Best Raspberry Bars - ever

At the recent Craft Social that we put on I made raspberry bars, thanks to attendee Tasha for prompting me to post this. I have been making these lately every time I have to bring something. It is simply the best recipe ever, from Cooks Illustrated, October 2005.



Recipe can be made in a standing mixer or food processor. Frozen raspberries can be substituted for frewsh, be sure to defrost before combining with raspberry jam, Bars best eaten they day they are made but will keep in airtight container for up to 3 days.



2 1/2 cups flour

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

16 tablespoons (2 sticks butter) plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 pieces softened to room temperature

1/4 packed brown sugar (light or dark)

1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

1 cup raspberry jam (Smucker's is the best, says Cooks Illustrated)

1/2 pint raspberries (about 1 cup)

1 Tablespoon lemon juice



1) Pre-heat 350 degrees. Fold aluminum foil in half so it fits lenth-wise into a 13x9 inch pan, double up more foil to go width-wise in the pan. Spray with non-stick spray.



2) In mixer with flat beater, mix flour, sugar, salt, and 16 tablespoons butter, slowly, until mixture resembles damp sand.



3) Reserve 1 1/2 cups mixture in another bowl. Pat remaining mixture on the bottom of the pan with fingers to make crust layer. Bake 14 - 18 minutes.



4) While crust is baking, add brown sugar, oats, and nuts to reserved flour mix; toss to combine. Work in remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Pinch mixture with fingers to create hazlenut-sized clumps, set aside.



5) Combine, jam, berries, and lemon juice. Mash with fork until combined, but some berry pieces remain.



6) Spread filling over hot crust, sprinkle streusel topping evenly over filling (do not press into filling). Return pan to oven and bake until topping is deep golden brown and filling is bubbling, 22 to 25 minutes. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack, 1-2 hours, maybe more. Remove from baking pan by lifting the aluminum foil extensions. Use knife to cut into squares.

Gingerbread House

Check out this cute after-Christmas gingerbread house I put together the other day. The kit included everything so all I had to do was assemble, now that's my kind of building. Plus I got the whole thing on sale for $5, and it was delicious when demolished.

Christmas Pecan Pie

This year I made my first pecan pie with a homemade crust. It turned out to be delicious if not a little rustic in it's finished look (because we did not have shortening for the pie crust it came out super flaky). Everything from the famed New Orleans' Commander's Palace restaurant cookbook is fantastic (The Commander's Palace New Orleans Cookbook, Clarkson N. Potter publishers, copyright 1984).

Here is the recipe for one 8" pie:

Pie Crust:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tablespoon salt
Dash of sugar
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup shortening (Crisco - this part is extremely important, do not substitute with butter)
3 - 4 tablespoons ice water

Preheat oven to 375F. Sift flour salt and sugar into mixing bowl. Cut in butter and shortening with a pastry blender or two knives in scissor action, until mixture looks like coarse cornmeal. Add water one tablespoon at a time and mix with a fork until dough holds together. Shape into rough ball and chill for 30 minutes. Note that dough can be wrapped and refrigerated or frozen for several days before using. Roll out on a floured surface into a circle two inches larger in diameter than the pie plate and 1/8 inch thick. Transfer to pan by rolling dough onto rolling pin and unrolling over pan. ease gently into pan, trim edge, and flue edges. Prick bottom and sides with a fork and bake for 8 - 10 minutes until golden brown. Do not turn oven off. Some hints that my gandmother taught me, via my mom, about making a pie crust: roll the crust dough on a sheet of wax paper so it's easy to lift and turn into the pie plate upside down; butter the pie plate before turning the crust into it.

Filling:
1/3 cut butter softened
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt

While crust is baking, cream together butter and brown sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in corn syrup, pecans, vanilla and salt. Fill baked pie shell and decorate top with pecan halves in concentric circles. Cover with aluminum foil for first half of baking time so as not to over-brown the edges and the pecan halves. Bake for 30 - 40 minutes or until the center of the filing is not wiggly when it's shaken a little on the oven shelf, a toothpick should come out clean, be careful not to over cook.

First stand mixer batch of cookies!

My much coveted Kitchenaid stand has arrived and I set it up right away and turned it on, before even unpacking after returning from a trip, Amazingly it works, and was not damaged in the shipping. Hooray for Ebay!

I made an innaugural batch of cookies to test it out. I used my favorite recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies from the Joy of Cooking, First Scribner Edition, 1995, page 708. Below is the recipe:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Egg
1 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1 cup uncooked quick oats
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Cream sugar and butter together, add wet ingredients. Add flour and baking soda and powder and salt and combine well. Add oats and combine well. Add optional items if deisred. I have added the cinnamon to the recipe and everyone seems to enjoy it, especially when there are fresh pecans in the mix too.

Halloween Week - Pumpkin Pie Bakeoff

Half of my light pumpkin pie

Last week at my office we had a pumpkin pie bakeoff. I was super excited about it and decided to make 2 different pies, both light. I thought I would definitely place in the contest and then post the recipes here but alas, my pies turned out to be stinkers. I even had to throw out half of one of my small pieces because it was too sour and spiced all at the same time. That was the recipe that I had not tried before. The other recipe, shown here, which was more traditional was not awful, but not nearly as good as the winning pie with a traditional recipe and home made crust. I should have made the WIlliams-Sonoma pumpkin cheesecake. Oh well, there's always next year.

Newest Ebay Triumph

I am the new proud purchaser of the much coveted Kitchenaid Artisan stand mixer. I have been following these for weeks on Ebay and keeping a spreadsheet of their progress and selling price. I did some analysis to determine the right price to pay for one of these, but as usually happens with Ebay I paid a few dollars more than I should have, but still saved about $40 from what I would have paid at Bed Bath and Beyond using a 20% off coupon. So, anyway, all this to say that after I have made four batches of specialty cookies (to be revealed in a later post about Halloween) and 3 pumpkin pies in the last 21 days, I will be receiving my mixer to use for the rest of the holiday season.

I will be reviewing the mixer when I use it for the first time and will tell you all the tips and caveats I learned from the authorized repair shop I called when doing my due diligence on these mixers.

I have to say it doesn't feel as exciting as I imagined to part with more than $200, but I thought that it would really make me happy to buy one, and would make my baking life easier, so I will finally have it. And I also decided that it would not make me an automatic old maid to buy one before I got married (I had the fear that I would jinx myself if I bought it myself). So hurray for me and my mixer, let's hope we have a long and happy life together!

Bakery Supplies Arrived Today!

The Baker's Twine and wax paper sheets arrived tonight in a saw-dusty box but well intact. So excited to start using it for real.

I'm dying to make this recipe

For pumpkin cheesecake from Williams Sonoma. I have all the ingredients but no one to make it for, and my Points allowance doesn't allow it to be one serving all for me. Maybe I'll make it as a second entry in the office pumpkin pie baking contest on Friday.

Koonji and Making Cookie Cutters

I don't know how Koonji is different than WikkiHow, both I just learned about today, but this is kind of a cool way to make your own cookie cutters from these Koonji people. I can't imagine what cookie cutter shapes I need that I don't already have or can't buy, except maybe Dane Cook's Superfinger.