Pasta e Fagioli

2 tbsp olive oil
⅛ pound pancetta, chopped
2  bay leaves
Dried thyme, to taste
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
1 rib celery, finely chopped
Salt and pepper,to taste
1 15-ounce can cannellini beans
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
2 cups water
1 quart chicken broth
1 cup ditalini
Grated parmigiano or romano, for serving

Heat the oil in a deep pot and add pancetta. Brown the pancetta lightly; then add herbs and chopped vegetables. Season with salt and pepper. Add beans, tomato sauce, water and stock to pot and raise heat to high. Bring soup to a rapid boil.

Add pasta; reduce heat to medium and cook soup, stirring occasionally, 8-10 minutes or until pasta is cooked. Let soup rest and  cool for a few minutes. Ladle soup in bowls and top with grated cheese.
Pasta e Fagioli

Raspberry-Pecan Rugelach with Chocolate Chips

Filling:

1 (12 oz) jar seedless raspberry jam
¾ cup ground pecans
½ cup raisins
½ mini chocolate chips
½ cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Dough:

½ lb cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 tbsp sugar


Combine pecans, raisins, chocolate chips, sugar, and cinnamon in a mixing bowl; set aside. Combine cream cheese, flour, butter and sugar in a large bowl and blend.  Divide dough into four pieces. Dust each with flour, shaking off excess. Roll each piece between sheets of waxed paper into a 10” circle. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Spread each circle of dough with raspberry jam.  Divide filling among circles, spreading evenly. Cut each circle into 12 wedges.  Roll up each wedge from bottom edge to point. Arranged on baking sheets, point side down.

Bake until golden, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. Store cookies in airtight container.

Makes 4 dozen.

Lemon Buttermilk Pound Cake

1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup buttermilk
Zest of 1 lemon, finely chopped or grated

Glaze:
Juice of 1 lemon
4 tbsp conf. sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 8x5x3 loaf pan or line with parchment paper.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt until well blended. With a hand mixer, beat the butter until it’s very pale and little tails have formed. Add the sugar and beat well until slightly fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl well. Add eggs one at a time, beating until blended before adding the next.

With the mixer on low, add about one-third of the flour and mix until almost combined; then add half the buttermilk and mix until just combined. Repeat with another third of the flour, and then the last half of the buttermilk, ending with the last third of flour. Just before all the flour is blended in, switch to a rubber spatula and add the lemon zest, and slowly stir to blend in the flour and zest, taking care to scrape the bowl’s bottom and sides.

Scrape the batter into prepared pan and bake until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs clinging to it when inserted in the center, 45 to 50 minutes. Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes; as it’s cooling, stir together the lemon juice and conf. sugar. Carefully invert the loaf pan, tap it to release the cake, and then brush the glaze on the cake while it’s still warm. Cool completely on a rack before serving.

NY Style Cheesecake

Crust:
1¾ cups Graham cracker crumbs (about 15 crackers)
2 tbsp sugar
5 tbsp butter, melted

Filling:
2 lbs cream cheese, at room temperature
1⅓ cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 large eggs, at room temperature
⅔ cup sour cream
⅔ cup heavy cream

Topping (optional):
2 cups sour cream
⅓ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Raspberry Sauce (optional):

12 ounces of fresh raspberries
½ cup sugar
½ cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in lower third of oven.

Combine Graham cracker crumbs, sugar. Stir in the melted butter. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of a 9x2¾ inch springform pan with a slight rise along the inside edges of the pan.

Place the pan on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Reduce oven to 325 degrees. While the crust is cooling start on the filling.

Cut the cream cheese into chunks and place in the bowl of an electric mixer, with paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed for 4 minutes until smooth, soft and creamy. Add the sugar, beat for 4 minutes more.

Add the vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition. Add the sour cream, beat until incorporated. Add the heavy cream, beat until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the mixer bowl to combine any bits of cream cheese that have stuck to the bottom of the bowl.

Pour the filling into the springform pan, smoothing the top with a rubber spatula*. Bake at 325 degrees for 1½ hours. Turn off the heat of the oven. Crack open the oven door 1 inch and let the cake cool in the oven for another hour to prevent cracking.

Once cooled, cover with foil and chill in refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours.

Sour Cream Topping (optional): Place the sour cream in a medium size bowl, stir in the powdered sugar and vanilla, until smooth. Chill until you are ready to serve the cake. Recipe produces enough for a thick topping and some extra to spoon over individual slices. If desired, reduce the topping ingredients in half for a thinner layer and no extra.

Raspberry Sauce: Place raspberries, sugar, and water in a small saucepan. Use a potato masher to mash the raspberries. Heat on medium, whisking for about 5 minutes, until sauce begins to thicken. Remove from heat. Let cool.

*If desired, place the cheesecake in a water bath. There are many suggestions as to how to prevent water from getting into a foil wrapped springform pan. Using slow cooker plastic bags works well:

https://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/how-to-prevent-your-cheesecake-water-bath-from-leaking/

If you do not use a water bath, you risk more cracks in the top of your cheesecake and a somewhat drier texture.

Cultured Butter Cookies

NOTE: Dough must be chilled for at least one hour before baking cookies.

2 cups flour
½ tsp baking powder
2 sticks salted, cultured butter (such as Vermont Cultured Butter with Sea Salt), at room temperature
⅔ cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
¼ cup demerara sugar, for rolling

In a large bowl, sift together flour and baking powder.

With an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar until lightened in color and fluffy; beat in egg yolk until combined. With mixer at low setting, add flour mixture until incorporated.

Divide dough into two balls. On a clean surface, roll each ball into a 1½ inch log. Sprinkle the demerara sugar over a sheet of parchment. Roll each log in the sugar until the outside of the dough is thoroughly covered. Cover the logs tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour, or overnight.

When ready to bake, heat oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Use a large, sharp knife to cut each log into ¼ inch thick rounds. Place cookies 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake until the cookie edges are golden brown, about 18 minutes. Cool 5 minutes on baking sheets, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Touch of Maple Chocolate Chip Cookies

NOTE: Cookie dough must be chilled at least 30 minutes before baking.

1 cup butter, melted and cooled for at least 5 minutes
1½ cups light brown sugar, packed
½ cup sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
¼ cup pure maple syrup
3¼ cups flour
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, stir together the melted butter and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, stirring until combined. Stir in vanilla and maple syrup.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and baking soda.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring until completely combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Cover bowl and allow to chill for at least 30 minutes. While dough is chilling, preheat oven t to 350 degrees and prepare cookie sheets by lining with parchment paper.

Scoop about 2-2½ tbsp of cookie dough and roll  into balls, making them slightly taller than they are wide. Place them about 2” apart on prepared cookie sheets. Bake about 13 minutes until edges begin to turn golden brown.

Allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet.

Keep unbaked cookie dough in fridge while waiting to put the next batch in the oven and do not put cookie dough on a hot cookie sheet.

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1¼ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp butter, at room temperature
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 large banana (about ½ cup mashed)
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or ½ cup milk chocolate and ½ cup semisweet)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine butters and sugars, mix until smooth. Add in egg and vanilla. Next, add the mashed banana and mix until combined.

Slowly add in the flour mixture and mix on low until just combined. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.

Form cookie dough into balls, using about 2 tbsp of dough per cookie. Place cookies on prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden around the edges but still soft in center. Remove from oven and let the cookies sit on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and cool completely. These cookies freeze well.

Makes 20 cookies.

FAVORITE RECIPES FROM DORIE'S COOKIES

Below are the recipes I have tried from Dorie Greenspan's FABULOUS cookbook. I highly recommend that you buy it, borrow it from your Library or Google her recipes. Or contact me and I'll send you the recipe.

COOKIES:

CHOCOLATE-OATMEAL BISCOFF COOKIES

CLASSIC JAMMERS

CRASH-O-COOKIES

TWO-BITE, ONE -CHIP COOKIES

VANILLA-BROWN BUTTER MADELEINES

WORLD PEACE COOKIES

COCKTAIL COOKIES:

OLD BAY PRETZEL &  CHEDDAR CHEESE COOKIES

Creole Poached Chicken Breasts

2 tsp olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
½ carrot, chopped
1 (14½ oz) can crushed tomatoes
½ cup chicken broth
2 tbsp fresh parsley
1 tsp thyme
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
4 (4 oz) skinless, boneless chicken breasts, or 1 lb chicken tenders

Heat the oil over medium heat; saute the onions, bell pepper, celery , and carrot until tender, 4-5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, broth, parsley, thyme, salt, and cayenne pepper; add the chicken and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and poach, partially covered, until the chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes.

With a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken to a platter. Simmer the sauce, ucovered, until reduced by half, 4-5 minutes. Spoon sauce over the chicken.

Sablé Cookies

Don’t be put off by the lengthy instructions. These French Butter cookies are not that difficult to make. NOTE: Dough must be chilled at least 2 hours before baking.

2 sticks (8 oz) salted butter (preferably high-fat, like Plugrá), softened at room temperature
½ cup sugar
¼ cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted before measuring
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour

For the decoration:
1 egg yolk
demerara sugar

Working in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until it is smooth and very creamy. Add the sugars and continue to beat until smooth and velvety, about 1 minute. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in 2 egg yolks, again beating until well blended.

Turn off the mixer, pour in the flour and pulse the mixer about 5 times at low speed for 1 or 2 seconds each time (using a pouring shield or kitchen towel draped over the mixer). If there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple times more. Continuing at low speed, stir for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough. If there is still flour on the bottom of the bowl, use a rubber spatula to work the rest of it into the dough. (The dough will not come together in a ball - and it shouldn't. You want to work the dough as little as possible. What you're aiming for is a soft, moist clumpy dough when pinched feels like Play-Doh.

Scrape the dough onto a work surface, gather it into a ball and divide it in half. Shape each piece into a smooth log about 9 inches long (it’s easiest to work on a piece of plastic wrap and use the wrap to help form the log). Wrap the logs well and chill of at least 2 hours. Dough may be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

When ready to bake, center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment.

To decorate the edges of the sablés, whisk the egg yolk until smooth. Place one log of chilled dough on a piece of waxed paper and brush it with the yolk and then sprinkle the entire surface of the log with demerara sugar. Slice the log in ⅓” thick slices.

Place the rounds on the baking sheet, leaving an inch of space between each cookie. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet at the halfway point. When baked, cookies will be light brown on the bottom, lightly golden around the edges and pale on top. Let cookies rest 1 or 2 minutes before lifting them onto a cooling rack.

VARIATION: Lemon Sablés -  Before mixing the butter and sugar together, pout the sugar in a bowl with the grated zest of 1 to 1½ lemons. Work the zest and sugar together with your fingertips until mixture is moist, then cream it with the butter in the mixer.

Salted Butter and Chocolate Chunk Shortbread

1 cup plus 2 tbsp (2¼ sticks) cold salted butter, cut into ½ inch pieces
½ cup sugar
¼ cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2¼ cups flour
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate or bittersweet dark chocolate, chopped into chunks
1 egg, beaten to blend
Demerara sugar (for rolling)
sea salt

Using an electric mixer and a medium bowl or a stand up mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, sugars and vanilla and  medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl. With mixer on low speed, slowly add flour, followed by chocolate chunks, and beat just to blend.

Divide dough in half. Form each half into a log shape about 2-2¼ inches in diameter. Rolling it on the counter will help smooth it out. Chill until firm, about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Brush outside of logs with egg wash. Roll logs in demerara sugar.

Slice each log into ½” thick rounds.  Arrange on prepared baking sheet about 1” apart. Sprinkle with sea salt. Bake until edges are just beginning to brown, about 12-15 minutes.

NOTE: Cookie dough can be made 1 week ahead. Tightly wrap in plastic and chill, or freeze up to 1 month. Cookies can be baked 5 days ahead. Store in plastic wrap or an airtight container.

Orange Spiced Madeleines

½ cup butter
2 Bigelow Orange Spice tea bags
2 tbsp boiling water
4 eggs
⅔ cup sugar
1 tbsp orange zest
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ tsp baking powder

2 tbsp powdered sugar
¼ tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray madeleine pans with nonstick cooking spray.

In a microwave safe bowl, melt butter. Set aside. Place tea bags in 2 tbsp boiling water and steep for five minutes; then pour into melted butter.

Meanwhile, beat eggs and sugar for 5 minutes on medium-high speed. Once the batter is pale and doubled in volume, gently fold in the orange zest.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. Add sifted flour in three parts, gently folding flour into egg batter after each addition. Slowly pour butter into the batter while folding it in.

Spoon about 1½ tbsp batter into each shell. Bake madeleines for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool completely. Combine powdered sugar and cinnamon and dust cooled madeleines with mixture.

Red Italian Wedding Soup

Meatballs:

1 pound ground turkey or chicken

2 eggs

½ cup Italian bread crumbs

⅓ cup grated Parmesan Cheese

3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Soup:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 cup sliced carrots, about 3 to 4 whole carrots

2 stalks celery, chopped

8 cups of chicken broth

1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes with basil

2 tbsp tomato paste

1½ tsp balsamic vinegar

3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp red pepper flakes

salt and pepper, to taste

6 ounces fresh spinach, chopped

8 ounces cooked orzo pasta

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. Combine the ground meat, breadcrumbs, eggs, cheese, parsley,and salt and pepper. Gently mix, just to combine ingredients, Form into small balls (bite sized). Place meatballs on cookie sheet. Bake until cooked through, about 15 to 20 minutes.

In a large stock pot heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and saute for 5 minutes. Add carrots and celery and saute 2 minutes more. Add broth, crushed tomatoes and tomato paste to stock pot. Stir in vinegar, parsley, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for 20 minutes.

Add meatballs and cook for an additional 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add the spinach and cook until heated through and wilted. Stir in the cooked pasta just before serving and simmer until heated through.

Serve with freshly grated Parmesan.

Honey Apple Madeleines

¾ cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
3 eggs
½ cup sugar
2 tbsp honey
½ cup applesauce
7 tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla

In a large bowl, combine  flour, baking powder and cinnamon and stir well.

In a separate bowl, beat eggs, sugar and honey and stir vigorously for 2-3 minutes. Slowly pour flour mixture into egg mixture and begin to stir. Add in applesauce, melted butter and vanilla and mix until well combined.

Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray madeleine pan with cooking spray. Pour batter into pan, filling each section almost to the top. Bake for 11-12 minutes.

Remove from pan and allow to cool in pan a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Lightly dust with powdered sugar.