Benne Seed Wafers

Benne Seed Wafers

Benne Seed Wafers:  An old Southern recipe, these thin, crisp, cookie-like wafers are made of butter, flour, brown or white sugar, and toasted sesame seeds.  You can toast the sesame seeds in the skillet or the oven; just be sure to watch them closely because they brown quickly. pg44


Okay, I seriously need to follow better instructions!  Like I'm totally not kidding.  I don't know what's wrong with me.  I completely forgot to add the baking powder!  I'm not sure exactly how much different it would have them, maybe more "cracker-like" but either way, somehow I just skimmed over the part about adding the baking powder.  Oopsy.  I will say that they are quite delicious.  The sesame seeds give them a slight nutty taste.  They are just as the book describes them, crispy and cookie-like, but not as sweet as most cookies.  I would imagine they would be awesome with a little jam spread on top.  Yum.  Or even better, a little peanut butter spread between two of those little wafers.  Double Yum.  They would be a perfect little treat for a bridal or baby shower, being that they're delicate and all.  A good little recipe to keep on hand.  Easy to make too, and they only bake for 10 minutes!

Southernism:  South Carolinians referred to sesame seeds as benne seeds since the seventeenth century when Africans first brought the seeds to this this country.  Though cooks in South Carolina use benne seeds in a variety of recipes, the most popular use is in the benne seed wafers.

Chocolate-dipped Strawberry Meringue Roses

Chocolate-dipped strawberry
meringue roses

Strawberry meringue roses

Chocolate-dipped Strawberry Meringue Roses
I also made these today as a trial for a Valentines Day treat.  Came out pretty good if do say so myself.  The recipe wasn't in my book.  I just took a basic meringue cookie recipe and tweaked it.  I think it might be a keeper.  And their super cute to boot!

• 3 large egg whites
• 1 package strawberry jello-o mix
• 1/4 cup super fine sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tub bakers semi- sweet dipping chocolate

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.  Line 2 baking sheets with waxed paper.

In large bowl, beat egg whites with electric mixer on medium speed until frothy.  Add Jell-O and sugar slowly.  Turn mixer on high and beat until egg whites are stiff and shiny, about 5 minutes.  Add vanilla until just combined.

Scrape the meringue into a pastry bag fitted with a medium star tip.  On lined baking sheets, pipe cookies by making circles starting at the middle and circling out, about 2 inches in diameter and 1 inch apart.

Bake meringues for 2 hours until firm.  Turn off oven and leave them in there until they are completely cooled.  The easiest way to do this is over night.

After cookies are completely cooled, follow heating instructions of the dipping chocolate on the back of the tub.  Let the chocolate cool just a little bit so it won’t melt the actual cookies.  Dip just the bottoms of the roses into the chocolate and place them onto a new  cookie sheet lined with waxed paper.  Refrigerate until chocolate has hardened.  Store in airtight container at room temperature.

Holy Beignet!

If Heaven had clouds, and those clouds were edible, they would be called beingets.  It was a rocky start, but the end result is, if I keep eating them, my hips will seriously get bigger.  I'm trying incredibly hard to omit foods with any processed flour or added sugar.  Which might I add is really hard when you're making your way through a Southern Living Cookbook.  I mean, I had to try one, solely for the purpose of this experience.  It was just really hard to stop at just one.  So...I ate three, and had to walk away.  Literally, I'm sitting in the den, the kitchen is no where in my sight.

Beignets

I've never made beignets before, and I'm pretty sure I've never eaten them before either.  Basically they are a fancy name for "fritter" which is a fancy name for "doughnut hole."  Oddly enough, I'm not a big fan of doughnuts, or their holes.  I'll tear up an apple fritter, or bear claw, but doughnuts where never my choice of breakfast pastry.


Beignet:pg41 (ben YAY)  A French fritter, similar to a yeast doughnut, that's deep fried until crisp, puffy, and golden.  It's typically served hot with a generous dusting of powder sugar.  Savory beignets, filled with herbs or crab meat, are also popular.  Right?

So OK, the yeast is supposed to rise twice.  Once after you kneed it, and then again after you roll it out and cut it, right before you fry it.  Well...It didn't really rise.  Either time.  I mean, maybe I was looking for something theatrical to happen, like, I don't know, spill out all over, or at least appear to be somewhat alive.  But that didn't happen.  It certainly didn't entertain me while I was waiting for it to do "it's thang."  So after about 2 hours, I said "screw it" and went ahead and rolled it out, cut it and waited for it rise again...and well, maybe my dough was just lacking in personality.  But once I started frying it, it puffed up just like it was supposed to.  Like it just had a little stage freight.  Once it got going it was spectacular!  That's right, I said "SPECTACULAR."  I wonder, if they will still be good in the morning...Do you think they'll get stale?  Or soggy?  Hmmm...I hope not.  I'll bring them to work and let those lovey ladies and gents be the judges.  That is, if my husband doesn't eat them all before he goes to bed.

Baklava!

Baklava

Baklava (BAHK lah vah)pg.28.  A Middle Eastern dessert pastry made of many layers of flaky phyllo dough, chopped nuts,and spices.  It's traditionally cut into diamond-shaped pieces after baking.

OK, so obviously I missed the day in school where we learned what diamond-shaped meant, because for some reason I cut mine into triangles.  Maybe I just like triangles, OK?  While I'm on the subject of foux pas, phyllo dough is not my friend.  I need a lesson in working with delicate pasty, because it kept falling apart on me.  I mean, I know I'm not a little delicate flower or anything, but come on!  So... not all 16 ounces of the dough made it into the recipe.  I had to sacrifice some of it.  OK, a lot of it.  I'm not sure if it made a huge difference in the end result, but I could be wrong.  Again, this is something I've never had before, so I don't have anything to compare it to.  So if anyone has even a little wisdom on the matter, please enlighten me!  I could use all the help I can get!  For starters, it smells incredible!  Each paper thin layer of dough is brushed with melted butter and then between every 15 sheets or so, (or in my case 8 sheets or so) you add a layer of walnuts, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  You repeat this 3 times, ending with the layers of dough, and then you bake it for roughly 45 minutes or until golden brown.  I'm guessing that since I was missing a few layers of dough, due to the snobbishness of the pastry, mine started to brown at about 35 minutes.  So, after it cools, you pour a syrup made of water, sugar, and honey over the entire dish and let it set for 24 hours.  So today, when I finally cut into it, and pulled out my little triangle of Mid-Eastern flakiness, I took a bite.  And it was uber sweet!  Like it hurt my teeth sweet.  Is it supposed to be this sweet?  I mean, I get the reason for the syrup, it holds everything together, but maybe it was just too much of it.  I'm thinking I should have not used all of it because of the whole, "I didn't use all the phyllo I was supposed to" thing.  I don't know.  It was good, don't get me wrong.  But for ME to say something is too sweet you know it's sweet.  So again, please give me some suggestions.  And just a side thought...how did a Middle Eastern dish get into a Southern Living Cookbook anyhow?

Sauce of the Gods!

Surf & Turf with Bearnaise Sauce

Bearnaise Sauce (bair NAYZ)pg.36. A classic French sauce made with butter, vinegar, egg yolks, shallots, and tarragon and served with meat, seafood, eggs and vegetables.  

Seriously a sauce of the Gods!  NO joking.  I don't believe I've ever even had this sauce before, and I don't know how I've lived this long without it.  If I have had it, I didn't know what it was and it certainly couldn't have been as amazingly delicious as the the one I made last night.  Not to toot my own horn or anything, but holy crap was it good!  I mean really, holy crap!  It was rich, and creamy and oh so dreamy.  Yeah that's right, I rhymed.  I have rekindled my love for tarragon...and butter for that matter.  Watch out Shawn!  Ha ha! J/K.  OK so Southern living suggests it goes well with just about anything, so I decided to make a surf turf accompanied by mash potatoes and greens.  Greens were compliments of Momzy of course.  I give credit where credit is deserved!  I could seriously live off of greens, but that's an entirely differently story or another day.  I did however cheat with the mashed potatoes.  They were instant.  Don't hate, it was really late by the time I started cooking last night.  Soooooo...anyway...I totally overcooked the steak, like always, but who cares when it's drizzled Bearnaise sauce?  Right?  Being that I've never made or had this sauce before, I wasn't sure how thick it was supposed to be and the directions did not specify how long to simmer the sauce or did it give an example of the consistency.  It only said to "stir constantly until smooth and thickened."  I almost took it off the stove too soon, but thankfully I held out a little longer.  After about 20 minutes or so of stirring constantly, it finally started to thicken up to where it wasn't like a runny liquid.  Have I said "Holy Crap" yet?  If it wasn't so rich, and if I didn't know how much butter was actually in it, I'd eat it by the spoon fulls.  I'm totally not kidding.  I'm just imagining all the things I could put this sauce on...Mmmmm...OK, let me stop before I get too crazy.  With slightly more than minimal effort and patience, this will be a "go-to" sauce for years to come. 

Bearnaise Sauce