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

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

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

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

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!

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

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 Kitchen 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

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!

Peach Beehives

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!

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

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!

Homemade Croissants, Attempt 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

Leave Zucchini on Your Neighbor's Porch Day

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.