Category: Baking

Baking, Breads, Food Memories

Food Memories – Grandmother’s Dinner Rolls

by Wendi18 Comments on Food Memories – Grandmother’s Dinner Rolls

I met Jen Schall last year at Big Summer Potluck.  And then we both found ourselves attending the IFBC conference a month or so later.  One thing led to another and before I knew it we were tweeting back and forth and leaving comments on each other’s blogs.  Let me tell you something about Jen, she creates amazing things in the kitchen. Go.  Look.  Here’s the link.  Her talent isn’t limited to the sweets and savories.  That’s only half the story.  Her pictures are sublime.  Knowing that she’s only about 90 minutes away from B’more, I’m tempted to show up on her doorstep one day and request a private tutorial in how she sets up these shots.

I had asked Jen after IFBC if she had a recipe that I could include in my Food Memories Project.  She said she thought she did and then life got busy in the way it often does.  Later we were chatting about my challenges making bread and she mentioned that she had this great dinner roll recipe that she was going to post in her bread baking series.  So imagine my surprise when I read her post about her grandmother’s dinner rolls.  It was as though I had hit the trifecta….grandmother story (and I’m a big sucker for those), food memory, and a flawless roll all in one.

Thanks to Jen and her generosity, I now have perfect dinner rolls in my freezer and a food memory to share with you.

The following appeared on My Kitchen Addiction on 3 May 2011.

Light and Soft Dinner Rolls

If you ask anyone in my family, they will tell you that these are the ultimate dinner rolls. But, I can’t really take credit for them.

These are my grandmother’s famous rolls…  Whenever we would have get togethers with the whole family, she would make a big batch of these rolls. They were a holiday staple for years. My brother and cousins would fight over them, and I’m pretty sure that there were times where they each had more than 10 rolls in one meal. They really are that good.

My grandmother was a great cook and baker. Though she passed away a few years ago, I often think of her when I am in my kitchen. I am fortunate enough to have many of her recipes, and though I can’t prepare them quite the way she did, they always remind me of her.

Until recently, the recipe for her rolls was one of the few recipes that I didn’t have. In December, my mom and I were putting together a book of family recipes for my brother and his new wife.  When we asked around for recipes, one of my cousins happened to have the recipe for the rolls. We put it in the book (especially since my brother was one of the biggest fans of the rolls), and I set out to learn to make them myself.

Perhaps my grandmother is looking down on me, because there’s just something about these rolls that always amazes me.  They really are quite simple to make, and they always turn out beautifully.  They are the lightest, softest dinner rolls I have ever made. They’re also pretty adaptable. I have swapped out the all purpose flour for whole wheat, added flax, used oil in place of the butter, and even made them with herbs and cheese. The rolls also make fantastic buns for hot dogs and hamburgers… You’ll want to keep the recipe on hand this summer!

Light and Soft Dinner Rolls
(Makes 18 dinner rolls or 12 sandwich rolls)

Adapted from Jen Schall

BAH Note: I’ve made these as cloverleaf rolls with success.  After the second rise, portion the dough into 18 rolls. Divide each roll into three equal pieces and roll them into three small balls.  Place the group of three dough balls in the buttered cavity of a muffin tin so that it looks like a pyramid.  Brush the tops with melted butter,  cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let the dough rise just until it reaches the top of the muffin tin.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes.  I’ve also frozen the cooked rolls and let them thaw at room temperature or warmed them in a 350 degree oven.

  • 1 cup warm milk
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast
  • 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
    (or cut it into small chunks and microwave for about 15 seconds)
  • 3 – 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Begin by combining the milk, sugar, yeast, and salt in a large mixing bowl.  Whisk together until the yeast and sugar are mostly dissolved.

Add the butter and egg.  Stir to incorporate and break up the egg.  Add 1 cup of flour and beat vigorously to fully incorporate the flour and any lumps of butter that may have been remaining.

Gradually, add the remaining flour, stirring until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Knead the dough with your hands, adding just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to your hands.  Knead for about 5 minutes, until the dough is smooth, but still light and soft.

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until the dough has doubled in volume (about 1 1/2 hours).  Punch the dough down, reshape into a ball, and let rise a second time until the dough has doubled in volume again (an additional hour).

Preheat the oven to 425°F.  Shape the rolls and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicon liner. Let the rolls rise while the oven preheats, until they are a bit puffy.  If desired, brush the tops of the rolls with some egg wash (to make them shiny) and sprinkle with sesame seeds (I usually do this for the hot dog and hamburger buns).  Bake for about 12 – 14 minutes, until the rolls are golden on top.

Let the rolls cool for about 10 minutes on the baking sheet, and then transfer to a wire rack. The rolls are best served warm, but they will keep for a few days in an airtight container, or wrapped in plastic.

{printable recipe}

Baking, Sweets

Kerrygold Shortbread

by Wendi16 Comments on Kerrygold Shortbread

I don’t often pull the “you really need to use a specific brand” card here.  Today, I’m laying that card squarely on the table.  Because while most of the time I find that attitude to be rather condescending…not that I’m naming names Martha or Ina…it is true that the quality of your ingredients effects your final results.  Especially when you are making a dish that has a small number of ingredients, you notice things.  Like when the butter you use for shortbread is boringly blah.

99.99% of the time, when I reach for a stick of butter, I’m grabbing Land o’ Lakes or the store brand, whichever happened to be on sale.  Usually that’s ok because butter doesn’t typically play a prominent role in my cooking.  If my cooking were the first Harry Potter movie, butter would have played the role of Diagon Alley Boy.  It’s because butter is usually a minor supporting cast member that every so often I get to pull out the really good stuff and let it be the star.  Because you know even Diagon Alley Boy’s understudy aspires to play the role of Severus Snape.

So when a recipe calls for Butter (with a capital B), I pull out my special stash of Kerrygold.  It is richer, creamier, and more buttery than the pale yellow sticks of butter (lowercase b) that get most of the action in my kitchen. Yes, you might have to look a little harder in your grocery store to find it, but I bet you it’s there.  And if you’ve gone to the trouble of putting one block of it in your cart, why don’t you go ahead and just get a few more?  Once you taste what the folks at Kerrygold wrap in that gold foil, you’re going to want to find more reasons to pull out the good stuff.

I suggest you start with Kerrygold Shortbread.  Served with a dollop of Lemon Sauce, Blueberry Jam, or a combination of the two, it is buttery perfection, minimalist style.

Kerrygold Shortbread

Adapted from Kerrygold

BAH Note:  I think I should have popped the uncooked shortbread into the refrigerator for 30 minutes before baking.  When I removed it from the oven, I had a noticeable amount of butter leakage on my sheet pan which is a pretty good indication that my dough was too warm when it went into the oven.  It didn’t make the shortbread any less enjoyable; it just meant the bottom of my tart pan was icky.  When you score the dough, go a little deeper than you think you need to.  The dough will puff in the oven which tends to obliterate light score marks.

  • 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup cornstarch
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 8 ounces cold Kerrygold Irish Butter, cut into 3/4 inch pieces
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Line a sheet pan with parchment or aluminum foil and set aside.

Place the flour, cornstarch and salt in the work bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix on low speed for about 30 seconds to combine then add  1/2 cup of the sugar and continue to mix for another 30 seconds.  Add the cubed cold butter and continue mixing for about 2 minutes or until crumbs form and there is no loose flour in the bowl.  Add in the vanilla and continue to mix for about 30 seconds until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl in large clumps.

Transfer the dough to a 9 inch tart pan with removable bottom.  Use your hands to press the dough into the pan as evenly as possible to a thickness of 1/2 inch.  Smooth the top of the dough with a plastic bench scraper or thin metal spatula then use the scraper or a sharp knife to score the dough into 12 wedges.  Use a fork to dock the dough every 2 inches and sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar over the top of the dough.

Refrigerate the dough at this point for 30 minutes to let it firm back up before baking.  When you put the dough in the refrigerator, heat your oven to 300 degrees.

When ready to bake, place the tart pan on the prepared sheet pan and bake for approximately 1 hour or until the top is lightly golden brown.  Immediately use a sharp knife to cut completely through the score lines.  Allow the the shortbread to cool completely in the pan before removing the bottom and separating the cookies into wedges.  Store in an airtight container.

{printable recipe}

Baking, Food Memories, Sweets

Food Memories – Snickerdoodles

by Wendi34 Comments on Food Memories – Snickerdoodles

I met Colleen last year at the Big Summer Potluck.  I have to tell you, that one day brought so many talented people into my world.  Colleen not only runs Souffle Bombay, she also has a second site, Picture Me Cooking, geared towards cooking with kids.  And it all started with a Food Memory.  Here’s how she describes it:

My friends and family often joke that no one turns down an invitation to our house because they want to come and eat the food, lol!! Cooking is amazing to me, combine a bit of this with a bit of that and look what you get…a party in your mouth! I enjoy cooking for my family, cooking for others, planning party menu’s and I LOVE cooking with my children. From an early age, the kitchen became my happy place.

One day, I had a flash of a memory…it was about first time I remember cooking as a kid, I could see myself walking toward my family, who were all sitting at the table looking at what I had made with anticipation and excitement. I can remember exactly how I felt carrying that cake as I walked toward them.

I though well…THAT one moment was certainly a defining moment for me…and you know what I don’t even have a picture of it…WHY I thought don’t kids cookbooks have a way to capture some photos of what they cook up in the kitchen, who the cook with…after all to many of us some of our most precious memories happened in a kitchen at the knee of someone we love/loved.

So, I sat down and outlined the book and began to write it, then formed a group about a year later with 3 other mom’s and produced the book. I have even been on QVC with it – all that from a memory.

See what I mean about the talented people I had the fortune to meet that day?  Colleen took a memory and turned it into a book.  She’s been on QVC y’all.  I knew about the book but not the QVC…she must have nerves of steel.  I’m going to have to ask her all about that experience when I see her this summer at Big Summer Potluck II.  Until then, we can all enjoy her Snickerdoodles Food Memory.

Snickerdoodles

For me, eating certain foods and hearing certain songs are the most powerful drivers of my memories.

The food memories, for whatever reason are all warm and happy…the music ones take me back to so many different events, some crazy happy some achingly painful and some “what was I thinking”! Anyone with me on this?

Case in point…Snickerdoodles.
I can see in my minds eye my Grammy often making Snickerdoodles, I can see me helping her, sometimes alone, sometimes surrounded by my cousins and siblings.

I can’t recall a Christmas at her house without having eaten as many of them as I possibly could without any adults saying a word! Man, holidays are best!!

But do I have HER recipe…nope. I do make Snicherdoodles often as my children love both baking them up and of course eating them up.

I was intrigued when I saw this recipe for Snickerdoodles from Miss in the Kitchen (a really nice gal who cooks up quick family style dishes). One of the ingredients in her recipe is cream cheese….yes…cream cheese. Never heard of such a thing in a Snickerdoodle, so I wanted to find out how that would change things.

These were good…they were softer than what I am accustomed to and did not last long in my house lol! We even made 1 HUGE cookie that could have fed 4 kids easily, however my two knuckleheads decided to split it to see if they could eat it! My 9 year old son polished off his half…while my 6 year old daughter made a valiant effort!

Cream Cheese Snickerdoodles
Souffle Bombay’s adaptation from Miss in the Kitchen (Blog)

BAH Note:  The only thing I will add is that the cookie dough is very soft.  I refrigerated mine for about 30 minutes before I tried to scoop it.  And then I returned the bowl of dough to the fridge after I had scooped enough for a sheet pan.

  • 4 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 tablespoons sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In your mixing bowl, add cream cheese and butter. Beat with an electric mixer until well combined. Beat in sugar, eggs and vanilla . Add flour and baking soda mixing until all combined. Scoop into 1 1/2 inch balls and roll in sugar and cinnamon mixture. Place 2 inches apart on a greased or lined baking sheet and press gently with tines of a fork in a crisscross pattern. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

 {printable recipe}

Baking, Sweets

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

by Wendi22 Comments on Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

I am starting to suspect that I have developed a raging case of Adult Onset Attention Deficit Disorder (AOADD).  I used to be the queen of following directions, reading comprehension, and recall of random information.  I was the girl you wanted on your Trivia Night team.

Much like my youthful complexion, shopping in the Junior’s Department, and cassette tapes, those days are long gone.  I now have lists to remind me about lists.  I would be hard pressed to summarize the plot of anything I’ve read in the last few months.  And I continually find myself wandering off task.  For instance, as I am writing this post, I pop over to Yahoo when it tells me that I have a new email.  From there, I open a few browser windows, read an online chat or two, and try unsuccessfully to get into Twitter for twenty minutes.  All that happens before I remember that I was in the middle of something.

In short, I get in my own damn way.

Sadly, this condition often surfaces while I’m in the kitchen.  And it leads to some interesting internal dialogue.  Let’s consider Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes.  In the bake! cookbook, they were on the pages immediately following a recipe for Carrot Cake.  So there I am, book open with absolutely zero recognition that the page says Carrot Cake and I’m thinking Pumpkin Spice.  I start prepping ingredients.  And then at nearly the point of no return, I figured out my mistake.  Luckily the two recipes shared several key ingredients in almost identical amounts.  So with some deep breathing and quick math, I was able to catch my mistake and keep going.

But had I been paying attention in the first place, I would have realized I was on the wrong damn page.

Should you ever meet me in real life and I do something so completely boneheaded that the only explanation is that I’m losing my mind, I’ll try and remember to mention that I have diagnosed myself as suffering from AOADD.

Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from bake!

BAH Note:  I scaled down the original recipe which makes two 9″ round cake layers in order to make one dozen cupcakes.  The math initially involved trying to halve an egg.  Which made my brain hurt.  So instead of bringing on a migraine, I used a little more oil.  I probably could have also just used the yolk of an egg and been done with it.  Maybe next time.  Despite testing for doneness, the larger muffins were still a little wet inside. But then again, this is a very moist cake recipe.  When I ate one the next morning with my coffee, it was perfectly fine.  And nobody who sampled them voiced any complaints.

For the cupcakes:

  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon 5 spice powder
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Heat the oven to 350 degrees and place a regular muffin tin on a half sheet pan.  Spray the top of the pan with nonstick spray, line the cups with muffin or cupcake papers, and set aside.

Combine the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.

Place the brown sugar in a large mixing bowl and use a spatula to mix in about a third of the pumpkin until there are no sugar lumps remaining.  Use a whisk to mix in the remaining pumpkin, eggs, oil, and vanilla, adding each one at a time and stirring well between each addition.

Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet in thirds.  Use a standard ice cream disher to scoop the drop the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the cupcakes are risen and firm and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  Transfer to a rack and cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning the cupcakes out to cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:

  • 6 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 3 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons crystallized ginger, optional

Place the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl and use a whisk or electric mixer to combine.  Sift the confectioner’s sugar into the bowl one half cup at a time, whisking until it is completely absorbed after each addition.  Add the vanilla and whisk until the frosting is smooth.  After frosting the cupcakes, roughly chop the crystallized ginger and use to garnish the cupcakes.

{printable recipe}

Baking, Breads, Chicken, Sweets

Chocolate Filled Sweet Braid

by Wendi29 Comments on Chocolate Filled Sweet Braid

My percentages of Bread Wins have improved…but I am still far from being a competent bread maker.  More and more I get the feeling that this, in particular, is going to be a life long endeavor.  So if I embrace the philosophy that it’s a marathon and not a sprint, then I’m just happy to make it to the next mile marker.  Doesn’t really matter how many miles are behind me, I’m one step closer to the finish line.

I never would have had the courage to try Chocolate Filled Sweet Braid had it not been for two of my favorite local bloggers, Beth and Lan.  These ladies and I attended a free demonstration put on by King Arthur Flour a few months ago.  The truth is, I probably wouldn’t have gone by myself so it’s only by grace of the fact that they joined me that I went at all…I can be a little introverted that way.  If you happened to be at the Holiday Inn by MOM’S that night, we were the ones causing all kinds of trouble in the front row.  After seeing the uber talented KAF staffer breeze through the dough, I started to think maybe I could too.  I left the demo armed with a shot of confidence, a recipe, and a packet of Red Star Yeast.

Since this is me we’re talking about, you know that I had to have at least one bump in the road to Chocolate Filled Sweet Bread.  And it was a pretty big one.  Once I had done the math to scale the recipe in half and had myself all nicely mis en placed, my sponge didn’t start.  There was no bubbly action going on that I could see.  So I set that bowl aside and started again.  This time the sponge developed some lovely bubbly froth and I was in business.  Maybe the first sponge’s lack of cooperation was The Universe challenging me to see how committed I was to the task at hand.  Or maybe I just manged to mangle things.

Either way, the point is that I persevered…and I marked this particular mile with Chocolate Filled Sweet Braid.

Sweet Braid Dough

Adapted from King Arthur Flour

Sponge

  • 1 ounce unbleached all purpose flour
  • 3 ounces warm water
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Dough

  • all of the sponge
  • 3 ounces plain low fat yogurt or buttermilk
  • 2 ounces butter, softened
  • 1 egg
  • 1 3/4 ounces sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla or citrus zest
  • 9 to 12 ounces unbleached all purpose flour

Filling

  • 5 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 3/4 ounces sugar
  • 2 ounces sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To make the sponge, combine the warm water and 1 teaspoon sugar in a small bowl and stir to dissolve.  Stir in the yeast and 1/4 cup flour.  Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for about 15 minutes or until bubbly.

In a large bowl, combine the sponge, yogurt or buttermilk, butter, eggs, remaining sugar, salt, and vanilla.  Add the remaining flour 1 cup at a time, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Once the dough pulls away from the bowl, stop adding flour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead with lightly floured hands for 5 minutes until pliable and soft but not sticky.  Spray the bowl you mixed the dough in with nonstick cooking spray while you let the dough rest.  Continue to knead the dough until it is smooth and springy (if you gently make an indentation into the dough with your finger the dough will spring back).

Return the dough to the greased bowl, turn to coat it with the nonstick spray and cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a dish towel.  Let the dough sit in a warm place for approximately 1 1/2 hours or until doubled.

Gently deflate the dough and roll into a rectangle approximately 10 x 14 on a sheet of parchment paper.  Using a butter knife or plastic bench scraper, gently score the dough so that it is divided into thirds.  Be sure not to cut through the dough, you just want to mark it for reference.  Cut notches out of each of the four corners and then use your butter knife or bench scraper to cut 1″ wide strips in the two outer thirds of the dough.  The center of your dough will be “fringed” with the strips on each side.  Try to get your strips to line up as much as possible on each side.

Stir 1 tablespoon all purpose flour into half of the prepared filling and spread over the center third of the dough, leaving 1″ at the top and bottom uncovered.  Reserve the other half of the filling for another use.  Sprinkle 6 ounces chocolate chips over the filling.

Fold the top and bottom flaps down over the filling and then bring the strips of dough fringe across the filling on a diagonal, alternating from side to side.  Press and pinch each strip into the side of the dough as you go until the loaf is braided.

Brush the top of the braid with an egg wash of one egg beaten with one tablespoon water and sprinkle the top with coarse sugar.  Loosely cover the braid with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 to 45 minutes or until puffed.

While the braid rests and proofs, heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Uncover the braid and slide the sheet of parchment onto a half sheet pan. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and the internal temperature registers 190 degrees on an instant read thermometer.  Transfer the braid still on the parchment to a rack to cool for 30 minutes before slicing.

{printable recipe}

Baking, Dessert, Sweets

David Lebovitz’s Gateau Therese

by Wendi11 Comments on David Lebovitz’s Gateau Therese

What happens when a winter storm collides with a planned dinner party?  People cancel.  At least that’s what happened to the December 2010 installment of our Inspired Supper Club.  Fr. Leo was coming in from Emmitsburg, Adam and Joanne were driving up from NOVA, Mary was driving cross town, and Lan was crossing the Boulevard to meet up at our house for a pre-holiday celebration. Then the ice came. And the calls and emails started.  Should we cancel?  Should we continue as planned?

The good thing about my Type A personality is that I usually have a back up plan.  So when Adam and Joanne said they wouldn’t be able to make it, we moved Fr. Leo’s soup into the appetizer spot on the menu.  And when Mary decided that the ice and her brakes were not getting along, I immediately put Gateau Therese to the task of rounding out the meal.

If someone had walked into our house not knowing the chaos that the weather had wrought, they never would have guessed the evening had ever been in jeopardy.  Because The Mistah, Lan, Fr. Leo, and I had an  incredibly Inspired Supper.  While there were a few empty chairs at the table, we had an abundance of laughter and were nourished by the chance to connect with one another.

Gateau Therese

Adapted from David Lebovitz “The Sweet Life in Paris”

  • 9 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips
  • 8 tablespoons butter
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 4 eggs, separated
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray, line the bottom with a strip of parchment (make it into a sling so you have handles coming out the sides), and set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites with the kosher salt on low speed until foamy.  Increase the speed to medium until soft peaks form.  Add half the sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks are formed when the beater is removed from the bowl.

Melt the chocolate and butter together in the top of a double boiler set over a pot of simmering water.  When just melted, remove from the heat and stir in the remaining half of the sugar, the egg yolks, and the flour.  Stir until just combined.

Mix 1/3 of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten the batter.  Then carefully fold the remaining whites into the batter just until the batter is smooth and no white streaks remain.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 35 minutes until the cake just feels slightly firm in the center.  Cool the cake in the pan then grab the parchment sling and carefully remove the cake from the pan.

{printable recipe}

Baking, Sweets

Applesauce Spice Cake

by Wendi18 Comments on Applesauce Spice Cake

To stay on top of the blog, I make a concerted effort to write my posts as soon as possible after making a recipe.  I like to cook, photograph, and write within 24 hours.  Otherwise, I get disorganized.  And when I get disorganized, there’s no help for me.

I am just now starting to make sense of the mess of recipes that have been accumulating both on my computer desk and in my “drafts” folder since the end of last year.  What I’m finding is that I’m lucky if I remembered to make some kind of comment, no matter how cryptic, to provide useful insight or commentary on the recipes.  More often than not, I didn’t.

I’m talking about months’ worth of cooking and eating commentary, gone forever.  I’ll be honest, my first inclination is to freak the hell out.  But thanks to the savvy marketing of Keep Calm and Carry On, I can let the stoic British spirit be my guide.  So what if I don’t have a picture, or a bit of wisdom, to append to my post.  I must carry on.

So no, there is no photo available for applesauce spice cake.  Besides, what you really need in order to fall in love with this cake is scratch and sniff.  Sure it’s a beauty to behold but the aroma of the spices is the real show stopper.

Applesauce Spice Cake

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

BAH Note: I made this in a 9 inch round cake pan but according to my pal Beth at 990 square, there is enough batter to make a full size bundt.  Either choice you make, you can’t go wrong.

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 stick butter, softened
  • 1 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1 /2 cups unsweetened applesauce

Heat oven to 350 degrees and spray your cake pan with a nonstick spray that includes flour.  If using a round cake pan, you can also line the bottom with a piece of parchment.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices in a medium bowl.  In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, brown sugar, and vanilla until pale and fluffy, approximately 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add the applesauce and mix to combine.

Reduce the mixer to low speed, add the flour, and mix until just combined.

Spread the batter into your prepared pan and bake for approximately 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes then turn the cake out onto a rack to cool completely before frosting.

Beth’s Cream Cheese Glaze

Adapted from 990 Square

  • 3 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/8 cup confectioner’s sugar
  • 1/4 cup half and half
  • 1/4 teaspoon allspice

In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese, confectioner’s sugar, and vanilla until fluffy.  Add the half and half slowly until the glaze is your desired consistency.  Spread on top of your cooled cake and garnish with the allspice.

{printable recipe}

Baking, Dessert, Sweets

You Can bake! with Nick Malgieri

by Wendi25 Comments on You Can bake! with Nick Malgieri

 

Photo by Beth @ 990 Square

Every so often, the Universe sends Opportunity knocking at my door.  I’m usually pretty leery about answering if I’m not expecting company.  Because more often than not, the person on the other side of the door is trying to sell me something…eternal salvation, Girl Scout cookies, or a weekend subscription to the newspaper.  I usually take a gander through the peep hole and then stand there quietly until the knocker goes away.  But recently, Opportunity left me a calling card in the form of an invitation to spend an evening with Nick Malgieri.

Perhaps I should clarify that statement so as not to give anyone the wrong impression of my moral character.  I was invited to join a group of Baltimore bloggers for an evening of food and drinks organized by Dara of Dining Dish.  Nick Malgieri was the guest of honor.

I’ve said before that my knowledge of the culinary world is pretty narrow.  At least I know that I don’t know squat about the culinary Who’s Who.  And that’s really something that I should work on.  Not so that can I drop names left and right in casual conversation but so that I can expose myself to the wonderful talents of the folks who have turned their passion for creating good food into learning opportunities for home cooks like myself.

That’s how it came to be that I fixed my hair, put on mascara and my cute heels, and set out with a dutch oven full of Commitment Chili and a few dozen Puffy Hearts…I had some learning to do.  And what I learned is that people are people.  It doesn’t matter if you have over 30 years of experience and 9 cookbooks to your credit, or you’re a home cook who blogs about your kitchen (mis)adventures.  We each bring our talents and unique perspectives to the table.  How could that be the recipe for anything but a great evening?

My thanks to Nick for sharing his thoughts with us on the culinary world and being gracious and generous with his time, his talent, and his baking.  I have been drooling over the pages of his latest book – bake! – since bringing it home that night.  I think this description sums it up best:

“After 30 years of teaching and 9 cookbooks, Nick Malgieri is finally writing the book he’s meant to write–a collection of over 30 essential techniques, and recipes derived thereof–outlining the easiest ways to learn the essentials of baking. The 20 chapters cover all the main techniques of fine baking, starting with simple pastry dough and moving through puff pastry and Danish pastry, to all sorts of breads, quick breads, cakes, and cookies. The 125 recipes will take all the intimidation out of baking and promise delicious savory and sweet results.”

If you’ve hung around these parts a while, you know that I can get intimidated by the  mere utterance of “yeast”, “dough”, or “pastry”.  But after reading the recipes, I think that even I can produce satisfying cakes, breads, and tarts with Nick’s help.  I’d like to also thank him for including variations on several of the bake! recipes that I can use to avoid  things like seeds and nuts but still work on improving my techniques and enjoying the results.

I hope the next time opportunity comes knocking at my door, it maybe brings me a pair of stretchy pants.  Because I fear that I won’t be able to control myself once I jump into bake!

Nick Malgieri’s Chocolate Bourbon Cake

Reprinted with Permission

Copyright © Nick Malgieri 2011, All Rights Reserved

BAH Note: Not only did Nick share his baking talents with us in person, but he’s given us permission to share one of his unpublished recipes with you.  How does Chocolate Bourbon Cake sound? I tasted this cake and it is heaven on a plate.  Moist, but dense and richly chocolate, it lulls you into its web.  And then it wraps you with a bourbony hug.  You could omit the bourbon, but I can’t imagine why you’d want to.  I asked Nick whether the cake required a water bath in order to achieve its silky texture and you could have knocked me over with a feather when he said no.  Don’t believe me?  Try it for yourself.

Nick says, “The sweet, mellow flavor of Bourbon has a great affinity for chocolate.  Serve this unadorned cake with a little unsweetened whipped cream.”  I could not agree more.

Makes one 8-inch cake, 8 to 10 servings

  • 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces
  • 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (70%), cut into 1/4-inch pieces
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off)
  • Pinch of salt
  • 5 large eggs
  • 3 tablespoons best-quality Bourbon
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
  • One 8-inch round 2-inch deep pan, buttered, bottom lined with a disk of buttered parchment.

1.      Set a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.

2.      Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat, allowing it to sizzle and get really hot.  Remove from heat, add chocolate and whisk smooth.

3.      In a bowl, whisk the granulated sugar, flour, and salt together; add all the eggs and Bourbon.  Whisk together smoothly.

4.      Stir the brown sugar into the butter and chocolate mixture and stir into the batter.

5.      Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.  Bake the cake until the center is still soft, but no longer liquid, 25 to 35 minutes.

6.      Cool the cake on a rack.

7.      To serve the cake, invert to a platter and remove the pan and paper.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap if not serving immediately.

{printable recipe}

Baking, Food Memories

Food Memories – Puffy Hearts and Rings

by Wendi23 Comments on Food Memories – Puffy Hearts and Rings

Today’s Food Memory comes from Jenny Yu of Use Real Butter.  URB was one of the very first blogs I started reading when I jumped onto these here interwebs, back when I could manage the blogs I read in my browser’s Bookmarks.  While the bookmarks have been replaced by Google Reader, one thing that hasn’t changed is my admiration for Jenny.  She cooks.  She writes.  She takes stunning photos.  And she has a spirit that inspires.

I had the opportunity to meet Jenny last summer at a food blog conference.  It was a thrill to finally be able to meet her in person after being a fan of her blog for so long.  Successful, yet approachable, gracious and encouraging, I consider Jenny to be one of the leaders of this crazy tribe to which I belong.  She understands the power of food and community.

When I read her Puffy Hearts post last month, I knew it was a story that I wanted to include in the Food Memories series.  But what would Jenny say?  I’ve had people say no before but the only way anyone ever says yes is if I get over my fear of rejection and ask.  So I did, thinking that it would make a perfect post for Valentine’s Day.  And I was elated when she said yes.  Evidently, this was the post that The Universe wanted me to share with you on this day of love.

My thanks to Jenny for allowing me to share with you her memory of snow days, special pastries, and Shaun Cassidy.

Puffy Hearts and Rings appeared on Use Real Butter on 10 January 2011.  While I’ve done my best to capture the beauty of the Puffy Heart that came out of my kitchen, you really need to click that link and see them through Jenny’s lens.

Puffy Hearts and Rings

When I was a little kid growing up in Virginia, snow storms would catch me by surprise. The only way I knew anything was in the works was when Kris would stay up late tuning the radio to find out if school would be closed the next day. On those very rare snow days we would stay home playing games, running around the house like maniacs jumping off the stairs, building forts, watching television, lip syncing Shaun Cassidy while standing on top of the coffee table, and sledding down our steep driveway. I have a lot of good memories of Kris.

Living in Colorado, we can get snow as early as September and as late as May. It snows in our mountains in June and July too. Even though it is a common occurrence I still get excited – I just don’t lip sync Shaun Cassidy from the coffee table anymore (I have that very coffee table in our great room). These days I suit up and head out.

After we return from a ski – be it at a resort or in the backcountry – it’s Kaweah’s turn to play in the snow. When she was a wee pup in Ithaca, New York, we’d take her out into the snow and find the deepest drift to drop her in. She’d expend an enormous amount of energy bounding about in the snow and would sleep all night long at home. Yay! Now in her golden years, Kaweah doesn’t wander as far into the snow nor does she handle the cold as well as she did in her crazy years (years 0-10). She sleeps much of the day and all of the night.

As a kid, I never remembered being cold when I played in the snow. Maybe that’s because as kids, we’re crazy people? I would barely recognize myself today, grabbing a warm hat, gloves, boots, jacket, sunnies, chapstick, sunblock… While thinking back on those snow days of my youth, I grew nostalgic for my mom’s baking projects. She wasn’t much of a baker, but she did have a handful of sweets she could make for potlucks and parties. What I loved most were these things called puffy hearts and rings.

Have any of you heard of puffy hearts and rings? I just knew it was an involved process for my mom because I’d watch her patiently shape the dough into hearts and rings with two spoons as I bounced up and down singing “puffy hearts and rings!” in anticipation of my favorite treat. It was a super sticky dough and she only made them once or twice a year – usually around the holidays. I can close my eyes and recall the properties of that dough. I knew the taste and texture of the baked pastry, the icing, the almonds. The flavor was almonds. I am a complete sucker for almonds.

One morning I woke up and said to myself, “It’s cream puff dough.” I pieced together what the puffy hearts and rings were from memory and set about recreating them. Cream puff dough would most certainly be a sticky mess to shape into hearts and rings. I opted to pipe the dough into the desired shapes. Then there was the icing: confectioner’s sugar and milk or cream. Since I’m lactose intolerant, I used water instead. The flavor was most certainly almond extract. Then a little coloring – they were always pink hearts and green rings.

When the puffs were done baking and cooling, I iced each one and sprinkled slivered toasted almonds over the icing while it was still wet to make sure the almonds adhered. I bit into one. This is what I remembered – almond flavor, sweetness, the egginess of the soft dough. I liked it. I had Jeremy try one just to be sure that it wasn’t just me and my nostalgia that thought it tasted good. We have another fan and I have happily brought an old memory back to life.

Puffy Hearts and Rings

BAH Note: I scaled Jenny’s recipe down by half because I thought 2 dozen puffy hearts might be a little much to handle.  In hindsight, I wish I would have made more.  The puffs are tender and light while the frosting is the perfect balance of sugar and almond.  I got six very large hearts out of the dough and The Mistah and I polished them away in just a few hours.  While Jenny’s recipe has you mixing by hand, I entrusted the dough to my stand mixer.  You do what makes the most sense for you.

BAH Tip: If you’re artistically challenged, like I am, trace the outline of hearts in pencil on your parchment.  Then flip the parchment over and pipe the dough into the outlines.  When I went to decorate the hearts, instead of dipping them into the glaze, I filled a small sandwich bag with my frosting, cut one corner off and then piped away.  I started with an outline, let that set up for a few minutes, then went back and filled it in using a toothpick to carefully drag the frosting so that the entire outline was filled.

  • 4 oz (1/2 cup) butter
  • 8 oz (1 cup) water
  • 1 cup flour
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 3 tbsps water (or cream/milk)
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • food coloring (optional)
  • almond slivers, toasted (optional)

Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Heat oven to 400°F.

Heat one cup of water  and the butter in a medium saucepan over high heat until butter is melted and the liquid is boiling. Remove the pan from heat and add the flour all at once. Stir until the dough forms a ball. Add eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition until the egg is completely incorporated and the dough is smooth and satiny.

Scoop the dough into a piping bag with a medium plain tip (about 1/2 inch in diameter). Pipe rings and hearts on the parchment with enough room for expansion (2 inches of space in between). Bake for about 20 minutes or until the tops are golden in color. Remove from baking sheets and let cool completely on cooling racks.

Mix the powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons of liquid, and almond extract in a medium bowl. Add food coloring as desired. I split mine in two batches and color one pink and the other light green.

When the puffs are cooled, dip them face-down into the icing or drizzle them with icing. While the icing is still wet (it dries very quickly here) sprinkle almond slivers over the icing and gently press them into the icing.

Makes about 2 dozen (depends on how big your puffs are).

{printable recipe}