My Forever Female Moment

February 14th, 2024

Ginger Rogers and Paul Douglas

I recently found myself feeling like Ginger Rogers for the first (and probably last) time.

My friend Peter shot a video of me making focaccia recently. I hadn’t cooked on camera in several months. I was planning to make a heart-shaped loaf of this simple bread for Valentine’s Day, and I thought we might as well put it on video. We sent it to my friends at Mass Appeal, who aired it the very next day. I guess they had missed me!

When I watched the video, I had my Ginger Rogers moment.

It has been years since I saw the 1953 film Forever Female, but I remember its ending well.

The film is a gentler version of Sunset Boulevard. (No dead bodies!) Rogers plays Beatrice Page, a stage actress who falls in love with a script from a novice playwright (Holden) about a 19-year-old girl and her strong willed mother. Beatrice doesn’t want to play the mother. She has always played ingenues.

The playwright is smitten, and she persuades him to try rewriting the play to make the young woman just a bit older—say, 29. (I can relate. I was 29 for many, many years before jumping to my current official age of 39.)

A true ingenue played by Patricia Crowley wants both the part and the playwright. Holden’s character, Stanley, resists Crowley’s youth until he goes to visit Beatrice at her country home during her summer break from Broadway.

On vacation she lets herself be her age. She doesn’t get her hair styled, she gains a bit of weight, she eschews makeup, and she wears comfortable rather than glamorous clothes. Stanley is appalled to see his beloved looking so … old. (Rogers was in her early 40s when the film was made.)

All’s well that ends well, of course. Crowley is cast in the ingenue role, but thanks to Beatrice’s wise producer (also her ex-husband, played by the ever watchable character actor Paul Douglas) Beatrice shines in the role of the mother and gets rave reviews.

She soon realizes that growing older is not so bad—and that her middle-aged ex is a much more comfortable romantic partner than the younger Stanley.

The film has its flaws. The main one to me is that, true to Hollywood custom at the time, Holden is considered too young for Rogers (he was seven years her junior) but a perfectly appropriate match for Crowley, who was 15 years HIS junior.

Still, the film is kinder to the aging process than Sunset Boulevard. In the end, Beatrice is a heroine to be emulated.

Unfortunately, I felt that I emulated her a bit too much in my focaccia video. Over the past few months, as I tend to do as the weather cools, I have put on weight and let my hair go. So I was a bit appalled when I saw the video. I usually look pretty good on video, particularly when the camera remains above my waist, as I make sure it always does.

I am trying to reconcile myself to the winter me, reminding myself that if Ginger Rogers could let herself grow old, so can I. Nevertheless, the video has made me watch my food intake much more carefully. And I called my hairdresser to arrange to have my hair done soon.

Fortunately, the focaccia was delicious. I recommend this bread highly. Focaccia’s biggest selling point for a busy baker like me is that it is a no-knead bread. It does most of the work all by itself. After one proofs the yeast (which doesn’t take more than five minutes), one throws the dough together and then lets it rise for a couple of hours on its own, partly covered. The dough is a little messy looking at first, but it works out in the end.

After those two hours, one can either bake the bread right away or cover it completely and refrigerate it for several hours or overnight. I prefer the latter method; if you want to bake the bread right away, you’ll need to flour your hands well to keep the dough from being too sticky.

Focaccia’s other major virtue is its mixed consistency. The relatively large amount of water in the recipe helps the bread develop lots of holes, resulting in a chewy, airy loaf. The olive oil used to grease the pan and drizzle on top of the bread helps the top and bottom crisp up, contrasting nicely with the interior.

I bake my focaccia in a cast-iron skillet. If you don’t have a cast-iron skillet, I heartily recommend that you go out and purchase one, The Lodge manufacturing company even pre-seasons its cast-iron products to make them easier to use.

If you don’t have the time or financial resources to get a cast-iron pan, you may of course use a well oiled cake pan or rimmed cookie sheet. Don’t forget to oil the sides as well as the bottom. Your focaccia may lose a little of its crispiness, but any homemade bread is better than none!

Like pizza crust, its thinner cousin, focaccia can be covered with a variety of toppings. My most recent loaf used only two (plus olive oil), aromatic rosemary and colorful Cheddar cheese. It was delicious.

Feel free to experiment with different herbs and cheeses, as well as vegetables and olives. My friend Vicky, who is more artistic than I, likes to use veggies to draw a colorful picture on her loaves. Extra salt crystals on top add zing.

This recipe makes a small loaf (heart shaped for Valentine’s Day, although that’s not obligatory), perfect for four people. The recipe may certainly be doubled. Just be sure to use a big enough pan to accommodate your dough.

Valentine Focaccia

Ingredients:
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon lukewarm water
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon active dry yeast (about 1/2 packet of yeast)
2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
extra-virgin olive oil as needed
fresh or dried rosemary to taste (fresh is better)
1/2 to 3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (or the cheese of your choice)

Instructions:

Combine the water and the sugar. Pour the yeast into that mixture. Allow the liquid to sit for 5 to 10 minutes, until the yeast proofs (starts to look fuzzy). This means it is ready to go to work making bread.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour and the salt. Pour in the yeast mixture, along with 1 tablespoon oil. Stir the mixture together.

Partly cover the mixture. Let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours. At the end of the 2 hours, place the dough in a covered container with a tight lid. Refrigerate it for several hours, even overnight. This makes the dough less sticky and easier to handle.

About 1/2 hour before you want to bake your bread, take the dough out of the refrigerator. Generously oil the bottom and sides of a good-size (at least 12 inches wide) cast-iron skillet. If you don’t have a cast-iron skillet, use a round cake pan or rimmed baking sheet, again well oiled.

Place the focaccia in the skillet, shaping it according to your preference. (I used a heart for Valentine’s Day.) It can be relatively thick (say, 2 inches) or thin (around 1 inch), as you desire. Turn it quickly so that the side that was originally down is up and oiled. (You may add a little more oil to the top if you like.)

Decorate the top with rosemary and cheese, pressing them into the dough with your fingers to make sure they won’t fall off the bread. Making little holes in the top with your fingers as you do this also helps the focaccia aerate while baking.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. When it is hot, bake the bread until it begins to brown and is firm to the touch, about 25 minutes. Remove it carefully from the oven (your skillet will be HOT), let it cool briefly, and then enjoy your bread.

Store uneaten focaccia at room temperature. Serves 4.

Here’s the video. Happy Valentine’s Day……….

New Year, New Flavor: Tamarind

January 10th, 2024

Courtesy of McCormick

I’m always lurking on the internet to spot food trends. It was thus impossible for me to resist what McCormick, the purveyor of spices and much more, calls the 2024 flavor of the year.

I had been intrigued by the 2023 flavor of the year, a blend of Vietnamese and Cajun seasonings. Unfortunately, that spice was sold out by the time I found out about it. I decided to investigate the 2024 flavor early.

The 2024 flavor is tamarind. I consumed quite a few tamarind-related chutneys and other dishes when I lived in India as a teenager. I didn’t realize at the time what a global food tamarind is.

Tamarind fruit grows on a lush tropical tree (also called tamarind) that originated in Africa but spread to grow in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Tamarind is extremely health to eat, with lots of vitamins and antioxidants.

According to Buddhist lore, tamarind seeds are supposed to embody faithfulness and forbearance. Those certainly seem like good qualities with which to launch a new year.

Tamarind has a unique sweet-and-sour flavor. You may not think you have eaten it, but you probably have. It is a common ingredient both in Worcestershire sauce and in Pad Thai, the popular noodle dish.

Tamarind’s combination of sweetness and savory gives it versatility. In Mexico it is often incorporated into candies and beverages. In Asia it is generally used more for tart dishes and is frequently employed to make marinades for meat and fish, as well as in the chutneys I recall from my youth.

It can be obtained in a variety of forms. In India, my family purchased tamarind paste, in which the fruit flavor is highly concentrated. The paste is available in specialty-food shops and online. One can also purchase the fruit whole (mostly dried, I gather) or dried and powdered.

Courtesy of the New York Public Library

Since McCormick is primarily a dried-spice company, it prefers its tamarind dried. Its signature tamarind product is a tamarind and pasilla chile blend. Pasilla chiles are the dried form of the chilica pepper. They are popular in Mexican cuisine for adding just a little heat (they are only mildly spicy) but a lot of smoky flavor.

The company sent me some of the new spice blend to play with. The first thing I did was open the jar to smell and taste a few of the mixed granules inside. The first flavor that hid my taste buds was a slightly sweet heat. Its aftertaste came across as citrus-y.

I tried the blend that evening with a catfish filet. I sprinkled the fish with the seasoning and pan fried it in a little olive oil and butter. The heat, the sweet, and the citrus notes worked well with the fish.

My next venture with the tamarind and pasilla chile blend was to try a recipe provided by McCormick for a feta-based dip. It took a little doing. The recipe was more complicated than my usual dips because it included not just a semi-liquid mixture, but two toppings for that mixture.

One was a honey glaze that added just a hint more sweetness to the tamarind and chile flavor profile. The other was a mixture of fresh herbs and nuts.

I altered the recipe when I made it, and I enjoyed it with my changes.

I didn’t have any sesame seeds. Instead of mixing those in with the nuts and herbs, then, I blended a little sesame oil in with the dairy products. (I used 1 teaspoon sesame oil and 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil instead of the 1 tablespoon olive oil in the recipe.)

In addition, I was serving the dish to a neighbor with a nut allergy so I had to find a substitute for the nuts.

I didn’t want to bypass them entirely; their purpose is to add a little crunch to the dip. Instead, I used pepitas (squash seeds) to take care of that extra bit of texture. The pepitas had the added advantage of being popular in Mexican cuisine so I felt they worked with the flavor profile of the dip.

The dip was a big hit. The feta flavor was strong, adding a little extra salt and tang to the tamarind. I’d make it again in a heartbeat. Here is the recipe, along with my wishes for a happy and healthy new year.

McCormick Tangy Feta Dip

Ingredients:

1 cup feta cheese, coarsely crumbled
1/3 cup full-fat ricotta cheese
1/3 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons tamarind and pasilla chile seasoning, plus another teaspoon later
1 tablespoon assorted chopped nuts (pistachios, almonds, walnuts, whatever)
2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon white sesame seeds
2 tablespoons local honey

Instructions:

In a food processor or an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, combine the feta, the ricotta, the sour cream, the olive oil, and the first 2 teaspoons of tamarind and pasilla chile seasoning.

Spoon the mixture into a bowl that is relatively wide, cover the bowl, and refrigerate the dip for an hour or so to let the flavors meld.

In a bowl, mix the nuts, the dill, the parsley, and the sesame seeds. Set them aside.

Heat the honey just until it is warm. Add the remaining teaspoon of seasoning. Let the mixture stand for 5 minutes to allow the flavors to blend, keeping it warm. (I left it over a very tiny flame on my stove.)

Take the feta dip out of the refrigerator. Drizzle it with the warm seasoned honey, and sprinkle the nuts and herbs on top.

Serve with chopped vegetables, pita chips, or breadsticks. Serves 6 to 8 as an appetizer.

The Way the Cookie ALMOST Crumbles

December 27th, 2023

It may seem odd to provide a cookie recipe after Christmas, which is the day of days for cookies. If you’re like me, however, you’ll entertain friends and give gifts all the way until New Year’s Day and perhaps until Epiphany. I hope this recipe sweetens the extended season for you and your companions.

I was first served Peppermint Meltaways long ago by a friend. Since then, I have thought about making them—but I never actually got around to it until last week, when I found myself with a huge number of mini-candy canes.

I had ordered them to share at the office but had accidentally ordered two containers of candy canes instead of the one the office needed. I thus faced a surfeit of peppermint.

I recalled that the Meltaways featured crushed candy canes as a topping. I must admit that the recipe didn’t use as many candy canes as I had hoped—but it used some, and the people to whom I served the cookies were very happy indeed. I’m consequently sharing the recipe with you.

I have always adored peppermint, particularly at this time of year. I tried recently to find out why peppermint is so popular at Christmas, but no one (at least no one who inhabited that arcane source of information, the World Wide Web) seemed to know.

I did discover that the first candy canes, in the 19th century, were apparently a solid white confection not flavored with peppermint; the addition of stripes and that special flavoring came in the 20th century.

I also learned that peppermint is an ancient medicinal herb. Its name comes from Greek mythology. According to lore, the god Hades fell in love with a nymph named Minthe.

His wife, Persephone, discovered their affair and in a fit of rage turned poor Minthe into a plant that would grow wild and get trampled underfoot. (Personally, I think Persephone should have taken her wrath out on Hades instead, but I imagine he was a more formidable foe than the poor nymph.)

Hades altered Persephone’s spell slightly. He couldn’t return Minthe to her former form, but he made the plant she had become smell sweet so that people would think well of her.

The best explanation I could find for the popularity of peppermint at this time of year comes from the digital media company known as Tasting Table. An article posted there reminds readers that at this time of year we tend to indulge in an awful lot of food.

Mint aids digestion. Consequently, Tasting Table dubs it “the Official Digestif of the Holiday Season.”

Whether I love peppermint for its digestive properties or just for the way it perks up my palate, it definitely appeals to me. I am despondent if I can’t find peppermint-stick ice cream during the holiday season.

Luckily, in the area in which I live, it is manufactured by a number of ice-cream makers, but I purchase it early in December just in case stores run out later.

I should warn you that these cookies are a bit challenging, so much so that I almost decided to post a completely different recipe this week. As I noted earlier, however, the people who ate them adored them so I went with the original recipe.

The problem, as you can see from the list of ingredients below and the photo above, is that a lot of the Peppermint Meltaway cookie dough is made up of two very crumbly substances, confectioner’s sugar and cornstarch.

In addition, the cookies have no egg to bind them. Even after one chills the dough for an hour, it can be difficult to shape into balls. They really DO need to be shaped into firm balls, however.

I tried just forming a few very delicately, thinking they would be okay once they went into the oven. Unfortunately, those few cookies spread all over the place. If you persist and create firm balls, however, you will be rewarded with delicate cookies that live up to their name by melting in your mouth.

I should think they would be even prettier if one were to tint the icing on top a pretty pink. In the absence of food coloring (mine is hiding somewhere in my pantry), the white icing does just fine. After all, the crushed candy canes provide a welcome hint of color.

Please note that the peppermint flavor in the cookies and the icing comes from peppermint extract, not peppermint oil. If you have only peppermint oil, be aware that it is much more concentrated than the extract so you’ll need only a few drops.

Peppermint Meltaways
(adapted from Land O Lakes)

Ingredients:

for the cookies:
1-1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup (2 sticks) sweet butter at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

for the icing:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) softened sweet butter
3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar, plus more if needed
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
milk if necessary to stir

for finishing:
crushed candy canes as needed

Instructions:

Begin by making the cookies. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and the cornstarch. Set them aside.

In another mixing bowl, cream together the butter and the confectioner’s sugar. Beat in the extract. Slowly add the flour/cornstarch mixture and blend well. Push down on the dough with your hands to help it hold together. Cover the bowl, and refrigerate the dough for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Form the dough into 1-inch (or slightly larger) balls, pressing each ball gently but firmly to help it stick together. Place the balls 2 inches apart on the baking sheets.

Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges just start to turn brown. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven, and allow the cookies to cool completely.

When the cookies are cool, beat together the frosting ingredients. Adjust the consistency by adding a little more softened butter, a little more confectioner’s sugar, and/or a little milk to make sure you have a spreadable frosting. Gently spread a little frosting on each cooled cookie.

Top the cookies with a little crushed peppermint. This can be messy because the crushed candy wants to go everywhere except on top of the cookies, but persist. You’ll end up with very pretty cookies. Makes about 30 festive cookies.

Manomin

November 18th, 2023

Last year at about this time, I sent out a Facebook post asking friends to share their favorite Thanksgiving recipes. I quickly found one—and later saw a reply from my friend Marianne Schultz. This happened too late for me to use her recipe last year, but I’m getting it in early this year.

Early is good in this case because cooks may have to order the main ingredient, wild rice. It’s not easy to find in these parts. Marianne recommends ordering it from Lunds & Byerlys in Minnesota. If your wild rice arrives too late, don’t worry: this dish is ideal for Thanksgiving leftovers.

Marianne doesn’t use the name “wild rice.” She calls this grain, and the dish she makes with it, manomin. Spelled in a variety of ways, often manoomin, the word means “good berry.” Manomin is possibly the only grain native to North America. Native Americans have consumed it for more than 1000 years.

As many readers probably know, wild rice isn’t a rice at all. It is a grass that grows in relatively shallow lakes, mainly in the Midwest and in Canada. Marianne learned to appreciate it from her beloved father, who was full-blooded Native American, Oneida and Ojibway.

Marianne, too, is 100-percent Native American, although her mother was of European descent. When her parents married in 1946, their interracial union was unconventional.

Marianne was adopted when she was nine months old. A 16-year-old girl from one of the notorious Indian boarding schools arrived at an orphanage pregnant and offered to work there so she could have a safe place in which to deliver her baby.

Marianne’s parents had been looking for a Native-American baby. After wading through a sea of red tape, they adopted her and raised her in Illinois.

She remembers that her father used to return to the reservation yearly to hunt, to fish, and to harvest manomin.

Marianne’s Father

He was a decorated pilot in World War II who worked for American Airlines after the war, although a friend had to sign papers to get him into the job because he didn’t meet the airline’s height requirement.

Marianne’s father harvested wild rice by canoe. The harvest was a two-person job, she told me. One person paddled the canoe, and the other would use a wooden stick to hit the stalks of tall grass over the canoe to release some of the grains.

Even after the harvest, manomin was a lot of work, Marianne recalled. “It would come in brown paper bags completely in its off-the-stalk format. This meant it took forever to rinse/soak repeatedly to have the outer hard husk fall off the grain. It was always such a treat, and I am glad I can say that is how we got ours.”

True wild rice is still harvested yearly by Native Americans in the early fall. Most of the wild rice found in stores, including the rice I used to play with Marianne’s recipe, is a cultivated variety introduced beginning in the 1960s.

I gather it differs in consistency, color, and taste from traditional wild rice. It is still highly nutritious, however, with an appealing nutty flavor. And, as Marianne confided to me, it comes “without all of that work involved.”

Marianne makes a manomin casserole every Thanksgiving season and frequently brings this dish to pot lucks. She freely admitted to me that her recipe isn’t exactly a recipe.

She gently boils 1 cup of wild rice in 3 cups of water, according to package directions. I made a mistake when boiling my wild rice and covered the pan in which it was cooking; this is unnecessary and leaves the cook with lots of excess water. (I kept a little for my casserole and discarded the rest.)

The boiling process took me about 45 minutes. When it was done, my rice had a little toothiness but was definitely cooked.

Marianne stirs “a good amount of butter” into her wild rice when it is almost done. (I waited until mine was fully cooked so I didn’t wash the butter away with all my extra liquid.)

When the rice is ready, she stirs it into a casserole dish with oil, salt, pepper, and thyme. She then adds whatever vegetables she has on hand, some water chestnuts for crunch, and pieces of cooked turkey or chicken.

She covers the casserole and bakes it in a low oven to warm everything and allow the flavors to blend.

Marianne lives in Hawaii, where it is currently pomegranate season. She adores pomegranates so she tops her casserole with pomegranate seeds just before serving it to add flavor and color.

With Marianne’s permission, I made the manomin casserole my own. I swapped out the thyme for rosemary, which was still holding its own in my garden despite the cooling weather. (My thyme was under the snow.)

Not finding any pomegranates in my local general store, I opted instead for the red pearls currently available here in New England and served a little cranberry sauce on the side of my casserole. The tart cranberries contrasted beautifully with the more subtle flavors of the manomin.

Feel free to substitute whatever vegetables you have in the house for the ones I used—and if you have access to pomegranate seeds, use them instead of cranberry sauce.

Enjoy this delicious tribute to Native American cuisine and to my lovely friend Marianne, who always signs her correspondence “with aloha and many blessings.” Happy Thanksgiving!

Marianne and Her Father at her Wedding in 1982

Manomin

Ingredients:

1 cup wild rice
3 cups water or stock
salt as needed
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
pepper as needed
fresh or dried herbs to taste (I used fresh rosemary)
a splash of extra-virgin olive oil
4 cups cooked (or if you like, in the case of celery and carrots, raw) vegetables
(I used 1 small honeynut squash, roasted in with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, and cut up; 3/4 cup baby carrots, also roasted with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper; and 10 ounces mushrooms, sliced and sautéed in a little butter)
2 cups (more if you like) chopped cooked chicken or turkey (pressed and sautéed tofu would work if you’re vegetarian)

Instructions:

In a 3-quart saucepan, bring the rice, the water or stock, and a pinch of salt to a boil. Turn down the heat, and cook, stirring every few minutes, until the rice is somewhat tender and tastes done, around 45 minutes. While the wild rice is cooking, preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

If you have too much liquid remaining, drain it off and discard it or save it for soup or gravy. Stir in the butter, a bit more salt, pepper to taste, and the herbs. Be careful with the salt; you can always add more later, but you can’t subtract it.

Stir in the oil, the vegetables, and the chicken or turkey. Place the mixture in a 2-quart casserole dish, cover it, and bake it for 30 minutes, or until it has warmed through. Serve with cranberry sauce. Serves 6 to 8.

Pumpkins and Halloween

October 26th, 2023

Courtesy of Hicks Family Farm

Halloween may be my favorite holiday. It’s certainly the holiday for which I have the most decorations. My Halloween bins are even more numerous than my Christmas bins.

Some of this has to do with Halloween’s traditional spookiness, which gives the day (and night) a little excitement. The eve of All Saint’s Day, it’s supposed to be a time at which the dead can visit the world once more.

Our tradition of dressing up for the day originated from the thought that dead people and evil spirits would be frightened by our costumes or would fail to recognize us.

My usual witch attire, which involves a hat with a boatload of sequins and a feather boa, wouldn’t fool any ghost or spirit, but I still enjoy putting it on at this time of year. It makes me feel glamorous and just a tad wicked.

Mostly, I love Halloween because the orange lights, illuminated ceramic houses, and jack-o-lanterns around my house represent my way of raging against the dying of the light. By the time we get to the end of October, it’s impossible to delude ourselves that the days are not becoming shorter and colder.

Filling the house with decorations and dressing up help us insulate ourselves against the lowering temperatures and sun.

Pumpkins are associated with Halloween for a number of reasons. My favorite one is seasonality. It takes a long time for pumpkins to mature so they tend to ripen at this time of year. Their bright orange hue also mimics a fire and cheers people up.

These gourds are grounded in our continent and its history. Pumpkins have been grown in North America for 9000 years, according to the University of California.

Pumpkins are popular in my immediate neighborhood—and not just with humans.

My neighbor Ruth festoons her patio with them. Ruth is here only on weekends. On weekdays I frequently call her and say “Guess who’s coming to dinner!” as I spy a family of deer lounging on her patio and snacking on her decorations.

I wish I had a picture of them to show off here; they are very sweet and grateful looking. Unfortunately, if I get close enough to the deer to snap a photo, my dog Cocoa barks like crazy, and they run away. (The deer, like ghosts and spirits, aren’t scared of me, but Cocoa gives them pause.)

I must admit that I am still learning what to do with pumpkin beyond pie, bread, and soup. I was hoping to invent some kind of chewy pumpkin blondie to share with readers.

To date I haven’t quite figured out how to compensate for the wetness of the pumpkin, however. I recently learned that pumpkins are 92 percent water. Since baking is basically chemistry (never my best subject in school), one must compensate for that extra liquid somehow.

My initial blondie experiment literally dampened my enthusiasm for this project. So I cheated. What appears below is a recipe lightly adapted from The New York Times for pumpkin blondies with chocolate chips.

I took them to an event at my church, where people enjoyed the combination of pumpkin and chocolate. Another time I think I might amp up the spices and try substituting toasted pecans for the chocolate chips.

The thing that makes this recipe special is browning the butter. This technique for melting butter entails cooking the butter past the melting point. You need to stir constantly to keep the butter solids from burning; ideally, you just toast them lightly. They are ready when the butter foams and develops a nutty aroma.

In the past, I saw brown butter only in recipes for elegant sauces, but cooks around the country are increasingly using it in baked goods that require melted butter. The technique gives the treats’ flavor extra dimension.

Having used it in these bars, I’m ready to try browning the butter in my standard, non-pumpkin butterscotch brownies. Those are one of my favorite desserts to bake and share. I have a feeling they’ll be even more delectable with brown butter. Expect to see them in a future column.

Before I go, I’d love to inform anyone in Massachusetts that I’ll be helping to celebrate Cider Days here in Franklin County on November 4-5 at Headwater Cider right here in Hawley. I THINK the hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. I’ll update this information as I learn more.

Meanwhile, happy Halloween from a not very scary witch!

Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Bars

Ingredients:

3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) sweet butter
1-3/4 cups packed brown sugar
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
2-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 cups chocolate chips

Instructions:

In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the butter foams and darkens to a light amber color and begins to smell amazing.

Remove the pan from the heat, and continue stirring for a couple of minutes to keep the butter from burning. (It’s okay to have a tiny bit of black at the bottom of the pan, but avoid blackening as much as possible.) Set the butter aside, and let it cool for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a 9-by-13-inch pan with foil (nonstick is best), and grease the foil with a neutral oil or shortening.

When the butter has cooled, stir in the brown sugar, the pumpkin, and the vanilla. Add the baking powder, the baking soda, the salt, and the spices; then stir in the flour. Make sure the flour is mixed in, but try not to overmix the dough.

Add 1-1/4 cups of the chocolate chips, again stirring them in gently but thoroughly.

Transfer the dough to the prepared pan, and smooth it out as well as you can with a knife or spatula. (You may have to grease the knife or spatula.) It will be messy; be patient. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top, pressing them into the dough lightly.

Bake the dough until the top turns light brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out with only a few crumbs, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Let the bars cool in the pan on a rack for at least an hour. Use the foil to pull the whole thing out of the pan, remove the foil gently, and cut the baked dough into 24 bars.