Last week we went over to our friends’ house for dinner (our friend who also just happens to be the fab art director and graphic designer behind Annie’s Eats).  I offered to bring a dessert.  I’d had a pretty busy week of baking so I wanted something fairly simple but still a bit indulgent.  I also wanted something both the kids and grown-ups would appreciate.  (In case you didn’t know he has two of the cutest little girls on the planet.)  I was flipping through my saved recipes and my search ended the moment I saw these.

I know the title seems long, but it still doesn’t even cover all the good stuff going on here.  The cookies are oatmeal cookies with chunks of dried cherries, dark chocolate, and pecans.  Ohmygosh yes.  Then those lovely things are sandwiched with a fluffy, sweet marshmallowy frosting.  And then you go and drizzle the whole thing with dark chocolate ganache.  What can I say?  I’m into drizzled chocolate this week.  After baking the cookies, I was a bit concerned because they were on the crisp side.  Thankfully they softened up a bit after being sandwiched with the filling.  Because of this, I think it’s best to make and assemble these a day or so in advance of when you want to serve them.  (That, or you can try playing with the recipe to make the cookie softer – I haven’t had the opportunity just yet.)

As you can see, this dessert is quite a mouthful.  Sharing one with Andrew was plenty for me, and I’m not usually so keen on sharing my dessert with anyone.  The combination of the slightly chewy-crisp cookie, the chocolate-cherry-pecan combo, and the ganache drizzle worked so well together, and definitely made for a crowd-pleasing end to a lovely meal.  (And then we all went down into the playroom, and every single one of us wore some kind of costume.  I might have worn a frog hat.  Hopefully no one took pictures.)

Happy Pi Day, everyone!  You may think I’m a nerd for 1) knowing when Pi Day is, 2) knowing what Pi Day is, or 3) actually celebrating Pi Day.  Well, 1) I am a nerd, 2) see #1, and 3) why would I pass up an opportunity to make pie?  But this – this is not just any pie, folks.  This is peanut butter banana cream pie with hot fudge sauce.

I must admit that the first time I had a more traditional banana cream pie, I was a bit surprised that filling was nothing more than sliced bananas with vanilla pastry cream.  I guess I had been expecting, well, banana-flavored pastry cream.  Don’t get me wrong, I like pretty much everything involving pastry cream, but this pie is more what I had been imagining the first time around.  The banana liqueur makes the pastry cream actually taste like banana, and it is heavenly.  As if that weren’t enough, there is a layer of peanut butter on the bottom, freshly whipped cream on the top, and it is served with a generous drizzle of hot fudge sauce.  Fo’ shizzle.  This pie is not messing around.  Just one more pretty great reason to celebrate Pi Day.

Once again, I would like to dedicate this pi(e) to the world’s best calculus teacher (and almost certainly the world’s best teacher period), Mr. Strawn.

Ben’s mom is not really into cooking.  She certainly does a fine job when she decides to do it, but she just doesn’t enjoy it the way some people do.  I’m happy cooking, she’s happy eating what I make, and it’s an ideal situation for both of us.  However, there is one dish she is known for among family and friends: her layered tex-mex dip.  You know what I’m talking about – a layer of refried beans, a layer of spiced sour cream/mayo, etc. topped with lots of cheese, tomatoes, green onions, etc.  I’m not alone in saying that I am positively crazy about her tex-mex.  She brings it along nearly every time she comes over and I never complain because, dude, I love that stuff.  (And I know this sounds crazy but try as I might, it never comes out quite the same when I make it.)

Anyway, I saw this layered Greek dip and was instantly taken with the idea.  So brilliant, to take the concept of a layered dip and apply a Greek flavor profile.  Why didn’t I think of this?  I’m just glad someone did.  Ben’s parents came over a few weeks ago and when they offered to bring a tex-mex, for maybe the first time ever I said we would skip it because I had something new to try.  This dip is so, so awesome.  Between four adults and one kid, we cleaned the plate over the course of a couple hours.  And unlike with tex-mex, I didn’t feel nearly as guilty about filling up on this stuff.  You can definitely customize this to suit your tastes.  I used oven-dried tomatoes because I am increasingly in love with them, but you could also use sun-dried tomatoes or even just halved cherry or grape tomatoes.  Kalamata olives would be the natural choice for a Mediterranean dip but we don’t like them, so I opted for black olives instead.  The quantities you need for each topping will depend on your preferences and how large your serving platter is.  I have a feeling this will become another family staple for us and we might be seeing a little less tex-mex in our future.  As much as I love tex-mex, I’m not even sad about that.

After making use of about half of our blood orange bounty in margaritas, I knew I wanted to something dessert-y with the rest.  None of the usual dessert items sounded great to me.  I wanted something light and refreshing, not heavy and super sweet.  It’s been a while since I have made sorbet and it turned out to be exactly what I was craving.

Normally sorbets with a base of juice and no actual fruit pulp are very icy and I tend to avoid them.  This time I decided to mix in a few tablespoons of a sweet Riesling I had on hand and it did wonders for the texture of this sorbet.  The flavor is sweet-tart and refreshing.  Andrew was just as smitten with this as I was, and together we took care of the whole batch over the course of a few nights.  He’s been asking for “store-bay” almost every night since :)

People, I cannot even tell you how excited I am about this.  If you had asked me even last year if I would ever make my own yogurt, I probably would have laughed at you.  Sure, maybe I would have tried it once just for the sake of trying it, but I certainly never considered that it would not only become a regular occurrence, but would actually replace store-bought yogurt for us.

What made me decide to take the leap exactly?  It was a combination of things, really.  Mostly, I just wanted to try making yogurt and home and see how easy or difficult it might be.  Another huge factor was all the waste created by the individual yogurt containers.  When you eat yogurt as often as I do (at least once a day and often twice), those containers really add up.  My dad was green before it was cool to be green, and so I grew up in a house where we were taught to waste as little as possible, conserve packaging, etc.  Becoming more eco-friendly is a constant goal in our home and there is always room for improvement.  Each time I threw away a yogurt container, it nagged at me a little more until finally I was just done.  I decided that I simply would not be buying more yogurt beyond what was already in my fridge so if I wanted more, I was going to have to make it myself.  Thankfully my friend Paula, who I met at Food and Light, has an excellent series of posts on the topic.

I set out to educate myself about what this was going to require.  A whole lot of time?  All sorts of special equipment?  No and no.  Total active time is maybe 30 minutes and the only equipment required is all items that I consider kitchen necessities: a pan, a thermometer, a bowl, some kitchen towels, an oven, and a mesh sieve.  It’s shockingly simple and the results are fantastic.  I’m not going back and neither should you!  Here’s how you do it:

Add 2 quarts of milk to a saucepan and heat over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.  (You can use whatever type of milk you prefer.  I like 2%, but skim, 1% or whole are all fine too.)

Continue heating until the temperature reaches 180˚ F.  (This denatures the milk proteins so that they do not interfere with the incubation process.)  Remove from the heat.

Set aside and let cool, stirring occasionally, until the temperature has dropped to between 110-120˚ F.  It is important that the temperature is within this range so that the bacterial cultures can do their thing.  If the temperature is too hot, the cultures will be killed.  If it is too low, they won’t incubate properly.

Add the milk to a ceramic or glass bowl and stir in 2 teaspoons of plain yogurt.  This will provide the live active cultures needed to make your yogurt work – essentially, yogurt is a starter for making more yogurt.  (Some people say that you shouldn’t use your homemade yogurt as the starter for more yogurt because it may cause a sour taste.  Some people say it is fine to use your own yogurt as a starter.  You’ll have to experiment and see what works for you.)  If you are using instant dry milk, whisk it in at this time.  (I have tried it both with and without the dry milk powder, and I like it both ways but I prefer it without.)  It is used to add even more creaminess, particularly useful if you are using skim milk.

Preheat the oven (to any temperature), shutting the oven off after 1 minute.  This serves to slightly warm the oven, taking any chill out of the air.  Turn the oven light on.  Cover the dish and wrap the covered bowl in a couple of thick kitchen towels.  (I use a Pyrex dish that has a lid, but I’m sure you could use a mixing bowl and cover it with a plate just fine.)  Close the oven and let the mixture incubate in the warm oven.  (It is important that the mixture stay within the aforementioned temperature range during the entire incubation period.  If you feel that the oven may be getting too cold, you can do additional 1 minute preheat periods every couple of hours.  I find this unnecessary and anyway, I’m asleep while this is going on in my kitchen.)

Now you just wait and let the yogurt incubate.  The incubation period can vary significantly.  It can take as little as 8 hours but mine takes closer to 12.  As such, I prep my milk mixture before going to bed at night and let the yogurt incubate overnight.  (There is just no way for me to give up use of my oven for a 12 hour period on a regular basis.)

When the yogurt magic has happened, you will know because the mixture has become thick, gelatinous and, well, yogurt!

At this point the yogurt will have a lot of excess liquid and be fairly runny.  Place a fine mesh sieve over a large bowl, and line with a thick paper towel, coffee filter, or cheesecloth.  Pour the yogurt into the sieve, place the straining set up in the refrigerator, and strain until most of the liquid has been drained from the yogurt.  (This liquid is known as whey.  Some people save it and use it for other things.  I discard it.)

Place the yogurt in a storage container, whisk to smooth it out (I like to add a tablespoon of vanilla extract), and store in the refrigerator.  Look!  You just made yogurt!  (This keeps for at least a week.)

I know a lot of people enjoy eating plain Greek yogurt but my tastebuds need added sweetness.  If I’m eating it plain, I mix in a little bit of honey to sweeten it and top with fresh fruit.  However, my absolute favorite store-bought yogurts are the kind with fruits to mix in, so naturally I have been experimenting with homemade versions of the various fruit mixtures.  I’m happy to say that this endeavor is going very well and I’ll be sharing several fruit mix-in recipes soon, so stay tuned for that.  I hope you try making your own yogurt at home and see how simple, satisfying, and economical it is.  My grocery bill has already seen a significant improvement.