Category: treats + snacks

And the winner is…

Published on by jan greco2 Comments

I bake all the time, almost weekly in fact. Usually it’s cookies for my “should never be empty” cookie jar or some crazy homemade goldfish crackers or pretzel bite recipe I found on Pintrest. And sometimes it’s lush seasonal fruit muffins, either mini or full size. What I like most about muffins is they’re quick to whip up, easy to make nutritious, and ideal to have on hand for a quick breakfast or afternoon snack. So when I decided to enter a local “Summer Berry Bake-Off” contest the first thing that came to mind was… muffins.

I happen to have a knock ’em dead Fresh Cranberry and Orange Muffin recipe that would without question have been a winner. I’ve been making this recipe for years and I have yet to have anyone not like them— children included. (Oh yeah, they’re really that good.) But… unlike a lot of other produce available year round, cranberries are only grown in the Northern United States and Canada and they’re only in season (and available) October through December. So in other words, I would not be making my cranberry-orange muffins in July! Okay, onto Plan B.

Since the combination of cranberry and orange is such a winner then how about another berry and citrus match up? How about blueberry and lemon? Hmmm, a recipe slowly formed in my brain. I still had some homemade limoncello in the refrigerator, that might be a great way to make my muffins stand out against the competition. So there it was, my bake-off entry would be (drum roll please) Blueberry-Limoncello Muffins with a Crumb Topping.

I worked like a mad woman to perfect this recipe. If you were at my house last week or went to camp with my kids then odds are you tasted one of my variations of this muffin. Naturally witness to this baking frenzy were my son and daughter, who were more than happy to partake in the repeated taste testing. In fact my son was so taken with the bake-off idea that he decided he wanted to enter something in the 10 yrs. and under division. Another eager baker in the Greco house? Fantastic! Let’s do a little recipe research my boy and come up with a plan. And so we did.

We looked at recipes that contained a limited amount of ingredients, would be easy for him to execute with only a little help from me, could possibly be made ahead of time and would of course be award winningly delicious. Not such easy criteria to meet, right? But meet it we did. The recipe we ended up picking was a Summer Strawberry and Cream Scone. These scones were loaded with fresh juicy strawberries, easy to put together and could be made and frozen a day ahead and baked fresh the morning if the contest. It was the perfect combination!

Fast forward to the day of the bake-off; we both proudly carried in our entries and were met with numerous oohs and aahs from the registration committee. Would this mother-son team sweep the contest? Would our grinning faces be plastered on the front page of the paper? Would the name Greco instill fear and dread in local baking circles? We added our entries to the others on the table and walked away, it was now all in the hands of the judges.

While we waited for the judging to take place we talked about how great it would be to win. But we agreed that winning wasn’t the most important thing, it was just fun to do this together. That is until my sweet boy, my first-born, my one and only son— rocked his division and won first place! He hooted and hollered, spun around in the air and hi-fived a competitor before they could even tell him what he had won. My daughter rushed the stage, arms raised high, yelling “I won!, I won!”, (which of course if you know her then you know she has to do everything her big brother does.) It was an exciting, entertaining and truly proud moment for our family and the entire bake-off crowd.

He’s already been talking about what he’d like to enter for next years competition and was eager to start making dishes out of the kids cookbook that was one of his prizes. I’d like to think that one day we’ll look back at this bake-off as the beginning of all his culinary adventures.

Oh and you may be wondering how my muffins went over. Well, let’s just say there’s always next year…

Summer Strawberry & Cream Scones
These are delicious on their own but according to my blue ribbon winner, even better with a little strawberry jam or vanilla ice cream on the side!

scones2

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, frozen
1 cup chopped fresh strawberries
1 cup heavy cream
1 beaten egg, for wash
1 tbsp. heavy cream, for wash
demerara sugar, for topping

  1. Preheat oven to 400°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Add the butter by grateing it on the large holes of a box grater. Stir the butter into the flour mixture with a fork until the mixture looks crumbly. With a wide spatula, gently mix in the strawberries and then fold in heavy cream. When you’ve given it a good mix,  knead it once or twice in the bowl to create one large lump of dough. (Don’t worry about getting the dough evenly mixed. It’s far more important that the dough is not overworked.)
  3. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead a few times to incorporate dry ingredients. Sprinkle top of dough with additional flour and press/pat it into a 3/4 inch thick circle. Cut the circle into thirds and then into wedges. Transfer wedges to the cookie sheet, leaving at least 1/2 inch of space between them.*
  4. Whisk together the egg and 1 tbsp. of heavy cream. Brush the top of each scone with the egg wash and sprinkle with demerara sugar. Bake 8 minutes, spin the cookie sheet around and bake for an additional 3-5 minutes or until the tops are beginning to brown. Let cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature with jam, clotted cream or vanilla ice cream.

*To make ahead and freeze: Make the scones as instructed above. Place them on a parchment lined cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap and slide the cookie sheet into the freezer. When you’re ready to bake them brush the still frozen scones with the egg wash, sprinkle them with sugar and pop them into a preheated oven, adding 2 to 3 minutes to your baking time.

*adapted from smitten kitchen

Move Over Kozy Shack…

Published on by jan greco1 Comment

A few weeks ago my daughter discovered the classic children’s book The Poky Little Puppy. It’s been her number one choice for afternoon reading and bedtime story ever since. She never tires of hearing about the puppies heading roly-poly, pell-mell and tumble-bumble down the hill. She tisk-tisks when the fresh puppies get scolded by their mamma and is delighted when the poky puppy gets to eat up all the rice pudding and chocolate custard. But I’ll be honest with you, The Poky Little Puppy is beginning to get on my nerves. Seriously, the same book every night for weeks on end— I challenge you not to grow weary too! But she loves the story, so we read it again and again and again. Anyway, thanks to a certain little puppy I’ve been thinking about rice pudding lately.

In my mind there really is no middle ground when it comes to rice pudding, you either love it or you don’t. And the same goes for whether you prefer it with raisins or you think it’s at it’s best unadulterated. Personally I can’t think of a more soothing dessert than a bowl of rice pudding (without raisins) topped with a nice dollop of whipped cream. Mmmm…

In the past I’ve made rice pudding with brown rice and coconut milk, and while it wasn’t bad it certainly wasn’t the rice pudding you remember from childhood. But this recipe is. It’s rich and creamy and not overly sweet, really it’s near rice pudding perfection with one exception… it only makes a small quantity of rice pudding! Now perhaps in your house this isn’t an issue, but in mine things could get ugly pretty quickly if someone feels they haven’t gotten their fair share. Naturally my solution was to double the recipe which not only made enough to satisfy the crazies I live with, but also gave me enough to share with my visiting parents. Happiness reigned! Oh and that night my mother got the pleasure of reading The Poky Little Puppy to her granddaughter before bed. It was a win-win situation all around…

Classic Arborio Rice Pudding
When it comes to rice pudding my family is a bunch of purists. In other words— no raisins, ever! But feel free to add them to yours if you wish. 

1 cup water
a pinch salt
1/2 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup Arborio rice
2 cups whole milk
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
whipped cream, for topping

  1. Bring water, salt, and butter to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the rice, return to a boil, cover and then reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Allow to cook, stirring frequently, until the rice has absorbed most of the water but it still al dente, about 8-12 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile bring the milk, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon to a simmer in a small saucepan. Add the warm milk mixture to the cooked rice and continue to simmer over medium-low heat, stirring often, until the rice absorbs most of the milk and mixture starts to get thicken, about 15-18 minutes.
  3. Transfer the pudding to a serving dish. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it onto the surface, and allow to cool until set. Serve warm with a sprinkle of cinnamon and a dollop of whipped cream, or chill for a later date.

*adapted from the food network

Homemade Whipped Cream
It’s so easy to make your own whipped cream it’s really not worth wasting your time (and money) buying it.

1 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp. powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

  1. Put all the ingredients in a medium high-sided bowl. With a hand mixer on low, whip cream until it begins to firm up. Slowly increase speed to high and beat until the whipped cream holds it’s shape when you lift out the beaters. Use immediately and enjoy!

Homemade Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches— Oh Yeah.

Published on by jan greco3 Comments

I collect cookie jars. Vintage McCoy cookie jars to be precise. I’ve collected them for years, way before I had little people to make cookies with or for. You see I have a weakness for housewares. When I was a young girl I would go to the local department store with my mother and head straight for the fine china department. I would walk around and around the beautiful sets of dinnerware and crystal, dreaming of which patterns I choose one day when I was grown up. This would therefore explain why I own five sets of dishes (we had a yard sale and I sold two “extra” sets), enough serving pieces to easily set a buffet for a hundred, a ridiculous number of tiny antique aperitif glasses, a crazy collection of water pitchers and just about every size and shape cocktail glass you could ask for. Feel like margaritas? I’ve got the glasses… Red wine? But of course, balloon or bordeaux… Champagne? Got it… Dark and Stormy? Yup, swizzle sticks too! I could go on but you get the picture.

Okay, so back to cookie jars… I own many. And while most of them are currently in the attic I do have a few of my favorites in the kitchen. One holds loose change, one holds bric-a-brac that we may need to get our hands on one day and the remainder hold dust, the odd button and perhaps a few pebbles from the beach or an old parkway token. That is except one. If you’re a frequent guest at my house then you know exactly which cookie jar I’m speaking of. It’s the one that’s almost always filled with some homemade delight. Since family and friends have come to expect homemade cookies at our house I do my best to keep it full, but sometimes cookie making gets pushed to the back burner. I always know its time to refill the cookie jar when I hear the lid being lifted and replaced, followed immediately by a sad-faced individual wandering into the room.

It happened to be time for me to whip up another batch for my nearly empty jar, but with the arrival of warm weather the kids have been more inclined to ask for popsicles as a snack than cookies. So, I wondered to myself, how do you think they would feel about cookies turned into ice cream sandwiches?…

I’ll give you one guess as to how they felt about homemade ice cream cookie sandwiches. If these two little people could have hoisted me on their shoulders and marched me around the room I think they would have. Instead I got a “Mom you and these are THE BEST!”, which was even better.

Brown Sugar Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
The addition of a little bit of espresso powder really kicks the dark chocolate flavor up a notch. One batch of these cookies typically makes about two dozen cookies, certainly enough to make ice cream sandwiches and enjoy solo as well.

1 1/2 cups flour
2 tbsp. + 2 tsp. dark cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 stick butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 tsp. instant espresso powder, dissolved in 1 tsp. of water
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tbsp. milk
1 tbsp. plain yogurt
5 oz. dark chocolate morsels* (these are bigger than ordinary chips)

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line two cookies sheets with parchment paper.
  2. Mix the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda together in a medium bowl; set aside.
  3. Cream together the butter and brown sugar until thoroughly blended. Add the egg, espresso/water, vanilla, milk and yogurt and mix well. Add half of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix, add the remaining flour and mix until completely blended. Gently fold in the chips.
  4. Using a cookie scoop or tablespoon place mounds of dough on the prepared cookie sheets.
  5. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the cookies have spread a bit and the tops have begun to crack, but are still soft to the touch.
  6. Transfer cookies to racks to cool and enjoy with a loved one and an ice-cold glass of milk, or use to create ice cream sandwiches.

*In the past I have also made these with 3/4 cup peanut butter chips instead of the morsels. Holy cow they were good!

Ice Cream Sandwiches
Having all the ingredients cold when you assemble these seems to be the key to building a successful ice cream sandwich.

Ice cream in flavors of your choice
Homemade chocolate cookies

  1. Place pre-baked chocolate cookies in the freezer to chill for 15 minutes.
  2. Working quickly, one flavor at a time, place a generous scoop of ice cream in the center of each cookie and top with a second. Place the completed sandwich on a cookie sheet in the freezer and repeat with remaining cookies and ice cream flavors.
  3. Chill ice cream sandwiches for at least an hour before serving. Store in an air tight container in the freezer or gobble up immediately.

Peanut Butter Cups— Yum!

Published on by jan greco4 Comments

I grew up with a mother who was “crunchy and all natural” way before it was the thing to do. She frequented the local farm for fresh goats milk, would only buy whole wheat bread, plain yogurt and all natural peanut butter. And don’t even get me started on our summer of carob! My mother was the queen of healthy and homemade, for better or worse. She refused to buy junk food, but didn’t want to deny me the joys of childhood gluttony so she would make homemade devil dogs, whoopie pies and popcorn balls. My friends loved it. I on the other hand longed for nothing more than Wonder Bread, Skippy Peanut Butter and Lucky Charms. Seriously, if it was full of high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils and red dye no. 2 then it was for me!

So isn’t it ironic that I turned out to be the type of wife and mother who makes everything from scratch. Who has a running tab at Whole Foods and would sooner serve my kids sawdust than Skippy. (Yes, my mother is enjoying a nice chuckle over this.) Luckily, my family thinks it’s wonderful that I can make donuts, candy and various other treats that rival the mass-produced variety. But I’m sure my Lucky Charms Day will come!

Anyhow back to the point… My husband just recently celebrated his birthday. And while I made him a chocolate cream pie (that blog post will come later), we sang to him and he blew out the candles, the poor dear ended up being away for business on his actual birthday. I didn’t want him to feel like his birthday had passed unnoticed, so I decided to do something special for him upon his return. The question was what? Well, he happens to LOVE peanut butter cups, they’re his all time favorite candy. So there was my answer, I would make him homemade peanut butter cups. They can’t be the hard to recreate, right?!?

It turns out they’re not hard to make at all, they just take a little time. (And since I can’t be bothered to attempt anything that seems too easy, this wasn’t a problem for me.) The final product was really fantastic, way better than Hershey’s could ever make, and much loved and enjoyed by my whole family.

But the real question is: Would my juvenile self have approved of these homemade treats? It hard to say for sure, but they were so tasty that I imagine an 8-year-old me would gobble them up without complaint.

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
If you have a peanut butter and chocolate lover in your life you must try these!

For the chocolate shell:
8 oz. 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate, chopped
6 oz. milk chocolate, chopped
a pinch of salt

For the peanut butter filling:
3/4 cup creamy natural peanut butter
1/3 cup powdered sugar
a pinch of salt

  1. Prepare a mini muffin tin with liners and set aside. Use a double-boiler (or a microwave) to melt the chocolate, stirring frequently. When the chocolate is totally melted and smooth remove from heat.
  2. Place 1 teaspoon of melted chocolate in each cupcake liner. Carefully spread it with a the back of a small measuring spoon around the liner and 3/4 of the way up the sides. Repeat with the remaining liners.
  3. Place the chocolate-covered liners into the freezer to firm up, for about 10 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, prepare the peanut butter filling: Stir together the peanut butter, sugar and salt.
  5. When the chocolate cups are firm, spoon 1 heaping half teaspoon of peanut butter paste into each chocolate cup.
  6. Top with 2 teaspoons melted chocolate, spreading carefully so that none of the peanut butter can be seen.
  7. Let the cups firm up in fridge for at least one hour before indulging. These babies soften up very quickly, so store any remaining peanut butter cups (and believe me, there won’t be many) in fridge.

*adapted from the sweetest kitchen

donut you wanna bite me?

Published on by jan greco1 Comment

A few years ago I bought a set of donut pans. I imagined myself churning out dozens of freshly baked donuts, much to my family’s delight. Fresh donuts would become our Sunday morning ritual and on cool Fall afternoons we would sit on the deck among the gently falling leaves and eat warm cinnamon-sugar donuts while drinking coffee and apple cider. It was quite the bucolic vision I had created for myself, all resting on these two little pans. Perhaps it was an attempt to recreate my own New England childhood for my kids, or simply the desire to make something a little more special than yet another batch of cookies. Whatever the initial reason, lovely daydreams were all that ever materialized from these pans.

I made fantastic looking vanilla donuts with chocolate glaze and bakery look-alike chocolate donuts with loads of sprinkles— but they all tasted awful. Too dry, too tasteless, too salty, too oddly textured and almost too frustrating to continue attempting. I had one mild success with an apple donut, but apparently they weren’t delicious enough for seconds because the leftovers sat around long enough to grow fur.

I was truly ready to shelve my donut pans forever, “Perhaps I’ll sell them at my next yard sale” I thought to myself. Then I stumbled upon a recipe for some simple spice donuts that looked easy to make, fairly low-fat (what a crazy idea!) and who’s list of ingredients somehow just sounded right to me. At this point I think my family was tired of being teased with fantastic looking/disgusting tasting donuts, so I didn’t tell I was making another batch. They were out running errands one Saturday morning when I decide to whip some up and surprise them. They would walk in without expectations of warm sugary goodness and would therefore be less disappointed if this recipe was yet another flop.

Ha a flop! A flop my transplanted New England butt! These donuts were fantastic, seriously fantastic! They were light and moist with just the right amount of spices and sugar. They were really and truly delicious baked donuts.

So I’m sure you’re now wondering if these baked beauties have fulfilled all the dreams I had riding on them. If I’m cranking out batches every Sunday morning and praying for cool weather. Well here’s the thing… Sunday is usually my weekend morning to sleep in. And it’s barely Spring, Fall is still a long way off. So I’d have to answer with a resounding no. But now anytime someone in my family says they feel like donuts, at least I can offer to make them a batch of homemade…

Cinnamon-Sugar Baked Donuts
These are not fried donuts, so don’t compare them to what you think you
know a donut to be. These are much lighter than fried which means you can eat at least two before you begin to feel guilty!

3/4 cup cake flour
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
3 tbsp. dried buttermilk powder
2 large eggs
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 tbsp. apple juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. plain yogurt

For the sugar-coating:
half a stick of butter, melted
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Whisk together all of the dry ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
  2. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, juice, vanilla and yogurt.
  3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just until combined.
  4. Grease or spray the doughnut pan and fill each doughnut form half way. (I find it’s easiest to pour the batter into a ziplock bag, snip off one corner and pipe it into the pan.)
  5. Bake for 8-10 minutes. You’ll know they’re done when they spring back when touched and are just beginning to brown on top.
  6. While the donuts are baking mix together the cinnamon-sugar coating and melt the butter. Set aside.
  7. When the donuts are finished baking, immediately remove them from the oven and brush them with melted butter. Give them a quick roll in the cinnamon-sugar coating and enjoy.

*adapted from king arthur flour

Candied bacon…I’m all shook up!

Published on by jan greco2 Comments

Over dinner one night many years ago, a friend made an out of the blue declaration that “bacon was the perfect food!” Naturally we all laughed and have continued to joke about the perfect food ever since. But the more I think about it the more I think this friend of ours may have been onto something. What would Quiche Lorraine be without bacon? And how sad would that BLT sandwich be without good ol’ bacon? Not to mention my roasted brussels sprouts or mashed turnips. Yes, in-fact I’m beginning to think that bacon may be just a bit more important (and versatile) than it’s been given credit for.

I recently started planning my Easter dinner menu (yes, I do realize it’s still four weeks away!) So perhaps it was just a coincidence or maybe it was predestined, but while flipping through cook books the other day I stumble upon a recipe for Candied Bacon Brownies. “Candied bacon brownies…” I thought to myself “…that’s a crazy good idea! But way too decadent, too rich and too over the top to actually bother to make.” And so I moved on. Then a few days later the Today section of the paper had a recipe for an escarole salad topped with candied bacon.

Seriously, what are the chances of candied bacon popping up in my life twice in a matter of days? I took it as a sign.

I immediately liked the idea of using candied bacon as a garnish, it would allow you to enjoy the salty/sweet aspects of the bacon but not be overwhelmed by it. Since I had already planned to serve my spinach salad with sliced strawberries and goat cheese on Easter, sprinkling a little candied bacon on top seemed like a no-brainer! Now to come up with a more decadent use… I imagined that a combination of chocolate and candied bacon might literally cause some folks to swoon. But I also thought that it would be so rich that any more than a single bite would be too much. So I decided that instead of brownies or even cookies I would make… fudge. Yup, Candied Bacon Fudge. Sounds like something Elvis would have eaten doesn’t it?

Okay, so let me tell you what I’ve discovered about candied bacon… It’s pretty damn delicious! It was a great addition to my spinach salad (actually I can’t believe I ever thought the salad was good without it!) and it turned already delicious fudge into something a bit more special.

Candied bacon doesn’t belong everywhere, but it definitely has its place in my cooking repertoire.

Candied Bacon
I know this sounds like a crazy idea but it really is delicious, and surprisingly versatile. It kicks a plain old BLT up a notch, is great along side a couple of eggs and tastes pretty fantastic eaten all by itself.

1/2 lb. thick cut bacon
1 cup dark brown sugar

  1. Preheat oven the 350°F. Line a jelly roll pan with foil and place a cooking rack in the pan, set aside.
  2. Put brown sugar in a container with sides (something long enough to allow you to lay a slice of bacon out flat). Add bacon, one slice at a time and dredge in the brown sugar. Put the sugar coated strips of bacon on the rack and repeat until all the slices are done.
  3. Sprinkle a little additional sugar over the top of the strips and put into the preheated oven.
  4. Bake for 15-25 minutes (depending on thickness of bacon), turning the pan half way through. When the sugar has melted and the bacon is looking browned and crispy, remove it from the oven.
  5. Immediately peel the bacon off of the rack and lay it flat on a sheet of waxed paper to cool a bit.
  6. Use the candied bacon as a garnish on salad, alongside your favorite breakfast meal or as the “are you insane?!?” addition to chocolate fudge.

*adapted from lords of bacon

Spinach Salad with Strawberries, Goat Cheese and Candied Bacon
This is a great springtime salad and the addition of candied bacon makes it perfect. Feel free to change the toasted nuts to whichever kind you like most.

8 oz. fresh spinach leaves
2 oz. goat cheese
several slices of candied bacon, crumbled
1 cup sliced strawberries
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

  1. In a large bowl create a bed of fresh spinach. Top with sliced strawberries and toasted almonds.
  2. Pinch off small bits of goat cheese and distribute over salad. Sprinkle crumbled candied bacon over everything and serve with your favorite vinaigrette.

Simple Dark Chocolate Fudge
This is my standard chocolate fudge recipe. If you have a favorite of your own or prefer milk chocolate, feel free to modify the recipe.

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 stick unsalted butter
2 cups mini marshmallows
1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips (60% cocoa)
1/2 tsp. vanilla

  1. Line a 8×8 brownie pan with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. In a medium saucepan combine sugar, evaporated milk and butter. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to cook for another 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
  3. Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the marshmallows, chocolate and vanilla. Stir until the marshmallows and chocolate are melted and the mixture is smooth.
  4. Pour the fudge into the prepared pan and chill for several hours, until it’s firm.
  5. When the fudge is set lift the parchment out the pan, gently peel it off the block of fudge and cut into squares. Store tightly covered in the refrigerator.

Candied Bacon-Dark Chocolate Fudge
I know this seems like a crazy idea but I have yet to have a single person try this say it wasn’t delicious. Rich, extreme and they couldn’t possibly eat more than one piece, but delicious.

1/2 lb. of candied bacon
1 batch of dark chocolate fudge (your favorite recipe or mine listed above)

  1. Place half of the prepared fudge in the bottom of an 8×8 brownie pan lined with parchment paper.
  2. Lay the strips of bacon on top of the layer of fudge, making sure to press the bacon down to eliminate air bubbles.
  3. Pour the remaining fudge on top of the bacon and chill for several hours, until firm.
  4. When the fudge is set lift the parchment out the pan, gently peel it off the block of fudge and cut into squares. Store tightly covered in the refrigerator.

*adapted from the kitchn

Baking with my Cookie

Published on by jan greco2 Comments

“Let’s make cookies!” my daughter says on the way home from nursery school one afternoon. “Oh baby, I don’t have the ingredients for cookies, next time I go to the store I’ll get some.” “Yes you do” she replies, “sugar, flour, milk and eggs…” Hmmm, my two-and-a-half year old budding chef might be right, we in fact could make sugar cookies with the ingredients she just rattled off. So, since she specifically requested a little kitchen time with mom (and I would hate to deny my sweet girl), it looked like we’d be baking after lunch.

Here’s something you may not know about me, I don’t like to do anything if it seems too easy. I guess I equate a certain degree of effort with a successful final product. I’m sure plain sugar cookies would of been fine and certainly would of satisfied my daughter’s desire to bake, but in my little head that would of been too simple. I had to make sugar cookies that were a bit fancier. Cookies with some added cinnamon and nutmeg in the dough and then a quick roll in more cinnamon and sugar before baking. Yeah, those are my kinda sugar cookies!

So how did our little mother-daughter baking session go? Well, as is often the case with a two-and-a-half year old her enthusiasm for the project didn’t last long. Once the ingredients were measured and the stand mixer switched on, she was more interested in pillaging the fruit bowl and helping herself to cheese sticks from the fridge. Oh well, there’s always next time.

But the final results, seriously delicious.

Cinnamon-Sugar Cookies
These cookies are fantastic as is or with a glass of cold milk. They’re even better along side of a scoop of vanilla ice cream.


12 tbsp. Smart Balance spread
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. creme of tarter
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. milk
1 egg
3 cups flour

For the cinnamon sugar topping:
3 tbsp. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl mix together the cinnamon and sugar for topping, set aside.
  2. To make the dough cream together the softened butter, sugar, brown sugar, honey, baking powder, baking soda, creme of tarter, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and salt. Add the egg and milk and blend into the butter mixture, then slowly stir in the flour.
  3. Scoop out rounded tablespoons of the dough (it will be very soft), shape them into balls, and roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place each ball on the prepared cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-16 minutes, until the cookie is golden brown and the tops have begun to crack.
  4. Allow to cool on a wire rack and then try to eat just one. Store remainder in an air tight container.

* I realize you may think I’m crazy to use anything other than butter to make these cookies. I agree it’s unorthodox but here’s the thing, I tested this cookie recipe three times and on the last try I ran out of butter and substituted Smart Balance. While the butter cookies were good, they got hard very quickly sitting in my cookie jar, but the Smart Balance cookies stayed soft and yummy for days. Like the saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention”…

My Sweet Valentine

Published on by jan greco2 Comments

There are many ways to say I love you. To me it’s the little everyday things we do for each other that mean the most.

Run and empty the dishwasher for me… You rock, thanks babe! Clean up the lego explosion in your room without being asked… You’re the best kid, thank you! Stay by me in the store and behave like a sane child, rather than run around like a lunatic screaming at the top of your lungs… Thank you my sweet girl!

My family on the other hand can be won over via a much simpler means—food. If you fill their bellies with something tasty they’ll love you for life! I often joke that they’re like living with a bunch of goats. I can cover just about anything in chocolate or red sauce (homemade of course!) and they’ll eat it. But that aside, what better opportunity than Valentine’s Day for me to give them something truly delectable that will really make them smile.

As you may already know Valentine’s Day is synonymous with chocolate, but I feel like I’ve already showered my family with a considerable amount of chocolate goodies. This year called for something different, something out of the ordinary, something delicious that will make them think back longingly to Valentines Day 2012. But what? Cookies…too everyday, candy…too expected, cupcakes…too easy. Hmmm. What to make, what to make, what to make. Then it came to me; like a bolt of lightning, a light bulb going off or a trademarked “aha moment”… Heart shaped Coconut Scones with a Dark Chocolate Drizzle (okay, so I couldn’t stay away from chocolate entirely).

Here’s where I would ordinarily gush on about how fantastic and easy these little scones were to make. And how my family threw rose petals at my feet and talked about their plans to gold plate my whisk. HA! Not this time my friend. These little babies may look cute in pictures and my family in fact did like them and insisted that I blog about them (while stuffing seconds in their mouths), but they actually did not turn out as well as I had hoped. They didn’t rise up enough to qualify as a scone, yet weren’t quite sweet enough to pass as a cookie. But like I said, my family thought they were great (however I have already established their goat-like status, so take that recommendation for what it’s worth.)

So you may be asking yourself “Should I bother to make them…” Sure, go ahead. They really were easy to make and like I said my family actually did enjoy them. But if you do, feel free to tweak the recipe a bit. And if per chance you should end up with the perfect Coconut Scone with a Dark Chocolate Drizzle… please send me the recipe!

Coconut Scones
I don’t have much else to say about these except “Good luck!”

2 1/3 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1 1/3 cups unsweetened, shredded coconut
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. coconut milk

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add butter and toss so that each piece is coated in flour.
  3. Rub the butter into the flour mixture until it has the texture of coarse cornmeal. Stir in shredded coconut.
  4. Add in about half of coconut milk and stir together. Add remaining coconut milk as needed until the mixture comes together into a firm dough.
  5. Divide the dough into two balls. Use a rolling pin to form each ball into a 1/2-inch thick circle. Cut out your scones with a cookie cutter and place on a prepared cookie sheet.
  6. Bake for about 12-15 minutes, until scones are a light golden brown on top.
  7. Cool on a wire rack before glazing.

Chocolate glaze
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
4 oz dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

  1. 
In a medium saucepan, heat the cream and butter over low heat until the cream is hot and the butter has melted. Do not let it boil.
  2. Remove the pan from the heat, add the chocolate and let it sit in the hot cream to soften. Add the vanilla and whisk the glaze until it is smooth and all the chocolate has melted. Chill the glaze until it’s thick enough to hold its shape on the back of a spoon.
  3. Drizzle the glaze over each scone and chill until set.

what a prize!

Published on by jan grecoLeave a comment

A few weeks ago the Today section of the paper ran an article about food blogs and mentioned Jennifer Reese’s blog tipsybaker.com and her book “Bake the Bread, Buy the Butter — What you should and shouldn’t cook from scratch”. The article went on to discuss her book which documents her various successes (and failures) in making everyday foods from scratch. Foods such as ketchup, bagels, ginger ale and camembert cheese. What?!… Hello!… this woman is speaking my language, she could be my long lost soul sister! If I’ve told my husband once I’ve told him 30,000 times that my fondest wish is to learn how to make cheese, a few weeks ago my son and I made and bottled homemade root beer and I was seriously just talking about attempting to make a batch of bialys (the not so distant cousin if the bagel) from scratch just the other day!

So naturally I ordered the book.

When it arrived I immediately thought, so many choices…how do I decide what to make first? I opened the book to a random page, read the words Caramel Corn and thought “it must be fate!” You see, Santa just brought my children a super-duper retro style popcorn maker for Christmas. We’ve made (and enjoyed) popcorn nearly every weekend since it’s arrival, but so far our creativity has been limited to sea salt and grated cheese. And while I ordinarily try to make snacks for my kids that are both healthy and delicious, sometimes unhealthy and fun is just what the day calls for. Last Saturday, amid our first snow of the season, was just that kind of day. And so it seemed my choice had been made…

Homemade Caramel Corn
This recipe produces a caramel corn which more closely resembles Poppycock than a traditional Cracker Jack.

1 tbsp. coconut oil
1/2 cup popcorn kernels
2 cups salted, roasted peanuts
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. baking soda

  1. Preheat oven to 250°F. Add the coconut oil to a large pot and allow to melt. Add the popcorn kernels, cover, and allow to continue warming. As the popcorn begins to pop, shake pan. Once the popping slows to 2-3 seconds between pops, immediately remove the pan from the heat.
  2. In a large bowl combine the popcorn and half the peanuts. Set aside.
  3. In a saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, butter and salt and bring to a boil over medium heat. Allow to boil for 5 minutes, remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and baking soda.
  4. Immediately pour half of the sugar mixture over the popcorn and peanuts. With a large rubber spatula gently stir everything until it is well combined. Spoon the popcorn onto a jelly roll pan, spreading it out as evenly as possible. Drizzle the remaining sugar syrup over the popcorn and sprinkle with the rest of the peanuts.
  5. Put the pan in the oven and bake for 45 minutes. Let cool and break into bite size chunks.
  6. Store at room temperature in a glass container or resealable plastic bag.

* adapted from bake the bread, buy the butter

Chocolate on my Mind

Published on by jan greco4 Comments

I love chocolate. Let me rephrase that—I love dark chocolate. If it’s in the house (which it usually is) I will eat it everyday. In fact when I was pregnant with my son I read about a Finnish study that said pregnant women who ate chocolate daily had happier babies. That was all the reason this momma-to-be needed!

Anyway, back to the chocolate… I love it, have I mentioned that? Not so long ago my husband and I went out to dinner and for dessert I ordered the chocolate lava cake. It was just the intense chocolate experience I had hoped for, and it got me to thinking. What if I could recreate this delicious dessert but on a less “special occasion” kind of scale. Maybe something like chocolate lava cupcakes! I thought about this a bit and quickly decided that not only was this a divine idea, but it should also be fairly simple to execute.

First things first, I believe in boxed cake mix—there I said it. Sure you can make your cake from scratch and it will no doubt be fantastic, but the people at Duncan Hines make a pretty fine product so why not save yourself a few steps. Okay, so that takes care of the cake, now for the lava part. A dark chocolate ganache is almost effortless to make and could serve nicely as the lava center. Throw in a few mini chips to up the slow-melt ante and we’re in business. Okay, cake…check! Lava…check! But now what should these delightful little cupcakes be topped with, hmmmmm. Traditionally a lava cake would be served with a simple dollop of whipped cream and some fresh berries, but my little creations called for something different. Something like… Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting with shredded coconut on top. Sounds decadent, doesn’t it. Oh, it is! It’s almost like a Chocolate Lava Cake and an Almond Joy had a love child—a sweet, sweet love child…

Chocolate Lava Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
These babies will be at their peak of deliciousness and their most lava-like just after you bake them. However even once the cake has absorbed some of the melted ganache they are still fantastic and ridiculously decadent!

1 box chocolate cake mix
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 11.5 oz bag of Ghirardelli 60% cocoa bittersweet chips
1 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 stick of butter, room temperature
1 8 oz. block of cream cheese
3 tsp. coconut extract
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
1 bag shredded coconut, for topping

These cupcakes sound complicated but really only require four steps: 1. Make the ganache. 2. While the ganache is chilling make the cupcake batter. 3. While the cupcakes are baking make the frosting. 4. Cool, frost and indulge!

  1. For the ganache: In a medium saucepan heat the whipping cream until it’s hot, but not boiling. Remove from the heat, add the chocolate chips and stir until the mixture is smooth. Chill in the freezer for 30 minutes, until the ganache is the consistency of thick pudding. Stir in 1 cup of mini chocolate chips and see step two.
  2. For the cake: While the ganache is chilling, mix up the batter following the box instructions. Once your ganache is ready, line your muffin pan with cupcake papers and fill each cup half way with batter. Place 1 tablespoon of the cold chocolate mixture in the center of each cup. (It will just sit there on top of the batter looking luscious, but not to worry, as the cake bakes the ganache will work it’s way into the center). Bake the cupcakes according to the box directions.
  3. For the frosting: In a large bowl blend together the butter and cream cheese until it’s fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and salt. Start mixing on low, until most of the powdered sugar is incorporated and then on high for about a minute. Add the vanilla and coconut extracts and give the frosting a final mix. Use immediately or cover and refrigerate.
  4. For the enjoying: When the cupcakes are cool (about 30 minutes or so) apply a liberal amount of frosting and then top with the shredded coconut. Now sit back, relax and indulge.

’tis the season…

Published on by jan greco2 Comments

I’m sure it won’t come as a surprise if I tell you that my creative gears start racing come holiday time. One year everyone on my gift list got a hand knit scarf, another year was homemade fudge in a half dozen different flavors. And then there was the year everyone got baskets of homemade goodies. I made and jarred my own applesauce, bottled my own flavored vinegars and baked like the ship was going down. I even designed and printed my own labels and gift tags, that year almost killed me!

This year I’ve managed to rein myself in a bit, but everyone will be getting one homemade delicious treat from me…crack. Yup you read right, Dark Chocolate Toasted Almond Crack. If you’re not familiar with these little delights then get ready; this is one of the easiest, most delicious and highly addictive treats you may ever eat. And while the name “crack” refers to the crackers you use, I dare you to take one bite and not come back for more! I hope your family (and Santa) will enjoy these goodies as much as mine does…

Dark Chocolate Toasted Almond Crack
I’ve seen this recipe topped with a variety of things; crushed candy canes, crunched up toffee bits and (my personal favorite) toasted almonds. Use whatever appeals to you the most.

1 1/2 sleeves of saltine crackers
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 4 oz dark chocolate bars
1 cup slivered almonds

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a jelly roll pan with foil and then a sheet of parchment paper. Cover the bottom of the pan with saltine crackers (salt side up) in as even of a layer as possible and set aside. Now for the chocolate… [It seems like buying a bag of chips would save you a step here, but the chips have added stabilizers and won’t taste quite as divine as chocolate in bar form will. Also if you prefer milk chocolate over dark then feel free to switch things up. I used three bars of Ghirardelli, two 70% cacao and one 60%]. Chop the chocolate so the pieces are all roughly the same size and set aside.
  2. Toast the almonds and set aside. In a saucepan melt butter over medium heat. Once the butter has melted add the brown sugar and vanilla. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently until mixture is an even color and the butter in no longer floating on top. When the mixture begins to bubble remove it from heat and pour it over the saltines. Use a spatula to spread it out and cover the crackers as fully as possible.
  3. Put the crackers in the oven and bake until the butter mixture begins to bubble, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle evenly with the chocolate pieces and quickly pop it back in for another minute or two, just enough to soften the chocolate. Spread the chocolate with a spatula so all of the crackers are evenly covered.
  4. Sprinkle the toasted almonds on top of the chocolate and refrigerate until all the layers set and harden. Using a sharp knife, cut your crack into tasty little squares and enjoy!

*adapted from serious eats