The Executive Cook

Weeknight Cook ~ Weekend Entertainer

tonmarmor

White Chocolate Pumpkin Brownies

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Ingredients
6 oz. White Chocolate
2 Tbsp. melted Butter
2 cups Sugar
4 Eggs
1 cup Flour
Pumpkin Swirl:
½ cup Pumpkin
¼ cup Sugar
¼ cup Flour
½ tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice

❃❃Makes 24❃❃

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350, spray a 9X13 baking dish with non-stick spray, line with parchment paper long enough to hang over sides (on the long sides) and then spray the parchment with non-stick cooking spray.
Melt the chocolate and let cool slightly.  Melt the butter in a separate dish and let cool slightly.

Brownie Mixture
In a bowl, by hand, mix together sugar, eggs, melted butter, melted chocolate and flour.  Distribute evenly in the baking dish.

Pumpkin Swirl
In a separate bowl, by hand, mix together pumpkin, sugar, flour and pumpkin pie spice.

Pumpkin Swirl
Place doll-ups of the pumpkin mixture evenly over the brownie mixture.  Then with a butter knife swirl the pumpkin mixture into the brownie mixture.

Baking & Serving
Place in oven for 45 – 50 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool.  Run a knife around the brownies where there is no parchment paper between the brownies and the pan to loosen.  Lift brownies out of pan by lifting the entire mixture with the overhanging parchment paper.  Cut the brownies into desired size or into 24 squares.

PB & Berry J Crisp

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Ingredients
24 oz. Blackberries
2 ½ Tbsp. Sugar
2 Tbsp. Corn Starch
1 cup Flour
1 cup Oats
1 cup Brown Sugar
¼ cup cold Butter + 2 Tbsp. soft Butter
½ cup Peanut Butter

❃❃Serves 8❃❃

Preparation
Preheat oven to 375 and thoroughly cover cast iron skillet with 2 Tbsp. soft butter.

Making Filling
Add blackberries and sugar to the cast iron skillet.  Mix well and let blackberries macerate for about 30 minutes.  Add cornstarch and mix well.

Making Crisp Topping
Add flour, oats, brown sugar and cold cubed butter to a bowl.  Combine with a pastry cutter until the size of peas.  Add in peanut butter and mix in with your hands until combined.  Top the blackberry mixture.

Cook for 30-45 minutes or until topping starts to brown and filling is bubbling.

Beef and Root Vegetable Stew

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Ingredients
3 1/2 lbs. Chuck Roast or Stew Meat
2 Tbsp.Olive Oil
2 tsp. Salt
1 1/2 tsp Pepper
1 Rutabaga – Medium size  or ½ Large
1 Turnip – Medium size or 2 Small
2 Parsnips
1/2 small head Green Cabbage (about 1 1/3 lbs.)
4 Stalks celery
1 Large Yellow or White Onion
4 Carrots
10 small Red Potatoes
7 cups Beef Stock
2 cup water
2 tsp. dried Thyme
2 Bay Leaves
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Milk
1/2 tsp. Salt
2 tsp. chopped Parsley
1 1/2 cups Flour
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

❃❃Serves 8 – 12❃❃

Preparation
Prepare meat by trimming fat, drying and cutting into bite size pieces.  Salt with 1 tsp. of the salt and 1 tsp. of the pepper on both sides of meat.
Chop rutabaga, turnip, 2 carrots and parsnips into large pieces. Pulse in food processor until rough chopped. Remove to bowl and then chop cabbage, onion and celery into large pieces and add to food.

Browning Beef
Add 2 Tbsp. oil to a Dutch oven over high heat.  Add meat in a single layer, don’t over crowd and brown each side.  Remove to a plate and repeat with following batches until finished.

Vegetables
After meat is removed lower heat to medium high, add in chopped vegetables with 1 tsp. salt, ½ tsp pepper, thyme and bay leaves.  Cook until vegetables start to soften or about 10 minutes.

Assembly & Cooking
Add beef back to Dutch oven.  Add beef stock and water and scrap bottom to release any bits on the bottom of the pan.
Put pot into oven on 300 for 4 hours or until meat is fall apart tender.  Add carrots and potatoes into pot with 2 hours left to cook in the oven.

During and After Cooking
While stew is cooking make the dumplings by combining 2 eggs, ½ cup milk, ½ tsp. salt, 2 tsp. chopped parsley, 1 tsp. baking powder and flour.

Adding the Dumplings
Move stew to stovetop over medium heat to simmer and remove bay leaves.  With two spoons scoop out dumplings and drop into stew.  Cook, covered until dumplings are firm.

Pumpkin Biscotti

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Ingredients
2 ¾ cus Flour
2 tsp. Baking Powder
¼ tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice
6 Tbsp Butter
1 cup Sugar
3 Eggs
½ cup Pumpkin
1 cup Turbinado Sugar
3 tsp. Cinnamon
12 oz. White Chocolate

❃❃Makes 24❃❃

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
Mix turbinado sugar and cinnamon together.  Set aside

Mixing
Add flour, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice to a bowl and sift or whisk together to combine.  In the bowl of a mixer mix butter and sugar until combined.  Add eggs one at a time until incorporated and then add pumpkin.  Combine dry ingredients in until just combined.

Baking
Form dough into two, flat, ovals on the pan covered with parchment paper.  The dough will be slightly sticky, so you may need to use some flour on your hands to form long ovals.  Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool for 10 – 20 minutes.  Cut into ½ inch slices with a serrated knife and put back onto sheet pan with cut side down.  Bake another 30 minutes flipping the cookies half way through.

Assembling
After cookies have cooled melt 12 oz. white chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave.  If melting in the microwave put in for 20 seconds at a time stirring in between.  Melt until almost all the chocolate is melted and stir the last chunks until melted.  Dip each biscotti into chocolate ½ way up the biscotti.  Sprinkle turbinado sugar and cinnamon mixture over chocolate.  Set aside on a cooling rack until chocolate has completely set.

Caramel Pumpkin Truffles

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Ingredients
13.4 oz. Dulce de Leche
Pumpkin Coating: (will cover 8-10)
1/4 cup White Chocolate
1 Tbsp. Pumpkin
1/8 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice
Final Coating: (will coat 8-10)
1/3 cup White Chocolate
Pumpkin Pie Spice

❃❃Makes 8 – 50❃❃

Preparation
Prepare at least 3 sheet trays, trays or plates covered in parchment paper.

Caramel Layer
Spoon out heaping 1 tsp. size balls of Dulce de Leche and place on the sheet tray.  Place in freezer for at least ½ hour.  This size will render about 50 balls.

Pumpkin Layer
Melt the white chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave stirring every 20 seconds.  Once melted cool for a couple of minutes and add pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice.
Remove caramels from freezer, coat in the pumpkin and chocolate mixture by rolling around and topping with mixture.  Lift out with a fork return to tray.  Don’t worry about this layer being perfect as these will have to freeze before you can roll into balls.  Work in small batches coating 8 – 10 at a time.
Freeze the balls coated in the pumpkin and chocolate layer for at least another ½ hour.
Note:  You can work on smaller batches and keep rotating but only have 10 per tray if doing 50 truffles.

Chocolate Layer
Melt the white chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave stirring every 20 seconds.  Let cool for a couple minutes.
Remove truffles from freezer and roll each into a ball.  These will never fully be hardened, which is what you want for a gooey center.
Drop one at-a-time into the white chocolate coating completely.  Remove with a fork lightly tapping some of the chocolate off.  Gently slide truffle from the fork with a toothpick to the sheet pan.  While chocolate is still wet sprinkle each with a small amount of pumpkin pie spice.
Return to the refrigerator and cool until chocolate is set.

Note:  These are not difficult to make but do require some time as they are sticky and need to freeze in between steps.

About the Executive Cook

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So why The Executive Cook?

The title really is a simple explanation as I am an executive in corporate America working a lot of hours like everyone and I love to cook and entertain but I am not a trained chef.  I create my own recipes that I am sharing, and I get inspiration from everywhere.

We try to eat at home during the week from Sunday – Thursday and for the most part I try to keep the week meals more on the healthy, quick or make ahead and simply assemble mode. These recipes allow me to cook on a regular basis during the week through easy application or pre-preparation on the weekend and on the weekends to take more time to make creations for a dinner party or entertaining.

The recipes currently posted are geared more towards spring or summer and, as we have entered fall, I will continue to post new recipes and creations that are fall and winter related.

When not eating and cooking at home we try a new restaurant or return to a favorite once a week.  Eating out has afforded us to try many new flavors, combinations and cuisine.  We love everything from good food trucks to Michelin Star restaurants.  In the Restaurant section I have listed some favorites in our own backyard, in the cities we have lived in and cities we have travelled to both here in the US and abroad.  This is not a complete list of every restaurant out there or every restaurant we have been to but a list of the favorites and must tries. 

We also have a wine problem in that we belong to a few wineries in Napa, go to tastings, buy wine all over and we bring it back from places we have traveled to such as Italy.  Wine is a personal thing so my favorites maybe way off base for each individual person’s preferences, but I will give a brief description of what I like about the wines chosen.