recipe

brazil nut cookie dough cups (vegan) + a #mollyontherange preorder sprinkle giveaway!

a real live copy of molly on the range arrived late last week and i shrieked so loudly, almost as loud as when a fox tried to take a macaroni in his mouth. it was so wild and unexpected, i thought i was unboxing my new business cards and sprinkle envelopes from chelsey, but nope, it was a book! my book! the thing that's going to classify me as an author and qualify me to wear elbow patches! i carried it around with me, to seattle and eastern washington and back, and then last night we used it to make fried rice even though i didn't really follow the recipe. i was mostly just curious to see if i'd used butter or oil (it was butter, thank goodness) and then let the page sit open next to me while i chopped all of my onions. i tried to get onion juice on it as an inaugural stain. 

i'm getting off track: there are three are exactly three weeks left to preorder and that means three preorder giveaways!

first up, magic sprinkle mix! throughout the life of this book, i've dreamt of a sprinkle mix. something with rainbows, various sprinkley shapes, spices, sesame seeds, and salt. a seasoning mix on its own that's as tasty as it is colorful, and something naturally colored, like the sprinkles i keep in a jar on my open shelf. so working with india tree, who makes my favorite naturally dyed sprinkles, i developed a mix that is exactly that! it's got cardamom, black sesames and white sesames, smoked salt, and a secret mixture of their sprinkles that extends beyond their carnival mix. i am so excited about it and if you see me between now and the end of my tour, there's a chance i might have one of these bad boys for you:

why hand out business cards when you could hand out sprinkle packets?? (all of the credit for this idea goes to one of the cool dudes behind the hare's corner, who i met in ireland and instead of giving me a business card, he gave me a little packet of seeds! it was so cute.) aside from the little packets though, there are also six jars of this magic sesame cardamom limited-edition sprinkle mix up for grabs to those who've preordered molly on the range! details on how to enter are at the bottom of this post. 

first i want to show you how i've used them, on these here cookie dough cups that are vegan and inspired by the brazil nut cookie dough bars in anna jones' new book, a modern way to cook. i had never bought a brazil nut before, but when i did, eggboy flipped out! he loves them! anna's recipe calls for blending the nuts with some sugar and coconut oil and adding chocolate chips, and it tastes just like raw cookie dough, it's dangerous and addictive. in order to let these sprinkles shine through, here i've instead coated this dough in chocolate for a fancier peanut butter cup! 


brazil nut cookie dough cups

makes 12

ingredients

6 oz (or 1 heaping cup) brazil nuts

2 tb sugar

2 tb coconut oil (solid)

2 tb maple syrup

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

12 oz dark chocolate

sprinkles, for topping

 

 

clues

place the nuts, sugar, coconut oil, syrup, salt, and vanilla in a food processor and pulse until the mixture comes together into a dough-like texture. it may still look crumbly but if you squeeze a bit in your hand, it should hold together. dump it out onto a work surface, divide it into 12 equal parts, and then roll them into balls and flatten them. set aside.

line 12 muffin tins with paper liners and set aside. 

melt the chocolate in a double boiler or microwave until smooth and then spoon about 1 teaspoon chocolate into the bottom of the liners. stick in the freezer for a couple minutes to firm up slightly. place a disk of filling in each muffin liner and then top with the remaining melted chocolate so that it covers the filling completely. top with sprinkles and let harden in the freezer. enjoy!


if you've preordered molly on the range and would like to win one of six jars of limited-edition #mollyontherange sesame cardamom sprinkles, leave a comment here with what you'd use them on first! open to u.s. residents. enter now through pub date (10/4) and have your preorder receipt ready for if you win!

marzipan ma'amoul

three great things happened this weekend!

1. i overcame my fear of stranger things. and then binge watched half the season. i stopped being scared mostly because it just became too weird and unreal. if it was any more realistic, i would have never been able to walk from one side of the house to the other at night by myself, but because it's gotten soooo fantasy/sci-fi, and because i do a regular palate cleanser of a few minutes of jane the virgin afterwards, i'm now officially *good*. 

2. i became a scoby mommy! a little while ago, ariel posted about a scoby baby up for adoption so i adopted her and she arrived this weekend. i'm naming her angelica and she's gonna get right to work making me kombucha. i'm so excited. kombucha party! 

3. i was the lunch lady at unglued camp and it was the greatest time ever!!!!! there were around 130 campers and i've never cooked for that many people before ever (except for making wedding desserts), so every day for the past three months i devoted a sizeable portion of time to silently and violently freaking out about it, but it was so much fun! i credit it all to having the greatest helpers in all the land, including but not limited to eggsister (aka avocado anna, because we served avocado party toast) and eggboy, who arrived just in time to scramble and serve 200 eggies to some slightly hungover campers. we also made fancy grilled cheese and tomato squash soup, middle eastern tacos in a bag, and i taught a cake decorating workshop right before lunch so everyone could have an afternoon slice of layer cake. my campers made such stunning cakes! at night we shook our booties to the spice girls and had campfire weenies. and now it's officially been 24 hours since camp ended and no one's dead from my food! win. 

so i guess we can celebrate all this with some cookies, yeah? ma'amoul are like dumpling cookies! the outside is a shortbread dough with a bit of semolina flour in it, and the filling is typically made of walnuts or dates, but because i am marzipan molly and because i have that thing for alliteration we are going with marzipan that's a little cinnamon-y. these cookies are popular across the levant and are often molded with special wooden molds to make intricate designs. i'm mad at myself for not picking one up when i was in tel aviv last month! i did try to buy a ma'amoul cookie at a bakery there though but i was told i couldn't get one unless i got a huge box of them and i was too full on humshuka to think about that. so i came home and made them with some mahlab that i brought back from my favorite spice store. mahlab is a special cherry seed that, when ground to a powder, adds a really lovely cozy almond flavor. it's not necessary in these, but if you happen to see mahlab anywhere, i would recommend picking some up to add to all sorts of baked goods. this recipe makes quite a few little cookies, but i find that they're better after a few days. the filling gets a little chewier, it's a nice contrast to the crumbly cookie. 


marzipan ma'amoul

makes 32

ingredients

2 c flour

1 c semolina

1/4 c sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tb ground mahlab, optional

1 c unsalted butter, softened

1 tsp rosewater

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 c oil

filling:

2 c almond meal

1/4 c sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

a pinch of kosher salt

1 1/2 tsp almond extract

2 large egg whites

 

powdered sugar, for dusting

 

clues

preheat oven to 350ºf. line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

make the dough: combine dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl. beat butter in stand mixer with paddle until fluffy. add rosewater and vanilla and mix to combine. then, add dry ingredients to the butter until the mixture becomes a coarse, mealy mixture. add oil one tablespoon at a time until the ingredients come together to form a dough. divide the dough into two equal pieces, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

make the filling: combine all of the ingredients in a medium bowl, mixing well until filling resembles a thick paste, like marzipan. if the mixture is dry, add a few drops of water until you get desired consistency. roll filling into a long log that's about 2 inches in diameter. wrap in parchment or wax paper until ready to use.

work with half of filling and dough at a time. roll half of the filling into 16 balls. divide half of the dough into 16 pieces. flatten the dough into a disc and wrap around one piece of the filling. flatten the cookie slightly and shape, slicing a few decorative slits into the sides as desired. repeat with remaining dough and filling.

arrange shaped cookies on the prepared cookie sheets. bake cookies for 20 minutes. let cool and dust with powdered sugar. enjoy!


-yeh!

everything bagel galettelettes with tomatoes and scallion cream cheese, and look, i updated my fashions!

happy back to school week everybody!! i realize that macaroni aren’t old enough for preschool yet and i’ve obvi been out of school for a while, so back to school doesn’t really affect my life too much these days (except that grocery shopping takes way longer now since the school supplies sections are a mega distraction from the vegetables) but this year i kinnnnd of feel like i can join in on part of the fun because my book tour starts this month!!! there will be new people to meet, presentations to give, probably some new buildings to get lost in while i search for the bathroom, and new pens in case someone asks me to sign their book. eeee! note to self: find a cute hello kitty pencil case. 

one fear i have about this whole tour thing (other than no one showing up and just generally letting my inner awkward turtles get the best of me) is looking like the slob that i am. it’s not very hard to look like a slob when all day long you play with cake batter and hang out with a cartoon horse. but just like the molly on the range cover, i want to dress in a way that’s approachable, not slobby, and that also gives a nod to my mighty midwest home and farm. 

so it was actually perfect timing when old navy asked me to define my state style for their super cool 50 styles 50 states project: coziness, layers, knitted sweaters. colors like olive, denim, mustard, and cookie. and movability! because you never know when you’re going to be climbing into a tractor. all of that good stuff, and none of that stuff that i wore in new york when opaque tights and dry-clean-only skirts filled my closet. 

i got to go back to school shopping and try on some of old navy’s new fall things, which i think will be just right for some of the more casual book recipe demo events, one of which i know will be on a farm! 

chantell came over and we took my new fashions for a test run. we fetched eggies, picked tomatoes and scallions from the garden, and then made galettelettes (mini galettes!) for eggboy and the other farmers who were around that day to help with wheat harvest. it was a great day! i even discovered that i like jeggings because, among other reasons, you can climb up a tractor in them. boom! 

these galettelettes are dead simple. they’re for when you’re feeling bagel-y and don’t have any bagels but do have tomatoes, scallions, and a big old batch of everything bagel topping. and if you want to simplify it even more, there is no shame in buying scallion cream cheese (or any savory flavor really). and i’ve used store bought pie dough here, but feel free to use homemade. these make a great brunch, snack, or picnic treat! 


everything bagel galettelettes with tomatoes, and scallion cream cheese

makes 8 mini galettes

ingredients

1 1/2 pounds tomatoes

kosher salt

14-15 oz pie dough (homemade or storebought)

filling:

8 oz cream cheese, room temp

3 chopped scallions

1 egg yolk

1 tb flour

pepper

everything bagel topping:

1/2 tsp dried minced garlic

1/4 tsp kosher salt

3/4 tsp poppy seeds

1 tsp sesame seeds

1/2 tsp dried minced onion

1 beaten egg for egg wash

clues

preheat the oven to 400ºf.

slice the tomatoes. then lay them out on a paper towel and sprinkle with salt so that some moisture drains out of them.

divide the pie dough into 8 balls. roll out each ball into a circle that's 6 or 7 inches in diameter. 

mix together cream cheese, scallions, egg yolk, flour, and pepper until smooth and well-combined.

mix together the everything bagel topping ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

brush the edge of the rolled-out dough with egg wash, spread with filling and top with tomatoes. fold over the edges and pleat. brush the outside edges with the egg wash and sprinkle with the everything bagel topping.

bake galettes for 20 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. enjoy!

 

 

-yeh!


pictured: jacket // jeggings // booties // flats // shirt // yellow sweater // grey sweater

thank you, old navy, for sponsoring this post! go check out the other 49 looks in their #50styles50states project and then post your own state-inspired look with the #50styles50states and #oldnavystyle hashtags! disclaimer: per my sponsor agreement, the product links in this post are affiliate links. 


all photos by chantell quernemoen!

choose your own adventure bloody marys

throughout my year of making molly on the range, i had a lot of shoot days where my primary task was taking a few options for beauty shots of the five or six dishes that were on the schedule for that day. most of the shoot days fell in the winter, when the days are extra short around here, so that was silly and took a lot of advanced planning, but in general it wasn't too unlike photographing a blog post. there was more pressure knowing that the photos would get put on paper, however at times it was actually physically easier than shooting a blog post since i knew there wouldn't be much room in the book for many more angles and process shots, beyond one final beauty of the finished dish. 

but! there were also a few different kinds of shoot days that involved people (!) and festive wardrobes (!) and entire party setups, captured by chantell! we had a bonfire, a harvest party, a dumpling party, a brunch party... they were much bigger productions than blog posts and there were a lot of moving parts to coordinate, like humans and props and making sure all of the humans showed up in seasonally appropriate attire (which didn't necessarily reflect which season it actually was. for example, don't ask when we shot the holiday party... the answer is not "around the holidays.") it was a lot like planning a real party! so fun. a little more stressful because if something went wrong i couldn't just spill the punch bowl, call the cops, blame it on the neighbors, and get it out of my life. these were parties that'd live on in physical form. 

one of my favorite parties was our brunch party, modeled on our town brunch club. brunch club member emeritus kristin came up all the way from minneapolis, eggsister came from fargo, farmhouse pottery sent such gorgeous props, and we ate so many of my favorite recipes from the book. (i've strategically included a few preview shots of these up above but the little labels depicting what they are are hidden because those are secrets until the book comes out! #october4 #pleasepreorder) bloody marys were obviously involved but sadly the recipe didn't make the book. 

so here they are now, in honor of sherrie's end of summer #drinkthesummer party, which you all need to check out because i am thirsty and needing to pee just looking at these titles: salty melon slush, garden tonic punch, and jalapeno watermelon cooler to name a few!

i think i make a good bloody mary because savory drinks excite me sooo much. it's like cold boozy soup and--bonus!--you get a serving of vegetables. this recipe is fun because it gives you a good base recipe which you can spice up based on whichever fancy hot sauce you have hiding your fridge. and then depending on what hot sauce that is, that's what you call it. harissa bloody mary, zhoug bloody mary, sambal oelek bloody mary, sriracha chipotle obscure-hot-sauce-in-an-unmarked-bottle-that-you-found-in-your-bag-after-a-long-night-of-tequila-in-tijuana* bloody mary... the world is your hot sauce oyster and impressing your brunch guests is just a few shakes away! 

(*this is fictional, it never happened, stop worrying, mum)


choose your own adventure bloody marys

makes about 6 servings

ingredients

4 c tomato juice

1 c vodka

4 cloves garlic, smashed

1 1/2 tsp celery salt, plus more for garnish

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp ground caraway seeds

1 tsp ground horseradish

1 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce

1 tb lime juice

black pepper 

hot stuff ***

garnish:

celery stalks

lime wedges

pickles 

bacon

***This is the essence of this recipe, what makes it. Open up your refrigerator, find the fanciest spicy situation that you have, and then add it to taste. This will be the title of your Bloody Mary. Harissa Bloody Mary. Sriracha Bloody Mary. Zhoug Bloody Mary. Sambal Oelek Bloody Mary. Or a combination.

clues

In a pitcher, mix together the tomato juice, vodka, garlic, salt, sugar, caraway seeds, Worcestershire sauce, lime juice, a few turns of black pepper, and hot stuff. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired. To serve, give 6 glasses a celery salt rim job and distribute the mixture evenly. Garnish as desired with celery stalks, lime wedges, pickles, and bacon. 


-yeh!

molly on the range is out october 4 and you can pre-order it now!