Baklava! March 21, 2010

I had the honor of being invited earlier in the week to lunch at my grandmother’s college roommate’s house.  Sarah had Nathan and I over for lunch in Asheville and we had a great time!  I told her all about my blog and she gave me some local honey as a contribution for the posts 😉  I keep finding that the best way to discover local food in your area is to ask the locals!  Easy, huh?  Sarah recommended lots of restaurants and stores and of course this honey:

Even Asher was excited!

I looked up Sourwood honey online and found this out about the tree:

“The Sourwood tree (Oxydendrum Arboreum) is also called Lily of the Valley tree, growing 40 to 60 feet tall with a diameter of one foot. The leaves are oblong, pointed at the apex, and have a sour taste. Flowers are white bell-shaped and hang in clusters 5-6 inches long at the end of the branches. Sourwood is most abundant in the mountains of North Georgia and Western North Carolina. The Sourwood tree blooms in late June through the month of July, during a period when few other flowers are blooming.” 

 And this about the HONEY: “Sourwood honey is extra-light to light amber color and extremely aromatic, with a distinctive rich honey flavor. In local markets it commands a premium price. When it comes to quality and taste, no other honey can match Sourwood Honey.”  I’m not sure I would have splurged on the honey so I am really thankful for the gift and the opportunity to cook with it! 

So of course I had to find a recipe that made honey the star and I chose none other than BAKLAVA!!  I love baklava!  Whenever it is offered at a bakery or cafe, I find myself instantly drawn to it and usually buying it.  But I have never made it.  So yesterday afternoon, I gave it a try.  I found this easy recipe with these few ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter

1/2 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough

2 cups chopped pecans (had the local ones in my freezer)

1 1/2 tablespoons whole cloves

1 1/2 cups water

1/3 cup white sugar

1 cinnamon stick (used ground cinnamon)

1 cup honey (SOURWOOD!)

I started with the pastry, butter,  pecans, and cloves…

And got here…

And finally here…

While it cooked for 45 min. at 350 degrees, I started making the honey topping.

Once the pastry was done, the hot mixture was poured over it:

And then it cooled and was cut.  It was a bit too syrupy and I mainly blame that on myself.  I should have judged better and not poured the whole mixture over the pastry.  However, it cut beautifully and tastes great!  It really truly does taste like REAL bakalava.  I don’t think this is too bad for my first try.  And Nathan didn’t complain either 😉

Love the trees peeking in

Chocolate PB Cups March 18, 2010

So I was feeling the need for something a little sweet last night after dinner and instead of grabbing a cookie and turning on the tv decided to cook!  I found this recipe in the magazine Organic Shopper, which I picked up for free at Earth Fare.  I immediately was drawn to an article about Alicia Silverstone (still love Clueless!) because I had recently seen her interview on Oprah.  She is now vegan and believes herself to be in much better health than previously.  She has a new cookbook called The Kind Diet and the Organic Shopper was featuring a few of her recipes.  Here’s the SWEET one I decided to try last night:

So I grabbed all the ingredients including my local maple syrup, pecans, and butter! 

And started heating the pb, butter, maple syrup, and crushed graham crackers together. 

The hot melted mixture then went into paper muffin cups.

I then melted the chocolate chips with soy milk and once thoroughly mixed and melted, spooned the mixture over each pb cup.  I then topped them with a pecan!

Here’s the recipe which I followed pretty closely except for using regular semi-sweet chocolate chips:

Click to see it larger!

And follow this link and actually WATCH Alicia Silverstone make the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups!

Making them is really worth it.  I was surprised at how easy they were…It took me less than 15 min!  And of course the ingredients are yummy, and the whole recipe is on the healthier side of “desserts.”

I tried to have just one bite, but I finished it…Off to have another one! 

Maple Pecan Bars March 12, 2010

Are you tired of maple syrup recipes yet?!  I hope not!  I’ve got another one…Maple Pecan Bars!

I combined the infamous maple syrup (that’s been included in various past posts) along with some freshly shelled pecans from my mother.  I had been saving them in the freezer for an occassion just like this!  So into the pot went:

• butter
• heavy cream
• brown sugar and
• maple syrup

In the meantime, I started the crust combining the following ingredients:

• quick rolled oats
• whole wheat flour
• dark brown sugar
• softened butter
• salt and
• a bit of cold water

After it was all combined in a bowl, I pressed it into a pan and put it in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 min.

During this, the mixture on the stove began to boil.  As soon as it did, I waited 30 sec. and then added some real vanilla extract and the pecans.  I mixed it all together and once I removed the crust, poured the mixture right on top!

Here’s the bars before cooking:

And after!

I left the bars in the refrigerator overnight to help them harden and form.  And then next morning…Wah-lah!  Beautiful AND TASTY bars.  They are so rich and heavenly…and definitely fitting of my favorite food word…YUMMY!  I wish I could send you one from here 😉

Thanks hubby for the cutting skills!  I was too nervous that I’d mess them up!