This recipe dates back to my childhood, where we had a cookbook called Kids in the Kitchen that I remember making recipes out of from way back. This recipe has stuck with me through the years, part because of the fun, and part because the recipe is so easy to remember.
Aggression cookies are like they sound - a way to release your aggressions, or stress, or whatever mood you are feeling too much of. You mix them with your hands, of course (hopefully clean ones). I have to admit that I don't think the cookies are that spectacular except straight out of the oven, but that is SO not the point here. Plus there are no eggs, so this is a recipe that it is safe to eat the dough of.
You can either follow this recipe or use the basic formula or the same amount of sugar, flour, and butter plus twice the amount of oats, the same teaspoon amount of baking powder as cups of the sugar/flour/butter amounts, and whatever random additions you want to make.
Aggression Cookies
1 1/2 cups butter or margarine, room temperature
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 cups oats
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Chocolate chips, raisins, M&Ms, whatever you want to add
Dump all ingredients into a bowl*. Mix together with clean hands. Mash it! Knead it! Smash it! The longer and harder you mix it, the better it tastes.
Form into flat discs. Bake at 350 F for 10-15 minutes.
*I recommend leaving out the additions such as chocolate chips until the batter has been well mixed.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Monday, August 06, 2007
Blueberry Lemon Curd Tart
I go hunting for recipes based on ingredients that I either have on hand or think sound good together. I recently went blueberry picking at The Happy Berry in Pickens, SC. I made blueberry muffins and had been eating them with oatmeal, but wanted to do something special. In my blueberry recipe hunting I found that almost everything included lemon. So, lemon and blueberry started me thinking on a blueberry and lemon curd idea, being a big fan of lemon curd.
This recipe held the most promise, but I have to confess I cheated extensively. What I will share with you is my cheating recipe, in hopes that you will feel inspired to whip one up and share it with your friends. (If you don't feel like cheating, and want to make the crust and lemon curd from scratch, by all means follow the link to the recipe above!)
Blueberry Lemon Curd Tart
1 pie or pastry crust
1 jar lemon curd
1 pint blueberries
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup water
Line tart pan with crust, prick with fork, and bake until golden. Allow to cool. Spread lemon curd along bottom of cooled crust. I would use a healthy layer - I probably used about a 1/2 cup.
In a saucepan, heat blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, and water over medium heat, until mixture has thickened to desired consistency and berries have started to burst.* Allow to cool.**
Spread berry mixture over lemon curd.
To serve, sprinkle with powdered sugar or garnish with fresh blueberries and mint sprigs. I just left it as is, thinking the colors spoke for themselves.
*Depending on what kind of berries you use, they might not burst by the time the mixture thickens, and that's okay. Smaller berries seem to stay firm longer, but still taste good.
**I make a variety of this blueberry mixture, just adding a couple of cinnamon sticks, as an easy dessert sauce that is wonderful over vanilla icecream. This could also make a good crepe filling.
Jenny's notes: I want to try this soon with blackberries, because I also love blackberries and lemon curd!! It also begs the trial of other jams and jellies in a similar way. Tarts seem to be an easy way to put together a dessert without having to use a lot of extended heat during an already hot summer!
Categories: Blueberry, Lemon, Tart
This recipe held the most promise, but I have to confess I cheated extensively. What I will share with you is my cheating recipe, in hopes that you will feel inspired to whip one up and share it with your friends. (If you don't feel like cheating, and want to make the crust and lemon curd from scratch, by all means follow the link to the recipe above!)
Blueberry Lemon Curd Tart
1 pie or pastry crust
1 jar lemon curd
1 pint blueberries
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup water
Line tart pan with crust, prick with fork, and bake until golden. Allow to cool. Spread lemon curd along bottom of cooled crust. I would use a healthy layer - I probably used about a 1/2 cup.
In a saucepan, heat blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, and water over medium heat, until mixture has thickened to desired consistency and berries have started to burst.* Allow to cool.**
Spread berry mixture over lemon curd.
To serve, sprinkle with powdered sugar or garnish with fresh blueberries and mint sprigs. I just left it as is, thinking the colors spoke for themselves.
*Depending on what kind of berries you use, they might not burst by the time the mixture thickens, and that's okay. Smaller berries seem to stay firm longer, but still taste good.
**I make a variety of this blueberry mixture, just adding a couple of cinnamon sticks, as an easy dessert sauce that is wonderful over vanilla icecream. This could also make a good crepe filling.
Jenny's notes: I want to try this soon with blackberries, because I also love blackberries and lemon curd!! It also begs the trial of other jams and jellies in a similar way. Tarts seem to be an easy way to put together a dessert without having to use a lot of extended heat during an already hot summer!
Categories: Blueberry, Lemon, Tart
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Second Time is a Charm - Strawberry Mirror Cake
The day after the Big Cake Disaster, I decided that I still had most of the parts - the cake, the soaking liquid, the strawberry juice, and the strawberry puree with added gelatin - I had to at least try twice.
I remember when making the original recipe, I thought medium was too high for cooking the eggs and milk mixture since it specifically said not to let it come to boil. I followed the recipe instead of my instincts, which happens more than I like to admit. The second time, I followed my instincts and ended up with a frothy, thick bavarian cream mixture to fold in with the whipped cream. It actually cooked really quickly too, not a lot of stirring required.
Knowing I would let the bavarian cream set up overnight this time, I didn't wait as long as I could have for the mixture to firm up in the ice bath. I also figured that since the strawberries had been sitting in the gelatin overnight, that was bound to add some firmness to the cake. And it seemed to be fine.
This challenge, by the way, is the monthly challenge for the Daring Bakers. We are an ever-growing group of bakers who do one challenge together every month. If you want to see the host's blog for this month and also to see the recipe, please go here,. The recipe is much too long to copy and paste over. The overview though - a white cake, brushed with a flavored simple syrup, cut smaller than the springform pan, layered and surrounded by a strawberry bavarian cream, and topped with a strawberry gelatin mirror. The only modification I made to the recipe was to replace the kirsch with strawberry extract. I didn't want the mother-to-be to have to worry about consuming alcohol, no matter how negligible of an amount it would have been. (Strawberry extract was surprisingly hard to find - only one grocery store out of four that I went to had it!)
We were allowed to decorate the top as long as you could still see the mirror. I was making this for a baby shower at work, and decorated it accordingly.
Like many of the other Daring Bakers, I think the cake looks more impressive than it tastes. The gelatinous layer on top was a little strange, and I thought the bavarian cream could have had SO much more flavor. The worst part was the cake - it really didn't have much flavor, even with the soaking syrup, and I would probably use a different cake recipe if I were to make this again.
Here is a picture of the cake on a plate with other treats from the baby shower. It ended up looking pretty uniform on the side view, even if the outside was pretty lumpy.
The theme of the shower was pink pink pink, and the cake definitely fit the bill in that regard.
One thing I am most impressed by when looking at some of the other Daring Bakers blogs is how perfect what they have made looks. I really want to start focusing in on finessing the look of what I make. I could have spent more time smoothing the surface of the bavarian cream before pouring the gelatin, for instance, and been more careful when cutting the circles of cake. I want things to look good, not just taste good!
I'm glad I stuck with it and followed the recipe through. Next time I won't wait nearly as long before trying the recipe for the first time, and I'll also pay attention to my instincts!
Brought to you by the Daring Bakers. Please look at other DB blogs on the list to the left!
Categories: Cake, Daring Bakers, Strawberry
I remember when making the original recipe, I thought medium was too high for cooking the eggs and milk mixture since it specifically said not to let it come to boil. I followed the recipe instead of my instincts, which happens more than I like to admit. The second time, I followed my instincts and ended up with a frothy, thick bavarian cream mixture to fold in with the whipped cream. It actually cooked really quickly too, not a lot of stirring required.
Knowing I would let the bavarian cream set up overnight this time, I didn't wait as long as I could have for the mixture to firm up in the ice bath. I also figured that since the strawberries had been sitting in the gelatin overnight, that was bound to add some firmness to the cake. And it seemed to be fine.
This challenge, by the way, is the monthly challenge for the Daring Bakers. We are an ever-growing group of bakers who do one challenge together every month. If you want to see the host's blog for this month and also to see the recipe, please go here,. The recipe is much too long to copy and paste over. The overview though - a white cake, brushed with a flavored simple syrup, cut smaller than the springform pan, layered and surrounded by a strawberry bavarian cream, and topped with a strawberry gelatin mirror. The only modification I made to the recipe was to replace the kirsch with strawberry extract. I didn't want the mother-to-be to have to worry about consuming alcohol, no matter how negligible of an amount it would have been. (Strawberry extract was surprisingly hard to find - only one grocery store out of four that I went to had it!)
We were allowed to decorate the top as long as you could still see the mirror. I was making this for a baby shower at work, and decorated it accordingly.
Like many of the other Daring Bakers, I think the cake looks more impressive than it tastes. The gelatinous layer on top was a little strange, and I thought the bavarian cream could have had SO much more flavor. The worst part was the cake - it really didn't have much flavor, even with the soaking syrup, and I would probably use a different cake recipe if I were to make this again.
Here is a picture of the cake on a plate with other treats from the baby shower. It ended up looking pretty uniform on the side view, even if the outside was pretty lumpy.
The theme of the shower was pink pink pink, and the cake definitely fit the bill in that regard. One thing I am most impressed by when looking at some of the other Daring Bakers blogs is how perfect what they have made looks. I really want to start focusing in on finessing the look of what I make. I could have spent more time smoothing the surface of the bavarian cream before pouring the gelatin, for instance, and been more careful when cutting the circles of cake. I want things to look good, not just taste good!
I'm glad I stuck with it and followed the recipe through. Next time I won't wait nearly as long before trying the recipe for the first time, and I'll also pay attention to my instincts!
Brought to you by the Daring Bakers. Please look at other DB blogs on the list to the left!
Categories: Cake, Daring Bakers, Strawberry
Monday, July 30, 2007
Baking Disaster - Strawberry Mirror Cake, Attempt 1
Part of being a Daring Baker is trying things that might not turn out. This night has turned into a comedy of errors and what I had hoped would be a post about a lovely strawberry mirror cake has ended (hopefully temporarily) with a picture of my extremely curdled bavarian cream.
I ran out of sugar and gelatin, but I'm hoping I can salvage my cake circles, strawberry puree, strawberry juice, and everything else I have already made and try finishing it tomorrow. Not quite on time, but I can't stop now, can I?
Otherwise, I might drink strawberry juice for breakfast and call it good.
Categories: Daring Bakers, Disaster
I ran out of sugar and gelatin, but I'm hoping I can salvage my cake circles, strawberry puree, strawberry juice, and everything else I have already made and try finishing it tomorrow. Not quite on time, but I can't stop now, can I?
Otherwise, I might drink strawberry juice for breakfast and call it good.
Categories: Daring Bakers, Disaster
Friday, July 20, 2007
Harry Potter Desserts
I'm breaking my usual posting schedule (every Monday) to post about the Harry Potter themed treats I made to bring to work today. One day I was bored and went through and wrote down all the mention of food in the Harry Potter books, in case I ever wanted to do a themed meal. I started poking around and discovered that fantastically named items such as treacle tart were real desserts, with real recipes. I honestly thought it was made up!
These days, an excellent source for Harry Potter recipes and party ideas is PotterParties.com. I made a treacle tart and pumpkin pasties last night. The treacle tart recipe was this one from the BBC web site, but it has already moved once so I'll post it again.
Treacle is another name for golden syrup, which is like a light golden molasses - almost the color of corn syrup, but with a much nicer flavor. It is the key ingredient to many desserts in the UK, including sticky toffee pudding, which I was tempted to make instead. But I couldn't pass up the chance to make Harry Potter's favorite dessert!
This recipe includes lemon and ginger, and these flavors combined with the treacle create a dessert I imagine would be much more pleasing to the adult palate than a child's, but wizards may have different tastes than muggles. You can make this with a shortcrust recipe, but as there isn't much difference between that and pie crust, and I had already made a huge batch of pie crust for the pumpkin pasties, I used the same thing. I wish I had spent more time with what I put on the top... it looks a little horrid, but it tasted good. The treacle mixture becomes chewy which is a nice contrast to flaky crust. Definitely try this recipe!!
Pumpkin pasties are something I had read about and came up with my own recipe for them. I'm sure they're not much different from the other recipes you might find, but they are delicious and simple. One student said they were like mini pumpkin pies, which is a good way of looking at it. Pasties in general are hand-held pies, but these are even tinier than that!
Pumpkin Pasties
Pie crusts (can use store bought if desired)
1 can pumpkin pie filling*
1 egg mixed with 1 tsp water
Granulated sugar
Roll out pie crusts and cut into circles. Brush one side with egg wash. Put small amount of pumpkin pie filling in center. Fold over and pinch together. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Bake at 375 F 15-20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.
*If you can't find pumpkin pie filling, if it's not "in season" - combine canned pumpkin with spices and a little brown sugar, and you'll be fine.
These days, an excellent source for Harry Potter recipes and party ideas is PotterParties.com. I made a treacle tart and pumpkin pasties last night. The treacle tart recipe was this one from the BBC web site, but it has already moved once so I'll post it again.
Ingredients
- For the pastry
-
- 225g/8oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 110g/4oz butter, chilled, diced
- 1 medium free-range egg, lightly beaten
- For the filling
-
- 450g/1lb golden syrup
- 85g/3oz fresh breadcrumbs
- generous pinch ground ginger
- 1 lemon, zest, finely grated and 2 tbsp of the juice
- To serve
-
- clotted cream or double cream
Preparation method
- In a bowl, rub the butter into the flour with your fingers until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Mix in the egg with a knife, then knead on a clean, lightly dusted work surface to form a smooth dough.
-
Use the dough to line a 23cm/9in loose-bottomed
tart tin, prick the base all over with a fork and leave to rest in the
fridge for about 30 minutes.
-
Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5.
-
Line the pastry with parchment paper and weigh down
with rice or ceramic baking beans. Bake the pastry blind for 10-15
minutes, remove the paper and rice or beans and return the pastry case
to the oven for a few minutes more, until light golden-brown.
-
For the filling, mix together the filling
ingredients in a bowl and pour into the pastry case. Return to the oven
and bake for about 30 minutes. Serve hot or cold with clotted cream or
double cream.
Treacle is another name for golden syrup, which is like a light golden molasses - almost the color of corn syrup, but with a much nicer flavor. It is the key ingredient to many desserts in the UK, including sticky toffee pudding, which I was tempted to make instead. But I couldn't pass up the chance to make Harry Potter's favorite dessert!
This recipe includes lemon and ginger, and these flavors combined with the treacle create a dessert I imagine would be much more pleasing to the adult palate than a child's, but wizards may have different tastes than muggles. You can make this with a shortcrust recipe, but as there isn't much difference between that and pie crust, and I had already made a huge batch of pie crust for the pumpkin pasties, I used the same thing. I wish I had spent more time with what I put on the top... it looks a little horrid, but it tasted good. The treacle mixture becomes chewy which is a nice contrast to flaky crust. Definitely try this recipe!!
Pumpkin pasties are something I had read about and came up with my own recipe for them. I'm sure they're not much different from the other recipes you might find, but they are delicious and simple. One student said they were like mini pumpkin pies, which is a good way of looking at it. Pasties in general are hand-held pies, but these are even tinier than that!
Pumpkin Pasties
Pie crusts (can use store bought if desired)
1 can pumpkin pie filling*
1 egg mixed with 1 tsp water
Granulated sugar
Roll out pie crusts and cut into circles. Brush one side with egg wash. Put small amount of pumpkin pie filling in center. Fold over and pinch together. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Bake at 375 F 15-20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.
*If you can't find pumpkin pie filling, if it's not "in season" - combine canned pumpkin with spices and a little brown sugar, and you'll be fine.
Monday, July 16, 2007
White Chocolate Brownies
I found this recipe on one of the baking blogs I frequently read. Tartlette is a formally trained pastry chef who makes the most beautiful things, and her photographs are always stunning as well. She is the type of baker I aspire to become, maybe after another 10-15 good years of practice.
These brownies are not the typical blondies - they are made by melting white chocolate and mixing it with other ingredients. I was impatient and cut them before they were completely cool, but if I made them again I would force myself to wait.
They are sweet, light, and wonderful.
Categories: Chocolate, Cookies
These brownies are not the typical blondies - they are made by melting white chocolate and mixing it with other ingredients. I was impatient and cut them before they were completely cool, but if I made them again I would force myself to wait.
They are sweet, light, and wonderful.
Categories: Chocolate, Cookies
Monday, July 09, 2007
Chocolate Mint Cupcakes (vegan)
I have been thumbing through the new cookbook Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World for probably a month now. I needed to gather all the necessary ingredients and pick a flavor - you won't believe the amazing cupcake recipes in this book. Tiramisu, smore, mocha hazelnut, etc. - everything sounded delicious and fun. The main ingredient I didn't have was vegan non hydrogenated shortening. I don't stock shortening in general, much less vegan or non-hydrogenated. But if you can't use butter, shortening is sometimes a necessary evil.
Pawing through my cupboards I realized I still had some mint extract, so I went with chocolate mint cupcakes. For the cake part, it is the recipe for "Your Basic Chocolate Cupcake" with mint extract added. That is the recipe I'll include here, but really, go out and buy this amazingly fun book.
Your Basic Chocolate Cupcake
from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
Ingredients:
1 cup soy milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp other flavored extract, or more vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F and line muffin pan with paper or foil liners.
2. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, and extract(s) and beat until foamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are okay).
3. Pour into liners, filling three-quarters of the way. Bake 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to cooling rack and cool completely.
I used a variation of the Fluffy Vegan Buttercream recipe, which was basically:
1/2 cup shortening (vegan, non trans fat, etc)
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 pound box powdered sugar (roughly 3 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 tsp extract (I used mint + vanilla)
1/4 cup soy milk or creamer (i used 3 tbsp soy milk, I didn't want it too thin and my kitchen was warm)
Cream together, spoon into a pastry bag, and pipe onto cupcakes. Or spread with knife. I did some in zigzags, some in flowers, and some in spirals. I melted some chocolate chips in another ziploc bag, cut a small part out of one corner, and drizzled some on top in patterns to match. Some of the cupcakes have chocolate sprinkles.
Jenny's notes: I have to admit that the cupcakes pictured in the cookbook were all a little too small and flat for me, so I may have added extra baking powder for a little more height. As a result I had some slightly messy cupcakes, but they still taste amazing. There is nothing noticably vegan in these cupcakes. They taste chocolately, minty, and the "butter"cream icing is actually very good, despite my predisposation against shortening.
I also didn't have apple cider vinegar, so I used white distilled. I find I can only have so many flavors of vinegar on hand, you know? At last count, I had five, and apple cider was just not one of them. It's okay to substitute one vinegar for the other since you are using it for its chemical properties, not its flavor, when you are baking. Just be careful not to use one that has a pungent flavor where it might not belong. Chocolate mint cupcakes would not have been balsamic-friendly, for instance.
I found these to be a little melty, and not just the ones I put in the light to photograph. This means I'll have to find room in my fridge overnight for them, which is not that great of a scenario at the moment. Next time I would add more powdered sugar, or just forget the milk entirely in the icing. I also needed to bake these longer than 20 minutes, probably more like 23, but I did have more batter than recommended.
Categories: Chocolate, Cupcake, Mint, Vegan
Pawing through my cupboards I realized I still had some mint extract, so I went with chocolate mint cupcakes. For the cake part, it is the recipe for "Your Basic Chocolate Cupcake" with mint extract added. That is the recipe I'll include here, but really, go out and buy this amazingly fun book.
Your Basic Chocolate Cupcake
from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
Ingredients:
1 cup soy milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp other flavored extract, or more vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F and line muffin pan with paper or foil liners.
2. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, and extract(s) and beat until foamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are okay).
3. Pour into liners, filling three-quarters of the way. Bake 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to cooling rack and cool completely.
I used a variation of the Fluffy Vegan Buttercream recipe, which was basically:
1/2 cup shortening (vegan, non trans fat, etc)
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 pound box powdered sugar (roughly 3 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 tsp extract (I used mint + vanilla)
1/4 cup soy milk or creamer (i used 3 tbsp soy milk, I didn't want it too thin and my kitchen was warm)
Cream together, spoon into a pastry bag, and pipe onto cupcakes. Or spread with knife. I did some in zigzags, some in flowers, and some in spirals. I melted some chocolate chips in another ziploc bag, cut a small part out of one corner, and drizzled some on top in patterns to match. Some of the cupcakes have chocolate sprinkles.
Jenny's notes: I have to admit that the cupcakes pictured in the cookbook were all a little too small and flat for me, so I may have added extra baking powder for a little more height. As a result I had some slightly messy cupcakes, but they still taste amazing. There is nothing noticably vegan in these cupcakes. They taste chocolately, minty, and the "butter"cream icing is actually very good, despite my predisposation against shortening.
I also didn't have apple cider vinegar, so I used white distilled. I find I can only have so many flavors of vinegar on hand, you know? At last count, I had five, and apple cider was just not one of them. It's okay to substitute one vinegar for the other since you are using it for its chemical properties, not its flavor, when you are baking. Just be careful not to use one that has a pungent flavor where it might not belong. Chocolate mint cupcakes would not have been balsamic-friendly, for instance.
I found these to be a little melty, and not just the ones I put in the light to photograph. This means I'll have to find room in my fridge overnight for them, which is not that great of a scenario at the moment. Next time I would add more powdered sugar, or just forget the milk entirely in the icing. I also needed to bake these longer than 20 minutes, probably more like 23, but I did have more batter than recommended.
Categories: Chocolate, Cupcake, Mint, Vegan
Monday, July 02, 2007
Bakery Review - Strossners
Strossners Bakery is located in Greenville, SC. It seems like one of those bakeries that has been around a long time (and the web site says over 50 years) - most of what they make is traditional bakery fare - bread, danishes, cakes, pastries, cookies, etc.
Our first experience with them was about a year ago - we had just moved to town and it was going to be my birthday, so we stopped by and picked up a cake. They have so many full-sized cakes ready to go at all times that it took some time to decide, but I remember getting the Triple Chocolate Torte. It was okay, but I've never been a fan of the fudgy icing since my cake decorating days (it tends to be a little plastic in texture).
Since then we have been back to eat at the deli, pick up an occasional breakfast pastry (the almond danish is highly recommended, best I've had), etc.
This year for my birthday I picked the Bailey's Ganache Cake. Both my husband and I like the flavor of Bailey's, and I thought it would be amazing with chocolate. Inside the cake are three chocolate cake layers, spread liberally with Baileys, filled with chocolate ganache and the outside is topped with a whipped ganache.
It was really good. The downfall of commercial bakeries is that they have to add ingredients to things like icing to make them last longer, so the outer icings were a bit rubbery in texture, but I felt the flavor made up for it.
Categories: Bakery, Baileys, Cake, Chocolate
Our first experience with them was about a year ago - we had just moved to town and it was going to be my birthday, so we stopped by and picked up a cake. They have so many full-sized cakes ready to go at all times that it took some time to decide, but I remember getting the Triple Chocolate Torte. It was okay, but I've never been a fan of the fudgy icing since my cake decorating days (it tends to be a little plastic in texture).
Since then we have been back to eat at the deli, pick up an occasional breakfast pastry (the almond danish is highly recommended, best I've had), etc.
This year for my birthday I picked the Bailey's Ganache Cake. Both my husband and I like the flavor of Bailey's, and I thought it would be amazing with chocolate. Inside the cake are three chocolate cake layers, spread liberally with Baileys, filled with chocolate ganache and the outside is topped with a whipped ganache.
It was really good. The downfall of commercial bakeries is that they have to add ingredients to things like icing to make them last longer, so the outer icings were a bit rubbery in texture, but I felt the flavor made up for it.
Categories: Bakery, Baileys, Cake, Chocolate
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Daring Bakers Monthly Challenge - Bagels
The Daring Bakers have struck again! This month the challenge was bagels - not the kind you would get from the grocery store, which is just circle shaped bread, but the authentic Jewish bakery kind, chewy and malty.
The recipe for Real Honest Jewish Purist's Bagels can be found by clicking here. It's too long to post here.
This was my first bagel endeavor, never attempted before because I thought the process would be too long and complicated - what? Boil bread? Weird. So I felt I had to block a bunch of time out to make them. I was surprised by how quick the process took in the end.
First, the ingredients.
Yeast is pretty ordinary, but the amount used was more than I am accustomed to (although I don't often bake bread, so what do I know). Barley malt syrup was much harder to find, and in fact was only one place in my town of 80,000. The jar says you can substitute it for molasses in any recipe, which I'll have to do with the rest now that I'm done with the challenge.
The first step that struck me as different than other baking is the amount of time the yeast soaks at the beginning - ten minutes.
It soaks into the water and honey, and after ten minutes is already a growing, living organism. Bread flour gets mixed in gradually by hand, in diminishing amounts, allowing for the absorption of the moisture. I don't think I added as much as I could the first time around, and this is one of the contributors to my breadier bagels.
I know some people are afraid to knead dough, but that is my favorite step in the process. I feel my stress leaving and my blood pressure lowering, and just feel great afterwards. I also think it teaches you a lot about what dough should feel like, helps you know when it is ready to rise, etc.
Here is the dough after kneading:
And here it is just 30 minutes later. Luckily I had put the malt syrup water on to boil right at the beginning of that time, because by the time it was simmering, the dough was ready to be punched down.
The next step is to divide the dough and form the bagels. There are two methods - one where you handmake a disc and punch a whole in the middle with your thumb, and the other where you form a rope and push the ends together.
Here you see both. The bagels closest to the camera are the disc-punch method, and the bagels farther away were ropes first. I see pros and cons to both methods - the disc-punch method makes a more uniform bagel, but unless you boil them quickly they might rise too much and the hole gets too small. In the rope method, the dough is a better texture because of extra handling, but I had a hard time keeping them from coming apart in the water.
Ah, the water. This was the part I was most nervous about. The bagels are supposed to sink first, and then float, but every single bagel in my first batch was a floater. They turn blobby and fatty and look outrageously disgusting, but I decided to tough it out and try baking them even after they looked like this.
After they are drained on a kitchen towel, they can be baked plain or covered with toppings. I did half and half, and here is the plain:
You might notice that they do decrease in size in the oven. They actually turned a little flat on me, which was amazing considering the obvious aggression of the yeast. Here is a pic of the poppy seed and sesame seed bagels:
I really liked the flavor of the sesame seed bagels, I have to say.
Over all, I feel my first batch wasn't quite there. They were a little bready and were just huge. Half of them molded before we ate or froze them, unfortunately.
A few weeks later, I decided to try making flavored bagels, and to see if I could improve on the texture. I made a half batch this time. I had cheddar cheese in the fridge and parsley, so that's what I used..... I tend to be a "what's in the fridge" type cook. :)
My goal was to add all of the flour to try to increase their density, but on this particular day the dough would just not accept it. I punched it and forced it but only got 3/4 of the flour into the dough. The same thing happened with the parsley and cheese - not all that I wanted in there made it in.
I decided based on some feedback from other Daring Bakers to try the rope method with all of them, to try to really punch out some of the air. I was so rough with them, or so I thought, but the bread dough is really resilient.
Another thing I decided to do was turn the water up a little more. The directions are a little confusing, because they say the water should be barely moving. But in my first batch I wasn't convinced the water was hot enough. So I turned it up to where I could see more action under the surface, but only to the bagels demise, I think. I ended up with croissant-shaped bagels, which my household now refers to as "croiggels." This particular picture is a croiggel after it has been boiled but before being baked.
So the finished product for this batch was a little more uniform, a little denser, and had a hint of cheese flavor.
I gave most of these away to co-workers, who said they enjoyed them, which makes me wonder if I might just not be a fan of "authentic" bagels. I guess it happens.
To read more about what the other Daring Bakers did, follow the many links on the side of my blog.
Categories: Bagels, Bread, Daring Bakers, Yeast
The recipe for Real Honest Jewish Purist's Bagels can be found by clicking here. It's too long to post here.
This was my first bagel endeavor, never attempted before because I thought the process would be too long and complicated - what? Boil bread? Weird. So I felt I had to block a bunch of time out to make them. I was surprised by how quick the process took in the end.
First, the ingredients.
Yeast is pretty ordinary, but the amount used was more than I am accustomed to (although I don't often bake bread, so what do I know). Barley malt syrup was much harder to find, and in fact was only one place in my town of 80,000. The jar says you can substitute it for molasses in any recipe, which I'll have to do with the rest now that I'm done with the challenge.
The first step that struck me as different than other baking is the amount of time the yeast soaks at the beginning - ten minutes.
It soaks into the water and honey, and after ten minutes is already a growing, living organism. Bread flour gets mixed in gradually by hand, in diminishing amounts, allowing for the absorption of the moisture. I don't think I added as much as I could the first time around, and this is one of the contributors to my breadier bagels.
I know some people are afraid to knead dough, but that is my favorite step in the process. I feel my stress leaving and my blood pressure lowering, and just feel great afterwards. I also think it teaches you a lot about what dough should feel like, helps you know when it is ready to rise, etc.
Here is the dough after kneading:
And here it is just 30 minutes later. Luckily I had put the malt syrup water on to boil right at the beginning of that time, because by the time it was simmering, the dough was ready to be punched down.
The next step is to divide the dough and form the bagels. There are two methods - one where you handmake a disc and punch a whole in the middle with your thumb, and the other where you form a rope and push the ends together.
Here you see both. The bagels closest to the camera are the disc-punch method, and the bagels farther away were ropes first. I see pros and cons to both methods - the disc-punch method makes a more uniform bagel, but unless you boil them quickly they might rise too much and the hole gets too small. In the rope method, the dough is a better texture because of extra handling, but I had a hard time keeping them from coming apart in the water.
Ah, the water. This was the part I was most nervous about. The bagels are supposed to sink first, and then float, but every single bagel in my first batch was a floater. They turn blobby and fatty and look outrageously disgusting, but I decided to tough it out and try baking them even after they looked like this.
After they are drained on a kitchen towel, they can be baked plain or covered with toppings. I did half and half, and here is the plain:
You might notice that they do decrease in size in the oven. They actually turned a little flat on me, which was amazing considering the obvious aggression of the yeast. Here is a pic of the poppy seed and sesame seed bagels:
I really liked the flavor of the sesame seed bagels, I have to say.
Over all, I feel my first batch wasn't quite there. They were a little bready and were just huge. Half of them molded before we ate or froze them, unfortunately.
A few weeks later, I decided to try making flavored bagels, and to see if I could improve on the texture. I made a half batch this time. I had cheddar cheese in the fridge and parsley, so that's what I used..... I tend to be a "what's in the fridge" type cook. :)
My goal was to add all of the flour to try to increase their density, but on this particular day the dough would just not accept it. I punched it and forced it but only got 3/4 of the flour into the dough. The same thing happened with the parsley and cheese - not all that I wanted in there made it in.
I decided based on some feedback from other Daring Bakers to try the rope method with all of them, to try to really punch out some of the air. I was so rough with them, or so I thought, but the bread dough is really resilient.
Another thing I decided to do was turn the water up a little more. The directions are a little confusing, because they say the water should be barely moving. But in my first batch I wasn't convinced the water was hot enough. So I turned it up to where I could see more action under the surface, but only to the bagels demise, I think. I ended up with croissant-shaped bagels, which my household now refers to as "croiggels." This particular picture is a croiggel after it has been boiled but before being baked.
So the finished product for this batch was a little more uniform, a little denser, and had a hint of cheese flavor.
I gave most of these away to co-workers, who said they enjoyed them, which makes me wonder if I might just not be a fan of "authentic" bagels. I guess it happens.
To read more about what the other Daring Bakers did, follow the many links on the side of my blog.
Categories: Bagels, Bread, Daring Bakers, Yeast
Monday, June 25, 2007
Papaya Blueberry Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
These are adapted from a recipe adapted by my in-laws to turn a breakfast bread into cookies. They travel a lot, and eating cookies in the morning makes sense.
I'll give you the basic recipe, and please realize you can try almost anything with it. The main point is to not use white flour or sugar, use a lot of fruit, and be creative! The texture is a little like baked oatmeal, and I'm trying to make it breadier without adding too many bad things. The oatmeal texture is okay with me, but it might be foreign to you.
Healthy Breakfast Cookies
2 cups oat flour *
1 cup oats
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp assorted ground spices (cinnamon is good, in this I used allspice and cloves)
1/2 tsp salt
8 (ish) medjool dates, pits removed
1 1/2 cups liquid (rice milk, apple juice, soy milk)
2 medium apples (peeled and chopped) **
1/4 cupish molasses ***
2-3 tbsp agave syrup
crunchy things, dried fruit, or fresh fruit
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a bowl, combine dry ingredients.
3. In a blender, blend fruits and liquids until smooth.
4. Mix dry ingredients, wet ingredients, and sweeteners to taste. Stir in crunchies. Mixture will be rather moist, but you can add extra oat flour or oats if you're concerned.
5. Make uniform heaps onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets. Bake 30-45 minutes and cool on wire rack.
6. Freeze extra or chill up to 4 days.
* Oat flour is made by grinding up oats, not quick ones, but regular. 2 cups oats = roughly 1 1/2 cups oat flour, so allow for extra
** Papaya was on sale, so I substituted papaya for apple, just about two cups. I would try almost any fruit!
*** I left the molasses out this time, to try for a fruitier cookie. Just experiment!
Here is a picture of the original version made by Al during their visit:
They threw in some walnuts and organic chocolate chips.
Here is a picture of some of the weirder ingredients:
Categories: Blueberries, Cookies, Papaya, Vegan
I'll give you the basic recipe, and please realize you can try almost anything with it. The main point is to not use white flour or sugar, use a lot of fruit, and be creative! The texture is a little like baked oatmeal, and I'm trying to make it breadier without adding too many bad things. The oatmeal texture is okay with me, but it might be foreign to you.
Healthy Breakfast Cookies
2 cups oat flour *
1 cup oats
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp assorted ground spices (cinnamon is good, in this I used allspice and cloves)
1/2 tsp salt
8 (ish) medjool dates, pits removed
1 1/2 cups liquid (rice milk, apple juice, soy milk)
2 medium apples (peeled and chopped) **
1/4 cupish molasses ***
2-3 tbsp agave syrup
crunchy things, dried fruit, or fresh fruit
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a bowl, combine dry ingredients.
3. In a blender, blend fruits and liquids until smooth.
4. Mix dry ingredients, wet ingredients, and sweeteners to taste. Stir in crunchies. Mixture will be rather moist, but you can add extra oat flour or oats if you're concerned.
5. Make uniform heaps onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets. Bake 30-45 minutes and cool on wire rack.
6. Freeze extra or chill up to 4 days.
* Oat flour is made by grinding up oats, not quick ones, but regular. 2 cups oats = roughly 1 1/2 cups oat flour, so allow for extra
** Papaya was on sale, so I substituted papaya for apple, just about two cups. I would try almost any fruit!
*** I left the molasses out this time, to try for a fruitier cookie. Just experiment!
Here is a picture of the original version made by Al during their visit:
They threw in some walnuts and organic chocolate chips.
Here is a picture of some of the weirder ingredients:
Categories: Blueberries, Cookies, Papaya, Vegan
Monday, June 18, 2007
Coffee Banana Chocolate Chip Scones
The last time I had bananas sitting around, I decided to try to find a scone recipe that could include them. I also had some random chocolate chips sitting around (white and semisweet).
The original recipe can be found here but since I altered it quite a bit to make it richer, the recipe below is my own version.
Coffee Banana Chocolate Chip Scones
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tsp instant coffee granules
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup miscellaneous baking chips (optional)
Directions:
In large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Gently heat cream in separate bowl (or glass measuring cup) and stir in instant coffee until dissolved. Stir in vanilla and banana; add to dry mixture, stirring lightly to make a moist dough. Stir in chips (optional).
On lightly floured board, knead dough lightly for about 30 seconds. Roll out dough to 1/2 inch thickness; cut into 3 inch rounds and place on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake in 425 F oven for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes about 10 scones.
Jenny's notes: I used a scone pan for mine, so it made 8 scones. You could also just pat the dough into a circle and cut it into wedges. I used three bananas, so my mixture was a little more moist and the scones had to bake longer because of this.
I used 2/3 cup white chocolate chips and 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips, because that's what I had. The next time I make these I will try adding peanut butter chips too because even though there are many many flavors here, peanut butter would have just kicked the entire recipe up to pure heaven.
I feel obligated to say that my husband thought there were too many flavors going on here, and that the flavor was too intense. You could start with half the amount of coffee if you were concerned, but for me, the more flavor the better.
Categories: Banana, Chocolate, Coffee, Scones
The original recipe can be found here but since I altered it quite a bit to make it richer, the recipe below is my own version.
Coffee Banana Chocolate Chip Scones
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tsp instant coffee granules
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup miscellaneous baking chips (optional)
Directions:
In large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Gently heat cream in separate bowl (or glass measuring cup) and stir in instant coffee until dissolved. Stir in vanilla and banana; add to dry mixture, stirring lightly to make a moist dough. Stir in chips (optional).
On lightly floured board, knead dough lightly for about 30 seconds. Roll out dough to 1/2 inch thickness; cut into 3 inch rounds and place on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake in 425 F oven for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes about 10 scones.
Jenny's notes: I used a scone pan for mine, so it made 8 scones. You could also just pat the dough into a circle and cut it into wedges. I used three bananas, so my mixture was a little more moist and the scones had to bake longer because of this.
I used 2/3 cup white chocolate chips and 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips, because that's what I had. The next time I make these I will try adding peanut butter chips too because even though there are many many flavors here, peanut butter would have just kicked the entire recipe up to pure heaven.
I feel obligated to say that my husband thought there were too many flavors going on here, and that the flavor was too intense. You could start with half the amount of coffee if you were concerned, but for me, the more flavor the better.
Categories: Banana, Chocolate, Coffee, Scones
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Pretzels
I can see myself veering away from super sweet stuff to yeasty items. I made my first post about the Daring Bakers two weeks ago, but they've been together longer than I've been a part of them.
Last year one of their challenges was to make pretzels. Recipe can be found here. I can't say enough about these. They were so easy, and so delicious. And perfect with mustard or plain.
As you can see, mine are a bit pale, and I could have used an extra 2-5 minutes, but they were still good. This was the first time this month I wished I had a pastry brush (the last step includes brushing the pretzels with melted butter) but not the last!
This was the first time in a long while I had kneaded dough by hand - probably not since the day the industrial mixer broke down on challah day, back when I worked at a bakery. I had forgotten how great it feels, both during and after, and don't plan on using the silly dough hooks on my mixer again any time soon. I also have a lovely island in my kitchen now which is perfect for kneading and preparing dough.
A picture of them before baking:
The only thing I can say about these - I wish I hadn't baked them all at once. They get a little soggy and tough after a day or so, and I could have stopped after the last step before baking, and frozen the dough. At least, that's what I'll try next time unless I'm baking for a crowd.
Categories: Bread, Pretzels, Savory, Yeast
Last year one of their challenges was to make pretzels. Recipe can be found here. I can't say enough about these. They were so easy, and so delicious. And perfect with mustard or plain.
As you can see, mine are a bit pale, and I could have used an extra 2-5 minutes, but they were still good. This was the first time this month I wished I had a pastry brush (the last step includes brushing the pretzels with melted butter) but not the last!
This was the first time in a long while I had kneaded dough by hand - probably not since the day the industrial mixer broke down on challah day, back when I worked at a bakery. I had forgotten how great it feels, both during and after, and don't plan on using the silly dough hooks on my mixer again any time soon. I also have a lovely island in my kitchen now which is perfect for kneading and preparing dough.
A picture of them before baking:
The only thing I can say about these - I wish I hadn't baked them all at once. They get a little soggy and tough after a day or so, and I could have stopped after the last step before baking, and frozen the dough. At least, that's what I'll try next time unless I'm baking for a crowd.
Categories: Bread, Pretzels, Savory, Yeast
Monday, June 04, 2007
Pie Challenge!
A_Muffin_Story on LJ declared this week pie week! My goal is to make at least three pie type dishes this week, and not all sweet!
I had some leftover diplomat cream from the pastry challenge I did last weekend, and found a banana cream pie recipe that could use it. The recipe was from a cookbook I've had for a while but never tried anything from - the Roselyn's Cookbook. When I lived in Indiana, I heard story after story about Roselyn's - a historic local bakery that had unfortunately closed by the time I lived there, but they had sold recipes and continued selling some of their products under the Roselyn's name.
The banana cream pie is nothing difficult - I used a graham cracker crust, soaked the 3 bananas in pineapple juice, filled the crust with the diplomat cream, topped it with bananas, and put whipped cream on the top.
The piece I took doesn't look pretty (really I should have used a somewhat different cream that would have set up more) but it tasted good!
Hooray for pie week!
Categories: Banana, Cream, Pie
I had some leftover diplomat cream from the pastry challenge I did last weekend, and found a banana cream pie recipe that could use it. The recipe was from a cookbook I've had for a while but never tried anything from - the Roselyn's Cookbook. When I lived in Indiana, I heard story after story about Roselyn's - a historic local bakery that had unfortunately closed by the time I lived there, but they had sold recipes and continued selling some of their products under the Roselyn's name.
The banana cream pie is nothing difficult - I used a graham cracker crust, soaked the 3 bananas in pineapple juice, filled the crust with the diplomat cream, topped it with bananas, and put whipped cream on the top. The piece I took doesn't look pretty (really I should have used a somewhat different cream that would have set up more) but it tasted good!Hooray for pie week!
Categories: Banana, Cream, Pie
Monday, May 28, 2007
Daring Bakers - Gateau St. Honoré
Back in March when I noticed a bunch of the baking bloggers I religiously read were all making red velvet cakes, I begged to be included in the group! This month Daring Bakers has grown to 48 members, all attempting the same challenge. This month's challenge was Gateau St. Honoré, in honor of the birthday of St. Honoré, the patron saint of bakers.
This pastry is often used as a final exam for pastry chefs, since it includes puff pastry, cream puffs, cream, caramel, and spun sugar. You can read more about the recipe and look at other bakers by clicking on Helene's post - she was one of the two hosts for this month's challenge.
I decided to make several small pastries rather than one large cake, and am glad I did. I even drizzled some caramel on the parchment paper that looked kind of like a butterfly, so I've included it here. Here's another view where it might be easier to see:
I was overwhelmed by this challenge. Last week I had talked myself out of it completely, but let myself be talked back into it. I did take the out of buying storemade puff pastry, but everything else is mine. I had never made cream puffs before, so that was neat to see how easy it is! All of my cake decorating supplies are still in the closet of my old bedroom in my parents' house in Oregon, so I had to improvise with spoons and ziploc bags, but it worked just fine. I didn't start until today, and it was due today, whoops. Normally I would have taken my time but I had psyched myself out about it.
With my extra dough I made some eclairs. I have no idea what I'll do with the bowl of cream I have left over, but some bakers have done some creative things including turning it into icecream!
There were a few casualties - I had a saucepan I was ready to throw away, so it was sacrificed to the caramel. I know I could heat it back up and retrieve the pan, but it was ready to die anyway. I did burn my finger on the molten caramel, and smartly (not) stuck it in my mouth, burning my tongue as well! Other than that, things went fairly smoothly. I'd like to eventually make puff pastry from scratch, it just wasn't going to happen this month.
Categories: Caramel, Cream Puffs, Custard, Daring Bakers, Pastry, Puff Pastry
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Tres Leches Cake
I attend a potluck type dinner every month with a bunch of friends/co-workers, and each month has a different theme. This month's International Dinner Group theme was Mexico, and I didn't see how we could have a Mexican meal without a tres leches cake!
I have quite the history with tres leches cakes. When I worked as a cake decorator for a upscale supermarket in Indiana, I would get in trouble from the assistant manager because I would refuse to make tres leches cakes for the case. They were a lot of trouble, and nobody ever bought them, and we were always swamped with orders. So tres leches cake had an unhappy history in my mind that desperately needed correcting.
I surfed the internet for a recipe and ended up making a variation of the one on the Betty Crocker site. I am not ashamed to use cake mixes as a basis for a good cake - it's just the dry ingredients. It's what you do with them that matters. I read a lot of reviews and took some of the ideas into consideration.
Without any further ado, I present my modified recipe:
Tres Leches Cake
This needs to be made the day before serving. Please plan accordingly.
1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® yellow cake mix
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup rum
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
3/4 cup whole milk or evaporated milk
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup rum
1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Grease and flour or spray bottom and sides of 13x9-inch pan.
2. In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, rum, oil, vanilla and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.
3. Bake 29 to 35 minutes or until edges are golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand 5 minutes. Poke top of hot cake every 1/2 inch with long-tined fork, wiping fork occasionally to reduce sticking.
4. In large bowl, stir together sweetened condensed milk, whole milk, rum, and whipping cream. Carefully pour evenly over top of cake. Cover; refrigerate about 12 hours or until mixture is absorbed into cake.
5. Serve with whipped cream and fresh fruit.
Jenny's notes: Okay, so originally tres leches cake doesn't have rum in it, but the Cuban version definitely does, and I think it adds a lot of flavor to what would otherwise be just a super sweet cake. You can leave it out, just sub water in the cake and milk for the three milks mixture.
The original recipe said to soak for 1 hour, but 1 hour is not long enough - you'll just end up with a soggy half soaked cake. 12 hours is optimum.
What you should end up with is a sweet, light, delicious cake! I have to be honest, I liked this more than I expected to.
Categories: Cake, Mexico, Milk, Rum
I have quite the history with tres leches cakes. When I worked as a cake decorator for a upscale supermarket in Indiana, I would get in trouble from the assistant manager because I would refuse to make tres leches cakes for the case. They were a lot of trouble, and nobody ever bought them, and we were always swamped with orders. So tres leches cake had an unhappy history in my mind that desperately needed correcting.
I surfed the internet for a recipe and ended up making a variation of the one on the Betty Crocker site. I am not ashamed to use cake mixes as a basis for a good cake - it's just the dry ingredients. It's what you do with them that matters. I read a lot of reviews and took some of the ideas into consideration.
Without any further ado, I present my modified recipe:
Tres Leches Cake
This needs to be made the day before serving. Please plan accordingly.
1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® yellow cake mix
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup rum
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
3/4 cup whole milk or evaporated milk
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup rum
1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Grease and flour or spray bottom and sides of 13x9-inch pan.
2. In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, rum, oil, vanilla and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.
3. Bake 29 to 35 minutes or until edges are golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand 5 minutes. Poke top of hot cake every 1/2 inch with long-tined fork, wiping fork occasionally to reduce sticking.
4. In large bowl, stir together sweetened condensed milk, whole milk, rum, and whipping cream. Carefully pour evenly over top of cake. Cover; refrigerate about 12 hours or until mixture is absorbed into cake.
5. Serve with whipped cream and fresh fruit.
Jenny's notes: Okay, so originally tres leches cake doesn't have rum in it, but the Cuban version definitely does, and I think it adds a lot of flavor to what would otherwise be just a super sweet cake. You can leave it out, just sub water in the cake and milk for the three milks mixture.
The original recipe said to soak for 1 hour, but 1 hour is not long enough - you'll just end up with a soggy half soaked cake. 12 hours is optimum.
What you should end up with is a sweet, light, delicious cake! I have to be honest, I liked this more than I expected to.
Categories: Cake, Mexico, Milk, Rum
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
The Power of Baking
I get home from a faculty meeting that almost hit the three-hour mark. I am exhausted. Since I am already home almost an hour and a half later than usual, I decided not to stop at the grocery store.
I go to the fridge - not really anything to eat, other than eggs which don't sound good at all and leftover pasta which I ate for lunch.
I go to the cupboards - wow, I need to do some shopping, but at least I have cans of soup.
Soup, what goes well with soup? Biscuits sound amazing, but I'm not sure I have the energy. But somehow over the weekend we have consumed all the bread and crackers in the house, and soup alone probably won't cut it.
I dump the dry ingredients into a bowl, and lightly mix them. The powder feels soothing to my fingers. I dice the margarine before dumping it into the bowl, distributing it with my fingertips, just until the mixture is a fine crumb. I raid the fridge for milk and decide on buttermilk that is about to expire, and swirl the right amount into the bowl. At first I lightly mix the dough with a spatula, but soon abandon it for my hands.
I mix, I knead, I roll, I cut - and the biscuits are ready on a greased baking sheet before the oven has finished preheating. I realize the exhaustion has left me, and I feel exhilarated.
A can of soup alone is so lonely. A can of soup accompanied by fresh homemade biscuits with delicious jam is comfort food at its best.
I go to the fridge - not really anything to eat, other than eggs which don't sound good at all and leftover pasta which I ate for lunch.
I go to the cupboards - wow, I need to do some shopping, but at least I have cans of soup.
Soup, what goes well with soup? Biscuits sound amazing, but I'm not sure I have the energy. But somehow over the weekend we have consumed all the bread and crackers in the house, and soup alone probably won't cut it.
I dump the dry ingredients into a bowl, and lightly mix them. The powder feels soothing to my fingers. I dice the margarine before dumping it into the bowl, distributing it with my fingertips, just until the mixture is a fine crumb. I raid the fridge for milk and decide on buttermilk that is about to expire, and swirl the right amount into the bowl. At first I lightly mix the dough with a spatula, but soon abandon it for my hands.
I mix, I knead, I roll, I cut - and the biscuits are ready on a greased baking sheet before the oven has finished preheating. I realize the exhaustion has left me, and I feel exhilarated.
A can of soup alone is so lonely. A can of soup accompanied by fresh homemade biscuits with delicious jam is comfort food at its best.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Rhubarb Coffee Cake
'Tis the season for more rhubarb! And another terrific recipe from Beth Hensberger. I had to take the book back, but have now added "Bread for Breakfast" to my Amazon.com wishlist. It is truly a terrific baking book! I can't emphasize enough how much I think each person should go out and buy it.
This time rhubarb was only available in 1 pound bundles - this actually ended up lucky for me, because I could pick the freshest, sweetest stalks for the coffee cake.
Rhubarb Coffee Cake
From Bread for Breakfast by Beth Hensberger
SPICED NUT CRUMB TOPPING
¼ cup light or dark brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground allspice
6 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
½ cup chopped walnuts
COFFEE CAKE
8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup light or dark brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp apple pie spice mixture, or ground cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
1 cup cultured buttermilk
½ pound fresh or frozen rhubarb, finely chopped to make 2 cups
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan with parchment paper, and grease the sides.
2. To make the crumb topping, combine the brown and white sugars, flour, cinnamon, and allspice in a small bowl or in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Cut in the butter with your fingers, or process just until the mixture forms coarse crumbs. Add the walnuts and set aside.
3. To make the coffee cake, in the workbowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars on low speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until smooth. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, apple pie spice, and salt. Add to the creamed mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Beat on medium-high speed until the batter has a creamy consistency, about 1 minute. Stir in the rhubarb.
4. Using a rhubarb spatula, scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle evenly with the crumb topping. Bake on the center rack for about 40-45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan on a rack. To serve, remove the sides of the springform pan, and cut into wedges.
Jenny's notes: My husband and I both really liked this. The texture was moist and light, the rhubarb was an obvious flavor and texture, and the crumb topping was superb (I did leave out the nuts again).
I also chopped the rhubarb in a larger dice rather than "finely chopping" as the recipe suggested, since I wanted to really taste it.
This did take quite a bit longer to cook than the recipe indicated, but I might blame that on my juicy rhubarb pieces.
A note to the baker - rhubarb coffee cake will mold if it is not refrigerated. Darn!
Categories: Coffee Cake, Rhubarb
This time rhubarb was only available in 1 pound bundles - this actually ended up lucky for me, because I could pick the freshest, sweetest stalks for the coffee cake.
Rhubarb Coffee Cake
From Bread for Breakfast by Beth Hensberger
SPICED NUT CRUMB TOPPING
¼ cup light or dark brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground allspice
6 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
½ cup chopped walnuts
COFFEE CAKE
8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup light or dark brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp apple pie spice mixture, or ground cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
1 cup cultured buttermilk
½ pound fresh or frozen rhubarb, finely chopped to make 2 cups
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan with parchment paper, and grease the sides.
2. To make the crumb topping, combine the brown and white sugars, flour, cinnamon, and allspice in a small bowl or in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Cut in the butter with your fingers, or process just until the mixture forms coarse crumbs. Add the walnuts and set aside.
3. To make the coffee cake, in the workbowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars on low speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until smooth. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, apple pie spice, and salt. Add to the creamed mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Beat on medium-high speed until the batter has a creamy consistency, about 1 minute. Stir in the rhubarb.
4. Using a rhubarb spatula, scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle evenly with the crumb topping. Bake on the center rack for about 40-45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan on a rack. To serve, remove the sides of the springform pan, and cut into wedges.
Jenny's notes: My husband and I both really liked this. The texture was moist and light, the rhubarb was an obvious flavor and texture, and the crumb topping was superb (I did leave out the nuts again).
I also chopped the rhubarb in a larger dice rather than "finely chopping" as the recipe suggested, since I wanted to really taste it.
This did take quite a bit longer to cook than the recipe indicated, but I might blame that on my juicy rhubarb pieces.
A note to the baker - rhubarb coffee cake will mold if it is not refrigerated. Darn!
Categories: Coffee Cake, Rhubarb
Monday, April 23, 2007
White Chocolate Apricot Scones
This recipe comes from "Bread for Breakfast" by Beth Hensberger, a book which I requested interlibrary loan after seeing a form of these scones on Cream Puffs in Venice, one of my favorite baking blogs.
Bread for Breakfast looks like it has some great stuff - I have my eye on the rhubarb coffee cake for the weekend, since rhubarb is still in season right now.
These scones are an amazing combo of fruit and sweet - if my husband didn't have nut issues I think the salty crunch of the nut would have been a nice addition. I had a tupperware of white chocolate chips just begging to be used. I made these in one of my most recent kitchen acquisitions - a scone pan! Instead of having to cut out dough or cut it into wedges (which is admittedly not that hard), I just plop the dough into the pre-wedged circle and they come out beautifully!
Apricot, White Chocolate and [Walnut] Scones
Makes 8 scones
2 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup cold buttermilk, plus more, as needed
4 oz white chocolate, cut into 1/2" chunks, or 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
3/4 cup chopped dried apricots
1. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Using a fork, cut in the butter until it has the texture of soft crumbs.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk. Pour this mixture into the flour mixture and stir until the dough forms a soft, shaggy ball, adding additional buttermilk 1 tbsp at a time, as needed. Add the white chocolate, walnuts, and apricots, stirring until evenly distributed.
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead gently about 10 times, or just until the dough holds together. Divide the dough into 2 equal portions. Pat each dough piece into a 1-inch-thick round, 6 inches in diameter. Using a sharp knife, cut each round into 4 wedges.
5. Place the wedges 1/2 inch apart on the baking sheet. Bake on the center rack of the oven 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven and cool on the baking sheet. Serve the scones the day they are baked.
Jenny's notes: I of course omitted the nuts. I think this would be good with pecans too.
I prefer to mix the butter in with my fingertips, like I was making biscuits. And I mixed the apricots and chips into the flour butter mixture before lightly mixing in the liquids. This is the order all of my favorite scones recipes do it, and I believe it keeps the dough from getting overmixed and becoming too heavy.
These would look very pretty cut out into spring shapes!
Categories: Apricots, Baked Fruit, Buttermilk, Scones
Bread for Breakfast looks like it has some great stuff - I have my eye on the rhubarb coffee cake for the weekend, since rhubarb is still in season right now.
These scones are an amazing combo of fruit and sweet - if my husband didn't have nut issues I think the salty crunch of the nut would have been a nice addition. I had a tupperware of white chocolate chips just begging to be used. I made these in one of my most recent kitchen acquisitions - a scone pan! Instead of having to cut out dough or cut it into wedges (which is admittedly not that hard), I just plop the dough into the pre-wedged circle and they come out beautifully!
Apricot, White Chocolate and [Walnut] Scones
Makes 8 scones
2 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup cold buttermilk, plus more, as needed
4 oz white chocolate, cut into 1/2" chunks, or 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
3/4 cup chopped dried apricots
1. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Using a fork, cut in the butter until it has the texture of soft crumbs.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk. Pour this mixture into the flour mixture and stir until the dough forms a soft, shaggy ball, adding additional buttermilk 1 tbsp at a time, as needed. Add the white chocolate, walnuts, and apricots, stirring until evenly distributed.
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead gently about 10 times, or just until the dough holds together. Divide the dough into 2 equal portions. Pat each dough piece into a 1-inch-thick round, 6 inches in diameter. Using a sharp knife, cut each round into 4 wedges.
5. Place the wedges 1/2 inch apart on the baking sheet. Bake on the center rack of the oven 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven and cool on the baking sheet. Serve the scones the day they are baked.
Jenny's notes: I of course omitted the nuts. I think this would be good with pecans too.
I prefer to mix the butter in with my fingertips, like I was making biscuits. And I mixed the apricots and chips into the flour butter mixture before lightly mixing in the liquids. This is the order all of my favorite scones recipes do it, and I believe it keeps the dough from getting overmixed and becoming too heavy.
These would look very pretty cut out into spring shapes!
Categories: Apricots, Baked Fruit, Buttermilk, Scones
Monday, April 16, 2007
Rhubarb Crisp
Back when I worked in Restaurant Land, I started thinking of each month in terms of specific ingredients. I remember one March having a pasta dish with fiddlehead ferns, truffles, and white asparagus. Another thing that comes with spring - rhubarb!
This might sound crazy, since rhubarb is somewhat of an old-fashioned "fruit" (more of a vegetable really), but I had never had it before. Not once. Not even in something else, like a strawberry-rhubarb pie. So I did a little research and recipe searching. I found that rhubarb is also known as "pie plant" in some parts of the country.
In my recipe searching, I found a lot of recipes where rhubarb is used as a secondary ingredient, but not a lot where you could taste it on its own. Since this was my first rhubarb experience, I wanted something truly rhubarbesque.
Enter the trusty old Betty Crocker cookbook. Sometimes, especially for traditional or old-fashioned recipes, you just have to use the cookbook you were raised on. For some people it's Joy of Cooking, for me it was Betty Crocker. In fact, my Mom had two - the "old" version and the "new," because the older one had recipes that were left out of the update. Her "new" was several versions before my new.
All I did was follow the suggestions in converting apple crisp to rhubarb crisp, which was basically swapping out the fruit for equal amounts.
The best part of my rhubarb experience was in preparing the rhubarb. How can something so much like celery be in a dessert? It looks like celery, you clean it like you clean celery, when you cut it it crunches like celery.... I felt like I was in some kind of science fiction novel where nothing was as it seemed. After it cooks it turns into a pale pink, and the sugar from the topping cooks down into the fruit.
Cooking it softens it, but it doesn't entirely lose its slight tartness, a characteristic that I really enjoyed. The tart paired with the sweet crumbly crips was a match made in heaven. Peach or apple crisp might prove too sweet in the future, because I have had rhubarb crisp!
I'm not including a recipe - just use your favorite crisp recipe and substitute equal amounts rhubarb. Or try half n' half. I really want to try blackberry rhubarb, for some reason. Or pear and rhubarb.
Categories: Crisp, Rhubarb
This might sound crazy, since rhubarb is somewhat of an old-fashioned "fruit" (more of a vegetable really), but I had never had it before. Not once. Not even in something else, like a strawberry-rhubarb pie. So I did a little research and recipe searching. I found that rhubarb is also known as "pie plant" in some parts of the country.
In my recipe searching, I found a lot of recipes where rhubarb is used as a secondary ingredient, but not a lot where you could taste it on its own. Since this was my first rhubarb experience, I wanted something truly rhubarbesque.
Enter the trusty old Betty Crocker cookbook. Sometimes, especially for traditional or old-fashioned recipes, you just have to use the cookbook you were raised on. For some people it's Joy of Cooking, for me it was Betty Crocker. In fact, my Mom had two - the "old" version and the "new," because the older one had recipes that were left out of the update. Her "new" was several versions before my new.
All I did was follow the suggestions in converting apple crisp to rhubarb crisp, which was basically swapping out the fruit for equal amounts.
The best part of my rhubarb experience was in preparing the rhubarb. How can something so much like celery be in a dessert? It looks like celery, you clean it like you clean celery, when you cut it it crunches like celery.... I felt like I was in some kind of science fiction novel where nothing was as it seemed. After it cooks it turns into a pale pink, and the sugar from the topping cooks down into the fruit.
Cooking it softens it, but it doesn't entirely lose its slight tartness, a characteristic that I really enjoyed. The tart paired with the sweet crumbly crips was a match made in heaven. Peach or apple crisp might prove too sweet in the future, because I have had rhubarb crisp!
I'm not including a recipe - just use your favorite crisp recipe and substitute equal amounts rhubarb. Or try half n' half. I really want to try blackberry rhubarb, for some reason. Or pear and rhubarb.
Categories: Crisp, Rhubarb
Monday, April 09, 2007
Red Velvet Cake
Red Velvet Cake has been a theme in my life lately. First, we had a library cake walk to raise money for Relay for Life. One person paid for five rounds of the cake walk just to try to win the red velvet cake that had been contributed.
Then, one of my favorite baking blogs made Red Velvet Cupcakes for the March challenge of a group of baker bloggers called Daring Bakers (which I'm joining starting in May!). Her post also lists what everyone else made, and after seeing post after post of red velvet cakes, I simply had to make one.
The night I made this cake was somewhat of a comedy of errors - I don't like to force butter to come to room temperature (no microwaving allowed, in other words) and didn't take it out of the fridge until I got home at 5 that day. Then I discovered that somehow I only have one 9-inch cake pan, meaning I had to bake the cake one layer at a time. It was 10:30 before I even thought about making icing, and I had to be at work at 8 the next morning. It made for a late night, but my students seemed to enjoy the cake.
This red velvet cake recipe comes from a new cookbook - The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook. I made Pimento Cheese from it and featured it in my vegetarian cooking blog two weeks ago.
Red Velvet Cake
Makes one 2-layer, 9-inch cake; enough for 12 people.
For the cake:
2 3/4 cups plus 1 tbsp sifted cake flour or 2 1/2 cups sifted bleached all-purpose flour, plus more for flouring the pans
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup natural cocoa powder such as Hershey's
1 ounce red food coloring
1 1/2 tbsp water
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing the pans
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp natural vanilla extract
1 tbsp orange zest (from 1-2 oranges)
1 cup whole or lowfat buttermilk
For the icing:
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 pound cream cheese (2 packages), softened
1 pound (4 cups) sifted confectioners' sugar
2 tbsp whole milk, if needed
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9x2-inch cake pans or line their bottoms with greased, floured waxed paper.
2. Sift the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together twice. In a small mixing bowl, whisk the cocoa, red food coloring, and water to a smooth paste, about 1 minute, and reserve.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat 1 cup butter with an electric mixer until creamy, about 30 seconds. Add the sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, beating about 15 seconds after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary, until the mixture has lightened in color and become fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, the vanilla, and orange zest, beating for 15 seconds after each addition. Add the red cocoa paste and mix until evenly incorporated.
4. Add the flour mixture to the butter and egg mixture in thirds, alternating with 2 additions of half the buttermilk. To avoid overworking the batter, gently mix with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula after each addition, until the ingredient is just incorporated. Once all ingredients are incorporated, beat the batter 10-12 strokes with your spoon or spatula if using cake flour, 2-3 strokes if using bleached all-purpose flour.
5. Divide the batter between the cake pans and spread the tops evenly with the wooden spoon or spatula. Bake until a cake tester or toothpick emerges clean, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the cakes cool in their pans on a rack for 10 minutes, then slide a thin paring knife around the edge of the pan and invert the cakes. Lift away the waxed paper if using. Cool the cakes completely on a rack, with their tops facing up.
6. In a large bowl, beat 3/4 cup butter with the mixer until creamy, about 30 seconds. Add the cream cheese and beat until the mixture is fluffy, white, and very smooth, about 1 minute. Add the confectioners' sugar 1 cup at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each addition, until the mixture is creamy, fluffy, and smooth. If the frosting is too stiff, beat the milk into it to loosen it.
7. Gently ice the cake layers generously. Spoon 1 cup of icing in the center of the first cake layer. Working an icing or rubber spatula in gentle swirling motions, spread the icing from the center towards the edges of the cake until it forms an even layer 1/3 to 1/2 inch thick .
8. Carefully set the second cake layer on top of the first and ice the second layer in the same manner, beginning with a dollop in the center and working it out to the sides. Then ice the sides of the cake.
9. Store the cake at room temperature, beneath a cake cover. If you don't plan to eat it for 24 hours, put it on a plate, tent it with plastic wrap, and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Remember to remove the cake from the refrigerator 1 hour or more before serving to take the chill off.
Jenny's notes: I didn't pay close attention to beating times on this cake, and wonder if my overbeating contributed to a slightly dry cake texture. I also didn't sift the dry ingredients (shh! don't tell!), so that could have contributed.
I don't ice cakes in the way this recipe recommends - I do the middle, then the sides, and then the top, just like I was trained when working as a cake decorator. You may find it easier to do it this way as well.
The icing makes a bunch more than the cake needs, even when icing generously. I saved the rest and used it on top of cinnamon rolls Easter morning (adding orange juice and zest to it for orange rolls!).
Make sure you check your amounts on food coloring - most dye bottles sold in sets are only about 1/3 ounce, and you really need a full ounce. I had added a tube of red food coloring gel and it made it a nice pink, but I had to add an entire separate bottle to end up with the red cake that I picture here.
Categories: Cake, Cream Cheese, Red
Then, one of my favorite baking blogs made Red Velvet Cupcakes for the March challenge of a group of baker bloggers called Daring Bakers (which I'm joining starting in May!). Her post also lists what everyone else made, and after seeing post after post of red velvet cakes, I simply had to make one.
The night I made this cake was somewhat of a comedy of errors - I don't like to force butter to come to room temperature (no microwaving allowed, in other words) and didn't take it out of the fridge until I got home at 5 that day. Then I discovered that somehow I only have one 9-inch cake pan, meaning I had to bake the cake one layer at a time. It was 10:30 before I even thought about making icing, and I had to be at work at 8 the next morning. It made for a late night, but my students seemed to enjoy the cake.
This red velvet cake recipe comes from a new cookbook - The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook. I made Pimento Cheese from it and featured it in my vegetarian cooking blog two weeks ago.
Red Velvet Cake
Makes one 2-layer, 9-inch cake; enough for 12 people.
For the cake:
2 3/4 cups plus 1 tbsp sifted cake flour or 2 1/2 cups sifted bleached all-purpose flour, plus more for flouring the pans
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup natural cocoa powder such as Hershey's
1 ounce red food coloring
1 1/2 tbsp water
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing the pans
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp natural vanilla extract
1 tbsp orange zest (from 1-2 oranges)
1 cup whole or lowfat buttermilk
For the icing:
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 pound cream cheese (2 packages), softened
1 pound (4 cups) sifted confectioners' sugar
2 tbsp whole milk, if needed
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9x2-inch cake pans or line their bottoms with greased, floured waxed paper.
2. Sift the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together twice. In a small mixing bowl, whisk the cocoa, red food coloring, and water to a smooth paste, about 1 minute, and reserve.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat 1 cup butter with an electric mixer until creamy, about 30 seconds. Add the sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, beating about 15 seconds after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary, until the mixture has lightened in color and become fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, the vanilla, and orange zest, beating for 15 seconds after each addition. Add the red cocoa paste and mix until evenly incorporated.
4. Add the flour mixture to the butter and egg mixture in thirds, alternating with 2 additions of half the buttermilk. To avoid overworking the batter, gently mix with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula after each addition, until the ingredient is just incorporated. Once all ingredients are incorporated, beat the batter 10-12 strokes with your spoon or spatula if using cake flour, 2-3 strokes if using bleached all-purpose flour.
5. Divide the batter between the cake pans and spread the tops evenly with the wooden spoon or spatula. Bake until a cake tester or toothpick emerges clean, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the cakes cool in their pans on a rack for 10 minutes, then slide a thin paring knife around the edge of the pan and invert the cakes. Lift away the waxed paper if using. Cool the cakes completely on a rack, with their tops facing up.
6. In a large bowl, beat 3/4 cup butter with the mixer until creamy, about 30 seconds. Add the cream cheese and beat until the mixture is fluffy, white, and very smooth, about 1 minute. Add the confectioners' sugar 1 cup at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each addition, until the mixture is creamy, fluffy, and smooth. If the frosting is too stiff, beat the milk into it to loosen it.
7. Gently ice the cake layers generously. Spoon 1 cup of icing in the center of the first cake layer. Working an icing or rubber spatula in gentle swirling motions, spread the icing from the center towards the edges of the cake until it forms an even layer 1/3 to 1/2 inch thick .
8. Carefully set the second cake layer on top of the first and ice the second layer in the same manner, beginning with a dollop in the center and working it out to the sides. Then ice the sides of the cake.
9. Store the cake at room temperature, beneath a cake cover. If you don't plan to eat it for 24 hours, put it on a plate, tent it with plastic wrap, and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Remember to remove the cake from the refrigerator 1 hour or more before serving to take the chill off.
Jenny's notes: I didn't pay close attention to beating times on this cake, and wonder if my overbeating contributed to a slightly dry cake texture. I also didn't sift the dry ingredients (shh! don't tell!), so that could have contributed.
I don't ice cakes in the way this recipe recommends - I do the middle, then the sides, and then the top, just like I was trained when working as a cake decorator. You may find it easier to do it this way as well.
The icing makes a bunch more than the cake needs, even when icing generously. I saved the rest and used it on top of cinnamon rolls Easter morning (adding orange juice and zest to it for orange rolls!).
Make sure you check your amounts on food coloring - most dye bottles sold in sets are only about 1/3 ounce, and you really need a full ounce. I had added a tube of red food coloring gel and it made it a nice pink, but I had to add an entire separate bottle to end up with the red cake that I picture here.
Categories: Cake, Cream Cheese, Red
Monday, April 02, 2007
Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding with Cinnamon Rum Sauce
Due to snafus with finding silken tofu at the grocery store, I have to delay what I intended to make today (vegan chocolate cake) and post about something I made a while back.
Back when I had serious thoughts about working as a chef, I subscribed to all sorts of culinary magazines. This recipe comes from the January 2003 issue of Bon Appetit, and can be found online here. When I was making desserts at Almost Home Tearoom in Greencastle, IN, I brought this recipe in despite the fact that we already had a popular bread pudding. The addition of chocolate and the marvelous cinnamon rum sauce made this a fast hit.
The last time I made it was for the Mardi Gras party we had at work. Last week someone told me that they went to a restaurant in town and her husband ordered the bread pudding. She had a bite but said it "wasn't as good as mine." Ah, that's sweet. But seriously, bread pudding is such an easy thing to make, and you must try this one. (The picture features my fingers, whoops).
CHOCOLATE CHIP BREAD PUDDING WITH CINNAMON-RUM SAUCE
ingredients
1 1-pound loaf brioche* or egg bread with crust, cut into 1-inch cubes
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 1/2 cups half and half
1 cup sugar
6 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar
Cinnamon-Rum Sauce
preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Place bread in large bowl; pour 8 tablespoons melted butter over bread and toss to coat. Add chocolate chips and toss to combine. Transfer mixture to prepared dish.
Whisk half and half, 1 cup sugar, eggs, egg yolks, vanilla extract, and salt in large bowl to blend. Pour over bread cubes in dish. Let stand 30 minutes, occasionally pressing bread cubes into custard. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.) Drizzle remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter over pudding; sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake bread pudding until puffed, brown, and set in center, about 1 hour. Serve warm with Cinnamon-Rum Sauce.
Cinnamon-Rum Sauce
ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup dark rum
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
preparation
Melt unsalted butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add dark brown sugar, ground cinnamon, and salt and whisk until sugar is dissolved and mixture is bubbling and smooth, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in dark rum and vanilla extract. Serve warm.
(Cinnamon-Rum Sauce can be prepared 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Rewarm over low heat, whisking occasionally, before serving.)
Jenny's notes: I have made this with brioche, and it is outstanding, but seriously, just buy a loaf or two of french bread instead. Even the flatter "Italian" bread works fine, but let it dry out a bit after cubing it up if it's too fresh. Stale bread soaks up the custard better.
I recommend tossing the bread in the custard in a bowl before pouring into baking dish, and tossing once in the pan. This will help the top pieces get as soaked as the bottom (be gentle!).
You can leave the rum out and just have a cinnamon sauce, but the alcohol cooks out and really adds a lot of flavor.
And talk about a crowd pleasing meal - if you are having friends over and own two 9x13 pans, I suggest making this in one, and Jani'ces Vegetarian Baked Ziti in the other. Your friends will be stuffed, but both can be made in advance, and are fairly easy.
Categories: Bread Pudding, Chocolate, Cinnamon, Custard
, Rum
Back when I had serious thoughts about working as a chef, I subscribed to all sorts of culinary magazines. This recipe comes from the January 2003 issue of Bon Appetit, and can be found online here. When I was making desserts at Almost Home Tearoom in Greencastle, IN, I brought this recipe in despite the fact that we already had a popular bread pudding. The addition of chocolate and the marvelous cinnamon rum sauce made this a fast hit.
The last time I made it was for the Mardi Gras party we had at work. Last week someone told me that they went to a restaurant in town and her husband ordered the bread pudding. She had a bite but said it "wasn't as good as mine." Ah, that's sweet. But seriously, bread pudding is such an easy thing to make, and you must try this one. (The picture features my fingers, whoops).
CHOCOLATE CHIP BREAD PUDDING WITH CINNAMON-RUM SAUCE
ingredients
1 1-pound loaf brioche* or egg bread with crust, cut into 1-inch cubes
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 1/2 cups half and half
1 cup sugar
6 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar
Cinnamon-Rum Sauce
preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Place bread in large bowl; pour 8 tablespoons melted butter over bread and toss to coat. Add chocolate chips and toss to combine. Transfer mixture to prepared dish.
Whisk half and half, 1 cup sugar, eggs, egg yolks, vanilla extract, and salt in large bowl to blend. Pour over bread cubes in dish. Let stand 30 minutes, occasionally pressing bread cubes into custard. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.) Drizzle remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter over pudding; sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake bread pudding until puffed, brown, and set in center, about 1 hour. Serve warm with Cinnamon-Rum Sauce.
Cinnamon-Rum Sauce
ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup dark rum
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
preparation
Melt unsalted butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add dark brown sugar, ground cinnamon, and salt and whisk until sugar is dissolved and mixture is bubbling and smooth, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in dark rum and vanilla extract. Serve warm.
(Cinnamon-Rum Sauce can be prepared 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Rewarm over low heat, whisking occasionally, before serving.)
Jenny's notes: I have made this with brioche, and it is outstanding, but seriously, just buy a loaf or two of french bread instead. Even the flatter "Italian" bread works fine, but let it dry out a bit after cubing it up if it's too fresh. Stale bread soaks up the custard better.
I recommend tossing the bread in the custard in a bowl before pouring into baking dish, and tossing once in the pan. This will help the top pieces get as soaked as the bottom (be gentle!).
You can leave the rum out and just have a cinnamon sauce, but the alcohol cooks out and really adds a lot of flavor.
And talk about a crowd pleasing meal - if you are having friends over and own two 9x13 pans, I suggest making this in one, and Jani'ces Vegetarian Baked Ziti in the other. Your friends will be stuffed, but both can be made in advance, and are fairly easy.
Categories: Bread Pudding, Chocolate, Cinnamon, Custard
, Rum
Monday, March 26, 2007
Lemon Poppyseed Shortbread
For the last entry during Foodie Lit Madness, I have chosen a recipe from one of the Tea Shop Mysteries by Laura Child. I first picked these up because I was trying to read as many books set in South Carolina as possible, but when she added in themes of a tea shop and recipes (one character is more of a baker/caterer, who works in the tea shop), I was hooked! The main character (and amateur sleuth) is Theodosia Browning, owner of the Indigo Teahouse in Charleston, South Carolina.
This recipe is from a book I don't have yet, but can be found on Laura Childs' site. I am reprinting it here because she specifically gave me permission (thanks!).
Lemon Poppyseed Shortbread
3/4 cup soft butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp poppy seeds
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
2 tsp. sugar
Cream butter and powdered sugar, stir in poppy seeds and lemon juice. Gradually add flour, mixing well. Divide dough into four portions and roll our each portion into a 4˝ circle on a lightly floured surface. Cut each circle into six wedges. Prick dough with fork and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Cool, then break into wedges.
Jenny's notes: I was impatient and didn't wait for the butter to get soft enough, and as a result had to add quite a bit of cream to get all the flour to absorb into the dough. I added a little extra lemon juice too. The flavor is good, and baking the rounds on parchment paper helped them not to brown too much on the bottoms and the edges.
Categories: Cookies, Foodie Lit, Lemon, Poppyseed, Shortbread
This recipe is from a book I don't have yet, but can be found on Laura Childs' site. I am reprinting it here because she specifically gave me permission (thanks!).
Lemon Poppyseed Shortbread
3/4 cup soft butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp poppy seeds
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
2 tsp. sugar
Cream butter and powdered sugar, stir in poppy seeds and lemon juice. Gradually add flour, mixing well. Divide dough into four portions and roll our each portion into a 4˝ circle on a lightly floured surface. Cut each circle into six wedges. Prick dough with fork and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Cool, then break into wedges.
Jenny's notes: I was impatient and didn't wait for the butter to get soft enough, and as a result had to add quite a bit of cream to get all the flour to absorb into the dough. I added a little extra lemon juice too. The flavor is good, and baking the rounds on parchment paper helped them not to brown too much on the bottoms and the edges.
Categories: Cookies, Foodie Lit, Lemon, Poppyseed, Shortbread
Monday, March 19, 2007
Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookies
March is Foodie Lit Madness! This week's featured author is Joanne Fluke, who writes the Hannah Swensen Mysteries. Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder is the first of the series, and features Hannah Swensen, baker and amateur detective, who tries to figure out who killed her milk delivery man.
This book is the first of nine (so far) and each features a different type of baked good! There are seven cookie recipes in this one, sprinkled throughout the book as the recipes are mentioned. It took a long time to decide on one, but ultimately I picked this recipe because it went with the book title (but I reserve the right to make the chocolate covered cherry cookies that sound SOOOO good)!! I love how the recipes interact with the story. It made me feel like I was participating too!
I contacted the author, who graciously gave her permission to post a recipe in this blog. Thanks, Ms. Fluke!
Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookies
1 cup butter, melted (2 sticks)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 beaten eggs (you can beat them up with a fork)
2 1/2 cups flour (not sifted)
2 cups crunched corn flakes (just crunch them with your hands)
1-2 cups chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 375 F.
Melt the butter, add the sugars and stir. Add soda, salt, vanilla, and beaten eggs. Mix well. Then add flour and stir it in. Add crushed corn flakes and chocolate chips and mix it all in thoroughly.
Form dough into walnut-sized balls with your fingers, and place on a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a standard sheet. Press them down with a floured fork in a crisscross pattern.
Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then move to a wire rack until they are completely cool. (The rack is important - it makes them crisp).
According to the story, these cookies are a favorite of Andrea's, Hannah's sister.
I was giggling as I typed up this recipe, because I completely skipped flattening out the dough before baking, which explains why I had to bake mine 2-3 extra minutes. I also didn't have cornflakes on hand, so I used Post Great Grains cereal. Probably any crunchy cereal will do, but I actually liked using this one - it had flakes, granola, and pecans in it. I ended up giving up and mixing in the cereal and chocolate chips with my hands.
I love the taste and texture of these cookies. I have a tried and true chocolate chip cookie recipe, but this was a nice change with the crunchy elements and sweeter taste. I wasn't sure if the recipes would actually be any good, since this isn't really a cookbook - I was perfectly prepared for them to be sheer novelty but not quality, but I was happily mistaken! Now I'm excited to buy the rest of the series (I only have Strawberry Shortcake Murder) and try more of the recipes!
Categories: Chocolate, Cookies, Foodie Lit
This book is the first of nine (so far) and each features a different type of baked good! There are seven cookie recipes in this one, sprinkled throughout the book as the recipes are mentioned. It took a long time to decide on one, but ultimately I picked this recipe because it went with the book title (but I reserve the right to make the chocolate covered cherry cookies that sound SOOOO good)!! I love how the recipes interact with the story. It made me feel like I was participating too!
I contacted the author, who graciously gave her permission to post a recipe in this blog. Thanks, Ms. Fluke!
Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookies
1 cup butter, melted (2 sticks)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 beaten eggs (you can beat them up with a fork)
2 1/2 cups flour (not sifted)
2 cups crunched corn flakes (just crunch them with your hands)
1-2 cups chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 375 F.
Melt the butter, add the sugars and stir. Add soda, salt, vanilla, and beaten eggs. Mix well. Then add flour and stir it in. Add crushed corn flakes and chocolate chips and mix it all in thoroughly.
Form dough into walnut-sized balls with your fingers, and place on a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a standard sheet. Press them down with a floured fork in a crisscross pattern.
Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then move to a wire rack until they are completely cool. (The rack is important - it makes them crisp).
According to the story, these cookies are a favorite of Andrea's, Hannah's sister.
I was giggling as I typed up this recipe, because I completely skipped flattening out the dough before baking, which explains why I had to bake mine 2-3 extra minutes. I also didn't have cornflakes on hand, so I used Post Great Grains cereal. Probably any crunchy cereal will do, but I actually liked using this one - it had flakes, granola, and pecans in it. I ended up giving up and mixing in the cereal and chocolate chips with my hands.
I love the taste and texture of these cookies. I have a tried and true chocolate chip cookie recipe, but this was a nice change with the crunchy elements and sweeter taste. I wasn't sure if the recipes would actually be any good, since this isn't really a cookbook - I was perfectly prepared for them to be sheer novelty but not quality, but I was happily mistaken! Now I'm excited to buy the rest of the series (I only have Strawberry Shortcake Murder) and try more of the recipes!
Categories: Chocolate, Cookies, Foodie Lit
Monday, March 12, 2007
Bakery Visit - Enrico Biscotti
I always try to visit a bakery when I go to a new town. While in Pittsburgh at the end of February, I had planned to visit the Jenny Lee Bakery (just liked the name). I found it but it was under renovation and closed until April. I looked up "Pittsburgh and bakery" in Google, and came up with Enrico Biscotti. I remembered seeing them on the Food Network, and was ecstatic to go there!One afternoon I had a few hours free, so I ventured out with Terry from the last university I worked at. We took a cab there, and it was located in a section of town with a lot of Italian shops and an open-air market feel (despite the snowy weather). The people working there (might be the owners) were incredibly friendly, wanted to know how we found out about them, where we were from, why we were there, etc. They even took the time to take our picture (if you click on the picture above, you can see others from my trip).
What was the most amazing was the smell. Imagine the smell of one biscotti, and multiply it by 1,000! They must have had at least twenty different kinds. I bought bags of apricot hazelnut and chocolate vanilla swirl to share with co-workers, and bought a half dozen for my husband and I - chocolate chip, peanut butter chocolate chip, pumpkin, cranberry, chocolate covered almond, and double chocolate. All biscotti are crunchy, but many are stale tasting and hard. These were perfect, and had so much flavor - I wish I had purchased much more. Lucky for me, I can buy some more online. I also bought one macaroon that was the most buttery and tender macaroon I have ever had. (You might notice in the picture that the macaroon is barely pictured as I took a bite before taking a photo!).
If you are in Pittsburgh, do not skip a trip to Enrico Biscotti!
(I know this month is supposed to be recipes from foodie lit, and that will continue next Monday)
Categories: Bakery, Biscotti
Monday, March 05, 2007
Double Shot Chocolate Cake
This month I am going to focus on recipes from what I call "foodie lit" - books that are not cookbooks, but contain recipes. Usually they go along with the story, and often the main character is involved in food preparation in some way.
There are several mystery authors out there that write food-themed series. Goldy Bear is a caterer and single Mom featured in Diane Mott Davidson's books, who lives in Colorado but seems to work as an amateur detective almost more than she works as a caterer! In Double Shot, Goldy finds out her ex-husband has been released from prison, but is he responsible for everything happening to sabotage her business?
I actually haven't read this book. I started back at the beginning of the series, but this recipe was one of the ones actually available on her site. You can get to it here, although you might have to log in.
At Furman, we sometimes have a booktalk during our library faculty/staff meetings called "The Book Stops Here." In February my co-worker and I did a shared booktalk on foodie lit, and I made and brought this cake. It was very rich and the recommended whipped cream is almost a requirement because of its density and darkness. I used Nestle Chocolatier bittersweet baking chocolate, and have been pleased with its consistency and quality.
Categories: Cake, Chocolate
There are several mystery authors out there that write food-themed series. Goldy Bear is a caterer and single Mom featured in Diane Mott Davidson's books, who lives in Colorado but seems to work as an amateur detective almost more than she works as a caterer! In Double Shot, Goldy finds out her ex-husband has been released from prison, but is he responsible for everything happening to sabotage her business?
I actually haven't read this book. I started back at the beginning of the series, but this recipe was one of the ones actually available on her site. You can get to it here, although you might have to log in.
At Furman, we sometimes have a booktalk during our library faculty/staff meetings called "The Book Stops Here." In February my co-worker and I did a shared booktalk on foodie lit, and I made and brought this cake. It was very rich and the recommended whipped cream is almost a requirement because of its density and darkness. I used Nestle Chocolatier bittersweet baking chocolate, and have been pleased with its consistency and quality.
Categories: Cake, Chocolate
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