Dorie's Peanut Butter Torte!

We are going to Mark's sister Marcia's home for Easter Dinner. I am to bring a salad (yay!) and the dessert (yay again!). Since we will usually have so much food, I like to do a simple green salad, maybe with some cranberries, blue cheese and pecans optional, with a light viniagrette. That recipe is below.
But I am splurging on the dessert, and since I have in my possession Dorie Greenspan's wonderful book Baking: FromMy Home to Yours
I thought her recipe for Peanut Butter Torte sounded like a hit.
Note-It was well received , but VERY rich.

Here's the recipe...
Dorie's Peanut Butter Torte
heat oven to 350 deg. Butter a 9" springform pan and set aside on a baking sheet lined with parchment.

Toss together in a small bowl-
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
2 t sugar
1/2 t instant expresso pwder or instant coffee - finely ground
1/2 t cinnamon
pinch of fresh grated nutmeg
14 to 1/2 c mini chocolate chips
Set this bowl aside. (this will be used in the filling)
Crust-
24 whole Oreo cookies- finely crumbled (I used food processer, or use blender)
1/2 stick (4T) melted butter
Put these 3 items in a small bowl and toss with a fork just until evenly moistened. Press the crumbs into and up the side of the springform pan. (Sides should go up about 2 inches.)
Place in freezer for 10 min. then bake at 350 for 10 min. Remove from oven and cool completely on a rack.
Filling-
2 c heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioners sugar plus 1 more cup (divided)
12 oz cream cheese at room temp.
1 1/2 c peanut butter- creamy or crunchy-but don't use natural
2 T milk
1/4 c chopped peanuts
In a large bowl, beat cream until med. peaks form, add 1/4 c. conf. sugar and beat until cream holds firm peaks. Scrape the cream in a bowl and refridgerate until needed.
In the same bowl (wipe out- no need to wash) beat the cream cheese and the 1 c. conf sugar on med. speed until satiny smooth.. Beat in the peanut butter, the 1/4 c chopped peanuts and the milk.
Using a large spatula, gently stir about one quater of the whipped cream to the pb mixture to lighten it up. Then, gingerly fold in the set aside bowl of nuts and spices andthe rest of the whipped cream.
Scape the mousse into the crust, mounding and smoothing the top. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight, cover with plastic wrap as soon as the mousse firms.
Topping
4 oz fine chocolate (Dorie calls for bittersweet- I used Guittard milk choc.)
1/2 c cream (maybe a little less)
1/2 c peanuts, chopped or not
Melt the choc. in a bowl set over simmering water. Leave the bowl for about 3 min. Meanwhile, bring the cream to a boil, then pour cream over choc. and remove from heat. . Very gently stir together until ganache is completely blended and glossy. ( My ganache was a lil' too soft- I would use less cream next time.)
Pour over chilled tart, smooth with a metal spatula; top with 1/2 chopped nuts. and chill to set about 20 min. Run a hair dryer around sides of springform for a few seconds to release pan. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Here is the recipe for the viniagrette...
Salad w/HERB MUSTARD VINIAGRETTE and CARMELIZED PECANS

Herb-Mustard Vinaigrette:
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons minced shallot
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 1/3 cups mild flavored olive oil
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

My version- For the salad:
Your choice of lettuce (romaine is good)
Blue cheese
Dried Cranberries
Spicy Glazed Pecans (see below)

Spicy Glazed Pecans
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoons water
1/2 scant teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 teas Worchester sauce
1 cup pecan halves


Preheat oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or use your favorite liner.

Combine first 5 ingredients in heavy small saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves; boil 2 minutes. Add pecans and stir until pecans are well coated with mixture, about 1 minute. Transfer pecans to prepared sheet, spreading evenly. Bake until the pecans are beginning to brown, anywhere from 11 to 13 minutes.

(Note- can be microwaved instead- omit the water- micro for 3-5 min stir every 30 sec.)

Transfer the cooked pecans to a parchment lined sheet and keep separate. Cool completely.

Store in airtight container

Winter Won't Leave

We just received another 5-7 inches of snow again last night. It is Spring already!!! At least today is sunny.
I have decided I need to take a Wilton cake decorating class. I need all the help I can get in this regard. HaHa- I did want to go back to school, so this will be it!

Pi Day

*****(oh crappy pic!)*****

Yep, you got that right- today is Pi Day. As in Math. In honor of my daughter Lindsay, who earned her BS in Mathematics, we shall have pie, which is especially fortunate since she is in town for the weekend!
This is a pie I have made for years, the filling is from an old cookbook, Betty Crockers' Good and Easy(1954). It is our family's favorite pecan pie- we don't care for the usual goo made with corn syrup. I use double the pecans that this recipe calls for.

Southern Pecan Chess Pie

1 unbaked pie crust for 10 inch pan
1 c brown sugar ( packed)
1/2 c superfine sugar
1 T flour
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1/2 c butter, melted
1 c pecans

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix together sugars and flour. Beat in thoroughly butter eggs, vanilla, milk. Fold in pecans. Pour into pastry lined pan. Bale for 40-50 min. Directions are to serve slightly warm, with whipped cream or plain. Mark likes to eat the pie best COLD.

Weekend Cookbook Challenge- Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

My first challenge of any kind!!! Although it's not the weekend, I knew this challenge, Weekend Cookbook Challenge, was one to participate in. The theme, hosted by Lis of LaMiaCucina, is Crockpots, Dutch Ovens, and Pressure Cookers. I decided a long time ago, back when the kids were little, that the Crockpot is my friend. I love the idea of making good meals with seemingly little effort. I had planned on cooking up some pork today, but Mark made corned beef yesterday and I didn't want meat again tonight.
For Christmas, I got Lindsay and Lacey both The Taste of Home Baking Book. There is a postcard inside for a free subscription to the Taste of Home Magazine. The first mag came this week and Lacey and I decided that the Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers looked good. I used to make stuffed peppers often, but haven't in a long time.
As usual, I played with the recipe a bit. I used a 14 oz. can of fire roasted tomatoes instead of the fresh. Instead of both the beans, I used 1 can of Garbanzo Beans as we just had black beans recently. I eliminated the salt and added extra Parmesan and some mozzerella.
This is definitely something to keep in my repetoire. This seemed even easier than my usual recipe because you are only precooking the rice instead of rice and ground meat.

Crockpot Day

The weather was so bad yesterday, over 14 inches of snow, that we decided to watch movies and basketball. Yeah Tarheels!!!
Anyway, it would have been a great day to bake, but my butt told me I'd better not. By the time I figured out I wanted something easy, I had not a whole lot of time to crockpot all day. So I pulled out 3 of my many crockpot cookbooks and started searching. I settled on one I hadn't used in awhile, Crock-It by Barbara Murray. It is really a very small, homey sort of cookbook. There are a few mexican recipes in it that have become staples, one for chicken enchiladas and one for a great red chili sauce. But what I ended up making wasn't so much a recipe from the book as inspired by several recipes and what I had in my kitchen. Here is what I ended up with - let's call it ...

Mexicali Crockpot

multigrain (or flour) tortillas
1 can refried beans
1 can black beans
1 can chopped green chilis
1 - 14 oz can fire roasted tomatoes (drained with juice set aside)
1 pkg Perdue roasted chicken already cooked (2 cups)
8 oz bag shredded cheese (I use 2% cheese)
1 pkg taco seasoning
sour cream for topping

I layered 1 tortilla spread with some of the refried beans on the bottom. Layer some of all the ingredients on top of that, then repeat layers a few times. I poured the juice from the tomatoes (there wasn't much) on the top and topped with some more cheese.
I cooked on HIGH for about 4 hours. I'm sure it can be cooked instead all day on LOW if you so desire. Slice into all the layers and serve. We had 4 servings, but my crockpot was only a little more that half full. You can add more ingredients and layer more to serve more people.
Garnish with the sour cream.
I served this with a tossed salad of
avocado
cucumber
tomato
green onions
lemon pepper to taste.

Sweet Corn Muffins

If you live in the Cleveland area, you may know Al "Bubba" Baker. Bubba used to play football wonderfully for the Cleveland Browns back in the 70's-early 80s. He owns a very popular restaurant in the western suburb of Avon, Bubba's Q. Bubba and his wife, Sabrina, are great people (Bubba is quite a character) and serve some fine barbeque.
One of the yummy things they serve is sweet cornbread muffins. Mark likes them so much, that I came up with a similar recipe.

Sweet Corn Muffins

1 cup flour
1 cup yellow corn meal (I prefer Aunt Jemina's)
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
4 tsp white sugar
4 tsp brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup oil
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Mix dry ingredients together, add the liquids and mix until blended. Pour into muffin pans. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Makes 36 mini muffins.
This can be cooked as regular muffins or cornbread- adjust baking times accordingly.

Lake Erie Perch

As I've said before, I love fresh Lake Erie Perch. When I was growing up, on Friday evenings during Lent I would walk to the Polish Club down the street from my dad's grocery and pick up a few fried perch dinners for my family. They included perch- fried to perfection, creamy in taste, some fries and cold cole slaw.

The fish fries crop up every year during Lent, but I hesitate, because as much as we love fried foods, it's to our benefit not to eat it. I have found that I get the same enjoyment from pan frying perch in just a little butter/olive oil mix. It really is the taste and texture of the fish itself that I love.