Fresh Florida orange cake

I like the idea of a second day of Christmas – it will happen here at my house where we will exchange gifts with closest family today. Too much to do on the real Christmas Day with families scattered over three or four cities and 100 miles apart.

I’ll make my mom’s orange cake today, I’ve decided. Since I’m grating all those oranges for the orange drop cookies, might as make the cake.

You need fresh juice oranges – the ones we ate from the field as kids. In winter, we’d stop along U.S. 27 on our trip to family in Pensacola, and pick a sackful from a grove to take with us. Seems the groves were so plentiful and holiday spirit so friendly, nobody cared. Now, they have barbed wire fences all along the grove lines and some with signs: No Tresspassing! Too bad.

Here’s the recipe for that Orange cake. But remember the warning: Florida juice oranges (I think I remember mom referring to them as pineapple oranges) and a lot of patience to spoon the syrup over the cake. I say an hour, but it takes me closer to 3 hours. Too good for words!

This year, I’ve already wowed some recipients with gifts of the traditional “Magic 7-layer cookie bars” – versions of which are known as Congo bars.

They’re too easy (recipe below). I’m making more tomorrow early morning -they’re so fast. They’ve been around for a while – the magic is that they’re more or less just layered in a pan – no mixing bowls needed. Bake and they all come together into this wonderous bar. Yum!

Calories don’t count at Christmas

Wishing you and yours a merry day, and much good food.

Remember: Calories don’t count on this one special day of the year!

Magic 7-Layer Cookie Bars

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter or stick margarine
• 1-1/2 cups Graham cracker crumbs (1 cellophane package from a box)
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup peanut butter or butterscotch chips
• 1 cup chopped nuts (I like pecans)
• 1 12-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350. Put butter into a 13-by-9-inch baking pan and put pan in oven till butter is completely melted.

Swirl pan to completely coat bottom and sides with butter. Spread crumbs over bottom of pan; shake pan to distribute crumbs evenly. Add chocolate chips; add peanut butter chips – distributing them evenly over the crumbs. Add nuts and distribute.

Pour sweetened milk over all; top with coconut sprinkled evenly.

Put pan into center of oven and bake for 25 minutes or until coconut is light brown and toasted.

Let cool on a rack. Place pan in refrigerator to cool completely. Slice into 2-inch squares and keep in a cookie tin separated by waxed paper. These freeze very well.

Makes 15-18 bars.

There are a group of perennial gifts that work for all food lovers/cooks. Here’s my list of those that you can pick up fast almost anywhere, but I’ll throw up links to their counterparts on Amazon so you can see what I’m talking about and get other ideas as you browse.

(Full disclosure – if you buy from Amazon or follow one of their links after clicking from my site or something like that, I make a few pennies – thank you. Last year from my Affiliate program, which is open to anyone, I made $116 and change – and turned it into gas for my Meals on Wheels deliveries.)

First and foremost – SHARE YOUR FAVORITE RECIPE and throw in one or two of the ingredients or a tool used to make it. Pass those recipes on – it’s a wonderful legacy – and a great gift. Publishing is never easier than today – you can make and copy a mini-cookbook for everyone on your list, or just print out a few recipes on cards. (Click on the card above or here for recipe card templates.)

DISHTOWELS AND POTHOLDERS: My favorite gifts to give/receive. A good cook goes through these like olive oil through a pour spout. My son, also a cook, and I agree, though, some are better than others. I love Ritz potholders; he likes Williams-Sonoma ribbed-weave dishtowels. A few on my list are getting these – beats underwear!

GOOD QUALITY BAKING SHEET: Buy a heavy half-sheet pan that won’t warp - Nordic Ware has one that’s great. While you’re at it, buy a roll of unbleached parchment paper too. Cooks can stand a roast on it, bake half a batch of cookies in one move, make thin, crispy brownies, pour two batches of brittle or fudge – any number of tasks go faster with a half-sheet size pan.

JAR OF MUSTARD: One of the most-used condiments in my kitchen, mustard’s great for smearing all over a roast (especially pork), whipping up a salad dressing, putting out a as a dip for big soft pretzels (also recommended – Super Bowl’s coming up!) and of course, smearing on a sausage or dog. I have several kinds on hand at all times.

CHEF’S SCRUB: I just wrote about this stuff in the Palm Beach Daily News. I  love the scrub from Product Body so much, I gave the company that makes it free ad space on my website. In turn, they’re offering my readers a discount. If you go to their website and type in the code at checkout: jannorris – you get 10 percent off. Their other soaps and scrubs are fabulous, too – but my hands are buttery soft thanks to this scrub. (If you grow your own food, as you should, it’s awesome for cleanup after working in the dirt!)

SWIVEL PEELER: For veggies and fruit, use a swivel peeler. The Y-shaped ones are OK, and good for potatoes, mostly – but these straight bladed swivel ones work fabulous and get it all done. I happen to like both the Zyliss peeler and the OXO Good Grips Pro Swivel Peeler. It has a serious “eye” remover for digging out the bad spots on fruits, potatoes, et al, and it will peel something as soft as a tomato or peach, too.

GOOD WINE GLASSES: Glasses DO matter when it comes to how we taste wine. Decent glasses are not so expensive as you might think. I like this new set of four from Riedel (it rhymes with needle) – two Cabernet glasses and two Viognier glasses – in layman’s terms, a red and a white, for two. Perfect.

COFFEE OR TEA OR HOT CHOCOLATE: Give beans and a coffee bean grinder, or loose tea and a tea infuser for a mug, or a great tin of dark cocoa powder with a hand-held milk frother.

OTHER IDEAS that don’t require going to a mall, and how to package them:

• Gift certificates to a grocery store, cookware shop or gourmet store (don’t forget delis or butcher shops or seafood stores) – tied to the handle of a spatula.
• Subscription to a cooking magazine – wrapped around a rolled up copy of this month’s magazine.
• Gift certificate to a favorite restaurant – wrapped in a nice bundle of white linen napkins, or tied to a fork.
• Gift certificate to a grill store – taped to a bag of wood chips.
• Gift certificate to a cooking class with a personality – taped to the back of a portrait of the instructor.
• Tickets to a food festival – the South Beach Wine and Food Festival is coming up in February. Tie them to a seashell.

Kids are invited to Prosecco Cafe in Palm Beach Gardens on Saturday from 3 to 5 p.m., to decorate two cookies to be entered in the contest. The contest is free, but participants are asked to bring a new, unwrapped toy to be distributed to the Parent-Child Center’s Child Life Program at St. Mary’s Medical Center, for kids who are hospitalized over the holiday.

On Sunday, the contest is repeated at Saquella Cafe in Boca Raton.

The owner of both restaurants, Avi Sekerel, will provide the baked cookies, icing, and all candy decorations for the cookies. Cash prizes are $25, $50 and $75.

To register online, go to either proseccocafe.com or saquellacafe.com. Registration also will be accepted the day of at each restaurant.

Cookie Decorating Contest

• 3-5 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 17 – Prosecco Cafe, 4580 PGA Blvd. (in PGA Commons), Palm Beach Gardens; 561-622-3222; proseccocafe.com
• 3-5 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 18 – Saquella Cafe, 410 Via De Palmas (in Royal Palm Place), Boca Raton; 561-338-8840; saquellacafe.com

Consider the Apple Beignets and spicy Hot Chocolate he has in this month’s newsletter. He eats them on the weekends at home with his kids with warm apple cider, or he serves hot chocolate.

For your cocktail affairs, he offers the perfect holiday drink – a White Chocolate Peppermint Martini.

Here are his recipes.

Apple Beignets

• 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1 cup finely chopped apple
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Sift together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Add milk and egg; beat until batter is smooth. Fold in chopped apple. Drop by teaspoonfuls into deep hot oil — about 350 degrees and at least 3 inches deep. Fry for about 2 to 3 minutes, until nicely browned.

Drain and dust with powdered sugar.

Hot Chocolate

• 1 cup bittersweet chocolate
• 1 teaspoon chipotle powder
• 1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup sugar
• 3 cups milk
• 1 cup whipped heavy cream (or frothed milk from an espresso machine if lighter topping is desired)

Warm the milk with the sugar, extract, salt and spices until it comes to a simmer. Remove from the heat and whisk in the chocolate pieces until completely incorporated. Serve the hot chocolate in a small heatproof glass with the whipped cream on top.

White Chocolate Peppermint Martini

For 1 drink:

• 1 candy cane, crushed fine
• 2 ounces premium white chocolate liqueur
• 1 ounce peppermint liqueur
• 3 ounces premium Vanilla Vodka
• Splash of cream (optional)
• For garnish: 1 candy cane (small)

Note: Do not chill glass for this martini.

Put an ounce of peppermint liqueur in a dish big enough that the martini rim will fit. Crush a candy cane and put in another dish that will also fit the glass rim. Coat the rim of the glass in the with peppermint liqueur and then dip it in the crushed candy cane.

Add all the other ingredients to a shaker filled with ice and shake vigorously for about a minute. Strain into your martini glass, hang the whole candy cane on the side of the glass.

And enjoy! You also can use different colored candied canes to change it up for parties. Let each person have a different color.

If the candy does not stick to the rim use some simple sugar or honey. (Note: Do not use any citrus!)

Chef Dean Max

One of the highlights of the 2011 Palm Beach Food and Wine Festival was the Beard Down South dinner at Buccan in Palm Beach.

A number of chefs participated, including Dean Max, of 3800 Ocean at Singer Island’s Marriott, and of 3030 Ocean in the Harbor Beach Marriott in Fort Lauderdale.

Chestnut soup shots from Chef Dean Max of 3800 Ocean, Singer Island

Along with a local wahoo first course, Max made these shots of Chestnut soup that were a hit all around. He admits the recipe is so simple – and it is, except for his meat crouton. His recipe calls for guanciale – a smoked pork cheek meat, available from some Italian specialty shops. We couldn’t find one anywhere locally that carried it, so Max suggests a crouton of slab bacon, fried, to achieve the same result. (Update: Dean Max suggests looking for guanciale from La Quercia Foods, sold in many Whole Foods markets or through custom orders at Whole Foods.)

Since chestnuts are only in stores for a short time, capitalize on them by buying extras, and making extra soup for the freezer – this will freeze well.

Serve the soup in 3-ounce shots for a party, as above. To fill the little glasses easily, use a funnel-spout pitcher, useful also for making pancakes, funnel cakes or filling cupcake molds.

Dean Max’s Chestnut Soup

• 1 pound chestnuts, peeled
• 3 shallots, peeled, minced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons cognac
• 8 cups (2 quarts) chicken stock (low sodium, preferably)
• 1 cup heavy cream, divided
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 pound slab bacon, cut into small cubes, fried crisp

Peel the chestnuts: With flat side down on a kitchen towel, score the end of each nut with a sharp knife in an X pattern. Boil the chestnuts in a small pot for 4 minutes; drain well and pat dry. Spread chestnuts onto a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees until edges of cut shell begin to peel slightly. Remove and cool; finish peeling with a knife. Set nuts aside.

Melt butter over medium heat in a medium soup pot. Add shallots and cook till wilted. Add sugar and stir; cook to caramelize sugar. Once sugar is browned and caramelized, add cognac and stir to deglaze pot. Add chestnuts and chicken stock; bring mixture to a boil. Cook for 1 minute and reduce heat to a slight simmer; cook for 20 minutes.

Add 1/2 cup cream and stir well. Pour mixture into a blender to fill 3/4 full (you will need to process several batches, depending on your blender size). Puree soup, taking care to secure lid with kitchen towel, and gradually increasing speed of blender from low to puree. Strain puree into clean pitcher through fine sieve; repeat with remainder of soup. Season with salt and pepper.

Whip remaining cream to soft peaks with cinnamon.

To serve, place cubes of bacon in each glass or bowl (2 cubes per glass or 6 cubes per bowl); ladle or pour soup over all. Dollop each serving with a small spoon of whipped cinnamon cream.

Serves 8 bowls, or makes approximately 35 party-shot servings.

Jan's famous orange-drop cookies

I’m an original cookie monster – I love me some cookies! I will forgo all other desserts for a good cookie.

I therefore pay attention when I find great websites with great cookie recipes.

My favorite so far this year is the Tampa Tribune’s “Cookie Hall of Fame.” It has cookies voted on by readers who chose their favorites from 11 years of cookie recipes that have appeared in the newspaper and online.

This is the Cookie Issue’s 10th anniversary, from food editor Janet Keeler, and I’m delighted to share her site and her great recipes.

I have dozens on my own site

I’ve written about cookies each year – just type the word “cookies” in my search box for a wealth of recipes and ideas for them. I include my family’s all time favorite, the Orange drop cookies.

For cookie bakers – some advice

Baking cookies is not easy in South Florida. Humidity plays a role – and ingredients that succumb to heat in hot, humid kitchens also factor in. Doughs get soft quickly – and must be kept refrigerated till rolled out. Lots of things happen, actually.

Here are my cookie baking tips, gleaned from decades of cookie baking on my own and two decades of judging the contest at my former newspaper. These are for anyone considering entering a contest, but work for everyone who wants to make great cookies.

Bake with your little ones - it's a memory in the making

Know your limitations. If you’re new to baking, take on something simple, rather than a complicated four-part recipe. All you have to do is bake one cookie really, really well – and you’ll soon be known for it.

Use fresh, good quality ingredients. Sounds simple? We have a trash can on hand as we judge. Cookies that have stale nuts, or dried raisins and the worst — old shortening or butter — aren’t even swallowed. We take a dim view of canned icing or slice-and-bake doughs (except for the 3-year-olds’ cookies). Spend time on great ingredients and bake from scratch for great results.

Read the recipe carefully, and measure accurately. We’ve had cookies in previous contests that contain 1/2 cup salt — when it should have been sugar. It’s really obvious. Or 3 tablespoons of an extract when it should be 1/3 tablespoon — it’s a powerful difference. Did you, or didn’t you include the baking soda? Here’s a tip to fix that dilemma: Line up every ingredient in the order used. Once you use an ingredient, turn its container upside down on the counter. Famed baker Maida Heatter taught me that.

Don’t overbake your cookies. Bake them on parchment and put them in the center rack of the oven. Cookies will continue to bake after they’re removed from the oven. Always bake a test cookie, so you don’t waste a whole batch – and figure out just how accurate your oven is against the recipe’s baking time. Adjust accordingly and — for a contest — bake only one sheet at a time, unless you’re adept at moving and turning the sheets to produce perfectly even cookies.

Taste a cookie from the batch you submit! Another no-brainer. But how else would the judges get cookies full of salt or those who forgot sugar, or in the case of a raisin cookie — forgot the raisins?

Don’t use inedible decorations. If it’s not in the recipe, don’t put it on the cookie for “effect.” Several real leaves are poisonous — ditto, berries. We judges don’t go near anything that looks like bugs, either. That’s why they make green food coloring. Use decorations judiciously – less is more! But do make them pretty.

For rolled cookies – roll only twice. You can use your dough scraps once after rolling out the first time; after that, they become way too tough. Be judicious with the amount of flour you use on your rolling surface, too. Tip: To cut cookies neatly, chill the dough well, then roll out thinly, leaving part of the dough in the refrigerator as you work with the rest. Soft dough won’t cut well. Flour your cutters before cutting, and cut straight down, pressing neatly. Remove with a floured spatula to the baking pan.

Pack your cookies with care. First, never pack warm cookies; allow them to cool completely on a rack. Nestle them in crumpled tissue paper or waxed paper to keep them from breaking if they’re fragile. Don’t stack cookies directly on one another unless they’re the same exact size; use small sheets of waxed paper to separate cookies and wrap tightly to prevent shifting.

Marinated olives /photo courtesy lifesafeast.com.au

If you’re spending all that time on the dinner, you don’t have time to mess with fancy appetizers. Keep them simple and to the point – and don’t put out so many that they’ll spoil anybody’s meal.

Brie with honey: Always a hit. Christopher Kimball, editor of Cook’s Magazine, told NPR’s Morning Edition show his secret is ultra easy: Brie, with honey and fresh thyme – warmed in the microwave. It’s 5 minutes (3 for prepping: chop off the top white layer of the Brie, drizzle with honey and chop thyme to sprinkle on all) and bake 2 minutes on high power to make it soft in the microwave. Done. Don’t go crazy gourmet, either – use an ordinary round of Brie from the supermarket. Add your favorite crackers for dipping. (We like pretzel crackers.)

Cream cheese and pepper or tomato jam: Set out a block of cream cheese (press an herb leaf in it if you want it pretty). Spoon some pepper jelly, tomato jam, honey with hot sauce, or cranberry jelly on top. Serve with crackers.

Cheese and crackers and apples: Carve up a few blocks of cheese – Muenster, sharp cheddar, pepper jack – into thin squares that fit crackers. Serve with thin sliced apples or red grapes – so autumnal.

Parmesan tuiles: Mound up grated Parmesan – 2 tablespoons worth – on a nonstick baking pan – set them 3 inches apart. Bake at 375 until bubbly, and remove; drape the crisps over a rolling pin to create curved crisps. Serve with an onion dip if you want.

Veggies and dip: Skip the carrots or celery and look for jicama or kohlrabi to cut into sticks, fresh green beans, or asparagus spears – all make great dipping veggies. Make a dip from sour cream, plain yogurt or buttermilk mixed with either. Add onion or garlic powder and a sprinkling of fresh herbs. Or, use a good bottled ranch dressing.

Marinated olives: Drain a jar of large olives, place in bowl with good olive or grapeseed oil; chili pepper flakes, and fennel seeds. Squeeze an orange over all. For adults, marinate in vodka spiked with a hot sauce, or in a bloody Mary mix.

Use Beaujolais or Zinfandel in this bright sangria. /Photo by Luca Trovato, Coastal Living Magazine. (Used by permission of Coastal Living.)

This gorgeous and cheery Cranberry Sangria recipe was in this month’s Coastal Living magazine.

It’s just right for welcoming guests without being too heavy, and its familiar flavors won’t scare them away. Chill a pitcher and have it set on a sideboard with some finger foods to keep curious guests out of the way of the cook while dinner preparations are ongoing.

Cranberry Sangria

• 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 bottle fruity red wine, such as Beaujolais or Zinfandel
• 1/2 cup brandy
• 1 cup fresh orange juice
• For garnishes: fresh whole cranberries; orange, lemon and lime slices

Bring cranberries, sugar and water to a boil over medium high heat in a medium saucepan. Reduce heat to low, and simmer 4 minutes or until cranberries pop. Pour mixture thorugh a strainer into a bowl; press out juices from berries with the back of a spoon. Discard solids; cool juice to room temperature.

Transfer cranberry mixture to a large pitcher. Stir in wine, brandy and orange juice. Chill 2 hours. Serve over ice, garnished wiht cranberries and fruit slices.

Makes 6 cups.

(Reprinted with permission of Coastal Living Magazine. Story from the November 2011 issue by Julia Rutland, photo by Luca Trovato.)

Grow winter squash varieties in your backyard garden and get tips from onlinegardenertips.com

There’s a fun food website I check frequently: What’s Cookin’  – I get their email newsletter that shoots several recipes they’ve found on the web, usually about one food or holiday, into my inbox in one neat format twice weekly. They have a sister website called Snooth that deals with wines and spirits – also a great source for recipes.

Today, on the What’s Cookin’ site, they link to six squash recipes, many suitable for Thanksgiving.

Squash = good and good for you

We love squash and could eat it at every meal. It’s high in antioxidants, very high in Vitamin A and in 1 cup, you get more than half the vitamin C you need daily.

It’s a cinch to prepare: Wash it very well, quarter it, seed it and put it in the microwave on a plate with 2 tablespoons of water and a bowl to cover it all – cook it on high, and it’s done in about 15 minutes. Scoop the flesh from the squash and eat it as you like – mashed, with butter or drizzled as is with olive oil, sea salt and a little oregano or cinnamon – depending on which way your tastes lean.

Baked, with a little sugar, stir-fried with bacon and onions, in a cheesy casserole, or roasted with olive oil and herbs, it’s a terrific vegetable. Even plain, cubed, with butter and some brown rice with wilted spinach mixed in, we are happy campers.

To get the squash recipes mentioned, go to the What’s Cookin’ website.

Here’s one more we enjoy at this house.

Squash stuffed with sausage

• 1 butternut squash, halved, flesh scooped to 1-inch thick -see note
• 1/3 pound chorizo sausage, cooked briefly, drained, crumbled
• 1/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs or 1/3 cup cooked brown rice
• 1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
• 1 egg white
• 1/4 cup white Jack cheese, optional

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Wash squash very well. Halve the squash and remove seeds and strings. Scoop flesh of squash to a thin shell, about 3/4 inch thick. (Note: Reserve scooped squash to saute on the side in a little butter – don’t waste it!)

In a bowl, mix remaining ingredients. Pack mixture into squash halves. Put squash on a baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees until squash is tender, about 35 minutes.

Remove carefully and cut squash into halves or pieces as desired.

Serves 4 to 6 as a side dish; serves 2 as a main dish.