Maple Pecan Shortbread Cookies

One thing I learned from my UK adventure last spring was that I love shortbread. I also get such a joy cooking and baking with home-grown ingredients, so when I saw this recipe for a shortbread cookie, and I had a bunch of pecans sitting at home, I knew I had to make them.


(me eating an elephant shaped shortbread cookie in Scotland)

What you'll need:

2 and 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup pecans (toasted and finely chopped)
1 cup unsalted butter (@room temp)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 large egg yolk and 1 large egg white (lightly beaten)
1/2 cup pecan halves
1/4 cup raw turbinado sugar

First, mix the flour, salt, and chopped pecans. Cream the butter and sugar in a separate bowl until light and fluffy.
Beat in maple syrup followed by the egg yolk. Mix in flour until a dough forms.
Form dough into 1 and 1/2 inch thick log, wrap in plastic and let chill 2 hours to overnight. (I left mine in the fridge for a couple days.)
Slice log into 1/4 inch thick slices. Place on baking sheet, brush with egg white and top with pecan halves and raw sugar.
Bake at 350 degrees until lightly golden brown on edges: about 10-12 minutes, turning baking sheet around half way through.

Persimmon Bread (Muffins)

Every winter I somehow end up with a huge box full of locally grown persimmons. What the heck is a Persimmon, anyway? I am not really sure...Some sort of a fruit, obviously. I am also not really sure what they taste like. Every time I bake something just to get these things out of my house, the end product does not really taste like a 'persimmon'. And when I taste the fruit in its raw form, it has an awful bitter taste. According to wikipedia, the bad taste is due to the tannin, which doesn't go away until the fruit is all the way ripened. Oops.
Regardless, these muffins came out pretty awesome. Especially when they are fresh out of the oven.


Here's what you need:

2 cups white sugar
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oats
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups ripe persimmon pulp
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs


To get the persimmon pulp, I simply cut up the ripest 2 persimmons from my box and then tossed the pieces into my food processor.
In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, flours, oats, salt, spices, and baking soda until well mixed. Set aside. In another bowl, stir the persimmon pulp with the applesauce, vegetable oil, and eggs until well blended. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Divide batter into two greased 9x5 loaf pans, or into 24 muffin tins.
Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (About an hour for the loaf pans, and considerably less time if using muffin pan.)



Each muffin is approximately 206 calories with 2.7g of protein.

Uncommon Ground

If you know me well enough, you know that my favorite restaurant of all time is Uncommon Ground, the Devon location. The one on Clark existed first, but I never knew about it and I still have yet to go there. However, the Devon-Edgewater branch impressed me from my very first visit. I am into everything about this place: from the evolving seasonal, local, and organic menu, to the green building and rooftop garden, to the art on the walls and live music, and above all else, of course, how well everything there tastes. I have not had one dish that disappointed me.


During my latest visit to Chicago I had the pleasure of dining there twice.

My friend Erin and I went there for brunch on a Friday. Brunch is available every day starting at 11am weekdays and 9am on the weekend. As I mentioned earlier, the menu--drinks included--changes with the season and available stock of all the fresh ingredients. I remember one time getting a fabulous iced mocha with fresh coconut, but I haven't had the luck of seeing it on the menu again since. I opted for a cappuccino instead. For a starter we chose the baked spinach, roasted garlic & goat cheese dip with olive oil crostini. The goat cheese makes this dip incredibly savory and I could just eat it up with my bare hands.


For my main course I went with the Summer Scramble. Zucchini, corn, tomato, basil, and fresh mozzarella cheese. The flavors blended so nicely and tasted so fresh and straight from the garden. I loved the little yellow, orange, and red heirloom tomatoes, and I finally had my first sweet corn of the summer (little late, I know). I would have cut the serving of side potatoes in half, but I could have just been full from the goat cheese dip.


On my last night in town I had a lovely dinner on the outside patio.


We ordered an Uncommon Chopped salad for the table, which consists of romaine, grilled gunthorp farm chicken, bacon, black river gorgonzola, tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, scallions, and smoked tomato ranch dressing. Oh. My. God. So good that I could have eaten the whole thing for my dinner.

For my entrée I went with the pork confit: peaches, market vegetables, polenta spaetzle, peach & thyme pork jus. I try not to eat pork because I loves pigs, but who am I kidding? Pork is delicious. The meat just melted on my fork and in my mouth. The market vegetable was zucchini, which I enjoy, but I know a lot of people who don't care for it too much. The polenta spaetzle was my second serving of summer corn, and peaches always go well with pork and duck.

By the time dessert came around I was ready to burst, but since I was on vacation I couldn't pass up on another uncommon course. The table split two dishes: a peach and blueberry crumble with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and these beignets with a vanilla sauce. The crumble was my favorite of the two, but I think I would have chosen the lemon ginger cheesecake if I could do it over again. I'm a lover of cheesecakes.

If you're ever in Chicago, go to this restaurant!