KISS ME I’M IRISH CHOCOLATE-MINT PIE

 St Patrick's Day, while not a legal holiday in the United States, is nonetheless widely recognized and observed throughout the country as a celebration of Irish and Irish American culture. Celebrations include prominent displays of the color green, eating and drinking, religious observances, and parades. The holiday has been celebrated on the North American continent since the late eighteenth century. The largest celebration in the United States is of course in New York City, but what is little known is that the second largest celebration is in Savannah, Georgia.  Observed on March 17^th, it commemorates the traditional death date of Saint Patrick, the celebrated patron saint of Ireland. Enjoy this holiday inspired dessert after your Saint Patty’s dinner.

 

INGREDIENTS:

9” pie crust from the frozen food section of your grocer

¼ pound butter (1 stick)
1 cup powdered sugar
3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, melted
2 large eggs
¼ teaspoon peppermint extract

TOPPING:

¼ cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon peppermint extract

PIE FILLING PREPARATION:
In a 400 over, bake the pie crust 10-12 minutes or until it just begins to brown. While crust is cooling, cream butter and sugar until well mixed. Add chocolate, eggs, mint extract and beat until smooth. Fill pie shell with filling and refrigerate overnight.

TOPPING PREPARATION:

Beat heavy cream, sugar, vanilla and mint extract until stiff peaks form. With a pastry bag, pipe whipped cream around the edge of pie and center of pie. Garnish with your choice of crushed walnuts or mint sprig.  Enjoy, JW

Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies & Maple Cinnamon Glaze

Provisioning for a recent trip out of Camden Maine, the local market was selling bacon brownies in the bakery. At a county fair, I found a vendor selling bacon strips dipped in melted chocolate. If this surprises you, then you’re out of the chocolate loop. The bacon-chocolate craze has been taking off like a banshee. The combination of crisp salty-smoky bacon and the subtle-sweet smoothness of chocolate is an incredible contrast in tastes.  This recipe is one of my all-time favorites and it will be yours too.

Yield 60 cookies.

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon hazelnut extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup white chocolate chips

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 cups bacon bits

An important note:  Be sure to use real bacon bits, not imitation bacon bits.

Also, you can make your own bacon bits in a food processor; make sure you pat down the bacon with paper towels to remove as much bacon grease as possible. 

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Beat together the butter, sugars, flavorings and eggs until creamy.

In another bowl, sift together the dry ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix well.

Add in chocolate chips and bacon bits. Stir until well integrated.

Wrap dough on a sheet of waxed paper and refrigerate at least an hour.

Remove dough from fridge, pinch off 1½ inch pieces of dough and roll into balls.

Set dough balls about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten dough balls slightly with your fingers in the center. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes or until the dough starts to turn golden brown. Allow cookies to cool on a cooling rack while you make the glaze.

Maple Cinnamon Glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon maple extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon cinnamon

Enough water to make a thick glaze.

Mix all ingredients together until smooth and creamy. If lumpy, use a whisk.

Spread a small amount of the glaze on the top of each cookie and top with leftover bacon bits.

Enjoy, JW

 

Holiday Ham Balls

 

The holidays are all about family. I was on the phone with my mother Joyce recently and we discussed family; long before the fledgling children left the nest. My mom is a terrific cook and always put on the fete during Christmas. One of my favorite hors d’oeuvres that Joyce is famous for are her Holiday Ham Balls. I therefore dedicate this month’s recipe to my mom. Blessings to one and all.

 

 

Ingredients:

1 pound fully cooked ham, finely ground

1 pound ground pork

1 cup milk

1 cup crushed cornflakes

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon ground mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

GLAZE:

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup vinegar

1 tablespoon ground mustard

 

Preparation:

In a large bowl, combine the first eight ingredients; blend just until mixed. Shape into 1-in. balls; place in a single layer in a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine glaze ingredients; cook and stir until sugar is dissolved. Spoon the entire mixture over the ham balls. Cover and bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes. Uncover and bake 15-20 minutes more or until ham balls are just beginning to brown. Gently toss in glaze in the bottom of pan. Serve warm. Yield: about 48 ham balls. Enjoy, JW



Ridiculously Simple French Dip Sandwich

It’s been a while since I’ve cooked something in the slow cooker, so on a recent trip to the Bahamas, I thought that French Dip sandwiches would be a terrific meal. This recipe has only five ingredients and is so simple to make it’s almost embarrassing.

The Ingredients:
1. A 1.3 pound fresh brisket (not corned beef)
2. 1 package of onion soup mix
3. 14.5 ounce can of beef broth
4. Sliced Provolone cheese
5. French bread or mini-baguettes
 

The Preparation:

Spray the inside of the crockpot with cooking spray. Trim off any excess fat from the brisket and place it in the bottom of the crockpot. In a separate bowl, whisk together the beef broth and onion soup mix and then pour over the brisket. Set the heat on the crockpot to low and cook for 8-10 hours.  

Remove brisket from crockpot to a cutting board and slice thinly across the grain of the meat. Split the French bread or baguette and pile beef of the bottom half. Cover meat with the sliced Provolone. Butter the top half of the bread and then place sandwich, open-face, on a cookie sheet. Place on the second from top rack in a hot oven and broil for 30 seconds.

Ladle cooking liquid from crockpot into a ramekin, plate with sandwich. Incredibly good and enjoy. JW  

Pumpkin Spice Mini-Pies with Cinnamon Cream Cheese

 

One of my yacht owners also owns a professional minor baseball team in Sioux City, Iowa. I have been following the Sioux City Explorers all year as they set a league record of 75 wins out of a 100 game regular season; thus putting the “X’s” in the playoffs for their league’s championship. And as a fan, I traveled to Sioux City in September to cheer on our team. This trip gave me the perfect opportunity to put together a mid-west regional favorite. This delicious treat will get rave revues at any Halloween party.

 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

3/4 cups white sugar
3/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-15oz can 100% pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/3 cup sour cream
3 cups flour
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the Cream Cheese Filling:

1/4 cup butter, at room temperature

4oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2-3 cups powdered sugar

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat butter and sugars together for 1 minute. Add egg and vanilla then beat to combine. Add pumpkin puree and sour cream then beat to combine.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in three batches, mixing until just combined before adding the next batch.

Drop batter using a cookie scoop onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, rotating the pan half way through. Let cookies cool for one minute on the baking sheet before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely. Once cooled, slice cakes in half.

For the cream cheese frosting: Beat together butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and cinnamon in a large bowl until smooth. Mix in powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time until desired consistency of frosting is reached. Pipe (put frosting in a gallon zip-lock and snip a corner and squeeze) cinnamon cream cheese frosting on half the cookies, then top with remaining cookies. Enjoy JW

Summer Apple Pie

Nothing says American more than baseball, hamburgers/hot dogs and corn on the cob on the grill with chilled watermelon and apple pie a la mode.

The apple pie (or tort) dates back centuries and was brought to the New World by immigrant English, Swedes and the Dutch. This would explain for the different variations on the theme. But this delicacy has had an indelible effect on our culture. Anything typically US is described “As American as apple pie.”

 

The most important part of making an apple pie is the selection of the apple. Some apples, such as McIntosh as too sweet and not as firm as say a crispy, acidic Granny Smith, Fuji or Golden Delicious. For proper apple pie, you will want to select the latter.

The Ingredients:

The Dough

2 ½ cups All Purpose Flour
4 teaspoons sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
2 sticks cold butter
1 egg lightly beaten

The Filling

3 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
3 pounds baking apples, peeled, halved and quarter each half
¾ cup sugar
½ stick butter
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 egg lightly beaten

The Preparation:

The Dough
To make the best dough, I make it by hand by mixing with a fork the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. With my fingers I work the cold butter into the dry ingredients until well incorporated with a course texture and pea-sized bits of butter. Add the egg and mix well. If dough is too dry, add a sprinkle of water. Form the dough into a round disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for about an hour.

The Filling
With lemon juice squeezed into a bowl, toss the apples. Add sugar and toss again until well coated. Melt butter in skillet or wok over medium-high cooking apples until the sugar dissolves and mixture simmers. Cover skillet reducing heat to medium-low and cook apples for about 6-8 minutes. With a colander over the skillet, scoop out the apples retaining as much liquid as practicable and simmer the juices at medium heat until it thickens. Set all aside and let them cool completely.

Assemble the Pie

Cut the dough in half and on a floured surface, roll both halves into a disk into a disk 12 inches wide. Place the rolled disks between wax paper and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Place a baking sheet on the lower oven rack and pre-heat to 375° (to catch drippings). Line a 9” pie pan with one dough disk so that it over-lays the edge ½ inch and trim off excess dough. Fill pie pan with filling. With the remaining disk, cut into ½ strips and lattice it over the pie, pinching the edge all the way around. Brush crush with an egg and sugar egg wash and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Place pie on baking pan and bake for 50-60 minutes. Once crust is golden brown, let cool for several hours. Serve warm or cold with ice cream.

Enjoy, JW

 

 

 

COWBOY STEW

Every once in a while, I get an assignment that makes me say, “what the …? This is what happened last week.

I received a call last week from the vice president of marketing of Sea Ray Corporation in Knoxville, Tennessee. He had a Hollywood VIP client who needed instruction in two days on a Sea Ray 310 which was being trucked from California to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

 

Jackson Lake, 45 miles north of Jackson Hole, is a 15 mile long high altitude (6774 ft.) lake that parallels the base of the Grand Teton Mountains. The boating was beautiful, but what I really enjoyed on this trip was the food. Buffalo burgers. Elk tips fondue. Venison tenderloin. The food took me back to my childhood when I would spend summers on my maternal grand-parent’s two cattle ranches in Wyoming. Ranch house and chuck wagon faire proves to be a hearty welcome after a day’s ride moving cattle from section to section. It is with this memory that I present the Cowboy Stew. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, a casserole dish will do just fine.

 

Ingredients:

1 pound of cubed stew meat

2 teaspoons meat tenderizer (non-MSG)

2 tablespoons of sage

1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth

1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup

1 envelope of dry onion soup mix

1 (16 ounce) package frozen stew vegetables

1 (10 ounce) can crescent dinner rolls

Preperation:

In a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, sprinkle the meat tenderizer over the meant and cook until browned. Drain off any excess juices. In a small bowl, mix the sage, chicken broth, condensed soup and onion soup mix. Pour over the meat reducing heat to medium low and simmer for 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Add frozen stew vegetables to the skillet and simmer 10 minutes more. Unroll the crescent dough and arrange over the stew in a pie shape.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and serve.

Yelling YEE-HAW is optional. Enjoy, JW