip a step and you end up with a bland fillet.

Using olive oil to poach fish (or any other seafood) is a foolproof solution to getting flavor that’s sophisticated yet subtle. Used in the city’s top kitchens — Tru, Spiaggia, L20 — it’s a simple technique to appropriate in a home oven.

“It is a very delicate process. It brings the fish flavor forward, as well as the moisture — the flavor gets brighter,” explains Matthew Kirkley, the recently named executive chef at L20, who uses the technique to prepare a variety of seafood as part of the Lincoln Park restaurant’s changing prix fixe options.

While most cooks start out with raw fish that’s marinated or lightly seasoned and saturated in olive oil, the particulars of the olive oil-poaching process can vary.

Anthony Martin, chef and partner at Tru, 676 N. St. Clair, recommends heating the oven to 350 degrees and placing the fish on the stovetop in a submerged olive oil bath, using the gentle heat generated by the oven. Other chefs place the pan directly into the oven.

No matter which technique you choose, watch the temperature and consider using a meat thermometer to regulate it, Martin says.

“Keep it consistent and do not let it fluctuate,” he says.

Using heat from the oven rather than a gas burner helps to poach at a lower temperature and prevents overcooking.

In Stephanie Izard’s cookbook Girl in the Kitchen (Chronicle Books, $29.95), she explains why it’s a favorite: “What sets this method apart is that while pan-frying uses high heat to create a crisp outer layer that traps in the moisture, poaching at a low temperature in oil surrounds the protein in fat, allowing it to slowly steam on the inside.”

When poaching, Izard covers the olive oil-soaked seafood with aluminum and places it on a saute pan inside the oven.

She prefers poaching shrimp: “Once you’ve had a shrimp so delicately poached that it almost melts in your mouth, you’ll have a whole new appreciation for the tiny delicacies,” she writes.

But there’s no need to be picky at the supermarket. Almost any fish will do, says L20’s Kirkley.

“I opt to [use] something with a high oil content. Sturgeon works well, just make sure it is skin-off,” he says. Salmon is another sturdy fish that becomes delicate and moist and is commonly poached in olive oil.

Spiaggia’s Sarah Grueneberg uses seafood to shorten the poaching process.

“For a quick poach, to eat immediately, I like shrimp, lobster, scallop and cod,” says Grueneberg, a contestant on Bravo’s “Top Chef Texas.”

Since the fish actually absorbs the olive oil flavor, use a mid-priced oil or one that’s extra virgin.

“As opposed to frying where the goal is not to have the extra flavor picked up by the food, in poaching you want that flavor to sink in, so it’s important to use a high-quality oil,” Izard explains.

Figuring out ways to re-appropriate the oil helps keep costs down and is important to do before you start preparing the meal. Your best bet is to re-use the oil in a side dish, which can subtly tie in the fish’s flavor throughout the meal.

“I love using that oil in the pasta itself or making a tuna-flavored mayonnaise,” says Grueneberg. At Spiaggia, she serves tagliolini with olive oil-poached tuna, cauliflower, almonds, Controne pepper and sea beans.

Don’t pour off the oil right away. Keep the fish in the oil until you plan to eat it, which helps protect the fish from drying out, Grueneberg says.

Izard writes that the oil can be strained and used in subsequent meals to poach more fish, create soup bases and drizzle on vinaigrettes. Just make sure to store it, refrigerated, in a spillproof container.

Complement your rich protein with a lighter, veggie-based side.

“You need high acidity: sauteed greens with a squeeze of citrus, arugula salad with vinaigrette,” Kirkley says. “The citrus will cut through the fat.”

For a more rustic approach, combine the poached fish into one main entree, suggests Grueneberg.

“I love a simple salad of olive oil-poached tuna with tomatoes, potatoes and capers,” she says. Another Italian twist: “Lightly chop the tuna or fish for a spread eaten with a great crusty bread.”

If you’re in a hurry to get dinner on the table, don’t just raise the temperature — avoid poaching altogether. The key is to poach the protein very slowly in order to keep the rich flavor and let the fish’s color deepen gradually.

“This is a process that can’t be rushed,” Martin says.

Alina Dizik is a Chicago free-lance writer.

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Why fish oil is good for your brain: Study finds it boosts memory by 15 per cent

Posted on November 30, 2011 by bilrob

Why fish oil is good for your brain: Study finds it boosts memory by 15 per cent

Fatty acid found in fish and seafood boosts memory function by 15 per cent
Fish-rich diet important for maintaining optimal brain health and preventing onset of dementia

By
Sadie Whitelocks

Last updated at 1:47 AM on 30th November 2011

Eating oily fish such as salmon and trout can significantly improve your memory say scientists.

A new study found that a fatty acid found in fish and seafood can boost memory function by 15 per cent.

Scientists are now highlighting the importance of a fish-rich diet for maintaining optimal brain health and preventing the onset of dementia.

According to a new study eating oily fish such as salmon can significantly improve your memory and help prevent the onset of dementia

Over a six month period 176 healthy adults were given supplements containing DHA – an Omega-3 fatty acid found in foods such as salmon, mackerel, sardines, trout, prawns and mussels.

During this time memory and cognitive function were assessed and compared to a placebo group.

After treatment, memory, working memory and speed of working memory all showed significant improvements.

It is believed that DHA could be key in preventing Alzheimer’s disease, one of the most common forms of dementia, characterised by a decline in mental abilities, such as memory and reasoning and often associated with increasing age.

Lead researcher Professor Welma Stonehouse of Massey University in New Zealand said: ‘This is the first robust study to show that a DHA-rich
supplement can improve some aspects of memory functioning in young healthy adults.

DHA - an Omega-3 fatty acid found in fish and seafood is one of the most highly concentrated fats in the brain

DHA – an Omega-3 fatty acid found in fish and seafood is one of the most highly concentrated fats in the brain

‘The cognitive functions shown to be affected by the DHA-rich fish oil, namely memory and working memory, are among the most important functions of our brains for numerous everyday activities, such as working, driving, shopping, studying, playing sports, etc.

‘Maintaining brain health and getting
your brain to perform at its optimal capacity is just as vital as maintaining physical wellbeing and health.’

DHA, is one of
the most highly concentrated fats in the brain and known to play a vital role in the structure and functioning of the brain.

But as the body cannot effectively make this fatty acid it must be consumed as part of the diet.

Researchers highlighted that as many people fail to eat enough fish and seafood, the brain’s performance is potentially compromised.

The study showed that male participants who took a DHA supplement demonstrated 15 per cent faster working memory while women had a seven per cent improvement in the speed of episodic memory.

Professor Stonehouse added: ‘These findings contribute to the growing body of research showing that omega-3′s play a very important role in brain function throughout the life cycle, even in healthy cognitively intact individuals.’

This is one of the few studies to investigate the effects of DHA on cognitive function in healthy adults with no pre-existing cognitive disorder.

Dementia affects around 570,000 people in England, with Alzheimer’s disease responsible for around 60 per cent of dementia cases.

The NHS states a healthy diet should include at least two portions of fish a week, including one of oily fish.

Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have not been moderated.

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Ever seen a salmon forget to swim up river

- Sally, Auckland NZ, 30/11/2011 01:29

176 subjects; presumably this includes the control group, so 88 people took the nutrition supplement. Not exactly a stunningly large number. Do you tell us what the likelihood is of this result appearing by chance? Of course not; that would spoil the story. I can tell you, though, that with so tiny a sample the likelihood is very high. Tells us nothing.

- Harry, Manchester, 29/11/2011 23:23

My mother ate fish regularly her whole life – she got dementia. I think that depression is often the cause of dementia. You need a lot of laughter in your life. Governments could help by lowering taxes for hard-working people – they would find the health care of the population would improve. Probably more than when people stop smoking. And depression is linked to smoking as well.

- Mary, Canada, 29/11/2011 21:59

Nothing new here, What about Hemp seed and cannabis? Flax seed and certain nuts. These all contain omega3, cannabis and hemp seed contains omega 3, 6 9 in the correct portions that our bodies require. It is also a well know fact that cannabis helps people with Alzheimer and Parkinson etc.

- wayne harrison, Sutton in Ashfield, UK, 29/11/2011 21:48

“It is believed that DHA could be key in preventing Alzheimer’s disease”……………………..I agree that DHA rich fish oil will help the memory but it will not, by itself, prevent Alzheimer’s. This is because Alzheimer’s is mainly caused by aluminium and mercury. So the way to prevent Alzheimer’s is to make sure you do not use any products that contain these two toxic metals. The products with the highest amounts of aluminium and mercury are;- aluminium cookware, amalgam tooth fillings, vaccinations, antiperspirants and large fish like tuna and shark.

- Michael Haymar, Oxford UK, 29/11/2011 21:24

I cant stand fishes to eat, she tryed to make it for roast sunday lunch and had gravy to but i woodnt eat it again, roasted fish fingers.

- harry krappa, on the throne, 29/11/2011 19:38

Old news !!!

- mswatson, Kent, 29/11/2011 19:32

Now the price of what has been a cheap and plentiful staple in my house is going to rise beyond the reach of many. Thanks Scientists. Also if all the Agro Chemical Companies, Nuclear Plants etc continue dumpToxic waste into our precious seas who will want to eat it?

- Lucky Lulu – Proper Dogged Off, Berkshire, 29/11/2011 19:26

I eat loads of fish. I particularly like sea trout and salmon poached in the oven with a little bit of fennel and some prawns. I can assure everybody that this is why I am …………. oh what was it I was going to say? I dunno I forget

- Bob, Havant, 29/11/2011 19:24

Remember those Nature documentaries, of Canadian bears catching dozens of salmon returning to their spawning-grounds. Has anyone yet found a bear with dementia?

- Ron Durham, Auckland, NZ, 29/11/2011 19:02

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The Raw Milk Deal

Posted on November 30, 2011 by bilrob

The Raw Milk Deal

On Aug. 3, federal and county law enforcement agents raided a Venice, Calif., raw-food club, searching for raw milk. The YouTube video of the raid showed officers, with guns drawn, working their way through the facility in what critics called “government-sponsored terrorism” and “an attack on food freedom.”

Every few months, it seems, TV news or amateur videographers capture another raid on a raw-milk supplier somewhere in America. In the past several years, law enforcement agencies have carried out raw-milk raids in Georgia, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio. Each raid increases the tension that already surrounds the debate over raw milk.

Idaho, by contrast, has taken a very different raw-milk route.

“Raw milk comes straight from the cow or goat. We don’t do anything to it except filter it and flash cool it and bottle it,” said Debra Jantzi, owner of Treasured Sunrise Acres, a Grade A raw-milk dairy in Fruitland.

Pasteurization, on the other hand, is a heating process that kills bacteria and other pathogens and has been a standard practice in the U.S. dairy industry since the mid-20th century. Many state and federal health agencies claim that raw milk is dangerous to drink–citing a 2010 outbreak of campylobacter from raw milk in Indiana–and, therefore, ban or greatly restrict its distribution.

Raw-milk advocates, like Jantzi, counter that pasteurization kills flavor, as well as beneficial bacteria and the nutrients that make milk healthful. They argue that far more illnesses are attributed to poorly handled pasteurized milk than raw. At the very least, they say, consumers should have the freedom to choose the dairy products they want.

Idaho is one of only a handful of states that give consumers that choice.

Jantzi began selling raw cow and goat milk at Boise’s Capital City Public Market in the summer of 2010. She was the first vendor to sell raw milk directly to customers in the market’s 17-year history. She now offers it through retail outlets in the Treasure Valley.

Jantzi said pressure from the public and changes in Idaho law helped make that possible. But Marv Patten, the Idaho State Department of Agriculture‘s Dairy Bureau chief, disagreed.

“That’s not exactly correct,” said Patten during an interview at ISDA headquarters in Boise. “The sale of retail raw milk in the state of Idaho has been legal virtually forever.”

Patten should know. His own family had a dairy that legally sold raw milk in the Treasure Valley years ago. But then, as now, there were lots of hoops to jump through. Like Jantzi, Patten’s family invested in the equipment required for a Grade A dairy and adhered to the special regulations and inspections required to sell raw milk in Idaho.

“You have to have a Grade A barn. You have to have a nutrient management plan. You have to buy all that shiny stainless steel-type of equipment, which could be very, very spendy,” Patten said.

Twenty years ago, that expense–along with added regulatory scrutiny, pressure from public-health organizations and a slumping demand for raw milk–made the legality of raw milk in Idaho irrelevant. Dairies simply quit producing it.

“The last Grade A raw-milk dairy that I can recall was in the early ’90s in Northern Idaho that was licensed by our agency,” Patten said. “Since that time, I don’t believe there was anybody that was licensed with us to legally sell it.”

But as the local-food movement has grown–with its emphasis on fresh and unadulterated products–so has interest in raw milk. Many of those eager to supply that new market were not Grade A dairies but small-scale farmers with a couple of cows and an often-evangelical faith in raw milk.

Without legal pathways for small producers in Idaho and elsewhere to follow, they began distributing their wares through often quasi-legal “herd share” programs, in which a farmer offered to share ownership of a cow with a group who then received a portion of that cow’s milk. Others simply sold their milk illegally through the burgeoning raw-milk underground.

Neither method included testing milk for pathogens–and that worried regulators like Patten.

“There were a lot of illegal raw-milk sales throughout the state,” Patten said. “Across-the-fence sales, let’s say.”

So, in early 2010, instead of drawing guns and raiding those operations, the state of Idaho–with the help of raw-milk advocates and a less-enthusiastic dairy industry–modified the regulations to make it easier for small raw-milk producers to go legit.

“After a lot of consternation and battling back and forth, we kind of created what we call the Small Farm Exemption,” Patten said. “And the compromise was that you could milk up to three cows or seven goats or seven sheep, and you could sell milk for human consumption.”

The Small Farm Exemption–also called the Small Herd Exemption–greatly streamlined Idaho’s raw-milk regulatory process. If a dairyman met the requirements, emphasis was moved from an expensive Grade A barn, with all its shiny stainless steel, to little more than a monthly testing of the milk itself.

Patten explained that a family can now “tie their goat to a tree and milk it, cool it appropriately and [sell it] if it meets the milk quality standards that we set forth … They’re not out much money other than maybe that rope to tie to the tree and a pail to put it in.”

Peter Dill, a raw-milk advocate and owner of Saint John’s Organic Farm in Emmett, participated in drafting the recent legislation.

“I think the process is beautifully simple,” said Dill.”We pushed for access to end-product testing. Let’s get away from plumbing and concrete requirements. Let’s talk about food quality.”

Patten said the Small Herd Exemption has slowed the state’s traffic in illegal raw milk while controlling the quality of raw milk sold to consumers.

“The inspections are very easy,” said Amy Wincentsen as she patted Butterscotch, a 7-year-old Jersey cow at her Little Bear Dairy in Troy. With two cows and a handful of goats, she and husband Tim are precisely the type of small-scale producers Idaho’s new raw-milk rules are made for.

“The state vet comes in his truck and we bring him a jar of milk and he tests the temperature and ladles out a little bit of it and sends it off to a lab,” Amy said. “We don’t have to do anything special at all. The state pays for the testing–which is very, very kind.”

The Wincentsens bottle their raw milk and yogurt in mason jars by hand in their family’s modest farmhouse kitchen. They make raw-milk cheese there, too.

“With the small herd exemption, we don’t have to have a certified kitchen and we don’t have to have state inspections for that,” Amy said. “They test the cheese just like they do the milk, and as long as it passes the bacteria test, then it’s available for sale.”

The Wincentsen’s main outlet is the Moscow Co-op. According to Peg Kingery, the co-op’s dairy buyer, they are the first raw-milk products the co-op has ever sold.

“We’d been getting requests for [raw milk] as long as I’ve been here–six years,” Kingery said. “Now that we finally have it, it’s making a lot of the customers very happy.”

Since the new rules were put in place in 2010, Patten said 70 small farms across the state have applied and qualified for the Small Herd Exemption (along with four Grade A dairies) and can now legally sell raw milk in Idaho.

“Marv has done a superb job of making that happen,” said Dill. “And it has not been easy. Somebody now has to go out to 70 new venues every month to collect milk samples to test them.”

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Mini baking machines may be hot for the holidays, but do they make the cut for Santa's bag?

Posted on November 30, 2011 by bilrob

Mini baking machines may be hot for the holidays, but do they make the cut for Santa’s bag?

The George Foreman Grill meets the Easy-Bake Oven in the season’s trendiest small kitchen appliances: mini baked-goods makers.

From mini cupcake and cake-pop makers to mini pie and pretzel bakers, these colorful and cute countertop appliances are right on trend with the current “bite-size foods” phenomenon.

They’re tempting as a gift idea for recent grads with small kitchens, harried moms who juggle brownie baking and 14 other responsibilities, and for those who generally don’t like the smell of baked goods wafting from the oven. (Yeah, we don’t know any of those people, either.)

Priced about $15-$40, they’re certainly less expensive than e-somethings and iAnythings. And with the ability to make several baked goods at once, they seem like a great investment for anyone stumped on what to give co-workers or party hostesses. (Basket of mini-pies, maybe? Bags of bite-size muffins? A tin of tiny bundt cakes?)

But how do these machine-baked goods taste? Are they as easy to operate — and clean up — as they lead us to believe?

And does the quality of the goodies surpass the burden of storing yet another small appliance in the kitchen cabinet abyss amid the slow cooker, the panini press and the coffee grinder?

We turned a kitchen into Santa’s bake shop to test six mini baked-goods makers. Here are the results — the good (pies), the burned (cakes) and the downright ugly (pretzels).

Sunbeam Mini Pie Maker

$29.99, Target

Makes 4 mini pies; comes with a dual-sided plastic dough-cutting device and plastic dough-presser.

Instructions: Roll out pie dough and use dough cutter to cut top and bottom crusts. Turn on appliance and wait about 3 minutes for “ready” light to come on. Put bottom crusts in greased well, press with “dough presser” so it takes shape, fill with about 1/2 cup filling, and cover with top crust. Close lid and cook 10 minutes.

Test results: Don’t tell Grandma, but it only took about 20 minutes from the moment we pulled the appliance out of the box to the moment we cut into the hot pies for dessert. (We used store-bought crust and apple pie filling, and this was enough for three mini pies.)

And don’t tell Grandma, but this machine made delicious hot pies with a golden-crisp crust, perfect for a generous single-size dessert serving. On our second use, we made chicken potpies, and they tasted great even reheated at work the next day.

The one problem we encountered was that the dough-pressing tool stuck to the dough when we tried to press it down in the cooker, resulting in a wad of dough instead of a nicely shaped crust. Truth is, the dough presser isn’t entirely necessary because the dough starts to take the right shape as soon as it hits the pan.

Advice: Be sure to take seriously the notes in the instructions about overfilling and cleanup. We didn’t, and on our second use, our potpies were outlined in charred apple pie sludge from previously filling the apple pies too full and not bothering to really clean the appliance before the next use. We ate them anyway. Yuck, we know.

Worth the storage space? Yes.

Rating (out of 5): 41/2

Babycakes Mini Cupcake Maker

$29.99, Bed Bath Beyond

Makes 8 small cupcakes, muffins and even pie-lets. Comes with cupcake-decorating tools and pie-crust cutters.

Instructions: Fill the wells with batter, plug the maker in, close the lid and wait 3-5 minutes for the green “ready” light to come on. Check cupcakes by inserting toothpick in middle, and cook them more or remove.

Test results: After our first batch of chocolate cupcakes, this one was headed for two thumbs-down. Before we started, we read the entire instruction booklet, and — unlike in the instruction books of the other appliances — there was no mention whatsoever of greasing the upper or lower “nonstick” pans. So, against our better baking instincts, we didn’t, and a mess ensued. Cupcake residue had stuck to the insides of the wells of our first eight cupcakes. Again, no instruction to clean or oil between batches, so when we tried to remove the second batch, they stuck to the pan, leaving us half-torn cakes to remove and crunchy bits of stuck-on batter to clean up. After some major scrubbing (a no-no in the instruction booklet), we gave it another shot with muffins, first spraying the pans with Pam. They tasted great and came out perfectly. Hooray for Pam, whoever she is!

Advice: Even if the instruction booklet does not specify to oil the pans, be a rebel. Do it anyway. Buy Pam. You’ll save yourself some major cleanup time.

Worth the storage space? Yes.

Rating (out of 5): 3

Nostalgia Electrics Soft Pretzel Maker

$39.99, J.C. Penney

Makes 4 mini soft pretzels. Pretzel cutter and “pretzel tree” on which to hang them included.

Instructions: Plug in to preheat for 3 minutes. Using store-bought bread or cinnamon-roll dough or homemade pretzel dough, roll it out, cut it into pretzel shapes using the pretzel cutter, transfer pretzel forms to pretzel wells in the baker, close lid, and bake for 3-7 minutes.

Test results: It took us four batches to finally achieve something that looked like a pretzel. On our first try, we used refrigerated pizza-crust dough, and what resulted were burned pieces of toast with alien-face imprints.

We switched to the Auntie Anne’s pretzel-dough kit. Those yielded pretzels that tasted more like pretzels. However, the main problem with this system is the (cheap, cheap) plastic pretzel cookie-cutter device you must use to cut the dough before you bake it. You have to really press down hard for the inside shapes of the pretzel to come out.

Of the 24 or so pretzels we made, only about five looked like pretzels. Most were more like waffles with pretzel outlines in them — which would be fine if this were a waffle maker, but it’s not.

Advice: Bake soft pretzels in the oven, or visit the stand in the mall.

Worth the storage space? No.

Rating (out of 5): 1

Bella Ultimate Brownie Maker

$19.99, Target

Makes 8 small brownies. Comes with a slicing tray.

Instructions: Insert brownie-cutter tray into bottom pan and oil generously. Plug in to preheat, make batter and drop 2 tablespoons in each of the eight compartments. Close lid and cook for 8 minutes. Open lid to cook for 1 more minute, check doneness and cook for 15 more seconds at a time with closed lid, if needed.

Test results: The first thing we thought as we stared at a big bowl of batter was “This is going to take awhile.” Following normal brownie-making protocol, we’d just dump the batter into a pan and bake the whole thing in the oven, take ‘em out, and cut ‘em into whatever size brownies we desired. But this “Ultimate” brownie maker only allows you to bake 8 at a time. And between each cooking, you must remove the slicing tray, clean it and re-oil it. After almost an hour, we’d baked the entire bowl of batter, exerting a lot more effort (and taking much more time) than the old bake-in-the-oven method.

Sure, the petite brownies (about 2 inches by 11/2 inches) were well-cooked and tasty, if you like uniformly cakey brownies.

But why — WHY?! — would you want to just make eight brownies? And if you’re making a whole recipe, why — WHY?! — would you go to all this trouble when you’ve probably got a perfectly good baking pan you can shove in the oven?

Advice: If you’re starting from a standard brownie mix or recipe and truly just want to make 8 or 16 brownies, don’t make the whole mix or you’ll have to throw out a ton of batter.

Worth the storage space? No.

Rating: 2

Sunbeam Donut Maker

$39.99, Best Buy

Makes 5 mini doughnuts.

Instructions: Plug in and make batter while the device preheats and “bake ready” light comes on. Pour or drop batter into greased doughnut-shaped wells, close the lid, and cook for about 6 minutes.

Test results: Mmmmm, hot doughnuts — and without deep-frying. (Almost like giving the gift of health!) We admit that we tried this one using cake batter (first butter pecan, then gingerbread) because we could make it from a box; we were feeling too lazy to make doughnut batter from scratch. As long as we kept the pans well-greased, the cake doughnuts came out easily each time, and there was minimal cleanup afterward.

Unfortunately, they baked unevenly each time. The ones on the left and right were still doughy when the ones on the top and bottom wells were done. Still, they had a nice, round, doughnut-y shape, and they were mostly very edible.

Advice: Be gentle when removing doughnuts; they can be tricky to get out since they’re small and not very deep. Don’t use anything sharp, or you’ll risk puncturing them.

Worth the storage space? Yes.

Rating: 31/2

Bella Fluted Cake Maker

$29.99 on sale, J.C. Penney

Makes 5 mini fluted cakes.

Instructions: Plug in to preheat for 4 to 5 minutes and make cake batter. Drop into oiled wells, close lid, and allow to bake for 4 to 10 minutes or until done. (Continue baking 1 minute at a time until they’re browned.)

Test results: Oh, how we wanted this to work. We love beautiful cakes that come out of the mini fluted pans and look like little roses and cathedrals and mini-bundts. They’re so elegant to give as gifts, so impressive to serve with tea, so much more acceptable to snack on at your desk than alien-face pretzel bread.

It broke our heart, then, when we couldn’t get these cakes to come out quite right. They cooked unevenly around the pan — one would be underdone, another burned on both sides. We tried two kinds of batter from a mix and both cooked unevenly. On a third try, we made from-scratch pumpkin cake batter. Still baked unevenly — they’d get golden on top but burned on the bottom and barely done inside.

Still, the cakes took the shape of the pan really well and were easy to remove without mangling the designs. If you threw some icing over the pretty rose design, no one would see it was burned to a crisp — but that would be evil and Grinch-y.

Advice: If you’re intent on making this work and the cakes are cooking unevenly, try out different cooking times with different batters. According to the instruction booklet, batters with more sugar will brown quicker, and cakes baked after the first batch may bake faster because extra heat has been retained. Maybe you’ll have better luck than we did.

Worth the storage space? Sadly, we have to say no.

Rating: 21/2

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The Case Against Banning Chocolate Milk

Posted on November 30, 2011 by bilrob

The Case Against Banning Chocolate Milk

Here’s the clearly very sensible Penny McConnell of the Fairfax County school system, in Virginia, on chocolate milk: “Banning a food may not be as helpful as the more complicated task of teaching kids to look at their whole plates, and make good choices.”

Eliminating chocolate milk from school cafeterias has become a common quick fix for our childhood obesity problem. A few strokes of a pen can earn a policy maker some nice pats on the back, as schools like those in Fayetteville, Ark. (no more chocolate milk at breakfast), and Los Angeles (no more flavored milk at all) have found. Fighting on the other side is the milk industry, which runs a campaign describing chocolate milk as a “nutrient-rich beverage option for kids” and released its very own survey results earlier this year showing that 84 percent of parents want chocolate milk served in schools.

Yes, parents do want chocolate milk, Ms. McConnell told NPR’s Allison Aubrey.

“When we eliminated chocolate milk,” she said, “we had as many parents upset as the ones who were pleased with it.” Instead, she worked with her dairy suppliers to reformulate chocolate milk with only 30 calories more than the regular milk her school serves.

Although Ms. McConnell’s new chocolate milk has all the calcium and nutrients of regular milk, it still isn’t as solid a health choice (and you’ll find parents who say milk is not a healthy choice at all). What’s important is that it remains a choice. A parent, a teacher or an educator could suggest that a child with milk money choose regular milk more often, or even just once a week. Children may not do it the first time, or the second, but they are learning more from hearing the suggestion than they are if the milk just disappears from the case.

It’s easier to ban foods than to teach our kids to make healthy choices or to allow them to make mistakes. But every time I meet another mom whose preschooler’s lips have never been sullied by corn syrup, I wonder how that child is going to fare on his or her own. With some of my kids’ friends, I know the answer: the child whose parents never buy chips is often the one turning the bag over and desperately shaking salt and crumbs onto a plate, while the kids who I know have free access to everything from Oreos to apples can and will shove aside a bowl, no matter how delicious a vice it contains, once they have had their fill.

There are no chocolate milk bans in the real world. What we say to our kids about food matters, and saying, “I don’t trust you to make good choices” isn’t as effective as teaching how to choose, even if a whole lot of not-so-good choices get made along the way. Ms. McConnell’s approach is better for kids in the long run. I wouldn’t extend this argument to giving elementary school students open access to French fries and junk food at every lunch, and I’m still angered by the House’s decision — which can only be of service to food industry lobbyists — to ban the Department of Agriculture from recommending limits on the number of starchy vegetables like potatoes that are served in school lunches. But chocolate milk represents a good training-ground choice between healthy and less-healthy, and a good education includes learning how to make that choice.

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Of chocolate makers and chocolatiers

Posted on November 30, 2011 by bilrob

Of chocolate makers and chocolatiers

By virtue of three generations of knowledge and craftsmanship dating to the beginning of the 20th century, Zoe’s, run by Greek-born George Tsoukatis, 62, and his three children, Pantelis, 32, Zoe, 30, and Petros, 22, turns out a line of delicious, beautifully made chocolate. (Their handmade candy canes are awesome as well.)

Especially noteworthy is a signature collection of Mediterranean-inspired chocolate that pays homage to the family’s roots, such as ones filled with honey, ground roasted walnuts, baklava spices and salt, dipped in 74 percent cacao couverture and then rolled in chopped walnuts and vibrantly green Sicilian pistachios. Couverture is chocolate that contains a higher percentage of cocoa butter than regular chocolate.

After working with his wife’s brother as a self-taught chocolatier for more than 30 years, George decided to strike out on his own, going into business with his children in 2007 and opening a chocolate factory and retail boutique on Waynesboro’s Main Street.

“It was a new beginning, so we named it after Zoe, which means ‘life’ in Greek,” says Pantelis, who left a marketing career to join the concern and now handles the business finances. Zoe, who was a government consultant, oversees marketing and day-to-day operations. Petros, having learned candymaking from his father and at Chicago’s French Pastry School, is a chocolatier alongside George.

The business’s slogan is, “Where time-honored tradition meets modern sophistication.”

“We take things passed down to us for generations and tweak them for today’s palate, especially using ingredients from our heritage, like honey, sesame and pomegranate,” Zoe says. They also have wholeheartedly embraced the current trend of pairing the chocolates with esoteric salts, especially fleur de sel and Himalayan.

Standouts include a square of tahini, milk chocolate and sesame brittle covered with dark chocolate; the Black Daphne, composed of ganache (chocolate blended with cream) imbued with portlike Mavrodaphne wine; a liquid caramel sprinkled with pinot noir salt; and a line of textured bars.

Zoe’s sources as many ingredients locally as it can: honey from the company’s own hives, cream from Harrisburg Dairies, herbs from Willow Pond Farm in nearby Fairfield. Jams that they don’t make themselves, from fruit and berries grown in the Blue Ridge Mountains around Waynesboro, they buy from McCutcheon’s Apple Products in Frederick, where they have a second chocolate shop.

They obtain their high-quality couverture, made from a blend of South American and African beans, from Albert Uster Imports in Gaithersburg.

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