Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread

[Jamestown1630]

Every year at Christmas my mother-in-law sends us a big box of cookies. I think she makes the best chocolate chip cookies I've had, but this year I tried the Raisin Jumbos, which were really excellent.

She makes most of her cookies with butter, but uses Crisco for this one; and she doesn't add nuts, which I think would be 'gilding the lily':

JUMBO RAISIN COOKIES

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.   1 c. water

1 c. shortening

3 eggs, beaten

1 c. nuts (optional)

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. allspice

2 c. raisins

2 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

4 c. flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Boil raisins and water 5 minutes; cool. Cream shortening, sugar, and eggs. Add vanilla and cooled raisin mixture; stir in nuts, if used.

Sift remaining ingredients. Add to raisin mixture. Drop by teaspoons onto greased cookie sheet, and bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on racks.

I've been using this 'Latke' recipe for a long time. It's from an old edition of 'The Joy of Cooking', and while they're traditionally served with applesauce, I like mine with sour cream. I have never had the same success using a food processor to grate the potatoes, and always do it by hand - maybe it's true that you need a little 'knuckle' in there, for really good ones ;-)

Potato Pancakes

Pare and grate coarsely until you have 2 Cups of grated Russet potatoes (can use Yukon Gold)

Fold the grated potatoes into a clean dishtowel and wring out as much moisture as possible. Place potatoes in a bowl.

Beat 3 eggs well and stir them into the potatoes.

Combine and sift:

1-1/2 T. all-purpose Flour and 1-1/4 tsp. Salt

Add to the potato mixture along with 1 to 3 teaspoons finely grated Onion (I like lots!)

Heat in a heavyi skillet 1/4 inch of beef drippings or oil. Place spoonfuls of the potato mixture in the skillet, forming them into patties about 1/4 inch thick and 3 inches in diameter. Brown, then turn and brown the other side until crisp.

These are best served immediately. Not nearly as good, but in a pinch, you can crisp up leftovers in the oven - on the off chance that you have leftovers.

-JT

[mylife]

Used
to churn
butter
with my
Great Grandma
when
I was
a sprite
and
scrape hogs with
Great
Grandpa

[boatbums]

I can usually find them and have seen them often but in the ice cream aisle where they stock sundae toppings, wet walnuts, fudge sauce, etc. They are the Nabisco Famous chocolate wafer cookies:

[Jamestown1630]

‘JOY’ is a little different in every edition. You can often find them in the thrift shop or used bookstores.

[Qiviut]

I never would have thought to look in the ice cream aisle - thanks!

[dkGba]

I think you can find chocolate wafers by the ice cream cones and ice cream sundae supplies in supermarket. Try looking there

[pops88]

Where do you live!!!! Other than the store my mother had them ordered, at the age of 57, I have only ever seen them once in another grocery store, and being a pilot have been a *lot* of places. LOL. Are you in a parallel universe?

[pops88]

Maybe I haven’t spent enough time shopping in the ice cream section, but my waistline says otherwise.

[Trillian]

Christmas morning breakfast, brunch or dessert?

Oreo Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp granulated white sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
3 tbsp melted butter
6 oreos, finely crushed (I pulsed mine in a food processor)

*I toned down the sweetness for these pancakes. If you want your pancakes to taste more dessert-like, you can add more sugar and crushed oreos into the batter and if the batter gets too thick, you can add a little bit of milk to thin it out.

for the cream
2 cups cold heavy cream
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 oreos, finely crushed

chocolate syrup for drizzling
homemade recipe here:
http://kirbiecravings.com/2016/04/homemade-chocolate-syrup.html

Directions:
In a large bowl, add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Whisk together. Add in egg, buttermilk and butter. Whisk a few times until batter comes together, but a few lumps still remain. You don’t want to overmix pancake batter. Gently stir in crushed Oreos. Let batter sit a few minutes to thicken.
Grease your skillet and bring to medium heat. Measure out 1/4 cup of batter. Pour batter into middle of skillet, using a spatula to help scrape out batter from measuring cup as it will be quite thick. Cook pancake until bubbles begin to break the surface, then flip to other side and cook until pancake is done. Repeat with remaining batter. You should have enough batter for about 10 pancakes.
To make cream, pour heavy cream and sugar into a large mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on high speed with a wire whisk until cream becomes stiff peaks. Using a 1M star tip, pipe cream on top of one of the pancakes. I piped a thick outer circle and then less in the middle as I didn’t want the pancakes to be overwhelmed with cream. Sprinkle some crushed Oreos over cream (you can also mix the Oreos into your cream but I want to keep the cream white to look more like Oreo cookies). Gently place a pancake on top. Repeat with cream, crushed Oreos and pancakes. I made two stacks of five. Serve immediately with chocolate syrup.

http://kirbiecravings.com/2016/12/oreo-pancakes.html

[cherry]

I just take leftover real mashed potatoes, mix in some egg, some flour, s/p form them into patties and fry them in a fry pan....so good....

[boatbums]

Just in case you can’t find them there, they CAN be ordered online. Just do a search for “Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers”.

I’ve been spending TOO much time in the ice cream aisle!

[Liz]

Here....make your own, in a jiffy.

From Paris-trained David Lebovitz’s cookbook, "The Perfect Scoop."
Easy as pie---creamy, slightly tangy, strawberry ice cream.

Strawberry-Sour Cream Ice Cream

METHOD Toss lb sliced red, ripe strawberries, 3/4 c sugar, tbl
optional vodka or kirsch. Stir/dissolve sugar, coat strawberries.
Steep at room temp an hour, stir occa.

FINAL Proc/pulse strawberries/liquid, cup ea sour cream, h/cream, 1/2 tea
l/juice almost smooth, slightly chunky. Refridge an hour. Freeze in machine
according to mfg.

SERVE For soft ice cream, eat right away; or harden in freezer.

[Liz]

The chocolate wafer log pictured on the box is insanely easy....and so good.
Just sandwich the wafers w/ sweetened whipped cream. Form into log-
shape. Ice w/ more whipped cream. Garnish w/ wafer crumbs.

NOTE: The longer it sits the better. The crispy wafers get soft...like cake.

[Jamestown1630]

That looks great!

[Liz]

.......minimal kitchen time for a sumptuous treat......

[boatbums]

I just gave away my Cuisinart ice cream maker (took up too much space in the freezer for how seldom I used it). Can this recipe be adapted some way that one wouldn’t be needed?

[Liz]

Sorry to say...you really need the beating action of an ice cream churner
to get the right texture in this recipe. Maybe you'd like these recipes?

No Churn Cherry Garcia Ice Cream

Ben and Jerry fans---a vanilla ice cream base, w/ sweet cherries and chocolate chips added. Fresh cherries will have a slightly firmer texture, jarred cherries a bit softer. Both deliver a good cherry flavor; jarred cherries have year-round availability. DO NOT USE cherry pie filling---ends up as cherry ice cream instead of cherries in ice cream. NOTE full size chocolate chips get hard when frozen---fine-chp chocolate (slightly larger than chocolate shavings) distribute evenly---w/ chocolate in every bite. Pit and coarse-chop fresh cherries. Drain/chp jarred cherries.

METHOD Whisk 14-oz sweet/cond/milk, tb vanilla. Fold in 2 c h/cream, whipped cold to stiff peaks. Fold in 2 c cherries and 4 oz fine-chp dk chocolate; transfer to freezer-safe container, cover/freeze firm approx 2-4 hours.

No-Churn Chocolate Mint Chip Ice Cream

Yes, there are ice cream recipes out there that you can make without an ice cream maker.....whipped heavy cream folded in adds the air that is normally incorporated by an ice cream mixer. This has an almost mousse-like consistency that just melts when it hits your tongue; a light chocolate flavor with just enough mint added.

METHOD whisk smooth 15 oz can sweet/cond/milk, 1/2 c chocolate syrup, tb vanilla, 1/2 tsp peppermint extract. Fold in 2 c h/cream whipped to soft peaks (add in 2-3 additions). Fold in cup chocolate chips or chp mint chocolate candies. Saran/freeze firm 2 hours in 9x5 loaf pan.

SERVE with good quality chocolate or chocolate fudge sauce from jar.

[boatbums]

Thanks.

I will probably just stick with my current all-time favorite - Talenti Gelato in Caramel Cookie Crunch...YUMMMM!

My New Year resolution, however, is just to have it once a week. We’ll see how long that last. ;o)