Multigrain Bread #2

 

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups warm water, about 105F

2 ¼ teaspoons yeast

2 tablespoons honey

½ cup rolled oats

¼ cup sunflower seeds

2 Tablespoons flax seeds

2 Tablespoons pine nuts

1 ½ teaspoons salt

2 cups bread flour

¼ cup rye flour

¾ cup whole wheat flour

 

Instructions

 

1. Whisk the warm water, yeast, and honey together in a large bowl or the bowl of a standing mixer. Let it sit for 2 minutes.
2. Add the rolled oats, sunflower seeds, flaxseeds, and pine nuts. Stir together well and allow to sit for 3-5 minutes, until the grains and seeds soften and absorb some of the water.
3. Add the salt and give it a quick mix to help dissolve and distribute the salt. Then, add the  bread flour, rye flour, and  whole wheat flour and mix together very well 
4. Cover the bowl damp towel. Let the dough rise for 1 ½ – 2 hours in warm place until at least doubled in size.
5. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F when you are almost ready to bake.  Place a Dutch oven and cover into the oven while it preheats, getting the pot nice and hot.
6. Lay out a sheet of parchment paper and sprinkle with a little flour.  Scrape the dough onto the floured parchment and sprinkle with a little more flour.  Shape the dough into shape.   Brush the top of the dough with some olive oil and sprinkle some of the seeds used in the bread on top of the bread. 
7. Pick up the parchment paper by the edges and place the bread and parchment paper inside the Dutch Oven.  1-2 ice cubes to the pot in between the parchment paper and the pot, and cover with the lid
8. Bake for 40 minutes covered at 450 degrees F. Then, uncover and bake for 10-15 minutes more, until nice and brown on top.

 

Fruit Tart

Layered Crepe Cake

Crepe Cake Layered with Pastry Cream and Nutella.

1. Make pastry cream.

3 Cups Milk

Seeds scraped from one vanilla bean - or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. If you are using vanilla extract it is added when the cream is finished cooking.
8 egg yolks
3/4 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened


In a 3 quart saucepan combine the milk and vanilla bean seeds. Heat just below the boiling point (scalding).

Using an electric mixer (with whisk attachment if available) beat the egg yolks and sugar in a large mixing bowl until they lighten in color. Stir in the cornstarch.

Pour about 1/3 of the hot milk into the egg mixture (this is called tempering), whisking continuously to incorporate. Whisk the tempered egg mixture back into the remaining hot milk, and place the saucepan back on the heat. Cook on medium high heat, stirring constantly with the whisk, until the mixture comes to the boil. Reduce heat and boil for about 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and gently whisk in the butter.

Strain the pastry cream into a bowl, place plastic wrap directly on the surface, and chill completely.

 2.  Make the crepes.  this recipe 4 times.  I would make 4 separate batches, for some reason the batter turns out better than if you just make 4 times the ingredients at once.
1 cup a/p flour
1/4 t salt
2 T sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1.5 cups milk or more up to the right thin consistency
2 T melted butter

Sift the flour, salt, and sugar into a large bowl.  Add the egg, milk, and butter and mix then vigorously mix into the flour until well blended and silky 

add a little butter to a hot pan and pour in about 1/3 cup crepe batter and quickly tilt and rotate pan to cover the bottom in an even thin layer. cook for about 1 minute and turn and cook for another 30 seconds and remove. Continue until all the batter is gone.

3.  Nutella that is in a bowl that will fit over a larger bowl filled with hot water to keep the Nutella soft so that it is easier to spread thinly onto the crepe.

start by placing a pretty crepe to the side to top the cake, then set a  crepe in the center of you cake place or what ever you chose to assemble you cake on.  then spread a thin layer of pastry cream with an off set spatula.  place another crepe on the previous cream covered crepe and then spread a thin layer of Nutella.  Repeat alternating between pastry cream and Nutella until you have used all of your crepes being sure to top the cake with your pretty crepe you saved before. cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

Biscotti Love

*Ginger Biscotti*

recipe adapted from Baking Illustrated

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground white or black pepper
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cardamom  
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger 
1/4 cup crystallized ginger, chopped
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs + 2 large egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup toasted almonds

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk together dry ingredients, stir in toasted almonds. In another bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, and egg yolks until a light lemon color. Stir in the vanilla. Fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture, just until combined. Divide in half and shape each half into a 13x2 inch loaf. Bake about 35 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking time, until just starting to crack on top. Cool for 10 minutes. Lower the oven to 325 degrees. Cut each cooled loaf into 3/8 inch slices. Arrange on baking sheet and return to oven. Bake 15 minutes, turning cookies over halfway through baking time, until crisp and golden. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Candied Ginger Biscotti

Back before I logged my cooking and baking adventures on this blog I baked up a storm for Christmas.  To this day I wish that I had logged those recipes because everything turned out beyond  my expectations.  Now I know better and when I find a recipe that really worked for me I blog it, today is one of those recipe days.

2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground clove
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cardamom

1 cup almonds, toasted
1/3 cup candied ginger, chopped

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup almonds, toasted
1/3 cup candied ginger, chopped

preheat oven to 350 degrees with wrack in the center of oven. 

Sift first eight ingredients together in a small bowl. Stir in the candied ginger and almonds

Whisk sugar and eggs in a large bowl to a light lemon color; stir in vanilla extract. Sift dry ingredients over egg mixture, then fold in until dough is just combined.

 Halve dough and turn each portion onto an oiled cookie sheet covered with parchment. Using floured hands, quickly stretch each portion of dough into a rough 13-by-2-inch log, placing them about 3 inches apart on the cookie sheet. Pat each dough shape to smooth it. Bake, turning pan once, until loaves are golden and just beginning to crack on top, about 35 minutes.

Cool the loaves for 10 minutes; lower oven temperature to 325 degrees. Cut each loaf diagonally into 3/8-inch slices with a serrated knife. Lay the slices about 1/2-inch apart on the cookie sheet, cut side up, and return them to the oven. Bake, turning over each cookie halfway through baking, until crisp and golden brown on both sides, about 15 minutes.

March Spice Rack Challenge - Cardamom

This month Mother from Mother's Kitchen chose cardamom for the spice rack challenge. I love cardamom and thought of several things to make such as granola like this one from 64sqftkitchen that we all love. However, DD and I chose to make gingersnaps which is one of my all time favorite cookies.

Cardamom Gingersnaps

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1/2 cup molasses

1 1/2 cup flour

sugar for topping cookies

Combine sugar, butter ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cayenne, baking soda, sale and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and cream until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat again until fluffy. Blend in molasses then add the flour a little at a time until well blended.

drop a teaspoon full of dough 2" apart onto lightly greased baking sheet and sprinkle sugar on top of each.

Bake in a 350 oven for 15 to 18 minutes until lightly browned on the edges, cool on wire rack.Here is DD making the cookies

Squash Bread

This is just wonderful bread and it was my 6 year old's idea. One day we had some very ripe bananas and my 6 year old thought it would be a good idea to make banana bread with them. I got online and found a recipe that was simple and easy for a 6 year old to follow.

She did a good job, with a little coaching, and made a good batch of banana bread. As we were eating our fresh warm bread she looks up at me and said this would be so good made with pumpkin. What a great idea so we went to the kitchen the next day and steamed up some sweet potato (it was the closest thing I had to squash or pumpkin in the house that weekend). That sweet potato made some killer bread too.

Since that day, a few months back now, we have worked out our squash break recipe to be something that we find outstanding.

1 to 3 butternut squashes, enough to make 6 cups of puree.

cut the squash into chunks, with skin on, and steam until tender. let cool and the remove the skin from the meat and mush up the squash meat to use in bread.

• 6 cups squash or pumpkin puree (do not used canned stuff, I could tell you stories that would make you want to wash out your mouth with a toilet brush, yes that bad)


• 2/3rd cup butter, melted (I will try to replace half of this with apple butter next time)


• 2 cups brown sugar


• 2 teaspoons vanilla


• 2 eggs


• 2 teaspoons Cinnamon


• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg


• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger


• 1/8 teaspoon cardamom


• 1/4 teaspoon salt


• 2 teaspoons baking soda


• 3 cups flour.


• 1 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350F

mix flour, spices,baking soda and nuts in a bowl and set aside.

mix the squash, butter, eggs, sugar and vanilla until well blended. pour in the flour mixture and mix until all the white flour is just combined. pour into 2 oiled (I use cooking spray) loaf pans and bake for 1 hour.

Peach Cobbler

Back in the day, when I started this blog one of the things in my head was I could put my Great Grandmother's peach cobbler recipe on the blog and not have to hunt for it every fall. for the last 5 years or so that I have had this blog, the weather gets cold and I am hunting for that cobbler recipe. Well no more, I am posting it here today.

4 tablespoons Butter
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
2 cup peaches
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of Cinnamon

slice peaches and mix with 1/2 C. sugar
Melt butter in the bottom of a baking dish
Combine flour, salt, baking powder, 3/4C sugar and milk. Beat until smooth. pour batter over melted butter in baking dish. top with sugared peaches
Bake at 375 for 40ish minutes

I stole this Banana Bread

I do not usually copy and past a recipe but I really liked this one and I do not want to forget it. I got it from Cookingbread.com

Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Banana Bread Recipe: Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

• 1 large egg
• 1 cup banana (mashed)
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1/4 cup shortening (melted)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup raisins or pecans

• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Method

In a bowl mix butter and sugars together. Add egg, molasses, shortening, buttermilk and bananas. In another bowl sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together. Add rolled oats. Slowly add dry ingredients to the banana mixture. Combine till moistened. Add raisins or pecans. Pour into a large greased bread pan. Bake in a preheated 350 F oven for 60 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 1/2 hour before removing from pan.

Changes I have made thus far. replaced the flour with whole wheat pastry flour and plan to replace some fat with apple sauce next time.

without the fat replacement these muffins are 5 "zucchinis" each

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 14
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 257.2

• Total Fat: 10.7 g
• Cholesterol: 24.6 mg
• Sodium: 214.3 mg
• Total Carbs: 40.7 g
• Dietary Fiber: 3.5 g
• Protein: 3.9 g

He is turning 4 and he is eating Batman's head

Not a whole lot to say, just wanted to post the cake I made for my babies 4th Birthday...well I guess he is not my baby any more he is my big boy and he is into cars, robots and super heroes.
I actually made this cake at 3AM because I just could not sleep.  I was done about the time the kids got up for the day.
  and of course he wanted to eat Batman's head

I used cocoa powder and blue food coloring in chocolate frosting to come up with the black.   once I had black I added some to white frosting to make the silver.

June 2009 Daring Baker Challenge - Bakewell Tart

"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."

I have to say I was not a fan of this months challenge, too bad I have already missed my 2 for the year do to my relocation to Mexico and that all of my cooking stuff had to be left in Michigan.

here is the recipe for BAKEWELL TART.

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.

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

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
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.

I am really hoping that July's challenge is a little more exciting

Daring Baker April 2009 - Cheesecake with a Twist

This year for Easter it was just the kids and I. We are new to Mexico City so we do not know many people here, nor do we have family near by and this year my hubby flew to the States to buy a car and was driving back to Mexico City.

I thought it would be nice to save this months daring baker challenge for Easter dessert. Every year for Easter I make something with lemons or lemon curd but was sad to find out that the markets here do not regularly carry lemons. Mexico City is a lime city I guess so a little sad and disappointed I resigned to no lemons.

2 day before Easter I was at the market to pick up all the Easter goodies and I was elated to see lemons on the produce shelf and this meant lemon curd cheesecake.


The first obstetrical was to make the crust. I have not found graham crackers; however, I did find nice little almond cookies and they turned out so nice.

crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs (I used 1&1/3 cups almond cookies and 2/3 cup ground toasted almonds)
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

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.

at this time preheat oven to 350F and put water on to boil.

then I made the cheesecake filling:

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

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.

Lemon Curd:

6 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
grated zest of 4 lemons
juice of 4 lemons

Put the eggs, sugar, and butter into a sauce pan and stir over med-low heat until sugar is dissolved. Add the lemon zest and juice and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the lemon curd thickens slightly.

once all the separate elements were completed (crust, cheesecake filling and lemon curd) I poured 1/2 of the cream cheese filling then 1/2 of the lemon curd on tome of that and swirled with a knife. topped with the rest of the cream cheese filling, top with the rest of the lemon curd and swirl with a knife again.

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.

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.



I do prefer the New York Cheesecake with the sour cream but I did learn that cheesecake and lemon curd were so meant to be together! it was rich and oh so full of flavor and (considering this was a lot of cheesecake and there was no way threes people could eat it all themselves) I gave some to all of my neighbors and they loved it too.

Please come back and join me on May 14th as I post the results of the new Daring challenge called the Daring Cooks.

Homemade Challenge March 09 - Bread

I have followed Ben's Blog, What's Cooking, off and on for some time now and recently he started a Homemade Challenge where each month there is a theme of something that you can make yourself. Month one (February) was homemade cheese. Well I missed the cheese I did manage to get involved in in March Homemade Challenge of making Bread.

At first I wanted to make some flat bread to go with a dish that I wanted to try that my friend Warda posted over at 64 sq ft Kitchen called Tchicha bel Khoubiz and then a few days later Diana Dyer posted her version of Tchicha bel Khoubiz over at 365 days of kale. I had this dish for the first time at a Food blogger get together last summer and enjoyed it very much. Thank you Warda! Please visit Warda's blog for recipe.

I made this dish for lunch on a day that I was making pizza for dinner so I too some of the pizza dough and pressed it out flat and cooked it on my cast iron pan. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of it before it was gone making it hard to post it for Ben's challenge so a few days later I decided to make homemade flour tortillas and those I managed to get a photo of...

the tortillas are easy, here it is

1 cup flour
2/3 cup water
2 tablespoons oil
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
salt

mix dough, knead for 10 minutes. Let rest for 20 minutes. Divide into 6 equal balls. Roll out paper thin. Cook on hot pan for 30 seconds a side. Done!

Oatmeal Cookies and Kitchen Supplies

Sorry I have been neglecting my blog for the last few weeks but we moved. We are finally not living in a hotel but in a house. We moved in about two weeks ago but did not have Internet right away and we have to find a by furniture. that takes some time you know and we are not done yet after 2 weeks of focus. We did find a great little town not far from Mexico city that has shops and shops of hand made furniture but I will save that for a future post.

After a few ways I asked my daughter, Z, what she wanted to have for dinner and she said oatmeal cookies. While I did not give her oatmeal cookies for dinner I did set off to purchase all the necessary equipment for making them and within days we were enjoying the wonderful disks.

First I had to find a mixer and hubby found a great little Black&Decker hand held beater with oodles of power for only $16. then a mixing bowl, measuring spoons, measuring cups and backing pan were found, purchased and brought home. Now all I need was a recipe and to by the ingredients.

I found was looked to be a great recipe on Smitten Kitchen called Thick, chewy oatmeal raisin cookies. Sounded easy enough so I made my list for the grocery store and, well I was not able to find a few of the basics like baking soda so I had to improvise and that is what follows.

1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) butter, softened
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup almonds, chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats, and nuts.

Chill the dough for a bit in the fridge before baking them. You could also bake them right away, if you’re impatient, but I do find that they end up slightly less thick.

The cookies should be two inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes (your baking time will vary, depending on your oven and how cold the cookies were going in, I am thinking that the thermostat on the oven is not working). taking cookies out when golden at the edges but still a little undercooked-looking on top. Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.

Easy & Yummy Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients
2 cups pureed sweet potato
1 (14-ounce)Sweetened Condensed Milk (NOT evaporated milk)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (9-inch) easy pie crust

Instructions
Preheat oven to 425°F. Whisk sweet potato, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust. Bake 15 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 350°F and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean. Cool. Garnish as desired. Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.

Nutrition Amount Per Serving: Calories 380, Fat Cal. 129, Total Fat 14.3g, Sat. Fat 5.8g, Sodium 350mg, Potassium 33mg, Carb. 30.5g, Fiber 3.3g, Sugars 17.9g, Protein 5.9g

A Birthday Cake Only a Princess Turning 5 Would Pick

a few Months Back I asked Z what kind of cake she wanted and she said a castle cake. Ok I could like with that they make castle cake pans. As her Birthday, and her party, drew closer I asked what flavor she wanted her cake and she picked strawberry. Two days before the party we went out to Ideal Cake to rent that castle cake pan and what did she see...thats right a wedding cake. She had found it the cake of her dreams with roses in time and you guessed it again (well I think the photos gave it away) I made her a double decker strawberry flavored, strawberry jam filled, rose covered cake. It was great...the cake and the birthday girl.

2 2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cup milk

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

2 egg

2 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup good strawberry jam

1) preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and flour 2 9" cake pan .

2) In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add milk, butter, egg, jam and vanilla. Beat on low speed until combined. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute. scrape cake batter into cake pan.

3) bake for 45 minutes or until knife inserted into center of cake cokes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely.

HOLY COW SHE IS 5 ALREADY!!!

Banana Cream Pie

I have never been a banana lover. As a child I would eat almost anything except bananas and PB&Js. When I was older I found that if the banana was still firm and green on the seams they were not too bad. Last year; however, I discovered these little bananas only about 4 inches long and wow are they good, they are so sweet. I could almost say that they have turned me into a banana lover.

I heard an interview on NPR last year with a man that was a banana expert and he said that the bananas that we know in the US are susceptible to a banana killing fungus and that bananas in the US will change. He also side that the bananas that we import are hardy but lack greatly on flavor. He also said that there are 100 different verities of bananas and most people have no idea what they are missing. When I saw these new bananas in the store I had to try and I have to say I am happy that I did.

I am not sure what these little bananas are called. A Goolge search gave me several names that they might be such as Se orita and banana-ouro and from the photos they look about right. I had a few that were a little riper then I like and because I was feeling ambitious I thought I would try may hand at Banana Cream Pie...by the way I had never had banana cream pie before.

I took "Moms" quick pie crust recipe...

1 1/2 c flour
2 t sugar
1 t salt
1/2 c vegetable oil
2 T milk
Combine ingredients to form a soft pastry dough. It will be really soft, not like a rolled out crust. Press evenly into the bottom and sides of a 9" pie pan with your fingers

I then blind baked the crust at 400F for?... until it was brown. I know it is not pretty but it works.

I then sliced the bananas and toss with a little lemon juice to keep them from turning brown then line the baked crust with the tiny sweet bananas.

I made half of the pastry cream recipe my Husband likes. all the following was halved and it worked out fine.

3 Cups Milk
Seeds scraped from one vanilla bean - or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. If you are using vanilla extract it is added when the cream is finished cooking.
8 egg yolks
3/4 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

In a 3 quart saucepan combine the milk and vanilla bean seeds. Heat just below the boiling point (scalding).Using an electric mixer (with whisk attachment if available) beat the egg yolks and sugar in a large mixing bowl until they lighten in color. Stir in the cornstarch.

Pour about 1/3 of the hot milk into the egg mixture (this is called tempering), whisking continuously to incorporate. Whisk the tempered egg mixture back into the remaining hot milk, and place the saucepan back on the heat. Cook on medium high heat, stirring constantly with the whisk, until the mixture comes to the boil. Reduce heat and boil for about 30 seconds, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and gently whisk in the butter.
Strain the pastry cream into a bowl and pure over the banana lined crust.

With the 4 egg whites I has I made meringue by whipping the whites with 1/2 cup sugar until then were stiff and shinny and then covered the pie, sealing the edges, with the meringue and place under a low broiler until the peeks were a little browned. Chill.



I really liked the pie but the kids loved it so much that they are still talking about it. This is a must make again. hummmm maybe for Thanksgiving.

Mother's Kitchen Pie Crust

Crust From Mother's Kitchen, thanks Mom for making pie making quick and easy.
1 1/2 c flour
2 t sugar
1 t salt
1/2 c vegetable oil
2 T milk
Combine ingredients to form a soft pastry dough. It will be really soft, not like a rolled out crust. Press evenly into the bottom and sides of a 9" pie pan with your fingers

Peach Pie

Double pie crust

5 large ripe peaches

2 plumbs

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375F

Peel and slice peaches and plumbs and place in a bowl. Toss fruit with sugar, flour and cinnamon. Pour into prepared pie shell. Cover with second pie crust, slit crust for steam and bake for 45-50 minutes.

The Eclair/Cream Puff Battle is on

Is it that time again, all ready? Wow where did the summer go! Here I am on the last day of August, smack dab in the middle of Labor Day weekend trying to get my Daring Baker post together. Oh how we made eclairs at our house and boy did we, we had an eclair battle.

A few years back my Husband wanted me to make eclairs or cream puffs and I found a recipe, read through it, and declared that if he waned cream puffs he would have to make them himself. Guess what you guys, he did! He had been our Puff Daddy ever since, that is until this month when I announced to the family that this months Daring Baker challenge was nothing more then eclairs and my loving hubby dubs this on a battle, an eclair battle between his recipe and the Daring Baker recipe...Who do you think won, we will have to see.

now you have to remember I have little helpers on my team

Who are very careful about not getting egg shell in the eggs.
The other helper is on baking strike right now, yes this is really what he was doing while Sissy was cracking eggs.

However, when it comes to stove top cooking he is the man for me. The is his little hand pouring in the flour.
we plugged along at this daring baker recipe:

• ½ cup (125g) whole milk
• ½ cup (125g) water
• 1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature
1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the boil.
2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough will be very soft and smooth.
3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your hand mixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time,beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.
4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed below.
Cream Puff Dough (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm
1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with waxed or parchment paper.
2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough. Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers. Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff. The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.
3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking time should be approximately 20 minutes.

I piped mine into little bite size (2 inch) rounds.

Notes:
1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.
2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.
until we came out with these babies:

Now it is Hubbies time to do his magic with his dough recipe.

His recipe is this:

• 65g. all purpose flour
• pinch of salt
• 50g butter, diced
• 150ml water


• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a large baking sheet (I could have used this direction for mine they did stick a little). Sift the flour and salt on to a small sheet of baking parchment (I am not so sure his actually does this step). Heat the butter and water in a pan very gently until butter melts.


2. Increase the heat and bring to a rolling boil. Remove the pan from the heat and immediately tip in all the flour. Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until the flour is mixed into the liquid.


3. Return the pan to a low heat, then beat the mixture until it leaves the side of the pan and forms a ball. Set the pan aside and allow to cool for 2-3 minutes.


4. Add the beaten eggs, a little at a time, beating well after each addition, until you have a smooth and shiny paste, which is thick enough to hold its shape.
5. Spoon the choux pastry into a piping bag (he used 2 spoons to make cream puffs like this...









6. 
   




7. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the pastries are well risen and golden brown. Remove for oven and make a neat slit along the side of each to release the steam. Lower the oven to 350F and bake for a further 5 minutes. Cool of a wire rack.

He does make some nice cream puffs but this time they are HUGE.
Now Time for the filling.
Per the Daring Baker Challenge I had to add a chocolate element to the eclair/cream puff so I did that with half of the pastry cream and half with vanilla. We do have to try to compare apples to apple when it comes to testing who has the better eclair and he only does vanilla pastry cream.
Chocolate Pastry Cream Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
• 2 cups (500g) whole milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 6 tbsp (75g) sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
• 7 oz (200g) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Velrhona Guanaja, melted
• 2½ tbsp (1¼ oz: 40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.
2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture.Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.
4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.
5) Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.

And Hubby made this pastry cream:
3 Cups Milk
Seeds scraped from one vanilla bean - or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. If you are using vanilla extract it is added when the cream is finished cooking.
8 egg yolks
3/4 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened


In a 3 quart saucepan combine the milk and vanilla bean seeds. Heat just below the boiling point (scalding).

Using an electric mixer (with whisk attachment if available) beat the egg yolks and sugar in a large mixing bowl until they lighten in color. Stir in the cornstarch.

Pour about 1/3 of the hot milk into the egg mixture (this is called tempering), whisking continuously to incorporate. Whisk the tempered egg mixture back into the remaining hot milk, and place the saucepan back on the heat. Cook on medium high heat, stirring constantly with the whisk, until the mixture comes to the boil. Reduce heat and boil for about 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and gently whisk in the butter.

Strain the pastry cream into a bowl, place plastic wrap directly on the surface, and chill completely.

Can be made up to 3 days ahead.

In the end we were both winners we found that the Daring Baker pastry dough was a little too eggy; however, we liked the extra dough in the puff apposed to the old recipe which is not so eggy but only leaves a think crust to fill without much substance. Both Pastry creams were very good but the daring baker one had a little more flavor; however, non of us really cared for the chocolate as matter of fact I ended up having 3 chocolate ones left over.


Thank you Tony and Meeta for a great Daring Baker Event!