Lavender Shortbread

We recently returned from a visit to Bermuda where in the hotel tea is served every afternoon with sweet treats along side. This lavender shortbread would fit perfectly on the hotel menu for tea time. With the inclusion of lavender, the ordinary shortbread becomes something special and worthy of savoring while sitting down to enjoy a cup of tea.

I have not baked with lavender before and have Barb at Creative Culinary to thank for this lavender right from her garden. I am happy to know that it grows well in Colorado and hope to plant it at my house too. Only some varieties of lavender are for culinary purposes so be sure to check which type you have locally.

I found this recipe for lavender shortbread on the Food Network’s site. There are only a few ingredients and the shortbread was easy to make. I plan to experiment with other flavors of shortbread—citrus, rosemary, and brown sugar were three other recipes highlighted on the Food Network site. Let me know if you have baked with lavender and what you make, I’d love more ideas!

Ingredients:
8 TB butter
1/4 cup sugar plus 2 TB
1 c flour
1/4 c cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
2 TB lavender

Directions:
Beat the butter until fluffy then add the sugar slowly until well mixed. Separately combine the other dry ingredients. Turn the mixer to low and add the dry ingredients until just incorporated. My dough was in small crumbs at this point. The recipe recommends bringing the dough together, kneading it then rolling it out. I chose the second option of pushing the dough with my fingers right into the parchment lined 8 x 8 pan.  I then refrigerated it for 30 minutes before poking it all over with a fork. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar on the shortbread before baking at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. Add the last tablespoon of sugar just as you take the shortbread from the oven. Let cool for 5 minutes before slicing into squares. Allow the shortbread to continue to cool completely in the pan.

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Piña Colada-Inspired Pineapple Granita

Granita is a dressed up word for water ice, the treat many of us had as kids on a hot summer day. This version takes fresh pineapple combined simply with sugar and a touch of rum, then adds a garnish of toasted coconut. The result is a as nearly frozen dessert that is as refreshing as it is light and easy.

Date Squares

It’s funny what pops up on a search engine when you type in “Date Bars”—mostly recipes but with some random suggestions thrown in about what bars to go to when on a date, which made me laugh. I think “Date Squares” is a more fitting name for this cake-like dessert made with a date filling. Before you run away based on the “date filling” alone, read a little more and then make up your mind. The filling has qualities like a fig newton—gooey and slightly sweet which is a nice paring with the oat crust and topping.

Baked Potato Chips

In an effort to prove to my boys that chips really do come from a potato, we made potato chips at home. For two children who steer clear of all things vegetables, this process was rather enlightening. A mandoline speeds up the job of slicing the potato in uniform, thin slices and that is really all the work needed. Coat a baking sheet pan with cooking spray then lay the potato slices such that they are not overlapping. Spray the potatoes with the cooking spray and sprinkle with a small amount of salt. Bake in a hot oven (convection will crisp the potatoes faster), 450 degrees F for about 25 minutes.

I found this recipe for oven-fried potato chips at Simply Recipes which got me off to a good start.

Easy Ice Cream Pie

Summer desserts don’t require hours of baking in a hot kitchen. Here is an easy, no-bake dessert that is sure to please. You can make a crust or skip that step and use a pre-baked graham cracker crust as I did this time. Simply choose a favorite ice cream for the pie filling and top with freshly whipped cream. Add other toppings such as chocolate chips, toffee bits or flaked coconut and you have a mouth-watering dessert in no time.

How To Back up Your Blog on Blogger

We all know that it's important to take steps to back up files when working on a computer. Whether it's regarding a copy of digital photos, your resume, or your blog, we hear it all of the time: Be sure to back up files! Rather than waiting until something goes wrong (which is the method I've taken before with photos stored on my computer), I am going to make it a habit to back up my blog. If you are working on Blogger, the process is very easy. Follow these simple steps.

Open your Settings then go to the Other category. (Steps 1 and 2 highlighted in pink ovals above.) Then Click on Export blog (Step 3 highlighted by the pink arrow.)

You'll find this next screen once you click on Export Blog. Click on Download Blog.

Don't worry, nothing happens to your blog that is up and running on Blogger. It will still be here waiting for you after you back it up. I saved my files to a CD and plan to do so every week. I think making a habit of it will take a few weeks but hopefully it will become part of my weekly routine. 

Easy Food Processor Clean Up: Quick Tip

Using a food processor can make quick work of slicing, dicing and mixing…cleaning up the messy result left behind might not be as simple of a task. Liquids and bits of food tend to splatter all over the top of the food processor. A cycle through the dishwasher will help but doesn’t always clear all the pieces left in the small crevices of the food processor lid. American’s Test Kitchen has shared yet another solution to everyday kitchen problems: use plastic wrap to seal off the lid from any mess below.

I love to pass on ideas as simple as this one—to avoid cleaning up a mess simply don’t make one in the first place! After you have filled the bowl of the food processor, cover the top with plastic wrap before securing the lid. Obviously this tip does not work if you are adding ingredients through the chute, but for many food processing tasks, this is ideal. Go ahead and whirl away while leaving the splattering ingredients in the bowl and let the plastic wrap keep the top lid clean.

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Mixed Berry Hand Pies

Hand-held pies are the perfect picnic food, ideal for casual get togethers and easy to pull together for a simple yet elegant dessert. They would be an excellent choice for a dessert buffet too. Tender pie crust comes together with a sweet filling in this perfectly portioned pie.  I used a mixture of raspberries, blueberries and blackberries in this edition of hand pies but the process lends itself easily to many fillings. Last year I posted a similar recipe for apple pies; it’s one of my earliest blog posts and let’s just say I am glad to be on a road of improvement both in photography and text, though I have a long way to go.

The crust for this pie was America’s Test Kitchen’s recipe in which the secret ingredient is vodka. Yup, I have vodka in the freezer for the sole purpose of pie crusts! As usual, America’s Test Kitchen produced a stellar recipe which deserves a later post all of its own. For this post I’d like to share the process of assembling these sweet berry pies. You can make your own crust or use store-bought crust.

Make Your Own Cake Pop Stand (using a Pool Noodle)

Cake pops are easy to make-- cake crumbs plus icing is as basic as it gets-- but keeping the cake & icing mixture ON the stick can sometimes be a challenge. I have used all sorts of kitchen gadgets to provide a place for the cake pops to harden. Styrofoam is one material which helps to hold the cake pops upright; a colander might be another. This week I tried a new set up in which I used a pool noodle instead of Styrofoam. Yes, a pool noodle!

Make Cake Pop Shapes with Cookie Cutters

The cake pop craze continues! Cake pops are nothing more than cake crumbs and icing mixed together then covered in chocolate or some other candy coating. Simple, right? Yes! The most common shape of cake pops is often a ball. Bakers like Bakerella and The Pint Sized Baker are two of my favorites who have a no limits approach when it comes to creating cake pops. Their imaginative cake pop creations wow me every time.  My effort to follow in their footsteps, even though I may not have their cake decorating skills (yet!), is to use cookie cutters to shape my cake pops.  Cookie cutters provide an endless selection of shapes and sizes and work wonderfully to make cake pop shapes.



Instead of shaping your cake and icing mixture into balls, flatten it in a pan lined with aluminum foil such that the cake pop “dough” is about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. Put the pan into the freezer for at least 30-60 minutes.

Take a cookie cutter no more than 1 1/2 - 2 inches wide (and smaller may work better) and cut out your cake pop shapes. Freeze the shapes again to encourage them to keep their shape.

If you want to add a stick to your cake pops, dab a bit of melted chocolate to the end of the stick before putting it in the cake pop; freeze this again for at least 15 minutes to help the stick stay in place.

Melt chocolate or candy coating over a double boiler or in the microwave on 50% power then dip your cake pops and coat them thoroughly. Tap off as much excess coating as possible then let the coating dry on a cake pop stand. Check back later this week for tips on how to create your own cake pop stand!

If you choose not to put your cake pops on a stick, lower them into the coating using a spoon or a fork to support them then slide them onto a sheet of parchment paper to allow the coating to harden.

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Frozen Pineapple Sticks

Who needs an easy summer treat on a stick? Food on a stick speaks to summertime eating—corn dogs on sticks at summer county fairs, smores made with marshmallows on long sticks held over the fire, and, of course, frozen fruit juice made into icy treats on popsicle sticks. This frozen pineapple on a stick is faster (and fresher) than any of those options. This dessert is so simple it hardly needs more of a description than its title: it truly is pineapple that is frozen on a stick.

I’ll keep it brief so as not to overstate the obvious. Cut a fresh pineapple into spears, put a stick into each spear and freeze for at least 2 hours or up to a week. To spruce up these pops you could take a few extra steps: brush the pineapple spears with orange, pineapple or mango juice, roll them in toasted coconut, then freeze. (Toast coconut by spreading shredded coconut on a sheet pan and baking for 6-8 minutes at 350 degrees F.)

Credit for this idea in my kitchen today goes to one of my earliest cookbooks, Betty Crocker’s Cookbook: Everything you need to know to cook today (page 527).


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Blogger Tip: How to Change Settings on Comments

Any blogger—new to blogging or with years of experience—will tell you that comments often provide an unexpected lift, usually offer a bit of encouragement, and frequently connect you to other bloggers and readers with similar interests. Did you know that your Blogger Settings might be limiting the number of comments you receive on your posts?

My "Settings” were set to only accept comments from Registered Users. I didn’t know enough about blogging to understand that this category might exclude readers who didn’t use Blogger or have reason to open a Google account. Barb from Creative Culinary pointed this out to me and noted that she wasn’t able to leave comments on blogs like mine even though she had comments she wished to share.

The fix was easy enough to implement in less than 3 minutes. First, go to the Settings Tab in your Blogger account. Click on Posts and Comments then look at the options labeled “Who Can Comment”. Click on “Anyone" and you are ready to let the world comment on your blog…



…yes I said the WORLD…which may mean you will receive spam comments or less than positive comments from anonymous readers. If this happens, you always have the option to go back to limiting comments or moderating comments before they are published but let’s hope that doesn’t become necessary.

Leave someone a helpful and happy comment today

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Summer Squash Salad

Summer is upon us and so is a fresh crop of summer vegetables. I have been spotting versions of this shaved salad in magazines and online and was intrigued by the preparation (or lack thereof) of the uncooked squash. Bon Appetit offered a shaved salad of summer squash in their June 2011 issue and Fine Cooking published in their June/July 2012 magazine a shaved summer squash with almond salsa verde.

Here is a simple way to treat the zucchini and the yellow squash for an easy weeknight side dish. Give yourself permission to take a shortcut with the dressing and use a store-bought Italian dressing. When you have more time on a weekend, go all-out with the homemade version.

Use a vegetable peeler or a mandoline to thinly slice the vegetables. Toss the vegetable ribbons with a few tablespoons of dressing and that’s it! Serve the squash freeform and let the ribbons fall where they may on the plate or take a few moments and arrange them into a flower-like presentation.

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