Weekday Weelicious Pancakes

When I was growing up, my mom would sometimes make pancakes - delicious buttermilk pancakes, from scratch - on weekends. Things like pancakes were weekend-only things because with mixing and measuring and whatnot, there simply wasn't enough time before school. 

Recently, my mom, now a grandmother of 5, started making pancakes ahead of time so that she could have homemade pancakes ready quickly when the grandkids slept over. She keeps all of the dry ingredients in a tupperware with a note to self on top that contains specific instructions for adding the wet ingredients like eggs, buttermilk and vanilla. Smart, eh?

Weelicious Apple Vanilla Pancakes

I took that idea and ran with it (thanks, Mom). I discovered that adding the wet ingredients was just too much for me to deal with on a weekday morning. So I made a batch in advance, in its entirety and voila! All I had to do in the morning was get out my frying pan. I also remembered an article I read a while back in The New York Times about chocolate chip cookies where Maury Rubin, owner of City Bakery revealed a secret to delicious cookies: let the batter rest before baking. Perhaps those same pearls of wisdom applied to pancakes? 

It does! Pancake batter that sits overnight percolating in the fridge turns out flavorful, fluffy pancakes every time. Which brings me to my latest awesome pancake discovery: Weelicious Apple-Vanilla pancakes. Wow. Catherine McCord, founder of Weelicious and author of a new Weelicious cookbook knows food and knows kids and that's a winning combination as far as I'm concerned. These pancakes were super easy to make in advance and I absolutely love that they have apples (I used Honey Crisp apples). Did I mention how happy my kids were about having pancakes for breakfast on a Tuesday morning!? I scored big points on that one. Lucky for my kids, the recipe made more than they could eat for breakfast in one day - my husband and I also had a few silver dollar sized gems - so they can have pancakes twice this week. Twice! 

:o) 

OneHungryMama and the Delish Skillet Cookie

I'm a cookie person. I'd give up every other dessert out there for cookies.  I wonder why anyone would ever choose something like cake or cupcakes or pie when there are cookies to be had. 

After browsing through @OneHungryMama's Ultimate List of Thanksgiving Recipes (drooling, admittedly) I showed it to my husband who continued perusing and, upon finding the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie recipe, declared it "one we need to make immediately!"

He was right. As luck would have it, we had all of the ingredients in the pantry ('tis the season to have pumpkin). Hooray! Stacie's recipe calls for a 12 inch skillet. I only had an 11 inch pie dish. She wrote "[t]he smaller the skillet the thicker and more cake-y this treat will be."

Something had to be done to prevent this delicious sounding cookie recipe from becoming cake-like. And so I made a half dozen cookies so as to leave less batter behind for the pie dish.  Success! My kids and I loved the cookies! Once the big skillet cookie was done baking and cooling, we tested the final product. Awesome texture: crispy edges, softer center. Great flavor. 

Assuming we can stop nibbling, I'm bringing the rest of it to our Thanksgiving festivities to share the wealth. 

Special thanks to Stacie, whose recipe is below - this is a keeper! 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie
(can be shared with kids 12+ mos)*
Makes one 12″ skillet cookie**

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree (homemade or plain canned; not pumpkin pie filling)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg, room temperature
1 1/2 cup (9 oz) chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Using an electric mixer, cream butter and both sugars until mixture is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

2. Add pumpkin, vanilla and egg; mix until they are fully incorporated. Add flour mixture and beat until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips by hand.

3. Transfer dough to a 12-inch ovenproof skillet. Press to flatten, covering bottom of pan. Bake until edges are brown and top is golden, about 35 minutes. Be careful not to over bake, especially if you like your cookies a little gooey. Remove from oven and allow pan to cool completely. The cookie best served warm (and with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!).

* Note: While there is nothing in this recipe that is unsafe for younger children, I recommend it beginning at 12 months due to the relatively high sugar content. No matter how older your eaters, be sure to serve age appropriate portions. A little of this sweet treat goes a long way for young children.

** Note: The smaller your skillet, the longer the cookie will have to bake. The following is a guideline, but you may want to use a toothpick to check for doneness (it is fully baked when the toothpick comes out clean). Just keep in mind that the cookie will bake further once out of the oven. If you want a gooey cookie, leave the very center just a little “raw.”

– 10″ skillet, approx 40 min
– 9″ skillet, approx 45 min
– large cookies on a cookie sheet, about 1/4 cup of dough, approx 15-17 min

– smaller cookies on a cookie sheet, about 1 tablespoon of dough, 10-12 min

The Sweet Smell of Butter Cookies Wafting Down the Hall

Someone should figure out a way to make "scratch and sniff" digital images because my house smells so awesome right now and if only I could capture that in a photo... 

Holiday decorations are up all around and it makes me think of cookies. My mom always made dozens of cookies around Thanksgiving to have on hand for the holidays and give as gifts to others or just for family treats. No store bought cookie can compare to something homemade and my mom has perfected many cookie recipes over the years. The cookies that I made this morning are one of my mom's favorites. They're called Fannies – after my mom's great Aunt Fanny who baked them all the time. These are straightforward butter cookies with a jam center and they're utterly delicious. 

There are three things about Fannies that make them a truly phenomenal thing: 

1. There are 7 ingredients and nothing unpronounceable.

2. They're meant to be small. I don't know why companies, bakeries and restaurants keep making cookies the size of my head but I find it absolutely absurd.

3. They have a lovely balance of sweet and salt.  

If you're looking for a cookie recipe for the holiday season or to bring to your Thanksgiving table, give these Fannies a try. They're easy (I make them with my two year old) and delicious but as an added bonus, they are an incredible air freshener.

Fannies
½ lb. butter
½ cup sugar
½ tsp. salt
2 cups flour
2 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla
Jam

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Combine the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat with a mixer until they become light and fluffy. Add the flour slowly and mix to combine. Add the egg yolks, salt and vanilla extract and mix together until the dough forms. 

Shape the dough into 1 inch balls and flatten them slightly with your hands. Using your thumb, press a bit in the center to make room for the jam. Add a dollop of jam to the center of each cookie. Place the cookies about an inch apart. Bake for approximately 25 minutes. 

Quick, Easy, Comforting Chili

We have been bombarded by Mother Nature. Our hearts go out to those who have been displaced and affected by Sandy.

New York City is still reeling from Sandy and today has brought a nor'easter. Ugh. We have family bunking at our house tonight and this morning I decided that the best thing to do would be to make a giant pot of chili for our dinner tonight.

Chili is filling, nutritious and delicious. It feeds many, it can be made inexpensively and is something that can be made as a team effort with little helpers. It can be meaty or meatless. It's one of those comforting, one pot dishes that you can whip up and bring to others in need of a hot meal.

On that note, if you would like to volunteer, make hot meals or donate other needed items for those affected by Sandy, here's a good resource to find relief efforts.

Here's the recipe for the chili I made with my little guy this morning:

1 TB olive oil
1 lb ground turkey
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, peeled and chopped
2 cloves of garlic
1 red onion
1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut into cubes
1 can of chick peas
1 can of black beans
1/2 cup bulgur wheat
2 TB fresh chopped oregano (can use dried instead)
2 TB chili powder
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
black pepper to taste

Directions: 

Heat the pot to medium high and add olive oil. Add onions, peppers, carrots, celery and garlic and saute for about 3-5 minutes or until slightly browned. Add raw turkey and turn heat down to medium. Stir occasionally for a few minutes and add chili powder, cumin, salt and oregano. After about 5 minutes, add both cans of beans, including liquid, the raw bulgur wheat and the sweet potato. Stir until everything is combined. Simmer for at least an hour until the flavors have all melted nicely together.

Book Review: Feeding Eden

Before having kids, I used to say to my husband that if our children had food allergies like mine, I'd be that much more prepared to deal with it, having been through it myself. But in all honesty, I'm not so sure how confident I really am about it all. I recently read Feeding Eden​ by Susan Weissman and it brought all of the issues of allergies and parenting to light. I absolutely loved this book. Hats off to Susan Weissman. Seriously. The book is not only beautifully written, it also tells a compelling story of hope and and the tremendous efforts, emotions and rollercoasters that parents endure when dealing with children and their allergies (and the issues that affect their non-allergic children as well). 

The newest limb on my family tree is just three weeks old as I write this. Because of my own anaphylaxis, my kids are statistically more susceptible to food allergies too. It's my third time around the newborn block and while I feel incredibly lucky that my other two kids have no food allergies (that I have discovered as of yet), I worry about this little gal.  

Having allergies is a huge part of who I am. As a kid, it made me feel vulnerable and afraid at times, and it made me stick out like a sore thumb sometimes. As an adult, though, I feel stronger and capable of taking care of myself.  I know how to read labels carefully and ask questions in great detail. I know how to use my epi-pen in an emergency and that makes me feel empowered and in control of my own health. I've given decades of thought to how having life-threatening allergies makes me feel. But frankly, reading Feeding Eden​ enabled me to see a perspective that I hadn't given nearly enough consideration to before: what it's like to be the parent of a child who could die just by eating the wrong thing. I have a whole new view and respect for those who care for and try their best to protect food-allergic people. Kudos to you. And deep thanks to Susan Weissman for having the courage to tell others about her family's struggles and triumphs.​