Every Pot and Pan

BBA #39: Vienna Bread

2012-01-31T08:13:00.000-08:00

The thirty-ninth bread of the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge is Vienna bread. Many of the breads we love and consider great French breads and pastries actually came from Austria many years before. The big difference in these breads is that the Austrian breads utilize a little sugar, barley malt syrup, and butter. The sugar and malt syrup brown the crust faster and the butter "tenderizes the dough by coating and 'shortening' the gluten strands" as stated by Reinhart. I must admit that I still struggle to always understand all his bread language. However, having baked and tasted the bread, I think I understand what he means.

The bread was delicious. It was soft and rich. We spread ours with butter and finished it off with friends at dinner. I know we'll be making this bread again!

My Kitchen, The Old

2012-01-28T19:23:00.000-08:00

We've moved and I've left behind my kitchen. This is where I began my cook/baking journey. (Please forgive the appearance. This picture was taken after three days of packing, moving, and cleaning and right before we handed over keys.)

I will always have a special place in my heart for this kitchen. I learned so much on these counter tops. I'd love to do a long post recapping it all, but I just don't have the time!

I have a confession to make. Please fellow bakers go easy on me. During this crazy moving time when one really wants a treat now and then I've resorted to boxed brownie and cake mixes.

I promise to give you a tour of my new kitchen soon and you will notice many blog posts to come in this kitchen. I dealt with the angst and stress of the buying/selling process by baking. It was a great stress relief and allowed me to schedule out many posts so I don't feel like my blog is neglected during this chaotic time.

Happy Baking All!

Modern Baker: Coconut Pecan Chocolate Chunk Bars

2012-01-25T19:57:00.000-08:00

The Modern Bakers are baking up bars and cookies and these coconut pecan chocolate chunk bars really deliver! I took them to a party and not only was the plate emptied quickly but I've had three people ask me for the recipe.

They were super simple to make. One step I want to stress is the buttered foil covering the whole pan. I almost missed that little step and can only imagine the mess I would have had!

To begin the bars, you make simple cookie like crust and bake it. Then, you mix the coconut, pecans, and chocolate chunks together with lots of sugar and eggs. This mixture is spread on the crust and baked.

Each element really holds it's own and the tweaking possibilities are endless! Yay for super yummy bars that are a cinch to make!

Oatmeal Applesauce Bluberry Muffins DD

2012-01-22T12:44:00.000-08:00

These mini muffins are another attempt at semi-healthy muffins with a little deceptively deliciousness as well. The girls helped me make the muffin batter. They loved mixing and tasting everything. I'm not sure why, but they both think flour all by itself is "super yummy".

I like the mini muffin size. It's great for kids!

Oatmeal Applesauce Blueberry Muffins
Printable Recipe

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup applesauce
1/2 cup yellow squash puree
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 T oil
1 egg
1 cup blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg in one bowl.

3. Combine applesauce, squash puree, brown sugar, oil, and egg in another bowl.

4. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingrients and then stir in the blueberries. Spoon into mini muffin tins and bake for 15-18 minutes.

Modern Baker: Sicilian Fig Bars

2012-01-18T19:14:00.000-08:00

The Modern Bakers are baking cookies, bars, and biscotti from the Modern Baker cookbook. These sicilian fig bars are a merger of the classic fig bar we're all used to here in the U.S. with the seasonings you'd find in a fig bar in Sicily. I must say they look more complicated to make than they were!

I made a half recipe of the dough and rolled three ropes to about 12 inches long. I put these in the fridge to chill overnight. The next day I rolled the ropes out about 4 inches and then spread them with the filling.

The filling: You'll soon learn that I wasn't a huge lover of these fig bars, but I think a likely reason could be because I used different figs than specified. N.M. recommends Calimyrna figs. I couldn't find these so I used black mission figs. It could simply be that these figs didn't blend as well with the other seasonings.

I cooked the figs with water, apricot preserves, rum, cinnamon and cloves.

And then pureed the mixture. Oh my goodness did the house smell festive! I think it was the combination of the cinnamon and cloves.

After I spread the filling on the dough, I rolled them put and set them on a baking sheet seam side down. I baked them and then cut them up just like the classic fig newton bars.

What I liked about the bar is that it was a lot less sweet than a fig newton. The cookie part was crunchy and flaky more like a pie crust. What I didn't like was the filling. I'm thinking it was the combination of the "wrong" fig and the cloves that was off putting to me. I like a hint of cloves, but this recipe used quite a bit and it was overpowering to me. I doubt I'd make these again, however it would be fun to find another filling and make a similar style cookie/bar.

BBA #38: Tuscan Bread

2012-01-14T08:13:00.000-08:00

The thirty-eighty bread of the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge is Tuscan bread.

This bread is unique because it does not contain salt. In the intro Reinhart discusses, almost exclusively, the unique flavor this creates in the bread. I think it was a benefit that I didn't get around the reading the intro until after I made and ate the bread.

We loved this bread. I'm impressed I even noticed a difference in the taste of the bread. I must be getting a bread palate! I attributed the unique flavor to the addition of olive oil and to the usage of a flour paste. I didn't even notice it didn't contain salt. The flour paste, made with boiling water and flour, is unlike a pre-ferment because it doesn't contain yeast.

The flavor the bread can be dull or flat tasting and Tuscans combat this by using the bread with lots of lavish spreads or with hearty flavorful soups. We ate the bread with our favorite dipping olive oil, balsamic, and dipping spices. We loved the chewy dense texture of the bread. I told my husband that we'd be visiting Vienna next (Vienna bread is #39), he asked if I could just keep making this one.

So a definite hit and I now have a whole new appreciation for what salt does for a bread!

Applesauce Spice Muffins DD

2012-01-11T08:25:00.000-08:00

Yummy muffins! They sure don't taste like they have squash in them!

I'm now experimenting with my own Deceptively Delicious recipes! I have a whole freezer full of vegetable purees thanks to my parent's garden. Muffins are a great place to hide vegetables.

The kids loved them! Okay, I'm sure it had something to do with the chocolate chips, especially the double dose of chocolate chips! When one kid gets to pour the chocolate chips and the other freaks out, sometimes the solution is just more chocolate chips instead of a big discussion about how life isn't fair.

Applesauce Spice Muffin DD
Printable Recipe

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup brown sugar, separated
11 Tbs butter
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup yellow squash puree
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)
1 cup coconut (optional)

Topping:
1 Tbs sugar
1/8 tsp cinnaomn
1/8 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp nutmeg

1. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

2. In an electric mixer beat butter and half of the brown sugar. Add the eggs and beat to incorporate each. Add the applesauce and squash puree and then slowly add the flour mixture.

3. Take bowl off mixer. Fold in the second half of the brown sugar and the chocolate chips and/or coconut if using. Spoon into a 12-cavity muffin pan.

3. Mix topping and sprinkle over each muffin.

4. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Melting Snowman Cookies

2012-01-10T08:15:00.000-08:00

I originally saw these cookies on Pinterest and knew I had to do them this winter! What a fantastically fun cookie!

The girls had the best time shaping the dough and then decorating.

I let them each do a couple completely on their own and they created abstract art interpretations of snowmen.

Cookies, frosting, gel icing, chocolate chips, and marshmallows.... does a kid want anything more?

Melting Snowman Cookies
Printable Recipe

1 package Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
1 can white frosting
Marshmallows
Frosting tubes or gels
Mini chocolate chips

1. Mix the sugar cookie mix as directed. Take a small handful of dough, about 2 Tbs worth, and push down into a flat cookie shape. Don't worry if it's lumpy or misshapen. That just gives them extra charm. Bake the cookies as directed or until slightly golden.

2. Frost the cookies and allow it to drip over the sides or pool.

3. Spray a plate with cookie spray and place marshmallows on the plate. Set in the microwave for 30 seconds but watch them. Stop the microwave when they've puffed up. Don't worry about letting them double, just let them puff. Spray your fingers with cooking spray. Pluck them off the plate and place one on each cookie.

4. Decorate into snowmen.

Modern Baker: Caramel Crumb Bars

2012-01-08T20:24:00.000-08:00

The Modern Bakers are in now in cookies, bars and biscotti section of the cookbook!

I did okay for my first attempt at these bars but I think I can do better. Sometimes you need to do a recipe once to learn the slight nuances of it. Okay, I'll give you that usually those nuanced recipes are more complicated than a simple bar- like meringue or candy.

The bars could have used about 5 more minutes of baking. The caramel was light and creamy and the crust very buttery. These bars were really quite delicious. I would have preferred the caramel flavor to be a bit stronger but others loved them as they were. Please remember to line the pan with foil. I forgot and had a bit of a time getting them out of the pan.

Modern Baker: Sour Cream Brownies

2012-01-05T19:28:00.000-08:00

Brownies! Seriously, need I say more?!

The Modern Bakers are now baking cookies, bars & biscotti from The Modern Baker Cookbook.

These brownies are made with bittersweet chocolate chunks that are submerged in warmed butter and then mixed with dark brown sugar, eggs, sour cream, salt, vanilla, flour, and walnut pieces.

N.M. says that the sour cream helps cut down on the sweetness. He's right. These brownies are perfectly chocolatey and rich without sending you over the edge. In fact, what they'll do is send you back to the dessert table for another one! They are delicious!

They're more of a cake-like than fudge-like brownie. I happen to love both kinds, but often cake-like brownies can feel dry out. These were nicely moist. The walnuts were a great addition. Bake these with confidence that you'll have a happy crowd!

Charlotte's 4th Birthday Breakfast

2012-01-02T12:21:00.000-08:00

Happy 4th Birthday Charlotte!

2nd Blogoversary!

2011-12-31T14:14:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe I've been blogging about food for two years now! I never imagined my little new year's resolution to make a few new recipes would turn into this. I've pushed myself outside of my cooking and baking comfort zone, ate a tons of great food, and had a ton of fun!

My Top 5 of 2011!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Cheers!

Nutella Bread

2011-12-29T17:25:00.000-08:00

The Bread of the Month for December is nutella bread. I had planned to sit out December's bread, but since I still had a partially used jar of nutella from the sweet crepes earlier this month, I decided to jump in! The bread is so yummy and a great bread for this month! I loved the hazelnut chocolate swirl of goodness in the middle of the bread!

Nutella Bread
Printable Recipe

4 cups bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1/3 cup nutella + more for spreading inside
3/4 c to 1 cup warm water

1. Mix flour, salt, yeast and nutella together in a bowl with a dough hook. Let dough mix for about 10 minutes once ingredients have formed a ball. The dough should be tacky but not too sticky.

2. Oil a bowl and let dough rise until doubled.

3. Place dough on counter and roll until about 1/2 inch thick and as wide as the pan you intend to use. Pipe lines of nutella lengthwise along the bread. (I ended up with about 5 lines each about 1/2 inch thick.) Roll dough and place seam side down into 9x5 pan.

4. Let dough rise until doubled.

5. Bake at 375 for 35 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool on rack.

Bento!

2011-12-27T20:39:00.000-08:00

I have decided to have some fun with my kid's lunches and experiment with bento boxes. My sister-in-law inspired me with pics of the fun lunches she was doing for her kids.

What is bento? Another Lunch a bento food blogger has this definition:

Bento is a way of packing meals in a compact way in a single container. Bentos should be visually appealing and be comprised of assorted foods - smaller portions of each, but providing more variety over all.

Tidbits from wikipedia-

Bento is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine.
It is still common for Japanese homemakers to spend time and energy for their spouse, child, or themselves producing a carefully prepared lunch box.
"Bento" originates from the Southern Song Dynasty slang term meaning "convenient".

I started looking around and could not believe how many bento food bloggers I found! There are such fun and creative ideas to experiment with! I'm just getting started and they stay to start slow and just try one thing at a time. Here are my first few attempts at doing bento boxes.

First Attempt:

PB&J with heart sandwich cutter

snowflake and snowman cheese

peeled orange

carrot sticks

and a candy cane.

Snack Time: A bento for snack at the playground.

Cheese bits from the leftover cheese scraps.

It's quite an orange snack isn't it!

Ham and cheese flower pressed sandwiches

thin apple slices

cucumbers on pick

and candy cane.

PB&J sushi roll sandwiches

checkerboard apple

oatmeal applesauce blueberry mini muffin (recipe post to come)

chocolate dipped marshmallows (post to come)

greek yogurt for one and orange pepper for the other

Chocolate Covered Marshmallows

2011-12-26T00:37:00.000-08:00

A fun and delicious treat. Great for kids!!

We melted chocolate chips in the microwave, dipped marshmallows, and added sprinkled. The kitchen and children were covered in chocolate and sprinkles but a fabulous time was had!!

Rudolph Pancakes

2011-12-24T09:51:00.000-08:00

Rudolph Pancakes!

Our Christmas Eve breakfast.

We're on the watch for Rudolph and his buddies!

We have cookies for Santa ready and magic reindeer food to sprinkle on our lawn before bedtime to help Rudolph find our house.

Time for the holiday magic to begin!!!

Chocolate Covered Candy Canes

2011-12-24T05:11:00.000-08:00

The final touch to my cookie plate this year is chocolate covered candy canes! I dipped the top section in dark chocolate and then streaked over it with white chocolate. It was a bit more difficult than I anticipated, but a fun first year attempt. I'll definitely try them again.

Aren't these just begging for a cup of cocoa to dunk/melt them in!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Peppermint Fudge

2011-12-22T09:11:00.000-08:00

Another little addition to my cookie plate this year. Peppermint Fudge!

I made the simple fudge-in-a-box from the store this year. I think Carnation makes it and it has all the ingredients- sugar, condensed milk, chocolate chips, and marshmallows and I added the butter. So simple. I added the peppermint "sugar" on top from crushed candy canes. The plate is almost complete!

BBA #36: Stollen

2011-12-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

The thirty-sixth bread of the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge is stollen.

I must admit I've been dreading this bread since I began the challenge. Stollen is a holiday bread and this stollen is a take off of traditional Christmas bread from Dresden Germany. Not having grown up with traditional breads like these I don't really get their appeal. What's with all the fruit in the bread?! As I've said many times, I don't like fruit in my bread. Particularly raisins! I did put the candied fruit in this bread but I omitted the raisins. I just can't go there anymore.

I'm not necessarily opposed to liquor in bread though. The fruit was soaked in brandy and lemon extract before being added to the bread.

The dough came together well and used butter and eggs. Now that I've baked more bread I understand the softness these additions make to the dough. Orange and lemon zest were also added along with slivered almonds. I noticed something with my slivered almonds though. I bought "slivered almonds" in the bulk section. They look like little toothpicks. Then, I noticed in Reinharts picture that his almonds look like "sliced almonds"- almonds that have been thinly shaved. I wonder if there is a standard set or perhaps someone used the improper term.

Shaping the dough was a little difficult. Reinhart explains with both words and pictures but I must admit I never fully felt like I was shaping it was he was picturing/describing.

The bread cooked in about 40 minutes. When I tested the temperature after 40 minutes I was shocked it was only reading around 85 as it was supposed to be at 190 when done. The crust was golden and it sure looked done. I almost put it back in for longer but then noticed the C for Celsius. Oops. I clicked it over to Fahrenheit. 195. Done!

The bread was okay. The crust was crunchy and the bread soft. The fruit was not as off-putting as I assumed it would be but I was still very happy I'd omitted the raisins. It was better than I expected, but I must admit my expectations were pretty low. This kind of holiday bread just isn't for me. I'd rather slather butter over a roll or make challah at the holidays.

Fruit-Nut Balls

2011-12-18T06:57:00.000-08:00

I found this recipe in a fun cookbook/memoir A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg who also food blogs at Orangette. I loved her book. It was full of funny family stories, mostly centering around food, and then each short chapter ended with a recipe or two. As I was reading it I kept feeling so in sync with Molly. There were so many stories I could relate to or just thought were hysterical. I wish we could be friends. Based on her book, I think we have a lot in common. She said she avoided these balls for years and years and then one year made them and ever since they've been a holiday must-do!

If you've kept track this is my 5th ball recipe for my holiday plate- excessive, I know. What can I say- it just kinda happened...

Fruit-Nut Balls
Adapted From: A Homemade Life
Printable Recipe

1 1/2 cup walnuts
2/3 lb pitted dried cherries
1/3 lb dried figs
1/2 lb pitted dried apricots
1/3 lb pitted prunes
1 or 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier, or brandy
1/2 cup powdered sugar
10 oz semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1. Finely chop the walnuts in a food processor. Transfer to a large bowl.

2. Check the prunes for pits! One pit in the processor will turn into billions of tiny rocks.

3. Add half of the dried fruit to the food processor bowl and pulse until finely chopped. Pieces should be the size of pea or smaller. Do not turn the fruit into gummy paste! Add the fruit to the large bowl an repeat with the remaining fruit. When all the fruit it chopped stir the fruit and nut mixture well.

4. Add one tablespoon of the Grand Marnier and stir to incorporate. Pinch off a small wad and check to see if it holds together in a tight ball. If it does not add another tablespoon of Grand Marnier.

5. Form into 1 to 1 1/2 inch balls and roll in powdered sugar. Set on a baking sheet and let stand uncovered for 24 hours at room temperature.

6. Line a second baking sheet with a silicone line (or parchment). In a heatproof bowl set over simmering water, melt the chocolate.

7. Bring the chocolate and balls near the sink. Take one ball at a time and spoon a dollop of chocolate on top. Coax the chocolate down by shaking the ball slightly. Do this over the sink as not to contaminate your chocolate. The chocolate will not cover the ball completely. Set the ball, chocolate side up, on the baking sheet and repeat.

8. Slide the baking sheet into the fridge and chill until the chocolate has hardened, about 2 hours. Place each ball in a paper candy cup. Store in the fridge in an airtight container.

Orange Blossoms

2011-12-16T08:42:00.000-08:00

A favorite of my father-in-law's and my third ball for the cookie plate. If you like chocolate and orange together you'll love these!!! I was told that the 2-3 days of 'ripening' is quite important so plan accordingly when you prepare. These would be a great make-ahead dessert for any occasion!

Orange Blossoms
Printable Recipe

1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbs corn syrup
1/2 cup undiluted orange concentrate
2 1/2 cup crushed vanilla wafers
1 cup chopped walnuts (or almonds)
powdered sugar for rolling

1. Melt chocolate over a pan of water. Remove from heat and stir in sugar and corn syrup. Mix. Add orange juice and stir. Add wafers and nuts.

2. Form into 1'' balls and roll in powdered sugar.

3. Store in an airtight container and let ripen for a few days.

White Chocolate Cherry Shortbreads

2011-12-14T08:19:00.000-08:00

A yummy new cookie for my cookie plate this year! I found it on my Pinterest- my favorite new thing.

"Pinterest....

making people feel empowered

yet incompetent,

inspired yet overwhelmed,

and just plain hungry all the time!"

Oh so true. Such a fun site that makes you feel crafty and a great site for holiday cookie ideas. The minute I saw these I knew I had to make them!

The cookie shortbread dough has chopped maraschino charries and white chocolate chunks in it. The cookie is then half dipped in white chocolate and sprinkles are added! So Christmasy!!!

White Chocolate Cherry Shortbreads
Printable Recipe

1/2 cup maraschino cherries, drained and finely chopped
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup butter, cold and cubed
12 oz white chocolate baking squares with cocoa butter, finely chopped
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 drops red food coloring
2 tsp shortening
White/Red nonpareils or edible glitter

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spread cherries on a paper towel to drain.

2. In a bowl of a food processor combine flour and sugar. Add the butter, almond extract, and food coloring and pulse a few times until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.

3. Move mixture to a large bowl and stir in the cherries and 2/3 cup (4 oz) of the chopped white chocolate. Knead mixture until it forms a ball.

3. Shape the dough into 3/4 inch balls. Place on a cookie sheet. Flatten the cookies into 1 1/2 inch rounds. (Using the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar works very nicely.)

4. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cookies cool completely on wire rack.

5. In a small saucepan, combine the remaining 8 oz of white chocolate and the shortening. Cook on low until melted. Dip half of each cookie into the chocolate. Allow the excess to drip off. Roll the edge in nonpareils or edible glitter. Place on waxed paper until chocolate is set.

Bourbon Balls

2011-12-11T08:46:00.000-08:00

Amaretto Balls- Angie's Recipe

My sister Angie makes the best holiday cookie plates! She does much better at the balanced assortment of goodies than I do. I'm always trying new things (i.e. cookie failure!) and sometimes I get a little bit of tunnel vision and my plate becomes too much of one thing. (This year turned out to be all about balls!) Angie has her tried and true favorites and sticks to them. She's really perfected them.

Every year I look forward to her bourbon balls and perhaps even more so now because they're the one thing on the plate I don't have to share with my kids!

My sister was kind enough to share her recipe with me this year. Funny thing- the recipe calls for 'vanilla wafers'. I went to the store to get them and on my way down the cookie aisle I saw Nilla wafers. I stopped in my tracks. "Oh, I bet those are what I'm supposed to use!" Can you guess what I was on my way to get? Those little vanilla creme wafers with frosting in the middle. I wonder how that would have turned out. Lots of sugary frosting and not much bulk in the little wafer to hold the cookie together. Whew, cookie failure averted!

Bourbon Balls- Angie's Recipe

I was mentioning my sister's bourbon balls in my in-laws and they started telling great stories about Grandma's bourbon balls. It seems she was known for her strong bourbon balls. It seemed a little test was in order.

Grandma Bailey's Bourbon Balls

The recipes are practically identical except for two point. 1. Grandma uses melted chocolate instead of cocoa powder and 2. the amount of alcohol. Angie's balls use 1/4 cup of bourbon. Grandma's balls use 1/3 cup of bourbon, however the stories that were related led me to believe this is how Grandma measured her 1/3 of a cup: She placed the measuring cup over the bowl with the ingredients and poured until the cup overflowed and then kept pouring for just a moment longer.

Grandma Bailey's Bourbon Balls

Both recipes are great, each is just a little different. Angie's balls are little more crumbly and Grandma's balls are little more smooth- like eating a piece of fudge.

Bourbon Balls
Printable Recipe

Grandma Bailey's Bourbon Balls
2 1/2 cups crushed vanilla wafers
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbs melted chocolate with melted butter (or cocoa powder)
3/8 tsp salt
3 Tbs dark corn syrup
1/3 cup (or more) Bourbon
powdered sugar for rolling

1. Mix together the wafers, sugar, cocoa and nuts. Add the corn syrup and bourbon, mix well.

2. Roll into 1" balls and roll in powdered sugar.

Angie's Bourbon Balls

2 1/2 cups finely crushed vanilla wafers (food processor works great)

1 cup powdered sugar

2 TBS cocoa

1 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans

3 TBS corn syrup

1/4 cup bourbon (or amaretto)

granulated sugar for rolling

1. Mix together the wafers, sugar, cocoa and nuts. Add the corn syrup and bourbon, mix well.

2. Roll into 1" balls and roll in granulated sugar.

Tip: These are best "aged". Make them at least 2 weeks ahead of time for a mellower flavor. If you prefer stronger alcohol flavor, make them and eat them right away. No need to refrigerate, with all that booze, they'll keep at least as long as it takes to eat them!

Peanut Butter Rollo Cookies

2011-12-09T08:35:00.000-08:00

If there is any cookie that could rival my cocoa crinkle sandwich cookies, it would be these peanut butter rollo cookies- at least in my hubby's mind. I've been making these for years and they are his absolute favorite cookie. He very sweetly asked me to make them for the holiday plate this year.

We'll see if they actually make it on to the plate with the rate they're disappearing! Mental note for next year: make them last so they don't sit around too long!

Usually I roll them in regular sugar, but to give them a little more holiday spirit I rolled them in green sugar. Aren't they festive!

Rollo Cookies
Printable Recipe

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
24-40 rollos
Sugar for rolling

1. Cream the butter, peanut butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Add the egg and incorporate. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until combined.

2. Take a small amount of dough and place a rollo in the middle. Roll the ball in sugar and place on a cookie sheet. (The 24-40 rolls is such a large range because it simple depends on how big you like your cookies and how much cookie you like around your rollo. I prefer smaller cookies so I usually use 40 or so rollos, but I have made them larger before.)

3. Bake for 10 minutes and let cool on a wire rack.

Cocoa Crinkle Sandwich Cookies aka Christmas Crack (Re-post)

2011-12-07T20:50:00.000-08:00

It's time to start my annual holiday cookie plate! I've made these Cocoa Crinkle Sandwich Cookies for the past 4 years. They are absolute must-do cookie for the season. I always think of my oldest daughter Charlotte when I make these because I was HUGELY pregnant with her the first time I made them- 39 1/2 weeks along.

Do yourself a favor this holiday season. Make these cookies! My hubby's co-workers affectionately call them Christmas crack.

These are the absolute best holiday cookie ever!

Modern Baker: Butterscotch Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2011-12-06T13:43:00.000-08:00

The Modern Bakers are now baking cookies, bars, and biscotti! If you've paid attention you may be wondering, but wait, what about cakes! Well, we've decided the skip the cakes and jump into the cookies since we're all often baking so many cookies during these time of year anyway. We're going to spend a long time in this section as many of us want to bake every recipe!

These cookies take a slight twist on the ever classic chocolate chip cookies. When I first read the ingredients I was a little disappointed there wasn't any butterscotch chips in the cookies. The butterscotch flavor is created by using only brown sugar in the cookies. The chocolate chunks are half milk chocolate and half bittersweet chocolate.

I thought there would be little learn from a cookie I've made many many times in my life, but N.M. added a small note in this recipe that may very well change my cookie baking life forever! He warned not to overbeat the dough or the cookies with rise and then flatten during baking. My cookie often do this and in the past I've thought it was stale baking soda that caused this. N.M. instructs the flour to be added by hand after the egg is incorporated. I followed his instructions and my cookies were in fact puffy! Thank you Nick!!

I told my stepmom about this trick and she was equally intrigued because they happen to prefer flattened cookies and she never knew why some of her batches turned out that way and others didn't. She plans to overbeat her batter from now on.

Oh, and the cookies- they were great! Personally, I would have preferred all milk chocolate chips, but that's just me. These are a great classic. And for those dough lovers like myself- the cookie dough was also delicious!

Sweet Crepes

2011-12-04T07:59:00.000-08:00

This tasty dessert crepe is begging for it's own tradition! We made these Thanksgiving morning and it seemed the perfect sweet treat to have mid-morning before the big meal at the end of the day.

I'd really like to say we've found a new Thanksgiving morning tradition, but that might mean waiting until next Thanksgiving to do these again and I'm just not sure I can wait that long!

We made our crepes with Nutella and strawberries and it was just as good as I remembered it at Karen's when she shared this recipe with me earlier this year. I topped ours off with whipped cream and powdered sugar.

My oldest asked for thirds of whipped cream (that's so me). My youngest smashed her hands in the whipped cream and finally came up to me with hands up "yucky". She wouldn't touch her crepe until all the offending whipped cream was removed from her plate (that's so my hubby).

Yes, I licked the plate!

Sweet Crepes
Adapted From: Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market
Printable Recipe

1 cup flour
1 1/3 cups whole milk
3 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbs melted butter
Fruit or filling of your choice

1. Blend all the ingredients in a blender.

2. Melt butter in a nonstick pan. Pour a small ladle-sized amount of batter into the pan. Swirl the pan so that the batter just coats it. Let the batter cook until golden. Flip with a spatula.

3. As the second side cooks, add your choice of filling to one half of the crepe. Let the filling cook/melt slightly then flip the naked crepe side over the filling and serve.

Filling Ideas:
Jam, Sugar, Honey, Peanut Butter, Chocolate Hazelnut Spread (Nutella), Whip Cream, Powdered Sugar, Raspberries, Strawberries, Bananas, Apples, Peaches
Check out Karen's ideas!

Buckwheat Crepes

2011-12-02T17:49:00.000-08:00

My dear friend Karen at Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market posted a buckwheat crepe recipe earlier this year. She's also my friend in real life and did me one better than just posting about it. She had us over for brunch crepes one Sunday! She served these buckwheat crepes and then we did dessert crepes. It was a heavenly morning of crepe making!

Crepes are a bit intimidating at first. The batter is so thin and it does take a little practice in flipping. She says to "flip with confidence" and she's right. With some confidence and some practice crepe making is a synch! I've been very eager to give these buckwheat crepes a try as they are surprisingly filling for just a little thin crepe.

Here's the glossy batter at the start.

And, here's what it looks like when it's ready to flip- dull with permanent bubbles.

I chose to do a ham, cheese, and mushroom crepe. Karen did apple, prosciutto, and cheddar in her buckwheat crepes.

Perfect for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, or a snack!

Buckwheat Crepes
Adapted From: Karen at Fairmount neighborhood Farmers Market
Printable Recipe

crepe batter:
1 cup flour
1 cup buckwheat flour
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 Tbs butter, melted
a pinch of salt

filling:
4 oz Gruyere cheese, shredded
1 cup cubed ham
12 mushrooms, sliced
garlic, minced

1. Batter. Combine all of the ingredients in a blender. Mix until smooth. For ease during crepe making, pour batter into a large measuring beaker. Let batter rest for an at least an hour before using.

2. Filling. Saute the mushrooms in garlic and butter or oil. Set aside. Prepare other fillings and have them at the ready.

3. Melt a thin pat of butter and coat your pan with it. Pour in the crepe batter slowly. While you pour swirl the pan so the batter coats the pan. Cook until the batter changes from a glossy to a dull, pale appearance and permanent bubbles appear on top. Slide a spatula under the crepe and "flip with confidence". (The confidence part is important!)

4. Sprinkle a thin layer of cheese, ham, and mushrooms on half of the crepe. Let the cheese melt and the second side cook for a few moments. Flip the naked half over the filling and slide onto a plate. Eat!

Deceptively Delicious Fall

2011-12-01T16:02:00.000-08:00

I've fallen into a good rut with my Deceptively Delicious cookbook lately. We just keep repeating our favorites and not venturing out on new recipes much lately. I got a ton of puree at the end of the summer with the over abundance on yellow squash from my parent's garden. I'll keep up all the fun deception this winter!

Here are two recipes we tried awhile ago.

"Buttered" Noodles- yellow squash puree. A hit!

Burgers- cauliflower puree. Me-not a huge hamburger fan anyway and thought they were okay. Dad liked the flavor but didn't like the texture. Charlotte was so-so on it but that's how she is with any burger. Pippi ate it up!

Modern Baker: Blackberry Jam Sandwich with Lemon Icing

2011-11-28T20:59:00.000-08:00

The Modern Bakers are baking cookies, bars, and biscotti from the Modern Baker cookbook and these blackberry jam sandwich cookies were a great baking project for our weekend. The dough came together too dry and I wasn't sure what to do so I just continued and put the dough in the fridge to chill as directed. When I tried to roll it out all it would do is crack and crumble in my hands. I wasn't sure what I did wrong. I called my stepmom for advice. One of her first questions, "did you use unbleached flour?". I sure did. She said she's noticed it sucks up the liquid more in her baking. She advised putting it back in the mixer with a little water. I did just that and 2 tablespoons later the dough was at a perfect consistency to roll.

Then, we began the rolling out! Charlotte and Penelope took turns rolling out with their little rolling pin too.

The cookies baked and I reduced the preserves a little in a saucepan. We had great fun filling and smashing the cookies together to make sandwiches.

The icing consisted of confectioners' sugar and lemon juice. N.M. has you cook the icing over low heat. I've never done icing over heat. I think perhaps I had the heat up too high. I was able to streak the first couple of cookies, but quickly the icing would only come out in globs and I switched to just topping them with some icing instead of streaking.

The cookies were great fun to make and yummy. The lemon cookie, blackberry filling, and lemon icing all complimented each other very nicely. A great afternoon treat!

Stuffing Stuffed Mushrooms

2011-11-25T07:15:00.000-08:00

Got leftover stuffing? Try these!!

I'm piggybacking off of my Thanksgiving roundup recipe of Cornbread Dressing with Sausage and Apples. This recipe uses any leftover stuffing, but I used my yummy cornbread stuffing.

I realize earlier I referred to the dressing as dressing and now I'm calling it stuffing, but like I explained I use the words interchangeably and Stuffing Stuffed Mushrooms just sounds more fun than Dressing Stuffed Mushrooms.

These little stuffed mushrooms are super simple and super delicious!! I could not stop eating them and almost finished an entire pan myself!

Stuffing Stuffed Mushrooms
Adapted From: Rachel Ray
Printable Recipe

15-20 Mushrooms
1 cups leftover stuffing
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Pop the stems out of the mushrooms and set top down on a baking sheet. Toss the leftover stuffing with the Parmesan cheese. Scoop heapfuls of stuffing into mushrooms.

3. Bake for 20 minutes or until mushrooms are soft and browned.

BBA #37: Swedish Rye (Limpa)

2011-11-22T12:26:00.000-08:00

The thirty-seventh bread of the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge is Swedish rye or Limpa. The bread begins with a complex sponge including my sourdough starter, white rye flour, ground cardamon, ground fennel seeds, ground aniseeds, dried orange peel, and molasses. This was my first time seeking out dried orange peel and I was pleasantly surprised to find it under "O" in the bulk section.

I let the sponge ferment for about 5 hours until it was foamy and then I refrigerated it overnight. The next morning I mixed the sponge with bread flour, instant yeast, salt, brown sugar, and some vegetable oil. I knew from previous experience with rye that I should knead the dough as little as possible. Reinhart also reminded that kneading time should only be, at most, 6 minutes.

The dough was not coming together too well. It was too dry. I began to panic because rye and I have not had that great of a relationship thus far. I started dribbling water down the side of the bowl and after about 2 1/2 tablespoons of water the bread finally came together. I let the dough hook knead it for about 3 minutes and then put it in a oiled bowl.

I took my kids on a playdate and preceded to completely forget about the bread. The two hour rise turned into about 3 1/2 hours but the dough handled it well. I shaped it into a bread pan, let it rise again, and baked it.

The bread was delicious. The crust was crunchy and the dough inside was soft like sandwich bread although denser. The flavor was amazing. I sliced it right before dinner and my two year old strongly requested a piece. She then demanded two more pieces and effectively ruined her dinner but I didn't mind. I was so thrilled she loved the bread. The husband also loved the bread and declared it one of his all time favorite. Yay! A rye bread that was a success!!

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

2011-11-20T15:06:00.000-08:00

Let's face it. A lot of muffins are cupcakes in disguise. Sometimes, the disguise isn't even that good.

We feel so much better when we're eating a muffin over a cupcake though don't we. I want to make start making delicious muffins that I feel no guilt over making over and over again. Here's one attempt.

A successful attempt I must add. I drastically reduced the sugar, added flaxseed meal, and included pecans. The reduced sugar was noticeable. Perhaps even off puttingly noticeable to some. My kids didn't seem to notice though and gobbled these up today.

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
Printable Recipe
1 c flour
1/4 c flaxseed meal
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 c pumpkin
2 T butter
1/4 c milk
1/4 c brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 c pecans, chopped

Topping
1/2 T sugar
dash of cinnamon

1. Combine the flour, flaxseed meal, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in a bowl.

2. Whisk together the pumpkin and brown sugar. Add the butter, milk, egg, and vanilla and continue to whisk.

3. Stir the flour mixture into the wet mixture. Mix until just combined. Fold in the pecans.

4. Divide the batter into 6-9 lined muffin tins. Mix the topping and sprinkle onto each filled muffin tin.

5. Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes.

BBA #35: Sunflower Seed Rye

2011-11-15T19:56:00.000-08:00

The thirty-fifth bread of Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge is sunflower seed rye. Rye bread and I have had some good times and some struggles.

New York Deli Rye- good
100% Sourdough Rye- epic failure!
Pumpernickel Bread- great

This sunflower seed rye utilized a soaker, a starter, and instant yeast. With all that going for it, I was shocked when it was slow to rise. The rise took an extra hour and the proofing an extra 30-45 minutes. I was excited to learn a new shaping method. The couronne was fun to make, although now having done it once and seeing the results I know I could do it better next time! I didn't realize the hold would close up that much during baking. I need a much bigger donut hole next time!

The bread, unfortunately, was a bit gummy. I tried hard to not over-mix it as Reinhart is clear that over-mixing leads to a gummy final bread. The sunflower seeds were great and the flavor was good. It was just the texture that fell flat. The family all thought the bread was good and ate it up.

I have a whole new appreciation for rye bread now. Rye bread bakers are truly skilled bakers. I think I'll buy my rye from now on.

Lemon Rosemary Buttons

2011-11-10T20:01:00.000-08:00

My dear friend and fellow baker Minna put these yummy little cookies on her holiday cookie plate last year. After one bite I immediately emailed for the recipe. I'm a bit embarrassed and shocked it has taken me almost a whole year to get around to making them!

The cookies are so simple and yet so delicious. The end of Minna's email describes them perfectly. "A cookie that screams "less is more"!!! Look at how few ingredients there are."

Yes, so few ingredients! The original recipe uses an electric mixer, but one thing I've learned from my Modern Baker cookbook is that a food processor can be your best friend when making shortbread and pie crust type doughs.

Just cube the butter into the processor and mix until it all comes together. So easy.

The cookies are simple with a lemon punch in the icing and the rosemary compliments all it perfectly.

Lemony goodness!!!!

Lemon Rosemary Buttons
Printable Recipe

Shortbread base:
2 cups flour
1 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 cup granular sugar
1/4 tsp salt
Zest of one lemon

Frosting:
2 Tbs lemon juice (about juice of 1 lemon)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
lemon zest (optional)
rosemary twigs

1. Preheat oven 325 F. Mix flour, butter, granulated sugar, salt and zest in a food processor. Mix until dough is no longer crumbly and just comes together. It will clump around the edges of the bowl and allow you to form it. Form dough into a disk; chill 30 min.

2. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough 1/2" thick and cut cookies. A 1.5'' cookie cutter works well. They are "buttons" so think small for the cookie cutter. Arrange on baking sheets and chill 15 min. Bake until light golden brown, about 15-18 mins.

3. Mix powdered sugar with fresh lemon juice. Add zest if using. Spoon 1/2 tsp glaze over each cookie, spreading with back of spoon, and press 1 rosemary sprig into glaze.

(You can also add some chopped rosemary, 1 tsp, into the dough if you want to intensify the rosemary flavor.)

Cornbread Dressing with Sausage and Apples

2011-11-06T05:18:00.000-08:00

It's time to start thinking about Thanksgiving!

My good friend Phyl put together a Thanksgiving dinner round-up and I grabbed the stuffing! Or, dressing as many call it. I use the words interchangeably, although I'm sure to some there is a distinction between stuffing (inside bird) vs dressing (outside bird). I'm sure I've had stuffing actually stuffed in the bird at some point in my life, but for the majority of my adulthood I always remember it being cooked alongside the bird.

I found a fantastic recipe from one of my favorite sources Pioneer Woman and tweaked to my liking. If I were able I'd handle the calories, I'd love to cook my way through her cookbook!

This recipe begins with lots of bread: cornbread, french bread, and a crusty baguette! Sausage is added (I chose the use kiebalsa) along with onions and apples. If you're not a huge fan of apples in dressing, reduce to one apple. I love the extra flavor an apple brings to dressing, but I'm not a huge fan of cooked apple so, for me, two was a bit much.

Herbed chicken broth is poured over everything and then it's all baked in the oven. Oh goodness did the house smell like Thanksgiving! I almost called my whole family over for dinner. The dressing was really delicious and would compliment any Thanksgiving table.

Cornbread Dressing with Sausage and Apples
Adapted From: Pioneer Woman
Printable Recipe
Serves: 8

2 cups of cornbread cut into 1 inch cubes
2 cups of french bread cut into 1 inch cubes
2 cups of crusty baguette cut into 1 inch cubes (I like the seeded baguettes)
1/4 lb sausage (italian or kiebalsa)
1 cup onion, diced
2 granny smith apples, chopped
2 T + 1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 cup white wine
14 oz can chicken broth
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp tumeric
1 tsp rosemary leaves, minced
1/2 tsp kosher salt
pepper (to taste)
parsley, minced

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Cut up bread and combine in a large bowl.

3. In a large skillet cook sausage. Once it has browned, set it aside. Add to the skillet (without cleaning) the onion. Saute the onions for one minute. Add the apples and brown sugar to the pan. Cook until the apples are soft, about 5 minutes. To the pan add the white wine and kosher salt and let mixture bubble for about three to four minutes. Set the onion and apple mixture in another bowl.

4. Add to the skillet (without cleaning) the chicken broth, thyme, tumeric, rosemary, and any desired pepper. Let the broth warm for a few minutes.

Assembly:
5. Add the sausage and apple mixture to the bowl with the bread. Toss. Pour the warmed broth over the bread mixure. Begin by pouring half of the broth over and tossing. As you add the remaining half of broth be prepared to not add it all. Assess by tasting.

6. Pour mixture into a large baking dish and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

Buttermilk Cottage Dill Bread

2011-11-03T16:23:00.000-07:00

I've been watching my friend Phyl's Bread of the Month group on facebook for months now and had to join in this month! The bread sounded too intriguing to not participate! Just look at the the picture below. Would you ever imagine this is how you would start off to make bread!

Yes, that is cottage cheese, butter, and buttermilk.

All cooked together with minced onion and fresh dill.

Then the flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and yeast is sifted together. The two mixtures are combined and all the rising begins. My doughs needed some extra time and extra coaxing but they rose in the loaf pans and were baked.

The bread was so good! I can totally see this bread becoming a favorite in our house. Phyl also suggested using this bread for making stuffing. Great idea! If you don't eat it all before it has time to "dry out" for the crouton making.

You can get Phyl's recipe for Buttermilk Cottage Dill bread here!

BBA #34: Pumpernickel Bread

2011-11-01T18:54:00.000-07:00

The thirty-fourth bread of the Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge is pumpernickel bread. I cannot believe I only have nine breads left!

I was so nervous about this bread turning out as I had many obstacles on my path to its creation. First of all, there is no pumpernickel bread in my city! I went to three grocery stores and no one carried coarse whole-rye (pumpernickel grind) flour. I couldn't even find anything that seemed close. I finally just ordered it from King Arthur Flour.

Next, I'd let my starter sit for about three weeks without any refreshing. I figured this was okay, but I've been very diligent about my starter since creating this second one and wasn't sure how it would react. I also ended up having to refresh it twice because I didn't realize I needed a cup of starter and I'd depleted by starter by quite a bit. The day I went to start the bread I ended up just refreshing my starter again because I didn't want to use all of it.

I finally got to mixing day. I made the rye starter and popped it in the fridge after a day of fermenting. I had planned to make and bake bread the next day but life happened and I didn't get to it. So, my rye starter sat for two days. This is the first bread I've made that has used the usual ingredients of brown sgugar, cocoa powder, and bread crumbs. I made the bread and let it rise. After two hours it had barely risen. I hopped it in a slightly warmed oven to see if that would help.

Yes, the bread finally rose after 4 hours but at this point it was too late to get it ready for dinner and my evening was being upended anyway so I shaped the dough and stuck it in the fridge. This is the first time I've ever retarded dough after shaping without being prompted that it's okay to do that. I assumed it was fine but you never know the first time you try something.

And after all that.... the bread turned out great! It was dense and chewy and had a great flavor. At dinner my daughter said, "Mama is bread is really good." So a hit definitely! I'll be making this bread again for sure. I like it a lot and I have plenty of flour from King Arthur to use up.

Modern Baker: Perfect Birthday Cake

2011-10-25T17:36:00.000-07:00

Perfect Birthday Cake. That's what Nick Malgieri the author of The Modern Baker cookbook calls this cake. The Modern Bakers are not moving onto cakes until January, but I had to try this cake. This is the first year my child's birthday has not fallen on the day we actually celebrated. I made the super adorable and fun monkey cake for her party, but on the day of her actual birthday she needs cake too!

Perfect birthday cake for a perfect little girl who is now two year old! I made a half recipe of the cake and then split the batter between two 6 inch pans, one circle and one square. I made the chocolate ganache frosting, put a large dollop on each, put out the sprinkles and let them have at it!

The girls spread, sprinkled, and decorated to their hearts content before digging in. I put out forks but both preferred to just run their fingers through the frosting and enjoy the chocolate frosting with half a cabinet of sprinkles on top!

I was a bit surprised I enjoyed this cake as much as I did. I took issue with N.M. calling this perfect birthday cake as I'm a chocolate cake with white icing gal. He's obviously a yellow cake with chocolate icing guy. I snuck a few bites off the girl's plates and really enjoyed it. The cake was the best yellow cake I've ever had and the chocolate frosting was delicious. If you're a yellow cake with chocolate icing person I'd venture to bet this would be the best birthday cake you'd ever eat.

Five stars for this birthday cake from the birthday girl!

N.M.'s cookbook is now in paperback and he was so generous to send the Modern Baker's a copy of the new paperback! I have big Christmas giving plans for it! Spreading the baking love! Thanks Nick!!!!

Monkey Cake aka Banana Cake

2011-10-23T20:10:00.000-07:00

We can hardly believe it's true!!

Our little monkey is turning two!!!

A monkey party with monkey cake is what we'll do!!!

We invited the family over to monkey around with us!

The banana cake was a hit at the party!!!

My husband won the first annual Pumpkin Carving Contest with his monkey pumpkin!!!

Monkey Cake aka Banana Cake
Adapted From: Smitten Kitchen
Printable Recipe

3 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed golden brown sugar
4 eggs
2 cups mashed or pureed very ripe bananas (5 to 6 large)
1/2 cup sour cream (or plain yogurt)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line the bottoms of 2 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper and coat the paper and sides of pans with nonstick spray (or butter and flour).

2. Whisk cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl and set aside.

3. In the bowl of a mixer, beat butter, sugar and brown sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, then bananas, sour cream, and vanilla. Beat in flour mixture in two additions just until combined. Divide batter among two pans.

4. Bake cake for 40 to 45 minutes until inserted tester is clean. Cool each layer in its pan for 15 minutes before flipping out onto a rack to cool the rest of the way.

Quick Fudge and Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Makes approximately 5 cups frosting

4 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tablespoons whole milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

1. Note: Chocolate needs to be melted and cooled before beginning frosting.

2. Mix ingredients in an electric mixer. Beat for 5 minutes.

3. Set aside about 3/4 cup of the white frosting. Add a small spoonful (about 1/2 tsp) of chocolate to this white frosting and two drops of yellow food coloring. Mix well to create the light brown frosting for the eyes, notes, and mouth area.

4. Add the remaining chocolate to the large batch of white frosting. Beat well.

Assembly Tips
Firm up the cake layers in the freezer; this will make carving the ears much easier. Carefully trim each layer into a round monkey head with two half-circle ears coming out at 9 and 3 o’clock. Basically you're trimming in slightly from each side and creating an ear.

Applesauce

2011-10-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

I don't like applesauce. I've never really liked it. Except for my grandma's applesauce. I don't know what it was about her applesauce but I straight up refused the store bought stuff my whole childhood. My children won't eat applesauce either. Aren't kids supposed to love it? Is it because they don't see me eating it? I've even tried telling them it's "apple yogurt" to no avail.

Why make applesauce? Well, because I had to do something with all the apples we picked. The girls had the best time apple picking! The ladies at the farm were so nice to direct me to the apple trees where the girls could pick themselves and one farmer stopped his tractor so the girls could see all the pumpkins he was carting and let them sit on his tractor!

So, here I am with a pile of apples! I might as well learn how to make applesauce. Perhaps my kids would prefer the homemade kind and if nothing else I can use it in muffin recipes this winter.

Applesauce can sound a bit intimidating, but it's beyond simple. When I called my mom for my grandma's recipe (see below), I thought she was being a bit difficult because the recipe was basically non-existent.

My Grandma's Recipe:

Get some windfallen apples. Cook them until they're soft. Add some cinnamon and sugar.

But, now having made applesauce- there really isn't a whole lot to it.

Did the kids eat it? No. But I'll sneak it into their muffins soon enough. I had some and it was oh so delicious! I used prime red apples for this batch.

Applesauce

Printable Recipe

My Grandma's Recipe:

Get some windfallen apples. Cook them until they're soft. Add some cinnamon and sugar.

My Recipe:

12 apples

2 cups of water

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup sugar

1. Cook apples in water until soft.

2. Puree apples in food processor.

3. Add cinnamon and sugar.

Pumpkin Seeds 3 Ways

2011-10-15T21:31:00.000-07:00

Candied, Sugar and Spice, Cinnasweet

I'm still not sure if I like pumpkin seeds or not. Every year I get the urge to try some recipes with them when I'm carving pumpkins but in the end I never end up eating a whole lot of them. I've made the classic pumpkin seeds a number of times where you bake them and sprinkle them with salt. I prefer kosher salt.

This year I wanted to try a few recipes and hopefully finally determine if all this pumpkin seeds baking is my thing. I found three fun recipes: candied pumpkin seeds, sugar and spice pumpkin seeds, and cinnasweet pumpkin seeds. Give them a try and see for yourself!

As for me. Here's what I thought. The sugar and spice ones were only okay. The cinnasweet ones had such incredible potential but something when wrong and I burned the sugar or something and they came out black and tasting burnt. Yuck! Fail! I might retry these some time because I really think I'd like them. The candied pumpkin seeds were delicious!

Will I be baking pumpkin seeds again next year? Well, I guess you'll just have to check back and see.

Pumpkin Seeds

Adapted From: CD Kitchen

Printable Recipe

Candied Pumpkin Seeds

1 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbs orange juice

1. Combine sugar, brown sugar, paprkia and salt in a bowl.

2.Cook pumpkin seeds in a skillet over medium heat for about 8-10 minutes until puffy. Do not brown.

2. Toss seeds with orange juice. Add sugar mixture and coat seeds.

3. Spread seeds on a baking sheet and bake for 6 minutes. Cool.

Sugar and Spice Pumpkin Seeds

1 cup pumpkin seeds, baked

5 tablespoons, sugar, divided

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

1 1/2 Tbs oil (peanut or canola)

1. Pumpkin seeds should have been baked for about 25 minutes prior.

2. Combine 3 Tbs of sugar, salt, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, and cayenne (if using) in a small bowl.

3. Heat oil. Add pumpkin seeds and sugar. Allow sugar to melt and carmalize seeds for about one minute.

4. Add seeds to spices and toss.

Cinnasweet Pumpkin Seeds

1 cup pumpkin seeds

1 Tbs butter

2 tsp brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

dash of salt

1 Tbs sugar

1. Combine butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Toss with seeds and coat. Spread on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes at 350.

2. Remove from oven. Toss with the 1 Tbs of sugar. Return to oven and bake for 10-15 minutes. Cool.

Hearty Navy Bean Soup

2011-10-12T16:25:00.000-07:00

My mother-in-law had us over for dinner the other night and made a ham. The weather has just turned to fall and a ham was in order. I was lucky enough to walk away with quite a bit of ham for leftovers. As I contemplated what to do with them, all I could think about was soup. It's time to get soups going again! The weather is perfect for it.

I found some navy beans in my cupboard and decided a navy bean ham soup would be on the menu this week. As I mentioned I was lucky enough to walk away with a lot of ham, but not the hock. My mother-in-law kept it and I'm sure is stirring up a pot of her delicious split pea soup tonight.

It took a bit of work but I finally found a navy bean recipe that didn't call for a ham hock, just cut up ham. I figured I could just use stock instead of a hock, but I was hoping others out there had a solid recipe for those in my predicament. I stitched together four navy bean recipes to create the recipe below. It was so delicious!

Hearty Navy Bean Soup
Printable Recipe

2 cups navy beans, dried
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp garlic
6 stalks celery, chopped
Dozen+ baby carrots, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cups cut ham
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp thyme

1. Soak beans the night before. The rule is 2 cups of water to 1 cup of beans, so this recipe would call for 4 cups of water and 2 cups of dried beans. Let sink on counter until ready.

2. When you're ready to start the soup drain the beans.

3. In a large pot saute the onion and garlic in a little olive oil until the onion is translucent. Add the celery and carrots and saute together for a few moments.

4. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

Pumpkin Curry Soup

2011-10-09T06:58:00.000-07:00

My friend Phyl is hosting a Pumpkin Roundup today and asked me to participate!

I just posted about my pumpkin fries and have one more recipe to share. I found this recipe while perusing my new obsession- Pinterest. My good friend Sarah got me hooked and now I'm finding myself pinning when I should be getting dinner made, getting out the door on a run, or getting myself to bed!

Have you heard of Pinterest? (It's pronounced- pin-terest. Like the words pin and interest put together.) It's a bit hard to explain. It's sort of like visual bookmarks. You create boards (think of a corkboard on your wall at home) and then you can "pin" images onto it. Now instead of ripping pages out of magazines to pin up, you're pinning photos/images from the web. You can have many different boards and you can see and interact with your friends and what they're pinning. The pin connects back to the original website, so you can pin a beautiful photo that just makes you happy, or you can pin a great craft idea or recipe and when you want to go back to it the pin will take you back to the original site. Like I said- visual bookmark.

But, back to the soup! I saw this great recipe for pumpkin curry soup and had to try it. The weather has just turned enough that the days are beautiful but the idea of pumpkin and cinnamon are so exciting.

The ingredients. Quite simple.

Have I mentioned how much I love my food processor. Mincing onion is oh so easy!!

The resulting soup was just okay. It wasn't bad at all, but it just lacked a little something for me. It didn't knock my socks off I guess. If you like pumpkin and curry give it a try. I could easily see others loving it. I have some leftover and am thinking of ways to add a little kick to it. It's kind of a fun culinary experiment for me.

Pumpkin Curry Soup
Adapted From: Sophistimom
Printable Recipe

1 small onion, minced
1 Tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp cumin
1 large can (28 ounces) pumpkin puree
4 cups (32oz) low sodium chicken broth
1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
1 cup apple cider
yogurt (optional)
cilantro (optional)

1. In a large pot set over medium heat, saute onions in oil until tender, about 10-15 minutes. Stir in garlic and spices and cook for a minute more.

2. Stir in the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Taste soup and decide if pureeing with an immersion blender is needed. (Depends on preference of onion size.)

3. Serve with cilantro and a dollop of plain yogurt.

Pumpkin Fries

2011-10-09T05:35:00.000-07:00

My friend Phyl is hosting a Pumpkin Roundup today and asked me to participate!

I wanted to find something that my kids would try and hopefully like. Pumpkin Fries! (See my next post for the Pumpkin Curry Soup recipe.)

While apple picking we picked up a small pumpkin from a local farm. I knew I needed to peel the pumpkin and actually pulled out my peeler. After three swipes at the pumpkin I realized it was a lost cause. I'd be here all year if I had to peel the pumpkin with my almost-dull peeler. I highly recommend using a knife to slice the skin off.

Once that was done, I opened the pumpkin up and cleaned it out. Stay tuned for pumpkin seed recipes soon!

I then sliced the pumpkin into thin strips. My best advice here is do the best you can and keep thinking "french fry" as you slice and try to get all the fries similar in size.

Spicy Seasonings, Cinnamon Seasonings, and Herb Seasonings

I wanted to try a few seasoning options. I chose three: Spicy, Cinnamon, and Herb.

Left: Spicy Fries. Top Right: Herb Fries. Bottom Right: Cinnamon Fries

I baked the fries for about 40 minutes. The spicy fries turned out a little blah. I was reducing the recipe proportions for a smaller batch which led me to only use a "dash" of cayenne. I was also cooking for kids and didn't want them too spicy. In the end they were too spicy for one kid but didn't pack much punch for the grown ups. Next time, use more cayenne and make something else for the kids! The herb fries were good, although I'm not sure I'd do them again.

The star of the dinner was the cinnamon fries. They were really really good and kids asked for third helpings of them.

Thanks for the great challenge Phyl!

Pumpkin Fries
Printable Recipe

Recipe proportions are for 1/3 of a pumpkin.

1 small pumpkin
Olive Oil

Spicy Fries
Adapted From: Aaplemint
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
Pinch cayenne
Pinch black pepper

Cinnamon Fries
Adapted From: Sarah's Cucina Bella
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Herb Fries
1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp parsley

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Peel pumpkin. I found it easiest to use a knife to cut the skin off rather than a peeler. Open pumpkin and clean out. Cut pumpkin into fry strips.

3. Prepare fry seasonings. Again, recipe proportions are for 1/3rd of a small pumpkin. If only making one kind of fry, increase seasoning proportions.

4. Toss fries and seasonings with olive oil (about 1 Tbs).

5. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

Cherry Cranberry Crisp

2011-10-02T13:28:00.000-07:00

One last bag of frozen cherries in the freezer. Personally handpicked berries from my parents cherry tree I must add. A small amount of leftover cranberries from an earlier recipe. And, a desire to make a healthier dessert. This all came together to make a wonderful dish.

I experimented by not putting any sugar in the filling. I tend to like tart things and saw no reason to sweeten up the filling. The combination of cherries and cranberries was fantastic and I didn't miss the sugar at all. Is there a baking reason for putting sugar in filling or is it simply to sweeten things up?

Cherry Cranberry Crisp
Printable Recipe
Topping
3/4 c old fashioned oats
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
4 Tbs butter, melted

Filling
4 cups cherries, thawed
1/2 c cranberries
2 Tbs flour

1. Combine the topping ingredients in a bowl until they are wet and crumbly.

2. Combine the filling ingredients in a bowl.

3. Place the filling ingredients into an 8x8 oiled pan. Sprinkle the crumble topping on top of the filling. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

BBA #33: Poilane-Style Miche

2011-09-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

The thirty-third bread of the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge is a poilane-style miche. This bread is a version of the most famous bread baker in the world- Lionel Poilane's miche. I was awed reading the account of Poilane's apprentices who not only mix and bake their bread but also stack their own firewood, stoke their own fires and bake without a thermostat on the oven. He teaches them to bake by feel.

This bread is too large for the mixer using 7 cups of whole wheat flour in addition to the 3 cups of starter. It was an interesting experience to try and mix it all by hand. This was the first bread I've baked by hand kneading the whole thing myself.

Boy is that a work out! Y'know I had been blaming my intense yoga class for my sore arms this week but may is was the bread kneading.

I was tempted to form and score the bread as instructed and take a picture akin to the cover of the book. (See Phyl's pic.) But, it was the start of football season and I was preparing a massive loaf!

Yes, a football. That's appropriate. Oh, how much I'd love a lame in my stocking this Christmas. (hint, hint!!)

Poilane thinks the bread is best on day two or three. Reinhart likes the bread 3 hours after baking. I have to agree with Reinhart. I love soft warm bread right out of the oven. This bread is hearty and dense with a delicious full flavor. It would be perfect with a hearty winter soup for dinner.

Sadly, we could not get to the whole loaf. Be sure to have all your friends and neighbors over when you bake this bread! It's massive!

Salt Dough Handprint and Footprint Keepsakes

2011-09-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

It's about time I finally blogged about these great little handprints and footprints we made. I saw this fantastic idea on The Imagination Tree, a new blog I'm enjoying for art projects for the preschool age. These keepsakes were the girls' gift to daddy for Father's Day this year. They were super easy and a ton of fun. Both girls loved the process of making and decorating them.

Salt Dough Recipe:

1 cup of salt

1 cup of flour

About 1/2 of water

Mix until it becomes a dough.

The dough should feel much like playdoh.

Find a bowl or plate that is large enough for the hand or foot. Press the dough onto the plate. The side you're pressing on is the backside. Then carefully peel the dough off the dish and flip over. This side should be nice and smooth.

Have the child press their hand or foot onto the dough. The best part of this dough is that if you mess up, you can just remold the dough again and again!

Bake at 200 degrees for 3 hours.

Painting time!

Oh so cute!

Charlotte, 3 1/2; Penelope 19 months

Yep, almost the same size feet.

Charlotte and Penelope

Almost the same size hands too!

BBA #32: 100% Sourdough Rye Bread

2011-09-15T13:02:00.000-07:00

Epic failure alert!!!

The thirty-second bread of the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge is 100% sourdough rye bread. This bread is a three time failure for me and I give up!!

My first attempt at this bread resulted in unrising dough. I had used dark rye flour though instead of white rye flour because that's all I could find in the bulk section. I was quite disheartened and even let my dough rise for an additional 8 hours but it had no umph.

For my second attempt I bought some light rye flour from Bob Mills but halved the recipe because those little packages are spendy! The dough did rise but the resulting bread was flat (like the bread above) and gummy. The texture was extremely off putting.

I had enough light rye flour leftover to attempt the bread one last time. I re-read Reinharts instructions carefully and noted he warned to not over knead or the bread would become gummy. I tried. I failed. The resulting bread was flat again (why??!!) and less gummy but still gummy. The flavor was decent but I couldn't decide if the overall flavor was being carried by the caraway seeds in the bread or if the bread actually tasted good. Regardless, the bread was still a flop.

Unlike with the sourdough bread, I have no need to perfect this bread. I'm letting it go and moving on.

Modern Baker: Molded Chocolate-Filled Napoleons

2011-09-10T19:38:00.000-07:00

This will be the last recipe I do for the puff pastry section of the The Modern Baker cookbook. My fellow Modern Bakers will continue baking away so check out their recipes!

This recipe was a failure for me. Let me be clear though, the failure is due to baker error not recipe error. The first error: The puff pastry was not flaky it was dense like pie crust. I'm not sure what I did wrong here. I made the spinach and feta turnovers out with the other half of the puff pastry and those turned out quite flaky so I must have done something wrong during the baking of the baked pastry layer. (**Note: I now know. The recipe states that you should fold the dough into thirds to move it to the baking pan. I did this but then didn't unfold it. My dough was three sheets thick and so ended up very dense instead of light and flaky.)

I'm glad I tried the baked pasty layer, but it wasn't my favorite process. (Oh how funny, I've told my daughter she can say "it's not my favorite" instead of "I don't like it" or "yucky" at the dinner table. Guess I'm following my own parenting. So, yeah, I didn't like the baked puff pastry process. I'm not sure why. It just didn't give me that baking rush when baking other things.)

The second error: the mousse did not turn out quite right. I was preparing the meringue when I realized I needed the chocolate melted and cooled for the next step. I popped it in the microwave to melt and then the fridge for a quick cool down. It cooled too much and when I then tried to fold it into the meringue it didn't stir in very nicely. The chocolate stayed slightly chunky, almost like little shaved chocolate pieces. It made the final mousse grainy with chocolate pieces.

I assembled the dessert and let it set for 6 hours before digging in for a taste. The flavor was good, but as stated before, the crust was thick and not flaky and the mousse grainy instead of smooth.

Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

2011-09-05T08:18:00.000-07:00

I saw this recipe on Joy the Baker's site months ago. Joy has also started a podcast I've listened to a couple of times and she said this is one of people's favorite recipes from her blog. Phyl also made it the Bread of the Month bread for July Artisan Bread Baker's group on Facebook. All signs were pointing that it was time to make this bread!

I mixed the dough and rolled it out as best I could to a 12x20 rectangle. Before it rises the dough is very sticky. I was worried about how wet the dough was but the recipe states the dough should be very wet. I was skeptical I'd return to useable dough, but it rose perfectly and was roll-able.

I sprinkled the cinnamon and sugar, cut the strips, and cut the strips into squares.

My stacking into the pan was not very pretty. It looks pretty simple but it's actually a bit hard to keep all the cinnamon sugar goodness with the dough and set the stacks into the pan nicely. I didn't worry too much about it but after baking I appreciated how taking the time to stack nicely helps a lot with a pretty final product.

The bread was delicious, although I was surprised it didn't blow me away. I'm really glad I made it but I'm not sure I'd do it again. You know, maybe what I'm missing is the icing. This bread is much like a cinnamon roll but without the icing. Yes, that's what it needs- more sugar.

Get the recipe here.

GameDay Jello Salad - Go Ducks!

2011-09-03T08:31:00.000-07:00

Today is the kickoff of football season!

Go Ducks!!

GameDay Jello Salad

Printable Recipe

1 6oz box of green jello

2 3oz boxes of yellow jello

1 lb of cool whip

1. Prepare one yellow mousse jello. Mousse Jello: Combine 1 1/2 cups of boiling water and yellow jello. Stir until dissolved. Mix in about 1/3 of the cool whip. Place in freezer for 20-30 minutes.

2. Prepare green jello. When the yellow layer is firm add half of the green jello. Return to freezer until set.

3. Prepare second yellow jello as described in step 1. Set.

4. Add remaining green jello and set.

5. Top with last 1/3 of cool whip.

Deceptively Delicious Summer

2011-08-31T13:40:00.000-07:00

We've been whipping up lots more Deceptively Delicious recipes this summer. Check out my post from the spring to see the first recipes we tried.

I must say that it's gotten a lot easier. I've even thrown purees into my own recipes! I think the most complicated part now is that I'll see a new recipe that I want to try but I won't have that puree on hand. Making a puree just for one recipe is a lot of work. I don't like that. The key I see is using purees often. I'm still working on that. We'll see if this sticks or was simply a fun experiment I tried for awhile.

Overall, I've been happy with the cookbook. I love Jessica's muffin recipes! Here's what else we've made recently.

Pancakes- sweet potato puree. Delicious!! We'll be doing these again as waffles!

Applesauce Muffins- sweet potato puree. The muffins were kind of plain to me, but the kids loved them. The crumble top is fantastic.

Egg Puffs- yellow squash puree. Utterly fantastic!

Green eggs- spinach puree. If you don't like cooked spinach (like me) just don't. Sorry Dr. Seuss, we won't be serving these for your birthday again. Bring on the green food coloring next year!

Oatmeal- sweet potato puree. We don't eat much oatmeal at our house. I don't like oatmeal. (Although, I love oatmeal cookies.) The girls didn't eat much of this. I tried it and think it was probably one of the best oatmeals I've ever had, but I'm still just not an oatmeal person. If we ever decide to get into oatmeal, I'll start here again.

Blueberry Lemon Muffins- yellow squash puree. Kids- good! Me- Yum! A definite repeat! Like maybe tomorrow.

Daring Bakers: Milk Chocolate & Hazelnut Praline Truffles {Candy!}

2011-08-27T05:43:00.000-07:00

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at http://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

It's been awhile since I've tried a Daring Baker's challenge. I couldn't resist when I saw it was candy this month. I've become intrigued with candy. It's quite challenging though and there is a part of me that wonders if I should actually learn how to make candy. If you know how to make it, it's all too easy to make.

Regardless, this candy was a fun experiment. I made a caramel sauce that was then poured over hazelnuts I had roasted. I actually had to make the caramel sauce twice as I had the heat up too high the first time and the caramel went from bubbling to black tar in a matter of seconds at one point. I called for backup before the smoke alarm went off since I was doing this post-kid-bedtime. Doors and windows flew open and I tried to figure out what to do with black bubbling sugar before it hardened and ruined my pan. A empty coffee can from the recycling helped out.

I made a second batch of caramel and this time watched it more closely. After the hazelnut and caramel cooled I broke them up and put them in the blended. Wow, that's loud! I added the ground mixture to my chocolate ganache and let it set.

Once the ganache has set I made little balls.

Rolled them in more ground roasted hazelnuts. And, set them in papers.

My truffles were not very round. I think the ganache was a bit soft so it was hard to get a round ball to stay round. They did well out of the fridge but slumped a lot when left out. Not perfectly pretty but sure tasty!!!

2nd Candy Recipe-
I also tried a second candy recipe: Citrus Paté de Fruits- epoch fail! It never set! I even recooked it and added more (a lot more!) pectin. After re-reading the recipe 5 times and consulting my mom, stepmom, mother-in-law, and sister I'm pretty confident that my pectin was bad. I'll have to try this another time. From the finger dips I did in the mixture, it tasted great, it just never set. Maybe I should have just passed out spoon.

Citrus Pate de Fruits just slids around pan even after 8 hrs in fridge.

Milk Chocolate & Hazelnut Praline Truffles
Servings: Makes +- 30 truffles, recipe easily doubled or halved
Printable Recipe

Praline Ingredients:
½ cup hazelnuts, shelled & skinned
½ cup granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons water

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to moderate 350°F
2. Place whole hazelnut on a non-stick baking tray and dry roast for 10mins
3. Allow to cool
4. Place hazelnuts in a clean dry kitchen towel and rub to remove the skins
5. Line a baking tray with parchment paper or a silicon mat
6. Place the skinned hazelnuts onto the prepared tray
7. Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium low heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved
8. Turn the heat up and bring to the boil (do not stir), brushing down the sides of the pot with a pastry brush dipped in water to remove any sugar crystals
9. Boil until the mixture turns amber (160°C - 170°C / 320°F- 340°F on a candy thermometer)
10. Remove from heat immediately and pour the syrup over the hazelnuts
11. Allow to cool completely
12. Break into small pieces
13. Transfer pieces to a food processor and process until desired texture, either fine or rough
14. Set aside

Ganache Ingredients
1¾ cup Milk chocolate, finely chopped
½ cup Double/Heavy Cream (36% - 46% butterfat content)
Praline ingredient (above)
2-3 Tablespoons Frangelico Liqueur, optional
½ - 1 cup Crushed or Ground Roasted Hazelnuts for coating

Directions:
1. Finely chop the milk chocolate
2. Place into a heatproof medium sized bowl
3. Heat cream in a saucepan until just about to boil
4. Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir gently until smooth and melted
5. Allow to cool slightly, about 10 minutes
6. Stir in the praline and (optional) liqueur
7. Leave to cool and set overnight or for a few hours in the fridge
8. Bring to room temperature to use

Forming the truffles:
1. Using teaspoons or a melon baller, scoop round balls of ganache
2. Roll them between the palms of your hands to round them off
Tip: Handle them as little as possible to avoid melting
Tip: I suggest wearing food safe latex gloves, less messy and slightly less heat from your hands
3. Finish off by rolling the truffle in the crushed roasted hazelnuts
Tip: You can also roll them in hazelnut praline
4. Place on parchment paper and leave to set
Tip: They look great when put into small petit four cases and boxed up as a gift!

BBA #31: New York Deli Rye

2011-08-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

The thirty-first bread of the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge is new york deli rye. I just happen to be baking this bread the day before some friends invited us over for brunch. I asked what we could bring and they said to bake something. Well, I had the perfect addition.

The recipe calls for white rye flour but I could only find dark rye flour. It recipe also calls for two diced onions, however it does not specify the size of the dice. I chose to dice them at a medium dice which turned out just fine but next time I think I'll try a finer dice. The chunks of onion where not off-putting but sometimes I wished they were smaller.

The proofing time got away from me and the loaves proofed quite a bit longer than I meant them to but they were right where they were supposed to be when I finally got back to them. Either this was just luck or the rising strength was pretty slow. I'm finding bread more forgiving than I previously thought. I used to be very meticulous in my timing. I'm realizing more that rise time is not like bake time. You can fudge it and it doesn't ruin the end product.

The bread tasted incredible! It's a definite favorite. This bread is not hearth baked and it's the first one in awhile that hasn't been. I now understand the distinct difference hearth baking makes in the bread- particularly the crust.

Hearth baking is when you bake on a baking stone and usually start the oven around 500 degrees. Hearth breads have crunchy crusts like baguettes. Other breads have crusts like sandwich bread. I must say I'm becoming quite partial to hearth baking.

BBA #30: Basic Sourdough Bread

2011-08-21T08:44:00.000-07:00

The thirtieth bread of the Bread Baker's Apprentice is basic sourdough bread. This bread has make a bread baker out of me!

I made my first starter and sourdough bread months ago. The bread turned out quite well (rising and baking), but it wasn't very sour. I love sourdough bread and was feeling a little annoyed mine had not turned out the way I had hoped. I was preparing for the next bread but this basic sourdough kept nagging at me. I wanted to bake a real sourdough. The biggest problem was that I didn't know what to do to make it better.

Good thing I know some experienced bread bakers! I send a "help me!" email to Phyl. I followed his advice and ended up creating a new starter based on his Sourdough 101 Tutorial. (My old starter worked but the flavor never developed.)

I've been baking sourdough about every week for the past two months and I can now say that I know how to bake sourdough! My last two breads have been very nice! Chunky crusts and dense sour bread!

Now, how do I get it super sour? I see "extra sour" on breads in the store. How do they get the extra flavor? Developing my starter longer? Letting it ferment on counter longer? Or altering part of the bread making process to let it rise or proof longer?

My brother-in-law was telling me how much he loved sourdough bread. He said he once stayed the night with friends and in the morning decided to make pancakes with the leftover pancake batter on the counter. He made them and they were the best pancakes he'd ever had, although they were not very fluffy. Turns out it wasn't pancake batter. He used their sourdough starter. I thought this was both hilarious and interesting. I bet those were fantastic pancakes!

Baked Kale Chips

2011-08-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

I've only recently discovered kale. Kale and bok choy where the two biggest veggie discoveries for me last year doing the CSA (community supported agriculture). I like sauteed kale but I could never get the kids to touch it.

I saw these on Smitten Kitchen over a year ago and have wanted to try them. My youngest has recently become addicted to nori. Trader Joes sells it in convenient little packages and she can eat a whole package in a sitting. I usually help her. The salty crunchiness is quite appealing. I thought she'd love kale chips too and I was right.

She ate two pans worth in a matter of minutes. Okay, to be fair there was a fair bit on her face, hands, and the floor too.

Baked Kale Chips
Adapted From: Smitten Kitchen
Printable Recipe

1 bunch kale
olive oil
salt (I prefer kosher)

Preheat oven to 300°. Remove stems and centers from kale leaves. Cut or tear into pieces. Toss with olive oil and salt. Lay in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until crisp. Cool.

Modern Baker: Spinach and Feta Turnovers

2011-08-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

The Modern Bakers are now in the puff pastry section of The Modern Baker cookbook! My official post for this section is the spinach and feta turnovers.

I made a half batch of the instant puff pastry and then divided the dough in half again to make these and the chocolate napoleons. The 1/4th recipe of the puff pastry made 5 turnovers. I made my turnovers larger than instructed at about 5 1/2 inch squares.

Puff pastry is almost too easy to make in the food processor. Watching all that butter go in will sure stop your heart!

I made a half recipe of the filling which includes: spinach, dill, scallions, feta, pepper, and eggs. I used 1 tsp of dried dill as I had no fresh dill on hand. Nick cautions against salting the filling before tasting because feta is salty on it's own. I found there to be no need for further salt.

I brushed the egg wash on the edges of each square and divided the filling between the squares.

I folded over each and sealed the edges.

I vented each turnover and baked.

The turnovers came out golden and flaky.

These turnovers were delicious! The puff pastry was flaky and the filling was gooey and flavorful. I'm not always a fan of cooked spinach but this recipe did it perfectly. I would caution those who are not big cooked spinach lovers to try and not saute the spinach for too long while preparing the filling.

Both toddlers loved it (even Charlotte who has an issue with 'green things' sometimes). They both gobbled up their pieces and asked for more. Honestly, I was a bit put out that they wanted the second half of theirs. I was sort of hoping to eat it myself. I guess that's the best endorsement I can make for this recipe- I was hoping my kids would refuse it so there would be more for me!

The alteration options are endless. Personally, I'd love to add mushrooms and maybe try some additional cheeses. I bet Parmesan would be wonderful.

Thumbs up for this recipe!

Modern Baker: Perfect Elephant Ears

2011-08-10T07:30:00.000-07:00

The Modern Bakers are now in the puff pastry section of The Modern Baker cookbook! I'll go ahead and state right from the start that I probably will not be baking many of the puff pastry recipes. This is not because they don't look delicious or because I don't like puff pastry. It's a baking lifestyle choice. Much like my decision to not learn to fry foods. I holding out on putting puff pastry into my baking skills. Puff pastry is basically flour and butter and a lot of it. It's good, but I can live without it.

With that said, I make no guarantees and reserve the right to bake every last one of the recipes if I so choose. Going forward though, I absolutely had to give this recipe a try.

When I first saw the recipe title I was so excited. I LOVE elephant ears (the fried dough kind) that you get at the fair. In fact, I'm not sure you can actually say you've gone to the fair if you don't get one. These elephant ears are not fried dough though, they're rolled puff pastry.

I began by making the instant puff pastry dough in the food processor. It was quite easy as most of N.M.'s doughs are. I chilled the dough thoroughly and then proceeded with the directions to make the elephant ears. It involves pressing, rolling and folding the pastry dough and instead of rolling out on flour, you roll out on sugar.

After I finished the folding and started the cutting I wasn't sure I'd done it right. The dough looked nothing like the picture. It was much like a towel or sheets you fold up to put in the closet. But, once it hit the oven the expanding happened like magic and my elephant ears came out perfectly.

They were delicious, crisp and buttery. Who knew such simple goodness could be made with only flour, salt, water, butter, and sugar.

Little Sous Chef?

2011-08-08T08:11:00.000-07:00

Penelope absolutely insisted (in the way that only a one year old can) that we bring this book home from the library. Aspiring chef or a comment on my cooking? I choose to believe the former.

BBA #29: Pugliese

2011-08-04T20:35:00.000-07:00

The twenty-ninth bread of the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge is pugliese. This bread is inspired by the region in southeastern Italy. It is very similar to ciabatta. I was thrilled when I read this. I didn't read the intro to this bread before baking it. After I made it, I thought it really reminded me of ciabatta. When I read that it is very similar to cibatta I was so excited! I must be doing something right in this bread baking! My bread tasted like cibatta!

This is a wet dough to work with and this time I really enjoyed it. Reinhart lists using fancy durum flour. I tried two stores, one an upscale grocery store, and I couldn't find any. I opted to just use all bread flour for the bread. I'm curious how the durum flour would alter the bread though.

My scoring marks weren't very clean again. I need one of those lame tools. Again, my holes are not even close to what Reinhart shows in his picture. How do you get those great big holes? The flavor of the bread was great and the crust was deliciously crunchy. I'm liking the hearth baked breads and the crusts that result from hearth baking.

I made a full batch of this bread but didn't have a lot of time this week to eat two loaves. The bread was getting a bit dried out and I was trying to think of a creative way to use it up. Hello french toast!

Modern Baker: Perfect Pound Cake

2011-08-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

Perfect. That's quite a title to live up to!

Yes, this cake out of Nick Malgieri's The Modern Baker Cookbook is absolutely perfect. My fellow Modern Bakers should prepare for total enjoyment! (Yes, I'm jumping ahead a bit, but a day of berry picking necessitated some perfect pound cake.)

The preparation process for this cake is quite unique and you will need many bowls! I enjoyed that this little cake required me to fulfill my blog title. I've never had some many dirty dishes for one little 9x5 cake.

Here's the process:
The egg yolks are whipped with the sugar and extracts.
The yolks are set aside and the butter is then beat in the uncleaned bowl.
The flour is beat with the butter.
The flour and butter paste is scraped into the yolks and mixed.
The electric mixing bowl is cleaned and the egg whites are whipped until firm.
The egg whites and cake mixture are combined.
Everything goes back into the mixer for a good long beating.

Given that most cakes either use a "throw it all in the bowl and mix" strategy or the boring classic "cream butter into sugar" process this cake is rather fussy. The results though seem to warrant it. Had I been thinking ahead of time I would have documented the process in photos.

The cake was dense and the flavor quite light without being blah. It is as perfect pound cake should be- a delicious canvas for whatever you're adding. Today, we added freshly picked raspberries and marionberries.

Butter Biter

2011-07-28T19:30:00.000-07:00

Hey! Who took a bite out of my butter?!

Another joy of baking with kids!

BBA #28: Potato Rosemary Bread

2011-07-24T19:28:00.000-07:00

The twenty-eighth bread of the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge is potato rosemary bread. Twenty eight breads and I've found my favorite. Any bread from here on out has quite high standards to surpass.

This is a two day bread. One day one the biga is made. One day two the biga is combined with bread flour, salt, pepper, yeast, olive oil, mashed potatoes, and fresh rosemary. I added a bit too much water at the start and thought I'd corrected the stickiness with flour, but after the first rise, the bread super sticky to handle. I quickly made the boules and laid them on my silpat for rise #2. I just hoped for the best as at this point I wasn't sure I should knead more flour into the bread.

The two boules rose into each other a bit. Oops. Bad spatial estimation on my part. I popped them in the oven and the house smelled absolutely incredible as they baked. We brought the bread over to my in-laws for dinner and everyone loved it. In fact, we all decided to have a second piece of bread in place of dessert.

I will absolutely be making this bread again as it's my all time favorite bread from this book so far!!

I just received Peter Reinhart's next book Artisan Breads Everyday for my birthday. I'm so excited to try it out!! Hey BBAers is there an ABE group?

Modern Baker: Chocolate Caramel Pecan Tartlets

2011-07-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

This is my last recipe for the sweet tarts and pies with my fellow Modern Bakers. We're baking our way through The Modern Baker cookbook and the next section is puff pastry!

Oh, these tartlets are absolutely incredible! You begin by making caramel. No problem. I've made caramel a few times. It's always been a little tricky however this time seemed particularly hard. The sugar just sat and sat in the pan. I tried adding water. I tried starting over. I googled. Finally, I realized my heat wasn't up quite high enough to liquify the sugar. It took a bit of time, but I finally got the caramel color I was looking for.

The ganache is quite simple after the caramel is made. I added the cream, chocolate, milk, salt, and pecan pieces. Oh yum. Forget the tartlet crusts, where is my spoon? I made a nut dough for the tartlets and shaped them in a mini muffin tin. After they baked, I filled them with the chocolate caramel ganache and enjoyed one. So yummy. A bit runny though. I wondered why the filling didn't thicken like I expected.

I enjoyed one or two more and went about my day. Later, I discovered what my filling needed for thickening.... patience. These are absolutely delicious!

Modern Baker: Lemon Lime Tartlets

2011-07-16T14:47:00.000-07:00

Oh these tartlets are so good! I'm still baking from the sweet tarts and pies section of The Modern Baker with my fellow Modern Bakers challengers.

I have only recently come to really appreciate lemon curd. I have always loved sour, but usually for desserts I prefered something chocolate or sweet. After making the Martha Stewart's lemon meringue cupcakes I realized I shouldn't have discounted lemon so much.

I used a mini muffin tin to make the tartlets. I baked them empty and planned to fill them later. Well, I learned a lesson. I has used a bit too much dough in each mold and when they baked they puffed up and filled a good bit of the center. I'd say there was a small valley instead of a large crater. I wasn't able to put as much filling in each tart as I would have liked. That was a real tragedy because the curd was to die for! Fortunately, when eat in the privacy of your own home no one minds if you double dip in the bowl of extra curd was you eat the tartlets.

Lemon Lime Goodness!!!

Modern Baker: Raspberry Almond Tartlets

2011-07-12T14:46:00.000-07:00

I've moved on to the tartlets in the sweet tarts and pies section of The Modern Baker cookbook. Tartlets are little tarts and these little tarts have a surprise inside! A raspberry.

I used a mini muffin tin to shape the tartlet nut dough in. I placed a raspberry in each mold and then filled them with the almond mixture. I must say that discovering almond paste has been quite exciting. I have loved both this and the roman almond and pine nut tart. I keep thinking of all the other things I could put almond paste in.

These tartlets were fantastic. The raspberry inside was a great sweet surprise and went very nicely with the almond flavors. A huge hit!!

Don't forget to check out what the other Modern Bakers are baking!

Peanut Butter Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

2011-07-09T16:24:00.000-07:00

Want an oatmeal cookie?

Wait, maybe a peanut butter cookie?

Well, what I'm really craving is coconut.

Look no further. These little drop cookies are practically healthy and a fun alternative to the classics.

Peanut Butter Coconut Oatmeal Cookies
Adapted From: Daily Unadventures in Cooking
Printable Recipe
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup natural peanut butter
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
3 cups oats (half old fashioned, half quick oats)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 375° F.
Beat together oil and peanut butter. Then add in eggs, sugar, and vanilla and beat until mixed. Stir in coconut.
In a separate bowl mix together oats, flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir this into the peanut butter mixture.
Drop cookies onto pan and bake for 10 minutes.

Modern Baker: Maida's Big Apple Pie

2011-07-04T13:58:00.000-07:00

Here's another recipe from the sweet tarts and pies section of The Modern Baker cookbook. My Modern Baker friends and I will be enjoying one more month in this section before moving on to puff pastry!

Apple Pie! The perfect American recipe to celebrate our country's birth!

I had about 1/2 a recipe of the sweet tart dough remaining from some tart baking. I decided to roll it out and make Maida's big apple pie with it. I made 1/4 recipe of the filling and it filled the dough nicely. Unfortunately, I wasn't very careful with my dough and it tore a bit as I put it together. That caused the apple juices to seep and burn to my silpat during baking. Luckily, this didn't effect the pie except for the juice loss. (If you don't own a silpat I HIGHLY recommend them. See that burned sugar mess? Well, it cleaned up in minutes with little effort. Had that burned to the actual pan I would have had hours of soaking to do and possibly lost the pan.)

This pie was plenty big at 1/4 the recommended recipe. I can't imagine how big it would be if you'd make a whole recipe, but I'm sure it would be perfect for a big party! The crust and filling were great. It's a fantastic apple pie and a great option for those worried about pretty edges on a pie. My pie edges are not very pretty. I've actually turned the "pies" in this section into "tarts" and used my tart pans partly to avoid the pie edge issue. There are none of those worries with this pie. It looks pretty even though it's simply folding the dough and letting it fall where it may.

Happy 4th of July!!

Food Tag!

2011-07-02T05:37:00.000-07:00

Tag! I'm it!

Sara over at Three Clever Sisters just food tagged me. The rules are that you look through your recipes and find a menu for an upcoming holiday. You post the menu and tag 10 additional people. Technically I should have only included posts I have actual recipes up for, but I got swayed by some favorites in the dessert category.

Today is my daughter's 1/2 birthday! She's 3 1/2. I decided to put together a menu for a 1/2 birthday party. Yes, we celebrate 1/2 birthdays in our family. At least the kids do, so here's a menu that's fun for the whole family. (I just noticed that it's heavily bread and flour based. I think I might be craving carbs right now.)

I did a little twist on the menu idea and decided to do a menu for the whole day instead of just the main meal.

Now, tag! You're it!
Phyl, Kayte, Abby, Karen, AnneMarie, Amy, tease-spoon of sugar, Joy, yummychunklet, and Yuri.

Breakfast. A choice.
Swedish Oatmeal Pancakes - Always a hit!

Baked French Toast - I didn't take any pics of my baked french toast. Trust me. It was delicious. Let me also recommend that you use some leftover challah for the bread!

Lunch

Pizza Margherita - Who doesn't love pizza!

Easy Pizza - And, if you're short on time, just grab any ol' dough at the market and let the kids make their own pizzas.

Snack Time

Peanut Butter and Banana Muffins - These muffins are a great afternoon treat.

Dinner. A choice.
Five Spice Roast Chicken with Ginger Scented Rice - A favorite of ours.

Swedish Meat Pies - Delicious and portable. Perhaps make them ahead of time and eat them at the park at dusk while the kids play.

Dessert. Have one of each.

Strawberry Cupcakes

Jumbo Cream-Filled Cupcakes

Modern Baker: Roman Almond & Pine Nut Tart

2011-07-01T08:04:00.000-07:00

Hello, Modern Bakers and friends. It's time for more sweet tarts and pies from The Modern Baker cookbook. The problem with being a bit behind my fellow Modern Bakers is that they have all this time to entice me to deviate from my carefully selected recipes. I'm past thinking I can bake every recipe so I only pick the "must bake". This wasn't a recipe I initially intended to do. Then, Kayte declared it her "favorite of the book". Well, I have to try that!

One of the reasons I was hesitant to try this recipe was because I'd have to buy a whole can of almond paste even though I'd only need 1/4 of it. (I make 1/4 recipes that fit into two 4 1/2'' tarts. It saves the waistline and allows me to enjoy trying more of the tarts.) First of all, I had to find the almond paste! I'd never even heard of it. I was lucky. There was a stocker in the baking aisle as I went down and she knew just where it was. Good thing. I never would have found it on my own.

After acquiring almond paste, the rest of the recipe is quite start forward using sugar, eggs, butter, vanilla, lemon zest, and flour. The tart is then topped with pine nuts and finished with powdered sugar.

It was absolutely delicious! A perfect tart I could make over and over again. Thank you Kayte for the push! Unfortunately, there was one issue with my tart. I think my pine nuts were bad. As soon as I took a bite I thought, "Hmm, those don't taste right." I googled and came across Nicole at PinchMySalt experience with pine nuts. I found over and over that pine nuts are very finicky nuts that go rancid quickly. Most sites said you "just know" when they're bad. Yeah, I just knew.

BBA #27: Portuguese Sweet Bread

2011-06-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

The twenty-seventh bread of the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge is Portuguese sweet bread. This was an easy bread to make as it is only a one day bread. The sponge only ferments for about 90 minutes and then it's on to bread making.

This bread is sweet so it contains some sugar along with three extracts: orange, lemon, and vanilla. The rising times are a big longer to achieve the rise in one day. This bread takes a good part of the day to make. It bakes for almost and hour and the crust gets very dark. Reinhart says not to be fooled into thinking it's done. The dark mahogany brown is expected. I used the clock and thermometer as my guides instead of bread color.

Personally, the crust was a bit thick for me. I'm not wild about thick hard crusts. The inside was fantastic though. It was soft and almost cake-like. The slight sweetness and extract flavors came through just enough. This bread would be a great addition to a meal, especially a potluck as it's just different enough to catch your attention.

Modern Baker: Lemony Cheese Tart with Sour-Cream Glaze

2011-06-25T08:04:00.000-07:00

The next tart from the sweet tarts and pies section of The Modern Baker cookbook is lemony cheese tart. Like always I made a 1/4 recipe which filled two 4 1/2'' tarts.

This little tart is basically a little lemon cheesecake. After mixing cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, lemon zest, eggs, and sour cream together. I poured it into the tart pan and baked. It was good. I'm not saying it wasn't. But, after conducting a cheesecake showdown last year and crowning a winner, any cheesecake I make has quite a recipe to live up to. So, I'm saying it was good, but not the best I've ever had.

Have you ever seen the site Shit My Kids Ruined? It's a great laugh out loud site for any parent. (Another favorite LOL site is DamnYouAutoCorrect). This poor little tart could be an entry for me. I guess it's not that bad, but it hurt to see the little thing crumble under the hands of the toddler.

Knife Skills 101

2011-06-23T13:10:00.000-07:00

I recently had the opportunity to attend a Knife Skills 101 class instructed by chef Nicholas Smith. Nick was trained at the Scottsdale Culinary Institute - Le Cordon Bleu and has worked as a chef in many restaurants.

Nick showed us how to hold a knife properly (everyone was doing it wrong), how to use our guide hand (without chopping off your fingers), and how to do the basic circular cut. It's not necessarily hard, but it definitely takes practice. The guide hand part was hard for me. I don't like having my fingers that close to the knife. I realize if you do it correctly the whole intent is that it's safe for your hand and allows you to cut the food properly. However, after I chopped off the tip of my thumb a few years ago cutting jicama, I'm just a bit skiddish around knives.

I learned a ton and came home and started using my knew knife skills right away!

We learned the following:
Julienne- matchstick or french fry cut
Brunoise- cubes out of julienne- little and big
Onion- chopping- which requires cutting the onion in three different directions. This was totally new to me.
Onions- Saute crescents and onion rings
Mince- Parsley and garlic

BBA #26: Poolish Baguettes

2011-06-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

The twenty-sixth bread of the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge is poolish baguettes. At the beginning of the book Reinhart talks about his culinary students. Some students come of his bread making class and never fully learn the art of bread making. Others come and become entranced with the delicate balance of flour, yeast, and time. I had hoped I'd be a student that would become engrossed in the science of bread. I have not. That is not to say that I am not thoroughly enjoying this challenge and plan to continue bread baking beyond this book. I simply say it to explain why I am not quite sure how this baguette is different from the other baguettes I've made.

I should stop for a moment and explain that this bread was fantastic. I took the baguettes to a family dinner and got tons of compliments. The crust was wonderfully crunchy, but perhaps a bit undercooked. I appreciate crunchy crust so much more now! The center was soft and dough-like. It was a delicious baguette!

One mistake I made was that I did not score them quite like I should have. I was experimenting. I took a sharp knife and only pressed it into the dough instead of sliding it. It didn't give the bread the nice score marks like I've done before.

Yes, this bread was great and I could see myself making it again. However, if I decided to make baguettes one day, I'm not sure what would draw me to this recipe over any of the other wonderful baguette recipes in this book. There is another layer of bread making I'm just not seeing yet- the subtle differences.

Modern Baker: Chocolate Orange Hazelnut Tart

2011-06-18T08:05:00.000-07:00

I'm still baking sweet tarts and pies with my fellow Modern Bakers as we make our way through The Modern Baker cookbook. This chocolate orange hazelnut tart was a surprising hit for me.

I say surprising because I am usually not a huge fan of orange chocolate. I know tons of people love flavor in their chocolate, but I'm kind of boring in that I like my chocolate to just be chocolate. I was pleasantly surprised with this tart. The orange was not overpowering. It was light and mixed well with the chocolate and really well with the hazelnuts. I love hazelnuts. I dare say I think I liked this tart better than the divine Bittersweet Chocolate Tart from a few weeks ago.

It's a very small thing- but I so enjoyed doing the chocolate drizzle over the top too. Such fun and so divine!

Modern Baker: Blueberry Crumble Pie

2011-06-16T08:06:00.000-07:00

I'm back with more sweet tarts and pies and the Modern Bakers as we continue baking from The Modern Baker cookbook. I had not planned to bake this pie. I don't like blueberry pie. I love berry medley pies but I've never had a blueberry-only pie I've enjoyed much.

But, when Kayte, Phyl, and Abby all swore up and down this was the best blueberry pie ever, I had to try it. Abby also mentioned the blueberry crumb muffins from the beginning of this challenge. Those were fantastic! I knew if N.M. could make such a fantastic blueberry muffins, I'm sure his blueberry pie is decent enough.

I made 1/4 recipe which filled two 4 1/2'' tarts. I cooked the berries and sugar, whisked in the cornstarch, topped them with the crumble and baked. Oh yes, this is a great pie. First of all, the berries were tart. Those that know me know I love tart! I eat the red blackberries, prefer grapes early in the season, and have been known to peel and eat lemons like one eats and orange. Perhaps I'm just an early season blueberry pie maker when the blueberries are still nice and tart. For me, tart berries in pie is important because when the berries are sweet and mixed with sugar the resulting pie of often too sweet for me. In addition, I loved how gooey the pie was. It wasn't runny but it wasn't gelatinous. It was at that perfect gooey stage. So, a definite hit here!

Modern Baker: Mango & Rice Tart

2011-06-12T08:03:00.000-07:00

The Modern Bakers are baking their way through The Modern Baker cookbook and we're still in the sweet tarts and pies section! It's a tough job but somebody has to try all these tarts!

The next tart up is mango and rice tart. I love mango sticky rice at Thai restaurants. It's my favorite dessert. I knew I'd like this tart as soon as I saw it and I wasn't disappointed. I made a 1/4 recipe to fill two 4 1/2'' tarts.

I guess my only small complaint is that I really like the sticky rice and this rice isn't sticky, however it doesn't claim to be either so maybe I'm just wishing N.M had made it a mango and sticky rice tart. It's really a small complaint. Sweet rice is insanely easy to make and who doesn't love mangoes around the house! Yummy!

Leek and Cherry Tomato Clafouti

2011-06-06T21:59:00.000-07:00

My good friend (in-real-life) and fellow food blogger Karen at Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market made this delicious clafouti for Mother's Day. Funny, how we now must make the distinction between real life friends and online friends.

Karen was recently featured on food52 a site founded by Amanda Hesser (former NYTimes food writer). Karen has been blogging all kinds of bean recipes this winter after joining a local bean CSA. I never knew beans could be so fun! I'm thinking of joining that CSA this winter.

This clafouti recipe caught my attention for a couple of reasons.
1. It looked like something I'd like.
2. I loved the pan Karen made hers in. Is that a paella pan??
3. I'd never heard of a clafouti before and was intrigued. I understand most clafoutis are traditionally desserts and this is a savory twist on one.

I began by roasting the tomatoes in the oven for half an hour. I then sauteed the leeks in butter and vermouth. (Another trip to the liquor store!) I made the clafouti batter and was ready to begin the assembly. Karen likened the beginning to making a crepe. I was a bit nervous. The last time I made anything crepe-like it was for my mom's manicotti recipe. Those things were hard.

I poured in a thin layer of batter. Let it cook until it was yellow and then assembled the clafouti with the leeks, tomatoes, and goat cheese. I poured in the rest of the batter and popped it all in the oven for an hour.

We ate it almost straight out of the oven. It was delicious! The clafouti was very light and eggy like a light quiche might be and the ingredients were fantastic. I particularly liked the roasted tomatoes. I got most of the tomatoes too as Austin is not a huge tomato fan. I think he's still recovering from three summers of working 7 days a week in a tomato factory in college. He was a quality control analyst testing for bacteria. Luckily, he never found any. If he had, he had the power to shut down the whole plant.

Penelope, the 19 month old was quite interested in what we were eating. She'd long finished her dinner (like 20 minutes beforehand) but came begging for a bite. We gave her a bite and she pulled up a chair and insisted on her own portion. A hit!! Thanks Karen!!!

Get the recipe here.

Modern Baker: Sour-Cream Apple Pie

2011-06-04T19:46:00.000-07:00

The Modern Bakers have been baking up sweet tarts and pies all spring. This sour-cream apple pie was requested specifically by my husband. He loves apple pie, especially apple pie with crumble topping. Overall, I tend to think apple pie is just okay.

Again, I'm making 1/4 of a recipe which fits into two 4 1/2'' tart pans. I chose to make it as a tart rather than a pie simply because I have small tart pans and no small pie pans. I was blown away by how easy apple pie is to make. Don't tell my husband though. He'll be requesting it all the time!

My verdict was that it was good, but remember apple pie isn't my thing. My husband took one bite and said, "Yeah, that's what I'm having for dinner." A few nights later when we had company for dinner and I broke out some tarts for dessert he was trying to convince them that the apple tart wasn't very good so that he could have it all to himself. If you're an apple pie fan, this tart is a home run!

Deceptively Delicious Spring

2011-06-01T17:17:00.000-07:00

I have thumbed through Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious cookbook a number of times. I was intrigued with the concept and yet I wondered if I had the time. The concept: puree vegetables and fruits and then sneak a 1/2 cup or so of a puree into everyday dishes your kids eat. Your kids get their vegetables and you lessen the guilt and stress around food.

My girls are 3 and 18 months. Up until 6 months ago I didn't think we had much of a food issue in the house. Charlotte (3) ate everything. Then, she turned 3 and started having LOTS of opinions. To be fair she really does do a good job with food, but she's definitely shying away from things she used to eat with gusto- like vegetables.

I decided to give some of the Deceptively Delicious recipes a try. What could it hurt and I was interested in expanding my repertoire of basic kid-friendly foods. I might love to give scallops and beef daube a try, but the kids really aren't going to eat much- yet. I do serve it to them. I just don't insist they eat it. I'm all about exposure with occasional pressure to taste new things.

I wasn't completely sold on the whole concept. I never made my own baby food- too much work. Would this be a lot of work? But, the first time I served a dish- the french toast- and I watched the girls gobble down their french toast knowing they were getting a serving of vegetables- I was secretly thrilled.

I didn't plan to blog each post or post the recipes. Instead, I thought I'd just give a little summary of what I tried this spring and what we thought.

French Toast- butternut squash puree. Kids- Loved it. Me-Loved it!

Scrambled Eggs- cauliflower puree. Kids- Loved it. Me-meh.

Mac and Cheese 1- butternut squash puree. Who knew 3 year olds already know that mac and cheese must be elbow pasta. Charlotte already declared the dish wrong upon sight. I was trying to use up the pasta I had. Mistake. I'll try again with elbow pasta.

Banana Bread- cauliflower puree. I didn't bake it long enough so it wasn't cooked through and it didn't rise. Flop! However, the girls had helped me make it and kept pestering me for some. I tore off pieces of the top and they loved it.

Peanut Butter and Banana Muffins- cauliflower puree. OMG! Why on earth would I ever make banana bread again when I could make these muffins? Utterly Fantastic!!

BBA #25: Pizza Napoletana

2011-05-28T19:44:00.000-07:00

The twenty-fifth bread of the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge is Pizza Napoletana. I love pizza. All kinds. Classic American with tomato sauce and lots of toppings. Thin crust. Thick crust. Real Italian pizza were tomato sauce isn't a given and you're served a full pizza with a fork and knife. I have few travel regrets, but one of them is not leaving the train station in Naples, Italy to get a slice in the birthplace of pizza. Italy knows how to do pizza!

This recipe made six balls of pizza dough. I put four of the balls in the freezer and kept two out for this week.

After refrigerating overnight, I let the dough rest for two hours, floured my hands and then started working it with my knuckles just as Reinhart instructs. Let me just say that I am a terrible pizza shaper. The edge of my pizza dough was thick and the center became paper thin quickly and started tearing holes. I tried to start over but that didn't work. The dough was already stretched paper thin and it didn't want to thicken again. I let the dough rest of a bit and then balled it up and stretched it out small with my fingers just as Reinhart says not to do.

I had a whole counter full of toppings ready for the pizza. Then, I read Reinhart's reminder that "less is more" for the best pizza. I looked at the toppings again and chose the things I was craving right then: cheese, mushrooms and olives.

The pizza was delicious. My second attempt at shaping later this week went no better but that pizza was equally delicious. I have four more attempts in the freezer and a new to do to add to my life accomplishment list- learn to make tossable pizza dough.

Modern Baker: Bourbon-Scented Pecan Tart

2011-05-24T19:45:00.000-07:00

Warning! This tart is a serious danger to your waistline! It is delicious and absolutely impossible to stop eating. It is pecan pie done to perfection.

I will admit I was a bit hesitant to do this tart. I've started to notice a lot of my cooking and baking involving alcohol. The French Fridays with Dorie group with all those french recipes in particular. I'm not a huge fan of using alcohol in recipes for two reasons:
1. It's kind of a pain to acquire. I live in Oregon which means I have to go to an actual liquor store to get anything stronger than beer or wine. Inevitably I have a baby with me and I must say I'm not sure I'll ever get used to walking into the liquor store with a baby on my hip and asking for liquor. I'm not even 100% sure it's legal either even though they've never said anything. In fact, I think they know me now. I'm the baking lady who comes in asking the easiest way to get 1/4 c of this and 3 T of that.
2. I'm cooking for little kids and exposing kids to the flavors of liquor just seems wrong. When there are thousands of other recipes in the world why should I expose my three year old to beef cooked in wine? (The beef daube was delicious though!)

Now, just ignore what I said because the bourbon really made this dish fantastic. I almost omitted it but then Phyl said omitting the bourbon is a huge mistake so I earned myself so wife points and bought my husband a large bottle of Maker's Mark. Phyl was right. There isn't very much bourbon in the tart but it adds that little something that elevates this tart above a regular old pecan pie.

I encourage all of my fellow Modern Bakers and everyone else who reads this to go get the cookbook and bake it!

Modern Baker: Pumpkin-Pecan Buttermilk Tart with Cinnamon Whipped Cream

2011-05-20T19:44:00.000-07:00

This next section of Sweet Tarts and Pies in the Modern Baker group is very dangerous. All of the tarts look incredible and yet I cannot have a whole tart sitting around this house every few days! Abby and I had the same idea to downsize the tarts.

For most of the tarts in this section my game plan is to make 1/4th of a recipe. This will fill two 4 1/2'' tart pans. This is the perfect size for a taste without having massive leftovers and after tasting just a few of these tarts I can tell you that they are absolutely-cannot-put-down delicious!

I love pumpkin pie. I look forward to it every year at Thanksgiving and this pumpkin-pecan buttermilk tart did not disappoint. It was light and creamy and the pecans were a great addition. The real show stopper of this dish was the whipped cream. Cinnamon whipped cream. It went perfect with the pumpkin pie and it was a true revelation for me.

This tart gives you a strong excuse to pass up seconds during the next holidays. You must save room for this pie!

I made one batch of the sweet tart dough and it made six 4 1/2'' tarts. I love this tart dough. It rolls out easily and tastes great. Another huge favorite and good basic to have in my baking repertoire. The 1/4 recipe of each tart allowed me to make three different tarts on one day. Stay tuned for more yummy tarts!

Sour-cream Apple Tart, Bourbon-Scented Pecan Tart, Pumpkin-Pecan Tart

Modern Baker: Parisian Fruit Tarts

2011-05-18T20:02:00.000-07:00

In a Parisian pastry shop I never order the fruit tart. I always choose something chocolately- usually an eclair. Big mistake!

Pay attention everyone and especially my fellow Modern Bakers this tart is fantastic. I made a 1/4 recipe which filled two 4 1/2'' tarts. I used the sweet tart dough instead of the press-in cookie dough and it was quite delicious.

My former wannabe-baker-self can hardly believe that I not only make pretty darn good pastry cream, but that as I was making it I kept thinking, "oh, yeah, I remember how to do this." Temper the egg yolks, whisk whisk, refrigerated to set.

For the fruit I chose strawberries, blueberries, kiwi, and mango. I discovered that the secret to the great meld of flavors in this tart is the glaze. I am lucky enough to have a mother-in-law who makes jam and shares it! (As an aside- ever had chesterberry jam? It's my new favorite!!) I grabbed a jar of her homemade apricot jam to make the glaze with. Oh it was so good!

How can I explain how good this tart is? Well, I ate both of them before my husband got home from work and then began checking airfare to Paris. Why? Because this tart is so incredible it will make you want to move to Paris and open your own pastry shop!

Martha Stewart Cupcakes: Tiramisu Cupcakes

2011-05-16T09:04:00.000-07:00

For May the Martha Stewart Cupcake group is baking tiramisu cupcakes. I love tiramisu. It is easily one of my favorite desserts and last year for the Daring Bakers I made tiramisu from scratch. I was so excited about these cupcakes and sadly they fell hugely short.

First of all, Martha- I appreciate you and all- but you are just evil sometimes. You want me to split a vanilla bean and simmer it in milk. What is so wrong with vanilla extract?? That step, yes I did it, was just a bit over the top for me this week.

Confession. I don't know how to make coffee. (I don't like coffee. Ironically, I often like light coffee flavors in desserts, but never as a beverage.) I called my husband for help. He wasn't available. I winged it. Turns out I make a sad weak cup of coffee.

The cupcake wasn't that exciting on it's own. My coffee syrup flavoring was tasteless and I didn't like the mascapone whip cream topping. I'm not sure what went wrong here. Perhaps it was the type of mascapone I purchased, but it was way too cheesy for the dessert. Mascapone is usually light. This still tasted a bit grassy. Grass and whip cream do not mix!

This one was a failure at our house.

Daring Cooks: Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

2011-05-14T07:45:00.000-07:00

Our May hostess, Denise, of There’s a Newf in My Soup!, challenged The Daring Cooks to make Gumbo! She provided us with all the recipes we’d need, from creole spices, homemade stock, and Louisiana white rice, to Drew’s Chicken & Smoked Sausage Gumbo and Seafood Gumbo from My New Orleans: The Cookbook, by John Besh.

I was absolutely thrilled and intimidated with this month's Daring Cooks challenge. My stepmother's family is from Louisiana and every Christmas Eve her mother makes gumbo for dinner. At first I thought it was a bit odd. I'm not sure I ate much of it that first year. But, quickly I came to like it and then looked forward to it as the holiday season began. Grandma has now retired from doing the big gumbo dinners. Perhaps it's time I take the reigns and learn to make gumbo myself. I think it would be a fun tradition to keep up for my family.

The roux totally intimidated me. In most other ways gumbo seems like a big stew and how hard is it to mess up stew, but the roux is the crux.

Roux at 1 min, 3 min, 8 min, 10 min, and 15 min

I was happy to find some fellow cooks posting photos of their roux at different stages. This helped me as I began cooking mine. A roux consists of some kind of fat, I used canola oil, and flour. You whisk them together for 15 minutes until the roux becomes are dark brown color. I know it doesn't sound that hard but you spend the whole time worrying you're burning it and afraid of it splattering on you. I got one little oil splatter that turned into a little water blister burn. Ouch! My step-mom uses a cast iron pot and flat ended wooden spoon to make her roux.

Roux and onions

Once I added the onions and saw that my picture looked a lot like the example, I felt better. I then added the Creole-seasoned chicken and sausage followed by the vegetables. After letting it all meld for a bit I added the stock and let it simmer for two hours. The house smelled fantastic, very... Christmasy. LOL.

I had my step-mom and dad over to dinner for this meal. My step-mom who has been eating gumbo her whole life declared it good and my dad and husband went back for seconds. A success!! Charlotte (3) wasn't into it, but Penelope (18 months) kept demanding more sausage from my bowl. A future gumbo eater for sure! Now that I've done it once it doesn't feel so hard. Perhaps I have Christmas Eve dinner already figured out!

Great challenge! Thank you!!

Chicken & Smoked Sausage Gumbo
Printable Recipe

Adapted From: Daring Cooks and From My New Orleans: The Cookbook, by John Besh

1 cup canola oil
1 cup flour
2 large onions, diced
1 chicken (3 ½ to 4 lbs.), cut into 10 pieces
2 tablespoons Basic Creole Spices (recipe follows), or store-bought Creole spice blend
2 pounds spicy smoked sausage, sliced ½ inch thick
2 stalks celery, diced
2 green bell peppers, seeded and diced
1 tomato, seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
Leaves from 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
3 quarts chicken stock
2 bay leaves
6 ounces andouille sausage, chopped
2 cups sliced fresh okra, ½ -inch thick slices (or frozen)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Filé powder, to taste
Tabasco, to taste
4-6 cups cooked Basic Louisiana White Rice (recipe follows)

1. Prepare homemade chicken stock, if using (recipe below).
2. Prepare homemade Basic Creole Spices, if using (recipe below).
3. Season the chicken pieces with about 2 tablespoons of the Creole Spices while you prepare the vegetables.
4. Make sure all of your vegetables are cut, diced, chopped, minced and ready to go before beginning the roux. You must stand at the stove and stir the roux continuously to prevent it from burning.
5. In a large cast-iron or heavy-bottomed pan, heat canola oil over high heat. Whisk the flour into the hot oil – it will start to sizzle. Reduce the heat to moderate, and continue whisking until the roux becomes deep brown in color, about 15 minutes.
6. Add the onions. Switch to a wooden spoon and stir the onions into the roux. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Continue stirring until the roux becomes a glossy dark brown, about 10 minutes.
7. Add the chicken to the pot; raise the heat to moderate, and cook, turning the pieces until slightly browned, about 10 minutes.
8. Add the sliced smoked sausage and stir for about a minute.
9. Add the celery, bell peppers, tomato, and garlic, and continue stirring for about 3 minutes.
10. Add the thyme, chicken stock, and bay leaves. Bring the gumbo to a boil, stirring occasionally.
11. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally, skimming off the fat from the surface of the gumbo every so often.
12. Add the chopped andouille, okra, and Worcestershire. Season with salt and pepper, several dashes of filé powder, and Tabasco, all to taste.
13. Simmer for another 45 minutes, continuing to skim the fat from the surface of the gumbo. Remove the bay leaves and serve in bowls over rice. Pass more filé powder at the table if desired.

Louisiana White Rice
Servings: 4 cups
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil or butter
1 small onion, minced
1½ cups Louisiana (or another long-grain white rice)
3 cups chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1-2 pinches salt

1. Put the fat, oil, or butter and the onions into a medium saucepan and sweat the onions over moderate heat until they are translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Pour the rice into the pan and stir for 2 minutes.
3. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil.
4. Add the bay leaf and salt.
5. Cover the pan with a lid, reduce the heat to low, and cook for 18 minutes.
6. Remove the pan from the heat, fluff the rice with a fork, and serve.

Basic Creole Spices
Adapted From: Daring Cooks and From My New Orleans: The Cookbook, by John Besh
Printable Recipe

Makes ½ cup
2 tablespoons celery salt
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon ground allspice

Mix together all spices in a bowl. Transfer the spices to a clean container with a tight-fitting lid. Store up to six months.

Aspen Power Bars

2011-05-11T07:33:00.000-07:00

Charlotte's best friend moved.... right down the street from us!

We brought them some welcome treats on moving day!

I omitted the powdered milk (none in the house) and the raisins (you know why). I was warned to cut the bars right after cooling as my friend had trouble getting them out of the pan. I think I cut them a bit too early and some bars came out but I also ended up more granola pieces than bars. It was still delicious- just not as pretty. So be warned, I think there is a window between too warm and will crumble and too cooled and stuck together.

Thanks for the recipe Katharine!

Aspen Power Bars

Printable Recipe

1 3/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1/4 cup + 2 Tbs light brown sugar

Heaping ½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes

½ tsp kosher salt

¾ cup nuts or sunflower seeds

¾ cup powdered milk

½ cup raisins (optional)

½ cup dried cranberries

3 Tbs butter

¼ cup honey

½ cup peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 Tbs raspberry jam

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, coconut, salt, nuts, powdered milk, raisins, and cranberries.

3. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Stir in the honey, peanut butter, vanilla extract and jam until melted and fully incorporated. Remove from heat.

4. Pour the melted ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir until fully mixed.

5. Press the mixture into the pan, compressing as much as possible . (Lay some plastic wrap over the top and then press down on the mixture. It doesn’t stick and keeps your hands clean!) Bake until golden, 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool before cutting into bars.

BBA #24: Panettone

2011-05-08T19:46:00.000-07:00

The twenty-fourth bread of the Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge is panettone. At first read, I didn't think this was not my kind of bread. It has fruit in it. In fact, Reinhart wants me to put all kinds of crazy candied fruit in it. And, then the liquor. I'm not opposed to liquor, a good gin and tonic is a favorite of mine. But, I'm not a huge liquor-in-things person.

And, perhaps, one of the hardest blows- this is a week long bread to make! There are 4 days of making the seed culture (or 5 if yours doesn't rise properly like mine), another day to make the barm, another for the wild yeast sponge, and then yet another day to make the bread. You have to really want this bread to go to all this trouble.

Come watch the process...

Seed Culture

Day 1- rye flour and pineapple juice.

Day 2- bread flour and pineapple juice

Day 3. Bread flour and water. It was supposed to double. It didn't. I gave it an extra day. It didn't do anything. Do I start over or proceed? I couldn't quite tell. I decided to proceed with step 4 and hope for the best.

Day 4. More bread flour and water.

It doubled!! I was going to proceed with making the barm but had a busy morning.

6 hours later... wow it keeps going!

Barm

The barm should be good for 2 months in the fridge. Hopefully, I can get through the next breads relatively quickly and get to the sourdough breads that all use the barm as the starter.

Wild-Yeast Sponge

Just when you thought it was time to make the bread! Nope, it's time to make the wild-yeast sponge and let it sit for 24 hours. I know, all these pictrues are starting to look the same aren't they.

While the wild yeast sponge fermented, the cranberries soaked in whisky, vanilla extract and orange extract. Yes, just cranberries. No raisins or candied fruit here!

Panettone
Is it finally time to make the bread?! Yes!

The mixed the final dough together, added the cranberries and nuts and let the dough rise. I was a bit concerned. The dough was soggy wet. I'd lost track of how many tablespoons of water I was adding (distracted baking!) and think I added one too many. However, that one tablespoon shouldn't have made it THAT much more wet? I ended up adding a lot more flour until the texture was better. It was still more sticky than tacky but I hesitated adding more flour as I'd already added a lot.

I made little rolls in a muffin tin and a large panettone in a 6'' cake pan.

The little rolls were my favorite. They were the perfect size and didn't dry out as much as the large bread did. We even had enough rolls to make an evening trip around the neighborhood to two friends and drop off rolls for dinnertime.

Did I like it? Drumroll.... yes, I did. I'm not sure I'd make it again but in the end it was a fun bread to bake. The shaping of the panettone was a great challenge. I didn't mind the cranberries either. That's fruit-in-bread progress!

{FFwD} Vanilla Éclairs

2011-05-06T01:10:00.000-07:00

What a comedy of errors this recipe turned out to be. I have a whole new respect for pastry chefs.

First, I'm a bit behind on posting this French Fridays with Dorie recipe because I was doing a sugar-free challenge with a few friends before Easter. It was a great challenge. I did 45 days with no junk food or soda. It really helped kick junk food out of my everyday life and I hit my goal weight!

I began by making the cream puff dough. I followed the directions but when I took the éclairs out of the oven they all collapsed. I let them cool and cut them- yep, raw inside. I had some time so I decided to try again. I made a second batch and tried to follow the directions even more closely. I let them cook a few moments more until they were nice and golden. Again, the same thing happened to about half of them.

I opted to make the chocolate ganache glaze to spread on the top instead of making the vanilla glaze. In my opinion, éclairs should always have a chocolate glaze. I put the chocolate and cream into a pan and started stirring. After a moment I realized I must have made a mistake because it was the consistency of hot chocolate and I couldn't figure out how it would thicken. I checked the directions- oops- I used 3/4 cup of chocolate when the directions called for 3/4 LB. I quickly tried to calculate how much more to add. I ended up roughly estimating by dumping in. Yeah, the glaze didn't turn out quite right in consistency or taste.

The vanilla pastry cream was the one bright spot. It was perfect!

I assembled the éclairs and got ready to enjoy one before preschool pick up. But, before I could get the fork to my mouth I had to run over and wrestle some baking supplies away from the 18 month old who was ransacking my baking cupboard. I grabbed them all away from her and put them out of reach. I came back to the plate and got a finger full of pastry cream. I had expected a light hint-of-vanilla flavor. Instead, I got the powerful, overwhelming, and burning flavor of intense peppermint. Yep, one of the bottles Penelope had had was the peppermint extract. All I tasted was peppermint for the next 20 minutes.

Once that subsided though I will say that the éclairs were quite good. I was almost glad most of the puff pastry hadn't turned out because after I ate two my head was spinning from all the sugar. It was a delicious dessert but one that needs some perfecting on my part.

Modern Baker: Bittersweet Chocolate Tart

2011-05-02T09:01:00.000-07:00

Here is my official Modern Baker recipe post for the sweet tarts! This bittersweet chocolate tart is phenomenal. It's dense and rich and the crust is sweet and crunchy like a perfect cookie. This tart is so delicious, however the richness requires a large gathering. I would be amazed at the person who could eat more than one piece in a day.

The tart begins with a press-in-cookie dough crust. It's made much like cookie dough by mixing butter, sugar, vanilla, and an egg yolk in a mixer.

After stirring in the flour I pressed the dough into my tart pan. Honestly, this was quite a process. I should have listened to Phyl and chilled the dough for a bit. The more I pressed the warmer the dough got and my fingers would slide right though the dough making holes in it.

I took the slow and steady approach and after about 8 minutes I had the tart dough nicely covering my pan. Into the oven it went.

As the crust was baking, I started melting the bittersweet chocolate in a pan.

Yes, I dipped my finger in to make sure the chocolate was acceptable. It passed.

Then, I set the chocolate aside to cool.

I simmered the cream and corn syrup and slowly added it to the cooled chocolate.

And, whisked.

Until smooth.

Finally, I whisked in the ingredient that makes all recipes better- the butter.

Poured it into the cooled crust.

And, popped it into the refrigerator to set.

I served mine with heaping whip cream and some shaved chocolate. Delicious!

Modern Baker: Tomato & Cantal Tart

2011-04-30T20:27:00.000-07:00

Here is my last savory tart for the Modern Baker group.

I saved this tart for last because I thought it would be a slam dunk favorite. Surprisingly, it wasn't and I know why. Look at that gorgeous pizza- I mean tart- above. Doesn't it look like the best margherita pizza ever! When I traveled in Italy, I loved margherita pizza. The Italians really know how to do that pizza right.

For this tart I used the rich pie dough crust again and the filling consists of cantal cheese and tomatoes and is topped with olive oil and basil. Well, it also has one ingredient that you would never find on pizza- dijon mustard. It just threw it all off for me. I will say that the tart did taste good. I imagine it would be a great hors d'oeuvres but I just couldn't get over the fact it wasn't pizza. Silly, I know.

Sweet tarts here I come!

{FFwD} Bistrot Paul Bert Pepper Steak

2011-04-28T16:14:00.000-07:00

French Friday's with Dorie is taking on steak this week. This is my first ever steak too! Dorie specifies using Sarawak pepper and filet mignon. Sorry, Dorie. I used the bulk peppercorns and the much much cheaper sirloin.

Where is my mortar and pestle??? I searched and searched the kitchen and finally resorted to banging the peppercorns in a ziploc with a frying pan. It worked!

Wow, steak is pretty darn easy! I must admit that I was totally intimidated. Remember, until last year I didn't really even know how to cook chicken.

I cooked the steaks and then there was the big decision to make. Do I flame the brandy or just cook it down? I decided to go for it and flame it. My husband was at the ready with the fire extinguisher. There was a HUGE flame and then high flames off the pan for quite awhile. I didn't panic but it did take me by surprise how intense the initial flaming was. My husband was teasing me that I almost burned down the house. I'm not sure I need to relive flaming brandy anytime soon, but it was a fun experience to have had.

The resulting steak and sauce was delicious. We don't eat much beef at our house, but I do still like steak and for my first steaks I did a pretty good job. Perhaps slightly overdone only. The peppercorns were great! I was afraid it would be too overpowering with pepper, but it wasn't. And, the sauce was the perfect compliment. A huge hit for dinner for sure!

Daring Bakers: Maple Mousse and Edible Containers

2011-04-27T05:45:00.000-07:00

The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz. Evelyne chose to challenge everyone to make a maple mousse in an edible container. Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 27th to May 27th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!

Okay, I will admit that when I saw the Daring Bakers challenge this month I was a bit underwhelmed. We had been tipped off that April's Daring Bakers challenge would involve an edible container, just like April's Daring Cooks challenge did. I had visions of learning to make some kind of chocolate cup- like tiramisu comes in sometimes. Then, I saw maple mousse (okay, that sounded fun) in nut bowls (underwhelmed) or bacon bowls (WTF!).

First, let's talk about the mousse. It uses real, let's capitalize that, REAL maple syrup. Ouch on the pocketbook, but it was important to do this ingredient right. The mousse was unexpectedly easy to make and oh so delicious. The maple flavor is light and sweet. This would be an incredible substitute for whip cream.

Yes, I could have been creative and figured out my own chocolate edible container but as I read the whole challenge I became more interested in these nut bowls. Think of all the fun things I could put in them- ice cream, peanut butter, piped marshmallow, fruit, or even yogurt. And, what kid wouldn't love to eat a snack out of a nut bowl that they can then eat! The nut bowl did not disappoint. I had to improvise as I was out of foil so it was thicker than expected, but what a fun experience!

Okay, now back to the bacon bowl. Again, WTF! A bacon bowl for mousse? That sounds insane, but Evelyne attested that it was good and the combination of sweet and salty was really good. I wasn't going to do it. I just couldn't go there. Then, I was standing in the grocery store and thought, "my husband would love me if I brought home bacon this week and what the heck- let's give it a try". You know what, Evelyne was right. It was surprisingly good. The bacon was a great compliment to the sweet maple mousse. I asked my husband which bowl her preferred. He smiled and said, "everything is better with bacon." So, there you have it. Bacon bowl- WTF to OMG.

Maple Mousse and Edible Containers
Printable Recipe

Maple Mousse:
Ingredients:
• 1 cup pure maple syrup (not maple-flavoured syrup)
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 package (7g/1 tbsp.) unflavoured gelatine
• 1 1/2 cups whipping cream

1. Bring maple syrup to a boil then remove from heat.
2. In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and pour a little bit of the maple syrup in while whisking (this is to temper your egg yolks so they don’t curdle).
3. Add warmed egg yolks to hot maple syrup until well mixed.
4. Measure 1/4 cup of whipping cream in a bowl and sprinkle it with the gelatine. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Place the bowl in a microwave for 45 seconds (microwave for 10 seconds at a time and check it in between) or place the bowl in a pan of barely simmering water, stir to ensure the gelatine has completely dissolved.
5. Whisk the gelatine/whipping cream mixture into the maple syrup mixture and set aside.
6. Whisk occasionally for approximately an hour or until the mixture has the consistency of an unbeaten raw egg white.
7. Whip the remaining cream. Stir 1/4 of the whipped cream into the maple syrup mixture. Fold in the remaining cream and refrigerate for at least an hour.
8. Remove from the fridge and divide equally among your edible containers.

Bacon Cups:
• 24 thin slices good quality bacon
1. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F/200 degrees C.
2. Take a muffin pan or 6 small ½ cup capacity heat-proof bowls, turn upside down and carefully form aluminum foil covers on the back of 6 muffin cups or the bowls.
3. Taking 2 strips of bacon at a time crisscross the strips over the backs of the muffin cups and cut to size a tad longer then the bottom part of the cup. Now use 1 to 2 more strips to cover the sides of the muffin cups in a weaving fashion. You want a full tight weave because bacon shrinks a lot. For smaller cups I used a shot glass with a square of bacon for the bottom and I wrapped 1 strip around the side.
4. Tuck the ends of the bacon strips inside otherwise they will curl while cooking. A good idea is to insert 4 toothpicks where the crisscrossed bacon meets in the weave.
5. Place muffin pan in a cookie tray to catch drippings. Bake in oven for about 25 to 40 minutes, or until the bacon is golden and crisp but not burned.
6. Cool completely, a good hour, before removing your cups delicately from the foil.

Nut Bowls:
• 1 1/2 cups crushed nuts of your choice such as almonds, hazelnuts or walnuts
• 1 egg, beaten, at room temperature
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate pieces
1. Use a food processor or a zip-lock back with a rolling pin to crush your nuts if whole, use about 1 cup of whole nuts to get 3/4 cups crushed. You want it somewhat coarse.
2. In a bowl mix the nuts with the beaten egg and the sugar.
3. Take 6 small ½ cup capacity Pyrex cups or a similar container and line the inside with aluminum foil. Spread ¼ cup of the mixture in the bowl, all the way up to the sides making sure you have a thin and even clean layer all around.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F/175 degrees C. until the nuts are golden and fragrant (about 15 minutes). Let cool completely before unmolding.
5. Melt chocolate (either in the microwave or over a double boiler). Dip the rims of the cooled nut bowls in the chocolate. Place in the freezer for at least 15 minutes or until the chocolate has hardened and is set.