I have said so many times before, I’m a cake person, not a cookie lday, and certainly not a pie woman. Or, at least I thought so… I’m sure there is a deep meaning to all of this. I never really put much thought into this matter but it feels like there’s a profound philosophical significance behind it. I’m quite sure of it. Someday, when I have the time, I will definitely sit down and analyze this to pieces. But no matter why or what, I can tell you this for sure – every home needs a cookie jar! I’m positive about that. Do you have a cookie jar at home? If you don’t have a cookie jar, you must get one. Get to it ASAP (as soon as possible). It’s truly extremely important. And there must be a cookie in there too, of course. At least one. But more than one is even better, right?

To get you started, here’s a basic sugar cookie dough recipe I found in Real Simple magazine that you can easily turn into 10 different kinds of cookies in a blink of an eye.

The variation I made is the cherry-almond jumbles which I changed according to what was in my pantry. It’s a no fuss recipe and if using a cookie scoop your job will be even easier. You know what? I’ll give one cookie scoop away. Yes! Let’s start the new year with gift giving. What do you think about that? Because… I really really want you to bake cookies.

The giveaway:

I will give a medium size Oxo cookie scoop (such asthe one in the photo above), my favorite, to one lucky reader who will write a comment. What do you have to do?

Leave a comment and tell me about your favorite cake, cookie, or pie and why do you love it so much.

I really want to hear *your* voice, so a minimum of 40 comments (from all readers alltogether, on any post within the time frame) is needed for the giveaway to take place.

Time frame: starting today and ending on Sunday, January 10th, 2010. Shipping is limited to U.S. and Canada.

Good luck!

Dried cranberries and almond jumbles

Adapted from Real Simple magazine

Makes 28 cookies using a 1 1/2 – inch cookie scoop

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher/sea salt
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup dried cranberries or cherries
1 cup sliced almond, lightly toasted* and roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

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

In a mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the egg and beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat.

With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated. Add the dried fruit and almonds and mix well.

Make cookies by either dropping a walnut size mounds of dough using a tablespoon/s or a 1.5-inch cookie scoop (as shown in the picture above).

Bake until just beginning to brown, 20-24 minutes.

Notes:
To toast the almonds, place them on a baking sheet in a 350 F oven and toast for about 8 minutes, stirring a few times, until they begin to brown and smell good.
The dough can be refrigerated, wrapped, for at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

There are so many things I want to tell you about. There’s a Minestrone soup I want to share with you… A quick Hanukah fritters recipe… Orange Madeleine cookies… So much I’d like to tell you about…

But right now, the most important thing is Menu For Hope. Menu for Hope is an annual fundraising campaign hosted by food blogger Chez Pim with a group of food bloggers all around the world.

Welcome to this year’s edition of Menu for Hope 6, where you can make an online bid in an effort to raise money for the United Nations World Programme’s Purchase for Progress, which assists low-income farmers to raise crops and support their local economies.

For a donation of just $10 per entry, you’ll have a chance to win fabulous bid items from all over the world. You can make as many donations as you wish; the more you enter, the more chances you’ll have of winning.

You can bid on any item of your choice like culinary tours, cooking classes, signed books by the authors, wine tastings, food goodie bags, kitchen tools, and lots of other surprises!

It starts today, December 14th, 2009 and ends on Christmas, 2009.

***

I am participating this year by offering the following raffle bid item;

A package which includes a copy of the book “Not Becoming My Mother” by Ruth Reichl and a beautiful, green- lime colored Microplane Classic Series Premium Zester.

Dealing with Mother issues with a zester in hand? Well… zesting can be a great way to let out some of those repressed emotions. Or, you can start a book club after reading the book, then go to the kitchen and use your beautiful green zester to cook something fabulous for your newly found club of people who are trying to resolve their Mother issues.

The shipping of this bid item is limited to the US only.

Bid item code: UW38

*** More info:

In Not Becoming My Mother, bestselling author Ruth Reichl examines her mother’s life through reading her mother’s letters and diaries. Reichl becomes aware of the painful transition her mother made from a hopeful young woman to an unhappy older one. But does she really accept and forgive the past? The title says it all, it is the unspoken truth that we are grateful not to be like our mothers.

We had a few discussions with truly wonderful comments from readers about the book and family matters only a few weeks ago. If you missed them, click here to read them.

In addition to the book, the Microplane zester is a wonderful kitchen tool for effortless grating or zesting of chocolate, cheese, citrus, coconut, ginger and garlic. I love this tool and use it A LOT! It’s a wonderful little thing to have in the kitchen drawer. (You can read more about here.)

If you are interested in this item, choose code UW38 when you make your donation, or choose from other items on the raffle bid items list.

To Donate and Enter the Menu for Hope Raffle here’s what you need to do:

1. Choose a bid item or bid items of your choice from our Menu for Hope main bid item list.

2. Go to the donation site at Firstgiving and make a donation.

3. Please specify which bid item you’d like in the ‘Personal Message’ section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per bid item, and please use the bid item code.

Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a bid item of your choice. For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for EU01 and 3 tickets for EU02 – 2xEU01, 3xEU02.

4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.

5. Please check the box to allow us to see your email address so that we can contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

Check back on Chez Pim on Monday, January 18  for the results of the raffle.

Thanks for your participation, and good luck in the raffle!

You can read more about the event and the charity at Chez Pim or David Lebovitz or Gluten free girl and the chef blogs.

A few weeks ago we went on a little family vacation just before school started. Vacations with kids, you probably know (or can imagine), are a lot of fun, but can be very tiring. To minimize energy waste, we like to get a room with a small kitchenette or at least a (mini) fridge. Why? Because as much as we like to eat out – and we do! The kids too! – it can be quite stressful to do so for a whole week, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and maybe even snacks. That is why. (See my post from last year: 11 tips for eating out (with kids) while on vacation.)

When I find a good deal on a room with a small kitchen and a dining table we eat out only once or twice a day. It saves time, money, we eat better, the kids are more relaxed, we get more fruits and vegetables in our diet, and it feels more like our family meal times at home. Warm and fuzzy. yeah, right, maybe actually more like picky and whiny. But I digress. Preparing/assembling light meals in your room is also a great excuse – as if you need one – to explore and shop at the local farmers market and stores and try new foods.

On our last trip we went shopping at a small store in the village where I found amazing goat cheeses with different flavors. I chose one with olive oil, garlic and rosemary… Need I say more?! At about the same time, I was contacted by Chavrie, the goat cheese company, with a generous giveaway offer. Talk about coincidence.

Here is what you can win:

Gourmet Fall Entertaining (estimated value $100) that includes:

*Williams-Sonoma Cherry Wood Bread Board with Dip Bowl (like the one you see in the photos)
*Cooking.com Gift Certificate for $50.00
*Dried fruits and Crystallized Ginger
*Chavrie Coupons – Free Cheese, of course!
*Chavrie recipe cards (dips, quick tips and wine suggestions)

To win, all you have to do is comment on any post starting today 9/15/09 and ending 10/5/09. (The more comments you post, the bigger your chances to win. Makes sense…). The prize will be sent to the winner directly by Chavrie. Check back after 10/5/09 to see if you have won!  Limited to the US only. Sorry.

*** 
One more thing, if you like my blog, please take a few minutes to nominate it for the Foodbuzz Blog Awards.
 ***

A platter of goat cheese

On your beautiful cheese board, put dried fruits, fresh fruits, crackers, bread, nuts, whatever you like or have in the pantry that’s good.

Serve to your guests.

More ideas here: Party Food – Appetizers

One years ago: Cool tools: Baking must-haves, Green blackberries are red, Love-ly Heirloom tomatoes salad

Goat cheese in extra virgin olive oil, garlic and rosemary marinade

1 package (about 4-6 oz.) goat cheese
1 clove garlic, smashed
1 sprig rosemary, lightly crushed to release its flavor
5-6 whole black peppercorns, or grounded
Salt, if needed, taste to see
Extra virgin olive oil, to cover the cheese

Place all the ingredients in a jar. Close with a lid. Refrigerate at least one day ahead.
Serve with toasted bread or crackers.

Each year, a few days before my birthday I start getting all excited and nervous, like a little girl, wanting to know what kind of surprises and presents are waiting for me (if any, I worry). I start nagging and trying to get any clue I can out of my husband and son. But they don’t break and tell me nothing. With mysterious smiles on their faces they go on keeping their birthday top secrets to themselves and torture me. I have no choice but wait impatiently.

BUT with *MY* blog I can do whatever I want and I just can’t wait. On July 15th this very blog will turn 1 years old!!!! Yippee! And I want to celebrate now! And I want to talk about the gift now.

So, let the festivities begin! There’s a cake and a giveaway…

For the blog’s birthday I’d like to share with you one of my favorite cakes, cheesecake. Yummmmmmm. Cheesecakes are very easy to make but you need to plan a day head and you need to know a couple of tricks to ensure success. Don’t worry, in the spirit of the blog’s birthday, I will share my secrets with you, my favorite readers.

Before diving into the recipe & secrets, let me tell you about the gift.

I’m having a new giveaway. This time I have a heavy cookbook to give to one lucky reader.

A signed copy of  Memorable Recipes by Renee Behnke (check out her new blog), the former president of the chain of kitchen stores, Sur La Table. This book has beautiful recipes featuring different cuisines with lots of gorgeous food photos.

For a chance to win the book, do one (or more) of the following:

* leave a comment telling me about a post/recipe in this blog that you liked, or a recipe from the blog you have cooked at home and how was it

* mention and link to my blog or any of its posts on your blog

* promote one of my posts on social media: Stumble, digg it, or technorati fave it (see icons at the end of each post), or Twitter.

*subscribe to my blog via e-mail or RSS feed. (If you don’t know how to do it, click here for details).

* Give the blog a gift and tell about it to friend/family and have them post a comment and say “hi, I’m new here, my friend X sent me to check this blog out… etc etc”.

The more you love, the bigger your chances to win right?! And there are many ways to show your love… For each option of the above that you have made, leave a separate comment to let me know.

Limited to U.S. and Canada (Sorry). Starting today and ending July 31st, 2009.

Now to the cake…

Summer Berry Cheesecake

Based on Ina Garten’s Raspberry Cheesecake recipe but with a better crust. Forget the graham cracker crust – it tastes like cardboard anyway… this is so much better.

Makes a big cake for 12-16 people.

Use a 10-inch (26 cm) springform pan (measured at the bottom)

For the crust:
2 sticks (227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 egg yolks*
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cup self-rising flour**

For the filling:
2 1/2 pounds (1135 grams) cream cheese, room temperature (you can use light chesse)
1 1/2 cups sugar
5 whole extra-large eggs, at room temperature
2 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature*
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For the topping:
1 cup red jelly (not jam), such as currant, raspberry, or strawberry
3 half-pints fresh raspberries (or any berry you like)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Grease the pan.

To make the crust, place all the crust ingredients in a food processor bowl. Process until you get crumbly and moist crumbs. Spread and press into an even layer on the bottom of the pan. (If it sticks to your fingers, refrigerate for a few minutes). Chill for 15 minutes if you can, or bake right away for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool to room temperature.

Raise the oven temperature to 450 degrees F.

To make the filling, cream the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Reduce the speed of the mixer to medium and add the eggs and egg yolks, 2 at a time, mixing well. Scrape down the bowl and beater, as necessary. With the mixer on low, add the sour cream, lemon zest, and vanilla. Mix thoroughly and pour into the cooled crust.

Bake for 15 minutes. Turn the oven temperature down to 225 degrees F and bake for another 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn the oven off and open the door wide. The cake will not be completely set in the center. Allow the cake to sit in the oven with the door open for 30 minutes. Take the cake out of the oven and allow it to sit at room temperature for another 2 to 3 hours, until completely cooled. Wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Remove the cake from the springform pan by carefully running a hot knife around the outside of the cake. Leave the cake on the bottom of the springform pan for serving.

To make the topping, melt the jelly in a small pan over low heat. In a bowl, toss the raspberries and the warm jelly gently until well mixed. Arrange the berries on top of the cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

* you can save and freeze the egg whites and make this later: Black Forest Chocolate Roulade

** 1 cup self rising flour = 1 cup all-purpose flour + 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder + ½ teaspoon salt

More secrets to success below…

Secrets:

1. make the cake one day ahead. The cake needs time to cool & set and the flavor will be a lot better.

2. Make a hot water bath. After baking the crust and letting it cool, wrap the springform pan with two sheets of aluminum foil. Place in a bigger deep pan and add the filling. Pour hot tap/boiling water into the bigger pan up to half the height of the springform pan. Be careful when you transfer the whole thing into the oven.

3. As soon as you take the cake out of the oven, run a knife around the edges. This will prevent the cake from cracking as it cools.

4. No need to over-beat the cheese mixture while in the mixer. Some say that overworking the eggs results in a cracked top cake.

I’ve got two signed copies of this book and am giving one away, hurray!

In case you don’t know who she is, Ruth Reichl is a culinary authority as the editor of Gourmet magazine, author of plenty of cookbooks and food books (see her web site), and a former restaurant critic of the New York Times.

In her latest “Not Becoming My Mother” book, Reichl reveals another side of her mother with whom she had complicated relationship throughout her life. After her mother’s death, Reichl finds a box full of diaries, letters and notes written by and to her mother. She puts the pieces together, investigating her mother’s life, and discovers a new and more understanding way to relate to her mother.

But, you see, Ruth Reichl is about 60 years old and her mother would have been 100 years old if she was still alive, and I’m wondering– is it really possible to change one’s complex relationships with one’s parents while the parents are alive, or is it more of an after death experience?

In her previous books Ruth Reichl writes about trying to be as far from her mother as she could because her mom drove her crazy. Unlike another famous blogger and new book writer Molly Wizenberg who says that her parents “are easy people to love”, Reichl had a hard time with this one.

A few weeks ago, during an event that Keren, the Frantic Foodie, has organized with Reichl at Olivar restaurant in Seattle, I had  a chance to ask her about it. I asked if she thought her relationship with her mother could have been a better one had she discovered all those things while she was still alive. Reichl said she thinks their relationships could have been a better and closer one.

What do you think?

 
The giveaway:

I am giving away an autographed copy of this book! One of you can win the book by commenting on any post, starting now and ending 4th of July, 2009.

Double your chances to win by linking to one of my posts on your blog, or help me promote it on social media (Digg, StumbleUpon, Twitter, etc). Let me know you did so in a comment below.
 
6/23/09 UPDATE:

Ruth Reichl’s publicist has generously given me 4 additional copies of the book to give away.
You can win one of them by doing at least one of the following:

1. Mention and link to my blog or any of its posts on your blog. Leave me a comment with a link to your post to let me know.
2. Subscribe to my blog via e-mail or RSS feed. (If you don’t know how to do it, click here for details).
3. Stumble the blog (or any of its posts that you like), digg it, or technorati fave it, or Twitter. Leave a comment to let me know.

There are a 3 ways you can enter to win a copy of the book but you need to leave me a comment and let me know, OK?

Limited to U.S. and Canada. The deadline is July 4^th, 2009.
Thank you and good luck!

“real food” by Nina Planck explains about traditional foods, you know, the ones our ancestors have been eating for 10,000 to 30,000 years, if not millions of years. The return to good old-fashioned food common sense.

The book was given by Kim Ricketts who is organizing fabulous authors & book events.

To win a copy of the book comment on any post, ending on Sunday, 5/17/09. (Limited to USA and Canada. Sorry.)

But first, I am planning the next giveaway. Tell me which book would you like by commenting below…

This one: 50 Great Appetizers

Or this one: The Flexitarian Diet

And the winner is………… Diana! I’ll send you an e-mail shortly.

1. In the photo above a Chocolate Chocolate Stout Cake which I will tell you about in a minute.

2. I have the winner of the Cake Collection Giveaway way way down below at the end of the post. The winner gets a copy of Ray’s Boathouse cookbook (read more about the restaurant, the book, the food, and a recipe here). It’s a beautiful book, I tell ya. You can win the second copy I have by writing a comment on any post until April 5th.

But first,

Lois from Salted Lemons made this amazing looking Cheese cake with blueberries. What a fantastic photo, isn’t it?! I love cheesecake with blueberries, oh well, with any type of berries really. Who doesn’t? I don’t hear anyone say “me”. So that settles it. Visit her blog or click the cake link for the recipe.

Lately, my 5.5 years old boy has been asking me about upside pineapple cake. Where does this came from? Who is he hanging out with? Who are his friends? What are they teaching them at school?

I think the last time I made an upside down pineapple cake was before he was born. I believe it was a Cook’s Illustrated recipe and it was fine but didn’t knock our socks off so I did not attempt to make another recipe. Then I came across this cake the other day on Phoo-D blog, Pineapple Bundt Cake with Caramel Glaze. What a presentation, ha? She “fixed” it. The good thing about bundt cakes… there’s hole in the middle.

Remember this episode from the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding where the mom puts a small vase with a flower in the middle of the bundt cake? I love love love this movie. Do you?

Chocolate Chocolate Stout Cake

Slightly adapted from Closet Cooking
Makes a 9-inch cake

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup chocolate stout (or Guinness beer)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon coffee powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheated your oven to 350F degrees. Grease a 9’’ cake pan and line with parchment paper.

Put butter in a medium bowl, or large measuring cup, and melt in the microwave . Remove and let cool a bit. Add in the stout and cocoa powder and mix.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a another bowl.

In a separate large bowl, whisk the eggs and sour cream. Add the stout mixture into and mix.

Add the dry ingredients into the wet ones.

Pour the batter into the cake pan. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
 
Kahlua Cream Cheese Frosting
8 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons of Kahlua/Bailey’s Irish cream
1 Tablespoon maple syrup

Beat all the ingredient with a mixer until smooth.

NOTE: Because of the cream cheese, I store the cake in the fridge. Before serving, warm each slice for 10 second in the microwave or take out ahead of time and serve at room temperature.

And the winner of the cake Collection giveaway… I did it the old fashioned way… writing your names on little notes… is……………..

A Dash of Sass!!!! Congratulations!

Well well well, I’m happy to announce a new giveaway.

1. I have a second copy of the fantastic Ray’s Boathouse cookbook (a famous restaurant in Seattle, read about it here) to give to a commentator. Starting today, March 18th, and ending April 5th, one copy of the cookbook will be given to a random commentator (but the more you comment, the bigger is your chance to win, right?!). You can comment on any post. Limited to the US and Canada (sorry).

2. Also, there’s another giveaway going on right now and ending on March 31st, for the “Cake Collection” – see more details here.

And, meanwhile, enjoy this song and video. It will make you feel all nice and warm and fluffy…

Her Morning Elegance by Oren Lavie, www.orenlavie.com

But first, the winner of the Secret Stash Sea Salts giveaway is…. Deb! who wrote the largest number of comments.

Deb, go to the Secret Stash web site to choose your salt, www.secretsalts.com. I’ll send you an e-mail in a minute with more details.

If you haven’t won, don’t worry. There’s a giveaway going on for cake collectors as we speak. If you have a great cake recipe you want to share with the world, click here for more details and a chance to win a fabulous cookbook!

Meanwhile, Janna from “Secret Stash”  is sharing her recipe for Pan-seared Chicken with Lobster Mushrooms, Rosemary Butter Sauce, and Soy Salt  using Secret Stash Soy salt. Click here.

You can find many other recipes on her blog using the flavorful salts.

And now that we got all the admin stuff cleared, let’s have some pasta!

I have just realized that it’s been a while since I shared a recipe that is not cake with you. Sorry about that non-cake-eaters. But sharing this recipe for Bologenese sauce with you is going to make me feel so much better.

The recipe below is originally from Mario Batali (and appears in his Babbo cookbook, one of my favorites), but I have added so many shortcuts and a few changes that Mario might get mad at me linking his recipe to this one. But in any case, it’s a good one and I keep making it for my family again and again. And again.

Pasta with Bolognese Sauce

Makes 8-10 servings

2 medium onions, diced
4 celery stalks, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
5 garlic cloves, sliced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds ground beef (or 1 lb. veal and 1 lb. pork)
3 oz. pancetta or slab bacon, finely diced
1 small can tomato paste
1 cup milk
1 cup white wine
1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 boxes of pasta (try fresh Pappardelle)
Parmigiano-Reggiano, for grating

Place onions, celery, carrots, and garlic in a food processor bowl fitted with the steal blade and pulse a few times (you might have to do this is batches) until finely diced.

In an 8-quart, heavy-bottomed pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped vegetables and sweat over medium heat until they are translucent and soft but not browned, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Add the beef and pancetta and stir into the vegetables. Cook over high heat, stirring to keep the meat from sticking together, until browned.

Add the tomato paste, milk, wine, crushed tomaotes, thyme, salt and pepper, and simmer over medium-low heat for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Season with more salt and pepper to taste, and remove from the heat.

When ready to use, cook the pasta according to the instruction on the package.

Mario says: “The cooked pasta should be added to a saucepan with the appropriate amount of hot ragu Bolognese, and tosses so that the pasta is evenly coated by the ragu.”

Serve with grated Parmesan.

NOTE: It makes a lot of servings, but this sacue freezes beautifully.