Homemade “Magic” Chocolate Shell
I used to love getting a chocolate-dipped ice cream cone when I was a kid. I still do.
The ice cream shop near my house had them. I watched as the soft serve was swirled onto the cone, then turned upside down and dipped into a vat of melted chocolate goodness. Like magic, the chocolate hardened, and made this lovely, crisp shell.
Then they came out with the squeeze bottles of the stuff. Just a drizzle onto your ice cream and the chocolate hardened like, well, magic.
There are a lot of recipes out there for “magic” shell. I tried a few. All tasted fine, but some just worked better than others. I played around and found the mix that worked best for me.
It is very easy to make- just three ingredients. So easy- so good.
Homemade Chocolate Shell
1 c. chocolate chips- I used dark chocolate chips
3/4 c. coconut oil- I used the unrefined
1/2 c. powdered sugar
Heat all together until melted. I melted mine in a microwave for 1 minute, but you could also melt over a double boiler. Stir until smooth. Store at room temp. To use, drizzle over ice cream, wait about 10-20 seconds- and it will harden.
Cooking with Garlic Scapes
If you have never had garlic scapes, you don’t know what you are missing. Garlic scapes are the green shoots removed from hard-neck varieties of garlic. By removing the shoots, the bulbs will get bigger. So farmers and gardeners remove them. Garlic scapes curl as they grow, and are good served raw, or barely cooked. They are showing up at farm markets around here right now.
When cooked, the flavor mellows a lot. I love to steam garlic scapes for about 5 minutes, then just eat like fresh green beans, with butter and salt. I steamed a bunch of scapes the other day- then chopped them up and added to potato salad. So tasty!!
They have a rich, garlic flavor that is all the sweeter because of the short time they are around. Enjoy them when you can- they will be gone soon.
I sometimes use scapes in place of basil, in my pesto recipe, or combine them with parsley in a garlic scapes-parsley pesto. You can also combine the garlic scapes with cottage cheese in the blender- add a little lemon juice and hot sauce for a tasty dip. Here are some more recipes for cooking with garlic scapes.
Garlic Scapes Potato Salad
4-5 garlic scapes
2 lbs. red skinned potatoes*
½ cup minced sweet pepper
½ c. olive oil
½ c. apple cider vinegar
2 T. sugar
2 T. chopped parsley
2 t. fresh dill weed
Salt and pepper to taste
Hot sauce to taste
Steam the scapes for 5 minutes. Cool a little, and cut into ¾ -inch slices. You should end up with about 1½ of sliced scapes when done. Place in a medium bowl. Cook potatoes until tender. I baked mine in a microwave until tender and then cut into cubes. Baking them is also a nice way to cook the potatoes. You can also opt to cut into cubes first and boil the potatoes. Whatever method to cook the potatoes is fine with me. Take the potatoes, while still warm, and place in the bowl with the scapes. Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a small bowl and stir until sugar dissolves. Pour over warm potato mix, tossing to coat evenly. Adjust seasonings. Chill and serve. Serves 6-8.
* You can really use any potato you like.
Garlic Scape Pesto Sauce
1 c. chopped scapes – you can also use half scapes, half parsley
1/4 c. olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic
Salt to taste
1/2 c. pine nuts, sunflower seeds, pecans or walnuts
1 c. fresh grated Parmesan cheese
Combine all ingredients, except the cheese, in a blender and mix until smooth. Stir in the cheese and toss over hot, cooked pasta or use as a sauce on meat and poultry. Sauce will keep a few days in the fridge and makes about 1 1/2 cups, enough for 1 lb. of cooked pasta.
Lebanese Garlic Sauce
1/2 c. chopped garlic scapes
1 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups olive oil
In the container of a blender, combine the garlic scapes, lemon juice and salt. Blend at medium speed until smooth. Continue blending while pouring olive oil into the blender in a thin stream. The mixture should become thick and white almost like mayo. Store refrigerated in a glass container. Nice on hot pasta, cooked rice or grains or brushed on meats while cooking. It also is a great salad dressing.
Garlic Scapes with Broccoli
1 c. chopped garlic scapes
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 bunch broccoli, cut into florets, steamed 5 minutes, cooled
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, or to taste
Place garlic scapes in a food processor with the salt and blend into a paste. Add olive oil, vinegar, and mustard. Pulse until smooth. Place garlic scapes mixture in a bowl and add the broccoli. Stir to coat. Chill for 3 hours to marinate, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese before serving. Tastes even better the next day!!!
Garlic Scapes
Strawberry Cheesy Chocolate Pie
This pie has it all. Fresh strawberries, glazed and sitting on a flaky crust. But it doesn’t stop there. The crust is topped with chocolate and a layer of sweetened cream cheese. The chocolate and cheese are under the berries. They provide a wonderful surprise when eating the pie.
The chocolate is such a natural match for the strawberries. The cream cheese gives a little “cheesecake” feel. In the end, the combination works perfectly together.
During strawberry season, I enjoy so many different dishes made with fresh berries. Fresh strawberry pie is always going to be a favorite. I try to make different versions and this one was definitely a version I will make again.
Strawberry Cheesy Chocolate Pie
1 9-inch pie crust * recipe follows
1 c. chocolate chips
1 T. butter
1 qt. strawberries (1¼ lbs.), hulled
1 c. sugar
2 T. cornstarch
¼ c. water
1 T. butter
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
½ c. powdered sugar
Whipped cream, optional
Using a pie pan, roll out your crust and fit it into the pan- trim off any excess. Pre-bake your crust. To do this: The prepared pie crust should be pricked all over with a fork. Cover the surface with foil and then pie weights. I use dry beans for my pie weights. Pre-heat oven to 400-degrees. Bake crust for 15-20 minutes. Check to be sure it doesn’t get too brown. Remove weights and foil. Melt chocolate chips and butter together, stirring until smooth. Pour over crust and use a spatula to spread into a thin layer on the bottom and, if you like, up the sides of the crust. Set aside and allow crust to cool and chocolate to set up. Select about 25-30 berries to be placed in pie crust, large side down, and set aside. You might need fewer berries, if they are really big. Puree or crush remaining berries. Place in a saucepan with the sugar and bring to a boil. Combine cornstarch with water and stir until smooth. Add to the strawberry mixture and cook, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and gets clear. Simmer about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter. Set aside. Place cream cheese in a bowl and beat in the powdered sugar. Spread cheese over the chocolate layer. Arrange the reserved berries on the cheese layer, pointy side up. Put the largest berry in the middle and arrange the rest around it decoratively. Spoon the puree over the berries and allow the pie to cool down a little before putting in the fridge. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.
Note: other berries can also be used including raspberries, blackberries and blueberries, or a combination. This recipe can also be used as a filling for tarts and tartlets.
Half and Half Dough*
This is a great crust for liquid fillings like custard type pies and fresh fruit pies.
¼ c. butter, room temp
½ c. shortening, room temp- you can use lard instead, or chilled coconut oil
¼ c. sugar
½ t. salt
2½ c. pastry or all purpose flour
1/8 t. baking powder
¼ c. milk
1 t. lemon juice
Cream together the first 4 ingredients until smooth. Mix together the flour and baking powder. Set aside. Combine milk with the juice and set aside. Stir ½ c. of the flour into butter mixture. Stir until smooth. Add a little of the milk, stirring until smooth. Add remaining ingredients alternately until finished. Dough will firm up once chilled. Chill at least 4 hours before using. Makes 2 crusts. You only need half the dough for the strawberry pie.
Garlic Scapes Hummus
Around here, garlic scapes are in season and being eaten a lot. I find myself cooking with them in everything I can. Everyone seems to be talking about scapes and looking for new ways to use them. There is even a word for it – scorpacciata.
Scorpacciata is an Italian word that means consuming large amounts of a particular local ingredient while it’s in season.
Scapes, if you didn’t know, are the tops of hard-neck variety garlic. They are cut off this time to year- to help the plants produce larger heads. They curl as they grow. You should be able to find them at your local farm market. They can be eaten raw or cooked. They can be a little woody when raw.
This time, I steamed the scapes, and added them to my hummus. The end result was really good. The scapes replaced the garlic cloves, adding their own personality to the dish. I switched the dish up a little more, by using avocado oil, instead of the traditional olive oil.
So here is one more recipe to use those lovely, seasonal garlic scapes.
Garlic Scapes Hummus
1 can garbanzo beans, drained- I used a one pint jar of home canned
½ c. chopped garlic scapes- 1 or 2 garlic scapes- steamed 5 minutes and chopped
¼ c. olive oil or avocado oil
2 T. lemon juice – about 1 lemon
2 T. tahini (sesame seed paste)
salt and hot pepper sauce to taste
Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth. Adjust seasonings. Chill. Serve with pita bread, crackers or fresh vegetables. Also nice spread in a pita bread with sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce. Freezes well.
Fresh Strawberry Pie
June in Ohio is all about the fresh strawberries. Berries can be found at local farm markets and at pick your own farms. Because of heavy rains this year, the berry season is expected to be short. All the more reason to go out and get some now.
When I was a kid there was a local restaurant known for its fresh strawberry pie. It became a favorite of mine back then, and strawberry pie is still a favorite. This pie is always a big hit. It wouldn’t be June if I didn’t make at least one. A nice benefit, over most other pies, is that only the crust has to be baked- that takes just a few minutes- so you don’t need the oven on for very long and the house stays cooler. I used a homemade crust that really works for this particular pie. Directions for blind baking (pre-baking) the crust are included below, along with the recipe for the crust I used.
Fresh Strawberry Pie
1 (9-inch) pie crust, baked and cooled -recipe follows*
1 qt strawberries (1¼ lbs), hulled
1 c. sugar
2 T. cornstarch
¼ c. water
1 T. butter
4 oz. cream cheese
Whipped cream, optional
Select about 25-30 berries to be placed in pie crust, large side down
and set aside. Puree or crush remaining berries. Place in a saucepan
with the sugar and bring to a boil. Combine cornstarch with water and
stir until smooth. Add to the strawberry mixture and cook, stirring
constantly until mixture thickens and gets clear. Simmer about 5
minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter. Set aside. Place cream
cheese in a small bowl and mash with about a tablespoonful of the puree.
Spread on the crust and arrange the reserved berries on the crust
pointy side up. Put the largest berry in the middle and arrange the rest
around it decoratively. Spoon the puree over the berries and allow the
pie to cool down a little before putting in the fridge. Serve with
whipped cream, if desired.
Note: other berries can also be used including raspberries, blackberries
and blueberries, or a combination. This recipe can also be used as a
filling for tarts and tartlets.
*What is blind baking?
Some recipes call for pre-baking the crust. Sometimes this is because
the filling is either un-baked, like a fresh strawberry pie or very
moist, like custard pie. Blind baking is placing foil on an un-baked
crust and then weighing it down. Then the crust is baked either a
little, or until done depending on what the recipe calls for. The
weights, often dry beans or rice keep the crust from getting air bubbles
in it when it bakes. >^..^<
How to blind bake (pre-bake) a pie crust
The prepared pie crust should be pricked all over with a fork. Cover the
surface with foil and then pie weights. Pre-heat oven to 425-degrees.
For a crust that is only being partially baked allow 15-20 minutes, but
remove before the outer edges get brown. If the crust is to be fully
baked remove it after 15-20 minutes. Remove weights and foil and return
crust to oven for an additional 20 minutes, but watch carefully so it
doesn’t over-brown.
Half and Half Dough**
This is a great crust for liquid fillings like custard type pies and fresh fruit pies.
¼ c. butter, room temp
½ c. shortening, room temp- you can use lard or chilled coconut oil instead
¼ c. sugar
½ t. salt
2½ c. pastry or all purpose flour
1/8 t. baking powder
¼ c. milk
1 t. lemon juice
Cream together the first 4 ingredients until smooth. Mix together the
flour and baking powder. Set aside. Combine milk with the juice and set
aside. Stir ½ c. of the flour into butter mixture. Stir until smooth.
Add a little of the milk, stirring until smooth. Add remaining
ingredients alternately until finished. Dough will firm up once chilled.
Chill at least 4 hours before using. Makes 2 crusts.
** this recipe makes 2 crusts- which makes me think you should just make 2 pies. If you don’t want to do that- the other half of the dough will freeze well for a few months. Seriously though, just make 2 pies!!!
Cooking with My Father
One of my favorite memories of my Dad involved a very special breakfast only he and I shared. Every summer there was a park we would go to for family picnics. We went to a place call Pine Way Trails. It has long ago been sold and the land developed. The place would get very crowded so we had to go early to get a prime location by the lake and enough tables for everyone. My Dad and I would go before anyone else. Back then it made me feel so special to go and to help. I am guessing it was because I was the baby and no one else wanted to have to get up so early.
We’d get there and the mist would still be rising off the lake. I’d help him unpack the car and place the tables where we wanted them. He’d get a fire started in one of the grills and get out the cast iron skillet. Over the fire he’d cook us bacon and then cook a couple of eggs. He had his thermos of coffee and I had orange juice. On paper plates we’d sit and enjoy our breakfast together. I don’t think as a kid I really appreciated the skill it took to get that fire just right. The bacon was crisp, but never burnt and the eggs would be sunny side up- with the yolks warm yet runny. I’d use my bacon to get the last of the yolks off my plate.
Later in the day everyone else would arrive. My mom, sister and brother, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends. We’d have a wonderful day together swimming and fishing and eating grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, chicken and salads and fresh melon. It was noisy and so much fun. But that special part of the day for me was the breakfast my Father and I shared, quietly by the lake. I got out the cast iron skillet this morning- cooked some bacon and eggs and thought of him.
Bacon Waffles for Dad
If you are looking for a special breakfast for Father’s Day, maybe dad would like some waffles. Even better, make him waffles with bacon inside them. Then serve your bacon waffles with extra bacon on the side!!!
For me, breakfast doesn’t get much better than waffles. Well, unless maybe you add bacon to the waffle batter.
Truth is, I don’t treat myself to waffles all that often, but if I am going to eat waffles, I go all out.
These are truly wonderful waffles. Light, crispy on the outside and studded with bacon. A drizzle of warm maple syrup and you are good to go.
So, if you are looking for a special treat for dad for breakfast, or lunch, or dinner or a snack… try these bacon waffles. You can thank me later.
Bacon Waffles
1 pound sliced bacon
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, separated
1½ cups milk
¼ cup butter, melted
In a skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Drain; crumble and set aside. In a
mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Beat egg
yolks, milk and butter; stir into dry ingredients until smooth. Beat
egg whites until stiff peaks form; fold into batter. Add bacon. Before
making each waffle, stir batter. Bake in a preheated waffle iron
according to manufacturer’s directions until golden brown.
Strawberry Cupcakes
I just don’t get tired of strawberries. Maybe because the season for local berries is so short- and sweet. Local strawberries are at all the markets now- and they are fabulous. The season for local berries is short and I try to use them as much as I can. I also will freeze some for use throughout the year.
Cooking camp starts in Hudson next week. We will be making these cupcakes. I am sure the kids will love them as much as I do. The recipe came about on a whim. I was making cupcakes for some friends and decided to make some with strawberries. As you might expect, they were a big hit. The berries add sweetness and color in a delicate, natural way. You could also make these with frozen berries. I like to get extra strawberries and freeze some, so I will have them, even when the season is over.
Strawberry Cupcakes
2/3 cup whole fresh strawberries
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
2 large egg whites, room temperature
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside. Place strawberries in a small food processor; process until pureed. You should have about 1/3 cup of puree, add a few more strawberries if necessary or save any extra puree for frosting; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla, and strawberry puree; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.
With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended.
Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in tin before icing. Makes 12.
Strawberry Frosting
1/2 cup whole fresh strawberries or frozen strawberries, thawed
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold
Pinch of coarse salt
3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners’ sugar; beat until well combined. Add vanilla and 3 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree for another use); mix until just blended. Do not over-mix or frosting will incorporate too much air. Frosting consistency should be dense and creamy, like ice cream. Makes enough for 1 dozen cupcakes.
