A pocket full of rye

Cooking With Christie: They’re not perfect, but they’re tasty!

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Inspiration: I’ve always wanted to try making Checkerboard Cookies, but they’ve always intimidated me as the pattern seemed complicated. However, I’ve another slice-and-bake refrigerator cookie in my arsenal of recipes — so I was at least familiar with that portion of the bake. Shored up by this knowledge, I screwed up the courage on a day when I possessed both the energy and mental space to try making something new.

Despite being intimidated by this cookie (which I am aware sounds silly) I decided to switch up the recipe slightly from the one found here. Knowing food coloring can change the consistency of a dough, I decided against using it. No biggie.

My second deviation from the original recipe was slightly more drastic.

Since real almond extract is off-limits due to stupid, stupid allergies and less than excited at the prospect of using wholly artificial flavoring — I looked around my kitchen for an alternative and came up with this:

A. Sticking with the two teaspoons of vanilla extract, I made the base dough and then divided it in half.

B. Taking the first half of the mixture, I zested two medium-sized lemons into the dough, mixed it in, and then set it aside.

C. Whilst the other half of the dough waited patiently in a bowl, I blitzed an ounce of freeze-dried raspberries in a food processor down into a fine powder. Next, I strained the powder through a fine mesh strainer (to remove the seeds) not once but twice — before mixing it into the other half of the plain dough.

Then, I followed the rest of the baking instructions! And they turned out beautifully! Tasting akin to raspberry lemonade, these cookies are packed full of flavor and would make a wonderful springtime treat.

Christie: I can see Tuppence making these cookies for a school bake sale or for a village fete! They are both tasty and a little fancier than your typical cookie (or at least, in my mind, they are)!

Cooking With Christie: NPR & Bread

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Inspiration: Back in September (2024), NPR ran a story about King Arthur Flour and WSU’s Breadlab teaming up to create wheat that thrives in our changing climate. (Click here for the article.) Unfortunately, none of the shops near me carried this new Climate Blend whole wheat flour. So, I tucked away this bit of knowledge in the back of my brain and moved forward with other bakes.

Fast forward to mid-December.

Whilst wandering about one Saturday, my wondering eyes spotted a distinctive green flour bag I’d seen online, on a shelf in an independent grocery store! Taking a sack or two of this flour home, I set about baking a loaf of sandwich bread according to the recipe I found on King Arthur’s website.

And it turned out okay?

Unfortunately, I didn’t keep a close enough eye on the dough during the first rise and accidentally over-proofed the dough. (My bad, not the recipe’s.) Not willing to give up, I followed through, and it turned out okay. Though next time, I might use more honey or add malted barley syrup for a slightly more rounded taste.

Christie: I can see Miss Marple embracing both a recipe and the flour. As changing the world one bake at a time, I think, aligns with Marple’s efforts to leave the world in a better place by catching murderers, poison pen writers, and thieves.

My 52 Weeks With Christie: A.Miner©2025

Cooking With Christie: Fun Flecks of Color

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This Week’s Recipe: Rainbow Sprinkle Sugar Cookies

Some girls dream of diamonds, others wish for furs. Me? I asked for six pounds of rainbow sprinkles (that we found in a huge milk carton style container on a shelf at a restaurant supply store). And you know what? It was a blast trying to put a dent in them with this twist on a sugar cookie.

Okay, so if you compare the image on the website to my above picture, you’ll spot a key difference. The thing is, when making these cookies, I was really, really tired and I missed one key word printed after 3/4c of sprinkles.

Divided.

So, instead of adding 1/4c of sprinkles to the batter then rolling the dough balls in the remaining flecks of color, I added the whole shebang to my dough. They turned out just fine but perhaps a touch muted by comparison.

Nobody’s perfect.

The upside? By adding all the sprinkles to the batter, the cookies took less time to make.

Agatha Christie: While I can’t see Poirot or Ms. Lemon partaking in these, I think Tommy & Tuppence would. And if someone used holiday themed sprinkles, Miss Marple might also partake!

Cooking With Christie: Outtake

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The leftover mess from cutting out, stamping, and decorating 60 plus gingerbread cookies! And I thought this book appropriate to place next to a bowlful of hundred and thousands (aka sprinkles).

Cooking With Christie: Sausage Rolls

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Inspiration: Whilst perusing our local market’s freezer section, I ran across a vegan chorizo. Which, for once, didn’t contain anything I’m allergic to. Since, my husband and I are trying to eat both healthier and less meat, we decided to give it a go. 

Now combine this new ingredient with a desire to widen and improve my baking skills — you find me attempting to make sausage rolls from scratch. Happily, amongst the tomes of my cookbook library is one called Pie, Glorious Pies, which contained both the pie dough recipe I needed (plus a bevy of valuable hints, tips, and tricks) and a how-to on sausage rolls.

For a first try, they weren’t bad….they look fugly but taste great! (All substance and absolutely zero style.) The vegan chorizo didn’t have the same spicy zip as its meat counterpart, but that’s easily remedied with a trip to the spice rack! (I played it safe for the first go-round as I’d never played with this product prior.)

(Don’t take these rolls as a review of Pies, Glorious Pies. My Pie dough game needs A LOT of work.)

Christie: Honestly, I can see any of Christie’s detectives eating these as a snack. Not my attempt at them, obviously, but if made with greater skill, I can see Captain Hastings, Inspector Jap, and even Miss Marple enjoying one as a snack….and if they were a tad more gourmet and made with way more finesse (and skill), I can see these vegan sausage rolls tempting Poirot or Mr. Sattersthwaite into taking a nibble.

Cooking With Christie: Cheese Burger Casserole?

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Inspiration: Do you remember the episode of Friends, The One Where Ross Gets High? It’s the Thanksgiving episode where Rachel makes an English Trifle and accidentally puts beef, peas, and onions in it? And Joeys eats all the portions saying, “Custard good! Jam good! Meat good!”?

Yes? No?

Well, these lines zipped through my mind as I was flipping through the Better Homes & Gardens Casserole themed magazine and came upon this curious (to me) dish — Cheeseburger and Fries Casserole.

All the components — beef, ketchup, fries, cheese (plus a bunch of others) are all things I enjoy eating…..But all together in a casserole dish?

I’d never dreamt such a mixture existed!

Though I must confess one item in the ingredient list did give me pause — the can of cheddar cheese soup. Though, in retrospect, this bit makes sense because shredded cheese and loaf cheese are expensive. But if you’ve already got said melty goodness on hand — I’d suggest eschewing the can and sprinkling the good stuff over the fries during the last ten minutes of the bake. But as I’d never made this dish before — I stuck close to the recipe, and it turned out…..

Okay?

Now as a one pot wonder you throw together on a weeknight, it’s great. However, the next time I attempt it, I’m going to tweak the dish a bit (surprise, surprise) on account of the fact both my husband and I found it way too salty.

My revised plan? Either I’ll use a can of diced tomatoes which doesn’t have any salt added…or even better…dice a tub of fresh tomatoes and fry them separately (to reduce the moisture content) along with a thinly sliced serrano pepper or two, a bell pepper (mainly for color), and micro-planed celery root (due to my stupid sulfur allergy onions are a no-go presently, so the milder tasting celery root adds a bit of extra flavor — it’s not a great substitute for onion, but it’s better than nothing). Then just before it finishes cooking down, I’ll add it to my browned beef and condiment mixture. The fresh ingredients ought to help counteract the over the top salt level.

Then, to make it ‘fancy’, I’ll serve it with bib lettuce or romaine hearts — so we can wrap the casserole inside for an extra bit of crunch.

Christie: Honestly, I cannot see ANY one of her detectives, sidekicks, villains, or victims partaking of this particular concoction….though if presented as a variant of shepherd’s pie at a pot-luck perhaps Miss Marple might try a bite?

Cooking With Christie: Lemon Sugar Cookies

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Inspiration: In an effort to improve my skills, I decided to tackle cookie-cutter cookies. Something I’ve never managed to make successfully without supervision from either my mom or grandma.

And….well….these Betty Crocker Lemon Sugar Cookies were absolutely delicious (I added an extra teaspoon of lemon zest) and held the general shape I used….but….they did spread a bit, making my vision of creating a tower of decorated snowflake cookies untenable.

However, if you stick to simple shapes like diamonds, circles, or hearts, this dough will work out great!

FYI: If you use powdered sugar, instead of flour, to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin and cookie cutters — it helps keep them tender and coats the work surface easier.

Christie: If whipped up with a slightly more skilled hand than mine, I can see these decorating a holiday treat table or given as a gift to a neighbor in St. Mary Mead!

Cooking With Christie!

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This Week’s Recipe: Arty Bread

Inspiration: Sticking with The Pioneer Woman’s: Super Easy! cookbook….I made Arty Bread….which my household renamed Faux-caccia (again, because I was describing the recipe and utterly bricked the real name).

In any case….

Here’s the thing: I can’t eat frozen bread dough called for in the recipe — due to stupid, stupid allergies. So I thought, why not make the bread dough I normally make, which generates two loaves, and bake one as usual whilst transforming the other into Mrs. Drummond’s Arty Bread.

I mean, the worse that could happen is it catches on fire….And if we’re being totally honest here, it wouldn’t be the first bake of mine to end up in cinders.

So my trusty mixer and I whip up a standard white loaf dough.

And, BTW, if you’re looking for a great bread recipe, the one I swear by was published in the book Hot Bread Kitchen:

Now back to the Pioneer Woman.

With a little trepidation, I started slicing, pressing, brushing, and shredding various toppings into the flattened dough….and it turned out absolutely fantastic! Perhaps, it could’ve used a few more tomatoes and olives (as I used a restrained hand when applying moist-ish ingredients, something I learned from the Great British Bake Off), but otherwise, it was outstanding! Especially when dipped in my roasted veggie red sauce!

Christie: I think Tuppence would be all over kitchen hacks and I believe Miss Marple would enjoy this bread since you can make it look lovely by artfully arranging the toppings! It’s even more satisfying when you can use produce plucked from your own garden, which I think Miss Marple would also appreciate.