During a participation cooking class last week, a student opened the refrigerator and stared at the condiment bottles in the door.

“May I help you find something?” I asked.

“Where’s the lemon juice?” she asked.

I opened the vegetable drawer and pulled out a fresh lemon.

“You have GOT to be kidding!” she answered.

Some ingredients are significantly better when used fresh instead of from a bottle. The aromatic compounds in citrus fruit are lost 30 minutes after the lemon is squeezed. Bottled juice will never have the flavor punch of fresh juice. Yes, the flavor of the dish is worth buying a fresh lemon and squeezing with our favorite citrus press.

(Our culinary bookclub just finished reading “Appetite for America” about restaurateur Fred Harvey, who threw out any standing pitchers of orange juice, since he believed that oranges must be freshly-squeezed to order.)

Fresh food costs less than packaged or prepared foods. Is the convenience of opening a bottle ever worth the high cost and loss of flavor?Jarred minced garlic or peeled garlic cloves add a bitterness not found in freshly-minced garlic cloves. Besides, most commercially-prepared garlic comes from China. Instead, buy heads of whole garlic and place the unpeeled clove in a garlic press. The skin stays in as the fresh garlic is pressed out.

Jarred roasted peppers are bland. Try home-roasting a red bell pepper — or any other kind of chile pepper. I like to place the pepper on a gas burner and cook until the pepper is completely blackened. Then I wrap in plastic until cool. The skin comes right off. The flavor is intense and smoky. Roasted red bell peppers are a great addition to so many foods: soup, salad, vegetable stir-fries, or a condiment for meats and fish.

What jarred foods are worth the cost? Foods that you cannot reproduce easily at home: olives, capers, anchovies, peppadew peppers, Dijon-style mustard, worcestershire sauce, or soy sauce. Canned tomatoes (when the label says “Ingredients: tomatoes” and nothing else) are simple and good to use, as are fruit jellies and jams. Yes, you can make jam, jelly, and canned tomatoes at home that are delicious — but I also purchase them.

And what about those nonperishable refrigerator standbys, ketchup and mayonnaise? Both are simple to make at home. My favorite ketchup recipe can be made with any fruit (tomatoes, cherries, peaches, plums, etc). Or, get inspired to make mayonnaise in Mayo Clinic.

Just don’t pop the top!

Getting new stoves and ovens is like getting a brand-new kitchen! We have four new Dacor ovens and two new stovetops, each with six burners. We’ve added two extra burners to our Herb kitchen.
The new Dacor ovens feature a glass bottom which protects the bottom heating element from drips and makes clean-up super-easy. All the ovens feature a pure convection setting, which is wonderful for browning foods and baking multiple trays at the same time.

The new Dacor burners are larger than the previous stovetops and so can easily accommodate our favorite 14-inch fry pan from All-Clad. The burners feature 18,000 BTUs, which can accommodate our chefs’ desire for more intense heat. The wide grates allow for pots to easily slide from one burner to another. The sealed bottom is easier to clean-up than the previous cooktops, which had so many parts that had to be individually washed.

Thank you, Dacor, for manufacturing such great equipment!

What makes a brownie delicious?

1. Good butter. We are not eating salad or diet food, but luxuriously decadent sweets. Every bite should fill the mouth with the taste of delicious butter. Plugra unsalted butter is my favorite. (Kitchen Conservatory sells Plugra at our store in Clayton.)

2. Good chocolate. If you bake brownies with Baker’s or Hershey’s chocolate, they will taste like supermarket brownies. If you bake with better chocolate, your brownies will taste significantly better. The best chocolate to use for baking is Valrhona, which is made in France. The second-best chocolate is Scharffenberger. We have done the experiment and baked the same recipe with different chocolates. The result is unmistakable: Valrhona chocolate makes the best-tasting desserts.

3. Do not overbake. Brownies should be gooey inside, not dry. If the cake tester comes out clean, the brownies are overbaked. I like to press the center of the brownie with my finger to see if the cake springs back. If you really like gooey brownies, use less flour. I have made this recipe with only 1/4 cup flour and call them fudgy brownies.

4. Use our favorite removable bottom cake pan, which allows the brownies to be easily removed from the pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and cut the brownies (after they have cooled) with a bench knife.

This classic brownie recipe is courtesy of kitchen assistant Barb Bressler, which was her mother’s favorite recipe.

Shirley’s Brownies

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup flour

Whisk together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla until light and frothy. In a saucepan on low heat, melt the chocolate and butter. Remove from heat and stir into the egg mixture. Fold in the flour until just combined. Pour into 2 removable bottom 8-inch cake pans (or one 9×13-inch cake pan). Bake at 325 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Barb notes that chopped pecans, mini M&Ms, or chopped toffee bits could be folded into the batter before baking. After the brownies have cooled, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

To be an American is to love peanut butter (just as to be a European is to love Nutella). Although peanut butter is very nutritious, we love peanut butter because it is sweet and creamy and tastes more like dessert, especially when paired with jelly.

Peanut butter cookies have been successfully baked for generations, but they inspired a staff debate at Kitchen Conservatory, because we all have our opinions on what makes a great peanut butter cookie. What fat to use? What peanut butter to use? What design to use?

Thanks to Jean Millner, a kitchen assistant at Kitchen Conservatory, we are having a lively discussion on peanut butter cookies by baking several different kinds. Stop in to taste the varieties and see which cookie is your favorite!
Many peanut butter cookie recipes are not made with butter. But we know that it’s always better with butter, so I prefer the taste of the all-butter peanut butter cookies. Jean’s original recipe (printed below) uses part-butter and part-Crisco shortening. Why? Because shortening gives baked goods a better texture, chewier consistency, and neater appearance. For those of us who love butter, Jean graciously offered an all-butter recipe, but she cautions that the dough must be refrigerated before baking. The temperature of the butter in the cookie when it goes in the oven is crucial to the success of the cookie. The butter-peanut butter cookies are more crumbly and after baking and do not show the signature crosshatch. The shortening cookies are baked in a slower oven, but the butter cookies are baked in a hotter oven.

Smooth or chunky peanut butter? Natural peanut butter or commercially-processed? I think if you bake with the brand of peanut butter you already like, you will like that style of cookie. Jean calls for creamy peanut butter; I like chunky natural peanut butter.
Can the cookie be made with peanut butter and not have a crosshatch design on the top? Yes! I usually just flatten the cookie with the palm of my hand or mark with one fork rather than the crosshatch design.

Plain peanut butter cookies are a delicious lunch. I like to make them even more rich by adding chocolate, for a homemade version of Reese’s peanut butter cups. I suggest sandwiching the cookies with chocolate ganache!
Peanut Butter Cookies with Butter

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• granulated white sugar for dusting

Mix together the butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and creamy. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Fold into the butter mixture. Chill the dough for an hour.

Using a #70 disher, form the dough into balls and roll in sugar. Place on a lined sheet pan and flatten with a fork. Bake at 375 degrees for about 7 minutes.

for chocolate ganache:

• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate

Bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan and remove from heat. Add the chocolate to the cream and stir until smooth. Let cool. Use as a sandwich filling for the cookies.

Peanut Butter Cookies with Shortening

• 1 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 2/3 cups peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt

Mix together the shortening, butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and creamy. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir into the butter mixture. Using a #70 disher, form the dough into balls and place on a lined baking sheet. Flatten the cookies and crosshatch with a fork. Bake at 325 degrees for 9 minutes.

Greek cuisine is so much more than feta and filo. And Greek desserts are not just baklava! This almond-butter-fruit cookie is a Greek family favorite from our resident expert on all things Greek, Maria Sakellariou. Maria, who grew up in Greece and a part of her family’s restaurant, now has a personal chef service, Culinary Odyssey. 

Maria’s upcoming cooking classes include working with filo dough on October 22, an autumnal feast of spinach-stuffed pork and pumpkin custard on November 12, plus a festive rack of lamb with feta and mint and honey-cinnamon pastry ribbons on December 3.

Samble Cookies (Marmalade-Filled Sandwich Cookies) 

• 1 1/4 cups butter at room temperature
• 1 cup whole raw almonds
• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• juice of ½ lemon
• 1 cup marmalade or jam (such as apricot, peach, cherry, etc.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Finely grind the almonds in a food processor. Cut the butter into small pieces. Combine butter with almonds, flour, and lemon juice. The dough should be the consistency of dough that can be rolled out. If too soft, add a little more flour. Roll out the dough. Use a 2-inch round cookie cutter to cut into circles. Place the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes – be careful not to overbrown. Let cool completely. Carefully remove from pan using a thin spatula. Using your preferred flavor of homemade marmalade, ‘glue’ two cookies together and serve.

When a soup is called a chowder, it is usually thick and chunky. Chowders may contain fish or shellfish or potato or cream or corn or tomatoes. One ingredient, though, is essential for making a chowder: bacon or cured pork. Since different styles of chowders can be made, it is a great soup for showcasing summer produce. Corn, tomatoes, and potatoes are all in season now. Plus, chowders are a fresh and satisfying one-pot dinner that can utilize leftover fish or pork.

Classic New England clam chowder is made with potatoes and cream. New Englanders derisively call any clam chowder without potatoes and cream “Manhattan” — the most negative word they can think of! (The rivalry between New England and New York is not limited to baseball.)

Call any soup a chowder and the soup instantly becomes more substantial and hearty. Soup has always been my most favorite food to cook and eat, because they are so deeply flavorful. Every cook has a different chowder recipe!

Don’t miss these upcoming cooking classes on how to make chowder:

“Rustic Charm” with Adam Lambay of Chaumette Winery on September 20

“Sauce Sense” with Bernard Pilon of Norwood Country Club on September 25

“Cracker, Jack” with Jack MacMurray of Sage on October 20

“Recipe Redux: Favorite Soups” with Dawn Meyer on November 3

“Thyme of Passion” with Barb Nack on December 5

“Joyeuse Fete” with Jean-Pierre Auge on December 18

Tomato-Corn Chowder with Fish and Sausage

• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 sausage link, sliced or 2 slices of bacon, diced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 4 ears of corn, shucked
• 4 tomatoes, peeled and seeded
• 1/4 cup heavy cream, optional
• 1 pound fish fillet, skinned and cut into 1-inch pieces (I used leftover grilled lake trout)
• fresh basil leaves, sliced crosswise, for garnish

In a soup pot, saute the onion, garlic, and sausage for about 5-10 minutes, or until the onion is translucent and the sausage is brown. If necessary, add olive oil or butter is the pan is too dry. Season with salt and pepper. Add the stock. Use a corn creamer to remove the cream of the corn and add the creamed corn to the soup. Using a blender, puree the tomato and add it to the soup. Taste and adjust the seasonings, adding hot pepper if desired. If a creamier chowder is desired, add heavy cream. Add the fish and cook just until heated (do not overcook the fish or it will flake apart). Garnish with basil.

Linzer pastry, which originated in Linz, Austria, is a short, very buttery dough made with ground nuts and filled with fruit jam. Traditionally, linzertortes are made with hazelnuts, but other nuts are also delicious: almonds, pecans, or walnuts. Chocolate is not a traditional ingredient in linzer, but why not gild the lily and add chocolate to butter, fruit, and nuts?

Confectioners’ (or powdered) sugar is used for the pastry because it contains cornstarch, which helps this short dough hold together. If a tart crust or bar cookie or shortbread crust is too crumbly, try substituting confectioners’ sugar for granulated sugar in the dough recipe for a neater result.

We are baking cookies each week for our Cookie Club! All the cookie recipes are available here on this blog. Stop by Kitchen Conservatory to taste this week’s cookie, which is a contribution from April Blastenbrei, who is a kitchen assistant for our cooking classes and a student in the culinary program at St. Louis Community College.

Chocolate-Raspberry Linzer Tarts

1½ cups pecans
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter (at room temperature)
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
½ teaspoon salt
3 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

12 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
1 jar red raspberry jam without seeds

To toast the pecans, place on a sheet pan and bake at 350 degrees until light brown, about 5 minutes. Finely grind the toasted pecans in food processor. Transfer the pecans to the bowl of a stand mixer, and beat the butter and ground pecans on medium speed until very soft and light, about 3 minutes. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla extract until well combined. Scrape down the sides of bowl and add the dry ingredients. Beat for about 30 seconds, or until just combined.

Roll the dough into 1-inch balls (use a #70 disher) and place in an ungreased miniature muffin pan. Using the small end of a tart tamper, press down gently on each ball to form tart shell. (Lightly flour the tamper to prevent sticking.) Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove the muffin pan and place on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Then, you will be able to very gently lift the cookie cups out of the pan. You can use the tip of a knife to help, but it shouldn’t be necessary, just lift with a steady, gentle pressure and they will pop out.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler. Using a small pastry brush, lightly brush a thin coating of chocolate on the inside of the tart shells. Allow to cool. While chocolate is setting, melt seedless jam in small sauce pan until just pourable. Spoon small amount of jam in each shell. Allow to set. Place remaining chocolate back on double boiler. Spoon some chocolate over each shell, enough to just cover jam. Refrigerate to set. Makes approximately 4 dozen mini tarts.

8021 Clayton Road opened in 1949 as Pfeifer’s Party Pastries. For fifty years, the kitchen there produced many, many delicious breads, cakes, cookies, and other pastries. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch features a lovely look-back at the history of the bakery and the Pfeifer family.

Kitchen Conservatory succeeded the bakery at 8021 Clayton Road. The kitchen still smells delicious! If you miss home-baked desserts, here are some wonderful cooking classes featuring scrumptious pastries:

Cupcake Temptations on September 1

French Pastries on September 4

The Art of Layer Cakes on September 28

Cupcake Secrets on October 3

Sourdough Bread on October 6

American Pie on October 7

Short Pastry on October 8

Choux Pastries on October 9

Baking Basics with a Pastry Chef on October 10, 17, 24, and 31

Blitz French Pastries on October 11

Brownie Throw-Down on October 13

Crusty Breads on October 21

The Show-Me Bake-Off on November 4

Ace of Cupcakes on November 7

Roll Model on November 10

Making Whoopie…Pies, and Custards on November 21

Dessert, Please on November 29

Heirloom Cookies on November 30

Winter Warming Cupcakes on December 9

Conversation Centerpieces on December 15

Register for a baking class and celebrate the aromas of an historic pastry kitchen!

I made these pecan bars for a party and a friend asked me for the recipe. Later, I asked her how they turned out. “I never made them.”

“Why not, they are so delicious!” I asked.

“The recipe was so strange that I was afraid to try them. It seemed like too much butter.”

Please, don’t be afraid; these mini pecan pies are totally delicious. Most bar cookies have a lot of butter in the crust. This recipe has very little butter in the crust. Instead, a melted butter-sugar praline mixture is poured over the top, which gives the bars a glisten and sweet crunch.

Pecan Bars

for the shortbread:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 pound pecan halves

In a food processor, mix together the butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add the salt and flour and pulse until the mixture is combined. Spread the crumbly mixture into a lined quarter-sheet pan (12 by 9 inches by 1-inch deep). Place the pecan halves all over on top the of the mixture, completely covering the pastry.

for the topping:

• 12 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar

In a saucepan, melt the butter, then add the sugar. Bring to a boil and cook for a minute. Pour over the nuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Cut into squares with a bench knife will still warm.

Satisfy every cooking urge with our brand-new list of exciting cooking classes! We are offering more classes on more topics with more chefs than ever before.

Due to popular demand, we are offering again our Dine and Dance classes in conjunction with COCA (learn to dance, then learn to cook on October 2 and December 11). Also Jean-Pierre Auge en Francais, in conjunction with the Alliance Francaise, features cooking and speaking in French (September 21 and December 2).

It’s okay to sign up for a class just because the title is so funny and clever: Fly Me Tuna Moon (October 7), I’ve Got Stew, Babe (November 6), When You Phyllo, Get Happy (October 22), I Wanna Be Loved Bayou (October 23), True Rome-ance (September 22), Cracker, Jack! (October 20). Ruth Sparrow has outdone herself with clever puns.

Please give a warm welcome to these new instructors: Daniel Dreher of Atlas (Atlas, At Last on November 1), John Feraro of Feraro’s Pizza (October 13), Eduardo Colon of the Four Seasons (October 18), Nick Cox of The Terrace View (October 26), Matt Middeke of Onesto (September 14), Jeannie Gearen of Cakes by Jeannie (December 19), and Francie Valenti of Encore Baking (October 25 and November 15).

Welcome back these chefs we haven’t seen in a while: Jim Voss of Duff’s (October 20), Chinese cooking instructor Theresa Liu (October 1), Chris Bork (October 11), and Brad Burns of Lorenzo’s (December 6).

Can’t decide on a class? Don’t miss Jim Jackson of Truffles, Braise to the Finish on November 29.

Register Now.