2 Flourless Chocolate Tortes (1 Even Has Sweet Potatoes)

I have a lot of dessert in the house that I would like to share with you, so please, have a slice of torte. Or two.

Both of these tortes are notable for what they don't have: No wheat. No dairy. No nuts. They are Passover friendly, suitable for gluten-free diets, and chocolate to boot. What's not to love?

First up is the Mock Chestnut (Sweet Potato-Chocolate) Torte, adapted from a Marcy Goldman recipe. I feel virtuous just saying the name of the recipe -- hey, it's got sweet potatoes -- but there's no mistaking this for anything other than dessert. The torte is rich, but not cloying, and has a wonderfully dense texture that slices neatly, though you can't see that in the picture below.

Mock Chestnut Torte, dusted with cocoa powder for a slightly bitter undertone.

The second torte, which I think I will dub the Vanishing Baked Chocolate Mousse, is adapted from a Robin Miller recipe. It still has a decadent amount of eggs and chocolate, but it feels considerably lighter than the other recipe because it is made without any solid fat. It's surprisingly easy to keep nibbling on the torte ... you know, just to even up the edges.

Baked Chocolate Mousse with a sprinkling of pulverized sugar.

Mock Chestnut (Sweet Potato-Chocolate) Torte

This is essentially Marcy Goldman's recipe, which you can find published on Epicurious and The Washington Post. Goldman recommends topping the torte with a chocolate ganache and decorating it with her Caramel Matzoh Crunch, better known in my household as Matzah Crack. This, I think, would be overkill. Instead, consider dusting the torte with some cocoa, and serve with fresh berries on the side. Serves 12 to 14.

1/2 cup unsalted margarine (Kosher for Passover and/or dairy free, according to your needs)

1/3 cup plus 2 Tbsp granulated sugar

6 large eggs, separated

1 1/2 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes (from about 2 large sweet potatoes)

10 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled (I had a 9-ounce bag of semisweet chips, which I supplemented with an ounce of bittersweet chocolate)

1/4 teaspoon salt

Unsweetened cocoa and fresh berries, for serving (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-inch springform pan with baking parchment.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the margarine with the 1/3 cup sugar. Beat in the egg yolks, sweet potatoes, and cooled chocolate.

In a separate bowl, with clean beaters, gently whip the egg whites until they are foamy. Add in the salt, increase the speed on the mixer, and beat the whites, slowly dusting in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar, until the whites form stiff, glossy peaks.

Fold one-third of the egg whites into the chocolate batter to loosen it, then fold in the remaining egg whites. Mix thoroughly but gently so you do not deflate the mixture. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.

Bake for about 40 minutes. When done, the cake will look dry and slightly cracked on top, and the middle will be soft but firm. Cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes before removing the outer ring, and chill the torte for an hour or two in the refrigerator before serving. Just before serving, dust the torte with unsweetened cocoa. Serve alongside fresh berries, if desired.

Vanishing Baked Chocolate Mousse Torte

Adapted from a Robin Miller recipe published by Spry. You can make a Passover version of confectioners' sugar by pulverizing granulated sugar with potato starch in a small food processor. I've seen two different ratios for doing this: 1 cup sugar to 1 Tbsp potato starch OR 2/3 cup sugar to 1 tsp potato starch. Because the quantity of sugar in this recipe is so low, I skipped the potato starch and just pulverized my granulated sugar plain. Makes 12 servings.

4 ounces semisweet chocolate
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (or use another 4 ounces of semisweet chocolate, as in the original recipe)
8 large eggs, separated
1 tsp real vanilla extract
1/4 cup pulverized sugar (or confectioners' sugar), plus extra for serving

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan with a neutral oil and line the bottom with baking parchment.

Melt the chocolate (in a microwave or in a double boiler, over simmering water) and let cool.

Beat the egg yolks in a large bowl until thick and pale. Beat in the cooled chocolate and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, with clean beaters, whip the whites with the sugar until soft peaks form. Fold one-quarter of the whites into the chocolate batter to loosen it, then fold in the remaining egg whites. Mix thoroughly but gently so you do not deflate the mixture. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until the torte is almost set but still a little jiggly in the center. The torte will firm up, and deflate, as it cools. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate to chill completely before removing the torte from its pan. Dust with sugar just before serving, if desired.

Red Devil's Food Cupcakes

Let me address your first observation: No, the cupcakes are not really red. Certainly not the brilliant red you might associate with a red velvet cake -- especially any red velvet cake (or cupcake or cookie) found in a supermarket bakery. If you squint just right, and your lighting is good, you might find that this cake is a dark reddish-brown -- red the way old mahogany furniture is red.

See what I mean?

You can find red-colored cakes just about anywhere these days, and they seem to be a source of much contention in the food-blog world. Red velvet cake is either a Southern specialty, or it’s not (an urban legend links the cake to the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City). The authentic topping is boiled icing, unless it isn’t (cream cheese frosting is widely popular). The cakes get their color from bottled food dye, unless they don’t (beets can provide a natural source of “red”). For all of the talk of old-time recipes, much of the popularity of red velvet cake can be traced to a smart marketing move: The Adams Extract company began distributing a recipe during the Depression era to encourage sales of its vanilla extract, butter flavoring, and red coloring.

Which brings me back to my red devil’s food cake. Devil’s food cake and red velvet cake are linked by common ingredients -- typically cocoa, buttermilk, baking soda, and cake flour, which provides the "velvet" crumb -- and some old cookbooks use the names interchangeably. The recipe that I modified comes from a 1952 cookbook and may have older origins. One notable difference is that devil’s food cakes use more cocoa powder, so they actually taste like chocolate. (This is a good thing.)

If you are fiddling with red velvet or devil's food recipes, you want to pay special attention to the proportion of acidic ingredients (cocoa and buttermilk) to alkaline ones (baking soda). It’s the chemical reaction between these ingredients that leavens the cake. Furthermore, the acids enhance the red pigments that naturally occur in cocoa powder, providing the cake’s faint red tint.

Red Devil’s Food Cupcakes

(Adapted from The Complete American-Jewish Cookbook. Makes 10 cupcakes. Recipe can be doubled.)

Ingredient notes:

• You cannot use Dutch-processed, or alkalized, cocoa in this recipe, as it upsets the ratio of acidic-to-alkaline ingredients.

• To make a buttermilk substitute for this recipe, mix 3/4 tsp white vinegar with enough milk to equal 1/4 cup. Let stand 5 minutes before using.

Ingredients:

1 cup sifted cake flour (measure after sifting)

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup natural, unsweetened cocoa, such as regular Hershey’s (see ingredient note)

1/4 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup buttermilk (see ingredient note)

1/2 cup boiling water

Directions:

Line cupcake pans with paper or foil liners. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and cocoa, and set aside. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and beat well.

Beat in dry ingredients, alternating with buttermilk, scraping the bowl as necessary and keeping the beaters on low speed to avoid depositing the powdery ingredients over your work surface. The batter will become very thick. Pour in the boiling water and use a whisk to distribute it through the batter evenly. The final batter will be very runny. 

Fill the cupcake liners about two-thirds full. Bake about 22 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool cupcakes completely before decorating. Frost with a vanilla buttercream or frosting of your choice.

Say, kids, what time is it?

In baseball circles, it's time to report to Spring Training. In political circles, it's a preview of silly season. And in crop circles (ha!), it's time to sign up for a summer CSA share.

We are back with Connor's for a fifth season, and expect to be posting weekly from mid-June to mid-October.

If you are new to the world of community-supported agriculture, check out my tips post. CSA isn't for eveyone, so I'm happy to field questions from the undecided.

Sweet Beginnings (and Chocolate-Peppermint Thumbprints)

I know what you're thinking. It’s January, so it’s time to be resolute once again about diet and exercise. Ordinarily, I'm right there with you. After all, I have a CSA-centric blog -- I really like my vegetables. But events over the past couple of weeks have reminded me of life’s uncertainties, and I’m not ready yet for seasonal austerity. I’m having dessert first.

So here’s to a new year, one that I hope will feature good health and a dose of sweetness for my friends and family.

Chocolate-Peppermint Thumbprints

(From the December 2011 issue of Everyday Food. Makes about 4 dozen delectable cookies.)

For the cookie dough:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp table salt

1.5 cups sugar, divided use

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 large egg

1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract

For the filling:

5 ounces (3/4 cup) semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract

Instructions 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks set in the upper and lower thirds. Have on hand two baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Place 1/2 cup sugar in a small bowl and set aside.

Beat the remaining 1 cup of sugar and the 1 cup of butter in a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high, until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat to combine. Gradually beat in the flour mixture, using the mixer on low (if yours can handle a stiff dough) or by hand (which is the way I had to do it).

Scoop out cookie dough (in rounded 1/2 tablespoons, approximately) and roll into 1-inch balls. Roll the balls in the reserved sugar to coat and place the balls about 1 inch apart on the baking sheets.

Bake 5 minutes. Remove the sheets from the oven and use the back of a small melon baller or a round measuring spoon to make an indentation in the center of each cookie. Return the baking sheets to the oven, switching their positions on the racks, and bake the cookies until just set but still moist-looking, about 4 more minutes. Put the baking sheets on wire racks and let the cookies cool in place.

As the cookies cool, prepare the filling. Place the chocolate chips and 1/4 cup butter in a bowl and microwave in 10-second increments until melted, stirring to combine. Stir in the peppermint extract. Let the filling mixture cool until it is thick enough to pipe, about 5 minutes. Transfer the filling to a pastry bag fitted with a small round tip or to a large zip-top plastic bag (to which you snip a 1/4-inch hole in one corner). Pipe the filling into each cookie.

Store the cookies in an airtight container, up to 1 week (if you can keep them around that long).

60-Minute Moroccan-Style Challah

Every time I make bread from scratch I think to myself: I don’t do this nearly often enough. It’s not the taste of home-baked bread that spurs that thought -- truth be told, I sometimes prefer the store-bought stuff -- but rather the physical process of making bread. Kneading dough is therapeutic. (No bread machine or stand mixer with a dough hook here. That would spoil the fun.) So there I was on a recent Friday morning, in need of kitchen therapy, happily working some dough.

The recipe at hand was a Moroccan-style challah from Joan Nathan that has been making the rounds of newspaper food sections for the past year. Two qualities in particular set this bread apart from “conventional” challah in America. One is that it has a very short rise time (10 minutes!); the entire process of mixing, kneading, resting, shaping, and baking the dough takes about an hour. The second is the flavoring: anise seed in the original recipe, fennel seed when I made it. (Both seeds impart a licorice flavor, but fennel seed has a milder taste. And it’s what I had on hand.) The loaves are topped with sesame.

The result was intriguing, if not exactly challah-like. My loaves were fragrant, narrow, and dense. Too dense, perhaps; I was expecting them to rise more in the oven. Whether that is a reflection of the recipe, a cold kitchen, or the cook is not clear. What I need here is a second opinion, so give this recipe a try and let me know how it works for you. Come on, you can do it. It only takes an hour.

60-Minute Moroccan-Style Challah

Adapted from Joan Nathan’s Pain Petri, or Moroccan Anise-Flavored Challah With Sesame Seeds. Makes 2 loaves.

1 Tbsp active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
1 large egg
1/4 cup canola oil
4 cups flour (divided use), plus more for dusting
1/2 Tbsp salt
2.5 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp fennel seed, crushed (or anise seeds, which are smaller and can be used whole)

1 extra egg yolk, beaten with 1/2 Tbsp water, for glaze

1/2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Have on hand a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Put the yeast in a large mixing bowl and pour in the water. Stir to dissolve the yeast. Whisk in the egg, then the oil.

Add 3.5 cups of the flour, the salt, sugar, and fennel seeds to the yeast mixture, and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough begins to come together. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead the dough for about 5 minutes or until it is smooth and elastic. If the dough feels sticky, knead in more flour (from the remaining half cup) in increments as necessary.

Shape the dough into a round loaf and poke a 1-inch hole completely through the center. (You can use the handle of the wooden spoon to do this.) Let the dough rest, uncovered, on the floured surface, for about 10 minutes.

Divide the dough in half. On a lightly floured surface, and with floured hands, roll one piece of dough into a 2-foot-long rope, pinching closed any seams that form in the dough. Bring the two ends of the rope next to each other and twist the dough to form a loose spiral. Pinch the ends together and tuck under the loaf. Place the bread on the baking sheet. Repeat with the second piece of dough.

Brush the egg glaze over the loaves and sprinkle them with the sesame seeds.

Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees, and bake for another 30 minutes, or until the loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Food Day 2011

This is not a political blog, but our food choices are inevitably steeped in politics. Farm subsidies, animal welfare, food insecurity -- these are only a smattering of the issues that surround the food we eat.

Today is Food Day, an effort by the Center for Science in the Public Interest to bring a host of food-related issues to the forefront of American consciousness. The CSPI has been controversial over the years -- remember those scolding reports about Chinese and Italian restaurant meals? -- but here is something I think we, as food-blog readers, can agree on:

We generally spend more time thinking about what we’re going to cook than about how that food is produced. And if we are wondering about where our next meal is coming from, our conversation probably involves restaurant picks, not soup kitchens.

Today, as you sit down to eat, remember to add a dash of awareness to your dinner. Bon appetit.

Hoping for Chard ...

Our farm share resumes this Friday. I haven't a clue as to what we're getting, but that's OK. After three summers of CSA participation, The Programmer and I can tackle just about anything when it comes to produce. Or, at least, I think we can; the jury is still out on broccoli rabe.

In the run-up to the CSA season, I've been experimenting with herb and spice combinations. Recently, we've had from-scratch falafel, tzatziki, Indian-spiced potatoes, and cilantro-mint dressing. I expect to be sharing more about these recipes as the season progresses.

Meanwhile, it's time to sit back and see what the week brings. Chard, maybe? Pretty please?

Snow Day Recipes: No-Knead Whole Wheat Bread and Chocolate Snowballs

School: Canceled.
Movie night with Book Club girlfriends: Canceled.
Kitchen oven: On!

I don't need much of an excuse to spend time in the kitchen baking, but last week's snowfall provided one anyway. I made two treats for post-shoveling snacking. The first was a loaf of whole wheat bread. I know that doesn't sound exciting, but honestly, how often do you bake bread? (If you answered, "a couple of times a year," or more, you already know the virtues of the homemade stuff.) In any case, the recipe (detailed below) produced good results with very little work.
 

The second bit of baking was a batch of chocolate snowballs, primarily because the name was perfect. Turns out the recipe was a keeper. You do need to plan ahead if you want to make these cookies, as the dough requires a long chilling time.

Two notes before I lose my vegetable-advocacy credentials:

1. The bread goes well with my Vegetarian Split Pea Soup. When I made the soup last week, I used yellow split peas, a teaspoon of dried thyme rather than fresh, and I skipped the "puree" step and just let the soup cook longer (about an hour in total) until the peas broke down fully.

2. It's CSA sign-up time (at least, in these snowy climes). We're members, again, at Connors Farm. While I'm a fan of community-supported agriculture, I’m well aware of its pluses and minuses. If you have questions (or doubts) before joining up, I'm happy to provide honest answers.

Now, on to the baking:

No-Knead Whole Wheat Bread 
(Adapted from King Arthur Flour to be non-dairy. You can find slightly different versions of this recipe on packages of King Arthur whole wheat flour and on the company's web site.)

1 cup lukewarm water
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 Tbsp maple syrup (can substitute molasses or something similar)
1 envelope (1/4 ounce) instant yeast (also known as rapid-rise yeast)
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 cups (12.75 ounces) whole wheat flour

Thoroughly grease a loaf pan, 8.5 inches by 4.5 inches. (Size matters here if you want a loaf of "sandwich" bread.) Combine the water, juice, vegetable oil, maple syrup, yeast, salt, and flour in a large bowl and beat vigorously for about three minutes. The result will be a very sticky, non-kneadable dough. (King Arthur Flour suggests beating the ingredients with an electric mixer on high speed. Alas, the dough was too stiff for my hand mixer, so I used a wooden spoon and brute force, with good results.)

Scoop the dough into the loaf pan, and spread it as evenly as possible. Cover the pan with a lightly greased piece of plastic wrap, and let it rise for 60 to 90 minutes. The dough should come up to the rim of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the plastic wrap and bake the bread for 30 to 45 minutes, tenting it with aluminum foil after 20 minutes. (Note: The flour package says 30 to 35 minutes; the web site says 40 to 45 minutes. I think my loaf took closer to 45 minutes.) To determine if the bread is done, insert an instant-read thermometer into the center of the loaf; it should register between 190 and 195 degrees F. The top will be golden brown.

Remove the loaf from the oven, let cool about 5 minutes, then turn the bread out onto a rack. Cool completely before slicing.

Chocolate Snowballs
(From Taste of Home)

3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Confectioners' sugar

Cream butter and brown sugar in a large bowl. Mix in the egg, milk, and vanilla, and beat well. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients gradually to the butter-sugar mixture. Cover and refrigerate overnight, or at least several hours; the dough should have the consistency of fudge or truffles before shaping.

When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop up dough using a small spoon or cookie scoop, and shape into 1-inch balls using your hands. (I think mine were closer to 1.25 inches in diameter.) Bake for 7 to 8 minutes or until the cookie tops are crackled. Transfer the baked cookies to wire racks to cool completely. Roll the cooled cookies in confectioners' sugar. Yield: about 4.5 dozen.

A Family-Friendly Farm

The kids would be much happier if our CSA farm looked more like this one.

More Americana

Details of last week's Americana evening, with blog posts from hostess Doves and Figs and fellow guest Good Cook Doris.

Anticipation

I received a pre-pickup e-mail from our CSA this week. Hurray! Anything that gives me a heads-up on the week's produce helps with the eventual cooking. It looks like we'll be getting strawberries, rhubarb, radishes, and a variety of greens on Friday. Check back later in the week to learn what we did with our stuff.

I have set a couple of goals for myself concerning this year's farm season. As always, I want to try out new vegetable-based recipes. This year in particular I want to explore cuisines that I don't often cook (Thai and Indian foods, for example). Also, since we'll be hosting a lot of family and friends late this summer, I'm planning on turning some of the early-season produce into freezable brunch foods -- quiche and quick breads, for example. Write in if you have a favorite recipe to share.

To my new CSA fans: I extend thanks to Public Radio Kitchen for linking to this blog and to my CSA Tips post. PRK lists my blog among the Healthy Eatin' sites, which means I probably shouldn't tell you about the birthday cake I made for Caboodle this week.

Okay, I'll tell you anyway. It was Rosie's Famous Chocolate Sour-Cream Cake Layers with Mocha Buttercream. If you don't have a version of this cookbook, hie thee to a bookstore or library. Consider it research for CSA-friendly recipes; just check out Rosie's Rhubarb Bars.

Tips From a CSA Veteran

We're about a month from the start of our CSA season, and our farm (Connors) has just reopened its farm store. Not much local food yet, aside from spring-dug parsnips, but the anticipation mounts. Meanwhile, I'm prepping for the season, testing out recipes, and enjoying the herbs coming up in our garden.

If you are new to the CSA world, you may be wondering how you are going to manage the coming influx of produce. Here are a few tips to get you started:

Stock up your pantry. This may seem counter-intuitive; after all, you're expecting a heap of vegetables to arrive, right? But having a good supply of staples makes it easier to cook. And you will need to cook. I keep on hand beans, lentils, grains, pasta, tuna, soy sauce, spices, vinegars, and oils--not to mention cocoa, flour, squares of chocolate, vanilla, and a variety of sugars for a few produce-containing sweets.

Gather recipes. It's good to have a couple of ideas stashed away for when you have virtually nothing but lettuce in your share. (Reference last June.) I cook well off the cuff, but formal recipes help me expand my repertoire and figure out correct proportions of ingredients. I use the Internet, naturally, but I also clip recipes from newspapers and magazines, and I keep a small library of reliable cookbooks.

Bookmark reference sites. If you are having trouble identifying a vegetable, or figuring out what to do with it, the Internet is your friend. The Cook's Thesaurus, the Squash Glossary, and CHOW’s Visual Guide to Chili Peppers have all served me well. Whatever you have in your share (Swiss chard, anyone?), someone has written a blog post about it.

Make storage space. Some foods (like, say, lettuce) don't keep well. Other foods (like, say, raspberries) you'll eat up RIGHT NOW because you can't help yourself. Between those extremes, you will likely need some storage options. Canning, pickling, and freezing are all good ways of extending summer's harvest into winter. Just be sure to clear out some shelf space or freezer space for packing away the goodies.

Share with your friends. Turn your CSA bounty into a communal experience. If you have salad fixings for 20 people, it's time to host a party or a pot-luck. Bring a quiche or a zucchini bread over to your neighbor's house. Chances are they'll appreciate the gesture--unless they are overrun with vegetables, too.

Super Bowls

We had friends over on Super Bowl Sunday, and between our families we have a nut allergy, a fat-restricted diet, a pepper-chili-cilantro aversion, a carbs-and-calories watcher, a couple of picky kids, and a kosher kitchen. Oh, what to do?

Punt!

Then, make a bunch of food and let everyone mix and match. Our final line-up:

• Crudites and herbed yogurt dip
• Fat-free and regular hummus (homemade)
• Pita bread, salsa, hard pretzels, and tortilla chips (store bought)
• Baked macaroni and cheese
• A winter ratatouille
• Plain pasta
• Salad greens with roasted squash and a maple vinaigrette
• Undressed salad greens
• A "gridiron" of brownies (with Hugs and Kisses for the X's and O's)
• Jell-O footballs
• Grapes
• Plus our friends' contributions of spicy pickles, a big football-shaped fruit tart, and little football-shaped s'mores.

Turns out I had one major goof-up: I completely missed my friend's maple syrup allergy (smacks self in head!), so the dressed salad was a no-go for him. Fortunately, there were no Emergency Room trips, and, as far as I can tell, no one left hungry.

So, all in all, it was not your typical Super Bowl spread, but a lot of bowls were involved. Leftovers for dinner tonight!

A Twisted Start to the Year

I suppose the following recipe violates the general purpose of my blog: It does not feature anything local, seasonal, or even vegetable. File this one under regional nostalgia.

You see, growing up in Philadelphia, soft pretzels are a part of my culture, and they are one of the few foods associated with that city that I actively seek out (along with the occasional tuna hoagie.) They're fun to make at home, and a good recipe to make with kids: Lots of opportunities to play with dough.

Caboodle and I whipped up a batch of these on Sunday, and they gave us the fortitude to shovel out the driveway. If you make some for yourself, remember to eat them warm, preferably with a smear of mustard. (Gulden's Spicy Brown, thank you.)

Philadelphia-style Soft Pretzels
(adapted from The Philadelphia Inquirer)

For the dough:

1 envelope active dry yeast
1 1/4 cups warm water
2 tsp salt
4 cups unsifted all-purpose flour, plus up to 1 cup extra flour
Canola oil, for greasing bowl and baking trays

For the boiling:

4 tsp baking soda
4 cups water

Procedure: In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in one-quarter cup warm water. Stir in remaining water. In a large bowl, combine the salt and four cups of flour. Stir in the yeast water. Add more flour, as needed, to make a stiff dough. Knead dough for 10 minutes or until it feels smooth and elastic. Shape dough into a ball and place into a greased bowl, turning to coat dough. Cover loosely and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.

Separate dough into 12 pieces. Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll each piece into a coil, about 18 inches long and 3/8 inch in diameter, and twist into a pretzel shape. Set shaped pretzels aside, loosely covered, in a warm place.

Dissolve the baking soda in four cups of water and bring to a boil. Drop in the raw pretzels, one at a time, and let boil for one minute or until the pretzel floats. Remove and drain on paper towels.

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Transfer the boiled pretzels to a greased baking sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a rack.

Optional: Brush the baked pretzels with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse salt. (Personally, I consider butter a sacrilege. Real pretzels need mustard.)

CSA: Danvers (Season 3)

Wanna keep your resolution to eat more vegetables? Easy! Just sign up for a CSA.

Connors Farm patrons can now lock in their shares for 2010.

Seasonal Silliness

More proof that marshmallows function as clay.

Recipe idea from Martha Stewart Living, by way of the Jewish Journal Boston North.

Synchronicity

A discovery made while baking last Friday morning:

Take eggs, sugar, flour, vegetable oil, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla. Combine them with pureed carrots and you get carrot kugel. Combine them with chocolate chips instead of carrots and you get mandelbrot.

The girls are now lobbying for chocolate chip kugel.

Think Ahead!

Connors Farm has a waiting list going for shares in 2010. Current members do not need to sign up -- we get a priority listing -- but if you are considering joining the CSA next year, now's the time to get on the list. (If you are outside of the Danvers area, you might want to check in with your preferred program.)

In other farm news, I had a nice conversation with Bob Connors on Friday when I picked up this week's share. He says crops are looking good for August and September. Some other Massachusetts farms have reported problems due to weather and late blight, so this is especially good news for us.

Cat got your chard?

My older daughter found this posted at the Lolcats site. She tells me CSA stands for "Cat-supported Agriculture."