Cranberry and Goat Cheese Salad with Grapes and Pine Nuts

A couple of years ago a friend served this salad at one of her dinner parties. This is now one of my all-time favorites. The vinaigrette is a simple lemon and olive oil blend which I find really compliments the fresh greens. The grapes and cranberries add some sweetness, the pine nuts some texture and the goat cheese smooths it all out. Mmmmmnnnn.....goat cheese....

I am not sure where the recipe originated from, but after searching online I have found many variations. Some have candied pecans instead of pine nuts, others pears instead of grapes, and still others add tomato and onion, and there are a variety of different vinaigrettes used. That's the beauty of creating in the kitchen...you get to use what you love and take pride in the results!

The ingredients are simple: mixed greens, dried cranberries, red or green grapes (halved), pine nuts and goat cheese. The vinaigrette is simply the juice of one lemon, some olive oil, salt, pepper and sugar. Toss it all together and enjoy! A printable recipe card follows.

Alfajores

I first had Alfajores (pronounced "alfa-hoar-ays") a number of years ago at a workplace potluck and it was love at first bite. Not too sweet, this sandwich cookie originated in South America. The cookie itself is similar to a shortbread; as a matter of fact, until today I always used a regular shortbread cookie recipe. Today I decided to make the cookie the traditional way. Unlike regular shortbread, the traditional dough has egg yolks and brandy, and it uses more cornstarch than flour which makes it a very delicate, crumbly melt-in-your-mouth cookie. The filling is a delicious Dulce de Leche made with sweetened condensed milk (so easy to make it will knock your socks off!) and the edges are rolled in coconut...to die for! (A printable recipe card follows this post)

I really like the flavor and texture of this cookie, but I should mention that I found this dough a tad difficult to roll. The original recipe (from Canadian Living) said to shape the dough into a disk and refrigerate for an hour before rolling. I did exactly that and I found the dough too cold, in that it cracked and crumbled quite easily. I had to be patient, take small pieces of dough (enough for only a couple of cookies), warm it in my hands until it softened and then roll it out. It took me 45 minutes to roll out 4 dozen. I must say that the end result is well worth it, but I think that next time I will wrap the dough and let it sit on the counter for a few minutes, and then roll the dough (it will be quite soft), cut it and place the pieces on cookie sheets and THEN refrigerate them for a bit before baking. I'll let you know how that works out. You may have better luck with refrigerating this dough before rolling than I did, but if you don't want to spend too much time, either roll it without refrigerating it first or stick with a regular shortbread recipe. Either way, you won't be disappointed with this cookie. Everyone who has ever tried these have raved over them.

You can use store-bought Dulce de Leche for the filling, or you can very easily make it from scratch. All you need is a can of sweetened condensed milk (I use Eagle Brand). There are a couple of different methods for making this sauce, but the easiest is to do it the day or evening before so it can cool overnight. Did I mention that it was easy?

Take a can (or two!) of sweetened condensed milk, immerse it in a pot full of water (cover the can by at least an inch). Yes, the whole can. No, don't open it first.

Bring it to a boil (no, it won't burst). Cover the pot and reduce the heat so that it maintains a low boil. Cook it like this for 2-4 hours (yes, 2-4 hours!) Check it every now and again just to make sure that the cans are completely covered in water. The longer you boil it, the richer and darker the Dulce de Leche will be. I cooked mine for 3 hours. Don't open the can right away! Let the can cool overnight on the counter. The next day....

....beautiful Dulce de Leche! Did I mention how easy it was?

Now you can make the dough. Sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar.

Then add the egg yolks, brandy and vanilla and mix until smooth. Slowly stir in the flour mixture until just incorporated.

It looks a bit crumbly. I gathered it all up with my hands and placed it onto a piece of plastic wrap. Shape it into a disk and wrap. 

Now the original recipe says to refrigerate for an hour, but I found it way to hard to roll out after. Next time I'll let it sit like this for a few minutes on the counter and then roll it out. Use a biscuit or cookie cutter to cut it into 2" rounds. 

Bake for about 12 minutes, until the edges are beginning to brown but the top is still pale. Cool on a rack. Once the cookies are cool, take one and put a couple of teaspoons of the Dulce de Leche on the flat side. 

Yum. Now top it with another cookie (flat side down). 

Using your fingertip, gently spread a little of the sauce around the edge of the cookie. 

And roll the edge in coconut. 

Top the cookies with some powdered sugar and...voila! A perfect tea time (or anytime) cookie. Enjoy! A printable recipe card follows this post.

Classic Deli-Style Reuben Sandwich

Over the weekend I stopped by my local grocery store to pick up some essentials. You know...milk, eggs, cheese, bread. In the bakery section what did I find? Fresh baked and sliced pumpernickel loaves...they were still warm! I didn't hesitate to scoop up a couple - they smelled divine! I immediately thought of my favorite grilled sandwich - a classic Reuben on pumpernickel. Yum. 

This sandwich just bursts with flavor. The combination of corned beef and sauerkraut is to die for. Add in some Swiss cheese, Thousand Island dressing and pumpernickel and you have Heaven on a plate. Ohhhh yeah. And it's super-easy to make!

I like to build these sandwiches right in the pan. Butter a slice of pumpernickel (you can use rye bread if you prefer but trust me....pumpernickel rocks) and place it buttered-side down in a frying pan. Put a slice of Swiss cheese on the bread and pile on some shaved corned beef. (I like to heat the corned beef in the microwave before building my sandwich). Drizzle a little Thousand Island dressing over the meat (some folks like their dressing on the side for dipping. I like to have the dressing right smack dab in the middle of the sandwich. And on the side for dipping, haha). 

 Now top this with some sauerkraut. Add as much as you like. 

 Place another slice of Swiss cheese on top of the sauerkraut:

 And top it off with another slice of pumpernickel, buttered on top:

 Grill the first side over medium-high heat until it is nicely toasted and the lower slice of cheese begins to melt. Flip 'er over and grill the other side until it is toasted. Remove the sandwich to a cutting board, slice it in half, slap a pickle on the plate and ...enjoy! A printable recipe card follows. 

 

Recipe Re-Do's

Over the past few weeks it seems that work, family gatherings, a new puppy and a bout with a bad cold has left me with minimal time to spend on my little blog! To those of you who follow regularly, I apologize. I have spent some time looking over past posts and decided I needed to do a little blog updating and maintenance. One of these days I'll get around to a whole redesign, but for now I have gone back and added printable recipe cards to some of my earlier posts (made before I discovered Key Ingredient recipe cards). 

Today I am featuring four of my favorite earlier posts, and if you haven't tried them yet, now's the time to try one or two of them! Spinach and Wild Rice Salad has a fantastic flavor and texture combination and is an excellent way to use leftover rice. The Fan Buns are my most-loved dinner roll...tender melt-in-your mouth goodness and not as hard to make as they seem. Pan Fried Pickerel is a Manitoba favorite fish. Also known as Walleye, this fish is a delicate white-fleshed fish with a mild flavor. To top it off, the light and airy Lemon Chiffon cake is a perfect end to any meal....plus it's filled with lemon curd and cream...who could resist that?

So, if you happen to be looking for something new to make this weekend, click on one of the links above and have fun!