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.

Extremely Moist Jewish Apple Cake

MM has been pitching the idea for an extremely moist apple cake for some time now, and his wish finally came to fruition (get it? Anyone? Bueller?) when we inherited a boatload of freshly picked Stayman-Winesap apples from my parents after their recent apple-picking adventure. Aren't they pretty?

It was the perfect complement to our ultra-fall day, complete with football, chili, and pumpkin beer. The cake is dense, slightly spiced, and delightfully true to the taste of the apples. Adding a glaze over top was a last-minute addition per MM’s expert recommendation (I dragged my feet, but let’s be honest, when does a glaze make something worse?).

Needless to say, the leftovers didn’t stick around long.

I replaced half of the oil from the original recipe with apple sauce – it’s a low-fat, healthy substitute, and it only enhances the cake’s apple flavors. However, I’ve used applesauce in plenty of baking projects that don’t involve apples, and you can’t detect the taste at all. Next time I make this cake, I may swap out even more of the oil for apple sauce, as well as adding just a sprinkle of cinnamon to the batter. 

My other note to the wise - this recipe originally calls for a tube pan or a bundt pan, of which I have neither. I opted to use a springform pan and a loaf pan. Splitting the recipe between the two pans worked out well in terms of baking the cake. However, as you can see, flipping the cake out of the loaf pan presented some, ahem, challenges:

We are off to Detroit tomorrow for the Detroit Free Press Half-Marathon – updates to come! 

Extremely Moist Jewish Apple Cake
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen

6 apples (I prefer to use tart apples for this)
1-2 tablespoon cinnamon
5 tablespoons sugar

2 ¾ cups flour, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup no-sugar added applesauce
2 cups sugar
¼ cup orange juice
2 ½ teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional) 

Glaze (optional)

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup powdered sugar

1-2 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a tube pan (or two loaf pans...or any two combinations of pans that you have). Peel, core and chop apples into chunks. Toss with cinnamon and sugar and set aside.

Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, apple juice, orange juice, sugar and vanilla. Mix wet ingredients into the dry ones, then add eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.

Pour half of batter into prepared pan. Spread half of apples over it. Pour the remaining batter over the apples and arrange the remaining apples on top. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours, or until a tester comes out clean. If you are spreading this between two pans, start checking the cakes after about one hour.

If you opt to include the glaze, melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Whisk in the remaining ingredients and pour over the top of the cake. Allow to cool before serving.

Guida’s Famous Pumpkin Roll

Have you ever had this feeling in the kitchen?

“I know what I’m doing.”

“I’m a great baker.”

“Sure, I can make that - no problem!”

This line of thinking is dangerous, my friends!

I started with the perfect set-up: a birthday-celebrating mother who loves pumpkin, a cream cheese loving father who was in charge of picking dessert, and a high-fiving fiancé who swears up, down, left, and right that his sister-in-law’s pumpkin roll recipe is the world’s greatest.

Not batting an eyelash, I quickly signed up for the task, completely ignoring my never-done-a-roll baking history in favor of a how-hard-can-it-be attitude.

Um. Turns out, it can be hard! Not only did Guida walk me through the recipe, she also walked me through the rolling steps. I took notes, I pictured it in my head, and I was ready to go. Per her suggestion (which I thought was totally unnecessary at the time), I opted to make a practice roll early in the birthday week.

I was sure that Guida’s suggestion of using a cookie pan would spread my batter too thin, so I opted to drop my batter into a 9x13 pan (mistake #1). While that was baking, I dutifully sprinkled powdered sugar onto a dishtowel to prevent the cake from sticking later on and awaited the ding of the timer.

A little too thick, eh?

I gave the cake a few minutes to cool, and then flipped it onto the dishtowel for its initial roll (mistake #2). Laws of physics came in, and the major gust of wind I produced with my flip sent powdered sugar flying all over my countertops. Not only did my counters then see the best scrub they’ve seen since we moved in (silver lining?), my dishtowel had the chance to become deeply attached to its new cake friend - so attached that half the cake stuck to the towel when I tried to unroll.

Lessons learned for next time:
-When someone tells you that a big pan is OK, trust their experience over your “ideas”.
-Powdered sugar stuck in a coffee maker is not the worst thing that can ever happen.
-Even if it’s ugly as sin, pumpkin roll is one of the tastiest desserts ever created.

Round two went more smoothly, and Mother Lisa’s birthday went off without a hitch. As far as fiancé and I, one week and two pumpkin rolls later, we’re going to start focusing the household baking on any non-pumpkin options!

Guida’s Famous Pumpkin Roll 
Ingredients:

Cake

3 eggs

1 cup of sugar

2/3 cup pumpkin

3/4 cup flour

1tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

Icing

1 cup powdered sugar

4 tsp butter, room temperature

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 375F. Mix all batter ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Spray a full-size cookie sheet well, and pour the pumpkin batter onto the sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, lay a dishtowel flat on a counter and sprinkle it with powdered sugar. Once the cake is out of the oven, geeennnnnnntly, flip the cake onto the dishtowel (beware of flying sugar). Slowly roll the cake in the dishtowel until you have formed a towel-cake log. Set it aside to cool.

Beat all of the icing ingredients together in a stand mixer. Once the cake has cooled, unroll it and spread the frosting across the cake surface. Carefully begin rolling the iced cake back up, taking care to avoid crack in the cake. You may want a second pair of hands to help you with this.

Refrigerate the cake, and once cool, cut off the excess cake on the ends to reveal your beautiful spiral. Serve with a dark cup of coffee, and enjoy!

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

You could say that this week has been a spiral for me. It all started when I was out running at the beach last weekend (belated "Happy 3-0 Birthday" to sister!), and I spotted this sign:

Well, that planted the pumpkin seed in my head, and it left me with two choices: water that seed with pumpkin love or deny it food and let it die. Guess which one I picked?

After that, it's been all downhill. Now there are a few of these in the fridge (and perhaps one on the coffee table next to me):

Even worse, the pumpkin baking has begun. First official recipe of pumpkin season (which coincides with soup season but is shorter in length, for those concerned minds out there): pumpkin snickerdoodles. Intense pumpkin flavor with sugary-spice coatings. Do I really need to say anything else?

Don't worry, I already have the next pumpkin baking project picked out.

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Recipe from A Bitchin' Kitchen

Cookie Ingredients:

3 3/4 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Coating Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Dash of allspice

Directions:
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk together to blend. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugars on medium speed until well combined. Next, still on medium speed, beat in pumpkin. Then, add the egg and vanilla extract. Lastly, add in the dry ingredients. Beat until combined, but do not over mix. Cover the dough, and refrigerate for one hour, until firm.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, mix together the sugar and spices for the sugar coating. Scoop dough (approximately 2 1/2 tablespoons) and roll into a ball. Roll the dough ball in the sugar mixture, and place on the lined baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Take a drinking glass with a flat bottom and moisten with water. Dip the glass in the sugar mixture, and use it to flatten the dough balls. Re-sugar the glass as needed.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. Remove when the centers of the cookies have set. Let cool on the baking pan for approximately 5 minutes, and then transfer to wire cooling racks to cool completely.

Easy Turkey Chili

 This time of year always has me uneasy. As a warm weather girl, the idea of shorter days and fewer rays of sunshine make my heart ache. But at the same time, there’s just something about crisp, fall air that makes me excited to go to town warming up with homemade soups and broken-in sweatshirts.

Last weekend, there was less moisture in the air (and frizz in the hair), and it truly felt like fall was nearing. Other folks might be rejoicing about football season, but in my kitchen, we’re rejoicing for soup season! It’s finally here, and we wasted no time in ushering in the good times.

First up was a natural choice: chili, the trustiest soup a homecook can make. It’s homey, spicy, and warms both body and soul. I can make it a thousand times and still crave more. To make this even more user-friendly, I threw this in the slow cooker. Not only is it great to walk in the house to the smell of spicy goodness, but it also gives the flavors extra time to meld together and develop complexity. If you’d rather use the stovetop, just let the chili simmer as long as you can before you serve. 

Easy Turkey Chili
Ingredients:
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. oregano
½ tsp. cayenne pepper
16 oz lean ground turkey
2 yellow squash, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1-2 jalapeno peppers, minced (adjust to your spice liking)
14 oz. can of golden corn, drained and rinsed
14 oz. can of black beans, drained and rinsed
28 oz. can of diced tomatoes with juice
¼ cup tomato paste
1 cup chicken stock
1-2 tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
Dash of cumin

Directions:
1. Saute the onion in a large skillet until translucent. Add in garlic and continue sautéing until fragrant. Add in first round of spices.
2. Brown the ground turkey in the skillet.
3. Add the turkey-onion mixture and all remaining ingredients into a slow-cooker. Mix thoroughly. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Serve with a slice of fresh avocado, a sprinkle of cheddar cheese, and a dollop of sour cream!

P.S. I thought you would enjoy this photo—my morning commute was interrupted unexpectedly on Wednesday morning when the track, and the metro train I was on, lost power in a tunnel between stations. We were stuck for about an hour, but it was long enough to make friends and begin planning a return to home to work in pajamas for the remainder of the day. Sadly, power came back on, and ultimately, I was off to work. A little spice for the middle of the week!