[1] Sables, French shortbread cookies, made with blue cheese (photos #1 and #2 © Jasper Hill Farm).

[2] Bayley Hazen, one of America’s great blue cheeses (LINK REVIEW?).

[3] Use real maple syrup, not “pancake syrup” (photo © Rent Mother Nature).

[4] You can dip shortbread in chocolate, or enrobe the entire cookie (photo © Wisconsin Dairy).

[5] Salted caramel chocolate shortbread. Here’s the recipe (photo © Spice Islands).

[6] Candied lemon shortbread. Here’s the recipe (photo © Go Bold With Butter)

January 6th is National Shortbread Day. You might want to bake some traditional shortbread, or take a walk on the wild side with blue cheese sablés. What are sablés (pronounced sob-LAY)? They’re the French take on shortbread. The difference is that sablé, French for sandy (i.e. a sandy texture), is a more crumbly texture of the Scottish version. The ingredients are the same (flour, butter, eggs, sugar, a pinch of salt), the technique is slightly different.

Pecan sandies are an American version of sablés.

The recipe below [shown in photo #1] adds blue cheese to the dough for a sweet and savory take. The recipe uses Bayley Hazen, one of America’s great blue cheeses. You can substitute, but make it a quality blue cheese.

You can find other recipes for savory-only shortbread: blue cheese or curry, for example.

There are more shortbread cookie recipes below.

> The history of shortbread.

> The history of cookies.

> The history of blue cheese.
 
 
RECIPE: BAYLEY HAZEN SABLÉS WITH MAPLE GLAZE

Prep time is 15 minutes, 4+ hours to refrigerate the dough, and 15-20 minutes bake time.
 
Ingredients For 2 Dozen Cookies

 
Ingredients For The Glaze

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the cookie dough in advance. Blend the butter and blue cheese on low speed until totally combined, about a minute or two.

2. ADD the sugar, salt, and nutmeg. Beat until completely combined and creamy, but be careful not to over-mix. Add the egg yolks one by one, mixing just until the batter is smooth.

3. STIR in the flour with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, just enough to make sure there aren’t any pockets of dry flour. The dough will be sandy, but it should become cohesive when pressed.

4. ROLL the dough into a long log about 2” thick, working quickly to avoid drying out the dough. Wrap the log in plastic and refrigerate it for at least 4 hours. When ready to bake…

5. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

6. UNWRAP the chilled dough. Slice the uneven ends from the log, then cut the log in half. Slice each log into a dozen ½”-thick rounds. Arrange 12 cookies on each baking sheet, spaced about 1” apart.

7. BAKE the cookies for 15-20 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through, just until the edges turn golden.

8. COOL the cookies on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes, then carefully remove them to a cooling rack.

9. MAKE the glaze. Combine the glaze ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until completely smooth. Set aside while the cookies cool. Once the cookies are completely cooled…

10. USE a pastry brush to paint the top of each cookie with glaze, covering the entire surface evenly. You only need a little bit; the glaze is very sweet and a thin layer of it is enough to balance out the cookies’ savory edge.
 
 
MORE SHORTBREAD COOKIE RECIPES

Plant-based foods are enjoying the spotlight, and old standards like beans are finding themselves on a plate with popular breakfast foods. Beans are rich in protein and fiber, and also provide a good level of satiety, the satisfied feeling of being full after eating.

It’s easy to add a side of baked beans, black beans, kidney beans or other beans with breakfast eggs. Here, thanks to Flavor & The Menu, are six more reminders of how easy it is to add beans to breakfast.

Using canned beans like Bush’s make it a snap.

You can find bean recipes for every meal at BushBeans.com.

The different types of beans.

The history of beans.
 
 
1. Breakfast Burrito

The breakfast burrito is a fan favorite. Make one with black beans, pico de gallo, scrambled eggs, guacamole, and a corn or flour tortilla. Born in Mexico, today’s style of burrito was born in the U.S.A.Check out the history of the burrito and the modern burrito.
 
 
2. Huevos Rancheros

Huevos rancheros is a Mexican breakfast dish named after the ranchers who first enjoyed it. The basic dish consists of fried eggs served on lightly fried or charred corn or flour tortillas topped, with pico de gallo (a salsa made with tomatoes, chili peppers, onion, and cilantro).

Common accompaniments include refried beans, Mexican-style rice, and guacamole or slices of avocado, with cilantro as a garnish.

You can make a deconstructed version with smashed black beans topped with two sunny fried eggs, pico de gallo, salsa verde, and tortilla chips. Here’s a recipe for pico de gallo.
 
 
3. Black Bean Breakfast Chili

Top black bean chili with two eggs, homestyle potatoes, queso fresco, and salsa verde.
 
 
4. Breakfast Bowl

America has embraced bowl recipes, and that includes breakfast bowls, with their layers of flavor and texture. At breakfast, beans make a great base for bowls. You can use ingredients from the Caribbean and Latin America to add more flavor to canned beans.

Here’s an idea for Egg & Mushroom Cazuela from Chicago’s Tortas Frontera:

Create a bowl of black beans, roasted sweet potatoes, scrambled eggs, Jack cheese, and roasted poblano strips, topped with wild arugula, Cotija cheese, cilantro, tortilla strips, and avocado.
 
 
5. Shakshuka

A Middle Eastern dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, chiles and garlic, shakshuka or shakshouka is commonly spiced with cayenne, cumin, nutmeg, and/or paprika.

Here’s a recipe. Serve it over a base of seasoned beans.
 
 
6. Carnitas & Beans Frittata

Make a frittata (photo #6) and top it with beans and carnitas. This dish can take you from breakfast through lunch and dinner.
 
 
Check out the different types of breakfast eggs.

[1] Hearty breakfast chili topped with queso and a fried egg (photos #1 and #3 © Bush’s Best).

[2] A breakfast bean casserole, layered with kidney beans, srambled eggs and cheese (photo © Sun Basket).

[3] Carnitas and beans frittata: you can substitute an omelet for the frittata (the difference).

[1] Spaghetti pie, a.k.a. spaghetti fritatta (photos #1 and #2 © Greatest Tomatoes From Europe).

[2] Canned tomatoes from Italy are processed with modern, hygenic techniques.

[3] Caprese fritatta tomatoes, basil, mozzarella. Here’s the recipe (photo © eMeals).

[4] Salmon frittata with potatoes, capers and dilo (photo © Sitka Salmon Shares).

[5] Potatoes and broccoli [photo © Sun Basket).

[6] Throw in the kitchen sink; here, corn, cherry tomatoes, basil, scallioins and feta. Here’s the recipe (photo © Good Eggs).

Janurary 4th is National Spaghetti Day. We’re writing this on January 5th, because we took some time out yesterday to make this spaghetti pie, called spaghetti frittata by Greatest Tomatoes From Europe.

Greatest Tomatoes From Europe is a project of the Italian Ministry Of Health. Canned preserved tomatoes are grown and picked at the peak of ripeness.

The canning uses a traditional process that keeps all the flavor intact. The process has been using modern production lines to ensure higher quality and food safety.

There are many delicious recipes on their website, but we picked the one below to celebrate National Spaghetti Day. There are links to more delicious fritatta recipes, following the first recipe.

But first:
 
 
WHAT’S A FRITATTA?

A frittata is an egg-based Italian dish similar to an omelet or a crustless quiche. While an omelet may have additional ingredients, a frittata always has them: cheeses, meats, pastas, or vegetables (potatoes are a popular inclusion).

It’s a great way to use up leftovers!

Unlike an omelet:

 
The word frittata is Italian for “fried*,” as in cooked in a frying pan.

> The history of spaghetti.

> The history of canning.
 
 
RECIPE: SPAGHETTI FRITATTA, A.K.A. SPAGHETTI PIE

In Italy, a small wedge would be served as a first course. But we served a main-size slice with a big green salad and a side of bite-size meatballs.
 
Ingredients For 4 Servings

 
Preparation

1. PREPARE the tomato sauce. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and sweat the garlic for a few minutes until it’s soft and starting to caramelize. Add the tomatoes, half of the basil, and a pinch of sugar. Season with salt. Simmer over a gentle heat for at least 15 minutes. After the sauce has been simmering for 10 minutes…

2. COOK the spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water to al dente consistency, and put the drained spaghetti in a large heat-proof bowl. Add the warm tomato sauce. Mix well and let the pasta cool slightly.

3. SLICE the mozzarella thinly. Mix the eggs in a bowl with the grated parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper, and add the eggs to the spaghetti when still slightly warm.

4. HEAT the oil in a non-stick, deep frying pan. Take it off the heat and add half the egg and pasta mixture, spread the sliced mozzarella over it, and then cover with the remaining pasta. It should be about 2 inches high.

5. PLACE the frying pan back over medium heat and cook the frittata evenly on one side. Then slide it from the pan onto a lid. Place the frying pan on top of the lid and with one swift move, carefully flip the lid so that the uncooked side of the frittata is now in the pan.

6. FINISH cooking it until crisp and golden-brown on both sides. The frittata can be served warm, but is also very good cold.
 
 
MORE FRITATTA RECIPES

 
 
________________

*In colloquialism, there are two other interpretations. Some use “fritatta” to mean a mess (appropriate for a dish thrown together with leftovers). Hai fatto una frittata, loosely translated, means “you’ve made quite a mess.” Another interpretation refers to a person who is a bit crazy (his mind is a mess?). [source]

Have you had a Magic Bar cookie—a combination of chocolate chips and coconut, bound with sweetened condensed milk on a graham cracker base? If you love it as much as most people, you’ll want to check out Baskin-Robbins’ flavor of the month: Magic Layer Bar: swirls of coconut and graham cracker crumbles in a French custard flavored ice cream with a smooth ganache swirl.

Introduced today at Baskin-Robbins stores nationwide, each ingredient in a scoop of Magic Layer Bar represents an ingredient you’d taste biting into a Seven Layer Magic Bar, says Baskin-Robbins. “The graham cracker crumbles mimic the bottom graham layer, while the ganache swirl brings through the essence of melted chocolate chips, and the must-have coconut shreds top it all off with that last bit of sweetness. The French custard-flavored ice cream imitates the rich creaminess you get from the sweetened condensed milk which holds the Seven Layer Magic Bar together, giving a subtle background flavor that allows for the other ingredients to shine through.”

You’ll see in a minute why we call them Magic Bars instead of Seven Layer Bars.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF MAGIC LAYER BARS,

The cookie has been called Magic LBars, Seven Layer Bars, Magic Layer Bars, Magic Cookie Bars, Hello Dollys, Hello Dolly Squares, and Coconut Dream Bars.

Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk, which popularized the recipe by placing it on on the can’s label, called it Seven Layer Magic Cookie Bars.

The facts are that American food writer Clementine Paddleford featured the recipe in her column in The Week magazine, of September 19, 1965.

She said that she received the recipe from 11-year-old Alecia Leigh Couch of Dallas, who had learned the recipe from her grandmother. Alecia purportedly called the bars Hello Dollys.

Why? The previous year, on January 16, 1964, Carol Channing had opened in the musical Hello Dolly! on Broadway (it became one of the longest-running Broadway shows ever.

Later in 1964, Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk featured the recipe on the back label of the can. It was called Magic Cookie Bars, and still can be found on the labels today [source].

We can connect the dots and presume that Alecia’s grandmother saw the Eagle Brand recipe and, if it is true that the name Hello Dollys came from Alecia, that the girl or her grandmother renamed the recipe.

Check out these similar recipes gathered by Barry Popick, a contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary, Dictionary of American Regional English, Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Yale Book of Quotations, Dictionary of Modern Proverbs and Gerald Cohen’s Comments on Etymology.

How Many Layers Are Actually In The Bar?

The original Eagle Brand recipe for Magic Cookie Bars has four layers, since the butter is melted into the graham cracker crumbs to make the bottom layer; and the sweetened condensed milk is a binder for the other layers: chips, nuts, coconut.

Even if you call the condensed milk a layer on its own (it isn’t), you have a five-layer bar. Add the butterscotch chips (not part of the original recipe) and you have either a five-layer bar or (counting the sweetened condensed milk) a six-layer bar.

Has no one noticed that there aren’t seven layers? Butter isn’t a layer. And to split hairs, the chocolate chips and butterscotch chips are in the same layer.

So we default to Magic Bars. There’s no need to call them Magic Bar cookies. A bar is a type of cookie (the different types of cookies).

Not long after, the recipe found its way to us via the Eagle can. It was one of the first cookies we learned to make as a teen, along with Toll House cookies.

We tinkered with the recipe, as many bakers have. We added butterscotch chips, dried cranberries, raisins, mini marshmallows, and mini M&Ms (not all at the same time).

So feel free to customize the recipe below.
 

[1] Magic Bars, also called Seven Layer Bars (photo © Kodama Kitty | CC-BY-NC-ND-2.0 License).

[2] Baskin-Robbins’ version, Magic Layer Bar ice cream, is January 2022’s flavor of the month (photo © Baskin-Robbins).

[3] The Eagle Brand recipe (photos #3 and #4 © Eagle Family Foods Group).

[4] Check out the many recipes you can make with sweetened condensed milk.

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F (325°F if using a glass baking dish). Coat a 13 x 9-inch baking pan with no-stick cooking spray.

2. COMBINE the graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press the mixture into the bottom of the pan.

3. POUR the sweetened condensed milk evenly over the crumb mixture. Layer evenly with chocolate chips, coconut, and nuts. Press down firmly with a fork.

4. BAKE for 25 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned. Cool. Cut into square/rectangular bars or diamond shapes.

Some bakers advise cutting the bars into one-inch squares because they’re so rich. Store them covered at room temperature. Freeze any extra.
 
Variations

 
Variations for the basic recipe:

 
 
> THE HISTORY OF COOKIES

> A COOKIE GLOSSARY: HOW MANY TYPES OF COOKIES HAVE YOU TRIED?

We’re enjoying the first week of Dry January with Clausthaler Grapefruit Non-Alcoholic Beer. It marries the refreshing flavors of a lager beer and fresh grapefruit juice. Don’t like grapefruit? This NA* brand that includes Claustahler Original, Clausthaler Dry-Hopped (tastes like an IPA), and Santa Clausthaler, a holiday delight.

If you’ve tried other NA brands and responded, “meh!”, give Clausthaler a try.

Clausthaler Grapefruit NA beer and the other Clausthaler varieties are an easy and tasty way to give up booze the month (or whenever you need to hold back on the alcohol).
 
 
ABOUT CLAUSTHALER

More than 50 years ago, Clausthaler patented the process for brewing beer without alcohol. Clausthaler Original was launched in 1979, the world’s first non-alcoholic beer.

Clausthaler first made its mark in the canteens and cafeterias of the German labor force. At last, people could enjoy a cold beer in the middle of the workday without the worry of intoxication. The brand was an instant success [source].

The brewery, which only produces non-alcoholic beer, continued to innovate with new flavors to meet the growing demand for good non-alcoholic beer.

The year-round lineup includes Original, Dry Hopped, Grapefruit, and (in Europe only), Unfiltered Dry Hopped and Lemon. During the holiday season, Santa Clausthaler, brewed with seasonal spices, is a treat.

Clausthaler is the most popular non-alcoholic beer in Europe, and winner of the World Beer Awards World’s Best Alcohol-Free† Beer.

Clausthaler’s unique brewing process produces non-alcoholic beer that actually conforms to the Reinheitsgebot, the German Purity Law of 1516.

 
 
> THE HISTORY OF BEER
 
 
> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF BEER
 
 
> PAIRING BEER & CHEESE
 
 
> TIPS FOR SERVING BEER
 
 
________________

*Non-Alcoholic.

†According to the Food and Drug Administration, a product labeled alcohol-free beer must contain no detectable levels of alcohol. These beers should be labeled 0.0% A.B.V. Products labeled non-alcoholic beer can contain up to 0.5% A.B.V. Different countries can have different regulations [source].

‡A.B.V. is the acronym for Alcohol By Volume, which refers to the percentage of a drink that is pure alcohol. To get the proof, you double the A.B.V. Thus, an 80-proof vodka is 40% A.B.V. Clausthaler beer is .9% A.B.V. Double that and the proof is less than 1%, but it’s still a teeny bit of alcohol.

[1] (photo © African Marketing).

[2] Snuggle up this winter with Grapefruit Clausthaler (photos #2, #3, #4 © The Radeberger Gruppe Germany).

[3] For Dry January, pack an ice bucket with the different varieties of Clausthaler and invite your friends.

[4] Clausthaler Grapefruit six-pack.