About Carrie Zinnecker

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My Favorite Banana Bread Part II: Hawaiian Banana Bread

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Banana Bread Part I was posted almost 8 months ago.  I get these ideas in my head about how I’ll post a series of recipes in a row devoted to one thing or another.  I get very excited about it, but after my first post in a series…I usually fail to continue.  This was the case with the banana bread and with my Seinfeld recipes.  I did succeed in a series of pumpkin recipes and a rolled food series.  OK, so I guess I’m 2-2 in my attempts at a series of posts.  This (if I can get one more banana bread recipe completed) will make my record 3-2!  Not too bad.

There is a freezer bag with 18 bananas in my freezer.  I was about to place 6 more soft, blackened beauties in there today when I thought, “This is silly.  Why don’t I just bake some crazy delicious banana bread?”  My favorite banana bread has coconut and pecans.  It is so very decadent.  Almost dessert like.  You should definitely try it.  Seriously.

This banana bread also contains coconut, but with the addition of buttery macadamia nuts and sweet pineapple this banana bread becomes…Hawaiian banana bread!  I love the way that it has made my house smell during its hour long baking time.  I adapted a recipe from epicurean.com to create this bread.  The amounts of the ingredients are the same, I just made some substitutions: walnuts replaced by macadamias, a cup of all purpose flour traded in for a cup of whole wheat, and I added a cup of shredded coconut.

I love banana bread sliced and eaten plain, but banana bread sliced, buttered and broiled is tremendously delicious.  The contrast of the crunchy top and soft interior is lovely.  Try it both ways and let me know what you think.

I found a great way to mash my bananas when I made this bread.  Turns out that a potato masher is a great way to mash your bananas to a perfect smooth consistency.  I love finding new ways to use things in my kitchen!

The combination of flavors in this bread is great.  Sweet pineapple, mellow coconut, buttery macadamias all mixing with delicious banana.  Feel free to change the macadamias to any nut you like, but I think they make this bread a bit different than other banana breads.

Hawaiian Banana Bread

Adapted from epicurean.com

Ingredients:
  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup macadamia nuts – chopped
  • 3 eggs – beaten
  • 1 cup oil
  • 2 cups mashed bananas – (about 5)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 can crushed pineapple – (8 oz)—drained
  • 1 cup shredded coconut
Directions:
  1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
  2. In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients and pineapple; mix well.
  3. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in macadamias and coconut.
  4. Spoon batter into 2 greased and sugared 8×4″ loaf pans.
  5. Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees F. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pans.

Daring Bakers: Nanaimo Bars

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First thing’s first…I cheated.  I did not make the graham wafers.  I am a terrible person.  I promise to make them another time, pinky promise!  I just did not have the time.  Well, that is only partially true.  I could have had the time if I’d actually looked at my January commitments and planned ahead.  This last week of January finds me in San Diego for 3 days for a conference for work, two days at home in Amarillo and then I head to Austin for 4 days for my sister’s baby shower and grandpa’s 90th birthday celebration.  AND I have to somehow fit in the baking of a few dozen cut-out bird cookies for the shower.  When it rains it pours, people.

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

Now you’re thinking, “She’s a double cheater!”  You’re right.  I didn’t even consider trying to make anything gluten free.  Again, the lack of time and my laziness got the better of me!  Also, I think I like gluten.  It sounds like glutton…

I had to make the bars before I left for sunny (sorta) San Diego in order to get them done before the craziness began.  When you’re a cheater like me and you use store-bought graham crackers these bars come together very quickly.  You have to give them some time in the fridge before enjoying them, but other than that they are quick and simple.

After chilling in the fridge they have a beautiful hard chocolate-y layer which innocently hides the sweet soft vanilla layer beneath it.  I was not thinking about this HARD chocolate layer when I took a knife to these bars.  All, or almost all, of the chocolate cracked and popped off the top of the bars.  I should have waited a few minutes after taking them from the fridge to let the chocolate soften a bit and adhere to the creamy layer.  You live, you learn.

Even with the shattered chocolate layer, which I managed to somehow replace on a few pieces, these were very delicious.  I will be making these again.  Delicious.

Nanaimo Bars
Ingredients:

Bottom Layer

  • 1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
  • 1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
  • 5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
  • 1 Large Egg, Beaten
  • 1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs
  • 1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
  • 1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

Middle Layer

  • 1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
  • 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
  • 2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
  • 2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar

Top Layer

  • 4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
  • 2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter

Directions

1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.
3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

Gooey Toffee Butter Cake

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Paula Deen.  What a woman.  I actually do kind of like her!  Yes, she can overdo it a bit when it comes to butter, bacon and cream, but I find her endearing.  I’d like her to be in my family so that I could see her a few times a year at family functions.  She’d be my Great Aunt Paula who always gives me super tight, full-frontal hugs.  She seems like she makes everyone around her happy…or at least full of incredibly rich comfort food, which pretty much equates to happiness, right?  Maybe you think I’m wrong, and that’s OK.  Regardless of what you think about Paula Deen though, I think we can all agree that this sounds delicious.  How can something sweet and gooey, with ingredients like toffee pieces, butter and cream cheese be bad?

This cake is by no means a classy or visually impressive dessert.  It’s not something that you would serve at a fancy dinner party, but it would be a crowd pleaser at a pot-luck or at a small, casual family dinner.

When you search “gooey butter cake” on Google, your first results will most likely be Paula Deen recipes.  However, she is not the inventor of the cake.  It originated in St. Louis in the 1940s and is typically not a dessert cake, but a coffee cake.  This Paula Deen version is too rich and sweet to be served as a coffee cake, in my opinion.  I found a recipe today for one made from scratch that I plan to try soon.  The base is made with a yeast dough that rises around the edges of the butter, cream cheese and sugar filling.

The cake mix makes this recipe very quick.  However, the cake mix with the combination of butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar and toffee make this cake very rich and incredibly sweet.  Some people may not like it (like Ben) for this very reason.  I am OK with crazy sweet desserts, so I liked this cake.  It should however be served in small pieces so that no one goes into a sugar coma.  Here is a link to the recipe.

Gooey Toffee Butter Cake

(Courtesy of Paula Deen, Foodtv.com)

Ingredients

Cake:

  • 1 (18.25-ounce) box yellow cake mix
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Filling:

  • 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 (16-ounce) box confectioners’ sugar
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 cup almond toffee bits or chocolate toffee bits
Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 13 by 9 by-2-inch baking pan.
  2. For the cake: In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well. Pat into the bottom of prepared pan and set aside.
  3. For the filling: Still using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Dump in confectioners’ sugar and beat well. Reduce the speed and slowly pour in butter. Mix well. Fold in toffee bits.
  4. Pour filling onto cake mixture and spread evenly. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Don’t be afraid to make a judgment call on the cooking time, because oven temperatures can vary. You want the center to be a little gooey, so don’t bake it past that point!
  5. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Cut into squares. Just remember that these wonderful cakes are very, very rich, and a little will go a long way.

Caramel Sauce

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When you describe something as being “vanilla” this may mean it is plain and simple, or it may be a more negative description meaning that something is ordinary, conventional or boring.

I like vanilla ice cream, but sometimes it can be so very…vanilla.  I recently bought a half gallon of Bluebell Vanilla Bean ice cream instead of my usual purchase of Homemade Vanilla.  Homemade Vanilla is a vanilla ice cream that can be eaten end enjoyed plain.  The Vanilla Bean, in my opinion, cannot.  I needed something to make it a little more interesting.  Something to kick it up a notch.  Chocolate syrup was not going to do it for me.  I found this recipe for caramel sauce on Simply Recipes, and it was terrific.

I had all the ingredients (there are only three!) and it didn’t take long at all.  The only part that takes any time is waiting for the sugar to melt.  Everything else goes extremely quickly.  So, heed the advice in the recipe and have everything ready to go before you start.  And use a pan with high sides.  The cream definitely makes the sugar mixture spatter, and it is hot.  Be careful.

My caramel sauce was pretty dark, but very delicious.  I poured it warm over some vanilla ice cream the night I made it and it was perfect.  I kept the rest in the fridge for a day or so.  When I wanted some more, I just scooped a spoonful out of the jar and heated it in the microwave.  Easy-peasy.

Here is a link to the recipe.

Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 6 Tbsp butter
  • 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Directions
  1. First, before you begin, make sure you have everything ready to go – the cream and the butter next to the pan, ready to put in. Making caramel is a fast process that cannot wait for hunting around for ingredients. If you don’t work fast, the sugar will burn. Safety first – make sure there are no children under foot and you may want to wear oven mitts; the caramelized sugar will be much hotter than boiling water.
  2. Heat sugar on moderately high heat in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart or 3-quart saucepan. As the sugar begins to melt, stir vigorously with a whisk or wooden spoon. As soon as the sugar comes to a boil, stop stirring. You can swirl the pan a bit if you want, from this point on. Note that this recipe works best if you are using a thick-bottomed pan. If you find that you end up burning some of the sugar before the rest of it is melted, the next time you attempt it, add a half cup of water to the sugar at the beginning of the process, this will help the sugar to cook more evenly, though it will take longer as the water will need to evaporate before the sugar will caramelize.
  3. As soon as all of the sugar crystals have melted (the liquid sugar should be dark amber in color), immediately add the butter to the pan. Whisk until the butter has melted.
  4. Once the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat. Count to three, then slowly add the cream to the pan and continue to whisk to incorporate. Note than when you add the butter and the cream, the mixture will foam up considerably. This is why you must use a pan that is at least 2-quarts (preferably 3-quarts) big. (Check here for an explanation of why adding the cream makes the mixture bubble up so much.)
  5. Whisk until caramel sauce is smooth. Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then pour into a glass mason jar and let sit to cool to room temperature. (Remember to use pot holders when handling the jar filled with hot caramel sauce.) Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Warm before serving.

Makes a little over one cup of sauce.

Buttermilk Pecan Pie

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As some of you may know I have a bit of an obsession with Rebecca Rather and her bakery in Fredericksburg, Texas.  I saw her there once and I was starstruck!  She was signing a book for someone, and I thought about getting her to sign my face…but thought better of it.  OK, so I am not that obsessed.  Honestly though, the bakery is incredible and so is her Pastry Queen cookbook.  I have made a total of 16 recipes from it, and everything has been wonderful.  I know I’ve said this before, but it’s true.  No failures, no disasters, no disappointments to speak of.  Buy it now.

This last recipe that I tried from her cookbook was no exception to the rule of deliciousness.  Buttermilk Pecan Pie.  I love pecan pie.  My grandma June’s is by far my favorite.  Grandma June’s pie is a classic pecan pie with the corn syrup and yummy gooey center.  Rather’s buttermilk pie is creamier, with just a bit of gooey going on.  I am one who likes the gooey-ness, but some people are averse to pecan pie goo.  Crazy, I know.  So this would be a good alternative for those crazy goo hating people who like pecans and pie.

I did not make my own pie crust.  I am so very sorry.  I had a Pillsbury one in the freezer and was short on time, so I gave in and took a shortcut.  One day I will have the time to make everything from scratch all the time, but at this point in my life I do not have that kind of time!

Serve this pie with sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Buttermilk Pecan Pie

Courtesy of The Pastry Queen cookbook

Ingredients
  • 1 ½  cup whole pecans or pecan pieces
  • 1 stick butter, room temperature
  • 1 ¼  cups granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • ¼  teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 un-baked pie crust
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place pecans on a cookie sheet and toast for 8-10 minutes or until aromatic. Let cool, then chop if using whole pecans.
  2. Reduce oven heat to 300 degrees F.
  3. In a mixing bowl, beat together butter and both sugars. Beat in vanilla and then eggs, one at a time.
  4. Stir in flour and salt. Add buttermilk and stir until fully incorporated. Stir in pecans.
  5. Pour into pie shell.
  6. Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes, then let cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.  This pie may also be chilled.

Chicken and Mushroom Crepes

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Leftovers are tricky.  Some things are great left over.  Pizza is even good cold straight from the fridge for breakfast.  Lasagna, spaghetti, and most casseroles take to reheating very well.  Unfortunately, a lot of foods are not good on their own left over.  However, with some creativity, leftovers can be transformed into something deliciously new and sometimes even better than the original.

I made tarragon chicken fricassée the other night and it was great.  Since it made 4 pretty big servings of chicken, I was left with two chicken breasts and some sauce.  What to do with these leftovers?  I was not about to toss them in the trash.  I thought about chopping them up and making chicken salad or combining them with the leftover egg noodles and some sauteed mushrooms and making a baked pasta.  I have no idea what made me think of crepes.  Some supreme culinary power must have influenced me, because it was a wonderful idea.  Chicken and mushroom crepes!

I know what you’re thinking.  Crepes are meant to be eaten for breakfast.  OR with sugar sprinkled in them, wrapped in paper, handed to you by a cute little Frenchman from a food cart and munched on while walking the streets of Paris at 10 pm.  Or is that just me?  I had the luxury of doing that exact thing on a French club trip in high school.  I must go back there.

Crepes are not meant to be confined to the categories of breakfast and sweets.  They can be a perfect thing upon which to serve savory items as well!  There is an adorable little trailer restaurant called Flip Happy Crepes in Austin where my sister and I ate for her birthday a few years ago.  We ate lunch there and didn’t even try the sweet crepes.  This was my first introduction to the savory crepe, and it was spectacular.

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Tarragon Chicken Fricassée

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My attempts in writing the title to this post resulted in many misspellings of the word “fricassée”.  I will not tell you the number of times I tried and failed to spell it…and do not ask Ben, because he will probably tell you and I will be embarrassed.

Despite the difficulty involved in spelling this French word, this tarragon chicken fricassée was quite easy to prepare and very delicious.

Fricassée is, by definition, meat, usually chicken or veal, browned lightly, stewed, and served in a sauce made with its own stock.  The origin of the word itself is French, but there are many regional variations of a fricassée.  Greek and Cuban fricassée are a few that I saw while searching for recipes.

The meal I made was, if I had to ascribe it to a region, French.  I love the flavor of the fresh tarragon.  It gives this dish an incredibly fresh flavor and perfectly slight sweetness.  Tarragon is a classic herb used in French cooking, and is considered to be one of the four fine herbs of Mediterranean cooking.  The other three are parsley, chives and chervil.

Some fricassée recipes use a variety of vegetables along with the chicken.  Quite a few recipes included mushrooms and onions.  A few had vegetables like peas, beans or peppers.  One recipe I saw had apples.  This recipe is simple in that the only vegetables to be found are shallots and tarragon.  Is garlic a vegetable?  Is tarragon a vegetable?  Anyway.  This is a simple chicken fricassée which allows for the flavors of the tarragon, chicken, white wine and cream to really shine and not be covered or overshadowed by a bunch of other stuff.

Everything in the recipe below is just as it was originally, except I used 4 chicken breasts and added more tarragon.  You can find the original recipe here.  I served this with green beans with toasted walnuts and egg noodles.  I will definitely be making this again.  I used the leftovers in a really special meal the following evening…more on that later.

Tarragon Chicken Fricassée

From Epicurious.com

Ingredients
  • 4 bone-in chicken breasts (skin on or off)
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • ½ cup finely chopped shallots
  • 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • ½  cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 ½ – 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh tarragon
  • ¼ teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Directions
  1. Pat chicken dry and sprinkle all over with salt and pepper.
  2. Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté chicken in 2 batches, skin side down first, turning over once, until browned, 10 to 12 minutes total per batch. Transfer to a plate.
  3. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons oil from skillet, then cook shallots, garlic, and bay leaf over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until shallots are softened, about 2 minutes. Add wine and bring to a boil. Stir in cream, broth, and 1 tablespoon tarragon, then add chicken, skin side up, and simmer, covered, until just cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer chicken with tongs to a platter and keep warm, loosely covered. If necessary, boil sauce until thickened slightly.
  4. Stir in lemon juice, remaining 1/2 tablespoon tarragon, and salt and pepper to taste. Discard bay leaf; pour sauce over chicken.

Gingerbread House Demolition

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Like most kids do at some point in their lives, I once had a bit of an obsession with fire and burning little objects.  It wasn’t a huge deal.  I stuck to simple things like notebook paper and tissues.  My days of burning things came to an abrupt end when I tried to burn the end of a mechanical pencil and caused a serious stench in my room.  That was the end of that.

A few years ago my sister Sarah rekindled my obsession when she uttered this phrase a day or so after Christmas, “Let’s burn down the gingerbread house.”  And that is what we did.  With the help of my dad and some lighter fluid, we burnt that house down.

This year I wanted to get rid of my gingerbread house, but did not want to throw it away, and it was not meant to be eaten.  What was I to do?  Well, the only option seemed to be demolition by fire.  I wanted to do this on New Years Eve, but that did not exactly happen.  So, I tried again with much success about a week later.  The only thing I failed to consider was the can of jalapeños that I’d trapped inside my gingerbread house during construction remained in the house.  You probably know what happens to a can that is heated beyond what it can bear.  It definitely exploded.

It was a controlled burn, and no one was harmed.  I sat the house outside on the concrete and kept a close eye on it.  I highly recommend you try this at some point.  It is great fun and is a completely free form of entertainment.

Here is how it all went down.  From beginning to end.

1.  Pre-burned house.  So adorable!

2.  The burning begins.  I suggest starting a little fire inside the house to get things going.  I used a little tea light and some shredded paper.

3.  After a while, things really got going.

4.  I should have taken some in between shots, but this is what happens after some good burning time.  This is when Ben begins to complain about the smell.

5.  And in this picture you can see the can of jalapeños, post explosion.  Good times had by all.

Corn Mashed Potatoes

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My sister Lisa gave me this cookbook a few years ago for Christmas saying, “It may just end up being a coffee table cookbook, but I thought you’d like it.”  It really is a beautiful book.  It is also larger than your average cookbook, so it does look great just sitting out in my house.  I will admit though that for the 3 years I have had it I have merely perused its pages and admired the lovely photos and descriptions of dishes by Marcus Samuelsson.  He is an Ethiopian-born Swedish chef and co-owner at Aquavit in New York City.  I have never eaten there, but maybe I will someday.  You may have seen Samuelsson on Top Chef Masters and heard of his catering of a White House dinner this past November.

This recipe for mashed potatoes has been one that I’ve looked at and considered making more than once.  It seemed like the perfect side dish to serve with our steaks.

These potatoes are a step up from simple mashed potatoes with the addition of corn and thyme.  The potatoes are cooked in milk and cream, and this cooking liquid is used to create the consistency you like for your potatoes.  I did buy a new utensil for this recipe: a potato ricer!  I love it.  So what if it may only serve one purpose?  It made the potatoes so creamy and smooth.  Sometimes I really like a more rustic mashed potato with chunks and little pieces of the skin in there.  But there is something very special about the incredibly smooth and silky texture of potatoes once you squeeze them through the ricer.  This might be one of my most favorite tools to use in the kitchen.  The potato goes in whole and comes out in long lanky strings!  Fun stuff.

The corn adds a delicious sweetness and contrast in texture.  The thyme is a lovely herb to use in these potatoes.  I won’t try to tell you that these are something you should eat weekly.  These potatoes are decadent and rich, so consume in moderation!

Corn Mashed Potatoes

From Aquavit

Ingredients
  • 1 pound Yukon gold potatoes, peeled
  • 2 cups milk
  • 1 cup cream
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 tablespoon mascarpone cheese (or substitute cream cheese)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme
  • 2 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cup corn kernels, from about 2 corn cobs
  • kosher salt and black pepper
Directions
  1. Cook the corn on the cob in boiling water for about 3 minutes.  Let cool, then cut corn from the cobs.
  2. Combine potatoes, milk and cream in a large saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 20 – 25 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.  Drain the potatoes, reserving the cooking liquid.
  3. Pass the potatoes through a food mill or potato ricer into a large bowl.
  4. In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks lightly.  Add the mascarpone or cream cheese and mix well, then stir in the thyme and olive oil.
  5. Add the egg yolk mixture to the potatoes along with the butter and about half of the cooking liquid and mix well.  Add more cooking liquid if desired.
  6. Fold in corn and season with salt and pepper to taste.
  7. If not serving immediately, return to the saucepan, cover, and keep warm over low heat.  You may need to add a little more cooking liquid if the potatoes begin to get dry.

Manchego Wrapped Olives

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Olives.  A lot of people either love them or hate them.  I am not in either group.  I like them in certain dishes, but not others.  I like some kinds of olives, but not others.  I like some raw, and others I prefer to be baked on a pizza.  I am a mystery.  There is just no predicting which olive will please me, and which will cause me to turn up my nose in disgust.

With that little preface you are wondering, “Why did she even try this recipe?”  Well, I knew I had some olives that needed to be used, and I needed a snack that would be relatively easy and quick.  I found this recipe for olives wrapped in a cheesy dough and then baked on Allrecipes.com.  I have tried my hand at deep frying, and while it does create delicious, crunchy and greasy food, it makes my house smell and dealing with that oil is a pain.  So the baking aspect appealed to me.

I switched the cheddar cheese out for Manchego, added more seasoning to the dough, and used two kinds of stuffed olives: green olives stuffed with garlic and green olives stuffed with sun-dried tomatoes.  As I was writing out a shopping list I had a thought. Is it Ben who is not a huge fan of olives?  I sent him a text about what I was planning for dinner to find out.  His response was “Sounds great!”  He is such a sweet man.  Turns out he is in fact not a huge fan of olives.  But, get this…he actually LIKED them!  I guess if you wrap anything in a dough of butter, flour, Manchego cheese and paprika you can expect people to be pleased.

I liked these little bites of crispy, buttery cheesiness wrapped around the salty olive.  The only issue I faced in the preparation was getting the dough to come together.  It seemed way too crumbly.  If you just keep working, then it will become the smooth consistency you need to wrap the olives. 

Preparing these is a little time consuming since you must wrap each olive individually, but you can definitely wrap them ahead of time, chill them in the fridge, then bake them a half hour before you plan to serve them.  Since these were good even at room temperature they would be a great party food.  

Manchego Wrapped Olives

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients
  • 1/2 pound Manchego cheese, shredded
  • 4 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 20 green olives, pitted, or stuffed
Directions
1. Allow cheese to sit out until it is at room temperature. In a large bowl, mix together the cheese, butter and paprika using a pastry blender. Gradually mix in flour, first using the pastry blender, then using your hands. Mix until the dough pulls together. It should form a solid ball with a smooth appearance, but have a crumbly texture when pulled apart. If dough appears too dry, add more shredded cheese.
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Pinch off a small piece of dough, and cover an olive with it. Roll gently between your palms to smooth and seal the olive inside the ball. Place onto an un-greased cookie sheet and repeat with remaining dough and olives. Place the tray of covered olives into the refrigerator for 10 minutes to firm up.
3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until browned. Serve hot or at room temperature.

 

Photo courtesy of Bettycrocker.com
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