Dough great, fillings not so great--Kolaczki

Kolaczki
The Ugly Binder, from the internet

1 cake yeast
5 cups flour
1/2 pound butter (softened)
1/2 pound crisco
3 egg yolks
1 cup sour cream
Solo Canned Filling - Many varieties to choose from.

Crumble yeast into flour. Add shortening and butter as for pie dough. Add egg yolks and sour cream. Mix well with hands. Shape into ball and cover with wax paper and refrigerate overnight.
On a clean rolling surface sprinkle a little flour and also flour the rolling pin lightly. Roll out only 1/4 of the dough at a time, otherwise the dough will become to soft. Roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch, cut into 3 inch squares. Place 1 tesp of filling into center of square, bring two ends of dough to center of square and pinch together to seal.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, bake on ungreased cookie sheet 15 to 20 minutes till golden. When cool sprinkle with powdered sugar if you like.
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I've been wanting to make Kolacky (it has many variations of spellings) for years. I remember this cookie from my childhood although the memory is murky. You can make these cookies using a non-yeast dough, sometimes using a cream cheese dough. My mother has probably made them both ways but I doubt she can remember exactly which recipes she's used over the years (I don't think there was just one). And I could be remembering cookies made by someone else, I'm just not completely sure. Getting older sucks.

One thing for sure is that the fillings I remember the most fondly are nut and farmer's cheese. I couldn't make nut filling since we avoid treenuts in our house and I haven't seen farmer's cheese in any stores locally although I will keep looking until I find it. I found an internet source but the cost with shipping was outrageous. I had to settle for other fillings.

I enjoyed this dough - it was easy to put together and actually very easy to work with. Next time I might roll in out in powdered sugar instead of flour but otherwise it was exactly what I wanted. I didn't care for the Solo fillings I used (prune and apricot) or the cream cheese filling I made. The Solo fillings were fine but they aren't very sweet. That's great when you're using them to fill a sweetened cake or cookie but this dough isn't sweet at all. Growing up, we had access to better lekvar (prune filling) that was sweeter and more flavorful. Cream cheese just isn't a substitute for farmer's cheese either.

So I'll keep working on fillings for this recipe. Maybe someday I'll find farmer's cheese again. I finally found Fage Greek yogurt! I've been looking everywhere for that and I finally found a somewhat local source and it is definitely better than any other plain yogurt I've tried.

I haven't really started cooking again yet. Tonight I'm going to try a new wing recipe, modified a bit and make some regular hot wings, just to be safe in case the new recipe is a bust. I'm going to make a flank steak and then some cocktail weiners in grape jelly and chili sauce. It's sort of a tradition to make dinner out of appetizers on New Year's Eve at our house. I'll round things out with some veggies and dip and maybe pull out some of my homemade pepper jelly and pour it over some cream cheese.

Blast From The Past: Marinated Flank Steak from May 2007. OMG! I can't believe that was from all the way back in May. This year flew. I'm using that recipe tonight. My son loved it.

Question of the Day: Do you have any special plans for New Year's Eve? That's one holiday I think we all celebrate.

I'm alive!

I've really enjoyed taking this little break and I'm feeling rejuvenated. I believe that first trimester fatigue has finally subsided but it was quickly replaced by holiday fatigue. I haven't been completely ignoring my blog - the recipes archives are now completely updated. I was months behind and I really wanted to get them caught up before posting anything else. I'm going to update my links over the weekend and get back to my normal posting schedule on Monday.

I got a couple of new cookbooks, a Cuisinart Griddler and a food processor to play with now. The new year should be fun!

Pasta on the table and a bun in the oven--Rigatoni Con Salsiccia (Rigatoni with Sausage)

Rigatoni Con Salsiccia (Rigatoni with Sausage)
The Art of Italian Cooking Copyright 1948

1 lb rigatoni I used penne because I wanted to use Dreamfield pasta
1 lb Italian pork sausage
3 tbs olive oil
1 chopped onion
1 lb fresh mushrooms
1 bay leaf
1 large can tomato puree
½ cup grated Pecorino cheese
1 clove garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut sausage in 1-inch pieces; place in hot skillet with olive oil; brown slightly for about 10 minutes. Add onion, mushrooms (well cleaned and sliced), garlic, salt and pepper; simmer for 15 minutes. Add tomato puree and bay leaf. Cover pan; cook slowly for 1 hour. Remove bay leaf.

Cook rigatoni about 20 minutes in 5 quarts of rapidly boiling salted water. When tender, drain and place in baking dish. Add sausage and sauce. Mix. Sprinkle with grated Pecorino cheese. Bake in moderate oven about 10 minutes.

Serve very hot. Serves 6.
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This little cookbook is a gem. It's a little Bantam paperback that I think will be one of my favorite Italian cookbooks and I have several Italian cookbooks. It had 40 printings by the 70s but it may be out of print now. There may be more than one book with this title. The author of this one is Maria Lo Pinto.

I almost thought this recipe would be too simple but the sausage provides more than enough flavor. I made the sauce two days ahead of time, then I just heated it up when I cooked the pasta and threw it all together on the night we ate it. It wasn't complicated but it was very good.

Well I can tell you now that the real reason I've been slacking off around here isn't the holidays but instead sheer exhaustion from making a baby. By July 4th, there will be another mouth to feed around here! I'm trying to keep up as best I can but I can tell you there has been at least one Stouffer's family entree on the table recently.

Posting will be sparse since I'm making mostly repeat Christmas cookie recipes this year, if I can even scrounge up the energy to do that.

Not the best start

I won't include the recipe because the first candy I attempted to make this holiday didn't turn out anywhere near to how it should have and it was all my fault.

Well actually I can tell you the recipe, it was just 1 cup sugar, 1 cup dark corn syrup, 1 tablespoon vinegar cooked without stirring to 300 degrees and then stir in 1 tablespoon baking soda. Pour into buttered 13x9 pan (don't spread, it won't fill the pan completely), then crack into pieces when cool and dip in chocolate.

This was similar to a Nigella recipe which uses honey but her recipe just boils 3 minutes. My candy thermometer is wonky and I got impatient and didn't wait for it to get to 300 degrees (it had been cooking way longer than 3 minutes) so instead of crunchy light candy I got chewy, Bit-O-Honey- like candy, without the honey and almonds. Not that bad really but not quite as flavorful at Bit-O-Honey.

I wrapped the candy in wax paper but I'm not sure if it will end up with my treat packages. I don't want to be sued for dental work. It's not any more chewy than Bit-O-Honey, Mary Janes or some types of taffy but I'm not sure what people would be expecting when they bite into this.

I was ready to call it a day but after cleaning up I decided to go ahead and start my Chocolate-Dipped Caramels. They came out perfect this year. I overcooked them last year but they were just right this year. You know what the secret was? I remembered to turn on some Christmas music, something I forgot to do when I tried to make the other candy. I put on my favorite Christmas CD that my online friend Tammy burned for me for a Christmas swap a few years ago and all was right.

It's going to be a crazy week so I probably won't be around every day. I'm sure a lot of my readers won't either. I can't believe it's almost Christmas!

Question of the Day: What is your favorite Christmas CD?

From my favorite cookbook--Skillet Chili Mac

Skillet Chili Mac
The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook Copyright 2006

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pound ground beef I used ground turkey
1 onion, chopped medium
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped medium
Salt
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin I used about 1/2 tablespoon
8 ounces macaroni (2 cups)
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (15-ounce) can tomato puree
1 cup water
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Pepper
8 ounces Colby cheese, shredded

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the beef and cook, breaking up the pieces with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Drain the beef through a fine-mesh strainer, discarding the fat.
2. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil to the skillet and return to medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the onion, bell pepper, and ½ teaspoon salt. Cook until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the garlic, chili powder, and cumin and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Stir in the macaroni, tomatoes in their juice, tomato puree, water, brown sugar and drained beef. Cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender, about 20 minutes.
4. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle the Colby evenly over the top, cover until the cheese melts, about 3 minutes.
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This is the cookbook that I recommend most. In fact, it's the only one I ever find myself recommending. I recommend it for beginners or anyone who just wants to start cooking more. Most people will recommend the Joy of Cooking (snore) or Betty Crocker (not bad but I don't have the sentimental attachment to it that many people do) but this is my pick. It's modern, it has detailed instructions, great pictures, a sturdy ring-bound binder design. It's definitely not packed with gourmet recipes (it's a Family Cookbook) but you could find recipes for family or company in this book.

This was great chili mac. I held back on the cumin a bit as I normally do but I think I could have added it all and not minded it. I should trust ATK - they usually know best. Well, I don't always agree with them, that would be odd, but they certainly do put a lot of thought and effort into their recipes and product recommendations.

I missed my regular grocery night due to bad weather. I was prepared but now I have to go a day later and I still don't have my list done. I'm feeling the holiday crunch. Maybe Stouffer's will take over my kitchen next week. Darn, I don't think I have room in my freezer for frozen dinners.

Blast From The Past: Easy Dill Pickles from June 2007. I miss those pickles. I can't wait to get my hand on pickling cukes again.

Question of the Day: What's your favorite cookbook?