Tea Infused Butter and Cardamom Tea Shortbread Cookies

It's been very quiet in my house lately (okay, as quiet as a home with three kids 10 and under can be).  What I mean is, it's just kind of been us around here.  Many friends have moved away, some are away for the summer, visitors have come and gone.  My hubby has been traveling and working like crazy.  It's just been very......still.

A couple of weeks ago our niece blew in like a whirlwind to disrupt the stillness for a little while.  Only a little more than 10 years younger than me, she feels a little more like a friend than a niece.  She's a little like her mother- a bit of a gypsy, very independent, headstrong and outspoken.  And I mean all of those in the best possible way.  I'm a bit envious, I must admit.  She's in her mid-20s traveling around the world doing missionary work, deciding on grad school or the next step in her life, no ties and full of the promise of life.  I've known this young lady since she was a little girl but her adult self is a far cry from the little pixie who was a flower girl at my wedding.

Just a Little Thing...A New Book and My Favorite Christmas Cookie Ever

A year of work has finally come to an end.....

After a lot of recipe collecting and bugging my Mom for her instructions for my favorite childhood treats, writing, editing, photographing and a few extra pounds from, ehem, taste testing.....this labor of love is finally finished.  It's just a little thing- 18 recipes that represent the collective kitchen wisdom of three generations of my family bound together into one sweet book.  My Mom and I worked together to make this book before some of these recipes disappeared forever without being written down.  My original intention was to give copies as gifts for my family, but I got so many requests for a copy from friends far and wide that I decided to self publish the book and offer it for sale.

So if you head on over to Blurb, you'll find My Mother's Kitchen for sale in a few different formats.  You can grab a hard or soft cover 7x7 inch book or download an ebook for your iphone or iPad.  I'd be honored if you were fond enough of me or my recipes to purchase yourself a copy.  Thrilled and humbled beyond belief as well.

I thought I'd give you a little taste of what's in the book today.  In keeping with the current theme of European cookies, here's my favorite Italian cookie.  We always called them dardeeds because that's how my Nana pronounced it, but I have since come to find out that the actual name for this cookie is turdilli.  I'm sticking with dardeeds, but you can call them whatever you like.  Maybe call them delicious.  Turdilli are definitely a regional secret from Calabria- most people have never seen or heard of them.  I aim to change that right now.

Turdilli {or Dardeeds}

Makes a mountain of cookies.  Divide the recipe by 3 for a more reasonable amount.
For the printable of this recipe, click here. 


3 cups neutral flavored oil           
2 cups dry red wine               
1 cup whiskey               
11 1/2 cups + 1 tbs all purpose flour       
8 1/2 cups semolina flour           
2 tsp sugar               
3 eggs                   
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbs ground clove


Neutral flavored oil for frying
2 cinnamon sticks
12 whole cloves, divided
 2 lbs. honey
1/4 cup sugar



Place the oil, wine and whiskey in a large pot.  Bring to a boil over medium heat.  Boil for just a couple of minutes to burn off the alcohol.  Remove from the stove and cool.

In a large mixing bowl stir together the flour, semolina, sugar, ground cloves and ground cinnamon.  Pour in the cooled liquid ingredients and the 3 eggs.  Mix until you have a cohesive, sturdy dough. 

In a large pot, pour enough oil to fill the pot about three inches deep.  Place the cinnamon sticks and 7 cloves into the oil.  Insert a candy thermometer into the pot.  Heat over medium until the oil reaches 350 degrees.


In the meantime, cut small sections of dough (keep the rest of the dough in a covered bowl) and form ropes about the diameter of your thumb. Cut into ¾ to 1” pieces and roll them on a fork or a wooden board used to roll cavatelli/gnocchi. Fry the dardeeds in batches, turning gently once, until golden.  Let cool.

Rub the sides of a bowl large enough to hold all the finished dardeeds with half a lemon.  Place the honey in a pot large enough to hold all the dardeeds. Add the remain cloves to the honey. Mix the sugar and flour together and add it to the honey also. Warm the mixture to just above a simmer but not quite boiling.  Add the dardeeds and toss gently until they are all coated well. Remove from heat and turn out into the prepared bowl. Keep covered with foil.

Swedish Dream Cookies {Dromkakor}

So last we met I had decided that I was going to put less pressure on myself.  Ha!  That didn't last long.  Not only am I in the midst of trying to finish up a family cookbook project before Christmas (2 recipes left to make and photograph- yay!)  but I went and decided to up the stakes here on this little old blog as well.  I've decided to do something that I've never tried before and do a series of themed posts from now until the end of the year.  How's that for slowing down and not feeling like I have to live up to any standard? 

If nothing else, it will certainly put some pressure on the waistband of my jeans (cue the groans for the cheesy joke now). 

So what's this theme all about, you might ask?  Here in Germany there is no Thanksgiving (duh), so things move along from apples and pumpkins right to Christmas.  And pretty quickly too.  The world-famous Christmas markets start up next week and my family is skipping the turkey this year and heading to Munich for the first market of the season.  Can't.  Wait. 

All the holiday hub bub has me thinking about my favorite part of Christmas.  The cookies.  So inspired by our travels and surroundings I decided to feature a selection of European cookies.  Some are simple and perfect for the busy holiday season and some are time consuming traditional cookies of the season.  I'm starting simple with a cookie from a country I haven't been to yet, but it's on the bucket list.  I must admit, I'm really tickled about the whole thing.  This is going to be so much fun!

Swedish Dream Cookies {Dromkakor}
Makes about 4 dozen cookies.  Very slightly adapted from Saveur.
For the printable recipe, click here.

These cookies are about the simplest things I can imagine making (next to good old American chocolate chip ones).  No fancy equipment or exotic ingredients required here.  They are crisp and melt in your mouth, in other words truly dreamy just as their name suggests.  I added just the tiniest bit of nutmeg to the dough which isn't a pronounced flavor but adds to the buttery richness of the cookie.  They remind me of a brown butter cookie with their nutty caramel-ly undertones but with none of the extra work required.  They may just become my go-to, in a pinch cookie.  And yours too.

1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
8 tbs softened butter (1 stick)
1 1/4 cups cane sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or 2 tsp vanilla paste
1/3 cup canola oil

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, nutmeg and baking soda.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.  Add in the vanilla and beat for another few seconds until thoroughly mixed.  Add the oil and stir together until smooth.  Slowly stir in the flour mixture just until combined.

Portion the dough 1 tablespoon at a time into balls.  Place the balls 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets.  Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for about 25 minutes.  The cookies will crack on top slightly and be very pale golden brown.  Cool on a wire rack before serving.

Mint Tea

I've gotten a lot of inspiration from our travels around Europe.  My job as we prepare for our trips is to research the area we will be visiting.  I look up all there is to see and do at our destination.  My husband calls me "our travel agent", a role I am happy to fill.  It's really fun to hunt around for information- I read the guidebooks, ask around for experienced travelers to the area and sift through the multitudes of websites available to me to try to get to know an area before we get there.  I usually end up making a huge list that I know we will never get to complete, but I'd rather have lots of options so that we can choose what to do based on our mood at the moment.

Sometimes my lists include food options- places that people online rave about perhaps or somewhere that I've read about in a review that seems to serve the most traditional foods in the area.  But most often we simply wing it.  We ask the locals or wander the streets until something just seems right- usually it's a little place just off the main square that is full of locals.  Both my husband and I really enjoy seeking out the traditional foods of a place.  It's not only a way to taste the local foods, it's also a peek into the culture of the people.  And that's the best part for me.  You really get to know someone (or a whole group of folks) by what is found on the menus.

It's been a few months since we visited The Netherlands but a few shining food moments still linger in my memory.  The cheese is an easy one- any place that can put together entire towns based on the cheese industry is my kind of place.  Gouda and Edam are just a couple of notable examples.  The other dish (of sorts) that I noticed at every restaurant we ate or drank at was a simple tea.  Europeans might be known for their love of coffee, but the Dutch seem to have an equal fondness for tea.  But not the sort of dried black teas that they brought back from their exploration of the Indian continent.  I noticed quite a lot of people lounging after their meals with glasses of hot mint tea.  Very Moroccan inspired, if you ask me.  And certainly memorable.

So in the face of a huge bounty of mint from my garden and very few ideas as to what to do with it all, I called up my memory of the Dutch after dinner drink and set out to make my own mint tea.  Of several varieties of mint I have growing, I chose a Moroccan variety.  It just seemed a natural fit.  Moroccan mint is very peppermint-like, but a bit sharper (zingy would be a good description).  And with just a touch of honey and hot water, it makes a wonderful tea.  With each sip I am brought back to the canals, tulips and wonderful city atmosphere of Delft and Haarlem.

Mint Tea
Serves from one to many.
For a printable recipe, click here.

There really is no recipe for this tea.  It's so simple.  I'll give you a suggested amount to have per cup of tea, but it's ultimately up to you and your dinner guests.  If you have the access to several mint varieties, try them out to see what you like best.  I like pineapple mint, which is sweeter than traditional mint and has the aroma of pineapple, as well as the Moroccan variety.  I used a very mild blossom honey (from Slovenia!) to gently sweeten the tea and not compete too much with the mint flavor.  The glasses that I prefer for the tea are smaller juice sized ones.


Per glass:
1-2 sprigs of mint, rinsed
1/2-1 tsp light-flavored honey
hot, but not boiling, water

Place the sprigs of mint into the glass.  Pour the hot water over the tea and then stir in the honey to taste.  Let the tea steep for 4-5 minutes.

Liege-style Belgian Waffles

We've done enough traveling around Europe in the past 9 months that I feel like a seasoned tourist now.  You learn quite a bit about how to be an efficient packer, how to find the best hotel deals and where to find the best food in town by visiting 6 counties in that short amount of time.  A lot of the knowledge comes from each experience but here's my #1 little travel hint for you- ask the locals.  I always carry guidebooks with me (the Rick Steves' ones are my favorites) after having done hours of research online before heading off to our destination.  But none of that compares to the years of experience that someone who lives and works in a place can offer you.  Even if that local is wearing a hat in the shape of a giant wheel of Gouda cheese and handing out samples of said delicious cheese in the town's market square.  Trust me, he'll know the best tucked away place for a good meal that will cost you way less than anything you'll find in the touristy areas.  Don't be fooled by his silly headgear and trust that he will lead you to the best grilled cheese sandwich ever. 

In that same vain, I have learned to take a walk just a block or two away from the big attractions in order to find the really good stuff that the locals hide from the tourists.  Case in point- the waffles trucks in Bruges.  If you're ever in Bruges and looking for a Belgian waffle (and why wouldn't you be?), don't go for any of the little waffle shops in the main tourist areas.  The waffles are not fresh and you'll spend way more for one that will only serve to disappoint you.  Instead, look for an odd little yellow van with a sarcastic and multi-lingual waffle chef serving up the best waffles I've ever eaten.  And I mean that with total sincerity.  Even my husband, who would pass by a carb loaded dessert for a slab of bacon in a heartbeat, was in love with these confections.  Most of us know Belgian waffles as the fluffy golden waffles served at brunch buffets.  But these waffles were so much more.  So much better.  Crispy on the outside and buttery tenderness on the inside with this almost-burnt-sugar-caramelly thing happening.  To die for...

I took a picture of the yellow van in case I ever have the pleasure of going back.  But in the meantime, I've worked up my own version to make at home that is oh so close.  It's just missing the magic of being in a foreign city awaiting a ride down a beautiful canal.  That will just have to remain in my memory and imagination.

Liege-style Belgian Waffles
Makes about 18 4 inch waffles.
For the printable recipe, click here.

These waffles are a two step process that I actually find to be easier than traditional waffle making.  They are a yeast based waffle which gives them a sort of malty background flavor as well as the necessary lift.  Whip the batter up the night before your big breakfast and then all you have to do is stir in the sugar in the morning and get to the waffle baking.  Speaking of the sugar, the secret to these waffles is the Liege sugar crystals you use.  They are large chunks of sugar usually called pearl sugar.  These can be tricky to find (though here in Europe it's a lot easier- in my German store they're called hagelzuker, or hail sugar).  You can get the sugar in IKEA stores or online at Amazon.  Though I have been told that coarsely breaking up sugar cubes works pretty well or even using coarse turbinado sugar comes close to the real thing.  I haven't tried those methods, but maybe they'll work for you if you can't find the pearl sugar nearby.  You can use any type of waffle maker, you don't need a Belgian waffle maker.  I use a 2 tablespoon ice cream/cookie scoop to scoop out the batter (it's like a thick cookie batter) and place it just a bit off center towards the back of the waffle iron so that it doesn't come squishing out of the front when I close the lid.

2 tsp active dry yeast (1 envelope)
1/3 cup lukewarm water
2 tbs milk
1 1/2 tbs sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup room temperature butter
1/2-2/3 cups pearl sugar

** I am giving the directions assuming that you have a stand mixer.  If you don't (like me), you can do all of the mixing by hand with a sturdy wooden spoon or spatula.  It's just takes a bit of elbow grease and patience.**

In the bowl of a stand mixer stir together the yeast, water, milk and sugar.  Let this mixture stand for about 5 minutes to dissolve the yeast and start it's activation.  It should be a bit bubbly.  Stir in the vanilla.

Using the dough hook, stir in the flour on low speed until it is fully incorporated.  With the mixer on, slowly begin mixing in the butter 2 tablespoons at a time.    Remove the bowl from the mixer, cover with plastic wrap and let stand on the counter until the dough doubles in volume or refrigerate overnight.

When you are ready to bake the waffles, heat your waffle maker according to the manufacturer's directions.  Stir the pearl sugar into the waffle batter and let it sit on the counter for 15 minutes.

Scoop the batter two tablespoons at a time onto a lightly buttered waffle maker.  Close the lid and let cook for 4-5 minutes or until the waffles are golden and the center is cooked through.  Serve the waffles warm with a dusting of powdered sugar or smear of jam or Nutella.

Extra waffles can be kept in the refrigerator for a day or two in an airtight container and reheated gently in the oven or toaster.

Grilled Goat Cheese with Hazelnuts and Basil Honey

Last week was a wonderful whirlwind of a week.  My family and I spent 7 days touring some of the most beautiful spots in Western Europe and places that I never thought I'd get to see.  Canals, castles, cathedrals, vast tulip fields and the North Sea were the highlights of our trip through Luxembourg, Belgium and The Netherlands.  And even with all of the anticipation before the trip, we were not let down in the least by what we got to see and experience.

The sights were not to be outdone by the food (and beer!) that we got to taste along the way.  I think my favorites tastes were in Belgium.  I love what they can do with their world famous beer, whether in a stew with tender pieces of beef or saucing the most perfect confit of rabbit.  And the waffles.  Oh!  The waffles.  We had the best Liege style waffles from a little van in the Burg platz in Bruges.  I will perfect that recipe for special mornings here at home, promise. 

I think the best surprise for me, both in the feel of the city and it's food was Delft in The Netherlands.  Delft is tucked in right next to the big, bustling international city of The Hague and couldn't feel any more opposite from its neighbor.  We arrived on a rainy afternoon to a sleepy city greeting us with it's cheerful signature blue and white pottery and cheese shops filled to the brim with giant wheels of Gouda-style cheese.  After buying a perfect little Delftware Dutch shoe and sampling our fill of cheese we found a great local favorite for lunch.  My pick on that day was the perfect topper to the sweet afternoon in the city- a grilled sandwich made with Dutch goat cheese, hazelnuts and something described as basil honey.  I was totally intrigued.  And hooked with the first bite, the sum being so much greater than the parts.  Thank you Delft for a new favorite.

Grilled Goat Cheese with Hazelnuts and Basil Honey
Makes one sandwich, but easily multiplied to make as many as you like.
For the printable, click here.

This is an incredibly simple sandwich with components that seem like they would never work together.  But they do, trust me on this one.  And the basil honey that so intrigued me?  Turns out it was nothing more than local honey blended with basil.  So easy, but it really makes the sandwich.  You can make this sandwich with a panini press or in a cast iron skillet. 

For each sandwich you'll need:
2 slices of good bread like a ciabatta or peasant loaf
1 ounce of soft goat cheese (perhaps a little more if you're using the longer middle slices of your loaf of bread)
1 tbs coarsely chopped hazelnuts
1 1/2 tbs light flavored honey
1 tbs chopped basil
a touch of butter for the pan

Heat the panini press or cast iron skillet.

Toast the hazelnuts in a small skillet over medium heat until they just begin to turn a light golden color.  Remove from the heat.  In a separate small bowl mix together the honey and basil.  You could blend them together if you like, but it isn't a make or break to the end result.

Spread the goat cheese on one slice of the bread.  Sprinkle with the toasted hazelnuts.  Spread the basil and honey mixture on the second slice of bread.  Place the second slice of bread (honey side down) over the first and press together.  Lightly butter your pan or panini press.  Place the sandwich in the pan or panini press and cook until lightly toasted and the cheese starts to get a bit melty.  Don't forget to flip and press your sandwich with a spatula if you're using a cast iron pan!  Slice in half and serve warm.

My first impressions of Germany

 

So we've been on the ground in Germany for about 60 hours.  The jet lag is awful and we can't quite seem to get our body clocks to the correct time.  Everyone keeps telling us to give it time.  But it's hard to be patient when you want to get out of your hotel and go exploring.  I want to get the lay of the land and start feeling like I have a clue where I am or how to get places.  My body says I should do otherwise.  The first morning after what is possibly the largest and most varied buffet breakfast I've ever seen ( I promise to get a picture of the actual honeycomb that was out for swiping your spoon through- it was gorgeous!), my body refused to let me take a step out of the hotel.

So I took a three hour nap with my little man.  It was sublime.

But come late afternoon, we were standing on the train platform trying not to look like we had no idea where we were going.  We only got on the right train with a hope and a prayer.  My camera was firmly strapped around my neck ready to capture my very first impressions of Stuttgart.

 I was delighted by the pedestrian streets lined with outdoor seating and restaurants galore.  And the juxtaposition of the old, very old and super modern of a European city was so cool to witness.  We wandered down streets that were a bit dicey for the little ones and happened upon an international fest teeming with people listening to the salsa music being played on a mainstage.  Then there was the beautiful church at the edge of what I learned was called the schillerplatz, a lovely old city square where the people watching was top-notch.

Day 2 we headed for the nearby town of Sindelfingen for the fest celebrating the city's 750th birthday.  That's some serious history!  What a great atmosphere that city has (and gelato, and beir, and buildings...).  Oh, and the pig shanks...well, don't even get me started in how unbelievably awesome that crackly skin was. 

If it's all like this, I may be in love with my new home.  If only I cold get a handle on the language....

Big Sur Bakery House-made Buns

Anticipation is a funny thing.  You can spend a lot of time and energy waiting for a certain something to happen- thinking about it, wondering what it will be like, getting excited about the experience, worrying about what may happen.  Sometimes the event you're anticipating instills fear in you and when it's over, you find that all of the worry and dread were far worse than the thing itself actually was.  Kind of like the first day at a new school.  Then there's a night like New Year's Eve- we get all excited about how much fun we'll have and how great the party will be and then we're exhausted and want to go home by 10:30 (at least, that's how I always feel).  In the end, there's nothing but disappointment.  It's the rare occasion, I find, when your experience actually matches the expectation, even rarer still when it exceeds those expectations.

This is one of those rare occasions.  Years ago, I checked a cookbook out of my local library hoping to find a recipe or two in it that I might like.  But mostly hoping for a good read.  It's one of my favorite things to do- pour through cookbooks reading about the author's intention behind the recipes.  I find the personal stories fascinating and the motivation for creating the food described within those books often more interesting than the recipes themselves.  In this case, the cookbook was The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook.  I had never heard of the restaurant, I just thought it seemed like an interesting read and honestly, it was one of the few cookbooks in that small library that I hadn't read yet.

By the time I reached the back cover, I had fallen in love with a place I had never been to.  The setting seemed magical: a little bakery tucked into a damp hillside on a lonely stretch of road along the rocky coast.  And I loved the stories of how the bakery started from humble beginnings and of the tradition of Thanksgiving dinners for the locals.  And darn it if every single one of those recipes didn't sound fabulous to me.  I promised myself that someday I would go there and try it for myself.

That day came this past fall.  On our trip up the California coast at Thanksgiving, we purposefully drove through Big Sur to view the spectacular scenery.  I made sure that my intention to stop at the Big Sur Bakery was known to my husband and thankfully we made a plan to stop for lunch.  Here's where the anticipation comes to play.  Because, really, what did I know about this place?  All I had to go on were my instincts, a few stories in a cookbook, and the reviews on my Urbanspoon app.  It's not a whole lot to go by and I hoped and prayed that I wouldn't be let down. 

Thank goodness this was one of the exceptions to the anticipation rule.  Everyone loved their food (my oldest was over the moon at the size of the meatball slices on his pizza!).  As for me, I was truly happy that I was able to enjoy the tiny bakery tucked behind a gas station on a rainy Sunday afternoon with my family.  We scrambled through the rain to find a warm and welcoming place filled with the smells of freshly baked bread and brewing coffee.  Heaven on Earth to me.  I have to confess that the best part of the experience was the bun that my lunch came on- I honestly don't even remember what was in the sandwich, the bun was that good.  It fell somewhere between a brioche and challah, but with a lightness that was perfect. 

Two months later (while cleaning out my pantry) I found a sheet of paper on which I had written out the recipe for the "house-made buns" taken from that cook book all those years ago.  Some things are just meant to be.

Big Sur Bakery House-made Buns
Makes 8 buns.  Recipe from The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook: A Year in the Life of a Restaurant.
For a printable recipe, click here.

These buns are the perfect place to sandwich a burger or some grilled steak or chicken.  They have a bit of substance to them so they stand up to the meat and the juices, but no so much that you can't get your mouth around the sandwich.  When I made them at home I grilled a skirt steak and topped it with caramelized onions, roasted peppers and a pesto mayonnaise.  My only compliant is that my poppy seeds didn't stick.  Perhaps an egg wash would have been more useful than the butter I used to brush over the buns.  If you try it, will you let me know?

1 cup plus 2 tbs milk
1 1/2 tbs yeast
2 tbs butter, room temperature
3 1/4 cup flour
2 1/2 tbs sugar
2 tsp kosher salt
1 large egg

1 tbs poppy or sesame seeds for the tops (optional)
1 tbs melted butter

Place the milk in a small saucepan and heat until lukewarm.  Do not boil the milk, you're just getting it warm enough to help bring the yeast back to life, so barely warm to the tough is what you're aiming for.  Add the yeast to the warm milk, stir and set aside for 5 minutes.

In a mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the milk and yeast mixture with half of the flour and mix on low speed.  Add the softened butter, egg, salt and sugar one at a time and mix until well incorporated.  Slowly add the remaining flour while mixing on low speed.  You may need up to 1/4 cup additional flour to get all of the ingredients to come together.  You are looking for a soft, smooth dough that is not sticky.  Raise the speed of the mixer to medium and knead the dough for two minutes.  Raise the speed up to medium high and mix for another 2 minutes.

Transfer the dough to a buttered bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm spot on the counter for 45 minutes-1 hour, or until doubled in volume.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Divide it into 8 equal pieces and gently roll each piece into a ball about 3 1/2 to 4 inches in diameter.  Place the buns onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let the buns rise until nearly doubled in size, 30-45 minutes.

Brush the risen buns with the melted butter and, if using, sprinkle with the poppy or sesame seeds.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.  Cool on a wire rack.  You can keep the buns in an airtight container for a day or two, but they don't stay fresh for too long.  You can also freeze them, wrapped well, for up to three months.  Any leftovers make lovely french toast or croutons.