Kitchen Encounters

~ Four Kid-Friendly Candy-Bar Cookies of My Youth ~

I happily chose cookies-made-with-candy-bars as this year's 2017 theme for Christmas cookies on Kitchen Encounters, and, I gleefully baked all four.  Reese's, Snickers, Kit Kat and Whoppers. Everyone is well-familiar with this cast of candy-bar characters.  These particular four weren't just chosen at random.  They were my favorite candy bars when I was a kid -- they're close to my heart, and, they're an all-star lineup too.  I know, Whoppers aren't a bar -- whatever, move along. A bite out of any one of them would bring a smile to my face, and, if asked to make a choice, to this day, I couldn't choose a favorite -- just blindfold me and allow me pick one out of hat.

Cookies Made with Candy Bars -- Four Acts of Playful Baking  

Written & produced by Melanie Preschutti

I remember the Summer days when my brother and I and a few of the neighborhood kids would drape a couple of blankets over my mom's backyard clothesline and put on a play -- we performed in front of an audience of none and it was fun.  As the only girl on a street full of boys, it wasn't hard to get the lead roll in our little theater ensemble.  Heck, most times, I got be the playwright and producer too.  Those were good times.  Dim the lights and pull back the curtains:

Act I:  Over-the-Top Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Act II:  Chocolate & Peanut-Butter-Snickers Cookie Squares

Act III:  Chewy Coconut & Crispy White-Kit-Kat Cookies

Act IV:  Whoppers Milk-Chocolate Malted-Milk-Ball Cookies 

And to all a good night.  Merry Christmas 2017.

"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti

(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2017)

~ Whoppers Milk-Chocolate Malted-Milk-Ball Cookies ~

Back in the 1970's, a shopping trip with mom to Hazleton, Pennsylvania's indoor Laurel Mall, was not complete without picking up a carton of Whoppers -- conveniently located close to the checkouts in the K-Mart.  I was almost a teenager.  My brother, three years younger, required a stop at K-Mart to appease him -- and it was always our last stop at the mall.  Whoppers were our treat for the thirty-minute car ride home, and, as mightily as we all tried, it was next to impossible for mom, David, and I, not to polish off the contents of that entire milk-carton-shaped container.

Eating candy out of a milk carton = a kid's dream come true.

Produced by The Hershey Corporation, Whoppers are crunchy malted milk balls covered with a milk-chocolatey coating.  They're about 3/4 inch in diameter and, besides their signature malted milk centers, they are known for their unique packaging:  a large, 12-ounce sized milk-carton-shaped box.  They come in smaller 5-ounce boxes too (the size sold in most movie theaters), and, in plastic "fun sized" tubes containing a judicious twelve or three pieces of candy.

In 1939, the Overland Candy Company introduced the Whoppers' predecessor:  Giants.  In 1947, Overland merged with the Chicago Biscuit Company, Leaf Gum and Leaf Machinery.  In 1949, the then Leaf Brands reintroduced the candy under the name:  Whoppers.  In the 1960's, Leaf Brands was purchased by W.R. Grace, which Leaf repurchased in 1976.  Hershey Foods acquired Leaf in 1996, where they continue producing the now iconic Whoppers to this day. 

What is malted milk powder?

It's a combination of malted barley, wheat flour, malt flour and powdered milk containing additives like sugar and flavorings like vanilla or chocolate.  The term "malt" refers to a process where a grain is placed in a warm environment, allowed to sprout, and is quickly dried to a fine powder. Malted milk powder was invented by a London pharmacist, James Horlicks, in 1869.  His intention was for it to be a liquid supplement for infants and invalids, but it quickly found popularity in unexpected food markets.  Because it was lightweight and nonperishable, explorers like Admiral Richard E. Byrd took it to Antarctica, where he named a mountain range after Horlicks.  Because of its pleasant, sweet taste when mixed with milk, people in general started drinking malted milk for enjoyment.  Mothers, like mine, added it to milk to entice little girls like me (who hated plain white milk), to drink their milk.

These cookies just might be the easiest cookie to make -- ever.

12  ounces malted milk balls

1  cup salted butter, at room temperature, very soft (2 sticks)

1  cup lightly-packed light brown sugar

1/4  cup instant malted milk powder

1  large egg, at room temperature

1  tablespoon pure vanilla extract

2 1/4  cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

1  teaspoon baking soda

1/2  teaspoon salt

~ Step 1.  Place the malted milk balls in a 1-gallon food storage container and seal the bag.  Using the flat side of a meat mallet, give the Whoppers several whacks to break them into random-sized bits and pieces.  Set aside.

~ Step 2.  In a large bowl, on medium-high speed of electric mixer, place and thoroughly combine butter, light brown sugar, malted milk powder, egg and extract, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a large rubber spatula, about 1 minute.

~Step 3.  Remove the mixer -- it won't be needed any more.  All at once, add all of the flour, baking soda and salt. Using the large rubber spatula, thoroughly incorporate the dry ingredients into the butter mixture -- this will take a minute or two, but it's easy to do.  A thick, uniformly-colored cookie dough will have formed.  Add and thoroughly fold in the Whopper pieces.

~Step 4.  Using a 1 3/4" ice-cream scoop, place 12-15 scoops of cookie dough, well-apart on each of 3, 17 1/2" x 12 1/2" baking pans that have been lined with parchment.  Work one-pan-at-a-time, meaning:  Chill a pan of cookies in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. When first pan comes of out of refrigerator, place the second pan in. When the second pan comes out, place the third pan in.  When each pan comes out of refrigerator:  Bake on center rack of preheated 350° oven for 10-12 minutes -- cookies will be very soft but puffed through to their centers, and just showing signs of light-to-medium browning.  Cool cookies, on pan, 3 minutes, allowing them to flatten out and firm up, then, use a thin spatula to transfer them a wire rack to cool completely, 1 hour.

Bake in 350° oven 10-12 minutes.  Cool on pans 3 minutes.

Transfer to wire rack to cool completely, 1 hour. 

Malted milk w/malted-milk ball cookies = a dunkers dream. 

Whoppers Milk-Chocolate Malted-Milk-Ball Cookies:  Recipe yields 2 1/2 dozen 3"-round cookies.

Special Equipment List:  1-gallon food storage bag; flat-sided meat mallet; hand-held electric mixer; large rubber spatula; 1 3/4" ice-cream scoop; 2, 17 1/2" x 12 1/2" baking pans; parchment paper; thin metal spatula; wire cooling rack

Cook's Note:  Malted milk powder isn't just for mixing into plain white milk or making malts.  It's delicious in eggnog too.  To ring in the New Year with an adult-friendly, celebratory drink, try my recipe for ~ Thick Creamy Eggnog & Rum Milkshakes 'n Malts ~.

"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti

(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2017)

~ My Chewy Coconut & Crispy White-Kit-Kat Cookies ~

The first time my mom came home from the grocery store with a bag of white chocolate chips, I was fascinated by them.  "What are you going to do with these?"  It turns out she was going to bake white-chocolate macadamia-nut cookies that Nestlé had printed on their package.  "Daddy loves macadamia nuts."  I knew he was going to love mom's new all-white cookie invention -- I could barely wait for the butter to soften.  Tick tock.  As we two gathered together and measured the list of ingredients, it was mom who schooled me on the fact that white chocolate morsels weren't chocolate at all.  I was fascinated by that too.  I miss those kinder, gentler times.

Nowadays, I dream about these all-white Christmas cookies:

My holiday cookie selections to add to Kitchen Encounters this year were centered around my favorite candy bars from my youth:  Over-the-Top Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies, Chocolate & Peanut-Butter-Snickers Cookie Squares, and today, cookies made with Hershey's white-chocolate-coated Kit Kat wafer cookies.  White chocolate and coconut team up in a sweet treat that pairs two textures together:  chewy coconut and crispy wafers.  There's more: Thanks to a modicum of sugar (just one cup) they're pleasantly, not cloyingly, sweet.  Yummy.

1 1/2  cups salted butter, at room temperature, very soft (1 1/2 sticks)

1  cup packed light brown sugar

1  large egg, at room temperature

2  teaspoons pure coconut extract

2  teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 3/4  cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4  teaspoon baking powder

1/2  teaspoon baking powder

1/2  teaspoon sea salt

5  ounces packed sweetened, flaked coconut (1 cup)

16  ounces mini-sized white Kit Kat candies, each candy cut into 4 morsel-sized squares

~ Step 1.  In a large bowl, on medium-high speed of electric mixer, place and thoroughly combine butter, light brown sugar, egg and extracts, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a large rubber spatula, about 1 minute.

~Step 2.  Remove the mixer.  All at once, add all of the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using the rubber spatula, thoroughly incorporate these dry ingredients into the butter mixture -- this will take a minute or two, but it's easy to do.  A thick, uniformly-colored cookie dough will have formed.  Add and thoroughly fold in the coconut, followed by the Kit-Kat pieces.

~Step 3.  Using a 1 3/4" ice-cream scoop as a measure, place 12-15 rounded-scoops of cookie dough, well-apart on each of 3, 17 1/2" x 12 1/2" baking pans that have been lined with parchment paper.  Work one-pan-at-a-time, meaning:  Chill a pan of cookies in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. When first pan comes of out of refrigerator, place the second pan in. When the second pan comes out, place the third pan in.  When each pan comes out of refrigerator:  Bake on center rack of preheated 350° oven for 10-12 minutes -- cookies will be very soft but puffed through to their centers, and just showing signs of browning.  Cool cookies, on pans, 5-6 minutes, to firm them up, then, use a spatula to transfer them a wire rack to cool completely, 1 hour.

Bake in 350° oven 10-12 minutes.  Cool on pans 5-6 minutes.

Transfer to wire rack to cool for 1 hour.

I'm dreaming of a chewy coconut & crispy white-chocolate  wafer cookie kinda Christmas morning:

My Chewy Coconut & Crispy White-Kit-Kat Cookies:  Recipe yields 3 dozen, 3"-round cookies.

Special Equipment List:  cutting board; chef's knife; hand-held electric mixer; large rubber spatula; 3, 17 1/2" x 12 1/2" baking pans; parchment paper; 1 3/4" ice-cream scoop; thin spatula; wire cooling rack.

Cook's Note: There are two kinds of people.  Those who finished their holiday baking and those who haven't started.  If your holiday is under control in a Martha Stewart-esque way, the force is with you and you need no help from me. However, if you just got home from doing all of your gift shopping and find yourself panic stricken and in need of a last-minute cookie recipe, preheat your oven to 325 degrees now for:  ~ My Six-Ingredient Last-Minute Egg-Nog Shortbread ~.

"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti

(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2017  

~ The China Syndrome: An Easier Chinese Char Siu ~

During December and January, like clockwork, without notice, and, for reasons unknown, I crave Chinese food.  It happens every year.  Sometimes I order take-out or delivery from my favorite two places, and, other times I take the time to make it.  In either case, in my kitchen, I feed my inner-Chinese about once a week.  I affectionately and chucklingly refer to my condition as: The China Syndrome.  All snickers aside, note that a great percentage of my Chinese recipes get posted during the months of December and January.  December of 2017 is no exception.

Char = fork (noun & verb).  Siu = to burn or roast.

If a Chinese restaurant has char siu on their menu, I'm ordering it.  It refers to the Cantonese way to flavor and prepare various cuts of boneless barbecued pork -- loin, shoulder, belly, etc. "Char" means "fork", both noun and verb, and, "siu" (pronounced "sue"), means "to burn or roast".

Traditionally long strips of marinated and seasoned boneless pork are skewered with long forks and cooked over an open fire or roasted in a closed oven.  I've experienced real-deal char sui, and, in Hong Kong, siu mei restaurants (establishments that specialize in meat or poultry), display what they offer by hanging it in their windows. 

Everything from its signature reddish-brown-glazed, sweet, sticky, subtle five-spice-and-garlic-flavored, slightly-chewy exterior to its moist, succulent interior is irresistibly addictive.  Once cooked, it is typically sliced and served over rice, drizzled with more of the bright red sauce and/or some soy sauce, or; sliced into matchstick-shaped chards and served in noodle soup, or; minced up to make pork buns (char sui bro). (These two photos courtesy of: wiktionary.org.)  

The preparation starts by making the marinade, which imparts most of the flavor to the meat.  It's made from a base of hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, dark and light soy sauces, five-spice powder, rice wine, and, white or brown sugar.  Additional ingredients can include minced garlic, ginger, green onions and a bit of honey or sesame oil.  That's the easy part -- inexpensive, easy-to-locate ingredients.  To achieve the signature red color, red fermented tofu paste, red yeast powder and red yeast rice are added.  To give it a lacquered sheen, malt sugar is brushed over the surface during the last moments of cooking.  That's the hard part -- unless one lives in an area with a large Chinese-American population, or, cooks a lot of char sui on a regular basis, searching for the last four ingredients might not be worth your while.  Here's my easier alternative:

Ah-So is a line of Asian sauces and marinades from Allied Old English, Inc., in Port Reading, New Jersey. The Original Ah-So sauce (sold in glass jars and plastic squeeze bottles) is a sweet, sticky, bright, Christmas-bulb-red marinade/glaze used to make pork and poultry.  It contains corn syrup, corn starch, miso, garlic powder and red food coloring*.  Popular here in the Northeastern United States, it falls into the category of Chinese-American cookery, with its aim being to replicate the signature reddish smoke ring found around the boneless spareribs found on the menus of most Chinese restaurants.

Interestingly enough,  the words "ah-so" come from the Japanese saying, "ah-so desu-ka" ("Oh is that so?) -- Ah-so is a mock-Chinese all-American invented expression.  

On its own, I find Ah-So sauce to be overly sweet (even though the sugar content is unavoidable to achieve the mandatory sheen and slight charring found on char sui).  I find it to be remarkably under seasoned too.  My answer is to use just enough of this sauce to guarantee all of the signature red color and glossy sheen a char sui fan could want, and, add enough of flavorful ingredients to it, to season it to restaurant-quality perfection, meaning:  I doctor the sauce up.

For the pork:

2  1-1 1/2-pound pork tenderloins

For my all-purpose char-siu marinade (Note:  It's great for pork spareribs, cubes or strips of pork loin or pork shoulder, chicken breasts, chicken tenderloins, and chicken wings too.)

1  tablespoon garlic paste

2  tablespoons ginger paste

4  tablespoons Ah-So sauce

2  tablespoons hoisin sauce

1  tablespoon oyster sauce

1  tablespoon Chinese rice cooking wine

3  tablespoons Chinese soy sauce

2  tablespoon honey

1  tablespoon sesame oil

1/2  teaspoon Chinese five-Spice powder

1/4  teaspoon ground cinnamon

*Note:  It's not unusual to find a few drops (4-6) of red food coloring added to modern-day char sui recipes.  It will provide the bright red color, but not the sugar content.  Inexpensive, store-bought Ah-So sauce does both, which imparts of the signature sheen and slight charring too. 

~ Step 1.  To make 1-cup of my all-purpose char siu marinade, in a 1-cup measuring container, place and stir together all ingredients as listed (garlic paste, ginger paste, Ah-so sauce, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, Chinese rice wine, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, Chinese five-spice powder and ground cinnamon). Taste and adjust the seasonings to suit yourself, but, I'll be shocked if you want to -- it's delish.

~Step 2.  Place tenderloins in a 1-gallon food-storage bag, add marinade and seal bag. Using your fingertips, squish bag around a bit, until entire surface of the tenderloins are coated. Marinate in refrigerator 24-48 hours.  Remove marinated tenderloins from refrigerator.  Line a 12 1/2" x 8 3/4" baking pan with aluminum foil, then, line bottom with a sheet of parchment.

~Step 3.  Remove tenderloins from marinade, allowing the excess to drizzle and drip back into the bag (reserve the excess marinade) and place on prepared baking pan.  Allow tenderloins to return to room temperature and dry off, 1-1 1/2 hours.  Transfer marinade to a 1-quart saucepan.  Over medium heat, bring marinade to a steady simmer.  Stirring constantly, simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from heat, pour into a 1-cup measuring container and set aside. You will have 3/4 sauce for glazing pork (as directed below), plus enough leftover for drizzling atop sliced pork.

~ Step 4.  Roast tenderloins on center rack of 350° oven for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and reprogram oven to broil, with oven rack positioned 5 1/2"-6" under heat.  Using a pastry brush, paint a light coating of glaze on the surface of both tenderloins.  Place under broiler for 3 minutes.  Remove from oven, paint with glaze and broil a second time, for 3 minutes.  Repeat the painting/broiling process a third time and remove from oven -- glaze will be bubbling and showing signs of light caramelization (browning) on the surface.  Allow tenderloins to rest 15-20 minutes prior to slicing.

Glaze will be bubbling  & lightly caramelized:

Rest tenderloins 15-20 minutes prior to slicing...   

... or dicing or mincing to prepare ...

... any number of your favorite Chinese dishes:

The China Syndrome: An Easier Chinese Char Siu:  Recipe yields 1-cup all-purpose char sui marinade/2, 1-1 1/4-pound pork tenderloins/3-4 servings per tenderloin/6-8 total servings.

Special Equipment List:  1-cup measuring container; spoon; 1-gallon food storage bag; 12 1/2" x 8 3/4" baking pan; aluminum foil; parchment; plastic wrap; pastry brush; cutting board; chef's knife

Cook's Note: In February of 2010, I had the pleasure of welcoming Chef Martin Yan into my kitchen (to assist him with a cooking demonstration in front of a studio audience of 150 at WPSU-TV).  It was my job to prepare a tasting of the dishes he was demonstrating -- for 150 guests.  Lot's of work?  You betcha.  Lot's of fun?  Absolutely.

These walnut cookies were on the menu, and, as Chef Yan writes in his book Feast:  "These are the flaky short-dough cookies found in Chinese bakeries all over the world.  My version replaces the traditional lard with a combination of butter and shortening, producing a crispier, more tender cookie."  Click here for the recipe ~ Martin Yan's Wonderful Walnut Cookies a la Mel ~.

"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti

(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2017)

~Chocolate & Peanut-Butter-Snickers Cookie Squares~

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.  Just when I thought Snickers couldn't be improved upon, I find out they make peanut-butter-Snickers bars.  Yes, my love of milk chocolate and peanut butter struck again for the second time in two weeks -- this time in the form of bar cookies.  By the time you read this post, I will have sliced these into small, three-four bite squares, individually wrapped them in plastic and stacked/stashed them in a corner of my freezer. 

Amongst the foodie cravings I get, believe it or not, chocolate isn't in my top ten.  That said, I confess to having a big weakness for Reese's peanut butter cups and Snickers bars.  There's just something about the combination of mellow milk chocolate and salty peanuts or peanut butter that I find hard to resist.  I love it enough to keep a bag of mini-Reese's cups and a bag of fun-sized peanut-butter Snickers bars in my freezer.  My recipe for  ~ Over-the-Top Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies ~ is a tribute to Reese's peanut butter cups.

Everything I love in each & every bite:

3/4  cup salted butter, at room temperature, very soft (1 1/2 sticks)

2  cups light brown sugar

3/4  cup Jiff extra-crunchy peanut butter

2  large eggs, at room temperature

1  tablespoon pure vanilla extract

2  cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

1  tablespoon baking powder

1/4  teaspoon sea salt

1  cup Quaker old-fashioned oats

1  cup milk chocolate chips

16  fun-size peanut-butter-Snickers bars (Note:  In the event you're using different sized Snickers bars, this is 14 1/2-15 ounces total candy.)

no-stick cooking spray, for preparing pan

~Step 1.  While the butter and eggs are coming to room temperature, spray a 10"-square baking pan (preferably with a removable bottom) with no-stick cooking spray, place a 10"-square of parchment in the bottom, then spray the parchment.  Set aside.  Unwrap, then chill the Snickers bars for about an hour.  Once they are cold, which makes them easier to evenly cut, slice each one into four pieces, placing the pieces in a  bowl as you work.  Set aside.  Preheat oven to 350°.

~Step 2.  In a large bowl, on  medium-high speed of hand-held electric mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar, peanut butter, eggs and vanilla.  Using a large rubber spatula fold in (all at once) the flour, baking powder and salt, followed by the oats, then the chocolate chips.  You will have 5 cups of stiff cookie dough (I measured it for you).  Remove 1 1/2 cups (about one-third) of cookie dough from the bowl.

~Step 3.  Transfer the larger portion of the cookie dough (about 3 1/2 cups) to the prepared pan. Using your fingertips, spread, pat and press it evenly into bottom of pan.  Scatter the chopped Snickers over the surface of cookie dough.  I like to arrange them chocolate sides facing up.  Using an ordinary teaspoon, dollop 3/4-1-teaspoon sized pieces of the reserved 1 1/2 cups of the cookie dough in between and around the candy pieces.  Using your fingertips, lightly-press down across the surface to flatten the dough.  Don't worry about the little empty spaces -- the dough will bake up and fill them in.

Don't worry about the cobbled looking empty spaces.

The cookie dough will bake up and fill them in. 

~ Step 4.  Bake on center rack of preheated 325° oven, 24-26 minutes, until puffy and lightly-browned on top.  Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool, in pan, 1 hour -- or until pan is comfortable enough to handle without burning your hands.  Remove cookie from pan by pushing up on the removable bottom then return the cookie (still on the pans bottom) to wire rack to cool completely, 1 hour, prior to slicing.

Once out of the pan, cool completely prior to slicing...

... into 25, 2" x 2" Snickers bar cookie squares. 

Stack 'em up on a favorite holiday plate & party on:

Chocolate & Peanut-Butter-Snickers Cookie Squares:  Recipe yields 25, 2" cookie squares. Cookies squares, individually wrapped in plastic, freeze and thaw perfectly.

Special Equipment List:  10" x 10"-square baking ban w/removable bottom; parchment paper; cutting board; chef's knife; hand-held electric mixer; large rubber spatula; wire cooling rack; 

Cook's Note:  To make candy out of milk chocolate and peanut butter, I can't say enough about the recipe I was given by my friend and pastry chef from Ohio:  ~ Confection Perfection:  Theresa's Buckeye Candies ~.  There are a lot of recipes for these famous candies out there, but, they all pale in comparison to Teresa's.

"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti

"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti

(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2017)

~ Easy Kentucky Hot Brown-Style Naan Snack Pizza ~

I made open-faced Kentucky hot brown sandwiches with some of my leftover Thanksgiving turkey this year.  One thing led to the next:  Kentucky hot brown macaroni and cheese.  Now, today: Kentucky hot brown naan pizza.  Admittedly, I get carried away sometimes.  Hey!  What's a gal with some high-quality, super-yummy leftovers supposed to do?  I learned something too:  My family will eat hot browns any way I can think of to prepare them.  It was a very tasty week.

The Kentucky hot brown, invented in 1926 by Fred K. Schmidt at The Brown Hotel in Louisville, unlike many other famous sandwiches, was no accident.  It was created, from some carefully-selected, well-thought out ingredients, to please his late-night crowd (as an alternative to the ham and eggs on toast meal that was already on his late-night menu).  It was a sort-of spin-off of the British Welsh rarebit and Scotch woodcock (a fondue-like cheese sauce "on toast").

When Mr. Schmidt created his sandwich, roasted and sliced turkey was a rarity, as turkey was usually reserved for holiday feasts -- at the time, turkeys were only sold during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season and had just become available to restaurants all year long.  What he came up with was: an open-faced sandwich consisting of oven-roasted sliced turkey on white or brioche bread, covered in Mornay (Gruyère cheese) sauce and a few pimentos or tomato slices plus a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.  It goes under the boiler for a few short minutes, until the bread is toasted around the edges and the sauce is bubbly and beginning to brown. Served hot out of the broiler, crisply-fried bacon strips and a parsley garnish go on just before serving.

In the traditional style of the Kentucky hot brown, I didn't alter the way the hot brown mac and cheese got layered and broiled. Mornay sauce, rich with milk, Gruyère and Parmesan cheeses are a fantastic, alfredo-esque sauce for pasta.  That said, my choice to use tubular penne, instead of stranded fettuccini, was no accident.  The sauce flowed into the tubes of this fork-friendly pasta dish -- an integral part of keeping with a typical mac-and-cheese-inspired theme.

Stonefire naan -- It's always on hand in my kitchen.

I remember when Naan flatbreads first appeared in our market -- original and garlic flavor.  I remember it as being early in the 1980's.  I was well-familiar with naan, as friend and neighbor, an Indian gal, made it almost every day.  My three boys adored it, and, when Stonefire naan showed up in our grocery store, it was they who begged me to buy it.  The leap to making naan pizza as a snack for them was an easy one (they each topped their own personal pizza), and, over the years, it saved me a lot of money on pizza delivery.  

Stonefire naan is baked in a tandoor oven at high heat creating the signature bubbles and smoky flavor found in traditional naan.  Stonefire bakery is a family-owned business of over 40 years. Their flatbreads are made with traditional ingredients and baking methods, containing no synthetic dyes, artificial preservatives, trans fat or hydrogenated oils.

One 7 1/2"-8" free-form naan = a great personal pizza crust:

Slather 6-8 tablespoons Mornay sauce over the top:

Arrange 1/2 cup roasted turkey or poached chicken over sauce:

Sprinkle 1/2 cup grated gruyère cheese over all:

Top with 3-4 sliced grape tomatoes (or pimientos):

A sprinkling of parmigiano-reggiano:

One slice of crisply-fried bacon bits are nice:

Bake in 375° oven, until bubbly & brown, 6-8 minutes: 

Naan:  Never underestimate the power of snack pizza!

Easy Kentucky  Hot-Brown-Style Naan Snack Pizza:  Recipe yields instructions to assemble and bake one personal-sized naan pizza.

Special Equipment List:  spoon; cutting board; chef's knife;  hand-held box grater; microplane grater; pizza peel (optional)

Cook's Note:  From biryani to vindaloo, whenever I cook Indian fare, I can't, in good conscience, serve it without flatbread.  My Indian girlfriends have all explained to me the integral role their many varieties of flatbread (and crepes) play in their very diverse Indian culture and cuisine.  Every Indian cook knows how to make their traditional breads, and, they serve one or more types every day with almost every meal.   ~ Flatbread in a Hurry?  Easy No-Yeast Indian Naan ~.

"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti

(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2017)