butter me up

cassoulet

2011-01-19T18:33:00.000-08:00

Our January 2011 Challenge comes from Jenni of The Gingered Whisk and Lisa from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. They have challenged the Daring Cooks to learn how to make a confit and use it within the traditional French dish of Cassoulet. They have chosen a traditional recipe from Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman.

Okay - I was all gung-ho for a good hearty stew. It's the middle of winter and what would be better? But I must say that the amount of fat used in the recipe is daunting. I would like to try making a "traditional" cassoulet without so much fat. Ei carumba! This is not a "heart-smart" dish. I could feel my arteries slamming shut as I was preparing this recipe and I hadn't even taken a bite yet!

I was a bit lazy and didn't feel inclined to search for duck fat in time for making this recipe, so I used olive oil as the fat for the confit. That seemed to work fine. I also substituted chicken for the duck.

As for the cassoulet itself, I made a few more substitutions. As was suggested by our hosts, I chose to not use pork rind and used thick cut bacon instead. That seemed to work just fine. And instead of the duck fat, I had bacon fat on hand so used that. But I must say, it seemed so wrong to be frying up bacon IN bacon fat! Would you like some deep-fried Crisco on a stick to go along with that jammer fest? Yikes!

My final verdict? Yes, it's tasty. But I simply do not eat this way any longer. The odds of making this dish again are slim to none.

Cassoulet

Cassoulet by Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman (as featured on the Travel Channel’s “No Reservations”)

Serves 4 - 8

Duck Confit

Ingredients

4 whole duck legs (leg and thigh), size does not matter

sea salt, for the overnight (at least 6-8 hours) dry rub (the amount varies depending on the size of your legs, so just know that you need to have enough on hand for a good coating.)

2 cups/480 ml/450 gm/16 oz duck fat

a healthy pinch or grind of black pepper

4 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 sprig of fresh rosemary

1 garlic clove

Day One

Rub the duck legs fairly generously with sea salt, place in the shallow dish, cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight. At all times, keep your work area clean and your ingredients free of contamination - meaning don't allow any other food, like bread crumbs or scraps, to get into your duck, duck fat or confit, as they will make an otherwise nearly non-perishable preparation suddenly perishable.

Day Two

1. Preheat the oven to moderately hot 375ºF/190ºC/gas mark 5.

2. Render (melt) the duck fat in the saucepan until clear.

3. After seasoning with the black pepper, place the duck legs in the clean, ovenproof casserole.

4. Nestle the thyme, rosemary and garlic in with the duck legs, and pour the melted duck fat over the legs to just cover

5. Cover the dish with foil and put in the oven. Cook for about an hour, or until the skin at the "ankle" of each leg pulls away from the "knuckle." The meat should be tender.

6. Allow to cool and then store as is in the refrigerator, sealed under the fat. When you need the confit, you can either warm the whole dish, in which case removing the legs will be easy, or dig them out of the cold fat and scrape off the excess. I highly recommend the former. A nice touch at this point is to twist out the thighbone from the cold confit. Just place one hand on the drumstick, pinioning the leg to the table, and with the other hand, twist out the thighbone, plucking it from the flesh without mangling the thigh meat.

Ingredients for Cassoulet

5 cups/1200 ml/1100 g/39 oz dried Tarbais beans or white beans such as Great Northern or Cannelini (if you use canned beans be aware that you will need double this amount!)

2 pounds/900 gm fresh pork belly

1 onion, cut into 4 pieces

1 pound/450 gm pork rind (or thick cut bacon)

1 bouquet garni (tie together two sprigs parsley, 2 sprigs thyme and one bay leaf)

salt and pepper

1/4 cup/60 ml/55 gm duck fat

6 pork sausages

3 onions, thinly sliced

1 garlic clove, thinly sliced

4 confit duck legs

Day One

Place the beans in the large bowl and cover with cold water so that there are at least 2 or 3 inches (50mm or 75mm) of water above the top of the beans. Soak overnight. That was hard, right? (Beans will double in size upon soaking, so use a big bowl!)

Day Two

1. Drain and rinse the beans and place in the large pot.

2. Add the pork belly, the quartered onion, 1/4 pound/115 gm of the pork rind, and the bouquet garni.

3. Cover with water, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and continue to simmer until the beans are tender, about 30 minutes more.

4. Let cool for 20 minutes, then discard the onion and the bouquet garni.

5. Remove the pork belly, cut it into 2-inch/5-cm squares, and set aside. (If you plan to wait another day before finishing the dish, wait to cut the pork belly until then.)

6. Strain the beans and the rind and set aside, reserving the cooking liquid separately.

7. In the sauté pan, heat all but 1 tablespoon/15 ml/15 gm of the duck fat over medium-high heat until it shimmers and becomes transparent.

8. Carefully add the sausages and brown on all sides.

9. Remove sausages and set aside, draining on paper towels.

10. In the same pan, over medium-high heat, brown the sliced onions, the garlic and the reserved squares of pork rind from the beans (not the unused pork rind; you'll need that later).

11. Once browned, remove from the heat and transfer to the blender. Add 1 tablespoon//15 ml/15 gm of the remaining duck fat and purée until smooth. Set aside.

12. Preheat the oven to moderate 350ºF/180ºC/gas mark 4.

13. Place the uncooked pork rind in the bottom of a deep ovenproof non-reactive dish. You're looking to line the inside, almost like a pie crust. Arrange all your ingredients in alternating layers, beginning with a layer of beans, then sausages, then more beans, then pork belly, beans, duck confit and finally more beans, adding a dab of the onion and pork rind purée between each layer.

14. Add enough of the bean cooking liquid to just cover the beans, reserving 1 cup/240 ml in the refrigerator for later use.

15. Cook the cassoulet in the oven for 1 hour, then reduce the heat to very slow 250ºF/130ºC/gas mark ½ and cook for another hour.

16. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Refrigerate overnight.

Day Three

Preheat the oven to moderate 350ºF/180ºC/gas mark 4 again.
Cook the cassoulet for an hour.
Break the crust on the top with the spoon and add 1/4 cup/60 ml of the reserved cooking liquid.
Reduce the heat to very slow 250ºF/130ºC/gas mark ½ and continue cooking another 15 minutes, or until screamingly hot through and through. Then serve.

stollen

2010-12-29T13:57:00.000-08:00

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

I was really pleased when I found out we would be baking Stollen for this month's challenge. I had already decided to bake some up for the boys' to give to their teachers this year, so this challenge was very fortuitous! While I've baked Stollen before, I had never made the wreath, so I baked four regular Stollens as gifts and one wreath style for us to keep and eat at breakfast on Christmas morning.

The recipe that was presented to us with the Daring Bakers did not contain marzipan, so I had to alter it a tad and rolled out some thin pipes of marzipan and set those onto the flat rectangle of dough prior to rolling. I don't know about you, but Stollen just isn't Stollen without the marzipan!

As it was Christmas morning, I had forgotten to take a photo prior to us diving into our breakfasts, so my apologies for not getting a photo of the wreath in its entirety. But I can assure you, it looked lovely and it tasted even better than it looked! Along with our fruit salad (hey - there has to be a little nod to a healthy breakfast even on Christmas day) bacon and mimosas, it was the centerpiece to a lovely meal with which to start our day.

Stollen Wreath

Makes one large wreath or two traditional shaped Stollen loaves. Serves 10-12 people

Ingredients

¼ cup (60ml) lukewarm water (110º F / 43º C)
2 packages (4 1/2 teaspoons) (22 ml) (14 grams) (1/2 oz) active dry yeast
1 cup (240 ml) milk
10 tablespoons (150 ml) (140 grams) unsalted butter (can use salted butter)
5½ cups (1320 ml) (27 ozs) (770 grams) all-purpose (plain) flour (Measure flour first - then sift- plus extra for dusting)
½ cup (120 ml) (115 gms) sugar
¾ teaspoon (3 ¾ ml) (4 ½ grams) salt (if using salted butter there is no need to alter this salt measurement)
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (6 grams) cinnamon
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
Grated zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange
2 teaspoons (10 ml) (very good) vanilla extract
1 teaspoon (5 ml) lemon extract or orange extract
¾ cup (180 ml) (4 ¾ ozs) (135 grams) mixed peel (link below to make your own)
1 cup (240 ml) (6 ozs) (170 gms) firmly packed raisins
3 tablespoons (45ml) rum
12 red glacé cherries (roughly chopped) for the color and the taste. (optional)
1 cup (240 ml) (3 ½ ozs) (100 grams) flaked almonds
Melted unsalted butter for coating the wreath
Confectioners’ (icing) (powdered) sugar for dusting wreath

Note: If you don’t want to use alcohol, double the lemon or orange extract or you could use the juice from the zested orange.

Directions:

Soak the raisins
In a small bowl, soak the raisins in the rum (or in the orange juice from the zested orange) and set aside. See Note under raisins.

To make the dough

Pour ¼ cup (60 ml) warm water into a small bowl, sprinkle with yeast and let stand 5 minutes. Stir to dissolve yeast completely.
In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup (240 ml) milk and 10 tablespoons (150 ml) butter over medium - low heat until butter is melted. Let stand until lukewarm, about 5 minutes.
Lightly beat eggs in a small bowl and add lemon and vanilla extracts.
In a large mixing bowl (4 qt) (4 liters) (or in the bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment), stir together the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, orange and lemon zests.
Then stir in (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment) the yeast/water mixture, eggs and the lukewarm milk/butter mixture. This should take about 2 minutes. It should be a soft, but not sticky ball. When the dough comes together, cover the bowl with either plastic or a tea cloth and let rest for 10 minutes.
Add in the mixed peel, soaked fruit and almonds and mix with your hands or on low speed to incorporate. Here is where you can add the cherries if you would like. Be delicate with the cherries or all your dough will turn red!
Sprinkle flour on the counter, transfer the dough to the counter, and begin kneading (or mixing with the dough hook) to distribute the fruit evenly, adding additional flour if needed. The dough should be soft and satiny, tacky but not sticky. Knead for approximately 8 minutes (6 minutes by machine). The full six minutes of kneading is needed to distribute the dried fruit and other ingredients and to make the dough have a reasonable bread-dough consistency. You can tell when the dough is kneaded enough – a few raisins will start to fall off the dough onto the counter because at the beginning of the kneading process the dough is very sticky and the raisins will be held into the dough but when the dough is done it is tacky which isn't enough to bind the outside raisins onto the dough ball.
Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling around to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
Put it in the fridge overnight. The dough becomes very firm in the fridge (since the butter goes firm) but it does rise slowly… the raw dough can be kept in the refrigerator up to a week and then baked on the day you want.

Shaping the Dough and Baking the Wreath

Let the dough rest for 2 hours after taking out of the fridge in order to warm slightly.
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Preheat oven to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4 with the oven rack on the middle shelf.
Punch dough down, roll into a rectangle about 16 x 24 inches (40 x 61 cms) and ¼ inch (6 mm) thick.
Starting with a long side, roll up tightly, forming a long, thin cylinder.
Transfer the cylinder roll to the sheet pan. Join the ends together, trying to overlap the layers to make the seam stronger and pinch with your fingers to make it stick, forming a large circle. You can form it around a bowl to keep the shape.
Using kitchen scissors, make cuts along outside of circle, in 2-inch (5 cm) intervals, cutting 2/3 of the way through the dough.
Twist each segment outward, forming a wreath shape. Mist the dough with spray oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
Proof for approximately 2 hours at room temperature, or until about 1½ times its original size.
Bake the stollen for 20 minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees for even baking and continue to bake for 20 to 30 minutes. The bread will bake to a dark mahogany color, should register 190°F/88°C in the center of the loaf, and should sound hollow when thumped on the bottom.
Transfer to a cooling rack and brush the top with melted butter while still hot.
Immediately tap a layer of powdered sugar over the top through a sieve or sifter.
Wait for 1 minute, then tap another layer over the first.
The bread should be coated generously with the powdered sugar.
Let cool at least an hour before serving. Coat the stollen in butter and icing sugar three times, since this many coatings helps keeps the stollen fresh - especially if you intend on sending it in the mail as Christmas presents!
When completely cool, store in a plastic bag. Or leave it out uncovered overnight to dry out slightly, German style.
The stollen tastes even better in a couple of days and it toasts superbly.

Storage

The more rum and the more coatings of butter and sugar you use the longer it will store.

The following is for the recipe as written and uses the 45 mls of rum and two coatings of butter and icing sugar

Stollen freezes beautifully about 4 months
The baked stollen stores well for 2 weeks covered in foil and plastic wrap on the counter at room temperature and
One month in the refrigerator well covered with foil and plastic wrap.

oeufs en meurette (poached eggs in red wine sauce)

2010-12-17T17:39:00.000-08:00

Jenn and Jill have challenged The Daring Cooks to learn to perfect the technique of poaching an egg. They chose Eggs Benedict recipe from Alton Brown, Oeufs en Meurette from Cooking with Wine by Anne Willan, and Homemade Sundried Tomato & Pine Nut Seitan Sausages (poached) courtesy of Trudy of Veggie num num.

Let me say straightaway: This is delicious!!!! I have poached eggs many times before, so chose this recipe as I'd never made Meurette sauce. I must say, this is one delicious sauce. I'm not ashamed to admit that licked my plate. This does take some time to make, and the eggs are going to look really funky as you take them out of the wine and stock combination, but wow... this is so worth it! After viewing the eggs, my 10-year-old was adamant that he was not going to try this dish. But he did. And his response? "Oh. This really IS quite good."

If you have about an hour to spare, and you're looking for a new poached egg experience that is DEEEE-licious, try this. It's not difficult, only a little time consuming. Oh, and don't let the purple eggs freak you out.

Ingredients

8 eggs (size is your choice)

1 bottle red wine (750ml/25 fl. oz.)

2 cups (400ml/16 fl. oz.) chicken stock*‡

1 onion, sliced

1 carrot, sliced

1 celery stalk, sliced

1 clove garlic, crushed

Bouquet garni (thyme, parsley, bay leaf)

½ tsp. (2 ½ ml/3g) black peppercorns

2 Tbl. (30 ml/30g) butter

¼ lb. (115g) mushrooms, sliced

¼ lb (115g) bacon, diced‡

16 pearl onions, peeled (200g/7oz.)

Vegetable oil for frying

8 slices of baguette, ¼” (6mm) thick

2 Tbl. (30 ml/30g) butter, room temp.

2 Tbl. (30 ml/20g) flour *

salt and pepper

*for gluten free make sure to use gluten free stock and gluten free flour

‡ for vegetarian use vegetable stock, and omit bacon.

Other notes on ingredients:

You can use salted or unsalted butter, you will just have to adjust your "salt & pepper to taste" accordingly.
As this is a Burgundian dish, a full-bodied red wine like a pinot noir is a great wine to use for this dish. Anne Willan recommends a fruity red wine. She also notes that you can make ouefs au mersault. Mersault is the famed white wine region of Bourgogne, and is generally made using chardonnay grapes, so it would be ok to choose a white wine if you want. No matter what wine you choose, make sure it is not too dry nor too sweet. I had a bottle of chianti on hand, so used that and it turned out lovely.
As this is a To make a bouquet garni, just take the herbs (a few sprigs of each) and tie them together into a little bundle. Since the sauce will reduce for a while, it’s ok if you don’t have the fresh herbs – there will be time for flavor to come out of dried ones (for ex. fresh bay leaf may be hard to find). Alternatively, if you don’t have a way to tie them, you could just add the whole sprigs/bay leaves to the sauce and then just make sure to remove them when the sauce is done reducing.

Directions:

1. Heat wine and stock together in a large pan and poach eggs a couple at a time for 3-4 min. Yolks should be firming but still a little soft. Set them aside.

2. Add the veggies, herbs, and peppercorns to the poaching liquid and let the sauce simmer until reduced to half volume. This will become the meurette sauce.

3. In a separate large skillet, melt 1 tbs. (15ml/15g) of the butter on medium-high heat and sauté the mushrooms until soft and then set aside. Add in another 1 tbs. (15ml/15g) butter and the bacon, frying until browned, then set aside on a paper towel. Turn down the heat to medium, add in the pearl onions and sauté until softened and browned. Then drain off the fat and add the bacon and mushrooms back to the pan and set aside off the heat for the moment.

4. In a medium skillet, heat a few tbs. of oil and then fry the baguette slices until browned on each side. Add more oil as needed. Set the fried bread (croûtes) on a paper towel and then place on a baking sheet in an oven that is set to 200F/95C/gas mark 1/4 or whatever your lowest setting is to keep them warm.

5. Blend 2 Tbl. (30ml/30g) butter and flour together to form a paste of sorts that will be used as the thickener for the sauce. Whisk this into the reduction sauce until the sauce starts to thicken.

Strain the sauce over the skillet of mushrooms, bacon and onions, and return the skillet to heat, bringing to a boil. Season with salt & pepper to taste, then set aside again.

6. Reheat the eggs by placing them in hot water for a quick minute. To serve, plate a poached egg on top of a croûte, and then ladle some of the mushrooms/bacon/onions and sauce on top.

crostata con la crema (crostata with pastry cream)

2010-11-27T17:29:00.000-08:00

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

This was a nice, straightforward challenge this month which I enjoyed. I found the recipe came together nicely and was quite quick to put together. I also enjoyed that it involved ingredients that I already had at hand. The boys gave it their thumbs up which is always a bonus! I will be making this again.

Pasta frolla

Ingredients:

1/2 c. minus 1 tablespoon [105 ml, 100 g, 3 ½ oz] superfine sugar (see Note 1) or a scant 3/4 cup [180ml, 90g, 3 oz] of powdered sugar
1 and 3/4 cup [420 ml, 235 g, 8 1/4 oz.] unbleached all-purpose flour
a pinch of salt
1 stick [8 tablespoons / 4 oz. / 115 g] cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
grated zest of half a lemon (you could also use vanilla sugar as an option, see Note 2)
1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten in a small bowl

Note: Superfine sugar is often also referred to as ultrafine, baker’s sugar or caster sugar. It’s available in most supermarkets. If you cannot find “superfine” sugar, you can make your own by putting some regular granulated sugar in a food processor or blender and letting it run until the sugar is finely ground.

Making pasta frolla:

Whisk together sugar, flour and salt in a bowl.
Rub or cut the butter into the flour until the mixture has the consistency of coarse crumbs. You can do this in the bowl or on your work surface, using your fingertips or an implement of choice.
Make a well in the center of the mounded flour and butter mixture and pour the beaten eggs into it (reserve about a teaspoon of the egg mixture for glazing purposes later on – place in the refrigerator, covered, until ready to use).
Add the lemon zest to your flour/butter/egg mixture.
Use a fork to incorporate the liquid into the solid ingredients, and then use your fingertips.
Knead lightly just until the dough comes together into a ball.
Shape the dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for at least two hours. You can refrigerate the dough overnight.

Crema pasticcera di zia Lucia

Ingredients:

2 extra large eggs
1/3 cup sugar
500 ml milk
3 strips lemon peel about 3" long and 1/2" wide (using a potato peeler to cut the strips makes it easier to avoid cutting the white part of the lemon)
3 tablespoons pastry (or unbleached regular) flour

Pour the milk into a pan, add the lemon peel and warm up to well below boiling point. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar until the mixture is bubbly.
Sift the flour over the egg mixture and beat briefly until it is incorporated.
Temper the egg mixture with a small quantity of milk, then slowly add the rest of the milk, mixing with a wooden spoon.
Pour the mixture into the pan and set it to very low heat, stirring at least every couple of minutes. When the froth on the surface disappears completely, the crema starts to feel slightly thicker. From then on stir almost continuously.
When the crema reaches boiling temperature and thickens, cook briefly (1-2 minutes), then remove the pan from the heat, remove the lemon peel, place the saucepan in a cold water bath, and stir the crema to bring down its temperature.
While the crema cools down, stir it every now and then to prevent the formation of a film over it.

Assembling and baking the crostata con la crema:

Heat the oven to 350ºF.
Take the pasta frolla out of the fridge, unwrap it and cut away ¼ of the dough. Reserve this dough to make the lattice top of the crostata. Refrigerate this dough while you work on the tart base.
To help roll the crostata dough, keep the dough on top of the plastic wrap that you had it wrapped in. This can help rolling the dough and can also help when transferring the dough to your pan. You can also use parchment paper for this. However, you can also roll the dough directly on a work surface if you prefer.
Lightly dust the top of the dough and your work surface (if you’re rolling directly on a work surface) with flour. Keep some flour handy to dust the dough as you go along.
If the dough is very firm, start by pressing the dough with the rolling pin from the middle to each end, moving the rolling pin by a pin's width each time; turn the dough 180 degrees and repeat; when it softens, start rolling.
Roll the dough into a circle about 1/8th inch (3 mm) thick.
If you used the plastic wrap or parchment paper as rolling surface, flip dough over the pan, centering it, and delicately press it all around so the corners are well covered. Peel away the plastic wrap.
Trim the excess dough hanging over the edges of the pan. Press the remaining dough around the border into the sides of the pan making sure the border is an even thickness all the way around.
Prick the bottom of the dough with a fork in several places.
Take out of the fridge the reserved pasta frolla you had cut away earlier. Roll it with your pin and cut into strips or use cookie cutters to make small shapes (this is not traditional, but it looks cute); or roll with your hands into ropes.
Instead of jam or fruit preserves, cover the bottom of the crostata crust evenly with the pastry cream.
Use the prepared strips or rolls of dough to make a lattice over the surface, or decorate with the cut shapes. (Note: You can use dough scraps to make cookies: see the Additional Information section for some pointers)
Brush the border and strips of dough with the reserved beaten eggs. You can add a drop or two of water to the beaten eggs if you don’t have enough liquid.
Put the tart in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
After 35 minutes, check the tart, and continue baking until the tart is of a nice golden hue. (Note: Every oven is different. In my oven it took 45 minutes to bake the tart until golden.)
When done, remove the tart from the oven and let cool. If you have used a tart pan with a removable bottom, then release the tart base from the fluted tart ring. Make sure the tart is completely cool before slicing and serving.

individual chocolate soufflés

2010-11-16T21:54:00.000-08:00

Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.

I've made soufflés before, but it had been awhile, so I was pleased to see them as our challenge this month. I made both a savoury and a sweet soufflé, but I wasn't pleased with the crab and artichoke creation. The flavour was only okay, and it didn't have the rise I was hoping for. So I dusted off another recipe and tried individual chocolate soufflés instead. Success!

The annoying part was trying to take pictures of them before they started to fall. I did my best!

Individual Chocolate Soufflés

(recipe adapted from The America's Test Kitchen "Family Baking Cookbook")

1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped course

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into four pieces

1 tablespoon espresso (or 1 T strong instant coffee mixed with 1 T water)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

6 large egg yolks, room temperature

8 large egg whites, room temperature

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease eight 6-ounce ramekins. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the granulated sugar into the ramekins and shake to coat evenly; tap out any excess. Set the ramekins on a large baking sheet.

2. Melt the chocolate and butter together in the microwave in a large bowl, stirring often, 1 to 3 minutes. Stir in the espresso, vanilla and salt and let the mixture cool slightly.

3. In a medium bowl, whip the egg yolks and remaining 1/3 cup granulated sugar together with an electric mixer on medium speed until the mixture triples in volume and is thick and pale yellow, 3 to 8 minutes. Fold the egg yolk mixture into the chocolate mixture (this is the soufflé base). Thoroughly clean and dry the beaters.

4. In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites and cream of tartar together with an electric mixer on medium-low speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and whip the whites until soft, billowy mounds, about 1 minute. Gradually whip in the confectioners' sugar until the whites are glossy and form stiff peaks, 1 to 3 minutes.

5. Fold one-quarter of the egg whites into the soufflé base until almost no white streaks remain. Fold in the remaining egg whites until just incorporated. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared ramekins, wiping any filling from the rims with a wet paper towel.

6. Secure a strip of foil that has been sprayed with vegetable oil spray around each ramekin so that it extends about 2 inches about the rim. Bake the soufflés until fragrant, fully risen and the exterior is set but the interior is still a bit loose and creamy, 10 to 14 minutes. Serve immediately.

let's go nuts for doughnuts!

2010-10-27T17:23:00.000-07:00

This month, I had the pleasure of hosting the Daring Bakers' challenge.

I must admit all sorts of options were running through my mind when I was asked to host. Should I try something really fancy? A real show stopper? Instead I decided to keep things simple, but hopefully offer up something that perhaps some people wouldn’t think to try making on their own - doughnuts!

Doughnuts can be quite simple to make and really don’t require a lot of special equipment. However there are a large number of varieties and many cultures have some version of a tasty fried dough such as beignets, crullers, fritters, Sufganiot, and krapfen, just to name a few.

In Canada (my home) doughnuts are quite popular, and apparently Canadians consume more doughnuts per capita than anyone else. Considering the multitude of Tim Horton’s shops in this country, it’s not too hard to believe.

Doughnuts generally fall into two categories: yeast and cake. Yeast doughnuts take a little longer as naturally one has to allow for rising time, but they create a lovely, fluffy and airy doughnut. Cake doughnuts are also popular and the batter allows for many different variations.

Some people may be a little timid of deep frying. Don’t. The most important thing is to be sure that you have everything at hand and are ready to go. Preparation is key when making doughnuts. It is important the oil be the correct temperature so that your doughnut is nice and crispy on the outside. If the oil is not hot enough, your end product will be too greasy. If too hot, they’ll cook too quickly on the outside and you may have an uncooked doughy centre.

The challenge was simply to make doughnuts! Daring Bakers could decide if they wanted to make a cake or yeast doughnut. I included recipes for two types of yeast doughnuts (one filled) and two types of cake doughnuts.

I encouraged everyone to try both a cake and a yeast doughnut, and I strongly encouraged them to get creative with toppings and fillings. The sky was the limit! I suggested they feel free to dip them in chocolate, sprinkle them with sugar, or fill them with preserves, custard, or whatever appealed to them.

Recipe Source: I am including four recipes:

The yeast doughnut is from Alton Brown:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/yeast-doughnuts-recipe/in...

The cake doughnut is a Nancy Silverton recipe:
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2007/06/cook-the-book-oldfashioned-bu...

The raspberry jam bomboloni recipe is a Kate Neumann recipe:
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/raspberry-jam-bomboloni

The pumpkin doughnuts are from Bon Appétit: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pumpkin-Doughnuts-with-Powd...

Note: I recommend placing your uncooked doughnut on your slotted spoon first and lowering it into the hot oil that way to reduce the chance of injury. Also, try to always turn the spoon away from you to reduce the chances of oil splashing back up.

Preparation time: See recipes for prep/rising/cooking times for each.

Equipment required:

A Dutch oven or deep skillet (I prefer using a Dutch oven to reduce splatter)
Deep fry thermometer, candy thermometer or any thermometer that will withstand and measure temperatures of up to 380 degrees
Metal slotted spoon, metal slotted spatula or tongs (do NOT use plastic - it will melt!)
Cookie sheets or a wire rack lined with paper towels to allow doughnuts to drain
Electric hand mixer or stand mixer, or a bowl and a spoon if you are able to utilize a lot of elbow grease
Doughnut or biscuit cutters or you can use a glass and a piping tip for the center
Pastry bag (if you choose to make Bomboloni or any filled doughnut) or a squeeze bottle with a good tip that will poke a hole in your Bomboloni. Another way to fill a doughnut is to use the tip of a sharp knife to poke a hole in the doughnut and then use a ziplock bag filled with filling and cut on one corner to fill the doughnut.

Yeast Doughnuts:

Preparation time:
Hands on prep time - 25 minutes
Rising time - 1.5 hours total
Cooking time - 12 minutes

Yield: 20 to 25 doughnuts & 20 to 25 doughnut holes, depending on size

Ingredients
Milk 1.5 cup / 360 ml
Vegetable Shortening 1/3 cup / 80 ml / 70 gm / 2.5 oz (can substitute butter, margarine or lard)
Active Dry Yeast 4.5 teaspoon (2 pkgs.) / 22.5 ml / 14 gm / ½ oz
Warm Water 1/3 cup / 80 ml (95°F to 105°F / 35°C to 41°C)
Eggs, Large, beaten 2
White Granulated Sugar ¼ cup / 60 ml / 55 gm / 2 oz
Table Salt 1.5 teaspoon / 7.5 ml / 9 gm / 1/3 oz
Nutmeg, grated 1 tsp. / 5 ml / 6 gm / ¼ oz
All Purpose Flour 4 2/3 cup / 1,120 ml / 650 gm / 23 oz + extra for dusting surface
Canola Oil DEPENDS on size of vessel you are frying in – you want THREE (3) inches of oil (can substitute any flavorless oil used for frying)

Directions:

Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat just until warm enough to melt the shortening. (Make sure the shortening is melted so that it incorporates well into the batter.)
Place the shortening in a bowl and pour warmed milk over. Set aside.
In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let dissolve for 5 minutes. It should get foamy. After 5 minutes, pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk and shortening mixture, first making sure the milk and shortening mixture has cooled to lukewarm.
Add the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and half of the flour. Using the paddle attachment of your mixer (if you have one), combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined.
Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well.
Change to the dough hook attachment of the mixer and beat on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl and becomes smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes (for me this only took about two minutes). If you do not have a dough hook/stand mixer – knead until the dough is smooth and not sticky.
Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 3/8-inch (9 mm)thick. (Make sure the surface really is well-floured otherwise your doughnuts will stick to the counter).
Cut out dough using a 2 1/2-inch (65 mm) doughnut cutter or pastry ring or drinking glass and using a 7/8-inch (22 mm) ring for the center whole. Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 365 °F/185°C.
Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side or until golden brown (my doughnuts only took about 30 seconds on each side at this temperature).
Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan. Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes prior to glazing, if desired.

Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Cake Doughnuts:

Preparation time:
Hands on prep time - 25 minutes
Cooking time - 12 minutes

Yield: About 15 doughnuts & 15 doughnut holes, depending on size

Ingredients
Sour Cream ¼ cup / 60 ml / 60 gm / 2 oz
All Purpose Flour 3 ¼ cup / 780 ml / 455 gm / 16 oz + extra for dusting surface
White Granulated Sugar ¾ cup / 180 ml / 170 gm / 6 oz
Baking Soda ½ teaspoon / 2.5 ml / 3 gm / .1 oz
Baking Powder 1 teaspoon / 5 ml / 6 gm / .2 oz
Kosher (Flaked) Salt 1 teaspoon / 5 ml / 6 gm / .2 oz (If using table salt, only use ½ teaspoon)
Nutmeg, grated 1.5 teaspoon / 7.5 ml / 9 gm / .3 oz
Active Dry Yeast 1 1/8 teaspoon / 5.6 ml / 3.5 gm / .125 oz
Buttermilk ¾ cup + 2 Tablespoon / 210 ml / 225 gm / 7 ¾ oz
Egg, Large 1
Egg Yolk, Large 2
Pure Vanilla Extract 1 Tablespoon / 15 ml
Powdered (Icing) Sugar ¼ cup / 120 ml / 65 gm / 2.3 oz (Used for decorating and is optional)

Directions:

In a small stainless-steel bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water, heat the sour cream until just warm.
Heat the oil to 375°F/190°C.
Over a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg; make a large well in the center. Place the yeast in the well; pour the sour cream over it. Allow it to soften (if using packed fresh yeast), about 1 minute.
Pour the buttermilk, whole egg, egg yolks, and vanilla extract into the well. Using one hand, gradually draw in the dry ingredients. The mixture should be fairly smooth before you draw in more flour. Mix until it is completely incorporated. The dough will be very sticky. Wash and dry your hands and dust them with flour.
Sift an even layer of flour onto a work surface. Don’t be afraid to use a lot of flour. You don’t want the doughnuts sticking to your counter. Scrape dough out of bowl onto the surface; sift another layer of flour over dough. Working quickly, pat dough into an even 1/2-inch (12.5 mm) thickness. Dip cutter in flour and, cutting as closely together as possible, cut out the doughnuts and holes. Place holes and doughnuts on a floured surface. Working quickly, gather scraps of dough together, pat into 1/2-inch (12.5 mm) thickness, and cut out remaining doughnuts and holes.
Drop three to four doughnuts at a time into the hot oil. Once they turn golden brown, turn them and cook the other side. Cooking times may vary, but with my oil at 375 °F/190°C, I found they only took about 20 to 30 seconds per side.
Once cooked, place on a baking sheet covered with paper towels to drain.

Sift powdered sugar over doughnuts and serve.

Bomboloni:

Preparation time:
Hands on prep time - 35 minutes
Rising time - 1 1/2 hours plus overnight
Cooking time - 10 minutes

Yield: About 32 Bomboloni

Ingredients
Water, Lukewarm 1/3 cup + 1 Tablespoon
Active Dry Yeast 3 ¼ teaspoon (1.5 pkgs.) / 16.25 ml / 10 gm / .35 oz
Honey 1.5 Tablespoon / 22.5 ml
All Purpose Flour 3 cup / 720 ml / 420 gm / 14 ¾ oz
Milk 3 Tablespoon / 45 ml
Egg Yolk, Large 6
White Granulated Sugar 1/3 cup / 80 ml / 75 gm / 2 2/3 oz + more for rolling
Kosher (Flaked) Salt 2 teaspoon / 10 ml / 6 gm / .2 oz
Butter, Unsalted 3 Tablespoon / 45 ml / 42 gm / 1.5 oz
Canola Oil 3 cup / 720 ml / (Or any other flavorless oil used for frying)
Raspberry Jam, Seedless ¾ cup / 180 ml / 300 gm / 10.5 oz (or any flavor jam, preserves, jelly)

Directions:

In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, mix the water, yeast, honey and 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (160 gm) of the flour. (Alternatively, whisk the ingredients by hand.) Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until foamy, about 1 hour.
Return the bowl to the mixer, fitted with a dough hook. Add the remaining 1 ¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons (260 gm) of flour, along with the milk, egg yolks, 1/3 cup of granulated sugar and the salt. Mix at low speed until blended, then add the butter and knead at medium speed until silky but sticky, about 5 minutes; the dough will not pull away from the side of the bowl.
Using an oiled spatula, scrape the dough into an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.
In a large saucepan, heat the canola oil to 360°F/180°C. Line a rack with paper towels. Fill a shallow bowl with 1/2 inch (12 mm)of granulated sugar. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough a scant 1/2 inch (12 mm) thick. Using a 2-inch (50 mm) round biscuit cutter, stamp out rounds. The original recipe said to not re-roll the dough, but I did and found it to be fine. Fry the rounds, 4 to 5 at a time, until they are browned, about 4 minutes (mine only took about a minute each – try to go more by sight). Be sure to keep the oil between 360°F and 375°F 180°C and 190°C. Drain the bomboloni on paper towels.
Roll them in the granulated sugar.

Filling Directions:

Fit a pastry bag with a plain donut tip (or a 1/4-inch (6 mm) tip) and fill with the preserves (you can also use a squeeze bottle). Poke the tip three-fourths of the way into the bomboloni and squeeze in the preserves, pulling the tip out slightly as you squeeze to fill them as much as possible. Serve warm.

Pumpkin Doughnuts:

Preparation time:
Hands on prep time - 15 minutes
Chilling time - 3 hours
Cooking time - 10 minutes

Yield: About 24 doughnuts & 24 doughnut holes

Ingredients
All Purpose Flour 3.5 cup / 840 ml / 490 gm / 17 ¼ oz
Baking Powder 4 teaspoon / 20 ml / 24 gm / .85 oz
Table Salt 1 teaspoon / 5 ml / 6 gm / .2 oz
Cinnamon, ground 1 teaspoon / 5 ml / 6 gm / .2 oz
Ginger, ground ½ teaspoon / 2.5 ml / 3 gm / .1 oz
Baking Soda ½ teaspoon / 2.5 ml / 3 gm / .1 oz
Nutmeg, ground ¼ teaspoon / 1.25 ml / 1.5 gm / .05 oz
Cloves, ground 1/8 teaspoon / .6 ml / ¾ gm / .025 oz
White Granulated Sugar 1 cup / 240 ml / 225 gm / 8 oz
Butter, Unsalted 3 Tablespoon / 45 ml / 42 gm / 1.5 oz
Egg, Large 1
Egg Yolk, Large 2
Pure Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon / 5 ml
Buttermilk ½ cup + 1 Tablespoon / 135 ml /
Pumpkin 1 cup / 240 ml / 285 gm / 10 oz (Canned pure pumpkin or fresh cooked and pureed pumpkin – DON’T use pumpkin pie mix!)
Canola Oil DEPENDS on size of vessel you are frying in – you want THREE (3) inches of oil (can substitute any flavorless oil used for frying)

Powdered Sugar Glaze:
Powdered (Icing) Sugar 2 cup / 480 ml / 250 gm / 9 oz
Whipping Cream (About 32% butter fat) 4 Tablespoon + more if needed / 60 ml

Directions:

Whisk together the first 8 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until blended (the mixture will be grainy and not smooth). Beat in egg, then yolks and vanilla. Gradually beat in buttermilk; beat in pumpkin. Using rubber spatula, fold in dry ingredients in 4 additions, blending gently after each addition. Cover with plastic; chill 3 hours.
Sprinkle 2 rimmed baking sheets lightly with flour. Press out 1/3 of dough on floured surface to 1/2- to 2/3-inch (12 mm to 15 mm) thickness. Using 2 1/2-inch (65 mm) -diameter round cutter, cut out dough rounds. Arrange on sheets. Repeat with remaining dough in 2 more batches. Gather dough scraps. Press out dough and cut out more dough rounds until all dough is used.
Using 1-inch (25 mm) diameter round cutter, cut out center of each dough round to make doughnuts and doughnut holes.
Line 2 baking sheets with several layers of paper towels. Pour oil into large deep skillet to depth of 1 1/2 inches (40 mm). Attach deep-fry thermometer and heat oil to 365°F to 370°F (185°C to 188°C). Fry doughnut holes in 2 batches until golden brown, turning occasionally, about 2 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain. Fry doughnuts, 3 or 4 at a time, until golden brown, adjusting heat to maintain temperature, about 1 minute per side. Using slotted spoon, transfer doughnuts to paper towels to drain. Cool completely.

Glaze Directions:

Whisk powdered sugar and 4 tablespoons whipping cream to blend. Whisk in additional cream, 1 teaspoon at a time, to form medium thick glaze.
Can be made up to 3 hours ahead.
Add doughnut holes to bowl of spiced sugar and toss to coat.
Spread doughnuts on 1 side with powdered sugar glaze.
Arrange doughnuts, glazed side up, on racks. Let stand until glaze sets, at least 30 minutes.

sugar cookies

2010-09-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

For this challenge, we were allowed to pick a theme of our choice but it had to relate to the month of September. For my cookies, I decided to choose "autumn" as the theme.

Basic Sugar Cookies:
Makes Approximately 36x 10cm / 4" Cookies

½ cup + 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
3 cups + 3 Tbsp All Purpose / Plain Flour
1 cup Caster Sugar / Superfine Sugar
1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp Vanilla Extract / Or seeds from 1 vanilla bean

Directions
• Cream together the butter, sugar and any flavourings you’re using. Beat until just becoming
creamy in texture.
• Tip: Don’t over mix otherwise you’ll incorporate too much air and the cookies will spread during
baking, losing their shape.
• Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms.
• Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces.
• Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm/1/5 inch (0.2 inch)
• Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins.
• Tip: Recipes commonly just wrap the whole ball of dough in clingwrap and then refrigerate it for an hour or overnight, but by rolling the dough between parchment, this shortens the chilling time and then it’s also been rolled out while still soft making it easier and quicker.
• Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface.
• Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife.
• Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30mins to an hour.
• Tip: It’s very important you chill them again otherwise they’ll spread while baking.
• Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.
• Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C Fan Assisted) / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.
• Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies.
• Tip: Bake same sized cookies together otherwise mixing smaller with larger cookies could result in some cookies being baked before others are done.
• Tip: Rotate baking sheets half way through baking if your oven bakes unevenly.
• Leave to cool on cooling racks.
• Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.
• Tip: If wrapped in tinfoil/cling wrap or kept in airtight containers in a cool place, un-decorated cookies can last up to a month.

Royal Icing:

2½ - 3 cups Icing / Confectioner’s / Powdered Sugar, unsifted
2 Large Egg Whites
2 tsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Almond Extract, optional

Directions

• Beat egg whites with lemon juice until combined.
• Tip: It’s important that the bowls/spoons/spatulas and beaters you use are thoroughly cleaned and grease free.
• Sift the icing sugar to remove lumps and add it to the egg whites.
• Tip: There are 2 amounts of icing sugar, the lesser amount is good for a flooding consistency, and the larger amount is for outlining, but you can add even more for a much thicker consistency good for writing. If you add too much icing sugar or would like to make a thinner consistency, add very small amounts of water, a few drops at a time, until you reach the consistency you need.
• Beat on low until combined and smooth.
• Use immediately or keep in an airtight container.
• Tip: Royal Icing starts to harden as soon as it’s in contact with air so make sure to cover containers with plastic wrap while not in use.

reduced sugar apple butter

2010-09-15T18:24:00.000-07:00

The September 2010 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by John of Eat4Fun. John chose to challenge The Daring Cooks to learn about food preservation, mainly in the form of canning and freezing. He challenged everyone to make a recipe and preserve it. John’s source for food preservation information was from The National Center for Home Food Preservation.

Reduced Sugar Apple Butter Recipe

I used used sweet apples from my neighbour's tree, so the need for sugar was reduced.

5 pounds apples
1 cup apple cider or water
1/2 cup sweetener such as honey, agave syrup or sugar to taste (I only used a few tablespoons of agave syrup as my apples were quite sweet to begin with)
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cloves

1. Wash apples well and remove stems. Cut apples into quarters or eighths and remove cores. Note: I ended up peeling the apple at this step.

2. Combine unpeeled apples and cider in 8-quart (about 7 1⁄2 litre) saucepan. Cook slowly and stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Cook until apples are very soft (falling apart).

3. Position a food mill or strainer securely over a large bowl. Press cooked apples with cider through the food mill or strainer to make a pulp. Be sure to collect all the pulp that comes through the food mill or strainer; for example, scrape any pulp clinging under the food mill into the bowl.

(My apples were very soft at this point, so did not need to do this step. I simply mashed them with a potato masher)

4. Combine pulp with sweetener and spices in an 8-quart (about 7 1⁄2 litre) saucepan. Simmer over low heat, stirring frequently.

Note: A stick blender was used to mix the spices and creates a smoother apple butter. Also, when cooking down the apples, you want to leave the lid ajar or use a splatter screen. This will allow for evaporation. Another trick is to support the lid by laying two wooden spoons across the top of the pot.

5. To test for doneness, spoon a small quantity onto a clean plate; when the butter mounds on the plate without liquid separating around the edge of the butter, it is ready for processing. Another way to test for doneness is to remove a spoonful of the cooked butter on a spoon and hold it away from steam for 2 minutes. It is done if the butter remains mounded on the spoon.

6. Pour contents into desired storage container or multiple containers and process accordingly.

The Finished Apple Butter

Apple Butter is often used as a spread. However, apple butter can also be used as a condiment (pork chops or in marinades) or as an ingredient to an apple quick bread.

Freezing

You can use a freezer bag where I expelled as much air as possible and minimized the gaps in the bag. Freezer bags work well for storage since they can lay flatter in the freezer than containers.

With a container, you need to ensure you have “headspace”. Headspace is the gap between the food (or liquid level) and the top of the container. Typical, headspace when freezing foods is 1/2 “ (1.27 cm) for straight sided containers. As mentioned previously, water expands when freezing. The headspace allows room for expansion.

Thawing: The best method (Food Safety) is to thaw in the refrigerator for a day. Cold water, 70F (21C) or lower, can be used for as quicker way to defrost. The frozen food is submerged under running water. An alternative to running water is to change the water every 30 minutes. If you need an even faster method to defrost and you plan to cook the food immediately, the microwave is another method (of last resort).

Boiling Water Canning

For our challenge, apples are high acid foods. Golden delicious apples have an approximate pH of 3.6. Boiling Water Canning is an appropriate method of preserving apple butter.

Apple Butter processing information: Headspace when canning apple butter is 1/4 “ (0.64 cm)

Processing Time: 15 minutes for altitude of 0 ft (0 m) to 1,000 ft (305 m) 20 minutes for altitude of 1,001 ft (305.1 m) to 6,000 ft (1828.8 m) 25 minutes altitudes above 6,000 ft (1828.8 m)

For boiling water canning, you need a pot that is high enough to cover the jars with at least 1” (2.5 cm) of water. Also, a rack, to prevent thermal shock, is used to keep the jars off the bottom of the pot. Any type of rack will work – a tea towel, a trivet, tying together unused bands... etc.

Jars are filled using a wide mouth funnel. A plastic bubble remover is run along the sides of the jar, in an up and down motion, to remove air pockets. Headspace is measured to 1⁄4" (6.5mm). The top and side of the jar are wiped down with a damp paper towel.

Lids are placed in a pan of hot water (180F or 82C) to soften the sealing compound. The lid is seated, centered on the jar and the band is screwed on. The purpose of the band is to hold the lid down, but not too tightly. Air from the jar needs to escape into the boiling water.

Screw down the bands only until finger tight.

The jars are lowered into the hot water canner. Water temperature is about 180F (82.2C). The water level is checked to ensure there is at least 1” (2.54 cm) of water above the jars. Next, pot is covered and heat turned to high. When the water comes to a boil, the timer is started (15 minutes). The heat can be lowered as long as the water remains at a boil.

After the 15 minutes are up, the whole canner is removed off the burner and uncovered. Jars are left in the canner for 5 more minutes.
After 5 minutes, the jars are lifted out level. The temptation is to tilt the jars to drain the water off the top of the lids. Do NOT do that! You don’t want to contents of the jar to running under the seal.

Jars are placed on a dish towel to minimize thermal shock and allowed to cool for 12 to 24 hours. While the jars are cooling, you may hear a ping or a pop from the lid as it seals. That ping is a good sound.

After 24 hours, test the seal. The lid should be bowed down (concave), when you press down the lid should not move or pop up. Also, try lifting the jar by the lid only. The lid should stay on if properly sealed. The final thing is to look at the lid to see if there are any cracks or debris caught between the jar and the lid.

Storing – Once the integrity of the lids have been checked, it’s best to store the jars in a cool, dark space. The rings are removed. The rings have done their job of holding down the lids in the boiling water canner and are not needed for storage.

Remember to check the lid before you open a jar. If the lid has become unsealed during storage or the lid is bulging, throw it out. If the food has mold, become oddly discolored or has an off odor, throw it out.

The canned apple butter can easily store on a shelf for one year.

sweet potato pound cake

2010-09-07T19:39:00.000-07:00

This is the perfect fall pound cake. Your kitchen will be filled with the most wonderful smell and it really is comfort food in a cake. It is moist, it is dense, and it's full of sweet-potatoey goodness! Try it toasted for an extra treat. I topped mine with a quick caramel glaze which was a great match.

Sweet Potato Pound Cake
(from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott)

3 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
4 eggs
2 cups mashed cooked sweet potatoes

Heat the oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl, and stir with a fork to mix well. Combine the milk and vanilla in a small bowl. Set aside the milk and flour mixtures.

In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar together with a mixer at high speed until light and well combined, stopping once or twice to scrape down the bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well each time. Add the mashed sweet potatoes and mix at low speed for 1 minute, or until the batter is evenly mixed.

Add about half the flour mixture and beat gently, using a wooden spoon or a mixer at low speed, only until the flour disappears into the batter. Add half the milk and mix gently to combine everything well. Mix in the remaining flour and then the remaining milk, beating gently only until you have a thick, smooth batter.

Scrape the batter into the prepared tube pan, and bake at 350 degrees for between 60 and 75 minutes, or until the cake is evenly browned, springs back when touched gently in the centre, and a wooden skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Cool in the pan on a wire rack or a folded kitchen towel for 20 minutes. Then use a table knife to loosen the cake from the pan. Turn out the cake onto a wire rack, place it top side up, and cool to room temperature.

Quick Caramel Glaze

This glaze sets up quickly and needs to be spread on the cake as soon as it is ready.

1/2 cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup evaporated milk
4 cups sifted confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine the butter and brown sugar in a medium saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the butter melts and blends with the brown sugar to make a smooth sauce, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the milk, and let the icing come to a gentle boil. Stir well, remove from the heat, and add the sifted confectioner's sugar and vanilla. Beat well with a mixer, whisk or spoon for 1 to 2 minutes, until the glaze thickens and loses a little of its shine. Use at once. If the glaze hardens, stir in 1 or 2 spoonfuls of evaporated milk to soften it.

cookbook review - "Southern Cakes"

2010-09-02T09:08:00.000-07:00

The review I wrote for the cookbook "Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistible Recipes for Everyday Celebrations" by Nancie McDermott is now up on the Daring Kitchen website.

swiss roll ice cream cake

2010-07-27T18:06:00.001-07:00

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

The timing for this challenge couldn't be better. Really. It was my oldest son's birthday. I showed him this ice cream cake and he was all over having it as his birthday cake. So done, done and done!

Since it was his birthday, I let my son choose the ice creams. Dulce de Leche is his all time favourite, and he also chose Cherry Custard Chocolate Marble ice cream to go with it. Not bad! So I rolled up my sleeves and went to work. My son was thrilled with the results. Yay! Happy birthday buddy!

Swiss roll ice cream cake (inspired by the recipe of the same name from the Taste of Home website)

The Swiss rolls

Ingredients

6 medium sized eggs

1 C / 225 gms caster sugar /8 oz+ extra for rolling

6 tblsp / 45gms/ a pinch over 1.5 oz of all purpose (plain) flour + 5 tblsp/40gm /a pinch under 1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted together

2 tblsp /30ml / 1 fl oz of boiling water

a little oil for brushing the pans

For the filling

2C / 500 mls/ 16 fl oz of whipping cream

1 vanilla pod, cut into small pieces of about ½ cm (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)

5 tblsp / 70gms/2.5oz of caster sugar

Method

Pre heat the oven at 400 deg F approximately. Brush the baking pans (11 inches by 9 inches) with a little oil and line with greaseproof baking paper. If you have just one pan, bake one cake and then let the pan cool completely before using it for the next cake.
In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat till very thick; when the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds.
Add the flour mixture, in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula. Fold in the water.
Divide the mixture among the two baking pans and spread it out evenly, into the corners of the pans.
Place a pan in the centre of the pre heated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the centre is springy to the touch.
Spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle a little caster sugar over it.
Turn the cake on to the towel and peel away the baking paper. Trim any crisp edges.
Starting from one of the shorter sides, start to make a roll with the towel going inside. Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down. Repeat the same for the next cake as well.
Grind together the vanilla pieces and sugar in a food processer till nicely mixed together. If you are using vanilla extract, just grind the sugar on its own and then add the sugar and extract to the cream.
In a large bowl, add the cream and vanilla-sugar mixture and beat till very thick.
Divide the cream mixture between the completely cooled cakes.
Open the rolls and spread the cream mixture, making sure it does not go right to the edges (a border of ½ an inch should be fine
Roll the cakes up again, this time without the towel. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge till needed, seam side down.

Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

adapted from Marilyn and Tanya Linton’s 125 Best Ice Cream Recipes

1 can (10 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1 cup whipping cream

1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, cook condensed milk, stirring constantly, until thick and golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, in a separate medium saucepan over medium low heat, bring cream and milk to a simmer.

Very slowly and carefully to prevent spattering, pour condensed milk into a clean large bowl. Gradually whisk in cream mixture (watch out the condensed milk is hot!). Whisk in vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until completely cold or overnight.

Stir cream mixture. Transfer to an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Cherry Custard Chocolate Marble Ice Cream

Ingredients

2 egg yolks

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup milk

1 can pitted sweet cherries in syrup

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

1/4 melted dark chocolate

In a bowl, whisk egg yolks with sugar until thickened and pale yellow. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, bring milk to a simmer. Gradually whisk into egg mixture.
Return entire mixture to the saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Be careful not to let it boil. Strain into a clean large bowl. Let cool to room temperature.
In a food processor or blender, puree cherries with syrup until almost smooth. Stir cherry mixture along with cream into milk mixture. Cover and refrigerate until completely cold or overnight.
Stir cream mixture. Transfer to an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.
When the ice cream is semifrozen, stop the ice cream maker and scoop ice cream into a freezerproof container. Using a knife, swirl in 1/4 cup melted dark chocolate to create a marbled effect. Freeze until firm.

The Hot fudge sauce

Ingredients

1 cup caster sugar

3 tbsp of natural unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tbsp cornstarch

1 ½ cup water

1 tbsp butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, cornflour and water.
Place the pan over heat, and stir constantly, till it begins to thicken and is smooth (for about 2 minutes).
Remove from heat and mix in the butter and vanilla. Keep aside to cool .

Assembly

1. Cut the Swiss rolls into 20 equal slices (approximately 2 cms each).

2. Cover the bottom and sides of the bowl in which you are going to set the dessert with cling film/plastic wrap.

3. Arrange two slices at the bottom of the pan, with their seam sides facing each other. Arrange the Swiss roll slices up the bowl, with the seam sides facing away from the bottom, to cover the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till the slices are firm (at least 30 minutes).

4. Soften the vanilla ice cream. Take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the cling film cover and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices. Spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till firm (at least 1 hour)

5. Add the fudge sauce over the vanilla ice cream, cover and freeze till firm (at least an hour)

6. Soften the chocolate ice cream and spread it over the fudge sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4-5 hours till completely set .

7. Remove the plastic cover, and place the serving plate on top of the bowl. Turn it upside down and remove the bowl and the plastic lining. If the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water. The bowl will come away easily.

8. Keep the cake out of the freezer for at least 10 minutes before slicing, depending on how hot your region is. Slice with a sharp knife, dipped in hot water.

chicken with pecan cream and mushrooms

2010-07-14T10:18:00.000-07:00

The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.

As part of our challenge, we were able to choose a recipe which showcased nuts. I decided to make chicken with pecan cream and mushrooms. It was delicious! I recommend this recipe. It's good recipe for a weeknight as it comes together quite quickly.

I tasted the pecan cream after making it and it was very salty, however once it was incorporated with the mushrooms and shallots, it evened out a lot.

Chicken with Pecan Cream and Mushrooms

(from Cooking Light)

Yield: 4 servings

Recipe notes: Substitute your favorite pasta or rice in place of the egg noodles. Use fresh rosemary or parsley in place of thyme if you prefer.

Pecan Cream:
3/4 cup (180 ml) coarsely chopped pecans*, toasted
1 cup (240 ml) water
¾ teaspoon (3 ml) salt, more as needed

½ pound (225 g) egg noodles or pasta
4 (6-ounce / 170 g) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 teaspoon (5 ml) olive oil, more as needed
Salt & pepper to taste

Sauce:
1 tablespoon (15 ml) deglazing liquid (water, broth, wine; optional)
1 teaspoon (5 ml) olive oil, more as needed
1/4 cup (60 ml) finely chopped shallots
½ pound (225 g) mushrooms, sliced
1 Tablespoon (15 ml) fresh thyme leaves
Chopped pecans, (optional garnish)

Directions:

Prepare pecan cream. Grind pecans in a food processor for about a minute or so until smooth, scraping down the sides of bowl as needed. Add water and 3/4 teaspoon (3 ml) salt; process until smooth, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Set aside pecan cream. (*If starting with prepared pecan butter, blend ¼ cup plus 2 Tablespoons (90 ml) pecan butter with the water and salt until smooth.)
Cook noodles according to package instructions in salted water. Drain, rinse, and keep warm.
If desired, pound chicken to ¼ inch (6 mm) thickness to promote even cooking. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper to taste. Heat 1 teaspoon (5 ml) olive oil a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add half the chicken; sauté 3 to 5 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Cook the chicken in 2 batches, adding more oil if needed for second batch. Set aside cooked chicken on a clean plate, cover to keep warm.
Add deglazing liquid to pan if using and stir up any browned bits. If needed, add another teaspoon (5 ml) of oil (or more) to pan for sautéing the shallots and mushrooms. Sauté the shallots and mushrooms over medium heat for 4 to 6 minutes or until mushrooms are tender and starting to brown. Add fresh thyme to the pan. Stir in pecan cream; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 1 1/2 minutes till reduced slightly.
Slice chicken into thin strips. Divide the noodles among serving plates. Add a scoop of the mushroom pecan sauce on top of noodles. Lay sliced chicken on top. Garnish with fresh thyme and/or a pinch of chopped pecans if desired.

chocolate pavlovas and chocolate mascarpone mousse

2010-06-27T18:58:00.000-07:00

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard.

Recipe 1: Chocolate Meringue (for the chocolate Pavlova):

3 large egg whites
½ cup plus 1 tbsp (110 grams) white granulated sugar
¼ cup (30 grams) confectioner’s (icing) sugar
1/3 cup (30 grams) cocoa powder

Directions:

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 200º F (95º C) degrees. Line two baking sheets with silpat or parchment and set aside
Put the egg whites in a bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Increase speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar about 1 tbsp at a time until stiff peaks form. (The whites should be firm but moist.)
Sift the confectioner’s sugar and cocoa powder over the egg whites and fold the dry ingredients into the white. (This looks like it will not happen. Fold gently and it will eventually come together.)
Fill a pastry bag with the meringue. Pipe the meringue into whatever shapes you desire. Alternatively, you could just free form your shapes and level them a bit with the back of a spoon. (Class made rounds, hearts, diamonds and an attempt at a clover was made!)
Bake for 2-3 hours until the meringues become dry and crisp. Cool and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Recipe 2: Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse (for the top of the Pavlova base):

1 ½ cups (355 mls) heavy cream (cream with a milk fat content of between 36 and 40 percent)
grated zest of 1 average sized lemon
9 ounces (255 grams) 72% chocolate, chopped
1 2/3 cups (390 mls) mascarpone
pinch of nutmeg
2 tbsp (30 mls) Grand Marnier (or orange juice)

Directions:

Put ½ cup (120 mls) of the heavy cream and the lemon zest in a saucepan over medium high heat. Once warm, add the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let sit at room temperature until cool.
Place the mascarpone, the remaining cup of cream and nutmeg in a bowl. Whip on low for a minute until the mascarpone is loose. Add the Grand Marnier and whip on medium speed until it holds soft peaks. (DO NOT OVERBEAT AS THE MASCARPONE WILL BREAK.)
Mix about ¼ of the mascarpone mixture into the chocolate to lighten. Fold in the remaining mascarpone until well incorporated. Fill a pastry bag with the mousse. Again, you could just free form mousse on top of the pavlova.

Recipe 3: Mascarpone Cream (for drizzling):

1 recipe crème anglaise
½ cup (120 mls) mascarpone
2 tbsp (30 mls) Sambucca (optional)
½ cup (120 mls) heavy cream

Directions:

Prepare the crème anglaise. Slowly whisk in the mascarpone and the Sambucca and let the mixture cool. Put the cream in a bowl and beat with electric mixer until very soft peaks are formed. Fold the cream into the mascarpone mixture.

Recipe 4: Crème Anglaise (a component of the Mascarpone Cream above):

1 cup (235 mls) whole milk
1 cup (235 mls) heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
6 large egg yolks
6 tbsp (75 grams) sugar

Directions:

In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture turns pale yellow.
Combine the milk, cream and vanilla in a saucepan over medium high heat, bringing the mixture to a boil. Take off the heat.
Pour about ½ cup of the hot liquid into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly to keep from making scrambled eggs. Pour the yolk mixture into the pan with the remaining cream mixture and put the heat back on medium. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens enough to lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon. DO NOT OVERCOOK.
Remove the mixture from the heat and strain it through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until the mixture is thoroughly chilled, about 2 hours or overnight.

Assembly:
Pipe the mousse onto the pavlovas and drizzle with the mascarpone cream over the top. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and fresh fruit if desired.

my new favorite cake

2010-06-24T18:49:00.000-07:00

Wow. That's all I can say, really. Wow. This cake is pure heaven on a plate. It's simple to make and it is, without a doubt, one of the most delicious cakes I have ever baked. And just in case you think I give easy praise, I asked my boys.

Mom: "Hey guys, what do you think of this cake?"

Boys: "Mpf... umf... GOOD!"

Mom: "So you like it?"

Boys: "Smf... um... YES!"

Mom: "Is it your favorite cake so far?"

Boys: "Uh-HUH!!!!"

And yes, just in case you were wondering, they really do talk in unison like that.

Seriously though - that exchange is pretty much what really happened. That cake wasn't nibbled on - it was devoured!! And the caramel icing is... well... let's say it's just a treat in and of itself. It firms up to become a rich caramel fudge. Oh golly. I even put a spoonful into my coffee one night. And it was delicious!

But I admit it - I didn't follow the instructions perfectly (go figure!). I was being too quick in the kitchen again, and did not flour my pans. As a result, my cakes didn't turn out all neat and tidy - so please forgive my photos! While my cake didn't turn out as pretty as I would have liked, it tasted fabulous!!! And I'd rather have a yummy cake over a pretty cake any day!

So please try this cake. You'll thank me for it. You really will. I'll be waiting right here.

Gigi's Fabulous Caramel Cake

(from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott)

Yellow cake

3/4 cup butter

1 cup milk

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Gigi's Caramel Icing

2 2/3 cups of light brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

7 tablespoons evaporated milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To make the cake, heat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans. Combine the butter and milk in a small saucepan, and cook over low heat until the butter melts. Stir well and let cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl, and stir with a fork to mix well. In a large bowl, combine the eggs and sugar, and beat well at high speed, scraping down the bowl often, until light yellow, smooth and thick.

Stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture, mixing only until the flour disappears. Add the cooled milk mixture and the vanilla, stir well, and divide the batter between the prepared pans.

Bake at 325 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, until the cakes are pale golden brown, spring back when touched lightly in the centre, and begin to pull away from the sides of the pans.

Cool in the pans for 10 minutes on wire racks or folded kitchen towels. Then turn out the cakes onto wire racks or plates to cool completely, top side up.

To make the icing, have the cake layers handy and ready for frosting, so that you can spread the warm frosting quickly once it is ready. In a heavy medium saucepan, combine the brown sugar, butter and evaporated milk, and vanilla. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir well and then adjust the heat so that the frosting boils and bubbles gently. Cook for 7 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes.

Beat the warm icing with a wooden spoon until it thickens, 2 to 3 minutes. Place a cake layer, top side down, on a cake stand or serving platter. Quickly spread some icing over the top, and cover it with the second cake layer, top side up. Ice the top quickly and then spread the remaining icing over the sides.

If the icing becomes too hard to spread, warm gently over low heat, add a spoonful or two of evaporated milk, and then scrape and stir well until the icing softens enough to spread again. Dip a table knife in very hot water to help soften and smooth out the icing once it is spread.

pâté

2010-06-14T19:10:00.000-07:00

Our hostesses this month, Evelyne of Cheap Ethnic Eatz, and Valerie of a The Chocolate Bunny, chose delicious pate with freshly baked bread as their June Daring Cook’s challenge! They’ve provided us with 4 different pate recipes to choose from and are allowing us to go wild with our homemade bread choice.

Well, this was an interesting challenge! I've always wanted to try making my own pâté, but never got around to it. There's a chicken liver mousse that I have my eye on and still plan to make. So I was terribly intrigued when I found out about this month's challenge.

I'd heard that once you try making your own pâté, you won't buy store bought. But I have to admit, I'm terribly spoiled when it comes to pâté. My uncle is a Freybe, of Freybe meats. So I've had some of the best pâté around. I mean Freybe has won gold medals in competitions in Germany. Really. Would mine stand up? I would have to try and see.

But I love to try new things - after all, that's why I joined the Daring Cooks, right? So I gathered all the ingredients and went to task.

I made two pâtés. I made the Three Spice Liver Pâté and the Chicken Liver Terrine. Overall, I thought both turned out well. I preferred the Three Spice Liver Pâté over the Chicken Liver Terrine, which I found too subtle for my taste. Did they stack up to Freybe pâté? While good, they unfortunately both fell short. Come on! I can't compete with literally over 160 years of expertise!!!

But for homemade, they were fine and I like to think that my uncle Walter would still be proud of me. I plan on trying others soon!

Three Spice Liver Pâté

Yields one 25 by 12,5 cm (10 by 5 inch) terrine or loaf pan

1 lb / 454 grams pork liver (or beef or combination)
1/2 lb / 227 grams ground pork
1/2 lb / 227 grams pork fat (or pork belly)
2 cloves garlic
2 shallots
1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp / 2 ml cinnamon
1/2 tsp / 2 ml coriander (ground or crushed)
1/2 tsp / 2 ml cumin
3/4 tsp / 3 ml salt
1 tbps / 15 ml coarse freshly cracked peppercorns
2 tbps / 30 ml cognac
2 bay leaves
1 package of bacon

Preheat oven to to 350ºF (180ºC).

Cut liver and pork fat into small pieces and add to food processor. Add ground pork, garlic, shallots, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. Grind until smooth.

In mixing bowl, incorporate the meat and liver mixture with the cognac and eggs.

Line bottom of baking or ceramic pan with overlapping pieces of bacon. Place a bay leaf on the bottom and then fill with meat/liver mixture. Cover top with another bay leaf and then overlapping pieces of bacon.

Place in oven in the larger baking pan and add enough water to cover 2/3rds of the pan containing the meat/liver mixture. Bake for about 1-1.5 hrs.

The pâté will contract and the juices will be on the bottom. Allow to cool and soak up the juices. Remove any excess bacon and discard the bay leaves.

Chicken Liver Terrine
Yields one 25 by 12,5 cm (10 by 5 inch) terrine or loaf pan

1 tbsp duck fat, or butter
2 onions, coarsely chopped
300g (11 oz) chicken livers, trimmed
3 tbsp brandy, or any other liqueur (optional)
100g (3 1/2 oz, 1/2 cup) smoked bacon, diced
300g (11 oz) boneless pork belly, coarsely ground
200g (7 oz) boneless pork blade (shoulder), coarsely ground (or ground pork see note below)
2 shallots, chopped
1 tsp quatre-épices (or 1/4tsp each of ground pepper, cloves, nutmeg and ginger is close enough)
2 eggs
200 ml (7 fl oz, 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp) heavy cream
2 fresh thyme sprigs, chopped
Salt and pepper

NOTE: If you cannot find ground pork belly or blade, buy it whole, cut it into chunks, and pulse in the food processor. You can also replace the pork blade with regular ground pork.

Preheat oven to 200ºC (400ºF, Gas Mark 6).

Melt the fat or butter in a heavy frying pan over low heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, until softened. Add the chicken livers and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes, until browned but still slightly pink on the inside.

Remove the pan from heat. Pour in the brandy, light a match and carefully ignite the alcohol to flambé. Wait for the flames to go out on their own, carefully tilting the pan to ensure even flavoring. Set aside.

Put the minced pork belly and blade in a food processor, then add the onion-liver mixture and the chopped shallots, and pulse until you obtain a homogenous mixture – make sure not to reduce it to a slurry.

Transfer to a bowl, and gradually stir in the chopped bacon, quatre-épices, cream, eggs, and thyme. Season with salt and pepper, and mix well. Spoon the mixture into a terrine or loaf pan, and cover with the terrine lid or with aluminum foil.

Prepare a water bath: place the loaf pan in a larger, deep ovenproof dish (such as a brownie pan or a baking dish). Bring some water to a simmer and carefully pour it in the larger dish. The water should reach approximately halfway up the loaf pan.

Put the water bath and the loaf pan in the oven, and bake for 2 hours. Uncover and bake for another 30 minutes. The terrine should be cooked through, and you should be able to slice into it with a knife and leave a mark, but it shouldn’t be too dry. Refrigerate, as this pâté needs to be served cold. Unmold onto a serving platter, cut into slices, and serve with bread.

NOTE: This pâté freezes well. Divide it into manageable portions, wrap tightly in plastic film, put in a freezer Ziploc bag, and freeze. Defrost overnight in the fridge before eating.

French Baguette
yield: Three 16" baguettes

Starter
1/2 cup / 120 ml cool water
1/16 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 cup / 240 ml flour

Dough

1 tsp / 5 ml active dry yeast
1 cup to 1 1/4 cups / 240 ml to 300 ml lukewarm water*
all of the starter
3 1/2 cups / 840 ml flour
1 1/2 tsp / 7 ml salt

*Use the lesser amount in summer (or in a humid environment), the greater amount in winter (or in a dry climate), and somewhere in between the rest of the year, or if your house is climate controlled.

Make the starter by mixing the yeast with the water, then mixing in the flour to make a soft dough. Cover and let rest at room temperature for about 14 hours; overnight works well. The starter should have risen and become bubbly.

Mix active dry yeast with the water and then combine with the starter, flour, and salt. Mix and knead everything together—by hand, mixer or bread machine set on the dough cycle—till you've made a soft, somewhat smooth dough; it should be cohesive, but the surface may still be a bit rough. Knead for about 5 minutes on speed 2 of a stand mixer.

Place the dough in a lightly greased medium-size bowl, cover the bowl, and let the dough rise for 3 hours, gently deflating it and turning it over after 1 hour, and then again after 2 hours.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly greased work surface. Divide it into three equal pieces. Shape each piece into a rough, slightly flattened oval, cover with greased plastic wrap, and let them rest for 15 minutes.

Working with one piece of dough at a time, fold the dough in half lengthwise, and seal the edges with the heel of your hand. Flatten it slightly, and fold and seal again. With the seam-side down, cup your fingers and gently roll the dough into a 15" log. Place the logs seam-side down onto a lightly greased or parchment-lined sheet pan or pans.

Cover them with a cover or lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow the loaves to rise till they've become very puffy, about 1 1/2 hours. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 450ºF (240ºC).

Using a very sharp knife held at about a 45° angle, make three 8" vertical slashes in each baguette. Spritz the baguettes heavily with warm water; this will help them develop a crackly-crisp crust.

Bake the baguettes until they're a very deep golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove them from the oven and cool on a rack. Or, for the very crispiest baguettes, turn off the oven, crack it open about 2", and allow the baguettes to cool in the oven.

croquembouche or piece montée

2010-05-26T20:56:00.000-07:00

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

This was an exciting challenge. I had only made pate a choux once before, and that was in home economics back when I was 12. I do remember that our cream puffs turned out quite nicely, but I've never made them again. Mostly because I'd just never really thought about it. So this month, I was excited to see pate a choux as part of our challenge. But a croquembouche??? That seemed a little bit daunting.

I do have a confession to make. I don't enjoy making caramel. Inevitably I manage to either a) burn the caramel or b) burn me. During this months challenge, I managed to accomplish both! For some reason, caramel and I just don't get along and darn - that boiling sugar gets super hot.

However I think overall the challenge turned out well. Sure I still have a love/hate relationship with caramel (love the taste as long as it doesn't hurt me in the process). I wanted to make more spun sugar, but I managed to burn the second batch (see?!??!) and so I convinced myself that the one batch of sugar would suffice. And so while I would have appreciated the extra drama that more spun sugar would have provided, I think it turned out well overall.

Now I'm just waiting patiently for my boys to come home so that they can begin tearing this tower of pastry and cream apart!

For the Vanilla Crème Patissiere (Half Batch)
1 cup (225 ml.) whole milk
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
6 Tbsp. (100 g.) sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
2 Tbsp. (30 g.) unsalted butter
1 Tsp. Vanilla

Dissolve cornstarch in ¼ cup of milk. Combine the remaining milk with the sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat.

Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook.

Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking.

Continue whisking (this is important – you do not want the eggs to solidify/cook) until the cream thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.

Pour cream into a stainless steel/ceramic bowl. Press plastic wrap firmly against the surface. Chill immediately and until ready to use.

For Chocolate Pastry Cream (Half Batch Recipe):
Bring ¼ cup (about 50 cl.) milk to a boil in a small pan; remove from heat and add in 3 ounces (about 80 g.) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, and mix until smooth. Whisk into pastry cream when you add the butter and vanilla.

For Coffee Pastry Cream (Half Batch recipe)
Dissolve 1 ½ teaspoons instant espresso powder in 1 ½ teaspoons boiling water. Whisk into pastry cream with butter and vanilla.

Pate a Choux (Yield: About 28)
¾ cup (175 ml.) water
6 Tbsp. (85 g.) unsalted butter
¼ Tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup (125 g.) all-purpose flour
4 large eggs

For Egg Wash: 1 egg and pinch of salt

Pre-heat oven to 425◦F/220◦C degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Preparing batter:
Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.

Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.

Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny.

As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes.

It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.

Piping:
Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide.

Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.

Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with pinch of salt).

Baking:

Bake the choux at 425◦F/220◦C degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.

Lower the temperature to 350◦F/180◦C degrees and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool.

Can be stored in a airtight box overnight.

Filling:

When you are ready to assemble your piece montée, using a plain pastry tip, pierce the bottom of each choux. Fill the choux with pastry cream using either the same tip or a star tip, and place on a paper-lined sheet. Choux can be refrigerated briefly at this point while you make your glaze.

Use one of these to top your choux and assemble your piece montée.

Chocolate Glaze:
8 ounces/200 g. finely chopped chocolate (use the finest quality you can afford as the taste will be quite pronounced; I recommend semi-sweet)

Melt chocolate in microwave or double boiler. Stir at regular intervals to avoid burning. Use the best quality chocolate you can afford. Use immediately.

Hard Caramel Glaze:
1 cup (225 g.) sugar
½ teaspoon lemon juice

Combine sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan with a metal kitchen spoon stirring until the sugar resembles wet sand. Place on medium heat; heat without stirring until sugar starts to melt around the sides of the pan and the center begins to smoke. Begin to stir sugar.

Continue heating, stirring occasionally until the sugar is a clear, amber color. Remove from heat immediately; place bottom of pan in ice water to stop the cooking. Use immediately.

Assembly of your Piece Montée:
You may want to lay out your unfilled, unglazed choux in a practice design to get a feel for how to assemble the final dessert. For example, if making a conical shape, trace a circle (no bigger than 8 inches) on a piece of parchment to use as a pattern. Then take some of the larger choux and assemble them in the circle for the bottom layer. Practice seeing which pieces fit together best.

Once you are ready to assemble your piece montée, dip the top of each choux in your glaze (careful it may be still hot!), and start assembling on your cake board/plate/sheet. Continue dipping and adding choux in levels using the glaze to hold them together as you build up. (You may want to use toothpicks to hold them in place).

When you have finished the design of your piece montée, you may drizzle with remaining glaze or use ribbons, sugar cookie cut-outs, almonds, flowers, etc. to decorate. Have fun and enjoy!

traditional british pudding

2010-04-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

Well this challenge was interesting. I'd made steamed puddings before at Christmas and I have a "go-to" recipe from the "Joy of Cooking" that has always been tried and true.

But I decided to try something different.

Sometimes different is not good.

I admit it. I was feeling a tad lazy and decided to use ingredients I had at hand rather than head out to the grocery store. So I found a recipe that was pretty straightforward. I had suet in my deep freezer from last Christmas. I had raisins. I had flour and eggs. And you can bet I had some brandy. So I was good to go.

The recipe I chose was from "Delia Online" and it was a Steamed Raisin Pudding with Port Wine Sauce. I knew the boys wouldn't go for the port wine sauce, so I decided to make a hard sauce with orange juice instead.

The pudding itself was really easy to pull together. And the steaming was pretty straightforward too. But when I went to turn the pudding out, that's when I became concerned. It was rock hard! It was solid. The knife actually struggled to slice it when I took it out. Hmmmm... is this thing going to be any good?

Doesn't this look appetizing? Doesn't it?

I whipped up some hard sauce, and re-heated the pudding so that it was steaming hot. I put the sauce on and waited a moment... I admit, it wasn't looking too appetizing. I had my doubts. But I tasted it and it wasn't too bad. Thank god for the sauce.

It's good to try new things. Really it is. But honestly, next time I'm going to stick with my "Joy of Cooking" recipe!

brunswick stew

2010-04-14T19:51:00.000-07:00

The 2010 April Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Wolf of Wolf’s Den. She chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make Brunswick Stew. Wolf chose recipes for her challenge from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook by Matt Lee and Ted Lee, and from the Callaway, Virginia Ruritan Club.

Well, I'm exhausted, but must admit this stew is delicious! I chose to make the long version, and it did take a long time. I was really looking forward to using rabbit in the recipe as while I've had rabbit before, I've never cooked it myself. However when I went to my grocery store, where I can usually find rabbit, there was none. So I substituted pork. While the pork worked very well with the chicken, I look forward to making this stew again with rabbit.

This stew has deep flavour and is very filling. You only need serve it with a crust of bread and you've got it all: beans, corn, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, onions... not to mention the pork and chicken. I was a little concerned that the serrano chilies would make it too spicy for my boys, but there was no noticeable heat to the dish and the boys loved it!

So while it took some time to prepare, it's a great dish to serve up on the weekend or when you can spare a few hours in the kitchen. It keeps well too.

Apparently you are supposed to be able to stand a wooden spoon up in your brunswick stew... so... ta da!

Brunswick Stew

Estimated time-3-4 hours, longer if making the Sunday Chicken Broth, or your own stock from scratch.

From “The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook: Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-Be Southerners” by Matt Lee and Ted Lee

Serves about 12

1/4 lb slab bacon, rough diced

2 Serrano, Thai or other dried red chiles, stems trimmed, sliced, seeded, flattened

1lb rabbit, quartered, skinned

1 4-5lb chicken, quartered, skinned, and most of the fat removed

1 oz sea salt for seasoning, plus extra to taste

8-12 cups chicken broth

2 Bay leaves

2 large celery stalks

2lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, or other waxy type potatoes, peeled, rough diced

1 ½ cups carrots (about 5 small carrots), chopped

3 ½ cups onion (about 4 medium onions) chopped

2 cups fresh corn kernels, cut from the cob (about 4 ears)

3 cups butterbeans, preferably fresh (1 ¼ lbs) or defrosted frozen (I used white lima beans)

1 35oz can / 4 cups whole, peeled tomatoes, drained

¼ cup red wine vinegar

Juice of 2 lemons

Tabasco sauce to taste

Directions

1. In the largest stockpot you have, preferably a 10-12 qt or Dutch Oven, fry the bacon over medium-high heat until it just starts to crisp. Transfer to a large bowl, and set aside. Reserve most of the bacon fat in your pan, and with the pan on the burner, add in the chilies. Toast the chilies until they just start to smell good, or make your nose tingle, about a minute tops. Remove to bowl with the bacon.

2. Season liberally both sides of the rabbit and chicken pieces with sea salt and pepper. Place the rabbit pieces in the pot and sear off all sides possible. You just want to brown them, not cook them completely. Remove to bowl with bacon and chilies, add more bacon fat if needed, or olive oil, or other oil of your choice, then add in chicken pieces, again, browning all sides nicely. Remember not to crowd your pieces, especially if you have a narrow bottomed pot. Put the chicken in the bowl with the bacon, chilies and rabbit. Set it aside.

3. Add 2 cups of your chicken broth or stock, if you prefer, to the pan and basically deglaze the pan, making sure to get all the goodness cooked onto the bottom. The stock will become a nice rich dark color and start smelling good. Bring it up to a boil and let it boil away until reduced by at least half. Add your remaining stock, the bay leaves, celery, potatoes, chicken, rabbit, bacon, chilies and any liquid that may have gathered at the bottom of the bowl they were resting in. Bring the pot back up to a low boil/high simmer, over medium/high heat. Reduce heat to low and cover, remember to stir every 15 minutes, give or take, to thoroughly meld the flavors. Simmer, on low, for approximately 1 ½ hours. Supposedly, the stock may become a yellow tinge with pieces of chicken or rabbit floating up, the celery will be very limp, as will the chilies. Taste the stock, according to the recipe, it “should taste like the best chicken soup you’ve ever had”.

4. With a pair of tongs, remove the chicken and rabbit pieces to a colander over the bowl you used earlier. Be careful, as by this time, the meats will be very tender and may start falling apart. Remove the bay leaf, celery, chilies, bacon and discard. After you’ve allowed the meat to cool enough to handle, carefully remove all the meat from the bones, shredding it as you go. Return the meat to the pot, throwing away the bones. Add in your carrots, and stir gently, allowing it to come back to a slow simmer. Simmer gently, uncovered, for at least 25 minutes, or until the carrots have started to soften.

5. Add in your onion, butterbeans, corn and tomatoes. As you add the tomatoes, crush them up. Simmer for another 30 minutes, stirring every so often until the stew has reduced slightly, and onions, corn and butterbeans are tender. Remove from heat and add in vinegar, lemon juice, stir to blend in well. Season to taste with sea salt, pepper, and Tabasco sauce if desired.

6. You can either serve immediately or refrigerate for 24 hours, which makes the flavors meld more and makes the overall stew even better. Serve hot, either on its own, or with a side of corn bread, over steamed white rice, with any braised greens as a side.

risotto milanese

2010-03-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.

I enjoy a good risotto, so I was pleased when this challenge was revealed. I must admit I haven't made risotto in some time, but used to quite enjoy making risotto milanese. This risotto is delicious blend of saffron, chicken stock and parmesan.

For this month's challenge, we needed to make our own chicken stock and the risotto base. After that, it was up to us to finish it off in which ever way we chose. Since it had been a while, I thought it was time to revisit one of my favorite risotto recipes.

Chicken Stock

I put the leftover chicken stock in 1/2 cup muffin tins to freeze for later use.

1 large chicken 2-3 pounds about 1 kg
chicken bones 2-3 pounds 1 kg
2 onions, roughly diced
1 medium leek - white part only, roughly diced
2 sticks celery, roughly diced
2 cloves garlic, halved
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp. white peppercorns ( Any type of whole peppercorn will do)
2 bay leaves (fresh or dried, it doesn't matter.)
peel of 1/2 lemon
1/4 tsp. allspice

Directions:

Wash the chicken and bones and places in a 5 Litre pot, cover completely with water and bring to a boil

Skim away any scum as it comes to the surface

Add the vegetables and bring back to a boil

Add the rest remaining ingredients and simmer very gently, uncovered for 1.5 hours

Carefully lift out the chicken, set aside. The chicken meat can be removed from the chicken, shredded off and used for other things like soup!

Simmer the stock gently for another hour. At , at the end you should have around 2 Liters

Carefully ladle the liquid into a fine sieve, the less the bones and vegetables are disturbed in this process the clearer the stock will be.  The stock is now ready for use. Freeze what you don't need for later use.

Risotto Base

olive oil 2 fluid oz 60 ml
1 small onion, quartered
rice 14 oz 400g
Any type of risotto rice will do. I use Arborio but the recipe itself says Vialone Nano. Another to look for is Carnaroli.
white wine 2 fl oz 60 ml
chicken or vegetable stock , simmering 2 pints 1 L

Directions:

Heat oil in a pan and add onion. Fry for a few minutes to flavour the oil then discard. (We diced ours and left it in as we like onion).

Add the rice and stir for a few minutes to coat each grain of rice with oil and toast slightly.

Add the wine and let it bubble away until evaporated.

Add enough stock to cover the rice by a finger’s width (about an inch or two). Don't actually stick your finger in, it will be hot. Just eye it off.

Cook on medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon from time to time, until most of the stock has been absorbed.

Repeat Step 5 making sure to leave aside approximately 100 ml. of stock for the final step. .

Repeat, save 100ml for the final stage.

Once you are at this point, the base is made. You now get to add your own variation.

To make Risotto Milanese, you have to adapt the base recipe somewhat by adding saffron to the base.

Risotto Milanese (from the "Joy of Cooking")

Combine and let stand for 10 minutes:

3 generous pinches of saffron threads

1 cup hot chicken stock

Melt in a large heavy saucepan over medium heat:

3 tablespoons butter

Stir in:

1 medium onion, minced

Cook over low heat until soft and clear. Meanwhile, simmer over medium heat:

9 cups chicken stock

Increase the heat under the onions to medium and stir in:

1 pound Italian rice or American medium-grain rice

Cook, stirring often, until the rice is chalky in appearance, about 5 minutes. Add:

1/2 cup dry white wine

Stir until absorbed. Add the saffron mixture and simmer, uncovered, stirring often, until absorbed. Add the chicken stock, 1 cup at a time, and simmer and stir continuously until absorbed. (If desired, when half of the stock has been used and the rice is still quite firm, the risotto can be removed from the heat and refrigerated, covered, for up to 2 days. To finish the risotto, reheat and continue.) Add the remaining stock, 1 cup at a time, until the rice is tender but still has some "bite". It should be creamy and not stiff. Fold in:

1 to 1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese

Season with:

Salt and ground pepper to taste

Let rest for a few minutes, then serve in warmed soup dishes. If desired, serve with:

Grated Parmesan cheese

tiramisu

2010-02-28T17:24:00.000-08:00

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

I've made tiramisu before, but certainly never made savoiardi biscuits (ladyfingers) or marscapone cheese from scratch before. I really enjoyed making both, however I found I didn't make enough ladyfingers... or at any rate when I went to use them for the recipe, there appeared to be less than I'd recalled making. However no one was fessing up to eating them! Next time I'll have to hide them.

Making this recipe was enjoyable. I love marsala wine, so making the zabaglione was fun... it filled my kitchen with the most wonderful fragrance. I also enjoyed making the recipe over a couple of days. It made the entire recipe seem really manageable and not too daunting. I decided to follow the recipe as set out by Aparna and Deeba and didn't get experiment with it... however next time I think I may use a zabaglione ice cream that I make occasionally and make tiramisu ice cream (but I'll be sure to lock up the savoiardi biscuits beforehand to ensure they're all there!).

MASCARPONE CHEESE

(Source: Vera’s Recipe for Homemade Mascarpone Cheese)
This recipe makes 12oz/ 340gm of mascarpone cheese

Ingredients:

474ml (approx. 500ml)/ 2 cups whipping (36 %) pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized), preferably organic cream (between 25% to 36% cream will do)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Method:

Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a wide skillet. Reduce the heat to medium-low so the water is barely simmering. Pour the cream into a medium heat-resistant bowl, then place the bowl into the skillet. Heat the cream, stirring often, to 190 F. If you do not have a thermometer, wait until small bubbles keep trying to push up to the surface.

It will take about 15 minutes of delicate heating. Add the lemon juice and continue heating the mixture, stirring gently, until the cream curdles. Do not expect the same action as you see during ricotta cheese making. All that the whipping cream will do is become thicker, like a well-done crème anglaise. It will cover a back of your wooden spoon thickly. You will see just a few clear whey streaks when you stir.

Remove the bowl from the water and let cool for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, line a sieve with four layers of dampened cheesecloth and set it over a bowl. Transfer the mixture into the lined sieve. Do not squeeze the cheese in the cheesecloth or press on its surface (be patient, it will firm up after refrigeration time). Once cooled completely, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (in the sieve) overnight or up to 24 hours.

Vera’s notes: The first time I made mascarpone I had all doubts if it’d been cooked enough, because of its custard-like texture. Have no fear, it will firm up beautifully in the fridge, and will yet remain lusciously creamy.

Keep refrigerated and use within 3 to 4 days.

Ladyfinger/Savoiardi Biscuits

(Source: Recipe from Cordon Bleu At Home)
This recipe makes approximately 24 big ladyfingers or 45 small (2 1/2" to 3" long) ladyfingers.

Ingredients:

3 eggs, separated
6 tablespoons /75gms granulated sugar
3/4 cup/95gms cake flour, sifted (or 3/4 cup all purpose flour + 2 tbsp corn starch)
6 tablespoons /50gms confectioner's sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 F (175 C) degrees, then lightly brush 2 baking sheets with oil or softened butter and line with parchment paper.

Beat the egg whites using a hand held electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gradually add granulate sugar and continue beating until the egg whites become stiff again, glossy and smooth.

In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks lightly with a fork and fold them into the meringue, using a wooden spoon. Sift the flour over this mixture and fold gently until just mixed. It is important to fold very gently and not overdo the folding. Otherwise the batter would deflate and lose volume resulting in ladyfingers which are flat and not spongy.

Fit a pastry bag with a plain tip (or just snip the end off; you could also use a Ziploc bag) and fill with the batter. Pipe the batter into 5" long and 3/4" wide strips leaving about 1" space in between the strips.

Sprinkle half the confectioner's sugar over the ladyfingers and wait for 5 minutes. The sugar will pearl or look wet and glisten. Now sprinkle the remaining sugar. This helps to give the ladyfingers their characteristic crispness.

Hold the parchment paper in place with your thumb and lift one side of the baking sheet and gently tap it on the work surface to remove excess sprinkled sugar.

Bake the ladyfingers for 10 minutes, then rotate the sheets and bake for another 5 minutes or so until the puff up, turn lightly golden brown and are still soft.

Allow them to cool slightly on the sheets for about 5 minutes and then remove the ladyfingers from the baking sheet with a metal spatula while still hot, and cool on a rack.

Store them in an airtight container till required. They should keep for 2 to 3 weeks.

TIRAMISU

(Recipe source: Carminantonio's Tiramisu from The Washington Post, July 11 2007 )

This recipe makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

For the zabaglione:
2 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar/50gms
1/4 cup/60ml Marsala wine (or port or coffee)
1/4 teaspoon/ 1.25ml vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

For the zabaglione:

Heat water in a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler, place a pot with about an inch of water in it on the stove. Place a heat-proof bowl in the pot making sure the bottom does not touch the water.

In a large mixing bowl (or stainless steel mixing bowl), mix together the egg yolks, sugar, the Marsala (or espresso/ coffee), vanilla extract and lemon zest. Whisk together until the yolks are fully blended and the mixture looks smooth.

Transfer the mixture to the top of a double boiler or place your bowl over the pan/ pot with simmering water.

Cook the egg mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, for about 8 minutes or until it resembles thick custard.

It may bubble a bit as it reaches that consistency.

Let cool to room temperature and transfer the zabaglione to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least

4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the vanilla pastry cream:

1/4 cup/55gms sugar
1 tablespoon/8gms all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon/ 2.5ml vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
3/4 cup/175ml whole milk

For the pastry cream:

Mix together the sugar, flour, lemon zest and vanilla extract in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. To this add the egg yolk and half the milk. Whisk until smooth.

Now place the saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring constantly to prevent the mixture from curdling.

Add the remaining milk a little at a time, still stirring constantly. After about 12 minutes the mixture will be thick, free of lumps and beginning to bubble. (If you have a few lumps, don’t worry. You can push the cream through a fine-mesh strainer.)

Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the whipped cream:
1 cup/235ml chilled heavy cream (we used 25%)
1/4 cup/55gms sugar
1/2 teaspoon/ 2.5ml vanilla extract

To assemble the tiramisu:
2 cups/470ml brewed espresso, warmed
1 teaspoon/5ml rum extract (optional)
1/2 cup/110gms sugar
1/3 cup/75gms mascarpone cheese
36 savoiardi/ ladyfinger biscuits (you may use less)
2 tablespoons/30gms unsweetened cocoa powder

Method:

For the whipped cream:
Combine the cream, sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer or immersion blender until the mixture holds stiff peaks. Set aside.

To assemble the tiramisu:

Have ready a rectangular serving dish (about 8" by 8" should do) or one of your choice.

Mix together the warm espresso, rum extract and sugar in a shallow dish, whisking to mix well. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone cheese with a spoon to break down the lumps and make it smooth. This will make it easier to fold. Add the prepared and chilled zabaglione and pastry cream, blending until just combined. Gently fold in the whipped cream. Set this cream mixture aside.

Now to start assembling the tiramisu.

Workings quickly, dip 12 of the ladyfingers in the sweetened espresso, about 1 second per side.

They should be moist but not soggy. Immediately transfer each ladyfinger to the platter, placing them side by side in a single row. You may break a lady finger into two, if necessary, to ensure the base of your dish is completely covered.

Spoon one-third of the cream mixture on top of the ladyfingers, then use a rubber spatula or spreading knife to cover the top evenly, all the way to the edges.

Repeat to create 2 more layers, using 12 ladyfingers and the cream mixture for each layer. Clean any spilled cream mixture; cover carefully with plastic wrap and refrigerate the tiramisu overnight.

To serve, carefully remove the plastic wrap and sprinkle the tiramisu with cocoa powder using a fine-mesh strainer or decorate as you please. Cut into individual portions and serve.

butternut squash soup

2010-02-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

Talk about serendipity... or to quote Ned Flanders "If that don't put the 'dink' in coinkydink!" I was thinking about using up some butternut squash I had, when I received my weekly newsletter from America's Test Kitchen. Guess what recipe was featured this week? You guessed it - butternut squash soup.

I had the ingredients on hand, and within an hour, I was sipping on some of the best squash soup I've ever had. The jury is still out on the cinnamon sugar croutons - while tasty on their own, I found them too sweet for my soup. But you can judge for yourself... this soup is fantastic!

The method totally intrigued me. Rather than throwing out the seeds and fibres from the squash, you saute them with butter and shallots. It intensifies the squash flavour. Go ahead - try this and you will not be disappointed!

Butternut Squash Soup
from America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients
4 tablespoons butter
2 shallots - minced finely
3 pounds butternut squash
six cups water
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

(see the link above for a good video on this recipe)

Melt butter in saucepan. Add shallots to pan over medium low heat. Don't brown the shallots.

Scrape out the seeds and fibres of the squash. Saute the scrapings with the shallots and butter for about 4 minutes.

Add water to pot. Cut each half into quarters. Place the squash flesh side down in a steamer basket and lower carefully into pot. Put lid on and simmer for a 1/2 hour.

Transfer the squash to a baking sheet. Run the remaining liquid through a strainer into a large bowl.

Take a spoon and scrape out the squash meat. Puree the squash in a blender in batches with some of the broth.

Put the pureed squash and broth into a dutch oven. Add sugar, heavy cream and salt and pepper. Serve with croutons.

Cinnamon Sugar Croutons

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut 2 slices of sandwich bread (crusts removed) into 1/2 inch cubes.

Toss with 1 tablespoon melted butter.

Add 2 teaspoons sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and toss.

Put on parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake until crisp - about 8 to 10 minutes.

dark chocolate cheesecake

2010-02-21T13:26:00.001-08:00

The other night, the boys and I were out for dinner. When it came to ordering dessert, they both ordered cheesecake. They asked my why I never made cheesecake, and I realized that I haven't made it for about 10 years. I don't know why. So I dusted off my "Joy of Cheesecake" book and got my springform pan.

I prefer my cheesecakes to be plain and unadulterated. I'm not crazy about sauces, whipped cream on anything else messing up my cheesecake. I'll have my plain please. I don't want anything to get in my way of enjoying it in all its simple goodness.

Dark Chocolate Cheesecake

(from “The Joy of Cheesecake” by Dana Bovbjerg & Jeremy Iggers)

Crumb crust

1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs

6 tablespoons melted butter

¼ cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the crumbs in a mixing bowl and add the butter and sugar. Blend well.

Press the crumb mixture onto the bottom and partly up the sides of a greased springform pan. Smooth the crumb mixture along the bottom to an even thickness.

Bake for 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Cool before filling.

Cheese cake

Ingredients

5 squares (5 ounces) semisweet chocolate

1 ½ pounds cream cheese

¾ cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees.

Melt the chocolate in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with the sugar until the mixture is smooth and light.

Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with the sugar until the mixture is smooth and light.

Beat in the eggs and the vanilla.

Stir in the melted chocolate and the sour cream into the cream cheese mixture and blend well.

Pour the mixture into the prepared crust and bake for 1 hour, 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow the cake to cool in the oven. Chill.

cardamom coffee cake

2010-02-20T11:37:00.000-08:00

I have a fondness for cardamom - I'll even sprinkle some the ground spice in my coffee sometimes. So when I saw this recipe on the Food Network website, I just had to try it. It's delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some coffee.

Cardamom Coffee Cake

From Christine Cushing

Cardamom and Almond Mixture

1/2 cup almonds, with skin, chopped coarsely (125 ml)
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar (45 ml)
2 tablespoons all purpose flour (30 ml)
1 teaspoon cardamom (5 ml)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (45 ml)

In a medium bowl, mix together almonds, sugar, flour and cardamom and melted butter with a fork or your fingertips.

Cake

2 cups all purpose flour (500 ml)
1 teaspoon baking powder (5 ml)
1/4 teaspoon salt (1 ml)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (2 ml)
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda (6 ml)
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature (250 ml)
1 cup packed light brown sugar (250 ml)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla (5 ml)
1 cup sour cream (250 ml)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and baking soda and set aside.
Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time and beating well between additions. Beat in vanilla. Add the dry ingredients in thirds to the creamed butter mixture, alternating with the sour cream, beating in between additions and ending with dry ingredients. Scrape down the sides and beat for 1 minute to develop structure of cake.
Line an 8-inch springform pan with parchment paper and grease sides. Pour half of the batter into the pan and sprinkle half of the almond mixture over the cake. Pour the remaining batter into the pan, spreading it out if necessary. Top with the remaining almond mixture.
Bake on the middle rack of oven for 50 to 60 minutes. Cake is done when a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Leave cake in pan and cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely. Makes 10 to 12 servings.

mezze with pita and hummus

2010-02-14T17:46:00.000-08:00

The 2010 February Daring COOKs challenge was hosted by Michele of Veggie Num Nums. Michele chose to challenge everyone to make mezze based on various recipes from Claudia Roden, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Dugid.

I was enjoying the Daring Bakers so much that I decided to join the Daring Cooks as well. This is my first challenge and my first attempt at making pita bread. I must say, pitas were quite simple to make and they turned out well. I had some buckwheat flour to use up, so I did a blend of all-purpose, whole wheat and buckwheat flours. The recipe seemed to adapt to that change quite well.

For the mezze, in addition to the required pita and hummus, I prepared saganaki, and had accompaniments of olives, prosciutto, dolmades, baba ganoush, tomatoes, tzatziki, pistachios, figs, dates, turkish delight, halva and baklava. It was a feast!

Pita Bread

Recipe adapted from Flatbreads & Flavors by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid

Prep time: 20 minutes to make, 90 minutes to rise and about 45 minutes to cook

2 teaspoons regular dry yeast (.43 ounces/12.1 grams)

2.5 cups lukewarm water (21 ounces/591 grams)

5-6 cups all-purpose flour (may use a combination of 50% whole wheat and 50% all-purpose, or a combination of alternative flours for gluten free pita) (17.5 -21 ounces/497-596 grams)

1 tablespoon table salt (.50 ounces/15 grams)

2 tablespoons olive oil (.95 ounces/29 ml)

Directions

1. In a large bread bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water. Stir to dissolve. Stir in 3 cups flour, a cup at a time, and then stir 100 times, about 1 minute, in the same direction to activate the gluten. Let this sponge rest for at least 10 minutes, or as long as 2 hours.

2. Sprinkle the salt over the sponge and stir in the olive oil. Mix well. Add more flour, a cup at a time, until the dough is too stiff to stir. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 to 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Rinse out the bowl, dry, and lightly oil. Return the dough to the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until at least doubled in size, approximately 1 1/2 hours.

3. Place a pizza stone, or two small baking sheets, on the bottom rack of your oven, leaving a 1-inch gap all around between the stone or sheets and the oven walls to allow heat to circulate. Preheat the oven to 450F (230C).

4. Gently punch down the dough. Divide the dough in half, and then set half aside, covered, while you work with the rest. Divide the other half into 8 equal pieces and flatten each piece with lightly floured hands. Roll out each piece to a circle 8 to 9 inches in diameter and less than 1/4 inch thick. Keep the rolled-out breads covered until ready to bake, but do not stack.

5. Place 2 breads, or more if your oven is large enough, on the stone or baking sheets, and bake for 2 to 3 minutes, or until each bread has gone into a full balloon. If for some reason your bread doesn't puff up, don't worry it should still taste delicious. Wrap the baked breads together in a large kitchen towel to keep them warm and soft while you bake the remaining rolled-out breads. Then repeat with the rest of the dough.

Hummus

Recipe adapted from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden

Prep Time: Hummus can be made in about 15 minutes once the beans are cooked. If you’re using dried beans you need to soak them overnight and then cook them the next day which takes about 90 minutes.

1.5 cups dried chickpeas, soaked in cold water overnight (or substitute well drained canned chickpeas and omit the cooking) (10 ounces/301 grams)

2-2.5 lemons, juiced (3 ounces/89ml)

2-3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

a big pinch of salt

4 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste) OR use peanut butter or any other nut butter—feel free to experiment) (1.5 ounces/45 grams)

additional flavorings (optional) I would use about 1/3 cup or a few ounces to start, and add more to taste

Directions

1. Drain and boil the soaked chickpeas in fresh water for about 1 ½ hours, or until tender. Drain, but reserve the cooking liquid.

2. Puree the beans in a food processor (or you can use a potato masher) adding the cooking water as needed until you have a smooth paste.

3. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Adjust the seasonings to taste.

nanaimo bars with homemade graham wafer crumbs

2010-01-28T19:04:00.000-08:00

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

I’m going to be honest. I live in British Columbia, so while I enjoy a nice nanaimo bar, the thought of making them for our Daring Bakers’ challenge didn’t fill me with excitement. I’ve made them, like, a gazillion times before. However, I’ve never made graham wafers, ever! So that was what totally intrigued me.

To get to the point – I’m never buying graham wafers again. Or graham wafer crumbs. Once you make your own, you’ll wonder why you’d want store bought. They’re tasty AND easy! It’s win-win!

We were allowed to make wheat based graham wafers, so that’s what I did. While I’m open to trying the gluten free wafers, I knew if I went out to buy rice flour, tapioca flour and sorghum flour as listed in the recipe, I’d have them going stale in my pantry in no time. So I exercised my option to forgo the gluten-free aspect of the challenge.

But here’s the gluten-free recipe for those who are interested:

Gluten-Free Graham Wafers

1 cup (138 g) (4.9 ounces) Sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour)

3/4 cup (100 g) (3.5 ounces) Tapioca Starch/Flour

1/2 cup (65 g) (2.3 ounces) Sorghum Flour

1 cup (200 g) (7.1 ounces) Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed

1 teaspoon (5 mL) Baking soda

3/4 teaspoon (4 mL ) Kosher Salt

7 tablespoons (100 g) (3 ½ ounces) Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)

1/3 cup (80 mL) Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover.

5 tablespoons (75 mL) Whole Milk

2 tablespoons (30 mL) Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.

2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.

3. Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.

4. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of sweet rice flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.

5. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).

6. Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.

7. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.

8. Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.

9. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.

If making the graham crackers with wheat, replace the gluten-free flours (tapioca starch, sweet rice flour, and sorghum flour) with 2 ½ cups plus 2 tbsp of all-purpose wheat flour, or wheat pastry flour. Watch the wheat-based graham wafers very closely in the oven, as they bake faster than the gluten-free ones, sometimes only 12 minutes.

Nanaimo Bars

Bottom Layer

1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)
1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

Middle Layer

1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar

Top Layer

4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter

Directions:

1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.

2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.

3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

sticky toffee trifle

2010-01-11T20:16:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you reserve a recipe for only special occasions. This is one of those. Not because this recipe is overly challenging (it's not) but more so because you know that if you keep this calorie bomb in the house, you're doomed doomed doomed. It will be calling your name like a siren from the kitchen.... "Eat me..." it says... "Come on.... you know you want to...just a little... it's okay..." Oh no! You'll struggle to resist its creamy, gooey, tart and sweet song as its voice reaches your ears from the fridge. And you know what? It's only getting harder to resist as it improves with age... Damn you sticky toffee trifle! Damn you!

So I've relegated this delight to once a year. This is served only for Christmas dinner along with a steamed Christmas pudding which I also adore. This trifle has it all... cranberries, toffee sauce, dates, and a rum flavoured whipped cream. So... very... good... This has been on our Christmas dinner table for the past four years and will be making an appearance at every Christmas dinner for years to come.

I challenge you to make this and not have this as one of your favorite desserts. You heard me! Try it and you too will be lured by this divine and luscious endorphin releaser. I dare you!

Watch out - this makes plenty (about 16 servings)

Ingredients

1 quart whipping cream
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup dark rum
Date cake (recipe follows)
Toffee sauce (recipe follows)
Poached cranberries (recipe follows)
1/4 cup slivered pitted Medjool dates (see notes)

Preparation

1. In a bowl, with a mixer on high speed, whip 2 cups cream with 2 tablespoons each granulated sugar and rum until soft peaks form.

2. In the bottom of a 4- to 5-quart trifle dish or straight-sided glass bowl, spread a third of the date cake cubes level. Drizzle 1/3 cup toffee sauce evenly over cake. Spoon about 1 cup poached cranberries (including juices) over sauce. Spread about half the whipped cream evenly over cranberries. Repeat with another layer of cake, sauce, cranberries, and whipped cream. Layer remaining third of the cake cubes over the whipped cream, drizzle with 1/3 cup toffee sauce, and spoon remaining cranberries over the top. Cover with plastic wrap and chill at least 8 hours.

3. In a bowl, with a mixer on high speed, whip remaining 2 cups cream with remaining 2 tablespoons each granulated sugar and rum until soft peaks form. Spread over trifle and garnish with slivered dates.

4. To serve, scoop portions onto plates. Pass remaining toffee sauce to add to taste.

Date Cake:

1. Put 3/4 cup chopped pitted Medjool dates in a blender or food processor. Pour in 1/2 cup boiling water and let stand for 5 minutes. Whirl until smooth.

2. In a bowl, with a mixer on medium speed (use paddle attachment with standing mixer), beat 3/4 cup (3/8 lb.) room-temperature butter, 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar, and the date purée until well blended and smooth. Add 4 large eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

3. In another bowl, stir together 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda; stir into butter mixture until well blended. Scrape batter into a buttered and floured 9-inch square baking pan.

4. Bake in a 350° oven until a wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cake cool in pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then invert onto rack; remove pan and let cake cool completely.

5. Trim off dark edges of cake; reserve for another use or discard. Cut remaining cake into 1-inch cubes.

Toffee sauce

In a 1- to 2-quart pan over medium heat, stir 1 1/2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar, 1/4 cup (1/8 lb.) butter, 2 tablespoons light corn syrup, and 1 teaspoon lemon juice until sugar is dissolved and mixture is foamy, about 5 minutes. Whisk in 2 tablespoons vanilla and cook 1 minute longer. Whisk in 1 1/2 cups whipping cream and remove from heat. Makes 2 cups.
Poached cranberries: In a 3- to 4-quart pan over medium-high heat, stir 1 1/2 cups orange juice, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla until sugar is dissolved. Add 12 ounces rinsed and sorted fresh cranberries or thawed frozen ones; simmer gently just until skins begin to split, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and chill until cool, at least 30 minutes.

buttermilk corn bread

2010-01-10T20:49:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had a recipe that you make so often that you take it for granted? I made cornbread to have with dinner tonight and it occurred to me that I should blog about it. I've made this recipe so often... at least a couple times a month. It's such an obvious topic and yet it had never remotely occurred to me before!

I often turn to this recipe when I have some buttermilk to use up in the fridge, as was the case tonight. This is usually served as an accompaniment to my beef stew, but tonight it was served with pork ribs, corn and squash with salad.

Don't overcook it or it will be too dry. The recipe below refers to a 25 minute cooking time, but my oven gets the job done in 20. I pull it out when the top starts to turn golden brown and like it best when it's just a tad underdone when pulled from the oven. It will cook fully while it's resting on the counter. Best eaten while still warm, this cornbread is still okay the next day if you warm it up a little in the microwave first

This is usually just served with a little bit of butter. Feel free to add something extra to jazz it up (see the bottom of the recipe for some ideas).

Buttermilk Corn Bread
from Bread by Beth Hensperger

(yield: one 9 inch round bread; 6 to 8 servings)

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
In another bowl, mix eggs, buttermilk and butter. Add to dry ingredients and stir until all ingredients are just blended. Take care not to overmix.
Pour batter into a greased 9 inch pie plate. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes until golden brown around the edges and a cake tester comes out clean. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting in wedges to serve.

Variations

1 cup blueberries, raspberries or cranberries (great for breakfast)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup fresh or thawed frozen corn kernels