The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge. We had free reign over what to do with said cheesecake recipe, as in adding toppings, flavors, etc. so I made a real Margarita Cheesecake, much, much, much, better than the no-bake version I made a month or two ago.
I must say, this cheesecake is the creamiest and the smoothest – texture wise, but my margarita version has quite a bite!
Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake (Margarita Flavored):
crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
1 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tbsp kosher salt
cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lime juice
zest of 1 lime
1 tbsp tequila (I prefer 1800)
1 tbsp gran marnier
Margarita Curd Topping:
1/3 cup margarita (however you like to make them – alcohol included!)
2 large eggs
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 1/2-inch cubes and chilled
1 tbsp heavy cream
pinch of salt
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.
2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too – baker’s choice. Set crust aside. (If using a springform, set the bottom of the pan into and pull it up around the sides leaving the top open to fill with the filling. This keeps the water out and your crust from getting soggy!)
3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, lime juice, lime zest, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy. (I actually ended up adding approximately another tablespoon or two of the alcohol and it didn’t mess with the recipe too much, if anything I think it helped keep it smooth and silky instead of that crumbly-ish sandy-ish texture.)
4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.
5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done – this can be hard to judge, but you’re looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don’t want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won’t crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill.
6. While the cheesecake is cooling, make the margarita curd. Heat the margarita in a small non-reactive saucepan over med heat until steaming (but NOT boiling!!!!). Whisk the eggs and yolk in a bowl, then slowly whiskin the sugar.
7. Whisking constantly, slowly pour in the hot margarita mix into the eggs (this is tricky, but you can do it!). Return the mixture back into the pan head over medium, stirring constantly (SERIOUSLY!) until the mixture is thick enough to cling to the spoon, about 3 mins.
8. Remove the pan and slowly stir the butter in one piece at a time, not adding more butter until each individual piece has melted/disappeared. Really, you have to do this, it sucks, I know. Then stir in the cream and salt, and pour through a fine mesh strainer. If the curd is still warm, cover with saran wrap (so it doesn’t get a skin) and cool in the refrigerator.
9. De-pan the cheese cake, top with the curd and enjoy!
(PS I apologize to the daring bakers for posting this two days late! I’m still trying to figure out where everything is in the forum!)
I work for a small non-profit and a local design company does all of the design work for all of our printed material for free. Since they do all of that for us for free, I thought I’d bake them a cake.
This was the first time I used my decorating tips and semi-professional techniques. I think it turned out pretty well. The cake is lemon with lemon curd filling (really tasty). Then covered with insanely sweet buttercream. I actually haven’t tasted the cake itself, I made it for someone else so it is currently sitting in a cake box on the counter. I have tasted all the leftover crumbs and trimmings though!
I know, its insane! The brightness, the colors, the craziness!!!
But I kind of like it even though its crazy. I’d have to say its pretty good considering it is the first time I have ever decorated a cake with decorating tips. Up to this point all I had done was slap some frosting on stuff and spike it with a knife or trace designs into it with a spoon or something.
Woot! Maybe I’ll should try something simpler next time.
February 2, is National Baked Alaska Day. For the rest of this year, 2009, I will be featuring random foods of the day! There are so many different nationalfooddays in America, there is no way I’m going to be able to capture them all, but if there’s one you want me to feature, let me know !
I know I’m already a day late for February 2nd’s national food day, please forgive me. I made some Baked Alaska, then completely forgot its hard to post something while you’re reformatting your computer.
For those of you who don’t know, Baked Alaska is a dessert consisting of cake, topped with ice cream, then covered with meringue, and the entire thing baked in a really hot oven, or the meringue browned under a broiler or blow torch.
I’ve done a little research on where this crazy dish came from, and historical accounts are from all over the place. The basic idea of baking ice cream originates from a variety of places like China and France, with some attributing it to Delmonico’s Restaurant in commemoration of the purchase of Alaska from Russia.
Wherever it came from, its hard to believe that the ice cream doesn’t melt!
To test this theory of non-melting ice cream I had to try it myself. The idea itself is simple, but I didn’t want to bake a cake. Instead I just used a brownie, which is cake-like right? And I made it individual personal pan size.
First you top your cake-like substance with hard cold ice cream (soft serve will not work here!), I used cookies and cream ice cream.
Then stick it back in the freezer to get it really cold.
While its freezing whip up a few egg whites (I used 2) with some cream of tartar (just a pinch) and some vanilla extract, until you have soft peaks.
(You may want to get your broiler roaring, or find your blow torch at this point.)
Slowly add a little under 1/4 of a cup of sugar, one table spoon at a time, beating until you have stiff peaks. (Eh, this is stiff enough!)
Put all that eggy goo in a piping bag (or you can just spoon it on if you don’t have one) and pipe the meringue decoratively around the frozen ice cream and cake-like substance.
Stick that bad boy under the heat and watch carefully so it doesn’t burn (or almost burn like mine did).
So to test this theory of non-meilting ice cream surviving some hot hot heat, I had to try it.
It worked! The ice cream is no more melted then it would be if it was just sitting in a bowl waiting for me to eat it. The meringue was tasty sweet and fluffy and cooked like the meringue on the top of a pie would be (I’d hope so, because I stole the meringe recipe from a lemon meringue pie!).
The only thing I would do differently is not use a brownie. Brownies become very very hard when exposed to freezing temperatures. Also if I ever made a small Baked Alaska like this one again, I’d probably only use one egg for the meringue, two was much more than enough!
Yeah. I hate calling certain recipes perfect, because usually you then find one that is actually better. That and its up to the actual eater to determine whether something is perfect or not. I will share why I find these cookies to be so good though.
First, they are caramel-ey crispy. The bottoms are toasted just enough they get that delicious slightly browned crisp to them. Just above that though is a gooey chewy center, that has just the right amount of chew for an oatmeal cookie. Lastly, the little bursts of chocolate spread throughout are just the right amount.
Oh by the way you could use raisins instead of chocolate chips in this recipe. I just really don’t like raisins. Raisins and bananas, yes, two very popular fruits, that I just don’t dig.
Ingredients:
The Creamed:
Unsalted butter, softened 285g (10 oz)(1.25 cups)(2.5 sticks)
Brown sugar 170g (6 oz)(3/4 cup)
Sugar 99g (3.5oz)(1/2 cup) The Eggs:
Eggs 50g (1.75 oz)(1 large)
Vanilla Extract 9g (1/6 oz)(1 teaspoon) The Dry Goods:
Wheat Flour 205g (7.25 oz)(1 1/2 cups)
Baking Powder 5g (<1/4 oz)(1 teaspoon)
Ground Cinnamon 4g (<1/4oz)(1 teaspoon) The Extras:
Rolled Oats 234g(8 1/3 oz)(3 cups)
Chocolate Chips 2 cups (or one standard sized bag 12oz I think)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Whisk all the dry goods together in a bowl.
Beat together the eggs with the vanilla extract.
Mix the butter in a mixer alone until a smooth and consistent texture (aka if there are any cold butter lumps, work them out). Slowly add the sugar and beat until the mixture has lightened and increased slightly in volume.
Add the eggs slowly, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
Work in the dry goods slowly in three separate stages. When the dry goods are mixed in, stir in the rolled oats and chocolate chips with a spoon.
Spoon or portion, or using a 1 oz disher, drop the dough onto an ungreased or parchment lined cookie sheet 2 inches apart.
Bake 15-17 minutes (mine were 16) rotating halfway through.
Allow the cookies to cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet (or they’ll break when you try to remove them!) then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
Enjoy.
Ingredients:
The Creamed:
Unsalted butter, softened 285g (10 oz)(1.25 cups)(2.5 sticks)
Brown sugar 170g (6 oz)(3/4 cup)
Sugar 99g (3.5oz)(1/2 cup) The Eggs:
Eggs 50g (1.75 oz)(1 large)
Vanilla Extract 9g (1/6 oz)(1 teaspoon) The Dry Goods:
Wheat Flour 205g (7.25 oz)(1 1/2 cups)
Baking Powder 5g (<1/4 oz)(1 teaspoon)
Ground Cinnamon 4g (<1/4oz)(1 teaspoon) The Extras:
Rolled Oats 234g(8 1/3 oz)(3 cups)
Chocolate Chips 2 cups (or one standard sized bag 12oz I think)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Whisk all the dry goods together in a bowl.
(these dry goods are before whisking)
Beat together the eggs with the vanilla extract.
Mix the butter in a mixer alone until a smooth and consistent texture (aka if there are any cold butter lumps, work them out).
Slowly add the sugar and beat until the mixture has lightened and increased slightly in volume.
Add the eggs slowly, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
Work in the dry goods slowly in three separate stages.
When the dry goods are mixed in, stir in the rolled oats and chocolate chips with a spoon.
Spoon or portion, or using a 1 oz disher, drop the dough onto an ungreased or parchment lined cookie sheet 2 inches apart.
Bake 15-17 minutes (mine were 16) rotating halfway through.
Allow the cookies to cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet (or they’ll break when you try to remove them!) then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
Enjoy.
The recipe has been modified from Alton Brown’s I’m Just Here for More Food.
I keep making all this stuff that I don’t really like. For example, bananas. Yes, I don’t like bananas, you can hate me now. I know I make quite a few things with bananas in them, like banana bread. What can I say, I cook for my friends, who really like bananas.
Oh and my monkey cookie jar does too.
These cookies are more like tiny cakes than a traditional crispy cookie. They’re moist, soft and slightly chewy, with just enough banana flavor (or at least I’m told).
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (300g)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda (2g)
1/4 teaspoon salt (2g)
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed (130g)
2 Tablespoons brown sugar (22g)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (2g)
1/2 cup butter (113g)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (2ml)
1/4 teaspoon banana extract (2ml)
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (optional) (40g)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
Beat together the 3/4 cup (130g) of brown sugar and butter, vanilla and banana extract. Mix until light.
Add the eggs and mix until fluffy.
Mix in the mashed bananas.
Slowly add the flour mixture to the sugar, egg, butter, banana mix.
Fold in the nuts (I didn’t have any nuts, so no nuts this time)
Drop by the teaspoon onto a prepared baking sheet. Try to keep them as round as possible, the thin parts just burn.
Sprinkle the cookies with a mixture of the 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and cinnamon. (I forgot this step, oops.)
Bake 8-10 minutes until lightly browned on the edges. The tops of these will not brown.
Let them firm up on the baking sheet for a moment before transferring them to racks to cool.
Eat.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (300g)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda (2g)
1/4 teaspoon salt (2g)
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed (130g)
2 Tablespoons brown sugar (22g)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (2g)
1/2 cup butter (113g)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (2ml)
1/4 teaspoon banana extract (2ml)
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (optional) (40g)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Sift together flour, baking soda and salt.
In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons brown sugar with cinnamon, set aside.
Beat together the remaining 3/4 cup brown sugar, butter, vanilla and banana extract until light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs, and then add the mashed bananas.
Slowly stir in the flour mixture.
Fold in the chopped nuts, if using.
Drop by the teaspoonful onto the baking sheet. Sprinkle with the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture.
Bake 8-10 minutes until lightly browned around the edges.
Let the cookies cool a moment on the baking sheet before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
These nutrition facts were calculated using the recipe analyzer from Calorie Count at about.com, they are approximations, as in scientists have not evaluated this specific cookie for nutritional value, so use them as guidelines. Thanks!
Alton talks about six different kinds of baking in that book, the method used for the banana bread is the “muffin method”. This method you combine the wet items in a bowl, the dry in a separate bowl, then add the wet to the dry.
One of the things Alton does differently is he measures his ingredients by weight not volume, like professional bakers do. I’ve made the bread both ways, by using cups and tablespoons, as well as getting my awesome new scale out and measuring the ingredients by weight, both ways make a similar loaf.
This banana bread is simple and basic. It doesn’t have any frilly flavors like lemon, or poppy seed, and it doesn’t have any other fruits in it. Its just plain ole banana bread, a tasty staple.
I of course made a few minor changes. The first time I made it I didn’t have any oat flour, so I just replaced that with all-purpose flour. Lately I’ve been baking with whole wheat flour, so I’ve replaced the all-purpose flour with that. The whole wheat makes it thicker, and it eats like a meal. The original recipe also calls for nuts, but nuts are expensive, and many people I know can’t eat them for a variety of reasons, so I usually leave them out.
Ingredients:
Wet Works 1
Ingredient
Weight
Volume
Count
Prep
Overripe bananas
340 g
3 – 4
Sugar
210 g
1 cup
Dry Goods
Ingredient
Weight
Volume
Count
Prep
Whole Wheat Flour (or all-purpose)
220 g
1 2/3 cup
Oat Flour
35 g
1/3 cup
Baking Soda
6 g
1 tsp
Salt
6 g
1 tsp
Wet Works 2
Ingredient
Weight
Volume
Count
Prep
Unsalted Butter
113 g
8 tbs
1 stick
melted and cooled
Eggs
100 g
2 large
Almond Extract
6 g
1 tsp
Optional:
Ingredient
Weight
Volume
Count
Prep
Nuts (walnuts,pecans, or almonds)
1 cup
chopped
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F
Grease a loaf pan and line with wax paper.
Peel the bananas.
Mash them. The weight is a little more than what the recipe calls for. This made and OK banana bread, not great. The added banana makes the loaf a little wet when it comes out of the oven, just remember, less bananas means drier bread, more means wetter.
Add 210 grams (or 1 cup) of sugar.
In another bowl melt the butter (this is the butter unmelted).
Two eggs is pretty close to the 100 grams!
Add those to the butter.
Then add the butter/egg mixture (wet works 2) and the almond or vanilla extract to the banana mixture (wet works 1).
Next measure out the “Dry Goods”.
You’ll need 35 grams (1/3 cup) oat flour.
Then 220 grams (1 2/3 cups) of whole wheat or all-purpose flour.
Then 6 grams (1 tsp) each of baking soda and salt.
Add the combined “Wet Works” to the “Dry Goods” and stir until combined.
If you are using the nuts, add them now (I’m not so there aren’t any pictures).
Pour the batter into the pan.
Bake 50 minutes to an hour, or until a thermometer placed into the middle of the loaf registers 210 degrees F (100 degrees C).
Allow to cool on the stovetop for 15 minutes, then remove the loaf and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing.
Store the bread tightly wrapped for upto a week.
Summary:
Ingredients:
Wet Works 1
Ingredient
Weight
Volume
Count
Prep
Overripe bananas
340 g
3 – 4
Sugar
210 g
1 cup
Dry Goods
Ingredient
Weight
Volume
Count
Prep
Whole Wheat Flour (or all-purpose)
220 g
1 2/3 cup
Oat Flour
35 g
1/3 cup
Baking Soda
6 g
1 tsp
Salt
6 g
1 tsp
Wet Works 2
Ingredient
Weight
Volume
Count
Prep
Unsalted Butter
113 g
8 tbs
1 stick
melted and cooled
Eggs
100 g
2 large
Almond Extract
6 g
1 tsp
Optional:
Ingredient
Weight
Volume
Count
Prep
Nuts (walnuts,pecans, or almonds)
1 cup
chopped
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F
Grease a loaf pan and line with wax paper.
Peel the bananas and mash them. The weight is a little more than what the recipe calls for. This made and OK banana bread, not great. The added banana makes the loaf a little wet when it comes out of the oven, just remember, less bananas means drier bread, more means wetter.
Add 210 grams (or 1 cup) of sugar.
In another bowl melt the butter (this is the butter unmelted) and allow it to cool. Add the two eggs and almond or vanilla extract.
Then add the butter/egg mixture (wet works 2) to the banana mixture (wet works 1).
Next measure out the “Dry Goods”.
You’ll need 35 grams (1/3 cup) oat flour, 220 grams (1 2/3 cups) of whole wheat or all-purpose flour and 6 grams (1 tsp) each of baking soda and salt.
Add the combined “Wet Works” to the “Dry Goods” and stir until combined. If you are using the nuts, stir them in now.
Pour the batter into the pan and bake 50 minutes to an hour, or until a thermometer placed into the middle of the loaf registers 210 degrees F (100 degrees C). If you stick a toothpick in the loaf it may come out gooey. Don’t worry this will set-up as it cools, if you wait for it to come out clean, the outside of the loaf will burn. The bread is fine as long as the inside reaches 210 degrees F.
Allow to cool on the stovetop for 15 minutes, then remove the loaf and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing.
The other night my roommate had a hankering for tuna casserole. I couldn’t bring myself to make a cream of whatever soup monstrosity, especially since we’re trying to eat less processed food.
I surfed the internet, and consulted casserole recipe books and came up with this tasty, mild flavored, creamy, cheesy, and sort of healthy recipe.
Ingredients:
12-16 oz of dried pasta (penne, farfarelle, macaroni, whatever you have)
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 tbsp flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp dried sage
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup peas
1 cup green beans
(or 3 cups total of mixed vegetables chopped into small pieces)
2 6-oz cans of tuna, drained
2 cups cheddar cheese
1 cup breadcrumbs
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box.
Cook the carrots slightly to soften them. Also cook the peas and/or the green beans if needed. They will cook a little bit, but if they are frozen or fresh, warm them up a little. (This is a good recipe for leftover vegetables.)
Melt the butter in the olive oil on low.
Cook the chopped onion in the butter/olive oil mix until soft and translucent.
Add the flour to the cooked onions and stir quickly. Stir the mixture until the flour has been coated and forms a paste on the onions.
Add 1/2 a cup of the chicken broth and stir thoroughly. It should be thick with no lumps but the onions. Slowly add the rest of the chicken broth, and the cup of cream, about 1/2 a cup at a time, stirring after each addition until combined.
When all the liquid has been added slowly add 1 cup of cheese, about 1/4 of a cup at a time. Stir the mixture until all of the cheese is melted before adding more.
Add a few spices like parsely and sage if you want to.
In a really big bowl, place the cooked pasta, vegetables, and tuna.
Pour the cream sauce over the whole thing and mix well.
Pour everything into an oven safe casserole dish. Mix together the remaining 1 cup of cheese and breadcrumbs, and sprinkle evelnly over the entire dish.
Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melted and everything is bubbly and hot.
In the past week I have made two different types of baklava. One traditional style with sheets of phyllo and nuts, another with phyllo, nuts, and a custard.
The traditional name for custard baklava is Baklava Muhalabiyya in Arab cuisine, and Galaktoboureko in Greek cuisine. There is a difference between the two, the greek custard contains eggs, where the Arab custard does not.
Seeing the custard baklava got my brain wheels a turning. What would happen if I combined the traditional nut baklava with the tasty new custard baklava that I found?
The results are mixed. The custard in the baklava I created is only okay for a day or two, whereas nut baklava usually gets better with age. Add to that fact the forgetting of the dish on food day at work, and not having the will to actually eat an entire pan of the stuff, leads to kind of runny sugar syrupy, custard lumpy, but the nuts and the top phyllo still tasty as can be.
So that recipe is a half fail at the moment.
Because that was slightly a fail, and I still had plenty of phyllo left over, I mad a smaller pan of traditional nut Baklava, but only with pecans instead of walnuts or pistachios. Its my Baklava, I’m using pecans if I want to.
It is best if you make the syrup first. It needs to be cool when you pour it over the just out of the oven baklava. If it is still warm when poured, instead of cooking and bubbling when it hits the hot dish, it will just soak into the phyllo and make it soggy.
Ingredients:
1 c sugar
1 c honey
1 1/2 c water
2 tbsp lemon juice
Combine all of the above ingredients in a heavy saucepan.
Bring mixture to a boil, stirring so the sugar dissolves.
Boil for about 5 minutes, without stirring until it forms a thick clear syrup.
Set aside to let it cool completely, not moving it or moving it as little as possible.
6 cups of whole milk
1 c semolina flour
3 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1 c white sugar
1/4 tsp salt
6 eggs
1/2 c white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Bring the milk to a boil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
In a medium bowl whisk together the semolina, cornstarch, 1 cup of sugar and salt so there are no clumps.
When the milk comes to a boil, gradually add the semolina mixture, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.
Cook stirring constantly until the mixture thickens and returns to a full boil.
Remove from heat and set aside.
Beat the eggs until the yolks are broken and slightly mixed.
Add 1/2 c up of sugar,
and whip until thick and pale about 10 minutes. (10 minutes here people, I’m not kidding.)
(Before – dark yellow, After – light yellow)
Stir in vanilla.
Fold the whipped eggs into the hot semolina mixture, cover lightly with plastic wrap (to keep from getting that nasty milk film on the top of it), and set aside to cool.
Nut Filling:
1 lb walnuts finely chopped or coarsely ground, or pistachio (I used pecans, because I like pecans, but walnuts or pistachios are traditional)
1/4 c sugar
1-2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
There are many different blends for Baklava fillings, search the internet and experiment to find one that you like. According to a taste tester, this one has an apple pie flavor because of the cinnamon and cloves.
Finely chop the nuts, by hand, by blender, or food processor. Use whichever method you have available and are comfortable with. I don’t have a cutting board yet, so I put my blender to use. (Living in different houses and using what they already have leads to having a blender, but not a cutting board.)
Mix together the chopped nuts, sugar, cinnamon and cloves.
You will need:
Approximately 1/2-1 cup clarified butter (see below)
A pastry brush
One package of phyllo dough
Clarified Butter
To make clarified butter for this recipe melt two sticks of butter in a microwave safe bowl, do not stir while the butter is melting. Otherwise you will have to wait for the butter to separate.
When the butter is done melting there should be three layers, a fluffy white layer on top, a translucent yellow layer in the middle, and thick white fatty looking layer on the bottom.
Skim the foamy layer off the top, using a spoon and a paper towel.
When the majority of the foamy white stuff has been skimmed off the top, carefully pour the translucent yellow liquid into another bowl, making sure none of the white goop on the bottom goes with it.
This translucent yellow liquid is the clarified butter.
It helps to read up on Baklava and working with phyllo dough before starting, this is a very handy guide written by an at home Baklava baker.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Set up your working station:
Setting up the work station is important. Phyllo dough dries out very quickly so you have to work just as fast. The basics of what you will need are phyllo dough, clarified butter, pastry brush, a damp towel, plastic wrap and a water spritzer. Have both or either filling close at hand as well.
Note that most of the images below are from my nut only Baklava, using a 9 × 9 inch glass baking dish. The images with the 9 × 13 inch baking dish are from my custard/nut combination. I had my roommate take the pictures this time too, so you get to see both hands! (And no, those are not my pajamas, really…)
Roll out your phyllo dough onto the waxy sheet that comes with it, or onto some wax paper. Cover with the damp towel and plastic wrap.
Brush down the dish you are making this in with the butter.
Lay in the first layer.
If your phyllo sheets are larger than your dish (like below) lay one side into the dish with part of it hanging over the edge. Spread butter onto the portion on the bottom of the dish with the pastry brush. Fold over the extra edge then brush that with butter as well.
Go lightly with the butter, you don’t want to drown the sheets of dough.
Continue building layers like this brushing each one lightly with butter before adding the next until there are 8-10 layers of dough in the dish.
If your dough is longer than your dish, but not twice as wide, alternate sides that the dough folds over on. That way there is the same number of layers on each side, and your desert isn’t lopsided.
If you notice your damp towel is getting a little too dry, and your phyllo is becoming brittle, spritz the towel with water lightly. If you soak the towel it will get the phyllo wet and it will stick together.
Pour in your filling, and even it out (for both the custard and the nuts). I wanted more than one layer of nuts, so I reserved about half of them for later.
Lay another layer of dough on the filling and brush with butter. Be careful if you are using the nut filling, it is easy to tear the dough at this point, especially if you are using a sticky brush, since it doesn’t stick to the nuts very well. The dough sticks very well to the custard though, and I didn’t have any problem with tearing at this layer.
If you do tear the dough (which is likely), just piece it back together the best you can and brush it gently with the butter. I have found it didn’t matter too much with tearing except the top layer, but that is only because I wanted a pretty top layer.
Add about 8-10 more layers, brushing with butter between each, as directed above.
If you are just using one layer of filling you can stop at this point. If you are using more than one continue, adding another layer of filling, then another 8-10 layers of dough, and so on, until you have as many layers as you would like, or until you run out of filling.
I don’t recommend having multiple layers of the custard. The dough in the middle is likely to become soggy and ick, it works best with one solid layer in the middle of flakey dough.
You can add as many layers of dough at a time you would like, its your Baklava. Most recipes I found recommended 8-10 and I found it worked well in mine.
When you get to the very top layer of dough, using a nice solid piece of phyllo press it onto the top of the dish. If like in my case, your phyllo is larger than your dish, lay what would be the extra in the dish and brush with butter first, or trim a sheet to the proper size. Lay over the larger piece to cover the entire dish with one solid piece of dough.
Using a VERY sharp knife carefully slice through the top layer of dough.
Do not cut through the bottom layer. If you only have one layer of filling (like with the custard) only cut through the top layer. If you have multiple layers slice through them, but not the bottom one. The cuts make the top bake golden and crispy and pretty, and leave space for the sugar syrup to flow through the entire dish. Cutting directions can be found on this site.
Spritz lightly with water
Bake 40-45 minutes if you have a custard filling, and 30-35 for a nut filling. I have seen recipes that have you bake the phyllo for up to an hour. Take the Baklava out of the oven when the top is golden brown and crispy looking. The custard does need to be in the oven for at least 40 minutes though so that the custard can cook long enough to set.
Immediately after removing it from the oven pour the sugar syrup over it making sure to pour some on all of it getting into the corners and along the edges.
Allow the dish to cool completely. COMPLETELY.
When cool, using a sharp knife, slice through the baklava, following the cuts already made, slicing all the way through to the bottom.
The custard Baklava is best eaten within the first day or two. After that it gets soggy and liquid-y.
On the other hand the nut baklava gets tastier with age. I’m not sure how long until it goes bad. It never lasts very long.
I am enamored with Alton Brown. I love his show, I’ve got a dorky childish crush on his tasty cooking abilities.
Along with Alton, I’m enamored with anything sugary and buttery and calorie laden. Which means when I saw Alton’s episode on buttercream icing I had to try it.
His buttercream consists of eggs, a sugar syrup, and a whole lotta butter. It didn’t sound too difficult, so I gave it a whirl.
It whirled all right but it didn’t fluff thats for sure. The butter kept breaking and separating even at the lowest setting, so all I had was at the end was a thick buttery sugary syrup. It tasted great, it just not quite right for frosting a cake with.
I’d go into more detail about what happened what went wrong and what happened in the kitchen during and afterwards, but those are painful memories of failed sugar. Please don’t make me bring them up.
Never fear! I will try this concoction again, after I burn off the calories from this cake I made to use the frosting on.
I ended up making a buttercream-esque frosting instead for the cake consisting of shortening, butter, and powdered sugar. It still tasted delightfully light, fluffy, sweet and buttery.
By the way, I cheat. I used a boxed white cake. Not only was it boxed, but funfetti as well. I did spiff it up a little with whipped egg whites to make it extra fluffy. (Alton said its okay to used boxed cake as long as you make your own frosting!!!!)
You will need:
1 boxed white cake mix (get one where you have the option of using whole eggs, or just the whites)
oil
water
eggs (follow the box for the amount needed)
seed free fruit spread (I used Raspberry Polaner’s Fruit Spread)
shortening
butter (softened)
powdered sugar
Start by greasing two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans.
Following the directions for making a cake using only egg whites, separate as many eggs as needed and place the egg whites into a chilled metal bowl.
Beat the egg whites with a cleaner than clean beater until stiff peaks form. If your beaters are dirty, the egg whites will not be able to fluff properly.
In a separate bowl mix together the cake mix, water, and oil (or whatever the box says to mix together). DO NOTADDTHEEGGSYET!
Beat the cake mix for a couple minutes until mixed.
When the batter is mixed, slowly fold in the whipped egg whites. Mix in about 1/3 of the egg whites at a time until they are all mixed in.
Pour half of the mixture into each of the cake pans.
Bake the cake as directed on the box (mine said 27-31 minutes at 350 degrees F).
The cakes are done when a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, and the edges of the cake pull away from the pan.
Allow the cakes to cool completely (I’m serious here, LETTHEMCOOL).
If you really need to eat some slice a very thin slice off the top of the cake, no chunks!!!
(Here is where I began to get very upset at my failing buttercream, so there aren’t pictures for all the steps, nor did I actually measure anything out, sorry!)
Start making your fake buttercream icing.
I used about a 1 to 1 ratio of shortening to butter in this icing. I wanted the butter for flavor, but the shortening to help keep things smooooooooth. Use as much as you want, I used about a cup of each (I wasn’t measuring, just adding things randomly).
Mix these with a blender on medium to high speed. Until nice smooth and silky. I beat for 2-3 minutes, you may need to do it longer depending on the temperature and softness of your ingredients.
Now comes the powdered sugar. (No pictures sorry!)
Sift about 1 cup of powdered sugar to start with.
Stop the beaters for a second and add about 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup of sifted powdered sugar. Stir a little bit with a spatula to incoporate just slightly so the sugar doesn’t go everywhere when you turn the beaters back on.
Mix with beaters until the sugar is incorporated.
Do some quality control and taste your icing. Unless it still looks shiny and greasy, you don’t have enough sugar yet, it’ll taste gross and greasy.
Keep adding sifted powdered sugar, mixing and tasting until the frosting is the consistency and sweetness that you desire.
I’m not sure what happens if you add too much sugar. I never tried that….if you do, let me know what happens.
Now back to the cakes….
Slice the cakes in half carefully with a long serrated knife.
Spread the insides of each cake with the fruit spread and put them back together as level and centered as possible (so they’re like large sandwich cookie made of two layers of cake, and some fruit spread).
Set one jelly filled cake on your cake plate (or a really big upside down plate in my case).
Plop about 1 cup of frosting ontop of that and spread it out.
Set the second fruit spread filled cake ontop of that as centered as possible (a.k.a. not like mine).
Then plop down what is left of the frosting (minus that spoonful to eat later). I mean all of it here people! It really actually will make it easier to frost. I don’t know why but its easier to take frosting off than put more on (especially when your frostings got those cake crumb nasties mixed into it because you didn’t put enough on to start!).
Spread around until the whole thing is covered.
DELICIOUS.
Ok if you really wanted to you could get all fancy and smooth out the frosting, and maybe even make some more color it and add some flowers.
At this point though with all the issues I had with the original buttercream, I just wanted to eat the damn cake.
Oh, and here is the episode that inspired this madness:
Second half mostly on how to ice your cake once the frosting is made:
I am not vegetarian, let alone vegan, but I know many people who are. I bought this really awesome cookbook for a really awesome friend who blogs on a really awesome pet blog, and I couldn’t help but go through it before sending it on its way. It was hard not photocopying the whole thing, but I restrained myself and pulled only a few recipes out.
The cookbook was Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, writting by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. If you haven’t seen this book, pick a copy up for yourself. These authors’ other books are awesome as well.
I was vegetarian back in the day (I won’t say how long ago, that just makes me feel old). I was young and had no idea what I was doing beyond not eating meat. It became a pain in the butt because I was young, dependent on my parents yet, and my dad was big on making roasts for dinner, so I eventually stopped.
Living on my own was the next time I came close to being vegetarian. I didn’t do it on purpose, it was just easier and cheaper to make meals without as much meat, or with no meat at all.
Since buying this book for my friend, I’ve become re-interested in vegetarian and vegan foods. They are healthier, cheaper, and you’re helping sweet furry cuddly animals. I could probably be vegetarian again one day, but it would be some serious work to be vegan. I love egg and dairy products too much, I don’t know if I could live without cheese (no matter how much I’ve found out its really not good for you).
I decided to make one batch of the special flavors of cupcakes from the cookbook, the orange pudding cupcakes, and a batch of plain golden cupcakes with chocolate frosting. The initial results weren’t as amazing as I expected. Right out of the oven they were a little dry, and more earthy than sweet tasting.
I decided to use my friends as food guinea pigs though, and fed them a few too see what they thought. All of my taste testers thought they were great and were really surprised when I told them that they were vegan. They didn’t agree with me at all about the flavors. Since there was such a consensus about how great they were I had to try another one.
They taste better the next day! They became moister and the sweet flavor associated with cupcakes were there. So if you make these and aren’t overly impressed as soon as they come out of the oven, frost them, and let them sit and develop their animal free cupcake-y goodness.
Orange Pudding Cupcakes
These are some tasty citrus cupcakes. I used orange buttercream frosting instead of the ganache used in the recipe in the book. These were light, and I didn’t want to overpower them with a big blob of chocolate on the top (even though chocolate orange is the awesome!). I also didn’t have any marmalade on hand, so I just omitted that part.
3/4 c soy milk
1/2 c fresh squeezed orange juice
3 tbsp tapioca flour, cornstarch or arrow root
1/4 c plus 2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp of turmeric for color (optional)
1 tsp finely grated orange zest
Whisk together the soy milk, orange juice, tapioca flour, sugar, vanilla and tumeric (if using) in a small heavy bottomed saucepan. (I used a spoon because I’m once again house-sitting and am whiskless, and its a nonstick saucepan.) I used cornstarch because that is what I had on hand, but I think one of the other choices would work better, the cornstarch left the pudding starchy tasting (but still good).
Cook over medium heat for about 2 minutes, until the mixture is warm and steaming, whisking occasionally.
When the mixture is warm, reduce the heat to low, and stir constantly for 5 minutes as the mixture thickens. When the pudding becomes too thick for a whisk switch to a fork (or like me stick with the spoon).
When the mixture is sufficiently thick and pudding-y, turn off the heat and fold in the orange zest, mixing for another minute.
Transfer the pudding to a bowl and let cool for 10 minutes until the mixture stops steaming. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour, it will continue to thicken as it cools.
Next make the cupcakes:
1/3 c canola oil
3/4 c granulated sugar
3/4 c soy milk
1/2 c fresh squeezed orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp finely grated orange zest.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.
Measure out the flour in a small bowl.
In a large bowl combine the oil, sugar, soy milk, orange juice, and vanilla.
To that mixture add 1 tbsp of flour from the flour in the bowl and mix until combined. This will help emulsify the mixture.
As you can see in the picture before adding the flour, there are large blobs of oil dispersed throughout, after mixing in the flour, there are still drops of oil, but they are smaller and more evenly dispersed.
Sift together the remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet in three batches, mixing well after each addition until smooth.
Fold in the orange zest and mix to distribute.
Fill each cupcake liner 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full. (I love my silicone muffin tray by the way.)
Bake for 20-22 minutes at 350 degrees F. The tops should spring back when touched, and a toothpick come out clean when inserted into the center of a cupcake.
Remove from the muffin tin and cool completely on a baking rack before filling with the pudding, or frosting.
Orange Buttercream Frosting
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup margarine, softened
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a small bowl combine the margarine and shortening until well combined.
Add the confectioners sugar in about 1/2 cup additions.
After each addition of sugar, add a splash of orange juice and beat well with mixers on medium speed.
Add the vanilla and beat for another 3-5 minutes until the frosting is smooth, creamy and fluffy. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use. (I put mine in a plastic ziplock bag.)
Assemble
Fit a pastry bag with the widest tip possible, and fill the bag with pudding (use common sense when doing this). Or take a plastic ziplock bag and fill with pudding. Using scissors snip of a corner of the bag to create a poor mans pastry bag.
Using your finger, poke a hole in the top of each cupcake and kind of squish the cupcake around so there is room to pipe pudding into the centers. (High tech I know!)
Pipe the pudding into the cupcakes. Do this by sticking the bag as far as you can into the cupcake, and squeeze the pudding in while supporting the cupcake with your other hand. You want to fill them up as much as possible, don’t be afraid if a little comes out the top of the cupcakes.
When all of the cupcakes are filled use your finger to wipe off access pudding (or a knife if you’re sanitary like that or are feeding them to other people).
Pipe the orange buttercream frosting ontop of the cupcakes decoratively. Or just use a knife or spatula and slap some on there, they’ll taste good either way!
Set the cupcakes in the refrigerator to set the frosting. Eat. (They taste best the second day after the orange and sweetness has had time to soak through the entire cupcake.)
3/4 c soy milk
1/2 c fresh squeezed orange juice
3 tbsp tapioca flour, cornstarch or arrow root
1/4 c plus 2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp of turmeric for color (optional)
1 tsp finely grated orange zest
The cupcakes:
1/3 c canola oil
3/4 c granulated sugar
3/4 c soy milk
1/2 c fresh squeezed orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp finely grated orange zest.
Orange Buttercream Frosting:
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup margarine, softened
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Make the pudding:
Whisk together the soy milk, orange juice, tapioca flour, sugar, vanilla and tumeric (if using) in a small heavy bottomed saucepan.
Cook over medium heat for about 2 minutes, until the mixture is warm and steaming, whisking occasionally.
When the mixture is warm, reduce the heat to low, and stir constantly for 5 minutes as the mixture thickens. When the pudding becomes too thick for a whisk switch to a fork.
When the mixture is sufficiently thick and pudding-y, turn off the heat and fold in the orange zest, mixing for another minute.
Transfer the pudding to a bowl and let cool for 10 minutes until the mixture stops steaming. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour, it will continue to thicken as it cools.
Next make the cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.
Measure out the flour in a small bowl.
In a large bowl combine the oil, sugar, soy milk, orange juice, and vanilla. To that mixture add 1 tbsp of flour from the flour in the bowl and mix until combined. This will help emulsify the mixture.
Sift together the remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet in three batches, mixing well after each addition until smooth.
Fold in the orange zest and mix to distribute.
Fill each cupcake liner 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full. (I love my silicone muffin tray by the way.) Bake for 20-22 minutes at 350 degrees F. The tops should spring back when touched, and a toothpick come out clean when inserted into the center of a cupcake.
Remove from the muffin tin and cool completely on a baking rack before filling with the pudding, or frosting.
Orange Buttercream Frosting
In a small bowl combine the margarine and shortening until well combined. Add the confectioners sugar in about 1/2 cup additions. After each addition of sugar, add a splash of orange juice and beat well with mixers on medium speed.
Add the vanilla and beat for another 3-5 minutes until the frosting is smooth, creamy and fluffy. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.
Assemble
Fit a pastry bag with the widest tip possible, and fill the bag with pudding (use common sense when doing this). Or take a plastic ziplock bag and fill with pudding. Using scissors snip of a corner of the bag to create a poor mans pastry bag.
Using your finger, poke a hole in the top of each cupcake and kind of squish the cupcake around so there is room to pipe pudding into the centers.
Pipe the pudding into the cupcakes. Do this by sticking the bag as far as you can into the cupcake, and squeeze the pudding in while supporting the cupcake with your other hand. You want to fill them up as much as possible, don’t be afraid if a little comes out the top of the cupcakes.
When all of the cupcakes are filled use your finger to wipe off access pudding (or a knife if you’re sanitary like that or are feeding them to other people).
Pipe the orange buttercream frosting ontop of the cupcakes decoratively. Or just use a knife or spatula and slap some on there, they’ll taste good either way!
Set the cupcakes in the refrigerator to set the frosting. Eat. (They taste best the second day after the orange and sweetness has had time to soak through the entire cupcake.)
I am a cookie making machine. This is the fourth type of cookie I have made in the past week (Chocolate Mint Snappers, Jelly Thumbprints, and some Peanutbutter cookies that are coming soon).
These are light, citrus-y, with just the right amount of crunch to them while still being delightfully chewy. The flavor is reminiscent of fresh squeezed orange juice that tickles your tongue. They’re just the thing to perk you up in the middle of a dreary, dark, cold winter.
Ingredients
Cookies:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
zest of 2 oranges
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Rolling Sugar:
1/4 cup sugar
red and yellow food coloring (or orange)
(or 1/4 c orange colored sugar)
Orange Glaze:
1/2 c powdered sugar
2 tbsp orange juice
Directions
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
Add the egg and orange zest.
Combine the flour, salt and baking soda in a small bowl, and add in parts to the wet mix. Mix until just combined.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth (but work quickly and don’t add too much four or the cookies will be tough).
Cut the dough in half and shape into 2 rolls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap in waxed paper and chill the dough logs in the refrigerator over night, or at least 4 hours, until very firm.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Mix together the powdered sugar and orange juice to make a glaze.
Add a couple drops of food coloring to the 1/4 c of sugar, and stir, stir, stir, stir. Stir until there are no blobules of food coloring left and the sugar is orange in color. (It works really!)
Retrieve the dough from the refrigerator. It should have flattened a little into an oval shape on its own. If it hasn’t, thats ok too. Carefully unwrap from the waxed paper and roll in the colored sugar. Don’t be afraid to pat the sugar into the dough.
Slice the dough 1/4 inch thick, and arrange on a cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the bottoms of the cookies are very lightly browned.
If at any point the dough is difficult to slice, stick it in the freezer for a minute to re-firm it.
Transfer the cookies to cooling racks while still hot, and brush with the orange icing you prepared earlier. (Slide some wax paper under the rack to catch drips.)
These cookies are a holiday staple in my family. I can’t think of a year that someone didn’t make at least one batch of these cookies.
The original recipe calls for apricot jam or preserves to fill the cookies, but any flavor can work. I have found in the past that jam or preserves are best, jelly is too runny and has too much sugar in it. Last time I used grape jelly the fruity dots caramelized or escaped the cookie and ran all over the baking sheet. My favorite is raspberry and strawberry preserves.
This recipe makes about 7 dozen cookies.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
2 tablespoons lemon juice (I used the juice from half a lemon)
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest (I used the zest from one whole lemon)
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup apricot preserves (or strawberry, or raspberry, or peach, or …)
Directions
Start by zesting and juicing your lemon (if you’re using the real stuff).
Add the butter, sugar, and cream cheese to the mixing bowl. To soften the butter and cream cheese, I zap each for 30 seconds on high in the microwave (watch them so they don’t melt!).
Cream these three ingredients together until smooth and creamy (and tasty!)
Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the lemon juice and lemon zest.
Mix until smooth and liquid looking. There will be a few blobs of cream cheese left, but it should be mostly uniform looking.
Combine the flour and baking powder.
Stir into the cream cheese mixture about 1/3 at a time, until just combined.
You’ll have to switch over from the mixer to a spoon and man power towards the end of adding the flour.
Cover and stick in the refrigerator or freezer until firm (it depends on how much time you have to make these). Do not skip this! You’ll be covered in sticky dough if you do.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Roll level tablespoonfuls of dough into balls, and place them 2 inches apart on a baking sheet sprayed with non-stick spray. The original directions say to use ungreased sheets, but my cookies stuck. Keep the dough in the fridge or freezer while the cookies are baking. This keeps the dough firm and easy to roll into balls.
Make an indentation in the center of each ball. I used a handy coffee scoop lightly greased to do this, but your fingers work well too.
They should look something like this:
Fill with 1/2 teaspoon of your chosen jelly or preserves.
The directions say to bake the cookies for 15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. The cookies become a little dry and too crumbly for my liking and I found that 10 minutes works just fine. The insides of the cookies are baked through, but are still soft and moist (the way a cookie should be).
Allow to cool for two minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Be careful if the jelly centers are runny, hot jam burns.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
2 tablespoons lemon juice (I used the juice from half a lemon)
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest (I used the zest from one whole lemon)
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup apricot preserves (or strawberry, or raspberry, or peach, or …)
Directions
Zest and juice the lemon (if using real lemon juice). Combine the butter, sugar and cream cheese. Mix until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, than the lemon juice and zest.
In a separate bowl combine the flour and baking powder. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients slowly, in parts. Mix well.
Put the dough in the refrigerator or freezer until chilled (about an hour in the refrigerator half hour in the freezer).
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Shape level tablespoonfuls of the dough into balls. Place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet and flatten slightly. Using your finger, thumb, or other implement make an indentation in the center to fill with jam/preserves.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, until set and very lightly browned.
How many dozen cookies did you say you need? Seven? Thats how many cookies? 84? And why didn’t you mention this earlier, like Sunday, when I loafed around the house with nothing better to do than catch up on my movie watching?
Last night I spent three hours making 9 dozen chocolate mint snappers – for my Mom. She has a cookie trade today with 14 other people. Fourteen people multiplied by six cookies each = 7 dozen cookies. The last two dozen we’re keeping. The recipe makes 3 dozen cookies, so two batches wouldn’t be enough, so three it was.
These cookies are rolled into balls then coated with sugar before being baked. They flatten out as they cool into a flat crispy crunchy cookie.
Of course I’m the brainiac who thinks, why yes, I can make all three batches at one time!
After making three batches in one bowl at the same time, I don’t recommend it. I had added about 2 cups of the flour when I realized my brand new kitchenaid wasn’t going to make it through the last three cups.
I ended up sitting on the floor so I could get a tight enough grip on the bowl to mix all of the ingredients together (don’t worry, no floor related ickness or dirt entered the cookie making process, i just needed the stability of the floor).
Finally the dough was mixed, I then spent the next two hours forming balls, rolling them in sugar and baking them for fifteen minutes. Not the most enthralling way to spend an evening, but definitely tasty, and I helped my Mom.
Chocolate Mint Snappers
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips (about 1 cup)
1 3/4 cups unsifted flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
sugar for coating
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt the chocolate chips over hot (not boiling) water. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl combine shortening, sugar and egg; beat until creamy.
Mix in corn syrup, peppermint extract and melted chocolate.
Gradually blend in flour.
Shape dough into balls using 1 level tablespoon dough for each.
Roll in sugar.
Place 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. Makes 3 dozen cookies.
The other day an internet friend who recently took a trip to New York City posted a link to a recipe for some macaroni and cheese she had at S’Mac.
I love mozzarella, especially fresh mozzarella. Before when I’ve tried to make macaroni and cheese using it, it left the foodstuffs chewy and lacking in tasty cheese flavor, not to mention overly stringy. This recipe uses muenster cheese to help smooth it out as well as starting with a simple bechamel sauce.
This recipe also includes basil, my most favorite herb ever. You can never have too much basil.
This tasty dish even got the thumbs up from my dad.
The original recipe is here. I increased ingredients and modified the order of instructions a bit because of the amount of cheese I had to buy, and why not make extra? You can never have too much mac and cheese (or basil)!
Here’s the recipe with my modifications:
2/3 lb elbow macaroni (yield: 4 cups cooked)
1 1/4 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 oz fresh Mozzarella cheese, diced
3 oz Muenster cheese, shredded
3 oz Pecorino Romano cheese, shredded
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
dried basil leaves
2 plum tomatoes
Fresh basil leaves, cut into thin ribbons
1 garlic bulb
3/4 cup fresh Parmesan cheese
olive oil
Start with roasting the garlic and tomatoes.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Slice the top of the garlic bulb off, exposing the tops of the garlic cloves. Brush the bulb with olive oil and wrap in aluminum foil.
Slice the tomatoes in half lengthwise. Toss with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and dried basil. Place skin side down on a baking sheet covered in olive oil.
Roast the tomatoes for 25 minutes until the skin slides off, and the garlic 30 minutes until the cloves are soft and can be squeezed out of the skin.
While the garlic and tomatoes are roasting bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the macaroni to al dente, about 8-10 minutes. Drain and set aside in a large mixing bowl.
Slice the mozzarella into uniform sized cubes and shred the other cheeses if needed. Also slice the basil at this time and set aside.
Bring the milk to a boil (I used the microwave).
Melt the butter in a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Lower the heat and whisk in the flour, cooking 3-4 minutes making sure the mixture doesn’t brown.
Slowly add the hot milk, whisking constantly.
Add the cheeses except for the 3/4 cups of parmesan, stirring frequently until the cheeses are melted and the sauce is slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper.
Peel the skins off the cooled tomatoes and chop into 1/4 inch pieces. The garlic should be easily squeezed from the skin. It should be golden and translucent and smell oh-so-good. I chopped it a little as well since it was still pretty solid.
Turn off the heat and stir the tomatoes, basil and garlic into the cheese mixture.
Pour the cheese mixture over the macaroni and stir to thoroughly combine, pour into a baking dish.
Top with the 3/4 cups of parmesan and breadcrumbs.
Bake 10-15 minutes until golden brown and tasty.
I topped it with some leftover sliced basil to make it look all pretty.
These cookies are some of the tastiest chocolate chip cookies I’ve had in a while, they might be even better than Alton Brown’s recipe, but I didn’t say that. I think these have more brown sugar than them. They have that tasty crispy golden cookie crunch on the outside, but are chewy and gooey on the inside. The best of both worlds!
I’ve modified it slightly. The original recipe calls for 1/4 cup of batter per cookie (with the same 15-17 minute cooking time). This just make waaaaaaay to big of a cookie for me, so I cut the size of the cookie down to about a tablespoon. I also raised the temperature of the oven because the centers were just a little too uncooked for me.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 335 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets, or line them with parchment paper or other non-stick baking apparatus (I have a silicone liner).
Sift the flour, salt and baking soda and set aside.
Mix the brown sugar, white sugar and butter until combined, then add egg, yolk and vanilla and mix until creamy.
Add the sifted ingredients slowly, and mix until just blended.
Stir in the chocolate chips.
Drop about 1 tablespoon at a time onto a cookie sheet placing them about 2 inches apart.
Bake for 15-17 minutes or until the edges are just beginning to brown and the centers no longer look gooey.
Let them cool on the cookie sheet a few minutes, then transfer to a rack to finish cooling.
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 eggs, beaten and room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk, room temperature
7 tablespoons butter
1 or 2 green tart cooking apples, thinly slices
Preheat oven to 400° F. In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon; set aside. In a large bowl, combine eggs, salt, flour, and milk; beat until batter is smooth.
In a large heavy ovenproof frying pan or a cast-iron skillet over medium heat, melt butter, turning pan to cover sides. Add apples and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon mixture. Stir and let cook for 5 minutes.
Pour batter over apples into pan and bake 25 minutes or until puffed above sides of the pan and lightly browned. Remove by flipping upside down onto a serving platter (apples and cinnamon will be on top). Serve immediately.
These are the spiffiest muffins in the whole wide world. I definitely recommend them.
2 1/4 c
303 g
All-Purpose Flour
2 tsp
10g
Baking Powder
1 tsp
6 g
Baking Soda
pinch of salt
1/2 c
105 g
Sugar
1/2 c
Vegetable Oil
1
50 g
large egg
1
20 g
large egg yolk
1 c
Plain Yogurt
1-2 c
Muffin Fixins (nuts, fruit etc)
Place rack in center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees Ferenheit. Prepare a muffin tin. Assemble the dry goods, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Then in a separate bowl combine the wet ingredients, the sugar, oil, eggs, and yogurt. Mix the wet goods in the dry adding the extras, and mix until just combined. There will be lumps. Drop the batter into the tin, the cups should be full. Bake for 18-20 minutes until interior reaches 210 or a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven immediately and turn the muffins on their sides so that the steam can escape the pan. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container for up to a week or until they taste gross, smell bad or grow fur.
Stumble It! | Comment [2]
It whirled all right but it didn’t fluff thats for sure. The butter kept breaking and separating even at the lowest setting, so all I had was at the end was a thick buttery sugary syrup. It tasted great, it just not quite right for frosting a cake with.
If you haven’t seen this book, pick a copy up for yourself. These authors’ 
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