The 12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Day Two - Peanut Butter Kisses

These are the peanut butter cookies with the Hershey's Kiss in the center.  They are very easy to make and delicious when they're done.  The biggest part of the job is unwrapping all of the Kisses.  Don't wait until the cookies are baking to do this as you will need to have them ready as soon as the cookies come out of the oven.


Set the oven to 375 degrees and gather together the following ingredients:

Starting at the top and working clockwise we have one stick of butter at room temperature, 3/4 cup of creamy peanut butter (I have never tried this with chunky, only creamy), 1/3 cup of granulated (white) sugar, 1/3 cup of firmly packed light brown sugar, one egg, 2 tablespoons of milk, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour and 1 teaspoon baking soda mixed with 1/4 teaspoon salt.  In the center are 48 Hershey's Kisses.  The 12 ounce bag is plenty and you will have Kisses left over for munching on.

Mix the butter with the peanut butter in a large bowl (or use a mixer).  Add the sugars, egg, milk and vanilla, beating continually until all ingredients are well blended.  Mix the baking soda/salt in with the flour and add this mixture to the peanut butter mixture gradually.  I do this one large spoonful at a time.  Once the dough is all mixed together, separate it into four equal pieces.

Form each piece into a ball and cut the ball into twelve equal pieces as shown below:

Cutting like this will ensure that the cookies are all about the same size.  Or, you can weigh the large ball and divide it by 12, then weigh each ball that you make from the large ball, adding to it or subtracting from it as necessary but that seems like entirely too much work.  The finished balls should look something like this:

Roll the balls in granulated (white) sugar and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Note that in the picture below they're spaced rather far apart.  This isn't necessary as they don't spread very much when they're baking.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until they're a golden brown.  Immediately upon removal from the oven, and while they're still on the cookie sheet, press a Kiss into the center of each cookie.  As soon as you've finished adding the Kisses, remove the cookies to a wire rack and allow them to cool completely,

The finished product will look something like this:

Bon appetit!

The 12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Day One - Rugala

Rugala!  This might not be what you would think of as a Christmas cookie but I think it works.  This recipe is done in two steps; first we make the dough and then the filling.  For the dough you will need to gather the following:

Starting from the top we have 8 ounces of cream cheese, two sticks of butter (both of these ingredients at room temperature), 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 cups of flour.  Put all of these into a mixer and blend until a dough forms.  Place the dough on a floured surface and divide into four parts, as seen below.

Once the dough is divided, roll each quarter into a ball, like so:

Place a square of wax paper on the counter and lightly flour it.  Place one ball on the paper and lightly flour the ball as well.  Place a second piece of wax paper on the top and use a rolling pin to roll the ball into a ten-inch round.

I have been rolling out pie crusts for over 30 years and I have yet to achieve a form that I would consider round.  They start out round but after a few strokes they become a sort of a lozenge shape.  After that, they continue changing into what I can only describe as an amoeba shape.  Go with your strengths.  I'm making Amoeba-shaped Rugala.

When you have the four balls rolled, place them in the refrigerator for at least one full hour.  They can stay in longer but no less than one hour.  The dough must be sufficiently chilled or you will not be able to work with it.  DO NOT SKIMP ON THIS STEP.


While the dough is chilling, gather the ingredients for the filling.  You will need a 12 ounce jar of preserves.  The flavor is up to you.  You will also need one cup of ground nuts.  Again, the flavor is up to you but it should be something that goes with the preserves.  I used walnuts.  You will need one cup of currants.  For some reason, these are hard to come by in Los Angeles so I substituted raisins.  Rounding out the picture below are 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.  Mix these four ingredients together (do not mix in the preserves).  Divide into four portions.  Set aside.

After the dough is sufficiently chilled, remove it from the refrigerator and carefully peel off the top layer of wax paper.  Prepare a surface to work on and lightly flour the surface.  Turn the dough over on the prepared surface and remove the wax paper from the other side.  (Do not follow the picture below; leaving the dough on the wax paper made quite a mess.)  Spread 3 ounces of preserves on the dough.  Here I used raspberry preserves.

Pour 1/4th of the filling ingredients over the preserves and spread it evenly.  When finished, cut the dough down the center, then cut each half into quarters.  Finally, cut each quarter evenly so you will have eight cookies from each ball of dough.  My recipe calls for cutting into 12 pieces but I found that 8 was much easier to work with and came out better.

When you have them cut, roll them up starting at the pointed end (in the center) and rolling toward the wide end.  Place them on a greased cookie sheet with the seam side down.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for 17 minutes. 

As soon as you remove them from the oven, place them on a rack to cool.  When they are baking some of the filling will ooze out onto the cookie sheet.  If you let them cool on the cookie sheet, they will stick to it from the part that oozed out.  Also, wash the cookie sheet immediately, even though it's still very hot or you will have a fruit-flavored cement to try to chip off afterwards.


Bon appétit!

Banana Nut Muffins

This is a fairly easy recipe and a great way to use up over-ripe bananas.  To make one dozen muffins you will need one cup of mashed banana, which amounts to about two regular sized bananas.  Set your oven for 400 degrees and assemble together the following:

In the center is a muffin tray filled with paper liners.  If you don't have paper liners, grease the bottom of each section.  ONLY GREASE THE BOTTOM.  If you grease the sides the muffins can't rise and you'll have a mess.


Starting at the top and following clockwise are the ingredients; 3/4 cup of milk, 1/2 cup of vegetable oil, one egg, 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract, 2 cups flour, 1/3 cup sugar, 3 tsps. baking powder and 1 tsp. salt, 1 cup mashed bananas and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (pecans may be substituted).


Now begin making the batter:

Combine the milk, oil, egg and vanilla and mix well.  Then add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix ONLY UNTIL THE FLOUR IS MOISTENED.  The batter will be lumpy and this is how you want it.

Now add the banana and nuts and mix only until these are mixed in.  You should only use a few strokes for this.  Now let the batter sit for a few minutes before continuing.

After the batter sits for a few minutes, divide it evenly between the cups.  Now let it sit for another few minutes before putting it in the oven.  By letting the batter sit you will get better crowns on the muffins.  When it's finished sitting, bake it for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the muffins are golden.

When they're finished, remove them from the pan immediately (so they don't continue cooking) and set them on a wire rack to cool.


Bon appetit!

Beef Stew

This is a very basic recipe for beef stew.  It will give you all of the necessary ingredients but realize that you are free to experiment as your taste dictates.  If you think there are too many potatoes and not enough carrots, change the quantities.  If you like more celery, add more.  If you don't like celery, omit it.  Look through your spice rack and add any spices you desire.  This recipe should never be exactly the same each time you make it.  Keep changing it up!


To begin with, you will need the following:

Starting in the upper left corner we have shortening (you'll use one tablespoon), four carrots peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces, one pound of beef cut into one inch cubes (for this recipe, two pounds would have been better), three large potatoes peeled and cut into bite-size pieces, one stalk of celery (include the leaves) sliced thinly, one tablespoon parsley, one teaspoon basil, three tablespoons flour mixed with one teaspoon pepper and dusted with paprika, one onion cut into wedges.  In the center is one bay leaf.


One word on the meat.  In the market you can buy stewing beef which comes in a tray already cut up.  Don't buy this.  You don't have any way of knowing what the cut of meat is.  Mostly likely, it's just whatever was left over all chopped up and packaged.  Take the time to look through the beef section and see what they have.  I was able to find a five pound london broil on sale for $1.99 a pound that I cut up myself.  This way I get to remove all the fat before I cook it and I have leftovers for another meal.


Start with the meat.  Melt the shortening in a skillet.  Coat the meat with the flour mixture and cook in the shortening until the meat is browned on all sides, like this:

If your skillet is deep enough you can continue cooking in it.  If it's not, transfer the meat to your preferred cooking pot and continue.  Add three to four cups of water (depending on the size of your pot) and the spices.  Heat until the water comes to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer place the lid on and cook for one hour.  At the end of this time the meat should be cooked through and tender.

Add the vegetables.  If too much of them are out of the water you can add a little more water.  Replace the lid and cook an additional thirty minutes.  You will know the stew is done when the potatoes and carrots pierce easily with a fork.

The finished stew will look like this:

Bon appetit!

Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce

Coming from a family of nine children it goes against my upbringing to waste food.  Since I live alone, I can rarely finish an entire loaf of bread on my own before it goes stale.  I feed some of it to the local birds but the remainder either gets thrown away or needs to be recycled.  This recipe is a great way to use up a good portion of a leftover loaf.  You will need the following items:

Starting at the top and going clockwise, we have a covered casserole dish (if it doesn't have a cover you can use aluminum foil), 3 eggs lightly beaten, butter (you'll decide how much to use), 1 tsp. cinnamon and 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, 1/2 cup raisins, 8 slices of bread (homemade bread is especially good), 1/2 cup sugar and 2 cups milk.

Start by preparing the bread.  Butter one side of each slice like so:

When all eight slices have been buttered set one slide aside.  Take the first slice and place it butter side up in the bottom of the casserole.  Take the remaining six slices and arrange them around the bottom slice, overlapping each slice slightly.  It will look something like this:

Set this aside.  Now mix together the eggs and sugar until all sugar is dissolved.  Add the remainder of the ingredients making sure each ingredient is thoroughly mixed through.  It's easier to do this if you leave the raisins for last.  When finished, pour the liquid mixture into the center of the casserole and place the last slice of bread on top, butter side down.  It will look like this:

I take these pictures myself and I wasn't able to photograph this next step because my hands were wet.  Place your very clean hands on the top slice of bread and press the entire thing down until all bread is soaked through.  Place the lid on the casserole and set it aside for ten minutes.  At the end of this time, place it in a 325 degree oven and let it bake for 30 minutes.  Remove the lid and continue baking an additional 30 minutes.

To make the Whiskey Sauce - place one stick of butter in a saucepan and melt over very low heat.  It is important that the heat be kept low as if it's too high the butter will burn.  When the butter is completely melted, add one cup of brown sugar and stir to dissolve.  Then add one tablespoon flour and mix it through.  When all have been blended together add 1/2 cup of boiling water.  Continue cooking and stirring until the mixture turns clear.  At this point remove it from the heat and add 1/3 cup of whiskey.  I use a good Irish whiskey, like Jameson's but any whiskey will do.

Serve the whiskey sauce hot over the bread pudding.

Bon appetit!

Hard Boiled Eggs

Have you ever peeled open a hard boiled egg only to find the yolk had started to turn green?  While this discoloration won't hurt the egg or have any effect on the taste, it doesn't look good.  The cause of this is over-cooking and is very easy to prevent.


First, place your eggs in a saucepan with plenty of head room (room above the eggs), like so:

Add enough cold water to cover the eggs by at least one inch:

Bring the eggs to a boil over medium heat.  As soon as the water begins to boil, remove the pan from the heat source.  Set a timer for 14 minutes.  The water is hot enough to continue slowly cooking the eggs for this time.  At the end of 14 minutes, immediately run the eggs under cold water.  As soon as they are cool enough to handle, place them in the refrigerator (if you won't be using them right away).

When you peel the eggs, what you will have is this:

Perfectly cooked eggs without any discoloration.

Another way of making them is to use a steaming basket.  Set the basket in a pan and pour water in to the bottom of the basket.  Turn the heat on high until the water boils.  Add the eggs and reduce the heat to simmer.  Put a lid on the pan and wait 14 minutes.  Then remove from heat and immediately put the eggs in cold water with plenty of ice added.  Add ice as needed to cool the eggs as quickly as possible.  Refrigerator the eggs once they have cooled.

Bon appetit!

Banana Nut Bread

Like most fruit breads, this is a quick bread, so called because it doesn't use yeast to make the dough rise.  The most important thing to remember about quick breads is that when you grease the pan, you only grease the bottom.  If you grease the sides the bread doesn't have anything to grab onto as it rises, and you'll wind up with very flat bread.

Assemble your ingredients while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In the upper left corner is the pan (with the bottom only greased).  Going clockwise from there is a measuring cup with the mashed bananas.  You need 1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas, which is about 3 or 4 bananas, depending on their size.  Next is 1 cup of sugar, 1/3 cup of margarine (softened), 1/3 cup of water, 1 2/3 cups of flour, 2 eggs and 1/2 cup chopped nuts.  I used pecans, but walnuts work just as well.  The small bowl in the lower center portion of the picture is the spices.  I put them all in one bowl, and it includes 1 tsp of baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg.

Mix together the sugar and butter until well blended.  Stir in the eggs.  When mixed thoroughly, add the bananas and water and beat for 30 seconds.  Add all the other ingredients except the nuts and mix until moistened.  Don't mix longer than this.  Finally, stir in the nuts.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake and 8-inch loaf for one hour fifteen minutes.  A 9-inch loaf will take 55 to 60 minutes.  You'll know it's done when a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Cool on a rack for five minutes, then loosen the sides and remove the pan.  Allow it to cool completely before slicing.  It will slice easier if it's cooled.  If you want to eat it while it's still warm, you might not get clean slices, but it will taste just as good.

Bon appetit!

Scones

Scones are along the lines of a tea biscuit, and are really one of the easiest things to bake.  First, assemble your ingredients like so:

Starting at the top center and going clockwise, they are; 1 3/4 cups of flour, 4 to 6 tablespoons half-and-half (still in the carton), 1 beaten egg, 2 1/2 tsps baking powder, 3 tbls sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/3 cup butter (cut up) and 1/2 cup currants.  At the bottom of the photograph is a pastry blender.  You can either use this or a food processor.


If you are making these by hand, use the pastry blender and cut the butter into the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.  Stir in the egg, currants and enough half-and-half so the dough leaves the side of the bowl.


If you're using the food processor, follow the same steps as above, but in the processor.  Follow the instructions for your particular model for making dough.  For my Cuisinart I had to use the blade rather than the pastry blade.  It made one slight difference (which I'll discuss later).

This is what the Cuisinart looks like with the blade in place.

Once the dough is formed, roll it into a ball and place it on a floured surface.  I use a pastry board for this, but a counter top will work too.  Notice the specks in the dough?  It looks like poppy seeds.  Those are the currants.  The drawback to using the Cuisinart is that the slicing blade chopped up the currants.  The finished scones tasted fine, but looked a little funny.  Doing it by hand doesn't do this.

Knead the dough ten times and then roll it out 1/2 inch thick.  Then use a two inch round cookie cutter to cut them out like this:

Place them on an ungreased cookie sheet and brush the dough with beaten egg like so:

The strange looking one on the left was made from the leftover dough that wouldn't fit into the cutter.  Bake them in a 400 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes.  When you remove them from the oven immediately take them off the cookie sheet and cool them on a wire rack.  


Your end result will look like this:

Bon appetit!

Lasagna

My mother makes about the best lasagna I've ever tasted, but I can never seem to make it quite as delicious as hers.  I'm beginning to think she leaves out ingredients when she gives me her recipes, just to ensure that her dishes remain better tasting than mine.


That having been said, I have been working on her lasagna recipe for quite some time, and what follows is what I think is about the best lasagna I've ever made.  Any comments on ways to make it better are certainly appreciated, but if you like lasagna, I think you'll be impressed.


To start with, the recipe is easily broken down into three steps; 1) the meat mixture, 2) the cheese mixture and 3) the noodles.  We'll start with the meat, then the cheese and finally the noodles.


Take one cup of chopped onions and add it to one pound of hamburger and one pound of ground sausage.  Cook until all the meat is browned, then drain the fat.


To the drained, cooked meat add one 28 ounce can of Italian-style peeled tomatoes, one six ounce can of tomato paste, 1 1/2 teaspoons oregano, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, one teaspoon basil, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder and two cloves finely chopped garlic.  Mix it up and cook it at a simmer (very low heat) covered for two hours.


While the meat is cooking mix one 15 ounce container of ricotta cheese with 3/4 cup of Parmesan cheese.  Do not use the Parmesan cheese that comes in the green plastic container. Use shredded Parmesan or shred your own.  Mix these well with one cup of shredded mozzarella cheese.  Add three Tablespoons of parsley to the cheese mixture.  It will look like this:

Put a large pan of water on the stove and bring it to a boil, with about two Tablespoons of oil in it (olive oil works well for this).  When the water boils, add six lasagna noodles and cook for nine minutes.  As soon as the nine minutes are up, pour the noodles into a colander and immediately fill the pan up with cold water.  Dump the noodles into the cold water and set aside.  If you keep the noodles soaking in cold water they won't stick together.


When the meat is finished cooking, spray the bottom of a 13" x 9" baking pan with cooking spray and assemble your meat mixture (still in the pan), cheese mixture and noodles within reach like this:

Ladle one or two spoonfuls of the meat mixture into the bottom of the pan, then lay three of the noodles over this like so:

Spread half of the cheese mixture over the noodles.  It won't spread smoothly, but will look something like this:

Don't worry about spreading it smoothly, since it will melt in the oven.  Spoon half of the meat mixture on top of the cheese mixture like so:

On top of the meat, place the last three noodles, then the remainder of the cheese mixture and top with the remaining meat mixture.  The finished lasagna will look like this:

Sprinkle one cup of mozzarella cheese on top so it looks like this:

Cover with aluminum foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.  Then remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes.  The lasagna should be hot and bubbly when you remove it from the oven, and the finished product will look like this:

If you like your cheese browned, place it under the broiler for two or three minutes.  Regardless, let it cool for about 10 or 15 minutes before cutting into it, as it will be very hot.


Bon appetit!

Beef Bourguignon

I started out using Julia Child's recipe for this dish, but as is the way with me, I made a few alterations along the way.  This is essentially beef stew in red wine, and there is a lot of wiggle room in the directions.  Feel free to make changes and substitutions and see what works best for you.


The recipe is made in several steps and it is NOT a quick recipe.  I actually did it over several days, but you can do it all in a matter of a few hours (probably no more than five).  There is a point where the stew is simmering for three hours and during this time you can prepare the onions and mushrooms, however I did these ahead of time.  Since that was the order in which I did them, that is the order in which I will give the instructions.


Starting with the onions, you will need about two dozen small onions.  I used the ones that are called pearl onions and once they were peeled, they looked like this:

This is all the preparation of the onions that needs to be done.  They remain whole, just peeled, and ready to cook.  Take a large frying pan and place in it 1.5 Tablespoons of unsalted butter and 1.5 Tablespoons of cooking oil.  I did NOT use olive oil for this, but you can if you like the taste of it.


Also, as an aside, always use unsalted butter.  There are two reasons for this; first, you can always add salt if you need it, but many ingredients already contain salt and you can't remove it from them, and second, when butter is made if it is not of the highest quality, salt is added to it so it will keep longer.  Unsalted butter is better quality for the same price.


Heat the oil/butter in a pan until the butter foams, and the foam begins to subside.  This indicates that the butter is hot enough to use.  The reason why oil is added is because if you only used butter at this temperature it would burn.  The oil allows it to heat to a higher temperature for frying.  At this point, Julia and I did not agree.  She uses a high heat, I use a low heat.  I prefer my food to cook longer and slower, as I find that most foods burn at higher temperatures.


Saute the onions (make sure they remain whole) for about ten minutes.  Keep rolling them in the pan to ensure that they brown all over, but don't burn.  After ten minutes add 1/2 cup of canned beef bouillon, a little bit of black pepper (to taste), 2 Tablespoons parsley, 1/2 bay leaf and 1/4 tsp thyme.  Julia ties these up in a bouquet, but I used them right in the bouillon.  Heat this to a simmer, cover and simmer for about 45 minutes.  Drain them and set aside.  Don't worry if you have herbs clinging to the onions, just make sure the bay leaf is discarded.


Now for the mushrooms.  Use 1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms, 2 Tablespoons butter and 1 Tablespoon oil.  Clean the mushrooms well and quarter them.  Heat the butter and oil as above and saute the mushrooms in small batches.  Do not try to cook them all at once, as they won't brown.  Each batch will take about five minutes to complete and when done, you'll have beautifully browned mushrooms.  Set them aside with the onions.


On to the stew.  I used stewing beef for this recipe, but I don't recommend it.  In the first place, I don't have any way of knowing what cut of meat it is.  In the second, it wasn't the best tasting, or the best consistency.  Find a three pound rump roast and cut it up yourself.  You can also have a butcher cut it, but what fun would that be?


You will also need a 6-ounce piece of bacon.  Since my market doesn't carry bacon in this form, I used sliced bacon (about 8 slices) and cut them into four pieces across the slices.  When cut, my bacon looked like this:

Heat 1.5 quarts of water to a simmer and add the bacon.  Simmer for ten minutes.  Drain the bacon and set it on a paper towel to dry.  Pat the top too, as the bacon must be completely dry.  While the bacon is cooking, you can also dry the meat with paper towels the same way.  All meat must be dry to cook properly.  If you bought a rump roast, cut the pieces to be bite size.


Now you will need a large (about 5 quart) pan with a lid that will be able to cook on both the stove top and in the oven.  An enamel coated cast iron pot works best.  In the pot, saute the dry bacon in 1 Tablespoon olive oil (or any cooking oil, but olive oil works well here) for a few minutes until lightly browned.  I did this in small batches, since there was too much to do it all at once.  Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.  Add the beef to the oil (which now also has bacon fat added) and brown the beef in small batches.  It must be brown on all sides.  Add it to the bacon.


It looks like I forgot to take a picture of the next ingredients, but they were two sliced carrots and one sliced onion (which I first cut in half and then sliced).  You could use three or four carrots if you'd like.  Place these in the skillet once the meat has been removed and brown these as well.


Drain the oil/fat from the pan (keep the vegetables) and return the meat to the pan on top of the vegetables.  Add 1/4 teaspoon pepper and stir.  Add 2 Tablespoons of flour one Tablespoon at a time.  Toss the mixture with each addition of flour.  Place the pan in a hot (450 degree) oven for four minutes. Remove from the oven and toss the mixture again.  Return to the oven for an additional four minutes.  Remove and reduce the oven to 325 degrees.


You will now add the following:

Start in three cups of a good red wine.  I used a French Bordeaux since, after all, this is a French recipe but you can use any full-bodied red wine.  Pick something that you really like, and if possible, get two bottles so you can serve one with the meal.  Add to this three cups of beef bouillon, 1 Tablespoon tomato paste, 2 cloves mashed garlic, 1/2 teaspoon thyme and one crumbled bay leaf.  Bring this to a simmer on the stove, then cover and place in the lower part of the oven.  Cook for 2.5 to three hours.


At this point Julia calls for preparing the onions and mushrooms, which I did at the beginning of the recipe.  When the meat is tender (a fork should pierce it easily), remove from the oven and pour the contents into a strainer over a sauce pan.  Wash out the pot you cooked the stew in, and return the cooked mixture to it, without the liquid.  This will be used to create a sauce.  Place the onions and mushrooms over the meat mixture in the pot.  


On the stove, place the saucepan with the sauce in it and skim off the fat.  Cook it at a simmer until it reduces to just over two cups.  It should coat a spoon thinly.  Mine did not, so I mixed one Tablespoon of cornstarch in three Tablespoons of cold water and then added it to the sauce.  Cook and stir for one minute to thicken it slightly.  This worked well for me.  Pour the sauce into the large pot and mix thoroughly.  Heat to a simmer and heat for a few minutes (up to five).


I boiled noodles to serve this over, but potatoes would work as well.  You could also serve it over rice, if you prefer and pair it with a full-bodied red wine.  


Bon appetit!

How to Cook Rice

Rice is one of the easiest things to cook, and you don't need any special equipment to make it perfect every time.  All you need is rice (I use white long grain), water and a saucepan with a tight fitting lid.  If you have a glass lid with a hole in it, don't use it.  The hole lets the steam escape too quickly.


The amount of rice you use depends on how many servings you want.  One cup of uncooked rice will be about three cups of cooked rice, which is plenty for three people.  Use that formula to determine the amount of rice.  Now take double that amount of water, so if you use one cup of rice use two cups of water.  Put the rice and water in the saucepan.


If you want to add a dash of salt you can, but I don't.  In fact, I don't add salt to anything I cook.  You can also add a tablespoon of butter, but that is also optional.  Place the pan on the stove and over medium heat bring it to a boil, stirring occasionally.  When you stir, really stir from the bottom to ensure that none of the rice is sticking to the bottom of the pan (which will cause it to burn).


When the rice boils immediately lower the flame pretty much as low as it will go without going out.  You only want the water to simmer from this point on.  Place the lid on the pot and set a timer for 14 minutes.  Do not lift the lid!  This is very important.


At the end of the 14 minutes, remove the pan from the stove, raise the lid and fluff the rice with a fork.  Put the lid back on and leave the rice sit until you are ready to serve it, or for at least five minutes.


Your rice will be fully cooked, not burned and ready to enjoy.  


Bon appetit!