Strawberry Cream-Cheese Danish

There was a time in my life when I didn't understand the point of a danish.  "Why eat this strange thing when I could just have a donut", I wondered.  I was a troubled youth.  I've since come to my senses and discovered just how pleasant a good danish can be, especially still warm from the oven.  Kristin and I have worked this recipe through a few permutations and several different fillings, and every time it's tasted utterly fantastic.  It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but really, isn't it what's inside that counts?  In this case, what counts is cream cheese and strawberry preserves.  Yum.

I'm separating the ingredients into three sets: the dough, the cream-cheese mixture, and the frosting.  For the dough, you'll need milk, flour, baking soda, salt, butter, and almond extract.  Preserves of your choice will top the dough and form the center of the danish.  We used strawberry preserves this time around, and have also particularly liked blueberry in the past.  I imagine just about anything would be tasty.

The cream-cheese mixture is a simple blend of cream cheese, an egg, a bit of white sugar, and a splash of vanilla.

The frosting is also quite simple: powdered sugar, just enough milk to liquify the sugar, and a tiny dash of both vanilla and almond extracts.  Topping everything off with toasted almonds is optional, but highly recommended.

We'll start with the dough.  Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, then work in the softened butter.  The texture will resemble a cake mix - slightly lumpy and powdery.

While your hands are still relatively un-messy, you'll also want to pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.

Add the milk and almond extract and mix well.  Press by hand until you've formed a loose, rough-textured dough.  Take care not to overwork it or the pastry may become tough.

Press the dough between sheets of wax paper and roll into a thick rectangle, about 12 inches by 8 inches.    Leave it here for a moment while we put together the filling.

Beat the cream cheese until it's soft and relatively smooth, then add the sugar, egg, and vanilla.  Beat again until smooth and creamy.

Time to assemble!  Place the pastry dough on a greased baking sheet, and mark out the dough lengthwise into thirds.  Spread a thick layer of preserves down the center of the middle third - try to keep it no more than 1 1/2 inches wide.

Add thick layers of the cream cheese mixture on either side of the preserves.  Try to leave a little peek of the preserves in the very center if possible for presentation's sake, though as you can tell, sometimes that's not easy to do.

Cut the outer thirds of the dough at a slight angle into strips about an inch wide.

Fold those strips up across the filled center of the dough.  They probably won't quite meet in the center.  Bake your assembled danish 12-15 minutes at 425 until the pastry is golden-brown.

In the meantime, toast up some almonds for the top.  Also, mix together the frosting using 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 tbsp milk, and a tiny dash of vanilla and almond extracts.  Whisk together with a fork until smooth.

When your danish is done baking, drizzle the frosting over the top and cover with toasted almonds.

Serve warm, one inch-wide slice at a time - but expect to go back for seconds.

Recipe: Strawberry Cream-Cheese Danish
Prep Time: 15-20 Minutes | Cook Time: 12-15 Minutes | Difficulty: Medium | Servings: 10-12 Slices

Ingredients
Pastry

• 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup unsalted Butter
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Almond Extract
• 1/2 tsp Salt

Filling

• 1/2 cup Strawberry Preserves
• 8 ounces Cream Cheese
• 1/4 cup White Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Frosting

• 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
• 1 tbsp Milk
• 1/8 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/8 tsp Almond Extract
• 2 tbsp Toasted Slivered Almonds

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, rand salt.  Add softened butter, milk, and almond extract, and mix well.  Press together by hand until a loose dough is formed.  The texture will be rough.
3. In another mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth.  Add sugar, egg, and vanilla and beat until combined and creamy.
4. Press dough between two sheets of wax paper and roll into a large rectangle, roughly 8 by 12 inches. Discard wax paper and place dough on a greased baking sheet.
5. Mark the dough out by thirds lengthwise.  Spread preserves down the center of the middle third, then add cream cheese mixture on either side of preserves.
6. Cut the outer thirds of the dough into strips roughly 1-inch wide.  Fold strips over across the center.
7. Bake at 425° 12-15 minutes until pastry is golden-brown.  Toast almonds while danish bakes.
8. In a small mixing bowl, combine 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 tbsp milk, 1/8 tsp vanilla and almond extracts and whisk together with a fork to create frosting.
9. Drizzle frosting over baked danish, and cover with toasted almonds.  Serve warm.

Barbecue Chicken Salad with Candied Almonds

I really love a good main-course salad.  The trouble is, it's hard to make a salad that's really interesting without going off the deep end in terms of complexity, cost, or both.  This salad is an attempt to split the difference - it's a main-course salad composed of very classic salad ingredients, but with enough added complexity to keep it interesting without breaking the bank.

I'm obviously a lover of barbecue, so I decided to carry that love into my salad.  The salad involves both barbecue chicken breast and a tangy, barbecue-based dressing.  The tang and spice of the barbecue are offset by sweet red pepper and carrot, and candied almonds add some crunch and another lay of sweet-and-meaty flavor.

It doesn't take a lot to make a decent salad.  I just use fresh romaine for my greens, but you can feel free to spice it up as desired.  Red pepper and carrots round out the vegetable array.  We'll cook the chicken in barbecue sauce to give it some flavor.  Candy slivered almonds in just a bit of sugar and butter as a sort of stand-in for a crouton.  You can dress the salad however you like, but I really enjoyed the simple barbecue dressing I made from barbecue sauce, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, and olive oil.  

The chicken is the lengthiest part of this salad's quick preparation.  Toss it into a greased baking dish, cover with some barbecue sauce, and throw it in the oven at 400 for 15-20 minutes.  Turn it halfway to make sure everything gets nice and saucy, and take care not to overcook.

Once the chicken is on its way, we can prepare the vegetables.  Rinse your romaine well and chop it down to nice, bite-sized pieces.

Give the carrots and red peppers a good dice as well, and toss in with the romaine.  The vegetable portion of the salad is now complete!

It's surprisingly easy to candy almonds - all it takes is some careful attention.  That's why we did all of the other preparation first, as you really don't want to be tempted to turn your back on the pan and chop carrots - next thing you know, you'll have a pan full of burned sugar.


To get started, put a skillet on over medium heat.  Once it's warm, add your slivered almonds and toast for a couple of minutes until they start to darken.  The best way to judge when they're getting toasted is by smell - the whole kitchen will suddenly take on a deep, toasty, nutty aroma.

Once the almonds are toasted, add just a bit of butter to the pan, then slowly add some sugar.  Start with about a tablespoon, then mix well, keeping the nuts moving constantly.  The sugar will melt clear almost immediately on making contact with the pan, and will start to burn just seconds later unless you keep everything in motion.


After a minute or so, add a second tablespoon of sugar and continue mixing.  Add a touch more sugar after another minute if you think it's necessary.

Once the sugar starts to darken on the nuts, transfer your candied almonds to cool on some wax or parchment paper.  Spread them out on the paper, otherwise they'll all be stuck together in one lumpy ball of deliciousness.  That's not exactly a fate worse than death, but makes them hard to sprinkle over salad.

At this point, your chicken is probably about done, so it's time to get things ready to plate.

While you wait for the chicken to finish up, make some dressing.  The exact ratios to use depend on your barbecue of choice.  I like my dressing quite tangy, so I used quite a bit of lime juice and vinegar.  Combine barbecue sauce, apple-cider vinegar, lime juice, and a touch of olive oil in a small bowl, and mix well with a small whisk or a fork.  The dressing will want to separate eventually, but holds together for a good couple of hours after a good mixing,

Pull out the chicken, and slice it up.  Be careful, hot barbecue sauce is akin to napalm.

Now serve!  Cover your greens with the sliced chicken breast and plenty of candied almonds.  Dress lightly, to let the flavors speak for themselves.  Each bite should have lots of complex flavor - tender chicken, crisp lettuce, sweet red pepper and carrot, crisp, sweet, meaty almonds, and just a hint of acidic tang from the dressing.

Recipe: Barbecue Chicken Salad with Candied Almonds

Prep Time: 5-10 Minutes | Cook Time: 20 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 8-10

Ingredients

Salad

• 2 heads Romaine Lettuce, washed
• 1 lb boneless/skinless Chicken Breast
• 2 Red Bell Peppers
• 2 cups Baby Carrots
• 1/2 cup Almonds, sliced
• 1/4 cup Barbecue Sauce
• 1 tbsp Butter
• 2 tbsp Sugar

Dressing

• 1/4 cup Barbecue Sauce
• 1 1/2 tbsp Olive Oil
• 3 tbsp Lime Juice
• 3 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease a large baking pan.

Add chicken breast to baking pan and cover with barbecue sauce.  Bake 20 minutes or until chicken tests done, turning halfway.

Chop romaine lettuce down to bite-sized pieces.  Dice red pepper and carrot.  Mix all vegetables in a large salad bowl.

In a skillet over medium heat, toast slivered almonds 2-3 minutes until beginning to darken.  Add butter and sugar one tablespoon at a time.  

Mix well, keeping almonds in motion, 2-3 minutes until all sugar is added and beginning to darken.

Cool candied almonds in a single layer on wax paper.


Whisk together barbecue sauce, olive oil, lime juice, and vinegar in a small bowl until no longer separated.


When chicken is done, slice carefully.


Serve sliced chicken and candied almonds over mixed greens and vegetables, topping conservatively with dressing.

Easy Green Beans Almondine

This is an easy side that's perfect to pair with practically anything.  I particularly love these alongside pork or flavorful fish.  In fact, they're good enough that now and again I just make a big pile for dinner.

Fresh green beans are one of my favorite things to eat when they're in-season.  Usually you can even get decent ones out of season.  This makes canned and frozen green beans that much more clearly an abomination - they're just nothing like the real thing at all.  This recipe recaptures my favorite way to eat green beans as a kid - and today, too.

My mom made green beans more or less like this pretty often.  I was always sort of disappointed when our beans didn't have almonds in with them.  Still tasty, but some good toasted almonds really set off the beans perfectly.  Give these a try, and you may never go back.

The basic ingredients are as simple as can be.  Green beans (duh), butter, almonds, and garlic.  These get you good buttery beans and nicely toasted almonds.  The garlic is more or less a required baseline seasoning, and you can add whatever you like on top of that.

Salt and pepper is fine, or you can take these in any number of exotic directions.  Soy and ginger make a nice Asian flavor.  Thyme leads to a subtler flavor.  Personally, I really like lemon pepper.

First thing's first - the chore.  Chop or snap the ends off of all of your beans.  Somehow I considered this a treat to help out Mom with as a kid.  Why?  I'm not sure.  If you're making enough beans to feed company, try to con somebody else into helping you take care of the ends, or it might get a little tedious.

It's possible to just sautee the beans straight through, but you can risk burning them.  Instead, add the beans to a large skillet and add 1/4 to 1/3 cup of water - just enough to generate some steam as it cooks off.  Put that over medium heat until the water has all cooked away.

Your beans will have turned a really bright green, as we've essentially blanched them.  Now we can start sauteeing.

Add butter and garlic to the skillet.  If you're bored, do so in a way that makes a creepy face.  I think the beans are angry.

Now that we're sauteeing, it's time to season.  Add salt and pepper to taste, as well as whatever else you find particularly tasty.  This time around, I went for onion powder and plenty of lemon pepper.  Actual onion is great in here, too -  I was out.

Once your beans have been sauteeing for a couple of minutes, push them to the outsides of the pan to make a nice well in the center.  Add a bit more butter to that well, then pour in your chopped/diced/slivered almonds. The shape doesn't matter much, it all ends up tasty.  Toast these in the center for a few minutes, then mix through and keep cooking til everything is done.  Your beans should be tender and your almonds toasted and crispy.

Serve immediately - though these do reheat quite nicely, if that becomes necessary.

Recipe: Easy Green Beans Almondine

Prep Time: 10 minutes   |   Cook Time: 15 minutes  |   Difficulty: Easy   |   Servings: 8-10

Ingredients

• 2 lbs Green Beans, fresh
• 2-3 tbsp Butter
• 1/2 cup Almonds, sliced/slivered
• 1-2 cloves Garlic, minced
• 2 tsp Onion Powder
• 1-2 tbsp Lemon Pepper
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

Wash beans thoroughly.  Trim or snap off ends.

Place green beans in a large skillet with 1/3 c. warm water over medium heat.  Cook over medium until water has evaporated, approximately 5 minutes.

Add minced garlic and 2 tbsp butter, mixing well.  Add seasonings and sautee 3-4 minutes.

Make a well in the center of the pan.  Add additional butter if needed, then add almonds to the well.  Toast 1-3 minutes, then mix well with beans.

Continue cooking 1-3 minutes until beans are tender and almonds well toasted.

Serve immediately.