Wordless Wednesday - Brioche Crumb Cake

No respect, I tell ya

Salt and pepper often don't get the respect that they deserve.  How many times have you run across a so-called "5-ingredient recipe" only to discover that it's really more than that, because they don't count salt and pepper and water as ingredients?  Water is actually the one that bugs me most.  Sure, I understand not counting the water that you use to cook pasta, for instance.  But it drives me crazy to read the ingredient list for a recipe, then get down in the directions and discover that you need to add a specific amount of water.  If you need a specific amount, list it as an ingredient!  I've run into the same thing with salt--the ingredients may list a type of salt, but not a specific amount.  Yes, I know you're supposed to read through the whole recipe before you start, but even with doing that, sometimes I get distracted partway through...

Okay, done ranting. =)  Now on to a baked good that does give salt and pepper a starring role, even in the recipe title.  For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie, Tia of Buttercream Barbie picked the Salt and Pepper Cocoa Shortbreads for us to make.  The nice thing about these cookies is that the dough is easy to mix up.  I do recommend that you assemble all your ingredients ahead of time (mise en place) so you don't forget any... like the egg yolk.  I realized as I was putting my logs of cookie dough in the fridge to chill that I had totally forgotten the egg yolk.  (That's a bit ironic, since I started making the dough because I was looking for a way to use up egg yolks.)  However, I've made plenty of shortbread recipes that don't have any egg in them, so I decided to just go with it. 

After chilling the dough for a few hours, I cut it into thick slices with my serrated knife.  I baked the cookies for about 15 minutes, I think.  It's hard to say for sure, since I continued with my forgetfulness and didn't set a timer at first.  Fortunately, I've baked enough cookies to be able to go by how they looked and smelled to figure out when they were done.  

The verdict?  These turned out to be quite good, despite the forgotten egg yolk.  Like a lot of shortbread, I found that these were actually better the second day than the first.  I probably should have used a little more pepper, since I couldn't really taste it.  The fleur de sel definitely came through, though.  I really enjoy the little bursts of saltiness with the chocolate.  Everyone else seemed to enjoy these as well.

If you'd like to give this recipe a try for yourself, head over to Tia's blog.  And to see what everyone else thought of the shortbread, check out this week's Links.

Have your cake and ice cream, too

Well, it's back to work for me tomorrow.  On Friday, I stopped by work briefly, and several people asked me what I'd been doing with my time off.  The answer?  Absolutely nothing. =)  Or at least, pretty darn closed to that.  I did get to spend a couple days with Gillian (while Brianna was at school), which was nice.  At her request, we did a little shopping on Thursday.  Ah, to be 4-going-on-5 again--the days when all it takes to make you happy is some new socks and leggings and a 99¢ plastic pencil box.  Maybe it was the youthful company, but I did a little shopping for myself, and walked out of Office Depot with over a dozen colorful Sharpies.  I try to stay out of there, since I lack willpower when it comes to office supplies... =)

I also did lots of baking over the past week.  The most involved creation for the week was also one that would easily win the heart of any 4-year-old, not to mention most big kids.  I've mentioned before that I'm a DBCB.  The reason I went into work on my vacation is that Friday was the birthday of one of my employees, and another has a birthday tomorrow.  Fortunately, they're both old enough not too complain too much about having to share.  But just in case, I found a good solution--I made everyone a cake of his or her own.  My employee A has been nagging me incessantly about making peanut butter ice cream for her ever since I brought some to work for another event.  She even suggested that I make ice cream cake.  Normally that would be too hard too pull off, but since I was off, I could bring the dessert in at lunch time so it wouldn't have time to melt.  So I made a bunch of mini ice cream cakes!

The first thing to decide on was the cake.  I knew I wanted chocolate, and a cake that would be good cold.  One of the first recipes to come to mind was one from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours.  If you're familiar with the book, you'll remember the fabulous cake on the cover.  In the headnote for the recipe, Dorie says, "Freshly made or at room temperature, they [the layers] are moist and a little fluffy; chilled, they're still moist, but denser and firmer, very much like a super-fudgy brownie."  That sounded like just what I wanted.  Since I wanted thin layers, I used my quarter-sheet pans in place of the 8" rounds called for in the recipe.  (The bake time was 20 minutes, and I lined the pans with parchment to make it easy to remove the layers once cooled.)  For the ice cream layer, I used one of the same pans, and right after churning the ice cream, I spread it in the parchment lined pan and froze it until it was very firm.  

For the assembly, I used a 2 1/2" biscuit cutter (from this set) to cut out rounds.  I got 14 from each layer.  I stacked the layers--cake, then ice cream, then cake--and stuck the cakes into the freezer overnight to make sure they were completely frozen before I covered them in chocolate.  I debated what to use for a coating, but decided to go with the Chocolate Bombe Shell from my copy of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home.  (The peanut butter ice cream was also from that book.)  I put the cakes on a rack placed over a sheet pan lined with non-stick foil and spooned the chocolate mixture over them.  I did three at a time, keeping the rest in the freezer until I was ready for them.  Also, if you work fast, you can put sprinkles on top before the shell completely hardens so they stick well.  The nice thing about the chocolate shell mixture is that you can stick the sheet pan in the freezer for a few minutes and the chocolate will harden so that you can easily peel it off the foil.  Then you can just break it up and remelt it.  

The verdict?  Well, this is now the newest "best thing that you have -ever- made!" according to my co-workers.  It was a big hit here at home, too.  I'm already thinking of different flavors that I can put together, especially since Gillian wasn't a huge fan of the peanut butter ice cream.  I have lots of cake scraps left, too, so they may end up in some sort of trifle, unless I manage to just eat them all.    

If you'd like to try these little cakes for yourself, here's where you can find recipes for the components I used.  Or you can just have fun experimenting for yourself.  Enjoy!

Dorie's Devil's Food Cake

Jeni's The Buckeye State ice cream (I left out the chocolate bits & used Golden Syrup instead of honey)

Chocolate Bombe Shell (I doubled the amounts listed in this post)

Wordless Wednesday - Signs of fall

(Recipe here; used 2/3 cup choc chips in place of other mix-ins)

All dressed up and nowhere to go

I love vacation time--especially the kind where I get to stay home.  Sure, it's fun to go places and visit people, but traveling can also be stressful.  I'm ready for a break from stress.  It's nice to be able to hang out and relax, and maybe catch up on a few things.  Jamie's vacation time can roll over, but mine is the use-it-or-lose-it variety.  So you can bet I'm going to use it, even if it means staying home by myself.  To be honest, being on my own isn't bad. =)  Brianna is in school, and Jamie is at work.  Gillian stayed home with me yesterday and will probably do that again later in the week, but that's okay.  One child at home with me is peaceful--both would be another story.

Knowing that I had a whole week ahead of me with plenty of time to spend in the kitchen, I was completely lazy this past weekend.  I cooked dinner on Sunday, but that was about it.  But that was okay, since I'd actually made this week's TWD recipe over a week ahead of time.  Anne of Anne Strawberry picked Classic Brownies as this week's selection.  That was perfect, since I needed something to pack in lunches last week.  Only one problem--we managed to polish off the brownies without me taking any pictures of them.  Oops.

So yesterday morning, I set out to make them again.  I actually started off my day by turning a whole bunch of raspberries (I love Costco) into raspberry sauce.  Then I made the brownies.  It's an easy recipe--one bowl, and whisk and a spoon are all you need.  I skipped the nuts and put in chocolate chips instead, since I don't care for nuts in my brownies (and B's school has requested no peanuts or tree nuts if possible, due to a student with a severe allergy).  I baked the brownies for 30 minutes, and was quite happy with the fudgy texture.  Next up was ice cream, since there wasn't any at all in the freezer.  I made vanilla bean (with a splash of rum), figuring it would go nicely with another TWD recipe that I plan to make this week.  Once I was done with that, I realized that I had all the makings of a fabulous brownie sundae.  I also figured a sundae would be a way to make the brownies more photogenic.  And my children now think I'm the best mom ever. =)

The verdict?  We really enjoyed these brownies, both plain and dressed up.  While they don't quite displace my all-time favorite, they are very high on my list.  It certainly wasn't a hardship to make them twice, and I'm sure we'll be making them again.  I'd like to try the recipe with other mix-ins, like peanut butter chips (just for eating at home).  

If you'd like to try these for yourself, head over to Anne's blog for the recipe.  To see how everyone else played around with these brownies, check out this week's Links.  

Wordless Wednesday - Rocky Road Cupcakes

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

This has been the first pleasant day we've had in months.  Breezy and dry, with 70s this morning and 80s this afternoon.  There's only one problem--it's dry.  Way too dry.  We had almost no rain in July, none at all in August, and none so far this month.  It's crazy--I've read how much rain has been falling in Louisiana and the southeast US from tropical storm Lee, and all we've gotten from it has been wind.  There won't be any grilling around here for Labor Day, at least there better not be, with all the wildfires burning around the Austin area.  (Thankfully, none are near us at the moment, but we know people close to the affected areas.)

Still, parents with the day off from work and kids with the day off from school flocked to the park this morning to enjoy the lovely weather.  We were among them.  We're lucky to have some really great places to play, like the playscape at San Gabriel park.  The girls got to run around like maniacs for about an hour, and I got to sit in the shade and read.  Well, and take some pictures. =)  Then it was home for lunch and naps.  I love extra days off. 

I did some baking yesterday.  I'm starting to get back into the bread baking mood, now that we're actually seeing some days below 100º. (The Austin area has had 79 days of 100º+ so far, and there's still a chance we could have more.)  I even revived Ernie, my sourdough starter, and have baked sourdough bread two weekends in a row.  Last weekend, I baked Pain au Levain from one of my favorite books, Artisan Breads Every Day.  I really like that recipe, but I wanted to make something quicker this time.  I turned to one of my trusted resources, King Arthur Flour, to see what I could come up with.

I have to say, I really like the recent redesign that KAF did on their recipe section.  For one thing, it's much more iPad-friendly.  I was also happy to see that in addition to weights in ounces, many recipes now give the option for grams as well.  It's an easy conversion if I have to do it myself, but it's nice to save a step.  I do have to wonder, though, why it will tell me that a tablespoon of sugar is 14 grams, but not give me a weight for 2 1/2 teaspoons of salt.  Oh well, it's not like it's that hard for me to figure out for myself. =)  

There's a section of sourdough recipes, with all kinds of interesting stuff (including pizza and waffles and even chocolate cake).  I settled on the recipe for Rustic Sourdough Bread.  There is a handy blog post to go along with it, showing how the recipe can be adjusted to give different results depending on how much time you have on your hands.  I went for the quicker version, which still has nice flavor while only taking a few hours.  I fed Ernie Saturday night, so I had a nice active starter ready to go Sunday morning.  I did have to do some math, though.  I keep a firm starter, with a hydration of about 66%.  That means that for every 100 grams of flour, it has 66 grams of water.  The recipe has a link to KAF's fresh starter, and the instructions for it led me to believe that it's a 100% hydration starter, meaning that it has equal amounts of water and flour.  So I had to figure out how much total water and flour were in the original recipe (totaling the amounts from the starter and what is added later).  I decided to keep the amount of starter constant, so I had to figure out how much water and flour were in the same amount of my starter (the recipe calls for about 225 grams of starter) and adjust the additional water and flour accordingly.  This is where I love my notebook.  I didn't want to write it out here, so the photo below shows my calculations and notes for this recipe:

The verdict? Well, we've managed to polish off the first loaf already.  Samples yesterday, toast for breakfast today, sandwiches for lunch.  The other loaf got sliced and went in the freezer for B's lunches this week (and maybe some for me, too).  The flavor is nice--a bit of tang, but not too sour.  It was a hit with B, which is good, since she can be picky about bread.  I'll definitely be making this recipe again--I love how easy it is, as long as I remember to feed my starter first.

If you'd like to try this bread for yourself, you can find the recipe here at KAF.  If you don't have a starter of your own, there are a number of great tutorials on the web, including this one from my friend Phyl.  I made mine using the steps in Artisan Breads Every Day, and posted about it here.  For more yummy and beautiful breads, be sure to check out the collection each week at Yeastspotting.