Cheddar Jelly Thumbprints

I've made several variations on this recipe, swapping in and out different cheeses and different jellies, over several years.  My personal favorites are the sharp-cheese/spicy-jelly combinations but a milder, sweeter colby-apple jam version won me a 2nd place ribbon (and 3 lbs of butter) at the State Fair last year.  Feel free to play with flavors here!

I've served these as appetizers and desserts, and they prep ahead (and even freeze) fabulously.  Roll the cookie balls, roll them in nuts and freeze them.  Thaw before baking so that you can make the little indentations for the jelly.  

I also <3 that you make the dough in the food processor...so fast, so easy.

A neato-torpedo trick I picked up from Cooks Illustrated is to use a wine cork to make the "thumbprints"...very tidy, very precise.

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Risotto

I used shallots and celery for aromatics, tilapia for protein,
seafood stock, chopped fresh spinach for veggies, savory
for flavoring

I've worked with a delicious seafood risotto recipe for many years.  It's from a fundraiser cookbook called Dewey or Don't We published by the Dubuque Public Library.

I used to follow it to the T, and finally understood that really, it was more like guidelines (as so many recipes truly are).

And then I started being able to use the technique given in that recipe and substitute my own flavors and ingredients, depending on what was in season and available.

No matter what ingredients you use, this is definitely a prep-ahead-friendly recipe.  Chop and measure everything ahead of time, combining ingredients by category.  You can also freeze this as a meal kit...combine ingredients by category, put them in vacuseal bags or ziptop bags, and freeze.  Thaw before cooking.

The use-what-you-have components are:

• fat for sauteing: use butter, olive oil, canola oil, lard, mojo de ajo
• aromatics: use onions, shallots, celery, carrots, leeks or any combo thereof
• stock: chicken, seafood, veggie (not so much beef here)
• protein: fish, chicken, shrimp, scallops, crab (again, not so much beef)
• veggies: chopped bell pepper, snow peas, chopped greens, broccoli, peas, corn kernels, pre-cooked squash cubes
• flavoring: citrus zest, minced herbs

Some favorite combinations are shallots with shrimp, green peas and thyme; celery/onion/carrot with chicken, pepper and savory; crab, leeks, spinach and lemon zest.

Chop, measure, and fridge everything in advance for next-day or same-day cooking.  You can also freeze the components ahead.  To save space with liquids, either freeze wine and stock in ice cube trays beforehand to include in the freezer kit or pour the liquid into a ziptop bag, carefully press air out of the bag, seal and lay flat on a tray to freeze.

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Sweet potato ravioli

A great way to use up leftover sweet potatoes.  You can freeze the baked sweet potatoes (especially if they're leftovers), the made-up filling or the made-up ravioli.  I use wonton skins because I don't want to fool around with rolling pasta dough for ravioli, but you can make your own pasta if you want.  You can also choose to oven-fry these for a crunchy finish or boil them, if you feel more confident that your ravioli are sealed well. 

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Savory & Sweet Shortbread

I adore shortbread, store-bought, homemade, doesn't matter as long as it's got real honest-to-goodness butter.  And of course, the dough can be frozen ahead for later baking!

The savory shortbread here is from the Argo Cornstarch people, but I used brown rice flour instead of cornstarch for the wee bit of whole grain goodness it gives.  This shortbread is kind of like a biscuit, but more intense...a two-bite square is a good serving size to accompany a roast and something green or to serve as an appetizer.  The original called for twice as much cayenne pepper as I've indicated, but that turned out unpleasantly spicy.

The sweet shortbread is from Natalie Haughton's Cookies and, despite the similarity in batch size, does not make nearly as many servings as the savory...at least not at my house.

Pepper Parmesan Shortbread

Makes 36 servings

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup cornstarch or rice flour

3/4 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp cayenne

1/2 cup cold butter, cubed

1/3 to 1/2 cup sour cream

1 tbsp milk + 1 tsp coarse ground pepper for topping

Combine the flour, cheese, cornstarch or rice flour and spices in the bowl of a food processor.  Add cubed butter and pulse until the mixture looks like oatmeal.  Turn out into a bowl and stir in sour cream until the mixture just holds together.  Press into a 8x8 baking pan (disposable if you want to freeze ahead), or divide in half and form 2 1-1/2" diameter logs.  Brush the top of the dough (either form) with milk and sprinkle on pepper.  You can freeze either form now to bake later.  If you made logs, you'll need to at least chill them for a couple of hours before slicing if you aren't freezing ahead.

Thaw dough if frozen.  Slice logs, if using, into 1/4" slices.  Bake at 325F for 20 minutes for slices and about 45 minutes for the 8x8 pan. 

Scottish Shortbread

Makes 9 cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup rice flour

1 2/3 cup all purpose flour

Beat butter, sugars and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Add rice flour and AP flour.  Knead mixture together until no longer crumbly.  Press into 8x8 pan.  Freeze now or bake for 35-45 minutes at 325F. 

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