Colorful Dot Cookies

These colorful dot cookies are a perfect project for first time cookie decorators. You'll get lots of practice outlining and filling cookies with royal icing and you'll get some cute cookies in the end.

The secret to success is using flood consistency royal icing that isn't too thin. These dot cookies are small at 1.5 inches in diameter, and if your icing is too thin it will be hard to control and want to run down the sides of the cookie. Aim for 15 second icing which is icing that settles into place in 15 seconds after drawing a line through it with the back of a spoon.

Another tip is to take your time choosing colors. These cookies are simple so you want pleasing colors that look good together. I chose complimentary pastel shades of green, blue, yellow and pink mixed using electric colored Americolor gel pastes.

Here's how to decorate them using the 15 second flood icing and a #2 pastry tip:

Outline the cookie.

Immediately fill the cookie.

Use a skewer or scribe tool to help evenly distribute the icing and give the cookie a gentle shake to help the icing settle.

Keep working until you have decorated all of the cookies. Let the cookies dry completely before serving or packaging. This usually takes about 8 hours depending on the humidity.

Dan's Raisin Pie

Lately there's been a lot of "pie talk" at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. We just held a homemade pie sale to benefit the Wednesday Community Meal and in planning for that, we "talked pie" with a lot of people, asking "what's your favorite kind?"

Cherry, Apple, Chocolate Cream and Strawberry-Rhubarb definitely led the pack, but in asking, I discovered there's quite a few old-fashioned pies I'd never made before like Chess Pie, Shoo-Fly Pie and Raisin Pie.

The latter is a pie that my friend Dan told me he loves but hasn't tasted in 60-years! ... That is until yesterday, when I presented him with one at the Wednesday Community Meal where he volunteers.

You see, Dan, who is in his 70's, told me that his grandmother made the most delicious Raisin Pie and he sure would love to taste one again. It was a fond 60-year-old taste memory that he hadn't forgotten and I knew I had to make him one.

So I researched Raisin Pies online and devised a recipe. I have to admit that I was skeptical about how Raisin Pie would taste but it's very good. You boil the raisins in water so that they soften and break down and the texture becomes more jam-like. And, the filling wasn't too sweet. It is rich though and a small slice is enough to satisfy.

The best part though is that Dan loved his pie. For him, that Raisin Pie was a taste-time-machine.

And, as an added surprise, I found out that Dean, who serves coffee alongside Dan on Wednesdays, also loves Raisin Pie and he got to have a slice. They are both dear to me and it was a joy to see them so happy.

Raisin Pie fans Dean and Dan serving coffee at the Wednesday Community Meal.

Here's the recipe:

Raisin Pie
(makes one 9-inch pie)

2 1/4 cups raisins
2 cups water
1/3 cup dark-brown sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon butter
1 recipe pastry for a 9-inch double crust pie

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a saucepan, combine the raisins and the water and heat until boiling. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring and keeping and eye on them. Reduce the heat to low.

Blend together the dark-brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and salt and add to the hot raisins. Increase the heat to medium and cook and stir until the syrup is clear.

Remove from the heat and stir in the vinegar and butter.

Adding the butter and apple cider vinegar to the cooked raisin filling.

Cool slightly and pour into a pastry lined 9-inch pan. Cover with the top crust and seal the edges and cut slits in the top crust. Or, top with a lattice crust.

Cutting strips for a lattice top-crust.

A Raisin Pie ready for the oven.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the crust is done and golden brown. Let the pie cool before slicing and serving.

A just-baked Raisin Pie.

A slice of Raisin Pie.

Summer Crew

High school students Ava and Sierra helped serve dessert today.

The start of summer is still a few days away but at the Wednesday Community Meal it has officially begun because school's out and our wonderful crew of student volunteers came in today to help, marking the first week of their summer vacation.

We haven't had the help of our student volunteers since Spring Break and it's crazy how fast they are  growing up. They are getting sooo tall!

Sierra started volunteering when she was in the fourth grade, a year before we began offering a sit-down meal and when there was just a small group of us making to-go meals to hand out at the door. It's hard to believe she is now a 10th grader and still a dedicated volunteer who helps whenever she has a break from school.

We served 332 meals today and had a lot of fun catching up with our student volunteers. I know I've said it before but I am so thankful to be able to work with the nicest people every Wednesday. Being with them makes hard work fun.

Thank you Sierra, Ava, Micah, Nicholas and Eleanor for all your help today. It's officially summer at the Wednesday Community Meal!

A to-go meal of turkey, rice, beans and roasted tomatoes for a guest to take home to a sick family member. We served 332 meals today and received this flattering comment from a guest, "I'm going to give this place a good write up! I'm a very influential food critic."

A scene from today's busy kitchen before we began serving. By the time the meal was over, the kitchen cleaned and the dishes washed and put away, there were quite a few volunteers who had put in a solid six hours of work.

Here I am today with two people I look forward to seeing each week - server Frank and guest Louise who is such a kick and fun to visit with.  I loved the shirt she wore today and had to have my daughter Eleanor take a picture.

Baseball Cookies

These baseball cookies are perfect for summer and a fun design for beginning decorators.

You need just two colors of royal icing to decorate them — white for the base and dark red for the stitching. Making them is a two-day project though since it's important to let the white base coat dry completely before adding the stitching details.

Here's how:

Outline the cookies using a #2 tip and flood consistency royal icing. Let the outline dry for at least 15 minutes before filling them.

Fill the cookie using the same white flood icing and #2 tip. Let the cookies dry overnight.

The next day, after the cookie base coats have dried completely, mix and color the red icing for the stitching. I used a baseball as my guide to get the correct color and got it by mixing red with a touch of black.

Make a template to mark where the stitching should go on the cookie. You'll also need a food-safe red pen.

Lay the template on the cookie and mark with small dots using the food-safe pen.

It will look like this.

Then you just start adding stitches using a #1 tip and medium consistency royal icing.

All done.

Let the cookies dry completely before serving or packaging.

Chess Pie

My friend Gardner reminisced to me recently about much he loves Chess Pie but said he hasn't had it since college. That was a few decades ago so that must have been a darn good pie.

Gardner attended college in the South and would get to enjoy Chess Pie when he would go home from school with a friend on weekends.

 "His mom made the best Chess Pie," said Gardner who added that there was a bit of cornmeal in it, buttermilk, eggs and lemon, "but just a touch of lemon juice, not enough to make it a lemon pie." I told Gardner I was going to attempt to recreate the pie for him.

I've never eaten or made Chess Pie so I researched it on the internet and discovered that there are a lot of variations. Some had cornmeal and some didn't. Some used buttermilk and some used plain milk. Some used lemon juice and some used vinegar. Some used all white sugar and some used a combination of white and brown.

I was confused by all the recipes and decided I should just go for it and create one with cornmeal, buttermilk and a bit of lemon since that's what Gardner remembered.

There are also a variety of stories as to how Chess Pie got its name. The pie originated in England (my friend Teri told me she's bought mini Chess Pies at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival) and some say the word "Chess" is an "Americanization" of the English word "Cheese," because it is essentially a "Curd" pie.

My favorite story though is this one: Because the ingredients are so basic, Southern makers of it would say it's "Jes Pie," to those inquiring what it was and over time it became "Chess Pie".

So I got to work and made my first Chess Pie and I do have to say it is one of the easiest pies to put together and delicious. I liked it and so did my family. The texture was nice because of the contrast of the crisp browned-sugared top against the custard center.

The next day I delivered a big slice to Gardner and he tasted it and kindly gave me thumbs-up. When I pressed him for more details as to whether it was what he remembered he said it was "very close".

Oh how I wish I could get my hands on that original recipe. In the meantime, here's mine:


Chess Pie

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cornmeal
4 large eggs, slightly beaten
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 9-inch unbaked deep-dish pie crust.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Combine the sugar and cornmeal. Add the eggs and buttermilk and mix well. Finally add the lemon juice, vanilla and sea salt. Whisk until well-blended.

Pour the mixture into the unbaked pie crust.

A Chess Pie ready to bake.

Bake for 3 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees. Bake for 8 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 325 degrees. Bake for 40 minutes or until the center of the pie is set and the top is golden brown.

Turn off the oven and leave the pie to cool in the oven for 30 minutes.

The baked pie cooling in the oven.

Remove and let the pie cool completely before serving. Enjoy a slice with a cup of hot coffee.

Video: How To Make Gluten-Free Bread

Here's a short video showing how to make Gluten-Free Bread. My husband was kind enough to record me making a loaf this past Sunday. 

Making the video was a last-minute idea and we filmed it in one-take segments and then put them together without any editing — at one point there is even some nice background music thanks to my daughter Eleanor who was having band practice with two friends.

I felt it was important to post a video to show how easy this Gluten-Free Bread is to make since I'm afraid the ingredient list, including three flours, potato starch and xantham gum, might seem intimidating. 

Please don't fret getting the ingredients, Bob's Redmill makes everything you need, and I found it all at my local Fred Meyer.

And as you can see from the video, this bread is actually easier to make than traditional bread. There's no kneading, no special equipment and best of all, it's a delicious Gluten-Free Bread.

 

Gluten-Free Bread
(makes 1 loaf)
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1 cup millet flour
3/4 cup rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca flour
1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 1/4 teaspoons sea salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds (optional)


Heat the milk in the microwave until it is warm, this takes about 35 seconds. Add the sugar and yeast to the milk and stir to dissolve. Let the mixture set for 5 minutes until it begins to bubble and grow.

In a mixer bowl, whisk together the millet flour, rice flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, xanthan gum and salt.

Gradually add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture, mixing it on low speed until it comes together. 

Add the eggs and oil and mix on high speed for 2 to 3 minutes until the batter is very smooth.

Leave the batter in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set it in a warm place to rise for 1 hour. After rising, give the batter a stir.

Grease a 9x5 loaf pan and pour the batter into the pan. Use the back of a spoon to spread the batter evenly in the pan. If you want to use sunflower seeds, this is the time to sprinkle them evenly over the top of the batter.

Cover the loaf pan loosely with greased plastic wrap and let it rise for 30 to 40 minutes or until the dough is just to the top edge of the pan. Also, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Bake the bread for about 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Remove the loaf from the pan and let it cool completely on a cooling rack before slicing.

Extra Special Salads

Today's salad.

The salads we served today at the Wednesday Community Meal were extra special thanks to some donated gourmet ingredients.

In the salads from Spring Hill Organic Farm we had garden fresh frisee, leaf lettuce and oak leaf lettuce. The Albany, Oregon based farm is so generous and donates weekly from June to September when they are at the Portland Farmer's Market. Spring Hill also gave us bunches of chard that we sauteed and added to rice for a colorful and healthy side dish.

Fresh greens from Spring Hill Organic Farm

To top the salads we had pomegranate seeds donated from Trader Joe's and slices of Trader Joe's Brie  that we picked up at The Oregon Food Bank. The salads were simply beautiful and it was a pleasure being able to serve them to our guests.

A case of Trader Joe's Brie that came from The Oregon Food Bank.

Pomegranate seeds donated from the neighborhood Trader Joe's on NW Glisan.

We served 261 meals today and had to change our entree menu multiple times to utilize the food we gleaned from Good Samaritan Hospital this week as well as the food we had on hand in our freezer.

One of the 261 meals we served today.

Every week we just try our hardest use what we have and serve the best meal possible. It's work, but joyful work, and especially so when we hear nice comments from the guests like this one that was told to one of our servers today:

"Thank you...The lunch was great, everything is great! The atmosphere is wonderful. I finally feel like a human being again."