Cookies to Calm and Anxious Heart

Well if you've been watching the news you know that there has been a little "unrest" in our soon to be new home of Tunisia....Andy and I have been anxiously waiting, obsessively watching the BBC, reading the International Herald Tribune, and reassuring ourselves that we didn't make a grave mistake. Those really dark hours when the house is asleep are hard. My inner middle school girl has a really loud voice in the middle of the night, sometimes it is hard to get her to shut up. She can be a trouble maker that one, stirring the pot and causing lots of doubts and fears to creep into my thought life. Thankfully I have also had a bad cold this past week and I have found that a really good cough syrup or Tylenol PM pretty much makes her mute. It's been hard enough to go through the emotions myself but to walk through this past week with my daughters was an entirely different experience all together. How do you explain to your children that the new home you have chosen for them is in the process of overthrowing their government. The girls however were wonderful, understanding, occasionally anxious, but overall they handled things well. Thankfully we have 7 months until we officially move and a lot can happen in that time. I am certain that good things will happen for Tunisia in that time.

I don't know if you are like me but when I am a little tense, I need to bake. There have been quite a few things flying out of my oven of late, so much so that my oldest daughter and husband called for a time out. Granola, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies, Double Chocoalte Oatmeal cookies, and finally last night the cookie that did them in. Butterscotch Blondies with Toffee and Sea Salt. Now I know what you might be thinking, Blondies? Aren't those really just lazy Chocolate Chip cookies? I say that because that is what I always think. That is until I tried these cookies. They are chewy, and gooey, a little crunchy, and just when you think they are going to be too sweet you get a little hit of toffee and sea salt. Mmmm. You know....I'm thinking Dorie Greenspan has her World Peace Cookies I could technically call these Squelching a Riot Blondies. I probably need to work on the name a little more.



Butterscotch Blondies with Toffee and Sea Salt

For the Blondies:
12 tablespoons butter at room temperature
2 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

For the Topping:1 1/2 tablespoons butter at room temperature
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup toffee pieces, such as Heath brand
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 9X13 baking dish and line with parchment paper.

Make the Blondies:
Put the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Cream together well until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs and vanilla mixing on low speed until combined. Scrape down the bowl.

In another bowl whisk together the all purpose flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and beat on low speed until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips, then scrape the batter into the parchment lined pan.

Bake the blondies for 25 minutes, or until the center is no longer runny when tested with a wooden skewer. Moist crumbs should still cling to the skewer when testing for doneness. You really don't want to overbake these!

Remove the Blondies to a wire rack to cool.

Make the Topping:
In a small saucepan stir the butter and the milk over medium heat until the butter is melted. Be careful not to bring to a boil. Add the powdered and brown sugars and stir until melted. Increase the heat to medium high. Bring the mixture to a simmer, and simmer for 5 minutes or until it begins to thicken. Remove the pan from the heat.

Using a skewer poke holes all over the top of the Blondie. Pour the topping mixture over the Blondie and spread evenly. Top with the Toffee pieces and then sprinkle the sea salt over all.

Cool completely, cut into 24 bars.

Note: I frequently don't have Toffe bits here in Singapore. These are lovely without the Toffee, or you can chop up Almond Roca in its place. Or if you are enterprising you can make your own Toffee.

The end of a holiday

Well we are back on Paradise Island. We arrived in Singapore from Seattle in the wee hours of Thursday and start back to work Monday. Jet lag is just mean. I think my New Years resolution is to sleep through the night. Don't judge me.

Currently I am deep in the throes of homesickness and counting the days until we get to go home again. 149 days to be exact. Told you I was counting. I am not sure if you have been to Skagit County in Washington State, this is where we spent some of our Christmas holiday. If you haven't, you should go. No really. You should go. If you're an outdoorsy sort there is a lot to do. The area is beautiful, close to the Cascade Mountain Range and the fabulous San Juan Islands. If you are not an outdoorsy sort, there happens to be quite a collection of people who make beautiful food. Here are a few places you could bide your time waiting for your friends to return from their hike, or what have you.

Samish Bay Cheese They make an addictive cheese called Lady Smith with many variations. Make sure you try the Lady Smith with Chive and the Lady Smith Black Mombazo. The Black Mombazo is their signature Lady Smith cheese that has been aged and coated in Cocoa, and Chipotle pepper. It's pretty lusty.

The Bread Farm I still dream of the Fig and Anise Pannini, the Sour Cherry and Lemon bread, their baguettes, and a Mint Chocolate cookie that will make your head spin. People, it will make your head spin.

Farm to Market Bakery in Bow Washington, I couldn't locate a website but don't hold that against them. Please, please try their Lime Polenta cakes and their Cinnamon Rolls. They might change your life.

Skagit River Brewery I can't say enough about their Steelie Brown Ale and the Bar-B-Que Brisket. Oh and the oysters, and Clam Chowder. Oh and the S'mores. I'll stop now.

There are so many more places to tell you about but you'll just have to be patient until we get back there next summer.

Well, I will share this recipe with you. It is adapted from the Colophon Cafe in Bellingham, Washington. It is one of my favorite Caesar Salads, the dressing is very garlicky, and bright with lemon.

Caesar Salad with Pan Seared Salmon

adapted from the Colophon Cafe. Serves 4 as a light entree

The Dressing:

1/2 cup good quality olive oil

4 cloves of garlic minced, you might not want to kiss anyone soon after eating this

the juice of half a lemon

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all these ingredients in a jar and shake well. Set aside.

The Salmon:

4, 6oz. center cut Salmon fillets

4 cloves of garlic minced

salt and pepper to taste

olive oil

Pour a little olive oil over the salmon fillets, evenly sprinkle with salt and pepper and garlic. Pour 2 T olive oil into a saute pan and heat over medium. Place salmon fillets in hot pan and cook until you see that the salmon has cooked halfway through. You'll notice a change in the color of the fish up the side of the fillet. The length of time depends on the thickness of your fillet. Flip the fish over and finish cooking according to your preferred level of doneness. Remove from pan and set aside to cool slightly.

The Salad:

1 large head of Romaine lettuce, cut into bite sized pieces, washed and spun dry

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 cups of salad croutons

In a large mixing bowl place the lettuce, cheese, and croutons. Toss to taste with the dressing. Divide the salad between 4 plates and top with a salmon filet.

Enjoy!

A Christmas Miracle, or Three.

First Christmas miracle of the holiday occured at Changi airport, terminal 3, row 11. You may have missed it unless you happened to be the unfortunate family behind us at the United counter. I accidentally booked my husbands flight as Andy Donahue. His passport of course reads Andrew. In short, they were not going to let him fly unless he rebooked the ticket. Don't try to follow the logic, you'll just end up having a stroke. After trying to kill her with my death ray vision and then attempting to telepathically make her understand our situation she relented, changed the name on his boarding pass to Andrew and sent us on our way.

The second miracle occured during our layover in San Francisco. We were waiting in baggage claim, watching the minutes tick by. Since we had to leave the international area, and then check in for a domestic flight we were a little sensitive to the time. Our patience wore thin, but we preveiled. At long last the luggage started circling about the carousel, and we found 3 of our suitcases. Sadly we watched as all of the luggage was claimed and we were missing one piece. With only a few minutes to spare to make our connecting flight to Seattle, Andy/Andrew patiently explained our situation to the customer service clerk. When I say patiently, I mean it. Instead of attentively helping us (her job) this woman was on her walkie talkie to someone named Doris complaining that no one had come to relieve her for her break. Apparently her need for a coffee break superceded our need to be home for Christmas. Periodically the girls would run back to check and see if the suitcase had appeared (hope springs eternally in the young), many prayers were said, and Doris came to relieve our heroine for her coffee break. Doris then informed us that we had missed our connecting flight, we tried not to call her a liar but it was implied. On a last minute dash to baggage claim, there circling all by its lonesome, was the missing suitcase! To add to the joy, we waived goodbye to Doris the liar, were escorted through security, and found our flight to be delayed by 30 minutes! We were finally on the last leg of our journey home for Christmas!

The third miracle was simply being home. Being in the company of my wonderful and very funny cousins, sitting around drinking coffee with my parents in the quiet of the morning, and shopping at Target. Yes, Target is a miracle. If you have ever lived overseas you will understand this to be true.

We spent Christmas Eve with our extended family, laughing until we cried, crying over the events of the past year, remembering those we love, loving those we are with. We exchanged silly gifts and too many hugs and kisses to count. And today is Chrismas. I love this day for all that it means. The waiting of advent is over, the hope of the new things to come hangs in the air, the gifts have been opened, and the squeals from the girls tell me that we did good. Tonight we will not so quitely gather with family again to eat, laugh and share our lives and good fortune.

We're having Prime Rib with Horseradish Crust, Au Gratin Potatoes, and Roasted Red Onions
And this Deep Dish Caramel Apple Pie

I hope you have a blessed Christmas spent in the company of friends and family!
Merry Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

When attending a White Elephant gift exchange it's important to make sure you have the right gift. By that I mean, something horrible and cringe worthy. My mom favors terrible clocks. Clocks with peacock feathers, or reclining women holding bunches of grapes with the clock part in their belly. A friend of mine gives out Traditional Chinese Medicine, dried sea horse anyone? The dried sea horse is to be steeped for a bit in water and then the liquid drank like a tea. It is supposedly good for your complexion. I'll let you figure that one out for yourself. My gift of choice is a fruitcake. In the past few years there have been a number of fruitcakes that have been passed back and forth amongst our group of friends. Passed, shipped....abandoned at undeserving peoples homes, call it what you will. Those suckers need their own passports. I have a friend who used her husband as a mule to smuggle one of those fruitcakes back into Singapore from North Carolina. Yes, it is in my possession once again. I won't name names, but you know who you are. I have plans for that fruitcake, big plans. And I am a patient woman.

Last night instead of our yearly White Elephant gift exchange we switched things up a bit and had a surprise baby shower for a friend. Baby M got a lot of really great stuff, everything was fluffy and impossibly soft, no nuts or unidentifiable candied fruit peels to be found!

If you're looking for something to bring to a holiday party, be it the White Elephant or Baby Shower variety, these cupcake fit the bill. They are moist and chocolately and the buttercream is different from most. It is light, creamy and not too sweet.

Chocolate Cupcakes

Adapted from Barefoot Contessa at Home

Serves: 14-15 Cupcakes

Ingredients:

12 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons brewed strong coffee

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 cup good quality unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, line cupcake pans with paper liners.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment cream together the butter and both sugars on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Lower the speed to medium and add the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla.

In a separate bowl combine the buttermilk, sour cream, and coffee. In another bowl whisk all the dry ingredients until well combined.

On low speed add the buttermilk and flour mixtures alternately in thirds to the mixer bowl beginning with the buttermilk mixture and ending with the flour mixture. Blend until just combined. Fold with a rubber scraper to make sure the batter is completely blended.

Divide the batter among the cupcake pans filling each paper 2/3 full. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes, remove cupcakes from pan and cool completely before frosting.

Creamy Peppermint Candy Buttercream Frosting

Makes enough to generously frost 2 dozen cupcakes

6 tablespoons all purpose flour

2 cups milk

2 cups unsalted butter at room temperature

2 cups granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

6 Peppermint flavored candy canes crushed

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the flour and milk until smooth. Place over medium heat and, whisking constantly, cook until the mixture becomes very thick and begins to bubble, 10-15 minutes. Spoon into a small bowl, and place plastic wrap directly on the surface. Cool to room termperature.

Once the flour mixture has cooled, in a large bowl, on the medium high speed of an electric mixer, beat the butter until very smooth and creamy. About 3 minutes. Add the sugar and beat continuously for 5 minutes or until fluffy and all the sugar granules have dissolved. Add the vanilla extract and beat well.

Add the cooled flour mixture a spoonful at a time to the butter mixture. Continue beating until all the flour mixture is incorporated. Beat on high speed until very fluffy and noticeably whiter in color. Stir in crushed candy cane. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes. No longer, no less than 15 minutes. Set a timer! Use immediately.

New Beginnings......I hate them.

I guess you could say I hate new beginnings. It has after all taken me 2 years to get around to writing this post.
Friends and family have encouraged, nagged, prodded even, that it would be a great idea for me to start a cooking and travel blog. There are a lot of reasons why I have put this off:

1. I am not a writer. This is true, I am not being modest. I am much more comfortable with petri dishes and reading research articles.
2. Who would read what I have to say other than my husband and my mom. Somehow I don't think my inner middle school girl could survive the humiliation of a lonely unread blog.
3. Oh the pressure to be creative! Those soft porn food pictures that are all over the blog world. Could I actually pull it off? Me who cuts the heads off my family members in photos.
4. Then there's that new thing.......

Speaking of new things. My family and I live in Singapore, which really isn't new. What originally was to only be a short stay somehow became 8 years. However, the itch for something new (obviously not my itch) needed to be scratched and lo and behold we are now planning to relocate to Tunisia in August. Slowly I am warming to the idea of new adventures, new climate, new cuisine, and new culture. And the things to be excited about are beginning to outweigh the things that scare the bejezus out of me. Except for scorpions and snakes. They still scare me, but that is another post for another time. It will be titled Things that can kill you in North Africa.
But for now we'll stick to happier topics. Like these muffins. They are easy enough for the kids to make after school, a sort of one bowl everyone in the pool kind of recipe. Nothing fussy. The perfect sort of snack for a cool winter afternoon, or for us, a breezy monsoon season afternoon.

Steiger Haus Apple Carrot Muffins

2 C all purpose flour

3/4 C packed dark brown sugar

1/2 C granulated sugar

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

2 C peeled and grated carrots

1 C peeled, cored and grated apple

1/2 C sweetened flaked coconut

1/3 C vegetable oil

3 large eggs beaten

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 T granulate sugar mixed with 2 tsp ground cinnamon for topping

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin tin with either paper liners or cooking spray.

In a medium bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and add the carrots, apples, coconut, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract. Fold together until just evenly incorporated.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle with the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Bake for 12-15 minutes.