strawberry swirl merengue cookies

we'll get to the cookies soon, but first i want to share a bit about my morning. see, these cookies are incredible - airy and light with the perfect balance of fruity sweetness. my morning, which is thankfully over now, was far from perfect, and definitely not airy or light (at least not until post-yoga). 

i spent my early hours with a big cup of coffee, excitedly writing about all sorts of wonderful things: the perfect solution for egg whites left behind by batch after batch of homemade ice cream. joyously arriving at a party with a big bowlful of these cookies to hands reaching in for a taste and lots of smiling faces. you know, the great daily moments of life. 

i finished putting my thoughts into words and phrases that would actually make sense to you wonderful people. and right at that moment, in a flurry of awful, the saving of the post failed and i clicked in the wrong place, and boom. gone. all those beautiful words, the only reason i got out of bed extra early. gone. 

so of course, i got angry (like one does). but instead of sulking my morning away as i really wanted to do in the moment, i pulled myself up and out the door. i went to shanti school of yoga - my yoga studio, my sacred space. this beautiful wood ceiling cathedraling up to one big skylight could bring joy to anyone’s soul. and it sure did better my bad morning moment. 

everyone's first thought at abandoning work for a mid-morning yoga class is surely one of terror. but hear me out. 

do i now have 2 hours less time to complete my afternoon’s to do list and need to add in re-doing the morning’s task? yes. did the idea of that reality make me really not want to go to yoga in the moment? yes.

but, here is the thing. taking some time to calm my mind, breathe, and reconnect with myself allowed me to totally let go of the disappointment of lost work. now, i’m here again - writing a piece inspired by the whole experience instead of angrily trying to re-create the past. 

so here is to letting go when things don't go your way, taking time to clear your head, and to these cookies. for no reason other than simple enjoyment of life! 

note: strawberry powder is made by simply pulsing freeze dried strawberries in a blender or a clean coffee/spice grinder. you could also switch in any other freeze dried fruit for other flavors! yum! 

ingredients: 

3 large egg whites 

3/4 cup sugar 

1/4 tsp corn starch 

3 Tbsp strawberry powder (see note) 

instructions: 

using a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment or a handheld mixer, whip egg whites, sugar, and corn starch until stiff peaks form. 

whip in strawberry powder (and a little vanilla if you like!) until evenly distributed. 

fit a pastry bag (or just a plastic bag with the corner cut off) with a medium star frosting tip. if you don't have a tip, you can just scoop small piles of the batter onto your baking sheet, or use a plastic bag with the corner cut off to form small mounds. 

fill the pastry bag with batter, and form small swirls on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone baking mat. they can be very close together as they won't swell, just make sure they aren't touching! 

bake at 200 degrees for about 2 hours, then let cool with oven door cracked. cookies should be dry to the touch before turning off the oven, and one big crunch once cooled (tasting is the best way to test them!). if for some reason your cookies still have some gooeyness to them once cooled, just turn the oven back on for another half an hour or so, then let them cool again. 

store these in an air-tight container to make sure the outsides don't get sticky! 

rosemary & brown sugar ice cream

while it's surely not summer in northern michigan just yet (simply dip your toes in lake michigan and you'll agree), the occasional glistening 75 and sunny spring day has me in full-on ice cream heaven mode. i don't think a week went by this winter without at least some sort of homemade frozen treat available in the freezer (ice creams, sorbets, and sherbets), but now that some warmth has arrived... well there's often at least two or three options to choose from. and i have a hankering feeling that things are only going to get better from here. 

i'm an ice cream addict and i'm not afraid to admit it. so, here's to a summer of ice cream! 

i made this simple, yet sultry, rosemary ice cream using just six simple ingredients, including whole creamline milk and heavy cream from shetler family dairy. if you learn just one thing from this post, let it be the value in finding a good local dairy from whom you can purchase quality grass-fed milk, cream and butter. your treats, meals, and body will thank you. take a look here to learn more about the benefits of grass-fed dairy! 

if you saw my brownie ice cream sandwiches, you’ll recognize this brown sugar ice cream base. it’s the perfect ice cream in my mind, so you’ll likely be seeing a LOT of variations on this one. i love the rich caramel flavor that comes to life by making a simple switch to brown sugar in a classic vanilla custard base. 

the rosemary and brown sugar flavor balance is inspired by this stunning rosemary cake, with brown butter frosting.  i made this cake for multiple special holiday occasions last year, and it's been in my heart ever since - pulling fresh savory herbs into my sweets left and right. 

ingredients: 

2 cups heavy cream 

2 cups whole milk 

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

3 egg yolks 

1 Tbsp vanilla 

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh rosemary 

instructions: 

combine the milk, cream, and sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and warm over medium heat, stirring occasionally. heat to just about a simmer, ensuring the sugar is dissolved. 

while the milk is heating, place egg yolks in a medium bowl (i like to use a big measuring bowl like this one). once the milk is heated through, turn off the heat and pour about 1/2 cup into the yolks, whisking to combine. then add about half of the remaining milk, whisking to combine once more. finally, pour the milk and yolk mixture back into the pot, whisking to combine it with the rest of the milk. 

return the pot to medium-low heat, stirring the mixture constantly until you have a custard. knowing when it's ready is probably the trickiest part of making custard, but you'll get the hang of it! the mixture will start to thicken and coat the back of a wooden spoon when it's ready. this generally takes 5-10 minutes on my stove. if your a thermometer type, you want to bring the custard to 170 degrees. the most important thing is to stir it constantly and not overcook it. 

when the custard is ready, pour it back into the bowl and stir in the vanilla and salt. plenty of people will recommend you put that bowl directly into an ice bath... but i'll admit that i'm lazy in that department. i just stir it for a minute or two while it starts to cool, cover the bowl, and pop it in the fridge. 

let the custard cool for about 4 hours, then churn according to your ice cream maker's directions. as the mixture thickens, sprinkle in the rosemary. when it's fully churned, scoop into a container, cover, and place in the freezer for at least an hour or two before serving. 

simple homemade seedy crackers

as i've mentioned, d and i are on a mission to eat through our pantry full of dried goods (and our freezer too!). in the effort to make it happen, we've given up the purchase of most groceries other than fresh produce and dairy. one of the things we noticed pretty quickly was a HUGE lack of quick snacks. 

crackers fell highest on that list of snacks we were experiencing withdrawals from - because, well, who doesn't love grabbing a handful of crackers when hunger strikes? enter this lifesaving cracker recipe. a batch that will last us at least a week or two can be whipped up in about an hour, including baking time and clean up. so the minute i notice we're starting to get low, it's easy to find the time to make another batch. and of course, i'm always making little tweaks. 

best of all, this recipe is super forgiving in the use of whatever flours we have on hand. for the crazy wheat lovers out there - try making these with 2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 cup buckwheat for a dense and flavorful cracker! i topped those with poppy seeds for something new - holy yum!  

i've been making these with amazing whole wheat flour from ernst farm, which we picked up at argus farm stop in ann arbor. if you've never been, i highly recommend stopping by if you're ever in ann arbor! they have an incredible selection of local produce and other products, and a business plan every producer can get behind. with farmers setting their own prices and making an 80% profit, i've heard so many farmer friends say it's their favorite place to sell. 

ann arbor visitor or not, i encourage you to look around for locally grown flours in your region. grains are a huge place where we can work towards building a more local food system. fresher flour grown on a smaller scale is likely to spoil you as the flavors are leagues beyond the commodity grains you purchase from most stores. you may find that local wheat is difficult to find, depending where you live. asking for it from farmers and other folks involved in the local food system will help drive the demand and make it more available for everyone! 

for those traverse city folks following along, grand traverse culinary oils is now also selling locally grown and milled whole wheat flours. 

i've tried a few different cracker recipes over the past few months but this recipe is the simplest of them all, and produces great results every time! if you love whole wheat, you can use it for all of the flour, but you'll end up with a denser cracker than if a little white flour is added to the mix. 

adapted from the kitchn's basic cracker recipe  

ingredients: 

2 cups local whole wheat flour 

1 cup all purpose flour 

2 tsp cane sugar 

2 tsp salt 

1/4 cup olive oil 

1 cup water 

few pinches rubbed dry sage 

fennel seeds 

flax seeds 

sesame seeds 

instructions: 

in a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, and sage) 

add the oil and water to the flour mixture, and stir with a wooden spoon until a soft, slightly sticky dough. you may need to add a little more flour depending how your wheat flour absorbs water (the joy of working with fresh, local whole grains!). divide the dough in thirds. 

flour a silicone baking mat or parchment paper (cut to the size of your baking sheet), and roll one third of the dough out to the edges of the paper, it should be about 1/8 inch thick. brush the top lightly with water, and sprinkle the seeds on top to your liking. cut the dough into squares the size you want your crackers to be (i use a pizza cutter for this, but you could use a knife as well!). do the same with your other two thirds of the dough. 

bake for 12-15 minutes at 400 degrees. they'll brown quickly, so keep an eye on them! if your crackers are slightly different thicknesses, some may brown faster than others. you can always pull those from the pan and let the rest cook a bit longer. 

cool crackers on a cooling rack until completely cool, then enjoy! 

store crackers in an airtight container.