End of the Sweet Beat era

I cannot fully remember the first time I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies, or the first mixing bowl I ever used in the kitchen, but I do know that I've been baking for at least half of my life. I've felt that every step of the way has been a learning experience, which was the impetus for creating this record of recipes and stories, and over the two years, I've made massive leaps as a baker. After exploring countless cookbooks, patronizing a dizzyingly delicious array of bakeries, and roaming the baking aisles of grocery and specialty stores, I feel that I've found a tradition of baking with which I thoroughly identify and which I support with every beat of batter.

I've found that I can no longer handle mass quantities of butter, shortening, refined sugar, and corn syrup, and I say this without the sometimes-present air of the Pacific Northwest's “only organic, local, fair trade” foodie snobbery, but as a basic fact. The baking that I enjoy to do and to share now revolves around nourishment as well as enjoyment. Therefore, I've decided to re-direct myself and my blog and focus on the baking that matters most to me, hoping that others will be, at the very least, interested in the alternatively sweetened, alternatively grained, alternatively created concoctions I plan on making.

Of course, like any healthy eater, my diet would be incomplete without the occasional foray into more classically or commercially baked goods, and so there will be recipes from time to time that follow the Paula Dean school of cooking. I may love my veggie burgers on whole wheat buns, but every now and then, I like a juicy beef burger with a pile of melty cheese on top. The same goes for dessert; I may normally enjoy my applesauce chocolate chip cookies, but that doesn't mean I will never eat a slice of restaurant chocolate blackout cake again. Dessert is all about celebration, fun, and warmth, and my passion for it continues onward.

The Sweet Beat, as it is in its present form, will be going on a break and possibly ending altogether with this posting. The next months are slightly hectic for me, as next week I'm relocating (yes, again!) to the beautiful and peaceful San Juan Island, not too far from the city of Seattle. I also want to spend time working through my ideas on baking, and the blog which will most likely have a new name and, of course, a new direction (but will hopefully still include Sweet Beat archives).

Thank you for reading The Sweet Beat, and I ask that you join me as I explore this new niche of the baking world. Wholesome baking excites me, it brings me joy, and it leaves me feeling harmonious and well. As you all know, my desire in baking is to share those feelings, along with some scrumptious food, with you all.

We all eat Gluten-Free Mint Chocolate Cookies

A friend of mine is gluten-sensitive, and although she has been able to eat certain forms of gluten with minimal side effects, on a trial-and-error basis, she explains that she feels her best when she goes off gluten altogether. Though to do so requires a larger amount of diligence on her part, and despite the fact that some wheat-based foods don't sit too badly with her system, she explains that it's a worthwhile endeavor. And I agree! If there's a way to make your body run more smoothly, and make you feel a bit healthier, why not go for it? My lactose-intolerant friends tend to use the same thought process, but occasionally indulge in a bowl of superb ice cream, though they know their stomach will be upset later.

When we discuss our various food intricacies, I've found myself grateful that I need not be on the lookout for entire food categories from which to abstain, for fear of running myself through the wringer. Of course, as my diet has changed over the past year, if I now choose to eat a rich, buttery slice of cake with thick butter cream icing, I know that my system will not be able to handle it as well and my body will not be happy after consuming it. And that's just because I've so drastically reduced the amount of butter and shortening I eat that when I do have some, it turns into an epic event for my digestive system. In that way, I don't feel all that different from my lactose-intolerant or gluten-sensitive.

We create our diets and fall (for better or for worse) into habits that our bodies adapt to, and when something unfamiliar comes along, problems can occur. That reminds me of the “Simpsons” episode when Lisa prepares a green, leafy, vegetarian feast for her normally bacon-and-sausage based family, and everyone but Lisa is sick for days afterwards.

I wanted to make something special for my gluten-sensitive friend, and I found a gluten-free recipe for mint chocolate cookies, which contain a favorite of mine: Teff flour. These substantial cookies are chewy and a bit on the heavier side, and the mint-chocolate combination are delightfully reminiscent of the Girl Scouts' Thin Mints.

Gluten-Free Mint Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup honey
½ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. mint extract
1 cup Teff flour
¼ cup cocoa powder
Pinch salt
Turbinado (raw) sugar

Directions:
1. Cream together butter and honey. Add vanilla and mint extract. 2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Blend in butter mixture. Place in plastic bag, and shape into a log about 1-1/2" in diameter. Refrigerate for 1 hour or more. Preheat oven to 350°F. 3. Slice refrigerated dough into 18 cookies. Place on buttered baking sheet and top with a sprinkling of Turbinado sugar. Bake for 14-17 minutes, watching carefully to prevent burning.

Autumn's Apple and Raisin Crisp

I know that I will miss the warm summer days and the sweet fruits that were in such abundance over the course of the past few months, but autumn has begun here in the Pacific Northwest, and I could not be happier. This Labor Day weekend was chilly, blustery, overcast, and slightly damp, but I, along with many others I asked, could not be happier with the change of season. The days here have been more dramatic than anything I've seen, with shifts in the clouds and the wind and pockets of sunshine and blue sky. It's an astounding weather pattern to witness, and it makes me feel cozy and humbled. It also brings out my cravings for hot cinnamon cider, warm apple pie, and most basically, apples from the orchard.

It's been ages since I've been to an orchard for apple picking, but I've been delighted to find that I'm close to several apple trees where the apples are simply falling off the branches, and the owners have implored people to come take the fruit and enjoy their deliciousness. And that's precisely what I did. With the help of a fancy apple corer, I made a double batch of Apple and Raisin Crisp for a crowd. They were pleased with the crumbly and cinnamon-scented topping, I was pleased with the combination of raisins (both golden and brown) and apples (I used Granny Smith), and we were all overwhelmed by the homey taste of warm apple crisp on a cool September day.

Apple and Raisin Crisp
Adapted from Epicurious.com

Ingredients:
Topping
1 ¼ cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
¾ cup whole wheat flour flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. salt
¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
Filling
3 pounds apples, peeled, cored, sliced
1 ½ cups golden or brown raisins
¼ cup sugar
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. whole wheat flour
¾ tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 9 x 13 1/2-inch glass baking dish.
For Topping:Mix old-fashioned oats, brown sugar, all purpose flour, ground cinnamon and salt in large bowl. Add unsalted butter and blend mixture until coarse crumbs form.
For Filling:Combine sliced apples, raisins, sugar, fresh lemon juice, flour and ground cinnamon in large bowl. Mix well to blend. Transfer apple-raisin filling to prepared dish. Spread topping over. Bake until topping is golden brown, about 55 minutes.

Free Cookies at the Islands Village Faire

As I've mentioned many times, a major goal of my baking endeavors is to share what I make with as many people as possible. This weekend, I was given the perfect venue for such promotion of my personal baking brand, and it was amazing.

Not far from Seattle is a set of secluded islands called the San Juans. I've been fortunate enough to spend a good deal of my Pacific Northwest time exploring San Juan Island, and this weekend I participated in their Islands Village Faire. Growing up in Connecticut, then living in New York City, I had never seen such an assortment of people (retirees hand in hand, young families with babies in brightly colored sarongs, fuzzy bearded men, girls in long flowy skirts who looked remarkably just like me) matched with such a sense of community; throughout the Faire, I experienced a heady mixture of peace, serenity, and overall goodwill to my fellow Islander. It was a beautiful thing. And since a major tenant of this Faire, in going along with the theme of community, was bartering, I was able to give away or trade off all of the cookies I had made, spreading the joy that I pompously believe comes with each bite of the cookies I make. I spent a better part of the week mixing batter for my favorite chocolate chip cookies and my Teff peanut butter cookies (the gluten-free kind), and after that hard yet gratifying work, sharing the fruits of my labor with friends and strangers alike was as different to me as it was fulfilling.

.


I'm looking forward to more opportunities to get my cookies out there, so to speak. The San Juan Islands Village Faire was a remarkable step in that endeavor.

Figs and Honey

Not long ago my boyfriend and I were invited to dinner at a friend's house, and as was expected, the feast that we enjoyed was full of fresh, local, flavorful ingredients. Our hosts are remarkable gourmets, and so I was not surprised when, as we were chatting before the meal, the dessert was casually explained as “a grilled fig dish with thyme and Gorgonzola that we've been dying to try.” I needed little more description before I, myself, was salivating toward dessert, and wondering how inappropriate it would be to suggest that I make the fig toasts before the main course, so that I could taste them to make sure they were “okay.” Instead, I held my tongue and patiently waited through the delicious main course. As soon as I brought the dinner dishes to the sink, though, my hostess beat me to the punch, exclaiming that it was time to start on the figs.

The recipe, from the Herbfarm Cookbook, is one that she marked and starred afterward; the dish was amazingly light and summery, but bold in taste (from the cheese and the honey). The sweetness of the figs and honey was offset by the Gorgonzola, but I ate a few honey-drizzled figs on their own, and I found them to be more than appetizing. This is a dessert I believe I would see at a fine restaurant, the toasts artfully arranged on fancy china with swizzles of thyme-soaked honey in decorative patterns on the plate. And to be able to make it with my gracious foodie hosts, and to enjoy it on their porch as the sun set on a beautiful August evening, was too sweet for words.

Grilled Figs With Thyme, Honey and Gorgonzola Toasts
From The Herbfarm Cookbook

Ingredients:
¼ cup mild or medium-strength honey, such as clover or blackberry
6 sprigs fresh thyme
12 large ripe figs
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
1 baguette
6 ounces Gorgonzola cheese, at room temperature

Directions:
Simmer honey in small saucepan, and add thyme sprigs. Let cool for 15 minutes or more while grilling the figs and bread. Start a charcoal fire in an outdoor grill or preheat a gas grill. Cut figs in half, and toss them in a small bowl with 2 teaspoons olive oil and thyme leaves. Set grill rack 4 inches from fire. When the charcoal is ashed over and glowing, or the gas grill is medium-hot, grill figs quickly until they are heated through but not collapsed, 1 to 2 minutes on each side. Transfer to a platter. Cut 24 1/2-inch-thick slices from the bread, and brush both sides lightly with olive oil. Toast bread on both sides on the grill away from direct heat. Spread Gorgonzola cheese on toast, and top with figs. Remove thyme sprigs from honey with a fork and discard, then drizzle honey over figs and toast slices. Serve at once.

Cinnamon Sugar Plum Cake

There are time when I see a recipe that, for some reason, grabs my attention and will not let go until I finally just make it. This is only troublesome when I do not have any occasion to make something like a pie or a cake, since I'm not sure what I would do with a whole dessert sitting on my counter top (other than eat the whole thing myself, of course). So I decided that my co-workers would get to try this Cinnamon Sugar Plum cake this week, and I'm happy for them to try it.

I think perhaps I'm very susceptible to language and the power of suggestion that words can impart, because once I read “sugar plum” in the title of this particular recipe, I was hooked. After brief reflection, I realize that I'm drawn to the warm, Christmas-y connotations of sugar plums, and despite the fact that it is August, and plums are in season now, I simply could not let go of the term “sugar plum.”

And I'm glad that I did not. The cake is fairly simple to make, yes, but the flavors of cinnamon paired with sweet plum are absolutely heavenly, and certainly not season-specific. It is not too heavy for summer, nor is it too lemony for winter. I tried my slice with lemonade, on a warm evening on my balcony, but it would also be lovely with hot cider, sitting in front of the fireplace. The color that the cinnamon lends to the browned cake is also positively gorgeous, and an image that comes to mind when the term "rustic" is used: I could envision this cake on a heavy wooden farm house kitchen table, waiting to be devoured after a large lunch.

The cake also deepened my appreciation for the plum, a fruit I would never think to pick up at the farmer's market. Before buying a few, I did a bit of research on the plum; the plum is high in vitamin C and antioxidants, and there are over 2,000 varieties of plums, with over 100 available in the United States. When buying plums, look for ones that yield to slight pressure and are soft at the tips.

Cinnamon Sugar Plum Cake

From Epicurious.com

Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. grated lemon peel
4 large plums (about 1 1/4 pounds), pitted, cut into 1/2-inch wedges
½ tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 9-inch-diameter spring form pan. Whisk first 3 ingredients in small bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in ¾ cup sugar. Add eggs 1 at a time, then lemon juice and lemon peel, beating until blended after each addition. Beat in flour mixture. Spread batter in prepared pan.
Press plum wedges halfway into batter in circles, spacing slightly apart. Mix remaining 1 ½ tablespoons sugar and cinnamon in small bowl; sprinkle over cake. Bake until cake is browned on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Cut around cake; release pan sides. Serve cake warm or at room temperature.

Chocolate and Cherries, Sans Gluten

There are many mix-ins that one can add to a drop cookie recipe: chocolate chips are the first to come to mind, in a variety of cacao levels, then there are raisins and coconut and peanut butter chips and small candies and toffee bits and dried cranberry. Yet, I had not come across any recipes (that come to mind, at least) that called for dried cherries. Then I found this one, and I was initially intrigued by the addition of cherries to a chocolate cookie base, and further excited by the fact that the cookie is gluten-free. I am not, actually, gluten-free, but I know many people who are, and anyway, it's a great way to experiment with the slew of alternative flours that have taken up a permanent residence in my pantry.
I fiddled around with the original recipe a bit, and I came up with a cookie that I think is absolutely decadent. By allowing the cookies to bake a tad longer, the outside gets nice and crisp (of course, be careful not to burn the poor things) and the inside stays slightly fudgey and chewy, with a distinctly brownie-esque texture.

Gluten-Free Cherry Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:
½ cup Garbanzo Bean flour
¼ cup potato starch
2 Tbsp. tapioca flour
1 tsp Xanthan Gum
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch)
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp sea salt
½ cup butter
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
¼ cup dried cherries (Tart)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a large cookie sheet or line with parchment paper (see our website to order); set aside. In a medium bowl, combine the first 7 ingredients (garbanzo bean flour through salt); set aside.With an electric mixer cream butter (room temperature, not melted) with sugars, egg and vanilla until well-combined. Add dry ingredients gradually; mix only until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips and cherries. Roll dough into small balls and place on cookie sheet. Bake 12-13 minutes until puffed and cracked. Cool on baking sheet 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool.