Sugarcrafter – Bon Appetit Hon

Lemon Tartlettes

27 June 201210 April 2012by Wendi2 Comments

Lemon Tartlettes

BAH Note: Tracy got uber fancy and made a meringue topping for her tarts. The next time I make these I might give that a try. But I thought the tartlettes were sublime sans meringue…and it meant I didn’t have to fuss with the broiler.

BAH Tip: Don’t have a food processor to grind those cookies into crumbs? A blender will work just as well.

1 1/4 cups vanilla wafer cookie crumbs
2 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup greek yogurt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup lemon juice + zest of the lemons

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the cookie crumbs and butter in a bowl and stir to combine. Place 1 tablespoon of the crumb mixture into 8, 4-ounce canning jars or glass ramekins. {You may have leftover crumb mixture. If so, put it in a freezer bag and freeze for later use.} Using a small spice jar (with a clean bottom), press the crumb mixture into the bottom of the jar.

Bake the crusts for about 5 minutes and allow them to cool while you make the filling.

Add the yogurt, sugar, salt, eggs, lemon juice and zest to a medium bowl and whisk until combined. Divide the filling among the jars and bake for 10 to 20 minutes or until the centers are set.

Let the tartlettes cool to room temperature before serving. Leftovers should be stored in the refrigerator.

Food Memories

Tracy’s Rhubarb Pate de Fruit

12 March 20121 February 2012by Wendi19 Comments

The summer that I was 20 I lived at the beach. With the exception of some underage drinking and a single encounter with Ocean City’s finest law enforcement officers, it was a pretty unremarkable summer. To be honest, working three jobs left me little time to get into much trouble at all. Or to develop a decent tan. But knowing what we do about sun exposure and skin cancer, maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

It pains me to realize that my beach summer was twenty years ago. Instead of mourning my long lost youth, I can use a little kitchen magic to recapture one of my favorite food memories of the summer of 1991…pate de fruit.

One of my three jobs that summer was in a candy shop. The same place that gave birth to my abhorrence to fudge also allowed me to develop a love for orange slices. I probably “sampled” more of those than I actually sold. Even though the statute of limitations is probably long expired on that transgression, let’s just keep this confession between you and me.

The orange slices won me over at the very first bite. The crunchy sugar exterior gave way to a pleasantly chewy, fruity inside. It was like Sour Patch Kids, only a million times better. And without the scrunchy sour face. I hadn’t had an orange slice since that summer but over the years I had run across recipes for diy versions. I would look at them dreamily recalling what it felt like to be 20 years old and carefree. And then I would turn the page, feeling just a wee bit sad.

It wasn’t until my Big Summer Potluck pal Tracy posted a recipe for rhubarb pate de fruit that I decided to just get over myself and try making them. No, they would not turn back the hands of time. And that’s ok. I don’t want to get stuck living in the past.

Orange slices may have been me at 20. Rhubarb Pate de Fruit is me at 40.

Rhubarb Pate de Fruit

Adapted from Sugarcrafter

BAH Note: Before I set out to make these beauties, I emailed Sugarcrafter to see if she had any additional guidance to offer on the recipe. Her only comment to me was to watch the temperature as the mixture cooks. So don’t get distracted with Angry Birds, email, or wrangling a wayward child and walk away from the stove. And don’t forget that boiling sugar juice is HOT STUFF that will inflict pain and suffering to those who do not heed its power….so yeah, this isn’t really a child friendly recipe for those of you following along at home. PS, you’ll also need either a candy thermometer or an instant read thermometer that you can clip on the side of your pot.

1/2 – 3/4 pound rhubarb, roughly chopped
2 cups sugar
3 ounces (1 envelope) liquid pectin
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Line an 8 inch square baking dish with a parchment paper sling (two pieces of parchment, folded to fit, laid across each other in the pan).

Blitz 1/2 pound of rhubarb in a food processor until completely pureed. Strain the juices through a fine mesh sieve, using a spoon to push the juice out of the pulp. Measure out 3/4 cup of rhubarb juice and discard the pulp. If you don’t get enough juice, repeat the process with the remaining 1/4 pound of rhubarb.

Heat the rhubarb juice, lemon juice, and 1/2 cup of sugar in a large sauce pan over medium heat until it reaches 113 degrees, stirring occasionally. Once it reaches 113 degrees, add the remaining sugar, stir and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 238 degrees. At 238 degrees, add the liquid pectin and boil for another 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Carefully pour the hot sugar mixture into the prepared baking pan. Sprinkle the top lightly with sugar and let the pan cool for two hours or until the pate de fruit is completely set.

When cool and set, use the parchment sling to lift the candy out of the baking dish. Place the candy, still on the parchment sheets on a cutting board. Use a sharp knife to cut the candy into bite sized pieces, cleaning the blade in hot water between cuts. Roll the pieces in sugar until they are well coated and store in an airtight container.

{printable recipe}

Dessert, Sweets

Caramel Apple Muffins

20 October 201011 October 2010by Wendi49 Comments

I’ve been half jokingly telling some folks I follow on Twitter that I am going to have parental controls installed on my computer that will block me from seeing the wonderous things they are making with butter, sugar, and flour. Because anymore, I feel like I gain 5 pounds by just turning on the pc and going through my reader.

So I do try and be deliberate about what recipes I print out and bring home. And I try to have a strategy outlined as to how the baked goods will exit our house as quickly as possible to limit my opportunities to overindulge. Typically, this plan involves coworkers. They bear the brunt of my sugary obsession. But recently, the Universe presented me with the opportunity to share my compulsion to ‘bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean’ with my neighbors. I’ll set the scene for you.

The Mistah and I had gone out to grab some dinner. There may have been tater tots and chocolate malted milkshakes involved. Then again, there may not have. You’d have to have been on Twitter that night to know for sure. And while we were out, someone hit my car parked back at home. How do I know this? Because a neighbor came knocking on our door at 10pm to ask whether the car parked under the street lamp was ours. When we confirmed that it was, she proceeded to explain how earlier the car had been hit not once, not twice, but three times by another driver. This outrageousness had been witnessed by several folks and they managed to record the tag number of the driver before she fled the scene. Because you know that driver did not leave a note.

So the neighbors see everything that happens, they get the tag number. And they called the police to report the hit and run. In a million years, I would never have seen that one coming. Using the information provided by the witnesses, the officer matched the tag number with a person and went and paid her a little visit. And so it was that when this neighbor came over to let us know that our car had been hit and I went outside to inspect the damage, I found the card the officer had left with all of the information about the driver that I would need to file a claim.

Really. I can call my insurance company and let them know which of Allsate’s customers is going to be funding the new side panel and hood on my car. This had to be thanked and rewarded because I really think most people would have turned a blind eye to the whole thing. So I decided that the appropriate way to say thanks was with butter, sugar, flour, apples, and caramel. Because I wanted to make Caramel Apple Muffins. I just did not want to be left alone with them.

So that’s what I did. I made muffins. I had some challenges. I may have had a failed experiment in using a food processor to chop caramel candies. I may have had to clean scorched batter and topping off of pans and pizza stones. But I was able to go knocking on a couple of doors and use Caramel Apple Muffins to say thank you.

I can’t guarantee that if you look out for your neighbors one of them will show up on your doorstep with some freshly baked muffins. But it sure as hell can’t hurt your chances either.

Caramel Apple Muffins

Adapted from Sugarcrafter.net

BAH Note: It was a huge pain to chop up the caramels. I wonder what would happen if you just nestled a whole caramel in each muffin cup? Also, I made the mistake of overfilling my muffin cups. So when the batter rose I ended up with a mix of batter and topping scorching on the pan and dripping down onto my pizza stone. My point? Don’t overfill. After the baking was done, I was tweeting with @Sugarcrafter and we decided that this would be great as a cake with some brown sugar icing.

2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tart apple, peeled and diced (between 1/2 cup and 1 cup)
12 caramels, chopped
1/ cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup quick cooking oats
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and coat a muffin pan well with nonstick spray.

Combine the brown sugar, oats, 3 tablespoons butter, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, spices and salt.

In a second bowl mix together the milk, egg, 1/4 cup butter, and vanilla.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until everything is just combined. Fold the caramel and apple into the batter.

Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full and top with the brown sugar mixture.

Bake 20 – 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool the muffins in the pan for 5 minutes before carefully turning them out onto a wire rack to cool.

{printable recipe}

Breakfast/Brunch, Dessert, Sweets

Doughnut Muffins

6 October 20103 October 2010by Wendi29 Comments

Back at the Big Summer Potluck, there was one dish that caught everyone’s attention. That’s not a small feat among a group of food bloggers. But one morsel was the belle of the ball. And they may very well be my undoing. Because nothing tastes as good as mini muffins that have the texture of a doughnut and a buttery, spiced sugary coating. I purposely redid the recipe to make them bite sized because I know firsthand that making them full size is no guarantee that I won’t just keep eating them. I’ve joked with Jen of How To: Simplify, to whom we all pledged our allegiance for bringing these into our lives, that the secret ingredient in the recipe is crack because these morsels are utterly and completely addictive.

And as if the original isn’t enough, now I see that Tracy of Sugarcrafter, another Potluck alum, went and made a Caramel Apple version for fall. I sent them both a passive/aggressive tweet saying that I will hold them personally responsible when I can no longer fit into my jeans.

But there’s a little part of me that says that if I have to go up a pants size, these muffins are a pretty damn good reason. And please, hold your judgment until you have experienced the ecstasy that is the mini doughnut muffin.

Doughnut Mini Muffins

Adapted from Jenn at How To: Simplify

1 3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup oil
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 stick of butter, melted and cooled
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon

Heat oven to 350 degrees and spray two mini muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in a medium bowl.

Combine the oil, sugar, egg, and milk in a large bowl. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix just until combined. Fill each muffin cup approximately 3/4 full of batter and bake for about 10 to 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

While the muffins are baking, combine the 2/3 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons cinnamon in a small bowl and make sure your butter is melted. When you remove the muffins from the oven, immediately remove them from the pan, dip them in the melted butter, and then coat them in the spiced sugar.

{printable recipe}

Random

Big Summer Potluck

10 August 201010 August 2010by Wendi25 Comments

I’m not a gambler by nature. The risks I take are calculated, not reckless. However, there are moments when I throw caution to the wind, say what the hell, and let the chips fall where they may. These moments are few and far between, but they do happen. My most recent spontaneous, caution thrown to the wind decision involved me, one untested cookie recipe, a set of Mapquest directions, six hours of driving, 39 food bloggers, several food professionals, and three deer.

The destination was called the Big Summer Potluck. Organized by women who know food, blogging, and photography – Maggy Keet and Sharon Anderson of Three Many Cooks and Erika Pineda of Ivory Hut – this was a day to come together with other food bloggers to talk about the challenges we all face. It was an opportunity to build our food blogging community, to support and encourage one another, to learn more about our craft, and to eat some amazing food.

These ladies pulled out all the stops. On the agenda:

Pam Anderson (food columnist, cookbook author, Three Many Cooks food blogger, and former executive editor of Cook’s Illustrated) shared her thoughts on recipe development and recipe writing, in addition to graciously hosting us at her home.

Abby Dodge (food writer and instructor, cookbook author, and contributing editor to Fine Cooking magazine) demoed a dessert from her upcoming Desserts 4 Today cookbook (brilliant concept y’all…a cookbook full of desserts that utilize four ingredients), and shared some of her tips and tricks (stabilize whipped cream by replacing half the heavy cream with marscapone…yum).

Melissa DeMayo (food stylist extraordinaire) shared her food styling expertise and tips (texture, height, ingredient shots), demoed building the picture perfect sandwich, and told us the best way to do {fill in the blank with your question of choice} is whatever results in the prettiest shot.

Erika Pineda (photojournalist, sports photographer, and Ivory Hut blogger) spoke about the Holy Trinity of photography (Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO), point and shoot vs. dslr, and processing.

We had a lively discussion about video content and media campaigns with Auritt Communications.

And then there was Alice. Alice Currah of Savory Sweet Life and Everyday Alice. Alice Currah who was named one of Forbes.com’s “Eight of The Very Best Food Bloggers” and Saveur’s food photography “Cover Contest” winner. Maybe you’ve heard of her? She’s the bomb. Alice spoke to us about the importance of being authentic in our craft, speaking (and blogging) from the heart and from what we know, carving our own niche out of the blogosphere while also supporting and encouraging and honoring other food bloggers.

I go on and on about The Universe this and The Universe that and it may sound trite but hear me out. I was originally supposed to be in New York city for BlogHer this summer. My plans changed and I didn’t have the opportunity to attend and to finally meet in person some of the people that I have grown to think of as part of my extended family. And I was disappointed about that. But The Universe more than made up for it by getting me to Big Summer Potluck. BlogHer is mega big. It’s huge. Which for my socially awkward self is completely overwhelming. Big Summer Potluck was intimate. It was warm and welcoming. It was a conversation among old friends who may have just met each other that morning. It was exactly where I needed to be.

Remember my post You Might Be A Food Blogger If… That’s how Big Summer Potluck made me feel. I was anxious about walking into a room with an untested recipe (and we know I have strict rules about untested recipes) where I didn’t know a soul. My lack of navigational skills resulted in me getting lost in rural Pennsylvania and being the very last person to arrive 30 minutes late. Hello, I consider showing up on time being late. And yet, once I set foot in the door all of that melted away. I was embraced by these people. I was part of their tribe. I belonged. And isn’t that what we all want? To be accepted. To be validated. To be inspired.

There was laughter. Warm sun, clear skies, and cool breezes. Amazing products supplied from KitchenAid, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New West Knifeworks, The Spice House, Fine Cooking, Green Valley Organics, Green Mountain Coffee, Cypress Grove Chevre, Naturally Nora, and Lindsay Olives. And incredible food. Because you have to know that at a food blogger get together we’re going to nosh on good eats. To see people who know and make good food eat my potluck contribution and have their faces light up was priceless. In my head, I sounded like an insecure adolescent saying OMG, Alice Currah is eating my cookie and she LIKES it!!! There may have also been jazz hands and the Peanuts dance going on in my head as well. I was too excited in the moment to accurately recall now.

So I’ve been quietly sending my thanks back to The Universe for giving me the opportunity to be part of Big Summer Potluck. For the people who made it all possible and the people whose presence made it what it was.

I’ve also been thanking The Universe for allowing me to come to a complete stop on that winding back road in time not to hit the deer that decided to pop out of nowhere and lazily cross the road. I don’t know if there is any symbolic meaning to seeing three massive bucks other than the obvious – slow down. But that is one of the small moments from the weekend I hope to hang on to. Yes Universe, sometimes I hear what you’re trying to tell me loud and clear.

Hungry for more Big Summer Potluck? Check out: