Here’s the recipe, at Suyin’s request. This is the magical mashed potato that tastes like sour cream and onion chips. It doesn’t contain onions, but does call for sour cream, buttermilk, and scallions.

Buttermilk Ranch Mashed Potatoes
Serves 12

5 lb Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
Table salt
14 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 2/3 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
3 cloves garlic, minced fine
7 scallions, white and green parts sliced very thin
5 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
1 cup sour cream
Ground black pepper

Place potatoes in large saucepan; add cold water to cover by 1 inch and 5 tablespoons of salt. Bring to boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium and simmer until potatoes break apart when paring knife is inserted, about 18 minutes. Drain potatoes and return to saucepan set on still-hot burner.

Using potato ricer, rice potatoes into a large bowl. Gently mix melted butter and buttermilk in small bowl until combined. Add garlic, scallions, parsley, sour cream, salt and pepper to buttermilk mixture. Using rubber spatula, fold buttermilk mixture gently into mashed potatoes until just incorporated. Serve immediately or keep warm in a slow cooker for up to two hours.

Since this worked so well last time for the afternoon tea party, I figured I’d do it again. As some of you know, I’ll be taking part in a cookie swap next weekend, and I was looking through my recipes for interesting cookie recipes. Not the usual chocolate chip or oatmeal cookies, and not the only-for-the-sake-of-decorating sugar cookies. Something with a bit more flavor complexity.

Thus, I seek your input! See below some of the options I’m considering. I’ve linked to pictures/recipes where I can, and provided a brief description where no pictures are available.

Take the poll!

I’ve been trying to eat more healthy and live more healthy recently, and gradually have started to develop recipes that are both yummy and healthy. Keep in mind that I definitely fall into the lives-to-eat category, rather than eats-to-live.

So in pursuit of my quest, here’s what I made for dinner: Spaghetti with broccoli, mushrooms, and spinach. This is the first time I’ve used whole wheat pasta, and I have to say that I taste no flavor difference between normal pasta and whole wheat pasta. A good-sized portion of pasta, including parmesan on top, is only 6 WW points. Leaves you with room for dessert or garlic bread!

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I may have found a new favorite cookie. The Korova cookies recipe comes from Paris Sweets by Dorie Greenspan, and it is a truly stunning chocolate chocolate chip cookie with fleur de sel (fancy French sea salt).

When still warm from the oven, the Korova had a density I would expect more readily from a brownie than from a cookie. Once cooled to room temperature, the Korova’s true identity as a sable cookie became obvious. It had a delicately sandy texture on the outside, with a denser, richer consistency on the inside.

In both states, the Korova cookie boasts a rich, intense chocolate flavor, with unexpected bursts of salt from the fleur de sel. The large grains of fleur de sel really are essential here, as they provide bubbles of salt flavor to cut through the dense chocolate cookie, instead of just making the entire cookie salty. I used my favorite sea salt, Maldon’s, which is British, not French. (Read a review which extols Maldon’s virtues, such as its square flakes, and how it stands up to other available fancy salts.)

It’s a great way to enjoy a rich chocolate cookie without being overwhelmed by the thickness of the chocolate flavor. It seems like a recipe that would showcase superior chocolate, and I’m really looking forward to making it again once I get some quality Callebaut bittersweet and Dutched cocoa powder.

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I wish I had been more faithful about taking photos of the post-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner, but I was remiss. However, here are the two recipes that were requested, cranberry sauce and stuffed mushrooms.

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