New Year's Eve - Time for Change

I didn't expect to be writing an article for the New Year , and I certainly didn't plan to write about "change" on New Year's Eve, in the middle of baking dozens of cookies and an enormous cake for tomorrow's champagne breakfast.

But the headline on today's New York Times changed everything. What can I say? Please read the article about the processing of ground beef linked here. Nothing I could write would speak as clearly as the exposure of a company whose meat products are used in a majority of hamburger sold nationwide.

The company, Beef Products, processes meat scraps with ammonia, which they claim kills both E. coli and salmonella. Federal officials have allowed that ammonia to be classified as a "processing agent," so it is not listed as an ingredient on any labels of packaged ground meat. Moreover, the U.S.D.A. accepted Beef Products' own study as sufficient evidence that their ammonia process eliminated pathogens, and as a result, this meat has been exempt from further testing and recalls, even as E. coli outbreaks have been increasing across the country.

Now, records obtained by the New York Times clearly (and horribly) reveal that Beef Products are not, and probably never have been, free of E. coli or salmonella. In testing for school lunch programs, pathogens have been found dozens of times, and school lunch officials banned Beef Products from a facility in Kansas in July of this year. Still, Beef Products has continued to supply their ammonia-injected meat products to other customers, which include McDonald's, Burger King and other fast-food chains as well as grocery stores and institutional food programs.

It's a holiday and I have no more time to write. Please follow this link to the New York Times and read the information yourself.

Then think very carefully about a time for change, and your New Year's Resolution.

Holiday Blessings To Everyone!

Merry Christmas, a Blessed Solstice, Happy Chanuka, Peaceful New Year and Joyful Holidays to Everyone!

I was up at 5:30 this morning, not by choice, but because the battery in our smoke alarm decided we had all had sufficient sleep. Why hasn't anyone invented a remote to disable those devices?

Ah, well, since I was up, I finished the last of the holiday cookies by 7 am., and now can think about early prep for Christmas Dinner.

The pork roast is finally defrosted (I hope,) and ready to be rubbed and rolled with herbs, and tied up with string like a present before slow roasting for 6 hours on Christmas morning. Root vegetables - golden and sweet potatoes, onions and carrots - will go in the roasting pan for the last hour.

Fresh green beans arrived at our store as we were shopping yesterday, so those will be cooked with onions today, then reheated with bacon and almonds and more onions tomorrow.

I'll cook up the same Simple Cranberry Sauce that we had at Thanksgiving, with Christmas additions of pineapple, currents and pecans. The second, Mother Stamberg's craberry sauce, is ready and waiting in the fridge.

I think that's all there is to do. Mother-In-Law is bringing bread and rolls, and Sister-In-Law promised a cheese ball and fruit salad. The Applesauce Cake has been mellowing for a week and  we have plenty of ice cream and sorbet to serve with the cookies that are currently stashed in a mountain of tins and Tupperware.

Now tell me all about your holiday feasting! What is the best dish you are serving? And what is the best new recipe you've discovered this year?

Most of all, a Blessed, Loving, Joyful Holiday from Starr's Kitchen to yours!

Happy Healthy Holiday: Fat-Free Honey Spice Cookies

How about a yummy honey cookie, fragrant with spices and bursting with lemony flavor, yet totally fat-free? No, it's not some weight-loss "treat" concocted from sawdust and chemicals but Nurnberger, a traditional German Christmas cookie. They have plenty of carbohydrates, but no refined white sugar or corn syrup, using honey and brown sugar instead. I recommend ising part all-purpose unbleached flour and part spelt, a whole grain flour which produces a nice light crumb.

They also happen to be Dairy-Free, too.

 The batch shown in the photo above, were made according to the directions in my old Betty Crocker cookbook, rolled and cut into shapes. They look lovely before baking, but afterward, well . . . 

their shapes are lost as they bake and spread. The clear sugar glaze didn't work well, either. No matter how carefully I watched the temperature of the melted sugar, or how quickly I brushed the glaze on the warm cookies, it turned opaque as it cooled. Then I tried to get a glossy shine by brushing the cookies with an egg wash before baking. That didn't work either.

So forget the glossy finish. If you have a suggestion, please post it in Comments, but meanwhile, my Nurnberger tastes fine without it.

I've ditched the rolling pin and cookie cutters, too, in favor of rolling little balls with my hands, then flattening them by pressing on cherry halves and almond bits.

These babies will be crisp when they cool, rather like ginger snaps. Store them in an airtight container with a slice of apple or orange peel, and after a few days they will be soft, mellow and chewy.

Happy Healthy Holiday: Dark Fruit Cake

When we consider traditional holiday treats, we don't ordinarily put the fruitcake in the "health food" category. But traditional fruitcakes are full of real fruit and nuts as well as nutritious sweeteners such as molasses or honey. Unlike light sponge cakes, fruit cakes are well suited to whole grain flours. Better still, unlike so many modern confections made with synthetic whipped toppings, preservative-laced mixes and artificial everything, almost everyone can be satisfied with a small serving of fruitcake. And as we all know, a fruitcake keeps indefinitely, improving with age and ready to provide a quiet little indulgence on a cold winter evening.

We received a request for a dark fruitcake recipe, perhaps made with molasses and typically stored for a month or more before Christmas. Obviously, we've missed the window for storage, but a cake made this week would be lovely served fresh on Christmas Day, or stored (with or without additional brandy) for the next two weeks then brought out on 12th night.

I found the recipe in my Fannie Farmer Cookbook, 1965 edition. It's actually a traditional British wedding cake, which somehow became the Americans' Christmas cake. Thinking of the wedding tradition of giving each guest a piece of cake in a tiny box to take home (single girls were to sleep with the cake beneath their pillows, to dream of a future husband,) a fruitcake makes far more sense than the fragile butter and sugar cake typically served at American weddings.

This '65 recipe calls for shortening; I strongly suspect that was a change from the more authentic lard or suet.  It also includes chocolate, which does not sound right to me at all. I've included the chocolate as "optional" in the list of ingredients.

In addition to cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg, the recipe calls for mace, which probably is not in your spice cupboard. You could use ground cloves instead, but you won't get the expected "fruitcake" flavor or fragrance.  So if possible, chase down a little packet of mace, and keep in the unused portion in the freezer until you make another fruitcake next year.

One final consideration; the directions given in the Fannie Farmer recipe, the cake is baked at very low heat in loaf pans lined and tightly covered with aluminum foil, with a pan of hot water set in the oven to create steam. This is clearly an improvisation of the British steamed pudding which requires covered pudding molds not commonly used in American kitchens. I do not like to have aluminum in contact with food, and recommend lining each pan with a long sheet of oiled parchment, which can be brought up over the top of the batter and secured with a metal paper clip or pin. It won't be sealed tightly, but your option is to buy a steamed pudding mold ($20+ through Amazon.)

Anybody have other ideas on how to steam a cake or pudding without aluminum or non-stick coatings? Please answer in Comments here!

Happy Healthy Holiday: Applesauce Cake

With the holidays in full swing, it's so tempting to give up on healthy eating -- but here is a perfectly wonderful Applesauce Cake that is so delicious you'll barely notice the wholesome ingredients.

This is a big cake, so drag out your bundt pan or the old tube cake pan your grandmother used for her angel food cakes. You'll have plenty for a big party or the family Christmas dinner. Old cookbooks called this type of recipe "Cut and Come Again Cake," because the flavors improve with keeping.

The Aunt who taught me this recipe was meticulous about measuring ingredients and following directions to the letter. Fortunately, Auntie isn't likely to be surfing the Internet (and a certain niece had better not tell her) but I love this cake because it is so easily adaptable. Out of applesauce? Use a can of crushed pineapple. Dairy Intolerant? Replace the butter with canola oil. No sale this week on brown sugar? Use honey and increase the baking soda by half a teaspoon. Not fond of raisins? Throw in chocolate chips!

I also take the cake a step further than Auntie, by moistening the baked cake with liquor or a simple syrup. It's a trick that works with nearly any home-baked cake and fruit / nut cakes in particular.

Simple Meals for December: Scrapple

Scrapple: one last article about simple meals for December before getting back to some holiday treats.

Scrapple is a dish we had when visiting my aunt and uncle in Somerset County, PA. Our family is Italian, but those who settled in Somerset were influenced by the Pennsylvania Dutch, to the joy of our table and woe to our waistlines.

Scrapple begins with the scraps of meat that are leftover from winter butchering - much like the scraps of meat gleaned from the stewed carcass of the Thanksgiving turkey or the cracklings left after rendering lard, which is what is used in our recipe here. Pretty much any meat scraps will do, and if you have a mix of several kinds, that's all to the better.

The meat is cooked with cornmeal mush; polenta to Italians, grits to anyone from the south. Use broth in place of water to enrich the mush. The mixture could be eaten as soon as it thickens, as a meaty polenta, but it becomes Scrapple after cooling and setting up in a loaf pan. This will keep refrigerated or frozen until you need a quick supper. Sliced and browned in an iron skillet, with fried onions, apples and warm maple syrup, it's a country-style simple meal for cold December nights.

Simple Meals for December: White Chili

What can you get on the table for a quick simple meal in the middle of the December rush - how about White Chili?

When our kids were in high school, this was our Game Night Supper, because everyone liked it and I could get it on the table before everyone had to dash out the door. The trick is to have leftover cooked chicken (or turkey or pork) ready to snatch from the freezer, along with bags of frozen corn and and those handy pre-chopped onions.

In those days I didn't think twice about throwing in a couple cans of beans and green chilies. But now that we know about the endocrine disrupting chemical BPA in canned food, I am thinking rather carefully. If you don't have cooked beans squirreled away in your freezer (my own squirrel is behind schedule) the canned stuff will have to do. If you know of a brand available in jars, please let me know about it.

The canned chilies can be replaced with pimientos which are available in jars, or with fresh mild chilies. Unless you are certain your family enjoys the hot stuff, you probably shouldn't choose poblanos - I nearly lost a prospective son-in-law with a dish of chili rellenos made with those fiery critters, and that would have been a shame. Look for the long yellow-green "Hungarian Sweet" peppers or fresh Italian pepperoncini. If your grocer responds with a blank stare when you ask for mild chilies, go ahead and use chopped sweet bell peppers, then add (green) Tabasco sauce to taste. Another option would be to use nopalitos, the young pads of the Prickly Pear cactus with a flavor very similar to mild chilies.


 If you have two minutes to spare, take the time to toast the lemon pepper and cumin seeds in the dry skillet before adding the olive oil and onions. It brings the spices alive and intensifies their flavor. But if you don't have those two minutes, don't fret, the chili will be wonderful as it is.

Simple Meals for December: Cincinnati Chili

There are a lot of parties and dinners coming up on the holiday calendar, but in between those events we all need some quick, nutritious meals. I find that we enjoy the abundance of holiday feasts more (and with less guilt) when the banquets are preceded and followed by a few days of simple meals.

Soups and stews have everything going for them at this time of year. Not only are they warm and comforting when storms are blowing outside, but they are inexpensive and easily adapted to whatever happens to be in the fridge and pantry. Better still, they can simmer all day in the slow cooker, ready to serve after a long day of Christmas shopping or longer days at the office and classroom. Add a hearty loaf of fresh bread, and it's a meal.

Chili, which gets better with re-heating, has countless variations, and your family probably already has its favorites. But you might not be familiar with Cincinnati Chili, which is served over spaghetti with the beans, onions and cheese heaped on top. Not only can this regional dish be made far ahead and warmed up as the noodles cook, but each person can choose their own toppings, or as we say in southwestern Ohio, 3-way, 4-way or 5-way Chili. And you can skip the loaf of bread or corn chips, because this chili is served with oyster crackers.

Please do not send emails telling me I've misprinted the ingredients. This chili does indeed have cinnamon, allspice and chocolate in the sauce.

Yes, You Can: Dairy-Free Christmas Cookie #5: Chocolate Truffles

Yes, you can make a mistake when posting Dairy-Free Christmas Cookies - you can forget to post the Chocolate Truffles!

My daughter pointed this out to me this afternoon, so I'd better set things straight post-haste.

The truth is that these little chocolate delights are not so much a recipe as they are a solution to the problem of having too much chocolate cake in the house.

Too much cake? Is that like too much money? Who could imagine such a thing back when we had two teenagers in the house?  But remember that Dairy-Free Chocolate Cake posted last week? I baked up several versions in the effort to get the recipe right, and even after feeding it to guests and neighbors, a week later we still had half a cake sitting around getting dried out.

So I turned it into truffles. We'll just pretend it's a real recipe.

Yes, You Can: Dairy-Free Christmas Cookie #4: Chinese Chews

Once upon a time, Gramma was taking a pan of Little Suzy's favorite Date Nut Bars out of the oven when one of the farm trucks backfired right outside her kitchen window. Gramma was so startled that she dropped the hot pan which landed upside down on the floor.

After scooping everything back into the pan, she set it on the counter and immediately wiped up the sugary mess from the floor. Gramma couldn't bear a dirty floor and was proud that her linoleum was always squeaky clean.

Then she looked at the remains of Little Suzy's cookies, sitting there all broken and sticky in the pan. It seemed a shame to waste all those dates and nuts and eggs. Then her eyes fell on the cup of powdered sugar she had ready to sprinkle on top of the bars. Why not?

After supper that evening, Gramma passed the plate of pretty little powdered sugar-covered balls. "Yummy, Gramma, these are good!" said Little Suzy, with powdered sugar on her nose. "Yeah, " said Grandpa. "You haven't made these before. What are they called?"

Gramma hadn't thought of that, so she said the first thing that came to her mind. And the Chinese Chews were born.

True story? Gramma's not telling. But you'll like this Christmas Cookie recipe and yes, it always has been dairy-free.

All Those Eggs?

Someone has observed that I use quite a lot of eggs in my recipes. That might be true, or it may be just because I have been posting holiday recipes, and there do tend to be a lot of eggs in special occasion foods such as Zabaglione and Pizzelles.

I admit that I don't avoid eggs, partly because cholesterol is not one of the health issues in our family (heaven knows we have plenty of other issues!) and partly because I have been persuaded by recent studies that refute the old fears of egg yolks.  Eggs, or rather, truly natural eggs, are a real food that has been safely consumed by humankind for millenia. The idea that we should suddenly eschew the egg in favor of an expensive artificial  substitute smells rather suspicious to me. Someone is making a profit from our fear, and that someone isn't the chicken.

Having mouthed off with my own opinion, I immediately have to say that you shouldn't take anything I say as Gospel, or as medical advice, either. Follow your own doctor's instructions about what you should and should not eat.

OTOH, egg allergies are becoming more common, and that is a valid reason to avoid eggs. I have to wonder WHY food allergies are increasing as our food supply becomes more artificial and industrial, but that's probably just my suspicious nature. Besides, truly natural, locally produced or organic eggs can be prohibitively expensive even where they are available, so that could be another valid reason to reduce consumption of eggs of questionable quality.

When making substitutions for eggs in any recipe, you need to determine what the eggs contribute to the finished dish.

Do they cause the batter to rise, as in cakes? If cholesterol is the issue, you could use only the egg whites, using two whites per whole egg, or perhaps using three egg whites for every 2 whole eggs called for in the recipe. Or you could try replacing the eggs with baking powder, or buttermilk and baking soda.

Do they act as a binder, holding other ingredients together, as in a custard or in Chinese Chews cookies? You need to provide a different binder, such as cornstarch, turning the custard into a pudding, or perhaps chocolate, turning the Chinese Chews into Truffles.

Do the eggs contribute to the richness of a sauce, without acting as a thickening? Butter or a neutral oil could be used instead, with a touch of annatto to provide color.

Do eggs add body, volume or protein to the dish? Soft tofu might be a good substitute.

Now that you mention it, all those eggs stir up all sorts of questions.

Yes, You Can: Dairy-Free Christmas Cookie #3: Biscotti

Of course you can have Biscotti cookies for Christmas and stay on your dairy-free diet - yes, you can!

Zia Silvia (Aunt Silvia) never called these anything but Anise Toasts. So I was somewhat surprised when the Biscotti that appeared in coffee houses in the 90s turned out to be our familiar Christmas cookies.

Zia never dipped her Biscotti in chocolate, either, or flavored them with anything other than anise. But beyond honoring family tradition, there's no reason not to go hog-wild with this basic Biscotti recipe; go ahead and try different flavors, nuts and glazes. I have no idea whether Zia used butter or oil in her Anise Toasts. The Biscotti recipe here gets all its flavor from the lemon zest, almonds and vanilla, so no one will miss the butter.

Yes, You Can: Dairy-Free Christmas Cookie #2: Pizzelles

Make dairy-free Italian Pizzelles Christmas Cookies - yes, you can! I can't remember a Christmas in our family without Pizzelles, the Italian waffle cookies. For those who grew up without little old Italian zias (aunts) baking furiously in fragrant kitchens, Pizzelles are similar to the waffle cones offered in ice cream shops, but infinitely more delicate and flavored with anise and other delights.

Pizzelles are surprisingly adaptable, baking up beautifully crisp and light when made with oil. I've used several types of flour, including whole wheat and spelt, and have had great success substituting ground nuts for a large part of the flour. This cookie depends on the eggs (lots of protein) rather than gluten to hold it together.

Raw sugar produces perfectly lovely Pizzelles. Coarse raw sugar, which does not dissolve entirely into the oil and eggs, gives the cookies a very nice texture and crunch. I like the traditional anise flavor, which can come from either extract or the whole seeds. Not everyone likes the licorice fragrance of anise, so vanilla is a natural option, and feel free to play with other possibilities such as cinnamon or the zest from any citrus. Chocolate Pizzelles are delicious, so I've included that variation as well.

Yes, You Can: Dairy-Free Christmas Cookie #1: Peanut Butter Magic

Bake up dozens of Christmas Cookies all dairy-free - yes, you can!

I can't imagine a Holiday Season without plates of cookies, set out on the table or wrapped in ribbons to pass out as gifts. Like all of my friends' mothers and aunts and grammas, Mom began baking in the middle of November and didn't stop until every shelf in the kitchen was piled with cookie-filled tins. One type of cookie would never do; we had to have gingerbread men and snowballs, thumbprints and lemon bars, peanut butter kisses and pizzelles, buckeyes and lady locks and cherry blinks. 

The trick was to mix up a basic butter cookie dough, then use it in a dozen variations. And if someone couldn't afford butter, the big can of shortening was an easy alternative.

Let me say right now that I have nothing against butter. If you have an affordable source of organic butter and lactose intolerance isn't an issue in your family, go for it! I'm right there with Julia Child in praising all-natural unadulterated butter as the baker's best friend.

Sadly, my family doesn't have that option, and I'm not about to shovel partially-hydrogenated fats into anybody's food. But that doesn't mean I'm not baking cookies!

My first Christmas Cookie recipe for you is "Magic Peanut Butter Cookies" and it is not only dairy-free but gluten-free to boot. (I do apologize to those with peanut allergies; please come back for the next cookie recipe.) It has to be the easiest cookie recipe in the world, and perfect for very young cooks because the electric mixer is not required. Depending on the type of peanut butter used and the size of your egg, these cookies may or may not flatten out, so bake up a half dozen as a test batch to see whether or not they will spread. Then let your imaginations run wild with add-ins and toppings; I offer only a few to get your ideas flowing.

In my next posts I'll be listing two more dairy-free cookies from my father's Italian background, then a couple more from my mother's Southern and Mid-Western roots. If you have some family favorites of your own, please post them in the Comments, and I'll share them in future articles.

Yes, You Can: Dairy-Free Chocolate Cake

Here is a Chocolate Layer Cake that is simple to make, tastes great and just happens to be dairy-free. When everyone has had their fill of pumpkin pie and overly rich holiday desserts, this basic cake can be easily adapted for a family gathering, a ladies' tea or a child's birthday party. 

Mark Bittman posted the original butter-based recipe on his blog, "Bitten."  To create a dairy-free version, I experimented with both canola oil and home-rendered lard. To my surprise, the results were remarkably similar.

Fearing the lard would taste or smell a bit "meaty," I slightly increased the amount of chocolate, but I need not have bothered. The lard cake was every bit as light, mild and tender as the oil cake, and without the slightly darker chocolate of the lard cake, my husband and I would not have been able to tell the difference. On the other hand, a friend who grew up eating lard pastries insisted that he found the lard cake much tastier.

Since natural, non-hydrogenated lard can be difficult to find, I offer the canola oil version here, along with several options for toppings and garnishes. Mark Bitten covered his cake with whipped cream, which obviously doesn't translate to the dairy-free version. Instead, I've suggested a fruity filling that can also top the cake. You could double the fruity filling and make a 4-layer torte, or drizzle the top with a rich glaze. Kids in particular might enjoy the toasted marshmallow topping, especially if they can be in the kitchen (with supervision) watching the marshmallows turn brown beneath the broiler or torch.

In short, this is a basic chocolate cake recipe with endless possibilities. Have fun.