Okay, okay. You’ve been clamoring long enough (not really, but I’m living in my own world here). Finally, here are some theatre pix. I was right on 46th Street! Right across the street from the theatre where Billy Elliott is playing. Just down the street from the Lunt-Fontanne. It was wonderful. It was a cabaret theatre in the basement of Sofia’s restaurant. The funniest part was, I had to walk from the kitchen, through the restaurant and down these stairs in costume to make my entrance from the back of the downstairs cabaret. As I am dressed as a full black-and-white nun, you would think that the patrons would be fairly surprised. However, it was New York, so really only a few of them glanced my way. The others? Meh, couldn’t have cared less. Here’s the outside and here’s the inside, before and after setup. I also included the superglam dressing room. Not. But it was clean and wonderful and NEW YORK. All those props belong to Tony & Tina’s wedding folks, who were sharing the space with us. I do have more, which will be posted next week or tomorrow. Oh, and in case you ever wondered about the glamorous life of theatre, check out what I had to walk past on my way to the stage. You know what? I loved it.
AND, I have four, count ‘em, FOUR recipes for you today.
Okay, here are my thoughts on these recipes. First, the bread. I’ve made it twice. I loved it both times, but my guests were not that crazy about it. It does taste kind of like…raw bread. But it’s not, and it’s easy, and it’s fun to try at least once. Plus, everyone online raves about it. You do need a few days, though. But the work is minimal.
No-Knead Bread
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen via Jim Lahey at the Sullivan Street Bakery via Mark Bittman at New York Times
Yields one 1 1/2 pound loaf
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast (you must use rapid rise yeast for this, I find)
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed (I just used flour).
1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. (It will still stick to the towel, just sayin’). When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size (eh, not really) and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450°F. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic – I used a medium sized Le Creuset Dutch oven.) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.
I love this next recipe. This one tastes like a cream cheese on rye sandwich, with a little sugar. I love recipes like this – not too sweet. These would be fantastic at a brunch topped with salt instead of sugar. What I did was, I used a mixture of sugar and salt on the top and then sprinkled on powdered sugar. If you just used sugar, they would be sweeter, which is just fine as well.
Swedish Rye Cookie Recipe
adapted from 101 Cookbooks
I use whole wheat pastry flour here, but you can substitute unbleached all-purpose flour if you like. I got both flours in the health food store so I didn’t have to pay out the wazoo. I also just used regular salt and sugar for both inside and outside the cookie. Worked out just fine. Do not buy organic powdered sugar. That’s just crazy.
1 cup rye flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1/2 cup cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup fine grain natural cane sugar, sifted
large grain sugar (for sprinkling)
organic powdered sugar (for snow)
Line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium-sized bowl combine the flours and salt. Set aside. In an electric mixer or by hand) beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy, add the butter and do the same, mixing until the two are well combined. Beat in the sugar and mix until well incorporated. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir only long enough to combine the two. The dough should no longer be dusty looking. Turn the dough out onto the counter, knead once or twice to bring it together, shape into a ball, flatten, wrap in plastic and chill it in a refrigerator.
Heat your oven to 350F degrees, and arrange the racks in the top and bottom thirds. When you are ready to roll out your cookies do so on a lightly floured work surface. Roll the dough out to 1/4-inch thickness, and cut into shapes with the cookie cutter of your choice. Place on the prepared baking sheets an inch apart, and sprinkle each cookie with a bit of large-grain sugar. Bake for six or seven minutes, just until cookies are fragrant, and getting a bit golden at the edges - avoid over-baking or they will come out on the dry side. Allow to cool, and dust cookies with a bit of powdered sugar.
Lottie + Doof, Chicago guy – wonderful blogger. I love shortbread, and this recipe did not disappoint. But it made a TON of cookies. Still, very very tasty. Not as heavy as you might think.
Brown Sugar Walnut Shortbread (Avery Wittkamp)
From Lottie + Doof
I think this works best in two quarter sheet pans because it allows for more even cooking in home ovens. It also will work in one half sheet pan, just make sure you monitor it carefully so it doesn’t burn on the edges or bottom.
4 sticks (1 pound) plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
9 ounces light brown sugar (this is 1 and 1/8 cup)
5 ounces white sugar (this is ¾ cup)
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
1 pound 3 ounces organic King Arthur bread flour (I used regular flour and this is 4 cups)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts
Prepare a half sheet tray, or two quarter sheet trays, by buttering and lining with parchment paper. Allow a two-inch overhang on the long sides of the pan to help release the shortbread later after they have been baked.
Cream butter and sugars in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla until combined, then mix in dry ingredients. Combine completely.
Divide dough evenly into prepared sheet trays, spreading smooth and level. Sprinkle with granulated sugar and bake at 325° until golden brown, about 35 to 45 minutes.
Let cool completely before using a sharp knife to cut into squares. These keep well at room temperature for at least a week!
Okay, so these are Dutch, not really Nordic, but I loved them anyway. I don’t like almond extract in stuff, so I used vanilla and they turned out just fine. Kind of similar in taste to the walnut shortbread, but this has the extra kick of cinnamon.
Jan Hagels
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg, separated
1 tsp. almond extract (I used vanilla)
2 cups flour
½ chopped almonds
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ tsp. cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350. Beat butter and sugar together. Add egg yolk and extract. Add flour, and stir till combined.
Put the dough into a large cookies sheet with sides (or two small ones). You might want to put down parchment paper before hand. Using your fingers, spread dough out till it’s even.
Whisk egg white till frothy. Brush over dough. Combine cinnamon and sugar. Sprinkle on top.
Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool, then cut. Traditionally, they are cut into diamond shapes, but squares work fine. As with all these cookies, try to at least cut them into something before you devour the entire pan.
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