Chocolate Walnut Fudge

Sometimes what seemed like a good idea at the time can come back and haunt you.

When I was in my 20s I began giving homemade fudge at Christmas.  Always from the recipe on the Marshmallow Fluff jar and loaded with sugar and butter.

Over the years, Durkee-Mower adapted their recipe for microwave ovens, eliminating the need to stand at the stove and stir – a good thing – except, if you didn’t pay attention, the mixture would bubble up and spill all over the inside of the microwave.  And, cleaning up that sugary, buttery mess is not fun.

Some years I would entertain the idea of substituting cookies, or buying the fudge, only to reminded by my own family it was a ‘tradition’ and I had to make the fudge. Be careful what traditions you start.  It has been over 30 years now and I’m really tired of making fudge…..

This year I tried a new recipe – with great success. Returned to standing at the stove and stirring – and using a candy thermometer.  To my surprise the process was not as bad as I recalled. And, I discovered that I prefer the taste of this fudge recipe to the Fluff one. Just don’t tell my friends at Durkee-Mower….

Chocolate-Walnut Fudge

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

¼ cup light corn syrup

½ cup half and half

1/8 teaspoon salt

4 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate bits

½ cups chopped walnuts

Directions:

Lightly butter an 8-inch square pan.

In a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, corn syrup, half and half, and salt. Stir constantly until mixture comes to a boil. Brush down any sugar crystals that form on the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in hot water.  Boil for 2 ½ minutes and then stir in the chocolate until melted and well blended. Continue to boil, without stirring, until a candy thermometer reads 234 degrees F, 7 to 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and cool until almost room temperature or 110 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 15 minutes. Using an electric hand mixer, beat the fudge until the color dulls and the fudge is creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the walnuts by hand.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, smoothing the surface with a spatula. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and refrigerate until firm, about 6 hours. Cut into 2 inch  pieces.

Makes 16, 2 inch bars.

Easy Apple Tart

I love, love, love pies. With a caveat: my mother has to make the crust. Her crust is so good that most others fail in comparison.  Including my own. Which is why I’ve come to rely on Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust: It is easier than making your own and while nowhere near as good as my mother’s, it bakes into the soft, slightly buttery and chewy crust I prefer.

Torn out of a magazine, this recipe is easily adaptable to whatever fruit I happen to have. It takes less time to make than a 'regular' pie and, without a top crust must have fewer calories per slice.

My no-longer-secret step?  Let the fruit mixture sit for 15 minutes before spooning onto the crust to let the cornstarch mixture absorb excess juice.

Easy Apple Tart

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Makes 8 servings

1 refrigerated pie crust

¾ cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

4 cups peeled, thinly sliced apples (4 medium apples)

1 egg white, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon sugar, for glaze

Prepare crust as directed on package. Place on baking sheet.

Mix ¾ cup sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon. Toss with apples. Let sit for 15 minutes. Spoon mixture into center of crust, spreading to within 2 inches of edges. Fold 2 inch edge of crust over apples, pleating crust as needed. Brush crust with egg white; sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar.

Bake in preheated 425 degree oven 20 minutes or until apples are tender. Cool slightly before serving.

Pumpkin Bread

Tonight I made the last of the quick breads I'm giving as Christmas gifts. I can't remember where I got this recipe; the only memory that comes to mind is my family history with the One Pie canned pumpkin and squash brand.

I come from a family of cooks and bakers. Everything we ate (except bread) was homemade. In the summer we had a big garden; when I was very young we lived on a farm with chickens, cows, geese, and pigs - all of which contributed to our food supply. Later, after we moved to a suburb of Boston, my father worked as a salesman for a frozen food company, so if the food wasn't fresh, it was frozen. I don't remember eating anything that came from a can (except tuna fish - my school lunch of choice for 12 years - and the One Pie brand pumpkin and squash that my mother used for her pies). I continue that legacy today - One Pie canned pumpkin is my choice for most of my the recipes that include pumpkin. So, for tonight's pumpkin bread, I ignored the two sugar pumpkins that I purchased at the local farm stand and turned to my stash of One Pie pumpkin...

Pumpkin Bread
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Makes two standard loafs or eight mini loaves.

2/3 cup butter
2 2/3 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 can One Pie Pumpkin (16 ounces)
2/3 cup water
3 1/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
2/3 cup raisins

Grease 2 9x5x3 inch loaf pans or 8 mini loaf pans.
Cream butter and sugar, then stir in eggs, pumpkin, and water.
In separate bowl mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves.
Gradually add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture, mixing well after each addition.
Last stir in nuts and raisins.
Pour into prepared pans. Bake large loaves for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Bake mini loaves for 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool on wire rack for ten minutes, then turn loaves out of pans. Continue to cool.
Wrap tightly. Loaves freeze well.

Vegetarian Lasagna

Holy Week begins tomorrow: for my friends who are clergy or lay leaders in their churches, it is one of their busiest weeks of the year. This week the Mouse House will feature easy, make-ahead meals that can be stored in individual or family sized portions and frozen.

My first choice is vegetarian lasagna. My first memory of eating lasagna was as a young adult. It was in the mid 1970s and my grandmother was making dinner for her extended family. She served lasagna: from a recipe which called for cottage cheese instead of ricotta. What did we know? With our Scottish/English/Irish/Swedish heritage our knowledge of Italian food was spaghetti and meatballs and pizza. We were a meat/vegetables/potatoes kind of family. And dessert. Always dessert.

A few years later, I was dating and later married a man whose grandparents had all been born in Italy. His mother was a fabulous cook. I learned how to make lasagna, and never again, did it include cottage cheese instead of ricotta.

Vegetarian Lasagna

1 pound lasagna noodles
1 (15 oz.) container ricotta cheese
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs
2 (26 oz.) jars pasta sauce
1 pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained (or fresh)
1 cup shredded carrots
2 cups (8 oz.) shredded mozzarella cheese
Chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 350°.

1. Cook noodles as package directs.

2. In medium bowl, combine ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, and eggs. Mix well.

3. Cook frozen or fresh spinach (chop into small pieces if using fresh); press all of the water out of the spinach. Add to cheese and egg mixture.

4. Grate carrots and add to cheese and egg mixture.

5. In a 14" by 11" by 2" pan, spread 1 cup pasta sauce. Layer with half each of the lasagna noodles, ricotta cheese mixture, pasta sauce, and mozzarella cheese. Repeat layering. Top with parsley.

6. Bake lasagna, uncovered, for 45 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Lasagne is even better the second day!

Apple Sour Cream Coffee Cake

The Mouse House is back!

I took what was meant to be a short break this fall - which turned into a four month sabbatical. I’ve been cooking all along – and meaning to share (I have the pictures to prove it) – and instead got caught in a bout of ennui.

Today’s the beginning of a new year – 1.1.11 – the perfect day to break the cycle. I’m starting with an old favorite: apple sour cream coffee cake. It is a recipe I used to make regularly – it’s one of Allison’s favorites; after she left home for college I stopped making it.

I got the urge to make this at Thanksgiving; a perfect time to bake and share. So in honor of breaking my Mouse House sabbatical, I give you Apple Sour Cream Coffee Cake.

Apple Sour Cream Coffee Cake

½ cup finely chopped walnuts

Sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Medium cooking apple, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced

½ cup butter

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 teaspoon double acting baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

About 2 hours ahead or day before:

In small bowl, combine nuts, ½ cup sugar, and cinnamon; set aside.

Peel, core, and thinly slice apple. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease 9” tube pan.

In large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat 1 cup sugar with butter until light and fluffy. Add remaining ingredients and beat at low speed until blended, constantly scraping bowl with rubber spatula. At medium speed, beat 2 minutes, occasionally scraping bowl.

Spread half of batter in pan. Top with 1/3 of the nut mixture, then add 1 medium cooking apple, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced, then 1/3 of the nut mixture. Spread with remaining batter and nut mixture. Bake 65 to 70 minutes. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Lemon Chicken

This is one of the simplest ways I know to cook chicken. I learned to make it many years ago when some friends and I rented a house on Martha's Vineyard. We took turns cooking; on my night to cook, my cooking partner showed me how to make this very simple and very delicious recipe.

Earlier this week, we were having dinner with family (a mixed grill of steak and chicken, roasted peppers and onions, and corn on the cob).  I was asked for a suggestion for cooking boneless chicken breasts. Wanting something easy and quick, and not having an outdoor grill or my recipe collection at hand, I was stumped until this recipe popped into my head. I hadn't made it in years, and found that it still is extremely simple, quick, and melt-in-your mouth delicious.

Ingredients

• One boneless chicken breast per person
• Lemon, sliced thin
• Mix of dried herbs (optional)
• Butter (I generally start with a tablespoon and then add as needed so that pan stays moist)
• Small amount of flour
• Wax paper 

Directions

• Place chicken breasts between two pieces of wax paper on cutting board or other solid surface. Using the flat edge of a butcher's knife, or a meat mallet, pound the chicken breasts to an even thinness.
• Melt butter in cast iron or other heavy frying pan. While butter is melting, lightly coat chicken breasts with flour. Add chicken to frying pan, turn heat to medium, and place lemon slices on top of chicken.  Add dried herb mix if desired.
• Let chicken cook for a minute or two before turning over. Keep lemon slices on top. Cook until chicken is cooked all the way through, adding butter as needed. The outside of the chicken should have a slight golden color.
• While chicken is cooking, take out a plate and then put a smaller plate, upside down, on the larger plate. When chicken is done, place the chicken on the smaller plate and cover with foil. Let sit for approximately two minutes; this helps seal the juices inside of the cooked chicken.

Cooking the perfect steak

The Mouse House is on vacation. In the past three days we slept in Arlington, window shopped in Mississippi, biked in the Providence Bridge Pedal, and had the perfect steak in Portland. Where are we?

Click here to learn how to cook a perfect steak in a cast iron pan.