Chocolate-Drizzled Oatmeal Shortbread

It's been a long and emotional 72 hours here in Boston. There isn't much to say that hasn't already been said. It's amazing how this city has come together and stayed incredibly strong. I'm not a die hard Boston fan like some of the people here in this city but I have to say that I've felt really proud this week to have called this place my home for the last seven years. Not because of the events that occurred but because of the way the people have reacted.

Monday was a scary day.  It was the first year since 2007 that I wasn't at the marathon cheering my Dad on.  Luckily, he and my aunt were already around the corner celebrating his finish at the Westin Hotel, so they were safe.  But those moments during a tragedy before you get in contact with loved ones and confirm they are okay make your mind go to all the worst scenarios. My heart truly goes out to all the victims and their families and, as so many have said, those are the people we will remember and not the bad guys.

You always feel shaken when events like this happen but it is a much more intense feeling when it happens in the place you call home.  Living and working in the area makes it that much more real and shakes you to the core. By nature I can be a very anxious person and in the last few days the best way I've been able to calm my nerves is to distract myself completely.  This world we live in today with hyper-connectivity allows so much information to be available at the touch of a button.  Twitter, Facebook and all social media outlets have been flooded with information and stories. I've had to make a point of putting my phone down, closing the computer and focusing on other things in order to not be consumed and stay calm this week.

This afternoon I took to the kitchen and chose these cookies to distract my mind for a few hours. The act of following a simple recipe can really put a mind at ease. This recipe is from The Sprouted Kitchen cookbook and I followed it exactly making no tweaks.  The dough comes together quickly; it is full of oats and lightly spiced with nutmeg.

The dough gets rolled in to a log and chilled for about an hour.  The cookies then get sliced, baked, drizzled with dark chocolate and flecked with sea salt. I received this lovely package of salt, along with some other pretty salts, from a good friend for my birthday and this was the first time I was able to make good use of them. Make these cookies, give them to loved ones and make sure to hug them a little tighter.

Chocolate-Drizzled Oatmeal Shortbread
from The Sprouted Kitchen cookbook

• 1 1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
• 1/2 cup turbinado sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 1/2 oz dark chocolate (60 to 72% cacao)
• Flaked sea salt for garnish

1. In a food processor pulse the oats to create a course flour. Set aside.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the vanilla and egg.
3. Add the oat flour, all-purpose flour, salt and nutmeg and mix together. The dough will be thick.
4. Using your hands roll the dough in to a log, approximately 2-3 inches in diameter.
5. Roll the log up in parchment paper and chill in the fridge 1-2 hours.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
7. Slice the log in to 1/2 inch coins and spread them on the baking sheet. Bake for 14-16 minutes until the edges are golden.
8. Melt the chocolate and drizzle over the cookies.  I did this by placing the melted chocolate in a ziploc bag and cutting the tip of it. Sprinkle a bit of sea salt over the cookies. The chocolate will take about 15-20 minutes to firm up.  Cookies can be stored for up to one week in airtight container.

PS: Follow me on Instagram: @michellekmartin

Vintage Recipes: Grapefruit Coconut Cake

Here is the second installment in the vintage recipe series I'm doing for Eat Boutique.  The first recipe was a blueberry buckle inspired by my grandmother's.  This recipe's inspiration came from the fact that we are in the middle of citrus season and I love the pairing of citrus and coconut. And also that I am obsessed with every shade and variation of light pink/grapefruit :)

The original recipe was made from a box mix with many 'fake' additions so I revamped it to make it all from scratch.  The result was a sweet and tart cake, a nice addition to a sunny winter afternoon when you are longing for spring days.  Click on over to Eat Boutique to see the recipe + post!

Cherry Puff Pies

Last weekend I finally had a Sunday off so Saturday night we had friends over.  A few friends came from out of town and while texting about our plans for Saturday earlier in the week my one friend, whose family owns a fruit orchard - so she is a fruit guru, suggested we make fancy cocktails.  A few minutes later she sent me a link of a tasty looking gin + cherry combination.  She arrived Saturday night with a homemade sweet and sour cherry syrup and I haven't been able to get cherries off my mind since we enjoyed the cocktail together.

I woke up this morning to an e-mail informing me that work was cancelled due to the fact that up to two feet of snow is currently being dumped on Boston.  We will probably be housebound until Saturday afternoon, so the list of activities to keep busy include: baking, netflix, and painting my nails.  These 'pies' started off with the intent to be mini hand pies.  They are comprised of just a few ingredients - all ones that were on hand.  As they baked I realized I should have folded them in squares to make them more pie like, but they still tasted just as I hoped.

Cherry Puff Pies
makes six 3' round pies

• 16 oz frozen cherries, unthawed
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tbsp corn starch
• 1 package of puff pastry, thawed.
• 1 egg white + 1 tbsp water for egg wash

1. In a small bowl combine 1 1/2 tbsp corn starch and 1 1/2 tbsp cold water.
2. In a sauce pan combine cherries, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice & zest and cinnamon.  Heat, stirring occasionally, until cherry juices are released.  About five minutes.
3. Add cornstarch to cherry mixture and bring to a boil, stirring often.  Once it boils, remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
4. On a lightly floured surface lay your puff pastry out and cut it in to shapes you want.  I cut six circles from each sheet of mine.  (In retrospect I probably would have cut them into rectangles to fold in half.)
5. Working with one pastry piece at a time lay it on a parchment lined sheet.  Lightly brush edges with egg wash and place 2-3 tbsp of cherry filling in the center.  Lay another pastry piece over and, crimp together with a fork, and brush the top lightly with egg wash.  Repeat with remaining pieces.
6. Poke holes in the top of each mini pie to allow for venting and bake at 375 degrees for approximately 30 minutes, until golden brown. 

Cinnamon Chip Snowballs

Well, time got away from me there for about a month. Between dwindling daylight hours and a lack of enthusiasm after working marathon work weeks there hasn't been much thought to photographing after cooking or baking. There has still been lots of it, just not well documented. I've missed the camera but I think I'm back at it.

October ended with a weekend of friends, pizza, and pumpkin carving and last minute costumes for a Halloween party.  November then rolled in and weekends were full of being at work or being out of town on the occasion that there was no work. We went to Woods Hole in Cape Cod fin early November and virtually had the whole place to ourselves.  We took a long, dark drive there on a Friday night where we found ourselves situated in a corner room with a king sized bed. We awoke to sunshine and views of the ocean and spent the next two days bundling up, exploring, drinking margaritas, relaxing and ending it all with a 16 mile winding bike ride along the southern part of Cape Cod.

November Instagrams (@michellekmartin)

Thanksgiving came and went and was full of family and delicious food and now we are officially in the second week of December and we still don't have a Christmas tree but it's on the agenda for this weekend (hopefully!)

In the meantime, to get in the spirit of Christmas without having the time to fully decorate I've made these snowball cookies. The cookies have just a few ingredients and they are perfect to make them in to whatever you'd like based on preferences or simply whatever's in your pantry. I used these cookies as an opportunity to clean out the last of a few baking odds and ends. Whatever add ins you choose to use, these cookies turn out as festive little bites.

Cinnamon Chip Snowballs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon warm water
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cup flour, spooned and leveled
• 1 cup nuts (I used 1/2 cup walnuts and 1/2 cup slivered almonds)
• 1 cup chips (I used 1/2 cup cinnamon chips and 1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks)

1. Beat together vanilla, water, sugar, and butter. Once well combined add in the flour.
2. Fold in nuts and chips
3. Form in to 1 inch balls and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 15-20 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Spiced Parsnip Cupcakes

Make these cupcakes. Even if you don't love cupcakes, make these. They are similar to a carrot cake or banana bread in texture and not overly sweet. I've had these bookmarked for about a month now and have been waiting to make them. I've been waiting mostly because having one dozen cupcakes around for two people is a huge waste. I made them for this weekend, in which friends will come over and hopefully eat them alongside carving pumpkins. 

I was drawn to this recipe because, as most people, once fall hits we desire warm, spiced baked goods to keep us warm. As New York Magazine published a few weeks ago pumpkin is the new bacon and I, for one, was over the pumpkin obsession as soon as it started this fall. So, when I saw this recipe it fit right in with a spiced, seasonal baked good but it offered something new and different. 

Having tried parsnips for the first time just last fall, they are a fairly new vegetable to me. Any different way in which I can use them is a welcome idea. The most tedious part of making these was grating the parsnip. Despite getting increasingly frustrated during the process (while simultaneously trying to fend off a monster kitten who was anxiously trying to eat any scrap of parsnip that fell to the floor) it was definitely worth it in the end. 

Spiced Parsnip Cupcakes

makes 12 cupcakes, from Everyday Food Magazine (with slight changes, see notes below)

• 1 cup all purpose flour 
• 1 1/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract + 1 teaspoon for frosting
• 2 cups grated parsnip
• 8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350. Whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder and salt.  In separate bowl combine brown sugar through vanilla extract. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients.
2. Divide batter among muffin cups lined with paper liners. Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Let cool completely.
3. To make frosting beat cream cheese, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, butter and confectioner's sugar until combine. 
4. To store, refrigerate cupcakes in airtight container, up to two days.

notes:  I reduced the brown sugar to 1/2 cup, the butter to 1/4 of a stick- or 2 tablespoons, and made my own pumpkin pie spice with what I had on hand by combining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg.