If you're not Cooking with Cast Iron...

... you need to get your @ss down to the store and buy some!!!

There is simply no better pathway to perfectly cooked food in the comfort of your own home.
Enameled cast iron is even better since it's non-reactive, easy to clean and looks cool when not in use.
The density of the cast iron provides pinpoint control over the heat you apply to your foods and ensures that the temperature of your pan doesn't drop rapidly when you add food to it. It is the ONLY way to get a good sear on your home cooktop.
The steak with brandy sauce in the photo above got a sweet sear in some olive oil and garlic in a cast iron pan and then finished in the oven at a comfy 250 degrees.

Cookies and Booze

Anyone who knows me knows that I don't consider baking one of my talents in the kitchen. The reliance on accurate measurements, order and consistency chafes my very nature.
So it is on very rare occassions that I fire up the oven and stand mixer for something other than a pizza crust.
I really don't know why, perhaps it was my wife mentioning cookies, but I decided to dig into her baking cookbooks for a little foray into the world of sweet morsels. I figured I could devise some way to make the rote act of baking more interesting.
What I wound up creating was pleasantly surprising given my aversion to all things baked and I even figured a way to harmonize several great ingredients... butter, sugar and liquor!!!
I'm calling them Kahlua Crescent Cookies.

Kahlua Crescent Cookies

2 - sticks - butter
3/4 - cup - sugar
3 - cups - flour
3 - tsp - fresh ground Ceylon Cinnamon
1 - tsp - powdered sugar
1 - Tbsp - Kahlua
1 - Tbsp - DiSaronno

Preheat oven to 350 deg F.
Beat the sugar and butter together.
Add Kahlua and DiSaronno, beat to combine.
Sift flour and 2 tsp of cinnamon into the creamed butter. Beat to combine.
Roll a small amount of dough between your palms, allowing it to stretch into a tapered log by placing more pressure on the outsides of your hands. Bend each cookie into a crescent and place of either a greased baking sheet or a silicon mat.
Bake until golden (12-15 minutes), remove from oven and allow to rest for 3-5 minutes.
Combine reminaing cinnamon and powdered sugar and use to dust cookies.
Transfer to a wire cooling rack.
Enjoy with milk or coffee.