Perfect Flavor

I’ve had a bunch of requests already from those of you interested in cloth diapering your babies.  I can assure you I will continue to dig even further and research all the many possibilities, from diaper services to diy cloth diaper care.  For now, however, I’d like to highlight a favorite store of mine in Charlotteville, VA, which does an excellent job of explaining what cloth diapering is and how its done.

Nature’s Child, found on East Main Street on the downtown mall, is a fantastic store for the green parent (and subsequential green baby).  The storefront itself is worth many, many visits throughout your years as a parent.

However, for today’s lesson class…here’s a link to the store’s cloth diapering Q&A page.  I found this very helpful.

Be sure to post comments if you have already been cloth diapering your kid(s) in order to offer advice regarding pocket diapers, the “dunk and swish” method, and other laughs and frowns regarding the adventures in cloth diapering.  We all look forward to hearing from those of you who are more experienced!

When it snows, this is always the first thing Kate, Nick or I think of=) Colin just likes to see the excitement on our faces as we gather ingredients. These days, with a rather large belly, I’m more prone to stay inside and get the proper accoutrements ready from the comfort of my kitchen to be prepared for the onslaught of kid excitement!

This is our famed SNOW CUSTARD recipe. And it could not be easier OR more delicious!

Step 1: Send the kids out to gather fresh, unadulterated snow in a large mixing bowl.

Step 2: Once snow and kids are safely back inside, drizzle snow with either some sugar to taste or pure maple syrup.

Step 3: Mix in some milk, heavy cream, whipped cream, half n half…you get the idea.

Step 4: Pour in a touch of pure vanilla extract to taste.

Step 5: Divide equally into bowls OR just hand out spoons and share from the big bowl. Eat and Enjoy!

This truly is delicious and easy and certainly an experience that no snowy day should go with out!

Happy snow day everyone! Two feet and counting…

What’s this page about?

Greetings! For those of you who do not know me, I’d love to introduce myself.

I am Lynsie Steele, age 27, and am the wife of Colin Steele (the love of my life) and the honored stepmom of Nick Steele, age 14, and Kate Steele, age 10-almost-11. I am also (she says with a grin) expecting my first baby due in May. I am currently 4.5 months pregnant and am loving every precious minute.

Perfect Flavor was started by my husband and I long before we married, and Nick and Kate have been a part of our company from day 1. This has always been a family endeavor full of learning curves, many surprises, and even more rewards. For the past 4 years we have been building our business into a solid local food entity that greatly supports local dairy products in a way that not many business do. We make gourmet ice cream and artisanal soft cheeses, like fresh mozzarella, ricotta, mascarpone and yogurt. At least we did up until this week.

Now, since we’ve got a baby on the way, I am taking a break from the food operation side of things and focusing more on spreading the good word about local food, sustainability, making healthy foods at home and raising my kids in a way that is natural, respectful and right.

You will find in “Parenting” many of my own experiences and how I’ve dealt with anything from a kid who’s had a bad day to teaching a little someone how to make bread on their own to what’s going on in the world of natural parenting.

I am by no means an expert parent, but who is? I simply hope to share the experiences I have of being a stepmom, being pregnant, and eventually raising this bio-baby of mine in this big, huge, wonderful mix of love and family.

I invite you to enjoy the ride of this modern-day parent!

This morning I donned both my bathrobe AND my pastry chef’s hat as I awoke to a very snowy looking sky to make and bake some of my favorite Christmas cookies for my stepdaughter, Kate, and her class of 4th and 5th graders at Free Union Country School in Free Union, Virginia.  Needless to say, cookies are always a home-run when it comes to kids, however, my special recipe for Apple Cider Thumbprint Cookies is not your average treat.  Not only did the kids gobble up the Thumbprints, but the wonderful teachers did, too!  I like using leftover apple cider especially because often I tend to get overexcited about the Fall and buy way more apple cider than I need.  Once the cider loses its appeal, it tends to sit in my fridge for quite awhile.  Making it into syrup both extends its shelf life AND takes up less room in the fridge.  I’d love to share my recipe with you…

Apple Cider Thumbprint Cookies (for the Holidays and beyond!)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour (local flour from Ashland Milling Company in Richmond preferred)

1 teaspoon salt (anything but kosher or large crystal sea salt)

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 cup organic cane sugar

1 large egg (from a local farm or your backyard)

1 teaspoon organic pure vanilla extract

For filling: 4 cups local Apple Cider, boiled down in a stainless steel saucepan until reduced to half a cup.  (Keep a glass pyrex measuring cup handy to pour hot syrup into to test when you’re getting close to reducing your cider down to half a cup.)  To spice things up, you can throw in some freshly grated nutmeg and a cinnamon stick to your cider before boiling down.  Also, this syrup can be made well in advance, and keeps in the fridge for at least 3 months!   (We like to use the extra as a topping for ice cream or in steamed milk, mulled wine or a hot toddy.)

***This is essentially a shortbread dough and has a very rich, soft & crumbly texture.  Perfect!

1. Beat butter and sugar for about 4 minutes or until fluffy and delicious smelling!

2. Add your egg and vanilla extract and mix to incorporate.

3. Measure flour and salt into a small bowl, whisk gently to combine, and using your half cup measure, slowly add your flour mixture to your butter mixture, a half cup at a time until all is incorporated.

4. Let your dough mix until thoroughly combined, meaning that all of your flour is absorbed into your butter mixture.

5. Spoon out your dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap, carefully wrap up to seal, flatten into a disc, and refrigerate for up to 1 hour OR overnight.  (I make this dough and the syrup the night before I bake the cookies).  While your dough is chilling, if you have not already done so, boil your cider into a syrup.  This should take about an hour, but depending on how much you use, could take more or less time.

6. Once your dough has chilled, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Remove dough from the fridge and using a small cookie scoop or a small spoon, remove a bit of dough about the size of a quarter.  Roll into a ball and place on a parchment or silpat-lined baking sheet.  Continue until you’ve got 15 dough balls on one baking sheet.  Incidentally, this recipe will make well over 30 balls depending on how big you make them.

7. With the flat bottom of a water glass, gently smoosh down each ball to flatten slightly.  For example, you might go from 1 inch in diameter to 1 1/4 inches in diameter.

8. With the handle end of a large wooden spoon, flour the tip and gently press into the center of each cookie, being careful not to push straight through to the other side.  If you do do this by accident, just re-roll and flatten your dough.

9. Finally, gently spoon into the center of each cookie your cider syrup, filling up each hole just shy of the top, as when the syrup cooks in the oven, it often expands and overflows, which is still just as delicious but a little sticky=)

10. Bake for 10 minutes in your oven on the top rack.  Syrup will be hot once baking is done and will still spill out of cookies, so keep baking sheet level while removing cookies to cool.  Allow cookies to cool completely.  At this time your syrup should be nice and gelled and your cookies ready for serving.
I hope your family enjoys this recipe as much as mine does.  A good cookie recipe is one that, once baked, does not take long to disappear from the plate!