Cornmeal-Cranberry Biscotti

These biscotti are lucky, or at least they were for me. They're the biscotti that I made for my now-editor when we first met. The recipe is heavily adapted from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook recipe.

makes 20-24 biscotti

3/4 cup hazelnuts
4 tablespoons cold butter
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Roast the nuts on a small baking sheet for 15 minutes, or until fragrant. In order to peel the nuts, place in a tea or kitchen towel, and rub to remove papery skins. Pick out the nuts. Finely chop 1/4 cup, and coarsely chop remainder. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, barely cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix flour, cornmeal, nuts, baking powder, and salt, tossing to mix well. Add to the butter mixture, and mix. Add the cranberries, stirring to combine.

Divide the dough in half. Roll each portion into a log, approximately 2 inches in diameter. You may need to dust the counter with flour. Make sure the dough is firmly pressed into shape, so the biscotti will not be too crumbly upon cutting. Place on a cookie sheet, and bake until lightly brown and just firm to the touch, 20-25 minutes.

Transfer cookie logs to a cutting board and slice at an angle 1/2-3/4 inch thick. Place biscotti on the same cookie sheet to bake once again for 5 minutes, or until lightly brown. Cool completely, and place in an airtight container.

Crisp Potato Cake

This cake is dense and heavy, but there is just something about all of those potatoes, baked harmoniously with bechamel, Parmesan cheese, and prosciutto, that makes this cake homey and delicious.

8 med. boiling potatoes (about 5 pounds)
salt to taste
4 tablspoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
3 large eggs
1/4 lb. sliced prosciutto or baked ham, diced
2 tablspoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/8 tsp. grated nutmeg
1 cup bechamel sauce (recipe below)
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup fine dried bread crumbs

Put the potatoes in a large saucepan and cover them generously with cold water. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the potatoes can easily be pierced with a long knife, 25 to 35 minutes. Drain the potatoes and let cool slightly.

Preheat the oven to 400 and butter a 10 in. springform pan and coat the bottom and sides with the bread crumbs.

As soon as the potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel them and pass them through a food mill or a potato ricer into a large bowl. (Do not use a food processor to mash the potatoes; it will make them very gummy.) Season with salt.

Melt the butter in a small pan (or microwave) and add to the potatoes. Beat 2 of the eggs in a small bowl and add to the potatoes, along with the ham, flour, parsley, nutmeg, bechamel, cheese, and mix thoroughly.

Put the potato mixture in the prepared pan, shake the pan lightly to distribute it evenly, and smooth the top with a spatula. Beat the remaining egg and brush it over the top of the potatoes. Bake on the middle rack of the oven until the cake has a crisp brown crust on top and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean (about 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes. Remove the sides of the pan and transfer to serving dish. Serve warm or at room temp.

Bechamel Sauce

1 1/2 cups milk, plus more if needed
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoon flour
pinch of salt

Heat the milk in a small saucepan over low heat. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small saucepan over med low heat. When the butter begins to foam, beat in the flour with a wooden spoon or a whisk and cook, stirring for about 2 min. making sure not to let the flour brown.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the hot milk all at once, whisking energetically to prevent lumps. Put the pan back over low heat, add the salt, and cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce is med. thick, about 5 minutes. If the sauce is too thick, stir in a little more milk, too thin, cook it longer.

Crumb Buns

Here is a rather long, but delicious recipe for crumb buns adapted from Great Coffee Cakes. It does however, make a double recipe for Rich Sour Cream Dough, that can be made into yeasted coffee cakes, sweet rolls, or more crumb buns. The streusel recipe makes a large serving of streusel as well. I only used half of the recipe for streusel as well, and froze the rest for other morning time treats.

Rich Sour Cream Dough

4 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)
1 package active dry yeast
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add one tablespoon of sugar and warm water to a small bowl. Sprinkle yeast over the water, do not stir, and cover the bowl with a saucer for 5 minutes. This allows the yeast to proof. Stir briefly, cover again, and let stand an additional 2-3 minutes, or until bubbly.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the flour, remaining sugar, and salt, on low speed,. Add the slightly firm butter, and mix until meal-size crumbs form. Using a fork, mix the eggs, sour cream, vanilla, and dissolved yeast. Mix on low speed until a rough dough is formed. This is a soft dough.

Place dough in a buttered bowl, lightly butter the top of the dough. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, and store overnight in the refrigerator.

Streusel Topping

6-7 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts or pecans

Melt butter, and cool to tepid.

Whisk together dry ingredients, add butter. Stir with fork until mixture begins to form crumbs. Gently squeeze mixture with hand, to form larger chunks, then break them apart with with your fingertips. Before using let stand for 10-15 minutes.

Crumb Buns

1/2 recipe Rich Sour Cream Dough
1 recipe (or less) Streusel Topping
1 egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water

Remove the dough from the refrigerator 1 to 1 1/2 hours before shaping.

Generously butter at 9 inch square pan. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough until smooth, 6-10 times. Divide the dough evenly into 9 pieces. Cupping your hand over each piece, continuously roll until a ball is formed. Continue doing with all the pieces.

Place the balls in the pan, evenly spaced, 3 across, and 3 down. Flatten balls slightly, they do not have to touch. Cover pan with a cloth, and let rise for an additional 45 minutes.

15 minutes before baking, position the oven rack to the bottom third of the oven, and preheat to 350 degrees.

Gently brush the top of the buns with egg wash. Sprinkle the streusel topping, lightly pressing streusel into the top of the dough. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven, placing on a rack to cool.

Raised Donuts

Here's another recipe from Marion Cunnigham's, The Breakfast Book, this time the recipe is for a classic, fried, bad-for-you treat, made good through baking. They're light, yeasted and delicious.

Makes about 2 dozen donuts plus holes

2 packages dry yeast
1/3 cup warm water (105 degrees)
1 1/2 cups milk
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated if possible)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 1/2 cups all purposed flour, approximately

butter, melted
cinnamon-sugar (1/2 cup sugar, to 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon)
powdered sugar

Sprinkle yeast over water, and let dissolve, about 5 minutes.

Put milk and shortening in a saucepan and heat until shortening is melted. Cool until lukewarm.

In a large mixing bowl put yeast, milk mixture, sugar, salt, nutmeg, eggs, and two cups flour. Beat until well blended. Add remaining flour and beat until smooth. Cover the bowl, and let double in bulk, about 1 hour.

Dust board generously with flour, and turn the dough out. The dough will be soft and sticky, but easy to work with the addition of flour. Pat dough out into 1/2 inch thickness. Using a three inch donut or biscuit cutter, cut out donuts (and donut holes) and place on a greased baking sheet, one inch apart. The donuts will continue to rise, though they don't spread much. Preheat oven to 450 degrees, and let donuts rest for 20 minutes, uncovered.

Bake about 10 minutes, or a little longer, until they have a touch of golden brown. Remove from the oven. Brush them with melted butter. Roll them in either the cinnamon-sugar, or the powdered sugar, and enjoy while warm.

Bircher Muesli

Muesli comes from a Swiss word that means mush. And this muesli, coming from Marion Cunningham, is one sweet, delicious mush. Her recipe calls for blackberries as a topping, but you could substitute other fruit as well--raisins, blueberries, or you could do as I did and add some lovely figs.

From The Breakfast Book, this recipe serves one:

1 heaping tablespoon rolled oats
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon cream
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 small apple
1 handful blackberries

Soak the oats and water in a small bowl overnight. Just before serving, stir the cream, honey, and lemon juice into the oat mixture. Grate the unpeeled apple and quickly mix into the oats. Add the blackberries. Serve with brown sugar and cream.

Raised Waffles

Here is the best waffle recipe I have come upon. Crisp, light, and endlessly edible, Marion Cunningham knows what she is talking about. Make sure to give yourself plenty of time to make these. Although the recipe is not a difficult or testy one, the batter needs to rise overnight .

From The Breakfast Book, makes about 8 waffles

1/2 cup warm water
1 package dry yeast
2 cups milk, warmed
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Use a rather large mixing bowl, as the dough will double in size during the rising process. Put the water in the mixing bowl and stir in the yeast. Let stand and dissolve about 5 minutes.

Add the milk, butter, salt, sugar, and flour to the yeast mixture and beat until smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave overnight at room temperature.

The next morning, just before cooking the waffles, beat in the eggs. Add the baking soda, stirring until well blended. The batter will be very thin. Pour 1/2 to 3/4 cup of batter into a very hot waffle iron. Bake the waffles until crisp and golden.

Any unused batter will keep for several day in the refrigerator.

Stinky Tuna and Egg Salad

Here is the recipe for a not-too-stinky sandwich filling. The brininess of the capers, the delicate flake of the tuna, and the creaminess of the hard-boiled eggs, make for a perfect combination.

2 hard-boiled eggs (11 minutes in boiling water)
2 tablespoons capers, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 can 5 1/2 ounce can tuna, packed in olive oil
1-2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Fry capers in olive oil until crisp, about 2-3 minutes. Set aside.

Peel eggs and coarsely chop in a mixing bowl. Drain tuna, leaving a bit of oil to coat the fish. Add tuna to the egg, and add the Dijon mustard, and the capers. Mix well. Taste, and season with salt and pepper, if desired.

Serve on a baguette, with arugula. Enjoy.