Tag Archive for 'butter'

Aunt Hazel’s Brownies

Published on October 21, 2011 in Chocolate and Desserts. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .


As promised, I’ve got some chocolatey happiness coming your way today. This is a longtime family favorite that came from my mother’s (yup, you guessed it), Aunt Hazel.

Aunt Hazel was a lean, mean baking machine. The woman had a serious thing for butter. According to family lore, she died of cirrhosis of the liver without having had a drop of alcohol in her life. We’ve always given my mother a hard time about this claim (“Come on, you know she was swigging from the vanilla extract, Mom!”), but it turns out that it may have been the case after all (nothing like Wikipedia to make you feel really guilty about teenage finger-pointing).


However she passed into the next realm, she left behind a damn good brownie recipe. It’s gooey, and, yes, it is indeed buttery. It has such a small amount of flour as to resemble a flourless chocolate cake in a way, which is a very nice thing to resemble.

However, over the years, I’ve started thinking it could be just a tad chocolatey-er, so I added another ounce of chocolate to the original recipe. A few times, I’ve used cake flour (on the suggestion of Erica Bruce’s recipe in Cooks Illustrated), which actually gives the brownies a nice consistency, but it’s not necessary. I’ve even used cocoa powder* when I was desperate (desperate for instant brownie gratification, that is), and it worked quite well, although it didn’t have the same gooeyness. But one addition that I’m definitely adding to the permanent update is a healthy pinch of Maldon sea salt sprinkled over the top before popping the pan into the oven. I think it adds a nice counterpoint to the sweetness of the brownie.

Whatever minor changes have been made, this is still Aunt Hazel’s brownie recipe at its core. And Aunt Hazel, wherever you are, please accept my sincere apologies (and those of my siblings who were complicit in this) for calling you a lush all these years.

Aunt Hazel’s Brownies

1/2 cup butter, cut into tablespoons
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, cut into small pieces
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
A generous 1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
Pinch of Maldon sea salt or some other flaky salt (optional)

Preheat oven to 325ºF/163ºC. Line an 8″x 8″ inch baking dish with parchment paper, making sure one layer has an overhang of a couple inches (this overhang will become the handles you use to lift the brownies out of the pan).

Put the butter and chocolate in a heatproof dish on top of a simmering pan of water. Stir regularly until everything is melted. Add the sugar and continue to simmer to dissolve the sugar a bit. Take the pan off the heat and let cool until warm. Stir in vanilla. Add eggs one at a time. Add flour and salt and stir until batter is glossy. Stir in the nuts and pour into pan. Sprinkle top with Maldon sea salt.

Bake for 20-30 minutes. The brownies are done when a toothpick comes out crumbly (not wet — underdone and not completely clean — overdone). Let cool at room temperature (or you can put the pan in the refrigerator or freezer if you’re really impatient). Lift out by the parchment paper and cut into squares.

* 3/4 cup to substitute; also, FYI, the bottom photo is the version made with cocoa (note the smoother top vs. the crackly one made with solid chocolate).

Apple Crisp

Published on September 23, 2011 in Desserts and fruit. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .


I’ve hardly made a dent in my apples. I’m thinking about making some applesauce (but I have to go buy a food mill for that), and I haven’t psyched myself up to tackle an apple pie yet, so I thought apple crisp would be a nice and easy way to get the ball rolling.

And it is. To the point where I should’ve doubled the recipe and made it in a 9″ x 12″ pan instead of an 8″ square one. Which is what I’m doing tomorrow. And what you should do too. And what this recipe makes.

A word about topping: some people like their topping to be super crumbly and sugary. Others go the cakey route. This one is somewhere in the middle because I’ve used a good amount of flour, but I’ve still kept a healthy amount of butter in there. I also added oatmeal and oat flour to the all-purpose flour, but I imagine you could really use whatever flour you like or do a gluten-free version (barley or quinoa flours would be good).

Because if you’re anything like me, you just can’t take that giant bowl of apples staring at you from the dining room table. Yes, apples can stare. And glare. And goad. It’s true. Quick, get going!

And have a loverly weekend all.

Apple Crisp

To fit in a 9″ x 12″ pan

10 cups apples (I used a combination of Macintosh and Baldwin, both kind of tart)
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly ground
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Topping:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1/4 cup oatmeal
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
10 tablespoons butter, chilled and cut into pieces
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC.

Peel and cut apples into slices and put them in a 9″ x 12″ baking dish. Combine the next five ingredients in a small bowl and pour that over the apples, mixing well and distributing the coated apples in an even layer in the pan.

Mix the flours, oatmeal, brown sugar and salt in bowl. Cut the butter into the mixture with a pastry blender until it forms pea size lumps. Stir in nuts if using and sprinkle topping over apples.

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until the top is nicely browned and your kitchen smells so good you can’t stand it any longer.

Roasted Corn with Smoked Paprika & Parmesan

Published on September 16, 2011 in Side Dishes. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

Get it while you still can, kids. Sweet corn is going fast, and it won’t be back til next summer, so if you see it at your local farmers market, snap it up quick.

I was inspired by this, which was in turn inspired by this, so the idea is not new, but it’s good and it’s easy to mix it up depending on what’s in your pantry. The only requirement is that you must use real corn — as in, on the cob.

I didn’t have Manchego cheese, so I went with Parmesan. And like Luisa, I didn’t have a jalapeño either (not to mention that the kid was [hopefully] going to be eating it), so I went with smoked paprika. I really love smoked paprika in a borderline unnatural kind of way, but I particularly like the way it brings its smoky but mellow heat to the buttery corn here. The bottom line is you can’t go wrong with a little spice, a little cheese and a little citrus.

I spotted more corn at my little local greenmarket on the way to school this morning, so I’m off to pick up a few more ears…maybe this time, I’ll get a jalapeño and try the original version.

Roasted Corn with Smoked Paprika & Parmesan

Serves 2

2 ears of sweet yellow corn, unhusked
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, finely grated
Zest of 1/2 lemon
3-4 basil leaves, chiffonaded
A handful of roasted cherry tomatoes (optional)

Preheat oven to 450°F/230ºC. Roast unhusked corn on a baking sheet, turning occasionally, until heated through and crisp-tender, about 15 minutes. Let cool. Shuck corn and cut kernels from cobs.

Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add corn kernels and sauté until they start to brown, 3-5 minutes. Add butter; stir until melted. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Transfer corn to bowl and stir in smoked paprika and Parmesan. Garnish with lemon zest and basil.

Zucchini Linguine

Published on September 9, 2011 in Italian and pasta. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Don’t you just love it when you randomly start making something, and it turns into something mindblowingly delicious? Something that you could eat every day and never get sick of? Something that you can’t stop raving about to your perplexed but grateful husband while simultaneously shoving it in your mouth?

Well, this is that something.

It all started when I was cruising food blogs and found a bunch of intriguing posts centered around raw zucchini cut into the shape of spaghetti. Now you all know how I love zucchini (don’t you?). And as it’s in season, there’s a lot of it to love. But I wasn’t feeling the raw angle and I felt like it needed a bit more oomph (as my mother would say) or substance, so I decided to combine it with actual spaghetti. Totally meta. And yet not too heavy because it ended up being half zucchini spaghetti and half real spaghetti.

And then the plot (and dish) thickened. I had some lovely roasted heirloom tomatoes lying around and decided to toss those in.

And then (yes there’s more), I was thinking about a recipe from Gwyneth Paltrow’s cookbook (stop rolling your eyes, I didn’t actually purchase it, just saw a recipe on some website; but I have looked at it and there’s some good, if not groundbreaking, stuff in there, so don’t hate, people) where you bread and fry zucchini slices and thought that sounded nice, but too much of a pain to execute. So I came up with the idea of a cooked butter-parmesan-panko gremolata-type topping (translation: fancy breadcrumbs). That turned out to be a very good idea, to the point that I now want crunchy cheesy lemony breadcrumbs on pretty much everything.

The bottom line is that the result of my meandering, puttering day of cooking and fiddling is a damn good dish that I will be making again and again. And you should too.

Zucchini Linguine

2 medium zucchini, julienned lengthwise on a mandoline (or spiral slicer)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves (preferably roasted), chopped
1 cup roasted cherry tomatoes (optional)
1-2 tablespoons half & half
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Black pepper
Salt
3/4 lb. spaghetti
1/4-1/2 cup pasta water, reserved

Topping:
1-2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated, plus more for garnish
Zest of half a lemon
2 handfuls (about 20 good-sized leaves) of basil, chiffonaded and separated

Put a large pot of water on to boil. Cook the spaghetti til al dente and reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water (before draining!).

In a nonstick sauté pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add the breadcrumbs and cheese, stirring to combine. Keep stirring continuously and cook until breadcrumbs start to brown. Turn off the heat and stir in the lemon zest and 1/2 the basil. Check for seasoning.

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large sauté pan. Add garlic and zucchini, cooking until just softened, but still holding its shape, about 3 minutes. Add the half & half and let it thicken a bit. Turn the heat down to medium-low and stir in tomatoes (if using) and lemon juice; season to taste with salt and pepper (chili flakes would also be nice).

Add the pasta to the zucchini pan and cook for a couple minutes, adding a bit of the pasta water to loosen things up a bit. Transfer the zucchini pasta mixture to a serving dish and garnish with the breadcrumb topping. Season with more salt and pepper, the remaining basil and more Parmesan.

Seeded Granola

Published on June 30, 2011 in Breakfast and Cookbooks + Cooks. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Sorry for such a lull in the posts, kids. Things have been a bit nutty around here. All our birthdays are clustered in a one-month period, plus we’ve been away for the last two weekends, plus it’s hot and when it gets hot, the kitchen shuts down at Casa Nitz. Not entirely, of course, but I just haven’t been particularly inspired to make anything that requires much of an effort.

Of course, I’ve been drooling over this and all its contents, but the idea of turning on the oven has stopped me from making anything…until now. I had to try the seeded granola. And turns out, while my original recipe is still delicious and healthy, this one is kind of ridiculous. Why? Well, I blame/thank the butter. Yes, everything really is better with butter. That’s not marketing; that’s the God’s-honest truth. And also the cooking of the syrup/wet mix. That gets everything really nice and crunchy.

I made a couple substitutions for things I didn’t have, which you can certainly do, but the key is to use mostly seeds (versus nuts, but nuts are okay too).  And the absolutely essential ingredient that really takes this granola over the top?  Cayenne pepper. It gives it just a hint of heat, but it’s more than that. It’s a smokiness which somehow fits so well with the seeds. Ridiculously good. In fact, going forward, I think I may need to make ALL of my granola with cayenne.

NOTES:  This recipe makes about 10 cups, which is a lot of granola. I halved it, but if you’re some kind of granola maniac, go for the whole batch. Also, the original recipe says to bake it at 325º, but I find that granola cooks better at a lower temperature, so I ended up cooking it at 300º and a bit longer than the 30 minutes called for. The important thing is to keep an eye on it and if it looks like it’s getting too dark, take it out. There’s really nothing worse than burnt granola. Well, maybe this.

Seeded Granola

Adapted from Kim Boyce’s Good to the Grain

DRY MIX:
1 cup raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
4 cups whole rolled oats
1/2 cup sliced raw almonds
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup flaxseeds
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

WET MIX:
1/2 cup honey or brown rice syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat oven to 325ºF/165ºC. Toast the pumpkin seeds on a baking sheet until light golden brown, about 10 minutes (the original recipe said it would take about 18 minutes, but mine were done much faster, so make sure to keep an eye on them!).

Combine the dry ingredients in a big bowl, adding the toasted pumpkin seeds when they’re done. Turn the oven down to 300ºF/149ºC. Butter two baking sheets (I used one small and one large rimmed sheet pan).

Meanwhile, combine the wet mix in a small heavy saucepan and cook over medium heat. Stir it once and then just let it sit until it comes to an even boil, which means the center of the syrup needs to be bubbling (not just the edges). Take the pan off the heat and pour it over the dry mix, making sure to coat all the dry ingredients with the syrup.

Spread the granola evenly onto the baking sheets and bake for 10 minutes. Take the pans out of the oven (closing the oven door to keep the heat in) and stir to bring the outside edges of the granola into the middle of the pan and push the stuff in the middle out to the edges. Rotate the sheets (meaning put the top sheet onto the bottom oven rack and the bottom on the top) and cook for another 10 minutes. Cook for 30-40 minutes, stirring and rotating as above every 10 minutes.

Remove the pans from the oven and allow the granola to cool completely on the pans; this allows those delicious crunchy clusters to form. Stored in an airtight container, it should last at least a week.