Holiday Wishes and Chocolatey Mini-Muffins

Is Christmas really two days away? One look in my fridge tells me it certainly is! I have a fat turkey waiting to grace my table, a variety of goodies to keep us happy on Christmas day (everything from brunch items, to snacks, to all the things I need for Christmas dinner) and a freshly-made Bûche de Noël. I am especially looking forward to the traditional Christmas Eve fish platter with a bottle of chilled Sancerre- the most perfect way to celebrate as far as I'm concerned!
Before wishing you all a wonderful Christmas, I'd like to tell you about some tasty little muffins I made yesterday for Kirstie to take to school. Her birthday is on the 31st of December so it's always celebrated either before or after the Christmas vacation. I didn't want to make too much of a fuss and came up with these bite-sized chocolatey muffins. They can be thrown together with almost no effort. In fact, I made them between baking a few dozen cookies. She returned home with an empty box- a sign that my efforts were well-received! 
Here's the recipe. Hope you have a wonderful holiday!


Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Mini-Muffins
Makes 33 mini-muffins

250g self rising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsps good quality cocoa powder
50g mini-chocolate chips 
1 egg
150ml full-fat yogurt
50ml full-fat milk
170g sugar
100ml sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla extract


Preheat the oven to 180C. Mix the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and chocolate chips in a large bowl. Whisk the egg, yogurt, milk, sugar, oil and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients gently to the dry and fold until just combined. Divide over the muffin cups and bake for approximately 15-20 minutes or until skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookie Drops

Cookie baking is an integral part of Christmas. There's nothing like those moments when you're in the kitchen baking something wonderful and everything around you is just perfect and festive. The beauty of the tree, the fireplace glowing, the sound of a loved Christmas tune playing on the radio and the feeling of utter family happiness. If it happens to be snowing outside, all the better!
I must admit to being a little late this year though. There were lots of odds and ends that needed to be taken care of, some cooking classes and a few deadlines which sort of made me put my cookie baking tradition on hold.
With a little more time on my hands, I've decided to do some catching up. I was thinking of going straight to the heart of holiday baking and making either gingerbread people or butter cookies, but I sort of had the following recipe floating around in my head for a while and wanted to try it out first.
One of my favorite chocolates back home were those yummy York Peppermint Patties. Little circles of dark chocolatey goodness filled with a cool, creamy peppermint center! It's been quite a while since I've had one and I think I was reminded of them when I visited a Dutch foreign foods store recently and saw them there. They were the inspiration for these lovely little chocolate and peppermint cookies. The recipe makes about 70 of them, so there will be plenty to share with friends, family, your neighbors, the postman and just about anybody that happens to cross your path this holiday season! They are also a perfect sweet treat to have with your morning coffee. It's the holidays- you're allowed to be naughty!
PS: I always give my daughter's teachers homemade cookies as a present!

Here's the recipe:
Chocolate Peppermint Cookie Drops
Makes about 70 cookies

180g soft butter
150g fine sugar
60g dark brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsps mint extract
50g best quality Dutch cocoa powder
320g all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2 tbsps  full milk

Cream the butter and the sugars in a large bowl. Add the egg and the mint extract and beat again. Add in the flour, cocoa powder and salt and stir through with a wooden spoon. Add in the milk and knead the dough until it comes together. Preheat the oven to 190C and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Roll out little balls the size of walnuts and arrange them on your baking sheet with a little space between them. Flatten them a little with the prongs of a fork and bake (in batches, if necessary) for 12-15 minutes. Allow them to cool on a wire rack and keep in an airtight container for about 5 days.

Christmas Wishes and Spicy Chicken Wings

Once upon a time, there was a girl who had only one wish. A puppy for Christmas. A warm, cuddly, snuggly little puppy with a sweet, round little belly. She missed having a doggie to walk to the end of the world and back with. One that would keep her feet company in the car on those long trips to France.
Well, that girl (who never stopped believing in Santa Claus) got her wish. A little miracle crossed her path and she named him Pastis. That girl, dear reader, is moi!

(in Dutch: a beast with a bite)

As you can imagine, the word 'happy' does the way I feel little justice. I am thrilled with the new addition to the family. Thrilled, and  also tired! Puppy training is a demanding job and between all that hard work, life goes on!
We were pretty exhausted yesterday so when dinner time rolled around, I was really in the mood for something easy and tasty. It had been too long since I had made chicken wings and boy did I know they would hit the spot on an evening like that! A side of steamed broccoli dressed with a tangy sauce, a loaf of bread , a bottle of wine and a very happy family! It's going to be a wonderfully memorable Christmas!
PS: Pardon the lack of photo this time, but here's the recipe for the chicken wings. Double as needed and serve them as warm party snack during your holiday gatherings.

Spicy Chicken Wings
Serves 3 happy souls on a cold December night
12 chicken wings
few tbsps mild olive oil
sea salt and freshly-ground pepper
2 tbsps grainy mustard
2 tbsps honey
2 tbsps piment d'Espelette spicy sauce (or any other brand of spicy pepper sauce, not too hot!)
4 tbsps orange juice
pinch of chilli flakes

Preheat the oven to 190C. Heat the oil in a frying pan and brown half of the wings. Place them in a baking pan and continue with the other half. Whisk the ingredients for the sauce and bring them to a boil. Reduce the heat and allow to cook for about 5 minutes. Pour the sauce over the wings, brushing it into all sides of the meat. Pop in the oven for 15 minutes. Turn the wings over and cook for another 15 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

The Season of Good Things

Forgive me for being so silent lately, but between some cooking and a whole lot of writing, a lot has been happening. I am currently working on an article for one of my favorite Dutch magazines. Which one that is will be a secret until the actual publication, but all I can tell you is that I was beyond thrilled when I got this assignment. Some of my favorite Dutch food writers have contributed to this magazine and I am extremely proud to be joining them. And not only that, but I'm also writing about a subject which is very close to my heart, Dutch food history. It really is the perfect excuse to dig back into those old notebooks from my university days in Leiden while at the same time writing about food.
I will also be welcoming a very special student this weekend. Why so special? Because she happens to be 14! Now if there's something I admire in these crazy 'fast food' days, it's a child with an interest in cooking. If I could help it, every teenager would know how to cook by the time they left the house. Oh how I'd love to put the pre-packaged food industry out of business. But yes, bare with me. I know that's a whole lot of wishful thinking. I'm proudly doing my part though!
With all this' busy bee' behavior, I really do have to pause every now and then to catch my breath and do something relaxing. Like reading a book. I was lucky enough to get Cooking and Travelling in South-West France as a present from Sinterklaas and by golly is it gorgeous! Reading through it is food for the Francophile's soul. Beautiful photographs, brilliant food writing and wonderful country recipes. It even comes upstairs to bed with me!

We also went out to get our Christmas tree today and spent some cozy time afterwards listening to old-fashioned Christmas music, drinking vin chaud and decorating the house. I must say that I am very pleased with the result. What do you think?

And last, but certainly not least, my head is filled with the season's biggest dilemma- what to cook? I am considering a Dutch hare stew but some wild boar or perhaps a capon with a nice truffle stuffing would also be nice. And should I bake a traditional English Christmas cake or go the French route and make a Bûche de Noël? We'll see! In the meantime, hope you're enjoying the season!

School Lunches and Salisbury Steaks

I have fond memories of my school lunches at elementary school. It was the 80's and except for a cupcake sale every now and then, we didn't have junk food or vending machines at school. Every day at 12 PM we would all come downstairs to the cafeteria and get on line with our tray. First the milk, then the main dish followed by the sides and finally dessert, which would always be fresh fruit or a small cup of applesauce. I remember almost all of the lunch ladies. They wore blue dresses (not the most flattering, may I add) and transparent hats which resembled shower caps. Some were nicer than others. They smiled more or would ask if they could help you open your milk or start your orange. Others behaved as though they absolutely hated kids (and their job). It seemed like they derived great pleasure at slapping down a side of mashed potatoes on your plate. Slam! There you go, now move it kid!
We had a calendar every month where we could read what we could expect on the menu. I looked forward to the teacher handing out that calendar and would draw big, red circles around my favorite meals. There were things like spaghetti and meatballs, tater tots and chicken patty, omelettes with cheese on a roll and pizza on Fridays. If you didn't like what they were offering on that particular day, your only choice was peanut butter and jelly. They always had a big pile of those at the end of the line, right befor the fruit, and they were pretty good.
One of my favorite lunches was salisbury steak. It was served with gravy, mashed potatoes and peas. I don't think I was alone in that because I still remember how quickly it disappeared from the other kids' plates! I had pretty much forgotten about that dish, until last Christmas when my parents sent me a copy of the Food Network Magazine from the US. I was so excited when I came across a recipe for salisbury steak. It suddenly brought back all those memories of my elemenary school years back in New Jersey. The good ol' days! I am going to share that recipe with you today because I am sure you'll love it. This is by no means very exciting food. In fact, it's actually considered 'poor man's food'. To me though, it's retro food at its best! Enjoy!

Salisbury Steak with Mushrooms
Serves 4
(Recipe adapted from Food Network Magazine, December 2010 issue)
500g ground beef
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 a large onion, finely chopped
8 saltine crackers (two Dutch packs), finely crushed
3 sage leaves, finely chopped
salt and freshly-ground pepper
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
250g mushrooms, sliced
2 tsps Worcestershire sauce
3 tbsps all-purpose flour
chopped parsley
buttered noodles or mashed potatoes, to serve

Mix the beef, egg, onion, cracker crumbs, sage, 1/2 tsp salt and pepper in a large bowl. Divide into 4 equal portions and shape the portions into oval-sized patties.  Heat 1 tbsp butter in a large frying pan and brown the patties 4 minutes per side over medium-high heat. Transfer to a warmed plate and cover with foil. Add another tbsp of butter to the skillet and cook the mushrooms until slightly browned. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce and more salt and pepper to taste, scraping up any browned bits. Sprinkle in the flour and stir. Stir in 2 1/2 cups of hot water and simmer until the sauce begins to thicken (about 2 minutes). Add the remaining 1 tbsp of butter and swirl to combine. Return the patties and any juices from the plate to the sauce. Simmer until the sauce thickens and the patties are cooked through (about 2 minutes). Sprinkle with the parsley and season with more salt and pepper if desired. Serve with hot buttered noodles or mashed potatoes.