use real butter

Recipe: gluten-free peanut butter cookies

For folks who were wondering about the famous Williamsburg Cheese Shop house dressing that *everyone* raves about, they don’t give out the recipe. However, my pal, Rob, and I tinkered with some recipes and I settled on this one which is awesome on a sandwich. Have at it!

Cookies, I lament thee. Back in the day when I lived at sea-level, I used to bake a lot of cookies. A LOT of cookies. I would crank out several double batches a week and bring them in to my department or my workplace to give out to everyone. Jeremy always claims that caffeine fuels science, but I dare say that sugar, butter, flour, and chocolate did their fair share to support science research too. I had several go-to recipes that I could whip together in my sleep and bake to perfection consistently. Oh sea-level, if there is one thing I miss about you it would be your atmospheric pressure. At my elevation, cookies don’t behave the same way. Hell, NOTHING behaves the same way. I almost gave up on baking entirely, but over the years I was able to tackle and learn about cakes (some are still in the temperamental category), and breads (I don’t do a lot of breads), and I discovered that shortbreads had fewer issues than drop cookies.

Still, I don’t bake cookies much around here… and it’s one of my favorite things to give to people. Here! Have a cookie! That’s so much easier than “Here! Have some crème brûlée!” A couple of months ago, I decided that I needed to put cookies back in the driver’s seat because to me, a cookie is a little nugget of love. When you hand out cookies, you are handing out LOVE.

let’s start with a classic: peanut butter

I chose peanut butter cookies and I chose to make them gluten-free. It’s not that I have an aversion to gluten, but I have friends who are celiac and well – it’s always good to know how to do things. My inspirations for all things gluten-free are Shauna and Danny. When I told Shauna I was making her peanut butter cookies, she told me not to bother with that old recipe. But I needed something easy because I didn’t want to have to run out to the store for ingredients, so I made a batch.

plop goes the egg

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Recipe: pomegranate chocolate dessert

I thought I might find a little time to do some festive baking, but it seems that I won’t have much time this season for a variety of reasons. There has been one recipe I’ve been wanting to try out for a couple of months now ever since pomegranates arrived in our markets. Pomegranate seeds are little jewels. We have five large pomegranates sitting on our counter right now. I tend to stock up on them because Jeremy can put away quite a few. My enjoyment of pomegranate seeds increased tenfold several years ago when I learned I could EAT the crunchy center. How about that?

the glamour girl of the fruit world

boozy version

PAMA had sent me a bottle of their pomegranate liqueur last month to inspire and shoehorn me out of this creative funk I’ve been wallowing in. Well, I suppose lack of time and funk are not the same thing, but I have noticed that lack of time can be an inspiration-killer. Jeremy’s immediate reaction was pomegranate martini! Oy, martinis and I have a checkered past. I thought something more tame like a dessert, was in order.

had to try making pomegranate molasses

cutting the cake bases

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Recipe: cornbread

Sometimes the recipes I post here are completely out of whack with the time of year (although completely in whack with the southern hemisphere, so it’s not a complete bust). I’m probably more guilty of posting summer recipes in winter than the converse. If I could have my druthers, I’d eat summer food in winter. Is that crazy? Don’t get me wrong, I really do love those slow cooked winter stews, soups, and braises. I like to make those in the dead of winter, when temperatures are cold… very cold. Lately it has been feeling like the dead of winter and yet it’s still technically autumn. We’re a little ahead of the curve here in Colorado, I suppose. Time for some food to warm the soul.

Last month my friend introduced me to her favorite charity The Women’s Bean Project in Denver, Colorado. It’s so much more than a charity. The Women’s Bean Project is a non-profit organization that tackles the issues of poverty and hunger by empowering women with the skills to be self-sufficient. When I inquired about sending a donation in, I had a lovely email exchange with Diana Lachiondo who offered to send me some of their products to sample. The Women’s Bean Project gives participants entry-level training in their gourmet food business, turning out packages of soup, chili, bread, dip, iced teas, or cookie mixes. (They have jewelry now too – great ideas for holiday gifts.) What I got was a beautifully wrapped gift basket with several packaged mixes, each one signed by the individual who made it.

i picked the firehouse chili

I had chili on my brain and gave it a spin. The packet contained a gorgeous assortment of dried beans and spices. I merely followed the recipe instructions and added the fresh ingredients like ground beef, tomatoes, onions, garlic, peppers. It had a nice kick and received the thumbs up from both Jeremy and myself. Imagine my delight the other day when we were walking through the grocery store in our little mountain town and saw Women’s Bean Project soup mixes on the shelves! Don’t fret if your grocer doesn’t carry their products – you can order online directly from their website for a very good cause.

Making chili also demands cornbread. A friend of mine recently asked if I had a cornbread recipe I could recommend. I had plenty of cornbread recipes, but none that knocked my socks off (the socks, they were still on my feet). Even though there was a mix included in my WBP packet, I had been itching to test drive a version I had dog-eared long ago.

a little sugar never hurts

cornmeal

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