Happy Holidays!

Hope your holiday is less awkward than the Griswold Family Christmas!



Here's to a delicious meal filled with local treats and to good times with family and friends.

Eat. Drink. Be Merry. See you in 2010.

Hot Trends 2010

Last year I wrote a post about a "Hot Trends" survey by the National Restaurant Association. Members of the American Culinary Federation ranked over two hundred culinary items as a "hot trend," "yesterday's news" or "perennial favorite."

This year more than 1,800 chefs responded to the survey with their predictions for 2010. I think the predictions can be summed up in a word: LOCAL.

Locally Grown Produce remained firm at #1 with Sustainable Seafood rounding out the top 10. However, it was interesting to see that Organic Produce dropped from #3 to #12 ... but do not despair. Locally sourced meats and seafood came in at #2, Sustainability in general was ranked #3, and Locally-produced wine and beer came in at #5.

As always, I hope that a few of these "trends" are here to stay.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip

I find the the flavor combination of peanut butter and chocolate irresistible! Apparently my Facebook friends agree. So, by popular request, here's my version of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. As always, I try to use local/organic/fair trade ingredients whenever possible.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip

(adapted from The Joy of Cooking)

Yield: 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Position rack in upper third of the oven.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter, sugar, brown sugar, egg and vanilla extract. It should appear light and fluffy when fully combined.
4. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
5. Add the dry ingredient mixture to the peanut butter mixture, stirring to combine well.
6. Stir in chopped peanuts and chocolate chips.
7. Drop generous spoonfuls of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
8. Press each mound of dough with a fork to flatten slightly.
9. Bake until bottom of cookies are golden brown, about 10 minutes. Rotate the cookie sheets half-way through cooking to ensure an even bake.
10. Remove from oven and let cookies cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

NOTE:

• Instead of granulated sugar I use turbinado sugar by Sugar in the Raw.
• The better the quality of peanut butter and chocolate, the tastier these cookies will be.

Alternative

• Although I haven't tried it yet, I don't see why you couldn't substitute the peanut butter and peanuts for other types of nut butters and nuts. Get creative.

I just ran across this recipe on the Whole Foods website, which is very similar, but uses fleur de sel as a finishing ingredient. Sounds great! I've got to try it.

So, what are some of your favorite holiday cookie recipes?

Raspberry Almond Thumbprints

Even though my holiday cookie recipes are not original to my head I thought it would still be fun to share some of them. Whenever possible I try to use local and/or organic ingredients.

I have always been a bit nutty about saving recipes that I stumble across in magazines, etc. This recipe I happened to find when I was just out of college working at a small local newspaper. Land O Lakes had sent out recipe booklets to the media. When I saw this recipe I immediately held onto the brochure because I love raspberry jam!

Raspberry Almond Shortbread Thumbprints

(from Land O Lakes)

Preparation time: 45 min Baking time: 14 min

Yield: 3 1/2 dozen cookies
*I must make large cookies because I just about get 3 dozen*

Cookies:

• 2 sticks of butter, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  
• Raspberry jam

Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

Directions:

1. Combine butter, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy.
2. Reduce speed to low; add flour. Beat, scraping bowl often, until well mixed.
3. Cover; refrigerate at least 1 hour.
4. Place rack in upper third of oven.
5. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
6. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
7. Make indentation in center of each cookie with thumb (edges may crack slightly).
8. Fill each indentation with 1/4 teaspoon of jam.
9. Bake one cookie sheet at a time for 14 to 18 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Turn the cookie sheet half way through the bake time.
10. Let stand 1 minute; remove cookies from cookie sheets.
11. Cool completely.
12. Whisk all glaze ingredients in small bowl until smooth.
13. Drizzle the glaze over cookies. (I usually pour the glaze into a small plastic bag, snip just a tiny bit off a corner and gently pipe the glaze over the cookies.

Alternative:

• Substitute raspberry jam for your favorite flavor.
• You can also easily substitute the all-purpose flour, for example, with whole wheat pastry flour or another type of flour, depending on your preference.

Tasty Local Gift Giving

The fact that I have not yet completed my holiday shopping is stressing me out. I know, I know, there's still plenty of time. I can just be a bit Type-A about these things.

Really, most of the people on my list receive my homemade cookies. Cookie baskets have become quite a tradition. One that I am happy to do every year. However, other than making it myself, I also love to give edible gifts by local artisans/companies. Here are a few of my favorites: (No paid endorsement here. I like these products for real.)

Chocolate Lace from Hauser Chocolatier: It's crispy and delicate. I have loved chocolate lace since I was a little girl and it was a wonderful history in Danbury.

Bridgewater Chocolate: This chocolatier made me into a chocolate lover. It's rich, velvety and a little piece is all you need to curb a craving. In our household this is a gift for all occasions.

Sweet Chow Gourmet Granola Mix: I usually make granola from scratch, but I think this is a cool idea. With Sweet Chow all the granola ingredients you need are packed together. All you have to do is bake it. I had a sample while doing a demo at the Litchfield Hills Farm Fresh Market. My favorite flavor: Cashew Cranberry.

Salsa Loca Original HOT by Fresh Trak Foods: Again, had a sample at the Litchfield Hills Farm Fresh Market. It was tasty with some nice heat. All their salsas are made in small batches with fresh, locally grown (when available) ingredients and no preservatives. They even have a salsa of the month club.

Other ideas:

Make a gift basket with some local honey and/or maple syrup in it and make up a bag of homemade pancake/waffle mix with instructions.

Local wine makes a nice hostess gift. Dozens of Connecticut vineyards and wineries are listed online.

...oh, and don't forget, there's lots of great Local Food Rocks and The Natural Princess schwag available at my web store!

What are your delicious gift giving ideas? Please feel free to leave a comment with some of your local food favorites!