Chocolate Sunbutter Rice Krispies Treats

How do you cheer up a grumpy 6-year-old whose first grade concert got rescheduled because of this:

With these!

While Looly pouted off the cancelled concert, Bean and I got to work. 

Halfway through, Roo jumped in for a little chocolate therapy. 

Chocolate Sunbutter Rice Krispies Treats

2 tbsp butter

10 ounces marshmallows

3 tbsp Sunbutter

6 cups Rice Krispies or other puffed rice cereal

8 ounces chocolate (chopped, or use chocolate chips)

Spray a 9 x 13-inch (or similar size) pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a large pot over low heat. Stir in the marshmallows until melted. Remove the pot from heat and stir in the Sunbutter until it's runny and well integrated with the marshmallow. Finally, stir in the cereal until coated with sticky Sunbuttery marshmallow. Turn the mixture out into the prepared pan. Using a buttered spatula or a sheet of wax paper, press the the mixture into the pan. Let cool.

Microwave the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second intervals, stirring between heating until it's melted. Pour the chocolate over the Rice Krispie treats and spread into an even layer. Allow the chocolate to cool and set. If you're in a hurry and need to garner a smile from an unhappy child sooner rather than later, pop them in the freezer for 10 minutes to set the chocolate.

Use a sharp knife to cut into squares and serve with plenty of cold milk.

And sure enough, look who's smiling again. 

Looly's Solo Apple Crisp

No doubt about it. Looly's growing up. With a visit from the tooth fairy under her belt, it's time to start pulling her weight in the kitchen.

Last spring when she was a mere babe of 5, not the worldly, gap-toothed 6-and-a-half-year-old you see here, we took a field trip to Penzeys Spices, where Looly chose a jar of Vietnamese Extra Fancy Cinnamon. She's been waiting to make her own apple crisp ever since and apparently I've been neither accommodating nor timely in making it happen. So she did what any gap-toothed, worldly 6-and-a-half-year-old would do. She went online and printed out a recipe herself.

Look at her, hands washed, hair back, apron on, ingredients assembled, reading through the whole recipe before she starts. She's already a way better cook than her mother who has an embarrassing habit of needing to run to the store for a roll of parchment paper or a bunch of cilantro because I swear it said nothing about that a minute ago.

 And check out those knife skills. I was 25 before I knew to curl the fingers on my left hand.

Mixing the "crisp".

Watch out, Martha. Looly's in the kitchen.

Looly's Solo Apple Crisp
adapted from Simply Recipes

5-6 medium apples (preferably Granny Smiths)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup rolled oats (old fashioned or quick-cooking)
1/2 cup butter

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan.

Peel, core, and chop the apples into 1-inch chunks. Place them in the prepared pan. Sprinkle the lemon juice over the top.

In a bowl, stir together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and oats. Use your fingers to rub the butter into the oat mixture. Sprinkle the oat mixture on top of the apples. Bake 35-45 minutes until the apples are soft and the topping is golden brown and crisp.

Miss M's Homemade Garlic Hummus

I have already professed my love for Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi's cookbook, Jerusalem. But just in case you didn't get the memo the first time, it is spectacular.

Here's the thing. You know how fancy European style bakeries seduce you with gooey rustic fruit tarts, fluffy whipped cream-topped pots de creme and snowy rows of toasted coconut pastries that legitimize all your 8-year-old fantasies about what dessert is supposed to be? Yeah, well, Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi do that too. But with vegetables. And legumes. 

Hummus, right. It's relatively innocuous. Two out of three KC kids dip carrot sticks and crackers in it by their own free will so that's something. I pick up a plastic container every couple of weeks at the grocery store, so why don't I ever make my own? Assuming you cook the beans ahead of time or use (gasp!) canned, it takes all of 10 minutes. That's not including resting time which I interpret more as sampling and adjusting time anyway.

As with most bean-based endeavors, Bean was looking forward to serving as kitchen assistant on Project Hummus. When the time came, however, she'd been sucked into a lengthy "game" of school with a relentless and exacting teacher, her big sister, Looly, and there was no recess to be had. Thankfully my adorable niece and cooking buddy, Miss M, stopped by to help me out instead.

At the risk of maxing out the cute-o-meter, I'm posting this photo of Miss M at work anyway. Look at that smirk! She was a stellar helper but do you think she tried a lick when we were finished? Not a chance.

Miss M's Homemade Garlic Hummus
Adapted from Jerusalem a Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi

3 & 1/2 cups cooked garbanzo beans
1 cup tahini paste
4 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
8 cloves garlic (it is garlic hummus, people)
1 & 1/2 tsp salt
6 to 8 tbsp cold water
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
1 tbsp sunflower seeds

Put the garbanzo beans in a food processor. If your food processor canister is on the small side, like mine, you might want to divide everything in half and work in 2 batches. Miss M and I almost blew the lid off ours trying to do too much at once.

Process the beans until they form a paste. Keep the machine running and pour in the tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and salt. With the machine still running, add the water a tablespoon at a time until you reach your perfect hummus consistency. This is a most personal preference. For me it took 7 tablespoons. Let the hummus rest for 30 minutes or more.

Spoon the hummus onto a plate, garnish with parsley and a sprinkle of sunflower seeds for a little crunch. Serve with warm pita, carrot sticks, cucumber slices, or just about anything else you care to dip.

more garlic = more yummy

Cheesy Pinwheel Buns

In line with my current engrossment with The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, we used a recent day off from school to make a version of Deb's Cheddar Swirl Breakfast Buns. Since the KC kids are not huge dill fans, we opted to leave that part out and replaced some of the cheddar cheese with our family fave, Parmesan.

The munchkins had so much fun making dough.

Yeast is still a magic potion for them. They can't get enough of watching dough rise.

Cheesy Pinwheel Buns
adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
makes 12 buns

For the dough
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp sugar
1 (1/4-ounce or 2&1/4 tsp) packet instant yeast
1 cup milk
4 tbsp butter, melted and slightly cooled

For the filling
1/2 cup grated onion
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp salt
dash black pepper

1. Whisk together the flour, salt, pepper, and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. In a separate small bowl, combine the yeast and milk. Whisk until the yeast dissolves. Pour the yeast-milk mixture and the melted butter into the flour mixture and mix using the paddle attachment on your mixer, or a wooden spoon if you're looking for an upper body workout, until the dough is holds together in a raggedy mass.
2. Switch to the dough hook and knead for 5-6 minutes on low speed, or if you're going the old fashioned route, dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead it with your hands for 8 minutes. In either case the kneading is done when the dough is nice and smooth and just barely sticky to the touch. Spray a large bowl with cooking spray or wipe the the bottom and sides with oil and transfer the dough ball to the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest in a warmish place for a couple of hours until it has doubled in size, like this (and yes, that is my son in a tutu, he always dresses his best for baking):

3. On a well floured surface, roll the dough out into a rectangle (about 12 x 16 inches or as close as you can get).

4. Mix together the onion, both cheeses, salt and pepper. Spread the filling over the dough leaving a 1/2-inch border at both short ends.

5. Start rolling from one short end to the other to make a log. Cut the log into 12 equal slices with a sharp knife.

6. Line a pan of your choice (two 9-inch rounds or one 9x13-inch rectangular pan) with parchment. Place the rolls cut-side up into the prepared pans, spacing them about 1 inch apart. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise again until they have doubled in size. (Deb recommends brushing the tops with melted butter at this point. We skipped it and still got beautiful yummy buns so take your pick).
7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. When the buns have doubled in size, pop them in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. You'll know they're done when the cheese is oozing out the top and starting to brown in places. Cool slightly on a wire rack and serve warm.

These fill the house with really good smells. So good in fact that my photo session was cut short by a band of hungry monkeys demanding to be fed. Yup, that's a diffuser behind Roo and that's him eating my prop. I suppose that's success if I've ever had any.

Chocolate Chip Shortbread Bars

Next stop on the holiday baking train: Chocolate. Chip. Shortbread.

 No nuts, no eggs, extra chocolate drizzled on top, this is Roo's kind of cookie. His mother's too.

You'll need a steady hand to cut the shortbread so it doesn't crumble, but once that part's done, you can enlist a slew of young chocolatiers to drizzle and dollop melted chocolate over the top.

Chocolate Chip Shortbread

adapted from Food Network Magazine, December 2012

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup confectioners sugar

2 cups all purpose flour

1 & 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x9-inch baking pan with foil. Leave a bit of an overhang on all sides. 

2. Use a mixer on medium speed to cream the butter, vanilla, and salt. Turn the mixer to low speed and beat in the confectioners' sugar until just incorporated. Add the flour in two parts, beating until smooth between and after each addition. Stir in half (3/4 cup) of the chocolate chips with a sturdy spoon. 

3. Using your hands, press the dough into the prepared pan. If necessary, you can dust your hands lightly with flour so the dough doesn't stick to them. Score the top of the dough with a knife to make 9 strips. Then score the strips into thirds to make 27 pieces. Bake about 40-45 minutes or until the edges are firm and the dough appears dry. 

4. Remove from oven and score over your knife marks once again. Cool 20 minutes in the pan. Gently lift the shortbread out of the pan using the edges of the foil to pull it out and cool completely on a wire rack. 

5. When completely cool, cut the shortbread into pieces using your score marks as a guide. Put the remaining 3/4 cups of chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl and warm in 30 second intervals, stirring in between until melted. Use a spoon to drizzle melted chocolate over the top of the shortbread cookies and let stand until the chocolate is set, about 1 hour. 

Make sure to save some for Santa!

Chocolate Truffles and New Traditions

I don't spend much time thinking about Roo's food allergies anymore. At the risk of sounding blasé, I kind of run on autopilot these days. We eat at home most of the time. I know what pastas have egg in them, where to get a safe pizza, which ice cream parlors will open a fresh carton and change gloves, and if all else fails, there's always a stash of Dum Dums in my bag. Restaurants and potlucks still present some challenges but for the most part we just come prepared with a lunchbox full of safe foods and an EpiPen Jr. pack and enjoy the party.

But it never fails. At this time of year I start to grow a little rock garden in my gut. The first pebbles appear at Halloween when Roo hands over his peanut butter cups, Snickers, Butterfinger, and M&M's in exchange for half a bag of Dum Dums. Fortunately he doesn't recognize the injustice in this yet but it's coming.

Thanksgiving brings a few larger stones as Roo munches an egg-free chocolate chip cookie while the rest of us choose between an array of cookies, egg-y pumpkin pie, cheesecake, or downright scandalous pecan pie. Plunk, plunk, plunk.

Then Christmas rolls around - the holiday at our house in which baking traditions are stronger than ever and the boulders start bearing down. Buckeyes become SunButter Buckeyes. Seven Layer Bars become Five Layer Bars. I'm still trying to devise a way to make a decent egg-free lemon square. Fortunately my pal, Stephie, over at Eat Your Heart Out has offered the brilliant suggestion of adding gelatin. We'll be putting that one to the test soon. Thanks, Stephie.

So, I've discovered and devised all kinds of ways to make holiday treats that don't include eggs or nuts, but the truth is no matter how good they are, our egg-free, nut-free versions are not the ones I grew up with. Roo will never get to experience them the way I did. I'm certain that the gravity of this situation weighs much more heavily on my stomach than his, but still.

So that got me thinking, maybe it's time for some new traditions. Not egg-free, nut-free versions of old favorites, but bona fide, tried and true, yummy treats that never included the dreaded contraband to begin with. Enter decadent chocolate truffles.

Chocolate Truffles
adapted from Barefoot Contessa

1 pound awesome, bittersweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
3 tbsp. strong coffee (prepared, not grounds)
1/2 tsp. real vanilla extract
1/4 cup cocoa powder, for dusting

1. Pour the chocolate chips into a heat-resistant mixing bowl.
2. Heat the cream in a small saucepan. Bring it just to a boil. Turn off the heat and let the cream sit for 20-30 seconds. Pour the cream through a mesh strainer over the chocolate chips. Stir the mixture slowly until the chocolate is completely melted. Stir in the coffee and vanilla.
3. Refrigerate the chocolate mixture until very firm (about 2 hours).
4. Pour cocoa powder into a shallow bowl. Using a melon-baller or your bare hands, roll the cold chocolate into 1-inch balls, then dip and roll in cocoa powder until fully coated.

You can store them in the fridge for a few weeks but let them come to room temperature before serving if you can wait that long. I usually can't. 

Makes about 60 truffles

If you don't mind a few chocolate-coated children and countertops, this is a perfect recipe to have the kiddos assist. Little hands are just right for rolling balls, just watch the errant tongues that can't seem to resist licking fingers here and there.

Roo is a dark chocolate kind of guy and while the cocoa powder proved a little bitter for the girls (we'll roll some in confectioner's sugar next time), he loved these! So did his mother and father. They're so easy and deep and rich and chocolatey that we'll be trying out several more variations in the coming weeks. So, while these were not a part of our Christmases past, they will definitely be part of our Christmases future. Here's to new traditions!

Carrot, Orange, and Ginger Soup

When multiple 4-year-olds beg to be put to work in the kitchen, there is no better gig than peeling carrots. Don't drift off here, this tidbit might prove particularly useful on Thanksgiving morning, especially if your day goes anything like mine. You'll be dodging a kitchen floor Lego tower, boiling potatoes, simmering cranberries in Zinfandel, separating Brussels Sprouts into individual leaves, rolling out pie crust, and searching for the AWOL box of Panko to a constant warble of "I wanna help."

Hand over a bag of carrots and a peeler and you're free and clear for a half hour, forty minutes if you're lucky. For the record, 4-year-olds are also adept and unhurried at squeezing water out of thawed frozen spinach. File it away.

What to do with those 13 freshly peeled carrots? How about a vat of hearty, bright, gut-warming gingery carrot and orange soup? It works for me.

You just can't beat a good soup this time of year. Here the carrots and orange marry for a humble but optimistic base while the ginger nips at your tongue ever so slightly with each and every sip. It would make a perfect Thanksgiving first course, or save some turkey stock after the big day and whip this up as a healthful recovery lunch.

Carrot, Orange, and Ginger Soup
adapted from The Silver Palate Cookbook

4 tbsp unsalted butter
2 cups yellow onion, chopped
2 pounds carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
3 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and minced
6 cups turkey stock (or chicken or vegetable stock) - divided
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
salt and pepper to taste
orange slices and zest for garnish

1. Melt the butter over low heat in a large, heavy pot with a lid. Add the onions, cover and cook until soft and lightly golden, about 25 minutes.
2. Add the carrots, ginger, and 4 cups of stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer about 30 minutes until the carrots are very tender. Use an immersion blender to puree soup to desired consistency, adding more of the reserved stock as needed. Alternatively, transfer the hot soup in batches to a blender and puree, adding more stock as needed, until you have your desired consistency.
3. Return soup to pot (if you used the blender method) and stir in the orange juice. Season with salt and pepper. Warm over low heat until heated through. Top each serving with an orange slice and a sprinkle of freshly grated orange zest.

Happy Thanksgiving!