Anise, Ginger and Lemon Madeleines with Lemon Glaze

The Spice House challenge has been one of my favorites to date mainly due to the fact that I love playing with flavors and wholeheartedly admit I am a spice-aholic.

I recently came across a perfect madeleine recipe from Annie Rigg’s Summer Berries & Autumn Fruits book that I adapted to make these. Now that I have found a great recipe, I will be experimenting more with flavors. These little cakes are absolutely perfect! I hope you try them.

Anise, Ginger and Lemon Madeleines with Lemon Glaze
by Jenny Blogging at The Cookbook Junkies
Makes about 20

For the madeleine:
10 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of The Spice House China "Number One" Ginger Powder
1/4 teaspoon of The Spice House Spanish Anise, ground
3 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
The zest of one lemon

For glaze:
The juice of one lemon
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
Dash of ginger or anise

Melt the butter and using a pastry brush, thoroughly butter the cavities of two 12-count madeleine pans. After you have buttered the cavities, dust with a little flour, tap out the excess, then place in the refrigerator while you prepare the batter.

Sift the flour, baking powder, ground ginger and anise together in a bowl and set aside. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs, sugar, and salt for about five minutes until thick and doubled in volume. Add the zest and mix.

Using a large metal spoon and a figure-eight motion, fold in the sifted dry ingredients into the egg and sugar mixture. Carefully pour the melted butter around the edges of the bowl and fold in. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes while you preheat the oven to 375°F.

Drop a rounded tablespoon of batter into the middle of each madeleine cavity and spread to fill. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for about 12 minutes until risen and golden.

Meanwhile, prepare the glaze: Whisk together the lemon juice, dash of spice and confectioners’ sugar until smooth. You may have to adjust the amount of sugar or liquid to get the right consistency.

Pop the madeleines onto a wire rack, let cool for a couple of minutes, and then carefully dip the grooved top of the madeleine into the glaze or if you like, carefully dip the entire madeleine into the glaze.

Maple Pecan Baklava

The word baklava means “many leaves”. I have always loved this Middle Eastern treat, but was hesitant to make it. A few weeks ago I did a review of a Middle Eastern cookbook and made the baklava rolo and ended up making a small pan of traditional baklava as well. It wasn’t very difficult and my family loved it.

At that point, I had decided that a pecan pie-like baklava might be a good idea and when this 37 Cooks challenge became available I jumped at a chance to be creative with The Spice House spices. In the past, I’ve ordered several times from this company and love their attention to detail and their fast service. In addition to the Maple Extract and Cake Spice mix, I ordered a few other items – I need to add that their Asian Flavors Gift Box spice collection is one of the most flavorful spice collections I have tried to date. I have used those spices a great deal in my savory cooking.

Now back to baking, I ended up making an 8 x 8 pan of the pecan baklava and used the remainder of the filling to make a baklava rolo. Photos of both of these treats are shown here and for directions for the baklava rolo, you can check out the recipe here.

Maple Pecan Baklava
by Jenny Blogging at The Cookbook Junkies

Syrup:

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon of The Spice House Maple Flavoring

Filling:

3 cups of chopped pecans
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons of maple syrup

1 tablespoon of The Spice House Cake Spice

1 pound (about 24 sheets) phyllo dough
About 1 cup (2 sticks) melted butter

1. To make the syrup: Stir the sugar, water, and maple flavoring in a small sauce pan over low heat until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Stop stirring, increase the heat to medium, and cook until the mixture is slightly syrupy, about 10 minutes. Let cool.

2. To make the filling: Combine all the filling ingredients in a food processor – and pulse roughly five times – until the mixture is finely chopped.

3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 13-by-9-inch baking pan.

4. Place a sheet of phyllo in the prepared pan and lightly brush with butter. Repeat with 2 more sheets. Spread about a 1/4 cup of the mixture on top of the sheets. Repeat this step roughly 4 times until you have reached about a half inch from the top of the pan. The top should have two sheets of phyllo lightly brushed with butter. Trim any overhanging edges.

5. Using a sharp knife, cut 6 equal lengthwise strips (about 1 3/4 inches wide) through the top layer of pastry. Make 1 1/2-inch-wide diagonal cuts across the strips to form diamond shapes.

6. Just before baking, lightly sprinkle the top of the pastry with cold water. This inhibits the pastry from curling. Bake for 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 300°F and bake until golden brown, about 15 additional minutes.

7. Cut through the scored lines. Drizzle the cooled syrup slowly over the hot baklava and let cool for at least 4 hours. Cover and store at room temperature for up to 1 week. If the baklava dries out while being stored, drizzle with a little additional hot syrup.

Pressure Cooker Cheese Sauce Slow Cooker - Macaroni and Cheese

Macaroni and cheese is a dish that goes over well with everyone in my circle of friends and family. I’m known for my variations on this dish as I do not shy away from getting creative with flavors. I’ve never attempted to make macaroni and cheese in the slow cooker or pressure cooker, so when we were notified about the Instant Pot challenge, I decided now was as good a time as any to experiment.

Instant Pot has made many cooks' lives much easier. I know friends who have two or three pots and use the appliance at least once a day. I’ve made steamed rice, pot roast and a chicken dish in my Instant Pot and was pleased with the results (really pleased I didn’t have any of those dishes on the ceiling of my kitchen). As I began to experiment with the pot the last week, I’m annoyed with myself that I don’t use it more – it really is a spectacular appliance.

Back to the recipe, a major problem with some macaroni and cheese dishes made in a slow cooker, or even made the traditional way, is the texture or consistency of the finished product – who wants a giant bowl of mushy pasta? Not me.

The way to get around this is to make the cheese sauce first in the pressure cooker and then add the pasta in the slower cooker to cook for a short amount of time. These two steps can even be done on separate days. I’ve made sauce in the Instant Pot, refrigerated it, and added the pasta in the next day to slow cook (or bake in the oven). The benefit to making the sauce in the Instant Pot is that there is no grating necessary, no whisking, no standing over the stove, no warming the milk. The Instant Pot does it all!

Pressure Cooker - Cheese Sauce
Slow Cooker - Macaroni and Cheese
by Jenny Blogging at The Cookbook Junkies

For the sauce:
7 ounces of sharp cheddar, cut into cubes
7 ounces of horseradish cheddar (or any flavor you prefer), cut into cubes
10 ounces of mild cheddar, cut into cubes
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
1 cup of heavy cream
1 1/2 cups of whole milk
1 teaspoon of ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon of fresh ground nutmeg

Place the above ingredients in the Instant Pot, secure the lid and select the Soup program – reduce time to 12 minutes – natural release. Twenty minutes later, I removed the lid and stirred the sauce.

To make the macaroni portion:
Add one pound of uncooked pasta to the pot – I used large rigatoni shapes this time. Stir to combine, make sure there is enough sauce to cover the pasta (you can add a little more whole milk if necessary). Place the glass slow cooker lid on the Instant Pot, select slow cooker for one hour. 

After one hour, the noodles were al dente and perfect for us. If you like your pasta a little less firm, extend the time 30 minutes, or allow the warm function to remain on for 30 minutes. 

Note: The glass slower cooker lid needs to be ordered separately and does not come with the pot.

Meet our newest cook, Jenny!

Hi, I’m Jenny. I love cookbooks and have a bit of a cookbook addiction. Everyone: “Hi Jenny!” Cookbooks are inspirational to me in my meal planning. I love to try new recipes and often change up recipes to make them my own. For as long as I can remember I have always loved cooking, cookbooks and anything that has to do with the kitchen. My love of cookware, tart pans and rolling pins is bordering on scary – but only for my husband. He fears I may move him out to make more room.

My mother was not much of a cook. Out of high school and working for a doctor, I often would babysit he and his wife’s little daughter. The doctor’s wife was an incredible cook and always had some tasty, exotic dish in the refrigerator for me to snack on. She also had a cookbook collection and when she purged some titles – I was happily lugging a dozen cookbooks home and that is where the cookbook love started with me. One of those titles is still in my collection, Miss Hulling’s Favorite Recipes – I can’t part with it – it was my gateway to all things cooking.

After Andrew, my eleven year old, was born, I started a Facebook group called, The Cookbook Junkies in order to socialize and share my passion. Today, we are nearly 22,000 members and growing. I review cookbooks at my website of the same name, The Cookbook Junkies, and also have a weekly column for TasteBook. The true benefit of starting The Cookbook Junkies besides the career I am able to achieve at home, has been the incredible friends I’ve met in real life and online. A few of these friends are members of the 37 Cooks team.

Home cooked meals are preferred over almost anything we can purchase at a restaurant. My favorite cuisines are anything international but being married to a man of simpler tastes, I cook a great deal of comfort food. Always on a quest to cure my husband’s anti-potato issue (really, who doesn’t like potatoes – some Irish man he is), when I saw these Cleveland Stuffed Potatoes on Food Network, I’d thought I’d give them a try. They incorporate a lot of ingredients that my son and husband enjoy – kielbasa, cheese, cole slaw – what’s not to love?

These stuffed potatoes were easy to throw together and so tasty. Perfect football food and a great appetizer for a party. We had them for dinner with a salad – and they were fantastic!

Cleveland Stuffed Potatoes 
By Jenny Hartin 
The Cookbook Junkies ™
Adapted from Patricia Heaton's recipe on the Food Network

6 medium sized russet potatoes, scrubbed clean
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 ounces kielbasa, diced
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cups coleslaw salad mix
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
4 scallions, chopped, 3 Tablespoons of the sliced greens reserved for garnish
2 cups shredded cheese, divided
About 1/2 cup barbecue sauce, divided

1 Tablespoon of honey mustard or stone ground mustard
1 jalapeño sliced thin

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Poke several holes in the potatoes with a fork, place on a baking sheet and rub with the olive oil and a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper. Bake until a fork easily pierces the flesh, about 1 hour. Let cool slightly.

Put the diced kielbasa in a large skillet with the oil and then turn the heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the fat starts to render, and the sausage is golden in places, about seven minutes. Add the coleslaw mix and stir until just wilted, about four minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.

Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop out the flesh, leaving a wall of potato and skin so they can hold on to the filling you will be spooning in soon. Add the potato to the bowl with the kielbasa mixture and stir in the butter, scallions, 1 cup of shredded cheese, 1/4 cup of the barbecue sauce, 1 tablespoon of mustard and 1 teaspoon salt. Season with salt and pepper.

Put the stuffed potato on the baking sheet and spoon the filling into them. Sprinkle the remaining cheese evenly over the tops. Bake until the cheese is melted and the tops are browned in spots, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle the tops with the reserved scallions and sliced jalapeños and serve immediately.

Can be served with extra barbecue sauce on the side.