Three Kinds Of Cookies and a Peach Dessert

 

Last week I was part of Team Tea this week as a group of friends put on a tea party for 36. Part of what I volunteered to do was to bake some cookies, so I baked a bar cookie, a cookie press cookie, and a rolled-out cookie that I turned into a sandwich cookie. These are listed by difficulty, too. The easiest is the bar cookie, Butterscotch-Chocolate Chip Cookies, a delicious, somewhat dense cookie that you mix up in a pot. It uses melted butter, so there is no need to bring butter to room temperature before starting to make them. This means that you can have cookies much faster than you think! They also have a mild butterscotch flavor and lots of chocolate chips. I like mine with walnuts, but you can use your favorite nut...or skip nuts. In the photo below, the tan bar cookies are the Butterscotch-Chocolate Chip Cookies.

The next most difficult is the cookie press cookie, Spritz Cookies (the pink ones in the photo at the top and the pink ones and flower shaped ones with yellow centers in the photo above). Usually this is an easy cookie, but this might have been difficult for me because my cookie press is ancient and might not be working as well as it might. I had no trouble pressing the dough out of the cylinder, through the decorative plate, but some of the cookies didn't break off onto the baking sheet, so I had to cut them away from the press. When they worked, they made really pretty cookies! I tried them as the recipe was written, but then added some flour to the dough and that seemed to work better. Chilling the dough seemed to work even better. By then it felt like PlayDoh but I still had some trouble with making the cookies. The good news is that these are tender butter cookies, flavored with both vanilla and almond extracts, so it you stick with it you will have delicious cookies that also like decorative. You can color the dough, too, to make them even more decorative, and don't forget that if you used colored sugar or jimmies that they are even more colorful.

The final cookie was the rolled out one, Fancy Tea Cookies (the fluted ones in the photo at the top). I ended up rolling them out on waxed paper because they stuck when I rolled them out on a floured board. These are delicate cookies that become crisp on the edges. They are flavored with nutmeg and make good sandwich cookies, but are also fine as singles. Chill the dough, work with smallish quantities of dough at a time and flour your cookie cutters.

I made round and heart shaped sandwich cookies, so cut out two pieces of dough for each sandwich cookie. One of those pieces stayed whole and the other had a hole punched out before baking...I used a large icing piping tube...and after they were baked and cooled I used marmalade as a filling and sandwiched a cut out one over a whole one, bottoms together. For decoration I sifted powdered sugar over them. I skipped any buttercream (which is did use the first time I made these), but that tastes wonderful, too.

The Butterscotch cookies makes the most as far as quantity, but the other two are so delicious and pretty that as many as you get will be very appreciated by your family and friends. The Spritz count depends on what disc you use to press the cookies and for the Fancy Tea Cookies the count varies according to the size and shape of the cutter you use.

Since I ran out of time to make more than a dozen or so of the Fancy Tea Cookies, I had left over cookie dough. I decided a couple of days later to make a two person sized dessert for myself and Sweetie. I took about a 1/4 cup of the dough and made a base in a 6-inch diameter springform pan. I made sure to bring the cookie dough up the sides by at least a 1/2 inch, then baked the cookie at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes. The dough puffed up, but once I removed it from the oven, I flattened the center with a fork and only left the sides puffed up.

For the filling I beat one egg until most of the white had combined with the yolk, added a tablespoon of granulated sugar, a few drops of almond extract, 1/4 cup of soy creamer (or you could use half and half), and a good sized peach which I had peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/2-inch chunks. I mixed all of these together and poured them into the greased springform pan. The mixture came up to just below the top of the pan. I placed the pan on a small sheet pan and baked it for 25 minutes, checked it and continued to bake a bit more until the center was cooked but still a tiny bit jiggly. The filling was just beginning to brown around the edges.

After letting the dessert cool to room temperature, I ran a knife around the sides of the pan, then released the sides. Once cut in half and plated, I added a whoosh of whipped cream and served it. I really enjoyed the combination of cookie crust with it's strong nutmeg element and sweet, juicy peach custard filling. If I did it again, I would probably bake the crust longer so that it was crisper, but otherwise wouldn't change a thing

BBQ Fun and a Shady Summer House

 I have a friend who is a wonderful artist. As a matter of fact, she introduced me to a watercolor class for seniors a number of years ago where I learned skills that I still use in my paintings.

She recently lost her husband to a long illness and so Sweetie and I went over a few nights ago and had a BBQ with her. Part of the fun was having Sweetie show her the way that he barbeques steelhead fish. She is getting reacquainted with using a gas grill.

Friends of her husband have also recently helped her revive a beautiful lath summer house, putting in a new floor and making sure that the structure is sound. Now that it is in good shape, she has moved in some lawn furniture, including a table and chairs, so we ate our BBQ there, with shade from the ivy and a light breeze chasing the heat away.

No actual recipe, but I'm going to describe Sweetie's way with grilling fish.

To begin with, he lays the fillets on a tray and coats them lightly with olive oil, then a light dusting of ground pepper. He prefers the tail end since it is often a more even thickness than the head end. That makes grilling easier so that the thick part isn't undercooked when the thinner part is cooked. He likes steelhead, a kind of red trout that tastes like salmon (I think), better than salmon. Use whatever fish fillets you like, but get them with skin still on.

You can season the skin-on fillets however you please. I'm trying to cut back on sodium a bit, so we're skipping the garlic salt, but that used to be a standard, along with the pepper.

Preheat your grill. You want it to be medium-hot. I believe that with the gas grill Sweetie likes to get the gauge to 400.

Because the skin is oiled, you don't need to oil the grill grids. Place the fish on the preheated grill grids, close the cover, and cook until the fish is just beginning to firm up...you can push down on thickest part with a finger to see how solid it feels. A very solid fish is a very cooked fish. We like our fish still a bit less than solid...sort of like medium-rare steak. Don't turn the fillet over. Once it's cooked to your liking, slide a spatula under, loosening any skin that may have adhered to the grill grids, and then use the spatula to transfer it to either a serving plate or the actual dinner plate. Garnish with lemon if desired.

Because Sweetie usually get a good sized tail piece for the two of us to share (about 3/4 to a pound), he cuts it in half along indentation left by the backbone, so we each get a long, skinny piece. When you do that, you can see at the cut edge if it's cooked as much as you like, or needs to spend another minute or two on the grill.

That's it, except for cleaning the grill grids. Sweetie like to use a wire brush to scrape them down while they are still hot. 

We had fresh corn on the cob and a colorful, delicious salad to go with the steelhead.

Here are some photos of my friend's lath summer house and it gives  you a good idea of how pleasant it was to share a meal there.

Pasta Throw Together Casserole

It started with some leftover meatballs in the fridge, followed when my favorite market agreed to stock Kite Hill tortellini so I bought some with spinach in them, continued when I realized that I had zucchini, some mushrooms, some pasta sauce and some shredded mozzarella cheese in the fridge and a yen for a baked pasta casserole.

Sometimes the thing you throw together without a recipe is just wonderful, and this was one of those times. Sweetie really loved this dish, so I need to save it so I have a place to start next time.

You can use any kind of pasta, but a filled one like tortellini or ravioli gives this dish some weight and also multiple flavors from the pasta, ricotta, and spinach. If you are gluten free, use your favorite gluten free pasta. 

You can use your favorite home made or jarred pasta sauce. I was almost finished with a jar of Newman's Own marinara sauce, so that's what I used.

You can play with the veggies. The zucchini and mushrooms were perfect, but you could substitute another kind of squash, string beans, onions...whatever your favorite is for an Italian flavored meal.

No meatballs? Try some Italian sausage either in sliced rounds or taken out of any casings and cooked that way like ground meat. Either way, do cook the sausage. Ground beef, chicken or turkey could also be used, just cook it and break it up into bite sized pieces or smaller and season with Italian herbs like oregano, basil and rosemary, plus some garlic or garlic powder.

I recommend that you use a good Parmesan and be liberal with the shredded cheese. Mozzarella is great and gives you those strings of melted cheese, but Provalone would work and so would Jack cheese, or even a mixture of cheeses. If you are not fond of cheese or are going for dairy free (the Kite Hill tortellini are made with non-dairy ricotta), try a mixture of breadcrumbs and either melted butter or olive oil to top the casserole with instead of cheese.

Instructions:

Bring a large pot of water to a full boil. Add a teaspoon salt, stir and boil for about a half minute to allow the salt to dissolve. Add the tortellini, stir, lower the heat so it doesn't boil over (so just a little bit lower), then cook until the pasta is tender, stirring occasionally. Mine took about 8 minutes.

While the pasta is cooking, slice one medium zucchini in half moons and about ten medium mushrooms to about the same thickness ( I cut mine into about 1/4-inch slices). Cook over medium heat in a frying pan coated with spray olive oil. Season with a sprinkle of pepper. I did each veg in one batch which pretty much covered the bottom of the frying pan. Turn them over once brown on one side and let brown on the other. Add about 1 1/2 - 2 cups pasta sauce and stir. (Be sure that both veggies are in the pan.)

Take your desired portion of meatballs. If large cut into bite sized pieces...I quartered mine. Add to the veggie mixture, stir and let it all warm up. From the size of my meatballs I estimated that I should use 10 and that worked well for the 10 oz. or so of tortellini.

By now the pasta should be done. Drain. Spray a baking dish (I used a 9 x 9-inch pan) with olive oil. Add the drained pasta. Cover with the veggie/meatball mixture. Over that put an even layer of shredded mozzarella cheese and grate some Parmesan over. Put into an oven preheated to 400 degrees F.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and browned a bit on top. Serve at once.

Serves about 2-4  ... if you add more veggies it will serve more

Early August

Occasionally I use this blog as a way to note the passing of time and what's up now. If you are looking for a recipe, check out older posts, O.K.?

Let's start with the garden. This year I had knee problems about the time when I would be weeding and getting the garden ready for planting, so none of that happened. The best I could do was to fill three planters with potting soil and then plant one with purchased zucchini plants, one with a purchased tomato plant, and one with cucumber seeds. Later I planted a basil plant from the grocery store and it is very happy.

Because the rain and chilly nights lasted into late April, by the time that I went looking for my favorite tomato as a seedling, the Black Krim, I discovered that it was sold out. This year, instead, we're trying a Russian tomato that is supposed to be similar. So far it's producing tomatoes, but they seem to be golf ball size and are no getting any bigger. They're still green since the plant went in so late. Let's hope that they taste good!

The zucchini hasn't enjoyed the hot summer we've been having, so we've only gotten three mature zucchini. In general there aren't a lot of flowers and most of them are male ones. I recently gave all three pots a good dose of fertilizer, so I'm hoping for improved zucchini production soon.

The happiest plants are the cucumbers. They look good and are growing higher each day. I have a number of bamboo stakes for them to attach to, so I think they will continue to climb. There are lots of flowers, both male and female. So far I've harvested two cucumbers, each about 5 inches long. There should be a lot more soon. (The three in the photo above were harvested after this post was written...they are delicious!)

The lilies have been really lovely this year. We had terra cotta Asiatics, orange day lilies, white and lilac Fortnight lilies (just above this paragraph), and now have some pink and white Asiatics with curving petals (first photo at top). With luck in a few days we'll have my favorites, the peach colored ones. The roses have also been lovely. I really am smitten with this Just Joey peachy one. It was a gift five years ago from brother Jim (below).

Because Charlie's back went out in early May (the drive to and from the Lake Tahoe wedding was no kind to his back), he has not been doing any projects beyond a couple of times using the ride-on mower to keep the grass trimmed. Fortunately our neighbor Bryan has come over at least four times this season with his electric ride-on mower and mowed around the house and around the farmhouse. When they were here in late June, Aaron and Raine used the weed eaters to take care of areas that can't be mowed, so we are in pretty good shape as far as the grass and weed trimming go.

Last week Charlie was feeling much better and did a repair on the window sill in the kitchen fixed window. It looks wonderful and is much sturdier!

I was mildly depressed (feeling blue) for much of May, June, and part of July. I had little interest in my usual pursuits, including watercolor painting, gardening, cooking and baking, sewing, etc. Mostly I just read books and tried to convince myself to go on walks. Fortunately by mid-July I was seeing a good therapist who helped and now I'm pretty much back to my usual positive and interested self.

Our favorite neighbors are having their own trials, too, including COVID for the nearest neighbors, some eye issues by another and hospitalization and bedrest for another. Between that and the heat this summer and my blues, we haven't spent much time with any of them despite some attempts. Hoping that soon we can have porch time with them and enjoy the back deck, too.

On the positive side, I very much enjoyed the visit from the Redmond crew, and the extra time with Raine, followed a few weeks later by a trip to Redmond where we hung out feeding blue jays, saw a black tailed Western weasel on the fence, twice, and watched Raine play basketball (photo above has him in uniform), plus an enjoyable lunch at a nearby winery, 

followed by a visit to a beautiful garden. The backyard at the Redmond house is such a peaceful place to hang out and they have it sheltered by both a shade structure and curtains, so it can be used year round, heated in the cooler months with a fire pit (photo below).

I'm enjoying a visit by Straight Shooter this weekend, followed by a brief visit by Landon and his girlfriend mid-week, and hopefully some time with niece Wendy next week. 

Last, but not least, I'm the hostess for a Paint Party Fun Day at the Masonic Hall this Wednesday, a fundraiser for P.E.O. We'll be painting a Rainbow Elephant in watercolors and having fun.