Martha Stewart, you rock my world...kinda

Note: This looks like a long post. It's really more like two posts in one. And the recipes make it look long. Skip over that part if you want.

I am not a fan of Martha Stewart the person. I cannot stand the sound of her voice, she makes too much money and she just plan works my nerves. However, I do subscribe to and thoroughly enjoy her magazine Martha Stewart Living and I frequent her website for recipes. I feel the same way about Rachael Ray; she's a bit too peppy for me and I hate how she calls extra virgin olive oil "EVOO". Just call it olive oil - we know what you mean. I also subscribe to Everyday with Rachael Ray and I think it's a great magazine, but you won't catch me watching her TV show.

Martha's elves send me a cookie-of-the-day email and I save them all in a folder for when I need a cookie that's a bit more special than the regular chocolate chip (which is still fabulous - see previous post). First I tried the Dark Chocolate Cookies with Sour Cherries and brought them to work for a co-workers last day celebration. The cookie part was divine, but the cherries were a little weird. I've made a batch or two since then without the cherries, and I think they are my new favorite cookie. I've been dying to make them with peanut butter chips and I finally tried it yesterday, but something went awry and they came out flat and crispy. But they still taste darn good. I'm trying to figure out if it was the cocoa I used (Nestle as opposed to the usual Hershey's) or if I overbeated (is that a word?) the dough. Nevertheless, the flavor is still fantastic!

























Dark Chocolate Cookies with Sour Cherries
yield: 3 dozen

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips)
1 1/2 cups (9 ounces) dried sour cherries, firmly packed (I used an 8 ounce bag of dried Bing cherries from Trader Joe's)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets (or one if you only own one like I do) with parchment paper; set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (Martha thinks we all own big expensive mixers. I use a 3-speed hand mixer and it works just fine, thank you very much!), cream the butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla extract; beat until well combined. Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until just combined. Do not overbeat (I repeat, do not overbeat. I think this is what caused my most recent batch to come out flat). With a wooden spoon, fold in chocolate and cherries. (Dough can be frozen at this point, wrapped well in plastic, up to one month; thaw completely before baking).
3. Form balls of dough, each about 1/4 cup (note: if you make them this big, you will not end up with three dozen cookies); place balls on baking sheet about 3 inches apart. Bake until puffed and cracked, 9 to 11 minutes (they will seem slightly undercooked at this point, but that's okay). Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container, at room temperature, up to 3 days.

Recipe can also be found at
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/dark-chocolate-cookies-with-sour-cherries?xsc=eml_cod_2009_07_10


The most recent recipe of Martha's I've discovered was for banana bread. I searched her website using the advanced recipe search and entered keywords banana bread and sour cream (because I wanted a recipe using sour cream, obviously). I chose the first recipe that came up and was stoked when I realized that there weren't any exotic ingredients included and that I wouldn't have to go to the store first. Oooh, this bread was so moist and tasty. The only thing I didn't like was the entire stick of butter in it. I'm going to try substituting all or part of the butter with applesauce next time I have some ripe bananas.
























Banana Bread
yield: 1 loaf

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter (or spray with cooking spray) a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan; set aside. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (again, it's okay to use your inferior hand mixer), cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat to incorporate.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Add to the butter mixture, and mix until just combined. Add bananas, sour cream and vanilla; mix to combine. Stir in nuts and pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake until a cake tester (in my kitchen, this is a butter knife) inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool.

Recipe can also be found at
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/banana-bread?autonomy_kw=banana%20bread,%20sour%20cream1

Cantaloupe, basil and mozzarella, oh my!

I love cantaloupe. I eat it like candy. It is easily my favorite melon. Last summer, somehow I concocted this wonderful salad of cantaloupe, fresh basil and fresh mozzarella. Trader Joe's sells those wonderful large-leaf basil plants, and I have one right outside by back door for easy harvest and use. Last summer they also had these cute little fresh mozzarella balls in water called perlini, but they haven't had those for a while so now I use the slightly larger ciliegine.

So what I do is cube a small to medium cantaloupe. Rough chop about 10 large leaves of fresh basil, but this is definitely to taste. You can leave the ciliegine whole, but I prefer to quarter or halve them. (I really liked the perlini - maybe I'll see if Trader Joe's can get them again. ) Mix it all up and enjoy!

These cookies are the bomb

I am quite content to declare that I have found the chocolate chip cookie recipe that I will use for the rest of my life. I came across this recipe in the May/June 2009 issue of Cook's Illustrated. If you've ever perused this wonderful magazine, you already know the high level of effort they put into perfecting each and every recipe they publish in their test kitchens. This recipe was no exception. The author tried 43 batches of cookies before coming up with this one. And for his efforts, I am forever indebted.

To start, they have a pretty shininess when they're cooled and they are the perfect size. Then, the edges are just crispy enough, while the inside is perfectly chewy. And they have a rich, toffee-like flavor that is just to die for. Even when slightly overcooked, they are delicious. Recently I was craving one (or ten) of these cookies, but I didn't want the whole batch calling to me from the kitchen every night at 3:00am (my midnight snack time). So jokingly (I think), my sister said I should send some her way (about 150 miles away, mind you). And I thought, "Hey, I could do that". So I vacuum sealed them in Ziploc bags (that is, I sucked the air out of the bags with a straw) and packed them in disposable food containers with paper towels to cushion. She received them the very next day and sent me a text message saying "The cookies tasted like heaven in my mouth! SOOOOO good!". Well, there you go. All I could say back was, "I know, right!?"From Cook's Illustrated May/Jun 2009

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

1-3/4 cups (8-3/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
14 tablespoons (1-3/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (3-1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
3/4 cup (5-1/4 ounces) packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1-1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Whisk flour and baking soda together in a medium bowl; set aside.
3. Heat 10 tablespoons of butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling the pan constantly until the butter is dark golden brown and has a nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and transfer to a large heatproof bowl. Stir in the remaining 4 tablespoons butter until melted.
4. Add white and brown sugars, salt and vanilla to the butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand for 3 minutes, then whisk again for 30 seconds. Repeat resting and whisking process 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth and shiny. Then stir in the flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Divide the dough into 16 portions, each about 3 tablespoons. Arrange 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.
6. Bake (one sheet at a time) until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 10 to 14 minutes (check at 10 minutes). Transfer to wire rack to cool.

My first Sheldon

I finally finished Sheldon this week! After getting the hang of it, the dreaded attached i-cord turned out to be fun to knit, and I really like the way it looks. I ended up attaching the legs with the shell attached instead of putting on the shell after attaching the legs as the pattern instructed. I was afraid of not placing them correctly and having the shell not fit properly. His bum turned out a bit wonky because I think I overstuffed the shell. I'm considering improvising a little tail to disguise the wonkiness. Anyway, here he is!

Tying up loose ends

Long time, no blog! Yeah, it's been a while, but I really haven't had a knitting project going since the baby blanket (which, buy the way, I'm hearing is well-loved). While tempted to start a new project, I decided it might be best to finish up some projects I left hanging. As you can see, I have a slew of Sheldon the Turtle parts, but no complete Sheldon. Here's how it goes: one of Sheldon's features is an attached i-cord which creates a pretty border on his shell, and also attaches the shell to the panel which holds it on to his body. I've never made an i-cord before, but practiced and it's quite simple to master. Creating an i-cord attached to and edge of a piece seems quite do-able, but joining two pieces with an attached i-cord blew my mind a bit.

So, when I would get to the inevitable attached i-cord portion of the project, I would abandon that Sheldon and start another one. After all, making the other pieces is so much fun! But alas, now I am left with bits and pieces of three Sheldons. And from these parts is born my sole goal for this weekend: finish a Sheldon! I'm going to focus on the purple and blue one. This one is i-cord-ready, and I've started it a little and it's really not as agonizing as I thought it would be. Actually, it's kind of fun!

I do believe I have run out of purple yarn though, with only two purple legs made. I guess his legs will be blue and therefore, a different color than his body. Oh, well. It's not like he's a real turtle :)

I'll be sure to post pictures of the finished product. I really just want to show of my attached i-cord skills.

Labor of Love

My cousin Shauna is having her first baby next month (a girl!) and I wanted to knit something fabulous for them. I wanted to use my favorite yarn of the moment, Lion Brand Nature's Choice Organic Cotton in Strawberry (not-too-light baby pink) and Walnut (rich chocolaty brown) stripes. I started out on a 36" size 10 needle, because that's the size I use for my hats that I knit with the same yarn. And I started with same-sized stripes. Well, first I ditched the stripe pattern and went for a 4-inch pink stripe and a 2-inch brown stripe. Then I decided that I wanted to use a smaller needle, so I switched to size 8. Finally, I settled on a 3-inch pink and 1.5-inch brown stripe pattern (or something like that, I kind of forgot to measure - I just counted rows, which were 14 pink and 6 brown). I had cast on 190 stitches, which was about 42" (it was almost square before washing; after the wash and dry it took on a more rectangular shape).

Well, by this time I had about two and a half weeks until the baby shower, so I really had to knit like crazy. And I really did, in the mornings, after work and on the weekends you could find me in my rocking chair knitting away. I finished at 2 am on Friday night (or Saturday morning, to get technical), then woke up at 8 on Saturday (the day of the shower) to finish weaving in the countless loose ends (dang stripes!) and to throw it in the wash. And with no time to spare, I took some photos and kissed it goodbye and wrapped it up. The final product: a super soft, machine washable (and dryable!) handmade, one-of-a-kind baby blankie. Shauna loved it, and I hope the baby will too.

I'm an Etsian!

I am pleased to announce the opening of my Etsy shop! Check out http://schmelanie.etsy.com to check out my wares! I only have newborn baby hats for now, but I'm hoping to soon offer hats for older babies and toddlers.

I Got Skills

Let it be known: my knitting skills far surpass my sewing skills. But I still love sewing . In the midst of a knitting frenzy, I decided to take on a couple sewing projects to give as Christmas gifts. One was quite simple and straightforward: a roll-up knitting needle case for my sister. This merely consisted of four panels stitched to form a pouch with a flap, then pockets were stitched onto the pouch to separate the pairs of needles. The challenge here was stitching straight lines. Lots of 'em. While the pattern instructed to draw on the lines with a ruler, I relied on masking tape to guide me (much easier if you ask me). I happened to be talking with my mother, who told me to just let my machine guide the fabric, and it should stitch straight with very gentle guidance. Mind you, I have had no real instruction in sewing. I had a quick lesson from my mom when she gave me the machine for Christmas a few years ago, but beyond that I am self taught. This tip about not over-guiding the fabric proved priceless, and after that my stresses dissipated. Then, ta-da! A very cool knitting needle case, which my sister loved. I can't wait to make one (or two - another one for double points) for myself!


The second project was far more challenging: quilted potholders for my mom. These turned out great, but the road to greatness was a tough one for a while. When I sew, I usually have to read the steps of the pattern out loud to myself several times before I figure out exactly what I'm supposed to do. Let's just say I did a lot of talking to myself with this project. Furthermore, I was fretting because when I did the quilting, the layers (two layers of cotton batting between fabrics) got all caddywompus and I was worried about the edges. Crisis was averted, though, with the addition of the bias binding. Bias binding was another new technique for me, and even though it didn't turn out perfectly, I tought it was still darn good. At the end of all this, I had two really cute custom potholders, not to mention a newfound confidence in my sewing skills.