Date Stovetop Cookies to the Rescue

Happy Girls with Jar of Date Stovetop Cookies

or How to Tame an After-School Sweet Tooth

I have learned the hard way that I must give my children a snack within 10 minutes of the moment their feet hit the ground below the school bus each afternoon. Since I refuse to buy plastic-wrapped single serving snacks, I’ve had to come up with snacks that are fast, alluring, and relatively healthy (using my own quirky interpretation of healthy).

Mira has a sweet tooth she could only have inherited from me, and I’m attempting to provide her with opportunities to find her own way to moderation – I’m worried that otherwise, she’ll follow in my footsteps and become a young schoolyard sugar dealer to support that sweet tooth I gifted her DNA with. Part of my plan is to provide her with treats that are sweet without an overload of refined sugar, to sate her sweet tooth while also helping her to calibrate her palate’s sugar meter so it takes less to get that satisfaction.

Enter the lovely stovetop cookie tradition. When I was a kid, these no-bake treats seemed to come in two flavors: Peanut Butter-Sugar (boiled together then rolled in more sugar) and Chocolate Chips-Coconut-Sugar (melted together and dropped on waxed paper). Tasty, but so sugary even I could only eat a few. And that’s saying something.

Here’s a version I came up with this afternoon to turn some dates and pecans from my bulk jars into sweet and sticky treats that are at least a bit healthier than the versions I grew up with. These are fast and easy to make, perfect as the final bite of an after-school snack. One of these small cookies settled Mira’s sugar craving right down for the day – Potent and tasty cookies! I’d like them better with dates as the only sweetener, so next time I’ll try that.

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2 cups puffed rice

3/4 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup chocolate chips or cacao nibs

1 cup chopped dates (about 12 – 14 plump Medjool dates)

2 large eggs

1/2 cup date sugar, coconut sugar, or rapadura

1/4 cup coconut oil, ghee, or butter

2 Tb blackstrap molasses

1 tsp vanilla

1 pinch sea salt

organic powdered sugar or unsweetened coconut to roll ‘em in (powdered sugar is my main refined sugar pantry item – A little bit goes a long way)

Toss the puffed rice, chopped pecans, and cacao nibs or chocolate chips together in a large mixing bowl.

Combine the chopped dates, eggs, coconut oil/ghee/butter, rapadura/other sugar, molasses, and sea salt in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly for 8-10 minutes, or until the dates have broken down a good bit and the whole mixture has become thick, glossy, and sticky. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.

Pour the hot mixture into the puffed rice mixture and stir well by hand. Let it cool for a few minutes, until you can stand to handle it. When you’re safe from burns, use your wet hands to shape the mixture into small balls (whatever size you prefer; I like about the size of a walnut in its shell). You’ll need to wet your hands after each 5-6 balls to keep things from turning into a sticky mess. Set the finished balls onto a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. When you’ve made the last ball, start rolling the earlier ones in powdered sugar or unsweetened shredded coconut so each ball has a lovely and less sticky coating. Coconut is the way to go if you’re going to store these for later, since it really helps with the stickiness factor over time; powdered sugar works for a few hours, but not overnight.

Eat right away or store in an airtight jar for lunches and snacks.

DIY Pot Scrubber

Upcycle Your Plastic Produce Netting

new life for plastic net bags

I’ve been working on a new venture called Cora with some amazing people, and here’s one of our offerings. The app we’re working on will connect us ith all sorts of ways to give new life to our stuff, including DIY ideas. This is a quick and easy way to transform produce netting to a sturdy scrubber, as good as anything you’ve paid for; better, actually, since this is free and it keeps non-recyclable plastic out of our landfills and oceans.

plastic netting produce bags

1. Gather your fine mesh bags and accordion fold them into segments 2-3″ long. I used one bag from some satsumas and a smaller one from some onions. Using more bags results in a larger and fluffier scrubber, but even one bag will work. Stiff mesh works best for very dirty pots; the very soft netting on some oranges makes a scrubber that’s better suited for very delicate items.

net bags folded and tied around the center

2. Tie the center as tightly as you can with a length of string; I used cotton string that had stitched closed the top of a bag of birdseed. Square knots are perfect here, and an extra set of hands can help you seat the knot tightly around the center.

ends of bags cut and fluffed

3. Once the bundle is securely knotted, clip the ends of the string (cotton remnants can be composted), then cut each loop of bag to fluff the ends up. Voila! From produce netting to pot scrubber.

DIY pot scrubber in action

I tested this one by washing out a bowl of chocolate ganache and our very dirty sink.

rinsing clean

The bowl, the sink, and the scrubber are all clean and ready for longer lives.

And if you like this solution for plastic netting, please check out what we’re up to at Cora!

Nettles – Coming Soon to the Spring Mud Near You

stinging nettles, in the ground and in the bag

It’s still winter here, but I can nearly taste them, sparkling on my tongue, floral and fresh, almost carbonated. Last year, we got so carried away harvesting nettles that we forgot to plant spring crops in our garden. This year, I’m planning for a bit of balance – Bags of nettles, yes, but also some more domesticated greens planted to take over when the nettle season ends in flowers.

Nettles are, hands down, my girls’ favorite green vegetable. They’re not at all bitter, they’re tender, they’re rich in calcium, iron, and vitamin A (amongst other good things), and they taste like the soul of spring.

If you haven’t foraged for nettles before, here are our tips:

Wear long sleeves.

Wear gloves.

Bring a clean pair of kitchen/utility shears or hand pruners.

Bring a bag with a wide mouth.

Find a stand of healthy young nettles growing on clean ground. You want a location that has not been sprayed with pesticides or watered by runoff from an adjacent road.

With your kitchen shears or pruners, lop off the green top of each plant. Depending on how tall they are, this can be anything from a few inches to almost a foot. I stick with the tender section towards the top of each plant that has a relatively thin stem and dark green leaves. I cut with one gloved hand, holding the stem and then dropping it right into the waiting wide-mouthed bag with my other.

When you’ve gathered all the nettles you desire, head home. Keep your gloves on and rinse them clean in a large colander in your sink. If you have a clean plastic laundry basket, you can rinse them outside using water from a drinking water rated hose (I salvaged an old laundry basket last year and dedicated it to produce – It’s my new favorite harvest tool).

Dump your clean, wet nettles directly into a large pot with a few inches of water and a steamer basket. If you must touch them to do this, wear your gloves or use long handled tongs.

steamed nettles, no longer stinging, ready for eating

Steam your nettles in the covered pot until they are wilted but still a vibrant green; this usually takes less than 5 minutes. Don’t worry, the sting really will disappear once the nettles start to cook!

After you remove the steamed nettles, pour the green steaming water into a jar and store it in your fridge. This nettle water is truly a powerful tonic – I made the mistake of drinking a shot glass full at 10 pm one night last spring – I was suddenly NOT AT ALL TIRED and spent the night cleaning my house, finally falling asleep around 3 am. That was great for my house, but not such good timing on my part. Now I drink my nettle water only before noon.

Use the steamed nettle leaves and stems in any recipe that calls for spinach, kale, or other leafy greens. Nettles are wonderful in pesto, soup, frittatas, matzoh balls, scrambles, spanakopita, lasagne, quiche…You get the idea.

For more information about nettles, see Wildman Steve Brill, Landgon Cook, and a good old Google search.

Our favorite nettle recipes from last year are here: Potato Nettle Dumplings and Pancakes, JoJo’s Nettle Special, and Nettle, Potato, and Kubocha Soup. We’re looking forward to more nettle specials this spring – If you have a favorite, please share!

Buche de Noel, One Week Late

Buche de Noel, one week late

We ended 2011 in rather bumpy fashion. Mira broke her elbow, Ava had a severe allergic response to the medicine she was taking for some mysteriously infected toes, and we were barred from celebrating with my family to protect my brand-new beautiful baby nephew from any possible contagion we might be harboring. Our final taste of the year was sweet, though, thanks to a traditional dessert served well past its official holiday.

Since my mother celebrates Hanukkah and my father celebrates Christmas, my sisters and I grew up with both holidays in our home. I was assigned the job of baking a Buche de Noel each year after the one I made with my fellow students in Madame Solonsky’s high school French class turned out well. My own daughters also have a father who celebrates Christmas, and we make a Buche de Noel each year to help make his holiday bright. This year, we baked our Buche de Noel for New Year’s Eve.

The girls were in charge of the marzipan decorations; I used to make meringue mushrooms, but those never hold up well in humid weather, and it always seems to be humid here when it’s Yule Log time. As much as I love a nice crunchy meringue mushroom, I love the more complex shapes marzipan lends itself to – This year, we had a Pokemon along with a collection of more native slugs, snails, beetles, and mushrooms.

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Here’s the my gluten- and dairy-free recipe, adapted from the Buche de Noel recipe at Nourished Kitchen:

The day before you bake the cake, make the filling:

1 13.5 oz can organic coconut milk (regular, not reduced fat/light). Native Forest brand is BPA-free.

2 1/4 cups chocolate chips, your choice of type (I like a combination bittersweet and semi-sweet)

dash sea salt

glug or two of orange liqueur or a dash of orange oil/extract (optional)

Heat coconut milk until almost boiling, then pour over chocolate chips and dash of salt in a medium bowl. Let sit for 2 minutes, then beat until chocolate is completely melted. Blend in liqueur if you’re using it. Let cool uncovered to room temp, then cover it well and let it rest in fridge overnight or until completely solid and well chilled.

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For the cake:

6 large eggs, separated – Make sure there are no bits of yolk in with the whites

2 Tb maple sugar

pinch sea salt

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted if at all lumpy

1/4 cup rapadura or Sucanat, sifted if at all lumpy

1 tsp vanilla

fresh zest of 2 satsumas

coconut oil or other fat/oil to grease pan

cocoa powder to dust pan and towel

powdered sugar for dusting top of cake

Preheat oven to 375 F. Line a jelly roll pan (aka a large cookie sheet with sides) with parchment paper. Grease the paper with coconut oil or other fat/oil, then dust with cocoa powder.

In a very clean large bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Keep the beaters going while you slowly add the maple sugar, then continue to beat until soft peaks form.

In a separate bowl, beat together egg yolks, cocoa powder, rapadura, vanilla and zest until smooth. Stir 1/4 of the egg whites into the yolk mixture until well combined. Gently but with purpose fold this lightened mixture into the large bowl of egg whites, so that no pockets of whites remain. Pour into prepared baking pan and smooth top.

Bake for 8 – 15 minutes, or until center springs back when lightly touched (my convection oven takes 8 minutes, regular ovens take longer). Don’t over bake!

While the cake is baking, generously dust a clean lint-free kitchen towel or piece of cheesecloth with cocoa powder and lay it out flat, ready for baked roll.

When roll is set and springy, lift parchment paper and cake from baking tray and let cool on rack for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, spread the cocoa-dusted towel/cheesecloth out flat. Invert parchment covered roll onto towel, then carefully peel parchment from the cake. Immediately roll the cake up from the long side, letting the towel line the cake as it rolls onto itself. Set the cake/towel roll onto a rack to cool completely.

When the cake is cool, take the filling out of the fridge and beat the ganache until it has lightened in color and increased a bit in volume. Don’t beat it too long, or the coconut milk will heat up and start to turn back to a liquid; stop when it forms nice soft peaks.

Unroll cake and towel, spread inside evenly with ganache, leaving 1″ of cake naked along one long side. Starting from the opposite long side, roll cake back up without the towel. Don’t worry if the cake splits as you roll it – This adds to the faux bois look. Cutting at an angle, gently lop off a couple of inches from each end of the log and set these aside. Set the filled roll seam side down on a serving plate, then position the cut ends along the log to resemble branch remnants. Decorate with marzipan mushrooms and dust everything with powdered sugar snow. Serve immediately, or as close to that as possible.