Earl grey tea leaves in crispy cookies make for a delicious and unconventional afternoon snack!

Earl Grey Tea Cookies
Adapted from The Kitchn’s recipe

What I Changed (Reflected Below): Whole wheat pastry flour instead of white all-purpose flour for nutrition; Succanat instead of white sugar for nutrition; Pulverized tea leaves before adding to other dry ingredients to ensure tea flavor was distributed evenly.

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup succanat (sugar)
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon Earl Grey tea leaves (emptied from 3 or 4 tea bags), pulverized in spice grinder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon water
1/2 cup unsalted butter

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Pulse together all the dry ingredients in a food processor until the tea leaves are pulverized.

2. Add vanilla, water, and butter. Pulse together until a dough is formed. Form the dough into a log onto a piece of wax or parchment paper. Wrap the paper around and roll the log smooth. Freeze now, or chill for at least 30 minutes.

3. When chilled, slice the log into 1/3 inch thick pieces. Place on baking sheets, keeping room for spreading. Bake until the edges are just brown, about 14 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks.

Makes ~20 cookies

The latest installment of GOOP, Gwyneth Paltrow’s health and lifestyle e-newsletter, deals with New Year’s Detox.

While I find it hard to believe that she needs to lose a few pounds, she does have some nutritious and tasty-sounding recipes including: Broccoli and Arugula Soup, Blueberry and Almond Smoothie, and Teriyaki Chicken.

Happy 2009!  What are your resolutions?

Spiced jarred peaches and cranberries come together for a delicious warm compote. Perfect for Christmas morning or… even Christmas Eve morning!

Spiced Peach Cranberry Compote

Recipe by Hilary

1. Drain syrup from jarred peaches into heavy medium saucepan.  Add cranberries and stir.  Heat on medium, covered, stirring occasionally, until cranberries pop.

2. Think about how large you want your peaches to be in the compote.  If you’re serving the dish on its own plate, perhaps you want to keep the peaches as halves.  Or, maybe you want them to be smaller, in which case you should cut them now.  Also, discard the couple of cloves from the jarred peaches- they’ll be difficult to remove (and to remember to remove) from the final dish.

3. Add peaches to cranberries and stir.  Sprinkle the dash of cinnamon (being careful not to let it get clumpy) and stir again.  Add a bit of sugar and taste.  Then continue adding sugar until you’re happy with the level of sweetness.

4. Serve warm.

*I was very pleased with Rosie’s Spiced Peaches (Stello Foods) in this recipe.  The peaches are beautiful and the spices add a wintry flavor and aroma to the compote.  You could also use your own canned peaches and spices.  Fresh peaches technically could work, but fresh peach season doesn’t align with hot-fruit-compote season so well. 

As a kid I ate only croutons from a salad.  Now I love salad and eat everything in them but the croutons since they usually taste old and bland.

Leave it up to my friend Mari to bring over homemade croutons that leave me loving them again.  Crispy with olive oil and garlicky, they’re lovely on her velvety chestnut soup or any salad.

Mari’s Croutons

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Lay one bread slice flat, cut 1/2″ strips lengthwise, then 1/2″ strips crosswise (resulting in small cubes).  Repeat with remaining slices.  You should have about 3 cups of bread cubes. Put them into a large bowl.

2. In small bowl, whisk garlic into olive oil.  Pour over bread in large bowl, tossing quickly to evenly distribute among cubes.  Don’t get too much oil onto any cube or it will turn out soggy.

3. Spread onto baking sheet and bake, turning frequently, for 7-10 minutes or until golden brown on all sides.

In Mari’s words, “Crunchy Fun!”

After making my gingerbread house I had a bit of leftover dough (from this recipe).

I used the top of a water glass to make circular cookies; pushing the glass firmly through the dough and twisting the glass back and forth before removing will keep them looking perfect (or close enough).  Bake ~10 minutes or until edges begin to turn a bit darker.  When cool, I added some peppermint extract to the icing to make a tasty filling for sandwiched gingerbread.

Peppermint Icing for Gingerbread Sandwich Cookies

Adapted from Elise’s Royal Icing

What I Changed (Reflected Below) and Why: Halved recipe since original was for gingerbread house; Added peppermint extract for flavor; Skipped the beating and other complicated steps of the recipe since the texture of cookie filling is more forgiving than icing used as gingerbread mortar; Included option to use water instead of egg white since, again, it’s just filling.

1. Combine all ingredients in bowl.  Whisk rapidly until well combined and a bit fluffy.  This step can alternatively be done in a mixer.

2. Spread in between two gingerbread cookies (or another type of flat cookie).  Let rest for several hours or until firm.

Optional Step 3: Roll edges of cookies in crushed candy canes.  Do this before the icing is set so that candy canes adhere well.

Homemade gingerbread houses are fun to make at any age.

I am indebted to Elise’s How to Make a Gingerbread House for making my first non-kit and non-graham cracker gingerbread house a success.

Per usual, I swapped whole wheat flour and succanat for the white flour and refined sugars.  I also used blackstrap molasses instead of regular molasses.

Another adaptation which turned out to be a lifesaver: using a cardboard six-bottle beer carrier as a structure around which to build the walls and lay the roof.  Without this my house would have certainly caved in.  It also meant I only had to cut out a cardboard pattern for the roof since for the walls I just placed the carton onto my rolled-out dough and cut around it with a knife.

By the time I finished it was late at night and I didn’t decorate.  The next day I elected to keep it the way it was.  I like having just the dark brown and bright white.

I constructed it atop a cake platter which worked well.  Now it serves as a holiday decoration that I can move as needed.

With leftover dough I made some gingerbread sandwich cookies.  Recipe to come!

I learned in a magazine a few years back that biscotti is the plural of biscotto.

Now that is all I can think of when I hear or see or taste biscotti.  Like a multisensory tic.

Biscotti are great gifts because they keep for a long time.  This version is grainy, nutty and subtly sweet.  Give them away in multiples (thus avoiding having to say biscotto).

Walnut Biscotti with Whole Wheat and Corn Meal

Adapted from Made Healthier’s Chocolate Chip Biscotti

What I Changed (Reflected Here) and Why: Half and half instead of milk because we rarely have regular milk in the fridge; walnut oil for “oil” (unspecified) to enhance nutrition and walnut taste; Replaced white flour with extra whole wheat flour for nutrition and simplicity; Replaced white sugar with succanat for nutrition; Replaced chocolate chips with walnuts for fun/nutrition.  In essence I made Made Healthier’s recipe healthier.  My poor, poor friends.  Still, Isabel, didn’t you declare them tasty?

Note: This makes about 10 biscotti, which disappear fast.  I might multiply the recipe if you’re looking to give some as gifts or even just to have plenty to keep yourself.

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.  Mix the first five ingredients together with a whisk, then add everything else in and mix with a spoon until it comes together.

2. Spray nonstick baking spray on a nonstick baking sheet and mold a long, low mound of batter with a spoon.  Bake for 30 minutes.

3. Remove from oven and let cool a bit.  Cut the loaf diagonally into 1-inch slices.  Turn them onto their sides and return to oven (still at 350° F) to crisp up, about 8 minutes per side.

Serve with coffee, tea or cocoa.

Whip up a batch of pomegranate margaritas to greet guests during the holidays.  I guarantee everyone will have more fun, sooner!

POM makes fabulous pomegranate juice that’s pretty widely available.  To delight anyone who doesn’t care for a margarita (or is underage), serve it plain or mixed some freshly-squeezed lime juice over ice.

POM Pomegranate Margaritas for 4

Adapted from Southern Living’s Pomegranate Margaritas

What I Changed (Reflected Here) and Why: Omitted the simple syrup because I hate cocktails that are overly sweet and because making simple syrup seemed like extra work; Maintained liquidity by shaking with ice a bit longer; Rubbed cocktail glass rims with salt.

1. Combine pomegranate juice with next 3 ingredients in a pitcher. (This can be done ahead of time.)

2. Rub the rims of 4 cocktail glasses with a wedge of lime and, one at a time, tip upside down into a plate with a shallow level of salt.  Twist cocktail glass until coated, then stand upright.

3. Just before serving, pour desired amount of pomegranate juice mixture into a cocktail shaker filled with ice cubes. Cover with lid, and shake 45 seconds.

4. Remove lid, and strain into chilled cocktail glasses. Repeat procedure with remaining pomegranate mixture.

Recipe can easily be doubled or tripled.  You know, if you’re expecting a crowd.

Just received word that Ina Garten, aka Barefoot Contessa, will be sampling her new Red Velvet Cupcake Mix at Crate & Barrel on the Upper East Side (650 Madison Ave, Manhattan) next Thursday, 12/11/08, from 4-6pm.

I’m assuming she’s going to assemble and bake the cupcakes before sampling.  The dry mix might not taste that great.

If there’s anyone I’d trust with making food taste good, it would be Ina Garten, so I’m confident she has this figured out.

1. Put wine in a wide 4-qt pot. Finely grate Bartlett pears (including skin) into wine. Transfer wine mixture to a 2-cup measure and add enough water, if necessary, to bring total to 2 cups liquid, then return to pan and stir in sugar/succanat.

2. Carefully peel Devoe pears, leaving stems intact, then core through bottom with tip of vegetable peeler or a small knife to remove seeds.

3. Bring wine mixture to a boil, stirring until succanat/sugar has dissolved, then add pears, in 1 layer if possible. Simmer, tightly covered, turning occasionally, until tender, about 20 minutes. Carefully transfer pears with a slotted spoon to a rack set over a 4-sided sheet pan to drain and cool, standing them upright. Transfer pear syrup to cleaned 2-cup measure, adding any juices from sheet pan under pears (you will have 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups syrup), and reserve for custard and glaze.

4. Whisk together egg yolks and cornstarch in a small bowl, then whisk in 1 cup pear syrup. Transfer to a small heavy saucepan and scrape in seeds from vanilla bean, reserving pod for another use. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking, then cook, whisking, 2 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in 1 Tbsp pear syrup (leftover from Step 3) and butter. Transfer to a bowl and cool completely, its surface covered.

5. Sprinkle gelatin over 2 Tbsp water in a very small bowl and let stand 1 minute. Bring remaining pear syrup to a boil in a very small heavy saucepan, then boil, if necessary, until reduced to about 1/3 cup. Stir in gelatin mixture until dissolved. Remove from heat.

6. Set out baked pastry/pie crust. Whisk cooled pastry cream to loosen, then spread in shell. Stand pears upright on pastry cream, arranging decoratively. When glaze has cooled and thickened slightly (to speed cooling, set pan in an ice bath), brush it on pears. (If glaze gels in pan, reheat very briefly.) Cut and serve!