Retta Cooked It!

I love the scent of lavender, but lavender cookies?  The scent of lavender is a sure sign that spring is in the air. And, it evokes a lot of things to a lot of people but a treat or snack is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. To me, the scent of lavender evokes the sense of a scrubbed clean home full of fresh flowers, sunshine and light breezes streaming through open windows.

Lavender is an herbaceous woody shrub and is part of the mint family (lavender and mint tea, right?) that has been used as a culinary herb in cooking for a millennia.  Although it is a more familiar ingredient in soaps, candles, body washes and Pinesol, it also resides deliciously in ice creams, teas and cocktails, dressings, cakes and, of course cookies. One of my favorite online hangouts, What’s Cooking America has a very good post on culinary lavender, well worth the read and it also has a number of recipes that use lavender. I’ll be trying their lavender sorbet soon!

But, Does it Taste As Good As It Smells?

Would I want to eat lavender cookies? Well, yeah. Yeah, you bet I would. I wanted to try them, at least.  And of course I did. Are they good? They absolutely are!  Being a professional cookie eater (yes, I am credentialed) lavender is not what I immediately associate with a cookie. But, this cookie hits the familiar note of fresh lavender without being overbearing like granny’s eau de parfum or feeling like you’re smashing flowers into your mouth by the fist full.  

These cookies are soft and cake-like with a subtle taste and fragrance of lavender. Because the taste of lavender is so subtle, they can be enjoyed on their own or paired with a cup of lavender tea and it won’t feel like it’s too much. They aren’t super sweet and cloying, most of the sweetness comes from the glaze.

I Put That Sh*t in Everything

My recent obsession with lavender and lavender syrup reminded me of a Frank’s Hot Sauce commercial with an old lay declaring “I put that sh*t on everything!”. I’m kind of feeling lavender right now and have been mixing lavender syrup into everything I can think of.  I love it in my yogurt. It’s refreshing without being so strong that it takes you down like a sumo wrestler. I first had the lavender yogurt when a coworker brought a case of it into the office under the pretense of being generous when she was only just cleaning out her fridge. 

I fell in love with the yogurt and ate the whole case in a week.  Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find lavender yogurt ANYWHERE.  I’m sure Whole Foods carries it, just nowhere I’m looking for it.  So, now I mix my own.

Lavender syrup or extract can be used in this recipe. The intensity of the syrup is different than the extract. I didn’t use the extract in this cookie so, I can’t recommend a ratio. But, I do not recommend using lavender essential oil at all. Lavender syrup is so easy to make. And, its easily found online. If you decide to experiment with lavender in any dish, also keep in mind to always use culinary lavender and a little goes a long way. It can easily overpower a dish if you are too heavy-handed with it.  

When it’s made well, panna cotta is rich, silky, creamy, jiggles like Jello, and holds its shape when it’s unmolded. As fancy as some people imagine it, panna cotta is versatile, easy to make and so forgiving that it is almost impossible to ruin.  Unless you’re lactose intolerant, there are no downsides to this dessert.

Panna cotta in Italian literally means ‘cooked cream’. It can be served with the traditional topping of caramel or virtually any topping. Unlike a flan or Creme Brulee, gelatin is used instead of eggs, so it’s not a custard as it is sometimes mistaken to be. 

The original version panna cotta involved boiling cream with fish bones to extract the collagen to provide structure to the dessert. Hopefully, they fished out the bones before serving.

Panna Cotta’s Italian Roots

Although no one seems to be 100% certain, panna cotta appears to have come from the region of Piedmont in Italy. This is where it earned the prestigious seal of approval as a traditional Italian regional food.  But it doesn’t seem to show up in Italian cookbooks until around the 1960’s. Whenever it made its debut in cookbooks, like any recipe that  stands the test of time, it’s got many mothers. Ask anyone of Italian heritage if they have a panna cotta recipe. They probably do, they’ll tell you that it was passed down from their grandmother who got it from their grandmother.

So why wouldn’t panna cotta have a bajillion variations? People are inventive especially when it comes to food. We get creative. Tasting the basic vanilla panna cotta, you’d think that would be enough since it is already kind of perfect. But if you go online, you’ll find panna cotta recipes by the ton. There are recipes that call for skim or 2% milk, (Yeah, no.), goat’s milk, yogurt, almond milk and on and on. We do spend more than 32,000 hours eating and drinking in an average lifetime, might as well make it interesting!

This Could Be The Best Panna Cotta You’ll Ever Have

I stand by the classic recipe, not the for real “original” fishbones recipe. This one is so good though, the first time I made it and drizzled a blueberry sauce. My husband loved it and would eat it if had I drizzled beef gravy over it. Nope. No gravy, because limits right? But, I guess that’s validation of how good it really is. If I’m honest, and I like to think that I am, until I eat all of the other panna cottas with mixed berry sauce, I cannot truly say this is “the best panna cotta recipe in the world”. I haven’t eaten all of the others (not yet). But, I can guarantee that this is the best that I’ve had. You will thoroughly enjoy this recipe too, and feel you have eaten the best panna cotta in the world. If you find a better one, let me know.

This dessert is open to experimentation

You can whip this up in no time, but let it set up at least 6 hours, or better yet, just be patient and let it set overnight. Panna cotta can be made a day ahead, too. Just seal it it and refrigerate. Keep in mind though, the longer it sets the firmer it gets. The basic panna cotta includes vanilla extract, or I prefer vanilla bean paste.  Essentially this dessert is a blank canvas that you can incorporate any flavor you like.  This panna cotta with mixed berry sauce is adopted from Laura in the Kitchen’s blog. Her panna cotta is beautiful.

If you are watching your calories, you could try using 2% or skim milk to replace some of the cream. Just be aware that it may alter the texture of your panna cotta. Personally, I wouldn’t prepare panna cotta without half & half and heavy cream because in my estimation it needs the fat along with the gelatin to set properly but, I’ve read that people have had success with milk with a low fat content. I do not have any ratios to replace the cream for this recipe. I say experiment and do you because after all, the dish you love the most is the one that is made the way you like it.

You can serve panna cotta in a pretty glass topped with a sauce of your choice or coulis (fancy word for sauce) or molded in a ramekin or silicone mold, and turned out onto a pretty plate and garnished with fresh fruit, chocolate shavings, a sprig of mint or whatever you like. Pair it with a Vodka Berry Smash for a real after-dinner treat.

Pound cakes done well, are one of the most unpretentiously delicious cakes you can find anywhere. A good pound cake is dense and firm, it will have an almost crunchy crust and the crumb should be tender and not dry. It shouldn’t have the moist crumb of a regular layer cake, but the density of the cake does not equate to Sahara-dry cake.

I’ve certainly had my share of pound cake over the years. This pound cake is by far though, the most delicious I’ve had.  Because it is my Auntie Joe’s recipe doesn’t mean I’m biased, it’s just a great cake!

My mom, Ms. Humphrey, and my aunt were the ones everyone we knew called on for sweets. Sweet potato pie, peach cobbler, fruit cake (yes, fruit cake), besides regular meals was my mother’s sweet spot, even home-made ice cream.  Ms Humphrey had a small catering business on the side and Auntie Joe was Ms. Humphrey’s right hand when she cooked for clients. 

My Auntie Joe was the go-to for a lot of our family’s baked goods; Parker House rolls, coconut cakes and of course, her specialty…the All Butter Pound Cake.  This is the cake along with her Lemon Pound Cake that we grew up with. She moved on to 7-Up pound cakes and other flavors, but the All Butter Pound Cake was the staple. 

My Aunt Joe was my favorite aunt. Not only because she was a great cook and I always loved to eat.  She was kind, generous, funny and just an all around wonderful person who loved people and it translated into everything she did, especially cooking. I hope you try this recipe. It is delicious.

Ingredients:

1 cup softened butter
2-½ cup granulated sugar
6 large eggs, room temperature
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sour cream
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp butter flavor

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-in. bundt pan. In a bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; add to creamed butter and sugar alternating with sour cream, vanilla and butter flavoring. Beat on low just until blended. Pour into prepared pan and smooth out the top.

Bake for 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan 15 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust top of cake with confectioners’ sugar and add fruit (optional).

Peach cobbler is a decidedly southern dish. It grew out of an amalgamation of techniques from England, improvisation from enslaved people, early settlers and possibly even travelers. A lot of folks that ever had a relative that was born anywhere in the south, close or distant, has staked a claim about an aunt, great uncle or great-great grandma that was the first person who made a peach cobbler. You know that ain’t true though, right?

Here’s a recipe from 1839:

A peach pot-pie, or cobler, as it is often termed, should be made of clingstone peaches, that are very ripe, and then pared and sliced from the stones. Rub the bottom and sides of a porridge-pot, or small oven with butter, and then with dry flour. Roll out some pieces of plain or standing paste about half an inch thick, line the sides of the pot or oven with the pieces of paste, letting them nearly touch in the bottom.

Put in the prepared peaches, sprinkle on a large handful of brown sugar, pour in plenty of water to cook the peaches without burning them, though there should be but very little liquor or syrup when the pie is done. Put a paste over the top, and bake it with moderate heat, raising the lid occasionally, to see how it is baking.

When the crust is brown, and the peaches very soft, invert the crust on a large dish, put the peaches evenly on, and grate loaf sugar thickly over it. Eat it warm or cold. Although it is not a fashionable pie for company, it is very excellent for family use, with cold sweet milk.

The Kentucky Housewife by Lettice Bryan, 1839 (http://researchingfoodhistory.blogspot.com/2009/08/peach-cobler.html

Many people avoid making peach cobbler because they think it’s difficult. That couldn’t be further from the truth. And, thank goodness we aren’t using the recipe from The Kentucky Housewife cookbook. 

I cook a lot and as much as I love desserts, it seems reasonable that I’d have a trove of dessert recipe posts and I will post them up soon. 
We ain’t using no paste (pie crust, I think), we ain’t using no loaf sugar (I don’t even know what that is). I was a little bummed that I had to use canned peaches but oh well, it ain’t peach season, it’s March. But, I still made do and cooked a scrumptious cobbler. 

I learned how to make peach cobbler from my mother, Ms. Humphrey, a southern cook and it is delicious!  I decided that when I cooked a peach cobbler for the blog, I should honor my mom, and at least cook it the way she would and try to do her proud. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Large pot of boiling water (to skin peaches)
Large bowl of ice water (to shock peaches)
1-½ stick of butter (½  stick melted)
1TBSP cornstarch
¼ cup cold water
¾   cup sugar
¼  cup brown sugar 
1 tsp salt (divided in half)
10  fresh peaches or 3 – 32 oz cans of cling peaches, drained
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
2 TBSP Grand Mariner (optional)
1 TBSP vanilla extract
1-½   tsp – ground cinnamon
¼  tsp – ground nutmeg

Crust:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
¾ cup milk
1 tsp sugar

To skin peaches:

Bring water up to a fast boil. Score peach skins and blanch in boiling water for about 2 minutes. Shock peaches in ice water. Peel, stone, and slice peaches. Set aside.  

Use ¾ stick of butter to grease baking dish. Set aside.

Combine 1 cup of the white sugar, brown sugar, ½ tsp salt, remaining butter, spices, in a heavy bottom pot with peach slices. Mix cornstarch and cold water and add to peach mixture. Simmer on medium-low heat for about 15 minutes. Once peaches are soft, take mixture off the heat. Stir in vanilla, lemon juice and Grand Mariner. Pour into baking dish.

For poured crust:

Combine flour, ¾ sugar, baking powder, and salt; add milk, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter over peaches (do not stir). Sprinkle sugar on top of batter.

Bake at 375° for 45 to 50 minutes or until golden brown. Serve cobbler warm or cool with a scoop of vanilla ice cream (optional).