Lunchable

I have a fridge full of Thanksgiving leftovers, yet this was my lunch.  That's because eating the meal once is about all I'm up for.  I just don't like turkey that much.  So my husband gets the leftover dinner items to eat for lunch, and I eat the leftover pie for breakfast. =)  I had to work today, and since I don't have that many employees working on Saturdays, it's often hard for me to sit down to eat lunch.  This actually worked out quite well for grazing.  I had cinnamon sugar pecans, dried cranberries, sesame bagel chips, and some slices of a nice cheddar.  (Not pictured--miniature Hershey bar.)  Mmm, a grown-up lunchable. 

Wordless Wednesday - A baker's trip to Costco

Definitely my cup of tea

I don't like the taste of coffee.  I like the smell, and I don't mind adding espresso powder to chocolate recipes, but I don't like the flavor of coffee or most coffee-flavored things.  But that's okay, because I'm a tea drinker instead.  If I'm in the right mood, I'll drink fruity or herbal teas, but I mostly drink black teas, with milk and a bit of sugar.  My current favorites are from Stash--I order a lot of loose tea, but get some of my favorites in teabags, too, for the convenience.  I don't have to do that as much anymore, though, since they also make these handy filter bags so I can just make my own.  If I had to pick one favorite, it would be Christmas Morning, which I drink year-round.  I love the combination of flavors, especially the bit of jasmine.  

I make a lot of tea at home, and most mornings I'll fill my travel mug as well, but occasionally I run out of time.  So sometimes I'll get my tea fix at Starbucks.  I originally only went there for hot chocolate, then sometimes I'd get hot tea.  I really like their iced tea, too.  Then one day I discovered tea lattes (though I don't get one often, since they're more expensive).  Not the chai ones, since I don't like the chai they use, but black teas lattes.  The only problem is that the newer cashiers always seem so confused when I order one.  It took three or four visits for the latest guy to get it right--first he put it in as a coffee latte and I had to get it re-made.  Then he put regular black tea, which I caught, but in the process I didn't get the non-fat milk I requested.  Then the most recent time, he tried to do that again, but someone looked over his shoulder and showed him where the right button was.  We'll see what happens next time...

I admit, I sometimes succumb to the siren call of the pastry case at Starbucks as well.  The only problem is that the baked goods usually look better than they taste.  I do like the Maple Oat Pecan scones, but I tried a piece of lemon cake recently and was very disappointed.  Except for the tart icing, it tasted like it was made with lemon extract and it was too sweet.  It reminded me of why I need to make sure that I have homemade baked goods available for breakfast.  We're set for the beginning of this week, at least.  One of the first things I read in my Google reader is any new blog post from King Arthur Flour's blog.  A couple weeks ago they had one about a delicious-looking lemon streusel cake.  It immediately went on my list of things to make, but somehow I got sidetracked during my vacation and didn't get to it.  I thought about it again yesterday when I was trying to figure out a plan for Sunday breakfast.  I decided that I wanted to change things up a bit, though, and make it into muffins instead.  

I took an educated guess and figured that two-thirds of the batter would be about right for a dozen muffins.  I was hoping that would work out, since it was reasonably easy to reduce the ingredients by a third (the original batter called for three eggs, for instance).  I always have pecans on hand, so that was my choice for the nuts.  I didn't have the lemon juice powder, but the recipe says you can use extra lemon zest.  Since I wanted a bit of tartness that the zest alone wouldn't provide, I added a little citric acid to the topping and batter.  I also used the optional lemon oil in the batter.  The only change I made to the mixing method was an accident--I melted the butter for the streusel.  I've made plenty of other crumb toppings with melted butter, so I just went with it.  After I mixed up the topping ingredients, I put the mixture in the fridge so the crumbs would firm back up.  I divided the batter and topping evenly among the 12 muffin cups, using a scant quarter cup of batter for each (I used my #16 disher to fill the cups).  I stuck with the 350º baking temperature and my muffins took about 20 minutes to bake.  Once they had cooled for a few minutes, I drizzled lemon glaze on top of them.

The verdict?  I wasn't sure if I'd like the combination of lemon with cinnamon, but it ended up being quite tasty.  We all liked the muffins a lot, although Gillian wasn't thrilled that I had pecans in the topping.  She picked them all out.  If I'd chopped them fine instead of leaving them in bigger pieces, she might not have noticed them.  In any case, I'm sure this will be a repeat recipe around here.  The amount of batter ended up being just right for a dozen muffins, too--no messy overflow.  

If you'd like to try the original cake, you can find the recipe here at King Arthur Flour.  I love that their recipes give you the option for volume or weight, including both ounces and grams.  I'm including my ingredient list here as well.

Lemon Streusel Muffins - ingredients

For the streusel:

60 grams all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

zest of one lemon

1/4 teaspoon salt

pinch of citric acid

60 grams unsalted butter

60 grams coarsely chopped pecans

70 grams light brown sugar

For the batter:

160 grams all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

scant 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon citric acid

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

75 grams unsalted butter, softened

140 grams sugar

zest of 2 lemons

1/4 teaspoon lemon oil

2 eggs

150 grams sour cream

For the method, refer to the original recipe.  

The mother of invention

I lost count.  I was really excited last month when I realized that I had a blogging milestone coming up.  I knew it would be sometime in February.  But I apparently wasn't paying attention.  So instead of happily announcing that I am at post #400, I can now tell you that I'm at post #402.  Oh, well. =)

Even though I already posted some this month, I figured such a momentous event called for celebrating with brownies.  Who am I kidding?  I don't need an excuse to make brownies.  But it is a good opportunity to make some new brownies.  Ones that I won't have that much competition for, since I have a feeling my kids won't eat them.  The one category I had left for this month was magazine focus.    It's not usually the first place I look, but I thought I'd try Bon Appetit.  I like a lot of what I read in the magazine, but don't search their website all that often.  The recipe that quickly caught my eye was the Cocoa Brownies with Browned Butter and Walnuts.  It's from Alice Medrich, and I've made enough of her recipes to be pretty confident that I'd like the brownies.

I only made a couple of small changes to the recipe--I used pecans instead of walnuts, and I added salt--half a teaspoon.  I also took a shortcut and simply lined my pan with non-stick foil.  I may try another cocoa powder in the future, but for this round I went with plain old Hershey's.  The batter was easy to mix up, and I love the fact that you can make it in one pot.  The suggested baking time of 25 minutes worked great for me.

The only downside is that I was making the brownies last night after dinner.  So I knew it was going to be challenging to get decent pictures.  Sometimes I can manage to take pictures in the morning before work, but I had a very long day today.  I left the house before the sun was up, and knew that I wouldn't be home again until long after it set.  Then inspiration hit--I took a page from my friend Abby's book (she likes to take dough on field trips), and took the brownies to work with me.  Now you're probably thinking, she takes baked goods to work all the time.  That's true, but not with the intent of taking pictures of them in natural light.  Which meant, in my car:

The verdict?  The pictures turned out better than I expected. =)  I need to work on the setup if I do this again, but at least the color in the pictures is good.  The brownies were really good, too.  Jamie and I both like them a lot.  I'm not usually in a nuts-in-my-chocolate mood, but I love pecans, and they worked really well in these brownies.  I think the salt was a good addition, too.  I did share the brownies with one of my coworkers, who thought they were fantastic.

If you'd like to try the recipe for yourself, you can find it here at Bon Appetit!  So what's the most unusual thing you've done to get good blog pictures? =)

Can't catch me...

I'm not sure when I became so fond of the flavor of ginger.  My favorite cookies are these Double Ginger Crackles.  While I don't like the flavor of cinnamon with chocolate, ginger is okay.  I like visiting my family in the northeast, because I can get individual bottles of ginger ale (near impossible to find around here, since people drink icky Dr. Pepper instead).  My favorite chai tea is heavy on the ginger flavor.  I've been thinking about making my own crystallized ginger, but haven't found the time yet.

I wasn't sure whether I should do this post, since I had one about granola last month.  But as my friend Phyl put it, "It's gingerbread. It's granola. Of course it deserves its own post!"  I have a tendency to become slightly obsessed with a food and make it repeatedly, in different variations.  (See Jeni's ice cream. =) )  That seems to be the case with granola right now.  Eventually I'll go back and make my favorites again, but right now I'm having fun trying out different flavor combinations.

Since I've made granola a couple times now, I was comfortable with the process.  The only thing I needed to figure out was how I wanted to change it up.  Even when I first made the granola recipe, I debated whether to use the honey, since I'm not a big honey person.  My usual substitution is to use golden syrup in its place.  But I tried the recipe as written, and it was okay.  For the second batch, I used maple syrup, and I really enjoyed that batch and will definitely make it again.  My next thought was to play around with the spices.  I didn't want them competing with the maple, so I decided this would be the time to try golden syrup.  Then I had the idea to make a gingerbread version of the granola.  I added a bunch of ground ginger to the dry ingredients, increased the cinnamon a bit, and also added a bit of cloves and nutmeg.  Since most gingerbread recipes incorporate molasses, I ended up going with a tablespoon of mild molasses and 3 tablespoons of golden syrup.

Once the granola was in the oven and nearing the end of the baking time, I could tell I'd have a winner--it smelled amazing.  Once it was out of the oven, I couldn't resist sampling it while it was still warm, but also wanted to try the granola again once it cooled so I could see what the final flavor would be like.  I could taste the ginger, but was in the mood for more.  I ended up finely dicing some crystallized ginger and adding it along with the dried fruit.

The verdict?  When I tasted the granola the next morning, the ginger flavor was definitely more prominent, thanks to the chewy bits of candied ginger.  If you don't like a really strong ginger flavor, you might want to leave it out.  Overall, I'm really happy with the way the granola turned out.  I think the amount of molasses was just right (I didn't want it to be overpowering) and I like the combination of spices that I used.  I encourage you to play around and figure out what's right for your taste!  Here's my version if you'd like to try it.

Gingerbread Granola
(adapted from Tracey's Culinary Adventures)

4 cups (340 grams) rolled oats
1 cup (115 grams) pecans, broken into pieces
1/2 cup (100 grams) packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of cloves
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
1/3 cup (70 grams) canola oil
1 tablespoon (20 grams) mild molasses
3 tablespoons (60 grams) golden syrup
2 tablespoons (25 grams) vanilla sugar (or plain granulated sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
generous 1 cup (125 grams) dried cranberries
2 - 3 tablespoons finely diced crystallized ginger (optional)

Preheat oven to 300º F. Line a rimmed 13" x 18" baking sheet with parchment paper.

Put the oats, pecans, brown sugar, salt and spices in a large heatproof bowl and stir to combine.  Put the oil, molasses, golden syrup, and granulated sugar in a small saucepan.  Place the pan over medium heat and bring to a simmer, then turn off the heat and mix in the vanilla extract. Pour the hot oil mixture over the oat mixture and use a rubber spatula (or dough whisk) to mix until the ingredients are well combined.

Spread the granola on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the granola is golden brown, stirring every 10 minutes. Let the granola cool then add the dried cranberries and crystallized ginger (if using) and stir to incorporate. Store in an airtight container at room temperature. Makes about 8 cups.

Thank you, thank you, Sam-I-am!

I do not like granola.  I do not like it from a box; I would not like it with a fox.  I will not eat it as a bar; I will not eat it in a car...  

I bought some granola several years ago to make these TWD cookies, and as Brianna would say, it was okay, but not my favorite--definitely not something I'd eat outside of a cookie, or on a regular basis.  I can sort of understand the appeal--it's a good way to get some fiber, and it can have assorted fruits and nuts in it, which are good for you.  It just doesn't taste all that great, and way too much of it seems to have coconut of some sort.  No need for that.  And don't get me started on store-bought granola bars.  Ick.  

In spite of my dislike of granola, when I saw my friend Tracey's blog, I was intrigued.  I had just made some oatmeal scones for breakfast using toasted oats.  I don't like cooked oatmeal due to the texture, but sometimes I wish that I did like it, since you can add so many interesting things to it.  The granola Tracey made had lots of ingredients that I like--pecans, brown sugar, cinnamon.  I also have a giant bag of dried cranberries (thank you, Costco) in my pantry, so I was excited to see a way to use some of them.  I figured, what the heck, if I hate the granola, I can always give it away. =)

I wasn't sure how much I'd like the honey in the recipe (another thing that isn't my favorite), but decided to make the recipe as written.  It's really easy--first you mix together the oats, pecans, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a big bowl.  Then you put the oil, granulated sugar, and honey in a small saucepan and warm them up.  I'm guessing that's to make it easier to mix into the dry ingredients, since honey is a lot more fluid when it's warm.  You stir in a whole bunch of vanilla (I used my good stuff) once the rest of the ingredients are warm, and pour the liquids over the oat mixture.  Once everything is stirred together, it goes into a somewhat low oven (300ºF) for about half an hour, stirring every ten minutes or so.  That's another thing that I liked about the recipe--some granola recipes have you baking the granola for a hour or longer.  Once the granola is out of the oven and cool, you mix in the cranberries.  

The verdict?  Wow.  This stuff is fantastic!  It's a perfect example of why you should make things at home--freshly made granola is a whole different thing from the stuff you buy at the store.  Who knew?  I took a bunch of this batch to work--everyone seems to be avoiding sweets right now, having indulged too much over the holidays, so I thought maybe they'd appreciate something healthier.  It was a big hit all around.  I promised them that I'd bring in more as I try different variations.  I can't wait to play around with the recipe to see what else I can come up with.  Today I tried substituting grade B maple syrup for the honey--the honey taste isn't overpowering in the first version I made, but I really prefer other sweeteners.  And how can you go wrong with maple & pecans & brown sugar?  The result isn't super mapley, but it's really good.  It's a bit drier/less sticky than the honey version, probably because the maple syrup isn't as viscous as honey.  I also rubbed vanilla bean seeds into the granulated sugar, and cut the vanilla extract back to just one teaspoon.  I'm really happy with how it turned out.  

If you'd like to try the original granola recipe for yourself, you can find it here on Tracey's blog.  Be sure to look around while you're there--she posts so many delicious recipes, both sweet and savory. =)

Warm and toasty

So I said that more information would be coming on how I want to focus on my blog this year.  It took me a few days to come up with a plan that I think will work well.  My initial problem was that there are so many things I'd like to do.  I have a ton of cookbooks, and I don't use them nearly enough.  Ditto with the cooking magazines that I read regularly.  I have lots of baking pans these days, and don't use them enough either.  I have lots of great cooking tools, and interesting ingredients.  When I started to think about all the possibilities, I didn't know where to begin.  That's where the focus idea comes in.  I started to make a list of ideas, and here's what I came up with:

Cookbooks

Magazines

Friends (featuring a recipe from a friend's blog)

Kids (cooking with, or stuff they would like)

Ingredients (maybe seasonal?)

Pantry (using what I routinely have on hand)

Bread (I want to make at least one new one a month)

Pans (I have lots of interesting ones, and lots of different sizes)

Tools

I stopped there--nine is my favorite number, and nine seemed like a reasonable number to fit into a month's time.  Some recipes may fit into more than one category, but I'll post at least one for each separate category each month.  I'm not going to do them in any particular order, since I don't need that much pressure.  This idea appeals to me because it's sort of like a puzzle.  Some categories may be easy to cover in a given month.  Then I'll have to see what I can come up with to fill in the blanks.  For January, I've already done Tools (my balloon whisk) and Magazines (the fudge cake was from Fine Cooking, one of my favorites).  I've got ideas for all but Kids and Pantry, but it's fun to try to figure out what to make for those categories.  This post is going to take care of Cookbooks.

I thought I'd go with one of the new cookbooks I got for Christmas.  The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook is quite the tome, and contains all the best recipes from 20 years worth of magazine issues.  I love my website subscription to CI when I'm searching for something, but I really enjoy browsing through a physical cookbook--that way things can jump out at me that I might never think to search for.  In this case, I knew I wanted to make scones for breakfast because when I ask the girls what I should make, the answer is always "Scones! With chocolate chips, please!"  I wanted something a bit more interesting than a plain scone.  As for the chocolate chips, I'm not always in the mood the way they are, but it's pretty easy to divide the dough (usually two-thirds for them, one-third for me) and add in different things.  I settled on the Oatmeal Scones--never hurts to sneak in some fiber when the girls aren't paying attention. =)

The thing that intrigued me about this recipe is that you toast the oats before you start mixing things together.  I never would have thought to do that, but it makes sense that, like with nuts, it would add to the flavor.  There are several variations at the end of the basic oatmeal scone recipe.  I love maple scones, so I went with that option.  In place of the granulated sugar, you use maple syrup (I used grade B).  I also toasted some pecans to add to my part of the dough and I put a mix of semisweet and bittersweet chocolate chips in the rest so I wouldn't have to listen to B&G complain. =)  I think the substitution of the maple syrup made the dough stickier than usual, and I didn't think I could pat it out without having to use a lot of flour.  So I made drop scones instead.  I used my #16 disher and got an even dozen.  I baked them for 12 minutes, but could probably have left them in a minute or two longer to get a bit more browning on top.  Once the scones had cooled for a few minutes, I drizzled them with maple glaze (just some maple syrup & powdered sugar, with a bit of water to thin it out).

The verdict?  Who would have thought that toasting oats would make such a bit difference in the taste? These are my new go-to scone.  Brianna and Gillian loved them with the chocolate chips; I thought they were terrific with the pecans.  They weren't at all dry; I'm sure the maple syrup helped with that, as did the high baking temp and shorter baking time.  

If you'd like to give these a try, you can, of course, find the recipe in the new Cook's Illustrated Cookbook.  It's also in Baking Illustrated, and can be found online here if you have a membership to the CI website.  

I'm excited about blogging again, so I think my focus idea is going in the right direction.  I've added a tab at the top of the blog where I can keep track of the different categories each month.  I'm also tagging the individual posts (e.g. this one is labeled with "cookbook focus" among other things) so they can be searched that way.  Next up, another new acquisition--my 6-cup Bundt pan!

Blog party!

I'm still trying to figure out what was going on in December 2007 that prompted so many people to start food blogs.  It seems like I keep finding other bloggers that I feel like have been around forever that started their blogs right around the same time I did.  Today, I'm excited to wish Shelby of The Life & Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch a very happy 4th anniversary for her blog!  A while back, Shelby sent me an invitation to a virtual party to celebrate her blogiversary.  We're all bringing one of my favorite types of party food--appetizers and small plates.  What better way to get to sample lots of yummy dishes without getting full too quickly. =)

I decided to share a recipe that I've made a bunch of times, but somehow never blogged--Cheddar Cheese and Pecan Crisps.  They're flaky, buttery, nutty cheese crackers that are excellent with a glass of celebratory beverage. =)  You can cut out round cookies, but I like to do other shapes, like these stars. (Snowflakes are fun too, this time of year.) I've confused people a few times, when they thought they were picking up a sweet cookie and instead ended up with a savory mouthful.  Not a bad thing, of course, just unexpected.  The recipe suggests using a mix of cheddar and parmesan, but you can use other sharp cheeses as well.  I usually make mine with just cheddar.  I'm not a big fan of spicy things, but the bit of cayenne in these gives them a little kick that's very tasty.  One last note--the recipe calls for 7 ounces of butter--that's 14 tablespoons.  The first time I made these, I misread the amount, and used only 7 tablespoons.  The crackers actually turned out okay.  I'm not sure they really need the full amount (feel free to try it and see what you think), but I have increased the amount I use from 7 to 10 tablespoons, which I think works well.  

The verdict?  These crackers are always a hit whenever I serve them.  The recipe makes lots, so I usually even have a few left over to snack on for a couple of days.  I pretty much only make them for parties, otherwise I'd be tempted to eat the entire batch myself. =)  

You can find the recipe here on the Fine Cooking website.  For lots more great appetizers & snacks, be sure to check out all the other links to Shelby's blogiversary party.  Also, to celebrate her blog anniversary, Shelby is sponsoring a giveaway on her blog.  Here are the details:

• Receive one entry by leaving a comment on this blog post telling me about your favorite appetizer.

• For additional entries, visit the blog links that will take you to the blogs of others who have joined in the celebration party and leave a comment on each of their posts.

• The giveaway will end on January 7th at 5 PM EST. The winner will be announced on January 8th via a blog post on The Life & Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch. 

• The winner will be chosen via a random drawing (drawing to be done by Grumpy). The prize will be a $50 gift card which can be for ONE of the choices listed here: Sears; Kohls; Amazon; Target; Wal-mart; Chili's; Uno's; Marshalls/TJMax; Bed, Bath & Beyond; Macaroni Grill; Olive Garden; Starbucks; Barnes & Noble

• The giveaway is limited to US and Canadian residents only.

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!

Baking for the enemy

One of the side effects of doing lots of baking is that I'm often looking for others to take baked goods off my hands.  It was pretty easy a few years back when I worked with a larger staff--there were always plenty of people willing to eat sweets, even if a few were avoiding them.  With our current staff of 5 or 6, I worry sometimes about bringing things too often.  So I also take baked goods to the day care teachers, and send them to school with Brianna for her teachers.  I try to find other outlets as well, but they don't come up very often.  

Last week I finally had a chance to catch up on one of the recent TWD recipes that I missed--Brown Sugar Bundt Cake, picked by Peggy.  I thought about halving the recipe, but decided to go ahead and make the whole thing, using pecans and cinnamon chips.  I was going to take some to work and to the daycare.  After sampling some cake, though, I only took it to work, so I could keep more at home for us. =)  I haven't seen something disappear that fast in a while--it was a big hit with my coworkers.  The part I kept at home disappeared pretty quickly too, and I failed to take any pictures!  So of course, I had to make it again.  

As it turned out, last week I spent a couple days helping out at another branch, so I decided to take some of the second cake to them.  At one point, someone called from my branch to ask me a question.  The person who answered the phone informed my coworker that they were planning to keep me at their branch so I could continue to bake for them.  When I got on the phone, I was informed that it was not acceptable for me to be supplying baked goods to our "competition."  I had no idea that people were so possessive about cake. =)

The verdict?  My coworkers aren't the only ones who loved this cake--I ate more than my fair share of it.  Part of me wants to try some other variations, while the rest of me just wants to make another one that's the same. =)  I love the whole brown sugar/pecan/cinnamon combination.  This is definitely one of those cakes that just keeps getting better, too.  Not that it survived that long either time so far.  The first time I made it, I asked Gillian if we should add a glaze or just go with it as it was.  Surprisingly, she said we should skip the glaze, and she was right.  The cake is just right without it.  

I didn't follow the recipe exactly, but didn't change that much.  As I mentioned, I used pecans for the nuts.  I skipped the almond extract.  Instead of the fruit, I added about 140g of cinnamon chips.  My cake only took 50 minutes to bake.  If you'd like to give this one a try, head over to Peggy's blog for the original recipe.  To see what other fun variations people came up with, check out the Links.

I scream

I mentioned in my last post that although I'm feeling overwhelmed and stressed out, I'm still baking.  What's really suffered from all the craziness of late is my blog.  I've been making stuff.  I've even taken pictures of a lot of it.  But I've been having trouble writing--I just don't know where to start.  I don't want to just put down a quick review of a recipe (though the occasional one-sentence post can be nice), so I haven't been writing anything at all.  One thing that's really taken a hit is my Tuesdays with Dorie participation.  Okay, I haven't really been keeping up with any of my baking groups, but TWD is the one I really feel bad about.  So I'm trying to get back on track this month, actually writing some blog posts about the stuff I've made.

This week's recipe is Coffee Ice Cream Tart, chosen by Jessica of Domestic Deep Thought.  Ice cream tart sounded yummy, but I had some problems.  Number one, I don't like coffee ice cream.  But Dorie gives options for other flavors, so that was okay.  I recently made a batch of Vanilla Bourbon ice cream to test out my new Madagascar vanilla beans that I got from Beanilla.  (I purchased them myself due to positive reviews from others; I have no connection to them.)  The original recipe is for Double-Vanilla Bourbon ice cream, but I left out the vanilla extract so that the flavor of the vanilla bean would come through more.  Next time I'll try with both bean and extract.  I only used 2 tablespoons of bourbon, and was happy with that--I enjoyed the flavor, but it wasn't overpowering.  

Issue number two, I wasn't excited about the crust.  I don't like almonds all that much.  I also heard from a number of people that they weren't that happy with the crust--that they found it hard to cut when frozen.  So I decided to improvise.  I only wanted a mini tart, and I had just enough dough left over from last week's cookies to make a 4 1/2" mini tart.  Tia of Buttercream Barbie picked the Pecan Powder Puffs for last week.  I made some of the cookies but didn't get a chance to post them, and I only baked one sheet, so I had leftover dough.  I pressed the dough into my mini tart pan, and followed the recipe instructions for baking the tart shell.

Once the tart shell was cooled, I filled it with some of my vanilla ice cream.  I covered the tart with plastic wrap, and stuck in in the freezer overnight.  The next day, I mixed up a little ganache with some chocolate and cream, and drizzled it on top.  I stuck the tart back in the freezer long enough to let the topping firm up.  I tried to unmold the tart before cutting it, but couldn't get the tart ring to release.  Once I cut a small piece, though, it came out with no problem.

The verdict?  I'm happy with the tart, but it really isn't the tart in the recipe. =)   I realized as I was looking back over the recipe that I was supposed to have a layer of chocolate under the ice cream.  Oops. I'm actually not sorry that I skipped it, since I'm happy with the flavors of my tart.  The bourbon and vanilla were good with the pecans and hint of cinnamon in the crust.  The chocolate on top was far enough from the bit of cinnamon in the crust that it didn't bother me.  (I'm not a fan of the chocolate/cinnamon combo.)  I liked the texture of the crust--it held together in the pan, but wasn't too hard to cut with a fork.  

If you'd like to try the real recipe for yourself, head over to Jessica's blog.  And to see how everyone else interpreted this week's recipe, check out the Links.

Oh, nuts

It's been one of those weeks.  Not completely crazy at work (that was last week), but just kind of all over the place. Up and down, up and down.  I knew it was off to a great start on Monday, when I got a call from one of Gillian's daycare teachers.  We've had a lot of trouble with Gillian defying authority lately, which I know is not unusual for 4-year-olds, but it's been starting to get out of control.  In Gillian's own words, she got in trouble "because I ran out into the hallway when I wasn't supposed to, and I spit at Miss S--, and I called Miss S-- a butt-face."  *sigh*  We'd even had a talk before she left the house on Monday about listening to teachers and other adults (since there had been lots of not-listening going on the previous Friday).  I can't wait for the teenage years...  (And yes, if you're wondering, J & I could barely keep straight faces when I asked G to tell her father why she'd gotten in trouble at school on Monday.)

So we tried something new for the rest of the week.  When Gillian left for school on Tuesday, I told her that if she could behave and have a much better day, I would have a surprise for her at the end of the day.  I was off that day, and while I was out running errands, I picked up some cute sparkly snowman stickers.  If she has a good day, she gets one (just counting weekdays for now). If she gets at least four for the week (I know better than to expect a 4yo to be good every single day), she'll get a special treat.  Brianna wanted in on it, too, so for her, the goal is to have a good morning before she leaves the house--getting ready for school without a fight.  So far it's going well--Gillian was much, much better the past three days (confirmed by her teachers), and Brianna has been much more pleasant to be around in the morning.  Now I just need to stock up on inexpensive prizes. =)  

After everything that's been going on, I think the daycare teachers need a treat, too.  So I'm going to make them a batch of the spiced nuts from Around My French Table.  They're one of the December recipes for French Fridays with Dorie.  As with the November recipes, we get to pick which recipe we make when, and I was happy to find an easy one to make this week, since my motivation has been lacking a bit.  

It doesn't get much easier than this.  Mix together some sugar, salt and spices.  Toss a couple cups of nuts with a slightly beaten egg white, then toss with the sugar & spice mixture.  Spread everything on a sheet pan and bake for half an hour at 350F.  Enjoy!  To be a bit more specific, I stuck with the recipe for the first attempt at this one.  So the spice mixture was sugar, salt, chili powder (I like Spice Islands), cinnamon, and a bit of cayenne.  My nuts were a cup each of cashews and pecans, both favorites around here.  I lined my sheet pan with non-stick foil to make things easier.  That's pretty much it.

The verdict?  Well, these certainly don't last long!  I took some to work, and they were a big hit.  My original thought was that I should get them out of my house, but having them at work just meant I could keep eating them.  Oops. =)  Even B & G liked them, at least the cashews (not fans of pecans).  These are definitely going in my holiday goodie bags this year.  I tried out another version this morning--chai spiced.  Half a teaspoon each of Vietnamese cinnamon, ground ginger and ground cardamom, along with a quarter teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg, a pinch of cloves and a few grinds of black pepper.  The house smelled fantastic by the time they finished baking.  I can't wait to try some more variations.  

For this one and lots of other wonderful recipes, I highly recommend that you check out a copy of Around My French Table.  And if you aren't a member already, we'd love to have you join in the fun at French Fridays with Dorie.  

Ready for something new

I've been trying to do a better job of blogging lately, and I think that for the most part I'm succeeding.  One thing I've been trying to do is get myself on a more consistent posting schedule, about three times a week.  Tuesdays, of course, are pretty much reserved for Tuesdays with Dorie.  I'm also trying to post some sort of bread about once a week (either BBA recipes or other breads).  The third category is more random.  I've been making an effort use some of the many cookbooks on my shelves more frequently.  So while I'm sure I'll continue to make some of my old favorites (like these scones that we had again for breakfast this morning), I want to make and share some new ones, as well.  

While we're still seeing pretty good strawberries (and I keep buying them), more stone fruits are showing up at Central Market as well.  I need to remember to look at the farmers market next weekend, too.  I haven't had much luck with peaches yet (a lot of them are still rock hard and not smelling like much), so I've been checking out the plums (and relatives like plumcots and pluots) as well.  I saw some red plums last week that seemed good and not too expensive, and brought them home.  Unfortunately, I wasn't thrilled when I sampled one--the texture was fine, but it didn't have much flavor other than sweet.  It reminded me that I usually buy darker plums with red flesh.  Then it occurred to me that maybe they'd be better if I baked them.  The question was, what to make?  I wasn't in the mood for something like a crisp, and I was a bit leery of a cake, since I've had bad experiences with the Dimply Plum Cake from Baking From My Home to Yours.

A couple months ago, I bought myself a copy of David Lebovitz's newest cookbook, Ready for Dessert.   I read through it after I got it, but have only made a few recipes from it so far, for chocolate cookies and caramel ice cream.  But I knew it had a lot of fruit desserts, so I pulled it off the shelf and took a look.  In the first section (cakes), I found a recipe for Spiced Plum Streusel Cake with Toffee Glaze.  In the introduction to the recipe, David says, "This cake combines everything I crave: tangy plums, toffee with a bit of salt, and buttery cake."  I stopped searching right then.  Sounds good to me!

The streusel consists of sliced almonds, brown sugar and spices, with a bit of flour and some melted butter to hold everything together.  I don't usually have almonds on hand, so I went with some pecans that were in my freezer.  The spices (both in the streusel and the cake) are cinnamon and cardamom.  I don't use cardamom nearly enough, so I was glad to try it in this recipe.  The cake batter is made with the creaming method--butter and sugar are beaten together until fluffy, then eggs are added.  Finally, the dry ingredients (AP flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and cardamom) are added, alternating with some buttermilk.  (I left out the vanilla extract by accident, but used vanilla sugar, so it was okay.)  The batter is spread into a 9-inch springform pan and slices of plums are pressed into it. Then the streusel is scattered on top.  My cake took 50 minutes to bake.

It was late when I made my cake, so I let it cool overnight and added the toffee glaze the next morning.  The glaze is made by melting together butter, dark brown sugar, heavy cream and a bit of salt.  The mixture is brought to a boil and simmered for a minute, then allowed to cool to room temperature.  The glaze seems thin at first, but thickens as it cools.  Once it's cooled, a bit of vanilla is added, then it's drizzled over the cake.

The verdict?  Well, the cake barely survived 24 hours, so that should be a good indication of how much everyone liked it. =)  Knowing that fruit desserts don't keep that well and not wanting to try to eat it all at home, I took the cake to work with me.  Only about a third of it survived to go home again, and we polished that off pretty quickly.  One of my employees commented that this cake might just be the best thing I've ever brought in.  So it's safe to say that this cake is a new favorite.  While it was excellent with the plums, I suspect it will be delicious with other stone fruits as well.  Next up, peaches! (That version of the cake is in the oven as I type.)

If you'd like to try this cake for yourself, I highly recommend that you get your hands on a copy of Ready for Dessert.  Edited to add: I did find the recipe on Google Books, here.  (Don't forget to check your local library if you want to try before you buy!)  I look forward to making and reviewing more recipes from it.

Gluten-free Friday

We recently got a new loan officer assigned to our branch. I frequently bring baked goods to the branch to share (so we don’t eat them all at home), and offer them to whoever is around. Several times, I've offered him things that I’ve baked, but he declined. At first I just thought that he was being health-conscious and more disciplined than I am. =)  But then at one point I saw him eating a candy bar and drinking soda, and wondered. Finally, one day when I asked him if he wanted something, he said, “You know I can’t eat wheat, right?” Um, no, I didn’t, or I wouldn’t have kept offering him things that he couldn’t eat!

So that led me to thinking about what sort of things I could make that he would be able to eat. He did clarify for me that it’s gluten that he can’t have, not just wheat (which I pretty much figured). I had an employee a number of years back with the same dietary restrictions. I usually make cakes for people’s birthdays, and for her I ended up making my favorite cheesecake, which doesn’t have any flour in it. Instead of a cookie crust, I made a brown sugar/pecan crust. It worked out quite well. But much as I love that cheesecake recipe, I needed to expand my gluten-free repertoire.

Fortunately, there are lots of great resources out there these days for gluten-free recipes. One great website is Gluten-Free Girl and The Chef. Another place that I looked was the King Arthur Flour website. King Arthur recently introduced a line of gluten-free mixes, including a gluten-free multipurpose flour that you can use in your own recipes. I’m lucky enough to have a fantastic HEB grocery store to shop in that carries quite a few King Arthur products (including their new unbleached cake flour blend, but that’s another post). Even so, I was pretty surprised to find that they’re already carrying a whole bunch of the new GF products, including the flour! It is a little on the expensive side, but worth it to me, since I’m just starting out with GF baking and it’s easier than buying and mixing an assortment of other flours and starches.  (And HEB has great prices, so it costs a bit less than on the KAF website and I don't have to pay shipping.)  The one thing I didn’t find at my local grocery store was xanthan gum--I had to go to elsewhere for that. It can also be a bit pricey at first, but it’ll last me quite a while since most recipes only use a little at a time. Xanthan gum is important because without gluten, you need something to hold things together.

I decided to start simple for my first attempt.  In a blog post back in May, Shauna (the above-mentioned Gluten-Free Girl) mentioned that the recipes in David Lebovitz's Ready for Dessert are generally very easy to convert to gluten-free.  Conveniently, one of the recipes he included in the book is a slight variation on my favorite brownie recipe.  The brownies don't have much flour to begin with, so I figured it would be easy to substitute the gluten-free stuff.  That was the only change I made, and I didn't bother adding any xanthan gum since I was using such a small amount of gluten-free flour.  I don't usually put nuts in my brownies, but I did add some pecans to these.  I used El Rey 70% chocolate (which is what I usually use for the Essence of Chocolate recipe) and I baked the brownies for 25 minutes.

The verdict?  Not surprisingly, the brownies were a big hit with all who tried them, including the intended recipient.  I definitely prefer mine without nuts, though.  And I realized after tasting these brownies that the original recipe includes salt, which this one did not.  I definitely think the salt should be added.  Also, the DL recipe is baked in a 9" square pan, while the recipe I usually make uses an 8" pan.  I like the thicker texture of the brownies baked in the smaller pan.  This was definitely a worthwhile experiment, but next time I'll do the flour substitution in the recipe I usually make.

You can find the Ready for Dessert recipe (with wheat flour) on Leite's Culinaria.  I'll definitely be making more recipes from this cookbook (already have, in fact).  And there will be more gluten-free baking, both adaptations and recipes designed to be gluten-free.  At some point, I do want to try other gluten-free flours, not just the premixed blends.  While I'm glad that I don't have to avoid gluten myself, I like being able to make things that all of the people I know can enjoy.  Coming soon, my variation on a gluten-free scone recipe from King Arthur. =)