Corn Flake Macaroons

As vintage month comes to end I thought I would adapt an old recipe I found in a Searchlight Recipe Book printed in 1944, sidenote: this book also contains several recipes for squirrel (perfect for wedding receptions). Corn flake macaroons just sounded olde tyme to me. Sure adding cereal to a dessert is pretty normal just ask Snap, Crackle or Pop. But corn flakes? They're one of the oldest types of cold cereal. Honestly I think they should be added to more recipes. It adds just enough of a crunch. 

Corn Flake Macaroons remind me a lot of rice crispy treats. They're both crispy and sweet, but these macaroons have a bit more depth to them, thanks to the coconut and chocolate. So if you're ready to step up your dessert game and impress everyone at the next family event. Let the kids make the rice crispy treats and make an adult dessert instead. 

Corn Flake Macaroons

• 2 Egg Whites
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 cup Coconut shredded 
• 2 cups Corn Flakes
• 1/2 cup Almonds sliced 
• 1/2 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 3 tablespoons Water

1. Preheat the oven to 375°
2. Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. 
3. Gradually beat the sugar and salt into the egg whites. 
4. Fold in the vanilla extract, coconut, corn flakes, and almonds.
5. Scoop with a teaspoon onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
6. Bake until the sides and the tops of the cookies are golden brown. 
7. Boil 3 cups of water in a sauce pan. Place the chocolate chips and 3 tablespoons of water in a heatproof metal bowl over the saucepan. Continue stirring the chips until melted. Drizzle the chocolate over the cookies. 
8. Try to eat all of them in one sitting

All photos by Katy Weaver!

Pot Roast

It's week two of vintage month on Cooking with B.S.! And we're featuring the most the oldest recipe ever, cooked meat. There is something appealing about simplicity. Maybe it's having fewer dishes to clean up after the meal is cooked or perhaps it's when you don't muddle the meat with every spice under the sun its true flavor comes out. Or perhaps these vintage recipes remind us of a simpler time, a better time, a time before quinoa.

Pot Roast

• 1 lbs. Beef Roast
• 2 Carrots
• 5 Celery Stalks
• 1/2 Medium Yellow Onion
• 3 Potatoes
• Salt and Pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 375°
2. Coarsely chop all the vegetables except the potatoes. 
3. Place the roast in a pan or in a "pot" and add a dash of salt and pepper. Place the chopped vegetables around the roast.  Add another dash of salt and pepper to everything in the pot. Put the lid on the pot and place the pot in the oven. 
4. Bake for 15 minutes. Stir all the vegetables around and turn the roast over. Cook for another 15 minutes.
5. Coarsely cut up the potatoes and add to the pot. Continue cooking for another 30 minutes.
6. Slice and serve. 

Photos by Katy Weaver

Classic Potato Salad

No this potato salad doesn't have anything weird or crazy in it. No I didn't use some insane method of cooking these regular ol' potatoes. This is straightforward potato salad, though it does identify as egg salad on a few documents. 

I know last week I said this blog doesn't pander to the Pinterest people and that I wanted to move the culinary arts forward. The best way to move forward is to look to the past. That's why all month long on Cooking with B.S. we're bringing you classic-vintage recipes! 

Yes I know potato salad isn't exactly a culinary tentpole, but it's an American classic! Just try having a family picnic without potato salad. It doesn't work! Uncle Frank just spends the whole day asking, "Where's the potato salad?" Then Aunt Sally chimes in, "Frank you shouldn't be eating that anyway. Cause of the cholesterol." Next thing you know their martial banter turns into a full blown food fight and your quinoa-kale salad is on the ground. Where it belongs! The dog won't even eat it. All while you're quietly drinking a beer in the corner and telling yourself that you're definitely doing your own thing for Thanksgiving.

So yeah. Don't let that happen and just make this potato salad. 

Classic Potato Salad

• 6 Eggs hard boiled
• 6 Potatoes peeled and cubed
• 10 Olives minced
• 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup Classic Yellow Mustard
• 1/4 cup Relish
• 1 heaping tablespoon Horseradish
• Dill optional (I used a sprig of dill as garnish) 

1. Hard boil your eggs for 15 minutes, once cooked cool in the fridge while you prepare the rest.
2. Place the peeled and cubed potatoes in a pot of boiling water with a bit of salt. Cook just long enough until the potatoes break apart with a fork. 
3. In a small mixing bowl combine the mayo, mustard, olives, relish and horseradish.
4. One your eggs have cooled a bit. Shell them and cut in half. Stir the yolks in to the mayo-mustard mixture. Mince the egg whites and place in a large mixing bowl. 
5. Drain the potatoes, place in the large mixing bowl with the egg whites. Stir in all the other ingredients. Let cool and serve. Or you can just eat it out of the bowl with a large mixing spoon. Not that I have ever done that...

These eggcellent Photos by Katy Weaver!!

Classy Joes (Sloppy Joes)

If you're a regular visitor of this blog you know that I tend to make recipes that are a little more on the creative side. This has never been and never will be a Pinterest baking blog filled with quinoa and Oreo filled recipes. Instead of appealing to the masses I would rather move the culinary arts forward and present my reimagining of a school cafeteria staple, the Classy Joe. Sure the Classy Joe seems like a twisted pipe dream of a hairy lunch lady with aspirations of getting a Michelin Star.

Fun fact! When fried purple potatoes turn brown!

Gettin' saucy!

Classy Joes (Sloppy Joes)

• Challah Bread cubed 2x2 in
• 1/2 lbs Tri Tip Steak
• 1/2 cup Onion minced
• 1/2 cup Green Bell Pepper minced
• 1 Egg
• 1/3 cup Milk

Sauce

• 1/2 cup Ketchup
• 2 teaspoons Mustard Seed ground
• 2 tablespoons Worcester Sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
• 1 teaspoon Garlic Salt
• 2 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Brown Sugar

1. Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl. 
2. Be sure all the prep work gets done, like cutting the bread and mincing the vegetables, to ensure the dish gets created properly.
3. Make a egg and milk bath in a shallow small bowl. 
4. Cook the steak over medium high heat, one minute on the first side then one minute on the other side. Or just cook the steak to your liking.
5. Coat the bread cubes in the egg bath then sort of press the vegetables into the moist cube. Cook in a skillet over medium heat until goldenish brown (the cubes will be green thanks to the bell peppers.
6. Once you have a few cubes cooked then you plate how you wish. I made a column with my meat and bread topped with a slice of black radish and green onion. I also served it with some purple fingerling potato fries, that sort of turned brown after I fried them. 

As always Photos by Katy Weaver!

Espresso Hazelnut Crème Brûlée

I don't mean to brag, but this is the best Crème Brûlée ever, so suck it France! Crème Brûlée is one of the most elegant desserts you can make. Maybe it's the simplicity of its ingredients or the crunch of the burnt sugar that gives way to the creaminess inside. Or it could be that infusing flavors into this classic dessert is like painting on a blank canvas. That, or it might just be that the French know their way around desserts, but that seems unlikely.

Quick shoutout to Oregon hazelnuts!! What what!! That is all. Carry on.

Espresso Hazelnut Crème Brûlée

Yields four 5oz. servings

• 2 cups Heavy Cream
• 6 Egg Yolks
• 1/3 cup Granulated Sugar 
• Plus extra for the topping
• 1/8 teaspoon Salt
• 1 tablespoon Instant Espresso 
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1/3 cup Hazelnuts coarsely blended

1. Preheat the oven to 300° and move the baking rack to the second lowest. 
2. Boil about 7 cups of water. 
3. Heat 1 cup of the cream, sugar, salt, and instant espresso in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Stir constantly to avoid burning. You don't want to burn the cream, that comes later.
4. In a mixing bowl whisk the egg yolks with the vanilla extract until the texture becomes consistent.  
5. Pour the cream mixture into the yolks. Be sure to do this slowly and temper the egg yolks to avoid coagulating the proteins in the yolks. 
6. Line a deep baking dish with a dish towel. Place the empty ramekins in the dish, make sure they're not touching.  
7. Strain the mixture with a fine mesh strainer and pour into the ramekins. Place into the oven. Pour the boiling water into the large dish. Try to avoid getting water into the desserts. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and let cool. Place in fridge for at least 2 hours to set.
9. Once you're ready to serve, evenly pour about a tablespoon of sugar on each one. Using a torch, burn the sugar just until it's bubbly. Sprinkle the hazelnuts onto the bubbling sugar. Enjoy with a spoon!  

before burning

getting burnt

Yes, Katy Weaver took all these wonderful photos!

finished product!