Should you be dancing?

I'm running a little behind this week.  I started this post last night, but was too tired & unfocused to finish it.  And now I'm trying to get it done before I need to get to bed (early, since I have a very early start tomorrow).

Watching:  Well, at the moment Monday Night Raw is on--background noise for me, but J is watching it.  It's scary how much I've picked up by association. =)  J fully admits, it's basically a soap opera for guys.  I'm a little afraid to admit that my girls can recognize a remarkable number of wrestlers just by their theme music.

Reading:  168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam.  I was inspired to read it after reading my friend Anandi's review--which you can check out here.  I'm not done yet, so I'll have to report back on what I think of it next week.  But I figure it's worth reading, since I'm trying to manage my time/life better.

Listening:  Nothing special.  I've got a playlist of upbeat songs to get me--and sometimes the girls--moving.  One of the ones they really like is You Should Be Dancing, thanks to Despicable Me.  I got some other Bee Gees songs, thinking they'd like them, but I get complaints when I play anything else.  

Making:  The main thing this week was scones.  For the end of the week, I made some for the girls--Triple Chocolate, at G's request.  This particular KAF recipe doesn't call for freezing them like a lot of the others do, but I did it anyway.  I mixed up the dough and shaped the scones on Wednesday night, then popped them in the freezer.  That made it easy to bake them off on Thursday morning.  I made scones again Friday morning to take to work, though I only froze them for about 30 minutes while I showered.  Those were savory, with cheddar cheese and scallions.  I tweaked the recipe a bit, by subbing a little cornmeal for some of the AP flour.  I was also lazy and used my #16 disher to make round scones, instead of making triangles or squares.  

Ooh, and I made ice cream on Sunday, too.  Jeni's Salty Caramel.  I crumbled up some Biscoff cookies, being sure to leave some larger pieces, and layered them in with the ice cream as I packed it into its freezer container.  I was going for something similar to Haagen Dazs Spiced Caramel Biscuit.  I enjoyed that flavor, but thought it needed more, bigger pieces of cookies.  And I always like salted caramel better than unsalted.

Feeling:  Sore.  I went and got a massage yesterday, and had my massage therapist work on my lower back and right hip.  Not surprising that they were bothering me, since I was standing and running around all day on Friday.  (When the 1st of the month & Friday coincide, things are really crazy in banking.)  I've been trying to get better about getting a massage on a regular basis.  As long as I schedule my next appointment before I leave, I do okay.  My goal is to go every couple of weeks; any less and I undo all of the good that was done before I go in for another session.  Sure, it's a little expensive, but I don't spend a lot of other money on myself.  And it's kind of a healthcare expense, right?  

Planning:  I should be planning for my trip, but I'm too busy with work right now to think all that much about it.  I did tell the girls that I'm going out of town that weekend, and that they'd have to keep their father out of trouble.  G thinks for some reason that it's totally hilarious to ask me to bring her back a saxophone as a souvenir.  (Your guess is as good as mine where that came from.)

Loving:  Spending some time with my girls this weekend.  Nothing big, but we had lunch out together at Blue Baker in Austin.  Then we went to a book fair at Barnes & Noble, benefiting the girls' elementary schools.  As if we need an excuse to buy books... =)

Check out more Currently links at Kristin's blog.  

December decompression

December has barely started, and I'm already stressed.  I have too much that I want to do, and no idea how I'm going to find time to do it all.  Thank goodness I have vacation time later in the month, though that adds to the stress a bit, since I have so much to do at work before then.  But somehow or other, it will all get done--probably with the aid of not enough sleep and lots of caffeine.

Since I don't drink coffee, the caffeine comes from Coke or tea.  I bring a big mug of tea from home in the morning, but sometimes I want more during the day.  A walk to Starbucks gives me the chance to get out of the branch for a bit and decompress.  Unfortunately, our weather right now isn't always conducive to hot drinks, so I'm still drinking a lot of ice tea.  However, I've also discovered that you can get them to make a Gingerbread Latte with tea rather than espresso, and it's quite tasty.  (Ask for an Awake Tea Latte with gingerbread syrup.)

And sometimes I forego the caffeine in favor of chocolate.  During the fall, the seasonal hot chocolate drink is Salted Caramel.  I'm not sure if it's actually still available in the shops, but I've discovered that I can buy boxes of Starbucks hot chocolate in various flavors at Target.  For the salted caramel one, the caramel flavor seems to come from little chips of some sort.  That gave me the idea to add butterscotch chips and some extra salt to my homemade hot chocolate to see if I could duplicate the flavor.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, so I can make it whenever I want.


Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate

45 grams (about 1/4 cup) chocolate chips
15 grams (about 1 tablespoon) butterscotch chips (I used Guittard)
60 grams (1/4 cup) boiling water
225 grams (1 cup) milk
1/8 - 1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 - 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
whipped cream or marshmallows (optional)

Place the chocolate chips and butterscotch chips in a small saucepan and pour the boiling water over them.  Let sit for about 5 minutes, until the chips melt.  Whisk the mixture until smooth.  Place the saucepan over medium low heat and bring to a simmer, whisking occasionally.  Whisk in the milk, and bring the mixture to a simmer again.  Whisk in kosher salt and sugar to taste.  (The amount of sugar needed will depend on the sweetness of the chocolate chips used.)  Pour into mugs and top with whipped cream or marshmallows if desired.  Makes 2 servings.

Inspiration

I love to make ice cream, but I do buy it occasionally.  Sometimes my girls wear me down, and I buy some because I don't feel like (or have the time for) making it.  That happened this weekend.  But while B&G were debating over what flavor to get, I had a chance to look for myself.  Haagen-Dazs had some limited edition flavors on the shelf that caught my eye.  I seriously considered the Salted Caramel Truffle, until I realized it was in a vanilla base.  If it had been chocolate ice cream, I probably would have stopped looking there.  But instead, a container (I almost said pint, but unfortunately these are a bit shy of that mark) of Spiced Caramel Biscuit jumped in my cart.  I've thought about putting crumbled Biscoff cookies into homemade ice cream, but haven't been able to decide what base to use.  I like the combination of cookies with caramel ice cream, though the Haagen-Dazs caramel is definitely sweet, not salty.  Overall, I do like the flavor quite a bit.  Plus I think I'm now inspired to fire up the ice cream maker this weekend and make my own version.

Keeping the doctor away

I had a really good mail day recently.  It helps that I got tired of the stack of bills needing to be shredded--one evening I switched everything to paperless that I could manage, which means most of the mail now is either total junk or good stuff.  On the day in question, I think I got a new Cook's Illustrated magazine, an issue of Bon Appetit, a Crate and Barrel catalog, a Stash Tea catalog and a King Arthur catalog.  Definitely good stuff. =)  (And you can probably guess, I don't check my mail every day--it had kind of piled up.)  In the back of the KAF catalog, there were some fun Halloween treats, including a picture of Boiled Cider Caramels.  I quickly jumped online to find the recipe.

I will probably end up making the caramels sometime during the holidays.  But I wasn't in the mood to cut up and wrap lots of pieces of caramel.  Then it occurred to me that I could add boiled cider and spices to one of my favorite caramel sauces and come up with something similar.  I decided to go with a classic recipe from Cook's Illustrated, scaling it back by half since this was an experiment.  I added a bit of corn syrup for insurance against crystallization.  Once I'd whisked the cream into the caramel, I added boiled cider one tablespoon at a time until I had a flavor I liked.  I made my own version of apple pie spice by adding a mix of cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg.  I also added more than the original pinch of salt, since I like salty caramel.

The verdict?  I was a bit surprise at how much flavor the boiled cider brings to the caramel, but I'm still trying to decide if I'm happy with the amount of spice.  It seemed a bit heavy on the cinnamon at first, but was better after a day or two.  The caramel is tasty on top of vanilla ice cream and stirred into tea or warm apple cider, but it's really good as a dip for apple slices.  I know, big surprise, right? =)

I'll definitely be making this again, and playing around with it some more.  I'm including my rough recipe if you'd like to try it yourself.  If you haven't made caramel before, here's a good resource from Fine Cooking, including a video so you can see what it's supposed to look like.  (I do things a little differently, based on the Cook's Illustrated recipe.)

Apple Cider Caramel Sauce
(adapted from Cook's Illustrated and King Arthur Flour)

60 grams (2 ounces) water
200 grams (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
22 grams (1 tablespoon) light corn syrup
115 grams (1/2 cup) heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
60 grams (about 3 tablespoons) boiled cider
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
15 grams (1 tablespoon) unsalted butter

Pour the water into a heavy 2-quart saucepan.  Add the sugar to the pan, pouring it into the center so none sticks to the sides of the pan.  Add the corn syrup and swirl the contents to combine.  Cover the pot and bring the mixture to a boil over high heat.  Remove the lid and continue to boil the mixture until it turns straw-colored, about 10 minutes.  Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook the syrup until it turns dark amber, about 5 minutes longer.  Remove the pan from the heat and add about half the cream.  The mixture will bubble vigorously.  Once the bubbles subside, add the rest of the cream and whisk the mixture until smooth.  Whisk in the salt, boiled cider, and spices, then whisk in the butter.  Allow the mixture to cool until just warm before serving.  The caramel sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a month.  Makes about a cup.

Heart of darkness

I didn't have Valentine's Day in mind when I made these brownies.  I just really wanted some chocolate.  The heart shape came about because brown squares aren't terribly photogenic. =)  I feel a little like a copycat, posting these Sweet and Salty Brownies relatively soon after my friend Tracey did. I admit, she was the immediate inspiration, but I've actually made them about 4 times in the past year.   Unfortunately, until this most recent batch, I didn't manage to take any pictures of them so I could actually post about them.  We were too busy eating them. =)  The brownies come from a cookbook that I picked up after Christmas last year--Baked Explorations.  This was actually was the first recipe that I made from the book.  (And I really need to delve into it more than I have so far.)  The recipe makes a 13"x9" pan, and since the brownies are really rich, I always cut them small, so there are plenty to share.  

To make the brownies, the first thing you do is make a salted caramel sauce.  I've mentioned before that I became a much bigger caramel fan after I discovered what a difference it makes to add salt to it.  With a full teaspoon of fleur de sel as well as some sour cream, this particular caramel sauce has a complexity to it that I really enjoy.  The next step is to make brownie batter.  I like mine bittersweet, so I used some 70% El Rey for the chocolate.  The recipe also calls for dark cocoa powder, like Valrhona.  I prefer natural cocoa; since there isn't any leavening that would be affected, I went with my preference and used Scharffen Berger cocoa powder.  Once the brownie batter is made, you spread half of it in your prepared pan--I line my Pyrex pan with non-stick foil rather than parchment.  Next you drizzle some of the caramel over the batter, and spread it to form a thin layer.  Finally, you top it with the remaining brownie batter, then stick the pan in a 350º oven.  (My brownies took 30 minutes to bake.)  Once they come out of the oven, you sprinkle the top with a mix of fleur de sel and coarse sugar; I used turbinado sugar for mine.  

The verdict?  Well, as I mentioned above, these brownies are very rich, and very delicious.  I love salt with chocolate as well as with caramel.  I also prefer fudgy brownies (as opposed to cakey ones), and these are definitely in my favorite category.  Everyone here loved them, as did my coworkers.  They've also been a hit at the daycare when I've taken them there in the past.  

If you'd like to try these for yourself, you can find the recipe in Baked Explorations.  You can also find it all over the web, but I encourage you to check out the cookbook (maybe your local library has it!) since there are lots of other great recipes in it.  Hopefully I can manage to make and blog about some more of them soon. =)

Don't fear the caramel

It seems like it's been quite a while since I made anything with caramel.  It's not that I was consciously avoiding it, but I realized that the last time I attempted it was when I had my difficulties with the microwave caramel sauce back in October.  (I'm happy to report that my hand is all better--you can barely tell where I burned it.)  I decided to revert to my old way of making it on the stovetop, and definitely won't go months without making it next time.  So what exactly prompted me to start caramelizing sugar again?  A cake.  And what prompted me to make the cake?  A new pan!  It's a Christmas present of sorts--I spent some of my Christmas money (thanks, K&L!) on a very cute little 6-cup Bundt pan.  For the record, it's possible that my collection is getting a bit out of control, though Mary still has me beat. 

The new 6-cup pan is in the back, between the Heritage pan (left) and Kugelhopf pan (right)

Speaking of Mary, I have her to thank for the cake inspiration.  Back in November when she was celebrating National Bundt Day with her latest round of 30 bundts in 30 days, Mary also did a giveaway.  She invited everyone to bake and post a cake on National Bundt Day, and then drew a name to receive a copy of Cake Simple, a book full of bundt cakes.  I was the winner!  The book is from Christie Matheson--if the name is familiar, it may be because she also worked with Joanne Chang on the Flour Bakery cookbook.  

Since I was eager to use my new pan, I started by looking through the recipes that called for a 6-cup pan.  (There are also recipes for 10 or 12 cup pans, as well as a chapter on minis.)  The one that immediately caught my eye was the recipe for the Salted Caramel Bundt.  First you make a caramel syrup, which is used in the cake and in the glaze.  The cake itself is made with the creaming method, and comes together pretty quickly.  There's almost too much batter for the pan, but it worked out okay.  My cake took about 45 minutes to bake. 

The verdict?  This was pretty tasty!  The cake is really moist.  I didn't really care for the texture of the glaze, so I may change that up a bit next time (no cream, I think), but it did add to the caramel flavor.  As I was making the cake, I thought that the method (using the caramel syrup in the batter) seemed really familiar.  Then I realized it was because I've made the cake before in a different form--this Caramel Cake with Browned Butter Frosting.  

I'm sure I'll be sharing more recipes from this book in the future, but for now, here's the recipe for the Salted Caramel Bundt.

Salted Caramel Syrup

(adapted from Cake Simple by Christie Matheson)

1/4 cup (60 grams) + 1/2 cup (120 grams) water

1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar

1 teaspoon light corn syrup

1/8 teaspoon fleur de sel or other sea salt

Put the quarter cup of water, the sugar, and the corn syrup in a small saucepan with high sides and mix until combined.  Bring the mixture to a boil, then cover the pan with a lid for about 2 minutes to allow steam to clean the sides of the pan.  Remove the lid and cook the mixture, watching carefully, until the sugar turns a dark amber color.  Swirl the pan so that the sugar will color evenly.  Remove the pan from the heat and carefully add the remaining half cup of water--the mixture will bubble up furiously, so stand back.  Put the pan back over medium heat and whisk to dissolve any hard bits of caramel that may have formed.  Whisk in the salt, remove the pan from the heat, and let the syrup cool to room temperature before using in the cake or glaze.

Salted Caramel Bundt Cake

(adapted from Cake Simple by Christie Matheson)

2 cups (240 grams) all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon table salt

10 tablespoons (about 140 grams) unsalted butter, slightly softened

1 1/4 cups (250 grams) granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/3 cup (about 90 grams) salted caramel syrup

1 cup (240 grams) whole milk, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.  Grease and flour the inside of a 6-cup Bundt pan or spray it with baking spray (I use Pam for Baking).  

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl until combined.

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then add the vanilla.  With the mixer on low, slowly add the caramel syrup and beat until incorporated.  Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk (flour, milk, flour, milk, flour), beating just until the flour is incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.  Bake the cake for 45 to 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted midway between the outside of the pan and the center post comes out clean.  Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes, then invert the cake onto a rack and let it cool completely.  

Caramel Glaze

(adapted from Cake Simple by Christie Matheson)

2 tablespoons (30 grams) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup (115 grams) powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons caramel syrup

large pinch of sea salt

1 tablespoon heavy cream

Whisk all of the ingredients together in a small bowl until the mixture is smooth and pourable.  Add additional cream to thin the glaze if necessary (I actually thinned mine with more caramel syrup, too).  Drizzle over the cooled cake.  

I fought the caramel, and the caramel won

No, that's not this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, is it?  Jennifer of Cooking for Comfort picked Basic Biscuits for us to make this week.  I'm working on them, but it's slow going. My hand hurts.  I burned it attempting some Easiest Caramel Sauce--apparently my microwave is more powerful than I realized.  The sugar got way too dark, but I tried to salvage it and splashed caramel on my hand in the process.  I shouldn't have bothered--I tasted it and it was definitely burnt. =(

So the biscuits will be delayed a bit.  In the meantime, be sure to check out how everyone else did with them this week over on the Links page.  

Sundae Sunday - Nuts about caramel

So what do you think makes a sundae a sundae?  Is it just having sauce on ice cream?  Is it adding whipped cream?  Is it the cherry on top?  Well, I have all of those today, so there's no doubt in my mind that this is a sundae. =)  I don't eat sundaes much.  I usually eat a single scoop of ice cream, plain, in a small bowl or ramekin.  Eating a small amount means I can get away with eating ice cream more often.  Occasionally I'll put some chocolate or caramel sauce on top.  But whipped cream?  Never.  And cherries?  I don't even like them. Jamie got to eat the one on this sundae; he's the one who bought the cherries in the first place, so I can make him some ice cream with roasted cherries.

But since this is Sundae Sunday, I went all out.  At the base is a waffle bowl, made from the same recipe as my cones, but sandwiched between a couple small bowls to give it shape.  The ice cream is salty caramel with pecan pralines.  (You can also find the salty caramel ice cream recipe in this Bon Appetit blog post. Thanks, Mike!)  It's topped with a sinfully sweet butterscotch sauce and topped with softly whipped cream and a cherry.

I added the pralines to the ice cream because I wanted something that wasn't too plain, and I thought they would be good with the caramel ice cream.  Initially, I was thinking of using hot fudge or some other chocolate sauce for the topping, but then I decided that I wanted to stick with the caramel theme.  Regular caramel sauce seemed too obvious; I wanted something with a little more character.  I consulted my bookshelf on Eat Your Books, looking for butterscotch sauce.  I was a bit surprised when it pointed me to my copy of Ratio, by Michael Ruhlman.  But sure enough, there was a butterscotch recipe in there.  Butter, dark brown sugar, cream, salt, vanilla, and the intriguing ingredient of cider vinegar were fairly quickly combined into a delicious topping.  As for the whipped cream, I made it by hand--I've finally learned that the best way to do that is to use a large bowl and my big balloon whisk, even for a relatively small amount of cream.  The whipping goes fast that way, and I can easily stop before the cream gets over-whipped.

The verdict?  Wow.  This sundae was totally decadent, and completely delicious.  I let the caramel for the ice cream get a little too dark, so the ice cream wasn't very sweet.  But that was okay with the pralines and sauce, both of which were quite sweet.  I don't usually go for nuts in my ice cream, but I like how the pecans were crunchy, while the praline coating melted into the ice cream.  The butterscotch sauce was wonderful--the additions of vinegar and salt really gave it an excellent flavor.

Butterscotch Sauce
(adapted from Ratio by Michael Ruhlman)


55 grams (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter
115 grams (4 ounces, or a packed half cup) dark brown sugar
115 grams (4 ounces, or half a cup) heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Place the butter and brown sugar in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan.  Cook for 5 to 10 minutes over medium heat until the sugar has completed melted into the butter and the mixture is thick and bubbly.  Remove the pan from the head and whisk in the cream.  Let the mixture cool slightly--about 5 minutes--then whisk in the vanilla, vinegar and salt.  Makes about a cup.

For more info on making the butterscotch sauce, check out this article from Shuna Fish Lydon, with great how-to photos.

And be sure to check back later this week for my Sundae Sunday round-up!

Ice Cream Week!

I have to admit, I'm a picky eater.  I've definitely gotten better about it as I've gotten older, but there are still a lot of things that I don't like to eat.  This is a big contrast to my husband Jamie, who eats just about anything.  Fortunately, one of the few things that he won't eat is very high on my list as well.  Coconut.  Neither of us can stand it.  I don't like the flavor or the texture.  And I'm sensitive enough to it to be able to pick it out even when it's not obvious to others.  Yuck. =)  If my children ever learn to like coconut, it won't be because they got it at home, because I don't let it in the house.  Almond Joys that come home in trick-or-treat bags?  I immediately take them to work.  I break open filled chocolates before eating them because I don't want to risk biting into a coconut one.  I once had one of my employees request German Chocolate Cake for his birthday.  Now I try to honor all requests, so I did make it, but I took the leftover coconut to work along with the cake so it wouldn't be in the house any longer.  

So why all this talk of coconut hatred?  Well, I got a new cookbook about a week ago, Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home.  When we were on vacation in Ohio recently, we had a chance to go to one of the Jeni's shops.  The ice cream was fabulous, and I was excited to learn that she was about to release a cookbook.  I ordered it as soon as we got home.  There are lots of wonderful flavor combinations in the book, but I was also excited to read about some of the stuff in the back of it--various mix-ins and sauces.  The one that immediately caught my eye was the Chocolate Bombe Shell.  Basically, it's homemade Magic Shell!  I mentioned this to a couple people at work and was disturbed to find that they had no idea what I was talking about.  It's not that the flavor of Magic Shell is that great, but the texture is so cool.  And now I can make it at home with my favorite bittersweet chocolate.  There was only one problem--the ingredient that makes it magic is coconut oil.  No!

But then I read further and learned that there are a couple types of coconut oil out there.  Virgin, or unrefined, coconut oil does taste like coconut.  Blech.  But the refined version isn't supposed to taste or smell like it.  I admit, I remained skeptical, but I went to Whole Foods and found a jar of refined coconut oil.  I was excited when I got it home and found that it actually didn't seem to have anything to do with coconut--no smell or taste of it!  

Of course, I also needed some ice cream to put it on.  The first Jeni's flavor I tried was vanilla bean.  I actually found the recipe online before my book got here.  The one pictured here, though, is one of Jeni's signature flavors, Salty Caramel.  I never used to make or eat a lot of caramel things, but then I discovered how much better caramel is with salt added.  Mmmm.

The basic approach in these recipes is to use cornstarch for thickening, rather than egg yolks.  I don't have anything against egg custard ice creams, but it's nice not to have to worry about "orphaned" egg whites.  Jeni also uses corn syrup and cream cheese in most of her recipes to make the texture similar to what she creates in her commercial kitchen.  I highly encourage you to get a copy of the book, but you can also find the basic technique online, since Jeni did an article a while back for Food & Wine.  The main difference for the Salty Caramel recipe is that the sugar in the recipe is first heated to make a dry caramel.  Then the cream, milk and corn syrup (2 tablespoons, rather than 1 1/2) are added and the recipe proceeds as usual.  Half a teaspoon of salt is added to the cream cheese before the liquids are whisked in, and the recipe uses 2 teaspoons of vanilla rather than a vanilla bean.

The verdict?  The chocolate shell is just amazing.  I can't believe how easy it is to make.  And it's been very tasty on a variety of ice cream flavors, including the Salty Caramel.  I've made several caramel ice creams, and I think this one may be my favorite.  Jamie liked it a lot as well.  The girls didn't try this ice cream flavor, but they both liked the chocolate shell.  We'll definitely be making both again.  And I can't wait to try more flavors from my new cookbook.  I've decided that this is going to be Ice Cream Week here in Di's Kitchen, so watch for more to come.  I'm not going to publish the Salty Caramel ice cream recipe here, but you can find Jeni's Vanilla Bean one here to get you started.

Chocolate Bombe Shell 

(adapted from Jeni's)

170 grams (6 ounces) bittersweet chocolate (I used El Rey, a mix of 58% and 70%), chopped

30 grams (2-3 tablespoons) refined coconut oil

Place the chocolate in a medium microwave-safe bowl.  Microwave on 50% power for 2 minutes, then stir until the chocolate is fully melted.  Add the coconut oil and stir until smooth.  

Thankful

It's been a while since Brianna lost another tooth.  But that changed when I picked her up from daycare (because she didn't have school) on Wednesday.  She had a tooth that was just barely hanging on.  As has often been the case, I ended up having to pull it the rest of the way out for her, because it was bothering her so much.  It didn't take much.  As we were driving home, B mentioned that she wanted to write a note to the tooth fairy to put under her pillow along with the tooth.  Once we got home, she got to work on it.  She drew pictures of turkeys (see below), and wrote "Gobble! Gobble! Gobble! What are you thankful for? Write bellow (sic) two things."  Hey, nobody told me that this tooth fairy thing was going to involve essay questions...

Thank goodness Brianna has always been a sound sleeper.  It definitely makes the whole tooth fairy thing a lot easier.  Teeth are one thing--they're small, and B puts hers in a little pouch that's pretty easy to find, even under a pillow in the dark.  Turns out it's a lot more nerve-wracking to try to remove an 8½x11 sheet of paper from under the pillow of a sleeping child.  The tooth fairy folded it up after writing her answers, making the return a lot less harrowing. =)

After some consultation with others online, I came up with some answers for the tooth fairy. (You can see them here.)  As for me, I'm thankful for creative kids with active imaginations.  And I'm thankful that I'm not the turkey in the picture above. (In case you can't quite tell, that's a turkey on a table, and a turkey on a spit, and a live turkey in between, looking scared.)  Oh, and I'm very thankful for pie.

I'm running a bit late for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie, but that was kind of on purpose.  This week is a rewind week, meaning that we are free to pick whatever past recipe we'd like to make this week.  Things were a bit crazy last month when Janell of Mortensen Family Memoirs picked the Caramel Pumpkin Pie, and I didn't have time to make it.  So I figured Thanksgiving would be the perfect time to try it out.  Jamie loves pumpkin pie, but I don't make it very often since I don't like it.  (It's the custardy texture that turns me off; I love most other pumpkin baked goods.)  

I had some of Dorie's pie dough stashed in the freezer (from when I made apple pie last month), so I pulled it out last night and put it in the fridge to thaw.  This morning, I rolled it out, put it in a pie pan, and blind-baked it.  (I have a bunch of black beans that I reserve for use as pie weights.)  The edges of the crust started to get rather browned when I was doing the initial bake, so I made sure to shield them with foil when I baked the filling.  The filling starts with making caramel using the dry method, meaning that you just put sugar in a pan and start heating it.  It quickly starts to melt and caramelize.  I didn't want the filling to be bitter, so I was careful not to let the caramel get too dark.  Cream, butter and rum are added to make a caramel sauce.  

I changed the mixing order for the rest of the filling, first mixing the spices (cinnamon, ginger & a bit of allspice) with the sugar to make sure they were evenly dispersed.  I whisked the eggs in separate bowl, added the sugar mixture, then added the pumpkin and vanilla.  Finally the caramel sauce went in.  I baked my pie for a total of 48 minutes, at which point the edges were starting to puff up and the center was just set.  As the pie cooked, the filling settled to an even layer.  It had plenty of time to cool to room temperature before we sampled it.

The verdict?  I'm pretty sure I'll never be a big fan of pumpkin pie.  That being said, I did have a small taste of this one, and the flavor was very nice.  The rum and caramel flavors were lovely with the pumpkin, and I liked the combination of spices as well.  Jamie really liked the pie, and so did Brianna.  Gillian did try some, but decided she'd rather eat apple pie.  I'm with her. =)

If you'd like to try this recipe for yourself, you can find the recipe on Janell's blog.  To see what everyone else made for this rewind week, check out the Links!

We all scream for ice cream

The calendar may say that it's just the beginning of May, but it's definitely starting to warm up.   For Tuesdays with Dorie, we're getting into the time of year when fruit recipes and frozen treats become more popular.  This week's selection comes from Becky of Project Domestication, and she picked Burnt Sugar Ice Cream for us to make.  Of course, lots of people like to eat ice cream year-round, but it gets more attention during the warmer months.  I’m spoiled—when I bought my current ice cream maker, it came with an extra freezer canister.  I keep one in my freezer all the time so I can make ice cream on short notice--as soon as I take the canister out, the other one goes in.

I've actually made this ice cream before.  The first time I made it was as part of a Daring Bakers challenge, back in February of last year.  I’m kind of surprised that I haven’t made it since, but that’s probably because I’ve been too busy trying out other flavors.  More recently, I made the Caramel Ice Cream recipe from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home.  The ingredients for the two recipes are pretty much the same—sugar, water, cream, milk, egg yolks, and salt.  Dorie’s recipe also includes vanilla.  Where the two differ is in the proportions.  The Ad Hoc recipe uses a 1:1 ratio of cream to milk, whereas the TWD recipe is 1:2.  The Ad Hoc recipe also uses a significantly higher proportion of egg yolks—5 yolks for 2 cups of liquid, versus 4 yolks for 3 cups.  The question is, is it worth it to make the richer recipe?

To even the playing field a bit, I adjusted the liquid in Dorie’s recipe, using 12 ounces each of milk and cream.  I also increased the amount of salt from a pinch to ½ a teaspoon of kosher salt.  I did want to try the vanilla, so I warmed the milk and steeped a vanilla bean pod in it.  (I started to scrape the seeds out and rub them into the sugar like I usually do, then realized that might not be the best idea if I was going to then make caramel with the sugar.  So that vanilla sugar is now earmarked for next week’s pastry cream. =)  And there was still enough in the pod to flavor the milk.)  I usually add a bit of corn syrup to the water and sugar as insurance when making caramel, but forgot to do that this time.  It seemed okay, but the caramel seized up a lot when I added the liquids to it.  About 5 minutes of heating and whisking took care of that problem, though.  Then I carefully tempered the hot caramel mixture into the yolks.  Since the mixture was already quite warm, it didn’t take long at all to heat the custard to over 170F.  Once it was done, I strained the mixture into a bowl sitting in an ice bath and stirred to cool it down.  Once it was pretty cool, I put it in the fridge to chill completely before churning it into ice cream.

So, the verdict?  This ice cream is very good.  But my memory of the Thomas Keller ice cream is on a whole different level.  The flavor is similar (and I liked the vanilla bean addition), but the extra yolks give the TK ice cream an incredibly smooth texture.  The TK ice cream isn't something I’d make all the time, but it’s really worth it to go with the extra richness.  My girls aren’t as excited about caramel ice cream as Jamie and I are, so I dressed it up a bit for them.  Strawberries have been everywhere lately and I had some that really needed to be used, so I made a cooked strawberry sauce.  I was surprised at how tasty it was with the caramel—I didn’t expect the flavors to work that well together.

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe also turned out to be a great reminder that I've been meaning to write about another subject--my Adopt-a-Blogger buddy, Lindsay.  I've been meaning to introduce all of you to her and her blog.  Her blog is Scoop Adventures--yes, you guessed it, it's all about ice cream!  She includes recipes for ice cream (and other frozen desserts), as well as reviews of ice cream and places that serve it.  I asked her some questions so we can all get to know a little more about her:

How long have you been blogging and why did you decide to start?

I have been blogging since July 2009.  I decided to start my blog so I could share my thoughts and adventures related to ice cream.  Before I started the blog I had already visited many ice cream shops, so I wanted to share that experience with others.  Plus I was about to embark on the task of learning to use my new ice cream maker and making recipes, so why not write about it?

How did you decide on the theme for your blog?

I think I kind of described that above.  I love ice cream so that was easy.  There is also more info on my About Me page.

What are some of the blogs you like to read?

Oh, there are several!  I love the blogs with pretty food pictures and helpful tips.  Some of my favorites are listed on the side bar of my blog.  I really enjoy reading Tartlette, Running with Tweezers, Gluten-free Girl & the chef, use real butter, to name a few.  There are definitely more.

What is your favorite food and/or cuisine? (that you either like to eat or make)

Well the easy answer would be ice cream.  But I also enjoy many desserts, especially those featuring fresh fruit.  Other than dessert, I enjoy Asian flavors such as Thai and Indian cuisine.  My favorite dish of all time is probably my mom's lasagna.

What do you eat when you just can't decide what to make for dinner (or just don't have the energy for it)?

Usually spaghetti, or we order pizza.  My favorite quick meal, especially when my husband is out of town and I don't feel like cooking too much, is Mac & Cheese with tuna fish mixed in.  Sounds weird but its awesome!

What is your favorite kitchen gadget?

My zester.  Couldn't live without it.

What piece of kitchen equipment is at the top of your wishlist?  

Sounds silly, but a good candy thermometer...still don't have one.  Another item I'd like is a Foley Mill.  Nothing fancy. I'm fortunate to have a lot of kitchen gadgets already.

Who is your favorite cookbook author and/or favorite cookbook?

This is a tough question.  The cookbook I reference the most is Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz.  Many of my recipes for ice cream as variations of his recipes.  He provides excellent inspiration.  My favorite "food" cookbook right now is Martha Stewart's Cooking School.

Share a couple of interesting non-blogging facts about yourself...

Blogging is not my full time job (but I'd like to keep that a secret).  I love to spend time with my husband and two cats, enjoying the warm weather in New Orleans.  I actually love everything about food and enjoy going out to eat and trying new things.  In my spare time, I run and bike...I always say that I run to eat. :)

For more information and some great ice cream recipes, head on over to Lindsay's blog!  For the Burnt Sugar Ice Cream recipe, check out Becky's blog.  And to see what everyone else thought of this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, check out this week's links.

A sweet anniversary

I meant to do this post yesterday, but with all of the holiday stuff going on, I just didn't get that far.  Yesterday was my blogiversary!  Hard to believe that I've been at this for two years now.  It's pretty amazing when I think about all the neat baking things I've accomplished since I started blogging.  And even better, it's great to think about all the wonderful blogging friends I've made.  Brianna and I made a brief stop at Starbucks yesterday so I could pick up some gift cards.  While we were waiting, she had to look at everything, of course.  One thing that she noticed was a bunch of madeleines displayed by the register.  She took one look and pointed out to me, "You've made those!"  And she's right, though I haven't baked any since we did them for TWD last year.  They're on the long list of new things that I've tried due to the influence of a baking group or blogging event.  It's not that I didn't do a lot to baking before I started blogging, but the interaction with others has definitely inspired me to try so many new things.  I'll talk about some more of them when I get to my year-end wrap-up next week, but there's one that I want to share for today.

I've certainly made lots of Christmas cookies this year, thanks to the 12 Days of Cookies.  I realized that I wanted to do something a little different for the daycare teachers and my employees, since they've already been the recipients of many of the cookies I've made this year.  So I decided to try my hand at some different sorts of candy.  I made fudge and caramels, but wanted something else.  Then one of my new Twitter friends mentioned making pralines.  That reminded me of a recipe in the Martha Stewart Holiday Sweets magazine that I picked up right at the beginning of the holiday season.  Pecan-Sour Cream Pralines sounded like just the right thing.

When I first started blogging, I'd rarely made caramel--maybe once.  It scared me, quite a bit in fact.  But over the past two years, I've made it many times, including here and here, and with very messy results here.  Thanks to all that experience, sugar syrup no longer scares me the way it did.

It helps that I have a great digital thermometer to help me with things that need to be cooked to a certain temperature, as the praline mixture did.  You start by melting a couple tablespoons of butter, then adding white and dark brown sugars and sour cream.  The mixture is brought to a boil, then cooked to a temperature of 240 degrees F.  I can set my thermometer to tell me when it reaches a certain temperature (either when heating up or cooling off).  Much less stressful than having to constantly check the temperature.  Once the mixture is done cooking, you turn off the heat and stir in bourbon and vanilla, which makes it bubble a lot.  Then after a couple minutes, you add the pecans and stir until the mixture starts to turn opaque and thicken a bit.  Working fairly quickly, you drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and let them cool until set, about 30 minutes.

The verdict?  These are really, really good.  Sweet, yes, but the salt helps a bit with that.  I've already made two batches because I gave away most of the first one as well as part of the second.  That's probably a good thing, since I've had to restrain myself to not eat them all.  How can you go wrong with pecans and brown sugar and bourbon? =)  They've been a hit with everyone else who's tried them, as well.  If you'd like to try these for yourself, you can find the recipe here.  I definitely recommend it!

Nuts about chocolate and caramel

I've had way too many baked goods in my kitchen lately.  There are the cookies that I baked for Brianna's after-school teachers and to have for her lunches (still trying to finish those off).  There were the cranberry pecan rolls that I made for the BBA Challenge (post coming tomorrow, I hope).  I took a bunch of those to Gillian's teachers.  There's the poundcake (in three variations) that I baked via Twitter with Nancy, Sarah and Amy.  Some of that is destined for Brianna's first grade teacher.  There's bread too (baked with Nancy, Kayte and Jessica), but I really needed to make that because we were completely out.

And on top of all that, I needed to make this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, chosen by Carla of Chocolate Moosey.  Once I got a look at the recipe, I knew there was no way I was going to skip it, and not just because I missed last week (still hoping to catch up on that and the chocolate souffles at some point).  Carla picked the Chocolate-Crunched Caramel Tart for us to make.  Chocolate and caramel, what's not to love?  Plus Dorie's buttery, crisp sweet tart crust, which is always fantastic.

One of the things that was nice about this recipe was being able to make the components in advance.  In fact, I think doing so made it much quicker to assemble the finished tart.  To start, I made the tart dough on Sunday afternoon.  I wasn't paying attention to the recipe, though, and I didn't quite do it the way I was supposed to.  I chilled the dough and then rolled it out, rather than patting it into the pan.  But it worked out okay in the end.  Once I had the dough in the pan, I stuck it in the freezer for several hours, since my oven was busy cooking chicken for dinner.  I eventually got as far as blind baking it (letting it stay in for a few extra minutes so it was nice and browned) and then left it out to cool to room temperature.

Next up was the caramel.  Again, I failed to follow directions, but this time it was on purpose.  Dorie's recipe calls for making a dry caramel by simply sticking the sugar in a pan and heating it until it melts and caramelizes.  I don't like making caramel by that method, so I went ahead and added a bit of water to the sugar along with the corn syrup.  It takes a bit longer, since you have to wait for the water to boil off, but I have better luck doing it that way.  Once the caramel was done (and by the way, did I mention that I'm amazed that making caramel no longer fazes me at all?), I also let it cool to room temperature.  That was it for Sunday.

Monday morning before work, I made the ganache.  It was pretty straightforward, blending the chocolate (I used El Rey Mijao, which is 61%) with some of the cream, then whisking in the rest of the cream and some softened butter.  I put plastic wrap on the surface of the ganache and left it out at room temperature for the day.  By evening, it had set nicely to a thickened but still spreadable consistency.  I then assembled the tart.  I warmed the caramel in the microwave for a few seconds then added a couple ounces of chopped cashews (just plain, not honey-roasted; I'm not fond of peanuts).  I spread the caramel mixture evenly over the bottom of the tart crust.  Then I used my small offset spatula to spread the ganache on top of the caramel.  The quantities were perfect to fill my tart shell.  I put the tart in the fridge for about an hour to make sure it was set, then left it out at room temperature as suggested in the recipe.

The verdict?  This is one of my favorite TWD recipes so far, I think.  The components are all very good on their own, but the finished tart is even better.  Brianna didn't want to try it (wasn't happy about the nuts, even though I made a point of using ones that she usually likes to eat), but Gillian enjoyed it a lot.  Jamie thought it was quite tasty as well, which isn't surprising since he likes caramel and salty-sweet things.  I was a bit surprised how much I really liked the tart.  It has a great contrast of flavors and textures.  The crisp cookie crust makes a nice contrast to the softer ganache filling.  I decided that the tart was way too dangerous to keep the whole thing around the house, so I took half of it to work.  It was a big hit with everyone there, as well.

If you want to give this fabulous dessert a try for yourself, head on over to Carla's blog for the recipe.  And be sure to check out the TWD blogroll to see what everyone else thought of this week's tart.