Guess what I'm making right now?

Summer fruits, warm weather, and new kitchen toys can only mean one thing:

I'm making ice cream for the first time! Peach ice cream, to be specific. (Thanks, Amy, for the recipe!). The mixture is in mixer (try saying that five times fast) right now for another 20 minutes, and then we will let it chill for a few hours before tasting. I'm already drooling. Is it 9:00 yet?

Corn Summer Salad

As another curly-haired person once said, "What a long strange trip it's been." (OK, we have more differences than similarities, but that doesn't stop me from making the connection.)

Clearly, I haven't visited the blog in quite some time (though I hope you have!). If I were to tell you it's because it's been the busiest two months of my entire life, you'd think I was exaggerating. I'd think I was exaggerating. I may actually be exaggerating. But let me just gloss over the highlights (LW--this is when you skip to the bottom!).

May 11: Birthday weekend! Nationals game and Mother's Day family fun.

May 17-18: Connecticut for wedding #1: the Piccrillo's!

May 26: MM and I made it official, and we tied the knot for wedding #2! Professional pictures come next weekend, and oh, I cannot wait!

May 27-June 1: Maroma Beach, Mexico for honeymoon. Picture below was our first day, and the overcast skies gave us the perfect excuse to rest up after wedding craziness. Talk about deep sleep. The rest of the week was sunny and heavenly. Something about white sand and clear water that really make life seem beautiful. Unlimited food and bev's may have helped with that, too...

June 4-5: Dallas, Texas. Not pictured because, well, I never left the airport grounds.

June 5-6: Atlanta, Georgia. Not pictured because, well, I got stuck at the airport and had to stay overnight.

June 6-9: Asheville, North Carolina for wedding #3: the Parrott's! I managed to snap only one picture the entire extended weekend, and that was of a certain GPC and I drinking wine out of mustachio'd glasses. Suffice it to say, it was a beautiful weekend.

June 12-14: Keystone, Colorado for a work conference. Could that state be any more beautiful?

June 21-23: Queechee, Vermont for wedding #4: the Boisvert's! This gorge was one of the prettiest sights in the area. I see now why they call VT the "Green Mountain State". Also, I see why people never want to leave here. Coffee, ice cream, beer...oh my!

Showing off the beautiful trunk I snagged at one of the local Vermont antique stores for a steal. I'm not sure yet where I'm going to put it, but it's such a good looking ol' thing that I'm convinced it will give character wherever it winds up!

June 25-26: Miami Beach for work (and for a little sunbathing along the way). If all work trips were like this, I'd be a much bigger fan of work travel!

Which now brings us to July - can you believe it? As celebratory as it was, I'm relieved wedding-stravaganza-2013 has come to a close, and travel is slowing waaaaay down. Which means more time for cooking! 

It feels unfair to even call this a "recipe" because it is SO simple and SO straightforward and SO gosh-darn-stinkin'-addictive. It's a refreshing side or dip for a summer meal, and it's a crowd-pleaser that could not be easier to throw together on your way out the door to your next cookout. We are heading to West Virginia this evening for a week of sun and R&R (can you believe, after all this travel, we're ready for a vacation!). 

This salad was great at last night's July 4th cookout (thank you, A's!), and it's going to make a second appearance in WV this weekend.

Happy belated July 4th!

Corn Summer Salad/Dip
16oz Frozen corn (or 2-3 cups of kernels off the cob)
1/2 large red onion, diced
3 tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 serrano peppers, seeded and minced
1 can black beans, rinsed
2 avocados, diced
1/4 cup cilantro
Juice from 2-3 limes
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all of the ingredients together and let sit for a few hours to let the flavors meld. Or just go ahead and dig in...no shame in that!

Chocolate-hazelnut Macaroon Torte

When I set out to put up 27 posts, I didn't think it was such a lofty goal. Here I am, 5 days short of another birthday, and I am writing up lucky #27 by the skin of my teeth.

Phew. Mission accomplished, but juuuuuust barely. Then again, that's the point of setting a goal, right? If it was easy, you would have no reason to set out to accomplish it! Birthday 28 is on Saturday, and I've already got some ideas percolating. [Note: I had to remove outlandish trips and fun gifts to myself from the list, even though I still think it's great validation for any and all of the above].

This month's post-less weekends have been consumed with milemarkers, trips, mud, and visits. Trip to Denver came first--here's the view from the hike in Chattaqua State Park:

After that came the Tough Mudder. Very fun, but not doing another one of those again!

Then, Chicago for an MM+SB trip. Highlight of the trip: the riverboat architecture tour. Partly because it's incredibly interesting and informative, partly because it's a pretty way to see the city, and HUGELY because I realized mid-cruise that it was the same type of boat that's featured in My Best Friend's Wedding. If you know me at all, you get why I'm excited. Sigh.

Milestone time: Dad G gets to play way more golf because he's now a free man. Congrats! (Also, not pictured because I didn't want to be the creepy person sharing photos of teenagers without their permission: my amazingly smart cousin, Miriam, and the rest of her high school Constitution Team won FIRST place at their national competition in DC last week. Huge accomplishment! And yes, they do put us all to shame with civic and constitutional knowledge. Not to mention poise. Sure, won't mention it).

Most importantly, after last month's post, I know you were dying to see the "after" shot of the night table makeover (LP-thanks for the reminder!). I'm pre-tty dang impressed with myself, thankyouverymuch.

Finally, the good stuff!! The chocolate-hazelnut macaroon torte! I was SO excited to try this recipe. Being gluten-free is just a bonus, but a cookout at the A's (thanks for hosting such a fun night!) was the perfect excuse to bust this recipe out. It's definitely time-consuming, but it looks beautiful when it's done. Turns out, you wouldn't know that from the DOZENS of terrible pictures I took. Maybe "take a photography class" needs to moonlight on my "28 when 28" list.

In the spirit of honesty, I honestly don't know how to describe this torte. I had SUCH high expectations for it, that I think I was a little let down. I expected it to be a little less "hazelnutty", and a little more "nutella-y". My error? Everyone else seemed to enjoy it, and nobody thought it tasted gluten-free (always a win!). It's an impressive and sophisticated dessert, and I certainly recommend it, but know that you're not getting a super-sweet dessert. In fact, some of you may just prefer it that way!

Chocolate-Hazelnut Macaroon Torte
Followed religiously from Smitten Kitchen
Serves 12-16, depending on your cutting skills

Macaroons
Cooking spray greasing parchment rounds
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
6 large egg whites
2 1/2 cups hazelnuts, toasted, then skinned as much as possible*
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate filling
6 ounces (1 cup chips) bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon instant coffee  (optional)

Whipped frosting and filling
1 1/2 cups chilled heavy or whipping cream
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon Frangelico or another hazelnut liqueur or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract**

Decoration
A semi- or bittersweet chocolate bar for shaving (optional)

Directions:
Macaroons

Position oven racks in the top and lower thirds of oven and heat oven to 325°F. Outline four 8-inch circles on individual pieces of parchment paper. Turn each sheet of parchment over so your ink or pencil lines don’t seep into the macaroon, place parchment paper on large baking sheets, and very lightly coat each piece of parchment cooking spray. Wipe down the circles after spraying so that just a light coating of spray remains.

Toast the hazelnuts until they are lightly browned and fragrant. If yours come with the skins on, roll the hazelnuts in a dishtowel to remove as many of the casings as you can.

Place toasted hazelnuts, 1 cup sugar and salt in a food processor and blend until finely ground. Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in large, dry bowl with clean beaters (or a whisk attachment) until soft peaks form. Drizzle in vanilla extract, then slowly add remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Beat until stiff but not dry. Fold nut mixture into egg whites in 1/3 increments (it was difficult to do this without losing some of the volume of the egg whites!). Spread 1/4 of macaroon batter evenly within each circle, filling completely.

Bake macaroon layers until golden and dry to the touch — this took 23 minutes in my oven. Cool macaroons on their sheets on a cooling rack. You can speed this along by placing them for five minutes each in your freezer.

Chocolate filling

While meringues cool, heat half of chocolate, water, and coffee (if using--which I highly recommend) in a small heavy saucepan over moderately low heat, stirring until smooth. Off the heat, stir in second half of chocolate chunks until melted, which should also cool the mixture to lukewarm. Spread chocolate evenly over tops of meringue rounds; it will be just a thin slick on each. Cool until chocolate is set, a process that could take a few hours at room temperature or, again, could be hastened along by resting each disc in your freezer for five minutes, or until firm.

Whipped Frosting/Filling

Beat cream with sugar and liqueur or vanilla in a bowl with cleaned beaters until it holds stiff peaks.

Assemble

Gently peel the parchment off the back of each macaroon round. Arrange your first disc on your cake serving plate. Spread 1/3 cup whipped cream over it. Repeat with second and third macaroon rounds, then top with final round. Don't worry if they don't line up perfectly - there's plenty of leftover frosting to cover those uniquities up. Frost top and side of torte with whipped cream. 

To up the "impressive" factor, use a vegetable peeler to scrape away curls from a chocolate bar for decoration. Serve immediately, or up to 2 days later (your texture may change, the longer the torte sits, particularly in a humid environment).

The Chocolatiest of Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cookies

With the spring holidays behind us and a total of three trips between two people in one week (did you catch that math?) ahead of us, last week was the best kind of "gimme" week you can ask for. So when I got home last night after a long run to a fresh, hot dinner, there was no other way I could answer the ensuing request for cookies than, "What kind?"

Saved recipes, trusty go-to blogs, and cookbooks left me feeling uninspired. All I wanted was a cookie that packed a wallop of flavor without requiring hours of work to prepare. And of course, they MUST be chewy. This is a house rule, and far be it from me to be the bad guy who broke it.

I hemmed and hawed, and I decided to do what any baked-good lover would do: create my own. Anything chocolate in the house got added in. Leftover quarter cup of M&M's? In you go! A little less than two cups of chocolate chips (question of the week: where did the rest of the bag go?). Added! A little coffee to bring out the chocolate taste? Done and done!

Notably, we were so close to being out of nearly every single baking ingredient that I had to make a few improvisations. Namely, with the butter. I was planning on using 1 cup of butter, only to see that we were the proud owners of only .75 cups of butter. How does that happen? In a last ditch effort, I added in margarine. Things were looking good until I moved a little further along and the dough looked too dry. In goes another 1/4 cup of margarine. There was no noticeable difference in taste or texture, so let's consider it a success!

These turned out ooey and gooey and incredibly rich (or was it that I was already full from testing the dough along the way?). To note - the texture of these cookies turned crumbly after just a few days, so my recommendation is to eat them quickly! Despite this, MM went so far as to say that these are the "best recipe I've ever made."

With Chicago (MM) and Florida (me) behind us, last trip of the whirlwind week starts today. Denver, here I come!

The Chocolatiest of Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 30 large cookies

Ingredients
3/4 cup butter

1/2 cup margarine
2 cups sugar (this could be reduced)
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
3/4 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 (heaping) teaspoon ground coffee

2 cups flour

2 cups chocolate chips

1/4 cup M&M's

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Cream together the butter, margarine, and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla, and set the mixture aside. In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, and then fold in the chocolate chips and the M&M's (or whatever other chocolatey goodness you have hanging around your kitchen!).

Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes, or until cookies are set. Allow cookies to cool before eating. Serve with milk or coffee. And bring some by my home to share!

How to make soup less spicy

I like to make soup "grandma-style." You know, a pinch of this, a smidge of that, and a few handfuls of those until things look just right. Tasting as you go, you get to create your masterpiece in the most scientific of ways possible.

Normally, this method serves me pretty well. Seasonings build up, enhancing over time and deepening as the soup simmers.

Yesterday was a whole different story. I started with the normal layer of aromatics -- onions, garlic, and herbs slowly cooking up to a flavorful base for the soup. I knew I wanted a spicier soup, so I went ahead and ground some red pepper flakes and cayenne into this mix, along with oregano, parsley, and garlic powder (as though the eight cloves I minced weren't enough!).

After adding my other ingredients, I tasted the broth. To my dismay, it tasted flat. Not a problem, I thought. I'll just zip it up with a few more cracks of red pepper, and a little salt and pepper to boot. Looking good, right?

Half an hour of simmering, and I was ready to test the soup. First taste? More like first choke. WOW. I felt that in the back of my throat, in my nostrils, in a sweaty upper lip...you get the picture.

So I tried anything I could thing of. Here's what I added: 1/4 cup of heavy cream (I couldn't bring myself to add more than that once I looked at the nutrition info!), 1 cup of water, 2 cups of mushrooms, and 2.5 cups of baby spinach. The after picture:

The result was a spicy, but tolerable soup. I was still sweating profusely by the time I was done my bowl, but I did get an added bonus of extra vegetables in every spicy bite!

Lessons learned:
1. Easy on the spice. If it burns a hole in your mouth, just think what it will do to your stomach.
2. Cream helps mitigate the spice.
3. Extra veggies and other fillers can distribute the spice around a greater volume of food.
4. There may be something valid about measuring cups.

On a completely separate note, I am trying my hand at fixing up furniture! Here's our old (and I do mean old) nighttable before.

After sanding:

Final pictures to come soon! Have a good Tuesday, everybody!

Roasted Pear and Chocolate Scones

I am writing this for public record: any time I ever grumble about losing an hour of sleep during Daylight Savings transition, please remind me of how gloriously happy I am for it be 7pm and not yet dark.

Seriously, friends, this might just be what heaven is like. Maybe that's an exaggeration, but I do find myself sitting here with a steaming mug of cocoa by my side, a home that smells like baked goods and clean laundry, and a good-lookin' man a few feet away. So really, "heavenly" isn't too far off. 

MM, did I embarass you? Don't worry-I'll make sure he's gone before you get home! ;)

Instead of writing a 15-page essay on all the fun happenings of the past month little while since I last posted, we'll let the pictures do the talking!

First up, the obligatory cooking shot of MM on Valentine's Day:

Jennie and I found this gem on an antiquing trip to Ellicott City. Don't worry, Gillian, we have one for you and one for Jennie, too.

We celebrated my grandparents' 72nd wedding anniversary. You read that right: SEVENTY-TWO ever-lovin' years. No matter how you slice it, that's a loooooong time!

I went to Southern California to test-drive cars for work (check out the snazzy set up we had to measure
0-60 mph!)

This was one of the cars we tested. I hate to use the word "disappointing", but, well....disappointing!

Especially in comparison to these babies (no, I wasn't allowed to drive them. I wasn't allowed to even sit in them!)

Luckily, I got a hike in while I was there. LA would be very pretty if it weren't for all the people!

Our cake topper for the wedding showed up - cute isn't it?

I had the best bachelorette party ever. Thanks for coming to hang and planning such a wonderful weekend, ladies! [If you're wondering why I put up a fuzzy picture, it's because it's the only one of the 10 of us that is remotely acceptable to share with the world!]

MM and I took a cooking class - now we know how to make things "en papaillote!"

Wedding invites came and left!

We went to the Maryland-UNC basketball game. (I'm proud to report that the right team won.)

And, finally, Nora came to visit!

In honor of our *many* moments cooking together in Seattle, we decided to make ourselves brunch. Since we couldn't pick between recipes, we decided to make both. Smart thinking, eh? The scones turned out AWESOME (with that amount of butter, how could they not?). I am not exaggerating when I say "we gobbled these up." Nora, I miss you already! *cough - MOVE TO DC - cough*

Roasted Pear and Chocolate Scones
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen
Makes 6 scones

Ingredients:
3 firmish pears (about 1 pound)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar plus 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated or coarse for sprinkling
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt plus additional for egg wash
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (or chips)
2 large eggs, 1 for dough, 1 for glaze

Directions:
Heat oven to 375°F. Peel and core pears. Cut into 1-inch chunks. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange pear chunks on parchment and roast until they feel dry to the touch and look a little browned underneath, about 20 minutes. Slide parchment paper with pear chunks onto a cooling rack (or onto a plate in the fridge or freezer to speed this up) and cool to lukewarm. Leave oven on. Line baking sheet with another piece of parchment.

Whisk flour, baking powder, 1/4 cup sugar and salt together in the bowl of an electric mixer. Toss in cooled pear chunks, bits of butter, heavy cream and 1 egg. With the paddle attachment, mix the dough on low speed until it just comes together. Don’t overmix. Add the chocolate and mix for 5 seconds more.

On a very well floured counter, pat out dough into a 6-inch round. Cut into 6 generous wedges and transfer to baking sheet at least two inches apart. Whisk remaining egg in a small dish with 1 teaspoon of water and a pinch of salt. Brush each scone with egg wash and sprinkle with remaining tablespoon of sugar.

Bake scones until firm and golden, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack. Enjoy!

*Recipe #2*

To go with the scones, we also made these romaine pesto and egg-stuffed tomatoes. We tried to kill two birds with one stone and bake the tomatoes at the same time as the scones (despite recipes calling for two different baking temperatures), and it may have been a mistake! The tomatoes turned out tasty, but the texture was off. I'm going to need to try these easy-to-make 'maters again before I give a full verdict!

 

Garlicky lentil soup with sausage and spinach

The saying is "better late than never," right? Yep, I thought so. In that case, Happy 2013 friends! I'm sure that you have checking the blog longingly waiting for an update, shedding a soft tear when no such update has come. 

Um, what? You haven't? Well...shoot.

As seems to have been the trend in 2012, this year kicked off to a whirlwind start! A trip to Philly to send Kelly off to Norway, a visit from Gillian to DC, purchasing our very first house, condo, home*, doing many a home improvement project on said home (it is amazing how a coat of paint and some new kitchen appliances can transform a place), a bridal shower, a move into the homey-home, and a trip to Kansas.

*[For those of you with a keen eye for timeline and a curious mind, you are very correct in that it was not planned for us to buy a home right now! Thankfully, our nosy trolling on real estate websites and a lucky find led us to a place we would have been silly to pass up. So here's to biting the bullet and welcoming a mortgage into our lives...wait, it feels a lot like rent. Hmmm....]

Thank you to everyone who made the beginning of this year such a good one - your visit/help/gift/presence/hospitality/humor/love/refusal-to-let-me-wear-an-ugly-dress are appreciated more than you know!

A few photos to help you experience the same magical January I did:

Philadelphia Brewery sendoff - Norway is lucky to have you, Kelly!

Gillian visits DC! (One of these photos may or may not be photoshopped...Christmas card 2013, anyone?)

First paint color change in the new home - red (and  background yellow) GONE! Updated pix to come soon.

The two best moms in the world - and now I get to claim them both!

Brotherly love meets Kansas

You can't take these two anywhere (to be fair, MM was cold because I was wearing his coat. Shhh)

 After a LONG trip back from Kansas on Sunday night (weather + delays + geography = 11+ hour from point A to homebase), Mike and I were craving something healthy and hearty to get back into non-vacation eating. This particular soup, vetted by TWO of my favorite food bloggers, seemed right up that alley, and it really does satisfy all of your winter cravings. You feel warm, full, and ready to take on the cold! I would potentially reduce the amount of olive oil used, but the garlic oil really does add that special component to the soup and you'll be disappointed if you skip that addition!

Garlicky lentil soup with sausage and spinach

Recipe adapted from Amateur Gourmet by way of Smitten Kitchen
Serves 6

Ingredients:
1/2 cup olive oil, divided
4 large links of hot Italian sausage, casings removed (original recipe calls for sweet sausage, but I loved the spicy effect of the hot sausage)
1 medium onion, diced
2 celery stalks, sliced or diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into half-moons or diced
6 cloves garlic, sliced (reserve half for later in recipe)
Kosher salt
A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 cup brown lentils, sorted and rinsed
2 bay leaves
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
6 cups water
Freshly ground black pepper
4 cups shredded or thinly ribboned spinach leaves or other winter green
Grated Pecorino Romano cheese to finish

Directions:
Heat 1/4 cup olive oil (enough to coat bottom of pot) in a large pot on medium heat. When hot, add the sausage, breaking it up with a wooden spoon until it starts to brown, about five minutes. Add the onion, celery, carrots, first two garlic cloves, a pinch of salt, and if you like your soup spicy, a pinch of red pepper flakes. Cook with the sausage until the vegetables soften a bit, another 5 minutes. Add the lentils, bay leaves, tomatoes, water (6 cups is, conveniently, 2 empty 28-ounce cans, so you can get any tomato pulp you missed), more salt and black pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer and allow to cook until the lentils are tender, about 40 minutes. (It might be necessary to add more water if the soup gets too thick, though we preferred ours on the thick side.)

When the lentils are cooked, add the spinach and cook until the leaves are tender, just a few minutes more. Discard the bay leaves.

To finish, divide soup among bowls, then add the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil and 2 garlic cloves to a small skillet and heat over medium until the garlic softens and hisses. Drizzle this over soup bowls, and top with fresh Romano, passing more at the table. Leftovers will keep for several days in the fridge.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Sandwiches

It’s no secret that DC is a city of Type A’s, a fact to which any tourist who’s committed the egregious sin of standing on the left side of the metro escalator can attest. We don’t have a job, we have a career. We don’t jog, we run. We don’t go to happy hour, we go to networking events. In short, we don’t do anything halfway.

I’ve been back in DC for over a year and a half at this point, and yet I find myself continually surprised by our community-wide need to overachieve. This weekend’s cookie swap ranks up there with the best of them for hammering this point home.

After a holiday party-filled weekend (thanks W’s, A’s, G’s, & B’s for hosting!), it was cookie swap time chez Ros. My only previous cookie swap experience was in Seattle, where I was one of three people who actually brought homemade cookies and the remaining group came with Oreos in tow (holiday Oreos, mind you).

This experience was different. I walked into the party feeling preeeeetttyyyy dang good about my [chewy, moist, rich, unique] cookie sandwiches and was abruptly met with the most beautiful display of cookies that I may have ever seen in person. I’m not just talking a sprinkling of powdered sugar here and there; there was literally a tower of cookie rings that I can only assume were Norwegian-inspired (or so I was led to believe by the miniature Norwegian flag flying from this golden stack) that was mysteriously stacked around a champagne bottle.

Are. You. Serious?

All of a sudden, my cookie sandwiches looked like the rec league soccer star in a room full of David Beckhams.

These rec league cookies tasted awesome - one of David Beckham’s managers even told me as much. And that’s the big picture. But what lesson did I learn? MAN those DC’ers know how to overachieve!

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Sandwiches
Recipe Adapted from Joy the Baker

Cookies:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups uncooked old-fashioned oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Filling:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar
3-4 tablespoons milk

Place racks in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Beat the sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat until creamy, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add egg and beat on medium speed for about 1 minute. Add the vanilla extract and beat until blended.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and egg mixture slowly beating on low speed until just incorporated. Stir in the pecans last.

The cookies will be small, so portion about 1 heaping teaspoon of cookie dough into your hand. Roll into a ball and place on the prepared cookie sheet. Keep cookies about 1 1/2-inch apart on the baking sheet. If the cookie dough begins to stick to your hands as you’re making dough balls, rinse your hands and portion the dough with just slightly damp hands.

Bake for 10 to 13 minutes or until they’ve reached your desired doneness. I like mine a little underdone and cook them for 10 minutes. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

To prepare the filling, place butter, peanut butter, and powdered sugar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed, drizzling in vanilla extract. Scrape down the bowl as necessary. Add milk one tablespoon at a time until you’ve reached your desired consistency. The filling should be easily spreadable.

When cookies are completely cool, flip over and spread half of the cookie bottoms with peanut butter filling. Top with a similar size cookie. Wrap individually and store in the refrigerator. Cookies are best served slightly chilled. Cookies last, wrapped in the fridge, for about 5 days.

Traditional French Onion Soup

I never thought that I would be welcoming in the cold weather, but here I am, reveling in the little nip in the air. This could be partly due to the hard-wiring in my head that has me instinctively feeling inappropriate if I walk out of the house without a heavy jacket once the calendar reads December. Or it could be due to the excessive (but exciting) holiday decorations strewed about my office building that seem like a heavy dose of snow could really polish off the effect.

But mainly it's because cold weather justifies my love affair with soup. This french onion soup satisfies a craving that you didn't even know you had. It's hearty and rich, and feels like an incredibly decadent way to warm body and soul on a cold, dark night. It only makes four servings, and I can tell you that four servings later, I wish I had more. I plan on making this for friends when they come over - not only because it tastes so good, but it just looks so beautiful when it comes out of the oven! 

(Lesson learned - let this soup cool for a few minutes before serving. It is HOT when it comes out of the oven. We almost had a coup in our house when someone realized his only two options were to burn his tongue or wait for the soup to cool before digging in. Of course, I would never say who...)

Traditional French Onion Soup 

Recipe Adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 large red onions, thinly sliced
3 large sweet onions, thinly sliced
1 quart chicken broth
1 quart beef broth
1 cup red wine
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
1 teaspoon thyme
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 thick slices French or Italian bread
6 slices Gruyere or Swiss cheese slices, room temperature
1/2 cup shredded Asiago or mozzarella cheese, room temperature
4 pinches paprika

Directions: 
1. Melt butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Stir in salt, red onions and sweet onions. Cook 35 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions are caramelized and almost syrupy.

2. Mix chicken broth, beef broth, red wine and Worcestershire sauce into pot. Add spices and simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Reduce the heat to low, mix in vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Cover and keep over low heat to stay hot while you prepare the bread.

3. Preheat oven broiler. Arrange bread slices on a baking sheet and broil 3 minutes, turning once, until well toasted on both sides. Remove from heat; do not turn off broiler.

4. Arrange 4 large oven safe bowls or crocks on a rimmed baking sheet. Fill each bowl 2/3 full with hot soup. Top each bowl with 1 slice toasted bread, 1.5 slices Gruyere cheese and 1/4 of the Asiago or mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle a little bit of paprika over the top of each one.

5. Broil 5 minutes, or until bubbly and golden brown. As it softens, the cheese will cascade over the sides of the crock and form a beautifully melted crusty seal. Serve immediately!

Creamy Pumpkin Pie Bars

Happy holidays, all! Since my blog posting comes with such dependable regularity, I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you all that I am slightly off-schedule with my holiday greeting cards.

Did I say off-schedule? I meant to say, “So far behind that they’re not happening this year.”

Oops.

In the spirit of the holidays, I present to you an open letter to all of my friends and family spread far across this big ol’ country (and others!).

Dear friends,

I probably don’t tell you this enough, but I consider myself one of the top three luckiest girls in the world to have you in my life. (I think Kate Middleton and Suri Holmes may have me beat – though the Duchess has morning sickness and mini-Holmes inherited Tom Cruise genes, so maybe I’m not so far behind?)

Here’s the thing. How many people can honestly say that they have true friends. We all have the friends who you say “hi” to on the street, or with whom you abstractly talk about getting together for coffee but never actually follow through. On the other hand…you guys, well, let’s just say that it’s pretty incredible to be surrounded by people who let you show all of your colors, good, bad, and dance moves….and they love you all the same.

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your jokes (well, most of them), your hours of conversation, your jogs around the city, your glasses of wine, your gchats, your treks up mountains, your lazy Sundays, your homemade dinners, and your presence in my life.

Thank you to all of you for all that you bring to the table as individuals, and please know that I wish nothing but happiness and good things for you for this holiday season and the year ahead.

With all my love (and by some mathematical property I learned in elementary school, MM’s love as well),

Sharon

P.S. It felt wrong to post a holiday letter without something sweet to go with it. Enjoy these bars! General consensus – these are yummy, but it would be fun to make them even more yummy with a new filling. Experiment time, anyone?

Creamy Pumpkin Pie Bars 
Recipe from Joy the Baker

Crust: 
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup old fashioned oats
3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Filling:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 large egg white
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon all-spice
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract.
9 roasted pecan halves for topping

Directions:
1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8×8 square pan, then line with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt, and oats. Add cold butter and quickly but thoroughly break the butter up into the dry ingredients. When broken down, some butter pieces will be the size of small peas, others will be the size of oat flakes. Add the chopped pecans and toss to thoroughly combine.
3. Remove about 2 cups of the mixture from the bowl and place in a small bowl in the refrigerator. This will be used for the crumble topping.
4. Dump the remaining crust mixture into the prepared pan and use your fingers to quickly and evenly press the crust into the bottom of the pan. Place the pressed crust in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.
5. To prepare the filling place cream cheese in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat cream cheese on medium speed for about 1 minute, until smooth and pliable.
6. Add pumpkin and sugar to the softened cream cheese and beat on medium speed. Stop the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl, ensuring that the pumpkin and cream cheese are thoroughly combined. If the cream cheese looks chunky, switch to the whisk attachment and beat on high speed until most of the cream cheese lumps are incorporated.
7. On medium speed add the egg and egg white. Beat to combine (about 1 minute). Add the spices, salt, and vanilla extract. Beat to combine.
8. Remove the pressed crust and loose crumb from the refrigerator. Pour the creamy pumpkin filling over the pressed crust. Sprinkle generously with crumb topping and top with pecan halves. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the center no longer jiggles. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before removing from the pan and slicing. The bars are best served chilled.

Rich, creamy roasted butternut squash soup

Does anybody else feel like winter just snuck up on them without any time to transition at all? One day, I'm sweating to the oldies (that would be 80s music, to clarify) on a run around the neighborhood, and the next day I'm searching through a bin of hats and gloves to find accessories to keep me from freezing  through like last year's leftovers (what, you don't freeze leftovers?).

It's not that I'm not ok with the changing seasons -- I am. In fact, as you well know, I consider soups and pumpkin to be the holy grail that may or may not be able to actually accomplish world peace. No, what I'm not sure about here is just how quickly this came about. A gentle introduction to not seeing daylight after work hours would be a start.

Since there's not much I can do about it (other than dream of warm, tropical vacations on sunny beaches), I suppose the old adage rules: If you can't beat it, join it. And so, in a true change of direction from normal, I made soup.

To be fair, I made this soup before San Francisco. And I was planning on writing about it that week. But then I got distracted by these sunsets:

And this parade to celebrate the World Series win of the San Francisco Giants:

And this view from Sausalito (if you quint really hard, you can see the San Francsico skyline across the water)

And this road sign (one day, I will claim this was named after me):

Not to mention, all of the wonderful people who I shared countless afternoons and evenings with sipping coffee, strolling around, testing local wines, and eating fabulous meals. Alison, Kristin, Amy, and Anna, thanks for being such wonderful hosts and company during my trip!

Time to give this soup its moment in the spotlight. This recipe is fast and simple, but it gives you a soup that tastes anything but. A little bit of cream goes a long way here, making this soup taste luxurious and filling. Since the soup makes at least 6 servings, you'll get to enjoy the soup time and again!

How pretty are these?

Aromatics, anyone?

Rich, creamy roasted butternut squash soup
Adapted from New York Times

Ingredients:
4 pounds butternut squash (one medium-sized one was plenty)

Drizzle of olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small red or yellow onion, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
Crumbled bacon for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Using a large, heavy knife, split the squash in half and scrape out the seeds and discard them. Place the squash halves on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast until very tender, about 1 hour. Use a spoon to scrape out the flesh; set aside, discarding the skin.

2. In a large pot set over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion just turns translucent, 6 to 7 minutes. Add the stock and squash and cook, uncovered, for 25 minutes. (If using a food processor, allow to cool; if using an immersion blender, proceed while soup is still warm).

3. Use an immersion blender or food processor (in batches). If you used a food processor, reheat the soup. Stir in the milk and cream, season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve garnished with crispy bacon crumbles.