A Scone's Throw

Maple Bacon Scones...and where I've been

2011-07-11T05:48:00.000-07:00

I'm a slacking blogger. But, not a slacking baker. I've been busy with projects of varying sizes, and haven't had nearly the free time I imagined "summer vacation" would give me. I had envisioned days of baking brilliant new inventions, interrupted only by an urgent need to lay poolside. It hasn't quite worked out that way, and summer break is half over. I've been busy making things like graduation cakes that look like Oreo cookies,

and small projects that take no time at all, like the wedding cake I made this past weekend for my niece (Congratulations, again, you two!):

But last night, I was taken with the whim of invention. Just like that, my desire to be creative is back!

My scone recipe is basic, and I've posted it before. That's where this whim starts. I had some bacon ends from the place that produces the best home smoked bacon in Ohio, Grandpa's

Cheesebarn, and I thought that some candied bacon belonged in a scone. I fried up some of the bacon, and once it was almost done, I sprinkled in some brown sugar, and a bit of maple syrup (from the maple trees in my back yard!). I cooked it until it looked candied, then moved the bacon onto a buttered piece of foil to cool. Here's the rest of the "recipe":

While the bacon is cooling, make the scone dough up to the point where you have blended the butter into the dry ingredients. The only change I made here was using brown sugar instead of white, and I added a few cinnamon chips to the dry ingredients at this point. Chop up the cooled bacon, and toss into the dry ingredients. It's important that you let the bacon cool, or else it will melt the butter and ruin the texture of the scone.

To the egg and milk mixture, add in some maple extract. Gently add the wet ingredients to the dry, and proceed with the basic recipe. I brushed the tops of the uncooked scones with a mixture of cream and maple extract, and sprinkled with coarse sugar.

As these baked, they smelled like a pancake breakfast: smoky bacon, sweet bread, cinnamon and maple. Obviously, this is a good thing. A really good thing.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar: A Literary Study in Cupcakes

2011-04-30T13:40:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but I LOVE the idea of 1st birthday parties that follow a literary theme. What? I'm a book worm. So, I especially like a party that focuses on a book about a caterpillar who eats his way to a bellyache. Particularly when there is a giant caterpillar head smash cake for the birthday boy. Now, I'm not exactly an expert on children's birthday parties, but my friend went ALL OUT for this birthday. Fancy sign on the door. Cut out sausages, ice cream cones, lollipops, cake, pie, strawberries, oranges, and pears (complete with holes eaten through them) on the windows. A balloon caterpillar over the mantle. This was some serious dedication. Good thing I had an eye for detail on this cake, and included spiky little hairs on his back, six feet, and purple antennae.

If you don't know Eric Carle's masterpiece, get thee to a library, or to Amazon. Right. Now. This is children's literature brilliance we're talking. Colors! Counting! Metamorphosis! Messages about a balanced diet! Here's the little guy as pictured on the cover of the book:

And here's the Big Guy on my friend's kitchen table. He's about three feet long, and comes in chocolate or vanilla. I'm not totally thrilled with how thin and uneven the frosting is on the head, but the birthday boy's mom had a request about limiting sugar and frosting quantity. Something silly about not wanting red vomit tonight...go figure.

Ciabatta: Attempt 1

2011-03-04T17:11:00.000-08:00

I've been told by a certain someone who shall remain nameless that she's tired of looking at green macarons. So I'm bumping them down with a pic of the first loaf of ciabatta I made--a month late.

The outside is prettier than the inside. Although the flavor was great, there weren't the big holes and texture I associate with ciabatta--it was a dense loaf, with small holes. I'll work on that for next time. I used Peter Reinhart's recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice, which I got for Christmas.

I am finishing school and working full time again, so I'm not sure when an original (or at least Allie-tested) recipe will go up again. But, money is good. Gotta pay off all those school loans somehow, and baking doesn't even cover interest payments. :-)

Pistachio Macarons

2011-01-09T08:55:00.000-08:00

I spent my Christmas break baking up a storm. Since I'm sans paying job right now, I gave all my family and friends homemade treats as gifts this year. My sister wanted "something pistachio," but left the decision up to me. I'd been meaning to make some macarons, and decided this was the perfect time to do it. I decided on a pistachio shell, and a honey swiss meringue butter cream filling. The filling gave me fits, but in the end it all worked out. Most importantly, my sister liked them, and I finally got over being intimidated by macarons.

I made a practice batch, wherein I discovered several things to help those who haven't made them before:

If you're going to use food coloring, use very little. It turns super dark later if you use too much. My first macarons were GREEN (not pictured).
Every recipe says to use powdered food coloring. I only have gel food coloring. The first time, I added the gel color as I was grinding the pistachios and almonds. This is when I added way too much, because it was so light when it was in the flour, and then it turned really dark when it was wet. The second batch, I just added a couple drops directly to the egg whites after they were whipped. I was able to control the color more, and didn't notice that it made the batter too liquid-y.
I can't pipe evenly. For my second batch, I traced rows of a half dollar coin on the back side of the parchment so they were closer to the same size.
Slightly wetting the underside of the parchment, one row of cookies at a time, was the only way I could get the baked cookies off the parchment sheet without crushing them.
The shells keep longer than I thought. My first batch stayed really fresh and chewy and nice in a ziploc bag for more than a week (unfilled). I had read they get soggy. Mine didn't.
Let them sit before baking to develop a shell. My first batch I only let sit for about 30 minutes, and most of them rose lopsidedly--flat on one side with a foot on the other. The second batch I let sit for an hour, and they rose more evenly, with pretty frilly feet all around.
I've indicated before my preference for weighing ingredients, anyway, but for macarons, I think it's really important. I wouldn't try this without a scale, since the batter is so delicate.
On aging egg whites: both times I made the recipe, 90 gr was perfectly 3 egg whites, aged overnight. They weighed about 91-92 grams fresh, but dried a bit overnight to 90 gr.
I used my food processor to turn the nuts and powdered sugar into the fine flour. I ground it as much as I could, then sifted. What wouldn't go through the sifter went back into the processor, then was sifted again. I did that several times. I'm considering just buying pistachio flour for next time.
Every website says to use raw nuts. I only had roasted, salted nuts. They were still very, very tasty. In fact, I might add a pinch of salt if ever I'm using unsalted nuts. Because I liked my sweet things with a pinch of salt. I also tend to think roasted nuts taste better than raw nuts, and I don't think it impacted the texture at all.
One way to make this process less daunting is to make the nut flour/sugar mixture ahead of time. Macarons seem to take a long time, partly because this step is intensive. Doing it a couple days in advance makes the macarons come together MUCH faster.

Without further ado:

For the shells:
90 gr egg whites, aged overnight on your counter
30 gr granulated sugar
200 gr powdered sugar
55 gr almonds
55 gr pistachios
green food coloring

Combine the powdered sugar, almonds and pistachios in the food processor, and grind into a powder. Sift well. This step can be done well in advance, storing the nut/sugar flour in a sealed container. In a stand mixer, whip egg whites until foamy, and slowly add granulated sugar. Whip into a glossy meringue (stiff peaks, but glossy, not dry). If using gel food coloring, add to meringue until desired color is reached, thoroughly blending. Add flour mixture, and stir with quick strokes at first to combine, then gentler strokes. Don't deflate the egg whites all the way. Tartelette says this should all take less than 50 strokes, so that's what I went with. When you drizzle the batter from a spoon back into the bowl, it should take about 10 seconds to disappear. If it doesn't disappear, it's not stirred enough. If it disappears right away, you've over stirred. So take it slow.

Fill a pastry bag with a plain tip (I used a Wilton 12), and pipe small rounds in rows onto a parchment covered baking sheet. Preheat oven to 275. Let cookies sit for at least an hour so that I firm shell forms. Bake, one tray at a time, for about 15 minutes. They should look dry, but not turning golden. If not done at 15 minutes, watch carefully until done. (Mine took about 18 minutes before starting to brown). Let cool and remove from cookie sheet.

For the Filling:
2 egg whites
1/4 c sugar
1/4 c honey
pinch of salt
2 sticks of butter, softened

In the top of a double boiler set over simmering water, whisk together the egg whites, sugar, honey and salt. Continue whisking until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture becomes too hot to touch about 8 minutes.

Transfer the mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat on, medium-high speed until the egg whites hold a stiff peak, about 8 minutes, and is no longer warm. Add the-butter, one tablespoon at a time, beating after each addition until incorporated. Keep at room temperature.

To Assemble:
Match up shells so they are paired together by size. Fill piping bag with filling, and pipe a good blob of filling (about a tablespoon, depending on cookie size) on one shell, and top with a second. Repeat until all shells are used. Eat.

Cookie Time!

2010-12-16T13:02:00.001-08:00

I can't believe it's been more than two months since I've posted. In the time I've been gone, I did cupcakes for a wedding, made a baklava cheesecake for Thanksgiving, and have a good headstart on my Christmas baking. A couple weeks ago was our annual church bazaar, which includes a bake sale. I have some cookies I make every year, but this year I became obsessed with making ornaments. Don't ask why. I didn't even own an ornament cookie cutter before this. But, I sure did go and buy one, and have a blast decorating the cookies.

The cookie and icing recipes are the same as the those I used last year for the trees I made.

I didn't have much of a plan going into these

cookies, besides having fun. Sorry about the reflecting light in the snowman and snow flake cookies; they were already packaged for the church when I remembered I wanted to take pictures!

Concord Grape and Rosemary Focaccia

2010-10-11T16:23:00.000-07:00

I've been obsessed with making pizza lately; I've been tossing thin crust pizzas, to be baked at the highest temperature my oven will reach, with a different array of toppings at least once a week. After a visit to the Italian fest this weekend, and some of the best thick-crust pizza of my life, I decided I need to tackle a thicker crust. Then, at Hurley's Market at Indian Lake, I found some of the most beautiful concord grapes. I've been eager to get my hands on some concords to try this Smitten Kitch en recipe, but I couldn't resist a few changes. I didn't want that thinner crust she had. My favorite focaccia is a two-inch thick, well-herbed, well-oiled, lightly golden piece of carb heaven from a local bakery, and that was what I wanted to emulate, while still incorporating the sweet-savory combination of concords and rosemary.

I started researching focaccia recipes, while in the back of my head knowing two things from previous experience: I wanted a small amount of sugar in the dough (makes it delightfully addictive), and I wanted a cold-fermentation rise. My recent experience with thin crust pizzas has shown me how much the flavor and texture develop overnight in my refrigerator, and I was hoping that would translate equally well in focaccia. From there, I went to my two most trusted sources: King Arthur Flour, and Peter Reinhart. I made a smaller loaf, and a few other adjustments, including the addition of high gluten flour. One change I will try the next time is to increase the water; this creates a sloppier dough, but also yields light, airy holes, which this dough is lacking. In some ways, I think this dough is almost too tender, white-bready. I'm thinking about nixing the powdered milk, and replacing some flour with semolina.

Now, for just a second, I want to talk about sweet, salty, tangy brilliance that is the concord grape/rosemary topping on this lovely bread. I thought Smitten Kitchen's photos looked so good, and I was dying to try this combination that reminded me of the backyard growing up: grapevines on one side, and mom's glorious herb garden on the other. Once it started baking however, doubts began to set in. It smelled glorious, don't get me wrong. But, it also sort of smelled like grape jelly pizza, so I started to become skeptical. Don't be. Come on. This is like having your wine ON your bread, and not merely with it. Go. Get in the kitchen. Make this, before concords are out of season. If you prefer a thinner crust, please refer to the Smitten Kitchen link above!

Concord Grape and Rosemary Focaccia
makes one 8x8, delightfully thick bread

1 1/3 c. all purpose flour
3/4 c. high gluten flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tbl. powdered dry milk
1 tbl. sugar
1 1/4 tsp. instant yeast
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 c. olive oil, plus additional
3/4 c. cool water
1 c. halved and seeded concord grapes
1 tsp. fresh rosemary (I like mine very finely chopped, almost to powder)
course sugar for sprinkling
kosher salt for sprinkling

Combine first nine ingredients in stand mixer, and knead with dough hook for 10 minutes. Grease glass bowl large enough for dough to double. Add dough to bowl, covering dough on all sides with olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap, and place in refrigerator overnight. (Mine was in for about 20 hours).

About an hour and a half before baking, remove dough from refrigerator. Line the bottom an 8 x 8 with parchment paper, and brush the paper and sides of pan with olive olive. Stretch and push the dough into the pan, deflating it as little as possible. Brush on more olive oil, cover with towel, and allow to come to room temperature and rise.

About 30 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Right before baking, sprinkle dough with coarse sugar, kosher salt, rosemary, and grapes. Bake for 20 - 30 minutes. Enjoy the bizarre scents wafting through your kitchen. Try to let it cool before digging in.

Hate OSU, Love the Cookies

2010-09-18T16:42:00.000-07:00

Any person who knows me knows that I hate OSU, and especially OSU football, with a passion. It's pretty much the worst part of living in central Ohio. However, I have willingly joined a family of insane OSU football lovers, and am frequently subjected to screams when things go well, and curses when they don't. I am even the owner of O, S, and U shaped cookie cutters (the only alphabet letters I own, for those interested in purchasing me baking-related gifts).

Today, when asked to come up with a quick dessert to take to my sister-in-law's house for niece birthday love (I can't believe she's three!) and for the second half of the OSU game, these cookies seemed perfect. Besides, I did buy those red and silver sprinkles ages ago, and thought this was a good use. Although, I might have been mocked that this was my idea of a "quick dessert."

I have to admit, I'm particular fond of my buckeyes (really, the holes from making the Os), as well as the marijua--I mean, buckeye leaves on the helmets. The cookies made today's game bearable...as well as the puzzle of Las Vegas we worked on diligently!

Sweet, Boozy, Italian Happiness

2010-08-27T08:28:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago, I was thrilled to find that Miceli's, a Cleveland cheese maker, now has a comparatively inexpensive mascarpone (oddly, it's not featured anywhere on their website). I immediately bought it with plans for tiramisu. The wedding cakes I made (more pictures of that later) took precedence, though, and I only got to the tiramisu yesterday. I made a miniature, one layer tiramisu, using a 5' x 8' ceramic dish I have. I forgot to take pictures before we dug in after a dinner of wine, bread, cheese and veggies, so there are no pictures of the fully assembled, un-attacked dessert. Oops.

I used La Tartine Gourmand's recipe for lady fingers, but only made 1/3 of the recipe, since I was trying make a very small portion, and didn't want an abundance of cookies. I had a few leftover, however, and found I really like them! They are barely sweet, and a little dry, but pleasantly flavored. I didn't feel like doing the whole piping bag deal to make fingers, so I just used a small scoop, and made normal, round cookies. I based my tiramisu recipe off of David Lebovitz 's recipe, but again, reduced it significantly. I wish I had used a smaller dish, or individual dishes like David's though, just so I could have managed another layer of lady fingers before running out of filling. The only other change I would make is in the rum/espresso mixture. It's supposed to be boozy, but I just found it too boozy. I think it's probably the rum--I'm not actually a huge rum fan, so next time, I'm thinking about using kahlua instead, to up the coffee flavor in addition to the booze.

Lady Fingers
1 egg, separated
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons flour
1 oz. sugar
powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350. Whip egg whites with half of the sugar, until the whites form stiff peaks, gradually adding more sugar until it's all incorporated. Mix in the egg yolks. then sift the cornstarch and flour into the egg mixture, gently folding until just combined. Do not mix quickly or deflate the egg whites. You want fluffy here! On a parchment lined baking sheet, you can either pipe the batter into the traditional finger shape, or if you're lazy like me, just use a small scoop to make rounds. Space them a bit apart, since they will puff. Sift powdered sugar over cookies, and let it absorb. Repeat. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until golden. Let cool.

Tiramisu
1/4 cup espresso (I used water and espresso powder)
1 tablespoon dark rum
1/2 tablespoon cognac (I used my baking buddy, Navan)
1 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
small pinch of salt
3 1/2 tablespoons sugar, divided
1/2 cup mascarpone
lady finger from recipe above
bittersweet chocolate for grating on top

Combine espresso, rum, and cognac, and set aside. Whip egg whites, salt and half of the sugar until firm peaks form. In another bowl, whip egg yolk and remaining sugar until thick and pale. Add the mascarpone to the egg yolk mixture, combining until smooth. Carefully fold in egg whites, in two stages, until completely combined. Spoon a small portion of egg mixture into the serving dish. Dip the lady fingers into the espresso mixture for a few seconds, and layer into serving dish. Feel free to break cookies to get a full layer of cookies. Spread cookie layer with egg mixture. Grate chocolate on top, and put in the fridge for as long as you can handle.

Peach Beehives

2010-08-07T17:08:00.000-07:00

I've been so busy lately; baking, while it's happened on occasion, hasn't been of the photogenic variety. However, I think you'll find these worth the wait. Just back from vacation, I have 1/4 peck of Ohio's first ripe peaches of the season (from Hurley Farms at Indian Lake) sitting on my dining room table. One of Carolyn's favorite summer desserts is something her mom makes, called Peach Beehives. Like any time I try to duplicate something someone's mom makes, it comes with high expectations and the decision as to whether to simply recreate an identical dish, or to attempt making it my own.
Today, I decided to make this mom classic my own in small ways. I used my favorite pie crust recipe, sprinkled coarse sugar on the crust for extra crunch and sparkle, and added some booze to the sauce (always a way to reclaim any recipe as my own...just add booze!).

One of the most unique parts of this recipe is that the peaches are left completely alone. You don't season them, you don't peel them, or pit them. All that happens is that they are carefully encased in crust, exalting them in their peachy, peak-season glory. Most interestingly, somewhere in the baking process, the skin of the peaches all but dissolves. It's not tough or even noticible in the final product. I also love that single rivulet of pinkish peach juice that leaked out of the top and dripped down the side. It lets you know there is a lush, juicy treat waiting just inside that crispy crust.

I attempted to reduce the quantities in the various recipes I looked over, and ended up with an almost perfect amount of crust for two peaches (just enough extra to bake up scraps with cinnamon and sugar) by halving what I usually make for a single crust pie. The sauce is another story...I have a ton of it left. Good thing it's tasty enough to just eat off of a spoon.

Peaches:
most recipes use prepared crusts; I made 1/2 batch of my favorite recipe
2 peaches, washed and still damp
half an egg white (use remaining white and yolk in sauce)
coarse sugar

Cut the crust into 1/2" in strips, and wrap around the peaches, overlapping each strip halfway over the one before it, so it looks like a beehive. I found having damp peaches helped the crust strips stick to the peaches quite well. Press the strips firmly into one another, being careful not to squash or misshape them, but making sure they are well sealed. Place peaches on a parchment covered baking sheet. Brush peaches with egg white, and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes until golden brown and pretty.

Sauce:
1/4 c butter
1 egg yolk, plus the half of the white you didn't use on the peaches (farm fresh if you can)
1 tbl cream
1 tbl Navan (vanilla cognac)
a few drops vanilla bean paste
1 c powdered sugar
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Cream the butter with an electric mixer, then add the egg yolk, beating until smooth and fluffy. Add cream, Navan, and vanilla bean paste, continuing to beat until completely smooth. Add the powdered sugar 1/4 c at a time, fully incorporating each portion before adding the next. If one wanted a thicker sauce, one could add more powdered sugar...but I liked it exactly how it came out, smooth and spoonable! Place under or over beehives right before serving, preferably while the peaches are still warm.

CAKE!

2010-05-22T17:14:00.000-07:00

There are a couple of wonderful, crazy people in my life who are entrusting to me their wedding cakes. The first wedding, in August, is one of my nieces. The second wedding, in November, is one of my friends I've known since I was a kid. I decided to have both couples over last weekend for cake tasting! It was a bit of an undertaking, making seven cakes, but I've learned quite a lot already (parchment paper makes everything easier, cakes take longer to bake than I remember, white chocolate makes frosting very hard when chilled, champagne flavoring tastes more like bubble gum than bubbly, mango cake is a terrible, terrible idea). I had asked both brides to give me flavor ideas, and they both gave me general ideas, but nothing specific, so I ran with my own ideas.

Here are the flavors I ended up with:

vanilla cake with raspberry butter cream
mango cake with mango curd and white chocolate-key lime frosting (cake-FAIL, frosting-good)
pumpkin cake with bourbon cream cheese frosting
strawberry cake with vanilla champagne butter cream
chocolate cake with dark chocolate ganache, chocolate mousse and white chocolate cream cheese frosting
vanilla cake with raspberry filling and swiss meringue butter cream
chocolate and vanilla cakes with chocolate ganache and vanilla butter cream

I can't think of much else to say, except that it was a huge amount of cake, and even after forcing cake off on both couples to take home, my coworkers still enjoyed the remains all week long. I haven't been informed of final decisions by the brides and grooms just yet, but I think the over all favorite was the pumpkin cake.

Bagels, Glorious Everything Bagels

2010-04-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

The first time it occurred to me to make my own bagels was back when stupid Panera increased their costs to something like $1.09 for their "cafe" bagels, which are the non-fancy flavors. I was really annoyed. Then, in November, one of my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen, posted the recipe for Peter Reinhart's Bagels. That was in November, and I promptly began acquiring necessary ingredients I didn't already have, like high gluten flour, and non-diastatic malt powder. Those of you in NE Ohio might not be aware you possess a rare and beautiful gem in the plaza at Chapel Hill: you have access to Mr. Bulky's. On a recent trip up and down their spice aisle, I found the perfect ingredient for my dream everything-bagel: dried, minced, roasted garlic. Smelled heavenly. Then, a couple weeks ago, King Arthur Flour sent me an email about making my own baby bagels. Ok, muses of baking, I get it. I'll make the damn bagels already.

I have to admit, Smitten Kitchen's lengthy instructions on bagel making intimidated me, and made me feel like I needed a ton of time to make my own bagels. So, Saturday afternoon was reserved for baking. I got up and went to the farmer's market before heading to work in the morning, was home by 1:15, and made a spectacular lunch that involved arugula from the market. Then, amid the gray, rainy weather, I ended up snuggled on the couch with my sweetie, catching up on missed episodes of Bones. And then I fell asleep. I woke up in time to grill out for dinner, but my bagel preparation time had rapidly faded. I quickly reviewed both recipes, and took the best from both worlds...or something. I wanted to fully prepare and shape the dough before bed, so that they could be boiled and popped in the oven in the morning with as little to-do as possible. Peter Reinhart's bagels gave me that option (KA's requires shaping and a 90 minute rise in the AM). The steaming step in the KA recipe also would have required me to dig our my veggie steamer. So I stuck with Reinhart's recipe, but with proportions closer to KA's recipe. What? There is nothing in the world two people need with as many bagels as 8 cups of flour would produce! I still ended up with 8 rather hearty sized bagels. Here's my recipe, but you should really educate yourself with the links above before trying to follow my guide!

Sponge:
1 cup high gluten flour
1/8 tsp instant yeast
1/2 cup cool water

Combine and let sit, covered, for at least two hours.

Bagels:
3 1/2 cups high gluten flour
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 tbl non-diastatic malt powder
1 1/2 tsp salt 1 cup warm water.
another 1 1/2 tbl non-diastatic malt powder for boiling

Bagel Topping:
one egg white for washing
Whatever you want. My combo: toasted sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried minced roasted garlic, and kosher salt.

Combine above bagel ingredients, and all of the sponge in electric mixer. On low speed, knead together for about 8 minutes. The dough gets nice and smooth, with all the flour incorporated. It's a little sticky when pinched, but mostly nice to touch. I weighed the dough, and I had 1117 grams of dough at this point. Because I'm a little obsessed, I played with it a little, until I determined that I liked the size the bagels would be if the dough were divided into eight. Or, approximately 138g each. Yes, I live in the US and my scale could weigh in ounces. However, I have an English degree, and think dividing pounds into ounces is annoying. Grams are more convenient for the mathematically challenged.

So, I divided and weighed my eight smooth balls of dough, punched holes in the center and stretched them to look like bagels. I laid them on a parchment-covered, cooking-sprayed cookie sheet, and covered them with a damp towel, while I wrote this. Probably about 20 minutes. (Seriously, the cooking spray is important, even on parchment. One of mine got very stuck in a place I apparently missed). Then, I tried the float test. You place one of the bagels in a bowl of water. If it floats within ten seconds, it's ready to be stuck in the fridge, over night, or even for a couple days. Mine didn't even try to sink, it just bobbed pleasantly on the surface. This was a definite change, since I tried floating one when I first formed the bagels, without a rest period, and it sunk like a tiny Titanic. Yay. If at first yours don't succeed in floating, let 'em rise another ten minutes, then try again. Since mine were floating, I went ahead and combined my bagel-topping for the morning, and went to bed.

This morning, my refrigerated bagels were so cute. They had puffed, and all but lost their center holes, leaving large dimples behind. I know I don't usually take and post pictures throughout the process, but I couldn't pass up a photo op of these chubby blobs of bagel dough.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. In a deep, wide skillet, filled with about 2" of water, add 1 1/2 tbl non diastatic malt powder. This is what makes bagels shiny and taste bagel-y. Bring water to a boil, and add as many bagels as comfortably fit (my skillet only held three. I wanted smallish bagels, but my 138g bagels turned into normal-sized after all their rising and boiling). They float and only end up partially submerged. Boil for 1-2 minutes, then flip over and boil for another 1-2 minutes. In all my bagel homework, I learned that the longer you boil, the chewier the texture. Since I like a chewy bagel, mine boiled for about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes per side. I didn't have my stopwatch on me, so that's a guess. Boil them in batches until you're done. Since the camera was out anyway...

Sprinkle the same, greased, parchment papered cookie sheet they were on before with semolina flour to prevent further sticking. If you don't have semolina, corn meal might be a good alternative? Or nothing? I'm not sure they'd stick, but I used the semolina, since I had it. Here is where recipes diverged big time. Peter Reinhart says to top your bagels, and bake for five minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees, and bake for five more minutes. KA says to bake for 20 minutes, then top with seeds, cover loosely with foil and bake for five more. Yikes, that's quite a disparity in bake time, especially since both recipes are making bagels smaller than mine! Because I really hate the taste of burnt sesame seeds and garlic, I started by baking mine, naked, on the middle rack, for 7 minutes. I then rotated the pan 180 degrees, and baked for 7 more minutes. They were obviously getting cooked, but they were not golden, so I gave them another 5 minutes. The color was coming. I pulled them out, brushed them with egg white and sprinkled them with topping one at a time. You have to move fast, because the bagels are hot, and you're using egg white. You want a thin coat of egg white, not scrambled eggs on top! Once all bagels were topped, I put them in the oven for 2 minutes, then covered them with a piece of foil for another 4 minutes.

I only let them cool enough to snap some pictures before breaking into my first one to try it plain. The bottom was golden and crunchy, the entire outside just slightly crisp. They were definitely not as dense as the bagels I'm used to, but I liked that about them. They certainly tasted bagel-y, so I achieve my goal. I quickly spread a couple with cream cheese, capers, chive and red onion, and topped with smoked salmon. Yum. My only complaint is my own fault--I definitely used too much salt in my topping, so they were a little over-salty, especially with capers and smoked salmon.

I can tell you'll I'll be making them again soon, with a variation: my favorite bagel of all time is a slightly sweet, honey-whole wheat bagel, served with honey butter. Since I am officially done with classes (I finished my last final ten minutes ago!), I think my baking time might increase over the next couple weeks!

Cherry Pie-let, Redux

2010-04-11T17:19:00.000-07:00

During a conversation with my mom about my new-found interest in (read: obsession with) all things wine, she commented that it's a good thing I don't have as many hobbies as most of my family members. My family is composed of crafters and artists: leather work, needlework, painting, clay modeling, woodwork, crocheting, knitting, quilting, sculpting, scrap-booking. I merely commented that my interests primarily lie in consumables. I hate dusting, and don't collect much of anything (unless, of course, you count all those shelves in the basement with bakeware, cupcake liners, and sugar sprinkles for every occasion...). However, as I was making these pie-lets, with their tiny lattice tops, I decided that baking and cooking are my crafts.

The cherries have been sitting in the freezer since last summer, and are from Hurley Farms at Indian Lake. I know I don't have too many blog posts here, so it seems a little absurd to post another Cherry Pie-Let entry. So I won't talk any more. I'll just let you enjoy the pictures. These are what I usually mean when I say pie-let. If you watched the brilliance that was Pushing Daisies, you might also know them as Cup Pies. If you haven't ever watched the show, you should. Go. Click that link. I'm going to go have some pie, myself.

Novices in Napa Valley

2010-04-10T14:10:00.000-07:00

Just because I want a record for myself, and a few other people have asked, here is a sampling of the wines we had in California. The list isn't complete, of course, but it's got some of wines we really liked! The ones I starred were definite favorites.

River Terrace Inn Bar
(http://www.riverterraceinn.com/)
This is actually the hotel where we stayed and had our first local wine. We also had what Carolyn decided was the Best Soup Ever, a roasted red pepper bisque. Overall, we'd definitely stay at the hotel again. It was a short walk to downtown Napa, a beautiful hotel, and the front desk was endlessly helpful to the clueless when it came to scheduling things to do. The photo is the view from our balcony.

2007 Hangtime Pinot Noir (Carneros - Napa Valley)*

Bounty Hunter Wine Bar (http://bountyhunterwinebar.com)
Bounty Hunter is one of those places billed as "where the locals go." And it's true. I think there were only one or two other tables of touristy people. We were actually seated at a community table with a couple obviously on their first date. the best thing I overheard: "Where do you see yourself in 3 years? Married with a bunch of kids?" The guy sputtered around for a second before ordering another class of Malbec. We had lots of meat, as this is a BBQ joint. I'd go back.

2006 Dubois "Clos Margot" Chorey-Les-Beaune (Burgundy - France)
2006 Lutea Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley – California) 2006 Expression Willakia Pinot Noir (Willamette Valley - Oregon)*
2006 Jus Soli Roots Red (Sonoma County - California)*

Wine Train (http://winetrain.com/)
Although I wouldn't say we regret doing it, the Wine Train was not something I'd do again or recommend doing. It was boring, although the food was good. What they are really missing is information; there is no option to hear about the vineyards you are passing by on the slow-moving train, and the "Wine Expert" didn't seem interested in talking to us at all when we were in the tasting car. We tasted six wines before and during the wine train, and I don't have information about any of them. In trying to look deeper, I am pretty sure I tasted a riesling on the train that I later tried at a winery--since she didn't offer very much information, though, I don't know for sure. I definitely remember that we tried these:

(Edit: I responded to the comment left by Wine Train CEO Greg McManus in a personal email, but want to add for everyone's benefit that the Wine Train was not a negative experience! The food truly was delightful, and the wines we tasted were also good. Having already driven up and down State Route 29--the path the train takes--the day before, we were looking for a more educational experience, as opposed to a scenic one. If you are looking for a relaxing ride through Napa Valley, accompanied by unique and tasty food (like the orange-bourbon halibut I loved), the Wine Train would be ideal. However, for those interested in more history and fun stories about the area and the wine it produces, I would recommend a wine tour instead. Greg has responded to my email and agrees that they need to develop a method for communicating information during the train ride.)

2008 Robert Mondavi Winery Moscato D'oro (Napa Valley -California)
An elegant, intensely fruity wine with scents of spice and floral notes of orange blossom and rose petal. Rich and concentrated honeyed fruit flavors are enlivened with fresh acidity. Beautifully balanced, the wine resonates like a finely tuned cello, with a lengthy finish and sumptuous return.

2007 Margerum M5 Red Wine (Santa Barbara County - California)
This is dark, rich, and packed with berry and peppercorn. Truly delicious. Now for the more technical data: 48% Syrah, 31% Grenache, 10% Mourvedre, 2% Counoise. Also included is 6% Genesis of M5 (a co-fermentation of everything but Syrah) and 1% UBER Syrah (a co-fermentation of all of the single vineyard Syrah).

2007 Ed's Red (California)
Enticing, satisfying and full-bodied, the 2007 A.D. Ed's Red is dark and densely colored, with aromas including plums, violets, white pepper and barbecued meat, while on the palate there are additional flavors of cherries, blueberries, spice and licorice. The wine is 43% Syrah, 39% Zinfandel, 13% Petite Sirah, 4% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot, and comes from two areas in California: 44% Napa Valley, 56% Russian River Valley.

Hagafen Wines (http://www.hagafen.com/)
Founded in 1979. Interestingly, all of Hagafen's wines are organic and kosher. The tasting guide gave us information on the vineyards here, as well as on the background of the winery itself. Their wines have been frequently served at the White House since Reagan's presidency, and continues today with Obama. My favorites at this winery were the Cabernet Franc and the Riesling. Carolyn's favorites were the Sauvignon Blanc, and the Riesling, which is interesting because she hardly ever likes white wine.

2008 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc*
On the nose, our highly aromatic Sauvignon Blanc shows lemon, grape fruit, and kiwi. This crisp, bracing, mouth-watering wine fills the palate with a well integrated mix of bright fruit, including lemon drops, limes, grapefruit, and citrus zest, with just a hint of tingly liveliness. Balanced and with solid structure, our 2008 Sauvignon Blanc works well with a variety of fish and lighter, roasted game dishes.

2008 Hagafen Estate Bottled Pinot Noir
This intense, extracted Pinot Noir shows ripe strawberry and cranberry, followed by roasted coffee, smoky black licorice and fresh, loamy earth. This full-bodied wine has a soft and silky structure coupled with spicy and complex strawberry jam, black cherry, and boysenberry that finishes with notes of roasted coffee and toasty cocoa.

2006 Hagafen Estate Bottled Merlot
Highly aromatic, showing dusty rose petal, cherry licorice, cinnamon, and cloves. Deep ruby-garnet in color, and a classic Californian “Right Bank” wine, this mouth-watering and long-finishing Merlot presents notes of black cherry, black licorice, roasted cocoa, and pumpkin pie spices, accented by silky tannins.

2006 Hagafen Napa Valley Zinfandel
This wine gives a rich combination of blackberry, boysenberry, and sweet oak on the nose. On the palate is a superb blend of cherry and black cherry, accented by anise, clove, and roasted cocoa. Firm, silky tannins work in concert with the long finish, giving a lower alcohol Zinfandel designed to be food friendly, especially served with barbequed or roasted meats or tomato-based sauces.

2006 Hagafen Estate Bottled Cabernet Sauvignon
The rich, spicy nose of bakers’ chocolate and black cherry compliments the brooding and spice-filled black licorice, black cherry, plum and cranberry on the palate. The addition of 11% Cabernet Franc enhances the complexity of the wine, as well as adding to our trademark robust and silky mid-palate.

2007 Hagafen Estate Bottled Cabernet Franc*
The rich, spicy nose of red and back fruits compliments the brooding and spice-filled black cherry and tobacco on the palate. The addition of 4% Merlot enhances the complexity of the wine, as well as adding to our trademark robust and silky mid-palate.

2007 Hagafen Estate Bottled Syrah
On the nose, our Syrah shows aromas of red and black fruits. This inky, dark red wine fills the mouth with firm, meaty tannins, complementing a rich mix of cherry, black cherry, chocolate, and leather. With an extremely long finish, this well-structured Syrah begs for the accompaniment of food--anything roasted and in need of a wine able to accent and deepen the experience of hearty meat dishes.

2009 Hagafen Estate Bottled White Reisling*
On the nose, our White Riesling shows aromas of tropical stone fruits, mandarin, and white peach. This bright, wine bursts in the mouth with a mingling of stony, sweet fruits, including apricot, papaya, mangosteen, and mango. With an extremely long finish, this well-structured White Riesling begs for the accompaniment of food--anything needing a slight hint of sweetness to offset spicy or succulent foods, including Thai, Indian, and Chinese cuisines.

Arger-Martucci Vineyards (http://www.arger-martucci.com/arger-martucci/index.jsp)
Founded in 1998. My favorite of all the vineyards we visited, because our wine expert, Fred, made me laugh and was high informative. He was very generous, and genuinely excited by the wines. Most importantly, he wasn't put off by our novice questions, and managed to entertain as he educated. Of course, the poolside picnic, gorgeous mountain views and 75 degree weather helped. This tasting was more structured, where we sat together, and he lead us through the wines one by one. My favorites were the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Odyssey Prop Blend. The Odyssey, served to us with dark chocolate, was among the best wine I tasted the whole trip (though pricier than I usually spend on a single bottle of wine). Carolyn's favorites were the Iliad, the same Cabernet Sauvignon, and the Odyssey blend I enjoyed. We actually purchased four bottles here: the Iliad, the Viognier, Cabernet Sauv, and Pinot Noir.

2008 Arger-Martucci Vineyards Iliad*
A complement to our proprietary red wine called Odyssey, this proprietary wine boasts elegance and refreshment!

2007 Arger-Martucci Vineyards Viognier* This aromatic Viognier has flavors of melon and peach with a touch of bananas that follow through on the palate. We believe this is our best Viognier ever from Arger-Martucci - a great wine to start a meal or simply sip on the veranda.

2005 Arger-Martucci Vineyards Syrah
Gold Medal Winner at the 2008 Orange County Fair! Incredibly rich in texture and taste, our 2005 Syrah gives off the classic white pepper bouquet with hints of black cherry and leather that linger on the palate.

2004 Arger-Martucci Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon*
With hints of leather, tobacco and cinnamon, this Silver Medal Winner is drinking beautifully now, but has a solid structure which will allow for extensive cellaring.

2004 Arger-Martucci Vineyards Odyssey*
Described by Dr. Arger as chocolate velvet, complex layers of chocolate, cinnamon, nutmeg, and black cherry clearly demonstrate why our Estate Reserve is truly an Odyssey on the palate.

2006 Arger-Martucci Vineyards Dulcinea
The complexity of flavors on this popular dessert wine is quite remarkable with peaches, a touch of tropical fruit, and a hint of nutmeg. Only six barrels were produced.

2004 Arger-Martucci Vineyards Pinot Noir*
This elegant Pinot Noir has bright black cherry fruit with hints of black truffle and nutmeg in the bouquet, while on the palate the taste carries red plum and cherries.

Casa Nuestra Winery (http://www.casanuestra.com/)

Founded in 1979. I sort of loved this winery, even though I didn't love any of the wines. It has a fantastic hippie vibe to it, with two gorgeous dogs roaming in and out of the tasting room, and walls covered in 60s era counter-culture posters. There's even a sort of shrine to Martin Luther King, Jr, with some Elvis thrown in. This is very much a family winery, and they produce fewer than 400 cases of many of the wines. The pours here were much less generous than the other wineries we visited, which was perfectly fine at this point in the day. Carolyn and I shared the tasting here. The Charbono was by far my favorite, as it reminded me of my grandpa's wine, medium-light bodied, but with a kick.

2007 Charbono Napa Valley Old Vines (Calistoga - California)*
A traditional Italian variety – once widely planted in Napa Valley – Charbono has become rare. This vineyard is very old, very small, head pruned and located just a few miles north of our winery in Calistoga. The wine is medium –bodied and offers layers of red fruit with allspice and a soft finish.

2006 Cabernet Franc Napa Valley (St. Helena Estate - California)
This vintage is 100% Cabernet Franc and offers a full-bodied structure with bright fruit, hints of spice and mint followed by a pleasing finish. It will pair well with a variety of meats and sauces. This wine can be cellared for four to 12 years.

2007 Tinto (St. Helena Estate - California)
This wine is made from our field mix vineyard planted in 1992. In that year we planted nine varietals on 2.3-acres, in the likeness of our Oakville stand, adding a bit more Rofosco, Petite Sirah, Carignane and Zinfandel. This vintage offers lush, ripe dark blackberries and hints of nutmeg on the palate and a wonderful nose of plum and cocoa. It has great structure as well as serious cellar potential.

2006 Meritage Napa Valley (St. Helena Estate - California)
Our Meritage blend is similar to the wines of St. Emillion, in France’s Bordeaux region. All the grapes we used were grown organically on our estate, vintified individually and aged in French oak barrels. The final blend is: Merlot (69%), Cabernet Franc (9%), and Cabernet Sauvignon (22%), resulting in a full-bodied, well structured wine with flavors of blackberries and cassis. This wine can be cellared for four to 12 years.

2009 Dry Chenin Blanc Old Vines (St. Helena Estate - California)
Made from vineyards planted in the early 1960’s, this our 30th vintage offers a fabulous balance of fruit and acidity. Grapefruit and fresh melon flavors give way to a refreshingly clean and crisp finish. Pair this Chenin Blanc with a variety of foods such as creamy seafood dishes over pasta, green salads and even grilled meats. The cellar potential for this white wine is more than 20 years!

2009 off dry Riesling Old Vines (St. Helena Estate - California)
We have only seven rows and the fence line of Riesling grapes planted on our estate in 1966. With less than 1% residual sugar (RS), it is a beautifully balanced wine with bright, exotic fruits and a racy acidity making the finish crisp & clean. Enjoy slightly chilled on sultry afternoons or all year long with spicy Asian dishes or smoked cheese and apples. Just like the mural (from our winery) that graces the label, we think this wine is out of this world!

2008 Symphony (Lodi Valley - California)
Truly a California native, Symphony is a grape variety which was created and recorded at UC Davis in 1948. It is a cross of Grenache Gris and Muscat of Alexandria. This wine is bursting with an exotic floral bouquet, offers a clean mouth-feel and a lush, fruity finish.

Robert Biale Vineyards (http://www.robertbialevineyards.com)

Founded in the 1930s. One of the interesting parts of this tasting was where we did it: in the cellar. Although it was a gorgeous day, Biale was being painted the day we were there, so we couldn't be outside. I enjoyed the story-telling of our wine expert here, who talked us through the vineyard's shady history as a winery during prohibition. Like many vineyards in Italy, where the founder was from, his vineyard produced a single grape: Zinfandel. With prohibition, the family would have been out of business. Like many normal, decent people of the time, the family made the decision to become criminals instead of destitute, and began selling their wine illegally, code named "black chicken." They were compelled to use a code name because the family used a party line phone to take orders. I might have been a little tipsy by this point in the day, and can only tell you that my favorite was pretty usual for my taste that runs toward blends: the prop red. They don't list any of their wines or tasting notes on the website, so you'll just have to take my word that the Zappa is the best. Since it's also the most expensive, I obviously have good taste! My favorite part of this tasting, though, was tasting the two Zins back to back, and noticing the differences in them.

2007 Napa Ranches Zinfandel
2007 Stagecoach Vineyards Zinfandel
2006 Zappa Proprietary Red Wine
2006 Royal Punishers Petite Sirah

Homemade Croissants, Attempt 1

2010-02-28T17:21:00.000-08:00

In May 2002, I was lucky enough to spend a couple weeks in France--mostly Fanjeaux, with a couple days in Paris. Many remarkable things happened there, and I met people who changed my life. And, like many people who travel to France for the first time, I was awed by the food. Fanjeaux is a middle of nowhere town southeast of Toulouse. It has one restaurant, a single stop light, a cafe that serves as the town bar at night, and a solitary bakery. It was at that bakery that I had my first true, not-from-the-grocery-store-in-a-plastic-container croissant. Then, I had my first with chocolate. And my first with almonds. Although I was living in a community during my time in Fanjeaux, I've always been an early riser, and I took great joy in my own quiet walks through the town early in the morning. Inevitably, the scent from the bakery would call to me, and I'd wander that direction.

As my baking skills have grown since then, I've always thought about how, one day, I'd learn to make laminated dough, and would find a way to replicate those croissants in my own kitchen. Having a new convection oven, I've been more inspired than ever to try out more complicated recipes. Yesterday, I found myself home for the day, with only household chores I was eager to ignore. I've collected many recipes for croissants over time. So many, in fact, I'm not sure where this one originated. I reduced the proportions, and followed directions amalgamated from several other recipes. The croissants that resulted were not quite the perfection of my memory--mostly, I think I needed additional turns of the laminated dought to create more layers--but the buttery texture, the lightness, pleased me for my first attempt.

Makes: 14 good-sized croissants

2 sticks butter, softened
2 tbl flour

2 2/3 c flour
2 tsp instant yeast (I used SAF Red Instant Yeast)
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbl sugar
1/8 c water
1 c milk, warm
1/3 c half and half

1 egg
1 tbl water

Combine 2 tbl flour and butter, kneading until well combined. Shape butter into 4" square, wrap in foil, and refrigerate until firm.

In food processor, combine 1 1/3 cups flour in the work bowl and add the dry ingredients, including yeast. Pulse to mix. Pour the water, milk, and half-and-half through the feed tube. Pulse once or twice to moisten dry ingredients. Add the remaining 1 1/3 cup flour, 1/3 cup at a time, pulsing briefly after each addition. When the mixture forms a mass and begins to clean the sides of the bowl, pulse about 15 times. Mine was very wet--more like batter, so I added about another 1/3 cup flour. When that didn't help, I just went with it, transferred it into a bowl, covered it with plastic wrap, and stuck it in the fridge for a couple hours, where it firmed up nicely. Not to mention that it expanded into a pleasant smelling yeasty sponge. Put it in a bowl bigger than you think you need so you don't end up with a mess!

After a couple hours in the refrigerator, scoop the dough onto a floured surface, and press it into a square that will comfortably wrap the butter. Unwrap the block of butter and lay the block diagonally on the dough. Bring each point of dough into the center, overlapping the edges sufficiently, and seal well. With big rolling pin, roll the dough into a fairly large rectangle--I rolled to about 3/4" thick. If the butter breaks, let the dough and butter warm up a bit at room temp. If the butter is squishy, stick in the fridge for a bit. Fold the length of dough into thirds, as for a letter. Turn so that the open ends are at twelve and six o'clock. Roll again into a rectangle. This time, fold both ends into the middle and then close, as one would a book. Wrap the package of dough in a damp dishtowel, and stick in the refrigerator to chill for 1 or 2 hours.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

I did the same series of fold as the first time one more time. I let it chill again, then folded in thirds one more time. Next time, I will probably do the book fold a third time, too. I want it REALLY flaky, though.

Each time you re wrap in the damp towel and refrigerate, it will rise some more. I know this is a "duh" phenomenon, given all that yeast. It still surprised me, though. Consider yourself warned.

At this point, I rolled the dough and cut it in triangles. I rolled 6 triangles into plain old croissants. To another four, I added a mixture of cinnamon and sugar, and to the remaining four, chopped milk chocolate before they were rolled. I placed these onto cookie sheets, again covered with a damp kitchen towel, and refrigerated over night. This morning, I brushed the croissants with the water and egg mixture, sprinkled the sweet ones with coarse sugar, placed the cookie sheets of croissants into my oven (not preheated, because I'm lazy and figured they were cold, anyway), set on convection bake at 360 degrees. After 15 minutes, I rotated the trays. In another 15 minutes they were gorgeously golden.

We ate the chocolate ones immediately, hot from the oven with coffee. If not the quality of my first taste almost 8 years ago in France, they were certainly the best I've ever had in my own kitchen, or in this country, for that matter.

Espresso-Amaretto Creme Brulee

2010-02-14T16:05:00.000-08:00

I'm still without my stand mixer, meaning that all desserts I've made recently have been those that don't require an electric mixer. Yes, I have an inexpensive hand mixer...but using it is so much work! Creme brulee is one of those desserts, however, that require shockingly little in the way of equipment. It is luxuriously smooth, completely decadent, and deceptively simple.

This recipe, while inspired by a recipe in Lou Seibert Pappas' Creme Brulee, is an adaptation to suit my preferences in flavor and ingredients, as well as number of servings. One of the adjustments I made is to include one of my most recent culinary discoveries: espresso powder. I hate, hate, hate the flavor of instant coffee, and cringe every time I see instant coffee granules dissolved in hot water in an otherwise promising recipe. King Arthur Flour recently ran a special on their "secret ingredients" and I indulged in this powder. Simply, it's amazing. It's smooth, with none of the rough aftertaste I associate with coffee granules. It just tastes like good coffee, powdered. As a complete aside, I think King Arthur has probably the best customer service of any baking catalog/website. They made a minor error in that same order, and when I called to see how to have it fixed, several unusual events occurred: 1. A real, live, human being answered the line, on the second ring. 2. She was genuinely apologetic for the mistake, and fixed it immediately. 3. They rushed shipping on the replacement item at no cost to me--I had the item about 36 hours after making the call. 4. The entire call lasted just over a minute.

Without further ado, what Carolyn calls my Best Creme Brulee, Ever.

Serves: 3 reasonable ramekins full or 2 large heart-shaped dishes

3 egg yolks
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons espresso powder
a few drops molasses (literally, less than 1/8 teaspoon)
3 tablespoons amaretto
1 cup whipping cream

2-4 tablespoons raw sugar

Pre-heat over to 275 degrees. In medium sized bowl (I like a 1 quart measuring cup, because it making pouring into ramekins easier), combine egg yolks and brown sugar, whisking until the sugar is dissolved and the the yolks are creamy and thick looking. Add the espresso powder, the molasses, and the amaretto, stirring until well combined and espresso powder is dissolved. Add cream, and stir gently to avoid whipping air into mixture. Place ramekins into a baking dish, and fill baking dish with water, coming up at least half way up the sides of the ramekins. Divide the egg yolk/cream mixture among the ramekins. Place the ramekins in the water-filled baking dish in the oven for at least 25 minutes. If you are using deeper ramekins, it may take longer to make. The custard is done with it's set, but still wiggles in the center. Remove from over and let cool.

Before serving, top with raw sugar, and caramelize the sugar with a hand-held kitchen torch.

Please let me know if you decide to try the recipe! I like way the amaretto flavor comes through the coffee so clearly--a perfect combination. Keep an eye out for upcoming posts of torrone, marshmallows, and other candies. Once my KitchenAid is back in working order, I'll be making use of the egg whites accumulating in my refrigerator!

We'll Resume Normal Programming Shortly

2010-01-31T16:16:00.000-08:00

Well, a belated hello to 2010! I swear I've been baking--you just haven't heard about it. Early in December, as I began my Christmas baking, the unthinkable happened: my KitchenAid got sick. I say "got sick" because it's not dead, thanks to my mechanical engineer sister and brother-in-law. Or, they tell me my trusty steel blue buddy's going to make it out of this disaster just fine, perhaps better than new. However, there's been a lot of ordering parts, and losing parts, and breaking parts, and ordering more parts. So, umm, we'll be back to our regularly scheduled baking eventually.

Here are My Heroes, and my baby in pieces:

In the mean time, I've done a few things not normally seen here on A Scone's Throw. I bring you, breakfast for dinner!

For Christmas, I received mini tart pans and was eager to put them to use. These tiny quiches used left over mushrooms, onions and sausage, in a simple pastry. All I really did was make my standby pastry, and bake it for about 10 minutes. I then placed the cooked veggies and sausage into the shells, topped them with an egg scrambled with some (leftover) herbs, and topped with some cheese. I used white cheddar on mine, and Jarlsberg on Carolyn's...I differentiated them by sprinkling mine with a touch of red pepper flakes. They are sitting on top of a simple arugula salad dressed with white balsamic vinegar.

The drink on the side? A stroke of brilliance inspired by a local diner that I thought paired perfectly with breakfast for dinner: Crown Royal, orange juice, and a touch of maple syrup, topped with candied pecans.

Oh, Christmas Tree

2009-12-04T05:28:00.000-08:00

I've been a busy girl. A friend of mine with whom I often travel for work called me a couple weeks ago to see if I'd be interested in a baking job. For 15 dozen cookies. Sure, I said. Great. Absolutely.

Now, I've baked a lot of cookies. I've decorated a lot of cookies. However, my royal icing experience has been entirely limited to those breast cancer cookies a couple months ago. I thought it would be quick and easy--outline, flood, decorate, no problem. Ha. I am definitely a buttercream girl through and through. Royal icing in large quantities is a messy slow process for me! I learned a lot, and have been operating on less than five hours of sleep every night this week. Tomorrow, I might just sleep until noon. There was one point this week where I'm pretty sure every flat surface of my dining room was covered with a layer of green trees--like my very own confectionery forest, that smelled almost nauseatingly sweet when one walked in the room.

There are 14 dozen cookies with royal icing, plus a dozen with my usual buttercream. Since I don't have any elves to help me decorate my cookies, in the future, I think the cost of said cookies is going to be a touch higher than I charged this time, purely because the time commitment and frustration/exhaustion factor was significantly higher than anticipated. But they are pretty, aren't they?

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple-Bourbon Cream Cheese Filling

2009-11-01T04:51:00.001-08:00

Oh, fall. How I love you, with your abundance of squash. We picked up a couple pie pumpkins last weekend (along with acorn and butternut squashes) at Hurley Farms in Indian Lake. This one pumpkin produced some pumpkin risotto, a half dozen whoopie pies, and a 3" pumpkin cheesecake for the two of us. The pumpkin whoopie pies were for a friend's birthday--a friend who has a love for pumpkin as deep as I do. The recipe was an adapted recipe from How to Eat a Cupcake. She halved the recipe when she made it; I quartered it. I also made the frosting extra-special for my friend; instead of a standard cream cheese frosting, I made a maple-bourbon cream cheese frosting, which appeals to pretty much his entire flavor palate (and mine--the frosting was SO good)

The proportions are mine, with the original proportions in parenthesis.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Makes 14 cookies (7 pies if you can stand to wait until they are cool to taste that pumpkiny goodness)

5/8 cup all-purpose flour (2 3/4 cups)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (2 tsp)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda (1 tsp)
1 teaspoons ground cinnamon (4 1/2 tsp)
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (1 1/2 tsp)
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger (1 1/2 tsp)
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (1/2 tsp)
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temp (2 1/2 sticks)
1/4 cup sugar (1 1/2 cups)
1/2 tablespoon molasses (3 Tbsp)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (2 tsp)
1 large eggs (4)
1/3 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling) (1 1/4 cups)
1 oz buttermilk (1/2 cup)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Whisk dry ingredients (except sugar) together in a medium bowl.
Using electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, molasses and vanilla in large bowl to blend. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Add pumpkin puree.
Mix in dry ingredients in 3 additions alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions, beating until just combined.
Line large baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls (I used a number 24 ice cream scoop) onto prepared sheets, spacing 2 inches apart, leaving enough room for dough to spread.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, until cake springs back when lightly pressed in the center. Cool completely on wire racks before filling.

Maple-Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting (my own recipe)
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1-2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted, plus more if needed
a bit of vanilla extract
a bit of maple extract
a good glug of bourbon (I used Woodford Reserve)

Blend cream cheese and butter until smooth and well combined. Add in 1 cup sugar and flavorings. Blend until combined. Add additional powdered sugar, a little at a time, until frosting becomes stiff enough to not run off the cookies. Taste for flavor, and adjust if necessary.

Spoon a good amount of frosting on half of the pies (or pipe on with a pastry bag), an squish a second pie on top. Place in the fridge for a while to let the frosting firm up some more. Then enjoy. Mmm.

Sugar Cookies and Royal Icing

2009-10-21T17:17:00.000-07:00

One thing I've probably never said here is how lucky I am to not only have a job in this economy, but to love my job and work for a place whose mission matches up so well with my own values. Working for a college certainly has its ups and downs, but the sense of community at my alma mater and employer is exemplary. There are a great number of big and little things that happen across campus that give me warm, fuzzy feelings routinely, and this month's Cookies for the Cure event is no exception. October is breast cancer awareness month, and in addition to a great number of awareness activities, our Wellness Council decided to ask faculty and staff to donate cookies, wrapped in baggies tied with pink ribbon. Every Wednesday, they then sell these cookies during the lunch hour, and donate all the proceeds. It's a bake sale to save boobs! I love it!

I thought this was a prime opportunity to try a different cookie recipe. I say "opportunity" because no one in particular would be eating these cookies. I've been wanting to try my hand at decorating with royal icing, but if I brought these decorated sugar cookies anywhere, a number of people would be pretty miffed since I'm always told my frosting (buttercream) is the best part, and that the cookies are merely a vehicle for the frosting. I figured charity was as good a reason as any to try out a new recipe, though, so I hit up Martha. I used her basic sugar cookie recipe and royal icing recipes. Of course, with minor alterations: I halved both recipes, and flavored the icing.

Frankly, I thought the icing was terrible at first. I tried using vanilla extract, and didn't think that improved the taste, so I then added almond extract until it was palatable. I then put a dab on a broken cookie, and ate them together. Better, for sure, but I wasn't sold. I decorated two cookies, and let them dry. I then force-fed them to Carolyn, my official taste-tester. And, she liked them. So I tried another. And, after the icing hardens, it actually does taste better. I still wasn't 100% sold, so I took some to a family game night, and observed reactions. When one game night attendee broke one in half in an effort to "be good," and immediately went back for the other half (which someone else had already eaten!), I figured I had done ok. Although the designs I did were very simple for my first shot, I was pleased with the effect of royal icing, was eventually happy with the taste, and will definitely use it again.

A the very least, the people selling them at work liked them. Maybe it'll drum up some holiday business for me?

Caramel Apple Cheesecake

2009-10-05T11:51:00.000-07:00

Mmm...fall. There are a number of things about fall I look forward to, including the ever changing colors of the leaves, pumpkin beers, Halloween, and apple desserts. My CSA has been keeping us in apples and pears for the last several weeks--so many that we can hardly keep up. In celebration of my dad's and brother-in-law's October birthdays, I made a caramel apple cheesecake. The singular inspiration being all the apples in my house, and the desire to make something other than apple pie. I couldn't find a recipe that was exactly what I wanted; Not Quite Nigella's came closest in terms what I was visualizing, but fell short of my exact expectations (I used my own cheesecake recipe, made it less sweet, I wanted more apples...). Like most dabbling food bloggers out there, I simply used the recipe as a jumping off point, and embellished. Here's the recipe, as I butchered it:

Crust:
Several large handfuls of vanilla wafers (I used the fun color minis, but I'm sure that's irrelevant)

6 tablespoons butter

Blend in food processor until it come together. Press into bottom of springform pan, and bake for 10 minutes or so until it's kinda firm and not going to float away when you add filling.

Apple Layer:

2 tablespoons butter

3 large apples, peeled, cored and sliced thinly (I used three different varieties)

3 tablespoons brown sugar

glug maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

a touch of powdered ginger

a touch of all spice

a touch of freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp cornstarch

Saute apples with butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup until there is liquid from the apples in the pan. Add spices and cornstarch, continuing to cook over medium heat until apples are soft but not mushy, and there is a nice syrup. Smoothly layer onto cooked crust.

Cheesecake:
3- 8 oz packages of cream cheese at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons flour

1/4 cup cream

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Whip cream cheese and sugar in electric mixer until smooth and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until fully incorporated before adding the next one. In a small bowl, combine the cream and flour, stirring until smooth. Add to cream cheese mixture, along with vanilla bean paste. Mix until smooth and well blended. Pour slowly on top of apples (be careful here so you don't dislodge the apples).

Bake in a water bath for about 55 minutes at 325. Center should be set but jiggly when you pull it out. Cool, the refrigerate until serving. Right before serving, top with caramel sauce.

Caramel Sauce:
6 tablespoons butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup cream

Melt butter and brown sugar together over medium heat, until it boils. Cook for several minutes until mixture is thick and fragrant (like, say, caramel!). Add cream, and stir until combined. If your cream is cold, it may seize the caramel mixture and bubble furiously. Just keep stirring over the heat until it comes together. Cool until ready to top cheesecake.

By all accounts, this dessert was a hit, and nearly every one stuffed themselves with an entire slice, even after a rather filling dinner. Pardon the poor quality of the photo--it was taken with my cell phone camera, since I was at my parents' house.

Allie and the Giant Rainbow Cupcake

2009-09-20T15:41:00.001-07:00

I pretty much demanded the Wilton Giant Cupcake pan for my birthday this year, and my niece's second birthday was the time to try it out. (I think I might have even begged to be allowed to make the cake, before I owned the pan.) For size perspective, see photo op with the normal-sized cupcakes. I had lots of ideas for how to make the cupcake, since decorating options are unlimited. I knew I didn't want to frost the bottom part, because I wanted the ridges of the pan to be obvious. I also knew I wanted a lot of color for the cake. Enter idea to try out not only my first ever cake in this pan, but my first ever attempt at a rainbow cake. Who needs to try things one at a time? Not me!

The mother of the birthday girl had said she wanted chocolate cake, though, so the top of the cake is chocolate. The birthday girl herself is a big fan of candy. I actually bought Mike and Ikes to use as giant sprinkles, but that didn't work out because they were a tropical variety of the candy, and the colors were pastel. Not what I was going for in this cake, but I'll definitely use them in the future. Besides, Jules loves M&Ms.

Now, this cake was not without it's own small disasters. I wanted a deep chocolate cake--something like a devil's food cake. After a lot of searching the internets, I decided on Hershey's Black Magic cake (which I've never made). Verdict: delicious, if you like impossibly spongy, soft cake. That can't stand the weight of itself, never mind of frosting. The normal-sized cupcakes were fine, but the giant cupcake top? Fell to pieces! I was so irritated that I didn't even take pictures. I promptly Googled "sturdy chocolate cake" and eventually decided on the Wilton recipe that came with the pan. Brilliant.

Now, about the rainbow-ing. I made a basic white cake recipe, because I wanted the colors to be pure, so there were no egg yolks involved (bonus: using up the million egg whites I always have leftover from all my ice cream making). Since I was pretty sure chocolate and rainbow cake would not bake at remotely the same pace, I made them separately, filling the opposite side of the pan with water. The rainbow cake. Baked. For. Forever. Seriously, I think it was more than 90 minutes. However, what came out was lovely and dense and very tasty. So I can't complain. (The cupcakes from the same batch were much lighter; the density is probably a result of the over-stirring to add the color, the waterbath next to it, and the temperature). I baked it at a very low temperature, because I wanted to avoid too much goldening on the outside, so that the colors would still be vivid. It was moderately successful, although I did trim at some of the ridges to brighten it up. Since I didn't frost it, I poked several holes into the bottom, and filled it with frosting, just to ensure it wouldn't be dry. And because everyone loves frosting.

Then I simply topped with the (second) chocolate cake, with a layer of frosting-glue between them. I gave the top a crumb coating, then finished with frosting swirls and M&Ms. The birthday girl herself wasn't too into it, but the adults at the party seemed pleased. Me? I can't wait to make the cake again...I have so many more ideas for it!

Candied Bacon

2009-08-23T07:23:00.001-07:00

By now, you've undoubtedly noticed my affinity not only for ice cream, but my enormous crush on David Lebovitz. I often tell people that I could be a vegetarian, except that I love bacon too much. (In truth, I'm not anything close to a vegetarian, except that I can go days without eating meat and not really notice.) Bacon, however, is a serious food-love, second only to ice cream. I'm sure you can see where this is going. Bacon in desserts is very trendy right now: bacon cupcakes, bacon donuts, bacon chocolate. And David has a recipe for candied bacon ice cream. I've been wanting to try it for months, but last night, I finally did it.

Now, because I can't leave any recipe well enough alone, I made a number of changes. You should check out David's original recipe before making any decisions.

For the candied bacon:
5 strips bacon
about 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
maple syrup (my addition)

Now, I halved the recipe for the ice cream. Except I didn't halve the bacon. I figured I'd want to nibble on the extra. I was actually concerned that if I didn't make extra, I'd eat it all and leave none for the ice cream. It was a good decision, as you'll see at the end of the post.

My ice cream, perhaps due to the changes I made, tastes like a great breakfast of french toast and bacon. This is probably due more to the fact that the french toast I make is very much custard based, and I use vanilla, Navan, maple and cinnamon when I make it. I don't know that everyone would feel this way--it's more that it tastes like my french toast than french toast in general, I think.

For the ice cream custard:
1 tablespoon butter plus salt if not salted butter
1/3 cup (packed) brown sugar
squeeze of maple syrup (my addition)
1 cup milk
3/4 cup cream
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon Navan (my addition, David recommends rum or whiskey)
a couple drops of vanilla bean paste
a tiny pinch of cinnamon

To candy the bacon, turn the oven to 375 and lay the strips of bacon in a baking dish, and top with brown sugar. Drizzle with maple syrup to taste. Bake for 12-16 minutes, occasionally flipping the bacon strips over and dragging them through the syrupy liquid. Continue to bake until dark and done-looking. Remove from oven, and lay on a sheet of aluminum foil sprayed with non-stick spray. (At this point, I stuck the strips in the freezer to cool faster). Once cool, chop into small pieces. You want them fairly small, or else they really get stuck in the teeth.

To make the ice cream custard, melt the butter in a heavy, medium-size saucepan. Stir in the brown sugar, maple syrup to taste, and the milk. Stir until brown sugar is dissolved, and mixture is not quite boiling. Pour the cream into a bowl set in an ice bath and set a mesh strainer over the top.

In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks, then gradually temper them with the brown sugar mixture, whisking the yolks constantly as you pour. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan. Cook over low to moderate heat, constantly stirring and scraping the bottom with a heatproof spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.

Strain the custard into the half-and-half, stirring over the ice bath, until cool. Add liquor, vanilla and cinnamon, if using.

Refrigerate the mixture. Once thoroughly chilled, freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Add the bacon bits during the last moment of churning, or stir them in when you remove the ice cream from the machine.

I did have plenty of left over candied bacon, and decided to make some chocolates with it. By this time, it was getting late, so I was rather lazy. I didn't temper the chocolate, so you'll notice it's not shiny. I also didn't use any molds. I simply melted a combination of semisweet and milk chocolates in a double boiled, and stirred in about 1 1/2 strips of diced candied bacon. I then spread the bacon-chocolate mixture on waxed paper in two distinct portions. I sprinkled the first with the remaining bacon and a bit of fleur de sel. I topped the other portion with finely chopped smoked almonds. Once cooled, I broke it into pieces. I actually prefer the one topped with smoked almonds--the smokiness of the almonds brings out the smokiness of the bacon in a fabulous way.

I have to admit, I will probably make more candied bacon. It's delicious, and I'm already thinking of other ways to use it...

Leave Zucchini on Your Neighbor's Porch Day

2009-08-08T19:08:00.000-07:00

August 8th is known as "Leave Zucchini on Your Neighbor's Porch Day." The entire month of August, however, is an exercise in creativity when it comes to zucchini--baked, fried, grilled, turned into muffins and bread--as this crop starts to pop up everywhere. Earlier in the summer, in my eagerness, I actually bought myself zucchini from a farmer's market. However, at this point, there is no reason to pay for the vegetable. In spite of my utter lack of green thumb, pretty much every person I know is growing zucchini, and leaving it in the most unusual of places: back porches, on top of the communal microwave at work, in boxes outside empty classrooms at the university where I work.

My mom had some pretty spectacular zucchini bread the last time I saw her, and when I asked her for the recipe, I promptly got a scanned copy directly from the old Lazarus cookbook. I even followed the recipe for the most part, except I had three cups of zucchini, rather than 2 1/2. I made one loaf of bread, and 12 muffins. The muffins were great right out of the oven, but became sticky after a day or two. As an aside, mom doesn't peel her zucchini, and it gives the bread pleasant green specks. For some reason I peeled mine, but it's definitely not necessary.

All American Apple...Dumpling

2009-08-05T16:40:00.001-07:00

I've been in and out a lot lately, but haven't been an active blogger, have I? I have good excuses: for one, I haven't been baking much. I've been setting personal records for cooking dinner multiple nights a week, though. Between the CSA and Carolyn's dad's garden, I've had plenty of fresh veggies to play with every week. Since I hate letting things go to waste, I've been cooking more often than not, instead of going out to dinner. Another good excuse, for July at least, is that I was on vacation for ten days, and packing for vacation takes a lot of effort.

In any case, I'm back. This was my third night making dinner this week (out of three nights!), and I had been thinking about making a dessert for us in addition to my diligent dinner duties. When we picked up today's CSA box, it included a variety of firm, sweet yellow apples I was informed were good for baking. Apple dumplings are a summer favorite, reminding me of the days of riverfront festivals in Cuyahoga Falls, wandering by the river during late weekend hours with my best friends. Irish Fest? Italian Fest? Rockin' at the River? Have an apple dumpling.

My apple dumping recipe is a very loose adaptation from the old standby:

I make my own pie crust, core and peel the apples, and stuff them with a mixture of white and brown sugar, cinnamon and top with a pat of batter before wrapping them in the pie crust.

For the sauce, I boil a combination of about a cup of water, 1/2 cup sugar, a blob of honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and clove. I reduce it to a syrup, pour it over the crust-covered apples, and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. I topped tonight's with hearts instead of stars, but I didn't get around to pictures. These are actually from last year:

Although most people insist one needs to measure precisely for baking, that's not really my method. Some things, like pie crust, I know by look and feel, more than using measuring cups. When it comes to the syrup in this recipe, I just keep tasting and adjusting until it seems right, and I'd encourage you to do the same!

Red Wine Rhubarb Compote with Vanilla Ice Cream

2009-06-23T17:19:00.000-07:00

Jackie brought me more rhubarb this week, and after last week's disaster I wasn't sure I was emotionally prepared to make another pie just yet. However, in my obsession with all recipes David Lebovitz, and my lack of familiarity with rhubarb, I went with a tried and true favorite ingredient: red wine. Since I decided to make this red wine rhubarb compote, I needed to whip up some ice cream to have with it. I have generally had a prejudice against Philadelphia style ice cream. I have always loved frozen custard style ice creams so much that when I began my ice cream making less than a year ago, I never bothered making any without egg yolks. I have actually altered Philadelphia style ice cream recipes to turn them into custards. Tonight, though, I wanted something fast, and not to bother with excessive cooking and cooling times. I had red wine rhubarb compote to consume! I made very small portions of both the ice cream and the compote--just enough for one dessert for two; however, the recipes are the full-sized portions. And so, I bring you one of the most simple, and delicious ice creams I can imagine, paired with a flavorful, rich, and spicy compote:

Philadelphia Style Vanilla Ice Cream:

3 cups cream
3/4 cup sugar
vanilla bean paste to taste (I used very little, to really let the cream shine)

Heat up one cup of cream on the stove and dissolve sugar. Add vanilla, and the rest of the cream. Once cooled, add to ice cream maker. (I didn't really let it cool. My ice cream maker is tough, and stood up quite well).

Red Wine Rhubarb Compote (I butchered this, and you should seek out the original recipe):

2 cups red wine (I used an inexpensive Little Penguin Shiraz that I've become fond of)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 small cinnamon stick
several whole cloves
1 pound rhubarb, cut into small pieces

As my sister would say, throw it in a pot and cook it. After the rhubarb was poached, I removed it, and continued to reduce the wine to a thin syrup. I had a difficult time trying to find and remove the cloves, so I would probably use ground cloves in the future.

I didn't even let the ice cream firm up in the freezer. I scooped it from the maker into a bowl, topped with rhubarb, and served with two spoons. :-)

Strawberry-Rhubarb Disaster

2009-06-18T18:37:00.000-07:00

Today, after work, I eagerly got to my baking. I had made the pie crust yesterday, and got right to business rolling the dough, making the filling, designing a lovely steam-vent pattern on the top crust. I baked it. It was beautiful. It was golden. Puffed, with juicy drips of jam visible between the sparkles of sugar.

From the oven, I walked into my dining room to set it on the cooling rack. Inches from the cooling rack, I felt disaster looming: the butter from the crust had made the pie plate slippery, and it shot from my silicone-mitted hand, skidded off the table, and tumbled to the floor, onto our beige carpet. Yes, that's a sandal in the lower right corner.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't salvage the parts that landed on top. And you know what? It's fantastic.

Cherry Pie-let

2009-06-17T18:13:00.000-07:00

One of my fabulous coworkers brought me about a half quart of cherries this week, along with a bunch of rhubarb from her backyard (thanks, Jackie!). Carolyn was pretty eager for cherry pie, although there weren't quite enough cherries for a whole pie. Instead, I used a small rectangular dish, and half a recipe for pie crust--what I refer to as a pie-let. Carolyn generally likes all of her pies to have a streusel topping rather than a second crust, so that's what I did, even though the recipe calls for a double crust pie. I got the recipe from a book that is, apparently, not easy to find anymore: Lisa Yockelson's A Country Baking Treasury: Pies, Cakes, Cookies. I'm pretty sure one of my aunts gave me the book more than ten years ago, but it's still my go-to book for pies.

The basic recipe, which I cut by about a third for this mini-pie:

Two pie crusts--one for the bottom, one for the top
1/4 cup plus 2 tsp. all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground mace (I omitted this, because I didn't have it, and used a touch of nutmeg)
5 cups sour cherries, pitted
2 tbl sour cherry syrup (made of boiled down cherries, water and sugar)
2 tbl butter
egg white for washing crust
sanding sugar for crust

Line pie plate with one crust and refrigerate. Combine all the dry ingredients and mix well. Toss in cherries, and syrup, then pour cherries into bottom crust. Dot top with butter, and top with second crust. Brush on egg white, and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Cut steam vents, and bake at 425 for 25 minutes, then reduce to 350 for another 25 minutes.

If you want to make a streusel topping instead, like I did, combine the following in the food processor:

3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
5 tbl butter, cut into chunks
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

This makes a nice crumbly topping great on pie and muffins.

Stay tuned for something with rhubarb!

Throwing Scones in Glass Houses

2009-06-14T06:48:00.000-07:00

Scones. Scones are probably the baked treat my family most often expects of me. My mom always loved scones, and at a young age, I made it my mission to make her the perfect version. At least twelve or thirteen years later, I don’t ever even look at a recipe. Very loosely, here are the proportions:

3 cups flour
1/3 – 2/3 cups sugar
Salt
1 ½ tbl baking powder
1 stick butter, cold
3 eggs
3 oz. evaporated milk

Combine the dry ingredients, and cut in the butter, as for pie crust. I keep the butter pea-sized. Use the amount of sugar to taste—sometimes I like it sweeter, sometimes less so. Whisk the eggs and milk, and add to the dry ingredients, being careful not to overwork. Pat it into whatever shape you want, and cut into whatever size you want. See how precise I am? Usually, I’ll pat the dough into a square about ¾ inch thick, and cut into nine squares, then cut the squares into triangles. Like this:

Bake in the oven, usually around 325, for 15 minutes or so. This really varies, depending on your oven, and how many you are making. They are done when they smell fantastic, and are a golden brown.

This recipe is very versatile. When making it for my family, or to freeze, I’ll actually quadruple it. I like doing that, because then it uses a dozen eggs, a full pound of butter, and a full 12 ounce can of evaporated milk. It seems strangely satisfying to me when that happens, but it makes A LOT of scones.
Changes to this recipe are simple to make. For example, last night, I only made 1/3 of the recipe, to make nine scones for breakfast. I used a moderate amount of sugar, used cream in place of the evaporated milk, added blueberries to the dry ingredients, vanilla to the eggs mixture, and patted together VERY carefully so as to not crush the berries. I then stuck it in the fridge over night, cut them this morning, brushed them with cream, and added sanding sugar to make them sparkle, and put them in the oven cold.

I sometimes will top them with cinnamon streusel, use chocolate chips, or fill a layer with a little jam. The recipe also does well in more savory adaptations; reduce the sugar, add garlic powder and cheddar, and you have a pretty tasty cheddar garlic scone. Add some rosemary, sea salt and asiago or parmesan, and it goes great with soup. You can also replace the evaporated milk with not only cream, but buttermilk or regular milk, to make slightly healthier.

Enjoy, and be creative!

Berries and Bubbles!

2009-06-11T06:29:00.000-07:00

It's raining in central Ohio this morning. Really raining. Rain makes me want to do a lot of things, including skip the gym, and spend some extra time in the kitchen. Which is why, at 7:30 this morning, I decided to put that champaign in my refrigerator to good use. It's been there since New Year's, after all.

When I walked into the kitchen this morning, the entire room smelled like a strawberry patch. Two quarts of fresh strawberries is a lot for us to eat, even though we've had them plain, with angel foodcake, and now dipped in chocolate (another bit of the morning's productivity). I had some simple syrup already prepared, so it took about ten minutes to put together my strawberry-champaign sorbet. I grabbed a handful or two of strawberries, hulled them, and tossed them in food processor until they were totally smooth. Then I added in just a touch of simple syrup, because they were already plenty sweet. I pushed the mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds, added several glugs of rose champaign, and poured it on into my ice cream maker.

Nothing starts the morning like a little berries and bubbles!

CSA Share: Day 1

2009-06-10T17:20:00.000-07:00

After a lot of reading about the benefits of local produce, I decided back in January that we would join a CSA this year. If you're not familiar with what a CSA, or community supported agriculture group is, the basic idea is that you pre-purchase "shares" from a local farm. You pay upfront, in the beginning of a growing season, and pick up the freshest veggies you've ever had when they come in season. Every CSA works a little differently, and you can find the best options for you at Local Harvest. Local harvest is where I found The Wayward Seed, and several other nearby options. I sent emails to the farms I liked, and after communicating with the farmers, chose the one that suited me best. The truth is, I just found The Wayward Seed to be very personable, eager to answer my questions as an ignorant newbie in the CSA world, and I was very impressed with the beautiful photos on the website. I started pretty small this year, and am only getting a single-person share of vegetables, and of fruits, every other week.

What I really loved about the idea of joining a CSA, in addition to the positive impact it has on the local farming economy and the environment (not to mention the high quality of the food!), was that I didn't get a choice in the vegetables I get every week. I love to cook, but like most people, I get in a rut. I buy the same things over and over, and don't venture too far out of what I know how to cook. I was assured, however, that I'd get recipes for the more obscure produce each week, and that the flavors and quality would be the best around. And you know what? They are!

Here's what I got today:

A tour of the veggies, from the upper left, clockwise around the strawberries: braising greens, hakurei turnips, fresh cilantro, white radishes, evergreen hearty scallions, and red pac choi.

When I picked up the goods, they talked me through each vegetable, and gave cooking and storage suggestions. They also encouraged me to go through and taste each element of the braising greens mix, because it was a variety of greens, including mustard greens and several other things I can't remember; I'm so glad I did this! I don't know greens very well, and a couple were surprisingly peppery, but delicious raw. And so, for dinner tonight, I grilled chicken breasts that I marinated in olive oil, garlic, cilantro and lime juice, and I roasted a combination of the turnips, braising greens, and red potatoes. The turnips were amazing! They were quite tasty before they were cooked--sweet and crunchy--but after they were cooked, they were soft, buttery and slightly caramelized. I really wish I had more! I only used about half of the greens, and definitely am looking forward to using up the rest later this week. The taste combination is quite unique, and, much to my pleasure, all new for me.

And the strawberries? Let me just tell you, you can smell them from five feet away, and my fingers would be dyed red right now if I hadn't stopped myself from eating an entire quart...

Double Chocolate Creme Brulee

2009-06-08T16:42:00.000-07:00

I haven't exactly been consistent in updates, have I? I know I have yet to share any recipes or pictures for scones, which given the blog's name, probably should have been the first post. Hopefully, this creme brulee recipe will help you forgive me. Also, to all of you who voted for my cupcake, THANK YOU!

The book the recipe comes from is Lou Seibert Pappas' Creme Brulee. This is my first and only creme brulee cookbook, and I highly recommend it. I've been making the vanilla bean brulee for at least two years now, and this was actually my first time making any of the other recipes. However, I'll be coming back for more very soon. Overall, these weren't too sweet, and much of the sweetness came from the burnt sugar top. As a lover of all things custard, I'd make it again. Like, next week?

Double Chocolate Creme Brulee (with my changes in purple and italics)
(I halved the recipe and made three servings, and the directions are butchered. The original used too many words!)

2 cups heavy cream
6 large egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar, plus extra for topping (I prefer to use raw sugar for my topping, but regular sugar works)
1 tsp. vanilla extract (I used vanilla bean paste)
3 ounces white chocolate, chopped*
1 tablespoon brandy (I used Navan, which is a vanilla cognac)
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped*
1 tablespoon Kahlua (I used hazelnut Kahlua I bought in Mexico)

Preheat oven to 275. Heat cream in a small saucepan until bubble form around the edges. Whisk sugar and egg yolks until sugar is dissolved. Temper yolks into cream, and stir in vanilla. Put white chocolate in a small bowl, and add half of the cream mixture. Stir until chocolate is melted, then add cognac. To the cream mixture left in the pan: add bittersweet chocolate, and stir until chocolate is melted, then add Kahlua.

Place flan dishes in a baking pan, and divide the white chocolate mixture among the dishes. Let cool, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to cool and set . Also, put the bittersweet chocolate mixture in the fridge. After custards are cool and set, spoon bittersweet chocolate custard into white chocolate custard, and swirl with a fork. (Umm, I stuck them in the freezer for 30 minutes, then proceeded. I was in a time crunch. They didn't swirl especially well, so you should probably actually follow this step. They more turned light brown, but not very well mixed and a little streaky. Oops).

Place the baking dish of custards in the oven, and pour warm water into the baking dish so that it comes half way up the sides of the custard cups. Bake for 30-40 minutes until custard is set. The centers should jiggle just a little when done.

Cool, then refrigerate for at least two hours. (I cooled all the way but never refrigerated. I break rules). Before serving, evenly sprinkle sugar over the top, and have fun with your little blowtorch.

*Please, please, please use good quality chocolate here! When chocolate is the primary flavor in custard, you don't want to go with some generic chocolate chips from Giant Eagle(no offense, Giant Eagle...I heart you). For both the white and bittersweet, I used E. Guittard.

The Perfect Summer Cupcake: Entry for the 2nd Annual Ice Cream Cupcake Roundup

2009-05-04T17:26:00.000-07:00

The real reason my interest in this blog surged over this past weekend was the 2nd Annual Ice Cream Cupcake Roundup: a joint project between Cupcake Project and Scoopalicious that I had to enter. I love ice cream. I bake a lot of cupcakes. Perfect match! I've never entered a baking contest before, but if I'm honest with myself, it's only fitting that these two blogs initiate me. I first found Cupcake Project a year ago--during this contest--when I was looking for some cupcake recipe ideas. I quickly got sucked into the whirlwind that is food blogging, and was obviously attracted to Scoopalicious, being the avid ice cream lover that I am. And so, without further ado...

The Perfect Summer Cupcake: a strawberry cupcake with a ring of white balsamic buttercream, finished with strawberry-basil swirl ice cream.

This cupcake IS summer for me. One of my favorite drinks all summer long is a strawberry martini I make, with strawberry infused vodka, and a basil simple syrup. That drink was my inspirations for this cupcake. The fresh strawberries in the cupcake create a "sunken" center in the cupcake, a perfect bowl for a scoop of ice cream. In addition to the fresh tastes of the strawberries and basil, I wanted some tang to balance the sweetness. I love pretty much anything sweet and balsamic-y, but this frosting came out better than I hoped. It was a bit of a risk, but I replaced some of the cream in my favorite buttercream recipe with a small amount of white balsamic vinegar. I chose to use the vinegar straight, and not make it a glaze first; this was definitely the right choice, because the tart fruitiness prevents the frosting from being too sweet. As a side note, if you've never tried white balsamic, I highly suggest you give it a shot. It's fruitier than dark balsamic, and is, for my money, fantastic on any salad involving goat cheese.

This cupcake idea was the perfect excuse to try out my idea for swirling together strawberry and basil ice creams. I had never made either (nor had I ever swirled together two flavors), but I will definitely make it again! I was a little uncertain about making the basil ice cream, but I loved a fresh mint ice cream I made several months ago, and I'm a bigger fan of basil than I am of mint. I can see some room for improvement on my strawberry ice cream, mainly in consistency. It's harder than I like, especially next to the perfect smooth texture of the basil ice cream, but that can be fixed with a little more creme de cassis, and perhaps cooking down the strawberries to get out some of the water that turns to ice when frozen. The creme de cassis will be my first adjustment, though. I only used about two tablespoons, and, when it doubt, "add more booze" is a good mantra in my ice cream making.

The cupcake has received high accolades from its tasters, with the most prominent compliment being that the frosting was, "the best frosting [I've] ever made." Not bad, for my first attempt at a contest! Wish me luck!

Cheddar Garlic Biscuits

2009-05-03T09:44:00.000-07:00

This morning, as I made a a baked french toast (using up stale cinnamon rolls!), I realized I was craving a more savory baked good. So, I turned to my trusty Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book for a basic biscuit recipe. I altered it quite a bit, because I wanted a cheddar garlic biscuit, I didn't have buttermilk, and I didn't want to feed a crowd.

The original recipe is the Biscuits Supreme, but this recipe includes my alterations, and my process. I'm a pretty simplistic baker, and take quite a few short cuts, so the instructions are probably briefer than those offered in the book.

1 1/2 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of sugar
pinch of salt
3/8 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp garlic powder
6 tbl cold butter, cut in chunks.
1 c cheddar cheese, finely grated
1/4 c milk
1/4 c heavy cream, plus more as needed

1. Preheat oven to 350. In bowl of food processor, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, cream of tartar, and garlic powder. Pulse to combine.
2. Add chunks of butter, pulsing 5-8 times until butter is worked in, and the size of small peas. Don't over-pulse.
3. Transfer to a mixing bowl, and stir in cheese. Add milk and cream, stirring just to combine. Dough should be slightly damp, and look like it would drop off of a spoon, but hold its shape. If you need more liquid, use a little extra cream.
4. Using an ice cream scoop, drop the cookies 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. I used a BIG size 12 ice cream scoop for super biscuits, and got nine.
5. Bake for 15-18 minutes, depending on your oven and the size of your biscuits. Mine ended up about 4" in diameter.

The Ice Cream Post

2009-05-02T14:30:00.000-07:00

When it comes to sweets, my own personal obsession is with the creamy and the frozen. I love ice cream more than any other food on earth. I live in Ohio, where winter temperatures are consistently below freezing, and yet you can find me on any January night snuggled on the couch, decked out in sweatpants and three blankets, with a bowl of ice cream in my hand. It's a little sick, really. Although I haven't been posting here since I starting turning out so many treats, I always intended to, so there are plenty of pictures!

Over the last six months, my interest in churning my own ice cream--and inventing my own flavors--has become a pretty serious hobby. The obsession began with when Scoopalicious posted this recipe for Milk Chocolate Guinness Ice Cream. I fell in love with David Lebovitz, and haven't looked back.

Berry Merlot Sorbet: a sweet, sultry sorbet that was quick and easy, but I could never get enough of. I pushed the limits of physics with the sheer amount of wine, but it was worth the slight melty texture.

Lemon Sherbet: tangy and smooth, I was a little concerned that the lemon juice would curdle the milk and cream combination, and it looked pretty ugly before I froze it. However, once frozen, the liquid emulsified, and I was pleased with the results. I used some left over raspberries to make a bright, rich sauce to complement the tartness of the sherbet.

Next, I tackled one of my own favorites from a local ice cream shop, Salty Caramel: I bought fleur de sel just for this occasion (though I have found many, many other uses for it!). This is the richest, sweetest, saltiest, and most addictive of all flavors I've made. I can't get enough.

And, finally, Rocky Road: I mostly made this flavor because I was intrigued by making the tiny homemade marshmallows in David Lebovitz's Perfect Scoop. The ice cream ended up becoming a favorite, perfectly combining chocolate ice cream (which I never liked before making it myself!), especially with the chewy little marshmallows and toasted almonds.

Really, I Bake

2009-05-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

Wow, I started this blog in December after becoming so addicted to other food blogs. I kept thinking that I make enough fun things to share them on the web, right? It's true--I've even been taking pictures--but it's hard to take the time to post everything. I'll try to be more dedicated. To that end, I'll share some pictures I took a while ago, for cupcakes I did for a baby shower.

These are Chocolate cupcakes, filled with a white chocolate cream cheese and topped with fresh raspberry buttercream.

This cupcake is a fresh strawberry cupcake, filled with lightly sweetened whipped cream, and topped with vanilla bean frosting.

Scones, Cupcakes, and Ice Cream...Oh, My!

2008-12-02T10:58:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to do this for a while...I'm an all around baker and ice cream maker, and finally have a blog to show off my creations. I will be uploading pictures and occasional recipes, and general fun things related to creating food in a tiny kitchen. I have been known to sell a cupcake or two, and my mom might consider comitting a crime or two to get to a scone. If you're in the general Columbus area and are interested in obtaining a baked good or a couple dozen, let me know!