My Advice? Make a Double Batch.

Brown Sugar Cookies

The most efficient way to bake these cookies is to portion and bake half of the dough. While the first batch is in the oven, the remaining dough can be prepared for baking. Avoid using a nonstick skillet to brown the butter. The dark color of the nonstick coating makes it difficult to gauge when the butter is sufficiently browned. Use fresh brown sugar, as older (read: harder and drier) brown sugar will make the cookies too dry.

Ingredients:

14 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks)
1/4 cup granulated sugar (about 1 3/4 ounces)
2 cups packed dark brown sugar (14 ounces)
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons (about 10 1/2 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Heat 10 tablespoons butter in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue to cook, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. Stir remaining 4 tablespoons butter into hot butter to melt; set aside for 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large (18 by 12-inch) baking sheets with parchment paper. In shallow baking dish or pie plate, mix granulated sugar and 1/4 cup packed brown sugar, rubbing between fingers, until well combined; set aside. Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder together in medium bowl; set aside.

3. Add remaining 1 3/4 cups brown sugar and salt to bowl with cooled butter; mix until no sugar lumps remain, about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula; add egg, yolk, and vanilla and mix until fully incorporated, about 30 seconds. Scrape down bowl. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined, about 1 minute. Give dough final stir with rubber spatula to ensure that no flour pockets remain and ingredients are evenly distributed.

4. Divide dough into 24 portions, each about 2 tablespoons, rolling between hands into balls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Working in batches, toss balls in reserved sugar mixture to coat and set on prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart, 12 dough balls per sheet. (Smaller baking sheets can be used, but it will take 3 batches.)

5. Bake one sheet at a time until cookies are browned and still puffy and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will look raw between cracks and seem underdone; see photo below), 12 to 14 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Do not overbake.

6. Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes; using wide metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack and cool to room temperature.

Makes 2 Dozen Cookies. Published in Cooks Illustrated, March of 2007.

Veggie Tales: Popeye Donuts

Here at Chez Freshour, I'm on a quest to expand my children's vegetable awareness because, quite frankly, I'm a little tired of the seemingly endless rotation of carrots, peas, green beans, broccoli, carrots, peas, green beans...you get the idea. So when I came across this recipe while at the hospital yesterday with Carter, I shamelessly tore it out of the magazine and took it home. What is exciting about sitting in a waiting room for an hour and a half, is all the time you have to scan free magazines and ponder what to have for dinner. And wonder if you are going to be there for so long that a trip to the grocery store afterwards will be out of the question.

You could probably call these Spinach Balls, but around these parts, conspicuous vegetable typecasting earns us swift and blatant rejection. There's nothing like a clever marketing ploy to help move them from the plate into the mouth. Without further ado, I bring you:

Popeye Donuts

Ingredients:

2 (10-oz.) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed

4 eggs

1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese

1 lg. white onion, finely chopped (I grated mine thereby rendering it invisible.)

2 c. Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoned Stuffing mix

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

10 Tbsp. melted butter (Try to keep your mind centered on all the folic acid while drizzling this in.)

Directions:

Heat oven to 350. (Mine was already on because I was baking cookies. This because we are not above bribery when it comes to pushing new vegetables and we weren't exactly sure if the green donut idea was going to fly.) Squeeze the water out of the spinach through a colander in the sink until the spinach is just about dry. Beat the eggs in a large bowl, then dump spinach and the rest of the ingredients in and mix well. Cover the bowl and refrigerate until the mixture holds together, about an hour. Shape roughly into 1-inch balls and bake on a lightly greased cookie sheet (I'm nothing if not lazy and avoided that whole greasing bit by lining my baking sheet with parchment paper.) until just browned and crispy, 30-35 minutes. Sprinkle with kosher salt while still hot prior to serving.

It's spinach for spinach haters. Not only did the kids give them two thumbs up, but they would be a slammin' summer appetizer or side. They were that good.

I Didn't Say it Was Good FOR You, I Just Said it Was GOOD

This recipe is OUT OF THIS WORLD DELICIOUS, and when you see the ingredient list, you'll know why. Please don't anyone forward this link to my cardiogist.

Chicken Alfredo

3 Tbsp olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch wide strips
4-6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 pt. heavy whipping cream
1 3/4 c. grated Parmesan
1 lb. Fettucini pasta, freshly cooked
2 c. frozen baby peas, defrosted, or 4 c. broccoli florets, lightly blanched

Heat 2 Tbsp. olive oil in a heavy, large Dutch oven over med-high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Working in batches, saute chicken strips until just cooked through, about 4 minutes. Or if it's 5:03pm and you realize your husband is going to be home in less than 12 minutes and you forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer, then you may have to cook it slightly longer than 4 minutes. Because a mere 4 minutes at that point is just going to get the ice melting. But whatever you do, DON'T TRY TO DEFROST THE CHICKEN IN THE MICROWAVE IN AN EFFORT TO SAVE TIME. No one wants to admit this to Whirlpool, Jenn-Air, Kenmore, or any other microwave manufacturer, but chicken that has been defrosted in the microwave tastes A-W-F-U-L. Don't be ashamed. It's not you. It's the whole defrosting process. Your buddy, the microwave, defrosts chicken unevenly so that some parts start to cook and become rubbery while other parts remain completely frozen. And then there is really no cooking method or flavor that can possibly over come it because not only can rubbery chicken not brown no matter how much fat you fry it in, it can't absorb salt, liquid, or any other seasoning. Worse, you've given our enemies; salmonella, staphylococcus aureus, campylobacter jejuni, and listeria monocytogenes, a completely X-rated playground upon which to gleefully frolic.

I took several microbiology classes in college. They affected me deeply. So deeply, I decided not to become an infectious disease specialist after all. Instead I pledged my life to fight the battle against various food borne illnesses related to the improper defrosting of poultry products. Cold running water is your friend in the quick thaw mission. Just in case I ever come over to your house, I thought you should know this. Science is at work here. Try to respect the sheer velocity at which bacteria can multiply.

Anyway, I'm going to assume by this point that the chicken is now browned, and those browned bits swimming in whatever is left of the olive oil is where all the flavor is in this recipe. Transfer the chicken strips to a bowl and add to the pan another 1 Tbsp. of olive oil and all of the garlic. Saute until fragrant and a very lightly browned. I think you'll agree with me at this point that it smells quite heavenly. Add the whipping cream to the pan and bring to a simmer stirring constantly to help release the browned chicken bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the shredded parmesan in and stir constantly until the cheese is melted. Then add back in the chicken and any juices that have accumulated in the bowl. Stir well to coat chicken, reseason with salt and pepper if necessary, and continue to simmer and stir until the sauce is thickened slightly. Add the defrosted peas (or blanched broccoli) right before you are ready to serve. Cook only until heated through.

If you were a real chef, at this point you would pour your drained pasta right into the Dutch oven with the alfredo sauce and gently toss it to coat. Here at Chez Freshour (Shay Fresh-Oooour) we are not so fancy...and the kids like their pasta a little less adorned, shall we say. So we just scooped up the alfredo sauce and unceremoniously dumped it over the fettuccini - like you would with plain old bolognese sauce. A word I believe in my 36 years I have never used in print before, and probably will never use again. Especially since I had to check the dictionary twice to make sure I got the "g" in the right place.

It's unspeakably yummy. Try it. You will not be disappointed. I fully guarantee your gastrointestinal fulfillment via the blogspere.

A note to my health conscience mother and my mother-in-law, whom I'm sure are reeling at the very thought of perhaps having to ingest this at my home over the next few weeks. Not to worry. I made it this last week. It's not going on the regular weekly rotation like Jeff's bacon and pancakes. Hee, hee, hee. : )

This recipe courtesy of my friend, Carol Reynolds. She also makes a mean Pig-in-a-Blanket.

Curried Couscous Salad

This post is mainly for my Mom and Joy, faithful readers of my little effort here, and fellow salad lovers. I hate to post a recipe so soon after Carter's creation, but this one is fantastic. I took it to a preschool graduation luncheon yesterday for about 100 people and folks LOVED it...mostly because the crowd was mostly vegetarian Indians and I think they were just delighted to see something on the table besides sweet and sour meatballs, but hey. Anything with curry in it cannot possibly be bad, right?

1 10 oz. box of instant couscous
1/2 c. sweetened dried cranberries
1 Tbsp. curry powder (one with fenugreek in it)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 orange, juiced
2-3 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
3-4 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced on an angle
3 Tbsp. chopped fresh Italian parsley (don't be tempted to use the curly stuff - for anything...EVER)
1/2 lemon, juiced
3/4 c. pistachios
freshly ground pepper to taste

Stir the couscous, cranberries, curry powder, salt, and sugar together in a heatproof bowl. Bring water (amount will be listed on the package directions) to a boil and pour over the couscous. Add the orange juice. Give it a big stir. Cover the bowl tightly and let it stand until the water is absorbed and the couscous is tender, about 5 minutes.

Fluff up the couscous with a fork. Add the remaining ingredients. Stir until everything is evenly distributed throughout the couscous. Make up to 2-hours ahead of time and kept at room temperature until you are ready to serve.

The original recipe is Dave Lieberman's and called for walnuts, but I had to question the curry powder-walnut combination. Pistachios seemed more "Indian" to me and they worked wonderfully. Also, toast the curry powder in a dry fry pan first until fragrant or it will taste raw. That isn't in the original recipe either, but it's a critical element. I didn't toast it yesterday and no one seemed to notice...except me, but I really noticed.

I also brought Joy's Spinach-Orzo salad (rivaled my couscous as far as hits go) a Pesto Tortellini salad (which Jeff hates and I love), 8 lbs. of little smokies (gag), and 4 gallons of Strawberry-Limeade. All in all it was a full day of cooking, and cleaning, and cooking some more (dinner) and cleaning. AND IT WASN'T EVEN MY KIDS THAT WERE GRADUATING!