Cherry Pie Lattice Cookies with an Iron Foodie Twist

Last week I received my Iron Foodie ingredients from Marx Foods.  In our mystery "basket" were whole bourbon vanilla beans, Aji Panca chiles, fennel pollen, dried wild porcini mushrooms, maple sugar, dulse seaweed,Tellicherry peppercorns, and smoked salt.  In an attempt to be a "serious" competitor I spent most of the week tasting and contemplating a savory entree entry.  But the whole time all I could think about was Christmas cookies and cornmeal. 

I wait all year for the baking excitement around Christmastime and planning a new addition to the cookie round up is a big deal to me.  (What can I say, maybe my life is too mundane or maybe I'm baking-obsessed?)  Old favorites take up considerable cookie plate real estate so a new cookie has to be something special to earn a spot.  I knew these ingredients could help an average cookie recipe become "Christmas plate worthy".

I browsed my cookie recipe collection and found one I liked.  This Apricot Windows recipe from Martha Stewart gave me a chance to use some cornmeal from my homegrown Bloody Butcher corn, the same corn we used to make our corn husk dolls, and it seemed adaptable to the mystery ingredients.

The bourbon vanilla bean combined with the cornmeal and the maple sugar to make a brilliantly flavorful shortbread.  In place of the apricot jam, my shortbread was topped with Michigan sour cherry preserves that had been jazzed up with some freshly cracked Tellicherry peppercorns and fennel pollen.   Sour cherry was a better foil for the fennel and pepper together, anise flavors go well with cherry and I love almost all fruit with black pepper.  The resulting cookie had an attractive lattice-topped pie appearance and a unique flavor that will earn it a place on this year's cookie plate.

Cherry Pie Lattice Cookies
Based on Martha Stewart's Apricot Windows recipe
Makes 12-16 cookies in an 8"x8" pan

1/2 cup sour cherry preserves or jam, at room temperature
1 teaspoon fennel pollen
1 teaspoon freshly cracked  Tellicherry peppercorns
1/2 cup maple sugar
3/4 cup butter or margarine
1 whole vanilla bean
1 cup + 2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup cornmeal, medium or coarse for texture
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg 

-Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
-In a small bowl, mix the jam with the fennel pollen and pepper.  Set aside.
-Place the maple sugar and butter or margarine into a stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle blade.  Scrape in the seeds from the vanilla bean and cream these three ingredients until light and fluffy.
-While the sugar and butter mixture is beating, whisk together the flour, cornmeal and salt in a separate bowl.
-Add the egg to the creamed butter and beat until incorporated.   Add the flour mixture in three installments, beating until almost combined each time.  Then scrape and beat to create a fully mixed batter.  
-Fit a piping bag with a #12 or #11 plain piping tip or use a sandwich bag and cut a 1/4 inch hole in one end.  Fill with a 1/2 cup of batter.  Fold over or close to keep the batter from drying out and set aside.
-Line an 8 inch by 8 inch baking pan with parchment paper and spray lightly with vegetable oil.  To keep the parchment paper from shifting spray a small amount under the paper as well.
-Spread the rest of the batter in an even layer onto the parchment lined pan.  Bake for 20 minutes, until light golden brown.
-Remove the pan from the oven, spread on an even layer of the seasoned jam or preserves.  Then top with crisscrossing lines of piped batter approximately one inch apart to create a grid.
-Return the pan to the oven and bake for another 20-25 minutes until the piped lines on top are golden brown.
-Allow the cookies to cool.  Using the parchment paper, lift the uncut cookie out of the pan and then slice into bars or squares. 

*Variation: These could also be baked in a removable bottom tart pan and then cut into wedges like a mini pie. I would suggest a 8 or 9 inch diameter pan.

Our homegrown Bloody Butcher corn

If you are a Foodie Blog Roll member you can vote for your favorite Iron Foodie dish starting Tuesday December 7th.

Application for Iron Foodie 2010

Marx Foods and the Foodie BlogRoll are teaming up to sponsor the first Iron Foodie challenge!  25 chosen  contestants will receive a package of 8 ingredients from Marx Foods' exotic collection of edibles.  There could be geoduck or black chicken or baby coconuts or matsutake mushrooms or fennel pollen!!!  Then the contestants will have to use 3 of the given ingredients to create a dish that could win $200 in store credit.  To begin the selection process I'm submitting these five questions so they can evaluate my worthiness.  Cross your fingers for me!

1. Why do you want to compete in this challenge?
I'm addicted cooking competition shows and would love a little taste of the excitement.  My eight year old son and I watch shows together and he would love to be the guest judge and taste my entry. 

2. Limitations of time/space notwithstanding, whose kitchen would you like to spend the day in & why?   Julia Child, Thomas Keller, Ferran Adria, James Beard, Marie-Antoine Careme, or The Swedish Chef?
Marie-Antoine Careme.  I'd love to see the work that went into such elaborate food without the aid of blenders, food processors, stand mixers and all the other gadgets we have today.  It would be fun even if I was turning the spit all day-- I would miss my iPad though. 

3. What morsel are you most likely to swipe from family & friends’ plates when they aren’t looking?
Any crispy pork fat--stray bacon, crunchy end bits from barbecue, a bit of caramelized ham fat.  It's a public service I provide free of charge.

4. Sum your childhood up in one meal.
Cold tofu, cheese pirogi, and butter-dipped steamed artichokes.  As odd as this combination sounds it would not have been unusual for me as a kid.  

5. The one mainstream food you can’t stand?
Store bought cookies.  Cookies are ridiculously easy to make and the store bought ones taste like cardboard.  

Trying recipes and professing my love for Cousin Jenny's Pasties

I just got back from Traverse City, Michigan where we went to check on the progress on our new house. This means I don't have any new recipes to share though I have had some excellent food recently. For Labor Day, I tried out some bookmarked recipes from other bloggers. I made an eggplant dip from 64 sqft Kitchen that was wonderfully smoky and so creamy. I'm not a fan of eggplant dips like baba ghanoush because of their texture but this was great! I figured Alex wouldn't be interested in this so I made it with real dairy yogurt. I also used some homemade harissa from my father which made it a special collaborative effort. My family gobbled it up! A damp lemon and almond cake from Technicolor Kitchen was the other recipe I enjoyed. The cake was moist with a tender crumb and a strong, bright lemon flavor. I made mine with Earth Balance instead of butter but otherwise kept the recipe the same and it still worked beautifully. Even Alex had a piece and liked it. I was thinking that it would be good with lime too because I love lime and almonds together. See the end of the post for links to the recipes.

In other news, our trip up to Traverse to the building site earned me the material samples for the kitchen. I now have samples for the different woods and glazes for the cabinetry and the Silestone colors I'm considering for the counter tops. I can stare at them to my hearts content and almost imagine it finished! I'll also be taking them around to look at tile for the back splash. The kitchen designer gave us a drawing of the final layout that I hope to share soon. I'm extremely happy with how it turned out. It is going to be my dream kitchen!! I hope I'm worthy of its magnificence.

On our way out of Traverse we stopped at my favorite pasty shop, Cousin Jenny's. I know it's probably heretical to name a non-UP pasty shop but I just love these! The pastry is very flavorful and flaky and they have these brilliant veggie pasties with globs of cream cheese and cheddar mixed in with the root vegetables, cauliflower and broccoli. It was cold and raining and so deeply satisfying to have a hot pasty on the ride home.

I hope to have something that I cooked now that I'm back but until then here's something for the cat fans.

The only previously unrevealed 4 legged member of our family,
old man Nelson licking his chops.

Spicy Eggplant and Yogurt Dip Recipe on 64sqft Kitchen
Damp Lemon and Almond Cake Recipe on Technicolor Kitchen
My Key Lime Pie Almond "Truffle" Recipe
Roadfood.com Review of Cousin Jenny's Cornish Pasty Shop
And if you haven't heard the new Foodie Blogroll site is up and looks great! Stop in a waste an hour (or four) browsing all of the great foodblogs.

Key Lime Pie Truffles

This month's Royal Foodie Joust features the ingredients: almond, lime and raspberry. Elle chose these ingredients after winning last month's joust with her delicious looking Mango Buffalo Wings.

I was very happy she picked almonds since I was already on a mission to clean out the nuts in my freezer. I also immediately knew I wanted to play with one of Alex's favorite snacks, Just Raspberries. These tart dried raspberries were the inspiration for my no-bake, mostly raw, almond "truffles". There is always leftover raspberry dust after Alex has eaten the whole ones and I've thought it would be great to coat the outside of cookies. I based my recipe loosely on this raw chocolate fudge and the Midwest favorite buckeye balls. The balls themselves are sweetened only with dates but I added a little sugar in the raspberry coating to buffer the tartness. The resulting tangy snacks remind me of key lime pie made into a pretty, pink, crispy-centered truffle. They are best stored in the freezer so the rice krispies stay crisp but I'm proud to say it wasn't even two days before mine were all gone. My husband John was a big fan.

Key Lime Pie Truffles
Tart and crispy no-bake treats that remind me of key lime pie.
Makes 36 balls

1/2 cup Just Raspberries* (freeze dried raspberries)
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup raw almonds
3/4 cup chopped dried dates, pits removed
2 1/2 teaspoons key lime zest
3 tablespoons key lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups crisp rice cereal
*You can find Just Raspberries in health food stores, Whole Foods and many larger grocery stores in the health food section. You can also buy them direct here.

1.) Pulse the raspberries, sugar and cinnamon in a food processor until they form a light pink powder. Tap the top of the food processor bowl and allow the dust to settle before opening. Pour the powder into a bowl and set aside. Wipe out the food processor bowl, washing is not necessary.
2.) Add the almonds to the food processor and pulse until they form a coarse meal. Add the chopped dates, lime zest, lime juice and salt. Process until it comes together like a cookie dough and the dates are distributed evenly.
3.) Scrape down the bowl if needed and add half of the rice cereal. Process until incorporated. Add the remaining cereal and repeat. This gives you some smaller cereal crunch and some larger.
4.) Form teaspoon sized balls and roll in the raspberry mixture.
5.) Freeze any uneaten balls. They are great right out of the freezer.

Cardamom and Candied Ginger Shortbread

This will be my first time entering the Royal Foodie Joust. I saw this month's ingredients: brown sugar, cardamom and mango and my mind immediately went to mangoes on cardamom shortbread. My father is a huge fan of Walker's shortbread and I love their candied ginger flavor. I thought it would be even better with brown sugar and cardamom added. I have to admit to almost nibbling away on all of the shortbread by itself! I'm going to be making this shortbread again, a lot! It's crunchy, chewy, sweet and spicy. I added a little black pepper for heat and some barley flour for nuttiness. You could definitely use only all-purpose flour or replace the barley flour with whole wheat pastry flour if you'd like. I topped the shortbread with a cold, spiced-up mango salad and a rich cashew cream to make it more festive but keep it dairy-free. The mango salad and cashew cream are excellent with the spicy shortbread and together they make a beautiful little dessert. Here are the recipes:

Cardamom And Candied Ginger Shortbread Cookies
These are chewy, spicy shortbread cookies heady with the flavor of cardamom and bits of candied ginger.
Makes 13 3-inch cookies

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup barley flour (or more all-purpose)
¾ teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup margarine (or butter)
2-3 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger, 1/8 inch dice

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
-Mix together flours, cardamom, pepper and salt. Set aside
-Cream sugar and margarine (or butter) together.
-Add in flour mixture and mix until incorporated. Add in ginger and mix again until evenly distributed.
-Gently roll out dough to ¼ inch thick. Cut 3 inch diameter circles of dough and place on a cookie sheet. Prick surface with a fork to prevent bubbles in the dough.
-Bake for 10 minutes (6-8 minutes for 1 inch rounds) or until lightly golden.
-Allow cookies to cool on the cookie sheets until firm.


Mango Salad
Makes ~2 1/2cups

2 ripe mangoes, cut into 1/2 inch dice
1 teaspoon lime zest
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon lime juice, more to taste

-Mix ingredients together and store for an hour or more in a refrigerated covered container.
-Serve on top of shortbread.


Cashew Cream
This makes way more than needed to top the cookies. You can use the rest on top of fruit, cereal or granola or freeze it and eat it like ice cream.
Makes 2 cups

1 cup raw cashews
1 cup water
1 tablespoon of agave nectar (or your choice of sweetener), more to taste
1 teaspoon lime zest
1 tablespoon lime juice

-Blend the nuts and water on high until smooth and frothy.
-Add in the sweetener, lime juice and zest. Taste and adjust accordingly.
-Serve on top of mango salad.
-Store extra in the fridge or freezer.

Foodie Blogroll and other tidbits

I joined the Foodie Blogroll this week. It's a great collection of food blogs that are a ton of fun to browse through. The creator, Jenn, has a great blog of her own: The Left Over Queen. Also, I was reading Bitten (Mark Bittman's food blog at NY Times) earlier today and saw two interesting articles. One was a link to this chart that lists which of the more prevalent organic food labels is owned by a much larger food producer. Even though it's interesting information, it doesn't give you a true idea of how the individual lines are run and whether they were created solely by the big companies or just bought out and possibly still retain their originators. Just because some big conglomerate is involved does not mean that quality food isn't being made in a responsible fashion. Of course, I love going out of my way and trying to buy from the local small guy. The other item that caught my eye was that the documentary "King Corn" would be playing on PBS April 15th. I've heard great things about the film and can't wait to see it. Here is Bittman's blog, you can watch the trailer yourself below. It would seem PBS has my number lately since I've become addicted to their Complete Jane Austen series as well. I'm busy with plans to travel to Chicago and trying to decide what to bake/cook for Easter. I should have some recipes later this week.