Monty, my husband loves peach cobbler. I made several in the past, but this one came from the Baking Book I got for Christmas. I didn't have the pistachio (that was what the recipe called for), so I substituted it with hazelnut.
Recipe for Peach & Hazelnut Cobbler
For the Filling:
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
3 cans of peach halves in light syrup
For the Topping:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped finely
1-4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup unsalted butter cut into 1/2 cubes
3/4 cup milk
Ground cinnamon and sugar for sprinkling
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease 9-by-13 inch baking dish with a 2-qt capacity.
To make the filling, in a small bowl. stir together the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Place the peaches in a large bowl, sprinkle with the sugar mixture, and toss to distribute evenly. Spread peach mixture in the prepared baking dish and set aside while you prepare the topping.
To make the topping, in a large bowl, mix together the flour, toasted hazelnuts, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture until the texture resembles coarse meal, leaving some pieces of butter about the size of small peas. Add the milk and stir just until the mixture pulls together.
Pinch off chunks of the dough and place them on top of the peach mixture, covering it nearly completely.
In a small bowl , mix together 1/4 tsp cinnamon and 1 tbsp sugar and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top of the dough. Bake until the topping is firm and golden brown and the filling bubbles slowly, 45-60 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool for 30 minutes before serving.
Serving tip: Accompany the cobbler with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream or a splash of heavy cream.
Today I had a craving for Pinoy/Filipino food. Since I married Monty, I seldom cook traditional Filipino food. My husband doesn't like it except adobo, lumpiang shanghai and my pancit. I thought that I will give him another chance to really enjoy Filipino dishes. From the grocery, I got this pork picnic (that's what the label said..I thought that it was a piece of pork thigh). I cross-hatched the skin & seasoned it liberally with salt & pepper. Oven roasted the pork picnic @ 325 degrees for 4 hours. It turned out looking like "lechon".
This is my first dessert for 2011. My dear brother gave me the WILLIAMS-SONOMA BAKING BOOK for Christmas. While flipping through the pages, my husband saw a recipe for this pie. Monty loves coconut pie. So, for this relaxing Sunday afternoon, I decided to make this pie from scratch, including the flaky pastry dough.
Flaky Pastry Dough recipe to follow
COCONUT CUSTARD PIE
1 1/2 cups flaked dried coconut
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup whole milk
1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest, grated
Bake pastry dough in a 9-inch pie pan or dish.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spread coconut flakes evenly on a baking sheet and bake until lightly golden, about 12 minutes. Set aside to cool.
In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and salt until blended. Add the flour, milk, melted butter, lemon juice, and lemon zest and mix well. Stir in the toasted coconut flakes and mix to combine. Pour the mixture into the baked crust.
Bake the pie until the top is golden and the filling is firm in the center, 45-55 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let it cool completely. Serve at room temperature.
I received 2 bags filled with pecans last Friday from a patient of mine. So, last weekend, after going out on a date with my hubby, I spent most of the afternoon shelling those pecans. I didn't know what to do with them. Then, another of my patient said that she loves pecan turtles. Early this morning, around 5 am, I decided to make these pecans to turtles. I arranged all of the turtles in a decorated Christmas tin cans to be given to my patients who are not diabetics =)
Chocolate Pecan Turtles
1 lb of pecan halves
1 pack of Hersey's Cinnamon Chips
Homemade Caramel (recipe to follow)
Directions
Arrange pecan halves on pan lined with parchment paper. Pour spoonful of homemade caramel over each pecan halves. Let it cool.
Melt Hershey's cinnamon chips in a double boiler. Add 1/4 cup of heavy cream. Mix well until all chips are melted. Pour melted cinnamon chips over caramel-coated pecans. Let it cool.
Arrange pecan turtles in any preferred container. Then enjoy!
Homemade Caramel
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup light syrup
1 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup whole milk
2 tbsp vanilla extract
Directions:
In a medium saucepan, combine all the ingredients above. Put on medium heat, stir constantly until heat temperature reaches to 250-260 degrees ( or until a small amount of syrup is dropped into cold water forms a rigid ball).
A usual Sunday routine after church, a hearty breakfast for us. I fixed some cheese biscuits, sausages, scrambled eggs and gravy. Washed it down with pressed coffee, OJ (for me)and milk (for Monty). It was a heavy breakfast! Now, I'm planning for dinner =)
I went to the grocery today & found a sale of their baby back ribs. Coincidentally, I watched an episode of Guy Fieri's DDD, where he was in a barbecue joint that was famous for their ribs. I did my own dry rub and cooked the slab of ribs in the oven for a total of 3 1/2 hours. It was perfect! My ribs turned out as good as Logan's Roadhouse!(in my opinion, since I always go for Logan's ribs when we go there for dinner every now & then)
Recipe for the Baby Back Ribs:
1-2 slabs of Baby Back Ribs
1/4 cup of dry barbecue rub (it consist of ground cumin,paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, kosher salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper, white pepper and brown sugar)
1/2 cup beef broth
1 cup of any Barbecue sauce
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Liberally spread dry rub on the Baby Back Ribs. Place the ribs directly inside a roasting pan. Pour the beef broth in the roasting pan. Cover tightly with foil then place pan in the oven.
Bake ribs for 2 hrs. After that, remove foil and baste ribs with the barbecue sauce. Place pan back in the oven uncovered for 30 mins. Do basting again after 30 minutes then back to the oven for another 15 minutes.
My husband is a little under the weather and not wanting to eat anything except for my homemade chicken noodle soup. I baked some cheesy dinner rolls to go with it. Simple but delicious and warms the insides during this chilly December evening.
