Apple, Gouda, Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies, Oh My!

So while I was at the grocery store I called my mother to confer on the amount of cheese I would need to buy to make these cookies. And the conversation went something like this:

Me: Ok, so I'll buy this 1/4 pound block of gouda, and that should be enough.
Mom: Yeah, so what are you making?
Me: Apple, Gouda, Oatmeal and Raisin cookies.
Mom: What? Oh, that sounds disgusting.

I wasn't sure what to expect from these cookies. I liked the sound of them when I saw the recipe, but then again the recipe didn't call for one tablespoon of butter. Highly suspicious.  In the end, I think calling them cookies is a bit of a misnomer. I liked the taste, but they seem heartier than cookies, almost biscuit like. As one person put it, I could see serving these with a bowl of soup.

These cookies also have the benefit of being extremely easy to put together. One bowl and a liquid measuring cup is all that making the batter will take you. Although grating apples with cheese grader is sort of an arduous process.

Apple Gouda Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies
makes 24 cookies
Recipe from The Kitchn

2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla OR 1 tablespoon dark rum
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup golden raisins (I used regular raisins because they were cheaper)
1 medium-sized apple (about 10 ounces)
4 ounces Gouda cheese, finely chopped (about 1 cup)

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Whisk the olive oil and egg together in a glass measuring cup until completely combined. Whisk in the vanilla or rum. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and oats. Stir in the raisins.

Peel and core the apple. Use the coarse side of a grater to grate it directly into the flour. (You should have 1 1/2 to 2 cups of shredded apple.) Stir in the apple and the chopped Gouda.

Add the liquids from the measuring cup and stir just until everything is moistened. The dough will be loose and clumpy. Drop in large spoonfuls on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 17 minutes, or until the cookies are golden. They will be very soft still. Let them cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before removing to cooling racks to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting

October is officially under way and that means I can start breaking out the solid pack pumpkin. I can take or leave pumpkin pie, but a soft moist pumpkin cake topped with cream cheese icing might be the death of me. Paula Dean calls these pumpkin bars, but they taste more like cake to me. Still I sliced them in to brownie sized portions.

Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
(from Paula Dean)
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
15-ounce can pumpkin
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing:
8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy.

3. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth.

5. Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

Sunday Supper Club - Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese

A trip to the farmer's market had me buying a whole bushel of tomatoes for a couple of bucks. I'm planning on canning most of them to use throughout the winter, but I decided to make some soup with the rest of them. The grilled cheese sandwiches involved muenster and thick slices of country white bread.  Amazing. The perfect meal for inviting friends over to share on a Sunday evening.

Tomato Soup
(Slightly Adapted from Former Chef)

2 cups chopped carrots
2 cups chopped celery
3 cups diced onions
6 cloves garlic, minced
12 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups water or chicken stock
2 Tbsp kosher salt
2 tsp. sugar

1. Rough chop all the vegetables. It doesn’t matter what they look like because the soup will be blended later, but make sure the carrots, onions and celery are all about the same size so they cook at the same rate.

2. In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil. Add in the carrots, celery and onions and cook until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Add in the garlic and cook another 5 minutes, but don’t let the vegetables brown. Add in the tomatoes and water or chicken stock. Allow to simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes break down and the carrots are soft.

3. Puree the soup (I used an immersion blender - a regular blender would do as well) add the salt and sugar to taste.

[This is the point in the original recipe in which they strained the soup to remove the tomato skins, but tomato skins especially blended ones, don't kill people, and I hate straining so I just left them in, the soup was then was a tad chunkier, but not noticeably]

blueberry crumb bars

I had a mess of blueberries still sitting in the fridge, and so I decided the other night was the perfect time to mix them with some butter and flour into blueberry crumb bars. There isn't much else to say but that they were perfection. And also stupid easy to make. Aside from the butter cutting - which is high on my list of annoying baking tasks. If I actually got myself a pastry cutter would I hate my life less? Or is it only a marginal improvement?

[Blueberry Crumb recipe from Smitten Kitchen]

first soup of fall - roasted apple, red pepper and tomato

Yesterday dawned windy and sunny but with a chill in the air. After the heat wave for most of the previous week, it felt like fall had finally arrived with the first days of September. I went to the farmer's market in the morning and bought a couple of things that I thought I would use - apples, peaches, red peppers and some big tomatoes. I had no specific plans, but later on I knew exactly what I wanted to make for dinner - soup.

After a little Googling, I found this recipe, which happened to use most of the things I had bought earlier. It seemed like a match made in heaven. I wasn't sure exactly how it would turn out, especially since I made some changes to the recipe. In the end, it was exactly what I wanted. Mine had a thick-ish consistency, almost like home made tomato sauce. But it was sweet and smokey and hearty and it was perfect for eating a big bowlful out on the porch with Liz.

zucchini and corn quesadillas

I had forgotten about how good these quesadillas are until the other night, when I needed something to make for dinner. They are a perfect dinner for the end of the summer when both zucchini and corn are cheap and plentiful. They are also really quick, easy and very delicious.

The original recipe makes two medium sized quesadillas, which is great and all, but it's a lot one person. Half of a large quesadilla can make a solid meal for one person with some leftovers. So here's a rough halving of the recipe from Ezra Pound Cake.

Corn and Zucchini Quesadillas

Adapted from “Everyday Food” & Ezra Pound Cake


Serves 1-2 depending on hunger.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 smallish zucchini, halved lengthwise and roughly chopped
1 cup fresh corn kernels (or the kernels from 1 ear of corn - frozen corn works too)
Dash of chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
2 flour tortillas (12-inch)
1 cup grated Pepper Jack cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large skillet, heat 3 tablespoons oil over medium heat. Add onion and 1 teaspoon salt, cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, cook 1 minute more.

2. Add zucchini and frozen corn kernels, cook, stirring occasionally, until zucchini is soft and corn is tender, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in cilantro, if using.

3. Brush one side of all tortillas with remaining 1 tablespoon oil; lay 2 tortillas, oiled side down, on a baking sheet. Place half of the filling on each, and sprinkle with half the cheese. Place remaining 2 tortillas on top, oiled side up; press down gently with spatula to seal.

4. Bake until cheese has melted and tortillas are golden brown, turning once, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven; let cool slightly. To serve, slice each quesadilla into wedges.

end of the summer blueberry muffins

I took advantage of the end of the summer bounty at the regional market to make some of these Perfect Blueberry muffins (from Smitten Kitchen).

Like Deb says, these muffins are pretty much damn near perfect. I used sour cream in mine, which I had my doubts about but worked wonderfully. Mine got a little slime-y after day two in the ziploc bag, but still perfectly edible. I found these really refreshing after eating so many cloyingly sweet excuses for blueberry muffins from the Starbucks / Dunkin' Donuts of the world.