Pikelets with Strawberry Jam and Cream

As most of you know, I have one son, Tommy. But Tommy has a dear friend, Jeremy, from Australia, going to school in New York, who has lived with us off and on for years. Jeremy is with us on Sundays for family dinners, spends holidays with us, and is like a son to me. Being from Australia, he has many friends here, but there’s no family. I have adopted him while he’s here. Many times I like him better than my own … kidding. Mostly. Kinda. Oh, okay, Tommy edges him out, but only slightly.

When it’s family dinner, family is what we gather, and that always includes Jeremy. Jeremy eats as if he’s going off to a foodless planet, so a lot more has to be cooked when he comes. Nice to see a boy with a healthy appetite. Downside of that … HE’S SKINNNNNNNY, to the point that you just want to give him a smack, but wouldn’t!

This particular Sunday when he said he was coming for dinner, he asked if he could come and make pikelets. Nope, I didn’t know either. I honestly thought perhaps he was talking about mini pickles or some sort of fish dish. Nope. Pikelets are a type of pancake. A sweet pancake that you can serve with jam and whipped cream, or butter, sugar and lemon.

Jeremy brought over his grandmother’s recipe and away it went …

• 1 C self-raising flour
• 1/4 t bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 2 T sugar
• 1 t white vinegar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 T butter, melted

Sift flour and bicarbonate of soda into a mixing bowl. Add sugar and beaten egg. Combine milk and vinegar and add to mixture in bowl. Fold in butter.

NOTE: Now, here is where we ran into trouble. The mixture was a little too thick. We added tablespoons of water until it loosened up a bit, but Jeremy over mixed it a bit and they were a little too dense. DELICIOUS, but dense. Even this way there wasn’t a single one left!

Add a pat of butter to a hot pan. Drop the batter by tablespoons. Your pikelets should be about 2 inches in diameter.

I tried this again, and adapted this recipe from Bill Granger’s book, bill’s food by Bill Granger. If you haven’t tried any of his recipes, you should. He’s a fabulous chef, and quite easy on the eyes!

• 125 g (1 C) all purpose flour
• 2 t baking powder
• 2 T raw sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 170 ml (2/3 C) milk
• Butter for greasing the pan

Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add the sugar and stir to combine.

Add the egg and milk and whisk until smooth.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and brush with butter, being careful not to let the butter brown. Spoon tablespoons of mixture into the pan and cook for about 2 minutes, until bubbles appear on the surface. Turn the pikelets over and cook for another 30 seconds.

Serve hot from the pan with extra butter, a sprinkle of sugar, and jam.

Cocoa Brownies

As the old song goes … you had a bad day… You’re taking one down … You sing a sad song just to turn it around … That song was the recurring theme with my loved ones this week. And this song just kept running through my exhausted, anxiety ridden brain over and over again.

We have had relationship difficulties, crossroads in life, upsets with parents, children running amok, worrying, hurt feelings, misunderstandings, jobs being lost, jobs being gotten again, frustrations, ill parents, anxiety, anger. Yikes! And all that before Wednesday! Not enough sleep. Too much bourbon. Too many cigarettes. Too much thinking.

You know the kind of thinking that is more like hamsters running on a wheel inside your head. They don’t stop. Then one tiny hill turns into Mt. Everest. I have named these little anxiety causing rodents Flo & Eddie (hopefully some of you out there remember who Flo & Eddie are).

And the song. The song. That song … Coz you had a bad day … over and over again.

Gotta turn this bad time around and quiet Flo & Eddie.

My idea of turning any bad time around has cooking in it, baking, and definitely has chocolate in it. I am quite sure FLo & Eddie like chocolate.

I already have a favorite brownie recipe, Loveys Brownies, but I have had this Cocoa Brownie recipe torn out of the Bon Appetit December 2012 issue staring at me, and then I saw it on Pinterest. Oh, Pinterest, how you tempt me! So I thought I would try something new.

I may rename these fudgey, cakey, moist gems You Had a Bad Day Brownies. They seem to be quieting all the brains around me roaring out of control. Make sure to completely cool the brownies before you cut into them or they fall apart a bit.

So there Flo & Eddie, take that!

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 1/2 C (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 1/4 C sugar
• 3/4 C natural unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 t kosher salt
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 C all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 325°.

Line an 8x8x2 inches glass baking dish with foil, pressing firmly into pan and leaving a 2 inch overhang. Coat foil with nonstick spray; set baking dish aside.

Melt butter in a small sauce-pan over medium heat. Let cool slightly.

Whisk sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium bowl to combine.

Pour butter in a steady stream into dry ingredients, whisking constantly to blend. Whisk in vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating vigorously to blend after each addition. Add flour and stir until just combined (do not over mix).

Scrape batter into prepared pan; smooth top.

Bake until top begins to crack and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 25-30 minutes.

Transfer pan to a wire rack; let cool completely in pan. Using foil overhang, lift brownie out of pan; transfer to a cutting board. Cut into 16 squares

NOTE: So you had a bad day. Flo & Eddie are spinning the wheel. This brownie will make your day better and quiet the rodents. I promise. Worked with my loved ones … and ME!

Dark Chocolate Coconut Cherry Cookies

I love baking. I love baking and having the house smell of freshly baked cookies. The problem is … well, the cookies themselves. There are so many. And, if they’re good, and I baked them so how could they be anything but good, then I eat WAY too many of them. And when I eat too many of them I get fat. When I get fat, my clothes don’t fit and I have to go shopping to buy new, larger clothes. That causes me to be depressed and what helps any girl’s depression? Cookies, and chocolate cookies. And then the circle begins again. I’m making these for folks who are thin. You know, those horrible NATURALLY thin people. And thin as they are, they doesn’t need too many cookies either. Though, truth be known, these are those ANNOYING people who can eat a cookie or two and walk away, a scoop of icecream and be satisfied, a handful of Cheez-Its and walk away (Like, REALLY, who eats a handful of Cheez-Its and walks away).

I think it far simpler to find a recipe on Christina’s lovely site Dessert for Two (remember the Mini New York Cheesecakes?)and bake just enough to satisfy the cookie and chocolate craving. I saw this recipe and knew I had to try it, though I did make a few changes, like using dried cherries instead of coconut and vanilla extract instead of almond extract.

Deep, dark, chocolatey flavor. The espresso just shoots them over the moon. May add a little less espresso powder the next time and perhaps a smidge of cinnamon. Love the cherries with the chocolate. The coconut oil gives a little background flavor that you can’t quite put a finger on. But WOW and yes, they’ll be baked again! Thanks, Christina, for another winner!

Go to her site. If you want to bake just a small batch, she has hundreds of recipes.

• 1/3 C solid coconut oil
• 2 T unsalted butter
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/8 t vanilla
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/2 t instant espresso powder (optional)
• 1/4 C cocoa powder
• 1/2 C flour
• 1/2 C dark chocolate morsels
• 1/2 C dried cherries

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, beat together with an electric mixer the coconut oil, butter, and sugar. Beat for 2 full minutes, until light and fluffy.

Next, add the egg and continue beating. Add the vanilla extract, salt, and espresso powder.

Finally, sprinkle on top the cocoa powder and flour. Beat until dough comes together.

Fold in the dark chocolate morsels and cherries by hand.

Divide the dough into 6 large balls and slightly flatten them with your hand.

Bake for 14 minutes, rotating the sheet half-way through.

Let cool for 1 minute on the sheet before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.