Fried Chicken and Cheesesteaks

  First prep 12 oz of Buttersworth original hard candies.    Unwrap, put them in a gallon ziploc bag, put bag into an old pillowcase or fold into a dishcloth, and pound with a mallet or the bottom of a heavy sauce pan:       Preheat oven to 350 degrees  Cream together:  2 sticks butter, at room temperature  1 cup brown sugar Then add:  2 eggs 1 T vanilla 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt When well combined add in: 2 cups flour 1 cup rolled oats Then add:  12 ounces hard butterscotch candies (prepared as described) Drop by the tablespoon onto parchment lined sheet pans, 3" apart.    Small balls, socially distanced.   These cookies seriously spread, y'all.       Bake ~10 minutes.   If your oven is uneven, turn the pans halfway.    Let the cookies cool on their tray, undisturbed.      Then store cooled cookies between layers of parchment.  ...

Mix in bottom of stand mixer bow: 1 cup warm tap water 1/3 cup oil 1/4 cup sugar 2 tablespoons yeast  Let proof (get big and frothy) for a few minutes beat together: 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 egg   add egg, salt and butter in with yeast mixture, mix    2 tablespoon softened butter Start adding bread flour, 1 cup at a time.      You want a dough that is not sticky.    3 to 4 cups bread flour Let stand mixer knead for about 10 minutes.     Let stand for a couple minutes, then turn on for a few seconds to beat down.  Meanwhile grease the bottom of two 8" square pans  (or one 13 x 9 or two pie plates).     Divide dough into 18 balls, 9 per pan.     Preheat oven to 400.   Cover with a warm towel and allow to proof for 20-30 minutes.    Brush top of each roll with a bit of cream mixed with honey.    Bak...

 When only the chocolatiest will do .. First prep 12 ounces of dark chocolate - break into small pieces or coarsely chop.    I used 85% dark from Aldi.   Lightly whisk together in a large pot (I use my 7 qt dutch oven): 3 cups white sugar 1 cup cocoa powder 1 tsp salt 3/4 cup corn starch Mix in: 12 egg yolks 1/2 gallon (8 cups) whole milk Slowly heat on stove, stirring almost constantly until it starts to thicken.   This will take 12-15 minutes.     When it starts to thicken turn off the heat, still stirring.       Add:  2 Tablespoons vanilla prepared 12 ounces of dark chocolate Mix chocolate into pudding mixture and let it sit a minute, then whisk until combined.    Add in: 1 stick butter, cut into 8-10 pieces.     Whisk until smooth and shiny.   Scoop pudding into cups - I ended up with 38 servings.  ...

A beautiful, buttery, understated pound cake.     Elegant with an afternoon cup of Earl Grey.    Perfect with sliced strawberries and whipped cream.   cream together: 3 sticks butter, softened 3 cups white sugar meanwhile mix together: 6 eggs 1 T vanilla extract (dash of orange or other citrus oil, optional) 1 tsp salt 1/4 cup sour cream, 3/4 cup milk mix liquid into creamed butter/sugar. mix in 3 cups flour until just combined. Pour into two loaf pans lined with parchment paper.     Place in oven and turn oven to 325.    It took mine about 90 minutes, but start checking at 75 minutes - see if a knife inserted in center comes out clean. 

 So Philadelphia, the home of my youth and my home again now, has a rich culinary heritage.       Pies and chicken and veggies from the Pennsylvania Dutch influence.    Breads and salamis and cheeses from the multiple European influences.   Soft Pretzels from German immigrants.   And of course spectacular pizza, pasta, hoagies and cheesteaks on every block, normally by 2nd or 3rd generation of family ownership with a Greek or Italian surname.    What you don't find too often here ... BISCUITS.    But I married a man of Southern heritage, South Carolina to be precise, and I decided 2017 would be the year of the biscuit.    A few things I've learned: 1)  Self rising flour expires.    Of course in most cases if flour is in a Tupperware canister it doesn't really go BAD ... so I didn't worry about how old mine might be.   (only later I realized it was p...

Do you have a few extra hours today?     Want to spend them by the stove making as many calories as humanly possible in one pot?  And you have a candy thermometer at the ready?   Do you have real cream, butter and good vanilla?    Have I got the recipe for you!   I decided to try my hand at homemade caramels, so I read about 3 dozen recipes, decided I didn't want "microwave in seven minutes" or "open a can of sweetened condensed milk"  I wanted a recipe that belonged in my circa 1908 house ...      So I settled on this one:  http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2014/12/10/moms-caramels/ with a few modifications: In a large pot (I used a seven qt dutch oven), combine: 1 qt (4 cups) heavy cream 3 cups white sugar 3 cups brown sugar 1 pint (2 cups) corn syrup 1 pound (4 sticks) butter, sliced into pieces 1 Tbs kosher salt Mix them all in the pot, then move to stove on medium-low heat....

What to do on a rainy day with four young children to entertain?   (I was borrowing a couple of them for the morning)    Make cookies!     We didn't have quite enough time to make rolled cookies, wait for them to cool and then frost/sprinkle them, so I needed a recipe that added the sprinkles before baking.    These also TASTE very, very good.    Soft Sugar Cookies ~ 2 dozen  2 cups  all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 sticks butter, softened 1 cup granulated sugar  1 T brown sugar 1 large egg 2 t double strength vanilla  Preheat oven to 375 standard/350 convection.   Whisk flour with baking powder and salt.    In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar.    Then add in egg and vanilla (use the good stuff).       Much like when making peanut butter cookies, roll balls of dough in sugar (ma...

This is unpretentious weeknight cooking to be sure, but also very tasty! 1) wash potatoes  (mine were organic from the CSA) 2) cut them up in bite size pieces (don't peel) 3) place in microwave safe large bowl, cover with water 4) cook until tender (took about 16 minutes in my microwave with about 8 cups of chopped potatoes) 5) pour off water (doesn't need to be too thoroughly) 6) mix in some butter, thyme, paprika, salt  (if you forgot to take butter out of the freezer until now, microwave for one more minute) 7) stir and serve in the same bowl! So easy, so good ... and don't worry about adding some butter - its still MUCH better for you than most processed foods!

One of my goals in the summer is to have yummy meals without heating up the kitchen, so I grill just about everything, especially the wonderful produce coming from my CSA.   I facilitated this by buying some sturdy metal pans - two 8" bread pans, and a quarter sheet pan ... both WITHOUT non-stick, so I didn't have to worry about the high temperatures on the grill: Cauliflower and/or broccoli:   wash, chop into bite size pieces, put in bread pan, shave a bit of butter on top, cover with foil, cook on top rack of grill. Beets:  remove stems and leaves, wash well but GENTLY so as not to remove skin.    Place in bread pan, add about an inch of water, cover with foil, cook on top rack.     Take off, allow to cool, use fingers to rub off the skin, then slice and keep in fridge for salads the next day.   Beets are naturally sweet but need a touch of salt or a little salad dressing in a salad...

These are SOOOO good, and they make your house smell like a Cinnabon while they are baking. (Cinnabon is, I'm quite certain, a registered trademark. I am not claiming these are the Cinnabon recipe. But two different people told me they were better) In the bread machine, run these ingredients on the dough setting (the second time I made these, I actually set the dough cycle to run right before going to bed, and didn't die because there was milk in the recipe. On the other hand, we keep our house in the mid 50's overnight during the winter nights, so take that into consideration if you try it in the African heat): 1 cup warm milk 2 eggs, room temperature 1/3 cup butter, melted 4 1/2 cups bread flour 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup sugar 1 packed (2 1/2 tsp) yeast When finished, punch dough down and transfer to board: Very lightly flour, and roll/stretch out, then brush w/ 1/4 cup butter, melted (or spread if you thought ahead enough to have some very spreadable): Combine 1 cup brown ...

Just in case you are feeling guilty about all the steamed vegetables you ate this week, here's a way to atone for the damage: