After having made a failed batch of protein powder to presumably make chocolate covered protein bars, I have perhaps stumbled across one of the most delicious tasting cookies I have made so far. Though, the amount of sugar in the recipe is a bit much. I could certainly cut it down.
This is what went into the protein powder:
wet ingredients
1/4 c homemade sugar cane syrup, heated to 220 F and cooled
2 tbsp organic peanut butter
1/2 c homemade pear sauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
dry ingredients
3/4 dark chocolate chips
2/3 c dried cranberries
2 c old fashioned organic oatmeal, pulsed briefly in a food prep
4 tbsp organic chia seed, pulsed briefly in a food prep
2 tbsp organic flax seeds, pulsed briefly in a food prep
2/3 c organic coconut flour
And, to help bring it together as a "dough", I added:
1 egg
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1/4 c organic granulated sugar (omit next time)
1/2 c brown sugar
Directions
Mix together until all the ingredients stick together. Spooned onto a baking sheet lined with a silicon mat. Gently press down onto each cookie. These don't spread out, so a dozen can be baked on a single sheet at a time.
Bake at 375 degrees F for 10 minutes.
Makes 2 dozen tablespoon-sized cookies.
Kitchen Notes: Paneer vs Farmer's Cheese
I had a half of a half gallon of milk that was stamped for today. I never know what that date stamp means, sell by or use by; but for liquid dairy, my brain thinks it means the latter. So, to not drink endless cups of hot chocolate or warm milk, I turned it into cheese with some help from lemon juice. The process of making paneer is identical to making farmers cheese. The former is not salted but the latter is. Plus, paneer is a pressed cheese.. which essentially means that it is drained for longer with heavy things on top of the cheesecloth than farmers cheese.
Once farmers cheese is done, you could stir heavy cream back into it to make cream cheese and blend it up to make it smooth. You can also mix fresh herbs into it and re-wrap the cheese in wax paper or cheesecloth to make an herbed cheese; kind of how you'd make a herbed butter. But, alas, I am still talking about farmers cheese. Onto the paneer...
Paneer is essentially cottage cheese, the large or small curds of the cheesemaking process. Paneer is a bit drier than farmers cheese and is typically cut into cubes then floured for cooking in savory dishes. I don't know how much milk I started with (less than a half gallon), but it made 8 oz of cheese curds. I put the liquid whey in a covered container in the fridge. If I don't use it, the whey will get composted. The whey can be used in place of water for any bread recipe. That's the best use I've found.
Ingredients
some quantity of whole cow milk
2+ tbsp lemon juice (up to 4 tbsp per gallon of milk)
Directions
Bring milk to a rolling boil (bubbles crest the surface and can't be stirred down) and add lemon juice. Stir, stir, stir. Don't let the milk burn. When I turned off the heat and added the lemon juice, curds wouldn't form for me. So I boiled the milk and lemon juice together and that worked. This whole process of the curds forming should take less than 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and let the mixture cool for a half hour before straining into a cheesecloth-lined strainer. Rinse the curds (this is a step that I forgot to do and it doesn't break the process, it's just that my cheese will taste a little lemony). Wrap curds in cheesecloth and put it inside a colander with holes. Set something heavy on top of the cheese so that more water will be pressed out. I used another pot filled with water. The second draining should take a few hours as the cheese cools.
The biggest differences in preparation process is the use of lemon juice (vs white vinegar, though any type of fruit acid will do) and the fact that the curds are washed before pressing.
Once farmers cheese is done, you could stir heavy cream back into it to make cream cheese and blend it up to make it smooth. You can also mix fresh herbs into it and re-wrap the cheese in wax paper or cheesecloth to make an herbed cheese; kind of how you'd make a herbed butter. But, alas, I am still talking about farmers cheese. Onto the paneer...
Paneer is essentially cottage cheese, the large or small curds of the cheesemaking process. Paneer is a bit drier than farmers cheese and is typically cut into cubes then floured for cooking in savory dishes. I don't know how much milk I started with (less than a half gallon), but it made 8 oz of cheese curds. I put the liquid whey in a covered container in the fridge. If I don't use it, the whey will get composted. The whey can be used in place of water for any bread recipe. That's the best use I've found.
Ingredients
some quantity of whole cow milk
2+ tbsp lemon juice (up to 4 tbsp per gallon of milk)
Directions
Bring milk to a rolling boil (bubbles crest the surface and can't be stirred down) and add lemon juice. Stir, stir, stir. Don't let the milk burn. When I turned off the heat and added the lemon juice, curds wouldn't form for me. So I boiled the milk and lemon juice together and that worked. This whole process of the curds forming should take less than 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and let the mixture cool for a half hour before straining into a cheesecloth-lined strainer. Rinse the curds (this is a step that I forgot to do and it doesn't break the process, it's just that my cheese will taste a little lemony). Wrap curds in cheesecloth and put it inside a colander with holes. Set something heavy on top of the cheese so that more water will be pressed out. I used another pot filled with water. The second draining should take a few hours as the cheese cools.
The biggest differences in preparation process is the use of lemon juice (vs white vinegar, though any type of fruit acid will do) and the fact that the curds are washed before pressing.
Sweet Potato Fries
These did not come out as crispy as I had hoped they. They are cooked through and resemble fries. I used Japanese sweet potatoes (red skin, yellow flesh) for this; though certainly garnet yams (red skin, orange flesh) or the other sweet potatoes (brown skin, white/beige flesh) can be also be used.
Ingredients
2 medium sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2" matchsticks
olive oil
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Clean and cut sweet potatoes so that the pieces resemble fries. The idea is to cut them into uniform sizes so the fries cook evenly. Toss in a large bowl with olive oil, kosher salt, and black pepper.
Spread onto a baking tray in a single layer.
Bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees F. Remove from oven and flip fries with a spatula. Return tray to the oven and bake for 10 more minutes.
Serve with homemade ketchup.
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| The Foodening Blog: Sweet Potato Fries |
Ingredients
2 medium sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2" matchsticks
olive oil
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Clean and cut sweet potatoes so that the pieces resemble fries. The idea is to cut them into uniform sizes so the fries cook evenly. Toss in a large bowl with olive oil, kosher salt, and black pepper.
Spread onto a baking tray in a single layer.
Bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees F. Remove from oven and flip fries with a spatula. Return tray to the oven and bake for 10 more minutes.
Serve with homemade ketchup.
Mung Bean Paste
I had this idea to make the paste from scratch, mostly because it's not sold in Asian grocery stores. Plus, it's a relatively easy dessert filling to make. It is supposed to go into steamed bao or mooncakes. I'm hoping that a few hours in the refrigerator to cool down will help the paste thicken up before using. The baking soda is supposed to help the beans reduce foaming during the boiling step. I found the bag of beans at an Asian grocery store.
375 g dried whole mung beans
110 g organic granulated sugar
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
1/2 tsp baking soda
1. In a large bowl, soak beans in enough water to cover for 4 hours.
2. Do not discard soaking liquid, instead pour liquid into a pot and add the beans and baking soda. Bring to a boil and then simmer covered for 30-45 minutes; stir occasionally so that the beans do not burn. Add water to the beans if there isn't enough water in the pot.
3. Drain, if necessary, through a sieve. In a food prep, combine cooked beans and sugar. Pulse until the beans are thoroughly pulverized.
4. In a frying pan, heat oil and add the bean/sugar mixture over low heat. Stir frequently with a wooden or silicone spatula until the paste is of a consistency that is thickened. Remove from heat and let cool before using.
You should nibble on some of the paste to taste for sweetness. If it isn't sweet enough, mix in a tablespoon of sugar until it is.
375 g dried whole mung beans
110 g organic granulated sugar
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
1/2 tsp baking soda
1. In a large bowl, soak beans in enough water to cover for 4 hours.
2. Do not discard soaking liquid, instead pour liquid into a pot and add the beans and baking soda. Bring to a boil and then simmer covered for 30-45 minutes; stir occasionally so that the beans do not burn. Add water to the beans if there isn't enough water in the pot.
3. Drain, if necessary, through a sieve. In a food prep, combine cooked beans and sugar. Pulse until the beans are thoroughly pulverized.
4. In a frying pan, heat oil and add the bean/sugar mixture over low heat. Stir frequently with a wooden or silicone spatula until the paste is of a consistency that is thickened. Remove from heat and let cool before using.
You should nibble on some of the paste to taste for sweetness. If it isn't sweet enough, mix in a tablespoon of sugar until it is.
Orange Marmalade
After a failed batch of trying to make apple sauce with apples from my Frankenstein tree, I decided to make a marmalade (a citrus jam made from fruit flesh and peel) using Satsuma oranges. I chose these oranges because they have a relatively smooth skin, the peel is bright orange and it has a nice fragrance. They are also very easy to peel after having been peeled with a vegetable peeler. I made candied orange peels earlier in the day.
After having read Ina Garten's recipe on Food Network, I realized that her no-pectin version had water and sugar as a simple syrup ratio. Her two hour simmering time is to reduce the water in the jam liquid. I halved her water/sugar ratio to just four cups each. The Satsuma oranges are really sweet on their own. And, instead of adding whole lemons, I used just the juice of two fresh lemons.
You can make your own liquid pectin from boiling the peel and pith of oranges or lemons, or green apple peels, in water. Read more about homemade citrus pectin on this link.
Ingredients
3 lbs (6 large) Satsuma oranges, peeled and thinly sliced
4 c simple sugar syrup (4 c water + 4 c sugar)
prepared orange peels (from 4 oranges)
4 tbsp fresh lemon juice (2 large lemons)
Directions
1. Prepare orange peels by using a non-serrated vegetable peeler to remove orange part of peel from oranges. Thinly slice peels with a sharp knife. Put peels in a pot and cover it with enough water to cover the peels. Bring to a boil and boil for 20 minutes. Drain water and set peels aside.
2. In a separate pot, combine 4 cups of water with 4 cups of sugar. Bring to a boil and stir so that all the sugar dissolves. Add sliced oranges and simmer on low heat for 2 hours, or until the liquid volume has reduced by half.
The temperature will drop to 180-200 degrees F while it simmers. Stir occasionally and skim off the foam.
3. Add prepared orange peels, bring to a boil and heat the mixture up to 220 degrees F. Cook for 10 minutes. The peels should turn almost translucent at the soft ball stage. Remove from heat and fill sterilized pint or half pint jars.
4. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.
Makes 3 pints or 6 half pints.
After having read Ina Garten's recipe on Food Network, I realized that her no-pectin version had water and sugar as a simple syrup ratio. Her two hour simmering time is to reduce the water in the jam liquid. I halved her water/sugar ratio to just four cups each. The Satsuma oranges are really sweet on their own. And, instead of adding whole lemons, I used just the juice of two fresh lemons.
You can make your own liquid pectin from boiling the peel and pith of oranges or lemons, or green apple peels, in water. Read more about homemade citrus pectin on this link.
Ingredients
3 lbs (6 large) Satsuma oranges, peeled and thinly sliced
4 c simple sugar syrup (4 c water + 4 c sugar)
prepared orange peels (from 4 oranges)
4 tbsp fresh lemon juice (2 large lemons)
Directions
1. Prepare orange peels by using a non-serrated vegetable peeler to remove orange part of peel from oranges. Thinly slice peels with a sharp knife. Put peels in a pot and cover it with enough water to cover the peels. Bring to a boil and boil for 20 minutes. Drain water and set peels aside.
2. In a separate pot, combine 4 cups of water with 4 cups of sugar. Bring to a boil and stir so that all the sugar dissolves. Add sliced oranges and simmer on low heat for 2 hours, or until the liquid volume has reduced by half.
The temperature will drop to 180-200 degrees F while it simmers. Stir occasionally and skim off the foam.
3. Add prepared orange peels, bring to a boil and heat the mixture up to 220 degrees F. Cook for 10 minutes. The peels should turn almost translucent at the soft ball stage. Remove from heat and fill sterilized pint or half pint jars.
4. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.
Makes 3 pints or 6 half pints.
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