Ginger and Chocolate Chip Heart Cookies (recipe)

By Kitchen Gadget Girl | Published: February 22, 2012

This recipe has a long history with me – I first tasted these cookies at a party for my Mom in 1991. I was 20 years old and she had just died after a tough battle with cancer. All battles with cancer are tough, there is no escaping that fact. I had returned from my study-abroad program in Belgium a week before she died and was grateful that I had that time. Because my Mom was a joyful, hugging-everyone-in-the-office type of woman, we decided a Celebration of Life was more appropriate than a somber memorial service. All I really remember from that day was a trip to her church for a formal service, followed by a blow-out party at the house, potluck fashion. One of my Mom’s friends brought these cookies.

I have only ever made them as hearts, but I think they would be great during the Christmas holidays as stars, and maybe even as shamrocks in March. The dough is very easy to make in the food processor, and is egg-free, if that is a concern in your diet.

Ginger and Chocolate Chip Hearts

No original credit for this recipe, it is one of many I have typed up on a piece of paper and shoved into a protective sleeve

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 7 1/2 TBS cornstarch
  • 3/8 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) salted butter
  • 2 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 6 ounces pecans
  • 1 cup mini chocolate chips
  • 9 TBS crystallized ginger (I like The Ginger People’s Baker’s Cut Crystallized Ginger)
  • Extra sugar for sprinkling
  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Combine first 4 ingredients in food processor and blend. Add butter and vanilla and pulse until mixture resembles fine meal. Add pecans and process until finely chopped. Add chocolate chips and ginger and mix in. (You may have to do this in batches, my food processor bowl is not big enough to handle an entire batch at once.)
  3. Transfer mixture to bowl and gather together. Divide into thirds. Roll 1 chunk out between sheets of wax or parchment paper to thickness of 1/4 inch. Cut out cookies, using 3 inch heart shaped cutter. Transfer to parchment-lined cookie sheet. Re-roll scraps and cut out additional cookies.
  4. Sprinkle cookies with additional sugar and bake until beginning to color, about 20 minutes. Cook on sheets 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool.
  5. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Preparation time: 25 minute(s)

Cooking time: 20 minute(s)

5 :  ★★★★★ 1 review(s)

Copyright © 2011 Good Fud Media.
Recipe by Gudrun Enger.
Microformatting by hRecipe.

Posted in Cookies, Recipes | Leave a comment

Family Dinner Plan: Winter-break week

By Kitchen Gadget Girl | Published: February 19, 2012

Kids are on holiday this week, think I will get them in the kitchen to help with dinner! Let’s see if I can put together a kid-cook-friendly menu. Wouldn’t it be delightful to just have to do the dishes this week?!

Sunday: Green Chili, Cannellini Bean and Chicken Stew, fresh bread

(Meatless) Monday: Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches

Tuesday: Chicken and rice casserole, steamed veggie

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Chili with cornbread and salad

Friday: Takeout and Trashy TV

What do your kids like to cook?

Posted in Kid tested and approved, menu plan, Winter | Leave a comment

Blood Orange Juice (and a plug for Frog Hollow CSA)

By Kitchen Gadget Girl | Published: February 16, 2012

The above glass of Blood Orange Juice is brought to you by Frog Hollow Farms and the Happy Child CSA program (they are the same thing, using different names). We each had a glass of juice Friday for breakfast, when Kurt was in town and whipped up morning pancakes before school. The juice was incredible (oh, I cheated and used several Naval oranges that were from a prior box) and so sweet; tasted like a teaspoon or two of sugar had been added.

A new season for Happy Child CSA is right around the corner, but you can sign up any time. The plans are flexible, and there are different size boxes suitable for different families. You can even arrange a bi-weekly system, and if you are out of town, no worries, just let them know ahead of time and they will cancel that week and credit the amount towards the next season. There is even a 4-week trial program for those of you wanting to find out if this kind of CSA will work for your family.

Sometimes, we get special treats from the kitchen, usually preserves and/or olive oil. You can also add onto your regular order, including items such as local eggs, dried fruit and bakery items. Support a local farm and sign up today!

Note: I have not been compensated for this review; I write this as a happy customer!

Posted in Eat local | Leave a comment

Family Dinner Plan: The anti-Valentine’s Day Menu

By Kitchen Gadget Girl | Published: February 12, 2012

You know what – when Valentine’s Day falls mid-week, it is a huge pain the butt. Pretty much guarantees that there will be no special dinner, the best we can hope for is a card (which requires me to find the time to purchase said card and hope it comes with a cute message inside so I can just sign my name). Plus, the holiday, IMHO, is totally overblown. You should be loving each other every day, not just some random day in February. And what better way to show love then with a weekly menu plan. Yep, that is true love.

Here is my menu plan for the week of February 12:

Cookie of the Week: Ginger Heart Cookies (these are so good, anytime of the year. Recipe to be posted soon.)

Sunday: Roast chicken, sauteed broccoli rabe, roasted carrots and squash, wild rice

(Meatless) Monday: Spinach, leek and potato soup, cheese toast

Tuesday: Quick dinner out on the way home from soccer practice. Maybe Chocolate Souffle for dessert at home, if I get my act together.

Wednesday: Sloppy Joe sandwiches (looking for my slow cooker recipe now), cucumbers/carrots/peppers with ranch, whole grain buns, grated cheese if we are feeling frisky

Thursday: Leftovers or Breakfast for Dinner (which happened twice 2 weeks ago)

Friday: Trashy TV and Takeout

BTW, I feel sort of like I am letting my family down when we eat dinner out during the week, but we tried it last Tuesday and it worked really well. No one was rushed, some homework got done while we waited for our meal to arrive, and we came home ready to get ourselves together for the next day.

Oh, and you know what was funny? The Little Girl decided to make all her lunches at once, production-line style. She put out 3 containers with lids, dropped in a cheese round, a container of hummus, a piece of bread and an orange from the tree. All went in the fridge and she pulled out a different one each day (two days of hot lunch). Genius!

What is on your menu plan this week?

Posted in menu plan, Winter | Leave a comment

Meyer Lemon and Cranberry Buckle (recipe)

By Kitchen Gadget Girl | Published: February 7, 2012

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, a buckle is a one layer cake, very moist, with a streusel topping that buckles as it cooks. Recently they featured a glossary of fruit desserts, along with several recipes. I snipped the article, intending to bake a buckle, waiting for the right time. Well, that time came! Someone at work had a birthday and I thought this would be a nice treat to bring in and share. As you can see, it did not last long!

Meyer Lemon and Cranberry Buckle

Original recipe published in San Francisco Chronicle – I changed the types of flour, the type of salt, and used Greek yogurt

Ingredients

Streusel Topping

  • 1/4 cup + 2 TBS all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup + 2 TBS sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 4 TBS cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Cake

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup whole wheat or white whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cup salted butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • Juice of 1 Meyer lemon
  • Zest of 1 Meyer lemon
  • 3/4 cup Greek non-fat yogurt
  • 8 ounces cranberries (fresh or frozen)
  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9-inch round cake pan or springform pan.

To make the streusel:

  1. Mix together flour, sugar and salt. Using your hands, massage in the 4 TBS cold butter until the mixture becomes crumbly. Refrigerate until ready to use.

To make the cake:

  1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
  2. Beat 3/4 cup softened butter and sugar in the bowl of stand mixer or with a handheld mixer, until light and fluffy, 2 minutes.
  3. Add eggs, mix to incorporate. Add vanilla, lemon zest, lemon juice and yogurt. Blend. Don’t panic if it looks lumpy.
  4. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined. Fold in cranberries.
  5. Spread mixture into pan; top with streusel. Bake 55-65 minutes, until top is golden and the cake is not jiggly. Cool 15 minutes, remove springform ring and serve.

(I let mine sit overnight and it was great the next morning at room temperature)

Preparation time: 20 minute(s)

Cooking time: 1 hour(s)

Number of servings (yield): 8

5 :  ★★★★★ 1 review(s)

Copyright © 2011 Good Fud Media.
Recipe by Gudrun Enger.
Microformatting by hRecipe.

Posted in Bread and Pastries, Desserts, Recipes | 1 Comment

Family Dinner Plan: Still with the freezer

By Kitchen Gadget Girl | Published: February 5, 2012

I went on a field trip to San Anselmo with Marsha yesterday to check out rockflowerpaper. They were having their annual warehouse sale and we stocked up on cute totes, gift bags, kitchen towels, espadrilles and hand crafted trays. Highly recommend a visit if you can get up there.

Our freezer is still a mess. Or freezers, rather. We have two fridges, one inside and one in the garage, plus a separate stand alone freezer. All are pretty full. Let’s continue to clean out the freezers and use what we already have.

BTW, I also have frozen bread and frozen deli meat for lunches. The bread is great frozen; totally defrosted by lunchtime. The deli meats I need to defrost before use, but that is not a big deal. Oh, and there are items in there set aside for snacks, mostly from Trader Joe’s and CostCo.

Husband is making dinner tonight, a Green Chili Potato Soup with Lamb, using a stash of Hatch New Mexican green chili from Albuquerque Tortilla Factory that we stored in the freezer, as well as frozen lamb from our last bulk purchase. We will go traditional Super-Bowl for the rest of the dinner, with chips and salsa, guacamole and crudites. And he is making leftovers, so we are going to forgo our usual Meatless Monday menu.

Here is the rest of my plan for the week of February 6:

Cookie of the Week: Brown Butter Toffee Blondies from Martha Stewart’s Cookies

Sunday: Green Chili Potato Stew, tortillas (maybe quesadillas), chips and salsa, guacamole and beer

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Dinner out after marathon soccer practice

Wednesday: Slow Cooker Curried Chicken, Indian Cabbage with Crispy Chickpeas, brown rice, naan

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Trashy TV and Takeout

Note to Juliette, in case you are listening – that Green Chili Potato Soup can totally be made vegetarian. And, it does not need to be made in a slow cooker!

What is on your menu plan this week?

Photo courtesy of rockflowerpaper.

 

Posted in menu plan, Winter | Leave a comment

In the Kitchen with Chez Pim: Marmalade

By Kitchen Gadget Girl | Published: February 1, 2012

Last weekend Pim (of Chez Pim) taught a class on Marmalades at Love Apple Farms in Santa Cruz. This was my third Pim class (see also Macarons and Holiday Baking), and my fifth Love Apple Farms class (see Backyard Chickens and Cheese Making Basics). Each time I visit Love Apple Farms, I am again inspired to create in the kitchen.

Pim’s Marmalade class was centered around a basic technique with variations based on the type and sweetness of the chosen citrus. The three main things I learned from her class:

  1. Use a pan to cook your jam that is wider than it is tall. I have been using a stock pot for ages, and my jam cooks unevenly (and slowly).
  2. Use small plates, stored in the freezer, to test the consistency of your jam. I think I have been overcooking my jam all these years.
  3. Making pectin from scratch, using citrus bits and a muslin bag. Oh, and loads of arm twisting strength.

I am now coveting a Baumalu copper preserving pan, as well as these cute Muji aprons that Pim wears. When I took her Macaron class, I added matcha tea from Mariage Freres and quatre e’pices. Sounds like a trip to Paris is in order!

If you are looking for fun cooking and homemaking classes, I highly recommend Love Apple Farms. Note: I am not being compensated for this recommendation, I have paid for all my classes myself and this is just a recommendation for a product I enjoy. I hear the tomato classes are great (you go home with something like 45 seedlings) and they even ofter beer making, soap making and artisanal yarn classes!

Posted in Canning and Preserving | Leave a comment

Family Dinner Plan: Mariquita Mystery Box

By Kitchen Gadget Girl | Published: January 29, 2012

During the winter, when we don’t have our regular weekly CSA boxes, Mariquita Farms has a Mystery Box program to pick up the slack. Sort of like a CSA, but way more casual, interested folks signup for a box, delivered to a local spot, filled with whatever is ripe that week. In the middle of winter. Hence the mystery name.

Our box this week contained: Carrots, Daikon, Savoy Cabbage, White Turnips, Radishes, Peanuts, Baby Spinach, Spigariello, Limes, Lacinto Kale, and Cheddar Cauliflower. We also added on a wedge of Royal Oaks Damselfly Cheese, which was gobbled immediately.

Here is my menu plan for the week of January 29:

Cookie of the Week: Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (repeat from last week, we really liked them)

Sunday: Grilled lamb chops, roasted root vegetables (last week’s farmer’s market purchases), kale chips, sautéed spinach

Monday: Spigariello saute with pasta, roasted cauliflower and turnips

Tuesday: Pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw (cabbage, carrots, oranges), whole wheat buns (maybe a margarita with fresh limes!)

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Roasted salmon, rice, steamed whatever-vegetable-we-have-left

Friday: Take out and Trashy TV

What is on your menu plan this week? 

Posted in menu plan, Winter | 5 Comments

Family Dinner Plan: Back to basics and four squares

By Kitchen Gadget Girl | Published: January 22, 2012

Very very soon, all of you who work (in or outside the home) will be invited by to sling wet noodles at my face. I feel as though I have been dutifully posting menus (each week since 2009), with the idea that they were somehow helpful to working moms who did not have time to cook. What a joke. Now that I am back working part-time, I am once again reminded about how difficult it is to get dinner on the table, even with a menu plan. Many times in the last few weeks, the daily menu has crumbled or the entire weekly menu plan has fallen apart. I have been exhausting myself trying to come up with creative weekly menus, and feeding my family healthy, whole foods. We must stop the madness.

Let’s focus on what I think is important (to me and my family; your priorities will probably be different):

  • Eating dinner together each night
  • Balanced plates of food, with vegetables, grains, proteins, fats and sugars
  • Whole food cooking, avoiding processed foods

That’s it.

For this week’s menu, I am going to focus on daily plans that are easy to accomplish, building on what I already know how to do pretty well (saute, grill, boil, bake, roast). I am going to limit fancy recipes this week and stick to tried-and-true favorites. At the farmer’s market this morning, I picked up Celery, Leeks, Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, Turnips, Beets, Purple Orache (like spinach), Baby Bok Choy, Brussel Sprouts and Kabocha Squash.

Here is my menu plan for the week of January 22:

Sunday: Grilled lamb chops, roasted brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes and root vegetables, braised greens

(Meatless) Monday: White beans with roasted Kabocha squash, beet salad with quinoa, kale chips, bread (squash and beets roasted Sunday)

Tuesday: Roast salmon, brown rice, steamed bok choy, sliced oranges and kiwi

Wednesday: Mediterranean night – hummus, veggies and pita for dipping, kibbe or falafel (hummus might be purchased, might be homemade)

Thursday: Posole with pork, sliced radishes, avocado, cheese and whole grain tortillas   actually, we had waffles. They were yummy.

Friday: Leftovers (we are moving Take Out and Trashy TV to Saturday because of Friday night soccer practice)

What is on your menu plan this week? What kind of tips do you use to stay sane and healthy in your eating?

Posted in menu plan, Winter | 1 Comment

Family DInner Plan: Short week and slow cooker plans

By Kitchen Gadget Girl | Published: January 16, 2012

With a short week, soccer starting (both Spring and Indoor), a science fair project or two, and a volunteer recognition dinner, the week’s menu needs to be easy and designed with planned over (leftovers) in mind. We arrived at the airport tonight after a weekend away, and stopped by Whole Foods on the way home, where we found two roast chickens for $14.99. Tonight’s dinner was roast chicken, roasted brussel sprouts and Israeli couscous. Tomorrow night I am thinking an easy chicken noodle soup. And I am also thinking of a batch of Curry Chicken Salad for lunches.

Here is my menu plan for the week of January 16:

Monday: Roast chicken, roasted brussel sprouts, Israeli couscous (making the chicken stock for tomorrow overnight in the crock pot)

Tuesday: Chicken noodle soup, whole wheat bread (from last week’s pita breads), sliced veggies

Wednesday: Pumpkin chili with ground beef and black beans, cornbread, salad (I plan on using dried black beans and will prep those in the pressure cooker Tuesday night)

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Take Out and Trashy TV (although last week, we had a fried chicken sandwich from Pollo Fritto SF, a food truck that parks Friday nights on the Alameda between 5-7pm. Mighty tasty!)

What is on your menu plan this week? How do you handle short weeks and hectic schedules?

P.S. Inspired by Cindy’s 365 photo project, I started one of my own with iPhone photos. You can view my photo journal here on Kitchen Gadget Girl, or directly at 365.foodinthekitchen.com. Let me know what you think, and keep in mind that practice makes perfect!

P.P.S. The photo above is from one of the science fair projects, where the chief investigator was looking at how acids and alkalis react when mixed with red cabbage water ice cubes. Pretty and fun!

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Posted in menu plan, Winter | Leave a comment

  • Foodbuzz Ad

  • Posts about…

  • 365 +1 Photo Project

    • photo from Tumblr

      My first marmalade using @chezpim technique. Rangpur Lime-Blood Orange with a couple Clementines thrown in for fun. (Taken with instagram)


  • Foodbuzz Featured Publisher

  • Uptake Widget

    Vacations

  • Foodily Search Button

  • Clever Girls Collective

  • NaBloPoMo

    NaBloPoMo 2011

  • Recent Posts

  • Subscribe

  • Gadgets

  • Eat Local

  • Holiday Celebrations

  • Travel

Featuring Recent Posts WordPress Widget development by YD