For a little change of pace, I’m going to write a different kind of post than usual. When I started my first blog in 2006, I copied my friend Alison (and others) and had a sidebar list of things that I was reading, watching, knitting and listening to. I liked that list a lot but when I moved to my own domain, I got rid of it.

I’m thinking I’ll try to do a post every now and again based on that list. Here’s the first installment.

Just out of the oven and cooling on the counter: Chocolate Valentino – I did add a little espresso powder and hazelnut liqueur to my version.

Will be cooking for dinner in the next day or so: Gai Pad Krapow (Thai Basil Chicken)
– for years this was the only entree I would order in a Thai restaurant. I’ve since expanded my dinner selections.

Currently drinking: Chocolate a la Taza from La Tienda (where I work) – it’s cold and I had some milk getting dangerously close to expiration.

Playing on the iPod right now: Everything But You by Glen Phillips

Checked out from the library today: Weeds Season 1 DVD, Chocolate & Zucchini and The Naked Chef Takes Off – I can honestly say this is the first Jamie Oliver book I’ve ever looked at.

Currently reading: Atonement (started months ago & need to pick up again), The Reach of a Chef: Beyond the Kitchen and Notes from a Small Island – I’m working my way through all of Bill Bryson’s books.

Would like to buy: These silly t-shirts: Just Beat It and This is How I Roll

Thinking about knitting: Saartje booties for a friend having a little girl next month.

Anxiously awaiting: Our new Blanco granite composite sink – the sink that came with the house sucks and washing pans and big bowls in it is a pain. The new double sink is 9 1/2″ deep on each side. I can’t wait until it’s here and installed. Yes, I get excited about things like new sinks.

Should be baking: Sample cakes for my sister’s wedding in July. I seriously need to perfect some recipes.

Needs: New shoes. Tennis shoes, sandals and shoes for work. I haven’t bought any in ages and am now in desperate need. I really want some green Simple sneakers but I should probably buy real walking/running shoes instead.

Playing on the iPod now: “The New Year” by Death Cab for Cutie

Attempting to Learn: Using a flash with the camera and how to take nicer photographs in general. Improving my photography skills is one of my big goals for the year.

Must Resist: Pepsi with real sugar in it. It will only be available for a couple of months and I want some. But I haven’t had a soda since December 31, 2007 and shouldn’t start again. Not even just once.

What’s Keeping Me Busy: Taking a picture every day for one year. It’s a popular trend on Flickr and I’m posting mine there as well. Some days are hard and I really just don’t feel like taking a picture. Despite this, I’m 56 days into the project. Only 309 to go.

Where I’ll probably be going on vacation in August: Seattle (and probably Oregon). The vacation days are approved. We just need to buy our plane tickets. I’ve never been to the West Coast (yet I have been to Alaska and Hawaii).

Trying to find: Bridesmaid’s outfits for my sister’s wedding. Red and white are the colors and she wants casual skirts or dresses for us. The wedding is here in Virginia in July so heavy clothing is a bad idea. At the moment, stores don’t appear to be selling red clothing. Suggestions?

Waiting For: Spring. The cold weather needs to cease. My daffodils need to bloom. The world outside needs to turn green. That’s all I ask.

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I woke up yesterday morning wanting to bake a coconut key lime tart. Where the idea came from is beyond me. But it sounded like a good idea and it was Saturday so I had plenty of time for baking.

My craving told me I wanted a normal key lime filling with a coconut graham cracker crust. In addition, I wanted whipped cream and toasted coconut on top. With specific details like this, you’d think I’d made this particular tart before. But I hadn’t.

I have made key lime tarts before. I think the last one I made was a little off but I can’t quite recall what was wrong with it. Rather than risk even the slightest failure, I went to the internet. After looking around the web a little, I found Peabody’s Camping Key Lime Pie with Coconut-Pecan Graham Cracker Crust. Her recipe looked perfect but I didn’t feel like running to the store for pecans or mascarpone cheese…so I left them out and altered the recipe.

Coconut Key Lime Tart

Both recipes printed here are very slightly adapted from the Key Lime Pie recipe found at the Culinary Concoctions by Peabody website.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup key lime juice, fresh if possible
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
• 5 egg yolks
• whipped cream (for garnish)
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup toasted coconut (for garnish)
• 1 coconut graham cracker pie crust (see recipe below)

Directions

1. Whisk sweetened condensed milk with the egg yolks.
2. Stir in whipping cream and key lime juice.
3. Pour into prepared coconut graham cracker crust and bake at 325° for 15 minutes.
4. Cool to room temperature and refrigerate for at least an hour before slicing.

Coconut Graham Cracker Crust

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups crushed graham cracker crumbs (approximately 12 graham crackers)
• 1/2 cup toasted sweetened coconut flakes, crushed into tiny pieces
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract
• 6-7 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

Directions

1. In a food processor, blend together graham cracker crumbs, coconut, and sugar.
2. Add about 6 tablespoons melted butter. Pulse a few times. If it seems like it needs more butter add the remaining tablespoon.
3. Pour contents into an 11″ tart pan and press to form a shell.
4. Bake crust for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

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To find out more about this picture, click on the picture and go to Flickr.

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So, I posted a picture of these oatmeal sandwich cookies here months ago as a Wordless Wednesday post. The picture was popular and requests (or demands) were made for the recipe. I intended to post the recipe but I goofed and didn’t have a legible copy of it and the cookbook had been returned to the library. I apologized for this and got a little grief from some of my readers for it.

Fast forward to now. The book was finally available at the library. The recipe is posted below and I’m very very very sorry for the delay.

These cookies are pretty similar to Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies. If you enjoyed those as a kid, bake these cookies. If you never had them, bake these cookies…as long as you like oatmeal.

I baked these again tonight and made a slight change to the recipe that I didn’t make the first time I made them. The filling recipe calls for 1/2 cup vegetable shortening. The first time I made these, we could definitely tell that there was shortening in the filling. I’ve got no problems with shortening but I don’t really want to taste it in my food. So when I made the filling today, I used 1/4 cup shortening and 1/4 cup margarine. This did the trick…it didn’t alter the texture of the filling at all but it did eliminate the Crisco taste in the filling. Please note that I did not change the amount of butter in the filling!

The only other change I made to the recipe is that I made smaller cookies.

The recipe below is the original recipe as originally printed in The All-American Cookie Book by Nancy Baggett. I have added a few parenthetical notes about the recipe.

“Old-Timey” Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies

From The All-American Cookie Book by Nancy Baggett

Ingredients

Cookies:

• 2 2/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• generous 1 3/4 cups packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
• 2/3 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 3 large eggs
• 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

Filling:

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2/3 cup (1 stick, plus 2 2/3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, slightly softened
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening (See my substitution suggestion in the text above.)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 jar (1 1/3 cups) marshmallow creme (Marshmallow fluff!!)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease several baking sheets or coat with nonstick spray. (I used sheets of parchment paper instead.)
2. In a medium bowl, thoroughly stir together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on high speed, beat together the brown sugar, butter, shortening, and corn syrup until well blended and lightened, about 1 1/2 minutes.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla, and beat until very light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
5. Beat in half of the flour mixture.
6. Beat or stir in the remaining flour mixture and the oats until evenly incorporated.
7. Drop the dough onto the baking sheets using a 1/8-cup measure or coffee scoop, spacing about 3 inches apart. Using a lightly greased hand, pat down the cookies just slightly. (I used a cookie scoop for this and made slightly smaller cookies.)
8. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, in the middle of the oven for 9 to 12 minutes, or until lightly browned and barely firm when lightly pressed in the centers. Reverse the sheet from front to back halfway through to ensure even browning.
9. Transfer the sheet to a wire rack and let stand until the cookies firm up slightly, about 2 minutes. Using a spatula, transfer the cookies to wire racks. Let stand until completely cooled. (Because I used parchment paper, the spatula wasn’t necessary as the cookies could easily be lifted off the parchment.)
10. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together the powdered sugar, butter, shortening, corn syrup, vanilla and salt until well blended and fluffy. Add the marshmallow creme and beat until well blended and smooth.
11. Place half of the cookies underside up. Spoon a generous 2 tablespoons filling in the center of each cookie. Spread the filling to within 1/2 inch of the edge. Cover each with a second cookie of about the same size. Gently press down so the filling almost extends to the edges. (Be generous with the filling. You will have enough.)
12. Store in individual plastic bags in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 1 month. Let come to room temperature before serving. (Individual plastic bags seems really wasteful to me…a large plastic container in the fridge worked for me.)

Recipe note as printed in cookbook: Dough that is too warm may yield cookies that spread too much. If the baked cookies on your first sheet are more than about 3 1/4 inches across, refrigerate the remaining dough for a few minutes before continuing. This will produce slightly sturdier, more compact rounds, which are better suited for sandwiches.

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Since I’ve written a couple of blog posts about the trifles I’ve made with homemade ladyfingers, I figured it was time to post the only ladyfingers recipe I’ve ever used.

I’ve never bought pre-made ladyfingers at the store so I really can’t tell you how much better they are. But I assume they’re better. In my opinion, pretty much everything tastes better homemade.

I’ve made them from scratch for the last 5 or 6 years. They require very basic ingredients and are really easy to make as long as you own a good electric mixer.

If you’re nervous about using a pastry bag, don’t be. If you’re using this in a trifle, they don’t have to be all that pretty…they just need to taste good. If you don’t own a pastry bag, that’s okay too. Use a Ziploc as instructed in the recipe below.

I own a pastry bag and tips but for this particular recipe, I’ve started using the pastry tip in a Ziploc. All of the batter fits in a single Ziploc and doesn’t squirt out the top as it often does when using a real pastry bag.

I’d like to give the proper source for this recipe but I can’t. I copied it from a magazine or printed it from the internet years ago and didn’t write down the source at the time. I kinda-sorta-maybe think it was Epicurious. Maybe. All I know is that I happened upon this recipe and thought I’d give it a try. Little did I know that it would turn out to be a fantastic ladyfingers recipe that I would use again and again and again.

Use these in any recipe calling for ladyfingers or sponge-cake cookies. I use them in trifles instead of the heavy pound cakes often prescribed. If you want to make tiramisu at home, make it with these. See the trifles I made with them here and here. And the tiramisu I made here.

Ladyfingers

(Sponge-Cake Cookies)

Makes about 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 4 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour and salt. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg whites on high speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue beating until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in 1/4 cup of sugar and continue beating until the whites will hold a 2-inch peak. Transfer beaten whites to a large bowl.
4. In the same bowl used to beat the whites (the bowl does not need to be washed first), beat the egg yolks and the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar on high-speed until very thick and light-colored, about 5 minutes.
5. Fold 1/4 of the yolk mixture into the whites. When almost incorporated, fold the rest of the yolk mixture into the whites.
6. Fold the flour into the mixture.
7. Prepare a pastry bag with a fairly large plain tip (about 1/4-inch) or place the batter in a large plastic freezer bag and cut off one corner so that the hole is 1/4 inch in diameter. Pipe the ladyfingers onto the prepared cookie sheet in strips about 5 inches long and 1 inch apart.
8. Bake about 10 minutes, rotating the sheet front to back halfway through the baking time. When done, the ladyfingers should be golden brown. Remove the ladyfingers, still on the parchment, to a wire rack.
9. Pipe remaining batter onto a fresh sheet of parchment, slide onto cookie sheet, and bake.
10. When all cookies are baked and cooled, remove them from the parchment and store in an airtight container.

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Somehow or another, I’ve acquired a 9 or 10 issue subscription to Sunset magazine. I didn’t order it. I didn’t pay for it. And according to the subscription label, my first name is “Meliss”. Despite all this, I’m enjoying the magazine’s recipes. I made their Caramelized Vegetable and Meatball Soup a couple of weeks ago and I made this Orange Trifle this weekend.

“Wow! Wow! Wow!” is how I feel about this trifle.  It’s absolutely positively fantastic. I made it on Saturday afternoon and it’s nearly gone already. Yes, we did share a little bit of it…but my trifle bowl is pretty ginormous.

It’s early in the year but this trifle is already a strong candidate for my favorite homemade dessert of 2009. All of the oranges and orange based ingredients make it taste really fresh. It’s also not very heavy because of the ladyfingers and the mounds of super fluffy whipped cream & mascarpone cheese. I’d much rather eat this than something heavy and full of chocolate.

You could also justify this dessert as being sort of good for you because of all the Vitamin C from the oranges. Ignore the heavy cream and cheese and just think about the oranges. The cold and flu fighting oranges.

The recipe is here. As usual, I made some alterations. I’ve also got some advice about this dessert.

Here’s my advice and the changes I made to the recipe:

• Don’t make this dessert if you don’t have an entire afternoon on your hands. Trifles in general take a while to assemble. This one takes a little longer than a while. Despite this, it was totally worth it.
• The recipe calls for medium oranges. Save yourself some trouble and use large oranges. The larger the better. I used a mix of large oranges and clementines. Don’t use clementines. While they do taste great, cutting them as the recipe instructs is way too difficult. I chose to use them and I will not do that again.
• The recipe uses pound cake. As I said in my post for the Hazelnut Trifle I made several months ago, pound cake is heavy and I don’t like using it in trifles. So I made homemade ladyfingers again. I think I’ll write a separate post (with recipe) later this week.
• I wanted my Orange Trifle to taste a little bit like an orange Creamsicle. To achieve this, I used a little bit of vanilla extract in the whipped cream and mascarpone cheese mixture. I also added some Stoli vanilla vodka to the liquour mixture (in addition to the orange liqueur used in the recipe). The ladyfingers are also vanilla flavored. The Creamsicle taste was achieved.
• The recipe calls for just 3/4 of a cup of heavy cream. I used a full 2 cups. I wanted more cream filling. Can you really blame me? The recipe’s instructions for the cream remained the same other than that..

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