Goose Foot Cookies

From 2025 New Years: Steinrichs, TeutschRosens,

and WeisbEnnens

We do have a lot of geese in Chestertown, but not sure I know what their feet look like.

This recipe calls for 8 oz of farmers cheese (1/2 package) and egg yolks, some things that pop up occasionally and need to be used. No need for a mixer. They are kind of a cross between kichel and rugelach. 

Perfect with coffee. 

Found it at Olga's Flavor Factory. 

1 c butter (chilled) - that's 2 sticks!
7.5 – 8 oz farmer’s cheese (ricotta or cottage cheese can be substituted)
2 c all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks

Lemon zest to taste
2 T(cold or chilled)
1/2 c granulated sugar

Over a large bowl, grate the chilled butter on a box grater.
Add the farmer’s cheese and mix to combine. Add the flour and salt.
Whisk the eggs yolks and water slightly, then add to the dough. Use your hands to quickly knead the ingredients together. 
Form the dough into a disc, cover, and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. No need to grease, with all that butter.

Let the dough sit for 10-15 minutes and cut the dough into quarters, then, working with one portion at a time, roll it out thinly on a well floured surface. Take the time to roll it thin as you can.

Use a biscuit cutter (about 3 inches), or an overturned cup or glass (preferably with thin edge) to cut through the dough and press out as much circles from the dough as possible.

Put the sugar into a saucer and press one side of the circle of dough into the sugar.

Fold it in half to form a half moon shape. Press one side into the sugar again, fold it in half and press one of the sides in the sugar. Also dip the folded edges into the sugar.

Place the cookies sugar side up on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes. Check 2/3 of the time
and flip, if the bottoms are burning. Bake the cookies till they are puffed up and golden brown. 

Oven-Baked Latkes

These were decent latkes, and had some unique features.

The first is they were made with potatoes that Micah dug up, literally, from his garden here.

Second, you don't need to peel the potatoes. That's a great hack.

These are oven baked, and tasty, but much lighter than pan-fried. A plus or a minus, depending on your tastes.

And, the parchment paper is brilliant. There is a similar version up at King Arthur. It preheats the oil on the baking sheet, with no parchment paper. Worth trying heating the oiled parchment paper, I think. I doubt it would burn.

Heat oven to 350.

3 large potatoes (you could make one a sweet potato)
1 onion
3 T. flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 egg

Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper. Pour some olive oil on it, and spread with a brush.

Wash but don't peel the potatoes. Grate with a box grater, into a strainer colander. Do the same with the onion. Squeeze as much liquid as possible, pushing it through the mesh. (You can do this in a regular bowl, but the mesh is much easier!)

In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Drop the potato mixture in with an egg, and stir till well mixed.

Drop by flattened large spoonfuls onto the baking sheet. This made 12. Bake at 350 for fifteen minutes. Turn up to 425. Flip and bake another 15 minutes. They do brown and crisp.

They definitely smell like latkes!

Pramila Jayapul's Tofu Satay

This fall during Kamala Harris and Tim Walz's fabulous campaign (which sadly did not result in their getting into office) Washington Rep Pramila Jayapal had a fun fundraiser - if you contributed, she'd send you her recipe, which I couldn't resist doing. It's the best tofu recipe I've tried. 

"I spent 10 years growing up in Indonesia and one of my favorite things was the peanut satay.

Recently, I found a super easy recipe for peanut tofu satay – and I have been obsessed with it since! This peanut satay is great served with brown rice or even a quick fried rice that you can make with day old rice and frozen veggies.

This recipe reminds me of growing up and has been some quick comfort food after long days – which are getting more and more common in this heated election year."

It's not easy - searing the tofu is a lot of effort, but once you have all the oddball ingredients in hand, the sauces are fast.

 

Peanut Tofu Satay

 

3 heaping T peanut butter

 

2/3 c coconut milk (you can freeze the remainder)

 

2 T maple syrup

 

1-2 T sriracha

 

1 T sesame oil

 

3 T soy sauce

 

1 to 2 T grated garlic

 

1 T grated ginger

 

1 lime, juiced - or use lime juice.

 

2 blocks extra firm tofu, drained, dried and cut into 16 evenly sized cubes

 

Oil, salt and pepper as needed

 

1 handful chopped cilantro

 

1/2 c crushed peanuts

 

1 t white and black sesame seeds

 

1 T chili crisp oil

 

Rice for serving

 

In large bowl, whisk together first nine ingredients (peanut butter, coconut milk, maple syrup, sriracha, sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, ginger and lime) along with large pinch of salt and black pepper to taste. Set aside.

Put 3-4 T neutral cooking oil in a cast iron pan on medium high heat and sear the tofu. Season tofu in the pan with large pinch of salt and black pepper to taste. Sear on all four sides about 1-2 minutes per side or until each side is golden brown. (They don't need to be deep brown, as you pour sauce on them and it colors them nicely.)

Pour half the peanut sauce over tofu and continue to flip tofu for another 1-2 minutes per side or until desired texture and color.

 

Serve over rice, finish with remaining peanut sauce, cilantro, sesame seeds and chili crisp oil as well as salt and pepper to taste.

 

 

This campaign would not be possible without supporters like you — together we are building a stronger future.

Thanks again,

 

Pramila

Blueberry Sour Ceam Lemon Bundt

This is similar to the cake I baked for Sender's bris. It is richer, and easier - no weird ingredients. I bake this in two cake pans, and it's a showstopper. So delicious. It's straight from the internet, by Nellie Bellie. You will need lots of lemons!

1 3/4 c flour

1 c whole wheat flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 c butter
2 c sugar
4 large eggs
3  T lemon juice (about 2 large lemons)
2 T lemon zest (about 2 large lemons)
1 t vanilla
1 c sour cream (8 oz)
3 c blueberries, mixed with T flour. (1 and 1/2 pints) 

Icing

1 1/2 T butter, melted
2 c powdered sugar
1/3 c lemon juice
pinch salt

1 T lemon zest

Thin sliced almonds (thin, oval shape, not matchsticks)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and flour two cake pans, bundt and/or tube pans.

In sufficient size bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. (You will add this to the bigger bowl.)
In a large bowl, or stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high for about 3 minutes.
Add your eggs 1 at a time, beating after each addition.
Continue beating, adding a bit of the flour mixture to the egg mixture in intervals, a little at a time.
Add the lemon juice, zest, vanilla, and sour cream. Gently stir these into the batter with a spatula or wooden spoon.
Gently fold in the blueberries.
Spread the batter into the prepared bundt/tube pans.

 
Bake for 55 minutes, check for doneness. If a toothpick in the center doesn't come back clean, put the cake back in for another 10-15 minutes.

Icing

Beat the powdered sugar, lemon juice, salt, and zest together.
Slowly beat in the melted butter into the sugar and lemon combo. Beat until combined well. If it's too thin, add more powdered sugar.
Let cool a bit until the desired consistency for pouring.
Pour over your cake, sprinkle the almond slices, and let cool.

S'more Meringues

Shula had this idea and we found a fun recipe by Jamie Geller. It worked perfectly. We did have leftover melted chocolate and graham cracker crumbs, which we combined and spread out thin. Here's our double recipe.

4 egg whites
2/3 c sugar
1 c graham cracker crumbs (smash in a bag if you don't have them already ground.)
6 oz Hershey's chocolate bars

Heat oven to 215 degrees. Spread a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. These don't spread much at all, so just leaving a little space is enough.

Beat the egg whites, slowly adding the sugar, until stiff an glossy.

Drop a tablespoon of batter and pull up the spoon so it has a nice twisty top. Shula took a butter knife and made shapes and designs.

Bake for 90 minutes. Leave in the oven overnight if you do these in the evening.

Melt the chocolate on the induction burner set at 2. Stir while melting; it goes fast.

Set the cracker crumbs on a small plate. It's fine if there are some bigger pieces. Dip each meringue in the melted chocoate and then set it on the crumbs. Put them on their sides to harden. You can refrigerate.

Very pretty! 

Blackberry Cobbler

I predict we'll be making this often. Micah's blackberry bushes are producing prodigious amounts of lucious blackberries, and their ripening is staggered throughout the summer. It's pretty quick to pick a quart of blackberries in this orchard!

It's from a The HIllbilly Kitchen, a very simple concept!

Spray a flat ovenproof dish. I use a Dansk round metal casserole or a ceramic casserole.

Preheat oven to 375.

Lots of 1s in this recipe.

1 quart berries - splashed with 1 t. vanilla
1 egg
1 stick of butter, melted
1 cup flour/s (any combination - you can include some oats)
1 cup sugar

Place the berries in the pan, splash the vanilla on them.

In a bowl, combine the flour, egg, and sugar until it's crumbly, with a big fork or fingers.

Drop it on the berries.

Pour the melted butter over the top. Sprinkle a little sugar on top (optional).

Bake for about 30 minutes.

Norwegian Crepe Pancakes

These were inspired by my going to NetCost, a super store in NE Philly specializing in Russian and Eastern European foods. They had a huge section of "preserves", many from Israel with Hebrew and Russian. They are a genre of fruit somewhere between what we call jam and pie filling. I brought some cherry preserves and then tried to figure out what to do with them. Rolling them up in a crepe is perfect. Three or four make a very nice meal.

These remind David of the thin pancakes his Aunt Ruth made in Salt Lake, rolled up with fruits. Happily so!

It's from How to Feed a Loon, two guys with a blog and lots of YouTubes. I have modified it, using more whole wheat, natch.

3 eggs
1½ c whole milk (up to 1/3 can be buttermilk)
1 c all-purpose flour (half white, half whole wheat)
¼ t salt
1 t sugar
¼ t cardamom ground, optional
1 t vanilla 
2 T butter melted, plus more for the pan
Preserves or jam, for spreading and rolling. Optional: ricotta cheese.
For a savory crepe: chop an onion, saute, and throw in a lot of fresh spinach. Add a little grated cheese. Yum!

Use a hand mixer or a blender, mixing the eggs and milk til smooth

Add the flour, salt, sugar, cardamom, vanilla extract, and melted butter, and continue mixing until most of the lumps are gone.

Heat two 9 to 10-inch skillets over medium heat and coat with a small amount of butter (about 1 tsp). Swirl the pan until the pan is fully coated.

Scoop about ⅓ cup of the batter and then pour into the center of the skillet, immediately swirling the pan until most of the batter has been distributed along the bottom of the pan. You can do this with the bottom of a 1/3 c measure.

Cook until the edges begin to curl up slightly and some bubbles begin to appear, usually about 2 minutes. Carefully slip a rubber (or silicone) spatula under the side of the pancake and flip.
Cook for another minute and then transfer the pancake to a serving plate. I put the tray in the Breville, without heat, closed - the steam keeps them warm.

This makes about 8. They go pretty fast!

If desired, roll the pancakes, or serve flat with toppings on the side.