Apricot Pistachio Bars

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Ingredients

Crust
• 1 C. all-purpose flour
• 1/4 t. table salt
• 1/4 C. granulated sugar
• 1/2 C. unsalted butter (cold and cut into cubes)
Filling
• 3/4 C. shelled unsalted pistachios
• 1 T. all-purpose flour
• A few pinches of sea salt
• 6 T. granulated sugar
• 5 T. unsalted butter (cold and cut into cubes)
• 1 large egg (room temperature)
• 1/4 t. almond extract
• 1 pound firm-ripe apricots (halved and pits removed)
• Powdered sugar for garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line an 8 by 8 inch pan with two 12-inch layers of parchment. Fit the layers of parchment in the pan perpendicular to each other and allow the parchment to overhang the sides of the pan so that you have "handles" to help you lift the baked bars from the pan. They will be fragile until they cool.
2. First, make the crust. Put flour, salt and sugar into the bowl of your food processor and pulse the ingredients to combine them. Then cut the butter into cubes and add it to the dry ingredients. Process until the mixture comes together in large clumps. This should take between 30 seconds and a minute. Remove the dough from the processor bowl and press it onto the bottom and sides (about 1/4 inch up the sides) of your prepared pan. If your dough is sticky and hard to press into the pan, try dusting your fingers with a little flour. Bake the crust for about 15 minutes until it is a pale golden brown color. Remove the crust from the oven and put the crust in the freezer for about 10 to 15 minutes to firm it up while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
3. To prepare the filling, combine pistachios, flour, salt and sugar in the bowl of your processor and process until the pistachios are a powdery consistency. Add the cubes of butter to the bowl and process until the mixture is well-combined. You do not want to see any butter chunks in the mixture; it should be totally combined with the pistachio mixture. The pistachio mixture will have a paste-like consistency. Add almond extract and egg and process until combined.
4. Remove the crust from the freezer and spread the pistachio filling evenly across the crust. Be sure to spread the filling into the edges of the pan. You will want pistachio goodness in every part of this wonderful bar.
5. Top the pistachio filling with the apricots. You can simply arrange the apricot halves neatly on top of the filling. You can arrange the apricots cut side up or cut side down. Alternatively, you can slice the apricots into strips and fan them on top of the bars as I did. I cut thin slices part way through each apricot half but didn't cut through to the top so that the apricot halves would hold together. Then I pressed the sliced apricot half lightly to make a fan of the apricot slices and arranged them decoratively on top of the pistachio filling.
6. Bake the bars for approximately 60 minutes in your preheated 350 degree F. oven. Watch them carefully. You want the crust to brown but it would be easy to over-bake the bars and burn the bottom. Your bars are done when you can insert a toothpick into the pistachio portion of the bars and the toothpick comes out batter free.
7. Remove the baked bars from the oven. Let them cool in the pan and then, using the parchment "handles" lift the bars out of the pan. Once the bars are totally cool, slice them into bars. (You can put the bars into the refrigerator for a few minutes to speed things up.) I used my pizza cutter to cut the bars. If you have apricot juices that have spilled over the edges of the bars and burned a bit (as I did) you can trim off those edges at this point. (The edges with the caramelized apricot juices taste wonderful, though. Don't throw them away! Consider them the cook's bonus.)
8. Dust the bars with powdered sugar and serve.

Vanilla Birthday Cake

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Ingredients

For The Cake
• 2 C. all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 t. salt
• 2 t. baking powder
• 4 large eggs (room temperature)
• 2 C. granulated sugar
• 1 T. vanilla extract
• 1/8 t. almond extract
• 1 C. milk
• 4 T. butter (cut into cubes)
• 1/3 C. vegetable oil (I used Canola)
For the Frosting
• 8 T. unsalted butter (room temperature)
• Pinch of salt
• 1 T. meringue powder (optional--increases strength of the frosting)
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 3 C. confectioners' sugar
• 2 to 4 T. milk

Instructions

For the cake
1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Your oven rack should be positioned in the center of the oven. Prepare two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans by greasing them and lining the bottoms of the pans with parchment. Grease the top of the parchment, too.
2. Combine flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Whisk to combine. Set aside.
3. Beat eggs, sugar, vanilla and almond extract in the bowl of your stand mixer using the whisk attachment. Beat at medium high speed for about 2 minutes. You want the egg mixture to thicken and be light in color.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture. Mix just to combine at a low speed. Be sure to use a spatula to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl and then mix again briefly to be sure all the flour is incorporated into the batter.
5. In a microwave or in a pan on the stove, heat the milk until it simmers. Remove the milk from the microwave (or from the heat on the stove) and stir in the butter and oil. Keep stirring the mixture until the butter has melted.
6. Slowly mix the milk mixture into the egg/flour batter until everything is well combined. Be sure to scrape the bowl to be sure everything is combined.
7. Pour batter into your two prepared pans and bake at 325 degrees F. for about 38-42 minutes if you are using 8-inch pans or 26-30 minutes if you are using 9-inch pans. Test the cake for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the centers of the cakes. ( The toothpick should come out clean with no batter sticking to the toothpick. You can also check your cakes by using a digital thermometer inserted into the center of the cakes. The thermometer should read 205 degrees F is the cake is done.)
8. Remove the cakes from the oven, run a knife around the edges to loosen the cakes from the pans and let the cakes cool on a rack for about 15 minutes. Once the cakes are cool, turn them out of the pans and transfer them to a rack to cool to room temperature before frosting.
For the Frosting
9. Beat butter in the bowl of your stand mixer until it is fluffy.
10. Add the salt, meringue powder (optional) and vanilla. Beat to combine.
11. Add the confectioners' sugar and 2 T. of milk. Beat until the mixture is smooth, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl while you are mixing to be sure you have incorporated all the sugar.
12. Add additional milk (or confectioners' sugar) to adjust the consistency of the frosting for easy icing and piping.

Nutrition

Calories

6145 cal

Fat

177 g

Carbs

992 g

Protein

35 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info

Spinach, Bean and Pasta Soup

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Ingredients

• Canola or olive oil
• 1 Soyrizo Sausage (6 oz. or 1/2 a link--adjust amount to match your heat tolerance)
• 1 onion (chopped)
• 3 garlic cloves (crushed)
• 2 C. water (or more--to your taste)
• 3/4 to 1 C. small dry pasta
• 14 oz. can tomato sauce
• 3 C. vegetable stock (or more)
• 1 t. dried oregano (or basil)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• A few big handfuls to spinach (coarsely chopped)
• 1 15-ounce can red kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
• Freshly-grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a large soup pot and saute and onion and garlic until they are soft. When the onion and garlic are cooked, stir in crumbled soyrizo sausage. Stir to mix.
2. Add water, dry pasta, tomato sauce, vegetable stock, oregano and salt and pepper Bring soup to a boil and then reduce the heat. Simmer soup for about 15 minutes until the pasta is tender.
3. Chop and add the fresh spinach to the soup. Add the rinsed beans. Continue cooking the soup for another 5 minutes. Add additional water or broth to thin the soup to a consistency you like.
4. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with freshly-grated Parmesan cheese.
5. Cook's Note: Soyrizo is a vegetarian substitute for chorizo. It is available at Trader Joe's and at most major supermarkets. Regular chorizo would work, too.

Nutrition

Calories

708 cal

Fat

49 g

Carbs

39 g

Protein

28 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info