Tasty Trifles

Pumpkin Pumpkin-Spice Cake

2009-11-06T23:36:00.000-08:00

When my roommate and I decided 6 months ago we were going to have a Halloween party, I knew what I wanted to make: a pumpkin cake in the shape of a pumpkin. I'd seen it done before, using two bundt cakes set end-to-end. I had a vision, and I was intent on carrying it out.

I'm very picky about my cakes, and only wanted to make something that would be dense and moist (perfect for a bundt cake recipe anyway). I found this recipe on allrecipes.com, and knew it would be perfect when I saw that it called for instant pudding mix (adding that to a cake recipe is a guarantee that it will bake into bites of pure bliss). I modified it slightly, and my version is below:

Ingredients (for one cake - if you want to make it into a pumpkin shape afterward, you should make two cakes so they can be stacked):

1 (18.25 oz) box spice cake mix (I prefer Duncan Hines)
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant butterscotch pudding mix
4 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup canned pumpkin

In a large mixing bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds; beat on medium for 4 minutes. Pour into a greased and floured 10-in. fluted tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 50-55 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

The original recipe suggests using whipped cream with it, but I think cream cheese and/or cream cheese frosting would be phenomenal. I didn't use any frosting, but rather melted orange candy melts, and used a piping bag to pipe the design onto the cake. No matter what you put on top of it, it's sure to be delicious. Enjoy!

S'Mores Macaroons - Feet Fail

2009-10-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

Well, they didn't turn out perfectly... but I know what I did wrong! So, I'm going to tell you now: when it says to "fold-in" the egg-whites, don't stir too much! (Yes, it says this in the recipe, but I kept wanting to add more cocoa, in an attempt to make the cookies chocolate-colored, which didn't work anyway, so I kept adding and stirring it in, adding and stirring it in...)Anyway, if you can actually follow directions, you will come out with beautiful s'mores macaroons WITH feet.

I may eventually try doing these again, as they are so simple to whip up, but there are way too many other things on my to-bake list to do it right now.

Without further ado, here's the recipe:
The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Preparation time: Not taking into account the amount of time it takes for you to bring your egg whites to room temperature, the whole baking process, including making the batter, piping and baking will probably take you about an hour to an hour and a half. How long it takes to make your filling is dependent on what you choose to make.

Actual baking time: 12 minutes total, plus a few minutes to get your oven from 200°F to 375°F.

Equipment required:
• Electric mixer, preferably a stand mixer with a whisk attachment
• Rubber spatula
• Baking sheets
• Parchment paper or nonstick liners
• Pastry bag (can be disposable)
• Plain half-inch pastry bag tip
• Sifter or sieve
• If you don’t have a pastry bag and/or tips, you can use a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off
• Oven
• Cooling rack
• Thin-bladed spatula for removing the macaroons from the baking sheets
• Food processor or nut grinder, if grinding your own nuts (ouch!)

Ingredients
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

**A couple of notes before starting. I used 2 egg whites, so then figured 2/5 of the other ingredients (making it 9/10 C confectioners' sugar, 4/5 C almond flour, and 4/5 T sugar). It's best to leave the egg-whites on the counter for 3 days, so they can come to room-temperature and lose some of their "water-weight." I was skeptical about leaving eggs unrefrigerated, but as long as you're sure no yolk is mixed in (which is important for when you're beating the whites anyway), then they'll be fine. If it's really hot where you are, then you may want to do this in the refrigerator, but as long as the egg whites have NO SMELL to them, you're good to go. Just put them in a cup or jar with a paper towel rubber banded around the top and let 'em sit.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.

Sifted sugar and almond flour.

2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.

Stiff egg-whites

3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.

This was where I failed. As the directions say: be gentle. Don't over-stir!!!

4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).

Pretty easy to pipe equal-sized ones. But you can do the circles drawn on the opposite side of parchment-paper trick if you find it easier.

6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.

Yield: 10 dozen. Ami's note: My yield was much smaller than this. I produced about two dozen filled macaroons.

Additional Information:

David Lebovitz breaks it down: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2008/09/making_french_macarons.htm... More macaroon 411: http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/10/introduction-to-french-macarons.html Get inspired by our own Tartlette!: http://www.mytartelette.com/search/label/macarons Go behind the scenes of Paulette: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXIvX0-CEu0 Watch a pro pipe macaroons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_RfiFoWZKQ&feature=related

Halloween Oreo Truffles

2009-10-16T19:43:00.000-07:00

I've made the Oreo Truffles from Bakerella's blog several times, and always, always get rave reviews. So, when I wanted to take something sweet to my old office-place, these were the obvious choice! Delicious, easy - what could be better? I've decorated them as Mickey Mouses (using mini-Oreos for the ears), and at Christmas last year I shaped them into reindeer heads (using broken square pretzel pieces as the antlers, and a dab of red icing for the nose). So, they can be themed to pretty much any holiday. This time - Halloween.

Ingredients:

1 package Oreo cookies (don't get double-stuffed, but any flavor variation is fine)

1 8oz block of cream cheese, softened

Chocolate bark or candy melts (for this version, use 1 package candy melts and about 1 cup chocolate chips for drizzling on top)

Use a blender or food processor to crush the Oreos into a fine powder. Stir in the cream cheese (I usually start with a spoon and end up using my hands). Refrigerate for about 30 minutes, or stick in the freezer for 5-10.

When the "dough" is chilled, roll into 1" balls. Heat the candy melts and roll the balls til covered. Place the balls back on wax paper and put in fridge again.

Melt the chocolate chips, and put the melted chocolate in a plastic bag. Snip the corner, and drizzle over the orange candy covering.

Ta-da! Deliciousness, in Halloween form :)

Dubious Dobos Torte

2009-09-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

It's not really the torte that's dubious, but my interpretation of it surely is. Despite being in China for half the month, I was determined to finish this challenge, even conceding to the fact that I would have to post it late. I've never had a Dobos Torte before, so I'm not sure what it's supposed to taste like, but I feel like I must have done something wrong: the texture of the cake would best be described as a combination of dry and gummy (don't even ask me how that's possible). Nevertheless, here are the results of my stubborness: The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague. Here's some background the hosts give on Dobos Tortes: The Dobos Torta is a five-layer sponge cake, filled with a rich chocolate buttercream and topped with thin wedges of caramel. (You may come across recipes which have anywhere between six and 12 layers of cake; there are numerous family variations!) It was invented in 1885 by József C. Dobos, a Hungarian baker, and it rapidly became famous throughout Europe for both its extraordinary taste and its keeping properties. The recipe was a secret until Dobos retired in 1906 and gave the recipe to the Budapest Confectioners' and Gingerbread Makers' Chamber of Industry, providing that every member of the chamber can use it freely.
Equipment

2 baking sheets
9” (23cm) springform tin and 8” cake tin, for templates
mixing bowls (1 medium, 1 large)
a sieve
a double boiler (a large saucepan plus a large heat-proof mixing bowl which fits snugly over the top of the pan)
a small saucepan
a whisk (you could use a balloon whisk for the entire cake, but an electric hand whisk or stand mixer will make life much easier)
metal offset spatula
sharp knife
a 7 1/2” cardboard cake round, or just build cake on the base of a sprinfrom tin.
piping bag and tip, optional

Prep times

Sponge layers 20 mins prep, 40 mins cooking total if baking each layer individually.
Buttercream: 20 mins cooking. Cooling time for buttercream: about 1 hour plus 10 minutes after this to beat and divide.
Caramel layer: 10-15 minutes.
Assembly of whole cake: 20 minutes

Sponge cake layers

6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups (162g) confectioner's (icing) sugar, divided
1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (112g) sifted cake flour (SUBSTITUTE 95g plain flour + 17g cornflour (cornstarch) sifted together)
pinch of salt

Chocolate Buttercream

4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup (200g) caster (ultrafine or superfine white) sugar
4oz (110g) bakers chocolate or your favourite dark chocolate, finely chopped
2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons (250g) unsalted butter, at room temperature.

Caramel topping

1 cup (200g) caster (superfine or ultrafine white) sugar
12 tablespoons (180 ml) water
8 teaspoons (40 ml) lemon juice
1 tablespoon neutral oil (e.g. grapeseed, rice bran, sunflower)

Finishing touches

a 7” cardboard round
12 whole hazelnuts, peeled and toasted
½ cup (50g) peeled and finely chopped hazelnuts

This looks quite intimidating, but it goes much faster than it looks. Still, I'm not one to testify to the simplicity of this recipe, as I have already told you my results were less than stellar. But perhaps you can learn from my pictures and process below:

Directions for the chocolate buttercream:

NB. This can be prepared in advance and kept chilled until required.

1.Prepare a double-boiler: quarter-fill a large saucepan with water and bring it to a boil.
2.Meanwhile, whisk the eggs with the sugar until pale and thickened, about five minutes. You can use a balloon whisk or electric hand mixer for this.

Pale, thickened egg whites + sugar.

3.Fit bowl over the boiling water in the saucepan (water should not touch bowl) and lower the heat to a brisk simmer. Cook the egg mixture, whisking constantly, for 2-3 minutes until you see it starting to thicken a bit.

Whisk in the finely chopped chocolate and cook, stirring, for a further 2-3 minutes.

4.Scrape the chocolate mixture into a medium bowl and leave to cool to room temperature. It should be quite thick and sticky in consistency.
5.When cool, beat in the soft butter, a small piece (about 2 tablespoons/30g) at a time. An electric hand mixer is great here, but it is possible to beat the butter in with a spatula if it is soft enough. You should end up with a thick, velvety chocolate buttercream. Chill while you make the caramel topping.

Lorraine's note: If you're in Winter just now your butter might not soften enough at room temperature, which leads to lumps forming in the buttercream. Male sure the butter is of a very soft texture I.e. running a knife through it will provide little resistance, before you try to beat it into the chocolate mixture. Also, if you beat the butter in while the chocolate mixture is hot you'll end up with more of a ganache than a buttercream!

Directions for the sponge layers:

NB. The sponge layers can be prepared in advance and stored interleaved with parchment and well-wrapped in the fridge overnight.

1.Position the racks in the top and centre thirds of the oven and heat to 400F (200C).

2.Cut six pieces of parchment paper to fit the baking sheets. Using the bottom of a 9" (23cm) springform tin as a template and a dark pencil or a pen, trace a circle on each of the papers, and turn them over (the circle should be visible from the other side, so that the graphite or ink doesn't touch the cake batter.)

Look closely, and you can make out the pencil line on the back of the baking paper. Use butter or oil (spot on the left) to help hold it in place on your baking sheet.

3.Beat the egg yolks, 2/3 cup (81g) of the confectioner's (icing) sugar, and the vanilla in a medium bowl with a mixer on high speed until the mixture is thick, pale yellow and forms a thick ribbon when the beaters are lifted a few inches above the batter, about 3 minutes. (You can do this step with a balloon whisk if you don't have a mixer.)

Actually, I beat the egg whites first (below), because then the beaters were already clean and I didn't need to clean them before beating the yolks. You can see the "ribbon" of batter here.

4.In another bowl, using clean beaters, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.

Gradually beat in the remaining 2/3 cup (81g) of confectioner's (icing)sugar until the whites form stiff, shiny peaks.

Looks more like an owl than "peaks," but I promise it was a shiny owl.

Using a large rubber spatula, stir about 1/4 of the beaten whites into the egg yolk mixture, then fold in the remainder, leaving a few wisps of white visible. Combine the flour and salt. Sift half the flour over the eggs, and fold in; repeat with the remaining flour.

You may be able to make out the streaks of white still in the batter.

5.Line one of the baking sheets with a circle-marked paper. Using a small offset spatula, spread about 3/4cup of the batter in an even layer, filling in the traced circle on one baking sheet.

I had a REALLY hard time spreading the batter evenly. I think an offset spatula would help a lot with this, but it didn't seem to affect it too much when I stacked the layers.

Bake on the top rack for 5 minutes, until the cake springs back when pressed gently in the centre and the edges are lightly browned.

Mine baked in about 3 minutes. Definitely have to watch these!

While this cake bakes, repeat the process on the other baking sheet, placing it on the centre rack. When the first cake is done, move the second cake to the top rack. Invert the first cake onto a flat surface and carefully peel off the paper. Slide the cake layer back onto the paper and let stand until cool. Rinse the baking sheet under cold running water to cool, and dry it before lining with another parchment. Continue with the remaining papers and batter to make a total of six layers. Completely cool the layers. Using an 8" springform pan bottom or plate as a template, trim each cake layer into a neat round. (A small serrated knife is best for this task.)

Directions for the caramel topping:

1.Choose the best-looking cake layer for the caramel top. To make the caramel topping: Line a jellyroll pan with parchment paper and butter the paper. Place the reserved cake layer on the paper. Score the cake into 12 equal wedges. Lightly oil a thin, sharp knife and an offset metal spatula.
2.Stir the sugar, water and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over a medium heat, stirring often to dissolve the sugar. Once dissolved into a smooth syrup, turn the heat up to high and boil without stirring, swirling the pan by the handle occasionally and washing down any sugar crystals on the sides of the pan with a wet brush until the syrup has turned into an amber-coloured caramel.
3.The top layer is perhaps the hardest part of the whole cake so make sure you have a oiled, hot offset spatula ready. I also find it helps if the cake layer hasn't just been taken out of the refrigerator. I made mine ahead of time and the cake layer was cold and the toffee set very, very quickly—too quickly for me to spread it. Immediately pour all of the hot caramel over the cake layer. You will have some leftover most probably but more is better than less and you can always make nice toffee pattern using the extra to decorate. Using the offset spatula, quickly spread the caramel evenly to the edge of the cake layer. Let cool until beginning to set, about 30 seconds. Using the tip of the hot oiled knife (keep re-oiling this with a pastry brush between cutting), cut through the scored marks to divide the caramel layer into 12 equal wedges. Cool another minute or so, then use the edge of the knife to completely cut and separate the wedges using one firm slice movement (rather than rocking back and forth which may produce toffee strands). Cool completely.

Angela's note: I recommend cutting, rather than scoring, the cake layer into wedges before covering in caramel (reform them into a round). If you have an 8” silicon round form, then I highly recommend placing the wedges in that for easy removal later and it also ensures that the caramel stays on the cake layer. Once set, use a very sharp knife to separate the wedges.

Assembling the Dobos

1.Divide the buttercream into six equal parts.
2.Place a dab of chocolate buttercream on the middle of a 7 1/2” cardboard round and top with one cake layer. Spread the layer with one part of the chocolate icing. Repeat with 4 more cake layers. Spread the remaining icing on the sides of the cake.
3.Optional: press the finely chopped hazelnuts onto the sides of the cake.
4.Propping a hazelnut under each wedge so that it sits at an angle, arrange the wedges on top of the cake in a spoke pattern. If you have any leftover buttercream, you can pipe rosettes under each hazelnut or a large rosette in the centre of the cake. Refrigerate the cake under a cake dome until the icing is set, about 2 hours. Let slices come to room temperature for the best possible flavor.

Mallowpuffs: Marshmallows covered in chocolate, aka little clouds of joy

2009-07-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

I noticed that one of you guessed it: those vegetarian marshmallows from the last post had another purpose (aside from me eating them without shame straight from the pan every time I opened the fridge). They were for the July Daring Baker's Challenge: Mallowpuffs! Or, at least that's what they're apparently called in Australia. In the recipe, they're just referred to as Mallows. But I like the addition of "puff" at the end: it brings to mind images of little clouds of joy - just tiny little bites of fluffy goodness. And that's exactly what they are.

My pictures and process follow the recipe:

Mallows (Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies)
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

Prep Time: 10 min
Inactive Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 10 min
Serves: about 2 dozen cookies

• 3 cups (375grams/13.23oz) all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (112.5grams/3.97oz) white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter
• 3 eggs, whisked together
• Homemade marshmallows (link to my post on vegetarian marshmallows)
• Chocolate glaze, recipe follows

1. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients.
2. On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy.
3. Add the eggs and mix until combined.
4. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with clingfilm or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
5. When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface. Use a 1 to 1 1/2 inches cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough.
8. Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.
9. Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie. Let set at room temperature for 2 hours.
10. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicon mat.
11. One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze.
12. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.
13. Place on the prepared pan and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours.

Note: if you don’t want to make your own marshmallows, you can cut a large marshmallow in half and place on the cookie base. Heat in a preheated 350-degree oven to slump the marshmallow slightly, it will expand and brown a little. Let cool, then proceed with the chocolate dipping.

Chocolate glaze:
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 2 ounces cocoa butter or vegetable oil (I used clarified butter)

1. Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water.

I have no mixer, much less a paddle attachment. But a wooden spoon worked just fine.

This is the "sandy" texture.

This is what it looks like when "combined." If you don't have time to leave it in the fridge, just stick it in the freezer for 30 minutes.

I didn't have a cookie cutter, so I just used a POM glass. Basically,
anything that's round and the size you want is fair game.

Mmm... fresh from the oven! On their own, these are lightly sweet and a little biscuit-like.
They'd be great with jam and tea. (Which is good, because it made about twice as many cookies as I needed! Halving the dough recipe would work just fine.)

If you made or bought vegetarian marshmallows, I'd recommend letting the marshmallows sit in the freezer for awhile before assembling. They're a little more gooey and sticky than regular marshmallows, and (at least on my first attempt at making them) seemed to "melt" and loose their shape a little if they sat out too long. That said, freezing them does not hurt or change their texture at all, which makes me think freezing the cookies would work pretty well, too. Unfortunately, I didn't test that because they all got eaten before I had the chance...

As for the chocolate glaze, I read that clarified butter is cheaper than cocoa butter, but makes the chocolate coating taste better than using vegetable oil. I tried it, and it certainly tasted good, but I don't think it really hardened all that well (if you picked a cookie up, the chocolate under your fingers melted - delicious to lick off your fingers, but not as classy-looking if you have company over). So, if any of you try other things (or if clarified butter worked for you), I'd love to hear!

Hope everyone enjoys their Mallowpuffs!

Homemade Vegetarian Marshmallows: A Joyous Discovery

2009-07-03T17:26:00.000-07:00

I've been a vegetarian since I was about 7 years old. It was my own decision - once I realized where meat came from, I slowly phased it out. McDonald's hamburgers were the last thing to go (hey, I was 7, after all), but my Dad said they didn't count as real meat anyway. :)

I have never missed meat or been the least bit tempted to return to the life of a carnivore. But when I found out marshmallows had gelatin in them, I had to seriously rethink my values. Marshmallows: fluffy little white bites of joy. Fresh from the bag, stale Easter peeps, roasted over a campfire 'til the outside is papery and charred and the innards are gooey and melted... no matter what form they take, I absolutely adore them. But, agonizing as it was, I stuck to my guns and abandoned my marshmallow-eating ways. And immediately started looking for substitutes.

I'll save you the odyssey-version and give you the novel-length adaptation: essentially there are currently two companies that I know of from which you can order vegetarian marshmallows online. Sweet and Sarah, and Dandies, both of which you can order from Vegan Essentials. But, these are fairly expensive. And besides, aspiring-cook that I am, I was infatuated with the idea of making my own marshmallows after seeing so many other food bloggers posting pictures of their successes online.

After searching for years and pouring through forum after forum (some people said using agar agar worked, others swore they tried it and it didn't... others suggested Kojel, while even more people advised against that), I struck gold. Pie of the Tiger, who shares my marshmallow obsession, posted a trial of a recipe her husband found in Texture: A Hydrocolloid Recipe Collection. I was thrilled! As I write this, there is a pan of marshmallow-goodness setting in the fridge. With any luck, by the time I get to the end of this post, I will be devouring them...

While I wait, practically giddy with anticipation, I'll share the process notes and photos:

Homemade Vegetarian Marshmallow Recipe

Ingredients
60 mL water (approximately 1/4 C)
"pinch" of cream of tartar (I used 1/8 tsp)
255 g sugar, granulated (1 1/4 C)
255 g light corn syrup (4/5 C, or about 6.63 oz)
1/2 vanilla bean (I used 1 tsp pure vanilla extract)
85 g egg whites (I used 3 egg whites)
5 g xanthan (0.76%) (I used about 3/4 tsp)

It said to grind the xanthan with a tablespoon of the sugar. The xanthan gum I got looked like it was already ground, but I ground it with the sugar using a mortar and pestal anyway, just to be safe. Set this aside.

Using a saucepan or other pan with a heavy bottom so the sugar doesn't burn, heat the water, cream of tartar, remaining sugar, corn syrup and vanilla to 120º C (or 248º F). This is just barely "hard ball" stage, so I aimed for somewhere between "soft ball" and "hard ball," as I don't have a candy thermometer to gauge the exact temperature. Here is a link to more information on hard and soft ball stages if you're unfamiliar with that. Discard the vanilla bean if using one.

Whisk egg whites for about 2 minutes until still soft. (Always make sure when you're whipping egg whites not to let any yolk sneak into the whites - it will keep it from becoming fully fluffy and stiff.)

Continue whipping egg whites at a low speed while slowly adding the syrup mixture. Sprinkle the xanthan mix on top while still whipping. Turn speed up and continue mixing for 2-3 minutes, or until meringue pulls away from the sides (this only took about one minute for me - you can see how it is now the texture of marshmallow fluff: it got really thick, and started climbing its way up the beaters as I was mixing.)

Sprinkle a pan generously with corn starch and pour in the meringue. Sprinkle the top with cornstarch (not sure why, but I did just in case), cover with plastic, and leave to set for 4 hours in the refrigerator.

Now you can cut the marshmallows into any shape you want! You could even add food coloring, or another flavor besides vanilla (mint marshmallows? strawberry? The possibilities are endless!) Just remember to dip the cut sides in cornstarch or sugar, so they don't stick to everything.

And... I just checked... I have marshmallow success in the refrigerator! So, I will leave you to your baking, and I'll just be, uh... "sampling" my marshmallows here. I'll post finished pictures of the cut ones soon (if there are any left :)

The Queen of Tarts (I am not)

2009-06-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

"The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England."

This Daring Baker's Challenge, Bakewell Tarts... er... Pudding, turned out okay, but I already have my list of things I plan to do differently next time. (But luckily for you, this is a list of things you can do differently your first time!

I vaguely knew what a tart was, but had no idea what a Bakewell Tart was like, or why it might ever be called a pudding. To sum it up, it seems there is a rather heated debate over the proper name for desserts like these, but traditionally the dessert course in Britain (where this sweet is from) is referred to as a "pudding," no matter what consistency it has. If you find this discussion and history of tarts and/or puddings has riveted you to your seat, you can find more on the history of the Bakewell Tart here.

What I did know was that it called for jam, and I've been eyeing several types of exotic-sounding jam in the local grocery store for months now, wishing I had an excuse to buy a jar or two. Although I was really curious about the Rose Petal Jam, something about the Black Currant Preserves seemed appropriately prim and proper for a British dessert - like something that might be served at high tea with a scone. Besides, I knew the darker color would look better with the otherwise un-colored tart. (But I'll be back for you Rose Petal Jam - just you wait!)

Onto the recipe:

Bakewell Tart…er…pudding

Makes one 23cm (9” tart)
Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)
Resting time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Equipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)
Bench flour
250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadability
One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)
One handful blanched, flaked almonds

Assembling the tart
Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Notes from the hosts of the challenge:
• If you cannot have nuts, you can try substituting Victoria sponge for the frangipane. It's a pretty popular popular cake, so you shouldn't have any troubles finding one in one of your cookbooks or through a Google search. That said, our dear Natalie at Gluten a Go Go has sourced some recipes and linked to them in the related alt.db thread.
• You can use whichever jam you wish, but if you choose something with a lot of seeds, such as raspberry or blackberry, you should sieve them out.
• The jam quantity can be anywhere from 60ml (1/4 cup) to 250ml (1cup), depending upon how “damp” and strongly flavoured your preserves are. I made it with the lesser quantity of home made strawberry jam, while Annemarie made it with the greater quantity of cherry jam; we both had fabulous results. If in doubt, just split the difference and spread 150ml (2/3cup) on the crust.
• The excess shortcrust can be rolled out and cut into cookie-shapes (heck, it’s pretty darned close to a shortbread dough).

Sweet shortcrust pastry

Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Notes from the hosts of the challenge:
• I make this using vanilla salt and vanilla sugar.
• If you wish, you can substitute the seeds of one vanilla bean, one teaspoon of vanilla paste or one teaspoon of vanilla extract for the almond extract

Frangipane

Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds (Whole Foods carries Almond Meal / Flour)
30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

Notes from the hosts of the challenge:
• Add another five minutes or more if you're grinding your own almonds or if you're mixing by hand (Heaven help you).

Here are some pictures from the process, as well as a few helpful hints:

I used this kitchen calculator to help me with conversions. I wanted to make tartlettes rather than one big tart, but didn't have tiny tart pans, so I just used a muffin tin and it seemed to work just fine. This recipe yielded 11 tiny tartlettes, and enough Frangipane left over to fill an entire muffin cup with it.

I'd recommend making the pastry dough first, then doing the Frangipane while it's chilling.

Butter mixed into the sugar/flour mixture for the pastry crust, and resembling "breadcrumbs," if I do say so myself.

Dough with the egg/almond mixture stirred in. I only added 1 tsp of water, as it was already coming together quite easily.

The beginnings of the Frangipane mix. I creamed the butter and powdered sugar together by hand, as the hand-mixer just made it into a crumb-looking texture.

I did whip out the mixer after that, though. Here's a close-up of how it threatens to curdle when the eggs are added to the mix.

Frangipane, ready to go. This is after the almond meal and flour have been blended in.

I heard that freezing the dough is enough to keep the tarts from going soggy if you make tartlettes like I did instead of one large tart. But, just to be on the safe side, I went ahead and "blind-baked" them first, using wax paper and rice to weigh it down. I just put them in for 5 minutes with the wax paper and rice, then another 3 after taking the wax paper and rice out (shorter time since they're so tiny).

Here's a quick how-to on blind-baking.

Already layered with jam and frangipane. I filled them right to the top with the frangipane, and though it does raise slightly while baking, it goes back down when it cools, so don't worry about spillage. But, filling to the top may throw the ratio of layers off, which I'll explain in the next section...

I baked the tartlettes for only 18 minutes, since they're small, and I wouldn't leave them in a minute longer! As far as my comment at the first, about things I would change, I think the main thing I would do differently is make a double batch of pastry dough and use less Frangipane. The ratio of crust:preserves:frangipane was a little off for my tastes - I could barely taste the wonderfully shortbread-like pastry, while the frangipane was heaped on because I had so much of it. It might have worked out differently if I had made one large tart rather than tartlettes, but no matter which size I made next time, I would be careful to keep the layers somewhat equivalent in thickness. The double-batch of dough would also give me enough to actually get it all the way up the muffin cups, instead of halfway up the sides like it was this time.

All-in-all, I'd say it was a success. But, I'm definitely no Queen of Tarts.

Strudels For May's Daring Bakers Challenge

2009-05-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

"The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers."

Well, my second Daring Bakers Challenge was an adventure. The challenge this month was to bake a strudel - the recipe the hosts supplied was for apple, but free-reign was given to create any filling you wanted. Of course, the first thing that came to mind when I saw the challenge was the "These Are a Few of My Favorite Things" song from The Sound of Music, so I knew I was destined to make an attempt at a "crisp apple strudel" (even though sleigh-bells aren't in season right now). And then, because I wanted to try a savory one as well, I finally settled on doing a "veggie pot-pie" of sorts, in strudel form.

I was completely intimidated by the thought of making a strudel - just the name itself intimates a persnickety dish. I read the instructions and watched a video of someone pulling the dough - these people were somehow coaxing a tiny ball of dough to stretch itself until it was large enough to cover an entire table, and thin enough to see through! I could just see mine, extending itself over the work area into a swiss-cheese-like pattern of holes and failure. But finally I dove in, and it was so easy! Well... mostly.

Here is the recipe, followed by my modifications to the fillings and further details on the adventure of strudel-making (including my mistake that turned this into a two-day event...)

Preparation time
Total: 2 hours 15 minutes – 3 hours 30 minutes

15-20 min to make dough
30-90 min to let dough rest/to prepare the filling
20-30 min to roll out and stretch dough
10 min to fill and roll dough
30 min to bake
30 min to cool

Strudel dough
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

Ingredients: 1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary. Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

As I say in my notes, mixing by hand works just fine, too.

2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally. Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better). (My own note: now is a good time to make the filling.)

The dough - "resting"

3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.
Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

It really is so thin you can see right through it! (Right to my cheesy note :)

Apple strudel
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

Ingredients: 2 tablespoons (30 ml) golden rum (or balsamic vinegar & honey for my modification, below)
3 tablespoons (45 ml) raisins
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (80 g) sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick / 115 g) unsalted butter, melted, divided
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) fresh bread crumbs
strudel dough (recipe below)
1/2 cup (120 ml, about 60 g) coarsely chopped walnuts
2 pounds (900 g) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking) (I used gala apples)

Peel & core the apples first - Gala apples worked well for me.

1. Mix the rum and raisins in a bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl.

2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.

Scraping a piece of bread with a fork is an easy way to make breadcrumbs.

3. Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper). Make the strudel dough as described below. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands). Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the walnuts about 3 inches (8 cm) from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-(15cm)-wide strip. Mix the apples with the raisins (including the rum), and the cinnamon sugar. Spread the mixture over the walnuts.

I can't believe it's so big! But it's easier than you think.

4. Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter.

I rolled both my fillings at once, then cut the halves of the strudel apart afterward.

Oops - forgot to brush the top with more butter. Turned out well anyway, though!

5. Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.

The baked goodies - golden and crispy!

My Ingredients for Veggie Filling (enough for 1/2 strudel): 5 Yukon potatoes, cut into 1/2" cubes 1 carrot, cut into 1/4" rounds 1 Tbs Fresh Rosemary (plus more if desired) 3 Tbs olive oil 1 tsp garlic salt and pepper

My Notes:
I followed the dough recipe exactly. I don't have a stand mixer, but mixing the wet into the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon, then kneading for 5 minutes worked just fine.

I made one recipe of the dough, but since I wanted to make two kinds of strudel, I simply halved the apple-filling recipe and then made my veggie filling as well.

For the apple filling, I used golden raisins (I always prefer them - they're just so much juicier!) and rather than rum (I didn't have any, nor did I intend to buy an entire bottle so I could use 1 Tablespoon of it) I used 1/2 Tbs of balsamic vinegar and 1/2 Tbs honey (remember, these amounts are halved - if you're making the full recipe, use 1 Tbs of balsamic vinegar, and 1 Tbs of honey). I thought this created a wonderfully sweet-yet-tart taste, and I'd highly recommend trying it.

For the veggie filling, I knew I wanted to use fresh Rosemary, because one of my friends just gave me an assortment of live herbs and I've been pining after them for several weeks now, wishing I had something worthy of their taste. So I sautéed the garlic in the olive oil over medium-high heat for just a minute, then added the potatoes and rosemary, and let cook til crispy and brown on the outside (about 12 minutes), stirring occasionally. Add the carrots about halfway through, as they cook faster. Pour onto paper towel to drain when finished cooking.

Mmm... crispy potatoes and rosemary...

So, the fillings were made and the dough had rested for 3 hours: this is where it got interesting...

The stretching started out fine. I rolled the dough out, but as I picked it up it pulled far too fast, so I ended up reaching under the sheet of dough with my hands in fists, and slowly but firmly pulling my hands towards the outside (finger-side of my knuckles up, so I could catch the dough just a little bit). It worked beautifully, and soon I had half my table covered in a sheet of dough that was tissue-paper thin: you really can read through it! But, not having a tablecloth, I had used wax-paper (per a suggestion I had seen online). This was the mistake! When I went to roll the filling up in the strudel dough, the dough stuck to the wax-paper and refused to roll. My roommate even tried helping, but even 2 pairs of hands did no good - it became a big, glutinous mess.

Day 2.

So I remade the dough the next day, and did what I had thought about doing in the first place, which was use one of my old bed sheets (washed the night before, don't worry). I rubbed in plenty of flour to the cloth, re-stretched the dough, spread the butter, breadcrumbs and fillings, and... rolled it up without a hitch. It was so easy! After baking, the layers came out golden-brown with a light-as-air flakiness to them. The fillings were both delicious, though I personally believe (after tasting both) that the strudel is meant to be experienced as a dessert.

All-in-all, it was a worthwhile experience. Certainly an adventure, but now that I know how easy it is if you just use the right materials (i.e., follow directions and don't try to out-smart the experts), I'll definitely be making strudel again!

Finished veggie-strudel with rosemary. Yum!

Here are a few more tips, if you want to impress your friends with strudel
(it really is easier than it looks!):
1. The tablecloth (or bedsheet) can be cotton or polyester (clearly, wax paper does NOT work).
2. Before pulling, remove jewelry from your hands/wrists and roll up your sleeves.
3. If you're having trouble pulling the dough, you can use your hip to secure one edge against the table (sounds crazy, but you may find yourself doing it... it can help).
4. Using a surface you can walk around (like an island, or a table) to stretch the dough on is really key to making it an easy experience.
5. Small holes, especially around the edges, are no big deal when you're pulling the dough: since you'll roll the strudel later, these will mostly be on inside layers where you can't see them anyway.
6. After hearing about other people's experiences, I wouldn't recommend halving the dough recipe. It seems like the weight of the dough is part of what helps to stretch it. That's why I halved my fillings and cut the two strudels apart after rolling them, rather than halving the dough recipe.

An Enterprising Meal

2009-05-20T00:18:00.000-07:00

I realize I'm revealing my true nerdiness early on in this blog, but it was bound to come out sooner or later, and I had to post about the dinner part my friends and I had for the premiere of the new Star Trek film.

I have long been a Trekkie (yes, even allowing myself to be labeled as such), which is why one of my good friends gave me this bottle of wine for my 21st birthday - it's vintage 2267, and from Chateau Picard.

I realize I may have just completely confused many of you, but for the other Trek fans reading this, you can appreciate my excitement upon receiving such a gift. I knew immediately that I had to save such a special bottle for a special occasion indeed. A couple months after my birthday (this was a little over two years ago, mind you) they announced there would be a new Star Trek film coming out. And that's when I knew what I was saving it for...

Warp ahead two and a half years, and it's finally time to uncork that bottle of wine. But what to have with it? I knew there had to be a menu that would not pale in comparison to the accompanying wine, and so this is what I planned:

For the appetizer, Hasperat, a Bajoran dish that's supposed to "cause the eyes water and sear the tongue." Then, Vulcan Plomeek Soup (perfect, since Vulcans are vegetarians, too). And of course, no Star Trek meal would be complete without Qagh (or Gagh), a Klingon delicacy consisting of worms (it's best served live). Finally, for dessert I planned a simple chocolate sunday, one of Counselor Troi's favorites (and, being chocolate, one of mine, too).

You can click on the links below to see the recipes for each dish. They were truly fun to come up with. We had a wonderful night of playing Star Trek SceneIt and then going to the Arclight theater in Hollywood for the midnight showing. My roommate was happy, because she got to see some people in costume. I was happy because the movie was, in my opinion, a pretty good "reboot" for the series. So, all in all, "Ka'plah!"

Hasperat - Traditional Bajoran Dish

Plomeek Soup

Qagh

Oh yes, and I also had synthehol (a non-intoxicating version of alcohol served in Star Trek) as an option. I wanted to get dry-ice to make a Warp Core Breach, but alas, concern for my guests' safety (as you may have guessed, dry-ice is not good to swallow and they recommend serving drinks that use it out of a punch bowl rather than individual glasses, which did not fit in with the look I was going for) won out. But that's okay, because I love how all of the other synthehol drinks in Ten Forward (from The Next Generation) and even in Quark's (DS9) are always so brightly colored and seem to glow from within. So, for my version I simply combined various mixers (mojito and green apple, in the picture below) with Sprite, and voilá! Twenty-fourth century drinks.

Synthehol

Plomeek Soup

2009-05-19T23:56:00.000-07:00

Plomeek Soup is a traditional Vulcan dish (that would be "Spock" for all of you out there unfamiliar with specific Star Trek alien races) that I thought would be perfect to make for my Star Trek dinner party because Vulcans are basically vegetarians. Of course, just like all of the other dishes I served at the party, this dish presented a challenge (and not just the fact that I couldn't get the right ingredients on Earth): Plomeek Soup is known to be bland, and I certainly didn't want to serve my guests bland food.

So, in my Earth interpretation of Plomeek Soup, "bland" became "simple." This soup is not spicy, but instead has a pure, fresh taste. A wonderful spring soup, as you can really taste the freshness of the vegetables and the delicate flavor of the herbs.

After reading some online recipes, they seemed to all agree that Plomeek Soup is usually orange, so I used carrots as the base. There's also sweet potato in there to make it creamy (actual sweet potato, not yams, for all the other southerners out there, though I think using yams would make a delicious version of the recipe as well). And, well... read ahead to see how to make it!

Ingredients
7 large carrots, peeled and chopped into 1/2" rounds
5 cups broth
1 large onion
1 cup leek
2 bayleaves
½ tsp allspice
2 cups sweet potato
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream, for garnish

First, chop everything. (Or, all the vegetables, at least.) Then, heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add leek, onion, and carrots; sauté 7 minutes or until onion and leek are tender. Add stock, bay leaves, allspice and sweet potato and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, partially cover, and simmer 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Fish out the bay leaves.

Working in batches, puree soup til smooth. Don't fill your blender past half-way: I found out the hard way that much liquid causes the top to fly off (even if you're holding it with one hand) and gets little spatters of Plomeek Soup on your wall. Not good. Put the pureed soup back in the pot and add in the milk. Stir over low heat until heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Put the sour cream in a plastic baggie. Snip the corner off one end, and after you put the soup in bowls, use the baggie to create a swirl in the shape of the galaxy on the top of the soup. I found this is easiest when the sour cream is at least room temperature, if not a little on the warm side so it's softer. I also opted to stir my galaxy-swirls in with a spoon just a little, so they were much softer.

Live long, and prosper.

Qagh

2009-05-19T23:22:00.000-07:00

Qagh, also known as Gagh, was the one dish I knew I had to make as soon as I decided to host a dinner part for the premiere of the new Star Trek film. It's a Klingon delicacy that consists of a type of worm. It's best served live.

Now, this did present a challenge for several reasons. Aside from the fact that I was fairly certain a shipment of worms would not survive the trip from Kronos to Earth, I am a vegetarian, and therefore most Klingon foods are off-limits. I was going to have to come up with a creative Earthling improvisation.

The first thing I had to move past was that I actually kind of wanted the Qagh to taste bad. Well, not bad, per se, but... to taste strongly. Klingons are a warrior-race, and I felt that all of their food should have a very distinctive, very assertive taste. Besides the fact that it is supposed to be a plate of worms, after all.

Noodles seemed to fit the bill for the worm-factor, but anything Italian is far too recognizable. And Chinese food, though closer, just didn't say Klingon to me, either. But then I hit on Korean. Of course! Korean food, if you've never had it before, has a very distinct, very strong flavor. It can be spicy, and many people aren't familiar with it, so it would taste decidedly different (one might say, "alien") for my guests. So I found a recipe on epicurious.com and modified it slightly for my own purposes.

For sauce

2/3 cup rice wine vinegar
2/3 cup soy sauce
1 1/2 Tbs Korean hot-pepper paste (sometimes labeled "gochujang")
2 tablespoon packed brown sugar

For noodles

1/4 cup vegetable oil, plus 2 Tbs
3 tablespoons finely chopped or grated peeled ginger
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
1 large onion, cut into 1/4" strips
1 1/4 pound Napa cabbage, thinly sliced (8 cups)
6 scallions, thinly sliced and white ends removed but saved
12 ounces soba (buckwheat noodles)

First of all I doubled the sauce (the measurements shown above are already doubled, as I used them). Just stire all of the ingredients together until the brown sugar is dissolved (I did this in a saucepan over heat, but I'm sure it would work just fine in a bowl). Set it aside.

Then heat 1/4 cup of the oil in a large pot or wok over medium-high heat. Add the ginger and garlic. (One trick I learned from a friend is to peel and freeze the ginger ahead of time, then use the fine side of a cheese grater to grate it rather than chopping it - it's much faster and easier.) Sauté, stirring until just starting to give off their delicious aromas, about 30 seconds. Reduce the heat to medium and add the cabbage and the scallions, minus their little white tips (those will be used for garnish later). Cook, stirring occasionally, about 6 minutes, until cabbage is "crisp tender." (Sounds strange, but you'll know it when you taste it.)

Then add half of the sauce and simmer 2 minutes longer. While this is cooking, sauté the onion strips in the remaining 2 Tbs of oil until translucent and soft. Then add the rest of the sauce to the onions and let them continue to simmer so they absorb the color of the sauce and turn a nice brown.

When everything else is ready, put the noodles in a pot of boiling, salted water (epicurious suggests 2 Tbs salt for every 6 quarts of water) and boil til just tender, about 6 minutes. Drain them immediately in a colander and rinse with cold water to remove excess starch and stop the cooking. Drain well.

Transfer the noodles to a large bowl and toss with the cabbage mixture. Plate the noodles, and top with the onion strips (the onions really add to the "worm" effect even better than the noodles, as soba noodles are fairly thin). Then stick the white ends of the scallions around the edge of the noodles, protruding out from underneath the pile. (I was hoping these looked like some sort of tentacle or unknown creature extremity.)

Ta-da! You have yourself a vegetarian, Klingon dish. It won't writhe as you eat it, like true Qagh would, but your guests will likely thank you for that.

Hasperat

2009-05-19T21:34:00.000-07:00

I was inspired to do Hasperat, a Bajoran favorite (yes, that means it's a made-up dish from an alien race on Star Trek) by a post I saw awhile back on veganyumyum.com, one of my favorite food blogs ever. However, her version called for Tamari (or soy sauce), which I'm not a huge fan of (also, I was already going to use it to make the Qagh dish, even though I'm not a fan, so I definitely didn't want to double up on the stuff), as well as cucumbers, which I'm also not crazy about. So, I needed a new twist on this recipe.

I decided to start with wheat tortillas and hummus, just as she did (other recipes I found online used cream cheese as the base for the spread, and I thought the hummus sounded like a brilliant improvement over that), but when I mixed a little hot sauce with the hummus, it just wasn't right.

I kept going back to the description of how Hasperat should "cause the eyes to water." While hot sauce can sure heat up my mouth, it just doesn't have the bite that I was envisioning. Finally it dawned on me - the one thing that truly makes my eyes water when I get a taste of it is wasabi. I needed wasabi-flavored hummus.

I found some wasabi powder in the local Vons, and mixed about a tablespoon of it in with a 10 oz tub of hummus (you could do more or less, depending on how much you want that whole eye-watering, tongue searing experience). I spread an even coating of the hummus on four open tortillas, then sprinkled a layer of shredded carrot over it. I placed spinach leaves on top of that, and then topped it off with avocado slices, which ended up being a really nice, creamy compliment to the spicy hummus.

Then I just rolled them up and, since I served this as an appetizer, cut them into little bite-size pieces. As all you Trekkies probably know, Hasperat is "best served warm," but I felt my Earth-version of it was better off left at room temperature. I must admit, these were the simplest and yet probably my favorite part of the dinner. I will definitely be making them again.

Here's the ingredient list for you:
4 wheat tortillas
1 10 oz tub of hummus
wasabi powder or paste (to taste)
2 carrots, shredded
about 20 leaves of spinach
2 avocadoes

Enjoy!

Honey Cardamom Cheesecake with Candied Kumquats - My First Daring Bakers Challenge

2009-04-27T09:00:00.000-07:00

"The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge."

After talking for a year about joining the Daring Bakers, I've finally done it. My first challenge? Cheesecake! Well, of course I wanted to try some strange and exotic twist on cheesecake. But, I also wanted to try the classic "cheesecake flavor" cheesecake, because how can one truly know if it's a good recipe to modify unless you've tried the original? Hmmm. I had a dilemma: experiment with some wonderful, never-been-done-before flavor that could alter the course of all cheesecakedom hereafter, or go with the practical, classic choice.

And, what did I do in the face of such a moral dilemma? I made two cheesecakes. That's right - when faced with a choice, I don't make a choice - I choose both. (Sometimes this works better than others.) Anyway, what I discovered by making the plain NY style is that it's my favorite cheesecake recipe I've ever used. Sometimes altering ingredients and making substitutions before trying the original recipe so you know what you're starting with doesn't work out as well. So, at least I know now that I can feel confident making all sorts of tweaks and modifications to this recipe, because it's a good one. So if one flavor combo doesn't turn out so well, the original recipe isn't to blame. I did really like the honey-cardamom flavor, too. Especially the candied kumquats on top. I think the additional liquid from the half cup of honey I subbed for half of the sugar kept it from setting quite as well, but I'm not sure how I would fix that next time. Both flavors are very subtle, but they somehow give the cheesecake more of a full, lingering flavor, while the NY style has a fresh, crisp flavor. I'm going to post the recipe for the original, NY style cheesecake below, with notes on how I modified it for the honey-cardamom version following it, so you can do whichever you like.

crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

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. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake (I omitted this for the NY style, and used 4 tsp freshly ground cardamom for the honey-cardamom version)

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.

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, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

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. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Here are my notes:

I only had 8" and 8.5" springform pans, which increased my baking time to about an hour and twenty minutes before I turned the oven off. Even after using the water bath, and letting the cakes cool inside the oven after baking, the NY style cake still had a crack in the top. Maybe using the correct (9") pan-size would have helped that. But, I did find some heavy-duty aluminum foil at Ralph's (Ralph's brand) that's 18" wide, so I didn't have to worry about any water leaking in.

For the honey-cardamom version, I substituted 1/2 cup of the sugar for 1/2 cup of Orange Blossom Honey (so, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup honey total). This was a suggested substitution with the recipe, but again, it seemed to make the cheesecake rather liquidy and it didn't set as firmly as the other.† Also, I think it may have prevented the crust from being as crispy as I would have liked, but maybe pre-baking the crust would solve that.

I then ground 4 tsp of whole cardamom, and added it to the heavy whipping cream, which I had heated in the microwave until it was just about to boil. After it had cooled, I poured the cream into the mixture per the instructions, using a strainer when doing so to catch the pieces of cardamom so the cheesecake stayed nice and smooth.

Finally, here's the recipe for the candied kumquats that I found on epicurious.com. I'd never had a kumquat before, but they just looked so pretty in the picture, I had to try it. I popped one into my mouth while I was seeding them (a process that requires patience, but well worth it in the end) and it was like a little burst of summer in my mouth! Just the perfect combination of tart and sweet. Anyway, I made the topping a day ahead, and just topped the cheesecake with it when it was ready to serve. Voilá! Two cheesecakes and a delicious experiment indeed.

Candied Kumquat Topping
2 Cups Water
2 Cups Sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
about 35 (10 oz) kumquats, sliced thinly and seeded

Directions:
Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add vanilla extract (or scrape in vanilla bean, if you're really gung-ho). Then add in the kumquat slices and reduce the heat a little. Simmer until kumquat slices are translucent, about 25 minutes. Remove from stovetop and let the kumquats cool in the in syrup. Strain the kumquats and place them in a separate bowl, adding about 1/4 cup syrup to them. Put the remaining syrup back into the saucepan and boil until it reduces down to a nice, syrupy 1 1/4 cups (about 8 minutes).

*Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover separately and chill.

†One reader commented that 1/2 C honey is as sweet as 1 C of sugar... so for this recipe, it would work best to use 1/2 C sugar, 1/4 C honey, and then decrease the amount of cream by 1 or 2 T to eliminate the "liquidy" problem. Thanks for the tips!

** I apologize for the colors in the picture. This is better than my first attempt, and while it looks fine in Photoshop, apparently I need to figure out how to upload images better. Just use your imagination to envision a vibrant, tantalizing-looking dessert. I promise, you won't regret making this (well... until you realize you've just had cheesecake for breakfast... again).

The Disney Collection

2009-04-09T11:13:00.000-07:00

A short introduction: I love food. I love themed food. I love Disney.

Mickey Muffins with Powdered Sugar Topping

Last summer, one of my dreams came true when I had the chance to intern at Disney. I worked in the Show Development department down at the park (Disneyland), helping with various art-related projects as the need arose. Every day I was there I felt like I was floating on air! I would walk down the hallway with a big, goofy (at least that part seemed appropriate) grin on my face, just because I was so happy to be there!

That explains the Disney part, but how does this relate to food? Well, I moved down to Anaheim for the months while I was interning and lived in an apartment by myself. Without a TV. Enter "baking as entertainment."

Now, when you live on your own and try a new recipe that makes 24 muffins, you certainly don't want to see them all disappear "on their own." You need someone to share them with. Luckily, my co-workers at the park were very open to being guinea pigs for my baking experiments. So, each week for the last few weeks I was there I reveled in the opportunity to try a new recipe and share it with my friends at work. And since we were at Disney, the chance to run with the theme was just too good to pass up...

Here are pictures of my various creations. Soon, I'll try to provide links and recipes for each. But for now, enjoy the eye-candy!

Mickey Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

Mickey Donut-Muffins with Sugar-Glaze Drizzle

Mickey S'Mores with Chocolate-Chip Mickeys on Top

Mickey Oreo-Truffles

It was great fun to make each of these, and of course fun to taste them. Check back later for links and recipes!

April Fool's Cupcakes

2009-04-01T11:26:00.000-07:00

Happy April Fool's! I have a reputation with my friends and family for playing some pretty outlandish April Fool's jokes. But this year, I decided to treat them to delicious cupcakes rather than playing tricks.

Of course, that meant these could not be your typical cupcake!

I got the idea for these particular April Fool's cupcakes from a book my friend gave me, "Hello, Cupcake!" The April Fool's section is the highlight of the book, in my opinion, with cupcakes that look like corn-on-the-cob, a bucket of popcorn, and spaghetti and meatballs. I finally settled on doing a variation of the "TV dinner" variety, which is why I baked them in the disposable tin baking tray (for added effect).

The book doesn't give recipes for the cupcakes themselves (it's really just a book on decorating), so I have included the recipe I used below. These are actually really amazing on their own - the edges get this great brown-sugar crispy-gooey texture while the centers stay incredibly moist. But today, decorations (including frosting) were necessary to fulfill my April Fool's plans.

Ingredients

Apple-Pie Cupcakes

2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
scant 1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 apples, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Decorations

Laffy Taffy - banana flavor (for the "butter")
Caramel Sauce - the kind that comes in a jar (for the "gravy")
2 boxes of Gobstoppers - pick out the green ones (for the "peas")
8 boxes of Apple Head Candies (also for the "peas")
Green food color (for the frosting under the "peas")

These are the Apple Head candies:

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 12 cupcake cups.
Beat together the eggs, white sugar, and brown sugar in a bowl, and mix in the oil, applesauce and vanilla. Fold in apple. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix flour mixture into the apple mixture until evenly moist. Transfer to the prepared muffin cups.
Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks before decorating.
For the frosting, beat together ingredients in a bowl 'til smooth and creamy. Place in refrigerator until the cupcakes have cooled and are ready to frost.
To decorate, spread the frosting over half of the cupcakes. These will be the "mashed potatoes." Then, add green food coloring to the rest of the icing and spread over remaining cupcakes. These will be the "peas."
For the "mashed potatoes," take a spoon and make a slight indentation in the middle. Cut a piece of banana laffy taffy (the yellow ones) in half, and place the square at an angle on the side of the indent. Then drizzle caramel sauce into the indent, making sure some drips out over the sides.
For the "peas," place the green Gobstoppers and Apple Head candies on top of the green icing. Try adding a few extra to create a second layer so you really end up with a mound of "peas" on your cupcake, rather than a flat layer. This will make it more realistic.

Serve to your friends, and enjoy!*

*You may want to advise your friends to remove the Gobstoppers before eating the "peas" cupcakes - they look great, but they are not a chewy candy!.

I was amazed by how well they turned out. When I brought them over to my boyfriend's, he even asked, "Mashed potatoes? I thought you were making cupcakes...?" :) hehehe

Good luck, and enjoy!

Spinach-Thyme Soup

2009-03-17T16:02:00.000-07:00

My roommate and I discovered that we both have a love for themed dinner parties. And, with St. Patrick's Day just around the corner, I knew this was a sign: we had to have a green dinner-party for our friends. So, I started searching for the perfect green recipes.

I am lucky to have such open-minded friends. I'm sure that many people (though I don't fully understand why) might be turned-off by the idea of sitting down to an entirely green meal. But, if this was the case, my friends were too polite to say so. And, by the end of dinner (and a pistachio ice-cream dessert!), I still didn't hear any complaining.

This is the soup recipe I decided on for our entree, because of its beautiful, verdant color. It was even more perfect because it's starting to feel like spring outside, and this soup is just so fresh, it simply tastes like spring!

Ingredients

1 cup water
5 cups spinach
1-1/2 cups zucchini, chopped
3/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup hemp oil
1 clove garlic
1-1/2 tablespoons dried basil
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

It's so easy: just toss all of the ingredients in a food processor and blend together. I used my CuisineArt mixer my Dad gave me for Christmas. I'm sure a blender would work, too.

A couple notes on the ingredients: first, hemp oil (pictured in the drips on my measuring cup above) is not edible when heated over 300ºF. Thus, rather than worrying about how hot the soup was getting, I just served this soup cold (as I believe it is intended to be served - it would take on a completely different character if you wanted to serve it warm). Anyway, hemp oil is supposed to be all kinds of healthy for you, but in addition to having purported health-benefits even olive oil doesn't have, it also has a subtle yet distinctive nutty flavor. So, there's really not a good substitute for it, which is unfortunate because it is both hard to find in regular grocery stores and expensive (it is available to order online, and I found mine in Whole Foods). I think the closest substitute would be a lesser amount of a high-quality olive oil in addition to adding in about 1/4 cup walnuts into the mix. But I have not tried this. (Let me know if anyone finds a good work-around.)

Secondly, one of my friends is allergic to citrus, so I made another batch for her using apple juice instead of orange juice. It also tasted great, and any difference was hardly noticeable.

For our green dinner, we also had a green salad that consisted of green lettuce, green grapes, chopped green apples, blue cheese (I found one with green veins, but it's still "blue" cheese), and a light balsamic vinaigrette dressing; zucchini muffins; a sparkling green apple drink from Whole Foods; and pistachio ice cream.

Hope you have as much fun planning your next dinner as I did!

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

2008-09-17T10:39:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to make these ever since I had a vision of how elegant a cupcake might look with white frosting topped with a little stacks of toasted carrot shreds. Besides - carrot cake (including carrot cake in cupcake form) is so often overlooked! Maybe people think it sounds too healthy with "carrot" in the name, but carrot cake is one of my favorites because of the density and variety in the texture of the cake.

I used this recipe from allrecipes.com as a base, and modified it from there. I found these little cakes to be moist enough (a difficult task to make a cake that's moist enough for me) and have a perfect blend of spices. The recipe would be great just used to make carrot muffins, if you omit the cream cheese icing.

Ingredients

Cake

2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups shredded carrots (plus 1/4 C for garnish)
1/2 cup crushed pineapple
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 C raisins

Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 12 cupcake cups. (I liked using the metallic silver - if anything can make a cupcake elegant, they can!)
Beat together the eggs, white sugar, and brown sugar in a bowl, and mix in the oil and vanilla. Fold in carrots and pineapple. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Mix flour mixture into the carrot mixture until evenly moist. Transfer to the prepared muffin cups.
Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks before frosting.
For the frosting, beat together ingredients in a bowl 'til smooth and creamy. Place in refrigerator until the cupcakes have cooled and are ready to frost.
For the toppings, place the extra 1/4 C carrot shreds on a baking pan and place in oven at 200 degrees F until they dry out (about 15 minutes, but make sure to check them so they don't get burned).
Generously frost the cupcakes, and sprinkle just a pinch of carrot shreds on top of each.
Admire, then devour!*

*Cupcakes may be stored in refrigerator for about 2 days in a sealed container without losing their moist-ness if not immediately devoured.