Peanut Butter Pancakes with Nutella Sauce

Been streamlining, tweaking and redecorating ye olde blog a bit ... an insomniac's version of entertainment in the middle of the night! Hope everyone likes the new decor! It was time for a new look, with the start of a new season and the Jewish New Year beginning on Wednesday evening ... :)

Rosa Parks lived an extraordinary life, and saved many memorable items - everything from gifts given by Martin Luther King, Jr. to her own personal address book - before her death in 2005.

Guernsey's auction house has now been given the responsibility of selling this collection, as a permanent home is sought for the treasures.

On one slip of paper that was found amidst everything - a simple receipt from a Detroit bank - a recipe was found scribbled on the back in Rosa's own handwriting: a recipe for Featherlite Peanut Butter Pancakes.

Well, considering that today is National Pancake Day, it only seemed fitting to put this find to good use!

I did tweak the recipe just a bit, and I turned it into a dessert complete with chocolate sauce ... well, not just chocolate sauce, but rather Nutella sauce. Thus, the pancakes are small instead of plate-sized; they're perfect for a special treat, rich and decadent.

Celebrate the holiday in style!

Peanut Butter Pancakes with Nutella Sauce
(slightly modified from Rosa Parks' original recipe)

Pancakes:
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup peanut butter
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. In another bowl, whisk the egg and the peanut butter together with a fork; whisk in the milk and the lemon juice, then pour the liquid over the dry ingredients and combine well.

Grease a 10" skillet and pour batter by 1/8-cupfuls into the skillet; cook over medium heat for 2 minutes per side, until the pancakes are golden and the edges don't appear to be raw. Continue until all of the batter is used up.

Nutella Sauce:
1/2 cup Nutella
4 tablespoons half-and-half

Combine the Nutella and the half-and-half; microwave for 45 seconds until warm, and stir until smooth.

Serve pancakes topped with Nutella sauce and whipped cream.

Makes about 20 3" pancakes, serving 6-8.

Peach 'n' Pecan Parfaits

It's the end of summer, and there is tremendous bounty at the various farmers' markets - fruits and vegetables abound! Before the cold weather sets in - and sadly, we all know it will - we must relish this opportunity to indulge in fresh produce.

There is little in life as sensual as biting into a juicy peach, fragrant and luscious. But sometimes you just want to glam things up a bit, make them a bit more special or elegant.

And that's precisely what today's recipe is about. These parfaits, featuring gorgeous ripe peaches, showcase the fruit's sweetness but also offer flavors and textures to complement that, as well.

These treats are ridiculously easy to make, yet seem special enough for any occasion ... even just the end of a lovely summer day.

Peach 'n' Pecan Parfaits

4 peaches, pitted, chopped into 1/2" pieces
1 apricot, pitted, chopped into 1/4" pieces
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup white wine (I used Flip Flop Wines Riesling, a most generous marketing gift!)
8 pecan shortbread cookies
whipped cream, for serving

Place the peaches, apricot, sugar and wine into a small saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook for 5 minutes or so, stirring frequently, until the sauce is pink-tinged and thickened. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Crush the cookies - not too fine, but no huge chunks either. Set out two wine glasses. Place 1/4 of the cookie crumbs into the bottom of each glass, and top with 1/4 of the peach mixture in each, spreading carefully. Place half of the remaining cookie crumbs in a layer over the peaches in each glass, then top that with the remaining peaches. Top with a generous dollop of whipped cream.

Serves 2 generously.

Frugal Floozie Friday -- Mark's Carts

It's Frugal Floozie Friday, and today's adventure takes us to a place with a tremendous variety of foods. No, it's not a buffet; but it's a bit reminiscent of one, as you can choose a little bit here, something else there, and be lured by the temptation of a rich treat off in the corner.

Today we're visiting Mark's Carts, a courtyard in downtown Ann Arbor filled with street food carts featuring everything from comfort foods to ethnic dishes, from sandwiches to desserts.

Tom and I perused all of the available offerings, though unfortunately there wasn't a complete array as we were there early in the evening and each cart keeps differing hours. Apparently things really get going after 6 p.m. on Friday nights, with all of the vendors open and live music contributing to the festive ambience.

We decided to try a bit from each of the three carts that were ready and waiting for us. A Thai-style salad with peanut dressing from The Lunch Room was our opening act, a light dish of rice noodles with bright, colorful vegetables.

We had a wonderful chat with cart co-owner Phillis Engelbert, whose smile and enthusiasm are irresistable. Her cart's menu is vegan, and features everything from a barbecue tofu sandwich with slaw to large cookies (Blackstrap molasses gingersnaps, Mexican hot chocolate). And Phillis even told me that adults are welcome to order the fabulous "kids' meal": peanut butter and jelly sandwich, applesauce, carrot sticks, and a chocolate chip cookie -- a healthy happy meal for only $5. Bike delivery is available at lunchtime, if you're having a craving and can't get out of the office.

To go with the salad, we ordered a bratwurst on a crispy toasted bun from Eat. This was topped with sauerkraut from Ann Arbor's own The Brinery, which specializes in fermented vegetables (and makes a kimchi which Tom adores!).

At $6 for this portion of our meal plus $4 for the salad, the mainstay of our shared dinner came in at precisely $5 per person, our Frugal Floozie Friday budget limit, and featured an entire array of handmade and locally sourced foods that were good both for us and for Michigan's economy ... how great is that?

And yet, the pièce de résistance was a flourless chocolate cake purchased at Darcy's Cart, which was topped with an amazingly generous slathering of homemade whipped cream (cream-to-cake ration of 2:1!). You can pay $3 for just the cake, but why not invest the extra $1 for the cream? Coupled with a refreshing $2 lemonade from the Eat cart, sharing the sweet portion of our meal provided another less-than-$5 per person option, perfect for an after-dinner treat.

But let me get on to describing the "cake," which was really more of a dense fudge than a traditional flourless dessert (i.e.: one made with ground nuts). It was so rich and luscious, and it really benefitted from the not-too-sweet cream that helped to balance the depth of its intensity.

Darcy's Cart, like the other vendors in the courtyard, proudly cooks with Michigan products and features a bulletin board giving credit to those who've contributed to that day's offerings:


Mark's Carts is a great idea, leaping into the street food phenomenon so popular in larger cities and helping to promote both local vendors and the Michigan suppliers whom they support. Head on over some time, and eat a little here and a little there - a wide variety of cuisines and treats - and enjoy the summer weather while having a fabulous meal!

Mark's Carts
211 W. Washington
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104
734-224-8859


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National Strawberry Shortcake Day

I really don't need to work at selling this recipe -- is there any summer dessert more beloved than Strawberry Shortcake, that this could possibly need my persuasive assistance??? I think not!

You could buy some pre-made shortcakes at the grocery store, but they're so exceedingly inferior that I can't condone it; if you do so, please don't tell me. And it's so ridiculously easy to make your own shortcakes -- which are essentially biscuits -- that there's just no way to justify not baking from scratch.

The "short" in shortcake refers to the gluten strands, just in case you were wondering. Rather than the high-gluten flours that you want to use for baking yeast breads, which provide the fabulous texture we all crave -- thus making gluten-free breads an art unto themselves, lacking that key ingredient -- gluten is the enemy of a flaky, crumbly shortcake.

Lots of fat (in my recipe, both butter and sour cream ... 'cause that's the kinda girl I am!) mixed into the flour keeps the gluten strands short, making for tender baked goods. I also like to add some lemon zest, for a bright flavor that complements the rich cream and sweet strawberries perfectly.


You could also buy a can of whipped cream, but homemade is infinitely better. Sweeten it just a tad, and also put some confectioners' sugar to use in helping to stabilize it (rather than having it deflate quickly, after you've whipped the air into it).

What more can I say? Stop reading and go celebrate!

Strawberry Shortcake

Shortcakes:
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
zest of 1 lemon

Berries:
2 quarts strawberries, hulled, chopped
2 tablespoons sugar

Cream:
1 pint heavy cream
4 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Shortcakes: Preheat oven to 425F. Lightly grease a baking sheet.

Place the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar into a large mixing bowl. With a fork, mix in the butter and the sour cream until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in the milk and lemon zest.

Place the dough onto the prepared baking sheet, and knead just until it comes together. Pat into a rectangle 1/2" high, and cut into 6 portions. Separate the portions, then bake the shortcakes for 15 minutes until golden. Let cool.

Berries: Combine the berries and the sugar in a medium bowl, and let rest for 30 minutes.

Cream: Place the cream, sugars and vanilla into a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until the cream holds peaks.

Assemble the dessert: Place a shortcake onto a dessert plate. Top with whipped cream, then top that with strawberries. Serve immediately.

Serves 6.