Eden's Harvest

This makes approximate 5 dozen very tender cookies.

1 cup butter, cut up into small pieces
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
3 large eggs

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter chips

Beat the butter, sugars and eggs well in a large bowl.
Beat in the peanut butter until incorporated.
Mix the remaining ingredients in another bowl; add them to the butter mixture, beating until just mixed.

Bake in a preheated 350 oven, until lightly baked, about 12 minutes. These are very delicate while hot. Keep them on the cookie sheet for a few minutes until firmer, then move to cookie racks to cool.

This recipe was on the inside of the wrapper of the Ghiradelli 60% Cacoa Bar. Laura made it for us and it was delicious! Very much a cheesecake, with a wonderful crust. And rich! A small piece is plenty. Though expensive, it's a perfect company dessert as it can be made in the morning and kept chilled until served.

Ghiradelli Marbled Cheesecake Bars (325 degree oven)
(yield 16 bars)

Crust:
1 cup flour
1 cup pecans, finely chopped
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

Combine the flour, pecans, butter and brown sugar; mix well.
Press the mixture onto the bottom of an ungreased 8"or 9" square baking pan.
Bake 15-16 minutes, or until light golden brown.

Batter:
24 oz. cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 oz. Ghiradelli 60% Cacoa Bar, melted

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, granulated sugar and vanilla extract until well blended.
Add the eggs one a at a time, beating well.
Set 1 cup of batter aside.
Combine melted chocolate into the mixing bowl.
Spoon the chocolate batter over the crust.
Pour 1 cup of plain batter over the chocolate batter.
Using the blade of a butter knife, swirl the batter to create a marbled effect.
Bake 30-35 minutes, or until center is set.
Cool on rack to room temperature, then cover and transfer pan to refrigerator. Chill approximately three hours.
Store covered in the refrigerator.

pecans finely chopped

the butter and sugar/flour cut in
carefully press the mixture into the bottom of the pan


mixing the cream cheese batter and adding one egg at a time
such beautiful golden eggs!

pouring in the melted chocolate... scraping every last drop into the batter


no need to cool the crust, just pour in the batter
swirl the white batter into the chocolate; don't over do it, as you'll lose the effect



ready for the oven

voila!

These would make a great hors d'oeuvres served warm. I just like to eat them as a snack or lunch or whenever.

Wash large cherry tomatoes, or whatever size can easily be eaten as finger food.
Core and hollow the inside a bit of each tomato. Fill this with crumbled feta cheese. I've also stuffed basil chiffonade into the core, also and then filled with cheese. Place on a cookie sheet on the second highest rack in the oven.

Broil, keeping an eye on the cheese. It should melt a bit, and become golden. This will warm the tomato, but not really cook it.


Share with friends and eat immediately.

This recipe was published in the July 2009 issue of Sunset Magazine. A perfect salad on a hot summer day.

Fresh Corn and Avocado Salad (serves 10)

6 ears of corn
2 cups of halved cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
1 large avocado, cut into 1/2" cubes
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
2 Tbsp. Champagne vinegar
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp. each kosher salt and ground black pepper

In a large pot of boiling water, cook corn for three to five minutes until warmed through. Rince with cold water until cool.
Meanwhile, combine tomatoes, onion, avocado and basil in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients to make the vinaigrette, whisking until blended.
Cut kernels off cobs and add to salad, then pour in vinaigrette and toss gently to combine.

This recipe is taken from David Lebovitz's book Room for Dessert. Elizabeth made it last summer and we thought it delicious. Lebovitz calls for huckleberries, but we substituted blackberries. Any berries but strawberries may be used.

Plum Berry Upside-Down Cake (1 9"round cake or 1 10"square cake)
Preheat oven to 350 deg. with rack in the middle.
The dessert is best served warm.

Topping:
3 Tbls. butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 cup berries (blueberries can be used, also)
6-8 medium plums, about 1#

Melt butter in a cake pan, directly on the stove top over low heat. Add the brown sugar and stir until sugar is thoroughly moistened. Remove from heat and cool briefly.
Sprinkle half the berries evenly over the moistened brown sugar. Cut the plums in half, remove the pits and cut the plum halves into 1/2" slices. Arrange the slices over the berries in a concentric, overlapping circle. You may also scatter them evenly. Strew the rest of the berries over the plum slices.

Cake:
1 stick butter at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk at room temperature

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes in a stand mixer. Stop the mixer once and scarpe down the sides of the bowl to make sure the butter is completely incorporated. Add the vanilla.
Beat in eggs, one at a time, until completely incorporated.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, bkaing powder and salt. Mix half of the flour mixture into the batter. Stir the milk into the batter, add the remaining dry ingredients and stir just until smooth; do not overmix. The batter will be quite thick.
Carefully spead the batter over the fruit in the cake pan, smoothing with a spatula. Bake the upside-cake for about 1 hour, until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let the cake stand at least 20 minutes before unmolding. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Invert a serving plate over the cake and carefully flip over both cake and plate simultaneously. Lift off the cake pan and scrape any fruit that may have stuck to the pan back onto the cake.

Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

I like a tart lemon pie.. no sweet lemon stuff in my home!

Bake a 9" pie crust and set aside to completely cool.
Separate three eggs; put the whites into a non-plastic bowl with 1/2 tsp of vanilla and set aside. Next to the bowl place 6 Tbls. of sugar and also 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar. Set up the electric mixer to beat the meringue.
Wash three good sized lemons. Zest the lemons & place in a bowl with 2 Tbls. softened butter.
Cut the lemons in half and juice them, removing any seeds, until you have 1/2 cup of juice. Use the pulp.

Lemon filling ~
1-1/2 cups white sugar
3 Tbls. flour
3 Tbls. cornstarch
Mix this together in an 8 qt. sauce pan; gradually stir in 1-1/3 cup hot water with a wooden spoon. Cook and stir over medium/high heat until bubbly and thickened. Reduce heat and cook for two more minutes.
Remove from heat.

Place the three egg yolks into a bowl; beat them lightly with a fork. Gradually stir in about 1 cup of hot filling into the yolks. Stir well and quickly so the eggs don't cook. Pour this mixture into the sauce pan and stir, bringing the mixture to a slow boil again. Cook and stir 2 more minutes.

Stir butter and lemon zest into the hot mixture.
Gradually stir in the 1/2 cup lemon juice, beating well to combine.
Cover the mixture with saran wrap or wax paper to keep piping hot. (Or you can reheat in the pan, stirring, for a minute before adding the meringue.)
Set aside.

Quickly make the meringue.
Add the cream of tartar to the meringue and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form. The tips will curl over when the beaters are removed.
Gradually add sugar, beating on high speed for a few minutes, or until the meringue is glossy with stiff peaks, and the sugar is dissolved.

Pour the hot filling into the pie crust, and quickly add the meringue. Seal the meringue to the pie crust, making a design on the pie.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 12 minutes or until the meringue is golden.
Let cool for about three hours before cutting.

*The trick to this pie is keeping the filling very hot; when the meringue touches the filling, the egg whites will cook from the heat. Otherwise the whites will be runny until the meringue topping*

This is from Cook's Illustated, and it is indeed, the *best* banana bread. The ingredients keep it lighter tasting. I generally need to cook the bread longer than the recipe states. The trick is to mix only until blended so that the bread rises nicely. The recipe doubles easily.

Makes one 9-inch loaf. Published March 1, 1998.

Greasing and flouring only the bottom of a regular loaf pan causes the bread to cling to the sides and rise higher. If using a nonstick loaf pan, on which the sides are very slick, grease and flour sides as well as the bottom.

Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 1/4 cups toasted pecans, chopped coarse (about 1 cup)
3 very ripe bananas, soft, darkly speckled, mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 large eggs , beaten lightly
6 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom only of regular loaf pan, or grease and flour bottom and sides of nonstick 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan; set aside. Combine first five ingredients together in large bowl; set aside.

2. Mix mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter, and vanilla with wooden spoon in medium bowl. Lightly fold banana mixture into dry ingredients with rubber spatula until just combined and batter looks thick and chunky. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan; bake until loaf is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

This is a simple, but flaky pie crust. To make a two crust pie, simply double the recipe.

9" Pie Crust

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 vegetable oil + 1Tbls.
2 Tbls. cold water

Stir the first two ingredients together. Stir in the oil with a fork. Add cold water. If the dough seems a bit dry, add a Tbl. more oil.
Mix with a fork until blended.
Roll out on a damp surface between two pieces of wax paper. (Saran wrap will work, also.)

To place the crust into the 9" pan (I recommend a glass pie plate), carefully peel the top wax paper off the dough. Holding the bottom wax paper, flip the dough onto the pie pan, and peel off the wax paper. Place the dough so that fills the pie pan by lifting, NOT stretching the dough. Stretching will cause the crust to shrink as it bakes. Prick the dough several times with a fork. If the crust balloons up while baking, prick and flatten it with a fork.

Bake at 425 for 12 minutes or until lightly golden in the center.

Baking Powder Biscuits (makes about 16) 425 degree oven

2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbls. baking powder
1 tbls. sugar
1/4 cup Crisco (can substitute butter)
3/4 cup milk
*Mix and handle the dough as little as possible for light biscuits.

Mix dry ingredients; cut in Crisco with pastry cutter or two dinner knives until the Crisco is the size of small peas. Make a well in the dough, and pour in the cold milk. Mix with a fork until just barely holding together. Place onto a lightly floured bread board, and about knead 16 times. Roll out with a rolling pin about 1/2" or more thick. (I use a 2.25" biscuit cutter.) The dough may also be cut with a sharp knife into 2" squares. Place on cookie sheet; bake for 12 minutes or until lightly brown.
Wrap in a cotton dishtowel to keep hot; serve immediately.