Roasted Butternut Squash with Balsamic Vinegar Honey Butter

Lots of recipes call for butternut squash to be peeled before roasting but I have found that the peel is actually quite tender and deliciously edible so I like to leave it on.  It adds fiber as well as flavor. 

After the indulgent recipes of Cookie Week, I am delighted to tell you that I’ve got an easy, healthy dish for you.  #SundaySupper is celebrating winter squash so I made one of our family favorites.  I’ve been roasting pumpkin and butternut squash for several years now, sometimes just drizzled with olive oil and a pinch of sea salt, and sometimes fancied up with spices (Cumin and/or cinnamon work beautifully!) or sprinkled with minced garlic with a pat of butter in the hole.  No matter the additions, it is always delicious.  And nutritious.  I hope you give it a try!

Ingredients to serve four
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
2 small butternut squash (About 15 1/2oz or 440g each)
Sprinkle of sea salt flakes
Green onion tops for garnish, if desired

Method
Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C.

In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the vinegar, olive oil and honey with your two tablespoons of butter.  Melt your butter with a quick couple of zaps of perhaps 10 seconds each in the microwave and stir well to combine.

Cut the stem off of your butternut squash and then cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds.

Put your four halves in a baking pan and drizzle the vinegar honey butter mixture all over the squash.  Divide the remaining mixture between the wells in the squash.

Roast in the preheated oven until a fork goes in the thickest part quite easily.  This should take between 45 and 60 minutes.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle each butternut squash half with sea salt flakes.  Garnish with green onion tops, if desired.

Enjoy!

Ginger Lemon Snaps with Ginger Glaze

Ginger and lemon are best mates, as the lovely Jamie Oliver would say. The warmth of the fresh ginger is enhanced in this pretty cookie by the addition of bits of crystallized ginger and a bitey ginger glaze on top and brightened beautifully by the sharp fresh lemon juice and zest.

Ginger Lemon Snaps with Ginger Glaze - Click here to print recipe

Ingredients
For two and a half dozen cookies:
3 1/2 cups or 440g flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Zest of one medium lemon
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 small knob fresh ginger (about 1 oz or 15g after peeling)
1/3 cup or 75g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup or 200g light brown sugar
2 eggs

For decorating: About 2 oz or 60g crystallized ginger plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar to separate the sticky bits when chopped

For the ginger glaze:
2/3 cup or about 85g powdered sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch salt
1 1/2 - 3 teaspoons milk

Method
Preheat oven to 375°F or 190°C and prepare your baking pan by greasing lightly or lining with parchment paper. A dab of butter or a quick shot of non-stick spray under the paper will keep it from sliding around on the pan.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine your flour, baking powder, soda, salt and lemon zest.  Set aside.

Chop your crystallized ginger into little bits and put them in a small bowl with the 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar. Rub the ginger and sugar between your fingers until all the bits are coated with the sugar and no longer stick together. Set aside.

Peel and grate your fresh ginger.

With electric beaters or in your stand mixer, beat the sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. This takes just a couple of minutes.

Add in the eggs and beat again. 

Your grated ginger and lemon juice should go in now. Beat again for just a few seconds. 

Add the flour mixture in TWO lots, mixing well in between.

Scoop one tablespoon of dough out onto your prepared cookie sheet for each cookie. If you are using an actual tablespoon, you can roll them into balls and then flatten them for a more uniform appearance.

Sprinkle the top of each dough disk with crystallized ginger bits and sugar.  Press them down a little bit into the dough to stop them falling off after baking. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are golden on the bottom and set on top. 

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes in the pan and them put them on a wire rack to cool completely.  

Meanwhile, make your glaze by combining the powdered sugar, ground ginger and the pinch of salt.  Add milk a tiny bit at a time, stirring very well in between, until you reach drizzling consistency.  You may not use all the milk. 

I like to use a piping bag for more uniform drizzling of glaze but you can also put your glaze in a plastic bag and cut off one tiny corner for the same effect.  When the cookies are completely cool, drizzle on the glaze.

Enjoy! 

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Chewy Brigadeiro Pecan Bars

These wonderfully chewy cookie bars are made with melted chocolate and dulce de leche, sandwiched between layers of oat/pecan cookie dough and baked to golden perfection. Toasted pecans, melted chocolate, rolled oats and dulce de leche (caramelized condensed milk) make a chewy cookie bar that remind me of one of our favorite candies, Brazilian brigadeiros.

Chewy Brigadeiro Pecan Bars

I first saw this recipe on The Spiced Life, written by my friend, Laura, creator of the Creative Cookie Exchange group.  It sounded fabulous just as it was but I wanted to try a couple small modifications, exchanging the condensed milk for dulce de leche and toasting the pecans first.

Ingredients for four dozen squares
For the bottom/top dough:
2 1/2 cups or 315g flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup or 225g unsalted butter plus more for buttering the pan
2 cups, packed, or 400g brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
3 cups or 285g old fashioned rolled oats
7 oz or 200g pecans (Half for dough, half for sprinkling on before baking)

For the chocolate filling:
14 (or 15) oz or 397-510g can dulce de leche (store-bought or homemade - very easy!)
13 3/4 oz or almost 290g semi sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Optional: 1 teaspoon sea salt flakes for sprinkling on top of the bars before baking

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.  Prepare your baking pan (Mine is about 11x16in or 28x40cm.) by lining it with foil and rubbing it with some butter.

Put your pecans in a separate pan large enough to hold them all in a single layer.  Pop them in the oven while it preheats.  Set a timer for five minutes at a time and keep checking on them and giving them a shake until they smell like roasted nuts, warm and fragrant.  Depending on how quickly your oven preheats, this could take from as little as 10 minutes to as many as 20 minutes.  Just be careful not to let them scorch.  Remove from the oven and allow the pecans to cool.

When the pecans are cool enough to handle, chop them roughly.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine your flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar together until fluffy.  Add in the vanilla and then beat the eggs in one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl between each addition.

This is the addition of the second egg. 

Add in the flour mixture in two lots and mix on the lowest speed until well mixed each time.

After the flour is all added. 

Add the oats and mix on low until mostly incorporated. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.

It's pretty stiff after the oats have been added.  You'll want to scrape the beater as well.  

Add half of the pecans and mix until everything is completely incorporated.

Remove two cups or 600g of this dough and set aside.

Dump the remaining dough into your foil-lined pan.  Divide it into smaller chunks spread around the bottom of the pan and then press it down until it covers the entire bottom.  Set aside.

To make the filling, put your chocolate in a microwaveable bowl and zap for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until the chocolate is completely melted.

Add in the dulce de leche, vanilla, butter and the pinch of salt and stir well. The butter should melt in the heat of the chocolate but if it doesn't you can give the whole bowl another quick zap.

Pour this warm chocolate mixture over the dough pressed into the pan.

Use your fingers to break up the reserved two cups of the dough and sprinkle in over the chocolate. It won’t and shouldn’t cover all of the chocolate.

Now sprinkle the remaining toasted chopped pecans over the whole thing.

Finish by sprinkling 1 teaspoon sea salt flakes over that, if desired. I love the sweet and salty mix myself.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

Allow to cool for about 15 minutes on a cooling rack before removing the foil and the whole cookie bar from the pan. Cool completely before cutting into small squares.

Store in a well-sealed container with waxed paper or parchment dividing the layers. If you live in a very warm climate, store this in the refrigerator. These cookie bars also freeze nicely and will keep for several weeks.

Enjoy!

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