Muffin Top Cookies #CookieWeek

It’s the best part of every muffin! For those who like to eat the tops off of muffins and leave the rest, I give you Muffin Top Cookies with semi-sweet chocolate chips and chopped pecans. 

It’s Monday so usually that means muffins are baking at my house but today Muffin Monday and Cookie Week collide in a subtly spectacular fashion with Muffin Top Cookies. All the best of both worlds! 

If you’ve been around here for a while, you know that Cookie Week is the fabulous five-day celebration hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Susan of The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen, who, by the way, also has a commercial kitchen and will ship her delicious cookies right to your door. I participated in the inaugural Cookie Week last year and it was such fun that I begged, "please, pretty please," to be allowed to take part again. It's a great group of bakers – a dozen all told – and we'll be bringing you delicious cookies all week long!

Ingredients for about 2 dozen cookies
3/4 cup or 140g semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup or 60g chopped pecans
1 2/3 cups or 210g flour
3/4 cup or 150g sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 120ml milk
1/3 cup or 80ml canola or other light oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Method
Preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C and prepare your cookie sheets by lining them with parchment or silicone liners.

Measure out your chocolate chips and pecans then set aside a small handful of each to decorate the tops of the cookies before baking.

In a large mixing bowl, combine your flour, sugar, baking powder, chopped pecans and salt.  In a medium bowl, whisk together your milk, oil, egg and vanilla.

Pour your wet ingredients into your dry ones and stir until just mixed.

Fold in the chocolate chips.

Spoon about 2 level tablespoons of dough, at 2 in or 4cm apart, onto your prepared cookie sheets. I like to use a two-tablespoon scoop, which makes the process so much easier.

Poke a few of the reserved chocolate chips and pieces of pecan into the top of each.

Bake the muffin top cookies for 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges are a light golden brown. Cool for a couple of minutes and then use a spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.

These turn out cakey and very much like a muffin top! Enjoy!

Are you ready for some more warm COOKIES?!

• Skillet Cookie by Cravings of a Lunatic
• Pumpkin Cookie Cups with Biscoff Buttercream by The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen
• Chocolate-Cherry Chews by Crumb
• Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies by Cooking in Stilettos
• Cranberry, White Chocolate, Crystallized Ginger Cookies by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Dark and Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies by Hungry Couple
• Dulce de Leche Filled Brownie Sandwich Cookies by Mind Over Batter
• Muffin Top Cookies by Food Lust People Love
• Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Sandwich Cookies by Chocolate Moosey
• Pumpkin Eggnog Cookies by Jen's Favorite Cookies

Other blogs participating later this week include:

• Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts
• The Cooking Actress

Fresh Salmon Carpaccio

This lovely party platter of thinly sliced fresh salmon is something between ceviche and sashimi. The salmon is well dressed with lemon and fennel and shallots but still rather “uncooked” compared to full-on ceviche. The taste is fresh and light, perfect for a holiday buffet or dinner party starter.

It's all about balance.
This week my Sunday Supper group is anticipating the richness of the upcoming holiday season and bringing you some lighter dishes to offset the excess. Our host today is the lovely Kathia from Basic N Delicious. I adore smoked salmon so it’s a special treat during the holidays, but I know the salt content is ridiculously high. This fresh salmon carpaccio is a much healthier option and with the added bright flavors of fennel and shallot, I promise, you won’t miss the salt at all.

Ingredients
For the carpaccio:
About 1 1/2 lbs or 700g very fresh salmon, already skinned (The fish guy can do this for you.)
2 lemons (7 oz or 200g)
3 shallots (about 2 1/2 oz or 70g)
1 small bulb fennel with fronds (almost 4 oz or 110g)
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 cup or 30ml extra-virgin olive oil

To serve:
1 tablespoon capers, drained and dried
Reserved fronds from fennel bulb
Optional: brown or soda bread

Adapted from this recipe on BBC Good Food.

Method
Cut your salmon into three or four pieces and wrap it very tightly in cling film. Freeze for at least an hour to make slicing thinly easier. A very sharp knife is a must so this is a great time to sharpen yours.

While the salmon gets slightly frozen, we can make the dressing.

Cut the root end and the hard tops off the fennel bulb and discard them but keep the green fronds for decorating the salmon later, if desired. Slice the fennel bulb as thinly as possible.

Peel then do likewise with the shallots.

Zest and juice your lemons into a medium sized mixing bowl, discarding any seeds. Add in the salt, sugar and olive oil, then whisk to combine.

Marinate the sliced fennel and shallots in the dressing until the salmon is ready for slicing.

Add a little dressing with fennel and shallots into the bottom of a deep bowl.

Remove one piece of salmon at a time from the freezer so the others don’t thaw out while you slice.

Slice your salmon thinly and lay the pieces on top of the dressing.

Keep slicing and layering with a few drizzles of dressing, fennel and shallots until all of the salmon is sliced. Pour any remaining dressing over the top.

Cover the bowl with cling film and chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours.

After a few hours.

To serve, lay the salmon slices with fennel and shallots out in a single layer on a large platter. Scatter the salmon with the reserved chopped fennel fronds and capers.

The original recipe says to serve with brown or soda bread but I must confess that we sat outside and just ate it straight off the platter with small forks. It was superb.

Enjoy!

Are you looking for some healthy recipes to balance out your holiday excesses? Check out all the great drinks, dishes and desserts we have for you this week!

Drinks

• Lightened Up Eggnog by The Redhead Baker
• Low Calorie Pumpkin Pie Malted Milkshake by Kudos Kitchen by Renee

Appetizers or starters

• Carciofi alla Trapanese by Manu's Menu
• Fresh Salmon Carpaccio by Food Lust People Love
• Gruyere Cheese Puffs by Sustainable Dad
• Lightened Up Cornbread Stuffing by Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Lighten-up Sausage Rolls by Jane's Adventures in Dinner
• Pesto Spaghetti Squash with Shrimp by The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip by Peanut Butter and Peppers
• Spicy Eggplant Dip by Cooking Chat

Main Dishes

• Grandma's Mac n' Cheese by What Smells So Good?
• Holiday Beef Tenderloin with Sweet Potatoes, Tomatoes and Corn by Family Foodie
• Lean Mean Cheeseburger Soup by The Foodie Army Wife
• Lightened-Up Fettuccine Alfredo by Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen
• Mini Mushroom Shepherd’s Pies by Killer Bunnies, Inc
• Slow Cooker Roasted Butternut Squash & Chicken Sausage Soup by Hot Momma's Kitchen Chaos
• Turkey Roulade with Mushroom Stuffing and Blueberry Thyme Gravy by Food Done Light

Side Dishes

• Almond-Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Broccoli by The Texan New Yorker
• Butternut Squash Orzo Pasta by Life Tastes Good
• Cranberry Orange Glazed Green Beans  by Cupcakes & Kale Chips
• Farro Stuffing with Cranberries and Walnuts by The Dinner-Mom
• Greek Village Salad - Horiatki Salata by Peaceful Cookin
• Green Beans with Rosemary Garlic Butter by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Healthier Potluck Broccoli-Cauliflower Salad by The Weekend Gourmet
• Hearts of Palm, Artichoke, Avocado and Butter Lettuce Salad by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Honey Ginger Glazed Carrots by Ruffles & Truffles
• Leaner Green Beans by Noshing With The Nolands
• Lentil & Mushroom Stuffing by Foxes Love Lemons
• Mediterranean Lentil Stuffed Delicata Squash by The Little Ferraro Kitchen
• Quick and Easy Sweet Potatoes by The Educators' Spin On It
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts by Brunch with Joy
• Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Mash by The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen
• Roasted Parsnip and Apple Soup by Curious Cuisiniere
• Shrimp Salad with White Wine Vinaigrette by eating in instead
• Spiced Tri-Colored Carrot Salad by Take A Bite Out of Boca
• Tangy, Spiced Red Cabbage by Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Desserts

• Cinnamon Roll Granola Bars by Pies and Plots
• Healthy Brownie Recipe | Applesauce Brownies by The Perfect Brownie
• Individual Cheesecakes by Nosh My Way
• Light and Luscious Chocolate Cheesecake by A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures
• Lightened Oat Flax Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Blondie #GlutenFree by Sue's Nutrition Buzz
• Peanut Butter Coconut Mini Bars by Basic N Delicious
• Pumpkin Pie Pudding by The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch
• Skinny Ninja Cheesecake by NinjaBaker.com
• Sweet Apple Bites by Mama's Blissful Bites
• The Blondie Recipe by Wallflour Girl

Granda's Dumpling aka Christmas Pudding

A beautifully rich steamed cake or pudding, filled with raisins and black currants, Christmas Pudding is one of the traditional Christmas desserts in the United Kingdom. At our house, we serve it with homemade brandy butter and/or lashings of thick cream.

If you come from a family that makes proper Christmas pudding each year, you probably have a recipe that’s been handed down to you from a generation or two back. Sadly, I do not. So each year I borrow my friend, Jacky’s family recipe, known colloquially as Granda’s Dumpling because it’s her father who is responsible for its production in their family.

I’d love to be able to explain to you why they call it a dumpling, rather than a pudding, but The Google struggles with that question (so many “authorities” with diverse opinions!) and I am sure to get a ream of comments correcting me if I try.

Suffice to say that in Scotland, whence our dumpling-making patriarch hails, these things have been, in days gone by, wrapped in a cloth or clootie and boiled, dumpling style, instead of being steamed. Alan chooses to steam his, so I do as well. After all, this is HIS recipe. If you are going to borrow treasured family recipes, the least you can do is respect the method.

The dumpling man, singing Christmas carols, surrounded by granddaughters, one actual, two adoptees.

Most Christmas puddings are made a couple of months in advance of Christmas and then are soaked with whiskey or rum or brandy at regular intervals until the big day arrives. But the beauty of this particular recipe is that it can be made ahead of time and soaked but it is just as fabulous when made the night before it’s needed. This is just the ticket if you happen to be traveling to another country to celebrate Christmas.

It was December 1998 and Jacky and I were living in the small oilfield town of Macaé, Brazil with our husbands and children. Rather than go home to Aberdeen and Houston for Christmas, we decided to invite our families to come south and celebrate with us. Her father hauled all the items he needed for his dumpling from Aberdeen and made it up a just few days before Christmas. Actually, if I remember correctly, he mixed up two and they were absolutely perfect. Sometimes I do the same and sometimes I make it early and soak it with rum. Such flexibility!

Granda Panda, as all the children call him, even my two, gladly shared his recipe, which he recited from memory. I will add it here, exactly as I wrote it down. I’m pretty sure he was talking about a teacup here, rather than a measuring cup. As long as you keep using the same cup for all the ingredients, the proportions will be right and the cup size shouldn’t much matter.

Ingredients
1 cupful plain flour
1 cupful breadcrumbs
1 cupful shredded suet
1 cupful sugar
1 cupful raisins
1 cupful currants
1 cupful milk
1 level teaspoon baking soda
2 level teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 egg (hen’s) Alan added that detail with a twist of his mouth that made us all laugh.

I weighed these out when I made the dumpling for this post, using a US 1-cup measuring cup (8 oz volume) as my cupful. So one cupful equals:

125g plain flour
85g breadcrumbs
150g shredded suet (I used the light Atora.)
200g sugar
160g raisins
160g currants (I used 320g mixed dried fruit which has both.)
240ml milk

Method
Mix the dry ingredients together. Add the beaten egg and milk.



Mix to soft consistency.

Pour into greased basin.

As you can see from the weight 1.5kg - and that is without the bowl - you are going to get a substantial pudding.

Cover with a greased paper and steam for 1 1/2-2 hours.

And that’s where Alan’s instructions end so let me extrapolate on that and show you how to cover the basin and steam the dumpling.

Wet and crumple up a large piece of baking parchment. Put a pleat in it and lay it one top of your basin or bowl.



Tie string around the outside in a loop.



Cut another length of string and tie the ends together to form a circle. Twist it through the tied loop on either side of the basin. This is going to be your handle to get the basin out of the steaming pot.

Put an upside down, heat proof saucer in the bottom of your largest stock pot. I used the lid from one of my smaller pots. Put the covered basin on top and hang your handles out the side.



This is actually a photo of it after the steaming time, as you can tell by the pudding show through the parchment.

Cover the pot and steam the pudding for the required time.



It sinks back down a bit as it cools.

That’s it, easy peasy. You can soak it with liquor if you’d like. If you’ve made it well in advance of Christmas, the alcohol will keep it moist and help preserve it until serving time. I keep mine in the refrigerator, well covered since it's warm here.

Serve with brandy butter or double cream and a tot of whiskey, if desired. Enjoy!

Pin this Christmas Pudding! 

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Mushroom Ginger Congee #OATrageousOatmeals

A wonderful twist on traditional congee made with oats, mushrooms, ginger and vegetable stock, and a dash of hot spice, this Mushroom Ginger Congee is a bowl of pure comfort when you are feeling down or unwell or cold or hungry. So pretty much any morning around nine or any evening around six o’clock for me. 

Choose wisely but take chances
As I’ve gotten older and wiser, I’ve learned to say no to more things, for instance “volunteer” opportunities that will overextend me or make me feel resentful or used, even if they are for a very good cause. On the other hand, I try to say yes to more things that will push my level of comfort and make me try new experiences. This oatmeal cookbook is one of them.

When my friend Kathy first approached me about reviewing her new cookbook, OATrageous Oatmeals, I thought, “Oatmeal? A book full of oat recipes?” Yeah, I wasn’t sure about that. You see, I am not a breakfast person. By which I mean that I don’t believe in traditional American breakfast food. I’d rather have last night’s leftover lasagna than a piled plate of pancakes with syrup. And for me, oats are breakfast food, except when they are in our family’s favorite chocolate chip cookies.

Savory oatmeal. Who knew? 
But the book blurb promised so much more than breakfast or sweet uses of oatmeal. I was intrigued by the potential of “pepperoni” crumbles made with oats and spices to mimic the texture and flavors of chopped pepperoni and I imagined them sprinkled on a Caprese salad. But the one recipe I most wanted to make was, funnily enough, a breakfast one.

On my maiden voyage to Southeast Asia, when I met my first hotel breakfast buffet in Singapore - oh, they are tables of deliciousness - I fell in love with all the Asian breakfast options, including congee. There it is made with broken rice simmered in savory broth and garnished with soy sauce, chopped chili peppers and spring onions, often crispy fried shallots and occasionally, pork floss. If I could make congee that delicious with oats, it would be a game changer for me and how I usually think of oatmeal.

Kathy’s Mushroom Ginger Congee did not disappoint. Each spoonful was as much a delight to my nose as it was to my mouth. The heady rich vegetable broth, thickened with oats, sent steaming tendrils of ginger and spice through the air in the most warming and delectable of ways. I was so wishing that I had doubled the recipe and I think my husband agreed, as he went back to the pot and poured out the mere dribbles left at the bottom in the hope of just another mouthful or two.

So, I’m here to tell you what Kathy’s been trying to say for ages on her great vegan blog, Healthy Slow Cooking: Oats can be so much more than porridge with a spoon of jam! (Which is, by the way, my younger daughter’s favorite way to eat them. We went through a lot of oats and jam in her childhood!)

Kathy has simple instructions for making your own oat milk – so much better and cheaper than store-bought – along with desserts and smoothies and scones and myriad baked and breakfast ideas. But, for me, it’s the savory recipes that have won my heart. How about a cashew curry savory granola as a snack for your next cocktail party? Yes, please, and can you invite me? Her Indian-Spiced Tomato Soup will be next on our menu, if I don’t make the Chickpea Veggie Soup first. Before you know it, I'll be putting oatmeal in everything. And that's a good thing now!

Update: Made the Chickpea Veggie Soup with permission to share that recipe too. Check it out: https://www.foodlustpeoplelove.com/2015/01/chickpea-veggie-soup.html So good!

Want your own copy of OATrageous Oatmeals? Follow that link to Amazon and buy one! 

Now on to the recipe
Kathy’s headnote says, “Served in a bowl, congee is a thick Asian comfort food that can soothe a sore throat or just make you feel better after a bad day. This recipe makes enough for two but feel free to double or triple if you’re feeding more or want to keep some in the fridge for the duration of your cold. The mushrooms and ginger are great for getting your immune system back on track.” I concur. Especially with the part about doubling or trebling the recipe.

My adaptations
The only change I made was to serve the soup with a garnish of spring onions and season with chopped red chilies soaked in soy sauce, instead of salt and the hot pepper flakes. Oh, and I used portabella mushrooms because I couldn’t find shiitakes.

Recipe © Kathy Hester from OATrageous Oatmeals - Delicious & Surprising Plant-Based Dishes From This Humble, Heart-Healthy Grain, printed here by permission from Page Street Publishing

(Per serving: Calories 140.4, protein 3.9 g, total fat 1.5 g, carbohydrates 29.0 g, sodium 1570 mg, fiber 2.5 g)

Ingredients for 2 servings
3 cups (710 ml) vegetable or vegan chick’n broth
1⁄2 cup (48g) rolled oats
1⁄2 cup (35 g) minced mushrooms (shiitakes are great)
1⁄4 cup (27 g) minced carrot or sweet potato
1 tablespoon (6 g) grated ginger
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1⁄2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
salt, to taste
hot pepper flakes, to taste

Method
Bring the broth, oats, mushrooms and minced carrot or sweet potato to a boil in a medium pot.

Lower the heat to medium-low and add in the ginger, soy sauce and vinegar.

I put all three together in a small bowl, measured and at the ready, while the congee was cooking.

Cook for 15 to 20 minutes until the oats are cooked and the stew becomes thick.

Before serving, add salt to taste and spice with hot pepper flakes.

My concoction looked more like this.

Enjoy!

Thick and savory and delicious!

Disclosure: I received one copy of OATrageous Oatmeals for review purposes. No other compensation was received. This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Chocolate Hazelnut Muffins #MuffinMonday

Ground hazelnuts add richness to these chocolate muffins and perfectly complement the surprise Ferrero Rocher hazelnut candy baked in the center of each.

Sometimes when I am at the grocery store, I browse the candy/sweetie aisle for muffin inspiration. There are such a lot of great combinations of flavors on every shelf, some classic like chocolate-covered cherries, others a little more “out there” like chocolate and lime or chili peppers. At first I was just planning to bake chocolate hazelnut muffins and then I thought to myself, “I wonder what would happen if I stuffed an entire Ferrero Rocher chocolate-covered hazelnut candy in the batter” and then I had to try it.

There was always the possibility that the chocolate surrounding the hazelnut would get molten and cause 12 mini explosions in the oven, sending muffin batter everywhere. Some part of me was hoping for that result, but the better part of me was counting on the candy staying intact and creating a lovely surprise at the center of each muffin. I’m pleased to tell you that, as you can see from the photos, my better part won! The other part was just slightly disappointed but these great muffins are sweet consolation. Clearly I need to get out more.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups or 190g flour (or an equivalent amount Dove Farm’s gluten-free flour mix)
1 cup or 110g coarse hazelnut meal or ground hazelnuts (I did mine in the food processor.)
3/4 cup or 170g golden caster sugar (Normal white sugar can be substituted.)
1/4 cup or 20g extra dark cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s Special Dark.)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 120ml milk
1/2 cup or 125g sour cream
1/2 cup or 115g unsalted butter, melted then cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
12 Ferrero Rocher chocolate-covered hazelnut candies

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C.   Put liners in muffin cups or grease well with butter or non-stick spray.

Whisk together your flour, ground hazelnuts, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.

Whisk together milk, butter, sour cream, eggs and vanilla in another bowl until combined well.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and, if using normal flour, fold until just combined. If you are using the gluten-free mix, stir well until no flour is showing.

Divide the batter among muffin cups. Decorate each with a Ferrero Rocher chocolate and push it down gently into the batter.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the muffin alongside the chocolate candy center comes out clean.

Allow to cool for a few minutes in the pan and then remove the muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Sticky Cinnamon Figs - Guest post for Magnolia Days

Figs are sweet all on their own but add a little butter, a little honey and a little heat and they turn even sweeter and syrupy, the perfect accompaniment to mascarpone and pistachios. 

Guest posts are hard.
I don’t know if it’s just me but when I am writing and cooking and taking photographs for someone else’s space, I feel a lot more pressure than when it’s just for me. Not that I don’t care about you, my own readers. I do! And I want the dish to be as tasty as possible, because we are going to eat it. And I want the photos to be wonderful and draw you in. But, if you are here reading, chances are you like what I make or write or the photos I post, or you at least forgive me my mistakes because you know I mean well. Or you are my mother and would love me anyway. (Hi, Mom!) But as a guest writer on another blog, I'll have new eyes on my work that don’t know me. And I’d hate to be found wanting. Call it the middle child syndrome, perhaps, but I want people to like me! I want to be good enough. Can anyone else relate?

So go read my guest post, okay? 
All this moaning is my way of telling you that I have a guest post up today on the wonderful blog Magnolia Days, for my friend and, dare I say, blogging mentor, Renee. Renee has been endlessly generous with her knowledge and advice and kindness over the past three years of my blogging journey. When she asked if I would guest post as she takes a dual milestone birthday celebration trip to Germany with her mother, I jumped at the chance. And then repented in leisure. (See paragraph one above, re: Guest posts are hard.) I made three different recipes because I couldn’t decide what was good enough for a guest post. And, fellow bloggers, just in case I’ve done a guest post for you, know that the anguish was the same. But this time I decided to come public. The chosen recipe is for sticky cinnamon figs and they made the cut because they are sweet and southern, just like Renee.

Check out the figgy honey syrup in the bottom of my baking pan!

Payback is only fair.
Renee has helped me so much that an emphatic “Sure!” was the only right answer. She is instrumental in the smooth running of Sunday Supper and is my partner in crime for Bread Bakers.  If you haven’t met her yet, I encourage you to browse through her extensive list of recipes. Everything I’ve made from Renee’s blog has been great but we especially enjoyed her sesame noodles from a couple of years back and more recently, her No-bake Bourbon Pecan Cookies and Asian Pork Lettuce Cups.

Seriously delicious sesame noodles!

Now please go visit my Sticky Cinnamon Figs and meet my friend, Renee!