TWD: Mocha-Pecan Marbled Bundt Cake

When I'm particularly nervous or anxious I like to bake. When my mind is going 100 mph and I am in the process of working myself up into a major dither, I like to bake. Just imagining the butter and sugar together, and the perfect pale yellow creaminess that ensues soothes me more than just about anything. I suppose I'm lucky because eating the final result doesn't always appeal to me, it's the process of baking -- the alchemy -- that makes me feel so much better. Unfortunately, I haven't had as much time as I'd like to bake lately (the irony is that I've been posting a lot this month -- less baking = more posting). With that in mind, I'll just note at the outset, this cake soothes me. I loved making it from beginning to end.

If ever a cake were going to soothe, it would be a bundt cake, wouldn't it? Maybe it's because I associate bundt cakes with my dad and Sunday evenings, but I think that bundt cakes are incredibly homey. My dad isn't a big cake baker, but he would make bundt cakes every now and again. I can't even remember the flavor of bundt cake that he would make (I don't think they were the tastiest cakes -- shhhh), but I can remember  little pre dinner discussions of what sort of dessert (my mom lacks a sweet tooth!) we should have. Of course, as a member of the y-chromosome group, my dad gravitated towards things like cobblers, puddings, and pies. But my sister and I like cakes and cookies (read:  fussy, time-consuming desserts) so a bundt cake was usually the middle of the road for the dessert lovers in our family. 

 

I made this cake in lieu of the coconut tea cake this week because I didn't have the proper ingredients (namely the coconut milk) for the aforementioned cake. As you might guess, the ingredient list for this cake is fairly standard; this is great because it means you can whip it up at will. I substituted pecans for walnuts simply because I happen to love pecans and I thought it would be a nice flavor in the cake. To be honest, the only real hassle concerning the making of this cake is brewing the coffee (and a measly 1/4 cup at that). The next time I make this cake I'll just be sure to hold a little bit of my morning coffee over and that should solve the coffee brewing hassle.

The cake is supposed to be swirl or a marble of vanilla batter and mocha batter. You're supposed to make a little less than half of the batter mocha flavored. I accidentally flavored the part that was supposed to be vanilla (the lion's share, if you will) with the mocha mixture. So, my "swirl" is a little wonky. It's not so much a swirl as a big glop. Dorie describes the swirling (as opposed to the marbling?) as creating a ginko pattern. Oh lordy. I know what ginko leaves look like because they turn a very showy and vivid yellow in the fall, but I've never really given thought to their shape before, and I certainly didn't feel up to creating it with cake batter! I just stuck my knife in, swirled sparingly, and crossed my fingers. I didn't end up with a ginko leaf. Nope. I think mine looks sort of like a cresting wave. If you turn your head all the way to the side and squint your eyes then you can kind of see the cresting wave. 

You know what? The swirl doesn't really matter because this cake is seriously tasty. I gave up chocolate for Lent, but I had a little bite of this cake (purely for tasting purposes) and it is seriously yummy. It's moist and I really like the mocha flavor of the cake. I made at the ganache glaze from BFMHTY to coat the cake with and I thought it was a great addition to the cake. I liked this cake too much to share it, so I wrapped it up to cool in my freezer until Sunday when I'll enjoy it again. Erin of When in Doubt Leave it at 350 chose this cake. Thank you, Erin! This is a great cake, and I can't wait to have another piece.

Muffin Mondays: Banana Streusel Muffins

OK, admittedly, I hate bananas. They're just about the ONLY fruit that I can't stand. That said, I'm still channeling the tropics around here, and any recipe that makes me feel the sun on my face and the sand in my toes is OK in my book. I found this recipe in Cold-Weather Cooking when I was baking the Cranberry Vanilla Muffins, and I couldn't get it out of my head. I might not like bananas, but I know many people who do like the ubiquitous yellow fruit, and I whipped these up one weekend about a month ago. 

I think that this is a rather unique banana muffin/bread recipe because it calls for diced bananas. Don't most recipes call for mashed up bananas? As I was making these muffins I was getting really sad that I don't like bananas because I love the rest of the ingredients in these muffins: ginger is a favorite flavor of mine, and I adore coconut. I'm working on some substitutions because tropical muffins would take me to a happy place. Dudley tasted one of the regular banana muffins for me and he said that it was a very good muffin, but that the banana flavor wasn't overwhelming. He described it as a nice mix of flavors. So, if you happen to have some bananas languishing in the fruit bowl, here's a recipe for you! And, shout out to Audrey of Food From Books (she's such a fabulous blogger!) because she made yummy corn muffins that I can't stop thinking about.

Banana Struesel Muffins

Cold-Weather Cooking by Sarah Leah Chase

Makes 12 muffins

Streusel Topping

1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans

1/4 cup shredded coconut

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Batter

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

3 ripe medium bananas, cut into 1/4-inch dice

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. 

2. Prepare the streusel topping:  In a small bowl toss together the flour, pecans, coconut, brown sugar, and nutmeg until well combined. Pour in the melted butter and stir until the mixture is moistened and crumbly. Set aside.

3. Prepare the batter:  Sift the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, ginger, butmeg, and brown sugar into a medium sized mixing bowl. Make a well in the center. 

4. In another bowl, beat together the eggs, sour cream, and melted butter until just blended and pour into the well in the dry ingredients. Mix together quickly with a wooden spoon until just combined. Stir in the diced bananas, mashing them slightly with the back of the spoon, just until incorporated. Do not overmix the batter. 

5. Divide the batter between the muffin cups, filling each one about seven-eigths full. Sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over the tops. Bake the muffins until the tops are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25-20 minutes. Serve the muffins warm or at room temperature.

Peach and Raspberry Crisp (errr, Crumble?)

At the beginning of this month, which, by the way, seems like years ago to me, Matthew at FaveDiets asked my what my favorite healthy dessert is. Hmmmm, well, if you know me then you know I loves me some butter and sugar. Butter and sugar soothe me, and when I've had a particularly stressful meeting, just envisioning creaming butter and sugar together calms me down. But, if you know me, then you also know that I love fruit, and I love fruit for dessert. My very favorite healthy dessert is plain old grilled or broiled pineapple with some Greek yogurt. Ahhh, it's so good! But I love all summer fruits, and this peach and raspberry crisp is a new favorite of mine. Read on!

I'm a planner. I like sticky notes and tabs, calendars, and different colored inks for different engagements. I like to plan things, I like to be organized, and I'm not too keen on uncertainty. This tendency to plan is part of my genetic makeup, and I can try to be laid back and chill, but the obsessive organizer in me will always want out. So, this past November Dudley and I were walking, and I mentioned that this year for the cherry blossoms we should really walk down to the tidal basin rather than driving and parking like we did last year. This line of thought was followed by the route we'd take, what we'd pack for lunch, and how much Lucy would enjoy this outing. Dudley looked at me and said, "Jessica, it's Novemeber. The cherry blossoms are months  away!" Even though he's used to my crazy planning, I think that my attempt to plan the cherry blossom outing before the first snowfall unsettled Dudley. I don't think that the planning is a crazy thing -- it's just my way of looking forward to exciting things to come. In anticipation of really short, dark, cold, frozen days it helps me to look past winter to the fun things that happen in the spring. And on days like today when it's spring-but-not-really-spring because it's cold and dreary, I start thinking about the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer. 

Summer means many things to me, but one of my favorite aspects of summer is all of that gorgeous summer fruit. The peaches, the berries, the plums, the melons . . . it's all so tasty, and my mouth is watering just thinking about it. We have now hit the time of year when I am officially tired of apples, pears, and oranges, and I'm looking ahead to summer fruit. Last year I haunted the farmer's market for signs of spring and I learned that even the rhubarb and the strawberries don't start hitting the stands until late May. Sigh. I have a month to go before I can even get started. Not so fast, though. While I'm not about to pay $5 for a pint of raspberries, I'm a huge fan of using frozen fruit to get a little taste of sunshine right now. Granted, I wouldn't want to use frozen fruit in a fresh tart, but in desserts like crisps where the fruit cooks down it's a wonderful, lower-cost alternative. The other benefit of using frozen fruit rather than out-of-season fruit is that it's probably going to taste MUCH better. Frozen fruit is picked and frozen at the peak of ripeness, so it's generally a pretty safe bet that the flavor will be sweet and true. Don't misunderstand me, it will never be as good as that freshly picked summer peach, but not much is, right?

I was browsing the Eating Well site the other day (great site, by the way!) and I came across this recipe for Peach and Raspberry Crumble/Crisp. Peaches and raspberries are one of my favorite combinations, and I just couldn't get this dessert out of my head. I was especially intrigued because the recipe calls for very little butter and the topping is made with whole wheat flour. I think we're all looking for some lighter fare in anticipation of the warmer months, no? This dessert is wonderful because it tastes very indulgent and delicious but it's actually a light and healthy option. I loved the flavors of the peaches and raspberries together. The topping is crazy yummy. I just loved the combination of the oatmeal and the almonds, so tasty. I was out of Greek yogurt when I made this, but I think a little dollop of yogurt would make this even better.

Notes:

-- I made 1/2 of the recipe in four individual ramekins.

-- If you're going to use frozen fruit, thaw it and drain it ahead of time. I just put my fruit into bowls in the refrigerator overnight. 

-- I used a squeeze of orange juice in place of the lemon juice in the filling.

-- I used orange juice in place of the frozen concentrated OJ in the topping (just about 1 tablespoon, enough to moisten the topping) because that's what I had on hand. 

-- I thought that the crumble topping was really sweet, I think I would cut the brown sugar a little bit more next time (maybe by a tablespoon or so?). 

Peach and Raspberry Crisp/Crumble

Eating Well

 Filling

• 2 pounds peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced (5 cups)
• 1 cup raspberries
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice, juice

Topping

• 2/3 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats, (not instant)
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 3 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate
• 1 tablespoon chopped slivered almonds, or walnuts
• 1 1/2 cups reduced-fat vanilla ice cream, or nonfat vanilla frozen yogurt (optional)

 Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Coat an 8-by-8-inch baking dish (or similar 1 1/2- to 2-quart dish) with cooking spray.
2. To make filling: Combine peaches, raspberries, sugar and lemon juice in a large bowl. Place the filling in the prepared baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, make topping. Mix flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl with a fork. Add butter and blend with a pastry blender or your fingertips. Add oil and stir to coat. Add orange juice concentrate and blend with your fingertips until dry ingredients are moistened.
4. When the filling has baked for 20 minutes, stir it and sprinkle topping evenly over the surface. Sprinkle with almonds (or walnuts). Bake, uncovered, until the filling is bubbly and tender and topping is lightly browned, 20 to 25 minutes more. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature with ice cream (or frozen yogurt), if desired.

BBA S&S: Loafin' Around

I'm doubling up on this Bread Baker's Apprentice post because then I'll actually be caught up on BBA S&S posts (I still haven't started pain a l'ancienne. EEEK!). Without further ado, let's check out the Marbled Rye Bread and the Multigrain Extraordinaire.

I put off the rye bread as long as I possibly could. I don't like rye bread. I like a reuben sandwich, and that's about the extent of my relationship with rye bread. Truth be told, I'd prefer that the great rueben alchemy work with something other than rye bread, but I won't quibble. I was going to make the rye bread for a really fun Austrian dinner party that I wanted to make (and I roped Nancy into it as well), but my schedule has not been kind for the last couple of months, and the dinner party has been postponed . . .

So, the only other way I could think of to make the rye bread and enjoy it was to make reubens for St. Patrick's Day. The bread isn't very difficult to make, but it does involve mixing up two separate batches of dough. I made a half recipe because I didn't want two loaves of this bread. I looked all over for the caramel coloring that you can use to get your dark dough that lovely dark chocolate color to no avail. I still have no idea where one procurs the mythical caramel coloring. The recipe also states that you can use either cocoa powder or coffee to color your dark dough. Well, come on, if it's marbled then I need two tones of color, so I went ahead with the cocoa powder in the dough. I know what you're thinking:  chocolate? In bread? This can't be good. I thought the same thing and I was a little hesitant, but the good thing about making something that you're not crazy about to begin with is that your expectations are very low. Other than the cocoa powder decision, I followed the recipe exactly as written and it was a fairly simple process. The book gives instructions for either a true marble (this involves mushing balls of dough together and then twisting the formed loaf) or a spiral loaf. I was a little distracted when I made this bread, so I did the spiral loaf and then I gave it a good twist for good measure. And, I still don't like rye bread . . . ergo I didn't like the flavor of this bread. What I LOVED were the fun spirals! I don't know why, but I was sure that my spiral was going to melt or collapse in the oven, but it didn't! I deem this a very fun bread . . . I want to make fun spiral bread without rye flour!

Spiral on the outside -- a good sign of things to come. 

Oooooh, look, it's spiraled on the inside, too!

More spiral action.

Are you still reading? Wow. The next bread is the Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire. When I first got The Bread Baker's Apprentice, this bread was one of the first recipes I flagged. I love breads with seeds, etc. Any sort of bread with a few extra bells and whistles in the grains department is almost sure to ring my bell (except that pesky rye). To say that I had high expectations for this bread would be right on point. And, really, can you blame me? It's called Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire. (Side note: when I was in college I had a very good friend who swore that expectations were not a good thing to have. Her theory was that if you have expectations of people, places, events (you name it) then you're bound to be disappointed. I don't agree. I have very high expectations for myself, the people in my life, and the bread that I bake, among other things.) 

The multigrain bread has a soaker component, and so far I've loved the BBA breads that start with a soaker (cornbread -- yum). For my soaker, I used a combination of the King Arthur Harvest Grains blend because I'm trying hard to use it up, and a little bit of wheat bran.The grains soak overnight, and then the next day you mix up the bread. I actually made this bread out of order because I happened to have some leftover brown rice, and it seemed like a sign. You see, I've tried to make this bread a few times. The first time Dudley put the soaker in the fridge, the second time I forgot about the soaker and didn't remember for 72 hours (and it looked and smelled funky), and the third time I realized I didn't have any brown rice for the dough. So, I think that leftover brown rice is a serendipitous sign that it's time to make multigrain bread. It's a very simple bread to make, and I loved the texture of the dough. I thought my bread baked up nicely, but what's up with the white-ish top on my crust? I have no idea, but it looks like it needs to moisturize, doesn't it? I think that some melted butter would help with that.

While I certainly enjoyed this bread, it wasn't exactly the bread nirvana I was expecting. This could certainly be attributed to user error, and I'll definitely make it again. I ate this bread as toast for breakfast, and it was a lovely way to start my day. PR is right -- this bread toasts beautifully. I think that the next time I make this bread I'll go the hearth route and I'll add even more grains and seeds. I might add a bit of whole wheat flour as well.

For the first time since the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge (Slow and Steady Group) began, I'm actually caught up on posting. I have no idea where I'm supposed to be schedule-wise, but I haven't baked past this point in the book. I actually haven't baked much bread at all lately, but I think that needs to change -- soon! In the meantime, do check out the other BBA S&S blogs to see what they think of these breads:  Pink Stripes, Shortbread, Grandma's Kitchen Table, Gatti, Fili e Farina, Blue Ridge Baker, Lethally Delicious, Di's Kitchen Notebook, and The Corner Loaf. 

Tres Leches Cupcakes

Spring arrived in the mid Atlantic last week only to be chased away by clouds and cold rain. It's nice again for a couple of days, though, and I'm delighted. Spring is my favorite time of year because the flowers are blooming, the birds are chirping, and the days are getting longer and sunnier and warmer. I know that autumn is a wonderful season, I get it, but I love spring because it's the time of year when I have everything to look forward to. We're on the up and up, if you will. This is the same reason why Thursday happens to be my favorite day of the week -- I love all of the possibilities and excitement on the horizon. Right now I'm most looking forward to completing the semester and digging out from the piles of books and papers and words, words, words that perpetually surround me, but I'm also looking forward to sundresses, the lazy hazy days of summer, and the cocktails out on the deck, patio, or porch. In my circle of friends, this means margaritas -- and plenty of them! I was chatting with my sister about margs the other day, and this led to a small ode to the tres leches cake that she loves so much. I made these cupcakes in an effort to channel some south of the border fun for Dudley's birthday in January, but listening to Miss A wax poetic on the tres leches reminded me that I really need to share these cupcakes.

My mom makes tres leches cake that we all love, and she uses this recipe for Pastel de Tres Leches from Epicurious. I wanted to make these cupcakes because they seemed like the perfect dessert for Dudley's birthday fiesta (or as he referred to it, El Fiasco, but it wasn't a fiasco -- he just thinks he's pretty funny) but I was a little nervous about translating the cake into cupcakes. I'm not a tres leches expert, but I've eaten my mom's version and restaurant versions on many occasions, and this cake is usually sodden with milk. I just couldn't imagine how on earth the cake would be sturdy enough to be enjoyed as a cupcake. I made half of the recipe for the cupcakes and the three milk mixture (sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream, and evaporated milk) and, I have to say, this is a fairly simple recipe. There was no need for the stress about these little cakes. They just SOAK up that milk mixture, so don't worry if you think you might have too much. It takes awhile to get the cakes to soak up all of the milk, so budget some time for brushing on the milk mixture, and be prepared to clean up the sticky drips. I topped the cake with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon, but I remembered afterwards that (at least in Texas) tres leches is often served with a maraschino cherry on top, and I think that would be cute as well!

These cupcakes were pretty popular at El Fiasco birthday fiesta at the end of January. Dudley's friend Teddy is from New Mexico and he pronounced these cupcakes a good version of tres leches cake. I'm quite sure they'll make another appearance in these parts in the coming warm and sunny months; they're a perfect end to a margarita evening. 

Tres Leches Cupcakes

Martha Stewart Cupcakes

makes about 20 cupcakes (NB: my 1/2 recipe made 9 cupcakes)

Ingredients

6 large eggs, separated, room temperature

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

3/4 cup heavy cream

Whipped Cream

Ground cinnamon, for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper-lines foil liners. With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk together egg whites, baking soda, and salt until soft peaks form. Reduce speed to low. Add yolks and sugar, whisk until completely combined. Fold in melted butter with a flexible spatula. Add flour in four batches, folding until just combined after each. 

2. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each halfway. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until light golden brown, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven. Immediately poke holes in the tops of cupcakes with a skewer.

3. Whisk together evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream. With cupcakes still in tins, brush milk mixture over cupcakes, repeating until all liquid has been used. Allow cupcakes to absorb mixture, at least 30 minutes (or up to 1 day in the refrigerator, wrapped tightly in plastic once completely cookl bring to room temperature before serving). 

4. To finish, dollop whipped cream generously onto cupcakes, and dust with ground cinnamon. Serve immediately.

BBA S&S: Light Wheat Bread

I feel as though my journey through The Bread Baker's Apprentice has been a good journey, but it's definitely had very defined phases:
1. Funny sounding, interesting, but not entirely complicated, breads to reel you in (e.g. Anadama and Artos).
2. Woah Buttah. Enriched Breads (e.g. Brioche through about Cranberry Walnut Bread with Bagel, interrupted).
3. The Hearth Side of the Breads (e.g. Ciabatta -- also a break in the enriched breads -- through Kaiser Rolls).
4. Randoms in the Middle. This is the phase I'm in now. Or, rather, I've just baked through this phase. It starts with lavash, then Light Wheat, onto Marbled Rye and Multigrain Extraordinaire. It's the random, kind bread before pain a l'ancienne -- no, I still haven't started the ancient bread. Maybe soon. Maybe after I finish my thesis. Hopefully that'll be soon.

I made the light wheat bread in January -- that's forever ago. I remember when I made this bread it was dark and freezing cold . . . it's like a bad dream to me. I made it in dinner roll fashion because my loaves of bread tend to get moldy. I don't eat a lot of sandwiches, and while I like toast for breakfast on occasion, there are other things that I like more, and I don't like to box myself into the toast-for-breakfast routine. So, dinner rolls are perfect. They're already portioned and leftovers freeze nicely. They even make a sandwich or breakfast (I ate one with butter and jam one morning) in a pinch. This bread is super, super simple to make, and for that I love it. Truth be told, if I'm going the whole grain route, I prefer the Harvest Grains dinner rolls from King Arthur, but I really enjoyed this bread. Did I mention it was simple to make? I love breads that don't involve a lot of stress or meticulous planning of my day. 

 Obviously, dinner rolls are meant to be served with . . . dinner. Dudley calls it supper, I call it dinner. Is it a toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe thing? I don't know, but I come from a dinner family and I eat dinner in the evening, not supper. The two of us ate our dinner rolls for dinner (supper?) with the fantastic herb roasted pork loin from Gourmet magazine's April 2009 issue. So, I've mentioned before that my dad tends to go through cooking phases. If you tell him that you like something he's made, he makes it at least once a week until you protest. (And, no, just telling him maybe it's time for a break isn't a protest. I'm talking hunger strike type protests, here.) When I was in middle school --> high school he went on a HUGE roti du porc (usually grandmere) kick. We had roast pork (but my dad really says it in French as I first wrote) all.of.the.time. ALL.OF.THE.TIME. I still don't rock on roast pork . . . but I loved this herb roasted pork loin. This might be because I have a major love affair with Dijon mustard. I loved the sauce a little too much. So, if you happen to like roast pork and you happen to like Dijon mustard, MAKE THIS PORK!! It was so tasty . . . it totally overshawdowed my very delicious light wheat dinner rolls. It doesn't look like much in the picture. Meh, it was cold and dark, I can't get inspired about making food look good when it's cold and dark. I just need to pile it on my bones so I can stay warm.

For more BBA S&S breads, check out these blogs:  Pink Stripes,  Shortbread, Grandma's Kitchen Table, Gatti, Fili e Farina, Lethally Delicious, Blue Ridge Baker, Tea and Scones, and of course, The Corner Loaf. Nancy, the author of The Corner Loaf, writes lovely roundups of each BBA S&S bread. So, if you're interested in the group, you might want to check out her blog first.

TWD: Soft Chocolate Raspberry Tart

Is anyone else having a hard time with the Daylight Savings Time switch? It just kills me every year -- I loathe waking up in the pitch black darkness. I like the extra light in the evening, but if I had my way we'd pick DST or ST and go. I'm not a fan of the switch from one to the other.

This week for TWD Rachelle of Mommy? I'm Hungry! chose Soft Chocolate Raspberry Tart. Now, tarts might not be my favorite, but I luh luh love a raspberry tart. I made this on Sunday because I wanted a little reprieve from my Lenten chocolate fast to taste this tart. I made ~1/3 of the recipe and it filled 2 mini 4" tarts with filling to spare. I used frozen raspberries because the fresh berries were so darn expensive, I just couldn't justify the money on a little tart that only I was going to eat. I left off the whipped cream because I didn't want to dirty more dishes, and honestly, I think it gets in the way sometimes. With chocolate and raspberries I don't need anything else!

Ummm, this tart is SO good. It exceeded my expectations. The first bite I felt sort of *meh* -- it was just ok. Then I had another little bite, this time with more raspberry, and it started to grow on me. I love the way the chocolate and the raspberries just sort of blend together, consistency-wise, in this tart. I can't wait to make a full size version of this tart when raspberries come into season. Thanks, Rachelle, for a great pick!

Muffin Mondays: Wearin' o' the Green Muffins (& the winner of the CSN giveaway)

St. Patrick's Day is Wednesday! Neither side of my family can claim Irish ancestry, but I grew up celebrating St. Patrick's Day nonetheless. I love a holiday, I love the color green, and I have many friends who claim Irish heritage, so I'm all for a little St. Patty's Day celebration. To kick things off, I made these muffins over the weekend. I found the recipe a few months ago on the King Arthur Flour website, but it took me just as long to remember to purchase pistachio pudding mix at the grocery store.

The only changes that I made to the recipe were to omit the chopped pistachios, because I don't really groove on nuts in my baked goods, and the pistachio flavoring because I didn't have any. I used vanilla extract instead of the pistachio flavor, but I really wish that I'd had the flavoring because I think it would have improved the muffins. You know the whole muffin versus cupcake debate? I never really understood it until now because, in my mind, these are cupcakes. They're tasty (although I think that the pistachio flavor would have been so much better if I'd had that flavoring!) and sweet and fluffy. I think that they're a cupcake even without the frosting, but I think you could pipe some frosting on top and sprinkle it and really have a St. Patrick's Day cupcake on your hands. I wouldn't make these again for breakfast, but I would definitely make them as cupcakes. That's just my preference, though. I don't love sweet things for breakfast, and I'm sure that there are much sweeter muffins out there. I also think that these would be better as minis. I don't have a good explanation for that thought, it just seems like it's a more manageable amount of this muffin. I loved these muffins (cupcakes) because they have a wonderful texture and they rise beautifully. They're festive, and I'm glad I tried them. There's a good chance I'll make these as a dessert once I get my hands on the pistachio flavor, but I don't think that they're going to end up on my breakfast table any time soon.

Wearin' o' the Green Muffins

King Arthur Flour Recipe

Batter
1/4 cup (1/2 stick, 2 ounces) butter
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) sugar
3 1/8-ounce package instant pistachio pudding mix*
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon pistachio flavor (optional, but good)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) milk
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shelled, coarsely chopped pistachios

*You may find that national brands give you better green color than store brands.

Topping
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) melted butter
1/4 (1 3/4 ounces) sugar
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon pistachio flavor, to taste 

 

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a muffin tin with 12 paper or silicone muffin cups, and grease the cups with non-stick vegetable oil spray; this will ensure that they peel off the muffins nicely.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and pudding mix till smooth. Add the eggs, beating for several minutes and scraping the bowl, till the mixture is smooth and shiny. Beat in the baking powder, pistachio flavor, and salt.

Gently beat the flour into the butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour and making sure everything is thoroughly combined. Stir in the pistachios, saving out 2 tablespoons to sprinkle atop the muffins, if desired. Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups, sprinkling with the reserved nuts.

Bake the muffins for 20 minutes, or until they're starting to brown around the edges and a cake tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean. Remove them from the oven, and let them cool for a couple of minutes, or until you can handle them. While they're cooling, melt the butter (this is easily done in the microwave). Combine the sugar and pistachio flavor in a jar with a lid, and shake vigorously to combine thoroughly.

Use a pastry brush to paint the top of each muffin with the butter (or dip the top of each muffin in the butter), then sprinkle with (or dip muffin top in) the pistachio sugar. Allow the muffins to cool on a rack.

Yield: 12 muffins.

And . . . the winner of the CSN giveaway is (drum roll please . . .)

Courtesy of www.Random.org
Min: 1
Max: 43
Result: 42 

Number 42 is SherryG of Sherry Starts Cooking
"A food processor is what I'm wishing for these days! And if I could bring it to a dessert island I would."

Sign me up for a food processor, too! I don't have one, and I'd absolutely love one. Any time I'm grating vegetables on my box grater an image of a food processor floats in my mind. Congratulations, Sherry! I'm going to give Jamie your email and you should hear from him shortly. If you get a chance, let me know what you get from CSN! Thank you, Jamie and CSN for allowing me to host such a great giveaway.

Happy Pi Day! "Aunt Julia's Chocolate Pie"

Happy Pi Day! My cute dad gave me a "Pi" plate for Christmas this year, and I couldn't let Pi Day pass without making a pie in my pi plate.

Unfortunately, as I've mentioned here before, I don't love pie. It's just about my least favorite form of dessert. Dudley likes pies that aren't fruit pies, but he gave up sweets for Lent. I was pondering Pi Day and pies and he started waxing poetic about his love for "chocolate meringue pie." We had such a funny conversation about chocolate meringue pies and the chocolate pie that I remember eating as a child, black bottom pie, that I decided I definitely needed to make a chocolate pie for Pi Day. I found several recipes that I'd like to try (if you're interested, I think I'm going to be on a bit of a chocolate pie kick for the next couple of months), but I settled on this recipe from Virginia Willis's cookbook, Bon Appétit, Y'all, because it seemed closest to the pie that Dudley loves so much. 

 

Sooooo, I don't know about you, but meringue pies and I do not get along. My meringue pies weep, they shrink, and I can never achieve the fabulous fluffy peaks of my dreams. I'll admit that I was a little sad to hear Dudley profess his love for chocolate meringue pie. Not chocolate cream pie or the aforementioned black bottom pie? Meringue . . . really? I passed over a couple of chocolate meringue recipes, but I stopped on this one because I love Bon Appétit, Y'all. If I'm being honest, I'm a sucker for the whole "southern cookbook" genre, but this particular book is a gem. Each recipe is introduced with a story, and it's actually a lovely cookbook to read. This recipe begins with Willis stating that this is "hands down my favorite dessert." I cried uncle right then and there. I was definitely going to make this pie . . . weepy meringue and all. 

Notes on this recipe:

- I used Willis's recipe for All American Pie Crust, you can find the recipe here. It's a superb pie crust (very similar to Dorie's "Good for Everything Pie Crust"), Dudley said that the crust "might be the best part of the pie."

- When boiling the milk-flour mixture before you add the eggs, make sure to stir this mixture! My cocoa powder settled as I was "multi-tasking" and I nearly had a custard catastrophe as if I'd left it much longer, I think it would have cooked to the bottom of the pan.

- So, Willis begins the recipe by stating that she tried to "improve upon" this recipe with techniques that she learned in culinary school, and none of these worked. Every improvement resulted in a custard that wouldn't set, and she says "If it's not broke, don't fix it." I couldn't get that out of my head as I was trying to figure out how to add the egg yolks to the boiling milk-cocoa mixture. Surely you can't just add the egg yolks without tempering them? But the recipe doesn't say to temper the egg yolks . . . I ended up tempering mine and I think it was a good decision. 

- My custard took about 30 seconds to thicken after I added the tempered egg yolks.

- I understand why a hand mixer is better than a stand mixer for beating egg whites, but I don't have a hand mixer. I used the KA and just started slowly and increased the speed after I added the powdered sugar. 

- This recipe, from start to finish, is a fairly simple recipe. I did have a lot of dirty dishes, though.

Well, if you're wondering . . . Dudley loved this pie. He declared it "amazing" and I think that it lived up to his childhood recollections of chocolate meringue pie. I had a small bite of the chocolate part of the pie and it's very tasty. The crust is excellent, and my merigue is sad. Yup, weeping present. I've done some research on meringue (Cook's Illustrated had an awesome article awhile ago) but if you have any meringue tips, I'd love to read about them!

Aunt Julia's Chocolate Pie
Bon Appétit, Y'all
makes one 9" pie

Ingredients:
1 prebaked 9" pie crust
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups whole milk
3 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 large eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch fine sea salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.

To prepare the pie filling, in a saucepan, combine 1 cup of the milk with the 1 cup of granulated sugar. Set aside.

In a bowl, combine  the remaining 1 cup of milk, the flour, and cocoa powder in a bowl and whisk thoroughly to combine. (Mama uses a shaker and shakes the mixture until it is well combined and frothy.) Set aside.

Heat the saucepan with the milk-sugar over medium-high heat until simmering. Slowly add the milk-flour mixture and stir to combine. Bring to a boil. Add the egg yolks, whisking constantly, until it returns to a boil. Once the mixture comes to a boil, add the vanilla and remove it from the heat.

Pour the mixture into the baked pie crust. Set aside.

To make the meringue topping, place the egg whites in a non-reactive bowl with a pinch of salt. Add the cream of tartar and, using a hand-held mixer, whisk on high speed until foamy. Sift over the confectioners' sugar a little at a time and whisk until the whites are glossy and hold stiff peaks when the whisk is lifted.

To finish the pie, spoon the meringue over the pie, making sure it touches the edges of the pie crust. Bake until golden brown, 3-5 minutes. Move to rack to cool completely and set, then serve.

Greyston Bakery's Grapefruit Yogurt Cake

Dudley and I were at the dog park one day during the big snows (I'm not sure which one, they all sort of blur together) and we started chatting with a gentleman who was out for a stroll. He had on a fabulously warm (at least it looked very warm) fur trooper hat. We talked about the weather and his hat, and then, as most conversations in D.C. go, we talked about where we were from. I told him I was from Texas, and he looked at me and said "it's like a different country down there," and I got the general sense that he didn't mean that in an entirely disparaging sense, but he didn't think it was an altogether good thing either. His observation, though, struck me as kind of funny because, you might know, the Texas travel and tourism slogan these days is "Texas: It's like a whole other country." Texans are pretty proud of their state, and of course they like to tell you that everything's bigger in Texas. I don't know if that's true, but it's a pretty big state! I grew up on the Gulf Coast, far away from the sagebrush and cowboy imagery of Texas that seems so stereotypical of the state. This area is known for its heat and humidity, and Houston is famous for its urban sprawl and congested freeways, but it's the place where I grew up, and there's so much that I love about my home town:  the museum district, the Beer Can House, I love driving into downtown on Memorial Drive, and Houston is home to some of my favorite food and great restaurants. We can't grow cherries or apples on the Gulf Coast but it's a great climate for citrus, and down south of Houston, in the Rio Grande valley, you'll find some of the very best Ruby Red grapefruit ever. This grapefruit is a winter fruit staple in our house, and I grew up eating it. I've never had a white grapefruit, but I'm told it's much different from the pink grapefruit that I love so much. I eat pink grapefruit just as I eat oranges all winter long, and because they're so pricey up here, I'm generally reluctant to use them for baking, but when I saw this recipe for Grapfruit Yogurt Cake in The Greyston Bakery Cookbook, I had to try it.

I received this cookbook for Christmas, and I just absolutely love it. There are so many recipes I'd like to try, but this was the recipe that I just had to make first. It's a very simple yogurt cake, and I was surprised at how quickly I was able to combine the ingredients and get this cake into the oven. The introduction to the recipe states that you can use pink grapefruit yogurt or plain yogurt. I've been on a huge yogurt kick lately, and I already had some Wallaby pink grapfruit yogurt in my fridge, so I used about 3/4 cup of the pink grapefruit yogurt and I rounded it out with Greek yogurt. The grapefruit flavor in the cake comes from the yogurt, a smidge of grapefruit juice, and grapefruit zest. It's an oil based cake, which I love, and all things considered, I think that this dessert might even qualify as "lighter" dessert, healthy-ish even? The cake is topped with a very simple glaze, and if you'd like you can make the suggested candied grapefruit strips to accent the "grapefruitiness" of this dessert.

And, the verdict on this lovely cake? It's lovely and light, and if you like grapefruit I think it's safe to say that you'll like this cake. It's not too sweet and the grapefruit flavor definitely shines through. It's a huge cake, though, as it's baked in a 10" springform pan. I'm sure that I could eat it all, but I think I need to find some people to share a couple of slices with. 

Grapefruit Yogurt Cake

The Greyston Bakery Cookbook

Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of salt

2 eggs

3/4 cup of granulated sugar

1 cup of plain whole milk yogurt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Juice (about 1/2 cup) and zest (about 1 tablespoon) of one pink grapefruit

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10" round springform pan and line the pan bottom with a parchment paper round. Set aside

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt to blend. 

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and granulated sugar until the eggs are thick and pale yellow. Add the yogurt, oil, 1 tablespoon of the grapefruit juice, the grapefruit zest, and vanilla. Stir well to combine. Add the flour mixture and stir to combine. 

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a rubber spatula. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a wooden skewer comes out clean when inserted near the center. Place the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes to cool. Run a thin knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake. Release and remove the pan sides. Cool completely on the wire rack. 

In a small saucepan, combine the confectioners' sugar and the remaining grapefruit juice and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, stirring for 10 minutes, or until the glaze is slightly thickened. Remove from the heat. 

To finish the cake, invert the cooled cake and remove the pan bottom. Carfeully peel away the parchment. Reinvert the cake onto a serving. Pierce the cake all over the top with a skewer and pour the warm grapefruit syrup over it. 

CEiMB: Lemon Chicken Soup with Orzo

OK, I've been a humongous Ellie slacker. I was making and photographing the recipes, but I wasn't posting them. You see, Thursdays are seriously busy days for me, and this means that the days leading up to Thursdays are usually seriously busy in preparation for Thursdays. At any rate, I've been a slacker. I repent and I'll try to do better in the future! All we can do is try, right?

I made this soup to have for lunch this week. I think I've mentioned before that lunch is kind of a sticking point for me. I don't want to spend a lot of time preparing it, I don't like a heavy lunch, I have lunch prerequisites ad nauseum. That said, I'm also not the world's biggest fan of chicken soup, and I knew that this wasn't going to cut my dinner mustard, but I think the world of Kayte and I really didn't want to miss her pick. It isn't that I don't like chicken soup, it's just that unless it's accompanied by salad and copious amounts of bread and butter, I'm generally left wanting more . . . of something . . . that isn't chicken noodle soup. But chicken soup could be an acceptable lunch. I have to say, even though I'm a singleton and I make nice dinners just for me, it felt fairly indulgent to actually "cook" something for lunch. I made half of this simple recipe with chicken that I'd poached in advance (ugh, poached chicken, but it's handy to have around and I think it's supposed to be way less fattening than the rotisserie chicken, isn't it?). Other than that I followed the recipe exactly. I love the technique of thickening the soup with the egg, how cool is that? I served my soup with some Parmesan cheese on top (that's the big white blob in the picture). 

This soup is SO darn tasty! I have been eating this for lunch this week and loving every spoonful. I have to say, the Parmesan cheese really works for me. I know it's not exactly making this a healthier soup, but I just love the way it tastes in this dish. Thank you, Kayte, for getting me to try something that I wouldn't have made otherwise! Check out Kayte's Blog, Grandma's Kitchen Table, if you'd like to see the recipe.

CSN Giveaway!

In my family, there are generally quite a few gifts exchanged around the holidays. My mom has 4 sisters and her parents are still alive, and this generates quite a few presents. We even do a name pull but it can still get a little out of control. I like to think I'm an easy person to shop for; I generally love anything that anyone decides to give me (barring a noogie or a wedgie!), and I think that it is truly better to give than to receive. My brother has always been "the hard one to shop for" out of the three of us, and he usually ends up with gift certificates. Now, I don't like to give gift certificates if I can possibly help it, and I'm a gift certificate hoarder, so they aren't a medium that I generally deal in or with. I will admit to a certain amount of envy, though, when my brother winds up with some cash to blow at a kitchen store. I do make sure that I go with him to spend his gift certificates, because watching and helping him pick out kitchen gear is almost as fun as getting it for myself. One year we were leaving the store and he remarked that he couldn't think of much more kitchen gear that he needed as he had really nice knives and pots and we'd just selected an immersion blender and a rockin' bamboo cutting board to add to his kitchen gear collection. I looked at him agast. I mean, he truly does have everything you'd need and then some to cook just about anything you'd want to, but in my kitchen schwag loving mind I just couldn't imagine this. I mean, what about 8" cake pans (x3) and then some fabulous bundt pans? And you can never have too many rubber spatulas, or what about that silicone whisk that comes in rainbow colors? And Le Crueset has just come out with new colors . . . be still my heart. We decided that, as a lover of kitchen schwag, I was the target customer of kitchen stores, my brother . . . not so much. And it's true, I love different colors (I have mostly red, and a little bit of yellow in my kitchen, but oh how I love kiwi green and carribean blue, sigh) and kitchen store catalogs come and I love to look through them and eyeball all of the new and fun and different kitchen schwag. It's my suspicion that I'm not alone in this love of kitchen schwag, and that's a good thing, because now I get to give out a little kitchen schwag courtesy of CSN stores.

I had never heard of CSN before Jamie contacted me last week and offered to do a giveaway on this blog. It turns out that CSN is sort of like an uber one stop shop for home goods, furniture, office supplies, kids bedding, I really can't name everything that they sell. I figured that because this is a cooking blog, and I get a little bit of input, then the giveaway should have something to do with kitchen schwag. And . . . even though I'm not getting any fun new toys, I did poke around and find some things I'd like to have.

I do love a good apron, and CSN has a ton of cute designs. These were just some that caught my eye!

I

The carribean blue color that I love so much. I've been pondering a batter bowl, it seems like such a great idea, don't you think?

I love mixing bowls! And I love colorful mixing bowls even more! Anyone who loves to cook or bake knows how essential mixing bowls are. I love that these nest togther -- nesting is a great thing no matter what, but when you have storage issues it's even better. 

 I love bamboo cutting boards. They rock. 

Oooh, an ice cream maker. Summer's coming, and just think of all the tasty creations you can make in this gadget.

OK, so who doesn't love to take a little magazine quiz every once in awhile? I took a quiz on my decorating style on Real Simple's website the other day (I was soooo procrastinating!). Here's what I learned about my decorating style (none of this was news to me):  it's a combination of "Cozy Casual" and "Sophistcated Classic" with a little bit of "Vintage Eclectic" thrown in. In other words, I'm all over the map. One thing I'm not, though, is "Modern Graphic." I just like "stuff" (all of that kitchen schwag) and toile a little too much to get into clean, modern lines. It's funny, though, because one of the CSN websites that Jamie mentioned was All Modern. So very much *not* the Singleton, but I do appreciate some modernism even if I can't apply it to my domicile. I might not be have a "modern" decorating aesthetic, but I do have a little quirky side, and I thought I'd share some of these "modern" picks, too.

This is a fun kitchen timer. I used to have one that looked like a chicken, and I loved it, but one night I accidentally set it down on one of my electric burners that was still hot (it wasn't long after I moved to DC and I was still very used to gas ranges). Needless to say, my little chicken melted to the burner and died a slow and painful death. I love this timer and they're essential if you forget about putting things in the oven like I do.

OK, so this is an Alessi paper towel holder and I think it's so cute. It's a bunny and a carrot! Enough said.

Here's another Alessi goody, this is a spice rack of sorts. I'm not going to pretend that I really understand it, because I don't, but I do like it. This would look great in a monochromatic, uncluttered kitchen (mine is none of those). You know, it could be that accent splash of color (I have no idea what I'm talking about but it works in my mind).

A funnel is one of those things that's so utilitarian and such a pain to store that I refuse to buy one. And then sometimes I need one and I improvise and liquid spills everywhere. This funnel looks like Pinocchio and it makes me smile. 

So, that's a little peak at some of the fun kitchen goodies you can find on the CSN website. And . . . as the title of this post implies, Jamie at CSN has arranged for one of you to pick out some of your own goodies. To that end, if you'd like to add to your kitchen schwag, just leave me a comment on this post and tell me either a) what one piece of kitchen equipment you'd bring to a desert island or b) what piece of kitchen equipment (practical or not) you're most wishing for these days. We'll let this go until 8 am EDT (agh! I am sooo not looking forward to the Daylight Savings Time transition) on Monday, March 15th. Good luck and tell your friends!