About Carrie Zinnecker

Posts by Carrie Zinnecker:

Buttery Jam Cookies

, , , , , , , 0 Comments

A good friend of mine makes jam every year and brings me a few jars when we see each other.  It is so much better than store bought!  The last time she was in Amarillo, she brought me 2 jars of blueberry jam.  I used one of those jars in these cookies.

These cookies are delicate, cake-like in texture, and are not overly sweet.  This recipe is from TWD, Tuesdays with Dorie.  Members cook their way through Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. I am not a member of this baking group, but after trying this recipe I may decide to join when they start accepting new members!

I only made slight changes to this recipe.  I drizzled some glaze on the cooled cookies and added sliced almonds to half of the batter.  I would consider pecans next time.  When I mixed in the jam it just didn’t look like quite enough, so I added a little more.  I ended up mixing blueberry jam with a little strawberry rhubarb and the combination was nice.  You really can use any kind or combination of jam, so this is a truly versatile recipe that you can adapt to your personal taste.

These would be perfect with an afternoon cup of coffee or tea, and I even think you could pull off eating them for breakfast.  Enjoy!

Buttery Jam Cookies

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients

Cookies:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 8 tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tbsp. whole milk
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup jam (any flavor)
  • ¼ cup sliced almonds (optional)

Glaze:

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 ½ tablespoons milk
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and place two racks in the oven, one in the upper third of the oven and one in the lower third of the oven. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
  3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar (on high speed) for 2 to 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat on high speed for an additional minute. Add the milk and the vanilla extract and beat on high speed for 30 seconds. Add the jam and beat on low speed for 1 minute. Add the dry ingredients, with the mixer on low speed, just until they’re mixed in. Stir in almonds here if using.  The dough will be extremely thick and stiff.
  4. With a an ice cream scoop or a teaspoon, drop spoonfuls of the dough onto baking sheets, forming cookies that are about 1 inch to 1-1/2 inches in size.
  5. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, rotating the trays from top rack to bottom rack halfway through.
  6. Once baked, let the cookies sit on the pan for a minute or two and then remove to a wire rack and let cool completely.  Drizzle with glaze if desired.

Peach Puzzle

, 3 Comments

My sister Sarah is visiting us for a few days in Amarillo.  She got me this cookbook, America’s Best Lost Recipes, for my birthday.  One of the recipes that caught her eye when she looked through it was this peach puzzle.  We had no choice but to try it out when she was here.

It’s basically like an upside down peach cobbler, but with a few twists.  The peaches are left whole…pits and all.  The crust ends up on the bottom instead of the top.  And a sweet brown sugar sauce is cooked with the dessert in the oven.  The twisted part about the sauce is that its cooked upside down and is sucked into the upside down ramekin during cooling.  Don’t ask me exactly how that works…it’s a mystery…or a puzzle.

While the sauce did magically end up in the ramekin, we had some trouble with the crust sticking too much to the sides.  So, grease the sides of the pie plate.  I also recommend making this when you are fairly confident it will be consumed in one sitting…but not by yourself!  Sarah and I each had a helping, then we put the left overs in the fridge.  It wasn’t nearly as good on day two.  The crust got pretty soggy from the peach juice, and wasn’t quite as tasty.

This is a yummy dessert.  The peaches end up perfectly soft.  The crust is not too sweet, and is nice and buttery.  If you’re looking for something a bit out of the ordinary, this is a perfect dessert to use up some of those juicy summer peaches.

(more…)

Yogurt Banana Bread

, , , 0 Comments

Last week I made pulled chicken BBQ sandwiches and made cole slaw as a side dish.  The cole slaw used  mostly plain yogurt and just a few tablespoons of mayo.  I had to buy a big container of plain yogurt since everything in the small containers was flavored.  What to do with an entire pint of plain yogurt?  I ate some of it for breakfast with granola, but after 2 days of this I went in search of something I could make to use up the yogurt.  I found this recipe for banana bread on The Fresh Loaf.

I made two batches of the bread; one with chocolate chips and one without.  The bread is much more moist than other banana breads I’ve made, and not as dense.  The plain bread is just sweet enough, and is delicious toasted with a little spread of butter.  I would add some toasted pecans or walnuts next time.  The chocolate chip version was also tasty, but I prefer my banana bread without chocolate.  Call me crazy.

Yogurt Banana Bread

Ingredients

  • 1/2 stick (4-5 tablespoons) butter, softened
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 or 3 very ripe bananas
  • 1 cup vanilla or plain yogurt (fat free is fine)
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
  • ½ cup chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F and grease and sugar a 9×5 loaf pan.
  2. Cream together butter and sugar until creamy.
  3. Add in eggs, one at a time and mix well.
  4. Mix in yogurt and vanilla.
  5. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda and powder and cinnamon if using.
  6. Stir flour mixture into wet ingredients a little a time, then stir in chocolate chips if using.
  7. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 50-55 minutes.

Calzones and Cake

, , , , , , , , 2 Comments

My birthday and our wedding anniversary are exactly one week apart.  This makes the dates easy to remember, but its hard to have  two celebrations so close together.  For my birthday, Ben took me to Boot Hill Saloon in Vega, Texas.  It was a really fun experience and we had a great meal.  If you live in the Amarillo area and haven’t yet been there, then I encourage you to make the trip to Vega.

For our anniversary, we couldn’t decide what to do.  We figured we’d eat at home, so I decided to make something a little out of the ordinary.  I made two different kinds of calzones, and they were both pretty delicious.

The meaty version was a Philly Cheese Steak Calzone.  I grilled a strip steak, sliced it up thinly, sauteed onion and green peppers and topped it all off with provolone cheese.

The veggie version was spinach, cheese and mushroom.  I sauteed the spinach with some garlic and squeezed it dry.  Then I mixed the spinach with ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.  These ingredients alone would be perfect, but I added some sauteed mushrooms.

I tried a new recipe for dough, and I liked it a lot.  It rose well and was incredibly easy to roll out and make the calzones.  The only issue we had was that we had to break out the steak knives to cut through the bottom of the calzone.  Other than that, the dough had a good chew and good flavor.

I doubled the dough recipe and only baked 6 calzones for dinner and for leftovers this weekend.  I made the other 6 dough balls into calzones and froze them to thaw out and eat later.  It is so nice to have homemade meals in the freezer.  As long as you can remember to put them in the fridge the morning before you plan to enjoy them, kitchen time is cut to a minimum….as is clean up!

The recipe for the dough came from My Kitchen Cafe.  It is a French dinner roll recipe used as calzone dough, so I will probably try it for rolls at some point.  You make the dough as you would for the rolls, but divide the dough into about 6 pieces after the first rise for the calzones.

The Philly calzones recipe is also courtesy of  My Kitchen Cafe and the spinach and cheese came from Tyler Florence, although I did make a few changes.  All the recipes are at the bottom of this post.

Now, on to the cake.  I had planned for us to eat my Daring Bakers July dessert for our anniversary.  But when Ben got home from work he had a lovely pink box with him that contained this beautiful cake!

It was such a great surprise.  The cake was made by Cara Linn Cakes in Amarillo.  I took a cake decorating class from her a few months ago.  She is a great teacher, and is incredibly talented.  I am so pleased to have someone like her in Amarillo.  If you are a fan of the Food Network challenges, then you may have seen Alisa Strauss on a few of the cake challenges.  Cara interned for her in New York, before opening her own store.  If you’re not impressed by this, you should be!

The cake not only looked beautiful, it tasted even better.  The cake itself was a dense vanilla that was sweet and delicious, but not a fake sweet like cake mixes and most bakery cakes.  The buttercream was strawberry, that had actual pieces of strawberry in it.  Yum.  The fondant that covers the cake is unique in that it looks smooth and beautiful and it tastes good!  Cara changed my opinion of fondant.

If you are in need of a cake, cupcakes, or other sweet treats, please call Cara.  She was a huge help to my husband when he ordered the cake and she does an incredible job.  The cake classes are well worth your time and money.  I had such a fun time and I learned a lot.  You also get to take your cake creation home!

Read on for the calzone recipes.

(more…)

Daring Bakers: Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Bombe

, , , , , , 8 Comments

So many components to this dessert!  Two ice creams, hot fudge sauce, chocolate cake, whipped cream…and then there’s the assembly process.  Whew!  When I told Ben all the things I had to do, he said “Can you imagine having to do this when you were still teaching?”  Yes, I can imagine that.  I would have freaked out.  Probably like this scene from Julie & Julia.

Thankfully I saved myself, and Ben, from this potential freak out by spreading everything out over 5 days and having this thing ready to enjoy 3 days before the Daring Bakers reveal.  Having a lot of free time is such a luxury.

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

I must confess right now that I cannot attest to how good this ice cream treat is at present.  I haven’t yet cut into this impressive dessert and tasted it.  It is sitting in my freezer just waiting for me…calling to me, really.  I’m saving it for our 4th anniversary this Thursday.  I’ll make sure to amend this post once I get to try a slice as we celebrate 4 years of marital bliss!

(more…)

PW’s French Breakfast Puffs

, , , , 0 Comments

This recipe was posted to Pioneer Woman back in December of 2007 and I knew from the ingredients alone that these had to be delicious.  And who can argue with bread dipped in butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar?  No one.  That’s who.  Here is the link to her post.  I really like her site and every recipe I’ve tried has been great.  If you don’t follow her blog already, then you should.

I don’t know why I haven’t tried these until now.  My mother-in-law made them a few weeks ago, and I was inspired to try them myself.  I made them in mini muffin cups instead of the regular size so that I would have more tasty treats.  I had leftover batter after filling the 24 cups, so I used a madeleine pan for the rest…they didn’t look that great t, but they tasted good.

Since I was using a smaller pan, I reduced the baking time to 15 minutes.  Other than that everything is the same as Pioneer Woman’s recipe.  Why mess with a good thing?  While these are a bit messy to prepare, they are worth it.  Any puffs left over can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for a few days.  They don’t taste quite as good as fresh, but they will still satisfy your sweet tooth.

(more…)

Blueberry Cream Cheese Pastries

, , , , 0 Comments

These sweet little pastry packages are lovely.  Pre-made puff pastry makes this a dessert that requires very little hard labor in the kitchen.  Assembling these pastries is not exactly a breeze, but they are worth it.

I found this recipe hidden in Fine Cooking from August of 2010.  It is the “Letter from the Editor” section that I wouldn’t have seen if I hadn’t seen the recipe in the index.  The other fruit pies in this edition are so beautiful, but more time consuming since you make your own dough.

For me, this was a perfect dessert for our Sunday night dinner guests.  I made them earlier in the day and stored them in the fridge until time to bake.  I stuck them in the oven when we sat down to dinner, and they were done at the perfect time to enjoy them.

The recipe below is changed slightly from the original.  The original recipe calls for creme de cassis, which I do not have on hand these days, and so I substituted almond extract with good results.  I used low fat cream cheese, and cut smaller circles to make smaller pies.  Unintentionally, I did not cut vents in my pastries.  This probably caused more of the gooey insides to leak out, but they were still delicious.  I served these with vanilla ice cream.  The crunchy sugary tops are wonderful, and the combination of blueberry and cream cheese in the center reminds me of a grown up Toaster Strudel.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Pastries

Ingredients

  • 2 17.3 ounce packages frozen puff pastry, thawed
  • 4 ounces cream cheese (low-fat is fine) softened
  • 7 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs yolks
  • 1 cup blueberries
  • 2 teaspoons cornstartch
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F
  2. In a medium bowl, combine the cream cheese, 4 tablespoons sugar, vanilla extract, and 1 egg yolk and mix until well combined.
  3. Combine the blueberries, 2 tablespoons sugar, cornstarch, almond extract and salt and mix gently.
  4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out individual puff pastry sheets into a 10 by 10 inch square.
  5. Using a round cutter (3 1/2 inches to 4 inches) cut out 4-6 rounds from the pastry depending on the size of your cutter.  Arrange the circles on a parchment lined baking sheet. (You will need 2 or 3 sheets)
  6. In a small bowl, beat 1 egg yolk with 1 teaspoon water.  Brush the outer edges of each dough round with egg wash.
  7. Dollop about 1/2 tablespoons cream cheese mixture in the center of the round, then top with about 1 tablespoon of blueberries.
  8. Fold in half to form a half moon and pinch edges to seal.  You may use  the tines of a fork to seal as well.
  9. Lightly brush each pastry with egg wash and sprinkle with remaining sugar.  Cut a small steam vent in the top of each pastry.
  10. Bake until golden brown, 20-25 minutes.
  11. Cool slightly, then remove from the baking sheet.
  12. Serve warm or at room temperature, sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Summer Cobblers and Worldwide Fame

, , 2 Comments

When my mom and I set out to make American dessert for a group of young adults (ranging from 19-30) from Ireland, Scotland, Korea, and the UK I had no intention of blogging about these recipes.  This will explain why the only pictures of the night I have are these of the practically devoured leftover portions.  And yes, I know the picture quality is less than stellar.

Why the blog post, you ask?  I must make you wait in suspense, because I rarely get to share such an exciting story and I want to milk this one.  It is good.

We made a peach cobbler, and a berry crisp.  I enjoyed them both, and they were especially delicious when combined in the same bowl with some Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla.  When serving this to our guests, I made a great point of telling them that nowhere else in the country would they have better ice cream than this night.  I think they found my love for this creamy taste of heaven to be pretty amusing.

I cannot remember where my mom found the recipe for the peach cobbler, but I must find out because I would make it again.  The topping is so delicious, sweet and crunchy.  The berry crisp recipe I found on epicurious.com.  Here is the link.  The recipe can be found at the bottom of the post as well.  I made absolutely no changes, and wouldn’t make any in the future.  This is an incredibly easy and homey dessert.

NOW for my incredible story.  The group that had dessert in Round Rock was driving cross country in a 15 passenger van.  My cousin Peter is working for a company that takes these groups around the country, stopping at various sites and camping out mostly at state and national parks.  Their tour of Texas on their way to Louisiana includes Austin, so Peter made plans to come see us and bring his group.  They were glad to get some home cooked food and to spend an evening in an air conditioned home.

After dessert, one of the girls, Sinead (forgive me if I misspell it!) complimented the dessert and my mom tells her that I helped and that I had a food blog.  The girl…who, just to remind you, is from IRELAND…asks the name of the blog and upon being told it was Hottie Biscotti says, “I’ve read that blog!”.  Can you even believe this?  I know.  Crazy.  I ended up talking to her a bit about food blogs and then about her family and how she is going back to school to get an English Literature degree and how she wants to be a writer.

Anyway, I now claim worldwide fame as a food blogger.  It may not be much, but its something.

Summer Berry Crisp

Ingredients

  • 2 cups blueberries
  • 2 cups blackberries
  • 2 cups raspberries
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Crisp topping:

  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  • Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, for serving

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch Pyrex pie plate.
  2. Gently combine the berries with the sugar, flour and cinnamon; place in the prepared pie plate.
  3. Prepare the topping: Combine the oats, flour, both sugars and salt in a bowl. Use a pastry blender or 2 knives to work in the butter until topping resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle evenly over the berries.
  4. Place the pie plate on a baking sheet. Bake in the center of the oven until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden brown, about 1 hour. Remove the crisp to a rack to cool slightly. Serve in dessert bowls with whipped cream or ice cream.

Pesto and Sun Dried Tomato Spread

0 Comments

This is my first mobile post, so forgive me if this doesn’t work or look quite right!

I whipped this up tonight when I saw that I had a bunch of leftover pesto and a lonely package of cream cheese in the fridge. This is really simple and tasty. You can adjust the amounts to your personal taste.

Easy Pesto and Sun Dried Tomato Spread
  • 1 package cream cheese, softened
  •  4-5 tablespoons pesto
  • 6-7 chopped sun dried tomatoes

1. Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. 2. Serve with crackers or crusty bread pieces.

 

Aunt Susan’s Spinach (or not) Artichoke Dip

, , , , 0 Comments

My Aunt Susan made this dip a few Christmases ago when we were visiting my mom’s side of the family in Richvale, California.  It was so delicious that I just had to get the recipe.  When she wrote it down for me I was surprised at how short the ingredient list was and how easy it was to put together.  Those are the best recipes.  Simple, easy, quick and delicious.

This dip can be made with or without the spinach.  Susan originally made this without the spinach, but I like it with.  It makes me feel like I’m being good to have the spinach in this dip.  If you use light mayo (or a mixture of plain yogurt and mayo), and low-fat mozzarella this isn’t the worst dip on the planet.  Using the spinach just adds to the flavor and adds some extra goodness.

If you decide to use spinach, you can use fresh or frozen.  I like to use fresh, but sometimes it’s not the quickest thing to do.  If you’re using frozen, thaw it completely then squeeze out as much of the moisture as possible.  To use fresh, just saute in a pan with a little olive oil and minced garlic.

You can serve it with almost anything; crackers, baguette, veggies, sourdough pieces, etc.  Just use what you like.  I like to use toasted bread for a nice contrasting crunch.  Enjoy!

Spinach (or not) Artichoke Dip

Ingredients

  • 1 14 ounce can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
  • 1 cup mayo (light, regular or half mayo half yogurt)
  • 10 ounces fresh spinach, wilted
  • 1 cup grates Parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 cup grated mozzarella
  • cayenne pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until well combined.
  2. Pour into a shallow baking dish (a 9-inch pie plate is perfect)
  3. Bake at 350°F for 45  minutes.
  4. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.
«< 30 31 32 33 34 >»