Cranberry Walnut Bread

The "Wine and Cheese Party" has long been a staple of Bonaccorsi family meals. These "parties" are the dinners where we cut up bread, apples, and all our favorite cheeses and sit around the kitchen counter, snacking up a storm. If we're feeling really fancy, we'll occasionally bust out the shrimp cocktail. No matter how fancy or casual we're feeling, though, there's always a loaf of cranberry walnut bread from Whole Foods. Actually, there are two loaves, because this dream bread heats up like a dream for the next day's breakfast.

I have strong feelings about this bread and wanted desperately to make it myself while I was still in my bread making craze. When I looked up the recipe online, though, I found that the recipe for the exact Whole Foods bread isn't the greatest thing for your health (which is probably why it's so delicious) I decided to spruce it up a little.
This version uses whole wheat flour, a lot less sugar, and apple sauce instead of the fats that the traditional recipe.

I am seriously considering making this bread again and bringing it to Thanksgiving dinner with me, but that might be a little much as I am already responsible for the cranberry sauce (recipe to come). If you're hosting the meal this year, I strongly encourage you to make this bread--the smell alone is totally worth it!
I hope you love this bread as much as we do, whether you serve it at a feast or a wine and cheese party.

Cranberry Walnut Bread
Makes 2 round loaves

3 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbs sugar
2 tbs honey
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 tbs unsweetened apple sauce
1 cup milk (I used almond milk)
5 tbs butter
1 Tbs dry active yeast

In a small pot or microwave safe bowl, heat the milk and butter until the butter is melted. Cool the milk Add the sugar and honey, and mix until dissolved.
All ow the mixture to cool until it is warm (105-110ºF), then mix in the yeast. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes, or until the milk bubbles through the butter layer on top.
In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt, nuts, and cranberries.
When the yeast has proofed, add to the flour mixture, along with the apple sauce. Mix with a fork until thoroughly combined.
Turn out on a floured surface and knead the dough well for about 8 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Form the dough into a ball and cover with flour. Place the dough back in the bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and allow to sit until doubled in size, about an hour and a half. *If you need to move a little more quickly, you can let it rise for an hour, but the longer it sits, the more the flavors will develop.*
Preheat the oven to 400ºF
When the dough is risen, turn it out onto a floured surface and knead for 1 minute.
Divide the dough into 2 balls and allow them to rise, covered, for 30 minutes.
Bake the 2 balls on a pizza stone or parchment lined sheet for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 350ºF and continue baking for another 45 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool to nearly room temperature before slicing.
Enjoy!

Amaretti Cookies

When I was a little kid, my dad would go to Domino's bakery every Saturday morning. It was a small Italian pastry shop near my house, and every trip was the highlight of my week. Even the dog loved the trip in the car. Every Saturday, Joe Dad would put on his blue jeans and she would go wild, leaping in circles, and tackling my sister and I until we made our way out to the car.
My sister, Andrea, would always get either a chocolate eclair or a cream napoleon, my mom always got a Danish (I still don't understand this) and my dad and I would mix up our orders every week. I always gravitated toward the petits fours, with either a mini cheesecake, carrot cake, almond cream puff, or cannoli--the only thing more appealing than mini cakes. My dad seemed to get a different thing each time, though if there were almond croissants, he'd get at least one.
He always got a box of amaretti.

Well, he almost always got a box of amaretti. Each time we'd visit, he would ask the little old lady behind the counter whether the cookies were crisp or chewy, and would only buy them if they were chewy (lucky for us, the pastry chef who preferred chewy usually had the morning shift on Saturday)
These cookies are still my dad's favorite and though he has a new favorite bakery, every time he goes, he still picks up a box of amaretti and I get to relive those great Saturday mornings filled with delicious cookies, almond scented pastry cream, and adorable petits fours with my family.
I decided to leave each member of my family with a little gift of food when I leave for school, and thought these would be perfect for Dad. My mom's getting pretzel rolls, and Andrea's getting meringue cupcakes, but of the 3, these are my favorite, and the most sentimental.

I've tried several recipes and though they always come out tasting great (except the one batch that was crunchy shudders) I have never ben able to perfectly recreate the cookies from the bakery. This batch comes closest as it's pretty dense and has a stronger almond flavor from the almond extract. In all honesty, most people probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between these and the cookies from my childhood, but I've had plenty of experience with amaretti, and the memory of the flavor of these cookies stands out in my mind because it's surrounded with so many other great memories.

Soft Amaretti Cookies
(Gluten Free)
Makes about 20 cookies

7 oz crumbled almond paste
1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 egg white
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 Tbs honey
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment.
In a stand mixer, beat the almond paste on high speed, until thoroughly broken up, somewhere between crumbs and a spreadable paste. Slowly add the powdered sugar, continuing to stir on low speed.
Add the egg white, extract, honey and salt and beat on medium, until thick and well mixed. This should take about 5 minutes.
Put the dough in a pastry bag with a plain tip and pipe 1 inch circles onto the cookie sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until crisp on the outside but still soft and slightly gummy on the inside.

My Taste of Home: The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

My favorite food is a really good chocolate chip cookie. Really, it's true. It's not because I have memories of making them from scratch with Mom (who NEVER ever bakes) or because my grandma has a great recipe that makes me sentimental. No, I am in love with chocolate chip cookies because they embody everything I love about food.
And, if you were unsure, I love food.
They're a textural adventure, chewy, crunchy, gooey, and crisp all in one bite. They're chocolatey and vanilla-y and caramelly and salty and sweet. They don't have frosting, they shouldn't ever have a glaze, and they just look so adorable and perfect.

I'm leaving for college in the morning, so I just had to make a double batch of these. 1/2 are hiding in the freezer for Mom and Dad to enjoy when both their kids leave in one swoop (I'm a twin) and the other 1/2 has been packed up in my purse. Yep, I have a purse full of cookies and I'm not ashamed.
They're a little taste of home.

I have been on a quest for the absolute best chocolate chip cookie ever. I might post my original recipe someday, but now that I've found this guy, I might not give you any of the others. I don't want you wasting your time on sub-par cookies.

These guys aren't your super quick mix, drop, bake at 350º for 15 minutes cookies. These are made in a large pot, there are 3 different oven temperatures involved, and they have to be baked for exactly 9 minutes. Yep, 9. Not 10, not 8, and if you leave then in for the standard "12 to 15 minutes" I might just cry.

Please, also use chocolate chips. I know that using good quality chopped chocolate is sort of the big thing to do now, but that's a chocolate chunk cookie and that's an entirely different animal. An animal I'm not too big on either, believe it or not. I do recommend a slightly bigger chip here, though. Ghirardelli 60% is perfect because the chocolate is free of waxyness, and the chips are fairly flat, so they melt very well.

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie
Adapted from America's Test Kitchen

1 3/4 cups AP flour
1 tbs cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
14 Tbs unsalted butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp sea salt
1 large egg, 1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips (yep, the 1/3 is right on the money for even chip distribution)

1) Preheat the oven to 400ºF and position 1 rack at the middle level and the other at the level 2nd from the top. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2) In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue cooking until the butter turns a golden color and starts to smell nutty. Remove from the heat and immediately mix in both sugars. Mix until well combined and the mixture has cooled significantly. This should take about 2 to 4 minutes, and some of the sugar should have melted. If the sugar does not melt, return the pot to medium heat for about 2 to 3 minutes, and then re-cool the mixture. Beat in the vanilla, egg and yolk.
3) Add half of the flour, all of the cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt, stir until almost combined, then add the rest of the flour. Mix well.
4) Fold in the chocolate chips and form into about 20 cookies of 2 tbs dough. Space evenly on the two baking sheets. Put in the 400º oven, on the center rack, and bake for 2 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 300ºF and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Heat the oven again to 425º and move the cookies to the higher rack for the last 2 minutes of baking. Remove from the oven at 9 minutes exactly.
Cool on the pan for 2-5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack or your mouth.
Enjoy!

Mom's Quick Corn Salad (ready w/ pics)

There are a few things you need to know about my mom: She's not into cooking. She makes great banana bread. When she finds a recipe she likes, she makes it nonstop.
That third fact is why she is a gnocchi pro, and why I look forward to family barbecues. I love my family and all, don't get me wrong. But I really, really love her corn salad.

I have a weird memory of her getting the original recipe from something Paula Deen made, but because she's very into altering recipes, she made something better.
She always makes it with frozen corn, but because it's summer time and that means that freshly husked corn on the cob is pretty much mandatory, you can feel free to use that instead, just cut the corn off the cob instead of tossing a bag in the microwave. Other types of beans ca be subbed in too, depending on what you like and have on hand. We're a black bean family, but if you're the kidney or pinto sort, I'm sure that would be great too!

Probably would have been a better idea to take pictures before digging in. Oops

Mom's Corn Salad:
Serves an Army

6 cups frozen sweet corn (thawed, or fresh, cut off the cob and blanched for 4 minutes)
2 15oz. cans black beans, rinsed and drained
2 avocados, finely cubed
1 large red onion, chopped fine
2 medium tomatoes, chopped fine
1/4 cup olive oil
3 Tbs red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp lime zest
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
Salt and Pepper to taste

Thaw your corn and place in a large bowl. If you're using fresh corn, cut it off the cob and blanch it in boiling water for 4 minutes. Transfer to an ice water bath tho stop the cooking and cool the kernels.
Drain your corn and toss with the beans. Gently fold in the onion, tomato, and avocado.
In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix the olive oil, vinegar, chili powder, cumin and lime zest.
Slowly mix the dressing into the salad, until the mixture is coated but not wet. Taste and season with additional cumin, chili, salt and pepper.
Chill the mixture for an hour, or until cold all the way through.
Serve and send the extras home with grandma!

Because We Can: Ripening Tomatoes

Dad is a doer.
When he works at home, he grocery shops, fixes the bathroom sink, makes 25 gallons of beer, and actually gets all his work done.
On Sundays, he take a nap. His nap is a sort of reward for what he does earlier in the day like...
walking the dog, making a trip to the grocery store, going to Lowe's, watering the plants, dropping off the dry cleaning, making about 400 espressos/coffees/teas for the rest of the family, making at least 5 work calls, driving me or Andrea or the dog somewhere, waking up at 6am, going for a run, and picking up lunch.
This week, we added ripening tomatoes to that list.
Dad likes to do interesting things, and the kitchen or basement brewery are where most of these things take place. The mostly all work out, probably because he bases a lot of his kitchen decisions on Alton Brown's teachings.
We love that man.

We've been growing a lot of tomatoes this summer, and Mother Nature's been growing a lot of chipmonks. Turns out, chipmunks like to devour tomatoes. To protect our miniature home garden, we've been hoarding still-green tomatoes, hoping and praying that they'll ripen up on the kitchen counter.
We haven't been too successful.

This disappointment, of course, led my dad to do some research on how to coax your tomatoes into ripening. After a couple of attempts and remembering that Mr. Brown ripened something with a banana in a bag, we threw some better thought out key words into Google and found the method.
The very best way to ripen tomatoes off the vine.

You will need:
Tomatoes
A ripe banana
A paper bag

You will need to:
Put the banana in the paper bag.
Add the tomatoes, close the bag pretty tightly.
Leave the bag on the counter for four-ish days, checking for ripeness every 2 days or so.

Enjoy your tomatoes!

The Nervous Bakes

Some people get the nervous shakes. 
Or the nervous giggles.
I get the nervous bakes.
This leads me to do regrettable things, like attempt a batch of yeasted, flourless, sugarless, banana-oat bread at 1:30am.
Than a new recipe for chocolate peanut butter cookies at 2am. When I'm on a diet. 

I didn't realize I was nervous until I emptied the too-large jar of yeast, busted out the peanut butter and began mixing even though there were dirty dishes still in the sink.
I didn't realize I was nervous until I started planning a cookie spree instead of tomorrow's workout (I stopped that one dead in its tracks)
I didn't realize I was nervous until I started using Punchfork like a stress ball, scrolling farther and farther down the page with every squeeze of my heart, each clench of my stomach.
I didn't realize I was nervous until 20 different people asked me if I was nervous. I told them 
No.
I'm fine.
Excited.
Just fine.

Then I went a little nuts.
In the kitchen-with the rubber spatula and metal bowl I will have to leave behind.
With the oven knob and the tablespoon measure.
With the plastic wrap and tiny tasting spoon.

But now I know. I know I'm nervous. 
I know I screwed up. I know that tomorrow I will finally pack.
And finish that survey. And find my passport.

Oh, and I have some cupcakes to make, too.

Pollo in Pomodoro

I was planning on making grilled chicken with fennel for dinner. For me, this dish is just summer on a plate, so I figured it would be perfect for early August.

Today, it was 65º and rainy. Today was fall all the way, without a bit of summer in the air. Tonight's dinner called for something tender, cooked for at least an hour, preferably stewed in a spicy tomato gravy.

Tonight was a pollo in pomodoro night.

I spend my falls and winters making soups, and stews, and curries. This is my favorite late summer version, as it takes advantage of all the fresh summer tomatoes, is filling on cold nights, but is still light and super healthy, filled with fresh veggies, low fat white meat, and herbs.

Pollo in Pomodoro

Serves 4

olive oil

4 chicken drumsticks (skinned)

4 chicken thighs (skinned)

salt and pepper

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 stalk of celery, chopped

1/2 red onion, chopped

1 medium carrot, chopped

red pepper flakes to taste (1/2-1 tsp)

2 cups crushed tomatoes

2 cups vegetable stock

3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, chopped fine

1 tbs chopped basil

salt and pepper

Heat a deep, heavy bottomed pot or Dutch oven, over medium heat, when hot, add olive oil. Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper and add them to the hot pot. Brown the chicken on both sides, 6-7 minutes each.

Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. Add the onions, carrots, and celery to the pot, along with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until the vegetables begin to sweat, about 3 minutes.

Add the garlic and pepper flakes and cook until you can smell the garlic, about 3 minutes more.

Add the crushed tomato, and stock to the pan. Use a wooden spoon to deglaze the bottom of the pan.

Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 25 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed

Add the chicken, basil, and rosemary to the sauce and add enough water or chicken stock to almost cover the chicken. Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 25 minutes to a half hour, until the sauce comes half way up the chicken.

Serve with polenta or roasted sweet garlic roasted zucchini.

Enjoy!