Super Secret Family Recipe...Shhhh. Brun Kager

For many years my husband has waxed poetic about these cookies his mom makes.

I asked for the recipe several times, and always got the 'oh yeah, I'll have to write it down...' But the recipe never materialized.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, I was visiting with her and she HAD THE RECIPE! I grabbed a pen and a receipt out of my purse and scrawled the recipe down. It was pretty cryptic. So, I had to make a few batches before I got them right. Or, as my husband says, ALMOST like his mom's. Ha. Ha ha.

I think they're pretty darn good. A great cookie with a cup of coffee or tea.

By the way, I've found many other recipes for Brun Kager online, none like this one. Most I've found are more like a spice cookie. So imagine all the failed attempts I had before I got the actual recipe from my MIL. Gah.


Brun Kager (Brown Cookie)

Gather:

1 cup sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 Tbs Lyles Golden Syrup (would be by the Karo Syrup, if the store has it. I found mine at Cost Plus World Market)
2 cups plus 2 Tbs flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder (usually located next to the vanilla extract - not all stores have it)

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream butter, sugar and golden syrup.

Sift flour baking soda and vanilla powder together. Add to wet ingredients. Mix well. This dough is SUPER DRY. Think biscuit dough.

Once the dough is combined, form into four equal balls. Roll each ball out into a hot dog-esque shape, about 3/4 - 1" in diameter (the recipe I was given said wieners - I am totally five years old - I laughed every time I looked at it). This is what it will look like:


I'm showing an example because this is where I was hung up. For some reason I thought I had to cut them into little disks from the wiener. WIENER.

No. The wieners go into the oven WHOLE.

Bake for 15 minutes. The dough will spread out. Cut on the diagonal while still warm. Let cool a bit, and devour.

I would post a photo of the finished cookies, but I forgot to take a shot before they were all gone. What can I say? We're cookie monsters.

Got Apples?

This post is dedicated to Jenny, who is going to kill me if I don't post something on this here blog. Which, yes, has been dreadfully neglected! I will work on that! I promise! I honestly haven't been cooking much these days unless you count Instant Breakfast shakes, grilled cheese and Ensure - but now that I am no longer a caregiver, I get to cook the stuff I like again (the person I was caring for has completed cancer treatment and is back at her home).

That said, I AM watching what I eat, so I'm not making this right now. Why? Because it is so good I could sit and eat the entire pan with a spoon.

Oh yeah, I love the name of this dish too. I'm not sure where this recipe is from (I got it from a luncheon), but I would wager either a garden club or church cookbook.


Apple Impromptu

4 cups sliced apples
¼ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup butter
1 large egg
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
¾ cup flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange apple slices in a 9-inch greased pan or pie plate. Sprinkle with the sugar and cinnamon. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. While apples are baking, cream together ¾ cup sugar and butter. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. Stir in flour and baking powder. When apples have baked for 20 minutes, remove from oven and spread topping mixture over all. Return to oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving. You can garnish with whipped cream, if you like.

Makes six respectable servings or one embarrssing/comfort eating sized serving.

Grilled Thai Beef Salad

Of all the Ellie Krieger recipes I've tried so far, this one is HANDS DOWN my favorite. Dare I say it? The perfect summer meal.

I modified the recipe a bit (as usual) - I added more veggies, used scallions instead of shallots, put a little sesame oil and rice vinegar in the marinade/dressing, and threw some rice noodles in to give it a bit more heft so it would be more of an entree type dish.

The original recipe is here.

And this is what I did:

Thai Beef Salad (adapted from Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger)

Gather:
1 pound top-round London broil or flank steak, about 1 to 1 1/2-inches thick
3 tablespoons lime juice, divided
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons minced ginger
1 1/4 teaspoons red curry paste
1/2 head green leaf lettuce (about 6 cups)
1/2 red bell pepper, julienned
1 large carrot, cut into matchsticks
1/2 cup scallions, chopped
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, rinsed and dried
1 cup basil leaves, sliced into ribbons
1 cup rice noodles

Make it:

Rinse and pat the meat dry. Place in a sealable plastic bag or small glass dish. In a medium bowl combine 1 tablespoon of the lime juice, soy sauce, canola oil, sesame oil, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and red curry paste. Pour half the mixture into the bag with the meat. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons lime juice to the bag. Seal tightly, and marinate meat in refrigerator at least 4 hours or overnight, turning occasionally. Reserve the rest of the mixture refrigerated, to dress the salad.

Spray grill or grill pan with cooking spray and preheat. Grill steak until medium-rare, about 5 minutes per side, depending on desired doneness. Let rest until room temperature then slice thinly against the grain.

Soak rice noodles in boiling water till softened, about 5 minutes. Drain and rinse thoroughly with cold water to halt cooking and bring noodle temperature down.

Combine lettuce, scallions, red pepper, carrots, rice noodles, cilantro, basil and beef in a salad bowl, reserving a few scallions for garnish. Add the reserved dressing and toss to coat. Divide salad among 4 plates and garnish with reserved sliced shallots.

A few notes:
- As always, USE FRESH GINGER. Store what you don't use in the freezer in an airtight container.
- Next time I make this, I may go a little lighter on the basil. It was a little overpowering for my taste.
- Cucumber would be lovely in this salad.

Not Fried Zuchinni Fries

Does anybody else have zucchini coming out of their ears?

I guess it's that time of year. I hate to let it go to waste, but if I bake and eat another loaf of chocolate zucchini bread...well, let's just say it won't be good.

I remember a long time ago I used to get fried zucchini at Red Robin. They were basically like tempura spears of zucchini served with marinara. YUM.

But, I don't deep fry - for two reasons - I don't like my house smelling like a fast food joint and, though delicious, deep fried foods aren't good for you... I know. No one ever told me that either. HA HA.

I found a couple of baked zucchini fry recipes and tinkered around. I decided to make mine in rounds, rather than spears.

Why? Cause I'm lazy, that's why.

Gather:

2 zucchini
1 egg white
1/4 cup nonfat milk
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 tsp dried Italian herbs
jarred marinara sauce

Preheat oven to 425°. Cut 2 zucchini into 1/2 inch rounds. Whisk egg white in a small bowl, and add 1⁄4 cup milk. Combine 1⁄2 cup shredded Parmesan and 1⁄2 cup breadcrumbs and the herbs in a separate bowl. Dip zucchini sticks into egg mixture, and then roll in breadcrumb mixture. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray, and place zucchini on sheet. Bake for 25–30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with marinara for dipping. Makes about 32 fries.

Broccoli Cranberry Salad

Yes, I will admit that broccoli salad is very church potluck-y. Kind of like green bean casserole and ambrosia salad.

But come on. It's really good.

No, really. The dressing is so tangy, the broccoli is crunchy, and there's bacon. BACON. Do I need to say anything else? Bacon.

I made this the other day for a family get together and came home with no leftovers. So I would say that's a good sign.

Also, it couldn't be easier.

Gather:

1 lb broccoli florets (do yourself a favor and buy the bagged kind - I won't tell)
1/2 cup chopped red (or purple) onion
6 slices bacon, crumbled (turkey or regular)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 cup regular or light mayonnaise
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
salt and freshly ground pepper


In the bottom of a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper.
Add the broccoli, onion, bacon and cranberries. Toss gently. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

CEiMB: Cobb Salad

I am a Cobb salad connoisseur. Big time. Obsessively.

Yet, for some reason, I've never made one at home. I attribute that to the long list of ingredients. But I know that if I did keep everything on hand, I would probably eat a Cobb salad daily.

Needless to say, I was pretty excited to try this recipe. Plus, it hot as an oven here right now (101 degrees yesterday, a virtual inferno for us tender Pacific Northwesterners), so a salad was a perfect dish to 'cook' (or not cook).

Though I did have to boil some eggs. That was rough.

I made a few substitutions. First of all, I do not like ham. I simply need BACON on my Cobb salad. Sorry. It's true and it's an abomination to leave out the bacon. End of story.

And, I used lettuce from my garden, which is butter, I believe, and used spinach in lieu of watercress to up the nutrition factor.

Here is the original recipe.

Here's my version:

For the Dressing:

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 small clove garlic, microplaned
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the salad:

5 strips bacon, crumbled
2 hard-boiled eggs
6 cups butter lettuce (about 6 ounces) torn into bite sized pieces
2 cups baby spinach
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced (about 2 cups)
1/2 avocado, diced (about 3/4 cup)
1 cup cooked diced chicken breast 1 (6-ounce) breast
1/2 cup crumbled Roquefort or Blue cheese (about 2 ounces)

Directions In a small bowl, whisk together all of the dressing ingredients and set aside.

Remove and discard the yolk from 1 of the hard boiled eggs. Chop the remaining egg white and whole egg and set aside.

In a large bowl toss the lettuce and spinach with 2/3 of the dressing. Put the dressed greens onto a large serving dish. Place the tomatoes on top forming a row down the middle. In strips on either side of the tomatoes place the avocado, chicken, cheese, diced egg, and the bacon on top of the greens. Drizzle with the remaining dressing and serve.

So, I have to admit I'm not crazy about the dressing. I like a blue cheese dressing with my Cobb. I think what threw me off was the Worcestershire - I usually love it, but it was a little too strong in the dressing.

That said, overall, very good salad. A good staple recipe to pull out on hot days.

A few notes:

- I did my bacon on the grill - 300 degrees, flipping every 5 minutes. This got rid of a ton of fat, the bacon was super crispy, and my house didn't smell like a Denney's.

- Use a rotisserie chicken! I was so glad I picked one up, there was no way I wanted to cook chicken in this heat!

P.S. Excuse my picture. I was ravenous and couldn't be bothered to take a proper, in focus photo!

CEiMB: Aromatic Noodles with Lime Peanut Sauce

I love love love Asian food. And my husband doesn't.

Which was FINE BY ME this week, because I got to eat the AMAZING dish all by myself. It took me three days to eat through the entire thing, and it was better each day (it is good cold and hot).

Last Sunday I had an afternoon to myself. My lovely husband watched the kiddo and I was able to go shopping child free.

I took the opportunity to hit an Asian market near our home I'd never tried, but had heard the produce was incredible.

And, wow. Just wow. Super fresh, beautifully displayed and CHEAP. Heaven. Hunks of ginger the size of my forearm. Every chili known to mankind. Gorgeous fresh herbs.

Let's just say I'm NEVER buying produce at my regular grocer again.

So, armed with this recipe, I set out and was able to find all my ingredients.

For the noodles, I found fresh spinach noodles in the refrigerated section. I also mixed the veggies and the noodles together, rather than topping the noodles with the veg. I'd like to say that was a stylistic thing, but honestly I'm kind of ADD and didn't read the recipe thoroughly. Oops.

Other than that, I really made no substitutions in this recipe. I had read some reviews saying this was too peanutty, so I cut the nuttiness with extra lime juice in the dressing, and also doubled the red pepper flake - cause I like it SPICY.

(I wouldn't particularly call this toddler friendly, what with nuts and spice. For my little man, I just cooked a larger amount of noodles and vegetables, and tossed the extra with a little sesame oil and soy sauce. He gobbled it right up.)

So, without further ado, I present Aromatic Noodles with Lime Peanut Sauce (original recipe is here). You really need to make this. I'm not even joking.

Gather:

3/4 pound spinach linguine or whole-wheat spaghetti
2 cups (about 9 ounces) broccoli florets
2 cups (about 6 ounces) snow peas, trimmed
2 cups (about 6 ounces) sugar snap peas, trimmed
1/2 cup natural creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 scallion, cut into pieces
3/4 inch fresh ginger, finely grated
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts, chopped

Cook the pasta in a large pot of water according to the directions on the package. Drain and rinse with cold water.

While the pasta is cooking put the broccoli in a steamer basket over a large pot of boiling water and steam it for 3 minutes. Add the snow peas and sugar snap peas and steam for 2 minutes more.

Make the sauce by pureeing the peanut butter, soy sauce, water, vinegar, lime juice, scallion, ginger, sugar and red pepper flakes in a food processor or blender until smooth.

Right before serving, toss the pasta and vegetables with the peanut sauce. Divide into 6 serving bowls. Coarsely chop the peanuts, sprinkle them on top and serve.

Notes:

Use fresh ginger for this. If I ever catch you using ginger powder in lieu of fresh I will beat you with the spice jar. Fresh ginger is CHEAP and keeps in the freezer forever. Rant over.

Did I mention this is the greenest dish I have ever made? I think throwing in some chopped cilantro would make it even better, and even greener. And maybe serve with lime wedges for a little extra citrus kick.