Category Archives: game day

Oven Fries (that are worth eating)

I want to make it clear that I love frying things. I love it. Doughnuts, chicken, onion rings, fries—I want them all deep-fried to golden perfection. Not baked. Not. Baked. Because let’s be real, baked versions of things that are supposed to be fried are rarely worth eating. Like, if I want a doughnut, I don’t want what amounts to a muffin baked in a ring mold. And if I want fried chicken, I don’t want it “oven-fried.” Just give me the real deal, or don’t give it to me at all.

All that said, I had a little change of heart a few weeks ago while making dinner. I had an unallocated potato that needed using, and decided to try to make oven fries with the main goal of them not just being fry-shaped roasted potatoes. I wanted crisp, golden, fluffy-centered fries, but without the pot of hot oil. It seemed like an impossible goal at the time.

I am here to tell you that I achieved this goal. I achieved it in style. And now I feel so silly for being so adamantly opposed to Oven Fries for upwards of a decade. I’m just opposed to lousy oven fries, ya know? But these are anything but lousy. They’re crispy, salty, and bear little resemblance to any roasted potatoes I’ve come across (though that is fundamentally what they are, of course).

The secret to great Oven Fries is treating them as much like regular fries as possible. This means using classic, starchy russet potatoes and starting with a soak in cold water. I add some salt and baking soda to the water to help pull all the starches in the sliced potatoes to their surfaces. This leads to crispy outsides and fluffy insides every time.

After soaking, make sure to pat your fries as dry as you can so they sear more than they steam. Toss them with about a tablespoon of oil per potato and a hefty pinch of salt, then spread them out on a couple of sheet pans and roast them high and fast, flipping when they’re golden on one side. Heads up that if you’re using dark (coated) pans, your fries will brown faster than they will on the aluminum pans I use.

When your Oven Fries are done, make sure to hit them with another big pinch of salt for a little extra punch (and crunch!). You can also dust them with a favorite spice blend or scatter some crispy garlic over the top—however you like your fries. I’m a no-frills fry kind of human, so all I need is a little side of ketchup.

Y’all, these are so good. Crispy, with soft centers and an irresistible golden brown color—not a masquerading plain roasted potato in the bunch. These are Oven Fries good enough to change even the staunchest fried food defender. Dare I say, they’re Oven Fries worth eating. Oven Fries…to love?

I’ll see myself out.

Oven Fries
makes 2 large or 3-4 small servings

2 large russet potatoes
cold water
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Kosher or sea salt, to taste
2-3 tablespoons neutral oil (I used canola)
ketchup (or other dipping sauce), for serving

Scrub potatoes, and peel if desired. Transfer them to a cutting board. Use a large, sharp chef’s knife to slice potatoes into pieces approximately 1 centimeter thick.

Place all potato pieces in a medium mixing bowl, and add enough cold water to cover. For extra deep golden fries, add baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the water. Let potato pieces soak for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the oven racks in central positions. Turn the oven to 450F.

Once 30 minutes have passed, drain water from potatoes. Dry potato pieces well with a clean kitchen towel.

Divide potatoes between two dry rimmed baking sheets. Drizzle each pan with 1-1 1/2 tablespoons oil. Season well with salt. Use your hands to toss all pieces to coat. Arrange potato pieces in a single layer with none touching each other.

Bake fries for 15 minutes. At this point, they should all be turning golden on the underside; if they’re not, let them bake another 5 minutes and check again. Use a spatula to flip them all over, then rearrange them into an even layer with none touching. Rotate the pans top-to-bottom and back-to-front. Bake 15-20 more minutes, or until golden to your liking.

Remove the fries from the oven and salt again, if desired.

Serve immediately with ketchup or other dipping sauce, if desired.

Soft Sour Cream Sugar Cookie Bars

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I’ve had these Soft Sour Cream Sugar Cookie Bars photos in my drafts for a long time—since September—waiting for the perfect time to post them. Fall was mostly spent getting back in the swing of things after my self-imposed break, and then there were the holidays, and then the post-holiday malaise. The Super Bowl or Valentine’s Day would have been a perfect time to post these, but I *just* posted those Vanilla Sour Cream Cupcakes and…

…well, there’s just never going to be a perfect time, is there? Or maybe anytime is a perfect time? I don’t know. This is confusing.

What I do know is that these Soft Sour Cream Sugar Cookie Bars are spectacular. They’re a riff on my Soft Sour Cream Sugar Cookies (which are a riff on Lofthouse Cookies), but they’re bars, ya know? The cookie layer is thick and a little cakey; perfect for pairing with a thick layer of Vanilla Sour Cream Frosting! I made mine pink because pink food just tastes better, as does anything with way too many sprinkles on top.

These are a great dessert for a multitude of occasions and non-occasions alike. Might I recommend this three day weekend in the middle of February? Seems like a perfect time to me.

Soft Sour Cream Sugar Cookie Bars
makes 1 9x13-inch pan (24 bars)

Dough:
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar, packed
1 large egg, room temperature
1/3 cup sour cream (not fridge-cold)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For Decorating:
Vanilla Sour Cream Frosting (recipe below)
sprinkles of choice

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x13-inch pan (or quarter sheet pan) with butter. Line with parchment, leaving some overhang on the long sides, and butter again. Set aside

Make the dough. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, confectioner’s sugars, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a medium-large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in sugar until creamy. Mix in egg, followed by sour cream and vanilla. Add dry ingredients in 2 installments, beating until combined. Dough will be sticky.

Drop large spoonfuls of dough into the prepared pan, make sure to use it all. Use an offset icing spatula or the back of a spoon to spread dough in an even layer to the edges of the pan.

Transfer the pan to the oven and bake 23-25 minutes, until the edges are turning golden and the center has puffed. Let bars cool completely in the pan on a rack. Meanwhile, make the Vanilla Sour Cream Frosting (recipe below).

Once the bars are cool, run a thin flexible knife along all the edges to release them from the pan. Use the parchment overhang to transfer them to a cutting board or other surface. Drop spoonfuls of the frosting over the top of the bars. Use an offset icing spatula or the back of a spoon to spread it evenly to the edges. Finish with your sprinkles of choice.

For the cleanest slices, refrigerate the assembled bars for at least 20 minutes before slicing into 24 pieces with a large, sharp chef’s knife.

After they’ve crusted, leftovers may be layered with wax or parchment paper and kept in an airtight container. They will keep at room temperature for a couple of days or in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Vanilla Sour Cream Frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 pound (3 3/4 cups) confectioner's sugar
pinch of Kosher or sea salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 tablespoons heavy cream
food coloring, if desired

In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat butter until light and fluffy. Add confectioner’s sugar and salt in two installments, combining completely after each addition. Beat in vanilla, sour cream & food coloring (if using) nuntil combined.

Use buttercream to frost Soft Sour Cream Sugar Cookie Bars.

Crispy, Crunchy Double Chocolate Cookies

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I’ve been a chewy cookie devotee for pretty much my whole life, but I might be coming around to the other side. I mean, I’m not going to swear off soft cookies forever or anything, but let’s just say I get where the crunchy cookie people are coming from.

Think about it. We don’t eschew crunchy vanilla wafers or snappy shortbread. Lord knows we love Oreos. But for some reason we all rush to vilify pretty much any other cookie with that texture. And why? What’s so wrong with a light, crispy cookie with a good crunch all the way through?

Nothing. That’s what. Especially when they’re double chocolate and can be yours in less than an hour’s time.

As with other crispy, crunchy cookies I’ve made, these Double Chocolate Cookies are top notch. They’re not a second best, or an “if you don’t have eggs and brown sugar” cookie. They’re their own thing—a double chocolate cookie for the crunchy cookie people. They’re light, crackly-topped, and chocolaty as all get out. If that isn’t enough, you likely have all the ingredients in your kitchen right now.

Who knows, with a little elbow grease and working oven, you could become a crunchy cookie person any day now. Welcome to the club.

Crispy, Crunchy Double Chocolate Cookies
makes about 2 dozen cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 tablespoons light corn syrup (or golden syrup or mild honey)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips + more for topping

Arrange oven racks in central positions. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Cut softened butter into 8 pieces and add them to the mixing bowl. Starting at low speed and increasing as ingredients become incorporated, use an electric mixer to mix the butter into the flour/sugar mixture until powdery and wet-sandy. You may need to stop a time or two to break up larger pieces of butter.

Add corn syrup and vanilla and mix to combine. Dough will look crumbly, but should hold together well when pinched.

Add the chocolate chips to the dough and mix/knead them in with a clean hand (or a silicone spatula or wooden spoon) until evenly distributed and the dough is a cohesive unit.

Scoop the dough by the tablespoon, roll into balls and place them 2-3 inches apart on prepared pans (I fit 12 on each half-sheet pan). Bake for 9 minutes, then rotate the pans top-to-bottom and front-to-back. Bake another 8-9 minutes, until a bit puffy and cracked on top.

Let cookies cool for 7 minutes on the pans. Remove to a rack to cool completely. Serve.

Leftover cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.

Funfetti Bundt Cake

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Funfetti Bundt Cake Funfetti, confetti, whatever you want to call it, white cake dotted with rainbow sprinkles is one of my favorite things on earth. Like, I logically know that sprinkles don’t qualify as a flavor, but that won’t keep me from saying that sprinkles are my favorite flavor. Seriously, add sprinkles to pretty much anything and I’ll love it. Those little pops of color are just so…happy. Is happiness a flavor?I haven’t made many layer cakes in the last year—it’s hard to believe I used to make 10-20 a month!—but that doesn’t mean I haven’t fed my craving for rainbow sprinkles. Last summer’s Funfetti Cookie Cupcakes are one of my favorite recipes in a long time, as is this Funfetti Bundt Cake.Like the traditional layer cake, this is a moist sour cream white cake positively loaded with rainbow sprinkles. Unlike the traditional cake, this batter takes exactly four minutes to mix; just dump everything in a bowl and let your electric mixer have at it until it’s impossibly smooth, thick and voluminous, then stir in 3/4 cup of rainbow sprinkles before baking.

Like most bundt cakes, this one takes its sweet time to bake and cool, but I promise your patience will be rewarded. Once your cake hits room temperature, pour on a glaze, scatter on some more sprinkles and slice it up! Funfetti Bundt Cake would be great for birthdays, picnics, holidays or any old time.I know that restrictions are starting to loosen as vaccines becomes more available, but if you’re not attending gatherings that require a cake of this size, don’t worry, I’m not either. What that means is that I happen to know that this recipe halves well and can be baked in a loaf pan for your immediate pod or just yourself. I don’t know about you, but dipping into my own personal Funfetti cake over the course of a week sounds a lot like happiness to me. Funfetti Bundt Cake

Funfetti Bundt Cake
makes one 10-cup capacity bundt*

Cake:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 16 pieces
4 large egg whites, room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract or imitation butter extract (optional)
3/4 cup full-fat sour cream, room temperature
1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
3/4 cup rainbow sprinkles (jimmies, not nonpareils)

Icing & Garnish:
1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
pinch of Kosher or sea salt
rainbow sprinkles (jimmies or nonpareils)

Place an oven rack in the center position. Preheat oven to 325F. Heavily grease a bundt pan with softened butter (or shortening) and dust well with flour. Set aside.

Make the cake. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, butter, egg whites, vanilla, almond extract, sour cream and milk in a large mixing bowl. Use an electric mixer to mix on low for 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium and mix for 3 minutes. Batter will be thick. Use a silicone spatula or wooden spoon to fold rainbow sprinkles into batter.

Transfer batter to prepared pan and smooth the top with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon. Tap full pan on the counter five times to release any large air bubbles. Bake 65-75 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in several places comes out clean.

Let cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Run a thin, flexible knife around all exposed edges. Invert cake onto a cooling rack and let cake cool completely. Cake may be made up to a day in advance; it will keep double-wrapped in plastic wrap.

Make the icing. In a small bowl, use a fork to whisk together confectioners sugar, milk, vanilla and salt. Mixture should be very thick, but pourable. If it’s too thick, add more milk by the teaspoon up to 3 teaspoons (1 tablespoon); if it’s too thin, add more confectioners sugar in 2 tablespoon increments. Pour over cake. Scatter rainbow sprinkles on immediately. Let sit for 20 minutes to set. Move cake to a serving plate before slicing and serving.

Leftover cake will keep covered at room temperature for up to two days or in the refrigerator for up to five.

Note:

This recipe may be halved and baked in a parchment-lined 9×5-inch loaf pan. Start checking the cake for doneness at the 55 minute mark.

Funfetti Bundt Cake