Gastroanthropology

Walnut Nut Cups + A Giveaway

**This contest is now closed. Winner is Lauren K! Lauren is an American expat in Germany and after inspiration from us bloggers will launch her own food inspired blog in the coming year.

Last week I planned, cooked, and photographed a lovely Chestnut Baklava. I used a gorgeous Italian chestnut honey for the syrup and a bit of cinnamon. It looked and smelled lovely. It was a recipe I thought of to honor one of my favorite holiday treats - marrons glacé, or candied chestnuts.

I thought my chestnuts would go so well sprinkled in between buttered sheets of paper-thin phyllo and soaked in chestnut honey. It was shockingly disappointing. Chestnuts are like treasured gold nuggets for me so I felt such anger and guilt that I used a whole bag of them for this failed recipe. I had also just been promised boxes of marrons glacés from Jeff de Bruges when they become available in late November, so I thought what a wonderful way to giveaway a box. The chocolates at Jeff de Bruges are quite good, but of all the chocolatiers and patisseries I've experienced, their candied chestnuts are the best! And while I can't give you a recipe for Chestnut Baklava, until I muster the courage to possibly lose another bag of these gorgeous things...

...you might win a box of marrons glacés! Jeff de Bruges uses the best Italian chestnuts from Turin for their candied chestnuts. These individually wrapped jewels are so special that each winter I contemplate getting my nails done in a Christmas red before I unwrap and savor each precious stone in complete silence.  

The chestnuts won't be delivered to me till the first week of December so leave a comment by November 30th, 2010 to be entered. Once I receive the box of jewels I will mail them out to the random winner in December. This contest is open to everyone and if you tweet marrons glacés giveaway from @gastro http://tinyurl.com/33nmomc it will count as a second entry.

Even though the Chestnut Baklava didn't work out I do have a tasty recipe to share. These walnut nut cups are a must for the holiday season. Instead of pumpkin breads for gifts to take home after Thanksgiving dinner, my guests are getting a few of these.

WALNUT NUT CUPS

• 1 1/2 cups coarsely ground walnuts
• 1/2 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup dark corn syrup
• 2 Tbs maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt

In addition to the above ingredients you will need enough pie dough for two double crusted 10-inch pies, or four 10-inch pie rounds.

This recipe makes approximately 48 nut cups, when using a mini muffin tin. Use a good quality, non-stick muffin tin.

Make your favorite pie dough. Divide by four and leave to rest in the fridge. This can be done a day or two ahead. 

Using a food processor, coarsely ground walnuts to get 1 1/2 cups. Just a few pulses should do it - you don't want walnut flour, but small pebble size bits. Set aside. Melt 1/2 cup butter and set aside. In a mixing bowl whisk together all the remaining ingredients till combined. Whisk in the butter. Divide the mixture evenly in half, placing each half in a heavy-duty quart sized plastic bag, or two pastry bags with medium tip (clip or bend the end so no mixture leaks). Refrigerate overnight if possible (this step is not critical, but the cooled mixture is a bit thicker and easier to manage when filling the little cups). You could also use a small ice cream scoop to fill the cups, but I find using a plastic bag to be the quickest and easiest.

Preheat the oven to 350F. 

Roll out one of the portions of pie dough to 1/4 inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter cut small circles to fit in the mini muffin tin with a tiny bit of pie dough exposed outside the edge of each muffin circle. Gently press the rounds into a non-stick mini muffin tin, making sure no air bubbles are trapped underneath. Use your pastry bag or snip the corner off the plastic bag and fill each cup, nearly the entire way up. If you have refrigerated your dough it will be separated. Gently massage the bag to recombine everything.

If there are a bigger bits of walnut that struggle to come out, do not squeeze the bag! You will be tempted to, but do not! If you do, you will end up with a colossal mess. It is much better to force the bit of walnut by breaking it between your fingers. With these small nut cups it is not necessary to blind bake the cups before adding the nut cup mixture.

Put in preheated oven and bake for about 10 minutes. The mixture will puff gently, filling the cup entirely. If you use a non-stick muffin tin and a bit spills over the side you have nothing to worry about. They pop out easily. If you are using a not using a non-stick muffin tin, fill your cups a bit less. The cups are ready when the filling is set and the pie dough has barely turned golden on the edges. Let cool in cups and when they are cool enough to handle remove and eat! Once completely cooled keep in an airtight container for up to three days.

P.S. Emails have been sent to those who wanted to participate in the International Cookie Recipe Exchange hosted by Lori from Fake Food Free and I. If you haven't yet received an email and asked to participate please get in touch!

Key Lime Pie

Well, let me just start by saying this is not a Key Lime Pie. It's a Lime Pie, but how lame does that sound? Forgive me. I'm nowhere near the Florida Keys. And, I've had a terrible time of finding graham crackers in London and even when I was living in California, Key Limes weren't always easy to procure. Unofficial polls show that some can't tell the difference and some prefer the regular limes. Enough with excuses, bottom lime, I had an unexplainable craving for this tart, tangy, and sweet pie.

Key Lime Pie is so simple to make, assuming you can find the six ingredients. First, you need to smash a box of graham crackers to smithereens. You could, of course, pulse in a food processor, but as with most of my useful kitchen appliances, it's in a box 6,000 miles away. Yes, they do have food processors here in Britain, but when you see the prices and you know what you paid for one at home, you learn to improvise - a heavy duty Ziplock (if your in Europe and you've never experienced a Ziplock bag, let me know, I'll mail you one, it might just change your life) and a heavy bottomed pot. Once its finely ground, or close, pour melted butter, either into the food processor, or into your heavy duty plastic bag. Pulse or toss around till combined. Firmly press into a deep pie dish and up the sides. Bake till golden and firm - about 20 minutes at 325F. The set aside and let it cool. Reduce the oven heat to 300F.

Meanwhile, zest 9 limes and juice them to get 3/4 cup of lime juice. Depending on the juiciness of your limes you may need more or less. Using a hand whisk, combine the zest and juice. Then add the egg yolks and condensed milk. Whisk till well combined. Pour into the cooled pie shell and bake for about 20-25 minutes in a 300F oven. You want the filling to be firm and gently soft - not gooey. Let it cool completely and then refrigerate overnight (or, for at least 4 hours).

Whip cream to soft-medium peaks and spread all over the cooled pie. Grate fresh lime zest over the top. Cut and serve.

You could always use the egg whites and make a meringue topping. However, this should be sweetened, which I find to be too much sweetness with the condensed milk filling. I find the cold, unsweetened whipped cream to be the perfect accompaniment.

KEY LIME PIE 

CRUST

• 1 box of graham crackers (14.4 oz box)
• 7 oz of butter, melted and cooled

FILLING

• 3 Tbs packed, grated lime zest
• 3/4 c freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 cans condensed milk (14 oz each)
• 9 egg yolks, room temp

I recommend getting about 10 regular limes, reserving one for fresh grating at the end. If you are using key limes you will probably need 18-20, as they are smaller and often drier. 

TOPPING

• 1 1/2 c cold heavy cream, whipped to serve

See above for method.

Sour Cherries

A few weeks ago Nate and I were in Door County, Wisconsin celebrating the marriage of two of our friends. Plagued with jetlag on the morning of the wedding and up hours before anyone else we took the opportunity to explore Door County. I had never been to Wisconsin and was pleasantly surprised. We were right on the lake, the weather was perfect, and the people were so friendly. Really friendly. Like we had a friend running late for the wedding who had to change in a gas station, and the lady running the station offered to iron his shirt friendly. Early that morning we drove past cherry orchard after cherry orchard. Sour cherries, often Montmorency, grow in these parts.

Since we were up early we got the first sour cherry pie out of the oven at a local pie shop, and had it for breakfast!

I couldn't really bring baskets of sour cherries back to London, so I brought back the dried version instead. Can't really make a delicious pie with dried fruit (unless its mincemeat pie), so I used the dried sour cherries to make one of my favorite cookie recipes - Oatmeal cookies with sour cherries and chocolate covered toffee bits. 

OATMEAL COOKIES + SOUR CHERRIES & TOFFEE

• 1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 c butter, room temp
• 3/4 c sugar
• 3/4 c brown sugar
• 1 egg, room temp
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 c rolled oats
• 1 c dried sour cherries, roughly chopped
• 1 c crushed chocolate covered toffee bars like Skor or Daim (about five 28g bars)

METHOD

Put flour, baking soda, and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside. Beat butter with both sugars till light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla extract. Fold in dry ingredients. Fold in oats, chopped cherries and toffee bits. Chill dough for two hours. Use a small ice cream scoop to divide dough into balls. Bake for 8-10 minutes in a 350F oven. Do not overbake - these are good a little bit underdone. Makes about 36 small cookies.

Today in London it seems as fall has already arrived with cool temps, wind and rain. A busy summer with finishing my dissertation and travel has also come to end. To ease the changing of seasons I'm baking cookies and reading fiction. 

There are certain books that from the first few sentences you know you'll love. You rush to get through them because you can't wait to see how it turns out. Then there are those books that can be a struggle, and each sentence read is forgotten and the words fail to create a picture in your head. Every once in a while you come across a book that is so great you're almost part of the story, dreading the end. You find yourself rereading sentences as you go along, partially to extend the time you get to spend with the book and partially to make sure you haven't missed a single thing the author has written. I'm in the middle of one of those kinds right now...a book about a family breeding dogs on a remote farm in Wisconsin. Might not sound like much but I'm totally engrossed with the story. 

Blueberry Pie

 

I spent some time in high school in Upstate New York. For those who don't know Upstate might as well be thousands of miles away from New York City. It's a whole 'nother world. Let's just say my new friends were under the impression that being from California meant I must be from Beverly Hills, 90210, the original. Anyway, after I got over the shock of lake-effect snow, wind-chill, sub-zero temps, and LL Bean everything, Upstate thawed into a lush, green summertime. And summertime meant bonfires and beer in middle-of-nowhere fields, blueberry picking, lake swimming, and heat lightening. It also meant a County Fair, complete with rides, cotton candy, hay bales, games, dunk-tanks, and even an appearance by Shania Twain.

While it would be a blast to see the tiny Shania belt out Man! I Feel Like A Woman! again, what I really miss about the County Fair is the food. Corn dogs, funnel cakes, super-sweet lemon ices, BBQ, kettle corn (my absolute fave and something I can't seem to recreate at home), anything and everything deep-fried, and blueberry pie. 

With homesickness and nostalgia for everything American in full force this week I thought what could be more Americana than blueberry pie? It's simple, tasty and the deep purpley-blue stains your lips and fingers (if, like me, you often end up eating food with your hands). Use your favorite pie crust recipe (need enough for a finished 9-inch covered pie, or two 12-inch rounds) and see below for the filling.

BLUEBERRY PIE adapted from the Big Sur Bakery Cookbook

 

 

• 6 cups fresh blueberries
• 1/2 c to 3/4 c sugar (depending on the sweetness of your berries)
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (original recipe calls for 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg)
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• 3 Tbs whole or all-purpose flour
• 1/4 c crème fraîche
• 1 Tbs unsalted butter, cut up

METHOD

Combine berries, sugar, nutmeg and lemon in a bowl. Cover and let sit out at room temperature for 30 minutes. Toss the berries with the flour and crème fraîche. Roll out your pie dough into two 12-inch rounds and press one into a pie pan. Spoon the berry mixture into the pan and dot with butter. Cover with the other pie dough round. Press, crimp, and trim the sides. Brush the top with a beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar. Make slits in the top crust to let steam escape. Bake for 15 minutes at 450F / 230C and then reduce to 375F / 190C and bake for another 45 minutes. Let pie cool for at least one hour before slicing. Make sure to wait - the blueberries will be screaming hot and as the pie cools the filling will thicken up. So worth the wait.

Serve with a little whipped crème fraîche or cream. Add a little bit of lemon zest and sugar when whipping if you'd like.