Puppies!

We have puppies! 

We have eight puppies.  We have a gaggle of puppies!

They try my patience.

They are a lot of work.

They sleep like this ...

And play like this ...   



I have to admit, being this cute should be illegal ...

 

But mostly, they're just getting big!



Whew, I'm exhausted.







Sweet Endings - Baklava

Baklava.  Bak-la-va.  Bak-lava!  Any way you choose to pronounce it, it translates into ooey-gooey
sweet 'n nutty goodness!

I've wanted to make this for some time now.  But, I've always been intimidated by the whole process.  Well, it wasn't hard.  Tedious is the word I would use.  You do have to be very careful with the phyllo dough.  The little darlings are frail and delicate.  Just remember, keep them covered with a damp (not wet) kitchen towel when you're not working with them.  Also, I thawed both rolls of phyllo dough, but I didn't open the second until I actually needed it.

I scoured the internet for recipes for baklava and just took an understanding on the flavors involved and the technique used and ran with it.



I strained the syrup

 Syrup
1-1/2 c water
1-1/2 c white sugar
1 c honey
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
one lemon, zested and juiced

In a medium saucepan, over medium high heat, add all your ingredients.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 20 minutes.  Strain into a large measuring cup and place in the refrigerator until you need it. 

Baklava
1 box of phyllo dough, thawed using the manufacturer's instructions (there should be 2 rolls)
4 c of nuts (I used a combo of roasted pistachio and walnuts
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup butter, melted

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F ( I did mine at 325 degrees because I was using a glass pan).  Brush the entire interior of a 13 x 9 inch baking pan with melted butter.  Wet a kitchen towel and wring it out until it's damp.  Set aside.  Add the nuts and cinnamon to your food processor and pulse to a fine chopped.  You do not want them ground into a paste.  Dump your nuts a bowl and set them to the side.  Unroll your phyllo dough, lay it out on a large cutting board, or flat surface, and trim to fit the inside of your pan, leaving one sheet whole.  Cover any dough that your are not working with with the damp towel. Take the whole sheet and carefully lay it in the pan.  Gently work it into the corners and up the side.  Brush with butter.  Lay one of the trimmed phyllo dough on top and brush with butter.  Repeat until you have 8 sheets of dough in the pan.  Sprinkle a thin layer of the nut mixture on the dough.  Add three more layers of dough, buttering each one.  Repeat the nut and dough process until you either run out of nuts, or room in your pan (leave enough room for your final layers.  End with a layer of eight sheets of butter dough.  

Look at all those layers!

Here's the hard part, using a very, very sharp knife cut the baklava into to serving sized pieces.  Traditionally it's cut into little diamond shaped pieces, but I can't draw a straight line much less cut out diamonds.

Bake for 50 minutes. 

Once you remove the baklava from the oven, pour your syrup all over the top and set aside.  When it cools to room temperature, cover with foil and leave overnight.

Enjoy!

Afterthoughts:  This is a very sweet dessert.  Believe me when I say you will not want this every day.  When I make this again I'll probably 1.  make a smaller batch and 2.  add more phyllo dough between layers, maybe five sheets instead of three .. but that's me.

Sweet Endings - Whole Wheat Chocolate Brown Sugar Sugar Cookie (sandwiches)

Happy Valentine's Day!

So, what did you do this weekend?

I got my car fixed, went grocery shopping, spent some time on Maryland's Eastern Shore, worked on a couple projects at home, and I made cookies.  Whole Wheat Chocolate Brown Sugar Sugar Cookies. 

Okay, I totally kleptoed the recipe for these cookies.  Do you know Joy the Baker?  Well, if not, you really should get to know her.  You won't be disappointed.  This lady creates magic in her over; her blog oozes with yumminess.  Really, I promise.

Her little darlings have a very nice chocolaty favor and a delightful snap when you eat them. 

But I couldn't leave good enough alone.  I have to go over the top embellish them a bit. 

Oh, and guess what happens when you blitz thawed frozen strawberries and add them to buttercream frosting .... magic, that's what!  The strawberries were a little tart, which cut right through that sugar sweetness of the frosting and the balance was pure brilliance, if I say so myself. 

Whole Wheat Chocolate Brown Sugar Sugar Cookies, adapted from Joy the Baker

1 c whole wheat flour
1/4 c + 2 tbs all-purpose flour
1/4 c + 2 tbs cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 c brown sugar (Joy doesn't specify, but I packed mine)
1/4 c granulated sugar
1 large egg

Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (or use a silpat) and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, cocoa, salt, and baking powder.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugars until well incorporated.  Stop and scrape down the bowl.  Add the egg.  Beat on medium speed until mixture is glossy and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Stop the mixer and add the dry ingredients, all at once.  Mix on low speed until all of the flour is incorporated.  Stop and incorporate remaining ingredients with a spatula.  Split dough in half.  Wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Once chilled, roll dough out on a lightly floured surface to a 1/4 inch thickness.  Use a heart shaped cookie cutter (or any cookie cutter) to cut out cookies and place them on prepared baking sheets.  If desired, brush cookies with water and sprinkle with course sugar, or sprinkles, or whatever you wish  .... or not.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to rest on the baking sheet for a few minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

Try not to snack on cookies.

Repeat until all the dough is used.  This recipe made 24 cookies, for me. 

Not me, personally.

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting.

5 large thawed frozen strawberries
1/2 c shortening (I used Crisco)
3 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Blitz strawberries in a blender, or mini food processor.  In a large mixing bowl, add shortening and sugar.  ON LOW mix until sugar is complete incorporated into shortening.  Add strawberry puree and vanilla.  On low mix until incorporated.  Now turn your mixer on high and beat frosting until light and fluffy, about 4 to 5 minutes.

Put frosting into pastry bag and snip the tip of bag.  Twist open end of bag closed and squeeze until air is pushed out of tip end.  If you're not into piping, just smear it on with a knife.

Match cookies in sets.  Set aside one of each set. 

On remaining cookies pipe frosting on cookies, leaving a small edge around parameter.  Top with remaining cookies. 

Dust with powdered sugar, if you wish. 

Enjoy!

Sweet Endings - what now!

I'm sorry.  Sincerely, sorry.

I know I made a commitment to post sweet treats on Sundays, but, well ....

As I stated in my previous post, the Sunday before the Superbowl, I was sick.  I promise; I was.  Then last Sunday, I was going to redeem myself with a fabulous dessert .. Kouign Amann.  It's French and there were a lot of steps involved.

I'm totally addicted to David Lebovitz.  Don't ask me why because I don't know.  There are certain blogs that just hit me .. ya follow?  Anyway, it was his beautifully photographed Kouign Amann, I was committed to making.  Come Sunday, I was ready.  One problem though, I couldn't get David's site to come up.  I don't know if it was him or me, but I couldn't connect.  I tried to the point that I was having serious words with the BPL (big pink laptop).   Disappointed, I moved on.

Loosely translated Kouign Amann means Butter Cake, so I looked up French Butter Cake recipes.  I finally settled on one that actually read like a cake recipe and not like bread.  If it wasn't DL's recipe, I wanted something different.  Yes, I'm a bit stubborn that way.

It smelled heavenly baking and it tasted good.  Sweet, but not too sweet.  But the texture was that of  "not quite done" shortbread (and I baked it for an hour and a half).  it was a bit heavy and crumbly, and I was just not happy about it. 

So I opted not to write about it. 

I'm making cookies this weekend in honor of  Valentine's Day.

I hope you'll come back and visit.

Anna

Sweet Endings - Called Due To Illness

Hello out there in Radioland!

Okay, that was even before my time. Sorry.

This isn't what you expected to see, I'm sure. I can explain.

It started Friday afternoon .. that ache, and the feeling of your skin being on fire. By 2:30 p.m. I sounded like a family of frogs as moved into my throat (the kids are gone now, so it's just those pesky empty-nesters). I called my boss and told him I was leaving for the day.

Friday evening, before I completely went downhill, I got a couple things done at the house.

Saturday, I was worthless. I mustered enough energy to let the dogs out in the morning (even sick, I'm an early riser) and then collapsed on the couch. That's where I stayed, sleeping most of the day, until that evening, when I dragged my funky body back to bed.

Sunday morning dawned and I had a small burst if energy, which I should have ignored - but didn't. So, I folded some laundry among other things. By Sunday afternoon/evening, I was paying for my Super Womandom. I dragged myself into the shower and promptly plopped into my favorite chair and set about working on the scarf I'm knitting for my daughter.

Long story short, no Happy Endings post. I have one in reserve which I will post in a day or so.

Anna

Sweet Endings - Happy Birthday!

Today is my baby's birthday. So, today I made a cake.

She was 19 as of 5:42 a.m. She asked me this morning how I remember the exact time they (my girls) were born. It's easy, life changing events leave impressions on you, like the death of John Lennon, the day the Discovery Challanger exploded, and 9-11. Besides, I was in labor for over 24 hours; I was counting the minutes.

I made a butter cake because she wanted it.

I also made butterscotch pudding and vanilla buttercream icing. But first, I had a fight with my mixer.

It threw a mesauring cup at me!

It won.

I used two boxes of cake mix and baked them in Wilton 8 inch round, three inch deep pans. After letting them cool overnight, I split each into two layers. Between each those layers I spread a thin coating of the icing and piped a rim around the edge to hold in the filling. Then I added the butterscotch pudding. The entire cake got a crumb coat to hold all the tiny bits and pieces in place. The hard part was letting the cake sit for about 30 minutes before covering the whole sha-bang with frosting and smooshing grated white chocolate on the sides and sprinkling it on the top. I finished the cake by adding a border at the top and bottom.

Today, she's 19. She loves music, going to the movies, reading, dogs, her friends, her phone, and soccer. She very independent; I love that about her. But there are still days when she needs her mom; I love that about her too. She's in college now. She's going to be a teacher.

I think she's amazing.

Except for the fact that she's convinced I was at Woodstock.

Happy Birthday Cate, I love you to the sun and back!

Sweet Endings - Sweet Ravioli

As a rule, I don't deep fry things. Ask anyone that knows me. I don't like the mess, or the smell of hot oil, and the fumes make my eyes burn. So I have no idea what inspired me to roll out these little beauties. But roll them out, I did.

They are surprisingly light and flaky, and very simply made. They aren't overly sweet and great with an evening cup of coffee.


You'll need:

Vegetable oil, for frying
1 package of ready to use pie crust
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 tbs powdered sugar
Flour for dusting

If you are adventurous, or more confident than I, feel free to make your own pie crust.


In a small bowl, add the ricotta cheese, the chocolate chips, the nuts, 1 tbs of powdered sugar, .... and the vanilla. You don't see the vanilla in the photo do you? It's because I forget it when I took the photo.

Don't be like me, add the vanilla.

I added it later. It's in there.

I promise.

Set the bowl aside. Oh, and try not to eat the filling.

Toss some flour on the counter.



Open your pie crusts, set one aside and roll out one on the flour.

Add the filling to the pie crust, by the teaspoon, leaving about an inch and a half between dollops. Dip your finger in a cup of water and wet the area between and around the filling. Try not to use too much water. You want the dough wet, but not slippery.



Unroll the second pie crust on top the first and using your fingers work the dough down and around the filling. Push to fuse the two crusts together.

Using a round cutter (I had a 2 inch cutter), or a glass, cut out the raviolis. Once you have them all cut out, use a fork the crimp and seal the edges.



In a heavy pot, heat a couple of inches of oil to 350 degrees. Carefully add a few raviolis at a time. You don't want to crowd them, or add so many that the oil temp drops. This will cause your raviolis to greasy.

Do not walk away from the ravioli in the pot. This happens fast. Faster than fast. Cook the raviolis until a deep golden brown, about a minute and half on each side.

Drain them on a paper towel lined plate. Allow them to cool a bit before using the remaining 2 tbs of powdered sugar to dust.

Do what I did, wash the dishes. Or clean up the oil splattered on your microwave.



Enjoy. She did. Although she wasn't happy with me snapping the picture. She said she didn't have any makeup on. Look at that face; she doesn't need any makeup.

Or maybe it's just me.

I made 14, with filling left over. I guess it all depends on how big your pie crusts are.