Saturday Night Moules Frites

A couple of weekends ago, I (finally) made my first visit to Assi Plaza in Duluth to pick up a few items.  Taking advantage of the seafood bargains, I picked up (among other things) two pounds of head-on shrimp and a two pound bag of mussels.  I knew exactly what I would prepare with part of my seafood bounty: moules frites, the quintessential Belgian bistro dish.   Simple, delicious and perfect for a laid-back Saturday evening at home.

Keeping My Mother's Christmas Tradition Alive

I love baking.  Pies, breads, tarts, cakes-you name it, I'll bake it.  Well, everything except cookies.  I know this will probably sound silly, but I have never had the patience to bake cookies.  I won't even bother with that pre-packaged cookie dough that you just break into squares and plop onto a cookie sheet.  My mother, on the other hand, was the chief cookie baker in our family.  Every Christmas, she'd make dozens of cookies for family and friends.  One particular cookie was a huge hit with our family and was requested every holiday season.  My mother affectionately called them Pecan Dusties: buttery pecan shortbread rolled in confectioners' sugar.

It has been three years since I've tasted my mom's beloved pecan dusties, two years since I lost her one week after Thanksgiving in 2007.  This holiday season, I decided that I would carry on my mom's tradition and prepare batches of her pecan dusties to share with the family.  I'm so glad that I asked her how to make these before she passed, and I am happy to share the recipe here.  Warning:  these cookies are very addictive (seriously).  Be prepared to make a few batches because these cookies will be gobbled up in no time.

Holiday Recipe: Eggnog Cheesecake

Here's a very quick and simple holiday dessert, courtesy of my good Twitter friend Kelly P.   She was kind enough to share this recipe for eggnog cheesecake.  Even if you don't particularly care for eggnog, I think you'll enjoy this recipe-it's delicious!  Thank you Kelly!

Kelly's Eggnog Cheesecake

1 prepared shortbread pie crust*

12 ounces or 1 ½ (8 oz) pkgs cream cheese, softened

½ cup granulated sugar

1 tbsp plus 1 ½ tsp flour

¼ cup plus 2 tbsp eggnog

1 egg

1 tbsp rum extract (if you don't care for rum flavoring, you can use pure vanilla extract as a substitute)

A pinch of nutmeg

Preheat oven to 425°F

In a large bowl (using an electric or hand mixer) combine cream cheese, sugar, flour and eggnog.  Add egg, rum extract and nutmeg and beat until mixture is creamy and smooth.  Pour into prepared shortbread pie crust and bake in a 425° oven for 10 minutes.  Reduce oven temperature to 250° and bake for an additional 50 minutes.  Refrigerate for at least four hours before serving.  Kelly advises that this cheesecake tastes best after 24 hours or overnight refrigeration.

*To prepare this cheesecake in a 9-inch springform pan, use the following recipe for shortbread crust and double the cheesecake filling recipe above.

Shortbread Crust

1¼ cups shortbread crumbs (about 6 oz  of shortbread cookies, crushed)

2 tbsp granulated sugar

3 tbsp melted unsalted butter

In large bowl, combine shortbread crumbs, sugar and melted butter.  Press crumb mixture into a 9-inch springform pan.  Bake at 350° for 10 minutes.  Allow crust to cool before filling.

Quick Bites: Las Arepas de Julia

Sorry, I couldn't resist taking a couple of bites of Arepa De Choclo before taking the photo

Maybe it's because I've been feeling a little homesick for South Florida lately, but I've been craving arepas (a South American griddled corn cake popular in Venezuela and Colombia).  I tried my first arepas at the Opa-Locka-Hialeah flea market years ago and loved them.  When searching for a place to satisfy my  craving, the first place that popped up in the search engine was Las Arepas de Julia in Lilburn.  I recently stopped by to sample their specialty. 

Time To Make The Sufganiyot...

The holiday season is upon us!  With Hanukkah beginning this Friday evening, here's a post devoted to sufganiyot, a traditional holiday treat.  These filled doughnuts are a staple of Israeli Hanukkah celebrations.  Since this was my first attempt at making sufganiyot, I did a bit of research in order to find a recipe I could work with.  After some trial and error, I finally settled on a recipe and method that produced some pretty good results.  It is based on a recipe I found on bhg.com (which I tweaked just a bit). 

BB's Best Burgers

Having passed this place several times while out and about, I finally popped in to BB's Best Burgers in Duluth this weekend to give the place a try.  BB's menu reminds me of  The Counter burger chain, but with slightly lower prices. You choose your burger (available selections include 100% Black Angus, Bison, Turkey and a veggie Black Bean option), bun (you can also opt for no bun or a bed of lettuce instead), cheese, and a selection of unlimited or premium toppings.  BB's also has a Fifty/Fifty (fries/sweet potato fries) option as well.