Cheese Crackers!

I am ashamed to admit that I LOVE goldfish crackers & Annie's cheddar bunnies!! I really don't know why but I simply can not stop eating them & must buy them whenever I see it in the stores. While Annie's cheddar bunnies might be way better for you than the goldfishes, it also have a not-so-cheap price tag. As a Pastry chef, I must admit I had been constantly wondering IF I can find a recipe for it & make it at home. Well, today is the day!! I had found a simple recipe online from Cupcake Project, simple ingredients, no funky business, it's a recipe that all Moms will feel great to give their children.

The recipe is called for all purpose flour but you can definitely make it healthier by subbing 1/2 C of the flours with whole wheat flour or even gluten free flours. I rolled the dough out between 2 sheets of plastic to prevent it from getting tough due to increasing amount of flour being rolled into the dough, and refrigerated the dough between roll out so it doesn't get too soft & sticky. Make sure to dip the cookie cutter into flours every now and then so it doesn't stick to the dough. It can be cut into any shapes so I used my existing bunny shape cutter for this.




Cheese Crackers

1 C Flour (or 1/2 C AP & 1/2 C whole wheat flour)
8oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese, grated or finely shredded
4 T Cold butter, cubed
1/4 t Salt
1/4 t Pepper (omit if you prefer the more traditional cheesy flavor)

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor, pulse until it form a dough
2. Wrap the dough in plastic & chill in fridge for 30 - 45 minutes
3. Roll dough out to 1/4" thick & cut it w/ cookie cutters of your choice.
   
4. Bake at 350 F for 15 - 20 minutes. Cool before store in tightly sealed container
   

Strawberry Jam!

The wonderful Oregon strawberry




Strawberry is in season, especially those tiny little Oregon strawberries. They may not be much a looker, but definitely big on favors! I made 1 flat of jam each summer to last me through the long raining winter that we get at Oregon. Since Oregon strawberries are very sweet so I use half/no sugar pectin. I prefer freezer jam over traditional cooked jam, simply because it allows the jam to keep the bright colors of strawberries and taste of summer (maybe just my imagination!).

When it comes to jam making, you definitely need to follow the instruction of the pectin package closely, otherwise, you will end up w/ unset jam (sauce). When that happened, don't worry! You can either use it as sauce for crepes or cakes, or you can simply cook the unset jams w/ another pack of pectin until it thicken. When you can run a line on the back of coated spoon and the line holds, then the jam is ready to be bottled. Just make sure you allowed the packed jam to be cool to room temp before you freeze it.

Strawberry Short Cake!

May & June were a little bit crazy and flew by w/o me even noticing it! It's July and Oregon's strawberry is finally in season!! Since it will only be available for 2 wks, so it is time for strawberry short cake!!!

Strawberry short cake!! What is a short cake? Short cake is actually a sweeten biscuit and not a cake. Most of the restaurants now serve what I called a "imposter," sponge cake, and that is definitely a BIG "no-no" in this household! MD was super excited when I said strawberry shortcake, for I had NEVER, not even once, made at home, despite the fact the I do make them daily at work. MD was a little bit let down because he was thinking of sponge cake!! Ugh! @#$%^&*(

Strawberry Short Cake

2 C AP

1 T Baking Powder

¾ t Salt

1 T Sugar

¼ C COLD Butter

¾ C Half & Half/Heavy Cream

1. Combine all dry ingredients, set aside.
2. Cut COLD butter in small cubic.
3. Place butter cubic into dry mixture & quickly pinch the butter into pea size. Do not over mix!
4. Use a spoon & quickly mix the cream/half & half into the dry mixture. Use a #40 scoop to portion the dough, or portion at 2 oz each.
   
5. Place the short cake dough 2” apart, brush w/ milk & sprinkle w/ sugar, bake @ 350° F for about 13-16 min, until center is done.

Strawberry Sauce

1. Combine sugar & cut strawberry (1:1 ratio), let sit for a couple hours.
   
2. Puree the mixture, refrigerate until ready to use.