I’ve got a case of the lazy bones.  Serious and impervious to negotiation, lazy bones.

These lazy bones have coerced me into watching a solid five hour block of television last Friday night.  These lazy bones strong armed me into excessive Saturday and Sunday napping.  I also did that thing where you get up and make breakfast, eat it, hold you belly with the sheer joy of your accomplishment… then get back in bed… back in bed (!) for a nap.

I’ve had the best of intentions, but I learned early on this weekend (about halfway through watching my third bridal show on Friday night) that my to-do list was just going to have to sit tight and have some patience.  That’s how it goes some weekends.  Who am I to disrupt the flow?

Nuts.  I somehow roasted and fancied up hazelnuts.  This must have been done in one of the hazes between naps.  I have no real recollection, but I do have photographic evidence.  Thank heavens.  I may not fully remember making them, but I sure do remember the dream where I was shoving them into my face by the fistful.  True.

Ok…. maybe they’re not the prettiest nuts you’ve ever seen.  Delicious?  Oh.  So.  Yes.

These fancy roasted hazelnuts are part of a larger idea.  I’m thinking that these nuts are going to be a part of my holiday survival plan.  They’re great to give as hostess gifts, or to have on hand when guests arrive, or when you have a last minute invitation to a friend’s holiday sing along.  Always be prepared for the sing along… always.

I made this recipe with all hazelnuts.  Next time, I’ll use a mixture of hazelnuts, pecans and walnuts.  I think a mixture is best.  They’re sweet, somehow fluffy and lightly crisp with a touch of salt.  Now you know.

Salted Cocoa Roasted Hazelnuts

adapted from Essence of Chocolate

Print this Recipe!

3 cups nuts ( a mixture of hazelnuts, pecan halves and walnut halves would be best)

8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks

2 large egg whites

1 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon cocoa

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Place a rack in the center.   Spread nuts out on a half sheet pan (17×12x1-inch) or a 9×13-inch baking pan works in a pinch.  Toast nuts for 10 minutes.  Remove from the sheet pan and set aside. Note:  If your hazelnuts still have skins like mine, the may loosen and begin to peel.  Just go through the nuts with your hands and loosen and remove any peels that might be ready to come off.  I left a lot of mine with skins on.. no biggie!

Scatter the butter pieces over sheet pan and place in the oven to melt.  This should only take a few minutes.  Remove the pan as soon as the butter is melted.

Now, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat egg whites.  When the whites just start to hold their shape, gradually add the sugar and continue to whisk on medium-high for two minutes.  The mixture will be sticky and shiny, but may be a bit thinner than meringue.

Sift the cocoa over the top of the beaten eggs and fold in.  Pour the chocolate mixture over the toasted nuts and fold in.

Spoon the coated nuts on top of the butter on the baking sheet.  Spread out into an even layer.  Not all of the butter may be covered by nuts, that’s ok!

Bake nuts for 10 minutes.  Remove from the oven and quickly stir a bit.  Return to the oven for 10 minutes, remove and stir once again.  The meringue will look like it’s drying out a bit.  This is when you add the salt.  Sprinkle it on top of the meringue and nuts.  Return to the oven for a final 10 minutes, remove and give it one final stir, breaking the nuts up a bit as you stir them.

When done, the butter should be absorbed and the nuts and coating crisp.  Let cool completely before handling.  Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

 

I’m putting on an orange leotard tomorrow.  An orange leotard. 

I’m also putting on bright blue leggings tomorrow.. and white leg warmers… and sweat bands.  

I’m going to encourage the big, puffy, curly hair that I spend most days trying to tame.  Yes, there will be blue eye shadow.

I’m going to step out in the world tomorrow as an 80’s aerobics instructor.  The only little hitch?  That I actually have to step out of the house in a skin tight orange leotard and skin tight blue leggings.  Oooh lordy.  Whose idea was it to take the Halloween celebration beyond my solo living room dance parties?  Yeeps!  

Ironically, the only thing making me feel better about my very bright and very tight 80’s debut are these S’mores Icebox Candy Bars.  There are fifteen in a batch and I’ve worked through four just writing this post.  Send help.  Orange leotard, people…. send help. 

I love a good, down-and-dirty dessert.  This is that treat.  All the goodness of s’mores, crumbled up then pressed together and refrigerated.  I sliced these little darlings into small bars, wrapped them in wax paper… and now I’m eating them like a mad woman.  No baking.  No fuss and sure to be gone in a flash.

S’mores Icebox Candy Bars

     adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

     makes 15 bars

     Print this Recipe!

3 sticks plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 cup light corn syrup

pinch of salt

1 14-ounce box graham crackers, lightly crumbled

2 big handfuls of mini marshmallows, plus a handful more for sprinkling on top

Line a 9×13-inch baking sheep with parchment paper, set aside.

In a large bowl, crumble the graham crackers into large chunks.  Add two handfuls of mini marshmallows and set aside. 

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter together butter, cocoa, corn syrup and a pinch of salt.  Stir and heat until smooth.  Once melted, let chocolate mixture cool for 5 minutes.  

Pour chocolate mixture over graham crackers and marshmallows.  Stir so that all of the graham crackers are moistened by the chocolate mixture.  Dump into lined baking pan, and a few more marshmallows on top and press down with the back of a spoon.  Cover the top with another sheet of parchment and press with your fingers.  Let cool on the counter for 30 minutes, then place in the fridge to solidify for a few hours or overnight.  Cut into bars.  Wrap individually and store in the fridge.

Let’s play a game called What’s on Your Nightstand?.  What?  Too personal?  Oooh come on!  We’re all friends here.  Let’s try to figure out what our night stands say about the state of our lives.

On my night stand is:

1 Ikea lamp.

A water color painting made by my aunt in the 80’s.

A cup of what once was hot lemon water with honey, now just a mass of lemon seeds at the bottom of a mug.

A glass bowl with a ring and a business card for a French bed and breakfast.

Two books:  Unaccustomed Earth and Seize the Day.

My credit card, and a small bowl with cookie crumbs in it… Lemon Rosemary Palmier cookie crumbs.

What might my night stand contents say about me?  I love a home furnishing bargain.  When I run out of tea I make do with lemons.  I can’t sleep in jewelry and I like to daydream about vacationing in the French countryside. I either read a book or go internet shopping before I fall asleep, and I eat cookies in bed.  All things considered, it seems like a pretty cushy and self indulgent life…. plus, cookies!

I’ve taught you how to make Palmiers.  Have you made them yet?  It’s amazing how easy they are.  The only trick is to get the right store-bought puff pastry.  Make sure to buy an all butter puff pastry like Dufour.  Puff pastries that aren’t made with all butter are liable to have all sorts of mystery fat in them.  Ick.

These Palmiers are flavored with lemon zest and fresh rosemary.  They’re delicate and sophisticated but delicious enough to munch on in bed on a Saturday night.

Lemon Rosemary Palmiers

Print this Recipe!

1 package puff pastry

1 scant cup of sugar

zest of 1 large lemon or 2 small lemons

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Finely chop fresh rosemary and set aside.  Measure out one cup of granulated sugar (it doesn’t have to be exact).  On a clean, flat surface rub lemon zest into the sugar using a bench knife or the back of a spoon.  The sugar will become fragrant as the zest is rubbed into it.  Sprinkle about half of the lemon sugar onto a clean work surface.  Unfold the thawed puff pastry onto the sugared surface and sprinkle the top of the pastry with the remaining lemon sugar.

The Dufour Puff Pastry unfolds out of the package just about the length and width you’re looking for.  You’ll just need to roll it to thin it a bit, extending it about 1/2 to 1-inch on all sides.

What’s that?  You have a little rip on the seam of your puff pastry!? Me too.  Maybe just try to patch that up a bit.  But really?  It’s not that big a deal.  Don’t sweat it!

Sprinkle the surface with fresh rosemary.

Your puff pastry should be roughly 8(to10)x12-inches in size.  Now start rolling.  Roll up the left vertical side towards the center seam.  Roll the right vertical side towards the center too.

Gently press together.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour, or until cold and firm.

Remove dough from the fridge and slice in 1/2-inch slices.  Place on lined baking sheet.  Bake in 400 degree F oven for 10 to 15 minutes of until golden brown.  You may want to rotate the baking sheet halfway through baking.  Keep a close eye on the cookies after about 11 minutes.  They might burn quickly.

If using just a greased and floured baking pan instead of a parchment or silicone lined pan, remove the cookies from the pan immediately after they come out of the oven.  If you’ve lined you baking sheet, you’re fine to let the cookies cool on the sheet.

It’s August 3, 2009 and I refuse to believe a) that summer is almost over, and b) that we’re a handful of months away from 2010.  Turns out that whether I believe or refuse to believe these two things… they’re still true.  

It’s August 3, 2009 and I will openly admit that in the past few days I’ve been stress eating like a maniac over these picnic plans.  I’m not proud.  

It’s August 3, 2009 and tonight is the night I’m going to polish off the frozen dough balls in my freezer.  Again, not proud.

It’s August 3, 2009 and I’m thinking it’s going to be really awkward when Dr Martens come back into style and I bust out my original pair that I sported back in middle school.  Yes, I still have them.  Yes, they still fit.  

It’s August 3, 2009 and among the many other things I’m thankful for today, I’m also thankful for internet shoe shopping and these beautiful thumbprint cookies.  

I like to think of these cookies as the slightly grown up version of thumbprint cookies from my youth.  

See, instead of adding a bunch of peanut butter to the cookie dough, I ground up honey roasted peanuts, added some flour, butter and sugar and baked them up.  The ground peanuts add a great texture and a subtle peanut flavor.  These cookies are crisp, almost crumbly and just lovely paired with a good quality jam.  

Consider these the thumbprint cookie for those of us who are real life grownups… maybe with a little college debt… maybe with the cheap health insurance… maybe hoping our rent check doesn’t get cashed until 7th of the month.  Grownups…. yea.  Grownups. 

Honey Roasted Peanut Thumbprint Cookies

     adapted from Baking: from my home to yours

     makes 30-34 cookies

     Print this Recipe!

1 3/4 cup finely ground honey roasted peanuts (use a food processor fit with a blade attachment)

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

powdered sugar for dusting

about 1 cup good quality jam of your choice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and position a rack in the upper third of the oven.  Line two baking sheets with parchment or foil and set aside

Whisk together ground peanuts and flour.  

Using a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 or 4 minutes.  Add the extract and beat to blend.  Reduce the speed of the mixer to low and gradually add the nut-flower mixture, mixing only until just incorporated.  Use a spatula to hand mix any flour or nuts that have not been mixed in thoroughly.  

Working with a scant tablespoon (just eyeball it) of dough at a time, roll the dough between your palms to form small balls and place the balls two inches apart on the cookie sheet.  Steadying each cookie with the thumb and finger of one hand, use the pinkie of your other hand to poke a hole in the center of each cookie.  Be careful.  You don’t want to press all the way down to the cookie sheet.  

Bake for 15-18 minutes.  The cookies will only be slightly colored and might even look underdone.  That’s fine.  You don’t want them overbaked. When the cookies are done, remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the cookies rest on the sheet for 2 minutes before transferring them to  cooling racks with a metal spatula.

Repeat with the remaining dough until all the cookies are baked off and cooling.  

Bring the jam to a boil in a small saucepan over low heat, or in the microwave.  Remove from heat.  Sprinkle the cookies with powdered sugar and then fill the indentations (they might have smoothed over slightly during baking) with you jam of choice.  Enjoy!

I had no idea how easy ranch dressing was to make.  Here’s how it went down in my kitchen.

I looked at the Buttermilk Ranch recipe.  I shrugged one shoulder.  I mashed garlic, chopped herbs, and dolloped various white and creamy ingredients into a bowl.  I again shrugged a shoulder.  I threw in some salt.  I threw in some crushed peppercorns.  I threw in a dash of Tabasco.  I… yes, shrugged my shoulders.  I stirred the bowl of herbs and creamy things together.  I shrugged.  I threw in some buttermilk.  Stirred again.

Then I did this thing…. I took a leaf of butter lettuce and dipped it into the bowl.  Holy Hell!  Gracious heavens!!  It tasted… get this… JUST LIKE RANCH DRESSING!  Geeeeez!  That was cool.  Sometimes goodness sneaks up on you.  Dang.

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing is among the things that I wish grew on trees.  Hot dang it’s good.  I bring you this recipe just in time for every upcoming summer event that you’ve got planned.  You’ll want this dressing on salads, on carrot sticks, in pasta salad, and maybe poured over your favorite breakfast cereal.  It’s that good.

You might also try making the low fat version of this recipe.  Low fat mayo and low fat sour cream?  It could work.  I believe in you.

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

from The Pioneer Woman (I figure she knows a thing or two about ranching and dressing)

Print this recipe!

1 cup of real mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream

buttermilk (to desired consistency)

1 clove of garlic

1/4 cup Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped

2 Tablespoons fresh chives, chopped

salt to taste

healthy pinch of freshly ground black pepper

dash of Tabasco

Mince the garlic with a knife and then sprinkle about 1/4 teaspoon of salt onto the garlic.  With a fork, mash the garlic and salt into a thick paste.

In a bowl combine all of the ingredients except for the buttermilk.  Stir.  Add buttermilk until you’ve reach the desired consistency.  Taste and season as necessary.  Chill for a couple hours before serving.  Thin with milk when it comes out of the fridge if you wish.

Lovely friends… hi.  Dear readers… hello.

Let’s talk about keeping it classy.  Hot dang! I try hard to keep it classy.  Holy smokes… do I ever fail sometimes.

Let’s discuss classy versus not classy, and what the heck chocolate dipped bananas have to do with anything.

Classy:  a tastefully short summer sundress.  Not class:  booty shorts that awkwardly bunch in the crotch.

Classy:  gracefully switching from wine to water at the company picnic.  Not classy:  maybe getting drunk and punching the sous chef in the face.  Oops.

Classy:  How much I love listening to public radio.  Not classy:  How much I love to watch The Real Housewives of  New Jersey.  Guilty… but why do they yell so much?

Classy: Enjoying mini chocolate dipped bananas on a summer afternoon.  Not as classy:  Trying to gnaw your way through a giant chocolate dipped banana.  It’s just not pretty friends.  Let’s try to avoid this scene this summer.  I think we all know why.

In case you’re wondering what I’ll be eating all summer, the answer is homemade kettle corn and these little lovelies.  Gracious heavens, how have I not come to these sooner!?  Use the best chocolate you can get your hands on.  I used a Valrhona 70% chocolate.  How about nuts!?  Heck yes!  I liked chopped honey roasted peanuts, but walnuts or toasted pecans would be lovely too.

Mini Chocolate Dipped Bananas

Print this recipe!

3 firm but ripe bananas

9- 12 wooden popsicle sticks or lollipop sticks

2 cups chocolate chips or chunks, melted

1/2 cup nuts of your choice, pulverized in the food processor or finely chopped.

Peel three firm bananas and slice each banana into thirds or fourths.  Each banana slice should be about 3 inches tall.

Place wooden sticks or lollipop sticks through the center of one end of the banana slice, about 2 inches deep.

Place of a tray or plate, making sure that the bananas do not touch, cover with plastic wrap and freeze for four hours, or overnight.

Using a food processor, pulse the nuts until they are chopped very fine.  You can also do this by hand, it just takes a bit longer.  Place in a bowl and set aside for the dipping.

Melt chocolate over a double boiler.  Simmer 3 inches of water in a pot, place the chocolate in a heat proof bowl and, once the water is simmering, place the bowl of chocolate over the simmering water.  The water should not touch the bottom of the bowl.  Stir the chocolate pieces  occasionally until they’re all melted.

Remove bananas from the freezer, dip in chocolate, roll in nuts and place on a foil lined baking sheet.  When all the bananas are dipped, return to the freezer for 30 minutes to harden.  Once hard, wrap individually in plastic wrap and store in the freezer until you’re ready to snack on them.  Yum!  I think they’re best eaten when thawed at room temperature for about 7 minutes.

Can you do me a favor?

I cringe any time someone asks me if I can do them a favor.  I always want to say… sure, yes, of course… only to be asked to do something like… I dunno… be a bridesmaid in their wedding and wear lavender and ruffles.  Ok… so that hasn’t been a favor asked of me just yet.  The thought obviously terrifies me.

I hope when I ask you to do me this favor you won’t completely cringe.

Do me a favor and make this popcorn this weekend.

I wouldn’t ask unless it was totally important, and totally delicious.

Believe me.  If you’ve never believed me before, now would be the time to start.  Make this popcorn.  It’s perfectly sweet and perfectly salty.  Make it for dinner.  Make it and sneak it into the movie theater in your giant purse.  Make it and sit out on your patio with a glass of cheap wine.  Find the time.  Find a way.  Just do me a favor and enjoy this popcorn as soon as possible.

It’s that good.

I know what you’re thinking.  Geez Joy… it’s just kettle corn.  What’s the big deal?

This popcorn will sneak up on you.  You’ll have one bite and think… meh, sweet and salty… so what!?  You’ll have another bite and think… yea, it’s pretty good.  You’ll have a third bite and realize I’ve introduced you to some sort of drug-like substance.  And then… you’ll have eaten the whole batch in a cool 15 minutes.

If it can happen to me.  It can happen to you.

Homemade Kettle Corn

Print this recipe!

1/2 cup popcorn
1/4 cup vegetable or grapeseed oil
3 tablespoons sugar
Salt to taste.  I think I used between 1/2 and 1 teaspoon.

You know that team building exercise you might play at sleep-away camp that requires you to fall backwards into the waiting arms of a fellow camper?  The Trust Fall?  The basic idea is that you completely let yourself fall backwards, trusting that the person behind you has arms outstretched to catch you before you hit the ground.  It’s a very literal way of saying “Hey!  I’ve got your back!”  or “Don’t worry, I’ll catch you if you fall.”  If the person you’ve entrusted to catch you is not paying attention and flirting with her sleep-away boyfriend as you fall… well, you might have trust issues for life.  Not cool.

I bring up the old Trust Fall because we’re talking about sandwiches.  Sandwiches are serious business.  I feel like I need to do a good round of Trust Falling with someone before we’re allowed to make each other sandwiches.  Like I said… sandwiches are serious.

I need to know that someone has got my back when they make me a sandwich.  Who’s making me a sandwich?  No one… that’s not the point.  It’s all about trust, and care and attention.  Like… which slices of bread they choose from the loaf, and how the mayonnaise doesn’t sneak over the edges, and how the tomato slices are just thin enough, and the lettuce is mostly dry from the washing.  Sandwiches have a lot of details.  There’s a lot going on.  I need to trust that my sandwich maker can handle these details… you know?

What?  Too much?  It’s just a sandwich?  Yea… a sandwich.  I take my sandwiches to heart.  I haven’t done the old Trust Fall with the young gentlemen at my local sandwich shop, so frankly, I don’t know if I can trust them to make me a sandwich… ridiculous, but true.

So, yes.  I’m a touch neurotic about my sandwiches.  That’s just how it goes.  Because I’m so ridiculous, I usually make my own.

This time around I made my own mayonnaise, because, holy heck it’s easy!  Mayonnaise is a simple emulsion of egg yolk, flavors like mustard and seasoning, acid, and a fat like canola oil or olive oil.   Olive oil will make a strongly flavored mayonnaise.  I went for a roasted red pepper (I bought a jar) version using grapeseed oil as the fat.  This version creates a slightly looser mayonnaise than the one you might scoop from the store bought jars.  For a plain mayonnaise you can make with a bowl and a whisk, check out this tutorial.  It’s handy.

Roasted Red Pepper Mayonnaise

adapted from Fat

Print this recipe!

makes about 1 cup of mayonnaise

1 large egg yolk

3/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

1 roasted red pepper, coarsely chopped ( I used the jarred variety.  Easy!)

3/4 cup canola or grapeseed oil

Combine egg yolk, mustard, lemon juice, and chopped roasted red pepper  in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment.  Mix for about 30 seconds.  Add a pinch of salt and pepper and whirl again.

With the machine running (I know it’s loud), gradually add the oil until the mixture starts to thicken and emulsify.  I added the oil in a steady, but very thin stream.  The mixture will start to emulsify at about the 2 minute mark.  Once it starts to emulsify, you can add the fat more quickly.  If the mixture is too thick for some reason, just blend in 1 teaspoon of boiling water to thin it.  Taste and adjust the seasoning.  Store in an airtight container and refrigerate.  Lasts for 3-4 days.

The Best BLT

makes one sandwich

2 slices of your favorite bread, toasted

3-4 slices of tomato

2 leaves of butter lettuce, rinsed

4 -5 slices of crisp bacon

generous slather of roasted red pepper mayonnaise

Cook up bacon and drain of a paper towel.  Rinse lettuce leaves, and pat dry.  Slice tomato slices and let rest on a paper towel, allowing some of the moisture to be absorbed.

Toast bread and slather with as much roasted red pepper mayonnaise as you like.  Top with bacon, tomatoes and lettuce.  Top with other slice of bread and you’re in business.  Holy yum!

I woke up to an utterly dreamy California morning on Tuesday.  The soft morning sun was just streaming through my bedroom window, the birds were singing good morning, and I knew that I had a whole basket of clean laundry for the week ahead.  Pretty sweet morning, right?

Sure… the only problem was that my brain was entirely unwilling to join  the sunny spirit.  Nope.  I felt like on  big stale loaf of bread.  After an extended love affair with my snooze button, I determined, behind closed eyelids, that the only thing that would change my circumstance was streusel topping.  On the shuffle from my warm bed to the kitchen counter I decided that blueberry muffins with streusel topping would flip the light switch in my brain.

There was only one problem with my blueberry muffin plan.  I had not a blueberry in sight.  No fresh.  No frozen… just a whole lotta outta luck.  After rifling through my freezer and fridge I emerged with the tail end of a bag of frozen raspberries, and half a jar of strawberry jam.  I figured that, brought together under the welcoming umbrella of streusel topping, these two would simply have to work.  Not but thirty minutes later, puffy streusel topped muffins found their way out of the oven and into my face.  While they didn’t pay that pesky credit card bill, or make that much needed dentist appointment, they at least kept me from crawling back in bed for a handful of hours.  Sometimes, that kind of help is just enough.

It’s not every morning that you jump out of bed ready for the world, fully equipped to make blueberry muffins.  When those morning escape you, I promise that with a little jam, the remains of your frozen fruit collection, and loads of streusel topping, you just might be able to set things right.

I’d like to think of these muffins as Anything Muffins.  Really, whatever kind of berry and whatever kind of jam will do you just fine in this recipe.  If it sounds good to you, it’ll most likely taste good coming from your oven.  Don’t deny yourself a warm fruity muffin just because the blueberry escapes you.

Raspberry and Jam Muffins aka Just about anything muffins.

adapted from the Gourmet Cookbook

Print this recipe!

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1/3 cup whole milk

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2- 1 cup frozen or fresh raspberries (or whatever berry you might have in your freezer or fridge, use as much of the bag or as little as you have left)

3 Tablespoons strawberry jam (or whatever fruit jam you have on hand)

For the topping:

3 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3 1/2 tablespoons sugar

Put a rack in the upper third of oven and preheat to 375 degrees F.  Generously butter muffin cups or line with cupcake papers.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over moderately low heat; remove from heat.  Whisk in milk, egg, yolk and vanilla until well combined.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.  Add milk mixture and stir until just combined.  Gently but thoroughly fold in the berries and the jam.

Divide batter among muffin cups and spread evenly.

For the topping:

Combine all the topping ingredients in a bowl and rub together with your fingertips until crumbly.  Sprinkle evenly over batter in cups.

Bake until golden and crisp and a wooden pick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean, 18-22 minutes.  Cool in pan on a rack for 15 minutes, then run a knife around edges of muffin tops and carefully remove from cups. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I was notorious in my family for being the child that could only be comforted by my mother.

Most playful family weekends, the scene went something like this:  I’d be in the backyard playing with my little sister, my dad and Scamper, the family dog on our creaky, rusted and awesomely fun swing set.  My favorite move was to swing as high as I could, count to three with my sister and jump out of the swings onto the grass.  Sounds innocent enough, but I was always getting my little girl fingers stuck in the chains of the swing as I dismounted.

I’d hit the ground and look at my dad with the silent cry face… the face kids give their parents before the completely lose it and burst into tears.  My dad would invariable come over and try to talk me out of losing it, but I was already halfway into the ugly cry by then.  It was then that no one but my mom could handle the cajoling and kissing of my finger.  I’d run into the house, screaming like a maniac and clutching my (not even bleeding) finger, looking for my mother who had found just a few moments peace to take a shower or a short nap.  I’d force myself into her lap, lift the offending, pained finger, and wait for the mom comfort to blanket me.  So good.

Come to think of it, that swing set caused as many injuries as it did smiles.

Come to think of it, jumping off the swing set is always worth the hurt finger.

Come to think of it, this pudding has much the same healing qualities as my mom’s lap.

Milk Chocolate Pudding … holy wow!  It’s super simple, brilliantly satisfying, and you can have it as is, or doll it up with lightly sweetened cream and easy homemade raspberry sauce.  Are you thinking what I’m thinking?  Mother’s Day treats?  Yea… I thought so.

Milk Chocolate Pudding

Gourmet, February 2007

Print this recipe!

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1/2 cup half and half or heavy cream

4 ounces fine-quality milk chocolate, chopped

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder and a pinch of salt in a 2-quart heavy saucepan.  Gradually whisk in milk and cream.  Bring to a boil over moderately high heat, whisking constantly.  Boil, whisking for two minutes.  Mixture will be thick.  Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate pieces and vanilla extract.  Stir until melted and smooth.

Transfer pudding to four or six small dishes.  Cover the surface with wax paper, to prevent a skin from forming, and place in the fridge until cool and set, about two hours.

In the meantime, make the whipped cream and raspberry sauce.

To assemble, top the chocolate pudding with whipped cream and raspberry sauce and serve immediately.  If you would like to assemble dessert and return it to the fridge, you may want to place the raspberry sauce beneath the whipped cream so it doesn’t bleed as much.

Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream

2 teaspoons powdered sugar.

Whip heavy cream with an electric hand mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer until frothy.  Add the sugar and continue to whip until soft peaks form.  Whip the cream slightly longer if you like a stiffer hold to your whipped cream.  Place in the fridge to save for assembly.

Easy Raspberry Sauce

1/2 of a 12-ounce bag frozen raspberries, thawed

1 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoons water

Place the thawed raspberries in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade attachment.  Add sugar and water and mix until the raspberries form a smooth puree.  Transfer raspberry puree to a fine mesh strainer fit over a bowl.  Press the puree through the strainer, until only the raspberry seeds and a bit of pump remain the the strainer, and a beautiful raspberry sauce is all that’s in the bowl.