Author Archives: Steve

Beet Gratin

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beetsI was visiting a friend yesterday that has a large and wonderful garden, and I particularly noticed her beets, all in nice rows.  We got to talking, and I mentioned an amazing Beet Gratin recipe I have.  Was she interested?  Of course!  So I dug it out, and I am putting it here for perusal.

Sadly I did not create it or write it, etc, but I cannot now find it online, so to allow the world to have this creation I am putting it here.  It was originally Golden Beet Gratin, but I can never find those so I made it with regular beets, and it is the best beet dish I have ever had.

Enjoy!

 

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Beet Gratin
Author: 
Recipe type: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 8-10 servings
 
Best Beet dish I have ever had.
Ingredients
  • 6-8 red beets
  • 2 lb beet greens

  • ¼ cup water
  • 1 Tablespoon salt (for blanching water)

  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • pepper to taste
  • ¾ cup milk
  • 1 large garlic clove, minced
  • ½ cup Gruyere cheese, grated
  • ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
  • 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut greens off beets, leaving ½" of stems. Scrub beets and place in baking dish. Add ¼" water. Cover tightly and bake 35-40 minutes, or until tender. Remove from heat and let cool.
  2. Bring large pot of water to a boil. Stem and wash greens. Add 1 Tablespoon salt to water and blanch greens for a minute or two. Transfer to bowl of cold water, drain, squeeze out water, and chop coarsely. Set aside.
  3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Oil 2-quart gratin dish generously with olive oil. Slip skins off beats and slice thin. Beat eggs, ¾ teaspoon salt, pepper, milk, garlic, and all but two Tablespoons of cheeses. Stir into chopped greens.
  4. Make the gratin. Line bottom of dish with sliced beets, overlapping slightly. Add layer of the greens mixture. Continue to make 2-3 layers, depending on the size of the gratin dish. Be sure the top layer is beet slices. overlapping slightly. Sprinkle remaining 2 Tablespoons of cheese over beets and drizzle with olive oil.
  5. Bake 35-40 minutes, until set and lightly browned. Allow to sit 10-15 minutes before serving, to cool slightly and finish setting the gratin. Serve hot or warm.

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Chocolate Chip CookiesSo we’ve been on a quest for a really good chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Most of the ones that you get out of books are good but we were looking for a great one.  Even going and getting cookies from bakeries they came up a little short.  We’ve looked and looked all over the internet and finally found a great chocolate chip cookie recipe.  We only changed it a little.  Since we are at high altitude it is really important to add more structure to your cookies, meaning you need to add more flour.  If you are at sea level just take half a cup of flour out of the recipe.  There are a lot of chocolate chips in this recipe but it turns out really good.  Photos are Below.  You should definitely try these Chocolate Chip Cookies.  They are awesome.

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Chocolate Chip Cookies
Author: 
Recipe type: cookie
Cuisine: American
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4 dozen
 
Adapted from savorysweetlife.com
Ingredients
  • ½ cup butter
  • ½ cup crisco (I like using the butter flavored)
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1½ cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3¼ cup flour (at sea level 2¾ cups)
  • 1 scant teaspoon kosher salt (3/4 tsp regular salt)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 6 oz mini semi-sweet chips (apprx. 1 cup)
  • 10 oz milk chocolate chips (apprx. 2 cups)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Cream butter, crisco, sugar and brown sugar until light in color and fluffy.
  3. Stir in eggs and vanilla.
  4. Add salt, baking soda, baking powder and half the flour. Mix on low.
  5. While your mixer is on low, slowly add the rest of the flour until all is incorporated.
  6. Fold in chocolate chips. The batter will be thick.
  7. Drop tablespoon heaps onto cookie sheet.
  8. Bake 8-10 minutes, until the edges turn golden brown.

Razz-Ma-Tazz

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I always get high praise for these Razz-Ma-Tazz bars though.  They are really good if you like almond and raspberry.  Even though I took this recipe straight from Nestle, I use Ghirardelli white chips.  For those who need gluten free products, Ghirardelli is a great brand to chose.  When I make these I usually do it in a cookie sheet and triple the recipe.

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Razz-Ma-Tazz
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert Bar
Cuisine: American
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 16
 
Adapted from "Nestle Collection", also on https://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/105108/razz-ma-tazz-bars/
Ingredients
  • ½ cup (1 stick) butter
  • 1 cup white chips
  • 2 large eggs
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 cup white chips (those remaining in the bag)
  • ½ cup raspberry or blackberry jam (seedless if you want)
  • ¼ cup sliced or slivered almonds (or as much as you want)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven 325 degrees
  2. Grease and flour (or sugar) 9x9 baking dish
  3. Melt butter in saucepan or in microwave (in a microwave safe bowl)
  4. Add first cup of white chips to butter and let sit for a couple minutes. You want the chips to melt in the butter so after a few minutes I'll stir it a little to see if it has. Sometimes I need to add more heat so they all melt.
  5. Beat eggs until they lighten in color.
  6. Add sugar and mix again til slightly foamy, a few minutes.
  7. Stir in butter-white chip mix.
  8. Add flour, salt and almond extract and mix until well combined.
  9. Carefully spread ⅔ of the mixture into bottom of pan. You want to try and spread it as evenly as possible, filling in the bottom. While it will melt and spread a little in the oven, it won't spread that much.
  10. Bake 15-17 minutes or until the edges turn a light brown.
  11. Heat jam in microwave to make it spreadable, 30-50 seconds. (Sometimes I have to repeat this a couple times)
  12. Spread jam over warm bottom crust.
  13. Stir the rest of the white chips into the remaining batter.
  14. Drop spoonfuls of batter over jam.
  15. Sprinkle with the almonds.
  16. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until slightly browned on top.
  17. Cool and cut.