I’m not sure how my caterpillar has survived the cold winter. I mean, the tree didn’t even make it, falling down to become a mushroom-covered log. Maybe it was the super-large size that helped him through it all. Or maybe I’ve just gone nuts.
December 18th, 2007
Speculaas Muffins
Speculaas cookies (sometimes called Dutch Windmill cookies) evoke warm, farmiliar memories in my mind. I can picture my sisters and I, very young, sitting in the backseat on the way home from a drive to Pennsylvania Dutch County, with a box full of these wonderfully aromatic spiced cookies, our roadtrip bounty. I have no idea whether this is a real memory or one I somehow made up (0lfactory memories have a way of doing that to me!) All I know is that I loved these cookies, and the smell of them brings on a wave of good, warm, fuzzy childhood memories, even if they are rather blurry.
Speculaas cookies are traditionally made for St. Nicholas’ Eve in Belgium and the Netherlands. They are crunchy, thin gingersnap-like (but oh, so much better) shortbread cookies usually cut, using wooden stamps, into shapes that resemble windmills, animals, or relics of St. Nick. I don’t have such cool wooden stamps, and I imagine the cookies really aren’t the same without them, but I am feeling quite sentimental this holiday season. I’ve been jonesing for the aroma of the cookie’s spices, which include cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cardamom or anise, white pepper, and sometimes clove, but I needed to make myself muffins for work—I’m not working from home anymore, so I have to plan my meals!—so Speculaas Muffins it was!
I couldn’t have been more pleased with the memory-triggering results. Turns out, the most memorable thing about the cookies was the spiced aroma—though they are mighty cute as windmills! I was almost contented by simple smelling the muffins, inhaling deeply as I pressed the muffin to my lips; then I realized how great they tasted and I gobbled them right up.
The batter is a simple muffin batter, one I use for plain muffins or traditional blueberry ones, though I used walnut oil instead of canola for a deep, earthy flavor. I used AP flour, though I’m sure a whole wheat pastry flour would work well, complimenting the rich walnut oil and spices. Also, I used half-and-half as the liquid in these muffins simply because that’s what I had on hand. You can sub regular milk, cream, butter, yogurt, or whatever it is you’ve got.
Speculaas Muffins
makes 10-12 muffins
- 1 egg
- 2/3 cup half-and-half
- 6 T walnut oil
- 2 ½ cups flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp ground anise
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ¹/8 tsp ground white pepper
Method
PAM or grease a regular sized muffin pan. Preheat the oven to 375º.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the egg with the sugar until it begins to get fluffy. Whisk in half-and-half, walnut oil, and spices.
Sift together flour and baking powder. Gradually fold flour into wet mix, taking care not to mix too much to avoid tough muffins—the mixture should be juuust combined when ready.
Spoon mixture into muffin cups and bake until golden brown on top—about 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven. Inhale. Take care not to burn your nose when you bend down to take a whiff.
December 11th, 2007
Comfort Food: Fried Chicken
If you’ve never had homemade fried chicken–eaten within minutes of emerging from the oil, glistening and unctous–then I’ve got to tell you, you have no idea what fried chicken is, my friend.
Fried chicken is not chewy. Fried chicken should never be dry. Fried chicken skin should be crispy (unless, of course, it’s covered in gravy) and salty. There should be flavor to the chicken skin (unless, of course, you are a Scot), preferably some cayenne pepper for a tiny bit of kick. And most importantly, fried chicken should taste as delicious, moist, crunchy, and perfect as it looks. Or better.
Fried Chicken has to be the ultimate American comfort food–that’s why it’s so sad that more people don’t cook it at home. Yes, KFC is cheap and right down the street. Yes, it’s not the funnest thing to have a big pot of stinky, used oil in your kitchen the morning after you wake up from a fried chicken hang-over. Yes, once you make homemade fried chicken once you will never, ever be able to go back to the old, ready-made stuff. Even if you’re hungry and desperate and it’s 10PM on a weeknight and you just don’t have time to make dinner and you have to pass KFC on the way home anyway. One bite of the fast-food stuff will just make you remember how good your homemade chicken was, possibly bringing a tear to your eye. Possibly bringing a tantrum. Possibly bringing a restraining order when you try and punch out the guy behind the counter. So, yes, you may regret that you made homemade fried chicken.
But it’s better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.
Fried Chicken
adapted from The Summer Shack Cookbook (a GREAT cookbook!)
for New England Style Fry Mix
- 2 cups corn flour (masa harina)
- 2 cups AP flour
- 2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Combine everything in a large bowl or dish. Mix well. (You can also store this in an airtight container for several weeks or more.)
for Seasoned Salt
- 1/4 cup sea salt
- 1/4 cup lemon pepper
- 1 T powdered garlic
- 1 1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
- 3/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 3/4 tsp dried oregano
- 1 T AP flour
Mix everything together. This recipe makes way more than you need, so store the rest in an airtight container until you have the inclination to fry something again!
for Fried Chicken
- 2 cups buttermilk
- New England Style Fry Mix
- One 2 1/2 to 3 pound chicken cut into 10 pieces (or about 10 already drumsticks and thighs)
- Seasoned Salt
- about 4 cups peanut, corn, canola, or other vegetable oil for frying
Rub seasoned salt generously into the chicken. Set a large wire rack above a tin foil on the counter. Place the New England Style Fry Mix next to your wire rack set up. Pour buttermilk into a large bowl and place next to that. Working down the line, dip chicken pieces in buttermilk, then dredge in Fry Mix, then place on wire rack ready to be fried.
Heat oil in a large dutch oven, about 1 inch deep. Fry chicken pieces in batches, turning once to make sure they brown evenly. They should take about 10-15 minutes. Internal temp should read about 145º when you take chicken out of the oil. Let rest 5 minutes so that the pieces will cook themselves some more, eventually reaching about 160º. Enjoy. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
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