RECIPES
THREE-CHEESE LASAGNA
posted by Hope Early
When you add cheese to any recipe, you know you’re going to have an amazing meal. Add three cheeses—well, technically four—and we’re talking about off-the-charts yumminess. I love the comfort of a casserole meal whether I’m making it in the colder months or during the summer. Serving all those around my table from one dish and seeing the eyes light up as all the cheese pulls into gooey (yes, it’s a culinary term) strings yumminess. I know, I’ve used that word twice so far, but it fits when writing about this recipe. You can make this recipe healthier if you choose, use whole wheat noodles, but I like to live on the edge, so I use regular boil noodles. Enjoy!
Ingredients
Olive oil, to coat the baking dish
9–12 lasagna noodles
1 cup full-fat ricotta cheese
1 egg
¼ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
Zest of 1 lemon
½ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste if you prefer
Ground pepper, to taste
6 ounces grated mozzarella
6 ounces grated sharp white cheddar
6 ounces grated fontina cheese
24 ounces marinara sauce
9–12 lasagna noodles
1 cup full-fat ricotta cheese
1 egg
¼ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
Zest of 1 lemon
½ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste if you prefer
Ground pepper, to taste
6 ounces grated mozzarella
6 ounces grated sharp white cheddar
6 ounces grated fontina cheese
24 ounces marinara sauce
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat a 2-quart baking dish with olive oil, then set aside to prepare lasagna.
Cook the lasagna noodles, according to the package directions, until al dente. Then rinse under cold water and lay the noodles flat while you prepare the filling.
In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, egg, Parmigiano Reggiano, lemon zest, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
In another bowl, combine the remaining three cheeses. Set aside.
Begin building the lasagna. Spread a light layer of the marinara sauce on the bottom of the baking dish. Lay 3–4 noodles lengthwise over the sauce.
Layer one-third of the remaining marinara sauce over the noodles. Then cover with half of the ricotta cheese and then spread one-third of the three-cheese mixture over the ricotta. Repeat the pattern of noodles, sauce, ricotta cheese, three-cheese mixture one more time.
Top with a final layer of noodles, then add remaining three-cheese mixture.
Bake lasagna for about 45 minutes or until the top cheese is melted and golden.
Remove from oven and allow to cool, between 10 to 15 minutes, before serving.
RUSTIC APPLE PIE
posted by Hope Early
Growing up, I knew fall was right around the corner when Mom took me and my sister, Claire, apple picking. We’d spend the afternoon filling bushels with all varieties of apples and tossing around ideas about what we’d bake. Of all the options we came up with, my favorite was and still is, apple pie. Any type of apple pie. Regular, deep dish, or single crust. As long as there’s crust involved, I’m good. I love this recipe because it’s fast and easy. One crust, a few apples* and cinnamon, and in no time, I’m scooping out vanilla ice cream and serving this dessert to my friends and family. It also makes a great late-night snack. No judging.
Ingredients
For the crust:
1½ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, cold and cut into ½-inch
pieces
¼ cup iced water
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, cold and cut into ½-inch
pieces
¼ cup iced water
For the filling:
1 ¾ lbs. baking apples*
⅓ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
teaspoon salt
⅓ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
teaspoon saltTo assemble and bake:
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons granulated or turbinado sugar
1 tablespoon apricot jam for optional glaze
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons granulated or turbinado sugar
1 tablespoon apricot jam for optional glaze
Directions:
To make the crust:
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine flour, salt, and sugar. Pulse to combine. Add the cold butter and process until the butter is the size of peas.
Sprinkle the ice water into the mixture and process until moistened and crumbly.
Transfer dough onto a floured surface and knead until the dough comes together in a ball.
Pat the dough into a disk.
Flour the surface again and lightly dust the dough with flour. With a rolling pin, roll dough out into a circle of 8 to 10 inches in diameter, turning and adding more flour as necessary so the dough doesn’t stick. Be careful not to use too much flour.
Transfer the dough to the parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
To make the filling:
Peel and core the apples and then cut them into -inch slices and place in a large bowl. Add in the sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, melted butter, and salt. Toss everything to combine.
-inch slices and place in a large bowl. Add in the sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, melted butter, and salt. Toss everything to combine.Clean up your work surface.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and slide the parchment paper onto the countertop. Keeping the dough on the parchment paper, roll the dough into a 14-inch circle and about -inch thick. The edges don’t have to be perfect. Return the parchment and dough back to the baking sheet; the dough will hang over the edges of the pan.
-inch thick. The edges don’t have to be perfect. Return the parchment and dough back to the baking sheet; the dough will hang over the edges of the pan.To assemble the pie:
Sprinkle the tablespoon of flour over the dough. Arrange the apple slices, keeping them 3 inches from the edge of the dough. Overlap the slices to form concentric circles. Fold the edges of the dough over the apples in a free-form fashion, creating pleats as you go. Patch any tears by pinching a bit of dough from the edge. This doesn’t have to look perfect. It’s a rustic pie.
With a pastry brush, brush the pleated dough with the beaten egg. Then sprinkle with sugar over the top of the crust and half the fruit. Chill the pie in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and set a rack in the center of the oven.
To bake the pie:
Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until the apples are tender and the crust is golden and cooked through. Transfer the pan to a rack and let cool.
Meanwhile, make the optional glaze. In a microwave-safe bowl, mix the apricot jam with 1½ teaspoons water. Heat in microwave until bubbling, about 20 seconds. With a pastry brush, brush the apples with the syrup.
Carefully transfer the pie to a serving platter or cutting board. Slice and serve warm or at room temperature. This pie is best served on the day it’s made, but no one has ever turned down a leftover slice.
ONE-BOWL BROWNIES
posted by Hope Early
One bowl, a few ingredients, and you’ll have delicious chocolate brownies in no time. These are great to whip up for my nephew’s softball games or my niece’s sleepovers or for me and my sister when we’re hanging out together. Yes, Claire will indulge in a brownie every now and again. I mean, how could she not? And you’ll be finding yourself whipping up these brownies every chance you get. They’re that good.
Ingredients
1 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup Dutch-processed or unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1¼ cup chopped chocolate, divided
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup Dutch-processed or unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1¼ cup chopped chocolate, divided
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish. Line with parchment paper with an overhang on the sides and spray again. This extra step will make it easy to lift out the brownies when they are baked.
In a large mixing bowl, combine melted butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract and stir until smooth.
Sift in flour and cocoa to the mixture. Add in the salt. Don’t overmix.
Fold in 1 cup of chopped chocolate.
Spread evenly into prepared dish and sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup chopped chocolate on top of brownies.
Bake for 25 to 50 minutes on the middle rack until brownies are set to touch. Don’t overbake. They will set up as they cool. Remove from oven and set on cooling rack. Cool before cutting into squares.
How many servings you get will be decided upon how big your squares are.
You can store any leftover brownies for up to 4 days, but there usually are never any leftovers.
SUNSHINE CORN MUFFINS
posted by Hope Early
It happened on a whim. I had some leftover lemon juice from a recipe and was mixing together my corn muffins for a Sunday brunch for Ethan, his daughters, and Drew. I had the batter all mixed and decided at the last minute to drop in the lemon juice. What could it hurt? Well, the muffins turned out wonderful. Moist, full corn flavor and a zip of citrus. They were definitely muffins that got your attention first thing in the morning, so I named them Sunshine Corn Muffins. Now, you can decide how much sunshine flavor you want. I like two tablespoons of lemon juice in my muffins, but Ethan prefers when I use only one tablespoon. It’s turned into something similar to our chocolate chip cookie debate. You can even add in fresh orange juice. It’s up to you. Bake what makes you happy.
Ingredients
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
⅓ cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
¼ cup canola oil
1 cup milk
1–2 tablespoons lemon (or orange) juice
1 cup all-purpose flour
⅓ cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
¼ cup canola oil
1 cup milk
1–2 tablespoons lemon (or orange) juice
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease or line muffin pan with paper liners.
In a large bowl, mix together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
To dry ingredients, add in egg, oil, milk, and lemon juice. Stir gently to combine.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.
Remove muffin pan from oven and set on cooling rack. These are best eaten fresh out of the oven with butter.
SUGAR COOKIES
posted by Hope Early
Sugar cookies at Christmas are magical. They’re light, delicate, sweet, and decorated. They are the cookies I always left for Santa, and I know he enjoyed mine the best because he always left a thank-you note telling me he did. But sugar cookies aren’t just for Christmas. I bake them for Easter, Fourth of July, and on any random day I’m craving a perfect sugar cookie. Let’s get into the recipe.
Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
In bowl of your stand mixer, add butter and beat on medium-high until butter is smooth and lighter in color, about 1–2 minutes.
Turn down mixer speed to low and slowly add in sugar and then the egg.
Add in vanilla and almond extracts and combine fully.
Add in the baking powder and then the flour, adding a ½ cup at a time, until fully incorporated. Be careful not to overmix.
Drop dough onto a clean and floured work surface. Roll out into a flat disc, about ¼-inch thick.
Cut cookies into desired shapes and bake for 6 to 8 minutes. If you’ve cut out larger shapes, you may need to add an extra minute or so to the baking time.
Let cool on the cookie sheet until firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack.
A quick tip: After experimentation (aka a lot of sugar cookie baking fails), I’ve found chilling my cookie cutouts before I bake them helps to keep them from spreading while baking. It’s an added step, but I think it’s so worth it. What I do is place my cookie sheets with the cookies on them in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes before baking. When I’m doing a big cookie baking session, I’m rotating cookie sheets from fridge to oven.
DOUBLE CHOCOLATE OATMEAL COOKIES
posted by Hope Early
There are times when I want all the cookies. I want the chocolate chip cookie, I want the oatmeal cookie, I want the chocolate walnut cookie. But eating three cookies—okay, I’d probably eat way more than just one of each—would be a little much and require me to up my daily running miles. So, what’s a cookie lover do to? Well, if she’s a food blogger, she figures out a way to have her cookies and eat them too. I give you my amazing Double Chocolate Oatmeal cookies. There’s a lot in this cookie, and be forewarned: I advise using a heavy-duty stand mixer because there’s a lot of dough. You’ll also get a lot of cookies, depending how big you make your cookie mounds when you’re shaping the dough. I typically freeze half the dough unless I’m baking these cookies for an event.
Ingredients
2 cups unsalted butter
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
24 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips, or chopped
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, or chopped
3 cups roughly chopped walnuts
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
24 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips, or chopped
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, or chopped
3 cups roughly chopped walnuts
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In stand mixer bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light in color and texture, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together, careful not to overbeat.
Add oats to mixture and combine.
Then add in chocolate chips and nuts to mixture.
Form dough into golf-ball-size mounds. Place two inches apart on silicone baking sheets. Bake for 6 to 9 minutes, until tops are just golden and cookies are still soft.
Cool on baking racks.