Eat First

Kriemhild Kupboard, Hamilton

It’s not every day you visit a farm stand filled with butter and cheese instead of fruits and vegetables.

Kriemhild Kupboard is a self-serve stand on state Route 12B, three miles from the village of Hamilton. It’s owned and operated by Kriemhild Dairy Farms, which uses milk from its own grass-fed herd and other grass-fed milk suppliers in Central New York to produce its full-fat and cultured dairy products. The name is pronounced CREAM-hild, fittingly enough.

Kriemhild’s flagship product is meadow butter, which is made by slowly churning fresh sweet cream the old-fashioned way – in barrel churns. The end result is a rich, creamy, flavorful butter with a butterfat content of 85%, similar to high-end European butters like Kerrygold and President. (For comparison, supermarket butters are about 80% butterfat. Here’s a good guide to the world of butters.)

Several varieties of Kriemhild butter are available: meadow butter, cultured meadow butter and baker’s butter. All are available unsalted or salted, and the salt used comes from Seneca Lake. Kriemhild also produces creme fraiche, which is similar to sour cream but not as tangy, to my tastebuds, anyway.

If you’ve never tasted small-batch, grass-fed butter, you’re in for a treat. To know my other half is to know he loves butter, and he loves the Kriemhild salted meadow butter on toast, potatoes and other vegetables.

Looking ahead to the holidays and holiday baking, I splurged on a couple rolls of Kriemhild unsalted baker’s butter to use in cut-outs, sables and shortbread-style cookies. The more butter at the holidays, the merrier, right? I cut the one-pound rolls in halves or quarters and freeze them double-wrapped. It’s a premium product (about $10 per pound), but in baked goods where buttery flavor really stands out, I’m willing to make the investment. I might break some of that holiday butter out early and make a pound cake.

Kriemhild Kupboard also carries goods from other local producers, including bread from HeartStone Artisan Bakery, milk, cheeses and yogurt from Stoltzfus Family Dairy, sauerkraut and other fermented foods from Food and Ferments, dried mushrooms from Fruit of the Fungi, and gelato from Jones Family Farm, to name a few.

The Kupboard is open daily from dawn to dusk. It’s at 1093 state Route 12B, Hamilton, a couple miles south of Good Nature Farm Brewery. We made our trip double the fun by stopping at the brewery for a beer and a bite. The stand operates on the honor system. There’s pencil and paper to add up your purchases and a cash box to make change. There’s also a credit card reader, in case you go on a butter-buying binge.

Product photo courtesy of Kriemhild Dairy Farms, on Facebook.

All other photos © Margaret McCormick.

Visions of gingerbread at the Erie Canal Museum

This gingerbread isn't for eating. It's for viewing only, through Sunday (Jan. 2) at the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse.

The museum's annual Gingerbread Gallery, now in its 25th year, has been open since Thanksgiving. So it's the end of the run for the handcrafted gingerbread houses, cottages, mansions, motorhomes, courthouses and more. Some constructions are coming apart at their seams held together with royal icing and fondant. Peppermint stick pillars are crumbling and candy decorations are sliding from some roofs.

A lot of work goes into gingerbread architecture. And such creativity! Necco wafers for roofing tiles, graham cracker sidewalks, clever embellishments like Peeps Christmas trees and snowmen, sticks of gum and waffle-style pretzels as window shutters, shredded coconut as snow...

In all, there are about 40 creations by both amateur and professional baker-artists on display. Get down there and check it out. I promise it will make your spirits bright.

The Erie Canal Museum is at 318 Erie Blvd. East, Syracuse. The Gingerbread Gallery is on the museum's second floor. The museum closes at 2 p.m. Friday (New Year's Eve) and is closed New Year's Day. Sunday hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

 

Drumroll, please: And the winner is...

The winner of the first annual Eat First homemade holiday cookie giveaway is Elizabeth Wimer, of Syracuse (@erwimer on Twitter).

Elizabeth loves to bake, so I know she will like sampling a small selection (baker's dozen) of cookies from someone else's kitchen and having a new, seasonal cookie cutter to play with.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and took the time to  leave a comment. It's nice to have visitors!

I'll be having a couple giveaways in January. The first will be a giveaway of some gently used cookbooks (January seems like a good time to do some housekeeping) and the second will be a giveaway of -- gasp! -- something red and in a can.

Stay tuned!

 

 

Giveaway: A baker's dozen (lucky 13!) holiday cookies

Duh! I don't  know why I didn't think of this earlier: It's time for the first annual Eat First Christmas cookie giveaway!

Free to a good home: a selection of 13 (a baker's dozen) homemade holiday cookies. Your winnings will include six thin and crispy cut-out cookies like the one shown above (now slightly smudged, because Wilton's decorating gels in a tube don't exactly firm up, even after an hour in the freezer, live and learn!).

The baker's dozen will also include a couple cut-outs decorated with colored sugars only, a couple decorated gingerbread cut-outs and a couple lemon-poppyseed crisps (right).

To enter: Please leave a comment in the comment field below. You must be a resident of Syracuse or Central New York and you must pick up your cookies in person at a time and place TBA.  Family members excluded. A winner will be selected at random, notified by e-mail and announced here.

The deadline to enter is 12 noon Friday, Dec. 17. Good luck! 

 

'Tis the season to make, bake and take

Sorry I haven't blogged much lately. I been busy baking, working on freelance projects, baking, working on my job search, baking, shoveling, baking, trimming the tree, baking, going to a parties, baking, going to a cookie exchange...

You get the idea.


I shared a sampling of cookies from Sunday's cookie exchange (cocoa shortbread Scotties, Spritz cookies, coffee-flecked cookies topped with chocolate-covered espresso beans, two kinds of chunky, nut-fruit-and-chip cookies) with my sister Annie, and told her the only thing missing were the Almond Horns I brought along.

You don't come home from a cookie exchange with your own cookies. That would defeat the purpose! There were some extras but I shared them with Robert, who was pleased to have a plate of his own, real-deal cookies -- not his usual lot of misshapen, broken and/or overly brown rejects.

I'd been wanting to try this recipe for Almond Horns, from Martha Stewart's "Cookies,'' for a while, and was glad I did.


They're formed by hand, so you get to play with the dough. Better still, they're crisp and crumbly, not super-sweet, easy to make and easy to enjoy with coffee or tea.

Going to a cookie exchange or holiday party this weekend? Take some along!
 
Almond Horns

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted, plus more for dusting

1 large egg

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup whole raw almonds, toasted and finely ground in a food processor

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

Put butter and and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in egg and extracts. Reduce speed to low. Mix in flour mixture and almonds until just combined. Wrap dough in plastic; refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

Roll 1 tablespoon of dough (yes, measure it!) into a 4-inch log; gently shape into a horseshoe. Repeat with remaining dough. Transfer to baking sheets lined with parchment.

Bake cookies (rotating sheets halfway through) until pale golden, about 20 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks using a spatula; let cool completely. Transfer to waxed paper. Sift sugar over cookies. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature 2 to 3 days. Makes 36 to 42 cookies, depending on size.

 

Give World Peace Cookies a chance

Linda O'Boyle, owner of Metro Home Style at the Regional Market Commons, is a busy lady this time of year.  She's working long days and having extended hours at the store on Wednesdays during December, but still carving out time to bake.

She writes: "Any suggestions for a cookie that will add some pizzazz to the holiday cookie tray that doesn't require frosting and freezes well?''

Answer: Yes, yes and yes! How about a batch of World Peace Cookies?

The recipe is the brainchild of master baker Dorie Greenspan, and it's included in her wonderful book, "Baking: From My Home to Yours.''

The beauty of these cookies -- besides their rich, double-chocolate, combination sweet and salty flavor -- is that you can make the dough in advance, roll it into cylinders and stash it in the freezer.

Later, all you have to do is slice and bake.

World Peace Cookies get a lot of coverage in the media and in the blogosphere. Click here for the recipe, which is included in "The Splendid Table'' recipe box.

Enjoy! If you make the recipe, stop back and let me know what you think.

 

Season's readings

 

Some people have visions of sugar-plums dance in their head this time of year. I just have visions of sugar. In the form of Christmas cookies.

I still miss Gourmet magazine, especially its December issue, usually devoted to cookies and other sweets of the season.

But there are other sources of inspiration, like classic recipes from Mom's file (Snickerdoodles, Pecan Sandies, Peanut Butter Blossoms), the annual Land O'Lakes magazines (recipes developed by a leading butter maker can't be bad, right?), and, of course, cookbooks.

Betty Crocker's "Cooky Book," with its vintage, slightly garish photos, is always fun to thumb through, and there are some excellent recipes in there, too. Martha Stewart's "Cookies'' causes dreaming and drooling. "Sweet Maria's Italian Cookie Tray'' is a slim volume with dozens of mouth-watering ideas: almond paste cookies, almond crescents, biscotti, you name it.

                 

A food blogger who loves to bake finds plenty of inspiration online, too. Some sites you might want to visit:

• Smitten Kitchen's "all cookies'' section:  Hazelnut Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies, anyone?
• Food52: The online community of cooks and food lovers, launched by Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, is a fabulous resource for real recipes from real people. A holiday cookie plate HAS to have something ginger-y on it. I'll be trying Food52 contributor Jenny Steinhauer's recipe for Ginger-Spiced Molasses Sugar Cookies.
• You knew there had to be a website called Christmas-Cookies.com. It's broken down into categories: rolled cookies, refrigerator cookies, drop cookies, decorated cookies, bar cookies, no-bake cookies -- more than 500 recipes in all.

Happy baking -- bring on the butter, flour and sugar!

Ready to roll (and slice and bake later): Two batches of World Peace Cookies, from Dorie Greenspan's "Baking: From My Home to Yours." 

Strawberries and rhubarb: a seasonal partnership

If you like to bake with strawberries and rhubarb, now is the time.

Strawberry season is a short but sweet one in Central New York and we're about a week into the season already. That leaves a couple more weeks to love 'em up.

As for rhubarb: I know the tart "pie plant" is not to everyone's liking, but you might find you like it better partnered with sweet, juicy local strawberries.

A strawberry-rhubarb jam session over the weekend left me too much of both, even after stashing some in the freezer for use in future desserts. I considered making a crisp, cobbler or coffee cake before finally settling on muffins as the answer to my over-supply.

The crumble topping adds textural interest as well as a touch more sweetness, to offset the tartness of the rhubarb.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble-Top Muffins

For the muffins:

2 cups flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup canola oil

3/4 cup milk (2 percent is fine)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup strawberries, cut in small pieces

1/2 cup rhubarb, cut in small pieces

For the topping:

1/3 cup granulated brown sugar

2 tablespoons white sugar

2 or 3 tablespoons ground walnuts or pecans

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (or more to taste)

Freshly grated nutmeg

Combine flours, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Whisk together  eggs, oil, milk and vanilla extract. Pour in bowl with dry ingredients and blend gently until just combined. Do not over-mix. Fold in berries and rhubarb.

Spoon batter into muffin pan lined with paper cups, filling half to three-quarters full. Combine topping ingredients in a small bowl and sprinkle over tops of muffins.

Bake at 350 degrees for 24 to 27 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean. Serve warm. Makes 12 regular and 1 extra-large muffin, depending on the size of your muffin pan.

A muffin big enough to share.

Note: The muffins can be frozen -- carefully. Put cooled muffins on a pan and freeze for an hour or more before transferring the muffins to a freezer bag or container.

Strawberry-rhubarb x two: A strawberry-rhubarb muffin topped with strawberry-rhubarb jam.

 

For Bob's birthday: Nutella Cupcakes

I've come across recipes for cupcakes filled with Nutella, cupcakes swirled with Nutella and cupcakes frosted with Nutella.

The recipe that finally got me uses Nutella as the basis for the cupcake batter itself -- along with eggs, butter, milk and a little bit of flour. The cupcakes are dense, rich and brownie-like. They don't really need it, but they're frosted with chocolate ganache and sprinkled with toasted chopped hazelnuts.

The recipe and inspiration to make these over-the-top chocolate bombs comes from Food 52, an online celebration of home cooks and cooking at home, hosted by food writers Amanda Hesser and Merill Stubbs.

For those who have never had it,  Nutella is a spread made from skim milk, roasted hazelnuts and cocoa. A two-tablespoon serving contains 200 calories (and 11 grams fat). It's not something I usually have in the pantry, for obvious reasons. A sandwich made with Nutella or Nutella spread on toast or a spoonful of Nutella, straight from the jar, is about the last thing I need.

I was going to make my old-standby chocolate cupcake recipe (with a touch of brewed coffee) for our friend Bob's 50th birthday party last month, but decided to make these instead for the chocolate-loving birthday boy celebrant. When desserts were put out, they disappeared fast.

Bob's reaction: "Those were like the best cupcakes ever."

But don't take Bob's word for it. Give the recipe a try and see for yourself!

And leave a comment. What do you like to do with Nutella?

Nutella Cupcakes

Created by Pieceofcake, a member of the Food 52 community

For the cupcakes:

• 1/2 cup self-rising flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 8 ounces Nutella
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk

For the ganache:

• 3 ounces high-quality bittersweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
• 1/8 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur), optional
• 1/2 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts, for garnish

Cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. Whisk together the flour and salt and set aside.

With an electric mixer in a medium bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and beat until well-blended. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy and pale in color. Beat in the Nutella until well-incorporated, stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl while beating. Add the eggs and beat until smooth. On low speed, beat in half the flour mixture just until it beings to disappear into the batter. Beat in the milk. Fold in the remainder of the flour mixture by hand until the batter is smooth.

Pour the batter into the muffin cups, filling them no more than half  full. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs -- if in doubt, pull them from the oven a bit early -- do not over bake. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.

Ganache: Place the chocolate chips, butter and corn syrup in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30 second intervals, stopping to stir after each interval, until the mixture is shiny and smooth. Stir in the vanilla (and Frangelico, if using).

When the cupcakes are completely cool, using a spoon, top each one with about two teaspoons of the ganache, and with the back of the spoon coax it as close to the edges as possible without letting it drip down the sides (or go on and let it drip...drippy chocolate is rarely a bad thing). Sprinkle on a bit of the chopped hazelnuts. Let the ganache set before storing in an airtight container at room temperature overnight -- these cupcakes truly taste better the next day.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Comfort me with Kuchen (a k a crumb cake)

The first thing I remember learning how to make/bake is the recipe for hot fudge pudding in "Betty Crocker's Cookbook for Boys and Girls."

The second thing I remember learning how to bake is Kuchen, also known as crumb cake.

The faded recipe in my file is in "Mother's'' handwriting ("Mother" is what we called my Grandmother Heenan), though my mother says the recipe actually came from her good friend Marian Hayes (an excellent baker, now departed). I came across it recently, and it seemed like just the thing to make for Mother's Day brunch.

It seemed like we had this dessert a lot growing up, probably because it doesn't call for fancy ingredients, it's a snap to make and feeds a crowd. The texture -- moist yellow cake on the bottom and buttery, crumbly top -- is wonderful. Leftovers, if there are any, are excellent with coffee for breakfast.

The original recipe calls for a pound of margarine. I use two sticks of butter and two sticks of margarine, and some freshly grated nutmeg as well as cinnamon in the topping.

Kuchen (Crumb Cake)

Crumb topping:

2 sticks butter and 2 sticks margarine for baking (like Imperial), melted and cooled

4 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, or to taste

Blend sugar, salt and cinnamon with melted margarine and butter. Add flour and mix well. Let stand for an hour or so, stirring to re-blend on occasion.

The topping is very dense and buttery. 

Cake:

1 and a half cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon margarine, melted

1 large egg, beaten

3/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine flour, sugar and baking powder then blend in melted margarine, egg, milk and vanilla. Stir well.

Spread cake batter in a well greased half-sheet pan or other rimmed baking sheet (13 by 18 inches). Put crumb mixture on top, using your hands and crumbling into small pieces.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until topping looks set and edges are brown and pulled slightly away from pan.

I cut the Kuchen with a silicone pastry scraper to protect the pan.

Cool cake completely then cut into squares.

The recipe makes about 36 servings. So don't feel so guilty about all that butter!

A baking experiment gone right (mostly)

The marriage of ingredients in this cake came about by accident and inspiration. Rummaging through the pantry, I found a small wedge of almond paste left over from holiday baking. I took it out, crumbled it into small pieces and added it to the simple Bundt cake I was making to contribute to a post-funeral lunch gathering and spread.
Spring brings a boatload of special events worthy of baking cakes: birthdays, wedding showers, baby showers, graduations, teas. This cake works well for all occasions and serves a crowd (plan on about 16 slices). It's rich, dense and moist, and made with ingredients you probably already have on hand, except for maybe the almond paste.

Serve it plain, sprinkled with confectioners sugar or dressed up with your favorite icing or glaze.

To avoid blemishes on removal, grease and flour your Bundt pan really well. Use more of each than you think you need!

Almond-y Chocolate Chip Cake Adapted from "Bundt Classics'' 1 3/4 cups sugar

2/3 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

1.5 teaspoons almond extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups flour 

1 1/3 cups milk

1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips 

4 ounces almond paste, crumbled in small pieces

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan. Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment, combine sugar, butter and almond paste until well blended. Add eggs and almond and vanilla extracts and combine until light and fluffy. Add all remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour batter into pan, smoothing top with spatula. Gently tap pan on countertop once or twice to help batter settle.
Bake 55 to 65 minutes, until center of cake tests "clean" with a toothpick or cake tester. Cool 15 minutes, then remove cake from pan and cool completely. Before serving, lightly sift some confectioners' sugar on top of cake, if desired. Makes 16 servings. Notes: For less almond-y flavor, use 1 teaspoon almond extract and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. The cake freezes well, double-wrapped.