Pine nut and dulce de leche cookies

Posted on July 29, 2011 by petitedecadence

“A poem begins with a lump in the throat” – so said Robert Frost. And while these cookies are far from being a poem, they also began with a similar lump in the throat. Things have not improved that much since my last rabbit post, hence the lack of recipes. But yesterday, after a day of doing pretty much nothing and pleading guilty to myself of intense wallowing, I decided, with the lump in my throat, that it was time to pay my kitchen a much needed visit. And as I could not muster enough energy to chop chocolate or did not feel adventurous enough to bake a cake, I made up a quick-cookie recipe. Now, these are made with pine nut dulce de leche, (or cajeta, as we call it in mexico) but you could use any dulce de leche you can find, and add the pine nuts, previously roasted. Pine nuts have always been, in my opinion, funny tasting. But these cookies, while different from any others that I’ve tried, proved to be a success with both my mom and my friends.

Here follows the recipe:

Pine nut and dulce de leche cookies
(Own recipe)
Makes aprox. 24 cookies.

1 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
3 tbsp dulce de leche
2 tbsp roasted pine nuts

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Lightly flour two baking sheets.

In a bowl, mix the flour, salt, and baking soda. Separately, using the whisk attachment of your mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture. When fully mixed, using a spatula, mix in the dulce de leche and pine nuts, not mixing entirely but leaving it in swirls. Drop by spoonfuls on your cookie sheets and bake until golden brown, about 12 minutes.

These are really good served with vanilla ice cream.

En Cocotte – Rabbit with apples and potatoes

Posted on July 23, 2011 by petitedecadence

Mmm yeah, so I haven’t posted anything in a long time. I have good reason, but I won’t get into it here. Let it be enough to say that the past two weeks have been the worst of my life, and not even my kitchen has convinced me that the show must go on. And I know the show must go on. It’s just bloody difficult. Anyway, the following is a recipe with a lot of meaning to me – because it’s rabbit. But I won’t get into the melancholic details. One thing worth mentioning though, I made this about 10 days ago, on the day this very horrible streak of bad things began happening, but always with a silver lining; I came home (all puffy-eyed and exhausted from crying) with two very meaningful rabbits in my hand. My mom found me, and since she is such a wonderful mom, abstained from asking any questions and instead proceeded to have a cooking fiesta with me; we each took a rabbit, to be cooked in different ways. Now, this doesn’t sound like such a shiny silver lining, but my mom and me in the kitchen at the same time??? Never heard of before. We’re usually in each others way and always en up fighting because I have no tolerance to her every-two-minute remarks of how I should modify whatever it is I am cooking. But this rabbit is different, because it was a lot more about her being there for me, without questions, without trying to change me, (or my recipe!) and just keeping me company in a moment where probably nothing else could have saved me. After the rabbits, we also made salsa, and two apple cakes. And believe it or not, that day, a whole day in the kitchen, even being exhausted, was just what the doctor had prescribed.

This recipe is really easy, and it’ll take you no time to make (That is, if you’re not butchering your rabbit yourself, as I did). It does take long to bake though, so keep that in mind. It’s absolutely worth it though, the apples and potatoes melt in your mouth after having been in there with rabbit for almost two hours. Recipe after the jump.

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Tiny Dinner – Baby burgers with caramelised onions

Posted on July 11, 2011 by petitedecadence

This weekend I ate waaay too much. It all started with Friday night dinner, to which none of my friends confirmed in time except for a couple, leaving me with that old question, “How much am I supposed to cook??” I had in mind an oven-roasted chicken with mushrooms and potatoes, but if I made that and only two showed up then who was supposed to eat all the rest? And so baby burgers came to the rescue! If I made too much (which indeed I did) I could just store the meat for the day after. Which brings me back to why I ate so much this weekend. Yeah, of course I had leftover burgers for lunch on Saturday! I know, two days in a row? But they’re just so cute and delicious that you would have done the same.

See? They’re too cute. Anyway, they’re actually rather easy to make, you just have to be organized with your timing. I served mine with small salad bowls and oven-baked french fries. (which I’m sure don’t qualify as french fries ’cause they’re not fried?). The result was platters with the small burgers, small salads, and also small servings of the fries, letting everyone have as much as they wanted. Don’t let the tiny cuteness fool you though, as is often the case with small food, you’ll son be more full than you expected! Read more for the recipe!

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Dangerous Apple Cake

Posted on July 8, 2011 by petitedecadence

Over my years of baking sweet stuff (’cause let’s face it, I could eat dessert for breakfast, lunch and dinner) I’ve come to find that, as a general rule, women love anything made of chocolate, and while men have a not-so-sweet tooth, almost all of them love apple pie. I fit into this rule, I adore chocolate in any of its presentations, I even eat the stuff I use for baking in chunks when the craving hits and there’s nothing else. And in the apple pie department, I like it, but I rarely order it off a menu. This cake, on the other hand, is guaranteed to be loved (read: devoured) by both boys and girls – Proof enough of this is that after I baked two and took one to an afternoon of coffee with three of my previously mentioned very thin and permanently on a diet girlfriends, none of it remained. Yup, three girls ate a whole cake, because as one of them accurately put it – “You shouldn’t have made this. This is an orgasm in my mouth” – of which you clearly cannot get enough of.

The recipe is a slight adaptation from the wonderful Deb at Smitten Kitchen, with a few minor adjustments, basically the shape and layering.

Wawi – Amaranth fish sticks over broccoli salad

Posted on July 4, 2011 by petitedecadence

Wawi – Isn’t that a cute word? It is what the huichol or Wixarikas, the indigenous people of western central Mexico, call this lovely grain. It is my favorite to croute things in. This plant, of a sacred quality to the prehispanic peoples of Mexico, can endure drought, thus providing them with food even when corn died due to lack of water. Through a long process, they managed to produce an abundance of the white seeds, and then “pop” the result into those little grains, which make them easier to digest and easier to get at all the proteins.

Now imagine fish sticks coated in this delicious grain, which not only absorbs less fat when frying, it’s also incredibly rich in flavor and nutrients, such as A, B, C, B1, B2, B3 vitamins, calcium, iron, phosphorus and folic acid. It contains much more protein than other cereals; twice as much as rice, and over 70% more than wheat. And imagine those fish stick sitting on top of a delicious broccoli, wilted arugula, and goat cheese salad. Sounds delicious and nutritious? On to the recipe then (It’s quick and easy, too!):

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