These Parmesan Pistachio Crostini are basically savory biscotti. We will call them crostini because it is easier to know how they taste when you call them crostini. This recipe makes 20-22 crostini so if one is a serving then you will get around 20 servings. But if you eat two then you will get 10 servings. I made mine pretty small so I will say 10 servings.
Ingredients for around 10 servings
4 oz parmesan cheese – shredded
6 oz bread flour
1 oz polenta
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 eggs
1+1/2 oz greek yogurt
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 oz pistachios
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line sheet pan(s) with silicon mat(s)
Mix together the ingredients (cheese, flour, polenta, baking powder, salt, eggs, yogurt, oil, pistachios.
Make the dough into two logs and refrigerate at least one hour.
Each log goes on a silicon mat lined baking sheet.
They go into the pre-heated 350F oven till lightly browned – 25-45 minutes (ovens do differ) Leave them out until they are cool and then you slice.
Turn down your oven to 300F and the crostini go back in the oven till just slightly brown on each side and also until the crostini is very crisp. 15-35 minutes on BOTH sides.
I was thinking coffee cake…..Then I was thinking about a few really great tasting wedges of apple pie I made with a crumbly walnut topping (that is on my site) and sort of combined them into a cake. The addition of the two pie wedges is THE SURPRISE! That’s how I came up with the SURPRISE cake…….I bet I can come up with many more variations….I got BUNCHES of ideas in my head. …………Serving size is always hard to tell because I don’t know if you want a smaller taste (12 servings) or a full size piece (more like 9 servings). I like my servings on the smaller side so for me this is 12 servings but I will say 9 servings so nobody feels short changed.
Ingredients for at least 9 servings
4 oz unsalted butter – soft
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (if you have pink Himalayan use that)
1/2 cup heaping – Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
4 oz unsalted butter – melted
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 smaller wedges of frozen apple walnut crumb pie – cut up in small blocks
non stick spray
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Spray a 9 in pan (I used a square pan) with non stick spray
In a large bowl combine the soft butter, white sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, salt, yogurt, and vanilla and mix well with a fork and set to the side.
In a medium bowl combine the melted butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar.
Use HALF the batter and place it evenly into the bottom of your non stick sprayed pan. Then add the apple pie crumbles as evenly as you can. Pour and spread HALF of the medium bowls syrup on to the top.
On top of that add the remaining half of batter and spread as evenly as possible.
Next do a layer of pie pieces.
Add the walnuts to the remaining syrup and mix well. Spread this mixture over the top as evenly as you can.
In my oven this took 45 minutes. Yours might slightly more or less.
It’s done when it looks like this.
Walnut Apple Coffee Cake Surprise
It’s moist and delicious! You don’t need ice cream or whipped cream. It’s also not too sweet.
Focaccia Di Recco is a cheese stuffed cracker type bread from North Italy. I became familiar with this tasty treat from Pomo Pizzeria in Scottsdale Arizona.
Pomo’s Focaccia di Recco
It was so darn tasty and different I had to try to make one myself.
The first attempt was Ciao Italia Mary Ann Esposito’s Recipe.
It came out much thicker and softer than from Pomo……….But since then I learned a new trick to get my dough thinner so maybe I can do better?
I tried Food & Wine Magazine’s recipe.
The methods and the recipe did differ some. I got a thin crust this time that was crisper but the center wasn’t quite crisp enough……..I’m thinking if I made two smaller focaccias then maybe I can get a better crisp…….Or maybe just by re-heating it I can get that perfect crisp all the way through?
Ingredients for around 6 servings
1 3/4 cup bread flour
1/2 cup + 1 1/2 Tablespoons water
8 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil divided into 1/4 cup and the rest for brushing top
1 + 1/4 teaspoon sea salt divided into 1 teaspoon for the dough and the rest for the top
6 oz cheese torn or cut into almost one inch flat chunks (stracchino, crescenza, or caciocavallo cheese)
non stick spray
Directions
Use a stand mixer and add the flour, water, 1/4 cup oil, 1 teaspoon salt. Use a dough hook and mix on medium high speed for 8 minutes.
Make two even dough balls and wrap them in plastic wrap. Let them rest on the counter for three hours.
Roll one dough ball out (use flour as needed) sandwiched between parchment and plastic wrap.
This goes on a pan that is safe at 550 degrees F that was sprayed with non stick spray. Peel the plastic wrap off and flop dough on pan. Add cheese in small pieces.
Repeat second dough ball. It goes on top of the cheese topped dough.
Spray or brush with olive oil.
Sprinkle with sea salt.
Prick with a thin chip stick or skewer.
This goes in a preheated 550 F oven for 12-15 minutes.
I was told that this is too good to share with others.
Focaccia Di Recco
A Special THANKS!!!!! To Food & Wine Magazine so I could do what I got here!
This is an easy and delicious rich fudgy brownie recipe that I came up with that you can embellish however you like. This will make around 18 regular sized brownies (using a pan that is around 12 inches by 8 inches) or around over 30 smaller sized brownies Depending on how big or small you slice them.
Ingredients for around 18-30 servings
4 oz unsalted butter
10 oz 60% bittersweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon course sea salt
3 eggs – lightly beaten
1 teaspoon pure vanilia extract
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
non-stick spray
Turbinado sugar – heavy sprinkle for a crunchy finish
more chocolate chips for finishing (a mix of milk and dark or broken chocolate bars)
Some nuts – I do 1/2 walnuts on one side….Some people prefer with walnuts…… some people prefer without nuts….Pecans might be good….Sometimes I do hatch chile, peaches, and pumpkin seeds. Got other ideas too!
Optional – Melted chocolate for a drizzle
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray a pan that is about 12 X 8 with non stick spray.
Melt in either a sauce pan or in a Medium – Larger bowl in your microwave a stick (4oz.) of butter.
Add the 10oz of bittersweet chocolate chips…….about 1/2 will melt and 1/2 will stay hard…..
On top of that add the sugars, flour, baking powder, salt, eggs, vanilla, and cocoa.
Stir till mixed with a fork. (The batter will be very thick)
Spread this batter as evenly as you can in your pan.
Top the batter with whatever chips and nuts that you are using.
Finish with a good sprinkle of Turbinado sugar.
This goes in your preheated oven on a middle rack till it seems baked.
ovens do differ….In my old oven this would take 25 minutes and in my current oven this took about 30 minutes. Today the way I cut them I got 33 brownies. Some I’m bringing to a gathering and some I’m freezing for another time.
When they cooled down a bit I drizzled them with melted chocolate.
I came across Emeril Lagasse’s Recipe for Warm Chocolate Chip Cookies with Vanilla Milk. I trust Emeril Recipes so it was worth trying for me. This recipe is different from the one I developed for chocolate chip cookies. The biggest differences are the amount of butter and browning the butter. The other big difference is that it is suggested that you use candy bar chocolate instead of chocolate chips…..I did change a few things based on what I had at home. The other change was the size of the cookies…Emeril says to portion the cookie balls at 2 ounces. I thought that was too much cookie for one serving so I cut the cookie ball size to one ounce.
See photo below.
Brown Butter Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies
The 4 bigger cookies are from 2 ounce cookie balls and the smaller ones are from one ounce cookie balls. Do whatever size cookie you want.
I got around 5 large cookies and at least 29 small cookies. If I did all small cookies that would have made at least 39 cookies. I do note that these cookies came out too soft and too gooey for me warm………Or maybe that is how my oven works after getting it fixed????……..and maybe you might prefer soft and gooey? ……I also didn’t make the vanilla milk suggested for dunking cookies.
I will say this recipe makes around 39 cookies
8 oz. unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 oz turbino sugar
4 oz dark brown sugar’
2 oz white sugar
2 eggs
12 oz bread flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
6 oz milk chocolate candy bar broke into 1/2 inch squares
6 oz preferably dark chocolate bar broke into 1/2 inch squares (I used 6 oz, 60% chocolate chips)
sea salt flakes
Directions
Put a sauce pan on medium heat and add the butter. Cook till it browns and put to the side and let cool down to room temperature.
In a large bowl add the three sugars and then add the butter. Mix. Next add the vanilla, and eggs. Mix well. Next add the flour, baking soda, salt. Mix well. Then add the chocolate and mix well.
Roll this dough into two logs. You can bake in one hour or let sit over night in the refrigerator. But if you let it go over night the dough will need to sit out a bit to warm up because it will be too hard to roll into balls.
When ready to bake-
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Decide if you want 2 ounce balls for BIG cookies or one ounce balls for smaller cookies. Then go well spaced on a parchment lined sheet pan.
For small cookies they need 5 minutes (NOT DONE YET) on middle rack or 7 minutes for big cookies. NOW YOU NEED TO SPRINKLE THEM WITH SEA SALT AND PUT THEM BACK IN THE OVEN…….
For really soft melty cookies small cookies only need 4 or 5 more minutes and larger cookies need 5-6 minutes.
If you don’t want such soft cookies leave the cookies in a few minutes more till they look slightly browned.
A Special THANKS!!!!!!!! To Emeril Lagasse for sharing such a GREAT Recipe so I could do what I got here!
By total accident I created the most FORKING DELICIOUS Strawberry Cobbler. My local Albertsons had strawberries on sale for 97cents a pound limit 2 so I picked them up. When I got them home I found out that they were SO FORKING SOUR I couldn’t eat them. They were even too sour for my husband so I thought if I had to add sugar to them I might as well make something out of them. In my head I was thinking strawberry upside down cake but I didn’t make enough batter for cake. Instead it came out like the most amazing cobbler anyone has ever tasted……WOW what a great accident! I guesstimate that this will make 8-10 servings..
ingredients for around 8 servings
non stick spray
2 pounds strawberries – remove greens and slice in about 1/4 inch slices
3 oz. unsalted butter
1/4 cup sugar (to sugar pans)
5 oz flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
8 oz. heavy cream (7.9 oz can)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F
Spray two pans (like either pie pans or cake pans) with non stick spray.
Sprinkle the sugar into each pan.
Add the 1/2 the butter to each of the pans.
Add almost 1/2 of the strawberries to each pan and the rest can go in the batter in your mixing bowl.
The two pans of strawberries go in the oven for about 15 minutes to melt the butter and cook a bit.
The remaining strawberries get mixed with flour, baking powder, cinnamon, sugar, eggs, vanilla and almond extracts, cream, and sea salt.
After the strawberries cook for fifteen minutes top each pan with around half of the batter.
The pans go back on a middle rack of the oven till lightly brown on the top. Oven time may differ. (In my oven this took 30 minutes.
Strawberry Cobbler
This came out so FORKING DELICIOUS…my husband usually doesn’t enjoy desserts and went back for seconds. The second one I froze and will surprise people with it latter.
I came across www.ItalianRecipeBook.com and they offer a lot of interesting recipes to try. I came across their Italian Butter Cookie Recipe and it took me back to visiting neighborhood bakeries. As a child my family purchased baked goods from local bakeries. Old women that worked there would always offer me butter cookies that were delicious. This recipe was pretty good and I hardly changed a thing. I did cut the recipe in half and came out with 21 cookies instead of 40 cookies. I used vanilla extract instead of vanilla powder because I don’t have vanilla powder. I made the cookies the right size but for some reason the timing didn’t work out for me…………..Maybe my oven is to blame? Instead of 14 minutes these cookies took me 14 + 5 + 5 + 10 minutes…….but every time I opened the door this oven looses a lot of heat unlike my last oven so opening the door is time costly………….Maybe you won’t have the same problem? These are small but delicious cookies that aren’t too sweet. You might want to eat more than one? This makes around 10 (if you eat two cookies) or 20 servings if you only eat one cookie a serving. I’ll say 15 servings because sometimes you will only eat one cookie.
Ingredients for around 15 servings
4 ounce unsweetened butter – mostly melted
1/2 cup 10X sugar
1 egg
6 ounce flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Optional toppings such as jimmies, fancy sugars, chocolate chips. cherries, sesame seeds, or nuts
Directions
Mix together everything but the toppings in a medium-large bowl (butter, sugar, egg, flour, vanilla
This mixture goes in a pastry bag with a large star tip.
You make small swirls (20-21) on parchment lined sheet pan(s).
Top the swirls with your choice of toppings.
They go on the middle rack of the oven till lightly browned. (original recipe reads 14 minutes……I did 14 + 5 + 5 + 10……….?
In the end they came out DELICIOUS!
Italian Butter Cookies
A Special THANKS!!!!!!!! To www.ItalianRecipeCookBook.com so I could do what I got here!
You can find some amazing recipes on www.ItalianRecipeBook.com . I found a recipe there for a pate a choux based pastry called Saint Joseph’s Pastry. It differs some than other recipes I tried but I thought their way of making the pate a choux was explained better. Some things about the recipe did differ from what I got………You also might want to double the pastry cream. I only wanted a small squirt in the center. you might want to split more open than what I did and might want to use more.
I got 24 pastries instead of twelve. I didn’t make them smaller either.
There are two hard things about making them….The original recipe says that this should look not like dough and look more like cream………It tells you to use 4 eggs and only part of the 5th egg if needed………..that is what I did….
I used about 4 1/2 eggs but about doing so I think the pastries would have looked better with 4 eggs.
I think I would have gotten more defined ridges on the pastries but there is another issue…….
IT’S FORKING HARD TO SQUEEZE THIS OUT OF THE PASTRY BAG. Not everyone out there will be able to sqeeze this stuff out with a pastry bag.
The other issue is the pastry cream. It’s good if you want it very thick and not flavored much as written……… but a suggestion of lemon or orange zest is suggested. The next day mine was too thick to use so I added splashes of cream, vanilla, and honey to it.
Ingredients for up to 24 pastries
285ml water
200 grams flour
4 oz sweet butter
4 eggs (up to a 1/2 egg more if you want your dough thinner)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/3 cup milk
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup corn starch
1 oz butter (I used sweet butter)
Splash cream (to thin if desired)
splash vanilla extract (to flavor if desired)
splash honey (to sweeten if desired)
Directions
In a sauce pot bring the water, butter, and salt to a boil. Then reduce to low heat. Add all the flour. Cook on low a few minutes. Take off heat and when the dough is cool add one egg at a time. Here’s the tricky part….You can add up to a 1/2 egg more but dough might get soft and not hold shape well.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Pipe 3 inch rings onto parchment paper leaving room for rings to expand.
Let this bake till it turns light brown (in my oven 30 minutes) and open the oven door but leave the oven on with the pastries….They need to get harder….They need 5-10 minutes more with the oven door opened.
Repeat until done with dough.
Make the pastry cream.
Mix milk, cream, yolks, sugar, honey, corn starch, and vanilla. Bring to boil and stir well with a whisk. Thin as needed.
Decorate however you want!
Pate A Choux Pastries (and mini stuffed potatoes)
I made the puffier ones like eclairs by dipping the top in melted chocolate chips and splitting in half adding pastry cream. Some I swirled a little chocolate its de creme in the center and topped with a cherry.
A SPECIAL THANKS!!!!!!!! To www.ItalianRecipeBook.com so I could come up with what I got here.
