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Laura

Grilled Shepherd’s Way Farms’ Big Woods Blue Cheese Sandwich with Quince Paste and Raw Honey

by Laura 11 December 2010
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We’re enjoying an old fashioned Minnesota blizzard today.  The wind is howling, a fine powder of snow blurs the houses in the distance and swirls into drifts, and it’s bitterly cold, sixteen degrees and dropping.  Even little Annie, our ginger terrier, would prefer to sleep on her chair nestled in a blanket over chasing the [...]

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Quince Paste

by Laura 11 December 2010
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I went to a fancy grocery store this week in search of liquid pectin and kumquats thinking, They have everything, right?  I struck out, but I certainly had fun.  This kind of shopping is my own personal kid-in-a-candy-store experience: every kind of European butter, clotted cream, an olive bar the size of a swimming pool, [...]

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Rosewater-scented Turkish Delight

by Laura 10 December 2010
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Proust’s madeleine, Charles Arrowby’s toast, Edmund’s enchanted Turkish Delight. Don’t you love a character with a penchant for a particular food?  I first made Turkish Delight for my Honey Girl and my Sweet Boy years ago when we were reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.  I was more interested in the candy than [...]

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Dark Chocolate Caramels with Smoked Sea Salt

by Laura 9 December 2010
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I’ve made caramel for many years now, but when I saw this recipe in the December, 2006 issue of Gourmet magazine I had a feeling it would become a staple in our Christmas candy repertoire.  It has.  I make it every year now, and it gets a lot of wows.  Salted candy has been trendy [...]

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Tangerine-scented Cranberry Pistachio Tiles

by Laura 8 December 2010
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The whole house smells of tangerines this morning.  When my Dear Husband staggered into the kitchen in his bathrobe for a first cup of coffee, his eyes widened and he asked me how I’d managed to make the house smell so good so early.  I had gotten up before the sun to bake, and the [...]

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Irish Oatmeal with Cream, Kerrygold Butter, Celtic Salt, Warm Celtic Crossing Liqueur-soaked Golden Raisins, and Toasted Walnuts

by Laura 7 December 2010
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We had house guests this weekend and I was trying to think of something to cook for them for breakfast Saturday morning.  Sandwiched between rich, heavy meals, I wanted something healthy-ish that would be delicious.  I settled on oatmeal, and laid out these accoutrements.  It was a comforting bowl on a wintry morning: creamy oats, [...]

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Vanilla Cheesecake with Fresh Lingonberries and Cardamom Whipped Cream

by Laura 6 December 2010
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Our Honey Girl’s Mr. Right’s parents (Are you still with me?) visited us this past weekend from Alabama.   It was Mr. Right’s dad’s birthday, and I had it on good authority that a cheesecake would be something that would make the birthday boy happy.  Since they were visiting from the South, I thought it would [...]

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Almond Danish Kugelhopf

by Laura 4 December 2010
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Making puff pastry is no picnic.  The butter has to be the same temperature as the dough.  You have to be pretty stellar with a rolling pin.  And, at least for me until I’m more practiced, it’s not always a pretty picture.  This recipe uses a fake-out puff pastry, which you make by leaving bean-sized [...]

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Shepherd’s Way Farms

by Laura 3 December 2010
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I visited Shepherd’s Way Farm on a 27-degree icy day in late November.  Jodi welcomed me and my dear friend Gracia in for tea and we talked for a long time around her table before she showed us around the farm.  She is a striking person, both vulnerable and incredibly strong, and her belief in [...]

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Cream Caramels

by Laura 2 December 2010
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Sometimes my recipe notes are a little amusing.  I usually scribble as I’m cooking and over a number of years, my sheets of paper can become quite a mess.  Being stuffed into a bursting-at-the-seams ring binder doesn’t help.  After twelve years of making this caramel, there is a lot of scratch to sort out.  So, [...]

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Thin Crust Pizza with Shepherd’s Way Farms’ Friesago, Shepherd’s Way Farms’ Merguez Lamb Sausage, & Fresh Chanterelles and Thyme

by Laura 27 November 2010
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Shepherd’ Way Farms’ cheeses are so sublime it almost feels wrong to cook with them.  Almost.  I dreamed up this pizza as a vehicle for their friesago as well as their delicious merguez lamb sausage.  It shows off their nuanced flavors without masking them.  And it’s the best pizza we’ve ever had. Shepherd’s Way Farms’ [...]

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