Monday, December 29, 2008

Tuesday with Dorie the Cookie edition

December 2: noskos of Living the Life chose Linzer Sables

December 9: Ulrike of Küchenlatein chose Grandma’s All-Occasion Sugar Cookies

December 16: Heather of Randomosity and the Girl chose Buttery Jam Cookies

I have to say that I am not that good at making cookies, I generally can make the dough OK but the baking of the cookies mostly goes wrong for me. The Buttery Jam Cookies came out the best. I used cranberry jam and they come out a little biscuit like. I will most definitely make them again.

Linzer Sables Cookies these were the cookies that really went wrong. I think that they needed some more moisture, the dough was very dry. I padded out half of the dough and spread some more of the cranberry jam and sprinkled the rest of the dough on top. After cooling I cut the cookies as if they were bar cookies. They tasted good but in no way looked like what they should have.


Grandma’s All-Occasion Sugar Cookies taste great but I had trouble rolling and cutting them out. In the end I just rolled them into a log and sliced them. They did take twice as long to cook.



I am glad that I am done with cookies for a while.

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Dorie will be late

Back up computers! Especially if there is irreplaceable info on it. That and you can buy a 1 Tera bit external hard drive at best buy.

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Canned Cranberry Sauce recipe


When I went to my Sisters for Thanksgiving I sent apple and peach pie filling and 3 jars of canned Cranberry Sauce that I had made. The cranberry sauce went over well, there was none of the three jars left, and my sister wanted the recipe so I thought that I would put it here so that I could reference it later if need be. It was partly taken from the Ball Blue Book of Preserving, one of the best canning books I have.

Cranberry Sauce - Whole Berry
Yield about 6 pints
8 cups cranberries
4 cups sugar
4 cups water
zest of a lemon or an orange
2 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2 to 1 cup of crystallized ginger, this depends in how much of a zing you want

Wash and sort cranberries
Combine sugar and water in a large saucepot. Boil 5 minutes.
Add cranberries. Continue boiling, without stirring, until the skins burst. Lower temp to low.
Add the zest, ground ginger and crystallized ginger. Stir, smash cranberries with potato masher until the texture you like.
I tend to have to cook the cranberry sauce for 30-40 minutes to get the constancy that I like. Just stir every once and a while.

Ladle hot sauce into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Adjust two piece caps. Process 15 minutes in a boiling water canner.

I had to add another 15 minutes for altitude. I am at 6038 ft, just over 6000ft.

Bookmarked Recipes - Crockpot Peanut (Not Brittle) Candy


This weeks Bookmarked Recipe is from A Year Of CrockPotting who has a very cool website, I have been looking to make some of her stuff, I needed thank you gifts for spending the night at relatives so I started with Crockpot Peanut (Not Brittle) Candy. I made it the day before I left, it was very easy and most everyone liked it, the only person who did not like it does not like chocolate.

I tended to call it nut candy. I made some changes and found out that this works much better cooling on silicon or parchment paper than aluminum foil.
It stuck to the foil big time. As in I could not get any of it off.

Changes:
Added 2 cups more nuts, we like our nuts. I used half almonds and half peanuts.

After pouring out the candy to cool I sprinkled some chocolate chips and when they had melted I spread them out.

For one of them I had also added some dried cranberries. It gave the candy just that little something extra.

I will most definitely be making this again. Every one wanted the recipe, at the end of the week I had it mesmerized from writing it out so many times.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

flight home pictures

Well I am home, Tuesday with Dorie will be a little late this week. I got home late. Seattle was wet and the Day after I got home, the day that I was going to the store it snowed all day and I got 6-7 inches of snow. Anyway here are some pictures I took an the flight home. The first one has the moon, Venus and Jupiter with a sunset.










Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Tuesday with Dorie - Arborio Rice Pudding


This week Isabelle of Les gourmandises d’Isa chose Arborio Rice Pudding. As rice puddings go this was pretty good. I did get around having to stir and make sure the pudding did not burn by cooking this in my crockpot. The other change that I made was that I added another 1/4 cup of rice and some cinnamon. I put everything but the water in the crock pot and set it to high for 30 min and then set it to warm overnight. It was good the next day. I had some some warm for breakfast. For more pudding check out Tuesdays with Dorie.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Tuesday with Dorie - Kugelhopf

Well this went so fast that I could not get a picture. Thank you Yolanda of The All-Purpose Girl for picking this recipe. Though I am still not sure how to say it. Over all this is not a recipe that I will make again, it was very time consuming and needed to be eaten soon ofter taking out of the oven. The next day will not work. I ended up using most of Sunday to make it and then got up at 3am to put it out for the final rise.

I did make a few changes. Because some many people were saying that it was a little bland I added 2 teaspoons of coconut extract and used dried blueberries instead of raisins. With the powdered sugar I also put some toasted coconut. It tasted pretty good.

For other takes on Kugelhopf take a look at Tuesdays with Dorie.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Tuesday with Dorie - Rugelach


I want to say thank you to Grace of Piggy's Cooking Journal. She chose Rugelach for the recipe this week. I have never made these and thought that they would be very hard, but they were not. Which is not to say that I did not have any problems. Time is an issue, there are 2 sets of resting times and the dough did not play nice with me.

The picture on the left was the first half of the dough. When I rolled the dough out it stuck to the waxed paper. So I put it back into the fridge and then tried to roll the crescent shapes when the dough was cold. Breakage occurred. So the second half I made them into pinwheels and then chilled the dough in the freezer for an hour. This made it much easier to cut and I got more cookies out of the dough.

I used rehydrated apricots, cinnamon, sugar and mini chocolate chips for the filling. The dough was very light and buttery. For more Rugelach fun check out Tuesday with Dorie.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Tuesday with Dorie, Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes


I Love Food 4 Thought chose Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes this week. Wow these were good. I did not think that they needed any topping. They also freeze well and defrost in time for lunch. For more spooky cupcakes visit Tuesday with Dorie. Many of the other people went with a Halloween theme.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Bookmarked recipes - Apple Pie Jam


For my Bookmarked recipe this week I made Apple Pie jam. I got the recipe from Clumbusfoodie. I made 2 batches, one with the full amount of sugar and one with half of the sugar and low sugar pectin. For the second batch what I did was double everything but the sugar. This jam really does taste like apple pie. Now I can have some apple pie everyday on toast.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Tuesday with Dorie, Pumpkin Muffins


These came out very good. Thanks Kelly from Sounding My Barbaric Gulp for picking this week's recipe! I love pumpkin muffins and these were one of the best that I have had. I did make a few changes; White Wheat Flour instead of all-purpose flour, 1/4 cup dried cherries and 1/4 cup dried currents instead of golden raisins, and no sunflower seeds. I like the taste of the currents, it is something different. The recipe made 18 muffins. I think that mini chocolate chips would have made them just a little bit better.

For more muffins check out Tuesdays with Dorie.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Garlic

Yaaa! I got my garlic planted for next year. I would take a picture but well there is nothing to see right now.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

First frost

Well this morning I had scrape frost off my windshield for the first time this fall. I did make it to work on time though. Now I need to set aside another 5 minutes a morning for this. That and my furnace kicked in for the first time. Winter will be here soon.

oven

To bake it helps if your oven works. Mine just gave up the ghost recently. I got a replacement range but when you use the oven part, even opening the door for the oven light there is a high pitch buzzing sound. I am having the Sear's repair guy come out and take a look at it soon.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Jamming Jelly Exchange


Batter-Splattered hosted a very cool exchange, Jam or Jelly. I go a very tasty jar of Cocoa Fig Jam made by Neena in Georgia. This was very cool. Thanks!!!!

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Sweet 100

Cakespy had a sweet 100 that I thought was cool I did add number 5. Most of the ones that I have not had I have not have not heard of.

1) Copy this list into your site, including the instructions!
2) Bold all of the sweets you’ve eaten!
3) Cross out any of them that you’d never ever eat.
4) Consider anything that is not bold or crossed out your “To Do” List.
5) Italic the ones you have made

1. Red Velvet Cake
2. Princess Torte
3. Whoopie Pie
4. Apple Pie either topped or baked with sharp cheddar
5. Beignet
6. Baklava
7. Black and white cookie
8. Seven Layer Bar (also known as the Magic Bar or Hello Dolly bars) and a non dairy version
9. Fried Fruit pie (sometimes called hand pies)
10. Kringle
11. Just-fried (still hot) doughnut
12. Scone with clotted cream
13. Betty, Grunt, Slump, Buckle or Pandowdy
14. Halvah
15. Macarons
16. Banana pudding with nilla wafers
17. Bubble tea (with tapioca “pearls”)
18. Dixie Cup
19. Rice Krispie treats
20. Alfajores
21. Blondies
22. Croquembouche
23. Girl Scout cookies
24. Moon cake
25. Candy Apple
26. Baked Alaska
27. Brooklyn Egg Cream
28. Nanaimo bar
29. Baba au rhum
30. King Cake
31. Sachertorte
32. Pavlova
33. Tres Leches Cake
34. Trifle
35. Shoofly Pie
36. Key Lime Pie (made with real key lime)
37. Panna Cotta
38. New York Cheesecake
39. Napoleon / mille-fueille
40. Russian Tea Cake / Mexican Wedding Cake
41. Anzac biscuits
42. Pizzelle
43. Kolache
44. Buckeyes
45. Malasadas
46. Moon Pie
47. Dutch baby
48. Boston Cream Pie
49. Homemade chocolate chip cookies
50. Pralines
51. Gooey butter cake
52. Rusks
53. Daifuku
54. Green tea cake or cookies
55. Cupcakes from a cupcake shop
56. Crème brûlée
57. Some sort of deep fried fair food (twinkie, candy bar, cupcake)
58. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting
59. Jelly Roll
60. Pop Tarts
61. Charlotte Russe
62. An “upside down” dessert (Pineapple upside down cake or Tarte Tatin)
63. Hummingbird Cake
64. Jell-O from a mold
65. Black forest cake
66. Mock Apple Pie (Ritz Cracker Pie)
67. Kulfi
68. Linzer torte
69. Churro
70. Stollen
71. Angel Food Cake
72. Mincemeat pie
73. Concha
74. Opera Cake
75. Sfogliatelle / Lobster tail
76. Pain au chocolat
77. A piece of Gingerbread House
78. Cassata
79. Cannoli
80. Rainbow cookies
81. Religieuse
82. Petits fours
83. Chocolate Souffle
84. Bienenstich (Bee Sting Cake)
85. Rugelach
86. Hamenstashen
87. Homemade marshmallows
88. Rigo Janci
89. Pie or cake made with candy bar flavors (Snickers pie, Reeses pie, etc)
90. Divinity
91. Coke or Cola cake
92. Gateau Basque
93. S’mores
94. Figgy Pudding
95. Bananas foster or other flaming dessert
96. Joe Froggers
97. Sables
98. Millionaire’s Shortbread
99. Animal crackers
100. Basbousa

Monday, October 06, 2008

Grocery Shopping


I admit I like to go grocery shopping. One reason is I a good at it. I went to Albertsons today and spent $8.57 and got a $5 coupon for my next visit. I got 5 cans of progresso soup, 6 yoplait yogurt, 2 yoplait YO plus 4 packets of yogurt, one 4 packet of activia yogurt, 2 pillsbury bread sticks and 2 green giant steamers corn. This was a good haul. What helped with this was www.coupons.com, the coupons from the Sunday paper, Money Saving Mom and smartsource.

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Bookmarked Recipes - dried marinated tomatoes



For Bookmarked Recipes this week I am going to tell you about one that I made a few weeks ago. Big Black Dog called it oven dried tomatoes. I did it in my old dehydrator, this is what killed it. My dehydrators do not tend to last that long, 2-4 years. After this last breakdown I went and bought a dehydrator with a 10 year warranty.

Any way on to the recipe. These tomatoes are so good. The only change that I made was that I dried my tomatoes to a crisp and for some of my later goes I used less oil. It did not need that much I think. I am planing on giving some of these away as part of my Three Kings Day gifts. The tomatoes are good broken up and put on salads or pasta. My favorite right now is powdering the tomatoes and then rehydrating with hot water to make a very tomatoe soup.

How many of you are they?

http://howmanyofme.com/search/

I found this amusing, there is only one of me in the US. My last name is that uncommon. There fewer than 335 people with my last name in the US. Well I aways knew that I am unique.



HowManyOfMe.com
LogoThere are
1
or fewer people with my name in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Quilting Christmas projects


This year I hope to finish 2 quilts and a number of bags. I have the the blocks done for one of them. It is for one of my neices, she like purple and used to like pink, until she had her room painted bright pink.

I also finished my first Bow Tucks Bag. I ended up doing the pattern much different than how the patter was written. I took it as a class, the teacher rewrote the pattern to make it easer and less bulky. It also was fairly quick to make. This was the first time that I have worked with interfacing, this was interesting. I like how the inner pockets came out.

Friday, October 03, 2008

work hours

I get to chose what hours I work and can not decide, 7am to 3:30pm or 7:30- 4pm or maybe 8am to 4:30 pm. Right now I am thinking that I might pick the 7am to 3:30pm. This way I have time for appointments after work and do not have to take time off during work. The question is can I get in at 7am.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Diabetes, I has it.

Well this was not fun, I have known that I was pre-diabetic for 5 years or so. I have been taking metformin and having a fasting lab test every 3 months or so for the past few years. This morning I had a Dr's appointment and my ac1 level (glycated hemoglobin test, this shows the average blood sugar over the past 3 months) was over 6; this was not good. This was the highest it has ever been. The problem is that I am on meds and this should be lower.

So I am on a different med, need to excise more, have to check my blood sugar at least 3 times a day and need to change what I eat. Foods high in carbs are not a good idea. Only in very small amounts will they be allowed. Well Tuesday's with Dorie is out, so in Daring Bakers. I need to get this under control. I do not want to have to take insulin. It does not help that there is diabetes on both sides of my family.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Taste from Home Goodie Swap

This was hosted by Megan of Meganscooking and April of Abbysweets. This was fun on both sides. I got to look around for local items that you will most likely not going to find many other places and I got a really cool box of stuff from Sleeping Bear in the Kitchen.

It took a while to find everything in the box. There is some many things to go Wow about. John sent Ice Wine, I am taking it on a quilt retreat that I am going to next month. Mustard from a microbrewery, Mrs Jones all purpose sauce, a very good conserve ( my brother and I have eaten half of it already), a vinaigrette, bistro sauce, pumpkin butter (I love pumpkin butter.), wine jelly that he made and some candy from his store. I am told that the mint fudge that John made was fabulous. It did not last more than 2 days. Thank you Megan and April for hosting this event and a large thanks to John for send this great box.

Tuesday With Dorie: Black and White Banana Loaf

This week Ashlee of A Year in the Kitchen picked Black and White Banana Loaf. I liked the concept of a marbled banana bread but this will not become my banana bread recipe. Problems is not the right work, I have a few complaints:

How much banana is 1 and a half bananas? (I tend to switch out the bananas with pumpkin or apple depending on who I make it for. At work there are a few people that are allergic to bananas.)

Do we really need that much butter? It came out very most but the top was very brown.

How full should I have filled the loaf pans? I was worried about spill over and did not fill them as much as I could have.


I doubled the recipe, I was using frozen bananas and it was easier to use 3 than 1 1/2. This made 2 loafs and 7 muffins. It was fun playing with the marbling. I even made one of the muffins half and half. I think that I use this technique next time I make banana bread, just with one of my other recipes.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

No Daring Baking this month

I just did not have the time. I was out of town for a few weeks and then I had some very busy on call weeks.

Click here for the Daring Bakers blogroll to see how the other the other cakes came out.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Tuesday with Dorie, Summer Fruit Galette

Thank you Laurie of quirky cupcake for setting up Tuesday with Dorie. This has been fun and I have made many delicious things that I have never made before. Anyway this weeks recipe I chose this recipe because I like fruit deserts, this is the height of fruit season and this recipe did not have a picture. I went to the Farmers market a few blocks away and got some Apricots. For color I added some blueberries for color. This was an easy recipe, at the rate things are going I will be keeping extra pie crust in the freezer for this. Just defrost and add what fruit you have on hand.


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Just to note chilled pie crust is not a suggestion, you need to have it cold or a cold area to work with. Otherwise it gets very soft and is hard to move to the cooking service. That is what happened to the large one I made. Leaking and tearing happened, Ohh but is tasted very good and did not last the night. My quilt group ate it all. This was not a dessert for looks but the taste more than makes up for it.

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I added the rest of the custard mixture into some fruit and cooked it right beside the galette. It was good. When cooking the custard with fruit the fruit should be one that is not to juicy. I did this with berries, a little liquidy, and peaches, not bad. Depending on the fruit extra sugar maybe a good idea.




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Dorie Greenspan's Summer Fruit Galette
from Baking From My Home to Yours

Good For Almost Everything Pie Dough for a single crust, chilled
2-3 tablespoons jam or marmalade
about 2 tablespoons graham cracker crumbs
Fresh summer fruit: about 10 apricots, 8-10 nectarines, 8 ripe but firm peaches, 8-10 firm plums or 2 stalks rhubarb
Decorating (coarse) or granulated sugar, for dusting

For the Custard
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Getting Ready
Center rack in the oven and preheat to oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment (see below) or a silicone mat.
To make it easier to move the pie dough onto the baking sheet, roll the dough between sheets of parchment paper ( in which case, you can use one of the rolling sheets to line the baking sheet) or wax paper or plastic wrap. Alternatively work on a well-floured surface, taking care to keep the dough moving by turning it and flouring the surface often.
Roll the dough into a large 1/8 inch thick circle. Using a pastry wheel or a paring knife, time the dough to a 13 inch diameter. Using a cake pan or a pot lid as a template and the tip of a bunt kitchen knife as a marker, lightly trace a 9 inch circle in the center of the dough- this is the area for the filling.
With the back of a spoon or a small offset spatula, spread some of the jam over the circle- how much will depend of the jam flavor you want. Sprinkle over the crumbs, adding a little more than 2 tablespoons if you think you’ve got particularly juicy fruit. Put a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper over the dough and refrigerate it while you prepare the fruit.
Wipe the apricots, nectarines or plums clean with a damp towel and cut in half; discard the pits. Blanch peaches for 10 seconds in a pot of boiling water, transfer them to a bowl of ice water to cool, then slip off the skins. Halve and pit the peaches or peel rhubarb to remove the strings, and cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces.
Arrange the fruit on the dough, cut side down if using stone fruits, then gently lift the unfilled border of dough up and onto the filling. As you lift the dough and place it on the filling, it will pleat. If you’re not in a rush, freeze the galette for 15 minutes to give the crust a rest.
Brush the dough very lightly with a little water, then sprinkle it with a teaspoon or two of sugar. Bake galette for 25 minutes, or until the crust is brown and the fruit is soft.

Meanwhile, make the custard
Whisk together the melted butter, sugar, egg and vanilla in a bowl; set aside until needed.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven (leave the oven on), and carefully pour the custard around the fruit. Depending one how much juice has accumulated and how much space you have between the fruit, you may not be able to pour all the custard into the galette, but even 2 tablespoons can give the right effect. Pour in as much custard as you can, then carefully return the pan to the oven.
Bake for another 12 to 15 minutes, or until the custard is set- it shouldn’t jiggle when you gently shake the pan. Cool the galette on the baking sheet on a rack for 10 minutes.
Very carefully slide a small baking sheet or cake lifter under the galette and slip the galette onto a rack to cool. The galette can be served when it is just warm or- my preference- when it has reached room temperature. Dust with confectioners; sugar just before serving.

--

Good for Almost Everything Pie Dough

For a 9 inch Single Crust

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 sticks very cold unsalted butter, cut into tbsp size pieces

2 1/2 tablespoons very cold vegetable shortening, cut into 2 pieces

About 1/4 cup ice water


Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor fitted with a metal blade, pulse just to combine the ingredients. Drop in the butter and shortening and pulse only until the butter and shortening are cut into the flour. Don’t overdo the mixing- what you’re aiming for is to have some pieces the size of fat green peas and others the size of barley. Pulsing the machine on and off, gradually add about 6 tbsps of the water- add a little water and pulse once, add some more water, pulse again and keep going that way. Then use a few long pulses to get the water into the flour. If, after a dozen or so pulses, the dough doesn’t look evenly moistened or form soft curds, pulse in as much of the remaining water as necessary, or even a few drops more, to get a dough that will stick together when pinched. Big pieces of butter are fine. Scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto a work surface. Shape the dough into a disk and wrap it. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour before rolling (if your ingredients were very cold and you worked quickly, though, you might be able to roll the dough immediately: the dough should be as cold as if it had just come out of the fridge).

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Tuesday With Dorie - Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler

This week on my adventures with Dorie Amanda from Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake selected Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler. In Many ways this was an interesting cobbler recipe. It is like most cobblers but the mix is different. I would not thought of Cherry and Rhubarb together and putting ginger in the topping would have never occurred to me. I only wish that she had cups of fruit listed instead of pounds. I do not have a kitchen scale so I had to guess on how much fruit to use. I have a feeling that I was off.

This cherry pitter that I got a few years ago at Goodwill was a life saver. It only took 10 minutes to pit 3 cups of cherries. I only use it maybe once a year but for only $2 it was a good buy. Rhubarb season is over for now here but I had dehydrated some when they where in season. I rehydrated around a cups worth.


The cobbler came out a little on the tart side. I like it that way but if I was making it for a potluck I think that I would add just a little more sugar and decease the amount of ginger in the topping. The fruit to topping was a little to much on the topping side. It needed more fruit. I made the biscuits as drop biscuits so after it was all together I just dropped the biscuits onto the fruit by the spoonful. I think that I will use this topping for the next cobbler that I make except I might use cinnamon instead of ginger or maybe cardamon.

For more cherry cobbler goodness visit Tuesday With Dorie. Next week I got to chose and I picked the Summer Fruit Galette on pages 366 - 367. So I will see you then.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Tuesdays with Dorie, Mint Chocolate Pudding non dairy


This week Melissa from Its Melissas Kitchen has picked Chocolate Pudding. Well this was the first pudding that I have ever made from scratch. I have always used instant. It was a good pudding. It does need to set in the fridge for the full 4 hours though. I will most likely make this again but in the winter. It was hot to make and made my kitchen even hotter. The skin forms very fast.

Changes made to recipe : I used vanilla soy milk instead of milk, earth balance instead of butter and a non dairy chocolate. When you heat up the milk I added 20 crushed mint leaves and then strained them out when you add the milk to the egg mixture. It gave the pudding a mild mint flavor.

They soy substitutes worked well, you could not tell the difference between this and a dairy version. What is very important though is to use good chocolate. I used Safeway's Organic chocolate chips. It is the to easiest non dairy chocolate to find and they taste pretty good.

For more takes on chocolate pudding check out Tuesday's with Dorie. Some people made it into Ice Cream and there were also some chocolate pies happening.

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Tuesdays with Dorie, Double Crusted Blueberry Pie

This week on Tuesdays with Dorie Amy of South in Your Mouth selected Double Crusted Blueberry Pie. This was an interesting recipe because I was debating on whether or not to make this. Blueberries are expensive here and I do not care for blueberry pie. What made me try it was the pie crust, I have not made many and this one was different from the ones I have made in the past. The crust came out flaky and buttery. I liked it. I did have some trouble rolling out the crust. I think that I may have added just a little to much water, it kept sticking to everything. That and it was warm.

I made three small hand pies. for the filling I used rhubarb, I have lots right now, some frozen blueberries and a little bit of sugar. Instead of bread crumbs I used some gram crackers. It soaked up the juice nicely.

For more pies check out Tuesdays with Dorie, some people went and did the coolest things with pie.

Friday, July 04, 2008

Tuesdays with Dorie, Apple Cheddar Scones


Thank you Karina of The Floured Apron, she chose Apple Cheddar Scones for the recipe this week. It came out well and I got to use my scone pan for the first time. I did the butter part the same way I do biscuits. Melt the butter and then add in the other wet ingredients cold. This makes the butter clump up a little bit. Then you add in the dry stuff and plop into the pan and cook as the recipe says. The cheese flavor was very faint put I liked the texture of the apples.

For more scone just visit Tuesdays with Dorie.

Bookmarked recipe Egg Salad with Dill


This week for my Bookmarked recipe is a new one but was very good. Wow, I found an egg salad recipe that I like. Thank you Pages, Pucks and Pantry. I have been trying for a few years. Now I just need a pesto recipe I like. The only thing that I changed was to use less mustard and cut out the onions. This recipe is going into my recipe book.

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Tuesday with dorie will be a little late

I went to make it this morning and the only cheese that I had was very moldy. So this will happen after work today.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Bookmarked reicpe for the week- Strawberry Lemonade Bars




This week I made Strawberry Lemonade Bars, these are from Baking Bites. This was a very easy fast recipe. I love my food processor. It look longer to cook than anything else. I did make one change. I used earth balance instead of butter. I was taking it to knitting and there are some people there who can not have milk products.


Daring Bakers June - Danish Pastery

This month Kelly of Sass and Veracity and Ben of What’s Cooking’ chose this Danish Braid. I really like the recipe and look forward to making it again. For more versions of this recipe visit the Daring Baker’s blog roll, here.

This is a recipe that needs rest time so that needs to be planed for. I forgot the 5 hour rest time so this was a little late. I used a peach rhubarb mix for the filling. It came out great. I forgot how nice an egg wash looks. Doing the bit with the butter makes me want to try making croissants. It is close to the same process. I might make this dough every once in a while and keep in the freezer.

DANISH DOUGH


Makes 2-1/2 pounds dough





Ingredients


For the dough (Detrempe)


1 ounce fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast


1/2 cup whole milk


1/3 cup sugar


Zest of 1 orange, finely grated


3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom


1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract


1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped


2 large eggs, chilled


1/4 cup fresh orange juice


3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour


1 teaspoon salt





For the butter block (Beurrage)


1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter


1/4 cup all-purpose flour





DOUGH


Combine yeast and milk in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed. Slowly add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice. Mix well. Change to the dough hook and add the salt with the flour, 1 cup at a time, increasing speed to medium as the flour is incorporated. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. You may need to add a little more flour if it is sticky. Transfer dough to a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.





BUTTER BLOCK


1. Combine butter and flour in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle and then beat for 1 minute more, or until smooth and lump free. Set aside at room temperature.


2. After the detrempe has chilled 30 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18 x 13 inches and ¼ inch thick. The dough may be sticky, so keep dusting it lightly with flour. Spread the butter evenly over the center and right thirds of the dough. Fold the left edge of the detrempe to the right, covering half of the butter. Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center third. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns, or use a sticky and keep a tally. Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.


3. Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface. The open ends should be to your right and left. Roll the dough into another approximately 13 x 18 inch, ¼-inch-thick rectangle. Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the center third and the right third over the center third. No additional butter will be added as it is already in the dough. The second turn has now been completed. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.4. Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns. Make sure you are keeping track of your turns. Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight. The Danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll the dough out to about 1 inch in thickness, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. Defrost the dough slowly in the refrigerator for easiest handling. Danish dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.





APPLE FILLING


Makes enough for two braids





Ingredients


4 Fuji or other apples, peeled, cored, and cut into ¼-inch pieces


1/2 cup sugar


1 tsp. ground cinnamon


1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped


1/4 cup fresh lemon juice


4 tablespoons unsalted butter


Toss all ingredients except butter in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat until slightly nutty in color, about 6 - 8 minutes. Then add the apple mixture and sauté until apples are softened and caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes. If you’ve chosen Fujis, the apples will be caramelized, but have still retained their shape. Pour the cooked apples onto a baking sheet to cool completely before forming the braid. (If making ahead, cool to room temperature, seal, and refrigerate.) They will cool faster when spread in a thin layer over the surface of the sheet. After they have cooled, the filling can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Left over filling can be used as an ice cream topping, for muffins, cheesecake, or other pastries.





DANISH BRAID


Makes enough for 2 large braids


Ingredients


1 recipe Danish Dough (see above)


2 cups apple filling, jam, or preserves (I used Peach with a little rhubarb)


(optional)Cream Cheese on the bottom (From another Danish recipe in the same book)- combine ¾ lb. cream cheese, ¾ cup sugar, 1 egg and 1 tsp vanilla and beat together until creamy and smooth.


For the egg wash: 1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk1.





Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish Dough into a 15 x 20-inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again. Place the dough on the baking sheet.


2. Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 5-inch-long cuts with a knife or rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to line up the cuts with those you’ve already made.


3. Spoon the filling you’ve chosen to fill your braid down the center of the rectangle. Starting with the top and bottom “flaps”, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next, fold the bottom “flap” up to cover filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling. Now begin folding the cut side strips of dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in the ends.





Egg Wash


Whisk together the whole egg and yolk in a bowl and with a pastry brush, lightly coat the braid.





Proofing and Baking


1. Spray cooking oil (Pam…) onto a piece of plastic wrap, and place over the braid. Proof at room temperature or, if possible, for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume and light to the touch.


2. Near the end of proofing, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.


3. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan so that the side of the braid previously in the back of the oven is now in the front. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake about 15-20 minutes more, or until golden brown. Cool and serve the braid either still warm from the oven or at room temperature. The cooled braid can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or freeze for 1 month.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Tuesday with Dorie - Mixed Berry Cobbler




Beth of Our Sweet Life picked Mixed Berry Cobbler for the recipe this week. This was the first cobbler that I have ever made, for this kind of desert I normally make crisps. They go together faster. I made this is some small pot pie tins, this way I can freeze a few to eat later. They make a good size single serving.


Changes: I used 1/4 cup sugar instead of the 3 tablespoons and added in some powered vanilla in the topping. The fruit was some frozen blueberries, a few fresh strawberries and some rhubarb. The fruit layer was only fruit, I forgot to add anything else to it. I was so worried at getting the top right that I forgot until I took it out of the oven. The fruit was sweet enough that it did not need anything.


It was good with some ice cream. The topping absorbed the juice from the fruit fairly well. I am not sure if I will make this again, the crisp is much faster and I like the way the oatmeal is absorbed.
For more versions of this visit Tuesdays with Dorie.


Wednesday, June 18, 2008

First CSA Box for the year


I got my First CSA Box for the year yesterday. I went with Grant Family Farms, they are all organic and I was able to get an egg share. I have a small share but there was a lot of stuff in it.

4 heads of lettuce, all different kinds
a large bunch of spinach
some garlic scapes, I love garlic scapes, they have a short season here so I was glad to see them
4 radishes, they were not the spicy kind which I liked
celery
onion
3 rhubarb stocks
1 large bunch of Cilantro, I am thinking of making some Cilantro pesto
and a dozen eggs

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Bookedmarked recipe - Strawberry Pie


This weeks Bookmarked recipe was an easy choice.




I had some extra strawberries and heavy cream so I made A Year From Oak Cottage's Triple Strawberry Cream Pie. Oh my gosh this was so good and took very little time to make. Instead of cooking the strawberries and then waiting I used some strawberry jam I had on hand. It took only 15 minutes to make. It was gone in just about the same time.

This week on Tuesday with Dorie it is the Peppermint Cream Puff Ring


Caroline of A Consuming Passion has chosen…Peppermint Cream Puff Ring. This is a pâte à choux type of pastry. Because of a Good Eats show that I saw a few years ago I had no trouble making the cream puffs. I put some cocoa powder into the dough trying for a chocolate base. It did not really have a chocolate taste. I made smaller puffs instead of the large ring because I took it to NICU and it is just easier for people to take one small puff than cut a piece.


I used Apple mint that I had growing in my front yard as the mint. It gave the cream a slight green tint. Apple mint is just one of the many kinds of mint out there. It grows better than some of the others here. The candy and chocolate mint did not come back this year.
I forgot to put in the cream fraiche. I looked every where for it and finally found some and then I forget to put it in, oh well. I finally located some cultured sour cream at the King Soopers, a big box grocery. The smaller fancy groceries did not have it. I found that funny. At least it did not cost much. I wonder how it would taste on tacos.





I kept every thing separate until the next day. I took them to work and then put them together. The chocolate did not quite come out the way I wanted it to but it tasted good. I melted semi-dark chocolate, some sugar and just a little water in the microwave. It just was not quite as shinny and smooth as I would have liked.