DARK CHOCOLATE CRACKLES

2 ½ cups Kari’s Pastry Flour

1 tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. table salt

½ lb. unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

1 ⅔ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp finely grated orange zest

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 large eggs

½ lb bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled until barely warm

¾ cup chopped chocolate (white, bittersweet, or semisweet)

⅓ cup granulated sugar, more as needed.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 3 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl,whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, cocoa, orange zest, and vanilla on medium speed until well combined, about 4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating briefly between additions. Add melted chocolate and mix until blended. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until blended. Add the chopped chocolate and mix until blended.

Shape the dough into 1¼ inch balls with a small ice cream scoop or two spoons. (The balls of dough may be frozen for a month. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before baking.)

Pour granulated sugar in a shallow bowl. Dip the top of each ball in the sugar and place, sugar side up, on the baking sheets. Bake one sheet at a time until the cookies are puffed and cracked on top. Let the cookies cool 5 minutes on the sheets before transferring to a rack.

Yields about 5 dozen cookies.  

Stay tuned for a killer chocolate cookie recipe!

1 pkg sweetened, shredded coconut

1 cup finely chopped pecans

1 can sweetened condensed milk

3 egg whites

¼ cup Kari’s pastry flour

¼ cup sugar

4 T unsalted butter, melted

1 t vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Topping:

4 oz German chocolate

1 T shortening

Mince 1 ½ cups coconut in a food processor. Transfer minced coconut to a large bowl. Add remaining coconut and pecans, then toss to combine. Whisk together 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk, egg whites, flour, sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt in a bowl with a pour spout.

Gently mix egg white mixture into coconut and pecans until combined. Chill dough for at least 1 hour, or up to 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop dough onto perpared baking sheets with a #60 scoop (about 2 tsp.) spacing 1 inch apart.

Bake until brown on base and golden on tops and edges, 16-18 minutes.

Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes; transfer to a cooling rack.

Topping:

Cook remaining sweetened condensed milk in top of double boiler until slightly thickened, about 45 minutes; keep warm.

Melt chocolate with shortening stirring until smooth. Top each macaroon with 1 tsp chocolate; let stand. When chocolate has set, drizzle thickened condensed milk over tops of cookies.

This recipe is from Cuisine Holiday Cookies 2011.

Another recipe that works well with Kari’s Flour. Replace flour in recipe one-for-one. Recipe from Cuisine Holiday Cookies, 2011, Page 22.

Perfect Pumpkin Bars Cuisine Holiday Cookies, 2011

What would fall be without something made with pumpkin! These are delicious and they freeze well.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Coat an 111/2 x 161/2-inch baking sheet with nonstick spray.

Makes 36 bars
Total time 45 minutes

For the bars, whisk:

1 cup each granulated sugar and packed light brown sugar
1 cup canola oil
1 can pumpkin puree (15 oz.)
4 eggs, room temperature
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

Sift:

2 cups Kari’s Pastry Flour
2 tsp. each baking powder and ground cinnamon
1 tsp. each salt and baking soda
1/2 tsp. each ground ginger, cloves, and nutmeg

Whisk dry ingredients into pumpkin mixture until combined. Spread batter onto prepared baking sheet. Bake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

For the Frosting:

4 oz. white bar chocolate. chopped
1 1/2 pkg. cream cheese, softened (12 oz. )
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (12 oz.)
3 cups sifted powdered sugar

Melt white chocolate in a microwave on high, 1-2 minutes. Stir until smooth.
Beat butter and cream cheese with a mixer on high speed until smooth. Add melted chocolate and beat to combine. Add powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Spread on cooled bars and cut into bars.

Gluten free snacks are now available at Maplefields in their Essex, Airport, University, Colchester, Chimney Corners, and Georgia locations.

Buffalo Mountain Health Food Store in Hardwick has come on board, and is selling West Meadow Farm products.

We hope you will patronize some of these establishments and encourage their participation.

Recently, we hosted our daughter’s wedding reception, and were pleased to be able to offer the guests several gluten free options. We were aware of several people that needed to be gluten free, but were surprised to find that most of the rolls, carrot cake, and brownies disappeared quickly. Even if you don’t need gluten free, be sure to have some of these products on hand for your guests.

Do you like graham crackers? I do, and West Meadow Farm Bakery makes delicious ones. They are much better than what you buy in the grocery store. They’re good to eat plain or to make Sa’mores, but the great thing is you can now make recipes that call for graham cracker crumbs. Probably the most common use is for graham cracker crumb crusts for pies and cheesecakes. My first attempt was a cheesecake that turned out very well, so here is the recipe. The great thing is, you can make this 2 or 3 days ahead and it is still delicious!

Nancy McRae’s Cheesecake

Crust

¾ cup coarsely ground nuts ( I use walnuts or pecans )

¾ cup graham cracker crumbs

3 T melted butter

Combine ingredients and press onto bottom of 10” spring form pan.

Filling

4 8 oz. Packages softened cream cheese

4 eggs

1 ¼ cup sugar

1 T fresh lemon juice

1 T grated lemon rind

2 t vanilla

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and beat thoroughly. Spoon over crust. Set pan on cookie sheet to catch drips. Place rack in center of oven. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 – 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 15 minutes. Keep oven at 350.

Topping

2 cups sour cream

¼ cup sugar

1 t vanilla

Combine together and blend well. After cake has set for 15 minutes, spread topping over cake and return to oven for 5 minutes. Cool completely, then refrigerate. Top with berries if desired.

This is best made at least one day ahead, and can be made 2 – 3 days before serving.

Hopefully, some of you readers have tried the pasta selections at the bakery and were duly impressed with the quality. Now there is a new addition – vegetarian lasagne. It is made with a red wine tomato sauce and uses spinach instead of meat. As with the other products it comes frozen, so you can have it on hand in the freezer and pop it in the oven for an easy, tasty meal.

I love wandering around the bakery, smelling all the tantalizing aromas and hoping for free samples. This time I also took home a loaf of white bread made with their new bread flour blend. Now bread is one thing that just isn’t the same without gluten because it is gluten that makes your bread chewy and keeps it from crumbling. I took the loaf home, and at Lois’ suggestion I made grilled cheese sandwiches and fed them to my family. Five of us tried them and we all thought they were pretty yummy. If you can’t have real bread this is a darn good substitute.

Another product that I got to sample was a fresh bagel. I selected one of the garlic/herb variety which was still warm. It was very good and quite convincing. They also make excellent sandwiches. The varieties available are: garlic/herb, plain,everything, cinnamon/raisin, cheddar/jack(personal favorite), sesame, and poppyseed.

Stop by and see what’s cooking. Coming soon – Brown and Jenkins coffee. Liven up your morning with coffee and a muffin!

Beware the Ides of March. I just love saying that but you only need to worry if you are Julius Caesar. On a more pertinent note, what’s new at the bakery? I feel like I should finish up the Pasta Category. I learned that you need to use lots of water when you cook gluten free pasta. Also, don’t thaw the ravioli before you cooking. If you put them in the boiling water frozen, they will separate on their own. The lasagne is delicious. Get some and keep it in your freezer. It’s great for those nights when you don’t know what to fix, and it is good enough to serve to company.

Today I was talking to one of my fellow ski instructors and he mentioned that he had picked up some goodies at the bakery for a friend of his who has celiac disease. His friend was delighted to have something that tasted so good because generally the baked goods he eats taste like sawdust. I can attest to the fact that nothing at West Meadow Farm Bakery tastes like sawdust! So if you are visiting a friend that has a gluten allergy, stop and pick up a treat for them. I’m sure they will thank you for it.

They say that March is the meteorological beginning of spring, but with sub zero temperatures in the forecast, I’m not so sure. So, it was a good day to fire up the wood cookstove and make some soup. I love slaving over a hot stove when it’s cold outside. The perfect accompaniment to a bowl of soup is a freshly baked roll, so I pulled a package of Pepper Jack bake and serve rolls (gluten free, of course) out of the freezer and I was good to go. I let them sit at room temperature until thawed and baked them for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

The true test of any food is the husband test and these passed with flying colors. I believe his exact words were “Boy, are these good! I would eat these anytime!” These rolls are warm and soft, with gooey cheese throughout. They really are tasty. In addition to the pepper jack variety there are also Spinach – Feta and Broccoli – Cheddar. I have yet to try these, but am looking forward to the experience.