Georgia on My Mind: Peach "Pie" Bars with Pecan Streusel

A few weeks ago, I was fairly obsessed with these oatmeal cookie bars—I couldn't stop thinking about them! I finally convinced myself it was okay to make them if I shared them with friends, but that didn't stop me from eating quite a few myself. Just before making them, I couldn't remember if there were nuts in the recipe or not. And when I thought about it some more, I wondered, "Why aren't there nuts in the recipe??? That would taste great!!!" So then it was August, and August reminds me of peaches, and peaches remind me of Georgia, and don't they just happen to specialize in pecans there, too? I'm sure you see where this is going!

Peach "Pie" Bars with Pecan Streusel

Ingredients:
1 cup very soft butter
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
13 oz. peach preserves (homemade would be fabulous!)
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter a 9x13-inch baking pan and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and salt together, then add flour and stir to combine as much as you can. At that point, scrunch the mixture between your fingertips to ensure the butter is evenly distributed and there are no dry pockets of flour left. Remove 1 cup of the crumbs to a smaller bowl, and mix together with the pecans, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Set this aside, then spread the remainder of the plain crumbs evenly into your prepared pan and press firmly to form the base. Bake for 15 minutes to set, then remove and (carefully) spread the preserves over the base, and finally sprinkle with the pecan-cinnamon crumbs. Return to the oven and bake for another 25-30 minutes, or until just slightly golden and the edges of the filling start to bubble. Let cool completely before cutting into squares. Cover and store any unused portion in the fridge, but let the bars come to room temperature before trying to cut them again.

Notes: These bars are very sweet, but certainly cut back (or omit) the brown sugar in the streusel topping, if desired. As well, feel free to use any jam/preserves you enjoy, or any nuts you like! As is the case with many of my desserts, these travel well and can remain at room temperature until you're ready to put them away. Oh, and I don't need to tell you how great these would be with vanilla ice cream, right? :-)

>o<

Ave Maria: Fresh Strawberry Cheesecake Parfaits

It was cookbook club time again, and our selection was Mexican Made Easy by Marcela Valladolid. There were some very tasty-looking recipes in there, full of spice and heat! But I really wanted to make a dessert, so I focused on that chapter and selected something described as a trifle. It used things like sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and fresh limes. Yum! Instead of something like pound cake, however, the recipe called for Maria cookies as the base, which are akin to tea biscuits and completely delightful. And the most wondrous things of all? After shopping for my ingredients, I actually FOLLOWED THE RECIPE to make the dish. Exactly. To the letter. Okay, I added a little splash of vanilla extract, but otherwise totally the same. And used some zest as well as the juice of the limes. BUT THAT WAS IT, I PROMISE. I layered and poured and layered again, and you know what? It was terrible! The flavors were excellent, but the consistency lacked...consistency.

It was like a baby had left their teething biscuits in all that milk and then you found this lime-zest-flecked montage-strosity the next day. I must have done something wrong, but I didn't have time to make anything else, so I suffered and brought my soupy mess to the meeting anyway. To everyone's credit, they dutifully tried it. Thankfully, there was a knockout dessert from another member, and all the other dishes were fantastic. But those Maria cookies haunted me. I knew they could be put to better use, and they had paired so well with the creamy milk and the sharp fruitiness of the lime. Heck, they were even delicious on their own! And I still yearned for a layered dessert, something to please the eye as well as the palate:

Fresh Strawberry Cheesecake Parfaits

Ingredients:
10 Maria cookies (or other plain tea biscuits), finely crushed (you should have about 1/2 cup crumbs)
2 Tablespoons butter
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 lb. fresh strawberries, hulled and diced

Melt butter in a skillet over medium-low heat and add cookie crumbs. Stir to coat the crumbs with butter, then continue to toast the crumbs for another 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until fragrant. Let cool completely.

In a small bowl, thoroughly combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract until smooth. Using four glass dishes/containers/wine glasses (about a cup in capacity), place a quarter of the cooled crumbs in each. Carefully add a fourth of the cheese mixture to each dish, and spread slowly to cover the crumbs. Finally, add a fourth of the strawberries and serve!

Notes: The parfaits can be made 2-4 hours in advance and stored, covered, in the fridge until ready to serve. Absolutely use any kind of berry, fruit, or a combination to your taste. Can't be bothered to layer? Just make a double or triple batch of the cheese mixture and serve in a bowl as a dessert dip with sliced fruit and Maria cookies on the side (the cookies are also available in chocolate in many stores). I haven't tested it, but I bet the cookies would make excellent s'mores—if you try it, let us know in the comments!

>o<

Recipe Roundup: The Living Is Easy

Summer is finally, officially here - and while the days will be hot and full of activity, you'll still need to eat eventually, right? Thankfully, produce will be at its best over the coming months. You will want to enjoy most of it as fresh as possible, but here are some alternatives in case your crops runneth over :-)

Heirloom Tomato Cobbler: Yes, that's correct. After all, tomatoes are still a fruit! This is a great savory side dish, and an excellent use for tomatoes that may be a tad past their prime.

Lemon-Rosemary Zucchini Bread: Instead of heavy spices, this zucchini bread uses flavors you might associate with lots of sun, gentle breezes, and breathtaking views of the ocean.

Summer Fruit Cobbler: the sweet version of cobbler you grew up with, and the simplest version of cobbler I know.

Homemade Ice Cream: sinfully easy, and no special equipment needed!

Ginger Beer Highball: Crisp and refreshing, perfect at the end of a long Summer day.

>o<

In The Good Old Summertime

There is nothing like Summer, but it's a bit of a mixed blessing: on the one hand, it's SUMMER - the days are long, your spirit is free, and you're able to enjoy things you can only dream about doing the rest of the year. On the other hand, the weather can be so hot and humid, you may end up cowering in front of a fan or languishing in the cool embrace of your A/C, not daring to move at all.

The yard and garden experience this same conflict, and I'm struck by it every year. One minute, everything looks wonderful, but the next it's scorched and dry. Just a few weeks ago, the flowers in the edible garden were magnificent - the chamomile was sunny and bright, and made for a calming tea in the evenings:

The starry borage blossoms were striking on their tall, hairy stems:

And the nasturtiums were creamy and smooth, belying their peppery bite:

Then, somehow, things started to change, taking on a more barren and forlorn aspect. The echinacea in particular now looks like it was stuck in the oven too long. Even though it's painful to see, I won't cut them down until I'm sure the goldfinches have pecked every last seed out of those cones:

Conversely, weeds and other things seem to thrive and take over, like this luxurious pigweed by my deck. I can't help but admire how healthy it looks, and I almost (almost) hate to chop it down:

But there are some things that don't seem to care how hot it gets and, thankfully, they taste like sweet success. So I'm enjoying them while I can, because before I know it, these too will be just a delicious memory:

>o<

I Scream, You Scream: Homemade "No-Churn" Vanilla Ice Cream

Anyone who knows me can tell you I have an inordinate fondness for ice cream. It's my go-to, out-and-about treat—and many times the outing is premeditated to ensure that ice cream will be consumed at some point during the day. One might think I would own an ice cream maker, but I don't, and for good reason: I would never be seen again. The temptation to make ice cream ALL the time would be too great, and I would become one of those reclusive people who have unusually large quantities of milk, cream and sugar delivered at all hours of the day and night.

But never being able to make some kind of creamy, frozen confection is a little too unfair, especially in the hot months of Summer. I'd seen some recipes around boasting "no-churn" ice creams of various kinds, and searched online until, of course, Martha provided the perfect one. I streamlined the method a bit, and the results were more than spectacular for a mere ten minutes of work:

Homemade "No-Churn" Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients:
2 cups cold heavy cream
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons bourbon (whiskey, cognac, or other—I used homemade vanilla extract made with rum)
OR
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

In a large, deep bowl, stir all ingredients together gently with a spoon until combined. Using an electric mixer, beat mixture until stiff peaks form, about 8-10 minutes (mine did splatter quite a bit until I was able to get enough air into it). Spoon ice cream into containers, cover tightly, and freeze until firm, about six hours. Serve as soon as you possibly can.

Notes: Slightly adapted from this recipe. As mentioned there, it's best to enjoy this kind of ice cream within a week—after that, the structure begins to break down, despite being frozen. I definitely plan to experiment with other flavors and ingredients, especially since dulce de leche is also available in a 14-ounce can :-)

>o<

Just Peachy: Summer Fruit Cobbler

Sometimes Summer's bounty is more robust than you can comfortably manage—that basket of peaches is starting to languish on the counter, berries are starting to shrivel in the fridge, and maybe even a fruit fly (or 20) are starting to eye your goods. Fret not: you can always convert these stragglers into something wonderful!

Summer Fruit Cobbler

Ingredients:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup whole milk
About 2 cups fresh fruit, sliced or chopped (any soft fruit like peaches, nectarines, or berries)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan; set aside.

In a small bowl, stir together sugar, flour, baking powder and salt until combined. Add milk and mix until smooth (the batter will be quite thin). Scrape into prepared pan, top evenly with fruit, and bake for about 40 minutes, or until the cobbler is deeply golden all around the edges and the batter is completely cooked in the center. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes: Don't worry too much about the precise quantity of fruit—I happened to have just three wrinkly peaches when I made this cobbler, and it was delicious. You can certainly use more than one type of fruit, too. Definitely serve with ice cream or whipped cream, if desired!

>o<

High Summer

This is the third in what will hopefully be a four-part series on The High Line. The first part can be found here, and the second part here.

Summer is definitely here and, a few weeks ago, I knew it was time to get back up on The High Line. I was a little anxious - it was going to be fairly hot and sunny, with the potential of being very uncomfortable, to say the least! Thankfully, the humidity was low and there was even a slight breeze, which was just about perfect for this trip. And, as usual, there were beautiful things to see right from the beginning, like this tangerine-hued butterfly milkweed:

Among numerous varieties of aster, this large specimen was playing host to a hungry butterfly of its own:

There were a number of echinaceas to enjoy as well, and they looked handsome planted together in large groups:

The foliage had definitely grown and filled in since Spring, and tracks that were easily seen before looked like a more jaunty and colorful rendition of when they were still abandoned:

As with previous visits, there were things I had never seen before, like the pointed and somewhat alarming buds on this compass plant, which bloom into quite innocent-looking yellow flowers:

And this rattlesnake master, with its milky blooms and open growth habit:

One of the best things bout The High Line is precisely its elevation. It gives even the most mundane objects a new perspective, like this skybridge calmly basking in the sunset:

It was a wonderful day, but I'll tell you a secret: I have a feeling that Fall might turn out to be my favorite time on The High Line, even though the other seasons have been tremendously enjoyable, too. I'm already planning my next visit - after all, it's just a few months away. And, as always, I hope I've convinced you to give it a go yourself, no matter what the season :-)

>o<

Not Like the Other Ones: Heirloom Tomato Cobbler with Parmesan Biscuit Crust

This is a great time of year for fruit cobblers, crisps and crumbles. Nothing beats that warm, bubbling fruit, flaky, buttery topping and a creamy scoop of vanilla...

Wait a minute: what if there were something else? Something more savory, some other kind of fruit? It didn't take me long to make the connection, and here's the result!

Heirloom Tomato Cobbler with Parmesan Biscuit Crust

Filling:
2 lbs. heirloom tomatoes (about 5-6 medium)
1/2 teaspoon thyme or oregano (fresh or dried)
Sprinkle of salt

Crust:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup finely shredded or ground parmesan cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
6 Tablespoons cold butter, cut into small cubes
1/2 cup whole milk


Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Grease an 8-inch square or similar capacity baking pan. Core and slice tomatoes into wedges, lining bottom of pan and overlapping as needed. Sprinkle tomatoes with a bit of salt and the thyme/oregano.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, cheese, baking powder and salt. Grind in pepper as desired. With a pastry blender, cut butter into dry ingredients until it reaches the texture of coarse crumbs. Add milk and stir together with a fork until just combined. Gently knead the dough against the sides and bottom of the bowl to incorporate any remaining bits (it may seem dry at first). On a floured surface, roll or pat dough out to size and shape needed and place over tomatoes, leaving a bit of margin for juices to bubble up around the edges. Cut a steam vent in the center as well. Bake cobbler for 35-40 minutes until crust is golden and tomatoes are completely soft and juicy. Let cool slightly and serve!

Notes: The crust is adapted from the Basic Cobbler Biscuit Dough in Joy of Cooking (Seventh Edition), for use with traditional sweet fruit cobblers. For this cobbler, try experimenting with different cheeses and herbs to your taste. Instead of fresh tomatoes, use leftover sautéed or grilled veggies for the filling. The raw dough can also be cut into squares or other shapes before placing on the filling for a slightly less "rustic" presentation :-)

>o<