I will pull together a proper document with recipes sometime this year, but there was a request for the salted rosemary shortbread cookies; the oatmeal cranberry cookies (which I made into bar cookies because I was tired -- they are better as drop cookies) and the salad yesterday. I included folks from previous training classes in case they are interested. I know they loved the oatmeal cookies.
Here goes:
Shortbread: (adapted from "Having Tea" by Tricia Foley)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 pound salted butter (four sticks, room temp)
4.5 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
fresh rosemary sprigs
Maldon or other crunchy sea salt (large flakes is better)
Preheat the oven to 325.
Mix the first 4 ingredients, ideally in a stand mixer because the dough gets heavy and stiff. Don't over mix it (which I did, so the cookies were not as flaky and tender as they should have been)
Roll out the dough to 1/4 or 1/2 inch thick.
Snip fresh rosemary leaves and scatter across the top. Lightly roll it into the dough (on pass with your rolling pin will do it. This is just to make it adhere). Sprinkle a teaspoon or so of Maldon sea salt across the top of all the cookies. Hold your hand about 2 feet above the cookies and really throw it -- like Salt Bae (google it) -- this will keep you from using too heavy a hand.
Cut the cookies into squares or use a cookie cutter. If you like, pock the top with the tines of a fork -- this is a traditional look. Put them on parchment lined cookie sheets to prevent them from sticking. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes. The cookies should be pale on top but golden brown on the bottom.
Salted Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies (adapted from the Martha Steward Living Cookbook)
2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter, room temp
1 1/4 c brown sugar, packed
3/4 c white sugar
2 large eggs (room temp so they don't cause the butter to harden)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups rolled oats (not instant)
12 oz dried cranberries
a handful of nuts, as you wish (I like walnut)
1 cup plus 2 Tbs flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Maldon sea salt
Preheat oven to 350
Cream the butter & sugar till it's light and fluffy. Stand mixers rule for this. (ie like a Kitchen aid)
Add the eggs one at a time and beat. Add vanilla and beat. Add oats and cranberries and nuts and mix.
Don't add the flour until you have all this stuff mixed together.You want to use a really light hand in beating in the flour because if you overbeat it the cookies will be tough (gluten strands develops when flour meets liquid and agitation).
Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add to the oatmeal dough and mix until it is just incorporated.
Spoon out individual cookies on to parchment lined cookie sheets (to prevent sticking and makes clean up easy)
Salt them with a little Maldon sea salt from up high when they are on the cookie sheets (see note in shortbread). If you really want to gild the lily, buy some sanding sugar (in the cookie aisle ) or pearl sugar (expensive!) and do the same treatment, so you have a salty sweet top barely there on each cookie.
The cookies will spread when they bake so give them some room.
Bake 12 - 16 minutes, depending on size. Rotate in the oven if you need to for even browning. Cool on racks.
I also make the single best chocolate chip cookies in the world, as Shawn from 2017 can confirm (Shawn where are you we miss you and your kilt and puppy!)
The recipe is on the back of the Nestle chocolate chip bag, but you increase the brown sugar and decrease the white (instead of 3/4 c of each do 1 c of brown and 1/2 c white), and double the salt. Sea Salt the cookies as above before you put them in the oven. Crunchy Sea Salt is basically my only baking secret.
Yesterday's Not Quite Nicoise Salad: (common sense but inspired by MFK Fisher's recollection of a composed veggie salad in Italy)
Individually cook each veggie element and when it is still warm dress it individually with some vinaigrette. Warm veggies absorb flavors more, especially potatoes!
-- roast beets whole in the oven according to directions easily found on the internet
-- boil pee wee potatoes
-- steam or microwave green beans (I got mine already cooked from whole foods because by saturday eve I was tired! ditto for the grilled chicken)
-- make some quinoa and let it cool (don't dress it!)
-- roast cubed sweet potatoes
-- shred fresh mozzarella
- baby arugula
Make vinaigrette: (this is different from the vinaigrette I use on the kale salad you like; that's in the cookbook you got yesterday. But this is a good rule for making salad dressing. Never buy bottled again. It is full of emulsifiers and fillers and chemicals and preservatives and tastes bad. I also use this dressing on arugula salad with shaved fresh parmesan cheese and it is delicious, especially with raw fennel and green apple slices.)
3 parts good olive oil (which can be bitter and spicy)
1 part acid (in this case, Richard's meyer lemons and one or two clementines. You can also use vinegar of any sort)
1 part whole grain dijon mustard
minced fresh garlic (to taste. I used 3 fat cloves for about a quart of dressing yesterday. I grated it on a microplane, which does a great job of breaking down the flesh quickly with little mess)
sea salt and pepper (freshly ground over everything)
Put all ingredients in a mason jar and shake it. Taste. If it's bitter, try adding a little bit more sea salt (salt inhibits bitter flavors). If it needs to be a little sweeter, add a little more orange juice or some balsamic vinegar or even mustard -- it can take a surprising amount of dijon mustard and it only gets more delicious and a little more sweet. On a salad with a lot of veggies, you can make a strong flavored vinaigrette because they will stand up to it.)
Toss each veggie individually with vinaigrette while prepped but still warm (ie after you peel and cube the beets). Store dressed veggies separately until you compose the salad. Make a bed of quinoa, then arugula, then compose the salad on top, then top with a little extra vinaigrette. The excess will drip down to the quinoa (you can substitute cooked wild rice or farro or bulgar wheat).
I hate an undressed salad so do your eaters a favor and dress it in advance.
Hit me with questions! These recipes are shorthand and presume a little bit of kitchen knowledge. Happy to elaborate more if you need directions.
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