I held back as long as I could, but finally gave in and made the Dark Chocolate Cookies (Martha Stewart Living, July issue).  I have a thing about dark chocolate. A big thing. I don’t really like milk chocolate and I definitely don’t like white chocolate, but dark chocolate is the nectar of the gods. This recipe had been singing its siren song to me since the issue arrived.

I got down to business. First, I made the dough. This is a sandwich cookie. You mix up the dough then Martha says to freeze it for 15 minutes.  Here’s the first problem. It needs to freeze for much longer. My cookies came out misshapen and smushed because they would not hold their shape. I kept putting the dough back in the freezer and trying again. The dough stuck to the rolling pin, to the counter, to the cutter, and to me. Teen Martha was in the room as I was working on this and laughed as I had a few choice words to say about Martha and her recipes as I was struggling.

Once I had finished cutting out my cookie rounds (most of which looked like footballs), they went into the freezer for another 15 minutes before baking.  It took one full hour from the time I started this recipe until I could put the cookies in the oven. And I must admit having the oven on for that hour on a hot July day simply added to my crankiness. Let me also say this – do not attempt to make Martha’s cookies unless you have a chest freezer.  Our fridge is a side by side, and cookie sheets do not fit in it. I had to trot down to the basement to the chest freezer with these cookie sheets.

Once in the oven, the cookies baked pretty much on schedule. The instruction to bake until they are firm on the edges is a good and useful one.

Now for the filling. Several weeks ago, in anticipation of this recipe, I bought a bar of dark chocolate. I went to get it out only to find Teen Martha had used most of it to make brownies. Sigh. I had 2 ounces, but needed 4. I ended up using some good quality semi-sweet chocolate to make up the difference.

The filling is easy to make. You heat cream, sugar and salt and then pour it over the chocolate and let it sit. You stir it and then let it cool. Very easy.

Once the cookies and filling were cooled, I assembled the cookies. The recipe says it makes 30. I didn’t count, but I think I got about 20 maybe.  Make sure you stick these in the fridge right after you assemble them because the filling tends to run out and make a mess.

The taste test? Very yummy. The cookies are not very crisp (not like an Oreo), but that was ok. The filling is creamy and chocolatey (and would be better if I had used all dark chocolate!). I enjoyed these, but this was an awful lot of work for about 20 cookies.  It took most of an afternoon. Too much time, not a big enough pay off. Now, if someone were to serve these to me, I would eat them happily, but I don’t think I’ll be making them again.

I held back as long as I could, but finally gave in and made the Dark Chocolate Cookies (Martha Stewart Living, July issue).  I have a thing about dark chocolate. A big thing. I don’t really like milk chocolate and I definitely don’t like white chocolate, but dark chocolate is the nectar of the gods. … Read more →

The dessert of the month in July Martha Stewart Living is Vanilla-Raspberry Sundaes with Spoon-Shaped Cookies. I must admit, I ignored this recipe for weeks. There’s not much baking involved – just some cookies. The rest is assembling a sundae. And I have to confess, I thought the spoon cookies were stupid. So I ignored, but finally I gave in and made it.

The cookie dough was easy to make. After chilling, I rolled it out and tried to cut out the cookies. I cut out the template, but the middle part where it curves in felt like it was too thin, so I wanted to make them a bit bigger. As you can tell, I’m not very talented at cutting things out of dough without a template!

I baked the cookies and then once they were cool, assembled the sundaes. I used strawberry sorbet instead of raspberry. Make sure you let your ice cream and sorbet soften a bit before you scoop it so you can get it to smush together.

The sundaes were really pretty when assembled. I didn’t think I would like this, but I did. I thought the cookie spoons would break and get mushy. They actually did work and I liked the taste of the sundae with the cookie. This was yummy and really a very easy dessert to make.  Nice one, Martha!

The dessert of the month in July Martha Stewart Living is Vanilla-Raspberry Sundaes with Spoon-Shaped Cookies. I must admit, I ignored this recipe for weeks. There’s not much baking involved – just some cookies. The rest is assembling a sundae. And I have to confess, I thought the spoon cookies were stupid. So I ignored, … Read more →

You know how some families have holiday meal favorites like green bean casserole or candied sweet potatoes? In my family we have gougere. My parents were galloping 70s gourmets, so it’s no surprise that a treasured family recipe would be a French pastry hors d’oevre.

Martha has a recipe for Gougeres with Parmesan and Black Pepper in July Martha Stewart Living. A new twist on an old family favorite? I was excited. In my family, gougere is served as an hors d’oevre, but I whipped this up one night to have instead of bread with dinner (and here I must comment on the overall Martha project – never in a million years would I have seen myself casually whipping up Gougere for a week night dinner. This is what Martha has done to me!)

Gougere might seem a little imposing to make if you’ve never done it, but actually it’s really easy. Martha has included this in the magazine as part of the French cooking lesson and the instructions involve a mixer. Bah. I do it by hand and it’s very fast. First you boil butter, water, sugar and salt. Stir in flour until it pulls away from the sides and makes a film on the bottom of the pan. Then you stir in eggs until it becomes glossy and smooth. This all happens very, very quickly.

Martha’s instructions say to use a pastry bag. Bah. I just use a spoon. My mom often makes a ring of gougere which is very pretty. Martha says to brush them with egg wash and sprinkle salt and pepper and parmesan cheese on them. Then you bake them. This is essentially a cream puff dough, so it puffs up when it bakes very nicely.

As for taste? This is not a winner in my book, simply because it cannot compete with the family recipe. If you make this, I suggest you put the cheese IN the puffs, not on top where you can’t taste it. I didn’t care for the pepper on it either. Other than that though, these puffed up nicely and were very pretty.

Because I believe it is far superior, I am going to share the family gougere recipe, which I think is head and shoulders over Martha’s:

Big MarthaAndMe’s Gougere

1 cup hot water

1/2 cup butter

1 cup flour

4 3ggs

1 1/2 cups grated Gruyere cheese

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp dry mustard

Preheat the oven to 450. Combine water and butter and bring to a rolling boil over medium high heat. Add the flour and beat with a wooden spoon until it forms a ball. Add eggs one at a time and beat with spoon until smooth and shiny. Add the rest of the ingredients.  Form clumps on baking sheet into a ring, so they touch each other. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 and bake until puffy and lightly browned, about 15 minutes.

You know how some families have holiday meal favorites like green bean casserole or candied sweet potatoes? In my family we have gougere. My parents were galloping 70s gourmets, so it’s no surprise that a treasured family recipe would be a French pastry hors d’oevre. Martha has a recipe for Gougeres with Parmesan and Black … Read more →

Part of what I’m trying to do with this project is to channel Martha. It’s one thing to do recipes and projects created by MSLO, but another to find a way to live Martha in your own life with your own ideas. I feel as though the longer I work on this project, the more Martha I become.

Last night I decided to make the Bok Choy Salad from July Martha Stewart Living. This was super simple – chop up some bok choy, add cashews and mix up a very quick Asian dressing. But what to have with it?

I was in the mood for potstickers, so I sniffed around Martha’s site to look for a recipe. I didn’t see one that met my needs, so I made my own. I defrosted some ground turkey and mixed in chopped garlic and scallions and grated ginger and added tamari sauce. I had some wonton wrappers in the freezer so I did a quick defrost. They were a bit misshapen  – not round or oval, but a weird shape from being bounced around in the freezer, so I made do. Instead of your typical half moon potsticker, I smushed them up into little beggar’s purses and cooked them. I love making potstickers – sear the bottom, then add water and cover it so the steam cooks them. Very fun and quick.

I also whipped up a lo mein dish. I had a chunk of leftover chicken and also some leftover broccoli from the composed salad from the day before. I boiled some soba noodles and added those ingredients as well as some scallion and bean sprouts. I had a bottle of stir fry sauce (Martha would be horrified) and dumped that on.

This was a very quick meal. The bok choy salad was ok, but I’m giving it a thumbs up because it was nice to have some raw veggies in an Asian meal. The lo mein was good and very fast since everything was already pre-cooked. The potstickers were heaven. You would never guess they were made with turkey and they had a wonderful ginger and garlic flavor. The bottom were crunchy and the tops soft. Simply perfect!

Part of what I’m trying to do with this project is to channel Martha. It’s one thing to do recipes and projects created by MSLO, but another to find a way to live Martha in your own life with your own ideas. I feel as though the longer I work on this project, the more … Read more →

In the July issue of Martha Stewart Living, Martha has a recipe for Composed Salad of Roasted Broccoli, Romaine, Chickpeas and Walnuts.

Sound complicated? It was. This salad had 6 components, all of which required separate work (2 baking sheets, one saute pan, three spatulas, a collander, a cutting board, a knife,  a Cuisinart, measuring spoons, and a jar for mixing up the dressing, not to mention 3 bowls for serving and a platter).

First I roasted the broccoli with oil. Next I cooked a shallot and the chickpeas. Then I candied the pecans (my substitution for walnuts). Then I made the goat cheese puree and the vinaigrette. Whew.  It was a lot of work. Next I washed the lettuce and tried to put it all together like Martha’s photo. By this time I felt like I had cooked an entire meal and all I had was a salad.

Now, the real question is how did it taste? The family’s reaction to this one was a lot of head scratching. We each took a big lettuce leaf and piled the other ingredients on, then cut it up and tried to mix it or toss it on our plates. Once you get that done, it does taste pretty good, but it wasn’t out of this world fantastic by any means. And it was messy because things fall of your plate as you’re trying to mix it. My teen’s assessment? “Dumb.”

In the July issue of Martha Stewart Living, Martha has a recipe for Composed Salad of Roasted Broccoli, Romaine, Chickpeas and Walnuts. Sound complicated? It was. This salad had 6 components, all of which required separate work (2 baking sheets, one saute pan, three spatulas, a collander, a cutting board, a knife,  a Cuisinart, measuring … Read more →

Local strawberries are in and I’m looking for lots of ways to use them. I decided to make Martha’s Vacherin with Whipped Cream and Mixed Berries . (July Martha Stewart Living) I had never heard of vacherin, but the recipe is basically for meringue with whipped cream and berries. It sounded light and tasty and the photo in the magazine was pretty and appealing.

The first step is to whip the egg whites.  Let me be honest here – I have no idea if I whipped them long enough. Martha says to whip until they are very stiff and glossy. Mine were glossy but I have no idea how stiff they should be. I guessed.

You draw a circle on parchment paper and heap the egg whites inside it, on two separate pans. Then you bake it at 200 for 2 hours and then turn the oven off and leave them inside for an hour and a half. I did all this precisely, however when I went to assemble this, neither of the meringues were cooked all the way through and stuck to the parchment paper. I was totally crushed. I’m really getting tired of following Martha’s instructions to the letter only to have it not work! The good thing about this recipe is that the mess was easily covered by whipped cream.

I assembled the dessert with the whipped cream and berries and it did look very pretty. It actually cut pretty well, but didn’t look so great on the individual plates. It looked mushy.

As for taste, the part of the meringue that was cooked was delicious- crunchy and sweet and light. I loved it with the berries. I thought there was a bit much whipped cream for my taste.

The biggest problem with this dessert is that it is a use or lose it proposition. You can’t save it since the meringue gets mushy. So you really need to be prepared to serve and eat the entire thing or waste it.

If the meringue had been cooked, this would have been a winner.

Local strawberries are in and I’m looking for lots of ways to use them. I decided to make Martha’s Vacherin with Whipped Cream and Mixed Berries . (July Martha Stewart Living) I had never heard of vacherin, but the recipe is basically for meringue with whipped cream and berries. It sounded light and tasty and … Read more →

When some people think of steak sandwiches, they think of Philly steaks. When I think of steak sandwiches, I think of dinner with my dad. When I was little, my mom used to teach on Tuesday nights and Dad made dinner for the two us – steak sandwiches. We would eat them in front of the tv and watch the Muppet Show. He used those thin frozen steaks that are meant for steak sandwiches. I don’t even know what they are called or if they sell them anymore. In retrospect, they were pretty gross, but at the time I thought they were good. The memories aren’t all happy ones however. One night I choked on it and I don’t think my dad knew the Heimlich. I remember him turning me upside down and shaking me to get it out. Obviously it worked since I’m still here.

So with that trauma in mind, I made Martha’s (Martha Stewart Living, July) Beef Tenderloin Sandwich with Herb Mayonnaise. The first step is to  roast some garlic. Oh, I love roasted garlic. The rest of the sandwich is a breeze. You mix the garlic with mayo and herbs. You grill the tenderloin and then assemble it on a piece of bread with some greens and the mayo. It was simple to make.  It was a little hard to eat. The meat kept sliding off and we ended up with mayo all over our hands. But it was good.  Not my favorite way to eat beef tenderloin by any stretch of the imagination, but it was something different at least. This won’t go in my favorites file. No one choked though, so that at least was a victory.

When some people think of steak sandwiches, they think of Philly steaks. When I think of steak sandwiches, I think of dinner with my dad. When I was little, my mom used to teach on Tuesday nights and Dad made dinner for the two us – steak sandwiches. We would eat them in front of … Read more →

When some people think of steak sandwiches, they think of Philly steaks. When I think of steak sandwiches, I think of dinner with my dad. When I was little, my mom used to teach on Tuesday nights and Dad made dinner for the two us – steak sandwiches. We would eat them in front of the tv and watch the Muppet Show. He used those thin frozen steaks that are meant for steak sandwiches. I don’t even know what they are called or if they sell them anymore. In retrospect, they were pretty gross, but at the time I thought they were good. The memories aren’t all happy ones however. One night I choked on it and I don’t think my dad knew the Heimlich. I remember him turning me upside down and shaking me to get it out. Obviously it worked since I’m still here.

So with that trauma in mind, I made Martha’s (Martha Stewart Living, July) Beef Tenderloin Sandwich with Herb Mayonnaise. The first step is to  roast some garlic. Oh, I love roasted garlic. The rest of the sandwich is a breeze. You mix the garlic with mayo and herbs. You grill the tenderloin and then assemble it on a piece of bread with some greens and the mayo. It was simple to make.  It was a little hard to eat. The meat kept sliding off and we ended up with mayo all over our hands. But it was good.  Not my favorite way to eat beef tenderloin by any stretch of the imagination, but it was something different at least. This won’t go in my favorites file. No one choked though, so that at least was a victory.

When some people think of steak sandwiches, they think of Philly steaks. When I think of steak sandwiches, I think of dinner with my dad. When I was little, my mom used to teach on Tuesday nights and Dad made dinner for the two us – steak sandwiches. We would eat them in front of … Read more →

My experience with pound cake has mostly been with the Sara Lee kind you buy from the freezer section of the grocery store. Martha would be horrified. I’ve never made my own. I buy pound cake once a year – to dip in our New Year’s Eve fondue.

The Martha Stewart Living July issue has a huge spread on pound cakes – more than 10 kinds. My son was graduating from 5th grade, so I decided to whip up a few different kinds as a dessert.

I started with the basic pound cake recipe. Since I was rushing around, I failed to read it carefully and notice that it actually makes two loaves.  Once I realized I was going to have two, I decided to make one chocolate chip and one poppy seed. This just meant I needed to add those ingredients last, so I split the batter in half.

Poppy Seed

Let me just say here that this batter was so good that I could have just eaten it plain. I was like a little kid – constantly sneaking taste after taste of it. It was out of this world.

At the same time, I also made a batch of blueberry pound cake, which uses the basic recipe, but has you substitute 1/2 cup of sour cream for one stick of butter and add 2 cups of blueberries that have been tossed with 2 tbsp flour. I ended up with two loaves of this, but am

Blueberry

planning to foist one off on my in-laws. This batter tasted good, but not as good as the original batter.

Into the oven my 4 loaf pans went.  The recipe says to bake for 65 minutes. My poppy seed loaf was done in that time, but the others took about 10 minutes longer.

They all came out of the pans easily, which was a relief. The bad news is that the cake did not taste anywhere as good as the batter and I don’t know why. It wasn’t too dry. It just

Chocolate Chip

tasted bland and boring, even with the poppy seeds, chips, or berries.  Now, it wasn’t horrible by any stretch of the imagination and maybe the batter just inflated my expectations.

The blueberry loaf was the most moist and the blueberries really looked beautiful. The chocolate chip loaf was sweet and good, but I would rather eat a chocolate chip cookie. I felt the poppy seed load needed lemon to give it some flavor.

The family thought the cakes were good, but honestly you would be hard pressed to put cake in front of them and get complaints.

I don’t think I would make these recipes again. Sorry Martha.

My experience with pound cake has mostly been with the Sara Lee kind you buy from the freezer section of the grocery store. Martha would be horrified. I’ve never made my own. I buy pound cake once a year – to dip in our New Year’s Eve fondue. The Martha Stewart Living July issue has … Read more →

Thank you Martha for including so many great salads in July Martha Stewart Living. I’m emphasizing vegetables more and more in our diet and am so happy to have these great ideas.

I made Mediterranean Chickpea Salad (seemingly not on Martha’s site – p. 130 of July Living) for a family dinner with my parents. Martha says to start with dry chickpeas and soak them. I just bought canned and drained them.

This salad was simple. You start by smashing up some garlic and making a dressing with oil and vinegar and oregano with the garlic. I added a little sugar, since Martha and I disagree on how dressing should taste.

You let your chickpeas soak in the dressing for about half an hour. Then you chop up and add cherry tomatoes, cucumber, carrots, scallions  and pepper and some basil and parsley (there is a lot of chopping involved). I tossed mine and let it all sit for an hour or two before we ate and that seemed to improve the flavor.

Everyone liked this salad, even Teen Martha (17 yo daughter) who hates red peppers (she picked them out). It was refreshing, satisfying and really yummy. I ate it for lunch the next day and it was just as good. These are the kinds of things that make me appreciate Martha. I would never have thought this salad up on my own, but it is a nice summer salad that is easy to put together.

Thank you Martha for including so many great salads in July Martha Stewart Living. I’m emphasizing vegetables more and more in our diet and am so happy to have these great ideas. I made Mediterranean Chickpea Salad (seemingly not on Martha’s site – p. 130 of July Living) for a family dinner with my parents. … Read more →