Candy Cane Kisses

Candy Cane Kisses

From Masala Farm by Suvir Saran, with gratitude to Suvir,
adapted by Blue Heron Kitchen

For Nancy

This recipe will make you look forward every year to the arrival of fresh candy canes in the market. I’ve tried substituting those “starlight mints”, the ones you get in bags at the pharmacy, but they're not as good. Candy Canes are a seasonal food choice.

Here’s a truc: Leave them in their wrappers and pound them with a heavy skillet. Snip them open. Ta-da!

I found Ghirardelli mini chips. They're inexpensive and they worked well. Of course, you can upgrade to higher end chocolate and chop it into small bits.

Meringues are child’s play if you’re careful meticulous when separating eggs. If any yolk gets into the white, make an omelet. If there's any trace of fat in the bowl you're using, on the wire whip or whisk or even on the dishtowel that you’ve used to wiped your mixing bowl, both you and your whites will weep.

Suvir Saran is a gifted chef, cookbook author and teacher, and several years ago, I had some great fun with him, socializing, traveling and eating. If you’re the tiniest bit interested about Indian cooking, buy his books. Even if you’re not interested in Indian cooking, buy this one, Masala Farm, which is a “farm to table” mélange of recipes that he and his partner, Charlie and collaborator, Raquel, published in 2011. Nominated for a James Beard Award, this gorgeous book is one you should consider owning. It’s Kindle-ready too!

These are fantastic, beautiful; and be advised, they're addictive. In a clear cellophane bag, tied with a ribbon or bakery twine, these make a great homemade gift!

Here are a couple of today’s, ready for their close-ups:

More recipes soon: 

Marshmallows! 

Updated graham crackers made with teff flour!

(just add a chocolate bar and what's that spell?) 

care, live well, work for peace (and gun control) and cook,

jane

Ingredients:

4 egg whites, size large, at room temperature (they whip up better at room temperature)

¼ tsp. cream of tartar

1/8 tsp. kosher salt

1 ½ c./300 g granulated sugar

3 Tbsp. crushed candy canes (8-9 minis)

8 oz./225 g semisweet mini chocolate chips (Ghirardelli or better, please)

            or fine quality chocolate, finely chopped

1 tsp. vanilla extract (I use Baldwins)

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 240º F/120º C

Line three baking sheets with parchment. (If you don’t have three sheets, you must let the sheet cool before you use it again. If it's not your summer now, try putting it outside, or use it to prop open the window for five minutes.)

Using a Kitchen Aid or electric mixer fitted with the wire whip, or a hand mixer, beat the whites until foamy.

Add salt and cream of tartar and beat on medium speed until soft peaks form.

While the mixer is running, add the sugar, one tablespoon at a time. (Be patient and be careful. Today, the spoon hit the whisk and my reaction including some words I'm not printing.) You can crank it up to medium/high and beat the meringue until stiff, glossy peaks are formed.

Remove the bowl and fold in the remaining ingredients (crushed candy canes, chocolate and vanilla) using a rubber spatula.

Form dollops of meringue using a tablespoon or a small scoop (I used a small scoop and when it stopped releasing, I rinsed it with cold water.) Here, uniformity is cool.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, transferring sheets half way through the bake top to bottom, front to back. When the meringues are slightly cracked on the top, they’re ready to be fully cooled on wire racks.

These can be stored in airtight containers for about a week; and I've had success freezing them!

Yield: with the small cookie scoop, about 7 dozen. With a tablespoon, about 5 dozen.

Coconut Macaroons with Chocolate Chips, Chocolate and Coconut Macaroons and Almond Macaroons, "Suviroons" and Chocolate Dipped

Coconut Macaroons with chocolate chips 

Chocolate  and Coconut Macaroons

Almond and Coconut Macaroons, Chocolate Dipped

Suviroons 

Coconut Macaroons with Chocolate Chips

and

Almond and Coconut Macaroons, Chocolate Dipped
and 
"Suviroons" (dedicated to Suvir Saran)

These macaroons aren’t the same kind that people queued up around the block for when Ladurée opened in New York a couple of months ago. After spending several hours winding up the bottoms of digestive biscuit and tea tins that played "God Save the Queen" and "How Much is That Doggie in the Window" at Fortnum and Mason's in London, (I bought them) a few weeks ago, we went across the street to a quiet table at Ladurée, and ate some macarons of memory ... pear and ginger, pistachio - and others. THOSE macarons aren’t the ones that make your fingers bleed when you open the round tin to release the foil top that keeps them gummy moist. They're the French ones. 

My Grandma Rae would've said, "what are you talking about, pear macaroons?". 

Two years ago, my son called me in a panic. He’d been invited to a seder (a Passover dinner that literally means 'order', but should mean 'I need a gentle laxative') in London and needed some recipes. Nowhere in Oxford or London could he find matzo cake meal. So, for the past two years, I’ve been sending it over to him so he can make the ‘famous’ Passover Mandel Bread (recipe forthcoming – but doesn’t everybody have it already?)

Subsequently, we went with macaroons. The Jewish ones.

I sent him Ina Garten’s and Martha Stewart’s recipes. They were all I could dig up. 

Here are a couple of easy and fool-proof recipes that rival the canned ones. They’re better more haimish than Ina’s or Martha’s (sorry, girls); and I promise they will be a lovely addition to a Passover, Easter, Persian New Year, April Fool’s, May Day, or your next festive meal.

Coconut Macaroons with Chocolate Chips

Blue Heron Kitchen

Ingredients:

2/3 c. sweetened condensed milk (about ½ of the can)

2 size large egg whites

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. kosher salt

12 oz. shredded, unsweetened coconut (I like Bob’s Red Mill, and the bag is exactly 12 oz!)

¾ c. semisweet chocolate chips (I heart Guittard!)

for Chocolate Macaroons change quantity of coconut and add cocoa powder:

11 oz. shredded, unsweetened coconut

1 oz. (1/2 c.) dark, good quality unsweetened cocoa

½ c. dark chocolate chips (Guittard or Ghiradelli)


for "Suviroons" (dedicated to my friend, teacher and mentor, Suvir Saran (whose most recent cookbook, Masala Farm was just nominated for a James Beard award for "American Cooking"!)
try this twist:
10 oz. shredded, unsweetened coconut
3 oz. chopped pistachios (raw, but toast and cool them)
1/2 c. chopped candied ginger
1 to 2 Tbsp. rose water

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 325º

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper

Whisk together (you can use your Kitchen Aid!): sweetened condensed milk, egg white, extract and salt, until well combined

Add coconut and mix.

Remove from machine and fold in chips by hand.

Using a 1 ½ inch cookie scoop, or by tsp., drop onto the prepared sheets.

Bake until slightly browned, about 15 minutes.

Cool, then peel from parchment.

Store airtight. May be frozen until you’ve feathered the joint.

Yield: (with the 1 ½” cookie scoop you’ll get about 4 dozen. With a tsp., probably about 2 ½ to 3 dozen.)

ALMOND AND COCONUT MACAROONS

CHOCOLATE DIPPED (Variation)

Blue Heron Kitchen

Ingredients:

2/3 c. sweetened condensed milk (about ½ of the can)

2 size large egg whites

1 ½  tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. pure almond extract

1/8 tsp. kosher salt

8 oz. shredded, unsweetened coconut (I like Bob’s Red Mill)

4 oz. finely ground almonds (I buy mine at Patel Brothers. If you're not lucky enough to live near this wonderful Indian supermarket, look for finely ground almond meal. Greek markets have it, French markets do, bien sur, and Bob's Red Mill produces it too.)

6 oz. (approx..) good quality dark chocolate, melted, for dipping the macaroons (I used Jacques Torres' dark chocolate discs. You can buy them online (click on this link) or at his shops in Chelsea Market or in Brooklyn on on the Upper West Side.) Or use any dark chocolate that you like! Here's a truc: add a little roasted almond oil .. or flavorless oil if you don't have nut oils handy to the melted chocolate. and add a touch of Boyajian's orange oil - but just a smidge. The oil will add a sheen and the orange will lift up the almond flavor. 

optional: anything decorative for the top of each macaroon (how about a candied icon of one of the ten plagues .. only I wouldn't recommend ‘boils’ or ‘slaying of the first born’ - or just some little sprinkles. they're very sweet.)

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 325º

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper

Whisk together (you can use your Kitchen Aid!): sweetened condensed milk, egg white, extracts and salt, until well combined

Add coconut and almond meal and mix well.

Remove from machine.

Using a 1 ½ inch cookie scoop, or by tsp., drop onto the prepared sheets.

Bake until slightly browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Be sure that you don’t burn these. The bottoms will get brown. Check that they’re not getting too dark on the bottom.

Cool, then peel from parchment.

Melt the chocolate in a small bowl on top of barely simmering water (or in a microwave). Take care that no water or steam gets into the chocolate. 

Dip the macaroons in the chocolate and place them on a rack that is set over waxed paper .. to catch any drips.

After they've set a bit, you can drip a little more on top and then put a little decoration on the top.

You can set them up quickly in the fridge. Serve immediately or keep them in a container, with waxed paper over the cookies, sealed and refrigerated, until you're ready to serve them.

Store airtight. May be frozen until you’ve feathered the joint.

Yield: (with the 1 ½” cookie scoop you’ll get about 4 dozen. With a tsp., probably about 2 ½ to 3 dozen.)

To those who celebrate Passover, have a sweet Passover. Many people wish that 'next year we celebrate in Jerusalem'. I'm not interested in any such thing. My wish for next year: (two, since there are two recipes here: the Unites States vacates Afghanistan; and  that health care becomes accesible to all Americans (that includes my darling daughter.)

Happy spring to everyone!

Peace and love,

Jane

Brussels Sprouts with Apples and Almonds

Brussels Sprouts with Apples and Almonds

Adapted from American Masala by Suvir Saran

Brussels sprouts and apples, both, are abundant at the market now. This is an easy and festive recipe that comes from my friend, Suvir’s cookbook, American Masala. 

These Brussels sprouts will be a hit at your Thanksgiving dinner! Not only that, you’ll make this whenever Brussels sprouts are in season.  My friend, Regina told me she’ll never cook b.s.'s any other way.

peace, love and may you be at ease in and out of the kitchen,
xojane

Ingredients:

3 lbs. Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and outer leaves removed

1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

3 Granny Smith or other tart apples, cored and thinly sliced

1 cup sliced almonds

1 Tbsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. ground black peppercorns

4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

2 small red onions, thinly sliced

1/3 cup raisins or currants [Use organic raisins, it makes a difference – they taste like raisins]

½ tsp. red pepper flakes [reduce or omit if you can't take the heat]

½ cup (4 oz.) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Procedure:

Set one oven rack to the center position and one to the upper-middle position and preheat the oven to 350º.

With a paring knife, cut an “x” in the bottom of each Brussels sprout and place all in a large bowl. 

Add the vinegar, apples, almonds, salt, ground peppercorns, oil, onions, raisins, and pepper flakes. 

Toss together and transfer to a gratin or baking dish.  Dot the top with half the butter.

Bake on lower rack for 30 minutes.  Sprinkle the remaining butter over the top and bake for another 30 minutes. 

Turn on the broiler.  Place the baking dish on the upper-middle rack and broil for 2 minutes, or until the top of the casserole is browned.  Watch this carefully, because unattended, you'll risk losing the casserole to the flame.

Serves 8