Mom’s Date ’n’ Nut Bread

When I was growing up my Mom belonged to a benevolent women’s group called The Circle League. They encouraged education for women and gave out scholarships to needy students. They published a cookbook as a fundraiser and this is one of my favorite recipes from that book. It is a dark, rich date ‘n nut bread- perfect to slice and “smear” with cream cheese as we will do this weekend for a tea we are catering in Southbury,CT. I make the loaves in smaller pans so they are tea sandwich size- Enjoy!

Date Nut Bread

1 Lb. chopped dates

4 tsps. baking soda

⅓ Cup butter (the size of a small egg)

2 Cups boiling water

2 Cups sugar

2 Whole eggs well beaten

2 tsps. salt

2 Cups flour- a bit more if batter is thin

2 tsps. vanilla

½ Lb. diced walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Cut dates and place in a large bowl. (I do not recommend using sugared pre cut dates- they are too hard.)
2. Top the dates with soda and butter. Bring water to a boil and pour over the date mixture and stir well until butter is completely dissolved.
3. Add sugar to date mixture and blend. Add beaten eggs, salt and vanilla.
4. Add flour and walnuts and mix until blended.
5. Pour into 2 well greased and floured loaf pans. Place baking pans on a cookie sheet and bake at 325°F for45-50 minutes. For a soft crust- If using smaller pans adjust the cooking time but bake at the same temperature. Let cool and remove from pans.

Sriracha Sauce

My thanks to Gwyneth Paltrow- this recipe comes from her cookbook- My Father’s Daughter- and it is a keeper.

Last week I had the fun of seeing the taping of THE CHEW in NYC. As though spending a day with my dear friend Kate wasn’t enough of a treat, all the stars on the show were present AND Gwyneth  Paltrow was the guest chef for the show.We all received a copy of her cookbook and on the train ride home, I had the time to read it cover to cover.

So we all know about local, organic, farm fresh but in her cookbook Ms Paltrow makes a strong case for limiting the preservatives we unavoidably add on to all those good products by using commercially processed sauces.

Since sriracha sauce is appearing in more recipes, I decided to have a hand at making it from the red hot chili peppers on down ! The result is a very bright taste- HOT but not screaming and with a balance of vinegar to spice. I’m sure this sauce will keep well for 2-3 weeks but we have gone through a whole recipe this week. Hope you try it -Cautionary note wear gloves when you slice those peppers!

Sriracha Sauce

1 ½ Cups clove garlic, peeled

1 Lb. red jalapeno peppers, stemmed,sliced and cut into thein rings

2 ¼ Cups rice wine vinegar

¼ Cup agave nectar

2 Tbsp coarse table salt

1 Tbsp arrowroot

2 Tbsp fish sauce

1. Place the garlic in a small saucepan and add cold water just to cover. Bring to a boil, immediately drain and run the garlic under cool water.
2. Return the garlic to the saucepan, cover with cold water and bring back to a boil. Rinse the garlic and slice the blanched garlic into thin slices.
3. Combine the cut red jalapeños,blanched garlic and rice vinegar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Add the agave and salt and stir to combine.Let the mixture stand, covered for 1 hour for the flavors to steep and cool. ( I let the mixture rest overnight to cool completely.)
4. Puree the mixture in a blender until smooth- some seeds will remain in tact but that's fine.
5. Return the mixture to a saucepan and bring back to a boil. Simmer 10-15 minutes, skimming off any foam as it rises to the top. The mixture will thicken slightly as it cooks down.
6. In a small bowl, dissolve the arrowroot with 1 Tbsp of lukewarm water. Whisk the arrowroot into the sauce and cook for 2 more minutes or until nicely thickened. Remove from heat let cool slightly and stir in fish sauce.

Oscar Night Popcorn

For all the years I have owned a microwave oven ( too many to admit to) I have been making commercial microwave popcorn. Well, guess what? That’s not necessary. Good popcorn placed in a brown lunch bag works just as well. Who would have guessed? The recipe is fool-proof! It’s just popcorn kernels microwaved in a brown paper bag. From ½ cup of kernels I made 9 cups of popped popcorn.

Three things to keep in mind:

1. I used a good sized bag-my bags measured 8" across by 15" deep.(If you don’t have lunch bags and you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and we’ll give you one to use- we have plenty in stock)
2. Place the popcorn in the bag and fold the top over 2 times, then place in microwave.
3. In my oven ½ Cup popcorn took 3 minutes at full power but every microwave is different so you need to play around to get the right timing- and yes, you can “re-pop” kernels that are left in the bottom of the bag.

If you like flavored popcorn, here are some combinations to jazz up your basic mix:

Pizza Popcorn

2 Tbsp parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp Italian Herbs
1 tsp paprika
Combine the ingredients in a food processor or blender until mixed. Pour over 8 cups popcorn and toss.

Southwestern Popcorn

1/2 tsp chili powder
1 Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp cumin
2 Tbsp salt
Combine the ingredients and pour over 8 cups of popcorn and toss.

Cinnamon Popcorn

1/3 Cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
4 Tbsp butter
Melt the butter.Toss over 8 cups of popcorn. Combine the sugar and cinnamon and toss over the buttered popcorn.

S’more Brownies

It’s the time of the year when I get to try some new bakery items for our store. Today I worked with a recipe adaptation from Better Homes and Garden for S’more Brownies---so good! I adapted my basic brownie recipe to their technique and doubled the batch so it would fit into a 9 X 13 pan.Hope you like it enough to try it at home- or stop by and pick up one fresh out of the oven.

S’Mores Brownies

INGREDIENTS:

1 Cup butter

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate

2 Cups sugar

4 whole eggs

1 ½ Cups flour

1 Tsp baking powder

2 Tsp vanilla

9 graham crackers

2 Cups mini marshmallows

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13" pan and set aside.
2. Melt butter and chocolate together in a 2 quart saucepan over medium heat.
3. Remove from heat . Add sugar,eggs and vanilla.
4. Add flour and baking powder and mix until completely blended.
5. Place 1/2 batter in the greased pan. 
6. Top with graham crackers in a single layer.Top graham crackers with marshmallows being careful to keep marshmallows away from the edge of the pan. Top with remaining batter and spread to cover marshmallows.
7. Bake at 350°F 20-25 minutes. Let cool and cut into squares.

SERVINGS: 12