Peanut Butter and Julie

Maple Sugar Pinwheels

As you can probably imagine, I have a very large recipe file, or perhaps I should say set of files.  Separated into categories, according to courses or occasions, are hundred of magazine clippings, recipes from the Internet, and the occasional food-styled photo.  At the beginning of the month, I routinely flip through the files, and I select several recipes which I think I might want to try over the next few weeks.  Usually only about half of these actually ever get made, as I inevitably get distracted by a new idea from the latest Food and Wine issue or last night's "Top Chef" quickfire challenge.  Some of what I end up preparing I make exactly as written, but most recipes just serve as inspiration for my own variation. 

One flaw that I have as a cook is that I don't always read recipes completely through before I start.  I sometimes just stop at the end of the ingredient list and then dive in (I'm such a daredevil).  I know that reading the recipe from start to finish is something that they probably teach you on the first day of culinary school, but hey, I didn't go to culinary school.  This flaw gets me in trouble when I have in my head that I am going to prepare a recipe for that same day, and then, there at the end of paragraph one are the words "refrigerate overnight."  Grrrrrrrrrrrr. 

This scenario happened to me the very first time that I attempted cinnamon rolls.  I could almost taste the warm spiced pastries covered with gooey icing when I realized that my taste buds would need to wait until the next day.  It would have been great to have this Maple Sugar Pinwheel recipe as a back-up.  They are really a cross between a biscuit and a cinnamon roll, but they come together and are warm out of the oven in about 45 minutes--almost instant gratification!  Here are just a few tips for these simple sweet biscuits:

• Maple sugar can be both expensive and hard to find if you don't live in a maple producing region of the country.   Sometimes it is available at places like Whole Foods, or you can purchase it on-line through the King Arthur Catalogue.  As a substitute for the maple sugar, combine 1 cup of sugar or brown sugar with 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon. 
• To add an extra layer of sweetness, glaze the tops of the biscuits with a confectioner's sugar glaze, 2 cups confectioner's sugar mixed with a few tablespoons of milk.
• The biscuits are best eaten straight out of the oven, but they can also be reheated, wrapped in foil, at 300F degrees, for 10-15 minutes.
• As with pie crusts and scones, be sure to not overwork the dough, as this will result in tougher and not very flaky biscuits.

Maple Sugar Pinwheels

Makes 12

Ingredients:

For the dough

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon maple sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces

3/4 cup whole milk

For filling

6 tablespoons butter, room temperature

1 cup maple sugar

Prepare the dough:  Preheat the oven to 400F degrees.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Pulse together the flour, maple sugar, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a food processor.  Scatter the butter pieces over the flour mixture and pulse until the mixture has crumbs the size of small peas.  Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, add the milk, and stir with a fork until a loose dough forms.  Gently knead the dough 8 to 10 times on a lightly floured surface.

Roll out and fill the dough:  Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin, into a 13 by 11-inch rectangle.  Spread softened butter evenly over the dough and sprinkle all over with the maple sugar.  Beginning with one long side, roll up the dough snugly, jelly-roll style.  Cut the roll crosswise into 12 slices with a sharp knife.  Arrange the slices, cut sides down, 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.  Sprinkle the tops with any excess maple sugar from the work surface.

Bake until the rolls are puffy and golden, 18-20 minutes.

Healthy Wheatberry Salad

Doughnuts and scones and muffins--oh my!!  After looking over the last few days of my blog posts, I realized that they have been heavy on the, well, heavy stuff.  I usually try to keep the order well-balanced, but apparently I have been in a baking kind of mood lately.  So now it's time to give your sweet tooth a rest with some healthy whole grains and fresh vegetables.

This wheat berry salad is one of my favorite "go-to" salads when I want to have something easy, filling, and healthy in the refrigerator that I can graze on over several days.  Sometimes I'll eat it as a meal in itself, served over mixed greens, or I'll have it as a side dish for dinner.  The recipe is a slight variation of Ina Garten's Wheat Berry Salad, found in her third cookbook, Barefoot Contessa Family Style.  I love her recipes because they are prepared with fresh ingredients, they are simple and not too fussy, and they always present beautifully.  This is a great salad for entertaining or to bring to a potluck, as it is a nice change from your standard rice or couscous recipe, and the vinaigrette-coated vegetables look like little jewels sitting in the wheat berries.

Wheat berries are the mother grain from which flour, bread, and pasta are derived.  When cooked, they have a nut-like flavor, a chewy texture, and can serve as a healthy whole grain substitute for rice, pasta, or couscous.  Look for wheat berries in the organic, bulk, or health foods section of your grocery store.  Here are a few extra tips for this whole-grain wheat berry salad:

• Feel free to adjust the amounts of olive oil and balsamic vinegar to suit your personal taste.  I decreased the amount of olive oil from the original recipe and added a bit of vinegar because I like the more acidic flavor.
• Instead of using thyme, add 2 tablespoons of chopped flat-leaf parsley at the very end. 
• Experiment with different vegetable combinations in this versatile recipe.  Substitute chopped shallots for the red onion, try using different colors of peppers, add some chopped celery, or dice some fresh sweet beets.
• The wheat berries are done cooking when they have softened, but are still chewy or "al dente".  If they absorb all of the water before this point, just add a bit more.  Be sure to use the hard wheat berries as they will not become mushy when cooked.

Healthy Wheat Berry Salad

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 cup hard winter wheat berries

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 red onion, finely diced

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

3 scallions, minced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 large carrot, diced

Place the wheat berries, 3 cups of water, and 1 teaspoon salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low and cook, uncovered, for about 45 minutes or until the wheat berries are soft.

Saute the red onion in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add the remaining olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and thyme and stir to mix.  Remove from the heat.

In a large bowl, combine the wheat berries, onion mixture, scallions, red bell pepper, and carrots.  Season well with salt and pepper and stir to mix.  Allow the mixture to sit for 30 minutes prior to serving so that the wheat berries can absorb the sauce.  Serve cold or at room temperature.

Bomboloni (Italian Doughnut Holes)

The French Laundry is wonder-chef Thomas Keller's most famous, and notoriously tough to get a table at, restaurant.  In the event that you aren't a celebrity or a culinary pal of Chef Keller, the only way that you will have a remote chance of securing a reservation at this 16 table Yountville, California establishment, is to call exactly 2 months ahead of the date you would like to dine, at 10 a.m. PST.  This is when the management releases the tables, and they are generally sold out faster than tickets to a Hannah Montana concert.

In the off chance that you are not met with a busy signal and you actually get that coveted reservation, you'll need to spend the next few months preparing yourself for the French Laundry experience.  From what I've heard, it is not a dinner, but more of a food marathon, which sometimes lasts 20 courses and 5 or 6 hours.  You may want to bring your pillow to take a brief snooze at halftime, or better yet, bring your running shoes so you can take a few laps around the building.  I have also heard that this once-in-a-lifetime experience is more than worth the steep price. 

I haven't been blessed with the opportunity to dine at the French Laundry yet, but I think it is something that probably holds a spot on every foodie's "bucket list".  The closest that I have come was when a friend gave me the gorgeous and quite large French Laundry Cookbook, which to me is really more of a coffee table book, due to its lovely food photography and technically difficult recipes that I will unlikely ever attempt.  I have found inspiration in some of Chef Keller's ideas however, which I have been able to translate into my style of cooking.

One of the best ideas that I found in the French Laundry Cookbook was the recipe for "Coffee and Doughnuts", a dessert version of yeasty doughnut holes paired with a cappuccino semi-fredo.  I think that this is a great suggestion for a dinner party dessert as it is small, light, unique, and certain to impress your guests.  The version that I created is based upon Italian bomboloni, or doughnut holes, which I filled with raspberry jam for a bit of tart fruity flavor.  The recipe is extremely easy, and since the dough is prepared one day in advance, you can finish them just prior to serving.  This would also be a fun recipe to make with kids (as long as an adult handles the frying).  Here are some extra tips for these divine dessert doughnuts:

• The raspberry filling is optional.  The doughnuts will be just like a sugar-coated donut hole otherwise.  I filled half of them and left the other half empty.  You can also substitute other fillings for the raspberry, such as pastry cream, chocolate cream, whipped cream, lemon curd, or other flavors of fruit spreads.
• If you do not have a pastry bag and a 1/4-inch tip, then you can substitute a squeeze bottle.   You can also fill a zip-top bag with the filling, snip a small end off the corner, and then insert the corner into the bomboloni to fill.
• Instead of using a standing electric mixer, you can prepare the dough by hand (although this method will make much more of a mess and is not nearly as easy).  Whisk together the yeast mixture and then stir in the rest of the ingredients.  Gently knead on a lightly floured surface.  The dough will be very sticky. 
• For variation, add spices to the rolling sugar, such as cinnamon, cardamom, or nutmeg.  You can also glaze the doughnuts with a confectioner's sugar icing as opposed to coating them with sugar.

Bomboloni (Italian Doughnut Holes)

Makes about 30

Ingredients:

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon lukewarm water

3 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

2 tablespoons honey

3 cups flour, plus more for dusting

3 tablespoons milk

6 large egg yolks

1/3 cup sugar, plus more for rolling

2 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons butter, softened

3 cups canola or safflower oil for frying

3/4 cup raspberry preserves

Confectioner's sugar

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the water, yeast, honey, and 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of the flour.  Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until foamy, about 1 hour.

Return the bowl to the mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Add the remaining 1 3/4 plus 2 tablespoons flour, the milk, egg yolks, sugar, and salt.  Mix at low speed until blended, then add the butter and knead at medium speed until silky but sticky, about 5 minutes.  The dough will not pull away from the sides of the bowl.  Using an oiled spatula, scrape the dough into an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate overnight.  The dough will not rise significantly.

In a large saucepan, heat the oil to 360F degrees.  Line a rack with paper towels.  Fill a shallow bowl with 1/2 inch of granulated sugar.  On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to about 1/2-inch thick.  Using a 1 1/2-inch round cutter, stamp out as many rounds as you can without rerolling the dough.  Fry the rounds, 8-10 at a time, until they are browned, about 4 minutes.  Try to keep the oil in the range of 360-375F degrees.  Drain the bomboloni on paper towels and then roll them in the sugar.  Continue frying and rolling the remaining dough.

Fit a pastry bag with a plain round tip, about 1/4-inch in diameter, and fill it with the preserves.  Poke the tip about 3/4 of the way into the bomboloni and squeeze in the preserves, pulling the tip out slightly as you squeeze to fill them as much as possible.  Dust with confectioner's sugar and serve warm.