Molasses Cookies

Simple autumn cookie recipe

This recipe is featured on RecipeNewZ

Source: adapted from Allrecipes

Taste: 4 out of 5

Difficulty: 1 out of 5

Ingredients
• 3/4 cup margarine, melted (1215 cal)
• 1 cup white sugar (780 cal)
• 1 egg (70 cal)
• 1/4 cup molasses (245 cal)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (910 cal)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda mixed with 1 tbsp apple vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon ground orange zest
• 1/2 cup white sugar (390 cal)
Total: 30 cookies, 3610 cal, 120 cal / cookie

Directions
1. Combine all the ingredients using a mixer. Cover, and chill dough for 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Roll dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining white sugar. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until tops are cracked. Cool on wire racks.

Afterthoughts
These cookies are very soft and chewy, but it seems I am not a huge fan of molasses. I will try them next time with brown sugar instead :-)

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Cheese Bread

Super easy and delicious, especially when served warm out of the oven. A perfect accompaniment for any autumn meal and my October SRC assignment.
Source Kitchen Trial and Error blog

Taste 5 (out of 5)

Difficulty 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients
• 2 eggs (140 cal)
• 3 tbsp canola oil (360 cal)
• 1 cup milk (120 cal)
• 1 tablespoon sugar (45 cal)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (910 cal)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp mustard powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese (660 cal)
Total: 2235 cal, 10 slices, 225 cal / slice

Directions
1. Mix the eggs, the oil, the milk, the sugar and the salt.
2. Add the dry ingredients and mix until there are no lumps.
3. Mix in the shredded cheese.
4. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and pour in the batter.
5. Bake for 45 minutes in an oven preheated to 375F.
6. Serve warm.

Afterthoughts
1. I am not sure whether it’s a crustless quiche, a biscuit or bread, but it’s certainly very tasty, especially warm out of the oven. It’s very easy to finish half the loaf. There is a lot of cheese in this bread, but it does not in the slightest feel greasy or heavy.
2. If you don’t finish the loaf on the first day, seal it in a zip lock bag, store in the fridge and reheat in microwave (but of course chances are you won’t have any leftovers).
3. I greased the loaf pan very thoroughly with shortening, but the bread was all stuck to the pan (I suppose because of the melted cheese) and it was extremely difficult to take the bread out and then to wash the pan. Next time I will definitely use parchment paper, and maybe grease it too.
4. Saving the best for last ;-) : if you have not visited Kate’s blog Kitchen Trial and Error yet, you certainly should. She has lots of great recipes, both sweet and savory, and I’ve been reading and loving it for a long time. And I am not saying that just because my blog is called Cookbook of Trial and Error :-). I think my next trial (and I hope a successful one) from Kate’s blog will be her caramel corn, something I’ve been wanting to make for a year now.

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Cheese Cake with Sour Cream

Tangy, light, delicious and as low calorie as a cheese cake can be

This recipe is featured on RecipeNewZ

Source: a friend’s mom

Taste 5 out of 5

Difficulty 2 out of 5

Ingredients
For the base
• 130 g animal crackers (520 cal)
• 70 g melted butter (500 cal)
For the cheese layer
• 400 g farmers cheese (310 cal)
• 100 g buttermilk or yogurt (65 cal)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (10 cal)
• 2 eggs (140 cal)
• 2/3 cup sugar (510 cal)
For the top layer
• 300 g sour cream (640 cal)
• 1/3 cup sugar (255 cal)
Total 2950 cal, 12 servings, 245 cal/serving

Directions
1. Crush the animal cracker in a food processor to a powder consistency. Transfer the cracker powder into a clean bowl and mix with the melted butter. Press the resulting mixture into a greased 9 inch cake pan – you don’t need to coat the sides of the pan, only the bottom. You can also use a 5”x7” square Pyrex pan, if you want to make cheese cake squares.
2. In a food processor, mix together all the ingredients for the cheese layer to uniform consistency and pour onto the cracker layer.
3. Bake for 5 minutes in an over preheated to 400F/200C and then for another 15 minutes at 350F/180C.
4. In the meantime mix the sour cream with the sugar. After the cake has been baking for 20 minutes, take it out of the oven; pour the sour cream on top of the cake and bake for another 5 minutes.
5. Let the cake cool at room temperature and then chill in the fridge for another 2 hours before serving.

Afterthoughts
• This is a really delicious light cheese cake. Using quark or farmer’s cheese is a great alternative to cream cheese; it has almost 5 times less calories and is not as heavy and greasy. It also has this nice tanginess to it. If you don’t have quark or farmer’s cheese, no worries, you can use 500 g of Greek yogurt instead of farmer’s cheese and buttermilk.
• The only mistake I’ve made with this cake was the bottom layer, next time I will use cracker crumbs, not powder, and will add less butter. In my case the base was too soggy.

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Chocolate Hazelnut Financiers

A dessert that will enrich your day ;-)

This recipe is featured on RecipeNewZ

Source
Adapted from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme

Taste 4 (out of 5)

Difficulty 2 (out of 5)

Ingredients
- 60 g bittersweet chocolate, chopped (365 cal)
- 2 large eggs (140 cal)
- 75 g sugar (290 cal)
- 60 g finely ground hazelnuts (180 cal)
- 75 g butter or margarine (540 cal)
- 60 g lukewarm water
- 30 g all-purpose flour (110 cal)
Total: 10 financiers, 1625 calories, 160 cal/financier

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350F/180C and butter and flour 10 financier molds (relatively flat molds with capacity of about 3 tbsp of water).
2. Place the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl, heat on high for 30 second, mix the chocolate with a spoon and repeat about 3 times, until the chocolate is melted. Set aside to cool to room temperature. You can also melt the chocolate in double broiler, but I find the microwave faster.
3. In a mixer fitted with a whisk, whip the eggs and the sugar until slightly fluffy, then add the powdered hazelnuts and continue beating until mixed and pale in color.
4. Add the butter in 4-5 chunks. Keep scraping the sides of the bowl as you are working.
5. Add the water and lastly, the chocolate, and continue beating until the mixture is homogenous.
6. With a rubber spatula gently mix in the flour.
7. Using a small 2-2 1/2 tbsp capacity ice cream scoop, pour the batter into the prepared molds and bake them in the preheated oven for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into a financier comes out clean and the cookies are slightly springy to touch.
8. Remove the cookies from the oven, let them cool in the molds for about 3 minutes, and then unmold them by inverting them onto the cooling rack. Serve at room temperature.
9. It’s best to serve financiers immediately, because they become a bit sticky when you store them in the refrigerator.

Afterthoughts
1. These cake-like cookies are pretty tasty, soft and somewhat reminiscent of chocolate gateau. But I guess I had super high expectations from a combination of hazelnuts and dark chocolate, so I give in only 4 on taste.
2. I have never eaten “real” financiers, which are supposed to be made with almonds, and not hazelnuts, and without chocolate. And I also tweaked the original recipe quite a bit, so I don’t know if what I got is even called financiers :-).
3. Most recipes call for roasted nuts, with skins removed. And up to this recipe I have followed those instructions. But now I decided that since I love raw plane nuts more than roasted, why not keep them raw and skin-on in baking as well. I have not had the same recipe with roasted nuts, but I suspect I would not have felt the difference. And I saved 20 minutes roasting and cleaning the nuts.
4. Dorie Greenspan’s book says that financiers are called thus, because they were first made at a pastry shop near la Bourse (stock exchange) in Paris, whose main customers were rich financiers. The original financiers were baked in small rectangular molds, and since they were goldish (as they did not have chocolate) they resembled bars of gold.

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Naan

Easy and delicious homemade Indian flatbread for the Secret Recipe Club

Source
Paulchen’s Foodblog

Taste: 5 (out of 5)

Difficulty: 2 (out of 5)

Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting (1820 cal)
- 11/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp active dry yeast
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground fenugreek
- about 11/4 cups water
Total: 1820 cal, 3 naan breads, 605 cal / naan

Instructions
1. Line a baking sheet. Put the flour, salt and yeast into a bowl and add enough water to make a soft, but not sloppy dough. Add the ground seeds, then divide the dough into three pieces and put on the baking sheet. Let rest for 1 hour.
2. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and, using a rolling pin, flatten each piece into a circle, 10 inches / 25.5 cm in diameter, and let rest for 5 minutes.
3. Heat a skillet to a medium heat and add a splash of olive oil. Shallow-fry each naan until browned on both sides. After removing naan from the pan, lightly butter it on both sides to keep the surface soft then set aside to cool slightly before serving.

Afterthoughts
- My Secret Recipe Club assignment for September was Paulchen’s Foodblog. It’s a great blog with many delicious recipes, but the part that instantly caught my attention was the Bread Baking Babes tab, under which I found lots of bread recipes. And since I’ve been thinking about making naan for some time now, it was the natural choice.
- This was a very tasty naan and really simple to make. The original recipe suggested using caraway seeds, but I did not have those, so I used fenugreek. I am sure many other spices will work equally well, like curry powder, turmeric, coriander, etc.
- I have made naan before from my beloved 5 minutes a day no knead dough. It tasted great, but that was a very wet dough, so it was a bit difficult to shape. This dough was really pliable and easy to work with.
- We had this naan with a homemade paneer in tomato-yogurt sauce, and a nectarine lassi. Yum!

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Quinoa not so Tabbouleh Salad

A yummy vegan salad from An Opera Singer in the Kitchen

This recipe is featured on RecipeNewZ

Source
An Opera Singer’s Kitchen blog

Taste 5 (out of 5)

Difficulty 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa (625 cal)
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 avocado, diced (160 cal)
- 1/2 tomato, diced (10 cal)
- 5 red radishes, diced (5 cal)
- 5 green onions, chopped (5 cal)
- 1/2 cup parsley, chopped
- 1/2 cup yellow pepper, diced (10 cal)
- 1/2 cup English cucumber, diced (10 cal)
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (1 tsp in the original recipe)
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 3 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar (35 cal)
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (240 cal)
Total: 1100 cal, 4 servings, 275 cal / serving

Instructions
1. Wash the 1 cup of quinoa in a colander for several seconds. Add quinoa, 1 1/2 cups of water and salt to a small pot and boil for 15 minutes. You will know it is cooked when it becomes soft and you see little white antennas pop from the grain.
2. Meanwhile, wash all your veggies well and chop and dice them accordingly.
3. Add all the veggies to a medium glass bowl and toss. In a small bowl mix the red wine vinegar, olive oil and all the spices and blend well. Add the vinaigrette to the salad and enjoy.
4. Will keep for 1 day, but best eaten the same day.

Afterthoughts
1. This salad can be served both as a side or all by itself. The ingredients are all healthy and the textures and flavors combine into a delicious, colorful and happy salad.
2. Noell’s blog http://www.singerskitchen.com/ was my August assignment from the Secret Recipe Club. I have visited it many times before and was very happy to finally make one of her recipes. If you have not yet, check out this blog, especially if you’re looking for vegan recipes!

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Peach Pie

A wonderful dessert for summer, when peaches are in season (for the Secret Recipe Club)

This recipe is featured on RecipeNewZ

Source
Adapted from Feast on the Cheap

Taste 5 (out of 5)

Difficulty 2 (out of 5)

Ingredients
For the Pie Crust (1390 cal)
- 1 1/4 cups flour (570 cal)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar (10 cal)
- 1 stick / 8 tbsp unsalted butter, sliced (810 cal)
- 1/4 cup ice water
For the Filling (2110 cal)
- 2 1/2 lbs / 7-8 peaches, peeled and sliced (430 cal)
- 1 cup sugar (775 cal)
- 2 eggs (140 cal)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 5 tbsp flour (275 cal)
- 8 oz sour cream (490 cal)
Total: 1 9-inch pie, 3500 cal, 8 servings, 440 cal/serving

Instructions
For pie crust
1. Arm the food processor with its metal blade and pour in all of the Pie Crust ingredients, except the ice water. Press pulse for about 10 seconds or so, until the dry ingredients appear like coarse meal.
2. Slowly, through the feed tube, drizzle the iced water while simultaneously pressing the pulse button. This step is critical – don’t over mix the dough as it will quickly toughen. You want to “pulse” it just until it holds together.
3. Lay a piece of plastic wrap on the counter and turn the dough out onto it. With very gently pressure, first form the mixture into a ball, then using the flat of your hands press it into a flat disc. Remember, the less you handle and maul the pie dough, the flakier the result.
4. Wrap the plastic around the disc and refrigerate it for one hour. *(You can refrigerate it up to three days before or freeze it for a month.)
5. On a floured counter top roll out the pastry to fit a nine-inch pie plate. You need about a one-inch overhang for crimping/fluting the edges. Transfer the rolled out dough to the pie plate.
For Filling
6. To peel the peaches easily, bring a large pot of water to boil. Drop 2 or 3 peaches at a time into the water and allow to cook for 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon, transfer them to an ice water bath. The peaches are so much easier to peel using this method. Simply prick their boiled skins with a paring knife and the skin just falls away.
7. Blend all of the Filling ingredients together. Transfer to the prepared pie crust and cover with the Lattice Topping ingredients.
8. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, then 350 degrees for 40 minutes until firm and brown. Be certain that the pie really does feel firm to the touch when finished. The flour acts much the way cornstarch or arrowroot does, thickening the sour cream, and the filling should not be runny but has an almost pudding-like consistency.

Afterthoughts
- This is a delicious dessert, so fragrant and rich; the sweetness of the peaches and the tanginess of sour cream combine to create a wonderful aroma.
- I have seen this recipe on Feast on the Cheap a while ago, and had it on my wish list. How happy I was to be assigned this wonderful blog for the Secret Recipe Club and especially during the peach season :-)
- The original recipe has twice more dough for the crust. Half was supposed to be used for a lettice topping. I used only half to save calories and work :-)
- My pie pan is low and the amount of filling was probably 1 1/2 times more than it could hold. I guess the original recipe is meant for a deep pan.

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Carrot Applesauce Muffins

The best muffins I’ve made so far, with healthy substitutions..
Source: Adapted from Passionate about Baking blog

Taste 5 (out of 5)

Difficulty 2 (out of 5)

Ingredients
- 200 g all-purpose flour (730 cal)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda + 1 tbsp lemon juice to activate
- 1 tsp ground orange zest
- 2 large eggs, separated (140 cal)
- 125 g canola oil (1105 cal)
- 125 g apple sauce (210 cal)
- 200 g sugar (775 cal)
- 125 g roughly chopped dried apricots (310 cal)
- 60 g chopped walnuts (390 cal)
- 150 g roughly grated carrot (60 cal)
- pinch salt
Total 12 muffins, 3720 cal, 310 cal / muffin

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease 12 large muffin tins (or a 9″ loose bottomed ring baking tin).
2. Separate the eggs and lightly whisk together the two yolks. Add the oil, sugar and apple sauce and beat together with an electric mixer for about 1 minute until well combined.
3. In a small bowl pour lemon juice over baking soda and mix well, until only bubbles are left. Pour the bubbly liquid into the batter. Add the flour, the baking soda and the orange zest to the batter and mix until just combined. Add the carrots, the walnuts and the dried apricots and mix lightly. Be careful not to over mix.
4. In a separate dry bowl beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they form firm peaks.
5. Next, gently fold the egg whites into the carrot mixture. Again, be careful not to over mix; it is fine to have streaks of white remaining in the mixture.
6. Using a large ice cream scoop, pour the mixture into the prepared muffin tins and bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Let the muffins cool completely, then remove from the tins.
8. You can freeze the muffins at this stage, if you like. Just wrap it in a double layer of parchment paper and put it in a polythene freezer bag.

Afterthoughts
- They are probably the best muffins I’ve ever made… even for someone like me who is not a big fan of carrot cake. Moist and soft, and when they were finishing baking, the house smelled like heaven.
- I had a lot of ingredients I wanted to use up, like carrots, dried apricots and applesauce. And I also had a new square muffin tin that I wanted to inaugurate. So I went looking for carrot cake recipes, and the one on Passionate About Baking caught my eye. I made quite a few substitutions, to accommodate my ingredients, but the result really exceeded all my expectations. If this is a blog of "trial an error," this recipe is a clear “trial and success.”
- Deeba (from Passionate About Baking) also has a recipe for frosting, but I skipped that part to save calories. Check out her site for that (and her gorgeous photos).

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Ina Garten's Mocha Chocolate Iceberg Cake

Softer and creamier than ice cream, a perfect, simple summer dessert

This recipe is featured on RecipeNewZ

Source
Cookies: The food we eat blog
Filling: Ina Garten's
Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That?: Fabulous Recipes & Easy Tips


Taste 5 (out of 5)

Difficulty 2 (out of 5)

Ingredients
For the cookies (1085 cal)
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (340 cal)
- pinch salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp apple vinegar
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened (410 cal)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar (195 cal)
- 2 tbsp light brown sugar (70 cal)
- 1 tbsp light corn syrup (30 cal)
- 1 egg white (15 cal)
- 1 tbsp milk (10 cal)
- 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract (15 cal)
For the filling (1885 cal)
- 1 cup cold heavy cream (820 cal)
- 6 oz mascarpone cheese (765 cal)
- 1/4 cup sugar (195 cal)
- 2 tbsp Kahlua liqueur (90 cal)
- 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (10 cal)
- 1/2 tsp instant espresso powder
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (5 cal)
- shaved semisweet chocolate or cocoa powder, for garnish
Total: a 6 inch cake, 8 servings, 3770 cal, 471 cal / serving

Instructions
For the cookies
1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Using the bottom of a 6 inch springform pan, trace 4 6 inch circles on the parchment paper, spacing them 2 inches apart from each other. Invert the paper so the pencil marks are facing the sheet and do not touch the dough. Set aside.
3. Using an electric mixer beat together the butter, sugars, and corn syrup at low speed using the paddle attachment, until blended (about 1 minute). Add egg white, milk, and vanilla. Mix until fully incorporated and smooth, about 1 minute. Using rubber spatula, scrape bottom and sides of bowl.
4. In a small bowl, pour one tablespoon of apple vinegar over baking soda, and mix until you only see bubbles, and no baking soda grains. Add to the bowl with the dough.
5. With the mixer running on low speed, add the flour. Mix until just combined.
6. Separate the batter into 4 equal parts and scoop it out onto the parchment paper, filling the 4 circles and smoothing the batter.
7. Bake until cookies are deep golden brown and flat, about 10 - 12 minutes.
8. Cool cookies on the baking sheet for 3 minutes. Using a wide spatula, transfer to wire rack and let sit until crisped and cooled.
For the filling
9. In a large bowl combine all the filling ingredients, and whisk with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.
For assembly
10. Place one giant cookie at the bottom of a 6-inch springform pan. Spread a 1/5 of the cream evenly on top of the cookie. Add the second cookie and proceed until the last cream layer is on top. Smooth the top, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
11. Before serving, remove from the springform pan and the plastic wrap, and decorate with chocolate shavings or cocoa powder.

Afterthoughts
- It’s very hard to stop eating this cake! Absolutely delicious!
- I saw this recipe on Ina Garten’s Foodnetwork show and simply knew that I had to make it :-).
- I halved Ina's recipe.
- Ina’s recipe was calling for 18 oz thin crisp chocolate chip cookies (or 9 oz for the amount I made), but I did not have any such cookies ready, so I made my own, and skipped the chocolate chips.
- If you use store bought cookies and mascarpone this recipe is super-easy. If you’re looking for a challenge, make your own cookie and mascarpone, like I did.

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Beef Stew from the Big Bowl of Love

An all-time favorite comfort food
Source
Slightly adapted from Cristina Ferrare's Big Bowl of Love


Taste 4 (out of 5)

Difficulty 2 (out of 5)

Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs chuck roast, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces (1800 cal)
- 2 tbsp olive oil (240 cal)
- 1/2 cup dry red wine (100 cal)
- 1 medium yellow onion (50 cal)
- 2 garlic cloves (10 cal)
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour (110 cal)
- 1 cup chicken broth (10 cal)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 sprig of thyme
- 5 small new potatoes cut into eights (350 cal)
- 2 large Portobello mushrooms, cut into bite-size chunks (50 cal)
- 1/2 cup peas, fresh or frozen (70 cal)
- 1/2 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen (80 cal)
- 2 small carrots cut into bite-size chunks (40 cal)
- salt
- pepper
Total 4 servings, 2910 cal, 730 cal / serving

Instructions
1. For this recipe you will need a Dutch oven or another pot with a lid that can be used both on the stovetop and in the oven.
2. Pat the beef dry with paper towels and season generously with salt and pepper. Heat the Dutch oven on high heat for 2 minutes, until hot, add 1 tbsp of olive oil and the beef. Lower the heat to medium high and cook the beef for 2-3 minutes, turn the beef and cook for 5 more minutes. Add 1/4 cup of wine and cook for 5 more minutes until the meat sizzles. Transfer the beef to a bowl. Sprinkle the flour over the beef and toss to coat.
3. Add the second tablespoon of olive oil, the onions and a pinch of salt to the Dutch oven and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes until the onions become translucent. Add the garlic, stir and cook for about 30 seconds. Add the remaining wine, the chicken broth, the bay leaf and the thyme, scrape the edges of the pan and bring the liquids to a simmer.
4. Add the meat back to the pot, and when it comes to the simmer again, cover the pot with the lid and place in an oven preheated to 375F. Cook for an hour.
5. After an hour, add the vegetables to the pot, you might need to add 1 more cup of water or broth. Taste and adjust the seasoning and place in the oven for 1 more hour to cook.

Afterthoughts
- I really loved this stew. The flavors are just great! Even veggies that I normally don’t like in stews like carrots and green peas, ended up delicious.
- The only “issue” was that some of the beef turned out a bit dry. Some was juicy and tender, but about half was a bit too dry. I don’t really know how to fix this in the future. Maybe I should add a bit more oil? Or marinate the beef before cooking? If you know the secret of unfailingly tender beef stew, please let me know :-).
- In May I won the Big Bowl of Love in a giveaway on the Chocolate Shavings blog, a beautiful blog that you MUST check out if you have not yet. I received the book right before I left on a short trip, and then I was on a detox and could not risk looking at tasty food, but now I finally got to this book. It’s really great, full of hearty comfort food recipes, with some useful tips for cooking and baking. I am so glad to have this book! Thanks so much, Jennifer, for the giveaway!

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