Peach Cobbler

Each summer we look forward to harvesting our Red Baron peaches so that I can make this Peach Cobbler. We had such a large harvest last year that I had to scour the internet for recipes to use up the excess peaches. I wanted to make something like a peach cobbler or pie since it would use up a lot of the peaches. I really didn't want to make a peach pie because I just don't like dealing with pie crust. And, I'm not a big fan of the traditional cobbler recipe, with the biscuit topping. I came upon this Peach Cobbler recipe from FoodNetwork.com that turned out to be a nice cross between a crisp and a cobbler. I love that it's so simple to make- there's only 6 ingredients and I always have all the ingredients on hand. It's a family favorite!


Peach Cobbler

4 C. Fresh Peaches, sliced
1 C. Sugar
1-1/2 C. All-Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp. Salt
1-1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
2/3 C. Unsalted Butter

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Place peaches in the bottom of a baking dish and sweeten, to taste, with a little sugar depending on ripeness.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, sift all the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder).
4. Cut in butter. Mix until crumbly and sprinkle over fruit, covering all exposed fruit.
5. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until golden.


Yield: 5 to 6 servings
Adapted from FoodNetwork.com


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Shortbread Cookies

These are really yummy cookies! I've made them for 3 different events and at each I've had recipe requests and lots of compliments. They're fairly simple to make (if you don't mind rolling out dough). You can dip them in chocolate or leave them as is- delicious either way! I made them over the holidays and dipped the cookies in chocolate and they looked great in the tins I gave out as gifts. (Someone actually said they were professional looking!) The original recipe is from "The Roux We Do" cookbook, but because I don't always follow the recipe as written, my modifications follow. Enjoy!

Here is the recipe as printed in "The Roux We Do":

Shortbread Cookies

3/4 pound unsalted butter, room temperature
1 C sugar (plus extra for sprinkling)
1 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degress.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix together butter and 1 C sugar until just combined. Add vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together flour and salt. Add to creamed mixture. Mix on low speed until dough starts to come together. Turn out onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll dough to 1/2-inch thickness and cut with a 3-inch cookie cutter of your choice. Place cookies on an ungreased baking sheet and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until the edges begin to brown, 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

For a fun twist, dip half in chocolate. Simply combine 1 C semisweet chocolate chips, or any type you prefer, with 1 tsp shortening. Microwave for 45 secs. Stir, and if necessary, microwave a bit more, until chocolate is melted and smooth. Dip cookies and place on wax paper.

Yield: 2 dozen

My modifications:

1) I don't usually wait for the butter to soften to room temperature. I'm impatient! So, I microwave the butter just long enough to soften (about 5 secs in my microwave).

2) Even though I have an electric mixer, I'm usually too lazy to use it, so I use a regular bowl and hand held mixer. I've mixed it by hand in the past before, too and it's turned out just fine.

3) I don't sift my flour & salt.

4) After the 30 minutes in the fridge, it gets too hard to roll out w/o cracking so I let it sit at room temp for a little bit and then roll it out. In retrospect, I could probably put it in the fridge for less than 30', but I just get to doing other things and end up coming back to it 30, 60.... minutes later.

5) I roll them to about 1/4 inch thick and bake for 20 minutes.

6) I don't sprinkle with sugar after placing onto the cookie sheet.

7) Recently, I used Ghiradelli's dark chocolate for dipping. Melting directions: Combine 1 C Chocolate chips with 1 tsp. shortening. Microwave for 30 secs, stir, and then microwave for another 30 secs. Dip half the cookie and then put them in the refrigerator to harden. I typically use candy-making chocolate (the type that comes in wafer form). You just melt the chocolate and dip, no need to add shortening nor refrigerate. Read More...

Rice Pilaf

Okay, how can I post my recipe for Korean-style Chicken BBQ without posting it's partner side dish: Rice Pilaf? Where there's Chicken BBQ, there's always Rice Pilaf. This is my aunt's recipe for rice pilaf though I don't think it's at all an Asian dish. Doesn't matter- it's simple and very tasty with the Chicken BBQ!


Rice Pilaf

1 Cup Long Grain White Rice
1 Cup Broken Vermicelli
1/4 Cup Butter
1 1/2 Cubes of Chicken Bouillon
3 Cups Boiling Water

1) Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Brown vermicelli in butter.
2) Turn off heat. Add rice and mix together.
3) Dissolve chicken bouillon in the boiling water and pour into the vermicelli/rice mixture.
4) Cook for 30 minutes over low heat (simmer). Mix pilaf with a spoon and serve.

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Korean-style Chicken BBQ

Okay, I'm finally going to post it. I've been getting quite a few requests for this recipe lately. This is the recipe to my famous Korean-style Chicken BBQ that is a staple at all of our BBQ gatherings. It's made so many times over the summer that by the end of it, I'm usually sick of it! You can make a big batch of the marinade and freeze it for future use. Or, you can combine the marinade and chicken together in ziploc bags, freeze it, and then thaw when you're ready to use it. I've done both, depending on the occasion. It's a really simple marinade and turns out delicious every time. I get requests to make this all the time!


Korean-style Chicken BBQ

2 lbs. Boneless Chicken

2 Tbs. Soy Sauce
2 tsp. Sesame Seeds
1 Tbs. Chopped Garlic
2 tsp. Minced Fresh Ginger
1 1/2 Tbs. Sugar
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 Tbs. Sesame Seed Oil
1 Tsp. Ground Black Peper

1) Combine seasonings into a bowl and mix together.
2) Combine marinade and chicken together.
3) Marinate chicken overnight.
4) Grill chicken.

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Won Ton Soup

It occurred to me when I was on vacation last month, far from home and very far from my cookbooks, that I really have to make more of an effort to regularly update this site. My family and I were visiting relatives in Wisconsin. In the middle of winter. In negative degree weather. Being from California, I have never experienced weather as cold before. Not even when I’ve been snowboarding—those types of days are considered warm for the Midwest this time of year! While out there, comfort food is what I craved. For me, my comfort food is Won Ton Soup. Oh, how I wished I had my recipe with. I spent quite a bit of time trying to remember the recipe. That’s when I realized I wouldn’t be in this situation if I had kept this site updated. I could've easily brought back a little warmth to my fingertips by heading to this site with a few mouse clicks. In the end, I managed to remember the basic ingredients and made the Won Ton soup. It wasn't perfect, but it was tasty and provided the warmth and comfort I needed on those minus degree days. So, here is my recipe—so that it will always be at my fingertips no matter how far or how cold I am.

Won Ton Soup

Filling:
1 lb. Ground Pork
½ lb. Shrimp
2-3 pieces Dried Shitake Mushroom
2 Tbs. Cornstarch
2 Tbs. Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Salt
2 Tbs. Soy Sauce
1 Tbs. Sesame Oil
1 Egg
2 Tbs. Chopped Green Onion

1-2 pkgs. Won Ton Wrappers
4-6 Cans Chicken Broth
Egg Noodles (optional)

1) Soak the mushrooms in warm water for 15 minutes. When soft, chop up the mushrooms.

2) De-shell and de-vein the shrimp and cut into pieces.

3) Mix filling ingredients together, starting from the ground pork and ending at the chopped green onion.

4) Hold the wonton wrapper so that it looks like a diamond. Take about a tablespoon of the filling and put it in the center of a wonton wrapper. Wet two adjacent edges of the wrapper with water- the sides above where you put the filling. Bring the bottom corner of the wrapper to the top corner- it will look like you're making a triangle. Just touch the tips together, do not allow the sides to come into contact or else they will stick together. Bring the right and left corners up to the triangle tip. Gently press the wonton close. It will look like a little dumpling. You want to make sure the filling is completely enclosed in the wrapper. This isn't easy and will take some practice. Luckily, there is a lot of filling and wrappers to practice on. In the end, you will be an expert at preparing wontons! (Most wonton wrapper packages will come with wrapping instructions and diagrams). Continue making wontons until ingredients are used up (will make about 60 wontons). Extra filling or wrappers can be frozen for next time.

5) Bring 4 cans of chicken broth to a boil. Add wontons to the broth—about 10 to 15 at a time depending on the size of your pot.

6) When wontons float to the surface, cook for an additional 5 minutes.

7) Remove the wontons from the broth and cook up more wontons if desired. You may need to add more chicken broth to the pot. Remaining wontons can be frozen and prepared next time. To freeze, line wontons on a cookie sheet and freeze for 15-30 minutes. Once partially frozen, they can be placed in a ziploc. They have to be frozen individually or else they will stick to one another. Prepare frozen wontons the same way, no defrosting is necessary.

8) Once wontons are finished, prepare egg noodles by boiling for about 5 minutes in the chicken broth.

9)Serve wontons with noodles and broth.

*Wontons can also be fried in oil to make fried wontons. Instead of cooking the wontons in chicken broth, simply fry them in oil. Makes a delicious appetizer.

**Wonton filling can also be used to make potstickers. Read More...

Molasses Cookies

At a holiday get-together with some close friends this year, I made these molasses cookies. I found the recipe in the Food section of the L.A. Times earlier this year. It was the first time I made a recipe from the newspaper! And, to tell you the truth, I didn't have very high expectations when I first made it. But, I was pleasantly surprised with the results for they were the chewiest and moistest home-made cookies I've ever had!

The cookie is a little spicy, gingerbread like, with a hint of sweetness. It's the perfect cookie to make this time of year! It's such a simple recipe, too. I really enjoy making it since there is very little clean up in the end. The recipe calls for melted butter, so there is no need to use a mixer nor muscle power to get the butter creamed as called for in other recipes. I end up mixing everything in the pot I melt the butter in, so if you try it out, make sure you use a large enough pot! The original recipe calls for 1/2 tsp ground cloves; however, I don't have that available so I substituted 1/2 tsp nutmeg for it. I like how they turned out so I'm sticking with the nutmeg! The cookies have always come out moist and chewy and stays that way for at least a week (if it lasts that long!).

Molasses Cookies

3/4 C. Unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 C. Sugar
1/4 C. Molasses
1 Egg
1 3/4 C. Flour
1/2 tsp. Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp. Ground Ginger
1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda

1) Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2) In a saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Remove from the heat, add the sugar and mix until fully incorporated. Then, add the molasses and mix until fully incorporated. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg and add to the melted butter mixture; blend well.

3) Sift the flour with the nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, salt and baking soda and mix into the melted butter mixture. The batter will be wet.

4) Lay a sheet of parchment paper or aluminum foil on a cookie sheet. Drop tablespoons of cookie batter on the sheet, leaving 3 inches between the cookies. These will spread during baking.

5) Bake until the cookies start to darken, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven while they are still soft. Let cool on the cookie sheet. Store in an air-tight container.

Total time: About 40 minutes
Servings: Makes 48 cookies
Note: Adapted from LA Times (which was adapted from "The Silver Palate Cookbook." Read More...

Crumb-Style Apple Pie

Okay, so where shall I start? How about with an apple pie recipe that I have been making on a weekly basis for the last couple of months? It's a recipe I found in my Cooking Light magazine (Oct 2007 issue, "Susan Bracket's First Prize Apple Pie")- an award-winning, delicious, crumb-style apple pie. My husband can't get enough of it!

I experimented to see which type of apples tasted the best. I tried Jonagold, Fuji, and Gala (those were on sale!)-- but not Pink Lady as called for in the original recipe. We liked the Gala apples the best. I will try the recipe out with Pink Lady apples in the future (and provide an update when I do), but for now, I'm sticking with Gala apples.

The pie is the perfect balance of sweet and tart and the crust is thin and crisp. The pie holds up rather well to reheating, but fresh from the oven is best, of course. Put a dallop of vanilla ice cream, and you have the best comfort dessert ever!

Crumb-Style Apple Pie

What I do first is prepare the crust. While the crust is in the refrigerator, I peel and slice the apples and then make the topping. Once the topping is done, I mix the apples with the sugar-filling. It takes roughly 30 min for me to do all that-- the amount of time the crust needs to be in the refrigerator. I'll then assemble the crust into the pie dish, add the apple mix, then the topping. I find that the longer the apples and the sugar-mix is together, more liquid appears at the bottom of the bowl. I don't really like that, which is why I mix the sugar and apples together towards the end of the pie assembly.

Crust:
1 1/2 C. All Purpose-Flour
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Baking Powder
2 Tbs. Chilled Butter (cut into small pieces)
2 Tbs. Vegetable Shortening
1 tsp. Vinegar
7 Tbs. Ice Water

Filling:
1/3 C. Granulated Sugar
2 Tbs. All-Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Ground Nutmeg
1/8 tsp. Salt
7 C. Thinly sliced peeled Gala Apples
Cooking Spray

Topping:
6 Tbs. All-Purpose Flour
3 Tbs. Brown Sugar
3 Tbs. Chilled Butter

1) To prepare crust: Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Cut in butter and shortening with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle surface with vinegar and ice water, 1 Tbs. at a time, tossing with a fork until dough is moist and crumbly (do not form a ball). Gently press dough into a 4-in circle on 2 sheets of overlapping heavy-duty plastic wrap, and cover with 2 additional sheets of overlapping plastic wrap. Roll the dough, still covered, into a 12-in circle. Chill the dough 30 min or until the plastic wrap can be easily removed.
2) Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
3) To prepare filling: Combine granulated sugar, and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a small bowl. Sprinkle sugar mixture over apple; toss well to coat.
4) Remove top sheets of plastic wrap from dough circle; fit dough, plastic wrap side up, into a 10-in deep-dish pie plate coated with cooking spray, letting dough extend over edge of plate. Remove remaining plastic wrap. Trim off the extra dough with a knife. Spoon filling into crust.
5) To prepare topping: Combine flour and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle topping mixture over apple mixture. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees (do not remove pie from oven). Bake an additional 40 minutes.

Yield: 8 servings
Adapted from: Cooking Light (Oct. 2007) Read More...