Fare Exchange: The secret to soft cookies and three chutney recipes

Good morning, you good-cooking companions. We must, as always, attend first to the requests: chicken recipes that are not spicy; chicken enchiladas that may be made with flour or corn tortillas and are topped with whipping cream, and a creamy pimiento cheese that is very spreadable.

Roseann Strazinsky of Fairfield Glade, Tenn., wrote "a request for my friend, Mildred."

"Her husband has allergies to meat and Mildred is running out of ideas for making chicken recipes already. Do your readers have any chicken recipes that do not have too many spices?"

S.S. has sampled some "fabulous chicken enchiladas."

"All I know is that the cook made one batch with corn tortillas, the other with flour tortillas, and added heavy cream to the pan right before baking. She also made a pimiento cheese that was very creamy and easy to spread. I wondered even if it had been prepared in a blender."

SOFT COOKIES

A recent recipe for old-fashioned sour cream cookies started a conversation about the virtues of soft cookies. Our personal favorite cookie baker always underbakes - at least to some cooks' prescriptions - because she believes soft cookies are unbeatable.

On the topic of soft or crisp, Mr. and Mrs. Sunday are students of the culinary arts, and one of their favored cookbook's recommendations follows.

"The best discussion of shortening vs. butter we've seen is in Shirley Corriher's book 'CookWise' from Harper Collins," they explain. "It's in the Cookies section under Fine-Tuning Cookies (about page 128 in the version we have). Shirley is a food scientist who has appeared on Alton Brown's 'Good Eats' series. She explains what a change in ingredients will do to your cookies (yes, and other things as well).

"Basically, if you use butter your baked goods will spread and therefore get thinner and crisper, but if you use shortening (including butter-flavored) they won't spread and so will be softer and puffier.

"She uses chocolate chip cookies as an example and shows you how to finetune them to suit what you want. We strongly recommend the book."

CHUTNEY

Some weeks there is a gracious plenty of recipes, others not so. The plenty get tucked away for a slower week.

One busy week I tucked back the following recipes, and today I rediscovered them. They came a good while back from the Bagley family and all three recipes are for chutney.

They are made with a combination of canned, dried and fresh fruits. You will note that the first one is great for tomato season, the second calls for no extra sugar and the third contains sherry and four spices.

Ms. Bagley reported, "These are all very good. The mixed fruit chutney is the easiest. The hot tomato is my favorite, but the cranberry is easy and good also."

Hot Tomato Chutney

3 pounds ripe tomatoes (4 to 5), seeded and coarsely chopped

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup cider vinegar

1 large red pepper, chopped

1 large onion, coarsely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled and minced

1/2 cup raisins

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped

1 teaspoon cumin seed

1 teaspoon mustard seed

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Place all ingredients except cilantro in a large non-aluminum saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens, about 30 minutes. Stir in the cilantro for the last few minutes of cooking. Pack in sterilized jars and seal.

Freeze or process in hot water bath for 15 minutes. Makes 3 to 4 pints.

Mixed Fruit Chutney

1 (11-ounce) package dried apricots

1 (12-ounce) package bite-sized pitted prunes

1 (29-ounce) can pears, drained

1 (29-ounce) can sliced peaches, drained

1/4 cup raisins

1/2 cup bottled raspberry vinaigrette (or Italian dressing)

2 teaspoon curry powder

Stir all ingredients together in crock pot. Cook on low 4 to 6 hours or high for 2 to 3 hours. Makes 7 half-pints.

Cranberry Chutney

1 cup dried Mission figs, coarsely chopped

2 cups cranberries

1 large navel orange (8 ounces), peeled and coarsely chopped

1 1/2 cups sugar

5 tablespoons cider vinegar

1/4 cup sherry

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1/8 teaspoon allspice

Combine all ingredients in a large stainless-steel saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook at low boil 15 to 18 minutes until mixture is very thick and liquid is syrupy. Cool. Makes 1 cups.

LAST ONE - PROMISE (AGAIN)

Here's a broken promise, but hopefully forgivable. There have been many contributors to this topic, and last week I said was the final report. However, Frank Groves got some confirmation on the potential of gin-and-raisins for arthritis from Bill Cotter.

"He uses white raisins packed into a pint canning jar, filled to the top with cheap gin. I would recommend Plymouth gin. He lets them sit for 14 days before using and lets gin drain off before eating. He consumes 10 to 12 raisins every day and is convinced that they ease the pain."

JUST A DASH

Betty-Jo Stephenson of Rossville has taken lemon curd to a new height - or more accurately, to a new use. She wrote, "I've enjoyed Fare Exchange for many, many years, clipped untold numbers of recipes, but never before written.

"Several weeks ago you published a recipe for Lemon Curd. I love cake with Lemon Cheese Frosting (not to be confused with Lemon Cheesecake). When I was growing up in Atlanta in the 1940s and 1950s, Rhodes Bakery (family owned and still in existence) and the bakery in Rich's Department Store made excellent versions of cake with Lemon Cheese Frosting.

"My mother's recipe collection gave me several versions, but nothing worked for me or tasted right. It occurred to me that Lemon Curd sounded a lot like Lemon Cheese Frosting. I made it, frosted my cake with it and was very pleased.

"The recipe was very easy except for squeezing all the lemons. The next time I made the frosting I used bottled lemon juice. Results were fantastic and easy to make. Another adjustment I made to the original recipe was to beat the eggs with a rotary beater before adding to the other ingredients (easier blending)."

On that tart and tasty note, we will end today. Please join us next Wednesday.