Culinary Adventures with Camilla

We love shortbread. I love that it's shippable to friend and family far away. And it's so easy - and flexible - to make. The kids who were in my Spice it Up! class still talk about the Sage Shortbread ; I sent Matcha-Black Sesame Shortbread to my #FBCookieSwap recipients in 2013;  but I think my favorite has been the Salted Fennel Pollen Shortbread .  I realized that I have never made a chocolate shortbread. I had to fix that after our Chocolate Tour in The City yesterday afternoon. I added in raw cacao nibs and some instant espresso for even more decadence. Ingredients 10 T butter 1/2 C organic granulated sugar + some for rolling 2 t pure chocolate extract 1 T honey 1 T instant espresso powder 2 T raw cacao nibs 1 egg, beaten 1-1/2 C white whole wheat flour 1/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder Procedure Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Stir in honey and espresso powder until well combined. Beat in the egg, then carefull...

I wanted a little something sweet tonight, but I didn't want it badly enough to get dressed and go to the grocery store. My problem: I had no butter. Sugar, yes. Flour, yes. Butter, no. Argh!   So, I decided to experiment with an olive oil shortbread. I called it "La Fée Verte" because it has a splash of absinthe and a sprinkling of fennel pollen. This was easy to make - 7 ingredients in all, about 2 minutes active time, 50 minutes of baking, and 20 minutes of cooling. So, in your hand in less than 75 minutes. Awesome! Ingredients 3 C white whole wheat flour 1 C organic powdered sugar 1/4 C organic granulated sugar 1 T absinthe 1/4 t fennel pollen 1/2 t fleur de sel 1 C olive oil Procedure Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars, absinthe, fennel pollen, and fleur de sel. Pour in the olive oil and stir until the dry mixture is completely incorporated into a cohesive ball. Transfer ...

For Darth Gaber's birthday cake I needed a lot of cake. I just bake the layers; Jake's the cake architect. We started with these Devil's Food layers. This recipe made two 9"x13" rectangles + 1 bundt cake; you can easily halve or third the proportions as needed. Ingredients makes two 9"x13" rectangles + 1 bundt cake 9 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate 4 C flour (I used a white whole wheat flour) 2 t baking soda 18 T butter (2 sticks + 2 T), cubed 2-1/4 C boiling water 4 C organic granulated sugar 9 T organic sour cream 9 T buttermilk 6 large eggs 1 t organic hazelnut extract 1 t organic chocolate extract Procedure Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare your baking pans by lining them with parchment paper. Set aside. Place the chocolate and the butter in a large saucepan. Heat until the butter and chocolate are melted and smooth. In a large mixing bowl, place the flour, baking soda, granulated sugar, sour cream, buttermilk, ...

When I was trying to decide what cookies I would make for  The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap of 201 3 , I toyed with a couple of possibilities, including  Salted Mayan Chocolate Cookies   and Rosewater-Cardamom Crisps .  But the reviews from my local taste-testers were tepid. Dylan suggested I lose the white chocolate chips and sub in more dark chocolate. I thought about trying it with a smoked paprika versus the Aleppo pepper. My mom declared that they were "nothing special and not really worth the calories." Don't worry, I'm not thin-skinned about my cooking! And only two people who tried the rosewater cookies liked them. Those are not good odds. So, I went back to the drawing board.  Then a friend of mine, whose family owns and operates Ocean Sushi Deli , offered me a canister of matcha green tea.  And I was instantly inspired!  I considered making matcha macarons or matcha meringues; but I knew that my selection had to be hardy en...

When Jake came back from feeding our neighbor's cat, he had two blackened bananas in hand. "I'm thinking banana bread," he announced. Translation: Can you make some banana bread? Sure thing. I decided to try some banana bread with our perennial holiday favorite - eggnog. 1 C organic granulated sugar 1/2 C butter, melted 2 eggs 2 t Kahula 1 t pure vanilla extract 2 ripe bananas 1 C organic eggnog 1 T organic milk 2 1/4 C white whole wheat flour 2 t baking powder ground nutmeg ground cinnamon ground cardamom Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter your baking dish. With these ingredients I made 12 muffins and an 8" round cake. In a large mixing bowl mash the bananas. Add eggnog, eggs, melted butter, milk, Kahlua, vanilla, then mix in sugar. Gently fold in flour, baking powder and spices. Stir until just moistened. Pour into buttered pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let it cool for at least 10 minu...

  Okonomiyaki  is a savory pancake.  Okonomi  means something along the lines of "what you want" and  yaki  means "grilled" or "cooked." We've made it before - during our Cooking Around the World Adventure   when we traveled to Japan by tabletop. Click here   to see that post . Tonight, I decided to add chicken. The batter: 2 C chicken stock, 2 C white whole wheat flour, and 4 eggs. Whisk all of the ingredients together to form a thin pancake batter. Stir in 6 C of cabbage, 1 C cooked chicken, and 1/2 C dried shrimp. Cook in a flat pan until the batter is cooked, the cabbage is softened, and the pancake is lightly browned. I have seen beautiful images of okonomiyaki garnished with okonomiyaki sauce marbled with mayonnaise. We opted for the plop and smear method. So, it wasn't very photogenic, but it was delicious. All the  okonomiyaki  sauce recipes I found were slightly different. I mixed some ketchup, honey, lem...

Who knew that there is such a thing as  Lactation Cookies ? I certainly didn't remember that from the 4 (combined) years that I was pregnant and lactating with my boys. But a good friend - and new mom - joked that she had an assignment for me. Well, she was joking, but I am always up for a culinary challenge. So, I started with one of the recipes from the justbreastfeeding website - the lactation cookies for nut lovers. As for the post title...well, we call her adorable little boy "the pirate" because he sometimes views the world around him, grumpily, through one eye. Did I mention that he's adorable?!? He's the cutest lil' pirate you'll ever see! Hope the pirate's mom likes these... 1 1/2 C white whole wheat flour 2 C rolled oats 1 t baking soda 3/4 C almond butter 1/2 C butter, softened 1 C flax seed 3 T brewer’s yeast 1/3 C water 1 t cinnamon 1 C organic coconut sugar 2 t vanilla 2 large eggs 1 C extra dark chocol...

Thanks to a message - and link -  from my cousin Jo, I had the Cooking Channel's '25 Ways to Use Rhubarb' rolling around in my head this evening. Rhubarb season is fleeting and I just happened to have picked up an armful of rhubarb at the store. I've tried rhubarb a lot of different ways: Lobster with Rhubarb Sauce Over Braised Greens , Rhubarb Pavlovas , Rhubarb Heart Tarts , and even a Rhubarb Barbeque Sauce . But I have never thought to mix it with chocolate. That seems to me a waste of good rhubarb; I figured the chocolate would completely overrun the rhubarb. Still, I decided to give it a try. Rhubarb Compote 2 C rhubarb, sliced into 1/2" piece 1/4 C water 3 T organic brown sugar Place the ingredients together in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat, and cook for 10 minutes. My Favorite Brownies 4 large eggs 1 C organic granulated sugar 1 C organic brown sugar 1 T unsulphered molasses 1 t ground ancho c...

Though my preferred pizza crust is Mark Bittman's Mostly No Work Pizza Dough , when I don't plan ahead - like tonight - this will recipe suffice. I didn't feel like doing anything tonight. Close friends balked and demanded, "Define 'do nothing'! Because nothing means you call for pizza delivery." Okay, I didn't feel like doing too much; I wanted to make pizza and watch Star Wars with my three loves. Easy enough. I doubled this and made three medium-ish pizzas. 1 T active dry yeast 1 T organic granulated sugar 1 C warm water 2-1/2 C white whole wheat flour 2 T olive oil 1 t pink Himalaya salt Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in flour, salt and oil. Beat until smooth. Let rest for 15 minutes. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll to fit your baking stone, round or rectangular. Pizza One - Riley's Pick: minc...

My foray into cooking with flowers continues. This is the perfect Springtime kitchen project. This morning - before the boys headed off for school - I whipped up some crêpes sprinkled with Sweet William petals. 1-1/2 C white whole wheat flour 3 eggs 2 C organic whole milk dash of cardamom splash of vanilla organic Sweet William blossoms Whisk all of the ingredients - except the flowers -  together until lump-free. Let sit for at least 20 minutes. Heat a large flat-bottom pan and rub the bottom with butter. Pour the batter in the middle of the pan and quickly make a tilting motion to distribute the batter all over the pan. The goal: have as thin a batter layer as possible. Gently press a few petals into the batter. Cook until the crêpes is a bit stiff and flip over, cooking for another minute The pancake should be lightly browned on both sides. Repeat till all the batter is used; I made 10 crêpes with the amount listed. I served these with smears ...

While I actually made this on St. Patrick's Day, I was offline all last week. So, I'm playing catch up now. This Guinness Chocolate Cake wrapped up our corned beef, cabbage, and potato dinner. 1 C Guinness, 1 C butter, ¾ C unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 C white whole wheat flour, 2 C organic cane sugar, 1½ t baking soda, ¾ t sea salt, 2 large eggs, 2/3 C sour cream Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter your baking dish. Combine the Guinness and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the cocoa powder and whisk till smooth. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. In another mixing bowl, beat together the eggs and sour cream to blend. Add the stout-butter mixture and beat just to combine. Mix in the dry ingredients on low speed just until incorporated. Spoon batter into buttered baking dish.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25-35 minutes. A...

Kruidnoten , yes, this translates to 'ginger nuts.' Love it! Ingredients 1-3/4 C white whole wheat flour 2 t baking powder freshly ground sea salt 1/2 C raw turbinado sugar 7 T butter, room temperature 3 T milk 4 t pumpkin pie spice 1 t ground ginger 1/2 t baking soda zest of 1 meyer lemon 1 egg white, beaten Procedure Mix together all the ingredients in a large bowl and knead to shape the dough into a ball. Cover the dough ball with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll large marble-sized balls of dough (of approx. 3/4"). Place balls on the cookie sheet. Brush with egg white and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the cookies turn a slightly darker shade of brown. Allow to cool. Makes about 60 kruidnoten .

The Food Matters Project  challenge for this week was Mark Bittman's Sweet Potato and Corn Fritters with Thai Dipping Sauce, chosen by Aura of Dinner with Aura . Click here to see what everyone else made; look in the comments section. Just this morning the boys had asked me "What is a fritter?" Granted they were talking about the sugar-glazed apple monstrosities that they had eyed at the donut store with my husband, but I figured it was perfect timing. And since I wanted to turn this into dinner, I decided to make two different savory fritters. Curried Pumpkin-Corn Fritters I didn't have any sweet potatoes, but I had some pumpkin puree leftover from my son's pumpkin pie , so I swapped that. And I added in some curry powder for extra oomph. 2 C pumpkin puree 1 C corn kernels 2 eggs 1/2 C white whole wheat flour 1 t curry powder freshly ground salt and pepper, to taste Mix all of the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl to form a ...

During this October #Unprocessed month, I learned that molasses is the epitome of processed , but it adds such depth to cakes that I couldn't resist. 1 C butter, softened 4 eggs 1 C organic sour cream 1 C dark molasses 1 C organic, raw turbinado sugar 3 C white whole wheat flour 2 t baking soda 1 t baking powder 1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder 1 t ground cinnamon 1/2 t ground nutmeg 1/2 t ground cardamom 1/2 t ground ginger 1 t pure vanilla extract Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter your baking dish (I used a 9"x13" rectangle for this recipe). Whisk together all of the wet ingredients until they form a smooth batter. Gently fold in the dry ingredients until just moistened. Spoon the batter into the dish and bake for an hour - or until the cake bounces back to the touch in the middle. Serve warm or cool with a dusting of powdered sugar.

Have you ever seen a food and been transported to another time and place? It's a disorienting sense of deja vu that overwhelms you simultaneously with confusion and awe. Total bewilderment. That was how it was for me this morning when I pulled this out of the oven. Despite having finished my book review of Shauna Sever's  Pure Vanilla ,  I am still working my way through her recipes. They are all so amazing. And since it's the first day back from Fall Break, I wanted the boys fortified for learning. I popped my version of Shauna's Vanilla Bean Dutch Baby and a frittata made with leftover Danish meatballs, cauliflower, and potatoes  into the oven. So here's the deja vu : I lived in the Netherlands for three years as a child when my dad was stationed at an Air Force base. We didn't live on base; we had a house in town and I went to the neighborhood school and learned to speak Dutch...with the fluency of a kindergartener. I thought that I was Dutch and ...

Remember our pasta-making class adventure ? Well, I finally got the pasta maker and the boys decided that they wanted to take it to my parents' house to make lunch. Here was the conversation on the phone before I dropped them off... Me : Mom, they want to make pasta for lunch. Do you have flour and eggs? Or should I bring it over with the machine? Nonna : Oh, you mean they want to MAKE the pasta?!? Not cook the pasta. Yes, I have flour and eggs. Me : Perfect. Nonna : How do you do it? Me : No, they'll do it. Nonna : Can they use whole wheat flour? That's all I have. Me : That's all we have, too. It's fine. And they were fine... But they also gave my mom a hard time...here's how that conversation went... Nonna : So, they made the pasta and it looks really good. I was getting ready to cook it and pulled out a jar of marinara sauce. Riley looked at me in horror and said, 'Nonna, you have to make the sauce!' Me : Oh... Nonna : I'...

I was looking for a sweet treat to bring to a friends' house and came across Cookie + Kate's Pumpkin-Pecan Polvorónes . I made some changes, but these are exactly what I wanted: a portable dessert made with pumpkin.  Polvorón comes from polvo, the Spanish word for dust. 1/2 C olive oil 3/4 C pumpkin puree 1/4 C organic maple sugar 1/2 C organic brown sugar, lightly packed 1 t pure vanilla extract 1 t ground cinnamon 1/2 t ground cardamom sprinkling to freshly ground pink Himalaya salt 2 C white whole wheat flour 1/2 C organic raw cacao nibs powdered sugar for rolling Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Blend all of the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl until all of the dry ingredients are completely moistened. Using a teaspoon, scoop out small pieces of dough and roll them into walnut-sized balls. Place them on a baking stone; they will not spread, so they can be placed fairly close together. Bake for 20 minutes until they are slightly firm and golde...