This is a recipe from my childhood, when I spent a lot of time with a well-loved, reddish orange, circa 1970s, 3-ring binder Betty Crocker cookbook. (I did a little research, and we must have had had the 1978 edition, because it looked like this.) My sister and I would ponder all of Betty’s incredibly creative frosting ideas, her cookies, her pie crusts decorated with fork tines–which of course, by now, seem pretty simplistic. To us, they were the height of sophistication. We were completely wowed and tried all of them.

By the way, while I was looking for a photo of vintage Betty Crocker frosting ideas, I came across this fantastically misguided and sexist ad for Kellogg’s Pep vitamins, and couldn’t resist sharing it. I have no words. And I feel quite certain that I would look cuter if I didn’t work so hard.

But back to the recipe. I was inspired to revisit this particular recipe when I got home from work at 6 PM one night–and had guests coming at 7 for dinner. I called my mom and asked her to take down the big Betty binder and give me the old toffee bars recipe. They take about 5 minutes to prep and 15 minutes in the oven, and were even better than I remembered. I made something much harder and more time-consuming for the next dinner party, but my guests preferred the leftover toffee bars to my fancy shmancy individual chocolate mint cakes, dammit. So for the next round I just made them again. They have no toffee in them and they require virtually no kitchen skills. And they are absolutely delicious beyond belief.

Say what you will about Betty, but she knew her stuff. Give them a try and they might become a multi-generational family favorite for you, too.

Recipe: Betty Crocker’s Toffee Bars
Makes one 9×13 pan. They are great with ice cream. Even Betty herself, back in the 1960s, suggested you could use whole wheat flour in these. If you plan to do that, I would recommend using either half whole wheat and half white or using whole wheat pastry flour, to maintain a good crumb.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• couple handfuls of chocolate chips

METHOD:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Cream butter and sugar well, in a mixer or with a wooden spoon.
• Add egg yolk and vanilla and stir to combine.
• Add flour and salt and mix to fully combine
• Press mixture into a 9×13 pan. Bake about 15 minutes, until beginning to brown.
• Immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over the top of the hot pastry. Wait about 5 minutes for the chips to melt, then spread with a knife or offset spatula.
• Let cool then cut into bars and serve.

Related posts:

1. {recipe} Yosemite-Ready Granola Bars with Dried Cherries, Almonds, & Cocoa Nibs Last weekend I had the great fortune to spend some...
2. {recipe} Potato Chip and Pecan Cookies My much beloved Grammy used to make potato chip cookies,...
3. {recipe} Sexy Salted Caramel Brownies, or, The Only Brownies I Will Ever Make Again Last night I had an esteemed guest for dinner–the mayor...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I was a little skeptical at first – raw kale instead of basil? But it turns out, I was totally wrong to doubt. What I like about this is that it only takes a few leaves of kale, and you can use the rest of the kale in something else–unlike basil, pesto, which uses about half a bunch and then forces me to witness the slow and slimy death of the remainder of the bunch every time I open my refrigerator.

For a creamy, fulfilling, vegetarian pasta dish, cook the noodles, then toss some pesto with the pasta and a little of the reserved pasta water in the pot. For a great appetizer, spread the pesto on thin slices of toasted bread and top with sliced cherry tomatoes and/or sprinkle with more crushed walnuts or a little bit of grated cheese. You can make the pesto while you’re boiling the noodles or toasting the bread.

I didn’t have parmesan, so I used some salty grated pecorino, which cut the bitterness of the kale really well. I think you could use either with excellent results. If I’m being honest, I eyeballed the cheese and thereby I probably used extra, because that’s kind of how I roll, so if it’s not tasting great throw another 1/4 cup of cheese in the mix and see how it goes. Get the recipe here! 

Related posts:

1. TASTESPOTTING BADGES! See that cool Tastespotting badge over in my right sidebar?...
2. {recipe} Bucatini with Pancetta and Pumpkin-Parmesan Sauce I’ve been having some serious pumpkin cravings lately, so I...
3. {recipe} Spring Tart with Favas, Asparagus, Ramps, and Fromage Blanc This is a tart that practically screams “SPRING!!!!”–and as the...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This is one of my favorite types of recipes: the kind where you use a small number of simple ingredients and take advantage of time and temperature to meld them together into something much greater than the sum of their parts. The recipe is really easy from a technique standpoint, but you’ll need about an hour and a half to two hours of cooking time to get it from start to finish. I recommend using a lean pork, because with fatty pork the sauce can get oily and you’ll have to skim off the fat, which adds an extra step. Of course, this tastes very good (better?) reheated a day or two later, so you could also make it in advance, chill it in the fridge overnight, skim off the fat, and reheat it.

I adapted this from a recipe I saw in Real Simple magazine, but ironically I found their recipe to be not actually all that simple. I simplified it by cutting out several unnecessary steps and a few ingredients.

Recipe: Pork and Prune Stew
serves 8

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 lbs. lean pork stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 Tblsp butter
• 1 Tblsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups red wine
• 12 oz. prunes
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 Tblsp brandy
• 2 Tblsp heavy cream

METHOD:

•  Season pork liberally with salt and pepper.
• Heat butter and oil in a large, heavy pot. Add pork and cook, turning and stirring to brown on all sides, about 10 minutes total.
• Add the garlic and cook about 30 seconds, until fragrant. Add wine, prunes, bay leaves, and chicken broth and bring to a boil.
• Lower heat, cover, and simmer for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours, until pork is tender. If there is a lot of fat on top of the liquid, skim it off and discard it.
• Remove cover and raise heat to boil and reduce a bit, about 5 or 10 minutes.
• Turn off heat and stir in brandy and cream. Serve with crusty bread or over noodles.

Related posts:

1. {recipe} Easy Oven Barley “Risotto” As much as I hate unnecessary quotation marks, I can’t...
2. {recipe} Chicken Tagine with Apricots, Herbs, and Ginger Sure, where you live it’s probably hot and sunny. But...
3. {recipe} Chicken (or Turkey) Hash I’ve been seeing a lot of Thanksgiving recipes go around...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

You may or may not know that I am part Norwegian. Now if you’re not Scandinavian, you might not realize what a big deal it is for a Norwegian to make and enjoy something Finnish. My grandmother was one of the sweetest, warmest, kindest women in the world, but as a proud Norwegian, she really had it in for the Finns (even worse than the Danes or the Swedes.) So it speaks volumes that this is a cherished family recipe despite its, er, unlikely origins.

Sometimes people eat this and think it’s the same thing as a Dutch baby, but in fact, they are a little bit different, and I feel that the Finnish pancake is superior. Probably because it has more butter in it. A typical Dutch baby recipe asks that you mix a lesser amount of melted butter into the batter, while the Finnish pancake requires that you melt a bunch of butter in the cooking pan then add the batter on top, creating an end result that’s more butter-coated, with small rivulets and channels of butter along the entire surface. And yet, the Dutch baby gets all the love. In fact, Finnish pancakes don’t even have a Wikipedia page! Oh, the injustice. (Update: commenter Nicole points out they do have a Wikipedia page, under Pannukakku, but it’s admittedly pretty lame.)

According to my grandmother’s recipe, you are meant to serve this with fresh berries, and whipped cream. I also like maple syrup on the side. If I’m feeling energetic, I’ll make a simple raspberry red wine sauce (recipe below.) You can whip up some cream to go with it–if I have creme fraiche on hand, I add a few spoonfuls to give the cream a slight tang. But hey, it’s Christmas morning, and you’re probably tired from playing Santa, so a can of squirt whipped cream and a handful of mixed berries will work just as well! It’s all about the pancake, anyway.

Ideally you would make this in a cast-iron pan, but any large metal oven-proof frying pan will work. It doesn’t need to be non-stick, because of all the butter. If you don’t have either of those, you can make it in a casserole-type dish, but it won’t puff up quite as much. It will still be delicious, though.

Recipe: Finnish Pancake
serves 6

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 tablespoons butter (original recipe calls for twice that much, but I think 4 tablespoons is the right amount. If you really and truly love butter, like even more than I do, which hardly seems possible, you could go up to 6 tablespoons)
• 5 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup flour

• Put butter into a heavy, oven-proof skillet and place into the oven. Turn oven to 400 degrees F.
• Beat eggs and sugar with a hand mixer until foamy.
• Add milk and flour and beat until smooth and frothy.
• Pour batter into melted butter in heated pan. Cook for about 25 minutes, until pancake pulls away from sides, rises, and browns on top.
• Serve warm with fruit and whipped cream.

Easy Raspberry Red Wine Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 small baskets fresh raspberries
• 1 cup red wine
• 3/4 cup sugar (more or less to taste)

METHOD:

• Before preparing the pancake, put all sauce ingredients in a small saucepan on the stove.
• Bring to a boil then turn down to a simmer. Simmer 30-40 minutes, while you prepare and bake the pancake.
• Just before taking the pancake out, remove from heat and put into a pitcher or bowl. Serve warm.

Related posts:

1. {recipe} Cherry Raspberry Pie with Shortbread Crust I don’t often make desserts with cherries, unless it’s a...
2. {recipe} Chewy Gingersnaps with Cream Cheese Frosting These cookies are the result of a happy accident. My...
3. {recipe} Cherry Almond Upside Down Cake I think the planets must be mis-aligned or something, because...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I don’t understand why, but if you make rice krispy treats with Fruity Pebbles cereal instead of Rice Krispies, people will act like you are a genius. Kids, adults, whatever- it amazes them that you thought of this. And I think they taste quite a bit more exciting than run-of-the-mill krispy treats!

Here’s how you make them: Make the original, standard Rice Krispy treats recipe, but use Fruity Pebbles instead. That’s it. I stacked these wedding cake-style with parchment rounds in between to make them seem fancy. You can use Cocoa Pebbles if you prefer, or even a mix of Cocoa Pebbles and Rice Krispies, but they won’t have quite the visual wow factor that only a sugary cereal’s neon food dyes can offer!

Related posts:

1. {recipe and knowledge} Easy Homemade Hot Cocoa, and How to Eat Chocolate Without Supporting Child Slavery Lately I’ve been cuckoo for hot cocoa. Maybe it’s the...
2. {recipe} Yosemite-Ready Granola Bars with Dried Cherries, Almonds, & Cocoa Nibs Last weekend I had the great fortune to spend some...
3. {recipe} Cherry Almond Upside Down Cake I think the planets must be mis-aligned or something, because...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I love fat-filled dairy products as much as anyone, but once I go beyond lowfat milk with this recipe, it just gets way too rich for me. However, don’t let that stop you from using whole milk or substituting a little half and half in there- especially if you plan to serve this as a shot-sized dessert or something fancy like that.

And now that you’re all warm and fuzzy thinking about hot cocoa, I have to share something pretty depressing with you about the chocolate industry. 

I’m not going to sugar-coat (chocolate-coat?) this: most of the chocolate we eat supports child slavery. This fact makes me reel: how is it possible that something so joyful, so loved, so pleasure-inducing as chocolate can be the product of child slavery? Unfortunately, the majority of it is. I have heard about this for some time now, and I’m ashamed to admit that it took an utterly disturbing BBC documentary to hammer the point home (you can watch sections of the documentary and read more details about chocolate slavery at one of my favorite thoughtful blogs, Rage Against the Minivan.) Hundreds of thousands of West African children, taken forcibly from their parents or sold into servitude, labor on cacao plantations for the raw materials that make the candy we share with our children. How’s that for irony? Companies like Nestle, Hershey’s, and Mars–which by the way, own a whole bunch of other, smaller-seeming companies like Dove and Scharffenberger–are all guilty of using chocolate from these plantations, and claim no responsibility for their actions, saying it’s not their fault since they don’t own the plantations. If you’re a glutton for punishment, you can learn much more about the horrific lives of these cacao-harvesting children at Stop Chocolate Slavery.

So obviously, at this point I feel my chocolate options are limited, and as much as I crave the occasional Dove bar or handful of M&M’s, I can no longer enjoy those things knowing they are the products of child slavery. Luckily, there are many smaller companies making fair trade chocolate that don’t use chocolate from plantations that support child slavery. I like using TCHO chocolate, not only because it tastes great and is made locally in their San Francisco factory, but because they have a transparent supply chain system and have taken a firm “no slavery” stance as part of their mission. Unfortunately, they don’t make unsweetened cocoa powder, which is what I use in this recipe. When I buy cocoa powder, I look for brands that say they’re certified fair trade on the label- like Dagoba (usually cheaper on Amazon than on their site), Sunspire, or Lake Champlain. Whole Foods’ 365 brand of chocolates are also organic and fair trade, but not all Trader Joe’s chocolates are. For a list of where other brands stand, you can check the Stop Chocolate Slavery website.

Recipe: Easy Homemade Hot Cocoa
makes 1 large (me-sized) cup or 2 smaller cups

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 cups lowfat milk
• 2 Tblsp dark brown sugar
• 2 Tblsp dark unsweetened cocoa powder

METHOD:

• Combine everything in a saucepan and whisk until incorporated. Heat over medium heat until milk starts to bubble. Serve immediately.

Related posts:

1. {recipe} Yosemite-Ready Granola Bars with Dried Cherries, Almonds, & Cocoa Nibs Last weekend I had the great fortune to spend some...
2. {recipe} Pumpkin Fudge, Four Ways in One Pan Are you from a picky family? I am. My Mom...
3. {recipe} Sexy Salted Caramel Brownies, or, The Only Brownies I Will Ever Make Again Last night I had an esteemed guest for dinner–the mayor...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I also think barley is an unsung hero among better-known grains. While newer arrivals to the scene like quinoa and wheat berries are getting all the play, good ol’ barley has been around for ages, the workhorse of the whole grain world, just minding its business and keeping quiet in the background. This recipe is an old one that my Mom has been making for years, and it still wows guests as a savory, creamy, satisfying side dish.

Easy Oven Barley Risotto
serves 6 as a side dish

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 Tblsp butter
• 1 yellow onion, chopped finely
• 2 large or 3 small cloves garlic, chopped finely
• 1 1/2 cups crimini or brown mushrooms, chopped finely
• 1 1/2 cups pearl barley
• 4 cups chicken broth, mushroom broth, or vegetable broth

METHOD:

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Heat an oven-proof dish, melt the butter and add onions, garlic, and mushrooms. Cook, stirring, until onions are soft and translucent and mushrooms are browned. Add barley and saute to toast, stirring, about 3-5 minutes more.
• Add broth and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and put a lid on the pot.
• Put the pot in the oven and cook for about 1 hour, until barley is soft and cooked through.
• Stir the barley and remove to a serving dish. Serve immediately.

Related posts:

1. {guiltless recipe} Cauliflower Puree with Caramelized Onions Today I ate pizza for lunch. Why do you care?...
2. {recipe} Roasted Sweet Potato & Cauliflower Puree I’m a big fan of pureed cauliflower as a side...
3. {recipe} The Best Short Ribs You’ll Ever Eat After a week of glorious sun and 80+ degree weather,...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I think gazpacho is a smashing summer idea, but it always has cucumbers in it. At the risk of offending cucumber-lovers out there, let me just say that cucumbers are so gross. I’ll grudgingly admit that they add some creaminess and tang to the soup, so I adapted a Melissa Clark recipe for gazpacho that eschews the cucumbers in favor of sheep’s milk yogurt–which is both creamy and tangy, and more importantly, totally not gross.

I made a big batch to bring over to some friends who are about to have their first baby. With this in their freezer, they can pull it out to thaw in the fridge and enjoy it some sunny day in the near future. I saved some for myself and poured it into 5 oz glasses so I could serve it as a tiny soup course before a dinner party. No spoons needed – just a shot of late-summer tomato sweetness down the gullet.

Creamy Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho
serves 8

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• 4 scallions, white and light green part only
• about 2 lbs. ripe heirloom tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tblsp red wine vinegar
• about 2 tsp salt (more to taste)
• large pinch cayenne pepper (more to taste)
• 16 oz. plain full-fat sheep’s-milk yogurt (can substitute regular yogurt, but for best results use a full-fat yogurt with a creamy texture)

METHOD:

• Put everything except yogurt in a blender and blend until creamy.
• Add yogurt and blend again. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
• Serve immediately at room temperature or chill in the fridge for a few hours to overnight and serve cold.

Related posts:

1. {food hack} Salsa + Guacamole = (Damn Good) Gazpacho Earlier today I was eating the most delicious salsa (the...
2. {recipe} Watermelon Salad with Feta and Mint This is so good that I can’t wait to share...
3. {recipe} Roasted Sweet Potato & Cauliflower Puree I’m a big fan of pureed cauliflower as a side...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

There are several watermelon/feta salad recipes out there, but many of them use balsamic vinegar, which I like with feta but not with watermelon. Some use no dressing at all which is just crazy. This one uses a light dressing of lime juice, olive oil, and a pinch of cayenne, as a nod to the chili-and-lime-on-sweet-fruit thing that you often get in Mexico. The sweet/salty/spicy combination is pretty much perfect.

You could replace half of the watermelon with sweet, flavorful heirloom tomatoes for another layer of flavor, color, and texture. If you’re serving this alongside grilled chicken or lamb, tomatoes would be a fantastic addition.

Watermelon Salad with Feta and Mint
serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 lbs seedless watermelon (I used half a watermelon)
• 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
• 1 1/2 cups baby spinach leaves
• juice of 2 limes
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt
• cayenne pepper or other hot spice of your choice
• 4 oz good quality feta

METHOD:

• Remove rind from watermelon and cut flesh into 3/4 inch cubes. Put cubes in a bowl.
• Chop mint leaves finely and add to bowl. Chop spinach leaves and add to bowl.
• In a separate bowl, whisk lime juice and olive oil together to combine well. Add salt to taste (about 2 large pinches worked for me) and cayenne to taste (1 large pinch for me.) Add to watermelon and toss gently with a spatula.
• Remove to serving plate and crumble feta on top. Serve immediately.

Related posts:

1. {recipe} Roasted Sweet Potato & Cauliflower Puree I’m a big fan of pureed cauliflower as a side...
2. {recipe} Chicken Tagine with Apricots, Herbs, and Ginger Sure, where you live it’s probably hot and sunny. But...
3. {how to} Five Minute Padron Peppers Every year, it seems like all of the restaurants get...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Roasted Sweet Potato & Cauliflower Puree

Serves 4-6 as a side dish

Ingredients:

• 1 head cauliflower
• 2 medium sweet potatoes
• 3/4 cup thick Greek yogurt (like Fage – nonfat, 2%, or full fat is OK)
• 1/4 cup milk
• Olive oil, salt, pepper, and ground cumin to taste

Method:

• Heat oven to 400 F.
• Cut cauliflower head in half. Remove leaves and use your knife to cut a V-shape and remove the tough inner core. Cut into rough florets.
• Peel sweet potatoes and cut lengthwise, then into chunks roughly the same size as the cauliflower pieces.
• On a baking sheet, arrange sweet potatoes in a single layer in the center and cauliflower at the outer edges. Drizzle with olive oil (about 1-2 Tbsp total) then sprinkle liberally with salt, pepper, and ground cumin.
• Roast in the oven for 30-45 minutes, until cauliflower is browned on the bottom and sweet potatoes are very soft.
• Put cauliflower and sweet potatoes in food processor and pulse to chop finely. Add yogurt and continue to process.
• Add milk and process until smooth. Taste and add more salt, pepper, and cumin as needed.
• Serve immediately.

Related posts:

1. {guiltless recipe} Cauliflower Puree with Caramelized Onions Today I ate pizza for lunch. Why do you care?...
2. {how to} Five Minute Padron Peppers Every year, it seems like all of the restaurants get...
3. {recipe} Potato Chip and Pecan Cookies My much beloved Grammy used to make potato chip cookies,...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.