COFFEE + CARDAMOM SHORTBREAD

Have you had your share of treats? Sorry. I just got my kitchen in (rough) working order and it's the last week to go big. I generally am one for an underdone oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. Maybe a brownie type cookie if it tastes like real chocolate and not just cocoa powder. I also love these Peanut Butter Cookies from Heidi that my sister in law used to make all the time. But a pal who knows her way around baking recipes sent me these delicious goat butter shortbread cookies months ago when Curran was a wee thing and it felt like a dream to get homemade cookies in the mail. Until then, I didn't realize that I really liked shortbread. It always seemed like such a plain choice amongst cookies. Sure, butter makes things tastes good, but I don't need a butter cookie. Give me your chocolate. I ate the whole package of those buttery little coins when I thought it'd be a cookie easy to refuse. Which brings me to this recipe that caught my eye when browsing for holiday cookies in The New Sugar and Spice cookbook. It is a shortbread recipe spiced with coffee grounds and cardamom and while I'm sure you could roll it out and use cookie cutters, Samantha suggests baking it in a fluted tart pan or springform pan so you can pop the disk out and cut it into wedges or geo shards as we did here. These are not as dry and snappy as a traditional shortbread. I replaced a mere 1/4 cup of the flour with nut meal because I love the warmth it gives to baked goods and I'm sure that contributed to the change but for shortbread, they are pretty tender. Not a bad thing, just not necessarily par for the shortbread course. They taste of butter, of course, but the heavy hand of spices and vanilla make them so much more of a cookie. It stands out on a platter for sure and there is still time to leave some for your neighbor, mailman or the UPS guy that is still delivering packages at 8pm. Perhaps you're sick of baked goods but the way I see it, we have another week before all the cleansing and salads so what's one more?

A very warm and bright holiday to each of you. You make our year that much richer, thank you for reading along. 

COFFEE + CARDAMOM SHORTBREAD // Makes 12ish large triangles
Recipe adapted from The New Sugar and Spice Cookbook by Samantha Seneviratne
 

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, nearly room temp
2 teaspoons ground coffee (a light or medium roast)
1 tsp. cardamom seeds (or 1 1/2 teaspoons cardamom)
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. almond or hazelnut meal
1/3 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 cup packed muscavado sugar (or dark brown sugar)
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325'. Butter  9" fluted tart pan or spring form pan.

Grind your spices until very finely ground. In a large bowl, whisk together the spice mixture, flour, nut meal, powdered sugar, muscavado or brown sugar and salt to mix. Into a stand mixer or with an electric mixer, beat in the butter and vanilla to combine. 

TIp the dough into the prepared pan using wet fingers. Press it into an even layer on the bottom, all the way to the edges. Freeze it until firm, about 15 minutes. 

Bake the shortbread on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any leaking butter. Bake for 40-45 minutes until the top is golden brown. Immediately, and while the dough is still warm, use a sharp paring knife to score the shortbread into wedges or slices as you wish. Set on a rack to cool completely. When it's cool, remove the cookie and gently break it apart along it's edges. 

Store the shortbread in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the freezer for a month.

KALE AND BRUSSELS SLAW WITH QUINOA

I read through the entire Dr. Sears baby book cover to cover while pregnant with Curran. I wanted to understand what was going on inside my body. I mean, I was growing a PERSON, and as a glutton for information, I wanted to know what to expect, at least a little, in an albeit unpredictable, amazing and strange situation. I also had a little more time then. The second time around, I have had a hard time even keeping track of what week I am in, let alone the size of this little critter but the emotional and hormonal changes that I breezed over and barely noticed with Curran have been on point this round. They say in the last trimester especially, the need to nest really kicks in. Like other mammals, mothers seek a calm environment, gather food, clean and prep for what’s coming. But we found a slab leak last week, and Hugh and his dad are fixing up an office in the garage and we’re working on stuff in the kitchen so that whole calm and clean thing has reached a point of resistance in our home. These are things that need to be taken care of, perhaps better a couple months ago would have been preferable, but such is life and here we are with a lot of dust and tools around. I am quick to breakdown in the mess as of late, but what I am grateful for, is that babies are resilient, and besides being greedy with your time and boobs, their needs are few. I have a safe place to call home and 1.75 healthy babies so a step back and some perspective is all one really needs to reign it in. 

We’re heading up to Santa Barbara with some of my side of the family this week to celebrate Thanksgiving. It is the first without my aunt and it felt right to do something completely different instead of feel the obvious void of her at home. It sounds both great to get away from the house and the messes but also a little bit stressful as going away with a small child and half your energy can be. There will undoubtedly be tears at some point which Hugh has now come to expect. We plan to cook a simple dinner on Thursday to celebrate. I typically do the vegetables and have a few ideas. I want things to look pretty and love those multicolored carrots to be roasted and topped with some crunchy bits, french green beans with a mustardy vinaigrette and then maybe this slaw I developed for Reynolds Kitchens and their Endless Table campaign. No meal needs a fresh green salad as desperately as a classic Thanksgiving dinner. The kale and brussels hold up well so can be prepared and even lightly dressed in advance, the quinoa makes it filling and I can’t get enough of those juicy and tart pom seeds ever. Anyway. I hope it’s as peaceful and enjoyable of a day it can be for you and yours - remembering that there is always something to be thankful for. Happy day to you. 

KALE AND BRUSSELS SLAW WITH QUINOA // Serves 6-8

This salad is great for the slow, lingering meal that is Thanksgiving because it can sit and stay crunchy for some time unlike other tender greens. It is even still good the next day! The full recipe for this salad and a handful of other recipes by some great bloggers, can be found on Reynolds Kitchens site. 

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FEEDING BABIES. PART 3. BREAKFAST EDITION

Thank you all so much for the feedback. That was extremely helpful (and affirming, which I wasn't expecting, but was well needed). We've started quite a few house projects, approximately 8 weeks before having a baby, one of which will put me out of a kitchen for a few weeks, so we may fall a little quite over here. I suppose this gives me time to process everything each of you said while we are out of order over here. A handful of you chimed in who say you never comment and I appreciate that! Just know from the other side, the comments are huge, so big hugs.

So our little guy is almost a year and a half and while I am so excited to have a little baby that cuddles and snuggles, I love love love the boy Curran is right now. He is so curious and observant and active and smart. He doesn't really cuddle at all, but he is so engaged and enamored with Hugh and I that it makes me feel pretty special. I have however found this to be the most draining stage so far because he is constant and nothing keeps his attention for longer than 5 minutes. He gets frustrated when he can't communicate something and has learned the art of a tantrum. He's so much little boy but still has plenty of baby in him. Quite the crossroads. 

As for eating, he is totally over mashed things and prefers to always feed himself. His skills are fair with a fork but a spoon is a complete mess which I believe is pretty standard. The thing about this stage at our table, is that we can all eat a lot of the same things, but there are still a large amount of our stand-bys that he can't eat. I keep trying to give him bites of my salad but he acts like there is a hair in his mouth. I find myself having to think harder about meals that will feed all three of us. I don't have the energy to be a short order cook but I'm still learning what that is going to look like. A few of you mentioned last post that you really liked the extra ideas for kids so a few other items I try to keep ready that, in the right combination, suffice as a meal: tortellini, tofu chunks, cut up bbq'd chicken, string cheese, cooked peas, edamame, pomegranate seeds, grapes, raisins, mandarins, fresh dates. I have found that having food ready is the key to avoiding a meltdown, even if it just buys you ten or fifteen minutes to get something else started. It takes a one and a half year old a long time to get the beans out of an edamame pod and that is helpful. 

Even if you don't have little people, or they are of the age that can eat anything, I would make these recipes. They are just easy, versatile snacks or meals.  

MUESLI BARS // Makes one 8x8 pan

I love the Seven Sundays brand of muesli and they have a few different flavors to choose from that I use for these. I use a combo of butter and coconut oil because I like the flavor and moisture both give, but either exclusively as the fat will work just fine. Because these have no wheat or strong binder in them, they are quite tender. If you can let them sit for a day, they'll settle into themselves even more. 

1/2 cup brown rice syrup
5 Tbsp. unsalted butter, coconut oil or a mix of the two
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup almond butter
1 ripe, medium banana, mashed
3 cups prepared muesli
2 Tbsp. flax meal
pinch of sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350'. Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment and coat it well with coconut oil. In a small saucepan, warm the brown rice syrup and butter and/or coconut oil together to melt. Add the vanilla, cinnamon, almond butter and banana and stir everything to mix. It'll be a gloopy mess. 

Put the muesli, flaxmeal and a pinch of sea salt in a mixing bowl. Pour the liquid mixture into the muesli and mix well. Press the mixture down firmly into the prepared pan evenly. Bake for 25 minutes until the top is golden but the bars are still fairly tender. Let them cool completely before cutting. These are very tender. Store them in the fridge and cut off pieces as needed.

MINI SWEET POTATO FRITTATAS ("EGG BALLS") // Makes 12

Curran calls them egg balls and I find that fitting. Here is the thing, the three of us can go through a dozen of these in one day no problem. You could easily make two dozen of these by adding two more eggs to the mixture plus a splash of milk to extend the batter. Potato size varies, but I'm confident you could get two dozen. Or add in cooked and crumbled chicken breakfast sausage if that is your sort of thing. 

1 Tbsp. coconut oil
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and finely diced
1 cup tender greens, roughly chopped
1/3 cup grated white cheddar cheese
4 extra large eggs
sea salt and pepper

In a saucepan over medium heat, warm the coconut oil. Once the oil is hot, add the diced sweet potato and a pinch of salt and saute for 8-10 minutes until tender. Add the greens and saute again to just wilt. Turn off the heat.

Preheat the oven to 350' and generously grease a mini muffin tin. Like, really generous. Eggs have a tendency to stick. 

In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs well and then stir in the white cheddar. I put a sprinkle of salt, pepper and dried herbs here but this is optional. Tip the potato and green mixture into the eggs and stir to mix. Spoon the egg mixture into the muffin tin up to the top. Bake on the middle rack for 12-14 minutes until just firm but not overcooked. Cool and then remove them from the tin soon as they are cool to the touch. They can be stored in a covered tupperware in the fridge.

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