Biscotti - Better Than...

There is nothing like a nice dry biscotti with your afternoon coffee.... I had never made biscotti before, but figured I would give it a try. And am I glad I did! It's a very easy cookie to make, better than storebought, everybody I served them to loved them...and then they stay fresh for a long time, if they last that long, that is!
I found a recipe on Martha's website for Pecan Cranberry biscotti and since the Holiday is right around the corner, I thought that would be perfect.

Ingredients (Found on Marthastewart.com)
1 1/2 cups pecan halves, toasted (half of them finely chopped, the rest left whole)
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup dried cranberries

In one bowl add the dry ingredients and mix well. Mix the eggs, yolks and vanilla well together and add the dry ingredients. Mix well until the dough is sticky. Then add the cranberries and nuts. Knead the dough slightly and shape as a long flat log. Then place the log gently on a prepared baking sheet. I used a baking sheet lined with parchment, but a greased baking sheet would work too. Bake in a 350 degree over for around 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.
Let it cool a few minutes, so you can handle it. Reduce the over to 275 degrees.
Once the log has cooled, you want to slice the log on diagonal into 1/2 inch thick slices. Place on the pan again, now with the cut side down. Bake another 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes you want to turn every single biscotti, so the other side can be toasted too. Bake the other side another 20 minutes.
While they cool on a wire rack, you want to make yourself a nice steamy hot cup of cafe latte, cappuccino or whatever coffee you best like! Take your freshbaked biscotti and dip it on the coffee and enjoy!

Individual Chocolate Lava Cakes

Here is a dessert that will knock the socks of every chocolate cake fan! Individual little chocolate lava cakes...yum! It's lava cake, because when done right, the center resembles liquid lava...just the chocolate kind.

Start by spraying your ramekins with cooking spray and give them a light dusting of cocoa.

In a glass bowl take 2 oz of bittersweet chocolate and 4 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter and melt it over a water bath. Stir often and make sure the chocolate does not get too hot. Let the mixture cool at room temperature.
In a separate bowl, whisk together 2 eggs and 1/3 cup sugar until light and frothy. Now gently fold in the chocolate/butter mixture. Then you want to fold in 1/4 cup flour, in two steps. You don't not want to overwork the batter, so the eggs will collapse.
Divide the batter among 2 ramekins (if they are big, or 4 smaller ones like on the picture below)

Bake at 450 degrees for around 10 minutes... You want the top of the cake to be just firm when lightly touched, but you do not want to bake them too much, because then the middle will be too baked and you will not have the lava effect.

Serve them with a light dusting of confectionery sugar.

Zucchini Frittata

One of the vegetables I have growing in my garden this year is zucchini, so it's fun to make as many dishes as possible. Here is what half of the first zucchini was used for.
A frittata is basically a little thicker omelet, sometimes prepared in a frying pan, sometimes baked in the oven. This one I decided to bake in the oven. I took 6 eggs, whisked them together added 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 2 tbsp flour, grated zucchini, green peas, a few chunks of spicy cooked sausage and a few shakes of parmesan. I mixed it all together and poured the mixture in a greased oven proof dish and baked it for 35-40 minutes at 450 degrees.

This is a dish you can serve morning, lunch or dinner.... Just pair it up with whatever sides go with the type of meal. It's even good cold the day after!

Oven Baked Pork Chops

I thought I would share the very simple and delicious recipe with you. I grew up in Denmark eating a lot of pork and this recipe is one of my mother's. It's always good, its easy to prepare on a week night and fancy enough to entertain with. Here is what I do!

Fry the pork chops until golden in a frying pan, don't worry about cooking them all the way through, you will put them in the oven, so here you are just looking for some nice color. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Then place them in a ovenproof dish.

On the same pan, take a diced up green bell pepper (red or yellow would work great too!), a small piece of diced onion and some mushrooms. Saute on the pan until softened, season to taste. Please the vegetables on top of the pork chops. Take one can of tomatoes (diced or sauce works best) and 1 cup of half and half. Bring it to a boil, season with salt, pepper, lots of paprika and herbs de Provence, (if you don't have herbs de Provence, a mix of dried thyme, basil and oregano would work great also). Pour the tomato sauce of top of the pork chops and vegetable. Top it of with a few slices of bacon. Bake it in the over for around 30-40 minutes at 400 degrees.

Serve it with rice and you are all set! This is a dish kids and grownups will love!

Cream Puffs with Strawberries

There is no question about it... California fruit tastes better! So after picking up a big bucket of delicious red strawberries, I wondered how to incorporate them into a light summer dessert. Cream puffs of course!

The dough for cream puffs are very simple, they are just a few things you need to have in mind, inorder for them to stay puffed!

Take 2 dl water and 100 gr butter, melt it together in a small pot. Then add 1/2 tsp sugar. Graudally add 100 gr flour. Whish until combined and heat well through. Take the pot of the heat and let cool for a few minutes. You do not want to mixture to be to hot, since you now need to add the eggs and if the mixture is too hot, you might scramble to eggs. Add one at a time a total of 3 eggs. Then take a tablespoon of the dough and spoon it onto a floured baking sheet. The recipes will make around 12 cream puffs. Bake at 390 degrees for about 25 min. Make sure you do not open the oven door the first 15-20 minutes. This might cause them to collapse.
I served these witha filling of my favorite vanilla custard and the sliced strawberries.

Cooling Down with Key Lime Pie

The summer has been real hot here in Pennsylvania, so as an cooling desert treat, I decided to fry a Florida favorite, the Key Lime Pie!Start out with a simple baked pastry shell. You could here opt for the easy version and buy a store bought already baked shell, though I must say if you make it yourself it will taste much better. I normally use my food processor for mixing the ingredients and that makes it really fast. In this recipe I added 1 1/4 cups flour, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/3 cup butter in the food processor, I pulse it five time, so the butter was incorporated into the flour. It will resemble a coarse crumble. While pulsing add 1 tbsp of cold water until a dough is formed. I added 4-5 tbsp of water. Make sure you do not over mix. I like to prebaked the pastry shell 10 minutes lined with foil and then 5 minutes without, until the shell is golden brown. This way you will prevent it fall sliding down the sides, but still get a nice golden shell.Now for the filling! One of the most important ingredients is of course key lime juice. Again you can buy bottled lime juice, but it's just not the same as freshly squeezed. This recipes requires 1/2 cup of lime juice, which is quite a few limes. Luckily my husband was the right man for the job and after squeezing 6 limes he had measured 1/2 cup. Do not strain the juice, the pulp will only add an extra lime taste.
In a bowl mix three egg yolks, gradually add 1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk, add the lime juice and three tbsp water, mix well and the mixture will thicken. Pour the mixture into your baked pastry shell and bake at 350 degrees for around 25 minutes. There are too ways to finish off your key lime pie, with meringue or whipped topping. In my family there was no question about it... I had to finish it off with whipped topping.
This pie is perfect way to end any summer meal... Sweet, tart and cool all in one!

Mixed Berry Pie

My mother-in-law is a great cook, and when visiting her this weekend she made one of her most popular desserts in the family... a mixed berry pie.

This pie really tastes fabulous and looks extravagant, but yet easy to make.

My mother-in-law start out with a simple pastry shell that she prebaked and cools. While the shell cools of she makes the vanilla cream or custard. For my favorite recipe on vanilla custard click here. Let the custard cool off and fill it into the pie shell. Top the pie off with your favorite mixed berries. You can use both fresh or frozen. To add the final touch and crunch, sprinkle slivered almonds around the edge of the pie.