A Thanksgiving tradition....Aebleskivers

Ah.....

A mere two days until Thanksgiving.  I am not sure that we as Americans need a holiday that does nothing more than celebrate food and laziness. However, it is followed by the real holiday where we wake up early and run from place to place, ready to run over our fellow competitors in order to win trinkets. I call this a triathlon.  Others call it BLACK FRIDAY.

"So.  What are you bringing?"  This was the question my mother asked me.  Coming from 3 1/2 hours away, this rules out most items.  I figured I'd eat her food and give her some cash for feeding us all for a couple of days. Apparently, she had other plans.  I now have a list of items which I will be cooking today.  The Twinkie Casserole, of course, will be brought by my cousin Lin.  My Aunt will be bringing "slimy sticks", also known as finger dumplings.

Me?  I am bringing Aebleskivers.  Now mind you, these are not a make ahead item.  I am bringing all the ingredients to make Danish pancakes on Thanksgiving morning, because my sister wants them.  And she is pregnant.  So she will get them.  Even though we are not, in fact, Danish. We are Irish, German and Lithuanian....about as far from the Danish as possible.  So today I am doing a run through on the neighborhood kids, as I just received my Aebleskiver pan in the mail (yes, this recipe requires it's own EQUIPMENT) and need to test and season it. 

It isn't a hard recipe, and looks a lot like pancakes.  It's just tricky in that one of your pieces of equipment is A KNITTING NEEDLE.  No, I am not making this up.  I will demonstrate as I go.

This follows my "happiness in recipes" rule of no more than seven ingredients.  I'm happy because there is less mess, less clean up, and less crap that you don't need in your food.  You need 2 cups of flour, 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of baking soda, 2 cups of buttermilk and three eggs.  Also oil for cooking and powdered sugar for, well, powdering....

Separate eggs.  Whip whites til they form peaks.  In another bowl, mix all the other stuff, then turn it into your egg whites.  It makes a really nice, fluffy batter.  

Get out your aebleskiver pan, set it on your stove on medium heat, and put a little oil in each well.  Don't get the oil too hot or your aebleskivers will burn :(  that was batch #1. 

Fill each well 2/3 of the way with batter and let cook for about 45 seconds. 

Using a metal knitting needle, run the needle around the outside of each cake, then jab the cake and flip it over. 

Let the other side cook for about 45 seconds as well.  To remove from pan, jab again again with the knitting needle like you are getting a free sample of cheese at a Farmer's Market.  Jab like you mean it.  Set on a plate, cover with powdered sugar and enjoy :)

You can also add things to the aebleskviver- in fact, "aeble" means apple, because these originally had apples inside of them.  I like to add a small, thin slice of honeycrisp apples...the only difference is to fill the well 1/3 with batter, then add the apple, then cover with batter.  These are AMAZING.

For kids, you can add jams or chocolate, but they find it is easier and less messy to simply cover the plate of pancakes with cool whip and chocolate. For special occasions, sprinkles may be an order.

And of course, I was met with the "Geez.  Can't you be a NORMAL mom and just make pancakes????"  I get no respect. 

Off to make the honey-wheat raisin walnut bread, pretzel bread, and shortbread cookies, each of which will be hoarded by a different family member, hoping to hold out until I come back at Christmas....

Twinkie's last stand......a SECRET family recipe....

TWINKIE CASSEROLE.  I am really not certain how this recipe came to be a guarded secret in our family. Actually, i am not certain how this got to be a recipe at all, but I am guessing it took place in a household, not so different from your house or mine, and the conversation went like this...

KID: Mom.  We have a concert tonight at 630.  And we are supposed to bring a snack to share.
MOM: "$#@* it's already 6:00!!!  And I don't go to the store til tomorrow.  What can I make? 

(mother checks the cupboard, but, like old Mother Hubbard, her cupboards are bare)

MOM: All I have is this box of twinkies, some vanilla pudding and some old candybars left over from Halloween.
KID:  Gosh, if we only had some Cool Whip....
MOM: We DO!  
KID:  All is saved, mom.  I have an idea......


And this is how the Twinkie Casserole was born.  I have taken this everywhere- from snotty New Year's Eve parties where people are wearing sparkly, low cut dresses; to my den, with a spoon for me and my husband.  I have had to hide it from the children.  I have had to hide it from adults.  Yeah, it's that good.  But I can't share the recipe, because then people would call it by it's true name "I ran outta time to think about your party and threw some stuff together and sprinkled it with crack" casserole.

This is a photo recipe, because otherwise I could write it in one sentence.

Tear open plastic wrapper.  Teeth work well. Cut the Twinkie in half, separating the top from the bottom.

Line the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan with Twinkie bottoms.

Make up a batch of instant vanilla pudding.  Pour it over the top of the Twinkies.

Sprinkle Health bar bits over the top of this layer.

Place the Twinkie "tops" in a layer over the pudding.

Cover with Cool Whip.

Sprinkle with the rest of the Heath Bits.

Wear your favorite 1950's apron and SERVE IT UP.  

(honestly though, let it sit in the fridge for about 2 hours for BEST results.  

But if the meeting/concert/event is immediately, you'll be ok)

My daughter walked in while I was making this and, honest to God, asked "are we having company tonight?"  Nothing apparently says "fancy, special dinner" quite as well as Twinkie Casserole.  

ENJOY.  I'm going to hide mine in the basement fridge......

Panera Bread......or my trip to the ER.

So, my wonderful friend Debbie brought me a new book.  Actually two.  Today, I really do NOT feel like doing anything, although there is a lot to do (finish winterizing the gardens, yuck) so I figured, "I think I will read these books.

They are, of course, bread cookbooks.  I decided on making a nice Sour Dough bread with the starter recipe in the Panera Bread Cookbook, until I read these words: let ferment 12 hours.

TWELVE HOURS???  I could be in CHINA by the time this fermentation is complete!  I could have run not one but TWO entire Ironman triathlons!  I could drive to the East Coast (well, if Nate was in the driver's seat, we'd likely be in roughly Ohio) or have repainted my kitchen!  But for a loaf of bread?  Maybe tomorrow.  It's late already.

So, instead, I decide on a nice wheat bread.  I get the starter going, leave it on the counter while I start a load of laundry and clean the 2nd floor.  In thirty minutes, I am ready to mix the rest of the ingredients.

Including VEGETABLE SHORTENING. Well I don't know about you, but I find vegetable shortening repulsive and disgusting.  It has no expiration date.  It stays solid even when it is 100 degrees outside.  It never changes in appearance.  I am fairly certain, if there is a nuclear war, that the only 2 things left would be cockroaches, of course, and shortening.  In fact, when I did my first triathlon, instead of buying expensive body glide, i was told to use Crisco.  I did, and ended up with the worst sunburn ever.  But I digress.

As the shortening was on the top shelf, and I am only five feet tall, I was forced to play the popular college game of "getting stuff with stuff".  My sister claims she invented this game; truth be told, we have all played it.  She just elevated it to a new level.  The premise is this:  LAZINESS.  Imagine you are laying on the couch (in her case, likely hungover) and you need your glass of water, which is just out of reach, on the table.  You immediately scan the area for any object that might be long enough for you to reach the glass of water.  This is how you find yourself using a flipflop to push the remote into the glass, which rebounds against the physics books, moving just close enough for you to get it without lifting your head.

Or, coincidentally, how you find yourself using a butcher knife to get down a 2 pound container of vegetable shortening.  obviously, I am a master at this game, as I have been short my whole life.  But I didn't take into consideration the bottle of corn syrup.  Which fell out of the cabinet.  And hit the butcher knife.  Which cut directly into my finger.  to the knuckle.

It didn't start bleeding right away.  That's the thing about Cutco knives.  They do such a great job slicing and dicing, that when they slide through your skin you don't notice.  As I looked up at my finger, it turned black.  As the blood began to pour down my arm and pool on the floor, my first thought was "crap.  I already proved the yeast.  I have to finish this loaf before I deal with this cut."

So I did what any other sane person would do.  I put a gauze pad on it, and taped it up with hockey tape.  I figured it was waterproof; the blood couldn't seep through.....

Four dressings later, the bread was finished and rising on the stove, and a friend stopped by.  Not wanting to be a martyr, I went on a three mile walk with her, only to get home in time to start driving the bus route home from school, and getting everyone where they needed to go for their after school activities. It really wasn't until the next morning when I couldn't get dressed by myself without it starting to bleed again that I thought "hm.  Maybe I ought to get this looked at".  but there was laundry and yard work and baking and cleaning to do....

So at 2 in the afternoon, I finally went to the urgent care center where, since it has been more than 8 hours since my injury, they put a gauze pad on it and taped it up. Well heck.  I should have stayed home.

And made another loaf of bread.  WITHOUT VEGETABLE SHORTENING.

Le croissant, le croissant, he he he hon hon hon....

Yes.  I did it.  I made CROISSANTS.

It took a total of six hours.  Approximately 30 minutes of work and 5 1/2 hours of sitting doing NOTHING. Well, for those of you who know me well, NOTHING meant cleaning, doing laundry and sewing curtains for the boys room, with an intermittent "beat down".  No, not of the children.  Of the dough.  Now I understand why these damn things are so expensive.  If you don' plan on being home all day, there is not a chance that you would make these!

I admit, I used Julia Child's recipe.  I figured I loved that movie, Julie and Julia, and if a large American woman could do it....well then I could too.  I now realize the movie depiction of her being incredibly bored was very accurate. 

I started out by mixing 1/4 cup warm water, 1/2 tbsp of sugar, 1/4 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of dry yeast in a bowl.  I let the yeast prove itself by letting it rest for 5 minutes until it was frothy and yummy smelling (gosh I love that smell!!!)  

I then added 2 cups of unbleached flour (it has less gluten and doesn't get rubbery if you overwork it). 3/4 tsp salt, 2 tbsp canola oil, 1 tbsp sugar and 1/2 cup of tepid milk. I poured the yeast mixture into it and set my KitchenAid on mix with the dough hook attachment. After three minutes, quite honestly, it looked like hell.  I thought "What have I done!!???" so i pulled it out and kneaded it by hand.  It immediately looked better and within three minutes I shaped it into a ball, covered it in oil, and began the two hour long wait for it to double......

I punched it down into a flat circle, as directed by Julia, then wrapped it in wax paper and put it in the fridge for 20 minutes.  I thought this "was a crock" as my mother would say, but it did make the dough easier to handle. Next I set about beating the butter.

It must be cold, and you beat it unto a 5 inch flat circle.  WARNING: THIS IS NOT AS EASY AS IT SOUNDS.  As it warms up, it sticks to everything.  I suggest using a marble cutting board that has been chilled, should you have access to one.  I ended up try to do this on wax paper (didn't work) and then on  the counter (stuck to it) so in the end, it was probably not as chilled, but spread a whole lot easier.  Which made me wonder "why did I chill it in the first place?"  but I digress.

Next, roll your dough into a 9 inch circle, then place to circle of butter on it. 

   Fold the dough like an envelope around the butter.

Now its time to start "the folding".  Roll this package into a piece of dough 15 inches long and 5 inches wide, with the seal side up.  When you have that piece, fold it like a tri-fold brochure.  Then, put it in the fridge for 20 minutes. 

REPEAT THIS FOUR TIMES!  yes, that's right.  roll for 3 minutes, sit in the fridge for 20, roll for 3 minutes, sit in the fridge for 20,roll for 3 minutes, sit in the fridge for 20.  Ridiculous.

FINALLY, cut your last 15 x 5 piece of dough into three equal pieces, and put two...you guessed it....BACK IN THE FRIDGE!!!  Take the one you have out and roll it to about 9 x 5.  Cut this piece into three equal pieces, 3 x 5, and then cut those into triangles.  You should have 6 triangles at this point.  

Starting from the wide end, roll the dough into the well known croissant form.  Well, at least it is well-known in my house.  Im not sure that is a good thing. Tuck the tip on the underside so it wont pop back open during cooking.  Put these on a well-buttered tray, and, as you might have suspected, let them rise for 1 to 2 hours until doubled. 

Once they have doubled in size, paint them with one egg, scrambled, with a tbsp of water added to it. Bake at 475 for 10-15 minutes.  WATCH THEM CLOSELY.  At 9 minutes, the tray on the bottom had burned and set off my fire alarm, prompting my daughter to say "don't worry mom, we all make mistakes.  You can try again tomorrow.  Like heck I can!  I don't have another six hours.  Looks like they are getting their croissants from SAMS CLUB.

HELEN C's"melting moments" (butter cookies extraordinaire)

Yes, it's been forever since my last entry.  I haven't simply been sitting around eating bonbons, however.  (Making them is more like it).  But with today's success, I MUST share!

What have I actually been doing?  Well, I went on a vacation with my sisters and mother, where we looked at my DREAM business in the location I have wanted since I was about 14 years old.  Convincing my non-risk taking husband is another matter.  I really hope he will come around.  It has been on the market for almost 2 years, has a residence attached to it, and is all I really ever wanted.  To own a bakery in the only place on Earth that makes me happy right now.

Anyway.  Also went on a college visit, have babysat for my goddaughter, work reading to kids and helping them with comprehension and sounding out words every day for 2 hours, volunteering at a local soup kitchen, and have set up a website for 200+ adult hockey league members.  SO, to say I have been busy is an understatement.  It's just the salary that stinks!

In any case, back to the Bakery.  When I was little, I lived in a magical town called Wheaton, that boasted the best bakery, Carney's.  Each Saturday, my friends and I would ride our bikes "up town" and buy stickers by the roll at PaperHouse, then walk to the bakery and buy 1/4 pound of butter cookies for $2. Throughout my life there are very few constants.  THESE COOKIES WERE ONE OF THEM.  When my parents would visit me at college, they'd bring me a pound.  When I went home, I made sure to eat at White Castle, get popcorn at the Popcorn shop, and buy the butter cookies.

UNTIL THEY CLOSED DUE TO RETIREMENT.

No one wanted to buy an old, run down building in the downtown area that housed a bakery.  It was bought and changed into....a Buffalo Wild Wings.  It's like spitting on my childhood dreams.  And denying me those cookies.

UNTIL TODAY.

My mother sent me this recipe,simply labeled MELTING MOMENTS.  and, in parentheses, it said "this is the recipe that you wanted.  Helen C".  Now, I don't know who this Helen C is, but I want to kiss her right now.  With my buttery lips.

The recipe was simple.....

Unfortunately I cannot vouch for the icing recipe.  My children consumed all 50+ cookies in the half hour following their exit from the oven.  When the 2nd tray came out, they burned themselves fighting over "the fresh ones".  The texture of these was absolutely AMAZING.  "Melting moments" is a perfect name, because they literally melt in your mouth.

As I was cooking dinner, the children kept popping their heads in the kitchen, disappointed in the croissants I was rolling or the four course dinner going on the stove.  "You gonna make more of those cookies?" was the only question on their minds.  Then the suggestions came rolling in.

Ya know, you should dip half in chocolate.
How about sprinkles?
Got any of those colored sugar crystals?

So my quest, apparently tomorrow, is to figure out how to make the sprinkles stick, although i think it may be a post-cooking process.

Thanks, Helen C.  Weird.....my name is Heather C......maybe we are soulmates.