When I was writing my post about New England Clam Chowder, I kept running across the instructions that it should authentically be served with Common Crackers. I had no idea what they were. After all, I grew up in Minnesota, lived in Chicago and moved to L.A., where I have been ever since. I went to Boston for a weekend once, and touched down at the Bangor, Maine, airport on my way to Europe in 1976. But I never ran into any common crackers in my travels.

And then I recalled a recipe I had filed away back in the day for some kind of New England cracker and, after a huge search in my file cabinet, Eureka! I found it and it was for the Common Cracker! God, I’m good. Anyway, there was no picture for what they looked like, so I looked on-line and discovered that Common Crackers were first made in Vermont in 1828. Over the years, nationwide, they became the standard symbol of the country store. No rural store was complete without the “cracker barrel” near the cheese counter where people would have casual conversations and idle talk (I think it’s called gossip). Families would buy these crackers by the barrel, containing about 1,200 crackers, which would last a year stored in a handy place for frequent family eating. Common crackers were crumbled into cold milk for supper or a snack with a hunk of cheddar cheese on the side. There are stories about a game played by people waiting for the evening stage. Each would eat a dry cracker and see who could whistle first.

Julia Child once wrote, “As any New Englander knows, you can’t enjoy a real New England chowder without toasted common crackers.”

The first step was to make a yeast/flour starter which sits at room temperature for 24 to 60 hours. I didn’t photograph this step. The batter got big bubbles, doubled in size, then collapsed and separated into solid and liquid. It was also dynamic and exciting as the gas produced blew the cover off twice with a loud pop. Next a mixture was made of shortening, potato flakes, brown sugar, baking soda, lemon juice and water. You can see it in the photo above left. A cup of the starter was mixed with flour with fork and kneading,  and rested for an hour in the middle photo above. And last the shortening mixture was kneaded into the starter ball in a KitchenAid and another cup of flour added, to make a stiff ball.

The ball of dough was quartered and one part rolled out to 3/8-inch thickness.

The sheet of dough was run through a pasta machine on the widest setting and folded in thirds letter-style a total of six times. A 1 ¼-inch biscuit cutter was used to cut circles of dough and placed on a sheet pan.

The recipe made 108 little firm puffy crackers for me, a bunch of which I split with a sharp little knife, buttered liberally and toasted under the broiler until they turned a lovely golden brown color. Do not make the mistake I made by tasting these little buttery beauties, because you cannot eat just one. They are absolutely addicting. Just crumble them up in your clam chowder. You’ll be so happy you did.

Warm Gingerbread, scented with molasses, ginger, cinnamon and cloves, with sweet cold Cider Sabayon gracefully flowing down its side, was what I made for our Thanksgiving dessert this year. It was a not-too-heavy, but lovely end to our feast. Our groaning board held the traditional turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, plus my Roasted Carrot and Avocado Salad, and Beet and Carrot Salad with Pomegranate Molasses. Oh, and don’t forget the Sweet Buttery Cornbread. We were all pretty much groaning ourselves by the end. But it was worth it!

I made this Gingerbread for my final test for my first pastry and baking class in culinary school. The test was really about the Sabayon, which we had learned to make in that class. My finished dish also included some warm apple slices that had been sautéed in butter and finished with Calvados. They were spooned around the base of the Gingerbread and added another apple flavored layer to the whole dish.

I also made this Sabayon for a culinary school banquet dessert for 100 people. You can read the whole story of that banquet, with photos of the event. Below is a photo of the dessert with the Sabayon, Raspberry Coulis, Berries and cookies that I made for that banquet. It’s from a film camera and scanned into digital, but you get the idea. I have also served this Sabayon in pretty glasses layered with berries for a light summer dessert.

You wouldn’t think a thing as wonderful as cornbread would be something people would be ready to get in a fight over. But I have heard it said that there is something called Real Cornbread, that has no wheat flour or sugar and is baked in a cast iron pan. That is Southern Cornbread and it is made from cornmeal, egg, milk or buttermilk, and bacon drippings or lard. If it has wheat flour and sugar, these guys call it “light cornbread” or Northern Cornbread, and they scoff. There is no sugar in cornbread below the Mason Dixon Line. Period.

Well, my cornbread has wheat flour and sugar, so I guess it would be considered Northern Cornbread. However, it is baked in a cast iron pan, so maybe it could be called a hybrid. My cornbread also has more butter than any other recipe I have ever seen. It is baked at a higher temperature and for a shorter length of time than any other I’ve seen. It is also, I have to say it, better tasting than any other cornbread I have ever eaten. You can beat me up now.

If you don’t believe me, then let me tell you a true story. I took this cornbread to a potluck and put it out on the table with all the other dishes. A little while later I saw a lady pick up my platter and start going around to all the other guests at the party. She would stop by each one and whisper in their ear, “You have to try this cornbread…”  Ok, enough of my own horn blowing. Moving on.

When I decided to write about cornbread, I did some research on-line. Did you know if you google cornbread there are over 8 million results? I had to laugh. My recipe will be like a piece of straw in a haystack. I also found that there aren’t really any great photos of cornbread. It just isn’t photogenic. It has no sharp edges, it is a uniform light color and looks like yellow blocks that do not reflect light. My photos fit in perfectly with everyone else’s – fuzzy dull yellow rectangles. Sorry. But I was thinking what else I could do with it, like serve a creamed shrimp sauce over it, or cut it up in cubes and bake it into salad croutons. Or dry it out and crumble it up to make cornbread stuffing for turkey. I have a bunch frozen in my freezer, so stay tuned.

The inspiration for this Salmon Tart came from a photo I had in my file. I have a big collection of food photos going back about twenty years and I have no idea where I saved them from. I had been wanting to create this dish since I started my blog, because it was so pretty, and recently I had some good mangoes on hand and I decided to get busy. The photo showed pea shoots and I really liked the way they looked, so I went on a big hunt to find some. Ralphs, Bristol Farms and Whole Foods didn’t have any and I finally discovered them at a nearby Korean market. I found the Pillsbury pie crust at Bristol Farms, which is a big circle of dough rolled into a tube, and the salmon roe was finally located at Whole Foods. It took me about a week to collect everything I needed. Actually my first set of mangoes died and had to be replaced. But today I had everything I needed, at last.

I made the tart shells about a week ago and stored them in an air-tight container at room temperature. Above you can see the unbaked and baked shells.The tart pans I used were 3 ¾ inches in diameter on the bottom and 4 inches at the widest on top. I made a paper template circle 5 ½ inches in diameter to cut out the dough rounds with a paring knife. I cut parchment paper circles 3 ¾ inches in diameter to line the inside of the dough. I used the paring knife to trim the excess dough from the pan rims so it was flush. I used aluminum pie weights, but you can use rice or dried beans if you prefer. I stored the tart shells in the pans so they wouldn’t break. I think the next time I make these I will make some pate brisee so there will be that buttery flavor component.

When I was making this, I tasted as I went along to see how the different parts fit together. As soon as the salmon was out of the pan, I put a bite in a big spoon with some crème fraiche and mango salsa to see how it worked together. And Lynne said, it was damn good. It occurred to me that just those three ingredients together in a Chinese soup spoon would make a really delicious amuse-bouche. Maybe garnish it with a wisp of pea shoot. (Sorry for subjecting you to my stream of consciousness here.) I had a lot of fun with this project, so I hope you enjoy the photos.

My Mom used to make Banana Bread when I was a kid from a recipe in her Betty Crocker Cookbook. It was dense and good, and we would top it with a spread made of cream cheese and crushed pineapple mixed together. Banana Bread is definitely a comfort food for me, which I have needed in my life lately for some reason. Maybe because winter seems to be going on and on, or I’m in the middle of a law suit about my roof. Who knows. Today I needed Banana Bread. Slathered with cold butter.

This recipe I got from a friend about 30 years ago. She brought it to a Pot Luck where we worked and after just one bite, I knew I had to have the recipe. It was moist with a soft crumb texture that melted in my mouth, not dense like the banana bread I had grown up with. I was so lucky she shared this recipe with me and it has been my go-to recipe ever since. Sorry Mom. The dates were not in the original recipe, but were added by me to jazz it up a little. The dates give it an almost liquor-like flavor. However, if you are not a date person, leave them out, or add a half cup of chocolate chips. Be creative. But make this for sure. You’ll be really glad you did.

A few posts back we made these terrific little tartlet shells, and proceeded to fill them with lemon curd with little bee decorations. I had quite a few tart shells left over that I froze, so they were already made and waiting expectantly for their next incarnation.

In those posts I suggested several other options for filling the tartlet shells, one of which was banana slices and whipped cream. Sort of a banana cream pie, Lilliputian size. I wanted them to be sort of fancy and whimsical, so I decided to pipe some white chocolate in silly little shapes to enhance them. You may notice that the intricate shapes have a “tongue” piped on the bottom for inserting into whatever you are decorating.

First I drew some designs with a pen on the back of some parchment paper. I turned it over and put it on a cookie sheet. I put about an inch of water in a sauce pan and got it simmering and put a stainless steel bowl on top. I put about a cup of Ghirardelli’s white chocolate chips in the bowl and stirred for about 5 minutes until it was melted. I made a piping cone from a 9-inch square, which is a couple of inches bigger than the one used for the bees. Then I scooped the chocolate into the piping cone, cut off the tiniest point and traced over the penned designs. I still had quite a bit of white chocolate left in the piping cone, so I piped a bunch of free form shapes in between the original ones.

The chocolate took about two hours to set, but still wasn’t really hard. It has been about 90 degrees and it was affecting the chocolate. So I put it in the refrigerator to get really hard. Removing the chocolate from the parchment paper was sort of tricky. You have to peel the parchment away from the chocolate, not peel the chocolate away from the parchment. By this I mean, don’t have the parchment flat and try to lift the chocolate off. It will break. Hold the parchment in your hands and slowly peel it away from the chocolate pieces. Keep the gewgaws on the sheet in the refrigerator until you are ready to use them.

Next I whipped the cream to stiff peaks with a little sugar and put it in a piping bag with a star tip. I sliced a banana in thin slices and piped some of the cream in the tart shells. The banana slices were inserted in the cream and more whipped cream piped in between. And then the white chocolate gewgaws were inserted into the whipped cream. Voila.

Yesterday my plan was to make these Mini Tartlet Shells and photograph them. Next I was going to make the Lemon Curd and fill the tart shells. A couple of weeks ago I made the Little Buttercream Bees that were going to embellish their tops. Then I was going to photograph the finished tarts and write my blog about the whole thing. Well, guess what, that isn’t what happened.

Here you can see the 2-inch mini brioche tins and the ball of dough.

You fill a ½-tablespoon measure with dough, which is then rolled into a ball and placed in a tin.

I made the tart shells and photographed the process. Then just to make sure they were ok, I looked at them on my computer monitor. I take a lot of photos, hand held, so I have no idea what the photos are like until I see them on my screen. I mean, how interesting are tart shells, really. On a scale of 1 to 10, they’re a 1 at best. But this bunch of photos of the tart shell process were really interesting to me. Usually I photograph one food item at a time. If they’re small and alike, maybe three items. But here I had 24 small metallic brioche tins. That were also shiny. When they were lined up on the baking sheet, all of a sudden there were these visual patterns that were mesmerizing. And I had to show you… forget about the lemon curd.

Here you can see how to press the dough into the brioche tin. Poke a hole in the middle with your finger and start spreading it up the sides. Make sure when you’re done that it is flat on top.

This photo was a complete surprise to me. When I looked at it for the first time, I said to myself, “Whoa, that’s gorgeous.” I don’t mean to be blowing my own horn here, because I have no plan when I shoot and the way the photos turn out is a complete surprise to me. I think I’m going to print this out, frame it and hang it in my kitchen.

While your first batch of shells is baking, you can measure out and roll up the dough for the next batch.

This photo has been endlessly fascinating to me and is the optical illusion I discovered hiding in my photos.  The first time I looked at it, all of the wells were in-ies. The next time I looked at it, the upper left corner well was an in-ie and all the rest of the wells were out-ies. Now when I look at it, I can get one well to be an in-ie if I really concentrate on it, but when I blink it is an out-ie. I cannot get two side by side wells to be in-ies no matter how hard I concentrate. Our brain is such a mysterious thing. How do you perceive the wells?

I was doing some research on patterns and why the human brain likes them, which you may enjoy reading:

James Kent says: “If there’s one thing the human brain loves, its ordered patterns. The brain likes audio patterns (rhythms); visual patterns (stripes, mandalas, mosaics); syntactic patterns (language, logical formulas, melodies); interpretive patterns (charts, graphs, symbols); metabolic patterns (respiration, hormonal pulses, circadian rhythms, action potentials); behavioral patterns (routines, habits); etc. In fact, it is not a stretch to say the brain’s entire function is ordered pattern recognition, memory, and recall. That’s it.”

And if you are weird like me and want to read more about patterns, particularly Fibonacci numbers, you can go here at World Mysteries. I thought this was very thought provoking.

Ok, so back to the Mini Tartlet Shells. Here they are in all their golden glory and the recipe is below. Next I will make the lemon curd, fill them and some little bees will be landing on top.

The theme for the Saturday Tea class this week at Grace-Marie’s Kitchen at Bristol Farms in Manhattan Beach was Back to School Autumn Tea. This week the menu was Autumn Harvest Brandy Pear Cake, Apple and Cheddar Bread,  Autumn Berry Tapioca Parfaits, Caramelized Onion and Brie Croissants, End of Summer Zucchini Soup and Smoked Salmon Tomato Cups. This is Part Two with the second two recipes from that class. I want to post about all of the recipes because every one was wonderful.

Just for your information, the new class schedule just came out that goes through January 25, 2011. Oh my gosh, time is just spinning along, isn’t it. If you click over to the new class schedule on the Bristol Farms website, you will also notice that you can have your special event at Grace-Marie’s Kitchen. You can have tailor-made classes for Birthdays, Weddings, or Baby showers, Anniversaries, Office Parties and Homeschooling. Grace-Marie would help make your event so much fun, and of course, the food would be great.

Here you can see Grace-Marie cutting the Apple and Cheddar Bread she made for us. This bread was moist and a little sweet from the apple and cheesy from the Cheddar. There was a Holiday note from the minced sage and I can imagine this bread toasted, grilled or sautéed in a little butter. It has a marvelous texture and I ate mine for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Yum.

Here are the wonderful ladies who came to tea. I know they had a good time, because they were talking and laughing a lot. And eating and drinking tea!

Next Grace-Marie demonstrated how to make the Autumn Harvest Brandy Pear Cake. First the pears were sautéed in butter and brown sugar, and then poured into a parchment lined pan.

The cake batter was made and poured over the pears and baked for about 30 minutes. It was cooled for 10 minutes and inverted onto a serving platter. This cake has a really nice texture from the addition of a little cornmeal. And what is better than a moist, caramelized pear-covered cake with a big dollop of whipped cream. I think I’m making this for my Christmas dinner buffet!

For additional recipes from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen, look under Categories in the right-hand column.

Grace-Marie Johnston

For more information about the cooking classes visit Grace-Marie online at Bristol Farms or email her at gmj@bristolfarms.com.

I get such a kick out of making miniature decorations for my baking projects. One of my favorite are these little bumble bees made with buttercream frosting, chocolate piping and almond slices. I have used them many times to decorate my mini lemon tarts, which I will be posting about in the very near future. But in order to make these little bees, first you have to be able to make a parchment paper cone to pipe the chocolate.

A parchment paper piping cone is a really handy tool to know how to make, because it can be used for fine writing on cakes, or directly on a plate. You could also make them in a larger size and use them for any piping job where a ziplock bag with the corner sniped off is too flimsy, and you don’t need the heavy-duty structure of a pastry bag and tip. You can use them to make chocolate decorations that are piped on parchment paper, hardened and pressed to the icing.

Cut an 8-inch square of parchment and cut it in half diagonally. Put the two end points together and press down on the center, making a small fold to mark the point where the tip of the cone will be.

With the long side facing you, curl the right point around to the left inside to make a cone and matching the two points at the top, with the tip of the cone where your mark is on the bottom. Slide the paper around up and down a little, making sure there is no opening in the tip. Then take the left point and curl it around to the right and back, matching up the points. All three points should be in the same place now. There should be no space between the inner and outer cone. Fold the points down into the inside of the cone, so it is even with the rest of the upper edge, to secure the structure. Congratulations. Well done.

Break off a couple pieces of your chocolate, about 3 tablespoons, and put them in the cone. I used a Scharffen Burger Semi Sweet bar, but any semi sweet or bitter sweet chocolate will do. Flatten the top of the cone, bend down the corners and then fold the top over two times. Set this aside until later.

Now you need to make a parchment covered cardboard platform on which to pipe out your bees. I used part of a cardboard box cut into an 8×10” rectangle. It needs to be sturdy, so the thickness of a file folder is not enough. I folded the parchment paper around the board and taped it to the back.

Get your piping bag with a plain ¼-inch tip ready. Make the buttercream frosting, which is the same used for the Twirly Lemon Cookies I made a few posts ago. The recipe is below, and I have left out the lemon zest so the surface of the bees will be smooth. Pipe 3/4-inch lengths of frosting on the board. Use a knife to slice off the frosting as it comes out to the desired length. I used my finger to round the head end and pinched the other end into a slight point.

Now you will take your piping cone with the chocolate inside and microwave it for 30 seconds on high. Take it out and press it between your fingers. If it feels all melted, good. If not and you still feel a lump, microwave it for about 10 seconds more.

Now this is the tricky part: cutting the tip off the cone. You want to cut a miniscule piece off the tip. Then test it on a napkin or paper plate. If the opening needs to be bigger, cut off another teenyweeny piece. If you cut off too much, you will have to start over with a new cone.

Pipe two stripes across the back of each bee, starting and finishing as close to the parchment as possible. It takes a steady hand, but doesn’t need to be perfect. This is supposed to be fun, remember. Put two little dots for the eyes.

Separate out the good almond slices, trying to match up pairs that are the same size. If they are really big, cut off one end so your bee doesn’t look like a dragon fly. You can see how I cut mine in the photo above. Stick the wings into the body at a jaunty angle. Step back and admire your work. Grin.

Supply List
parchment paper
8×10” piece of heavy cardboard
tape
pastry bag fitted with a ¼-inch open plain tip
frosting, recipe below
chocolate, semi or bitter sweet, bar
sliced almonds, ¼ cup package

This Maple-Pecan Bread is beautifully flavored with maple syrup and when you take it out of the oven, your whole house will be filled with that wonderful smell. It is so good to eat when it is still warm, spread just with butter, along with coffee and believe me, your brunch guests will be giving you compliments and asking for the recipe.

What would we do without maple syrup? How would we eat our pancakes, waffles or French toast, not to mention using it in ice cream, hot cereal, baked beans, sweet potatoes, cakes, pies, candy and caramel sauce. When you see a stack of pancakes with a pat of butter on it, with the maple syrup running down the sides, your mouth automatically starts to water. So where does maple syrup come from?

Native Americans in northeastern North America taught the European colonists how to tap certain maple trees and boil the sap into syrup. Now Canada makes 80% of the world’s maple syrup, with the vast majority coming from Quebec. Vermont is the biggest U.S. producer (920 thousand gallons in 2009). Maine and New York are the next biggest producers. The maple leaf is on the Canadian flag and it is the state tree of New York and Vermont.

Maple syrup is made by boring holes in sugar maple tree trunks into which tubes are inserted, allowing the sap to flow into buckets. Or plastic tubing with a partial vacuum is used and the sap is pumped into holding tanks, then taken to a sugarhouse where it is boiled in evaporators until it has the correct density of 66% sugar. If the density is too low it will spoil. If it is too high the syrup will crystallize in the bottles. It takes about 10 gallons of sap to make one quart of maple syrup.

Another way to use this bread is to make sandwiches, like this one, which has melted Teleme or soft Jack cheese topped with thick slices of crisp Applewood smoked bacon.

Or use it as a base for lovely little appetizers covered with a mixture of cream cheese and minced dried apricots and a crisp slice of apple or pear.