The cake doesn’t really soak up the sauce… it is more like the sauce swathes the cake in a rich, sticky blanket of yumminess. Between the hot sauce, the crunchy pecans, and the velvety cake you have a major  convention of flavor and texture going on in your mouth.

If you cook it a little less (like I will next time) you will also have the gooey middles of the cakes. I am not sure that you can find something a whole lot better for the time and effort it takes to make these (hardly any). You can start them just before you serve the main course and have them on the table by the time the bread is gone. Seriously. This one’s a keeper.

Make these in muffin cups that have been sprayed with baking spray or individual custard cups.

Chocolate Cakes with Praline Sauce

• 2/3 cup flour
• 1/2 cup dark cocoa
• pinch of kosher salt
• 12 oz chocolate, chopped. Mix bittersweet, dark, semisweet, or milk in any combination.
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, melt one and allow to become golden brown
• 4 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 2/3 cup sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Melt the chocolate and the one stick of butter together, whisking often
3. Remove from heat and add the browned butter
4. Sift the dry ingredients together three times
5. Beat the eggs and yolks until light
6. Beat in the sugar
7. Carefully whisk in the chocolate and butter combination
8. Divide between 8-10 muffin cups
9. Bake for 12 minutes (gooey) or 15 minutes (moist and rich)
10. Cool for no more than 2-3 minutes and unmold onto dessert plates

Praline Sauce

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 2 tbs heavy cream
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup pecans, toasted
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Melt the butter, salt, and brown sugar together until no longer grainy, stirring often.
2. Add the cream and stir well
3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla
4. Sprinkle pecans over the cakes and pour the warm syrup over all

Makes 8-10 servings

images: marye audet

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I put a layer of streusel on the bottom as well as on the top for added texture and sweetness. I really like the result.

This is a great, comfort food type dessert but would also work well on the Thanksgiving dessert buffet. It is just different enough to be awesome but familiar enough to  make you feel cozy.

Vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream would be great with this. It is so easy to make, takes very little time…and is amazing. How can you resist?

Cooking the berries before adding them to the crisp allows the juices to thicken and so the bottom layer doesn’t turn to mush. In every bite you have the contrast between crunchy, chewy, tart, sweet, and tender. Every bite gives you intense flavor. This is a new favorite. I loved it.

Cranberry Crisp

• 2 bags cranberries
• 2 cups of sugar or to taste
• 1/2 cup fruity red wine
• 4 tbs unsalted butter
• Water if needed

Cook the ingredients together, stirring, until cranberries pop open and liquid thickens. You may need to add water to keep it from sticking. This will take about 15 minutes. Remove from heat, add butter.  Set aside.

Streusel

• 1 cup chopped almonds
• 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 half cup unsalted butter

Mix together with fingers until crumbly.

Assemble and Bake

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Grease a 9 inch square pan and sprinkle half the crumbs in the bottom
3. Spoon the cranberry on top
4. Sprinkle the rest of the streusel over the top
5. Bake for about 40 minutes or until done.

serves 6-8

images: marye audet

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These are perfect for a breakfast, brunch, or snack. Moist, dense and spicy; pumpkin muffins are autumn in a hand-held package.

Next week is PUMPKIN WEEK on Baking Delights! If you ever wondered:

• How to turn a whole pumpkin into a pie
• Which pumpkins can be used for cooking
• What can I make besides pie with pumpkin..
• How can I use the seeds?

As well as some awesome recipes, including something special I am developing as we speak…well you will definitely want to check back. Between now and then, though, here is a pumpkin recipe to whet your appetite!

Yes..these really were that rich color!  If you would rather a bread than muffins try this Pumpkin Pecan Quick Bread.

Pumpkin Browned Butter Muffins

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup butter
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups  pumpkin puree (homemade is best but canned will work..not pre -prepared pie filling)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle, optional (but awesome)
• 2 tablespoons finely minced candied ginger, optional
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped nuts, optional
• Cinnamon and sugar mixture for sprinkling the tops

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Melt butter over medium heat, stirring constantly. Stir until it reaches a golden brown color – remove from heat and set aside to cool
3. Place silicon muffin cups in muffin pan or grease muffin tins lightly
4. Mix dry ingredients and set aside
5. Beat sugars and eggs until light and fluffy
6. Slowly add cooled browned butter
7. Beat in pumpkin puree
8. Stir in dry ingredients until well blended
9. Quickly stir in nuts and candied ginger
10. Spoon into muffin cups and sprinkle tops with cinnamon and sugar
11. Bake for 20 minutes or until done
12. Cool slightly before removing from the pan

Makes 12-16 depending on size

images:marye audet

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It’s the difference between eating at Frontera Grill and Don Pablos.

If you are thinking that that looks like some pretty good nachos – think again. That is one of the diet staples of the Audet household…none other than Tex-Mex Hash. The hardest thing about making this dish  was measuring so I could share it with you.

Basically you can put any meat in hash. It was a dish created to be able to use up leftovers. Traditionally it is corned beef, potatoes, onions, and maybe even beets. Well, that may be how they do it in New York City but in Texas we dance to a different fiddler, so to speak.

You can use left over taco filling if you like, or any other meat you have. I used ground beef in this because I was making it more as a quick dinner than a way to use up leftovers. Anything and everything can be substituted with great results except that you need the Ro*Tel tomatoes and the potatoes.

Tex-Mex Hash

serves 8

• 2 slices of bacon
• 1 large or 2 small onions, peeled and chopped
• 8 medium size potatoes- peeled if not organic otherwise just washed and cubed
• 1 bell pepper , chopped
• 1/2 lb mushrooms sliced, optional
• 1 1/2 lbs ground beef
• 1 tbs cumin
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup chopped  fresh cilantro
• 1/2 cup beer
• 2 cans Ro*Tel tomatoes with chilis
• 2 cups cheddar or colby or jack cheese
• 6 corn tortillas, cut in small cubes and fried into chips
• 6 corn tortillas cut in wedges and fried into chips for garnish
• Sour cream

Instructions

1. Cut the bacon into squares and begin to fry it in a large saute pan. You want a nice amount of fat in the pan.
2. Add potatoes, onions, and pepper and saute until almost done but still crisp tender.
3. Add the ground beef, mushrooms, and seasonings, and saute until vegetables are done and meat is almost done.
4. Add cilantro, beer, and tomatoes and simmer uncovered until the most of the liquid is absorbed or evaporates.
5. Mix in the chips that were cut in cubes
6. Sprinkle the cheese over top and allow a minute to melt.
7. Serve immediately with a dollop of sour cream

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Needless to say I did not cook like his mom. I needed to find a way to get the vegetables I loved into our diets without setting off his anti-vegetable meter. What was the answer?

Stir fry! You can chop up nearly anything and put it in a stir fry. So very slowly I introduced things like broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus and brussels sprouts. I chopped them very tiny at first and then increasingly bigger hunks. Eventually Marc was eating all kinds of veggies. He will even eat Brussels Spouts once in awhile…although they are not his favorite. He admitted that he likes spinach the way I fix it…

This sorta stir fry is one of the dishes that has no real recipe and I have been making it for 30 years. You can stretch a little bit of meat and add nearly any vegetable you want.

Marye’s Sorta Stir Fry

• 1-2 lbs of meat: hamburger, sliced beef, chicken, pork, etc.
• 2 onions, thinly sliced
• 4 oz dried maitake mushrooms, reconstituted
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 4 stalks of celery
• 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated
• 2 cloves garlic thinly sliced
• 1/2 lb spinach
• 1/2 lb snap peas
• Any other vegetables you have that need using up
• 1/4 cup organic tamari
• 1/4 cup white wine
• soaking water from mushrooms
• 2 tbs to 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon fennel pollen or 1 teaspoon dried fennel
• 2 tbs balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbs organic cornstarch to thicken (you may want a little more)

1. Mix the sauce ingredients together and set aside.
2. Heat the wok or pan with a tablespoon of oil. Saute the vegetables until crisp-tender. Remove from pan.
3. Add the meat and cook until done.
4. Add the vegetables and the sauce and simmer until sauce is thickened and vegetables are as tender as you like. Serve with rice.

Serves 8

images:marye audet

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Anyway. I have been making this for ever. And a day. It is a bog comfort food for me, and at present pasta seems to be one of the few nonliquid foods that will go down my throat.  I literally threw this together the day after I got home from my thyroidectomy.  Let me tell you, I have not cooked a whole heck of a lot since then. I need to feel better and cook soon or we will have to change the venue of the blog to Cranky Middle Aged Woman Kibbitzing.

You can use any kind of pasta you happen to have. Shells are nice because the peas get stuck in them and they hold all the sauce. Anyway, this is supposed to be a simple dish…use what you have and keep it that way.

The sauce is a quick garlic,  butter, onion, and basil mixture with peas, kidney beans (you can use cannellini), and cooked pasta tossed in and Parmigiano-Reggiano grated over top.  If you happen to have some left over chicken breast or shrimp toss it in there too. Sometimes I add pepperoni.

Repeat after me…this is simple.

Add a warm baguette, some sweet butter, sliced heirloom tomatoes, and a chunk of melon and you won’t need anything else. It is that perfect.

Venetian Pasta and Peas

serves 8

• 2 lbs of pasta, cooked and drained
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 1 yellow onion, peeled and chopped
• 3 cups frozen peas
• 2 cans cooked, dark red kidney beans (or your choice)
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 8 oz Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated

Directions

1. Heat olive oil in pan. Add garlic and onion and saute until transparent and tender.
2. Add butter and allow to melt over low heat. You don’t want the butter to brown.
3. Stir in drained beans and peas.
4. Heat through and add in pasta and basil. Toss lightly.
5. Heap in serving dish and cover with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

image:marye audet

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I dislike modern society. We have lost the ability to relax in a hammock in the back yard with a book, because it is too hot to do anything in the house. We don’t relax as all anymore. We have created a year ’round climate that allows us to work ourselves to death.

Today make a decision to put it aside for a bit. Enjoy your kids. Enjoy your family, savor the last few weeks of summer as much as you can. Make a choice to learn to relax more, live more, work less. I know that I am right there with ya.

In light of that, here are some recipes that I found that are quick and support our new, kicked back lifestyle!

• Double Tomato Bruschetta just serve it with a slice of honeydew and a salad
• Garbanzo Bean Salad with Red Onion, Parsley, Cilantro and Feta and a loaf of black olive bread and some sliced tomatoes.. Just have yogurt over fresh fruit for dessert
• Green Tea Blueberry Smoothie This would be a great quick breakfast or afternoon refresher
• Homemade Toaster Strudel – Make up a batch of these in the cool of a morning and breakfast all week.
• Cheddar and Gruyere Gougeres -   Serve with your favorite  salad and have ice cream for dessert

Have a great weekend!

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These rolls are an OLD recipe. They are the lightest, most tender dinner rolls you ever put in your mouth, and you know I wouldn’t lie. These are somewhat sweet and very buttery. The flavor is incredible but it is the lightness that will have you addicted.

If you have never worked with yeast dough before this is a sticky dough. Resist the urge to add more flour because the more flour you add the heavier they will be. When you knead the dough it will feel almost like soft sugar cookie dough. Just loosely form balls and put them in silicone muffin cups or greased muffin tins. Serve hot with plenty of butter.

These are also pretty quick. In a warm kitchen the first rise is about an hour, the second about 20 minutes and baking time is about 20 minutes.

Maybe we should call these no excuses rolls?

I have started specifying organic white flour in my recipes and I will tell you why. It is what I use, yes, but also? I recently tried regular white flour and the results were not as good. There is a difference.

Light Dinner Rolls

• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 2 eggs room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 packages active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water (110F)
• 4 to 5 cups organic white flour

1. Scald milk (yes you have to do this! )
2. Add butter and sugar to hot milk and let cool to 110F
3. Add the yeast to the warm water.  Stir until dissolved
4. Add 2 cups of flour to the milk mixture and beat on low speed of a mixer for  one minute
5. Beat in eggs and add yeast
6. Stir in enough flour to make a sticky dough that leaves the sides of the bowl
7. Turn out on to a lightly floured counter and knead about five minutes
8. Place in a buttered bowl, butter the top, and cover with a tea towel.  Let rise until doubled, about 1 hour
9. Punch down and shape into balls
10. Place balls in oiled muffin tins and let rise 20- 30 minutes, or until double
11. Bake at 375F for 12 minutes, or until light golden brown

Makes 24

image:Marye Audet

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If you are eating that stuff stop it. Stop it now. You will end up glowing in the dark and if we ever get attacked by zombies they will find you first. Reason #106 NOT to eat weird food. Besides, in the same amount of time..or close to it you could be eating this:

These are serious nachos. The real thing. Tex-Mex at its absolute best. And it is an easy nacho recipe. Here’s a secret. ALL nacho recipes are easy! You can either broil or bake nachos. Leave off the chicken and you have a vegetarian nachos recipe.

Cubes of chicken breast are sauteed until golden and then simmered in a chipotle-adobo with cilantro, cumin, onion, and garlic.  While that party is going on corn tortillas are being transformed into slices of fresh, hot, crunchiness… Into the oven for a few minutes and …

Yep. Right there with ya.

Nachos are an inexpensive lunch or quick dinner, and kids will eat them because they are chips. When you fry the chips yourself, and use real cheese…well the difference is amazing. And I will tell you a secret…Lean in now….closer…

Do you see it? Yes it is. Yellow crookneck squash. You could use zucchini as well. Just chop it up a little smaller than the chicken and simmer it with the adobo.

I know, right? Brilliant.

This is very spicy. If your family doesn’t do spicy so well you will want to cut back on the amount of adobo and chipotle, and probably cut the jalapenos out all together.

Spicy Chicken Nachos

• 1/2 lb of corn tortillas cut in wedges
• Peanut oil for deep frying (you can substitute, this is my preference)
• Olive oil for saute pan
• 2 boneless chicken breasts, cut in cubes
• 3 tablespoons of chipotle in adobo (or less)
• 1 jalapeno, chopped
• 2 cups cubed yellow squash
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 2 cups organic, dark red kidney beans, cooked (you cn use pinto, black beans, or what you like)
• 2 cups shredded cheddar, Monterey Jack, colby or a mixture of your favorites
• Salsa, tomatoes, lettuce, avocado,cilantro etc. as you like.
• Sour cream

1. Preheat the oil in a deep fryer to 370F
2. Saute chicken in a little olive oil until it starts to turn golden. Add onion, squash, peppers, and garlic and saute about three minutes.
3. Add the chicken broth, cumin, and  adobo/chipotle mixture. Chop and mash the chipotles as you go. Add the cilantro.
4. Simmer until the chicken is done and the stock has evaporated. Do not let it go dry.
5. Stir in the beans.
6. Set aside.
7. Fry the tortillas until golden and crisp. Drain and place on cookie sheet in a single layer.
8. Using a slotted spoon, spoon chicken mixture over the tortilla chips as evenly as you can.
9. Sprinkle with cheese
10. Broil on high until cheese melts
11. Serve immediately, topping with tomatoes and other toppings of choice.

Serves 8

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And yet there has to be a way to make everyone happy. Right?

One thing that makes whole grain pancakes lighter is using a combination of flours, but the biggest secret of all is buttermilk. Buttermilk does what it has always done, gives baked goods a light tender crumb.

These are a good basic pancake for adding blueberries, dried cherries, or what ever you like to them. They go together pretty quickly but you should allow the batter to rest for about 15 minutes before you pour it on the griddle. I promise this will fill up the biggest appetite!

I use a restaurant scoop to scoop the batter with, about 1/4 cup per pancake. Oh, and always, always, always use whole buttermilk, not low fat or fat free. It will make a difference in your finished product.

Whole Grain Pancakes

• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

1. Mix dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in the other.
2. Add the two together and fold quickly, just until well blended.
3. Pour batter onto a hot griddle and make pancakes as usual.

This makes about a dozen pancakes.  They freeze and reheat really well.

You can also use part whole wheat flour, and mix up other flours to make it a bit different. Just use mostly whole wheat flour. For example:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
• 1/2 cup amaranth flour

Or

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
• 1/4 cup flaxseed
• 1/4 cup coarsely ground sunflower seeds

You can also add:

• Dried cranberries
• Blueberries
• Dried cherries
• Chocolate chips and  graham cracker crumbs. Top with a dollop of marshmallow fluff (don’t ask!)
• Chopped pecans or walnuts
• Raisins
• Sunflower seeds
• Punpkin seeds
• Almonds, chopped or almond flour

It really is endless!

image:maryeaudet

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