Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins

These muffins are absolutely delicious, especially when still a little warm! Next time I make these I think I will try to add a bit of chopped fruit and a sprinkling of nuts on top to be fancy!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins
from Parigi Bistro in Dallas via Ellise Pierce (Cowgirl Chef) - THANK YOU SO MUCH!

makes 8 muffins

1 cup or 72 grams All-Bran cereal
1 cup whole milk

1 large egg

1/4 cup or 57 grams butter, melted and cooled
½ cup or 100 grams light brown sugar
½ cup or 120 grams peanut butter

1/3 cup chopped nuts of your choice (I used pistachios.)
1 cup or 120 grams whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon sea salt
8 tablespoons jam (I used Bonne Maman's Strawberry Preserves.)

Preheat oven to 375. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.

Pour the milk and All-Bran cereal in a bowl and set aside while you prepare the rest of the batter.

In a large bowl, mix together the egg, melted butter, brown sugar and peanut butter. Stir in the milk and cereal mixture and the chopped nuts.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, and the salt. Add this all at once to the rest of the ingredients and stir only until combined. 

Fill the muffin liners with 1/4 cup of the batter, I used a disher for ease. Then  spoon in one tablespoon of jam, and then add another 1/4 cup of the batter on top of the jam. Bake for 27 minutes, turning halfway through, until the top feels firm and is slightly brown and crunchy around the edges. Let cool for 20 minutes and enjoy.

Blueberry Bran Muffins

These are a lighter version of a traditional bran muffin, using wheat bran rather than wheat germ and with the addition of blueberries, a perfect pairing. I love the Huckleberry Cafe in Santa Monica and having their cookbook is such a treat since traveling during covid times is limited for us.

Makes 12 muffins.

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons butter or 140 grams, melted and cooled

1/4 cup or 55 grams brown sugar

1 teaspoon Diamond salt (or 1/2 teaspoon other kosher salt) 

1 large egg, slightly beaten

6 Tablespoons avocado oil (or other neutral vegetable oil)

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup honey

1 cup or 130 grams all-purpose flour

1 cup wheat germ or wheat bran, toasted to a deep brown in the oven before use in the batter, (spread evenly on a rimmed baking sheet at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup plain Greek yogurt (or plain non-Greek yogurt, or sour cream, creme fraiche, etc.)

2 cups or 300 grams blueberries

Sugar for sprinkling on top (brown sugar, sparkling coarse sugar, or granulated sugar that's been dampened with a little water and placed in clumps - makes a nice crunchy sugar top!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add liners to a muffin pan. The tall liners work best so you can really pile the blueberries on top of each muffins. I used these liners. 

Melt the butter in a large glass mixing bowl in the microwave for a little over a minute and then let the butter cool. Whisk in the brown sugar and the salt. Then whisk in the egg, oil, maple syrup, and honey. Add the flour, wheat germ or bran, and the yogurt until just conbined. Evenly divide the batter between the muffin liners and then top the batter with the blueberries. Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes, let cool slighly before serving.

Chocolate Pretzel Crispy Squares

Top tray!

I baked for only one family before Christmas. And actually it was on Christmas Day! So technically, not before at all! No, I wasn't too busy, too booked up with holiday affairs. Not at all. Next year I'll do better, that is my pledge, and I seriously doubt that will be a problem since I love Christmas and love baking for the neighbors.

In the week or two after Christmas I learned about two cookies, two baked goods, two GOODIES (here is one, the other follows) that require no baking and are fantastic to give at Christmas or any time of year at all. It made me wish I'd given that one family both of these things, and so I decided to make them and surprise them with these treats when they came home from their holiday trip.

I learned about Chocolate Pretzel Crispy Squares in a wonderful cookbook my friend Tracy sent me. The book contains food truck recipes. I've made six recipes out of the book so far. The food is so delicious; makes me want to only eat at food trucks from now on!

Chocolate Pretzel Crispy Squares

Adapted from a recipe from The Treats Truck - Kim Ima - New York, NY from Food Truck Road Trip

4 Tablespoons butter, divided
1 10 ounce bag mini marshmallows

6 1/2 cups Rice Crispies cereal

85 mini pretzels, *see prep instructions

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup white chocolate chips

*If you have a food scale, measure 125g mini pretzels. If you don't and you don't want to count, just use about 3 handfuls. Place the pretzels in a Ziploc, zip it, and lightly roll a rolling pin across the bag. You are looking for various sized pieces, not pulverized pretzels!

Butter the bottom and walls of a 9 x 13 pan with one tablespoon of butter. Set aside. In a medium pan, over medium heat, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter. When completely melted, reduce heat to medium-low and add the marshmallows and stir until smooth. Remove pan from heat and add Rice Crispies and stir until they are coated with the marshmallow mixture. Add pretzels and both chips and stir until they are well mixed. Pour mixture and press evenly into the 9 x 13 pan. Let set for at least 30 minutes and then cut into squares or bars. 

Love,

Debbie's Lake Travis Peanut Butter Chocolate Ritz Cookies

Making these cookies is so easy and requires no baking. I learned how to make them when we stayed with my parents in Texas over the holidays. I don't think we'd been there ten minutes when my dad walked up to me with one of these cookies, trying to get me to take a bite. Of course, I did, and the whole thing!! I asked him if it was a Girl Scout cookie. He said his friend Debbie made it.

Joe and Debbie are my parent's friends and they live about one minute away in Point Venture, TX, where my parents also live. Point Venture, population 861, is huge compared to what it was when I was a kid. I can't find any published population information before the town was incorporated, but I would guess there might have been 247 people when I was young, probably less. I don't remember much of my life before I remember Point Venture. We used to spend summers there and some weekends in the spring and fall, too. Yes, it's a little more crowded than it used to be, but I still absolutely love it.

I should add that Debbie told me everyone in PV loves these cookies! She has no name for them so I named them myself. I sure hope she approves!

See the middle rack. Click for a close-up!

Debbie's Lake Travis Peanut Butter Chocolate Ritz Cookies

Ritz crackers
Peanut butter
Chocolate flavored coating (this is the brand I used)
(optional - you can mix half chocolate and half vanilla together)

The instructions are so simple. You make peanut butter sandwiches with Ritz crackers. Then you melt the chocolate candy coating and dip the sandwiches in, covering them completely. Set them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and let them cool. That's it. Make as many or as few as you like!

Love,

P.S. Debbie says a man in PV loved these cookies so much, he requested they be served at his funeral when he died. And they were.
P.P.S. My friend Gary is in charge of a large law firm's food and beverage division. Somehow one of his caterer's knows about these cookies (she must be related to Debbie, ha!). Gary says when they hire her they always request a batch.
P.P.P.S. What I'm trying to say is...they're great.

Kettle Corn Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cookies, cookies, cookies! I was in the hospital over the holiday season, so no holiday cookie posts - boohoo! It may be January and the holidays may be over, but I don't care! I still love cookies in January and I bet you do, too! So let's savor the cookies and have a series of cookie posts, ok?! 
I know it was a long time ago (April 2013!), but yes, that is the date I posted these gorgeous cookies on my Facebook page but never to my blog (why, oh why?). They were inspired by a trip to Trader Joe's, where I saw a pretty bag of kettle corn that beckoned to me. Obviously, I bought it and clearly the contents of that bag inspired, what else? Cookies!

Kettle Corn Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from Joy the Baker and The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook 

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

4 cups Trader Joe Kettle Corn
1/2 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
Coarse sea salt for sprinkling

Place a rack in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat in the egg and the vanilla. Add the combined mixture of the flour, baking soda, and salt and beat until just combined. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and use a spatula to fold in the popcorn.  Some of the popcorn will break down a bit as it’s folded in and this is fine. Fold in chocolate chips.

Scoop dough by the heaping tablespoonful onto the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with a little coarse sea salt. Bake for 10 to 13 minutes or until the edges and tops are golden brown. Remove from the oven, allow to rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Love,

The Cake that Got Uncle Preston to Bake

Dear Lauren,

I happened to make this cake about a week before we received a visit from Uncle Preston. It was so delicious, I decided to make one for him too. And he thought it was so fabulous, he asked me to teach him how to bake one. I taught him and I mailed him a bundt pan so he can bake one for himself back in California.

Lemon Cardamom Zucchini Bundt Cake
adapted from Back to the Table

2 large zucchini, ends cut off and discarded, the rest shredded
zest from 1 lemon or 1 orange
390 grams of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups sugar
1 cup avocado oil (or vegetable oil you like)
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup pecan (can be chopped if you like, I throw them in just as they are in the bag)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray Baker's Joy* (NOT PAM) in a bundt pan and set aside. Use a box grater or a food processor and grate your zucchini. Place the shredded zucchini over several paper towels to dry out a bit. Sprinkle the lemon zest over the zucchini.

Whisk the flour, cardamom, baking powder and soda in a bowl and set aside. Whisk the sugar, oil, eggs, and extract in a bowl and add to the dry ingredients. Mix well with a large spoon**. Add the zucchini, the lemon zest, and the pecans and mix well. Add the mixture to the bundt pan and bake on the rack in the lower third of the oven for 50 minutes. Test for doneness with a skewer. If the skewer comes out clean, the cake is done. Ovens vary, my cake takes one hour to bake.

Love,

P.S. *If you can't find Baker's Joy where you live (and I sincerely hope you can), butter the bundt and then flour it. Tap out the excess flour. This method is second best to Baker's Joy.
P.P.S This recipe is mixed by hand. *When you first start stirring in the wet ingredients with the dry ones, you might think the batter is too dry. Keep stirring, it will come together just fine with a little work. The only equipment you need is a bundt pan (I love this one!), a zester, and (in my opinion) a kitchen scale to measure the flour. If you want to measure the flour using cups, add 3 cups instead of 390 grams.

Shortbread Cookies

This post is from last year and I can tell you right now it is very likely it will be repeated every year! We love these cookies! They are unlike any we've had. Hope you will love them too!

 Dear Lauren,

Shortbread cookies. We can't do Christmas at our house without them. We make these cookies every year. Everyone loves them, and Christmas is not complete unless several dozen are made and consumed by us, several more dozen made and given away to friends and neighbors. They melt in your mouth and they cannot be mailed no matter how carefully they’re wrapped. Too delicate.

Now, I didn't realize this, since I grew up with these cookies, but most people associate shortbread with something that is very different from what our family makes. Yet the ingredients are very similar. In fact, when my friend Louise ate some, she later wrote about them and said, "These are not shortbreads. They are delicate whispers of angels. I've never had a cookie literally dissolve on my tongue like these." 

The Killer Menu

Dear Lauren,

When Dad and I were dating, blackened redfish was regularly served and extremely popular in restaurants. We loved it; everyone loved it. We went to New Orleans during the "craze" and could only get a very early dinner reservation at K-Paul's because Chef Paul Prudhomme was so in-demand at the time. He was known for either inventing or popularizing blackened redfish (depending on whom you talked to) and everyone was talking about his recipe or copying it. We could not wait to go! We were far more excited about that reservation than any other I can think of.

Orange Fritters

Dear Lauren,

I was just minding my own business one day. Just reading my Facebook wall and keeping up with my friends like a good Facebooker. And then out popped a post from my Facebook friend, Amy Sherman. She talked about how she found an old sorority cookbook at a thrift store. So I Googled and I found a Sigma Kappa sorority cookbook from 1924! I bought it on the spot!

Prune Cake

Dear Lauren,

Prune cake. If you can't say this without snickering or thinking of prunes as a laxative, you can call this Dried Plum Cake. In fact, I insist on it.

This cake is delicious as a dessert with powdered sugar and whipped cream on top, but it's also wonderful for breakfast with a little butter. It tastes a little like a bran muffin! Bran! There is a consistent theme in this post, is there not?

Sorry.

Happy National Ice Cream Sandwich Day!

I asked Dad to tell me his ultimate ice cream sandwich. Ultimate! Right away he said - make your molasses cookies and add pralines & cream ice cream.

Now right about the same time these ice cream sandwiches were being concocted, you showed me a tricky way to make an ice cream sandwich and I loved it!

Click on this website to see it in action!

Turnip Cookies

Dear Lauren,

I was reading my friend Cyndi's cookbook. It's hilarious. Here's the front and back cover.

The book contains crazy recipes like "enchiladas" made with saltine crackers. Oh, I made them, of course I did! I had to! They were edible and that's all I can say in their favor. Then I saw a recipe for Turnip Cookies. Had to make those too.

Painters and Ranch Style Beans and Salad

Dear Lauren,

Rule #1. Always have a can of Ranch Style Beans in the house. Rule #2. Feed all workers who come to the house.

The outside of the house was recently painted. Dad is afraid of heights and in some spots the house is 4 stories tall. So, we hired painters. There are two DIY projects dad won't do. Anything related to electricity and anything requiring a ladder.

On day one, I made the painters a cake. It was gorgeous. And the cake was good, but not great. I'll probably continue to look for another lemon cake recipe to use with the glaze from this one. The glaze is gorgeous and so easy to make. The painters were smiling. Actually, they were singing! I learned later that one of them is in a mariachi band!

Today, I made the painters a salad. A salad? For painters? Probably not the best choice! Dad was probably the more popular cook with the painters since he served chili dogs one day and brisket tacos another day. But, I really wanted to make the salad because I really wanted to talk about Ranch Style Beans!

Ranch Style Beans are a staple if you're a Texan. I've never met a Texan who didn't agree with me. Open the can, heat them up and you have an instant side dish that every Texan loves. But, over time I've learned that you can also open a can, toss them in a strainer, and rinse all of the lovely sauce right off. The texture of these pinto beans is excellent and even after rinsing, you have a better flavor than you would if you just bought a can of pinto beans. Rinsed pinto beans and rinsed Ranch Style Beans - they're just not the same! Once rinsed, I've tossed them in a salad (like today), but on other days I've also mashed them up and used them on nachos when I didn't have any refried beans in the pantry. So versatile!

So, here's the salad I fed the painters. They cleaned their plates. They were smiling. I had some myself and I loved it! I found the recipe when I read this month's issue of Food & Wine magazine. I changed a few things up and I also used my stick blender and a Mason jar to make the dressing. Here's my version of the recipe.

Painter's Spring Salad

Dressing:
1 egg yolk
2 Tablespoons buttermilk
1 clove of garlic, smashed and minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 to 1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
plenty of freshly ground pepper

Salad:
1 can Ranch Style Beans, drained of all sauce, rinsed and dried on paper towels
1 small bag frozen peas, thawed
any pretty greens you like (I used radicchio, Boston Bibb, baby arugula)
1-2 avocados, ripe, sliced

Place the first 4 dressing ingredients in a tall Mason jar and blend with a stick blender (you can use a full size blender if you want, but come on...Mason jars and stick blenders are way...funner). Leave the stick blender on and drizzle the oil in the jar until it looks like salad dressing. You'll see! It will happen! Add the cheese and pepper and stir. Then taste it. It might need a little salt.

Arrange the salad on a plate and drizzle with some dressing and serve. To painters. Or anyone!

Love,


P.S. It's almost the 4th of July! Yay! Can't wait to see you!
P.S.S. or P.P.S. Why do I always want to spell DIY as DYI? Always! Does this happen to you?

Killer Brownies

Dear Lauren,

Sometimes you get right up to the days before Christmas and you realize there are a few people you'd like to give a gift to but you haven't. The picture above it of some brownies all tied up with some cellophane and a bendy snowman from Walmart ($1) that looks pretty fantastic! These are so easy to make and are our favorite brownies. Are they "homemade". Well...they ARE made at home! But our favorite brownies actually come from a box! 

Chewy Toffee

Dear Lauren,

What do I love more than anything? More than anything that's not living?! Yes, that's right. Rolos. And I try not to buy them too often because I have absolutely NO self-control when they're here.

Oh, there's a pack of Rolos in the house? Nope, they're gone. Oh, they're a bag of Rolos in the house?? There was yesterday! 

Family Cookbooks and Pizzelles

Dear Lauren,

My friends Sharyl and Mary have this amazing family cookbook. When the cookbook was presented, it had Sharyl in tears. I'm teary just looking at it! Her mother put a lot of time and effort into this project and Sharyl knew that her mother wasn't all that computer literate either. There's just something about this kind of tradition, the compiling of favorite recipes and the handing down of traditions that makes me weepy. Weepy in a good, happy way. Ya know? I wish I had a Three Mom's Cookbook.

It's just one of the reasons I started writing this blog. That and so you would have a way to look up Veggie Fried Rice when you want to cook it!

Cowboy Cookies

Dear Lauren,

Cookies. And Roasted Ratatouille. That's what I brought to Sigma Kappa Family Day this year. You approved. And so did everyone else! And the Roasted Ratatouille won a prize for Best Dish! I sure wish I could take credit! But the credit belongs to Ellise Pearce and her Cowgirl Chef cookbook.

Beignets

Dear Lauren,

When Dad and I were dating, we went to New Orleans many times. I really don't know how many times. Probably more than three. Maybe eleven. Maybe seventeen. But definitely not over eighteen. 

Grapes

Dear Lauren,


I asked for seedless grapes. Dad brought home Midnight Beauty Black Seedless grapes. I'd never seen nor heard tell of them. I may never eat another grape. They're big and crisp and gorgeous and you'd be foolish if you didn't at least look for them when you're at your grocery store. Ours came in a sealed, ventilated bag and I know why. Grocery store single grape stealers. My people.

But this post is not really about what I just wrote. I want to know something. You know how some grapes are perfect and plump and crisp to the bite? And some are clearly bruised and you throw them away without a thought? But then there are those in-betweeners. They have too much give when you pinch them but they look perfectly fine. Do you toss those down the hatch anyway? Or do you just leave them there, on the vine, in the bowl? Or what?


Love,

Sopapillas

Dear Lauren,

This is a sopapilla.

It's just some fried dough.

But it has cinnamon and sugar and honey drizzled on top. And that makes it so much more.

If you cut them in half, there's a pocket on the inside so you can pour some honey right in the middle. That's right, I said pour!