happelsauce

It’s Christmas Eve. I’m with my family in a cozy log cabin in Mazama, Washington where the treetops glisten! Really, they do. We spent the day cross-country skiing in 18 degree sunshine.

Now Pom’s fixing dinner, Ellie’s reading the trial transcript for her Alabama death penalty case, Henny’s reading, and me? I’m Happelsaucing. Obviously.

Macaroons and Mexican Wedding Cookies. Together on a platter they are the very picture of Christmas. They look like snow. Elegant, edible morsels of snow. Please close your eyes and envision them now because I just realized that the photos I took are still in San Francisco. Dang. I promise to post them later. (Update! It’s January 26th and I’m making good on my promise. Photos, glorious photos!)

It turns out that Mexican Wedding Cookies and the Chocolate Dipped Coconut Macaroons have more in common than one might think: Both cookies resemble snow – in the form of a powdered sugar coating and shredded coconut respectively, both contain less than eight ingredients, both are easy to make, and both taste wonderful but in completely different ways. And I think it’s their differences that make them so delicious together. After all, isn’t that what the holiday spirit is all about?

The Mexican Wedding Cookies are nuttybutterybombs – they have a shortbread-like consistency, rich and subtly sweet .

On the flip side, the Macaroons are lightsweetchewymorsels – miniature coconut islands resting in pools of dark chocolate. (They require 4 egg whites, so they’re the perfect cookie to bake after whipping up a batch of Tiger’s Swedish Pancakes or another recipe that calls for egg yolks.)

Place one of each cookie on your holiday cocktail napkin and indulge. They’re worth every bite, down to the last crumb.

Chocolate Dipped Coconut Macaroons

From Room for Dessert, by David Lebovitz

Makes About 30 Cookies

4 large egg whites

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon honey

2 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut

1/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I like Guittard bittersweet chocolate chips)

• In a large pan, mix together the egg whites, sugar, salt, honey, coconut and flour.
• Stir constantly on medium-low heat, scraping the bottom as you stir.
• When the mixture just begins to scorch at the bottom, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.
• Transfer to a bowl to cool to room temperature. (At this point, the mixture can be chilled for up to one week, or frozen for up to two months.)
• When ready to bake, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Form the dough into 1½-inch mounds (sticky fingers!)  and evenly space on the baking sheet.
• Bake for 18-20 minutes, until deep golden brown. Cool completely.

To dip the macaroons in chocolate:

• Melt the chocolate in a clean, dry bowl set over a pan of simmering water (or in a microwave.)
• Line a baking sheet with plastic wrap.
• Dip the bottoms of each cookie in the chocolate and set the cookies on the baking sheet.
• Leave untouched for a half hour or refrigerate 5-10 minutes, until the chocolate is set.

Mexican Wedding Cookies

From The Joy of Baking, By Stephanie Jaworski

Makes About 2 Dozen Cookies

2/3 cup toasted pecans (Walnuts or hazelnuts will work too, really it’s whatever nut you prefer.)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature (Use the highest quality butter possible, I used Kerrygold. Plugra is also excellent.)

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

For Sugar Coating: 1 cup powdered sugar

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
• Toast Nuts: Place nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes, or until lightly brown and fragrant. Cool.
• Once the nuts have cooled completely place them, along with 2 tablespoons of the flour from the recipe, into your food processor and process until they are finely ground (but not a paste). Set aside.
• Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes).
• Beat in the vanilla extract.
• Add the remaining flour and salt and beat until combined.
• Stir in the nuts.
• Cover and refrigerate the dough for about 1 hour or until firm.
• Form the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and place them on the prepared baking sheets.
• Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to brown.
• Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes.
• While the cookies are cooling, sprinkle about one cup of powdered sugar onto a tray lined with parchment paper.
• Place the slightly cooled cookies on top of the sugar. Very gently (so the cookies don’t crumble) roll the cookies in the sugar to coat.

Julia Child. For me, the mere mention of her name invokes visions of…butter. Lots and lots of butter. After all, in her last magazine interview, Julia was asked, “Do you have a favorite ingredient?” She replied, “Yes. Butter.” Amen, Julia. Such a wise woman.

Back in October, Whit, Ellie and I decided to hold our very first “Julia Night.” We would cook from Mastering the Art of French Cooking and watch episodes of The French Chef, Julia’s cooking show produced and broadcast in Boston from 1963 – 1973. (Ellie owns the box set.) All three of us are Julia fans. Meaning, we were admirers before Julie and Julia hit the theaters. We all thoroughly enjoyed reading My Life in France. It’s a story based on love – love of cooking, love between husband and wife, love of France, and love of life. Of course, Julie Powell of “Julie and Julia” fame is to be commended for cooking every recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking – it takes a brave woman to dedicate an entire year of her life to expanding both her culinary knowledge and her waistline.

For our first “Julia Night”, the menu consisted of the following:

Cheese, olives and fruit.

Bouillabaisse from MTAOFC – a traditional fish soup from Marseille.

Chocolate Souffle from MTAOFC.

And lots of wine.

We finished grocery shopping around 8pm and didn’t eat dinner until after 11pm. After devouring our seafood soup and souffle, we selected another Julia episode and retired to the couch. I fell asleep before the opening credits finished rolling and didn’t wake up until 4:30am, shoes still on and smelling like a French fish monger. But it was entirely worth it. Our first Julia night had been a success!

On Monday, the three of us reunited for “Julia Night Part Deux,” this time at Ellie’s place. We were so inspired from the airypuffedgrandness of our chocolate souffle that we decided to adopt a souffle theme, whipping up one savory and one sweet – a Gruyere and Parmesan Cheese Souffle and a Grand Marnier Souffle with Creme Anglais. Plus a spinach salad with apple and almonds that provided a refreshing intermission between our souffle saga.

Here’s the thing. Souffles aren’t very difficult to make and the wow-factor is immense. A souffle hot from the oven – puffed and proud –  is a sight to behold. Both our savory and sweet souffles were delicious, but I’ve decided to post the savory recipe because it was truly the best in show. We poured the souffle batter into six ramekins and one large coffee mug. 25 minutes later, we opened the oven door to behold golden domes of goodness. Each spoonful was simultaneously rich and light. We decided that souffle is the perfect comfort food – a beautifulbutterybloated wonder. I can’t wait to bake more.

Gruyere and Parmesan Cheese Souffle

Adapted from Bon Appetit. Not MTAOFC. Sorry Julia.

Serves 4

Grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 stick butter

5 tablespoons all purpose flour

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Pinch of ground nutmeg

1 1/4 cups whole milk

1/4 cup dry white wine

6 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons (packed) coarsely grated Gruyère cheese (about 6 ounces)

1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

8 large egg whites

• Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 400°F.
• Generously butter one 10-cup soufflé dish or six to eight ramekins, depending on size
• Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese to coat. (If using 1 1/4-cup dishes, place all 6 on rimmed baking sheet.)
• Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour, cayenne pepper and nutmeg. Cook without browning until mixture begins to bubble, whisking constantly, about 1 minute.
• Gradually whisk in milk, then wine. Cook until smooth, thick and beginning to boil, whisking constantly, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Mix yolks, salt and pepper in small bowl.
• Add yolk mixture all at once to sauce and whisk quickly to blend.
• Fold in 1 1/4 cups Gruyère cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (cheeses do not need to melt).
• Using electric mixer, beat whites in large bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold 1/4 of whites into lukewarm soufflé base to lighten. Fold in remaining whites.
• Transfer soufflé mixture to prepared dish. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons Gruyère cheese.
• Place soufflé in oven and reduce heat to 375°F.
• Bake soufflé until puffed, golden and gently set in center, about 40 minutes for large soufflé (or 25 minutes for small soufflés).
• Serve immediately (or risk serving a sad, limp souffle.)

Full disclosure. I would like to tell you my Tiger Woods story. It’s timely and juicy and good, I promise. But here’s the hitch, it’s not entirely Happelsauce worthy. I mean, this is a food blog, not The Superficial. I figure that I need a good recipe to accompany my true Tiger tale, so recently my mind got to churning. What recipe could I possibly associate with Tiger Woods?

My brain played a far-reaching game of connect the dots. I was in the shower yesterday when I recalled one of my favorite bedtime stories when I was little. It was called Little Black Sambo. (Please note: At the time, I was unaware that it was such a controversial book. It was first published in 1899. According to Wiki, it may have contributed to the use of the word “Sambo” being used as a racial slur, for crying out loud!) But, in the book, Sambo is the protagonist and the Tigers are the greedy antagonists. See where I’m going here?

In case you haven’t read it, it’s the tale of a boy named Sambo who gets repeatedly threatened by hungry tigers and ends up giving them all the new, colorful clothes off of his back so they don’t eat him. Sambo cries, feeling utterly alone and defeated by the greedy tigers, when he hears a horrible “Grrrr” in the distance. He finds the tigers fighting each other over who’s the grandest tiger of all. They “caught hold of each other’s tails” and ran so fast around a tree, they became a blur and melted into butter. Sambo’s father stumbled upon the golden butter on his way home from work and brought it back to his wife that evening. She used the butter, “just as yellow and brown as little Tigers,” to make an enormous batch of pancakes for her family.

Dots connected! Pancakes and greedy tigers.

Good news is, one of my absolute favorite breakfasts of all time are pancakes…Swedish pancakes, at that. Oh yes. Pom would channel her inner-Swede and make them on the occasional Sunday morning, inevitably making my day. They’re thin and egg-y and taste like heaven. I’ll post the recipe below. Please make them! But, don’t head to the store to buy eggs and milk for the batter quite yet. I’ve rambled enough. It’s finally time for my true Tiger tale. Thanks for bearing with me.

Over 4th of July weekend in 2006, I met up with Lex, Allie and Katie in Las Vegas. It was my first time visiting as an adult. I’d been there once before with my family when we were on an epic canyon tour throughout the southwest. I think I was 12. I remember the endless breakfast buffet at The Mirage and not much else. On my first night in Vegas with friends, we ventured from our room at the MGM Grand and ended up at the Bellagio. It wasn’t until after dinner and a couple bottles of wine that I realized I’d left my ID in our room, on the other end of The Strip. Crap. I couldn’t get into a club without it. And it was our first night in Vegas! Dancing at a club was next on the agenda. I urged Lex and Allie to have fun without me while cursing myself for putting a damper on our escalating Vegas momentum. I suggested that I wait for Katie to arrive (her flight was delayed leaving Seattle). She would drop off her bags in our room, grab my ID and then the four of us could rendezvous. But, Lex and Allie, being  the most excellent of friends, insisted that we stick together. So we walked out the sliding glass doors of the Bellagio and parked ourselves on a faux marble bench to wait in the 102 degree heat. It was a little after 11pm.

A friendly hotel valet/bellhop wandered over and started chatting with us. We were the only people outside and we were losing steam. He eventually walked off to attend to an approaching car. A few minutes later, he hollered at us from the other side of the road, “Ladies! Ladies!” And motioned with his arms to come his way. We had no idea what he wanted. Again, I urged Lex and Allie to go and they insisted I come too. We headed in the valet’s direction. He was standing next to an unmarked door on the side of the casino. We approached and were greeted by a familiar face at the door…Tiger Woods.

“Hi, I’m Tiger.” We all made introductions and shook hands. Then we followed Tiger and his two friends up the dark stairway, through the back entrance and to the VIP booth at Light, the club at the Bellagio. Vodka and cranberry juice appeared on the table. Tiger lit a cigar. He wasn’t friendly, but he wasn’t rude either. He seemed relatively void of emotion and interest. Neither Lex, Allie or I said much to him. We learned from his childhood friends that they were in Vegas to celebrate a 30th birthday. I mixed a drink, exchanging wide-eyed glances of sheer amazement with Allie and Lex. Our first night in Vegas and we were hanging out with Tiger Woods in his VIP booth. Really? Another drink, more observations. I knew that Tiger was married, so why was he letting the cocktail waitress sit on his lap? I’m naive, I guess, but I didn’t expect it. Another drink, Tiger left the booth. Another drink, and I promised myself that if and when he returned, I would talk to him. Where had he gone, anyway? And where was the cocktail waitress? Katie had arrived at that point and was hanging out with us and Tiger’s friends. An hour or so later, I was feeling bold and bossy from the vodka coursing through my veins, and Tiger returned. It had to have been around 2am at that point. Tiger’s star power had worn off. He hadn’t smiled all night. Here was a guy who seemingly had everything in the world, and he seemed sad.

“Tiger, are you happy?” Yup, I said it. He asked me to repeat the question a few times. More than twice. And finally his answer was, “I have everything I want.” From afar, Tiger does seem to have everything – Fame, Fortune, Family. But happiness?  Maybe that’s the intangible element he’s never known to strive for. Maybe because he always thought it came bundled with the three F’s. Or, even worse, maybe he never considered happiness as something to strive for in the first place. I don’t know.

We were asked to leave the VIP booth shortly after I talked to Tiger. I don’t think it was a coincidence. Poolside the following day, I couldn’t help but wonder then what so many people are wondering now. Who is Tiger Woods? He seemed like a guy who’d never thought about much of anything besides golf. He’s had blinders on his entire life. He was raised to see the golf course and not much else. And he’s only human. He wants things. When he sees something he wants, something pretty predictable like a hot Vegas cocktail waitress, he gets it. He doesn’t question his motives because he doesn’t have to. Just yesterday, I read a sentence in The Open Road – The Global Journey of the 14th Dalai Lama by Pico Iyer that struck a chord and seemed ever so timely:

Happiness is a function not so much of our circumstances as of our perceptions.

I think Tiger should ponder that sentence and then he should set off on his road to happiness by making a big batch of “Tiger’s Swedish Pancakes” for Elin and the kids. How about that?

Tiger’s Swedish Pancakes

Serves 4 (unless one of you is me)

6 egg yolks

4 cups lowfat milk

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons melted butter

2 cups flour

• Lightly beat the egg yolks in a large mixing bowl.
• Add 2 cups of milk, sugar, salt , flour and whisk free of lumps.
• Stir in the remaining 2 cups milk and melted butter. Batter will be very thin.

• Pour about 2/3 cup batter onto a lightly buttered large skillet over medium-high heat.
• Cook 3-4 minutes or until lightly browned.

• Loosen pancake all around with a spatula and flip. (Rumor has it that it helps if you’re Swedish.) Remove from skillet and repeat until batter is gone.
• Fold pancakes in half and keep warm in a 200 degree oven.
• Serve with lingonberry jam, pure maple syrup, or a light dusting of granulated sugar and a touch of milk.