Meme's

Coconut Cake- Happy Birthday to ME!

2009-04-02T15:59:00.000-07:00

I usually make the Chocolate Angel Food Cake for my birthday. I bought all the ingredients, and was ready to make it this morning, until I changed my mind, and made this Coconut Cake. We had a little party this afternoon and had some cake. Amazingly good. This is yet another Ina recipe. She says 10-12 servings, but this would easily serve 16.

Coconut Cake
10 to 12 servings

Ingredients
3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pans
2 cups sugar
5 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pans
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup milk
4 ounces sweetened shredded coconut
For the frosting:

1 pound cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted
6 ounces sweetened shredded coconut
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 (9-inch) round cake pans, then line them parchment paper. Grease them again and dust lightly with flour.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, until light yellow and fluffy. Crack the eggs into a small bowl. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl once during mixing. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well. The mixture might look curdled; don't be concerned.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk to the batter in 3 parts, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Fold in the 4 ounces of coconut with a rubber spatula.

Pour the batter evenly into the 2 pans and smooth the top with a knife. Bake in the center of the oven for 45 to 55 minutes, until the tops are browned and a cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a baking rack for 30 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto a baking rack to finish cooling.

For the frosting, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese, butter, vanilla and almond extract on low speed. Add the confectioners' sugar and mix until just smooth (don't whip!).

To assemble, place 1 layer on a flat serving plate, top side down, and spread with frosting. Place the second layer on top, top side up, and frost the top and sides. To decorate the cake, sprinkle the top with coconut and lightly press more coconut onto the sides. Serve at room temperature.

Broccoli and Bow Ties

2009-03-29T18:36:00.001-07:00

I like to get away with making only 2 dishes for dinner- one protein, and the other starch and veg. So this definitely fills the bill. I make this and barbecue some chicken thighs, (like I did tonight), or I'll bake chicken fingers in the oven. My kids both eat this-I think the bow ties help disguise the fact that there is broccoli in here- and there are no onions, ( a deal breaker in this house).
It comes from the ever wonderful Ina Garten, in her Barefoot Contessa Family Style cookbook. Another recipe from Ina that is fantastic and easy- always.
For those counting the points- divide by 8 servings- no cheese- each serving is 4 points. Add a chicken thigh-take off the skin!- and your whole meal is 7 points.

Serves:
6 to 8 servings

Ingredients
Kosher salt
8 cups broccoli florets (3-4 heads)
1/2 pound farfalle (bow tie) pasta
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 lemon, zested
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup toasted pignoli (pine) nuts
Freshly grated Parmesan, optional

Directions
Cook the broccoli for 3 minutes in a large pot of boiling salted water. Remove the broccoli from the water with a slotted spoon or sieve. Place in a large bowl and set aside.

In the same water, cook the bow-tie pasta according to the package directions, about 12 minutes. Drain well and add to the broccoli.

Meanwhile, in a small saute pan, heat the butter and oil and cook the garlic and lemon zest over medium-low heat for 1 minute. Off the heat, add 2 teaspoons salt, the pepper, and lemon juice and pour this over the broccoli and pasta. Toss well. Season to taste, sprinkle with the pignolis and cheese, if using, and serve.

To toast pignolis, place them in a dry saute pan over medium-low heat and cook, tossing often, for about 5 minutes, until light brown.

Rice Krispies Treats

2009-03-26T11:56:00.000-07:00

Rice Krispies Treats! I usually have my cookie jar replenished once every week or so. But, it's getting close to swimsuit season again, so the cookie jar has remained empty. Abbie wanted some cookies, so I suggested Rice Krispies Treats instead. I've made a couple of small changes to the original recipe- but according to my calculations, each bar is worth only 1 Weight Watchers point. Yum!

Rice Krispies Treats

1 tbs. unsalted butter

5 oz. regular marshmallows

3 cups Rice Krispies cereal

Lightly grease, or spray a 9" X 9" cake pan. Put marshmallows into a microwave safe bowl with the unsalted butter. Microwave on high 2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute. Put Rice Krispies into a large bowl. Add the marshmallow mixture to the cereal and mix thoroughly.

Press into prepared pan. Allow to cool. (I usually put the pan in the fridge). Cut into 16 squares.

Tacos with Homemade Flour Tortillas- Dinner

2009-03-17T19:11:00.000-07:00

This was inspired by a recipe I found in Gourmet. The recipe calls for bagged cole slaw mix from the grocery store, but the cole slaw from Bakesale Betty's restaurant in the Temescal neighborhood of Oakland is so much better than a plain bag-mix. This was my first attempt at making tortillas. I used some of my leaf lard from the freezer. I don't think I would say that these tortillas were much better than what I can buy at the store. Is that the fault of the recipe, or me? I don't know, but I think I'll try corn tortillas next. The flank steak rub was really good, and very easy. I've posted the entire recipe here as written in Gourmet, (including bag cole slaw mix and store-bought tortillas).

Tortillas
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup lard
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup warm water

Special equipment: pastry blender, comal (Mexican griddle; optional), six- to ten-inch-long wooden dowel (found in hardware stores)

Stir together flour with salt in a bowl, then cut in lard with a pastry blender or your fingertips until the mixture resembles meal. Drizzle vegetable oil over and stir in warm water with a fork until a dough forms. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes, dusting hands occasionally with flour if dough is sticky.
Form dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest 1 hour. Heat a dry well-seasoned cast-iron comal, regular griddle, or skillet over moderately low heat until hot. Cut dough into 12 equal pieces and form into balls.
When rolling out 1 ball at a time with dowel, use just enough flour to prevent dough from sticking; you don't want excess flour coming off on the comal. Keep remaining dough covered with plastic wrap. Roll out each ball into a 7-inch round, maintaining an even thinness as you roll. Cook 1 tortilla on comal as you roll the next.
Tortilla will bubble and puff, and bottom will be browned in spots in 45 seconds. Turn it over and cook second side in same way, moving tortilla around to compensate for any hot spots on comal if necessary. Transfer to a kitchen towel. Stack and cover tortillas as cooked. They can be frozen (cool thoroughly first). Rewarm thawed tortillas on comal before using.

When rolling out 1 ball at a time with dowel, use just enough flour to prevent dough from sticking; you don't want excess flour coming off on the comal. Keep remaining dough covered with plastic wrap. Roll out each ball into a 7-inch round, maintaining an even thinness as you roll. Cook 1 tortilla on comal as you roll the next.
Tortilla will bubble and puff, and bottom will be browned in spots in 45 seconds. Turn it over and cook second side in same way, moving tortilla around to compensate for any hot spots on comal if necessary. Transfer to a kitchen towel. Stack and cover tortillas as cooked. They can be frozen (cool thoroughly first). Rewarm thawed tortillas on comal before using.

Carne Asada
Total Time: 15 min

1 tablespoon ancho chile powder
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 (1-to 1 1/4-pounds) piece of flank steak
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
8 (7-to 8-inch) flour tortillas
3 cups packaged coleslaw mix (7 ounces)

Accompaniments: sliced pickled jalapeños; sour cream; lime wedges

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Stir together ancho powder, cocoa, and cinnamon.
Pat steak dry and season with 3/4 teaspoon salt, then coat with spice mixture. Heat oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers, then cook steak, turning once, 8 to 9 minutes for medium-rare.
While steak cooks, wrap tortillas in foil and warm in oven.
Let steak rest 5 minutes on a cutting board, then thinly slice across the grain at an angle.
Serve steak with warm tortillas and coleslaw mix.

Bakesale Betty's Cole Slaw

The vinaigrette
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

The coleslaw
1 small red onion, very thinly sliced
1 cup red wine vinegar
2 jalapenos, seeded, cut in half and sliced crosswise
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/2 green cabbage, core and outer leaves removed, and very thinly sliced
Kosher salt

For the vinaigrette: Combine mustard, vinegar and salt in a bowl. Slowly whisk in olive oil until well blended.

For the coleslaw: Macerate onions in red wine vinegar, and let sit at least 20 minutes. Remove onions and discard vinegar. Toss onions with jalapeno, parsley, cabbage and salt. Toss with vinaigrette until evenly coated.

Note- I don't use nearly as much vinaigrette as called for here. I make a half recipe and use about 1/2- 3/4 of what I've made.

Leaf Lard

2009-03-12T14:41:00.000-07:00

I have been looking for leaf lard for a while now. It is supposed to make the very best pie crust you will ever eat. I asked a butcher about it a couple of years ago. He told me he had a 50 pound bucket that I could buy. That was a little too ambitious for me. A couple of days ago, my brother and I were at the Ferry Building in San Francisco, and I remembered someone telling me that I could find leaf lard at the Golden Gate Meat Company. I talked to the butcher, and was carrying a bag with 2 lbs. of white fat in it minutes later. I found easy instructions on how to render the fat online. Some people do it in the microwave, or their crock-pot. I used my dutch oven- one of the most versatile pots I own, and my oven. The following directions are from the Flying Pigs Farm website.My ground leaf lard ready to go into the oven.
After 2 hours in the oven. Ready to strain.
Strained fat.
Approximately 6 ounces of fat in each tin.

Frozen blocks of lard.

From the website-

The trick to rendering lard is to do it low and slow, so that the small amount of water in the lard can evaporate. But the lard must be pulled from the heat before it turns too dark or hot. It’s actually a very simple procedure: you heat the lard, strain it, and then cool it. But it takes several hours, so plan accordingly. The recommendations that follow are for rendering lard in the oven. Some people use a double boiler or a Crock Pot instead. In addition to some type of pan, you'll also need cheesecloth and a sieve or colander, an Instant Read thermometer, and storage containers. Expect a yield of approximately 70%. The slower the process, the higher the yield.

Grind the lard in a meat grinder or cut it into small pieces.
Turn the oven on to 300 or 325º. Put the lard into a heavy wide pan, such as a roasting pan, and put it into the oven.
Some people pour a very small amount of water into the pan first—just enough to cover the bottom—to keep the lard from scorching in the beginning. Eventually this water will boil away, but it takes longer to do it this way. If you keep a close eye on the lard, it’s not necessary.
Stir the lard frequently. As the water evaporates the temperature will rise. Check temperature frequently with an Instant Read thermometer. Be forewarned that this will take a long time at low heat. As the lard renders, the cracklings (brown bits of crispy fried tissue that do not render) will float to the surface. When the lard is almost done and the cracklings have lost the rest of their moisture, they will sink to the bottom.
When the temperature reaches about 255º, remove the pan from the oven and allow the lard to settle and cool slightly. The lard will be a gold color, but it will turn white when it solidifies.
Carefully strain the lard through several layers of cheesecloth lining a sieve. Fill ice cube trays or muffin tins with the strained lard. This will allow you to easily take out a small portion when you need it. Cool quickly, and then freeze. After it’s frozen, store it in Ziploc bags. It will last in the freezer for a very long time, more than a year or two. It will last in the fridge for several months.

Chocolate Panna Cotta Cake

2009-03-01T14:06:00.000-08:00

Beautiful and delicious cake. I made this for a baby shower I'm throwing. I love the chocolate band. This is the same technique I used for my sister-in-law's birthday cake last year, with the white chocolate band. I don't have 2 spring-form pans, so I used a spring-form pan for one layer, and a regular cake pan for the other. Make the final cake in the spring- form pan, if you need to do the same. I also used 9 inch spring-form and cake pans- I don't own a 10 inch. It worked out fine, but I had a lot of panna cotta left over, and the cake is quite tall. I put the leftover panna cotta into ramekins, and let the kids eat it like chocolate pudding.

For the cake-
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup hot coffee
1/2 cup hot water
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream

Panna Cotta:
1/2 cup water
5 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
7 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
5 ounces high-quality milk chocolate, such as Lindt or Perugina, chopped
2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 vanilla beans, split lengthwise

Chocolate Band:
2 16x3-inch strips waxed paper
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

For cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray two 10-inch-diameter springform pans with 2 1/2-inch-high sides with nonstick spray. Place chocolate and cocoa in medium bowl. Pour hot coffee and hot water over; whisk until smooth. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in another medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat oil and both sugars in large bowl 1 minute (mixture will be crumbly). Add eggs 1 at a time, beating to blend after each addition. Beat in sour cream. Mix in half of dry ingredients. Beat in chocolate mixture. Add remaining dry ingredients; beat on low speed just to blend (batter will be thin). Divide batter between pans (layers will be shallow).
Bake cakes until tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in pans on rack.

For panna cotta:
Place 1/2 cup water in small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over; let soften 10 minutes. Place both chocolates in large metal bowl. Combine cream, milk, sugar, and vanilla extract in large saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla beans; add beans. Bring to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves; remove from heat. Add gelatin mixture; whisk to dissolve. Pour cream mixture over chocolates in bowl; whisk until completely melted. Place bowl over a larger bowl of ice water. Stir often until mixture thickens like pudding, draining off water and adding more ice to larger bowl as needed, about 30 minutes. Remove from over water.
Pour 1/2 of panna cotta over cake in 1 pan (mixture may drip down sides of cake). Freeze 45 minutes. Keep remaining panna cotta at room temperature.
Remove pan sides from second cake. Using large metal spatula, carefully slide cake off of pan bottom and place a top panna cotta in cake pan. Pour remaining panna cotta over, filling pan completely. Chill overnight. DO AHEAD: Can be covered and frozen for 2 weeks. Defrost overnight in refrigerator before continuing.

For chocolate band:
Line large baking sheet with foil; set aside. Place another large sheet of foil on work surface; place waxed paper strips atop foil, spacing apart. Stir chocolate in medium bowl set over pan of simmering water until smooth. Pour half of melted chocolate down center of each waxed paper strip. Using small offset spatula, spread chocolate to cover strips evenly, allowing some of chocolate to extend beyond edges of paper strips, making sure strips are completely covered. Using fingertips, lift strips and place on foil-lined sheet. Chill until chocolate just begins to set but is still completely flexible, about 2 minutes.
Cut around pan sides to release cake. Remove pan sides from cake. Using fingertips, lift 1 chocolate band from foil. Wrap band around cake, waxed-paper side out, lining up 1 long edge with bottom of cake (band will be higher than cake). Repeat with second band, arranging so ends just meet, pressing band onto uncovered side of cake. If bands overlap, trim any excess paper and chocolate. Using fingertips, press top edge of band in toward cake, forming slight ruffle. Chill until chocolate sets, 5 minutes. Gently peel off waxed paper. Chill cake. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Chill.

Birthday Cake- Golden Chiffon Cake

2009-02-27T13:11:00.000-08:00

Aundra's birthday cake this year. Not as fancy as last year's, but still very good. I made a chiffon cake for this. We were going to be at 6000 feet, and I didn't want to mess around with baking. I also knew that I had to freeze this cake, and didn't want it to dry out. It stayed really moist. Chiffon cake is very similar to angel food, I think. It's frosted with a nice french buttercream, flavored with strawberry sauce.

Chiffon Cake- makes 2 8-inch layers

224 g. cake flour

7 g. baking powder

194 g. sugar #1

zest from 1/2 lemon

113 g. vegetable oil

112 g. egg yolks

128 g. water

6 g. vanilla

226 g. egg whites

96 g. sugar #2

1 g. cream of tartar

Sift together the flour, baking powder, first sugar; add the lemon zest.

In a separate bowl, whisk the liquid ingredients; add the dry ingredients slowly to make a smooth batter.

Whip the egg whites, sugar #2 and cream of tartar to medium peaks.

Fold the meringue into the batter in three stages until there are no streaks.

Pour into ungreased, papered pans- 550 g. per pan.

Bake at 335 degrees convection for about 30 minutes or until done.

Remove from pans when cooled.

Buttermilk Scones

2009-02-23T13:06:00.000-08:00

I volunteered to provide breakfast for the teachers at Abbie's school on conference day in February. I made two scones- bacon and cheddar, and cherry-corn. I also made one of Ina's breakfast recipes, orange yogurt with fruit. Add a little Peet's coffee, and you have some happy teachers!

This recipe is from pastry school so all the ingredients are listed in grams. This makes 2 8-inch rounds, 16 scones.

For the bacon and cheddar scones, I cooked the bacon in the oven, then chopped it up letting it cool. I have grated cheddar cheese for this recipe, and also diced it, which I like better. I also add a little pepper, and some fresh rosemary.

If you want to make cherry-corn scones, chop the cherries a bit, add 50 g. cornmeal to the dry ingredients.

Buttermilk Scones

892.5 g. a/p flour

22 g. baking powder

6.5 g. baking soda

62.5 g. sugar

12.5 g. salt

280 g. unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces (about 2 sticks)

125 g. eggs

612.5 g. buttermilk

2 cups of inclusions ( 1 cup of bacon and 1 cup of cheddar cheese, or 1 1/2 -2 cups dried cherries)

egg wash (I use the leftover egg and a little milk)

Combine dry ingredients into a big bowl.

Combine wet ingredients into a pitcher, or large measuring cup.

Add butter to the dry ingredients, mixing with your hands. Break up the butter into the flour until it is in pea-sized or slightly larger chunks. Add inclusions.

Pour in the liquid, and continue to mix with hands or a large spatula, until combined.

Spray or grease and flour 2 8-inch cake pans. Press equal amounts of dough into each pan. Unmold the dough onto a floured cutting board, and cut the dough into 8 pie-slices. Arrange the slices on a parchment lined baking sheet and brush with egg wash. Sprinkle sugar on sweet scones, and cheese on savory. Bake at 400 degrees convection (or 425 regular oven), 15 minutes.

You can also freeze them and bake from the freezer 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

My little buffet-

Pastry School- Pate Choux, Gougeres, Choquettes

2009-02-12T18:35:00.000-08:00

This is the last of the pastry school posts. The photo above shows the proper consistency of Pate a Choux (cabbage).
How to hold a pastry bag.
My piping skills. Lovely, eh?

This was so cool, and yet it terrified me. The instructor is showing us how to sprinkle sugar onto the pate a choux to make Chouquettes. She dumped a bunch of the sugar on the sheet pan closest to her, then lifted the tray perpendicular to the table, letting the pearl sugar fall over the dough.
I was afraid they would all slide off the sheet.
Gougeres- baked pate a choux. You can fill with savory or sweet fillings using a piping bag, or make profiteroles with these- add ice cream and chocolate sauce.
These are the baked Chouquettes, with the pearl sugar.
My take for the day- chouquettes, brownies, financiers and madeleines.

Linzer Kranzel

2009-02-12T08:59:00.000-08:00

This is another recipe from Uta, who gave me the recipe for the Rosquillos de Vino- Wine Ring Cookies. She's been translating recipes from her German cookbook for me. These are really good- vanilla flavor is nice, and I like the nuts and sugar on the outside. But the strange thing about these cookies is the first ingredient- 4 HARD BOILED EGG YOLKS. You push them through a sieve. Here is photo of egg yolks pushed through a sieve.
One ingredient that may be a little hard to find is vanilla sugar. This product is made from dextrose, (sugar) and vanilla flavor. I found it at Andronico's, a local grocery store, but I think you can find it at Cost Plus, and certainly on-line.

I made my cookies a little on the thick side- so my sandwiches are a mouthful. I had homemade cherry and strawberry jam in my fridge- no currant jelly- so I did half cherry, half strawberry. I put about a 1/4 cup of each in a small saucepan over low heat, and cooked it down to a syrup. Then I pressed it through a small sieve to take out the solid chunks of fruit.

Linzer Kranzel

4 hard boiled eggs, yolks only
120 g powder sugar 4.2 oz
200 g butter 7 oz
2 packages vanilla sugar
1 dash of salt
300 g flour sifted 10.6 oz
----------------
120 g almonds coarsely chopped 4.2 oz
100 g sugar 3.5 oz
2 raw egg yolks
½ cup currant jelly or currant jam

Hard boil eggs and put egg yolks through fine sieve. Stir in 80 g (2.8 oz) powder sugar and butter till creamy. Add vanilla sugar, salt and flour and kneed into dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for 2 hours in refrigerator.
Preheat oven to 200 C. – 390 F
Meanwhile mix sugar and chopped almonds. Beat raw egg yolks.
Roll out dough to 4mm and cut our rings or round cookies. Brush on one side with egg mixture, press into almond and sugar mixture and bake top up for ca. 10 to 15 minutes. Carefully remove cookies and let cool. Brush underside with warmed and stirred currant jelly or jam and put two rings together. Dust with remaining powder sugar.

Pastry School- Pie Dough

2009-02-11T14:27:00.000-08:00

This was my favorite project at pastry school. I've made a lot of pies, and although I understand the basic principles of making a flaky pie crust, I am not able to do it with consistent results. We used the big 20 quart mixers to make a batch of 9 pie shells- 3 for each group member. The photo above shows the dry ingredients and butter. Notice the huge piece of butter in the pan.
The butter is being worked into the flour. There are now smaller pieces of butter.
Turning out the dough, now with added ice water, onto the table top.
Our group's pie dough. Notice the huge smears of butter. The sad face on the little one is to show that it is smaller than the others.
Apples waiting to go in the pies. I peeled, cored and sliced 2 1/2 flats of apples for the pies. We did one communal filling recipe. I was constantly impressed with the large volumes of ingredients during my week there.
My crusts ready for filling.

We did a lattice crust for the apple pie. Not traditional, but I was happy to be able to try this.
My pecan pie ready to go into the oven.
My baked apple pie. I was a little disappointed with the apple pie. The apples weren't cooked enough, and the filling had cornstarch, instead of flour as a thickener. The crust came out great, though.
Pecan pie ready to go home. These were really good!

Pastry School- Madelines and Financiers

2009-02-10T20:35:00.000-08:00

Madelines are these nice little cookie/cakes that are usually in the shape of a shell. My girls love them. I see them at Starbucks and in the grocery store in little packages. They cost a fortune, and really aren't that good. If you have one that's made fresh, however, they are much better. I think the shelf life for a Madeline is maybe 24 hours. The photo above shows one of my groupmates piping dough into a Madeline mold.
Using a knife to release some of the air bubbles.
Madelines out of the oven.
This is a photo of our instructor piping Financier batter into molds. Financiers are little gold cakes, like Madelines, but they are made with brown butter. They are traditionally piped into molds to make them look like gold bars. I liked the Financiers better than the Madelines. The girls did not.
Madeline and Financier molds. The instructor shows how to hold a piping bag so that the bag is wrapped around your hand, and the tail end doesn't drop into your work.
My piped Financiers- in the first row.
Finished Financiers with almonds, (there's almond meal in the recipe), and blackberries.

Pastry School- Banana Bread

2009-02-10T20:08:00.001-08:00

So on some level I feel like, "Banana bread? Chocolate chip cookies? Is this what I paid for?" Yes, it is. You have to imagine the scale of this kitchen. It was huge. If you forgot to pick up a spatula before you started mixing, you had to walk way across the room to pick one up, before you could finish the task at hand. So when we began making these "simple" formulas, it was never considered easy. We had huge amounts of ingredients, new equipment to master, we were working in groups- enough said there- and were trying to perform all these mixing methods properly. It was challenging, and as the week went on, the time crunch became more and more of an obstacle.

So this is Day 2, and we made Banana Bread, Coffee Cake, and Scones, I think. The photo above shows the mashed banana mixed with buttermilk.
Group 1's Banana Bread, ready for the oven.
WOW!
So here are all the groups' breads cooling on the racks. I have to say, I tasted it in class, but put my loaf in the freezer once I got home. Every day we brought home more food. I had to freeze some of it, or it would just go to waste.

Pastry School- Cookies

2009-02-10T19:47:00.001-08:00

How was pastry school? It was GREAT! I can't wait to go back again. It was a VERY hard week on the family, but Husband handled everything like a pro. I learned a lot about the science of baking- how ingredients function in a recipe, methods of mixing, how to fix mistakes. I was really kind of sad to not go back on Monday morning.

Day 1 was mostly lecture. We went over the ingredients and their functions, as well as mixing processes. We made Oatmeal Raisin and Chocolate Chip cookies that first day. Here are photos of our hunks of dough.
The cookies we made.
The photo below shows a great way to store cookie dough in the freezer. You form the dough into a log, label it, then slice and bake what you need.

I just made a batch of chocolate chip today. I scooped out the dough in portions onto a piece of parchment, and froze the portions. I'll put them in a ziplock bag- should do that soon!- and take out as many as I need, and bake them off. In this class, we talked a lot about how fast things go stale, how long you can safely keep batter or finished products in the fridge, and how long in the freezer. A chocolate chip cookie a couple hours out of the oven is WAY better than one that's 3 days old. So I like the idea of having a stash of dough in the freezer for cookie emergencies- a common occurrence around here.

Coffee Cake Muffins

2009-01-29T14:07:00.000-08:00

I make very few things from my Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. I use the cornbread recipe, and occasionally I'll look for something else. I use it for good, basic recipes. Not too many ingredients, simple to find, easy to execute. I use the Weights and Measures in the front cover all the time. Tomorrow is Abbie's turn to bring snack for school. When asked what she wanted to bring she replied, "Broccoli, carrots, and Coffee Cake Muffins". I feel a little guilty when I send Coffee Cake Muffins. Like most muffins, they aren't really anything far from cake, or a cupcake without frosting. Coffee Cake Muffins make up for the fact that they don't have frosting with little crumbly brown sugar topping. It's like giving each of Abbie's classmates a teaspoon of sugar, then sending them into the classroom. But, that's what she wanted. So this afternoon, I pulled out my Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, and turned to the Coffee Cake Muffins page. They are really very good. I make little mini-muffins, so I don't feel too badly about them. Let's put it this way- I never get any leftovers back at the end of the day.
A few notes-
I only make half the crumbly topping. You really don't need the whole recipe. Below is the recipe as it is written.
I never add the nuts. My kids don't like them in baked goods, and the school has a "no nut" policy.
I never have buttermilk at home. Here's what you do- Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of white vinegar to a measuring cup. Fill the measuring cup with whole milk to the 1/2 cup line. You'll have buttermilk for this recipe.
Please don't use margarine. Ever.

Coffee Cake Muffins
3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter or margarine
3 Tbsp. walnuts or pecans, chopped
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter or margarine
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Grease twelve 2 1/2-inch muffin cups (or 30 mini-muffin cups) or line with paper bake cups; set aside.
For topping, in a small bowl, stir together the 3 tablespoons flour, brown sugar, and the 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon.
Cut in the 2 tablespoons butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs; stir in nuts; set topping aside.
In a medium bowl, stir together the 1 1/2 cups flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, the 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, and salt; cut in the 1/4 cup butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
In another bowl, combine egg and buttermilk; Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture; stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy).
Spoon half of the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each one-third full.
Top with half of the topping, the remaining batter, and the remaining topping.
Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden and a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes.
Remove from muffin cups.

Another favorite from the archives...Birthday Cake

2009-01-28T13:44:00.000-08:00

I made this cake for my sister-in-law's birthday a year ago. It is one of my favorite projects, and one I'd like to try again. The cake is frosted with a strawberry buttercream, then I made a white chocolate ribbon for the sides. I filled the top with fresh strawberries. Because it was a birthday cake, I needed to have some writing. So I piped the "Happy Birthday" in white chocolate onto parchment and let it harden in the fridge.

The Strangest Cookie Recipe Ever-Rosquillos de Vino - Wine Ring Cookies

2009-01-27T18:18:00.000-08:00

I found this to be the strangest cookie recipe I've ever tried. It was given to me by my ex-boyfriend's mother, (we're talking high school here). She made them for a Spanish theme dinner. The cookies are good, although they don't taste as strong as you would expect considering they have 2 tablespoons of anise extract in them. The addition of the wine is interesting. It burns off in the oven- leaving the cookies light and crumbly. I was tempted to use powdered sugar or a larger grained sanding sugar to coat them, but regular sugar works best. The yield is supposed to be 2-3 dozen. But if you make your rope 1/3" thick as suggested, you're going to end up with more.

1 cup white wine
1 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup vegetable shortening
3 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp anise extract
6 cups flour
granulated sugar for topping

This recipe yields 2-3 dozen small rings.

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

Using a hand mixer, combine sugar, vegetable oil, vegetable shortening and baking powder together in a large mixing bowl. Add white wine and anise extract and mix well. Add flour a cup at a time. Mixture will seem dry or crumbly. You may want to use your hand to mix together the dough as you add the last 2 cups of flour.

Take out a small amount of dough and roll into a rope about 1/3” thick on an un-floured cutting board. Cut into pieces about 4 inches long and join the two ends to form a doughnut shape or ring.

Carefully place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake 15-18 minutes or until they become a golden color. Be careful not to burn the bottoms!

Let cool about 10 minutes, so the cookies do not fall apart as you lift them off with a spatula. While still warm, place in sugar to coat the tops.

My Favorite Cake

2009-01-26T14:35:00.000-08:00

I made this cake for Abbie's 4th Birthday Party. The theme was "bees". I'm very proud of this creation, although, of course, I learned quite a bit from this experience.

Tomato Sauce

2009-01-26T14:08:00.000-08:00

This recipe comes from "On Top of Spaghetti", by Johanne Killeen and George Germon, with a few of my own changes. I remember Ina mentioning their restaurant, Al Forno, in Providence, RI, once on her show. Husband made this sauce when he was making dinner one night. It was a hit with the both us and the kids. Although it's not hard to make, you can easily freeze this sauce and have it for later. I haven't tried making great batches of it, but I'd like to try. It's fantastic over any pasta. And I like how the kids are eating the vegetables hidden in the sauce.

Tomato Sauce

1/4 cup olive oil
3/4 cup finely chopped onion (about 1/2 a large onion)
2 sprigs flat-leafed parsley, leaves only. finely chopped
1/2 cup peeled and finely chopped carrot (1 carrot)
1/2 cup finely chopped celery (2 stalks)
1 large garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (I only put in 1/8 tsp. because I don't want it too spicy for the 4 year old.)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup dry white wine (I've used red also when I didn't have white)
3 1/2 cups chopped canned tomato pulp and juice (1 28 ounce can)

Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan with the onions, parsley, carrots, celery, garlic, red pepper flakes and 1/2 tsp salt. Saute' over medium heat until the vegetables are very soft without allowing them to brown, 20-25 minutes.

Add the wine, raise the heat, and allow the wine to all but evaporate, stirring often. Add the tomatoes and 1 cup of water. Cover, bring to a boil, then lower heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook for 30 minutes.

Puree' the sauce with an immersion blender. You may use the sauce right away, or cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze.

Dried Pears

2009-01-14T19:40:00.001-08:00

I got a food dehydrator for Christmas. This opens up a whole dried food world to me. I've been experimenting with canning, and trying to preserve local produce when it's in season. My mother in law has several fruit trees on her property, and has made dried pears for my daughters. They taste like candy, and the kids eat them up.
I bought 4 pounds of pears today at Berkeley Bowl. They were .79 cents a pound- not great, but certainly good for January. I prepped them by peeling, coring, and pulling out the woody stem. I use a melon-baller to core the pears, works really well. I sliced them length-wise into 3/8 in slices, then tossed them with the juice from 1 lemon. Then I laid them on the racks of my machine. Here they are all ready to go.

I set them at a temp. of 135 degrees, then ran the machine for 5 1/2 hours. After about 2 hours, we decided to set up the machine in the laundry room, because it's kind of loud. Here they are all done.

I let them cool a little, then put them into little ziplock bags, then into the freezer. This will help them keep longer. It wasn't until they were done that I thought I should consult my preserved food bible, "Putting Food By", by Greene, Hertzberg, and Vaughn. They advised changing the temperature during the drying process. I'll have to try that next time. I went by the manufacturer's instruction this time. The recommended drying time was "6-16 hours". I think I can do a little better than that.

Christmas 2008

2009-01-01T13:57:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! Here are the decorated sugar cookies from this year.

My mother in law's Beef Wellington.

The Buche de Noel. This one was much better than last time. I made the traditional chocolate cake with the hazelnut mousse from Ian's birthday cake. It was great.

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

2008-10-20T15:21:00.000-07:00

These are very good. They remind me if the girls scout cookies with the oatmeal cookie and peanut butter filling. I made the cookies thinner than suggested here and had more cookies. I think the suggested thickness would have been too big.

Makes 12 sandwich cookies
1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
Turbanado sugar, for sprinkling
Peanut Butter Filling

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add oats and cook, stirring, until toasted, 5 to 7 minutes. Spread oat mixture onto prepared baking sheet and let cool.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat; set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together remaining 1/2 cup butter, granulated and brown sugars. Add peanut butter and mix until well combined.
Add oat mixture and flour mixture; mix on low speed until combined. Turn dough out onto a piece of parchment paper. Cover dough with a second piece of parchment paper and roll out dough, between parchment, to 1/4 inch thick. Carefully slide rolled dough onto the back of a baking sheet and transfer to a refrigerator until chilled, about 20 minutes.
Remove top layer of parchment paper; cut out cookies using a 2-inch round cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets; sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
Transfer baking sheets to oven and bake until golden, rotating baking sheets halfway through baking, about 10 minutes. Let cool completely on baking sheets.
When cookies have cooled completely, snip the end of the pastry bag and squeeze filling in a spiral motion on the bottom side of half of the cookies. Top with remaining cookies to form sandwiches.

Filling:
Makes enough for 12 sandwich cookies
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix all ingredients together in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium speed until smooth. Transfer filling to a disposable pastry bag until ready to use.

Graham Crackers #2

2008-07-09T12:46:00.001-07:00

I've made graham crackers before, and am still on the lookout for the end all, beat all graham cracker recipe. These were really good, and I think I'm getting closer. These taste very much like honey- there's a lot of honey in them. I tried on a later batch to add some molasses and it helped- I think I did 50/50. I just love making my own s'mores- from graham cracker to marshmallow. I've stopped just short of making my own chocolate.

Graham Crackers
(from Nancy Silverton's Pastries from the La Brea Bakery (Villard, 2000) reprinted from 101cookbooks.
Yield: 24 smaller crackers
2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons unbleached pastry flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
7 tablespoons (3 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen
1/3 cup mild-flavored honey, such as clover (CC note: this is an important element: use high-quality honey)or 50/50 honey/molasses
5 tablespoons whole milk
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

For the topping:

3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade or in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse or mix on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off on and off, or mix on low, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal.

In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, milk, and vanilla extract. Add to the flour mixture and pulse on and off a few times or mix on low until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours or overnight.

Chill cookie sheets with silpats.

To prepare the topping: In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon, and set aside.

Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be sticky, so flour as necessary. Trim the edges of the rectangle to 3 inches wide. Working with the shorter side of the rectangle parallel to the work surface, cut the strip every 3 inches to make crackers. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place the crackers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets and sprinkle with the topping. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.

Adjust the oven rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and re-roll. Dust the surface with more flour and roll out the dough to get about two or three more crackers.

Mark a vertical line down the middle of each cracker, being careful not to cut through the dough. Using a toothpick or skewer, prick the dough to form two dotted rows about 1/2 inch for each side of the dividing line.

Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating the sheets halfway through to ensure even baking.

Strawberry Ice Cream

2008-07-05T15:33:00.001-07:00

So I know this doesn't look too appetizing. But it tastes very good! To get that pink color, some people add some food coloring, or you could add some raspberry sauce. I actually have some in the freezer. This was made using the vanilla ice cream base from Lindsey Shere (Chez Panisse), and adding Rose Levy Beranbaum's Strawberry Sauce.

Vanilla Ice Cream

4 inch piece of a vanilla bean (or 1 tsp. good vanilla)
1 cup half and half
2 cups whipping cream
2/3 cup sugar
6 egg yolks (at room temperature)

If using a vanilla bean-Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape the fine black seeds into a saucepan. Add the vanilla bean pod, half and half, cream, and sugar, and warm the mixture, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved.

If using good vanilla- Combine good vanilla, half and half, cream, and sugar in a saucepan. Warm the mixture stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved.

Whisk the egg yolks just enough to mix them and whisk in some of the hot misture. Return to the pan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the custard coats the back of the spoon. (Drag your finger down the back of your wooden spoon. It should leave a clear trail.)

If using a vanilla bean-Strain through a medium-fine strainer to remove any lumps that may have formed, scraping as much of the vanilla through the strainer as you can. Return the bean pod to the mixture, put in a container, seal and store in the refrigerator until completely chilled.

If using good vanilla-Strain through a medium-fine strainer to remove any lumps that may have formed. Add fruit sauce. Put in a container, seal and store in the refrigerator until completely chilled.

Freeze according to instructions on your ice cream maker, (removing vanilla bean first). Store the ice cream in a plastic container.

Strawberry Sauce

20 ounces fresh strawberries
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar

Freeze the berries. Thaw them in a collander or strainer suspended over a bowl. (This could take several hours.) Pres them to force out their juice. There shoould be close to 1 1/4 cups of juice.
In a small saucepan, boil the juice until reduced to 1/4 cup. Pour it into a glass measuring cup.
In a food precessor, puree the strawberries. You should have 1 full liquid cup of puree. Stir in the strawberry syrup and lemon juice. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
(I added 1/4 cup of this to the base mixture.)

S'more Pie

2008-07-05T15:01:00.000-07:00

We weren't going to do anything on the 4th of July this year. It was too close to coming back from our trip to Connecticut, and we didn't want to go through the hassle of trying to keep the kids up to watch fireworks. Until- husband called me on Thursday- July 3rd- and said, "Hey, the B's aren't doing anything tomorrow either. Do you want to have them over?" I said, "Sure. I know just what I'll make for dessert!". I've been holding on to this recipe for a couple of years. It appeared in the November 2006 issue of Gourmet. I thought it was a really strange thing to make for Thanksgiving, although the reviews indicate that many people had it for their Thanksgiving dessert. So how was it? It was good. Sweet, very sweet. Be careful with browning the top. It can go from yummy brown goodness to black disaster in a heartbeat. I used semisweet chocolate instead of the bittersweet it calls for.

S'more Pie

Active time: 45 min
Start to finish: 7 hr (includes making crust and chilling pie)
Servings: Makes 8 servings.

For crust
1 graham cracker crumb crust, baked and cooled completely (recipe below)

For chocolate cream filling
7 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not more than 70% cacao; not unsweetened), finely chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1 large egg, at room temperature for 30 minutes

For marshmallow topping
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (from a 1/4-oz package)
1/2 cup cold water
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Vegetable oil for greasing

Special equipment: a candy thermometer.

Preparation:

Make graham cracker crumb crust and reserve.

Make chocolate cream filling:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Put chocolate in a large bowl. Bring cream just to a boil in a 1- to 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan, then pour hot cream over chocolate. Let stand 1 minute, then gently whisk until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Gently whisk in egg and a pinch of salt until combined and pour into graham cracker crumb crust (crust will be about half full).

Cover edge of pie with a pie shield or foil and bake until filling is softly set and trembles slightly in center when gently shaken, about 25 minutes. Cool pie to room temperature on a rack (filling will firm as it cools), about 1 hour.

Make marshmallow topping:
Sprinkle gelatin over 1/4 cup cold water in a large deep heatproof bowl and let stand until softened, about 1 minute.

Stir together sugar, corn syrup, a pinch of salt, and remaining 1/4 cup water in cleaned 1- to 1 1/4-quart heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over moderate heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved, then boil until thermometer registers 260°F, about 6 minutes.

Begin beating water and gelatin mixture with an electric mixer at medium speed, then carefully pour in hot syrup in a slow stream, beating (avoid beaters and side of bowl). When all of syrup is added, increase speed to high and continue beating until mixture is tripled in volume and very thick, about 5 minutes. Add vanilla and beat until combined, then immediately spoon topping onto center of pie filling; it will slowly spread to cover top of pie. Chill, uncovered, 1 hour, then cover loosely with lightly oiled plastic wrap (oiled side down) and chill 3 hours more.

Brown topping:
Preheat broiler.
Transfer pie to a baking sheet. Cover edge of pie with pie shield or foil and broil 3 to 4 inches from heat, rotating pie as necessary, until marshmallow topping is golden brown, about 3 minutes. Cool pie on a rack 10 minutes. Slice pie with a large heavy knife dipped in hot water and then dried with a towel before cutting each slice.

Cooks' notes:
• To take the temperature of a shallow amount of syrup, put bulb in saucepan and turn thermometer facedown, resting other end against rim of saucepan. Check temperature frequently.
• Pie (before browning topping) can be chilled up to 1 day.

Graham Cracker Crust

Active time: 10 min
Start to finish: 1 1/4 hr

Servings: Makes enough for a 9- to 9 1/2-inch pie.

ingredients

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus additional for greasing
1 1/2 cups cookie crumbs (10 graham crackers or 24 small gingersnaps; about 6 oz)
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt

Special equipment: a 9- to 9 1/2-inch pie plate (4-cup capacity)
preparation

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter pie plate.

Stir together all ingredients in a bowl and press evenly on bottom and up side of pie plate. Bake until crisp, 12 to 15 minutes, then cool on a rack to room temperature, about 45 minutes.

Cook's notes:
• To make cookie crumbs, break up crackers or cookies into small pieces, then pulse in a food processor until finely ground.

Christmas

2008-02-25T13:16:00.000-08:00

Late, yes, but here are the Christmas creations. This year I made a Croquembouche instead of the traditional Buche de Noel. A Crouchembouche is a traditional French cake/dessert, usually served at weddings. I made it beacause it looks like a Christmas tree. A Croquembouche is made with puffs filled with pastry cream, then bound together using caramel. It was a little awkward to serve, but it was very pretty, and tasted delicious. I filled the puffs with a chocolate pastry cream.

Pumpkin Indian Pudding

2007-11-08T20:20:00.000-08:00

What a strange thing this was. I have a memory of my mother making indian pudding for Thanksgiving dessert one year. In my memory it was sweet and velvety, like the filling for pumpkin pie. Of course it couldn't have really been like that. Indian Pudding is a sort of New Englander's polenta. It's cornmeal mixed with milk and stirred on the stove for a very long time. Then you bake it in the oven for even longer. I found this to be very sweet, almost too much the flavor of molasses. It also is not the prettiest dessert I've ever made. But it is a New England treat, dating back to pilgrim time.

Pumpkin Indian Pudding

1/4 cup coarse-grind cornmeal
1 cup water
3 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup pumpkin puree, fresh or canned
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup molasses
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon cloves

Preheat oven to 325 F. Lightly spray a 1-1/2 quart souffle dish or casserole with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
In a bowl, stir cornmeal into water, mixing well. Transfer to a heavy saucepan and stir in 2 cups of the milk and salt, blending well. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook over med-high heat, stirring, 10 minutes longer until thick and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in all remaining ingredients except remaining cup of milk. Pour into prepared dish. Bake in oven for 30 minutes.
Remove and stir in the last cup of milk. Return to oven and bake 1-1/2 hours longer, until thick and bubbly. Serve warm.

Looking Back

2007-11-02T15:52:00.000-07:00

I'm so sad that my last post was the Fourth of July berry cake. Here it is November already. In the past few months I've done quite a bit of baking, and had baby Violet! I'm looking forward to getting going again. But I've also been looking back. Last week was my daughter's school's Spaghetti Carnival. I volunteered to do some baking. I went back into the archives and made the cute sugar cookie pumpkins from last year, as well as some ghosts and cats, which were really cute. I wish I had taken some pictures! I also made the popcorn balls. I love that recipe. It's so much fun to make. I added a little salt this time- maybe 1/4 tsp. and it made a big difference. I found out that one of Abbie's teachers has a baking company and makes the most beautiful cakes, cookies and cupcakes. Their website is fantastic. So I started going back into my photos of cakes and cupcakes I've done- before the blog started. Here are some of my favorite projects.

This is a baby block cake I did for a friend's baby shower. It was the first time I used fondant. I really liked it. I got the recipe from Martha. I thought they were really cute.

Abbie was totally into Elmo around her second birthday. I did these for her birthday party. The kids loved them, although they looked pretty gruesome covered in red Elmo frosting. I did these again for a friend- my first paying "baking- gig".

Husband's birthday cake from this past year. It was an Ina recipe- chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. That chocolate buttercream was amazing. I had extra and froze it- it defrosted beautifully and I used it for cupcakes.

This was the cake for my mother's 60th. It was very pretty. I got the flowers from the baking supply store. I baked both these cakes at home (husband's and my mom's), froze them, brought them up to Tahoe, and did the frosting there. Baking at 6000 ft. can be really challenging. When I'm up there, I don't have the benefit of all my cool baking gadgets- like my mixer, so I have to make do with hand mixers. It makes things interesting.

This was the cake for Abbie's second birthday party for family and friends. It was a copy of Sweet Adeline's Bake Shop's Summer Cake. It tasted delicious, but I wish I had done a little better with the writing! I made the little daisies with fondant, then added a little royal icing dot for the yellow center. Looking back at all these, I think script practice should really be in my future!

Summer Berry Cake

2007-07-10T15:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Fourth of July!
I was in charge of dessert this year for our Fourth of July celebration at the lake. I really wanted to make the beautiful berry cake with the biscuit crust on the cover of this month's Martha Stewart magazine. So I followed the directions for making the biscuit, and left the dough in my fridge overnight. I baked it the next day. YUCK! It was raw in the center, and done too much on the outside. So I had to throw the whole thing out and start again. I gave up on Martha altogether, and went back to my Ina, who never lets me down. Here is her recipe for Strawberry Country Cake, which was absolutely delicious. I left out the orange zest because I feel that it can be too overpowering sometimes. Two great things about this cake- one, you bake once and get 2 desserts out of it, and two the cake freezes beautifully, so you can make it way in advance, then just defrost it when you need dessert. Whip up the whipped cream, cut up some berries, and you're all set. I added blueberries in mine to set the red,white and blue mood.

Summer Berry Cake

For the cake batter- this makes 2 8 or 9 inch rounds, which will make 2 dessert cakes. Freeze one and save it for later.
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

For the filling for each cake:
1 cup (1/2 pint) heavy cream, chilled
3 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
1 pint blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter the bottom of two 8-inch cake pans. Then line them with parchment paper and butter and flour the lined pans.

Cream the butter and sugar on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. On medium speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, then the sour cream, zests, and vanilla, scraping down the bowl as needed. Mix well. Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda. On low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and combine just until smooth.

Pour the batter evenly into the pans, smooth the tops, and bake in the center of the oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then remove to wire racks and let cool to room temperature. If using 1 cake, wrap the second well and freeze.

To make the filling for one cake, slice the strawberries and combine with the blueberries in a large bowl. Add sugar to taste, and let sit for 10 minutes. Whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla in a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until firm. Slice one of the cakes in half with a long, sharp knife. Place the bottom slice of the cake on a serving platter, spread with 1/2 the whipped cream and scatter with the berries. Cover with the top slice of the cake and spread with the remaining cream. Decorate with berries.

Whoopie Pies

2007-06-28T16:52:00.001-07:00

Oh, whoopie pies. I love them. Whoopie pies are a New Englander treat, rarely heard of in these parts. Two chocolate cake cookies filled with a marshmallow cream frosting in between. It doesn't get any better. I've already eaten 2. Alright, I ate 2, then I ate the cookie part of Abbie's after she licked out all the frosting. I'm pregnant- give me a break.
The recipe I found has you make 8 of these guys, but that would just be too big. Typically, they are about the size of your head- but I think these smaller ones are better. Don't be shy when filling them with frosting. It's supposed to ooze out.

For cakes
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder (I use Droste. It's the best.)
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
For filling
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
2 cups marshmallow cream such as Marshmallow Fluff (use what you can find- we can't get Fluff out here.)
1 tsp. vanilla

Make cakes:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a bowl until combined. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a small bowl.
Beat together butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a handheld, then add egg, beating until combined well. Reduce speed to low and alternately mix in flour mixture and buttermilk in batches, beginning and ending with flour, scraping down side of bowl occasionally, and mixing until smooth.
Using a tablespoon size ice cream scoop, scoop the batter onto silpat or parchment lined baking sheets. Bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until tops are puffed and cakes spring back when touched, about 8 minutes. Transfer with a metal spatula to a rack to cool completely.
Make filling:
Beat together butter, confectioners sugar, marshmallow, and vanilla in a bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.
Assemble pies:
Spread the filling on flat side of half of cakes and top with remaining cakes.
Makes 24 whoopie pies

Blueberry Ice Cream

2007-06-24T20:08:00.001-07:00

Years from now we will remember this summer as the summer of ice cream. I started collecting ice cream recipes last summer, determined to try to make my own. Ice cream is very serious business to a New Englander. Growing up in Connecticut I remember ice cream socials and consuming gallons of ice cream over the course of the summer. Everyone has their favorite ice crceam shop. Mine was Dr. Mike's. Their strawberry ice cream was so fantastic. It was full of fat, but airy and just really fabulous. I just can't find that same flavor in California ice cream. So this summer I started by making strawberry ice cream. It was the best so far. I started with a basic recipe from Lindsey Shere (Chez Panisse) that I got at a cooking class a couple of years ago. By the way- the cooking class was really fun, but was cancelled for lack of interest. It was a collection of mothers who would go to the class every other month, prepare a meal, then eat what we prepared. Unfortunately, many of the other mothers didn't have much interest in cooking. One night while we were eating the women around me at the table discussed the lack of variety in take-out food, lamenting that they had to have pizza two nights in a row. I thought this was odd considering this was a COOKING CLASS. Anyway, one of the things we prepared was this ice cream, and it was very good. So I started with the basic recipe, but I didn't have vanilla beans at home. I priced them at Berkeley Bowl- 1 bean was $8.25. The recipe called for 4 inches of vanilla bean, about half of one. So I thought I would just use regular good vanilla instead. After all, this was going to be strawberry ice cream. For the strawberry flavor, I made some of Rose Levy Beranbaum's (Cake Bible) Strawberry Sauce. It was really good. I wanted to take pictures, but we ate it all before I could.
Next I made plain Vanilla ice cream. I found vanilla beans at Williams Sonoma for less- 2 in a jar for $8.50. I followed the recipe, and it was a little too vanilla-y.
The blueberry is good, and I love the color, although it doesn't really knock you over with blueberry flavor. I went back to using good vanilla for this batch.
Why did the strawberry come out best? I still really don't know. I think it's because the eggs in the custard were at room temperature when I started making the base. That, and the strawberry sauce that I used was really great. So here's the basic recipe that I used for the ice cream, and the directions for the strawberry sauce and the blueberry sauce. There will be many more batches of ice cream this summer. I'll keep you posted. Note in the recipe the liquid used. Most recipes call for a combination of cream and whole milk. This uses half and half and whipping cream, substantially raising the fat content.

Vanilla Ice Cream

4 inch piece of a vanilla bean (or 1 tsp. good vanilla)
1 cup half and half
2 cups whipping cream
2/3 cup sugar
6 egg yolks (at room temperature)

If using a vanilla bean-Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape the fine black seeds into a saucepan. Add the vanilla bean pod, half and half, cream, and sugar, and warm the mixture, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved.

If using good vanilla- Combine good vanilla, half and half, cream, and sugar in a saucepan. Warm the mixture stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved.

Whisk the egg yolks just enough to mix them and whisk in some of the hot misture. Return to the pan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the custard coats the back of the spoon. (Drag your finger down the back of your wooden spoon. It should leave a clear trail.)

If using a vanilla bean-Strain through a medium-fine strainer to remove any lumps that may have formed, scraping as much of the vanilla through the strainer as you can. Return the bean pod to the mixture, put in a container, seal and store in the refrigerator until completely chilled.

If using good vanilla-Strain through a medium-fine strainer to remove any lumps that may have formed. Add fruit sauce. Put in a container, seal and store in the refrigerator until completely chilled.

Freeze according to instructions on your ice cream maker, (removing vanilla bean first). Store the ice cream in a plastic container.

Blueberry Sauce

2 cups fresh blueberries
3 tbs. sugar
1/4 tsp. lemon juice

Combine berries, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, and cook down berries about 5-10 minutes. Strain berries, pushing juice out with the back of a wooden spoon. You should have about 1/2 cup of sauce. Cool before adding to base mixture.
(I added the whole 1/2 cup to the base mixture.)

Strawberry Sauce

20 ounces fresh strawberries
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar

Freeze the berries. Thaw them in a collander or strainer suspended over a bowl. (This could take several hours.) Pres them to force out their juice. There shoould be close to 1 1/4 cups of juice.
In a small saucepan, boil the juice until reduced to 1/4 cup. Pour it into a glass measuring cup.
In a food precessor, puree the strawberries. You should have 1 full liquid cup of puree. Stir in the strawberry syrup and lemon juice. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
(I added 1/4 cup of this to the base mixture.)

Cherry Raspberry Crostata

2007-06-20T14:16:00.000-07:00

Andronico's had these wonderful bags of cherries for a very good price. Abbie loves cherries, and I thought that it would be nice to bake some in a something other than a pie. I'm not a huge fan of cherry filling, in fact I really don't like that overly red pie filling you can get in a can. I've been reading Alice Waters and Chez Panisse by Thomas McNamee. In it, Lindsey Shere, the original pastry chef, describes how she makes a stone fruit galette. I looked up some other ideas and came up with this crostata. It was delicious, although not as pretty as I would have liked. To make a crostata, you roll out a pate brisee, or other pie crust, then in a bowl mix the fruit together with sugar and maybe a little cinnamon, some lemon juice, then you dump the filling into the center of the crust, and fold the edges up around the filling. Lindsey Shere has you mix the flour and the sugar, then sprinkle it in the bottom of the crust, then put the fruit on top. I thought this was a strange idea, until I made mine the old way. I ended up with cherries covered in a flour-sugar mixture, with the top half of the cherries exposed. This means that the flour and sugar on top of them never got mixed with the juice. I hope this makes sense, but this is such a great discovery for me. So I ended up pulling the crostata out of the oven and trying to roll the cherries to cover them in juice. The other great idea I got from her recipe is to always use my pizza stone. The bottom of the crostata was not soggy at all. I also used it for the Tomato Tart, and I have never had a more crisp crust. I also want to mention that I added raspberries to my crostata, which tasted really good, but the raspberries just fell apart. Here is what I should have done to make my Cherry Crostata.

Pate Brisee
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 cups (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold!
1/4 cups ice water
Cut the butter into 1/2 inch pieces, place in a bowl, then in the freezer. Place the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor, and process for a few seconds. Put the bowl of the food preocessor with the flour mixture into the freezer. Fill a measuring cup with ice water. Take the butter and flour out of the freezer, and add the butter pieces to the flour mixture. Process for no longer than 10 seconds- pulsing 1 second at a time. The butter should be big pea size. Dump the mixture into a bowl, drizzle 1/4 cup ice water over the mixture and using a spatula, press the dough together with the water. (This feels like it takes forever, and it does, but you will be rewarded with big chunks of butter in your crust. Remember- big chunks butter=flaky crust.) Turn out dough onto a lightly floured board, and form into a disk. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate atleast 1 hour. You can make this ahead and refrigerate 1 day, or freeze up to 1 month.

Filling:
4 cups pitted fresh cherries
2-4 tbs. each granulated sugar and unbleached all-purpose flour (depending on sweetness and ripeness of fruit)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon heavy cream for egg wash
2 teaspoons coarse sugar

Put a pizza stone in the oven and preheat the oven to 425ºF for 45 minutes. Remove the dough from the refrigerator about a few minutes before rolling to soften it slightly.

Place the dough round between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll into a 13-inch round, flouring the round lightly as needed to keep the dough from sticking. Remove the top sheet of parchment. Slide a pizza peel or rimless baking sheet under the bottom sheet of parchment.
In a small bowl, mix the flour, sugar and cinnamon. Spread the sugar and flour mixture over the bottom of the crostata, leaving a border of about 2 inches. Place the fruit in the crostata next. Fold the border up and over the cherries to make a rim. Brush the rim with egg wash, then sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Use the pizza peel or baking sheet to transfer the crostata, still with parchment underneath, to the oven, sliding it, with the paper, directly onto the pizza stone. Bake until the crust is nicely browned and the cherries are bubbling, about 40-45 minutes. Remove from the oven with the peel or baking sheet and let cool on a rack for 15 minutes before serving.

On Again

2007-06-06T13:55:00.000-07:00

I feel I owe some sort of explanation for why I haven't posted in so many months. I know that many of you keep checking back to see if there's anything new. I have been in my kitchen, and have made other things since Chewy Cherry Cookies. In my defense, I must say that being pregnant and raising a 2 1/2 year old sucks all the energy out of your body. So I've been cooking and baking, but not as much as I would like, and I haven't had time to post. I hope you will forgive, and keep checking back. I'm posting today some recent recipes- Hot Cross Buns from Easter- They are really wonderful. I'm not a fan of the funny dried/candied fruits that you can get in the grocery store. These have lemon and orange zest and are really fantastic. I used a bit of buttercream frosting for the crosses that I had in my freezer. Buttercream is great that way. If you ever manage to have extra, freeze it. Then you can pull out different flavors for frosting cupcakes. I also have a great hodge-podge salad that I've made with Israeli coucous. The last new post is for some chocolate chip cookies I saw Martha make on her chocolate chip cookie show. They are pretty amazing. I found that they're best right after you make them though. They got a little tough as the week went by. Still, I wouldn't turn down a chocolate chip cookie, regardless. I still love those Chips Ahoy. Anyway- I'm making my Tomato Tart for dinner tonight. The first of the really good heirloom tomatoes have come into Berkeley Bowl. I've got my garlic roasting now. The cherries are especially good right now as well. I got a bag on sale at Andronico's and I'm making up some kind of Cherry Crostata for the moms of playgroup for Friday. I'm also baking up some of Louise's Ginger Crinkles for the kids. So please keep checking back, and I'll try to post on those ever so rare high energy days.
-Me-me

Greek-y Salad

2007-05-16T16:54:00.000-07:00

This recipe is a combination of ideas from Ina and Martha. I call it Greek-y becasue it has flavors that remind me of greek food, mint, feta, olives, fresh flavors. It's great with a couple of grilled chicken breasts. It's perfect for summer dinner, not too fussy, light, and lots of flavor. Pound the chicken breasts down to about 1/4 inch, then grill with just salt and pepper. Serve over Greek-y Salad. Israeli cous-cous are big round cou-cous pebbles. I'm trying to incorporate different grains into our meals- I'm sick of noodles and rice. So look for it at the market, or you can use orzo which is great too. This will serve about 4 people. When I make it at home, it's enough for Husband, me and Abbie, with some left over for lunch the next day.

Greek-y Salad

1 cup israeli cous-cous or orzo

1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1/2 pt. cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/2 cup coarsely chopped kalamata olives
2 thinly sliced green onions
6 oc. good feta, cut into 1/2 " cubes
1 tbs. finely chopped mint

Cook cous-cous or orzo in boiling salted water 9-10 minutes.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Drain the cous-cous or orzo, then add it to the bowl with the dressing, stirring to coat. Let it sit to soak up the dressing, and cool to room temperature. Add the other ingredients to the bowl, and mix gently. Taste for salt and pepper.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2007-05-16T16:48:00.000-07:00

Makes twenty-six 5-inch cookies or 8 1/2 dozen 1 1/4-inch cookies
1 pound unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
4 large eggs
3 cups plus 2 tablespoons pastry flour
3 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 pounds Jacques Torres House (60 percent cocoa) Chocolate or other best-quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Reduce speed to low and add both flours, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, and chocolate; mix until well combined.
Using a 4-ounce scoop for larger cookies or a 1-ounce scoop for smaller cookies, scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake until lightly browned, but still soft, about 20 minutes for larger cookies and about 15 minutes for smaller cookies. Cool slightly on baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Hot Cross Buns

2007-04-07T09:47:00.000-07:00

Makes 2 dozen
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for bowl, pan, and knife
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 1/2 teaspoons (2 packages) active dry yeast
1 tablespoon coarse salt
Zest of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 orange
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
5 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 1/3 cups currants
Bun Crossing Paste
1/2 cup apricot jam
Directions

Generously butter a large bowl; set aside. Place 1 cup milk in a small saucepan, over medium heat. Heat until milk reaches 110 degrees on a candy thermometer. Pour milk into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. With machine on low speed, add granulated sugar, yeast, salt, butter, lemon zest, orange zest, and eggs. Add flour, and mix on low speed until a soft, slightly sticky dough forms around dough hook. Continue kneading, scraping down hook and sides of bowl as necessary, until smooth, about 4 minutes more.
Add currants; knead, with dough hook, to incorporate. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead briefly to evenly distribute currants in dough. Shape into a ball. Place dough in prepared bowl. Turn to coat with butter. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. Turn dough out onto work surface. Knead briefly and roll dough into a log. Cut log in half and cut each half into 12 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a tightly formed ball. Place on prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart. Cover baking sheets with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until buns are touching and doubled in size, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees with racks positioned in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Place bun crossing paste in a pastry bag fitted with a small plain tip or a paper cornet with a 1/8-inch opening. Pipe crosses over the surface of each bun. Transfer buns to oven and bake until golden brown, 18 to 25 minutes, rotating baking sheets after 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool to room temperature.
Meanwhile, place apricot jam in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook until heated through; strain through a mesh sieve set over a bowl. Brush heated jam over buns.

Cookie Jar: Chewy Cherry Oatmeal Cookies

2007-01-13T14:23:00.000-08:00

My plan was to not make any cookies, brownies, cakes, cupcakes, or any other sweet treats until February. I got to January 13th. I have a terrible sweet tooth. I really needed a cookie. These are almost good for you, right? And Abbie will eat most of them, and my husband will eat the rest. I only made a 1/2 recipe, and used a 1 1/2 tsp. scoop for the cookies. Because the cookies were going to be so small and cherries are so big, I quartered the cherries. These hit the spot. Abbie was sous chef on these. They were on Martha Stewart a couple of days ago.

Chewy Cherry-Oatmeal Cookies

Makes about 4 dozen (I got about 4 dozen from a half batch and small scoop)

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, or 1 cup apple butter (a healthier alternative)
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3 cups Quaker Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats
1 cup dried cherries

Preheat oven to 350°. Line 2 baking sheets with nonstick baking mats or parchment paper. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt; set aside. Place butter, sugar, and honey in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla, and beat to combine. With the mixer on low, gradually add reserved flour mixture and beat until incorporated. Stir in oats and cherries. Drop 1 tablespoon of dough at a time about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake until lightly golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

2007-01-12T14:05:00.000-08:00

I'm really not a big fan of fat-free, hey, it's just like the regular kind, but all the flavor has been removed, food. I'd rather have the full fat, or maybe lowish fat food, but just eat less of it. I know there are those out there that disagree. They want to eat as much of whatever food as they want, so those fat-free options are a good thing. Hopefully, those people also can't taste their food, because so much of it really tastes bad. I read an article in the paper about how chair manufacturers have had to increase the dimensions of chair seats because American's butts are so big. A common stool chair used to be 12 inches wide, now it's 18 inches. I'm getting to my point here. While I don't usually like low or fat free food, it's January. After the baking I did last month, I'm going to need an extra large lazy-boy if I don't find some less indulgent recipes for a while. We went out to breakfast as a family the other day- something we rarely do, but was very nice all the same, and Abbie was asking for muffins. These were giant, covered in sugar almost like a small cake muffin. I knew I could make something almost as delicious, and certainly better for her. I ended up making smaller muffins, so my yield was about 18 muffins. The nutritional info for the original recipe was about 120 calories per muffin, so I imagine my smaller portion muffin is closer to 100. I have them in a bag in the freezer, and wrap 1 in a paper towel, nuke it for 30 seconds and voila! a healthy breakfast. How are they? Delicious, of course! They came out light and fluffy, not heavy little hockey puck muffins at all. They have a slight whole wheat flour flavor at the end, but they are whole wheat, so what are you gonna do? They still taste great. I used the nonfat yogurt, because I can only buy huge quantities of buttermilk at the store, and it's a waste to buy so much just to throw it away. You can make your own buttermilk by adding 1 tbs. vinegar to 1 cup nonfat milk, if you choose. I did have to add just a little very coarse sanding sugar on the top of each one, which gives it a terrific crunch.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins
12 muffins

1 cup wholewheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tbs. + 1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup nonfat buttermilk , or 1 cup non-fat plain yogurt
2 tbs. canola oil
2 tbs. unsweetened applesauce
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Lightly spray a muffin tin with cooking spray. (Or just use the little papers like I did. I love the little plain white papers you can find at Michael's or a baking supply store.)

In a large bowl, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, oil, applesauce and egg. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the dry mixture, stirring until it is just combined (do not over mix). Toss unthawed frozen blueberries with two tablespoons of flour before adding them to the batter to keep them from turning the batter purple while the muffins bake. Lightly stir in the blueberries.

Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups. Bake until the tops are golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool slightly. Then transfer the muffins to cooling rack. Serve warm.

Semolina Dough for Flat Pasta

2007-01-11T14:04:00.000-08:00

Last summer my mother in law took me to a cooking demonstration and tasting. One of the highlights of the evening was rolling fresh pasta. I took my little bundle home, and served it with some simple red sauce. Absolutely delicious. Anyway, while I was at the demonstration, I asked the chef about the pasta recipe. He told me he used a recipe from Paul Bertolli's Cooking By Hand. It's a beautiful book, full of instructions on preparing all sorts of lovely (and not so lovely- how to butcher and prepare your own whole pig) italian things. So I was very eager to receive this book for Christmas, pull our dusty pasta machine out of the cupboard and get to work. I chose to prepare the Semolina Dough for Flat Pasta, and was a little disappointed with the results. I carefully measured the ingredients, and kneaded the dough by hand. It did form a nice little springy ball. I let it sit for about 3 hours, then cut it into 6 pieces, flattened the pieces, and fed them each through my machine, adding enough flour so they wouldn't stick. Here is where I think I went wrong first. I started on the #2 setting, rolled #4, then #6, ending with a really thin pasta. Then I used the angel hair cutter. Mistake number 2. I let the pasta dry out a little, then started a big pot of water with enough salt to taste like the sea. I let the water come to a boil, then dumped my pasta in and (mistake #3) let it cook too long. I drained it, and added it to the sauce. It was very tasty, but a mushy mess. I don't know if you've ever overcooked fresh pasta before, but you end up kind of cutting it out of the serving bowl in chunks. My brother in law came to dinner that night, and was very kind, finishing every last strand with my dear husband. Although this was a bit disappointing, my fresh pasta days have just begun! -and I will cook again. Next time, though, I think I'll follow the directions.

Semolina Dough for Flat Pasta
For 4
Serve with a simple tomato sauce or with meat, poultry, or game sugo, the depth of flavor of which is best carried by pasta with a substantial bite and sturdiness.

10 ounces extra fancy semolina
4 ounces cool water
Pour the water into a bread bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer. While mixing with a fork or the mixer's paddle attachment, pour the water into the center of the dough. When the flour begins to clump, start gathering and kneading the dough by hand. Continue to knead the dough until it loses its stiffness, is well incorporated with the water. feels smooth when and bounces back when depressed. Wrap the dough in plastric and set it aside to hydrate for 1 1/2 hours. Roll the pasta once through the next to last setting of a pasta machine and cut it to a width of your choosing.

Black and White Angel Food Cake

2007-01-09T14:31:00.000-08:00

This wonderful cake from Ina's new book, Barefoot Contessa At Home, is delicious! I wish I had a better picture of the cake itself, but you see the 2 year old can't get enough- so it must be good! I wanted to make a dessert that was on the light side for a New Year's dinner, but that had a lot of flavor, and felt like dessert- not some fruit thing disguised as dessert. Just fantastic. I saw Martha Stewart make some angel food cakes today in mini angelfood pans- like muffin tins. This would be great for that. Maybe bake for only 25-30 minutes. I covered the entire cake like frosting with the glaze, and used my food processor to grate the chocolate.

Black and White Angel Food Cake

2 cups sifted superfine sugar (about 1 pound)
1 1/3 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
1 1/2 cups egg whites at room temperature (10 to 12 eggs)
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup coarsely grated semisweet chocolate
For the glaze:
1/2 pound semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine 1/2 cup of the sugar with the flour and sift them together 4 times. Set aside.

Place the egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on high speed until the eggs form medium-firm peaks, about 1 minute. With the mixer on medium speed, add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of sugar by sprinkling it over the beaten egg whites. Beat on high speed for a few minutes until thick and shiny. Add the vanilla and continue to whisk until very thick, about 1 more minute. Scrape the beaten egg whites into a large bowl. Sift 1/4 of the flour mixture over the egg whites and fold it very carefully into the batter with a rubber spatula. Continue adding the flour in 3 equal additions, sifting and folding until it's all incorporated. Fold in the grated chocolate.

Pour the batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan, smooth the top, and bake it for 35 to 45 minutes, until it springs back to the touch. Remove the cake from the oven and invert the pan on a cooling rack. When cool, run a thin, flexible knife around the cake to remove it from the pan.

For the chocolate glaze, place the chocolate chips and the heavy cream in a heat-proof bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir until the chocolate melts. Pour the chocolate over the top of the cooled cake to cover the top completely and allow it to drizzle down the sides. If you have chocolate glaze left over, you can serve it on the side with the cake.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-03T18:41:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, and Happy New Year! I want to send an apology to my growing number of readers. I have been trying to post over the past few weeks, but I'm not able to attach pictures to my posts. I've complained and asked for help, but to no avail. I do have about 3 or 4 posts in draft form, but who wants to read a food blog with no pictures! So please be patient, and keep checking back! I'll get this sorted soon, I hope!
-Me-me

UPDATE:
Hooray!! It looks like the problem has been solved! I've been able to finish the December/Christmas posts. Please take a look. I have been doing some baking this month, and am looking forward to working on some bread recipes. Stay tuned!

Buche de Noel

2006-12-25T16:00:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Buche de Noel
I hope everyone has had a Merry Christmas. I spent some of Christmas Eve baking the sponge for our Buche, then took some time out Christmas day to come home and finish the marscapone cream and chocolate ganache. This was my first Buche de Noel, and I can honestly say I don't think I need to make another. I used the recipe from Baking Illustrated. It was good, but not totally awe-inspiring. I found the marscapone cream to be not creamy enough. The ganache was delicious, but it was chocolate, so how can you go wrong? The most fun came in the decorating. The pine needles are sprigs of rosemary dipped in egg-wash, and sprinkled with superfine sugar. The mushrooms were made from meringue, then brushed with cocoa powder using a pastry brush. I already have some ideas for next year....

Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

2006-12-23T16:00:00.000-08:00

Another recipe from Gourmet- but this year's issue. Absolutely-delicious-make-again cookies. They were like little brownies out of the oven, and got better with age. You could really taste the hazelnuts. Hazelnuts are a giant pain. I don't care how long you roast some of them, their little skins aren't coming off. Do the best you can. Be careful with the nuts in the food processor. It's easy to end up making hazelnut butter.

Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies
2/3 cup hazelnuts
2 tbs. granulated sugar
6 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (no more than 60% cacao if marked), finely chopped
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup whole milk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup confectioners sugar

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
Toast hazelnuts in a shallow baking pan in oven until skins split and nuts are pale golden, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven (turn oven off), then wrap hazelnuts in a kitchen towel and rub to remove any loose skins. Cool nuts completely. Pulse nuts with granulated sugar in a food processor until finely chopped.
Melt chocolate in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water or in top of a double boiler, stirring until smooth. Remove bowl from heat and set aside.
Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
Beat together butter and brown sugar in another bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in melted chocolate until combined. Add milk and vanilla, beating to incorporate. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Stir in nut mixture. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill dough until firm, 2 to 3 hours.

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift confectioners sugar into a bowl. Halve dough and chill 1 half, wrapped in plastic wrap. Roll remaining half into 1-inch balls, placing them on a sheet of wax paper as rolled. Roll balls, 3 or 4 at a time, in confectioners sugar to coat generously and arrange 2 inches apart on lined baking sheets.
Bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are puffed and cracked and edges feel dry (but centers are still slightly soft), 12 to 18 minutes total. Transfer cookies (still on parchment) to racks to cool completely.
While first batch is baking, roll remaining dough into balls. Line cooled cookie sheets with fresh parchment, then coat balls with confectioners sugar and bake in same manner.
Cookies keep, layered between sheets of parchment or wax paper, in an airtight container at room temperature 5 days.

Makes about 7 dozen cookies.
Gourmet
December 2006

Spoon Cookies

2006-12-22T13:46:00.000-08:00

This is another recipe from last year's December Gourmet. It was fetaured with an article that begins, "Every year, at Christmas I make the best cookies". With a claim like that, I had to make them. They really are delicious, yet tedious to make. They have a lot of butter flavor, and despite being on the large side for a cookie, very delicate. These were my mother in law's favorite. You must wait to eat them- they definitely get better with age.

Spoon Cookies

2 sticks (1 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt, slightly rounded
1/3 cup fruit preserves (your choice)

Special equipment: a deep-bowled teaspoon (not a measuring spoon)

Make dough:
Fill kitchen sink with about 2 inches of cold water. Melt butter in a 2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until butter turns golden with a nutlike fragrance and flecks on bottom of pan turn a rich caramel brown, 10 to 12 minutes. (Butter will initially foam, then dissipate. A thicker foam will appear and cover the surface just before butter begins to brown; stir more frequently toward end of cooking.) Place pan in sink to stop cooking, then cool, stirring frequently, until butter starts to look opaque, about 4 minutes. Remove pan from sink and stir in sugar and vanilla.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and stir into butter mixture until a dough forms. Shape into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap, and let stand at cool room temperature 1 to 2 hours (to allow flavors to develop).

Form and bake cookies:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 325°F.

Press a piece of dough into bowl of teaspoon, flattening top, then slide out and place, flat side down, on an ungreased baking sheet. (Dough will feel crumbly, but will become cohesive when pressed.) Continue forming cookies and arranging on sheet. Bake cookies until just pale golden, 8 to 15 minutes. Cool cookies on sheet on a rack 5 minutes, then transfer cookies to rack and cool completely, about 30 minutes.

Assemble cookies:
While cookies cool, heat preserves in a small saucepan over low heat until just runny, then pour through a sieve into a small bowl, pressing hard on solids, and cool completely.

Spread the flat side of a cookie with a thin layer of preserves. Sandwich with flat side of another cookie. Continue with remaining cookies and preserves, then let stand until set, about 45 minutes. Transfer cookies to an airtight container and wait 2 days before eating.

Cooks' notes:
• Dough can be made 12 hours before baking and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature to soften slightly before forming cookies, about 30 minutes.
• Cookies keep in an airtight container at room temperature 2 weeks.

Makes about 30 sandwich cookies.
Gourmet
December 2005
Adapted from Celia Barbour

White Chocolate Bark

2006-12-20T16:00:00.000-08:00

Another of the gifts for friends. Absolutely delicious, and practically no cooking. I made gift baskets for friends with homemade treats in one afternoon. So cute, greatly appreciated and very easy. I used the mini candy canes becasue the grocery store was out of the big ones. This is another Martha Stewart. I added the chocolate drizzle on the top.

Peppermint Bark

Makes 2 1/4 pounds or one 11-by-17-inch sheet
If you don’t have a double boiler, use a metal bowl set over a pot of simmering water.

2 pounds white chocolate, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces

12 large candy canes

1/2 tsp. peppermint oil

2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted

Line an 11-by-17-inch baking sheet with parchment, and set aside. In the top of a double boiler, melt white chocolate, stirring constantly. With a chef’s knife or meat tenderizer, cut or pound candy canes into 1/4-inch pieces. Stir pieces of candy canes and peppermint oil into the melted chocolate. Remove from heat, and pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet; spread evenly. Chill until firm, 25 to 30 minutes. Drizzle melted semisweet chocolate over the top, if desired. Break into pieces, and serve. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Nut Brittle

2006-12-18T13:47:00.000-08:00

This nut brittle was made for gifts for friends. It was so easy and so much fun to break. But beware of very hot melted sugar. It can be scary stuff. I used pecans, cashews and hazelnuts becaus that is what I had in my freezer. Martha Stewart featured this recipe as part of her home-made gifts series. She suggested you buy a small baking sheet and give the brittle with a tiny hammer, letting the recipient break it herself. It's a cute idea.

Nut Brittle Block

Makes one 9-by-13-inch pan

unsalted butter, softened, for baking sheet
vegetable oil, for spatula

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
pinch of salt
2 1/2 cups unsalted nuts, such as dry-roasted peanuts, cashews, hazelnuts, almonds or pecans, or toasted pumpkin seeds
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking soda

Brush a 9-by-13-inch rimmed baking sheet with butter, and oil an offset spatula; set aside. Put sugar, corn syrup, and salt in a medium saucepan with 1/4 cup cold water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Wash down sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent crystals from forming. Cook, swirling the pan occasionally, until the mixture registers 238° on a candy thermometer (soft-ball stage). Stir in nuts, and continue to cook, stirring often so that the nuts do not burn, until the mixture is medium amber in color, 10 to 15 minutes.
Carefully stir in vanilla and baking soda (the mixture will foam up). Pour onto prepared baking sheet, and using oiled offset spatula, quickly spread into a 1/2-inch-thick layer. Let cool completely. Break brittle into pieces if desired; store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 month.

Recipe from Martha Stewart Holiday Handmade Gifts, December 2006. When giving as a gift, package this brittle block with cellophane, and include a small hammer and bow.

Seven Layer Cookies

2006-12-18T07:53:00.000-08:00

I really wanted to try to make these after I saw the recipe in the December Gourmet last year. They just looked so pretty. Two of the cookie recipes featured reminded me of my east coast bakery experiences, these and the black and white cookies. I made the black and white last year. I think these came out beautifully. You really have to like almond flavor. Abbie wasn't crazy about them.
Seven Layer Cookies

4 large eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
1 (8-oz) can almond paste
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
25 drops red food coloring
25 drops green food coloring
1 (12-oz) jar apricot preserves, heated and strained
7 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped

Special equipment: a heavy-duty stand mixer; a small offset spatula

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 13- by 9-inch baking pan and line bottom with wax paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on 2 ends, then butter paper.

Beat whites in mixer fitted with whisk attachment at medium-high speed until they just hold stiff peaks. Add 1/4 cup sugar a little at a time, beating at high speed until whites hold stiff, slightly glossy peaks. Transfer to another bowl.

Switch to paddle attachment, then beat together almond paste and remaining 3/4 cup sugar until well blended, about 3 minutes. Add butter and beat until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add yolks and almond extract and beat until combined well, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low, then add flour and salt and mix until just combined.

Fold half of egg white mixture into almond mixture to lighten, then fold in remaining whites gently but thoroughly.

Divide batter among 3 bowls. Stir red food coloring into one and green food coloring into another, leaving the third batch plain. Set white batter aside. Chill green batter, covered. Pour red batter into prepared pan and spread evenly with offset spatula (layer will be about 1/4 inch thick).

Bake red layer 8 to 10 minutes, until just set. (It is important to undercook.)

Using paper overhang, transfer layer to a rack to cool, about 15 minutes. Clean pan, then line with wax paper and butter paper in same manner as above. Bake white layer in prepared pan until just set. As white layer bakes, bring green batter to room temperature. Transfer white layer to a rack. Prepare pan as above, then bake green layer in same manner as before. Transfer to a rack to cool.

When all layers are cool, invert green onto a wax-paper-lined large baking sheet. Discard paper from layer and spread with half of preserves. Invert white on top of green layer, discarding paper. Spread with remaining preserves. Invert red layer on top of white layer and discard wax paper.

Cover with plastic wrap and weight with a large baking pan. Chill at least 8 hours.

Remove weight and plastic wrap. Bring layers to room temperature. Melt chocolate in a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat. Keep chocolate over water.

Trim edges of assembled layers with a long serrated knife. Quickly spread half of chocolate in a thin layer on top of cake. Chill, uncovered, until chocolate is firm, about 15 minutes. Cover with another sheet of wax paper and place another baking sheet on top, then invert cake onto sheet and remove paper. Quickly spread with remaining chocolate. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes.

Cut lengthwise into 4 strips. Cut strips crosswise into 3/4-inch-wide cookies.

Cooks' note:
Cookies keep, layered between sheets of wax paper or parchment, in an airtight container at room temperature 2 weeks.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies.
Gourmet
December 2005

Cookie Decorating

2006-12-14T14:13:00.000-08:00

Abbie's playgroup has had a cookie exchange party for the past 2 years now. It's really cute and fun to see the kids running around (someone's else's house) on a total sugar-induced euphoria. I asked Abbie what kind of cookie's we should bring this year. She quickly responded "cookie friends". I understood this to mean, "Mommy, I would like to make the delicious iced sugar cookies that we've made for my friends before. But these cookies should be decorated in a delightful Christmas theme. I will lick off the icing and discard the cookie with each one you give to me."

So we made cookies! I put aside a little more than half the dough for the cookie exchange, then Abbie and I made cookies for our family. Abbie did all the decorations for the home cookies. They were adorable.

I decorated the rest. At the party, they were the first things to go. Kids and royal icing. They dig it.
I picked up my new favorite cookie decoration at the cake decorating store. Look closely at the snowman and Christmas tree cookies. Those are tiny little candy canes! They're extruded little sprinkle things. They actually taste like peppermint, too.

Chocolate Truffles

2006-12-10T13:49:00.000-08:00

As I said, I really like to give homemade gifts. Not only is it more economical, but I think people are more impressed that you actually spent the time to make them something. I really have some issues with chocolate. I love to eat it, but I haven't learned the science behind it. I'd love to take a class. Anyway, I saw that Ina had made truffles and it looked so easy. And it is! I've made Hazelnut truffles and Kahlua truffles so far. Just substitute in your favorite liqueur. I did have one probelm. I tried to make Ina's white chocolate truffles as well. They're flavored with Bailey's, but I just couldn't get it to solidify. I don't know why. Some day I'll find out. However, the dark chocolate ones do not disappoint. Eat one with a warm cup of coffee. I think I may do that right now.
This recipe comes from Barefoot in Paris.

Chocolate Truffles

3 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate
3 1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tbs. liqueur (Grand Marnier, Frangelico, Baileys, Kahlua)
1 tbs. prepared coffee
1/2 tsp. good vanilla
cocoa powder
chopped roasted hazelnuts

Chop the chocolate finely and place in a bowl.
Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it boils. Immediately pour the hot cream through a fine-mesh seive into the bowl with the chocolates. with a wire whisk, slowly stir the cream and the chocolate together ubtil the chocolate is completely melted. Whisk in the liqueur, coffee, and vanilla. Cover with plastic wrap, and chill until set, about 45 minutes.
With two teaspoons, or a 1 1/4 inch ice cream scoop, make dollops of the chocolate mixture and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Refrigerate 15 minutes, until firm enough to roll into balls. Roll in cocoa powder or nuts and chill.

Ina says don't use chocolate chips, as they may have stabilizers.
I had a 3 ounce bar of bittersweet chocolate, so I did 3 ounces bittersweet, 4 ounces semisweet.
The kind of chocolate is important. It needs to be really good. I used Scharffen Berger and Ghirardelli.
You'd be surprised how easily choclate melts from the heat of your hands. Try not to touch it when you're chopping it up.
Roast whole hazelnuts 25 minutes, 350 degrees. Put all the nuts in a kitchen towel, and rub the skins off. Roast chopped hazelnuts 350 degrees, 10 minutes.
I needed to put the choclate over a doulbe boiler to get it completely melted.
Keep the truffles refrigerated. Remind the recipient that they should keep the truffles in the fridge.
They shouldn't be prefect little balls. They are supposed to look like the mushroom truffles that those pigs find in Europe. Yes, those pigs.

Mommy's Cookie House

2006-12-10T13:31:00.000-08:00

I've never made a gingerbread house before. I looked on the internet for ideas. I checked my various baking books. I looked in catalogues for decorating ideas. Here's what I found out. Most people buy a kit, or a ready-made gingerbread house. Most people like to decorate their house with lots of candy. Many gingerbread houses are ugly. Gingerbread houses are expensive. Royal icing is the glue that keeps a gingerbread house together- use lots of it. Many people make their own design for gingerbread houses.

So- I got out my gingerbread recipe. I figured out that what makes a good gingerbread cookie, doesn't neceassarily work for a gingerbread house. A cookie should be moist and lovely. A house needs to be cardboard-like. I decided I would bake my pieces longer, so they would dry out. I had a recipe for royal icing, that would keep a real house together. I really didn't like the candy houses, though. I wanted my house to be more organic, and earthy. Forgive me for sounding like a hippy. I wanted it to smell delicious, and it does. I got to work. It took me about an hour to come up with the design, and make a cardboard cut out. I made and baked the gingerbread parts to the house. They expanded. And the dimensions changed. Hmmmm. How do people deal with that? Royal Icing! I used lots of it. And I added some well hidden cinnamon sticks to fill the very large gaps. I used star anise, cloves, pink peppercorns, rosemary, and allspice for the decorations. The roof is lined with pecan shingles. I think it's cute. Abbie calls it Mommy's Cookie House- no touch. Although she has nibbled the threshold, and ate the doormat completely before I could glue it to the house. But I have one more question. Now what do I do with it?

UPDATE:
I had a bit of a problem with the longevity of Mommy's Cookie house. It colapsed shortly after I made it-3-4 days. We had a lot of rain, and my gingerbread was too moist. I was told at my favorite cake supply store to not use butter-but replace it with shortening, and also decrease the baking temperature but bake it longer. Hmmm. Next year.

Pumpkin Bread

2006-12-07T15:27:00.000-08:00

Aundra had a Christmas party to go to, and wanted to make a pumpkin pie. She came over and made a beautiful pie that I think was a big hit at her party. When we were cleaning up, I noticed we had some pumpkin left over. If you've ever baked and pureed your own pumkin, you know how precious the stuff is. So I decided to whip up some pumpkin bread. I like to make the little loaves, and use them with cookies and candy to make homemade Christmas gifts for friends and the mailman. We have the best mailman. Anyway, my pumpkin bread recipe comes from The All New All Purpose Joy of Cooking. I thought it was going to be the last Joy of Cooking, as it was a big deal when this version came out, but they just recently came out with a newer All New All Purpose Joy of Cooking. The Joy of Cooking is a total go-to book for anything you think you'd like to make. We've used it many, many times, which is possibly why the index pages keep falling out. Or could it be becasue I bought it at Costco? So now I guess I'll have to get the newer updated version. After all, my old one is falling apart.

Pumpkin Bread

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
6 tbs. unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar, or 1 cup sugar and 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 1 large or 4 mini loaf pans. Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl. Pour out the milk in a measuring cup, and add the vanilla to it. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until creamy. Gradually add the sugar, and beat on high speed until lightened, about 4 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add pumpkin and beat on low until just combined. Add the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the milk mixture in 2 parts, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
Scrape the batter into the pans and spread evenly. Bake 1 hour for a large loaf and about 30 minutes for mini-loaves, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Make sure your homemade pumpkin puree is always drained. I put mine in a fine mesh stariner lined with cheesecloth for about 1/2 hour before using.
A little note about eggs. I used to be very bold about eggs. I'd just crack them into the bowl without a care. Then one time, I was making cookie dough, and I accidentally dropped egg shell into the batter. I thought I had gotten it all out, until I started rolling out the dough and saw that it was speckled with egg shell. I had to throw it all out, and start again. Now I always crack the eggs into a bowl or a measuring cup first.

Louise's Ginger Crinkles

2006-12-04T15:25:00.000-08:00

I know I've been neglectful in not posting this month- but that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking! These cookies are absolutley delicious. When December rolls around, I start thinking about what cookies I'm going to make for Christmas. We just couldn't wait to have a batch of these in the cookie jar. This recipe is from Louise, who wrote at the bottom of the recipe, "Never fails". Indeed.

Louise's Ginger Crinkles

2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses (I use Grandma's)
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 cup coarse sugar for dipping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Int he bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the oil and sugar well. Add the egg and beat well. Stir in the molasses. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl and beat until the dough comes together. Maek 1/2 oz. balls of dough, and roll in coarse sugar. Bake on a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet 10 minutes. Move cookies to a rack after 2-3 minutes cooling on the baking sheet. Makes about 5 dozen.

I buy coarse sugar at the cake decorating shop. It really makes a difference in the texture of the crinkle.
I know it's a little obsessive to weigh each cookie, but it keeps them uniform in size.

It's the PIES! Part 2: the Apple Pie

2006-11-28T14:15:00.000-08:00

I wanted to work on my apple pie recipe this year. The one I usually use- it's great don't get me wrong- but it's from the back of the frozen pie crust box. My secret is out! But it's not a bad recipe. And it always comes out just fine. But I wanted to try something a little more daring. Ina has an apple pie recipe that I've tried before, but I felt like it had too much citrus. Everyone at my party thought it was great, but I wasn't crazy about it. I am really in love with a cookbook I received last Christmas- Baking Illustrated. It's from the Cook's Illustrated/ America's Test Kitchen people. I looked up their recipe for apple pie and thought I'd give it a go. The juice was really wonderful, but I think I would try different apples in the future. I didn't care for the McIntosh, and would prefer some Romes, Gravensteins or Galas. Because I used my crust recipe, I had one of those big airy crust tents, where the crust sets up before the apples cook down and settle, but that was OK. Once you cut into the pie, the crust fell neatly over the apples. I loved the hint of lemon, from the zest. This pie was delicious- especially good with some Hagen Daas, or fresh whipped cream.
A note about the pie plate- My mother-in-law bought me this pie plate a couple of years ago and I was very skeptical. But I have to say, it works brilliantly. It's got these little bumps in it that make the crust so crisp, even underneath where it's usually kind of soggy. It comes with a ring that you can put over your crust if it's getting too dark, as well. I give it a big kitchen tool thumbs up!

Apple Pie

1 recipe double pie dough
2 tbs. all-purpose flour
3 large Granny Smith apples (about 1 1/2 pounds)
4 large MacIntosh apples (about 2 pounds)
1 tbs. juice and 1 tsp. grated zest from 1 lemon
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 egg white, beaten lightly
1 tbs. coarse sugar

Place a rimmed baking sheet on the lowest oven rack. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
Repeat the process for the pumpkin pie crust as follows. When you're ready to make pie, take the dough out to temper a bit before you try to roll it. Spray your pie plate with a little Pam, or vegetable oil. (In theory, this means you could remove your pie from the pie plate before you serve it, because it won't be stuck to the plate (big oooo! factor here), but I do this because I think it helps the bottom brown, and it makes serving easier.) Roll out the dough to fit your pie plate, on a lightly floured board. Gently transfer the dough to the pie plate without stretching the dough. (Stretching is bad, it means shrinkage.) Press the dough along the sides of the plate, and then refrigerate the dough-lined pie plate.
Peel, core and quarter the apples. Cut the quarters into 1/4 inch slices, then toss with the lemon juice and zest. In a medium bowl, mix 3/4 cup granulated sugar, the flour, spices and salt. Toss the dry ingredients with the apples. Turn the fruit mixture, including the juices into the chilled pie shell and mound it in the middle.
Roll out the second piece of dough. Place it over the filling. Trim the edges of the top and bottom layers to 1/2 inch over the edge of the pie plate. Tuck the dough over itself so that it is even with the pan lip. Flute the edge, or seal it with a fork. Cut 4 slits in the top. Put the whole pie in the freezer for 10 minutes. Brush the egg white on the top crust, and sprinkle it evenly with the coarse sugar.
Place the pie on the baking sheet in the oven and lower the temperature to 425 degrees. Bake the pie until the top crust is golden, about 25 minutes. Rotate the pie from front to back and reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Continue baking until the juices bubble and the crust is deep golden brown, 30-35 minutes longer. Transfer the pie to a wire rack to cool.

I use a melon-baller to core the apples.
Trying to mound all those apples in the pie shell is hard, but totally worth it. Do your best.
A note about the coarse sugar- I really like the way coarse sugar looks on baked goods. It's got much larger granules than regular granulated sugar. I buy it at the local cake supply shop, but I bet you could find it at Michael's as well.

It's the PIES! Part 1: the Pumpkin Pie

2006-11-26T13:15:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving for me really isn't about the turkey, or the stuffing, or anything else- it's the pies! I always make 2 pies, one apple and one pumpkin. Because we were up at Lake Tahoe, I was nervous about the pies. We've done Thanksgiving there before. In past years I made the pies at home, then brought them up. I will never forget the year I made the pies at home on Tuesday night after work (too early), and by the time we were ready to eat the pumpkin pie, it had mold on it. Yes, mold. My mother-in-law (future mother-in-law at the time) had to scrape the mold off the pie. I was mortified. Then there was the year that I used the food processor to puree my pumpkin, instead of the blender. The pie had strings of pumpkin in it. It tasted like pumpkin pie, but was just a stringy mess. But this year I was feeling a little brave. I have a good crust, I've been making pies for many years now. I thought I could handle a high altitude operation. In the end, they came out great. I wish I could find a crust that is as attractive as it is good-tasting. I've found that the flakier my crust, the less pretty it is. But I'm willing to make that sacrifice! Here is my favorite part about this recipe. I was talking to my mom after Thanksgiving, and I asked her what she had made, and she too made a pumpkin pie. But she said she made it differently this year- with molasses. Now the recipe I have is from my mom, from many years ago, and it has molasses. So I'm not sure what recipe she used, or which one she gave me, but this is the one I have always referred to as "My Mom's Pumpkin Pie Recipe". So I will give her credit- this is from the wonderful Mom, with a few things I've learned about pie-making added in.

Pumpkin Pie

For the crust: (makes 1 double crust pie, and 1 single crust pie)
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cold!
1/2-3/4 cups ice water
Cut the butter into 1/2 inch pieces, place in a bowl, then in the freezer. Place the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor, and process for a few seconds. Put the bowl of the food preocessor with the flour mixture into the freezer. Fill a measuring cup with ice water. Take the butter and flour out of the freezer, and add the butter pieces to the flour mixture. Process for 10 seconds- pulsing 1 second at a time. The butter should be big pea size. Dump the mixture into a bowl, drizzle 1/4 cup ice water over the mixture and using a spatula, press the dough together with the water. (This feels like it takes forever, and it does, but you will be rewarded with big chunks of butter in your crust. Remember- big chunks butter=flaky crust.) Turn out dough onto a lightly floured board, and divide into 3 disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate atleast 1 hour. You can make this ahead and refrigerate 1 day, or freeze up to 1 month.
When you're ready to make pie, take the dough out to temper a bit before you try to roll it. Spray your pie plate with a little Pam, or vegetable oil. (In theory, this means you could remove your pie from the pie plate before you serve it, because it won't be stuck to the plate (big oooo! factor here), but I do this because I think it helps the bottom brown, and it makes serving easier.) Roll out the dough to fit your pie plate, on a lightly floured board. Gently transfer the dough to the pie plate without stretching the dough. (Stretching is bad, it means shrinkage.) Press the dough along the sides of the plate, and then trim and crimp the edge however you like. I cut the dough 1/2 inch over the edge, then fold it under all the way around, and attempt the little pie crimping scalloped edge. Place the prepared pie crust in the fridge while you make the filling.

For the filling: (makes 1 deep pumpkin pie)
3 eggs
1 1/2-2 cups drained pureed pumpkin
3/4 cups sugar
2 tbs. molasses
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
3/4 cups whole milk
3/4 cups heavy cream

Preheat oven to 425 degrees on convection bake. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs; add the sugar. In a small bowl, combine the spices. Add the spices to the egg mixture. On low speed, add the pumpkin. Stir in the milk and cream. Pour mixture into a prepared pie crust. Bake at 425 convection for 15 minutes, then turn the heat down to 350 degrees and bake another 45 minutes. Cover the crust with foil if it's browning too fast.

Turkey Tail Rolls

2006-11-20T12:56:00.000-08:00

These are a sympton of my inner desire for cutesiness, which comes out every once in a while. It's from the same urge that had me folding the napkins for Easter into little bunny rabbits. I just thought they looked so cute! Little turkey tails. Who doesn't love food shaped like animals? My grandmother used to make crescent rolls for Christmas or Thanksgiving. Not from scratch, but from the wonderful round can you buy at the grocery store, that went pop! when you twisted it open. I could down three of those little rolls in one sitting. But I'm not making crescent rolls- crescent rolls are the back-up plan for my turkey tail rolls not making it up to Tahoe. Because of the altitude, I'm baking these rolls here, freezing them, then thawing and heating them up in the mountains. I'll let you know how it went. I plan on testing one before we go. This is a delightful Martha Stewart recipe.

Turkey Tail Rolls

14 Tbs. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, plus more for bowl and tin
1 1/4 cup warm milk (about 110°)
1 envelope (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
3 Tbs. sugar
1 3/4 tsp. kosher salt
5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
3 large eggs, lightly beaten

Butter a large bowl and a 12-cup standard muffin tin; set aside. Stir together 1/2 cup milk and the yeast in a bowl. Let stand until foamy, 5 minutes.
Bring remaining 3/4 cup milk to a simmer in a medium pan. Remove from heat. Add 6 tablespoons butter, the sugar, and salt; stir until butter melts. Set aside.
Put 4 1/2 cups flour into the bowl of an electric mixer. Make a well in the center, and pour in yeast mixture, butter mixture, and the eggs. Attach bowl to mixer fitted with the dough hook; mix on low speed until dough just comes together, about 2 minutes. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and no longer sticky, about 5 minutes, adding remaining cup flour as needed. Transfer to buttered bowl, turning to coat. Cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm, draft-free place until almost doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Punch down dough; let rest 10 minutes.
Divide dough in half; cover half with a towel. On a lightly floured surface, roll out remaining half to 1/4 inch thick. Cut to 12 by 9 1/2 inches, discarding scraps. Position short side of dough parallel to counter's edge. Cut crosswise into six 2-inch strips. Cut strips crosswise into 3 1/2-inch, 3 1/4-inch, and 2 3/4-inch pieces.
Preheat oven to 375°. Melt remaining 8 tablespoons butter in a skillet. Brush all pieces of dough with melted butter; reserve some for brushing tops. Center and stack pieces from each strip, largest to smallest (you will have 6 stacks). Fold each stack in half lengthwise; fit, folded edge down, into a prepared muffin cup, making a V. Cover with a towel; let rise in a warm, draft-free place 30 minutes. Repeat process with remaining dough.
Brush melted butter over top of each roll. Bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Brush with more melted butter; serve hot or at room temperature.

The recipe was really quite easy, but I found that I had a lot of dough leftover. I froze the rolls the day I baked them, then defrosted and heated 1 the next day. It was delicious- nice and buttery and light. By the time they got up to the lake, they weren't so great. They were a little heavy, and needed a pat or two of butter. Abbie enjoyed them immensely, and ate nothing but the rolls and a little turkey at dinner. I do need to say this though- we didn't need to throw any away.

Pecan Bars

2006-11-19T19:13:00.000-08:00

We've been traveling. We had a lovely visit back east with my family. I was itchin' to get back in the kitchen, though. Eileen made the banana bread while we were there. She used margarine, instead of butter, and baked the bread as one loaf in a glass pan. Delicious! We celebrated my grandmother's 88th birthday. We had a good time. Sending thanks to my family- we had a great visit!
While I was away, I kept thinking about Thanksgiving. This being a cooking holiday, I get very excited. I'm making the pies- pumpkin and apple, and I made some dinner rolls( for a future post). My father-in-law likes pecan pie. We never had pecan pie in my family. It was always pumpkin and apple- maybe some rogue cherry would show up, but always apple and pumpkin. I don't make pecan pie. It's not that I'm against it, but jeez, there's only going to be 6 of us this year, including the baby. We can't eat 3 pies. Well, we could, but we shouldn't. And I have to have apple and pumpkin. So I was watching Ina the other day, (you know where this is going: BUTTER), and I saw her make these pecan squares, dipped in chocolate. I don't know how you could eat one of these dipped in chocolate. They are so sweet and so good. I really wasn't crazy about them the first or second day. By today, though, I ate 1 1/2, and had to force myself to forget they were in the fridge. Ina says this yields 20 bars. I got 48. You should cut them small. They are super rich. So my father-in-law will have some pecan something, and I don't think he'll miss his pie. This comes from the indispensable Barefoot Contessa Cookbook.

Pecan Squares

Crust
1 1/4 pounds unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
3/4 tsp. good vanilla
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Topping
1 pound unsalted butter
1 cup honey
3 cups light brown sugar*
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 tsp. grated orange zest
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 pounds pecans, coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
For the crust, beat the butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, until light, approximately 3 minutes. Add the eggs and the vanilla and mix well. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix the dry ingredients into the batter with the mixer on low speed until just combined. Press the dough evenly into an ungreased 18 X 12 X 1 inch baking sheet, making an edge around the outside. It will be very sticky; sprinkle the dough and your hands lightly with flour. Bake for 15 minutes, until the crust is set but not browned. Allow to cool.
For the topping, combine the butter, honey, brown sugar, and zests in a large, heavy bottomed saucepan. Cook over low heat until the butter is melted, using a wooden spoon to stir. Raise the heat and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir in the heavy cream and pecans. Pour over the crust, trying not to get the filling between the crust and the pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the filling is set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold. Cut into bars and serve.

* I ran out of brown sugar and had to use the home substitution- molasses and granulated sugar. 1 cup of brown sugar= 1 cup granulated sugar + 1/2 cup molasses. I wonder if the bars are different if you follow the directions.
The dough was indeed very sticky. It was pretty tough getting into the pan and making it even.
You really do want a large saucepan. The sugar can boil up and scare the bejeesits out of you.
You will get the filling between the crust and the pan.
Husband was at a driving event and Abbie and I went to see him. I wanted to bring him some bars, so I cut them before they were cool. Don't do that.
Ina puts in a note that the filling will bubble over the edge of the pan in the oven. It does, and it did. But she says to put tinfoil or a larger baking sheet on a lower oven rack. I did, but I thought, why didn't I just put the tinfoil directly under the pan in the oven, instead of letting it drip between the racks.

Whole Wheat Bread

2006-11-07T11:56:00.000-08:00

My brother is vegan. I find this sometimes difficult to understand. How could a person limit themselves so severely? How could anyone have so much self-control?! But I also find it fascinating- another way that people relate to food. It also presents a challenge. How do you cook or bake when so many ingredients are not allowed? When I do make something that happens to be vegan, I get so excited. Gary could eat this!! I must tell him! I must share this new vegan knowledge. So this post is for my brother- I made vegan bread! You must try it. This bread is not only for the vegan in your life. It actually just happens to not have any animal products in it. This recipe calls for honey, but I've used molasses instead. Now I'm wondering if molasses are one of those no-no ingredients. I don't think so. So this is great bread for anyone. It is the perfect peanut butter and jelly whole wheat sandwich bread, or for toast in the morning. It's easy to prepare, so I bake a couple of loaves every week and a half or so. Eat one now, and freeze the other for when you run out. When you get the hang of this, you can bang out a couple of loaves in the morning and have it for sandwiches at noon. The original recipe is from the Cheeseboard Collective Works.

Whole Wheat Bread
1 tbs. active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (100-110 degrees)
6 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbs. kosher salt
1 1/2 cups warmish water
1/2 cup molasses (honey or maple syrup)

In a measuring cup, whisk the yeast into the cup of warm water until dissolved. Let stand 5 minutes.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour and salt. Add the yeast mixture, warmish water, and molasses. Mix on low speed until the ingredients are combined, about 2 minutes. Switch to the dough hook, increase the speed to medium, and knead for 10 minutes. While the dough is kneading, brush vegetable oil in a large bowl, and on a piece of plastic wrap. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface, and knead by hand for a few minutes. Form the dough into a ball, and turn it in the bowl until it is coated with oil. Cover the bowl with the plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place 1 hour.
Brush vegetable oil on 2 loaf pans. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and divide it into 2 pieces. (If you don't mind the mess, leave the flour from the first kneading on your board, and use it again.) Don't throw away your plastic wrap! Gently form each piece into a loose round, and cover with your oiled plastic wrap. Let rest 10 minutes. Gently press each round into a rectangle 9 inches (the width of your loaf pan) by 11 or 12 inches. Roll it up like a jelly roll, pinching the seam closed. Place the dough into the oiled pan seam side down, and gently press it into the pan to fill the gaps on the ends and sides. Repeat with the remaining round. Put the oiled plastic wrap over both loaves, and let rise again 45 minutes to an hour. Slash the loaves 15 minutes before the rise is finished, and preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
Place the loaves in the oven for 5 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees, and bake 20 minutes. Turn the loaf pans around front to back, and left to right. Bake another 20 minutes, for a total of 45 minutes. Take the bread out of the pans, and let cool completely on a rack.

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

2006-11-05T19:00:00.000-08:00

I am often in the uncomfortable position of having several bananas gone past their prime in my kitchen. They sit in my fruit bowl slowly turning a darker shade of brown. What do I do? I can't throw them away. That's good food for god's sake! So I desperately look for something to do with them. Smoothie? No, Abbie won't drink them. Ah, banana bread, you say. That's an excellent idea. However, most banana bread recipes call for one measly rotten banana. I have four on the counter, and two I threw in the freezer. I need more banana investment here! So I made something up. This is hardly bread. I should call it cake. It has chocolate. It uses THREE bananas. I feel so resourceful.

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
3 mashed ripe bananas
1 1/2 tsp. good vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1 tbs.
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a bread loaf pan, or 4 mini pans.
In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs. Add bananas and vanilla; blend well. Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. In another bowl, mix chocolate chips, pecans, and 1 tbs. flour. Beat the flour mixture into the banana mixture just until combined. With a rubber spatula, mix nuts and chocolate into batter. Spread evenly into pan or pans.

Bake for 50-60 minutes for one loaf, or 30 minutes for mini loaves, until toothpick inserted in center
comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely.

Graham Crackers

2006-11-02T18:58:00.000-08:00

I really like the idea of making things usually store-bought at home- just to see if it can be made at home, and made better. In this case, the answer is yes. Graham crackers are really wonderful. They are one of the perfect afternoon snacks. These crackers are quite different from store bought. They aren't as flaky, but are much more like a cracker. Inspired by my recent visit to the Ferry Building and Miette, I made my graham crackers round, instead of little rectangles. I think they actually taste better this way. For this reason, I also changed the directions slightly, needing to roll out the dough to make my rounds. I also added a little molasses. It gave the crackers just the right dark color. I found this recipe in dear Martha's Baking Handbook. I'm slowly working my way through it.

Graham Crackers

1 1/2 cups all prupose flour
1 1/2 cups graham flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
2 sticks, (1 cup), unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tbs. honey
1 tbs. molasses

In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle, beat butter, brown sugar, and honey on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. With mixer on low, add the flour mixture; beat until just combined.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured suface. Divide dough in half, and shape into disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill until firm. Place cookie sheets lined with Silpat baking mats or parchment in refrigerator as well.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove dough from the refrigerator to temper slightly.
Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut using a biscuit cutter, then place cookies on chilled baking sheets. Place baking sheets with cookies back into the refrigerator for 10 minutes. Prick crackers with a fork. Transfer baking sheets to oven, and bake until edges are starting to brown, 15-18 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through baking. Leave cookies on sheets 2-3 minutes after taking them out of the oven. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Popcorn Balls

2006-10-30T18:59:00.000-08:00

I had more fun making these than anything I've made in a long time. I've always wanted to make popcorn balls. I have this faint memory of Christmas time and visiting Santa. After sitting on Santa's lap, my brother and I were given wrapped popcorn balls. They tasted like the most delicious sweetness, with a little salt and crunch. The popcorn balls I made for Abbie's Halloween party came close to this memory, but aren't all food memories unattainable in real life?
I found this recipe on Baking Space. I changed a few things- the recipe calls for margarine. I NEVER use margarine. I think they could have used a little salt as well, 1/4 tsp. maybe? It might be fun to add some different flavors, or nuts, or chocolate next time.

Popcorn Balls
3 bags popped popcorn
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
2 tsp. cold water
2 5/8 cups confectioner's sugar
1 cup marshmallows

Lay out parchment paper for your finished popcorn balls. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the corn syrup, butter, cold water, confectioner's sugar and marshmallows. Heat and stir until the mixture comes to a boil. Carefully combine the hot mixture with the popcorn in a BIG bowl, coating each kernel. Grease hands with butter and quickly shape the coated popcorn into balls.

I used Paul Newman's Natural microwave popcorn. One box has three bags-how about that!
I used mini marshmallows. When you're making the balls, you'll need to work fast- the sugar sets up quickly. When I say grease hands with butter, I mean get 3 tbs. of butter, and get it soft. Every few balls, coat your hands in the butter like you're putting on skin cream.

Halloween Sugar Cookies

2006-10-27T16:47:00.000-07:00

Today was Abbie's playgroup's Halloween Party at our house. What fun! The kiddies were all dressed in costumes and there was plenty of sugar to go around. The moms all brought a little something to make goody-bags for the kids, and my offering, as usual, was a monogrammed cookie for each child. I love decorating sugar cookies, and the holidays give me a perfect opportunity. Along with sugar eating and socializing, we had pumpkin decorating and cookie decorating. I made a bunch of sugar cookies in Halloween shapes, some royal icing, and put together some bowls of sprinkles. It took 1 1/2 hours to clean my house after the party, but it was worth it! They had a great time- what kid doesn't like royal icing? I did have to stop Abbie from putting the squeeze bottle directly up to her lips and sucking the icing out. She does decorate a mean cookie, though.

After testing many recipes over the years, I have found that Martha Stewart's Sugar Cookie recipe works without fail every time. Here is her recipe, with my small changes mixed in.

Sugar Cookies
4 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract (good vanilla)
royal icing (recipe follows)

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined.
With mixer4 on low speed, gradually add flour mixture, and beat thoroughly until combined. Divide dough in half, and shape into disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill until firm, atleast 1 hour. Place cookie sheets lined with Silpat baking mats or parchment in refrigerator as well.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Remove dough from the refrigerator to temper slightly.
Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes, then place cookies on chilled baking sheets. Place baking sheets with cookies back into the refrigerator for 10 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to oven, and bake until edges are starting to brown, 15-18 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through baking. Leave cookies on sheets 2-3 minutes after taking them out of the oven. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely. Decorate as desired with royal icing.

Royal Icing

1/4 cup meringue powder
1/2 cup water
4 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 tsp. lemon extract (optional)

In a small bowl, beat together meringue powder and water until soft peaks form. Stir in sugar until fully incorporated. Add vanilla. Add water as needed to adjust consistency.

I put leftover dough in the freezer before I roll it out again. Try not to roll the dough out too many times, it makes the dough tough.
I bake each cookie sheet separately in my oven; 7 minutes, rotate, then 8 minutes.

Ina's New Cookbook and Pumpkin Scones

2006-10-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

It's here, it's here, it's here!!! I have received Ina's new cookbook and am just pleased as punch! It was just the motivation I needed to come into the kitchen and make my husband some much deserved pumpkin scones. We are hosting Abbie's playgroup's Halloween Party, and I intend to make everyone GO OUTSIDE. My dear husband cleaned the leaves off the lawn and picked up all the dog poop. Hmmm, I'm in love. So while he was at work, I whipped up some scones. Abbie often accompanies me in the kitchen, but today was the first real cooking she's done. Abbie stirred the pumpkin mixture together. Delicious the first day, they get a little less crisp on day two. These are from the wonderful Cheeseboard Collective Works.

Pumpkin Scones

1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup canned or homemade pumpkin puree
3 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tbs. baking powder
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch cubes

Topping
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the cream, buttermilk, and pumpkin.
Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg together into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the salt and the sugar to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until combined. Add the butter and cut it in on low speed for about 4 minutes, or until it is the size of small peas. Make a well in the center and add the pumpkin mixture. Mix briefly, just until the ingredients come together; some loose flour should remain in the bottom of the bowl.
Gently shape the dough into balls about 2 1/4 inches in diameter, and place them on the prepared pan about 2 inches apart.
For the topping, mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Sprinkle the mixture on the top of the scones. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Transfer the scones to a wire rack to cool.

I like to use my big ice cream scoop to get the dough on the baking sheets. They all come out about the same size, and you don't need to get your hands dirty. I hope you enjoy making these for the dog-poop-picker-upper in your life.

Chicken Noodle Soup

2006-10-24T17:04:00.000-07:00

Today is Ina Day! Ina Garten's new cookbook "Barefoot Contessa At Home" was released today. I'm expecting my signed copy in the mail any day now. In honoring Ina Day, I had to make an Ina recipe. I had just made loads of chicken stock a few days before, and had a chicken breast in the freezer. Abbie is a huge soup freak, and loves this. It makes a ton of soup, so you can freeze some. Home-made stock is always better than store-bought, but if you have to use it, buy Swanson's. Ina starts by roasting chicken breasts, then shredding them into the soup. Do yourself a favor, and buy a whole chicken. Eat half of it for dinner, make stock with the carcass, then make soup with your stock and leftover chicken. You won't be sorry.
Congratulations Ina!

Chicken Noodle Soup

1 whole (2 split) chicken breasts, bone in, skin on
olive oil
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 quarts homemade chicken stock
1 cup medium-diced celery (2 stalks)
1 cup medium diced carrots (3 carrots)
2 cups wide egg noodles
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place the chicken breast on a sheet pan and rub the skin with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until cooked through. When cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones, discard the skin, and shred or dice the chicken meat.
Bring the chicken stock to a simmer in a large pot and add celery, carrots, and noodles. Simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes, until the noodles are cooked. Add the cooked chicken meat and parsley and heat through.
Season to taste and serve.

Shredding the meat makes it look kind of earthy, and not manufactured. I like it better that way.

Pear and Ginger Upside-Down Cake

2006-10-22T21:28:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law came over for dinner with her new boyfriend. She often brings a new special friend over to meet us first- before she brings him home to the parents. This is wise, I believe. It gives the boy an opportunity to meet some family, with out the hardcore question and answer that comes with meeting a girl's parents for the first time. My husband and I question the fella in a kind, but probing way, then are required to report back to my mother-in-law with any information worth repeating. In this case, I really liked the boy who came to dinner. I think they make a good match. I never know what to make for New Boyfriend. I wanted he and SIL to feel comfortable and have a good time. There were initial fears that NB didn't like soy sauce. This would be a big problem in our family. But he is fine, no apparent eating issues. So what did I make? I roasted a chicken, of course! Who doesn't like a roasted chicken in October, with potatoes for god's sake! So dinner was taken care of, what about dessert? I had ripped out this recipe from Sunset magazine in November 2004, and tucked it into my "things I'd like to make at some point" file. I took this new boyfriend opportunity to make it. It was certainly a fall dessert. Very gingerbread-y, the pears are pretty, but didn't seem to add much flavor. I served it with whipped cream, but vanilla ice cream would have been nice too.

Pear and Ginger Upside-Down Cake

2 tbs. plus 1/2 cup (1/4 lb.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
3 tbs. chopped crystallized ginger
2 firm-ripe bosc pears (1 lb. total)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
2 large eggs
3/4 cup dark molasses
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

Lightly butter a 9-inch springform pan that is atleast 2 1/2 inches tall. Line pan with a 10 inch round of cooking parchment, pressing into the bottom of the pan and up the sides about 1/2 inch. Cut 2 tbs. butter until about 1/4 inch chunks and drop evenly over parchment in the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup brown sugar and the crystallized ginger.
Peel pears and cut in half lengthwise, then slicing parallel to cut edge, cut into 1/2 inch thick slices. With a small knife, cut core from each slice. Arrange slices flat in a single layer, over sugar mixture in pan, trimming pieces as needed to fit.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt and allspice.
In another bowl, with an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat remaining 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup brown sugar until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce speed to medium-low and beat in molasses.
Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately, beating until incorporated, then beat on high speed just until well blended. Pour batter over pears.
Bake in a 325 degree regular, or 300 degree convection oven until a toothpick inserted in center (not in fruit, the recipe reminds us) comes out clean, 1 hour AND 35-40 minutes. Center may settle slightly. Let cool in pan 20 minutes. Remove pan sides. Invert a platter over cake, then holding the two together, invert again. Carefully remove pan bottom and parchment. Make real whipped cream from whipping cream, and serve cake with a dollop of whipped cream.

Some thoughts:
It would have been easier to keep the 2 tbs. of butter cold, then cut them into 1/4 inch chunks.
For the pears, I cut them lengthwise slightly off center to keep the stem in place, then used my melon-baller to scoop out the core. I patched in the hole with scrap pieces of pear. You'd never guess it was patched in after it was baked.
When I first read the recipe I thought, "Oh good, this bakes in 35-40 minutes. I'll have plenty of time to roast the chicken afterwards." I was wrong. And then my meat thermometer is broken...
The magazine says, "Leave the stem on one slice of pear for an artful presentation". My husband asked if there was a stick in the cake. You make the call on your own cake.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

2006-10-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

I was looking for a good pumpkin cookie recipe when our internet service failed. My husband called the company, who said they were having a technical problem that wouldn't be fixed until 3:00. Hmmm. What to do? Make up your own recipe! So here is my recipe for Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies. I wanted a cookie that was like a regular oatmeal raisin cookie, with lots of pumpkin flavor, that reminded me of pumpkin pie. I didn't add nuts, because Abbie prefers cookies without them. The only criticism I have for these cookies is that they were a little cakey. I think I would either increase the amount of granulated sugar to 1 cup, or decrease the baking soda some. Earlier in the month I baked a sugar-pie pumpkin, pureed it, then measured and froze 1 cup portions. So I used my pumpkin here, but I don't see why you couldn't use canned. I was tempted to put a nice little glaze on these, but am trying to cut back on the sweets a little in preparation for those mini Almond Joys on Halloween!

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
1 cup, (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar (increase to 1 cup?)
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. good vanilla
1 cup pumpkin puree'
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups oats
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla. Add the pumpkin. Mix until combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, spices, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture with the mixer on low speed, until just combined. In another bowl, combine the oats and raisins. Stir into the dough to combine. Drop dough onto cookie sheets covered with silpats or parchment using a 1 1/2 inch scoop. Wet 2 fingers and press cookies down to flatten slightly. Bake 10-12 minutes. Cool 2-3 minutes on cookie sheet, then cool completely on a rack. Makes 5 dozen.

Tomato Tart

2006-10-15T14:25:00.000-07:00

There are many tomato tart recipes out there. I've got three in my recipe book right now. I've borrowed bits and pieces from the ones I like, and created a tart which made my husband proclaim, "This is the one". I like to serve this to vegetarian friends, who are too often served some sort of pasta dish when invited for dinner at a friend's house.
I've used heirloom tomatoes here, but it is easier to use Roma or Plum tomatoes because they have less water. The colors and taste of these tomatoes make me think of the tomatoes from my father's garden. This was a last chance tart, as the tomatoes are almost gone for the summer. The flavor of the tomatoes really comes out in this dish, and the combination of goat cheese, tomato, and basil is great. The fontina buubles slightly under the broiler. Melted cheese. Delicious!

(Draining the tomatoes is optional. Drain them if they are very ripe.)

1 head roasted garlic (recipe follows)
1/2 recipe Martha Stewart's pate brisee, or 1 Pillsbury Pie crust
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 cup crumbled goat cheese
3/4 cup grated italian fontina
2 lbs. tomatoes
3 tbs. olive oil, divided
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
10 basil leaves, in chiffonade

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Drain the tomatoes. Slice tomatoes 1/4" thick and lay on a rack over a cookie sheet. Sprinkle tomatoes with salt and pepper. Let drain 30 minutes.

Spray a 9" tart pan with Pam cooking spray. Form crust in pan, prick with a fork, and chill. Line the crust with tin foil and pie weights, rice or beans, then blind bake the crust for 20 minutes. Remove the weights, prick again with a fork, and bake for 8 minutes more.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread roasted garlic over the bottom of the tart. Heat 2 tbs. olive oil in a large pan over medium-low heat. Cook onion with 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/8 tsp. pepper until golden, about 10 minutes. Spread onions over garlic, then top with 3/4 cup crumbled goat cheese and 1/4 cup grated fontina. Arrange tomato slices over the cheese. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of fontina and a 1/4 cup of goat cheese. Drizzle with 1 tbs. olive oil. Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees, then place 7" under broiler for about 5 minutes. Let cool slightly, and top with basil. Serves 4.

Roasted Garlic
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Trim the top off of 1 head of garlic. Place garlic in a square of parchment paper. Pour 1 tbs. olive oil over garlic. Wrap parchment-covered garlic in tin foil. Bake in the oven until soft, about 1 hour.

Chocolate Skeleton Cookies

2006-10-12T13:02:00.000-07:00

Many of the things I bake are for my daughter, Abbie. Two things are accomplished here- I get to bake, and I have a willing party to eat what is prepared. These cookies are going to the pumpkin patch tomorrow with Abbie's playgroup.

I've seen several recipes for Skeleton cookies, but most are made with a gingerbread cookie. I used a chocolate cookie recipe from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine, and made a few changes. The cookies are delicious, very chocolatey, like an Oreo. The skeleton bones are royal icing. I had elaborate plans for the bones, but modified my design when I saw how little space there was to decorate. I added a little black gel food coloring to some royal icing at the end to make the eyes and nose.

Chocolate Skeleton Cookies
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Droste)
1/2 tsp. salt
12 tbs. unsalted butter, room temperature (1 1/2 sticks)
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/4 tsp. good vanilla
1/4 tsp. espresso powder
royal icing (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in egg. Add vanilla and espresso powder. On low speed, mix in flour mixture. Divide the dough in half and form into 2 disks. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 45 minutes, and up to 2 days.
Chill cookie sheets. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick on a floured board. Using a 5 inch gingerbread man cutter, cut out men and place on chilled cookie sheets about 1 inch apart. Chill formed cookies on cookie sheets in the refrigerator about 10 minutes. Bake cookies 10-15 minutes. Cool on cookie sheets 2-3 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Decorate with royal icing using a pastry bag with a number 2 tip. once cooled completely. Let icing dry overnight before storing cookies.
Makes 22 cookies.

Royal Icing
1/8 cup meringue powder
1/4 cup water
2 cups confectioners sugar
1/8 tsp. good vanilla (optional)

In a small bowl, beat together meringue powder and water until soft peaks form. Stir in sugar until fully incorporated. Add vanilla. Add water as needed to adjust consistency.

2006-10-11T15:50:00.000-07:00

So I've finally decided to begin. I'm not really a writer, but I love to cook and to bake, and I love to share food with others. I am also completely fascinated by food blogs. I love to see what other people are making in their kitchens. Especially what people are cooking for dinner. But that's for another day. So let's begin. I'll cook, you'll read, (hopefully), and perhaps be inspired.