My Baking Adventures

It’s that time of the month when the Daring Bakers flood the blogosphere! This month, Meeta and Tony chose a recipe from Pierre Hermes’ “Chocolate Desserts”. I was thrilled with this challenge for many reasons, but the biggest was that there weren’t any nuts to contend with.

I have made pate a choux (fancy name for cream puff dough) many times. But the last time I made it for TWD it fell completely flat. What a bummer! So I entered into this challenge with a bit of trepidation, wondering if the baking gods were looking my way – and guess what? They were!

Just look at those perfectly crisp little puffs!

I chose to fill some of them with vanilla pastry cream, and some with whipped cream (my mom’s favorite). I didn’t use the given recipe for chocolate sauce- I ended up using my homemade hot fudge sauce to glaze them with.

Don’t they look delicious?

This was a successful challenge and I am happy to report that I now have a little herd of mini puffs in my freezer ready for a party!

I can’t wait to see what next month brings!

For the recipe, click on either Meeta’s or Tony’s link above.

Presenting:

Top View:

And a side view:

We did it! We did it! Oh yeah yeah yeah! We finished our course with flying colors. We learned a lot and had a really great time.

Doesn’t the cake look great?  I cheated – it’s styrofoam under the fondant. I was amazed at how easy it was – and I’ll definitely do it again. I’d like to take Course 3, but I think Sabrina is just about done. I have 2 weeks to make up my mind, so we’ll see. My big birthday is in a few weeks, along with my parents 45th wedding anniversary AND David’s birthday – whew!

First, I have a confession to make – I had an unfair advantage for this weeks’ My Kitchen, My World.

I have a secret weapon in the kitchen – my mother. Yes, my mother is a direct import from England. Take traditional English cuisine, and marry it to traditional Sicilian cuisine – and that’s what I grew up eating. One night it could be Chicken Cacciatore, and the next night it would be Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding.

My mother is an excellent cook, and I am fortunate enough to have learned how to make many of the delicious dishes from my childhood. She showed me how to make Scotch Eggs, which we’ve secretly renamed Heart Attack on A Plate. I mean really – a hardboiled egg, wrapped with sausage – rolled in breadcrumbs and deep fried. *slurp*. She also taught me how to make Sausage Rolls, Bubble and Squeak, Rissoles, Angels on Horseback, Hot Cross Buns, and Shepherd’s Pie.

She also made Bread and Butter Pudding with Birds English Custard Sauce. Trifle was a regular guest on the Christmas table, along with Christmas Crackers and mini Mince Pies. Devonshire Cream was a household staple.

Speaking of Christmas, every year a big box of Licorice Allsorts would appear in my Christmas stocking – and every year I would say to my mother, “But Santa knows I don’t like licorice!” And my mother would smile and say, “It’s alright, just give it to me.”

I had a really hard time choosing just one thing to make for this week. The fact that it’s still 110 degrees really killed my motivation to make anything heavy. So I chose to make Yorkshire Pudding, because the kids love to eat them for breakfast with butter and jam, and they are quick and easy to make. I use Ina Garten’s recipe for what she calls Popovers because it’s foolproof and they come out perfect every time.

See my darling little pans? They are perfect for individual puddings.

Thanks to Susan for this great blog event. I can’t wait to see what our next destination is!

Yorkshire Pudding (aka Popovers) – Ina Garten

1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus softened butter for greasing pans
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups milk, at room temperaturePreheat the oven to 425 degrees F.Generously grease aluminum popover pans or Pyrex custard cups with softened butter. You’ll need enough pans to make 12 popovers. Place the pans in the oven for exactly 2 minutes to preheat. Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, salt, eggs, milk, and melted butter until smooth. The batter will be thin. Fill the popover pans less than half full and bake for exactly 30 minutes. Do not peek.

Alexander was in charge of selecting dinner tonight, so on the menu we have:

Cheeseburgers
Waffle Fries
Fresh Corn Salad

Fresh Corn Salad – adapted from Ina Garten

5 ears of corn, shucked
1/2 cup small-diced red onion (1 small onion)
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup julienned fresh basil leaves

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the corn for 3 minutes until the starchiness is just gone. Drain and immerse it in ice water to stop the cooking and to set the color. When the corn is cool, cut the kernels off the cob, cutting close to the cob.Toss the kernels in a large bowl with the red onions, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Just before serving, toss in the fresh basil. Taste for seasonings and serve cold or at room temperature.

Today’s Thursday and I almost forgot to present my Butterflied Chicken! Stefany of Proceed With Caution chose this simple and tasty chicken that we really enjoyed.

And, true to form, I missed the part of the recipe that says to let the chicken chill out in the fridge for 30 minutes before cooking. Oops. But it was still great.

Did I mention that we didn’t de-bone it either? Forgot that part too.

Butterflied Chicken - Ina Garten

1/4 cup chopped fresh rosemary leaves, plus 2 sprigs
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
Good olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 roasting chickens (2 1/2 to 3 pounds each), deboned and butterflied
1/2 lemon, thinly sliced

Mix the chopped rosemary, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper together in a small bowl to make a paste.Place the chickens on a sheet pan, skin side up, and loosen the skin from the meat with your fingers. Place 1/2 of the paste under the skin of each chicken. Rub any remaining paste on the outside and underside of the chickens.

Turn the chicken skin side down and scatter the lemon slices and sprigs of rosemary over each chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Roll each chicken up, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Heat a grill with coals. Spread the coals out in 1 dense layer and brush the grill with oil. Unroll the chickens, place them on the grill and cook for 12 minutes on each side.

This is just my personal little venting session, so if you are looking for food, skip down to the other entries.

Yesterday, Sabrina came home very quiet and upset. It seems that her “friends”, decided halfway through lunch to just get up and leave her at the lunch table by herself.  Say what?  They went to go sit at the *popular* girls table. Now, Sabrina is a bit like me – she’d rather be by herself, than with a group of kids she doesn’t like. So instead of following them and compromising her standards, she stayed put. And tried really, really hard not to cry. As she said, “I just concentrated on eating my Caesar Wrap so I wouldn’t cry.”

Some people, like my husband, would say hey, just go sit with the other girls and don’t make a big deal out of it. But the “other girls” are the ones that told Sabrina she couldn’t hang out with them because she didn’t have cool enough hair. The “other girls” are the ones that have heads full of highlights, double pierced ears, and dress like the women of Cheetah’s (a stripper club). Oh wait, those are the mothers. No, actually, those are the 6th, 7th and 8th grade girls.  I must be stodgy, old fashioned and just the biggest loser not to let my child do all these things that the “other girls” do. Like being dropped off at a casino for a birthday party. Like having an IPhone.  Like telling your classmates, my mom drives a Bentley – what does your mom drive? Like wearing high heeled boots to school with their uniform.

Am I crazy? These girls are 11 years old.

And yes, I know, that’s the way girls are. I just don’t remember it being this bad until high school.

It’s going to be a long year.

I need to move out of Vegas. Soon.

Need more proof?  We drove down the Strip about 2 weeks ago to get to the mall to buy shoes for Alexander. We could hear Alexander and Sabrina snickering and stifling giggles in the back seat. It seems they looked out the window and right next to our car was a moving billboard with a trashy, barely dressed woman on it with the caption “Hot Babes Delivered to You”.

Right.

On the menu tonight, we have:

Broccoli and Pork Stirfry with soba noodles

Yes, I know, two Asian themed meals two nights in a row – but the kids love it, and Sabrina can’t eat in a regular Chinese restaurant anyways. I am going to add bok choy cabbage and fresh soba noodles to this – just to shake things up a bit. Besides, when do I EVER follow a recipe exactly?

Oh, yeah – for baking! *snicker, snicker*.

Broccoli and Pork Stirfry – adapted from Everyday Food

1 teaspoon grated orange zest, plus 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons vegetable oil, such as safflower
1 pork tenderloin (about 1 pound), quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 scallions, white and green parts separated and thinly sliced
1 head broccoli (about 1 pound), cut into bite-size florets, stalks peeled and thinly sliced

In a medium bowl, combine orange zest and juice, soy sauce, vinegar, and cornstarch; set stir-fry sauce aside. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 teaspoon oil over medium. Working in two batches, cook pork until browned on one side, 1 to 2 minutes (pork will cook more in step 4). Transfer to a plate and set aside; reserve skillet. Add remaining teaspoon oil, garlic, and scallion whites to skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until scallions wilt, 1 to 2 minutes. Add broccoli and 1/2 cup water; cover and cook until broccoli is crisp-tender and water has evaporated, 2 to 4 minutes. Add pork (with any juices) and stir-fry sauce to skillet. Cook, stirring, until pork is cooked through and sauce has thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Top with scallion greens.

I found this recipe on CIA‘s blog – and have been dying for a chance to make them. I whipped them up yesterday afternoon before I picked the kids up from school -

~ and ate one watching Sabrina do her homework. After the kids each tried one, I shipped the rest off to the neighbors. It’s dangerous having these in the house!!

Now, I didn’t follow the directions precisely. The recipe states to mix the butter, milk and vanilla together for 3-5 minutes. Umm, I didn’t. I prepared these in standard cake-making format, which is to say I creamed the butter/sugar, added the egg whites, then alternated wet and dry. Honestly? These were fabulous. Maybe next time I’ll make them per the directions but I can’t imagine these being any better than they already were.

And instead of buttercream, I piped swirls of seven-minute icing and used up the last of the oreos on top.

I halved the recipe, just in case you were wondering about the strange measurements. Hey, I’m getting better at it!

Cookies ‘n’ Cream Cupcakes – adapted from justJenn recipes and CIA

4 tbs. butter, softened
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup + 2 tbs. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 + 1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup egg whites
1 cup lightly crushed Oreos

Preheat the oven to 350*F and line a baking pan with cupcake liners. (I got 9 cupcakes from this recipe)

In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl mixer, cream together the butter, milk and vanilla, about 3-5 minutes.

Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Mix until integrated. Stir in the sugar. With an electric mixer on low, beat for 30 seconds. Turn the mixer up to medium and beat for 2 minutes.

Add the egg whites, Beat for 2 more minutes. Stir in the crushed cookies until incorporated.

Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes. When you insert a toothpick, the tops will look wet, but the toothpick should still come out clean. Leave them in the pan to cool, then transfer to a rack. Once cupcakes have completely cooled, frost them.

Do you remember these?

As good as they were on their own, they are even better like this:

And then add this:

And enjoy it like this:

Umm-umm good!

Emeril’s Chocolate Cream Pie

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream, plus 1 3/4 cups
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
Pinch salt
4 egg yolks
4 ounces good-quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

1 (9-inch) Chocolate Cookie Crust, baked, recipe follows

In a small saucepan combine sugar, 3/4 cup heavy cream, buttermilk, cornstarch and pinch of salt, and whisk until smooth. Place over medium-high heat, and bring to a boil, whisking from time to time for the sugar and cornstarch to dissolve and the mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Continue cooking at a low boil for an additional 5 minutes, whisking constantly.
In a mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks lightly. Pour 1/2 cup of the hot mixture into the egg yolks and whisk thoroughly. Pour the egg yolk mixture into the saucepan and whisk over the heat until thoroughly combined and very thick, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl, and whisk in the chocolate, butter and vanilla. Continue whisking until thoroughly combined (mixture will be very thick). Cover the mixture with plastic wrap placed directly on the surface and refrigerate until cooled to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
Place 1 3/4 cups heavy cream in a chilled mixing bowl and add the confectioners’ sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form. Gently fold about 1/4 of the whipped cream into the cool chocolate pudding mixture, then spoon the chocolate mixture into the prepared pie crust and refrigerate until firm and cool, at least 4 hours. Refrigerate the remaining whipped cream until you are ready to serve the pie.

When ready to serve, top the pie with the remaining sweetened whipped cream and serve immediately.
Graham crackers to yield 2 cups crumbs
Chocolate sandwich cookies (white centers removed) to yield 1 1/2 cups crumbs (recommended: Oreo)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In the bowl of a food processor or blender, process the graham crackers and chocolate cookies to make crumbs.
In a bowl mix together the cookie crumbs, sugar and butter with your hands. Press the mixture evenly into a 9-inch pie pan. (It will seem like an excessive amount of crumbs, but will compress down quite a bit with pressure.) Cover the crust with plastic wrap and top with another 9-inch pan, pressing quite firmly to make a smooth surface. Remove the pan and the plastic wrap from the pressed crust prior to placing it into the preheated oven. Bake the crust for 15 minutes.

Remove the crust from the oven and let cool completely before filling.

Yield: 1 (9-inch) crust

A few years ago, there was a Staples Office Supply commercial that began with the Christmas song “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”. The father was dancing down the aisle, happily throwing school supplies into the cart, and when the camera panned behind him, there were two dour-faced children, scowling at the prospect of going back to school.

Sabrina was just nervous and anxious to get to school early, now that she’s in 6th grade, she has a locker and lots of stuff to remember. She gets flustered with the locker combination and the fear of being reprimanded by the teacher for forgetting something is simply beyond her realm of comprehension. Alexander really doesn’t care for school (okay, he can’t stand it) and complains that school is interfering with his Playstation/Wii/Nintendo time. Yes, now that school has begun, all electronic toys are surrendered and not given back until the weekend. Mean Mommy is back in action!

This morning I hit the ground running at 5:30 a.m., in order to start off the school year right and not be rushed like we are every year. I also prepped as much as I could last night, and as an added bonus, I baked a new crumb cake for the kids. Of course, with first day jitters, the cake went untouched.

After school will be a different story.

Sour Cream Crumb Cake

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 packed brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla

Crumb Topping:
4 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. butter
1/3 cup sugar (I used brown sugar)
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease an 8″x 8″ pan.

Sift together the dry ingredients. In another bowl combine sour cream, eggs, butter and vanilla, mixing well. Add the sifted ingredients to the sour cream mixture. Stir just until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Batter will be lumpy. Spread in prepared pan.

Make crumb topping: Blend all ingredients until combined and sprinkle over the cake batter in the pan.

Bake at 350 F. for about 25-30 minutes or until browned and cake is beginning to pull away from sides of pan. Let cake cool in pan. Serve while slightly warm or cold.