Blue Cheese Breadsticks

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Some months ago, I came across a recipe for blue cheese sticks – as in breadsticks (or straws), not cheese sticks, string cheese, etc.

It should be noted right away that I hate blue cheese. I think it smells terrible, tastes awful, and looks unsightly. That’s right, unsightly! Ryan, on the other hand, loves it.

My solution to this minor marital disagreement is to buy it anyway, and let Ryan use it on salads or whatever else he wants, as long as I don’t have to touch it or smell it.

When Ryan asked me to make these blue cheese breadsticks for a “guy’s night” at our place, I agreed with inner hesitation. I had been wanting to make them because they seemed like such a good idea, but I didn’t like the blue cheese part.

Well…when I got home on Friday night, there was literally one stick left. I don’t know if no one wanted to eat the last one, or if they were distracted by the dry roasted peanuts, but whatever. They were obviously a hit!

I did taste one, and I liked them. Yes. But you won’t find me putting blue cheese on my salad anytime soon.

Blue cheese and chives are probably the only ingredients you don't have on hand.

Just the butter and flour at this point.

Pulse the mixture until it comes together, looking coarse.

Make sure the water you add here is super cold, like ice water.

Your dough might look green. Don't worry, it will bake out!

The size of the sticks will vary if your dough isn't rolled into a perfect rectangle. This is completely ok and looks kind of fun when the sticks are on display!

Bake them until they're golden brown, even more than in this photo.

For the record, the blue ribbon was removed for "guy's night."

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 c unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1/4  c  chilled butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1  c  crumbled blue cheese
  • 1/3  c  finely chopped chives
  • 1/4  tsp  salt
  • 1/4  tsp black pepper
  • 1  to 2 tablespoons cold water

Directions:

  1. Spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and butter in a food processor; pulse to blend. Add cheese, chives, salt, and pepper; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Drizzle water into flour mixture until dough forms a ball. Roll dough into a 16 x 8-inch rectangle. Wrap dough in plastic wrap; refrigerate 4 hours or until firm.
  2. Preheat oven to 350°.
  3. Cut dough crosswise into thin slices. Place 1/2 inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Cool bread sticks completely on wire racks.

Valentine’s Day Fruit

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If you’re looking for the perfect, most adorable, Valentine’s Day gift idea ever, look no further than Twig & Thistle’s “Naturally Sweet” stickers.

I literally gasped with delight when I saw these. Instead of giving the usual candy, chocolate, and other various sweets on Valentine’s Day, what about fruit? It’s inexpensive, healthy, and totally unexpected.

The stickers are made for apples, bananas, oranges, berries, pears, and passion fruit (seriously!). And with sayings like, “You’re the apple of my eye,” and “I’m going bananas over you,” you can use these stickers all year round.

Best part? They’re free! I mean, are you kidding me? Best. V-Day. Idea. Ever.

Champagne Cake

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Time is a hot commodity. Sometimes we all need a secret recipe that tastes amazing, looks great, and only seems like it took you longer to make than it really did.

Enter, Champagne Cake.

Sadly, I cannot claim this recipe as my own. I wish I had been this creative. You may remember this little post awhile back, about the Better Homes and Gardens “Desserts” publication. Champagne Cake is in there, on page 13.

Basically, here’s what you do:

  • Buy boxed white cake mix (enough for two 9″ rounds)
  • Buy white vanilla frosting
  • Replace the called-for water with champagne (seriously)*
  • Bake according to the box directions
  • Frost

I made this for a small New Year’s get-together just a couple weeks ago. To make it more festive, I colored the frosting a light pink and added blackberries as a garnish. You could use any berry or small fruit really, and get creative with the color! These would also make great cupcakes as well.

The cake tastes great, like fluffy, moist, white cake with just a little bit of a champagne edge to it.*

Make this and I promise people will still be talking about it the next day.

*The alcohol will burn off during baking, so all that remains is the taste.

Crack Pie

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Crack Pie

Back in September, Bon Appetit published a recipe from Momofuku Milk Bar (which is on my list of must-try restaurants next time I’m in NYC). This pie is named for its addicting quality. And believe me, it lives up to its name. I’ve adapted it just a little bit here.

It has an oatmeal cookie-like crust. The filling is basically brown sugar and butter. Plus, it has a little bit of that salty-sweet combination that is just so great.

I used steel-cut oats instead of the old-fashioned kind. It makes things more crunchy than chewy, which I prefer. In addition, steel-cut oats are a tad bit better for you (like you care if you’re going to go ahead and make this).

I took this pie to a little picnic outing on one of DC’s last warm days. There were six of us and I didn’t take a single bit home. Not one little crumb.

The cookie crust dough will be thick and tough to spread.

Put a little muscle into it and things will be just fine.

Once the dough is baked and cooled, crumble it up, add some butter and brown sugar for your crust.

Here’s where life gets really good…the filling.

Bake it, cool it, chill it, powder it, and enjoy.

 

You’ll Need::

  • parchment paper

Ingredients::

Crust

  • Nonstick spray
  • 9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
  • 5 1/2 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar, divided
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons steel-cut oats
  • 1/2 cup all purpose unbleached flour
  • 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon (generous) salt

Filling

  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, cooled slightly
  • 6 1/2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Powdered sugar (for dusting)

Directions::

Crust

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan with parchment paper; coat with nonstick spray. Combine 6 tablespoons butter, 4 tablespoons brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat mixture until light and fluffy, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl, about 2 minutes.
  2. Add egg; beat until pale and fluffy. Add oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and beat until well blended, about 1 minute. Turn oat mixture out onto prepared baking pan; press out evenly to edges of pan. Bake until light golden on top, 17 to 18 minutes. Transfer baking pan to rack and cool cookie completely.
  3. Using hands, crumble oat cookie into large bowl; add 3 tablespoons butter and 1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar. Rub in with fingertips until mixture is moist enough to stick together. Transfer cookie crust mixture to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Using fingers, press mixture evenly onto bottom and up sides of pie dish. Place pie dish with crust on rimmed baking sheet.

Filling

  1. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Whisk both sugars and salt in medium bowl to blend. Add melted butter and milk and whisk until blended. Add cream, then egg yolks and vanilla and whisk until well blended.
  2. Pour filling into crust. Bake pie 30 minutes (filling may begin to bubble). Reduce oven temperature to 325°F. Continue to bake pie until filling is brown in spots and set around edges but center still moves slightly when pie dish is gently shaken, about 20 minutes longer.
  3. Cool pie 2 hours in pie dish on rack. Chill uncovered overnight.
  4. Sift powdered sugar lightly over top of pie. Cut pie into wedges and serve cold.


A Manly Mixer

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First of all, this isn’t Heather.  This is the husband.  And it seems I’ve hijacked Sugar & Butter…okay, I convinced her to let me guest blog.  Isn’t she great?

Right now I basically have two responsibilities in the kitchen:  slice things with my knife, “Gertrude” and help with dishes.  Three if you count Official Taste Tester.  But if we had one of THESE I would seriously lobby to add mixing to my list.

I saw this mixer walking through Crate & Barrel.  (That’s right, I’m man enough to go to Crate & Barrel, especially if there is a Red Mango treat in it for me afterwards.)  But seriously, just look how great this thing is!  It’s all chrome, cord storage, beaters, whisks, and dough hooks, all at 5 different speeds and powered by a 240 watt motor.  That’s about as much as a (really small) weed eater.  And if that’s not a manly mixer, then I don’t know what is.

P.S.  I wasn’t allowed to buy it.  Oh well…

Apple Crumb Pie

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Photo: Nicholas Donner

Labor Day is upon us. For anyone outside of Florida, it means the last days of summer are almost here.

What better way to celebrate than with some good old fashioned apple pie?

As much as I wish I was talented like my grandmother, I haven’t mastered the lattice crust yet. Instead, I went the crumb topping route. It tastes like almonds and butter mostly, but when it mixes with the apples and cinnamon underneath…so much goodness! This apple crumb pie is adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook.

I strongly recommend buying an apple corer/peeler/slicer for this, if you don't already have one.

The makings of a crumb crust...

Pile the apples nice and high in the middle so your pie achieves that "domed" look.

Let this pie cool completely before digging in. It needs time to set up before being served so it all sticks together.


Ingredients:

  • Almond Crumb Crust (recipe follows)
  • 3 1/2 lbs assorted apples (I used Granny Smith and Fuji), cored, peeled, and sliced into half-moon pieces
  • 2 TBS lemon juice
  • 1/3 c sugar
  • 3/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 TBS unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Press 2/3 of crumbs into bottom, up sides, and onto rim of a 9-inch glass pie plate. Freeze pie shell for about 15 minutes.
  2. In large bowl, stir together apples, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, and salt. Pour mixture into chilled pie shell, mounding apples in center. Dot with butter. Sprinkle remaining crumbs in clumps over apples to cover completely.
  3. Bake, rotating halfway through, until crust turns golden and juices begin to bubble, 45 min – 1 hour. Cool on rack, completely.

Almond Crumb Crust:

In large bowl, stir together, 1 1/2 c all-purpose flour, 1 c + 2 TBS almond meal, 1/2 c +2 TBS sugar, and 1/4 tsp salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 c) unsalted butter, room temperature, until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs with a few larger clumps remaining. Using your fingers, squeeze the mixture together to create pea-size pieces.

Beef Bourguignon

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This is the classic. Of all classics. It is labor-intensive and moderate in difficulty.

And completely worth it.

I recently adapted Julia Child’s Beef Bourguignon for dinner at our place with friends. I served mine with mashed confetti potatoes instead of egg noodles or pasta.

Next time you have a special occasion, try this one out. Just make sure you give yourself plenty of time!







Ingredients:

  • 6-ounces bacon coarsely chopped
  • 3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 pounds lean stewing beef, cut into 2-inch cubes
  • 1 carrot, sliced
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 3 cups red wine, young and full-bodied (I used Cotes du Rhone)
  • 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups beef broth
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 2 cloves mashed garlic
  • 1/2 teaspoon thyme
  • A crumbled bay leaf
  • 18 to 24 pearl onions (prepare with recipe here)
  • 3 1/2 tablespoons butter
  • Herb bouquet (4 parsley sprigs, one-half bay leaf, one-quarter teaspoon thyme, tied in cheesecloth)
  • 1 pound mushrooms (prepare with recipe here)

Directions:

  1. Saute bacon over medium-high heat in a dutch oven or fireproof casserole until crisp. Remove from pan, drain and dry on separate plate with paper towels. Reheat pan until fat is almost smoking before you saute the beef.
  2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
  3. Dry the beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Saute it, a few pieces at a time, in the hot oil and bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the bacon.
  4. In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the fat.
  5. Return the beef and bacon to casserole and toss with the salt and pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly with the flour. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of pre-heated oven for 4 minutes. Toss the meat and return to oven for another 4 minutes. Remove casserole and turn oven down to 325 degrees F.
  6. Stir in the wine, and enough broth so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs, and bacon rind. Bring to simmer on top of stove. Cover casserole and set in lower third of oven.
  7. Simmer for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until meat is easily pierced with a fork.
  8. While beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms.
  9. When meat is tender, pour contents of casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan. Return beef and bacon to casserole, distribute onions and mushrooms over meat.
  10. Skim fat off sauce. Simmer sauce for a minute or two, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2 1/2 cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables.
  11. Cover casserole and simmer for 2-3 minutes, basting meat and vegetables with sauce several times. Serve on a platter surrounded by potatoes, noodles, or rice. Decorate with parsley.