(Sorry for the crappy photo, but it was almost midnight…)
I completely forgot that I joined the Daring Bakers earlier this year, which required me to complete one baking challenge per month. Previous months were fun, but with all those birthdays and Halloween, I completely forgot October. I remembered my membership obligations last night at around midnight – just in time to check in and learn that post day is today. Phew. (Besides not wanting to miss another month – having baked last nights penne tonight, I wouldn’t otherwise have had much interesting to tell you about.)
In a nutshell – the Daring Bakers is a conglomerate of over a thousand bakers (worldwide) who take turns choosing a recipe for the lot of us to bake, which we all post on our blogs on the same day in order to compare notes. It’s actually quite fascinating to see what other people come up with using the exact same recipe. Sometimes we are given freedom of expression, sometimes we must adhere exactly to the recipe as written. It reminds me of an article in Gourmet magazine years ago, in which they gave 20 chefs, food writers and other professionals the same recipe for an angel food cake, and then took photos of the final results. Each one looked different.
The recipes we are challenged to bake typically require separate recipes to be made first in order to complete the mother recipe, and this is no exception. You have to make a dark amber caramel syrup to add to the cake and frosting, but let me tell you, it’s something tasty. It has the intense flavour of almost-burnt sugar, and I imagine it would go swimmingly on waffles. (Not that I have anything against maple syrup, you know, but just for a change. And how much does 2 cups of sugar cost compared to 2 cups of maple syrup? If youre looking to save money, don’t go for the cheap Aunt Jemima…) My fingers are still sticky from dipping them in my Pyrex measuring cupful of syrup all night.
As usual, my two cents:
- When making the caramel, make sure you dissolve the sugar completely before bringing it to a boil – if it’s sandy (that is, undissolved) it will be more prone to crystallization. Also, I wouldn’t cook it quite to the point where it’s smoking – at this point it burns almost instantly, and you don’t want your caramel burnt. Cook it until it’s the colour of teak. Dark amber. Unless you like things burnt.
- The batter will break (look curdled) when you add the milk – this is OK. It works itself out with the last addition of flour.
- My cake needed an extra 20 minutes of oven time, so over an hour total. And it was still very dense and just ever so almost underbaked (but deliciously so). I imagine this quantity of batter would bake up just fine in two 8″ or 9″ round cake pans. There is certainly enough icing for two layers.
- I daresay this is the best icing I’ve had. (I may change my mind with the next cupcake, but for now, I have decided that is my stand.) My concern is that adding vanilla might interfere – or at least compete – with the browned butter and burnt sugar (caramel) flavour. Also, I didn’t bother with the cream, but added syrup until it was the texture I was after. Very sweet, but very good.
- This is a crumby cake (not at all crumbly, but the sides will give you plenty of flies in your ointment). You might want to try a crumb coat – spread a thin layer of frosting over the surface of the entire cake, caring not at all about crumbs. Freeze until the frosting at least is solid (it doesn’t have to freeze all the way through) and then spread with another layer of frosting, the crumbs having been effectively trapped like Han Solo in carbonite.
Re: Caramels: I don’t recall ever seeing a recipe call for precisely 3/8 teaspoon of salt. But who am I to argue with Alice?
CARAMEL CAKE WITH CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING
courtesy of Shuna Fish Lydon, as published on Bay Area Bites
10 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)
2 eggs, at room temperature
splash vanilla extract
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk, at room temperature
Preheat oven to 350F and butter one tall 9-inch cake pan.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt and cream until light and fluffy.
Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.
Sift flour and baking powder. Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients. (This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.)
Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform. Turn batter into prepared cake pan.
Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it. Cake will keep for three days outside of the refrigerator.
CARAMEL SYRUP
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup water (for “stopping” the caramelization process)
In a small stainless steel saucepan with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.
When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back.
Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. (Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.)
CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (thats 3/4 cup)
1 pound confectioner’s sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup
Kosher or sea salt to taste
Cook butter until brown. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.
Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner’s sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner’s sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.
Note: Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month.
To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light.
There was an optional recipe, which I opted out of because 1) I didn’t have any cream, and B) it was enough to make the cake and frosting while deflecting dogs and boys, unpacking from my afternoon event and packing for Vancouver tomorrow – the cake was cooling and I was making frosting at almost 10pm. But as Chandler would say, I am so making these very soon. In fact, I think they would make a lovely Christmas gift. The fleur de sel version to be sure, but the nutmeg and vanilla bean caramels are really calling my name. Screaming it, actually.
GOLDEN VANILLA BEAN CARAMELS
from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich
- makes eighty-one 1-inch caramels -
1 cup golden syrup
2 cups sugar
3/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons pure ground vanilla beans, purchased or ground in a coffee or spice grinders, or 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks, softened
Line the bottom and sides of the baking pan with aluminum foil and grease the foil. Combine the golden syrup, sugar, and salt in a heavy 3-quart saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, until the mixture begins to simmer around the edges. Wash the sugar and syrup from the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water. Cover and cook for about 3 minutes. (Meanwhile, rinse the spatula or spoon before using it again later.) Uncover the pan and wash down the sides once more. Attach the candy thermometer to the pan, without letting it touch the bottom of the pan, and cook, uncovered (without stirring) until the mixture reaches 305°F. Meanwhile, combine the cream and ground vanilla beans (not the extract) in a small saucepan and heat until tiny bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Turn off the heat and cover the pan to keep the cream hot.
When the sugar mixture reaches 305°F, turn off the heat and stir in the butter chunks. Gradually stir in the hot cream; it will bubble up and steam dramatically, so be careful. Turn the burner back on and adjust it so that the mixture boils energetically but not violently. Stir until any thickened syrup at the bottom of the pan is dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, to about 245°F. Then cook, stirring constantly, to 260°f for soft, chewy caramels or 265°F; for firmer chewy caramels.
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract, if using it. Pour the caramel into the lined pan. Let set for 4 to 5 hours, or overnight until firm.
Lift the pan liner from the pan and invert the sheet of caramel onto a sheet of parchment paper. Peel off the liner. Cut the caramels with an oiled knife. Wrap each caramel individually in wax paper or cellophane.
Variations:
Fleur de Sel Caramels: Extra salt, in the form of fleur de sel or another coarse flaked salt, brings out the flavor of the caramel and offers a little ying to the yang. Add an extra scant 1/4 teaspoon of coarse sea salt to the recipe. Or, to keep the salt crunchy, let the caramel cool and firm. Then sprinkle with two pinches of flaky salt and press it in. Invert, remove the pan liner, sprinkle with more salt. Then cut and wrap the caramels in wax paper or cellophane.
Nutmeg and Vanilla Bean Caramels: Add 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg to the cream before you heat it.
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November 29 2008 | cake | 13 Comments »
Tonight’s dinner was planned – it was something I schemed up with the organizers of Ski for Heart- a fundraiser for the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Alberta the second weekend in January that I’m going to be a part of. They put the recipes in their newsletter, and the plan was that I’d make them tonight. And I did! This penne pasta is one of my favourite make-ahead-and-freeze dinners, and so the plan was to make two (just using a single recipe below will produce two pansful, enough for 4 each), put one in the fridge to pop in the oven when we got home from the movie at around 7, and freeze the other to keep M&W sustained when I go to Montreal next weekend. (That’s right! Montreal for the weekend!)
We ate the soup before we left, just so we didn’t arrive at the theatre ravenous, and the cookies got nibbled all day. But by the time we got home we were far too full of popcorn to think about eating pasta. It probably isn’t very good heart & stroke PR that we plowed through a large buttered popcorn at the movie, is it? Free refills are just a bad, bad idea.
Check out Ski for Heart if you want a great deal on a ski weekend at the Chateau Lake Louise – we’ll all be there for the weekend, there will be lots of food and activities for the kids – my plan is to sleep lots and go ice skating and for a sleigh ride around the frozen lake – one of my favourite childhood memories. And of course it’s all for a great cause.
Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup
4 red bell peppers
canola or olive oil, for cooking
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 tsp. thyme
1 14 oz. (398 mL) can diced or whole tomatoes, undrained
1 L chicken or vegetable stock
1/4-1/2 cup half and half or light sour cream (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
extra sour cream, for serving (optional)
Cut red peppers in half lengthwise; pull out the seeds and membranes. Place cut side down on a baking sheet that has been lined with foil. Roast at 450°F or broil on high for about 30 minutes (less under the broiler), until blackened and blistered, rotating the sheet if necessary for them to cook evenly.
Remove from the sheet and place in a bowl; cover with the foil or a plate and let cool. When cool enough to handle, peel off the skins and discard them, dropping the peppers back into the bowl.
In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, heat a drizzle of oil over medium-high heat and sauté the onion for 5 minutes, or until soft. Add the garlic and cook for another minute, add the thyme, tomatoes and chicken stock and bring to a simmer; add the red peppers along with any juices that have accumulated in the bowl and cook for about 20 minutes.
Turn the heat down to low and add the cream, salt and pepper. Puree with a hand-held immersion blender or transfer to a blender in batches and pulse until smooth. Heat through, adjust the seasoning and serve warm. If you like, top each bowl with a small dollop of sour cream, and run a bamboo skewer through it to create a teardrop shape.
Serves 6.
Per serving: 103 calories, 3.1 g fat (1 g saturated fat, 1.2 g monounsaturated fat, 0.7 g polyunsaturated fat), 5.6 g protein, 14.6 g carbohydrate, 3.2 mg cholesterol, 2.9 g fibre. 26% calories from fat
Baked Penne with Sausage and Spinach
canola or olive oil, for cooking with
2 lean chicken and apple or Italian sausages, squeezed out of their casings
1 onion, chopped
3-5 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 28 oz. (540 mL) can diced tomatoes (undrained)
1 can tomato paste
1/4 cup pesto (out of a jar)
3 cups penne, rigatoni or rotini pasta (preferably a whole wheat or brown rice variety)
1 10 oz. bag baby spinach leaves
1 ½ cups grated part-skim mozzarella
1/2 – 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
In a large saucepan, heat a drizzle of oil over medium-high heat and cook the sausage, onion and garlic, breaking up the meat until the sausage is cooked through. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste and simmer for 5-10 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Stir in the pesto and some salt and pepper.
Cook the pasta until al dente, drain it well and toss it with the spinach (coarsely tear the spinach up with your hands as you add it), mozzarella and about half the Parmesan cheese in a large bowl. Stir in the hot tomato sauce, which will slightly wilt the spinach. Divide among baking dishes or aluminum containers (it should be enough to fill one 9”x13” pan) and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan. (At this point the dish can be cooled completely, covered and frozen for up to 4 months. Bake from frozen.)
Bake at 350°F for about 30 minutes (40 if frozen) until bubbly and golden. If you want to make it ahead, cool completely before covering and transferring to the freezer for up to 3 months, then bake it from frozen, adding about 15 extra minutes of baking time.
Serves 4-6.
Chocolate, Pecan & Olive Oil Wafers
I came up with these healthy fat-low sugar (not generally a winning combo in a cookie) for my dad, who is watching his saturated fat intake, and my mom, who is diabetic, for Christmas a few ears ago. They are very low in sugar, partly because the sugar is sprinkled on top where its flavor and crunch are at the forefront, but particularly if you don’t sprinkle them with sugar at all. Because all the fat comes from the pecans and olive oil, these are particularly heart-healthy. I adore them. My mom and dad aren’t as enamoured with them as I am, unfortunately, but I love how thin and crisp and not-too-sweet they are.
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped
1/3 cup cocoa
3-4 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. ground flaxseed (optional)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup olive or canola oil
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. cold water
1 large egg white
Extra sugar, for sprinkling (optional)
Preheat oven to 400°F.
In a large bowl, combine flour, pecans, cocoa, sugar, flaxseed, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, stir together the oil and water with a fork. Add to the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
Take walnut-sized pieces of dough and place between two pieces of waxed or parchment paper; roll back and forth in one direction with a rolling pin into large, thin ovals that look like a smear. Transfer to a cookie sheet and peel off the top sheet of paper; alternatively you could place the balls of dough directly on the sheet, cover them with a piece of parchment and roll them out, then peel off the parchment.
Stir the egg white with a fork and brush the cookies with it, then sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden around the edges (it will be tough to tell!) and set. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Makes about 18 large cookies.
Per cookie: 119 calories, 8.2 g fat (1 g saturated fat, 5.7 g monounsaturated fat, 1 g polyunsaturated fat), 10.7 g carbohydrates, 0 mg cholesterol, 1.2 g fiber. 60% calories from fat
November 28 2008 | cookies & squares and one dish and pasta and soup | 87 Comments »
Good name, dontcha think? I haven’t heard it before. Which isn’t to say no one has thought of it before. How could they not have? I don’t think I’ll Google it though, lest I burst my proud bubble.
Again with the leftovers - I had some filling left from Monday’s event, at which I made spanakopita. Rather than do another omelet (although that would have been pretty divine) I sprinkled the mixture over tomato paste-spread whole wheat pitas and topped them with part-skim mozza, then baked them in the oven. It’s easy being cheesy.
Also, a batch of roasted chick peas with garlic and chard, because I had a bunch of chard and couldn’t think of a better use for it. It’s so intense – heavy-duty, garlicky, oily and fantastic – when I brought it to the table Mike groaned “oh yeah” – not quite like the Kool Aid guy, but more as if I had just set a Porterhouse in front of him. Yay me.
After making it close to ten times I have distilled the recipe somewhat – I roast the chick peas, garlic, oil and bay leaves (the last few times without onion), then take them out with a slotted spoon and saute the chopped chard in the uber-garlicky oil, then return the chick peas to the pan. No need for more garlic or chicken stock, really.
November 27 2008 | leftovers | 7 Comments »
Creamed chicken and biscuits is like the edible version of flannel sheets that have been washed a thousand times. I almost had to go have a hot bath and wrap myself in a robe and my biggest, ugliest socks before eating it, just to complete the experience. Except that I had to go to an office-less Christmas party, and I knew it would set me up to be a no-show.
(I can’t believe you guys are still with me, and that I haven’t bored you to death. I’m starting to bore myself; no wonder I’m so sleepy. I think my writers’ block has followed me into the kitchen.)
So – my motivation: I had pulled a baggie of leftover roasted turkey from the freezer and tonight had to come up with some use for it. No salsa – quesadillas are out. I didn’t feel like fried rice, or turkey salad sandwiches. I could not think of one original use for it, despite my near-constant raves that roasted chicken and turkey make the very best and most versatile of leftovers. (They do, honest. You just need to have some brain function.) I thought of chicken pot pie first, but didn’t have the energy… this is like a disassembled chicken pot pie, with the guts spooned over biscuits – whole wheat and olive oil biscuits, to be precise. The chicken part can be made in under 20 minutes, while the biscuits are in the oven, and I bet you have all the ingredients in your kitchen. (I just realized I unintentionally made a recipe using turkey leftovers the day before US Thanksgiving.)
Creamed Chicken (or Turkey) and Biscuits
For a different flavour, try adding 1 tsp. curry paste or powder in place of the thyme or Italian seasoning.
canola or olive oil, for cooking
small lump of butter
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
a few mushrooms, sliced (optional)
1/2 tsp. thyme or Italian seasoning, or 2 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary
2 Tbsp. flour
1 can chicken broth + 1 can water
2 cups chopped cooked chicken or turkey
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/4-1/2 cup half & half (or milk, or heavier cream)
salt and pepper
1 batch biscuits
In a skillet, heat a drizzle of oil and a small lump of butter. When the foaming subsides, add the onion and cook for a few minutes, until soft. Add the celery, carrot and mushrooms and cook until they soften, release their liquid and then the mushrooms and onion start to brown a little. Add the herbs at some point while you’re cooking them. Sprinkle the flour overtop and cook for a minute, then add the broth and water and bring to a simmer. Let it bubble for at least a minute, then add the chicken and peas and cook for 5 more minutes. If it’s too thick, add a bit more stock or water. If it’s too watery, keep cooking until it cooks down and thickens. Add the half & half and bring to a simmer again, just to heat it through. Season with salt and pepper and serve over warm biscuits.
And – oh yes! Today marked a Momentous Occasion. Much like the first day of school, today was the first day W was old enough, tall enough and potty-trained enough to go to Småland in IKEA all by his very own self. They grow up so fast. Snif.
Mike and I lingered over coffee and cinnamon buns and shopped for a full hour, gripped intermittently with fleeting waves of panic that we had lost him. It was glorious. It’s going to be really hard not to bring my laptop and go hang out in the IKEA cafeteria every morning…
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November 27 2008 | chicken & turkey and leftovers | 17 Comments »
There are those who love leftovers and those who hate them. Those who hate them are, in my mind, the less imaginative sort, those who think of leftovers as lesser, reheated versions of the original, most likely with the good parts picked off. (It’s hard to recreate crispy bits.) I love them myself; I think mostly I love the sport of them.
Leftover dip isn’t that challenging, really. The chunky, cheesy ones often make decent panini, and crabby, spinachy cheesy ones are just about perfect as omelet filling; if I was putting omelets on a menu, I might make the dip for that very purpose. Cold, it’s simple to drop in spoonfuls on semi-set egg; fold it over and cover the pan and allow it to melt through. Dip, when reheated, is always sufficiently oozy.
November 25 2008 | eggs and leftovers | 12 Comments »
