I remember when I first purchased Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking: I nestled into my parents’ welcoming La-Z-Boy and proceeded to read the entire tome almost cover to cover, lovingly marking recipes I wanted to try with my trusty Post-It notes. One of those recipes was, of course, the famous beef dish, beef bourguignon: tender chunks of beef simmered slowly in red wine and beef stock and garnished with buttery pearl onions and earthy mushrooms. Julia calls it “certainly one of the most delicious beef dishes ever concocted by man.”

I remember how much more daunting her recipes seemed to me then. Now I can look at her recipes with fresh, open eyes—while Julia was an amazing recipe writer,  she wasn’t exactly a fan of shortcuts—and make the changes I see fit to streamline her complicated processes.

Most of this delicious recipe follows Julia’s original to the letter, but I did make a few changes to “modernize” it and make it a little less time-consuming. For instance, I didn’t see any point in blanching my bacon before frying it or in putting the flour-crusted beef in the oven for 10 minutes rather than sauteing it. Also, I opted to use frozen pearl onions because 1) they’re already peeled and 2) because I didn’t want to waste an hour cooking them slowly in butter before adding them to the stew. Instead, I add the frozen pearl onions during the last 15-3o minutes of cooking—just enough time for them to thaw and take on the flavors of the accompanying stew. Lastly, Julia called for removing the beef from the casserole and cooking down the sauce; I didn’t see any need to do so, and a few extra minutes simmering on the stove top produced the same effect without all the hassle of removing the meat and returning it back to the pot.

As Julia relays in the preface to this recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, there are many ways to arrive at a great beef bourguignon. And, baby, this is one of them. I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine did. Bon Appetit!

(Almost) Julia Child’s Beef Bourguignon

Cuts like rump roast or chuck roast work best in this hearty French stew. This recipe has been adapted from Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I altered a few steps to make this recipe a little less time-consuming for the modern chef. As Julia Child notes before the original recipe: “Carefully done, and perfectly flavored, it is certainly one of the most delicious beef dishes ever concocted by man.” Active time: 1 hour 15 minutes; Total time: 5 hr 30 minutes. Click here to download a printable PDF copy of this recipe.

 For the Stew:
6 pieces thick-cut bacon, diced
3½ Tbs. olive oil
3 pounds stewing beef (chuck roast, top or bottom round) cut into 2-inch cubes
1 carrot, sliced
1 onion, sliced
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons flour
3 cups red wine, young & full-bodied (like Beaujolais, Cotes du Rhone or Burgundy)
2½ to 3½ cups brown beef stock
1 Tbs. tomato paste
2 cloves mashed garlic
½ tsp. thyme
1 bay leaf
1 (16-ounce) package frozen pearl onions
2-3 Tbs. fresh parsley, minced, for serving

For the mushrooms:
1½ tablespoons butter
1½ olive oil
1 pound mushrooms, wiped clean and quartered
1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves

 
Directions
1. Sauté the bacon in a flameproof casserole over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon. Preheat the oven to 325˚F.

2. Brown beef and veggies. Dry beef in paper towels (it will not brown if it is damp). Add olive oil to pot and heat fat in casserole until almost smoking. Add beef, a few pieces at a time, season with salt and pepper, and sauté until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the bacon. In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the excess fat.

3. Add flour. Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly. Saute the beef cubes for about 4 or 5 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste and form a crust on the beef.

4. Add remaining stew ingredients. Stir in wine and 2 to 3 cups stock, just enough so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, and herbs. Bring to a simmer.

5. Bake the stew. Cover casserole and set in lower third of oven. Regulate heat so that liquid simmers very slowly for 3 to 4 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.

6. Prepare the mushrooms. While the beef is cooking, heat the butter and the oil until bubbling in a skillet. As soon as you see the butter has begun to subside, indicating it is hot enough, add mushrooms and thyme. Toss and shake pan for 4 to 5 minutes. As soon as they have begun to brown lightly, remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper.

7. Finish the bourguignon. When the meat is tender, after about 3 to 4 hours, remove the casserole from the oven and put it on the stovetop. Add the frozen pearl onions, and bring the stew to a boil on the stovetop. Reduce the heat, and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the cooked mushrooms. Taste the sauce, and season carefully with salt and pepper. Remove bay leaf. If sauce is too thin, simmer for a few more minutes until the desired consistency is reached.

8. Serve the stew in casserole, or arrange it on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles or rice, and decorated with parsley.

My dear friend Ian is what you might call a mustard connoisseur: His pantry is always full of a variety of expensive pretzel mustards from Europe gifted to him by his aunt, and his condiment shelf in the refrigerator always has at least three different kinds of mustard. Classic Dijon, spicy horseradish, fiery wasabi, or rustic stone-ground—you name it, he’s got it.

All I knew for sure is that Ian needed some homemade mustard, and that I was going to produce it. Plus, I love little canning projects like this, and it’s another way for me to check items off my “Need to Make” list.

Lucky for me and you, making mustard is a cinch, and if you don’t want to can it, you can simply refrigerate it until you’re ready to use it—about a month, maybe more.

I love the bright bourbon flavor of this mustard, but feel free to substitute another liquor if you’d like. As a Kentucky girl, bourbon whiskey always has a place on my shelf, but you might prefer Jack Daniel’s over Maker’s Mark. No matter what liquor you choose, this “stone-ground” version is sure to please the mustard lover in your life.

Bourbon Brown Sugar Mustard

This recipe is adapted from Oktoberfest Beer Mustard in The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. I originally found it on the Food in Jars blog. Yields about 3 cups. See below for alternative options for this recipe. Click here to download a printable copy of this recipe.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup bourbon
½ cup filtered water
1 cup brown mustard seeds
½ cup cider vinegar
6 Tbs. dry mustard powder (ground yellow mustard seed)
½ cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 tsp salt

METHOD:
1. Combine bourbon, water and mustard seed in a small bowl. Mix to wet all seeds, and then allow to steep until nearly all of the liquid is absorbed, about 4 hours, or overnight. Alternatively, heat bourbon, water and seeds until mixture just comes to a boil; remove from heat and steep for about 2 hours.

2. Prepare canner, jars & lids.
3. Transfer soaked seeds to the bowl of a food processor; process until smooth, or leave grainy, as you prefer (my mini Cuisinart will not get the mustard entirely smooth). Add vinegar, mustard powder, sugar, and salt and process briefly to mix. Transfer to a medium saucepan.

4. Over medium heat, stirring constantly, bring mustard to a boil; continue to boil mustard until it reduces to your desired thickness, remembering that it will thicken further upon cooling (I cooked mine for about 3 minutes). Taste and adjust seasonings (add additional water if you need to tinker with the flavor and the mustard is getting too thick).

5. Fill hot jars to a generous ¼-inch headspace (more like ½-inch), tamping down the mustard into the jar. Thoroughly bubble by passing the handle of a wooden spoon along the edges and middle of the jar. Wipe rims, affix lids and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Allow to rest for 5 minutes in the hot water prior to removing from the canner.

OPTIONS
1. This is very bourbon-y in a good way, but the flavor comes shining through. Use liquor you like, and consider substituting ½ cup of water for ½ cup of bourbon if you would like a milder bourbon flavor.
2. Honey, or maple syrup, both seem like a nice substitutes for the brown sugar, for a change of pace (or a local sweetener); I would start with ¼ cup and work up from there.

STORE
Uncanned mustard should last at least a month, if not longer, in the fridge. Canned, store in a cool, dark spot for up to one year.

While I’ve gone from a tiny urban kitchen with hardly any counter space to a renovated beauty, I’ve been collecting culinary gadgets and cookware for so long that I’m always still looking for places to store it. So, last week my mom and I traveled up to Washington Courthouse, Ohio, to visit an antique dealer—Memories Gate—that we’ve used time and again for fun and quirky pieces for our homes.

I needed a pantry so badly I could taste it. While my new kitchen has a decent amount of cabinet space, it’s poorly designed. If you’ve ever had to use a narrow but deep cabinet for pantry goods, you know what I’m talking about. You constantly have to take stuff out to get to the stuff in the back—and then return it to its rightful place—and it was driving me NUTS.

So when I found this old-school Hoosier Cabinet for sale in the back of the store, I knew it was perfect for the long narrow space I needed to fill in my dining room. Check out how adorable it is! It even has the vintage steel flour sifter still inside it, although I can remove it for extra cabinet space if I need it. I just love how it looks! Eventually I’ll probably repaint it yellow to match my kitchen more closely.

Everything’s so nice and organized, it makes me smile. Here’s my little dining area. My table and chairs are also from Memories Gate, but I found it at the Lawrenceburg flea market in Indiana rather than at their store. My super-handy brother-in-law Bart even made me a leaf so I can expand the table to fit 8 people instead of 4. What a man!

And of course, no vintage-style kitchen is complete without a chalkboard on which to write the daily menu. I know this thing will come in handy whenever we decide to have kids. I used it at my wedding and at catering events, too

Acquired to increase my counter and cabinet space in my Chicago kitchen, the Whitmore baking rack is one of my favorite space savers. I use it to store the big appliances that I use most frequently, including my KitchenAid, All-Clad slow cooker, and food processor (which really needs to be replaced), my small pots and pans, and my more beautiful bowls and trays. For how much space it delivers, it’s totally worth the $82, and it looks nice too! Notice how many aprons I have hanging from that apron hook on the side … I can’t help it! I’m addicted!

In terms of drawer organization, I happen to love The Container Store, although I pick and choose wisely what I buy from there as the costs can add up. Three things from there that I particularly love: 1) this super-awesome cork and bamboo knife drawer, so I can keep all my knives safely tucked in a drawer instead of taking space on the counter top; 2) my expandable spice drawer organizer—I love having most of my spices at my finger tips, although I do have a rotating spice rack and another basket of spices in one of my cabinets; and 3) these tri-level expandable shelves for my canned goods, so I can ACTUALLY see what I have in my pantry.

Lastly, here’s a shot of my in-kitchen fireplace and where I keep my flour and sugar for easy access.

So there you have it, the KB’s kitchen. I would love to hear what your favorite kitchen organizational tools are. Is there anything you just can’t live without???

There are those recipes we go back to again and again; you know, the ones that really make our taste buds sing, or that comfort us when nothing else can. Or that we just love to eat over and over again. This is one of those recipes for Doug and I. I’ve been making Lamb Köfte, aka lamb meatballs, ever since this recipe first appeared in the January 2010 issue of Bon Appetit two years ago.

The meatballs are served with fried onions, pita bread and two sauces—a simple yogurt sauce and muhammara, a roasted red pepper spread that easily comes together in the food processor. I use a different muhammara recipe than the one that appeared with the original  köfte recipe in Bon Appetit—I think the traditional version is a bit more flavorful, if slightly more time intensive. I’ve included my favorite version below, which, by the way, you can also serve as a dip with pita chips or vegetables.

And so every few months, like clockwork, our bellies begin to grumble for a taste of the Middle East—the earthy flavor of the lamb meatballs, the taste of the bright and sweet roasted red pepper spread (aka muhammara), the clean tangy yogurt sauce spiked with tahini, and the chewy goodness of warm pita bread. My stomach is growling just thinking about it.

We like to slather the pita bread with the two sauces, then pile on the meatballs and fried onions, and roll the whole thing up like a wrap—that way every bite is a little piece of heaven. As a weeknight meal or a Sunday dinner, this is a lamb recipe you’ll want to return to often.

Lamb Köfte with Yogurt Sauce and Muhammara

This recipe (except for the muhammara) is adapted from one by Jean Thiel Kelley that appeared in the January 2010 issue of Bon Appetit. The muhammara recipe first appeared in the December 1993 issue of Gourmet; I prefer it to the one included with the original recipe—it’s more authentic and it really makes this dish sing. Tahini is a smooth paste made from sesame seeds available at most supermarkets; pomegranate molasses is a thick, heady syrup that’s often used in Mediterranean cooking. You can find it at nicer supermarkets, specialty shops and at thespicehouse.com. Serves 6 to 8. Click here to download a printable copy of this recipe.

Yogurt sauce:
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
2 tablespoons tahini (sesame seed paste)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt

Muhammara:
1 (7-ounce) jar roasted red peppers, drained
2/3 cup fine fresh bread crumbs
1/3 cup walnuts, toasted lightly and chopped fine
2 to 4 garlic cloves, minced and mashed to a paste with 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste
2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Köfte:
2 pounds ground lamb
½ cup minced fresh mint
¼ cup coarsely grated onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1½ teaspoons coarse kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
12 5-to 7-inch soft round Middle Eastern flatbreads (preferably with no pocket)
2 tablespoons (or more) olive oil, divided
2 large onions, halved through core, cut crosswise into 1/4- to 1/3-inch slices

Make the yogurt sauce. Stir all ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Cover and chill.

Make the muhammara: In a food processor blend together the peppers, the breadcrumbs, the walnuts, the garlic, the lemon juice, the pomegranate molasses, the cumin, the red pepper flakes, and salt to taste until the mixture is smooth and with the motor running add the oil gradually. Transfer the muhammara to a bowl and serve it at room temperature.

Make the meatballs. Preheat oven to 300°F. Line large rimmed baking sheet with plastic wrap or foil. Gently mix lamb and next 8 ingredients in large bowl. Using moistened hands and scant 2 tablespoonfuls for each, roll meat mixture into 1½ -inch meatballs. Arrange on sheet.

Sauté onions. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in same skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions; sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Sauté until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Transfer onions to 1 side of large rimmed baking sheet; place in oven to keep warm.

Cook meatballs. Add 1 tablespoon oil to same skillet; heat over medium-high heat. Sauté half of meatballs until just cooked through, 7 to 8 minutes. Transfer to baking sheet in oven. Repeat with remaining meatballs, adding oil to skillet if dry.

Warm flatbreads. Place large sheet of foil on work surface. Heat large nonstick or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add flatbreads to skillet 1 at a time; cook until browned, about 2 minutes per side. Enclose in foil to keep warm.

Serve. Arrange onions and meatballs on platter. Serve with warm breads, yogurt sauce, and muhammara.

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While the American South may have a lockdown on barbequed pork, the good people of Mexico, specifically those folks in the Yucatan Peninsula, have their own unique method for bringing out the best in this humble cut of meat.

I first encountered cochinita pibil in my Mexican Master class at Kendall College. I had to leave class early the day we made it, so I’ve been dying to try it again at home. This fabulous pork dish starts with a flavor-packed sauce: annatto seeds or annatto paste (also called achiote), cumin, black pepper, oregano, cloves, cinnamon and lots of garlic are blended together with orange juice and lime juice to make a thick, brightly colored marinade. The pork shoulder is smothered with the sauce and left to linger in the fridge overnight for the marinade to penetrate.

The next day, the sauced-up pork shoulder is wrapped in fragrant banana leaves (they smell just like the rainforest, I tell ya!) and roasted for several hours in the oven or indirectly on the grill. When the meat is tender and you can’t bear to wait any longer, the pork can either be sliced or shredded and served with pickled red onions and—since the Yucatan Peninsula is close to the equator, and the closer you get to the equator the spicier the food—a roasted habanero salsa.

Wow, holy amazing flavor combination, Batman! I served this up to 10 hungry twentysomethings, and there weren’t any leftovers for the next day. The pan had practically been licked clean!

I used a recipe from Chicago-based Mexican guru Rick Bayless, but I made some changes based on the ingredients I had on hand. For instance, I couldn’t find annatto seed at the Mexican mart I was at, but I did find achiote paste, a great substitute that saves me from having to grind the seed and then clean out my spice grinder. Also, sour orange juice isn’t something readily available in Kentucky, so I used a combination of lime juice and orange juice to the same effect. And, as it’s the middle of winter, there’s no grilling for me, and cooking the pork in the oven worked just as well. Lastly, I skipped the habanero-heavy salsa included with the original cochinita pibil recipe in favor or Rick’s (somewhat) milder Roasted Tomato-Habanero salsa, which appears in his book, Fiesta at Rick’s. It was an instant hit with my heat-seeking crowd, and I know your family will love it, too.

This recipe does take some moderate prep work and includes a long stint in the oven, but that’s why it’s perfect for a leisurely weekend meal with friends—just make sure and have a big batch of margaritas ready when your guests arrive.

Cochinita Pibil

This recipe from the Yucatan Peninsula serves 10 to 12. Recipe adapted from Rick Bayless’s Mexico: One Plate at a Time cookbook. Directions for working ahead are listed at the very bottom of this recipe. While the pork shoulder cooks, make the salsa and the simple pickled red onions. Click here to download a printable PDF copy of this recipe.

Ingredients
5 Tbs. (about 2 ounces) achiote seeds (also called annatto) or achiote paste
1½ Tbs. dried oregano, preferably Mexican
1½ Tbs. black pepper, preferably whole peppercorns
1¼  tsp. cumin, preferably whole seeds
½ tsp. cloves, preferably whole
1½ Tbs. cinnamon, preferably Mexican canela, that’s freshly ground or still in stick form (you’ll need about 6 inches of 1/2-inch diameter cinnamon stick)
Kosher salt
14 large garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
1 c. fresh lime juice plus ½ c. fresh orange juice
1 (6 to 8 lb) pork shoulder
A 1-pound package of banana leaves, defrosted

Pickled red onions
1½ large red onions, sliced 1/8-inch thick
¾ c. fresh lime juice plus 1/3 cup fresh orange juice

Roasted Tomato-Habanero Salsa (From Fiesta at Rick’s by Rick Bayless)
1 pound ripe (2 medium-large round or 6 to 8 plum) tomatoes
1 habanero chile, stemmed
1 small onion, sliced ¼-inch thick
About ½ c. (loosely packed) chopped cilantro

1.  Prepare the achiote marinade. Measure the achiote seeds and oregano into a spice grinder, adding the black pepper, cumin, cloves and cinnamon, and run the grinder until everything’s as powdery as you can get it (you may need to work in batches).  *If you’re using achiote paste instead of achiote seeds, simply add it to the blender with the rest of the ground ingredients and the juices.

In a blender, combine the ground mixture with 1 tablespoon salt, the garlic and lime juice plus orange juice.  Blend until smooth—there should be very little grittiness when a little is rubbed between your fingers.

If you’re working ahead, pour the mixture into a non-aluminum container, cover, refrigerate 6 hours or longer.  Before using, blend the mixture again to give it an even smoother texture. (The long steeping and second blending isn’t absolutely essential, though without it the marinade may be a little gritty.)

2.   Marinate the meat.  In a large bowl or large plastic food bag combine meat and marinade, turning the meat to coat it evenly.  (Though achiote has tenacious coloring properties, I suggest you do this quickly with your hands.) For the greatest penetration of flavor, let the meat marinate refrigerated (covered if in a bowl) for several hours, or even overnight.

3. Wrap the pork. Preheat the oven to 325˚F. Using scissors, cut off the hard edge you’ll find on most banana leaves (where the leaf attached to the central rib).  Cut 3 sections of banana leaf, each about 1 foot longer than the length of a large roasting pan. Line the bottom and sides of the roasting pan with the leaves, overlapping them generously and letting them hang over the edges of the pan.  Lay the meat in the pan, drizzle with all the marinade.  Fold in the banana leaf edges over the meat. Cut 3 more sections of banana leaf slightly longer than the pan.  Lay them over the top of the meat, again generously overlapping; tuck them in around the sides.

4. Bake the banana-leaf wrapped pork shoulder in the center of the preheated oven for 3½ to 4 hours. While the meat cooks, prepare the pickled red onions and the habanero salsa recipes below. Let the meat rest for a half hour before serving.

5. Serving. Remove the top banana leaves.  Tip the pan to accumulate the juices in one end and spoon off the fat.  Season with more salt if necessary.

You may want to remove the bones and cut the large pieces of meat into manageable serving sizes, but Rick suggests leaving everything right in the roasting pan for serving. Set out your cochinita pibil with a large fork and spoon (for spooning up all those juices).

I, on the other hand, like to shred my cochinita pibil with two forks or my hands, throw it back into a large sauce pan and coat it with any sauce leftover in the baking pan, and then serve it with warm corn tortillas, queso fresco, pickled red onions, fresh guacamole, cilantro, and Rick’s Roasted Tomato-Habanero Salsa.

Drain the red onions and set out in a serving bowl to top each portion, along with the salsa to cautiously dab on each portion.

6. Make the simple pickled onions.  While the meat is cooking, prepare the onions. Scoop the onions into a non-aluminum bowl.  Pour boiling water over them, wait 10 seconds, then pour the onions into a strainer. Return the drained onions to the bowl, pour on the sour orange juice (or the lime-orange combo) and stir in 1½ teaspoons salt. Cover and set aside until serving time.

7. Make the Roasted Tomato-Habanero Salsa. On a rimmed baking sheet, lay out the tomatoes and habanero. Break the onion into rings or pieces and scatter on the sheet. Roast everything about 4 inches below a hot broiler until the tomatoes are soft and blackened on one side, about 6 minutes. Flip the tomatoes and chile, and stir the onion, turning the pieces as much as possible. Slide back under the broiler and roast until the tomatoes are soft and blackened on the other side, about 5 minutes more. Cool, then pull the blackened peels off the tomatoes.

Transfer the tomatoes (along with the juice on the baking sheet) and chile to a food processor or molcajete. Pulse until thoroughly chopped, then run until the mixture is a course puree. Scrape into a salsa dish and stir in enough water to give the salsa an easily spoonable consistency, typically about 2 tablespoons. Chop the roasted onion into small pieces and scrap into the salsa along with the cilantro. Taste and season with salt, usually about a scant teaspoon. Salsa’s ready.

Working Ahead: If you’re the plan-ahead type, make the marinade on Day 1, reblend it and marinate the meat on Day 2 and then slow-roast the meat for serving on Day 3.  The marinade will hold for a week or more in the refrigerator.  Once the pork is marinated, cook it within 24 hours.  The finished dish will keep for a couple of days, covered and refrigerated (meat and juice only—no banana leaves), though the texture of the meat won’t be quite as nice as fresh-from-the-oven.  Warm refrigerated cooked meat slowly (a 300 degree oven) in the juice, covered. Pickled onions will keep for a week or so in the refrigerator, well covered.

It’s driving me crazy.

I’m a woman on a mission. A man with a plan. A bull on the warpath. But not today. For some reason, I’m stuck in a rut. That’s not to say I’m worried. These things pass. And in a few days I know I’ll have a master plan cooked up, goals written down, and a path to trot on. But until then, I’m busy quietly reflecting on the future, and doing my damndest not to eat this entire Cinnamon-Pecan Coffee Cake in one sitting.

The first time I made this sour cream coffee cake, I made it for a family friend who had recently lost her mother. As it baked, the smell of spicy-sweet cinnamon perfumed the house, and I found myself drooling while I worked upstairs in my office. After it cooled I drizzled on the cinnamon-spiked vanilla glaze, and it took an insane amount of self-control not to hoard the cake for myself and eat it all right then and there.

So, since I didn’t get to taste it the first time, I made it again for Doug and I. This amazing coffee cake tastes just as good as it smells: out of this world. Sour cream added to the cake batter means it’s incredibly moist; the pecan-cinnamon-and-brown sugar swirl layered into the cake melts into the batter, giving it a satisfying texture and mouthfeel; and the cinnamon glaze drizzled on top adds that sugary sweetness that makes coffee cake such a guilty pleasure.

This coffee cake comes from the Kiss My Bundt cookbook, which I also used to make my Red Velvet Bundt Cake—one of my all-time favorites. I can now officially say that this book is definitely worth the $10 investment. If you love baking big bundts, this book is for you. Click the link above to purchase it on Amazon. Happy eating!

Cinnamon-Pecan Coffee Cake

This recipe comes from Kiss My Bundt: Recipes From the Award-Winning Bakery, by Chrysta Wilson. You can serve it plain or with the cinnamon sugar glaze included below. Click here to download a printable copy of this recipe.

For the Cake:
2 tsp. vanilla extract
¼ c. whole milk
1¾ c. sour cream
3 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. fine salt
¾ c. (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter
1 c. granulated white sugar
½ c. packed brown sugar
3 eggs, room temperature

For the Swirl:
¾ c. pecans, finely chopped
1½ c. packed brown sugar
3 Tbs. cinnamon

For the Glaze:
1 tsp. cinnamon
¾ tsp. vanilla extract
1½ c. powdered sugar, sifted
2-3 Tbs. milk

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. In a small bowl, stir together the vanilla, milk, and sour cream. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl mix the swirl ingredients. Set aside.
3. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
4. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium-low while slowly adding the sugars. Continue to beat until mixture if fluffy, about 3 minutes.
5. Crack eggs into a separate bowl and add to the batter one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then, beat on medium speed for an additional 2 minutes.
6. Beginning and ending with the flour, add 1/3 of the flour into the wet mixture followed by ½ of the milk and sour cream mixture, alternating until all ingredients have been mixed, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally.
7. Pour 1/3 of the batter into a big ol’ bundt pan that has been coated with baker’s cooking spray that contains flour (or greased and floured).
8. Sprinkle ½ of the swirl on top of the batter. Add an additional 1/3 of the batter and repeat adding swirl. Top with remaining batter.
9. Bake in the center of the oven until an inserted toothpick or cake test comes out clean, about 55 minutes. (The swirl becomes wet during the baking, so be sure to stick your tester into the batter, not the swirl.)
10. Invert the cake on a cooling rack or serving plate. If cake resists, cool in pan for 15 minutes before inverting. (If cake still resists, cool an additional 15 minutes in the pan. Cool completely before glazing, at least 1 hour.
11. For the glaze: In a small mixing bowl combine vanilla, cinnamon, and powdered sugar. Using a whisk, add milk 1 tbsp. at a time until powdered sugar is completely dissolved and mixture is just thin enough to pour over cooled cake.

With life being so crazy, as it always is (I’m busybody, what can I say?), I wanted to establish a few columns in which I can share 1) cooking tips and tricks of the trade; 2) cooking gadgets and gizmos I’ve come to know and love; 3) brands and manufacturers I trust to make foods that taste great; 4) snapshots of my life in food and otherwise; and last, but not least, 4) tried-and-true recipes to which I’ve made little or no changes, because they’re perfect just the way they are.

And that brings us to today’s Recipe Flash column. I’ve actually featured a recipe for sugo alla bolognese before on this blog in the post, Sunday Supper: Not Your Mother’s Meat Sauce. And I do LOVE that recipe. But me being me, I just had to try a new version for the Christmas dinner I offered to host for my mom’s side of the family. After much searching, I decided to go with Anna Nanni’s Ragu alla Bolognese, featured in Saveur magazine.

And of course, I couldn’t just make a meat sauce for the 17 guests I had coming—I was also dying to try out my new Kitchen Aid pasta maker attachments! So my sisters Annie and Paige and I set to work making pasta for our guests. We assumed a pound of pasta per every four guests, but we probably made enough pasta for 30! I have to say, Paige (in pink above) turned out the be a pasta maker extraordinaire, and we couldn’t have done it without her deft handy work. Thanks also to Annie  for volunteering for what I like to call “KB duty,” meaning she spends the day doing whatever I need her to in the kitchen See, she even puts a smile on her face while she does it!

Anna Nanni’s bolognese sauce is delightful. It differs from my usual sauce in that it contains ground pork shoulder instead of sausage, pancetta instead of bacon, and absolutely no beef broth and very little wine. I loved it, and so did my family, as you can see from Annie and Bart’s happy dance. Although, who can’t be happy when there are this many presents under the tree?

The meal was a success, and if you have a few hours to let a pot of bolognese sauce simmer on your stovetop, I highly suggest this recipe!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

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The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 46,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 17 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

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They all went pretty quickly, but these buttery bites seemed to really strike a cord with family and friends. They’re incredibly simple, but their flaky texture, buttery bite and hazelnut crunch make this cookie an all-time classic. And, of course, everyone loves stuff rolled in powdered sugar.

And this isn’t just any powdered sugar. It’s vanilla-bean powdered sugar, which gives the cookies not only a beautiful white color but a lovely vanilla aroma as well. If you’re feeling lazy, or you don’t happen to have vanilla beans lying around the house, you can just call my cousin Kelly who has 2 pounds of them skip the addition of the vanilla bean to the sugar altogether.

Unlike many cookie recipes, eggs do not make an appearance in this one. Instead, butter alone is what holds these cookies together, and a short rest in the fridge means the butter in the dough will still be nice and cold when you put the cookies in the oven. Because the butter in the dough is cold, the butter melts slowly when the cookies are baked, leaving you with a firm but flaky cookie.

Another change I made is to leave the hazelnuts somewhat intact instead of grinding them finely. This way there’s a nice crunch to the cookies when you bite into them—and it’s what makes these cookies so addictive, especially with a tall glass of milk. These Hazelnut Crescent Cookies have definitely earned themselves a place in my Christmas cookie repertoire.

One Year Ago: Party Perfect: Sweet Basil Cheesecake

Hazelnut Crescent Cookies with Vanilla-Bean Sugar
Instead of just plain powdered sugar, these cookies are rolled in confectioner’s sugar that’s spiked with vanilla beans. This recipe is adapted from one on Allrecipes.com. Click here to download a printable copy of this recipe.

1 c. whole skinned hazelnuts
1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter
½ cup white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp. fine salt
2 c. sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 vanilla bean

Grind the hazelnuts. In a food processor, pulse the hazelnuts until they’re almost ground, but there are still small bits of hazelnut. These little hazelnut bites are what give this cookie crunch.

Make the dough. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and the salt. Add the flour mixture and hazelnuts to the butter mixture and beat just until the dough comes together. Shape dough into a ball. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Make the vanilla sugar. Meanwhile, place sifted powdered sugar in a bowl or small container. With sharp chef’s knife, split the vanilla bean lengthwise. Scrape out the seeds and mix them into the sugar. Cut pod into 2 inch pieces and mix into sugar.

Form cookies. Preheat oven to 375˚F (190˚C). Remove dough from refrigerator and form into 1-inch balls. Roll each ball into a small roll, 3 inches long. Place rolls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet, and bend each one to make a crescent shape.

Bake cookies. Bake 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until set but not brown. Let stand 1 minute, then remove from cookie sheets onto a wire rack to cool. Once cookies are completely cool, sprinkle with prepared sugar mixture. Turn gently to coat on both sides. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. Just before serving, coat with more vanilla sugar, if desired.